The room was dimly lit and quiet during the long, dreary night. Mario, who was recovering from his injuries struggled to sit upright in his hospital bed. With assistance from Peach a few pillows the weary hero was able to sit up straight and lean against the soft, thick pillows comfortably. The white bandages around his shoulders and upper back matched the fabric of the pillows and for a moment the sight of his brutal wounds had nearly vanished. Taking a deep, pained breath Mario mentally prepared himself to confide long unspoken memories from his and Luigi's past.

With a trembling hand he motioned for the photo in Peach's hand. She nodded with curiosity and handed over the requested item. Taking the family photograph from Peach Mario unfolded a concealed second half of the image, revealing two additional people in the background of the picture.

Mario gave Peach a solemn look as he gingerly offered the unfolded photo for her to take and examine for herself. A man and a woman, standing side by side behind the two babies, smiled warmly and lovingly as the two playing Brothers. The man, who was of a shorter stature like Mario, had a thick mustache like Luigi's, black hair and bright blue eyes. The woman, who was of taller stature like Luigi, had slightly wavy hair like Mario, was a brunette and also had bright blue eyes.

Peach instantly spied the strong family resemblances between the four occupants in the image and stared at Mario with a mixture of joy and confusion. "Mario, is this couple...?"

"Our parents." Mario confirmed her suspicions as he took back the photograph and looked longingly at the family on display. "Yeah. Our father and mother."

"I'm not sure I understand. Mario, what happened to your family? What happened to Luigi?"

"You see," Mario began nervously, his eye drifting from Peach and over to Luigi for a moment. "Luigi wasn't always so cautious, or arguably timid. In fact, he was considered reckless and stubborn."

"Luigi?" Peach glanced over her shoulder to his unconscious form in the neighboring bed. "I can't imagine him as anything but gentle and kind; never reckless." Squeezing Mario's hand in a loving, supportive manner she encouraged him to continue his story. "What happened to him then, that made him who is today?"

"It's... It's not something either of us want to talk about, so when I tell you this you must keep it quiet. I... I don't want him to feel like I betrayed him or failed-"

"You never failed him." Peach insisted. "You can't keep blaming yourself for something Bowser did."

Mario glanced back to Luigi before resuming his story. "Yeah, I guess so. Well, anyway, when we were kids and growing up in Brooklyn it was always Luigi who was fearless and first to try anything and everything new." Mario briefly smiled at the distant childhood memories, only to frown again as he continued. "We played for hours in the park and Luigi was always the one who climbed the highest tree. When we spent summers at the beach it was Luigi who always swam out the farthest. During wintertime Luigi was the one sliding down the tallest hills. And it was always Luigi who was the last to come back inside at the end of the day. But he never left me behind. He always encouraged me to climb the same tree, but if I didn't want to he'd climb back down and we'd find a new tree to climb. If I didn't want to swim out too deep he'd came back closer to shore. If I was too afraid to slide down a hill by myself he'd go with me. And he never left me outside alone in the dark. He never left anyone behind..."

Peach smiled and tried to imagine Luigi being a fearless, carefree child. "Sounds like he was a fun, great kid!"

"Yeah." Mario winced in pain for a moment but pushed through it to finish his story. "He was. And he always looked out for me." Closing his eyes and stifling a sob Mario nearly lost his composure and choked on his sorrow.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Peach tried to soothe the emotionally ravaged hero but it seemed her words and presence weren't enough. "You're safe!" She used her hand to rub the back of his hand and forearm. "You're both safe."

"Sorry..." Mario weakly apologized as he regained control over his senses and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Peach shook her head slowly. "Don't ever apologize for feeling bad, it's part of life."

"Yeah." Mario agreed as he used his free hand to wipe his guilt filled eyes before the tears had a chance to fall. "You're right." Pausing to gather his thoughts Mario found his voice and continued sharing with Peach. "Luigi was always the one who looked out for the neighborhood kids. He hated bullies and would never tolerate anyone trying to intimidate our friends. He always made sure everyone was included in every game we played and that no one felt like an outsider." He looked down at Peach's hand resting atop of his own. "I remember when were six years old and we caught the chicken pox. While mom and pop took care of us like any loving parents would, Luigi made sure I wasn't bored or upset. He kept finding fun things for us to do even when we were stuck inside the house all day."

Peach smiled again and quietly waited for Mario to finish his trip down memory lane.

"Even though I'm the older Brother our parents never expected me to take on additional responsibility for Luigi. We were treated like equals and never saw one another as the 'Big Brother' and 'Little Brother' when we were kids." Mario's hand tensed under Peach's hand as a darker memory came to the front of his mind and rested in his heart. "But that all changed when we were fifteen..."

Peach's smile faded as she saw the pain in Mario's eyes flare. Tightening her squeeze she braced herself for the emotional weight that Mario was trying carry alone. "Go on."

"Our parents were returning home from a private dinner, kind of like a second honeymoon, when..." Mario turned his attention to the ceiling as the grief struck him as if it the accident had happened just that morning. "they were hit and killed by a drunk driver."

Peach felt her heart skip a beat and wordlessly wrapped both of her arms around Mario's neck to hug him. She ran her hand over the back of his head, rustling his hair softly.

Leaning into her hug Mario closed his eyes and finished the sad tale. "We were home alone, wondering why mom and pop were taking so long to get back home. A police officer came to our house and he told us what happened..." Mario looked at Luigi past Peach's shoulder. "At first we didn't believe, we were certain there was some kind of mistake but, it was true. Luigi took it really hard. I guess he figured our parents were invincible, you know? That they'd live forever..."

Peach sat back in her chair and wiped her own tears from her eyes. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea..."

Mario never took his eyes from Luigi. "Luigi just sort of... Shut down. He never said a word to me or anyone else for weeks! He topped playing sports, hanging out after school, socializing with the other neighborhood kids... He locked himself away and kept everything inside." Bowing his head in memory Mario took a breath. "After the funeral we went to live with a family friend for a few years. Good guy. He and his wife were good friends with our parents and their own son was grown and out of the house. They took us in and never made us feel unwelcome. But Luigi wanted to leave as soon as we could afford an apartment of our own. I'm not sure why he wanted to leave so badly, but I didn't stop him."

"How... How did he cope with our horrible loss?"

"He didn't. At least, at first. After we moved into our own place and started to fend for ourselves he finally broke down and let out all the pain he had been carrying. I've never seen him cry so hard or for so long in my life! He cried all night and slept for almost three days."

"Poor Luigi..." Peach looked at the peacefully sleeping hero in the next bed, Daisy resting her hand over his. "The loss of your parents shook him to his core. Changed him."

"Only on the outside." Mario butted in. "Inside he's still the same fearless Brother I've always known. But the blunt truth that death can take down even the strongest of fighters..." Mario sighed weakly. "It was a truth he refused to believe, until it happened to us."

"That's when you made your promise..."

"I promised him, while I held him in my arms as he cried; mourning the loss of our parents, that I'd always look out for him and protect him. That I'd never let anything bad happen to him as long as I was still alive."

"Mario..." Peach didn't know what else to say. "Luigi is still alive! He's pulled through and hasn't shown any sign of giving up."

Mario shook his head sadly as he placed the photo on top of the table next to his bed. "I'm not worried about his body healing, I'm worried about his heart. His fighting spirit hasn't been the same since our parents died." Leaning back against his pillows Mario let a solitary tear fall from his eye. "I'm worried that Luigi will never be the same, that he'll close himself entirely and I'll never be able to reach him..."

A hush fell over the room as the dark truths filled the air. Secrets, truths and pain were tangible to anyone and everyone who was fortunate enough to ally with the Super Mario Bros. on that fateful night.


The night itself was calm in the Mushroom Kingdom. Tired and emotionally taxed Peach soon fell asleep in the chair next to Mario's bed, her hand resting on his while he stayed wide awake in his bed. He couldn't stop thinking about Luigi and the promise he had made all those years ago. Careful not to awaken Peach Mario swung his legs over the side of the bed and put his bare feet on the cold, tile floor.

With his injuries being located on his shoulders and upper back the doctor had chosen to give Mario a pair of scrub bottoms to wear in place of the traditional hospital gown.

Quietly Mario stood up, mindful of the I.V. hooked into his arm. Wincing with the burning pain in his back and draped the blue blanket from the foot of his bed over Peach's sleeping form. "Thank you for listening."

Wheeling the I.V. stand around the bed he took a seat in a second chair on the other side of Luigi's bed. Drained of strength; both physically and mentally, Mario weakly put his cold hand against his Brother's warmer face and softly apologized. "I'm so sorry Bro, please forgive me."

Fatigue won out as Mario laid his head down on the bed, next to Luigi's arm and fell asleep in the chair beside his unconscious younger Brother.

The sun rose once more. The intense rays of the sun filled the room with a natural warmth that failed to ease the icy emotional tension that lingered from the night before. As the light of the rising sun crept through the window and across the floor Mario was steadily roused from his deep and much needed slumber. It seemed neither Peach or Daisy stirred from their sleep.

Mario steadily became aware of someone moving next to him and felt a hand on the back of his head, lightly playing with his hair. Opening his heavy eyes he looked up at Luigi and his eyes widened as he began sobbing uncontrollably into his own hands.

...to be continued...