Author's Note: Short chapter today. The story will probably get more exciting within the next few chapters; I also have some more new characters to introduce later.
Chapter 14: Loyalty
The three-legged wooden chair I had chosen to sit was wobbling dangerously every time I moved so much as a half-inch; however, the seat was unusually high off the floor and made me look slightly taller than I normally did compared to my older cousin. Even with this limited height advantage, I was still forced to tilt my head backwards to be able to look straight into Waluigi's cold eyes as he sat on a shorter chair in front of me. Despite accepting my offer a few minutes ago, he remained as stubbornly emotionless as usual, his grey eyes showing not even a flicker of expression aside from the coolness, which I had noticed was normal for him. Had I not known him so well by now, I would probably be scared witless just from staring at him and having him stare back at me with equal intensity; as it was, I had gradually grown used to his strange behaviour and unreadable emotions.
We had made a silent, unspoken agreement to not discuss the Moon Powers any more than we already had. I hadn't failed to notice Waluigi's fury when I had last mentioned them, and the least I wanted right now was a repeat of that incident. Therefore, I had decided to avoid talking about my newfound magical powers unless it was completely necessary, and perhaps not even then.
My purple-clad cousin, now sitting directly opposite me and still towering high above my head, was as intimidating as always. With his cap pulled down low over his eyes, shielding them from my view, it was impossible to tell what he might have been thinking. He was sitting in the chair differently from me, too; while I was perched on the edge of my seat in a stiff and slightly nervous manner, Waluigi was leaning back with his legs folded and one foot tapping against the filthy floorboards. His white-gloved hands were resting on his lap, displaying the reversed 'L' symbol on the backs of both of them, like some kind of wordless threat.
Our conversation had stuttered to a halt less than a minute ago, when I had explained every tiny detail of my plans to Waluigi, including my suspicions about GameBoo Advance's loyalty and why I had abandoned him. I did not intend to say the old ghost's name, and I never actually did, but my cousin clearly had other ideas. I soon found out just how curious – and suspicious – he could be when he wanted to, much to my dismay.
'What was this ghost's name?' he growled without moving from his casual position in the dusty chair, his eyes still shadowed. 'You seem to always avoid answering questions I ask you about him. If you really expect me to help you rescue your idiot brother, you'd better be willing to tell me everything you know.' Although I couldn't see his face, it was obvious that he was glaring at me from the way his hands were suddenly clenched together, showing the anger that I couldn't hear in his calm voice.
I fidgeted slightly on the seat of my filthy, three-legged chair; why did he always find out the secrets I didn't want to tell him? Although I had promised myself that I would explain everything important to him, there were still some scraps of information that I would rather keep in my own mind, and GameBoo Advance's identity was one of them. I might not trust the old prediction ghost any longer, but for some reason, it just didn't seem like a good idea to tell my cousin what his real name was. In the end I gave in to his demand with a long sigh, but only because he would never leave me alone until he found out the truth.
'W-well... I suppose I was worried you might not like what you hear.'
He raised his head a few inches, and I jumped slightly in surprise when I realised he was actually grinning at me. It wasn't exactly what I would call a friendly grin, and it was probably intended to frighten me somehow, but it was a grin nevertheless, and it relieved me to know that he was actually capable of making such an expression. 'Do you think I'll be angry with you? If this ghost is someone I don't like, then I'll be angry with him.'
I still felt as though I was walking on thin ice when I glanced up at him, realising that he was unlikely to stop asking until I told him. Very softly, leaning forwards so he could hear me better, I whispered the ghost's name, and immediately drew back and looked down at the floor again afterwards. No matter how well I thought I knew him, there was still some remnant of the old fear left – the fear of my two cousins and what they had done to me and Mario throughout our lives. I trembled at the prospect of making him angry about something, and resolved to never annoy him if I could help it.
However, when he did not respond for nearly five minutes, I chanced a quick look up to see what he was doing, and was a little surprised – and relieved – by what I saw. He appeared to be in deep thought, but with his eyes shaded under the brim of his cap, it was difficult to guess his true emotions; obviously GameBoo Advance's name meant something important to him, or perhaps he was simply trying to remember if he had ever heard it before. I watched him for what felt like a very long time, at least from my perspective; when he eventually raised his head and looked me straight in the eye, I had forgotten to be afraid of him.
'Has he been saying anything... about me? Has he been telling you that I'm an evil cheater who shouldn't ever be trusted? Well?' His grey eyes narrowed viciously when I did not immediately reply. 'Go on, tell me!'
Now I really was frightened; he was glaring at me with a sharply gleaming gaze, most of his face still cast in shadow by his overhanging cap, his voice colder than I ever remembered hearing it before. Yet I managed to control the panicked urge to leap out of my chair and bolt towards the basement door, instead drawing in a short breath while I stared back at him in alarm, knowing perfectly well that he was showing the side of his personality that had always terrified me in past years.
'G-GameBoo Advance has spoken about you... quite frequently.' I forced the words out through my frozen throat, choking a little when I saw Waluigi's expression instantly darken like a cloud covering up the sun. 'He's warned me about talking to you many times before, a-and... after I spoke to you during that thunderstorm... he told me that I shouldn't visit you anymore because I was putting myself in great danger. He said that I can't trust you, and that you're a cheater and a villain and... many other things.'
He let out his breath slowly, as though trying to control his temper; when I looked back at him, I was relieved to see that he was no longer angry. If he was, he did not allow me to see any of it, for his eyes were expressionless as usual. While I waited for him to say something in response to my previous words – knowing from past experience that he probably wouldn't answer for some time – my gaze began to wander around the dark room.
Most of the pitch-blackness that normally dominated the basement, seeping under the doors and through cracks in broken windows, flooding the entire mansion with the dark of night, had been swallowed by the bright beam from Waluigi's flashlight. It was now lying on a small wooden table a few feet away, long since forgotten about but still faithfully illuminating the room with its yellow light. With nothing else to do until my cousin chose to continue speaking, I fixed my gaze on the flashlight instead of letting it drift around aimlessly. Immediately, I saw that the object was actually dark purple, rather than jet-black as I had assumed it was before this moment; it also had Waluigi's reversed 'L' symbol painted messily on one side of the handle. Did it belong to him, or had he somehow constructed it during his long days and nights spent down here in the basement?
It didn't take very long for me to grow bored of examining the black flashlight, and I cast my eyes around for something else to look at while I waited for our conversation to restart. A few seconds later, my gaze fell on my cousin's hands, which were interlaced loosely as they rested on his lap, showing his distinctive symbol on the backs of his gloves. Suddenly – and without my volition – I was fascinated by them.
Waluigi was evidently still thinking hard about something, but when I glanced up at him, he looked almost as though he was in the middle of having a flashback – and it didn't look like a pleasant one, either. I restrained my urge to question him and instead waited patiently for him to start talking to me again; a second later I realised that it might be a while before this happened, so I returned my gaze to where it had been resting a moment ago.
His gloved hands were far more interesting to examine than the motionless, lifeless flashlight I had been looking at before, and I discovered this fairly quickly. He had unusually long fingers, nearly twice as long as mine – I had never seen any human with fingers like that. I supposed that it made sense, considering he was also much taller than most other people, but it still transfixed me for a good while.
I also noticed within a short space of time that, as he was thinking, he was unconsciously scratching his right hand with his left; I followed his slight movement with interest, wondering exactly what he was thinking about now.
Then, all of a sudden, his eyes snapped back to meet mine with that familiar coldness in his glare again, causing me to involuntarily jump backwards without leaving the seat of my chair, which I was still sitting stiffly in. Then his dark expression changed a little, and he appeared less menacing and ominous, allowing me to meet his gaze without feeling that old fear rising to the front of my mind. 'If you plan on rescuing your brother,' he said slowly, 'you had better start working on it now, before GameBoo Advance stops you.'
My wide, frightened eyes showed him exactly what I was thinking then; there was nothing I could do to conceal the uneasiness I felt upon hearing his cold words. 'Wh-what do you m-mean? What's he g-going to do to stop me?'
Waluigi did not glare at me as I expected, but he leaned forwards slightly in his chair, as though trying to tell me something terribly urgent without speaking. 'Because,' he said, his tone more ominous than ever before, 'GameBoo Advance is not your friend nor your ally. He has been tricking you ever since you first met with him, using his prediction ability to see everything in your future. He hasn't been preparing you for what's coming up ahead; he's been anticipating your actions so he can find out the best way to stop your plans... dead in their tracks.'
I had no answer to this. His mood darkened instantly as though he expected me to deny everything he had said, and he stood up to his full height, towering almost four feet above me, his eyes glaring down at me like a vicious, black-clouded thunderstorm, more savage that the gaze of a hunting wolf. 'Don't pretend it's not true,' he snarled, taking a single long stride forwards so he was standing directly over me; I remained sitting down, and my fear was obvious no matter how much effort I put into disguising it. 'That ghost has never been on your side! He's the betrayer, not me, and I can tell you that better than anyone else can.'
I slowly stood up, shaking horribly out of pure terror, yet I was still determined not to let my older, more intimidating cousin push me around as though I was worthless and stupid. Unfortunately, standing up made little difference, for he was still at least two feet taller than I was even when I stood on my toes. 'I believe you,' I replied, for once not stammering at all. 'GameBoo Advance doesn't seem trustworthy to me, but why should you be any different?'
He stopped, glaring at me with the same hatred I remembered seeing in his eyes whenever he confronted me in the past; that fierce disgust and loathing was graven forever into my mind and memory. Yet I remained defiant and stood up to him, just as I had always wanted but had been too frightened to do, my own glare matching his.
'We've never been friends, even though we are cousins, so why should you want to help me now? What's changed between our families since we both ended up in this mansion? I still need your help no matter what, but first, give me a good reason why I ought to trust you at all.'
Our eyes locked, determined and furious, wide and narrowed, blue and grey.
Then – with a movement that filled me with an overwhelming mixture of bewilderment and stunned relief – Waluigi backed down, stepping away from me, so we were no longer standing almost toe-to-toe. He lowered his head briefly so I could not see his face, and for a brief, confusing moment, I thought he was ashamed of himself for losing his temper with me. But when he jerked back up seconds later to look at me directly, he seemed anything but repentant. I stared back, unable to comprehend what was going through his mind anymore, and barely even understanding my own thoughts.
'You don't know what GameBoo Advance has done before,' he said softly, his voice far quieter and more composed than I had been expecting, even though his expression was almost twisted with a mixture of unidentifiable emotions. 'I might not know exactly who's responsible for your brother's disappearance, but I can bet it was that ghost. He has more power than anyone else in this mansion, including us. He's a master at concealing his true intentions, and his ability to see the future is only one of the things he can do.'
While I waited silently for him to continue, he cleared his throat loudly and, when he next spoke, his tone was quieter and rougher than before – as though speaking was almost painful, but he was forcing the words out anyway. 'GameBoo Advance is at least a hundred years old, and his whole life has been full of lies and deception. He hasn't always lived here at the mansion, either – he's been all over the Mushroom World during his time, and the things he's done are all evil. And he somehow manages to keep convincing everyone that he's not part of the dark side, through all those decades, without anyone suspecting him at all...'
He hesitated for a few seconds, staring down at me as though trying to decide whether or not to tell me more on the subject. My eyes strayed downwards during this small, concerned pause and as I stared at his pale-gloved, long-fingered hands revealed, yet again, that he was unconsciously scratching his left one, closer to the wrist. I could not see anything beneath either his white, L-marked glove or his dark purple sleeve, and I wondered what was bothering him. If there was a reason for his strange action, he seemed to have not been aware of it.
He looked down at me from his enormous height, his eyes no longer blank and shadowed by his cap, but alive with regret, frustration and many other emotions I couldn't even begin to identify, let alone understand. At that same moment, everything bad he had ever done to me or Mario seemed to fade away into nothingness, becoming less and less important until I no longer cared about his supposed evil. For the first time, I allowed my mind to forget the crimes and thievery he had committed, even if it was just for a minute, and I at last saw him as my cousin and part of my family, instead of the villain he was meant to be. I swallowed thickly and, without breaking eye contact with him – even momentarily – nodded my head in acceptance.
However, I could not stop myself thinking one thing; was he trying to deceive me just like GameBoo Advance seemed to have done, or was he really on my side? I could not find a sensible answer to that question, because nothing made sense to me anymore – I was torn between two opposing forces, and either one of them could lead me closer to my brother, or push me away from him forever.