Oh boy. I started writing this at 9:44. My usual starting time is 8:00. I have to get up early tomorrow. So...sorry if this chapter drops in quality as my eyelids slowly become slabs of concrete, sliding over my eyes like snails, bringing my consciousness down with them, until I slump down over my keyboard, as if dead.

So, yeah. Sorry if that happelmklkjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj


Canon Fodder

Chapter 28: Plane of Existence

Luigi stood in the middle of the abandoned city. Apparently they called it 'Mossdeep City' because of all the moss growing on the buildings. Luigi couldn't help feeling bothered by this. He had no idea why, however. As he walked the streets, he was nonchalantly greeted by settling Toads. It didn't take very long for business settlers to get here and set up shop. Already, a red building was turned into some kind of an item shop, and a small building with a blue roof became a hotel of sorts. This also bothered Luigi for some reason.

Looking at the red building, he walked inside. The door, although old, was automatic, and it slid open. Looking around, he saw what could've been a sort of...well, he wasn't sure. Maybe a lobby of a hotel? Vines reached down from the roof, touching Luigi with cold tendrils, as if there was some sort of monstrous octopus hiding in the rafters. Some Toads were making use of the counter up front, and were using a machine with six indents to display mushrooms of various sorts. Luigi, seeing that there was a set of stairs, walked up them. The metal clattered under his feet, threatening to collapse at any moment. Luigi decided it'd be safest to stick to the edges of the stairs. At least if the stairs fell through, those would stay solid.

Reaching the second floor, Luigi saw hospital beds lined against the walls. Maybe this was a hospital, he thought, inspecting the beds. He heard the rustle of sheets to his side. He looked, and saw Toadette, making the beds.

"Toadette! I haven't seen you since I got my Ultra Hammer in the Waffle Kingdom!" Luigi exclaimed.

"Oh. Hi, Luigi. How are you these days?" Toadette asked, after finishing the bed she was working on. Her eyes looked tired as they connected with Luigi's.

Luigi struck a pose. "I'm on another adventure! And this time, nobody hates me! At least...I'm pretty sure nobody hates me."

Toadette smiled. "Really? I might be seeing you soon, then. What're you trying to do this time? Another princess to save?"

Luigi shook his head. "Mario's missing again. I'm looking for him."

"Mario's missing, huh? He was just here a while ago..."

"What? Really? Where'd he go?" Luigi exclaimed, hope blended with disappointment in his voice. Was his adventure almost over?

Toadette turned to the other bed that was mussed up and began to strip the covers. "He and the girl he was with were going to Toad Town."

"Th-the girl? What did this girl look like? Did you get her name?" Luigi asked, his heart in his throat.

Toadette put the blanket from the bed into a laundry basket. "Black hair, shoulder length. Brownish skin. Human, like you. No, she never said her name. She was with Mario, though."

"Oh, man. I need to go. Thanks, Toadette!" Luigi said as he ran back to the stairs.

"It's fine. Good luck," she called, a bit wistfully as she put the cover on the hospital bed.

Just before going down the stairs, Luigi stopped. "Hey, Toadette. Do you want to come with me?"

"Yes," she said, almost instantly. However, her body language showed no change to what it was doing before.

Luigi waited at the top of the stairs for her to come running up next to him. She didn't. "Are you coming?"

"...No," she answered, her tone the same melancholy tone it had been since he started talking to her.

Luigi was perplexed. "But I thought you said you wanted to come!"

"I do. But I can't."

"Why not?"

Toadette let go of the blanket and looked straight at Luigi. "I don't exist."

"Sorry, what?" Luigi asked. He must have heard her wrong.

"I don't exist, Luigi. I'm not here right now," she said.

Luigi scrunched up his face, trying to understand what she was telling him. "B-but I'm talking to you right now! How can you not exist if I can see you?"

"I'm a slave, Luigi. I only appear where I'm needed. As soon as you leave this room, I'll blip out of existence until somebody needs a tutorial on a pair of Super Boots," Toadette looked down at the ground.

"You...you can't be serious. Look, I'll leave right now, and come right back, and you'll be here!" Luigi turned around, and began to climb back down the stairs.

"Luigi, please don't!" Toadette pleaded. For the first time since they had started talking, Toadette had broken her calm demeanor. She seemed...desparate. Luigi stopped.

"Please, Luigi. Not yet. Don't go yet. I'm not ready. There's still something I have to do," she said quietly.

Luigi looked at the female Toad, who seemed close to tears. "What's that?"

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodbye, Luigi. See you later," she whispered. Then she went back to a bed and began to fold sheets again.

Luigi, quietly, so quietly and softly, turned around and walked down the stairs. The creaks and clangs of the metal stairs meant nothing to him now. Suddenly, he turned on his heels, and ran up the stairs, bursting into the hospital room.

Toadette was gone.


She doesn't exist. It's hard for me to wrap my head around, Diary. She's...just gone. Flickered out of existence. I feel bad for her. She said she was a slave. That she only appears when she's needed. And I can't imagine that. It sounds...terrible, Diary. Just terrible.

I'm going to look for some Super Boots.


The plane of existence goes NEEEEEERROOOOOOOOWWWW! Hee hee hee...

I am so sleep deprived...