Chapter 19
19A - Making Amends
The time is now 8:30 PM. Upon reaching the castle's front yard, Jim and Luigi saw a giant bubble encasing the whole castle, which lowered slowly to ground level.
"What happened to the castle?" Jim asked.
"I think the Star Spirits saved us," Luigi replied. "Do you still have the Star Rod?" Jim took out the Star Rod and nodded his head yes. Three minutes later, Mario and Peach exited the foyer and approached Jim and Luigi.
"Sorry about that," Peach said. "Me and Mario wanted a moment by ourselves."
"I know," Jim responded. "You two were made for each other." Everyone laughed for a couple seconds before all seven Star Spirits and Twink approached them.
"I think you're looking for this, sir," Jim said to Eldstar before giving the Star Rod to him.
"Oh, thank you so much, kid!" Eldstar thanked Jim. "Who are you, though?"
"I'm Jim Heeding, Mario and Luigi's best friend."
"Very pleasant to meet you, Mr. Heeding. And to Mario and Luigi, many thanks to you too! You brought back our precious Star Rod!"
"It took us ages, Eldstar," Mario said. "But it was worth it."
"It sure was, Mario. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. We will use it to bring peace back to this world," Eldstar stated.
"Now we'll be able to grant everyone's wishes again! All of this is thanks to you, Mario, Luigi, and Jim!" Mamar added in.
"When you look at the night sky, you'll know that the glittering stars are praising you for your courage," Skolar explained. "Look upon their bright light and remember our thanks!"
"You really took it to Bowser, Mario and company! Really socked it to him! What impressive strength!" Muskular said with joy. "I knew you could do it!"
"Listen... Don't think we don't know how hard you worked for all of us," Misstar chimed in. "It must have been difficult. We won't forget your efforts."
"I hope Bowser learned something from all this. Maybe he'll behave himself now..." Klevar wondered out loud. "Although I'd say the chances of that are pretty slim."
"Most likely," Luigi responded.
"No words can express completely how thankful we are for all that you've done. Hope has returned, both to the Star Road and to all the Mushroom Kingdom. We're in your debt, Mario and company," Kalmar said.
"How are the prisoners, Eldstar?" Mario asked.
"All of them are in good hands," Eldstar replied. "We made sure they were safe and sound."
"Brilliant."
Eldstar turned to Twink and said, "And Twink, may I say...you really rose to the occasion! You've proven yourself to be a grown-up Star!"
"Teeheehee... Aw, go on..." Twink giggled.
"Well... I think it's time we returned to the Star Road. All of the stars are waiting for us there, no doubt." Eldstar said. "The former prisoners will go back to their homes once we return."
"It is time to say good-bye for now, Mario and company!" Eldstar bid the group goodbye. "May the stars forever shine brightly upon you!" All seven Star Spirits flew away to the Star Road, but Twink stayed behind.
"Well, go on, Twink. The Stars need you," Mario urged Twink.
"Not yet, Mario," Twink said. "I'd like to thank you and Luigi."
"Uh, how about me?" Jim butted in. "I helped defeat Bowser with them."
"Sorry, Jim," Twink apologized. "Thank you for helping us out in the end." Twink turned to Princess Peach. "And Princess Peach... It was an honor to help you in your time of need. I hope...maybe...to see you again sometime... For now, I'm going to become a respectable Star and make people's wishes come true!"
"Thank you so much for helping me, Twink. You've always been a stellar friend to me!" Peach thanked Twink with glee.
"Any time, Princess Peach," Twink replied. "Next time you make a wish, remember how I was there for you. And I'll continue to do so for the rest of my life." Twink began to fly off before turning to the group one more time. "Thank you very much, everybody! I'll always remember you!" He then flew off to the Star Road, leaving Mario, Luigi, Jim, and Peach by themselves.
"Well, thank God it's over," Jim sighed. Suddenly, he saw Mario walk off slowly with his head hung toward the ground. "Mario? Where are you going?"
"Luigi... Jim... Come over here..." Mario said, beckoning Luigi and Jim to walk with him to the bottom left of the yard.
"We'll be right back, Princess Peach," Jim said before catching up with Mario and Luigi. For now, Peach kneeled and stared at the night sky while her castle continued to lower.
"What's wrong this time?" Jim asked Luigi, remembering what happened after Bowser was defeated in Dinosaur Land.
"You'll see," Luigi replied before Mario stopped them from going further. He was beginning to tear up.
"Um... L-Luigi... J-Jim..." Mario trembled. "C-Can we...s-sit down...?"
"Sure," Luigi responded before he and Jim sat in front of Mario.
"B-before you...s-start s-speaking... L-let me d-do...all th-the talking..." Mario started. "I... I f-fudged up... A-again..."
"You can't say that-"
But Mario interrupted Luigi while pointing his finger at him. "D-don't... I m-mean i-it..."
"Sorry," Luigi apologized.
"I-If you're...g-gonna t-tell me...th-that n-nothing h-happened...y-you're l-lying...!" Mario cried. He wasn't sobbing yet but was on the verge of it. "I... I c-caused a-all this...! Y-you...d-didn't do...a-anything...! I-I did...! Y-you were...r-right a-after...we l-left Jim, Luigi...!"
"I b-broke...too m-much crap... I s-scared e-everyone...a-around me... I d-disrespected th-those who...w-were nice..." Mario went on; his tears started to flow even more. "I p-pushed y-you both...a-away f-from...m-me...!"
"Don't hug him yet, Luigi," Jim whispered to Luigi. "Let him finish."
"Okay."
"I-I d-deserved t-to be...ch-chewed o-out...b-by you, b-bro...! And... A-and y-you sh-should've...r-ripped my c-cap a-apart before...y-you ran a-away...!"
"Why would I do that, Mario?" Luigi asked. "I told you your cap matters so much to all of us and your fans." But Mario didn't listen and took his cap off with the intention of throwing it overboard.
"NO! DON'T THROW IT!" Jim and Luigi yelled, but Mario threw the cap anyway. It ricocheted off the large bubble and landed several feet behind Jim. Upon seeing his cap bounce off the bubble, Mario collapsed on his stomach and started sobbing so hard, prompting Luigi to crawl toward him.
"Mario. Mario," Luigi said softly, reaching his hand toward Mario's shoulder. "Please."
"P-please w-what...?!" Mario cried. "P-pick up...m-my ch-childish a-and s-stupid...cap?!"
"It's not stupid, bro. I wasn't thinking when I threw your cap. I was just angry that you attacked Jim."
"Th-that's wh-what...I-I was a-about...t-to s-say...n-next...!" Mario lifted his head up but stayed on the ground. Meanwhile, Jim picked up Mario's cap and took it to him.
"Here, Mario," Jim said, handing the cap to Mario. But he slapped the cap out of Jim's hand.
"NO! I DON'T WANT IT!" Mario yelled, scaring Jim a bit.
"Mario, chill out."
"It's not gonna help, Jim," Luigi said. "Can you leave me and Mario alone for a bit?"
While Jim walked away a short distance, Luigi turned to Mario, who lowered his head to the ground again.
"Easy, Mario. Breathe," Luigi coaxed Mario.
"C-can y-you...s-stop b-being th-the...big b-brother?!" Mario demanded. "Y-you s-said...y-you didn't...w-want to...h-help me a-anymore...!"
"Mario, I DO want to help you. I swear none of what I yelled was true." But Mario still didn't listen to Luigi.
"Please, Mario? I know I was born after you, but we sometimes got to do a role reversal in case," Luigi said.
"I-I'm s-sorry...I m-made y-you...y-yell at m-me...!" Mario wailed. "It... I-it w-was... I..."
"Oh, Mario. Come here." Luigi picked Mario up and hugged him. "You didn't deserve to be yelled at. I promise I'll be nice and act like a big brother for you no matter what." While Luigi hugged Mario, Mario started shaking a bit.
"B-but... B-but y-you..."
"Shh," Luigi shushed Mario. "It's okay."
"H-how...is i-it...o-okay?!"
"I know it isn't, Mario. I know." Luigi held on to Mario for another minute before laying him on his back.
"I'm so sorry I yelled at you," Luigi said. "But you know that you shouldn't have punched Jim in the eye."
"I-I kn-know..." Mario moaned. "C-can I...s-see h-him...?"
"He's coming over." Luigi turned to Jim and called out, "Hey, buddy! Mario wants you!" Within a few seconds, Jim ran up to Mario and saw him lying down.
"Is he okay?" Jim asked.
"No," Luigi replied. "But Mario wants to tell you something." Jim kneeled next to Mario.
"What is it?"
"J-Jim... I-I'm s-sorry...for p-punching y-you..." Mario whimpered. "I-I sh-should've...l-left you a-alone...!"
"It's okay, Mario. I understand what you intended to do even though it wasn't the right way," Jim replied. "If it makes you feel any better, how about I tell you why I went insane?"
"O-okay..."
"All right. Here I go," Jim started. "Right after me and Mr. Toadsworth were locked up, I started imagining myself being freed and going back home after, like, a week. But I know it didn't take that long. I was exaggerating. Anyway, I was worried about missing out on my first day of my senior year and my parents had high expectations for me, given that I wanted to make straight A's."
"It got to the point where I wanted to talk to someone else, so I tried calling you and Luigi multiple times, but there was obviously no service in the dungeon," Jim chuckled, having remembered his calls failing to go through.
"S-stop...l-laughing..." Mario whined.
"Sorry," Jim apologized and stopped laughing. "But seriously, there was no service in there. That got me so ticked that I busted my phone and I had nobody but Mr. Toadsworth and his friends. And that was the last thing I remembered because Mr. Toadsworth told me that was when I started losing it."
"I was talking to myself, saying some weird stuff, and I was smirking at everyone for no reason," Jim went on. "And I even started calling myself Mij." Jim started to laugh again but forced himself not to. "I'm so sorry. This should not be funny. Anyway, I was like this for, like, a day or so before I found myself yelling at a mirror."
"And for some reason, I pulled that mirror off the wall and hit my head on the floor, which made me start talking like other people such as my seven-year-old self and even you, Mario."
Suddenly, Mario started crying again, thinking Jim was insulting him. Jim leaned toward Mario and laid his hand on his shoulder.
"Mario, I didn't mean to upset you. It's all true. I mean it." Jim resumed his story after sitting back up.
"So, yeah. I was talking like crazy before I busted the mirror too and I crashed into the wall before I fell asleep. As soon as I woke up, I was laughing constantly and telling jokes nonstop. Obviously, no one was laughing because they knew I was insane. And that laughing persisted until you and Luigi unlocked the cell."
"I get why you slapped and punched me, Mario. You wanted me to snap out of it," Jim continued. "But you telling me I insulted your parents and Princess Peach, I didn't know I said that either. I'll be honest: I would NEVER intentionally or accidentally say that there's no one to support you. We all love you, Mario."
"I know it sounds awkward for me to thank you for making me normal again, but I got to," Jim went on. "Like I said, something took me over for the last three days and I had no idea what was going on. Mr. Toadsworth said the reason why I lost my mind was because of all the stress about being grounded for who knows how long. And I've been grounded many times in the last few years, which also haunted me while I was locked up. But I'm okay now, and that's all that matters."
"W-why...a-aren't y-you...c-crying...?" Mario moaned.
"I'm being mature, Mario," Jim replied. "I know it's so hard for you, but it's way different for me. Part of being a man is to act casual about your mistakes rather than make a big deal out of it. But I'm not making you do what I'm doing, okay?"
"O-okay..."
"I'm sorry I pushed you and Luigi away," Jim apologized before holding his arms out, prompting Mario to hug him; Mario cried a bit harder.
"I-I'm...s-sorry...too..." Mario cried.
"Can I come in?" Luigi asked before he hugged Jim and Mario.
"I love you guys," Jim said.
"I-I...l-love you too...J-Jim..." Mario replied between sobs.
"Me too, buddy," Luigi added in. The three of them sat together for the next half hour while Peach's castle finally settled in place where it originally sat; the bubble surrounding the castle disappeared after the castle stopped moving.
Peach didn't want to ruin the heart-to-heart moment between Mario, Luigi, and Jim, so she walked back inside to her bedroom. Because Mario felt too weak to stand back up, Luigi carried Mario back to Mario's Pad with Jim following them. After they arrived at the pad, Jim stopped just short of the steps leading to the front door.
"I'll be right out," Luigi whispered before going inside to tuck Mario into bed. Ten minutes later, Luigi walked back outside. "Thanks again for everything, Jim."
"You're welcome, Luigi," Jim replied, shaking hands with Luigi. "But this is the most I've seen Mario cry in my life. I remember when he cried about laughing at you after that explosion, but tonight... Well... I guess there was a lot more going on."
"There was. I would tell you more, but it's getting late," Luigi said.
"Yeah. I should probably go home."
"Good idea. I'll talk to you soon, Jim."
"See ya," Jim bid Luigi good night before walking to the back of Mario's Pad where a Terebikko console was stationed. He picked up the phone and pressed the blue 3 button. He then disappeared in a split-second white flash, indicating that he was going back to his home in Austin, Texas.
