COUNT GREEN
Episode 6: Christmas without Green
(SONG: "Time of the Year" - PattyCake Productions)
PEACH: We've waited through the Spring/Summer and Fall/for the most wondrous season of all./Hearts sing with holiday cheer.
PEACH and RITA: It's the most magical time of the year.
RITA: Outside the snow begins/to fall./A very different deck/the halls.
GRACE: Cause on this magic night
RITA: Our hearts unite
GRACE and RITA: beneath a wintery white!
VANESSA: Friends come/together as one.
GRACE: Spreading good cheer to the old and the young.
PEACH: Bells ring/it's finally here!
ALL: It's the most wonderful time of the year./With one/wish on a star/kingdoms rejoice from near and from far./I sing when loved ones are near
PEACH and GRACE: It's the most wonderful
VANESSA, PEACH, and GRACE: It's the most glorious
RITA and PEACH: It's the most magical
ALL: It's the most wondrous time/of the YEAR!
(End of the song)
Peach just finished the last railing of the Gloomy Manor, decorating it for Christmas, as Grace floated around to hang wreaths. Rita was decorating the tree with Mario, while Luigi wasn't really seen much. Peach had noticed this when Vanessa walked on by.
"Hey, Vanessa," She said, getting the older woman's attention. "Where's Luigi?"
"Oh, he's in the living room," Vanessa answered. "He's not really in a Christmas mood."
"Oh, okay," Peach seemed saddened by this as she ruffled up some of the garland. He had been out of it lately and she was getting a little worried for him. He was acting strange, too, always staying up in his room to get away from everyone. It wasn't right. Christmas was always his favorite time of year and to see him so upset and locked up in his room broke her heart.
"Hey," Vanessa said, seeing Peach's saddened mood. "He'll be okay. We'll find the cure and soon enough, next Christmas will be back to normal."
"I sure hope so, Vanessa," Peach said, sighing. "I sure hope so."
The ring of the doorbell stopped the conversation there, making Peach leave what she was doing and head to the front door. She figured it was WaLuigi since he went out to the village library to keep looking for answers and didn't have a key to the place. Heck, she didn't have a key to the manor yet! But either way, someone was usually here, and Evershade Valley was a peaceful place to live. No crime, no nothing.
Unless you count Aurore's werewolf creation.
She grinned as she opened the door, only to have it fall in surprise as a brown-haired woman stood there, in a black and royal blue dress with a silver tiara on her head. Her sapphire eyes held concern as she stared at Peach, a nervous grin on her face.
"Nadia?" Peach asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to help," The girl, Nadia, said. "I heard what happened to Luigi. No one does that to my Fratello and gets away with it."
"I recognize that voice!" Vanessa came into the entrance hall, seeing her niece standing there at the door. "Nadia."
"Hey, Zia," Nadia said as Peach let her into the manor. "How's he doing?"
"Not too good," Peach answered. "He was fine last month, but ever since December started, he's been in his own little world of self-pity."
"You can say that again," Mario said, walking in. "I tried to get him to eat something just now, and he shooed me out-Nadia!"
"Yes, I'm here! We've established this!" Nadia yelled, rolling her eyes afterward. "Now tell me, how can I help?"
Luigi sighed to himself as he looked out the window, staring at the Dark Moon. Memories of fixing it filled his mind, making him shiver at them. Ghosts were always his biggest fear, and though he was friends with one and had a pet ghost dog, he was still pretty scared of them. But, he's gotten better.
After all, getting turned into a vampire is scarier than King Boo.
"Why?" He asked the Dark Moon, saddened. "Why do I have to be so helpless?" He sighed again, leaning against the back of the couch as he propped his elbow on the windowsill. "I wish-" He trailed off for a moment, looking at his hands before back at the Dark Moon. "I wish I was never born. No one would have to worry about uprooting their lives to help me. No one would have to come to my rescue. They'd be better off."
"Luigi," He looked over to see Peach standing there, holding a gold star in her hand with a grin on her face. "It wouldn't be Christmas if one of us didn't put something on the tree." Luigi scoffed with a grin, nodding his head as he stood up and walked over to her. He took the star from her hands and followed her to the Foyer, where the tree was set up.
Though, he noticed someone he was hoping not to see.
"Nadia!?" He yelled in shock, making the girl look at her brother.
"Luigi, hey!" She said with a smile. "Came for Christmas. That okay?"
"How'd you find out?!" He asked as he looked at Grace, already seeming to know that it was her doing.
"Yes, Grace came to Drakaina and told me. I wasn't going to let you do this without me," Nadia answered. "Now, put the star on the tree and we can catch up some."
Luigi sighed as he walked up to the step ladder, carefully climbing on it while holding onto the star. He reached up to the top and put it in place, grinning slightly as he did so. But right after, he lost his balance. Everyone was starting to freak out as he tried to regain his posture, only to fall off the top of the ladder and fall to the floor.
His head bounced off the floor hard before his sight blacked, with the only source of light being the Dark Moon hitting his eyelids.
"LUIGI!"
Luigi's eyes fluttered open after a few moments, making him grab his head out of instinct.
"Ow, my head," He said, sitting up slowly before looking around, immediately taking in his surroundings. "How did I get to the Ghost Mansion in Boo Woods?" He stood up, spinning around the Foyer, before stopping at the covered mirror. He quickly raced up to it and pulled off the sheet, staring at his reflection, something he hadn't seen in quite some time. And the one thing that surprised him besides his reflection…
...his eyes were blue again.
"How am I normal all of a sudden? How did this happen?" He asked surprised.
"You made a wish on the Dark Moon, didn't you?" A voice asked as the reflection of a woman came from around Luigi, grinning at him with a motherly touch. Luigi, seeing this woman, stared in shock before turning around to look at her.
"Mom?"
"Hey, Green Bean," She said. "It's been a while."
"But, you died years ago. How are you here?"
"I'm here to show you what life would be like without you, kiddo," Emma Mario said, giggling afterward. "You made a wish on the Dark Moon. A wish that asked to never have been born. Well-" She gestured to the mansion they were in, showing that it was abandoned and in even worse shape than when he journeyed through it the first time. "-you've got your wish."
"Mom, I don't understand," Luigi stated. "What's happening?"
Emma smiled at him as she waved her hand and made them appear in Toad Town, where Goombas, Koopas, and Hammer Bros ravaged the streets. All the Toads were all cowering in alleys and their homes, afraid for their lives while Peach's Castle looked sinister and dark.
"What happened?!" Luigi yelled in surprise.
"Because you weren't there to help Mario fight Bowser, the big Koopa King won," Emma said.
"Mario always wins. He never loses," Luigi spoke out. "How did he lose?"
"I'll admit, he managed the last few times he fought Bowser, but because you weren't born, he lost the last one."
"But the last battle we fought with Bowser was-" He trailed off when Peach raced past him, with a little girl in her arms. She was escaping from some Koopas as they chased her down the street.
"HEY!" Luigi yelled as he went to shoo some of his powers at the attackers, only to stop short as they never activated. "What? Where are my powers?"
"You were never born," Emma said. "Therefore, you have no powers."
"This can't be real," Luigi exclaimed. "This can't be happening!"
"You made the wish, honey," Emma giggled out.
"But I didn't expect it to come true!" Luigi yelled, thinking of something instantly right after. "What about Nadia, and Zia Nessa?" Emma looked at him with sorrow before swiping her hand in the air and transporting them to a graveyard, showing him two tombstones.
Luigi stared at them, seeing the names of Vanessa Mario and Nadia Mario-Cross. The dates showed that this was recent and that they both died most likely at the same time and on the same day.
"No," He spoke. "They can't be gone."
"Because you were never born, you never turned into a vampire, and therefore, these two didn't need to come and help you," Emma explained.
"How'd they die?" Luigi asked, patting his little sister's tombstone gently.
"They died in a battle that was happening around the time you were in trouble," Emma explained. "It required a couple of dragons and since these two shared that trait, they went off to help."
"Mom?" Luigi looked at his mom, seeing the motherly nature in them as she grinned. "Where's Mario?" Her grin fell at the question, making her sigh with hesitance. She didn't know how to say this to her son. She had no way of telling him. But he asked...so she had to.
So, she took a deep breath before saying: "He's in Evershade Valley." Luigi looked surprised, knowing what this could have meant, as Emma swiped her hand in the air and transported them to Evershade Village, where everything was destroyed.
The village grounds were stained red and stuff from the marketplace was scattered everywhere. People weren't gathering in the village and a sense of fear was in the air. Luigi looked around before seeing his brother leaning against a tree in the shadows. The only thing noticed was the glow of his red eyes.
"Wait...red?" Luigi brought up as he watched Mario wipe his mouth with his white-gloved hand, noticing it to be stained red now. "No."
"Because you weren't born, Luigi," Emma began, "you weren't there to stop the spell from hitting Mario. He turned into a vampire instead and...pushed everyone away."
"He didn't want help?!" Luigi yelled.
"You didn't either when you first became one!" Emma yelled back, shutting Luigi up. "Besides, once he turned into a vampire, he ran away, letting Bowser take Peach."
"That explains why she was running down the street," Luigi sighed in return.
"Peach," He looked at his brother, seeing tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry."
"This can't happen. I need to make this right!" Luigi yelled before finding himself in front of the Ghost Mansion again. He looked around, hoping to find his mom again. "Mom? Mom?!"
The sound of crying made Luigi spin around, only to see Peach sitting on the front steps of the mansion with a little girl in her arms. He could instantly see the short red hair on it, making him almost gag at the thought of who this child's father was.
"Oh, honey, shh," Peach said as she rocked the child a bit. "Don't cry. We're safe now. We lost daddy's goons. It's going to be okay."
"Peach," Luigi said, hoping she'd hear him, but she never did.
"Come on, Bailey! Stop crying! It's okay!" Peach thought for a moment as snow fell down on top of them. She grinned at it, hope in her tired blue eyes. Luigi didn't even notice at first, but he saw rope burns on her wrists, making me stare at her in concern.
"Merry Christmas, Mario," She said before looking at her baby girl.
(SONG: "Holiday from the Heart" - PattyCake Production)
PEACH: Safe in the quiet of moments that passed/lies all the magic we hope that would last./Laughter and smiles that somehow slip away/we find again with loved ones/on every Christmas Day./It's the season of hope/and the season cheer/memories that we cherish and celebrate each year./It's the love that we share/even when we're apart./Cause what keeps us together is a holiday from/the heart.
Luigi stared in sorrow, hearing these words come from Peach to the young girl before her. He wasn't just upset now, but depressed. He made this wish to see what life would have been like if he was never born and seeing that things would look extremely different from his time, he knew it was a mistake.
"Take me home," He said. "Take me back! I want to go back! I want to be with my brother and sister again! I want to see my aunt!" He stopped for a moment, turning to the glow of the Dark Moon. "I want to be a vampire again! Please...take me home!"
The dark moon glowed brighter than it was, shining down on Luigi as his blue eyes went back to red and his body swayed...before he blacked out.
"Luigi! Luigi, wake up!" Luigi's eyes fluttered open, seeing Peach's bright blue ones staring at him with worry. Everyone was behind her, concerned. "Oh, thank God. Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine," He said, sitting up and shaking his head. "I guess I hit my head hard enough to knock me out, huh?"
"You gave us a scare, Lu!" Nadia yelled, kneeling in front of him.
Luigi grinned at his friends and family, knowing that this was indeed why he became a vampire and why he was born in the first place. He was Mario's protector and Peach's best friend (even if that's all they'd ever be). He was meant to be here.
"Guys!" Grace yelled as Peach helped Luigi stand up. "It's snowing outside!" She squealed before flying out of the room, with everyone running through the door onto the front porch, seeing the snow falling to the earth.
EVERYONE: It's the season of hope/and the season of cheer./Memories that we cherish and celebrate each year./It's the love that we share/even when we're apart/cause what keeps us together/is a holiday from/the heart!
LUIGI: Cause what keeps us together/is a holiday from/the heart.
(End of the song)
Hey guys! I'm sorry this took so long to write and publish. I've been busy. I know, I use that excuse all the time, but it's true. I work at a chocolate store and we've been extremely busy with people coming in for Christmas shopping. I've also been getting more hours because of Christmas. So, yeah. It's not an excuse, it's a fact lol.
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter/episode. If you have any ideas of what could happen in future chapters, please let me know and I'll do my best to use them.
I hope you all have a safe Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for reading, God bless and remember: don't just write a story, paint a picture.
Au Revoir!
