"The two shades of green."
Chapter 13
"The eerie darkness in the air…"
As soon as Peach entered the medical room and closed the door behind her, she noticed the hunting darkness that hung in the air. Surrounding everything inside it, cloaking everything it touched in the cold, eerie blackness.
The Princess shuddered.
Darkness is simply an absence of light…the cold nonexistence of goodness, warmth and happiness.
Heroes are supposed to be full of the bright essence…the lighthouses amongst tiny candles…to be able to fight those who lost all strength to be strong and just succumbed into the waiting black for various reasons. History told the young ruler that every villain had a story to tell, one more depressing and heart-wrenching than the other.
For becoming one with the darkness is a lot easier than constantly fighting it.
That's why people needed heroes.
To show that there is an alternative to getting consumed by their problems and turning against everything they ever believed.
To bring hope.
And in Peache's eyes Mario, despite everything said and did to prove her otherwise, never stopped being a hero at heart.
He couldn't be less a hero than a dog could be less an animal. Heroism was flowing deep in his bloodstream, as much a part of him as any other vital organ.
Unless it was cut off, the JumpMan isn't getting rid of his destiny any time soon.
But, the Princess had to ask herself, staring into the empty darkness…if that's indeed true…
Why did he feel more like a part of the room's darkness, rather than an outsider?
Shaking the thought away the pink clad princess hurriedly turned the lights on, not wanting to face the darkness any minute longer.
There was something different about it now…it was suffocating, choking everything with its intensity…as if it was a physical being rather than an absence of light.
And that scared the young princess.
Her life was already black enough. She didn't need more of it getting inside her house, surrounding people close to her.
The shadows fled at the arrival of the softly glowing, yellow lamp. Hiding away in the darkest corners of the large healing room, not wanting the terrible light to extinguish them completely.
Like sly, snake-like monsters that plague the dreams of little children.
It was still there, Peach knew that, but at least it was in smaller amounts than before.
At least now she can breathe without feeling the darkness force its way down her throat, trying desperately to get to her good heart…to mutate, destroy, and vanquish all the light.
Make it its new home…
A soft voice pulled the blonde out of her depressing/surreal thoughts, as the harsh light hit Mario's unprepared pupils.
"Peach?" He asked, his voice sounding strained because of the pain he felt in his crushed ribs. "Is that you?"
"Yes, Mario." She answered, walking over to him and blocking the bothersome light from his eyes, so that he can open them without feeling pain. "It's me."
"Where is he?" The hero asked suddenly, catching the woman off-guard. "He was here a minute ago…how did he leave without me noticing? Didn't hear footsteps…Where did that Bastard go?"
"Mario, what are you talking about?" Peach asked, concern and fear lacing her delicate voice. "There was no one here, since the doctors left. I'm the first one to come visit you."
"You're lieing." He hissed accusingly, glaring at her with those tired, blue orbs of his. "There was a man here. He talked to me, I heard his voice, Grambi I could even feel his breath on my earlobe! He was here with me before you came in."
"Mario there was no one here." Peach stated calmly, gently squeezing the hero's hand with her own. "There couldn't be, your room is one of the most guarded here in the palace, other than friends and family nobody is allowed access to it and they have to possess a special key to do so too." She patted his hand for a minute before continuing. "And the door hasn't been open since Dr. Toadley's last visit."
But the hero just shook his head.
"No, no you're wrong. You have to be." He whispered, his voice sounding more and more ludicrous. "He was here, he wasn't just a fragment of my imagination. Imaginations can't breathe, I know they can't. They aren't real, they don't have to. He did, he breathed. He was here, I have to believe it. I just have to! I-" The ex-hero paused all of the sudden, turning his angry gaze towards the restrains that bid his broken body to the bed.
"What? What is it?" Peach asked following his eyes, worried he's seeing stuff that aren't really there.
Scared that he heard a human talking to him, when there was no one else in the room.
"Why am I strapped to the bed?" Mario's voice was cold and angry, its tone demanding an answer.
"What? Oh. You were struggling too much when the doctor tried to inject your arm with a sedative, to take away the pain. We had to bind you so that you don't hurt yourself any further." She explained with the calmest voice she could master at the moment.
Mario's eyes told her he did not believe a single word she said.
"I don't like when people lie to me, Peach." He said, his voice a growl. "You had no reason to keep me bound after the sedate entered my bloodstream, so I ask again. Why am I strapped to the bed?"
"I'm not lieing to you Mario, I swear!" The princess cried out, honesty in her blue eyes. "That was the only reason we restrained you, I promise!"
After giving his princess a long, hard glare, the hero sighted and moved his head so that he was looking at the ceiling.
"You're afraid of me."
"What?"
"I can see it in your eyes, you fear me."
"Mario you're not making any sense. Why are you asking those questions? You know I could never fear you, you're my dearest friend, my hero. Why would I be afraid of you?"
For a moment Mario just stared at the dotted ceiling, before numbly stating:
"Because the darkness calls for me…"
He then looked deep into her scared eyes.
"And I'm too tired to keep on fighting it."