"The two shades of green."
Chapter 14
"My mask was so good, you never knew I was wearing it."
The two figures never broke eye contact as Mr.L adjusted his body into a more comfortable position. His silver eyes glaring daggers at the professor's spinning glasses, they didn't recognize him.
Another painful reminder that Sonny (it was never 'Luigi' anymore, only 'Sonny') is not among them anymore.
His bright blue eyes rarely looked so empty.
"Who are you?" Elvin Gadd asked, voice hollow and devoid of any hurt he felt inside. Trying desperately to ignore the fact that he was talking to his 'Sonny' as if he was any other stranger met on the bus stop, as if he didn't matter in the slightest…
As if he wasn't the grandson he never hoped to have.
The room filled with empty silence before the split lips smiled nonchalantly at him.
"It depends really..." The voice that left that blood spitting mouth was harsher and deeper than the one he was used to but, considering the fact that the man's vocal cords have been crushed under a heavy rock, it was a miracle he talked at all. "I seem to have a lot of names, a lot of masks to hide behind, hidden up here..." Silver eyes blinked and motions upwards to his head. "One day I am Luigi, the younger unappreciated brother of Mario JumpMan, the next I'm a villain without a past." He sighted and winced at the sound of broken ribs rattling against each other. "It's hard to keep track I must say…when one switch-swatches all the time." His eyes opened. "Who knows who I really am?"
"Liar."
Mr.L chuckled a bit before it turned into a harsh coughing fit.
"How would you know, professor?" The question was asked with a red stained toothy grin.
"I know the person you once were." the elder man said evenly, confident in what he said. He and the boy spent enough time together to be mistaken for grandfather and grandchild. "Sonny is not good at pretending." The boy was the embodiment of 'honesty', he couldn't lie even when he really wanted to. "Tried once. Even the ghosts called him out on it."
"Again I must ask: How would you know?" Mr.L's smile was nearly filled with pity. "You were never inside his head, behind those thick brick walls he built between his audience and the clothing room in his mind-theater." He smiled, black holes seen between bloody teeth. "You saw the character he portrayed…but never the actor behind the plastic face."
Silence answered him.
Elvin Gadd was at a loss of how to answer, the implications of the man's words hitting him like a sledgehammer to the ribs.
Something in the back of his head whispered that there is a 100% chance that what is said is true, that somebody that lived through Sonny's past and had to endure everything he faced before he died, is bound to hide his true self behind carefully created masks, to use this type of defense mechanism…
Because who would actually care enough to check?
Elvin's mind also hissed that he already faced something like this before.
His thought were pointed towards a ghost case he faced a long time ago, early on in his career, before he met Sonny. It was one of the most tiring ones he's ever faced, of a murdered boy who had so many alternate personas that he used daily throughout his short lived life…that even his soul, which separated itself into pieces to fill out the empty masks and scattered across the country, didn't know where the pretend ended and the real child began.
"Pretending to be someone you are not and have people laugh and bare their teeth at the plastic persona you plastered on your face, is a lot less painful than watching them do the same to the real you." Was the answer Elvin was given when he finally managed to reunite the separate parts into a single being with the help of the Poltergeist 101, and asked why he even picked up such a habit.
Blinking away the memory, the knowledgeable professor realized that, even though he knew about all the stories local toads whispered among themselves how Lui-Sonny switched characteristics between the adventures Mario did take him on like a woman does hats, he never thought the person he got to know and care for like a grandchild could also be nothing more than a mask.
Another short laugh, nearly instantly turned into a harsh coughing fit, filled the room with the rattle of broken bones, the exact moment that the infamous Ghost researcher allows the message to sink in.
"Do you know what happens to oneself when you're rendered unconscious?" Mr.L asked nonchalantly as if he was talking about something as simple as a change of weather. "You get pulled inside the deepest part of your own psyche." He spoke calmly, dreamily. "You fall down a long tunnel like the one in 'Alice in Wonderland' and pass all the defenses, all the flashing memories and whispering thoughts that still lingered in your head…and, after that was over, you get dropped to the very core of your own mind." The chains shifted again and realized that most of the man's arms are healed. "That's where I ended up in after half a building fell on my head…inside the mind of your precious prefect little 'Sonny'." He spat the nickname along with a mouthful of fresh blood. The ghost researcher didn't know the human body could contain so much of the iron-tasting liquid, surely the flow had to stop somewhere. "And do you want to know what exactly did I see the minute I landed?"
"You already said what you saw." the professor's words were breathless. "A grand theater…he had a mind-theater in his head."
Mr.L smiled at him in the same pitiful way he did before.
"Wrong." The smile never faltered. "The first thing I saw was my own face, mask and all, covered in dust and imbedded on the wall, with the label: 'my brother's Judas' along with 'never again' attached to it." He paused for a second, still smiling. "Though it was surrounded with countless other faces, the wall went up to infinity all covered in masks and costumes; one was of a doctor labeled: 'Plan B to heroism' and 'use only when jumping is no longer a possibility'…the next was glowing a soft green glow and had its eyes closed as if in sleep, it had a note that said: 'The one time I felt useful' and 'Use when nightmares become too much of a problem'…there was one particular mask that caught my attention."
The ghost researcher swallowed but otherwise didn't say a thing, he knew the chained man will continue his monologue with or without his permission and prompt.
"It was the one that had almost no dust on it." Mr.L's voice sounded better now that his ribs no longer rattled every time he inhaled and exhaled. "Though frequently used it wasn't kept in top condition, the paint was almost blank from overuse but you could clearly make out the presence of green on the cap and brown in the mustache." let out a gasp and the chained man smiled again. "Do you want to know what the labels said this time?"
The inventor of the Poltergeist 5000 didn't want to know, even shook his head in an obvious sign of disagreement, but he was going to find out anyway.
"They said: 'The one people seem to enjoy hating the most'…"
He paused for dramatic effect.
"…'Wear everyday'."
JA107: Hi everyone! *waves hand* Look, Im not dead! Did ya miss me?! I'm terribly sorry for the long wait (also if the chapter doesn't make sense ^^') but I've been engrossed in another awesome franchise, namely the "Sherlock" TV series :3. I hope it doesn't show to much in the fic, since I've read a lot of stories regarding the franchise and I do have a habit of sneaking bits and pieces of what's currently at the front of my mind when I write ^^'. And, if your wondering about the 'characteristics' change I mentioned, I'm serious that's what happens to Luigi in the games! Even Wikipedia says that Nintendo wasn't consistent in portraying Luigi in their games, and you can see it with your own eyes as you play them.
Anyway, have a nice day/night/evening and HAPPY, VERY LATE, NEW YEAR!
This was JulieArchery107, over and out.