Chapter 1

"Luigi?"

He shook himself awake. Tried to recognize the voice. Where was he, anyway?

An empty beer bottle. A greasy surface. The bar... it was just the bar. He must have passed out or something. Or fallen asleep, considering the circumstances.

"Luigi, is that you?"

"Mm." He looked up. His boss stood there with a condescending face. Guilt struck him.

"You didn't..."

"Yeah, I fell asleep." Luigi's voice came out muffled.

Silence.

"... You... you didn't let some idiot come and take the tip jar, did you?"

He glanced toward the jar. Half-empty. Or half-full.

That was what Mario would have said...

Why? Why did he think about his brother at a time like this? He would never see his brother again. He had to face the truth.

"Uh, no."

His boss nodded. "You going to work the day shift, too?"

No. No, he wasn't. He wasn't going to be wasting his life - what was left of it, anyway - in this misery, this emptiness. He wasn't going to spend the rest of his life in a bar. He wanted to lash out at his boss, curse him for taking away the life he once lived, the glory days, the days spent by his brother's side... he would stand up and step out into a world of opportunity... a world of eternal happiness... a world where everything was going to be okay... Mushr...

"... Yeah, I will."

With a slight affirmative glance in his direction, his boss sauntered out, satisfied that he had such a dependable employee. And Luigi sat among the piles of beer cans, took his head in his hands, and cried.