By the time Luigi emerged into the Mushroom Kingdom, the sun had begun to set and the surrounding area was bathed in both shadows and amber light. Clambering his way out the pipe proved to be quite difficult. The exit on this side was in an even greater state of disrepair, and Luigi had to be careful not to cut himself on any of the pipe's crumbling rusted metal.

When his two feet were finally safely planted on the ground, he exhaled a huge sigh of relief. He was home.

Or at least a little closer to home.

All around the pipe, there were small rolling green hills varying from shoulder to hip height. Luigi chuckled, amused. At some point, the entrance to Bowser's Kingdom would've been very well camouflaged, but time had made it stick out like a very dark orange sore thumb.

Satisfied with his sightseeing, Luigi clapped his hands together.

"Alright. Let's-a-go."

For the most part, the walk through the hills was pleasant. There weren't too many, so Luigi found himself on a level dirt path before he got too tired of the scenery. While he hadn't been to this part of the kingdom very often, he had a good general idea of the locale and started in the direction he knew the castle was in.

Trying to keep his mind off the pitiful condition of some of the infrastructure he was now passing was difficult. No matter how much he begged himself not to draw comparisons, he felt his thoughts inevitably wander back to his walk through Bowser's kingdom.

Once upon a time it had been easy to ignore how much the Mushroom Kingdom seemed to be slowly falling apart at the seams. Luigi rarely left the castle and its surrounding areas, so he had all but forgotten how bad everything looked out here.

Guilt crept up his back as he passed abandoned buildings, bus stops and storefronts. Had the installation of showy frippery in the castle and on the grounds been foregone, these places might've still been up and functional today, housing subjects and markets.

Luigi wondered if this whole business with getting fake kidnapped was really holding up as well as Peach apparently thought it was.

By the time he'd completed the trek back to the Mushroom Castle, it was almost completely dark. Thankfully, the lanterns along the path to the entrance had already been lit, so Luigi was able to enjoy a small ruminating walk before announcing his return.

Even though he couldn't see it very well in the dark, he knew the castle stood tall in front of him, immaculate and well cared for. Maybe he'd try to put in some suggestions with Peach. Surely, she wouldn't have a problem with redirecting some funds, right? He could even volunteer to help pick up the slack.

After what felt like only a few seconds, Luigi found himself in front of the huge castle doors. His fist hovered above them for a little bit, before he sighed and knocked on them.

The guard toads barely had a chance to pull on the front doors before Mario had flung them open.

"Luigi, where've you been!?"

"I uh…"

"Where'd you get this stuff?" He was pointing at Luigi's clothes.

"Where's the uh, y'know?" Mario was now making flowing hand gestures by his head and his sides, miming a wig and a dress.

Right. He'd completely forgotten what he was going to say to cover his vacancy.

Luigi cast a nervous look at the guard Toads, who appeared a little curious, but otherwise unfazed. Mario acting strange was a daily occurrence in the Mushroom Castle.

"It's uh. It's a long story."

Sensing that Luigi was made uncomfortable by their company, Mario shooed the guards away.

"Don't worry, I'll keep watch for now. You boys go take a breather and be back in fifteen."

Not needing to be told twice to get an extra break, the toads wandered off, shooting the occasional glance back at the brothers and whispering below their breaths.

When they had rounded the corner and were out of earshot, Mario held his hands out expectantly.

"So? What happened? You look awful. Where's the dress? The shoes?"

"I-"

Luigi felt like he was about to explode. Like everything he had learned was about to shoot out of him at Mach speed and punch a hole through the wall. He felt like he was caught in an earthquake the way he was shaking so badly.

"Earth to Luigi? Hello!?"

"I fell in the river."

It had come out naturally. In an instant. He had meant to say it.

Mario was leaning forwards in disbelief, his hands on his hips.

"You what?"

"I fell in the river!" He repeated a little louder.

"And you were gone all day. Because you fell in the river."

"Yes, Mario. Because I fell in the river! Because I got dragged downstream!" Luigi was shouting now and frantically motioning with his hands.

"Do you know how hard it is to swim in heels Mario!?"

"B-but the dress?"

"Oh, I don't know?! Maybe it fell off while I was busy DROWNING!"

Mario had taken a few incredulous steps backwards. Luigi practically had steam coming out of his ears. While he was already taller than Mario, he felt like he was towering several feet above him now.

"Listen, I-I'm sorry, Luigi. I should've gone looking for you. We never should've done this…" Mario trailed off, avoiding his brother's fiery stare.

"I'll tell Peach I lost her stuff or something. Uh. Don't worry about it. Sorry. I'll see you tomorrow."

Mario shoved his hands down his pockets, turned around and made his way down the hall in the direction the guard toads had gone. All without looking back at Luigi.

Luigi stood there for a bit, triumphantly, watching until Mario rounded the corner. He rarely got the upper hand in arguments with his brother. He did feel a little bad. It was a lie after all. Well, sort of. Luigi really had felt like he was drowning during various points of the day. And it's not like Mario hadn't gotten him into worse danger before.

Whatever, the argument needed to be put out of his mind for now. If he endured any more stress today, he might have a heart attack. So, he made his way down the opposite hall in the direction of the library. It was still too early to go to bed, so Luigi would try to relax and work in a few chapters before it was time to hit the hay.

On his way there, he passed Toadsworth again, who cheerfully greeted him, but not before casting an odd glance at his getup.

"Good evening, Master Luigi! Off to do some light reading I suppose?"

"That's right, Toadsworth. Good evening to you as well."

"Yes, yes. Do enjoy yourself!"

They both continued on their way.

Luigi passed a few more people who all greeted him as if nothing had happened.

It seemed like most of the castle's residents hadn't noticed he was gone. It made sense. He usually kept to himself in the library or on strolls through the grounds. If they couldn't find him in one place, they just expected him to be in the other.

As he approached the door to the library, he felt his body let go of tension he hadn't realised he'd been carrying. Tentatively, almost as if worrying something else would go wrong, Luigi slowly pushed the door. And what he saw inside…

Was exactly what he wanted to see.

Finally, he was back. The cracked leather, the fat novel, the fireplace. He was grateful to see that somebody had tended the fire while he was gone. It was all so familiar. Exactly how he'd left it, as if he'd never crossed the doorway out. Strolling over to his seat, he picked up his book and started to lower himself into his throne when he felt a sudden sharp pain in his backside. Jumping, he dropped his cargo and shot his hand into his back pocket.

Right.

Seems like the universe wouldn't let him forget about his unpleasant adventure just yet.

The old key Bowser had pushed into his hands had stayed forgotten up until now. He held it out to the firelight and sighed. This was the only proof he had of his outing. Apart, of course, from the grubby clothes he'd been sent back in.

It was only a key, but it felt powerful to hold. This was an option. An option only Luigi knew about and only Luigi was in control of. What a foreign feeling.

Quickly, he pulled open the drawer in his side table, dropped the key inside and shut it.

He stood around awkwardly for a bit before finally squashing into his chair, the familiar sound of old leather enveloping him. Reaching down, he picked up the book he'd dropped, cracked its spine where he'd left off and kicked his feet up.

Halfway through his chapter, he was interrupted by ruckus.

The familiar sounds of fighting.

Maybe he would accept Bowser's offer to come over sometime. On his own terms.

As Mario and Peach's bickering filled the castle once more, Luigi made his final decision.

Let them figure it out.

Chapter 5 Notes

It's over! And it almost took me a whole year to write. A little embarrassing, but now I can finally say I have a fully completed story under my belt. This was a lot of fun and I'm proud that I was able to keep my promise to myself. I feel like this will help me take on bigger projects more confidently now.

There may be a sequel to this at some point as I'm not completely ready to leave this idea behind, but for now I'll be concentrating on other projects.

Thank you for reading!