"The two shades of green."

Chapter 1

"Save the princess."

Luigi cursed under his breath as he limped towards the edge of the cliff his brother and princess Peach were currently standing at, yelling for him to hurry up.

The poor green plumber had his right leg badly broken after a high jump and an unfortunate landing.

When he finally reached the peak he realized that the only way out of this situation was to jump over to the other side.

Bowser and his koopa army were getting closer every minute.

"Okay." Mario said in a confident tone. "I'll jump first. Then Peach. Then Luigi."

The younger Marion brother swallowed the limp in his throat. "Mario I can't-"

"Yes you can!" The older brother placed a red clad hand on Luigi's shoulder cutting him of mind sentence. "I believe in you bro."

Luigi smiled sadly feeling the reassuring squeeze on his shoulder.

Mario smiled back brightly then did his infamous jump.

"Mario wait! You don't understand! I-" This time the green clad plumber was cut off by Bowser's angry yell a couple of meter's behind him and the princess.

"Come on Peach!" The elder plumber yelled from the other side. "I'll catch you!" He assured looking the scared princess in the eye.

"I…I don't think I can…" The leader of the mushroom kingdom whispered her baby blue eyes looking at the endless space beneath the cliff. Suddenly she felt a warm hand quizzed her shoulder. She turned around to see Luigi smiling brightly at her.

"Don't worry." He said softly, despite the fact that his leg hurt like a bitch. "Just close your eyes and jump. Mario will catch you. I promise." He unlike anyone in the kingdom knew what it was like to be afraid of heights. Hell, for the first couple of adventures he had to close his eyes and pray he didn't land on a spiked koopa's shell whenever he made his jump. Of course being one of the two most famous jumpers quickly helped him overcome this fear, but that didn't mean he forgot what it was like experiencing it.

Still unsure Peach looked into the younger Mario brother's bright blue eyes. They were sparkling with confidents for both his brother's ability to save the young ruler and her strength in overcoming her phobia.

She smiled back at him. How could she not trust those innocent, sapphire blue eyes? "Thank you Luigi." Peach quizzed the plumbers hand back. "I needed that."

"Any time. Now go." He urged looking over his shoulder on the incoming lizard army, worriedly.

Nodding the proud princess of the legendary Mushroom Kingdom turned to face the cliff, closed her eyes, inhaled a deep breath and jumped.

Luigi watched as Mario with one swift movement caught Peach's hand, and just when he was about to pull her up Bowser reached the peak of the cliff.

"Die green mustache!" The koopa king yelled swinging his clawed paw at the younger plumber.

Luigi barely missed the assault by jumping back a bit.

"Yikes!" He screamed as he nearly fell, balancing on his good foot, with the injured one in the air.

"LUIGI! LEAVE HIM ALONE BOWSER!" Both Mario and Peach couldn't stand the fact that their friend was in danger and they could do nothing about it, because they themselves were still dandling from the cliff.

But the evil king only smiled seeing the despair on his worst enemy's face and sliced the air directly from above the poor plumber's head making him go closer to the edge to avoid it.

"Luigi you have to jump!" The red clad man yelled still struggling to pull up Peach's slightly smaller form up to safety.

"But-" The younger tried to protest but his older brother was having none of it, as he cut him of once again.

"NOW!"

Luigi had no choice but to jump. Risking his life he turned his back to the koopa king and eyed the distance between him and his two friends.

10 feet.

Normally that distance was nothing. He could beat it in his sleep.

Normally.

But now he had a bad case of a broken leg that, to make things worse, was also his stronger one.

The very one that bounced him off the ground when he jumped.

Despite already knowing how his action is going to end, he slowly let his right leg take a bit of his weight from his left one.

Immediately sharp pain shot from the wound making him hiss.

There was no way the leg would hold his weight on its own, let alone bounce him up 6 feet in the air. He may be no Toadsworth but he knew when a leg was out of commission.

Again the green plumber cursed his bad luck, then seeing no other option stepped back a couple of half-steps for the jump.

Bowser was about to strike again, but before the claws hit their marks the younger Mario brother was already jumping.

On his bad leg.

The jump wasn't strong enough and if Mario didn't catch him before he could fall any further Luigi would be a plumber pancake now.

"What the hell was that Luigi?!" The red clad plumber yelled angrily.

"Sorry…" Luigi grunted through gritted teeth, trying his best not to cry out in pain. God his leg hurt so badly.

"That was probably the worst excuse of a jump you EVER made!" The red clad hero continued to yell even though he saw his baby brother's face twist in pain.

"Mario my right leg is broken!" Luigi screamed while trying to push himself up from the sharp edges of the cliff with his good leg.

"WHAT?!" Both Mario and Peach were shocked hearing the news.

"I tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen!" The older plumber was about to respond but Bowser's evil laugh made him look up at the koopa, with anger burning in his blue eyes.

"Looks like you're in a tight spot now huh Mario?" Bowser laughed his black heart out. "Even you can't hold on to them forever Mario." He grinned at the hero's glare. "You have to choose who gets the "pull up" and who gets the "fall down."

The red colored plumber swallowed a lump in his throat.

This wasn't supposed to end like this!

He shouldn't be choosing between the love of his life and his only living relative!

This mission was supposed to end like it always has ended! With Bowser defeated and them safe and sound in the castle eating Peach's delicious cake!

Mario shook his head.

This is wrong! ALL wrong!

"Just let greene go!" The koopa king yelled pulling him out of thought. "He's nothing but a coward anyway! Besides I don't think anybody will notice that he's gone! He's just your overgrown shadow Mario! Nothing more!" That moment the red clad plumber could feel Luigi's grip on his hand weaken.

"Don't you DARE Luigi!" Mario yelled his voice thick with panic, gripping his baby brother's hand tighter.

"Mario he's right! Let go!" The green Mario brother let his hand go limp. "I'm nothing but a poor excuse of a hero and besides the kingdom needs Peach more than it ever needed me!" Luigi was now pulling himself down with his good leg.

"Don't talk like that Weegee!" Mario almost screamed in horror when he felt his little brother's hand slowly slip from his grasp. "None of this is true!" Tears made their way to the hero's bright blue eyes as he pulled back with all his strength.

But Luigi already knew the agonizing truth.

Mario was always destined to save the love of his life Princess Peach.

True, Rosalina said he also was one of the seven star children destined for greatness but he always thought of it as a mistake.

After all, why would he be the ideal host for the vessel for the chaos heart if he was truly meant to be a hero?

With sadness he looked up at his older brother who was desperately trying to save both him and the princess.

Oh Mario you were always the hero of this story. He thought moving his wrist in circles to free it from the older man's grip. I was only a sidekick, a minion, a step to jump on when the cliff is too wide for you to beat alone. He felt his efforts slowly take effect as he pulled harder. Nothing more bro. Nothing more. Being a hero just isn't in my blood Mario, but this world needs one so go on and…

With great effort he managed to make his hand slip through the red plumbers iron grip.

Time slowed down as he watched his brother and best friend (Peach) stumble backwards.

As the cliff drew farther and farther away the fallen hero closed his eyes.

He was ready now.

…save the princess.