Towards Redemption
"Redemption is something you have to fight for in a very personal, down-dirty way. Some of our characters lose that, some stray from that, and some regain it."
― Joss Whedon
"Sometimes friends make mistakes. Grievous ones that cry out for us to stay and prove we are true friends."
― Beth Bernobich
"When a relationship of love is disrupted, the relationship does not cease. The love continues; therefore, the relationship continues. The work of grief is to reconcile and redeem life to a different love relationship."
― W. Scott Lineberry
"Do you think that maybe I should, y'know, talk to Luigi?"
"I think that would be a good idea."
"Will it erase what's happened between us?"
"No, but it's a good start."
Douglas replayed the talk with Master Hand in his mind. Ever since he was interviewed, he could barely sleep. Had he changed? Was he still considered a jock and a bully? Did Luigi truly forgive him? He'd been in denial for so long. He'd spent seventeen years avoiding the memories of his sins, pretending that they never happened, hoping that they'd just—go away. Out of sight, out of mind. But it didn't work. And what Luigi was going through in the present day—brought back some troubling memories of what he'd put the man in green through in 1999.
There was no other way to say it. He had been just as cruel then as these new people were now. The bathroom pranks seemed harmless on the surface—but they'd scarred Luigi emotionally. Perhaps what Douglas did were one of the events which caused Luigi to snap and decide that he'd had enough, that he'd deal with the hate and harassment in his own way. And although his tactics hadn't escalated to what these people were currently doing, they'd still hurt Luigi. Douglas had mocked Luigi—laughed at him, heckled him, taunted him, shamed him and humiliated him. Heck, he even called him a nasty name and picked a fight with him! There was no escape from the truth now. He had been—a bully. But unlike these bullies, he'd realized the folly of his thinking, saw that his attitude was pushing people away and made the decision to turn his life around. The others were cold, calculating and remorseless.
But in order to truly move past this, Douglas had to broach this subject with Luigi. Time didn't heal all wounds; it was likely that the plumber would lie in bed at night and remember. When he was pounding Sandbags as everyone slept, he'd probably think about Douglas's actions as well. The racer desperately needed to get him alone in a room, where he could finally bare his soul and confirm that he was truly, deeply sorry for what he'd did. The majority of those picking on Luigi would use apologies as get out of jail free cards. But Douglas was sincere, and he had to demonstrate that if he wanted some decent sleep at night.
His thoughts shifted to a certain Space Warrior. Samus—he'd hurt her deeply when he stuck the blame of that Team Battle loss on her. She hadn't spoken to him for weeks after it went down. Before then, he was so close to finally winning her heart. But his pride got in the way and nearly ruined his one shot at true happiness. Oh, they were happily together now and had been going strong for seventeen whole years. But the aftermath of that Team Battle had no doubt left a tiny scar upon her heart. She, after all, had done most of the work while he stood around goading Ness and Kirby into showing their moves and preening. So whose fault was it really that they lost so badly? Unfortunately, in Douglas's little world, he was A tier and thus untouchable. He should've practiced instead of merely count on his ranking to fly him to victory.
The more he thought about it, the more he believed it. It was time to face the truth head on and admit his mistakes. Because doing so would not only improve his relationship with Luigi, but also improve his relationship with Samus.
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It was supposed to be a casual night out, but invading thoughts plagued Fox. He could barely concentrate on what Krystal was saying or eat a bite of his food. Ever since his interview, he was sorting through past events in his mind, and the more he sorted, the less able he was to lie to himself.
Scoffing? Looking at people down the length of his nose? Talking trash? What kind of leader was he if he did that? He was supposed to set an example for his team, and look what he was doing back then! Refusing to give a certain man in green the time of day because he was last place? Why, he was no better than a pushover or a bully! What would the Lylat Council think if they saw the leader of their mercenary team exhibiting such a disrespectful, bad attitude?
"Fox?"
The vulpine jolted out of his reverie and saw Krystal looking at him, concerned. "You okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I…" He cleared his throat. "I've got a lot of things on my mind?"
"A mission?"
"No, no—the tournament." Fox took Krystal's paws in his. "Krys—there's something I have to tell you."
"What?"
"Remember when I told you about the tier list in Smash?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Well—I kinda let it get to my head," confessed Fox. "I was ranked 4th, and I was so happy. I mean, Douglas and I were joined at the hip after that."
"You told me about that, too." Krystal frowned. "What's going on?"
"There—I—one of the other fighters wasn't so lucky when it came to that tier list. He was ranked—last. I mean, everyone called him the worst Smasher on the roster. And he was having problems in his home world, too!"
"Like…?"
"He wasn't very popular in his home world, either. And I should've remembered that. But…"
"What did you do, Fox?"
Fox dropped his eyes. "Douglas and I—we—kinda—gave him a hard time over being last place. I made some crack about a pecking order, turned up my nose at him, brought it up in anger during a match because I was losing…"
"Fox," gasped Krystal.
"And then Douglas called him names and put him down—we both did. We pranked him, as well. But it was all in fun, and we didn't mean to hurt him, and now…" He took a deep breath. "Master Hand is investigating a cyberbullying pandemic targeting this guy, and he thinks that the first tier list started it all. Douglas and I are prime suspects, and—we just want him to know that we're not those people anymore. Krystal—I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize to me, because I'm not the person you mercilessly bullied," Krystal said sternly.
"I know. I just don't want you to hate me over something I did in the past."
"I don't hate you. I'm just—astonished that you'd do something like that."
"But I'm a different person now. Can't you see that?"
"Of course I do? But does that guy see? Don't you think you owe him an apology?"
"Yes," whispered Fox.
"You should go talk to him, and fast. Because for all I know, it could be festering in his mind and preventing him from getting a decent wink of sleep."
"Did I ever tell you that you give good advice?" winked Fox. "That's what I love about you."
Krystal rolled her eyes and smiled. "You're just trying to butter me up."
"But in all honesty—thanks. I feel a lot better now," said Fox.
He made a mental note to call up Douglas after his date…
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"You ready?" whispered Fox.
"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," Falcon whispered back.
Fox held his friend's hand. "I've got your back," he assured him.
"It's my front I'm worried about," said Douglas.
They started down the corridor toward Luigi's room.
Soft music drifted from the ajar door as the vulpine and racer approached their destination. They recognized that tune, it was "La Luna", a translation of "Song to the Moon". Luigi was probably relaxing. Dare they break the mood by bringing up some unpleasant memories?
Douglas reached the doorway and peeked in. There was Luigi, seated before an easel, vigorously throwing himself into his art. The racer had never seen the plumber doing any artwork before, but judging from his bright eyes and his facial expression, it was a fantastic release for him. There was paint all over his fingers, hands, arms and face, and some splatters on his chest. He'd ditched a paintbrush in favor of his fingers, making starbursts of color all over the canvas. Now, the convoluted morass before him didn't make any sense at all—but that was the beauty of art and expression.
Fox joined Falcon in peering in. "You think we should bother him now?" he asked quietly. "He seems busy."
"Okay, now you're just making excuses," retorted Douglas.
"It's okay," Luigi suddenly said without taking his eyes from his painting. "You can come in."
Douglas and Fox exchanged a look before stepping indoors.
"Hey, Cap'n. Fox. Nice to see you," said Luigi.
"You, too," said Falcon. "That's a marvelous piece you're working on."
"Thanks," said Luigi, blotting on some more paint and manipulating it with animated motions of his hands and fingers. "I needed to do something besides fight in matches."
"It's good that you're keeping your brain occupied," said Fox. "L—we need to talk to you for a minute."
"Yeah? What about?" asked Luigi.
"We just—need to get stuff off of our chests," explained Falcon.
Luigi paused in his work and turned toward his two visitors. "Is everything all right?" he asked.
"L," began Falcon. "We just want to say—we're sorry. We're sorry for everything we did back in the day. There hasn't been a day or night where we weren't thinking about our past actions. What we did to you because of that list—was mean and stupid. I mean, the pranking, the taunting, the putting down, the castigating—and the name I called you that night—it was just—unacceptable."
Luigi blinked. "'Unacceptable' is an understatement," he said. "It was vicious and sadistic."
"We regret it," added Fox, "all of it. But we want you to know—we're different, changed people now. We respect you, and we hold you among the best."
Luigi stared at them for a long while, his face slowly softening. "You—you really mean that?"
"Every word," Fox said solemnly.
"Douglas—Fox—this is a thoughtful and sweet gesture," smiled Luigi, "but I managed to move past that. It wasn't easy, but I put it behind me and moved forward. Still, it was nice of you to come here and really apologize. That shows me that you're truly remorseful."
"So—you…?" began Douglas.
"Yes. I accept your apology," replied Luigi, "but I wonder—did it really take a nerf to make you change?"
"Partly," said Fox.
"The other part was you," Falcon jumped in. "Our actions—pushed you away and discouraged you from being friends with us."
"Indeed, they did," nodded Luigi. "I'm happy you saw the hint where everyone else refused to."
"Are you sure we're cool?" asked Fox.
Luigi beamed at him. "Absolutely positive."
He opened his arms, and Falcon and Fox moved into them.
"You two have fully redeemed yourselves."
End Interlude 1
The action picks back up in Melee. Stay tuned!
