Chapter 5

The two men, one wearing green and the other red, continued to stare at me, not sure what had just happened. Shock hit and I started shaking. The men snapped out of their trance, leaping from the table to my side.

"Luigi, help me get her to the couch!" The man in red put his arms around my legs while the man in green put my arm around his shoulders.

"She's bleeding from her back, too! Mario, there's a lot of blood!" He looked at me a little queasily, noting all my injuries.

"Did Bowser do this?" Mario asked. I managed to nod in response.

"Why did he do this to you?" Luigi gasped. I didn't respond; I was still in shock. They placed me on the couch, and Luigi ran to get some towels. Mario ran to the kitchen and brought out a red mushroom that looked exactly like the one Wally gave to me the first day. Wally! He doesn't know where I am! I needed to tell him, needed him to know I was not in a dungeon with Bowser somewhere, but still safe in town. I couldn't find the words to tell them and just sputtered.

Luigi wrapped a wet towel around my arm and held one to my face. Mario held open my mouth and shoved the mushroom in. "I hope it hasn't been too long…you know these things don't work if-"

"-I know, Mario," Luigi cut off. He looked back at me as I felt the cooling sensation in my mouth. I kept looking at the door, waiting for Bowser to pull me away from the safety of the two men. Luigi noticed. "Shh," he whispered in my ear. "It's ok, Bowser knows better than to come in here. He's gone." Mario looked worried as I finished the mushroom. My feet felt a little better as the pain from running started to go away, but everywhere Bowser scratched still violently hurt.

"Damn it, the cuts must have been too deep or poisoned," Mario said. "I'll go call Doc." Tears ran down my face, and I started to shiver. Luigi squeezed my shoulder, consoling me. His touch calmed me down a little, and my breathing slowed. Mario came back, letting us know Doc was on his way. I looked at my arm and saw that the towels, once white, were now red. Luigi carefully lifted the one from my face. It stung and I drew in a sharp breath. "Dammit, she's losing a lot of blood…those towels are soaked! Let me see if I have some more." Mario dashed out of the room.

"Shh," Luigi whispered again. I looked in his eyes. They were a brilliant, clear shade of blue. Even though he was trying to calm me down, he gave off a sense of uneasiness. His shaking hand cupped my face where the gash was, keeping it from tearing open but smearing blood on his glove. I closed my eyes. I could feel the tears spilling. "It'll be ok, you're safe now." Luigi's voice, while wobbling with uncertainty, helped me from completely losing it. Mario came back with a few rags, and Luigi cupped one in his hand and put it back on my face.

"She should probably sit up. Didn't you say her back was scratched?" I felt Mario sit on the other side of me and pushed me forward. He peeled my torn shirt from my back and placed a rag on my wound. He, too, rubbed my shoulder, comforting me along with Luigi. His voice was more confident, free of any apprehension or uncertainty. "What's your name?" Mario and Luigi waited. It took me a minute to stutter my name.

"J-j-j-j-jelina." I found my voice, and words became vomiting from my mouth, but I still stuttered. "I was s-s-staying at W-w-w-aluig-g-g-gi's, and B-b-b-owser ch-chased me. He said he b-b-bought me from W-w-wario, and I was his." I meant to continue, but the brothers looked shocked.

"Wario sold you out to Bowser for coins?!" Mario yelled.

"You're staying at Waluigis?!" Luigi gasped.

I nodded yes to both brothers. "Do you k-k-know them?"

"They're our cousins," Mario replied. I gaped. These were the cousins Waluigi was talking about! It would have been a lot nicer to use the disguise to meet them; I would have been in one piece and not bleeding all over their couch.

"Please call him." My voice sounded more confident, and I was glad my stuttering wasn't completely overtaking my speech anymore. "There is a lot to exp-p-plain." The brothers exchanged a confused glance. Luigi looked nauseous at the thought of calling Waluigi.

Mario sighed, seeming to expect this reaction. "I'll give him a call. Let me know when the doctor gets here." Mario got up, heading to the other room. "By the way, I'm Mario, and that's my younger brother-"

"-Luigi," he finished. I felt my body growing heavy. I started to sway where I sat, and Luigi removed the rag from my face. He grabbed a pillow and placed it on his shoulder. I felt his hand return to my face and I leaned on the pillow. I closed my eyes and passed out on the man in green.

I awoke and felt someone rubbing something moist on my face. I was on something soft, no longer leaning on Luigi. I had been moved to a small bed, and an older toad was rubbing a cream on my cut. Luigi sat beside me, his body nervously shaking. I don't know why he felt compelled to stay, but I was glad he did; his presence soothed me. I heard Mario and Wally's voices in the other room. I wanted to know what they were saying, but I couldn't move. My body was heavy on the bed, like it had turned into stone. The toad frowned at my face, and then turned to Luigi. "These wounds will probably scar. I can't rid them completely." He looked at the toad, getting ready to argue, but the old toad got up. Luigi's sorrowful eyes then found mine. The toad continued. "There's nothing more I can do. She'll be ok," he said. Luigi took something from the doctor. He squeezed Luigi's shoulder and whispered "She is going to live, scars aren't the end of the world. She's lucky you two were home and helped her." The doctor left and Luigi put whatever the toad handed him down.

"How do you feel?" he tentatively asked. I tried again to sit up, but my back was bandaged and tight.

"I've been better. Where's Wally?"

Luigi looked puzzled. "Wally? You mean Waluigi?" I nodded. "In the other room with Mario," he glowered.

"Don't like him, I take it?" He looked at me and shook his head.

After a minute he asked, "Why do you call him Wally?"

"Waluigi is a mouthful. Wally is shorter, easier to say." I heard Wally and Mario debating something, and Wally grunt loudly in what I imagined frustration. Luigi rolled his eyes at the door, but even in his moment of agitation, he looked rejected. "You don't have to stay, I'm sure they're talking about important things." I pointed my head towards the door, but Luigi didn't say anything. He just sat there. "I'm sure they'd want your input."

"Mario will take care of it," he snipped. "He always does." I didn't know what to say. There was obviously more to the situation, but I didn't push the subject any further, and I didn't ask if he wanted to leave anymore. Truth be told, I was glad he was sitting with me, and I didn't want him to leave. We sat in silence some more, and after a while I finally got enough courage to address the wounds on my body. My arm had a bandage across it, and I'm pretty sure my legs did, too. I was covered in tiny scratches and bruises, and in some areas my skin looked puffy and swollen. I looked down at my shirt, expecting to see it torn to shreds, but it had been changed; my purple shirt had been replaced with a red one, and I noticed my bra was gone, too.

"What happened to my shirt?" I didn't ask about the bra, remembering that Bowser had practically ripped it off when I escaped on the wall. Luigi blushed furiously, looking away when he spoke.

"We had to take it off, it was sticking to your back and Doc couldn't clean up your scratch." Under normal circumstances I would have cried from the embarrassment; in this case, I was surprised I even had my shirt when I arrived at the house. I welcomed the fresh, clean red shirt. "Doc changed you, I closed my eyes. I swear I didn't see anything." I waved my hand, trying to convey that I personally didn't care, nor did I think it was a big deal.

I looked at Luigi, and he kept his head turned away. Wow, his face is really red, almost the color of my shirt. He looks so sad…why is he so sad? Like Wario and Waluigi, the brothers both had mustaches; however, theirs were bushy and thick where Wario and Wally's were thin, almost pencil like. Luigi had a long, flat face with a large, round nose. His brown hair looked like it was cut short, slightly sticking out under his hat, but it was hard to tell. Large purplish bags hung under his eyes. "I'm glad you were there to make sure I was ok. Thank you." Luigi eventually looked back at me, the redness still burning on his face. I looked at down at his gloves, still tinged with my blood. Yuck. I'm really making a horrible first impression with everyone. I sighed and drifted back to sleep.

I seemed to be in a haze, not knowing who entered and left my room or what time it was. Eventually the haze cleared, and I fully regained consciousness. The brothers were both over my bed; I kept my eyes closed, curious to hear their conversation. Mario was coaxing Luigi. "Hey, bro. We've got a plan. Why don't you let Waluigi see her and we can talk about our next actions? He wants to see her." Mario's tone became softer, and I heard the same type of comfort in his voice as Luigi had given me. "Hey, man, she's going to be ok. This isn't Daisy. Jelina's alright." I heard Mario pull up a chair and sit next to his brother. I tried to peek, but I didn't want to give away I was awake.

"Look at what he did to her. Bowser's never done that! All the times Peach has been kidnapped, she was never hurt." Luigi sounded upset, and I knew they were looking at the deep gash on my face.

"I don't think Peach puts up as much of a fight. This girl was running around town only wearing a purple t-shirt. Could you see Peach doing something like that? She must have pissed Bowser off before he chased her, too. You know how Bowser gets when he is REALLY angry. He's impulsive with a bad temper. Bad combo." There was a pause, followed by a sniff from Luigi. "From what Waluigi was saying she's been through a lot and is pretty tough. Has to be to put up with him." That made Luigi chuckle. I heard one of the chairs move, and I figured Mario stood back up. "C'mon, she's not going anywhere." I wanted to grab at him, tell him I didn't want him to go, but he was gone. The footsteps slowly left the room, and I heard Mario say "She's all yours."

"Wow, Jelly bean, it looks like someone took a bite of you and thought you were a nasty flavor, like buttered popcorn, and spit you out." I opened my eyes and saw Wally sitting next to me. He looked at my red shirt. "You look better in purple."

"Buttered popcorn? Yuck," I said, sticking out my tongue. "I owe you a new shirt." Wally looked at me and shoved the idea aside. "So how bad is it? Really."

Wally's comedic look left and his head lowered. "You're lucky he didn't get your eye. I doubt you'd be able to see again." I started to sit up. He lightly held me down. "No, you need to stay down. Doctor's orders. You'll be able to move tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I knew Wally felt bad about the events of the day and I wanted to be with him that evening. I could hear the unhappiness in my voice.

"I brought your stuff over. You'll be staying here tonight and tomorrow heading to Peach's hideout house." I cringed. "I know you'll be sad to be leaving this," he pointed to himself, and gave me a sly smile, "but it's safer this way. And while I would normally say to hell with safety, in your case…safety first." I rolled my eyes, but knew he was right; Bowser knew two places where I was hiding, and I needed to be somewhere unknown.

"So, tell me, how is Peach? What is she like?" He snickered. "What, is she that bad?"

"No, she's not bad at all. She's pretty damn hot…" I lifted my arm to smack him, but he tsked at me. "Now what did I say about moving? So, Peach looks great, but she's a little prissy. And the biggest turn off is she's with Mario. Nothing stands in the way of Mario and Peach, except Bower's occasional kidnapping." I wasn't paying attention anymore; I wasn't too interested in her love life. Wally talked about how Peach must pity Mario or have really low standards, and my head drooped. "Not one for juicy gossip? Well just remember she's dainty. Very feminine. Delicate." I bit my lip. Staying with the princess? I don't know the first thing about proper etiquettes. I don't want to accidently offend her. Wally seemed to read my thoughts and shook his head. "You worry a lot, you know that? Almost as much as some other people I know." He looked out the door.

"I don't worry too much, I'm just concerned. I've never stayed with, let alone met, a princess." Wally laughed, and made some joke that I was too tired to get. He stretched, almost knocking the ceiling, and stood up. "Are you leaving so soon?"

"Yup. Got a lot to plan, need to pick up some things. Have fun with Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dumb." He messed my hair up and I scowled.

"Don't call them that. It's not nice, and I like them." He turned around and laughed.

"You'll get along with the princess juuuuuuuust fine."

Wally left, and it was a while before both Mario and Luigi came in. Luigi was carrying a basket of red mushrooms and a glass of water, and Mario had his arms full of bandages and a bowl of some green substance. "You're not going to like this," Mario said. "I had to have this green stuff once and it stings." I examined Mario and saw that he looked similar to his brother except he was considerably rounder and shorter. Now that I was more coherent, I heard a light accent in both the brother's voices. Are they Italian? No, it can't be…my thoughts trailed off. Their accent had been watered down, but every once in a while, I'd hear the remnants of a foreign tongue. I'll have to remember to ask them later. Now wasn't time for idle chit chat, though; Mario and Luigi went straight to work.

Mario was right, the green stuff hurt. They removed my bandages and started applying the stuff on my legs, working their way up my back and to my arms. I bit my pillow and screamed as they exposed my skin to the liquid. Luigi held me down while Mario kept dropping liquid on the wound. I heard a hissing sound, followed by the touch of a soft cloth. When it came time to put the substance on my face, they hesitated. They didn't want to grab my head, but they knew I would flail as soon as it touched my cheek.

"I'm sorry, Jelina," Luigi apologized as he tentatively held on to my head. I braced myself for the pain, grinding my teeth, clenching my eyes shut, and giving Luigi's arms a death grip. Mario counted down and started dripping the liquid. My legs kicked, and I wanted to shake my head. Luigi struggled against me as I thrashed.

"Jelina, can you please…hold…still?" Mario spit out while trying to aim. "I don't want this to get in your eye." I tried, but the pain was too much. "Almost done for this round," I heard him assure. I was relieved by the thought, but then my mind screamed in alarm. THIS round? How many were there?!

I felt the rag touch my cheek, and instantly my face cooled. I started breathing normally, and I opened my wet eyes. I saw both the brothers looking at me; Mario was frustrated and Luigi was concerned. "Jelina, I can't put this on if you move around." Mario continued to pat the rag on my face.

"You said sting. That burned. I felt like my skin was going to melt off." I sat up and Luigi handed me a mushroom to eat. "What is that stuff anyway?"

"It's a potion to make sure any venom is removed from the scratches," Mario informed me.

"And what is this about rounds? How many times do you have to put that shit on my skin?" I sounded agitated.

Mario shrugged. "That 'shit' goes on every hour." I made an unpleasant face. "It could be worse. Doc originally wanted every thirty minutes but changed his mind last minute." That still didn't give me any consolation.

After calming down a little, I recoiled; I didn't mean to come across so rude. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap."

"It's ok," Mario said as Luigi handed me the glass of water. "Just try not to break of Luigi's arm next time. I think he'd like it if he was fully intact."

The rest of the night was horrible. In between cleanings, Mario interrogated me, asking me to recall every detail from the moment I took my bike ride to when I ran in their house. I regurgitated everything. When I took pauses to find the right words, or to take a sip of water, I watched how they reacted. Mario was sitting up straight, leaning forward to take in everything I was saying. He wouldn't break my eye contact and asked questions as I talked. Luigi was opposite; he slouched, almost to the same height as Mario in his chair. He had a scared expression on his face. Mario was eager for the knowledge while Luigi dreaded it. It was clear Mario was the leader, giving off a sense of confidence. Luigi was timid, and even though I was doing a lot of talking, I personally related more with Luigi. I didn't like all the commotion and wanted things to be quiet. Adventure was not my middle name.

I remembered they were from the same world I was, and I asked where. "We were born in the Mushroom Kingdom, moved to Brooklyn for a while, and came back. Lived around a lot of Italians, so that might be the accent you are hearing." I asked about their homes but couldn't tell me much. They couldn't remember; they had been gone too long.

"How old are you two?"

"Thirty-five," they said in unison. "We're twins. I'm older, though." Mario pointed at himself.

"Only by three minutes," Luigi grumbled.

"Ok…" I paused. "When did you decide to stay here?"

Mario hesitated, "I think it was 1983…or maybe 1985. It was so long ago." I did the math, and they had to be older than that…I was in my mid-thirties, and they left around the time I was born. Mario saw the confusion in my face. "We think time is different…it's strange. There are seasons, and there are years, but people age differently, more slowly. 'Years' can pass, and it looks like you only aged a few months. We can't compare the details because we haven't had time to really go back. And a few years ago, the pipe that connected the two worlds caved in." Mario glanced at Luigi, who quickly looked away.

I was about to ask how it collapsed, but Luigi interjected. "How is your back feeling? That looked like the most painful cut, aside from the one on your cheek." I looked over and shrugged.

"It's actually starting to feel ok to move again. Why don't people use this stuff all the time? It seems to do wonders though it's nasty to put on."

"Imagine washing your hands with bleach and taking tons of steroids. Your skin will become raw and you'll become sick," Mario replied. Luigi shuddered, apparently not liking the thought of someone's skin peeling off. "A little isn't bad, and for cases like you, it's perfect. Just can't go overboard. You'll be pretty mobile in the morning, enough to get you to Peach's."

I started to rub the wound on my face, and Luigi started to reach for my hand. Mario looked at him, and he hesitated, then finally recoiling under his brother's gaze. I put my hand down. "How will I get there tomorrow? What's the plan for the rest of the week?"

"Peach and Yoshi will be by in the morning to pick you up. You'll be staying with her for a while. We," Mario pointed at Luigi and himself, "and Waluigi are going to start looking for where you came from." Luigi frowned at this.

"I still don't understand why HE has to come. Can't we find it without him, like we usually do?" Luigi crossed his arms, pouting.

"You know he has more explosives than we could ever get our hands on, and it'll give the town a break from unexpected outbursts." Luigi still didn't look convinced. "And he said he would follow us if we didn't include him, which would be a pain. He'd cause trouble if he wasn't included."

"How are you going to find the spot? Wouldn't it be invisible?" I didn't know how bombs would help. Were they hoping to make the hole bigger?

"The smoke from the bombs will help show any changes in the sky. Waluigi has some special bombs that reveal hidden passages." Of course, he would. Luigi rolled his eyes, apparently not impressed with the idea that Wally had special bombs. "That's all we know so far, but we'll find where it is and get you back to Phoenix." Mario assured me. "Bowser won't come near you with us on the watch, at least not right now. So, you won't have to worry about him. He may have tried to get you while with that twerp, but not with us." I didn't feel completely assured, but I knew Bowser was fearful of Mario; Wally told me this much.

I had mixed feelings about going back. I was starting to meet people and quickly developed friendships. On the other hand, it was dangerous here. Not that Phoenix didn't have danger, but I never found myself being chased by a giant turtle wanting to "have" me. I wasn't sure how I felt about going back. I had to remind myself that this was not my home. I also had no money or any means to take care of myself here. And to top it off, the whole idea about aging slowly? That freaked me out. How old would I be when I returned? What YEAR would it be? I was lost in my thoughts as the brothers, mainly Mario, talked strategy for the adventure. I looked at the window and wondered what time it was. I saw Luigi grabbing the last mushroom from the basket, and I knew it was almost time for my cleaning.

"It's the last one," he whispered to me. "Then you can sleep. We can ALL sleep." Luigi looked just as exhausted as I was. I smiled at him, and he blushed. We were both ignoring Mario, who had switched to talking about a previous adventure. "I wonder how long he'll talk until he realizes no one is listening." This made me laugh, and Mario abruptly stopped. Luigi snickered, "I guess not very long. You're lucky, I've heard him go for hours."

Mario had no idea what we were talking about but jumped. "Last time! Woo hoo!" He punched the air, and I gave him a strange look. I saw Luigi mouth ignore him. I was excited it was my last round, but I would be more excited when it was done.