To say Luigi jumped when Bowser came stomping into the dungeon might have been an understatement. Nonetheless, it was clear that he still couldn't move on his own very well, if his muffled cry of pain was anything to judge by.

'C'mon, Green, we're going for a walk,' said Bowser decisively. He opened the cell door using the key he'd taken from the koopatrol guard outside. Luigi cowered in the back of the cell, as far away from him as he could get, while Daisy yelled at him pointlessly through the bars.

'Leave him alone, you freak!'

'We can do this the easy way or the hard way,' Bowser growled. 'If you come over here right now, I promise nothing'll happen to you. Well... nothing bad at least.'

'Don't listen to him, Luigi!' shouted Daisy. 'He's trying to trick you. He's probably going to try and-'

With a roar, the King swung around and slammed his fist into the metal bars with so much force that they actually bent inwards a little. 'Will you shut your mouth!' Instantly, Daisy fell silent, staring at him in shock. She had never seen Bowser in this much of a temper before, though admittedly she'd never had much contact with him at all. Breathing heavily, he turned back to Luigi, who was still pressing himself against the back wall.

'Come here now.' Stepping determinedly into the cell, he grabbed the young man's arm and started to pull him towards the doorway. 'Look, you can either sit in here and do nothing for the rest of the night or you can come with me. I promise I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to talk.'

'O-OK,' said Luigi softly. He let Bowser support him, hopping awkwardly to avoid putting any weight on his bad leg. Once they were out of the cell, Daisy's infuriated shouting started up again.

'Ignore her,' Bowser growled. 'Don't even look at her.' He tugged a little harder and Luigi gave up fighting, instead letting the King take him up the stone steps that led out of the dungeon. At the top of the steps was a long, candlelit corridor. Luigi looked around, blinking owlishly and seeming a bit relieved to be out of the darkness.

They walked down the corridor and entered a large, rather magnificent-looking room. It looked almost like a ballroom, though Bowser had never used it for that purpose – he did, however, let his minions host parties here on occasion. The ceiling was incredibly high and there was a massive, unused banquet table sitting in the centre of the room. At one end was a raised platform crowned by a splendid piano, and one wall was almost completely taken up by a pair of French windows that gave way to a large balcony. Outside, the night sky was streaked with clouds.

Bowser helped Luigi – who was clearly wondering what they were here for – over to the table and sat him down. Then the King sat down himself, at the opposite end of the table. They looked at each other for several long moments.

'I'll bet you've got a lot of questions,' said Bowser at last.

Luigi lifted a hand to tilt the brim of his cap down, shadowing his eyes. It seemed to be an unconscious gesture. 'Uhh... maybe,' he said hesitantly.

'I promised I wouldn't hurt you today, and I won't. So go on, spit it out. What have you been thinking about?' When no answer came immediately, Bowser leaned forwards over the table. 'Wondering why your so-called hero of a big brother hasn't come to save you?' he sneered.

Luigi flinched. 'I-I know why he hasn't,' he said in a small voice.

'Oh yeah? Tell me then.'

'I-it's because he came here to rescue Peach, and he got Peach, so he didn't need to save me as well. I wasn't so important.'

'Really? You don't think he'd care about his little brother being hurt?'

Luigi lowered his head and said nothing, but Bowser thought he caught the faintest rise-and-fall of his shoulders.

'You don't know? That's a pity. I was hoping you could explain why the great hero of the Mushroom Kingdom didn't want to save you.' Bowser dropped his own head to rest in his hands, thinking hard. He felt frustrated. His plans seemed to be slowly falling apart right in front of his eyes.

Luigi glanced up, gazing at him nervously from under the brim of his cap. He didn't understand what was going on. Bowser couldn't blame him; he didn't understand either.

'I guess there's not much I can do with you right now,' he said at last. 'But since we're in this room...' He suddenly thumped a fist on the tabletop, making Luigi jump. 'Guards! Bring some food in here, I'm starving!' He wasn't actually hungry at all, he'd eaten dinner less than an hour ago, but he didn't want to tell his minions that he was only ordering the food for Luigi. They might think he was going soft.

'Sh-should I go?' said Luigi uncertainly, clearly not catching on. Bowser grinned, shaking his head.

'No. Stay here and have something to eat. Like I said earlier, you're no use to me dead.'

Luigi swallowed nervously. A few awkward moments later, a magikoopa servant arrived with a huge platter of leftovers from dinnertime. He set it down on the table, bowed, and quickly left.

Bowser eyed the platter, wondering if he ought to eat a little after all. It looked and smelled delicious. Mostly scraps of cold meat, but there was also a slice of bread and some cold boiled potatoes. He delicately speared a piece of ham on the tip of one claw and began to chew on it with relish, while at the same time pushing the platter in Luigi's direction.

'Eat something,' he growled when Luigi didn't immediately make a move to take any. The green-capped man hesitated before sighing and giving in. Apparently he was too hungry to ignore the food even if he didn't trust anything Bowser gave him. Slowly, he began to eat his way through a slice of ham and most of the cold potatoes (which Bowser refused to touch even though his servants always made them).

They finished their meal in silence. Afterwards, Bowser summoned the magikoopa back to remove the remaining scraps of food from the table, instructing him to deliver the scraps to Daisy's cell. Then – feeling very satisfied and in a much better mood than usual – he leaned back in his chair to observe his prisoner.

He wasn't quite sure what to do with Luigi. He still fully intended to blackmail Peach and Mario, but what if they didn't give in? What if they didn't care about Luigi enough to surrender anything to keep him safe? It was a very real possibility. A day ago, Bowser never would have imagined this scenario; Luigi captured and Mario not bothering to come back and save him. It made his head spin with conflicting feelings.

Well, he did still have Daisy in his dungeon, and he was sure that Peach would want to rescue her at least. That meant he still had a hostage to negotiate with. And maybe if Daisy was rescued, then she would convince Mario and Peach to rescue Luigi, too... it was obvious that she loved the idiot.

Bowser was so caught up in thinking about his plans that he stopped paying attention to the man in front of him. When Luigi suddenly let out a groan and doubled over in his chair, the King almost jumped.

'What is it?' he growled.

'N-nothing,' Luigi gasped out, which was a blatant lie. Though the position of his hand wasn't visible behind the table, Bowser was pretty sure he was clutching at his injured leg.

Damn Kamek for not fixing him completely, he thought, frustrated. Now I have to be the guy's caretaker or something...

He pushed his chair back with a squeal of wood against stone, and walked around the table to Luigi's side. 'Here,' he grunted, extending a thick arm. 'Hold onto me. I'm taking you back to your cell.' When Luigi just stared at the arm like it was a venomous snake, Bowser lost what little remained of his patience.

Lunging forwards, he wrapped his arm around Luigi's body and picked him up as if he weighed no more than a pillow. Then he turned and headed back to the dungeon, carrying his prisoner against his side.

'I-I-I can walk,' Luigi stammered once he'd recovered slightly from the shock. He was clutching Bowser's arm – probably an instinctive reaction to stop himself from falling if Bowser suddenly let go – and the fingernails digging into his scales were distracting.

'Yeah, you can,' the King replied, 'but you weren't walking, so this was the next best thing.' He swiftly descended the stone steps, kicked open the dungeon door (the koopatrol guards weren't there, as they were in the process of changing shifts), and carried Luigi back to cell number 14, throwing him inside unceremoniously.

Daisy's yelling restarted the instant he walked into the room, but he ignored her completely, locking the cell door and striding away with a strange little smile on his face.

What happened next, he knew, depended on Mario and Peach's actions. He would send a message to them tomorrow, stating – officially – that he had Luigi in his clutches and had the ability to hurt him if they didn't comply with his demands. He would also mention that he could do the same to Princess Daisy. Surely, he thought, they couldn't ignore such threats.

...Though the question remained in the back of his mind: what if they did?