The first time they slept since reaching God Tier, they slept back-to-back in a white tower on Skaia. It wasn't very comfortable, but Mario felt as if something bad would happen if they separated to sleep. (Maybe he just wanted to stay in contact, to feel his brother by his side... they DIED not long before and came back and.. well... he was only human.)

So they slept next to each other and Mario had his first Dream bubble dream.

It looked a lot like home, Mushroom Kingdom and all the lands he had crossed so many times in the past. Green and happy, with flowers and trees and hills on the horizon.

It was so beautiful.

But before him stood Luigi, his eyes white, his clothes torn and blood seeping from a hole in his chest.

" Mario? Oh... oh Gambi... you are alive.", he said, taking a few steps towards him, before halting. "N...no. You,.. you are another one, aren't you? Your brother is alive. I... I'm not. My... my brother is still out there."

And before Mario could say anything the other Luigi disappeared.

Shaken from this sight Mario just HAD to find his brother. He had to. He had to make sure...

" Luigi? LUIGI!"

And the once peaceful landscape turned into a nightmare for him. Twisted turns, countrysides clashing, snow with deserts and forests with seas and lava seeping into his dream and on the corner of his eye, Mario could see something else.

Boo Forest. The place where the damned haunted Mansion was located. The place where his brother had to go through one of his worst nights ever. Even if Mario was proud of his brother to conquer his fears to rescue him, he could have done without this experience, too.

He really, really hated Boos now.

He entered the Mansion and near-darkness engulfed him. There were no ghosts in sight but it was still creepy. Mario wandered through the rooms, sometimes calling for his brother, sometimes trying to feel for him. It was hard, ever since the game started and even harder now in this dream.

And confusing. The last time he was in a dream with Luigi he never had a problem knowing where his brother was...

He found him in a room on the top-level of the mansion, with three telephones in it.

It would have been strange or slightly amusing if not for the sight of his brother sitting on the floor, looking so horror-stricken at the wall before him. And Mario looked, too.

He wished he hadn't.

The room was only poorly lit, but it was enough for sharp shadows to form. And on the wall before them they formed Luig i's silhouette, hanging on a rope from the roof. The shadows showed his brother's death.

His brother's death...

He was by Luigi in an instant, forcing him to look at his eyes.

Mario was never so relieved to see blue eyes looking at him.

" Luigi?"

It was just now that Luigi seemed to understand who was before him and he looked away, looked ashamed and Mario didn't understand WHY.

" I never wanted you to see that..."

" D...did that really happened?"

Luigis silence was more than enough.

" It... it's just a shadow..."

" It's horrifying. … did anything else happen in the mansion?"

" Do you really want to know?", asked Luigi and his voice... Mario had never heard his brother sounding so... dead. It scared him.

The worst part was that he didn't get an answer before they woke up.

In the morning, Luigi didn't look at him and didn't say anything about the dream. Mario took this as a sign to keep silent.

If his brother wanted to talk, he was there. But the middle of a world-altering game wasn't quite the best time for that...

" Go to bed. I will always just scare the ghosts away."

" Really?"

" Really. They don't stand a chance against a REAL GHOST BUSTER!"

It wasn't long after that that they met some new faces on Skaia. Familiar faces. It turned out that Peach and Daisy also were in the Game. Peach as the Mage of Mind and Daisy the Rogue of Space. Mario didn't want to think too much about all that. So they kept their reunion short, Peach using her parasol-kind to wrack some Goomba-Imps while Daisy punched an Ogre with her bare fist. The monster went down with a shriek and Mario looked at Luigi and couldn't suppress a grin at his expression: Fear and admiration. Or, as Mario would call it: "Luigi is in love." (or, well... admiring someone. He DID get the same expression sometimes with Peasley.)

Daisy was a force of nature. Mario couldn't begin to understand why Luigi was drawn to her, seeing that her personality clashed quite a bit with Luigi's, but maybe that was what let them coexist so harmonically together. Daisy just wasn't very princess-like and often took the lead and Luigi wasn't a leader-type, content to follow Daisy's orders.

Mario smiled a bit, still not having figured out what made them tick, but content to leave it as it was as long as both of them were happy. So he concentrated on the other princess.

Peach... Peach was really in her element.

Mario didn't know much about Mind players. He came across some lore about all the aspects and classes of the game, but it had not been much to go around. He knew that the player of Mind had something to do with planning and what people were thinking, strategies and ideas. Maybe even creatively. A Mage was an offensive class that used their aspect as a weapon to manipulate but can also be manipulated by their aspect.

Mario didn't even try to pretend that he could understand all of that but he gathered that a Mind player would have something to do with planning and saying what course of action was best.

And Peach did exactly that. She made plans, gathered information from the consorts and solved problems for them. She wasn't a fighter per se. She could whack pretty hard with her parasol but mostly stayed out of fights and let Mario and Daisy handle the fighting.

And Daisy... Well, he did see her stealing space. And giving it. It was... well... he couldn't quite describe it. But she was someone he wouldn't want to cross.

They discovered the Portals to their planets. Peach went to a laboratory. Mario stayed on Skaia, trying to find the battling armies. He knew that they couldn't take on the Black King just yet, but he wanted to see where the White army was and how their enemy operated.

He just hoped that they wouldn't be too late.

Luigi went with Daisy to breed the Genesis Frog in the Land of Flowers and Frogs. Mario saw them going to the pipe and wished he could go and see Peach's planet. Her brief description of the Land of Cake and Clockwork sounded there was no rest for him yet, just work, work and work.

But Mario knew they could do it. They would slay the Black King, they would create the Genesis Frog, they would create a new universe for them to live in. He knew it because he could feel his brother fighting, had seen Peach holding her own and knew that Daisy would do her part. He had his friends and family and together they would make everything happen!

" How was your childhood anyway?"

" Oh, we grew up together, doing everything together... you know? I remember the Yoshis and the old wriggler-lady next door..."

" ... I remember a place called Brooklyn... but I think I only dreamed about it."

" Brooklyn? I never have heard about a place like that. You have a strange imagination, you know?"

" Yeah... I know..."

But I was so sure... so sure, but then...

Mario did find the White King, but in a dire situation: Deadly wounded, he lay on a bed in a big tower, blood covering the ground and his Queen beside him. He wasn't dead yet but unable to fight, unable to do anything but to hang on to dear life.

Because the fight would be lost if the King died.

The Queen stood beside him and talked to the other white... people in the room. She still had her Ring on her finger, giving her a Koopa Shell, Goomba-teeth, Fireflower-pedals around her neck, a Ghost-tail instead of feet, wings of a Parakoopa and a Yoshi's tongue and she still managed to look royal and powerful.

She reminded Mario a bit of Peach. And even if the King and the Queen were totally different from any other life form Mario had seen, the look they gave each other...

They loved each other. It was as simple as that.

Mario had to leave the room. He felt like intruding, even if he was only one of many people in the room. He jumped on the top of the tower, sitting there. Nighttime was coming, the usually blue sky turning dark and stars started to appear in the clouds that sometimes showed visions of something that could happen, was happening or would still happen.

After a short while (4 minutes, 24 seconds...) he felt someone sitting down beside him. Green robes rustled next to him and a delicate smell of fine parfume in the air reached his nose.

" The White King... he doesn't have much time.", said Peach, her voice low and quiet. Mario didn't hear her often this... down. Full of sorrow.

" Yeah.", he said. "Do... do you know a way to help him?"

" No... Maybe I can do something so he will have more time, but he will die."

" Did... did you see the White Queen?"

" She takes it with grace. She has a kingdom to look over. A war to fight. She can't grieve.", explained Peach, not without a bit of bitterness in her voice.

" ... it must be sad life. Being a royal."

" Sometimes it is.", said Peach. "Sometimes it's really, really sad and lonely. Daisy hates it."

" And you?"

" I like helping my Toads. And...", she started, looking at Mario and smiled, a slight smile he thought looked just so perfect. "And I have you... and Luigi and Toad and other people. You help me more than you know."

" I'm just a plumber."

" You are the hero of my kingdom. And MY hero, Mario. Not just because you beat Bowser, not only because you rescued me and never wanted a reward..."

" You are my friend, of COURSE I wouldn't want anything for rescuing you!", interrupted Mario, wanting to make this point clear.

There had been many, many voices in the past about that. About how Peach "only gave him cake" and should "put out" for him, as if she had to DO something as a kind of payment for him. And it made him really, really mad. Because he did what he did because it was the RIGHT THING TO DO. Yeah, there were a LOT of speculations on his relationship to Peach. And Mario made it clear that he disapproved of everyone badmouthing the princess.

Yes, he did love the princess, it was hard not to. But his love for her was a kind of admiration for her.

She was wonderful in his eyes. Something so precious and pure. Someone he really enjoyed spending time with, no matter what. Someone who could understand that there were days he wouldn't say a word and other where he couldn't stop talking. Someone who made him laugh and who laughed with him.

And as long as she was happy and wanted to share some of her time with him, he was content.

That, and in fact, he did like cake. Peach could bake pretty well.

" I know, but... let me finish this, okay? You are my hero and so much more, because you are a good person.", said Peach, still smiling. "Whenever somebody needs help, you help. Whenever somebody asks for you, you will answer. You will smile and will be friendly. You are like a sun."

Mario flinched a bit at that, but said nothing. Peach didn't know...

" lighting up everything around you.", she closed.

Mario had to look away, look down, feeling his ears beginning to burn with redness. He just wasn't used to the princess praising him like that.

" I'm just doing what is right.", he said.

" And it is a very brave thing to do.", said Peach, smiling. She came a bit nearer, took one of his hands and his cap from his head, making him look into her eyes. "And one of the things I really admire about you, Mario."

And he just... didn't know what to do. So he just stared at her, unsure what to do until Peach made the decision for him. She warped her beautiful delicate arms around him, pulling him into a hug and Mario returned it after a few seconds.

The wonderful smell of peaches and flowers surrounded him. And he hadn't felt so warm in a long, long time.

" Luigi? Your brother is very weak... please be careful, okay?"

" I always am, mom! Don't worry. Hey, Mario? Do you want to play a game with me?"

" Of course! I hate being in bed all this time... why do I always have to get sick?"

" I don't know but it blows... Come on, I got a new board-game from dad, we can play it on your bed."

" Sounds okay... but I really, really wish I could do more stuff than sitting here and playing board-games..."

" What do you want to do?"

" Sports! Soccer, Baseball, Golf, Tennis, everything! I wish I could drive a kart or... or a boat. I want to go snowboarding or skying and to the beach. I wish I could go to Olympia! Just... just something other than sitting in a bed all the time. I want to go out and do stuff and meet people and make a whole lot of friends."

I wish for a world where you can.

Mario never expected anything from the princess. He was content to give her anything she would ask for and she would never ask for something he couldn't give.

And Peach took his hand and kissed his forehead an d smiled so sweetly at him.

And something in him said that he should remember something. Something he forgot. But he did not.

" I love you."

" So do I."

And Mario just let himself fall, his dear princess by his side, the Mage of Mind and the world around him faded away. Just for a little while. Just a bit.

" What do you believe? That there is some sort of fated perfect match out there, a soulmate just waiting for you?"

" I don't know... I personally don't think so. There are many people who you could fall in love with and who could love you. Maybe there isn't even the "perfect one" but a lot of people who are worth the effort to try. The soulmate thing seems a bit too cliché, huh?"

" Yeah, I think that you are right... But it would be nice to know if... if I will find someone..."

" You will. Just because there is no secret-fate-magic that binds people literally together, doesn't mean that there isn't anybody out there for you. Just that there are more people out there.""