Chapter 18 Worthless Wish

Luigi's eyes fluttered open. He smiled up at the ceiling of his bedroom. The day before now felt like a dream, a reality that he had escaped from. Was there a more satisfying feeling in the world, knowing that everything was set right and that there was nothing to worry about? Luigi now had this day, this beautiful day, ahead of him. After he dealt with the boohemoth, he was going to pay Princess Daisy a visit. He was going to hug and kiss her, shower her with affection. He could make jokes about Mario being her boyfriend for the past day, but honestly, what was the point? Today was a do-over. Today was the day where they put the body swap behind them once and for all.

With these thoughts in mind, Luigi sat up. He dropped his feet down on the floor and yawned. He was already in the process of appreciating the day as he stretched his limbs out. It was only once he stopped and put his arms down that he noticed something less than good.

Why didn't he feel any different? He still felt like he had the same meat on his bones that he did yesterday. On top of that, shouldn't he have woken up in Mario's room? If they had switched back, that meant they would have woken up in the other's room, as the went to sleep in their own. They did switch rooms when they originally swapped bodies, after all. So why wasn't the case here? Unless they…

Luigi felt a pit form in his stomach. "Testing, testing, one two three." The sound that came out of his mouth was the voice of his brother, not himself. This sent the younger Mario brother into a panic. "No." He felt his face. "No no no." He made his way over to his mirror. Disappointment and fear curled their hands around his heart when he saw his reflection. Or, rather, Mario's reflection.

"No no no…" Luigi continued feeling his brother's face. Everything he felt, from the nose to the cheeks to the mustache, made his heart rate escalate. Why was he still Mario? Why wasn't he himself? They both made the wish on the star! If it worked the one time, it should have logically worked a second time!

Okay, now Luigi started to hyperventilate. His mind filled with all the terrible doors that this new fact opened up for him. Was he stuck as Mario? Was there no way for the two of them to switch back? Were they doomed to live each other's lives until their dying days?

Luigi put his hand to his chest. He couldn't live the rest of his life like this! The only reason that getting through the previous day was possible was because Luigi had the knowledge that he and his brother were going to switch back! Now that that wasn't a possibility, what could they do? Would they be stuck like this forever? The lives that they had lived previously…were they permanently out of their reach?

Without another thought, he made his way out of his room, looking for Mario. His hyperventilation made it feel like he was going to pass out at any moment, but that didn't matter to him. He needed to talk to Mario. Thankfully, locating him wasn't difficult (finding each other in a house this size was never an issue). He was emerging from his room, looking ultra confused as he stood in the doorway. This confusion only grew stronger when he got a look at his younger brother.

"Luigi?"

Luigi nodded. He tried to get himself to calm down, but that task was more than a little difficult. Mario must have had his older brother instincts activate when he saw this, as he came over and put his hand on Luigi's back. He stroked him, the sensation one that the green clad plumber had always found to be soothing.

"Calm down, fratellino," he said, his voice a low frequency. He hummed a song that Luigi held great nostalgia for, as it was a lullaby that their mother had sung to them when they were kids. It was just as relaxing now as it was then. "It's okay, Luigi. It's okay."

After about a minute, Luigi was finally calmed down enough so that he could breathe normally and stand up straight. He looked at his brother, studying his appearance. Mario did the same thing, cringing a little the bigger his picture of Luigi became.

"I don't understand," he said, his voice trailing off into a wispy vapor.

"Me neither," Luigi said. He scratched the back of his head. "We…we made the wish!"

Mario nodded, his face somber. He put his hand to his chin, biting his lip as he thought about the options that the two of them had. "Must not have been enough…"

"Yeah, no kidding!" Luigi ran his hand through his hair, trying to process what exactly about this situation didn't add up. They made the wish, they made it at the same time….

"Do you think it might be because we both made the wish out loud?" he asked.

"Hmmm…" Mario said, tapping his foot as he did. "That could be a possibility…"

Luigi began hyperventilating again. "If…if we need to make a wish to ourselves…" he shook his head, the options that they had not looking appealing to him in any way. "We're gonna have to wait until tonight! That means we're going to have to spend another day like this!" His hyperventilation wasn't even hyper at this point; he was breathing at a speed that could traverse millions of lightyears in seconds. "Oh, but I don't want to spend another day like this! I want my body back! I want to spend time with Daisy, I want to see myself when I look in the mirror…I don't want to be stuck like this, Mario!" A tear escaped his eye. "I don't mean to be offensive, but I don't want to be you!"

"No no; you're not being offensive Weegee; I feel the same way." He stroked Luigi's back again, making sure that his humming was of an even smoother and more relaxing frequency. "We're not going to be stuck like this forever."

Luigi whimpered. "How do you know?"

"Because if there was a way to switch us, that means there has to be a way to switch us back."

Luigi whimpered again, his lower lip trembling. Logically, that made sense. But still, the pessimistic side of Luigi's personality couldn't help but continue freaking out. Every possibility he thought of was enough to send him into a downward spiral. The best possibility, the best possible outcome for him and his brother, was that they found a way to switch back….years into the future. And not just one or two years; we were talking about DECADES. Luigi and Mario were probably going to be swapped until they were old men, and at that point, they would have been so used to living each other's lives that switching back ultimately put them into an even more uncomfortable situation than the original switch did.

This possibility made Luigi feel even worse. He didn't want to get used to this! He didn't want to be someone else for the better part of the rest of his life! If that was what ended up happening….

He would have no one to blame but his own, miserable self. He was the one who made the first wish. HE was the one who had essentially doomed him and Mario to a dreadful, horrible fate. There was no one to blame but him, making that stupid, short sighted, worthless wish.

When this thought occurred to him, all of his self control flew right out the window. He burst into tears, crying so hard that no amount of Mario's humming could soothe him any longer. His cry could only be described as an ugly cry, a loud, miserable cry that made his eyes as red as beets and his cheeks as wet as waterfalls. He wiped his nose, but that method was not effective at all to stopping the snot.

"Weegee…" Mario said. He tried to stroke Luigi's back again, but Luigi wouldn't let him. He pulled away, feeling like he wasn't deserving of even the slightest act of kindness from the man whose life he had ruined.

"This…this is all my fault!" he somehow managed to say that through the tears. "I…I'm sorry, Mario! I'm so so….sorr…" he couldn't even finish saying the word. He felt like he was going to melt into a mushy, sad puddle at any minute. He had already stained the carpet with his tears; might as well take it one step further and stain it with the very essence of his sorry self.

"It's okay, Luigi," Mario said. He took a deep breath. "Try to clam down, fratellino." He took another deep breath. "Remember, deep breaths. Big, deep, full breaths will help the oxygen flow. It will help your brain to relax."

Luigi nodded. He followed Mario's example, taking deep breaths in sync with his brother. They did the exercise for about two minutes, the practice actually helping the younger Mario brother to calm down. The tears went away, his nose stopped running. When they were done, Mario smiled at Luigi.

"Better?"

Luigi took one more deep breath before nodding. "A little." He wiped his nose and his eyes. "Th…thanks, Mario."

"Of course." Mario went right back into thinking mode. "Okay, so if a wish didn't work, we're going to have to think of something else."

"What would that be though?" Luigi asked. He had no ideas of his own. He hoped that his brother did, as he felt pretty helpless in this scenario.

"Hmm…" Mario spent another few minutes thinking before his face lit up. "I know. Maybe we need to look at this from the perspective of a smart person, someone who is dedicated to the field of science."

Luigi blinked. "Science? Who would be dedicated to the field of…" before he finished his sentence, he got what his brother was trying to say. His face lit up. "Wait! Do you mean E Gadd?"

Mario smiled. "If he was able to invent a vacuum cleaner that can suck up ghosts, he can invent a machine that is capable of switching minds."

Luigi's spirits rose right up. That was so true! It was obvious, yet genius. E Gadd was known throughout the Mushroom Kingdom as an eccentric genius, a fact that Luigi himself was very much aware of. Heck, sometimes the inventions that E Gadd made were devices that, in the real world where Mario and Luigi originated from, would be seen as only functional in the realm of science fiction. E Gadd was someone who could take the laws of physics and only treat them as "guidelines" and "suggestions." Would switching minds be difficult for him? Unlikely. He could probably look at the situation that he and Mario were in, shrug, and say "pfft, piece of cake."

"I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier!" He grinned. "Mario, you're brilliant!"

"Not as brilliant as E Gadd," Mario said with a chuckle. He readjusted Luigi's hat on his head. "We should probably go see him as soon as possible. So…" he looked down at the gloves he was wearing, sniffing a little and making a disgusted cringe. "We've been in these clothes for the past day. I suggest that we take showers and get changed quickly before we head out."

Luigi's eyes grew wide. "Bro!" He shook his head. "Is your goal to make this experience as uncomfortable as possible!"

Mario chuckled, the sound laced with an uncomfortable vibe. "Just because we're in each other's bodies doesn't mean that we should ignore personal hygiene. It might not be the most fun activity, but it is necessary." He turned and pointed toward the closet, containing the towels, at the end hallway. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll be the one to go first."

Luigi sighed. "Okay…" he didn't really see any point in arguing. The less time they argued, the faster they would be ready to go to E Gadd.