I am not sorry.

With that, the world appeared to freeze, as all motion began to cease. Flashes of a world in ruin followed by a night sky cycled slowly as those words echoed. On the outside, a single sweat drop rolled down Luigi's face, which was enough to shatter this strange dream as he woke with fright.

"W-What?" Luigi muttered as he moved in fear, ever so keen to bump the back of his skull into a nearby tree. Outs moon had abandoned him, leaving Luigi to have a great deal of difficulty concentrating as he tried to orient himself now that he was awake. The pumps of his heart echoed and rang through his ears as his eyes darted around his surroundings.

"Even if they fear me…I saved them. I can save people."

Luigi had thought this to himself as he departed from the Wiggler family, but the thoughts did little to comfort him as he knew that it was nothing more than a mental band-aid covering a devastating reality.

Hours Prior

Luigi had walked away from the Wiggler property with several carrots to signify thanks. This should keep him well-fed until he can make the next stop at a nearby town. One thing didn't settle right with him.

"They're…They're really afraid of me…I was just doing the right thing…," Luigi thought. Why had they reacted so viscerally to him? He was protecting them, and they looked at him with eyes filled with sorrow, fear, and a hint of pity. Why? Why him? He was their hero, and yet here they were, scanning him as if he were a criminal you needed to be wary of. Was he really that..?

The gravity of his actions struck him as if a thwomp fell from above. Luigi could feel himself begin to tremor subtly. He was afraid, but for the first time in his life, he was afraid of himself. He didn't just defeat his enemy. He outright slaughtered and incinerated Gooms. Why was this all crashing down on him now? Why not earlier? How and why did it take so long to process that he went too far?

"Its…It's this power…I got too carried away. I acted just like Bowser would. What would Bro think? Peach? Daisy?" Luigi began to despair as tears welled up in his eyes, threatening to run down his cheeks at the next blink. His eyes watered as he tried to unsuccessfully blink them away. Luigi approached a tree and leaned forward, his head gently hitting bark as he bit his lip in frustration.

"I never would have done this normally. I thought that maybe I could change things with this power, but instead I feel like a monster!" Luigi wailed to himself. Sobs erupted from the plumber as his shaking intensified. He never wanted to be like this. He wanted to be strong, dependable, reliable…brave. Yet, here he walked away from the Wigglers, having maimed his foes and set a horrifying example to them in his first act since departing the Mushroom Kingdom. The sun slowly descended, tinting the woods a brilliant orange as Luigi gazed at the sky.

There was only one shadow.

Luigi's.

This marked an uncomfortable reminder that he would be alone for his journey. He made a mistake he could not undo.

"What have I done?" he muttered, wanting to touch his shadow in an attempt to deny that it was only his presence in the woods.

"…"

"Luigi," she called out from inside. Desperate for any kind of comfort or consolation, Luigi opened his mental link with the Queen. All thoughts seem to slow as he awaited her, reprimanding himself for having the desire to even talk to her out of desperation. With a start, Luigi mysteriously removed tent supplies from his physics-defying hat, waiting for her to reply as he prepared a sleeping bag and campfire near a stretch of dense woods that would conceal anyone well.

"They do not understand," she declared.

"What do you mean?"

"The power you currently have access to is threatening to those who are weak. What you did earlier was commendable. Do not take my compliments lightly as I am sparse with them," she commented.

"I was just…trying to protect them! That was the whole point, and I'm called and looked at like a monster for saving them? Bro doesn't have that issue! No one ever questions him!" he responded in despair.

"You are not your brother."

With that, Luigi closed his mental link and shut the queen back out. What was the point of that? There was little comfort provided—he wasn't his brother. His brother would never murder even a Goomba; yet here was the green counterpart, drunk off of a taste of power with no regard to those around him.

"To try and convince me that it wasn't his fault? A see-through ploy to bait him into being comfortable with using her power, clearly," Luigi thought.

I am not sorry.

Presently

Luigi had gone to bed shortly after his conversation with the Shadow Queen, and one thing resonated with him. He wasn't Mario. He never would be. Even if the idea of becoming completely removed from him his own identity seems appealing, there's a level of discomfort with accepting that reality. Yet, those thoughts didn't quell the bizarre dream he had.

"Mama Mia…it's late," Luigi muttered to himself. It was likely dead hour by how obscured everything seemed to be, yet, he wasn't tired as much as he was confused. He had a dream that simply made no sense. A poetry recital, a woman crying, a world filled with chaos, and a feeling of unbelievable loneliness.

Reaching into his hat, he removed a sheet of paper and pen. Frantically, Luigi scribbled notes on what he could recall. If he were to wait any longer, he'd likely forget the details of his dream, so he had to capture everything now.

"Let's see…crying…stars…" Luigi mumbled. The dream felt more like a vision than anything else. He couldn't quite determine what to make of it. Shrugging, Luigi placed the paper inside of his hat and repositioned himself in his sleeping bag.

"Huh…" Luigi started.

"Hey Shadow Queen! Do you sleep?" Luigi asked internally as he re-established a mental link. A pregnant pause. Seconds passed before a reply was given,

"What kind of an insulting question is this?! I am immortal. I do not sleep," the Shadow Queen retorted. In her mindscape, there was nothing more than a purple void. It had been like this for years. As long as she could remember, her state of capture entailed her to be trapped in a dimension that had nothing for her. No home, no nothing. Whether it be behind the Thousand-Year Door or in Luigi, the environment did not change.

"Oh come on! I had to know if ancient beings needed rest too. You don't like, need to unwind or anything?"

"I could unwind by destroying you, for starters," she thought in half-frustration, half jest.

"Hey, you don't want to go back in that vacuum, now, would you?"

"That is what the object is? A vacuum? This is the first I've heard of such a word. Bear in mind, I understand you are reckless enough to endanger yourself to expel me. Fear not, as I am an ally, not a witch, mwa ha ha ha!" she laughed.

"…Uh…yeah, so…what do you lik-"

"ENOUGH!" the Shadow Queen sharply interrupted, ending their mental link with one another. This man was strange. Why ask anything about her? Why make any kind of effort? Both of them were hideously awkward in communicating with one another, and it was on full display now.

"I don't know what his end goal is…but whatever he pontificates is going to be met with failure by yours truly, ha ha ha!" she thought with an exaggerated laugh.