In the spirit of the holidays I decided to post another chapter. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

I don't own anything Mario.

Chapter 6- The Dream

Luigi didn't realize he had nodded off until he sat up in his bed cold sweat dripping from his body. His eyes felt thick and puffy from all his crying and he couldn't stop his heart from its rapid beating. He checked the time on his clock. It was nine o'clock. He probably had missed dinner, and more than likely no one had been in to check on him.

He reached into the pocket of his jeans to find three messages sitting in his inbox from Daisy.

No prob, ttyl

Do u want 2 come over?

U O me an explanation tomorrow

He sighed and texted her back, realizing that the last one had been sent only moments ago. It was probably what had waked him up.

Sorry was asleep I'll C U tomorrow

He laid the phone on the desk not waiting for her reply and went down to see what his parents had made for dinner. He heard the TV on in the living room and figured his father was still up. He wasn't too surprised to see a couple of pizza boxes on the counter. It should have been his night to cook since his mom was supposed to be working late. He figured that his father must have ordered it after Luigi hadn't shown back up in the kitchen. He picked up a slice and turned to go back to his room when found his mother in the doorway.

Luigi didn't know what to say. He could tell from the look on her face, his father had told her what had happened.

"Luigi, sit down please." She started.

Luigi went back to the kitchen and took a seat opposite from her at the table. He timidly took a bite of his pizza waiting for the big speech that he knew was coming.

"Luigi, what happened today?" She asked patiently.

Luigi swallowed. "With Danielle or with Dad?"

"Both." She clarified.

Luigi was afraid she would say that, but he still spilled out his side of the story not leaving anything out. Every once in awhile he would stop to nibble on his pizza, but his mother never interrupted him during his story.

"And that's the truth?" His mother asked when he finished.

He was close to being sarcastic, but he knew better than to do that to his mother. "Yes." He sighed.

She looked thoughtful. "Luigi, that wasn't fair to Daisy. I think for starters you should apologize as soon as you can to her."

Luigi wanted to point out that nothing had happened, but he figured he should do it anyways. It was probably better for her to hear it from him before word got out.

"Yes Mother."

"Now about this thing with your father. He was just trying to look out for you. You didn't have to bring Him up." She stated her voice softening when she mentioned Him.

Luigi could feel his frustration coming back. "Maybe I wanted to bring Him up. Maybe I'm tired of not being able to say my own brother's name. I mean, we don't really know if he's dead. He could have just run away."

His mother flinched. She was always like this if they came to close to talking about Mario's disappearance. It had been five years and no one had heard anything. Nobody had found a body, dead or alive, there was no kidnapping note, and he didn't act like he was running away. It was almost as if he had just been erased from the world.

"Luigi, please don't do this." His mother cried being on the verge of tears.

Luigi sighed again. "I'm sorry. It's just that tomorrow is The Day, and I'm finding it harder to deal with it every year." He apologized.

His mother jumped up and hugged him. "I know. And believe me when I say that your father and I loved you both equally. I want you to know that no matter what, we are always on your side."

Luigi tried not to cry at his mother's affection. He excused himself and headed back towards his room on the lame excuse of having homework. His mother watched him go with a loving and caring look in her eyes. As soon as Luigi closed the door back to his room, he knew that he wouldn't be able to stay up much longer. His mother's outburst of emotion had caused his already tired eyes to get weepy again. So for the second time that night, he cried himself to sleep.

Luigi felt like he was looking through a window. He saw a large kitchen with a bunch of mushroom-headed people running around. The window zoomed past all of these strange creatures to get to the dining room table at the end. He was surprised to see an older, sadder version of his brother sitting there. Luigi wanted so desperately to reach through the window and hug his brother, tell him how sorry he was. He started pounding on the glass hoping to break through, but it held strong. This window was merely for him to observe.

He noticed that his brother wasn't alone. Sitting across from Mario was a beautiful girl in a long pink gown, with a golden crown upon her equally golden hair. He didn't know what her relationship with his brother was, but he could already tell that she was a definite step up from Pauline.

"Mario, are you not excited about Mario Day?" The girl asked.

"Sort of. Mario Day is kind of a bittersweet day for me." Mario responded.

"Because you are sad that you came?" The girl asked disappointed.

Mario sat up. "No, not at all. I've loved the time I've spent here with you Princess. It's just that every year we have Mario Day, I'm reminded of my family, especially my brother. Did I tell you that I promised him I would be right back? Twenty minutes top."

"I'm sorry Mario, but I'm sure he understands."

"I doubt it. He probably thinks I just left. Abandoned him. If I hadn't of dropped my stupid phone, maybe I could have called and told him I was fine."

The princess put her hand on Mario's arm sympathetically. Then the window started to back out despite Luigi's protests. It disappeared altogether leaving Luigi alone in the white nothingness.

"Wait, I still want to know! Who was that? What happened to my brother?" Luigi cried out knowing he wouldn't get an answer. It's been the same thing for the past five years. He would always make up some explanation for his brother's disappearance and it would never be anything more than his imagination.

"Luigi." A voice called.

Luigi looked up from the little ball he had made himself into. Coming closer was a silhouette of a person. As they neared, Luigi found that he recognized her.

"Aren't you Daisy's mom?" He asked.

The woman smiled. She wore a long dark cloak with a hood that tried to hide her face. However, Luigi could recognize her anywhere. She looked exactly like Daisy or Daisy looked exactly like her.

"Call me Cynthia." She told him.

"Okay, Cynthia. Where am I?" He asked.

"This is the dimension between worlds. You were wondering about your brother almost as much as he you, so I brought you here to see him."

"So that really was Mario? Who was the girl, the princess? And what were all of the weird mushroom things?"

She laughed. "So many questions and so little time. But you have yet to ask me the most pressing one."

Luigi thought about it and was pretty sure he knew what she wanted him to ask. "Why did you bring me here now?"

She beamed. "There it is. Your journey is about to begin Luigi, and I needed a way to explain the tasks that were ahead of you. You will soon be joining Mario in the other world because I will have need of you when the time comes."

Luigi didn't know what to say. Part of him realized that this was a dream and therefore none of it mattered anyways. But another part wanted to go to really be in the kitchen where his brother was. That part of him was ready to start this journey right now if it brought him towards Mario.

"I must leave you now, but don't worry. It will be your turn before you know it." She said turning around to leave him. "Oh and one more thing. My daughter has suffered enough. I don't want to see her get hurt any more. Let her go before she has another one she loves leave her." She confessed sadly before disappearing.

Luigi sat up in bed instantly awake. He turned and started at the clock reading seven o'clock on the screen. He jumped out of bed to get ready for school thinking about the dream he had just had. It had been so vivid, but at the same time he knew that it couldn't be true. He was only fooling himself if he really believed that Mario was in some sort of magical, fairytale land that he would soon be traveling too. However, no matter how much logic tried to dictate his mind, he found himself clinging to that hope.

He finished getting ready and ran down to the front porch to wait on Daisy. That's when he realized the worst part of his dream. In order to get back his brother, he would have to give up Daisy. Was it worth that? He shook his head trying to clear the thought from his mind. It was only a dream. Reality was that he and Daisy would finish up school, go to college, and start their lives together. There were no mushroom people, no princess, and unfortunately no Mario. Wishing and dreaming would only give him heartache, and Luigi was through with crying for awhile.

As his girlfriend pulled up, he had no idea of how this would go from being The Day to being his day. He was completely oblivious to Cynthia watching sadly from another dimension as he failed to follow her advice.

"Someday this will all make since, I promise." She whispered not knowing who she was talking to more. The boy who was destined for a heroic life in the other world, or the daughter who's share of heartbreaks were only beginning.

Okay, I know that you are probably briming with questions about Cynthia. I don't want to reveal to much right now, but she does play an important part in this story even though she won't show up again for awhile. Sorry, but I can't give up all of my secrets. At least now you know that Mario didn't die, he is safely in Mushroom Kingdom with Peach and they will both be in this story. It's just going to take me a little bit to get to them. Thanks for all of the reviews so far!