Author's Note: Sorry for not posting for a while, I sort of lost interest in writing this story, and now, here is chapter 7

'-Subject 120: Exploded, Subject 121: Warp into another dimension, Subject 122: melted into goo'

E. Gadd rubbed his eyes and sighed as he read the reports of previous experiments that he and Polter had done.

"How is this ever going to work?" he drops his clipboard and rubs his eyes again.

Luigi is currently in the hospital from the mission that he sent him on, it scares him when he comes back all bloody and bruised, and it scares him more when he faints right on the spot, Luigi always comes back unharmed, or with a few bruises, but never like that. So whatever he encountered is definitely not an escaped Ghost or Boo. Whatever it is, he needs to know. And hopefully isn't looking for Luigi.

The stress and the worry are too much for him, he needs some coffee.

E. Gadd hops out of his chair and heads to the coffee machine located on the opposite side of the room. He stared at the coffee numbly as he stirred the milk and the sugar that was dissolving into the coffee.

'How am I going to deal with this?' he thought as he sips on his coffee, 'How is this ever going to work?'

If the 'Thing' that Polter told him can indeed destroy ghosts, then he needs something really strong, something that is willing to fight that 'Thing', something that is independent, something that is strong enough to host The Crystal, something that won't cause trouble everywhere it goes….

E. Gadd widened his eyes like he got an idea, which he does, he gulped down his coffee quickly and rushed to his Ghosts and Boos storage room.

"508-508-5-, ah, there he is" he muttered

He picked up the container that holds King Boo, this surprised the monarch but was quickly replaced with anger and hatred, even in his container, anger, and hatred still burn brightly in his eyes.

doesn't know if it's a good idea but it's also the only idea he has, he took a deep breath and offered

"Hello King Boo, I know how you felt about me during the last…errr..event, but fret not. I am here to make a deal for you and your brethren…"

It's nighttime. Luigi stares at the ceiling of his hospital room, pondering on Nightmare, he's afraid to sleep, fearing that he might meet him again in his dreams. But he knew he couldn't avoid him forever, either he dies or Nightmare dies, whoever comes first. If he dies, the Mushroom Kingdom would be destroyed, if Nightmare dies, then the Kingdom, heck, the world would be saved.

"The only way to defeat evil is to confront it, or else how am I going to defeat it." He reasoned

He shut his eyes and fatigue quickly took over.

Nightmare traveled from house to house, killing and consuming toads. He needs to build up more strength, and he needs to succeed the next time, so in order to do that, he needs more strength.

By the time he consumed the 50th toad, he felt a jolt of electricity from the back of his mind.

"Huh, looks like my dear Luigi is asleep" He smiles

He rubbed his hands together, grinning with glee.

"Hee, hee, he's not going to escape me this time, I got a nice surprise for him." He laughed out loud.

He dissolved into mist and floated back to the abandoned warehouse, landed on the roof, and entered Luigi's dream

Luigi woke up or seemed to have woken up, in a bedroom. It's definitely not his hospital room, but rather a child's bedroom. He could tell through the plushies and action figures that are littered around the room, he scanned the room, until he laid his eyes on three particular plushies that are set right in front of him.

The one on the left resembles the likes of the late jester Dimentio, the round-based shape of its body along with its head creates a deceiving look of charming endearment. It's sewed with a purple and yellow garment that serve as its poncho as well as its cap 'n bells. At the neck of the plushy, it's fitted with a white ruff that seems both out of place and appropriately placed while the four limbs that support the plushy are pitch black. If Luigi is being honest, he would have definitely taken the plushy as a bedtime cuddle toy if the latter doesn't represent the one that haunts him.

The one in the middle is obviously King Boo, the round white body attached with little nubbins overall gives it a cuddly appearance, but the ghastly face that's sewn upon it suggests otherwise. The plushy's visage looks exactly like the recently captured King, with the addition of a pair of pupils on its eyes. The new addiction deeply disturbed Luigi, as if he witness something cursed.

And finally the right one, it bears the appearance of Antasma, but somewhat modified, a wide, devilish grin that mimics the one Antasma has was sewed in carefully into the face along with the mask that he wore, but with extra spikes that protrude out at the bottom. Similar to Dimentio, its body is also very thick and cuddly, but with the lower fusing together to mimic a ghost tail, Luigi doesn't remember Antasma's mask bearing those spikes, which confuses him slightly, but he continued examining the plushies. On its left shoulder, something was attached to it. Luigi squinted his eyes, and sees that it is…Dreambert? He couldn't quite tell due to the miniature size it was at. But is positively sure that's Dreambert, which confuses him even more. Aren't they enemies? Why is he paired with him?

The three plushies seemed to be staring right at him, Luigi felt a bit uncomfortable, haunted toys always gave him the creeps.

He decided to explore more of the room and examined his surroundings.

Both sides of the room seem to be installed with pale bleached doors, a white closet where the plushies are located is in front of the room, with a set of blue shelves beside it. Right behind him is a blue checkered bed. It's larger than an average child's bed, but it is still a bed for a child to stay in.

Luigi spotted a flashlight on the nightstand beside the bed, 'that might be useful' he thought. He walked over and picked it up, when he turned back, however. He noticed that the plushies were gone.

"Ohhhhh, snap." he breathed

There was a note on the spot where the plushies were, he hurried over and picked it up. The note says:

If you see glowing eyes, shut the doors, if you don't see anything, shine your light. Survive till 6 AM.

- A

Luigi reread the note multiple times until he memorized all of the instructions, he wasn't quite sure who this mysterious being named 'A' is, but he is grateful that someone here can assist him. He checked the digital clock that is on top of the drawer, currently saying 12:00 AM,

"Oh boy, this is going to be a long night." He muttered

he gripped the flashlight tightly and peak out of the left door. No glowing eyes, he shined his light. It appears to be a modern hallway with red wallpapers and a few decorations, but other than that. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, Luigi left the door and went to the other one, and again, no glowing eyes. He shined his light, but in the corner of his eyes, he caught something hiding back in the corridor, Something black.

Deciding not to linger, he left the door.

He repeated this procedure several times until he heard a quiet growl that was coming from the closet, Luigi mentally smacked himself in the face. How come he didn't think about the closet? He quietly approached the closet and opened it just a little so he could peek into it. What he saw almost gave him a heart attack, in the darkness of the closet. He can see glowing eyes, glowing purple eyes with irises like a snake. However, there's more than one pair of glowing eyes. There seemed to be thousands, all crammed together, frantically looking everywhere.

Luigi shut the closet door in an instant, he was not prepared to be killed by whatever that creature was, he felt like he held the door for eternity and finally let go. The eyes are gone. And in place of it was the King Boo plushy, he has a very bad feeling about it. He left the closet and checked the right door, but the moment he opened the door. He was greeted by a pair of unsettling blank glowing yellow eyes that are uncomfortably close to the door, strangely they don't seem malicious only murderous in pretense, but Luigi shut the door with a slam, his heart pumping like he just ran a billion miles per hour. The creature is so near that he can practically hear its breathing through the door.

Fear and adrenaline coursed through his veins, this is definitely a dream conducted by Nightmare. Oh god, what is he going to do?

He checks the clock that's on top of the drawer, it says 5:00 AM. Luigi sighs with relief, knowing that this nightmare is going to end soon.

He wipes his brow, muttering "One more hour to go-"

CRASH

Luigi jumped at the noise and quickly turned around. Frantically trying to find the source of the sound, and noticed that the blue drawer has fallen down, his confused but also fearful. Whatever is fast enough to pop into the room the second he took his eyes off and manipulates objects without his notice is something he should be cautious about.

He lowered his flashlight, but he did not lower his guard. Something is here, and it's not friendly. He kept his eyes on the doors and the closet, expecting something to jump out and kill him, but to his relief, it did not happen.

Finally, 6:00 AM came.

Luigi woke up with a start, he sat up quickly, breathing heavily. He was back in the hospital room. He shivered, he was lucky, he knew that. But next time, he might not be so lucky again.