Chapter 9

Peach had a hard time pretending to walk with Bowser willingly onto his ship. She wanted to punch him in the throat and shriek some sort of war cry, like old humans did in their all out wars. But she bit her tongue, sauntering onto the ship. She could feel the fear Mario had watching her go on, and the seething fury of Toadsworth. But she had warned him not to worry. And Toadsworth always hated when she told him to step down, but after watching Mario rush into her rescue unprompted, he had to give the two of them some credit. She was led by some red and green shelled Koopas to a subsection off the ship- one she is very used to. A rather comfortable jail cell greeted her. There was no need to push her in, she walked into the room on her own and the Koopas quickly closed it behind her. Mario and Toadsworth watched on, pretending to wear their shocked expressions. Mario knew better, though. Toadsworth's face however, seemed a lot more genuine. Bowser cackled a maniacal laughter and made his way to the princess' cell, dragging Luigi, hooded, along with him.

"You came here a lot easier than you usually do," Bowser snickered. "What's the special occasion? Giving up?"

"Hardly." Peach spoke. "But you don't need to know why."

"I'm not stupid, you got something planned," Bowser snorted. "But I'm not too worried about it."

"Maybe your lack of worry will be your downfall."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Maybe," Peach ended, knocking her head away. Luigi couldn't take his eyes off her. But he knew from last time if he spoke another word, Bowser might just straight up kill him.

"Eh, whatever," Bowser shrugged her off, making his way to the door. He beckoned his guards out, but Luigi didn't leave. They shared a quick nod before Bowser slammed the door, the lock of a familiar key echoing through the room.

"Somehow that key lock always pierces through these loud propellers," Peach commented, glancing towards Luigi. Luigi nodded in response. She put her hands on the bars.

"You don't have to act all cool with me," she whispered. "I know who you are."

Luigi jumped a bit, but gently began to take off his hood.

"You think I'm cool?"

"Oh yeah. I mean, black and red may fit Mario more. You might do better with a black and green."

"Mario?"

Peach chuckled.

"Hey, don't act so surprised. We met already."

"Not really," Luigi fumbled. "I mean, I saw you maybe for three minutes."

"So we've known one another for three minutes," Peach announced, smiling. She looked Luigi up and down.

"You're a lot taller than Mario," Peach noted. "And you seem better at speaking."

"Well, I've had more practice," Luigi explained. "I go to school more than he does."

"You both go to school? For what?"

"Well, uh, actually, only I go to school. But I'm going for business. But after taking some art classes, I'm thinking of changing my… Wait."

Luigi shook his head, but Peach continued to talk.

"I like that you talk more," Peach beamed. "Please, tell me more."

"Well, uh, I think maybe we should focus on the situation at hand."

"Oh, right."

Peach looked down at herself.

"Being in a cage isn't the best talking point," Peach sighed. "But that's fine, because I won't be in here much longer, right?"

"Maybe?" The confidence was gone in Luigi's voice.

"Maybe?" Peach asked, confused. "You're not going to keep me in here, are you?"

"I'm not allowed to open it," Luigi admitted. Peach narrowed her brow.

"I'm not going to stay in here," Peach declared. "You're going to let me out."

"I literally don't know how to open it," Luigi stammered. "Can't you wait like five minutes? I want to talk to you."

"About?"

It was like her whole demeanor changed. Luigi felt the uneasiness forming in his chest.

"Uhm, well, first off. How's Mario doing?"

"You say well a lot," Peach giggled. "But Mario is doing okay. He really misses you."

"I miss him too," Luigi trailed off. Peach nodded.

"Yeah, he talks about you a lot. Er, well, when he talks. He's not much of a talker, that one."

"Uh, well–"

"You did it again!" Peach giggled. "Well!"

"Haha, yeah. Uhm.. he doesn't talk too much in English. He's very talkative in Italian."

"Italian?" Peach asked. "Isn't that an ethnicity?"

"And a language," Luigi chuckled. "But hey, we are and know both."

"That's interesting," Peach egged on. "Tell me more."

"What can I say?"

"Tell me about your culture!"

"I, uh, don't really think we have time for that right now," Luigi nervously said. "Maybe afterwards?"

Peach huffed and Luigi tensed up a bit.

"Fine."

"Alright," Luigi continued on. "So, I'm aware you have land that belongs to Bowser–"

An immediate, loud groan admitted from Peach and she gripped the bars.

"I'm not giving it to him," she declared.

"Why not?" Luigi asked. "From the story I was told, it genuinely sounds like its his."

"Monsters don't deserve to feed their army of monsters," Peach snarled. "And I will not be part of helping beasts like this."

"Monsters? What makes them monsters?"

"Oh, where do I start?"

Peach began to go on a rant, grasping at anything she could to explain the situation. Everything seemed awkward, barely strung together. But Luigi was no detective. He was just trying to get her to listen.

"They're not monsters," Luigi sighed. "I swear they're not."

"They have been kidnapping me ever since I was a kid, and even taking me out of the equation, Luigi, he's keeping you hostage," Peach continued to rant, waving her arms around for dramaticism. "You should be against him too."

"I'm not," Luigi said. "I like him."

"So he's got you brainwashed too," she huffed, falling to her butt and crossing her arms. "Mario isn't going to like these turns of events."

"Mario would understand if I had a chance to explain it to him," Luigi remarked. "But I haven't really had a chance to talk to him."

"That'll change," Peach commented.

"I hope," Luigi sighed. He tensed for a second.

"Wait what do you mean?"

Without another word, a rattling of the bars alerted Luigi and he quickly spun around.

"Mario!" Luigi yelped, rushing to the window. "What are you doing, hanging on the bars like that?"

Luigi quickly fumbled the lock on the windows, shaking them until they got lose. Ripping the window open, he quickly pulled his brother in, a harder task than Luigi was willing to admit. Mario plopped on the floor and glanced up at him.

"Hi, baby brother," Mario chuckled.

"Mario!" Luigi quickly fell into his arms, erupting in tears. "Its so good to see you!"

Mario gently patted him on the back, looking up at Peach. She cocked her head to the lock on her door and gently pulled Luigi off.

"We need to go," Mario spoke in Italian. "We have to get out of here."

"Mario," Luigi began. "I don't want to abandon Bowser like this. I really think I could get through to Peach if she would just listen."

"Get through to Peach?" Mario asked, shock radiating in his voice. "Get through to your turtle beast that he isn't to kidnap people to get what he wants."

"Its just a publicity stunt, Mario," Luigi tried to reason. "Its just so they listen to him, even for a moment. He just wants land, and quite frankly that land belongs to him."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Because Mario, the story he told. It feels real."

"You can't follow your feelings in situations like this."

"As if you aren't following your heart with her. She's lovely."

"Ohoho, my gay little brother is commenting on how pretty a woman is," Mario sneered. Luigi immediately became red in the face.

"Mario, you know I'm saying that because you fall in love too easily," Luigi snapped back, Mario relishing in his brother's embarrassment. Peach watched on, completely enthralled with the pair. While she couldn't understand a word either of them spoke, it was interesting to watch two people share such a connection. Her eyes were wide with excitement, but a dust-filled cough interrupted their brotherly banter. Mario shook his head quickly.

"Luigi, time to go," Mario announced.

"Wait–"

Without another word, Mario went to Peach's cage and began violently jiggling the locks. A strong pull later, the metal doors swung open. Peach crawled out of her prison and Luigi was almost too shocked to move.

"Mario, what are you doing?"

"I'm breaking us out of here," Mario announced, tying his mask on his face.

"But I don't want to–"

The noise alerted some of the nearby Koopa guards, causing them to storm into the room. A couple of spear swings later and some grabby turtle hands, a scuffle had begun. Mario kept swinging his arms around, the armor he was wearing bouncing back most attacks. It was all too fast paced for Luigi to focus on just one thing. It was all too much. One second he's in the middle of conflict, and the next he's being thrown into some vehicle, hovering around in the sky. As he fell, he heard the same, burly, familiar voice he's grown used to in the past couple of months.

"I'm not letting another one of my friends get taken from me! Kamek!"

But there was no magic to greet him. He was in a brand new environment, unknown to Bowser or Junior's whereabouts. When he climbed up to view what was happening, the ship was like a distant memory. A large hug engulfed Luigi, Mario burying his face into Luigi's side. He was just happy to have his brother back in his life. But Luigi felt torn. He felt like there was a genuine connection with Bowser. But he wanted nothing more than to be back with his brother again. He put an arm on Mario's back, watching as the giant ship faded more and more into the clouds.

—

"I'm not letting her get away with this Kamek."

Bowser's voice echoed gently throughout the boiling castle. Lava pops and running streams are the only things that interrupted his voice. No Koopa breath, no Goomba stomp, and no flapping of winged creatures would get in the way of the pain and fury that radiated through everyone's bodies.

"She calls me the monster? She dares to call me the monster? Pah! This is ridiculous!"

"Ridiculous it is," Kamek yes-manned.

"She just wants to take everything I love away from me. She's absolutely spoiled rotten."

Kamek and Kammy could feel the heat sizzling off Bowser's body.

"Your highness," Kammy interrupted. It felt like all eyes fell on her as Bowser swung around to face her. The fury in his eyes was almost blinding, and Kammy would be lying if she didn't admit that it honestly terrified her.

"I think you should calm down before you do anything rash," Kammy remarked, trying to show remorse through a gentle hand wave. "What happened was bad, but it would be worse if we acted on feelings alone."

"I think you should shut up!" Bowser howled, fire leaving his mouth in her direction. She barely dodged with her flying broom, and Bowser continued to pant from adrenaline.

"I don't care what happens to the Mushroom Kingdom anymore," Bowser snarled. "I don't care about her stupid kingdom. I don't care about making friends with her. I won't let her or her damn lineage keep me down any longer. I am not letting those mushroom freaks take another one of my friends from me with lies and deceit!"

Bowser quickly spun around to face a small troop of men.

"Round up the armies," Bowser instructed, fire escaping his eyes. "We're going to war."

—

"So this is where you sleep?" Luigi asked, staring at the rather void room. Mario nodded.

"It's comfortable," Mario chuckled. "But besides that it looks like Mama's old guest room."

"You can say that again," Luigi sadly remarked. "I miss her stupid guest room."

"I do too," Mario sighed. "But that's fine. We can like through this one, right?"

"I suppose so."

Luigi could feel a lot of eyes on him as he walked into the room with his brother. Maybe it was the 'odd tongue' as they called it, or maybe it was because they just stripped Luigi away from Bowser's kingdom, and he's even still wearing the garbs in relation to the Koopa kingdom. It didn't matter. Even when the bedroom doors were shut and the two of them were alone, something still didn't feel right. But Mario was here. And Mario makes everything feel better.

"What was it like?" Mario blurted out. "What was it like in that pit of lava?"

"Oh, it was surprisingly nice," Luigi said, taken a bit off guard. "I mean, the locals weren't too friendly, but besides that, they warmed up to me."

"Heh, warmed up," Mario snorted. Luigi giggled back.

"I didn't mean to do that," Luigi laughed. Mario shook his head.

"Are you sure?"

The tone shift made Luigi go on edge.

"Am I sure?"

"I saw you with a crutch," Mario cautioned. "And your leg, don't think I didn't see you limping a bit."

"I fell wrong," Luigi laughed. "When we came out of the pipes– wait Mario, did you fall from a pipe?"

"I did," Mario confirmed, "I rolled right into some kind of picnic. Sopping wet!"

"I wasn't wet," Luigi sneered. "Fate was kind to me."

"Kind?" Mario howled in laughter. "Kind my butt! You ended up in a lava pit with a broken leg!"

"Yeah, but at least I was dry," Luigi laughed back.

The two of them settled their giggling and then looked each other in the eyes. An immediate switch flipped between them and they rushed to hug one another close, no words being said. What was there to say? Mario where have you been, Luigi are you okay? Words that have been shared many times in the past. Words felt odd in a way. There was only two things they shared together.

"I'm going to protect you," Mario declared. "Better than I did before. I won't lose you again."

"You are protecting me."

"No, I failed to protect you. You got hurt and you got lost and you got scared."

"There's no need to repeat things," Luigi chortled anxiously. "I'm not that upset or hurt."

"I don't know what happened in those pipes," Mario said. He gripped Luigi's arms tighter. "But I am not letting it happen again."

"I don't remember either," Luigi continued to laugh nervously. His timid nature was almost comforting for Mario. That was the Luigi he remembered.

"This won't happen again," Mario repeated. "It won't happen again."

"I believe you."

Luigi tried to take his arms away from Mario, but Mario only gripped them tighter.

"I'm trying to hug you," Luigi noted. "Let me hug you."

Only with a couple of seconds of contemplation did Mario dare let go of his baby brother's hands. But Luigi wasn't immediately whisked away from him, he was embraced, Luigi hugging Mario as tight as he could. Mario went silent again, and Luigi didn't quite know what to do. He wasn't a great comforter, but he knew just being here calmed Mario down. And in their moments of silence, Mario began to snore. Luigi knew once Mario was out he was not coming back to. Not for a long while. And Luigi could feel himself starting to drift off more and more too, until an unsettling squeak came from the window. He immediately cocked his neck up, looking towards the source of the noise. A very familiar bird holding a rather loose piece of string greeted him. Luigi gently whistled a tune, trying to get the bird's attention. The bird glanced over towards Luigi, and then gently fluttered its way over, landing on the bed. With his most mobile arm, Luigi yanked the paper off the foot of the bird, grateful he had not harmed the being in the process. Unraveling the paper the best he could, he was met with the same crude, charcoal scribbles of words he left; a message that was supposed to be for Mario. A twinge of guilt began to eat at his heart. All of this message was before Luigi knew the full story. He was scared of getting murdered for messing up, and he was scared of what was going to happen to him. He sighed bitterly as the tears welled up in his eyes.

"I know you differently now," Luigi cried softly. "I'm sorry."

—

Luigi could tell a thousand light years ago that Toadsworth was absolutely untrusting of him. It was very clear to him if Mario wasn't a big fan of Luigi, he would probably be dead. Luigi watched everyone else pick away at their food, and Mario nudged Luigi a bit.

"I'm not a big fan of mushrooms either," Mario sniggered. "But I don't know how to explain that to everyone."

Luigi laughed along nervously, the glares from Toadsworth not easing his tension.

"Mario, maybe we should speak in English," Luigi whispered. Mario shook his head.

"I don't know how."

"I can translate for you."

Mario huffed, shoveling a fork full of food in his mouth.

"You always make everything complicated," Mario teased. Luigi narrowed his eyes and Mario just laughed in response.

"What are you two boys discussing over there?" Toadsworth snapped. Peach raised her fork.

"They're speaking Italian, Toadsworth," she announced proudly.

"Hogwash, that's an ethnicity."

"And a language," Peach beamed. "Isn't that interesting?"

Toadsworth mumbled bitterly, but before any real threat could come from the situation, a messenger Toad rushed into the room, waving a letter.

"Master Toadsworth," the Toad spoke. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have urgent news."

"Urgent news?" Toadsworth's tone immediately shifted, and all eyes were on him. He took the letter from the courier and skimmed it over, his eyes widening.

"What's the matter, Toadsworth?" Peach inquired. Toadsworth handed her the letter and she followed in his footsteps, her eyes widening.

"Oh, ho, ho, its a war he wants, huh?"

"A war?" Mario and Luigi gasped in sync. They both knew who it was, but they couldn't help themselves.

"Who?"

"From Bowser," Peach announced. She gripped the paper tight, crumpling it in her hands. "And he's right outside our door."

Mario and Luigi shared a glance to one another, their eyes widening.

"How do you know?" Luigi asked. Peach climbed out of her chair, scrambling to the door. She didn't answer him, and quickly made her way to the castle entrance. Mario quickly scampered behind her, and Luigi followed close behind, yet still residing in his brother's shadow. Walking outside, they were greeted with a group of Toads pointing their spears at a large, still hovering, wooden ship. Bowser stood at the very top, glaring down at them.

"Leave," Peach growled. "Now."

"Not without you finally listening to my demands," Bowser snarled. "You know why I'm here, you know what I want."

"You're barking up the wrong tree," Peach huffed. "I will be giving you nothing."

"Its a chunk of land, princess!" Bowser howled. "My people can barely be fed. You have more land than you know what to do with! And I won this land."

Peach fumbled a bit, but Toadsworth interrupted the two.

"Liar!"

"Liar?" Bowser shrieked. "How dare you call me a liar, you old coward."

Mario rushed to Peach's side, putting his arm in front of her. Bowser cocked a brow, and then his eyes settled on Luigi. Luigi quaking under everyone else's yelling fueled Bowser even more.

"You just have to take everything from me, don't you, princess," Bowser grumbled, knocking his head to Luigi. Mario and Peach looked towards him, and Peach back to Bowser.

"Leave them out of this," Peach warned. "This is our fight."

"Our fight?" Bowser scoffed. "Seems like you brought your little play toy in here."

"And you hadn't?" Peach retorted. "But he isn't my toy. He's my friend."

"And Luigi's not my friend?"

"Why would Luigi be friends with you?" Toadsworth snapped. Smoke began leaking from Bowser's snout. Luigi watched on with fear. Tension illuminated from everyone.

"Final call," Peach announced. "Leave."

"Sorry princess," Bowser snorted. "I'm not leaving defeated this time."

Peach narrowed her brows.

"Then so be it."