Chapter 19 Harrowing Facts
Peach smiled when she saw Ruby. The woman in question looked at her with admiration, with respect. This wasn't surprising, but it still made the princess feel good. Not to mention that she also gave similar expressions to Luigi by her side. All around, she seemed like a fairly pleasant person. And if she actually had information regarding the whereabouts and condition of her knight in shining overalls, Peach had all the more reason to be happy with this person.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness." Ruby smiled, her green eyes resembling the most expensive emeralds.
"You too." Peach curtsied, and Luigi also bowed toward her. Once he finished, the younger Mario brother took a step towards Ruby. Peach noticed the look on his face, as well as the fact that he was shaking and sweating. This made Peach frown. She hoped that Ruby could reveal the truth for Luigi's sake more than anything else.
"So…" Luigi tried to sound civil and calm, but the tone of his voice gave away his true emotions. "Do…" he hesitated as his shaking got worse. Furrowing her brow, Peach walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. The gentle patting helped calm him down a smidge. "You know what happened to my brother?"
Ruby's face fell so quickly that Peach's heart skipped a beat. As Ruby curled her hair back, Peach's heart started to pound, and she even sweated. What was Ruby going to reveal? Was Mario okay? Was he even alive? Oh God, if he was dead… without Peach having a chance to officially say goodbye to him…
"Well, I ran into Mario a few days ago." Ruby lifted her head, all while Luigi and Peach stared at her in wide-eyed shock. "He was… well…" Ruby took a deep breath. "He had been placed under a curse. A terrible curse, one that affected him in terrible ways."
Peach blinked. "A curse?" When Ruby nodded, she and Luigi exchanged a look. What kind of curse was she talking about? How could Mario possibly be placed under a curse? Was this Bowser's doing? And if it was Bowser's doing, what kind of horrible spell could he afflict on the Mushroom Kingdom's hero?
"What kind of curse?" Luigi asked, his inflection making the question sound like a demand.
Ruby bit her lip. "He… had been turned into a Koopa."
Silence. The silence that filled the room was thick and heavy. Peach tried to process what was just told to her, and she wasn't afraid to admit that she was having trouble doing so. However, for all the trouble that she was having, Luigi clearly having an infinitely harder time. He backed away from Ruby, shaking his head at rapid speeds.
"Wait, wait, wait." He put his hand to his head. He looked like he was caught between the desire to delve into an anxiety-induced stupor and laughing his ass off. "Mario's a Koopa? The great Super Mario had been turned into a Koopa?"
Ruby nodded without an ounce of humor in her expression. "I know it sounds unbelievable. Believe me, I do. But it's the truth. I found him after he had been hiding away from all the Toads in the Mushroom Kingdom. I brought him to my house to take care of him, and then he went to the Koopa Kingdom to try and get his curse removed." She paused. "He said he believed that Bowser was the one responsible for cursing him."
That last sentence had the most terrible effect on Peach. Those words, uttered without a drop of irony, humor, or even malice, were all the confirmation Peach needed to know that what Ruby was saying was true. Bowser… had cursed Mario. He had turned him into the very thing he fought against throughout most of his life. He had done this in order to mess with the hero and make him one hundred percent miserable. He… he…
"Oh my God." Peach began to shake. She put her hand to her head, telling herself that she shouldn't freak out. She couldn't panic; she needed to stay strong. But even though she knew that logically… she couldn't stop shaking.
And the worst part of all of this was that Peach was the least negatively affected in this situation. "No," Luigi said. He too put his hand to his head, backing away from Ruby like she was holding a gun to his face. "No no no." He shook his head, looking into Ruby's eyes. "You must be mistaken! Mario can't be a koopa! He just can't be! You probably ran into another Koopa pretending to be my brother! That's the only explanation there is for this!"
Ruby, not looking uncertain at all, shook her head. "I am not mistaken." She looked more serious than a Blorbs pandemic. "The Koopa who I had run into was Mario. He had all the features that we associate with the Mushroom Kingdom's hero. He treated me like Mario would, and he had the same mannerism everyone in the Kingdom associates with him."
Luigi turned toward Peach. The look in his eyes made it look like he wanted the princess to object, to set this mess straight and tell him that no, this wasn't what was going on. But Peach couldn't in good conscience do that. Somehow, deep down, she knew that what Ruby was saying was the truth. Her soul hurt to acknowledge that, but she couldn't deny it no matter how much she desperately wanted to.
And, unfortunately, Luigi couldn't either. "Then… the Koopa who had been in my house a few days ago…" Luigi collapsed to the ground. As he laid his hand flat on the floor, he began to hyperventilate in the most miserable way possible. "No. Oh my God…"
"As soon as I heard the decree that Peach sent out to the Kingdom, I knew I had to come here and tell you guys." Ruby stepped towards Luigi with a furrowed brow. "Mr. Luigi, are you gonna be okay?"
"No," Luigi said with a soft, shaky voice. Peach stepped toward him too, her heart breaking when she saw that he was crying. "My brother is a koopa." The tears coming out of his eyes stained the otherwise perfect white floor. "My brother… has been cursed…" He shook some more and the tears came harder. "Which… which means the Koopa… who we beat up… who we left for dead…" he lowered his head to the floor. "Oh sweet Lord, please forgive me for my sins…"
Peach, admittedly experiencing a similar emotional state while trying to appear strong, placed her hand on his shoulder once again. "Look. We shouldn't panic." She patted his shoulder, which unfortunately didn't have the same effect as before. "I know what happened is terrible, but we can't let it get to us."
Even with those words, Luigi still trembled and cried. Peach frowned, knowing that she needed to say something in order to make him feel better. She needed to say something to Luigi to disquell his fear and terror. But what could she say? What was there to say to something so terrible? There probably wasn't the perfect thing to say.
Which just made the words Ruby said all the more miraculous. "I know Mario is scared right now, and is going through a lot right now. But he hasn't lost hope. I know that he's still fighting, still trying to find a way to keep going forward. I think we all need to do the same." She stepped closer to Luigi and the Princess. "No matter how hard it is to hold onto, hope is something we need to grasp with all our might."
This thankfully got Luigi to stop crying. Sniffling, he looked up at Ruby in awe. He slowly rose to his feet, wiping his face as the trembling slowly came to a halt. "You're right." He sniffled again, taking deep breaths as he tried to calm himself down. "My brother never lets current circumstances deter him from being optimistic. I… I need to be the same way."
"We both do," Peach said. She looked into Luigi's eyes. "And even though we beat him up, I don't think we ended his game." She put on a smile that consisted of more uncertainty than she would ever admit to. "Mario is tough, and that hasn't changed just because of some silly curse."
Luigi cringed. "I know, but…" he hesitated, possibly struggling over what to say harder than he ever had before. "I just… I feel horrible."
"I know." Peach pulled him into a hug. She patted his back for a few minutes as Ruby stood observing them. Once she let go of him, she smiled, hoping this grin looked stronger and more certain than the last one she had worn. "Look, this is good, Lu. Things are actually looking up. Now that we know Mario is a Koopa, we know who we have to look for. We know exactly how to spot him in a crowd now. This makes the search a lot less frivolous on our part."
Luigi slowly but surely smiled. "Yeah. You're right." He chuckled. "We'll have an easier time finding him."
"That we will." Peach looked at Ruby. "Thank you very much for your help, Ruby Patch. The information you have given us is invaluable."
"Of course, your highness." She bowed again. "It was my pleasure."
Peach beamed before looking at Luigi. "You and I will go back out searching after we have some breakfast." She looked at Ruby. "And you're welcome to join us. Consider it your reward for helping us out."
Now it was Ruby's turn to beam. "Thank you, Princess Peach. You are very generous."
…
"Oh Mama Mia," Mario said as he ate the poison mushroom and cheese omelet that Michael had made for him. "This is amazing!" He laughed as he stuck another bite in his mouth. Michael had made something with poison mushrooms upon his request, and he had to admit that this omelet was one of the best things he had ever eaten. He never would've expected that something with a sweet flavor would work well in an omelet, especially an omelet with cheese in it, but… he didn't know. This just felt right. The flavors bombarded his tongue, making his mind feel a whole new level of joy. Seriously, not even spaghetti or Princess Peach's ziti made him feel this good.
"I'm glad you like it, Mario," Michael said as he took another bite. Opal and the twins also ate the omelet. While they didn't look nearly as enthused or as happy as Mario, they still looked like they were enjoying the dish. "It's one of my specialties."
"I can see that." Mario took another bite, with this one possibly being the most scrumptious bite yet. He giggled, giddiness filling him. Seriously, he didn't know food could make someone feel this amazing! It was like he had been turned into an anime character who always had over-the-top, cartoony reactions whenever they ate something.
"Well, make sure you eat as much as possible, Mario," Opal said with a grin. "You're going to need your energy for when I train you."
Mario stopped. "Yeah." He looked into Opal's eyes. "Although, I really am curious. What possible fighting techniques do you have to teach me."
Opal's eyes glittered. "You'll see." She pushed her empty plate forward and rose from her chair. "Well… I think I'm full and ready to go." She looked at Gabby and Adam. "Are you two kiddos, ready?"
"I know I am!" Adam exclaimed. Gabby crammed the rest of her omelet into her mouth before rising from her chair, her eyes sparkling almost as intensely as her mother's.
"Great!" Opal looked at Mario with the mischievous brand of joy in her eyes. "You finish your omelet. Me and the kids will be outside when you're ready." With that, she and the twins made their way toward the door.
