Chapter Text
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ᯓ★
They say take caution sailing amongst the stars. It’s wise advice to heed.
Out there in the empty expanse of space, drifts a pirate ship named The Dead Sea. No one knows when, no one knows where, no one knows how the ship came to be, but one day cargo ships started to go missing, docking ports remained empty, and employers needed answers.
By the time the space police arrive, it is always the same scene: the carcass of the boat floating in space, a broken hull, a hole or two, the alien blood of the crew smeared across the deck, and a small blue-and-white-skull banner hung near the ship's helm, like a taunt. The mark of The Dead Sea.
It’s a damned ship, they say. The crew it harbors are all the bottom of the barrel bunch. Nasty criminals, killers, the ill-fated ones of the universe. It's a mystery to how they got recruited; both outrageous and extraordinary. Many have tried their hardest to intercept the ship in hopes to join their bastard crew; after all, its scandalous nature and success was the perfect place for a crook to lie low on.
However, its peculiar nature doesn’t welcome outsiders as often: to the ones that set off on this journey to find this ship are never to be seen again, and the very lucky few to make it out alive tell others not to go looking for it, as goodwill just falls short of its railings.
Be wise, they say. If you see a blue comet, look twice and steer portside. It's not what you think it is. The faster you leave, the longer you'll live.
Even if it's by seconds.
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ᯓ★
There’s an odd stillness that settles on the ship that throws Luigi off.
It’s quiet. Too quiet.
He angles himself in his cage until his ear is pointed directly against the hollow metal wall, listening intently. Usually, he’d be able to hear the clamor of the crew from right above him. They were horribly loud individuals— they stomp around while cleaning their quarters and bang their fists against the table at meal time like children. On their off time, when there’s nothing for them to do, they’d shout profanities down the air vent that connected them to the cargo bay, where he and all of his other friends were helplessly locked up.
But, there’s nothing above as far as he can hear. Not even a scrape of a chair, not even a snore.
Something’s wrong.
Luigi turns and cranes his head against the bars of his cage to see if anyone else had noticed the lack of noise too. It was incredibly dark in the cargo bay— hardly a stream of light poked through, but Luigi’s eyes had adjusted enough to where he could make out the forms of his friends in the dark, just barely. He tried looking across to Pika, then Tai, then Dolphin, and everyone else, but all of their heads were down. They were all sleeping, most likely trying to stave away the hunger growing in all their stomachs.
It had been two weeks, probably, since they were all taken away from their home planet. Luigi had no idea why he had been taken in the first place; just one night, he woke up to the feeling of being gagged and dragged out of bed to get thrown in a wagon. He wasn’t able to shout or kick for help, and before he knew it, he was thrown into the ship’s cargo bay in a cage along with all of his other friends and set sail.
In just moments he was gone, taken from his home, and his family was none the wiser. The last thing he was able to lay eyes on was the ship itself before complete darkness.
He was barely able to make it by down here; thinning severely from the meager scraps of food the guards set right in front of their cage doors. Day by day, he felt his muscles grow weaker and weaker from lack of use. He felt half-dead, surely; throat dry, skin pale, stomach consuming itself from the inside out of sheer desperation for sustenance— if he looked into a reflection of himself he's more than sure he'd see someone else looking back.
Luigi sat back, gnawing at his already-chewed fingernails as his mind started to slip.
Perhaps the crew was way above on the main deck, listening to an important speech their captain was making. Perhaps they were preparing to raise the sails and prepare to dock, as they reached their destination to unload him and his friends on.
Perhaps they were getting sick of carrying these nobodies in their cargo, and were preparing to throw them into space to die.
Luigi put a hand over his mouth— that thought makes him want to wretch.
He sits in the eerie stretch of silence until he cannot stand it anymore, and decides that a dreamless state of unconsciousness would be more benign than this nightmarish quiet.
Just when he fixes himself in a curled position, legs held close to his chest, head tucked, a huge explosion shakes the entire ship with a horrible shutter. The ship recoils, jostling him and all of his other friends into a bleary frenzy in their cages.
“What’s going on?!” Pika screeches sluggishly from across the room. People groan in surprise.
“I don’t know!” Luigi cries, panickily looking up, “There was an explosion, and—”
Another blast rang overhead, followed by banging metal, making them all cower against the noise.
“I think–” Luigi sputters, hands flying to his head to protect himself from banging his head, “–the ship is under attack!”
“Or,” Nezo replied weakly, off to Luigi's side somewhere, “The crew is having a mutiny.”
“Either way,” Tai hissed, clutching at the bars of his enclosure as another explosion shook them, “We’re fucked. They’re going to find us down here and kill us.”
Luigi’s heart sank at that notion. He really, really didn’t want to die here. He had so much to live for, so much to do back home. He had things he had unfinished business, and people to go back to. He can’t die on this stupid captor ship. He can't die- not here, not right now.
There were sounds of swords and shields clashing together followed by shrieks of death and agony. It was getting closer and closer to the bottom of the ship, to the cargo bay where they were all trapped.
“Pirates,” Nezo whispers. They all collectively groan.
Luigi wants to outright weep. The assailants were on the floor right above them now. There was a lot of screaming going on- commands in the mix too, perhaps, and heavy thumping footsteps. He could barely recognize anything going on, muffled heavily by the thick cargo bay ceiling. Hopefully, most of the sounds were this horrid ship’s crew dying.
They all sat, helpless, listening to it happen, praying that all this would pass soon.
The commotion went on for a while, until, like someone completely cutting off the sound cord, stopped. Dead empty silence filled cargo bay, leaving Luigi deaf with the sound of his heart pounding in his ears.
All of his friends turned their heads to look at each other, equally as unnerved. Luigi thought the assailants had left, scavenged the ship to their belief of completion and were heading back to the top-
Until the sound of the cargo bay trapdoor’s lock jiggling poked through his consciousness like a knife. The hatch swung open, spilling a bright, heavenly glow onto the hold. Luigi could help but gasp; It might possibly be both the most glorious and the most painful thing he has ever witnessed.
Holding up his hand to and squinting hard to dissuade the light's strength, he notices how the light is slightly hindered by two shadows looming above. Being the closest to the hatch, just slightly behind the trapdoor, he could just barely make out the conversation overhead.
“Woah, I think we found it." One says, voice female and silvery, "Secret storage room. Awesome.”
A monotone voice affirms. “Yeah, just like...said. You know I’m glad we found it, not-...He’d hate it down...”
“What, really?”
“Yes...look at...-ad memories...”
This newfound light seemed to reignite everyone’s spirits and a clamor rose amongst Luigi's friends. They all start to shout from their cages, rattling at the cages of their enclosures like feral beasts, begging for help. Luigi felt sick. He hated hearing his friends like this- voices degraded and desperate.
From where he was, he could see the heads of the two silhouettes turn to each other in surprise.
The folded stairway came down first, then them.
One was short and pink. Fluffy like a cat. He'd describe her as cute if she wasn't holding a sword dripping in alien blood. Her wide, calculating eyes swept the room, looking at each drained face with deep precision.
The other was... an uncanny-looking angel. Abnormally tall, for one. It had to fold itself slightly to be able to fit inside the bay. Slender and white; instead of where a normal head should be was an eyeball with wings on its side. He was wearing only space armor and a shield Luigi couldn’t see, which too was stained.
“Hey. Hey!— HEY. QUIET DOWN, ALL OF YOU.” The pink one shouts, ticked that Luigi’s loud friends were still screaming at them. She aims her sword at all of them, silencing them easily. “LISTEN. We are not here to hurt you, but if you guys don’t shut up, I’ll cut up off all of your tongues!”
“Yo, chill Loppezz,” The angel mutters in her ear, placing a white hand on her shoulder. “But yeah, she’s right. We aren’t here to hurt you guys. We’re here for someone.”
The pink one, Loppezz, nods. “That’s right. We got a tip that someone by the name of LuigiToan was on this ship. L. U. I. G. I. Is he here?”
Luigi, who had shrunk as far back as he could in his cage, made the fatal mistake by squeaking at the sound of his name. Instantly both figures snapped towards him, making him shrink in himself even more.
“Y-y-yes. Hi. I’m Luigi.” He rasps weakly, vocal cords dry due to sheer fear, raising a shaky hand. “I’m him.”
Loppezz stalked over and eyed him carefully. There’s a frown on her face.
“You don’t look like him.”
“W-well, that’s what two weeks down here does to a man.”
She levels her armor-covered-arm in front of his face, which seemed to embed a complex mechanism, and pressed a button. On command, a tiny camera flipped out, making Luigi flinch. Instead of shooting lasers at him or something, it started to scan Luigi’s entire body, from matted hair to worn boots.
“Hold out your hand for me,” Loppezz murmurs gently. Luigi was in no position to protest, so he did, poking one outside of the bars. The pink cat placed it on a tiny platform sticking out of her machine bracelet and Luigi suddenly felt a light sting of pain ripple through his finger. He flinched and pulled it back quickly, noticing a dribble of red drip from his finger.
“Did you just take my blood?”
“It's a necessary precaution. Gross, I know, but you don’t realize how good shapeshifters are until you encounter one." She sighs, "Physical analysis just doesn’t cut it anymore.”
The holo-screen that projects from her suit was inverted, but squinting hard at it, he could see his just-scanned-face being analyzed right next to a mugshot of him. He figured that the mechanism was some kind of portable super computer, like the expensive ones advertised for government mercenaries on TV.
How in the stars did she get that? was all that he could faintly wonder, dazed by the absurdity of it all.
Loppezz frowns. “Well, you’re a little worse-for-ware than it seems.” She mutters, sliding her finger against the screen, reading what looks to be a chart of his vitals. “But...you are the real Luigi.”
“Loppezz,” The angel calls from behind, peering into Pika's cage. “What about the rest? What are we going to do with them?”
“Yo, don’t throw us out,” Pika sobs.
“We ALL gotta be worth something, not just Luigi,” Tai tacks on bravely.
“What do you guys want with him?” Lettuce pipes up from the side.
“Shut your freaking mouths, all of you,” Loppezz hisses, sliding away the holo-screen and standing up. Her temper was short, it seems, or she's stressed. “Egg, let’s just tell Jaden, and he’ll figure out what to do.”
“Yes, Commander Loppezz.” Egg nods, putting two fingers up in a mock salute. His voice never seems to go higher than an apathetic-tone.
“Now as for right now...” She turns back to Luigi and takes out a small metal tube. She pressed a button, causing it to emit a small red beam of energy, and aimed it directly at the hinges of the Luigi's cage door. He watches in awe as the metal welding slowly starts to melt apart. “Let's get them all out of here.”
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ᯓ★
Slowly, but surely, each one of the cages fell open, and they all started to crawl out from the hull.
It was hard to adjust at first; The feeling of walking felt foreign on his weak legs, and it took all of them a couple of tries before they could properly find the right footing. The look of the artificial fluorescent lights built into the ceiling of the ship floors were irritating to look at as they ascended. Though, that was the least of their problems as their surroundings started to sink in.
The walls were practically painted in blood; mixes of red and blue alien books smeared themselves over everything, the smell forcing Luigi to pinch his nose. The bodies were strewn about, all of them carcasses of the captor crew that tormented them.
And honestly? He was incredibly happy about that.
Luigi also noticed the amount of doors snapped off of their handles— it was as if someone had recklessly thrown open doors to find something, or someone.
He was about to walk past one of them, when he decided to peer into one. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. At the very center of the room was a large, gaping hole that ran from the very top of the ship to the very bottom, revealing the outside world. This must have been the explosions they heard. It must have narrowly missed the location of the cargo bay.
What the fuck? No normal being could do this, nor cannonball- What in the world could have caused this?
He shook his head quickly, trying his hardest to dispel any bad thoughts, and quickly moved to catch up with the group, who were murmuring quietly to each other.
“A massacre happened up here,” Dolphin mutters, narrowly missing a puddle of blood on the path.
“Yeah, no shit,” Falcon replies, pinching his nose in disgust. “You guys think they did all of this? Them two?”
Arcn shakes his head, “Nah. Looking at their builds, I can tell that they’re hardly fighters.”
“We can hear you, you know,” Loppezz calls back, glaring at all of them with her cold pink eyes. “Look, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner you guys will be free. Here, this is the last flight up.”
Luigi felt so weak that as they ascended up into the main deck, he had to cling on to Tai for dear life. He was exhausted, incredibly close to fainting from the smell, but... Oh wow.
He saw stars. Twinkling white balls of glory, beaming brightly against the black background of space. Space. He was seeing space again. When was the last time he had seen it? Two weeks didn’t feel right— it seemed like an eternity since he saw it last.
A type of hysteria washed over all of them, as he watched Pika, Cristal, Lettuce, and Nova all stumble to the ship’s railing, all-but-falling over themselves trying to reach out and grab the stars from there. Everyone else went to join them, laughing and celebrating for this incredible change in scenery. They all had smiles on their faces, smiles that Luigi hadn’t seen on them for an awfully long time.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Egg and Loppezz stray away from them, turning to a tall man standing off to the side.
He was dressed in a clad of blue, inky black hair covered by a very extravagant, pirate-esque hat with a white feather sticking out high. His arms were crossed, and his deep black eyes dangerously narrowed as the two kept talking. They flicked up and met Luigi's, making him instantly turn away.
“Hey,” Luigi taps Lettuce on the shoulder, “I think I’ve seen that guy before.”
“Hm?” Lettuce perks up, “Who?”
“The pirate guy. I don’t know where, but I feel like I’ve seen him before. Like on a poster, or something.”
“Oh. Well beats me, I’ve never seen him before.” Lettuce shrugged. “But that’s the least of my concerns. We’re free! I want to find a way to get off of this ship. The blood is making me boat-sick.”
Soon, Loppezz and Egg gesture them all over to the other side of the captor boat, making them gather around in a circle. The blue pirate’s name was Captain Jaden, and he stood tall and mighty, like a proper courageous pirate captain should look, on a plank that connected to a ship right next to it.
“I have been informed that all of you have been held captive here for quite some time." He said, "I have a proposition to make for you all. My crew and I will bring you back to your planet on our own ship, free of charge.” He turns and gestures to the ship behind him. It's a metal boat instead of a wooden one, painted in blue, black, and gold trims, making it clear that it was Captain Jaden’s boat. Its sails were rolled up, so Luigi couldn’t tell what insignia it dawned.
He sweeps a dangerous finger at all of them, dark eyes flashing with warning. “I will tell you this now: I do not guarantee safe passage on my ship. The company I keep is not the kindest. We are pirates, not tourists. Space is vast. The journey back is a far one.”
“This captor ship was a doozy to keep up with,” Loppezz whistles from the side. "We had to pull some strings to find the location of this boat."
“I would apologize for the inconvenience, but...” Jaden’s black-hole eyes flit over to Luigi, standing in the middle of the crowd, and narrows darkly. “...you all weren’t calculated on our course.”
Luigi’s heart skips a beat as he breaks eye contact by looking at the ground. What is that supposed to mean?
Captain Jaden says a few more things before he disappears, straying off on the captain's boat to collect a few more things. Hastily, Luigi and his friends all start to form a line in front of the plank to cross over. Seeing the voidless drop, they carefully agree that they should cross it one at a time.
Luigi’s at the end of the line, and both anxiously and excitedly watches as his friends slowly start to make their way over to the other boat. His heart is skipping beats. Home was getting closer and closer by the minute now. Just moments before, he thought he was going to be trapped down in that tiny cage forever, starved and restless, fated to die there alone.
He let his mind start to run into the future. He imagines his parent’s faces again, how they’ll twist from looks of grief into looks of glee when they see him arrive at the door again. He thinks about his other friends too (besides the ones with him right now). Normally, he and Tai never missed their money gambling tournaments that they held— surely, they’d be worried about their absence. Sure, they teased him a lot, but he knew they cared.
He misses them badly, and now, he’ll be reunited with them soon.
When he steps on the plank to freedom, someone grabs him by the collar and sends him crashing back onto the hard wood deck. He lands hard on his ass and yelps out in pain. Looking up, he’s shocked to see Loppezz and Egg looming over him, eyeing him like apex predators looking at their prey.
“Where do you think you're going, Luigi?” Loppezz smirks, reaching down and hauls him up by the collar. For a cat of her stature, she was terrifyingly stronger than she looks.
“H-Home?” He chokes out, paralyzed in fear, grasping for his collar. “L-Like your Jaden j-just promised?”
“Sorry, bro, but you won’t be making it off this ship like the rest of them,” Egg says, shaking his head sullenly. “You’re coming with us.”
Loppezz starts to haul him away from the plank, away from freedom, and up the steps to the forecastle of the ship. He was tripping over himself trying to keep up with her ruthless pace. His heart starts to hammer again, pounding significantly louder when they make it to the top.
On the forecastle, Captain Jaden is standing there, hands clasping casually behind his back, peacefully gazing out into the stars.
He was waiting there for him.
“Oh captain, my captain!!” Loppezz cheers, taking hold of Luigi’s wrist instead and waving excitedly. “We’re here!”
“Well, well, well.” He drawls, coolly looking over his shoulder, “Look what the cat dragged in,”
There’s a beat of silence.
“Dude. There’s no way you just said that,” Egg deadpans. Loppezz bursts out in a fit of giggles while Jaden seems to silently cringe on himself. Behind him, the rope up to the Crow’s Nest sways slightly.
Luigi would’ve laughed too if he wasn’t shaking uncontrollably in fear. This was bad. He’s the only one left on the boat. He’s completely isolated from all his friends. Why? Why? He knew that they were looking for him in particular, but he just assumed it was because his family had sent out a missing report for him. But now? He wasn’t sure. Given what these people were capable of— high-tech machinery, clearly seasoned skill in combat, a whole-ass metal ship— stars know what’s about to happen to him.
“So this is Luigi...” Jaden starts after the horrifying laughter dies down, turning completely to him. His eyes flick down his entire body, making Luigi want to shrivel up inside. His knees want to give in. “For how he described him, I expected him to be much more...alive?”
“Well, I mean, he was stuck on this ship for what, three-and-a-half-weeks?” Loppezz replies, shrugging.
“Three-and-a-half-weeks?” Luigi rasps weakly, his entire stomach dropping. “I’ve been on this ship for three-and-a-half-weeks?” He only thought it had been two; on his planet, that meant almost a month had passed already.
“On our calendars, yeah.”
“Add a couple of days.” Egg says helpfully on Luigi’s other side, “Your planet’s rotation is a bit faster than the standard one we run on.”
Luigi wheezed. He was going to wretch. He had only thought it was two— almost a month on his planet had passed.
“Three-and-a-half-weeks too long.” Jaden amends icily, a tone of annoyance creeping into his voice. “We could’ve had you sooner if you were in your place.”
“W-w-what do you guys want from me?” Luigi mutters, fearing that if he spoke any louder he’d throw up. “Why were you all looking for me?”
“Do you know what you did?”
“Wait, he did something?” Egg cut in, “I thought—”
“Egg,” Loppezz hisses, putting a finger over her mouth.
“No?!" Luigi's voice cracks, eyes frantically flitting over all of them, brain racking trying to figure it out, "I’ve done nothing wrong! Do I know you people?”
They all glance at each other in silence, which gives the Luigi all the right to scream in agony. And he does.
“Oh god, please.” He looks up pleadingly at Jaden, desperately searching for any straws to grasp at. “Are you going to kill me? Please don’t tell me you’re going to kill me.”
“...Um, well.” Jaden glances oddly to Loppezz, then to Egg, shifting uncomfortably in his blood-seeped shoes. “Man, I really hate doing this.”
“Well, then let him—” She nods up and Luigi can’t figure out why, “—take care of it. We literally don’t need to be doing all of this."
“Well, he wanted us to do it like this,” Jaden replies.
“Who’s he?" Luigi chokes, "He, as in the person who sent you? Who is—”
A flicker of realization strikes Luigi like a meteor smashing into the ground. He suddenly starts to thrash wildly in Loppezz's grip.
“No. No, wait! Wait a minute. He— Are...are you guys Red—”
“Aaand that’s our cue.” Loppezz cuts in coldly, immediately body-slamming him to the ground at a speed that absolutely winds him.
For a moment, Luigi thought he was in control— his body felt loose as he thrashed about, hitting at hands away that were trying to grasp at his arms and legs. He thought he hit one of them square in the chest, but in the next moment, he found himself bound by the arms and legs, tied unceremoniously against the base of the Crows Nest mast.
Luigi moaned in utter defeat, weak muscles ruined in pain. He feels dizzy.
“Geez, bro is a fighter.” Egg sighs, dusting his hands.
“Now that he’s settled, are we ready to go?” Loppezz looked over at Jaden, who was tapping something into his bracelet machine. A message of some kind.
“Yeah, just about so.” Jaden mutters, pressing a button, sending it before lowering his wrist. He glances between his two crewmates. “You can head back first. I know you hate watching this part.”
The pink cat immediately takes up the offer. “These are my least favorite missions,” Loppezz huffs, turning on her heel and sauntering down the steps. “I hate when he gives us these tasks. Just let us be delivery pirates for his petty empire in peace! Not his gnarly assassins crew.”
“I’ll send him the signal. I want to catch up afterwards.” Egg says, taking several steps back away from Luigi to lean on the railing.
“Alright. I’ll be off, then. I need to go orient our new crew and prepare for departure,” Jaden nods, leaving the forecastle deck too. “Be quick.”
“Yes captain, my captain.” Egg mock salutes.
Luigi watches as Captain Jaden’s back disappears beneath the stairway, leaving Egg and he alone up at the forecastle. Luigi’s face and honestly entire body is stinging in pain. He wants to go home. He wants this pain to be over.
He glances up at the angel— he isn’t even looking at him, his blue eyeball is looking up.
“Are you my ender?” Luigi whispers weakly, tears starting to leak down his face. “If you are, make it quick, please.”
Egg’s eye drops to him, eyes wide. “Me?” He points at himself, then shakes his head shyly. “Nah. I’m a lover, not a fighter. I don’t hurt people.”
“What...? Really?” A spark of hope lights in Luigi’s chest. “If you are what you say, can you help me out?"
Egg slowly blinks at him, tilting his head to the side hesitantly. “Um. What?”
“Please? Hear me out before you kill me.”
He fidgets at the cuffs of his sleeves nervously, looking down from the forecastle balcony, then back up to the crows nest, then back to him. “Sorry. I can’t. My hands are tied.”
“By who?” Luigi coaxes weakly, channeling his best persuasion tactics into this very moment, “You can tell me who you work for. If he’s making you do this dirty work, killing an innocent person while being a lover boy, then I’m assuming you're under contract.” Luigi wriggles a bit, trying to loosen the rope around his body, while trying hard to look convincing, “You know, I know a lot of people— like, a lot of people back at home. If you’re under contract by...Red- er... ‘he’, I know many terminators that can get you out of it. All you need to do is let me out of these bonds.”
Egg stares at Luigi for a moment, discerning his words. He seemed to be genuinely deliberating it: Luigi could practically see the gears turning behind his pupil.
The angel takes a step forward, Luigi’s heart flutters in excitement.
“Yes. Yes, please help me,” Luigi begs, excitement creeping into his voice. There was a string of hope, and he just caught it.
“I will, bro. You’ll be relieved from this hell,” Egg says. “Just don’t swing the first chance you get.” He reaches for Luigi’s binds and unknots them, letting them drop to the ground. Luigi is quick to shake and press on his wrists, forcing blood to start flowing through them again.
“Thank you- Thank you.” He sighs happily, taking Egg’s extended hand. Egg leads him a few steps away from the mast, letting Luigi’s shaky legs find footing again, “Now, for the next step, smuggle me on your boat. I—”
Egg places a hand on Luigi’s shoulder, cold and firm. He squeezes it hard, in an awfully unassuming way. “Wait, bro. Before we get to that, I just have one question for you.”
Luigi stills. “Huh? Y-yes? What is it?”
“Are you familiar with the banner on my shield?”
“Your...what?"
“This.” Egg brandishes his shield that has been sitting on his back this entire time, flipping it around and tearing the banner off of the wood to wave it around like a rag in front of Luigi’s face.
Luigi pales, and his heart sinks back to the depths of his stomach. It’s a blue and white skull banner.
A broken hull, a hole or two, the alien blood of the crew smeared across the deck.
A small blue-and-white-skull banner hung near the ship's helm-
The mark of The Dead Sea.
At once Luigi starts to shriek again, pushing off of Egg and backing into the mast, hoping, praying that his friends on the other boat could hear him. Egg starts to back away, one hand gripping the banner, the other pressing a button on his computer bracelet. That can’t be good.
Panicked and out of his mind, he makes a final ditch effort to defend himself.
Luigi lunges for Egg.
He just barely misses Egg’s arm, and collapses to the ground with a harrowing thump. By the time he recovers, Egg is as far away as he could possibly be; leaning against the railing, holding his shield up over his body. He notices that the banner isn’t in his hand, instead dropped in a heap right in front of Luigi’s outstretched hand, dropped out of panic.
“Goodbye, Luigi,” Egg says, his voice rising— in panic or concern, he can’t tell- “May the constellations find you."
Luigi’s eyes widen as he hears something snap above him at the Crow’s Nest. He looks up and witnesses the worst thing he could possibly ever witness in his lifetime.
A purple blur comes hurtling down from above, mace arced up high, like a glorious comet crashing down on him. There’s nothing Luigi can do but scream as the weight of the world collides into his skull.
There’s a stillness that settles on the ship as the dust sets.
It’s quiet.
Too quiet.