Chapter Text
Today would have been a great day, no, a perfect day. It was not too hot or too cold, and white puffy clouds dotted the bright blue sky. The key word with that sentence there is Would. But no, instead you were stuck in this stupid pink bus with Toad as the driver. The reason you were in this bus was because your dear friend had received an invitation to a five-star hotel for free and could bring his friends and family with him. Normally no sane person would turn down free stuff but there is nothing sane here in the Mushroom Kingdom, what with the fire breathing turtle/koopa/thing that is Boswer and the giant marshmallow with teeth that is King Boo. At least nothing sane from someone who had once thought these video games characters were not real like any other person from Earth, but that is irrelevant now. What is relevant is that you feel like screaming into a pillow because you agreed to come with Luigi and Mario to this hotel to relax and have a proper vacation unlike at Isle Delfino where you spent your first night in jail, how fun... Toad's driving was not helping you in any way as every turn he made was so sharp you nearly fell out of your seat at least five times and the paranoia had also decided to tag along with you today, like it typically does when something was obviously wrong like this trip.
It hurt knowing that something very, very bad was going to happen but you could not stop it till it was too late, at the very least Luigi, Mario, Princess Peach, and the Toads were happy about the drive. The road to the hotel was long and winding, with sharp turns and a dirt road. The scenery was nice, though. Very nice, the trees grew tall and proud with shiny green leaves and blooming flowers atop them, the grass was just as colorful and looked almost perfectly cut too. A single gold sign sat embedded in the ground at an angle, on it was a tall house-like shape, mostly likely the hotel in question, as we drove past. It was at the next particularly nasty sharp turn that you took another look at everyone on the bus. In the second row just on the left side of the driving Toad sat Mario and Peach, both seeming quite happy and unbothered with the horrible driving. Behind them were the other two Toads that joined the trip both looking very jolly and optimistic as always, one was even playing around with a baseball until they lost grip of it and it went rolling under the seat just behind you. And just behind you was none other than Luigi, passed out in his seat soring away without a single worry in the world. The bus suddenly jolted up, probably from a large rock in the road, and startled Luigi awake him shrieking in response. "You ok there buddy?" you asked the confused plumber, who blinked before sighing, "I'm fine, I'm fine." While shaking his head, he was fine before a silver, transparent dog suddenly ghosted out of the seat next to Luigi, and startled him even further. In the ghostly dog's mouth was a white letter, Luigi upon seeing it went to grab it but ended tugging it away from the playful puppy.
"Come on, puppy! Don't chew the letter!" Luigi huffed quietly as Polterpup finally released the letter. He seemed to be rereading it with a dreamy sigh and a faint smile on his face.
"So, what do you think the hotel will be like Weegee?" You ask with a quirk of your brow. Luigi simply gave a sheepish smile and rubbed his neck, "Ah,... I don't really know to be honest but I am pretty happy that we're a-going.". His answer caused you to smile too, even if your hand instinctively reached beside you for a white, leather-bound book on the car seat.
You opened your mouth to say something until something from outside caught Luigi's eye and began to stare out the window, following his lead you did the same. Just a mile or so away was a bright and shimmering building as tall as can be. It was just as bright as you first saw it if not more, perfectly reflecting the light of the afternoon sun directly into your eyes. blinding you. Well that hurt, and now you can't really say this was not a dream and you were in fact going to probably meet your demise here. One sharp turn here, another hard left there, and why not slam on the brakes too while you're at it Toad; and we were at our destination. Mario and Peach were still talking among themselves and were having grand old' time while the three Toads gathered their luggage and left. Luigi stood from his seat and you were not that far behind, stopping a moment to ensure that your own suitcase and that book were on your person before getting off. Luigi was already in awe at the hotel's sheer size and grandiose façade, whispering 'Wowie Zowie' under his breath as he looked up. You could only squint at the building to prevent anymore lasting damage from your eyes at just how much the building sparkled.
"Is it too late to get back on the bus? I'll even let Toad drive again." you questioned, watching everyone and even Luigi beckon you from on top of the brief flight of stairs.
"Apparently..." was the answer as you raced up to the double doors and walking into the building, Luigi holding the door for you.
The grand lobby was just that, grand and honestly blinding. All of it was paved in colors of gold, and various shades of yellow. What had first drawn your attention to the room were the four hanging signs with Mario's, Luigi's, Peaches', and the Toads' faces on them; yours however was missing. You could only hope that means they were unprepared for your arrival to make your life easier but that was unlikely. The second thing that you focused on next was the staff itself, all of them wore the same half-lidded impassive look to them, googly eyes staring off into the abyss in different directions; and they had no ankles to speak of what-so-ever. At best they were all identical siblings, at worst they were dead. The only one different was the bellhop that stood behind the front desk. He was fidgeting pretty badly, tapping his gloved fingers together, whipping off his uniform sleeve, and just generally looking about in a nervous state. The worst was the mask, err, his 'face' being and asphyxiated purple color with a wide toothy grin, and it was by sheer dumb luck, or misfortune, that nobody besides yourself saw throw their disguises.
It took Peach, Mario, and Luigi a few minutes to join you at the front desk, all of them admiring the lobby. This left you standing awkwardly next to the steward who had noticed you as he seemed to froze in place, staring you down like a deer in headlights. Neither one of you moved or even blinked, if he could, as you both stared each other down. The tension only broke when you gave a shaky grin and wave, "H-Hello...".
That broke whatever force that was stopping the bellhop from doing anything, shaking his head once before bending backwards in a flourish, "A-ah!, Welcome, guests, to The Last Resort! A-are you read to check in, Miss?" he gave a nervous chuckle at the end of his question, echoing too much to be completely human.
"Yes, we would like to check in, Mister...?" "Steward!" he answered quickly and without hesitance. "Ok, Mister Steward...".
Steward's posture relaxed a little at that, and he nodded, subtly adjusting his mask on his face. "Madam Gravely will arrive at any second to greet you...". Before gesturing above him to the balcony above the check-in desk, where a tall, magenta skinned woman stood with a welcoming smile. Her voice was loud for everyone to hear.
"Guests! Welcome to The Last Resort! My name is Hellen Gravely, and I am the owner of this hotel."
Hellen began to 'descend' down the staircase as she spoke again, "I am absolutely delighted that you decided to accept my invitation.". She only came to a stop until she stood towering over Luigi, "You all must be very tired. Come! Allow me to show you to your rooms."
At that point you tuned Hellen out, instead deciding to watch and feel bad for Steward as he made his way around the front desk and to the trolley to put the bags and suitcases on. Sighing and whipping his brow when he lifted Luigi's bag onto the trolley, the maroon oversized jacket brushing the floor with every move he made. You felt a tug on your own sleeve and looked to see Luigi pulling you along after Hellen, sneezing up pink powder once or twice. "Come on, let's-a go.". The elevator was small for eight people in it, including polterpup who sat at Luigi's feet, the last you saw of the lobby as the doors closed was Steward turning his head to look into the elevation one last time. What you did not know, what you did know was the dread that sat silently in your gut coil and grip you tightly. You know you were not going to like this stay at all.
When the elevator stopped on the fifth floor everyone started piling out, Hellen began to gesture down the left hallway. "Mario's, Luigi's, and Peaches' rooms are down this hall." Hellen then gestures down the right hall, "We have even prepared rooms for Moony, and you Toads as well.".
Everyone began to go their separate ways as the main trio left to find their rooms, you followed after the Toads with your room key in hand, the numbers '507' printed on the key tag. Wait a second, wasn't that the unfinished room with the folding bed? When you read your room, you could only pause a moment before taking a breath and open the door slowly in trepidation. Surprisingly the room was not the pigsty that you were expecting, sure the whole hotel was just one giant illusion but the room seemed fine enough and your bathroom door only had an 'out of service' sign on it so it could be much worse. The room was plain like the Toads' rooms, the only real eye catcher was your luggage but it only held a spare change of clothes and a flashlight, something you learned from Luigi. The real thing you wanted to focus on as the book you had kept on your person, making use of the chairs in the room to get comfortable before pulling out the book.
The book in question was once white but is now a dusty cream color from age and use, the leather peeling from the corners of the hardback and in bold printed letters 'Mirai'. You open the book at the last place you left off and begin to read, however what was once the simple linear story of Luigi's Mansion 3 was now suddenly a jumbled mess of overlapping words and images. Well ok then, you hoped you could remember what happens next and if you could escape that King Marshmallow. The best thing to do would be to think of a plan of action for when King Boo comes, but the more you think about it the more tired you got and the harder it was to think. You immediately slapped yourself, "No. NO! This is why you went to bed early Moony! So you could stay up longer and be ready for what is going to happen tonight, there is no time for sleeping tonight, only running and panicking!" What was once a brightly lit room soon turned dark as the sun began to set, and with that the illusion would begin to wear off too,
With no other choice you opened your door and began to creep your way to the elevator, stopping to listen to any noise you heard to help you with your escape. When you had made it passed the three Toads rooms you finally heard it, Princess Peaches' scream. You stopped at the corner next to the elevator and waited some more, and just as you expected the grand illusion began to fade, leaving behind a much darker more foreboding hallway that ten you had first gone down. The sound of the elevator opening sounded as light tapping made its way to the noise, which could only be Luigi. With a whooshing sound, Hellen's voice echoed in the elevator hall as she began to monologue to Luigi, it was forgettable to be honest; the main take away from it was that Luigi was the 'main guest' and a 'certain someone' wanted to meet him. King Boo's laughter and taunting voice boomed in the hall, eliciting a cry of shock from the green plumber. It took a lot to stay hidden enough for no one to notice and to see what was happening, but it was all coming together exactly how you first saw it, with Luigi running away in fear and King Boo giving chase. Hellen was watching the two with her back facing you and it gave you enough courage to try to sneak past, as what else would you be able to do?
It went well, so well in fact you were standing in the still open elevation seconds away from hitting the Basement 1 button when a loud crash rang out along with the Boo's malice filled laughter and the hotel owner's cheers. A single ding rang from the elevator before shutting its doors, Hellen snapping her head towards the sound and she gasped and furrowed her brows. "How did-". Hellen was cut off as the floor beneath you started to move and the calming music that plays in the elevator started.
... What just happened...
Uh, Oh... Oh, No...
Do you need to take Luigi's place now? Why? Why, why!? You don't know how to do this! You could barely remember what you eat for breakfast, how are you going to do this!! That panic you felt on the bus, yeah, it came back full force and you were ready to have a panic attack. Barking snapped you out of your panicked state and right in front of you, with his tongue hanging out, was Polterpup.
"Polt!, Your ok, oh who's a good boy!?" you scratched the ghostly dog behind his ears as you spoke, the now nicknamed Polt leaning into your touch. "This should not be too bad right boy?" Polt gave another bark and began to trot out the elevator down the hall to the right, stopping only to see if you were following him. Giving chase to the dog you found yourself opening the door to the underground garage, it was empty save for the occasional rat and dust, and cobwebs were everywhere. There were only two visible cars, and one of them stood out with it's bright red color and vintage design. The hood of the car shuttered and moved wildly as if it was trying to grab your attention, when you got close enough to it Polt leapt out it, startling you. He sniffed at the tires before pointing to the hood with his tail with a bark.
When you lifted the hood, it was your only line of defense, the Poltergust G-00... You were not ready for any of this at all.