Chapter Text
Luigi woke up with unease begging him to go back to sleep. He occasionally felt this sort of intuition, and usually it foretold some unpleasant event. One example he often used was that once he woke up in Brooklyn feeling frightened, and that was the very day he was transported into the Mushroom Kingdom with his brother.
The plumber hadn’t felt this sort of unsafe before. Not when he woke up the day the dark moon was destroyed and not even when Mario was captured by King Boo.
Luigi quickly got up and changed into his green uniform, rushing to tell his brother how shaky he felt.
After Mario rescued Princess Peach five or six times, she decided they should stay close in case King Koopa tried something shifty again (which he did). Because of this, the two had rooms nearby the Princess’s, one on either side of hers. Their doors were labeled with their respective colors, red for Mario and green for Luigi.
Luigi came to the red double doors, knocking quickly. He fidgeted with the brim of his hat, trying to calm his nerves.
“Who is it?” He heard a groggy voice come through the door.
“It’s Luigi. I need to talk to you,” he said, relieved when the doors opened.
“It couldn’t wait until breakfast?” Mario was standing there, hair a mess, and wearing his pajamas.
“Um,” Luigi checked his Mushroom watch and saw it was 5:34 AM. Oops. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was so early,” Mario shuffled a bit and moved to the side, letting Luigi in.
“It’s fine, you’re my brother,” Mario playfully punched Luigi’s shoulder. He closed his doors behind his brother, sitting down on his bed.
“So, you know how I get those bad feelings when something bad is going to happen?” He made floundering hand gestures, pacing slightly.
“Yeah, I remember. You got one of those?”
“Yes, and it seems worse this time. I feel real…” he struggled with the right word. “Really vulnerable, I guess,” Luigi’s eyes flicked around Mario’s room, trying to think about what might happen.
“Huh,” the older shrugged and flopped onto his back. “What d’ya want me to do about it?”
“Oh. I don’t know, I just feel scared , you know?” Luigi felt dejected at his brother’s uncaring response.
“It was probably just a nightmare. Go back to sleep, okay Lil bro?” Mario gave a pseudo-smile, shooing Luigi away so he could go back to sleep.
“Okie,” he left to go to his room, disconsolate. His brother was probably right, he always was. Mario was the hero of this story and every story in the Mushroom Kingdom.
‘It was just a dream, okay? Everything’s fine, go back to sleep.’ He tried to convince himself.
Even so, the feeling didn’t go away, even as Luigi watched the sunrise. Even as he hesitantly pushed past his nausea to eat breakfast with his brother and the Princess.
He decided to try and take his mind off of things by cleaning his room. He sorted his books alphabetically, reorganized his clothes, and made his bed until he thought it was perfect.
He still felt a pit of dread in his stomach, preventing him from reading in peace.
Luigi brought his Polterpup from its doghouse. The small building was more of a resting place than a method of confinement, it was small but had built-in water and food bowls. There wasn’t any insulation inside, so the pup was allowed to travel in and out of the castle as it pleased. The house sat in the royal garden, Peach was very sweet about the dog being able to live in the kingdom. She had the doghouse built right away when Luigi took in the Polterpup.
“Hey, Casper,” the dog jumped up and insisted Luigi pet it, getting even more excited when the man brought out a leash. “Wanna go for a walk?” The pup answered by patting Luigi’s hand with its paw. Its favorite things were Luigi, food, and walks with Luigi, in that order.
After the two took a few loops around the castle, Casper started to get tired. The plumber decided to rest on a bench, Casper napping in his lap. It was late afternoon and the sky was turning orange from the sunset. Luigi was always mesmerized by the heavenly attributes nature took on throughout changing seasons.
He treasured observing the way leaves drifted and crumbled during Autumn, the uniqueness of every snowflake that fell from the clouds in Winter, and the unparalleled warmth that Summer brought after months of frigid weather. Mother Nature had to be cruel to be kind, he thought
When the sky turned from orange to red, he snapped out of his reminiscing. Casper was dozing in the same position and Luigi calmly watched the rise and fall of its stomach.
His Polterpup always had a way of soothing him. Animals were professionals at sensing human emotions, Luigi knew that. That’s why Casper looked anxious when they first met because Luigi was anxious as well.
They met when the dark moon was fixed. Polterpup came to Luigi, quivering and guilt-ridden due to its past misdeeds.
Luigi felt no distaste toward the dog. After all, it regretted attacking him. It was by no means its fault for being mind controlled.
Though, he did feel warmth toward the dog and ended up adopting it quickly after its apology. He named it Casper, he believed the name was the best to fit its personality and appearance.
Luigi smiled and took a deep breath, petting the Polterpup peacefully. He should have known his day was going too well.
He looked up to see a Koopaling slink through the garden, it was headed toward the castle with resolve. Was that what his feeling foreshadowed? He gently picked up Casper to put it back in its house, whispering an apology and following the Koopa.
The lackey was unhesitant in its advances, seemingly not worried about getting caught. Luigi wanted to
silently leave so he could get help from Mario because an unafraid Koopa was likely, not alone. He took steps as carefully as he could, but unfortunately, dogs do not understand how to be sneaky.
Casper ran to its owner with a stick so the two could play fetch, softly barking for Luigi to pay attention to it. The plumber winced at the noise, murmuring for it to be quiet.
“I’m sorry, I’ll play later. You think you can wait?” He whispered and placed his finger to his lips, shushing the pup. It let out a soft whine and brought its stick into its house, leaving Luigi alone.
He sighed in relief and turned around, seeing how several more Koopa Troopas gathered in the garden.
‘What are they planning?’ They didn’t seem to notice him as he moved to a crouch to hide.
When Luigi heard rustling behind him, he noticed his hands stopped shaking. The uneasy feeling he possessed became worse, he didn’t want to turn around. He couldn’t turn around, he was frozen . Some sort of magic was keeping him in place, it created a blue glow radiating off his body.
“Looks like someone’s in the way,” he heard a strong voice resonate behind him and his eyes widened. “What should we do about that?” The voice asked the Koopas, prompting a crowd of incoherent outcries.
Luigi felt his heart stop as the magic turned him around to face the voice’s owner. It was Bowser’s voice. The one and only King of the Koopa.
“Ah, you look familiar,” the Koopa focused his stare, taking in all of Luigi. “I’ve seen you with Mario,” he said, staring as if he expected a response.
“Y-yes, I’ve b-been with him oc-occasionally,” Luigi averted his gaze, terrified to look the King in the eyes. Bowser was grinning, a sight that he could help but shudder at.
“Interesting,” he mused. “What is he to you?” Bowser observed for indications of dishonesty.
“We w-work together,” Luigi wasn’t lying.
“You’ve got matching clothes,” the King snatched Luigi’s hat, holding it carefully in his claws.
“Because we work together,” he said more confidently, subconsciously holding his breath. He had to be strong.
“It appears the truth,” Bowser sighed, putting the hat back on Luigi. He forced eye contact with the plumber, letting out an amused laugh at the terror in the man’s eyes. “Maybe you’ll be useful,” he motioned to the minions behind him, watching as they nodded and left.
Luigi was confused. What was Bowser there for? Why would he be important? Why did they need their King with them?
Luigi heard small whispers from the Koopas behind him, diverting his attention.
“The King laughed?”
“Have you ever heard him laugh like that?”
His listening was interrupted when the minions from before came back, several Goomba in tow. Luigi’s anxiety stilted to allow him to think, and he realized what Bowser meant about him being useful. He was getting taken to the Bowser Castle.
“W-wait! There’s nothing useful I can do for you!” He panicked, struggling to escape the magic. Casper heard Luigi’s distress and ran to his side, jumping, growling, and barking for him to be set free.
Luigi panicked, thinking Bowser might try to hurt his Polterpup. “Casper, it’s okay, I’m okay,” he hurried to calm down the dog, hoping it would be safe. “Go on, now,” he was relieved when Casper ran away.
Bowser was confused about the gesture. The plumber was gonna be taken hostage, but he cared about his dog? His ghost dog, that couldn’t be killed? How ridiculous. Maybe this plumber was stupid as well.
“Luigi! Are you okay?! Where are you?!” They heard Mario call out, concerned with the dog’s frantic barking.
“That’s enough, we’ve wasted enough time. Send in the spy, we’re done here,” Bowser began the route back to his castle, motioning for his underlings to follow.
Luigi’s struggle increased, which made him realize what the Goomba were for. He was hit in the head by one of them, making him dizzy and disoriented. The magic was replaced with solid bonds, keeping his arms stuck to his side. As his vision became blurry, he fuzzily recalled being placed with the group of Goomba and taken with them.
“Please-“ he started saying, wincing when his head pounded. “L-let me go,” Luigi felt his eyes getting hot. He couldn’t cry, no. He had to be strong. Deep breaths.
His panic was growing as they left the Mushroom Forest. His glassy eyes were closing at the darkening sky, he was so tired.