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Mario sees Peach; a shadowy clone with yellow eyes, but still Peach, and he stops moving.
It’s like his brain shuts off. All he can think about is cold hands grasping his, shadows so large they fill the room, Peach’s voice shaped in a high, shrill laugh. This one—she’s—at least she’s not laughing, but... the cold dead eyes—isn’t that too much like Luigi? Sprout growing from his head, hat knocked aside completely, and—
—he shouldn’t have thought about Luigi. He shouldn’t have thought about Luigi.
...But does the thought of Peach really hurt less?
It doesn’t matter. He can’t make himself move.
“Mario, c’mon!” Pit calls at him. “Aren’t you gonna help me out?”
He’s barely resisting the urge to pull his hat down over his eyes and curl up into a ball.
“Nn-mn,” he says. “No no.”
That’s all he can manage, shaking his head so Pit knows.
“Mario—it’s okay! Lady Palutena says this isn’t even Peach—just some bugs that look like her!”
That helps, but it doesn’t let Mario’s body come back online.
“Nuh-uh,” he repeats. “No no.”
-
Pit has never seen Mario like this before, and it’s kind of scaring him. They don’t know each other that well, sure, and they haven’t been traveling together for long, either, but... It had been long enough that Pit knew for sure that Mario wasn’t scared of anything. He wasn’t even scared of those gross eyeball tentacles!!! So to see Mario freeze up like this...
“Lady Palutena, what do I do?” Pit asks, despairing, as he fends off the Shadow-Zelda that joined the fight shortly after Shadow-Peach did. Unfortunately she is very good at dodging arrows. “Ugh! I don’t know if I can snap him out of it!”
“I’m not sure you can, Pit,” is Lady Palutena’s reply, said where only Pit can hear it. “There’s not really time.”
“I know, but—” He has to slide in to stop Shadow-Peach from hitting Mario with her umbrella, blocking the blow with his bow. Behind him, Mario... Pit is going to be nice and not say whimper because that would be crazy if it was true. Nonetheless, he’s afraid to turn around and look. “He- He knows it’s not Peach, right!?”
“Even if he does... would you want to fight me, like this?”
“I mean—no—but—”
“I think all you can do for him is fight this battle for him. I’m sorry, Pit. I wish I could offer more help.”
“Man, two against one is kind of uneven odds, even for me! These girls hit tough.”
“Just hang in there, I see – you’ll have help, soon. Link and Yoshi are on their way.”
“Oh! Maybe Yoshi will know how to help Mario!”
“We just have to hope that seeing Zelda like this isn’t going to similarly stop Link in his tracks.”
-
Link doesn’t like this, but he’s seen Zelda’s body used like a puppet before. All Pit needs to say is: “It’s not really Zelda! Or Peach! Just clones those dark bugs made of her!!”
And Link understands. He nods, he draws his sword, and...
The battle is quick, after that.
Yoshi immediately runs to Mario and bonks his nose into Mario’s stomach. Mario grunts as the air releases from his lungs in a rush. At least this gets Mario to stop holding his hat down over his eyes, which Link is relieved to see.
Pit says: “Mario, it’s okay. It’s over now. We beat her, look!”
Mario shakes his head, and Link can’t blame him. He isn’t watching Zelda dissolve into bugs, either. Link doesn’t know, exactly, what made Mario freeze up... but he also knows that a lot has happened since the last time they met up for Smash, and for once, Mario isn’t sharing. Is Link worried? Yeah. Is it his place? Not really.
It’s still a comfort to see Mario run his hands over Yoshi, like he’s grounding himself. It’s almost funny to see how aggressively Yoshi is snuggling against Mario. Link hopes that’s helping.
“Hey, Mario,” Pit begins. Link holds up a hand to stop him, then cautiously steps towards Mario himself.
He whistles a short note for Mario’s attention, and Mario lifts his head from the fond muttering he was doing over Yoshi. He looks up at Link expectantly, his hands not idle as they find a new spot on Yoshi to scratch.
“Are you okay?” Link asks, signing the words.
Mario nods, shakily and too-enthusiastically. “Yeah, sorry,” he says, and that’s about it. Link does his best to keep his face neutral. It’s not his place to be worried. It’s not the time, either.
Pit isn’t so willing to take Mario’s answer as it is, though, and starts pressing again: “But, Mario, are you sure? It was kind of scary—”
Mario flinches. Link gestures towards Pit sharply to shut him up, then turns and levels him with a disapproving look. “If Mario doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t have to talk,” Link says, his motions a little stiff. Mario snorts, and Pit tries giving Link the most pleading expression ever, but it’s less impressive on Pit than it is on Talo.
Pit finally caves. “As long as you’re okay, Mario...” he mumbles.
Mario sends them an award-winning smile and a thumbs up. “Okie-day,” he says.
Link nods towards the road. “Then let’s go.”
They still have a mystery to solve.