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Luigi carefully and slowly climbed out his bedroom window. He just had to see what was out there. Why were his parents keeping him and Mario inside? Was there something out there? Was there a monster? Luigi had to find out!
He looked out from his second floor bedroom. Oof, that was a long drop. What if he landed wrong and broke his neck? That wouldn't be good. Well, he couldn't back out now, he was already halfway out the window! Okay, just take a deep breath and don't die!
Three, two, one... nope! Not doing it! Too dangerous, probably gonna get himself killed, not worth it! As he climbed back inside, something caught his eye. A glint of warm light coming from outside. It was the middle of the night? How was that possible? You know what? Screw it! He was going to investigate.
He ever so slowly made it so that he was hanging from the window cill. Okay, calm down, you're only... he looked down to find he was at least 7 feet off the ground. You are going to die! Come on, you can do this! You just have to make sure when you fall you land on your feet so you don't break your back and bend your knees so you don't break your legs!
"Uno, due, tre!" He quickly let go of the window cill and fell to the ground.
He stumbled a bit as he landed. See? That wasn't so bad! You didn't die! Now you just have to check out that unnatural glow from the middle of your backyard that your parents warned you about! This was a stupid idea.
He walked over to the glow, and what he found amazed him. It was a rift, in the middle of his backyard. A rift to another world. He circled the portal-thing and saw what was on the other side. A volcano, in a portal, in his backyard! This was the coolest thing ever!
Something made him want to go through it, something made him want to touch it. This was so crazy! Why did his parents want to hide this from him? He reached a hand out, about to touch the portal, when something came tumbling out and landed right on top of him.
"Haha! I've got you stupid rabbit!" The thing said in a snotty voice. "Wait a minute, you're not a rabbit."
"(No! I'm a boy!)" Luigi said, looking up at the thing that was holding him down. It had a shell like a turtle, though it looked more like a dragon than anything. "(Are you a beast of some sort?)"
"Huh? Are you speaking English?" The thing asked.
"(No, It's Italian!)"
"Whatever, I need to go home." The thing said, getting off of Luigi. The thing walked back over to the portal and went to put a claw through it. But to both of their shock, it didn't. "No, this isn't happening." The thing tried to punch its way through the portal, only for it to let out a small "ow" right afterwards.
"(Is everything alright?)" Luigi asked, standing up.
"Shut up! I'm trying to get home!" The thing yelled, voice shaking. It kept punching at the portal. "I can't be stuck here with this loser! I need to get home! Come on!"
Luigi walked over to the thing. Maybe he should try introducing himself? "My name is Luigi, what is yours?"
"I am not here for friendly introductions, dimwit! I need to get home!" The thing screamed, whipping around to face Luigi. "My dads are going to kill me if I'm not back by morning! And you are not helping!"
Luigi took a step back. "I am sorry, (I didn't know.)"
"Whatever, apology not accepted." The thing went back to pointlessly punching the portal. "My name is Bowser, by the way. But I'm a prince, so you better call me that, alright?"
"(Prince Bowser, got it. It's very nice to meet you, Prince Bowser.)"
Prince Bowser turned back to Luigi. "So, do you know how to get one of these suckers open?"
Luigi shook his head. "(No, this is my first time.)"
Prince Bowser tapped his foot. He then got an idea. "Go over there, I don't want you getting burned." He said, pushing him out of the way.
Luigi raised his eyebrows at that. "(I could get burned?)"
"Still have no clue what you're saying. Just, stay over there!" Luigi obliged. "Little bit further!" Luigi walked back further. "That looks good! Now, don't come near me until I give a signal, okay?" Prince Bowser called to him.
"Okie-dokie!" Luigi called back.
The prince took a deep breath in before (much to Luigi's shock) breathing fire onto the portal. Luigi stood there, mouth agape as he watched a prince of a different species char half of his yard. This was so cool. After Prince Bowser wore himself out, he turned to Luigi and gave him a tired thumbs up.
Luigi ran up to Bowser and gave him a hug. "(That's fantastic! You are so awesome!)"
"God, didn't know you humans could be so clingy!" Bowser said, pulling Luigi off of him. "Come on, I gotta go home now!"
"(Ah, I'm sorry, I just got excited.) I am sorry." Luigi let go of Prince Bowser.
"It's alright, I get it, I'm awesome." The prince said with a smirk. "I'll see you later, Weege."
"Bye-bye, Prince Bowser!"
"Bye." He said, walking back to the portal. He was about to step in, when it was revealed that his fire had done nothing. It was just like walking into a wall.
Luigi cringed as he watched Prince Bowser's nose get squashed. He rushed over to Bowser, who was rubbing his nose as the anger built up inside him. "(Oh my goodness, are you okay?)"
"I can't understand you, and I can't understand why the portal isn't letting me through!" The prince gave a punch to the portal for emphasis.
Luigi thought for a second. "(I think I know what to do next.)"
☆☆☆☆
Luigi and Prince Bowser sat next to each other as Luigi drew out a diagram of what to do next on the charred earth. "(So you see, you take the frying pan and use it like a crowbar while I'll be there for reinforcements!)" Luigi said, pointing at each frame on the diagram.
"That seems like a dumb idea... what if we just use a crowbar?"
Luigi drew a lock and key and drew an x over the key.
"You want to use a key to open the portal?"
Luigi shook his head. "(The shed with the crowbar is locked and I don't have the key.)" He said, trying to mime what he was trying to say to him.
"You know what, we'll just use the frying pan."
"(That's what I've been trying to say!)"
A few minutes later, the two were trying to open the portal with a frying pan. It was taking both of their combined strength to even try and move this. That was, until, the frying pan broke. Back to the drawing board.
"Okay, my turn to come up with a plan. I say we find a sword!"
"(No way!)" Luigi grabbed a rock and handed it to Prince Bowser. "(Use this instead!)"
And so they gathered rocks and started throwing them at the portal. That was until they ran out. No progress had been made at opening it. Thus they went back to planning.
"(We could use a tree branch?)" Luigi said, holding up the stick he had been using to draw out the diagrams.
"It's worth a shot."
So, they started stabbing it with sticks. As you can probably guess, that didn't work. On to plan F.
"Nothing is working! What are we supposed to do?"
"(I don't know! I'm out of things to throw at it!)"
"This is so stupid! My dads are gonna be so mad at me." Prince Bowser said, sitting down. He looked as if he was about to cry. "I can never see my dads again."
Luigi went to sit down next to him. "(It'll be alright, I think...)" He said as he gave the Prince a side hug.
"I need to get home, I need to see my dads again!" Prince Bowser said, starting to cry. He laid his head into Luigi's lap. "Why can't I go home?"
"(I don't know, but at least you have me.)" He said, petting the Prince's hair.
"Back at home I was a prince! But here I'm... I'm just a kid who has to ask for help from someone who doesn't even speak my language!"
"(It'll be okay, I'll help you get home.)"
Prince Bowser gave a small sob. "And that makes it ten times harder cause I can't understand you!"
"(I know, I know.)" Luigi looked up to the sky. "(Oh no, the sun is rising. My parents might find you!)" He said, pointing just over the horizon.
The Prince rolled over to look where Luigi was pointing. "Ah crap! The sun is rising! Your parents are gonna find me!"
"(That's what I was trying to say!)"
"What are we going to do?" Prince Bowser flopped back onto Luigi's lap.
Luigi thought for a moment. "(I think I have an idea, come with me!)"
☆☆☆☆
Luigi showed Prince Bowser to the tree house in his backyard. There Prince Bowser would stay for three weeks. They would hang together every day, coming up with plans to try and get the Prince home. Luigi's parents barely noticed, thinking it was just an imaginary friend, and that's why he asked for two sandwiches instead of one. Plans they came up with included: throwing more rocks at it, catapults, slingshots, crowbars, throwing toy cars at it, just pushing it, kites, disguises, magic hats, literally anything and everything they could get their hands on, they tried. But no matter what they tried, nothing seemed to work.
"Ugh! This is so stupid!" The prince said, throwing the top hat to the ground. "Why are we even doing this anymore? Nothing is working!"
"(It is going to work, we just need to try harder!)"
Prince Bowser grabbed Luigi's hand. "Luigi, we have been trying 24/7 for two weeks! This thing isn't going to open for anything!"
"(But you can't give up hope yet! We still have so many things we could try!)"
"I'm done. I'm not going to try and open it anymore. We tried, but I'm just never going home." Prince Bowser said, letting go of Luigi.
Another few days would pass. At night, Luigi would go to the tree house and try to comfort the Prince. It would always end with Prince Bowser crying into Luigi's arms. One night, Luigi even stayed in the tree house with the Prince to make sure he would be okay.
But all decent things must come to an end. One morning, when Luigi woke up, the portal was gone. He went to go look for his friend, but he was nowhere to be found. Had Prince Bowser run away? Was he hurt? Where had he gone? Luigi would spend the rest of that summer looking for his friend.
After that summer, Luigi started school. He would never forget that summer, though. That is something you stay with until you die, wondering if it's your fault. When him and his twin brother, Mario, turned 20, they moved out of their parents house. Here we rejoin our story, when Mario and Luigi are 28, long after that fateful summer.
Luigi and Mario worked as plumbers in New York, New York. Every day was the same. Wake up, go out, do your job, come back home, schedule appointments. Wake up, go out, do your job, come back home, schedule appointments. Every day, the same routine for 7 years. That was until one day when the routine changed. Wake up, go out, wait, is that a portal? Yes, it was indeed a portal.
Luigi wasn't the one to find it, he would admit that. No, Mario found it. They were driving to do their job when Mario saw it in a park.
"(Hey, doesn't that look familiar?)" Mario said, pointing over to the park.
Luigi turned to face where Mario was pointing. "(Oh my goodness, Mario, you have to pull over.)"
"(Fine, but we have to be quick! The appointment is in 45 minutes!)"
Oh, but that appointment would never come, much to the disappointment of the lady who's sink had been clogged for 2 weeks. Mario and Luigi pulled over into the park. Luigi literally ran to see this portal, meanwhile Mario just walked slowly over looking confused.
"(Oh my goodness, Mario, this is a freaking portal! Do you know what this means?)"
"(Uh, no?)"
"(We get to go on a freaking adventure!)"
"(No! We have an appointment in 40 minutes!)"
"(No, we're going on an adventure! Come on Mario, we have to go on an adventure!)" Luigi grabbed Mario's hand. "(Come on!)"
"(Fine, fine! But only for 5 minutes!)"
It would not be just 5 minutes. No, it would be far longer than that! The two went through the portal and Luigi was amazed by absolutely everything, and made to point almost everything out.
"(Mario, look! That flower has eyes!)" Luigi said, pointing to a fire flower.
They walked into Toad Town, where many of the toads were shocked to see a couple of new humans. "Wow, you must be new around here!" One of the toads said, walking up to the brothers.
"(Look, Mario! That Mushroom can talk!)"
"You'll have to excuse my brother, he's a little excited." Mario said, switching to English.
"(A little excited is an understatement!)" Luigi shouted. Then he noticed the royal castle. "(Mario, look! A castle!)" Luigi said before pulling Mario away.
"So sorry, can't talk anymore! Brother's being an excited idiot!"
Luigi pulled Mario all the way to the castle. Luigi's eyes had stars in them. "(Oh my gosh, Mario, this place is so cool!)"
"(I know it's so cool, but we have to go home now!)"
"(I wonder if a king lives here?)"
"(Luigi, we have to go home.)"
"(This place is the best!)"
A large shadow moved in from overhead. Mario looked up. "(Luigi, I don't think this place is the best anymore.)"
Luigi looked up to see what was casting the shadow. An air ship with a giant stone dragon head on the front. How the ship was even flying was a mystery. It must have been held up by pure willpower. Suddenly someone pulled them into the castle.
"You seem stronger than my guards, can you protect me? I'm going to get captured in less than 5 minutes and I need you to swear you will come save me. Pinkie promise?" The lady who had brought them into the castle said, turning the two around to face her.
"We don't even know who you are!" Mario said, looking between the new face and his brother's.
"Good. I now officially knight you as my, well, knights. If you don't come save me, I will charge you for treason when and if I get back. Now I have to go get kidnapped, good luck!" And with that, the woman ran off.
Mario and Luigi glanced at each other before running after her. By the time they caught up to her, the airship had already crashed into the castle. Luigi pulled Mario behind a pillar as he watched the following interaction unfold.
A thing that had a turtle's shell but the rest of it was more dragon-like stepped out of the air ship. It was tall, like, 15 feet tall, tall. "Ah, Princess, there you are! I've been looking all over for you!" It said, walking closer to the woman.
"You won't get away with it this time! Newly knighted knights!" She called, turning towards the boys.
Mario came out of hiding first while Luigi hid behind the pillar still. "She's right, you know. We're going to protect her, you beast!"
Luigi gave a weak thumbs up from his hiding place.
"Oh? And what makes you think you'll win, stupid humans?" It said, taking a step towards Mario.
"Because there are three of us, and only one of you!"
The thing looked offended. Luigi could see puffs of steam as it got closer to Mario. "Well, we'll just have to see how long two of you last." Without another warning, the thing spit fire at Mario! Mario, thank God, managed to get out of the way in time, but still!
Luigi, as soon as he saw this, rushed out of his hiding place to see if Mario was okay. Before he could get there, though, the thing stepped in front of him. "Oh, so you're the coward who's been hiding this whole time! What does the L on your hat stand for? Lame ass loser?"
"It stands for Luigi!" He said, trying to get around the thing. The thing, of course, wouldn't let him.
"Well, Luigi, I really think you should go back to hiding if you know what's good for you," It said, very quickly closing the gap between the two. "You might just get burned."
"What's good for me is helping my brother!"
The thing grabbed Luigi's chin and forced him to look up at it. "Helping your brother isn't going to save your life in the end. Again, I'd suggest you go back to hiding like un dannato perdente e un codardo."
Luigi gasped. A million thoughts were going through his head. One, how does this monster know Italian, two, why did it just say that in Italian, and three, who did it think it was. It was using his home language against him! Luigi pushed away from it. "(And I bet your mother was too,)" He said, too angry to say much of anything else.
The thing fumed. "Listen here you little--"
The woman ran in between them, mostly trying to protect her guard. "Enough! He's not whatever that was! He's perfectly brave if he can stand up to you, you big bully!"
"Peach, baby, darling, this little shit couldn't take his own in a fight if he was given a super star."
"He could take you right now if he wanted to, right... what was your name again?"
"Luigi."
"Right Luigi?"
"No."
The thing laughed. "See what I mean?" The thing laughed again. "Listen, if you come with me, no one gets hurt."
"I would rather die." The woman said.
The thing sneered before chuckling. "Alright then. You made your choice." The thing stepped back to its ship. "I'll be seeing you next week. Ciao!"
And like that, the ship was gone. The woman fell to her knees. Mario, who had been watching the debacle from the sidelines, finally got up to see if she was alright. Luigi took a couple steps back to let Mario do the work. Mario tapped her on the shoulder.
"He's gonna come and attack my kingdom. His army is huge. I can never beat him."
"Come on, I'm sure it's not--"
"No, it is that bad. Bowser will stop at nothing until I'm his."
Both the brothers glanced at each other. "Listen, let's come up with a plan."
☆☆☆☆
The woman's name was Princess Peach. The monster was King Bowser. Bowser was a hopeless romantic, having fallen instantly in love with the princess. Peach, on the other hand, hated everything about him. That was what had led up to this soon-to-be war.
Peach was pacing around the room, ranting and repeating those same few points over and over again. Mario was following her, trying to calm her down. Luigi was just kind of sitting there, taking it all in, mind racing but also blank at the same time.
"Either I go with him, or my kingdom dies! And if I go with him, my kingdom also dies!"
"Princess, calm down."
"My kingdom's about to die, and he says CALM DOWN!!!"
"Because we can fix this! Easily!"
"How? How could you fix this?"
"Easily! Like I said!"
Peach stared at Mario for a moment, before continuing her pacing. Luigi considered something, before getting up.
"Princess? May I ask you something?" He said, watching as her pacing continued.
"Luigi, now's not the time for questions!" Mario said, shooting a glance at him.
"It could help come up with a plan!"
The Princess turned. "What's your question?"
Luigi sighed. This was gonna be a long one. "Are there any other turtle dragon things that are, one, royalty, two, can breathe fire, three, around their late 20's, early 30's, and four, named Bowser?"
"No, none that I can think of."
"Then I think I can get to him."
☆☆☆☆
Luigi didn't think he'd get this far, considering he was alone. Luigi was in a kingdom of lava, all by himself, mostly by choice. Everything gave a strange sense of deja vu. Every lava geyser that threatened to take off half his body, every piece of uneven terrain that could lead to his untimely death, all somewhat familiar.
The only thing missing was a prince that he had met so long ago. He hoped he had the right person, because if he didn't, oh boy, was he doomed. He'd be a pile of ash in a minute. But, something told him that this "evil" king, was his Prince Bowser.
He looked around to see if he was anywhere close to the vague description the Princess had given him. "A volcano, but also a castle, and it's kinda just there, you'll know it when you see it," He recalled the Princess saying. He could see a volcano about 200 yards away. Was that it?
Not only a step later but he found himself being tackled by a small... thing. He fell to the ground, the thing cackling in its victory. "Yes! I caught you!" The thing said.
The creature couldn't have been older than 7, considering how much it was bragging about its victory. It drew a striking resemblance to the kid Bowser, except for the bandana, that was new.
As it ranted on and on about how they were the best Prince ever, Luigi asked a simple question. "Who are you?"
The creature was offended. "I am Prince Bowser the 2nd of the Koopa Kingdom, duh! And you are trespassing!"
"I see, and does your father so happen to be King Bowser?"
"Well duh! What are you, stupid?"
"Oh no, I'm just new around here. Could you please show me where your dad is? I need to talk to him."
"No. You're a spy. And I captured you. So no."
"Okay, so am I free to go?"
"No, you're coming with me!"
"Okay..."
☆☆☆☆
Luigi found it slightly charming that this kid was pretending he was his prisoner. Slightly. What wasn't charming was the fact that anytime he didn't completely comply with the game, he'd be yelled at for not knowing how to be a good prisoner. The prince led him by the hand to the castle covered with the image of the boy's father.
Luigi didn't like this. Any wrong word could lead to his demise. He found himself pausing in front of a particularly menacing statue. Sharp claws for ripping plumbers to shreds, teeth for ripping flesh from bone, fire breath for leaving no evidence, a killing machine. The prince tugged on his arm. "Come on, you'll get to meet him in a second!" He whined. Luigi compiled before the prince could start shouting at him.
He was going to reason, his only weapon being nostalgia, with a killing machine! This was a horrible idea! The prince pulled him into the castle, leading him to the throne room. This was where he was going to die. The prince led him right up to the throne where the king was sitting, who was looking lazily around the room.
"Hey Dad! I found a spy!"
The king rubbed his temples. "Junior, if this is another rabbit, I swear--" he turned, eyes falling on the man in green. "You."
"Yep, me..." Luigi waved, before the stress got to him.
"What are you doing in my kingdom?" Bowser asked, looking as if he was about to blow.
"This is going to sound a little crazy, but do you remember a little boy who didn't speak English and tried to help you get home?" Luigi tried to smile.
"Why do you ask?"
"If you do, it's me! I'm that little boy! But I'm not little anymore... If you don't, I'm so sorry, I really thought you were someone else and also please don't kill me!"
The king bent down, studying Luigi's face. Luigi stumbled back slightly at the sudden proximity. "You? A spunky little kid? You're afraid of your own shadow! He snuck out that night, and many nights after that, you are not that spunky little kid!"
Luigi winced at the King's tone. "Well, it was my idea to come here in the first place..."
"Okay, if you really are him, which you're not, you should know where I stayed.”
“In me and my brother's tree house, no one could know you were real, so we hid.”
“Well, that doesn't prove anything. What was our first attempt at getting the portal open?”
“You tried to punch it, a lot.”
The Prince was sitting on the floor, jaw dropped. “Is this guy why you learned the funny language?” He asked.
“No!” King Bowser said. “Because this guy is not the guy!”
“You cried that first night, you gave up, you cried in my arms because you missed your dads. Would a random spy know that?”
“Yes, apparently, because you know that!” Bowser took a couple of breaths to calm himself down. “You can't be him, because if you were, you would've tried to find me sooner. You would've come after me the night I left.”
“I tried, but the portal was gone the next day! I thought you had run away or something, not come back home. I don't know how rare portals are here, but it took me 20 years to find another one, and that's how I got here.” Luigi sighed. “You had grown so much that I didn't know it was you at first.”
Bowser looked away, sighed, before looking back at Luigi. “You can't have only come for that.”
“I only came for that. You were my first friend aside from my brother, and I'm sorry I said what I did to you.”
“Fine. Then you are excused.”
Luigi bowed his head and left. Was he supposed to have done more than that? Was this it, a lingering resentment between two childhood friends? It would have been, if the Prince hadn't stopped him.
“Hey! You can't leave yet!”
Luigi turned back around to see Bowser with his face in his palm and Junior running towards him. The Prince stopped right in front of him, saying, “My dad wants to talk to you more, since you were best friends.”
Luigi looked over to Bowser, who seemed to be very annoyed at this. Luigi smiled to himself. This could work.
☆☆☆☆
Bowser was very intimidating up close, even if it was from across a desk. He seemed to have a perpetual frown on his face, and not to mention the fact that he was a big scary reptile that could easily incinerate the poor human in front of him. Luigi couldn’t help but sink into his seat as he was being stared at. He chuckled softly, trying to escape the death glare he had found himself trapped in.
“So, you have a name,” Bowser said after a good long while.
“I told you my name when we first met. I even introduced myself in English.”
“I’m bad at names.”
“So we’re really starting from scratch, aren’t we?”
“Yes.”
“Okay then… My name is Luigi, and you are King Bowser!” Luigi stuck out a hand as confidently as he could.
“Well, of course I know that.” Bowser looked down at Luigi like he was insane. When he realized he wasn’t going to shake his hand, Luigi let his arm fall to his side. “You are a little brat who doesn’t know his place and is wasting my time.”
“Your Lordship, please?”
“What? That’s what I’d say to you if we were starting from scratch. Of course, someone in this room is stuck in the past and doesn’t want to accept the fact that I had a life after him!”
“You’re being unreasonable, you learned Italian because of me!”
“I wanted to insult my enemies without them knowing I did so! It’s not my fault you happen to know it.”
Luigi sighed. This was going nowhere. “Let's say that we know each other, and we have slightly positive emotions about each other, like we did before I got here.”
“Why the hell did you take so long? I got home without you, are you only coming back because of pity? Am I, in your mind, such a weak little prince that I need your protection?”
“Of course not! You're a very scary king who could intimidate even the bravest soldiers.”
“So am I just all menace? Do you think you can fix me?”
“I don’t think that! Will you let me talk?”
“Then talk!”
They had gotten remarkably close in those few seconds. Luigi stood his ground, staring into two pools of magma that were Bowser's eyes. When did he start having magma eyes? Bowser leaned back, trying to cool his anger. “Then talk,” he repeated.
Luigi's voice was quiet. “I think you are more than this wall you've put up. You have a son, that has to mean something. I want to get to know Bowser, King and father, rather than remember Bowser, Prince and son. Tell me about you.”
☆☆☆☆
So they talked for 4 hours. They talked, and fought, about everything and nothing. Then Luigi left, back to his brother and the person he was designated to protect. The next day he went back, talking again. They fought less the second time, and found themselves chuckling at their jokes. Bowser actually said goodbye instead of just grunting the second time.
The third time was even sweeter. Prince Bowser asked if they could play with him and they agreed. They ended up telling him the story of how they met. Then they had tea as the Prince winded down. Then the next day it happened again, and again.
By the sixth day it had felt like they had never left each other in the first place. They were joking with each other as Luigi came in. They sat down across from each other in Bowser’s office, as they had been. After the laughter died down, Luigi said:
“I can’t believe we can still be friends.”
“Why can’t you?”
“We both changed so much. We’re no longer kids, and yet!”
“And yet here we are.”
Luigi had wanted to say more, but he never did.
They talked until the sun had gone down. After that, Luigi had to leave. The Prince having to be put to bed was the reason stated. But Luigi decided to do something risky. As he stood right outside the door, and as they were saying their goodbyes, Luigi stood on his toes and kissed Bowser on the cheek. He immediately ran off.
Why would he do that? Bowser was an evil man who a week ago he was terrified of! But it wasn’t gay, it was just guys being bros! Right?
He would never say what was on his mind earlier that day.
☆☆☆☆
There was screaming.
That was what awoke him the next morning.
He jumped out of his bed in the Princess’s palace. Glancing out the window, there was fire. There was much more than fire, but Luigi didn’t have time to recognize it.
He ran outside and there was Bowser, standing there with a smug grin on his face. Bowser watched the chaos unfold.
Luigi stormed up to him. “What are you doing?”
“What I said I would? I said I’d be back in a week!”
“But you can’t do this!”
“Think about it! We could rule this land together!”
“No! You were supposed to be reasonable after talking to me!”
“Be reasonable? So this was all to fix me?”
“No, not like that! But, you can’t terrorize a kingdom!”
“I can do what I want, I’m an adult!”
“But you’re doing the wrong thing! You’re Bowser, my friend, not the evil king! You can’t be! You can’t, you can’t–”
Bowser leaned down and kissed him on the lips. It was warm, but too warm. This wasn’t right. Luigi pushed him away.
“The hell?!”
“You kissed me yesterday, you seemed fine with it!”
“You can’t just kiss me to shut me up! This isn’t right!” Luigi gasped for air, half from the kiss and half from the anger bubbling in his chest. “I thought you were better than this. I thought I adored you! But you can’t be that! It was all in my head, you being better! All I had of you for 20 years was memories! I thought we could spark that again…”
“Luigi…”
“Don’t talk to me! You are nothing to me now but a memory! I want to be your friend, but you can’t do this. I’m torn…”
“If that’s how you feel…”
“If you show your face here again, I will personally see to it you being forced back to your kingdom. Don’t ever talk to me or my brother ever again.”
And Luigi walked away.
Clouds formed overhead as thunder rumbled. Luigi's scowl grew deeper. Lighting struck in front of him, causing him to jump back. He whipped around.
“Bowser, what are you–?!”
“That wasn’t me.”
Bowser pointed to the sky as a purplish glow filled the Kingdom. Luigi sighed.
“Correction, after we stop this.”