[LEFT UNFINISHED] Another Castle (Bowser x Luigi)

8-4 / 1-1

"I refuse," Mario said, the orange flaming ball he summoned in his hand acting like a torch in the otherwise dimly lit castle hall. He wiped the sweat on his forehead with his gloved knuckles, and shook his head, his eyes staying on his brother. "I refuse to lose you, Luigi, like I lost my Peach, and I especially refuse to let it happen at the hands of this monster you have the nonsense to call a friend!"

"Please, Mario! Think for one second about what you're doing! About what you've DONE, moreover!" his younger brother begged, but with no hesitation to hold out his own, emerald-burning orb of flame in his similarly-gloved palm. "I'm not gonna let this happen anymore. You're the only one here who thinks it has to work like this."

"Dad...?" a worried voice hushed, behind the door Luigi stood in front of.

"There's Junior I hear," Mario chuckled. "He's an okay kid," he remarked, his words bouncing with his accent, momentarily sounding lighter. "It's a shame I've always had to rough up him and his siblings to get here."

"Snap out of this!" Luigi demanded, stepping forward and raising his fireball-holding hand.

"No, Luigi. I refuse to lose ANYMORE!" was Mario's only answer, and he stepped forwards. Luigi blocked his path, though, and they stood nose to nose.

"Fratello mio. Fermati," Luigi huffed urgently, in the language the two were raised in.

"'MY BROTHER,' YOU SAY?" Mario suddenly shouted, his cheeks growing as red as his cap in anger, and the ball of vibrant energy in his hand becoming brighter as he spoke. "Are you? ARE YOU REALLY?"

—

To say that this story began long before that point would be right, but that much is obvious. The stories of the Mario brothers and their heroic deeds, of saving the Mushroom Kingdom from Koopa peril, are numerous. Even more so, they have been told time and time again. The princess would get kidnapped by the turtle-dragon fiend, and it was up to the ever-merry plumber to cross the kingdom and save her from such clutches. Through intense obstacles, and the dangers posed by the legions of enemies along the way, Mario would always emerge victorious, and Bowser would always come out scathed, but be alive to plot his revenge. Though spells of peace sometimes followed, and the kingdoms each generally prospered, there was never too long of a time between these events, which, when the time came, would take the realms by storm again.

Behind that hero Mario, more often than not, was a reluctant, sometimes cowardly, yet equally plucky Luigi. The other Mario brother, the green one, the sidekick in the adventure it always was to sprint forth into the different worlds of the royal domain. Running in his red-hatted counterpart's shadow was the taller, but younger fellow, who was forever a part of the duo that the world knew and loved. They always went together, and they went together well. Like spaghetti and meatballs, Mario would always say, much to Luigi's annoyance.

Yes, what the world didn't know was that Luigi had had it up to here when it came to those strident ventures, those romps along the ever-changing path to Bowser's castle. No amount of hot air balloon rides back, no number of slices of Peach's cake, no kisses on the nose were ever anything in his eyes. Not that he didn't enjoy the life of a kingdom's hero, but he just didn't think that life suited him.

Vacations always ended up to be other ventures, like that visit to Isle Delfino. Even having the opportunity to live in a mansion (with mostly unrelated spectral struggles) proved to be no escape from the obligations of jaunting along with his brother, and, though he still owned it, he later fled it in favor of friendly castle company. At what point was this all supposed to end, again? The answer seemed to never come, and he was nowadays convinced that the answer was never.

He could so easily remember the first time he faced that beast, when the adventure was fresh, and the path was a challenge instead of a chore. He was so excited, feeling dread for the fear of perishing, instead of just the feeling of having been there before so many times. It sure was a fight, too, when Bowser was their final fight. Most of all, he could picture how the scaled fiend fell into the molten rock, when the stone bridge that he stood on fell.

That, he thought, would be the end of it, but no. He saw Bowser's face sink into that lava many times, in many different ways, after he'd fall from various structures. Bridges, towers, ships... wherever he was defeated, and whatever he seemed to fall into, King Koopa would still live to plot the next kidnapping. That dastardly turtle!

The more Luigi went through these rounds, though, the more he wondered. Why was all this happening? For what reason didn't this end? Was nothing learned from the last time? Was Bowser truly so lacking in creativity, to always resort to stealing away the matriarch of the mushrooms? Was diplomacy not involving brick-breaking and coin-hoarding ever even in the cards?

"Luigi, you're sounding ridiculous," Mario answered, when given some of these questions. The two were conversating over breakfast in one of the sitting rooms of the royal castle, the one with wide enough windows to light the room with the sun, though it was overcast today.

"Sounding ridiculous is the least of my concerns in this sort of world, Mario, and I don't mind that," Luigi laughed.

"I know, but still. This is Bowser we're talking about," the older, much pudgier plumber said. "He doesn't deal in diplomacy, or creativity."

"Ey, come on, I'm sure he's not the meanest guy in the world," the green-clad, lankier one tried to say.

"Mean? He's nabbed the princess too many times for me to count, now," Mario groaned. "He's probably the meanest fella I can think of."

"I mean... fair," the younger brother remarked.

"More than fair. It's my job to make sure that big oaf turtle gets what he deserves, every time," said Mario.

"You're starting to sound like the big bully now, Mario," sighed Luigi.

"Yes, well, you can't help it when dealing with a big bully in the first place," Mario reasoned. "Like they say, Luigi, all toasters toast toast."

"Toasters toast bread, Mario," Luigi corrected.

"Ahh, fuhgeddaboudit," Mario laughed. "I'm-a go see what the Princess is up to."

Luigi changed the subject afterwards. He didn't want to make any real objection to his brother's methods. At least, not yet. For now, he just wanted to enjoy the day, without having to worry about any living brown lumps to jump on, or flowers to consume, or cat suits to put on. Thankfully, the day went on normally, and he went about his much more treasured daily life around the mansion.

He enjoyed the little things in life like this, the things that the castle kept him busy with throughout the day. Tending to the garden and experimenting with cooking in the well-equipped kitchen were certain favorite hobbies of his. Grooming his moustache to make sure it matched well with his brother's was another. Unlike Mario's clean yet bushy facial hair, Luigi made sure that his was sleek, smooth, and symmetrical. How much it made him look like a proud Mario Brother. That designation came with a weight, but it was one Luigi was reluctantly content to bear, with the comfort he found in his role in the Mushroom Kingdom.

"Green, green! It's green, they say," he often sang in the mirror as he combed,
"on the far side of the hill!
Green, green, I'm goin' away,
to where the grass is greener still...!"