What a Wonderful World

Chapter 1

It was a quiet, peaceful winter day. The sky was covered by a nice, thick grey cloud. A fresh foot of snow buried the land as gentle snowflakes fell from the grey sky. All was calm, as a gentle breeze blew in the distance-

"HEADS UP!" Mario called, nearly hitting a toad as he and Luigi sled down the larch hill near their house, flying down at top speed, a puff of snow flying up behind them.

"Whoa! Mario! S-slow down!" Luigi begged, holding onto his hat with one hand and onto the sled with his other. He could feel the snowflakes in the air hit his face as they flew down the slopes, like tiny ice daggers in the chilling cool air. He felt his heart race and his adrenaline pump, even though he was in no real danger.

"No can do, bro! We're approaching the ramp at full speed! Hold on to your hat!" Mario shouted with an excited look painted across his face as they approached the large snow ramp at the bottom of the hill, which the two men made earlier that day for this very reason.

"Oh Grambi, i-is it too late to back out of this?!" Luigi shouted, squeezing his eyes shut in fear.

"YEP! NOW HOLD ON!" Mario yelled, when the sled suddenly flew up off the ramp, launching the brothers into the air, up into the cool, soft grey sky.

Luigi felt that brief moment of weightlessness and opened his eyes, fear melting away suddenly and being replaced with a new feeling. He felt like he was flying for a moment. And in his mind, everything else stopped. Everything else no longer mattered. 

And the biggest, brightest smile covered Mario's face.

"WHOOO!" Mario shouted, holding onto the sled with one hand and pumping the other one into the air victoriously.

Luigi couldn't help but relax and feel slightly more at ease as everything seemed to be okay. It wasn't so scary. Maybe even fun. And for that brief second, everything else disappeared. It was just him, his brother, and the weightless feeling.

And then that moment ended as they started falling towards the ground. Luigi felt his hand slip from the sled as he slowly flew from it.

"No no no NO!" He cried as Mario and the sled touched down, landing perfectly, skidding to a halt.

The man in green wasn't so lucky. He touched down a moment later, landing face-first into a fluffy pile of the cold white powder, causing it to poof up and go everywhere. But it didn't hurt. Yes, it was cold, but it was soft. Like a large cushion.

"WHOA!" Mario shouted with a laugh, getting up and walking over to where Luigi landed and offering a hand. "That was AWESOME! Did you see how much air we caught?!"

Luigi slowly lifted his face from the snow and took Mario's hand. Mario laughed at all the white powder covering his brother, taking his arm and leading him back to their house. "Come on, let's go warm you up."

"Yeah. I'm absolutely covered," Luigi grumbled, before snorting. "But I'll admit, I loved the feeling of flying." And it was true. That feeling of flying made it all worth it. A small part of him wanted to go again.

"I knew you would," Mario chimed, bringing him inside and getting the ingredients to make hot cocoa. "I love when it snows."

"Me too..." Luigi admitted. "Me too. Do you think Peach and Daisy will be over soon? I know they got time off for the holidays."

"Yeah," Mario responded. "I think Daisy just left Sarasaland so she could go stay here with Peach in the Castle."

"Good. It's always fun when they both come." Luigi sighed.

"Yeah. Fun watching me and Peach beat you and Daisy at the team snowball fights," Mario laughed, making Luigi roll his eyes.

"You only win because I don't feel comfortable ambushing the princess with balls of snow." The man in green argued.