What a Wonderful World

Chapter 24

Mario froze, not moving his arm, the red flame still bouncing around in his hand ready to ignite.

In front of him, Dimentio. Tied up to a large wooden stake just a few feet from the man in red, looking down in front of himself with wide eyes, fear coursing through his veins as he was for once, totally and completely helpless.

And between them, Luigi. Standing tall and confident, holding his arms out, blocking Mario's line of fire should he strike. Not afraid.

"You came back...?" Dimentio asked from behind him, voice small. Smile smaller. But still there, as a glimmer of hope snuck into his mismatched eyes.

Luigi briefly turned to him and offered an equally small, gentle smile.

"I'll always come back."

The man in green then redirected his attention to his brother. "Stop," Luigi repeated in a confident tone which he wasn't used to using. However, it didn't feel weird. It felt right.

"Luigi, he has you under a spell. Get out of the way," Mario calmly replied.

"NO!" Luigi snapped. "I'M NOT MOVING!"

"Luigi, get out of the way," Mario repeated with a slightly firmer tone. "I know you must be confused right now, but he's got you under his control. He's manipulating you."

"Mind explaining to me how he's got me under control if you're taking away his magic?!" Luigi demanded, turning and pointing at the ropes. "How is he controlling me if he can't even teleport to save himself?!"

Mario didn't reply. He changed nothing about his manner and just let out a slightly annoyed breath, before calmly saying, "Luigi. I need you to step aside so we can finally put an end to this."

"NO!" Luigi snapped, turning to face his brother again. "I'M NOT MOVING!"

"Luigi..." Mario repeated. "Move."

"NO," Luigi replied. 

"Listen to me! Quit making this difficult!!!!" Mario exclaimed, glaring at him. "I don't want to hurt you, so move!!!"

"NO! You listen to me! What will killing him accomplish?!" Luigi snapped, lowering his arms and looking out at the crowd. "WHAT WILL KILLING HIM ACCOMPLISH?!"

There was a small murmur in the crowd when a random woman with a small child raised her hand.

"Do you know how much trauma he caused everyone?!" She asked. "I had to watch as a void nearly swallowed all life as I knew it! Do you know what it's like to have the end of the world thrown in your face?! I couldn't even tell my two-year-old son that it was going to be okay. He had to deal with the fact that all of us were going to die. Every child did! Every person did! Because of him! We can't just let that go!"

"So, you're going to kill others to solve that?!" Luigi questioned. "Killing him won't undo what's been done! All it will do is cause more unneeded bloodshed!"

"Killing him would help us rest easy at night knowing he can't hurt us anymore!" Another citizen shouted, raising his hand in the air.

"Let me ask you this. In the past few months since the Ultimate show, has he hurt a single person?" Luigi questioned.

"Well, no..." An old woman in the front replied. "But who's to say he won't in the future?"

"Who's to say anyone won't in the future?!" Luigi cried. "Everyone is capable of evil. And everyone is capable of good!"

"NOT HIM! HE KILLED THE COUNT!" Nastasia shouted, pushing forward with an angry expression on her face. "HE'S THE REASON THE COUNT'S GONE! NOW STEP ASIDE, SO WE CAN GIVE HIM HIS JUSTICE!"