(Mario) the Music Box; Past & Present

Evangeline

Mario's Point of View

"Ugh....." I groaned as I held my side. My blue overall was stained red with blood as my hand compressed the wound. I had just narrowly escaped death, if it was not for Luigi's quick thinking.

"See? You should've stabbed her like I've told you to. Now look at you, all bleeding and pathetic. You'd better not die on me, I still need to use your body after all." A voice ran in my head. I bit back another grunt. "You wish."

"Hmm? What was that, Mario? "

I raised my head weakly to see a very worried Luigi. "Yeah, I'm fine Weeg." I reassured him as I tried to stand up. However, loss of blood was making me dizzy. I stumbled forward, and I was ready to brace myself for the impact of falling until Luigi grabbing me by the arm.

"We gotta get you out of here." His voice was shaking with panic. Perhaps he was still having the adrenaline rush from the attack earlier, to which I don't blame him. It was traumatizing. "You're bleeding and we need to get you bandaged up."

I nodded as Luigi slung my free arm over his shoulder as I leaned on him for support. Bending over, he picked up the small lantern that had been knocked out of my hand from the earlier collision. The light was dim, and the hall was dark. Our footsteps echoed in the empty corridor as we wandered aimlessly, trying to find a place to rest and patch up. Staring into the darkness, I felt my heart was pounding so loudly that I was sure that Luigi could almost hear it. We had just been attacked by an evil entity residing in the mansion, and I was gravely wounded. I prayed to the deities that we would peacefully find a vacant room to recooperate, and thankfully, we made it in one piece without being confronted by any peril.

After bandaging myself, I was ready to leave until I notice Luigi had been quiet for some time. "Hey Weeg, you okay?" I asked.

No response.

I moved closer to him, and it seemed like he was in some kind of trance. Fear was written all over his face as a hand flew to his gaping mouth. I reached out to touch him as I was trying to make an attempt to snap him out of it, but to my surprise, he flinched and backed away.

"Don't touch me, you murderer!" His voice was breaking as he dropped the lantern. To my dismay, he turned around and began to run the opposite way.

"Luigi- wait!" I called. Panic filled my heart as I grabbed the lantern to go after him. A number of questions swirled in my mind as my feet carried me as fast as they could. Eventually, I lost sight of him.

"Luigi..... Why.....?" I stared at the direction he disappeared in sadness. I never signed up for this in the first place. I was supposed to just investigate the mansion and leave like I should've done. I never wanted to be possessed and experience horrendous things. Why is this happening to me?

"Are you lost, young lad?" A voice rang from beside me. I whipped my head around in alarm, only to relax after seeing that it was just a Toad from the Mushroom Kingdom.

"No.... Well, yes and no." My voice trailed off. That was when I had the time to really take a look at my surroundings. I realized that I was no longer stuck in the Aduraice Mansion, instead, I was in a small town. "I don't know where I am and I just lost my brother. I don't know where he went."

The Toad nodded thoughtfully. "You should try and find him as soon as possible. This is not a safe place to be. In fact, do you know what color your brother's eyes are? "

I stared at the Toad in confusion. I was rather caught off guard by the question that was totally unrelated to his previous statement. "They're green, why?"

He only shook his head as he clicked his tongue. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You still haven't forgotten your brother, I see...."

Something about what he said was strangely nostalgic, but I was not able to pinpoint exactly what he meant. Then, he handed me a pair of contact lenses. "Put these on."