(As Long as We're Together) Everything's Gonna Be Okay

Luigi Gets Mimi Up to Speed, But She Doesn't React as Expected

"You're telling me Wario's plan was to set up Mario for embezzlement? " Mimi demands a few days later, long after their promised celebration.

"I know." Mr. L agrees. "It's so ridiculous. Wario was the one pushing so hard to stay on both jobs for more money. He chose not to stay on the committee. It's obviously some sort of scam for easy money."

"I knew Nastasia's hunch was onto something." Mimi crosses her arms.

"What do you say to us trying to help him?" Mr. L says suddenly. "Up for doing some more digging?"

"Oof..." Mimi sighs. "I know he's your brother..."

"Where's the but?"

"Can you really see him letting us help?"

Mr. L nods, "True, true. Awkward on top of awful. I'll call tomorrow, run the idea by him. But , not to suddenly change the subject, I had a huge breakthrough with the map."

Mimi's eyes widen slightly, "What happened?"

"There's a chance there's something up there that will restore my memory."

Mimi goes stock still as Mr. L grabs his hand drawn map.

"I have no idea what it's like up there, or if it's there at all. Oftentimes things seen on old maps disappear with age, only to be dug up by archaeologists a long time later. But I figure if I talk to the smartest Toad in town, have him tell me everything there is to know about Star Hill as it is now, I'll at least have somewhere to start looking."

"So you haven't talked to anyone yet?"

"No." Mr. L shakes his head. "I wasn't even going to think about talking to anyone until I told you everything. And now that you know, I thought there was no time like the present to get a move on. Nastasia wouldn't be willing to talk to me, would she? No, you know what? Nevermind. If anyone's gonna know who to talk to, it's the princess."

"No, wait." Mimi stops him from going further. "I'm asking if maybe you should let this all go. For good."

"Mimi." Mr. L sighs. "I thought you were on board with uncovering the truth behind Nastasia's map."

"I was in theory." Mimi replies. "When you weren't going to go off somewhere you don't even remember being for something that might not even be there! That's the plan, isn't it?"

"I want to remember everything." Mr. L reminds her. "And if there's something up on Star Hill that could help me do that, I can't pass up that opportunity, not when everything else has failed."

"Nastasia has never had black and white motives." Mimi tries. "She may be trying to make up for it now, but you still don't remember anything! What if she's leading you right into a trap?"

"Mimi, the map is just drawings on a piece of paper." Mr. L says.

"Then let that be all it is." Mimi begs.

Mr. L crosses his arms, suspicious, "Where was all this when you were working for Nastasia?"

"She may have been right about Wario, but this map that just happens to fit perfectly with the current one, if there's anything there at all, there's no telling if it'll even be willing to help you! And what's to stop it from blasting you off the hill just for asking it?" Mimi looks genuinely upset now. "I don't like this."

Mr. L chuckles in understanding now. "Come here, you." He pulls her in for a hug.

"You know what I've always loved about you? You never change, regardless of whose side you're on."

"Then please be on my side this time!" Mimi begs against his overalls. "Or at least stop and think about it for a while longer."

Seeing she's not going to stop, Mr. L sighs. "Fine. Truthfully, I don't know if I want to go up there either. A part of me just knows there's something missing, something that makes it just a little harder to breathe every time I think about how wrong it feels to not know what it is."

Mimi looks hurt, but Mr. L isn't finished.

"But then I think about how far I've come since allowing myself to just not think about it, all the amazing things I've done on my own, and I wonder if I'm willing to risk all of that going away."

"Are you so desperate to remember, you're willing to face whatever danger is up there?" Mimi pulls away now. "Because that's what you have to decide first and foremost. Is that really something you're okay with?"

"Do you know what it's like walking around town?" Mr. L asks. "Or even just in this house? I hear gossip from Toads, I see old pictures of me with my brother, or I'll even visit E.Gadd's lab, and I'll feel the weirdest feeling in my chest, where I'm expecting it to hurt, but then it ends up happy, and I have no idea why. I want to know why. I want to remember why. When my brother calls me Weegee, I want to feel that happiness because I know where it came from. And yes, I know it means reliving bad memories too, but that's the price you pay for remembering everything."

"Like how when Mario saved you from Dimentio's control, you had a flash of those Goombas turning you over to Nastasia." Mimi recalls. "Maybe it's for the best that's all you remember."

Mr. L sighs, walking over to the couch and picking up the map. "This could change everything, Mimi. I know what I'd be putting at risk. But think about what it would mean for the kingdom to have the other Mario brother back."

Mimi comes over and sits next to him. "Are you. Okay with. Risking your life? One that you only just restarted from the ground up?"

Mr. L looks at the map one last time, then looks at Mimi. "When you went off on your romantic getaway with your boyfriend, I was actually a little disappointed. But I wasn't going to stop you from having a life outside of me. So I hoped you'd have a good time, and you came back engaged!"

"And now you want me to let you do something without me?" Mimi fills in the blank, then stomps her foot. "That's not the same at all! I wasn't putting my life at risk! I just knew my boyfriend had something planned, and I wanted to go! The engagement was a bonus! You don't know if you're even going to come back with anything, and it's terrifying to even think about!"

"So is the thought of losing your new friend." Mr. L finishes for her this time. "If I remember everything, I'll also remember my brother. Which means I might not want to hang out with you anymore."

Mimi purses her lips, but that's all Mr. L needs to know he's right.

Mimi walks away, hand to her forehead. "If you remember what your brother means to you, and you suddenly decide you want to be part of the Mario brothers again, and your relationship is just like it was before, where do I fit into all of that? And it's not like anyone would blame you!"

Mr. L gets up to walk over to her. "I can't lie. That is a real outcome.", then puts a hand on her shoulder. "But I truly do not see that happening. My life centers around who I am now, and the friends I've made on my own. The friends that let me stay in the dark, no matter how frustrating that may be at times. I'm okay with who I am, here, as a mechanical engineer, and hanging out with you. Not tagging along in my brother's shadow. Whatever we meant to each other before, I love what I'm doing now. And I can't wait to see where I go from here."

"Neither can I." Mimi replies, letting Mr. L pull her in for another hug.

"You've already made up your mind, haven't you?" Mimi knows him too well by now.

"I have." Mr. L replies. "And it would mean a lot to me if you could stand by me while I do it."

Mimi sighs. "Couldn't be anywhere else even if I wanted to. I'm at your side, memory or no memory."

"I'd have to be a complete idiot to just up and drop you." Mr. L assures her.

"Wouldn't be the first." Mimi reminds him.

"This is all gonna work out." Mr. L swears. "My whole life as it stands, here and now, that's who I am. Remembering isn't going to change one single thing. Period."

An hour or so later, Mr. L tells Mimi as he picks up the map. "I got in touch with the princess. She's ready for us."

Mimi looks like she's dying to say something, but the way Mr. L's looking at her, she can't make herself say it, and after a beat, they just share a nod, and Mr. L leads her out the door.