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

Luigi Makes it Back to Star Hill, But the Fallout Seems to Be More Concerning

When he feels his feet touch the ground, Mr. L braces himself.

When nothing happens, he looks around, taking in the beauty once more.

"Here I am." He mutters as he starts walking. "On Star Hill. Talking to myself."

As he keeps walking, he keeps talking, to distract himself.

"On a hill that's home to a bunch of Star Spirits with the power to throw me right off if they felt like it."

He shakes his head, "And here I am, walking right through I own the place."

He pulls out his map, and starts following it.

"I don't get it!" Mr. L yells a while later, when he reaches the new spot on the map. "They said it was dangerous, but everything looks the same!"

He points, "That was there last time.", then points somewhere else, "And so was that!"

"And this..." He moves to a different spot, then goes back to yelling. "This is where Mimi found me!"

He throws up his hands in frustration and confusion. "What gives! Why would they declare this place unstable when it's not?"

The answer comes to him in the same second it takes him to ask the question.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me. It was you?"

Indeed.

The voice makes Mr. L jump, as he watches the Hill go dark.

"I don't understand."

We needed to be sure. We needed proof your motivations were no one else's but yours.

"So you scared the whole kingdom away?" Mr. L asks. "Let them think the Hill was dangerous just to see if that would stop me from coming back?"

And so it didn't . Well done.

But Mr. L is feeling anything but triumphant. "I'm not your guinea pig. My memory was taken from me by force. You don't get to decide when or how I get it back. I do."

As he starts walking away, he feels his chest begin to glow.

Mario, who's just sitting in his house, looking over Mr. L's questions, suddenly clutches his chest when he feels a sudden warmth.

"Wha...?"

But it's gone a moment later, and after it doesn't come back, Mario shrugs it off and goes back to reading the questions.

Mr. L bolts upright, and a quick glance reveals he's back in his house, on his bed.

"Hey!" Mimi exclaims. "What gives? I risked getting you killed just for you to pop back not even 5 minutes later? You better have a good explanation."

"I do, I promise." But when Mr. L thinks back on his experience, once again, there's nothing. "Or not. It's just like last time. I went up there, but don't—"

Then he's suddenly doubling over, his chest burning like the worst kind of panic attack.

"Hey! What's wrong?" Mimi comes closer, but Mr. L waves her away.

"N-nothing, I--" But the pain doesn't stop, cutting off his ability to speak as he tries to breathe through the pain.

"Lay back." Mimi orders, doing her best to push him back down on the pillow.

"No, what?" Mr. L's confusion is barely enough to make her pause. "What're you--"

"I told you going up there was a bad idea." Mimi says, trying to hide her own panic. "You're just gonna take a little siesta and hopefully, when you wake up, everything will be okay."

"Wait, don't--" But it's too late, as Mr. L already feels himself drifting off.

The last coherent thought he has before slipping under isn't his own,

I told you! See? As long as we're together, everything is gonna be okay!