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

Another Bros Chapter, But Don't Get Too Excited

"You're telling me the Chancellor made you stand there in the council chambers with the princess, waiting for Wario to show up?" Mr. L asks Mario the next day, after coming to Boo Woods post-hearing.

"Yes, he did." Mario nods. "And thank the stars I had a real reason to believe he was going to show up and tell them I attacked him!"

"By accident." Mr. L's really getting tired of having to keep pointing that out.

"He still got hurt!" Mario insists. "And it was my fault! I mortally wounded him! Up until last night, he was unconscious on a gurney because I put him there, and you're the only person that knows, because I managed to get Peach out of the throne room before she saw anything. She thinks Wario was waiting to ambush me today."

"We don't know where he is, period!" Mr. L reminds Mario. "Which means we don't know what he remembers or if he's going to rat us out."

"Which means we have to live knowing at any moment, Bowser could decide to track him down again and start this whole thing over again."

"I imagine Mario was thrilled to hear the good news." Nastasia tells Mimi. "Particularly when it was Mr. L who brought it to him."

"You can say that again." Mimi agrees.

"Did you two talk about it?" Nastasia says as a test.

"Yeah, I went to the castle to track him down. The hero says thank you for finding that dirt, by the way."

"Does he think it will help the charges get dropped?" Again, Nastasia's testing to see how far Mr. L took it.

"I have no idea." Mimi shrugs. "But it was something. Honestly, when I ran into him, he seemed like that was the last thing on his mind."

"Oh?" Nastasia already knows, but she's still curious.

"He sounded like he just did not want me there, period."

"Well, with the charges and the Chancellor making his decision today, he probably didn't have room for much else." Nastasia theorizes.

"No, that would make sense under the circumstances." Mimi denies. "This wasn't that. It felt like something happened at the castle, and I just missed it."

"I've barely left my house." Mario laments. "I'm terrified someone's gonna take one look at me and they're just gonna know everything."

"While you were at the castle, I scoured the whole kingdom to find his whereabouts." Mr. L tells him. "I went to all of his old haunts you told me he frequented, and everyone said they haven't seen him since he left for the castle."

"Someone had to have seen him leave the hospital!"

"No one saw us show up with him!"

"Both the castle and the hospital have security cameras! I don't even know anymore!" Mario throws his hands up in frustration. "He could be building a case against us right now! What if he meets up with the Chancellor in private and tells them I attacked him to keep him quiet!"

Mr. L hates how lost Mario looks, his gut telling him something about it isn't right. "And what if the Chancellor believes him? And they find camera footage of us sneaking Wario out of here?"

"We need to find him so Nastasia can hypnotize him."

"And if that's not an option anymore?"

"Then..." Mario lets his arms drop to the side. "Then we pray the real invoices came at just the right moment so it looks like he skipped town knowing he's been caught."