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

It Was Nastasia All Along

"Okaaaaay." Nastasia walks right up to Mario and Mr. L and snatches the note out of Mr. L's hand. "Since you're clearly not as smart as you look, here's a freebie: the notes came from me, kay? I've known about what you did to Wario since the day it happened."

Mr. L's eyes go wide, making him freeze, so Mario steps in first. "Liar." he clenches a fist. "You have nothing on us, and you know it."

"So you're okay with me handing over all the evidence stacked against you to put you both away for the rest of our games?" When she sees she has their attention, she adds, "Or can we be civil for once and talk somewhere private?"

Nastasia walks away before they can answer, making it clear they have to follow, so after a shared look, the brothers do.

The back alley is slowly becoming too familiar for either of their liking, but Mario's already dead set on shutting this down. "Just because we came here, doesn't mean you have anything."

"I'd stop talking if you don't want that mouth getting you into trouble." Nastasia orders. "Wario was expecting a big payoff from all of this. So I tracked him."

"He left the kingdom?" Mario tries to lie, but Nastasia isn't going to fall for that.

"Nice attempt, but I followed him to the castle with Bowser the night he disappeared. I waited for him to exit, but all I saw was what appeared to be Bowser being thrown out of the castle, and you two wheeling a bed out the side exit. So I tailed you to the hospital you left him at, and I...compelled the Toads working on him to tell me the extent of his injuries. By all means, he should've been dead from whatever it was that slammed into him."

Mario steals a look at Mr. L, then says, "You can't say that was us."

"Oh no?" Nastasia smirks. "I'm known to be...very persuasive."

She shifts her glasses for emphasis, and Mr. L can't help it, he straight up flinches, then starts to shake uncontrollably.

"And even if I did play fair, even you can't deny the facts don't look good. That's why you're not getting away with it."

Mr. L speaks, trying to keep the shakiness out of his voice, "So according to you, you found Wario at the hospital mortally wounded. Why didn't you tell anyone what you saw? More importantly, why didn't Wario?"

"Yeah, where is he?" Mario agrees.

"I would not be approaching you if I didn't know I would win." Nastasia says coolly.

Again, Mario steals a look at Mr. L before asking, "Fine. What do you want?"

"Wario was entitled to a settlement to make the charges against you officially go away." Nastasia says. "If you're turned in now, that settlement disappears."

"Name your price." Mario says immediately.

"Your whole kingdom doesn't have that kind of money." Nastasia says.

"You wouldn't do this if you cared about my brother." Mario tries.

"Oh believe me." Nastasia's face is as stoic as ever, but her words are chilling. "I'm doing this because I care about your brother."

"You need a serious reality check, Nat." Mr. L attempts to still be friendly.

"Lu, don't--"

"No, I mean it." Mr. L cuts him off. "Bowser strangled me, and Mario stepped on his tail to make him let go, and Mario threw him out of the castle. He didn't know Wario was in the perfect spot to get body slammed."