Fireproof

Oh Luigi. If Only You Knew How Much Your Brother Loves You.

The sight that greets Mario when he wakes up is not a pleasant one.

He's in a dank cell, and when he sits up, he immediately feels the shackles around his wrists.

But miraculously, there's a window, so he goes to look, and is immediately heartbroken when he sees Peach's castle burning in the distance.

But the real disturbing thing is there's now a storm cloud hovering over it, striking lightning and setting even more of the castle on fire.

"No..." Mario gasps.

"You're awake."

The growling voice makes Mario turn around immediately, watching as the big Koopa from before approaches his cell.

"You have to be some kind of stupid thinking bringing me back here was a good idea."

"Is that any way to thank Bowser, the Koopa King, for not killing you?"

"I caused all of this."

"You did." Bowser agrees. "But you didn't do it alone, did you?"

Mario goes still at that.

"Once I have your brother right where I want him, I'll be the hero for saving Peach's castle."

"Lay one hand on him, and it will be the last thing you ever do." Mario snaps, lunging for Bowser, despite being behind bars.

"And how do you expect to do that while shackled by cold iron?"

That makes Mario look down at the shackles again, and sure enough, the Firebrand isn't coming out.

"Sit tight. I have a twin brother to catch." Bowser chuckles, then leaves.

Immediately, Mario begins to hyperventilate, at a complete loss for what he's supposed to do now, until he feels it.

He looks down, and to his amazement, the shackles have begun to glow red.

With a newfound determination, he doesn't hold back, just lets it all fuel the Firebrand as bit by bit, more of the iron melts away.

"Keep it together." Peasley instructs both Luigi and Toad as the prince directs the pillow to fly faster.

But then suddenly, he makes it almost touch the ground, and orders Toad, "Get the princess, tell her we're coming!"

"I will!" Toad nods vigorously, and makes a run straight for the Mushroom Kingdom.

And it pays off, as the moment Peasley lands in the center of Toad Town, both Princesses Peach and Daisy approach.

"Wait..." Luigi says for the first time since flying. "What about you?"

"My dear boy." Peasley flicks his hair. "You've always had the answer. I'm no longer needed."

"Luigi???" Peach exclaims, rushing over to take him from Peasley.

"Get him somewhere safe. The fate of your Kingdom depends on it!" Peasley instructs, flicking his hair one more time.

"We will." Peach promises as she and Daisy help him to lean on them as they head inside a nearby Toad house.

Peasley salutes, "Starspeed, Luigi of the Mushroom Kingdom.", and flies away.

"Luigi, what happened to you?" Peach demands once they're inside.

"You have to get me to the castle." Luigi begs. "Please."

"What. Happened?" Daisy repeats, more demanding.

"Mario burned me with his Firebrand." Luigi says as quickly as he can.

"You said he'd never do something like this!" Daisy screeches.

"I lied." Luigi says, then screams when the pain in his chest makes him double over. "He left my heart vulnerable, and now I feel everything does. And I'm the only one who can absorb his fire."

Peach's eyes go wide, "You mean..."

"Yes! You have to get me there, NOW!" Luigi yells.

"PRINCESS!"

The yell startles all of them, as it rattles the windows.

"Bring me the green brother!"

"Never!" Peach snaps, only to get a shock when she sees Luigi going towards the door.

"Stop! What're you doing???"

"I told you. I need to get to the castle. I don't care who's out there."

"Wait--"

But Luigi ignores them, limping out the front door.

After he weakly kicks  the door shut behind him, Luigi snaps,

"Okay, I'm here. Now what?"

The giant Koopa chuckles. "Do you know who I am?"

"Do you know who I am?" Luigi snaps. "I am the only thing standing in the way of Peach's Castle burning to the ground!"

"But you're not alone, are you?" The Koopa chuckles, tapping his chest, which makes Luigi stop dead in his tracks.

"How do you--"

"I know everything." Bowser growls. "I've known about you two brothers since my minion Kamek saw a prophecy predicting you'd spell trouble for me. So of course, I had to find a way to stop you."

Luigi's eyes widen in horror.

"Ideally, I would've killed you first, but then, your brother went and did all the work for us! He willingly shut himself away for 10 years just so he wouldn't hurt anyone, and you didn't even hesitate to follow him every step of the way! 10 years where I've been able to conquer, scheme, and attack with one standing in my way! But then you just had to leave your pathetic little house to watch the princess be crowned, and your brother didn't stand a chance at keeping himself in line in all that confusion!"

"Stop it." Luigi begs.

"And now all I have to do is wait for your brother to burn himself alive." Bowser laughs. "And watch the fire slowly die out."

"He can still beat you." Luigi says through gritted teeth, even as he falls to the ground.

Bowser laughs, as he stands over Luigi's prone body.

"Love to stay and chat, but I am a Koopa of my word." He growls, then stomps away.

As Luigi slowly loses consciousness, he hears too late,

"We'll see how strong Mario is when he discovers he killed his own brother!"

"LUIGI!" The screech startles him awake, as he sees Toad standing over him.

"Toad?" he says in disbelief. "Where are the princesses?"

"Forget them, what happened? Why didn't you make it to the castle?"

"Bowser stopped me." Luigi says. "He knows about us, and this." He points to his chest.

"What? But it's our only chance!"

"Toad, find the princesses and get out of here."

"I'm not going anywhere until we save the Mushroom Kingdom!" Toad sits next to him, for emphasis.

"I don't even know how to start."

"How about being willing to walk away, even if it means you never come back? Kinda like how Mario did when he ran away to the Snow Kingdom so he wouldn't hurt anyone anymore?"

Luigi nods, like he should've known all along, "Mario ran away thinking he was saving us. Saving me."

"Well of course he did!" Toad says. "He's your big brother."

Luigi thinks long and hard on that, then stands up suddenly, paying no mind to the headrush.

"Toad." He says. "Get me to the castle."

Toad nods and begins to pull Luigi towards the smoke.