A King's Despair

Chapter 2 - Oh No! King Boo!

"AAAAAH!" Came a shriek from down the hall. Luigi shot up out of his sleeping position, immediately drenched in a cold sweat. Was that a scream? Obviously. Scratch that. Was he even actually awake, or was this a dream? "H-hello?" He whimpered to no-one in particular, frantically scanning the room. Everything was dark, he could barely see, so Luigi grabbed his flashlight and flicked it on with his shaking hand. While doing so, he tried to calm himself with slow, deep breaths.

His breathing exercises didn't seem to work, however, because he quickly discovered the warm, inviting room from before had changed. Drastically. Instead of the colorful balloons and wrapped presents scattered across the area, Luigi found that they had more likeness to monsters he had seen in childhood nightmares now. The plumber gulped. He suddenly had a VERY bad feeling about this.

He didn't even check his bathroom– Luigi knew for a fact that there would be something in there that he didn't want to see. He just left the room and knocked on Duchess Despairia's door. "D-Despairia?" He stammered, waiting for a reply like he had ants in his pants. "C-can I come in? A-are you there?" No answer. He took a deep shaky breath to prepare himself for what he was about to do. He prayed that they weren't sleeping or getting changed.

"Despairia?" He called one more time as he swung the door open, the lamp beside him illuminating his face in golden light– if anyone was there to see it. The Duchess was nowhere to be found in their room. The space looked almost identical to Luigi's own room– dark, gloomy... TERRIFYING– but with some subtle differences like clothes on the floor (almost as if they had been scattered like Despairia was trying to distract an enemy) and a faint black smudge, smack in the middle of the room.

The green man gulped and closed the door slowly. Something was very wrong.

The sound of magic behind him caused Luigi to jump and turn around, only to gasp in horror. The golden interior was melting away to show– what he presumed to be– the hotel's true colors. He gulped, instantly feeling dread deep in his soul.

Room by room he walked, checking to see if Mario and Peach were still in, to which he quickly discovered they weren't. Once exiting Princess Peach's room, the elevator just a few feet away from him let out a loud, startling DING! and an ominous purple light began reflecting off of the interior.

"O-oh," The man whimpered, not at all prepared for what he might see when he turned the corner. Regardless of his fears, he went to investigate, and was quickly proven correct; he indeed was not prepared for what he would see.

The hotel owner, now glowing vibrant blue and purple, her sunglasses off, was standing in a thick purple mist within the elevator. Upon seeing the green clad man, Hellen moved forward, her ghostly empty eyes scanning his face. "Oh, Luigi!" She cooed. "I was just looking for you!" Quick as a flash, the newly revealed ghost rushed closer to his face, causing him to jump and yell in fear. "How is my most ESTEEMED VIP doing tonight? Are you enjoying your room? Isn't it exquisite? Doesn't it SCREAM good taste?" The bombardment of meaningless questions caused Luigi to give a visible shudder, which made Hellen delighted.

"Oh, I can barely contain myself! You have no idea how much I wanted you to accept my invitation!" The woman made a grand gesture with her hands.

"Do you want to know why I invited you here?" She asked, placing a hand on her ghostly hip. She didn't even wait for Luigi to respond to her. "There is someone I truly adore. Someone responsible for the inspiration of my greatest ideas! Like inviting you and your friends here!" Luigi didn't like where this was going, but he couldn't bring himself to run away in the presence of such a terrible woman.

"And he's inspired by you, Luigi! That's right!" She threw her head back and cackled wickedly. Luigi winced. "In fact, I'd like to introduce him to you, so you can witness firsthand his creativity!" Hellen then lifted her cape up high above her head and bowed down, revealing–

"Mwah ha ha ha!" King Boo laughed, his long blue tongue lolling out of his mouth as he did so. The green Mario brother screamed. "Surprised to see me, Luigi?" The ghost smiled at the man's reaction. "It's-a-me! King Boo! That old coot had me locked up tight in his lab..." The boo growled, remembering the hours he had spent trapped inside his portrait, listening to the crazed man mumble nonsense to himself. However, the smile was quickly on his face again. "But I got out! With the help of the hotel owner here.." He briefly gestured to Hellen, who held her hands to her face with pure adoration in her eyes.

"Anyway," The large ghost cleared his throat. Did he even have a throat? Luigi couldn't care less at that moment. "For a while there, I didn't think you were actually going to show up! But I came prepared nonetheless. And look where that has gotten me!" The King of Boos gestured over to where 5 paintings now floated. To Luigi's horror, they contained his friends!" They all stared back at him, frozen (literally) in fear, terrified expressions on their faces. If he had looked closely, he would've seen that Duchess Despairia wasn't among them. But he didn't look close enough. 

"N-n-no!" He cried, reaching out for the portraits, but they disappeared before he could even dream of getting close to them. King Boo let out a laugh not unlike a dying cat screeching. His crystallized pink eyes glimmered with ambition, and his crown began to glow as he summoned another picture frame. "Aw, there, there, Luigi!" The boo cooed to the best of his ability, his voice lined with mock sympathy. "No need to cry! Soon, you'll be joining them! Consider it a family reunion! BOO-YA!" With his crown, he brandished the empty frame at Luigi. "Now stand still and put on your most terrified face. I want to get the WORST side of you!"

The green man began hyperventilating as the picture frame rose above his head. Doing the only thing he could think of, he ran back the way he came from, hoping foolishly to find an escape there. King Boo paused for a moment, before his face twisted into a scowl and he chased after Luigi, using his tongue to try and knock obstacles into his way and turning doors invisible. Quickly Luigi came to a dead end and turned around to see the horrific sight in front of him; a once again smirking King Boo, preparing to slam the frame down on his face. He tried desperately to squeeze by the large ghost, but his spherical figure prevented him from doing so.

"Any last words, Luigi?" He asked the cowardly man. When nothing was said, a sinister smirk crossed the ethereal monarch's face. "No? Oh well, what a shame. Good night, you pesky plumber!" Luigi closed his eyes as to not look at the horror that was about to become of him.

"Luigi! Go down the laundry chute!" Came a familiar voice as a blur of purple pushed him out of the way of the frame being slammed down. Once lifted, the picture within the canvas displayed that of Despairia, their hand reaching out in a futile attempt to either grab or push something away. Luigi presumed it was the latter. Once King Boo noticed the person in the frame wasn't Luigi, he growled furiously, glaring down at the man with so much hatred it was a wonder the whole hallway didn't catch on fire.

Gulping, Luigi decided it was a good idea to take the Duchess' advice. And fast. With little time for King Boo to react, The green Mario brother took a deep, reassuring breath, opened the laundry chute and hopped inside, screaming all the way down the metal tunnel. If this were a football game, Luigi would be safe.

For a brief moment as he was falling, Luigi heard the outraged cries of the Boo King. "How could you just stand there and let him get away?!" He shrieked, presumably at Hellen. "You should have looked for EVERYONE and made sure this prissy broad didn't get in my way!"

And then he hit a pile of dirty towels like a cannonball hits a brick wall and passed out, slipping into a stressful slumber.