Flipped (Super Paper Mario SWAP AU)

Croissants (18)

Luigi and Pierre waited patiently for the others to get back. Despite being in such a strange place, Prince Luigi didn't feel all that afraid anymore. He had never been in a house as small as Pierre's before, but it didn't feel cramped. Just a little cluttered with all the items scattered throughout. Pierre spent some time explaining his favorite books to Luigi, as well as what some of the items on the walls meant to him. There was a vase of fake flowers. Currently, the flowers were all deep blue, though Pierre claimed to change them out and replace them with purple ones every so often. When Luigi gently traced his fingers over the petals, he could tell that they were plastic and not genuine. He didn't ask about this out loud, but he could assume that Pierre was the kind of guy who would get upset over flowers dying.

"In your world, can you see the moon?" Pierre asked.

"Hmm?" Luigi hummed, setting down a random hat he had picked up from the shelf. He was just about to ask about it before his thoughts were interrupted.

"You're the Prince of Sarasaland. In your world, can you see the moon, or the stars?"

"The stars," Luigi answered. "And... sometimes the moon. It depends on the time of month. It's not always full, though. Sometimes, it looks like a small smile in the sky."

Pierre nodded, his blue eyes wide with fascination.

"I remember the moon," he trailed off. "We can't see it in Flopside. Or Flipside, for that matter. No stars, too. But I remember it."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Pierre smiled. He stood up, gesturing to the moon and stars that had been painted on his ceiling and blue and white paint. "These aren't nearly as beautiful, but the artwork helps me to remember. I loved the moon so much when I was little. At first, I thought it was a hole in the dark sky, something that someone was shining a big flashlight through so they could share the light with people like me. I thought that someday, I could reach up and grab it once I was tall enough. I used to think that one day, I'd be able to stand on top of the world."

Luigi couldn't help but quietly laugh.

There was a time he too thought silly things about the sky. He used to think the stars were fireflies that flew too high and got stuck.

"There was always this faint blue glow that surrounded the moon," Pierre continued. "To my village, it was always full, so the glow around it looked like a halo. Most of the other ancients didn't notice it so much, but I did. I've always believed that there must be no fighting on the moon because there are no people there."

"Sounds beautiful... and a little lonely," Luigi admitted.

"Oh, it is. But... I think that's the price that needs to be paid for peace," Pierre trailed off. "You know, sometimes the moon would glow other colors, too. Sometimes, it would be more of a golden color. I could never tell if the golden glow was more comforting or haunting, because it almost felt like the sun in those moments, but it wasn't the sun. Oh, there are marks on the moon, too. So, it's not unscathed. It's got scars, like us!"

He let out a breath, then lowered his gaze from the painted night sky on his ceiling.

"If... if the countess wins, if the world is too bright, no one will ever see the moon and the stars again. You can never tell what's hiding up there until it's dark enough for us to see their light."

Luigi nodded, then sat down across from Pierre, folding his hands in his lap.

"I can tell how important this is. Peach is the best of the best," the prince stated. "If anyone can stop this countess, it's her."

Pierre nodded, then shook his head, as if he was shaking away the brief wave of sorrow and fear that washed over him.

"You're right! Now are you hungry, Your Highness? I didn't even offer you anything, how silly of me! There's a bakery just down the street, why don't we go there? They serve the finest croissants you'll ever taste. Your name is Luigi, so you're French, right?"