Past Lives Could Never Come Between Us

66

9:15 am

The phone rings in Luigi's ear before he hears,

" Hello? "

"Marilyn?" Luigi asks.

" If this is a scam, take me off the list. "

"No no no!" Luigi says quickly. "I'm not a telemarketer. I...my name is Luigi Turner. I'm your cousin. My dad is your dad's brother, Giovanni."

When there's nothing, Luigi asks desperately, "Marilyn?"

" I know why you're calling. I'm hanging up right now. "

"No, wait!" Luigi exclaims. "Please, if you know where your dad is, I need you to tell me."

" If you call me again, I'm calling the cops. " Marilyn says before the line goes dead.

Luigi redials, but when he just gets her voicemail, he just says at the beep, "Marilyn, it's me. Please just call me. Whether you believe me or not, we are family.", then hangs up.

10:02 am

Mario and Peach are kissing in bed together under Mario's covers.

Mario pulls back, "Okay, I really need to go.", but when Peach just kisses him again, Mario pulls back more firmly. "No, I really do. I'm gonna be late.", then gets up to get dressed.

"You're working so hard for them." Peach notes. "You deserve some vacation time."

"Virtual reality is a cruel mistress." Mario says absently.

"So am I." Peach replies, making Mario laugh.

"So Princess Peach isn't above talking dirty." He says. "Good to know."

Mario's phone goes off again, so Peach says, "Blow off work, and I'll show you just how dirty I can make this for both of us."

"I want to, believe me." Mario says as he checks his phone. "But I can't."

"You act as if someone's life is on the line." Peach accuses. "I'm willing to stay and be late for my duties. Why can't you?"

"My ass is on the line if my boss doesn't see me at 11 on the dot." Mario finishes getting dressed.

"You get pulled away at a moment's notice." Peach says. "And I understand that. But...can you blame me for missing you?"

Mario freezes at that, so Peach backpedals, "Do you not miss me?"

"Of course I do!" Mario protests. "I miss you so much."

"Then take the day off." Peach pushes again.

"Peach, I can't." Mario sits on the edge of the bed. "I know it doesn't make sense, but this is my job, one I happen to really enjoy.", at Peach's hurt look, Mario adds, "And you too!"

"Are you sure you even want to be with me?" Peach asks softly.

"Hey, don't do that." Mario shakes his head. "W-we'll have dinner tonight, okay? We'll talk about everything."

"Promise?" Peach asks.

"Absolutely." Mario nods.

They kiss one more time, before Mario leaves.

"The Cheep Blimp from Rogueport to Glitzville landed just today with 14 passengers petrified." Snoozemore tells the team.

"On the same Blimp?" Mario asks, incredulous.

"Glitzville press is eating it up." Clark adds. "All the big boys are going crazy. They went over every inch of the blimp, there was nowhere to hide nightmare chunks. And none of them had any on their persons."

"The Zeekeeper thinks we can give a unique insight to this case." Snoozemore explains. "So we've been given permission to do what we can to minimize the damage."

"Before this spirals out of control, we need to find out how they all got petrified." Clark says.

"Or attacked." Pauline adds. "It's possible this was premeditated."

"Is there any connection between the victims?" Luigi asks.

"Mm, no." Snoozemore denies. "Everyone was on different parts of the blimp."

"Creepy." Pauline says. "What about the survivors?"

"Being detained." Snoozemore replies.

"Which means we have 24 hours before we press charges or let them walk." Clark tells them. "Meaning tomorrow at 9 on the dot."

"Or we lose our perp." Mario concludes.

"Okay, excuse me for stating the obvious here," Spike pipes up. "Last I checked, we can't dreamwalk through 14 victims in just 24 hours, can we?"

"Then we make do with the maximum limit." Snoozemore compromises.

"Without stopping? 7." Pauline replies.

"How do we pick?" Luigi asks. "We can't look into their background and dreamwalk fast enough to beat the clock."

"So we randomize." Spike says logically.

"Okay, time out." Mario says. "I get we're on a time crunch here, but just because there's a chance we can dreamwalk through 7 victims in a whole day, doesn't mean Luigi's in any condition to try it now without a test run."

"I resent that!" Luigi protests.

"You can't lie to me and say you're in fighting shape right now." Mario looks at him, mouth in a thin line.

"Mm, yes. Mario has a point." Snoozemore admits.

"13 people don't just get attacked all at once like this." Luigi reminds him. "If there's someone weaponizing nightmare chunks like this, we need to take that risk so we know who. I'll do it."

"Very well." Snoozemore sighs. "But if you show any symptoms of overload, we're stopping."

"Done." Luigi agrees.

"And on that note, what're we waiting for?" Spike asks.

"Let's get working on our first all-nighter." Pauline jokes as they leave the room.

"When can you send Destiny my way?" Luigi asks Spike once he's dressed in his dreamwalking pajamas.

"Are you insane?" Spike exclaims. "You're dreamwalking through 7 victims. Why don't we put a pin in Destiny and focus on the case?"

"Or you can stop hovering and just do it." Luigi snaps as he gets onto the Ultibed.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Spike asks. "You and Destiny go way back. What if you catch feelings for her again?"

"I was with her when I had onieric disorientasia." Luigi reminds him. "No feelings to be caught. Not after knowing how they're supposed to feel."

"Luigi, I never said anything about love." Spike says. "I'm talking about her connection to your uncle and playing you for a dumbass. You sure you can keep the 'die bitch' thoughts to yourself?"

"Yes I can." Luigi replies without looking at him, laying down on the bed.