At Least Your Brother's Not Gonna Die Because of You!

This Story Appears to Be Approaching the End Faster Than I Thought

"There has to be something here." Luigi's doctor says.

"Honestly, I'm more scared of if we do find something." The other doctor admits. "Old dark magic like this always comes with a price. Turning loved ones against each other. No one should have that ability."

"Apparently Luigi had another memory loss episode." Mimi tells Nastasia. "He forgot his Thunderhand ability. This is getting bad, Nat."

"I spoke to Peach." Nastasia confesses.

"What did you tell her?" Mimi demands.

"I didn't get the chance to say anything, unfortunately." Nastasia replies. "Apparently Luigi thinks I planted the Floro Sprout in his brain and yelled at me for it."

"Dimentio was insane." Mimi says. "But even he couldn't have predicted that your brainwashing was so effective, he didn't need it to get L to fuse with him and become Super Dimentio."

"And now he's dead." Nastasia recalls. "Before we ever knew he'd done it."

"There you are!" Mario says once he sees Luigi come into the room.

"Here I am." Luigi repeats, looking confused. "What's wrong?"

"You disappeared and I didn't know where you went." Mario says worriedly.

"I was just in our room." Luigi says.

"Oh." Mario relaxes. "Sorry, with you getting lost more often, and when I didn't see where you went, I was worried you left."

"No, but I think I sat on my bed longer than I planned." Luigi says. "Just staring at our room, looking at everything in it. All our little souvenirs from our adventures, solo and co-op."

"Yeah, we got quite a collection, don't we?" Mario agrees.

"How could we have known our lives would end up like this?" Luigi asks with a smile.

"Well that's easy. I always knew." Mario replies.

"And I knew you knew." Luigi chuckles, then sighs. "But I also know it wasn't even close to anything you wanted."

Now Mario's back to worried, "Huh?"

"We quit the Wrecking Crew because of me." Luigi reminds him, then keeps going before Mario can protest. "We had no business leaving to start our own company, not with my medical bills piling up from my accident. And next thing I knew, we'd dumped everything into getting our business license and making our commercial."

"Weeg, what are you saying?" Mario asks, the worry never leaving his eyes.

"I'm saying I think this is all my fault after all." Luigi says, crying.

"What? No!" Mario can't let him believe that. "How can you think that any of this is your fault?"

"Oh I dunno, getting into that accident that shattered my kneecaps in the first place, getting sucked into that pipe, nearly getting you killed trying to save me, more than once , I might add! Take your pick!"

"Weegee, stop it." Mario grabs him. "I was never gonna let you work somewhere that wasn't going to prioritize safety first. Nor was I ever going to let you fend for yourself in a world neither of us knew existed until that point."

He squeezes the back of Luigi's neck, "How could you blame yourself for what led us to achieving our dreams in ways we never even imagined was possible?"

Luigi sighs in frustration. "Because I...", then stops, shaking his head. "I can't find the words. Look at the lengths we're going to keep this quiet from everyone. Our family from Brooklyn doesn't even know anything is wrong, and we don't update them as often as we should, even when there's not something big going on."

"Our family knows how important our work is." Mario assures him. "We're not just competent plumbers anymore, Weegee, we're heroes in both worlds. And everyone knows that. They trust us to keep them safe when something happens, be it a leaky faucet or Bowser kidnapping Peach. Together. And we're not gonna stop until we're good and ready, got it?"

But when he sees Luigi still doesn't fully buy it, Mario grips him tighter. "You promised me over and over you never resented me being in the spotlight. You said you were happy to be left alone, so long as you got credit when it was due, and I see to it that you do, every damn time you come with me."

His grip loosens some, "You have any idea how happy I am that you still want to fight by my side, no matter how terrifying the adventure gets?"

Luigi nods slowly, prompting Mario to rub his shoulders and ask, "What's going on up here?", knocking his forehead lightly.

"I just hope our last adventure together isn't this plant in my brain." Luigi says simply, wincing as he sees Mario's face fall.

"It's not." Mario says firmly, grip tightening. "This is not the final boss. You're right here, in our home, with me. You're a genius, you're resilient, and this little fucker in your brain won't ever know what hit it, because we're fighting it together. We're going to save you, because there's so many adventures we haven't gone on yet, and I am not about to give those up for anything."

Luigi looks at him fondly as Mario cups his face. "I'm begging you to believe me when I say that. Please. Don't ever talk about my little brother like that again.

Mario releases Luigi's face to bury his own in Luigi's chest. "Promise me you'll keep fighting for the both of us, Weegee. I will not do this without you. You understand me?"

Mario feels him nod against the top of his head, so Mario just holds him like that, in the middle of their living room, not saying a word.

Until he feels Luigi move, and Mario barely has a moment to react as Luigi tries to hold himself up before collapsing on the floor.

"Lu???" Mario yelps, trying to shake him awake, but when he doesn't wake up, Mario pulls out his phone.

"I need an ambulance at the Mario residence. My brother has a Floro Sprout in his brain and he just collapsed."

Then he hangs up, pulling Luigi into his arms, crying, "You're gonna be okay. I called for help. Stay with me, Weegee."