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

Our Favorite Uncles Enter the Story, and Luigi's Not Done Surprising Us!

"Did she seriously just say our nephew has less than a week to live?" Tony asks Arthur after they finish talking to Peach. "Because there's no way in hell that's happening."

"Hey, Tony, stop." Arthur comes over, squeezing his shoulders. "I know this is the worst possible news we could've gotten over a phone call, but Mario's princess was very clear that there's nothing more they can do."

"There's always something more they can do." Tony yells. "Because for all their talk about our nephews being their heroes, they don't seem to care if one of them is gonna die! Nevermind it happened to Luigi , and if they're not gonna do everything they can to save him, I will!"

"Tony." Arthur says again. "You're not a doctor. You know it has to be dire if they're asking all of us to come down there. That's what we need to focus on, okay?"

"Then we need to find whoever did this to him and make them pay." Tony decides.

Just then, the phone rings again, so Tony snatches it up this time.

"Hello?"

" Uncle Tony? "

"Mario?" Tony reaches over to put the phone on speaker.

" H-hey. Guess Peach told you about what's going on. "

"Yeah, she did." Arthur replies.

"We're gonna help you find whoever did it, and they're gonna save him, alright?" Tony promises.

" No they're not. " Mario sounds hopeless. " Any chance of that happening is officially gone. I chased down who I thought did it, didn't let her defend herself, even resorted to bribery and outright begging, but she made a pretty convincing vow that she didn't do it. "

"That can't be it." Tony shakes his head. "I know you're not about to let your brother die like this."

" Yes he is. " They hear Luigi say weakly. " Because I am. "

" Luigi, don't say that." Luigi hears Tony say.

"I know you don't wanna hear this, but it's true." Luigi says. "Believe me, I'm fighting tooth and nail, but it's looking like I can't hold out much longer."

" Talk to us ." Arthur says. "How bad does it hurt?"

"It's not that bad at the moment." Luigi says honestly, looking at Mario. "But there's been moments where I black out, and I don't know if I'm gonna wake up. I'm on borrowed time, and all of you need to brace yourselves, cause it's not gonna be pretty."

" Name it, kid. " Tony promises. " Your princess called us. "

"I needed to be sure this wasn't going away." Luigi explains apologetically. "Now that I know it's not, I asked Peach to call you. Can you tell Ma and Dad?"

" Done. " Arthur says. " But me and Tony aren't about to give up on you yet, and I know Mario isn't either. "

"That I do." Luigi smiles weakly at Mario.

" Hey. " Tony says. " You know we love you, right? "

"Of course." Luigi nods, not that they can see it. "That was one thing I never doubted growing up."

"You keep fighting, got it?" Arthur orders. "We'll be out there first chance we get."

"Thank you." Mario says, then hangs up.

The two uncles stare at each other for a long time before Arthur asks, "You wanna tell them, or should I?"

"Mario said he couldn't get the woman to admit she could do something." Tony says thoughtfully. "Maybe she'll be more sympathetic if she sees his family."

"Tony, come on." Arthur says. "Is that really how you want to spend what could be our last moments with our nephew? Fighting a woman capable of doing who-knows-what to you."

"I can take her." Tony waves off.

"No you can't. Neither of us can." Arthur says. "Mario had the best chance out of all of us, and even he couldn't do anything. And Luigi asked us to brace ourselves and be there for him."

"You mean be there for him while he dies?" Tony exclaims, streaming down his face. "I don't think I can."

"I don't either, but we're gonna anyway, because he asked us to." Arthur tells him. "And we're gonna be there for each other , and somehow, in some way I can't even imagine, we'll come out of this still intact."

"Not Mario." Tony reminds him. "We all know it. You think we're taking it hard? The second Luigi's gone, we gotta treat Mario like he's dying too, because he is."

Arthur looks at him for a long moment, then pulls Tony into a hug, before he finally says, "I know."

Mario turns around to cover his face with his hands.

"Mario." Luigi calls out to him. "What's wrong?"

Mario turns to him, tears in his eyes, as he says brokenly, "I lied to you."

Luigi says nothing as Mario comes to sit next to him on the hospital bed. "I threatened Nastasia, begging her to save you, even bribed her with all of the coins I have, and she swore on the Purity Heart she didn't do this."

"Don't worry about it." Luigi shakes his head with a smile. "I should've known you weren't gonna take this lying down. Sorry it turned out to be a bust."

"Not good enough." Mario says adamantly. "I promised you weren't gonna die, and now I can't even do--"

"Mario, Mario ." Luigi cuts him off. "Enough, alright?. I am the one that chose to risk Star Hill twice to get my memory back. And I'm not sorry. So Dimentio had a backup plan. So what?"

Luigi grabs his hand, squeezing it as hard as he can, "I got my brother back, and so did you."

"I don't regret it." Mario promises. "I regret so many things, but getting you back, however brief, will never be one of them."

Then he laughs, "Is it so wrong for me to want everyone to stay away so it's only us?"

Luigi chuckles, "Not at all. Except you and I both know they're not gonna care who tells our family to stay away. The second Arthur and Tony tell them, they're gonna dash right over to the pipe and drag everyone's asses down here."

"I know." Mario says. "And they're not gonna leave until..."

"Don't say it." Luigi says. "I don't want them here just for that."

Mario looks confused as Luigi explains, "I want them here for a celebration."