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

Aw That's Sweet--Wait What????

Luigi sighs, which Tony notices right away, asking "What's wrong?"

Luigi shakes his head, "I hate that this isn't affecting only me, like it was supposed to."

"Hey, no." Tony insists. "You can't blame yourself."

"Yes I can." Luigi says flatly. "If I hadn't jumped on the Chaos Heart, or gone up to Star Hill to get my memory back--"

"Shush." Mia scolds again. "You wouldn't have done those things if you didn't believe it was the right thing to do. You saved the world and remembered all of us."

"We're gonna find a way to make sure you don't lose it all again." Tony promises. "Okay?"

"All of us." Arthur adds. "Believe me, we're not done fighting to keep you and Mario together. Not yet."

"Hello, Mr. Mario." Peach greets Giovanni. "Mario walked off with Daisy not too long ago. I think I heard him calling your family back home to tell them what's going on."

Giovanni only nods in response.

"I can't imagine how it feels to see your son in that bed." Peach says sympathetically.

"I see him hooked up to those machines, and all I can see is how I let him down." Giovanni cries.

"You didn't." Peach tries to say.

"But I did." Giovanni insists.

"Mr. Mario." Peach puts a hand on his arm. "Both Mario and Luigi have said nothing but good things about their lives growing up."

"And how did I repay them? By telling them they were crazy to leave an unsafe job that cost Luigi his knees and that Mario was dragging Luigi down with him." Giovanni tries to walk away, but Peach follows.

"They never blamed you for that." She tells him. "They knew you were just scared for them because they were attempting something you couldn't even dream of doing growing up. I know, because they told me. Did it hurt? Of course. But the longer they've lived here as my kingdom's heroes helped to put things in perspective, especially for Mario. I will never say one bad thing about the man that made the Mario Brothers into who they are today."

Now Giovanni looks at her, eyes wet as he asks, "You mean it?"

"Of course I do!" Peach exclaims.

Giovanni sighs, but it's more relieved than resigned. "Thank you, your Highness. And for helping them follow their hearts when I couldn't."

"If they follow their hearts," Peach comes closer. "It's because their father raised them to."

Then she catches him by surprise by hugging him, and after a moment, Giovanni hugs back.

"I know that look." Luigi says, looking at Arthur and Tony. "What're you two up to this time?"

"We're gonna talk to the doctors." Arthur says. "See if we can't apply some pressure."

"Noonononononono, please don't." Luigi begs.

"Why not?" Tony demands. "You're one of the heroes of this kingdom, you deserve the best treatment."

"And I'm the recipient of that treatment." Luigi reminds them. "Trust me, my doctors are doing everything they can."

"Then tell us what we're supposed to do, huh?" Arthur demands angrily.

"I know, okay?" Luigi says. "I know this is hitting particularly hard because of what happened to Uncle Tony a while back. But the difference is you can't fix what's wrong with me."

"Wanna bet?" Arthur snaps. "Forget about me, I'm doing this for Mario, because you know as well as I do there's nothing any of us could do, nowhere we could move to, that won't remind him the other half of his soul is gone. How could you be so selfish to let that happen to your brother?"

"Arthur!" Tony reprimands, smacking him. "Don't say that."

"No, he's right." Luigi says quietly, pulling Arthur in for a hug.

"Mario loves you so much, kid." Arthur whispers. "He'd give anything to trade places with you."

Right then, the door opens, and Arthur turns around to greet, "Hey, Mario. You heard anything from the docs?"

Mario only shakes his head, so Arthur looks to Tony. "Okay, that's it. We're doing something right now. "

"How are my doctors supposed to save me if you two are meddling with their efforts?" Luigi says.

"We're not gonna meddle." Tony promises. "We're just gonna remind them exactly who their patient is, whatever it takes to get rid of this thing in your head."

Then they leave with Mia in tow, leaving the Mario Brothers alone.

Mario walks over to the bed, leaning down to kiss his forehead as he tells him, "Your doctors are onto something. Just keep hanging in there, and you'll be cured before you know what hit you."

Luigi nods, but Mario cups his face in his hands to make him look at him, "I'm not letting you die on me, you got that? Never have, never will."

Luigi grabs Mario's hands on his face, stroking them. "I'm...glad you're still here. I--"

Mario never gets the chance to hear whatever Luigi was about to say, as Luigi's head goes limp in his hands, and the monitors go crazy as they all show his vitals dropping rapidly.

"Lu?!?!" Mario screams, rapidly checking for a pulse. "Nononononono, please don't die, not like this."

But Luigi's eyes remain shut as Mario goes into full blown panic, lightly slapping Luigi's face, "Weegee, stop fucking around and wake up right now! "

It feels like forever as Mario's hands move all over the place, trying to do something, screaming,

"LUIGIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!"