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

Luigi's Finally Whole Again! Yay!

His eyelids feel heavy as they slowly flutter open, and the hospital room slowly begins to take shape, along with the faces of everyone in the room.

Naturally, the one he notices first is Mario's exhausted one right next to him, prompting Luigi to stutter, "Y-you okay?"

This seems to prompt a laugh from the others in the room, but Luigi's gaze is still on Mario, who's nodding slowly, eyes red from crying, "Yeah, I-I'm great."

And that's all he says before he collapses, legs finally giving out on him.

Luigi cries out in alarm, "Mario?!" right as their dad and uncles grab Mario.

"Easy, tiger." Arthur assures him as they get him into a chair next to the bed. "We already got one Mario Brother in the hospital. Let's not make it two."

Then to Luigi, "You really put your brother through the ringer, you know that?"

"I did?" Luigi asks.

"You were legally dead." Mario says softly. "It's only because we all did compressions that you're still with us."

All at once, Luigi's dream is suddenly making much more sense, "Holy shit."

"What, what is it?" Mario tries to stand up, but the three men hold him down, not willing to risk him collapsing again.

"I saw my vision go black." Luigi explains. "I was sure I was headed back to the Underwhere, or worse, about to be possessed by the Floro Sprout. But neither of those things happened."

"No." Nastasia says with a smile. "Mario had me use my hypnotism to freeze your brain activity, so it couldn't keep growing."

"Dr. Mario, at it again." Luigi jokes. "It worked. I was at our storefront, only it wasn't, not really. I went over to where the register was supposed to be, and I saw a framed screengrab from our commercial. But the glass was shattered."

Mario's mouth drops open, "It was mine."

"Does that mean something?" Mia asks gently.

"I told Daisy about how I broke it because I thought Luigi was gone for good." Mario explains to the room.

"Maybe Luigi heard you?" Tony suggests.

"No." Mario shakes his head. "He couldn't have. I was over by the nurse's station, and Luigi was here."

No one says the implication out loud, but Mario breaks the silence by grabbing Luigi's hand, "Oh stars, Weegee, I'm sorry. I never wanted you to see that."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Luigi assures him. "Cause when I looked at it a second time, it was fixed. Crazy I know, but I knew what it meant. I'm right where I'm supposed to be. Here, in our home, with you."

But then, Luigi's face changes, "I met Mr. L too."

Mario looks horrified as he looks at the rest of their family, seeking understanding, but Luigi doesn't notice.

"After the picture fixed itself, he was standing right behind me. He told me he didn't like being pushed away, and that he was gonna take control again. We fought, he tried to remind me how good I had it when I didn't remember anything. I told him how wrong he was, but then he stunned me by asking why he was still there if I was so sure."

Mario says worriedly, "If you've changed your mind--"

"No." Luigi won't let him think that. "Never. Because as Mr. L said that, I saw his weakness." He squeezes Mario's hand, "He didn't have you. So I gave you back to him. And he tried to fight me, but I knew I wasn't wrong. He begged me to stop, but then he admitted he was scared. He said I knew why, and he was right. I told him we'd get through it together, because we have you." He pulls Mario's hand to rest over his heart. "Here. And then he said I was going home, and he held me as I slipped away again, and came back to you, to all of you."

"Lu, come on." Mario says, already trying to rationalize it. "It's not like he was actually there. That was the Floro Sprout, trying to take over your mind."

Suddenly, Luigi starts coughing violently, making Mario shout, "Get the doctor!"

In a flurry, everyone scrambles to go find someone, and after a moment or two, one comes through the door.

"Luigi?" The doctors ask. "Are you alright?"

Luigi shakes his head, unable to speak as he keeps coughing, grabbing his throat.

"I think he's choking." The doctor says, then leans Luigi forward to smack him between the shoulder blades.

It works, as Luigi coughs into his hands, then upon seeing what he coughed up, smirks, "Believe me now, bro?"

He holds up the dried up and dead Floro Sprout.

Mario looks at it, eyes wide. "You're not messing with me, are you? You really saw Mr. L and convinced him to let you come back?"

"It was the last loose end I needed to tie up, to end this whole nightmare for good." Luigi says.

"Now you have the perfect ending to your official statement." Mario reminds him.

Luigi lights up, "Gimme a pen and paper."

"You're gonna do it now?" Giovanni exclaims.

"I just told it to all of you." Luigi says simply as Mario hands him the pad of paper and a pen, to which Luigi promptly starts scribbling away. "Luigi: The Man Behind the Chaos Heart."