Guilt And Fame... (A DEAD SMG4 AU)

...Missing...

Mario, Meggy, Tari, Bob, boopkins, Luigi, and Saiko were heading to the castle to hang out with SMG4. They were stopped in their tracks when SMG3 walked right in front of them. "Sup, losers." 3 says, keeping his cool act on. Mario smiled and waved hello. Everyone else just waved hello as well. "What brings you to the castle, 3?" Meggy asked. 3 crossed his arms in a defensive way. "what? I can't be here or something?" Meggy shook her head in slight annoyance. "No! I was just curious is all." Meggy says in a blunt tone. The crew walked around 3 and started to continue walking toward the castle doors. 3's eyes widened as the real reason he went to the castle was to clean the blood off the floor and window in the kitchen in which he forgot to clean. 3 ran in front of the crew and stopped them from going any further to the castle.

"W-WAIT!" 3 shouted. "I'll go get him. you guys stay here." 3 quickly ran to the castle doors and went inside the castle. Everyone looked at eachother in confusion. "Should we listen to him?" Saiko asked. "I guess we can wait for a teeny tiny bit." Meggy responded.

3 pulled out some cleaner and a mop from his iventory and started spraying the kitchen floor. He  pushed the mop against the floor, cleaning the blood. 3 walked over to the window and sprayed it down. He pushed the mop against the window, cleaning the blood up. As he was cleaning he got a little nervous. He didn't want the others to find out what he did. He had to keep it a secret somehow. 3 finished cleaning the blood up and hid the mop and rag behind the fridge. 3 sighed and started walking out of the kitchen, seeing the crew in the living room. 3 jumped in surprise. Tari noticed 3 and pointed at him. "Guys! There he is! Wheres SMG4?" Tari spoke in cheerful manner. 3 didn't know what to say. He had to come up with a good excuse and fast. 

"W-well... you see... he left awhile ago. He had to get some ingredients for some meme he was creating." 3 shakily spoke. meggy raised an eyebrow. "Then why'd you say you'd go get him?" 3 froze. He hadn't expected this question. 3 tried to play it cool. "Yeah? So? I just forgot we went away for a bit. Jeez... I can't forget things now?" Boopkins smiled warmly. "Aww... it's ok SMG3. We all forget things sometimes. We just need to accept each others flaws and be friends!" Boopkins said, keeping his smile on. Bob smacked Boopkins to the ground.. "Shut the hell up Boopkins." Bob says in his classic robotic like voice. "Aww, man..." Boopkins pouts. Luigi just stayed quiet the whole time.

3 rubbed the back of his neck, clearly hoping the others would believe his stupid excuse. Meggy was very skeptical, but reluctantly agreed to 3's reasoning. "Alright...any idea when he'll be back?" 3 had to make it seem it would be a long time before 4 supposedly "returns." 3 thought for a moment before finally speaking. "Yeah, yeah. He said he'd be back in a couple of days." Saiko stood up and walked over to 3. She looked him dead in the eyes. "Now, why would 4 have to leave for a couple of days, just for ingredients?" 3 shook violently.  He looked straight into Saiko's eyes and spoke. "Look. That's just what he told me. If you don't believe it then fine. I don't know why I bother with you people." 3 scoffed. Saiko's eye twitched as she backed away from 3. "Alright. Fine." Saiko says.

After a good while, the crew got up annd began to leave. 3 sighed in relief as the crew started heading out of the castle. Meggy stayed behind and stood in front of 3. She waited till the others left before she spoke. "Hey... 3. Are you okay? You seemed on edge the entire time we were here? Is there something you're not telling us?" meggy says with concern in her voice. "Tch. I hide lots of things from you losers. And I'm not on edge. I'm just... thinking." 3 bluntly says. Meggy crosses her arms. "Are you sure? If there's anything you wanna talk about, we are all here for you, 3." 3's expression softened for a moment. He quickly regained his composure and put his hands on his hips. "Yeah! I'm sure all I need to do is talk about my feelings." 3 scoffed.

Meggy rolled her eyes and began walking out the castle. 3 wanted to stop her but knew in the end that it was pointless. After a good and long fifteen minutes of standing in the living room of the castle, 3 decided it was finally time to head back to his lair. As he walked toward the castle doors, 3 took a small glance at the kitchen where it all went down. Guilt formed on 3's face. It was clear that he had instant regret. The memory of 4's lifeless body was roaming around in 3's head. He didn't want to feel this way, but he couldn't stop it. He heavily sighed and walked out of the castle.

After 3 made it to his lair, he sat on floor, greeting EggDog. EggDog happily barked at 3 and 3 smiled. "You're a good boy, EggDog." 3 said as he pat EggDog's head. 3's smile quickly faded as the memory of 4's lifeless body returned to him. "UGH!!! JUST GO AWAY!!!" 3 yelled. EggDog got scared and ran off. "No! Not you, buddy!" 3 exclaims. 3 groans in slight annoyance as he gets off the floor. He goes to check on the possibly scared little egg. "EggDog?" 3 called out. Tiny whimpers are heard from under a desk. 3 walks up to the desk and checks underneath it. 3 sees EggDog all shaky and scared. "Hey... I'm sorry EggDog... I was just- just thinkng about something. That's all." 3 says with a warm smile. EggDog walks out from underneath the desk and stands in front of 3. 3 picks up EggDog and hugs him. EggDog barks happily. "Maybe we should do something productive, yeah?" EggDog barks in response.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mario was at his house with Luigi. Mario was eating spaghetti and Luigi was looking at magazines full of men. "Hey, Mario?" Luigi called out. Mario stopped eating his spaghetti and turned his attention to Luigi. "Yes, bro?" Luigi closed his magazine and looked at Mario. He looked a little worried. "Hey... do you think something was off about SMG3 today?" Luigi asked. Mario went blank as hee used his last remaining brain cell. He then perked up and looked at Luigi. "Nope!" Mario said as he turned his attention back to his spaghetti.

A knock was heard from the front door. It caaught both of the Italians attention. Mario quickly zoomed to the front door. He flung the door open and it revealed to be Meggy. "Hey, Mario." Meggy says, greeting Mario. "What brings you-a here Meggy?" Mario asks. Meggy looked slightly concerned. Mario noticed the look on Meggy's face. "And what's-a wrong?" Meggy took a deep breath and spoke. "Listen. I think something is going on with 3. He was acting more... defensive than usual." Meggy says with concern still evident on her face. Mario had some stupid look on his face. he scratches his chin, thinking for a moment. "I don't know... he seemed fine to Mario!" Mario stated. Luigi walked over to the two. "He has been acting weird, hasn't he?" Luigi pointed out. Meggy nodded in response. Luigi motioned to follow him to the living room. Meggy and Mario followed behind Luigi.

The three sat down on the sofa and got comfortable. "So..." Meggy was trying to start a conversation. "About 3..." Meggy says. Mario thought for a moment. "Maybe he just misses es em gee 4?" Mario says while shrugging. Meggy stared at Mario for a moment. "Really? That's the most dumbest- actually that's not a bad idea." Meggy says, agreeing with Mario. Luigi looks at Meggy and speaks. "So you guys think 3 just misses 4?" Meggy and Mario both nodded. Meggy then got up and started pacing back and forth. "But... I don't think 3 just misses 4. I think he's hiding something." Meggy stated. Mario perked up. It was obvious that he had an idea. "What if Mario talks to him? Mario can be a spy!" Mario shouts cheerfully. Meggy quickly shot the idea down, not wanting to draw 3 to suspicion. "No... he might think we're trying to figure out what's going on." Meggy says, crossing her arms. "He'll just get all defensive again." Mario nodded in agreement and so did Luigi.

There was silence for about two minutes. The three all looked at eachother with determination. They knew something was wrong, especially Meggy. Meggy pinched the bridge of her nose in slight annoyance. She looked at Mario for a moment before looking at the ceiling. She perked up as soon as she thought of an idea. "What if we just confront him instead of trying to figure out whats wrong." Meggy says. Mario smiles, liking the idea. "Hmmm... but don't we need to know what he's hiding to confront him?" Mario says. "That's the thing. We'll act like we know whats wrong. And hopefully, he'll crack and admit whatever is bothering him." Meggy says with a proud smile. Luigi and Mario looked aat eachother for a moment before looking back at Meggy. "I actually like this idea." Luigi says. Mario nodded in agreement.

"So its settled! We confront him." Meggy happily says. She gets up off the sofa and walks to the front door. "We'll all try to confront him. But for now. we wait for the perfect time. And Mario? Try to see if you can find any information about three before the plan. Ok?" Meggy says, looking at Mario. "You got it! Mario will be a spy!"Mario shouts cheerfully.

Meggy opens the front door and leaves the house, closing the door behind her. Mario went back to eating his spaghetti and Luigi went back to his magazine. For the rest of the day everything was normal and everyone was enjoying their lives. All but one...