Luigi's Beta Mansion

Ending 2 - In Work and in Play

   Why... why...

   Luigi sniffed and lifted his head. How could such a terrible thing have happened? How had it happened?

   Gazing again up and down at the grim substance that painted and splattered the wall before him, Luigi felt something inside him move. He wasn't sure what it was, exactly; but quite suddenly he scrambled up with a gasp.

   He knew what he needed to do.

   Mario was in serious danger! This was no time to be wasting or weeping!

   Turning left, then right, Luigi looked desperately up and down the hall, the explored and the unexplored. What could he possibly find if he went back; hadn't all the other doors been blocked off? And then... here, the crimson trail clearly showed the way he ought to go. But...

   Pausing in a terrible indecision, Luigi halted. He didn't have much time and he knew it. He knew what the evidence suggested. And yet... what was it that he was really trying to stop?

   Turning to stare at the floor behind him, he felt the turmoil stir within him like a storm. Maybe it was the biggest mistake of his life. Maybe this entire night had been a huge, terrible deadly mistake. None of this was supposed to happen this way. But it had.

   Slowly, Luigi looked down at the Poltergust in his hands. He carefully curled his fingers around it, suddenly his mind made up. He was taking his own life, Mario's, and likely countless others into his hands and he knew it. But he had to take this risk. He knew what must be done; and it had to be done quickly.

   Turning away from the bloody trail, Luigi turned and followed his heart back down the stairs.

~

   Moving more swiftly with each passing second, Luigi broke into a run. The same old first floor hallways were similar to those on the floor above it, so this all felt strange; but then at the same time Luigi knew where he was going. He knew where he wanted to go.

   Rounding a corner, he breathed a small sigh of relief. Here: he had found it. The wall of crates.

   Quickly coming forward, Luigi inspected them in an instant. Grabbing one nearest him on the bottom of the pile, he began to drag it away; it was heavy, but still seemed hollow somehow. What was their deal?

   Still, after dragging one a satisfactory distance out of the way, Luigi quickly came to a conclusion. He didn't have time for this - he was on a mission. And he didn't even care what happened to the mansion anyway.

   Immediately turning to his secret pocket arsenal, Luigi busted out his other tool - the fire nozzle. Switching it out with the vacuum, he stood back, took a deep breath, and opened fire.

   Almost in a single explosion the crates caught and burst into flame with a shocking heat. The intense glow filled the section of the hallway with a light it had likely not seen in a very long time. The air filled with loud crackling as the crates began to disintegrate and burn fumes all around him. But Luigi didn't have time to care. Standing back, he quickly turned to his water nozzle and set to put the fires out once again. Destroyed and ashy, the remains of the wood lay everywhere - and the mansion beneath looked none the worse.

   For just an instant's curiosity Luigi paused, looking down among the remains. But it was then that his path was truly clear: they were empty. There had been nothing inside them all along.

~

   Luigi had never been more determined to plunge into the unknown as he pressed on down the dark, creaky staircase that led into an ancient basement. He trusted his flashlight to show the way; but it was his heart that led him through the darkness. He knew where he was going.