Reminiscing

how they got here

Luigi doesn't remember separating from Mr. L. He doesn't remember being hypnotized, fighting his brother, and only has a faint notion of who Count Bleck was. He can't even remember forming Super Dimentio.

He does remember waking up in the hospital bed, looking to his right, and seeing himself lying in another bed beside him. He had screamed, and his mirror image screamed back before the others rushed into the room to calm them.

Mario explained it to them. Luigi remembers clearly Mr. L's reception to the news. He had drawn the white sheet around him and curled up against the metal railing, as far away as he could be from Mario. The pillows acted as a barrier in front of his crossed legs.

The others- Peach, Bowser, and a few others that he thought were the villains, Nastasia and O'Chunks- stood in the background, a troop of worried faces as Mario explained what they had seen. Super Dimentio dissolving, and then erupting with explosions; a body, Luigi's, jumping from it. When the dust had cleared, they saw that is hadn't been one body throwing itself from the wreckage; it had been two, the other holding tightly to the arm of the first. Mr. L.

Nastasia had stepped forward then. She said she had no clue how this could happen. She explained her intention was not to create two personalities; she had taken Luigi's less prominent traits, like arrogance and anger and brought them to the surface, and cast his memories and kindness back and behind a barrier. In doing so, she would be able to reverse it at any time, by simply removing the barrier and allowing the mind to merge over a period of time. She guessed that Dimentio had used the power of the Chaos Heart or maybe the Floro Sprout and she was so sorry, so- so- so- so-

She had broken down crying then, and had to leave the room. O'Chunks followed her.

Luigi had looked at Mr. L again as the sound of sobbing faded. Mr. L was staring at the heroes.

"So, you're saying I'm just... pieces of a personality? From him?"

They said nothing, confirming his statement.

Mr. L had glanced at Luigi then, and Luigi was still struck by how lost the man had looked in that moment.

__--__

Luigi remembered the day they decided to bring Mr. L to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Everyone was against it. Even Bowser agreed with them. Mr. L was an unstable mess- he'd snap and scream at you one moment, but in the next he would seem to shut down, and become blank, like an overclocked machine.

Princess Peach said she didn't want him in the Kingdom. She didn't think he would be able to stay out of trouble. Mario didn't say much of anything, but it was clear he hadn't forgiven Mr. L for his part in destroying the worlds. It seemed he also agreed with Peach, in that Mr. L wouldn't stay out of trouble- Bowser seemed to just dislike the man out of principle.

Luigi felt the same way. He would have been happy never to see Mr. L again. It was like looking into a mirror, only the image you saw was you, at the worst and lowest you could ever be.

But maybe it was the brief glimpse Luigi caught- that Mr. L was truly, utterly lost in this world, unable to define himself or who he was. Maybe it was the fact that Nastasia couldn't look at either of them without crying.

But when they were arguing over what to do with Mr. L, the man in question waiting outside, staring at the wall, Luigi spoke up. He wanted Mr. L to come with them.

It hadn't exactly been a screaming match, but it had been close to one. Princess Peach was diplomatic as always- Bowser and Mario, not so much. If Nastasia and O'Chunks hadn't been on his side, Luigi was sure he would have bowed to their wishes.