Brother's Loyalty

You Can Rest Now (BITTERSWEET ENDING)

Luigi could taste his own blood. It dribbled into his mouth, tangy and sweet and coppery at the same time. He paid it no mind, however, gripping the Poltergust's nozzle so tightly that it hurt—and he ignored that pain, too. The only thing on his mind was his brother and the need to free him from the wretched clutches of King Boo.

So far, the outlook was iffy for Luigi. King Boo fought hard—and dirty. Yet Luigi fought even harder, the evil king's increasingly vicious tactics only making him more determined to defeat him. He'd depleted about half of the sadistic king's HP, but it was no excuse to slack off, as King Boo had now become an adversary with nothing left to lose, the most dangerous adversary by far. But Luigi would beat him. He knew he would—and so did Mario.

Now, Luigi had King Boo out of the protective confines of the Koopa mech, once again trying to vacuum him up and dodging the ice shots from the mech's head. The man in green was bruised, slashed up, and sweating—and he was also someone with nothing left to lose, making him more than able to hold his own against the King of all Boos. He concentrated hard, his blue eyes meeting King Boo's violet eyes as the struggle went on.

"Why, Luigi?" King Boo demanded of the plumber. "Why, why? Why do you do it? Why—why get up after everything I throw at you? Why keep fighting? Do you actually believe you're fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know?"

"I know," said Luigi, dodging another ice shot, "but I don't have to tell you."

"Yes, you do, d—mit!" snapped King Boo, "because I don't really see the point in all of this! Why are you still here—what have you got to prove? What are you fighting for, Luigi? For your brother—the very brother who reaps all of the benefits of heroism while leaving you in the dust? Could it be for love—the familial love between two brothers? Illusions, Luigi. Vagaries of perception—temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that's without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the mansion itself, although..." He scoffed. "...only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Luigi. You must know it by now. My power is too great. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. So—why, Luigi? Why? Why do you persist?!"

Luigi took a breath. "Because I choose to," he replied, feeling Mario smile as he spoke the words. "You can throw whatever you'd like at me—but I swear to God, I will take you down."

That's my bro.

King Boo cackled. "Oh, we'll see about that," he said.

Tearing himself free of the suction, King Boo dove back into his mech, raising his claws. Luigi moved fluidly from pillar to pillar, flipping and rolling and cartwheeling, looking for an opening, battling back the pain and creeping fatigue as the claws slashed and sliced.

"Impressive," King Boo said mockingly.

The mech's hammy fist collided with Luigi's torso with a nightmare-inducing crunch. Luigi sprawled against the pillar, but he pulled himself up as the mech stomped toward him.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" spat King Boo.

"I can do this all day," Luigi spat right back.

King Boo giggled like a child at play. "Then I'm really gonna enjoy this," he said, unleashing a huge gout of fire.

Luigi flung himself behind another pillar, stubbornly giving no thought to his throbbing torso. The Koopa mech attacked again, yanking Luigi from his hiding spot, gripping him by his shirt collar and punching him once—twice—three times---until he didn't know which way was up.