Mario & Luigi: Darkness In Light (REMASTERED)

Chapter 11: Split Paths

Mario slowly blinked his eyes open. When he did he gasped as he quickly regained his senses. He looked around and saw he was standing in a place that was completely dark, but the floor under him felt like a river. He couldn't remember what had happened, but he remembered what Salem told him before he blacked out. Mario clenched his hands into fists.

Salem had the power to control him. He could control his movements. Then again, he should have thought more about what power Salem has, considering he's his vessel. But doing it so suddenly... Doing it without his consent...

Doing it as an "idea"... It wasn't right at all. He could hear the words Salem was speaking, and he was having second doubts about him. He could control the darkness... He came from the Dark Star... He could do who-knows-what with Mario. Salem could...

"Oh, come on. You're starting to think that now?"

Mario quickly turned around and a figure stood behind him. It was...a copy of him. Only that copy looked different. His shirt and hat was a dark, red velvet as the overalls were a dark blue, denim color. The shoes were an umber brown color, and his gloves were a charcoal gray color. His skin looked completely pale, as white as snow. His hair and mustache was dark brown. He wore a raven black, torn cloak around his neck.

Mario clenched his hand into a fist as fire shrouded it. The copy held their hand out, telling him not to act.

"Fighting without understanding a thing... That's nothing new."

"Who are you?" Mario asked, his fist shivered. He could feel darkness course through him, pressure him to use it. Mario tried to resist it.

"You don't remember me? Oh, right. Salem erased your memory..." He muttered that last sentence. "Let's just say Salem created me to keep an eye on you. I turn my back for one second and here you are in your own heart."

"This place...is my heart?" Mario asked as he looked around. It felt so...empty. It felt so dark. Negative. That couldn't be right.

"As Salem already told you his heart is in yours, just like how Lucian's is in Luigi's." He said. "This place was made when his heart fused with yours. It's the same with Luigi, only his heart is more brighter. If something were to happen to their hearts or yours...you'd feel it. You and Salem each share emotions, even pain."

"So that's why my emotions are all over the place..." Mario said. "Salem and Lucian are a part of us, and we didn't even know it. But wait! How did Salem create you in the first place?"

"Salem has control over all darkness. Ever since you defeated the Dark Star, Salem took its place for control." The copy pointed at Mario's chest. "He took your own darkness and gave it form. And that form is me. I'm the darkness your carry in your heart."

"What are you talking about?" Mario asked, taking a step back. "I don't have darkness! I never had it in the first place!"

"Really? Your feelings say otherwise. Darkness isn't just a bad influence or time. It's hurt, sadness, all of the negative emotions you feel. Hurt is the biggest one of all." The copy looked up at the dark, yet nonexistent sky.

"It's funny. Salem actually thought he'd be with Luigi. He did envy you before, after all. But no... He was wrong."

"Luigi admitted it to me, and I wasn't mad at him for that!" Mario said. "He accepted those feelings, and I wasn't mad at him. I was proud that he told me how he was feeling! And I helped him get stronger!"

"But will you do the same?"

"Huh?"

"You, Mario...you hold the biggest hurt that Salem's never seen. Luigi accepted that he was hurting. Will you accept it too?"