Plumber and the Beast

Chapter 3

The first thing he noticed as he woke again was the pain. It was everywhere, aching and pulsating. His legs felt bruised, and so did his arms and torso. But nothing hurt worse than his ribs. God, they hurt.

He coughed slightly, and the pain was so blinding it had him immediately gasping for air.

What happened?

He opened his eyes, sticky with sleep. The room he was in was dark, and smelled familiar. He sniffed slightly at the blanket under his nose, his heart leaping when he realised what, or rather who, it smelled like.

Bowser.

That's right, he had been at his and Mario's place...well, only Mario's place now, he supposed. His parents had greeted him with their usual hostile kicking and swearing, and Mario had, just as he always did, stood by and watched. But then...then Bowser came, didn't he? Yeah, he did...

Luigi sat up carefully, and had to bite down onto his knuckle in order not to scream.

God, something was wrong. Something was really wrong. The pain in his ribcage wasn't felt in the entire ribcage, he realised. It was one or two ribs, and the pain they caused made him nauseous. It felt like someone was using a rusty saw on his bones, grating each time he moved.

Maybe he did have to go to the hospital after all...

He quickly brushed off the thought. No, he didn't have a job, and the hospital bill would be almost half of his savings. He hadn't managed to save all that much, after all. He refused to let Bowser pay them, he couldn't even go there himself for help! He simply could not force Bowser to pay a hospital that refused his kind, that was out of the question.

The anger he had felt in the car earlier surged up again with sudden violence, and Luigi wondered how long that was ago. A few hours? A day?

He looked in the direction of the big, glass windows, and felt a surge of relief as he discovered them covered. Bowser had covered them in big drapes, presumably to keep Luigi from panicking. Luigi smiled, despite himself. Bowser really was thoughtful.

He did kind of wonder why Bowser chose to put him in his room, though. Surely he could have just put Luigi in the guest room where he had been sleeping for several nights now?

Shaking his head slightly, Luigi slid out of bed and sat at the edge for a while, waiting for the pain to wear off enough for him to stand. It took a few seconds, but eventually he mustered up enough energy to stand.

As soon as he had got to his feet, his head started swimming and his eyes watered. He was dizzy, and it hurt, God it hurt so bad.

He slowly made his way to the bathroom, wincing as he lifted his arm to press down the door handle. 

He did what he had to, washed his hands, and looked at himself in the mirror. 

He looked like a wreck. There was bruising on his throat, a clear handprint decorating the left side. Stifling a sigh that would undoubtedly hurt him, he turned on the sink, throwing water into his face and hair. When he was done, he carefully pulled his shirt up, letting out a small gasp as he saw his bruised torso. 

His stomach was covered in small bruises, but they didn't shock him. He had been wearing bruises like those for years from time to time. The thing that shocked him was the giant bruise running over almost the entirety of his right ribcage, shifting into ugly shades of black and purple in the middle.

''Jesus christ...'' he mumbled, putting his cold fingers lightly against it. A shiver of pain went up his spine and made him dizzy, and he immediately removed the fingers again.