All Fear The Queen

Mario's Deadweight

The heat of the lava was what woke him first. The second thing was Peach's insistent pacing as she tried to calm her own nerves. He groaned and raised a hand to his head, feeling the scabbed over head trauma. Peach gasped and went to him, kneeling down next to him.

"Luigi! Oh thank stars you're awake!" She seemed frazzled and happy all at once that he was alive. He looked up and noticed that she was wearing a different shade of pink and her hair wasn't the way he remembered it. Her eyes were darker and more crestfallen then he remembered. How long had he-?

"You've been unconscious for four days," She said suddenly, getting up and going over to the far side of their confinement, grabbing a lone bowl and a cloth. She returned to him and gently put the cloth into the bowl before gently dabbing the cloth against his head. He shook his head away and gently grabbed her wrists.

"What...What happened...?"

Peach frowned and set the bowl down, sitting across from him. "Bowser ambushed the worksite," She started, "Someone must've told him that we'd be there and not at the castle. He caught everyone off guard." Luigi nodded slowly to her explanation. He finally took the chance to look around the room they were in. He could hear the distant sound of lava flowing underneath them. The cobblestone walls were a depressing gray, but that was one of the more tolerable aspects then to the sorry excuse of a window to the outside.

Peach moved the cloth she had away and tried giving a hopeful smile. "At least Mario will come to save us."

Luigi looked to her, doing his best to not be rude by the urge to roll his eyes at her. She was only trying to be hopeful. However, Peach had come to expect at least Mario to save her--what with her experience in kidnappings and all. "At least Mario will come to save you." Peach was caught off-guard by Luigi's change of bluntness. She had known the Mario brothers for almost seven years since the Brooklyn incident and she had never seen this side of Luigi before. 

"What do you mean by that?"

"I said what I said."

"Luigi, I don't understand."

"Then let me put it in a perspective you can understand," Luigi sat up, pulling his knees up as he sighed softly, running a hand over his face, "Picture a scenario where Mario is going down a river. He needs something to help him get afloat and take him to shore. He finds a piece of driftwood and climbs onto it. It's soaked through from the current, rough around the edges, has signs of use, and will break under Mario's weight if he stays on it for too long. It's good support for the time being."

"Luigi, I don't-"

"Let me finish," Luigi continued, "Further down the river, Mario finds a piece of pipe. How it got there is irrelevant. The fortunate thing is that it is shiny, pretty, new, and will give Mario more support going down the river. So, not wanting to risk missing the opportunity, Mario picks the pipe. He uses it to make it the rest of the way down the river, leaving the driftwood behind in his mind and in the river."

Peach was quiet. She thought over the situation in her head before she frowned. "He's your brother, Luigi." As much as she wanted to give her friend the benefit of the doubt, she was sure this was a misunderstanding. Luigi slowly pulled himself up from the floor with a groan, "And you're his princess. He adores you and seeks your approval above anyone."

Peach wasn't sure on how to respond. She figured that things between the brothers had gotten tense within the past year or so, but nothing this bad. "Luigi-" "Save it, Peach," He interrupted her, "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

He leaned himself against the wall as he heard Koopa Troopas coming from down the hall. They followed behind a familiar Magikoopa dressed in blue. He looked to his left as Kamek opened the cell door with his magic. "This way you two," Kamek said, leaving Luigi and Peach no time to argue. The two followed the Magikoopa through the halls of Bowser's castle, silent as they were sure the koopas didn't want them talking. Not that there was anything to talk about now. Kamek stopped when they approached a cross way in the palace, in front a pair of grand staircases.

Kamek turned on his broom and pointed his wand at the Koopa troopas. "You two, go with one of the Blue shells and take the green one to King Bowser." He instructed. The Troopas nodded and saluted to Kamek before going about their task, taking Luigi towards the throne room. Peach watched before turning back to Kamek. "What does Bowser want with Luigi?" She demanded to know. Kamek cackled as he used his magic to keep Peach still. "Bait, of course! Everyone knows that the Red one always comes after his brother~."

'You would think that too, wouldn't you,' Peach thought to herself as her stomach twisted in the wrong way. She allowed Kamek to lead her to a separate room where she was sure they were to keep her till Mario arrived.