A Nutcracker and the Beast

Chapter 33: Date Night? No, It's Boys Night

Luigi was hiding in the oddest places today. When he first woke up, he left a note saying that he would stay inside and not talk to anyone the whole day till tomorrow. When Bowser and Kamek saw that note, they knew he was doing it because of what Neville had told him, and they knew that today was the 25th day. However, Junior, on the other hand, was hurt by this and wanted to play with Luigi. Bowser and Kamek try to devise an excuse until Peach tells him that Luigi is playing a game of hide and seek. Junior was glad about this and started looking for Luigi, while Peach stayed back, asking about what was going on now.

But so far, Luigi has hidden in the walls. Behind statutes and inside armor suits. In the pots in the kitchen and the laundry basket with the dairy laundry. Now, it was noon, and Luigi was currently hiding in the fireplaces of an unused setting room. He knew it was unused as the furnace was covered by dust cover as the fireplace was left dirty from the last time it was used. It still had cinders in it as Luigi used it to cover himself. It may be a bit crazy, but Luigi wasn't going to take any chances, as he had painted himself black with the cinder and lay in wait on the side where no one could see him. It was lonely and reminded him of all those years as he sighed. Luigi was unhappy right now as sitting in a cold fireplace brought back memories. Maybe he should have stayed in bed today, but thinking about being in one place all day scared him as he didn't want to feel trapped right now. However, feeling lost and forgotten wasn't helping him either. It was a lose-lose right now for him, and he didn't know what to do.

It didn't matter as he soon heard the door open. Luigi pecked out just to see a Koopa head peeking in. He soon pushed himself against the wall, covering his mouth so he didn't make a sound as he heard what sounded like multiple Koopas coming in. He didn't move as he heard the door closed and the sound of cracking bones being heard; Luigi closed his eyes when he heard that awful noise. Only opening it when he heard a thump.

"Body...breaking..." said an almost robotic voice, and Luigi knew who that was without even looking. It was the Pink Clockwork Soldier, and another set of cracking bones was heard as Luigi tried not to yelp from that noise.

"Let...body...rest...then...fix," said the Blue Clockwork Soldier as he always acted like the leader of the three before the last set of carking was heard.

"Look...for... master's...toy..." said the Green Clockwork Soldier as Luigi could guess what he meant by that.

"No...must...wait..." said Blue as he pulled out a bottle from the blue shell Koopa's body, "fix...body."

Soon, the Blue Clockwork Soldier floats over to the red shell Koopa and pours the liquid down its throat. It shook violently, letting out an awful noise as if in pain. Luigi didn't want to know what was happening, but it sent a chilling feeling as it went quiet. He wanted to look, but he was scared they would see him. When Luigi heard the cracking of bones again, he was sick and needed to know what was going on. He peeks just a little to see the Clockwork Soldier returning into the body, moving like dry bone as they get up. Then, it sends goosebumps when they talk again.

"That should work," said the Blue shell Koopa, her voice mixed with the robotic male agent that sent chills down Luigi's spine.

"We shouldn't wait; let's at least get rid of that old man," the Green shell Koopa said, the robotic voice slowly and smoothly going back to the regular voice of the Koopa as if it was never there in the first place.

"We stick to the plan. Master will tell us when we'll attack," The Blue shell spoke again, this time only having the female voice to her as she opened the door. "Let's go"

One by one, they left, shutting the door as Luigi started to breathe crazy. He jumped up and wiped most of the cinders off him as he went to his exit. That was too close of a call for him, and he needed to hide somewhere else before they decided to return and take him away. He went to the mouse hole in the wall to escape.