Paranoia - Super Mario Bros. AU

~Ch 14~ Just a Nightmare

For some reason, he looked at me like I was crazy. It was silent for a long time, I could really see the fear on his face, the panic in his eyes. It was more concerning than confusing.

"Are you oka-" I begun to ask, before I witnessed him punching himself in the face. With an 'ow,' he grabbed his chin and looked away.

I didn't process that though, I was more focused on the random self-punch.

"Bro! What are you- w-why'd you do that?!" I questioned in a panic, getting up on my knees and holding his shoulder. He looked over at me with... what looked like a mix of confusion, anger, fear, and concern all at once.

"I'm... not dreaming?" Was the first thing I heard him say, slowly taking his hand off his chin.

"You are very much awake, big bro.." I reassured him, still not understanding why he woke up and choose self-violence.

But that only seemed to make him panic more, so he punched himself again.

And again.

And a fourth time.

"Stop!" I held his hand back. "You're awake Mario! This isn't a dream!"

When I said that, he just started shaking.

"No... no I can't be awake. I- this has to be- I..." He started mumbling things about 'the incident' and 'her' and 'the forest' and 'my death,' by which I mean him, his death.

His death?

"Mario, what are you talking about?" I squeezed his hand a bit to try and calm him down, looking him in the eyes. He knew he could tell me anything.

"Y-you're telling me... it was all a dream?"

"Probably a nightmare from the sounds of it."

Exhaling with relief, a 'Mama Mia' leaving his lips, Mario leaned back on the wall behind his bed, placing an arm over his eyes, seemingly processing everything.

"So... are you gonna talk to me about it?" I was kind of intrigued by this so-called nightmare where he apparently dies? I dunno, it sounds strange.

He looked over at me, taking some time to calm down, before letting out a soft chuckle.

"Man, it all felt so real, I still can't believe I've been asleep this whole time.."

"Well to be fair, it's like, 1pm right now, you haven't woken up this late in forever." I chuckled along with him.

"Really? Geez, that's around the same time I woke up the first time in my dream."

"The first time?"

"It'sa long story, are you sure you wanna hear it, Lu?"

"Duh! C'mon! It's gotta be spicy if you woke up screaming!"

That made him laugh, and he threw a pillow to my face.

"Shush! You would to if you went through what I did!"

"Hehe, maybe~"

Settling back down and sitting up, he held my hand a bit tighter, for comfort.

"Well, it was like, almost a year long of a nightmare kind of thing. So many people were there.. And the amount of times we... I..." He paused. "Nevermind, I think it's better to explain it in detail."

I sat down on the floor in front of him like a kid, legs crossed, arms in my lap, a goofy smile on my face. Mario had my full attention. He slowly opened his mouth to explain.

Though, the first thing he told me was that it could all be summed up in this one sentence:

"No! P-please! D-Don't hurt me! I'm sorry!"