Luigi's Mansion

Chapter 25 - Morning

Propped on his one good foot, Luigi stood, leaning against the wall by the door to the gallery. Examining his dirty hands with something like horrified interest, he was waiting, rather impatiently, for the professor to return from his work. On the floor nearby the Poltergust sat, having been laid up by Luigi several minutes before. At last, there was only one thing left to do.

E. Gadd had welcomed him into the lab with very near a hero's welcome, but right away Luigi wasn't interested in talking. It had taken all of his patience just to stand and wait a minute while the professor congratulated him and went on about various topics.

"So, this is the big guy, huh?" he had asked as Luigi carefully rested Mario's frame against one wall. Not feeling up to a conversation, Luigi just nodded, feeling tired.

Apparently the feeling was mutual, as E. Gadd soon observed: "Tired thing. Looks like he could sleep for a week."

   "I know," Luigi breathed. "I know."

   "Well, this might mess with your head: all your hard work lasted only a single night!" the professor went on, turning now to the lad beside him. "Though it has been a long one. Well done, Luigi!"

Luigi understood what he had meant. In some ways he couldn't believe that it had only been one day – less, really – since he had first laid eyes on the mansion. His quest had taxed him so much, and dragged on forever; it seemed as if weeks, months, should have gone by.

   And now the prize was won; but somehow it was hard to believe that the ordeal was truly over.

"As you know," the professor had continued, "the mansion those boos built disappeared into the night, but that treasure seems to be real. I have no interest in such stuff, so go on and keep it all! Use it however you like."

The fate of the mansion was no big surprise to Luigi. Ever since he had witnessed it vanishing into the darkness from whence it came, he had come to a quite calm realization of it all. So King Boo had not been lying; he had been taken, and the mansion was gone.

It's a good thing the hallways stayed standing long enough for me to get out, Luigi had thought to himself.

Despite all the horror and the death surrounding its sad story, he wasn't completely sure yet what he really thought of the mansion being gone. In some ways, truthfully enough, he was a little sad. He doubted he would ever have actually lived in it - at least with a weightless conscience - but it was still a bit tough to just accept that it had vanished forever. Like nothing more than the illusion it had been claimed to be, the great building that had stood menacing and enormous outside had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. After spending the whole night inside, it had been a little hard to believe.

He'd had to glance out the window one more time, just to make sure. But his eyes didn't deceive him – the mansion simply wasn't there. Vanished without a trace... with no proof that the awful events of the night had ever occurred. How would anyone ever believe his story? But then again, perhaps it was for the best...

Perhaps it was.

But this was no time to be worrying about any of that stuff. A little impatiently, Luigi had stepped forward.

"Professor, forget about that for now," he had said, never more seriously. He hadn't meant to seem rude - he was really pleased to see the professor, truly; and he was scarcely over the excitement of catching the evil king himself. But he didn't care about what to do with the treasure, or even what had become of the mansion anymore.

He only cared now about one thing.

Luckily, E. Gadd had quickly caught on. "Say what?" he had asked, eyeing Luigi with a bit of amusement. "Enough rattling on about money? I guess we'd better get your brother back, then."