Chapter Text
“Luigi, look out!”
Luigi ducked under a hurling fireball, hair tips frying from heat.
Luigi continued to knock over Goombas with his acquired tail from his Kitsune power-up. Being more agile than his brother, Luigi shot from enemy to enemy, clearing the final group of them in record time.
Mario and Bowser had been having a one-on-one battle as Luigi was clearing Mario’s back, making sure his brother could use all his energy on the Koopa King himself and not worry about other enemies.
“It’s over, Bowser! It’s two against one, the rest of your troops are defeated!” Mario exclaimed, pulling a heroic pose of clenched fists and a determined expression.
Bowser growled, brows knitting with anger as his expression hardened, “Not yet it’s not.”
Bowser sucked in a huge breath, releasing it all at once in a large inferno of flames. Mario ran away as fast as he could, barely evading the fire with a powered jump, gliding down to safety with his Tanuki tail.
Luigi, on the other hand, yelped and curled in on himself, the flames dissipating by the time they reached him. Luigi let out a soft exhale of relief, before feeling a hand grip his neck from behind and lift him from the ground. Luigi screamed and nearly kicked Bowser in the face, only for the Koopa to catch his foot and chuckle.
Bowser gripped Luigi so hard he was practically choking him, quickly moving to a nearby lava pit and dangling Luigi above it. Luigi’s difficult breaths halted.
“Wouldn’t keep struggling if you wanna stay alive, Greenie.”
“Luigi!” Mario cried in a desperate voice that Bowser never heard from the man.
That was interesting.
“You know what I want, Mario! Let me marry the Princess and he’ll be spared from a painful death!” Bowser demanded, Luigi’s hands nervously clutched to Bowser’s arm.
“Mario! Mario, help me!” Luigi yelled in a rough voice, crying out in fear.
“You’re going too far,” Mario stated in a steady voice.
Luigi couldn’t help but agree, Bowser has never gone this far with threatening before. Didn’t sound like a bluff either.
“Maybe, but maybe this is the new bar I have to set for me to finally get my desired power star. Simply let me have it, and I won’t have to hurt anyone.”
Bowser waited for Mario’s next words, a calm silence filling the room despite how chilling the situation was. Mario’s angry breaths quieted, seemingly deep in thought. Bowser shook Luigi slightly, the younger brother squeaking with fear as he lost his grip on Bowser’s arm, body now rocking back and forth.
Mario tensed up again before he sighed, “I-”
Mario’s answer was cut short as Bowser was met with a powerful Kitsune tail slap to the face.
Bowser yelled and stumbled back, Luigi being dropped from the King’s hand and landing roughly on the ground. Mario quickly ran ahead of his brother, grabbing Bowser by the tail and spinning him wildly, eventually throwing him into the nearest pillar in the room
Bowser collided with the pillar making a sound that made Luigi feel sick. Bowser fell to the ground with a large thud that made the room shake, before the pillar cracked in two and fell on top of the King, dust covering the air.
Both Mario and Luigi looked at Bowser’s defeated body in silence before turning to each other.
“Luigi! Luigi, are you okay? Are you alright?” Mario frantically asked, hands at Luigi’s arms and examining him for any injuries.
Their power-ups were wearing off, and Luigi’s tail and ears had faded by this point.
“Sì, yes, I’m okay!” Luigi answered as he shakily stood up, Mario sighing with relief.
“I thought that monster was going to… I’m so happy you’re okay, I don’t know what I would do if you got hurt,” Mario said in a tiny voice before clearing his throat.
“I’m going to get the princess, you wait here and make sure Bowser stays put!” Mario already began running to the room that Bowser almost always kept Peach in.
Luigi shot a thumbs up at Mario, hearing his brother run off before turning to Bowser.
He was on the ground, facing away from the plumber. He seemed to be unconscious, but Luigi didn’t know if he just gave up or not. He seemed to hit his head pretty hard though, the sound of the pillar collision echoing in his mind, making him shiver. Luigi would feel bad if they were the ones who caused a serious injury, maybe worse, even if Bowser nearly killed him.
“B-Bowser…?”
No response.
Luigi’s chest tightened, his mind started racing on what he can do to make sure he’s okay. He can’t call any minions for help, they’ve all been stunned, and he especially can’t call for that MagiKoopa advisor of his.
Surely Bowser was fine though, right? He’s been exploded by bombs before, he can handle this… right? Luigi wondered how much that stone pillar weighed… he also thought about one of Bowser’s kids finding him like this.
Luigi groaned, he must be a fool.
Luigi steeled himself as he slowly, and carefully, took small steps towards the King, pulling out a red mushroom from his pocket. Red mushrooms had the added benefit of being a minor healing item if someone had been knocked out, and it was used a lot on Mario if he strained himself too much during battles.
He quickly tossed the mushroom at the King, the sound of its absorption echoing throughout the hall. Bowser’s eyes blinked open and he started heaving breaths, clearly in pain but at least not possibly dead.
Bowser’s eyes darted to Luigi as he laid still, and Luigi quickly stumbled back. Before Luigi could say anything, the voices and steps of Peach and Mario quickly approached them, Luigi running off with the two to leave.
Bowser laid there for a few more moments as the troops Luigi had defeated were slowly getting up, all groaning and sore but without any serious injuries.
This was the first time Bowser noticed that, unlike Mario and everyone else, Luigi went soft on his army.
~ • ~ • ~
Mario and Peach were on the opposite bench of the airship, cuddled up next to each other and muttering things that Luigi couldn’t hear. Luigi was sitting on the other side, peering out the window as his mind wandered.
Luigi always kept quiet on the way back from the Darklands, usually Mario and Peach were so preoccupied with each other that they wouldn’t even pay attention to what Luigi had to say. Luigi learned to enjoy the sight of the window seat, admiring the lava and troops below where others would find it depressing. Luigi also saw all the small interactions that brought humanity to the enemies, ones that others would overlook.
He once overlooked two Koopas (Hammer bros? Luigi couldn’t tell from the airship) try to sneak off from the rest of the troops and have some peaceful time alone. Luigi could only figure they were partners, as they got really close with each other for a moment before seeming to laugh, noticing the airship and quickly running away.
Luigi was fond of that memory, along with all the other ones stored in the little bookshelves of his mind. Luigi couldn’t help but wish he had that with someone, someone who would give their undivided attention to Luigi, and vice versa.
~ • ~ • ~ • ~
“What information have you gathered about him?” Bowser asked from his throne, forehead wrapped up in bandages and a splitting headache making his vision starry.
“There is not much we could find, he doesn’t seem to be as documented or well-known as his brother. What we do know, is that he accompanies Mario on his journeys fairly often, though mainly sticks to the sidelines. He was in the castle with the Toad Brigade when we set off for space, something even I wasn’t aware of-”
Bowser huffed, either from amusement or annoyance, Kamek couldn’t tell.
“… But he later helped his brother defeat us after being rescued. It seems the majority of people’s stories of him were him aiding his brother, although there is one thing I think you might be interested in.”
“What’s that?”
“Luigi was the one who defeated King Boo on three separate occasions. It seems the King has done as much as he can to cover up the fact it was Mario’s weaker brother who had done this, and Luigi himself isn’t too keen on talking about it. The only people who know of it were the ghosts themselves.”
Bowser hummed, sitting straighter in his throne. He looked up, thinking for a moment. Kamek could never tell what was going through the king’s mind when he had that expression.
“Shall I continue?”
Bowser nodded.
“The general knowledge we have gathered is that he’s considered much more cowardly, weak, anxious, naive, gullible, clumsy, uptight, reserved, and generally more pathetic than his brother, to put it bluntly,” Bowser chuckled, Kamek relieved that the King wasn’t wearing his unreadable expression anymore, “He seems to pride himself on being a gentle person. He’s also good friends with the Princess of Sarasaland, as well as Professor E. Gadd.”
“So you’re saying he’s an easy target?” Bowser asked, leaning against one of his throne’s arm rests.
Kamek held back a breath, “Not… exactly. The three times he defeated King Boo, he dealt with legions of other ghosts before getting to him. Many people consider him an expert now. He also seems to be incredibly… ‘efficient’ with defeating our enemies, taking out whole swarms in little time. This seems to be because he’s more focused on stunning them. He seems to almost… care for our troops’ well-being…”
Kamek expected Bowser to be put off by the news, but instead he grinned even wider.
“What I’m hearing is that my greatest nemesis’s beloved brother lacks a spine, is practically helpless in battle with actual troops, is a huge coward, and is stupid enough to not even try to actually hurt his enemies,” Bowser laughed even harder, “And Mario would do anything to keep him safe… Send in the troops for a kidnapping, but make sure they bring back that green brother, not the princess.”
“Right away, your majesty.”
Kamek quickly left the throne room, Bowser left alone with his thoughts.
Sure, he was kidnapping Luigi for nearly the sole purpose of forcing Mario to give him the Mushroom Kingdom’s power star, but a tiny part of him wanted to kidnap the green brother to ask him one question nagging at his mind.
Why did Luigi jeopardize his and his brother’s safety, even after Bowser threatened to kill him, to make sure Bowser was okay?