Chapter Text
Mario’s first weeks in the Mushroom Kingdom had been exhausting. Sure, he’d met the most beautiful princess and felt like they were getting along well, but he had no idea where Luigi was. He knew that they were separated in the pipes, but part of Mario had hoped that Luigi would end up somewhere close to him. Evidently, that hadn’t happened.
Peach had been so kind to him, helping him search for his brother while also teaching him all about this new world he had landed in.
‘God, I wish Luigi was here. He’d love this place.’
After a month of searching with no sign of Luigi, the Mushroom Kingdom had no choice but to declare Luigi dead.
Meanwhile…
Luigi was convinced that he’d died and ended up in hell.
I mean, come on, this place was a burnt nightmare of bones and lava. Not to mention the bones literally coming alive and chasing him.
After he managed to escape those creatures by hiding in a small cave slightly hidden by a fallen, charred tree truck, he searched endlessly for his brother, but Mario was nowhere to be seen. Luigi decided to stay at the cave he found until he thought of something better to do.
- A few weeks later
Luigi’s heart pounded as he was dragged towards the dark, looming castle by masked red creatures. How could he be so stupid, letting his guard down and getting caught while scavenging for supplies.
He tried to pull away from one of the creatures, resulting in it holding onto him even tighter and making a chorus of small, strange noises.
‘I’m gonna die here,’ Luigi thought to himself. ‘Dio mio, this is how I die.’
After what seemed like a lifetime, Luigi was brought into the castle and up to a pair of giant doors. They slowly creaked open, revealing what Luigi could only assume was a throne room. All of a sudden, a blue haze fell over Luigi and he was dragged into the air, letting out a shout as he flew towards the throne.
Luigi looked up, watching a giant figure walk over until it was standing right in front of him. It looked similar to some of the creatures Luigi had seen outside, but this one was much bigger than the others.
“Hello there. Mind telling me just what you were doing, hiding in my kingdom?” The giant creature growled at him, sending a wave of fear through Luigi’s entire body.
“Uh- I- I got lost?” Luigi stuttered. The creature, which Luigi had figured out was probably the ruler of whatever kingdom he’d found himself stuck in, raised an eyebrow at him. “Really! I fell through some sort of, uh, pipe? And ended up here.”
A much more regular sized creature in blue robes flew towards the King on a broom, tapping his shoulder and whispering something to him that Luigi couldn’t make out. The King turned back to Luigi, a look on his face that he couldn’t quite read.
“A pipe, you say? You wouldn’t happen to know another human… looks a lot like you. What was his name, Mario?”
Luigi stilled, thinking for a moment. He was relieved to hear that Mario was okay, but now he had to figure out if he should tell this thing that he knows Mario or not.
“Well?” The King asked, seeming to grow impatient.
“I- Mario’s my brother. We got separated in the pipes.” Luigi said, a part of him anxiously thinking that he shouldn’t have said that.
The King’s face seemed to grow darker, glaring at Luigi.
“Throw him in the dungeons. We can figure out how to use him to our advantage later.”
Luigi’s face dropped as he started to panic, the blue mist dropping him to the ground as more of these turtle-like creatures grabbed him and began to drag him away.
“Wait! Per favore, don’t do this.” Luigi begged, watching the King turn away from him and begin to walk away. He looked up at the floating creature, noticing that it was staring at him with a strange look on his face, before it turned towards the King.
“King Bowser, wait. A word, if I may? About the prisoner.” It spoke, the King turning back towards him. The King -King Bowser- Hesitated for a second before nodding, following the small creature out to a different room.
“Stay here with him until I get back.” King Bowser growled at the creatures holding Luigi, getting a symphony of unusual noises in response. The King walked out of the room, leaving Luigi in silence again.
‘How am I gonna get out of this mess?” Luigi frowned, looking around and taking in his surroundings. He had to admit, this was a very grand palace. The walls were a thick stone with red accents littering the entire room, almost framing the gigantic red throne that was obviously the centre of attention. He wouldn’t have hated exploring this place, had the circumstances been any different.
After a while, doors opened and the King and the wizard looking creature walked back in, stepping towards Luigi.
“You all may go, I need to speak with the prisoner.” King Bowser spoke, the creatures around Luigi immediately letting go of him and scrambling out of the room.
When they were alone, save the creature in the blue robes, the King spoke again.
“Mario arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom about a month ago. Is it safe to assume that you’ve been here the same amount of time?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at Luigi.
Luigi thought for a moment, trying to grasp how much time had passed. Yes, a month seemed about right.
“I think so. I mean- Yeah, that sounds correct.” Luigi said, noticing how the King’s expression shifted slightly hearing that.
“And you’ve been in the Darklands the entire time?” He asked curiously. Luigi assumed that the ‘Darklands’ were this kingdom, so he nodded.
“Interesting.” King Bowser turned away from Luigi, taking a few steps towards his throne before looking back to Luigi.
“You’ve managed to go undetected by my subjects for a month in my Kingdom. That is no easy task, I will give you that. Kamek here has expressed his thoughts to me, so I have a proposition for you.” King Bowser paused for a moment, “We think that you could have the potential to be very useful to us - as a spy, of sorts. Of course, we’d give you training, a room, food, all you need. So,” The King took a step towards Luigi. “What do you say?”
Luigi hesitated for a moment. Working for him? Luigi could admit, it seemed like this was a much better option than being thrown into some dungeons. Plus, it felt kind of nice to be praised like this…
“I.. I don't see why I wouldn’t try.”