My Take On Mario Odyssey's Main Ending
I've wanted to write something related to Mario Odyssey for a while, especially related to the bros and their POVs during all this. With Mario's POV after just getting rejected by Peach on the moon, and Luigi's POV of his brother being missing and finally coming back home. I finally got an idea for how it would have gone in my AU, so I hope you all enjoy(?).
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Luigi was running as fast as he could.
Mario had been missing for about a week. Before the adventure had occurred, Luigi had alerted Mario that there were airships in the sky after looking through the window of the house. Seeing that, Mario immediately sprung into action, telling his brother to stay in the house as he ran off to deal with it. Luigi watched from the window as his brother reached the airship, but he couldn't quite make out what had happened.
All he could see was a speck of red fly off of the ship, going off far into the distance.
Ever since then, Luigi had been stuck at home alone, worried for where Mario was. He didn't know if it was safe to leave, and he sure didn't want to go against Mario's word. It was hard for Luigi to function due to the endless worry, and he had a hard time doing basic tasks around the house. Almost everything in the house reminded him of his brother, mainly with the matching red and green furniture spread around the house.
Now, after a week, there was a knock on the door; a Toad had come to notify Luigi that there was a red object floating towards Peach's Castle. Hopeful of something, any news of his brother and his whereabouts, Luigi dropped everything and ran out of the house, running straight to the castle.
Running up a hill, the 'red object' came into the distance. Not only that, but familiar figures were there as well. Princess Peach was there, in a beautiful white dress, talking to two spirits of some kind. She was a little bit away from the red object, which upon closer inspection seemed to be some sort of ship or mode of transport.
However, the main thing that caught Luigi's eye was his brother, dressed in white just like Peach, without his hat. Immediately, Luigi ran over to him, panic and relief in his eyes. The moment he reached Mario, he put his hands on his shoulders.
"Mario, where were you?!" Luigi cried. "What happened?! I was worried sick..!"
Despite Luigi's cries and questions, Mario didn't respond. Now that Luigi was able to get a better look at him, he was broken and bruised. His eyes looked sad and dull, almost as if all the life had been sucked out of them. He was covered in bruises from head to toe, all from the various foes he had to fight on his journey to save Peach.
Too overwhelmed by what had happened, instead of a spoken response, Mario clung to Luigi, putting his forehead against Luigi's chest. He had started to quietly cry. Luigi, not sure of what to do due to not knowing what happened, just simply embraced his brother back.
"Why did I do that..?" Mario cried under his breath.
"What..?" Luigi asked timidly.
"She had to deal with him for so long, and I just made it worse..." Mario muttered. "She just wanted to go home..."
"'She'..? Do you mean Peach?" Luigi asked. "What happened, bro..??"
As the two brothers talked, Peach looked at the two of them solemnly in the distance. She was tired. The two Bonneters looked at her with concern, worried for her well-being. She felt bad for Mario, for causing him such pain, but she didn't really know what to do. Everything was happening so fast, it was too much for her. Unable to see Mario in such a way anymore, she started to make her way back to her castle, her head down as the ghosts followed her. One of them, Cappy, stopped for a moment to look back at Mario. However, seeing the moment he was having with his brother, he didn't want to interrupt. So, he continued to follow the princess.
"Peach, she...Bowser took her again..." Mario explained painfully. "I kept looking for her, and I finally got her away from him. But then Bowser tried to confess, and I...I messed up...I-I just got scared, I don't know what I was doing...we both overwhelmed her. She just wanted to go home..."
While Mario didn't directly explain what he did himself, Luigi understood. He knew how his brother felt about Peach, for a long time in fact. He could feel his brother's pain and sorrow the more Mario explained. He knew Mario would never do something like that on purpose. He wouldn't hurt Peach on purpose.
"Mario..." Luigi said sadly.
"I don't know what to do..." Mario muttered, his grip on Luigi's shoulders getting tighter. "She probably doesn't even want to talk to me anymore...I-I wouldn't talk to me either after that. I was stupid."
"Hey, hey, don't say that..!" Luigi exclaimed. "You're not stupid, Mario. Don't ever think like that. It was just a mistake. She was overwhelmed, but so were you most likely. You've been gone looking for her for a week..! You know Peach, bro...she'd never hate you for that. We've known her since we were kids. She'd never hate you, no matter what you do."
"But what if she does..?" Mario whimpered. "What if I just ruined everything..?"
"Big bro, look at me," Luigi said firmly.
Mario finally, yet slowly, lifted up his injured head to look up at his brother. His eyes looked desperate, tears still falling down his face. Despite how many were falling, he barely made any noise.
"You didn't ruin everything," said Luigi. "And she doesn't hate you. You really think she would hate you for just a single mistake? No. That's not the kind of person Peach is. And this...you aren't a bad person, Mario. You never have been. You were just scared. That's what you said."
As Luigi tried to talk sense into Mario, he put both of his hands on the sides of Mario's face.
"You meant well, you always have," Luigi continued. "I think the princess just...needs a few days to herself. A bit of space. But that doesn't mean she hates you. She just needs a bit of time to figure things out, and to relax."
"And...I think you need a break too."
As Luigi said that, he moved one of his hands onto a bruise on Mario's face, which made him flinch in pain. He normally had a pretty high pain tolerance, but now that everything was over and he was feeling everything at once...the pain started to become overwhelming.
"How about we go home and just...relax for a while, okay bro..?" Luigi asked. "I'll help with bandages when we get there, and then you should try and get some rest. You look like you haven't slept in days."
"I...haven't," Mario admitted.
Luigi wasn't surprised by that response. Mario had done similar things in the past with past adventures. Whenever there was someone in danger, Mario always had a habit of just going and going, nonstop. Never resting. How could he rest if he knew someone he cared about was in danger?
If anything, Mario saying that just made Luigi want to bring Mario back home sooner.
As Luigi said that, he kneeled down, indirectly asking Mario to get onto his back. Mario gave in, climbing onto Luigi's back as Luigi stood back up and started walking home. Mario wrapped his arms around Luigi, laying his head on his brother's shoulder. He was exhausted.
"What am I even going to say to her..?" Mario muttered.
"Maybe just start off slow," Luigi responded. "Did you try to apologize..?"
"Yeah..." Mario answered. "A few times, but...it probably didn't help, heh..."
"Maybe wait until she wants to talk," said Luigi. "Just give her some time."
"Okay..." Mario said sadly.
It would be silent for a moment.
"When was the last time you ate?" Luigi asked.
"I don't even know..." Mario answered tiredly. "When did you..?"
Luigi hesitated for a moment. He hadn't said anything about how he himself was doing, and yet somehow Mario was able to figure it out. Maybe it was big brother intuition.
"I don't know either..." Luigi responded.
"Have you slept at all?" Mario asked.
"Hey, I'm taking care of *you* right now," Luigi joked. "Worry about that later. You need rest."
It would go silent again.
"...But...no. Not really."
Mario hugged his brother a bit tighter while still on his back.
"How about we both get some rest after we eat, okay Lu..?" Mario asked.
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