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Mr L's - at least that's what he called himself now - mask had fallen off after the explosion his robot had endured
And-
Mario froze. He was stupid. He now understood that clearly than ever. How could he had not realised? He knew he seemed familiar but...
"There's no way that guy is Luigi. Luigi would never do those things" He remembers thinking to himself. But now...
The evidence infront of said otherwise
He stepped forward. His baby bro was hurt. Teaming up with Count Bleck for whatever reason be damned!! He didn't care about that. Not when his brother was lying on the floor injured.
"Luig-"
"Ughh.." Mr- Luigi he mentally corrected himself- said, as he got up. Mario could see the damage from the explosion even more clearly now. Which only made his heart arch even more for fighting his brother.
(You did this. Fix it)
"I'll let you off the hook for the rest of today. I suppose" Mario could hear his voice crumbling. Was it because he was hurt? Or from rage? It didn't matter much. He knew all he had to do was fix it- fix this-- Lu.. please come to your senses..!!
"But remember this..whe--" but before he could finish his sentence. Mario had ran up to him and embraced him on his arms.
"What are you-" Mario cut him off before he finished talking
"Luigi... I'm sorry. I.. I don't what I did that made you feel like you had to..do this....but please..snap out of it bro! I promise that whatever lies they told you..it-its not true. It doesn't have to be like this" He pleaded with him, desperation painted on his voice.
But it seemed like Luigi was having non of it. As he trashed, attempting to escape his hold "What are you talking about!? Let go of me!" With a heavy push he managed to throw Mario away from him
"Luigi.." Mario called out to him, reaching a hand to hold him again
"Who is this Luigi-loser you keep compering me to!? I told you! I'm the great Green Thunder, Count Bleck's most competent minion!"
Mario froze again. What is he saying!? Before it hit him, and his eyes widen. Had Count Bleck and his minions..mind controlled his brother? As he let the realisation kick in. He felt a new emotion kick in with his desperation; Anger.
How dare they!?
Luigi made an attempted to get away but before he could, Mario grabbed his arm. No! Don't leave lil bro! Please.. I-I'll fix this! He thought to himself. Desperate to get his brother back to normal.
"Luigi.. I'm sorry that I let you fall victim to Count Bleck's hands. But you have to snap of it! Don't let them control you!"
"Are your ears clogged?!? Let go of me-!" He pulled, attempting to free himself again. But it only made Mario tighten his grip on his arm.
"Luigi.." Mario felt many emotions grow more intense. Regret. Desperation. But more importantly. Anger. His brother was trying to leave him! He'd never! This is all that Count's fault!
But before he could come up with more to say. He felt a pain on his cheek.
Luigi had punched him?
He felt his anger growing by the second. Anger at Count Bleck and his minions. For taking advantage of his lil bro and twisting into whatever was infront of him. Cause whoever it was, it wasn't brother. Anger at himself, for not realising sooner. For not being there to protect him, like he should had. Like he had promised. And, a misguided anger towards the man infront of him. For daring to steal Luigi's face, while he acted nothing like him.
He stepped forward. "You-!" And without thinking he had tackled him to the ground. The man had screamed, startled by the sudden action, but before he could do anything else. Mario punched him on his cheek, exactly like he had done to him previously
"YOU-!!" He repeated the action again, twice. ignoring how the man whined in response as he was punched from the other side and then at the side he had striked frist again.
"You are not my brother!" Another punch, this time his fist connecting with the man's nose. And he could tell it hurt because he actually cried out and attempted to move his hands to protect his face- but was unable to due to the way he was being held down.
"My brother would never do those things! He'd never hurt a child--" another punch. At his nose again. And if Mario's mind was more clear, he would had seen the way blood started to flow.
"He'd never want to destroy any worlds!" And another. Once again, at the same cheek, which caused the already red era to turn an even more intense
"What did you do to him!?" He striked twice for once more. Targeting the man's nose, the blood that had already been flowing growing more intense, staining his white gloves with it.
"GIVE HIM BACK!!!" He raised his fist, ready to strike again. But before he could-
"MARIO!!" Peaches voice interfered and she grabbed his arm before it could make contact with Mr L's face. "That.. that's enough.." she said. Her voice sounding like she was pleading him to listen.
His eyes snapped back to Mr L. And he felt his heart sink. Mr L's face was covered in brushes. His nose was bleeding profusely. Probably broken if he had to guess.
For a minute. He stopped there unmoving. Unable to process the situation that had just occurred, unable to process what he had just done-
Slowly, He let go of him, and got up.
"Oh....oh no.." his voice trembled. What was he supposed to say?
"Im..Im...-" I'm sorry, Im so, so sorry he wanted to say. But before he could get any more words out Mr L had also gotten up.
Clenching his nose, as if that would stop the intense bleeding.
"Heh..t-thought you were supposed to be heroes..what kind of hero b-beats up a person like t-that..?" Mr L taunted. Or at least that was his intent. But Mario could hear how his voice cracked. Could see how he was shaking. Could realise that he was only saying that--acting unbothered -- to mask the amounts of pain and fear he was feeling at the moment.
"Lui-"
"Whatever." Mr L said, his voice raspy.
"L-ater"
And before Mario could react, he jumped out of view. Mario looked around, trying to find him but couldn't - Almost as if he had magical poofed out of existence
Mario didn't know what to do. He looked down at his hands -his filthy, dirty hands, that caused all of this- and his heart sank even further. He noticed the edges were painted red. He felt his body shake, tear building on his eyes. His hands were bloodied with his brother blood. And it was all his fau-
He snapped out of it when he felt a hand placed on his shoulder. He looked to see -Peach - right, he had once again forgotten she and the others were there. He felt dread creep up his spine. That just makes everything worse. They had seen everything.
Her expression seemed to be holding sympathy, and something else that he figured was disbelief, like she never thought he was capable of doing something like this. Bowser looked almost nervous, as if he too, couldn't believe it either.
"...Mario..what was that..?" Another's voice - Tippi. She was flying close to his voice. And although the butterfly didn't have an expression, Mario could tell that she must be secretly judging him. The so-called hero of the prognosticus, destined to save all worlds from destroying, beating up a person like so intensely? He couldn't blame her.
"I...I let my anger take over me and acted recklessly. I'm.. I'm sorry you all had to see that."
He paused. And no one said anything for what felt like hours.
"...Lets keep going"
He had to keep going. He had to find Luigi again and properly apologise.
He had to make things right again. He would.
He promises.