Chapter 9 - Fixing the Past

“WHAT?” I yelled, sitting bolt upright. “That- no, are you kidding me? That can’t be!”

“It did come on fast, didn’t it? Yes, 2004 went by rather quickly...”

I looked around the room. Now that it was light, I could see that it did look like Christmas. Everything in the room had tinsel dropping off of it, and everything was either white or silver to match the tree.

“Mamma mia,” I whispered, mesmerized. There was no way it could be two months later! I couldn’t have been unconscious for two months; I didn’t think I was knocked out at all!

“Oh, I can’t wait any longer,” Daisy said, bouncing. “Come on, come on, let’s go see our presents!”

I chuckled feebly. “Allright,” I said, planting my feet on the floor. It was a little cold in the castle, I pulled on a robe and followed Daisy down into the foyer, where I had to stop and stare- there was a gigantic Christmas tree, one that had to be no less than fifty feet tall, and since it was the only thing that was relatively light in this room, it was reflecting off everything.

“It always looks better on Christmas Day,” Daisy said, hugging my arm. I had to agree with her. It was beautiful.

“Now, come on, come on!” she said, tugging hard on my arm to make me follow her down the stairs. As she ran, her short nightshirt bounced up a tiny bit- revealing a huge and hideous scar on her side, similar to one that I had gotten a few months ago.

“Daisy,” I breathed, stopping at the head of the staircase. “What- how did you get that cut?”

Daisy frowned at me. “That’s not funny, Luigi.” She said in an almost cold tone. She bounced down the rest of the staircase. I followed her, yawning.

“Was that Mario and Peach you called so early?” Daisy asked, smirking and rattling a small present that read “To Tulip the rabbit, from Santa.”

“It was…” I said, taking the present from her and finding it cute that our pets got presents too.

“I heard you talking about a dream you had. Did you have a funny dream?”

“You have no idea…” I said.

“Ah, well, don’t worry about it, now. Mario and Peach’ll be coming over soon, anyway. Talk to Mario then, if you need to.” Daisy grabbed a present deep under the tree and rattled it. I heard whatever was in there shatter as though made of glass.

“Oops…” Daisy said, staring hopelessly down at what most likely was now a mangled, ruined present. “Ah, well… hope that one’s Weston’s…”

I laughed and checked the tag. It was addressed to me- “To Luigi, from Julie.”

“Oh. It’s mine. No matter. Probably one of Julie’s brownie batches.” I said.

“It made a glass-like noise like that?” Daisy asked, taking it from me.

“Have you ever seen Julie’s brownies?” I asked her, still chortling. “They could break your teeth, I swear.”

Daisy turned her head toward the door. “Did you hear something?” she asked.

I listened hard. There seemed to be nothing out there.

I walked over to a side room and clicked on the television. The five o’clock news was on, and nothing seemed to be so unusual- the reporter was talking in a helicopter over the fields of Easton, talking about some new houses being built in a new area of town… nothing seemed unusual, at all.

I plopped down on the couch and thought about what had just happened. Daisy was going on like nothing on Earth was wrong… yet, I know, I had just seen Pyrope… it couldn’t have been more than an hour ago…why was it already December!

Daisy entered the room. “We’re having the holiday party, remember?” she asked.

“Wh… oh, yes!” I said, obviously supposed to agree.

“People will be arriving in just a couple of hours,” she said. “Give or take three- I’d say Mario and Peach will come first, knowing your brother…”

“Oh… okay…” I said. “But it’s still so early in the Mushroom Kingdom…”

“Well,” Daisy said, sitting down beside me, “You did call them and wake them up, right?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess.”

And, a few hours later, as Daisy had promised, Mario and Peach showed up, at eight o’clock, sharp.

Staring at my brother from behind as he busied himself at the punch table pouring himself some, I realized that if it was truly December, that I wasn’t dreaming now, I needed to do something…

“Listen, Mario,” I said, dragging him into the sitting room. “I need a huge favor.”

Mario took a sip of his punch. “Mmm?” he said, raising his eyebrows.

“I need to borrow your gold wand.” I said.

“Why?” he asked, halfway through another sip.

“It’s just really important-“ I said, trying to act casual. “I need to go back and change something.”

“Um, allright,” Mario said, handing it to me. I pressed the left-hand button that showed a hologram of today’s date, then turned the knob back enough that it read “October 12, 2004, 4:32 PM.”

“Thanks, bro,” I said. “I’ll be back.”

And I pressed the knob in.

This flash of light was incredibly quick. I found myself in the sitting room in my castle. Everything was quiet. I opened the front door. I ought to be arriving any minute…
An Aich slimed past me as I held the door open. I smiled down at it, but it just slowly made its way to the staircase and under a table.

“My wristband!” came my sudden voice from just outside around the corner. Startled, I slunk upstairs at the exact same time I had burst into the castle, screaming “DAISY?!”

I bolted into my room and hid in the closet. It was sort of amusing listening to myself run frantically around the castle, until finally coming into the room and flopping down onto the bed.

Then Apatite appeared on the corner. “Tired?” she said.

I watched myself leap up, look at Apatite, and panic again.

“Why do you look so surprised?” Apatite had asked me. I watched as Apatite explained what the deal with Pyrope was, and saw that little Aich enter the room.

“Listen, this is very important,” Apatite said to me, sticking her finger into one of my ribs. “don’t forget this- my name is Apatite. I’ve already spoken with your brother; he knows what the Yoshi’s Benitoite is. We need to find it s-“

“You mean this?” I had asked, and handed Apatite the Benitoite.

I watched as Apatite rejoiced and said how stupid she must have been to see me with it so long ago, and watched myself become more nervous and worried about Mario-

I heard a loud whooshing noise that was unfamiliar. Pyrope burst into the room dramatically. This was neat, sort of like watching a movie.

And then Pyrope killed Apatite. I cringed as I was forced to watch it for a second time.

“Who else have you done that to?” I had yelled after the Aich sat on my shoulder. It was sort of funny seeing the looks on my own and Pyrope’s faces, they were identical.

“You’re a hardy one, yes,” Pyrope snarled, threatening me with her weapon.

“You know,” she threatened sweetly, “Destroying the Mushroom Kingdom wasn’t hard at all. Sarasaland’s only a little bit bigger, how much harder could it be?”

Hearing these words still sent a little jolt of anger through me. She was destroying the things I loved because they were more powerful than she was… I clenched my fist but was careful not to make any noise.

I had whacked her weapon out of my way and yelled “You destroyed the Mushroom Kingdom?”

“Let go-“ Pyrope growled and threw me off. I started feeling tensed up, I knew what was coming. She was now holding the weapon over me, and my hair stood on end as I watched her attempt to plunge it into my chest.

But she had failed in killing me; she did nothing more than scratch me. Or, at least I think, because the instant she had hurt me, I could see that my clothes were ripped, but there was actually no wound at all-it was the time wand around my neck that was destroyed- it started vibrating and whistling as I realized that I wasn’t dead. The chain was broken; the wand fell to the ground as I stood up.

Positioning myself so I wouldn’t miss anything, I watched as Pyrope and I stood for a second, staring at the madly vibrating and screeching wand on the floor, which then exploded with a burst of white light. I let my jaw drop as I watched myself disappear with a quick blink, while Pyrope was yelling madly, jabbing the scepter into the floor, and then disappearing, as well-

And then there was an explosion- as though the castle had been bombed, I felt the ground shaking-

I threw myself to the ground and snatched a coat from the closet. I threw it over my head and, frightened, waited for the rumbling to stop.

And it did. Afraid to see what had happened, I slowly pulled the cloak off of my head.

My jaw dropped again as I looked around. This looked exactly like Peach’s castle did; ruined. I pushed myself up. The closet I was in was missing its roof, as I stood up, pieces of insulation and wood hit me in the head. I left the closet to get a better look. I was unharmed.

What had just happened, I wondered to myself. Where did Pyrope go, and I was thrown to two months into the future?

I picked up the broken pieces of the time wand off the floor. They were colder than usual, but seemed now to be broken beyond repair. As I examined it, I saw a huge amount of thick slime coming from under a heavy armchair.

“Oh, no…” I whispered, dropping the pieces and picking up the armchair. Under it was the little Aich that had been in the room. I picked it up; it hung limply in my hands. It was dead, killed by the heavy weight of the armchair that had smashed its delicate organs.

“Poor thing…” I whispered, feeling my heart break for the weird little thing. Then it hit me- as the final bits of slime dripped off its lifeless corpse, I realized why I was still standing here-

As I remembered what Kolorado had said about these things- “Their excretions will heal any injury or illness, it’s a chemical that immediately tells body cells to recover in a flash…“ This Aich had slimed all over everything. When it crawled up my arm and onto my shoulder, it had slimed on my neck, reviving my voice after Pyrope had disabled it.

And, I thought, as a tear budded in my eye, this Aich had also slimed all over Pyrope’s scepter. When she attacked me, it only hurt a little bit because I’d been immediately healed, and kept alive…

“Luigi, sir!” someone behind me yelled. I turned around. It was Toadsworth, running towards me frantically.

“Oh- oh my heavens-“ he panted, catching his breath, “The castle- Peach… I don’t…”

“Where is she?” I asked him, strictly reminding myself that it was the middle of October. “Where’s Daisy? I’ve just like… lost contact of everyone, I’m so confused…”

Toadsworth looked up at me.

“We have no idea what’s going on,” he said. “But honestly- I’ve never been so happy to see you…“

Toadsworth and I left the room and entered the foyer. I swallowed hard as I looked around the foyer. It was totally ruined. Chunks of the ceiling were falling out, and everything. I took my wristband off.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“The red-haired girl, and your brother…” Toadsworth said, “I believe I heard that they ran off to Peach’s castle.”

“Peach’s castle?” I asked, stepping off of the last stair and into the foyer. I was careful to not step on any glass. “Why there?”

Toadsworth shrugged. “The rest of your friends are here, now, though, they’re quite worried, really…

I opened the door to the outdoors, and was immediately blinded by a flash of extremely bright light.

“Luigi, sir!” someone screamed. “Tell us what happened while you were in the castle!”

I blinked. Dozens of reporters with flash cameras were bearing down on me as though we were in a football game.

“Do you have any idea what ruined the castle!” is the sort of things they were saying.

“I… uh… I don’t…”

“Come with me, kid,” an old man said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the crowd. He led me into a large, nearby hotel. I shut the door and turned to face him.

“Thanks,” I gasped, wiping my forehead and glancing out the window.

“Your friends are here, too. I’ve got a gift for you.”

“What?” I asked him. This was a total stranger to me- why did he have a gift for me?

The man pushed a box of chocolates into my hands. “Here,” he said. “Your friends are in the other room. Just stay here until the reporters leave. This will keep you occupied.”

I looked down at the box. “Thanks,” I said. I went into the side room, and as he had said, there was everyone except for Mario and Julie.

“There you are!” Ricky said. “I know those reporters probably startled you, but what on earth DID happen in there?”

“It was Pyrope,” I said, sitting down and opening the box of chocolates. “She was here. She smashed my time wand with her scepter, and then, I really missed the next part, but it was when she did destroy the castle.”

“Luigi, come here,” Waluigi’s voice sounded. I sighed and set down my box of chocolates, “Just a minute,” I told Ricky, and left the little side room- I spotted Waluigi in the foyer of the hotel, talking with Birdo, who I was surprised to see here.

“Huh,” I said to Waluigi.

“What,” he asked, annoyed.

“Didn’t you call me?”

“No,” he said impatiently, and then went back to talking and bragging about machines and aircraft with Birdo.

“Allright…” I said, and went back into the sitting room and opened my box of chocolates.

“Which one next… which one next…” I mumbled, scanning the box for one that looked like it had caramel filling. Those are my favorites.

“Luigi!” Waluigi shouted again.

Again, I agitatedly set down my box of chocolates and walked over to Waluigi.

“What,” I said again.

“Do you have some mental problem, or something?” Waluigi asked me. “I haven’t been calling you.”

I rolled my eyes at his stupid joke, and went back into the room with my chocolates.

“Luigi, you idiot-“ Waluigi called.

“Nice try, Waluigi,” I shouted, not looking up and picking up a chocolate and breaking it in half, (it looked like it had nougat filling,) “Very funny joke.”

“No you, idiot, I’m in here-“

“What?” I said, startled, looking up from my box. “Where… what, are you hiding?”

“I’m not hiding; I’m in the room next to you.”

“Your joke’s very funny, but I apologize for not buying it-“ I said, stuffing the candy into my mouth. It wasn’t nougat, it was coconut filling. Not bad, I thought. I went back to digging for chocolates.

“Come over here.” Waluigi said sternly, like a parent scolding a child.

“Where,” I said lazily, not looking up from my box of chocolates, trying to see which one could be caramel filled.

“To the room next to you.”

I picked up the box of chocolates and swallowed the one already in my mouth. I saw Waluigi in the foyer, with his back to me.

“You’re not in the room next to me, you’re in the foyer, I see you.” I said sardonically, unwrapping another chocolate.

“Just do it!”

“Allright, allright,” I said, suppressing a snicker because this was so stupid, and walked to the next room, another small sitting room that was almost identical to the one I had just been in, only was completely empty.

“Close the door,” Waluigi said.

I sighed and slowly closed it. “This is very stupid,” I said, swallowing the chocolate in my mouth.

“You’re the one who’s stupid. Turn around.”

I did so. The box of chocolates slipped out of my hands as I slid down on the wall until I was sitting, open mouthed and staring, on the floor.

“Yeah, I know,” Waluigi said. “Surprise, surprise.”

It WAS Waluigi- only it was that copy of him that we saw back in Peach’s castle- just milk-colored, slightly blue, transparent- a ghost.

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