Undulating Serendipity

Act 1, Scenes 2 and 3: Family and Love

The next day, Luigi's cleaning up his baking station, really throwing himself to making the area spotless, before he starts mixing up another cake.

He measures, he mixes, he pours, he bakes.

"Hello!" Toadsworth greets Zoey, who has some papers for him. "Contracts, all signed and agreed to." She tells him.

"Thanks." Toadsworth nods.

"Any word?" Zoey asks.

"From Luigi?" Toadsworth shakes his head. "No."

"I'm telling you, he believed it!" Zoey gushes yet again. "Perhaps I can play another part? Caleb's too emotional, Cara's too indignant. I'm in everything anyway."

"But he still wrote 3 letters." Toadsworth says.

"But Life is the reason Family exists!" Zoey counters. "I should just do all of them!"

Later, as they're strolling the castle gardens, Zoey asks, "What did you mean when you said you're not alright?"

Toadsworth looks at her for a long moment, then says, "I am not well. At all."

As he keeps walking, Zoey seems to understanding, "Your life is almost over, isn't it?"

Toadsworth keeps walking away, "Couldn't you say that about all of us?"

"I'm saying it about you, right now." Zoey says flatly, then turns the older Toad around. "Toadsworth, please. Talk to me. What is it?"

"You want to know what it is?" Now Toadsworth turns on her. "It's just a simple matter of being completely and utterly heartbroken, and it's finally taking a toll on me. It's the simple fact that every day gets a little harder walking through this starsforsaken castle like nothing happened."

"Does anyone know?" Zoey asks, and at the shake of Toadsworth's head, she's aghast. "No one knows?"

"Besides a drama queen I'll never see again after this?" Toadsworth huffs.

"What happened?" Zoey asks.

"The kingdom fell into disarray." Toadsworth says flatly. "It had come close before, many times, but now it has. I wasn't exaggerating when I said the kingdom is hanging by a thread."

"This really isn't so simple, is it?" Zoey says.

Toadsworth shakes his head. "It was never simple."

"Do you have everything arranged?" Zoey moves on.

"I do not." Toadsworth confesses. "That's why I agreed to this sham of a plan. I was already well into my autumn years before everything happened, but I'm not about to let life leave my lungs until I know the kingdom is secured for the foreseeable future."

Zoey contemplates on that, then says, "Luigi was convinced. I know he was."

Luigi's vision doesn't register someone at his baking station until he nearly collides with him.

"What are you doing?" Luigi shouts. "Get away from there!"

"Just tell me what the point is." The Toad with circles for spots begs, eyes wet and red rimmed. "What is the point of baking something that's just going to turn into waste in your stomach?"

"You're not supposed to be over here." Luigi says, trying to guide the Toad away.

"Yes I am, Luigi." The Toad pulls away, holding up a letter, with Family written on it, then, once Luigi's staring at him open mouthed, reads out loud, "'Family. You're hailed as the biggest support system a person will ever have, but no one talks about how fleeting you actually are. You're there for the good, but once gone, even if we do get you back, it's never the same."

Here, Family looks at him, fresh tears on his face. "How could you say that to me? If love is infinite, and life is finite, I'm the vessel carrying one through the other. Family is never fleeting, no one ever really loses their family. Wasn't it Frost who said it's when you find them, they have to take you in?"

"Luigi?" the new voice behind him makes Luigi turn around, to see Toad standing there, concerned. "I know you're not going to say yes, but I'll try anyhow. Will you attempt to be at one of the non-Bowser related negotiations? Sorry to interrupt."

Luigi looks to Family, who sniffs. "Go on. Ask."

Luigi looks back at Toad, just stares at him for several seconds, then says, "No, thank you."

Toad nods. "That's what I thought. Just wanted to try. Might hurt our deal, but..." he shrugs and walks away.

"Take it." Family behind him shoves his letter at him. "Why did you decide to pick on me? Huh?" Family shoves him again. "I'll tell you why. Because I remind you of something you can't even admit to yourself."

"No." Luigi shakes his head in adamant denial. "You don't remind me of anything at all."

"All of you need to stop yelling at me about you don't like the one you were born in." Family cries harder. "About not having one at all.", then says, "Family is what you make of it. I'm in everyone. I'm a gift from the stars. Please don't ask me to give up on you."

Family points to the station, "But you should give up on this right away.", knocking it over, making Luigi scramble to catch the sable as everything else crashes to the floor.

"Maybe I'll send you a letter next time." Family says as parting words, then leaves.

"I can't believe you made me do that." Toad says to Caleb later.

"I can't believe I made me do that." Caleb gushes.

"Who is Frost?" Toad asks curiously.

"A poet." Caleb explains. "Though he was talking about home, not family 'Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.'"

"I don't get it."

"Family is people who accept you." Caleb replies. "It doesn't necessarily mean we're related to them. That's just how it worked for so many years."

"That's ridiculous." Toad decides. "You can't say something like that to someone who lost their only child, or to someone who's entire family was wiped out by a massacre."

"Or someone who's kept to himself until he helped save the princess?" Caleb guesses, smirking when Toad gasps.

"Can we not talk about me?" He snaps. "I just wanted to tell you good job."

As he walks away, Caleb calls, "That's your family, Toad! They took you in!"

Luigi's holed up in the restricted section of the library, huddled up with a book when a Toad with red hearts finds him.

"Hello." She says.

Luigi smiles at her, but otherwise doesn't speak.

"I have to do this." She says cryptically, sitting across from him, slapping a letter down.

Luigi sighs loudly. "You get when someone goes into the restricted section, they typically want to be alone, right?"

"You...you called a game over on me, and I want to know where you..." Love seethes. "You're not calling the shots, I am. I find a way back to everyone, whether you like it or not." Love shakes her head in barely contained anger as Luigi stands up to leave. "And if you can remember that for even a moment...maybe you don't have to torture yourself for the rest of your life."

Luigi seems to contemplate it for a moment, then leaves her there.

That done, Cara covers her face in her hands, kicking herself.