𝖎𝖒𝖕𝖚𝖗𝖎𝖙𝖎𝖊𝖘 ● 𝗟𝘂𝗶𝗴𝗶 𝘅 𝗕𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗲𝗿

| 𝐀 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 |

Luigi's POV

I continued following behind Junior. We hid behind one of the many giant statues in the castle, silently waiting for a couple of guards to pass by.

"I thought you said there wouldn't be any guards!" I whisper shouted.

"I said the guards ease up at 12." He corrected me.

"You know, it's never too late to turn back."

"And miss out on this one time opportunity? No way. Besides, I knocked a guard out just to get into your room. There's no turning back now."

We watched as the guards made their way into a different part of the castle.

"They shouldn't be back for a while. Come on!" He said, once again tugging onto my arm forcing me to follow behind him.

I'm not sure what's worse: The fact that I agreed to this, or the fact that this 5 year old kid is braver than me. Our running came to a stop when we saw a large blue door.

There was a skeleton koopa guarding the door. Before I could ask if Junior had a plan, he was already digging into his backpack.

He pulled out a slingshot and a good size rock. He then fired, launching the rock directly into the skeleton turtle's head, causing him to fall apart.

"Junior!"

"What?"

"Y-you just killed a koopa!"

"Relax, he's undead. He'll wake up and put himself back together in an hour or so. Now quit being such a worry wart and let's go." He said, running toward the door.

I followed behind him, moving the unconscious koopas parts away from the door. He then handed me the keys.

"Well, do your stuff tall guy." He said, handing me the pair of keys.

I tried every key until one of the keys fit and the door began to open. We quickly dashed in, locking the door behind us.

"Nice work." He said, before tugging on my arm, once again forcing me to follow him.

The room we entered was quite big and full of what I could only assume to be rare treasures.

"We must be in the treasure room." Junior mumbled."Ooo, look at these flowers."

My attention was drawn to the flowers he was examining. But they didn't look like any ordinary flowers. They looked identical to the fire flower power-up we got from Peach's castle.

"How are these here?"

"Oh, my dad dedicates a part of the castle to growing them. Though they're usually used by the chef's for special occasions. They usually help cook large amounts of food faster. Though I think the last time the chefs used them was to celebrate my first birthday. We haven't had a party in 5 years since then. And we probably never will. I have hardly any memory of the party since I was a baby." Junior said lastly, his face frowning.

"Really?" I asked as he shook his head.

I stared at one of the many fire flowers. I began reaching for one, but before I could grab it, Junior whacked my leg.

"Whoa, we probably shouldn't take one of those! Those take at least 2 years to grow. " He said.

"I thought you said to stop being such a worry wart. Besides, it could come in handy and it doesn't look like he plans on using these anytime soon." I said.

"Alright, but just take one."

I snagged one and we proceeded to look around the room. We didn't find much that really interested us. After seeing all there was to see, we made our way toward the exit. I peaked out first to make sure no guards were in sight.

Junior peaked out alongside. We both spotted Bowser walking down the hall. We silently watched as he walked, looking as if he was in deep thought. He walked right past the room we were in.

"Looks like he's headed to the throne room." Junior said.

"That was a close call." I sighed in relief.

"We're lucky he didn't notice the knocked out guard."

" Yeah... Well, let's not stop here. Let's see what else we can find."

"Hmp, I'm surprised you're not suggesting we quit while we're ahead."

"Like you said, it's too late to turn back. We're all in on this one." I said which brought a smile to his face.

He seemed like he didn't get opportunities like this often. After hearing he hasn't had a party since he was born, I felt I owed him this. He was bossy, but adorable at the same time.

"Alright, where are we off to next?" I asked him.

"Follow me." He smiled.

I followed behind him, both of us scurrying across the halls. We stopped at another door.

"I always wondered what was in this room." He said.

I began testing all the keys until one eventually fit and unlocked the door. When we opened it, we instantly froze when we saw the general sitting at his desk. His shocked face quickly turned into one of anger.

I shut the door and the two of us took off running.

"I thought you said he'd be asleep!" I said.

"I said he's usually asleep! Usually!" He corrected me.

"Where do we go?"

"This way!"

I followed behind the tiny koopa. I looked back to see the general running in our direction. We ran up a set of stairs, and continued running straight forward.

"Use the fire flower!" Junior commanded.

I gave a nod, pulling it out and absorbing its power. I turned around and made a firewall to stop the general in his path. I then continued to follow behind Junior.

He stopped in front of a large red door.

"In here!" He pointed.

I quickly began testing all the keys we haven't tried yet until one worked. After opening the door, we proceeded to run in and lock it behind us. Junior then grabbed a chair, and pushed it against the door knob.

"That should do for now." He smiled."Come on, I wanna show you something."

I followed behind him, looking around the room. I saw multiple neatly set up round tables with chairs around them.

The room had beautiful chandeliers hanging from the top of the room. I used the power of the fire flower to help Junior light the unlit candles.

"Is this the dining hall?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He said.

Junior suddenly stopped in his tracks, staring up at a large portrait hanging on the wall in a golden picture frame. It looked to be a painting of Bowser having his son sit on his lap.

Junior looked a good bit younger in the portrait. I looked down at Junior, who now had a troubled look on his face.

"Was this painted on the night of your only birthday party?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He slowly nodded.

"Is this why you wanted to get into the dining hall so badly? "

"Yeah... I vaguely remember my dad ordering some of the guards to hang the painting in here. We haven't hosted an event here for years so I never got to see the painting again. Most of the time, my dad keeps me in my room to keep me out of the guards' way."

"You two looked so happy there."

"Yeah... He used to be so happy about the idea of having me as his son. Overtime he just got busier and busier until he practically had the henchmen taking care of me for him.... But it's not the same. Sometimes I feel like he just had me just so he'd have someone to pass the throne onto."

I watched as his face became flooded with tears. He turned away from me, seeming embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to cry-" He said, trying to wipe all the tears off his face.

"N-no, it's okay." I said, kneeling down beside him."This is probably a lot for you."

"I just wish my dad would pay attention to me more. It's just really hard spending every day by myself without having a single friend."

"Well, we could be friends." I offered.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure how long I'll be here for but I want to make the most of it. You seem like a good kid. Maybe I could help get your dad to take time out of his schedule to hang out with you."

"You'd do that?!"

"Yeah. Not sure how effective it'll be but it couldn't hurt to try."

Junior gave a cheerful smile before tightly hugging me.

"Thank you! You have no idea how much this means to me!"

We then suddenly heard a loud bang on the door. We both frantically turned around, Junior wiping the tears from his face.

"Well... There's nowhere left to run. You're probably gonna get in a lot of trouble." I said looking down at him.

"T-that's okay. I got to see what I came here for." He said, wiping one last tear off his face."I never got your name."

"It's Luigi." I answered.

"Well, thanks for spending time with me, Luigi."

We watched as the doors swung open. At least 20 guards came rushing in toward us.

I prepared to use whatever was left of the fire flower, but that was when Junior stepped in front of me holding his hand up towards the guards ordering them to stop.

The general came out from among the crowd of guards with a furious look on his face.

"You two are in big trouble." He growled.

Seeing as the two of us didn't have much of a choice, we followed behind the general. It felt like deja vu all over again. Before we knew it we found ourselves in Bowser's throne room.

Bowser's face had a mix of surprise and intrigue when he saw the two of us walking in together.

"Your highness, we caught these two outside their rooms roaming around the castle. We found an unconscious guard outside the human's room, and another outside the treasure room. The human also stole a fire flower. And lastly, they stole something from you." The General said, handing Bowser the keys we used to roam around the castle.

"Is that everything?" Bowser asked.

"Yes."

"You may take your leave, General. I'll take it from here."

The General and the guards left the room leaving me, Junior, and Bowser alone. I looked over at Junior, who had a mix of anger and guilt written over his face.

Bowser directed his gaze at me first, standing up from his chair.

"I didn't think keeping you here would be this much of a hassle." He said, walking towards us."First you break into my castle. Then have the audacity to steal my keys and roam around the castle." He stated, towering in front of me.

"Leave him alone, dad. He didn't do anything." Junior interrupted.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking." Bowser growled.

"IT WASN'T HIM DAD! IT WAS ME!"

Junior's shouting took Bowser by surprise. I was a bit relieved that Junior kept his word. I took a few steps back and positioned myself behind Junior.

"I snuck out of my room and stole your keys and convinced him to help me sneak around the castle." Junior admitted.

"And why did you do that?!"

"Because I didn't want to spend the rest of the week alone in my room with no one to talk to! You never spend time with me dad. It's been 5 years!"

"I told you I'm busy."

"Maybe, but I spent more time with this prisoner in one day than I have with you for my entire life! If you had this many duties you shouldn't have had me in the first place!"

"I'm working on that. I plan to get married soon. With a partner, I'll be able to make more time for you."

"I know, but I want a step parent who actually cares about me, dad. Not some random princess you're forcing into marriage!"

"How do you know about-" Bowser started to ask before looking at me."You!"

"He told me everything, dad. Does this Princess even like you? She'll probably hate me just as much just for being related to you. It's not fair to me dad."

Bowser stood silently. It looked as if he was taking in his son's words.

"Bowser?" I said, getting his attention." I spent the entire day with your son. He wants nothing more than to have a relationship with his own dad. You told me you had a lonely childhood yourself. Do you really want to subject your son to the same miserable childhood?" I said, giving him a sympathetic frown.

He looked at his son for a moment then back at me.

"I..... N-no. I don't." He said, looking to his side."But I have my responsibilities."

"Your son is also your responsibility."

"My subjects have become more and more reliant on me. My workload is just too big and it's only getting bigger."

"Well.... What if I helped?" I asked.

An intrigued look appeared on Bowser's face.

"You?"

"Yes. You said your workload is only increasing. What do you have to lose? Besides, I was a huge help to Peach back in the Mushroom Kingdom. I could act as an adviser. If we could figure out a way to make your workload smaller, you'd have more time with your son." I said.

"May I remind you that You're my prisoner? Why should I trust you?"

"If you don't trust him, could you at least trust me dad? I promise he has good intentions." Junior pleaded.

Bowser debated it over silently before letting out a heavy sigh.

"Here's my offer. I'll let you watch me in action for a couple of days. We'll see where it goes from there. Deal?" He said, holding out his hand.

"Deal." I said, shaking his hand which he ended up squeezing really hard.

Junior let out an excited cheer.

"You might want to get some rest. I'll need you to be here by 5:30."

"Right."

Bowser had two of his henchmen walk me back to my room.

After getting to my room, I lied down in my bed. I couldn't stop thinking about what I agreed to.

I mean, I was doing this for Junior but that meant I actually had to get along with Bowser for this to work.

I was a bit surprised that Bowser actually considered my offer. Maybe he was that desperate to have some sort of help in the Lava Kingdom.

I brushed my thoughts aside and did my best to get some rest for tomorrow.