Slowly but surely his tears began to wane. Luigi didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, sobbing pitifully at his brother's proposed fate. But at last he began to come around.

Rising shakily, Luigi took a deep breath and nodded. Okay... so he had to find Mario, and now. Glancing around cluelessly for a second, he set his brow with determination. Where else could he really go but forward?

Hesitating for just one last second as he glanced around the hall, Luigi sighed. He might not have much time at all.

Catching sight again of the black and crimson trail adorning the walls and floor around him, he shivered. One look and he had made up his mind - no, he had to go this way. It was written in the gore all over; this was his path.

Trying to ignore the awful smell and think about nothing but following that path, Luigi pressed forward. He kept a frightened eye on the bloody trail, forcing himself not to think on every inch, every disruption, every pattern. It was ridiculous, really; if he didn't know better he'd have thought they had done it on purpose: even with paintbrushes. Something told Luigi that somehow, it had been more of an accident; the result of a ghastly scene that made him faint to think about.

Heart thumping in worry, he ran for the next staircase and the third floor.

~

If the rest of the mansion had been deathly cold, the third floor was a far cry from it. As Luigi circled the stairs ever upwards into a small musty lounge of some sort, the warm air made him feel sweaty all over again.

Pausing at first, Luigi tilted his head. What was this place? Unfinished wooden ceilings and walls indeed made it feel rustic, if one could call it that. But despite the initial heat, Luigi soon felt something else in the air that instantly chilled his perception.

He was not alone here.

Laughing aloud as if someone had told the most hilarious joke, a huge, brawny ghost of a man abruptly appeared in a chair before him, great bushy beard bouncing as he did so. He was dressed in garb fitting for one on a safari, and in one moment Luigi realized what this was.

Leopard skins stretched across the floor and even the chair he sat on, and silent deer heads stared down at them from one wall. The sight of their frozen, startled eyes was enough to freeze Luigi to the core, at least for a second. So this was that hunter the journal had mentioned.

Looking Luigi over with a precise eye, the ghost chuckled again to himself. "Well I don't believe it! It's a human!" He bellowed.

Holding his breath, Luigi just stared at him, unable to make a sound. So the hunter was no longer human, or what?

"I've been waiting a many long years for one of you," he went on gleefully, slowly rising from his chair. "Boy, what luck is this!"

A terrible feeling of dread descending on him like a shadow, Luigi began to creep back towards the wall. "I - I don't mean to disturb you," he stammered, somehow getting the words out. "I'm just looking for another human."

"Another? Boy, you're wasting your time here then. If I had seen another he'd already be on my wall."

Luigi tried to gulp but it stuck in his throat. "W-well thanks for your help," he offered feebly, beginning to make again for the door. But the hunter let out a jovial laugh that nearly made Luigi jump.

"Woah there, little feller!" He exclaimed, suddenly blocking the door. "Do you think I'm just gonna let you go? I think not."

Trying not to appear shaken, Luigi watched him with enormous, questioning eyes.

"Now the way I see it, I haven't made a proper catch unless I can outrun my prey," he mused aloud. "So if we're gonna do this right, you'll have to get away in order to win."

Already hating the sound of this, Luigi asked, "Win what?"

"Tell ya what. If you can get down to the entrance and capture the flag there before I do, I'll give ya this," the hunter said, holding up a giant crystal from nowhere.

Staring in bafflement at the big blue crystal in his hand, Luigi slowly processed that. "Why exactly?" he ventured timidly.

"Cause it's pretty, duh! And if you lose... I'll mount your head as a trophy!"

Recoiling with a gasp, Luigi nearly tripped on a leopard skin rug. That could not be true.

Even after all he'd faced, Luigi didn't think his life had ever been in quite this much jeopardy. And more than just his head would hang in the balance: Mario's life would too. Nothing was worth bargaining Mario's life for.

"And if I ref-fuse?" he stammered.

"Then I'll just hunt you down myself." The ghost turned a short pocketknife in his hand to make sure he got the idea.

At the sight of it Luigi couldn't repress another gasp and his face became almost completely white. His blood ran cold, his heart dropped, and if he'd been paying attention he'd have known that he'd just wet himself. But the ghost did nothing but grin in the darkness, metal blade flashing silver as it rotated around and around, whispering Luigi's name.

"The flag is in the entrance now," the hunter continued at last. "Last one there is a trophy." And then he disappeared.

~

Twenty seconds later a crazed Luigi came hurling, drenched and nearly senseless, down the first floor hallway. Flag... F-flag...

Arriving at the double doors which he knew belonged to the entrance, he yanked them open and tore outside.

Sure enough, there by the front doors was a small white flag. It waved and blew as if in some spectral wind; but that didn't matter. Panting as if it might be his very last breath, Luigi lunged for it.

"I got it!" He cried, waving the thing above his head like a maniac. "I got it!!"

He would never have guessed that he could have cleared that much square footage in less than thirty seconds. But a threat like that on the line, and Luigi moved pretty fast. Sagging against the front doors, he gasped and heaved, sweat nearly dripping off him in a shower.

Surprisingly, even after a couple more seconds had passed, the hunter still had not shown. Finally pausing to take a shaky swallow, Luigi straightened up. "He-hello?"

"Well, hello," a growling voice replied. "Nice to see you here. Although, really? Look what you've done to my floor."

Snapping his head up in shock, Luigi met King Boo's condescending red eyes and utterly froze.

With a sigh of exasperation, the king meandered closer. "I would make you clean it up, you know, but tonight's your lucky night," he said. "It's not like you'll be capable of much sweating anyway once the mansion's through with you."

Trying to remember to breathe, Luigi stared at the monarch and simultaneously tried not to be embarrassed in front of the spirit. Well none of this was his fault!

King Boo went on when Luigi didn't reply. "In case you didn't figure out, plumber boy, I'm the one who sent you the letter," he announced. "This was all part of my brilliant plan to get back at you pesky Mario brothers who make war on my boos. But I must say... somewhere along the line something went wrong."

Pausing for a moment, the Boo again began to pace in a circle. "You didn't do the right thing... or it didn't go as it should have. Right from the beginning something seemed all messed up."

Luigi was silent, but deep down he knew he had to agree with the Boo. King Boo was right. Somehow, this night, this whole escapade had not gone at all as it should have. Luigi knew that. Luigi had always known that.

Perhaps it would cost everything.

"But, nevertheless, it shall turn out fine in the end," King Boo went on. Nodding to Luigi, he added, "Your Game Boy doesn't lie."

With a slow frown of confusion, Luigi stared at the king, who watched him in amused triumph. Carefully, he produced the gadget with a quivering hand.

There across its display was the numbers: 00:01.

Luigi had no words in that moment. The Game Boy didn't have a clock or timer -

King Boo cackled victoriously. "Your hour has come."

And then, before Luigi's very eyes, the king and the room, everything else around him began to disappear.

No... No!! Luigi scrambled forward, stared up, around, everywhere... but it was true; and it was hopeless. The mansion was vanishing.

He had known it had gone all wrong.

But there was something else that loomed like a shadow, dark and ugly, over his head in that moment.

He had failed Mario.

Almost in an instant it was all gone, taken away like a fatal blow; Now there was nowhere he could look, no place on earth he could find the sweet, brave person who had been his 'little big brother'. The one who had ever comforted him, protected him, played with him when they were small. The one person above all who he'd felt close to.

He was gone.

It would take longer than a moment for reality to strike; but it could only sink in deeper. The gray clouds swarmed, swallowing up the sky; and outside of the lonely gates that led to an empty lot, Luigi bowed to the ground in defeat.

He should have known he'd screw this up. He had failed.

He didn't know when it happened, and he didn't know how long it took. He didn't even think about where he might be anymore - he might have vanished entirely. Out of sight, out of existence. But he would never be out of mind.

Borne from the new depression that was awakened inside him, Luigi thought of nothing else. It was his only focus; the last remaining thought on his mind.

~

The lightning flashed angrily, shooting a single white fork across the black sky. As it struck, it illuminated for a single frightening second the old gate; and the lone, shady figure lying before it.

Rising abruptly from the ground like a person from their grave, the creature stopped and turned. His eyes were nothing, shaded with dark and shadow; and his entire countenance hung like one in eternal mourning. It was a terrifying, unearthly sight.

There on the hill behind him stood a mansion. It was enormous and demanding, the same as ever; the same as it had been a hundred years ago, and fifty years, and even the day before. Now, summoned back once again, it had returned. It had returned to its hill; where the lonely gates would forever wait for its house to come back whenever it left. Now it had returned again.

Who dwelt within it now, he didn't know. Likely the king who had called it forth from the past still reigned supreme, head over not only the house but all the woods. He had claimed it for his own.

Slightly lifting his hanging head, the creature started forward. Through the gates, up the path and back into that forbidden house. It called him now, and it would not let go. Like an animal he went. He would reside in it for the rest of days.

But still he did not go entirely against his will. Approaching again that house, entering for the final time, he almost felt eager. Now he could search. Now he could move towards that one end which had been his single dying thought - and none would stop him. None would even care.

Perhaps the old man would show up some day. Perhaps he would find him, come wondering what had happened. But it didn't matter anymore.

He didn't know what had truly become of him. In this one area his hope was shady. But if the king had any mercy left in him, perhaps he was here - somewhere. Perhaps he could be allowed to continue to search, carry out his forever goal. And perhaps, just perhaps... he would still be successful. Maybe he would eventually finish that long, perilous quest he had begun on a stormy night in a different life, and be at last at rest. Maybe.

But until then, he would continue to faithfully search the halls. He would not, could not stop, for it forever filled his mind... the one who he thought might bring him joy. He had to exist; surely. And maybe, just maybe...

He would find him someday.

-END-