Chapter Text
Everyone had a soulmate, it was just a fact of life. Most love stories talked about how meeting the one’s gaze would bring color to your world. They mean that literally. Everyone was born seeing in grayscale until they locked eyes with their soulmate. In this world, where it’s easy to travel between kingdoms, most everyone meets their soulmate at some point. Though some are too impatient to wait.
That being said;
Bowser and Peach have never spoken to each other. At least, not directly. Sure, they’ve been in the same place at the same time on numerous occasions.There had been a ball for her birthday, the dinner for his coronation, and numerous others. Unfortunately, they have not been able to talk. Not for lack of trying on Bowser’s part. He always attempted to approach her, but something would get in the way and their meeting would be delayed, again and again.
It was frustrating, but Bowser was sure that if he could just look into her eyes, that she would be the one to show him the colors of the world! Anyone with eyes could see the princess’s beauty. Her lips were soft and pouty, just like a peach. Her hair sat softly atop her head, not a hair out of place. Her lithe body curved in all the right places. Bowser could ramble on and on about each physical trait that intrigued him. But that wasn’t the only reason he knew she was his soulmate. He wasn’t as shallow as that, no. He’d never met a single being that didn’t sing her praise. There were countless tales of her bravery and wit. She was kind, fiery, and intelligent. The list never ended. But Bowser admired her above all else. They would rule greatly together. Bowser was a powerful ruler, no one denied that. However, he lacked the charm and grace that came so easily to the princess. Anyone outside of the Dark Lands feared him, which had its merits for sure, but it made alliances difficult to gain. Peach would be his other, better, half in that regard.
If only she could look into his eyes, she’d realize it too.
He had tried sending letters instead. Asking her directly to meet, instead of trying to catch her attention at some ball. Of course he also added a confession of his love for her. He must have come on too strong, because she either refused him or didn’t even respond to him. His fiery passion had obviously made her too shy. But he had a new approach now! He was going to take the power star from some dumb ass penguins to propose to her. He would fly right to the mushroom kingdom, look the princess right in the eyes, and profess his love for her as their world began to be painted in colors.
There was absolutely no way this wouldn’t work!
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Luigi was sure that he was the most unlucky person to ever exist. His day had been a catastrophe from the start. First, he woke up breathless from another nightmare, then there had been the unwarranted ridicule from his former boss, the usual. For a moment, he had hope when he and his brother finally got a job for their business. But it only ended in disaster. Their family’s disappointment had been scathing at dinner, almost too much to bear. Now there was… this. Whatever this was. He’d followed his brother, like he always did, down into the disgusting Brooklyn sewers. Only for him to end up sucked through some pipe. The worst part was, they were separated from one another. Luigi wound up roughly chucked out onto the dusty ground in some spooky forest. He was alone and scared. He was barely holding back his sobs, whimpering softly instead as he shakily beamed his flashlight around him nervously.
“Mario?” He called softly, though he didn't really expect a reply. He decided he couldn’t just stand around and wait, hoping Mario would find him, so he reluctantly began to make his way through the horrifying place.
Almost immediately, he stumbled into the arms of danger and spent what felt like forever running from it. Only to end up captured in the end anyways.
Once they landed, he was led down an area lined with statues that were all of the same monster. It was like the skeletons from earlier but at the same time different. The monster in the statue wasn’t just bones and he was much bigger and scarier. Luigi looked around, getting more frightened by the minute. Without warning, the little guy in the mask leading him tugged on the rope so hard that he fell face first.
“We found him in the darklands” The leader said as he pushed himself up onto his knees. There was a grand throne and sitting atop of it was the scary beast from the statues. He held himself in a way that oozed power, there would be no denying him. Luigi turned his gaze downcast immediately with a yelp. He didn’t know much about monarch culture, but he was pretty sure peasants weren’t allowed to act familiar with the king.
“Leave him to me” The king grunted. He heard the footsteps approaching and shuffled backwards on his knees in fear. Suddenly, a turtle in a wizard outfit appeared right next to him with a poof. The wizard raised a wand and he was instantly engulfed in some kind of light. The rope fell off of him, leaving his wrists sore. He was raised into the air and thrusted towards the king. He shut his eyes in fear.
“What is your name?” He was spun around by a sharp claw. It made him nauseous, and he let out a shaky breath before answering,
“U-Um, Luigi” He shuddered as he felt a hot breath on his ear, the king behind him now. He tried to get another glimpse of the king but he was just out of sight.
“Not sure if you know who I am, but the princess is my soulmate and we are about to rule the world.”
“W-Wow! Um,” He gulped nervously. “Yay..?”
“But there is one problem, Luigi.” The magic spun him around to see the king looking off to the side angrily.
“There is a human traveling with my soulmate. He has a mustache, just like you.” A clawed finger made its way to caress his chin and then twirl his mustache. “Do you know him?”
“N-No!?” Luigi was a horrible liar. He looked up at a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. “No!” He said more confidently now that he was giving his attention elsewhere.
“Oh, a tough one I see?” The king said appreciatively. “Maybe this will get you to talk.” Luigi was roughly grabbed by the king, his body engulfed by just one of the beast’s hands. He whimpered pathetically as sharp claws pulled at his mustache.
“What, you think I know every-?” In a sudden act of defiance he decided to glare into the eyes of the beast only for it to stop his words in their tracks.
Color filled his vision, knocking the wind out of him. Luigi could see it affected the turtle king as well. The monster abruptly stopped his torture and reared back, as if slapped. The room filled with a heavy silence, no one saying anything. The creatures in masks from earlier, and the turtle wizard looked on questioningly, confused at the sudden end to the interrogation.
The turtle dragon had a look of shock decorating his face, before it morphed into anger and disgust. Luigi was confused. He was sure this beast had said he already had a soulmate.
“I th-thought you said the princess-?” “Silence!” The king cut him off with a growl, throwing him roughly. His body tumbling across the floor and landing in a heap in front of the king’s subjects.
“Get him out of my sight!”
“N-No! Please, wait I-!” But Luigi was already being dragged away, and he looked helplessly at the green shell of his soulmate as the colors started fading once again.
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This had to be a mistake, Bowser was sure of it. The pleas of the human faded, along with all the new colors, as he was dragged away. The king sighed. There was no way that that pathetic human was his soulmate. Princess Peach was his soulmate! She had to be; she was all he ever wanted. He wasn’t gonna let some mustached idiot ruin that! The pain and fear in the prisoner’s voice as he was dragged away echoed in his mind.
“Kamek!” He roared. The wizard was beside him in an instant.
“Yes, your majesty?”
“Find out everything you can about the new humans. Both of them, do you understand? Tell me everything you learn, but never bring that- that thing near me again” He spat.
“Understood, your majesty.” Kamek seemed skeptical about Bowser’s strange reaction, but knew better than to question him. Bowser was known to be a stubborn king. Bowser grunted as Kamek went off after the prisoner in overalls.
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Luigi ended up locked in a cage. It was like a giant version of a bird cage and it hung dangerously over a lake of lava. There were several other beings in the same position around him, but they didn’t say anything to him, only looked at him with pity. He didn’t blame them, though. He felt like, up until this point, he had done a good job of holding in his tears. That’s why he wasn’t surprised that he could no longer stop them. They flowed freely down his face and he quietly sobbed to himself.
It was soon after the guards that dragged him to this prison had left, when the wizard appeared. He seemed shocked to see Luigi in such a pitiful state. Luigi was sure he must look awful. His mom always said he got red like a tomato when he cried.
Luigi idly thought about how Mario would normally be by him with a cloth wet with cold water to soothe his burning face. New tears began to fall.
“Why is water leaking out of your face?” The old wizard asked with a sneer.
“W-what? I’m… I’m crying..?” He was embarrassed to admit it, but it seemed obvious that it wasn’t just ‘leaking water’.
“Why?” Luigi looked at the wizard, perplexed. Was this guy kidding? Even without the knowledge of the rest of his shitty day, being kidnapped and thrown by your supposed soulmate into a death trap was awful! But then, the wizard didn’t know about the soulmate part, and Luigi sure wasn’t gonna be the one to spill the beans.
“I-” He hesitated. He was obviously meant to answer as the other was waiting on his reply, but he wasn’t sure what to say. More tears welled up in his eyes.
“I want my big brother!” He sobbed out, hiding his face in his hands. The wizard flinched back.
“Um, there there?” The wizard reached through the bars and pat Luigi’s head softly. “Calm down, now. If King Bowser hears you’ve thrown a tantrum it won’t end well.” This only caused Luigi to sob harder. The wizard withdrew his hand.
“Your brother is the red one, yes?” Luigi stopped to look up at the wizard.
“Y-You can see color?” he asked between sniffles.
“Oh, you can’t, hmm? My apologies. The other mustache human is your brother then?” Luigi wiped his nose, ignoring how the other avoided the question, and gave a small nod.
“Then no need to worry, Bowser intends to capture him as well.” That started up Luigi’s tears again.
“I don’t want him to! He’s going to hurt me, and he’s going to hurt Mario! All because of some princess who isn’t even his soulmate!” He yelled, face flushed and wet. The wizard grabbed the front of his shirt and jerked him forward until his chest pressed against the bars of his cage.
“What do you even know, human?” He spat. Luigi shut his mouth with a click “You know nothing of this world.” Luigi gulped, a few stray tears dripping down his flushed cheeks.
“Ask him! The- the king!” Luigi shrank back nervously at his outburst. “Ask him?” He pleaded more calmly. The wizard dropped him and his body fell to the bottom of the cage. The prison stuttered and swayed, the chain that prevented it from falling creaked and groaned at the movement.
Luigi picked himself up as soon as the cage settled, but the wizard was already gone. He drew his knees to his chest and put his head down.