Chapter Text
This wasn't how Luigi wanted to die!
“Mario, please! Slow down.”
Luigi shriek as the van swerved through traffic. Rush hours was usually pretty busy but the late summer sunshine had plenty of cars out taking up space on the road. Between the amount of cars and the pedestrians, they were bound to hit someone. Luigi braced a hand against the dashboard like his life depended on it. Beside him his brother just laughed, loud and teasing as if Luigi was over reacting to the fact they were driving over the speed limit down a crowded street.
His brother, Mario, had always been a fearless daredevil. In another life he had probably been a race car driver or a stuntman. Something dangerous and fast that would have gotten him killed young. But in this life, they were trying to speed off to their final job of the day. A long weekend was waiting for them and Mario was impatient to throw his feet up and relax. Luigi was too, though he wasn’t about ready to die for it.
He pressed himself against the seat. When they hit a pothole Luigi bounced. He flailed until his hands fell on something solid. One hand braces against the van door and the other gripped at the tight pull of his seat-belt. He really hoped the air bags had passed inspection. Car horns honked in the road. Mario yelled out the window at someone driving beside them. Luigi just held his breath.
The crazy thing, this was typical afternoon traffic for Brooklyn, especially right before a holiday weekend with people getting off work early or trying to get out of town fast. However, the sunny weather had people in a mood: loud, shouting, and impatient. With the driver-side window down they could hear distance music from car speakers and the occasional swear thrown as Mario, again, cut someone off. The van rocked a little as they swerved into the next lane. Luigi was positive they hit something.
“Mario, please!”
“Calm down, Lu,” Mario brushed him off. “We’re almost there.”
He was right. A few blocks down was their last booked job of the week. The large converted office building stood on the corner of the street, still busy as people went in and out the front doors. The large building overshadowed their van as Mario parked along the side of the curb. He second the van was thrown in park Luigi unhooked his seat belt. His hands wobbled as he wrestled the door open and practically rolled out onto the sidewalk. Mario got out too, strutting around like his shoddy driving was the best in the world. Luigi belt over his knees and took a long breath.
“Hurry up, bro. We got work to do.” Mario smacked him on the back as he walked by.
Luigi groaned and pulled himself up right. One look at the van told him he'd been right. There was a scratch along the side of the van. The logo for their plumbing company, Mario’s plumbing company, had a big stripe taken out of the paint. Both of their likeness were drawn in cartoonish pixel caricatures. The Mario Bros. It had been Mario’s idea when Luigi unenthusiastically joined the business. Mario had been thrilled. Luigi only tolerated it but those brightly coloured sprites haunted him.
This hadn’t been Luigi's dream. He wanted to be a big star on Broadway. Luigi’s entire twenties were dedicated to acting. All that hard work and he'd only ever got to be part of small ensemble casts in tiny theatres no one ever heard of. He had yet to experience the big rush of the real thing. Now, getting older, those small roles were few and far in between. Luigi hadn’t gotten a callback in months. His career was a dead end. How else was he suppose to pay the bills?
When Mario asked him to cosign a loan for his new business, Luigi thought of it as a backup play. Now, he didn't have a choice. Their family was constantly hovering, judging, gossiping, making passive aggressive comments about their respective career paths, the fact they were in their early thirties and still single. Two twin boys and everyone was nagging for grand-kids.
Luigi hid a passing cringe under the brim of his work hat and turned away from the van. Mario was already several passes up ahead of him. The distance was easily covered with Luigi’s long legs and Mario’s short build. The two brothers were the closest thing to being identical twins. Especially when they wore their ‘work uniform’ and had both decided to grow a moustache. Under that, they were quite different.
Mario was just shy of five foot-two, if he stretched, and stocky. His face was red from being in the sun, and he smiled with an over exaggerated facial squish. In comparison, Luigi was taller, leaner and had an olive toned tan with a healthy dusting of freckles.
Despite being so different, the two went through life pretty interchangeably. People would easily mistake them for one another. Even their own mamma would call them by the wrong name. It was almost funny how frequently it happened. They had gotten use to the mistakes and the apologies.
The mistake continued when they reach the front desk and they received an odd look from the receptionist. Luigi ignored it and looked around quietly so Mario could do all the talking. He was still feeling jumpy from the ride over and his hands were still shaking because of it. Luigi shoved his hands into the pockets of his overalls. The stiff denim was too warm for this time of year but the air conditioning of the building was helping to cool off his sweating palms. Luigi watched people shuffle around them in every direction, hurrying off down hallways or onto the elevator. Mario tapped him on the shoulder and Luigi jumped. He made a sharp sound before Mario chuckled and apologized.
“Sorry.” Mario gestured over his shoulder, jutting a thumb across the lobby. “We’re heading this way.”
“Okie dokie.” Luigi nodded and followed.
As they walked one of the workers lead the way, a supervisor or some such manager type. He didn’t look all too interested in their existence as long as they could fix whatever the issue was. The guy exclusively spoke to Mario and hadn’t even offered Luigi a handshake. Self important and the like. Luigi just stayed quiet, use to dealing with people like that.
They didn’t take the elevator down. It didn’t go far enough. To the far side of the lobby was a maintenance hallway and a locked stairwell down to the basement. From there they went all the way down, deep enough under the building that any sound of the busy street and heavy footsteps of passing workers turned completely silent. The stairwell was filled only by their echoing shoes on the grated steps and a distance drip of water. Luigi started to pay attention again the closer they got to the basement.
“So that’s when it happened. Water, everywhere. Like hell if I could tell you how it started, but one minute it was fine and the next, Bam!” The man said. When away from any prying eyes of staff he was far less professional. The casual cadence to his tone made Luigi far more comfortable being in a closed off space with a stranger.
Mario hummed and looked around. The light over head gave off a weird florescent tone to the basement, reflecting off a lake of water that was easily three-feet deep.
“A pipe exploded or something,” the man said, gesturing off to the half-connected pipe in the room.
Clearly the drainage was plugged too for this kind of leak to get so bad. Luigi got ready with his end of the job and pulled out a note pad and pen, flipped open to a blank page and waited to write down any relevant details of the conversation.
“This is a real mess…” Mario whistled.
“No kidding. Can you do anything about it?”
“Well, let’s have a look.” Mario had no problem with jumping right down off the steps.
The water splashed. Luigi backed off a little to keep from getting wet, although he doubted that would be an option for too much longer. He watched his brother wade through the room, checking over the remaining maze of piping connected to the ceiling and walls. Everything looked properly connected. Nothing was leaking and everything looked affixed.
“No more leaks?” he asked.
“Water’s shut off.”
“Had there been any before?”
“Like I said, everything was normal. Never had one issues before today.”
“Lu, come check this out!” Mario waved him over.
Luigi didn’t want to get waist deep in rusty water, but he supposed he had no other choice. Reluctantly he slowly eased down into the cold water. It rushed into his boots and immediately filled his socks and cuffs of his overalls. He grimaced and whined.
Luigi spared a knowing glance around as he came up along side his brother. Mario was the professional but he had picked up enough know-how at this point as his apprentice that Luigi knew what looked right about the plumping. The large pipe jutting up out of the floor definitely looked wrong. For starters, it was big, like sewer system big. Not something you’d find in a building like this. Although because of its size, the amount of water filling the basement made a lot more sense now.
The pipe was also painted, unlike the rest of them, a bright neon green that looked to be glowing in the overhead light. Luigi couldn’t tell why it was green. Maybe to tell it apart from the other pipes? It was the best he could guess.
Looking up at the ceiling, there was no where for this pipe to go. There was no other connecting piece or bracket or closure. It was just wide open. It looked like the pipe didn’t even go anywhere. Luigi glanced over at Mario who was already soaking wet, circling the pipe trying to see under the water.
“This is a big job…” he said. “I doubt we'd be able to find replacement pieces to this over the weekend.”
“What’s your rough estimate?”
Before Mario could say anything, from up the stairs there was a call for the man showing them around. More footsteps followed and a worker poked their head down into the basement.
“Sir, a phone call. It’s important,” they said, a bit more hesitant to interrupt.
The man groaned and took a few steps up the stairs. He turned briefly and gestured at Mario.
“I’ll be right back.”
“We got this. You called in the best!” Mario boasted.
“You were the first ones available,” the man said under his breath as he turned back up the stairs.
There was a flurry of footsteps and a door slammed shut somewhere up above them. The brothers looked at each other, then at the sheer amount of water damage. This was a big job, more than anything they were prepared for. When they were told ‘a leak’ they assumed it was going to be a sink. This was much, much bigger. Luigi had his doubts that they could even fix it, even if they could source the parts. However, Mario had dollar signs in his eyes, and he eagerly started inspecting the pipe for mode numbers or manufacturing prints. Luigi sighed and snapped his note pad closed.
“Mario, we can’t fix this.”
“Pfft! This is nothin’. I could have this fixed in no time flat.”
“The pipe is taller than you are!” Luigi argued, pointing out the fact with his pen. Mario was the exact same height as the pipe.
“So? I’ll get a ladder.”
“This looks like a job for the city. I don’t think this is a normal pipe.”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t need to know that.” Mario tipped his head towards the stairs.
“You’re gonna try to scam them out of thousands of dollars when you know you can’t fix it?” Luigi accused. Mario smirked a little lop sided, guilty. “No. Mario, tell him we can’t do this.”
“But Weegee, think of the money.” Mario came around to the other side of the pipe to stand near his brother. “We need the money.”
“But we can’t fix it.” Luigi jabbed his pen against the pipe with every word, hoping to get his point across.
Luigi was well aware they needed the money. Mario’s plumping company wasn’t exactly filling their pockets. They made rent, albeit sometimes late, but that was mostly it. If it wasn’t for their mother constantly force feeding them dinner every other night, they would probably starve. Luigi knew it, but it was Mario who refuse to admit failure. In his books, there was always a bonus life. The stubborn optimism made Luigi’s head spin.
Not that Luigi was pessimistic, but he could be realistic when it was called for.
“You worry too much.” Mario wasn’t listening. He put his hands on the overhanging lip of the pipe. Boot slipping along the smooth side, he proceeded to try and hoist himself up to look inside. Luigi rolled his eyes but leaned over too, just to have a look. The inside of the pipe was pitch black.
“This isn’t going to work.” Luigi leaned against the side of the pipe impatiently. Arm extended out over the top; he twirled his pen between his fingers. “Mario… Mario?”
He wasn’t listening. Mario was too busy coming up with a back up plan for his back up plan as he thought of where to find parts to fix a potential sewer pipe. And not to mention how.
Luigi tucked his note pad into the front pocket of his overalls. His twitching fingers flexed and he felt his grip on the pen slip. With one sloppy spin, the pen went flying from his hand and straight down the pipe. Luigi yelped and tipped himself up onto his toes to try and catch it, but the pen was gone. It quickly disappeared down the pipe and into the black hole that was its bottom. Mario watched it fall, waiting for the splash at the bottom but nothing happened. The pipe couldn’t be that deep.
“That’s never comin’ back,” Mario joked.
Luigi just huffed and pushed himself off the pipe. He was so frustrated by all this. He would rather be home in their shared apartment, cramped and shut up in his room where he could sulk properly. The warm humid heat of summer turning his tiny bedroom into a sauna. Luigi wouldn’t mind but Mario would moan about wanting air conditioning.
“Mario, let’s just go.”
“We gotta wait for that guy to come back,” Mario said.
“Fine. You can wait… I want to go back to the van.”
“Then go. I’ll finish up here when he gets back and meet ya there.”
“Grazie.” Luigi took off his hat and brushed his knotted hair back into place before tugging the hat back down over his forehead. “I’ll see you there.”
Luigi started to head back for the stairs. The water sloshing around his legs and making his movements slow with effort. The sound of rushing water made Luigi pause, finding it too loud to be him. He stopped moving and the sound continued. It had to be running water. There was this continuous swirling noise that reminding him of a waterfall, white noise mixed with a trickling of droplets. He turned around, confused.
Mario heard it too, only louder. He looked down into the pipe.
“I thought the water was shut off,” Mario leaded further over the edge trying to see the water down below.
“Mario, be careful.” Luigi tried to rush back over in case a gush of water came spraying up at them. He caught his fingers on the back of Mario’s overalls. The floor rumbled and the water rippled. The pipe groaned and the sound of rushing water got louder.
“There’s the bottom. It’s draining out.” Mario pointed down into the pipe. He was half folded over the edge. A dangerous position which made Luigi grab onto him tightly.
“Mario!”
“See, right there!”
The blackness at the bottom of the pipe swirled and sparkled, flecks of light flashed and looked like a whirlpool. There was the sound of bubbles popping. Then, a brush of air. At first it was just a slight wisp but quickly grew to a breeze. Mario didn’t know what was causing it, but he watched trying to see more. For a bit too long, because the breeze picked up and started to pull like gravity. His grip on the pipe started to slip.
Mario gave a startled cry of panic as the rush of air started to pull him into the pipe. Luigi’s hold on the back of his overalls did little to keep him secured to the edge. His legs couldn’t kick hard enough to swing him back over the side. Instead, the struggling made him loose his balance. Mario went topping headfirst into the pipe.
Luigi screamed, at what was happening. Reflexively he held onto Mario tighter but that only pulled him up against the pipe. The edge slammed into his ribs, but Luigi barely noticed the pain shooting through his chest. Fear took over. He couldn't hold on any longer and the weird gravity was tugging him over the side and down along with his brother. It all happened in seconds, but it felt like slow motion as they slipped over the side together and went tumbling downwards.
What had been a dark pipe was engulfed in bright sparking light and swirling colours. Luigi tried to find something to grab onto. In doing so he accidentally let go of Mario. Realizing this mistake made him swing his limbs, trying to swim through the air to get to him again. The gravity pulled them apart. Mario struggled to even look back.
Over the rushing noise in his ears Luigi heard Mario yell his name. He yelled back.
The lights gathering a spreading out until it looked like they were flying through a galaxy of water colours. The edges of the pipe distorting the colours with a transparent reflection. Luigi’s fingertips touched the edges at it rushing by. It was smooth like glass.
“Luigi! Grab onto me!” Mario shouted. He was trying to bend over, reaching between his legs to get to him.
Luigi couldn’t even if he tried. He was frozen, stunned by what was happening. He couldn’t move or make a sound. He could only wildly look around them at the hallucination he must be having.
Up ahead, and approaching quickly, was a break in the pipe. Two routes going in opposite directions. The pipe split and the seam between them was distinct and sharp. Luigi saw it first, and that Mario was headed right for it.
“Mario! Look out!” He pointed wildly and thrashed about to make Mario see it too.
The pull of gravity was too strong, too fast. By the time Mario had even tipped his head back to look at what Luigi had seen, his head collided with the break in the pipe. Mario’s whole body bounced on impact. The speed he hit the wall made him roll and spin off down one of the dividing routes. Mario made no sound of pain or even flinched. His limp body was carried off by the current well out of reach or hope of helping.
Luigi tried to steer himself in the same direction. Nothing he tried could change his course. Luigi was pulled down the opposite route, far away from his brother. He cried and wailed, terrified.
The pipe twisted and spun. The colours dampening and turning red and yellow. Lighting cracked through the transparent sides. All he saw was the darkening sky and the glow of something up ahead. He could hear a roaring of water again, that same sound of a waterfall or waves crashing over rocks. The wind picked up. Luigi’s body felt the momentum shift and his stomach lurched. It reminded him of riding the Cyclone at Coney Island. The sudden stop after a roller-coaster that put your stomach up into your throat, and all his blood went to his feet.
Then Luigi was weightless. He was thrown into the air. It was so sudden that he didn’t notice the rough landing until he was bouncing and rolling across a rocky terrain. The wind was knocked out of him, leaving him gasping and coughing on dust as fear clawed at his chest.
Luigi didn’t want to lift his head just in case it turned out it wasn’t over. He hugged the ground like it was about to drop out from under him. After a few horribly drawn-out moments, nothing happened. A hot breeze moved across the back of Luigi’s neck. He’d lost his hat somewhere along the way and his hair ruffled with the wind.
Luigi pulled his face out of the dirt, feeling the intense heat cling to his skin and become caked with sweat and grime - dirt or whatever he’d been rolling through. The word was dark around him but glowed in a dangerous red. Cracks in the ground gave off clouds of black smoke. Luigi shook. His whole body trembled and struggled to hold his head up. His ever survival urge came down to wanting to curl up into a ball and hide.
He looked around wildly and saw the blackened chard earth. It wasn’t fire that lit the area, it was lava. He had landed on the edge of a volcano somehow, magically. Rivers of molten lava flow streaks downwards.
Luigi clutched his arms underneath him. He gripped at his overalls for something to hold onto. The overwhelming rush of adrenaline shooting through his body took control. He screamed.