My ears were ringing. It took a while for me to realize what was happening.

Bam. A concussion AND a kidnapping. Great. Just great.

When I woke up, we were both in a small room with a star drawn on the floor. There were candles on all of the corners but one. Ah, I remembered this room. It's where I stole the candle for our little hideout-

Oh... oops. I probably made the candle guy mad by doing that. You know, I probably would have found this kinda funny if Peach and I weren't both back to back, tied to our own wooden chairs. 

"Peach, I don't have much experience being kidnapped. Do the bad guys always bring you into weird ritual rooms-"

"Shh," She hushed quietly. She seemed afraid.

I quickly shut up. She was the expert on being kidnapped, after all. Still, I couldn't help but look behind myself, trying to see what was scaring her.

That's when I spotted it. Five coffins lined up against that wall. Then, in the middle, one man.

I had thought I heard Dimentio's voice earlier. You know, the creepy clown who fought us once or twice before suddenly disappearing without a trace. However, the man standing in front of the coffins looked nothing like him. This man looked scary. He, like the lost ones, was made of ink. However, he wore a cardboard cutout of one of the Inky drawings over his face, like some sort of weird mask. 

"Ah, you're awake. Now, the ritual may begin," he grinned, his voice cold, yet lively. He sounded excited, yet relieved at the same time if that makes sense. He slowly circled around the two of us, as if silently observing.

"Um, what are the coffins for? Are you going to bury us alive?" I asked. "Because, gonna be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of tight spaces. Being buried alive was one of my childhood fears, so-"

"Ah, the coffins, of course, of course," the man who sounded like Dimentio, but didn't look anything like him, laughed. "Those represent the five others involved."

I frowned. "Um... involved in what?" I asked.

He chuckled, then walked over to the coffins, walking past them while holding his hand out to them, creating a dark, inky line across them all.

"The first coffin... represents Inky. Our savior himself. It was he who died first, and he who created this world..." he explained.

Hold up, died?!

"Wait, wait, wait-"

"THE SECOND-" he interrupted, "Angel. Someone truly beautiful... inside and out..."

"Can we go back to the whole dying thing-"

"THE THIRD," he continued. "Brooks. Soft-spoken... shy. A quiet hero, living in the other's shadow. He doesn't get the girl, he doesn't get to be the main character. He's nothing more than comedic relief. I would have thought that the role would be perfect for... but no. Not here. Aha... nothing makes sense here..."

Okay, so this guy was crazy. Got it.

Honestly, I'm just gonna let him give his monologue. Maybe he'll tell me where Luigi is while he's at it.

"THE NEXT," he continued, quietly laughing to himself while he spoke. "The ones involved in managing the little things. The bodyguard, the projectionist...." He looked down slightly. "And the musician..."

He fell quiet for a moment. I was honestly concerned, but not surprised. I mean, I couldn't blame him for going crazy down here. 

"You can't project pictures without a projectionist. And music... music is art too. Moving pictures are nothing without music. Nothing, nothing, NOTHING!" He exclaimed, hitting his fist against the fourth coffin, before letting out a breath and moving to the last one.

"And the last... the creator," he breathed. "Tell me... do you draw?"

I couldn't help but recall the time Count Bleck asked me a very similar question. 

This wasn't Count Bleck, though. I could tell. His voice didn't match, he was far too short, and his overall personality, from what I had seen, didn't seem to really fit.

"I draw sometimes," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah... power... you have power," he whispered, still circling the two of us, though he didn't dare step over the star he had drawn on the ground. "Are you the creator...?"

"What?" I asked, when he ran forward, holding up a poster of Inky.

"DID YOU DRAW THIS?!" He yelled, his voice suddenly filled with rage. I could feel Peach flinch from behind me.

"N-no! No!" I exclaimed. "M-My brother did! It's his art, not mine. I usually go for landscapes and stuff when drawing-"

"AGH, USELESS, USELESS, USELESS!" He cried, crumpling up the piece of paper and throwing it on the ground. I couldn't help but wince as he angrily paced back and forth, muttering to himself under his breath.

"U-um... I'm sorry-"

"I NEED THE CREATOR!" He cried. "I NEED TO SACRIFICE THE CREATOR SO I CAN BE FREE! DON'T YOU SEE? YOU IDIOT, IDIOT, IDIOT! I NEED TO SACRIFICE THE CREATOR TO SAVE THE MUSIC!"

Sacrifice?!

There was NO WAY I was letting him sacrifice Luigi. Or ANYONE for that matter.

"Sacrifice?! No, I'm afraid I can't let-"

"WHO ARE YOU, IF NOT THE CREATOR?!" He screamed.

"H-He's Mario!" Peach answered for me, her voice half an octave higher than usual. Dang, this guy was really freaking her out. "A-A legendary hero. He's going to save us-"

"Mario?" He asked, his voice suddenly much softer once again.

I tensed up slightly.

"Yes..." I muttered.

He stayed silent for a moment, then completely ran off. I was half-convinced that he got scared and just ditched. After all, I am pretty well known for taking down bad guys, so I wouldn't have blamed him.

But he didn't just run off. He came back about ten minutes later, holding what looked like another tape recording. He pressed play, and let the recording sound throughout the room.

"At this point, I don't understand Merlon's plan for this group. Bowser's hardly helping at all anymore, I'm constantly worried about losing Peach, only Grambi knows what Luigi's doing right now, and I certainly don't see why we need to follow these...prophecies. It's inconvenient, it's messy, and who's got enough time to read through them all anyway? Also, get this: Merlon had each one of us "donate" something. We put them on these little pedestals. "To help appease the gods", Merlon says. "Keep things going". I think he's lost his mind, but, hey, he's the ancient. But I tell you what, if one more inconvenience shows up, I'm outta here."

- Mario

Um... what?

Sure, I remember THINKING that, but I don't remember ever recording it. Or even saying that stuff out loud!! What was going on?

"Ah... I see... you know him, don't you?" he asked.

"Know who?" I questioned.

"OUR SAVIOR!" He laughed. "You wanted to find these items to appease him... I see it all now."

"Okay, I think you've lost it-" I muttered.

"Shhh... I see what I must do... I must find these items, then find the creator. His sacrifice will bring me peace. But first..." he suddenly began laughing more hysterically. "Ah ha ha ha, first, I must rid myself of the competition. I cannot have the two of you conducting the ritual before I! Aha ha ha, as much as I am honored to meet another believer, I must dispose of you. I MUST be the one the Ink Demon notices. It must be ME!!"

"What in the worlds do you mean?! Where's Luigi?! Is he here?!" I asked.

"Luigi? Who? Was he here? Will he be here? Aha ha ha," he laughed. "He was here, but he wasn't here yet, yet he also was. Don't you see?"

Uhhh...

"The past is the future, yet the future is also the past! Time no longer makes sense! Nothing does!!! Ah ha ha!"

Okay, I didn't really know how to respond to that. There's a reason why I'm usually so quiet on my adventures, and that reason is I don't know how to accurately respond to these crazy people.

All I knew was that I had to get us out of there and fast. 

"Peach," I started, lowering my voice. "Do you-"

Before I could even finish my question, she stood up and quickly punched the man. I could barely even process what was happening when she suddenly kneeled down by me and untied the ropes securing me to my own chair.

"Wh- hey! When did you get free?" I asked. 

"Dimentio's apparently bad at knots," she shrugged, untying me, then helping me up.

Dimentio! I KNEW it was him!

I have to admit, I was rather impressed with the princess. Gosh, she was so amazing. She never fails to surprise me-

"Mario! We have to go!" She exclaimed, grabbing me and pulling me away. Before I knew it, we were on the run with Dimentio chasing behind us.

"Why isn't he flying?!" I asked, noticing that he was in fact, using his feet. I honestly didn't think Dimentio knew how to walk. "And why is his body uh... different?"

"Shut up! He's right behind us, don't talk about him as if he's not here!" Peach exclaimed.

"But he ISN'T all there," I chucked.

She rolled her eyes while we continued running. 

I have to admit, I was kinda having fun. I loved the thrill of a chase, and I especially loved having Peach by my side. 

She was so amazing...

I'm not saying that because I'm in love! I'm just saying that because she truly is amazing. 

I'm not in love...

Right?

... Right. I'm not in love. I don't care if I've been feeling closer to her recently. I don't care about that voice in my head telling me I have to protect her at all costs. I don't care about the fact that I only feel okay because she's here with me. That's just normal friend stuff. 

I don't care about the fact that this world doesn't seem so bad because she's in it. 

I'm not in love-

"I think we lost him," Peach breathed, letting go of my hand and slowing down to catch her breath.

I ignored the cold, empty feeling that filled me the second she let go.

Get it together! I'm not in love! Stop being weird!

"I don't think that's the last of him though..." Peach muttered, still slightly out of breath. "He seemed really desperate to escape. More so than anyone else we've come across..."

I nodded. There was a rather unhinged quality about him. He, like Angel, seemed desperate. However, in Angel's case, she seemed to have already accepted her place in this world. She just didn't quite accept herself yet. Then there was Brooks. Brooks, who had seemed to have already given up...

Dimentio didn't give up. He was desperately grasping at anything he could hold onto. He was practically begging for an escape. He wanted out. He wanted to be free. Yes, he was crazy and he was a bad guy, but at the end of the day, he wanted the same thing as the rest of us. 

We were definitely going to be seeing him again.

"We... just need to find Luigi. Or L. Whatever he goes by. He... he worked with Dimentio for a while, so I'm sure he'll be able to give us answers. Once we find Luigi, everything's going to work out for everyone."

Peach paused, then softly smiled and nodded.

"Yep. It's just like you said before this all started. We'll save everyone," Peach smiled.

I nodded, recalling a time back before the world fell apart. Back then, she had asked for my honest opinion, and I gave it to her. I promised her that we would save everyone.

I still believed that with all my heart.

"We will," I agreed with a confident smile. "I promise. Now let's find-"

Before I could finish my sentence, he was there.

There he was, slowly walking through the halls, tracing his left hand against the wall. 

He looked empty. His eyes looked lifeless, but I didn't care. They were HIS eyes.

It was him.

"Luigi?"