His whole body ached when he woke up the next morning. He wanted nothing more than to just lay in bed for the rest of the day. A cool morning breeze brushed through his open window and over his skin, soothing the still lingering burning sensations. 

The day proceeded as normal. Mario didn't say a word, the news reported the old factory burning down, but there was nothing reported about Mr. L. According to Daisy on the news, "There were luckily no casualties." 

Mario and Luigi got a call from Peach early that morning saying she needed something fixed, so they got right on that. Afterward, they went their separate ways. Mario wanted to continue hanging out with Peach, even after the job was done. Luigi made the wise decision to leave because he didn't particularly want to sit around and be the third wheel all afternoon. Since he hadn't yet bought a morning blueberry muffin, he thought he would stop by the bakery. As soon as he walked through the door, Blumiere greeted him with a warm smile.

"Ah, there he is! We were worried you wouldn't show up today," Blumiere chuckled, reaching down and grabbing a muffin. "I assume you want the usual?"

"Yep," Luigi chimed, reaching into his wallet and pulling out some cash. "Where's Henri?"

"Watching the news," Blumiere shrugged. "There's a TV in the back. He didn't use to be so interested, but he's been watching all morning for some reason. I guess he's just interested in the fire."

"Ah," Luigi awkwardly replied, bringing his eyes down to the muffin. He honestly didn't want to talk about last night, but he knew that completely avoiding the subject would make him look suspicious, so he gave his best casual answer. "That was quite drastic. Do they know what caused it?"

"Nope," Blumiere shrugged. "Thankfully there were no casualties."

"Right," Luigi breathed, awkwardly tapping his fingers on the muffin now. He was sure that tapping the muffin with his gloved hands wasn't all that sanitary, but he didn't really care anymore. Stuff like that used to matter to him a lot, but after getting into all the superhero drama, he was finding it harder and harder to care about such small things. 

"You can go back there and see him if you want," Blumiere offered with a shrug and a smile. "The backroom is technically for employees only, but you're a friend, so I don't mind! You get a free pass!"

Luigi briefly looked over at the door marked "employees only," then back at Blumiere. 

"Okay," he muttered. A part of him wanted to say no because he didn't want to impose, but he didn't like saying no. The fact that Blumiere was offering in the first place showed that he probably wanted Luigi to go back there, which meant there must have been something up with Henri. 

Luigi carefully walked down to the "employees only" door and stepped inside. Surely enough, Henri was sitting in front of a small TV, watching with wide eyes. (Or, eye.) He was on the ground, about one foot away from the screen, which was far too close. Luigi hoped he wasn't hurting his eyesight or anything. 

"Hey Henri," Luigi awkwardly muttered.

To his surprise, Henri didn't turn to face him or excitedly greet him. Instead, he muttered a quiet "hey," in response. There wasn't much more of a reaction. It reminded Luigi of those teenagers in those TV shows completely drawn into the phones, to the point where the rest of the world doesn't even matter anymore. 

Luigi tilted his head slightly and brought his attention to the TV. Surely enough, the news was on. There was live footage of Daisy herself reporting from the scene of the fire, which left the old factory in shambles. 

"That fire was really something, huh?" Luigi muttered, hoping to spark some kind of conversation.

"They say no one died," Henri muttered, his tone quiet. "They haven't found any bodies..."

A chill briefly ran up Luigi's spine and there was an uncomfortable tension that suddenly filled the room. He suddenly felt as if he was walking over broken glass.

"Yeah. Everyone got out safe, luckily," Luigi said, his voice coming out somewhat monotone (not on purpose.) "I mean, it was abandoned anyway, so I doubt anyone was even in there in the first place. Maybe a few teenagers or something."

"What if someone was, though?" Henri asked, finally turning his head to look at Luigi. "What if someone died, but they just haven't found them? What if they never find them?"

"Don't worry about that," Luigi said, trying his best to sound reassuring. "If someone died, people would know."

Henri nodded, but there was something slightly grim about the air around him. He seemed smaller than usual. (Even though he was a fairly small person to begin with.)

"What about Mr. L?" he asked.

"What about him?" Luigi answered.

"They say Flamethrower was at the scene, but not Mr. L. There's nothing here about him. Aren't they usually together?"

Luigi offered another casual shrug, as if silently telling Henri he had no idea. 

"I guess I just wonder about him," Henri admitted, looking back toward the TV. "What if the bad guys got him or something?"

"They won't," Luigi said. "I mean, good always wins, right?"

Henri shrugged, bringing his gaze down slightly so he was looking at the floor in front of him. 

"I don't know," he muttered. 

"You two are thinking about this all wrong," Blumiere chuckled, opening the door and walking inside with his own plate filled with different types of pastries. 

"What do you mean?" Luigi asked.

"It's simple. It's not about good or evil prevailing," the tall man explained with a smile as he set the plate down in front of the two of them. "I believe it's about love. Whoever has the most love in their heart will win in the end."

Luigi nodded. Honestly, that seemed a fair point. Perhaps that was why heroes always won. They loved their city. Villains, on the other hand, a lot of them had been cut off from feelings like love. Villains like the Greedy Gamblers only loved money and wealth, so they never were all that threatening. It was unclear what made The Phantom tick, but it couldn't have been love. That guy was as cold as they come. Then there was Bowser, who clearly had some kind of crush on Peach, but that wasn't anything close to real love. 

A villain fueled purely by love, now that was a scary concept-

Suddenly, the lights started to flicker. The air grew colder and the TV turned off.

Henri frowned and glanced around the room. "Um, what's happening?"

Luigi shrugged, then stood up. "I can check if you want. I'm pretty good with electricity. I'm sure something just-"

Before he could even finish his thought, he suddenly felt a cold presence behind him.

Oh no. Not now...

He turned around, face to face with none other than The Phantom. A ghost with a purple gemmed crown, glowing purple eyes, and a sinister grin. Luigi jumped and stumbled backward, tripping over himself while Blumiere quickly placed himself between the ghost and Henri, holding his arms out.

"Who are you?!" Blumiere demanded, his voice surprisingly steady.

The Phantom shrugged, and Luigi immediately knew why he was there. It wasn't uncommon for The Phantom to start messing around with random people just to get attention. He often did this whenever other villains started stealing the spotlight from him. He was an attention seeker.

He had to get out of there. The Phantom and Mr. L had a whole rivalry going on, so if he could run back to the scene as Mr. L, he could lead the ghost away from Henri and Blumiere. All he needed was a reason to sneak out.

The Phantom laughed, then without warning, a spiked ball materialized over the TV, falling and crushing it. Henri gasped and scrambled backward as sparks began to fly, and Luigi knew he had to act fast before the whole business was destroyed. 

He didn't have time to come up with a plan, so he just ran. He hoped Henri and Blumiere could forgive him for seemingly running off.

"Wait, Luigi!" Henri called, but Luigi didn't stop. As soon as he was out of sight, he sent a message from his watch to Mario telling him there was a situation. Then, he changed into his Mr. L outfit as fast as he possibly could. (Which wasn't all that fast, considering the fact that he left it at home. Luckily, he was quite fast and didn't live too far away. Unfortunately, Mario was still with Peach, so he wouldn't arrive for a while. Luigi didn't have time to wait for him.

When he got back to the scene, Blumiere and Henri were hiding on opposite sides of the room. Blumiere was behind the counter as the ghost continued breaking tables and such. (Luigi made a note to himself to help them fix everything once this was all done, free of charge, because he knew they were struggling to find their place in the city and he didn't want something like this to make them move away.) Henri was closer to The Phantom, cowering beneath a table as the ghost continued destroying them. His eye was pressed shut and he was covering his ears. The sound of splitting wood was almost deafening.

Mr. L saw a spiked ball materialize over the table Henri was hiding under and knew he had no time to act. He quickly sprinted over, grasped Henri's arm, and pulled him away just as the table was crushed. 

Henri stumbled as Mr. L pulled him to his feet, then looked up at the superhero with a look of both awe and confusion. Mr. L could almost see relief in his eyes. Relief from being saved, no doubt.

"You..." Henri muttered, when Mr. L quickly pulled him away as another spiked ball materialized above their heads. 

"You," The Phantom hissed.

Mr. L ignored him and quickly pulled Henri away, running over to one of the supply closets. He quickly threw the door open, then gently urged Henri inside. He held his hands up, as if silently telling him to stay put when Henri suddenly grasped his arm.

"No," Henri stated, and there was an almost familiar look of terror in his eyes.

Mr. L felt his gaze soften slightly. He used his free hand to gently pat Henri's shoulder, trying to silently tell him that he didn't need to be so afraid.

"No!" Henri repeated, his voice just slightly harsher. His grip tightened, but his hands were shaking. "You're going to die!"

Mr. L felt his body tense slightly. He shook his head no, then tried prying Henri's hand off his arm.

"Stop it!" Henri begged, tears starting to prickle in the corners of his eyes. "You're going to die!"

"Henri," Mr. L whispered.

Henri's grip loosened slightly and he quietly gasped. His eyes were glassy and wide.

"You talk..." he muttered.

Mr. L nodded as Henri slowly let go. 

The hero let out a sigh of relief when there was suddenly a stinging sensation starting at his right temple.

Red droplets splattered across Henri's face and a horrified expression washed over him. 

Mr. L brought his gloved hand to his forehead, then held that hand in front of himself. The fabric was stained red. 

He looked back at Henri, who was silent. Horrified. Terrified. Tears were falling from his eye, mixing with the blood on his face, Mr. L's blood. 

Mr. L was disappointed in himself. At least he buzzed Mario earlier. Hopefully, Flamethrower would show up in time to save everything before The Phantom destroyed the entire bakery. Everything usually worked out when things like this happened. Still, Mr. L wished he could have been the hero. He wished he could have led the ghost away or saved the day without this happening again.

It stung, like a thousand paper cuts. When he was younger, he always hated paper cuts the most. More than falling off his bike and scraping his knees. There was something so small, yet so painful about those simple cuts. They'd constantly re-open, every time he moved even the slightest. 

The last thing he saw before the blanket of darkness covered his eyes once again was the absolute terror on Henri's face. 

Never had he been so grateful for the fact that by the time morning comes, no one would remember.