He nervously paced back and forth, as if the extra steps would somehow help him. He hadn't been the type to get nervous, but the situation he was about to step into was certainly one to invoke fear.

He rehearsed his lines in his head once again, mentally creating a script for what he was going to say. 

He was just going to state the truth. He was going to tell her that he never truly got to live. He was going to point out how unfair life had been to him. He was going to explain how he never got to see what he wanted to see or do what he wanted to do in the short amount of time he spent alive. 

Before he got a shot at life, he was nothing more than an unused personality, tucked away deep within someone else. When Nastasia called upon him and brought me to the light, giving him the chance to live, he honestly was just so grateful for that chance that he felt like owed everything to Nastasia and the count. The Count had promised everyone a perfect world, but in reality, all he wanted was a chance to see things. A chance to live. He didn't care if it was perfect or not. He just wanted to live like everyone else. He loved feeling alive. 

It was all taken away all too fast. He hardly even got to live at all, then it was already over. He thought he had the potential to do great things with his life someday, but he never got to accomplish anything or make an impact. In reality, all he ever would be was a simple pawn to another's plan, sacrificed and discarded once he no longer held any value.

He stood in front of the large palace gates in the Underwhere. World -1. Nervously cracking his knuckles, he reviewed what he was planning on saying to the queen one more time, making sure he knew the words by heart. It was going to be easy to get distracted when in her presence, so he made sure to burn what he was planning on saying into his memory.

He was what was considered a "Neutral Soul." These souls were people who weren't good enough to make it to the Overthere, but not quite bad enough to be turned into shaydes or be banished to an afterlife of eternal labor. Even though his situation was not the worst, he still felt unsatisfied. He still desperately wanted his life back. He longed for a breath of fresh air.

He knew that the odds were against him. He wasn't a legendary hero with the weight of all worlds on his shoulders, so it was unlikely that the queen would offer him any sympathy at all. Still, he felt like he had to try. It was better than just sitting around and forgetting himself.

There weren't many who had the courage to Queen Jaydes herself, especially when it came to asking for a favor, but he was hopeful. He had nothing if he didn't have that small glimmer of hope to keep him from forgetting how much life meant to him. 

He shook his hands, trying to rid himself of that nervous feeling. "The worst thing she can do is say no," he reminded himself. "The worst thing she can do is say no."

He knew for a fact that what he was saying wasn't true. There were plenty of worse things the queen could do him, but he told himself that anyway. He hoped that if he said it to himself enough, maybe he could actually believe it, so he wouldn't have to feel afraid anymore. He never did like the feeling of fear. It was an annoying feeling that he had grown good at hiding. 

Nevertheless, he still felt it. All the time, actually. He always acted brave, but he truly didn't feel like a brave person.

He believed everyone was that way. There's no such thing as a truly brave person. There are just cowards and cowards who can act. 

He could hide his fear fairly well, but there were always a few tells that he noticed he would naturally do when afraid. For instance, his strides would be ever so slightly smaller, his shoulders would tense up slightly, and he would have his fists lightly clenched instead of open. Luckily, these were small tells and no one else ever noticed.  Everyone instead paid attention to his confident smile, which he had mastered practically immediately. People only ever tend to pay attention to one's facials anyhow, so he didn't need to worry about anyone noticing his small signs of fear.

He reached forward and pushed the palace doors open, stepping onto the clean marble flooring. He made sure to check the queen's schedule to make sure he was coming during the time frame she had reserved for speaking with her citizens. He wanted to catch her at a good time for her instead of interrupting something important just so she would feel more respected and therefore more likely to grant him what he wanted.

Since his life was so short, he never really got the opportunity to learn much about the queen. When he was first sent down here, he naturally assumed the worst because she was the queen of the Underwhere. However, when he heard about how she gave Mario and Luigi a second chance, his views of her shifted. He grew hopeful.

His views of the whole place actually had shifted. He had previously assumed that the Underwhere was a place where sinners were sent to burn for all eternity. But most souls just lived down there peacefully. Yes, everything was boring and meaningless, which on its own was torture, but it was peaceful. He honestly felt lucky he was a neutral soul and not sent to work in eternal labor. The souls who were especially bad in life never could rest again. They were tasked with working for eternity, with no pay, no rest, and no friends. 

Yet, he didn't want eternal rest and peace. He wanted life. He wanted a chance to see the sky again, just a few more times. He wanted to see what made life worthwhile. He wanted to live his own life, not a life where he was constantly serving others. Call him ungrateful all you want, he just wanted a chance to live.

He nervously swallowed, then placed that confident smile on his face and walked in, holding his chin slightly higher just to try to appear brave. Yes, his steps were smaller, his shoulders were tenser, and my hands were in fists, but no one looked at that. Everyone only cared about reading facials.

He walked in to see her highness standing tall. He had never seen her that closely before. She was way taller than I had expected her to be. He tended to think of himself as a fairly tall person, but compared to her he felt tiny and insignificant. It was a strange way to make someone feel inferior.

Queen Jaydes wore a calm, yet composed frown. She didn't speak. She only nodded as if signifying for him to begin. He was silently grateful. He didn't want to hear her voice and be more intimidated than he already was.

He cleared my throat. "Your Majesty," He started, bowing. He wasn't sure if it was custom to bow to the queen of the Underwhere or not, but I bowed anyway, thinking that it was better to be respectful than rude. "I've come to-"

"State your name and information first, if you'll please," She interrupted. He winced slightly, then looked up at her, embarrassed. He must have looked like a total idiot to walk in there and demand things without even introducing himself.

"Oh. I'm sorry. My name is Mr. L. I've been dead for approximately three months now. You may also know me as, 'the man in green,' or 'the green thunder,' or-"

"Enough," She breathed, holding her hand up and silencing him. He felt a small line of sweat drip from his forehead. The queen's voice was slightly lower than Nastasia's but equally as serious. She spoke in a way that made him feel uneasy. "State your reasons for coming."

He nodded, still wearing that confident smile because even though he was scared, he sure as heck wasn't going to show it. He was going to play the part of a brave person.

"I'm here to ask for a second chance," He stated, trying to adopt her short, straight-to-the-point form of speech, as she didn't seem the type of person who would want to sit there all day while he told her my life story.

"No." She immediately said before the last word had even left his mouth. 

However, Mr. L expected this. He prepared for this.

"You let Luigi go," he pointed out, squinting his eyes ever so slightly and tilting his head to the side, refusing to let the confident smile face. "Technically, I was once a part of him. So if you gave him a second chance, then it would only be fair if you gave me one too-"

"The world needed him. It doesn't need you." She stated.

Mr. L winced slightly. Harsh, yet straightforward. How could he combat that?

"... Playing favorites, are we?" he asked, trying not to let her words phase him. At that point, he was just grasping at straws. "Isn't THAT against the rules?"

"The fate of the world was on his shoulders. Not yours." She breathed in her usual harsh, cold tone. "I'm sorry, Mr. L. I cannot just give you a free pass. Rules are rules. If I let go of every soul who wanted to go back, then the balance between life and death would be completely thrown off."

Mr. L knew that very well, but he still had hoped that maybe she could make an exception.

Oh well. It was time to stop approaching this logically and try to appeal to her emotions.

"I see... say, you have a daughter, correct?" He asked. He almost felt like a lawyer, trying to convince a stone-cold judge of his innocence.

"Yes," Jaydes stated. "But I do not see what she has to do with anything."

He smiled, then crossed his arms and replaced my confident look with a longing one. "I never had true parents. I never have got to experience that kind of connection. I spent so long as a part of Luigi, buried deep within him. Then, as soon as I was free, I was killed. I never got the chance to build relationships. I never got the chance to really be alive live," he explained, trying his best to act sorrowful.

He felt like he put on a fairly convincing performance. After all, it was a performance lined with the truth. Although he didn't really care as much about the relationship aspect of life. He cared more about simply getting the opportunity to live. 

In fact, if he were to convince her to let him go back, he probably would just go off on his own and explore. After all, he tended to think of himself as more of a loner. Alone was safe. 

However, talking about relationships tends to appeal to people's emotions more thoroughly, so he added it to his little speech with the hopes that it would help Jaydes sympathize with him.

Queen Jaydes paused, then smirked and slowly clapped. "Wow. What a performance," She retorted, her voice lined with sarcasm.

"Thank you," Mr. L replied, smirking and bowing. "So can I go?"

"No," She stated, once again.

Mr. L's smile faded while he straightened himself, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes to a slightly annoyed glare. 

"Come on! I poured my heart and soul into that!" He whined, finally dropping the respectful act. "I never even got the chance to live! Give me a break! I'll do anything!" 

This seemed to pique her interest more than the logical and the emotional approach. The queen stood a little taller, her eyebrows raising slightly.

Mr. L frowned, curious about the change of expression.

"Anything?" The queen asked, slowly smiling.

He paused. Something about the way she said that he found unsettling. Something about the way she slowly smiled was eerie, sending chills down his spine.

He stood there and debated for a moment, pondering what he could possibly be getting himself into, before deciding that whatever it was, it would be worth it. He needed a chance to see the stars. He needed that chance to live. He couldn't just stay down there and rot, never having experienced anything!

"Yes. Anything." He stated.

She paused, then walked up to the man in green, placing a hand on his shoulder and gently guiding him along.

"Come with me."