Third Person POV

"NO NO NO NO!" Captain Toadette screamed in frustration. "DANG IT!" She knocked the interrogation table aside. A few other toad guards cowered in fear.

Toadette lowered her head and spoke in a low voice. "Varian helped him escape." She shook her head. "But why? He made us promise to keep him locked up for the rest of his life. Why would he do that??"

The toads shrugged, still nervous. Toadette slammed her fist down. "DANG IT, WHY?! THIS IS A DISASTER! WE'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR THAT MAN FOR YEARS! THEN, WHEN WE FINALLY GET AHOLD OF HIM, HE ESCAPES, ALONG WITH OUR ONE OTHER PRISONER?!?! THIS IS NOT GOOD! BOYS, WE NEED TO FIND HIM!"

Just then, another toad burst into the room. "Captain! The princess wishes to speak with you regarding the incident."

Toadette's face went pale. The room went silent.

She slowly and silently stepped out of the room.

She quietly made her way to the princess. Never has she felt so nervous. 

"Your Highness?" She asked, while bowing, once she arrived. Peach turned around to face her. "Captain."

"You wish to speak with me?" Toadette asked. "Re....*ehem* regarding the little prison break." Peach nodded. "Yes. I was notified about it almost immediately after it happened." Toadette inhaled. "Rest assured, I'll fix it. I promise. I'll get the prisoners back where they belong."

Peach shook her head. "Yes, yes. I know you will. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

Peach held up a taser.

"I was informed that you have been using this on Luigi."

Toadette's face went even more pale. Peach continued. "I gave a specific order. No harm was to come to him. Yet, you disobeyed me. This weapon is only to be used on the clown."

Toadette shook her head. "If I may argue, I feel that your sediment is getting in the way of bringing the criminals in. The man in green will continue to refuse to cooperate unless we take extreme measures-" "I DON'T CARE. Toadette, listen. You defied a DIRECT order from me."

Toadette froze, before bowing her head in shame.

"My apologies, your Highness." Peach nodded. "You are on very thin ice, Captain. You're the strongest Captain the Mushroom Kingdom has seen in quite some time. So, please, don't let me down. When you find Luigi again, NO HARM will come to him. You are not permitted to use the taser on him, and you are not allowed to hurt him. Are we clear?"

Toadette nodded. "Crystal."

Peach nodded. "Good. Now please, bring Luigi back to me SAFELY. I don't care how difficult it is, I want NO HARM to come to him. Those tasers aren't designed for people like him." Toadette looked up and smiled. "Yes, Your Majesty." Peach turned around. "You are free to go. I'll send you out with a squad to retrieve Luigi and bring him back. Then, you may continue your search for the clown."

Toadette turned around and walked back.

She was on thin ice.

Once she got back to her squad, she pulled out a map. "Okay, he can't be far. I'm going to send a small squad to each of the neighboring kingdoms, and I'll lead a squad in searching the Mushroom Kingdom. But first...." She looked down and let out a breath. "Who told?"

Everyone gave each other nervous glances. Toadette repeated herself, more clearly and with a hint of anger this time. "Who. Told."

One toad, one of the younger members of the group, slowly raised his hand. "I...I did."

Toadette looked into his eyes. "You did?" He nodded. "Yes...."

She sighed, then clapped her hands together. "Okay, everyone's dismissed. We'll meet in about an hour to send out the patrols. Don't be late!" Everyone started walking away when Toadette pointed at the toad who told. "Not you. I want to talk to you."

The toad nervously looked back at her. She approached him. Now they were the only two left in the room. He began to nervously sweat. "Y-yes ma'am?"

He was a small yellow toad.

"What's your name?" Toadette asked. The toad cleared his throat. "T-Tod." She nodded. He was pretty young. Toadette guessed he was about two and a half years younger than herself. She smiled. "Tod. Do you know why I'm talking with you."

"I-if you're mad that I told, then that's fine. But I don't regret it. It is my duty to follow the princess's orders. I saw you break the rules, so I had to report it. I'm sorry captain. You may fire me if you'd like, b-but I stand by that." Toadette chuckled a little.

"Tod, I like you. You spoke up. You owned up when I asked who told, and you reported what I did, even though I'm your captain and you knew I'd be mad. You got guts." He shook his head. "W-what?"

She patted his shoulder. "You're trustworthy. So I'm giving you a promotion. You are being upped to second in command." His eyes went wide. "W-wait, really??" 

Toadette smiled. "Yes." 

"So you're not mad?" 

Toadette shook her head. "No. I'm furious, but not at you. I'm the one who broke the rules. It's my fault. I put aside a direct order while trying to complete the mission. That's on me." Tod shook his head. "But, I'm a rookie. I'm not even a good soldier." Toadette chuckled some more. "Then you've got lots of room to grow. You have potential."

Tod nodded. "T-thank you." Toadette smiled and walked away. "Now you're dismissed." Tod nodded and skidded away.

Toadette sighed when she was alone.

"I'm going to need someone trustworthy to take over for me when I'm inevitably fired." She pulled out another taser.

"I need to put the safety of the Mushroom Kingdom first. Even if I'm putting my job at risk. Those criminals are a threat, and must be taken down."

Almost all the toads left to start the search about an hour after that.

Luigi POV

I took a moment to gather the courage to do it.

Everything would be over soon. Everything would be fixed.

I held the book tightly against my chest. In times like this, it felt like the book was my only friend left. 

I'm not going to have long with Mario once I do this. What will I even say? There's so much I want to do, so much I have to tell him, but not enough time.

It doesn't matter. The longer I wait, the more nervous I get. I just have to get it done.

I stood up and walked over to Mario. "I'm gonna get you out of this. Don't worry bro. You'll be okay."

I grabbed the soul staff, then turned it and pointed the glass ball at my own throat. I closed my eyes, when the staff began to glow. I felt a deep pain in my chest.

"I'm doing it...." I whispered. I kept going, until the orb glowed. I dropped to my knees. "It hurts...." I whispered. I slowly stood up and approached Mario. I had to do this fast if I wanted to spend more time with him.

For some reason the staff didn't glow as much as when it had the toad's soul inside.

I pointed the staff at Mario.

.....

Nothing happened.

"What? Come on! I'm his brother! This should be working!!!"

Incomplete soul

"What?" I asked the book.

I brought the staff back towards me. "What do you mean 'Incomplete soul'?"

You're missing half.

"MISSING HALF?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY MISSING HA-.....no...."

I slowly pointed the staff back at myself and returned my soul to me. The pain in my chest subsided.

I set the staff down and slowly approached an old shelf of books.

"Mr. L..... He's got the other half." I said calmly.

Oh well. Guess we gotta kill him too.

Then in a fit of rage, I knocked the book shelf down. "NONONONO! AGHHH!"

I was breathing heavily, before I started laughing again.

"Well, good thing I know exactly where he is." I looked back at Mario. "Don't worry, Mario. This is just but a small, minor inconvenience. You won't have to be frozen for much longer."

I burst out of the house and made my way for the Castle. Mr. L should still be locked in the dungeons.

I snuck my way around the back. To my surprise, the back door wasn't locked this time. That on it's own was a little strange, but I didn't think much of it.

I burst inside. "MR. L??" I called, marching over to his cell.

Only to my surprise, no one was here.

I looked around in confusion. "W-what??"

I grabbed my head and shook it. "Oh no no no no. Where is he? Where is he?!?!"

No one was there. Not even.....

"....Varian." I muttered. "That kid broke him out. That kid is once again STOPPING ME FROM SEEING MY BROTHER!" I turned around and left. 

I needed to find them. And when I found them, I was going to make sure that kid never kept me from my brother again.

Mr. L POV

The next morning, the kid and I made our way for town, being careful not to be seen.

"Okay, it's my house, so I think I should go inside and collect all the pieces. You stay and keep watch." Varian told me. I grabbed his shoulder. "Are you sure, kid? I mean, if you get caught...I don't think it would end well. If he caught me I could probably fight my way out of it, but you..." Varian just shrugged. "I initially designed the gun. I know what the pieces look like. Plus, it's my house."

I sighed. "Alright, but if I tell you to get out, then get out. I don't want you to risk getting hurt. Without you this whole mission is basically pointless." He nodded. "I won't."

We snuck our way around to the kid's old house.

"Wait." I held up my hand. I looked inside the window.

"He's in there." I muttered. We both snuck behind the house.

"Okay...so we just wait for him to leave?" The kid asked. I nodded. "Yeah, I guess. But I have no idea how long that'll be-"

Suddenly, we both heard a loud crashing noise. The kid jumped a little. "W-whoa! What was that??"

I shushed him. We heard some yelling, then footsteps.

I think I heard the front door click open. Slowly, I peeked out around the house. Luigi was marching away. I looked at the kid. "He left. Hurry. I don't know how long he'll be gone."

Varian nodded and sprinted to the front of the house, nearly tripping. He scrambled inside. I snuck around to the front and kept watch.

It was awfully quite for a while, when suddenly, I saw a group of toads from the castle. I immediately dove into a bush over by the side of the house, then when they weren't looking, popped one of the windows open so I could tell the kid.

"Hey, Mr. SmartyPants. Might wanna hurry up-"

I froze when I saw Mario. The kid was slowly picking up pieces.

"Is this your first time seeing him?" Varian sadly asked me. I couldn't move.

"I-uh, wow. He's really..."

The kid shook his head. "I haven't seen him since it happened...."

The kid slowly stood up and walked over to the window I was looking through. He handed me a box filled with broken pieces.

"Here. Take this. I'll be right out."

He ran into the other room for a minute, then came out the front door with a photo in his hands, and a small bag over his shoulder. Inside were a few tools and his blanket.

He handed the photo to me.

"These are my parents!" He looked down at the photo. "Mom, Dad, I want you to meet Mr. L." The kid took the picture back and hugged it close to him. "It's been years since I've seen you guys."

To be honest, I was a little weirded out. But it was a little sweet in a way. Varian sighed. "My house is trashed. But I got the pieces. Quick, let's go before someone spots us."

It was nighttime again. We both ran back into the woods and found cover, when we spotted a young toad wandering around.

"Helloooo?" She called. I had the kid duck down. "Oh no...." I muttered. Varian looked like his heart just shattered. ".....this must be...." 

"The toad's sister." I finished. Varian looked at me and frantically asked, "What do we do?! What do we do????"

I slowly let out a breath. "We.....we tell her the truth." 

Varian shook his head. "But, she's a child! She'll be crushed!" I looked back at him. "She deserves to know. Even if she is a child."

I looked at the kid. "You....you're a little less scary looking than me. You have those big eyes and you look more innocent. I think you should approach her first," I told him. He slowly nodded and got up.

"H-hey. Are you looking for your brother?" Varian asked, slowly approaching her. She turned and looked at him. She was holding a small teddy bear. She has tears in her big eyes. "Yes. I haven't seen him in a day. I don't know where he could have gone!"

Varian kneeled down. He let out a sigh. "Well, hey. I...I just want to tell you, that your brother, he loves you very very much." He held out his arms. The little girl then leaned into him and hugged him. "I'm worried about him."

Varian looked over at me, eyes watering. He mouthed, "I don't know what to do." I slowly got up and approached them.

The toad girl looked up at me. "Have you seen my brother?"

I shakily nodded. ".....Yes." 

She smiled a big smile. "Oh, good! But why do you look so sad?" Varian shook his head. 

 Then the kid hugged her even tighter. "We didn't really know your brother, but we do know that he loved you. He was out here looking for you. He wanted to say goodbye."

She shook her head. "Goodbye? What do you mean? Did he leave?"

Varian stood up and took her hand. He looked over at me, more tears on his face. He started leading her back to town. "Yes. He had to go far far away...."

She cocked her head to the side. "Where did he go?"

I sighed, then kneeled in front of her. "Look, kiddo. I'm just gonna give it to ya straight. He-" 

I was about to just say it straight up. He died, and there was no coming back. But something stopped me.

I saw Dim's star, shining down on me, watching over me, like always.

"He....went up there." I pointed. She turned and looked at the sky. 

"He went to space?" She asked. I shook my head. "No silly. Well....I guess he did in a way. He's like a star now. In a way, he's always watching over you. Even though he feels far away, he's always there with you."

She looked around. "But, but which star is he?" I shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't know him. Which star do YOU think he is?"

She looked a little deep in thought, before pointing at the sky. There was a small star, one that I wouldn't even noticed had she not pointed it out.

"That one! Because it's pink, his favorite color! It's also kinda flickering, and when I was little, he'd flick the light switch on and off to wake me up!" She said. Varian smiled. "That's sweet."

She looked down. "I wish he didn't just leave without me...." Varian gave her another hug.

"I know. I wish my parents didn't leave without me either."

I myself started to feel a little emotional. "Yeah...." I muttered.

I wish Dimentio didn't leave without me.

Varian sent the little girl home. Once she was gone, he leaned into me.

"I...that was hard." He said. I patted his back. "I know....I know."

"W-where'd you think of the thing with the stars? It was a very nice way of putting it."

I briefly hesitated, before answering. "It's....an old friend told me to always look for his star. Well, he didn't exactly tell me himself, but still. Now that he's gone, I still feel like apart of him is alive whenever I see that star."

The kid looked up. "Which star is it?" I smiled and looked at the sky. "That one." 

I pointed to the yellow star. Varian nodded. Then, I pointed over to my star. The green one. "That's my star. So, if you ever lose me, which you won't, you can always look at that star."

He smiled and hugged me tight. "I hope I never lose you."

I patted his head and slowly hugged back. "Me too....."