Third Person POV

Varian ran, faster and faster. "Gotta hurry, gotta say goodbye." He whispered, out of breath from the sprinting.

He burst inside and immediately set up the gun so it was aimed at Mario.

"Okay okay okay, light purple trigger. Three two one GO!"

The kid was doing his best to rush. He didn't have much time and he wanted to see Mr. L again, one last time.

A light purple light shot out of the gun and at Mario. 

Some of the color returned to the man in red's face. Varian's eyes went wide. "It's working..." He whispered.

Mario began to stumble forward. "Whoa!"

Varian ceased fire and placed the gun back onto his back. "MARIO!"

He quickly ran up and hugged him tightly. Mario was somewhat confused. "What....kid? Are you alright?! Whoa....when did you get so tall?!" Varian let him go and grabbed his shoulders. "I don't have time to explain. I have to say goodbye. Mario, listen carefully. You have to find Luigi, okay. Find Luigi as fast as you can. I gotta go."

Varian turned and started sprinting off. "Thanks for everything, Mario! Please don't forget me!"

He sprinted as fast as he could for that hill. He pulled out the radio. "Mr. L? Mr. L! I freed him! On my way back." 

There was no response on the other end.

Mr. L POV

That girl seemed way to excited to see me.

How'd she know my name? I don't recall telling her. Maybe she's heard of me.

Luigi tried attacking, using his thunderhand, but I activated mine as well and was able to deflect the attack.

"Okay, you have the weird electricity thing. Can I at least have my sword?" She asked. I chuckled. "Why? I'm clearly better with it. Though, I gotta admit, that move you did when you deflected the lightning was pretty impressive."

She gave me a somewhat sarcastic smile. "Thanks. Now, my sword." She asked, holding out her hand. I sighed and threw it back to her. Then turned to Luigi.

His staff was still glowing. I shuddered knowing that it was some innocent person's soul.

"Luigi! Stop! You know this is wrong!"

"I don't care."

He summoned his thunderhand once again. "I don't care how many people I have to sacrifice. I've come this far. You don't know what it's like to have lost someone. You don't know what it's like, to do anything to get them back."

I shook my head. "You think I've never lost anyone?! Luigi, snap out of this!" He shook his head, then held out his hands, preparing to strike. I could see the lightning charge up as anger filled his once innocent face. This was going to be a powerful shot.

"Please stop talking," He whispered.

I held up my hands to try to shield myself from his blast, when a green light flashed.

But I wasn't hit.

"What?" Luigi said. I looked over to see the kid standing behind him, holding up the gun. "L-leave Mr. L alone."

I smiled a big smile. "Nice shot, kid!"

Luigi looked down at his hands. "What the heck was that?!" He desperately tried summoning his thunderhand again, but it wouldn't work. He glared back at Varian. "You just HAD to get back in the way. You know what....it doesn't even matter. You've got about....five minutes I'd say."

I cocked my head to the side. What did he mean by that?

I quickly ran to the kid's side. "Did you free him?" I asked. Varian nodded. "Yes. I didn't know where Luigi was though, so I just told him to find him." I nodded. "Good. Good. We gotta get you out of here."

I grabbed his hand and was about to take off running, when I felt that force wrap around me again. I floated up into the air and was brought closer to Luigi.

He was holding up his hand, looking at that book.

"I'm not gonna let you get away. I've only got five minutes. Five minutes before I can fix everything."

Varian held out his hand. "No! Mr. L, wait!"

"Kid, get out of here!" I yelled. 

I saw that girl try to run and tackle Luigi, but he simply stepped to the side, causing her to stumble and fall, twisting her ankle.

"Guys, please. Fighting isn't gonna get us anywhere. Just let me win. Please. Just let me win this, and I promise, you'll never have to worry about me again." Luigi pleaded. This sounded a little more like the old him.

The force squeezed around me. I cried out in pain.

The kid's eyes went wide. "No! Mr. L! Luigi, please leave him alone!"

I squeezed my eyes shut. It was getting hard to breathe again.

The world started fading away.

"Luigi,"

I opened my eyes. That was a new voice. My vision was blurring. All I could see was...purple.

"That's enough." 

The force around me suddenly dropped. I fell to the ground and started coughing.

"You.....but, you're dead." I heard Luigi say.

Then Luigi softly chuckled. "How many time's have you died now?"

The voice seemed to have a coldness to it. "I've lost count."

My vision was still blurring. All I could see were colors.

Luigi chuckled again. "It's good to see you." The other guy seemed slightly angry. "Sadly, the feeling isn't mutual. No. I want to see the real Luigi. Not the one who dropped me."

Dropped him?

"I AM the real me. Why can't anyone accept that?! Please just go. You of all people should know how desperate I am. Just let me win. Please."

"You're not winning. That book is winning."

"Just stay out of this! I don't need any of you! I just need him!" Luigi pointed down to me.

"In about three minutes, I'll finally be able to do what I've waited years to do."

I slowly shook my head. "You're crazy...." I muttered. Luigi turned to face me. "And you're a brainwashed version of me. What's your point?"

Suddenly, the guy in purple tackled Luigi. "Don't talk to him like that. You've lost your mind, Luigi."

I felt a chill run down my spine, as a memory resurfaced.

"You've lost your mind, Dimentio."

One of the last things I said to him.

I could barely even see what was happening. Just a lot of color.

"Get....off!" Luigi yelled, throwing the guy. He landed on his side then tumbled a little bit. I could see something fall off of him and slide over towards me.

My vision was beginning to focus more. I picked up the item.

A mask....

I rubbed my eyes, then looked over at the guy.

He was on his hands and knees, clearly in pain. I could see him breathing heavily, holding his side.

"Where.....where did you get this?" I asked. He was angled away from me so I couldn't see him. Just his back side. He had jet-black hair. He slowly raised a shaking dark grey hand to his face, then started to panic. He pulled up his hood, then covered his face with his other hand.

I looked back down at the mask. There was a fracture down the white side of it.

It was....it looked like.....Dimentio's mask.

"Where. Did. You. Get. This." I asked, a hint of anger in my voice. 

Still covering his face, he desperately crawled over and tried grabbing it out of my hands. "Give it back!"

I held it up. "NO! TELL ME!"

"L, give it back!" He cried.

I froze.

He.....

"Dim?"

I slowly inched closer.

He started shaking his head. "No... no. Don't look at me."

"Dim...."

I slowly gave the mask back. 

He inhaled sharply.

"It's....broken."

I could see his hands shake. "....it was the only part of me that wasn't broken. But now, it's broken too."

I shook my head. "You're not-"

Suddenly a line of green thunder shot between us. I looked over to see Luigi. 

"Oh, good. I got my thunderhand back!" He chimed, smiling menacingly. "And....looks like time's up."

The kid suddenly collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest tightly. My eyes went wide. "Kid?! KID!" I got up and sprinted over to him.

"Oh no no no no, Kid. Stay with me here, look at me. What happened?! What-"

Varian shook his head. "I just wanted to say goodbye...." He muttered. 

I looked over at Luigi's staff. "You....that's your....why didn't you say?!" 

Varian smiled and shook his head. "Save Luigi."

"Look at me. Kid, look at me. You're gonna be okay. I'll find a way to fix this. I'll-" Varian grabbed my hand. "Save. Luigi."

He slowly reached into his bag and pulled out the blanket. He wrapped it around himself and lied down. Then, he closed his eyes. 

"I just wanted to say....thank you. For...for everything."

"No. NO NO NO!" I turned and glared at Luigi. The light in his staff was fading.

"YOU!" I charged at him. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY KID?!?" I dove and snatched that staff. He quickly tried grabbing it back.

"Hey! I need that! Give it." I shook my head, tears in my eyes. "NO! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!"

The light was flickering. I immediately raised the staff, then brought it down on the ground.

The glass ball smashed, shattering glass shards everywhere. The light inside the staff floated back over to the kid.

Luigi's eyes went wide. He shoved me aside and started picking up the glass shards. "Ohhh no. No no no no no....."

He started crying. "What did you do?! WHAT DID YOU DO?! NO! No...please, no."

His fists tightened. They turned green as he activated his thunderhand again.

"Do you realize what you just did? I needed that." He turned to face me and immediately fired.

I held put my hands and tried redirecting his attack. Something I've never done. I could feel electricity course through my veins. My eyes shifted from their normal deep blue to a shade of bright green.

A dark green glow circled us.

"I had everything planned out. It was perfect. Then You RUINED IT!" He cried.

I narrowed my eyes. "You ruined things yourself! Look at you!"

He glared and pushed harder. "Just let me win. JUST LET ME WIN!"

I shook my head.

"You hurt my kid."

Luigi pushed even harder. I could feel the heat and electricity surround me.

"You said Dim was dead."

That girl crawled over and grabbed his foot. "Luigi! Stop!" She cried. He ignored her and kicked her away.

Dimentio ran up and grabbed his arm. "Luigi! Please!"

I saw his mask was back on, with the fracture line down the right side.

I took control of his lightning, and redirected it towards the sky. He stepped back, breathing heavily? "What....how did you?"

He shook his head, noticing how exhausted I was. "Never mind. Shall we try that agai-"

"Bro?"

Luigi froze.

We all slowly looked over to see ......Mario.

He was standing there, the sunset behind him.

Luigi's eyes went wide.

".......No."