You were careful not to slip when you were following me. You knew this plan was somewhat risky, but what plan wasn't at that point? After all, Ben and I made it, so why wouldn't you and Mario?

You stuck to the back, just so you could make sure we'd all make it. Once you saw that Ben was safely across, you let out a relieved sigh. He was the only one you were really worried about. After all, his number was so high. 

However, just as you allowed yourself to relax, you heard a sudden shriek. Blinking a few times, you saw Mario, your older twin brother, lose his grip and slip off the slick fan that was hovering over the guests. Over that line of people who seemed to be mindlessly walking towards wherever they were heading.

You had to bite your tongue to prevent yourself from crying out. Then, at that moment, you were faced with a very difficult choice.

What do you do? 

People are lost all the time. You lost your parents, your home, everything. It was part of life. People mess up and get hurt or left behind. The safest option would have been to move forward and follow me, right?

But... you couldn't do that. When everything was taken from you, you always had Mario. He was your brother. Your other half. There was no way in the world you were going to leave him behind and let him deal with the situation he just fell into on his own. 

So taking a shaky breath, you muttered a soft apology to me and Ben, then slid off the fan after your brother. 

. . .

As soon as you landed next to Mario, you grabbed his arms and helped him up, when suddenly the line of people stopped. They all looked down at the two of you, then without question tried reaching for you and grabbing you as if you were a rat in a kitchen.

"W-We gotta run!" You cried, grabbing your brother's wrist and taking off sprinting through the hall. Every guest that spotted you reacted the same way, reaching out for you and trying to grab ahold of you until you were finally able to sprint through a pair of double doors, into what looked like a large dining room. Without question, you slid under a table, praying that no one spotted you. 

That's when you finally turned to look at your brother, grabbing ahold of both his shoulders and checking him for any injuries.

"Are you hurt?! They didn't get you, did they?" You frantically asked in a hushed voice.

Mario shook his head, but there were tears in his eyes.

"Hey, shh..." you whispered, pulling him in for a hug. "It's okay. I'm here. We're okay."

"No," He whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut and burying his head in your shoulder. "We're not. You jumped into danger. I-I made us lose One and Ben. T-they need you. Why'd you do that?"

"Because you're my brother!" You exclaimed, pulling back and wiping his tears away. "Mario, I'll always jump into danger with you. Besides, I'm sure One and Ben are fine. I mean... One's a one!"

"And you're a two!" Mario snapped back. "Th-they don't need me. They need you! You should've... should've..."

"Hey, don't say that," You said in a slightly harsher tone. "Who cares what number I am? Who cares about any of that? Does it really matter? No. I think it's just a dumb way of labeling people. The world should abandon the whole concept. People shouldn't be defined by stupid numbers, okay? You're my brother and the most important person in my life. Your number doesn't make you any less or more important than anyone else here, okay?"

Mario slowly began to calm down, your words finally processing in his mind. He stayed quiet for another moment, then finally nodded.

It was a brief peaceful moment, but like all good things, it was abruptly ended as the table you were hiding under was suddenly thrown aside, revealing a very angry, hungry-looking guest.

You froze up for a brief second looking at him. These were the same people that I saw walking in a synchronized line towards who knew what. It looked like they were walking to this chain of dining rooms to eat different slabs of meat. As you looked around, you could see filthy stacks of food covering each and every table. 

You then squinted at the man's wrist. On it, a 97. In fact, the more you looked around the more high numbers you saw. It was as if someone was luring the weakest of the weak to this ship so they could eat... whatever that food was. You didn't even want to imagine.

What was the point of this all? There had to be a reason!

"LUIGI! LOOK OUT!" Mario cried, grabbing your arm and yanking you aside as the big man in front of you dove forward, trying to grab you while snarling. He began crawling after the two of you as you ran, creating a big scene.

"W-what's wrong with these people?!" You exclaimed. "Why are they all like this?!"

"Who knows! Just run!" Mario replied as more guests knocked tables over and began crawling after us. The room was such a mess.

You could hear their loud heavy breathing as more and more tried trampling over each other to get to you. "Why are they after us?!" You cried. "They have plenty of food! Why do they care?!"

"Maybe they're brainwashed or something!" Mario exclaimed, trying to hide the panic lining his voice as the two of you searched for an exit. Every table you slid to hide under would be thrown aside and broken. Even as you broke out of the dining room and ran along a twisty hallway, they followed your every move, crashing into walls with each turn you made. They knocked furniture down,  crawled on top of each other, and continued snarling as if untamed wild beasts chasing after their prey.

Keep running, keep running, keep running, you had to remind yourself, trying not to let the total fear seep into your mind and cause you to freeze up.

You continued running down that hall when Mario finally shouted, "LOOK! A WINDOW!"

You looked forward and sure enough, there was a thin glass window. Of course, there was a ledge between the end of the hallway and the window, a railing separating the two. But you and Mario were quite the jumpers, so you were sure you could make it.

Wiping the tears you weren't even aware of off your cheeks, you nodded, letting go of his hand. Together, you both sprinted for the ledge, then took a leap of faith, launching yourself over the railing and towards the window, praying that the glass would shatter on impact and let you through.

As soon as you hit the glass, it shattered, leaving you to fall to the ground on top of all the glass shards. There was a loud ringing in your ears and you were certain that the glass had cut your arms and legs.

But you were alive.

You sat up and checked to make sure Mario was okay. Sure enough, there he was, sitting next to you and rubbing his head. The two of you took a moment to get your bearings, then stood up and looked out the broken window. All the guests were trampling over one another, reaching through and over the railing. But alas, their arms weren't long enough.

You were safe.

"Oh thank Grambi," You muttered, plopping onto the ground and covering your face. "That was horrible."

You didn't even care that you were covered in shattered glass.

Everything seemed so much quieter now. Your heart rate was still accelerated, but the storm had seemingly passed.

"Luigi," Mario breathed, grabbing your shoulder and shaking it. "I know we need to recover from that, but we also need to keep moving. We need to find One."

Mario was right, but you still couldn't seem to completely catch your breath. You almost forgot how scary things could be when it was just you and Mario.

"Right..." You murmured. "One... w-we need to find him."

"That's what I just said, dum dum. Now come on!" Mario said, grabbing your arm and hoisting you up. "We're almost out of here. I can feel it."

That was a unique thing about you and Mario. You could always feel when an adventure was coming to an end. Even so, the end is never easy. There's usually a climax. The hardest most terrifying part is usually saved for last. 

You couldn't help but think about how far you had come. About all the friends you had made. Yes, this was the most terrifying journey you had ever been on, but... there were good parts too.

You couldn't wait for it to be over. You were so excited to leave this place with two new companions. Friends who you'd be able to lean on. Friends to help make the nightmares less horrifying.

The place we were now seemed to almost glow. Yes, it was much quieter, but there was a stressful feeling that came with it. You couldn't help but feel afraid.

"Where are we...?" You whispered.

Mario took his hat off and squinted his eyes as he turned around himself. There was a large staircase. If anything, this looked like someone's master suite. 

"I think... we're in the captain's quarters," he breathed.

Your eyes immediately lit up. This was where Ben and I were heading! This was the place you were looking for! All you had to do was find the control room, release the lifeboats, find me, then escape!

"Come on!" You beamed, grabbing Mario's arm and running towards the nearest room. "We have to find the controls and release the lifeboats!"

You dragged him into room after room, poking your head into each one until you found what you were looking for. The 2nd door on the right led to what looked to be a room full of advanced technology. The walls and door were thick, so you couldn't hear anything outside of the room. You quickly pulled Mario in, then looked over all the buttons until you found the one labeled, 'Emergency lifeboat release.'

However, you hesitated.

The ship had a lot of advanced automatic features, including the lifeboats. There were small letters next to the button stating the following:

'Lifeboats will only release if the ship detects errors'

"What?!" Mario exclaimed, squinting and leaning closer to the words. "No, no, no, that's not fair! What kind of boat does this? That's not safe!"

"I don't think safety's this ship's top priority..." You trailed off. "If anything... I think the goal is to keep everyone trapped in here. I think whoever's in charge is trying to prevent anyone, including the guests and staff, from escaping."

"BUT WHY?!" Mario cried. "And follow-up question, how are we going to escape with the lifeboats now?!"

You pursed your lips in thought, then turned your gaze to the security cameras. One was set in the watch tower. 

If you squinted, you could see a few large rocks out in the sea. They were out of the way, so the boat wasn't at risk of hitting them.

But...

You immediately rushed across the room and sat down in a small chair that was situated in front of a steering wheel. There was a small compass in front of it, as well as another screen showing footage from the outside of the ship. 

"Luigi? What in Grambi's name are you doing now?" Mario hissed from the other end of the room.

You ignored him for a moment and spun the wheel so the ship began to slowly turn towards the rocks.

"I'm going to crash the ship. I'm getting us all out of here." You answered.