A Nutcracker and the Beast

Luigi looks down at the garden from Kamek's window, watching Bowser, Peach, and Junior having a picnic by the peach tree. Junior was showing Peach his ballet move that he's been working on; Peach dancing next to him with her own ballet move, Bowser looking at peace as his smile rested on his face. Luigi couldn't help but stare at him, watching him dazed by Peach dancing as the laughter could be heard from Kamek's window. This was by far the happiest Luigi has seen him, and Bowser always seems happy when he takes care of Junior.

The aching pain was coming back. It's been returning for a while, mainly when Peach was involved with Bowser and Junior. Luigi had concluded that this feeling was from pity and not for Peach but for Bowser. After all, he knows the sadness and heartbreak which don't match.

"You're staring~" Kamek teased Luigi as he worked with some gems he had gathered. Luigi rolled his eyes as he faced him. Now that Kamek has been Luigi's primary interaction source while Peach is here, Luigi has told him everything he sees the new 'friends' have been doing. He also told Kamek about the aching pain to see if he could help. However, this backfired, as Kamek has only pointed out silly things. One of those silly things is that Luigi has a little crush.

"I'm watching all of them, Kamek. Just because I'm staring doesn't mean that I'm staring at Bowser." Luigi said, knowing what Kamek had meant by that.

"Who said anything about staring at Bowser?" Kamek said as he pulled a cocky grin. Luigi made an angry face; at this point, the old Koopa was testing him.

"Anyway, how's the spell coming along? Do you think it will work?" Luigi asks, changing the subject.

"I think so." Kamek said as he dipped a gem into his cauldron, "But only one way to find out."

Luigi jumps off the windowsill, adjusting the sling to be more comfortable. He wanders over, letting Kamek levitate him onto the table. Luigi watches as the purple liquor turns blue as Kamek dips in another gem, turning it red as a blue glow surrounds it before fading away. Luigi still finds it hard to believe that Kamek has found a way to give the same effect as the Dark Moon gem without Luigi going through hell.

The Dark Moon was a gem that made ghost friendly; it's also the whole reason Luigi was in this mess. Professor E. Gadd wanted to study the Dark Moon, but then King Boo escaped, breaking the Moon into pieces. Luigi regrets ever getting those pieces and using the Moon on King Boo. He regretted even more when he had to break a bit off himself when escaping.

The effect of the gem now in Luigi's hand has made it so that the full impact of the cures isn't active, but they need to test it to see if it is accurate or if Luigi was putting too much hope into this.

"By the way, Luigi, how's your arm?

"Better. It's still broken, but at least it's healing faster. I think I could get rid of the sling sometime next week." Luigi said as Kamek put the gem on the table, giving him a closer look. It had a pulsing light, like the Dark Moon, giving it a light glow.

"Good, I was worried since I couldn't do more than reattaching it."

"I'm used to it, someone once told me; it's like a dislocated shoulder. It will be over soon." Kamek hears the fear in Luigi's voice as he grabs his arm at those last words. It made Kamek frown as he dipped in another gem, this gem coming out blue. He placed it on the table, seeing Luigi staring out into space with a bitter smile. Kamek wasn't going to push on what he meant; all he did was pat his head.

"What a nonsensical way of thinking. Whoever said that has no clue about medicine," Kamek jokes, getting a language out of Luigi. Luigi gave a bittersweet smile to Kamek before seeing him dip a few more gems, all turning different colors; green, orange, yellow, pink, and so on.