A Nutcracker and the Beast

Chapter 13: Nightmare

"Hey,"

"Aha!" Luigi yelled as he turned to see Bowser. Bowser was not a quiet guy, so the fact that he managed to scare Luigi was new. It's also been about three days since Luigi tagged along on his race date with Peach. Bowser has been bugging him about her in those days, but they also talk about other stuff. Like asking for stories to use as blackmail or what is an excellent game to play with Junior. Other than that, it's been a simple build-up of their closeness.

"Woah there, it's okay, Greenie. It's just me," He said as he leaned against the balcony.

"S-sorry," Luigi said as he sniffed back another sob, "I didn't hear you."

"I can tell, you always seem to hide the minute you hear anything." Bowser said, looking out on his Kingdom. "So, why are you crying?"

"Why are you up this late?" Luigi asks, not wanting to talk about it.

"Why are you avoiding my question?"

"Do I have to answer your question?"

Bowser chuckled, shaking his head as he turned to face Luigi.

"Is this a game to you?"

"Do you want it to be a game?" Luigi asks as he meets Bowser's eye; he is surprised they aren't mad since Luigi is just avoiding the questions. All he saw was how sad they looked. Before he continued, Bowser had to twist his whole body to look at the crying toy.

"This isn't the first time you avoid questions, is it?"

"What makes you think that?"

"What makes you think I won't make you stop this?"

"Why are your questions sounding like statements?"

"What statement?"

Luigi bit his tongue when Bowser said that since he was about to reply with 'that one.' Luigi could see the cocky grin that was growing on Bowser's face.

"What statement do you want to hear?"

"You know that's a bad comeback, Right?"

"What's a comeback?" Luigi said, not having any more witty questions. Not that it matters since Bowser started laughing.

"Alright, Greenie. I see that this isn't going anywhere and I don't want the topic to change." Bowser said, slowly getting the laughter to die, "but no more questions. What's gotten into you?"

"I thought you said no more questions?" Bowser rolled his eyes before picking up Luigi, "H-hey I was joking!"

"Sure you were," Bowser said before he took Luigi and headed back inside. That's another thing that he's done more often. Picking up Luigi without his permission and carrying him around. Some have asked why he had a toy; for the most part, Bowser just tells them he's holding on to Luigi for Junior. Everyone believes it since everyone has seen Luigi with Junior before, so they left it like that.

"I-I can walk on my own."

"And get burned? I don't think so." Bowser said as he took them down the stairs of the towers. They were quiet till Luigi talked again.

"Why were you up there?" Luigi asks as he wonders why the King of the Koopas was hiding away from the rest of his castle in an old empty tower.

"To look at the view," he simply answered, "now you have to tell me why you were up there."

"To do the same..."

"And the view brought you to tears? It's a nice view but not that nice." Bowser said, opening the door to the tower. It was like a ghost town in Bowser Castle as they passed by open windows. It would have looked lovely if the moonlight was beaming in, but the cloudy night wasn't letting it. However, the lava that ran between the floor and the wall made up for it, creating a gradient effect of red and orange from the floor and the dark blue and light grays from the outside world.