Escape of the Nightingale

                                    

                                          
     Luigi lay in bed tossing and turning for what seemed like hours. It was too hot but also too cold. He was sweating and shivering at the same time.  His stomach grumbled. He looked at the clock. It had been 5 minutes. It was no use, he needed to eat or he was just going to feel worse.  He certainly wouldn't be sleeping. 
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up... only to immediately fall flat on his face.  Dresses were hard. Especially ones made for Peach. He picked himself up on the floor and grabbed the candle and its holder.  He rummaged through the nightstand drawer and found a box of matches (and luckily for him nothing close to the things he kept in his nightstand drawer.  Perhaps Bowser didn't think Peach would need it? Or maybe-
Nope. No thinking about that thank you very much. 
He lit the candle and decided to try and get the attention of the guards stationed outside his door.  He approached the door and quietly knocked. There was no response. 

"Hello?" He whispered through the crack in the door.  Again, silence.
Weird.
He placed his hand on the door handle hoping that jiggling it might alert the guards. He pressed his thumb down on the door handle and felt the latch lift.  He gently pushed forward and watched as the door slowly swung open. 
It was unlocked this whole time?!
He looked left down the hallway and then right.  There was absolutely no one here.  Did they think he was so little of a threat they didn't post guards outside his door? He was glad they weren't there but it still hurt. 
"What do you mean there's no one watching?"

Luigi heard a faint whisper from the end of the hall. He strained to hear some more.

"You left the Green Mario's door unattended? I don't care that it's locked and you had to use the washroom. Get back to your station, now. You're lucky he's asleep and the door is locked. His Majesty will have our heads cut off."
Luigi quietly shut the door and raced down the hallway in the opposite direction as fast as he could.  It wasn't his plan to run away just yet but maybe he could. He could find something to eat on his own and then exit the castle.  
He kept running and ducking out of the way whenever he saw guards passing through the hall.  The castle wasn't nearly as fortified as he thought it would be. It was then that he smelled it.
The kitchen! It smelled sweet and spicy, like nothing he had eaten in a long time. He tiptoed closer. This area of the castle seemed empty. That was odd. Perhaps it was late enough that all of tomorrow's meal prep was done and the kitchen staff were getting their well-deserved rest.
He could feel his mouth watering as he approached the door to the kitchen.  It was really well hidden. The door looked like that of his-Peach's room on what he could only assume was the other end of the castle. He supposed the koopas and goombas who worked here just knew the layout and the lack of labelling on the door wouldn't confuse them. 
He gently opened the door the tiniest amount and gasped. This was most certainly not the kitchen. 
He could just barely see through the crack, a massive standing mirror.  In the mirror, he could see a large hulking figure leaning back in some sort of spiked easy chair.  It took him a bit longer than he would have liked to figure out who it was but in his defence, it had now been over 24 hours since he had eaten or slept. 
Luigi quickly blew out his candle. He'd rather be caught by a guard than Bowser. He could either subdue them or convince them to be more lenient. Bowser was a different story. 
Luigi slowly stepped away from the door. Closing it would be far too risky. He took another step back, afraid to take his eyes off the door. Once he felt he was far enough away, Luigi turned prepared to sprint down the hallway.
And then it happened. His foot became entangled in the too-long made-for-Peach hem of the dress.  He tripped and lost his grip on the candle holder. In a last-ditch effort, he tried to at least catch the candle holder but everything was happening too fast and He ended up knocking it farther away. All he could really do was brace for impact.  
He hit the carpet with a thud and watched in horror as the candle clattered on the stone next to the carpet. 
He froze. Hopefully, Bowser hadn't noticed.
Luigi's hope fizzled away as he heard heavy footsteps making their way toward the door. He scrambled to get off the floor but only succeeded in tangling himself up in the skirt further.  He began to panic, he could hear his heartbeat racing in his ears, and he couldn't take a deep breath. Warm tears had already begun to stream down his cheeks.  This was it, this was the end. He'd never see his brother or any of his friends again. Curse this dress. He was dead.  All he could do when the door opened was hold up his arms over his head in self-defence.  He stayed frozen for a moment and readied himself for the inevitable wave of fire.  
It never came. After what seemed like hours (but was probably only a few seconds), Luigi cautiously lowered his arms.
Bowser was standing halfway out of the door, his hand still on the handle staring at Luigi. It was hard to see his expression in the dim light of the hallway but Luigi could have sworn the king looked confused.
"Greenie?" His voice was barely above a whisper. It sounded less like a threat and more like concern. 
Luigi didn't respond. He could only stare back at those alarming, red eyes that seemed to pierce through the dark and directly into his soul.  Luigi shrunk back when the monster stepped forward. 
"Are you alright?" He reached down a large clawed hand and Luigi flinched. But the hand did not strike him.  It waited in front of him with its palm up, offering him a helping hand.

Luigi stared at the hand, then back to Bower, then back to the hand. There was no way he could trust this... beast, but really, what choice did he actually have? He took a deep breath and accepted the offer, placing his hand into the King's.