A/N: Last chapter!

Reply to Thegeniusyoshi: Don't worry, he's still here. He doesn't have a very large role, but that's because this is only a short story.

* * * * CHAPTER 9 * * * *

Toadette was sitting on a plastic chair inside Toad Town Hospital, absently tapping out a tune with her fingers on the edge of the bed. She was the only one here – well, the only conscious one.

It was early in the morning, perhaps 6AM. The chaos of last night, the terror and fire and pain was behind her now, but she couldn't help thinking back on it. The events had already begun to seem unreal to her.

Flashback...

Toadette's screaming was high, shrill and filled with fear, and the Evil Brothers – for all their stupidity – immediately knew something was very wrong. Wario was ducking and dodging around the pieces of rubble raining down from the ceiling, his unknown injuries slowing him considerably. Waluigi poked him and leaned close in an effort to make himself heard over the commotion.

'We're one down.'

'Wuuh?' Wario grunted, looking around. The central platform where they'd fought Bowser was already starting to collapse under the weight of the falling ceiling, and it wouldn't be long before it sank into the lava below. Then he caught sight of Luigi for the first time, lying motionless on the floor with Toadette kneeling beside him, and his eyes widened.

'Someone grab him! We gotta get out of here fast!'

Despite this, he made no move to run to his fallen cousin.

The door at the far end of the room had burst open now that the Koopatrol guards were no longer there, and two familiar figures came running out. Mario and Peach looked none the worse for wear after their imprisonment – Bowser must not have hurt them. But when they spotted Luigi, they both cried out in shock.

Mario immediately took charge of the situation, jumping up onto the central platform, gently pulling the princess with him. He stood protectively over his little brother.'We need to run!' he shouted. 'Is there any way out of this room?'

'Whaddya think we've been trying to figure out, idiot?!' growled Wario.

Then Waluigi growled impatiently and pointed a finger up at the large, stained-glass window high on the wall. 'Something's coming!' he yelled.

Everyone quickly followed his gaze. Sure enough, the sound of a whirring engine was very faintly audible over the chaos of the collapsing room, so quiet it could have been their imagination. But it was growing louder. 'It's a spaceship,' Wario grunted, stupidly.

Waluigi face-palmed in exasperation, but for once his brother was actually right. The castle shook a little more, dislodging stone and brick from the roof above, and with an almighty crash the window shattered and something large and red burst through.

'It's the Starshroom!' screamed Toadette, not sure whether to keep crying over her fallen friend or laugh in sheer relief.

The ship made short work of landing on the crumbling central platform, avoiding the lumps of debris crashing down from above. The door opened and a familiar figure dashed out, looking frankly terrified.

'Quick! Climb aboard!' he said.

For a moment the three heroes could only stare at each other in shock, then the lure of an escape route took over everything else. Waluigi was the first inside the Starshroom, making no attempt to grab Luigi along the way. It was up to Mario to half-carry, half-drag his motionless brother's body off the central platform and through the entrance of the waiting ship.

The next few seconds were nothing more than a blur in Toadette's mind as the Starshroom took off again, spinning crazily through the air to avoid the falling stones. It seemed to hesitate for a moment, then flew up and out of the hole in the ceiling, which was by then more than large enough to admit it. All she could remember after that was running to throw her arms around Captain Toad, nearly sobbing with relief and gratitude that her friend had saved them.

Now, she was sitting stock-still beside a white-blanketed bed in the Hospital, edgy and exhausted. She hadn't slept more than a few minutes since Captain Toad brought them safely back into town and the medics had rushed over to them with stretchers.

Wario had shaken off his injuries like it was nothing, of course, laughing loudly and waving away anyone who tried to approach him. Waluigi had come to stand by his brother's side, putting a long thin arm around his shoulder, and only then did Wario's false bravado fade and his expression turned to concern for his companions.

Mario had accompanied the medics who carried Luigi into the Hospital. Peach, on the other hand, opted to stay behind and speak to the others.

That had all happened late in the night. Now it was morning, and Toadette was sitting in an almost empty room with only an unconscious Luigi and a sleeping Mario for company. She sighed and reached across the bed, stroking a bit of her friend's hair out of his eyes. His cap was lying on the desk beside him. He didn't stir at her touch, didn't even twitch. But he was alive.

She smiled and leaned back in her chair to sleep.

He felt heavy and immobile when he awoke, and his head was pounding like a Hammer Bro had used it for target practice. It seemed like too much effort to move, so he lay back and tried to ascertain where he was without opening his eyes.

He was lying on something warm and soft... a bed, obviously. But this room didn't smell like his and Mario's house. It smelled too clean. Wrinkling his nose in distaste, he listened for any noises that might give him an indication of what was going on. But everything was completely silent, until he picked out the faint sound of snoring coming from somewhere to his right.

This time his curiosity was too powerful to ignore, and with a painful groan he slowly turned his head to that side and opened his eyes a fraction.

The room blurred heavily, white against white, but after he blinked several times he was able to see details. He was lying on a bed in some kind of hospital room, and there were two plastic chairs off to his right, with familiar people sitting in them. One was clearly awake, while the other was slumped forwards in a dead sleep.

He met Toadette's eyes for a split second before she flung herself forwards and hugged him fiercely. No words, just an embrace that seemed to be trying to tell him everything was all right. But he couldn't bring himself to believe it, and as the details of last night began to flow back into his brain he needed to ask the question.

'Toadette, what happened? Is everyone... is everyone...'

'They're fine,' she said, finally releasing him and sitting up in her chair, smiling a little tearfully. 'They're all fine, Luigi. We saved them.'

'Th-then Mario and Peach...? And how did we get out of that room?'

'Oh, that was amazing!' she laughed. 'I thought we were all gonna die, but Captain Toad appeared out of nowhere and ferried us away in his ship. He was so terrified, but he did it to save us.'

Well, at least he knew they were all OK. Toadette would be a lot more sad if someone had died in there. But at the mention of death he remembered something else... a memory of the ceiling collapsing and a giant chunk of stone crashing down on his head, then a peculiar warm blackness that surrounded everything.

'I'm pretty sure I died too...' he said dryly.

'Oh, that.' She smiled and took his hand. 'Your Life Shroom activated just as we were escaping the castle. The others told me you actually stopped breathing for a minute and they couldn't revive you, but then there was a weird pinkish light and BAM, you were alive again.' She grinned down at him. 'I don't remember much of it.'

After a second or two, he grinned tentatively back.

'OK, so where are the others now? I see Mario's over there, but...'

'Hmmm...' Toadette paused for thought. 'Well, the last time I saw your cousins – which was last night – they were outside talking to the princess. Captain Toad was there too. I think she's gonna give them a fine reward for their part in saving her. We couldn't have managed it without their help.'

'That's true...' Luigi agreed. 'Wario and Waluigi were great at getting past those traps and fighting Bowser's minions, and none of us would be here if it wasn't for Captain Toad.'

'Even if Waluigi kept nearly killing you.'

'I don't think he did it on purpose.' Luigi's tone was quiet and thoughtful. 'I think he only came with us because he wanted some glory to himself. He's even more overshadowed than I am, huh?' He gave a small, crooked smile. 'Looks like I need to start paying more attention to my cousins now.'

'Mario will too!' said Toadette. 'He spoke to them just before he came up here. He sounded kinda suspicious, but after I told him everything Wario and Waluigi did for us, I think he was really grateful.'

Before the plumber could respond, there was a snort from the chair beside them and Mario began to stir in his sleep. He muttered something about spaghetti, opened one eye, noticed Luigi watching him, and hastily wiped the drool from his mouth and sat up straight.

'Bro!' he cried. Luigi didn't think he'd ever heard his brother's voice so relieved, or so awake.

'Mario,' he replied.

'You rescued us! Toadette told me everything, about how you teamed up with our cousins and stormed Bowser's Castle. I didn't think you'd be able to do it! I thought you were gonna die, Luigi!'

'Bowser already mentioned that,' interjected Toadette, managing to sound both amused and disapproving.

Mario coughed uncomfortably. 'I know. I should've had more confidence in you, Bro – you really proved yourself as a hero out there! You did things even I couldn't have done, like getting Waluigi to help, and...' He realised he was rambling and cut himself off, scratching his head underneath his hat.

Luigi watched him for a split second, then burst out laughing.

'It's OK, Bro,' he said between chuckles. 'We know how grateful you are, you don't need to thank us.'

Mario looked relieved. 'Still, you did great out there,' he said. Toadette hopped off her chair and he reached over to put a hand on Luigi's shoulder. 'Seriously, I'm proud of you. And... I should thank the others too, I guess.'

'Hmm... don't bother thanking Waluigi. He didn't help us all that much,' Luigi advised, still grinning.

Wario could hardly believe his good fortune. Five hundred gold coins! A new car! Lots and lots of treasure! Princess Peach had, in her gratitude, offered him three rewards and that was what he'd chosen. It was nothing much compared to the vast hoards of shiny things that he already owned, but he loved it nevertheless. And it was certainly a suitable reward for a proven hero!

Waluigi had been offered money and gifts too, but had turned them all down. Then, after his brother left the area, he'd turned to the princess and told her what he wanted as a reward.

The very next morning, while Luigi was still unconscious and recovering in Toad Town Hospital, the newspapers were already passing around word of the Four Heroes who'd saved Peach and Mario – and there was a whole paragraph devoted to Waluigi and the great deeds he'd done to help them.

So, for a few days at least, Evil Brother Number #2 got the fame and attention he'd always longed for.

Toadette, on the other hand, had refused all of Peach's offers, saying she'd only done what she did to help her friends and didn't deserve to be rewarded for that. Captain Toad, however, hadn't been able to resist the lure of treasure when it was practically waved under his nose, and flew home happy that night with three glittering new jewels.

So everyone had gotten what they wanted in the end. But the adventure brought something else besides glory and rewards. Afterwards, while Luigi was still struggling with the new attention he got from being a hero, it could be seen that the Four Heroes – and Mario – were often together again, playing sports or just sitting around and eating.

Wario was a great deal more pleasant to be around nowadays, and even Waluigi seemed to have lessened his hostility towards his rival. It could hardly be called friendship, but it wasn't hatred, either.

The newfound happiness between the family might not last forever, but for now, there was peace.

Peace, and one more famous hero in the kingdom.

A/N: So, A Rescue Gone Awry is officially complete. This is my most successful fanfic so far, I think... on my other account I had two which I never finished, but I've had very few problems with this story.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed this fanfic, I greatly appreciate it. Special thanks to 'Guest' for reviewing almost every chapter, and 'Thegeniusyoshi' for giving me the idea to put Captain Toad in here.

I will definitely be writing more Mario stories, but I don't have any good ideas yet. Still, you can probably expect to see me publish something new quite soon.

Thanks for reading!