Sicktember Day 17

[mrsluigivargas]

Quest for a Cure
One day, Junior woke up with a fever. That wasn't concerning, at first. Until it turned out that said fever was actually a symptom of a curse, a curse that Mario and Luigi and Peach were about to discover had been cast on Luigi, as well. Now it’s a race against time for Mario and Bowser to get the last thing they needed to break it, before it was too late.

Fandom: Super Mario
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences
Characters: Bowser, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Kamek, Kammy, Bowser Jr
Relationships: Bowser & Bowser Jr, Bowser & Mario, Luigi & Mario, Luigi & Peach, Bowser & Peach
Additional Tags: Sickfic, Angst with a Happy Ending, Whump, Adventure
Length: 3 chapters | 9,666 words
Sicktember prompts: Quest for a Cure, Magical Remedy/Healing Potion, Persistent Fever, Pounding Headache, Old Wives’ Tale

This fic ballooned to grand proportions while I wasn’t looking. I saw the “Quest for a Cure” and “Magical Remedy” prompts, blacked out, and then suddenly I had a 4.5k word outline. And then that turned into this 9.6k word fic. There’s more angst than I usually do in this one, but it all works out to a happy ending, still!

Luigi getting cursed was a surprise, but it was a welcome one, because it made it easier to bring Mario in with some good ol’ fashioned personal stakes.

I really love Bowser and Mario’s relationship; they are very very similar people, at the end of the day. They both are fierce and hot-headed and will fight to the death for their loved ones :) They lift each other up in interesting ways; God nerfed them by putting them on opposite sides of a conflict for sure. They still have their differences though; for instance I liked writing the part where Bowser fully misunderstands Mario, because he doesn’t know how to read him as well as, say, Peach or Luigi do. Mario’s nonverbal nature coming to his detriment, for once! But to be fair, Bowser is very stressed and tired. He learns, though, later in the fic.

I also really liked writing Bowser’s chapter 2 breakdown; getting that right took ages but it was so worth it, especially in what it doesn’t say, haha. Swirling around in that grief was very soothing to write, for me. I can’t quite articulate why. Also, since we’re in Bowser’s POV, we don’t really get a glimpse into Mario’s grief all that much. But he’s very much experiencing anguish about their situation, at that point as well.

I love the stupid bit about Mario getting stuck in a hole, even if it took me a few rewrites to make sure I wasn’t accidentally being horny about it, lmaoooo. Paid off, though.

I’m glad I got to fit in some Peach angst into all this, too. I think she has a bit of a complex about always being on the sidelines while others risk life and limb for her or others, and feels that she has to make up for it somehow. Hence, trying to fully heal Bowser even though it would have magically exhausted her.

Also yes, when they were testing the counterspell on Luigi he was legally dead for a hot minute, lol. Mario went ballistic and might have knocked some things over in his panic. So when the Magikoopas were doing the counterspell on Junior they made sure to a) keep Bowser away, and b) have a 1-UP ready.