An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Soooo, I may have more or less overhauled my story centered around Luigi becoming a vampire. I'm not saying you should read it, whether as your first time or as a reread, but I poured a lot into this and ingested way too much caffeine this morning to get it polished to the point where there's a whole new chapter in the middle.
Anyway, here it is, right along the line where it did some mitosis. Feel free to start here, or back at the first chapter.
First up: vampire Luigi, from an ongoing story based on @profbastard 's Castlevania AU. Kept him simple and neat, and even let him be happy for once.
Next, we've got Plant Luigi from @lu1g199 's Plant Hybrid AU. Loved doing all the little blooms and blossoms. Something is on his nerves, and he intends to fix it.
Non-blush and blush variants.
After that, we've got Franken-Lu, from a story I have yet to write. Best case scenario, I have it all ready for October. He's got a lot going on, but he gets better. Eventually.
Finally, a new concept from the mind of @coffeecat1983. Dude was bouncing around a Cryptid AU concept where a subset of NYC's inhabitants are part cryptid, with Mario's entire family among them. The result is this sad little mothman who can't believe someone can look past his ominous heritage and love him for who he is.
And that's been a chunk of my day so far. If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna let the page dry and go play a game or something.
If anyone wants more Luigi variants, let me know, for they are fun as fuck to draw and ink.
Normally, I don't post about alternate universes unless I've managed a story out of them. Headcanon and AU ramble territory is already covered; why add more, especially when it's all branched out from an idea that wasn't even mine to start with?
That, my friends, are the words I'd say if I were a quitter (or at the very least, capable of shame anymore). With a cat on my lap and a recurring idea in my head, it's time to buckle down and write out the bones and vibes of the latest thing that's grabbed ahold of my brain: an interpretive take on the aftermath of @profbastard's Castlevania AU, wherein Luigi becomes a vampire. As it stands at the moment, said creator has migrated off Tumblr to Insta, so if you want to see where he's going with the actual story, go check him out there.
Also, before I get into things and go under the cut (cw for blood and body horror), here's the cat tax.
Still with me? This post is long, but don't let it flop, y'all. Let's-a go.
Summary
Remember when Smash Bros. Ultimate dropped? Remember that trailer where Luigi was poking around a castle, showing off the latest Poltergust for a Luigi's Mansion that hadn't come out yet, and then died before Simon came into the picture? Shoot, have you ever done Luigi's classic mode on Smash Ultimate, where the final fight is Dracula himself?
The Castlevania AU is what happens if Dracula got the jump on Luigi.
Now, with it being an ongoing story, I hate to delve into much beyond the fact that it's all leading up to a pretty big fight. What interests me the most is what comes after that, in this particular timeline where crossovers are common, and how exactly Luigi's vampirism would be taken by friends and family across time and space.
There's also a point where I go off-timeline and involve the famiglia introduced in the 2023 movie, but that's best left to another post if anyone is still interested by then. For now, let's dive into the aftermath and some other things that come after.
Immediately After the Big Bad Battle
With Dracula and Mario both out for the count, Luigi takes it upon himself to get his brother out of there and back home. He comes very close to dying again on the way, what with having to outrun the rising sun, but he makes it back to town. He doesn't remember anything from then until waking up in the medical wing, where Mario is beyond relieved to see him awake. Turns out he only got hit by a stone from the crumbling castle walls, while Luigi nearly burned up. Thankfully, vampires heal quickly, especially when hooked up to an IV stocked with fresh blood, but it was still scary for Mario to watch. He decides, then and there, to not tell Luigi just how afraid he'd been of losing him--both to death, and to Dracula's thrall.
Seeing that Luigi had been out for a day and a half, and that news travels fast across worlds, it didn't take long for his fellow fighters to send cards his way. The first one he read (which easily became one of his favorites) was from Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings, consisting of a folded-over posterboard with an illustration of Luigi besting Dracula. By the looks of things, Junior might've heard a more embellished account (Luigi doesn't remember setting Drac on fire, for starters), but it was still sweet, reading the first of many well wishes with Mario by his side. No one has a harsh word for him. Instead, he's been worried over, enough to warrant advice and assistance from friends across the universe. It'll be a while before he takes anyone up on their offers, but when he finally gets used to his new life, he'll reach out and take their help.
For now, though, he's still shaken by what he's become, and what he'll have to do to stay alive.
It's right about then that Sonic and Tails arrive, laden with get-wells from everyone the brothers had met during the Olympics. Sonic dumps it all on the bed as Tails apologizes for their lateness; Sonic had personally gone around to everybody they knew and refused to leave until they wrote something. Heck, he even got Eggman to send along a card! Something about all this brings a tear to Luigi's eye, and before he knows it, he's sobbing, overwhelmed by everyone's kindness before scrambling back from those gathered.
What was he doing, letting so many people get close to him? Didn't they know what a vampire could do? It was one thing to have Mario nearby, but with three heartbeats calling out? He's afraid of losing control, of hurting them, like he'd nearly done the night before. Sonic immediately shuts that down. Last he checked, he was the fastest thing alive; therefore, if Luigi tried anything, Sonic would see it coming from a mile away and would be able to get everyone out of dodge. It takes a while to trust him and stop believing that he'll do something wrong, but Luigi comes around by the time Sonic and Tails have to leave. They promise to drop by before the next Olympics.
Luigi the Vampire Bro
Becoming a vampire has the potential to strip the victim of their humanity. Such a thing has not happened to Luigi, though he constantly fears that it will.
Some things about vampires, it turns out, were true. Others, thankfully, were not. Sure, he'd gotten rather pale, and his eyes had gone red and nearly cat-like, but he could still cook with garlic and see himself in mirrors made in the current century. There are a few mirrors in Peach's castle that are silver-backed, which renders him invisible in their presence--a trait Peach puts to use whenever she invites Luigi out to search for antiques.
The sun is very much his enemy now, made bearable only with the help of magic and parasols. Tails had given him an umbrella that automatically tilts to block the sun, and he never leaves the house without it. He also never goes anywhere without a bespoke protection charm, enchanted by Kamek to keep his senses in check, as well as a special sunshine-shielding badge from Sarasaland, courtesy of Daisy.
It becomes very clear that most of the foods Luigi loved before are not exactly appealing, nor nutritious, for a fledgling vampire. Aside from a handful of dishes that incorporate animal blood, Luigi's diet now consists of plasma fruit (I borrowed from the Sims and I have no shame, but I'm gonna say Peasley gifted the kingdom an orchard), the occasional tap into someone he trusts, and the bags of blood that E. Gadd brings around every week. The Professor has been very helpful in making life more accommodating for him, but Luigi has made it a point to never ask where he's getting all this blood from. Some things are best left unanswered.
(For those wanting to know, E. Gadd's getting it from animals, particularly New Donk City-raised rats. Plentiful, never-ending supply, and with the right treatments, perfectly safe for vampire consumption.)
Factor Takes on the 2024 Olympics
For those not familiar, the Mario and Sonic series went from a collection of sports minigames with the franchise's stars to…the same thing, but with dream events and a story mode starting with the 2012 installment. The stories usually involve the main antagonists getting up to no good while everyone else is chilling and having fun, with Eggman mostly in charge and Bowser as his lackey. After 2020, though, I wouldn't blame Bowser for sitting out on whatever Eggman's cooking up next.
The way I see the Olympics even working is for everyone involved to be warped to a pocket dimension--one that is pretty much a given Earth city, but branches off of whatever Earth is currently doing. It's the Earth that sees weird stuff all the time, so two worlds' worth of characters dropping in to play sports for two weeks is given a handwave.
By this point, Luigi's become a lot more comfortable with who he is, though he can't help but be a little shy upon seeing everyone again in Paris. The extended Sonic crew are more than happy to see him, though, and immediately set about to making him feel right at home. There's even a couple of new competitors this year: Cream the Rabbit, and Sage the AI. Sage mostly hangs back with Eggman during all this, watching from afar while Eggman sits and schemes. After the last failed Olympics plot, the Doctor's on his own; Bowser would rather not get killed doing the dirty work again.
So far, so good. Luigi is relieved that the shipment of plasma fruit made it to the kitchens, ready to be blended into nourishing smoothies to consume between events. He goes to bed, confident that things are going to go all right, that he won't have to actually consume any blood in front of anyone.
And then, the fruits go missing.
It wasn't apparent that something was wrong until after lunch, when he found himself in the kitchen sipping at a reserve bag while the chefs explained what had transpired. The crates had vanished sometime between last night and this morning, and for all that the crew were doing to locate them, not a trace could be found. They offer to slip blood into his sport bottles instead (which would be specially marked for him), but Luigi refuses. He drinks up for now, tells the crew to save the rest of the stock, and proceeds to play his heart out, pushing himself to perform for days without daring to touch the backups, even for dinner. Two or three days in, he's completely spent, wandering back to the cafeteria in a daze as his friends try to figure out what's wrong. He hadn't told anyone what he'd found out, hoping to find the fruit before things got bad, but it was all going downhill fast.
It's right about there that he comes across Eggman and Sage, who had been conspicuously absent all day, arguing about the nanobots Eggman wishes to deploy to ensure his own victory.
Turns out, Eggman had absconded with the precious fruits, wanting to turn their iron content into something he found more useful than consumption. With the right tools, each little fruit could become a synthesizer, pumping out nanobots and other things necessary for the Eggman Empire. If Luigi was truly a vampire, then surely he wouldn't have trouble finding something else to eat. Heck, maybe he'd be able to thin out the competition a little.
By this point, Luigi is seething. Here he was, threatening to pass out every other step, while his food supply had been taken to fulfill another one of the Doctor's self-serving plans. To couple it with such dismissal, along with the notion of feeding off of his friends, is enough to make him snap. It might've been a year since he'd last lost control of himself, but the monstrous form he assumes comes to him without a hitch, overwhelming him with a single directive: to rip out Eggman's throat.
Imagine something like that, but a few feet shorter, covered with the tatters of athletic wear. Imagine it charging at you with its fangs bared, all sense of reasoning gone out the window. This is Luigi's dreaded monster form, the very thing Dracula pushed him toward, being turned against another force out to mess with him. Had it not been for Sage's shields and the intervention of passersby, Eggman would've likely lost his head. After that brush with death, Eggman is more than willing to hand over the rest of the plasma fruit, though he holds on to the nanobots he's already made.
Sonic alone can't stop Luigi when he's like this. No one person can. Between Silver's telekinetic grip, Shadow and Knuckles pushing back against him, and Sonic getting Eggman out of the room, it takes everything Mario has to stay calm and find something to sate his bro. He's able to get to the kitchen and back with a bag before anyone gets hurt, except for him, because Luigi was quick to jump for the blood and ended up nicking Mario in the process.
Everyone holds their breath as Luigi drinks up, not daring to move a muscle. When he regains control of himself, he's horrified. Here he was, a monster amongst them, with Mario bloodied and backing away from him like all the others. With the wide berth he was given, Luigi takes the opportunity to escape, fleeing out of the village and into the city to get away from them before he hurt someone else.
In hindsight, he should've ran for the hills. The city, however, will have to do. Perhaps he can become one with the many, many gargoyles, passing time well out of anyone's reach.
He didn't deserve to be reached out to, anyway.
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EDIT: going to tag some peeps in this post, since it occurred to me that with the winter storm, some of y'all might not be on for a bit.
So, for those who might be interested, time to list you off. Do let me know if monsters aren't your thing.
I know I forgot some of you, and a bunch of you might find the tag bothersome, but I really wanted to share, no matter how off-course from my usual stuff it is.
HIII a few weeks ago i had a dream a new luigi’s mansion teaser ad/billboard dropped but luigi was a vampire- the cape is black and the shirt is supposed this metallic pink and the pants were gold LMFAO he looked so silly and while crawling up the sides of buildings and had a big red villain chair.. i love him :’)
