A/N: Woohoo! Chapter 2 time! Hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: Nintendo owns everything mentioned in this chapter.

Peach sat up in her bed, shocked. 'Dimension...' she thought, hugging the pillows in thought. 'Is he someone I know?'

'He is smart to disguise himself as Mario. If he hadn't, I would have been able to describe him to—' She stopped, realizing that she couldn't call on Mario and Luigi to solve this problem. 'Make your first move. What does he mean by that?'

Do something big, she heard a small voice tell her in the back of her mind. Do something to slow him down.

Peach jumped, surprised. 'Who are you?' she thought. No reply came. 'Well, maybe he is just a little voice in my head...' Peach concluded doubtfully. 'I don't think I'll call Daisy about this one,' she thought. 'I'm just going to think about it myself.'

She hurriedly got dressed and ate breakfast. "Good morning, Toadsworth," she said, but it was muffled by the cereal in her mouth.

"My, Princess! What's the hurry?" Toadsworth asked, staring as she scarfed down her cereal.

"I might be late for soccer practice with Daisy. I don't wanna miss that," she answered quickly. A little too quickly, to Toadsworth.

"You're sure?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and grinning mischievously. "If you're going to see Mario, you can just tell me. You know that I think the guy is great for you." He then smiled genuinely at the princess.

"Okay Toadsworth, but I am just going to see Daisy."

Toadsworth smiled. "Okay, I believe you. Have fun, and don't get scraped up too bad!" he called over his shoulder as Peach ran out the door.

"I won't, Toadsworth! See you later!"

Peach walked to Mario and Luigi's house, adjusting her dress in just the right way, the way that made her look like a princess. She delicately knocked on the door.

Almost immediately, Luigi answered the door. His hair was askew and his overalls were not green, but black and it was more of a jumpsuit.

"Hello, Mr. L," Peach said as politely as she could. Maybe Mario could get along with him, but he drove Peach mad with his snarky attitude and- as he called them- witty little jokes. Luigi's alter ego was unbearably annoying. And to top it all, he was in love with her.

"Hey, babe. You gonna come around this time?" He smiled and flexed his -rather large- muscles. "You can't deny it. You're loving this." The smile turned into a smirk.

Peach shuddered in disgust. "No. I'm here to see Mario."

Mr. L's face hardened. He was definitely friends with Mario -why else would they live in the same house? - but he was sometimes jealous of him. He was the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Everyone loved Mario, the greatest man alive.

Mr. L, however, was a joke. When he wasn't being reminded of how evil he was, he was being laughed at. Mocked. Made fun of. It hurt, but he tried to learn how to tune them out. He learned it from Peach.

Peach shoved her way into the house as politely as possible. "Um, Mario's in the living room, right?"

Mr. L sighed. "Yeah, he is. But he might be sleeping, I'll warn you. If looks could kill, you'd be dead the second he looked at you after you disturbed his beauty sleep."

They both chuckled. "Thanks," Peach replied.

"No problem."

Peach walked into the living room of the Mario residence. Mario was laying on the couch, sleeping. 'I hate to have to wake you,' she thought, 'but it's for a good cause.' She lightly tapped his shoulder.

His eyes slowly fluttered open, and Peach watched as shock registered at the sight of her. "What are you doing here, Princess?" he asked.

"Oh, I just stopped by." She glanced around the corner of the doorway, expecting to see Dimension standing there. "Just wondering, do you remember where we went on vacation in 2005?"

"Um..." Mario muttered. "I don't." Peach sighed.

"Aw..." She cleared her throat. "Well, I'll be off."

She walked out the door, hundreds of theories running through her mind. She finally concluded one thing: That wasn't Mario she had been talking to. It wasn't a sort of stand-in: he resembled Mario perfectly. It must've been a clone. She'd seen someone make a clone before. This must be the same. Dimension must have the same magic.

So, when she arrived back in the castle later, she slipped the knife under her jacket without hesitation.

'The Mario residence is once again disturbed,' she thought, frowning deeply as she knocked on the door. This time, it answered. She had decided that she would call anything of Dimension's creation 'it.'

Peach walked in and took it by the hand. She took it to Mr. L's room. 'He's welcome to find it in his room,' Peach thought, chuckling silently and bitterly. She shut the door behind them and slipped the knife out of her jacket.

"So, Peach-" it began. It suddenly noticed the knife Peach was wielding nervously and left his question unfinished, but it didn't go unanswered.

"You're a clone," she said, figuring it all out for herself as well as for it. "Dimension made you. I need to slow him down. To slow him down, I have to..." Her voice was a mere whisper. "K-kill you."

The knife flew through the air wildly, almost as if searching for its target. It screamed and backed away, but Peach was faster. She finally got the knife to hit it and blood spurted from the wound. It dropped to the ground and lay there, unmoving.

Peach looked down at the knife in her hand. She looked at its body laying on the floor. She looked from the knife to the body again and again. It tore at her heart. Even though she had murdered a clone, it stung that she killed something that breathed.

Peach opened the window and climbed out, tears freely falling from her wide open eyes. 'I'm so sorry,' she sobbed in her head. 'I'm no murderer.'

Peach automatically threw the knife into a bush outside the castle. If she was lucky, the botanists that came every month wouldn't find it. She slipped off her dress and pulled the covers over her head. Her head was pounding and her right hand was curled as if she was still holding the deadly weapon. A fitful slumber awaited her.

"FOOL!"

That is the first thing I am greeted to. You are standing not too far away, with blue eyes that seem to have lost their sky-like quality. They seem to be becoming dimmer.

"Fool!" you hiss. I stare at you, shocked. You look into my eyes. I see only darker blue orbs filled with fury. In the way back, I can see forgiveness. In the way back.

"Wha-?" I question loudly. Suddenly, you lunge for me. I scream and jump back, but for no reason. You are trapped in an invisible cage.

"That was my body," you whimper quietly. "THAT WAS MY CHANCE BACK!"

I sob, "I'M SORRY!" He reaches to strike me.

"I DIDN'T KNOW!" I scream. "I SAID I'M SORRY!"

He tricked me. Dimension mislead me. He had already made his move. I need to make my real move. He will still be watching. He will still be waiting.

A/N: It's been a while, peeps. Here's Chapter 2. Not much to say... Well, reviews, whether they be praise or constructive critism I don't really care, are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!

Rose :D