Before I begin, yes, I definitely owe an apology for the lateness of this. I guess work took up more time than I imagined. Thank you again to all who reviewed the last chapter! I really enjoyed, as always, reading what you had to say about it. Without further ado, here is chapter 3!

The intense glow from the numbers on my clock seeped in through my eyelids. Resisting the urge to fully open them, I rolled over onto the other side of my bed so the time was not in view. I had been monitoring it for the entire night and it seemed like an hour had passed before the minute flicked to the next number. I was amazed to find myself meeting with the glare of a second clock, found on the right hand side of my bed. Why Toadsworth had deemed it necessary to put that there I did not know. It was hopeless; I climbed out from underneath the duvet and lay horizontally on top of it. I felt as though even if there was another me lying at my feet, we would still be able to fit. The bed's size always made it feel cold and unwelcoming, but it was fit for a princess according to my father...who I never actually knew.

Toadsworth had apparently been my parents' personal advisor and was left to take care of me after they went missing. It turned out that Bowser's father had taken them in the night and the next thing they knew, they were lying in the overthere. It seemed that the Mushroom Kingdom had been suffering an ongoing hate war with the darklands, a war that I had since been oblivious to, and a war that I had slowly been forced to realise still continued today. It was a shame I never got to know my parents, though perhaps their death at such an early stage in my life was for the better.

I looked at the clock again. Only three minutes had passed. It was getting close to two o' clock in the morning and I wasn't going to get sleep any time soon. I leapt up and walked over to my balcony doors. Pushing the panes of glass open, I stepped out, wrapping my arms around my shoulders as I stepped into a the frozen night air. It was almost silent; the only thing I could hear was the soft chirping of crickets. The light from my castle cast onto the entirety of Toad Town which lay below it, the streets devoid of life.

I longed to go down there and walk the peaceful paths all night, to see how it had changed from the bustling daytime. The urge kept growing stronger the longer I stood there. It would be far better than lying sleeplessly in bed all night.

Throwing caution to the wind, I ran back into my room and took my parasol that was leaning against the wall. Since the incident at Bowser's castle, I realised how much I missed using it to take those rash, unprecented jumps. On my way back towards the balcony, I threw my shawl over my shoulders. The feeling that had seized me as Mario prepared to leap across the lava rushed back to me as I climbed onto the railings. I gripped my parasol tightly and jumped without a thought, letting it do the rest.

The glorious sensation of weightlessness returned as the air rushed past my toes. I continued to drift across the garden until my feet grew near enough to the ground. At that point I let myself drop onto the soft grass and I made my way on foot to the front gate to find myself creeping past the sleeping toads who had supposedly been 'on guard.'

I noticed just how strange it was when nobody was around. Every time I tried to walk into the town centre, it would take me forty minutes to get there due to the sheer amount of people who would stop and talk. I sauntered down to the same place in just under two minutes and I carried on round the lone fountain in the middle. No-one was throwing coins in, the market stalls stood solemnly with their stock indoors and only a few dim lights shone from houses in the distance.

In amongst the brightness, I was curious to find something blocking a fraction of it, a faint silhouette. The lone figure appeared to sway slightly, not with the breeze, but by its own accord. Feeling inquisitive, I approached it with caution, softening my footsteps as I grew nearer. However, he or she didn't seem to move away, they were facing with their back towards me and their head was tilted upwards towards the branches of a tree. I followed their gaze but there was nothing but dead leaves clinging onto the branches by a thread,

"Excuse me," I whispered, in the hope I might find out who it was. The figure flinched violently as if my words had cut them and bolted up the hill. I picked my gown off the floor and hurried after the strange person, but I had to swerve out of the way as they stopped on a sudden and crouched to the ground. I stared on in confusion. They seemed almost possessed.

I tried to move closer again, deciding it was best not to say anything this time. I was desperate to get a closer look. However, they were completely unresponsive to my movements, so I drew closer. That was when they began to mutter something, stopping me in my tracks.

"Hmm no...this..." It was a man's voice. He picked a blade of grass from the hill. "This won't do." Perhaps he was looking for something. It was so difficult to see his face in the dark as he looked down, picking and discarding several pieces of grass.

My face was inches from his head and he still hadn't noticed me. I wondered if he was actually...awake. All of a sudden his head shot up, making me jump out if my skin to the point where I let out a small scream, and his response was exactly the same as mine. We both fell backwards in shock and I only regained my footing in time to find him tumbling down the hill. I tried to run after him but it was too late as he ploughed head-on into a bush. A flock of birds shot up, flapping in wildly from the scene of the crash, before all fell silent again.

The trees around us were motionless. The leaves lay still. The braches hung there, untouched. Remaining as quiet as possible, I crept forward and made an attempt to reach out for him.

"Ow..."

I pulled my hand back.

"Is..err...someone out there?" came the same weak voice from inside.

I almost felt a sense of relief, it seemed whoever had fallen in there wasn't ready to make a run for it any time soon. I cautiously probed my arm into the shrub, all I could feel was the uncomfortable sensation of twigs sticking into my skin. I wondered if he had somehow managed to crawl out of the other side and left me looking like I'd lost my sanity, sticking my hand into an empty plant. Near certain that there was nothing to be found, I retracted my arm only to have it violently pulled back. He sure was good at hiding. Now that I was certain I had the right person, I shifted all of my weight backwards. From then on it was a stream of pained exclamations coming from the end of my arm until I saw him emerge. I let go and moved out of the way as he rolled onto the hill, smeared in mud.

He sat up, looking bemused. "Oh boy, I've done it again."

I noticed a familiar accent in his voice. "Are you alright?"

"Did you pull me out?" he asked.

"Yes, you had quite a trip down that hill," I said whilst he began to pick twigs out of his hair.

"I guess I have the bush to thank for waking me up."

The light caught his face as he stood up. Though I was taken by surprise, it occured to me that it would have been strange to expect anyone else.

"Mario!"

He was taller than I had remembered and he stood with his shoulders pulled backwards and his hands clasped, as if he was freezing cold. I didn't blame him, he was wearing a shirt that barely covered his arms and he certainly wasn't expecting to be outside in the middle of the night.

He sighed as if I had somehow upset him. "Sorry to disappoint you, signora..."

I hesitated. "Excuse me?"

"I guess it's easy to mix us up, but I'm afraid you're not talking to Mario," he added.

"Oh I'm-"

"No need to apologise. I get it a lot."

I could detect his efforts to prevent my guilt from rising, but his solemn tone only served to add to it.

"It's pretty dark now so I don't mind going back with you, I know this place quite well," I interrupted, before he could move.

"Oh there's is no need to worry about me!" he chuckled nervously. "I'm staying in a hotel just to the east of here, we only arrived yesterday," he scuffed his feet, "heh...I think I walked a long way."

"I remember waking up on the roof of my castle once. It took all of the kingdom's guards to get me down," I laughed.

He smiled for a few seconds at the story before his face dropped. "Wait...castle? Guards?"

I pointed towards the gigantic pink castle that was illuminating the town. "That's mine," I whispered.

"So you're...Ohhh boy...you're the princess? And I'm h-here in my pyjamas and you saw me sleepwalking and my pyjamas...they're not even my nice ones."

"There's no need to feel so uneasy..."

"I was probably doing something stupid wasn't I?" he stuttered.

I opened my mouth to speak but he carried on, looking up in terror. "Oh! I was supposed to meet you tomorrow! How embarrassing!" He buried his face into his hands.

I frowned. Another downside of being a princess was that everyone felt that I would have such high expectations of them; that they had to act perfectly and politely in front of me. Nobody was ever themselves.

A few seconds passed while he continually muttered to himself. Apart from Mario, I hadn't scheduled anyone to meet me tomorrow...unless...

I watched him while he finally gathered himself and sat on the edge of the fountain, taking obvious note that I hadn't been paying much attention to him. "I'm sorry your highness...I just..."

"Oh please, call me Peach." I smiled, trying to ease his embarrassment.

He grinned. "And you can call me Luigi."

It seemed as if my predictions were right. Perhaps I would've known if I had been able to see properly. I guessed I still felt bad for mistaking him for his brother.

"So you're Luigi? Meeting you at this hour wasn't quite what we had arranged!"

"No well, it's not every day you see a princess walking around in the early hours of the morning."

I was hoping he wouldn't pick up on that, but that was probably pushing my luck. He turned away from me, apparently something else was on his mind. "I think we're gonna be stuck here for a while," he sighed, "We don't even know how we got here or how to get out. I could sure get used to this sky though."

I remembered my conversation with Mario back at the castle. "Mario said something about Brooklyn, is that where you came from?"

"Yep, we didn't have such a great life though; we were always short on money. In fact, just recently, we were evicted from our apartment." Luigi swallowed, his voice wavering.

"Well you're very welcome to stay here for as long as you like, you know that don't you?"

"Thank you your high...Peach. I just wish we could live like we used to..." He hesitated before lifting his head back up. "Sorry, I'm going off the subject. Mario says I always do that."

I shook my head dismissively. "Tell me, that accent you and your brother have, where is it from?"

He narrowed his eyes and the corner of his mouth turned upwards. "I've never heard of anyone who didn't recognise an Italian accent."

"Italian? Is that the language you use in Brooklyn?"

Luigi almost fell into the water laughing; now it was my turn to feel stupid.

"We tend to speak Italian in Italy, princess!" he breathed. I'd never heard of any of these places, they certainly weren't on our map. It took a while for it to dawn on him that I had no idea what he was talking about. "Oh, right, sorry. I don't know much about your world either so...I guess that's fair." He appeared rather shamefaced about his reaction, but at least my mistake had uplifted him.

"No harm done..."

An striking warmth had dispersed the previous chill of the night air, and I wasn't the only one who had sensed it. Luigi span around. It continued to creep upwards with growing intensity as he stared into the distance.

"Would you look at that?" he stared in awe, "I've never seen a sunrise like that before."

As beautiful a sunrise as it was, it was the last thing I wanted to see.

"Peach, wait!" he shouted as I started up the hill, confused at my reaction.

I hadn't noticed the time. If I wasn't at the castle, the whole kingdom would suspect another kidnapping.

He followed me as I sprinted back towards the castle. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Everyone will go crazy if they see me out here!" I gasped as he ran up behind me.

There was a glint in the windows as the sun rose further. We stopped at the balcony and I looked round at the door. I could go through but there was the risk of being seen; I looked back at the balcony but there wasn't a way of getting back up.

Luigi's footsteps slowed from behind. A thought struck me."Luigi?"

"Yes?"

"I noticed that your brother can jump pretty high...can you do the same?" My idea was insane, but I had no choice.

"The same? Pfft, I can go higher!" he laughed to himself.

"Perfect!"

He stopped. "Wait, what are you trying to pull here? What are you doing?" he cried as I climbed onto his back the same way I had done with Mario.

"Can you get me up there?" I asked.

"Wait a minute, I...I...don't know if I can-"

"Come on Luigi!" I interrupted. "Please? You'll be doing me a massive favour."

He thought about it for a moment, but time was running out. The shadow over the garden was shrinking quickly.

"Go!" I yelled.

He stepped backwards. "Okay hold on, three, two, one..."

He leapt into the air, propelling us up at a startling pace towards the balcony railings. I reached out to grab them, but my fingers fell narrowly short. "Can't you go any higher?"

"If you want higher, then you'll get higher!" he grumbled as we fell back down. His feet hit the ground again, but this time he stooped so low I thought I'd topple off his back. Instead my stomach lurched as he made his second attempt. As we neared the top of our ascent, I threw an arm out to catch the railings, only to find myself shooting above them.

"Too high!" I squealed, beginning to panic as I saw the balcony go off into the distance.

Luigi flailed his arms in the air in some attempt to stop himself from going any higher. Unfortunately, there was only one way to go- down. I frantically tried to reach for my parasol as he screamed, watching the balcony surge up towards us. It was too late.

"OOF!" The wooden planks resounded with a crash as Luigi slammed down upon them. I joined him shortly afterwards. He wailed again when I collided with his back. There I lay dazed, tingling with adrenaline, but thankfully uninjured.

I had to crane my neck to get a glimpse through my balcony doors. I could just make out through the amber haze on the glass that door on the other side to my room was still shut, a promising sign.

A whimper arose from beneath me. I sprang up to find Luigi lying flat on his face. I gapsed and lurched forward to help him up.

"Sorry!"

"That's OK. Luigi will live to...to fight another day!" he muttered hazily, gesturing towards the balcony doors. "You better hurry before...whoever it is...finds out you were gone."

Skipping into my room, I fell onto my bed. "Thank you. Without your help I could've been caught." I said while burying myself back under the duvet.

Luigi stood outside and rubbed the back of his head humbly. "You're welcome, Peach. Also can we pretend this never happened? I know my bro will probably tease me about it." He winced as his hand went past a sore spot on his head.

I giggled. "Well you better get back to the hotel then or Mario will think you were up to something!"

He stepped back, and cringed in pain suddenly. "Hahhh!"

"Oh and sorry about that..." I winced, even more guilty for being the cause of his injured back.

He shook it off. "It was nice to meet you. my bro wasn't lying about you, you know."

With that, he closed the doors with nervous care and clambered painfully over the edge of the balcony before I could ask him what he was talking about. But my curiosity was dampened under a sudden wave of exhaustion, and the thought was dismissed as my eyes drifted shut.

Oh Luigi, things just never seem to go your way! I did enjoy writing this chapter even if it took me a long time. I really hope it was at least partly worth the wait. I probably shouldn't promise a time for my next update but it will happen as I've got too many ideas to stop. I will get chapter 4 out as soon as I can, that I can promise. As always guys, please let me know your thoughts!