The ballroom was pitch black, the only thing Peach could hear was her own heartbeat. The slow rhythmic beat reminded her of Lucy and her father viola.
My father's instrument and Lucy, are they both okay? Peach thought, as she suddenly jumped into the air upon hearing crazed laughter.
"WOOHAHAHAAA! Now that you idiots are trapped, I want to fight the Mario Brothers NOW!" An unknown voice filled the room, echoing off of the walls.
"Who are-a you!?" Yelled Mario.
"Me? ME? I'm someone you THOUGHT you knew Peach!"
What the shell am I DOING?! Screamed Ludwig inside his mind. I'm supposed to come in quietly and defeat the Mario Brothers in the darkness! I haven't had an overdose on caffeine today… Wait. Father said I had a "Split personality" at times; Is this one of those times?!
"LUCY?!" Screamed Peach. "What is wrong with you?!"
"NOTHING!" An insane Ludwig laughed. "My name isn't even LUCY!"
"What! No!" Peach was pale in the face, no one could tell because of the darkness in the castle.
"Peach, Peach, Peach… You took a KOOPA as your maid! What did you expect?" Ludwig shook his head violently, snapping out of the other personality. "Now, that I'm calmer… Peach, you had made a dreadful mistake on your part that only a fool would do. You never questioned my intelligence or music skills. I also recall that I had made it quite obvious of who I was multiple times."
The lights flickered on; Luigi had run to the basement of the castle to turn on the lights. In front of Peach was a Koopaling. One of Bowser's children. One of the most wanted criminals in several kingdoms. In front of her was her "maid", Ludwig von Koopa.
"L-L-Ludwig?!" Peach yelped as the Koopaling moved closer to her. He was around her size, and was only fifteen.
"Yes my Princess?" Lucy's voice came out of Ludwig's mouth.
"Why? Why did you do this to me? Why did you ruin my family's tradition?" Peach said quietly to Ludwig.
"I didn't want to ruin th-" Ludwig started as Mario jumped on his shell and put him into a choke-hold.
"Princess! Run!" Yelled Luigi as Peach stood in shock at the scene of every Toad running of fear of the Koopa that acted as a maid. Peach ran out of the room, she ran. Just ran.
I wanted to help, and to be friends with freaking Ludwig von Koopa! The oldest son of my kidnapper! He never got to explain himself either… Peach ran farther into the depths of her own castle.
Meanwhile, Luigi looked for any sort of power-up that could help his older brother.
"Mini Mushroom, Poison Mushroom, Golden Mushroom, Super Leaf… Wait, a Super Leaf?! That would-a help!" Luigi sprinted back to the battle between the angered Dragon-Koopa prince and the red capped plumber.
"MARIO!" Luigi called for his brothers attention. "USE-A THIS!"
Mario sprinted to Luigi and grabbed the Super Leaf out of his hand. The battle was intense, so Mario had an excuse to not thank Luigi. Mario suddenly had raccoon ears and a bushy tail; He was ready for any attack Ludwig decided to throw at him. Ludwig dashed to punch the plumber with a fist surrounded with electricity. Mario turned around in a circle and with a smack! Ludwig stumbled backwards, a red slap mark on the side of his mouth.
"Luigi! Come-a help!" Mario yelled to his brother. Luigi's eye's twinkled with glee as his brother NEEDED him for once.
"I'm-a coming Mario!" Luigi said to his brother to only be shocked with lightning and falling to his side, shouting in pain.
"LUIGI!" Mario yelled at the top of his lungs, turning to face Ludwig he spat at him. "YOU COULD-A KILLED HIM! WHAT IS-A WRONG WITH YOU?!
"Keep in mind Mario, you have tried to kill my siblings multiple times, and I'm afraid that everything is wrong with me in your point of view." Ludwig responded calmly.
Raccoon Mario charged at the smirking Koopa; He missed, but he had determination and he wouldn't lose this fight. He needed to win for Peach and Luigi. He WOULD win! Ludwig released another bolt of lightning, but it missed Mario by a hair. Mario was soon his by a fireball that the Koopa had shot at him. Who knew that is fire-breathing ability's accuracy was better than his lightning's. Mario let a cry of rage, Ludwig had gotten rid of his Raccoon abilities!
Mario ran out of the ballroom with a ticked off Ludwig chasing him. The chase led both of them in different rooms throughout the castle. In one Mario had turned around, punched Ludwig in directly in his nose, and ran towards the part of the castle where Peach kept every power-up. Dashing down long winding corridors Mario slowed to a jog, then a walk.
Peach didn't know that her maid was an evil Koopa prince?! I couldn't of been ALL of her fault… Luigi and I didn't realize it either. Oh my Gosh! Luigi! I completely forgot about my own brother! Mario thought as he found the room he was looking for.
Every power-up ever known to the Mushroom Kingdom was organized in one single room. Mario heard the door slam. Upon turning around Ludwig was standing in front of the closed door; His nose was bleeding and he did not look like a happy Koopa. Actually, he NEVER seemed happy. Mario stuck his hand into the nearest crate of items.
Mario was covered in fur. Cat fur to be exact.
"A CAT?!" Ludwig laughed at him. "Please, I may like cats, but I will gladly try to incinerate you."
"Meow? I-a mean, are you really going to-a try?" Mario said after his little slip-up. One downfall of the cat power-up was the frequent 'meowing' slip-ups.
"Meow." Ludwig mocked him. "Oh wait, I mean…"
Ludwig started to laugh at the plumber in a cat suit, until Cat Mario's claws scraped across his face. Blood trickled down his forehead onto his snout, which was bleeding too. The necklace started glowing and blue flames consumed the area. Nothing was burning off of the plumber but Mario's cat power-up poofed away and Mario's skin only FELT like it was burning off. Ludwig's eyes has changed color as well; The normal black color was now replaced with a crimson red. Through all the pain Mario thought, Is this his TRUE power?
7Z7Z7Z
Blue Toad and Yellow Toad ran through the castle looking for Mario. They had given Luigi a 1 Up Mushroom and listened to what happened.
"This is TERRIBLE!" Blue Toad said to his partner, Yellow Toad, while running down the long passageways of Peach's Castle.
"I know right?!" Yellow Toad responded.
Blue Toad and Yellow Toad had come to the castle more prepared than Mario. Both of them held a sky-blue colored flower in their hands. An Ice Flower; They didn't know where Mario was located, but when they saw blue flames (IF they saw blue flames) that was where Mario was. However, Peach's Castle was known for the many hidden passageways that was scattered around on every single floor. Sometimes Peach's Castle was harder to find someone in than Castle Koopa. But the two Toads could only hope that Mario was alive at that time, because they couldn't-
"Look!" Whispered Yellow Toad; Toads struggled to whisper but Yellow Toad couldn't have the Koopa prince turn around and shoot a massive fireball at his face.
"Okay! Remember what to do Yellow Toad?" Blue Toad whispered back to his friend.
"Yeah." Whispered Yellow Toad to confirm that he was ready.
Mario's skin felt like it was about to burn off; He was pinned to the ground with Ludwig's right foot pressing on his chest.
"Finish me off already!" Mario yelled at him. "Why won't you let me die?! Do you like seeing my struggle against you?"
"In a matter of fact, yes I do enjoying watching you try to squirm away from me; You are quite amusing even when you are not at Death's door." Ludwig said in a monotone voice. He seemed quite bored with the battle.
Frost and snow rushed into the room, covering Ludwig as well as Mario. All of the blue flames died down and Mario didn't look like he was hurt in any way. Two Toads stood behind Ludwig; Yet he didn't advert his eyes from the plumber.
"Mario… You don't realized that throughout the years, I could of easily killed you. Maybe I can show your two friends now." Ludwig said once more in a monotone voice.
"No good memories of-a Mario? Well how about-a that time we went go-kart racing against each-a other?" Mario was trying to convince the Koopa prince that his life should be spared. But proving Ludwig von Koopa wrong was one of the hardest thing one could do.
Ludwig stomped hard on his chest, breaking some of Mario ribs. "Wrong, you preformed a trick and your kart landed on me. You broke the carapace to my shell and I was stuck at a hospital for two weeks of the racing season that year." Ludwig proved Mario wrong.
"What about the Smash Brothers Fighting Tournament?" Mario asked weakening by the second. He was about to pass out, but the Princess needed him to defeat Ludwig. The Toads weren't just standing there anymore; They were both held to the wall by some of Ludwig's clones of himself.
"You laughed at me when I said I was an alternate when Junior got the flu."
This time Ludwig spat fire onto Mario. "What about-a the times we had-a here?"
"What?" Ludwig's foot didn't press on Mario as hard anymore. "Here, in this castle?"
"When you were-a Lucy!" Mario said to the confused Ludwig. Mario thought to himself. I might of just proven him wrong!
Ludwig's clones poofed away as the Koopa prince fell into a state of confusion. Blue Toad hesitated but Yellow Toad stopped him from attacking the Dragon-Koopa.
"I-I-I… I don't know if I had 'fun' with you or not." Ludwig's voice trembled but he wasn't going to cry about it. Crying would be pointless for him.
"Blue Toad! Yellow Toad! NOW!" Mario shouted at the top of his lungs to the Toads.
One Toad held a Fire Flower in his small hands, the other carried an Acorn Mushroom. Both Toads transformed into the power-up form. A Blue Fire Toad and a Yellow Squirrel Toad. Ludwig was almost helpless against the two Toads that soon assaulted him.
"This is for what you did to hurt Mario!" Blue Toad shouted with rage, throwing fireballs at him.
"And this is for Luigi!" Yellow Toad said as he glided above Ludwig and ground pounded his head.
"AND THIS FOR THE PRIN-" Both Toads were cut off when Peach ran inside the room and screamed at the sight of blood across the floor.
"Princess?" Mario asked as Peach walked to where Mario was on the verge of passing out.
"Mario? What happened here?" Peach asked with a quivering voice.
"I was-a trying to defeat Ludwig."
Peach turned around to see Yellow Toad and Blue Toad standing on a defeated Ludwig.
"Lucy?" Peach asked.
"No…-wheeze- I'm not your maid. I'm your enemy Peach. I've stolen you and forced you to play a part in plays I make, I've mind controlled Mario, I've-" Ludwig rambled on.
"Blue Toad and Yellow Toad. Let him go." Peach stated, causing the two Toads to walk off the back of Ludwig's shell.
"That's a bold move Princess; Letting me leave, why not just put me down?" Ludwig was questioned her mercy on him.
"It's because..." Peach's eyes were brimmed with tears. "I saw you as a friend, no matter how evil and freaking corrupted you were! NOW LEAVE!"
Ludwig grabbed a small piece of paper out of his shell, he lit on fire and teleported in a flurry of sparks. A teleportation charm was what he had used to get away from the "heroes". Peach slumped down on the floor and cried; Lucy was never her friend yet Peach considered her one.
-Epilogue-
Peach walked down the hallways of her palace until she reached a place that would always return sad memories to her. She walked inside the room to see that it was left uncleaned. However, the bed was made and the floors were clean; The nightstand had two neatly folded dresses on it with makeup and some other things on the side. A pen was the small desk "she" had been given and papers littered with musical notes and symbols were set in a neat pile.
Peach walked out of the "maid's" room when a guard Toad ran up to her. "Princess! A letter!"
"What? A letter?" Peach grabbed the letter out of the Toad's hands and opened it; It read:
Peach, sorry about the incident; I have learned that I "failed" at the job I was given and am now grounded for a month. Yes, a month. Also, there are rules that state: "No Koopa will be able to mail ANYONE in the Mushroom Kingdom". It is an annoyance because I'm being punished from losing against Mario and his friends AND trying to send you an apology. You said something about wanting to become friends with me at the end of the fight. I was stuck in some sort of emotional limbo at the time but… Yes. I will become "friends" with you. I still don't understand the concept of friendship, but I can learn. I doubt books will help. I guess I can ask Lemmy and Ignatius(Iggy, if you didn't know) for help on this subject. Oh, I KNOW that you will discard this letter. I don't really care.
-Ludwig "Kooky" von Koopa (Or, if you prefer, Lucy)
Peach held the letter tight as she walked into her room. Maybe they COULD be friends, one step at a time.
The End.
Author's Notes! Lots of spell check was used in this story, I will make LONGER stories soon, and I KNOW, FRIENDSHIP ENDING O MY GERD. So, leave reviews, tell ya friends, and I will see y'all soon! ;D