Daphne groaned softly as she stirred in bed. She could hear voices, quite but still clearly there, pulling her out of her dreamland. Groggily, she pulled the blankets closer to her and yawned, her eyes slowly opening.
"You've woken her up." She heard a female voice whisper softly. Daphne shut her eyes again, then steadied her breathing, taking in slow deep breaths and letting them out slowly.
"No, she's still asleep." A gruff voice answered.
Daphne felt a movement through the mattress followed by a slight tug on her arm and then a sigh. "Why can't you leave me alone?" She heard the girl whimper, her voice cracking.
"You know what I want Peach." The rough voice said back.
She felt another tug on her arm followed by a gentle cry. "N-No." Peach sniffed.
Rolling over to face the pair, Daphne kept her eyes shut and continued to pretend to sleep. The two were silent as she moved, holding their breath until they were convinced she was sleeping. "You don't have a choice in the matter Princess." Bowser continued. Daphne opened an eye slightly to see Bowser standing over Peach, his hand on her shoulder. "Your resistance will only get more and more people hurt." Daphne watched Peach try to wriggle free from his grip on her shoulder, but he just tightened it. "You wouldn't want red here to end up like your Mother would you?"
Daphne closed her eye as she felt a shiver run down her spine, "Do you really think I'm that stupid Bowser?" Peach answered, her voice soft but firm, "Even if I did marry you, it wouldn't stop you hurting the ones I love, the ones I care about. You'd still destroy my kingdom, fore my people into slavery and it would all be okay, because you would be king."
Daring to open her eye again, she saw Bowser glaring at Peach as she stared at her lap, tears trickling down her face. "If you don't start behaving yourself, I'll have to start hurting you again Princess." Bowser warned, tightening his grip on her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain.
"P-Please Bowser, d-don't-" She ended her sentence with a quite shriek of pain as his claws pierced her skin.
"Think about your answer." He threatened, letting go of her and leaving the room.
Daphne waited until he left the room, waited until Peach broke down and let all of her tears pour out. "Don't give in to him." She murmured, still lying down with her eyes closed.
Peach's head shot up from her hands as she looked down at Daphne, "W-What?" She choked.
"I was awake." Daphne answered, opening her eyes to look up at the blonde princess. "I heard what he said, what you said, and I saw what he did."
Shifting about on the bed, Peach looked around at anything except for the red head beside her. "O-Oh."
Sighing, Daphne sat up and pulled Peach's hair over one shoulder to get a better look at the gash on her other. "Come on, we'll go sort this out." She said gently, crawling out of bed.
Dragging her along by the chain connecting them by the wrist, Daphne led Peach into the small bathroom joined onto their room and turned on the light. Running the taps in the sink, Daphne pulled a flannel down from the shelf and dampened it. Turning to Peach, she sat her down on the closed toilet seat and frowned at her wound.
"That looks bad." She murmured softly, watching the blood drip down Peach's pale skin. Wiping the blood running down her arm, she looked at the claw mark and bit her lip, "This might hurt a bit..." Peach gasped as Daphne dabbed at her wound with the flannel then held it against it firmly. Wriggling is discomfort, Peach let out a shaky breath and looked down.
Dipping the cloth into the water again, Daphne wrung it out and pressed it against Peach's shoulder again, feeling slightly guilty as she gasped again. "Does he hurt you a lot?" Daphne asked in a gentle voice as she moved the cloth away to look at the wound again.
Peach turned away from her, her eyes watering again. "N-Not as much anymore." She mumbled in response.
"But he used to." Daphne stated rather than asked.
Nodding, Peach looked to Daphne, her eyes still watering. "Yeah." She admitted, lowering her head once again. "At first, it was so bad that I was bedridden for months after, then after a while, Bowser found new tactics." Tears spilling over the edges, Peach didn't even get chance to wipe them away before Daphne's hand was on her face. Sniffing, she still didn't look up, but continued, "It's funny how emotional pain can leave you just as crippled as physical pain can."
Slowly moving her hand away from her face, Daphne put down the flannel and frowned, "Hold on." She said softly as she gripped the bottom of her nightgown. Tearing the fabric, she began to wrap it around Peach's arm as a make shift bandage. "You better appreciate this." She muttered to Peach as she smiled jokingly at her. "This nightie was short enough before this."
Smiling weakly, Peach wiped her reddened eyes, "Thank you." She said gratefully.
"It's no problem." Daphne smiled back, pulling the princess into a hug, "I'm here for you." She said, rubbing her back as she felt tears drip onto her back. "Come on, you need to get some sleep."
"Wake up!" Mario yelled from the centre of their camp, "We need to get going."
"Like man, It's too early." Shaggy complained as he and Scooby buried their faces into the ground.
"It's dawn, we need to get going and make the most of the light." Luigi answered, helping Daisy up.
"Yeah guys, hurry up." Fred ordered from beside Mario.
About 10 minutes later they had packed their supplies and were once again on the move. They didn't haver far to go, over the years Mario and Luigi had found short cuts, hidden warp pipes made for such an occasion as this in order to Reach Bowser's castle before he had chance to harm the Princess.
"Okay," Mario addressed the group, "follow me." With that he ran forward and leaped over a hole in the ground, possibly miles wide, but only around five metres lengthways. Luigi followed, then Daisy, then Yoshi, but Mystery Inc. all stopped once they reached the gap, their eyes wide.
"L-Like I can't jump that, man!" Shaggy protested as Scooby nodded vigorously beside him.
"Just do it!" Mario shouted as he looked into the distance where the faint outline of a castle could be seen.
"But...But...Physics!" Velma cried, moving away from the edge, "I-It's not going to work!"
"Yeah Mario, I don't think Velma could make this jump." Fred said, "I might be able to but it's risky."
"Just jump." Daisy said calmly, "You'll make it."
"There's something abut this place," Luigi added, "It gives humans powers that they don't have on Earth."
Velma raised an eyebrow sceptically, "W-What?"
"That's why Luigi and I were sent to rescue the Princess when we came here." Mario explained, "We have powers that the inhabitants here don't, humans are rare here and it's something to do with our genetics."
Glancing at Velma, Fred gripped her hand, "Come on Velms." He said, running forward with her and leaping into the air. He heard Velma scream as they flew through the air, landing quite a long way away from Mario, Luigi and Daisy.
"Overshot it a little." Daisy laughed as she helped Velma up.
"Jinkies, just a little." Velma chuckled as she readjusted her glasses.
Shaggy and Scooby looked terrified, but there was no denying the look of excitement in their eyes. "Like superpowers? Man, that is co cool!" Shaggy exclaimed as he ran forward, Scooby by his side as they both flew high into the air before plummeting to the ground on the other side, even further than Fred and Velma.
"Right." Mario said, getting everyone's attention, "there a warp pipe a few miles from here, It will take us close to the castle, that is, if Bowser's troops haven't discovered it and destroyed it yet."
"If you see any goombas, koopas or anything that looks threatening, either jump on it, kick it, punch it, just get rid of it." Luigi added.
"We won't be stopping fr a while now, probably not until we get to the castle, so keep on your toes for any opposition that we'll be meeting soon enough." Mario finished before setting off for the warp pipe.
"Oh, and don't be afraid to pick up any mushrooms." Daisy added with a giggle.
"Just don't pick up a purple one." Luigi warned as he moved closer to Daisy as they walked.