Chapter 9 It Can't Be
Back at the castle, Roy's mood was growing more and more desperate. He had searched the castle from top to bottom. He had turned over every single carpet in hopes that he might spot the Princess. He even asked Kamek if he had cast an invisibility spell on her. He did not.
Roy did not know what to do. Seriously, why would anyone do this? Sure, the Koopas kidnapped Princess Aqua. But other than that little thing, they didn't do anything bad to her! They kept her well fed, they provided her a bed to sleep in. Heck, they didn't even put her in a cage! Was Aqua really so upset over that one little detail that she would run away?
And who was the mystery person who had betrayed the King?
Roy was determined to find out. He continued to wander the hall. As he did, he called out Aqua's name. You know, just in case this was one big prank by her. He searched the entire east wing, he double checked the throne room. It wasn't until he was at the entrance hall that something occurred to him. The most likely people to see anything suspicious were the guards in front of the door.
So, Roy made his way there. When he stepped out into the fresh, stinky air, he greeted the two hammer brother guards.
"Hey, Billy. Hey, Mandy."
The hammer brothers grinned at Roy.
"Why, hello, Master Roy," one of them said cheerfully. He noticed the desperation on Roy's face and became concerned. "Is something the matter?"
"You didn't come here to fire us, did you?" said the other.
"No no, I wouldn't do that," Roy said. "I came to ask you a question."
The hammer bros looked relieved.
"Oh, good. We live under constant stress at the possibility of being fired. You would not believe it!"
He was right; Roy didn't believe it. How could two super worthy guards be constantly worried about being fired? It's not like they did a bad job! Or maybe they did, since Princess Aqua wasn't in the castle anymore.
Hmm. Maybe that firing thing wasn't such a bad idea after all.
"Yeah," Roy said. "Anyway, have you two seen Princess Aqua leaving the castle?"
The first hammer brother's eyes grew wide.
"Wait, Princess Aqua escaped?"
"Yep, she did! And the entire castle is on alert because of it!" He leaned in close to the nervous hammer bro. As he leaned in on his tiptoes, his eyebrow was raised so that it appeared above his shades. "You didn't...allow her to leave, did you?"
"N..no! No, of course not!"
Roy backed up and crossed his arms.
"I don't believe you."
The second hammer brother held up their hands.
"Honest, Master Roy! We would never allow the Princess to leave!"
Roy lowered his angry eyebrow.
"Well, if you didn't see her, how did she escape?"
The hammer brother shrugged.
"Not sure. The only people we saw leaving the castle within these last few hours were Celia and Master Ludwig."
Roy nodded, puffing out his lip as he did so.
"Well, thank you. I'll keep looking."
With one last nod from Billy and a "thank you" from Mandy, Roy reentered the castle. As he walked down the hallway, he started to think. Celia leaving wasn't that big a deal. Neither was Ludwig leaving. Unless of course, that meant that Celia had chosen Ludwig as her new boyfriend.
Woah woah wait, hold the phone! Maybe that was what was happening! Maybe Celia had gone on a secret date with Ludwig! They probably giggled together, hugged each other, shared a kiss…
Okay, now Roy felt like he was going to barf. How could Ludwig do this? How could he steal Celia from right under Roy's nose? With this thought in mind, he started to march. He needed to find Ludwig.
Thankfully, doing so did not take long in the slightest. He found everyone gathered in the throne room. Every single one of them was sharing info that they had gotten a hold of. Roy let steam fly out of his nose when he saw his blue haired brother.
"Ludwig!"
He marched thunderously, sending tremors running through the royal red carpet. Ludwig looked at him in confusion.
"Uh, Roy, are you okay?"
"No, I am not okay! I know what you did!"
Ludwig's confusion grew stronger.
"You found out that I spent the last hour looking for the Princess?"
Roy scoffed.
"No! The other thing!"
Ludwig confusion continued to grow.
"That I composed a new symphony inspired by the dangers of technology?"
"No!" Roy screamed. He curled his hand into a fist. "I found out that you went on a secret date with Celia!"
Ludwig blinked at Roy.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb! Especially with an idiot like me!" He growled like a bear. "I have eye witnesses. The two hammer brother guards at the entrance said that you left the castle with Celia!"
Ludwig raised an eyebrow incredulously.
"I never left the castle with Celia."
Now it was Roy turn to blink.
"You...didn't?"
"No," Ludwig said.
A silence befell the room. Roy looked around at his other siblings. They looked just as confused as he felt. Iggy, however, looked like he was thinking.
"Wait a minute," he said. "Princess Aqua's exact measurements would be rounded to about five feet, two inches." He looked at his brother. "The exact same height as Ludwig!"
Roy felt confused again, and even more so then he had before.
"What's that got to do with the price of tea in China?"
Iggy stepped forward and gestured toward the uncloaked Ludwig.
"Ludwig's cloak went missing right before the Princess did. My hypothesis is that she wore it to get past the guards."
"Okay," Roy said. "But why would Celia be with…" Suddenly, a horrible thought entered Roy's mind. "You don't think that she…?"
Bowser's face grew solemn.
"If she did, it would be one of the greatest acts of treason." He looked down at his children. "Get in your clown cars and start a search. Leave no rock unturned, leave no speck unchecked. We need to find those girls!"
The Koopalings nodded, although they did it less than enthusiastically. As they left, Roy stood still. He couldn't believe this! He couldn't believe any of this.
"Celia…"
Maybe if he found her before anyone else did, he could talk some sense into her. He could tell her that this was crazy, he could tell her that it was dangerous.
With that thought in mind, Roy went to get his clown car.