A/N: There will only be one more story after this (number 12), so if there are any ideas you'd like to see, now is the time to throw them down and try your luck! Though, as we get closer to Christmas, things are getting more busy, so expect a shorter story for the final one.

Also, I can't believe I haven't written one for Waluigi yet.

Day 11

Prompt: Soft Heart

Characters: Rosalina and Waluigi (and Peach)

Summary: One noteworthy person never received an invitation to the Christmas party at Peach's castle, but Rosalina is determined that nobody should be left out without good reason.

'Peach?' A soft, yet faintly determined voice jolted Peach out of her conversation with Mario. She turned around to see a familiar figure slowly approaching from across the crowded party room.

'Rosalina? What's wrong?' she said, noticing that the expression on the other woman's face was not an expression you'd expect someone at a Christmas party to have. She looked troubled, indecisive, as if something was bothering her.

'I was surveying all of the guests here, and I noticed that some people are missing.'

'Well, of course some people are missing,' said Peach, concerned by her friend's sudden change in mood. 'We can't invite everyone in the kingdom, although I wish I could...'

'No, I mean someone important. Someone who I've seen at your tennis tournaments, golfing tournaments... If he was invited to those, then why wouldn't you want him at this party too?'

'Who are you talking about?'

'Why, Waluigi, of course. Look, you even invited his brother and not him!'

Rosalina pointed across the room, where - through the rush of other guests - Wario could be seen, his bulk clearly visible around the much slimmer Christmas tree. He was picking his nose, and absentmindedly viewing the buffet tables, currently too swarming with Toads for him to get any closer. Peach looked slightly discomfited.

'Well, yes, but... Wario is just a glutton, and a little rude sometimes... I don't much like him, but Waluigi is just untrustworthy! He's always on the run for stealing things, and he likes to hang out in the bad parts of town all the time, talking to strange people...'

'Maybe he turns towards the darkness because he cannot find acceptance elsewhere,' said Rosalina in her monotone voice. 'Tell me, Peach... back when you first met him, did you instinctively mistrust him because of his appearance alone? Even without knowing anything about him as a person?'

Peach fidgeted, looking even more uncomfortable. She felt like she was being scolded by someone much older and wiser than her. Which, she supposed, was true... 'I'm sorry, Rosalina. It's just hard for me to see anything in him...'

'You are a good person, Peach,' said Rosalina softly.

She gently put a hand on the Princess's shoulder, then turned and glided away towards the castle doors, leaving Peach gazing after her with a nonplussed expression. I'm not sure whether she's... a bit naive... or whether she's such a kind person that I simply can't see it.

On the outskirts of Peach's castle grounds, near one of the evergreen trees that surrounded the area and closed it off from the town beyond, a very tall figure sat hunched over on a fallen log. Unhealthily thin, with a dark, spidery appearance, a sharp jaw, a too-big nose, and a mustache meticulously trimmed into a jagged shape. The log was damp and covered in strange fungi, but he didn't seem to care.

'Why am I here...' he muttered, casting a dark glance towards the silhouetted castle in the distance. Peach, Mario, even his own brother had made it clear that he wasn't welcome at any party, let alone a Christmas party. Yet somehow, he'd decided to sneak over here and watch the castle from afar. Why? Maybe he just didn't have anything better to do with his time. Maybe he was lonely. Maybe he wanted to make sure Wario didn't come out later, drunk, and fall on his face.

If anyone asked, then Waluigi could have come up with a dozen excuses to explain his presence here. But - both to his relief and disappointment - nobody disturbed him. As the grounds grew darker, the air colder, and the castle more inviting, he finally drew himself to his feet, ready to go home. Screw it, Wario can get back fine on his own... Why am I waiting for him anyway? He didn't even stick up for me.

Suddenly, he tensed. The faintest sound of fabric brushing against dead leaves reached his ears. He spun around, almost having a heart attack when he spotted a tall figure in a blue dress walking - almost gliding - towards him. Then he realised who it was.

'You?' he said with disbelief. 'What're you doing out here?'

'I came looking for you,' said Rosalina in her strange, echoing voice.

He instinctively reached up, grasping the brim of his cap and tugging it lower, to shadow his eyes. 'Why? Nobody comes looking for me unless they're looking for trouble,' he said snidely. It was meant to sound threatening, but Rosalina was completely unaffected. She just tilted her head, sizing him up. In the end, it was Waluigi who felt intimidated.

'When I learned that Princess Peach had not invited you to the party, but still chosen to invite Wario, I took it upon myself to change that. I don't believe you're a terrible person. Certainly not bad enough to be excluded completely from the festivities. Bowser might deserve it, but not someone like you.'

Waluigi wasn't sure how to respond. He fidgeted, adjusting his cap and trying not to meet her gaze. There was something about those gleaming cerulean eyes that both unnerved and fascinated him.

'...What are you saying?' he replied at last.

He thought he saw a hint of a smile curve up her lips.

'If you're willing, I would like you to come to the party,' she said. 'There's no need to sit out here in the freezing cold any longer.'

'But Peach-'

'Peach will not stop me from inviting whoever I want.'

She held out a hand, enveloped in a white glove, and gazed at him expectantly.

Waluigi's eyes flickered to the dark castle over her shoulder, then to her outstretched hand. He didn't know what possessed him to do it - plain old loneliness and boredom, maybe - but after a long moment's hesitation, he reached out and took it.