L couldn't fully decide if the idea was brilliant or purely stupid-

There was a war in his head- one of them wanting answers, and the other wanting answers but angry about it. Well- not running away just- uh- pursuing his interest in the subject.

The mechanic knew for a fact he wasn't going to get an answer just sitting here- it was very clear from how the Magikoopa had responded to his question that he was going to get absolutely nowhere if he asked. Well- that wasn't enough for him- he was going to find out.

L looked at the satchel he had packed, unsure of his work-
He wore only a simple place turtleneck and a leather coat around his shoulder to keep them warm, fitted with his brown boots and denim jeans. He brought several other outfits in the bag, and kept safely at the bottom were the two caps he had possession of. Sleeping with them was a flashlight, a couple of rations for a few days, and a small blanket to keep warm.

It was- certainly not the smartest collection, but how hard could this be?
It wouldn't so hard just- had to find the hero and he would be back before he knew it-

Ding Dong
"Lights out everyone."

There were several clicks from down the hall, followed by light becoming less and less obvious from the hall.

L grabbed the flashlight from his back and flicked it on carefully, followed by the dimming of his house lights until the workshop was nothing but a beam of light in front of him. In one moment, the mechanic snatched the bag around his shoulder. This would be quick in- quick out thing- no need to worry. He would be back before the sunrise surely-

The mechanic swallowed sharply before putting the flashlight on his hand, blocking the beam completely aside from the light gloving from his glove- enough to see but not noticeable.

He didn't expect his steps to be as heavy as they were when he walked toward that of the workshop-

His feet hesitated when he reached the door-

…

His eyes wandered back to his little shop, seeing all the blueprints scattered on his desk, and the inventions scattered from one end to the other, including the little night light that glowed green from the eyes. It was a small thing- a mushroom shape with a green hat and white spots, two little happy eyes on the cap that smiled at him each morning…

The mechanic rushed over and snatched the small thing, shoving it into his pocket before scampering out the room with a soft click of the door.

The mechanic was no master of stealth, his back basically againse the wall as he walked. The slight glow from the flashlight was helpful- but still rendered the place near invisible. But L would rather be walking a direction that he didn't know than be found out by using something that gave away his position- just a matter of one step after another.

L knew the exit, that was for sure- but he had never, well, gone outside the borders of the castle's moat of lava. That was kind of like the fine line between being in and out, and the king made it very clear, once you were out, you're out.

But- But the mechanic would be back before anyone had taken notice- he would be back he was sure of it-

Around another corner, L caught sight of the drawbridge that belonged to the castle's entryway. He was sure of it from how the bubbling lava outside seemed to make it glow with such passion it was almost calling the mechanic's name. The sight made him almost speechless, his shoulders trembling as if he were about to kill a man. In a way he was- this went against everything that had become of his upbringing and he just had to- to go for it.

L looked down the hallway for just a moment, and from the end of the hall, he could see the sight of his workshop door…

He needed to find his answers- he would be back- he would…

The mechanic closed his eyes- and he bolted.
His shoes patted against the ground as hail did against puddles, his legs feeling the shock run through him from how hard he hit the ground. He knew he shouldn't be running this fast- but he couldn't help it. He'd turned the flashlight off by now- shovelling it into his pocket and now in a full-on sprint toward the edge. The bridge ricketed under him, the bubbling lava below him almost drained out his footsteps, but barely- then back to grass- a molten, ashy grass that crumbled under his boot and-

His feet slowed down at the hill- 200 meters away from the castle's entrance that stood high above the structure itself as if it were a hawk keeping watch. But now he stood at the very top of that hill, looking forward to the biomes before him-

God…

It was like looking at a painting- forests and mountains- deserts next to ice- the vague sense of mushrooms tens of kilometres away. There was- T-There was colour on the land- blues and greens- autumn leaves and icy blues from one end to the other, and even during the night time, they seemed to glow with the beam of the moon-

It was beautiful.

The mechanic felt his head turn back to the castle, seeing the stone that bordered the castle with red as its complement, a miserable combination for miserable people. The whiplash of colour when he looked back- it left him speechless-

"Stars preserve us…" His voice escaped his throat-
Just like his origins, this was left a mystery. In some way, it filled the mechanic with so kind of hope. This was so easy to find- a whole other world outside of what he had known. Who was to say that finding out who he really was would be such a challenge?

A grin rose to his face- his heart suddenly beating much faster than before.

He could do this- H-He could do this-!
Ha HA!

The mechanic broke out into a sprint again, but rather ironically, his feet tripped over himself in a hurry, and his whole body suddenly went tumbling down the hill in a cartoonishly shaped ball. Thank God he was wearing long sleeves, otherwise, his skin would have suffered the scapes that his sleeves did, but that didn't mean the mechanic didn't suffer any bruises-

At the bottom of the Hill, the mechanic at least hoped for a soft landing- but he found himself suddenly in a body of cold water. It was barely knee height- but landing stomach first was enough to soak the front of his body completely to the bone-

Good Grief-

The mechanic pushed himself from the pond's floor, the fish swimming away in a haste at the new entrant at the body of water. Okay- th-that certainly wasn't the most graceful of a start- L brushed the muck off of his shirt, shaking his hair with his hand to try and get the water off his face. Ah well, at the very least he could make the excuse that he was just getting some water- but then again there wasn't any water around the Dark Lands so-

"Goodness- are you alright?"

All the muscles in L's body ceased up in a fraction of a second- his head immediately snapping over to his left where he had heard such a voice, his shoes now standing ankle height in the pond now trenched in its mud-

It was a lady- kneeling by the bank as if getting a pale of water for a village. But she certainly looked like no servant- dressed in such a gown that L would argue was more expensive than himself- her hair starkly blonde to the point where it glowed in the moonlight. Pale skin- blue eyes- a golden crown amongst her sleeping curls-

She didn't look Koopa- nor-
W-Wait-

His eyes looked her up and down, seeing the combination of features that looked familiar to his eyes-

O-Oh God-

The mechanic's legs gave out behind him, falling backward, half in the pond, half in the mud on the bank, his hands clenched at either side of the grime in a panic. T-That was another him-! A-Another race of him? Like the hero that he'd been looking for- just like HIM!

The lady seemed awfully disturbed by his fear, and she rose to her feet in worry, the hem of her skirt stained with the mud of the pond.
"Oh- don't be afraid, dear!"

Heaving pants left the mechanic's throat, his shoulders cramping and shaking- eyes wide with such shock. He couldn't believe it- l-less than 4 hours and he had seen two people like him- a-and this one was talking to him? A-Asking if he was okay-? God-

"I-I-" The mechanic couldn't explain the terror shooting through him- perhaps the shock of seeing someone so soon as if he were caught with his hand in a cookie jar- but the lady didn't seem like such a threat. She crossed the bank, seeming to not care for the condition of her gown, and when she stood a reasonable distance away (still in the water), she offered a soft hand to him-

"Goodness- forgive me for scaring you- Please, let me help you up-"

The mechanic looked at the hand for far too long. He saw every detail of the beautiful lace of the glove- perfectly crafted as if made for royalty- a perfect white. And yet she offered to down to him, a man soaked in mud and grime, shoes sopping with water-

And yet, she seemed apologetic, as if she had insulted a king-

The mechanic swallowed, his face heating up around the cheeks as he extended a grey glove toward that of her own. He cringed as they made contact, staining the beautiful white with the grime- but the lady didn't seem to mind, lifting him to his feet and placing those same hands on his shoulders as if to keep him balanced…

"T-Thank you- M-Miss…" The mechanic's hands folded together, his face crimson with embarrassment, his hair sticking to his face as if he'd just come out of the dirtiest shower possible. But this lady didn't laugh at his lost display, only smiling at him still-

"Please, you have no reason to give me such thanks- I feel awful truly. The least I could do was assist you-"

It was slightly L's own fault for being so jumpy toward seeing someone like him- ev-even still he was in shock to him. For all his life, he had only seen himself- he didn't even know there was a female version of his species (but that was a slightly stupid idea). But- here she was.

L rubbed a hand behind his head-
"S-Still- y-you're awfully kind."

The princess laughed.

"Isn't that universal? Kindness, that is?"

What an odd thing to say- the mechanic met her eyes again. That same stance- masked eyes matching beautiful blue ones…

Kindness was universal? Well- the mechanic could argue that wasn't the case. After all- kindness was sort of finding a needle in a haystack with the conditions he had grown up in. By to offer it as if it did not sweat off of her palms? Honestly- the gesture left him speechless-

He coughed into his hand-
"I…suppose so- uhm… Yes. B-But it's quite dangerous to be here in the Dark Lands, Miss. Despite your kindness- I-I wouldn't advise being near here-"

The lady seemed to crunch her eyebrows, at the statement, and looked around as if confused-
"The Dark Lands? Why- we're a couple of hundred meters away from the border-"

Huh?

As if following the same confusion, the mechanic himself also looked around and-

The hill he had fallen down was a much grander fall than he had originally thought- the hill halfway through turning from stark charcoal to a more innocent green-

He was out of the border?
In…grass?

"Uh-" The mechanic felt his face becoming the complexion of rosette wine- turning back to her as if he knew what he was saying-
"S-Still- we are rather close uhm- I doubt its any good for you to be here-"

The lady frowned at the statement-
"It'd agree to say the same to you- It's equally not safe for people like us to be around such borders. Why were you at the top of the hill anyways?"

L felt his heart beating in his chest, the weight of his deception feeling more hard on his heart. The lady seemed genuinely concerned- as if the Dark Lands were the last places people 'like them' were to go- as if it were a death wish. H-How was he supposed to say he lived there-

"I- I'm- looking for someone-"

It technically was the truth- and possibly telling this lady was helpful to achieving such a goal- but it didn't mean his face didn't glow with embarrassment.

"Oh? Out in the Dark Lands? Who would that be?"

"He uh-" The mechanic felt his hands shift-
"He- I-I've heard he comes to this place sometimes to save- uh- the queen of a neighbouring kingdom. T-The Mushroom one; I was hoping to catch him before he left-"

Wrong question- or maybe the right question. But the lady seemed to light up with a sense of utter joy, or maybe relief? He couldn't tell, but she seemed to laugh somewhat-

"Mario, do you mean?"

Mario?
The mechanic looked up in a moment- his eyes going wide.

He heard someone call Mario when they were down in the workshop- but he hadn't thought that it was his name. Name's were sort of ominous to him- since everyone was a code in the army, only having names amongst close friend- and his name was a simple letter. But Mario, had character, and somewhat of a meaning, where the name would immediately make you think of the Mushroom Kingdom hero-

That had to be him-

"Y-Yes-!" He suddenly said alarmed, his hands held his fists and bent at his sides-

"Y-Yes that's him-! Do you know him, Miss? Please- I need to speak to him as soon as I can-"

An awful surprise came over the lady, and she seemed to be amused at his enthusiasm-
"I would certainly hope I do- he does happen to rescue me from the Dark Lands whenever I find myself trapped there-"

In a moment, the entire situation crashed around the mechanic, and his excitement vanished in a literal minute.

She- what?
The crown sitting on her head suddenly became very very obvious to the mechanic, and he stared at her in a state of deciding whether he should be stunned or terrified-

"Y-You're the queen?"

That was obvious now- the mechanic taking a step back with his hands held deathly tight against one another-

However, the queen seemed to immediately pick up on his feet, and ushered her hands toward him in a way to calm him down-
"Not the queen- merely a princess, dear. Please- it's not a fact that you should fear me for!"

The mechanic stood in the middle of the fence- swallowing down the natural fear that came to him. Clearly, she was kind- and her identity seemed not to matter to her- why else would he have told her so calmly?

L rubbed his left shoulder with his right hand-
"S-Sorry- I swear it's not an ideal reaction I- uhm- R-Royalty is intimidating at the very least- u-uh-"

That and the fact that she was an acclaimed enemy of his very king-

The princess smiled at him-
"It's common, really. I don't blame you. But if you're so concerned about meeting Mario, I'm sure he'd be happy to talk-! Really."

The gravity of the situation really set in for the mechanic when she said those words, as if he hadn't realise what he was doing. He was going on a goosechase about this hero who was very much like him, but he had never really thought about what he would say to him when they came face to face. When the two of them stared at each other, they shared such a look of familiarity that the mechanic swore to himself he had seen before-

It was so odd- when he looked at the que- princess, he only gained the longing to know more- why she operated on such a demographic of kindness that L simply couldn't get his head around. If she was royalty, would she not want to get some kind of information out of him- o-or at least use him for some kind of purpose?

No- it was just… a question, accepting the mechanic's request.

"W-Well I-" The mechanic looked at her, not terrified, but surely something along those eyes.
"I would like to meet him- yes- but- Oh Stars, I'm second guessing myself. I-I mean- you two must be very busy with getting home- and a-and- well-"

The princess could see him rambling, and she put one hand on top of his, which made him jump slightly-
"Why- not at all-! People come to see Mario all the time! He's a very famous man, you know. And he does value the time that he has with visitors; I insist, it wouldn't be any trouble to us."

Every part of her tone was honest- as if she were talking to a young child who needed to be reassured there were no monsters under their bed. And for a moment, when he looked up at her to meet her eyes again, he couldn't find any reason to distrust her. Even though there was every reason not to trust a stranger, something about her aura was endearing to the point to where he could only say:

"Okie-dokie-"