Chapter 14: A Worse Reality?

Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long! I've had major Writer's Block and a ton of schoolwork to catch up on. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. I'll try not to be so long updating with the next one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Mario. End of story.

It had been twenty minutes ever since the royal duo had trampled their ways through the busy highways of the Mushroom City, all the way to the hospital. It had been ten long minutes since anyone had even glanced at them. It had been five whole minutes since Princess Daisy had gotten herself to believe that the man across the hospital waiting room was really Luigi, the famous Mario's little brother. And to end things off, it had been 1 minute and 5 seconds since Princess Peach Toadstool had realized this was a real as anything.

And frankly she was shocked. She preoccupied herself; half convinced that it would help her clear her thoughts. The Mushroom Kingdom's own princess was busy filling out medical check-in papers, based on the little information she knew about Edward Koopa; the poor constantly shaking Koopa that had suffered from a seizure.

With Peach doing that, Daisy's curiosity couldn't help but get the best of her. She slipped over to the other side of the room, taking a seat next to the green capped man. She peered over the magazine.

"Improving Your Swing: Making The Most Out Of Every Stroke" was what the article the man was reading titled. She smirked, glancing at his face. Blue eyes; brown mustache; gloved hands….who else could it be?

She peered a bit closer; immediately moving back a moment later, glancing at the area around her for a minute. It was silent. She hated the silence. Whoever said silence was golden must have been on crazy pills…

"Boo!" she hissed into the plumber's left ear, trying to keep as quiet as possible.

He jumped up, the magazine falling out of his hands. Glancing over at the auburn-haired princess that had just scared the heck out of him with her odd greeting, a smile suddenly appeared. "Daisy?" he whispered, minding the other anxious and worried people around him.

"Who else?" she replied, winking.

His cheeks redden a bit, him stiffening up rather then leaning back against the comfy couch. "Wha-what are you doing here?"

She let out a soft giggle. "My friend Edward had a seizure…" she sighed. "Well, more like new friend. I only met the poor Koopa about 2 hours ago…"

"Oh," Luigi frowned a bit. "Mario's not looking too good either," he whispered back. "He got all beaten up and wasn't breathing too good…Princess Peach would of had a heart attack if she found out…"

"Oh, well…" A nervous giggle escaped Daisy. "Peach is right across the room…filling out Edward's papers…"

"Oh."

"Oh?" Daisy shook her head. "My oh my, Luigi…I don't know what it is about you…you always stick to the obvious…"

"Is that a bad thing?" the plumber asked, confused. "I'm really worried about Mario too, Daisy. I couldn't even eat lunch…the doctors say he's going to be fine…but still…"

"Luigi, trust me…it'll be alright. Peach and I have been through like, a lot worse lately and we're still smiling…"

"Peach probably won't be after she hears about Mario…"

"Don't be silly," snapped Daisy, with a shrug. "Peach will be totally fine after I talk to her. Only I wouldn't really tell her right now…she's pretty upset about everything else that happened to her lately…" she quickly added.

"What happened?"

"Well, a lot. You like long stories don't you?"

"I like telling them…."

"Then I'm sure you'll like me telling you one too…" Daisy smiled, shaking her head.

Luigi simply frowned. "Well, alright Daisy…go ahead…I don't think I could ever get bored with your beautiful voice speaking…" he said, a bit dazed at the end.

"My voice? Well…err…alright. It started out when I first arrived here; I told you about the taxi story with Waluigi, right?"

Luigi winced at the name. "Umm…yeah, you did."

"I thought so," Daisy smiled. "Well, umm…Luigi…mind if we went somewhere more private? I think we're disturbing the people next to you…" she got up, with a slight frown.

Luigi glanced at the green Toad next to him, having a bit of an annoyed look on his face. "I think you're right…" he said, getting up as well.

Daisy smiled. "I think there was a bench outside the hospital that might be a good place for…a talk. Why don't you meet me out there? I need to tell Peach where I'm going without her finding out about you-know-who…"

"Who?"

Daisy shook her head. "Just please go outside Luigi…" she simply said, with as sigh.

"Well, okay Daisy." He tipped his hat. "I'll see you in a minute, princess…" he walked off, not disturbing Peach, just by luck.

"Bye Luigi…" she whispered in reply, waving. She walked back over to Peach and sat next to her. "Umm…Peach?"

The elegant princess glanced up from the paper work. "Oh, hi Daisy…" she whispered. "Did you find any decent magazines? All of these are health related…" she frowned. "Not that it shouldn't be expected or anything…but I was more in the mood of getting my head off of…health…"

Daisy frowned. "There was a golf magazine over there…think that would help?"

"Oh, that'd be just LOVELY!" Peach nearly squealed in her whisper. "Anything and everything to keep my mind off of….problems….golf is such a diversion…"

Daisy got up and went over, grabbing the magazine Luigi had been previously reading. "Here you are!"

"Thank you!" Peach beamed, taking the magazine and flipping through it. She stopped, her eyes suddenly widening. "Oh!" she said, picking up the clipboard. "Do you think you could give this back to that nurse who helped us earlier…her name was Grace, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," said Daisy, taking the clipboard. "Hey, Peach, I was going to go out to get some fresh air…you know just to….relax a bit. This place gives me the creeps!"

"Well…" Peach frowned. "If you insist. I'll join you in a bit…I suppose." She smiled a bit. "Thank you for telling me, Daisy. You don't know how much everything you've done today means to me…"

Daisy giggled. "Oh, don't mention it Peach! That's what friends are for, right?"

Peach nodded. "Of course!" she sighed. "I do hope Mario's alright though…"

"Sure he is!" Daisy fibbed, with fake enthusiasm. "He's probably just eating his lunch right about now…"

Peach suddenly frowned. "Speaking of lunch, I'm rather hungry myself. I completely forgot about breakfast this morning. I think I'm going to go up to the hospital cafeteria and get some; guided of course!"

Daisy nodded. "Alright Peach…I'll meet YOU up there in about 15 minutes…"

Peach winked. "Alright," she said, getting up and setting the magazine aside. "I'll see you at about 1:35 then?"

"Yeah, 1:35…" Daisy smirked. "See you!"

Peach shook her head, getting up and heading towards the main front hospital desk. "Bye Daisy!"

Daisy walked back towards the hospital entrance, glancing over at the Nurse that had greeted them. "Excuse me?" she said to it, its attention switching to her.

"Oh yes?" the Nurse asked.

"We're finished filling out the papers…" she handed the clipboard back to the pink Toad.

"Wonderful! Thank you very much!"

"You're welcomed…" Daisy said, smiling and heading out of the entrance, back over to the small garden she had spotted when she just walked in.

There was a nice bench beside it…somewhat new. She glanced over at the plumber sitting in it, muttering one thing or another.

"Oh Princess Daisy…" he announced openly, looking up at the sky. "How am I supposed to tell you? Mario says I should do it sooner then later, but…it's hard. He's lucky he doesn't have to go through this…Peach just automatically is his girl…grr…well, what about me?"

She knew it! Peach WAS Mario's girlfriend. What a wonderful thing to brag about time comes 1:35. Daisy stopped herself from walking over, her face flushing a bit. It was so wrong to eavesdrop. She shouldn't even THINK of commenting after that last statement. No, no…she decided to just pretend she never heard.

"Luigi!" she called out, rushing over, trying hard not to trip in her heels. Thankfully, she didn't.

"Oh, hey Daisy…" he said, embarrassed once again.

"Sorry for the delay…I had to give one of the nurses the papers for Edward…"

He nodded. "So umm…where was our conversation?"

"The long story," Daisy said, taking a seat next to him and taking a deep breath. She really didn't want to explain it for a third time, but it had to be done.

And it was. The explaining took about ten minutes; considering all that did happen. The car chase; the poetry contest; the encounter with Bowser; it was a lot to happen in less then 2 days.

The plumber; half shocked, half enraged, forced a smile at the end. Saying nothing, he waited for Daisy to make some closing statement; like she had to go somewhere now or her own reflection on the whole thing. He didn't know what to remark about anyway.

It was too much. Really, something was certainly up. The taxi-company…some madman was behind it. And knowing it probably wasn't Bowser really did make finding out who was behind it much harder.

"And can you believe all of this was predicted by my horoscope?" Daisy ended her speech, with a bit of a laugh.

Horoscope? That was certainly awkward. Luigi cracked a laugh himself purposely; not sure whether it was ironic or just plain weird.

"Oh!" Daisy exclaimed, glancing at her watch. "Shoot…sorry Luigi, I think I spent too much of the time talking. I promised Peach I'd meet her up in the hospital cafeteria at 1:35…it's probably going to talk me a couple minutes to get up there anyway. I really don't want to be tardy again, you know? Peach is just critical like about stuff like that." She forced a smile.

Luigi frowned. "Oh…well…then…bye…Daisy? Maybe we could talk later?"

Daisy got up, and winked. "Sure! We'll probably going to be here for a while anyway. Well, until we figure everything out. See ya, Luigi!" she walked towards the hospital entrance once again, leaving the plumber to his own thoughts…and regrets.

"There she goes…" he muttered, waving. "And there goes another chance…aww….why does it have to be so hard?"

To her surprise, it only took Daisy about three minutes to make it up to the cafeteria. And to more of her surprise, Peach was sitting at the front table, completely unharmed or kidnapped.

With a little red Toad watching over her, the princess had her head buried in her gloved hands, a bowl that had previously been full of salad empty.

Daisy frowned taking a couple steps towards the table, and sitting in the empty seat. "Peach?" she asked, her cousin immediately looking up.

"I-I can hardly believe it, Daisy…" whispered Peach Toadstool, her eyes tearing a bit.

"Hardly believe what?" It hadn't been five seconds and already Princess Daisy was perplexed.

"I-I saw the most dreadful sight on my way up here…"

"What?" Daisy asked, quizzical. "Eddy?"

"No, no…I-I saw M-m-m-m-…" It was hard for the princess to even finish her sentence without breaking into tears.

"M-m-m-who?" asked Daisy again, her eyes widening a bit. Peach knew; oh boy, she KNEW.

"I saw Toadsworth, Daisy!" cried the highly-stressed princess. "At least, it looked an awful lot like him…it was rather hard to tell with all the bandages wrapped around him…" she wiped her eyes with her glove. "The doctors were talking about him in front of his hospital room," she explained. "I couldn't help but eavesdrop while I was passing by; but they said…"

"They said what?" asked Daisy, pretty surprised in the first place.

"They said he was dead, Daisy! My Toadsworth…DEAD!" Peach exclaimed, her tears finally getting the best of her as she somewhat-quietly sobbed to herself.

"Are you sure it was him?"

"Who else, Daisy? The brown with white spots…it's one of his most noteworthy features!" Peach looked up once again, taking a deep breath. It was hard to keep a straight face; so much harder then before…

"So? Maybe it was a different Toad," Daisy shrugged, not exactly believing the whole thing. Why would someone that was kidnapped be taken to a hospital? "I'm SURE it was."

"Oh Daisy, I only hope it was," replied Peach, taking a sip of her pink lemonade; it probably being the only way to prevent her from crying even more.

"I'll ask, okay?" Daisy gave Peach a friendly and reassuring wink. "Do you know the room number?"

"Room…122…" replied the sorrow-struck princess, heaving a sigh.

"I'll be right back," said her cousin, with an encouraging tone of voice. Orange heels hit the ground once again, rushing out of the cafeteria and down to the main hall.

Princess Peach, more worried then ever before, simply watched, twirling her straw around the liquid inside her beverage. How could that have happened anyway? Toadsworth…sweet Toadsworth…her attendant for many years….he couldn't be…dead.

Had someone kidnapped him and tortured him to near death? Had someone else found him after and sent him to the hospital, with the slightest bit of hope that there may be some life left? These questions circled around the princess' head; very much making the thinking process much harder then before.

It was horrible simply horrible. Could things possibly get any worse? Was there a way that she could have prevented it? Perhaps by arranging transportation for the tennis competitors? Perhaps by making sure they didn't use the city taxis? It-it was all possible; she had plenty of warning that something fishy was going on with the city's main transportation source. But why would it have affected Daisy? Who was involved with the taxis? And who was involved with kidnapping Toadsworth and leading him to his death?

Was it the same person? Was it all connected?

The questions never end.

But luckily, for Princess Peach Toadstool, they did, as the sound of orange heels greeted her ears once again after five silent long minutes; an auburn haired princess carrying the news of her lovely attendant's fate…or more so, whether he had met it or not; whether or not…his life had end.

Final Notes: Ohhh! Another cliff-hanger! I'm getting rather good at this, aren't I? I'm VERY sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes. I've read this over many times in bits and pieces. I probably didn't catch everything; but hopefully you could understand most of it. Thank you SO much for reading and PLEASE review!