A/N: Hmm…it took a lot longer to update this chapter than I thought it would. Sorry, sorry, but I was sidetracked over and over. But I had to make sure that I would post it today, because tomorrow I go back to school. Blech!

Many thanks to all those who reviewed! And some of you were quite perceptive of Peach's motives. Good for you, 'cause it's good to hear from some Super Mario RPG fans, since it's my favorite Mario game ever.

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Simple as that.

Chapter 5

"Hey, Weege," Mario called, poking his head into his brother's bedroom, where he was attempting to sleep. He sat up groggily with his eyes half closed and turned toward the sound of Mario's voice.

"Wha huh?" Luigi replied sleepily.

"I was wondering if you knew where Peach was. I stopped by the castle a little while ago and she wasn't there."

Luigi waited a moment before answering. He wanted to allow his eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight of his room and for his brain to decipher what Mario had said. Mario rolled his eyes and began to leave because the only reply he was getting was in the form of a blank stare when Luigi responded.

"Uh, I don know. I didn see er since da other day," he answered slowly, trying not to trip over his words so they came out only partly incoherent.

Mario shook his head and was about to make some sort of smart remark when there was a sudden rapping on the door to their house.

"All git it," Luigi said. He attempted to climb out of bed but one of his legs became tangled in his bed sheet and he tumbled face first onto the floor.

"Owwwww," Luigi groaned as Mario stood in the doorway, laughing.

"Wow, bro," he chuckled, "how graceful can you be?"

"Shut up," Luigi muttered with a slight grin and untangled himself from the bed sheet.

When the two plumbers reached the door, they were surprised to find Toad standing there with wide eyes and panting as if he had run around the castle a few times before coming. Before either brother had a chance to say even one word, Toad rushed in and began talking a mile a minute.

"The Princess is gone and I don't know where she is. I came in her bedroom to wake her up in the morning because she didn't come downstairs for breakfast and I was starting to get worried and when I got in she wasn't there and I thought she got captured by Bowser-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Mario said, placing his hands on Toad's shoulders to stop him, for he had been erratically running back and forth across the living room while wringing his tiny hands together so furiously it seemed as if they were being rubbed raw. And put together with his speedy explanation, his rambling had become nothing but a senseless jumble of words. "Hold on a second. Did you say Bowser has Peach?"

Toad was too choked up to utter even a single word since his winded explanation, so he just somberly shook his head. He opened his vest, revealing a small envelope carefully tucked into the lining. He removed it and handed it to Mario.

"I found this on her bed," he managed to say. "It must be from her. But it's addressed to you two, so I didn't open it."

Mario carefully examined the little pink envelope with his and Luigi's name elegantly inscripted on the front. He turned it over a few times. There was nothing more Mario could conclude about the envelope, except that it was sealed with the intricate gold mushroom symbol, the official seal of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario recognized this right away as the stickers Peach kept tucked away in the top drawer of her mahogany table in the study.

"This is from Peach all right," Mario said, "but why would she..." He trailed off, so deeply puzzled that he couldn't even finish his own sentence.

"Just open it," Luigi said impatiently. "I wanna see what it says."

Mario carefully broke the seal and slid the delicate white paper from the envelope and unfolded it. It was definitely Peach's usual stationary, with the gold lining and the same mushroom symbol printed at the top of the page. Mario set the note down on the table so everyone could read its contents.

Dear Mario and Luigi,

I'm deeply sorry for the unpleasantness of the other day.

I've decided to take a break from everything to clear my head and

relax. Do not be surprised if you find Snowflake and my royal

carriage missing. I have taken both along with me. I am truly sorry

if my sudden departure has worried or upset you in any way. But

I knew that I'm not usually allowed to make such decisions, so I am

forced to make them myself without anyone's consent. I'm not

exactly certain when I will return. It should be no more than a few

days. If you are wondering about my location, I'm afraid I cannot

reveal it to you. I know well enough that someone would already

have gotten me if I had made such a mistake as that. And do not

bother asking anyone if they know of my whereabouts, for I have

told no one. Then again, you two and Toad are the only one's I

tell practically everything to. Well, I must be going. See you in

a few days.

Love,

Peach

After they had all read the letter once, Mario took it off the table and went over it very carefully, looking to see if Peach had unconsciously dropped any hints to where she might be. But deep down, Mario knew if he found any sort of clue, it would be very miniscule. Peach was quite clever, and Mario wouldn't doubt that she had gone over her letter on the previous night to make certain that the region she was currently in stayed secret to everyone but herself.

"Where could she be?" Toad squeaked. "She didn't even say where she went." He was becoming increasingly upset with every passing second and small crystal tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. Luigi took quick notice of this while Mario continued to study the letter and put his arm around the mushroom.

"Don't worry, buddy," he said in an attempt to calm Toad down. Unfortunately, it was doing no good. More tears formed in Toad's eyes and spilled over, creating tiny little rivers of sadness across his pale cheeks.

"B-but what if something happens to her while she's away," he cried. "We don't even know where she is. She could be hurt right now. Sh-sh-she-"

"Weege, why don't you let Toad rest in one of our rooms," Mario suggested, still keeping his unblinking eyes glued to Peach's letter.

Luigi decided to take Toad into Mario's room since his room was currently littered with crumpled blankets and sagging pillows that needed to be placed back in their rightful spots upon his bed. When he had tucked Toad under Mario's red cotton blankets and given him a cold washcloth for his head, Luigi returned to the living room. Mario was now sitting in his recliner with the letter folded on his lap.

"I didn't find much," Mario said as soon as Luigi was far enough into the room so that his voice needn't be much higher than a loud whisper, "but I think I know one thing."

"What do you mean?" Luigi asked curiously. "Do you know where Peach is?"

"Not really," Mario replied. He sighed and handed the letter to Luigi. "All I know is that she's most likely far away."

"What!" Luigi exclaimed.

"SHHHHH!" Mario hissed. "Keep your voice down. I asked you to take Toad into the other room so nothing could worry the little guy anymore. You're just gonna get him all worked up again."

"Sorry," Luigi said quietly. "But how do you know she's far away?"

"She mentioned in the letter that she took the royal carriage and her horse. She wouldn't need either if she was just taking a short trip to Goomba Village or something like that," Mario replied. He then closed his eyes and made the expression Luigi knew as the I'm-completely-confident face, meaning that the next words that came out of his mouth were the most educated words he would say for the duration of the conversation. "Actually, I'm not even sure if she's still in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore."

"How would you even know that?" Luigi asked. He was quite puzzled and was beginning to get agitated at the sheer fact that Mario seemed to know everything about the situation while he knew absolutely nothing.

"Well, think about it. Would you take a horse and a huge carriage out for a joyride for a few days and go no farther than the boundaries of the Mushroom Kingdom?"

"No, I guess not," Luigi said, "But where could she be? And what could she possibly be doing that she would be gone for no less than a week and not even tell us where she was going?"

"I don't know," Mario said, frowning at his inability to find some sort of explanation. They had known Peach for years, and now no matter how hard he tried, he was no less than utterly confused about what she had just done. He couldn't answer any of his or his brother's questions and Toad was right, if some terrible accident happened to befall her, they would have no idea anything was even going on. As much as Peach wanted the opposite to be said of her, she was extremely frail and delicate. There were too many obstacles out in the vast world that if she came up against them, she would surely fail. And Mario and Luigi would still be sitting unknowingly in their house, searching for an answer that was equivalent to searching for a needle in a haystack.

"Do we go and look for her?" Luigi asked suddenly. Like Mario, he cared deeply for the princess and her well being. Any occurrence that would cause her any harm was like driving a knife straight through his beating heart.

"I want to," Mario said, and Luigi could easily see the sincerity in Mario's eyes and hear it in his voice, "but I wouldn't know where to look. I think we should just pray for her safety and wait for her to come back home. In the meantime, we need to keep Toad and everyone else in the Mushroom Kingdom calm. If everyone starts going crazy over Peach's sudden disappearance, the whole kingdom could fall apart."

A/N: So that's all for now. Sorry if Peach's letter was hard to read, it was the best I could do. I hope that all of you who are reading my fic are enjoying it so far, but unfortunately, updates in the future won't be nearly as frequent as they've been. School can be pretty brutal, plus I'm doing some tutoring work three days a week. And all things pile up, equaling really slow updates. But please review, because even if I can't work on it as much, I'll post as quickly as I can if I get enough encouragement.