Welcome to the second chapter of Faith. Hope you enjoy it. Disclaimer is on the first chapter.

Chapter 2

The foursome walked down the pathway that leads to Madam Fungi's home, Faith lagged slightly behind. She was trying to take everything in all at once, which was hard when people kept dragging you every time you stopped. The last time she stopped was when she was a beautiful flower standing alone at the side of the path. The flower had a unique presence about it that Faith found hard to ignore. Bending down to inspect it closer she moved her hand forward to touch it.

"It's a fire flower, don't touch it" Mario said, but it was too late. Faith connected with the flower and felt a tingling sensation. Glancing down at her clothes she saw they had changed colour. Her tattered dark blue jeans where now a white colour and her torn light pink t-shirt was now a darker shade of purple. Gasping at the transformation she looked up at Mario and the others.

"A fire flower? What's it done to me? How long have I got to live? Is there a cure?" She said frantically. Mario laughed. Luigi stifled a giggle.

"You'll be fine. They're a form of weapon-" Peach started to tell her, but Faith wasn't really listening. She lifted her hands and suddenly she started to get a warm feeling in the palm of her hand. In a split second a ball of fire appeared in her palm. The sight of fire in her bare hand caused her to shriek in shock and panic. Waving her hand about in an attempt to rid her of the flame she was sending fireballs in ever direction. They just wouldn't go and every time she got rid of one another came back. Peach and Mario had dived behind some fencing in order to avoid the fireballs. Luigi lay on the ground and covered his head. Faith was still throwing fireballs and was still shrieking as though in pain. As she shrieked Mario crawled along the floor so he could get behind her. When he felt it safe to advance he jumped up and grabbed Faith from behind, preventing her from wafting her arms and hands about.

"Faith calm down! They can't hurt you" Mario said reassuringly. Not being able to move properly Faith took a deep breath and waiting for the searing pain that the fireballs would leave. The pain never came.

"Oh" She whispered. Mario slowly let go. Looking at the hand in which the fireballs appeared she saw that the balls themselves left no mark or proof that they had touched her palm. Upon realising that Faith was now under control Peach and Luigi resurfaced from where they had either hid or been lying.

Feeling a bit silly Faith apologised for her outburst and they all set off again. It wasn't long before she was dawdling again. This time floating blocks caught her eye. Mario rolled his eyes and dragged her away.

"What are they for?" Faith asked.

"You hit them with your head and coins come out of them, or sometimes stars, feathers, carrots, fire flowers-" Faith grimaced " and even mushrooms"

Faith nodded and allowed herself to be lead away. Peach and Luigi were slightly ahead of Faith and Mario, who was doing his best to make sure Faith didn't lag too far behind. Every so often she was glance around and stare at things in sheer amazement. They passed clouds that had smiley faces and angular hills on the horizon. As she looked around she saw something in the distance, three small shapes where approaching them. At first she thought nothing of it but when they came closer she saw that they were small beings. The small beings were a brown colour and had no arms. Thinking that it was a peculiar being she couldn't help but thinking that they were sort of familiar. Then it hit her; they were familiar in an odd sort of sense. They were the things described to her by Luigi.

"Hey Mario!" Faith said.

"We'll look at what ever it is later, we need to get to the castle first" Mario said, not feeling the need to explain something else to her.

"Mario! We are being followed" Faith said loudly. Mario ignored her but Luigi, ever paranoid, turned round and saw that she was right.

"M-Mario! Look! Goomba's!" He shouted, whilst pointing. Mario and Peach whirled round to see three Goomba's approaching them.

"Awwh Just what we need" Mario said.

"Three Goomba's no problem," Peach said. Mario agreed, but Luigi wasn't so sure.

The Goomba's approached and grinned menacingly at Mario. Mario sorted him out by jumping on him. Faith was horrified by what Mario did. Luigi jumped on the 2nd. She watched as Mario headed for the third and final one. Feeling the impulse to do something crazy Faith ran over to the third and stood in front of the Goomba. Mario stopped dead in his tracks and eyed Faith with confusion.

"Faith what are you doing?" he asked. Peach and Luigi looked on, equally baffled by Faith.

"I will not let you harm this poor creature thing," Faith said with the innocence of a small child in possession of a bug. Mario stared at her incredulously.

"But they try to kill us" He argued.

"But your waaaay bigger then he is!" Faith said as she scooped up the wriggling Goomba.

"Besides, he's cute" She said as she smiled down at the Goomba in her hands. He piped back at her, earning him a tight cuddle in return. Mario slapped his forehead in exasperation.

"I'm going to call him Ethan" Faith cooed. Without saying a word Mario walked past Peach and Luigi who shrugged. The three remaining people and the Goomba followed Mario on towards Peach's castle.

Conversation was very limited until the very point where Peach's castle came into view. Faith nearly dropped Ethan on the floor as she stared at the castle.

"Wow, it's like a dream castle. Or one you see in fairytales" Faith murmured to herself. Peach heard her and smiled proudly.

"It is a dream castle isn't it?"

Just as they were about to carry on walking, something came out of nowhere and snatched Ethan out of Faiths hands. She screamed as what ever it was felt warm and slimy when it touched her hand. Turning round she saw a green dinosaur with a random dress sense standing near her with his mouth full. Storming over to the dinosaur she banged him on the head and the dinosaur spat out Ethan who was crying with fear.

"Ouch! What was that for?" The Dinosaur said, looking offended.

"You ate my little Ethan!" Faith said pouting.

"Who are you?" The dinosaur said looking at Faith as if she was an alien.

"Since when did dinosaurs talk" Faith whispered to Luigi.

"Faith meet Yoshi, our resident waste disposal unit, Yoshi meet Faith, our umm Goomba protection person" Luigi said. Yoshi nodded but said nothing after that.

"Where did she come from?" Yoshi said rudely, still smarting from the blow to the head.

"She has a name," Faith said.

"She came from the real world" Peach said, ignoring the remarks passed from Faith to Yoshi.

Faith picked up Ethan and once again they carried on walking to Peach's castle. Once they got there Faith was in awe. The castle was so beautiful, with its white walls and the stained glass window's featuring Peach herself. Inside it was just as beautiful was its fine decor; no wonder Peach liked it here. Peach lead her guest and three friends into her kitchen, knowing that Mario was hungry and Faith would more then likely be in need of food too. So there they sat at the table eating a small snack that Peach's cook prepared in no time for them.

"I must say you're taking it all in rather well," Peach said to Faith. Faith smiled.

"It'll take some getting used to though," Faith said. Mario and Luigi looked up at her.

"Does that mean you will be staying?" Mario asked, fearing she would say yes.

"Probably" Faith said whilst looking at Ethan.

"Won't you miss the real world?" Luigi asked. Faith appeared to ponder this question for a moment or two.

"I suppose I will for a little while, you know. But then there isn't much there for me too miss," Faith said dismissively.

"I missed loads of things when first I came here" Said Luigi fiddling about with his fork.

"Like what?" Faith asked. Peach looked up but said nothing.

"Well, things like the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn life. The food and the people. I miss my old friends who I probably will never see again. All them kind of things. But I like it here so it's not too much of a problem," Faith nodded to his response.

"I wonder if anyone actually cared about our disappearance?" He added in his head.

"Any way! Let's talking about something else!" Said Peach in an oddly cheerful voice. The others agreed.

"You can stay here tonight Faith, but tomorrow we'll see if we can find you some accommodation" Peach told Faith.

Faith went to sleep that night in Peach's guest room. The bed was so comfy she had no trouble falling to sleep. Her dreams were happy and peaceful as she waited for the morning to come.