Sorry It's been Awhile; life and writer's block got in the way.

TIME SKIP! One week Later

Junior glance down at his phone, scrolling through all the messages he sent his father, asking him where he was, what he was doing, or when he was coming home. All met with a silent response. The Koopaling thought he was going to cry. It had been a week and a half of no calls, no emails, no text messages, no updates, not a single word from his father, and it crushed the child.

First, his father's heart gets broken, then he takes off, and now nobody knew where he was or contact him. Junior felt tears dribbling down his cheeks. He looked through all the photos he had taken with his phone, smiling softly as he swiped through each memory; the day his father taught him how to play baseball, the time they went for a walk in the park, and that other time they took over the Mushroom Kingdom castle and played bowling (using the toads as bowling pins). Good times.

"Papa, I wish you were here," The boy wished. Lost in his thoughts, Junior didn't hear his door opening. Entering his room was another one of Bowser's most trusted wizards, Kammy.

"Master Junior, breakfast is ready."

"I'm not hungry Kammy," Junior replied with his eyes glued to his phone.

Kammy sighed, "My Prince, I know it's been a long week, but you can't stay in your bedroom all day."

Junior ignored the witch, keeping his eyes glued to the photo. His father looked so happy, as he made all those mushroom heads suffer, and took over the kingdom for the umpteenth time. What changed? The wedding between Mario and Princess Peach.

The Koopa prince would never forget that day. It made him sick seeing that big-nose jerk with Mama Peach and being crowned the king of the Mushroom Kingdom, but what hurt the most was Bowser's reaction to the whole scene. Junior hardly ever seen his dad cry, not even in his moments of weakness. The Koopa king prided himself on staying strong regardless of the situation. However, when Bowser learned about the wedding when he turned the tv onto the channel broadcasting the ceremony, and when he saw the Princess and Mario kissing (in HD), something inside Bowser broke.

Junior recalled the tears flowing down Bowser's face, watching the woman he loves marrying his arch-nemesis, followed by his hopes and dreams shattered. Still, as much as the marriage hurt him, The koopaling never thought it would cause his dad to take off as he did. Kammy could see the distress on the prince's face and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"I know you miss your father dear, but there are things he needs to work out," She consoled the youngster. Junior only glanced at her, then turned his attention back to the photo.

"Then why did he leave?" Kammy bit her lip at the statement, trying to find an answer to the question, but Junior didn't let her, "It's because of Mario isn't it?"

"Pardon?"

"Mario stole mama Peach and hurt Papa didn't he?" Junior growled.

"I'm afraid so my prince," Kammy replied.

Junior could feel his fist clench his phone tightly. He put the device down for a moment, got off his bed, and exited his room. Kammy called out for him, but he ignored her. Determination fueled him as he headed straight for his cousins' rooms: he was going to bring Dad home, and he knew just how to do it.

Peach entered through the castle doors disheartened; One week of searching: one week of looking through every location from top to bottom, and still not a single clue that would lead them to Luigi or Bowser. Even with all the help from their search party, nobody could find them. The queen could feel tears running down her cheeks at the thought of looking at her distraught husband's face, along with everyone else's grief. It pained her when she saw how broken the heroic king looked when he returned home empty-handed the first time, she didn't want to think what would happen if he came back home without him again.

The queen didn't want to think about what poor Luigi had gone through all this time. For all she knew, the green plumber could have been tortured: she didn't want to think about the possibility of Bowser killing him. Heading towards the conference hall, Peach was trying to think of a new strategy. They were missing something, she knew it. The Queen had been abducted too many times by Bowser to know he would always leave some sort of clue that would lead Mario to her.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU STILL HAVEN'T FOUND HIM!?"

Peach's thoughts were interrupted as soon as she stood outside the meeting hall. She slowly opened the door to see Daisy talking to an officer on the monitor. Professor Gadd and Polter were trying to calm her down but were unsuccessful.

"Your Majesty, we searched every single corner of the kingdom, we have no idea where the Koopa king has hidden him."

"But, that's impossible," Daisy argues, "You guys are missing something!"

"Your Highness,"

"You guys need to recheck everything!"

"Princess,"

"Luigi could be hurt, or worse-"

"DAISY STOP!"

Daisy turned to see Peach standing in the doorway with a solemn expression on her face.

"Daisy, we searched high and low . . . but nobody could find Luigi or Bowser for that matter." Peach explained remorsefully, "Every location, every world, every castle . . . none of them were there."

"But how- Bowser couldn't have hidden him that well," Daisy exclaimed hysterically, "He's not that smart Peach, we're missing something!"

"Which is why we need to regroup. Some of us need to come back to the castle so we can come up with a plan," Peach explained, "Worst case scenario we wait until Bowser decides to contact us with his demands."

"But Luigi could be dead by then!"

Everyone looked at the flower princess in shock. Daisy stood there with her brown eyes locked onto her cousin's blue eyes. Tears began to flow down her cheeks as she began to tremble. Her hands were tightly clenched into fists and if it wasn't for her gloves, Peach was sure her palms would start bleeding. Nobody said anything, nor moved. After what felt like an eternity, Peach slowly moved towards her cousin and wrapped her arms around her causing the dam to break. Daisy started sobbing uncontrollably – from the stress of losing her boyfriend, to the fears of never seeing him again.

Peach clutched her cousin and rubbed her back, trying to comfort her, "We're not going to give up. I promise."

"We'll keep searching for Bowser and Luigi, Queen Peach," The officer said, "If we find something, we'll alert you." The officer hung up, leaving Peach and Daisy alone with the occupants in the room.

Polterguard slowly walked up to the girls, nuzzling his ghostly head against Daisy's knees, attempting to comfort the princess. Gadd walked up to the girls, smiling at them, placing a comforting hand on Daisy.

"We won't give up Princess," Gadd said.

Daisy wiped her tears, "Thanks, guys. But what are we gonna do?"

"As I said, we'll regroup, think of another strategy while the police in each area keep searching for clues, hopefully leading us to Bowser, and if it comes down to it, we try and get a hold of Bowser himself." Peach explained.

"You mean, we make a deal with him?" Gadd asked anxiously.

"But Peach, he could ask for anything," Daisy exclaimed, "The kingdom, the power stars, and you!"

"I don't like the idea, but it might be the only way we can find and save Luigi." Peach answered in dismay.

Gadd, Polter, and Daisy looked at her nervously, "Peach."

*CRASH*

The trio and the Polterpup were taken aback as two guards crashed through the doors backward, and landed on the ground hard, knocking the wind out of them. Peach gasped and ran up to them to see if they were okay. One guard slowly lifted his head to face his queen.

"Y-Your Majesty," he coughed, "You m-must *cough* . . .must escape!"

"What happened!?" Peach cried out in shock.

"WE HAPPENED!"

Peach gasped when she saw a group of familiar figures, standing in the doorway. Gadd and Daisy stood there with their mouths agape as Polter barred his fangs at the intruders. There standing at the entrance of the meeting room, was none other than Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings. Jr. looked at Peach, with a smug smile.

"Hey there, Mama Peach."

Junior's determined to bring back his dad at any cost; including following in his footsteps. will he succeed?

all characters belong to nintendo.