A/N: Shorter one for today. It's been a little busy.

Day 7

Prompt: A Festive Song

Characters: Mario and Peach (mostly)

Summary: Come Christmas Eve, they gather around the royal tree and sing.

Christmas was drawing closer, and Peach's castle was even more heavily decorated than the last time Mario had seen its interior - if that could be believed possible. Even the exterior gardens had been filled with lights and decorated trees. Shivering in the icy night, he hurried across the drawbridge. Behind him scurried a large group of Toads and other villagers, all seeming very excited. Anyone who could make it was coming over to the castle tonight to spend Christmas Eve with their beloved princess.

'Hurry up, Bro, it's freezing!' exclaimed Luigi, who was running even further ahead and had nearly reached the front doors already.

'OK, OK,' said Mario, smiling.

Despite his complaints, Luigi stood by the doors and held them open until every other guest had made their way inside, giving them a gentlemanly bow as they passed. Then, shivering and rubbing his gloved hands together, he hurried after them, shutting the doors before any more cold air could creep in.

The royal castle couldn't have seemed more welcoming; warmly lit by its many ornate fireplaces, the main room was dominated by a massive evergreen tree taken from Forever Forest. Despite its dubious origins, the tree appeared friendly, its branches laden with baubles and ropes of glittering tinsel. It almost seemed happy to be here, surrounded by admirers instead of trapped in the ice-cold silence of the forest with only the bats and piranha plants for company.

A selection of chairs had been set up around the tree, arranged in no orderly manner. It looked like they had been taken from all over the castle, and not all of them matched. Mario swiftly made his way over to the pink-clad figure he could see just past the overhanging branches. Peach was sitting in a completely ordinary wooden chair, completely happy and content with being on the same level as her guests, and clearly seeing no reason to place herself above them - figuratively or literally.

'Hello, Princess,' he greeted her almost shyly, and she responded with a brilliant smile. Gently patting the seat beside her, she invited him to sit down.

'It's about to start,' she whispered, a note of reined-back excitement in her voice.

He was puzzled. 'To... start?'

'Yes! Just wait, watch and listen.'

Mystified, Mario settled down on his chair, legs dangling over the side. A short distance away, he could see Luigi and Daisy sitting beside each other - close enough for Daisy to sneakily hold Luigi's hand - while the other seats in the room were rapidly being filled by the Toads and other guests. Before long, castle guards were hurrying in with more chairs to accommodate them all.

'Peach, what's going to start?' Mario murmured.

'Just watch!' she said, smiling.

Suddenly, a peculiar silence fell over the room. It was like the calm before the storm, and a hum of suppressed excitement filled the air - more of a feeling than a sound, yet he could hear it too, a murmur of voices speaking so quietly that he couldn't make out the cadence of the words, let alone the words themselves.

Then, a burst of pure sound erupted into life, making him sway backwards in his seat. The Toads were singing. Normally gruff-voiced in speech, they sung with high, clear voices, beautifully in harmony. It was an old Christmas song that filled him with a sense of nostalgia, and though he didn't know all of the words, he wanted to join them.

Moments later, he realised it wasn't just the Toads who were singing. A pure note rang out beside him, so close it made him jump. He turned, wide-eyed, to see Peach lifting her head and matching the Toads' song, word for word, perfectly in rhythm. He couldn't remember ever hearing her sing - not seriously, at least. Her cerulean eyes met his, and he could see the joy in them.

'You do it, too!' she whispered during a brief pause in the song.

He was blown away. 'Wha-what? Me? I don't know if I can do that...'

'It doesn't matter how skilled you are. It's about joining in and having fun.'

Mario had no idea what to think; no idea what to do. But when the song rose up again and the multitude of voices hummed against the castle walls, somehow, he found himself joining them. He followed the Toads as best as he could, and whenever he faltered due to not knowing a lyric, Peach would sing extra loud to cover for him. Eventually, he started to feel more confident, and once he had memorised the verses, he even began to sing a few of them in Italian, adding a strange different touch to the song.

He saw Peach smiling out of the corner of his eye for the whole evening.