Chapter 21 Sister To The Rescue

The room was deathly quiet. Aqua's ears were straining to hear something, anything. But there was nothing. No laughter. No footsteps. No voices. Nothing.

Aqua slowly lowered herself onto the bed, but the softness of the comforter did little to calm her. With no noises to distract her, the princess was forced to let her mind wander. Her thoughts were acting like a poison for the body. Each one made her feel weaker than she ever had before.

This was not fair.

Aqua shook her head and sat up. If only she could do something about this. Celia didn't deserve to be executed. Aqua didn't know if she could live in a world where someone died trying to save her. Even thinking about it now made her stomach sour.

She turned toward the door. The koopas hadn't bothered to go through all the trouble of installing a force field again, so the door remained locked. Aqua didn't even have the spirit to try and break it down. She fell back down to the bed and stared up at the ceiling. It looked just as drab as she felt.

This whole thing was just...wrong. Aqua felt horrible knowing that she was just going to be a pawn in Bowser's plan. Her sister was going to live a miserable life as Bowser's queen. The monster who had kidnapped her. The murderer who was responsible for the death of their parents. Aqua turned over on her side.

And that was when a creaking sound fell on her ears. She turned toward the door again, and was shocked to see that it was open. No one, however, was coming through. Aqua sat up in confusion, staring at the seemingly haunted door.

"Hello?" she said nervously.

Something that could only be described as a ripple like effect occurred right in front of Aqua's bed. She stared as the air pulsated like water. Before she knew it, the air was taking a solid form. A form that was all too familiar to the princess.

"Peach?"

Peach cast her sister a smile. She shook her head back and forth, trying to rearrange her hair as she held an invisibility cap in her hands. She put the cap in a pack by her side and approached Aqua.

"Aqua," she said softly. "We need to hurry." She pulled another invisibility cap out of the pack. "Here."

Aqua took the cap, all the while staring at her sister in awe.

"Peach, how did you…"

"I'll explain when we get out of here," she said as she took out her original invisibility cap. "Just meet me outside the castle." With that, she disappeared. Aqua could hear her footsteps retreating down the hallway. Not wanting to waste any time, age placed her own invisibility cap on her head and made her way after her sister.

The invisibility cap made sneaking around a lot less nerve racking. She weaved her way in and out of the people populating the halls. Since she had always been light on her feet, she was able to run a good amount of the time. No one noticed her, no one even heard her. Because of this, she was able to get out of the castle in no time flat. Once out, she bolted down the hill. She found Mario and Peach standing at the very bottom with expectant expressions on their faces. When Aqua removed her vanish cap, Peach let out a relieved smile.

"You made it."

Aqua let out a breath of relief.

"Yeah." she said. Peach beamed and wrapped her arms around her sister.

"We were so worried about you," she said. Aqua hugged her back, happy to be held in her sister's arms again. Once Peach let go, Aqua could see that there were tears in Mario's eyes as he approached her.

"Oh! Mi piccolo amico!" He exclaimed. He hugged her straight away, and Aqua happily returned the gesture.

"Mario, it's okay," she said. "Adesso sto bene, amico mio."

Mario sniffled.

"I know, I know. I just…" he dried his eyes. "When we saw the Koopalings carrying you in a cage right above the ground…after we had spent days trying to find you…"

"Mario, don't worry. I'm completely fine." She let him go and stared at the two members of her found family. She smiled. "Thank you for rescuing me."

"Of course," Peach said. She put on a determined face. "Now, let's get out of here."

She and Mario turned around and started to run. Aqua, however, held up her hand.

"Wait! We can't go yet!"

Mario and Peach stared at the water loving princess.

"Why not?" Mario asked. With that, Aqua got to explaining to them who Celia was and how she was responsible for helping to rescue her the first time. When she mentioned that Bowser had plans to have her executed, Mario and Peach's eyes grew wide.

"Executed?" Peach asked. Aqua gave both of them a slow, sad nod. Mario curled his fists.

"Why would he do that?" he asked angrily.

"Because Celia betrayed him, and the Kingdom as a consequence."

Mario shook his head.

"If that reptilian tyrant thinks he can execute someone just for helping you…" he stared at the two sisters. "We have to stop him!"

"Yes, I agree," said Peach.

"But how are we going to do that?" Aqua asked.

Peach began to think. Aqua could see the gears turning in her head as she stared down at the ground. After a while, she smiled.

"I think I might have a way. And if it goes as well as I think it does, we might not ever have to deal with kidnappings ever again."

"Ever again?" Mario asked, his interest piqued. "Tell me more!"

Peach gestured for them to gather around so she could start explaining. When she finished, Aqua felt happier than she ever had before.

"You know what? I think that just might work!"

AN: I just wanted to remind you all about the poll on my profile. If you guys could take it, Iw would really appreciate it.