Author's note: Hello to all of my regular readers, I'm really sorry there have been no updates, I've been a bit busy and so I took a break for a bit; hopefully I will be a lot quicker with my new chapters from now on. I also wanted to say thank you for all of the support (even though it may be one person) you have been giving, this has fuelled me to carry on with my work. Without you guys, I would've deleted my fanfiction by now. Hopefully you'll enjoy my crappy story!

(Sorry if this chapter is a bit boring, I needed something to fill in what happened to Daisy)

I woke up with a sheen of sweat all over my face. Too hot. I opened my eyes fully to find I was in a bed, the room dark apart from a small crack on the floor. I pulled the bed sheets from my boiling abdomen, and sat up. My hair was a mess, and my crown wasn't atop my head as it usually is. I probably lost it when that creepo at the castle nearly killed me. Oh yeah, him. I had forgot.

I looked to the left of me. A glass of water stood, along with a key, adorned with lapis lazuli. I shakily grabbed the key and caressed the cold shape and the gems. I smiled. So it wasn't a dream. Me meeting my mother in her fountain. I grabbed the glass of water and splashed it over me to cool down, yet I was still hot. Where was I?

I stood up, expecting to suddenly keel over. But my legs were completely fine. I started to walk, no pain. I sauntered to the chink of light. A door handle appeared as I got closer. I grabbed it and opened the door. A cool breeze swept over me as the door swung open. A long corridor followed down the left and to the right, and a staircase leading downwards was a little to the right of me. I looked down at me with my good eye, and found that I was wearing an orange pair of pyjamas that were a little to small for me.

"Looks like something Daisy would wear," I whispered to myself. Daisy was my younger cousin, who was probably the total opposite of me. I would wear pretty pinks with lace and frills; Daisy would try on a daily basis to stay away from such things and wear tom-boyish things. She used to be like me, a couple of years ago, until she realised that her mother was indoctrinating her to become a clone of me.

I felt my right eye. It still felt like how it felt when at my mother's fountain: two massive plunging scars across it, and blind. I sighed. So it wasn't a dream once more. I walked to the stairs, still clutching the key in my right hand. I gripped it until my knuckles were white. Stress. But why? Too many questions. I dismissed them for now. As I got closer to the bottom of the staircase, a news reporter's voice became apparent. Her accent was rather exotic actually.

"Last night Princess Toadstool's Castle was invaded by an unknown creature," She explained. "The kingdom has suffered from terrible attacks, and many of the citizens have been enslaved or killed,"

My heart sank. My poor people, killed. All because I couldn't stand up to that creature.

"Many say the creature is called Puruto, but some heard the creature say Kemono, so we are unsure of his name,"

I really didn't think his name was Kemono. He said it in a way that he was referring to someone else. I couldn't stand to hear more of that report.

I reached the bottom of the stairs. A whirring sound came from another room, making the air around it colder. The reporter's voice turned to random shots of flims every second, they were all followed by a static noise that could drive a Saint mad. I sauntered to the room. On the biggest sofa directly opposite a T.V was a girl, a little smaller than me. She was sprawled across and had a t.v remote in hand.

On another sofa was a figure with his legs close to his chest. He looked pale, and he was staring at the t.v with his eyes wide open.

On the last sofa was another figure, he looked bored, and was staring at the t.v like he was about to fall asleep. I walked in, and the girl on the sofa immediately looked behind and ran towards me.

"Peach!" She yelled, and she hugged me violently. The sudden outburst of the girl caused the other two figures to run up and hug me too.

"Gah!"I screamed, and nearly fell back. Daisy, Mario and Luigi were genuinely excited to see me, even though I see all of them nearly every day.

"Jeez, I thought you were too weak to get up!" Daisy screamed.

"I thought that guy at the castle locked you up!" Mario said after.

"I thought you died!" Luigi yelled. Daisy and Mario looked at him with a confused and angry expression.

"Sorry," He said quietly after.

"Wait, where am I Daisy?" I asked.

"Oh, sorry, you're in Sarasaland," Daisy finalised, and let go of me. So that explains the heat. I used to go there on holidays with my older cousin before he died.

"What about my kingdom, my castle," I said worriedly. "My people!"

"Whoa, calm down Princess," Mario said, and he sat me down.

"The kingdom has been taken over, when we got there, it was in ruins," Oh, yeah, like that will make me calm down.

"So what do we do now, we can't just cower like lambs in a slaughterhouse," I said. I found it weird that Puruto (I've settled on that name for now) attacked one of the largest kingdoms first, it's s unlikely he'll stop; with my luck he'll attack here next.

"Well, I say we wait for a bit, if he attacks anywhere else we will take action," Mario said. That seemed like a legitimate thing to do. So we waited. I watched t.v for a while, but I found it boring so I went to the roof of the castle to watch the moon.

The hum of the city's people and the comfortable warmth of the climate here nearly sent me to sleep, though I was kept up by the stress of everything that has happened. A tear rolled down my face. I knew that this was just the beginning of the end. And I probably wasn't going to make it through.

I heard footsteps behind me, so I turned around to see Mario. I turned back and looked up at the stars. He sat down next to me, and let his legs dangle limply off the edge like mine.

"So, what do we do when he attacks?" Mario asked quietly.

"We fight him," I said swiftly after. I knew that I was not prepared, but for the sake of my kingdom, I was ready.

Mario rested his head on my shoulder, as I stared up at the stars with great worry in me. Mario and I had a rather awkward relationship before; he'd save me, I'd give him cake, then that would be the end of it, not like those weird people put it where we both have sex (whatever that may be). We were friends, good friends, but we kept our distance. We had lives to live and principles to follow.

"Mario, you know how I was asleep, and you brought me here?" I asked, and I looked straight into his eyes.

"Yeah?" He said.

"Well, I don't think I was asleep. When Puruto attacked, I nearly died, but I opened my locket," I explained. "It transported me to this broken world and my mother was in a fountain," All this time Mario looked at me with bewilderment.

"And she gave me this key," I said, and I pulled out the key from a pocket.

"But I don't know what it's for,"

"Well, in sure we can find a use for it, we'll just find someone who can shed some light on this situation," Mario explained.

"Thank you," I said.

"For what?" He asked.

"For helping me,"

"You don't have to thank me, I'll always be there," he said. I snorted.

A smash of a window breaking followed the awkwardness, and a woman screamed.

"What was that?" I yelled, and I stood up. Silence.

"Come on! Follow me," Mario cried, and he started to run with me on his tail.

We reached the living room in which Luigi and Daisy were originally in. There was broken glass on the floor and splatters of blood. Luigi was lying unconscious on the ground. I nearly fainted from the sight of a glass shard wedged in his head.

"W... What happened?" I asked to myself. I quivered in fear at the scene.

"Princess," Mario said. "I think we have our attack,"

I looked out the window to Sarasaland in ruins. Flames roared and set fire to markets and houses; people ran screaming, trying to escape their impending doom. And, Puruto, bouncing swiftly from roof to roof, with a woman in his poison tentacles. This was my chance. I could finally get him. I didn't have a plan, I just had courage. I jumped out of the broken window.

"Wait, where are you going?" Mario shouted out. I saw his head pop out of the hole.

"I'm chasing Puruto, this is my chance!" I replied.

"Then I'm coming," He started to climb out of the hole in the wall.

"No, this is my fight, I don't want to risk you getting hurt, help the people and I'll get Daisy back,"

Mario sighed. "Fine, just be careful,"

"I will,"

And, still in my small orange pyjamas, I started to run after the monster who took my kingdom, my life, and my best friend. I brushed away a tear. It truly was a hardship, to see your kingdom fall, to see your best friend to be impaled by a shard of glass, and to see your cousin to be captured by a poison conscious octopus. But this was only the beginning of my hardships; more lay ahead of me, as the shadow disappeared into the night.