A/N: This chapter was a lot of fun to write. I have absolutely no idea why. Anyway, it's another Daisy POV chapter, and the story is beginning to move along towards its conclusion now. They'll probably only be another two or three chapters after this... maybe four. I'm not sure yet.

'Are you sure this is a good idea?' Daisy hissed under her breath as she crouched down inside an ancient, damp-smelling pipe. It wasn't a Warp Pipe, unfortunately; just a big metal tube that went underneath Bowser's castle.

Mario nodded firmly. 'I'm sure! According to the maps I studied, this pipe should come out somewhere near the dungeon. I have no clue what it was originally built for, but it's probably not being used for anything now.'

'And what if Bowser's had the other end, I don't know, sealed shut or something? This is an old castle.'

'Then we'll smash through it,' said Mario.

Daisy gazed over at him in the semidarkness and found herself impressed – and a little surprised – by the determination written in his face and posture. He'd taken Luigi's rescue seriously. The moment they'd gotten back to Peach's castle, they had started secretly plotting ways in which they might sneak into Bowser's dungeon unnoticed, using old texts and maps in an effort to find some unknown passageway. They'd been forced to keep their activities a secret from Peach, since she would have forbidden them from doing something so dangerous had she known about it.

No, this was a mission that only they could know about.

Despite all their hard work – hours every day spent gathering information – it had taken three whole days before Mario's sudden yelp of excitement told Daisy that he'd finally found something. While reading about the construction of Bowser's castle, he had discovered rumours of a hidden pipe with an entrance outside the castle that led all the way into the dungeon itself. Upon arriving in that area, he and Daisy had managed to uncover the pipe, half-buried under dead foliage and shattered boulders.

Their excitement at having found a passageway didn't last long. As they eased themselves into the dark, narrow space, Daisy found herself not feeling much of anything except a nervous energy. What were they going to find when got inside? An empty dungeon? A dead body? Or would they be found by Bowser himself and be killed or captured before they even learned if Luigi was still alive?

She took a deep breath and started crawling, determined to push such thoughts out of her mind. They wouldn't help and were only making her anxious. Behind her, Mario also started to move, his hands and feet making a louder noise than hers against the metal pipe interior.

The passage was supposedly almost half a mile long – something which Daisy soon discovered to be true. They had been crawling for over an hour when Mario tapped her shoe to make her stop, reaching up with a shaky hand to wipe his brow. Even though it was too dark to see his expression, Daisy could smell the distinct odour of sweat in the confined space.

'Are you OK?' she asked, quietly enough that her voice wouldn't echo.

'Y-yeah,' he replied, taking off his cap and raking his fingers through his hair. He didn't sound very relaxed. Not that Daisy was either – but at least she was calm. An idea came into her head.

'Are you claustrophobic?' she said curiously.

Mario was silent for a moment. '...A little,' he said at last. 'It's not bad at all, really. Just... sometimes I look around and it occurs to me how narrow this pipe is, and how long we've been going, and is there even an end to it?'

Daisy reached back and patted his arm as best as she could. In doing so, she realised Mario was right – the pipe was so thin that there wasn't even enough space to turn around. There was no way they could go back, unless they crawled backwards the entire way, and that would be even slower than crawling forwards.

'Don't worry about it,' she said, trying to sound comforting. However, it was hard to sit around like this and comfort Mario when her mind was filled with images of what might be happening to Luigi right now. 'Come on, let's keep going. We can't be far away now. In fact, I'm pretty sure we're already inside Bowser's castle.'

Mario wiped his mouth and replaced his cap back on his head. 'Really?' he said. 'How can you know?'

Daisy actually didn't know; she'd just been trying to make him feel better. 'Oh, just a feeling I have,' she said airily. Then she continued to crawl forwards, leaving him with no choice but to scramble after her.

Luckily, Daisy had been right. After only ten more minutes of crawling, she suddenly stopped and let out a startled exclamation.

'What? What is it?' Mario demanded.

The pipe had come to an end. The last few feet of it curved upwards to make the exit vertical, and when Daisy stretched up a hand, she felt a rough pane of wood blocking the way out of the pipe.

'It's sealed, like I said,' she whispered. 'But it only seems to be a bit of wood – I'm sure we can break it.'

Mario nodded. He started to move forwards, knowing that he was much stronger than her and would be able to break them out easily, but then stopped with a grunt of frustration as he remembered that the pipe was too narrow for them to pass each other. 'Uh, you'll have to do it,' he said.

'Not a problem.' Pulling back a fist, Daisy unflinchingly punched the wood with all the strength she could muster. A horrible creaking, splintering noise rent the air, and the faintest hint of firelight began to filter down into the pipe.

'Daisy!'

'What?' she said calmly. 'C'mon, I'm not spending another second in here.' Reaching up, she gripped the edges of the pipe and hauled herself up into the room beyond. One glance told her that they'd arrived in the right place. Bowser's dark, smelly dungeon with its stone walls and floors was unmistakable to anyone who had spent a night sleeping in it. Near the door, a single wall torch with a flickering flame was casting a weak glow across the room.

She expected someone to have let out an exclamation when the pipe burst open, but the dungeon was ominously silent. Where is he? she thought, trying to force down the sick, worried feeling rising into her chest.

Just then, Mario emerged from the pipe with a gasp of breath, looking relieved to be out. 'Daisy,' he said firmly, 'give me your hand.'

'What?' This time she said it in a tone of confusion. She lifted her right hand, the one she'd used to punch the wood, and was momentarily shocked to see blood and splinters. Mario grabbed her wrist and began to clean away the blood with a white handkerchief that he'd pulled from somewhere.

'You could have really hurt yourself,' he protested.

She shrugged. 'So? There was no other way to do it. And right now I'm more concerned about Luigi. Why isn't he in here, Mario?'

He let his gaze wander the dungeon. 'I don't know,' he said, sounding was worried but trying to hide it. 'But just because he's not here doesn't mean he's not... anywhere. You mentioned that Bowser sometimes took him out of his cell, didn't you?'

Some of the sick feeling faded, tempered by relief. It wasn't much, but it was something to hope for. 'All right then, we'd better go out and look for him,' she said decisively.

'Wouldn't it be better to hide in here? He'll bring Luigi back eventually, won't he?'

Daisy privately thought that this was probably the best idea, but she shook her head stubbornly. 'I'm worried about him. I just feel like something's wrong and we need to go and find him as quickly as possible.'

Mario sighed. 'OK,' he said. 'We'll go out. But stay behind me, all right?'

'Gotcha.'

Creeping like thieves, the two of them walked over to the dungeon door and – following a nod from Daisy and a powerful kick from Mario – burst out onto the stairs beyond.