Here I wake up. At the beach of my dry Kingdom. It was autumn, but here, there are only two seasons. And this one is dry. I'm a little thirsty, and the salt of the sea doesn't help, but it's okay. Around me, there's...nobody. Just the sunny ocean behind, the salty wind that dries my cold hair up, and limitless white desert up there. Easton Kingdom. One of the four regions that constitute Sarasaland.

...What to do?

I get up and wish to change clothes immediately. I'm used to a bit of discomfort with this big long princess dress, but right now it's wet... Well I'm not gonna cry for that. The problem is that alien and whatever personality took over Luigi. I think and realize that the best way to solve this problem was to reunite with Mario and all our friends. Obvious, isn't it? Where could we meet then? I try to call Mario, but of course my phone's dead from the water now. Really, the only reasonable thing I can do now...is to come back home, warn my dad, protect the Kingdom until we have a plan and...try to contact Mario or Yoshi or whatever.

So I start to walk back to my castle, and remember what happened this morning. What about Tatanga? A former villain, a purple alien that tried to conquer the Earth and kidnapped me. Mario came to save the day. And he was supposed to be dead. Definitely. Well then, how come he's not? And there's more. That wouldn't be problematic if he stayed the way he was: foolish and a simple villain.

That's not what I saw. I can still remember the laughs, the face, the movements. The unsettling and even...spooky...feeling I got.

A villain, menacing enough to scare me. Me, tomboyish princess, that doesn't fear Bowser's castle one little bit. Who can? He's an idiot anyway, putting that axe at the end of the bridge again and again; still not learning after all those deaths. But Tatanga...? He's not supposed to be like this, and an embarrassing shiver tells me something's off. Something's very, very wrong.

Why do I feel...like I have to run to my castle right now? Is the sun too exhausting? I feel like something irreversible is gonna happen. Like if the world is turning into a nightmare. I feel...doom.

And then I wonder what's gotten into me. Why did I just start panicking? I guess that's how a final boss feel at the beginning, for the hero.

He's dead now. He's killed him for good.

What...does that mean...Bowser died...and won't ever come back? Nonsense. Either Tatanga's bluffing, or Bowser's dead forever. That would be one ally out of the game. Whose ally? Maybe ours, if we get to convince him, given he's still alive.

If that guy really killed him, then... I don't know what to think.

Mr.L. Mario sent me a message about his worries, particularly about what Paper Mario told him on that guy. Mario noticed Luigi's behaviour changed, and started to have nightmares every night, when he could sleep at all, though he doesn't remember having them. Of course, Mario thinks Mr.L is behind this. Harassing Luigi in his dreams, or even taking control of their body to do something, like plotting with a villain. It seems it was with Tatanga, my personal assaulter. What have they done when Luigi was out? Did they manage to lock him away? Poor cinnamon roll. Whether Mr.L was an evil alter ego, a second personality or a hypnotized Luigi, we would erase him. It was a bit weird a Paper World persona suddenly exists here, or that Luigi had a split personality, but whatever.

And so, after thirty minutes of walking, I meet a Lion people.

And, when I approach them...they beg me to stay away, to flee. Desperately.

What?

They tell me something about the Kingdom being killed. They didn't have to uncover their friends' deep wounds. They stank. Like some sort of Poison Mushroom and fish. Fish odour being decayed blood's.

"Who did this?!"

Who's the monster who could screw my plan up right now, in a few minutes? If my Kingdom's being assaulted...

"I don't know, he-he didn't give any name, he-"

"What does he look like?! Tell me!"

"He-He wears black and green, he's tall and extremely powerful, he-"

I run immediately.

That damn Mr.L.

Why does this one have to be fucked up?

He's supposed to be a cold-hearted mafia-like guy.

Not an animal.

Not an animal, I think when I use a cannon to fly at the beginning of this land.

Not...

It can't be.

Tell me. Tell me, explain me what I am looking at.

What kind of excuse do you have to justify this carnage?

A mountain of fried corpses.

Right in the middle of a large avenue.

Don't be foolish. The sun can't do this.

It smells burned pig and hair. The swollen black tissue, full of pus, water and sticky blood, opened somewhere where a face had been, opening for a long, silent scream of agony and despair. The eyes, blank, rolled upwards. Or non-existent. Some had their orbits empty. The clothes had mostly fused with the muscles. It was a trash mountain, and instead of trash, there were sickly corpses of Sarsaland's people melting under the sun, so the wind could carry on stench and illness.

I threw up.

What are we living in, again? I guess I have to abandon the thought of a happy fantasy world. Because that sort of thing should be banned here. Yet my eyes see them, the very bodies of...

I start to shake.

Emotional shock, yes, I know. I feel helpless. I feel sick. I'm sweating cold. I'm panting. I don't think I'm crying. All I want to do, all my body screams to me, is to flee. My heart, my lungs, my skin and my limbs. I start to flee, but towards my palace. It might be too late.

It...It is too late.

There. That damn monster. No, not monster: the deep wicked part of certain humans, and who chose to do this. The sun brightened the sky to the point it was white, and it hurt to look at the black outfit. I guess that's why I wouldn't remember this clearly later. All blurry. Right now...I clearly understand who's in Luigi's hands. My father.

"No."

He turns his look at me, like if he didn't understand what I just said. And when I open my mouth again -

Brrzzzzz-zzzzt!

PAAHH!

I wouldn't remember well later. Just...that I screamed, I cried and roared at the same time, trying to hit Mr.L. I feel some of the horrible pain stabbing my chest, my breath being cut off, my legs doing something while stumbling. Cold, sweaty doom and burning helpless hate. I would regret not having reacted sooner or faster, done something, because I'm certain something could have be done. Yet...

"Princess, you must run!"

"Princess, sit on my back, please; we've got to protect you!"

"You don't have to worry for us!"

Reinforcements made of my people that I had to protect, that were sacrificing themselves, and the murder machine doing acrobatics in rhythm to slice them open-

"You are our only hope!"

Somebodies latched me, dragged me to a Lion, and it ran away carrying me, and I kept my eyes locked on the avenue being hidden with more and more houses as he ran past the streets, that place where I heard courageous cries of war and blood-curling screams. The sound softened more and more

...And back in the still unsecure desert I realized I was screaming incoherently too. I gasped and panted and tried to catch my breath. I couldn't cry right now. I struggled on the back of the animal traitor...or was it me? I just wanted to do something, but I couldn't... If I ran back there, despite my people believing in me... I would just get kidnapped and cause more problems. I...

It must be the first time I felt…helpless.

"Princess."

I had stopped squirming around, and I turned my face to the kind Lion's. He had some dark brown beard over his rough copper-coloured fur. His eyes were black. They were shining conviction, and happiness, and the sorrow of a last goodbye. He smiled at me.

"I let you hide behind this pyramid. You shall walk on the stone so you won't leave any tracks. Hide, and then you can find something to save the world. You shouldn't cry over us...we were happy at the end. Dying for a noble cause...is our eternal glory."

I stand up on the white stones, and he cuts the ropes...

"Goodbye, Princess Daisy."

And he ran away to make a diversion. I just hoped the best for him... I...walked past the entrance of the monument... let the green spots in my eyes fade away as I got used to the dark... I walked somewhere inside...

And I let myself fall against a wall.

It was cold in there...

I've waited for hours. The night has come. I hate the freezing night of the desert. I hate my cold sweat. I hate feeling this way. I hate being scared... and alone. Guilty. I feel also guilty. You don't have to cry for us? I just can't stop feeling regret. Why has my people died for me? I wanted to... I didn't want them to... for me. This wound, it still hurt, I don't know if it will ever heal. I... why. I... I have no people anymore, no family anymore. I am no longer a princess. I am not a princess for letting this happen. Why do I feel strong emotions all of a sudden? The events repeat in circles in my foggy hurting head to answer again and again. So I can imprint that good on stupid me. I remember, sometimes I'm shaking from living those memories. It happened hours ago by now. I didn't see the time flying by. I just kept analysing what happened: every detail of the images, sounds, feelings, emotions. What do you think they felt, my people, what do you think they thought? Did they want to kill themselves after seeing their family members being beaten to death among dozens? Did they abandon hope? Did they want to die because I was their inept princess? What did my father want to tell me before he was electrocuted? The horrible convulsions... What was this human demon thinking, is it Mr.L? Mario didn't picture him like that, but, along multiple things this day, things have taken a turn for the worst. I met Mr.L and had a new reason to hate and fear him.

Basically, Tatanga was the head for now, and Mr.L the killing machine. Or did he build those airships too? Luigi had shown he liked working on airships mechanics one time...

Mr.L.

Luigi.

Luigi... poor... oh, how I wanted to see him. This... I...I love him. I love him so much. Where'd he go? If only he could be here...if only he could be next to me right now, hugging me. I know he'd cry far more than me, I know he'd suffer. But that soft big man, I mean, he's quite slim, but cute too. Thinking about him, about the love we'd give each other makes my belly flutter. It is a little shameful to think about that now, but I need comfort for once. And Luigi might too. I'm not blind on this point: I know Luigi loves me. And I'm so happy for that. The problem was that he was shy, and I live far away from his land. We meet at parties and invitations from Peach... he'd gotten a bit more confident, the last time I saw him. But again, if I wanted to hang out personally... "Show me your love," I wanted to say sometimes, in a joke mood. But you don't go and say "I love you" like a moron - though if Luigi did... I bet he'd say that the shy and clumsy way, what I find adorable about him. He's handsome and... do I really have to explain why I started to think more and more about him the first times we met at golf, tennis and parties? I just wish he was there, instead of having this weird feeling of someone searching for me, for a bad purpose...