Answer to recent question: The MarioxPauline pairing will all be explained just a little later. However, BowserxPeach are the main pairing so they will have more time in the spotlight. That's all I can really tell you without giving any of the plot away. Just know that I tagged MxP because they are important to the story :)

Thanks for reading!

Chapter Thirteen

Luigi continued, "Princess? Did you hear me? I know Mario will come back! He always does! Maybe this is the kind of motivation he needs to…"

"Luigi…" Peach stopped him, her voice low. "Mario isn't coming back. He can't anymore."

"But he is Mario! Don't count him out yet! He always comes to save his princess," Luigi stated with stubborn confidence.

"Luigi. He. Isn't. Coming. Back," Peach said angrily.

"But Princess…" Luigi muttered.

"He is DEAD, Luigi! I'm sorry, but he is gone and he is never coming back! I watched him bleed out on the floor of my castle! He even had a funeral! How could you say he is coming back?!" Peach snapped, tears streaming down her face as she spoke.

"What?" he whispered. Luigi dropped the phone in shock and Daisy's mouth fell open as she sat on his lap. Before she could say anything Luigi quickly moved out from underneath her and left the room.

"Luigi…" Daisy paused, picking the phone off the ground. "Peachy, I'm sorry! I have to go after Luigi." And with that, she hung up the phone and ran after him. "What just happened?" Daisy wondered.

Peach stared at the phone in her hands, completely dumbfounded. "Didn't Luigi know? Daisy knew… right?" she thought out loud. Mario has a tombstone in the Hero's Memorial Room. How did Luigi not know? Peach knew Mario was dead, but why wouldn't his closest friends and relatives know what happened to him? Luigi had said something about Mario being gone? Where did they think he had gone?

"This smells like Kamella," Peach said to herself. She got up from the bed and started pacing until her eyes fixed on a pile of Darklandian magazines. On the top of the stack, she could see the symbol of the Mushroom Kingdom printed on the front page.

She quickly crossed the room and picked up the magazine curiously. Her eyes widened as she read the bold letters on the front page.

HEARTBROKEN PRINCESS

Mario goes missing! What will Peach do now?

by Get-Da-Scoopa Koopa

"Great stars!" Peach exclaimed. "Does no one know Mario is dead? Granted, Mario's death would create a great amount of disarray in my Kingdom, but doesn't the world have the right to know? Especially his family and friends... The whole castle knew what happened after finding Mario and me in the hall, right? But the servants gossip all the time. I have a hard time believing that the Mushroom Castle could keep this kind of secret for more than two weeks, let alone half a year… Even if the council paid the servants for their secrecy…" Peach was missing too much information. Sitting back down on her bed, she felt a growing need to talk to Daisy and Luigi in person.

Peach waited with her phone in her hands for about fifteen minutes before impatience got the best of her. She texted Daisy this message:

"Daisy, call back when you can… I don't know what is going on, but don't tell anyone anything yet. - Love, Peach"

"I need to go and see them myself. I wasn't able to contact Daisy for months and I have a feeling that it had something to do with that Magikoopa," Peach decided, getting up from the bed. She made her way to go find Bowser but stopped herself. "If Bowser finds out Mario is dead, he might not bother letting me leave the Dark Lands knowing that no one is coming to save me. And if word comes from the Dark Lands that Mario's death was a cover-up, my father will have a revolution on his hands," she thought to herself gravely.

Closing her door, Peach went over to the desk and wrote a letter to Bowser. It read:

Bowser,

I am sorry but I had to leave sooner than expected. I promise I didn't initially plan this, but I have news from Sarasaland that I need to come immediately to fix some very urgent matters.

I hope you will understand. Believe me when I say I am thankful for your generous gifts and hospitality.

Forgive me and give the Koopalings my regards.

Yours,

Princess Peach

The princess felt bad for having to do this to Bowser, but she couldn't wait. She had to get to the bottom of this and figure out what Kamella had to do with this and hopefully find out what she was planning. After Peach put a travel bag together, she grabbed a castle map off her bathroom counter and left her bedroom. Leaving the note stuck to Bowser's door, Peach began making her way to the castle transportation hangar until she happened upon the kitchen. Deciding it would be best to grab something for the way, she opened the fridge and found a plastic bag with a big sandwich, chips, sliced pickles, and a soda. Taking it and thanking the stars for her fortune, she set off again to find the hangars.

By the time she got there, a red-shelled Koopa was closing up shop for the night. "Uhh... Sir?" she asked. "Are you closing?" The old Koopa licked his chapped lips and nodded his head kindly. "I wouldn't suppose there is a clown car or different mode of transportation that is still running?" Peach asked further. The Koopa blinked and shook his head.

"Sorry, young lady…" the old Koopa said slowly and feebly. "The last shuttle left at nine and it's a quarter past…"

"Oh…" Peach said, biting her lip.

"But…" the old Koopa turned around sluggishly and pointed down the hall. "If you take the elevator to the first floor, there is an exit on the East side of the castle. Right outside there is a car rental service that my brother Paul operates. Tell him Carl sent ya. That old llama lover will get a kick outta that, and you tell him I said so."

Peach smiled, hugged the old Koopa, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Carl," she said as she turned to walk down the hallway.

"No," he chuckled. "Ma' name's Willard. Carl is his ex-wife's name."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Once Peach finally made it through the castle exit, she could see the car rental business across the street. When she opened the front doors of the business, she saw an old green-shelled Koopa snoozing by the cash register.

"Excuse me, sir?" Peach asked.

"Hmmm?" the old Koopa flinched and blinked at her. "Ah... Young lady, transportation is closed for the night and if you are here for something else then that's too bad. My Casanova days died with my last Viagra pill 20 years ago."

Peach, though slightly embarrassed, let his last comment slide. "I'm sorry to trouble you sir, but Willard sent me to you since his hangar is closed."

"HA! Even better! That Koopa's hangar has been closed longer than mine!" the old Koopa laughed. Once he rubbed his eyes and put on a pair of glasses, he continued, "Sorry little girl but we are most definitely closed." He got up from his desk and flipped the paper sign on the door from open to closed.

Peach was about to leave, but she stopped at the door and took a breath. "Willard told me to tell you that Carl sent me. He also said a llama lover like you would get a kick out of that."

The old Koopa's face went from old wrinkly yellow to red and blown up in seconds. She was about to run out the door before he skinned her alive when a strangled noise came from the old man's mouth.

The Koopa wheezed and spat, trying to keep his mouth shut, but finally burst into full-blown laughter. He laughed heartily for 2 minutes straight until he had composure enough to raise his hand to Peach saying, "Wait…" With a cough, he straightened up his hand knit sweater and said again, "Wait." Peach took her hand off the door handle and hesitantly moved away from the exit.

"That old bastard is gonna be the death of me one day, but I ain't gonna die leaving a pretty thing like you waiting at my door. Come on. We'll see what I can put together for ya. By the way, ma' name's Paul," he said, motioning her over to the counter. "Woo! Well then…" he muttered as he rustled through his filing cabinet. "Ah-ha! I think you'll like this one. She is a classic."

The old Koopa reached under the counter, grabbed his keys, and led Peach to a door that led to the outside parking lot. "This is a Mini Koopa Clown Car," Paul said, showing her an old green clown car with white racing strips on the front. "Her name is…Tottle? Tittle? That can't be right…" He looked at his papers again. "Turtle! Her name is Turtle! She is a temperamental old hag just like my ex-wife, but as long as you take her easy, you should be safe. Heh heh… I wouldn't go much higher than 10 feet off the ground though…"

Paul climbed up inside and beckoned Peach to stand behind him as he explained how Turtle worked. According to Pual, this was Peach's best bet if she wanted to get where she was going by tomorrow. Everything else in the area was closed or too far away to be worth going to. This surprised Peach, but she could see why most people wouldn't need rental cars when everything the locals needed was within a short walking distance.

"After paying the rental fee, sign here and here. Other than that, you're all set!" the old man said with a smile. "But when you bring ole Turtle back, make sure to stop in and spend some time with us old folks again. We need a little youth to keep our wrinkles from getting too deep."

"I would like that very much," Peach agreed, giggling a little as she started the Mini Koopa. "Happy trails, Paul."

The Koopa's eyes lit up and he smiled as he watched her leave. "Until we meet again, little girl."