Peach bit her lip as she went through her royal work papers. The fact that her duties still went on, even with Rose gone, was almost infuriating to her—and she had always kept calm in stressful situations. But for some reason, when it was her daughter, and not herself in danger, it felt more worrying to her. When Peach was kidnapped, she knew she would stay in a comfortable room, safe and sound, until Mario came to save her. And she always knew that she would be saved before Bowser could marry her. Now, not only did she not have such a guarantee, she also had no idea how Rose was doing. Was she in lovely quarters like Peach had been, or was she starving in a dungeon somewhere? Was it possible that she had been married off already?

No, Bowser had always been pretty bad with planning time, and she doubted that had changed. As for Junior, he was still going to remain below his father in status until Bowser passed away … was Bowser still alive? All of these questioned plagued Peach's mind relentlessly, upsetting her greatly with the fact that she was clueless. She had almost no information to reassure her, except the fact that Rose was being held captive somewhere. That was it, and it was far from reassuring.

To add to her issues, she hadn't seen Mario since they met up with Daisy and Luigi to agree to join forces and get Rose back. He had said that he was going to discuss matters with Luigi and prepare for the whole operation back "home," which Peach assumed was the brothers' long-abandoned house which they had both moved out of when they got married. As for Daisy, Peach had strong reasons to believe that she was probably in the same position as she was right now. She wished that she could be closer to her friend—that way, she would feel at least somewhat safer—but no one knew royal duties better than Queen Peach Toadstool, and Sarasaland needed at least its Queen present—that was unarguable.

She knew that once Mario and Luigi had discussed their plans, the whole "save Rose" operation would most likely get started right away; after all, there was no time to lose. That Rose was alive, Peach was certain. That Rose was not having the best of times, Peach was positive. But then, there was the questions of the Mushroom Kingdom, and Sarasaland. What would they have to tell them? Peach refused to lie to her Kingdom, but she didn't want an absolute stampede or panic. If all four of them left, which was likely to be the case, the kingdoms would become pretty vulnerable to any attacks—and they were likely.

Of course, the wisest choice would be for just Mario and Luigi to go, but Peach really wanted to see the spectacle that was going to unfold, whatever it was; and, of course, have some personal role in rescuing her daughter, and leaving Daisy all alone would be a pretty bad decision. There was also the option of Mario and Peach going by themselves—maybe that was doable? They were Rose's parents, after all…but Daisy and Luigi would be incredibly useful to the whole operation, and they would need all the help they could get…

Peach's thoughts were, thankfully, interrupted by the royal quarters' main door unlocking and opening. She turned around and found, with a mixture of joy and anxiety, Mario, Luigi, and Daisy all entering. She knew that Mario had probably decided that all four of them should go; otherwise he wouldn't have arranged for all four to talk together like this.

"I'm not lying to my Kingdom, don't even think about it," Daisy muttered before turning to Peach with sudden happiness in her face and tone.

"Hi!" She called out. "It's so great to see you again!"

"Worrying about Sarasaland, are you?" Peach asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm worried too … if we all leave, that leaves the Kingdoms so vulnerable, yet we are all important to this … what should we do?"

"It's solved, somewhat at least," Mario stated knowingly. "This operation already kind of began. Luigi and I both gave a multitude of staple commands to the Kingdoms' battle forces for what to do in case of an attack—and we presented all sorts of different options of attacks, as well as how to respond to possible declarations of war, threats, and all of those kinds of things. As for what to tell the public, we're not quite sure yet. It's possible to just tell them we're just going for a small investigative trip, but Daisy is refusing to deceive her subjects."

"For a pretty good reason!" Daisy exclaimed. "They're not that stupid. No need to pretend like nothing's going to seem suspicious, plus they're seen such things many times before, even if long ago. They shouldn't be oblivious and unprotected."

"Wait, Mario, did you say declaration of war?!" Peach cried out suddenly. "I knew it was serious, but I didn't think it would come to this … what would bring them to declare … war?"

"Well, if Rose refuses to marry Junior, which I'm sure she has the good sense to do, there will be consequences," Mario said flatly. "That just can't be denied."

"But …" Peach stood up slowly. "But Rose's training … and her talents …"

"All unfortunately powerless against the forces of the Dark Lands after all these years," Mario sighed. "Yes, she's very talented and well-trained, but she's never been in such a situation before, she's probably much more closely guarded, and plus, it's not like we're just going to leave her to figure this out on her own. I could never bear it."

"None of us could," Daisy said, placing a hand on Peach's shoulder. "Which is exactly why we're doing this."

Peach sighed heavily. "Well, what must be done must be done," she said. "let's get to work on planning. Have a seat, everyone, I'll get the tea and cake."

Rose wanted to scream, so was the extent of her frustration. She had just finished the next day's breakfast, but she still couldn't get over what Junior had said. Not only did he genuinely believe his father's plan was getting him somewhere, but he also thought that he could trick her into very primitive things!

The knocks on the door from Kemmer became almost regular now, even though they have only happened a few times. The rate with which she was becoming accustomed to her surroundings was silently terrifying her. And as if on cue, Kemmer's soft, somewhat uneasy knock came again.

"Princess Toadstool," he said once she welcomed him in, "King Bowser Koopa requests your presence. Please get yourself ready and I will have someone escort you. How much time do you need to prepare?"

"Only about fifteen minutes or so," Rose said. She was completely ready to go, except that she was dressed in a lounge gown. "I shouldn't take much longer than that. You may leave."

Kemmer nodded and quickly left, as usual. Rose checked her reflection in her mirror—except for the stress visible in her eyes, everything else looked fine. She had quite the "royal" appearance, which she suspected was more than a little necessary. She would have to be mature about this—she knew it was coming, she knew she wouldn't be too hurt or killed, and she knew that Peach had always been kind to Bowser and his children no matter what they did. She wasn't intending on changing much from Peach's ways; she never really did.

The gown she put on almost surprised her. She almost instinctively reached for a dark, cherry-colored, long, and expensive-looking dress that was fit for true royalty. The dresses she wore back home may have been more casual, but this was the real deal. Over the cherry-colored silky fabrics there was draped black lace pinned down artistically in some areas with rubies. It had a substantial weight, and when she caught her reflection, Rose was stunned with how … intimidating she looked? Intimidating … that was not Rose Maria Toadstool. Rose Maria Toadstool was not intimidating. She tried to shake the thought from her head, but it wouldn't go away. She enjoyed the power of it. But that was wrong … right? Deciding to just stop thinking, Rose ran swiftly out of her closet.

After a few minutes, she heard the awaited, "Princess Toadstool, are you ready?"

"Yes," she responded. The door opened, revealing two guard-looking "escorts," and she somewhat gingerly nodded and stepped between them as they locked the door behind her.

"The King has been expecting you, Princess," one of them said in a way that made Rose shiver. The other laughed, though nothing seemed to be funny.