Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Mario or its franchise; it belongs to

Nintendo and their affiliates. I just am really grateful to its creators for giving

me such a wonderful game and media series to write about!

I also don't own anything related to Harry Potter, all that belongs to J.K. Rowling,

but thanks go to her as well because, using her wonderful work, I can expand this

story to make it more interesting.

I also don't own anything related to Naruto.

Chapter Three

Daisy was gone when I woke up. There was nothing but the smell of her shampoo and the messy sheets on her side of the bed to let me know she'd even been there. I blinked and rolled over and glanced at the door. There was a man there. He was the reason I was awake in the first place; I'd heard someone knocking and then jolted awake to find myself alone in bed.

"Master Luigi," The uniformed man spoke politely. "I was told to inform you that your presence is requested at the palace steps."

I frowned but said, "Okay. Thanks."

The man nodded but still stood there.

"Uh," I hesitated. "Did you need something else?"

"You haven't dismissed," The man told me. "So I assumed it was you who wanted more of me."

"Oh!" I blurted. "Uh, sorry, I'm not from here, I mean you already know."

The man cocked a brow as if in question.

Slowly I amended, "Or maybe you don't, but um. Yeah. I'm not familiar with the customs and stuff...of the palace..."

Rambling, man, stop rambling, I chided myself.

In a clear voice I said, "You're dismissed."

"Thank you, Master Luigi." The man spoke and then bowed his way out of the room.

I sighed and knew I'd have to get used to living here and behaving accordingly. I just wasn't prepared for people to start treating me like someone I wasn't, and I wasn't ready to pretend to be something I'm not.

Well, no one's asked me to pretend, but what am I supposed to do? My knowledge of royalty is kinda' limited to comic books, Disney movies, and daytime tv

Oh, and the royal couple in England. Can't forget them.

I didn't know who requested me or why, so I couldn't be sure on how I should dress. I figured everyone had to be allowed to make at least one mistake, though, so I dressed casually in plain black pants and a slightly nice white shirt with short sleeves. I put my trainers on and as I was lacing them up, I remembered I was in Chai Kingdom, so maybe everyone wasn't entitled to mistakes.

Everybody seems so uptight here, I thought, but my clothes were already on and I didn't want to keep my mystery summoner waiting. If I wasn't dressed appropriately, oh well.

Once dressed, I went over to the bed and made it up, then combed through my hair with my fingers. I winced because it was high time I cut my nails. Walking down the stairs and towards the front doors, I noticed people bowed to me as I made my way past them. Odd and uncomfortable were two words that came to mind to describe the phenomena.

I shoved my hands in my pockets and kept moving in the quiet palace. The place would seem empty if not for the guards at their stations. It had to be pretty early. This was confirmed when I got outside the doors and saw the sky still colored greyish-blue. It wasn't even sunrise, yet.

How early did Daisy get up?

Aside from that, I was surprised to see even more people up and about outside. There was a sort of familiar figure standing tall on the palace steps with his sharp black eyes on me.

"Good morning." He greeted in a brusque tone.

I said, "Good morning General..."

Zane? Zed? Zydeco?

Okay, so I knew that last one wasn't right, but I'd forgotten the General's exotic name.

"Are you the one who called for me?" I diverted.

"Indeed." The pale man nodded, then asked me, "Would you still be interested in accepting your role as Commander?"

Commander? What in the...oh, right.

I told him, "Yeah, I would."

"Then we'd better get started."

Not for the first time, Alicia ran a stop sign. It was big and red and right in front of her and yet she'd driven right past it. She wouldn't have even known it, either, if it hadn't been for someone blowing their horn at her as they narrowly missed clipping the front of her car with the side of theirs. Alicia endured the shouted expletives from the passing driver and groaned inside. The girl made a note to pay closer attention. She was in New York, just a few miles away from Brooklyn; it wouldn't do to have an accident this close to the end of her journey.

"I gotta' let it go," The young woman murmured to herself.

She was talking about the incessant thoughts that were assaulting her mind regarding her last encounter with Munson and Wendy. She'd been told by the boy that they would be alright, but Alicia couldn't shake the guilty feeling that went along with leaving two teenage runaways alone in the big state of Maine. But no matter how bad she felt, the deed was done. She was almost home now and had to get back to work this week. And even if she were to hustle back up to Maine and somehow managed to catch up to Munson and Wendy, who could be long gone from the hotel by now, what could she do? Stick around and raise them or something? She had a life now, and she had to be wary of who she associated with. Even though the eighteen year old was relatively harmless, he could be in league with people from their shared past. She wouldn't jeopardize her own happiness for the sake of anyone else, not even the boy who'd helped her out.

Alicia sighed and slowed to a stop at a red light. While idling, the girl tapped her fingers against the steering wheel and felt no better about the situation. She glanced to the side and saw her phone resting near her purse on the passenger's seat. She reached over and picked it up, then dialed a number she knew by heart.

"Alicia?"

The woman smiled deeply and said, "Yup, it's me, Dean."

"Where are you?" She heard the young man ask worriedly.

Again she smiled and told him, "Close. I'll be at the apartment soon."

"Good," Dean replied. "So everything went okay?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Alicia seemed to sigh.

Dean asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm good." Alicia spoke tiredly, then perked and said, "But you know what would make me even better?"

"What?"

"If I came home and saw that my super-mega-awesome boyfriend made me a nice, hot bowl of chili."

"Done." Dean replied softly. "Drive carefully, alright?"

"I'm always careful, dude." Alicia smirked, then made a smooching noise into the phone.

In response, she heard Dean give her a quiet laugh and the two bade each other goodbye for now. She tossed the phone back over to the passenger's seat and spent the next half-hour calming herself down.

It's done, she told herself, I've made my decision, I helped them as best I could, the matter's over.

By the time she got to her apartment, the girl was much more at ease with her situation. She could smell something hot and spicy as soon as she turned her key in the lock and got through the door and that made her smile. Dean was waiting for her.

"You're back." he murmured as he wrapped her in a hug.

Alicia held him as well but couldn't help but notice that Dean's hug was a bit tighter than usual. She pulled back and pecked him on the mouth, then headed to the bathroom. Along the way, she dropped her keys on the dining room table and shed her jacket. The girl got to her bedroom and gathered her clothes for a shower and felt her body tingle in anticipation of the hot, steady spray of soothing water over her weary body.

I wonder how Daisy's doing, she thought once stripped and standing in her tub. Alicia felt a stab of sadness and longing course through her, but it was nothing that couldn't be pushed away in favor of relishing in the warm water flowing over her body. She soaked her long, thick curly hair and then, when she was finished bathing, wrung out her locks over her shoulder. In a towel she stood out of the tub and in front of the mirror. Her reflection, her own dark eyes stared back at her.

Alicia sighed and got dressed in her pink t-shirt and sweatpants, then slid her feet into her black flip-flops. She left the bathroom and put her dirty clothes away, then went into the kitchen. Dean was standing there at the stove with a wooden spoon in one hand and a thick glass bowl in the other. In the red dish was her favorite meal of all time, made to order by the young man she'd grown to love so much. Alicia put her hand over his cheek and kissed him lightly.

"Thank you," She told him and took the bowl.

Alicia went over to the couch and plucked the remote from the coffee table, then switched on the tv. Nothing was really on, but she settled on a movie that was playing. Something that could buzz in the background as she enjoyed her meal. Alicia snuggled deeply into the couch cushions and crossed her legs. She took a spoonful of the bean and beef and tomato creation and blew on it for a second, then stuck it in her mouth. She released a little noise of appreciation as she savored that bite and the many that followed.

Without a word, Dean came over to his girlfriend and set a cool glass of water down in front of her, then stood off to the side and watched her eat. It wasn't a dainty sight. When Alicia really got going, it just looked like she was shoveling food into her face. She would stop every now and again to slide her pinkie against the side of her mouth to wipe away whatever slipped there, but in general she ate without ceasing. The girl seemed ravenous. A tiny smile pulled at Dean's mouth as he witnessed her behavior.

What the, Alicia suddenly thought.

She halted in her actions and fiddled with her mouth. She tried to be as neat as possible in pulling what felt like plastic from the side of her teeth. She gazed at the tiny fragment and laughed.

"Dean, baby, I think you left the wrapper in here." She teased, then frowned.

She was gazing back into the bowl and saw something strange. Alicia picked out another piece of plastic, but upon wiping it off with her fingertips, she noticed it was a little tiny zip-lock bag. Inside it was.

"Dean," Alicia spoke slowly, "What is this?"

Oh, she knew what it was. Inside the bag that still bore her teeth marks was a gold and metal and diamond object; a ring. She knew what it was, but she didn't know what was going on. The more seconds that passed, the more she understood. Dean, in his t-shirt and jeans, pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and walked over to Alicia. She pulled her gaze from the ring to Dean and gazed at him in question.

"It's a ring, Alicia." He told her simply.

"I know that," Alicia snapped, but her voice was soft.

Dean pushed his black dreads over his shoulder and said, "It was my mother's, and I want you to have it."

Alicia felt her chest tighten and her heart skip a beat at those words. Her body felt stiff, tense, and she could hear the blood rushing in her ears. She was gripping the plastic bag tightly between her fingers but relinquished her hold on it once Dean reached down to take it. Her hands were shaking when she wiped them on her knees. And speaking of those, Dean got down on his and that's when Alicia's eyes prickled and stung with the threat of tears.

Dean opened the bag and took out the ring, then reached for Alicia's still-shaking hand. He slid that ring onto her finger like it belonged and then kissed her knuckles. Dean took both her hands then and stood with her. Alicia was afraid her knees would buckle but Dean instinctively put an arm around her waist and laced his fingers through her now-jeweled hand.

"Alicia," He spoke softly, "Being apart from you only made me realize how much I love you and need you in my life."

"...Dean..."

"I want you to be my wife," Dean spoke in his gentle voice, then asked, "Will you marry me, Alicia?"

He gazed down at Alicia with so much love and genuine care in his eyes and it made Alicia's heart hurt, like really ache. She lost her voice for a moment.

"Please don't cry," Dean coaxed. "I didn't mean to upset you."

He brushed at her face with the pad of his thumb and kissed her forehead, then her lips. Alicia kissed him back with fervor and then laughed. Dean was confused because there were still tears coming out of her sparkling eyes.

"It's okay," She told him, "I'm just really, really happy!"

She wrapped her arms round his neck and kissed him again and then leaned her forehead against his.

"Of course I'll marry you," Alicia told him. "What took you so long to ask?"

A/N: Um. Yeah. There's the third chapter. It took me a while to get this up because I couldn't decide on the order of events. Things got mixed up in my outline.

On an unrelated note, there was a giant storm where I live and I was messing with the power cord for my tv and then bam! I felt a little jolt and the power blew out and, long story short, don't be surprised if I get super-powers soon.

Anyway, I'll see when I can update again. Please be patient because I have a million things on my plate right now, it's like I'm at a buffet [corny, I know]. I am doing my best to balance things but something's gotta give. Hopefully not the story.

Until next time!

~DymondGold~