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 if you see me throw a little of that, too.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
"Nervous?"
"Like you wouldn't believe."
"It's understandable."
"You shouldn't have let me eat all that ice cream."
"As if I could've stopped you."
Daisy shot me a look and that ended our short exchange. On the doorsteps of Alicia's apartment we stood, neither one of us making a move to knock. Daisy really did look anxious and I didn't know why. All the way here she'd been over the moon, talking about how much she missed her best friend. Now that we were here, she was wringing her hands and biting her lip.
"Go ahead, Luigi." She said. "You're the man."
"I've got the suitcases."
"So?"
I lifted a brow and wondered what her deal was but knocked and waited for a response. Daisy wrapped her arms around herself and I brought my hands back down to grip our diminutive luggage. Soon the sound of rapid footsteps could be heard on the other side and the door was yanked open and I swear it happened so fast; there were two girls where a second ago there was only one. Alicia had practically flown at Daisy and the girl stumbled back a bit at the force of that hug. I was only further confused when they pulled apart, sizing each other up with tears in their eyes.
Aren't they happy to see each other?
Of course they were, they were smiling and laughing, but there was a layer of mist in Daisy's eyes and the tears were already down Alicia's golden-brown cheeks.
"D, I missed you sooo much!" Alicia squealed, bringing my fiancée back into her slender arms.
Daisy held her friend tightly and claimed the same, and that's when Alicia's warm dark eyes flashed over to me. She grinned broadly and gave me a wink.
"Is Dean in there?" Daisy asked, stepping back.
Alicia shook her head and her vivacious curls bounced around. Like Daisy she wore her hair in a ponytail but hers was much wilder. She wore loose burgundy sweatpants and a black tank top much like the white one Daisy was wearing. The striking similarity in their choice of clothing was a good reflection of their friendship.
In answer to Daisy's question Alicia said, "No, he had to get something from his cousin's house, but he'll be here soon. Come on, let's get inside!"
Daisy shot me a huge smile before following her friend, hand in hand, into the apartment. I brought up the rear, shaking my head at how quickly her anxiousness had vanished.
I don't know what she was even worried about. It's like no time at all has passed between them.
"You guys want something to drink?" Alicia asked excitedly, listing, "Some water or coke?"
How in the world did she get to the kitchen so fast?
Her and Dean's apartment was bigger than mine but I hadn't seen her cross the space between the door and the dining area to get to the fridge where she now stood with her hand on her hip. I started to say something in answer when she spoke again.
"On second thought, you might want to wait." She stated. "I ordered some food and we're gonna' play a drinking game later."
"No!" Daisy grinned mischievously, "That is not a good idea!"
"Says you!" Alicia smirked, then glanced at me and asked, "Did you know your girlfriend freaking sucks at holding her liquor?"
Daisy rolled her eyes and said, "That is not true! Just because of that one time when I…" Glancing at me, Daisy bit her lip and amended, "I just don't like heavy drinking is all."
Alicia snorted. "Heavy drinking is a couple shots for you."
I started to say, "Well um, I don't know if Daisy told you but we're en-"
Daisy yanked on my arm and gave me a meaningful look. I frowned and she sighed and leaned up to whisper in my ear.
"Don't tell her, it's a surprise." She hissed, and I nodded.
"What's that about?" Alicia came over to us looking intensely curious.
I shrugged and Daisy changed the subject.
She asked, "So, how have you been since um, well in the last few months?"
"I've been alright, I guess." Alicia remarked, going over to sit on one of the couches.
Daisy went over and sat by her friend and I put our suitcases near the end of the couch before doing the same so that my girl was in the middle. Alicia tucked her leg under her and smiled.
"What about you two?" She asked. "What have you guys been up to? What's it like over there in Sara-Sasara…"
"Sarasaland," Daisy corrected.
She told her the name of the country? I thought she'd make something up.
Daisy said, "I've been okay, just really, really busy."
"How come?" Alicia asked, "What do you do over there?"
Daisy glanced back at me and hesitated. I guess she didn't mention that she was a princess. Before either of us could answer with either the truth or a lie, we all heard a key turning in the lock.
"Dean!" Alicia cried happily.
She leapt up and gave her boyfriend a hug and a kiss and he seemed taken aback to see us. He gave us a reserved smile and a small wave in greeting. He looked the same as he did the day we left because he wore that same kind of white t-shirt and black sweat pants. Under his tattooed arm he had a colorful box.
"You brought the game?" Alicia asked, and Dean glanced pointedly at the box. She made a noise of excitement and took it from him.
"What's that?" Daisy asked, leaning her head on my shoulder.
Alicia came over to us and put the box on the coffee table, then sat with her legs crossed in front of it. Dean was taking down his hair from its low ponytail and heading to the kitchen. From the fridge he took a coke and Alicia turned around.
"Don't!" She cried. "We're gonna' play a drinking game later-"
"Oh no," Dean objected, coke in hand. "No alcohol tonight. It's Sunday. We've got work tomorrow."
So clearly he's the more level-headed one in the relationship, I noticed.
I saw the dark-skinned young man come and sit next to his girlfriend and prop one leg up at the knee with his coke hand draped over it. Alicia rolled her eyes.
"Dean, this is why you're no fun." She told him.
He smiled gently and took a drink from the vintage glass bottle. Alicia reached forward and took the box, then noticed us still sitting on the couch.
She said, "Come on, get down!"
I sat in the same way as Alicia and Daisy shed her wedge sandals, then sat on the floor with her legs tucked to the side and her body leaning against mine. The board game was Life and none of us knew how to play, nor could anyone be assed to read the instructions. We just set up our little cars at the starting line and went from there. Choosing careers was interesting, since I was a teacher, Alicia was a police officer, Dean was a doctor and Daisy was a lawyer. This prompted some discussion in itself.
"So what do you guys do?" Alicia asked, looking at me in particular.
I glanced at Daisy and let her answer.
She said, "Um…well it's like. Remember when I told you I was from another country?"
"Mm-hm." Alicia nodded, picking up her little car.
Daisy said, "I'm sort of the princess there."
Alicia stopped sliding her car along the board and Dean just glanced between the two girls with quiet intrigue. I held Daisy's waist as she sat up and she began to fiddle with her fingers. Alicia's shock gave way to an impressed expression and she laughed.
"You're serious?" She blurted, and when Daisy nodded she said, "Wow, D, I had no idea. I mean I would've never pegged you as an undercover royal." She laughed, then asked, "How come you were living here then?"
"I moved here after Luigi and I fell in love." She relayed, easing back on her heels.
I could tell she was visibly relieved, but that was only the tip of the iceberg. We still had to invite the couple to the party and explain to them the Mushroom World.
Daisy took her turn after Alicia and flicked the little white wheel with her finger. She moved her car over a bridge and picked up a life card, then spoke again.
"What do you do, Dean?" She asked lightly.
Upon being addressed Dean blinked and set his drink down on the edge of the table. His dreads were down in neat rows, some of them covering his right eye. He smiled a little at Daisy before responding.
"I'm an accountant in town." He said, and added sheepishly, "I help people file their taxes and stuff."
"Cool," Daisy remarked, borrowing a word of mine.
Alicia looked at me and stated, "So if D's the princess, does that make you the prince?"
Again I looked at Daisy and let her be the one to break the news. It's what she'd asked of me. She seemed very appreciative with her renewed grin.
"No, he's not a prince yet." Daisy spoke coyly. "But he will be once we marry. We got engaged a few weeks ago."
Alicia inhaled sharply and said, "Really? No way! So did Dean and me!"
I glanced over at the guy and saw that he looking down in his lap like he was embarrassed but no doubt happy. Daisy and Alicia started congratulating each other and telling stories of how the proposals went down while Dean and I took our turns.
And she's not holding back on the awkward details, I could hear. Great.
It was my turn to look away and Daisy touched my knee. I looked over and she kissed my cheek.
"I still think it was really cute of you to do that." She murmured. In a louder voice she told her friend, "So that's kinda' why we came back. We're having a party soon and I would really, really like it if you two could come."
"Yeah, sure," Alicia answered for herself and Dean. "Where's it gonna' be at?"
"In our wor-country," Daisy almost slipped up. She shot a nervous glance at me because the subject was bound to be breached any moment.
Luckily, though, there was a knock on the door and our game got interrupted so that Dean could answer the door. It was the pizza lady and she had more than that in her arms. Dean paid her and brought the food into the house and I was flabbergasted at how much they'd ordered.
"Who's gonna' eat all that?!" Daisy exclaimed, rising to give the guy a hand.
Alicia went to the kitchen and came back with paper plates and some coke from the fridge. She gave one of each to Daisy and me and Dean set the boxes on the table, right on top of the game.
"We weren't done!" Alicia said, then sighed.
Daisy smirked and said, "I think I was winning anyway."
"Maybe, but I had the most kids." Alicia grinned. "Two sets of twins. That's a win on its own, right?"
"If you like kids." I shrugged.
She asked me, "You don't?"
I said, "I don't have nothing against them but I don't really want any right now."
Daisy leaned over and whispered, "Then you better slow it down, mister."
The smirk I wore was hard to erase and piqued Alicia's interest immensely. She glanced between us but opened up the boxes one by one instead of asking us about our private exchange. There were three different pizzas, cheese sticks, cinnamon sticks, bread sticks—because I guess we needed all three—as well as wings and pasta. I could probably feed my troops with this spread.
For the second time Daisy asked, "You ordered a feast because…?"
"Because I wanted to make sure you two ate as much as you want." Alicia explained, opening her coke. She then looked to me and said teasingly, "By now you probably know that this one is like a machine; she eats more than me!"
"I do not!" Daisy refuted but was laughing because she knew it was true.
I was glad for the other couple's foresight because by the time the food had gotten here, I was starving. I didn't eat before we left for the kingdom and was glad for the hot, flavorful pizza. It couldn't have come from the parlor I used to work at, it tasted totally different, less like cardboard and more like the food my ancestors would be proud of.
"Hey!" Alicia suddenly exclaimed, "Let's watch a movie!"
Daisy put her plate of food on the floor in her excitement and stood as her brown-skinned friend did, saying, "Yeah, good idea!"
The girl dusted off her hands and she and Alicia went over to the tv set. There were tons of DVDs and even some VHS's and they started scanning through them all. I looked over at Dean, who was eating a slice of supreme pizza and watching the girls quietly. He looked over at me and smiled a little. I smiled back and finished eating, too.
He's even quieter than me, I noted. It doesn't look like anything ruffles his feathers.
"How 'bout this one?" Daisy suggested, holding a DVD.
Alicia was all for it and said, "Looks good, what do you guys think?"
Dean's shrug said he had no opinion so I squinted, trying to make out the ominously-written title of the movie in Daisy's hand. I gave up and swallowed my food.
"I don't care," I stated. "So long as it's not a horror movie."
"But it is a horror movie," Daisy announced, a mischievous grin on her face.
She handed the movie to the taller girl and then hobbled over to me on her knees. Putting her hands on her hips, she tilted her head and her long bushy ponytail brushed the floor.
"You're not chicken, are you?" She taunted.
I said, "I just don't do horror movies."
"It's okay," Daisy spoke cheekily. "If you're scared we can pick something else." She turned her back and added, "Even though I wanted to watch this one and, since we're only spending one night here, this would be my only opportunity. But if you're too afraid, I totally get it."
Really, Daisy? Mama mia, the things I do for this girl…
"Fine." I sighed. "If you wanna' watch it, I guess I'll just-"
Alicia laughed and said, "That wasn't very nice, D."
Daisy just turned back around and flashed a beautiful, grateful smile at me and I knew I'd do anything for her.
"Dean, can you get the extra blankets and stuff?" Alicia asked, her back to her fiancé as she set up the DVD player.
He stood and headed to their bedroom. I watched the large flat-screen come to life and winced once the young woman skipped to the root menu. Oh, it was a horror movie alright and it came out only last year. Alicia turned, her curly hair swinging, and winked.
"What's the point of having friends over if you can't watch scary movies together?" She asked.
Daisy said, "I can't wait to see this! I love watching movies!"
Dean came back with an armful of bedding which he dropped on the floor in front of the tv. Alicia arranged the giant pillows side by side in front of the television and gave me and Daisy a blanket. The one she gave me was yellow and smelled like lavender. I sat on the pillow nearest the bedroom with Daisy at my left, and Alicia sat next to her so that Dean would have to sit closest to the door. I wrapped my blanket around my shoulders and Daisy sidled up to me with her legs folded Indian style.
"Dean, can you get the lights?" Alicia then asked of her poor fiancé.
He made no remarks as he stood, stretched, and went over to the wall to shut off all sources of light in the apartment. Besides the glow of the television and the little lights on the DVD player, it was pitch black.
"Ooh, spooky!" Daisy teased me, nudging me in the ribs.
I caught her finger and linked it with one of mine. Dean came back just as the previews were starting. It wasn't long before the topic of the party came back up.
Alicia asked, "So the engagement party's gonna' be in the palace?"
"Yeah," Daisy replied. "You'll love it there. It's really pretty."
"I bet." Alicia hummed wistfully. "I still can't believe you're a freaking princess. How come you never mentioned it?"
"Would you have believed me?" Daisy challenged.
"I believe you now, so yeah." Alicia reasoned. "Is there anything else I should know?"
Daisy looked up at me before saying, "Well. Yeah, there is another thing."
"What is it?" Alicia pried, reaching behind her for her coke.
Daisy wrung her hands in her lap and Alicia laid one of her own on top of them. I wondered if maybe Daisy and I were blowing this out of proportion. Alicia seemed like a very understanding person. Maybe…
"Where I come from is like," Daisy began slowly. "A whole other world."
"Like Europe?" Alicia supplied.
Daisy shook her head and said, "It's much more different than that."
"In what way?"
"You'll…have to see for yourself." Daisy told her weakly.
"Okay." Alicia drawled, laughing. "I can't wait. When's the party?"
"…In about two more weeks." Daisy spoke carefully, "I wanted to give you enough time to take off from work."
Alicia nodded and said, "Appreciate the heads up, but how do we get to the oh-so-mysterious Sarasaland?"
Warp pipes and parallel pathways; wonder how she'll clean this up, I thought.
Daisy avoided all that entirely when she said, "We'll pick you up and go from there."
"Alright." Alicia shrugged, and the conversation was over.
The movie was starting and I watched about twenty minutes of it before I was aware of how tightly I was gripping the edges of the yellow blanket. When I flinched hard at a jump scare and made Daisy give me a piteous-yet-amused look, I decided to just avert my eyes from the screen and stare at her. Her tan skin shone blue in the light and brows jumped in surprise when the music screeched to a halt.
This movie is bad for my heart. Or kidneys. Or both.
Unlike me, Daisy seemed to get a kick out of nearly peeing her pants because a big grin split her face. I reached over and, with the pad of my thumb, rubbed over her bottom lip. She turned to me, her expression cute and inquisitive.
"You know," I whispered, "When you said you'd be vague, I didn't realize you meant to this degree."
"So what?" She whispered back, frowning.
I said in a quiet huff, "So your friend is gonna' be in for a huge shock."
"I know," Daisy murmured, now a bit irritably. "But what was I supposed to say? It wasn't like you were any help, Luigi."
She'd poked me in the chest and I closed my fist gently around the offending finger. She was right, I hadn't said anything but I didn't want to give an inconsistent account of the Mushroom Kingdom; besides, I didn't know how much or how little Daisy wanted to reveal.
I saw brief clips of the rest of the film but spent the majority of the time looking away and thinking about the upcoming party. It was bound to be anything but dull no matter what, especially with Alicia and Dean thrown into the mix.
"So uh, why are we here, exactly?"
Had two weeks come and gone so fast? Apparently so. Back in Sarasaland, the party was all everyone was talking about, which was odd because I knew for a fact I hadn't told anyone about it.
Except my troops, I realized.
That had been an impulsive decision but I couldn't go back on my word, not after seeing how excited they were. And Zair seemed to think it'd been a good idea because he stopped me in the hall and congratulated me on what he perceived to be an act of unity and a step towards bonding with the soldiers. He also wanted to know why he hadn't been invited, so that was one more person I had to add to the guest list and I was starting to understand why practically all of Chai had found out about the party.
It was a relief, then, to get back to the real world to pick up Daisy's best friend, but things were starting to go predictably awry as the four of us arrived at the old warehouse. It was Alicia who'd asked that question once she peered out the window and caught sight of the crumbling building.
I killed the engine but didn't answer. It was too early in the morning to think up a good lie that would explain what we were about to do, so I left it to Daisy to respond. She glared at me mildly for that and got out of the front seat.
"Um," She stalled, opening the door and stretching.
Dean got out and I popped the trunk so he could get their bags while Alicia continued to wait for an answer. She climbed from the backseat, all jean-clad long legs, and shut the trunk since Dean had his hands full. Then the girl came over to Daisy, who came over to me.
"Well?" Alicia prompted, shielding the sun from her eyes with her hand.
Daisy said, "This is where it gets weird."
Alicia smiled and glanced at Dean, her brows hopping towards her forehead. He shrugged, his arms weighed down by their luggage, and lumbered after her as she and I began to follow Daisy towards the warehouse's back door.
"Well you've got some good friends," I spoke lowly to my fiancée. "Bringing them to a creepy ass building with no explanation? We're lucky they don't call the cops on us."
Daisy laughed and said, "Yeah, you're right."
But there was dread in her features and my stomach as we entered the building and got closer to the warp pipe.
"Good lord, there's a lot of dust in here!" Alicia coughed.
Dean blinked and cleared his throat and Alicia waved away a cobweb as she ducked under the doorway of the former bakery. She looked around, skeptically now, and then stared at Daisy.
"Is there a reason we're passing through this roach trap?" She asked, her chuckle turning into another cough.
"Sorry," Daisy apologized, "but this is the only way to get to the Mu-my kingdom."
"If you say so, D." Alicia responded.
I led our group over to the warp pipe and prepared for more questions. The thing definitely stood out against the rest of the decaying interior of the warehouse with its eerie luminescence. I turned from it and saw Dean stop first, setting the bags down to pick spider webs out of his hair. Alicia stood beside him rubbing her arms and dusting off her white polo shirt. Daisy came over to the pipe and smiled shakily, clapping her hands together. The sound echoed through the building and got the other couple's attention.
"So." Daisy stated. "Um, we just step through here and-"
"Through that fat green pipe?" Alicia asked, pointing a painted fingertip towards the item in question.
Daisy nodded.
"Are you serious?" Alicia frowned. "That's insane. Where does it even lead?"
"To a railroad station." Daisy answered, her voice tapering off with her.
I filled in for her with, "The whole system's underground. It's like a subway, you know? Except it's uh, it takes you further than, say, Queens."
"Really?" Alicia looked to be on the fence.
She approached the pipe with her fiancé behind her and laid a hand against the cold metal. Glancing behind her, she ran a hand through her loose, curly hair.
"So what do I do, jump down?" She looked to be joking, but her expression sobered when neither Daisy or I cracked a smile. "What?"
"It's not that long a fall." Daisy assured her.
Alicia breathed in with an unsteady smile and said, "Wow. Okay. Um. Right. Dean?"
She gave her boyfriend a light shove and said, "You go first, baby."
He swallowed a little and clutched the bags in each hand tightly before hoisting himself up over the edge of the pipe. Blinking hard and swallowing again, he lowered himself and released his grip on the green ledge.
"Dean?" Alicia called over the now-empty space. "Are you alright?"
"He's on the other side." I told her. "He's okay."
Alicia nodded, sort of to herself, and said, "Right then. So um. Here goes, I guess."
She was lithe in the way she propped her body onto the ledge and swung her legs over the lip of the pipe. Much faster than Dean she was in letting go and once they were gone, I glanced at Daisy.
"You go ahead." I told her. "Make sure they don't have a panic attack or anything."
Daisy nodded and jumped, and I wasn't too far behind her. I found the other couple standing in the too-crowded closet of the train station looking bewildered.
"That was…Oh my God." Alicia breathed, holding her chest. "What's all that noise?"
"The trains, I'd imagine." Daisy replied, helping me out of the pipe.
I felt it keen to add, "And the other people. Don't be ah, alarmed if you see a lot of people in costumes here. There's a um, anime convention around."
Daisy glanced at me, torn between wanting to scold and applaud me for that improvisation. Dean looked clueless but Alicia tilted her head and shrugged in understanding. Only then did I open the door of the tiny closet and hold it so that the other three could enter the train station.
"Whoa, this place is huge!" Alicia said, looking around at the bustling station.
Daisy herded us towards our train and a little Toad whizzed past us, making Alicia laugh and nudge Daisy.
"I see what you mean," She said, "But some of these people are so tiny!"
"No kidding." Dean remarked softly, having almost stepped on a Mushroom citizen. He was a giant among them.
We all boarded the red and black train and the conductor bowed at Daisy.
"Your Majesty," He greeted, motioning for us to go on ahead.
Alicia wriggled her shoulders at Daisy with a sassy smile and pretended to curtsy. Daisy laughed, losing some of the tension in her body for that moment. We took our seats and I drew the curtains before either Dean or Alicia could notice we weren't exactly underground anymore.
But what about the other windows?
I groaned and figured the best thing would be to come clean in the event that they asked any more questions. Keeping up a charade was hard, and duplicity wasn't my strongest suit.
"How long's the ride?" Alicia asked, settling in next to the window.
Dean sat next to her and rubbed his hands together under the table.
"Not long," Daisy answered, "About an hour tops."
"Good," Alicia said, "That'll be enough time to catch a nap."
She leaned on her man's shoulder and was out soon after the train rumbled to life. Dean rubbed her arm and kissed her curly hair.
"You really love her, don't you?" Daisy asked softly.
Dean just smiled.
Probably because the princess was on board, we arrived at Sarasaland much sooner than Daisy predicted. From there it was a short walk to the palace and I wasn't surprised by who stood there to greet us on the pristine white steps. In addition to the royal guards, the slightly sadistic General was there and he gave me a small nod.
"Whoa," Alicia blinked, fixing her hair behind her ears and holding herself self-consciously.
Dean rubbed her back and told her, "You fit right in, 'Licia. You might as well be a princess, too."
She smirked and said, "I think not. But thank you for saying so."
Daisy held my hand and we led her friends up to the palace entrance. The guards all bowed as she passed and General Zair did, too.
"This is my best friend, Alicia." Daisy told him, "And her fiancé Dean." To them she said, "Guys this is General Zair."
Dean shook the grey-skinned man's hand but after Alicia did the same she hesitated. She had to step back and tilt her head to meet those sharp black eyes and she blinked, astounded.
"Wow." She remarked, "You are one tall man."
Zair appraised her curiously and said, "That I am. And this tall man considers it an honor to receive Her Majesty's friends. She doesn't have many—"
"Hey!" Daisy complained.
"—But those who I've seen have all been rather special." Zair finished, briefly flicking his intense eyes over to Daisy.
I could only think, receive her friends? Yeah right. He's just nosy, like somebody else I know.
I then wondered if the fabulous prince had gotten our invitation. He hadn't written back so I couldn't be sure.
"Let's get inside." Daisy stated. "I've gotta' show you around!"
As soon as we were indoors, an attendant took the bags from where Dean carried them in one hand and he looked taken aback. I tapped his shoulder and he looked at me.
"They'll take it to a guest room." I explained, because he looked like I did when I first got here.
So far so good, I assessed as Daisy began her tour.
A/N: There's a good reason why I've breezed through this part, you'll see later on ;)
As usual, thanks for reading! Tell me what you think so far, please!
The party's coming up and something is gonna' go down that same night, can you guys guess what?
Until next time!
~DymondGold~