Enjoy!
Chapter Thirty-Five
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
As soon as Daisy and Alicia left the room, Nikolai went over to the nearest wall and leaned on it with his arms crossed and a dour look on his face; I guess he was brooding. Honestly, I couldn't really find him so much of a threat after he basically backed down to Daisy and she was so much smaller than him. Not to mention she'd only used her words. How tough could he be?
As if he'd read my mind, Nikolai's crystal clear eyes shot over to me and his body tightened even more in anger. I just looked from him to King Boo.
"So Bowser's got his power back?" I said.
Not really surprised there. I just felt like it'd only be a matter of time before that happened, especially after Boo told us about the village that got attacked. The real thing that had me stumped was that Iggy would help him get it back. That just floored me. Iggy was the quiet one, the one with the golden heart. I guess he had his own agenda all this time.
No, he's just misunderstood.
There had to be a reason he would help the old king. But the fact of the matter was, if Bowser had his power back, Ludwig had to be...no, he couldn't be. Could he? I glanced at the clone of the arrogant sorcerer and then to Boo again. The older immortal was reclined in his seat, his gaze faraway. I almost didn't want to disturb him, but I just wanted to make sense of all this.
"If Bowser has his power back," I started carefully, not wanting to broach the issue insensitively, "Does that mean Ludwig is...you know..."
"Dead?" King Boo finished, and he looked to the clone child.
I did, too and was surprised at the massive glare he was giving the old immortal. When had the kid gotten so emotional? I wasn't sure if that was good or not because all the expressions I'd seen on him were negative.
"It's a complicated affair." King Boo spoke slowly. "But to answer your question as simply as possible, no. Ludwig isn't dead-"
"Bullshit."
It was in that moment that I knew. Maybe it was because he sounded so much like himself in that moment, or because of the way a thousand things seemed to pass between his and King Boo's locked gazes, but I just knew. It just clicked.
Incredulously I glanced at them both and asked, "You turned him into a child?!"
King Boo smiled thinly and said again, "A complicated affair."
"You liar." Ludwig sneered, his eyes narrowing into slants. "You killed me! It's not complicated at all!"
"Whoa." I blinked, sitting back in my seat at this latest development. "Wow. Did not see that coming."
King Boo and Ludwig, his actual self, continued on without me. A glance to the left told me Nikolai was still brooding by the wall. I couldn't believe the implications of what this meant. If Ludwig was right, and he was now in the clone's body, did that mean King Boo murdered him? How could he have done that? I really thought he cared about Ludwig and was protecting him this whole time.
"-did what was necessary-"
"-single-handedly doomed the entire world!"
I decided to tune back into the conversation after my mind stopped racing. This was all so much to handle. What with Bowser restored, Ludwig supposedly dead but not really, one of our friends secretly married and a witch (maybe, if Nikolai wasn't lying); it was too much.
"If it weren't for your meddling," Ludwig was raving, "he'd be contained right now."
"Are you forgetting how out of control things got?" King Boo reproached.
"I knew what I was doing!" Ludwig snarled. "I was handling it!"
"Poorly," King Boo remarked, unfazed by the other sorcerer's tantrum, doubly so given his childish form.
Ludwig slammed his fists on the table and said, "You think you know so much but you're just a coward and a fool! That's why you never could have done what I did!"
"Wreck the Mushroom World and nearly get yourself killed?" King Boo challenged with a raised black brow. "Hm. I suppose you're right. Only you could do that."
Here I chose to interject because Ludwig had taken to silently fuming at his former mentor. King Boo was regarding him with a great sense of apathy and exasperation. I cleared my throat and they both looked at me.
"I um," I started. "Are you sure it was Iggy who helped Bowser get his power back?"
King Boo, instead of answering me, cut his eyes in a slow blink over to Ludwig, who flushed and grew more incensed at the Lord of Illusion's silent stare.
"Don't you dare look at me like that!" Ludwig spat. "Ignatius was a fool to aid the Dark King and it had nothing to do with any influence of mine!"
"Yes, I think that's the problem, Ludwig." King Boo explained wearily. "Had you provided young Ignatius the answers he sought, perhaps he wouldn't have resorted to relying on the direction of his father-"
"He was stubborn, you know that!" Ludwig refuted. "He wouldn't listen to me! I tried to warn him and he wouldn't listen. I would never have turned to that bastard for anything!"
You did already, I recounted in my head.
The door suddenly opened and, predictably, all heads swiveled in that direction.
It was Dean.
Coming through the entrance slowly, looking first over his shoulder and then at all of us, the dark-skinned young man came and sat next to where I was, between King Boo and me. To my surprise and ware, Nikolai pushed himself off the wall and lumbered over towards his former seat, right across from Dean. This wasn't good.
"So um, what's going on?" Dean asked me, quirking a brow at the hostile gaze Nikolai had on him.
He looked so out of place with his cluelessness and his white t-shirt and sweats, so ill-prepared for this world of magic and evil and craziness. I felt bad for him. Poor dude just thought he was visiting some friends in a foreign country. He didn't know he was getting into all this. Nikolai was just staring at Dean like he wanted to kill him and, given the fact that the younger man's engaged to the woman Nikolai 'thinks' he already married, I'd say that wasn't a far-fetched observation. But what could I possibly say to explain all this? I barely knew what was going on myself.
So honestly I answered, "I'm still trying to figure that out, Dean."
Nikolai tilted his head and sat back, announcing contemptuously, "So this is Katerena's fiancé?"
Here we go, I thought with dread.
Dean said softly, "What?"
Nikolai couldn't sneer any harder as he said, "Before you even laid your eyes on her, she was with me."
"Who are you talking about?" Dean frowned in utter confusion.
"I'm talking about Katerena. My wife." Nikolai snapped.
Dean rose both brows now and said quietly, "...I don't know your wife, man-"
"-You may know her as Alicia." Nikolai explained curtly, and Dean's expression changed.
"Yes, you see now. She was my wife long before she met you so your 'relationship' with her is of no consequence."
"Who are you to-"
"-How could it be when you know nothing about her?"
"What do you mean?" Dean's brow knitted together.
Nikolai paused and regarded Dean with a sort of patient, pitying expression. He asked with patronizing softness, "You don't know, do you?"
Dean glanced at me, his jet black eyes troubled, and then back at Nikolai.
"Know what?"
The time it took for the two young women to go from the meeting room upstairs towards the formerly-occupied guest bedroom gave them just enough time to process the twist in their situations. For Alicia, that was realizing her tormentor was back in her life again and for Daisy, it was that plus the fact that her particular tormentor happened to be the single largest threat to nearly the entire world. Needless to say they both had a lot on their mind and, with Daisy leading, her body shifted to autopilot and she began heading up another set of stairs that led to her and her fiance's bedroom in the tower. Alicia blindly followed her, not even looking up from where her vision remained fixed on the space of floor in between Daisy's feet and her own. This led to Daisy opening her door and then stopping short as if surprised to find where she'd ended up and Alicia ran into the back of her.
"Sorry," Daisy mumbled at the same time as her friend, and they both filed somberly into the room.
Onto the bed Daisy plopped with Alicia standing before her, hip cocked and arms folded insecurely around herself. She tried to decipher the mood her fair-skinned friend was in before speaking, and it seemed like Daisy was still zoned out.
If the creature's got his power back, she thought, maybe it'd be best to find him and strike first. He wouldn't expect that.
The only thing that snapped the girl back to the present was when Daisy saw Alicia doing what Ludwig had done many times before in the past. She gave the curly-haired woman her full attention, sitting up straight and gaining an attentive light to her eyes.
She asked, already knowing the answer, "Is that a…silencing spell?"
Alicia had her back to Daisy and her hands raised towards the door. The words she'd murmured had clued Daisy in to what she was doing but now Alicia was silent. She lowered her arms and held herself once more, nodding in response to the other female's rhetorical question.
Daisy's heart skipped when she saw the back of Alicia's curly head bob slightly in affirmation.
"How did you know?"
Daisy said wryly, "I know a guy."
Silence reigned for a few tense seconds.
"So," Daisy ventured, pushing her hair behind her shoulders, "This means that whack job wasn't lying and…you really are a…a witch." The last part was hushed.
The brunette crossed one leg over the other and studied her friend anew with this knowledge. She couldn't join the hokey old mental images of what she grew up with thinking a witch was with her friend. Alicia was young and beautiful and sweet and funny, not old or hunched over with warts on her nose and a grudge against the forces of good in the world.
The only witch I've met in real life was Cackletta, Daisy recalled. She didn't match the stereotypes, but then again she was disguising herself. Is Alicia doing the same thing?
"I've been called a lot of things, but yeah; I guess that's sort of what I am." Alicia spoke dryly, a hint of a smile in her voice. "So please don't burn me. I really like this outfit."
Daisy rolled her eyes and forgot the situation for a moment but then Alicia turned around and revealed the shocking contrast between her humorous words and her strained smile and moistening eyes. She looked nervous, scared. Daisy didn't know it but the girl was terrified. Her heart was hammering and she was waiting to see how the royal would react. Daisy's chain of thought was instantly broken and a concerned frown dropped her faint smile quickly, as if little lead weights hung at the corners of her red mouth. She stood and came over to Alicia, putting her arm around the girl's shoulder and guiding her to the bed.
"Uh, please don't cry," Daisy half-joked. "I'm already all over the place, you'd make me start crying, too. Come on. Let's talk this out."
Alicia didn't cry as she sat with one leg tucked under her and her hands buried in her lap, but she was still trembling. She smiled at Daisy, Daisy smiled back easily, albeit tiredly, and Alicia frowned.
"So…you don't hate me?" Alicia asked timidly.
Daisy looked offended and asked, "What? Why would you think that?"
"I haven't met anyone who hasn't hated me or thought I was a freak or something." Alicia admitted. "After they found out, that is."
"And how did they find out?" Daisy blurted, getting sidetracked.
Alicia shrugged and said, "Usually it always started with me losing control over my powers. But I learned to control them and hide them away."
Daisy nodded robotically, saying, "Okay. Alright."
She gazed at her friend with an abruptly alert expression and clapped her hands together. Matter-of-factly she declared, "So my best friend's a witch—"
"Please," Alicia interjected, putting her hands over Daisy's. She asked sheepishly, "Can you not call me that?" She dropped her head and moved her hands back to twist and tug at her curls. "Just because I can do things other people can't doesn't make me a…double-bubble boiling cauldron old hag."
Daisy glanced to the side and silently dealt with a bit of guilt at thinking those very same things just moments ago. She was careful to speak more delicately when next she opened her mouth.
"How long have you been this way?"
Alicia shrugged and said, "Since I was born, I think. I remember first being aware of my magic when I was a little child."
Daisy nodded and folded her legs, leaning towards her friend subconsciously as her interest increased.
"So I'm guessing you're not from Louisiana?" She guessed.
Alicia dropped her head to the left and replied, "Well, not really. I mean I did live there once. A few years ago. For a little while. I've been a lot of places."
"So have I," Daisy remarked. "Where's your home?"
"Somewhere in Europe. In Russia." Alicia answered quietly. "I don't have an exact home or address or family even. I never knew my parents. I mean they're alive, somewhere, but all I can remember is growing up with my Roma family."
Daisy's expression grew mixed and her tone sympathetic. "I see. And what were they like?"
Alicia thought, what can be said of a family that's not your own?
Daisy saw the other girl get quiet. She was staring off towards the balcony doors and seemed so different from the person Daisy met in New York. The royal guessed from her melancholic disposition that Alicia didn't want to discuss the matter, so she let it go.
"Did they know what you were?" She asked instead.
Alicia nodded and said, "They knew I was special, but they didn't understand me. They treated me well but they kept their distance."
"Hm." Daisy murmured. "So how did you come across a total madman like that?" She jerked her head towards the door.
Alicia glanced at it with a sour frown and from there looked at her lap. She said behind the veil of her curls, "It's complicated."
"Well I'm all ears." Daisy told her, turning up her hands and letting them fall onto her lap.
"D," Alicia met the royal's eyes. "It's not a pretty story. My history with…are you sure you want to know?"
"Definitely." Daisy said, "And I've got something to tell you, too, but it can wait."
Alicia pursed her lips and exhaled through her nose and shook her head. She was not looking forward to telling this story, but she did want her best friend to understand her. She wanted at least one person to.
"She's a witch."
"…What?"
Yeah, Dean pretty much reacted the same way I did when the claim reached his ears. He glanced at me again but I could only shrug a bit. I didn't know if I believed the sorcerer and neither did Dean. He shifted in his seat.
"You doubt me," Nikolai predicted, smirking. "Which means Katerena's been hiding her magic, her past from you."
Dean was saying so much with that bewildered look on his face, despite his silence. Nikolai scoffed and shook his head.
"You have no idea who she is, do you?"
"I do." Dean contested. "I've known her for a whole year."
"A whole year," Nikolai sneered mockingly. "So tell me; in that time has she spoken of where she was born or where she came from?"
"She said she'd tell me in time." Dean answered defensively, his leg jostling from how he was nervously tapping his foot under the table.
"And why is that, do you wonder?" Nikolai challenged. "What could she have to hide if you two are as close as you seem to think you are?"
"She's got a right to privacy." Dean replied, but I could tell he was getting upset.
Nikolai smiled and said, "You're dodging the question, boy. Why would she want to hide such a crucial part of her identity from the one she 'loves'?" With such disgust he said that word.
When Dean was silent once more, Nikolai leaned back with a smug lilt to his mouth and crossed his ankle over his knee.
"This flirtation is juvenile." Nikolai denounced coldly. "Katerena has been running from her life, her real life." His inky blue eyes hardened when he said, "I am her husband, I have been for years. We had a child together."
Dean's expression revealed his horror and alarm at this news and now both legs were shaking.
"…If that's the case," The guy spoke difficultly, "why did she leave you?"
"Irrelevant." Nikolai clipped. "No matter the reason, her place is still with me."
"No it's not." Dean refuted, his quiet voice strong. "If it was, she'd have never left you in the first place. And she wouldn't still be with me."
Nikolai scowled and said, "Stupid boy, do you want to know why she's with you right now?"
"Because I love her." Dean supplied. "And I treat her right."
"Hm. Touching, but no." Nikolai sniffed. "She's using you as a distraction, as a means of avoiding the life she left behind."
"Yeah right." Dean murmured, shaking his head. "You're a real piece of work, man. You know what I think?" Emboldened, Dean lifted his head and said, "She probably never mentioned you even once because it's your relationship with her that's of no consequence."
Nikolai flew out of his chair and I stood, not really knowing what to do but wanting to defend my friend from what looked like imminent harm. I may not be a magician, but I had a bit of training that might do me some good. And speaking of magicians, both of the other ones in the room returned their attention to Nikolai at his raucous ascension. King Boo lifted a black brow and Ludwig's face was…well, blank like usual.
Down at Dean Nikolai stared, fuming at the surprisingly calm dread-head. He did look ticked off but not as nervous as before.
Nikolai said disdainfully, "What's sad is I don't doubt you love her." He added softly, "Who wouldn't?" Glaring once more he said, "But it doesn't make you any more deserving of possessing a uniquely talented and beautiful woman like her."
"And you think you're worthy?" Dean asked with muted incredulity.
Nikolai responded with, "Katerena's immensely powerful. She deserves someone of equal or, in my case, greater merit." So as to wound he looked dead in Dean's eyes when he spat, "She doesn't need to be saddled with some feckless mortal boy."
Dean flinched and frowned.
"What could you possibly do for her?" Nikolai asked judgmentally. "Being of common birth and devoid of any outstanding abilities, what could you offer her?"
Every word was starting to chip away at Dean's composed features. Nikolai was aware of this and his smirk returned.
He stretched his arms and proclaimed, "I am an immortal sorcerer. I can give that girl anything she could ever desire. How can you compete with that?"
Dean may not have had anything to say, but I was getting sick of this guy. Still standing, I drew his attention when I spoke to him.
"You're full of shit, you know?" I told him. "And by the way, Dean doesn't have to compete with you or anybody else because Alicia's already agreed to marry him. She's already made her choice and—news flash, asshole—it isn't you."
Nikolai grew quiet. He was glaring at me now but I could care less. I just couldn't stand there and let him talk down to the guy who'd come to be a good friend of mine. I glanced to the side and shot a weak smile at said male and Dean smiled microscopically in turn. He still looked troubled.
"Drop the wards," Nikolai was talking to Boo but striding towards Ludwig.
In his small form Ludwig tensed, his emerald eyes locked on the incoming sorcerer. At the last second he hopped down from his seat but Nikolai grabbed him and wrestled for control of the struggling ex-enforcer.
"Let me go, you said—"
"I know what I said," Nikolai gritted his teeth and forced the 'child' to stand still. He said, "I'm sorry, but our deal's off. There's something I need from my brother and, well; you can't exactly get something for nothing, you know?"
"Unhand him." King Boo was next to stand, something concerned and overprotective swirling in his magenta eyes.
Nikolai rolled his eyes but it was actually Ludwig who spoke against the Lord of Illusions.
"Don't." Ludwig stated icily, slowly turning towards his former mentor. He said, "I'm tired of you interfering in my life."
"Put aside your pride," King Boo urged, "He's going to hand you over to Callian."
"Yes, I was standing right here when he said that." Ludwig bit back. "But I think I'd rather face Callian a thousand times over than deal with your meddling. Look at what it's caused so far."
"Ludwig," King Boo entreated, reaching a hand forward.
Ludwig stepped away, closer towards his captor, and demanded, "If you really want to help me, unbind my magic."
King Boo made a grieved face before imparting solemnly, "That's for you to do—"
"Of course." Ludwig muttered viciously. "Just drop the wards already."
I'm assuming that's what King Boo did because in an instant the two sorcerers were gone. It gave me chills seeing Nikolai vanish with his hand gripping the back of the neck of the child I'd spent a week in Brooklyn with. I knew it was Ludwig, but still. It was unsettling.
"Tell the fair Princess I'll return later." King Boo told me before he, too, disappeared.
Now Dean and I were left alone.
I blinked and said to no one but the walls, "Okay…"
After I sank back down in my chair, I rubbed my eyes and face. This was turning out to be a crazy day. I could only imagine what it was like for Dean. A glance his way clued me in to about an ounce of his emotions.
"You alright?" I risked asking a dumb question for lack of a better thing to say.
Dean shrugged and said, "I guess. I mean damn, man." He looked at me, distressed, and asked, "Is everybody here magical?"
"No, just some people." I replied.
He then asked, "Did you know Alicia was…I mean do you really think that guy was telling the truth?"
"Maybe." I responded honestly. "You'd have to ask her yourself."
Dean nodded and I felt compelled to add, "I wouldn't let that jerk get to you, though. Alicia loves you. I see the way she is around you."
Dean was nodding again but he looked unsure, insecure. I didn't know what else to tell him. I tried putting myself in his shoes, replacing Nikolai for Bowser.
It fits, really; Bowser tells Daisy she's his equal but he always puts himself above her, and it probably kills him that she chooses to be with me instead of his evil, demented ass.
Now I felt especially bad for Dean because I know how frustrating it can be to deal with a delusional ex of the woman you love.
A/N: So this is short but there's more to come. Life's still kicking my butt but I'm making it so thanks for all your concern :)
Hopefully I can keep the chapters coming. See you next time!
~DymondGold~