Chapter 4

The messenger boy – that's who he was now. Just a low-life messenger boy, who stupid enough to willingly dash from kingdom to kingdom, giving letters back and forth like a lab rat. Well, Luigi was always the second best. Fate was just sticking to the classics, he thought.

Before the sun rose over Mushroom Castle, Luigi was able to reach kingdom grounds in remarkable time. He hopped off the tired, green dinosaur and headed into the castle.

"Don't let him touch anything, don't let him see anything, don't let him move anything around…in fact, don't let him out of his room." Toadsworth ordered a few castle servants to keep a very close eye on Mario. The servants nodded, bowed, and ran down the hall.

"Morning, Toadsworth," Luigi bowed. He rose and grabbed a neatly folded letter from his back pocket. "The king wanted me to give this to you."

Toadsworth glared at him, and then took the letter from his hands. "I'm surprised you're here this early. I was expecting you to be late."

Luigi rubbed his neck and shrugged. The only reason why he was early was because he had a hard time trying to sleep on a bale of hay. It wasn't the most pleasant experience.

Toadsworth looked over the letter quickly and laughed wryly. He looked up at Luigi. "Come with me," he said.

The two climbed the stairs until they reached the study. There, Toadsworth grabbed an old quill pen on the shelf. He dipped it in ink and began to write a short response to the king.

Toadsworth handed the letter over to Luigi. "Give this to the king straight away. If anything goes wrong, he is to notify me, understand?"

Luigi nodded.

"Good," Toadsworth huffed. "Off you go, then."

The old shroom began to walk out of the room before Luigi stopped him. "I'm sorry if this would, uh, interfere with anything, but I was wondering if Yoshi and I could rest here, just, just for a little while."

Toadsworth stopped in his tracks. "Stay?" He turned around and started to laugh. He told the boy to leave to inform the king, and yet he wants to stay. This must have been a joke. No messenger boy should stay in one place for too long, even if it was just for a rest. What if the kingdom got ambushed? How would let the princess know that her kingdom was in good hands?

However, the look in Luigi's eyes didn't make it seem like it was a joke. Toadsworth's smile disappeared and his frown returned. "Fine," he sighed loudly, "You may stay. But only for an hour! I can't have anything happen to that letter."

Luigi bowed and smiled. "Thank you, sir."

"Carry on," Toadsworth left the room in a grudge.

The Sarasalandian castle felt different. Ever since Daisy returned to her home, the castle felt different. Everything just as it was when she left for the season; there were only minor differences here and there. But the entire castle just felt different. The entire kingdom seemed different as well. Daisy watched the little Toad and Koopa children play around, unaware of the future and of what was going to happen to their king - what was going to happen to her father. Ever since the horrible news had been bestowed upon her, nothing really felt the same. A strong sense of sadness came over her, and Peach's harsh teachings in the components of a true princess didn't help either. Daisy somewhat looked at the world in a different light – from a different stand-point.

Now she knew why everything had seemed to change.

It had been a long and monotonous morning. Princess Peach couldn't seem to find Daisy anywhere. The king simply sat at the dining table, alone, listening to the princess' complains.

"I'm not sure how you could put up with her, your majesty. She roams around every inch of the world with her head in the clouds, hoping beyond hope that something good happens to her." Peach began pacing back and forth. "She cannot remain like this forever. She must change."

"That is exactly why I chose you to teach her," the king replied. "You learned from your mother, who learned from her mother, who learned from her mother, and so on and so forth. Daisy's mother had passed when she just a young girl. She had no chance to learn, which is why she is as she is."

"But it needs to change!" Peach had not intended on shouting, but did so anyway. She stepped back and looked down. "I apologize, your majesty."

The king said nothing to follow that apology. Instead, he asked, "You cannot find her?"

Peach shook her head, "No, sir."

He smiled. "Try the ballroom."

Peach was skeptical. "Why of all places would she be there?"

"I should know my own daughter. Search the ballroom. I bet you that she is there."

"Where's my little rosebud?"

(he-he)

"Is she under the wooden table? No?"

(you won't find me!)

"Is she…behind the curtains!? No?"

(tee-he)

"I just can't seem to find her! Oh no!"

(I win!)

"Wait, what is that sound behind the velvet chair?"

(oh no! you can't find me now!)

"Where is she?"

Daisy sat behind the velvet chair in the ballroom, recalling the many games of hide-and-seek that her and her father shared in this very room. She smiled and muttered, almost to herself, "I'm right here, Daddy."

"Daisy!"

Daisy jumped up from her hiding spot and looked over at Peach. "I was looking all over for you, young lady!"

Daisy rested her arms on the top of the velvet chair. The golden frame had slowly become a bronze-like color, but the velvet chair had been in the castle for centuries now. Daisy smirked, "You obviously weren't looking hard enough."

"That's no way to respond," Peach shook her head.

"What? I've always been sarcastic. It just comes to me."

"Well, we have to make it stop coming to you."

Daisy snorted, "Good luck with that."

"And you have to stop snorting. Are you a pig?"

"Hey, quit trying to compare me to farm animals, Ms. Pretty-in-Pink."

"That is no way to –"

"I don't care! Just leave me alone!"

"We have lessons today, do you not remember?"

Daisy rolled her eyes. "I'm ecstatic."

"Your sarcasm must cease immediately." Peach grabbed a hold of Daisy's arm.

"Your attitude must cease immediately." Daisy pulled away from the princess' grasp. "Just leave me alone here, just for a while, okay?"

Peach crossed her arms and frowned. There was no getting past Daisy's stubbornness, that's for sure. There might have been another way, perhaps.

"You want to stay here? Fine. We will stay here and learn at the same time."

Daisy stood back and titled her head.

"This is the ballroom, after all. We might as well work on your dancing."

Daisy froze. "No. There is no way that you or anyone else can teach me how to dance. Remember? Every other teacher I had couldn't stand to even stay within ten feet of me. By the time we were finished with every lesson, they had bruises and blisters on their feet."

"Oh, come now," Peach outstretched her arm, "What could you possibly do to me?"

Daisy tentatively took Peach's hand, completely unsure of what the outcome would be.

"NO! NEVER AGAIN!"

"Your highness,"

"NO! I have never seen such ignorance! I can accept the fact that I'm not the ideal partner for her, but she cannot even move her feet!"

Peach sat in the velvet chair in the ballroom. Toadette was at her side trying to calm her down. Daisy had stormed out of the room minutes before. There was no telling where Daisy was going to go next.

"Your highness, I'm sure that it was not intentional and I am positive that Princess Daisy has learned something of value today. If not, we always have tomorrow's lessons."

"That is if I don't leave by tomorrow."

Toadette stood up straight. "I apologize, your highness, but that was very rude of you. I have respect for you, but you have been lacking manners lately. The king expects you to be on your best behavior if Princess Daisy is to learn anything. We don't want her to be snapping back at others this way and that now do we?"

Peach sighed, "I suppose."

Toadette nodded. "Good. Now I expect you to apologize to the princess as well. If you can find her, that is." She laughed and walked out of the room to attend to the king.

Daisy sat on the very stoop of the castle. She expected Peach to come bursting through the doors at any minute, but it didn't happen. The front castle entrance was strangely quiet all day. The only people keeping Daisy company were the guards.

"Unidentified persons approaching, your highness," a guard bowed, "Your orders?"

"Let them pass," Daisy waved him away. "It's probably the messenger boy."

And, not to Daisy's surprise, it was the messenger boy.

Luigi hopped down from Yoshi with the letter in his hand. Daisy ran up to him with a sly little smile on her face.

"Welcome back, messenger boy." Daisy broke out into a laugh, but centered herself quickly.

"Uh, right," Luigi walked passed her and into the main hall. Daisy stopped him before he reached the throne room.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," She snatched the letter from his hand and tossed it to the side. "You're coming with me."

Luigi eyed the letter on the floor. "No, but," Daisy directed his face back to hers.

"No buts! Come on!"

The letter was left on the floor as the two left the hallway.

-page break-

"Daisy, Daisy, why are we, we on top of a tree?"

"'Cause…"

"And why are you tying a rope around my leg?"

"'Cause…"

"And why are we, why are we one-hundred feet off the ground?"

Daisy tightened the rope around his leg and straightened herself back up. "One-hundred and ten feet, messenger boy." She tightened the metal clasp around the thin wire.

"Oh, that makes everything so much better," Luigi rolled his eyes.

Daisy smiled mischievously. "Well, any last words?"

Luigi tightened his grip on the rope, "What!?"

Daisy placed her hands firmly on his back.

"WAIT!" Luigi shouted, putting one foot an inch forward.

"What?"

"Don't you know that I'm afraid of heights?"

Daisy laughed and ended it with a snort, "I was too!"

"WAS?"

And she pushed him off the ledge of the tree. He hugged the rope tightly and screamed bloody murder. Daisy, however, found this hilarious.

Once the ride ended, Luigi kept his eyes shut and kept screaming. It wasn't until he set his foot down that he stopped. He slowly looked down and sighed with relief. He was still alive and all his limbs were still attached to his torso.

"INCOMING!"

Daisy's sudden impact made Luigi go flying off the rope and into one of the sand dunes. Daisy laughed even harder – until she snorted…then she laughed because she snorted.

Luigi shook the sand out of his hair. "Hardy-har-har. Laugh while it's still funny, princess."

Daisy jumped down from the rope. "Oh, trust me," she laughed as she spoke, "I will."

Once things quieted down, Daisy cleared her throat, but kept her smile.

"Well, that is all. You can leave."

Luigi arched an eyebrow, "What?"

"You can leave," Daisy said again.

"So you brought me all the way out here just to laugh at my pain?"

Daisy shook her head, but then nodded. "It was just a game."

Luigi sighed. "Well then, I bid you farewell, princess. I'm going to hit the hay…literally." He began walking towards the sables.

Daisy ran up to him and stopped him. "Hold it right there, mister."

He shrugged, "You told me to…"

Daisy put a finger to his lips, "I know what I said. I didn't intend for you to take it seriously, but since you did and didn't make a fuss about it…" She reached into one of the rips in her dress, where she kept most miscellaneous things and took out a key. "Here,"

Luigi took the key carefully.

"It's a key to one of the bedrooms upstairs. I wouldn't let you sleep with the animals for the rest of your stay."

Luigi was speechless for a minute and stuttered when the words finally came out, "T-Thank you, princess."

Daisy waved the compliment away and scoffed. "No problem. And anyway, it's only mid-afternoon-ish. If you sleep now, you'll be up pretty early tomorrow."

Luigi nodded, "That's the idea."

"Well, sweet dreams, messenger boy."

And the princess left.

The (most likely not) long-awaited update to one of my favorite stories in progress!

This is one of those: "I don't really care if you like it, but I do so I'll keep writing it" dealies.

Tell me what you think of the rope part of this chapter! It was fun to write into the original copy.

Well, Google Chrome didn't pick up any spelling mistakes, so I'll assume there are none. It's very late where I am, as I write this, so I ain't got the time for re-reading it.

Leave a comment, review, favorite, follow, or favorite me/follow me. PM me for any info, CHECK MY PROFILE FOR UPDATES, and, as always, I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE!