A/N: I live again! Just decided to make a quick note. Sorry I haven't updated, and I thank my reviewers once again. Now, without further ado, on with the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Mario things.

Chapter 7: A Cursed Past

"Those fools are messing with a force that they know nothing about!" growled Belladonna, who was very angry. She had been watching the heroes for a while, when all of a sudden, her spell had failed. She had been unable to track them, and it made her uneasy knowing that they were doing something right under her nose.

It was even worse after her spell had come back into effect. She was furious that they had attained Cassandra's prison. "I'll have to steal it from them somehow…and that's not going to be easy, given that they possess a part of that priest's soul…" she mumbled. She cursed her luck. After she had seen them find the priest's soul, she knew her job to elminate them was going to be more difficult than ever. Not only could they find her allies before her, they could seal her away again.

"I won't let that happen!" she hissed, starting to pace about the dark cavernous room she was currently residing in.

She had chosen the most secluded place to hide for the time being. It wasn't the most comfortable, as it was a deep cave, but it served its purpose. It was freezing cold, and there were many different chambers to the cave. It was like an underground labyrinth, which made it even better because even if Mario and his stupid cohorts made it to her lair, they'd never be able to navigate it.

Belladonna actually didn't mind her personal chambers. There were many quartz crystals poking out of the ground, and there was an underground waterfall, which glittered in the gloom of the grotto. With the silence around her, the darkness surrounding her, and the flow of the water ever so calm, she was actually quite at peace here. It made her forget those awful moments, the day her and the ones her were once her friends had turned into these magicians of evil.

Belladonna sighed, and draped herself on a smooth rock platform. As she stared up into the endless shadows, she thought back to the day on which she had been cursed.

"Mom, I'm going to meet Sam, Cassy, and Hollie!" Belladonna called to her mother, who was sitting in the living room of their comfortable three-story house.

"Just a second Belladonna, come here for a moment," said her mother, a smile on her pale, delicate features. "I have something for you."

"What is it?" asked Belladonna, obediently trotting over to her mother.

"A bit of a late birthday present," her mother replied. She picked up a basket, and handed it over to her wondering daughter. "Here you are Bella."

Belladonna immediately took the covering off the top of the basket, and squealed in delight. Inside the basket were two kittens. One was a smokey grey, with white paws, and two orange dots around her eyes, while the other was almost pure white, with some orange around his tail, which was stubby.

"Oh, they're adorable! I love them!" exclaimed Belladonna, putting down the basket and throwing her arms around her mother, loving the bluenette with all her heart.

"Why don't you name them, before you go?" her mother suggested.

"Well, the grey one is going to be named...Yoshi, because the dinosaurs are so adorable, just like her. And the boy is going to be named Stubby, because of his short tail," Bella declared.

"Those are great names! Now why don't go meet with your friends, and you can play with them when you get back home?"

"All right mom!" She gave the older woman a kiss on the cheek. She dashed to the door, opened it, and ran out yelling, "I love you mom!"


"Hey Bella, you're late!" said Cassandra in greeting, as Belladonna ran towards them.

"Sorry. My mom held me back. We got two new kittens!" said Belladonna, her eyes lighting up.

"Kitties!" exclaimed Hollie and Sam in unison. They cracked identical grins.

"We'll have to see them sometime, but right now we have to hurry before that store closes!" said Cassy, starting to dash to the mall nearby.

"Calm down!" cried Sam. "It's not the end of the world!"

"Slow down! I'm too fat! I'm outta shape! THIS IS CRUELTY TO FAT PEOPLE!" yelled Hollie, as she struggled to keep up.

"Oh shut it Hollie, you aren't fat!"

They made it to the mall, where Cassy immediately headed to a store, having to slow down herself.

"Thank goodness!" said Hollie. "I don't see why you're in such a rush anyway, it's not like this magic stuff is real..."

"It does work though!" said Cassy stubbornly. "You just have no faith!"

"Point taken."

"It should be interesting to browse around," said Sam.

"Oh you just want to look for hot guys," snickered Belladonna.

"Hey! Shut up!" Sam said, a light blush coming to her cheeks.

They reached the shop and walked in. It was as if they had stepped into a library. Each girl immediately swallowed any comments they had. Hollie shook her head in disbelief, and suddenly felt as though someone was frowning at her.

Something was frowning at her. She turned around and saw the shopkeeper, who was studying her very intently.

"Can I help you?" she asked. She was an older woman, who looked to be in her early forties. She seemed ordinary, and yet as they looked into her eyes, they could tell that she was not as normal as she seemed.

"I...I was just looking around..." stated Cassandra, nervously.

"Looking around...yes, curiosity can only be satiated if we investigate and learn," she mused.

"How much for this?" asked Sam, holding out a small musty book.

The shopkeeper took it from her and inspected it carefully. She took a deep breath in, let it out, and said, "It's only twenty earthly dollars, but I'm afraid it holds a cost that is beyond what you girls could ever pay."

Hollie just snorted. "Whatever. What could possibly be so dangerous about a book?"

"That is something you will find out for yourself," the shopkeeper said hotly, taking the money Sam gave her. "I think your business here is done." With that, she shooed them from her store.

"Thanks a lot Hollie," said Belladonna sarcastically. "Going to insult anymore shopkeepers today?"

"Oh come on! She was full of it!" Hollie argued. "She was just trying to seem mysterious!" She took the book from Sam, and opened it. "It's not like any of this will work anyway."

"Let's try it out then," said Sam. "We can go over to my house right now and try a spell."

"Isn't that a bit dangerous," asked Cassandra cautiously.

Hollie scoffed. "Oh yes, a few rhymes and some spices are going to kill us Cassy. Puh-lease!" Cassy glowered.

The girls traveled over to Sam's house and went up to her room.

Belladonna started to flip through the pages, and finally stopped on one. "This looks easy. Just need some water, our hair...some more stuff..."

"What's it do?" asked Sam.

"It says 'To increase one's magical ability to its ultimate level.'"

"Let's try it then," Hollie said, eager to prove to them that magic did not exist.

Running through the list, Sam ran down to the kitchen and grabbed some spices. Then she went through her mother's rock collection, and grabbed some crystals for the spell. Finally the four had what they needed…except for one thing.

"What do they mean by the 'purity of your soul'?" Belladonna wondered.

"Just another thing to make it seem magical," said Hollie. "Let's just start."

Cassy mixed the herbs and water. Each girl added a strand of hair to the mix. The mixture became sticky and lumpy. Belladonna drew a pentagram with the mixture, and Hollie placed a crystal on each point.

They sat around the pentagram, and joined hands. They chanted a spell n the ancient words of magic, the words just rolling off their tongues almost musically. Just then, there was a flash of light, and the four were thrown to the four walls of the room.

"Look!" gasped Cassy. She pointed to the pentagram. The other three looked, and noticed with shock that it was gone.

"I don't feel any stronger," murmured Hollie, a little freaked out.

"Nor do I," said Sam.

"Maybe it takes a while to kick in" suggested Belladonna. "Let's meet tomorrow and see."

The others agreed, and it was set. They would meet the next day at Cassy's.

The next day, Belladonna got ready to go. She had been angry all day, just hating everyone. She dashed to the door, eager to get out of the prison in which she lived, to her friends, to the ones who actually mattered.

"Where are you going?" a voice said, and Belladonna turned around.

"I'm going to Cassy's," Belladonna said coldly to her mother.

"You can't leave, I have to go out. You're supposed to stay here."

"Just stay the fuck out of my life Mother!" Belladonna screeched.

"What did you just say!"

"You heard me!"

"You're grounded! And if you leave, expect the locks to be changed when you come back!"

"Oh yeah!" roared Belladonna, rushing at her mother. Catching the older woman by surprise, she tackled her to the ground and wrapped her hands around her throat. She laughed at the fearful expression on her mother's eyes, the way her emerald green eyes were those of an animal caught in trap. "This is what you get for trying to control me!"

Desperately her mother tried to pull Belladonna's hands off her throat, but Belladonna seemed to possess inhuman strength. After a few minutes of desperation, her mother fell limp. Belladonna held on for another five minutes to make sure her mother was dead before standing up.

She turned for the door when she heard a noise. Spinning around, she saw her two kittens on the floor, mewing at her. Glaring, Belladonna went over to them. She picked up Yoshi and snapped her neck, and stepped on Stubby, squishing him into the floor. Dropping Yoshi on the floor, she threw her head back and laughed.


"That was when I learned my true power," Belladonna said fondly. "I have no need for anyone…not even my friends. I can succeed alone."

"So, who should we go after next?" asked Waluigi when they walked into their room.

"Wherever the stone directs us I guess," said Mario in reply.

"Well then, what is it waiting for! Stone, show us where to find the next sorceress!" demanded Wario.

In answer the magic stone glowed green, and a map appeared in mid-air. This time there was an X smack in the forest of Formica.

"That's all the way in the middle of the Formica Kingdom! That's on the other side of the Mushroom Kingdom!" moaned Waluigi.

"Well, I guess that's our next destination," said Mario, with a determined look in his eye. "Let's go!"

"Not so fast. We need to rest! Otherwise we might die in this one's temple," stated Wario matter-of-factly. "We can leave tomorrow morning."

Mario started to argue, and decided against it. He knew Wario was right. He was exhausted. "All right. First thing tomorrow morning."

Okay, so this was a bit more about the Sorceresses. I'm sorry if people hate hearing this stuff, but sometimes it's good to know the background. Anyway, I'll try to update again soon with the next Sorceress!