Hey, guys sorry it took a little bit for this chapter. I wasn't really in the mood to write this one. I don't like this chapter because I feel it's kinda boring, but it's important to the plot. So ONWARD!
No, I don't own Junior or any other Mario characters. I just own this delicious doughnut I bought. Yum!
Fear was not the only thing running through Maria's mind.
Standing on her balcony, the shaken princess clung dearly to her boyfriend's arm. The duo had escaped the clutches of the ghostly king because Junior, as the attackers closed in, scared them with a flashlight he had. Light was not a boo's friend.
Finally dashing out of the forest, the couple came upon the familiar Mushroom Castle, and felt their hearts beating at a normal pace.
Confusion, that was the first thing that came to her. Why had King Boo asked such a question?
"Where is Peach's body?"
Even thinking of his hissing voice gave Maria the creeps. Everyone knew how her mother had died. Everyone! To fathom why he asked such a bizarre question, Maria could not comprehend. Even more confusing was Junior's expression when the undead king inquired the whereabouts. It was shock. Pure shock. Yet his eyes told another story because those flaming jewels said they knew exactly what King Boo was talking about.
Maria did not bother with asking Junior. She realized if Junior had something to say, he would say it. The koopa prince also recognized the fact that her mother meant everything to her so keeping something important a secret, like her body, was highly out of the question.
Pain seared through her ankle. The princess crouched in agony. Trouble was the next thing. She had twisted her ankle. Maybe even broken it! She could not even begin to think of an excuse on how she hurt herself.
"You okay?" The gentle koopa asked, picking her up.
"...my ankle..."she cringed, trying to remain calm.
With a wave of his arm, the pain dispersed.
"How about that?" he questioned her again.
"Much better. Thank you, "she said quietly.
"It's still slightly bruised," he said while standing her on her feet, "But you'll be able to walk around without a limp."
Maria merely smiled and hugged him in response.
A long silence hung in the air before either of them spoke. Each of them knew what happened after the sun rose. Both their fathers would come home, exhausted and angry about the recent battle. Because of their tension, neither Maria nor Junior were not allowed out of their sight even if they were doing ordinary things. This would be their final moment for awhile.
"Will you get in trouble for coming home so late?" the princess whispered.
"Nah. My dad won't come home till who knows when, and everyone else in the castle doesn't care when I get in. It's all good." the lighthearted koopa replied with a large grin.
"Alright..."she responded softly and turned to her bedroom.
"You want me to stay here? To make sure those boos done come back?" the prince quickly asked, noticing Maria's uneasiness. "Don't worry about me. I'll make up an excuse for my dad."
The tired princess simply spun around and winked flirtatiously, "I'll be fine. I have my own flashlight," but her face softened for a second, "Thank you though."
Blowing a kiss, Maria walked quietly into her room and closed the door, leaving the prince to scale down the wall.
After walking into a small alcove, far away from the Mushroom Palace, Junior snapped his fingers and summoned the koopa copter. With a mere jump, the koopa flew away to his home, hoping his father did not arrive early.
--
"Gooooooooood morning princess!!"
"Please, Toadette, I'm very tired. Three more minutes?"
"Nope! Big day today! There is so much to do!"
Pulling off the covers, the bubbly servant pushed the very tired Maria into her dressing room to start her day.
After choosing an simple purple dress, the princess sat down at her dresser so her maid could fix the white disaster everyone called her hair.
As the tiresome girl patiently sat, Toadette chatted about the plans for that day.
"Well, Toadsworth wants you to study because the Duke of the Chill Chill Land is coming. Then you have that cooking lesson... I'm also fitting you for your dress. OH! Then you have a rehearse of the Musicalalala Hall for festival! Is that wonderful?! I can't believe it's only two weeks away!"
Every year , the Mushroom Kingdom would celebrate the enjoyment of music by creating some! People from across the land would come and join the entertainment. Since it was the two-hundredth year, Maria decided to perform herself. Because of this sudden news, the organizers were expecting the festival to be twice as large!
"Mhmm," the princess merely replied, her mind seemed to be on other matters.
The maid simply continued brushing her until Maria spoke.
"Will my father be joining me for breakfast?"
For a moment, Toadette froze, unsure of how to respond. Slowly she formed a fake smile and starting brushing once more.
"Maria...about your father... Well you see he went out last night an-"
"How badly is he injured?" the now irritable princess snapped.
"He just bruised his arm while fighting, but the doctors don't want anything else to happen so he's resting for awhile, "the servant said, rushing to finish her explanation, "But Luciano is here!"
The princess said nothing, but frowned and closed her eyes in frustration.
"Maria, please try to understand," Toadette began, "Your father is doing a great thing. He is protecting the honor of your mother!"
Maria's head shot up.
"Honor? What honor?!" she barked, turning around and glaring menacingly at Toadette, "This is a game for them! All they want to do is blame each other! This war is pointless!"
Neither of them spoke for a moment. Toadette was afraid she would incur Maria's wrath again and Maria simply did not speak because of her angry.
"Tell Luciano, I'll be down in five minutes," the girl finally muttered turning around to face her mirror.
"But my lady, I think he wants you no-"
"Five minutes, Toadette."
"Five minutes..." the maid mumbled, sluggishly closing the door on her way out.
Maria sighed. She felt a headache coming on.
--
Junior yawned miserably.
"Only four hours of sleep," he groaned.
The koopa prince could have slept for another three, before a servant would awaken him, but he could not go back to sleep.
His father was home.
Complaining was all Bowser ever did those days. Complaining and eating. Twelve years ago, the king thought he would defeat Mario epically and annihilate the Mushroom Kingdom, now Bowser was sick of seeing the Italian plumber and honestly wanted nothing with him or his land. But there was no way, the koopa could back out of this fight. His reputation would be destroyed.
Sighing, Junior rolled off his bed and grabbed his shell. He knew his dad would heckle him at breakfast for waking up late. Sleeping was not an option.
As the prince stomped through the halls, hearing his father's rough voice, he muttered quietly to himself.
"I hope Maria's day is better than this."
If only he knew.
--
Boredom was clearly an understatement to Maria.
The lonely princess sat miserably in the palace library. As Toadsworth had stated Maria needed to study "etiquette of the Chill Chill Land", as he so lovely called it, to make sure she would not insult the visiting duke.
Maria only wished she could roll her eyes at her grumpy steward.
Not even glancing at the pages, Maria tried to occupy herself for the next hour until Toadette would save her from her dull fate.
Her eyes wandered around the room while her fingers twiddled with thin air until they caught something.
Her necklace.
Maria had not taken it off since morning. Holding it delicately, she admired its beauty.
"Junior," she whispered.
The girl closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
"I miss him," she thought, "It hasn't even been a day!"
Daydreaming, her mind drifted even further.
What if I told someone about him? What would they do?
Trying to imagine a reaction, the princess's thoughts were broken by a faint knock.
"Come in, Toadette."
--
"GODDAMMIT!"
Junior threw his wrench down in frustration. After an irritating breakfast with his father, the prince had nothing else to do. With his father around, Junior was not allowed outside the castles boundaries. Of course, this never went over well for the koopa because everything he enjoyed was beyond the castle. However, since he did not want to incur his father's wrath, the prince usually practiced magic or played around with some mechanics. But today was different. For some reason or another, Junior desperately wanted the Koopa Kopter to be up and running with a new invention.
Unfortunately, it was not going well.
Taking his rag, the prince wiped his face clean of the oil that had -once again- sprayed his face.
"There must be a leak," he mumbled to himself.
As he picked up his wrench, his stomach grumbled.
"Damn, I'm hungry. I guess I'll go bug the chefs."
He left everything out because he knew no one would need the repair dock at that moment, and he was far too lazy to put everything away.
When he finally found a chef and requested lunch, he frowned at the meal that was being prepared.
Fried mushrooms.
Since two years ago went Bowser had decided to ration food, every meal in the castle, was mushrooms. No steaks, no chickens, not even cheep-cheeps! No, just mushrooms. The thought of another fungus plate made Junior sick. Because of another disgusting lunch, the prince did not even grunt a thanks to the servant who brought him the dish. He just stared pathetically at the food, praying it would disappear.
"I need Maria's cooking."
--
"I'm sorry."
"Beg your pardon, princess?"
"About my outburst today...I apologize...I'm sorry I threw my anger at you. It's not your fault. You didn't start the war."
Maria and Toadette stood in the tailor's room, designing the princess's outfit for the festival. While the maid measured the girl, both remained quiet, the tension still hung from that morning.
"Oh, Maria," the maid replied pulling her princess and her friend into a hug, "Don't be so formal. We're friends. Remember? Besides, I realize this war is frustrating to you. We both have our own opinions. I'm sorry I forced mine onto you."
"Look who's being formal now," Maria giggled.
"Maria, that necklace is beautiful!"
"Excuse me?"
Her enthusiastic servant pointed to the star piece jewelry which grasped the girl's neck. The princess did not hide the necklace, not even considering the possibility of someone noticing it.
Without even thinking, Maria blurted out the first thing that came to her.
"My boyfriend gave it to me."
Upon realizing what she had just stated, Maria froze in horror.
At that very moment, everyone throughout the castle heard a monstrous squeal which they assumed was from Toadette.
"BOYFRIEND!?"
The excited servant proceeded to ask a series of personal questions to which she got no answers. The princess only replied that she would reveal this mysterious stranger in due time.
"I'm not sure telling my father about him, would help the situation with the war," Maria meekly stated, "I don't want my dad to worry about me."
"Alright, so I guess we have to keep this a secret?" Toadette chimed.
"If that's ok with you."
"It's fine by me as long as you are safe and he treats you well."
"Yes, Jun- he makes sure I'm not in trouble and whatnot. I'm okay."
"Ok," the maid said with a wink.
--
Maria yawned and stretched on her balcony. Though her day was boring, the rehearsal was not terrible, but she wished she could sing on her own time. Dinner, however, was dreadful simply because once again her father had not joined her. Apparently he was too "sick" to eat with his own daughter or even let her see him, yet the secretary of war was allowed to visit him.
Thinking of that made Maria's blood boil.
To cheer herself up, the princess grabbed her necklace, thinking of the one thing she would love to see again.
"Junior..."
"Yes?"
Maria would have fallen over if a large hand had not grabbed hold of her.
"You startled me! Don't do that!" she yelled at Junior who now stood on her balcony .
Then she realized suddenly, "What are you doing here?! Anybody could see you!"
"Excuse me! I'm was just dropping by for something important. I thought you would like to see me, and FYI, no they can't. I'm invisible."
"Really?" the princess asked in surprise.
"Yup, just installed it this morning on the koopa kopter. No one can hear or see me."
"Oh that's good."
"Yeah."
Before either of them could say another word, Maria embraced her boyfriend.
"I missed you," she whispered.
"Same here," he replied, "How was your day?"
"Boring. How about you?"
"Terrible! I missed your cooking."
The princess giggled and hugged him even tighter than before.
"I heard you singing today."
"Really?" she asked, looking up at Junior.
"Yeah, could put me to sleep, and I mean that in a good way. It's like...something an angel would sing."
Blushing Maria kissed the prince's cheek, her way of saying thank you.
"So, what did you come by for?"
"Oh yeah!" Junior cried out, remembering why he came, "Last night you didn't kiss me!"
"Excuse me?" A look of confusion spread across the princess's face.
"I gave you a beautiful necklace, and I didn't get a thank you! What's wrong with you?"
"Junior, you idiot," Maria said before bursting into a fit of laugh, "Is that all you came here for?"
"That and just to see you again. My dad was boring the hell out of me."
"Ok, I'll thank you for the necklace,"she winked.
--
Wind rushed past Junior's ear. The prince assured Maria he could stay no longer than five minutes for fear of angering his father. With a simple kiss, the koopa jumped into the kopter and flew away. Seeing Maria again made Junior feel better out his day.
"At least, it ended on a good note," he thought to himself.
"How about we end it on an even better note."
The Koopa Klown Kopter came to a smashing halt. Taking a deep breath, Junior glanced all around. Seeing there was no one, he tried to continue onward.
"Hello again."
"What the hell do you want, you dead bastard," the prince roared.
"Now that's no way to talk to royalty," King Boo hissed, appearing before the koopa's eyes.
"Go to hell."
"Been there and done that."
"Then leave me alone!"
"I'm afraid not. I have a very important plan and... your assistance is required," the ghost replied with a malicious grin.
With that, a green energy beam poured forth from King Boo's hand and blasted onto Junior, sending the prince flying.
"Have fun with that princess."
--
Everything became a blur to Junior. He barely saw anything around him. He wasn't even sure if he was still in the air. The only thing the koopa recognized was the unbearably pain that throbbed in his right arm, the exact spot where King Boo had fired.
Then everything went black.
After what seemed like eternity, Junior opened his eyes and tried to stand up.
But two things stopped him.
He was covered in blood, and he had crash-landed into his father's castle.
Junior collapsed again.
Ok! Chapter 5 is done! I'm really sorry it took so long, but I have been busy and I didn't like writing this chapter. It will be awhile before Chapter 6 (I need to finish other things.) So don't get your hopes up. The next chapter some action will start and hopefully some drama. XD Stay tune!