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Disclaimer: I do not own any thing related to the Super Mario Brothers Franchise or its affiliates. It belongs to Nintendo and its creators. I'm just taking some liberties for your enjoyment.

Chapter Two

Ringing ears. Throbbing skull. Aching eyeballs. Intense nausea. He knew the signs, but the fact that he had a headache was unfathomable to him. He hadn't had one since he was about five or six years old, when he'd learned a certain magical technique that dispelled the symptoms almost immediately. From then on, he'd altered and perfected the technique to the point where he could do it almost automatically. So why was he suffering now? Why had he been jerked from slumber and compelled to fling his body over the side of his bed where he became violently ill all over the floor?

Ludwig wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and flicked his other one over the mess, making it vanish completely. He sat on the edge of his silk-sheeted mattress and buried his head in his hands. The pain of the headache was nearly debilitating. It was hard for him to see, his stomach was still turning and lurching, but he willed it away. Seconds of earnest concentration was what it took to push the discomfort down to a level where only a faint bit of pressure resounded in the back of his head. He was at a loss as to why he couldn't get rid of it altogether. He was sending out magical vectors within his own head, but it felt as if there was something, some force, pushing back. Something was expanding in his head. Swelling up inside his skull, taking up a vast amount of space and cracking the plates of bone in its way to make more room. It was a crippling sort of pain. Ludwig only set his jaw and used even more of his power to stifle this foreign malady.

There.

It was completely gone now. Not a trace of the pain left. It was as if it had totally disappeared. Ludwig was disturbed. He thought back on his actions and behavior from the last week and couldn't pinpoint anything to be the cause of his sudden ailment.

It shouldn't have taken that much effort, he reasoned, for jut a headache. This is something else.

"Lu!"

The ex-enforcer and present king of the Badlands turned towards his door. Someone was banging incessantly on it. He had a feeling he knew just who it was. He let them bang on while he took a moment to contemplate his situation even more.

If this isn't something of my own doing, he pondered, whose handiwork could it be? I haven't made any enemies, not yet.

It was more than true. Since his reign began, Ludwig had gone about setting the kingdom to rights as best he could. He hadn't had any correspondence with any other region in the meantime. His biggest focus was on strengthening the Badlands undoing the strife its former 'ruler' had caused. He hadn't had time to make any enemies yet.

Unless King Boo is upset with me about abandoning my contract with him...even if he was, the old croon wouldn't be able to set a curse on me of this caliber, Ludwig reasoned.

The banging had turned to hard thumps now, like the frenetic beating of a drum. Ludwig sighed and rose from his bed, letting the silk sheets slide of his bare waist as he did. His entire chest and torso was slick with sweat from his ordeal and his hair was tangled and unkempt. He passed a hand over his head to smooth his locks and then went over to the door. What he saw did not surprise him.

Lying on the polished marble floor with their feet in the air, having been pounding them against the door previously, were Lemmy and Bowser Junior. Lemmy had grown out his multicolored hair so that it fanned out on the floor around his head much like Junior's own fiery, thick strands. Junior had his thumb in his mouth and a blank dullness in jade eyes. Lemmy's were sparkling and bright like his wide smile.

"Morning Lu!" He greeted.

Junior just stared up at the ex-enforcer with that same empty, nonchalant gaze.

"Get up." Ludwig ordered curtly. "Both of you."

Lemmy leapt to his feet and held his hand out to help Junior do the same. The younger boy had grown a bit so that he matched the seven-year-old's height perfectly. Once on his feet, Junior slipped his hand into Lemmy's and sucked steadfastly on his other thumb.

"Get that out of your mouth," Ludwig scolded sharply, and was pleased to see the child obey.

He had noticed, with no small amount of disapproval, how much Junior was beginning to exhibit a sort of regressive behavior. He almost never spoke, he sucked his thumb, and he most often trailed Lemmy around by the hand. Ludwig planned to rid Junior of these babyish ways once the Badlands were in order.

He made his way down to the dining hall with the two munchkins in tow. As much as he hated the former Dark King and his palace, he was inclined to reside in the place for now, for a variety of reasons. All of the king's files and tax logs and important artifacts for handling internal affairs were located here. Also, the place was already staffed and fully functioning, which was more than he could say for the palace he was building for himself, up on a hill overlooking the city of the Badlands, right in the heart of the kingdom.

How on Earth did he manage to rule a nation while being so far away from its people? Oh that's right, he didn't.

No, what Bowser was doing was terrorizing, not ruling. Not in Ludwig's opinion. He knew what it took to be a good ruler, and now that the king was slain, he could make good use of the abundant resources that Bowser had neglected, abused, and/or wasted entirely.

It took me a few seconds, but this morning I had to remind myself that no, I did not go out and get drunk last night. So why did I have a killer headache this morning? It wasn't quite like a hangover, since I wasn't nauseous, it was more like a mild throbbing in the back of my head. There was more pressure than pain.

Nothing a couple of pain pills can't take care of, I figured.

I stretched my arms behind my head and grinned down at the beauty in my lap. We fell asleep on the couch last night and were still here. Yeah, my back was a bit stiff but I'd walk it off. After going through hell with Bowser in his dungeons and that whole ordeal, I could hardly complain. Especially since I got to wake up to such a treasure of a woman like Daisy.

I bent down and kissed the top of her head. I still couldn't believe she was here, in Brooklyn with me. The girl was a dream. She was way too good for me and this world. So strong and resilient and kind-hearted and lovely.

"Luigi?"

She was awake now, turning and trying to grip a handful of the couch fabric so that she could sit up. Once she was perched in between my legs on the cushion, she rubbed at her eyes. I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around her. She leaned back and nestled her head against my chest.

"Hey." She said softly, smiling prettily.

"Hey." I murmured back. "How'd you sleep?"

"Really well." She told me.

"That makes one of us." I shrugged. "You hungry?"

"A little bit." She yawned.

I stood, picking her up as I did, and said, "Then we should probably go out and eat."

Daisy wrapped her arms around my next as I carried her to my room. I set her down on the bed and then went over to my closet where my clothes were stashed. I heard her get up and open one of the drawers. A plain shirt and a pair of black pants was what I picked out from the pile on the shelf, along with some socks and my trainers. I saw Daisy heading to the bathroom so I got dressed in the closet until she finished.

"Luigi?" She called.

Pulling my shirt over my head and pushing my feet into my shoes, I grabbed my belt from off the doorknob on my way to see what the matter was.

"Yeah?" I spoke once I reached her.

She had a face towel in her hands and was pointing towards my toothbrush and paste.

"I left mine, I think." She told me.

"That's alright," I told her, "I got an extra one up here."

I opened the mirror above the sink and took out the opened pack of two-count toothbrushes that I bought a few months ago. It was brand new and green in comparison to the blue one I used. I rinsed it off and handed the brush to her, then handed her the toothpaste. Her eyes were elsewhere.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to a bottle of pills.

Oh those.

"That's some medicine I used to take." I spoke quietly. "For the depression."

She glanced at me and asked, "You don't take them anymore?"

"Nope. Don't need to." I said, "I've got you now."

Her gaze softened as she murmured, "Oh Luigi. Sometimes you say the most..."

She shook her head with a gentle smile and started brushing her teeth. While she did, I ran a comb through my hair. That didn't take long, so I put the comb away and held her waist, letting my chin rest on the top of her head. She glanced at me in the mirror.

"We'll be taking your 'vehicle' this morning?" She guessed.

"Yeah." I answered, "The place I'm thinking of is a little while away from here."

And it was.

It took us about fifteen minutes to get there. It didn't surprise me that Daisy was quiet the whole ride. I didn't mind. I just took the time to study her. She was so perfect to me. She had her hair down again, with a braid going from the left side of her head over to the right where it was held with a red clip the same color as her dress. This one was a button-down with an embroidered collar and short sleeves and a straight, starched hem that ended at the middle of her thigh.

Beautiful.

"We're here." I announced once I pulled into the parking lot behind the restaurant.

It was a nice, small place downtown with phenomenal pancakes. I didn't come here a lot because it was kind of on the expensive side, but the food is worth it. It was one of the nicest places I could think of going since I doubted Daisy would want greasy donuts and watered down coffee.

"I don't understand," Daisy spoke when she got out. "Is this a food vendor's establishment?"

"It's called a restaurant." I explained, "People come to these places and pay money to be served food."

"Ah." Daisy hummed. "So you are waited on in exchange for a fee?"

"Yup, just about." I nodded.

A pensive look passed over Daisy's face, like she was recalling something. I wanted to know what was on her mind.

"That reminds me," She spoke quietly, "I used to do the same thing, without the fee. For him."

"Oh." I said, "Oh. We could um, go somewhere else or um, pick something up."

"No," She shook her head, "It doesn't bother me."

I didn't know if I believed that. She looked a bit distracted now, just like yesterday. Could it be that it was him on her mind all this time? I wouldn't be surprised. I had very little idea about what she went through under his captivity. I'm not sure I wanted to know, but if she ever felt like opening up to me, I'd be more than willing to listen.

I led the girl to a table outside and was glad she'd come to Brooklyn during the late spring time. It was a lot less cold than usual on most days. Granted, there were still some arctic weather liable to hit now and again, but on average it was a lot more tolerable than winter.

I ordered for the both of us since this was Daisy's first time here, and waited patiently for our food to get here. Meanwhile, I reached over and took Daisy's hand, then kissed the back of her knuckles. She smiled, but it looked a little forced so I let go. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

When our food came, she ate in silence so I did too. Something was definitely eating at her. I did enjoy the food; scrambled eggs, fluffy hot cakes and maple syrup, and crispy bacon. The orange juice was rich and did well to wash it all down. Daisy smiled when she finished her meal, which only did a little to put me at ease.

"That was really good," she stated. "Thank you for taking me here, Luigi."

"I'm glad you liked it," I told her. "Are you um, are you feeling alright?"

I didn't want to make her feel obligated to tell me anything, but I also didn't want her to feel like I was ignoring her plight or think I was oblivious or something. She actually tilted her head and considered answering me. But then I realized I should have just packed up and left after we got done, because there was someone over by the bus stop who caught my eye.

I tried looking away but it was too late; this person had seen me once and was making his way over to us, I could tell from his increasing size in my peripheral vision. I did not want to deal with him right now, and I really didn't want him laying his filthy eyes on Daisy. She was too good for him even to look at. I knew firsthand how he treated and spoke of women, so I hated to think of what he'd say about my love.

"What's wrong?" Daisy asked, glancing behind me. "Who is that?"

"The village idiot." I muttered.

Daisy smiled and quirked a brow high, her eyes glittering and her distraction far gone by the time the person reached our table.

He smelled like ten types of 'tool' today, and that stupid grin wasn't helping his image either. He'd cut his hair so that it resembled a deep brown, mowed lawn and his eyes looked ever-shady.

"Luigi! Man what's goin' on?" He greeted loudly.

I cringed and sat back in my chair with a sigh.

"Terry." I said flatly in greeting.

He laid his hands on the table in between Daisy and me and lifted his brows.

"Say man," He whispered but not really, "Who's the babe?"

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" I asked after my eye stopped twitching.

Terry shrugged and said, "Not really. Just work later on. You still working at the pizza joint down on Hardy boulevard?"

"Unfortunately." I deadpanned.

"Oh cool, cool." Terry nodded exuberantly, then said, "So uh, I guess I was wrong, then."

"About?" I prompted.

" 'Bout you bein' gay and all." He said simply, then started grinning stupidly again.

He pushed himself off the table and clapped his hands together, then pointed towards the incoming bus on the street.

"Well. That's me," He said, "I guess I'll see you at work man."

I scowled as he left, making some indecent eyebrow gestures to me behind Daisy's back. I suppose he could've been a lot worse. He didn't say anything too lewd or crass this time. For that I was mildly grateful.

"Terry?" Daisy spoke in response to that walking obscenity.

I sighed and said, "He's a co-worker of mine. Not really a person worth knowing."

"Ouch." Daisy remarked with a playful smile. "He thought you were gay?"

"I wasn't involved with or interested in anyone," I said in answer, "I guess that was the vibe I was giving off."

Daisy smiled and said, "Some people thought that way in the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Really?" I frowned. "How come?"

"Peasley."

"Ah."

Now that I could understand. I did try and tell my friend several times not to be so over the top, but he was a naturally affectionate person, physically so.

"You finished?" I asked Daisy.

She nodded and stood. I led her inside so that I could pay for our meal, then guided her to the car. Not a moment too soon, either, because that headache was starting to come back.

There was always work to be done. Paperwork needed to be read over and signed. Construction sites needed to be supervised. Blueprints and legislature needed to be finished and authorized. He had an entire kingdom to run and he was damn near doing it alone, so it didn't help matters if he had to deal with a splitting, nauseating pain in his body at the same time. Yes, after five days that headache had only spread and gotten worse. The swelling sensation was the most prevalent, the most pervasive, the most resistant to his magic. It was driving him crazy. Every little thing got on his last nerve.

There was a crash.

That made him flinch. He'd been hearing little feet running up and down the halls all day today, but he'd tried to ignore it. That crash was the last straw. Ludwig stalked from the war room where he'd been outlining the key articles of a new law to be enforced and slammed the door behind him. He headed past the throne room and burst through the double doors towards the dining hall. He saw the two culprits near the table, and then he saw a couple of shattered plates on the floor. Both of them wore no shoes or socks so that spelled trouble right there. At the sight of Ludwig, though, they fled.

Or they tried to.

Lemmy had turned tail and ran with Junior in tow, clinging to his hand. Ludwig vanished into thin air and reappeared in front of them. Before they could fall backwards, having knocked into him, he grabbed them by the scruff of their shirts and lifted them high off the ground. Junior's thumb almost immediately flew to his mouth. Ludwig gazed at his brother, who was unperturbed at being held so high, then he gazed at Junior. The boy was blank-faced as usual.

"Listen to me, you little pests," Ludwig began in a dull tone, "If you can't keep your shenanigans down to a minimum, go out into the courtyard. I can't work with you two keeping up all this noise."

"But Lu," Lemmy interjected, "B-Jun doesn't like the courtyard!"

"Yes, I'd imagine he wouldn't." Ludwig drawled without an ounce of pity. "I don't care. Just go somewhere where I can't see or hear you."

"Like where?" Lemmy asked.

"The dungeons." Ludwig replied tonelessly.

"Okay." Lemmy replied with a mild, plaintive frown. "Come on, B-Jun."

Ludwig dropped them onto their feet and Lemmy led the younger child out of the dining hall.

With a frustrated sigh, Ludwig and his pounding skull headed back to the war room. About five minutes. That was how long he had been gone. That was how long it took for his work space to be infiltrated by his brothers. The four of them were yelling and jeering like a bunch of monkeys. No, just Roy and Morton were doing the hooting and hollering, Larry looked pretty smug and Iggy stood to the side, unaffected, with a piece of parchment and a reed pen in his hand.

"You little twerp, you cheated, yo!" Roy accused.

"No I didn't," Larry claimed, then declared, "I'm just better than you."

Wait a minute, Ludwig thought.

Upon closer inspection, he could see that the paper that Iggy had written tallies all over was actually a page from the set of legislature he was going over. In fact, all his documents were bent in half and lined up like a partition in the middle of the long wooden table. Larry and Morton and Roy held little paddles in their hands, and Roy had crushed a small round ball in his hand for all his fury.

Ping pong. They were playing ping pong in Ludwig's office. If that wasn't enough to push him over the edge, something had to be said of his innate self-control. Ludwig crossed his arms in the doorway and cleared his voice.

In a still voice he said, "Get out."

Roy's head jerked towards him and he sneered, saying, "No, yo. We got a score to settle with this little twerp."

"Yeah," MJ chimed in.

"He thinks he's better'n us or something," Roy added. "Gotta teach this pipsqueak a lesson."

"Yeah!" MJ spoke.

"I think we should leave, like Ludwig says," Iggy suggested sagely.

"Yo, nobody asked you, brainiac." Roy snapped.

"Don't talk to him like that, you big bully!" Larry shouted in defense of his more reserved sibling, then added over his shoulder, "You're just mad 'cause you're a loser!"

"You wanna' say that to my face, you little punk!" Roy barked.

"Get your ugly mug over here and I will!" Larry challenged with a smirk.

"Shut up! Both of you!" Ludwig scowled, "You want me to take you back to the bunker?"

That was a sobering threat for them all. Ludwig's headache abated just the tiniest bit when he was graced with a moment of silence.

"All of you get out." He ordered, "Instead of messing around, you ought to be training."

There were gripes and groans at the mention of that, mainly from Larry. Roy and Morton didn't much mind the grueling sessions of sparring and working out.

"Quiet!" Ludwig snapped. "If you've got time to slack off, you have time to train some more."

"But we already train for nearly eight hours a day!" Larry complained.

"In another world," Ludwig stated, "Brats your age have to sit in a contained building in uncomfortable chairs while someone lectures them for eight hours a day. Would you rather that?"

"...Maybe." Larry muttered under his breath.

Ludwig gave him a hard look and ushered him out with the rest of his brothers. He had considered the idea of sending them on their way in that other world, but his siblings were far more valuable to him here in the Badlands.

Tonight was one of the best nights I've had in Brooklyn in years. Daisy and I were in the living room, staying up late watching re-runs of All That and playing a board game. I didn't cook tonight, we were eating Chinese take-out and drinking Dr. Pepper. Not the most exciting ways to pass the time but it was what Daisy wanted to do and I wouldn't deny her. Just being here with her was enough for me anyway.

Daisy looked happy. She was dressed for bed in her t-shirt and shorts and was sitting cross-legged, leaving me in the dust in the game that I had taught her how to play not an hour ago.

"I want to buy this piece of property, please." She spoke after taking a sip from the maroon can in her hand.

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "Of course you do."

"What was that?" She teased, "Did the poor man say something?"

"And who made me poor?" I asked her wryly.

She shrugged and said, "The object of the game is to set up a monopoly, isn't it?"

"The object of the game is to ruin relationships." I answered.

Daisy laughed. "Luigi, don't be mad!"

How could I, when you drop that beautiful laugh on me?

"Here," She spoke sweetly, "You can have this."

I took the meager one dollar bill and said, "How magnanimous of you."

Daisy's face flashed with something unreadable for the umpteenth time, and then she sort of sobered. I was getting sick of seeing that phenomena happen; I wanted to know what was wrong.

"Hey." I said gently, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." She said quickly. "It's your turn."

I glanced down and took the dice, taking my time in shaking them up.

"You can tell me if anything is bothering you, Daisy." I spoke at the board. "I love you and I'm here for you if you need to talk, so don't think I'll judge you or anything."

When I looked up again the girl was gazing at me with a misty-eyed, heart-felt expression. I blinked and lifted a brow in question and she smiled crookedly.

"Luigi, you're so sweet, you know that?"

"I try."

"No, I'm serious." She insisted, "I love you. And I'm so glad you left your ticket at home that day."

"Hm?"

"That day on the train?" She reminded me.

Ah yes; fate.

"Yeah, I'm glad too." I said with a faint smile.

I really wished she would just tell me what was wrong. I hated being in the dark. I was in the dark once before, when she and Ludwig were doing that operation at the palace, and look how that turned out. I just wanted her to trust me to be there for her.

A while later, our game was pushed aside and Daisy came to sit tucked into my side on the couch. A movie was playing on television, something scandalous, but neither of us were really watching it. I was content to lay her, with her head on my chest. Her hair smelled nice. Her body felt nice against mine, too. I loved this girl.

"Luigi?"

"Yeah?"

"What's your job like?"

Hm. What an interesting question that I did not feel like answering. I didn't like to lie to her, but I didn't like to get her down with my downer answers either. If I was being honest, I'd have to say it was boring and monotonous and people most often treated me like the hired help.

What I told her was, "It's alright. I don't do much. Just wait on people and make pizzas all night."

"That doesn't sound too bad." She shrugged.

No, it didn't, because I was leaving out the part about the customers sometimes being pretentious, condescending pricks or inept twits. Every now and again, there'd be decent human beings coming in and out, but not usually. My co-workers were either refreshingly platonic or awful wastes of space and my boss was almost never there. Wait, that was actually a good thing.

"I want to work."

"Hm?"

"I want to get a job." Daisy said.

"For what?" I asked.

"Well, to pull my own weight." She shrugged.

"You don't have to." I told her, but I knew that wasn't true.

If I wanted to keep this up and pay for some things we'd need around the apartment and buy groceries and keep saving for a better life, I'd either have to get a second job or accept her getting her first. I didn't know about that.

"Does that bother you?" Daisy asked, looking up at me.

I said, "Yeah, kinda."

She sat up and folded her arms, appearing affronted.

"Luigi, I've had a job before, remember?" She reminded me, "I'm more than capable of working."

"I know," I told her, "It's not that. I just. This place, this whole area of town is really shitty and low-down, and you. You're really good, you're so much better than all this. You're a princess, Daisy, you're like a ray of light and I guess I'm just afraid of what a place as dark as Brooklyn is going to do to you."

Daisy's eyes softened. "Oh. Well Luigi, you know I can take care of myself. And besides, I don't think this place is so 'shitty'. I think it's what you make of it."

"If you say so." I remarked.

"So you'll help me find a job?" She asked eagerly.

"Yeah, sure." I promised. "I've got another week until I have to go back to work so I'll see what I can do in that time."

"Cool." Daisy smiled, using a word of mine.

She laid her head back on my chest. I would have relaxed more if the headache that had been haunting me all week wouldn't have reared its head again. This time I waited until she fell asleep to carry her to the bed. Whether I liked it or not, the girl would have her way. If she wanted to work, there was nothing I could do to stop her. If I helped her find a job though, I might get lucky and set her up with some day-time hours, or better yet, a part-time job on the weekends. I knew she was capable, but why tempt fate? I would lose my mind if anything happened to her.

A/N: Another chapter down. Sorry to say, but I won't be updating very soon after this chapter. There will be a wait so I'm sorry in advance :)

How are you liking the story thus far? What do you think is causing Ludwig's headaches?

Is it a coincidence that Luigi is having headaches(albeit much less severe ones)too?

And what is on Daisy's mind?

Find out in the next chapter! Until then...

~DymondGold~