Nobody noticed that I used the wrong Disclaimer for the last chapter? I had some issues with FFN and my head was beating the mess out of me so I made some mistakes. I was surprised nobody said anything, I guess no one reads those notes after all :x

Anyway, here's the next chapter. Thanks for the reviews and the 'get well' wishes! They made me smile.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Mario or its franchise; it belongs to the Mushroom Kingdom. Lol, technically it belongs to Nintendo but...we all know they have time shares in the Mushroom Kingdom so yeah :)

Chapter Four

When I woke up, groggy and with a sore back, I noticed Daisy wasn't beside me. It was late into the afternoon, probably after twelve, and two empty coke cans were still on the coffee table. I stood and stretched my arms over my head, then bent down and picked up the blanket I'd gotten for me and Daisy. After I folded it up, I heard the water start running in the bathroom. Daisy must have woken up before me. I wonder if she got any more sleep after what happened. I know I did, but it was fitful rest because I was worried about her. That scream last night did things to me.

"Daisy?" I spoke in a raspy voice.

"I'm in here," came her quiet reply.

I figured she was in the bathroom. I stopped by the hall closet and grabbed a face towel before coming in there with her. She looked good, as usual. I couldn't even tell that anything was wrong by just looking at her. It was all in the eyes, those light eyes were troubled and detached again, going back and forth between the two emotions. On the outside she looked quite composed. She had her hands in her hair, tying it up today in a braided sort of knot that looked complex and neat. Around her neck was a chain that looped around twice like a choker. It was attached to a locket that rested above the collar of her dress. This one was made like a blouse at the top, with its white silk and cap sleeves, and at the bottom of her chest the silk gave way to a burgundy velvet fabric that hugged her waist and fanned out at the hips, flowing down over the tops of her feet. She moved from her hair to her ears as she clamped a pair of gold hoops onto them. Yes, on the outside she looked fine, but on the inside she was a mess.

"Good morning."

"Morning," I greeted her in turn.

I leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. She colored a tiny bit and smiled shyly for a moment, then turned and kissed me on the mouth. It was a tiny peck but it still made my heart stutter.

I wonder if I should get that checked out, actually

Daisy turned back to the mirror and moved over so that I could wet my towel and wash my face. After I did that, I grabbed my toothbrush. By that time she was finished and leaving, but before she got out of the bathroom I took her by the hand.

"Hey," I said softly, "Are you alright?"

"I'm..." She ducked her head and sucked in a quiet breath. "I'm fine."

I rubbed my hand up her arm and stepped closer to her. When I tilted her by the chin to face me, She did not look 'fine'. She looked incredibly blank-faced and placid, but that wasn't the same thing.

"Are we going to go out to eat again this morning?" she asked without feeling.

I said, "If you want to."

She was quiet so I didn't know if that was a yay or nay.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked. "If you wanted to tell me something about what was bothering you or-"

"I don't want to talk about it." She murmured.

"You don't have to be embarrassed or anything, Daisy." I assured her, "I just want to help you."

"I know," She replied, "And I appreciate it. I just...don't really want to speak on it right now"

"Alright." I relented, "That's fine. Whenever you're ready, then, you can talk to me."

"Kay," Daisy nodded.

I could wait. Besides, I had an idea about what the cause of her awful nightmare's was, so I wouldn't rush her. Whatever happened to her during her time at the palace was still traumatizing her to this day.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see when we get there."

"But I'm starving!"

"Shut up, twerp!"

"You shut up, Roy!"

"Both of you shut up," Wendy admonished with a sigh.

She was starting to regret taking her siblings on this impromptu excursion. They'd done nothing but complain or argue almost the whole way. The heat wasn't helping matters, either. All in all, she was trying to get to a certain secluded little area as quickly as she could.

If only I could remember exactly where it was, she thought to herself.

Behind her, Roy scoffed.

"Get a load of this guy, yo." He muttered.

Wendy looked to where he was scowling and saw a young man, sitting on the steps of his father's inn with his hands in his pockets and long, thin white reed in his mouth. It was Munson. He was squinting in the light of the high-noon sun, but when he caught sight of her he smirked and stood. He ran a casual hand through his thick, wavy brown hair and in the process revealed a tattoo on his wrist for all the world to see.

"Is that a butterfly?" Roy scoffed.

"It's a monarch," Wendy corrected.

"That's still a butterfly," Iggy supplied quietly.

His words reached his older brother and Roy clapped him on the shoulder appreciatively.

"See, Brainiac here knows," Roy told her.

"So what?" Wendy snapped.

"So he's a soft little punk," Roy replied. "A pansy. Just look at him, Wen."

She did look and saw that the eighteen year old was sauntering towards her and her entourage. He was dressed in fine clothes as usual; his loose red pants, lightweight burgundy vest and short-sleeved crimson shirt were not extravagant, but were better than the common man's garb. One could tell from his tailored boots and expensive bracelet that he was well-off. As he got nearer to Wendy, the siblings caught whiffs of his cologne. Roy narrowed his eyes while Larry pretended to gag. He gave them all a strange look but ultimately approached and spoke to only Wendy.

"Hey," He greeted coolly, "Didn't think I'd get to see you today, beautiful."

Wendy grew a bit more demure under the weight of his attractive blue eyes and clever smirk.

"This isn't really a social visit," She admitted. "I just wanted to know if you remembered where that place was."

"That place?" The young man arched a brow and asked, "You mean the one where we-"

"Yes." She answered quickly, "That one."

The innkeeper's son grinned knowingly and murmured, "You don't have to be embarrassed, Wendy."

"I'm not." She lied, and her blush gave her away.

Munson smirked at her claim and stepped closer to her, using his right hand to stroke the side of her face. His cool knuckles brushed her heated cheek and made something stir within her heart. But that warm, fluttery feeling was no match for the anxiety that brewed due to the fact that her brothers were all witnessing her in all her shy, girlish glory.

Roy was the first to react, stepping in between her and Munson. Morton was right behind him and together, with arms folded, they formed a two-man barrier between the young couple. Larry was looking highly amused while Iggy observed the unfolding scene silently. On the inside, Wendy sighed.

"Why don't you go crawl back into whatever hole you came out of," Roy scowled.

Munson cocked a brow and said, "Excuse me?"

"You got butterflies in your ears, too?" Roy mocked, "I said get lost."

"Beat it!" Morton added, "Scram! Vamoose!"

"What's it to you?" Munson cut in agitatedly.

Roy said, "You're tryin' to get next to our baby sister and I ain't havin' it."

"Sister?" Munson frowned. "Wendy, these are your brothers?"

Wendy elbowed past her two older siblings and gave Munson an apologetic look.

"Unfortunately." She answered.

"Hn." Munson sniffed, "Would've never guessed."

Roy shoved past Wendy again and sneered, "What you tryin' to say?"

"Yeah, you lookin' for a fight?" Morton instigated.

Larry perked and said, "Ooh, a fight!"

Wendy grabbed Roy by the arm and said, "That's enough, Roy. Let's just go."

"No," He said, brushing her off. "I wanna' hear what the punk has to say."

"Why don't you fuck off, tough guy." Munson spoke unwaveringly.

His words were clear and firm, but his body receded by one small step. Roy noticed this and a broad smirk spread across his handsome face.

"What's the matter?" Roy taunted, "Afraid of a fight?"

"Nobody's fighting," Wendy stated, trying to get through to him again.

Her words fell on deaf ears except for Iggy's, who glanced briefly in her direction.

"I'm not afraid of you, you club-faced brute." Munson sneered, though his actions said otherwise.

Roy's face contorted with anger and Munson stepped back again, less subtly this time. Wendy tried to intervene but Morton held her back, his eyes on his brother. Both he and Larry were eager to see what Roy would do, while Iggy looked incredibly unconcerned.

"I'll show you a clubbed face," Roy threatened.

He stalked up to Munson and the older boy backed up, unabashedly, until his back hit the side of a vegetable stand. A wisp of fear flashed across Munson's face as the stronger male invaded his personal space.

"Look here," Roy spoke in a low voice, "If you ever put your filthy fucking hands on my sister again while I'm around, I'll..."

"What is he saying?" Wendy demanded to know, "Morton, what is he saying?"

Morton, who held her back, could only shrug. She glanced to Iggy and Larry but none of them could hear because Roy had gotten so far away. Wendy felt a twinge of deja vu about the situation and was determined not to let her brother muck up her very first relationship. She summoned a coil of water from a trough where some horses were drinking from nearby, then smacked Morton in the face with it. He was caught off guard and released her. By the time she reached Roy and Munson, the conflict was over.

Roy shoved Munson away from him with a meaningful glare, making the 18 year old fall clumsily to the ground. Munson picked himself up quickly but his face was ashen and his hands, his hands were trembling?

What did Roy say to him? she wondered.

"Are you okay?" Wendy asked, glaring at her brother's back as he sauntered away.

She tried to touch his shoulder gently but Munson flinched hard and brushed himself off instead, trying to compose himself.

"M'fine." He muttered, "I guess I'll be seeing you then."

And he hurried off. Fled was more like it, but she was trying to lend him some dignity in the situation. Wendy stared after the retreating young man, forlorn for a moment, then turned and leveled Roy with a dark glower.

"What. Did you do?" She asked caustically.

He shrugged and said, "Just gave him a warning, is all."

"What did you say to him?" She demanded.

"It doesn't matter," He told her, "I think he got the message."

Wendy groaned and said, "Why do you have to be so...ugh, never mind. Let's just go."

The girl led her brothers further into the city and found the secluded area at last, tucked behind a tailor's shop and a butcher's place of establishment. She guided them to the expanse of soft grass that lay under the spread of a cluster of huge trees. Tiny, clandestine, sort of romantic with the bench-like logs set in a tight-knit circle. She sat down on one, the same one she and Munson had occupied a few days ago, and motioned for her siblings to gather round.

"Wendy, I'm starving!" Larry complained.

She told him, "The sooner we get this talk over with, the sooner we can go back to the palace and eat."

"But I'm so hungry!" Larry moaned.

"Just go right there to the meat man and get the twerp something to eat so he can shut up already," Roy said impatiently.

Wendy sighed, but did as he suggested and ended up buying sandwiches for them all. The bread at the baker's wasn't cheap, nor was the deli meat, but she had enough money. Once they were back in the shaded area eating, Roy confronted her on this.

"Where'd you get the money from, Wen?" He asked suspiciously.

"Ludwig gave it to me." She lied.

Roy couldn't tell, and shrugged at her answer. She lied because she knew of the conflict that would arise from his knowing the truth, that Munson had given it to her. And speaking of him.

"So that was your boyfriend, Wen?" Larry asked.

She said, "He wasn't my boyfriend."

"He was something," Roy scowled, then asked, "What do you see in that loser, anyway?"

"None of your business." She averted. "So don't ask me anything else about him. That goes for all of you. I didn't come out here to discuss my love life."

"You have a love life?" Morton chuckled.

"What's that?" Larry asked, confounded.

"I wanted to talk about Ludwig." She said, ignoring their questions.

"What about him?" Roy frowned.

"There's something wrong with him," Wendy stated.

Roy scoffed and said, "Yeah. He's a neurotic jerk."

"I'm serious," Wendy snapped.

"He is kind of a jerk," Morton told her.

"And he's always bossing us around," Larry declared around a mouthful of his sandwich.

Iggy said thoughtfully, "It's only because he's trying to look out for us."

Roy snorted.

"Look." Wendy said, "He's been edgy lately, extra touchy and aggravated."

"He's always that way," Roy argued.

"No, he's gotten worse." Wendy insisted, then in a soft voice she said, "He...he called me a whore."

"A what?!"

"No way!"

"What's a wh-"

"It's a bad word," Wendy cut in before Larry could finish.

Iggy was still quiet, but looked deeply troubled by her confession.

"That's not all," Wendy said, "I saw him in a lot of pain. He even threw up, right in his office."

"Whoa," Larry breathed, either in awe of the news.

"Are you sure?" Iggy asked worriedly, "Ludwig never gets sick."

"I know," Wendy nodded. "That's why I think something's seriously wrong."

"Like what?" Larry asked a little nervously.

"I'm not sure," Wendy said. "Whatever it is, it's really hurting him more than he's letting on."

"So what should we do about it?" Iggy asked.

"I don't see why we should do anything, yo." Roy shrugged, "If he's hiding the pain, he obviously don't want us to know about it."

"But what if this is serious?" Wendy asked, then intoned, "What if it could kill him?"

That silenced any and all opposition.

"I have an idea of how we can help," Wendy said, "But we'll have to keep this a secret."

"I'm really sorry about this," I said, not for the first time.

I said it before we even got inside the building. I don't know, I just felt compelled to apologize in advance for what I was about to do: expose Daisy to the horrible abomination that is fast food. I had told her in the car that the food would be unlike what she's used to in hopes of sparing her appetite. I didn't want to admit that some of the stuff I'd eaten in fast food places around here have been sub-standard, greasy, vomit-inducing, poorly handled, sloppily served, or all-out inedible. But it wouldn't be right to tell her of only my bad experiences. There were some days where I'd get lucky and get a box of hot, golden french fries or a clean, juicy...no. I take that back. I've yet to have a good, quality fast-food hamburger in all my twenty-six years of being on this earth.

"You don't have to be sorry," Daisy told me at the table, "It doesn't smell that bad."

I shrugged but pulled out her chair for her. The 'restaurant' was shabby and it had been hard to find a table as clean as the one we got to. Daisy really didn't seem to mind though. Couldn't she see that this place wasn't good enough for her? That this whole city wasn't good enough for her? That's the reason why I didn't want to bring her here.

"Do we get a menu here, too?" She asked innocuously.

I shook my head and said, "You can stay right here. I'll order at the front."

"Okay." She replied.

I was surprised she didn't fuss at me about ordering for her. The girl was fiercely independent so I had to attribute her current passivity to last night's episode. It was really messing with her. I wished so badly that she would talk to me about it, I had a lot of experience with personal demons and could help her. But I could wait. I told her I would wait.

In about five minutes I came back to the table with our food and saw Daisy staring pensively out the window. She smiled at the sight of the food.

"It smells good," She remarked.

I sat down and gave her the 'pseudo-breakfast' platter. She went about opening her fork and spoon set carefully. Her smile was faint and wistful as she popped the cover over the pancakes, eggs, and sausage plate.

"Why is everything so contained?" She asked.

I smiled, too, and said, "For uh, sanitary purposes."

"Ah." She nodded absently.

It took her a pancake and a half and some eggs to realize that I wasn't eating. I didn't mean to offend her, I just couldn't eat this morning. I wasn't in the mood.

"You're not hungry?" she asked me.

"Not really." I said. "I do have a question, though. You don't have to answer it if you don't want to."

"What is it?" She asked almost warily.

"Did Ludwig ever tell you about his relationship with um, you-know-who?" I inquired.

Daisy swallowed slowly and looked down into her lap for a minute. She gazed back up at me and shook her head.

"All I know," She stated, "Is that he really, really despised him. But I think we all did."

She stared at the tips of her fingers and let a sea of emotions pass over her eyes. Sadness warred with bitterness fought with hate. She looked up at me and I could see fear had taken over.

"Luigi can I tell you something?" She half-whispered.

"Anything."

"I don't." She struggled, "That is. I can't believe he's really dead."

"Bowser?"

Daisy nodded. "I wish I could've killed him. I don't care if that makes me an evil person, I just wish it was me who had killed him."

"That doesn't make you evil." I told her, "And I'm not saying that because I love you, though I think I'd probably still love you no matter how evil you are or aren't."

Daisy smiled wryly, briefly.

"I think you need closure." I said. "You just need proof that he really is dead, then you'll gain peace."

"I don't want to see him again, not even for closure's sake," She frowned, "I just wish I had been the one to kill him. Maybe then I wouldn't hear his voice, see him in my dreams, feel his hands all over my body."

Her words were giving me chills, making me sick to my stomach. I was so tempted to ask her what all he did to her, but I was too afraid. I didn't want to know what he did to her because I knew it would haunt me like it haunted her. Now if she, herself, volunteered this information, I'd not deny her a listening ear.

"What can I do to help you?" I asked. "Just tell me and I'll do whatever it takes to make you feel safe."

"I don't know," She said, at a loss.

I thought for a moment.

"You said you can't stop hearing his voice, feeling him on you and seeing him?" I blurted.

She nodded hesitantly, "I can hear him calling for me, telling me how bad he still wants to...but it's always in my dreams. I've been having them since that last battle, but last night was the worst one."

"Okay," I responded, "What if it was my voice you heard instead?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I think the best way to get rid of the old memories, or at least keep them at bay, would be to make new ones in their place." I proposed.

After this sunk in for a moment, the girl blushed a bit.

"Oh." She said. "You mean. I see."

"It's just an idea." I said quietly.

Daisy smiled softly and said, "It's a really good one."

Lemmy was confused.

There was one thing he was good at, besides acrobatics; it was stealth. He was the smallest of his siblings and he often used the fact to his advantage. He would be hidden for hours on end sometimes, tucked away in a corner or some other tight place, spying on his brothers and sister while they remained unaware. He didn't often succeed when it came to Ludwig, but he felt his eldest brother was much too skilled to trick. Bowser Junior, on the other hand, had no clue that he was peering around the edge of his bedroom door, watching the prince as he sat on the edge of his bed and talked to himself.

His mouth is moving, words are coming out, but there's nobody else here, the older child noticed, hence his confusion.

"B-Jun?" Lemmy spoke, deciding to reveal himself.

It was the quickest way to get to the bottom of this strange happening. Junior glanced up at him in the doorway and his jade eyes widened.

"Hello, Lemmy." Junior greeted softly.

"Who you was talking to?" Lemmy asked.

"Just now?" Junior asked.

Lemmy nodded.

"Oh." Junior said, "I was um, I was talking to my Daddy."

"Your Daddy?" Lemmy echoed, "Where he at?"

"He not in here." Junior explained, "He is in here, up here in my head."

Lemmy looked to where the child was pointing within his mess of red tangles and blinked in confusion.

"I don't know how you can even talk to somebody when they not here." Lemmy spoke.

"I don't know either," Junior admitted, "but my Daddy, he said not to worry about that."

"Oh." Lemmy responded. "What else your daddy said?"

Junior was quiet a moment, then said, "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Lemmy then asked.

Junior opened his mouth, seemingly about to speak, but then he shut it again and stuck his thumb inside. Lemmy knew that this was a sign that his friend no longer wished to speak, and respectfully dropped the subject.

"Come on." He said, "Let's go play."

And with the former Crown prince in hand, he headed back into the kitchen with no more thoughts on the matter.

A/N: Thanks for reading! This chapter was a little longer than the last and the update time wasn't bad either! I'm feeling a lot better than yesterday.

As for the situation with Luigi's headaches...yeah, they were just a coincidence. I like to throw those in just to keep things interesting, don't wanna' get too predictable. Speaking of that, if you noticed any redundancy or anything, please let me know; I don't want you to read boring chapters.

In the next chapter we'll see how Ludwig is faring and what his siblings are cooking up, as well as how our main couple is adjusting to life in Brooklyn. Until next time!

~DymondGold~