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Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Mario or its franchise; it belongs to

Nintendo and their affiliates. I just am really grateful to its creators for giving

me such a wonderful game and media series to write about!

I also don't own anything related to Harry Potter, all that belongs to J.K. Rowling,

but thanks go to her as well because, using her wonderful work, I can expand this

story to make it more interesting :)

Chapter Forty-Nine

If there was ever a more surreal moment in her life where the Dark King was concerned, it paled in comparison to this. Daisy felt as if the rug of reality had been yanked from underneath her and she was left floating in a void of darkness and uncertainty. She didn't know what she should do next because she didn't know if what she already knew was true or not; with that one action from the royal her hold on the situation had completely diminished. Not only had he burned the plate of hot food, but her sense of direction and blossoming plans as well. Daisy didn't know how to act around the king because she didn't know how much of his powers he had and how much of his subconscious mind had been returned. She was very acutely aware of how unpredictable and dangerous he was and, by the looks of it, so was he. She sat with her feet tucked underneath herself on the expansive bed. She didn't want to be there, but it was the most strategic location to place herself in.

Ordinarily, the bathroom was her first out, but the king must've known this because he'd blocked it with his presence. He was pacing, striding up and down the length of the room from one side of the bed to the other. He strode so slowly and kept his eyes on her the whole time, as if his gaze alone was enough to keep her pinned to the spot where she sat. In the dead center of the bed, Daisy figured she had ample room to dart in any direction were the king to suddenly make a move for her. So far, he hadn't. He just kept walking and staring at her.

"What ever happened to your kingdom?"

Daisy blinked. She hadn't been expected him to ask her anything and especially not anything about her home. She wasn't inclined to answer him, however.

If he's keeping things to himself, why shouldn't I, she reasoned. Besides, there was no way she was going to give the wicked tyrant any piece of information that he could use against her.

Bowser anticipated her silence and said, "It doesn't matter. You're mine now, so it belongs to me. To us."

He folded his arms. Daisy saw with no small amount of dismay that the definition had certainly returned to those lean muscles of his, both in his arms and in his torso. She could even see the rigid cuts in his abdominal area, just where his pants hung slightly low on his waist. It wasn't as if he ever wore shirts these days, so the girl couldn't help but notice. She was thinking more about what those muscles meant for her own safety if he were to lash out at her than how handsome he looked.

And if he has his power, I definitely have to be careful, she thought.

But then she started wondering how that was. Since the king wouldn't give her a straight answer, she had no choice but to try and figure it out on her own. She was a very intelligent and sharp-minded individual, so it wasn't long before she came up with a theory.

"You didn't always have your powers back," She stated with more assurance than she felt inside.

Bowser gazed at her as he paced and smirked at what he saw; with her hands in between her knees and her chin lifted and those light eyes steeled with determination, she was the picture of confidence. He knew she was putting on a front, had seen her quiver and even cry from the things he'd done. Still, she was being courageous. She didn't know how much he adored that in her.

"Didn't I?" He asked languidly.

Daisy followed the royal with her eyes as he turned the corner of the bed, pacing from the door to the vanity and back. She didn't let on how much this unnerved her. She hated when he paced.

She spoke clearly, "If you had your powers all along, you would have killed Ludwig and taken over again. Or...maybe I'm wrong and you like being caged up like a dog in your own palace, grounded to your room like a child by someone who's half your age."

Careful, what happened to careful? Why did I say that?

Daisy didn't even have to ask, really. She was a bit reckless with this. Part of her was compensating for her fear because she hated fearing someone so cruel and filthy and undeserving of any sort of reverence; that had to be why she was dishing out such bold words right now.

That, and I get carried away sometimes, she knew.

Bowser's countenance did change; it was in his eyes, in the way they darkened and flickered with angry emotion, and in his jaw, in the way it tightened for a second. Then he smirked again and shook his head.

"Such a mouthy little thing," He remarked, then said, "and if I didn't have my powers all along, how do you explain this?"

He came towards her and Daisy enacted her escape plan: she darted to the left where the bathroom was. Bowser was much to quick to be so much older than her because he came up from behind and stopped her by the elbows.

Daisy winced and hissed before she could stop herself at the way he closed his fingers so tightly around her arms. She didn't know until now how angry he was with her about that last comment. She didn't remember until now that, although he let a lot of things slide, he was still the ruthless, violent creature he'd always been.

"Be still," He told her, then snaked his arm around her stomach.

Daisy's heart was pounding now and she was fighting like a madwoman to get away from him. Under no circumstances did she ever want to be in his arms again but here she was.

She surprised the both of them when she knocked her head back against his and heard him swear. Instantly her plight grew worse; all pretenses of gentleness were abandoned by the king when he tightened that arm around her waist and brought his other hand up to her throat. The position, flush against him, was uncomfortable enough but he put his fire behind his touch.

"I won't burn you too badly," He spoke in a low murmur near her ear, "But it won't feel good and it'll take some time to heal."

Daisy was wise enough to stay still, which pleased him. In her head she cursed him to the coldest, blackest pits of hell. If she had any qualms before about taking a life, they were definitely gone now. She hated him for all that he'd done and was still doing to her. She felt absolutely powerless in this moment and nothing frustrated and terrified her more. Bowser, though, this was all a game to him. He only saw force as a necessary means to getting what he wanted and would never be able to understand the full extent of what he was doing to her. He thought it was mercy he issued when he lowered the heat behind his hands and kissed her temple.

"Good girl," He crooned. "You know I do hate to hurt you."

"Liar," Daisy spat with contempt.

Bowser laughed and kept his insanely-tight hold on her still. He kissed her again, leaned his head over and kissed her cheek, too. She shivered and felt immense disgust rock through her insides. Hate, such strong hate also consumed her.

"Yes, I am a liar," He admitted with a smirk against her jaw. "But as much as I love it when you fight me, it's gotta' stop. I mean, if I didn't know any better..."

Here he dragged an open-mouthed kiss down her jaw and onto her neck. Daisy felt the start of tears prick behind her eyes. Once again, the angry, murderous kind.

"...If I didn't know any better," The king continued to whisper, "I'd say you like it when I hurt you. When I put my fucking hands on you-"

It was animalistic and feral, that fierce cry that left her lips. It started offher guttural and evolved into something more feminine and high pitched, like a wren's shriek. She didn't care if she got burned while doing so, Daisy just wrenched away from the Dark King with all her might.

Predictably his hands scalded her collar and stomach, leaving a mark on her neck and one near her navel. Both were visible thanks to the white fabric of her shirt having been singed in the process. Daisy shrieked against this new pain and her perseverance didn't break her loose, it did bring the both of them to the ground. Bowser had been brought to his knees and Daisy took that time to crawl to her feet, or try to. The king reached out for her leg and caught her ankle, then jerked her down hard. She fell and hit her head against the bathroom door, she was that close to reaching it. Bowser was relentless in the way he gripped her thighs bruisingly and yanked her towards himself.

For a moment, Daisy saw spots.

Then she bit down on the side of her balled-up hand to keep from screaming. The pain was intense: Bowser had been so callous as to drag her across carpet while she'd fallen onto her belly, which only intensely aggravated the newly-burned skin there. She let the tears fall but didn't make a sound. Instead she put all her energy into flipping onto her back.

I have to get on my feet, she knew, despite her head swimming and aching from where she'd knocked it against the door and despite the alarming shots of pain coming from her collar and, most of all, stomach. This pain slowed her and was the leading reason why it was so much easier for the king to descend upon her like a wraith. It was almost laughable, his strength against hers. He held her down by her wrists and hooked his legs around hers, immobilizing her. He was wary of her head this time, opting not to get too close to it lest she slam it into his own again.

For a moment they regarded each other. Daisy had nothing but hate and violence shining in her eyes. Bowser had several things warring for dominance on his face. There was no question that only a bit of his subconscious was needed to make those old feelings return. Every time he'd touched her, every kiss he'd forced on her, every interaction between them was coming back to his mind and the feelings were playing on his features like a B-rate horror movie. Daisy watched him, thinking frenetically of her next move. She didn't know that her chest, heaving with the weight of her panicked breathing and her skin, flushed with color from adrenaline, had caught the king's eye in the worst of ways. He locked his eyes on hers first, then on her parted lips, and from there to each of the bruises and burns he'd created in turn.

Slowly, he dropped his head down to her throat and raked his teeth against her marred flesh, warranting a sharp hiss from the girl. She clenched her teeth and watched him move even more slowly, taking his time in passing his mouth over her heated skin. She remembered something else now; with his smothering lust came a familiar handicap: when his focus was on molesting her, it wasn't on defending himself.

Daisy schooled her features, slowed her breathing, and forced her nerves and heart to follow suit. She decided to enact tried-and-true tactics; she'd be still and endure his ministrations for but a moment and then, when his guard was down, she'd strike.

She cringed when, in an act of perverted intimacy, Bowser laced his fingers through hers, still using his own hands to keep hers firmly planted against the ground below her. She shuddered and, coupling that with the fact that she'd stopped struggling, he mistook her movement for encouragement. He let his grip on her hands lax, but only for a second so that he could snare both her wrists in one hand. With his newly freed one, he reached down to her left leg and brought her thigh up over his own leg. She could feel his body, taut and hard, on top of hers as he let his weight settle atop her.

"Now," Bowser murmured against the burn on her neck, "Isn't this much better than fighting your master?"

"So I'm your slave now?" She spoke to distract him.

What happened to princess? Queen? she thought sardonically.

The Dark King gazed at her and she forced her eyes to not to betray her ulterior intentions. She must have appeared as he would have liked because he only smirked at her.

"You are," He told her in his low voice, then said with malevolent earnest, "Just as I am for you. Only you."

It was hard to give that any credence with the way he was imposing his attentions on her. Daisy forced herself to focus. It was hard to ignore what he was doing to her, though. Amidst the pain of his earlier actions, there was the practiced, skillful ease with which he maneuvered around her body. It was clear he'd done this over and over again, or if not, he knew very well what would make her react. She didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing or hearing of his fruition from her end. Daisy forced herself to think back to her tentative theory and a way to test it.

He only started using his powers today, she thought astutely, so something had to have changed during the time he got in this room, during the time since I've been here.

She realized what she had to do.

She almost lost her concentration when he laid his mouth directly against hers and wrought frenzied havoc there, but she made herself remain placid. Bowser moved through her as if he knew every crevice and corner, as if she really did belong to him. The girl steadfastly turned her head and ignored him. Daisy tugged her hands out of his. He clamped down on them without even stopping in his heady kiss, having jerked her head back to face him and let him back in. She endured this and, with this tacit compromise, his attention went back to assaulting her lips. Daisy tried again to free her hands and found his grip had slackened greatly. She didn't strike him with this new-found freedom, tempted as she was. Instead, she deceived him further by running her hands up his arms, over his shoulders, and around his neck. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and she could feel him smirk like he'd won something. She suspected he was trying to bruise her neck deliberately the way he was biting down on the skin there.

Daisy kept one hand on his shoulder and ran shaking fingers through his tangled red hair. When she found her prize, a surge of pride passed through her chest. Right before Bowser ran his deviant hand over it, that is. Her slender fingers alighted on the thing she was after, the heavy gold links of his chain. She knew that all chains had a clasp, and searched for it now.

The girl started when the king moved suddenly. He dipped his head down over her stomach and brought his mouth down onto her navel. His hot tongue seared her body and jarred her from her line of thinking. But not for long.

Daisy glanced down at the king but couldn't see his chain from this vantage point. She did see and feel the medallion hanging near her hip.

If I could just get that over his head, she thought desperately. If I could just slip it right off...oh, this is gonna' be tricky.

The girl was getting remarkably calmer. She realized her sense of control was the reason for her diminished panic and distress; so long as he had her body to distract him, she could almost do whatever she liked and the king wouldn't notice. She felt more in charge of what happened now and had no problem executing her next move.

She held the side of Bowser's face with more care then she had for him. She felt her resolve shake a bit when he immediately leveled those jade eyes on her, so full of hunger and desire and power. She brought her legs up slowly and scooted back a bit, being sure not to give any indication that she was trying to make it easier for herself to escape. Bowser was fooled, thinking the girl was getting more comfortable. Daisy slipped her other hand onto the other side of his face but made sure to get her wrist under the chain. She was brave when she brought his face towards her own. He didn't need any encouragement: he was all over her in the next second.

She didn't think about how wrong it felt to have his bare skin against hers where her shirt had torn. She let him rock his body into hers and ignored that dizzying sensation of want that spiraled up from her lower body. She focused on actively getting the chain off of him. Daisy had the medallion in her trembling fist and lifted the chain off his neck ever precariously. He didn't notice. She had the thing above him, no longer touching his body, but now came the hard part. The girl had to get it off him when he had his face connected to hers; he was so busy dragging her earlobe through his teeth that he didn't see her transfer the medallion to her other hand, the one that had the chain bunched up between her fingers. Now all she had to do was get him to move his head.

Daisy shed any sense of shame or regret right then, before doing what she did next.

She used her free hand to raise up her shirt some more and the Dark King took the bait. He had his tongue flat against her stomach and didn't stop leaving wet kisses until he'd reached the underside of her chest. She shuddered when he nipped the pert flesh there but stayed diligent in her work while he stayed lascivious in his.

Bowser bit down on the hardest part of her chest with surprising care and Daisy's breath hitched. Still, she knew what she'd unleashed when she threw him that bait, she had to go through with this.

I'm almost done, she encouraged herself.

Daisy put her hand on Bowser's shoulder and pushed down lightly, urging him to lower his head. He thought she wanted his mouth elsewhere, so he brought his sinful tongue and sensual mouth back down to her ribs, then lower still. While he went down, Daisy brought the chain up, up, and over his red mane. She had the chain free.

Bowser noticed.

Daisy ran.

The Dark King pursued.

The door burst open.

Daisy was quick when she wanted to be, and evaded him not once but twice as she flew across the bed. She stood with her back to the main door and shook with victory and fear swelling inside her at once. She held her head high and relished in a smirk of her own.

With more food, since the last plate had been destroyed, Bowser Junior stood in the doorway. He glanced between the panting, excited young woman and his enraged father, then lingered in the same spot. The child was wary of entering because he could sense something was going on.

Daisy kept smirking at the Dark King and didn't even try to fix her shirt or her hair, she stood ripe with emotions she couldn't, and didn't try, to control. The king's eyes roved over her and his anger seemed to double: she knew this because he narrowed his eyes and stalked towards her.

"Stop," Daisy commanded. "Take one more step and I'll throw this out the room!"

Bowser snorted at her threat, even when she held her arm out as a measure of faith. He did stop, but he folded his arms and tilted his head.

"So do it, little girl." He challenged. "I'll just have my son return it to me."

"I'll tell him not to." She countered, then said, "Better yet, I'll tell him to give it to Ludwig."

Bowser narrowed his eyes and said, "You think he'd obey you over me?"

"You told him I am his queen." Daisy responded cheekily.

The Dark King swore viciously and his little son gazed back and forth between the two adults with wide, curious eyes. Junior winced a bit when he heard his father swear, but it was nothing the child hadn't heard before. Daisy just felt a giggle bubble up in her chest.

I have him now, she thought giddily, he thought he could just screw me over, but I did it, I outsmarted him!

As soon as she realized that things hadn't changed with the king until he'd gotten the medallion, and that he'd adamantly dodged her questions regarding it, Daisy knew that it was somehow linked to the return of his powers. By the way he was acting, the girl figured the thing must be pretty important and significant to the king. That's when she knew she could use it as leverage.

"Make this easy on yourself, Precious," Bowser entreated with a snarl behind his calm tone. "Give me back my medallion and I promise I won't hurt you."

"Liar," Daisy spoke at once. She said, "You'll hurt me no matter what. But as long as you don't have this little bad boy, it'll hurt much less."

The girl let the chain dangle from her slim fingers and swung it dangerously fast and near the open doorway. She actually saw a flash of something panicky go through Bowser's eyes. Then he was livid. He took steps towards her.

"Ah, ah, ah," Daisy chided, unable to hold back her amused grin. "Don't come near me or I'll toss it."

"Enough of this!" Bowser roared, "You might be a little clever, but don't think you can actually threaten me. I will find a way to get that medallion back, and when I do, I'll wrap it round your deceitful little neck and choke the fucking life out of you!"

Daisy heard the venom behind those words but still couldn't fight the wry smile from her face.

She said quietly, "Those are harsh words for your queen."

"A queen should know her place." Bowser retorted coldly. "Now give it to me!"

Daisy said stubbornly. "No."

Bowser was getting fed up, so the girl decided to speed her impromptu plan along. It wouldn't do to have the psychopath getting so angry that he cut his losses and throttled her, whether she gave up the chain or not. She smoothed her face out to a blank mask of seriousness and put the chain around her neck. Bowser stepped near but she yanked it back off in an instant. He stopped, like a raring wolf waiting on his haunches to tear her to pieces.

"I'll give it back" Daisy promised, "But you're going to tell me what I want to know first."

Bowser was angry a moment more, then his face broke down into something akin to resignation and appreciation. He shook his head and gazed almost fondly at her.

He said, "Negotiation? Effective negotiation? Well damn. I underestimated you, Precious. I always knew you were the other side to my coin, but this is just astounding. What do you want to know?"

Daisy stared hard at him. She knew that the king was capricious; he just went from trying to get her to conceive his next heir to trying to tear her throat out in a span of a few seconds. But now the girl was wondering if he was playing her again. He still looked angry, but only a tiny bit: he only seemed annoyed now, and confusingly impressed.

Is this just some kind of trick? Is he trying to throw me for a loop and get the upper hand? I know that, even if he does tell me what I need to know about his plans, there's no guarantee that he'll tell the truth and there's no way for me to know if he's lying. Damn this is so tricky.

Daisy lowered her hand, the one that was dangling the medallion. She wouldn't tempt the beast any further. She gazed at the medallion and then to the king.

"If I give this back now," She spoke halfheartedly, "will you stay away from me?"

Bowser smirked and said, "What's the matter, little girl? Lose your will?"

"You're a liar."

"That's been established."

"You'll only lie to me," Daisy elucidated, "I have nothing to gain."

Besides, she thought with triumph, I already proved my theory right. This medallion is the key to his powers, at least for now. If I let Ludwig know, he can get rid of it for good. All I'll do is just get myself in hot water with the king. He already said that if I threw it, Junior would return it, and I have no assurance that if I told the child to give it to Ludwig that a.) Junior would do it, or b.) that Ludwig would know what to do with the thing.

Daisy glanced at the child, who had set the plate down on the floor and was sitting cross-legged next to it. Junior seemed to be soaking in the entire encounter between her and his father.

"Wise choice, Precious." Bowser stated evenly. "But for what it's worth, you never had anything to gain. I told you, if there's something I want you to know, I'll tell you."

Daisy started to toss him the chain but he stopped her with his hand.

"Bring it to me." He implored in a voice still edged with desire.

Daisy rolled her eyes and probably didn't make the wisest choice when she threw it at his face.

A/N: Still trying to get a grip on life. I hope this little scene suffices, I know it's not a chapter but I just wanted to get something updated to let everybody know I haven't given up on this story.

I don't even know how this scene came to be. It wasn't in the outline, but it wrote itself, so yeah. I don't know if you've noticed, but Bowser is crazy. He's not an anti-hero, he's a villain and I hope I made that clear now.

There's really nothing redeeming about him. His 'love' for Daisy is just obsessive lust/desire to own and possess her. I don't want people getting the wrong idea because I don't ship those two together, I'm just trying to paint an accurate picture of a sociopathic dictator with a god complex. Let me know how I'm doing with that.

I'll try to post another chapter soon but no promises. I appreciate all of the people supporting me through reviews and I'm sorry I don't have the time to reply to each one personally, but thanks!

Until next time...

~DymondGold~