...So I'm back...

*crickets*

I apologize for the wait but just bear with me and reread the last chapter if you need to refresh on where the story is, I understand. Other than that

Enjoy :)

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 Fifty

With cotton-mouth and soreness all over was how I woke, lying in a bed that wasn't my own. I couldn't think of where I was or how I got there for a few seconds. Neither the thin linen sheets or the windowless walls were ringing a bell, nor was the plain wooden bed and nightstand or the white carpeting. There was a very low light coming from somewhere in the room, so I could barely make out these things. But then I saw Peasley without his cloak but with a lap full of old books and a gold saucer with a fat white candle melting on it. He had his back to the right wall and was sitting Indian style, reading. With his left hand he kept his page and with his right he gripped a piece of bread that looked half-eaten. I tried to sit up and my shoulder smarted. The noise instantly drew awareness to myself and Peasley's head shot up.

"Luigi, you live!" He exclaimed softly.

He stood in his black sleeveless shirt and pants and dropped his bread onto the cover of one of the books. The prince made his way over to me and knelt by the bed. He laid his hand on my uninjured shoulder and helped me sit up.

"We're at Boo's?" I asked, no, croaked.

Peasley nodded, his blonde hair moving with the gesture. The royal then grabbed a glass of water from the nightstand and gave it to me. Greedily I drank.

While I did Peasley said, "You passed out on the way here. You've only been sleeping for about...eighteen hours."

I lifted a brow at that and kept drinking.

"King Boo administered some kind of treatment to you, with my help." Peasley continued. "But he said to give you this when you woke. It'll mend the rest of your maladies."

From his pocket the prince fished a little blue bottle. It was opaque and unmarked, and he held it out to me.

"Drink it all," Peasley told me.

I took it and gave him the glass, then downed the stuff. It tasted thick and sweet, like molasses. No sooner had the last drop gone down my throat than I started to feel drowsy. I was sure that had to be a side effect.

"You should rest," Peasley advised. "Let your body heal."

It wasn't hard to do just that because before I could start thinking about my situation or anything else, I was out like a lamp.

Admitting it was a reckless move was all she would do on the matter; not an ounce of regret resided within the young woman in regards to what she'd done. Daisy knew that throwing the chain when the king had asked her to bring it to him was foolish, but she couldn't help herself. She'd had enough of his psycho-sexual manipulations.

Besides, he caught it before it hit his face, Daisy thought to herself with equal measures of relief and disappointment.

She kept her place near the door and crossed her arms while the king re-adjusted his chain so that the medallion rested on his bare chest again. Her body was cooling down from the amped encounter with the fallen royal and she was starting to shake. Her pains became more and more apparent, starting first with a tingling heat from the spot on her collar and then moving down to the worst of her injuries; the scorching mark on her stomach. The white shirt she wore was torn there and she peered nervously down at the angry red burn that was threatening to blister. The girl was more mad than anything, for a set of injuries meant she now had that much harder a time escaping from the wretched place she was in.

But that's alright, she thought determinedly, I'll work through this just the same.

Daisy knew there was a score of other, less serious cuts and bruises on herself but she paid them no mind at the moment. She instead sat with as much grace as she could muster next to the same wall the doorway was along, adjacent to the king's favored stoop, and glanced at the child next to her. Junior had the plate of food in his lap now and had an unreadable expression on his face. After a terse moment, he gripped the plate and offered it to her.

"I think it got cold." He murmured quietly.

Daisy took the meal gratefully and set it in her own lap, then eyed the king. He was already watching her and his son interact and, like Junior, his expression was hard to place. Bowser leaned on the adjacent wall and the girl saw, with a small indulgent smile of victory, that there was a smear under his nose, as if there was once a line of blood there that he haphazardly wiped away. Knowing that she'd managed to hurt her gave her a feeling of vindication, like in some tiny way there was a bit of justice in the world.

"You want me to bring you some more?" Came a babyish voice.

Daisy frowned and said to Junior, "What?"

"Food." The boy spoke softly. "I can bring you some food that is hot if you want me to."

Daisy shook her head and picked up the fork that was on the plate with trembling fingers. The fear had left her, it was the adrenaline that had her lit up. She took long breaths subtly to slow her racing heart and ate in silence. The king watched.

As he was wont to do as of late, Ludwig came into the room and when he did, he slammed open the door so that it banged against the opposite wall. Junior winced and scooted closer to Daisy. She unconsciously put an arm around him and eyed the navy-haired twenty year old.

"I need to talk to you." She stated firmly.

Ludwig was accompanied by a squat figure in a dragging red robe. It looked to her like an old man. She didn't stare long at him because her focus was on the self-proclaimed King of the Badlands. Leaving Junior and her food, Daisy stifled her pain and stood as confidently as she could and made even strides towards the younger male. Ludwig made his face appear neutral and handed something to the short man with him.

"Make this quick." The young sorcerer said abruptly.

Both Daisy and the other man thought he was talking to them and went about their tasks with differing degrees of haste.

"Outside." Daisy stated coldly, heading to the door without looking back for a reaction.

Ludwig just sighed and followed her, momentarily dropping the ward so that she could pass through to the hallway. Once there, Daisy turned to face him with an accusatory glare.

"What is it?" Ludwig asked testily.

"Where do I even start?" Daisy hissed in a quiet, fuming voice.

"Preferably the beginning."

"Shut up." She snapped, crossing her arms. "I'm sick of your stupid attitude. You don't have a right to be impatient, it's not like you've brought your sorry behind down here since you last left me to suffer."

Ludwig rolled his eyes but kept silent.

Daisy said, "I'm only telling you this because what affects you, indirectly affects the rest of the world: Bowser has his powers back."

"Impossible." Ludwig dismissed at once.

"I'm not lying." Daisy frowned. "He's using that necklace he's got to...stop looking at me like that!"

"Like what?"

"Like you don't believe me!"

"I don't." Ludwig drawled. "Do you hear yourself?"

"It's the truth!" Daisy shouted.

Her shout reached the ears of a certain Dark King back in the room. Bowser was leaning on the wall, offering his arm to the short Fawcet Fulsom. The bald magician had a syringe stuck in the king's forearm and was drawing crimson blood into the glass container. While he did so, he spoke to the denounced royal.

"Everything is in place, Your Majesty." Fawcet chittered lowly. "It won't be long now."

"Excellent." Bowser smirked, though that smirk was due in large part to the impassioned choice words that were coming through the closed door.

"Enough," Ludwig cut in after being called just about every foul name under the sun.

"Even if I did believe you," He stated tightly, "Why can't I pick up on anything? If the old bastard's managed to store as much power as you claim he has in his medallion, I'd be able to sense the magic from a mile away."

"Maybe not." Daisy scowled, "Maybe you're not as perceptive as you think you are."

And that was the wrong thing to say because now Ludwig seemed to shut down; he didn't look apt on hearing anything else she had to say.

Daisy said in frustration, "Do you think I'd make this up?"

Ludwig quirked a brow and opened his mouth but Daisy waved her hand to stave off any condescending words.

"Don't answer that," She said on second thought. "I'm not lying. Bowser has his powers, he used them on me. Look."

When the girl lifted up her shirt, unabashed, something inside Ludwig stirred, something feral and uncontrollable and something that he couldn't wait to get rid of. He gazed down at the nasty welting area on her stomach and paused.

"Now do you see?" Daisy asked, lowering her torn shirt and calming a bit.

She thought that he'd see reason now that there was viable proof of her claims. But this was Ludwig and he was at an all time low and not him but the crazy started speaking next.

"...My aren't we creative." He hummed.

Daisy faltered, then felt her knuckles itch for a taste of his face. She'd never been more irritated with a person, save the Dark King. She felt the heat reach her face in a fraction of a second.

"You think I did this to myself?" She asked, her voice soft with disbelief.

Ludwig said, "I wouldn't put it past you. You've been uncooperative from the start-"

"Stop. Stop talking." Daisy ordered.

She was starting to shake again, with barely-bridled agitation. She took one slow breath and tried one last time to get through to him.

"He attacked me." She said slowly, "He put his hands on me and gave me that burn, he used fire from his hands. If this isn't enough proof for you then maybe you're just as psychotic as he is."

Ludwig was quiet for a second, then reached forward and laid an open palm against her burn mark. Daisy flinched and stepped back but his hold on her elbow kept her in place.

"Be still." Ludwig grunted as he sent a pool of blue energy to his hand.

Daisy felt cool relief as he made the newborn welts and damaged skin repair itself until smooth, slightly pink skin remained. He moved his fingers to the burn on her collar and did the same thing.

"Happy now?" Ludwig asked curtly.

Daisy rolled her eyes and said, "Unless you take his medallion, all you've done is made room for him to burn me again."

Ludwig again seemed to think about something and Daisy hoped fervently that he was considering her words. Much to her surprise and long-awaited satisfaction, he brushed past her and went back in the room, then held out his hand in front of Bowser. The magician in the red robes removed the needle from Bowser's skin and stepped aside, then plucked his fat finger against the syringe to rid it of air bubbles while Ludwig tapped his foot.

"Give me the medallion." He demanded.

Bowser had his eyes on Daisy and she felt her stomach twist in knots. He smirked broadly and took off his chain without so much as a heated word in response.

"Of course," The Dark King spoke agreeably.

When he handed over his medallion, Ludwig glanced at Daisy as if to say again, 'happy now?'. She wasn't. Not when the king was still wearing that smug smirk. She didn't feel any safer now than she had before. Something just wasn't right.

Here I thought I'd made some kind of headway, the girl thought in the hall. I figured that if he didn't have that chain, he would be powerless, but now I'm not so sure. Damn him.

Daisy didn't know whether the king was really a step ahead of her or was pretending to be to psych her out. She hated that he still had the power to intimidate her with just a look or expression. She balled her fists and Ludwig frowned.

"Now what?" He asked her.

Daisy couldn't say anything; what could she say? She'd told Ludwig about the medallion and, shockingly, he'd humored her and took it away. What was there left for him to do?

He could let me go, she thought futilely, but she knew there wasn't a fat chance of that happening.

Ludwig shook his head and said to his fellow magician, "Come on. Let's get this over with."

Daisy let him push her gently by the small of her back into the room again, but this time she hesitated before her foot could cross the precipice.

"Wait," She suddenly said, "Can't you do a spell or something? To keep him from touching me?"

Ludwig rolled his eyes and said, "I could, but not right now. I don't have time. I'll do it when I come back."

"You mean after you've returned his subconscious?" She spat viciously.

After it's too late. After he's been completely reverted to the raging, homicidal sexual predator. Gee, thanks, she thought with narrowed light eyes.

Ludwig said without compassion, "He can't hurt you. He doesn't have his powers; I do."

Neither one of them knew it, but both Daisy and the Dark King expressed the same thought at the same time:

That's what you think

The girl watched despondently as Ludwig left the room with the old man behind him. Only, something strange happened. The old magician couldn't pass through the door. It was strange to Daisy because he was acting just like she did when she was trying to escape; the magician was blocked in.

As if just noticing the vial in his hand, the magician said, 'Oh' and shook his head at it. Daisy's brow furrowed in confusion.

That's Bowser's blood, she thought, I saw him drawing it.

The magician did another odd thing and started digging through his robe. From the folds of his garment he pulled what looked like a piece of string. The man popped the cap off the syringe and dropped the string inside, making the blood turn blue momentarily and then shimmer before returning to its original red hue. Now the magician was able to pass through the door, and no sooner had he done so did Ludwig shout for him impatiently from down the hall.

"Coming!" The short man called as he hurried after the younger sorcerer.

Daisy had an epiphany.

A/N: Short, I know. I almost didn't post this but I'm just doing it once again to let you guys know I haven't keeled over and died or anything. I'm still here. I'm still gonna see this story through. Just be patient please, and most of all...

Review :)

Review early, review often, haha. Seriously, though, I appreciate all your comments and thoughts, can't say it enough. It's a give and take thing between writers and readers; your reviews encourage me to keep on writing, so don't be stingy now! Haha, I'm done messing with you guys.

I'll try to get another chapter up by tomorrow but no promises. Life is hard. I have a kitten that's been foisted on me; he's been abused so I had to take him in, it was a moral obligation/responsibility. Yeah, I could have taken him to a shelter but I had haunting images of them putting him down and just tossing him aside somewhere and it broke my heart. Plus, kittens and babies get along better than I thought so that's a plus.

Anyway, stay tuned for more people! As always, I'll see you all next time. Until then...

~DymondGold~