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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 Fifty-Nine

I knew something was bothering her but she just refused to tell me. I'd already asked her twice if she wanted to talk to me and both times she'd snubbed my request. So I figured it'd be best to focus on the task at hand and pretend like her unease wasn't bothering me in the least. It would unconsciously bait her into telling me what was on her mind. I mean, I hoped it'd work out that way.

I hate seeing her upset, I thought, and the expression on her face was a cross between freaked-out and confused with some frustration hiding in the background. I knew I'd resolved to leave her alone, but after a few more minutes of folding clothes, I couldn't take her silence anymore.

"If you want, we can stop." I suggested vaguely.

Daisy gazed up from a shirt she'd been folding and quirked a brow. We'd come up to my apartment after my talk with the landlord and immediately started packing. Right now all our clothes were dumped on the bed and we had to put them away in suitcases. The hardest part was picking which ones we wanted to take, seeing as how they all weren't coming with us; it wouldn't be necessary. Just a few outfits would do.

"What do you mean?" Daisy asked me.

I said, "I know folding clothes can be a pain. We can stop, if you want to. Or is there another reason you're so distracted?"

She rolled her eyes but smiled faintly. "That's very clever, Luigi. And to answer you, yes, there's another reason."

The girl was playing coy now, she had her head down over the shirt she was folding so as to hide her struggled against a very pretty smile. I swatted at her hands with the garment I was holding and made her look at me.

"You gonna' tell me the reason?" I prompted.

She smiled fully and then held her head high. "As a matter of fact, I will."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Daisy," I mock-pleaded, "Come on."

She gazed at me with her hands on her hip and a balled up shirt in one of them. I crossed the bed over to her and took her hands in mine, making her drop the thing. She moved her hands to circle my neck and I dipped my head down towards hers.

"Talk to me." I coaxed.

She worried her lip for a second and I kissed is gently. She seemed more eager to kiss me back than to give me an answer and I just shrugged inside and took what I could get. Before we could even get too serious, she flinched and gripped my shoulders. I met her eyes and saw the stricken look in them.

"What?" I asked her.

I turned to where she was staring and saw two big emerald eyes peeping through the door. Once caught, the child disappeared with his navy and black-streaked hair brushing the doorway after him. Daisy let me go and sank down onto the bed, visibly shaken. She took a breath and gestured to the door.

"See?" She stated, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about, I just didn't know how to put it. But now you've seen it for yourself."

"What exactly did I see?" I asked, coming to sit next to her.

Daisy said in a low voice, "The kid gives me the creeps. He's always watching me."

"He likes you," I told her.

Daisy gave me a flat look and said, "He doesn't even know me, Luigi. I've never seen him before and yet he stares at me just like..."

Daisy turned to sit fully on the bed and tucked one leg underneath her. She wrung her hands and that's when I could tell she was nervous. The girl gazed at me through troubled light eyes.

"I've been thinking about the clone." She imparted. "And some things are starting to...add up."

"Like?" I encouraged her to continue.

Daisy glanced to the side and said, "When I was with the Dark King, he only had a little of his subconscious mind back."

"...What?" I frowned.

Daisy's eyes widened and she said, "Oh right, you don't know. Um. I'll put it this way; Ludwig split the Dark King's mind up by accident."

"Yeah, King Boo told me," I let her know.

She nodded and said, "Well, when Ludwig made this clone, I think he was giving himself a third option."

"For what?"

"A third option of where to put the subconscious mind." Daisy explained. "He couldn't keep it, because it would kill him, and he couldn't return it to Bowser, because that would've just been the icing on the cake that spelled out, 'Fuck You' to me, who was stuck in a room with him."

I blinked at Daisy's wording and she shook her head apologetically, but didn't look at all sorry for saying what she did. I didn't blame her. If King Boo was right and Bowser's subconscious held his 'urges' and 'desires', then Daisy would have been screwed.

Not the best term I could've used, I noted in hindsight.

Daisy said. "Anyway, with a clone, it's like the subconscious is still in the same person since the child has the same DNA as Ludwig."

I frowned and asked, "So what you're saying is that the kid has someone else's subconscious inside him?"

"Yes."

"Whose?" I asked, "Bowser or Ludwig's?"

"Bowser's," Daisy shuddered, "But due to the nature of the process, he could have a little of Ludwig's, too. I'm not sure. This is all conjecture, really."

I could tell the 'conjecture' was seriously freaking her out, though. I reached forward and tucked her hair behind her ear. I knew it would calm her.

"What makes you think this?" I then asked.

She took a breath and said, "The last time we talked with Ludwig, he was focused and alert. If it weren't for his guilt being heavier than I'd expected, Peasley's plan wouldn't have worked at all."

"Okay," I responded. "So how does that fit in with your theory?"

"When he had Bowser's subconscious," Daisy elaborated, "he was crazy and off-the-wall and incredibly paranoid. Now that he isn't, I just know he's separated the subconscious; it could be with Bowser..."

"Or it could be with the clone," I finished for her. "Wow. That is pretty weird."

Daisy glanced down at her hands and paused for a moment. Something in her began to ease down. When she looked up at me, she didn't seem so tense.

"He's only a baby; just five or six." She estimated. "Even if the subconscious was with him, the urges and desires wouldn't manifest in much the same way as they would in someone like Bowser or Ludwig, for...obvious reasons."

I understood that those reasons were something along the lines of the kid being innocent and ignorant of all the filthy things that would permeate a mind like the Dark King's.

"He's only expressed excitement around you," I told her, thinking it'd help in some way.

Daisy nodded, her fears allayed, saying, "I guess that'd be about right. That would explain why he won't stop staring at me."

"It's still weird." I admitted. "But this situation is only temporary; once we get to the Mushroom World, we'll hand him back over to King Boo or Peasley."

"Yes, you're right." Daisy nodded again. "I'm glad I talked to you. In my head this all sounded crazy."

"It's not crazy." I told her, then mused a bit and said, "Our life is crazy, though."

I took her hands and kissed them and then kissed her cherry lips. She was done worrying, I think, so I guess it was alright for me to take a shower. I just figured that if there was a way I could help her, I wouldn't stop trying until I succeeded.

Talking to Luigi had changed the way she looked at the situation; she no longer saw the clone as a creepy little spawn of her enemy but as a child.

Just a child, she thought. He didn't ask to be born..er, to be brought into existence. He probably doesn't even know what's going on.

Her sympathy for the child grew the more she sat on the bed and thought about the situation. She didn't know all the details, but the child had come into this world with Ludwig as his guide. That alone was cause for pity.

He probably locked him in a room somewhere, she guessed with augmenting scorn for the navy-haired sorcerer. Not only that, but the child was being hunted by the infamous Dark King who had plans to kill him.

Just born and already someone wants him dead, Daisy sighed. That's rough. In retrospect, all his stares that she'd previously dubbed 'creepy' or 'inappropriate' now just seemed like expressions of childish affection or adoration. Her own cynical mind had pegged him as a pint-sized pervert with the Dark King's intentions when that wasn't even the case.

Like I said, those urges are primal and would only drive the child to be closer to me, She guessed, since she had no formal training with things of the mind and how the id worked. She stood and strode into the next room. It was getting late and she wasn't surprised to find the boy curled up on the sofa that served as his bed last night.

His emerald eyes perked when he saw her and he sat up. His hair hung on either side of his face like a blanket, which reminded her to fetch him one from the hall closet, along with a pillow from Luigi's bed. She returned to the couch and tucked him in. He was so quiet. The whole time, he seemed content and pleased, but not lasciviously so. He laid his little head on the pillow and blinked owlishly up at her.

She'd sorely misjudged him.

When I got out the shower, I saw Daisy sitting crouched near the couch where the child lay sleeping. She gazed over at me and stood, then took my place in the bathroom. While she took her shower, I cleaned off the bed. I noticed the girl had packed all the clothes she was willing to bring, so I finished off my suitcase and folded up the rest. By the time I was done putting them away back into my dresser and the closet, Daisy had finished.

She walked into the bedroom in some shorts and a t-shirt of mine and climbed into bed. I got in after her and turned onto my side. She and I lay facing each other for a while, not speaking, just looking at each other. I blinked. She smiled. I brushed my knuckles against her cheek and she took my hand and kissed them.

"I missed you." She told me.

She moved over and I wrapped my arms around her. Our positions changed so that her body was flush against mine with her back to my chest. I leaned my head over her shoulder and kissed her jaw.

"I missed you, too." I told her. "You have no idea how much."

Daisy tilted her head and I kissed her full on. Her lips were soft, smooth, pliant, and sweet under mine. Though I was pretty tired from running around all day, I spared no amount of passion when I embraced her. I never wanted to be apart from her anymore and if losing her taught me anything, it was not to take these moments for granted.

"When I found out Ludwig took you I nearly lost my mind," I told her quietly.

I heard her say softly in reply, "Me too."

"You did better than me." I smirked, "When I went against him, he nearly killed me."

"What?" Daisy frowned, turning her head. "He attacked you?"

"...More or less," I answered evasively. "It's in the past."

"Right." Daisy relaxed. "But that doesn't mean I'll ever forget what he's done."

"I wouldn't expect you to." I murmured. "But be careful."

"With what?" She asked.

"Hating another only poisons your soul." I quoted sagely.

Daisy smiled and held my arms around herself even tighter. She lolled her head backwards and smiled at me with those beautiful light eyes shining.

"You're so good, Luigi." She told me. "I love you."

I told her the same and let a kiss emphasize the fact.

We talked a little more after that, but in truth we were both really weary and were asleep before the hour was out.

A/N: Another chapter, this one short. This was supposed to have more to it but I had to cut it short because I feel like a sopping sack of sickness over here.

I'll see about updating some more and I'm sorry in advance for the wait that's coming. Tell me your thoughts and comments in a review, please! I'd love to hear some great and interesting things right about now.

Until next time!

~DymondGold~