Chapter 25 Disgruntled Daisy

Daisy blinked and pulled away from Mario. Mario in question squirmed a little, afraid of how she would react. His mind raced through the different possibilities as he stared into the face of the taken-aback Sarasalandian princess. He almost wanted to turn away. He almost wanted to tell her that he was just kidding. He didn't though. What he said was the truth, and he needed to stand firm because of that.

After a minute passed, Daisy snorted. She covered her mouth with her hand, trying to prevent herself from bursting into laughter. Mario began sweating as he watched her, not knowing what was the most appropriate response. She laughed for the better part of a minute before pulling herself together and elbowing Mario.

"Be serious, Lou."

"I am being serious." Mario stared right into her eyes, acutely aware of the fact that convincing her of the truth was going to be a major challenge. "I'm Mario. Luigi made a wish on a shooting star a few nights ago, and the wish caused us to switch bodies."

Daisy snickered, shaking her head as she did. "Riiight…" she smiled at Mario, the expression disbelieving but also profoundly amused. "You know Weegee, I never expected you to have such a backwards sense of humor."

Mario resisted the urge to groan in frustration. Sure, did he expect a reaction like this? On some level. After all. Body swapping wasn't a phenomenon that occurred everyday (perhaps if it was, he and Luigi wouldn't have needed to go through all the stress they went through over the past few days). But even though that was the case, and Mario did understand the perspective from which Daisy was coming from, that didn't make his mood nor the current situation anymore bearable. He wished there was something he could do to fully convince her. He wished that there was a secret that only the two of them shared, that there was an inside joke only the two of them would get.

Unfortunately, there wasn't. Needless to say, this left Mario stuck in an interesting position. Without any of those options available to him, all he could do was reaffirm the truth and hope to Heaven that Daisy decided to believe him.

"I'm not joking! I promise you I'm not! Luigi is me, and I'm Luigi!" His brow furrowed. "I would have told you earlier, but…." he shook his head. "The point is, I needed to tell you now. Luigi and I are getting ever so close to figuring out how to reverse the swap, so there's little point to keeping up the charade any further."

Daisy stared at him. Her mouth opened, as if she was about to object. Before she could, she closed it. Mario could see the gears turning in her head. A lot of different emotions also flashed across her face, all of them negative. There was fear. Oh, Mario could see a little bit of alarm and disbelief too. And…anger. Oh man, Mario had actually been worrying about that particular emotion popping up.

"How long have you been like this?" Daisy finally asked.

Mario breathed a sigh of relief. She believed him. She actually, legitimately believe him. Sure, she wasn't welcoming this new revelation with open arms, but Mario had expected that. All he needed to do now was explain the situation as best he could.

"We've been swapped for about three days at this point," he told the princess.

Daisy's jaw dropped. "Three days?" Her brow scrunched up. "Wait. If you've been like this for three days…" she gasped. "Then…it was you who I went on the date with?!"

"Unfortunately," Mario replied, his shoulders slumping as he did.

Daisy did a double take, backing away from Mario as if he were a hungry monster. "So…wait, was it even Luigi who had asked me out the first time? Or was it…"

"No, it was Luigi," Mario said, thankful to see the anger in her eyes clear away when he told her this. "He managed to muster up the courage himself." Mario smiled a little. "Something I'm actually really proud of him for."

Daisy directed her gaze down at the ground. "This…." she paused, allowing both of them to stew in the suspense created by the silence. "This is unbelievable…"

"I know." Mario approached her. He didn't touch her, nor did he take her hand. He just stood close enough so that he was an anchor of some sort to the real world amidst all the different, very potent and very confusing thoughts zipping through her mind. "I know it's difficult to wrap your head around. I can tell you that from experience."

Daisy lifted her head, now looking into Mario's eyes with a questioning look. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Mario froze. "Uh…" he cleared his throat. "It's complicated."

"Complicated?" Daisy said, practically yelling out the word. "So you thought it was a better idea to trick me and lie to me, taking me out on what I thought was a date with Luigi instead of actually being honest with me."

"I didn't want to trick you!" Mario protested. His shoulders slumped. "But…I guess, if you look at things from a certain angle…"

Daisy sharply exhaled. "Unbelievable." She shook her head, almost looking like she was going to strangle him. "That is unbelievable." She stood still for a minute before looking Mario in the eye; glaring into his eyes as a matter of fact. "Well, don't just stand there! I want to talk with the real Luigi!"

Mario nodded. "Understandable." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his brother's phone, typing in the message that he wished he had sent out earlier.

Luigi, E Gadd and I found the answer to our problem. Come meet me in front of the Toad Town Library and we'll tell you all about it.

Not even five seconds passed before Mario got his answer. That's great! I'll be right there!

Mario nodded at the message, put the phone back in his pocket, and looked back at Daisy. "Well, we should get back to Toad Town so we can meet up with Luigi." He held out his hand, prepared to take Daisy's so that he could escort her in a way deserving of royalty. However, she batted his hand away before he could.

"Don't touch me," she said, almost with a growling voice.

"Sorry." Mario put his hand in his pocket and hung his head. "I'll just…I guess I'll just lead the way."

Thirty minutes later, Daisy and Mario stood outside the Toad Town Library, with E Gadd standing between them. The Professor kept darting his gaze back and forth between the two of them (Mario had already told him that Daisy knew). He looked like he wanted to slice through the thick atmosphere and create a conversation that would bring all three of their spirits up.

"So…" E Gadd tapped his foot before putting on a smile. "Have you two seen that baseball game recently? I tell you, Iced T. is the best player to ever come out of the Mushroom Kingdom…"

"You told him before you told me?" Daisy asked, once again glaring at Mario.

Mario looked between E Gadd and Daisy. "Um…well yes but…"

Daisy shook her head again. "Well. Don't I feel special."

Mario felt a pang. "Daisy, I'm really sorry. Look, these past few days have been really crazy; half the time, even I didn't know what was the best thing to do!"

"Yeah, cut the man some slack, you highness!" E Gadd piped in. "Body swapping is a confusing ordeal for anyone involved."

"I know…" Daisy's voice trailed off, ending her sentence on a note that sounded sad more than anything else.

Mario bit his lip. "Look, Daisy, the reason I didn't tell you on the date was because I thought Luigi and I were going to swap back the next day. I thought that us living each other's lives for the day would allow us to resume them without any trouble."

Daisy's form relaxed a little, but the anger was still present. "Hmph."

Mario felt another pang at her tone and exclamation. "Okay, okay. I'm really sorry. It was wrong not to tell you."

"But," E Gadd chimed in, "if you had never found out, there wouldn't have been any inconvenience. In fact, I do believe Peach herself hasn't found out…"

"I'm sorry, did I ask you?" Daisy said, now directing her glare toward E Gadd.

The Professor backed up. "Sorry. I…I apologize, your highness…"

Daisy nodded and redirected her gaze away a second time. After a minute, she finally spoke up. "I understand why you wanted to keep it a secret, Mario. But…" Mario was surprised to hear her voice break a little bit. "The last few days have been really special for me. I got to get some quality time with who I thought was Luigi. I felt like the happiest girl in the world, being there by his side. To hear that it was you…" she looked back at him, mist showing in her eyes. "I don't even know what to think about that. I…I feel all sorts of things at this moment, but…I don't think any of them are necessarily appropriate."

Mario frowned. Without much thought, he took a step toward her. "You…you really do care about Luigi, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Daisy exclaimed. "I would have made the first move myself, but…well, you know, girls don't typically make the first move…"

Mario nodded, completely understanding what she was saying (in fact, that little factoid, of him needing to be the one to make the first move, was part of the reason why he had been so scared to approach Peach). "Well, it really was Luigi who asked you. I had nothing to do with it."

Daisy sighed. "I know…"

Mario bit his lip again. He turned his gaze back toward the ground, almost completely zoning out the other two's presence as he retreated back into his own head. After a minute, a question for Daisy popped into his mind.

"Do you…do you wish I didn't tell you?"

"Yes," Daisy said, not skipping a beat. "Yes, I do. I think it would have been nice to believe it was Luigi I was with…"

Mario nodded. "That's understandable." He scratched the back of his head. "It's just…well, the only reason I told you was because of the kiss. I just…I don't think I would feel comfortable knowing that I shared a kiss with my brother's girlfriend."

For the first time since telling her, Daisy's expression actually softened a little bit. She didn't smile, of course, but she did look noticeably more comfortable and less angry.

"Well…I guess I can't blame you for that."

Mario smiled. "Thanks, Daisy."

Right at that moment, Mario heard heavy breathing coming from up the road. All three of them turned and saw Luigi, running up to them. When he saw Daisy, he froze.

"Daisy?" He scratched the back of his head. "What…what are you doing…"

Before he could finish his sentence, Daisy went up and wrapped him in a hug. Luigi blinked quite a few times, looking like he wanted to pull out of her embrace but also looking like he was on top of the world.

"Daisy…" he hesitated. "Pretty...pretty unusual for you to be doing this…"

"It's okay, Lou." Daisy pulled out of the hug. "I know. Mario told me."

Luigi's eyes grew wide. "R…really?" He looked over at his brother. "Bro…why?"

Mario waved his hand. "That's not important right now," he said, dismissing the question for what he hoped would be a while (best case scenario forever). "The point is that E Gadd and I know what swapped us."

Luigi smiled. He went up over to his brother and the Professor. "Well, what is it?"

E Gadd, with the speed of a cheetah, pulled the Ancient Mushroomian Legends book out and flipped to the section he had read to Mario. "Fortune's Comet. A prankster comet that passes through the Mushroom World sky once every hundred years. This comet has the power to grant any wish that a person makes on it."

Luigi's eyes grew wide. "Oh my word…!" He broke out into a smile. "That's it! It was a shooting star that swapped us in the first place…" his face fell. "But…wait. You said it only shows up every hundred years…" his tone escalated the longer he talked.

Mario held up his hand. "Don't worry Luigi, I have a fix for that. Rosalina is at the Castle. I'll ask her to take us up into space to meet a luma who can change the course of the Prankster Comets."

"Oh!" Luigi smiled. "That's great; perfect even!" He began bouncing up and down, looking like a joyful, energetic child. "Finally, we have a way to reverse this mess!" He smiled at Daisy. "And let me tell you Daisy. As soon as I'm me again, I'm gonna treat you like the Princess you are." He grinned. "Maybe even better." He winked.

This actually caused Daisy to blush. "Well. That would be nice."

Luigi laughed and turned back to Mario. "Well bro, let's not waste anymore time. Let's go to Rosalina right now so she can…"

"Mario! Luigi!"

Both plumbers blinked. They looked down the path to see Rosalina floating up to them. Her posture, her body language, her face…everything about her looked scared and overwhelmed.

"Rosalina!" Mario exclaimed once she was close enough. "We were just talking about you."

Luigi approached her, looking just as scared as she did. "Is..is everything okay?"

"No! No, it's not." Rosalina's eyes were wider than a star. "Peach has been kidnapped!"