Soon after Kamek's kind words, the two had left her room for rehearsal. The elderly koopa had teleported the two backstage with an obnoxious puff of smoke, finding themselves surrounded by the stage workers messing with the lighting systems and other props.

Unlike the rest of the opera house, the stage was made out of a polished dark wood with obsidian pillars resting on each side of the large platform. The pillars were engraved with some sort of crest, but it had been scratched out to a point where it was nearly impossible to make out.

Peach furrowed her brow as she noticed the out-of-place vandalism.

She hummed in curiosity as she ran her fingers across the indents and gashes painted on the stone. The large pillar was cold and rough to the touch, especially from the abuse. The cuts ran far deeper than she would have imagined. What were they trying to erase?

Peach's eyes turned towards her bare hand as it rested in its center. She pulled her hand away and observed the single ring that rested on her hand, eyeing it with mixed emotions.

It was a simple, ashy-black band that was the perfect fit for her finger. The dark color clashed with her pale hands and caused many greedy Koopas to sneak a glance at the shining jewel in its center. The gem was a large, sparkling ruby with an elegant golden pattern of roses surrounding the expensive piece of jewelry.

The inside of the ring, though hidden while being worn, was engraved. In the fanciest font Peach had ever seen, it read,

To my darling Peachy.

Though Peach had initially viewed the gift as some sort of expensive tool in winning her heart from a secret admirer, the man had never shown himself. In fact, no one had even come forward to even claim that it was from them. She had always had plenty of wealthy suitors throughout her life, but none of them had even recognized the ring.

It was odd for someone to pour so much money into a gift without coming forward. She had assumed, at first, that it could have been a mixup, seeing as it was Christmas at the time and gifts were bound to get shuffled. Yet, seeing the words on the inside proved otherwise.

After a few months of the ring sitting on her nightstand, she began wearing it in hopes of her admirer coming forward so she could thank him properly. And, over time, she began always wearing it out of both guilt and curiosity. In fact, it rarely ever left her finger as she came to appreciate it.

Eventually, her admirer had started almost always leaving a letter on her nightstand for three years. Occasionally, he would miss the unspoken schedule and send the note late with an apology. The letters almost always consisted of kind and detailed confessions, or comments on her hobbies and activities.

They were often so lovely and compassionate that Peach couldn't find herself able to part with them. So, instead, she had kept them all. Locked away from her father, of course.

At times, she would leave a note of her own in its place on her night stand for him to receive. How his notes had reached her house, and how he got hers, she had no idea. To most women, the idea of a strange admirer knowing of your location might be a red flag, but Peach felt no danger of the man knowing of her house at the time. The two actively held kind conversations, many of which Peach looked forward to.

At times, she would even stay up, hoping to meet her faceless friend properly. Yet, she would always inevitably fall asleep and wake up to the note in its usual place, sometimes with a small gift.

Their exchange had started monthly, but quickly became weekly, and eventually became an almost-nightly exchange for several years to a point where she had considered him a friend.

Yet, the notes had abruptly ended two years ago. Without a sign, years went by without him. She had always silently hoped that wearing the ring would signal him to come back, but she had quickly assumed he had forgotten.

Peach frowned as her thoughts had wandered far too much.

Pulling her hand back to her side, she looked upwards, desperate to change her mind's focus.

The pillars held up the impressive loft above. An occasional stagehand could be seen skipping across its bridges as they hopped down the stairs to the main floor. A Koopatroopa with a bright green shell nervously rushed past Peach as he wiped his brow. Had he done something just in time?

Peach stood in amusement before, suddenly, all of the chattering and sliding of props had slowly faded. She stood awkwardly as she gazed at each of the Koopas, trying to analyze why all of the chaos had stopped.

As if on cue, a large boom of music echoed through the backstage. Peach nearly yelped, but composed herself as she sighed. The Koopas began moving again, though quieter and the chattering had come to a complete stop.

The music continued booming and drained out any outside sounds; practice had begun.

Peach headed to the right side of the stage's entrance to sneak in some views of what it was like to perform on such a large stage. She gently grabbed the curtain's velvety fabric and peaked through the crack, the bright lights nearly blinding her.

She used her other hand to shield her eyes before they finally focused and rested on the two actors' silhouettes facing one another.

Two humans could be seen singing and performing on stage, which caught Peach off guard. Humans?

The acoustics of the large stage allowed their voices to reach what seemed to be everywhere! Their voices were so powerful that it had even overshadowed the orchestra. She wouldn't' be surprised if she could hear the singing from the other side of the opera house.

A tall woman sang towards a shorter man. Her voice was modern and seductive while the other actor's was quite deep and kind. The woman's lyrics seemed to be devious and of betrayal, while the man sung of his loyalty.

Peach sighed as she wished she had read more of the script to understand what scene was going on, let alone what was even going on in the scene itself! She knew very little of the plot, but knew it was not a happy story. But, even with very little information, she felt entranced by the two singing to one another.

Would she really be of any use in this rehearsal if she didn't know anything?

She gazed over her shoulder to ask Kamek a question or two about the scene, but noticed that he had likely teleported away to who knows where. It seemed that him ditching any responsibility as soon as he could was a common occurrence. How long had she been alone?

With a slight hum of annoyance, she turned on her heels to observe the scene once again and hopefully find the information on her own. She slightly parted the curtains again as she peaked her head through the opening.

However, instead of watching the scene, she instead bumped into the chest of the actor who had just been on stage. She stumbled backwards with a gentle 'oof' before the man grabbed her hand before she stumbled too far.

"Oh! I am so sorry!" He called out in a thick Italian accent. He frowned. "Are you feeling alright?"

Peach caught her balance as she stood up straight and examined her company. He was a relatively short man, standing a foot below herself, with a deep maroon suit. A golden crown sat on his head, though she doubted it was real.

His costume suggested he was a royal character of sorts.

Peach sighed as she realized she had ignored him. She flashed a small smile as she gave an understanding nod to his apology. "You were wonderful out there."

She could make out a slight amount of pigment creeping onto his cheeks from the compliment. He gave a small, flustered laugh. He clearly hadn't expected words of kindness.

"Thank you!" He smiled while composing himself. "But I would have to disagree. Pauline is always the star, I would say." As if on cue, the taller woman pushed through the curtains, pausing as she saw the two. "It's hard to outshine her."

Pauline pushed her hair over her shoulder before standing besides the fellow actor. She cleared her throat as she noticed Mario still grabbing onto Peach's hand from her stumble, which he released instantly with an embarrassed smile.

She wore a large red dress with black lace lining the edges. Expensive-looking jewelry sat along her neck, at the ridge of her costume. Once again, she doubted much of it was real, seeing as those in the Dark Lands weren't exactly the type to spend so much money on jewelry, especially for a costume.

The stranger rolled her eyes in amusement at her friend's reaction. "Hey there. I'm assuming you're the newbie?" Her voice was smooth and mature. "Glad to see Kamek has someone else to pick on. I'm Pauline," she stated kindly before nuding her friend in the ribs. "This is Mario."

Peach smiled politely as Mario's face rushed with color at the awkward introduction.

Mario scratched the back of his head while Peach smiled politely.

In her rehearsed, polite tone, Peach responded. "Yes, that's me. I hope I'll be of good use for you all." Her gaze turned back to Pauline. "Was my father playing at all? The Orchestra sounded lovely."

The two nodded.

"Yep! He is still learning the music, but he seems to have quickly found his place," Mario added. "I'm sure you'll follow suit."

Peach's smile grew at the word of her father's praise. Had he really adapted so quickly?

"I hope so, but I haven't learned much of the script," she muttered with a bit of shame. "I was only given it earlier today, so I hope it isn't too much trouble."

In fact, she barely knew of what the play was about! She had managed to show up to practice, thankfully, but Kamek had given her little to even look over the script. And, with her ghost's intervention, she had barely read the first page, let alone understood her role.

"Not at all," Pauline stated casually. "Or, it isn't for us. Kamek might bother you about it, but he'll do that regardless. Don't beat yourself up about it."

Mario nodded as he placed his hands on his hips.

"Yes, we have been rehearsing for a few months. We can wait a few more for you to catch up. It's only fair." His words were warm and endearing before he continued in his upbeat tone. "Now, why don't you sing something for us? I would hate for you to come to rehearsal just to watch."

Peach was slightly overwhelmed from the reassuring kindness, but froze at the mention at performing. She knew she would have to eventually, but so suddenly and, well, not being prepared at all, left her anxious. What would she sing?

Peach fiddled with her ring before parting her lips. She was never a shy woman, but her nerves suddenly made her words come out quite hushed.

"Are you sure? I don't think-"

"You don't need to think. C'mon," Pauline teased with a smirk before grabbing Peach's hand and practically pulling her through the curtains. Mario observed the two worryingly and raised his hand to object, clearly concerned about Peach's doubt, but remained in place. Pauline, on the other hand, was determined to show the world what Peach could do. Or, what she assumed she could do. "Now's your time to shine."

Ludwig sat idly on the darkest area of the loft above. He gently kicked his feet as they hung off the metallic surface. While he was supposed to be keeping an eye on the human's intentions, he was far more entertained by the mishaps of the stagehands.

A tiny goomba carried a large can of red paint on its head, moving towards the part of the stage where they were working on the impressive props. He wobbled towards the group of Koopas steadily while the liquid rippled.

Ludwig chuckled to himself, knowing how this was going to end before it had even started.

The small goomba visibly sighed as he made it to the group, before a larger Koopa brushed past the worker and knocked the can straight onto the floor. Red paint splattered all around the props and on the shoes of the Koopas.

Ludwig cringed as they opened their mouths to shout, but paused as a Koopa with a clipboard hushed them angrily. The group stood in silence, fuming, waiting for practice to end, eager to chew each other out.

Ludwig stretched nonchalantly. "You'd think these fools would realize they have eyes on them most of the time by now," he mumbled in both annoyance and amusement. He sighed as he pulled out a tiny notepad from his shell. "Well, if they were intelligent, I doubt they would be stagehands, anyhow." He chuckled arrogantly.

Quickly, he jotted down a quick note of warning for the group, signed from the Phantom himself.

Spilled paint is far less valuable than your positions in this theater. Clean it up and move along, idiots.

The Phantom

Ludwig snickered as he held the clever letter in front of himself and read it over again. He had always tried to come off as intimidating as he could in his letters, but it was nothing compared to when the real phantom wrote them. When his father did, they were...graphic. Ludwig, on the other hand, saw no need to be so descriptive.

Though he wasn't the phantom, his father had found it to be effective regardless of who wrote the letter. If any of the koopalings were to notice misbehavior from any staff members, they were to issue a warning. Everyone knew what happened when you ignored too many warnings, so very few acted out of line if they received one.

It was an effective way to manage the crew.

Sometimes, the other koopalings would take advantage of the system to mess with people. But, overall, it was flawless. Sure, others could attempt to pretend to be the phantom, too, and write their own letters for self gain, but the real phantom would inevitably push too much fear in their direction for them to even think about doing such a thing.

Ludwig creased the letter in two as he smiled with sinister satisfaction. He hovered the letter over the group of furious koopas with his pinky raised, ready to drop it. However, his snickering paused as the Koopas' silent bickering below came to an end for a moment as they turned towards the curtains.

The orchestra had stopped playing, all except for a single violin, which was easy to assume was the woman's father. Ludwig hummed in curiosity as he put the note in his shell to deliver once his curiosity was resolved.

The koopa carefully walked across the creaking loft as he squinted his eyes from the blinding light ahead of him. He stayed back as far as he could, as to go unnoticed, but creeped a bit closer than he probably should as to get a view on what was going on below.

Though he was rather high up, the scene was easy to make out. A single human stood in the middle of the large wooden stage with her arms linked behind her. The auditorium was empty, besides the large group of Koopas holding their instruments.

The song the violinist played was slow and sorrowful as she swayed gently from side to side to the beat. Her golden hair swung with her figure as her eyes were closed. Whatever the song was, she clearly had it memorized, as her movements paused and continued with the song.

Though he was unable to get a view of the stage completely, he eyed what he could see, which was her. He examined her curiously, not expecting such a petite woman to make his father so anxious. What damage could she exactly...do to them? For human standards, she was quite beautiful, which took Ludwig off guard. Was she truly dangerous for such a beauty?

He had snooped enough to hear his father refer to the girl as if he knew her, but that's as far as his knowledge went. He had seemed stressed and worrisome beyond belief. Had she done something before?

Ludwig didn't know, but he didn't dare think about it too much. If she was a good addition to the cast, then he would be fine with her. After all, these productions were the only thing that made Ludwig proud.

The Koopa placed both his arms on the railing as he held his head up in his claws. Even for a young music protege, he had never heard of this song before. It was quite different than the intense, booming music of the Dark Lands, but he quite liked the lullaby.

More so when she suddenly started singing along to the gentle tune.

Her voice started off quiet and dainty, almost like a set of bells ringing in the wind. She seemed anxious as to raise her voice to its full volume as she nearly whispered the lyrics. The purity in her voice was quite unlike anything else he had heard before. He leaned forward with a creak of the railing, confused by any doubt his father held for the young woman.

"Interesting," Ludwig hummed to himself in fascination. Even with the lyrics being in some sort of foreign language, and her voice barely audible above the violin, the sorrowful emotion poured through her hushed words. Ludwig was entranced.

The violin started speeding up slightly as the woman's voice grew louder with each note. Ludwig smiled in satisfaction as she slowly began projecting her voice, proving she had some potential.

With her voice now loud and confident, yet holding on to the purity, her hands clasped in front of her chest as she seemed to be singing for someone; calling for something. The unintelligible lyrics of which he couldn't understand told a story that he could vaguely understand, yet not grasp at the same time. He was unable to tell if it was a story of gain or loss. Perhaps both?

With one final, impressive note, the song abruptly stopped, leaving the woman out of breath as she stood alone in the spotlight.

Bowser sat at his impressive study with his head in his hands, desperate to drown out the sound. Yet, every time it had quieted down, her voice sparked back up and took over his focus.

Though muffled and distant, Bowser could recognize that angelic voice anywhere. Peach's singing echoed throughout the labyrinth and stuck in his head, no matter how much he tried to silence any of her presence.

This is ridiculous, he thought to himself bitterly.

It was almost pathetic that he couldn't focus on his work due to some fleshy human singing. With every note she sang, his mind buzzed with the idea of her. Though he hadn't seen her in years, his memories of her slowly creeped back, no matter how far he had locked them away and convinced himself that they had never happened.

She's here.

Bowser groaned as his thoughts kept flashing back to him. Memories of her village and of her daily routines would momentarily bring bliss, followed by a huff of frustration as he did everything in his power to convince himself that he didn't know who she was.

Peach is here. She's here. She's finally here, his subconscious cried while the rest of him sat in agony. It's not too late. I can-

Bowser nearly knocked over his chair as he stood up in anger. His mind was filled to the brim with a hateful despair as he let his temper run free.

It had taken him literal years to get her out of his head, and he wasn't about to let her mess everything up again. With an angry growl, Bowser knocked over the orderly papers on his study as he stormed for his room, eager to sleep away the thoughts of her presence.

He needed to forget about her again.

A/N: Alright, I'm sure you guys are putting two and two together now! But, I promise some more twists are bound to come, especially if you haven't figured out what's going on yet! Thank you for reading!