A/N: Hiya! Another upload and my favorite chapter so far! I will try to keep udating as much as possible but I have three essays due next week, and instead of doing one tonight, I decided to write this. Hey, at least it's picking up! Please review if you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for the support!

"You sure it's around here?" Mario mumbled to himself as the two walked down one of the many busy streets of the Darklands.

It was barely noon and the streets were starting to flood with the usual lunch rush. Koopas of all sizes were leaving their work spaces, eager to grab something to eat before dragging their feet back to work. While the two had hoped to beat it, they were caught in the middle of it and struggled to push against it.

Pauline nodded while reading her notes. She had written down the details Leo had given her with a grain of salt, knowing any of it could be fabricated, but it was worth a shot.

"Should be right around here if Leo remembered correctly." She paused as she glanced over her shoulder, eyeing Mario as he got shoved to the side by a large koopa. "Keep up, would you?" She teased.

Mario stumbled over his feet as Pauline stood still, waiting for her company to catch up. The waves of koopas pushed around her, but she held her ground. But, for Mario, that didn't seem to be as easy, as he continued to get shoved back and forth by those who pushed their way past him.

Pauline reached her hand out and Mario desperately grabbed hold before being pulled forward to her side. She couldn't help but laugh at how he was too polite for his own good, as it often got him run over...Quite literally.

Mario gave a small smile as thanks before continuing to look for the alleyway Leo described.

He had claimed the ambush had happened in one of the alleyways in this part of town, next to a run-down local pub. Full of cigarrette buds, broken bottles, and, if the ambush actually happened, a few daggers.

He said the scene was probably not tampered with, as it was only busy during the night, and he had only told the two of this information. But, the two know this wouldn't last, as there were bound to be questions from journalists and detectives.

Even if the case seemed like a joke, someone would look into it.

Pauline called out with a hopeful smile as she turned a corner, eagerly pulling Mario by his sleeve. Mario, who had been looking in the complete opposite direction, clumsily followed Pauline.

"This one seems about right! It's...dirty, and there's a pub," she said with a thankful sigh. This was the third alleyway they had checked and it was the first one that fit the description. She released Mario's sleeve while shoving her notepad in her pocket.

It was quite narrow and had doors covering either side of the entrance. On the right, there was a large wooden door covered in scratches and had been worn down by weather. On the left, just as Leo had described, was a small door that led to a unpleasant pub. Trash was littered around the entrance and smelt putrid from the rain.

Mario shuddered. Was this the place Peach was ambushed? While he wanted to be angry at Leo, he hadn't actually touched her...but the phantom potentially did, if Leo's story was true. If anything, Mario was worried more than vengeful.

He hated the idea of Peach stumbling for her life, alone in the rain. He shook his head. If he had been at practice that one day, she wouldn't have wandered below. As much as he didn't want to feel responsible for such an awful fate, he knew he played a part in it happening.

"You ready?" Pauline questioned. "We'll figure this out."

Mario grumbled to himself as he walked away from Pauline, eyeing the floor for the daggers or any sign of a scene.

It was infuriating that there was little to no help from the opera house, let alone the royal staff. If anything, Kamek wanted to keep this scandal under the rug. Murders and disappearances were more common than one would like to admit in the opera house, but to have a star kidnapped? And to be seen alive, in the hands of the phantom? Mario knew this had to be fixed, not hidden.

Especially since it was her.

"Aha! Mario, over here!" Pauline called out with an upbeat wave. "Here!"

Mario shook his head as he regained focus. Had he really been sulking instead of actually trying to figure out what had happened to Peach? He groaned, realizing his priorities were clearly out of order. He hadn't even been looking!

He could pity himself later.

Mario rushed over to Pauline's side, who was standing over the potential scene.

Three daggers were thrown around the area. One leaned against the left wall, one a few inches to the left, and the final dagger near the right-hand wall. They were small and slightly curved, sharpened and ready to tear through whatever they were put up against.

Mario shuddered as two of them were coated in a dried layer of dark blood.

They probably wouldn't have noticed the knives if not for a sickening sign to keep looking:

A large puddle of blood in the center of the alley.

Pauline tapped her chin while Mario shaked in disgust.

"I don't think it's Peach's blood. Don't worry," she muttered to herself, just loud enough for Mario to hear. "Leo said she wasn't harmed. Besides, I don't think she could...bleed that much," she continued cautiously. "I think-"

"How are you so calm with all of this?" Mario bluntly interrupted. He glared at Pauline, frustrated with her behavior. "Have you done something like this before? I feel like any normal person would...panic."

Mario crossed his arms, almost offended that Pauline didn't share a fraction of the worry Mario felt rushing through him. She was thorough and clearly dedicated to the idea of figuring this out, which left Mario wondering how she could even begin to do any of this.

Pauline paused.

"If we find out who, or what, is doing this, we can give a formal report," she muttered, avoiding the initial question. She sighed. "Without that, the best we'll get is a missing person's search party on the surface. I think both of us know she isn't up here."

Their eyes trailed to their feet, imagining the hidden tunnels below them.

"We need to convince the world that she was taken by him. Whoever he is. This is our first step, isn't it?" Pauline continued with a sense of reason.

Mario sighed at Pauline's response, somewhat understanding her point of view.

"But how can we turn in a phantom?" He questioned with clear worry. "How can we lock up a ghost?"

This phantom, ghost, murderer, whatever you called him, was above any means of punishment. His crimes were always pushed under the rug and ignored by the queen and those who would normally investigate such hideous crimes.

How could you put a monster beyond punishment behind bars? He was, as most theorized, a phantom; a creature on a different plane of existence.

How could you restraint a being that wasn't physical?

Pauline hummed to herself as she bent down on her knees, examining the semi-dried puddle of darkened crimson blood inches in front of her. It was dark, thick, and nearly black as it rested against the pavement, seeping into the crevices.

Was this Leo's blood?

Pauline silently shook her head as she thought to herself. Leo suffered intense bruises, but there was nothing to cause this amount of bloodshed. The other koopas Leo described were unharmed as well, leaving one culprit:

The phantom. There was no doubt that this blood had come from the monstrous koopa that Leo had described. The intensity of the blood, and the fact that no one else experienced deep wounds, confirmed this theory.

But, that left one question.

Pauline turned towards Mario, her brow furrowed in deep curiosity as she responded.

"Last time I checked, a phantom doesn't bleed."

Peach stood outside King Koopa's study, anticipating what she would be walking into. She tapped her feet against the floor while shifting her weight, anxiously trying to find the courage to open the door.

Thankfully, she had been able to call after the koopalings before they had completely wandered off, and they happily showed her to his study. She was happy that they hadn't asked any questions, but now she had no choice but to go through with Daisy's clever set up.

Biting her tongue, Peach knocked on the wooden door. The last thing she wanted to do was to barge in and anger the beast, so she stood her ground, waiting for approval to enter.

Yet, there was none.

Peach knocked again, patiently waiting for permission, but was only met with silence.

"King Koopa?" She called out apprehensively, clearly embarrassed and anxious that she was there. Thankfully, her nervousness covered up her blatant disgust. "Can I come in?" She questioned softly, trying her best to cover how nervous she was.

No response.

Peach puffed her cheeks. Was he gone? Sleeping in? More likely, he was ignoring her, as that didn't seem out of character for him. She rolled her eyes, wondering why this surprised her.

Peach quietly opened the door, resulting in a long, drawn-out squeak that made Peach wince in pain. If King Koopa hadn't known about her yet, surely, he knew she was there now.

Whether he liked it or not, Peach was dropping off his food. It was obvious neither wanted to see each other, and that was fine, as she would leave as soon as she dropped it off.

Peach opened her mouth to apologize for the sudden entrance, only to be met with his usual, messy study, but lacking any sign of the phantom. Peach leaned against the door frame, taking in the chamber.

Most of the candles had been worn down over night; the flames were dim and fighting to stay alive. The faint orange hue barely gave off enough light for Peach to see, but she could make out the room at the very least.

It was eerie, entering the chamber of the beast, without the beast in sight. She felt like she was trespassing into a restricted area, and that she was going to be caught any second. Surely, he could walk in and catch her.

Peach took one step into the room, her heart racing as she kept her eyes on all doors in the room. After a few more seconds, she took another step, and continued until she stood in the middle of the large study.

It was almost chilling. This was the chamber of the monster below the opera house; the king who hid away from his people under a fake death. This was his life, and here she stood, in the middle of where it all happened.

An itch of curiosity crawled through her, urging her to look around and investigate for answers. While she knew the correct thing to do would be to drop off the food without a glance behind her, she couldn't help but want to stick her nose where it didn't belong.

Peach walked over to his desk and sat down in the large chair before it. Clearly, she wasn't meant for such a large chair, as it was at least triple her size in length.

She leaned forward, examining the papers scattered all over the large table. She groaned, realizing most were pages of newspapers and closed letters to and from what seemed to be random people. While she was snoopy, Peach would never open an envelope that was not issued to her. Even she had her limits when it came to being curious.

Peach sighed as she stood up, turning her attention to the other main attraction the phantom's room held: the piano.

It was enormous, intimidating, and worn with use. The dark wood was covered in scratches and the stool before it seemed to have the same signs of abuse on its surface. While mistreated and abandoned, it still held a haunting charm.

Peach sat on the stool and revealed the piano's keys. Surprisingly, the keys were in good condition, and seemed playable. Each ivory key was covered in small scratches, however, clearly from someone's claws as they played.

Peach sighed as she gently lifted the tips of her fingers against the cold keys, making sure not to set off a tune. They were sturdy, elegant, and urged Peach to play. While she wasn't experienced, she couldn't help but want to give it a shot.

If only her father were here, maybe he could teach her.

Peach frowned as she placed both hands on the keys, longing for such a moment.

"Having fun?"

Peach yelped as she turned to her right, finding the phantom staring directly over her shoulder.

Peach slammed both hands on the piano's keys as she stood up, both out of pure shock and embarrassment. The piano yelled an off-tune, awful screech for a few seconds before she unfroze, and removed her hands from the keys.

Peach stammered on her words as she attempted to form an apology.

"I didn't know you played piano," the phantom sarcastically grumbled. He angrily slammed the piano cover down, hiding the keys, and nearly crushing her fingers. "One of your better skill sets, I'd say."

Peach rolled her eyes.

"Give it a break. I came to drop this off," she muttered as she lifted the small brown bag. "Daisy said you need to eat."

"Not hungry," he casually replied with a shrug. "Guess you wasted your time."

King Koopa sat down in his chair, leaning back and glaring at his company. Peach, too, sat back down in the piano's stool, only furthering the tension in the room, as she clearly wasn't going anywhere.

She faced the beast beside her, eyeing him as he glared at her and the bag she held.

"She told me to give this to you," she curtly replied with a gesture to the food in her lap.

Bowser crossed his arms and turned away from her, facing the papers on his desk instead. He leaned back in his chair, staring at what Peach assumed to be one of the documents on his desk. But, something told her that he wasn't actually reading it.

Peach glared at his profile, eyeing the monster. While he refused to look at her, the fact that his eyes were not moving confirmed her guess, which put a smug, barely-noticeable smile on her face.

Whether he wanted to show her or not, she had his attention.

"Where were you?" Peach asked casually, her eyes continuing to dig into him.

"Do you expect me to stay in here all day? Nosey," he instantly muttered. "I have places to be, Toadstool."

Peach rolled her eyes.

"So I can't ask a question?"

The phantom hesitated before nodding.

"Not boring ones."

Peach hummed to herself for a few moments, trying to come up with anything that wouldn't bore the phantom. But, the longer she thought about it, the more she realized anything she said was of little interest to him.

The two sat in silence as they thought to themselves, each waiting for the other to speak up.

"You're a lot less scary when you aren't talking, you know," Peach said with a hint of smugness. "I like it."

King Koopa lost his concentration and turned to face his company. He clenched his fists as he furrowed his brow, clearly irritated with her.

"You have a lot of nerve," he hissed.

Peach shrugged as he continued to tease him. While the phantom tried to be intimidating, Peach easily held her ground, as the worst he could do was hurt her feelings.

"I know you won't hurt me. You're all talk, aren't you?" She replied as she slightly leaned towards him. "I was bound to realize it eventually."

The phantom shifted his eyes away for half a second as he bit his tongue, giving Peach her answer.

Her smug smile grew the longer he hesitated.

The phantom growled, finding her reaction beyond annoying.

"What gives you that idea? I've killed plenty of humans, what makes you so special, Toadstool?" He muttered with a bitter frown.

Peach slightly tilted her head as the question made her mind wander.

What made her special?

Why was she alive? Why was she treated like an equal? Without respect, but as an equal as she sat before him, no less. The fact that she wandered freely through the labyrinth, spoke to him, and even entered his chamber without punishment was baffling.

These questions rushed through her head as she tried to find an answer to such a simple question.

Why was she unharmed by the phantom of the opera?

"I don't know," she whispered with an innocent curiosity. "Why won't you harm me?"

Their eyes locked as both digested the question. Silent panic ran through the phantom's eyes, and even Peach could pick up on it.

"You want me to?" He asked with clear sarcasm, though far more joking than his usual, spiteful tone. "I can arrange that."

"You suck at answering questions," Peach mumbled in disappointment.

"And you suck at minding your own business."

"Last time I checked, the question was about both of us!" Peach sourly corrected. "Can't you answer one question without some snarky answer?" She begged, though she already knew the answer.

The phantom eyed Peach intently with curiosity. His glare was intense and thorough, almost as if he was judging her character. The light in his eyes made Peach struggle to maintain the contact, as it was digging too far into her.

What was he thinking? Was he looking for something?

Peach felt a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't identify. Was it fear? Nervousness? Anxiety? All seemed to be the correct answers, but none sounded quite right. The longer she stared at the beast, the stronger it became.

She pulled her eyes away for a moment, prompting the monster to respond.

"See, I'm still scary when I don't talk," he muttered casually before following suit and removing his glare.

The second he claimed he was scary, Peach knew that wasn't the case. She realized she was not afraid, but something unidentifiable. She was uncomfortable, but fear was not the answer, as she had no reason to be.

"You aren't scaring me," she whispered. While an insult at the surface level, she was being genuine: she felt no fear.

Finally, she realized that she was not afraid of him. She was terrified of being locked away, barging into his study, being caught, and making him angry, but she was not afraid of him.

At first, she knew of his power. She knew of the stories of the phantom ripping intruders to shreds, and supposedly doing worse, which gave her every reason to be afraid.

He made her uncomfortable, angry, annoyed, worried, disgusted, and every other negative emotion one could feel, but she did not feel fear or hatred.

Why wasn't she terrified of the monster that took everything away from her?

"Why?" She whispered to herself in awe. "Why aren't I afraid of you?"

The phantom sat in silence, staring at her from the corner of his eyes. Though she couldn't feel it, his heart was beating out of his chest. If anything, he was far more nervous than her, but was clever enough to hide it with a mask.

Why was she asking so many ridiculous questions?

Instead of responding, he continued staring at her, silently trying to figure out what she was doing; what she was thinking, saying such bizarre things. The phantom was rarely caught off guard, and he was impressed to find that she had managed to surprise him.

Peach, too, was confused about how she was feeling, but the words kept pouring out of her mouth, as if they were in the back of her mind the entire time.

Suddenly, Peach turned her eyes back to her company, who was embarrassed to find their eyes meeting so quickly.

"You annoy me, you're not exactly a nice person, and, well, you kidnapped me," she continued, her face practically red, "but something makes me want to come see you again after I see you."

Peach's face was red and the longer she spoke, the more she refused to stare at him in the eyes. She hesitated every word, fearful of laughter or ridicule from her captor.

"I keep saying I hate you and that I want to get away, and it's true, I do want to go back. But, something makes me want to reach out to you. I've felt it since I came to the opera house." She paused. "I wanted to find you."

The phantom sat in silence, not daring to interrupt the girl, and instead listened to every word. Every word was painful for the beast, but he held his ground.

Even if he wanted to cut her off, he couldn't; the phantom was frozen, forced to endure this torture.

"I think...I want to be friends with you," Peach nervously blurted out, abandoning all senses of discomfort. She blushed at the shock on his face, but forced herself to continue. "I know you don't like me, and I don't necessarily like you, but something tells me I..should like you."

Peach felt a sudden sadness rush through her as she continued.

"I know you know me," she whispered, well aware of her stolen items. King Koopa sighed as she continued. "I don't know if I know you, but I can't stop feeling like I want to."

Peach paused as she became overwhelmed with her sudden bluntness. What was she doing?

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't-"

She was cut off as the phantom gently put his claw on her head.

"Alright, that's enough out of you," he whispered while gently patting her. Peach blushed as his claw easily covered the entire top of her head, though he was gentle enough where she had barely felt him. "You're thinking too much."

Peach couldn't help but slightly smile at the gesture, easing her fear of being laughed at. Instead, she was met with distant, understanding eyes. His brow was still furrowed and his tone was cautious, but he was not angry, nor was he making her feel embarrassed.

If anything, he was the one who was afraid. He was chilled by how similar this situation was to how he was before. But, instead, he saw it in her.

King Koopa sighed, not understanding what had come over him. He had the sudden urge to comfort her, as she was clearly spiraling with self doubt. As much as he didn't want to, he felt like he was responsible for her. It got her to stop her track of thought, and that was all that mattered.

"We'll see," he muttered while removing his claw. He turned his face away, refusing to acknowledge her reaction.

While it was such a small, insignificant response to Peach emptying her heart, she smiled. A 'maybe' was all she needed to feel reassured that what she was feeling wasn't wrong. Well, maybe it was, but this feeling could be mutual, at the very least.

Peach's chest burst with excitement as she stared at the phantom's profile. King Koopa, too, found himself silently exploding with bliss, though he tried to turn a blind eye to it. As much as it pained him, he couldn't help but admit that it was happening again.

He was terrified.

A/N: It's kicking off! (She says for the tenth time) I'm sorry if uploads slow down again, but I have a lot of work to do! If I pace myself, I should have more uploads soon. :D I know it would be easier if I wrote these in advance and made a schedule for uploading, but that just isn't fun for me! I like to upload when I finish, even if it's at random times. I hope you understand! Thank you so much!