"Hey-a bro!"

Mario opened his eyes to find hid younger twin brother staring at him. Mario had fallen asleep during the kart ride.

"Shouldn't you be-a keeping your eyes on the road, Weegee?"

Luigi whipped his head back forwards again. "We're almost there, I-a wanted to see if you would wake up."

Mario sat up. "Alright! I can't-a wait for Peach to see our gift!"

"Wahoo!" Luigi picked up speed, causing Mario to hold onto both of their hats.

Luigi skid to a stop in the center square of Toad Town, causing the kart to tilt a little before stopping. Mario handed his brother back his hat.

Luigi looked around. "Where is everybody?"

Mario stepped out the kart, taking a look around as well. "Hm, you're right. Everybody is-a gone."

"Maybe they're all-a inside the castle?" Luigi suggested.

Mario shrugged. "We're heading there-a anyways." Mario hopped back onto Luigi's kart and they drove off to the castle.

Once Luigi was across the bridge, Mario hopped off again.

"I'm-a go and park the kart." Luigi drove off, then returned shortly after on foot. "Let's-a go!"

Mario walked over to the castle doors and pushed them open with help from Luigi. When they entered, the doors slammed shut behind them.

"Aah!" They both screamed. Luigi tested the doors.

"They're locked, big bro! I'll-a go find the key!" He rushed off ahead, leaving Mario behind.

"I should see if Peach is doing alright." Mario went through a door in front of him, leading to the main room of the castle. "Peach? Where is-a everybody?"

He heard footfalls coming from upstairs, his gaze following them. The door at the top of the stars opened to reveal the Princess.

"Peach! You've-a...um..." Mario gasped. "You've been-a folded into origami!"

"Mario...How good to see you..."

"Peach! What-a happened?!"

She held out a hand for him to stop. "Tell me...do you think I am better this way...?"

"What? No! What-a happened to Peach?"

"Do you think the world should be folded brand-new...?"

Mario considered this question for a bit. "No. It might be dangerous sometimes, and-a not perfect, but it's still as good as it can get and I-a like it for that."

Mario heard Luigi scream in the distance. "Luigi?!"

She held out her hand again. "Tell me...do you wish the Toads to be destroyed...?"

"What? But you're their Princess! Of course not!"

"Now tell me...do you want to be folded anew like I was...?"

"You crazy? Of course-a not!"

Peach stared down at him, silent for a moment. "I see...Well...your answers matter not, as the world will be refolded today..."

The floor under Mario started sliding open. "Peach!"

She waved to him as he fell into darkness. "Farewell...Mario..."

Mario slowly opened his eyes to find he had been thrown into the castle dungeon. Well, a closed cell in it, anyways.

"Hey, it's Mario!"

Mario looked at who spoke. It was a Goomba. "Oh, uh...Hey." He waved awkwardly at him, the Koopa Troopa, and a Green Shy Guy in the room.

"Looks like you're trapped down here too!"

"Mario! I can't believe you came to save us!" The Koopa Troopa said, jumping happily.

The door opened, and an origami yellow Shy Guy entered the room. "Exit..." He pointed a hand at Mario, who was attempting to leave with the others. "You stay here...Mario...until it is your time..."

Mario sat back down on the ground as he watched the others leave.

"Is Mario your name?"

"Huh?!" Mario jumped up when the voice spoke to him. "Who's there?" He reached for his hammer, only to find it was gone.

"I can tell you in a minute, but I'm kind of stuck at the moment."

"Oh? Where are-a you stuck at?"

"I don't know...it's like I'm trapped between two dimensions."

Mario walked closer to the nearest wall, and the voice grew clearer.

"Mario? Hello? Are you still here?"

"Keep talking, please."

"I'm not sure what to say..."

Mario spotted a strange faded symbol on the ground near the wall. "Do you-a know why Peach is-a origami?"

"Oh! Who's Peach?"

"She's-a the princess of the Toads." Mario poked at the symbol with a stick he found.

"Oh, she sounds really mature then! Is she pretty? I want to meet her, if that's okay with her." The voice sounded like a young, almost child, female. She was also very cheerful for being trapped in the wall.

"What's-a this by the wall?"

"What does it look like? I haven't been alive very long, so I don't know a lot of things."

"It's...round and looks like it wants a high-five."

"Oh, oh! Step on it! I think it still has some magic left!"

Mario tapped it with his foot, then fully walked onto it. It lit up orange and amber, the hand becoming white.

"Waah!"

"Did it start glowing?"

"Yeah, and it did something weird to my arms!" He whipped them up and down. "They're all...origami."

"Oh, you can actually use it! That's great!"

"Help."

"See if you can find some way to free me! Then you can get rid of the thousand-fold arms."

"I don't think these actually have a thousand folds-"

"Please free me!"

Mario pat the wall up and down until he felt a bit of the wall come up. He grabbed it and yanked it to the right. Something yellow fell from the wall, and Mario's arms went away, the circle fading back dark again.

The yellow thing was in fact a person. She was origami, to be precise. She was folded to look like she was wearing a dress and crown, it being too large for her and falling in front of her bangs, the curls on her hair poking out from under it. She got off the floor and looked at the wall.

"Oh, I guess I was just trapped in a plain old wall. Well, at least I'm free now!" She faced Mario. Her feet were brown, and her hands white. She seemed kind of pale, and her hair was blonde. "Thank you, Mario!" She smiled, her rectangle eyes folding into upside-down "v" shapes.

Her color pallet seemed familiar to Mario, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

"You're much older than I thought you were going to be, but I don't mind the mustache!"

"We should get out of here, I don't trust that Shy Guy." Mario tested the door, finding it locked. "Great, we'll need to find another way out."

"There's another exit, but there are boxes in the way. If only we had something to smash them with..."

Mario opened one of the boxes to find his hammer inside. He brought it out and showed it to her.

"Woah, what'd you find? It looks big and smashy! We can try it on those boxes!"

Mario smacked the boxes to splinters, revealing a small tunnel for them to leave with.

"Yahoo!"

"Yay!" She faced Mario. "I'm Olivia." She thought for a second. "I don't think I should be seen around here, my brother wouldn't like that. Is there someway you could sneak me around?"

Mario opened his pocket. "You look too big though."

"That's not an issue!" She folded her folded body into a small square and flew into Mario's pocket.

"Oh, well, let's-a go!"


Author note: Okay, the prologue was getting too long, so I guess it won't be split into the same chapters as the game (but who cares?).

Alright, I said this was going to be a human AU but whatever. I wanted a free excuse to rewrite Origami King anyways.