Peach pulled her case behind her. She'd insisted on carrying it herself, as she didn't want to bring anyone unnecessary in case anything went wrong. It was only her, Daisy, Peasley, Toadette and a couple of other Toads. Toadsworth had waved them off, but Peach didn't quite acknowledge that she may never see him again. She didn't cry, or move much, she just walked forward, focused on the horizon, stuck in the past.

"We can still turn back Peach. You don't have to do this." Daisy and Toadette would say a variant of those words every few minutes. Peach gave the same answer each time.

"No, I do."

She tried not to think about it, as the sky darkened at a rapid rate, like where they were didn't quite have night and day like most places. A cold breeze quickly flew through the group, making Daisy audibly chatter her teeth, Toadette would slap her arms to try to keep them warm, and Peasley regretted not wearing trousers, but Peach, although she felt the cold, was too numb to react. A shadow that wasn't the darkness of the sky soon loomed over the three of them, and before she knew it Peach had almost walked into a large metal gate. For once, she focused on what was in front of her, and the grip on her suitcase became tighter. Though she did glance in the sky somewhere behind them and still saw the lone cloud that definitely hid Bowser's clown copter. A small reassurance that she tried not to let show through as she returned her gaze to the horizon ahead.

She had to show that she was fine with it all, and that she was ready for this. She followed the bars up from the ground until she laid her eyes on something behind them, down a path, something that hovered in front of the grand door. It was large, and radiated pure fear in waves.

Peach could feel it from where she was, a good 40 feet away. Its fangs stretched into an open grin, its tongue hung out between the teeth, its brow furrowed into its dark eyes, and its crown glistened like moonlight. It cackled menacingly, allowing the noise to echo through the valley as it stabbed Peach with its gaze.

"I knew you'd be the one to come."

It snarled like a monster, and that's exactly what Peach thought of him. She wanted to shout, call him cruel, evil and sadistic. She wanted to put up a fight again, but she had no weapon. The last thing she wanted to do was step any closer, to step inside that home and into his arms for all eternity.

The gate swung open with a gust of wind that almost blew Peach over.

"Walk."

Anxiously turning to her friends, her eyes asked them to walk with her, but as they stepped over the king's threshold, he spoke again.

"Just her. The rest of you can stay where you belong."

Peach was hesitant to move, and King Boo sapped on her fear.

"Forgotten how to walk, have you?"

She didn't want to go, but she didn't want to anger him either, so she took a few steps forward.

They were easy. She took a few more and looked up at where she was headed. Despite her natural repulsion to the thing that lived there, she had to admire the architecture - King Boo had pretty good taste. It was rather old fashioned, and rather gothic, but it certainly made quite the impression. And of course, it was absolutely huge.

After all her admiration of her new home, she found herself face to face with its owner and his condescending expression.

"So very nice to see you, my dear."

She shivered, most likely from being uncomfortable, but brushed it off as the cold. The gates clanged shut behind her, and she properly realized her fate.

She was separated from her life forever. Even if Bowser promised to come and kidnap her, something deep inside told her that King Boo would be strong enough to fend him off from any attempt.

"To the rest of you," he began, "I shall bring you the brothers in their paintings." He clapped his arms together and two Boos appeared, carrying one each. Peach saw the brothers fly past her. She wished they knew, and that she could've said goodbye to Mario and Luigi. She felt King Boo slide an arm over her shoulder as the door opened by itself. He turned to her.

"Shall we?"

She took one last look at her friends and their anxious faces. Peasley struggled to look straight at her, and she swore she saw Daisy and Toadette collectively try to hide a tear, but she was too far away already to spot the details. She took a slow breath in, and then out, and allowed King Boo to pull her into the mansion.

It took a moment for her to register everything that the inside had to offer as the door slammed shut behind her. The foyer she had entered sported a rather magnificent chandelier and a long, winding staircase, and she could already hear the distant giggling of Boos. She wondered how she'd get any sleep during her stay here.

Or ever. They were the same thing.

"Welcome! I do hope you'll enjoy your stay," King Boo gave her a mischievous smile. "It certainly won't be a short one!"

Did he have to rub it in? Or could he read her mind? Her grip tightened on her case and she prayed that she wasn't sweating too much. He still had his arm around her.

"I'm sure you'll be able to find your way around. You can pick a room, I don't mind which one, as long as it isn't mine."

She stepped forward, pulling the case to her side as she admired the little details in the room, and the abundance of paintings, mostly portraits. They seemed to watch her as she took a step forward.

"Of course, we'll be sharing a room eventually!"

He couldn't be serious, right?

Peach looked at the myriad of stairs before her - surely she couldn't drag the wheels of her case up all these stairs, and she was sure this mansion had at least four floors. She was hesitant to ask him for help, but he seemed to want her to at least interact with him a little. She turned from the bottom of the stairs and looked back at her absent-minded captor, who gazed at a painting on the wall near to him.

Her voice was like a whisper. "Can you help me with my case?"

"Huh?"

He must have heard her, but not quite got what she said. "Can you help me? With my things?"

"Oh!" A playful smile came over him, and he clapped his arms together. Her case disappeared.

"When you find a room that you like, your case will be there for you."

Peach was a little worried about her things, and slightly doubtful. "You can do that?"

"I am a master of illusions," began King Boo, "and this mansion is one. I have complete control over it. I assure you, anything that happens to this building is because of me."

Peach guessed that that meant he had decided on the decor, too. He had relatively good taste, she decided, as she made her way through some of the floors trying to figure out which one would house a suitable bedroom for her.

There was a surplus of rooms, from bathrooms to dining rooms to lounges to parlors to kitchens, although they all seemed to enjoy darker color schemes, and there were very few lights. Fortunately, even in the dark, she didn't trip at all, as despite the pre-installed dust and occasional cobweb, the rooms remained tidy with minimal clutter.

Once, she ran into a Boo, who took the easy opportunity to scare her a little before flying through a wall with a signature high pitched giggle. Luigi had told her that all of King Boo's Boos had names, and Mario had said something similar about the Boos that lived with Lady Bow. She wondered if she'd ever have the courage to stand up for herself against them, never mind learn their names.

It was then that Peach found the bedrooms. Exhausted and anxious, she slowly opened the door of the first one she found and checked it for any other presence, not taking notice of the color of the walls or the size of the wardrobe. Finding it empty, and spying her case across the room, she tiptoed in and quietly shut the door. She took a moment to breathe in the dusty air, take in the grayness of the wallpaper and spy her plain bedsheets. Collapsing into the mattress, she took in all that had happened: the loss of her friends, the gain of this new life. She curled up into a ball and began to cry; great ugly sobs of pure fear and sorrow.

Then she heard the sound of a Boo, no, two Boos appearing in her room.

Oh no.

She brought her eyes up a little to spot the two Boos, who although looking like any other at a first glance, Peach could tell that they were slightly pinker than most, and carried their hands in front of them.

As quietly as she could, she moved to try and get a slightly better view, when the Boos turned around and stared at her straight in the eyes.

Oh no.

Peach's first instinct was to scream, but two somethings did it for her. Her second instinct was to ask:

"Why is someone else in this room!?"

Peach looked at the terrified Boos in front of her. "Wh-who are you?"

The Boos seemed to take slight offense, and each brought a hand to their faces as if they were mirrors of each other. Taking a proper look at them, Peach saw they had slightly smaller teeth than most Boos, and quite particular eyelashes, as well as a pink pearl bracelet on left arm of the one on the left, and Peach had to squint a little to see for certain that the other had a malachite beaded bracelet on their right arm.

"Who are you?" Asked the one on the left.

"You're not a Boo!" Exclaimed the one on the right. Peach was sure they were female Boos, and rather elegant ones at that.

"You are Boos! How come you're here? How come you're scared of me?"

"Well!" The Boo's voice on the left was shrill but still well-articulated. "You just suddenly appeared in the room we were in!"

Peach was confused - wasn't she there first?

"This is my room - King Boo even put my case in here."

The Boos seemed curious at her words, looking to each other curiously before looking back to Peach in even more curiosity as if they could hardly believe their luck. "King Boo? Wait a moment, aren't you Princess Peach?" Asked the malachite wearing Boo on the right.

Peach sat up properly on the end of her bed. "I am. It's… um… nice to meet you both."

"Why would you be here though?" Questioned the left pink pearl wearing Boo.

"Well, I-"

"No! Wait, I got it, you're…" The Boo on the right thought for a moment with a burst of a sudden memory. "Are you the girl who is going to marry King Boo?"

Peach only just took in the situation. Here she was, face to face with a pair of living… not so living Boos, having a normal conversation. Well, normal may have been an overstatement, but at least the pair Boos were civil.

"Yes, I am." Peach replied a little dejectedly.

"Oh! That is so interesting! You have to tell us more- no, wait, we haven't introduced ourselves, have we?" The Boo on the left started.

"I don't think you ha-"

"How rude of us! We must start over!" Crowed the Boo on the right.

The Boos turned a full 360 degrees in the opposite directions the other went making the mirror effect between the two of them all the more fascinating, and gave a flick of their respective bracelet owning arms where their hair would be, if they had any. "I am Bootiful! Or at least some say I am…" Introduced the one on the left, wearing the pink pearl bracelet.

"And I am Boojiboo! Which also means Bootiful in some ancient and possibly extraterrestrial language! Either way Bootiful and I are sisters! And you are..?" Introduced the Boo on the right wearing the malachite bracelet.

"Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's a pleasure to meet you both." Peach held out her hand, Bootiful shaking first and then Boojiboo, they both shook her hand enthusiastically, but without too much force.

"If you don't mind me asking," Boojiboo began, "how come you were crying just then?"

Bootiful managed to assess the princess's situation first, and how lonely she must feel with no one that she knows. "Do you miss your old home?"

Peach did her best not to cry again. "It's more than that. I'm just… just…" She felt a tear roll down her cheek, and hoped the darkness obscured it. "It's just so scary here, and... and King Boo, I… I don't know what he wants with me yet, and…" She couldn't hold the tears back any longer.

Bootiful and Boojiboo hovered next to Peach and put one of their little arms on each of Peach's shoulders, before giving her the best smile they could give without being genuinely creepy.

"Hey, we get what you mean. King Boo even scared us when we first came here!" Bootiful began

"He did?"

"Sure he did! But even though he's an evil king of ghosts and wants to rule the world and stuff, we know he can be quite sweet. He knows each of us Boos by name, and he even knows our birthdays - he gave us these bracelets last year!" Boojiboo continued.

The pair each held up their respective arms to show the bracelets to Peach, and Peach had to admire the quality.

"We also know he's really close with some of the Boos, especially the Team. You might grow to like him in time, or at least find him tolerable." Bootiful added.

Peach wiped her eyes and turned to face her new friends. "Thank you, Bootiful, Boojiboo. I think… I think I'll try to like this place."

Bootiful and Boojiboo smiled at her again as they spoke in unison. "We hope we can help make life a little better for you while you're here, Princess Peach."

Peach gave Bootiful a shaky smile of her own. "You can just call me Peach."

"Then, thank you… Peach!" The pair cheered in unison.