Galaxies Colide

The Truth Burns

"So-a, the dungeon I-a believe is in-a this direction," Mario spoke upon arriving at the bottom of the tower stairs to gather his sense of direction. "I though you knew where you we're going," Daisy moaned with frustration as she turned out her flashlight to allow her eyes to adjust to the dim, torch-lit castle corridors, "We don't have all day and night yaknow." Not even hesitating to check his surroundings; Mario's next moves followed very closely to his original game plan to rescue Peach. All his jumping and turning and climbing had nearly become muscle memory due to the importance of all the times he'd done it before. "So, knowing that my cousin has been captured once before," Daisy began as she followed in Mario's steps, "what makes you think Bowser would bring her here after his last plan was so complex?"

At the mere mention of that statement, Mario's heart began to race once again. Sure, he'd just assumed that Bowser wanted to keep things easy and fast, since it had been only a month after his masterplan had fallen apart. What if this assumption was wrong though? What if Peach wasn't even in this castle? She could be anywhere; and wherever she was, the emotional terror and deep scaring she'd been infected with during her last encounter with the mighty Bowser would likely be amplified greatly with another terrifying kidnapping after only a month of freedom. What would it do to her? How would her heart; her mind and her gorgeous personality be changed by all of this horror that was piled down on her like a pile of soul-crushing boulders.

"We've-a really got-a to get-a moving," Mario spoke; his mind now hanging cold and dead as his heart raced with crippling anxiety, "Even if-a she's-a not here, Bows-a will know-a where she is, and we're-a going to have-a to go through him-a anyway to save-a her, regardless to where-a she is." "That's right," Daisy added; her voice at last flowing with a balanced, monotonic tone and vibe, "and then we signal Luigi with the plane and...well, shit!" Somewhat confused as to Daisy's words; Mario didn't even need to ask what it was she had reacted so negatively to, as it was shared with him just a moment later. "I left my dam phone on the plane!" Daisy whisper-roared as her pockets came up empty, "We're gonna need to find another way outta here!" "Or another way-a to signal-a my brother and-a your plane," Mario enthusiastically added, "There's-a got to be another-a way to-a..." "SHHH!" Daisy hushed sharply; yanking Mario to the side to take cover behind a rather large banner in the hallway.

Eyes disabled momentarily as his faced was pressed into Daisy's chest; Mario's ears took the forefront to signal to him just what they were hiding from. With the squeaks of the soles of their feet greatly amplified by their numbers; Mario's eyes moments later hung out just enough from behind the banner to catch a glimpse of their backsides. Marching as if they were simply identical copies of one another; the massive cluster of Goombas failed to realize their greatest weakness was in fact the existence of the massive blind spot behind them all. Despite feeling not a hint of fear or worry as he recalled memories of stomping many of them out so easily, Mario's heart and stomach fluttered with concern and raw fear as he felt the banner blast outward as Daisy bolted out into the hallway just behind the long line of Goombas.

Nearly wanting to scream and pull her backwards as she risked exposing their presence in the castle; Mario's heart was only slightly relaxed upon receival of Daisy's next silent hand signal, calling almost aggressively to him to follow her. "What?" Mario mouthed out as Daisy's face almost smoked with frustration. "Follow them, Damit!" Daisy softly spoke, her volume nearly lost in the rumble of the gas torches overhead, "They'll lead us to the dungeon, if not the throne room where Bowser probably is." Eyes mentally rolling as he attempted to keep his feet silent, Mario's mind at last gave up the fight. There was no winning with Daisy; whatever she wanted tonight, she would get, and there was no changing her mind no matter what risk factors or explanations Mario put in her path.

Treading lightly across the clanky, stone floor as his step pattern was adjusted to match that of the Goomba platoon, Mario's normal running pace revealed its importance to his mind as he realized just how out of place he felt in this rescue mission. Although never doing anything exclusively for the glory, the young plumber did find himself experiencing negative emotions regarding being trapped in the nearly dehumanizing shadow of the Princess of Sarasaland. Always able to make his moves based on what his heart felt was correct, the unfamiliarity of feeling like a voiceless extra in someone else's mission, one that he half-disagreed with if that, bothered Mario much deeper than he'd ever been bothered before.