Insanity (Mario)

Chapter 25

"And now... Bloody Hell goes once again! Kaira Reiko and Saiko Paath take to the battlefield again! Who's ready for another epic battle?"

"We are!" The crowd roared on both sides, although it was far less enthusiastic on the prisoners' side.

A redhead and a bluenette entered the arena. The two grinned at each other, making Daisy look away in slight anger. Why was she angry? She didn't know- she just felt a burning anger in her heart towards them for keeping that big of a secret from her. But deep down, she was still conflicted. She knew she should hate them- but she didn't. She couldn't.

Daisy sat alone today. She was trying not to bother with any other people- she was sure Luigi didn't want to be around a "changed person" and she was mad at everyone else.

Well, not everyone else.

"D-Daisy-San, are you alright?" The eleven year old questioned.

"Huh?"

Daisy had been so enamored in her own anger she hadn't even noticed when Aquelia approached her.

"Oh, hi," Daisy answered. "Um, yeah, I'm fine. How about you?"

Aquelia eyed Daisy's clenched fists anxiously.

"A-are you sure..?"

"...honestly...no I'm not fine," Daisy confessed. "I... I hate this. It really sucks."

"Y-you found out about the humans, didn't you?" Aquelia asked. Daisy nodded, surprised to hear the girl refer to them as "humans" as if they were a different species.

"Yeah," Daisy confirmed.

"Don't worry too much..." Aquelia told her. "T-they're just humans... They think it's all f-fake. It's not that they're trying to leave us here- they just t-think we're performers."

"That's honestly not reassuring..." Daisy sighed. "To know that they think we just want to be here."

"We're prisoners to them," Aquelia looked away. "We're always going to be 'deserving' whatever they give us."

"Well, great.."

"Ready... Begin!"

Daisy looked down as Kaira and Saiko began to run to the monsters. They worked together to slay the monsters there.

"...I used to hate it here, too," Aquelia said quietly. "It was terrible. I thought I would never get used to the killing... The people... Everything."

"Then how come you-"

"Rosalina-San helped me," Aquelia answered. "She helped me realize it's not so bad... We have everything we need here. They provide for us... It's honestly not so bad."

"Yeah, but we might die at any moment," Daisy countered. "The monsters, the wardens, the killing princess..."

"Perhaps," Aquelia shrugged. "But wouldn't you rather die embracing who you are?"

Aquelia ended the conversation by turning to the arena again. The two watched silently as Saiko twirled her scythe, and slicing a Piranha Plant's head cleanly off.

Blood circled the arena as Kaira unleashed her power, the blood slicing it through its chest. The plant fell to the ground, hit by two fatal injuries, although one of them was totally unnecessary.

"Kaira's 1-up is so cool," Aquelia commented. "Controlling blood seems very cool.."

"1-up...?" Daisy was confused.

"Oh, sorry..." Aquelia apologized. "That's what we call those powers. It's because we use those to try to one up each other... Get it?"

"Oh!" Daisy giggled. "I like that."

"Yeah, me too," Aquelia smiled, glad to see Daisy in better spirits. "It's nice."

"Yeah," Daisy agreed.

"And unsurprisingly, Kaira and Saiko take home the win! Bloody Hell truly is unstoppable!"

If only the announcer knew about the Killing Princess, and how Bloody Hell had trouble.

"Oh? They're done already?" Aquelia peered over the side. "Wow."

"Yeah," Daisy stood up. She knew what she had to do now. "Thanks, Aquelia."

"N-no problem."

<><><>

"We won! We won! We won, we won, we won!" Saiko cheered. "Go Kaira! Go Saiko! Go... Us!"

"We win every time, what makes today so special?" Kaira questioned, raising her brow.

"Hmm... We did really well today?" Saiko shrugged. "Saiko and Kaira did amazing!"

"I suppose so," Kaira frowned. "Yeah, we did pretty good today."

"What's wrong?" Saiko asked, sensing that Kaira was unhappy.

"I just... I've got a headache," Kaira sighed. "We haven't seen Daisy in awhile... Who does she think she is, avoiding us..."

"Avoiding us?" Saiko tilted her head slightly in confusion. "Well, Saiko guesses that Daisy is avoiding us, but... It's kinda because of us."

Kaira looked away, as if refusing to believe that.

"Because of us."

"Yeah," Saiko repeated. "Saiko... Saiko sometimes-"

A knock on the door interrupted the conversation. Saiko jumped off her bed and ran to the door, opening it.

"Oh! Hi, Daisy!" Saiko greeted. "Nice to see you!"

"Hey, Saiko," Daisy smiled. "Um... I was wondering if you guys would want to come out to dinner? Rosalina, and a couple others were going, and... It'd be great if you guys could come."

"Yeah, of course! Saiko would love to come!"
Saiko looked over to Kaira, waiting for her confirmation. Kaira nodded.

"Sure," Kaira told her. "But first, Daisy. Why were you ignoring all of us?"

"Does Kaira really not know?" Saiko asked.

"No, I don't," Kaira responded defensively. "Mind filling me in?"

"Well..."

Hey everyone, hope you're enjoying the story so far. We're almost done with the New Beginnings Arc...

So as of right now, this story can take 2 turns. They'll both happen eventually, the order is just different. So I'm going to let you guys choose!

1) Clash of Powers Arc

(The leader and Pauline are getting fed up with the lack of anything happening at the prison. So they decide to spice things up by doing something to some of the prisoners...)

2) Killing Princess Arc

(She's gone on a rage again- and Daisy is getting fed up with her life constantly on the line. Determined to find out who the girl is, she and co. attempt to find the Killing Princess Satsuki.)

Please comment which one you want first :)

Thanks for reading!