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In all honesty when Daisy found herself in this room she thought it was a dream for a few seconds. In the minutes beforehand she had been at home, closed her eyes as she stretched, felt vertigo for what felt longer than it should have been, and when she opened her eyes she was decidedly not home.
Daisy realized belatedly that she had been kidnapped. She made a face and looked around the room.
The carpet was full of holes and the white and pink striped wallpaper was yellowed and peeling off the walls; a collection of molds, spores, and fungus along the edges. There was a single painting of a clover hanging on the wall. There was a decrepit fireplace, old chairs and a couch around it, and a bookcase with rotted books was opposite the fireplace.
The windows were fake, painted on haphazardly and faded as well, probably as a sort of prank, and the only door was quite thin. Daisy pulled at the handle and knocked at the door, and she didn’t know why she expected it to be unlocked.
“Almost like they don’t want me to leave,” Daisy said to herself, forcing laughter that became more and more tainted with derision.
Already the lack of choice in coming and going made every cell in her body practically burst with ennui, as she paced around and thought. Everything in this room pointed to a ghost kidnapper, and indeed if she listened closely she could hear faint ghostly laughter that clearly came from one source.
If that ghost villain – or one in training for how shoddy the paintings of the windows were and the scarce furnishings, she thought – kidnapped her in literally the blink of an eye it’d probably be a while before word got out. But she really didn’t know, word could travel fast.
Daisy walked to the door, and breathed evenly as she tried to remember what Peach taught her about unlocking doors with bobby pins. She drew out all that she had from her pocket and had confidence in her skill with that technique.
For a fleeting second Daisy wondered if someone could help her get out of here. Instantly Luigi came to mind and she grinned.
It would be easier for everyone if she could get out on her own, though, so she got to work on the door. Even though she was confident she reminded herself to be careful. Her hands itched to get that door unlocked and her feet tapped on the floor with a yearning to run.
The bobby pins broke in the lock, one after the other. She punched the door in frustration and it made a loud sound; if it ended up scaring that ghost out of its own house then it’d serve that ghost right.
When the last bobby pin broke she irritably let it drop on the floor. This meant it was free reign to smash every piece of furniture she could pick up against the door. She could only pick up the chairs and the cheap things broke against the door. She tossed the pieces aside and began to ram against the door with her shoulder.
Five tries later all Daisy got was a sore shoulder. She tried one last technique, kicking the door open instead.
Perhaps because of all her combined efforts the door lock broke and the door swung open with a loud crash that reverberated throughout the hallway.
Daisy only caught a glimpse of the hallway, the same peeling wallpaper and holey carpet, and there were tarnished lamps along the walls. The light in the lamps blew out, the air got colder, and so Daisy ran. She didn’t look back and she didn’t have a plan. She saw the wall open lead to a staircase and so she practically flung herself down those stairs.
And Daisy crashed into Luigi when she was at the bottom of the stairs.
Normally Daisy would have called out his name but whatever was behind her still followed her. Luigi caught sight of it over her shoulder and so quickly led the way to duck into the hollow part of the staircase. There was a chill that passed over them, leaving behind crimson marks on the walls, and the flickering lights continued down the hall until everything was at a standstill.
There was a single heartbeat of a moment where Daisy and Luigi just looked at each other. In the next she was in his arms and he was hugging her tightly like she’d disappear if he let go.
It made leftover pain in Daisy’s shoulder flare up so on reflex she tapped his shoulder blade. Luigi immediately let go and said, “I’m sorry.”
She shook her head and quickly she put her arms around his shoulders and relaxed in his returned embrace, the cold air forgotten.
When they drew apart Luigi turned his head toward the hallway. Daisy knew that look on his face; that he was looking for all the possible exits out of here. When he turned back to her he evidently didn’t find any by the pensive expression on his face – maybe it would only open up when they defeated that ghost.
“How’d you find me so fast?” Daisy asked.
“Oh, um – this mansion, well, it’s small so it’s more of a house, it just popped up. It looked scary but not impressive? But I heard you got kidnapped and put two and two together.”
“Hmm. Scary but not impressive. Must be a new bad guy to be so bad at this.”
“Maybe, but – it was someone new so I didn’t know what to expect,” Luigi said, his voice catching for just a moment. “Didn’t know if that villain would try to hurt you, if it ever gave you an opening to fight back.”
“So far I just fought a door,” she replied.
His expression came to one of understanding. Daisy figured he heard that loud noise, went to investigate, and that was how they literally crashed into each other.
Daisy reached up to place her hand against his cheek. He leaned against her touch and her thumb brushed along his cheek.
“I think if it was you in danger I’d just get mad.”
Even just musing on that put protective anger in Daisy’s tone. She drew her hand away at took a glance at his back.
“Where’s your…” Daisy mimed putting on the Poltergust – she didn’t know what model he’d be carrying around.
There was a hum in his throat and faint pink colored his cheeks.
“It… got stolen. And at home I grabbed a tennis racket because I was panicking, looking for anything to fight ghosts, but that got stolen too.”
A little bit of laugher escaped her mouth, that he’d been so unlucky.
“But I have these,” Luigi said, a silver lining encasing his words and voice. He drew out two flashlights from his overalls’ pocket. Daisy swore sometimes that those pockets were their own dimensions.
She took one, feeling better with its weight in her hand, and a call to action was in the air.
“Let’s fight together,” she said.
They set off together through the mansion that was more like a house, and in exploration it only proved the analysis that this mansion was rather shoddy. There was a bedroom that only had a bed and a dartboard on the wall. The puzzle was to throw a baseball against the dartboard and it opened up to spit out a key. The key had a multicolored diamond shape acting as the bow.
The next room was a haphazardly decorated dressing room, filled with mannequins and a single vanity. There was a painting on the wall of that same multicolored diamond. Among the mannequins was a key with a clover as the bow but it wasn’t needed – Daisy told Luigi that her room had that symbol in a painting.
Though this room was quiet and lit-up Luigi still looked around nervously and Daisy had her fists ready. The chest that was opened by the key was in the back of the room and it revealed the tennis racket that got stolen.
Daisy took it eagerly, trying it out by flashing the flashlight at the mannequins and then swinging it at them. It had a hefty weight and wouldn’t break easily. As she did this Luigi cautiously looked out into the hallway, and he nodded to her when it was deemed safe.
They walked closely together as they explored. She brandished the tennis racket as she looked around.
The next room was the only other room on the second floor, a living room that barely had any furniture. The only puzzle within was having to step on a differently colored floorboard, and a part of the wall opened up and spat out the Poltergust – an older model, now that Daisy got a look at the machine.
As Daisy watched Luigi put it on a feeling of vertigo rushed over her. She could feel her feet leave the ground and she shouted as she fought against the ghostly arms around her.
There was the sound of the flashlight charging up, she closed her eyes and the light was harsh against her eyelids. She was dropped and regained her composure enough to swing the tennis racket at the ghost.
The ghost itself was shaped like a pumpkin and screamed as the tennis racket swung down. The impact of it against the ghost made it see stars. Luigi finished the job, the ghost sucked up by the Poltergust without any fanfare.
Remnants of the light made spots go across Daisy’s vision and she rubbed at her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Luigi asked, his hand against her back.
“Yeah, that was just bright.”
“I know,” he said sympathetically.
Her eyebrows furrowed, the sides of her mouth twitched upward just a little.
“How?”
Luigi’s face went red and he averted his gaze which was just as much an answer. She pictured him doing that to himself and bit back a laugh.
It didn’t completely leave her voice as she said, “I think that was the only ghost. Let’s go home.”
Luigi looked back at her and nodded, a content smile on his face. It was the sort of look that she treasured and always wanted to see.
With all the other rooms explored Luigi explained that in order to get to the foyer they would have to go through a ballroom. She thought of the captured ghost and mused that it should have held parties there instead of kidnapping her and wasting everyone’s time.
When they were nearly to the ballroom the lights on the walls began to flicker. Daisy looked at them for a split second before hearing a succession of strange sound against the wall and Luigi yelped.
She looked at where he was staring and saw smatters of crimson handprints against the wall.
“We caught the ghost doing that, didn’t we?” she asked, trying to convince herself.
He didn’t answer but followed her when she began walking. Their steps were quicker and when they entered the ballroom in an instant the entire room went dark. Their flashlights could only provide so much light.
Daisy heard ghostly whispering that slowly became louder, of which she didn’t understand completely. Some parts she caught, that this ghost and its friend wanted to make names for themselves as villains but their plans were ruined and now the both of them were going to pay. Her hands gripped the flashlight and tennis racket tightly as she looked around with the light.
Daisy turned the light to Luigi, he was shaking but ready to fight. There was something at his shoes, on the hardwood floor, and it was a ghostly, crimson spot that slowly spread across the floor.
“Luigi – “
Daisy’s call was too late because in an instant he was swallowed up by the crimson ghost and it disappeared into the darkness. The only thing left of Luigi was the Poltergust on the floor.
She grabbed the Poltergust and put it on, and her shoes clacked loudly against the floor as she ran after that ghost. The same marks as before went across the walls until she saw that ghost again, and now it was tall enough to cover the entire wall. It lurched forward to her.
But Daisy saw Luigi trapped by this ghost, the sheer terror in his eyes as he tried to break free and reach out to her.
Red flashed across her vision. There was a roar in her ears that muffled every other sound. Light burst from the flashlight and stopped the ghost in its tracks, forcing it to go back to a normal size and drop Luigi. Daisy ran toward the ghost, swung the tennis racket at the ghost and it broke in half at the force of the impact.
The ghost was dazed for a few seconds but was still not deterred. Neither was Daisy.
In a quick motion the flashlight froze the ghost and she began the attack, the whirring of the Poltergust echoing in the room. Most likely because she had weakened the ghost it was a short fight. It was pulled into the Poltergust, the resistance was gone, and Daisy fell backwards.
The lights were back on, Daisy heard shoes clacking against the floor, and Luigi was in front of her, his hand offered to her.
She grasped it and was pulled up. He opened up his arms, though her shoulder didn’t hurt anymore, but she quickly shrugged off the Poltergust, placed it on the floor and ran to grab him into an embrace. She squeezed him tightly, nestled her head against his neck and closed her eyes for a moment.
When they drew away she handed him the Poltergust and when he had it back on she grabbed his hand. They walked out together.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Luigi said, even if his voice stumbled a little.
“Oh, yeah, your last adventure with ghosts was a hotel with about seventeen floors, right?” At his nod Daisy added, “Oh, this was small fry.”
She squeezed his hand and said, “But if it wasn’t small fry I think we could handle it.”
Luigi nodded enthusiastically and smiled and it was enough reason for Daisy to press a kiss to his cheek.