Warning: Cursing, violence, mild adult themes, and very little humor throughout this story.

Prequel to Buffering. You may read that first if you want, but it is not really required.

Play

Chapter 1

Insanity (noun) - The state of being seriously mentally ill; madness

To those who read those very words in a dictionary, they are meaningless. They are nothing but words on a page. You truly do not know what insanity is, unless you yourself are insane. The question is: are you?

Do you notice that everything is not as it used to be?

Do you notice that every time you cock your head, there is someone watching you?

Do you experience countless nightmares that end with you falling into the abyss?

Perhaps not, but for one man, this was a regular occurrence. One simple man that led an extraordinary life living in his brother's shadow. His name? Luigi.

Kind, quiet, calm, delicate Luigi. For as long as he could remember, there was always one side to him that he kept locked away in the darker part of his mind, where he was a completely different person. With this in mind, he lived out his young life one day after another. His brother would take most the fame and the glory, but Luigi was fine with that. Mario was a true brother. His only true friend that would trust him, listen to him, help him…But things are always meant to change.

After saving all worlds from The Chaos Heart, Luigi noticed that The Mushroom Kingdom was now different from his point of view. It was much darker…much more horrifying, almost like a horror movie that he always covered his eyes for.

A being was released during that war for all worlds. A being that was never meant to be released.

Mr. L was what it called itself. The very being that Luigi kept suppressed in his mind for years was finally released. It possessed Luigi's body, making him dark, negative, sarcastic, and even a cold-blooded killer. Once Luigi was capable of putting Mr. L back in his proper place, he was never the same.

Mr. L returned to reality only in apparitions- shadow figures that couldn't harm a person, but could easily shift objects to make their presence known. He would return to Luigi and simply stare at him. This would last for minutes at a time, but each visit would be longer than the last.

Luigi knew he wasn't seeing things, he knew he was sane, but the rest of the world was convinced otherwise. Luigi tried to persuade them to believe what he believed, but everyone couldn't see what he saw and they couldn't understand what he understood.

It was all part of Mr. L's plans to turn Luigi into a mad man. To keep him in solitary confinement with nothing but him and his thoughts. It was going so well. Luigi was always locked away from the rest of the world now. He was always in his own prison cell- his room. He never spoke to anyone now, not even his brother.

Insanity (noun) – Luigi

The grandfather clock in Princess Peach's room ticked to a steady beat. She took a deep breath and looked out the balcony. The cold winter chills began to roll into her room, forcing her to close the balcony's doors. She walked towards her desk, hoping to find a blank piece of paper. It had been a long time since she had seen her friend in the neighboring kingdom, Daisy. Princess Daisy, to be exact.

Feisty, clumsy, loyal, sweet, tomboy-ish Daisy. She always knew how to keep a person on their toes. Even her father thought she was quiet the mess to handle, but nonetheless, friends were friends and girls will be girls.

With both princesses reaching the proper age to marry, Peach had tried to contact Daisy often. Daisy never considered marriage while Peach thought about it since childhood. It was supposed to be a huge day filled with joy and laughter that almost every girl craves to see, but to Daisy, it was just one big, boring, white party.

Toadsworth had talked to Peach about marriage often as well. However, he always recommended royalty. Peach didn't hate the royals; she just wanted someone…different. Someone daring, bold, brave, determined, exciting, kind, compassionate, strange, quiet and loud at the same time. There was one person that fit this description, but Toadsworth had always said, "Commoners are common people. Royals are the regal people who have class."

Changing the subject in her mind, Peach took a blank piece of paper and set it down on the desk.

Dear Princess Daisy,

I was hoping that we could spend the holidays in The Mushroom Kingdom. The desert is no place to spend Christmas if you ask me. I'd appreciate it if you could come.

Please tell the family I said hello and I hope to see you soon.

Love,

Princess Peach

Daisy strode into her father's work room. The desk was piled with mountains and mountains of papers. This is how Daisy knew her father now. He was a solemn man that only worked and worked and worked some more. She remembered when they used to play games outside and read bedtime stories in strange voices. That, of course, was in the past. There was no point in wishing for it to come back, because it never would. Sarsaland was in mass debt. It surprisingly was still paying off the damage that was caused back when Tatanga attacked and kidnapped Daisy. The king took the payments into his own hands and there was never any time for family now.

The study was empty at the moment so Daisy took the liberty to check the pile of mail on his desk.

She held a hand full of letters up to the light. "Bills, bills, bills, advertisements, junk, bills, bills, junk, bills, advertisements…"

A neat letter slipped out of her grip and fell to the floor. Daisy set the mail down on the desk and crouched down to the letter to get a better look at it.

"To: Princess Daisy Sarsa. From: Princess Peach Toadstool. Hmm…" She picked the letter up and straightened out her spine.

"What are you doing in here?" A voice boomed.

Daisy turned around and faced her father. She held the letter close to her chest. "I was just getting a letter from the mail pile."

"Very well," The king sighed, "Please leave."

"But Daddy, I have a…"

"Now, child."

Daisy frowned. Her father was never any fun anymore. She walked out of the study, closing the door on her way out. She walked into her room and sat on the bed. Ripping open the light pink envelope, she read the letter carefully.

Grabbing a small, ripped piece of paper and a pen, she wrote back quickly.

Peach-

I'd love to! I can't wait to see everyone again! I'm catching the next train outta here A.S.A.P. See ya soon!

-Daisy

That was the beginning to Play. If you haven't noticed, for this mini-series, I'm using video terms that match up with the story.

Buffering refers to a pause in any point of a video where everything just freezes. In the story, Daisy being in a coma was where the pause took place.

Play refers to when the video is playing and you see everything going on. Since this is a prequel, (and I'm not going to spoil the end) play would fit in because you're watching everything unfold.

Boring title? Perhaps.

Are you going to change it? Nope.

Darn it! Get used to disappointment.

So far, so good? You tell me.

Click my profile for more of my stories and leave a review, comment, favorite, follow, PM me if you want, and I will see YOU...in the next update! BYE-BYE!