Only a Game

THIS STORY IS IN A CHARACTER PERSPECTIVE
Lucy P.O.V

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I awoke to a big booming sound coming from downstairs.

It was so loud I'm pretty sure all of toad town heard it! And toad town is... 1, uh... Oh! 3 miles away. At least that's what daddy says.

My daddy is the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom! Well, the brother anyway. My dad is so cool! He even remembered my birthday!

yesterday I turned 5, and my daddy threw the biggest, bestest party ever!! He even got fireworks! Well, 2 anyway.

at first I thought it was another firework going off but then I remembered we already lit all the fireworks! So the big boom must've come from something else. I wonder if daddy is in trouble!! I have to help him if he is!

I got out of bed, walked over to my door, out of my room and into the hallway. It was dark, but I wasn't scared.

I walked down the hall and down the stairs, that's when I knew something was really wrong. Daddy's hat was lying on the ground. Just laying there! Daddy never takes it off, so I knew something was up! (Unless daddy wanted to play hide and seek and he was giving me a hint, but I doubt that)

I picked up daddy's hat and continued looking around.

I noticed that a lot of stuff was on the floor or knocked over. Like if daddy had been fighting with someone.

I kept looking around when I suddenly heard a shriek! It was daddy! I could tell by the sound of his voice. Whoever is here must've not liked daddy shrieking, because just as it started it stopped! And then I heard someone say-

"Would you shut up already?!"

I heard it come from the back room! I quietly tip-toed quietly through the kitchen, through the living room, past Daddy's bedroom and all the way to the back room (just like Dora does! )

as I got closer to the back room I kept hearing muffled screams. I couldn't tell if it was daddy or not because it was so muffled.

I slowly and quietly turned the door nob and opened the door just a little bit. I looked inside and guess what I saw... Daddy! But he wasn't alone. There was 2 guys with him.

One of the guys was holding daddy's mouth shut and his arms behind his back, and the other was holding daddy's ankles together. Daddy was screaming and turning, which made my wonder if it hurt.

"Daddy?" I quietly said. Daddy and the men all looked at me. When daddy looked at me his eyes widened and he started screaming louder and twisting more strongly.

The men looked at each other then the one holding onto daddy's ankles let go and started walking towards me.

"I'll handle her." He said, then picked me up and started carrying me out of the room. Daddy kept kicking the air and twisting his body (I don't know why, though. I don't think he was in pain so why would he be screaming so loud?)

I looked at the man, confused.

"who are you?" I asked. He looked at me.

"nobody you need to know." He replied.

"why are you doing that to daddy? And why is he screaming?" I asked.

"we're trying to restrain him." He said.

"why?"

"well, let me put it this way. My boss is very 'interested' in your dad. He wants him, and this is the only way to get him." The man replied.

I thought for a second, then it hit me.

"Are we playing a game? Are we playing Royals?" I asked, getting excited.

"Royals? What's that?" He asked.

"It's a game were someone plays a prince or princess and everyone else has to serve them. Are we playing that?" I asked. He thought for a second then a smile spread across his face.

"Yeah. We're playing royals." He replied with a smile on his face.

"Yay! Who's the royal?" I asked, bouncing with excitement.

"Your daddy is playing the royal." he replied.

"Okay. Where are we going?" I asked, noticing that he was walking towards the door while still carrying me.

"We're going to go get the 'royal carrage' ready for your dad. Can you help me?" He asked

"I would love to!" I exclaimed. He then set me down and we walked outside together.

Outside there was a big, red truck. The man went over to the truck and opened the back door of it.

"We need to clear the stuff off of this seat so your daddy can sit on it." The man said.

I came up beside him and climbed into the back seat. There was 3 big rolls of tape layed across the seat, 2 jackets, a few blankets and a big knife. I picked up the knife and carefully handed it to him.

"Careful. Daddy says these things are dangerous, and that I shouldn't play with them." I told him as I handed the knife to him. The man chuckled and took the knife from me and stuck it in a slot on his belt.

I picked up the 3 rolls of duct tape and put them under the seat. I picked up the 2 jackets and handed them to him. He threw them into the very back of the truck. I rolled up all the blankets into one big ball and handed it to him.

"You're a very nifty cleaner. Did your daddy teach you that as well?" He asked, throwing the blanket ball into the very back of the truck.

"Yeah!" I replied. "My daddy taught me a lot of things about cleaning and safety. He's the smartest, toughest, most wonderful person ever! Is that the reason why your 'boss' wants him in the game?" I asked.

"something like that." he replied.

After we finished cleaning the 'royal carrage' we went back inside the house and back to the room where 'prince' daddy was. Now he was sitting up. While we were gone the other guy had tied daddy's hands behind his back and his knees and ankles were tied together with tape as well. I'm guessing that he asked them to do this to him because he is the royal, and you can't do anything to the royal that they don't want.

But I wonder if this is their first time playing this game, 'cause when we came in my daddy was struggling with all his might, which means that he must not want this, but who cares, right? It's only a game. It's not like daddy is in real danger.

When daddy saw me and the man enter the room he first looked at the man, then at me. When he saw me his eyes widened with fear. He then looked back at the man. The man started to walk over to my daddy.

"Please... Please, don't hurt her." Daddy said, watching as the man approached him "Please. Do whatever you want with me, just don't hurt her! Please! I beg you! Please don't hurt my daughter!" The man was right beside daddy now and knelt down beside him. Daddy started to have tears run down his cheeks. "Please! I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt her! Please!" Daddy sobbed. The man placed his hand on daddy's cheek and stroked it.

"shhhh. It's alright. No need to cry. As long as you co-opperate no harm will come to your precious little ball of sunshine~" The man cooed, stroking daddy's cheek. Daddy whimpered a little.

"It's okay daddy. It's only a game." I said. Daddy and the man both looked at me.

"A g-game?" daddy asked, sounding kind of afraid. The man chuckled.

"hehe. That's right Luigi. It's only a game, and you're playing the royal." the man said. The man went to a big, large, black back that was sitting across the room (I think it's his) and opened it, then pulled out 1 large, white scarf. Daddy was looking back and watching as the man did this.

"and the royal has to have his royal scarf, right?" The man cooed, then started walking towards daddy.

Daddy struggled a little while the man was walking towards him. The man knelt down behind daddy and held the rag in front of daddy's mouth.

"open wide~" the man cooed. Daddy shakily opened his mouth and let the man tie the scarf over his mouth.

The man then stood up and went over to another man who was standing in the corner, doing something on his phone. The man and the other man started whispering to each other.

Daddy started struggling a little bit. Tears were starting to run down his cheeks so I could tell that he wasn't fully okay with this. I went up to daddy and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him.

"It's okay daddy. There's nothing to be afraid of. It's only a game, so no one's going to hurt you, okay?" I said, hugging daddy. He was kind of shocked, but then he hugged me back as best he could, moving his shoulders towards me and resting his chin on my shoulder. He moved his mouth close to my ear and whispered-

"I wuff yuu." He whispered, new tears coming down his cheeks.

"okay. Time to go." the man said, coming back towards us with his partner.

I put Toughy in daddy's hands and said-

The man's partner picked Luigi up and put him over his shoulder, then walked out of the room and out the front door. Me and the man followed close behind, then I stopped when we reached the front door. Daddy looked at me worriedly with tears down his cheeks while the man's partner carried him to the 'royal carrage'. The man was about to walk past me and out the door but I stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"sir? Th-this is a game, right? You're going to bring daddy back, right?" I asked, getting worried that maybe this was real.

The man smiled at me and knelt down in front of me.

"Of course it's a game. This is all a game. There's nothing to be afraid of." he assured me, then kissed me on the head.

When he kissed my head I saw daddy's eyes widen, then shut tight and turn away, as if he had just seen something really icky. The man then stood up and started walking towards the 'royal carrage'.

"Wait!" I called out. The man stopped and looked back at me "y-you'll bring daddy back, right?" I asked. The man smiled.

"of course we will." he replied. Then got into the 'royal carrage' with his partner.

His partner had put daddy in the back seat and had closed the door, then got in the driver's seat of the 'royal carrage' then they rode away with daddy.



It's just a game, though.
They'll bring daddy back... 




... right?