Mariya sighs, getting out of the gummi ship as it stops in the Courtyard. She waits til Mario gets out to get her bag and sends the Gummi ship off before turning around. She smiles, seeing Belle. She was in her yellow dress, and a gold tiara was on her head. She smiled. "Mariya, welcome." She says, smiling.

Mariya goes up and hugs Belle. "Belle, this is Mario." She motions twords Mario. "He's one of the Royal Knights protecting me. Axel will be hopefully here soon. He's making sure Darren won't follow."

Belle smiles at Mario "Pleasure to meet you."

Mario nods and gives a small bow. "A pleasure to meet you."

Belle smiles more. "Please, come in, I'll show you where you can stay." She says before turning away. She opens the doors and Mariya follows her inside. Everything inside is bright and gorgeous. A tall boy, looking to be a few years older than Mariya, was carrying some blankets, heading to the East Wing, he put them down when he noticed Mariya.

"Mariya! Welcome back!" He said, bowing to her.

"It's nice seeing you again Prince David." Mariya says, smiling.

"Dinner is almost ready, mother." David says, smiling. "Here let me take your bag."

Mariya motions to the blankets. "You have enough on your hands."

David laughs. "Almost forgot I was putting blankets in the guest room for your guards...." He trailed off.

"David I can take my own bag up." Mariya argues. "Don't worry about it."

"Very well." David says before going and picking up the blankets again. "If you'll please follow me, I'll show you where you can sleep."

Mariya nods, and follows David up to the East Wing.

Mario follows close behind, keeping a close guard on Mariya.

David stops, and opens the door to the farthest room in the hallway. "Here's your's Mariya." He says, "Mom's old room, as always. Lumiere will come get you when Dinner is ready."

Mariya smiles, and goes in the room. David then goes to the door across from it. "And you and Axel can stay in here." He says, opening the door. The bedroom inside was medium sized, and had two beds in it. He goes in and puts the blankets down on one of the beds. He then walks down the hall, going downstairs.

Mariya comes out of her room, she looked worried. "If Lumiere comes up, can you tell him to send up some food for me? I'm gonna sleep a little..."

Mario nods and sighs, leaning against the wall as he tries to think.

Mariya goes back in the room, leaving the door open. The bed creaks as she lies on it. Her suitcase was on the floor, open and some of her things were on the floor. She pulls the blankets over her and closes her eyes, falling back asleep.

Mario is silent as he stands out in the hall, but after the events at Opera Populaire followed by the events at Hollow Bastion, he was a bit tired himself. He soon goes into his room and falls asleep on the bed, reverting into his Heartless form.

Lumiere arrives then, and smiles a bit finding both Mariya and Mario asleep. He shuts Mariya's door slowly, and goes back downstairs.

Awhile later he returns with two trays of food, a drink and a note. He puts one outside of their doors, and goes back downstairs.

The notes read:

Mariya & Mario,

I hope you find your rooms confortable. I made sure they cleaned up the rooms before you came. Also, I would like to inform you that one of the guards caught Heartless roaming about in the Undercroft and the Secret Passage, so unless it's a emergency, please refrain from going threw those area's. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask.
King Adam

Mario wakes up some time later, rubbing his eyes as he reverts to his human form. He finds the note, reads it, and then eats a little bit of his tray of food.

Mariya wakes up and also reads her note, and eats her food. She then starts unpacking. After awhile she puts a jewelry box on the vanity and looks out to the balcony. She lets out a yell as she see's something fly by it.

Mario jumps to his feet when he hears the scream, rushing into Mariya's room. "Mariya!" he yells, "What's wrong?"

"Something flew passed the balcony." She says, sitting on her bed.

"...I'll take a look," Mario says as he goes over to the window, peering outside.

Something fly's by the balcony again, and a few minutes later, it repeats, but it was closer. It looked like a Dragoon. It doesn't come back again. Mariya is still on the bed, looking panicked.

Mario blinks, looking confused. "What the...was that a Dragoon?" he asks.

"Yea...I think so." Mariya says, getting up. "We should go find Adam and Belle."

Mario nods after a minute and goes toward the room's exit.

Mariya gets up, and leaves the room, and heads to the Entrance Hall.

Axel lands in the courtyard and goes to knock on the great doors

Mariya enters the entrance hall. She hears the knock and motions for Mario to follow her. She goes to the door, and after summoning Eternity, she opens the door. "Axel!" She says, before hugging him. "What took you so long?"

Mario follows Mariya, pausing when he hears someone at the doors. He summons a Shadow Blade, just in case. However, when the door is opened, he relaxes.

Axel hugs Mariya back"I got in a fight, but everything is ok now" he looks at Mario "you haven't by any chance seen floating things wearing white and black cloaks have you?"

Mariya shakes her head. "I haven't seen anything." She says.

Axel nods"ok just checking" Axel takes Mariya's hand "umm you mind if we talk in private?"

Mariya shakes her head. She goes into the palor and once Axel was inside she shuts the door and turns to him. "What's on your mind?" She asks, leaning on the closed door.

"I wanted to talk to you about your feelings about, you know the time I left"Axel sits down and sighs

"Well, whatever Darren said to you, it's probably true." Mariya says before looking away from him. "I was hurt Axel, it felt like something inside me was torn to shreds. I locked myself in my room...and just wanted to forget...if I forgot you, I thought the pain might end. So I started spending time with Darren....he was always careful not to mention you...he cared....but I still felt the pain. When Darren made his move...I left Radiant Garden...so I could be away from the memories..."

"but....he said you still hate me" Axel looks at the celing "I didn't believe him, but it hurt you know, deep in my heart it hurt"

"If I hated you Axel, I would have asked Mario to be my date for the mask." Mariya says with a smile. She then pulls down his face and kisses him on the cheek. "Better?"

Axel smiles "or you could have done it to make me jealous" he kisses her back

"Please, if I wanted you jealous I would have made Raoul be my date." Mariya says, smiling.

Axel smiled "no that would have been hilarious"

Mariya rolls her eyes and leaves the parlor, and goes to go back up the stairs when she see's a tall brown-haired man with blue eyes at the top of the stairs. "King Adam." She says, bowing slightly. "We were just coming to find you."

"Is there something wrong?" He asks.

Axel leaves the room and goes to Mario "so how'd you fair?"

Mario shrugs. "Pretty good, but with one thing after another, I'm starting to wonder if I need more time to rest."

"I saw a dragoon outside of my window." Mariya says.

"Ah, I see." Adam says. "Don't worry Mariya. Those windows are protected by a seal, it won't let any Nobodies or Heartless inside."

"Well, then just be on the look out." Mariya says, before yawning.

Adam laughs. "Go get some rest, all of you."

Mariya nods and heads back to her room. Once ther she lies on the bed, and pulls the blankets over her.

Axel nods "I know how you feel"

"To be honest, I might be losing sleep, too," Mario states. "In fact, earlier was the first time I've slept in about three months."

"Well maybe they should list that in the job discription" Axel says lightly

(*glares at Riku* rule 14)

Darren smiles as he lands in the courtyard. The Chimera's floating behind him. "Find her and bring her to me." Darren says.

The Chimera's fly off, and search for Mariya. One finds her asleep on her bed and tries to get in threw the blacony doors, but gets shot back by a barrier. It hisses and flies back down to Darren.

---

"Something just tried to get into Mariya's room." Adam says, looking up to the East Wing. "I'll explain leter how I know, but hurry and get up there."

---

The Chimera drops Darren on the balcony, and his hand gets knocked away by the barrier. He then begins to think of a way to get passed it.

Meanwhile inside the room, Mariya is fast asleep.

Mario hears Adam and turns toward the East Wing, muttering slightly as he rushes up the stairs toward Mariya's room.

Axel runs after Mario to Mariya's room

As they both approach the room, Mariya screams from inside her room. When inside, Mariya is gone, but a note is on the floor, amonst the smashed glass.

Axel, Mario
I thank you both for making this easier on my part. But especially you Axel, for helping me discover Mariya's location. My...friends tracked you down here, as well as Mario, so where else could she be? The next time you see Mariya, she shall be my wife.
Much ado to you you both,
Darren, Prince of Mittere.

{Darren & Mariya to Twilight Town}

Mario bursts in, sees the note, and mutters under his breath. "Crap, we're too late!"

Axel follows him through and see's the message and growls "it's my fault!"

Mario is silent before he turns and swipes his Shadow Blade, creating a dark doorway. "Come on, there might be some clues to where Darren went back at Hollow Bastion." He then rushes through the doors.

{Mario to Hollow Bastion}

Axel nods and walks through the doors after Mario

{Axel to Hallow Bastion}