Fairyland

-Mario's Pov-

Escaping from the castle, Ashley was holding onto me as we flew through the air. I had no idea where we were going but I knew that she wouldn't take me anywhere harmful. The air brushed up against my cheeks, it was a calm breeze and I felt very relaxed despite being thousands of feet above the ground. We kept going higher, so high that I could barely see the castle below me. I was afraid if we went any higher than I would lose breath, I felt like my lungs were closing in on themselves. The oxygen levels up here were getting extremely low so I tried to tell Ashley that I was about to pass out, "Ashley..." I sighed trying to get my words out but I ended up passing out before she could do anything. Everything around me was silent and I couldn't even feel the wind anymore, no cold temperatures hitting my nose. While I was passed out I was in a stasis, or another world of my own, everything was dark as we continued our descent to who knows where.

A few moments later, I regained consciousness and I noticed that I was in a room somewhere. The room that I was in was elegantly decorated like I was in a mansion of some sort. Then I figured out that I was in a kingdom and this was the castle for the leader. Getting up, and sitting on the bed, I saw that my sword and dagger were set on a nearby table. They must have put them there to allow me to rest without hurting myself. I wanted to stay in bed all day, the sheets were very comfortable but I knew that all the magical creatures in this realm probably had some questions as to why I was here. There was a lot of yelling outside my door, and tons of voices were squabbling with one another. I was assuming that they were talking about me and most of them probably did not want me here.

Deciding to get up out of bed, I slowly made my way out of the room I was in and towards the chaos. This was most likely a bad idea but I would rather be there to stand up for myself than have everyone think that I was a threat. As the room opened up, I was surprised to see hundreds of magical beings in one place. This was the throne room because the Queen was situated near her seat as the princess stood beside her. Looking at the princess even closer, I was shocked at the realization that Ashley was the princess of this magical kingdom.

My presence must have been seen by the fairies because all of them turned their attention towards me and I felt confined, I didn't like this many eyes on me at once. Ashley must have recognized my discomfort in the situation and spoke up saving me from the awkwardness, "This is the Duke who saved me from the humans who captured me." Everyone's eyes traveled over to the princess in disbelief. They must have never heard of a human saving one of them. I perceived that all the magical beings thought like us, we both didn't like each other and viewed them as something bad. Ashley gestured for me to join her by her side and I slowly walked up to her, I didn't want anyone to think that I was going to attack her.

The Queen scowled at me as I made my way over to Ashley, "Are you so certain that this human wasn't just trying to trick you to earn his trust?" Immediately Ashley glanced at her mother in a way that suggested that she did not like what she said. The Queen had just made her daughter extremely angry, this was a bad thing because Ashley faced her mother. There was some heat between the two as they glared at each other as they battled each other's views.

Ashley began to talk back to her mother, "He would not do that. Do not suggest that my soulmate will ever trick me." Instantaneously there was a lot of quarreling between all the civilians as they heard the surprising news. Even I was shaken by her words, I was her soulmate?! Panic overtook my whole body, I couldn't even move because I was frozen in shock.

The Queen looked at Ashley as if there was a bombshell that just dropped into the atmosphere, "Soulmate?" Everyone in the room was quiet, still trying to process the words that Ashley has just said. Ashley's mother shook her head in disbelief and perhaps rejected the idea that was just presented, "I will not allow this human to be your soulmate. Humans are a threat!" After that, Ashley just looked at her mother with sadness in her eyes, disagreeing with her mother's demanding statement. Ashley wanted me to be her soulmate. She did reject the idea of letting me go, so perhaps she could have feelings for me. My heart soared, I was extremely happy at the thought of being Ashley's soulmate.

Scaring me, a member of the crowd objected to the Queen, "One must abide by the soulmate code!" Everyone then chimed in with them, protesting against the Queen's decision. I have no idea what the soulmate's code was but I was rather glad that they had one otherwise, in all likelihood, I would get kicked out of the castle. Averting my gaze back toward Ashley, I saw that she was giving a smile of victory. That Minnie battle that happened between mother and daughter was rather funny. I laughed a little bit at Ashley's actions and I also felt victorious myself. Then I realized something, I had feelings for the princess and I wanted to be hers. But how will I ever manage to be seen? I was fearful of rejection because I was human and she was a fairy but I will be happy if I can at least be by her side, no matter what form that takes.