DELTATOAD [Chapter 1]

2) ❤️ Paper Problem

"There you two are!" Peach exclaimed. "Where have you been?!"

Peach seemed almost livid as she stormed through the minefield of papers and books. The Toads all knew to get out of the way before the Princess bowled them over. Your brother shrank as Peach approached, already shaking under her glare.

"Um, well, we tried to get here on time, and we did! But, uh, w-we kinda..." Luigi trailed off as his gaze lowered. "We kinda got lost..."

The Princess sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head as she did. Your brother sheepishly frowned and averted his gaze. You could already tell that your brother felt bad about not being there on time, but Peach's demeaning glare probably made him feel worse.

"Sorry. Y'know what? It's probably not the time for that. We have more important things to worry about first. I need you boys to see something," Peach told you both.

Peach waved her hand, motioning for you and your brother to follow her. Luigi sniffled and wiped at his face with his sleeve to remove any tears that might've become visible. The two of you trailed behind the Princess as she made her way to the far side of the library. 

This section of the library was obviously less visited than the others. Over here, there was a nice layer of dust on all of the shelves and glass cases. Your brother gawked as he glanced over the books with the practically sparkling covers. It was like all of these books over here were made of magic.

"Woah... I don't think I've ever been to this kind of library section before," Luigi commented.

Peach laughed a little in response with a small smile.

"I would be shocked if you had," the Princess replied. "These books are all Ancient."

Your brother went wide-eyed with amazement. He skimmed over some of the book titles, just now realizing that all of them were definitely written in some kind of obscure and ancient language that's been long forgotten.

"How did you get all of these?" Luigi asked with a hint of wonder in his voice.

Peach more or less shrugged as she turned to look over the shelves.

"Most of these were here long before I was even born... A few of them are newer to the collection, but the actual authors are lost to time," Peach stated. "Well, all of them except this one book. Which is why I brought you both here."

The Princess held up her pointer finger, signaling the two of you to stay put for a moment. As she walked off to grab a nearby ladder, your brother gave you a perplexed look as you watched Peach start to climb up to one of the topmost shelves. Luigi had no idea what kind of book the Princess could possibly need both of your help with.

"I didn't think that we were the kind of people you would call for a book problem, heh." Luigi chuckled awkwardly.

Peach seemed to have finally found the book she was looking for as she slid down the ladder. Luigi craned his neck to see what she was holding that could be so important. The Princess held out the book for you both to see and, honestly, it was a tad underwhelming compared to the other books in this section.

For one thing, the book looked like trash.

"Recognize it?" Peach asked. "It's the book that contains the Paper World."

Luigi gasped and looked at the Princess in pure shock. He would have never guessed that the book she was holding was the one she had just mentioned.

"But... H-how?! It's..!" Luigi trailed off, not wanting to sound offensive.

"Completely ruined? The cover isn't even the worst of it," Peach replied with a sigh.

You watched as the Princess slowly opened up the book. Luigi flinched, expecting something to happen, like a paper-world creature to come flying out, but it seemed like it was just a book now. A horribly maintained book, but just a book.