Peach floated to the ground in what seemed to be the outskirts of Toad Town just outside of the bros' house. For a second, she had forgotten that she was in a dream since everything seemed relatively normal. A mass of stars began to form beside her. Emerging from this mass was Prince Dreambert who was now reduced to his dream form of just a pillow with a face.

The two looked around. Nothing was out of the ordinary, which was odd considering they were in a dream. Beneath them, a dirt road with a single set of footprints trailing down it. The trail lead through a clearing in the trees.

"He must have gone this way," Peach tells Dreambert, pointing at the footprints leading down the road towards the small town. Dreambert nodded and the two continued forward, Peach taking a glance behind them to make a mental note of the return portal's location. As the two made their way down the abnormally normal path, they couldn't help but think that something was wrong.

They stopped just outside of Toad Town and their theories were quickly proven correct. The kingdom was practically torn down and in the process of being replaced by a new ruler.

"What happened here?" Dreambert says to himself in absolute disbelief.

"I... I don't know..." Peach responded, looking up to her now malformed kingdom nearly speechless. Her attention shifted from the kingdom as a whole toward the glass pane window that stood above the doorway. Her glass portrait had been completely removed and replaced with a signature green 'L'. Although, this wasn't the 'L' she was accustomed to. This one was mirrored. "...but I think I have an idea," she continued, her memory briefly flashing back to the dream she had about a week before.

Peach, in fact, did have an idea. Picking up her dress just a tad so she wouldn't trip on it, she ran into the castle, Dreambert following close behind. Ignoring the new 'renovations' to the castle, Peach ran straight to the throne room where her suspicions were proven correct.

Her throne was scattered throughout the room. A remnant of a previous dream. Behind the former throne was a large hole in the wall leading to the deep woods.

"I have a question," Peach propped up, turning to her pi'illo friend, "Is it possible for two people to have the same dream at the same time by any chance?"

"Of course, why do you ask?" He asks in return.

"Well, I had a dream about a week ago that took place in this very same room and... Had this," she gestured at the pieces scattered throughout the room and the large hole in the wall, "As the outcome. After that, I saw him walk through this hole... I know it's a long shot but, what if he's in there," Peach pointed to the deep forest that spread out behind the castle.

Dreambert looked through the temporary window to the forest, eyes widening in anxiety at the thought of having to search the entire area. If it wasn't for the fact that he was helping his friends, he would have called it quits right then and there. He turned back to Peach and let out an uneasy smile. "Let's go find him."

~~~~~

Peach and Dreambert hiked through the woods, sticking close by one another in case something had the gall to attack them. The eerie sounds of the forest were eating away at Peach. She needed to break the fearful silence between her and the pi'illo.

"So," she began, quickly trying to think of a conversation topic. One, in particular, intrigued her. "Why is it possible for two people to have the same dream exactly?" She asked, curiously.

Dreambert's ears perked up. He hasn't exactly thought of this for quite some time but was fascinated by such a memory. "Well, it's a rarely used tactic that we like to call 'Dream Merging'." The prince began to explain. "Dream merging is either an unintended gift or it is trained into a being. Those who train to use it, use it to transport a set of... well, anything... through the dream word from one area to another. Those who naturally have it don't know it. They merge dreams by accident. Their dreams merge with those nearby who the dreamer has a strong emotional connection to. Hence why you and Luigi must have shared a dream."

The idea of such a feat captivated Peach. "I bet him and Mario shared dozens of dreams in the past and brushed it off like some weird twin thing," she laughed, Dreambert lightly chuckling.

~~~~~

In the trees over the woods, Mr. L sat on a branch, secretly watching his dopplegänger who sat on a downed tree, thinking to himself. It had been about two days in this world since anything remotely interesting had happened. From time to time, Mr. L liked to summon some kind of enemy to give Luigi a little scare for his enjoyment, but for the most part, it was just waiting.

A rustle in the trees could be heard, the two's heads turning simultaneously in the direction of the sound. Peach, followed by Dreambert emerged from behind a tree. Mr. L's eyes lit up, it was finally his chance to be free. He climbed to the top of the tree he sat upon, making his way over the forest. He looked throughout the tips of the trees, finding a small part of a large multi-colored cloud.

Before making his way towards it, he looked back down to Luigi, Peach, and the pillow. If they came from the forest, they'd know the way out. Mr. L snapped his fingers, the forest beginning to... shuffle itself in an attempt to throw off their sense of direction. Satisfied, he turned back around, jumping from tree to tree towards his freedom.

~~~~~

A dizzying sensation washed over the three but was quickly shaken off. Upon seeing the princess, Luigi gasped, turning away from her, ashamed.

"Luigi?" She asks, carefully taking a step forward to him. "Are you okay?"

It was hard for him to ignore her. He contemplated running deeper into the forest before taking a quick glance over his shoulder to her. Peach was her usual self, not afraid of him at all, unlike back in the castle. He found it odd that her injuries had cleared up so fast. Did he lose track of time? Surely not, but whatever had been going on, he really wanted an explanation. "Are you... afraid of me?" He had to ask, keeping his back turned to her.

A confused look spread across her face. She glanced at Dreambert who looked equally as confused. "I-what? Of course not!" She replied.

"Are you sure?" He turned to her, keeping his eyes to the ground. "Back at the castle, you seemed pretty scared and... I don't know what happened, but... I don't want to hurt you again," he slid down the tree log to further himself from her.

Peach shook her head. "You didn't hurt me." Luigi looked up at the sound of the words. "I don't know what's been going on around here, but I've come to help you," Peach began to explain, Luigi's head cocked to the side in uncertainty. "You see, you're in a dream. You've been asleep for four days now and we're here to get you out of here."

Luigi stared back to the ground, things started to make sense again. He sighed in relief the breath he had forgotten he had been holding.

"Thank you," he smiled to her, "But, how do we get out of here?"

Peach opened her mouth to speak before immediately closing it. She looked around, completely forgetting where they had come from.

They were lost.