A/N: I've had this sitting in my Drive for so long I almost forgot about it. Here's a story I may not continue. It's got three chapters to its name and one's not finished. I might luck up and finish it, but we'll see. For now, here it is. I got inspired by this after Beauty and the Beast became one of the only things I heard in the household. It'll have twists and turns unique to itself. So don't write this off just yet. :3


Princess and the Koopa
Prologue

The world opened to a village of mushrooms and other inhabitants. Bright and cheerful and vivid they all were, walking along the path or watching the fountain. The entirety of it all was peaceful and quiet. And happy.

However.

Deep in the woods in the far reaches of the town, where no one had dared to travel, lay a castle unlike any other. Moats of lava sprawled around it, and a peculiar symbol had been stamped throughout.

Here, someone was not peaceful, or quiet. Or even happy. Upon his throne, he sat, pouting and drumming his claws against the table in front of him. He looked around, small red eyes glinting and fiery orange eyebrows furrowing, and hollered in a shrill voice, "WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?! I'm starving!"

Another voice yelped, making itself known, as a stained koopa stepped out of a hallway, with a frown, and stated, a French accent lining his tone, "Sit tight, Baby Bowser. It's almost ready."

"That's Prince Bowser to you, Lum," he huffed, crossing his arms and looking away. The koopa frowned at this. "Besides, I'd been sitting here for hours! are you trying to starve the only heir to the throne?!"

"Oh, nonsense.." Lum frowned, wiping down his yellow shirt and cleaning it up. He didn't know why though. "It's only been thirty minutes.. Prince Bowser."

The rude prince smirked, red eyes glinting once more, but then he frowned again, staring at his minion, "It's still a long time!" he then snorted, "I feel like I'm going to DIE!"

The last word about shook the castle, dust falling from the nearly perfect ceiling. In fact, it seemed as if it wasn't up to par - cracked, singed, burnt - for the better part of a decade. Seemed as if this occurrence had been frequent. Lum the koopa shivered, a little frightened, but shook his head, "You'll be fine," and returned to his duty.

The koopa prince got up, growling, about to give chase. Bowser wasn't finished with him yet. But then a knock shattered those thoughts, and he growled, "Somebody, get the door!"

He waited, looking around. No one seemed to answer, strangely enough. No footsteps or cries of "I'll get it!" or anything. It all seemed a little weird, as Bowser furrowed his brow more, continuing to walk then, through various halls filled with paintings and his feet padding the soft red rug.

The koopa prince soon reached the ornate door, and opened it without hesitation. It seemed to be a young lady, blond locks cascading down her shoulders and back, and her extravagant blue dress made her sapphire eyes pop and shimmer.

"What do you want?!" he snarled at her, and the taller didn't fidget, staring down upon the young prince with more or less concern.

She exhaled, white fog passing through her mouth. Winter was encroaching, but she didn't seem to care, wearing clothes not designed for the weather. But Bowser, however did, shivering in the doorway soon enough and was about to usher her, before the lady interrupted, "I come upon you because you seem unhappy."

"Unhappy? I'm perfectly fine!" he growled, crossing his arms and tapping his foot against the floor. "Wasting my time, letting the warm air out, just to tell me that!"

"Bowser, you're a liar," the lady didn't back down. And the young prince was shocked that she knew his name, before anger settled in, fire snorting through his nostrils. "For the longest time you've sat in this lonely castle."

"I have my servants. It's quite lively here," he interrupted with clenched teeth, trying to keep from blowing his top.

"Servants? why, this is a free world," the beauty gazed upon him, blue eyes boring through him.

"I'm a prince. I do whatever I please," he turned away, and slammed the door shut. The lady jolted, eyes wide. That certainly didn't go well. Perhaps she should go straight to the point…

Bowser paced away from the door, breathing in whatever warmth was left, as another servant, Kamek, came to check on him, robes flying about, "Sir, who was at the door?"

"None of your concern…" he growled.

The lowly wizard frowned, "Of course. Dinner is almost ready."

"Almost?! you really are trying to kill me, aren't you?!" the child advanced, brows furrowed angrily, and Kamek ran off down the hall from which he came, shouting a series of "No"'s, and that's when the door knocked again. Bowser snorted and stomped back to it, opening it with such force it almost splintered. He gripped the doorknob when he saw it was her again, but before he could say anything, he got blasted, a purple darkness enveloping him.

In deep agony, the koopa writhed and flailed, as the lady kept a neutral face, watching with her glowing star wand raised. Soon, it was all over, and something was floating between them, a dark, small orb. Bowser gasped and huffed, and looked up, veins freezing upon the sight, "Wh.. what is that?"

His voice seemed smaller, more afraid, and she sighed, gazing upon it, "This.. is your heart. Your essence. Apparently, you're more than unhappy."

The prince took this in, all hostility having faded, and he tilted his head, ponytailed mohawk drooping as he did, "But why is it so dark?"

The seeming enchantress didn't answer that, choosing to keep staring. She twirled her wand, encasing it in a glass jar for all to see, for him to see. She only said this one thing, "You hold no positivity in your heart. Cold, dark. That's all that's here."

Which did in fact answer why, in a way. Bowser huffed, crossing his arms again, "I have plenty of positivity!"

"No," this single word, soft though it may have been, was firm and seemed to echo throughout his establishment, garnering the attention of every servant. Bowser shivered, not from the cold, but from fear. She continued, "That is not what I meant. And I cannot give you any more than what I had."

The mysterious enchantress levitated the jar down to his level, and he raised his paws to grab it, gently. By this point, every servant - the boos, the koopas, goombas, parakoopas and -goombas - was crowding behind him, and she glanced at them, face stern, "You have till your thirty-first birthday, to lighten your heart."

"And what happens if I don't?" the prince inquired, raising an eyebrow. She simply regarded him with a grimace, which bothered him, and turned to walk away, wand lifted and glowing once more.

"Good luck," echoed as well, as she vanished into a bright light, leaving Bowser and his underlings worried and scared.

"What do we do now?" one of them cried, hopping from foot to foot.

Bowser turned to face them, closing the door with one hand and cradling his jar with the other. He could have sworn he saw his castle degrade just a little bit. He then shook his head, "I.. have no idea.."

And so.. life had gone on. The prince was becoming more grown each year, and every day he tried his best to resolve the situation in which he'd found himself. Year one had him practicing etiquette, with Lum's help. But it didn't get very far. His temper always managed to get the best of him, and Lum's unenthused attitude didn't help. Nonetheless, at the end of that year, he checked his heart that he now kept in the west wing.

Still dark.

He frowned and slammed his fist onto the table, causing everything to jolt upwards. Including the jar. He gasped and settled it down, trembling. He didn't know what would happen if it toppled over, but he didn't care to find out.

The castle seemed to darken as well, each day. And his minions had noticed and tried to fix it up. But everything they did seemed to reverse. Even Kamek's magic held no water.

And so it stayed, and worsened.

Year two was the time Bowser tried to learn social skills, from a rather talkative blue-shelled parakoopa named Carl. But this wasn't to last either, as Carl's motor mouth irritated him and just when he seemed to get it, his temper drove the poor parakoopa away. One good roar was enough, ringing through the entire castle, and Bowser didn't seem to have any regrets.

By the end, he checked again, climbing the stairs with excitement. Maybe his heart finally lightened, even with the slipup, for he felt he had learned so much. But, alas, his brows curving upwards in sadness, his thoughts were not to be.

It was still as black as ever.

The stone parakoopas decorating the castle had morphed into something resembling gargoyles, and the castle itself seemed morbid. And the servants became aghast at this, as well as the fact that they seemed to be slowly changing as well.

Several years passed of unlearned lessons and disappointing events, and year ten came rolling around. Bowser had turned twenty, and looked more like a king than a prince. He was larger and burlier, dressed in a fiery cloak and black outfit. His bright red, dark eyes graced his servants as he huffed. His servants looked not like themselves at all. The living were the undead, at least physically, and the originally cute boos were hulking. And the castle was drearier than ever.

This year had him trying to make friends beyond his servants, sending him into the town bordering the forest. He wondered why they thought he was ready for this. But he nonetheless took it.

Needless to say, it didn't go well either, with the toads screaming and running when all he wanted was to greet them and try and put his skills to the test. He found himself in the midst of a terror town, red eyes wide. And then he cracked, running back to his castle. He ended up blowing his top within the woods, just about burning it all down. And then, drooping, walked back. He ignored Kamek's questions, heading straight for the west wing.

He passed his torn paintings, his destroyed furniture, stomping through the hall to the jar sitting atop the one table that wasn't destroyed. Maybe now it had lightened, if only just a tad.

Bowser gazed at it, and was once again disappointed, but horrified. The heart.. it.. it was even darker. The prince slumped slightly, eyes quivering. Was it all for naught?

Was it all for nothing?

He growled then, ferocity returning to his eyes, and he slashed a nearby curtain. A certain lady noticed this, and bit her lip. She had been watching the castle for a long while now, keeping tabs. But it seemed he needed a little help. She couldn't do much, except give him two things.

A rose. And a mirror.

These two things appeared on the table in a bright flash of light, stopping the monster from further going amuck. He looked at them, admiring the gently glowing rose, and then staring confusedly at the mirror. He picked up the rose, and gently slid it into his outfit, and then grabbed the mirror, checking his reflection. He then muttered gutturally, "I wonder what my servants are cooking up for me next…"

Bowser seemed sour. He didn't want to go back there. But then the mirror began to shine a light green, and his reflection rippled, becoming replaced with exactly what his servants were doing. He could even hear them. The giant koopa blinked, watching briefly, before he set it down gently, deactivating the powers. He sighed, bringing his gaze back to his heart.

Nothing was ever going to work. He'd tried everything. It didn't matter. He was doomed to an uncertain fate. And he couldn't change it.

The lady bit her lip, eyes widening. This was the last thing she wanted to happen. But what had she been expecting? she was far too vague. And now he seemed resigned to his fate. And it was to become a monster. Cruel, driven by the darkness in his heart. Forever.

But.. she couldn't tell him that.

She wouldn't..

She could only hope that his direction changed, for good and for the better. But who could ever learn to love a beast?


A/N: Alright... maybe I will continue this. :3
Just tell me what I can use other than Drive and Docs.