When the dust had settled and cleared, all was peaceful. That is, when the mighty, stoic King of the Koopas had only enough mental capacity to dive headfirst into the mountain of paperwork on his desk, and ignore any sounds that made their way through the winding halls from where they-well, what else would one call them?-resided. This was too much-they were too much. Bowser hadn't been a quiet kid himself, but every time he ventured toward the opposite wing to at least check up on that unruly band of children, he was shortly met with a cacophony of dissonant voices. Fighting about what was anyone's guess, but as his headache grew, his resolve diminished, and each time he only made it about halfway before returning to his work yet again.

He sighed and clicked his pen in annoyance, pushing the partially filled-out form to the side. He really should make more of an effort. But then again, maybe Kamek could-No. He stopped himself. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to add another task to the old bat's laundry list-or else he'd be getting an earful from him until the day he died. Besides, Kamek already had his hands full dealing with his son, and pushing more children on him would likely do nothing to improve his already sour disposition.

His mind effectively made up, he stood, almost too quickly to notice the pit that had gradually been forming in his stomach. He inhaled sharply, and to his dismay, the pain expanded.

He eyed the bathroom momentarily in confusion. I haven't eaten...all day...His son. Something was wrong. Right? He hadn't had enough time to become intimately familiar with this feeling, but if Kamek had ever payed him any compliment, it was that he always listened to his gut. Or was that an insult? No matter, he would have to repay him in kind later. At the moment, he was consumed with a spontaneous wave of dread, and he soon bolted out of his office towards his son's room.

His initial musings were lost on him as he sped through the oddly silent hallways, nearly bowling over one unfortunate guard who had barely managed to sidestep away. Bowser mumbled a terse apology and asked him to send for Kamek at once, but could not explain as to why he feared the worst before dashing away again.

After what seemed like an eternity, he at last found himself before the door of his child's room, and softly entered to find his son only metaphorically dead to the world; exactly where he had been left hours before. Regaining his bearings, he slowly padded to the makeshift cot and plopped down in relief for approximately two seconds before he decided he had not been fully alleviated. He gingerly peeled back the numerous layers encasing his son before gently picking him up. He held his breath as his son stirred briefly before a squeaky yawn pulled the infant back into his hibernation. Unsure of what to do with himself now, and still feeling rather foolish at having worked himself into a panic over nothing, he ultimately decided to savor the moment. They had become rather sparse in the previous weeks since he had become busy attending to his administrative duties and...well...them. There was that word again, why was it that he-

A small whimper from Junior pulled him out of his thoughts, and he sighed, thankful to keep his mind off of his confliction for the time being. He settled into a nearby chair with his son carefully nestled in the crook of his arm, and shifted him in the hopes that the motion would calm him a bit. Thankfully, Junior was likely too tired to protest much, and quickly fell asleep once again as he made himself comfortable in his new place of rest. Bowser watched him closely, convinced at any minute that his son would surely spontaneously combust, until he also eventually grew too tired to do much more than absentmindedly rock the child in the event that some idiot were to wake him up again.

He exhaled sharply and stared at his stomach expectantly. That's how he felt. Like an idiot. Here he was, cradling his son, nearly breathless after hauling ass through the whole damn castle to get here, and for what? What the hell was that all about? Was this normal? Was this what it was supposed to feel like? He wondered if Kamek had ever experienced anything like this. Though, the thought of Kamek moving that fast for anything made him stifle a laugh. Even so, the small chuckle that permeated the air did little to untangle the knot that had been sitting in his stomach in the midst of all the chaos.

Before he could think more on the matter, a warm blue glow, a soft breeze, and a slight creak of the door effectively announced Kamek's arrival from who knows where. Speak of the devil. Bowser softly laughed to himself before ultimately deciding to voice his concerns to Kamek in the hopes that he would impart any advice that may fill the literal pit in his stomach. If anyone knows anything about this, it'd be him. Maybe I'm overreacting. Perhaps I truly just needed a meal after all...

His train of thought was broken yet again, this time by a raspy, yet muted screech that had escaped Kamek as he nearly tripped over the afternoon's assortment of random crap while attempting to reach the back of the room in one piece.

Now Bowser had to laugh at that.

He buried his son as deeply as he could back into his fortress of blankets in an attempt to block out as much noise as possible before finally unleashing his barely contained snickers.

Kamek's clumsiness had never failed to be hilarious. He was instantly reminded of the sheer number of times, some impressively spanning all the way back into his own childhood, in which Kamek would trip over seemingly nothing at all, and would, to Bowser's great amusement, flop around on the floor like a fish out of water. Though he knew that Kamek couldn't have possibly enjoyed all of his time plummeting, he never failed to notice the small smile that would inevitably worm its way through his annoyed expression upon eliciting raucous laughter from him time and time again.

The pattern was not to be followed today. As his laughter waned, his cheeky grin and demeanor were soon to follow upon one glance at Kamek's extreme irritation. He immediately sobered and stood before his surrogate father, as he had done many times in the past, nervously shifting his weight as though he were attempting to gauge how much trouble he was in this time. With a low grunt, Kamek motioned for Bowser to follow him out into the hallway, and before he could protest, Kamek had already shuffled carefully back out from whence he came.

Bowser sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before checking on Junior one last time. Upon rearranging his previous haphazard placement of blankets so that all were entirely on or around his child, he allowed a feeling of content to wash over him upon watching Junior sleep peacefully, and for a brief moment, all was well.

Until that realization hit him. All was well.

He practically slapped himself. Of course Kamek was pissed at him, he had dragged himself likely halfway across the castle for a false alarm. But he had been so sure that it wasn't, and as the uneasiness set in yet again, he wondered how false an alarm it had truly been.

However, he would sort that out hopefully soon, and he couldn't hover over Junior all night, especially with an irate Kamek just outside in the hallway. Swallowing his pride, he turned back and walked towards the door, hesitating in the threshold. With one last look at his son, he finally closed the door, resolved to determine what it was that was troubling him.

Even if he had to sit through a lecture to do it.