King Bowser Koopa, ruler of the Darklands, powerful conqueror and feared leader, readied himself for the chaos that was waiting for him behind the locked door. Although he had numerous years of combat training under his belt, nothing had prepared him for the task that loomed ahead: putting eight children to bed.
"Alright, quiet down!" He bellowed as he walked into the room. Everyone froze. His eyes scanned across the faces before him. Wendy, the eldest, had her younger brother Roy in a headlock. Roy was clutching Wendy's phone, which he had used to take 349 pictures of himself. Ludwig, Iggy and Lemmy were huddled in the corner, and had been arguing about some sort of trading card game. Cards were everywhere, undoubtedly because someone had thrown them in anger. Above them, Morton dangled from the ceiling fan, spinning in slow circles. Larry and Bowser Junior stared up at Bowser with wide innocent eyes, cheeks puffed out with chocolates.
Bowser pinched the bridge of his nose, and began to address each of them.
"Roy, give your sister back her phone. Wendy, you know better than to attack your brother. Plus your form needs a little work." He noted. "Ludwig, Iggy and Lemmy make sure you clean up all the cards. Larry and Junior, you know the rules about sugar right before bed." He scolded. "And Morton... I'm not even going to ask." He said as he removed the duct tape and safely transported Morton to the ground.
All eight of them did as they were told, and walked to their rooms which were shared by one hallway. Wendy had her own room, but the others shared in groups of two or three. As they settled into their beds Bowser began congratulating himself and preparing to leave when he heard one of them calling out to him.
"I'm thirsty!" Larry complained loudly.
"Me too!" Junior chimed in.
"Me three!" Roy added from across the hall.
One by one they began clamoring for a drink.
"Alright stay in your beds, I'll get everyone some water," he announced.
Bowser walked down the hall to the elevator, and took it down to the third floor. Although the kitchen on the main floor was open all day and night, the smaller one was only used when needed for grand parties and balls. Bowser looked through the cabinets and quickly found the glasses. He realized that it would be impossible for him to carry eight full cups all by himself. Yet he hated having the servants wait on the children. They were his responsibility, and he wanted to take care of them the best that he could. Thinking quickly, Bowser filled a plastic nozzle water bottle up with tap water from the sink.
He returned to the hallway outside their rooms. To his surprise and delight, none of them had left their beds.
Bowser started with Junior and Larry's room because they were the youngest.
"Open up," he instructed, and squirted water into Larry's waiting mouth.
He continued quickly from room to room until everyone had received a drink and the water bottle was nearly empty. Once again Bowser turned to walk to his own room when he was interrupted.
"Wait, can you tell us a bedtime story?" Junior asked meekly.
"Yeah, we can't go to sleep without a story!" Exclaimed Iggy from the other room.
"One story. That's it." Bowser warned them. He was exhausted, but he forced himself to stay.
He stood in the hallway within earshot of all of their rooms.
"Once there was a strong Koopa, named, uh, Fowser. He was the bravest and most talented in all the land. He was so great that people made statues of him, and sang songs about him and saved everything that he touched. Fowser was the best at everything. No one could beat him at checkers, bowling, arm-wrestling, thumb wars, bingo..." Bowser continued to rattle off his many perceived areas of expertise. "Pumpkin carving, rap battles, tennis, go-cart racing, pancake eating contests, Yahtzee, juggling, whistling the loudest during ball games, food fights-"
"This is boring!" Roy interrupted.
Bowser's plan to continue listing his talents and then saying "the end" was foiled.
"Can you make it a love story?" Wendy suggested.
"Fine, but no more talking over the story teller!" Bowser warned them. He scrambled to changed tactics. "Anyway, Fowser was so handsome that he could win over any girl that he wanted, except for one. Her name was Brin Cessbeach, or Brin for short. She was his best friend."
"What kind of a name is Brin Cessbeach?" Roy asked sarcastically.
Bowser ignored his comment and continued.
"Fowser would do anything to have Brin feel the same way he felt for her. But she never gave him a chance. Even though he tried, she never made time for him. So Fowser took matters into his own hands. He took Brin away from her busy kingdom so that he could spend time with her. She appreciated the break." He paused, waiting for one of his children to interrupt. They all listened with rapt attention.
"But every time that Fowser hung out with Brin, her evil boyfriend, Stario, would come and take her away. Fowser always fought Stario to keep Brin with him, but he knew that she loved her kingdom. He purposely lost every fight so that she never had to be away from what she loved. Fowser wanted to spend the rest of his life with Brin, so he proposed to her. But she turned him down. She told him that she would never marry him and that he had to stop seeing her." Emotion bubbled up inside him, and Bowser had to stop for a moment to collect himself. That was the end of the story, but he knew he had to give it a happy ending for his kids.
"Fowser never gave up hope that one day Brin would see all that he did for her and realize that she loved him. And though it took time, eventually Brin apologized and they became friends again. Finally friendship turned into romance and they got married and lived happily ever after." The words stung on Bowser's lips.
"That was a good story," mumbled Larry, half asleep.
"Thank you, Dad," Junior whispered.
"You're welcome. Good night." Bowser wished them. He could barely keep himself together.
He walked down the hall, but instead of turning toward his own room he went to the main floor kitchen. He ordered a large chocolate milkshake. Minutes later it arrived, spun extra thick and topped with lots of whipped cream and a cherry. Bowser picked it up hastily and walked out to the small balcony that fanned out from the empty dining room. He was outside in the fresh night air and most importantly, alone. The stars glittered coldly above his head.
"I wish things turned out differently with Peach," loose tears slid down his cheeks. "I would give anything to see her again," he announced out loud.
He waited. But the stars stubbornly refused to budge.
"I wish that she could see how hard I'm trying. How much I care about her!" His tears added a touch of saltiness to the milkshake.
Bowser remained outside long enough to finish his drink. But not a single star fell.
He sighed and left the balcony to return his glass to the kitchen. Deep in his heart he feared that his wishes would never come true.
A/N: I'm back! I'm sorry that it's been so long. Officially this is the sequel to 'Into the Fire' and 'Smoke,' but like the others this story can be read independently of my other works. I was planning on releasing it sooner, but my first outline was honestly super bad. It was boring and a lot of the plot was driven by economic market changes and political disputes. Which is realistic for today's world, but really lame for a Mario-related fanfiction. So I scrapped the whole thing and started over. Now that I have a new plan I'm really excited for this story. I'm very very very sorry for the long wait, but I hope that it was worth it. Much love, Guardian.