Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership over any characters mentioned in this story. All characters, places, or objects are property of Nintendo and this story is for entertainment purposes only.

Death of a King

Act 1 - The Lord's Choice

Drop... drop... drop. Drop went the sound of the tears that rolled off his face. Drop went the sound of his high ambitions and visions of a glorious future fading away into nothingness. Drop went the sound of his hopes and dreams as they died before his eyes. Drop went the sound of his heart sinking to the Earth. Another tear rolled down the creature's face as a dark storm cloud rolled over the top of the landscape; which would soon foresee the ominous events that were about to take place. A tear rolled down his scaly cheek, as it fell from his face and splashed the tip of one of his sharp claws. The creature that was standing at that very spot, had ceased the cruel lie that he set before his own face for all the years of his life. Now, he was nothing more than an empty shell of his former self. It was at this very moment in life that Lord Bowser knew that he would never be the same again.

The tantalized king stared down at the bottom of the cliff side he was standing on. Bowser's scaley clawed toes curled up the grass beneath his feet as he watched the waves of the sea splash against the sharp rocks that rested in the water at the bottom of the cliff. He had been standing there for some time now, as he was thinking over the events that played before him a few hours before. As the sound of thunder from the storm clouds began to ring in Bowser's ear, something a tad more painful was already burning up inside of him: questions.

Countless questions drifted in and out of the Koopa King's head, but to his disappointment, there was nobody there to answers his questions. He was all alone. Of course, that was his problem in the first place. 'How did this all go wrong?', he thought to himself while another tear fell from his face. Many more questions followed through his head. 'Is this really what my destiny holds?', 'Is this really all that's here for me?', 'Why does it have to be this way?', 'Why couldn't it be different?', 'Why must we all go on like this?', 'When will this horrible nightmare finally end?', 'Why was I so stupid as to lie to myself for all of theses years?'. The king half sighed and half whined as he reached deep into his huge spiky green shell. He pulled out what looked like a small turquoise colored rock.

As Lord Bowser stared down at it through the clouds of his watery eyes, he gently rubbed it with his large rough claws remorsefully. He knew that it wasn't just any old rock; in fact what he was rocking between his claws was actually a brooch... or at least the remains of a brooch. Another tear rolled from Bowser's cheek and landed right in the center of the former turquoise beauty. You see, it was actually a small fraction of an brooch. The original had been cracked into pieces earlier that day, and at this point, it was all that Bowser had left of his past... and his sanity. As two more of the broken king's tears landed on the shattered gem, two more questions entered his psyche. 'Why doesn't she love me?', 'Why can't she understand how strongly I feel about her?' As the king wept there on that lonely cliff side, the memories of what had pushed him to this current state of being had flooded back into his mind. Several more of the king's tears dropped to the soil as that fateful event played back in his head once more.

FLASHBACK

"No! Let go of me! Let go I said!", These words echoed through the corridors of the building. The young girl who shouted theses words was literally being dragged by the arm down the endless hallways of her castle by her kidnapper, Lord Bowser.

"Don't bother wearing out that beautiful little voice of yours my dear. I assure you, nobody can hear you." Assured the kidnapper. The koopa king giggled to himself. "Now that I have you in my clutches once again, there is nothing that'll stop me ruling my kingdom with you by my side!" Bowser proclaimed triumphantly. Hearing this, the princess dug her high heels into the carpet of the corridor, forcing Bowser to come to a stop.

"What did you say?! Oh jeez, not this again!", Peach grumbled rolling her eyes. Bowser chuckled a little.

"Oh yes, this again!", answered Bowser in a dark yet playfully mocking voice, "Why bother resisting Peach? You know that something is there. With you by my side, the Koopa Kingdom will flourish, and rise up as the strongest kingdom on the planet! No one could stop... us!" Bowser said, tightening his grip on Peach's arm. Bowser tried to drag his captive along, but the princess dug her heels firmly where she stood and looked the king straight in the eyes angrily.

"Bowser... please tell me, how many time have you tried to kidnap me in the past?", Princess Peach coldly asked. Bowser could sense that something was amiss with the princess. Normally, she would just flail her arms around and scream for the pesky plumber to save her. What was she doing? Using his free arm, he scratched his head and looked up at the ceiling to avoid Peach's cold stare.

"Ummm... off the top of my head? I would have to saaaaaaaaay...twenty-one...no twenty-four times!" Princess Peach, keeping her glare on Bowser, nodded.

"Okay, now tell me, out of those twenty-four times, how many times have you have you successfully kept me with you?" Bowser felt a sinking feeling in his gut. Where was Peach going with this? Bowser swallowed hard, feeling as if he just swallowed an entire time-bomb whole.

"Ummm... none.", the king said looking at his feet. He looked up at Princess Peach with rising aggravation. Why bother bringing up his past failures? After all, he had her now, right? As the king stared into Peach's cold blue eyes, he could sense just as much, if not more aggravation flowing through her.

"That's right, and do you want to know what that should tell you?", Peach sadistically asked the koopa king. Being the slightly slow thinker that he is, Bowser scratched his head again and had to think about this for a while (Cue Jeopardy theme). Peach sighed impatiently as she tried to tug herself free of Lord Bowser's mighty grip. Finally, an answer hit the lord. He snapped his fingers and he lit up like a light bulb.

"I need to be more persistent and forceful!", exclaimed Bowser

"NO!", Princess Peach screamed in anger. Bowser was taken back by this outburst, and stared at Peach as if she was about to kill someone. The princess continued "Bowser, you idiot! Don't you get it?! You and I will never happen! I'm tired of all of this! I'm tired of getting kidnapped by you all the time! I'm tired of your persistent attempts to make me yours! I'm tired of constantly getting caught playing tug-of-war with you and the Mario Bros.! It would never work Bowser! Why don't you just give up already?!" Just like that, Bowser stood there in complete shock, feeling as if somebody just punched him in the stomach and knocked the air out of him. A combination of anger and fear swept over the king. He was distraught by the princess's actions and words. He wasn't thinking clearly anymore.

"No! No, you're wrong princess. I'll see to it that you do rule by my side! Don't you get it? I'll never stop perusing you! NEVER! I would sooner die than live a life without you Peach! I'll make it happen, and nobody, not even Mario will stop me!" Consumed by fear and rage, Bowser grabbed Princess Peach by the shoulders with both of his massive arms and tugged her with all of his might. Panicking, Princess Peach tried to pull away from Lord Bowser, resisting his tugging with all of her strength. A struggle between the two had begun!

"No! ...argh. Bowser... I said no...urgh! Stop it!... Help me!...ungh. Somebody help me! Let go of me! ...ahhh! Let go of me you creep! Don't touch me! Why don't you leave me alone?! STOP IT!" The frustrated and frightened princess fought back the koopa king all she could, proving to be a worthy match even for Bowser! At the pace this was going, Bowser concluded that he was getting nowhere fast. He had to pick up the force if he was ever going to get out of Peach's castle successfully without getting caught.

"Come on princess... don't be this way! Rrgh... come on Peach, let's move! Stop being so stubborn!", Fear began to override the anger in Bowser, and he now desperately tugged on Peach, trying to persuade her to come with him. He tried to hold back the shakiness in his voice, "You'll like it...argh... I promise. C'mon...I'll take good care of you! Please Peach... let's move!", in a last ditch attempt, Lord Bowser grabbed the chest area of Princess Peach's elegant pink dress with one of his large scaley claws, "I said... LET'S MOVE!" With every last bit of strength, Bowser tugged at Peach's dress. The tug was so hard, Peach lost her footing and she went flying across the corridor. Bowser nearly had a heart attack as a loud CRACKwas heard echoing through the lonely and unforgiving corridor. Peach landed roughly on the hard ground as she made a painful "oof!" sound. Peach hit the ground face first, and laid quiet for several moments without moving.

On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Bowser scrambled his way towards the fallen princess. Much to his relief, he witnessed the princess slowly bringing herself to her knees. As the princess slowly rose, Bowser discovered the source of the cracking noise. On the ground in front of Peach rested what looked like a turquoise gem cracked in half. It was Princess Peach's brooch! Every time Bowser saw the princess, she always had that turquoise brooch on her... and now he broke it. Bowser looked down at his monstrous claws and found the other half of the gem resting in his palm. His forcefulness must of been so strong, that his massive claw actually ripped it off of her and cracked the little ornament in half as if it were a piece of rock candy. His reflection dully glimmered back at him from the shattered brooch. For the first time in his life, the king realized that it was the ugliest and most grotesque image he had ever seen. Looking down at the princess, the king saw that the anger and rage that had previously been there had vanished from her face. The princess scooped up the other shard of the broken brooch as if it were a deceased infant. Where her angry glare had once been was a face of terror. The princess's eyes went from narrow and cold to large and glassy. She almost looked as if she was on the verge of tears, yet not a single one was spilled. Her mouth hung open, but only slightly as if to scream, but not a sound came out. Slowly and fearfully, she rose her head and looked up at the fearful Lord Bowser. As Bowser stared into those two blue pools, something stirred up inside of him. They were emotions that he never felt before, and he didn't know how to handle them. They swept over his body like a disease, and he couldn't fight them back anymore: remorse and sympathy. His vision began to get blurred and cloudy. Suddenly, he made his way down to Peach and spoke at 1000 words per minute.

"OhmygoodnessI'msosorrypleaseletmehelpyouYoulookhurtWeneedtogetyousomehelpI'msosorryI'msosorryI'msosorryPleaseforgivemeIdidn'tmeanitpleaseitwasanaccidentI'dneverhurtyouhereletmehelpyouupPleaseforgiveme!!" The princess didn't say a single word. She refused Bowser's offer to help, and avoided his touch every time he tried to help her. Princess Peach looked down and saw that there was a large hole in her dress where her brooch used to be. In it's place was Princess Peach's exposed cleavage. Blushing, she gently placed her tiny hand over her soft and fair skin the cover herself. She quietly stood up, looking down at her feet with her hand over her chest. As Bowser stood there speechless, low voices could faintly be heard in the distance, behind one of the many plethora of doors.

"I repeat, the princess is gone!", said one voice.

"Wait! What was that? I think I heard a noise!", whispered another voice.

"I heard it too! It came from over there!", another voice chimed in.

"Alright men, let's move out!", one more voice faintly yelled. 'Blast it', thought Bowser, 'the guards!' Without looking up or saying a word, Princess Peach slowly walked past Bowser across the corridor. She walked up to a random door, and with her free hand, she turned the knob and opened the door. Bowser stood in front of Peach with his mouth wide open, too shocked and frightened to move or speak. The king didn't know what to do. Should he try to escape the castle grounds before he got caught? Should he try to stop Princess Peach from leaving, and take her with him? Should he just stay there and turn himself in? In all of the confusion, Lord Bowser began to shed a few tears. He eventually dropped to his knees and crumpled on the floor as he began to bawl his eyes out. He had been reduced to a sad and confused ball of nerves. Whether it was out of pity, or something else, Princess Peach quietly murmured something to Bowser as she stood in the doorway of the crying king.

"Those are my guards... They'll be here any minute... If you don't want to be captured, I suggest that you leave now while you still can. Remember everything that I told you Bowser. Remember everything. Farewell.", When she said this, she did not lift her head up or look at Bowser. She just kept her head down at her feet. She grasped the knob of the door once more, and slowly, she closed the door to a complete shut. While the door creaked shut, Bowser could feel his heart ripping in two, just like the brooch.

The king was able to pull himself together long enough to stand up, but it was not the same Bowser anymore. It was a quieter and more frightened Bowser that now stood there. He was now alone in the corridor. He was alone. What to do? There wasn't time to think. He had to do something or he would be caught. Mustering what was left of his psyche, he breathed in deeply... and ran. He ran as fast as he could to avoid getting captured by the guards. As he ran, he left a trail of tears that only his fears and lies could follow. The king didn't care. The king could cry blood and he still wouldn't care. He just had to get out of the castle. That castle held too many opportunities to allow Bowser to lie to himself again. He came across an open window; it was do or die now. Letting out a cry of regret, he sprung his muscular legs and dove out the window. He fell for what felt like an eternity until he crashed roughly into some bushes. As the king let out a long sigh, he looked up at the sky. It was getting pretty cloudy, but the sunny blue sky still broke through. He looked up at the light blue sky and it reminded him of the large glassy pools of blue that he left on Princess Peach's face. Sitting up in the bush, Lord Bowser realized that he needed to think all of this out. He needed to find a place to think!

END FLASHBACK

A flash of lightning startled Bowser out of his thoughts and brought him back into the cruel plain of existence known as reality. Four more tears landed by the king's clawed toes as the cracking thunder caused them to stir. Bowser remembered everything Peach had told him, just like she ordered, and he had been playing back Princess Peach's words in his head as if it were a tape recorder from Hell. 'You and I will never happen', 'I'm tired of constantly getting caught playing tug-of-war with you and the Mario Bros.!', 'It would never work Bowser!', 'Why don't youjust give up already?!', 'Don't touch me! ', 'Why don't you leave me alone?!' He cringed a little as he felt a few drops of cold water drip and role down his fiery mane. It had begun to rain. A steady drizzle dropped from the heavens and covered the king, almost as if God himself were crying over the events that happened. The rain started to come down harder, almost drenching the poor guy. As the rain rolled off his shell and plopped to the ground, it had become apparent to Bowser that he could no longer distinguish the rain drops from his tears.

He stared hypnotically at the water on the bottom of the cliff side. The way the waves splashed against the sharp rocks almost gave him a sense of peace and understanding. His eyes widened as if they belonged to a frightened child, and he lifted his head up as he stared out at the horizon of the sea. After hours of sulking and inner meditation, King Bowser finally came across his most perplexing thought: He and his rival, Mario, were more alike than he had thought. It seemed obvious to not only to the koopa king, but to the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom that Super Mario had feelings for Peach. These feelings for Peach were probably just as strong and steadfast as Bowser's feelings. The only difference between the two was that Mario showed his affection for the princess by doing fine things for the kingdom, like saving the princess's life. Lord Bowser, on the other hand, showed his affection by forcibly taking her away from her home and locking her in his castle, so that she doesn't leave Bowser's side.

It was at that exact moment that Bowser came across a shocking revelation that changed the way he thought about himself for the rest of his life: Lord Bowser was never evil at all, simply lonely! Being the ruler of an entire nation, and being a single father to eight horribly bratty children, Bowser felt misunderstood and alone in his own kingdom. Because the princess of his neighboring kingdom, the Mushroom Kingdom, was well known for her pure heart, unconditional compassion, naive innocense, and perpetual beauty, King Bowser felt that she was the perfect way to fill the empty void he was feeling inside. Thus, he would try to whisk her away to his kingdom, and have her rule by his side so they could be happy, and so he could have a companion who would understand him no matter what! Besides, it seemed like his number one priority over anything was kidnapping Peach. He would always make sure first and foremost that he kidnapped Peach before doing anything, such as conquering other kingdoms, which would mean that his heart was never actually into conquering the world in the first place. Now as he stood there with the rain pouring down on him, finally understanding himself and his own actions, Lord Bowser came to one final realization: Princess Peach was the only thing keeping himself motivated enough to live each day... but they would never be together... ever. Bowser was pretty much sure that the princess completely hated his guts, due to the rough and forceful way he treated her over the years. When she could have the choice of having that all-around good guy and sweetheart, Mario, it seemed obvious that Peach would never even consider staying with a foul creature such as himself.

With another loud crack of thunder off in the distance, the koopa king had finally freed himself from the chains of the ignorant lie that had constrained him; the only problem was that even though the shackles were off, he still enjoyed the sound of the jingling chains. The king could not handle the weight of the horrible truths. Princess Peach would never accept being by King Bowser's side. They would never get married. They would never rule both kingdoms side by side. They would never settle down, retire, or grow old together. Bowser would just be alone, destined to chase an unreachable dream forever more. Bowser let out a loud sob and buried his face into his claws after realizing all of this. As mucus began to ooze down Bowser's snout, he repeated his only realization in his mind again. Princess Peach was the only thing keeping him motivated enough to live each day. Silently, King Bowser slowly lifted his face from his claws, and he looked down from the cliff and stared at the rocks below. He knew what had to be done.

As he steadily nodded his head to himself, the king realized that it was the only possibility left for him. Although, deep down inside, from the very moment the king arrived at that spot, he knew it was going to be this way. Why else would he come to a place like this? The wind began to pick up, and as a bolt of lightning filled the sky, the rain began to fall even heavier. As Bowser shivered from the cold of the rain, he swallowed a large lump that was stuck in the back of his throat. He looked down and stared at the brooch shard one last time. He closed it within his fist. Tightening his grip on the turquoise shard, he whispered one final message to himself.

"I'm sorry Peach."

Sighing, Bowser slowly shut his eyes, catching a glimpse of the last bit of light he would ever see again. He spread both of his arms out wide, as if to give his upcoming fate a warm embrace. Finally, after shedding one last tear, King Bowser leaned forward and dropped head first off the edge of the cliff.

The wind screamed ferociously in the king's ears as it swiftly whirled past him. Another flash of lightning filled the sky, followed by another crack of thunder. Even though they could have been his last few seconds, Bowser didn't seem frightened at all; not one bit. In fact, Bowser seemed calm and almost at peace with himself. 'It couldn't be helped', Bowser thought to himself, 'This is really for the best. Now Princess Peach can now live out the remainder of her life in eternal bliss with the plumber; never having to worry about being kidnapped or hurt anymore. And I'd probably be driven insane without her, so at least I'll go now while I still have some sanity left... I love you Princess Peach. I always have and I always will. I'll never stop loving you, and I 'll be watching you from the Great Beyond... always... Maybe I'll find happiness in the afterlife. Maybe somebody is waiting there for me; somebody like me: lustful and heart-broken. That would be nice. Or maybe I'll finally be able to go...'

Bowser hit the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. He did not move an inch or utter a single word. The choppy waves of the sea splashed against his lifeless limbs; washing over his giant shell. His grip on the turquoise brooch shard had loosened, yet it still remained in his claw. A loud crack of thunder filled the air and closed the deed that had been done. Lord Bowser, ruler of the Koopa Kingdom, was dead.