This is the story of what happened after Mario was defeated by Bowser for the last time. It's just a small one-shot that I wrote because I wanted to write something depressing so…happy reading!

Mario looked over at his brother, Luigi, and sighed. He had had to give up after his fifth defeat by Bowser and, after ten years, the Mushroom Kingdom seemed to be back to normal. Mario put his head in his hands. He should never have stopped fighting. By now, Peach was probably dead and there was nothing he could do about it. But he could always… Mario looked up to see Luigi looking at him, concern in his eyes, "Luigi, I think it's time."

Luigi shook his head, "But you can't go back! I will go with you, then."

Mario shook his head back at his younger brother, "Not this time. I have to see if Peach is alive and, if she's gone, I might need some time by myself."

Luigi nodded grimly, "I understand, Mario."

Peach looked down at Bowser from her pedestal and spoke softly, "He won't come, you know. It's been ten years and I'm pretty sure he's forgotten about me."

Bowser looked up at her, "Don't worry, Princess. He'll come."

She sighed, "No, he won't. Just let me go back to my cell and wait for breakfast."

Bowser laughed and the rafters shook, "It seems that I have more faith in your champion than you do. Let's make a deal, if he doesn't come, you can have me instead."

He laughed again and Peace scowled at him, "You've proposed this deal before and my answer is still the same. I'll die before I even think about you."

He chuckled, but he seemed less amused, "I understand. If he doesn't come today, I'll grant your wish, you may die." He laughed at his joke but Peach frowned. She was going to die soon, but it didn't seem to bother her.

She smiled a genuine smile at him, "That's a deal I'll agree to." She sat down on the little platform and waited for when she could finally leave the world behind.

Three days later, Mario was looking up at Bowser's castle, "This is it. I could finally redeem myself…or I could leave with twice as much shame as before." He pushed open the huge doors and entered. One of those stupid Goomba's was headed his way and he stopped. Sure enough, it turned around and he followed it down the hall. He squished the Goomba and walked through another door. After quite a few hours like that, he came to the biggest set of doors so far. He took a deep breath and pushed…

Bowser's deep, gravelly voice filled the space, "Mario! I've been waiting for you to finally return." He was sitting on a regal, red throne and behind him, on a small pedestal…was Peach.

"Mario," she said in a voice filled with, oddly enough, what seemed to be a little disappointment, "I knew you would come back! You wouldn't just leave me here!"

Her crown was rusted and her bright pink dress was a little faded, but she was as beautiful as ever. Her, softly flowing, blond hair was tied back in a ponytail and she looked at him with so little hope that it almost made him cry. He glared at Bowser, "Let her go, now."

Bowser laughed, heartlessly, "Go ahead and take her back. I'm done with her." Mario lunged forward at his words but Bowser just stood and, with an all-telling smirk at Mario, left through a small side door.

Mario ran forward and Peach gracefully floated down to him. She wrapped her arms around him and he spoke into her hair, "Are you okay? What happened since I left?"

"Don't trouble yourself about the past, Mario. It's all fine now."

Well, there you go! There's my slightly depressing story about a very un-depressing video game.