Princess Peach was sitting in a cage above a pit of lava in Bowser's throne room. Bowser was sitting on his throne contemplating on what he should do, for usually Mario had already won at this point in the game. Bowser stood and began pacing, he did this for several minutes, periodically staring at the lever on the wall that would lower a bridge and open the cage door that would bring Peach to the safety of the castle floor. Bowser looked at Peach, his eyes were hopeful; he thought that perhaps this was time he would finally win.
Peach looked down at the Koopa King and smiled; this was enough for Bowser to pull the lever. Once Peach made her way down the bridge, Bowser stood awkwardly for several seconds. Peach laughed and guessed at what Bowser wanted her to do.
"You want to show me around your castle don't you?"
Bowser gave a sheepish smile.
"As long as you don't mind" he answered, "I did some renovations, nothing fancy but I hope you like it."
Peach nodded and extended her hand for Bowser to take to lead her throughout the castle, Bowser nodded and bowed respectfully, straightening the gold crown on his head at the same time.
"Right this way milady" Bowser continued, trying his best to be chivalrous.
Peach gave a small laugh causing Bowser to laugh; it was the first time in a long while that Bowser laughed sincerely and without malice.
Bowser led Peach by the hand into a long hallway. The hallway had several doors on the left side; most of them were bedrooms. The right side of the hallway was adorned with windows that looked out onto a courtyard. From the window Peach could see that the courtyard had several shrubs that had various flowers in them, most of them were roses or petunias. In the center of the courtyard was a statue of Bowser kneeling on one knee, as if he were about to be knighted for doing some great deed. The statue Bowser was wearing a cape and Bowser's crown, the eyes were closed and face scrunched as if he were thinking hard about something, or perhaps praying. Peach stared at this statue for several seconds before Bowser led her on down the hallway.
At the end of the hallway was a large door. This door led to the kitchen area. Upon opening the door, Bowser and Peach were standing in a grand hall. The room was deep, enough for a hundred dining room tables if they were placed side by side. Instead of this though, a large area, about the size of the average bedroom, was in front. This area had a royal blue rug that covered the entire space. A fireplace, complete with a roaring fire, was to the left of this rug. On the right side of the hall in this same area was a large table that was obviously meant for Bowser and whoever was lucky, or unlucky depending on your stance, to sit with him. Beyond the rug going deeper in the room were dining room tables, two columns and two rows side by side going all the way back to the end of the room. At the back of the hall was another door that took an immediate left to the further parts of the castle.
"This hall is amazing" Peach exclaimed as she looked around, "But why do you have all of these tables?"
Bowser laughed, "What you call minions I call subjects" he answered, "That and there isn't exactly a lot of land in Koopa Territory right now. Thanks to your boyfriend most of my people have been driven out of their homes. So I had to make accommodations."
"But for your entire population?" Peach asked, "That's crazy! Why there are thousands of your people all over the place you can't just-"
Bowser lifted his hand cutting her off. He moved over to his chair, which was facing the fireplace and sat down. His eyes became dark, as if Peach had said the one thing that she shouldn't have said.
"Do you know how many Koopas are left?" Bowser asked, Peach did not answer, for she thought it was a rhetorical question and in all honesty it was, but even so Bowser still sought an answer.
"Answer me Peach" Bowser commanded, "How many Koopas are left!"
Peach, having no wish at being roasted alive, gave a nervous answer.
"I say about 2 million"
Bowser laughed at the notion.
"Try 5,000" he said, "We have been reduced to almost nothing. The Koopalings, the last hope for our kind are dead. Bowser Jr., my one and only son, is still drifting lifeless in space! I'm sure you recall the incident at Rainbow Road?"
Peach nodded for she remembered the day well. It was a day best left forgotten. Bowser refused to forget.
He did not blame DK for using the blue shell on Bowser Jr. sending him out of the safety of the gravity-oxygen sphere that surrounded the track. Nor did he blame Mario, who was closest to Bowser Jr., for not grabbing him when he had the chance. Bowser did however blame himself for not being next to him, so that at least if they had to go out they would leave the world together. But this did not happen, for as soon as Bowser Jr. left the gravity-oxygen sphere, he was free floating in space, dead in seconds. Bowser sat in his kart for several minutes, the other karts just passed him by as if nothing happened. The only racer who stopped was Yoshi, who respectfully let him take the position in front of him so that Bowser could finish in second to last place and thus finish with dignity.
Bowser shook his head, he brought himself back to reality for he had zoned out for a few minutes, recalling the events of Rainbow Road in his mind. Peach was by pure coincidence doing the same.
"But enough about the past" Bowser sad finally, "Let us look to the future"
Bowser motioned for Peach to sit across from him, she cautiously did so. As soon as she did, Bowser clapped his hands, in an instant two Koopas, one red and one green, appeared at the door that lead into the hallway.
"Claude, Vex" Bowser began, "See to it that Peach is taken care of."
Claude and Vex shrugged and their weapons, Bowser shook his head and raised his hand.
"Not that 'taken care of'" Bowser exclaimed with a small laugh, "I meant the other kind."
Claude, the green one, nodded. "Of course sir" he answered, "What would you have us do?"
Bowser thought about it for a moment, it didn't take long, for in a way he already had an idea as to what he was going to do.
"Give her a dinner that she will always remember" Bowser answered, "No expense is too great. In fact, we'll make a banquet out of it; send out a proclamation to all of the subjects in the Territory. Tonight they dine as Kings!"
Claude and Vex nodded in understanding and took their leave, Claude heading down the hallway that Bowser and Peach had come through earlier and Vex walking down the other side of the room to the various parts of the castle.
Within the hour all of Bowser's subjects-Koopas, Goombas, Boos and Shy Guys alike, were gathered in the great hall sitting at the tables that went to the back of the room. Bowser was dressed in his robe, which was red; his crown remained on his head. The Koopa King stood up from his table and addressed his subjects.
"Loyal subjects" Bowser began, his voice thundering across the room. He gave a short pause and instantly became casual, "How we doing?"
At this the room went into an uproar. Bowser took it in and continued.
"I have with me tonight the guest of honor, all the way from good old Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach!"
Princess Peach stood up and waved, but Bowser shook his head
"Come on Peach" he said encouragingly with a laugh, "Take a bow, you're royalty for Pete's sake!"
Peach had no idea on who Pete was, but she assumed that he was someone important and so took a bow. The subjects responded with applause. Bowser calmed them down with the raising of his hands.
"Now normally Peach wouldn't be here, for I would already be thwarted by Mario."
The mere mentioning of Mario's name sent hisses and boos from the room; Bowser gave a stern look across the board, silencing them.
"But Mario, for some reason, isn't here yet." Bowser continued, "If he does not show up by three this afternoon, I order you all to search for him. Look far and wide, underneath every stone, down every pipe and in every world that he could be in. Leave no place unchecked."
Bowser had no idea why he said what he said; something in his gut told him that he said it for Peach's sake, almost as if he knew that this wouldn't last forever. Claude, who was next to Bowser, pulled out a pocket watch and showed it to Bowser. Bowser distinctly remembered from earlier when he looked outside the window at the courtyard that the sun was on the horizon going down. It was well past three in the afternoon.
Bowser leaned in Claude's ear
"Round the search party" he commanded, "Do not stop until Mario is found. And I want him found alive."
"Why do you want him found alive sir?" Claude asked curiously
Bowser rolled his eyes annoyingly, "Because Claude, if I kill him do you know what that would do to me?"
Claude shrugged and gave him best answer, thinking that Bowser's statement was a literal question. "You'd be successful in all of your future endeavors?"
Bowser sighed, "Yes Claude" he answered, "But it would also destroy any chance that I have with Peach. Don't you see? All of this, the courtyard, the kitchen, the library-"
"What library?" Claude replied, "We don't have a library."
Bowser shook his head, "Fine, the observatory then, all of it was for her."
"I thought that all of that stuff was for us?" Claude continued for clarification, "You know, your loyal subjects?"
Bowser nodded for it was true; the renovations were to make accommodations for his subjects. But that was only part of a much bigger truth.
Bowser hung his head in sadness. "Just forget it Claude" Bowser said finally, "you wouldn't understand. Now please, go get the search party together and if you see Vex, tell him that I need his assistance right away."
Claude nodded and exited the room. Bowser looked around the room and noticed that his subjects had already started eating. Traditionally they were supposed to wait until Bowser had started eating before they even touch the food, but Bowser no longer cared and even if he did it wouldn't have mattered.
Peach was uncomfortably eating her food, which was a big piece of roast, mashed potatoes, peas and an ear of corn with a tankard of mead to wash it all down. Bowser sat across from her, trying to think of dinner conversation topics. Unfortunately the only things that he was good at talking about was his past, which wasn't very pleasant, and his music, for Bowser played the piano in his spare time and was currently working on his first symphony. He wasn't sure what to call it, but looking at Peach gave him a few ideas.
"So do you play any instruments?" Bowser asked, hoping to find common ground. Peach did not answer him, too busy thinking about Mario to answer.
Bowser sighed deeply and stood up, he stared hard at Peach, he kept this stare until she looked up at him, which wasn't for several minutes.
"If you're not going to try" Bowser said, visibly hurt and on the verge of tears, "Then you can just leave. You are not a prisoner here, you never were. There was a release in the cage the whole time; I even offered you the keys to the front door and yet you still refused. Why?"
"Because Mario is supposed to save me" Peach answered, "It's not right for you to make so easy."
"Easy?" Bowser replied, "You think that I'm making this easy! I'm not making this easy, I happen to care about you Peach; I care about you a lot. Do you see this?"
Bowser gestured around the hall; Peach followed his hands, eventually landing back on Bowser.
"This is for you" Bowser continued, "If you want Mario to save you that's fine, stay here. But if you stay here, you stay here as a prisoner. I'm done being nice Peach. I've been too good to you for you to treat me this way and I won't stand for it. Now I'm giving you one last chance to walk out of here freely. Which is it going to be?"
Peach remained motionless. Bowser stared at her, whatever tears he was holding he let fall. He was hoping that she would walk, but she did nothing. Bowser hung his head and let the floodgates that were his eyes open, for this was the last thing that he wanted to do.
"Guards!" he yelled through his tears, "Take the Princess to the dungeon!"
Three Koopas armed with pikes grabbed Peach and dragged her away to the dungeons towards the far door. Bowser watched the guards drag her away, he slowly composed himself, when he was done he turned to the nearest Koopa and motioned for him to come closer.
"See that dinner there?" Bowser said softly as he pointed towards Peach's plate, most of the food was uneaten. "Make sure that the Princess gets it. She'll be hungry later."
The Koopa nodded and took the plate; Bowser stopped him before he could go any further, "Koopa" he called, "Wait until the guards get back. I don't want Peach seeing you and getting mixed signals; she is and remains a prisoner here."
The Koopa nodded and patiently waited by the far door, the guards came back a few minutes later, the Koopa then took the immediate left down the hall, heading towards the dungeon.
