Entwined Fates

Peach wants a taste of adventure, while Bowser just wants security in his kingdom. Can they team up and save both kingdoms with no help from the Luigi Bros.? Alternate Universe, Bowser x Peach

AN: I've had this particular story among others in my head for a while, so I figured it would be a good starting point to write for my favorite pairing. It's an alternate universe, however it doesn't stray too far from the classic Mario formula. Partially based off Paper Mario and its style of storytelling. There will be original characters later on, but again they won't be out of place. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the first chapter!

Sun streamed into the Royal Chambers of Princess Peach. At the early time of 8 AM, most of her kingdom was still sleeping, however Peach was wide awake. She stared at her ceiling for what seemed like eternity. She could already hear her servants pattering down the hall, about to knock on her door. The pattering sounded more frantic than usual, but Peach didn't care. She just wanted to sink under the covers before facing her royal duties. Knocking shook her room suddenly.

"Princess?" a familiar voice called from behind her door. Toadsworth was always on time as a royal alarm clock and always waking her up or just reminded her of the day ahead. "Princess? Are you awake in there, or should I come in, hmm?" Peach sat up in her bed.

"Yes, I'm awake. More or less," she said, the last part muttered under her breath. Toadsworth always meant well, although it smothered her a tad bit, especially when it came to her own freedom. "You can come in Toadsworth. What's on the schedule today?"

"Well, ahem. We have a lot of bills to be signs, treaties to be…glanced over from certain kingdoms. Big day, wotwot?" With that, the elderly toad entered and left, leaving Peach sitting up in her bed sighing. It was going to be busy. Peach bit her lip and got out of bed, ready to start the day.

Peach combing her hair was a usual habit, however strange rumblings underneath her feet always stopped her in the midst. The rumblings even knocked over a toothbrush and that was just the beginning of it. Throughout her routine, the tremors continued, which set Peach in a worried mood. The Toads who continued pacing around the castle didn't even seem to notice it. When Peach was finally ready, she stepped out into the main foyer of her castle. Toadsworth approached her in a tizzy. 'Finally, someone is feeling it! Maybe we have new furniture being moved in or..' Peach's thought was cut off.

"Princess we have dreadful news!"

"Is it about the tremors? Because I've been wonder-" Again, Peach was cut off.

"Princess Daisy has been kidnapped! By that dastardly Tatanga, of course. Luigi and Mario have been dispatched to rescue her, so our castle is on the highest-" Toadsworth took a moment to pause and reach up as high as his arms could reach. "-alert as so our Princess, you of course, is safe and is under no threat of the same fate."

"But what about the tremors?" Peach wrung her hands. Daisy being kidnapped was almost a regular occurrence, one that Peach was lucky to never experience, but the tremors were new. Earthquakes rarely occur in the Mushroom Kingdom. Repeating earthquakes throughout the day especially didn't happen.

"I haven't felt anything extraordinary, a couple of rumblings here or there. I assumed some rogue servants are up to mischief, eh?" He gripped his cane and walked off, leaving Peach in a state of confusion.

Another usual routine was signing bills and treaties. While the Mushroom Kingdom did have royalty, the kingdom still had democracy, and she was there to sign bills and act as a figurehead. She was the voice her people needed. Signing bills, on the other hand, seemed more like a courtesy rather than a duty. Most of the bills were common sense things that have already passed, they just needed her royal blessing. Most of the treaties passed, except for Darkland treaties. Peach drummed the pen on her office table. She had many meetings with the Darkland Kingdom, ruled by King Bowser, however all meetings went sour on both ends. It wasn't the faults of the respecting royals either. She vaguely remembered one meeting where Bowser sat across from her quietly, looking forlorn and generally displeased. She also felt the same, however she had to look composed as Toadsworth shouted at the other side of the table. She stared at Bowser for a long time, trying to ignore the feud between the two kingdoms. He never spoke up, never looked at any of his followers or the kingdom against his. He was staring hard at the table below him, scratching a claw into it. He never looked up at her either. She always wondered if they had met under different circumstances, with kingdoms who didn't have a very uneasy truce and didn't throw out treaties, if they would get along. Even be friends? 'He seems nice enough. I mean, he hates those meetings as much as I do, he can't be that bad,' she thought, now biting her pen and neglecting her papers. With that, another tremor was felt through the castle, knocking over a pile of bills and one painting. Toadsworth, with almost insane precision and timeliness, came rushing into the office.

"Is everything alright in here? I heard a noise, I just didn't want Tatanga or some other villain scooping you up."

"Toadsworth!" She sat up quickly and with a touch of anger. "Haven't you been feeling the weird rumblings? Aren't we, as a kingdom, going to do something? We can't just let these, these quakes just keep happening to our citizens? Right?"

"Now Peach, we can't do anything about it. We will just have to wait until Luigi is done bashing that Tatanga and rescuing Daisy. Then you can call him and see if he can investigate. We can even call Mario in the meantime and see if we can at least get him over. As long as you're safe, Princess."

"Right," she sighed, slumping back down in her chair. 'No one is taking this seriously. And we can't possibly wait for Luigi or his brother to fix everything.'

"Well Peach, I'll let you get back to your duties, hmm? No time like the present!" Toadsworth said as he left. "Just let Luigi take care of this earthquake business, ok Princess?"

"Sure. I'll let Luigi take care of this, after I find out what exactly is going on," she whispered to herself as she too left the office.

Peach entered the backyard of her castle with much determination. She didn't know how exactly to fix things, but she decided she was going to hit two Paratroopas with one shell. Save her kingdom and patch things up with the Koopa Kingdom. She was tired of never seeing treaties and she was tired of having a hero clean up messes in her own kingdom. She walked briskly over to the collection of pipes to various places. The Darklands pipe was, unsurprisingly, dusty after a year of boycotting meeting. There was also signage on the pipe saying 'Out of Order'. She twitched her nose at it. 'Are we really on that bad of terms with them?' She ran a finger on the tip of the pipe, wiping away the dust. Peach took an uneasy step on the top of it.

"Well," Peach said, taking in a deep breath, "adventure awaits."

AN: Hooray, first chapter complete! I hope it wasn't too long, or short, or anything. And yeah, no fluffy cute Powser yet. Next chapter, I swear! Maybe. Hopefully. Also, I hope how you saw the AU differences! Yes, everything is pretty much opposite land, with Daisy being kidnapped by the villain Tatanga from Super Mario Land, which she debuted in. That's all I really have to say, I guess. If you like it (or don't) review it so I can improve my story! It makes for a better story, and a better me. :3 Well, bye, see you guys next chapter!