Back into business! What a great way to spend a day off! I am really happy with how this chapter turned out, on with the disclaimer!
Disclaimer: I do not own Mario, Nintendo does. Let me have my fun.
4 years have passed since Mario became king, it certainly wasn't easy the first year, but Mario became just as loved as a ruler is Peach did, even more so. Even though he had not went on adventures and fought like a hero at all in all those years. Rosalina had brought peace, some would argue it was too boring but everyone was safe.
Among one of the things that changed over the years was the presence of a 12 year old girl with black hair that went to her shoulders and dark eyes. She wore a yellow sun dress but still ran around the hallways making sure she kept her skirt in place.
"Papa!" She cried.
She kept on running and passed the dining room. "Papa!" She cried again.
She saw Mario with the corner of her eye though, and quickly turned back to see Mario getting the finishing touches ready in the dining room of the castle.
"Good morning, Fran," Mario said with a smile.
Fran was just a shortened version of her name. Her full name was Francesca, and she was an orphaned girl in Brooklyn Mario adopted when she was 8.
The young girl crossed her legs. "Papa Mario, is there going to be a party today? Is Aunt Daisy and Victor coming over?"
"Not Daisy," Mario placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "It's a surprise."
Victor is Daisy and Luigi's currently 2 year old son. Princess Fran looks up to Daisy and adores her son. She is even more excited that Daisy is currently pregnant with her second child.
"If it's not Daisy I'm not interested, I want to spend time with the lumas." She said.
"Too early Fran, it's better to visit them when all the stars are out at night," Mario said.
Fran started walking away. "Well I could've sworn one got loose in the castle, I have to find it." She ran out the door. "I gotta go!"
"Fran!" Mario cried.
King Mario had everything ready for his guest so he searched the castle for his daughter. Taking care of a kingdom was hard but he tried to put his children first, even though sometimes it was impossible.
"Your highness," said a mature female voice.
Mario recognized the voice of one of the female toad workers, he looked down. "Miss Topple!"
The female toad with moss green spots gave Mario a concerned look. "Your son Azure is playing games in the ballroom, but I made sure he had his studies done before he nearly turned it into an arcade room, the maids even double checked his work." She said.
Mario bowed, "Thank you so much," he turned the other direction and began heading to the ballroom. "Remind me to repay you later."
"You need not repay me your highness," she said.
Azure is a 10 year old toad boy from the orphanage in the Mushroom Kingdom that Mario decided to adopt shortly after adopting Fran from the human world. Azure loves video games as if they were library books but because of that he is not very fond of library books, but he is popular in a crowd. Mario questions if it is the right crowd though.
"You almost got it!" Cried the voice of a young boy.
In the ballroom a young male goomba watched a young male toad with light blue spots on his mushroom head play on the Game Boy. The young toad sweated bullets and felt his Game Boy slipping out of his hands slightly.
"Run away from the giant donuts Azure!" Cried the goomba.
Just then Mario walked through the ballroom to see his adoptive toad son and his best friend playing games again, he was going to say something but decided to wait for the boys to finish.
"Ahhhh!" Azure cried. "So close!"
"I was wondering where you went," Mario said.
"Hey dad," Azure said casually. "Good morning your highness," the young goomba bowed.
"I was looking for you Azure, but I should've seen this coming, what are you two playing?" Mario said.
"Burger Time," Azure said with a smile.
"Well, today an old friend is visiting today, would you like to meet her?" Mario asked looking down to his little son.
"Ummm, me and Gordy were going to go to the new arcade," Azure said.
"But you two will have the chance to meet someone else from the human world—"
"Papa there is a boy in here!" Fran burst through the door cutting Mario off frantically.
Mario turned around. "Gee Fran, I thought you were old enough to know boys aren't all the same."
"No, there's a boy here. A human!" She cried.
A boy with short light brown hair and pale skin walked closer to Fran, but Fran took a few steps back. "Sorry for scaring you," he said.
"Jerry, you can't just cause trouble, and in a castle of all places!" Cried a voice.
A woman with long brown hair tied in a pony tail grabbed the boy by his arm. "We're guests and you're acting dreadful, I will not have this around Mario."
Mario smiled. "Children, meet Pauline of Brooklyn."
She was Mario's old flame, but instead of her usual red gown she wore a red tank top and a blue mini skirt.
Pauline looked up when she heard that familiar voice. "Mario!" She smiled back.
Mario and Pauline sat down in the dining room sipping Pauline's favorite tea. Fran, Azure, and Gordy promised to spend time with Jerry in the meantime.
"Life must have been treating you well. You look very dashing in royal attire. I'm just a business woman." Pauline said.
"It's been ups and downs," Mario looked at Pauline's hand. "I see you have a wedding ring."
Pauline looked at her ring and smiled. "It's complicated, but yes. And that boy is my son."
Pauline stirred her tea. "I did not expect you to have children as well."
"Adopted." Mario said before sipping his tea.
Pauline paused and smiled. "Oh, I thought that girl was your flesh and blood."
"Never married," Mario said lowly.
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Pauline said.
Mario shook his head slightly. "Don't apologize, I may be a king without a queen but I healed. Even if my reign as king started with me losing two women that I loved."
Pauline was at a loss of breath for a moment. "How?"
Mario paused, but then Pauline's panting son walked into the room.
"Mom!" Jerry yelled as he carried a bunch of books against his chest. "I found books on Princess Peach the original heir to the Mushroom Kingdom!"
Pauline blinked, she knew Peach was Mario's flame after her but she had to admit she wondered why she wasn't here with Mario.
"I would love to read them Jerry," Pauline said, her son passed her some of the books.
"They're not accurate histories though," Mario said.
"But why your highness, isn't Fran the daughter of you and—"
"No," Mario said, cutting Jerry off.
"There are still loyal fans of Princess Peach and my relationship with her, somehow these stories manage to get published even if they aren't true," Mario twiddled his fingers.
"So," Pauline paused. "Things didn't go well between you and Peach." Pauline tried to say that as delicately as possible but when she said that last line she felt her palms sweat from realization.
Mario rested his face on his hand. "More than you can ever imagine."
"You don't have to tell me now, if it all," Pauline insisted.
The brunette woman stroked her wedding ring. "Honestly I would like to keep the details of my romantic partner a secret for now."
Mario removed his hand from his face and gave Pauline an amazed look. "Alright then," he said.
"They're both royalty though, in different ways." Jerry mumbled.
"Jerry!" Pauline cried.
"Well they are," Jerry retorted.
Mario blinked in confusion, but then he decided to change the subject. "Maybe we should talk more about our children. Speaking of which you have not seen all of mine, you'll see the rest when night comes and all the stars are out."
Pauline blinked, but she smiled. "More surprises eh? I like it!"
Mario was so surprised that Pauline didn't think he was crazy.
Fran and Jerry sat outside the balcony watching the sky turn from orange to night time blue. She told Jerry and Pauline in order for them to see the rest of her siblings they had to wait for enough stars to appear in the skies.
"The stars look beautiful tonight, and they're blue. My papa told me the blue stars probably represent…Her, or Mama." Fran said.
"Hm?" Said Jerry.
Fran turned around and smiled. "Alright! For the best results the throne room must have the lights dimmed, I'll be right back."
Fran ran into the throne room to the other side to dim the lights. Pauline blinked in surprised as the castle was still beautiful even in the dark.
"I'm so glad I took a trip to the Mushroom Kingdom." Pauline said. A breeze flew through her hair and she gave a dreamy sigh.
Mario looked at Pauline. "The mother of these children sacrificed herself to save this kingdom."
Pauline opened her eyes. "Who?"
"There's one of them!" Fran cried.
Pauline was confused, she didn't really see anything except a green light coming from the dark throne room.
"Whoa! He's kind of cute!" Said Jerry.
A red and purple light came next, Pauline still couldn't see it well, but she could faintly see the two children having fun.
"Pauline look," Mario said.
Pauline turned to Mario and gasped in surprise. Cute star children sat on Mario's hands, shoulders, and one on his hat. Mario's sad state became more gleeful now, she noticed, after seeming on and off all day.
The sound that the star children made only made Pauline's lips curl up into a smile as she was enchanted by the adorable creatures.
"They're lumas," Mario said, letting the two sitting on his hands float on their own. "Star children that help shape the galaxies."
One of the lumas that Mario let go of drifted a bit towards Pauline's face. She slowly raised her index finger towards the luma. "Hello there."
She gave the luma a slight poke and the child of the galaxy giggled as a few sparkles landed on Pauline.
"I guess this makes me the galaxy king as well. I don't know. It sort of felt that way after I adopted these kids after Rosalina's death," Mario said.
The lumas scattered off Mario.
"Rosalina?" Pauline asked.
Mario paused for a moment. "An amazing woman…"
Mario told as much as he could about Rosalina to Pauline for hours.
Writing Pauline turned out more fun that I ever imagined...But I left who she married up to interpretation because I got EchoEternal's version of her chiseled into my head, about her being gay, or bi, or bi preferring woman, you guys decide if Jerry is her biological son or not, or who she married. I also enjoyed writing her relationship with Mario. I know some people like to bring Mario and Pauline back together but despite being a crack shipper who usually likes to destroy canon...I wanted to respect this canon. Their relationship is special to me because it's the only time in any form of media where I've seen two past lovers be on 100% good terms with each other and written in a "life goes on, but it's ok" attitude.
Also Burger Time is an actual game, that I play on my 3DS and am addicted to.
Next chapter will be the last...Maybe I'll make it two chapters. We'll see.
HOWEVER, I am kind of considering going on a slight writer's hiatus.
It's not because of anything happening in my life...Although school does start next week but community college does not chew up too much of my time...But I'll see what my schedule is like next week.
I was thinking about this because a couple of days ago I realized I was making writing too much of a priority for me and I was making myself insecure and such. Don't get me wrong I LOVE WRITING but I kind of want other things to be a bigger priority at the moment...Like relationships.
I don't know, nothing is set in stone and usual when I say I'll take a break from Facebook, or Tumblr, or what have you...I end up coming back.
I may break my promise again because I started picking up one of my old stories I put on hiatus lol.