The red plumber began advancing on the Koopa in the darkness of his chamber. By now, it was the early morning and the fire flower's death was close—perhaps too close. Although he saw the threat that Mario posed, Bowser did not move, neither to defend himself and engage Mario nor to run. Bowser simply stood up, hiding the painting behind his massive figure. When Mario got closer to Bowser, he readied a fireball in his other hand.
"I won't fight you," Bowser said, still standing tall, "You're wasting your time on me, you know."
"Well, if you're not going to fight me, then you're going to die," Mario threatened sharply. He expected this threat to get Bowser going and for their fight to begin. However, nothing happened; Bowser remained unmoved. Mario stopped, making the fire in his hands disappear, slightly surprised and glared at Bowser.
"Didn't you hear what I just said?!" Mario shouted.
"I heard you, but I'm still not going to fight you," Bowser replied with his chin up, "Just leave me alone."
"I'm afraid to tell you this," Mario said sarcastically, "but there's no way that both of us are walking away from this; one of us has to die. And, if you won't put up a fight, then you'll be the one."
"Maybe we can cut down a tree or something," one of the toads suggested as they sat around the courtyard of the castle in the dark, "Like, you know, use it as a battering-ram or something like that."
Toad shook his head and shouted loudly, "Oh, great idea, Frank! Too bad we're only carrying spears with us! God, why did I even agree to come here?"
The former toad, Frank, looked at the third toad with a look of confusion. However, before the third toad could say anything, Toad once again shouted, "Don't you say a goddamn word, Barnes! I don't want to hear it from you right now!"
The third toad, Barnes, shook his head, obviously annoyed by Toad's angry mood. As the three sat in silence, they heard noises from inside the castle. When they looked up towards the balcony, they saw Mario, clad in his white hat and red overalls, back up. And, when he had a fire ball in both of his hands, he charged into the room, presumably at Bowser. They could hear the sounds of a struggle in Bowser's chamber, but they did not move; now that they had some time away from the chaos in Mushroom City, the three reflected on the weeks leading up to this night. Clearly, something went off in Mario's head.
"Why did we even come here?" Toad questioned again, "It's not like we're fighting anybody! Maybe a few minutes ago I would've felt like fighting, but now? There's not a chance."
"I don't know what happened to Mario—um, His Majesty," Frank corrected almost sadly, "He was fine before he proposed to Peach. Well, he seemed fine to me, anyway..."
"Yeah, he seemed fine to me too," Toad sighed longingly.
"Okay, enough," Barnes responded with an incredibly annoyed tone in his voice, "We get it; you're hopelessly in love with Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom and a man you'll never have! At least keep it to yourself for God's sake! At this point, your desperate public "cries for help" are nothing short of pathetic."
"You guys suck, especially you, Barnes," Toad groaned as he jabbed his spear into the cold dirt below, "Just let me complain."
"You certainly aren't complaining to us," Barnes called Toad out, "Before we could say anything, you always tell us to shut our mouths. So, who the hell are you complaining to?"
"TO NOBODY! It's called monologuing! Ever see a play, you uncultured, fungus-headed freak?" Toad snapped. Angrily, he stood up and looked over at the wooden door of the castle, "We should work on finding a way inside that poor excuse of a castle…"
Suddenly, they saw a clown cart come crashing down from the sky. Seeing that he was in the path of the cart, Toad quickly dove to the side and barely dodged the incoming hunk of metal. The cart impacted the ground and exploded, while the remains hurled into the door of the castle. The wooden door was destroyed as the cart landed in the foyer of Bowser's castle. Scared for his life, Toad sat up on the ground and saw the burning remains of the clown cart at the bottom of a large staircase. While looking at the door, Toad saw some of Bowser's servants, including Red, investigate the hunk of metal that destroyed their barricade. And, when Toad saw many half-bone Koopas, he crawled on his hands backwards in terror.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE THINGS!?" Toad shrieked, reaching for his spear. However, when he reached back and tugged at the first thing he touched, he felt a leg around his hand. He looked up behind him and saw Luigi standing there.
"You're not my spear," Toad muttered, still scared.
"Get up, Toad," Luigi said, shaking his head in disappointment, "You're going to be fine."
As Luigi helped Toad from the ground, Peach and Daisy came into the courtyard. Because they were forced to jump out of their clown cart before it crashed, they were panting and dirty. Peach ran up to Frank and Barnes and asked, "Quickly, now; where did Mario go!?"
"Up to that balcony, Your Majesty," Barnes told while he bowed in the presence of the princess, "He, um… He went to fight Bowser."
Mario had forced Bowser through the corridor, down into a room with many large windows and glass doors. The koopa backed up into the empty room in extreme pain. Unlike their battles before, Mario came out of the gate swinging with everything he had. Usually, he liked to tire Bowser out while pacing himself. Then, Mario usually tossed his exhausted combatant into a conveniently-placed explosive or cut the bridge they were fighting on. This time was different, however; now Mario came after Bowser with everything. Bowser raised his arm to block an ice ball from Mario. However, it was too strong. The ball, upon impact, temporarily enveloped Bowser's arm in an icicle and knocked him back onto a knee. As the exhausted Bowser knelt, Mario again changed his power-up (this time to the cape feather). It was unrelenting; first, Mario would hit him with fire, then ice, then fire, then another miscellaneous ability, then ice again…
"I've told you already; I'm not fighting you!" Bowser weakly exclaimed, using all of his remaining energy to yell, "Why can't you just leave me in peace?"
"As long as you're around, there will never be a peace," Mario responded, "Can't you see that? When my adventures are all-said-and-done, there's always fear about the next time that Bowser will attack the Mushroom Kingdom. How many times does someone have to get rejected to realize that they'll never experience love?"
"I don't know; you tell me," Bowser taunted before attacking Mario. However, Mario easily parried the defeated Bowser with the cape and countered with a powerful punch. Bowser was sent through the glass door, onto the roof and to a nearby bridge. As Bowser laid nearly unconscious, Mario walked through the broken glass and onto the roof. He faced the Koopa, who lay tiredly on his stomach on the bridge, and saw his chance.
As Mario walked out onto the bridge, Bowser looked up and saw the plumber's boots getting closer and closer to him. As he gave up entirely, he heard a voice from behind Mario call his name. His head shot up, and, in the hole in the wall, he saw Peach.
"Peach... She's... She's back..." Bowser muttered, hopeful.
Bowser rose, determined and looked at Mario, who approached him with the cape in his hand. From the sight of the princess, Bowser gained energy and hope; he now had something to fight for. When Mario charged him this time, Bowser charged back.
The two met near the area where Peach was. Never before had Peach seen Mario nor Bowser fight as hard as they fought on that bridge. Any attack Mario had up his sleeve, Bowser had a more powerful one. When Mario switched to an ice power-up, Bowser breathed an absurd amount of fire. And, as their fight raged on that small part of the bridge, Peach could see Bowser slowly gain the upper-hand.
The plumber parried an attack by Bowser, but Bowser scratched him in the side. As Mario hunched over, obviously hurt, Bowser smacked Mario back several feet. Getting rid of his cape, Mario used his final ice flower. Mario tried to launch several ice-balls at Bowser. However, Bowser breathed out a large fire ball—probably twice Mario's size— that not only melted the many ice-balls but caused a large explosion behind Mario. Mario flew forward several feet, landing close to Bowser. The koopa picked him up by the overalls and launched him in the opposite direction of the princess. Somehow, Mario jumped up quickly, incredibly hurt and tired from the fight. As Bowser slowly recovered and charged at him, Mario activated his last fire flower in hopes that it could give him momentum. As Bowser approached him, Mario hit him several times in the torso and face with various fireballs at various speeds. When Mario's attack was done, he collapsed onto his knees in exhaustion. It was at this time that Mario regretted his earlier aggressiveness. Before he could move, he saw the Bowser's feet in front of him.
An exhausted Mario looked up at Bowser. The face of the Koopa was covered in ash, burn marks, ice fragments and cuts, and his torso was also covered in many burn marks and ice fragments. Although he was as exhausted as, if not more than, Mario, it looked as if Bowser could keep on fighting for another hour or two.
"Well, you win," Mario panted, "If you'll kill me, kill me now."
Mario closed his eyes and relaxed his body. However, Bowser did not make a move to the plumber's surprise. When Mario looked up, Bowser snarled, showing the flames brewing inside of his mouth, "Get out of my kingdom."
Quickly, Mario got up and ran off the bridge in panic. When he was out of sight and into a new corridor of the castle, he saw an axe.
Peach met an exhausted Bowser at the very edge of the bridge he stood on. She quickly ran up to him and hugged him tightly. Bowser embraced her back and held her for a few moments. When he let go, Peach backed up, so Bowser would not have to look all the way down at her. Through his exhaustion and pain, he managed to crack a small, glowing smile, "Why did you come back?"
Peach, also smiling, spoke softly, "I couldn't let Mario kill you… I'm sorry I ever left."
"Sorry? Why would you be sorry?" Bowser asked, "You were my prisoner."
"I wasn't your prisoner," Peach corrected, looking down bashfully, "Technically, I was your prisoner, but, at the same time, I've never felt freer in my entire life… It's an odd feeling, I can't really describe it…"
"Don't worry, I understand—"
Suddenly, they heard somebody swing an axe on the other side of the bridge. Bowser turned and saw Mario valiantly holding it over his shoulder. The bridge under Bowser quickly collapsed. Quickly, the koopa turned back to Peach and looked at her as if it were his last time. Mere seconds later, the entire bridge was gone, and Bowser was falling to the hard ground below.
Peach had traced the area where Bowser landed. When she got there, to the ground between a courtyard and the exit of the library, she only saw dust in the air. When she stepped through the dust, she saw the figure of Bowser's shell. As fast as she could, she sprinted up to it with tears beginning to fill her eyes. Because she was in her own head, she could not hear Daisy, Luigi, Toad, Red, Goombs nor Mario calling her name. In the rubble, she saw Bowser lying with both eyes closed. The princess knelt down and caressed his head as the dust cleared. Everybody at the castle, who had followed her during her frantic sprint, saw her weeping for the fallen koopa. Nobody said anything, however; they just stared in bizarre astonishment at the scene.
"Peach… Is that… Is that you?" Bowser weakly muttered, opening his eyes ever so slightly with all his strength.
"Yes… Yes, I'm here…" Peach responded softly, "I… I should've gotten here sooner…"
Under her arms, she felt Bowser becoming increasingly weaker. This feeling only made her squeeze him tighter, trying to cling onto anything he had left. As she tried harder and harder to feel the life in Bowser, tears began finding their way down her cheeks. "It's going to be okay," Peach muttered, her voice softer than before, "We're back together again; you'll be okay… You're going to survive this."
"Maybe it's better this way," Bowser said, his voice breaking and fading, "Maybe now, everything for you will go back to the way it used to be."
"Don't say that… Please, don't say things like that… You're going to be okay… I can help you get better."
"There's nothing that can be done now, Princess."
"You can't say that… Please stop saying that… I can't take it."
As the dark sky slightly became lighter and twilight, Bowser muttered, "At least… I got to see you one more time…"
"No! Please don't go…" Peach cried as she felt Bowser's body become entirely limp. She clutched his lifeless head as tight as she could. Tears rolled down her face, but Peach did not become hysterical. She merely muttered, as dawn broke over the castle, "I… I love you…"
