Bowser released a barrage of fire balls from his mouth. Mario quickly ducked, dodging the first, but was met with a second streaming towards his face. He quickly leapt upward, instincts saving him. But soon the flaming orbs that hurtled at him came faster and faster, and Peach could see that Mario struggled to keep up. Jump. Run. Jump. Jump. Jump. Had Bowser not been busy lobbing the fire balls at his opponent, Peach was sure he would have started taunting his rival. Suddenly a fire ball nicked Mario's right ear. Peach could smell singed hair, and Mario's hands flew to the side of his face to inspect the damage. With his focus broken, he almost didn't see the flaming orb flying towards his chest. A mere inch from contact, Mario dropped to the ground to let the fireball pass over him. Peach could tell that the attacks were coming too fast. Mario had no chance to stand back up and fight. He was trapped.
Bowser smirked slightly as he continued to spew fireballs. He began to advance towards Mario, watching him roll and crawl to avoid getting hit. As Bowser closed the distance between them, the attacks slowed. Peach could picture what he was going to do, but didn't have the strength to turn away. Once Bowser was within an arm's reach of Mario, he shut his mouth, halting the fire balls, and grabbed his opponent. With all of his strength he threw Mario against the wall. Mario hit the wooden logs with a sickening crunch. His body slid to the ground, and Peach's heart quickened, realizing that she could not determine if Mario was conscious. But that fact did not deter Bowser. He cackled and picked up Mario again. Again he slammed his body into the wall. Again Mario fell to the floor. But as Bowser leisurely walked towards his fallen rival, Peach thought she saw Mario's hand twitch. While Bowser advanced, Mario slowly reached his hands around one of the hay bales that had been used for seating. Before Bowser could grab him a third time, Mario summoned all of his strength and threw the bale at Bowser. Instinctively, Bowser released a fireball to block the object. Unfortunately, he failed to acknowledge the object's flammability.
The whole bale caught fire, and sent a shower of flaming strands upon Bowser. Being a Koopa, he was immune to the flames, but the floor of the dining room was not. The fire quickly consumed the hay, and began to gnaw away at the wooden floor. Peach's eyes were pulled away from the smoldering planks when she heard a thundering noise, and realized that Bowser had flung one of the heavy decorative barrels at Mario. Still groggy, he had just barely managed to avoid it. Bowser loomed closer, fury burning in his eyes. He threw another barrel. With impressive cleverness and timing, Mario kicked it forwards, racing towards Bowser's feet. Bowser was not fast enough to doge it, and with a roaring crash he fell forward, finally brought down. Mario ran to him and landed a harsh kick to Bowser's head. A sharp crack echoed through the hall. Bowser tried to get up, but was stifled by another blow to the head. Mario tried a third time, but before he could land another attack, Bowser caught his foot and pulled him down to the ground. Bowser leered over him, ready to deliver the final punches, when a loud boom interrupted them. The fire had licked its way up the wall and into the rafters, causing a piece of one of the support beams to blaze and fall to the ground. The strain on the remaining beams was too great. The structure quivered, and both could see that it was only a matter of time before the roof gave way. But their compulsion to fight was too strong. Their eyes met again, and Peach knew that the same thought hung in both of their minds.
Mario resumed the brawl, sending a quick punch to Bowser's side. His rival flinched and doubled over, exposing himself to a brutal left hook. As Mario wound up for a second attack, Bowser ducked and slammed his rival to the ground. Bowser tried to punch him in the throat, but Mario quickly rolled away from the attack, leaving Bowser to punch the floor beneath him. The force behind the blow shook the whole building, sending a smattering of burning embers from the ceiling. Never one to hide his emotions, Peach watched a wicked idea flash through Bowser's mind and across his face. His eyes gleamed and mouth mangled into a twisted grin as he stared at the rafters from which the embers fell. Turning towards Mario, Bowser released his fire balls again. But these were not as quick and accurate as the ones before. He must be growing tired, Peach noted to herself. Mario easily dodged the closest attacks and backed away from Bowser, knowing that Bowser would have more difficulty with a farther target. As Mario inched away the fire balls could barely reach him before they disintegrated. Suddenly, realization dawned on Peach, only instants before it would dawn on Mario. Bowser had never intended to hit him with the fire balls! They were only a distraction to- Mario let out a muted grunt as his back pressed against the wall. He had backed himself into a corner.
And worse, he was directly under the faulty support beams.
Bowser approached Mario, fire balls streaming from his mouth to keep his opponent from escaping. Mario's face was stricken with panic as he hastily jumped and darted to avoid the attacks. Once Bowser was within an arm's reach of his rival, he changed tactics. The fire balls ceased, replaced by a firm kick to Mario's ankles. Mario toppled downward. Once on the ground, Bowser delivered a mighty punch to Mario's cheek. Mario sat up, but his head swayed and bobbled. Peach knew that Mario couldn't take another hit. Surprisingly, he didn't receive one. Instead, Bowser picked up Mario's semi-conscious body, and lifted him above his head. Peach's eyes widened in horror. Oh Stars he's going to kill him! But Bowser did not slam his rival down. He crammed Mario into the space left vacant by the fallen beam piece, so that his body bared the weight of the building, keeping the roof from collapsing. Bowser raised his fist to deliver the final blow. It was too terrible to imagine, much less witness. In that moment Peach's former paralysis left her.
"Bowser don't!" She cried, her heart jumping out of her chest.
"Peach!" He called back, his amber eyes huge at the sight of her.
Peach looked at the ground around her feet and realized Bowser's look was one of concern. She had been so caught up watching the fight that she didn't notice that the fire had eaten its way around her. The heat hit her all at once, along with the sting of the smoke in her eyes. The flames hungrily tore into the wood, leaving no path to escape.
"I'll save you!" Bowser yelled again, lowering his fist and turning away from Mario.
Even half-conscious, Mario still possessed the uncanny ability to seize the perfect opportunity. With Bowser no longer holding him in place, Mario braced himself and jumped with all of his strength away from the unstable beams, flying over Bowser and towards Peach. The roof collapsed behind him. Peached watched in horror as half of the building fell- wooden planks, bricks, drywall and roofing- all on top of Bowser's body, crushing him underneath a mountain of burning wreckage. Mario just barely cleared the crash site, and managed to pull Peach out of the fire. Peach had no memory of how he did this. All she could recall was the image of Bowser's corpse under the rubble, before she found herself outside the building.
Peach was in hysterics.
"You killed him! You killed him! You killed him!" She wailed, over and over again, her screams messy and wracked with sorrow.
She clawed desperately against Mario's arms, but he was stronger that she was. With determination he carried her to a brightly painted car that Peach would later identify as an ambulance. Finally a stranger in a white robe wrenched her out of Mario's grasp and laid her on a stretcher. A mask was placed over her nose and mouth, filling her lungs with oxygen, muting her screams. She felt cold fingers dig into her wrist, searching for a pulse. Peach saw many people running around her in chaos, calling out unfamiliar phrases to one another. The stranger continued the examination, shining a light in Peach's eyes and checking her skin for burns. Peach's tears ran cool down her cheeks, flooding on the mask. As she was wheeled inside the vehicle, her eyes lifted to the sky. What was once a beautiful blue lay swarmed with rolling gray smoke. She shut her eyes, and the scene closed to darkness.
A/N: And that's a wrap. I'm totally kidding, and I am incredibly sorry to have lied to you, but there is one more chapter to this tale. It was a tough decision to make, but since this chapter crept up in length I didn't want to try to squish the ending in. Also I have extremely limited experience with action sequences, but I tried my best to keep the writing suspenseful and engaging while masking my inward panic at stepping way out of my comfort zone. I know I say this every time, but I could say it a million times and still mean it just as much: thank you. Thank you for each comment, each follow, each favorite. I was so scared to write this. I was worried that I would receive hate for the pairing and my writing, but the response has been the opposite. You all brighten my day, and I hope fervently that this story brightens yours. Much love, Guardian.
