Peach awakened in a dungeon. It was dark, and cold, and she was lying on a cold, stone, bed. She groaned and tried to remember what had happened.

"Peach?" Anna's voice sounded in the darkness.

"I'm here." She replied. Then she remembered. She had failed them. It was her fault they were all here. All because she hadn't been able to do what Kamek had asked of her. She had failed him too.

"Are you okay?" Toad was here as well. "If he hurt you-"

"I'm okay." She wondered if he was referring to Kamek or their captors. "I think someone hit me in the head." Her head did hurt, she realized.

"That jerk knocked you out." Iggy was here as well. "I bit him for you, though." He maintained, as if that made things even.

Was Kamek here? Peach wondered why she was frightened at the thought that he might not be. "Is-" She found herself unable to ask the question. She dreaded what answer she might receive.

"We might better be able to continue this discussion if we could see, Princess." Peach found herself surprisingly relieved. It didn't make sense that Kamek's presence should be reassuring, but it was, even as it caused her to feel guilty again.

"I'm sorry." She apologized. "This is my fault."

"Don't be silly." Anna protested. "It's nothing of the sort."

She appreciated the words, but they made her feel worse. "I'm sorry I wasn't good enough." She said.

The words hung in the air as the others tried to figure out what she was talking about.

Kamek sighed. "It is I who should apologize, Princess." He said at last. "I pushed too much on you too suddenly. You were not ready."

"You didn't really have much choice." Peach argued into the darkness. "You took a chance."

"I hoped that as quickly as you were already learning, your self-confidence would be as quick to grow." He amended.

She frowned into the darkness, uncertain of exactly what he meant by that.

It was Toad who finally broke the silence. "So now what?" He asked.

Kamek sighed. "Now we leave. If we could have some light, Princess?" He had just asked her for light a second time, she realized.

"I don't know if I can." She said. "Wouldn't Anna-"

"Anna is being blocked, Princess."

"But-" She felt that familiar presence at her elbow. "Okay." She said, and again pictured her stone of light. It blossomed into existence.

"Peach-" The others stared at her in surprise. Anna recovered enough to ask, "You can do magic?"

"Kamek's been teaching me. I still need his help, though-" Kamek was across the cell, sitting against the wall. Then how had he-? Hadn't he been right beside her?

"Kamek's been teaching you?" Anna repeated, staring at her uncle, who had stood and was now moving to stand beside Peach.

"You do not need my help so much as you believe, Princess." He murmured quietly, to her alone. "Shall we set Anna free?"

Peach hesitated, and Kamek again rested his hand lightly on her elbow. She turned to Anna. "We're going to get rid of the magic-blockers." Peach explained, a bit nervously.

Anna nodded, and brought her hands forward. Peach focused on the handcuffs, trying to burn every detail into her mind. Then she slowly tried to let it fade into nothingness.

The handcuffs flickered, faded, flickered one last time, and disappeared. Anna gasped.

Iggy let out a hoot that was quickly cut off as Toad put a hand over his mouth. "Sorry." Iggy apologized when Toad let him go.

Kamek held out his own hands to Anna, who hesitated, looking at the floor and chewing her lip. "Okay." She finally said. The cuffs on his wrists too faded into nothingness.

Peach wondered if Anna realized she looked as if she were waiting for him to evaluate her work, or if Kamek were aware that he had nodded briskly in approval.

"Now what?" Iggy asked suddenly.

Kamek frowned. "Now we find Kaleth." He said wearily. Anna gasped and stared at him in utter terror.

Disclaimer: Super Mario Brothers does not belong to me.