Peach shoved through the crowd as politely as she could while Daisy ran behind her.
"What are you doing?!" Her cousin cried, trying to keep up.
Yet Peach pressed onward, desperate to catch up to her sister. "Excuse me," she mumbled quickly while squeezing around an elderly Yoshi.
"Well I never!" The old woman exclaimed, offended by her impatience.
"Hey, is that Princess Peach?" A faceless voice asked a few feet behind the elderly woman.
Stars no! Peach cringed. She and her cousin had taken great pains so that they could avoid publicity for the night, but it appeared that all their hard work was wasted. Suddenly a throng of voices erupted around them.
"Princess Peach! Princess Peach! Can I have your autograph?"
"Look it's the Princesses!"
"Princess Peach! Over here!"
The crowd slowed, and instead of streaming toward the exit, they churned and clustered around Peach and Daisy. Though she tried to fight against the waves of people, Peach was forced to watch, defeated, as Rosalina picked her way towards the large theater doors far ahead of them. Even with the noise, her sister never looked back.
"What did you think of the ballet, Your Highness?"
"Can I take a picture with you? I've never seen you wear anything but pink!"
"Daisy, tell us about this new hairstyle- is it a wig?"
With the barrage of questions came the disorienting smatter of flashes. Peach's retinas were burned with the familiar bright spots and she struggled to see.
"Would you mind stepping out of my way?" She called out to one of the many bodies in the throng. Her voice shook as she strained to keep her composure.
Not one person budged.
Rosalina was nearly at the door.
Peach considered her options. How would she get through the crowd?
Rosalina left the theater, disappearing from view.
Peach knew that this was her only chance to finally get answers to her questions. She steadied herself, and for a fleeting instant Bowser loomed in her mind. Then she calmly grabbed the arm of the person closest to her and hurled them to the floor. She did it twice more until she found a gap between the layers of people. The last thing Peach heard were shocked gasps as she bolted for the exit.
Finally free, the rain poured down on her while she scanned ahead for her sister. Rosalina was stepping into a taxi cab, her hand still on the door handle.
"Rosalina!" Peach screamed.
Finally her sister turned to notice her. Peach's heart wrenched in her chest at the familiar face. Her sister's achingly blue eyes looked older than Peach remembered. Her hair was shorter, and had matured from the color of cream to the color of corn silk. But the most noticeable difference was the fresh scar that slivered along the underside of her cheek.
Rosalina blinked once and wrinkled her nose almost imperceptibly before continuing to get into the cab.
"Wait! Rosalina!" Peach ran up to the side of the car.
"What?" Her sister asked. Her voice was even and chilling. Her eyes remained downcast.
"What's going on? How could you do this? Aren't you going to explain yourself?!" The questions flew from Peach's mouth before she was interrupted.
"You became everything they wanted you to. Everything I tried to protect you from." Rosalina said cryptically, more to herself than to her sister.
"Hey lady, is your friend here coming too?" The cab driver called from inside.
"No," Rosalina said coldly. She began to close the door from the inside but Peach grabbed the outside handle.
"You can't just leave me like this! I haven't seen you in eight years!" She yelled angrily. "Mom and Dad are still looking for you, you have to come back to us!"
Her sister's eyes widened in confusion. "They never told you?"
"Told me what?" Peach asked, as she reflexively loosened her grip on the door.
But instead of answering her question, Rosalina took advantage of her sister's surprise and yanked the handle. The taxi door slammed shut and the car sped off into the night, the red glow of its tail-lights blurring on the wet pavement. Before she could process what had happened, Peach heard the sound of voices far behind her building over the noise of the busy street. The stunned crowd had left the theater and were rushing towards her. Defenseless, Peach braced herself for the worst. They surged around her, questions flying like bullets from a machine gun.
"Princess Peach, how would you explain your behavior?"
"Why did you tackle those people?!"
"Was that an act of self defense?"
Suddenly her cousin's voice rang out above the crowd. "Honorable Princess Peach will answer no further questions at this time!"
Daisy marched calmly to the front of the crowd and placed herself between Peach and the frenzied horde.
"Please step away from the Princess or security measures will be taken." She said threateningly. But still the people didn't budge. They began to close in, voices screaming, lights shuddering and flashing, filling the air with hard consonants and bursts of searing brightness.
Suddenly, a silver convertible pulled up to the curb behind the princesses with the royal seal of Sarasaland imprinted on the front. Normally Daisy's chauffer opened the doors for them, but Peach desperately clawed at the handle, scrambling into the relative safety of the car. Daisy followed close behind and yelled, "STEP ON IT!" to the driver. Peach watched the crowd shrink behind them as they sped away from the theater. People stormed out into the streets, still taking pictures and calling out to her. Relief slowly spread through her limbs as they disappeared into the distance. But even though the crowd was out of sight, she would have rather dealt with the angry mob than the questions that her sister left her with.
"Marta, I-I still have feelings for you."
"But Diego, you're getting married in two days!"
"Let's run away together, we can leave behind all of our problems."
"I can't leave, Diego. Besides, my heart belongs to another. I am in love with Juan."
"QUE?!"
Bowser sighed as he clicked over to another channel. There was nothing good on T.V, but he needed some time to relax. The past few days had been especially draining; after he dealt with Clawdia and her family he had finally regained his car keys, giving him the ability to visit Princess Peach. He hadn't seen her since they had gotten kabobs, and he wanted to make sure that his precious time to woo her was well-spent. Thus, he had spent days planning things to do together that would highlight his talents. But with so much giftedness to consider, he had become exhausted from trying to emphasize each of his specialties. So he decided to take a break and watch some mindless entertainment over a bowl of chocolate ice cream.
"We're sorry Blaire, but your tiramisu was too under-baked. Thank you for your participation in this challenge, but you've been sliced. Pack your bags and go."
Bowser frowned and changed the channel. He hated cooking shows. What was the point of watching people make food without being able to eat it?
"With temperatures dropping as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit, how will Tiger Wildes survive the Cool, Cool Mountain nights?"
Ordinarily Bowser would have enjoyed watching Tiger Wildes, but unfortunately he had already seen that episode.
"Live Tonight: The ballet premiere of 'The Forest Sprites' and the disaster that followed."
Although he did not care for theatrical performances of any kind, mayhem always peaked Bowser's interest. Intrigued, he watched on.
"Hello, I'm Sharon DelFino reporting on the incident that occurred after 'The Forest Sprites' opening night. It appears that there was a riot, likely centered around the violence that ensued after the performance. Here I have Daria Nightingale who witnessed the event. Daria?"
"It was terrible." Daria, an elderly Yoshi, began in a shaken voice. "I was leaving my seat when some blonde woman rushed past me. She was in an awful hurry, and nearly knocked me over. Only later did my granddaughter tell me that it was Princess Peach."
Instantly Bowser sat up, enthralled by what was happening on the screen.
"Anyway, I was very offended. I always thought of her as a kind and caring young lady, but people are different in person I guess. But what's worse is that she attacked three people! I saw her pin them to the ground with my own eyes! She would have broken their necks if she didn't realize what she'd done and run off."
"Did you see anything that could have incited her behavior?" Sharon asked.
"Not that I could tell. She just went crazy." Daria answered firmly.
"Here is footage of the event taken just thirty minutes ago," Sharon said as a recording began to play in front of them.
Bowser watched in astonishment at the fuzzy image. It was clearly Princess Peach in the center of the crowd; her blonde hair was unmistakable. It seemed like she was trying to get away from the cluster of people, although no one was moving. But when she pushed the first person down, Bowser's heart stopped in his chest. It seemed to happen in slow motion and heightened detail; her flaxen locks billowing slightly in the wind, while her lips pursed ever so slightly in effort and her eyes narrowed in focus. It was the most attractive thing he had ever seen her do. Sweeping love songs began playing in his head as he watched her push down two more people. Her form was excellent. Her strength admirable. Her speed was remarkable. Peach was even more perfect than he previously thought possible!
His feet hit the floor as he leapt off the couch. Bowser didn't care about his elaborate plans and careful impression. He couldn't wait a moment longer to see Princess Peach. Sprinting down the hall, he grabbed his car keys from his room and ran towards the garage, bursting with determination to make the most unbelievably perfect being in all the universe fall in love with him.
A/N: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you enjoyed the parodies of real tv shows, I've been going to the gym more often these days and have become very familiar with the low quality shows that are on constantly... Anyway, thanks as always for the comments, I'm extremely grateful to have such fantastic reviews! I wish that you have a relaxing week, filled with mindless entertainment and chocolate ice cream! (unless you're lactose intolerant!) Much Love, Guardian
