Note: Next week's chapter will be posted before Monday so be on the lookout! hehe :3

Chapter Twenty-One

Pauline and Mario said goodnight to Peach after they showed her to her room. It was small but it worked perfectly as a guest room. There was a window overlooking the backyard garden and the decorations gave the room a homey feeling. But all of the charming details of the room were lost to Peach. The moment Peach closed her door her smile faded and her eyes filled with tears.

Every night before now Peach had relived Mario's death in her dreams. She had prayed to the stars every day, asking them to bring him back so he could save her and tell everyone stories of his heroism when they came back home safely. Peach had regretted not being more romantic towards him. She had wished she would have held his hand more, maybe kissed his cheek at random times, made more pasta for him, or taken him on more dates… but his death had turned out to be a lie. While the princess had been mourning and tearing herself apart over Mario's death, Mario had been doing all of those romantic things with another woman. He had even proposed to her! Peach's mind swirled and her heart felt like it was tumbling in her chest but it all stopped when she heard a knock at her door.

Wiping her tears she turned towards the door and took a deep breath, "Who is it?" she asked, trying to keep her voice even.

"Its-a me," the plumber answered. "Can I come in?"

Peach slowly made her way to the door, cursing herself for not turning on her bedroom light as she stubbed her toe on the leg of the bed. Just before opening the door, she fanned her face with her hands and took a deep breath. When she opened the door she saw Mario with his hat in his hands and sadness in his eyes.

"Hey, Mario. Did I forget something or…?" Peach asked, putting on a smile.

Mario only looked at her. He may not be the smartest man in the world but he could see her red eyes as plain as day. Without saying anything, he stepped forward and hugged her. Peach stood motionless for a moment trying to hold back her tears but soon sunk to the floor, sobbing softly into Mario's shirt.

Once she had reached the end of her crying, Mario brought her face up to his and looked at her earnestly. "Peach, I am sorry for keeping things a secret. I have thought about the pain I have been putting you through every night, but weeks went by before I remembered what happened. By the time I remembered, nothing bad had happened, so I decided to stay low and watch from a distance. Besides, Kamella is dangerous and I couldn't drag Pauline into this," Mario explained with a sigh of regret. Peach opened her mouth to answer, but Mario let go of Peach and walking to her window. She watched him curiously as he opened it and stick his head out.

"Did you come to get your ass kicked again?" Mario said out the window. Before Peach could ask Mario what he was doing, she heard a grunt come from someone else.

"No. I came to hand you yours," a deep voice growled. "Especially since you made Peach cry."

Peach's eyes widened, "Bowser..."

As if hearing her speak his name, the Koopa King stood up, pushed the window further open, and looked at her with a serious look on his face, his crimson eyes burning in the moonlight. Peach stood up from her place on the floor and took a few cautious steps forward.

"What are you doing here?" Peach asked softly, looking between Bowser and Mario.

"I… read that you never made it to the Mushroom Kingdom and disappeared in Sarasaland. I loved that one article in the Celebrity News magazine where they say that Mario left because he found out you and I were having a secret love affair. They made some reallllly good points and had an awesome picture of us on there," Bowser explained.

"No. I mean… What are you doing here?" Peach asked, her head filling with worries. "How long has he been listening?"

"I came to make sure you were safe," Bowser stated honestly.

"Mario, how did you know he was there?" Peach turned her eyes to meet Mario's.

"How could I not know? He isn't exactly good at sneaking around. He tiptoes like an elephant kissing an avalanche. It just doesn't happen," Mario stated punching Bowser' shoulder.

"What can I say? My existence is too great to hide!" Bowser laughed, poking Mario's shoulder. Mario only continued to shake his head.

"How long have you been here?" Peach asked, cutting their banter off.

Bowser sighed, "I know you're mad at me for listening without your knowledge… but it's Mario's fault. He didn't stop me."

Mario looked at Bowser incredulously.

"I don't care who is at fault!" Peach groaned, walking forward and locking her angry eyes with Bowser's. She put her hands on the windowsill he was leaning on and brought her face only a couple feet away from him so he wouldn't try to dodge her questions with sarcasm. Bowser only snorted and stared at her with a mischievous smirk on his face. Peach's irritation grew as the daring smile on Bowser's face widened. It infuriated her that he wouldn't take her anger seriously... and he loved it.

"I would take you right now if you weren't so stubborn. But you would resent me for it," Bowser growled through his teeth.

Peach's face went scarlet red and before she thought about it her hand landed across his snout.

*Smack!*

Bowser blinked and he cupped his snout in his claws, "What was that for?!"

"You are so… dirty minded!" Peach sputtered accusingly.

"What? Oh…... I didn't mean it like that" Bowser stammered as he realized the implications of what he had said. "Wait a second… I'm dirty minded? That's rich coming from little miss 'Flout and Flash'!"

"That… that was an accident and you were the one that looked when I told you not to!" Peach defended as her face grew hotter.

Bowser scoffed and threw up his claws as Peach turned her back on him with a stubborn huff.

"Well… I wish you both the best," Mario said awkwardly as he made his way to the door.

"Mario…" Peach said, a little shocked. Was he really going to leave her here with Bowser? Alone?

"Peach… I think it is best if Bowser takes you back home before Kamella gets any ideas. I don't want to get Pauline deeper into this and I think you can get more answers from Toadsworth. The more you find out, the more you have a chance at beating her," Mario stated. Before Peach could refuse, Mario turned his attention to Bowser, "You better get her home safe." He stared at the Koopa King seriously.

Bowser nodded and extended his hand to Peach. She hesitated but took it. Mario was right. The longer she stayed here, the more danger there was for Pauline. Mario had already lost to Kamella once but this time he could lose more than just his memory.

"Thanks, Mario. Tell Pauline I was sorry to go," Peach said sadly. "Maybe things will work out and I'll be able to go to the wedding…"

Mario stopped, turned to her, and nodded silently. He then quickly exited before his eyes betrayed him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mario walked down the hall to his bedroom door. He sniffled and dabbed the moisture from his eyes.

He was angry with himself for making Peach cry. To be honest, he knew she would be mad but he hadn't really thought that she would get so… emotional over it. Maybe she had liked him more than he had realized...

(That would be very unfortunate. One of the biggest reasons he had allowed himself to pursue Pauline was because he really had begun to believe that Peach's heart wasn't really his.)

…But a part of him was glad that things had turned out this way. Mario would never tell anyone, but there was one part of his memory that he had left out.

When Kamella said that Peach might already have feelings for Bowser, Mario's heart constricted a little at the thought of Peach having feelings for someone else. He had always thought that he would end up with Peach. But her heart wasn't his just because they had gone on a few dates and shared a few kisses. Truthfully, when Mario left the Investors meeting that night, he literally kicked himself for not being more proactive in their relationship.

Mario did have feelings for Peach back then, but it all changed when Pauline found him. Though he couldn't remember a thing about himself, Pauline remembered a lot about him. She cooked him all of his favorite foods, retold many of his own adventure stories, nursed him back to health single-handedly, and stayed home every day for the first few weeks just so she could spend as much of her time by his side as possible.

Pauline was carefree, open-minded, confident, and strong. Mario started to like her a lot after a couple weeks of staying in her home. Something about her gave him that spark that he only felt during his adventures.

Mario smiled as he shut his bedroom door, jumped on his bed, and smelled Pauline's perfume on his bed sheets. Pauline was the adventure he would never have had if things hadn't gone the way they did.

So despite it all, he was - and would forever be - grateful.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"So… wanna get out of here?" Bowser asked.

"I guess that would be for the best," Peach said as he helped her slip out the window.

Bowser watched her, bewitched by her appearance. Since her bedroom light had never been turned on, he hadn't been able to get a good look at her until she stood in the moonlight. Her hair was straight and shined pink and silver under the moon. It almost made her look like she was a character from a fairytale. He liked her blonde hair the most, but damn! The dress revealed her hourglass figure and the slit on the side of her dress that went up her thigh made the air in Bowser's lungs burn hot.

"Peach... Can I ask you something?" little sparks emitted from his mouth when he talked.

Peach turned to him and met his gaze with her radiant blue eyes.

*…Weeze…*

(He coughed out a few more sparks when he also realized the dress was strapless.)

"I uh…" Bowser chickened out and changed his question. "Which hotel do you prefer around here? There is one right around the corner that seems promising."

"That should be fine. I don't feel like walking very far," Peach answered. She blushed and started walking down the driveway when she realized he was staring at her.

"Control yourself, moron," Bowser chided himself. "It's not like you have never seen her skin before."

"The hotel is only a five-minute drive away," he said. "Also, I wish you would have told me you were going to dress up tonight. I would have gladly worn a tux." Peach rolled her eyes at him.

"That means it's about a thirty-minute walk to the hotel," Peach said tiredly, ignoring his comment.

"I thought it was improper for royalty to roll their eyes… Or at least, that's what a certain princess told me," Bowser chuckled. Peach kept her face blank but he knew he had caught her. A little flicker of pride swelled in his chest when he realized she had gotten that habit from him. "Besides, I had Kamek get me the Koopa King Kart out of the Sarasaland Hotel parking lot."

Peach smiled when she saw the Koopa King Kart sitting just around the corner with the Mini Koopa Kart still strapped to the back. Stopping herself, she faked a frown when she remembered Bowser was watching her reaction. But it was too late.

Bowser chuckled, "Looks like my Kart has grown on you. That's good because you're driving it all the way to the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Who said I like it? It is far too big and loud for someone like me," Peach lied. Bowser smirked as they took off down the road.

Five minutes later, both of them walked through the front door of the hotel. Peach was nervous about being seen with Bowser but, lucky for her, the old Toad at the front desk didn't even bother glancing at them more than twice. He merely rung up two rooms, took the money, gave them the packets for their keys, and waved them along grumpily.

"Crazy kids. It's 5:30 a.m. in the morning and they are just getting a room?" the old man grumbled as they left. Bowser handed Peach her key packet for her room and held his own in his claw.

Once they had gotten to the top floor, Bowser came to the door that had the same number as his key packet.

Peach let out a frustrated groan when he stuck his key into the lock and opened the door.

"Bowser, he gave us keys to the same room," Peach pouted. Despite herself, she walked into the room and crashed onto the bed. It was a big bed, obviously made for a large Koopa but she was too tired to care. Her mind was shot, her head hurt, and her eyes were dry from all of her crying.

Bowser grunted tiredly as he watched her curl up on what was supposed to be his bed, "I'll go talk to the old man."

"Ojusseep…" Peach grumbled into her pillow.

"Hm?"

"No. Just sleep... And turn the light off," she grumbled louder.

"Peach… I can't. Don't worry about it and just sleep," Bowser said with uncertainty.

"You're so hard headed," Peach stated groggily.

"You have no idea…" Bowser growled longingly as he watched her drowsy figure laying on the bed in her black dress. This was something he had dreamed about for years but, as much as he wanted to lie by her side, he would never be able to sleep while she looked like that.

"Goodnight, Peach." He turned off the lights and walked out of the hotel room.

EXTRA: Before Mario had knocked on Peach's door, Bowser had been hiding just under Peach's windowsill as she cried. It upset him to hear her cry. He was actually just about to crawl away and beat the shit out of Mario for making her cry, but he stayed when he heard someone knock on Peach's door.