A/N: ARGH! So I basically thought that I lost this chapter, so I had to redo a whole part, only to find I had just saved it under another name. ANNOYING! Now...because of this, I lost the moral to proofread some of this chapter. Oh well :/ By the way, you may've noticed the change in name. THIS IS THE LAST ONE, PROMISE. Lol in truth, I was actually planning to make this a two part book, and the name would tie in to that. But then I realized how long this book is going to be...so no. Lol. I also added arcs now, it's a little change. Ch 1-17 is arc 1: The People we Meet, and Arc 2 is from 18-25. So it's no biggie. Also, I realized I haven't been doing many of Fawn's crazy daydream trips lately. So lol I brought it back a little.

Thank you new reviewer Marchingkitty for being nice =^.^=

Coooool123: Lol holy crap so I just read your story, you're gonna think I'm copying you with Roy later XD

Angela: Hah, now you see how I think ;)

WhiteasSnowyhills: Ok, super random. But Angela's idea (which will be implemented) made me remember that you actually recommended an idea that I had somehow never came up with! Fawn going out with someone besides Bowser. I remember being like 'Damn! Future drama idea!' but I forgot to thank you. So here's my late thank you! :) and also about Bowser having the guts to ask her out... wheeeeeeeee

that is all

Without futher ado, let's begin the final chapter of the second arc: The Bonds we Form!

Chapter 25: Late night rendezvous

Bowser

I looked out at my children at the dinner table. Once again, it was the weekend. And, once again, they were staying at the castle for it. Which meant, once again, if we didn't find a nanny, they'd destroy said castle.

"Dat's mine! You little crap!"

"Shut up, baldy!"

"Why I outta..."

I growled and yelled, "Roy, Junior! Stop bickering, or 'I outta' come over there and kick your ass!"

They both growled and relaxed, but elsewhere at the table, there was another conflict.

I groaned and slumped in my chair. I don't know how the hell anyone gets them all to shut up at the same time. Well, that made sense, considering that Fawn was the only person to do it.

I grew complacent at the thought of her. Fawn...I missed her. I was loathe to admit it, considering it had only been two weeks since I'd seen her. But I missed one of my only real friends...two weeks was a long time to not see a person of such status, now that I put it in to context. I had even gone so far as to make her a little…present, for when she did finally come back.

I looked out at my kids bickering. My face grew steely. There's a job that needs to be done, that's all there is to this.

Fawn

I was having trouble sleeping, so I had gone for a walk around the village to clear my head. I was reaching the gate, and I was about to enter the forest to further my stroll, when something rather peculiar stopped me. A hovercraft of sorts with a clown face painted on it with a Dragon Koopa riding it, to be exact.

My face lit up with glee as I rushed up to the Copter as it touched down.

"Bowser!" I yelled happily, waiting for him to get out of the Copter.

He grinned and said, "Hey Fawn. Glad you're up." He jumped out of the Copter with surprising ease for someone of his weight, and landed next to me.

I immediately hugged him tightly, as I had missed my friend very much over the last two weeks. More than I should have, actually...

He smiled warmly and squeezed me gently, actually seeming to relish the hug for just a moment. But he withdrew relatively fast, nonetheless.

"What are you doing here?" I asked happily.

He grinned lopsidedly. "Well, it's your lucky day. My kids are home for the weekend, and are already destroying everything again. So, why don't you come over and work? I'd give you the same pay."

My eyes widened, remembering his amount of pay a thousand coins last time.. "Bowser! You gave me to much pay last time! That was way more then I deserved for babysitting one day!"

"Well...no one's ever made them behave! I could tell you out effort in to it, so whatever." He shrugged.

"Just don't pay me as much," I requested exasperatedly.

"Fine, fine." He chuckled. "I've got a different present for you anyway."

My brow rose. "What?"

"Nothing, you'll see. Well, you ready to go?"

I frowned. "Well...I need to ask my father first."

Bowser made an angry frown in reply. "Ugh, that again? Can't you just ditch him?"

"Bowser!"

"Alright, alright, fine."

"Um...I'll run home quickly. You uh...wait here! I'll be back soon!"

Without saying anything else to him, I dashed off toward my house.

Once there, I walked inside, and as I was making my way to Cult's room, when he actually walked out in a sleepy daze.

"Fawn...what?" he said tiredly.

"Hey um...dad?" I said hesitantly, not sure how I should word this. "Can I...you know...go to Bowser's to babysit?"

He blinked tiredly. "What time is it...?"

"I'd make a lot of pay still! You were really happy with the amount last time! I promise I'll make money still," I promised determinedly.

"Wait...what...?"

"May I work?"

He blinked again. He seemed like he was barely processing my words. "...Sure, whatever..."

I smiled brightly before stooping to kiss his cheek. Wasting no more time, I ran out to meet Bowser.

I suppose I hadn't taken in to account that he wasn't in the state of mind to say no.

Once we arrived at the castle, Bowser led me to my room, as I was to tired to go by myself. Once we reached it, I turned to Bowser and smiled.

"Thank you for escorting me to my room..." I said drearily.

He didn't leave like I thought I would. He seemed to have some sort of nervous excitement as he grinned excitedly. "Well, I want to literally see you in."

I raised a brow at his odd demand, but shrugged pass it. I walked in to the room, and realized it was no longer the blank slate of a room I had once had before.

The walls were a chestnut brown, and the floor was a dark brown, with a dark forest green rug. There was a new four poster bed with brown sheets and a light white veil, as well as a dresser, a fancy TV, and a few chairs and drawers. I smiled largely, soaking it all in.

"Do you like it?" he asked hopefully.

When I didn't answer immediately, he continued to talk. "I asked some girl named Tina about your taste. The Koopalings seemed to agree with her...I don't know if you like it, but-"

I whipped around and jumped up, kissing his cheek. Or that's what I was aiming for. But it was hard to be accurate while jumping, so I sort if kissed his strong jaw.

He stopped cold and stared at me, wide eyed, with a faint blush. "Did you just...kiss me?"

I began to blush, realizing what I did. I kissed him…wait, why the hell did I just kiss him!? "Oh my...I-I'm so sorry!" I stuttered. "I um...I was just so happy and grateful...I just did the instinctive thing...sort of. Like when my dad does something like this..."

He cleared his throat awkwardly, still in shock from the kiss. Although there seemed to be some pleasure from how I reacted. "Well. Glad you liked it."

I smiled shyly. "I do. A lot. Thank you..."

He grinned, his blush fading. "No problem. The room was just so boring that I had to do something."

I chuckled. "Yeah..."

He ran a hand through his hair and said, "Well, I'll be going. Night."

I smiled sweetly. "Night."

He left the room, leaving me to my thoughts.

Oh geez...I can't believed I kissed him! I mean, on the jaw...but still. It felt weird! Well, not physically...it almost felt nice, his scales are smooth and warm. I meant how it felt inside...it was weird, it's not like kissing Cult.

I shrugged. I was to tired for this.

"Hey! Let me go!" Larry ranted from inside his locked room. I was now babysitting the Koopalings, and he had tried to steal. I knew he'd go to his room, so I did the same thing to him that I did to Ludwig.

"Uh...no. Sorry! Enjoy the cupcake!" I called back.

"Argh! Damn!"

As he yelled this, a Koopa approached me.

"Hello Miss Forest," he greeted formally.

I grew shy at the stranger and his courtesy. "Um...hi."

"Lord Bowser has requested that you meet him for dinner."

I smile crept upon my face. "A dinner? That sounds great..." A dinner all alone with Bowser really did sound fun...we'd have so much fun!

"I was sent to inform you. Please be dressed formally at the dining hall by seven."

I found the need to dress formally odd, but I ignored it. "Ok...thank you."

The Koopa walked away at that. I suppose he was all business...

I smiled at the thought of a nice dinner with Bowser, and walked away to wrap up my babysitting before I got changed. Or at least I tried to...but I tripped on the way.

I looked at the incredibly annoying white high heels.

In order to get Wendy to behave, I had to humor her...fashion needs again. She made try on shoes this time...specifically high heels.

They were white, with some sort of light, sparkly design. They were absolutely terrible to walk in, as there was a giant heel that completely threw off my balance when I tried to walk. It was like walking on a pinpoint, and my feet felt cramped! And the worst part was that Wendy said the heel wasn't even that tall.

Grimacing, I continued on my way.

I stared down the one formal dress I had, that now lied on my bed. It was the dress that Wendy gave me. It was cream white, and went down to my knees, with a slit up the thigh, and a cream yellow bodice that looked like it'd hug the waist. I was pretty scared of this dress; I had no idea how to put it on.

I gulped. Just remember what Tina taught you...I grabbed the dress, and after much trouble, especially involving the bodice, I managed to get it all on. I frowned, not liking how weird the dress felt, but I put up with it.

I checked the time; six-thirty. I smiled and made my way to the dining hall. I knew it was a little early, but I needed to leave early if I was ever going to get there in these damn heels.

After much difficulty, I finally made it to the dining hall. Once inside, I observed my surroundings. It wasn't like our first dinner, with a two person table. It was the ordinary dinner table, although the room was still torch lit. The dining hall was as normal as ever, but it still seemed to take a more regal, fanciful atmosphere without the Koopalings.

Finally, there was Bowser. I noticed his shell was different almost immediately. It had silvery, less threatening looking spikes, and the back was a glossy black, and the front was white and without rims, making it look like a tuxedo in a sense. He turned to greet me, but stopped in place. Maybe he was noticing my change in clothes, because I was certainly noticing his. The colors look interesting, but fancy on him, giving him a more dashing look…and I wasn't sure if this was possible, but it seemed like the shell was hugging his body almost…making him seem…

"Um…would you like to sit down?" he said slowly, finally looking away.

I blinked, snapping out of it. That was weird… "Um…sure, yes."

I was about to sit next to him, when I noticed my ordinary seat wasn't next to him like usual. I found it at the very end of the table, far from Bowser.

I frowned. "Bowser, why's my chair all the way over there?"

"Well…don't you want to sit there?"

"But it's not my seat. Besides, how will I talk to you?"

He cracked a grin. "Guess you have a point there."

So he got up and picked up the chair with ease, moving it next to him.

As he did this, a waiter came out with two plates of food and two drinks on top of them. He quickly set up the meals in our respective seats, being slightly stumped for a second by my change in seating, before saying, "Enjoy," and walking out.

I practically salivated at the food; it was as good as ever. A perfectly cooked steak, some well-prepared salad, and some sort of rice and curry, along with a juice of some kind. I was ready to eat.

Bowser laughed and said, "Well, what're we waiting for?"

We both sat down and quickly began to wolf down our food. It was incredibly delicious, I didn't even bother speaking to Bowser until I was halfway done.

"Oh Bowser?" I said to him.

He looked up, some curry glued to his face. I laughed when I looked at his face, and he laughed as well. I probably had something on my face too.

"Do you remember our first dinner here?" Bowser said between laughs.

I calmed to a chuckle as I responded, "Yeah, I do."

"I couldn't get over the fact that you weren't Peach and that you eat the way you do. Now look at us!"

I chuckled. "A lot has changed since then, huh?"

He grinned crookedly. "You've got that right."

I looked down at my dress and crossed my arms. "Except for the formal dressing. That's still the same. Just out of curiosity, why make this formal?"

He growled. "I asked Kamek to get the preparations and to tell you about it, but he must've…misheard what I said, and told you to dress nicely." He seemed sarcastic for some reason.

"Well why dress formally yourself then? Why not just let me dress formally?"

"Well...Kamek advised that it'd be rude to dress differently, since you're already dressing formal." He crossed his arms and looked away. "And maybe I felt a little bad too."

I smiled at his kindness that he seemed to show to so little people. It crossed my mind for a moment how special that made me feel. "Here…it's a nice suit, you shouldn't ruin it," I said, taking a napkin and reaching toward his face.

As I began to clean him, he seemed slightly surprised for just a moment before taking a napkin and dabbing my face as well. I stopped cleaning him, surprised by his action. He smiled and said, "What? Your dress is nice, you shouldn't ruin your clothes either."

I smiled faintly, enjoying his touch. I'm not sure, but a faint blush may've been on my cheeks as I continued to clean his face. As I cleaned it, I observed his strong features, illuminated by the flattering torch light. We were at such a close proximity, I could feel his heat and gaze in to eyes. He is…handsome. I wasn't sure if he noticed my staring, but I certainly did, as I quickly drew away, inexplicably embarrassed. "Um…the suit shell is nice."

He seemed to have a similar reaction as I did, as he quickly drew away. "Um…thanks." He coughed, maybe nervously? "Your dress looks good on you…where'd you get it?"

"Wendy got it for me."

I'm not sure if I imagined it, but I think Bowser's eyes went down to the slit on my leg briefly before coming back up to my eyes. "Yeah…seems like her taste."

We both chuckled before silencing and resuming eating our food, now minding our clothes. I was thinking of things to ask him, when I realized I was tired. Probably because I went to sleep late, considering the ride here late at night, and I had to wake up somewhat early to prepare for the day with Koopalings, which took a lot of energy anyway. The thought of sleep made my mind do one of its random trips, and I thought of a topic I had been rather curious of.

"Hey um...Bowser?" I asked, not sure how to bring it up.

"What?" he grunted.

"When I first came here and we both had nightmares…what did you have a bad dream about?"

He frowned for a while, before sighing. "What about you?"

I smiled. "I'll tell you if you tell me."

He sat there for a good while, contemplating it. "I don't know…"

I pouted. "Come on…" I pleaded.

He paused for a while before sighing. "You first."

I nodded before taking myself by surprise. I realized how awkward this was. "Oh...well...it's not a big deal," I said quietly.

His mood lifted and he grinned crookedly. "I want to know."

"Um...well..." I sighed. "Back at home...I didn't have to many friends. They all thought I was weird and dumb...so they didn't like me. They were mean to me for a while, but they got better. But um...I never had many real friends back there. I sort of had a dream that they were all making fun of me again." To be honest, this was why I was so afraid of being called dumb. It's what I'd always been called. It was cheesy and silly, but it was the truth.

"Huh..." He frowned. "I'm uh...sorry."

I smiled, not finding his comfort awkward at all. "Thanks..."

He continued to frown in thought. "But people thought you were dumb?"

"Yeah..."

"Huh...well I mean, I guess I get weird. But not dumb..."

I smiled largely at his compliment, not offended by being called weird. I could tell there was no ill will, which was what really stung behind words. "Really?"

He scratched his cheek. "Uh, yeah, you're smart..."

His compliment made me very happy. "Thank you...now you."

He looked like he was growing uncomfortable. "Um...do I have to?"

I chuckled. "Well I already did, so you have to!"

"Yeah but...I don't know..."

I observed his discomfort before sighing in submission. "You don't have to..."

He looked at my dejection and groaned softly. "It's uh...it's no big deal! I just had a nightmare about people thinking I'm a..."

"A what?"

"...A monster.' He sighed. He quickly tried to cover it. "But I'm used to it! I am...it just sucked because in the dream, Peach and um...yeah, Peach was calling me a monster." He was trying to cover it up, but I can tell he was actually hurt. This dream didn't help him.

"Oh...I'm sorry," I said sympathetically. So everyone calling him a monster does get to him...

He shrugged it off, still looking awkward. "Whatever...it was just Peach that sucked in the dream. Because she's...you know..."

"Because you love her?"

"...And because she usually doesn't think I am."

I frowned, wondering if that was true. From what I could tell, she treated him like he was evil...but at least not a monster. Was that really enough for him?

I frowned in annoyance. "I really am sorry...I don't understand why people treat you like that."

He quirked a brow, chuckling. "Well, my kingdom's done a bunch of crap, so that doesn't make me look good. But besides that, my appearance doesn't make me look to great either."

"Oh..." I muttered, slowly understanding.

"Yeah; they're just little wusses that are afraid of some muscle. How else can they not take all of this?" he said, gesturing to himself, smirking smugly.

I chuckled at his silly, conceited attitude. "Yeah, I can see that."

His smirk softened a little. "You uh...you can?"

"Well yeah! The first thing I thought when I saw you was 'Damn! I didn't know muscles like that existed!'" I laughed.

He grinned widely. "Really?"

"Yeah! And you're scales and shell are pretty cool too!" I started observing him again in the starlight. His scales shined ever so softly from the moonlight, and his mane's red shone brightly. I met his face, his strong features and startling red eyes were highlighted by the dim light. I also noticed his muscles were the same. His arms were gigantic, and exaggerated by the dim lighting...I could also feel the heat that radiated from them and his whole body, like a calling…

"Fawn!" his rumbling bass spoke.

I snapped to attention.

His hands feel the same...strong and rough, but gentle and...wait, his hands?

I looked at him and I realized he was holding my shoulders. I realized I had drifted off a little, and had started leaning toward him. I guess the day with the Koopalings really did leave me tired. So I simply blushed and said, "Oh...I'm sorry..."

He looked embarrassed too, but he seemed to shrug past it. "No problem. You must be tired."

"I guess a little…but I'm fine, don't worry. It was just a little thing."

I couldn't help but observe him intently. I didn't know what it was, but there was something about the way he looked that was drawing my eye...I couldn't describe the feeling. There was a word I was trying to think of to describe it, but I couldn't think of one...

"Fawn! Don't fall asleep on me now." He chuckled. "I mean...I've got to let go of you sometime."

I realized he was still holding me up. I quickly backed away. "Sorry..." I was awake enough to be flustered.

"It's fine," Bowser assured. I couldn't tell if he felt awkward or was also tired.

"Well um...I suppose I should go to bed now..." I yawned.

Bowser yawned too, although his was much louder. "Yep. Hanging out with you's boring me to sleep."

I frowned. "Hey."

He chuckled softly. "Kidding, kidding. See you."

"Yeah...this was nice." I smiled.

He grinned back. "Yeah."

Bowser

I lied in bed awake, trying futilely to fall asleep. I was tired, but I was still thinking to much

I didn't want to admit it, but being called a monster by everyone did get to me...it was part of the reason why I liked Peach so much. She was the first girl who didn't think I was a monster...plus she's pretty hot.

But this girl...not only did she not think I was a monster, but she sounded like she actually found the way I look...cool.

I thought back to how she looked that night. Kamek probably made her dress formal on purpose to make it feel like a date. She looked beautiful…it wasn't her style, I'll admit, but the dress stuck to her form perfectly, giving her a hourglass figure with that bodice. And her slit was up the whole time, she didn't notice. I glanced at her leg several time throughout the evening. And I thought about how she acted…how we laughed, how she felt in my hands, how she actually appreciated my appearance. A girl thinks that? How could anyone think that? Especially a girl with such soft skin...

I sighed. I wasn't going to sleep soon. But as I lied there, desperately trying to, I hoped that this would be a new constant in my life.

Fawn

I sat on my bed, looking out my balcony door to the starry night. I was tired, but I was still thinking a lot, so I as falling asleep slowly.

His arms are so strong and warm…it felt nice to be held like that…he's so warm. I get warm too…when I'm around him. Maybe those fire fairies that keep him warm spread to me too when I held him…

I watched the starry night, my consciousness finally slipping. But before I fell asleep, I faintly registered an odd occurrence. A star was winking at me.

END OF ARC 2: THE BONDS WE FORM

Oooo eerie ending. Wonder what that could mean? ;) wait...does this mean...plot!? WHAT!? Lol, yes, believe it or not, some sort of semblance of a story will form...or at least some drama, I dunno, it depends on how I feel lol

But WhiteasSnowyhills, and I'm sure many other readers, are hoping for Bowser to just ask her out, since they like each other from the looks of it, and there are no problems. Well, you see, I like making the chase long. It's my preference, I start losing interest once the couple's together. But that's my preference, so it's how I'm structuring this story. But don't worry; I love fluff, but not when it goes on with nothing but that for such 200k+ words, when they're just to damn scared to ask each other out. All my fluff, believe it or not, served a purpose to connect Fawn to all the characters. So now I can start screwing things up :)

Well, hopefully you'll like the problems that will finally start to show up in the third arc. Until then, read, review, fav, follow. Byee