Confessions

The room was circular and almost as large as Zelda's courtyard. The floor had malachite grass covering it entirely. The walls were the same as the rest of the abode, except they were covered in glowing star shapes that were of various sizes. They slowly dimmed to near darkness and brightened back up in a repeating pattern. There was no ceiling, just a black abyss above that was pierced by a single beam of light at the far end of the room where a lone figure in a blue Shaman-esque robe knelt.

There were statues scattered about the room, almost as one would find in a cemetery, some of which Peach and Zelda recognized. There were Mushroom people, races of Hyrule, a Great Fairy, Koopa monarchs, and even a statue that looked identical to Smiley. Many others were not recognizable at all. A particularly large statue was that of an anthropomorphic bird-like creature. Another statue seemed to be a lanky pterodactyl-like creature. A third statue seemed to be a giant, half-open eye. The most notable of all these unknown statues seemed to be a woman with six angelic wings, possibly another Great Fairy.

"Wanderer," Kamile called to the cloaked figure exaggeratedly. "I said you have guests."

The Wanderer glanced over her shoulder, her hood obscuring all but her frowning pink lips. They parted in a silent gasp. Kamile smiled and walked out of the room. Zelda carefully watched her leave and noticed a great deal of anxiety on Peach's Toadish face. The Wanderer slowly rose to her feet and approached. She removed her hood.

Her face was strikingly similar to Peach's adult appearance, but many of her features were more pronounced. Her cheeks had the same rosy hue, but gave her a longer face. In the relative dimness of the room, her blue eyes had a fluorescent glow. Her skin was milky white, while still looking healthy. Her hair, which draped into the rest of her cloak, was even more golden than Peach's. Though it retained much of the same shape as Peach's, it was much straighter and fewer ends strayed from the mane. Whereas Peach's hair took a muffin-like shape on top with shallow spot for her crown, the Wanderer's hair took a much more plain shape on top.

Her eyes were focused on Peach. "Peach?" she murmured. Her voice was deeper, implying that Peach inherited her high-pitched voice from the Toad side of her family. "Peach, is that you?"

Peach slowly nodded.

"Oh, Peachy!" she smiled, opening her arms wide. "How I've missed you!" When she stepped forward to hug Peach, the little girl stepped backward with a slight whimper. Zelda frowned.

The Wanderer briefly had a confused look on her face. She glanced in another direction nervously, cupping her hands. "I'm sorry… Perhaps I've presumed too much… I can understand if you're upset about my disappearance…"

Zelda looked to Peach and saw apprehension building within her. Forcing back her emotion as best as she could, Peach sighed and spoke somewhat coldly, "I am upset about that, Mother."

The Wanderer appeared slightly hurt at the end of that one sentence. "I…"

"But that's not all," Peach said, looking up at her with a glare. "Recently, I've been hearing some very disturbing things about you…things that supposedly you did a long time ago."

"What…kind of things?" her mother asked hesitantly. She was unable to look her in the eye for more than a second at a time.

"You have guilt written all over your face," Peach said, not taking her eyes off her at all. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

Her mother turned around nervously. "Everyone does things they aren't proud of at some point in their lives. Is there…anything in particular you're upset about?"

"Is it true that you used to kill people?" Peach asked bluntly. "People who didn't do anything to you beforehand? People who begged for their lives?"

"…Yes," her mother said, still with her back turned. "But…everything I did was…justified."

"Destroying whole civilizations?" Peach asked in the same tone. "Like Easton?" The Wanderer shifted her arms agitatedly. "Or killing whole armies? Like in Hyrule?"

"As I said…I had my reasons…"

"Or killing a little Toad boy?" Peach said, with a slight crack in her voice. Zelda saw her face crumple as she began to cry, no longer able to remain stoic. "After slaughtering his family in front of him! Did you really do that?" When the Wanderer gave nothing but silence, Peach screamed, "Look at me, Mother! Did you really do that?"

"Yes," the Wanderer said in a sullen voice, still unable to face her. When she heard Peach sniffling, she turned around. Her eyes were welling up with tears, while her daughter's had already overflowed. "Peachy-poo, try to understand…"

"What reason could you have for killing innocent people like that?" Peach asked.

"Peach, I…" She leaned down to touch Peach, who knocked her hand away angrily.

"Don't touch me!" Peach screamed. "I hate you! I wish I'd never met you, you…you monster!" Zelda, seeing the shocked look on her mother's face, opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. She could clearly sense the darkness in Peach's heart. The four-year-old was staring down her mother, breathing hard, and looked extremely tense. Her fists were balled, but she also seemed ready to fall apart. Her mother simply looked pitiably at her. Peach ran out of the room sobbing.

"I'm sorry for the way she's acting," Zelda apologized awkwardly. "She's usually not like…"

"No, no, it's okay," the Wanderer said quietly. As tears began to roll down her cheeks, she put her hood back on and turned around. "She's perfectly right. I am a monster. I've caused so much pain and destruction. I should have never been born."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Zelda frowned. "If you rid the land of the Dread King Morton and his evil wife, you can't be all bad."

The Wanderer's shoulders slumped and she looked down. "Please, excuse me. Feel free to make yourself at home." She walked back to her spot in the beam of light, and returned to her kneeling position. Zelda saw that the Wanderer had been kneeling to a particular statue. It was a sculpture of Peach in the same pose that had been in the stained glass window at her castle.

Zelda exited the room just as Kamile was gently closing a door in the living room.

"Excuse me," Zelda began. "Do you know where Peach…?"

"She's inside there," the Magikoopa said, pointing to the door she had just closed. "I put her to bed so she could calm down."

"Oh."

Kamile noticed Zelda's pointy ears. "You are…Hylian. Am I right?"

"Eh, yes," Zelda said, curtsying. "I am Princess Zelda of Hyrule. I've been with Peach for a few months now. I was cast to the Mushroom Kingdom by…"

"I know the story," Kamile nodded. "The Koopa Kingdom made sure every Koopa knows it."

"Um…"

"I actually live in the Dark Land," Kamile said, sitting in an armchair. "I just visit this place to keep her company."

"How do you know them? Peach and her mother, I mean."

"I met her mother sometime after she killed my sister the Witch Queen and her husband," Kamile said, reclining. "When Peach began to discover her magical powers around puberty, I helped her refine them. Unfortunately, others looked down on her friendship with 'the enemy,' as they referred to me. I voiced my complaints to other Koopas, who talked to Bowser. He got the idea to teach the mushrooms a lesson and invaded a few years later. To fix the problem, I contacted the Mario Brothers and the rest is history."

"I see," Zelda nodded after that mouthful. "I'm sorry about your sister…"

Kamile sighed and said, "Don't worry about it. I just hope Wanda doesn't get too torn up over Peach."

"Wanda?"

"The Wanderer," Kamile smiled wryly. "The things she did, no matter how terrible, all had a purpose: justice and peace. I think that fact is the only thing that's been holding her together in recent years."

"Though I agree that some force is necessary," Zelda frowned, "I've seen some of the things she did in the past. I counted on them being nothing more than illusions created by the ghosts of her victims, but…now I know that she did do those things."

"As I said, her actions were all justified," Kamile insisted.

"Begging your pardon, ma'am, but what reason could there be for killing a Toad child and his family? In the vision I saw, the village was peaceful and…"

"That vision left out quite a bit, then," Kamile said. "That was many centuries ago, when there were more mushroom races than just Toads and Goombas. The Toads were rather cruel back then. Wanda laid siege to their military depots, treasuries, and towns that were otherwise full of hate. I'd assume she killed that child because his or her heart was full of irreconcilable hate."

"Were they really that bad?" Zelda asked, with some degree of disbelief. "The Toads I've encountered seem almost harmless."

"Yes, they've become quite peaceful," Kamile nodded. "However, one would be hard-pressed to find another race of mushroom people, such as the Death Caps. The Toadstools nearly wiped them out of existence in their wars of greed and racism."

"Hmm… Then, what about Easton?"

"Before Sarasaland united, Easton was an empire that needlessly invaded its neighbors and persecuted other peoples. The Wanderer destroyed most of its cities and killed its overly ambitious emperor almost a thousand years ago."

"Even still, I'm not sure if that can justify the inevitable deaths of innocent people," Zelda frowned.

"Wanda is too humble to admit this, but she revived as many innocent casualties as possible. That room she's in right now is where she mourns those whom she either killed or was unable to save. The statues represent those whom she believes she has hurt the most. The stars on the walls represent the countless, nameless others. And of course, Peach ranks high on that list. They were best friends." Kamile reached under the chair and pulled out a photo album. She handed it to Zelda.

"Ah, photographs!" Zelda said in surprise, sitting on the sofa. "And in color, too!" She marveled at how cute Peach looked as an infant in her mother's arms. Her mother's face was lit up with joy. Another picture, a painting actually, was that of Peach sleeping in her mother's arms. A third picture showed her family in a group picture. In all the photographs, Peach was the center of attention. Some pictures even showed Peach at later times. Zelda smiled when she could clearly see when Peach was beginning to grow a nose. In some of her teenage pictures, Peach had apparently dyed her hair red.

"I made copies of many pictures for her," Kamile said, getting up. "I even gathered posters and paintings for her from her mother-in-law. She really is Peach's biggest fan." She reached into a compartment in the chair and pulled out a remote. Clicking a few buttons, an empty section on the wall flipped around and revealed a plasma screen television. It was a home video of a toddler Peach taking a bath.

"Hi, there," Wanda's voice cooed off screen.

"Hi, Mommy!" Peach waved with a wide smile.

"Who's my little angel?"

"I am!" Peach splashed.

"Who loves you more than anything?"

"Mommy does!" Peach laughed.

"That's right!" Wanda cheered.

"I love you, Mommy!" Peach laughed.

"That's sweet," Zelda smiled.

"Hm." Zelda and Kamile turned to see hoodless Wanda standing outside her mourning room, watching the video from a distance. She had a nostalgic smile on, though she seemed saddened at the same time.

Kamile handed the remote to Zelda and walked toward the exit. "Wanda, Peach is in the guest room. I'll be back in a few hours. You're going to need groceries to feed these girls."

Wanda gingerly approached Zelda. "May I sit next to you?"

"Of course," Zelda replied. "It's your home."

"Thank you," she said, sitting. "Are you Peach's friend?"

"Yes. My name is Zelda. Princess Zelda of Hyrule."

"Princess?" Wanda studied her face carefully. "Is your mother, by any chance, a Sheikah woman named Ingrid?"

"Yes," Zelda smiled.

"You have her face," Wanda smiled. "How have your parents been for the past twenty years or so?"

"Uh…actually, Mother was only recently revived."

"Revived?"

"She died shortly after giving birth," Zelda explained hesitantly.

"Oh…" Wanda said, at a loss for words. "Well, I'm sure your father is happy to see her again."

"He was killed a few months ago," Zelda frowned.

"Is Impa all right?"

"She was also killed," Zelda said.

Wanda frowned and took a deep sigh. "Would you…happen to know of a woman who works on a farm? Her name was Malon, and she was pregnant the last time I saw her."

"She was also recently revived," Zelda grimaced slightly.

"Childbirth?"

"No, that went fine as I've heard," Zelda smiled. "She died of…illness."

"Do you know of Queen Zora?"

"She was revived as well," Zelda said, growing increasingly uncomfortable. "She died of the same illness."

"What illness was this?" Wanda asked, now upset. "Influenza, pneumonia, consumption?"

"You know that my mother was the Sage of Death, don't you?" Zelda asked.

"Yes, quite well," she half-smiled.

"Apparently, when she was dying, Malon attempted to save her with her own powers. Instead of helping, it just made things worse. Malon grew ill and withered over a number of years, though her daughter, my friend Malon, was born completely healthy. Rita visited Mother, but was somehow infected and suffered the same fate."

"Kamile has been telling me that there's been a lot of trouble going on in both worlds. Could you tell me everything that happened?"

"Sure," Zelda said.

After retelling what had happened in both the Mushroom World and Hyrule, Wanda had returned to her mourning room. It was obvious that this was what she did for the majority of her time every day. With nothing better to do, Zelda began exploring the dwelling. The room opposing the mourning room was a weapons gallery.

Wanda had told her that she used many different weapons to do her work. She had crafted most of them herself, though a few had been specially made by friends. Although Zelda had thought this room would be a place of terrifying weapons used to bring fear and pain to those who encountered them, there was rather an atmosphere of solemn awe. All of the weapons were named and works of art in themselves. They ranged from golden hilted daggers to silver bows and arrows. Some were as simple as a bamboo staff. Others were as technical and futuristic as multi-barreled firearms. It seemed as if she had used every type of weapon that had ever been made at some point or another. What struck her as odd was that even the more exotic weapons such as the triple-bladed katars or the large elbow blades were not terrifying, but rather beautiful. Even the half-a-foot thick, six-foot long sword was a thing of beauty rather than a brutish weapon because of the gold runes etched into the blue and silver blade.

Finally, she came across the weapon she had seen in the visions. It had moderate length, was somewhat thin, and gave off an eerie golden glow. It almost seemed to drip light as the reflections moved along the blade like liquid. According to the plaque below it, which happened to have the name written in multiple languages, it was called Evil's Fall. The miniature description read "primary close-combat weapon."

Zelda was drawn to touch the mysterious blade. As soon as her finger made contact, though, she felt an uncomfortably intense tingling feeling course through her body and she instantly pulled her hand away. Where her finger had touched, a black fingerprint slowly faded away. Suddenly unnerved, Zelda backed out of the room.

She checked the room opposite the one Peach was in and saw that it was Wanda's bedroom. It had a large, but relatively plain bed. The decorations were nothing more than a few pictures hung up around the room. Most of the pictures were of Peach, but one appeared to be a children's drawing. It was a stick figure that seemed to be Wanda and a heart. The strangest thing was that the paper seemed incredibly old.

"Um, Zelda?" Wanda said at the doorway.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Zelda jumped. "I didn't mean to invade your privacy. I was just…"

"It's no problem at all," Wanda smiled. "I just wanted to ask if you were hungry. I have some food if you want any."

"I don't mean to take away from your supply," Zelda said humbly.

"Don't mind me," Wanda smiled. "I don't actually need to eat. I haven't tried for at least five years."

"Oh…" Zelda said, not really knowing how to respond. "May I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Is Wanda really your name?" Zelda asked suspiciously. "Or just a pseudonym given to you by Kamile?"

"Oh," Wanda almost giggled. "Actually, it was given to me by my husband, Peach's father. You see, when we first met, I introduced myself as the Wanderer. He misinterpreted my introduction as first name Wanda, last name Rer."

"And you just accepted it?"

"Yes. It wouldn't be the first time. I've actually been called by many names. Wanderer, Drifter, Kali, Ann, Mary, Grudda, Natalia, Luca, the list goes on. Whatever suits you."

"How about QueenToadstool?"

"That works, too," Wanda smiled. "Come on; let's go to the kitchen."

Being ten years old reminded Zelda that she would get sleepier earlier. She had gone into Peach's room and slipped into bed quietly alongside her. She fell asleep quickly. Sometime later, the door cracked open. Wanda peeked inside. Hearing nothing more than gentle snoring, she quietly walked inside with a sandwich on a plate. She set the plate down at Peach's bedside. She gazed down onto her daughter longingly. She stretched out her hand to touch her cheek.

Peach's eyes snapped open. Without moving her position, her eyes glared coldly at her mother. Wanda pulled back her hand before she could even make contact. She gave a pleading look and a nervous smile. Peach's icy stare remained the same, with an increasingly visible frown in the darkness. Now frowning with guilt, Wanda slowly backed away. Peach's eyes followed her. Wanda could take no more and turned around to quickly leave.

Peach shifted and looked to the ceiling, her eyes softening instantly. She glanced over at Zelda, who was fast asleep. Peach remained awake for hours. At some point, she quietly slipped out of bed and out the room. She noticed that the door to the weapons gallery was conspicuously wide open. She went to see what was inside. She was shocked when she saw so many weapons. The one that caught her attention most was the golden sword her mother had used in her visions. Instead of being up on the wall in its original position, it was lying on a blue pillow on the floor. Peach picked up the surprisingly light sword. She could feel its power resonating with her. Utilizing its power, she grew back into her adult form. At her whim, the sword dimmed completely. She exited the weapons gallery, closing the door behind her.

She carefully opened the door to her mother's bedroom. It was dark inside, but she could clearly see her mother lying under the covers in her sleeveless nightgown. Her hair was splayed all over the pillows and her arms were spread out across the bed. Peach slowly approached, raising Evil's Fall. She finally came to her mother's bedside. She raised the sword over her mother. The neck? The chest? The stomach? Her eyes swept back and forth. She knew that once she started, there would be no turning back. She even knew that her mother would not stop her. She hesitated. Despite all the hate she was attempting build up, she found herself unable to kill her own mother so cruelly. She could already feel herself getting teary eyed and she hated herself for that. She wanted to end the Wanderer's life so badly, and yet she could not. On one hand, she was disgusted with herself for backing out. On the other hand, she was disgusted for even considering killing her mother. Reverting back to her child form, she slowly left the room to put the sword back.

As the door shut, Wanda opened one eye slightly. She did not know whether to be happy or sad for Peach's decision.

Note: Just a warning for you guys. The next chapter is unusually long, nearly three times the size of this chapter.