CHAPTER 37 – MARIO
It gave him a strange feeling to look up at her. They had to round out her cheeks with makeup that gave her a counted look. The gown covered her feet, so she'd taken off her heels to make her appear shorter. With the wig in place, her dress and jewelry a rough approximation, and the lighting adjusted the resemblance to Daisy was remarkable, but when Peach looked up or moved to suddenly Mario could see through it.
Making the whole thing worse was the padding under the orange dress; Peach's cloth baby. It was a burlesque when you knew the truth.
"No," said a nearby toad. "Her skin looks too pink. She's supposed to be heavy with child. Make her look a little paler."
They adjusted it as needed and moved on. Peach stepped back into the light.
"Look down Queen Daisy, it will help to accentuate the roundness of your face."
His stomach fell. This all felt wrong. Daisy had been murdered by The Bean Kingdom, but this was needed. Over the last month, things had worsened indeed.
The bean Kingdom had come out to accuse the mainlands of murdering their rightful King and Queen. The story had shifted to them because you could get more mileage out of blaming the living than you could the dead. They no longer wanted a fall-man, so the finger of blame had shifted. In their place, sat Baron Garbanzo, the puppet king. He'd accused The Princess Peach and Lord Bowser of getting secretly married and conspiring to take all lands for themselves. As such, they said that they could not agree with them. They'd also flooded when public with a much-doctored accounting of the rebellions on The Delfino Islands, making it seem peaceful and reasonable. It was clear that they'd allied themselves with them in their rebellion.
Everyone that had been at the previous party was there, save The Bean Kingdom and another. During the party, it was decided that Daisy needed to 'rise from the grave' to set the record straight. This became even more urgent after they'd all heard the accounts of Bowser and Luigi on what had happened to The Delfino Islands. Outrage had broken out.
Peach's face had flushed, "Did you really have to Ba-Bomb the island?"
Bowsers eyes were closed and his hands folded over his massive chest, "Yes, Things were escalating too quickly. From our intelligence, they had Bullet Bills ready to launch and a population whose main goal was to further the spread of The Boo Blight. The only reasonable thing to do was to cleanse the land."
His brother had cried through the account, but that behemoth's eyes remained dry. Round and round the piranha plant they went, but it was clear that, though rash, the actions had been justified. And so they'd agreed to a counter-plot to take down the claims of The Bean Kingdom.
"Okay," began the head toad, "We're all set to roll. This will be broadcasted all over the world, live. Queen Daisy, please remember the script."
Peach/Daisy nodded and the toad counted down, "3-2-1-Action!"
Daisy lifted her eyes to the camera, "They said I was dead, first as a traitor, then by the hands of my friends. I'm here to say that I, the rightful ruler of The Bean Kingdom, Queen Daisy, live."
The effect on him was electric. The voice sounded so much like Daisy that he could have thought it true.
"I fled to my friends to save the life of my unborn child." She touched her stomach. "But while I made it out, my husband, King Peasley, did not." There was an edge to her voice. "He was murdered by those that sought to throw our world back into chaos. People of the unnamed world, The Boo Blight is back and the Delfino Islands have been sick with it. There was a rebellion, and they attacked us, trying to spread the blight."
She looked back down, "This man that calls himself The Boo King would have us all become sick so that he can throw the kingdoms into madness, then he'll declare himself ruler over everything. Do not let him!" Her voice vibrated with anger and passion, "Don't let him take the peace that people like Mario and Luigi fought so hard in the last war to restore. Let's unite against this false king and those that seek to silence me. Let's take back the peace!"
"Cut!" yelled the toad.
When she pulled off her wig and stepped from the lighting and stage, the illusion shattered.
"Princess Peach, you were amazing!"
She smiled at them, "Thank you."
The scene broke up and they waited to see how the world would respond to the news. When she came back out, Peach was back into the black outfit that made her look like she was going horseback riding.
She noticed him standing there. "Mario, come sit with me"
He followed her over to some director chairs that were still sitting out and watched as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
"So, what did you think?"
He wasn't sure how to respond. Peach took note of that.
"Yes, I see your point; but, they were right. If we plan to come out of this on the other side, we have to enlist the public to our side. If there was one thing that Daisy did better than anyone else it was to make people love her and believe what she said."
He still said nothing but shook his head.
"Mario, did you love her?"
He thought about that one, then shook his head no and went on to explain that she was a woman that never knew the meaning of love, only desire.
"How poetic of you."
They sat in silence until a meeting was called. Both of them walked back to the underground base where they moved their entire operation to.
"So," began Peach, "how did it go"
Bowser spoke up, "The Bean Kingdom has declared war on both The Koopa Kingdom and The Mushroom Kingdom."