"All right," Bowser started as the duo exited the dining room, "I'll show you the first floor and the roof. Everything else is either bedrooms or just official stuff."
Peach followed Bowser through the hallways. She noticed the bleak decorations from earlier. They still creeped her out, but she didn't have the same disgust towards them. Maybe the family and their... Ornate, exotic designs grew on her.
"The dining room and kitchen are actually in the middle of the castle," informed Bowser.
Peach nodded. Royalty on Plit regarded the dining room as a central hub for not only the different meals of the day, but for family bonding and togetherness; two things running a kingdom will relinquish. Every ruler of every kingdom, past or present, positioned their dining rooms at the middle of their castles as a symbolic gesture to that idea.
"So, since we're walking north, I'll show you the north wing first."
Not long after Bowser's instructions, both stumbled upon a giant wall, void of pictures and ornaments. Only faded-out paint garnished the wall's stony surface area. It stood there, abused, forgotten, and neglected.
"What's this?" Peach questioned the repulsive sight.
"Oh, that wall?" Bowser asked, "That's the chamber containing magma. Since it's the middle of April and Dark Land's warming up, there's no magma in there currently, but during the winter months, we fill this chamber up with magma, then use the heated air as the castle's main heat source. It's efficient and healthy, and it saves the kingdom a ton of money that we would spend on burning gas, but it gives off that sulfur smell. We all got used to the smell, but I could imagine your pain."
"With the amount of times you kidnap me, I probably got used to it too," Peach smiled, "But I still know where I am just by the smell."
The princess pondered over the chamber. She never knew the koopas were so... Green. She had thought they'd do nothing but burn unhealthy amounts of coal while carpet bombing random things outside their borders. Peach sighed—once again, stereotypes from mushroomers.
"Looks like you have something on your mind," Bowser said, "Debunking more stereotypes? The one where all we do is burn and destroy things and that's why the air gets bad? You'd be surprised how much we rely on nature. Even most of our medicines come from it."
"Yep. That stereotype broke!" Peach exclaimed, "But... This wall. It's so..."
"Bleak?"
Peach nodded. Bleak.
"It's gross, I admit that straight up. It looked like that ever since I can remember. My father was the last to paint it, at least twenty years ago. It's just hard to decorate since the heat from it can burn up the decorations. When May comes around and we don't need the chamber for the summer, I'm getting my servants to build…" Bowser rubbed his chin in thought, "Maybe a cave-like wall here. Something fancier than this stone. I think spikier rocks or maybe bricks would match this hallway, don't you? Plus they won't be set on fire."
"Yes, it'll fit in with this horrid design of a castle!"
Bowser grinned at her response and turned away from the wall. His castle's designs reminisced medieval koopa times, where cold, grey, desolate stones furnished the forlorn fortresses rather than hot pink hearts and rosy carpets. Peach knew he was proud of the design, and that he felt at home in the otherwise dreary citadel. He figured most visitors will feel identical feelings after an extended visit, but Peach couldn't feel that same appreciation.
"Oh, you'll like it! You just need to stay here a bit longer."
"Yeah, yeah," Peach rolled her eyes. She'd never live here, even if the color Pink were held hostage until Peach decided otherwise, "Not happening, Koopa."
"Well, you never know," Bowser continued, "So, that's the whole north side of the castle. Nothing exciting. Now we go to the east side. I think."
"'You think'?" Peach questioned, "Wow, you're quite the tour giver."
"Well hey! I was thinking!"
"Uh huh. So, the east. Let's see it."
Bowser guided Peach down another hallway, and Peach continued to scoff at the decor. She asks herself, How do these people live like this? Why do they? Where do they hang out to avoid these creepy designs?
They reach a large double door at the hallway's end. A peculiar fruity, yet singed scent leaked from the door's edges as if a vat of berries blew up. Peach smiled; it reminded her of visiting her maternal grandmother, back in the princess's carefree, adventurous days. Her humble cottage always smelled of fruit and the cobblers she'd bake with them, all just to make a living.
"This is the hospital in the castle. Well, more like the clinic," Bowser informed, snapping Peach from her reminiscence, "Y'know, the place I spend half my life in because of… Ahem… Your husband."
Peach giggled, and Bowser rolled his eyes before he returned a near-invisible grin. Being the victim of Bowser's kidnapping, she's knowledgeable on Bowser's behind-the-scenes preparations, but as the epicenter of Mario's perilous journeys, she never saw how Bowser handled each broken arm, fireball burn, dislocated body part, or other medical issues. All she thought about was heading home and enforcing further security protocol to protect the Mushroom Kingdom from another looming attack.
"It must be your favorite room if you keep trying to grab me!" Peach stopped giggling, but continued smiling, "And they must do a good job since you keep returning! Talk about a loyal customer."
"Well, hey! I'm more loyal than I look!"
"Do you get any discounts?" Peach continues to mock, "Such as... I don't know, fifty percent lower cost to learn how to beat Mario?"
"Peach, I don't make mistakes."
"Pfft, yeah yeah. Anything else in that clinic?"
"Just medicines, basic scans and examinations really. All the deeper medical stuff's done at the hospital not far from here," Bowser explained, "Of course, as I said earlier, we have more natural medicine, so it's not as powerful as your kingdom's, but our surgeries and other procedures are more advanced than your toads'. We may be enemy kingdoms, but we still exchange medical secrets and practices."
"Understandable. It's tougher to work on a toad than a koopa due to the different anatomies. Sarasaland's also skilled in procedures so the most serious cases go there also. Plus, Sarasaland's more peaceful to mushroomers than Dark Land is. They're peaceful to all of us, really," Peach replied.
Peach wanted to keep the explanation simple, but she knew the situation's more nuanced than that. Although Daisy ruled the entirety of Sarasaland's largest kingdom of Chai and had the most power in Sarasaland, the remaining kingdoms of Birabuto, Muda and Easton never followed Chai's excitement of a Mushroom Kingdom alliance. Instead, they opted for a neutral relationship with both mushroomers and koopas—as far as neither invaded nor manipulated them—which Chai reluctantly agreed to.
"Yeah. We still don't have strong diplomatic ties to Sarasaland like your kingdom does, so our doctors just do their work in Dark Land or in border towns," Bowser finished off, "Nothing else exciting here, other than a few offices dealing with medical files and first aid training. Now the south side. If I'm rushing this then say so, but I want to make sure we're on time for my favorite part."
"Oh, it's all fine! I have all the time in the world to be here, until Mario comes."
Silence fell upon the group during their journey. They migrated from the east wing to the south wing, which was a complicated feat as a random wall blocked the path. They had to walk upstairs, down a short hallway, and back down to pass.
"I hate that wall. I always wanted it removed," Bowser grumbled along the way.
Not far from the wall, the duo stopped in what appeared to be the foyer. Peach surveyed the room in awe. Two staircases led to the second floor, while an elevator, a few fancy end tables and a designer sofa made up the interior. A koopatrol pair guarded the grand doors leading outside, preventing an easy entrance or exit. Best of all, the foyer lacked vile decorations.
"Wow!" Peach exclaimed, "To be honest, I've never seen your foyer. It's so... It's not devious."
"Not devious?" Bowser sighed, "Not sure whether to be complimented or insulted."
"Well, it's coming from me, a princess that lives in a pink-and-white, happy-go-lucky castle," Peach reminded, "Not sure if that helps at all, but there's that."
"Great. I have a happy room; that really helps," Bowser scoffed, "Anyway, here's the south wing. Yes, this is the foyer, and yes, this room's supposed to be the most friendly but... Looks as if the designer team got carried away."
"It looks good, don't worry. I like it; it almost brings out another side of you. One I don't see."
"Well, what can I say?" Bowser voiced, scratching his head in a sort of nervousness, "I'm full of surprises."
"You are! That's so adorable, Bowsy!" Peach mocked; she wanted to see another expression from him. Something other than ruthlessness.
Her plan succeeded when Bowser's face turned red and he voiced out, "Stop! We're out of this room now!"
Peach stifled her giggles and followed him to the castle's west wing. Once again, they went upstairs and back down to pass another wall. These walls must have to do something with the foyer, or they're barricades.
Bowser stopped walking, and Peach looked around the hallway, puzzled. She didn't find any doors, and all she saw were pictures of different koopas. Many koopas she didn't even recognize.
"Wow. Who're the koopas there?"
"It's my family line," Bowser explained, "And the ruling history of Dark Land. We started just over two thousand years ago. That here is King Koopa and Queen Koopa."
"King and Queen Koopa? Did they have names?"
"Both of their names were Koopa. That's how we got our species' name. Back in those days, we didn't do last names. Heck, we didn't even do marriage back then; "marriage", "wedding" and whatever else weren't words to us until maybe five-hundred years ago after more interactions with your kingdom. It could've been a mushroomer-started practice, but we didn't practice it until recently."
"No marriage?" Peach questioned.
"Nope. We had partnerships, but that was the most extent. We weren't lawfully wedded."
"That's interesting."
Bowser continued explaining about his ancestors and their lives. Despite the weird names like Vallen, Phyllis, Vance and Kalen, she's surprised that the first Bowser in the line was... The same Bowser standing by her.
Towards the middle of the group with the more "no-name" rulers, Bowser only explained over them briefly, up until he reached the picture titled King Desmond III: 1928-1960.
"Well, there's my grandpa," Bowser points out, "He died soon after I was born. I don't know him too well. I always heard from Kamek that he was a great and kind person, yet, in the Koopa-against-Mushroomer sense, a terrible leader. He wasn't fierce, so although that helped with Mushroom Kingdom relations, your kingdom probably took advantage of him. But, at the same time, the Koopa kingdom prospered more than it probably ever had due to increased business and trade with other nations. Still, even if he wasn't a headstrong leader, I'd still like to meet him. He seemed cool."
Bowser's calm attitude turned to pure anger when he stared at the next picture. Peach studied the picture: a brown koopa with several X's drawn across his picture. She looked down and gasped at the gold-plated name. Morton Koopa I, 1960-1981.
"You know this one already. Morton Koopa I, or Morton Koopa Senior we call him. His reign's recent enough and he's one reason the Mushroom Kingdom hates us. But anyway... This sorry excuse of a koopa is my father. He was the complete opposite of my grandfather. My father had love for nobody, not even his wife. My mother. The one I hardly know either because of him," Bowser growled, "He probably killed her. He probably killed my grandpa, and he probably killed his own siblings. They all disappeared under his rule, and other than my grandpa who was confirmed dead, their fates aren't even known."
"Wow!" Peach gasped, "I heard horror stories about him, but I didn't know they were actually true!"
"All he cared about was power, to the point where he kidnapped several of the Mushroom Kingdom's babies to make sure none of them have powers. I heard he killed the ones that looked like they had power, while for the others, I'm not sure. Kamek advised me during that time, and he always told me he snuck the babies out to another castle and had other magikoopas care for them due to how immoral the whole situation was, despite being the Koopa Troop. Although "taking care" is a huge overstatement; the magikoopas still weren't the nicest by your standards, but they were infinitely better than my father's.
"Anyway, "Father" always tortured people he captured and almost always had them killed, either by overworking them, starving them or by any other way of slow torture. I hope he's slowly burning in the darkest corners of the Underwhere over and over again just because of what he did.
"During all that, he didn't care about being a father. He didn't care for us; he only cared if one of us survived, simply to continue his reign, so only my oldest brother lived with him full time. Kamek instead raised me and my younger brother and sister, so if anything, Kamek's more of a father than that koopa. That's why... I won't ever admit this, but... Well, I respect and trust Kamek."
Peach didn't know how to respond. She'd never thought Kamek would be a sheep in wolves' clothing to kidnapped babies, and she'd never thought she'd witness Bowser admitting to respecting someone. Today's been one huge shattering of prejudice and stereotypes against the Koopa Royalty.
Still, despite the explanation, questions swirled around her head.
"If you hated your father," Peach questioned slowly, as if she expected a fireball thrown at her, "Then why did you name one of your sons after him?"
Bowser sighed over the question, "It was already given to him, but I still kept it as a sign of respect. I may have hated him, and Kamek may have been my guardian, but he's still my father by birth. It's typically what the Dark Land kings do anyway. In fact, my other kids either have their first or middle names from previous kings or siblings."
Peach nodded, intrigued by the explanation. She found the Koopa timeline to be less confusing than her mother's. She had her share of benevolent ancestors, but contrary to popular Mushroom belief, ruthless dictators of yore did rule her kingdom. In the end, neither kingdom has had a perfect streak. She'll admit: she's not proud of all her kingdom's actions in the past, but she's glad about how successful and open the Mushroom Kingdom became over the past generation. At the same time, she wouldn't expose her kingdom's negativities in casual conversation or dirty her ancestors' names.
The princess passed on from Morton's picture. She stared at two family photos: one with Bowser and the Koopalings, while the other had Bowser, three koopas she never met, and three koopa children who appeared to be young, toddler versions of Ludwig, Lemmy, and Roy without his shades.
One of the mysterious koopas was a woman with a peach-colored face, pink shell and jet-black hair, styled flat. She gave the camera a heart-melting smile as she held onto Lemmy. To Peach, the koopa seemed like one of the types to approach a stranger and either compliment them, comfort them, or make food for them.
The second was another female koopa who wore a blue shell and dark-blue, near-black hair. Unlike the first koopa, this female gave the camera a little smirk as she held Ludwig. She may have been nice, Peach thought, but her smirk and her large-and-in-charge posture showed that, although female, she'd be stronger than many male koopas. She could've had a high ranking in the military.
Lastly, a male koopa held Roy. Peach noticed the similarities between Roy and the koopa. The male was larger in stature, much like Roy today, and just like him, also wore a pink shell, had a pink face, and smaller, Ludwig-like eyes. The main difference was the male had scruffy, medium-length black hair. He gave the camera a goofy, carefree grin—also differing from the more erratic, snappy attitude from Roy. This koopa must've been the fun, silly, immature one of the clan, much like today's Lemmy.
"Oh!" Peach gasped. She wondered who the three unknown koopas were, but she didn't want to bother Bowser with the question. He's already emotional over his familial explanations. Much to her surprise, Bowser followed her gaze and began speaking.
"Thats... an old family picture, with my late wife Clawdia, and my two younger siblings Alyssa and Lennox," Bowser sputtered, "I... I can't tell you more..."
"Oh. I'm sorry for that! I didn't mean to bring that up. I was–"
"It's not your fault. The picture's there for a reason," Bowser reassured, although sighing soon after, "I think we should go to my favorite spot now: the roof."
"Well, okay..." she let out a little giggle, "Lead the way, Tour Guide."
Peach followed Bowser, and they walked towards the dining room. Just shy of the room, Bowser opened a sliding door, revealing a room with two elevators. Bowser pressed the up arrow on the elevator's control panel, and the panel dinged.
She surveyed the room. Bare and empty—yet in this fortress, the desolated room's the ironic getaway.
The elevator doors opened, and Peach entered the empty elevator with Bowser, who pressed the button to head to the roof.
"What's even on the roof?" Peach questioned. Other than the mansion Mario and Luigi "won" from King Boo, even the fanciest castles on Plit didn't bother with roofscaping, save for maybe a garden.
"You'll see."
Silence filled the elevator as Peach anticipated possible surprises. An open floor. A garden. Maybe something involving an evil plan she'd rather not know the details of.
The elevator opened amid her thoughts, exposing one section of the roof. Peach's eyes widened at the sky—countless stars greeted them as the two made their way to a bench nearby.
"See? Isn't this nice?"
Peach closed her eyes. She recalled her previous stargazing trips with Mario, whether on the beaches of Pipe Land or in the midst of farm country in Grass Land—she only wondered if she'll ever witness those events with him again. Call her crazy, but Bowser's mentioning of "prophecy" concerned her.
She took a deep breath. A trace of sulphur peppered the air, although the diluted scent reminded her more of Isle Delfino's hot spring resorts than Dark Land's charred, desolate wasteland. The temperature's warm enough to prevent her from shivering, but cool enough to relax without sweating.
"I see why you go up here," Peach responded. She opened her eyes and focused again on the heavens, "The stars. They're beautiful!"
Bowser nodded; he too stared at the stars.
"I have to do this, just to keep my sanity. Or what's left," he joked, earning a giggle from Peach before continuing on, "I have great kids but, honestly, their personalities are so different... Morton's sarcasm, Larry's spying, Wendy's screaming, Iggy's insanity, Lemmy's unrealistic optimism, the back-and-forth assaults between Ludwig and Roy... With all their behavior, I just need breaks every now and then. That's with Kamek and Kammy helping me too."
"Are they really that bad?" Peach questioned, "They just seem so..."
"Odd?"
"So... Innocent," Peach questioned, "They really do act like your children rather than minions."
"Innocent?!" Bowser bursted into a fit of laughter, "Bwaahaaahaahaa! Innocent! They just kidnapped you without my say so!"
"True," Peach sighed.
In the silence, Bowser faced Peach and noticed her worried expression.
"Anything wrong?"
"Besides the fact I'm here against my will? Nothing at all! Totally fine!"
"Well... I love the sarcasm," Bowser sighed, "Stay here for a bit until we know what's going on. If prophecies are right, it's not just Dark Land in danger. The Mushroom Kingdom has a ton to lose."
"I guess..."
Bowser gave Peach a small smile before he stood back up, "Uff... I need to take care of some kingdom stuff. You want an escort down?"
"I want to stay here and maybe clear my mind."
Bowser nodded. He bidded farewell to the princess and walked towards the elevators. Now alone, Peach laid on her back, still gazing at the stars.
"Oh, how I miss my life. Please come soon, Mario. The Kingdom needs to be safe once again."