Shards of Love: REDUX!
Shard II: Revelations
Peach finds out unfortunate news about the Mushroom Kingdom and Bowser's supposed plans for her, causing her to flee back home. Once at her castle, she stumbles upon several unfortunate ancient Koopan prophecies—which may explain her history of being kidnapped. She also notices the strangeness concerning her parents' disappearances, and the sudden behavioural shifts of Mario, Daisy, Luigi and others.
Chapter VII
Lavender's for Lovers True
Infuriation rushed through Peach. She can't bear that castle any longer, not with the current crisis occurring in her kingdom. What would her subjects say about her if she stayed for longer than she did? What would happen if she was "sold" to someone? Was that why Bowser kept her and used some random koopa lore from centuries ago as an excuse?
As the princess traversed deeper into the Darklandian woods, so too do the worrying thoughts coupled with the most nagging questions: why didn't Mario come to save her? Why didn't he show up?
"I can do this. I saved Mario once."
Despite those words engraved in her head, a shiver overcame her.
The trembling wasn't a result of the cold. The warmth from her adrenaline-induced exercise endured against the harsh air temperature; a welcomed difference from the earlier roof views.
Instead, her body shook from fear. As she ventured deeper into the untamed, eerie woods, she affirmed a supernatural squall-like sensation. A sinister strait's shaping up; nothing's natural about the suspenseful occurrences. The scarcity of light bestowed a dim luminosity, creating a brutal situation for the princess to comprehend.
"Isn't it ironic. Hours ago I was happy about the new moon. Now because the moon's invisible, I can't see where I'm going. And now some supernatural spirit will kill me. Fun vacation!"
She's overthinking the woods' bizarre nature. Nonetheless, such an accusation came together. She's uninformed about these forests, and according to Mushroomer lore, Dark Land's a cursed terrain which bore the brunt of numerous cold-blooded regimes, genocides and conflicts. Throughout the commotion, she couldn't doubt the possibility of a vengeful spirit finding its way into the wooded wilderness.
She continued in silence. She hoisted her arm above her to prevent slamming her head on the numerous tree branches. Not long after, Peach sensed the woods' concentration decline until she arrived at a barren plain.
"I think those plains lead to Pipe Land," Peach attempted to exclaim, envisioning the return home - about showering. Instead, the excitement's disguised in the fatigued feeling she's exhibited for hours.
Peach needed to sleep, here and now. She couldn't believe that only earlier this morning, she woke up in her archenemy's stronghold, kidnapped for the umpteenth time during her supposed honeymoon. Even as a princess, the confrontations, tours, dinners and hangouts with her archenemies exhausted her.
She laid on the grass, too exhausted to care about bugs nor dirt. As her eyes begged to close, the spectacular sky still shined - the same sky that mesmerized her on Bowser's roof. She pondered: even in the most corrupt, desolate places, the skies above were the same, albeit different luminosities. These stars—they're the same stars looking down at Mario. She also hoped they're the identical stars her parents observed.
Unlike most mornings, Peach rose before the Sun. She's unsure of the duration of her sleep, but Peach figured she didn't rest long enough.
Ever since she could remember, camping affected her in a peculiar manner. On the rare occasions that she'd camp, she'd snooze a few hours maximum before she'd wake up. Grogginess had tended to overtake her, but her eyes would also be too sore to close.
This time was no exception.
Peach sighed. She's not even close to her castle from her estimates, but at least she's far enough from Bowser that she won't need to worry about him.
She also gasped in disbelief as her wedding dress; wearing the dress for 48 hours straight, running through the woods and sleeping on the damp ground put a toll on the fabric. The trees tore several sections of the dress while stains from the wet grasslands manifested themselves throughout the dress.
"My dress!" Peach sobbed at the destroyed dress. From her mother, she believed that, just like the marriage, the wedding dress should always be preserved, else ill-fated luck will happen, "I wanted to keep this as a reminder of the happiest day of my life!"
She wanted to mourn the loss of her symbol of love, but Peach yearned to continue the journey home. She's on her own through this, and the only way she'll set foot back in the Mushroom Kingdom is if she stood back up and continued.
Peach stood up and stretched, letting out a yawn. The sun peeked over the horizon and came out in full-force. The princess looked around at the landscape, mesmerized; this may be Dark Land, but an entire field of wild lavender lay before her, complete with a lake in the distance. She's close to Pipe Land and the Pipe Maze.
"Well, time to walk. Probably to the lake."
Peach continued east, hoping she wouldn't be dehydrated until she arrived at the lake. The walk proved to be far more relaxing; she preferred the lavender over the trunks and branches she avoided in the Dark Land Woods.
Smoke brewed from the north bank, as if part of the field caught fire. But the fearsome situation turned mellow when a modest, wood-and-brick house emerged from the horizon. People live here? She understood why due to the land's beauty, but this area's hours from civilization.
Peach couldn't judge people on their decisions; this one made her life easier. She should check if the cabin's resident will offer her food. It's been hours since the remarkable cheep cheep dinner; she's only able to think with her stomach.
About ten minutes later, she approached the cabin's front door. Peach hoped whoever's in the cabin will be generous enough to take her in and supply her necessities.
Crossing her fingers on one hand, Peach knocked on the door with the other.
"Grr, I just told them I'd give it to them next week when I'm back in town!" a shout came from behind the door. The door opened, revealing a yellow-capped elderly toad. Perhaps this is her forever-retirement home. That conclusion made more sense, "I told you to-"
The toad paused her yelling brigade as she saw Peach's confusion.
"Oh-ohhh, my my my! I'm sorry for the shouting! Sweetie, please come in!" the woman greeted Peach before she cupped her palms over her mouth, "Oh my, look at you! Why're you in a wedding dress! And a dirty one!"
"Well, uhh," Peach replied, "It's a long story."
"Long story, you say? Then come on in; I insist! I can fit one more! Make yourself at home! Long stories deserve a meal and lavender tea!" the toad invited in, "Let's talk in this room. By the way, the name's Ella. It's nice to see you."
Peach smiled, "And I'm Peach."
Dawn approached the Koopa castle, and the fortress bustled with busy baddies. Some servants opened multiple offices in Kastle Koopa while others prepared breakfast for the royal family.
Bowser joined the bustle by entering the dining area. He approached the table, where Ludwig, Larry, and Lemmy—the Breakfast L-Gang—enjoyed a stack of pancakes at the table. He'd be surprised if the other four koopalings came down for breakfast while the staff served it; they hated waking up early more than they even hated Mario. Bowser should've been stricter on them in that regard, but Wendy, Roy and Morton are grouchy enough with adequate sleep, and he doesn't want to deal with them.
"Hey Dad!" Lemmy greeted. Bowser smiled at them.
"Good morning. I see the typical morning 'L-Gang' is still going strong," he sat at the head of the table. With the speed of a bullet bill, a servant placed a plate of pancakes and bacon before him. Bowser thanked him and continued, "Anyway, I can't be long today, I have a deal with selling one of the older doomships."
"Vhich vun?" Ludwig questioned.
"One of the old ships in my fleet. I swear one of the new doomships accidentally left in Drive instead of Park goes faster than that thing. The guy wants endurability rather than speed."
"Nice," Larry nodded, "So you're upgrading your ships now?"
"Mhm," Bowser took a large bite out of the stack of pancakes, "Ludwig and Iggy already upgraded the ships for all seven of you, as well as my main one. The rest still need to be done."
"Ve are vorking on it, even as ve speak, Fazzer," Ludwig reassured, "But ze engineers and technicians have zeir annual leaves ze next two weeks."
"No worries. I just hope war doesn't start up between now and then," Bowser mumbled with the last bites of pancake and bacon in his mouth, "But I should be off now, don't want to be late. Stay good, and maybe check on Peach around dinner time if I'm not back by then. She probably had a long night last night too and needs all the rest she can get."
"Sounds good, Dad," Lemmy waved, "Bye!"
Back in Ella's house, the mushroomer gave Peach a bowl of lemon-parmesan pasta and a mug of lavender tea. Peach smiled and voiced out a thank-you.
Despite the great hospitality Ella gave her, caution arose in Peach—she isn't too sure whether to give the entire truth of the story or to shave off the part about both her husband and her kidnapper being royal. Toadsworth always cautioned her about the toads living in Dark Land. They may be the same species, but they tended to have more loyalty towards the Koopa Kingdom than the Mushroom Kingdom. She didn't know a speck about Ella, after all.
With Toadsworth's warning in mind, Peach decided the latter option.
"I was getting married to my now-husband. During the reception, all went well, until I just passed out. I don't even know how I did," Peach explained her story to the toad.
"Oh my, you passed out? Dear, that's quite the fright to have! Especially then!" the elderly toad gasped, "Medical issues? Those aren't good when you're trying to start life, no no!"
Peach shook her head. She remembered a gassy cloud before passing out, and she heard a scream out in the distance—one of a woman. Could it have been her parents? Did Bowser take her parents too?
No… He couldn't have. Peach remembered them being with her when the scream occurred.
"That's the part that gets me too," the wayfaring princess answered, "I didn't know how I passed out. But that's when the next part of the story comes into play."
The toad paid rapt attention to the princess, genuinely interested in the princess' tale rather than focusing on spewing comments.
"I woke up in a room, originally thinking I was on vacation with my husband. However, it happened to be the house of my husband's enemies in Dark Land," Peach explained. She's better off not telling the toad that Bowser's the enemy. Darklandian toads may have an allegiance to the Koopa Troop.
"Wow! Oh Lord Toady!" the toad gasped, "That situation's scary! What did you do then?"
"Well, he warned me that my husband is evil. I, of course, didn't believe him, but I sort of got… Attached to his family," Peach thought back to yesterday, "I mean, it's pathetic! I only spent one day with them! And, well…"
Peach paused and stared at the toad, who nodded.
"I would continue living with them until Ma—" Peach refrained from mentioning more personal information, "My husband rescued me, but… Getting attached to the family of your husband's enemy is bad enough; I wanted to get away from that. That itself was reason for me to run away, but I also caught him talking about selling something. I was thinking it was me, or at least some other girl, so I ran."
"Oh Peach, dear, I'm so relieved that you got out of that environment!" Ella gasped, "You know how the King of the Koopas can be like! Quite a scary place!"
"Yeah, scary but oddly comfortable in some way-" Peach tried to pause before those words escaped her mouth, but it's too late. The toad played a trick on her to reveal herself, and the plan found success, "I mean-"
"I knew all along that you were Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom," Ella explained, "I heard from a news source that you defected from the Mushroom Kingdom. They said that you left, and you allied with Dark Land, wedding dress and all. Not everyone wears wedding dresses on their day-to-day travels, hun."
Peach didn't know whether to be surprised that Ella knew who she was, or that a rumor about her joining the Koopa Troop started. Both left a gaping, bottomless pit in her stomach.
"But don't worry, dear," Ella patted Peach's back, seemingly aware of her anguish, "There's a reason I moved to Dark Land's countryside. It's to get away from all those intolerant toads in the Kingdom, while also isolating myself from any koopa cities. This was the best fit. I don't support the Koopas, so do not fret, dear."
Peach nodded. She's relieved Ella wouldn't do anything, but the rumors of her joining the Koopa Troop had her upset. Is that why Mario decided not to rescue her? She had several questions for him once she arrived home.
She continued eating the tangy, yet satisfying pasta, sipping on the lavender tea between chews. The tea's taste matched the fresh aroma, although the smell reminded her of her Castle's laundry room. Amid the nice smell, she couldn't take the thought of dirty clothes from out of her mind, or dirtiness in general. Peach sat the tea down and stood up, unable to enjoy the tea in its fullness
"Well, I should make my way to Pipe Land. I should be able to get a pipe to the Mushroom Kingdom there," Peach excused herself, "Mind if I get some water first?"
"Oh, go ahead, dear! There are some water bottles in the fridge, dearie," Ella pointed to the kempt, modest kitchen, "Anyway, dear, all will work out. Things tend to get worse before they become better, so keep that in mind."
"Thanks for everything. I feel relieved now."
"Oh, anytime, dear!" the mushroomer guided Peach outside, "Always feel free to visit! 'Til we meet again!"