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Shards of Love: REDUX!
Shard III: Alliances
With the 'Big Three' alliance within reach, Peach and the Koopas must, at all costs, stop the Mushroom Kingdom and Sarasalandian forces from reaching Jewelry Land and forming an alliance with King Fret.
Chapter XXII
Conflicts
"Mario?!" Larry gasped, confused at the situation. From what he saw, Mario overthrew Peach and usurped the kingdom from her! What is he doing in this abandoned building, tied to a bed?
"Mmmmmphhhh!" Mario replied, still gagged, although anxious to communicate.
Sighing, Larry rips the tape off Mario's mouth, earning a cry from the troubled plumber. Great. He always dreamt of a helpless Mario; he'd better enjoy the chance while it's available.
"Oww! What's your issue?!"
"I ungagged you, and I regret it already. Now shut it; I'll be asking the questions here, and as you're tied up, there's nothing you can do about it," Larry commanded before continuing on, "Tell me, and tell me now. Why are you here?"
"Where even are we?" the dazed plumber questioned, earning a slap across the face from Larry.
"I SAID I'LL be asking the questions here. Do you need more than just a slap to jog your memory? Or will you cooperate?"
Mario stares at Larry, confused. Larry sighs at the expression but continues with interrogating the plumber. Larry needs answers, and he needs them now, for the sake of the kingdom his father runs.
"Why did you overthrow Peach?"
Mario's eyes widen at the question as if he's heard the news for the first time.
"What do you mean?" Mario mumbled, confused at the news the youngest koopaling broke, "I was here for like a week…"
The youngest koopaling knows how to play the clueless game well; he's done it since the first mumblings of his life. As the youngest of seven with a busy father, and a mother he never met, he's received plenty of unpleasant interactions among his elder siblings, particularly Wendy, Iggy and Morton. Revenge on the other Koopalings came as a nasty prank coupled with the same cluelessness Mario's now expressing. Unsatisfied with the plumber's answer, Larry leans closer to Mario's face and glares daggers at him.
"Quit lying. You married Peach, JUST so you can invade Dark Land. Am I right?"
Mario's eyes bulge, and a large gasp escapes him. Exhausted, Larry closes his eyes, bracing for another barrage of excuses.
"No! Someone stole my identity! Trust me, I swear! It happened a few days before the wedding!"
Larry exhales another sigh; Mario won't back away from his narrative—at least not likely. Using his skills as a lying spy, Larry decides to listen to his spiel and point out the flaws.
"Go on…"
"I don't know what happened…" Mario confessed, "But a few days before the wedding, I was shopping around for things. Stuff like food, a new bowtie, a new undershirt—stuff like that. When I went outside, I was whacked unconscious by a magikoopa."
"Magikoopa?" Larry questioned. What is a magikoopa doing in Toad Town, of all places? As far as Larry knows, Bowser didn't command any magikoopa to go there either.
"Yes, a magikoopa. Dark purple, almost black robes. I don't know if that makes any difference."
Larry ponders on the description. Every magikoopa soldier's colour-coded by their abilities; red being attackers, green being boosters, white being healers, purple being those trained in dark magic, blue being the magikoopa leaders, and some other colours for more specific specificities, but near-black isn't a valid colour in the ranking system.
"That colour isn't a rank, so the magikoopa either was high-ranking, as in like, Dad's second-in-command of the Magikoopas, or Kamek and Kammy, or the magikoopa rebelled from the Troop…" Larry pondered, "Which means either we have a rebel at hand, or you're just a lying sack of compost, as King Dad didn't order any takeover. The takeover was from Ludwig, who has no authority over the magikoopas."
"I swear, this is the truth!" Mario promised before continuing on, "Anyway, I regained consciousness in this building, on this exact cot. The magikoopa approached me and stated something along the lines of 'the prophesy has come, for I will control both the Mushroom Kingdom and Dark Land!' or something. The magikoopa then cloned me, like a duplighost."
Despite a red flag going off in Larry's head—magikoopas cannot transform themselves in the same way duplighosts can—the koopa spy's been observing Mario's body language. From bodily actions, Larry's able to decipher whether the person speaks the truth or is lying. He's seen Mario lie before; it's pathetic at best.
"I never thought I'd ever say this, but I actually believe you."
Mario's eyes widen at Larry's approval before stammering, but the koopaling held up his hand.
"Don't get too charmed, plumber. I only do because you're a terrible liar. You're too pathetic to be a 'bad' guy like we are."
Mario, for once thankful to a koopa, breathes a sigh of relief. He cares for the Kingdom; he knows its current path will not be healthy in the long run. War will devastate the Mushroom Kingdom's global trade and conquering Dark Land will only eat up more of the country's resources. Plus, the red plumber knows Larry's not exactly thrilled with the current progress either.
"Does Dark Land know?" Mario questioned, "We all can work together until this… imposter of me is out of power. But first, I need to be untied."
Although a side of Larry suspects a sort of fishiness throughout recent events, the youngest koopa unties Mario's hands beneath the cot, followed by his legs tied to the cot's legs. He removes—more like rips out—the IV needles connected to Mario, resulting in a shriek.
"Quiet!" Larry hissed, fishiness and distrust running through him still, "Yes, Dark Land knows! My older siblings are heading to Jewelry Land, probably to get my dad and Peach. Maybe Jewelry Land will also ally with us."
"We need to help them then-"
Before the plumber can even finish his sentence, Larry, still firm on the original plan, cuts him off.
"We can't; not directly. We have to rig the Mushroom Kingdom from the inside in order to weaken the kingdom. In fact, with your help, it'll be even easier. People think YOU are the leader."
"Are you sure about this? Dark Land plans aren't known for holding straight."
"Yes! This plan's from Kamek, not Dad! We got-"
From upstairs, Larry and Mario hear a door burst open followed by several thundering footsteps. Initially caught off-guard, Larry puts his hands behind his back.
"Aww crud, the police are here! Quick, Mario! Grab my wrists! Take me to Peach's prison in the castle basement and tell them to ignore security! I have a plan to distract them!"
"Grab your wrists? But-"
"SHUT UP AND DO IT! I know what I'm doing! It's a way to get me into the Castle as Kamek said I can't use magic to get in!"
Mario grabs Larry's wrists as the police storm downstairs, guns drawn. While they give Larry a menacing glare, their gazes warm as they sight Mario, and bow to him.
"Your Majesty!" the police captain apologized, "We are terribly sorry, but there's a fugitive on the loose! He tried to steal a van, and from our surveillance, it appears he was headed towards the Castle!"
Mario nods his head, pretending to understand the circumstances before barking orders.
"Then get out of here and find him! The Castle always needs to be protected from intruders! Also, arrest this pathetic koopaling spy and take him to the Mushroom Castle basement jail cells! I'll handle security after, so don't worry about that! He's too dangerous of a spy for conventional guards."
The police captain salutes Mario before pulling out handcuffs and turning Larry around. As Larry faces Mario, the koopaling winks at Mario, resulting in the plumber giving a small grin in response.
"Move on, move on!" the captain commanded, "You heard the King!"
As the police force stampedes out, taking Larry with them, concern begins to well up in Mario.
"I hope, for the sake of everything, that Larry knows what he's doing… And I hope Peach and the others are okay…"
Hours ago, the Dark Land Fleet resumed its journey towards Jewelry Land. By now, they're over the ocean, and the three koopalings and their captains search for any Mushroom-oriented vessels within the dark blue abyss. To Roy's annoyance, the PA system's now functioning, and Ludwig's voice blasts throughout his cockpit instructing the others on the Mushroom Kingdom's naval and air fleets.
Roy and Ludwig always had beef with each other ever since they knew each other. Neither fully know how such relations began and both want to end it, but whenever one side tries, the other only escalates the feud. Their same personality traits combined with different interests also proves an obstacle. Roy loves power, but so does Ludwig. However, while Roy respects physical strength, Ludwig prefers intelligence. Also, combined with the position of Crown Prince and his claim of being the family's Alpha Male, Ludwig never considers any other ideas but his own.
"Roy," the PA system erupts, snapping Roy out of his thoughts, "ROY!"
"Ugh, what, Kooky?"
"Did you listen to me at all, Roy?"
"Naw. Why would I do somethin' insane like dat, man?"
Much to his content, the koopaling hears an overdramatic sigh escaping from the speakers. Yes, Roy should put aside his personal vendettas and instead focus on the purpose of this voyage. After all, the Koopa Kingdom—his lifestyle—are at risk. However, Ludwig's moodiness and bossiness makes burying the hatchet less pleasant.
"Listen to me. Quit being a child and, vhatever grudge you have against me, stow it. Teamvork here's vital. Zat goes for you too, Morton."
"Yeah yeah. Bite me, Kooky," Roy murmured, rolling his eyes to the point where he may have seen his brain.
"Vatch out, Roy!" A different tone rings through Ludwig's command; it wasn't one of bossiness or disgust, but rather fear and concern. While aware of the change, Roy assumes it's due to the previous statement he muttered.
"What ya gonna do, Lug? Tell King D-"
"NO, ROY! VATCH OUT!" Ludwig cried, "LOOK BEHIND YOU! You're being attacked!"
Roy's heart drops as he views his rear camera's footage: dozens of bullet bills greet him, threatening to home in on the doomship's stern and starboard. The sirens' sickening echoes, coupled with flashing red lights, ring throughout the doomship, preventing Roy from collecting himself and thinking logically. A slew of curses leaves the koopaling's mouth as he maintains a vise grip onto the airship's steering wheel.
Despite his now-sweaty palms begging for relief from the wheel, Roy turns the wheel counterclockwise, resulting in a left turn too sharp for the bills to handle. As the bills attempt to respond to the sudden change in trajectory, two of the leading bills collide, resulting in an explosion powerful enough to destroy the other bills. The blast also shakes Roy's doomship, although the ship took no noticeable damage. He looks back in his rear-view: several other doomships within his fleet avoid their shares of bullet bills; all appear intact.
"Shit…" Roy gasped in a fear-filled, thicker-than-usual accent. He attempts to slow down his breathing and heart rate, "Da hell was dat?"
"I… I don't know…" Ludwig responded, appearing more collected despite the fear and the thicker accent still ringing in his voice, "But Morton undt I vere also attacked not long after you vere, but novhere near zee number of bills you had."
"We needa take it dere with dem," Roy concluded, "Dey mad trippin', man."
"Okay, so..." Morton drawled as he notices a handful of the Mushroom Kingdom's ships below them, "Can someone who can, y'know, actually speak normally tell me what we're gonna do about those ships below us?"
Roy and Ludwig, however, ignore their younger brother's butting into the conversation.
"Zey are, undt ve need to stop zem. But honestly, I'm relieved zat you avoided zem."
Roy's eyes bulge, taken aback from the comment. Did he just receive well-blessings from LUDWIG, of all people? Roy hasn't seen this side of his elder brother directed at him for years. Of course, Roy's guard remains high; Ludwig can switch back to his pain-in-the-rear self within the next few minutes, but he can still enjoy him while this side lasts.
"Wow. Ya'kay, Lug? Ya went soft."
"Surely, I did," Ludwig's voice floods the PA system again, his thick accent replaced with a tone of annoyance, "As much of an imbecile zat you are, you're still my kin, and more importantly, vun of my partners on zis voyage. Plus, I can make you admit anyzing also, Roy."
"Yeah, sure, whatever. Dat won't happen."
"Are you discombobulated, Roy?"
"Discom-what?" Roy questioned, "I'm confused."
"I rest my case," Ludwig smirks, "Now, quit vith ze soppiness and let's focus on ze mission at hand."
Roy nods his head, for once agreeing with Ludwig's position. Unfortunately for the duo, their younger brother couldn't resist adding his own input.
"Are you two done doing the lovey-dovey talk with each other?" Morton questioned, "Because I usually see less disturbing conversations in cyber chat rooms and cam sites on the Koopa Web."
While Roy gags at the thought of Morton participating in such activities, Ludwig's more-pronounced composure allows him to ask what Roy couldn't.
"… Vhat are you doing in zose detestable settings, Morton? Zose are disgusting domains saturated vith stalkers, perverts and catfishers."
"I run and invest in many of them. What better way to make money than fish it out from desperate, depraved, degenerate losers? But that's none of your business," Morton replied nonchalantly, "But, what IS your business is the fact that we're FLYING OVER ARMED MUSHROOM KINGDOM SHIPS AS I LITERALLY MENTIONED TWO MINUTES AGO!"
"... Scheiße!" Ludwig curses as he monitors the ships. These aren't simple battleships, as he hoped; as powerful as the Mushroom Kingdom's battleships are, they never fare well against any aircraft due to the battleships' offenses. The Banzai Bills they shoot out, while destructive and devastating to any object unfortunate enough to cross its path, travel too slow to pose a significant risk to any alert pilot.
Rather, five Mushroom Brigade Carriers float beneath them, each capable of housing dozens of the Mushroom Kingdom Air Force's aircraft. From seeking more inspiration for improving the doomships, the eldest koopaling's quite familiar with the aircraft E. Gadd created for the Air Force: they each have four engines, an excessive yaw velocity and built-in missile launchers. The Royal Air Fleet also house airshrooms: flying mushroom-shaped aircraft built with the invention he fears the most: a controllable Super Scope.
Morton, unacquainted with the machinery unlike Ludwig, still expresses concern. He's never been involved in an air battle, while both Ludwig and Roy have. Sure, he fought Mario INSIDE his doomship several times, and he did utilize the doomship's weapons during such attempts, but he's never shot at an opposing aircraft using the doomship's long-range missiles.
Roy remains stone-faced, not manifesting an ounce of worry. Roy and Mario fought each other in aircraft during the time he took over Jewelry Land, and thus spots familiarity with the super scope and its weaknesses. For one, a super blast takes at least ten seconds to charge up, and anything weaker than that won't do much more than make a dent in the doomship's built-in forcefield. And two, even when the Super Scope shoots out a super blast, it's not homing.
While he never thought twice about other previous battles, being the last Koopaling Mario fought during their Jewelry Land takeover made Roy ponder how he lost. He felt as if he let his family down; he never wanted to feel that guilt again. And now, being in the situation once more, Roy realizes how the threat must be dealt with. Offense doesn't matter in the long term, but rather stealth.
"... Vell zen," Ludwig recomposed himself, "Ve need to deal vith zose before zey get to Jewelry Land."
"I dealt with da Super Scope in da air before," Roy spoke, "And da reason I lost was 'cus I was too focused on damagin' Mario. We need to move, we need to be quick, and we need to avoid everythin' dey fire at us."
"I can agree vith zat. Vhenever I fought him in ze sky or over cliffs, he tended to fall to his… 'death'."
The developing plan between his two elder brothers brings a sense of comfort to Morton. So, all they need to do is avoid, and not aim? He can do that. Easily.
"Okay…" Morton sighed, ready but still unsure, "But… Uhh… If I die, I'm haunting you two! Forever! I swear!"
Ignoring the comment, Ludwig continues observing the ships. Little grey moving specks litter the otherwise-black runway; presumably the fighter jets. The Mushroom Kingdom's Air Royal Fleet may strike anytime now; the Dark Land's Air Fleet needs to be ready.
The eldest koopaling switches the PA system from only broadcasting to Roy and Morton to now broadcasting to the entire fleet before issuing commands.
"Fire up ze lasers and activate your forcefields! Ve have danger approaching! Hold off on ze bullet bills unless needed!"
Following his own commandments, Ludwig opens the 'combat controls' compartment of his dashboard then pushes a purple button to activate the force field before pressing an orange one, assumed to be the power button for the lasers.
Hearing the declaration of war, Kamek rushes into the cockpit, wand in hand. The magikoopa stretches and yawns, seeming to have woken up.
"Master Ludwig, sir, I'm ordering all magikoopas to focus on defense."
"Good; zat's exactly vhat I vant," Ludwig nods, "Actually, please have a group man ze lasers, but keep ze rest on defense. Zat vill be fantastic."
Kamek gives Ludwig a thumbs-up before activating the communication portion of his wand. As his sky-blue-tipped wand morphs into a dark-purple tinge, the lead magikoopa starts issuing commands.
"Attention, magikoopas and toadies! Reds, focus on offenses by operating the lasers! Greens, focus on buffing the doomships' defenses you're in. Whites, make sure everyone is safe and heal both them and the doomships when needed! Purples, help the Reds by charging the lasers with dark magic! Blues, make sure everyone's doing their roles, and make sure your doomship won't collapse! Now, everyone, get to work!"
Kamek pockets his wand as he and Ludwig notice the commotion present in their doomship, followed by lasers being fired from their doomship. In the distance, he notices a fighter jet flying towards him, shooting missiles that the force field repels. The weakened forcefield quivers and Ludwig's green-robed magikoopas repair the forcefield's magic. Meanwhile, Ludwig faces the doomship towards the jet and fires lasers at it. With the buff the red-robed and purple-robed magikoopas provided, three laser beams strike the jet before it crashes towards the ocean.
"Make sure your magikoopas are doing vork, guys," Ludwig announced, "Kamek's vith me and he's attempting to organize zem."
"Roger!" Morton reaffirmed before he spots an airshroom in his peripheral vision. He turns his focus to the airshroom and notices yellow sparks surrounding the shroom, "Watch out! Super Scope airshroom's charging up!"
The airshroom shoots a large blast towards the doomship fleet, in which the alert Morton and his fleet avoid by lowering their doomships. Although caught up in fighting with a fighter jet, Roy avoids the blast in the nick of time; the super scope's blast only scorching the doomship's tail while his fleet remains unharmed. Only sustaining minor damage, Roy's green-robed magikoopas repair the tail with ease before repairing the forcefield.
"It looks like da super scope's energy goes through da forcefields," Roy concluded.
"Vhat..." Ludwig drawled, "How?! Ze doomships are supposed to be immune to ze super scope blasts! Someone must've engineered zese super scopes to bypass zat!"
"So, someone stole your technology?" Morton wondered, "Who?"
"I'm unsure, but ve need to be careful. Ve have a Mole somevhere."
"Focus less on dat and more on da scopes," Roy dismissed.
"Yes, it's best not to rely on ze forcefields zen. Treat forcefields like ze last option," Ludwig replied as he shoots down another fighter jet, "But ve need to treat zis like ants, brozzers. If you vant to kill a colony, you don't kill ze stray ants; you kill ze queen."
"So... Attack the carriers?" Morton questioned.
"Precisely. Just keep vatch for ze super scopes. Here, you two distract zem and take care of ze stragglers; my fleet and I will bombard ze ships."
On command, Morton and Roy fire their lasers at the fighter jets and airshrooms that they saw, all whilst avoiding both the jets' bullets and the airshrooms' super scope charges. As an airshroom's super scope recharges, Morton shoots it down, resulting in the mushroom-shaped aircraft crashing into the ocean and its toad pilots ejecting. On his side, Roy destroys the fighter jets threatening Ludwig while Morton continues slaughtering the airshrooms.
Ludwig remains docile while his two younger siblings slaughter the fighter jets. About ten minutes into his inactivity, Ludwig notices the jets turn their attention from him to Roy, while four superscope-equipped airshrooms attempt to destroy Morton's air fleet. Smirking, Ludwig commands his air fleet through the PA system; now's go time.
"Doomships! Launch your bullet bills at the carriers!" the eldest koopaling commanded as he smashes a red button. A bullet bill launches from each of his four launchers, the quartet flying unchallenged towards a carrier. As the four make contact, the carrier explodes.
Noticing the massive orange-and-yellow explosion, the confused fighter jets pause from the fight with Roy, resulting in the burly koopaling shooting them down with ease. The Mushroom Kingdom solders on the four unsunk carriers scramble on their runways, eager to enter their jets and airshrooms. Ludwig smirks as a doomship in his fleet launches its bullet bills into two other carriers, causing them to explode.
"Three down, two to go! Zis is impeccable combat!" Ludwig announced in the PA, this time also broadcasting to Roy and Morton, "Keep it up, guys!"
Morton nods as he flies towards another airshroom. The airshroom points its scope at Morton and starts charging it. However, Morton's eyes widen as he witnesses green energy gathering towards the scope, rather than yellow. Within milliseconds, a massive green plasma cloud launches from the airshroom at a breakneck speed and towards Morton. Stunned over the development and lacking the time to maneuver, Morton's unable to move.
The plasma smashes into his doomship.
Alarms blare and red lights flash as Morton feels his doomship dropping from the air and towards the sea. Panicking, the koopaling commands his magikoopas to repair the ship, but it was too late; his doomship smashes into the water, creating a wave large enough to destabilize the remaining carriers.
"MORTON!" Roy cried as he avoids another jet attempting to home in on him.
"Ve need to rescue him, Roy!"
"And how will we do dat, Kooky?!"
"Get a ship down zere. Vhat else? Use your mind, Roy!" Ludwig snapped, "I'm trying to get zese carriers!"
"And I'm being kamikazed by dese damn jets, and so is Morton's fleet!"
A yellow plasma ball soars towards Ludwig, who dives out of the plasma's trajectory. Unfazed, the eldest koopaling turns towards the PA system.
"Quit being an entitled infant and get a ship down zere! You know not every ship's under siege!" Ludwig commanded.
"And YOU don't need all dem ships shootin' at da carrier! All my ships are bein' attacked!" Roy shouted back.
"I do need zem!"
"It takes one ship to shoot a damn bullet bill! You're pathetic if you need more, Kooky!"
"Vhat?! Ships need to conceal ze shooter, imbecile!"
"Dude! Da hell are you sayin'? We're lurin' all da damn jets to us! You don't need ships protecting you! You're so pathetic, Kooky! Eat shit!" Roy argued.
"Very mature, Roy. You're ze vun zrowing tantrums about us two vorking as a team. Grow up and do vhat's best for everyvun, cretin. Your demeanor reflects you as an unequivocally small-minded mass of existential impotence vith an ego of a ludicrous, acidly, acrimonious delinquent who has delusions of adequacy."
As Ludwig utters his rebuttal, the airshroom that attacked Morton launches another green plasma ball towards Roy. Ludwig cringes as he spots a massive explosion in Roy's trajectory, followed by Roy's doomship crashing towards the ocean. The eldest koopaling bows his head as he hears Roy's frightened swearing from the intercom, followed by his line cutting dead as his doomship creates another wave in the ocean.
"Verdammt! Roy!" Ludwig cried, regretting the argument they had just moments before. Focus back on the task at hand, a sudden anger roars through Ludwig. They shot down his two brothers, and now they must be defeated, "Everyvun, focus on provoking ze jets and ze airshrooms. Now!"
As the doomships provoke the jets, Ludwig does a final surge towards the carrier and launches eight bullet bills, four bills to each carrier. Before the jets and the airshrooms focus on Ludwig, the carriers went up in flames; all five carriers now sinking towards the ocean bottom. Noticing their means of survival now gone, the jets and airshrooms retreat towards the Mushroom Kingdom, trying to avoid the lasers that the Dark Land Air Fleet launches at them.
Ludwig heaves; Jewelry Land's invasion from the Mushroom Kingdom's Royal Air Fleet failed, but Morton, Roy and their crewmates need to be found. The eldest koopaling's worried; he wanted to see his brothers again, even if he couldn't stand them. He didn't want his last words to Roy be a quarrel, nor does he want Roy's literal last word at him be... Such vulgar language.
Kamek, meanwhile, stares at Ludwig with a hopeful look.
"While you were fighting, I sent toadies to search for Morton, and they'll find Roy," the wizard informed, "I honestly believe they'll be okay. I... I just feel it."
Relief floods Ludwig's face, and the eldest koopaling flashes a small smile at Kamek; due to their close relationship – Kamek did raise him after all – the koopaling trusts the words and advice from the magikoopa.
"A zousand zank yous, Kamek," Ludwig thanked, "And I hope you're right in your analysis..."
Although the characters couldn't tell from the cave, nighttime befalls Jewelry Land, and both Luigi and Daisy attempt to receive some shut-eye. Sitting nearest to the miniature waterfall, Bowser perks up as he hears faint echoes of bats flapping their wings, while their more audible squeaks sends shivers coursing through him and Peach.
"So... There are bats," Bowser whispered.
Peach nods as she observes the slumbering Daisy and Luigi on the other side of the cave, cuddling each other. Although the action may have been a result of subconscious desires for warmth – Luigi's too shy to initiate such scenes while Daisy prefers showing a romance-hating tomboy demeanor in public, although she's much different in private settings – the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom knows full well the bond between them.
For the dozenth time in this journey, she questioned her bond with Mario. She knows it's dead and gone by this point, but even during their heyday, did her bond with him thrive? Or did it just survive, holding and feasting only on dissipating hope?
She smiles as she recalls the trips she took with Mario to the same places she was taken to during her kidnappings. From the bubbly Soda Lake in Dinosaur Land to many of the Mushroom Kingdom's hottest resorts, she enjoyed them all. However, the princess frowns as she remembers Mario's demeanor: he didn't open up to her. Rather, the red-clad plumber remained alert, closed off and unwilling to delve deeper in romance. She then realizes: as a princess, Mario acts more like a chivalrous knight around her than Prince Charming. He wasn't there to love her romantically, but rather to show commitment, duty and respect.
The bond didn't die. It also didn't survive.
The bond just never existed.
Still deep in thought, a throat clearing forces Peach into reality. Now alert, the princess stares at Bowser, who through the fire's orange glow, expresses concern.
"What's up with you?"
Peach remains silent, unwilling to share her disappointing revelations with him. She sighs as she turns her attention back towards Luigi and Daisy, who both remain cuddled by the dying flames. She relates the fire to the flame of love, supposedly burning in every married individual's bosom. The flame that gave them warmth, comfort and a sense of belonging – three characteristics vanishing from her as her love for Mario withers.
Deep in her thoughts again, she snaps back to reality when she feels a presence next to her. She looks towards her left and spots Bowser sitting next to her, his gaze also following the struggling fire. The emotions she could once interpret now rush throughout her; sickening battles among disgust, abhorrence, love and lust course through her. Everything she thought she knew crash beside her feet, their brittle foundations giving way to the newfound emotions' crashing waves. She wants to stand up, distance herself from Bowser and to ponder these cascading events, but she also desires more of his presence.
"Is this about Mario?" the koopa inquired.
Peach exhales at Bowser's mentioning of her former love's name, "Look. Everything's screwed up, and it's more than just Mario. If this happened when I was by myself, it'd be easy. It'd be so easy, Bowser. But you had to come along and make things a nightmare."
"What?" Bowser questioned.
"I know Mario doesn't love me romantically. He only cares for me. From his questioning awkwardness whenever I kissed him after being rescued by him, to our vacations where he didn't open up, he shown it all along. He did things out of duty, not out of love. I was just too stupid to realize it until now."
Peach notices Bowser's posture shifting as he turns his stare from the fire to her.
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Because you make everything confusing," Peach unleashes another exhale, "First, you were an archenemy. I always saw you as one. But then your Koopalings kidnapped me and I spent that time in your castle. From your handling of them to our tour through that hall with all your family pictures, I saw another side of you that I never saw before. I saw someone who tried, albeit in questionable ways, to provide his family something that money couldn't buy. I saw someone persistent; someone who never gave up. That only solidified when we talked by the lake and I first noticed your true feelings for me and your intentions. I was feeling the same, but I felt too awkward to confess them, but when you were hurt during our fight with Totomesu, I was, for the first time in our history, scared for you. I was afraid of losing you. It wasn't until then that I noticed my own feelings."
Bowser stares at Peach, wide-eyed at her confessions. Peach smiles as she stares into his red eyes; his typical fierce glare she learned to fear only bears one of openness and love, traits she never observed from Mario.
"So..." the koopa king drawled.
"I think..." Peach sighed before she lays her head on Bowser's thigh.
"Oh... Oh!" Bowser replied, his face turning red as he puts an arm around Peach, "So I'm guessing that you'll be fine sleeping on me this time?"
"Just don't stab me with your spikes!" the princess admitted, resulting in the koopa smirking.
"Yep, can't have those two over there see you skewered."
Peach moves her head to better spot Luigi and Daisy, who remain cuddling. By this time, the fire's downgraded to only a pit of glowing embers, although still providing warmth in the otherwise dank cave.
"Oh great... Now Daisy and Luigi will tease us!" Peach giggled.
Bowser adds to her laughter as he stares back at the cuddling duo, "Who cares! They tease us already! Just look at them! We'll just tease those lovebirds back!"
Peach smiles as she continues resting her head on Bowser's leg. She knows she has more to fear than just Luigi and Daisy. Her kingdom – rather, the kingdom that's rightfully hers – will not accept a romantic relationship with their sworn archenemy. Even if she takes over as princess again, she will need to rebuild the trust of all her denizens, else they'll rebel against her rule.
Despite such consequences, she finds more comfort in being around Bowser than she would be ruling alone or even with Mario. The situation may be tough, but the finest diamonds come from the most high-pressure situations. She wants this to work and she has the desire to make it possible, even if the process takes years of intense pain.