Professor Elvin's lab was big. Really big. And its floor had tiles by the cubeic meter. Peach remembered that because Professor said what was a smart person word. Cubeic. And Peach was very smart. Professor said so.

And she was strong. Very strong. Professor talked about her Soulfire all the time. She could make fire from her soul! And it got really, really hot. Fire Flowers grew everywhere in the Mushroom Kingdom, but she was the only person with Soulfire—left, anyway. Eating Fire Flowers made her powers grow stronger, so she made sure to eat lots! Professor said that one day, when she grew up and was a big girl, she could use the Charzord, daddy's sword!

But for now, she was in Professor Elvin's lab. Using her Soulfire around the Toads was mean D: , but in Professor's lab, she could use her power as much as she wanted! You know those cubeic tiles from earlier? Professor made LAZER SHIELDS come out of the ground from between those tiles! They shot up to the ceiling! They were always dark red. Peach thought they should've been pink. Professor said pink was a little hard to do, red was just the most effective because of something called wavelength. Whatever that meant.

The point is: she could shoot fire at those shields as much as she wanted. The first time they used it, Professor had expected some of the shields to break. None of them did. And now Peach really wanted to break one. Every day she was in here, she tried to focus all her energy on breaking just one. Hurling one after another after another; surely this fireball would be the one that did the trick. Sometime Professor would make her shoot at multiple shields. That was no fun. But today, every time she shot one, the shield in front of it would pop up.

"Professor, what's going on?"

"Please Princess, see this through until the end. I want to show you something." Professor was in the control room nearby, talking through a loudspeaker.

The more fireballs she kept blasting, the more shields popped up. So she turned and fired at the shields in another direction until too many were up on that side. But now they were starting to get really close. From all directions.

"Professor Elvin, make it stop..."

She slowed down her shots as the shields got even closer. A shield went up right beside her.

Then another.

Then another.

Fingers trembling, Peach summoned a sprawling ball of flame on her hand. She tossed it at the shield wall, and the last shield shot up.

She was completely encased in a cubic box of red.

"P-Professsor...I did it."

"..."

"Professor? Profressor Elvin?"

The loudspeaker was dead quiet.

"Hello? Professor?"

Escape. Now. Something was wrong. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave.

Her burning hands hammered against the shield, merely causing ripples in the laser. "Let me out. Let me out!"

Her Soulfire burst shot straight up to the ceiling. She had never done it before

"LET ME O-"

Her right hand shot up to her throat. Her left hand stretched out, swiping at the air; scooping some back towards her. Why. why was she choking on absolutely nothing? Everything was getting fuzzy.

The flames died out instantly. She dropped like a stone. Her feet kicked away at the shield; the useless taps getting weaker each second.

It was getting dark...

The shields collapsed all around her. Peach crawled out of the cubic tile as fresh air rushed in to fill the void.

"...I'm sorry, Peach." Professor's voice came back on through the loudspeaker.

"WHY. ...why would you...do that..."

"I needed to address some of your behavior. Your eagerness to break one of the barriers is very concerning. A proper princess shouldn't be obsessed with testing and increasing her power; especially to destroy. So I crafted this exercise so that you couldn't put all of your power into one shot. As well as give you a warning. Your Soulfire is still fire. It needs oxygen to burn, and with the way you exuberant your power, I had to show you the consequences and let you experience them yourself. Princess, you need to learn to control your power."


Peach stepped out into infinite black. The only light came from the portal itself.

I must have stepped into some secret cavern.

Her arms waved out to feel the walls. A rather large cave as she only felt air. She snapped her fingers; her left hand lit aflame in a bloody red. Meager fire; barely able to leave her hand before flickering out.

Hmm. Normally that's plenty. Her hand went pink. The flames kicked out a few centimeters more. Nothing further.

This is a surprising amount of effort for such little output. Let me see how close I am to the walls.

She looked about and quickly discovered no walls were near her. She saw steps—stone steps, leading upward.

I'm at the base of some structure. But that means I'm not in a cavern. I'm outside.

She looked up. No clouds. No moon. Not a star in the sky. Come to think of it; she wasn't hearing any animals either.

The only sign of life here are these steps, I don't even hear any wind.

Peach put her fingers to her neck. "Hmm...I'm breathing, but..."

A burst of flame left her hands. Rocketing through the sky, the fire was getting smaller and smaller, flickering out before being consumed in the dark.

"There can't be any oxygen here. The Bit's the only reason it lasted that long. And if only a Bit ensures survival in this place, the last Bit user must be at the top of these stairs."

Another fireball shot up the slope of the stairs. Several seconds passed before the fireball made contact, causing an explosion. Peach caught a glimpse of a door.

She advanced.

The explosion left leaving a perfectly nice hole to walk through. As she stepped through the mortar, a tingling feeling ran down her body. Strange. What was even stranger was the boulder against the wall.

The boulder had a face. A fixed horrific expression.

Is this some kind of abstract sculpture? Her hands moved along the boulder. The placement of the craters was erratic. Must've been the point. A more rough look. I have to say, whoever crafted this thing is an expert in macabre. Its teeth feel as real as mine, and its eyes are absolutely demonic.

The front of a locomotive.

Why is there a train inside this castle?

The engine had been surgically disassembled, but there was no mistaking a train. Had there been something in it? But why take the whole train, and keep it here? She looked through its parts. Maybe something was still there. The front the locomotive seemed fo have a distinct logo— a triangle with an outer pattern. This train had a...cannon. Was this of war train? Trains as weapons? She was going to have to draft down some designs later. The rest of the train didn't seem to have much to it.

Alright. What else is around here?

Two tusks; pointed right at her.

Impossible. I would have heard something that large approaching me. I definitely would have smelled it.

It wasn't mere tusks...it was bone. Bone far too clean to belong to an animal. Peach took a step closer; her shoe made contact with something.

A support pedestal? It seems to go pretty high off the ground. How large is this creature?

She walked around the pedestal; keeping her flaming hand up. Walking far enough, the bones shrunk significantly as they reached a dividing point.

This is a skeleton of something huge. The only thing I can think of in comparison is a whale. Is this a whale skull? I'll have to check when I get back. But why is this here? Is any of this here? What did they have in common? There's eccentric, and then there's insane. Whoever collected all of this are several atriums short of a heartbeat.

"Please don't touch the Wind Fish. He'll get very mad if it gets broken."

Peach turned around. A small child was peeking her head out from behind the boulder.

"Are you the King's new trophy?"

"The King? King who?"

"King Code. Did he use his other name? He has other names, but I...I can't remember. I still know mine though! It's Midnight!...or...something like that."

Poor child. How long has she dwelled here? "No. I just found this place."

"You what?!" Midnight shot back behind the moon. "You have to leave! Now! Before he comes back! Does he know you're here?! Is he coming?!"

"He doesn't know I'm here. It's fine."

"Never should have come here! He'll kill you! He'll kill everybody!"

Flames erupted from Peach's body. Heat emanated all throughout the castle. Midnight felt the sensation resonate through her body. It's been so long since this feeling. Warmth.

"I assure you, whatever or whoever King Code is, I am more than capable of defeating them."

Midnight peeked out. This...stranger, was completely cloaked in fire. The flames were so bright it hard to look at, yet taking her eyes away seemed impossible. She'd seen this kind of light before. The Peacemaker of Twilight. That's how she found this place. She was here to save everyone.

It was her.

"Please. Don't be afraid of me. I only want to talk."

Midnight slowly emerged from the dark; her skin a ghastly mixture of black and blue. She was wearing some sort of helmet, or whatever was left of it. Orange and yellow fused as hair, looking like flames of their own down her back. The ends seem to be chipped and cracks lay all throughout the helmet. It was still enough to cover her left eye. Green...tattoos? Covered her skin. She seemed far too young for a tattoo, let alone numerous ones around her body. Tribal markings were probably a safer assumption.

Peach cut her flames out, her hand still keeping the pink glow. "It must be terrible to live in the dark so often."

Midnight backed away. "I prefer the dark anyway."

"That's fine. I'm sure there are plenty of dark rooms in my castle."

"Castle. So you are the princess." Midnight looked her up a down. She was definitely a little different than what she could remember. Definitely aged a little. Was she a blonde before?

"Yes. My name is-"

"Zelda."

What a quick response. Especially with how wrong it was.

"Zelda? You're mistaken. My name is Peach."

"Peach?" Midnight looked away. What kind of name is that? "S-Sorry. Whenever I think princesses I think of Zelda because of her and Link being...together."

"Wait...you know Link? The green swordsman?"

"Yes!" Midnight grabbed Peach's dress. Her hair swung around, the strands forming a hand of its own that gripped Peach's shoulder. "He's still alive! You've seen him?!"

That was expected. "Very recently. I can take you to him."

"EEEE!" Midnight let go, scurrying off into the dark.

This must be Link's world. It truly is desolate. King Code must be the monster Link is crusading against.

"Give this to Link! It's his cap!" Midnight returned with a green hat between her fingers. "Take it. Take it!"

I really have to give this dress pockets later. "You can give it to him yourself. There is no way I would just leave you here." Link had definitely outgrown this one, but he'd probably be happy to see it again.

"Ah...Actually." Her hand lists its form; hair slumping over to the ground. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"King Code. He said he put a kill command on me. If I try to leave this place, I'll die."

"Midnight, I have the remedy for that curse. " She opened her other hand, revealing the Bit.

Midnight gasped. "Goddesses...a Codepeice! Did you get this from King Code? Is he dead? Did you kill him? I hope you made it hurt."

"Wait, Codepeice?" She glanced at the Bit. "You recognize this?"

"Yeah, its what King Code used to destroy everything. I can't believe that there are more."

"And you said you know Link?"

"Isn't that what I said? The last time I saw him, he was off to take King Code down!"

This doesn't add up. Link would have mentioned King Code having a Bit. Hell. he's the kind of person that would have gone after King Code as soon as their power was near equal. His desperation wasn't that of a calculating man. Is this child remembering events wrong? And yet, she recognized the Bit instantly. King Code having the last Bit is probable, but Link...maybe he didn't say anything out of shame?

"Midnight,-"

"It's Midna. Get it right."

"I thought you said your name was Midnight."

Midna stared at the ground. "Huh. Hearing someone else finally say it made me realize it was wrong. I like Midna better anyway. More original. Midnight is something you name a cat."

"Apologies Midna, but how long have you been here?"

She shrugged. "Three months, three thousand years, your guess is as good as mine. I thought about leaving marks on the moon, but I can't tell where a day ends and another one begins. I'd kill for a watch, a clock, or hell, even an hourglass."

"Does King code often come by?"

"Don't feel like I've seen him in forever. I don't know where he goes when he leaves here. Honestly, I prefer it that way. It wouldn't be so bad if there was someone else here. But I talk to the rest of the items in his collection. They were good company. At least, for a while. They never talk back."

"Once I break this curse, there will be plenty of people to talk to. You'll love the Toads. Give me your hand, Midna."

The Bit glowed with energy as she put will into the tiny block in her hand. I will break this curse. I will save this child. I will defeat King Code. I will save this world.

I'll win the 8-Bit War.

Midna reached up with her hair hand, clutching Peach's. The energy dispersed in a wave through the castle. The Wind Fish's skeleton ruptured before collapsing. The moon jostled out of place, rolling out of the hole outside and down the stairsteps.

Midna pulled away in a stagger backward falling to some Wind Fish bones.

"Apologies." Peach offered her a hand up. "I probably should have said you would feel some-"

"It didn't work." Midna was looking at her hands. "The kill command is running."

"W-What?" Peach looked at the Bit. "Did-did I do something wrong? His Bit isn't here. Mine is! Mine should overpower his! Isn't that how this works?"

On the very tip of Midna's finger, at the center off the last ridge on the digit. A symbol peeled itself off of Midna.

0.

The symbol floated off a few centimeters from her hand before vanishing into space.

"What was that. What just happened?"

"It's the kill command. It's running. Just like what happened to Zant."

Midna looked at her other hand. another symbol was breaking off from her fingertip.

1.

"H1e 0said I1 0could n1ever l1eave. I guess he was right."

"No. You are not dying."

Peach reached behind her; fingers sliding down her back. She clutched the wad of tape against her skin and pulled it back out in front, incinerating the adhesive.

Midna's eye widened. "Tw0..."

Peach grabbed her wrists. Minda's hands were already gone. "I try not to use two, it's really exhausting. I'm saving it for someone special. But you're worth it. I can save you."

Energy ruptured from the power of two Bits. The shockwave of the quake ruptured through the castle. The foundation was crumbling all around them.

"I can save you. I can save you." The 0s and 1s had stopped falling off her body. Progress. Surely, whatever curse this was must have been obliterated by the power of two Bits. Strange she hadn't felt anything when the singular Bit flowed through Midna.

She wasn't feeling anything now.

Am I doing something wrong? Raw force alone should get me through this. How are two Bits overpowered by one? He only could have had one. What am I doing wrong? What did he do that I don't know about? This curse, this coding...

Midna screamed, the agony taking Peach out of her concentration. Peach's elbows slammed into the stone, the Bits bouncing on the floor in front of her. Every atom of muscle in her hands was anchored by its own individual sun. Her arms were numb, locking in place. The best she could do was get them to twitch.

Her throat closed instantly in a gasp. No Bits. No...Air...

She scanned the floor for the Bits. Just a few centimeters in front of her hands. Depleted muscles with no oxygen to power them.

Just..need...one...

Her hands were shaking. She could feel her arm threaten to tear apart as she reached out for the Bit.

Resist the urge to grab at your throat.

The gurgles and hawking in her throat were getting stronger. Her head kicked up on instinct. Her left hand was coming back to her neck.

It was getting dark...

"You can do it. Please. Don't give up."

The soul gave one last kick of flame.

Peach lunged forward with her right hand, catching a Bit in her grasp. How this Bit was making oxygen for her didn't matter; she needed more.

As she reached for the Bit, she froze.

The Bit had turned black.

She looked at Bit in her hand. That one went Black too.

I've never seen this before. She looked up. "Midna, are you-"

All that remained of Midna were head and torso, the latter quickly being swallowed up by 0s and 1s.

"NO!" Peach channeled the Bit but her arm gave way; she was back on the ground in a spasm.

"0Please; d1on't 0waste 0any m1ore 0strength 0on 1me." Midna leaned against the skull of the Wind Fish.

"I can.. save you." Peach inched forward. "I have the power..."

"0No. Y1ou 0can't." Midna smiled as she closed her eyes. The symbols were consuming her neck. "0And i1t's o1kay. 0Thank you for freeing 0me."

"Please forgive me, Midna."

"0King Code took a1 lot of things from a lot of people. 0He took my world from 0me. He took the darkness from me. P1lease make sure he never takes anything from a1nyone again. Oh, and make sure Link gets his cap back. Can't be a hero without it. Peach...what a funny name. Nice to meet you though. 0Goodbye."

The symbols vaporized her mouth, and her head followed not long after; the last 0 wisped into the air vanished.

Peach stared at the wall.

I couldn't save her. One person. Trapped here for who knows how long. And she had to die here. My actions resulted in her death.

She looked at the Bit in her hand. And then the one on the ground. The dark tint of black was still there. but it was slowly giving way to gray.

Her first instinct made her reach for the Bit.

Her second made her shy away.

I don't deserve this power. I never did. I should have given it to Link when I had the chance.

"It seems as though we could use each other."

Peach snatched the Bit up in a second. "Who said that?" She looked around. "King Code? Show yourself!"

"No, I'm not King Code, or whatever else you want to call Ganon."

She heard followed the voice, but no body on to go with it. "Where are you?"

"Down here on the ground. Next to this chunk of ceiling, can't miss me."

Peach walked over to the debris, noticing a spike right behind it. Crushing the stone under her foot, Peach came face to face with a mask.

"I am Majora."

Creepy is what you are. In addition to its multi-colored spikes at the bottom, there were two prominent horns at the top of the heart-shaped mask. As colorful as Majora was, all Peach could focus on were the eyes. Two tiny black pupils enshrouded with green irises. Just like the moon sculpture.

"Why are you a mask?"

"I am unable to change into my other forms. Ganon, of course."

"Aren't you coded like Midna is to not be unable to leave here?"

"He didn't bother with me. Figured pinning me under a rock for all eternity was enough of an unholy prank on its own. But that doesn't matter anymore. All you have to do is put me on."

"What happens then?"

"Use me and gain all my powers. Free me from my curse. I can help. I know things. Secrets. I knew of the Twili. People of the shadows. Poor Midia. She was the last one. All wiped out by Ganon. See that skeleton back there? That was a deity. And look what it is now: a trophy. Just like everything else here."

"She...she was the last?" Peach picked Majora off the ground, wiping away the dust. "And i lost her."

"Yes...but I can help you make sure there won't be another. You have power, but not enough. You need me. Just Put me on..."

Peach stared through the back of the wooden mask. What was she doing, trying to play the hero? Elvin had no desire to give her the ROBs she needed. Bowser was breathing down her neck. Link was a good man; but he was a compromised man. He had issues of his own, and seemingly had failed against Ganon/King Code before. Ganon was a new problem that somehow had ways to overcome less Bit power...

and none of those were her biggest problem.

"Would you like to know something about Pyromancers, Majora?"

'"...Yes?"

"We're just like our flames; we'd rather die than be controlled"

Fire shot up from her fingers, enveloping Majora instantly. The masked screamed. Peach felt it writhe in her hands.

"WHY WRETCH?!"

"Did you really think I couldn't sense your depravity? As soon as I first saw you, my body was screaming for your incineration."

"YOU NEED ME! GANONDORF WILL SLAUGHTER. YOU! YOU DONT KNOW THE CODE PIECES LIKE HE DOES!"

"Maybe. It won't be any concern to you, however."

"DIE!"

Majora shot out one of its spikes, going right for her throat. It didn't even break skin. Fire quickly traveled up the spike, eating it away like piranha.

"And for the record. her name was Midna."

Peach stared Majora in the eye as her flames consumed the last of its being.

She knelt. Even that took more effort than it should've. One last thing to do. Walking over to the pile of Wind Fish bones, Peach grabbed Link's cap and folded it up.

"I have to remember to...give this dress pockets." Putting one Bit back in her brooch, she kept the other at her side while opening a portal back home. There was nothing else left here.

"Midna, I'm sorry this place was your grave. You deserved better. I swear on my life, I will carry out your final wishes and fight in your name until King Code is dead."

As the Portal formed, her arm gave out, and she stumbled into the light.

"Or I am."


Love is a danger
Of a different kind
To take you away

And leave you far behind


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Bonus Art exclusive on the AO3 Version