DISCLAIMER: Mario and all related characters are property of Nintendo.
Author's note: This is just a little idea I had about Mario and Pauline. This is the first time that I've tried a romance, so please be gentle with me. Please? (Listens to reviewers) No? You meanies…
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Memories of an angel
Mario stood, arms resting on the cold marble of one of Peach's many balconies, thinking of her. His gaze was fixed solidly on the landscape in front of him, but he wasn't seeing the moonlit grass, the gently rustling trees, nor the start speckled velvet sky but his memory was performing a ghostly dance, re-enacting distorted memories of he and Pauline in the mushroom kingdom that never happened. He saw her transparent form, laughing as she swept an arm over the cool waters of the castle moat, and then she turned, those two beautiful eyes staring directly into his, before she vanished, slowly fading with the wind, her melodic laughter being the only sign that he had seen her at all.
It was strange in many ways, he thought; that one woman could hold so much power over him. He, who had fought the hardest of foes, and faced the toughest of challenges convincingly could be defeated be a mere woman. When he had been her boyfriend he would have done anything for her, and, infact, he often did. They had parted years ago now, but she held him still in a grip that was too much for him to escape. Their separation had only strengthened the love he had for her.
He had tried to convince himself that he would recover, that he would forget about her in time. He hadn't. And what surprised him even more was his reaction to Peach. Any one could see that she was uncommonly beautiful and in many ways the sheer personification of a legendary angel. But not even she could free him from Pauline's spell, although he was silently convinced she was trying, and Mario didn't have the heart to tell her that she was just wasting her time and that he feared suffering from the agony of heartbreak once again.
It was a sad day for Mario when he realised something that would effect his life for years to come. He, the great Mario, was afraid to love. When he realised that he could not find the strength inside of him to love, he had been shocked, but in some way accepting. He surrounded himself with his friends and enemies to take his mind off his loneliness, but not even they could battle the rising feeling of despair that he held within his heart.
It was affecting his family also. Mario used to visit Luigi on a regular basis, often dropping into Sarasaland for a friendly chat with his brother and his girlfriend Princess Daisy. However recently he'd become uncomfortable in their presence, somehow feeling pain from their shared happiness. He wasn't resentful of their joy, he wished them all the best, but he felt as if they were a constant reminder of what he could have had and what he could have been. As a result, Mario had kept his distance from the two, the pain from seeing them together overpowering the urge to see a loved one. Luigi had noticed his sudden absenteeism, and one day he had cornered Mario in the castle, just after a doubles tennis match. Mario bowed his head further, remembering his brother's words as if he were speaking them at that very moment.
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"Mario," Luigi asked softly when Daisy and Peach had run into the castle. "Um, do you…" Luigi paused, eliciting a confused response from Mario. He seemed uncomfortable as if the words he was about to say were excruciating to speak.
"Do you…have a problem with Daisy and me?"
Mario gasped, his gloved hand flying to his mouth in surprise. He spun to face his brother who was now studying the clay court, bracing himself for the answer.
"No, of course not!" Mario insisted. "I think Daisy is a lovely girl, you know that. I'm really happy for the both of you."
"But…." Luigi tried but Mario interrupted.
"No Luigi, I don't have a problem with it, and even if I did it wouldn't matter because the important thing is that you're happy."
Luigi smiled softly, and exhaled in relief. He had been holding his breath. "I'm sorry Mario."
Mario looked away, angry with himself for allowing his petit emotions to affect his brother. He turned to Luigi, who was now playing with his tennis racket and the ball, bouncing the item up and down in front of him. Mario wondered whether he should start another conversation, that he should ask Luigi where he had got that impression, but he already knew the answer.
"No," Mario said softly, and Luigi's tennis ball went rolling across the court, "I'm the one who should be sorry. You know you're the most important person in the world to me, Luigi. I didn't mean to be so selfish."
Luigi smiled, and turned to look at Mario, who was now subconsciously rubbing the base of one of his fingers on his left hand. Mario had seen Luigi look at this action, and in a moment he understood why Mario had done what he had for he was rubbing the precise spot where his engagement ring to Pauline was hidden. They fell into a silence, with Luigi staring intently at Mario's gloved left hand, and Mario staring with badly mimicked interest at the electrically powered scoreboard opposite the court.
Luigi had always been an intelligent person in both academic areas and matters of the heart, and he proved this more now than at any other time. Luigi could have told him that he would have found someone else, that one-day he would get over the painful loss of his fioncée. He could have said that Mario should get over it, but he didn't. Instead, he placed an affectionate hand on Mario's shoulder and fell into comforting, understanding silence. This one gesture saying more than words ever could.
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The gentle rays of the sun were peaking from behind the horizon, waking up after a revitalising sleep. As the sun tipped over the horizon, the single gold ring on Mario's now un-gloved left hand caught the sunlight, and twinkled silently, gently, as the memories of his past fiancée did. Silently, Mario picked up his glove and slipped it back over his hand, his eyes not once leaving the cold metal circle that would forever have a place on his hand.
"One day," Mario whispered to himself, and then the ring vanished under the glove, its glinting light hidden under the protection of his glove. Yet underneath he could still feel it pressing against his skin, for the glove only hid the ring from the sight of others, never himself. It would serve as a constant reminder of the one woman he had ever truly loved, the happiness that they had shared, and the fact that they were no longer together. Now it would also remind him of his brother's undying support and the way his friends made him who he was now.
Below him, a figure in a pink dress walked out onto the bridge, and adopted the exact same position of the ghostly reminder of his fiancée. She was staring blankly at the water, her beautiful golden hair cascading down that perfect face of hers, and her eyes holding a longing that Mario understood all to well. He gazed at his finger once more, smiling, as several tears escaped from behind his defences. Maybe one day, Peach, who he cared so much for but had yet to find the strength to confess, would find a place underneath that glove too. No, not underneath, but in full view of everyone, not hidden away like some shameful secret.
"One day," he whispered to himself and below him Peach seemed to think the same.
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