Peach woke up when the cell door scraped open, scraping inside her head.
"Time for breakfast, Princess." Peach sat up eagerly then checked herself and frowned; she was hungry but not about to let her captor know it.
"What? Some delicious gruel?"
"No. A better meal if you'll come upstairs with me."
The look of disgust on her face was enough answer than her retort. "With you?"
"Yes."
"I'd rather starve."
"Your wish is my command, Princess," Bowser snarled, slamming the door behind him.
Peach stuck out her tongue at him as he left.
Peach guessed it was about noon judging from the lack of light. For hours she watched a ray of sun shine through the narrow window down the hall and watched as it crept from the opposite wall, down to the floor, and finally disappeared. Bowser returned, though she didn't expect him.
"What do you want?"
"Let's try this again. You can have dinner if you eat with me."
"I think I'll pass."
"…Have it your way."
The cell door slammed.
Peach had fallen asleep by the time Bowser returned. He yanked open the door.
"Mm…morning?"
"No. Supper with me."
"Koopa, are you insane?"
After a pause, Bowser slammed the cell door again. Peach watched him walk down the hall.
Humiliating.
Mario grabbed a handful of sand and through it to the wind, yelling at the top of his lungs to nothing in particular.
"He sends us to the desert in the middle of a sandstorm!"
"Relax, Mario. It could be worse."
"Yeah? Like how?"
"We could be in Ice World."
Mario stared at his brother under an upraised arm, eyes squinted in disbelief.
"This is entirely your fault!"
Day 2
Bowser came.
Peach said no.
The cell door slammed.
Two times it happened…but the third time proved to be much more explosive.
Peach had already recognized Bowser's shadow in the hall. "No."
"Oh, Peach," Bowser pouted. "I hope you don't mean that. Come now, aren't you hungry?"
"Of course I am, you idiot!" she shouted. "I'm starving! And you know what? I'm glad, because then maybe I'll die before I have to live to see forever with you."
Something on Bowser's face twitched. He broke into a malicious smile as he drew out a ring of keys and unlocked her door. "You don't mean it." The door swung open.
"Oh, no! Really, I do! I'd sooner die than share a table with someone as ugly as you!"
It happened before Peach could react. Both wrists were held in one clawed hand and pinned above her head, which slammed into the stone wall he shoved her into. His other monstrous paw clamped down on her waist, squeezing, holding it firmly against the prison wall. Some kind of fear that had finally instilled in her heart told her that now was the time for silence.
Peach gasped a little from the pressure at her empty stomach. She tried not to flinch when he face drew closer to hers, glaring, daring her to glare back. "Eat," he growled.
Peach could only stare up at him, trying not to whimper in fear, and simply turned her head away.
Bowser still did not leave. He watched her, and the longer Peach was held prisoner, the more vulnerable and scared she became. The pressure on her waist did not let up, in fact it almost felt like he was squeezing tighter. Perhaps she was wrong about Bowser, not wanting to harm her. Silently fighting for a single breath, she stole a glance from the corner of her eyes. Still he watched.
He finally let her fall and spat, "So be it."
The cell door slammed.
It had been five days since Bowser nabbed the Marios. Five days since Peach took their place in prison. Five days since she had eaten anything.
Yet only three days since Bowser had paid her a visit.
Peach's stomach was beyond making annoying sounds and churning painfully. Any movement across her cell exhausted her of energy. She slept often, starting to go to sleep to the thought that she may not wake up. By the evening of the fourth day, she had realized she'd made Bowser so angry that he simply didn't care anymore. She didn't expect him to. He was just a thing. A giant, ugly monster that wanted her solely for his pleasure and entertainment. Right now, it seemed, he wanted to watch her die.
She shuddered, thinking of the look he gave her that last night he came. "I hate him," she whispered to no one.
"Me too." A tired voice echoed in the cell. Peach gasped at the sound, startled. She thought she was the only one in that area of the prison…unless it was a mushroom's ghost talking to her.
"Who…who's there?"
"Just a prisoner, like yourself." A sad looking Koopa Troopa stepped into view. "An ally." Peach looked disgusted.
"You? An ally? You're one of them!"
He narrowed his eyes bitterly. "Not so, you're highness. I have worked for Bowser long, and…and I loathe him so much."
Peach watched him carefully.
"All his plans are stupid, and I hate that he's always after you." He took a deep breath, as if collecting himself. "For so long I have wanted to foil his plans…and this is my big chance."
Peach frowned in confusion as he drew out a ring of keys and set one in her door, unlocking it with a click. He flinched at the creaky door as he eased it open. "Shh. We must be quiet."
Peach didn't move.
"Come on, Princess. We must hurry!"
She shook her head slowly. "How do I know you're for real?"
His face dropped and he held out a hand. On his left palm was the letter 'k', branded black into his scaly skin. The mark of a disobedient slave to Bowser. He looked up shamefully. "I hate him just as much as you…and it shows."
After some moments of silence, Peach nodded and struggled to stand. She hugged her stomach, noticing how much smaller it was. "Do you have food?" she rasped.
"No, I'm sorry. I am barely fed myself. Come quickly, this way. We'll get you home."
She followed the Koopa through the dark halls of the prison, heart beating with every glance at every shadow cast from his torch. Her knees began to feel weak, her mouth was dry. Just when she thought she couldn't go on, the Koopa stopped in front of a door and struggled to push it open. What lay inside made Peach's heart leap to her throat.
Seven warp pipes, all sitting in a row, lay shiny and new before her, enticing her to choose.
"Which--" she began, still taken in by the beautiful sight.
"Mushroom Kingdom," the Koopa read off the sign hanging over the pipe. "Direct line to freedom." He grinned weakly.
Still in disbelief, Peach placed her hands around the emerald rim, feeling the cold pipe under her fingers. She turned to face her rescuer.
"Come with me."
He shook his head fiercely.
"I can clear your name, there are other Troopas dwelling in my kingdom…"
"No, no. He'd easily find me, I'd be in much more trouble."
Peach nodded, tired and hating to think of what would become of the little guy if he were caught. Giving him a grateful smile, she climbed inside. "Thank you…" Then she was gone.
The Koopa watched her disappear impassively, rubbing away the charcoal mark on his left hand with his fingers.
"The pleasure is all mine."
Peach started to think something was wrong when the pipe grew colder by the second, and then it was too late to stop. She was falling, falling, falling…
A pile of wet, cold snow caught her, and a frozen wind embraced her in its arms. Peach didn't remember the Mushroom Kingdom being so cold, until she saw two snowmen pelting each other with snowballs on a patch of ice nearby. Feeling her sense of dread return, she sank to her knees in the snow hopelessly. Tears quickly turned to ice as she realized she had been tricked. She wished she had remembered her cloak as snowflakes highlighted her blonde hair.
Bowser discovered his prisoner's disappearance much too late. He went to her cell wanting to see if she had died yet, and was shocked to find the door open, no Princess in sight.
Grinning smugly, he walked to the warp pipe room. Rather than cornering her, he found himself alone in a chamber of rock and steel. He growled deep within his throat, roaring for his servants to be present. Waiting with a critical eye until every one was crammed inside, he tried taking deep breaths.
"The Princess had no items with her in her cell. She had no friends in prison." He screamed at them. "Did she??"
All of them shook their heads fervently.
"So why is she gone? Who knows? Hmm?"
One small Troopa only managed the words, "I can" when Bowser grabbed him roughly by the shell.
"You can what?"
The Troopa's faint smile faded as he felt himself facing a nightmare. "I…I…can tell you….what happened."
"Please...elucidate."
He swallowed, realizing his idea may not have been so wise after all.
"I…I thought you wanted rid of her…I wanted to help--"
"Where is she?"
The Troopa pointed with a trembling hand, his finger showing the traces of black dust. Bowser followed the finger to a sign over a pipe, which he hadn't noticed before. The words "Mushroom Kingdom" were sloppily painted on; Bowser reached over and slowly flipped it to the other side, where the bold, perfectly printed words "Ice World" hit him like a slap in the face. There was no time to think. He turned round and sneered at the Troopa in his grasp.
"You had better hope she isn't dead. Either way, you will be."
Peach didn't know how long she had been walking. It felt like hours but it could not have been longer than 30 minutes. She could no longer feel her toes in the freezing whiteness and hugged her arms to try and keep them warm. She had to keep walking, walking, walking…
She left the pipe from which she came from; it was too high to jump and reach, and she hadn't the energy to get to it. She took consolation in the fact that would probably die trying to leave Bowser rather than die in his clutches.
She had eaten little snow; the cold hit her stomach hard and made her feel sick. The wind wouldn't stop blowing snow in her face and she couldn't see. Her ankles felt numb and weak, and she was shivering terribly .She stumbled and fell to her knees, coughing violently, cradling her stomach. Trying not to let her tears overcome her sense of hope, she started to rise shakily. She had to keep walking…
No, wait. The snow felt nice, like a blanket. She had started to get up, but gently let herself fall again, down into the warm snow.
Perhaps this is best, she thought, closing her eyes to block out the last terrible sight she would see in her lifetime. As her shivering relented, she tried to imagine the Mario brothers; Mario and Luigi, Toad and her shining palace, her home…everything warm, familiar and nice. Mario…Mario was familiar, nice…and warm; she would pretend the snowy bank that cradled her was Mario, her savior in most situations such as these. Every snow flake that bitterly kissed her frozen cheek was Mario, letting her know he was there. Every rush of icy wind that whispered to her was Mario, whispering that everything would be okay, that he would take her home, that he loved her.
Darkness began to overtake her, and for her last moments she began to believe her fairy tale. Just as she truly felt the hero's warm embrace, hear his whispering words…she heard another sound. Muffled footsteps? She no longer cared. She dismissed the sound and went back to her sweet illusion. She felt herself rolling over, rolling out of Mario's arms and back into the cold snow bank. Her eyelids fluttered, then closed.
"Mario?" she whispered inaudibly, through chattering teeth. Strong arms picked her up out of the snow, covering her with something thin and soft. She summoned the strength to curl herself, protecting her body from the cold air whipping around her again. Her eyes fluttered open again and tried to focus on the one who carried her. Green…Luigi…? No…bigger…scaly…No, no, no…
Bowser.
"Stop," Peach wheezed, trembling again. Barely pushing at him, she broke into a fit of coughing and felt her head grow light. She deliriously wondered what punishment awaited her for leaving her new "home." In her illusion, Mario said goodnight and blew out the candle, enveloping her in darkness.
Woo! Chillilicious. ;o)
