Another chappie in which Bowser finally begins to fight Mario for the last time and Peach runs into an old friend.

(The title of the chapter is the opening lyric from For Good from Wicked. I saw it and was completely blown away...no other musical will ever top Wicked. If you have a chance to see it, I highly suggest you do, because it is perfection on a stage!)

The darkness had engulfed him. He felt his feet giving out under his giant body. He shifted from left leg to right, trying to keep his balance. He grabbed his head in agony. He was getting an awful migraine.

'Perhaps I chanted the spell wrong?' Bowser thought as he threw up some in his mouth. His vision was hazy, yet he knew where he was: The Oblivion Arena. However, this time around, everything seemed like it was underwater. He could hardly breathe. He could hardly see the ground or the floating bombs scattered around the place. He could, however, make out the lone person standing on the other end of the arena. The one man he…wait. Was it fear? Was Bowser actually scared of this creature?

'Yes,' he thought. 'I am.'

He knew now the reason for his dizziness. Mario had collected all of the Stars and their power was making him stronger. It was as if they had created an aura around Mario that kept him safe from Bowser's harm.

So then how was Bowser supposed to defeat him? He had only his strength, his claws, and his fire breath. He hadn't memorized enough defensive or attacking spells. Mario, on the other hand, was completely unpredictable. The first time Bowser had met him, Mario surprised him with his high jumping and agility. What else was this man capable of after destroying all of the guardians of the Stars in the paintings?

He locked his menacing eyes on the Italian assassin. He looked so…utterly harmless. Compared to Wart, Toadstool, Brank…heck, even King Boo looked tougher than this guy. But Bowser knew what lied behind the mustache and the overalls. The Koopa King, of all people, knew that it's not what's on the outside, but the inside that counts.

He steadied himself. He concentrated as hard as he could. His eyes focused hard, hardly blinking, as the spinning world began to make more sense. He was going to fight Mario. He lowered his fiery eyebrows to the brink of pain and thought about what he needed to do. This Mario creature was here, for no apparent reason, to take away everything Bowser had worked so hard for. No…it was beyond work…it was his life. His devotion, his obsession. He had killed his entire family to get this castle. This kingdom. This power. He had trained for years for the moment to sit on the throne. He had invaded countries, he had started a full-scale war for this dream to come true!

Not all dreams are meant to come true. For when they do, they become nightmares. This is what had happened to King Bowser. This castle had at once become his home and, at the same time, his prison. Princess Peach had become his threat and his sister. And Mario…Mario had become his Hades, choosing who would live and who would die in this dark saga Bowser called Life.

Quick as a flash, Mario jumped high up in the air. Very high. Bowser watched as he flew higher and higher, as if he were a bird, until he nearly disappeared amongst the shadows. He then cried out a mighty battle cry and forced his feet down to the ground. Bowser backed away just in time to see Mario's feet slam a small crater in the arena. Sweat began to grow on Bowser's brow. This was his last fight…and he knew it.

Princess Peach had no clue what she was doing. All she had was the book of spells and a heart pounding out of her chest. She was running to her father's secret library to find a very valuable object. An item so powerful that it could kill her and destroy the castle if used improperly. She descended down the dark staircase, her breathing heavy. She needed to find that last Star. She needed to protect it from the rest of the Star Storm for, she remembered, if all the Stars got together, they would make their master invincible and the Storm would just get more deadly.

She didn't know if making Mario strong enough to defeat Bowser was a good thing or not.

She tripped. She tumbled into the darkness, bruising her skull, bleeding badly from the forehead. She kept falling until her dress caught, miraculously, on a nail sticking out of the side of the staircase. She began to cry. She couldn't do this. Bowser had trusted her to do such a dangerous task all by herself and she knew that she would never accomplish it.

"Princess?" a small, squeaky voice called from a few steps up. She opened up her stunning blue eyes. Peach recognized that voice. Small steps could be heard from above her as a tiny creature began approaching her, worry in his small voice.

"Princess, of, dearest, I'm I ever sorry!" Mips cried out, hopping next to the Princess's bleeding head. He removed a small cloth from behind one of his large ears and used it to tend to her wound.

"Mips!" Peach exclaimed. "Oh, thank goodness it's you. For a moment, I thought that you were…something else. Something dangerous."

Mips sighed and smiled. "I'm nothing more than a mere rabbit now, Your Majesty. But never mind me now. I hear loud winds coming from above the castle. What is going on?"

The Princess brushed some of her golden hair out of her face and cleared her throat. "Mips, it's a very long story, but there's a whirlwind of Stars destroying this very castle. It seems that Mario has been careless and gathered all of the Stars together without knowing their strength. Bowser is attempting to stop Mario now. Come."

The Princess got up on her feet and limped up the stairs back to her father's private library. Mips was confused.

"You Majesty," he began, following the girl. "If I may be so bold, why are you so calm while your hero is fighting your kidnapper?" The Princess hardly knew herself. She kept climbing the stairs until she finally found the wooden door she had been looking for. She grabbed the doorknob and looked back down at Mips.

"Because I believe that Bowser is not as evil as we both had thought."

Mips cocked his head, looked at his furry paws, and sighed. He knew that Bowser was evil. Only evil could transform an innocent member of the Beanbean court into a bunny rabbit.

However, he quickly played back the whole incident in his head. He had tried to fool King Bowser into giving up all his land to Lady Cackletta. Bowser had just endured a terrible war and was, no doubtfully angered by the fact that a tiny creature was trying to take it all away from him again. He lowered his head, his floppy ears drooping over his face. Maybe he wasn't so innocent after all.

The Princess finally got the door open, however, for some reason, it was very difficult to. Once the wooden door swung open, Peach realized why. Everything in the library had been shattered, ripped to shreds, or simply destroyed. In the center of the room was an object so bright that the two visitors had to shield there sensitive eyes in its presence.

It was the Star and it, too, was spinning violently. Mips starred in awe, wondering if he should bow at the sight of such a beautiful object. The Princess, however, knew that she had a mission to accomplish, and stormed right into the room. She began searching frantically for the spell book that she had encountered the first time she entered this room a few weeks before. She needed to find what page the Star Spell was on, and it was bookmarked in that copy.

"Look for a book that looks like this!" Peach cried over the roaring sound of the wind from the Stars spinning. The rabbit at her feet nodded and hopped in one direction, while Peach searched in another. The wind above their heads was getting louder, signaling that the twister was getting closer and heavier.

Then Peach saw it again. The case with the eggshell in it. When she first encountered the pink dome, she was confused and frightened. This time around, she felt at peace…at home. Her eyes filled up with two heavy tears. She had finally put the pieces together. She was born of a Human, her father, and of a Koopa. Bowser's sister, Brilette. How she knew this, she couldn't explain, but she knew now why she was driven to stop the Stars and let Mario fall.

"Princess!" Mips cried out. He sounded as if he were in trouble. The Princess finally snapped out of the trance her eggshell had cast on her and turned around. Something was missing. She saw Mips standing on the other side of the destroyed room, pointing frantically at the door.

"Princess!" he was completely out of breath. Peach ran over to him, bend down, and asked what was wrong. Mips took a few breathes in and said, "The final Star! It escaped!"

Suddenly, the roar of the wind got dangerously louder. Peach and Mips had to clamp their palms on their ears to keep them from going deaf. Suddenly, the roof burst from the private library into the funnel of the ever-growing cyclone. Peach starred at the Star Storm; fear in her eyes, but not in her heart. She had, for the first time, strength in her heart, and she was going to use it to regain Bowser's dream.

read and REVIEW please. This chapter was fun to write