Chapter 2: Cabernet

The sun was shining down on the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario was tending to the flowers on the observation deck. It was situated on a tower that overlooked the entire kingdom. Patches of flowers formed a giant compass on the deck. When Peach heard that Mario was there, she practically ran to him. Besides Toad, Mario was her only true friend, and she indeed had a crush on him. She always waited for him to express similar feelings, which was somewhat hypocritical because she only hinted at her feelings.

When she got to the deck, she hesitated as she paced over to Mario. His back was turned to her; he was working on the patch of flowers that spelled the letter W. She reached out to tap Mario's shoulder.

"Yes, Princess?" Mario asked before she got a chance to get anywhere near him; he never looked up from his work. Mario had a nasty habit of surprising Peach like this. She was beginning to suspect that he was psychic, though this seemingly telekinetic power was a product of living in Brooklyn, where one must have eyes on the back of his head.

"Oh, um..."Peach hesitated; she was caught off guard. "I was wondering if you would like to have a glass of wine with me..."

Mario finally stood up and faced Peach. "I would love to," he simply said. "Toad --"

"YES! ... um, Mario..." Toad was there the whole time, keeping a safe distance from Peach and Mario. "What is it?"

"The Princess and I would like some wine."

"I can only accept orders from the Princess," spouted Toad Mario hated this line.

Peach stepped forward. "Um, could you get some wine, please?"

"What kind?" asked Toad with a smile. Peach looked to Mario.

"Cabernet?" asked Mario. Peach nodded. "Cabernet."

"I can only accept orders from the Princess," Toad spouted nearly by reflex.

"Alright," said a severely annoyed Mario. "Allow me to rephrase in the form of a question."

"Alright."

"Would you please get some Cabernet?"

"I can only accept orders from the Princess" Toad said like a broken record.

If there was any one person Mario wanted to kill it would have been Toad. Toad was highly resentful of Mario because Toad has a crush on the Princess himself. However, since he was a Eukaryot, he is unable to marry Peach or even tell her his feelings. As such, he can only take happiness in her servitude. Toad hates Mario because Peach loves him, but he does not even have the respect to love her back.

Peach repeated the instructions to Toad, who was more than happy to comply. He finally went off to the kitchen to get the wine.

"I swear to God I'll kill him," ranted Mario.

"You can't kill Toad!" exclaimed Peach.

"You're right: I don't have a weapon..."

Toad came back with a bottle of Cabernet and two glasses. He filled Peach's glass and started to walk away.

"HEY!" Mario yelled.

"I'm sorry; it seems I forgot you." said Toad cheekily. He filled Mario's glass and walked away.

"Okay, that's it. Tomorrow I'm killing him." said Mario half-jokingly (emphasis on the word half).

"You had better not kill him," threatened Peach. "Or I'll banish you!"

"Then let me be banished!"

Peach giggled. She had not seen this kind of defiance even in jest. She was amused by it, even attracted to it. They sat in the courtyard, speaking of trivial things and sipping their wine. Mario gagged every time he took a sip (he was not a wine person), but he had to drink it because he made such a big deal out of it.

---

Meanwhile in the North, Lord Bowser Koopa was preparing his troops for battle. This evolved form of Meiolania stood upright, and exhibited behaviors that were somewhat human, such as making informed decisions, but could not be considered sentient. This is because he lacks the key ingredient in sentience: morals. All he knew is that he wanted an heir, and there were no females in his area. There were only two options: Sarasaland's Princess Daisy, who was highly guarded and whose kingdom had a military, or the Mushroom Kingdom's Princess Peach whose kingdom had no military. He was highly arrogant about this battle. Rather than sending ten thousand troops, he decided on sending five hundred trained soldiers. The siege was more for fun than anything, as he very well had the power to snatch Peach himself. However, Bowser not only wants Peach, but he wants the Mushroom Kingdom to lie in ruins. He would go to the Mushroom Kingdom at the end of the siege to flatten the kingdom. Kamek would do the actual kidnaping, but not without first beating her unconscious, or perhaps raping her if there was enough time (this was a best case scenario). Then they would go back to the North, but Peach would not have this pleasure. Bowser handsomely paid a covetous wretch known as Wario to build a small castle for himself in the plains, on the condition he makes a room for Peach. This room was really more of a closet, with nails and broken glass sticking out of the walls. Here, Peach would be kept until the technology is developed to produce an heir (Bowser was too large to rape her, though he would have loved to). After the heir has been produced, Peach would die a slow and painful death at the hands of Bowser.

There is no dawn for the Kingdom.

Author's note: About the part where it says Bowser is an evolved form of Meiolania: do a Google image search of it-- the resemblance is astounding!