Who wanted a fallout and feels? Anyone? Everyone? No one? Ok, here we go anyway.
...
To tell the truth was facing judgment.
Hiding it seemed like the better option.
Even with everything out and exposed,
You stand half a chance to prove us right.
[Mario]
The Red Toad and I jump out of the pipe and emerge in a blue cavern, which is darker, yet calmer, than the volcanic Warp Zone we came from. Behind us, a rumble sounds and the orange pipe submerges back into the ground from behind us.
"Well, good to know that we weren't followed," laughs the Red Toad. I silently nod and he pulls out the Magikoopa wand. "Well, let's see if I can find the way out of here," he mumbles and walks about the cave for a moment.
His scepter glows once he approaches a wall opposite to the pipe's location, and mirroring the entrance to the Warp Zone from the Dark Land.
"Guess this is it," calls the Red Toad, and he waves the wand to open the cavern walls. Slowly, the crumble and shift open. We hurriedly stroll outside and the walls behind us close.
Once we've made it out, I squeeze my eyes shut and take a minute to slowly pry them open again. It's much brighter here than it was in Bowser's Castle. After a little bit passes, though, my eyes adjust to the lush green fields around me.
Here, trees are still lively, and they stand tall, proud, as they bask in the sunlight. The air is fresh, crisp, and I'm able to take a heavy breath in and out. A gentle breeze passes by, and the plants waver as it blows through. I can look up and see a bright blue sky again, clear, save maybe some gentle white clouds that help decorate it.
Softly, the Red Toad pats my arm. "It's great to be here, isn't it? I forget how great the Grasslands really are," he observes. "I guess it's because we're usually so busy and it looks so simple by comparison. But, when you stop to take it in, especially now, it's really beautiful."
My agreement is another quiet nod, because I couldn't put it better any other way. And after a little more time passes, he leads me along the path for Peach's Castle.
[Bowser]
Damned be my loose tongue.
It was in the heat of the moment, and for not burying my emotions, I faced eight curious and confused faces. My eyes scanned quickly across them until I lock on to Junior. His small eyes look back to mine and I grinded my teeth behind my lips.
Pain. That's what I caused him.
With just a step forward and my hand raised, he shook his head, pushed past the Koopalings, and ran off, down the hall and into the stairwell. I felt myself turn to follow him, but the Koopalings slid up to block the path.
"Move," I ordered. My temper shot from zero up to eleven in an instant.
"Why should we?" protested Roy. "You got some explaining to do."
"To my son, not to any of you," I snarled.
"Oh, that's not how we work," chuckled Ludwig. "You request us for help and we deliver, so long as we can actually follow you through on these…schemes."
"Listen you little brat," I roared. "If you think for a minute that I won't crush you like the insects that you are—"
"Insects?!" snapped Wendy. "Excuse you, King Bowser, but we've done far too much for you to earn that disgraceful slur."
"Far too much?! Please!" I bellowed. "I practically raised you rotten twerps! Everything you know? You owe that to me! As for your sorry excuses for help, look where we are! I am losing yet another war!"
"Those are your tactics failing, not ours," Larry insisted.
"With that attitude, it's no wonder that we fail every damn blasted time!" my voice thundered across the hall. "You pests think that you don't need to contribute to every last effort, but look where you are! My castle! You want to keep calling this place your home?!"
"We don't actually call it home," interjected Iggy.
"It's not on us that we don't agree with your plans all of the time," added Lemmy. "Sometimes your ideas are too crazy even for us."
"This teeters on treason," Kamek contested.
"No it doesn't," Ludwig challenged. "We have every right to know our king's activities and the choice to follow his plans accordingly."
"Like hell! This isn't a democracy!" I rang out again.
"Well, we're not exactly your soldiers," Morton explained. "We chose to be here."
"He's right," added Wendy. "You want to call us out for lack of support, fine. But you call on us for help. You helped train us, fine. But we are not your children."
They're not.
Her words are left in the air and I hold a glare over all seven Koopalings. For years, I have taken them in, kept and treated them above most of my army, but they have never been my kids. Constantly, they're mistaken for such, but we usually shook it off.
After all of this time…were they really so unattached to me?
…Did I deserve their loyalty?
"Bowser," Kamek interrupted my thoughts.
"Are you truly going to keep me from my son?" I questioned the Koopalings, and still shifted my eye contact around each one of them.
"We need to discuss this ourselves," persisted Larry. "You can console your son later."
I was about ready to spit out a fireball at him, but Kamek rested his hand on my arm. "I'll go check on the prince." Slowly, I nodded and the Magikoopa walked up to the Koopaling barricade.
"Oh no," Roy guarded the path. "You're coming with us too."
Kamek laughed. "Little Koopaling, your King is being most merciful by not sending all seven of you through the walls already." And with the wave of his wand, he slid Roy into Iggy and Lemmy, and calmly strolled away.
What was stopping me from doing the same? They're high ranking amongst the Koopa Troop, but why was I letting them impede me from taking care of my son?
"What now?" Lemmy asked as he pulled himself away from Roy and Iggy.
Ludwig stared at me, and I noticed that his eyes were wavering. He's thinking, carefully planning. "Shall we go to the Council Chamber?" he finally suggested.
His six siblings nodded in agreement and then turned to me. Slowly, I nodded as well.
"Larry, lead the way," ordered Wendy, and her younger brother complied. Soon, the rest of us followed, with the Koopalings wisely keeping me in the middle.
And as we made our way to the pipe and the lower levels, I realized that I might actually want to be kept from Junior right now. It disgusted me, but I was worried about seeing him. What would I tell him? What could I do to help him understand? Junior's younger than these brats; he's too confused right now, to deal with me or to be left alone.
As we reach the Council Chamber, I wonder just how lost the Koopalings are. They may be older than Junior, but they're quite young as well.
Larry ushered the group to the back of the room, and the seven of them were seated at the raised semi-circle table. I stood before them, at the center of the table.
What do you know? Judgment Day for the Koopa King has arrived.
"Great, you're all in a circle and propped above me," I mocked. "Feeling powerful yet?"
"Not really," admitted Lemmy, who quickly earned scornful looks from his siblings and sank down into his seat.
A minute passed and I looked around the table. Morton sat on my left, Roy on the far right. Next to Morton was Larry, who tapped at the table. Iggy fiddled with a small gray device next to him. Lemmy pulled himself back up, and waited to see if Roy would try to hit him. In the middle, Wendy held a mirror and applied more lipstick, to which Ludwig rolled his eyes.
"So, uh," piped up Roy and suddenly everyone's gaze shifted to him. "How did you guys, um, start?"
My hand clawed through my hair. "Well, we went to kidnap Peach at first—"
"He means the relationship," disrupted Ludwig. "Stay on topic."
"Look, I don't need to deal with any of your little shenanigans," I threatened. "I'm still your King, like it or not. You will treat me with more respect than that!"
Ludwig folded his arms and sat back. I waited for one of the others to jump to his defense, but they sat in silence.
"All right," I consented. "The start of it. I, uh, initiated the discussions between us. Or he did, when I had him in the dungeons and he requested to see me, but I actually went to him, so that's technically on me…" I looked up to see the lowered eyes and bored expressions of the Koopalings. "What? You wanted to know."
"You can give us a bit of an abridged version," advised Wendy.
"Fine," I grunted, a little miffed. Still, I cleared my throat and continued. "So, I told the guards to leave, he pestered me with questions and threats that led up to him asking why I take Peach. And then he asked if I loved her, to which I told him that I didn't."
"Wait, you don't?" asked Larry, who had the Koopalings glare in his direction.
"No. She's just in the way," I clarified. "If I were to marry her, it would be to take over her kingdom by an alternate method than force, not because I actually love her. The whole idea that I did like her was some foolish rumor that the Toads probably pitched while they pondered why I kidnap the princess. That idea spread here, the Koopa Troop kicked it around, and suddenly the rumor was assumed to be a fact. So, I just went with it for simplicity's sake. It was a charade, but served purpose in inspiring morale and ceased questions."
"Huh," pondered Wendy. "That's a little disappointing to hear."
"Tough, it's the truth," I shrugged and continued. "Mario wasn't exactly my, what's it called, 'one true love,' or whatever that love at first sight crap is labeled. But he kept showing up, we fought continuously, suddenly we started playing sports and going to parties together, and over time, I realized that I was actually attracted to him."
"I take it back, that's adorable," squealed Wendy.
"How exactly is fighting each other and then developing an attraction adorable?" questioned Iggy.
"Sparks fly," defended Wendy. "Don't question the rhymes and rhythms of the heart, my brother, just go with it!"
"Wendy, you need to calm down," murmured Ludwig, to which Wendy smacked the backside of his head and Ludwig knocked into the table.
"Keep going," Roy insisted to me. "The thing in the dungeon…?"
"Right, yes," I nodded and felt my face burn. "Well, he, uh, wanted to know more, but I left him with that. Um, the next time, I had him hauled up to the east tower for a message to send to Peach, and we…talked. Argued, really. Eventually, I hit a breaking point, went berserk on him, and questioned his reasons for everything. I suggested Peach; he denied feelings for her, while also confessing that he was interested in someone else. And then I pinned him down to that until he told me the truth, which fortunately enough, was that he loved me too." I paused as the Koopalings continued to listen and watch me. Some sweat dripped down from my head and palms, but brushed it off off. "So, uh, I told him that I felt the same, explained that he was my reason for everything, and uh…we hooked up after that?"
"How romantic," deadpanned Larry.
"Isn't it?!" cooed Wendy excitedly.
"Wendy, you are too into this," noted Morton. Wendy slid off a golden ring, spiked it off of Morton's head, and caught it as it whizzed back to her.
"Continue," persisted Ludwig.
"Well, that's kind of it," I folded my arms together. "Unless you want me to talk about moving him to the room next to me to keep him close, the time you lot caught me coming back from a date with him on the roof—"
"You had a roof date?" asked Iggy.
"Uh…yes?"
"That is pretty romantic," he agreed. The other six gave him quizzical looks. "What? Only Wendy can like mushy stuff?" A series of shrugs were exchanged and their attention returned to me.
"Ah, after that was the rebellion," I recalled. "I didn't want him killed, for obvious reasons to you now, he had some nightmares and looked them up, I had him sleep in my room—"
A few of the Koopalings snickered while Wendy clapped her hands together excitedly.
"Not like that!" my face burned as I protested. "Look, that's practically everything, up to the point where he ran off and you heard my outburst." I coughed up a puff of smoke and waved it away. "Good enough, or do you need more?"
"More please!" cried out Wendy, to which her brothers shook their heads. "Fine, that's enough then," she reluctantly relented and tapped at her red necklace.
"Ok…now what?" I asked.
The Koopalings exchanged expressions with one another for a moment. Then, Ludwig sat up in his seat.
"We'll decide where we go from here like we usually do," he announced. "We vote on supporting Bowser or going against these plans. Anyone disagree or think we should do otherwise?" They whispered to one another, but ceased upon finding no disagreements. "All right, we'll take a minute, then start with Morton, and work our way down."
"Do you really need me here for this?" I objected. "You vote in favor of me, you stay around the castle. You go against, you leave. Why do I need to stay?"
"Because we have a slightly sadistic side in which we enjoy watching anyone squirm, you included," blurted Lemmy. This time, Roy punched him over the head.
"Because we've kept you long enough, so just see it through," proposed Ludwig. My eyes lowered, but I nodded; I was curious.
A few whispers went back and forth down the line as the Koopalings bickered with their opinions to one another. I walked back over to the long table and leaned against it, as I impatiently waited for them to finish.
"Morton? You ready?" requested Iggy.
"I guess so," mumbled Morton, and his hand circled around the table, with one nail scratching a circle shape. He waited and looked up to find the Koopalings watch as they waited on him. "Um…I'm for helping Bowser out still," he decided. "He hasn't really done anything against us." I felt a small smile come up on my face; it was nice to have a positive lead off, and I was pleasantly surprised by Morton's choice.
"True, but this goes against every basic principle we've been taught," Larry argued. "Mario and his friends were always the enemy. I'm against working under those conditions." My smile dropped away and my eyebrows lowered. "Iggy?"
"Against, but only because can't really think of what else I can work on without war," Iggy explained.
"Couldn't you work on anything else?" questioned Morton.
"But my mindset is geared toward war right now!" griped Iggy. "It's hard to suddenly stop those thought processes and switch over to…to…well, whatever else!"
"You do realize we'll still be at war if we side with Bowser, right?" inquired Larry.
"Uh…oops."
"Leave it to the tech genius to over calculate himself," teased Lemmy.
"All right, all right, come on," broke in Ludwig. "Wendy?"
"You boys are joking, right? Definitely for!" cheered Wendy. "This is the cutest thing ever, as odd as it seems!" I held back a laugh, but couldn't help a bigger smile from returning to my face.
It dropped away quickly, however, when Ludwig rose up. "I'm against. Not only does Larry have a point, but also this is hardly a conducive situation at this point. What would we do now? Kidnap Mario?" The Koopalings looked from him to me, and I shrugged at the notion, but kept the idea buried in my mind.
"You're just trying to make yourself seem more important than you really are," huffed Wendy. Ludwig slammed his hands down on the table, but froze as we watched the other as Koopalings nodded in accord.
"Fine, you got me, whatever," Ludwig waved his hand about. "Lemmy?"
The smallest Koopaling pondered for another moment. "Well, it's kind of funny, and I like funny, so for!"
Larry and Morton nodded while Wendy, Iggy, and Ludwig shook their heads. Not my favorite decision, but so long as Lemmy sided with me, I'd graciously take it.
And then, Lemmy turned to his left, my right, "Guess that leaves you, Roy."
Damn it, him, and everything else. Roy would have the final decision on whether or not the Koopalings would continue to help me? Roy?
My eyes lined up with him as he leered and watched at me from behind his sunglasses. I squeezed my eyes shut and just listened.
"For."
Wait. What?! My eyes fluttered open.
"All right, that's the end of it," Ludwig murmured. "King Bowser, we apologize for monopolizing your time. Thank you for sharing with us."
My mouth dropped open and I gawked as the Koopalings slowly rose from their seats and hurriedly shuffled from the Council Chamber. Roy was the slowest, almost as if he waited for me.
"You standing there all day or getting back to your kid?" he questioned.
Honestly, I did want to tear away from that room as soon as possible, but I needed to understand this.
"Roy, I'm grateful, but…" What was I supposed to finish with? You're the biggest bully of your siblings, why in all the kingdoms would you pick to keep working with me? That would certainly show appreciation.
The purple shelled Koopaling kicked at the floor and waited for me to continue. When I didn't, he started up. "I, uh, I don't really get everything that's been going on. I mean, you explained stuff, but…it still hasn't, I don't know, processed for me," he admitted.
"Then why…?"
He picked at his red-framed sunglasses. "Because, um, I like working for you. And even I don't totally get everything, I can follow enough to get that you're really into what you're fighting for." His hand shook as he slid off his sunglasses.
My eyebrows raised as I gazed at his dark blue eyes, the median between the brighter blue eyes of one half of his siblings and the darker, black eyes of the other half. "Why would you ever hide those?" I couldn't help but ask.
"I…we hide a lot of stuff," confessed the pink-faced Koopaling. His eyes met mine and I was honestly awed by how beautiful they were. "Like, uh, I don't really know how much the others agree with me on this, and I guess I can't really speak for them, but, um, I…I like to think we like you as a dad, or a fill-in dad. Whatever."
Without hesitation, I reached down and pulled him into a firm hug. I couldn't believe that it took until now for me to realize how much these seven meant to me, but that somehow stayed present in at least Roy's mind. Leave it to him to make me want to eat my thoughts from just a few minutes ago.
Roy shuddered a bit and I pulled back to see water line behind his eyes. He hastily brushed his arm over his eyes and placed his sunglasses back over them.
"D-Don't tell anyone about any of this," he snapped. More softly, quietly, he added, "Please."
"Not a chance," I whispered and rubbed the kid on his head.
"Thanks." He sniffled and rubbed his arm across his face. "W-Well? What are you waiting for? Go find your kid already."
"Right." I nodded and rushed out of the room, as I left Roy to his thoughts and began to hunt down Junior.
[Mario]
We've nearly made it back to the castle, but there's still a little ways to go. And along the straightforward path, there are stragglers from Bowser's army that pop out from their hiding places, looking for a fight.
"Yikes, they're everywhere and relentless," quipped the Red Toad.
"Just keep moving," I ushered him to press on, but a Koopa slid out and blocked our path.
"Hold it right there, Mario!" the red-shelled Koopa Troopa halted us and raised his hand. "I have orders from King Bowser to take you back."
"Great to know, but I'm not going back," I told him.
He opened his mouth to argue, but before I could further my reasoning with him, the Red Toad jumped from the side and slammed the Koopa down into his shell.
Quickly, the Toad kicked the shell out of our path and beckoned me to follow him along once again.
"Mario, what are you doing?" he questioned as we ran again.
"I…I just can't do it." There was no way for me to explain the guilt I felt over it now.
We slowed to a brief stop. He patted my arm again. Understanding?
"Don't worry Mario, I get it," he soothed. "You're always pulling through on your journeys, but I'm sure even you get worn out." No, he's clueless. "Leave the enemies to me! You just keep back and recharge your energy, ok?"
Quietly, I glanced at the Toad's reassuring smile and reflected it to him with a nod.
With another start, we raced to a hill, climbed up it, and slid down along the other side. We jumped up and ran until—
"There! There it is!" the Red Toad cried and excitedly pointed to Peach's Castle in the distance. "Come on, Mario! We're home free!"
A green-shelled Paratroopa swooped down from the sky and I shoved the Toad down to the ground. We bounced back up as it flew back into the sky.
Not waiting for a second strike, the Toad rushed up the hill and leapt up. He stomped down on the Paratroopa's wings and knocked it from the sky.
With a flip, he ground pounded the Troopa back into its shell, which promptly rocketed away.
"Ugh, I've had enough of these guys!" complained the Red Toad as we broke back into a run.
There were no more enemies after that. The flashes of green plains swirled into gray, yellow, and red colors as we zipped through Toad Town, with some confused murmurs from those who hadn't quite seen us and delighted cheers from others that had.
The Toad and I slowed our pace as we hurried across the bridge and up to the castle courtyard. We panted and I gazed ahead to see several Toads, Peach, Luigi, and Yoshi walk up to the castle doors.
They turned upon hearing us trudge in, and Yoshi darted over and tackled me to the ground.
"Mario! You're back! You're ok!" he cheered and tightly wrapped his arms around me.
"Yoshi! It's good to see you," I laughed and hugged him back. I paused and pushed him off for a second. "Wait, you can speak our language?"
"Peach helped," Yoshi answered and went back to his tight clasp.
I patted him and looked past to see the four Toads run over to Red Toad, and all of them cheered, danced around and about, each one stopped a moment to give him a strong hug and congratulatory pats on the back.
"Oh Mario!" cried Princess Peach.
Yoshi let go and pulled us both up from the ground. He moved away as Peach let a golden rod drop to the ground and ran up to hug me herself. It wasn't as tight as Yoshi's iron grip, but she held tightly against me as I raised my arms to hug her back.
"It's nice to see you again, Princess," I whispered. Her messy blonde hair surrounded my vision almost completely.
"Mario, I'm so sorry you had to deal with that," she apologized. "It must have been a nightmare for you to deal with! I only wish we could have gotten you out sooner."
"Come on, Peach," I soothed. "You deal with that all of the time. Besides, it wasn't so bad." She pulled back and gave me a quizzical look. "Well, it was bad, but not awful," I corrected myself.
A smile burst onto Peach's face and she kissed my cheek. "Come on, your brother missed you terribly," she guided me over to the castle door, where Luigi patiently waited.
Only…I caught a glimpse of his eyes. Lowered. He frowned. And it looked, appeared, as if he were…as if he studied me.
"Breathe, Luigi," Peach laughed. "He's back. Mario's back."
"Hey bro," I raised my arms out and waited a moment. Luigi slowly stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me as I closed mine around him.
"Glad you're back," Luigi whispered to me. "But…we need to talk."
My head jerked up as he pulled away and carefully looked me in the eyes. He walked away and I continued to stare, even as Peach gently rubbed my back and Yoshi strolled back up to me, and wrapped his arms around one of mine.
Toadsworth emerged from the castle door and his face lit up as he caught each of us in his sight. "Oh, thank the Stars! Master Mario has returned!" he cried out. "And Princess Peach has returned with her retinue as well! Splendid! And perfect timing too." He shook my hand and bowed to Peach. "Princess, you have a special guest waiting for you inside."
Peach nodded and turned as the Purple Toad returned her wand. She took it and followed Toadsworth inside, with the parade of Toads chasing them in. Luigi glanced at me once more before joining them. Had Yoshi not tugged me forward, I might not have moved from that spot.
Even as I walked past the door and into the golden and pink castle halls, my heart slowly sank and I felt an empty pain stir inside me.
Knights against dragons are old stories.
Newer ones are deeper, more complex.
Only you can choose to accept changes,
What stands between us will never die.
...
So. Many. Feels. Oh, and surprise, those weird…poetic things or whatever…yeah, they came back. Big shocker. Actually, I did save them up for this chapter.
But hooray, Bowser was persecuted by the Koopalings, which ended in his favor, surprisingly for him! (Like I was ever going to drop them from the story! Ha! …Don't look at me like that, it reeks of suspicion.) And Roy! I was so happy to use him as the deciding factor! I think the only Koopaling that hasn't really been focused on a lot is…Morton. …Why is it always Morton?
And yay, Red Toad is a vicious little fellow as he stomps first, questions later. So fun! Oh, and Mario came home and stuff. With warm hugs all around, except on Luigi's part, which was notably colder. That too.
Now, Bowser still needs to talk to Junior, and Mario to Luigi. Set-up for parallels? Did I actually just? (Yes, yes I did.) And just who is this special guest star in Peach's Castle? The newcomer will join in next chapter, along with all of the additional drama to unfold.
Let me know what you're thinking so far, just send me a review or message, comments and criticisms welcome! Thank you once again for reading!