Honestly, this chapter did take a little time on delivery, but it's ready much faster than I was anticipating.

Have we all missed Bowser and Mario? I'm sure. Well! They've brought the Koopalings home. Let's see what happens with them here and now. Enjoy!

...

To Morton & Claudia,

Hey, how have you two been? Doing well, I hope! I'm sure you two have been keeping busy with your territory off in the Hotlands. Not so different from my Dark Lands, you know.

Anyway, just getting this letter ready in advance, just in case you two heard something about your kids somehow. They're all fine, nothing bad happened or anything. You know how our citizens love to play up a big story, dramatize some elements of history now and again, things like that. Nothing as bad as the Mushroom Kingdom lies, but I digress!

All seven are doing fine. Ludwig is keeping up piano practice, on top of his studies, of course. Iggy has hopped around with new inventions and he's made a lot of useful tools for us! Morton does a great job looking after his siblings, and he's got his healthy appetite, naturally. Wendy is teaching a lot of folks here a thing or a few about fashion. Roy helps, but in a subtle and stylish way all his own; you know how he buries his emotions. Lemmy keeps the others spirited and joyful with his antics. And Larry still seems indecisive about things, but he tries everything, and shows fierce determination!

They've helped out my troops a bit. Nothing major, just run some tactics drills and they look into helping us plan. They absolutely are not on the frontlines, though they have pestered me once or twice about it. As you've requested, they're far removed from there.

So, nothing to worry about! They're all doing super. Hope you two are well, and I look forward to seeing you both again sometime! It's been ages since we all got dinner, right? We should do that again soon. I might even have a date this time around!

All the best, Bowser

[Bowser]

My hand drummed the desk and I nodded, tossing the pen aside. Mario glanced at it while I got up, and crossed my arms. Walking to the back of Kamek's study, I glared down at the seven Koopalings.

"You're all grounded."

"You're not our dad," protested Larry, "you can't do that."

"Want me to send you back to him early?"

"No."

"Good. You're all grounded." All seven deflated and sank down while I folded my arms. "I'll let you know when I'm over it."

"Realize that we did this for you," snapped Ludwig. "Even if—"

"Oh, no, don't you dare start on me," I fired back. "Do you have any idea of what your little plotting caused?" Ludwig flinched but held his glare against mine. "You left my son and your prince alone, when we're dealing with internal power struggles. To do what? Oh, yes: attack Peach head-on, when she's currently unleashing how much power that she already overwhelmed you with on the beach?"

"Bowser—"

"Prior to your little escapade, she's already reclaimed five kingdom territories, and you handed her over the sixth!"

"Destroyed it, actually," murmured Wendy.

"That's just as bad!" My foot slammed down hard on the floor. "And now that's on top of getting one of my best Airships blasted down along with it!"

"We can rebuild," offered Iggy.

"Not the point!" A growl escaped me, and he cowered back. "Not only did you seven put my son's life in jeopardy, lose a conquest and the Airship, but you got yourselves kidnapped on top of it! Kidnapped!"

"Peach doesn't usually—"

"It wasn't even Peach!" My roaring kept the Koopalings down. "One of her blasted Toads went rogue and acted on his own whim! Do you have any idea of just how blasted dangerous that was?!" None of them bothered answering. "And that's not even mentioning the soldiers that we lost from both the fortress and the Airship itself! To top that much off, that forced Mario and I back from being able to help him improve, forced us to go chasing after you seven in Peach's closest territories, invade her castle again, and absolutely ruined Mario's reputation!"

"Not quite," reminded Mario. I shot him a glare, but he didn't seem particularly intimidated in the slightest. "It is true."

"Tell that to the steward and those meddlesome Toads of whatever wasted council they had," I snapped. Back to the Koopalings. "Regardless, you have us going against the entire Mushroom Kingdom! And for what?! So you could be the heroes of the Koopas?"

"And to help you," tried Lemmy.

"Don't feed me that crap," I thundered. "Junior told me everything, and you were in it more for the glory than anything else!"

"That's not how he put it," muttered Mario.

"Worst of all, this whole time, you were chained away in some dingy dungeon with next to no one knowing you were there!" My claws swept through my hair. "You could have been tortured beyond imagination, from some psychopath working his own agenda, and any one of you, or all of you, could have been killed!" They looked to one another, and looked up at me as my shoulders fell. "Can you even imagine how devastating that would have been?"

"Losing top generals is a bad look," mumbled Morton.

"Generals?! Kids!" My fists tightened as they opened and closed their protesting mouths. "I could have lost kids to a monster!" They looked away as my eyes darted across each of them. "I don't give a damn whether you think of me highly or not, I am your guardian! And your king! Losing you would have been nothing less of a nightmare realized!" I dropped my arms. "If that ever happened, I'd never forgive myself."

"You what?" Lemmy tilted his head.

"Don't make me—"

"He'd be beside himself, you heard him right," interrupted Mario. He placed his hand against my arm, and gave me a hard look, but went right back to the Koopalings. "I don't think any of you really need me to tell you how much Bowser cares for you, considering that he just ranted about everything that he risked for you." He smirked and shrugged. "Not to mention that you've known him longer, he seems to treat you like his own kids, you are top generals…do I need to go on?" They shook their heads. "Good, didn't think so." Mario turned back to me. "Do you have any more scolding and yelling you want to get out? Personally, I think you made your point."

"Uh…" I blinked as he patiently smiled, and I shook my head.

"Great!" He turned back to the Koopalings. "You guys are punished, but Bowser is right: it could have been leagues worse than it turned out to be. If it had been Peach, then it might not have been too bad, really, but I can't vouch for everyone under her. Especially not those particular Toads." Mario paused for a minute but shook his head. "Anyway, you could all use the rest, so go on." He smiled again to them. "I think I can speak for both of us that we're glad you're all safe."

"Yeah, uh…us too," managed Roy. "Um…sorry for everything, Mario, King Bowser."

"Like Bowser put it, he'll get over it," reassured Mario. "Just head upstairs and rest."

Roy and Morton nodded, gathering their siblings and ushering them out of the study. Mario folded his arms behind his back and smirked as they exited, and then grinned up to me. I slouched as I stared down to him.

"Aw, you really do care, don't you?"

"Quit teasing," I grumbled. "And how the hell did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get them to take off without arguing anymore!" I gripped my head. "I feel like I'm the father of eight kids, not just one, and sometimes even more than that!" My arm dropped. "And you just made me look like an amateur."

"Are you kidding me?" He laughed. "I'm lucky if they'd consider me a cool stepdad. You're the one that actually gave them what they needed, just a few notches too fired up, but that's because you're basically like another father to them." Mario shook his head. "I couldn't manage that at all. If I gave them anything like a scolding, they'd hate me in an instant."

"…No—"

"Yes they would."

"Ok, maybe, but…they don't, and you did…really great." My lips curved to a smile. "So, thank you."

"You're welcome."

"…Stepdad, huh?" I grinned and raised an eyebrow to him. He blushed and walked back to the desk.

"So, this letter was for their parents?"

"Ah, uh, yeah." His eyes scanned it over. "Just, you know, some nice words they'd want to hear, rather than me telling them, 'Hey, by the way, almost lost your kids today, no big deal, see you whenever!'" I chuckled. "I think I'd be fighting two wars if I did that."

"Well, you seem like you have a nice relationship with them, even if you lied about their kids and their involvement with the war."

"Oh, no, that whole letter is dripping with sarcasm and lies." Mario jerked his head up and I rolled my wrist. "Not one bit of it is true."

"Huh?"

"Claudia was one of my first love interests, but she passed on me in favor of Morton. Never even got a date from her, and he had seven kids with her." I snorted. "Don't even know if they're all his, which would be pretty messed up, but that's not my problem." Mario looked down to the letter, and then back up to me, while I rolled my eyes. "He's an ass that I always hated, and he's always been jealous since I'm royal Koopa blood, while he's just upper class, but nothing special." I huffed and wandered around, putting my attention on Kamek's books and vials. "Both love to pretend they're more important than they actually are. They both suck miserably as parents, which is why I do see the Koopalings a lot. Oh, and they do agree on the crappy parent notion, that's a view we all share." I sighed and turned back to Mario. "So, yeah. That's their story, and some more of mine."

"Uh, wow. I'm sorry."

"Nothing to worry about. That's all old backlog information." He held the letter as he came to me, but I shrugged. "I don't really care much about it all now."

"Um."

"What? I don't."

"Not how it sounded."

"Morton Senior always gets me riled up, I don't know how to really explain it." My fists tightened again. "He just has this massive ego, and acts like he's a king. Even with me!" Another snort escapes me, doing nothing for my tension. "Thankfully our Morton is nothing like him. Polar opposites on family, you know that? The kid's great and a far cry from his rotten father."

"And Claudia?"

"She was nice."

My eyes darted off as I folded my arms. Mario cleared his throat, and I slowly glanced back to him. Eyes lowered, but I don't think he's that annoyed. Hopefully.

"Maybe we could've had something, ages ago." I sighed. "But she never saw me that way, which, joke's on her for that."

"She absolutely is missing out, and I'm glad she did." His arms went around my waist before I even realized he came over. "I get you all to myself thanks to that."

"Ha, and I thought I was the only jealous one." Mario rolled his eyes at my laughter, and I leaned down to kiss him on the head. "Thank you, Mario."

"You're welcome."

Stars know how badly I just wanted to stay with him, wrapped in each other's arms. Not that I wanted to talk much of the Koopalings' parents anymore, but talking about the kids would have been fine. Just being with him should keep me at ease.

But that's not how we can stay.

"Do you want to go over everything?" He pulled back from my body, but kept his arms on me. His eyes locked straight onto mine as I frowned. "I'm sure you've got a lot on your mind."

"That can wait."

"It shouldn't."

As Mario opened his mouth, a door slammed from across the room. We both whirled around as Kamek stormed in. His robes whipped behind him as he rushed to us.

"Think maybe you're going to get tired of parent-child arguments very quickly," I murmured to Mario.

"Have you any idea what you've done?!" Kamek glared behind his spectacles right up at me. "Attacking the Mushroom Kingdom, just to get the Koopalings! What possessed you?!"

"Overbearing protectiveness."

"Word has already rocketed around the kingdom with how horrifically callous you were!" Kamek gripped at his pointy cap and tugged it down. "Did you seriously claim to have control over Mario?!"

"Yes."

"Why?!"

"It was either that they hated me more or newly started hating him," I defended. "I chose the former."

"So you had no other options?!"

"Not really."

"That means you did, but you just assumed you had the right answer!" Kamek threw his arms up with a groan. "Everything that we've worked for, all of the hatred oozing from within your own kingdom, wasted!"

"Thank you, Kamek," I deadpanned, "I absolutely did not play those events over in my head several times already."

"Truly, I don't think you've gathered the scope of this!"

"Oh, you don't think so?" My blood had already boiled but it was bursting by this point. "Let's see here where I'm standing, shall we? First, I kidnapped the wrong person and not the monarch of my rival kingdom. Next, I started dating that very same man I stole away."

"All right, you've made your—"

"Not yet," I snapped, "I'm just getting warmed up. After that, we had an entirely messy argument, which led me to stealing him back after he took off." Inhaling and exhaling, I kept at it. "Then I outed myself to my whole kingdom, while near simultaneous risking lives of my own troops for punishment for their direct disobedience." My heart raced and my fists tightened. "That's followed up by mass uprisings within my very own castle walls. Meanwhile, just as I finally reconcile with my boyfriend, he falls in from some kind of twisted curse."

"Bowser—"

"After traveling off to get him cured and then leaving my remaining loyal soldiers behind to ensure that," I carried on, "I'm told that my son was left home with a bunch of dissenters still able to harm or even kill him at any point. Why did that happen? Oh, because my young generals took off against my orders and then got themselves kidnapped!" Roaring, I couldn't stop, even as Mario grabbed at my arm. "If that's not bad enough, I tarnished my boyfriend's few shreds of hope that he gives to the public while absolutely ruining my own standings with them. To top that off, I nearly killed one of Peach's most faithful retainers."

"You what?!"

"Don't worry, he lived, and now he knows about us," I thundered. "But wait, it only gets better, because all this while, not only does my own kingdom still hate me, but I'm once again losing the very campaign I started, in order to conquer this whole damned kingdom so I can finally take control of it and give those that I love everything that they never had a chance for!" Slamming my foot against the floor, all I saw was red. "And finally, I get back here, only to have those kids that I rescued try arguing with me, which is immediately followed up by you, my retainer, accusing me of ruining every single stage of my plans, which I am intimately aware of!" Panting escaped me, as I glared down at Kamek. Yet still, I wasn't done. "And I'm still trying to get to assessing my boyfriend's mental state, while everyone else is ripping at mine! So, Kamek, why don't you tell me: do I know the scope of everything go to hell, or do you need me to elaborate on anything else?!"

"…Perhaps you are acutely aware of everything," he determined.

"Yeah, maybe so."

"Far be it for me to question the mighty King Bowser." …Hell. "Shall I see to concerning myself elsewhere?"

"Kamek, that's not—"

"No, no, I understand," snapped Kamek. "You clearly have a lot to handle. Let me just busy myself with running the rest of your kingdom."

"Wait, I just…"

He didn't bother waiting, and shuffled off from his study, slamming the door behind him. Growling, I tugged up at my arm, as Mario yelped. Jerking upright, I twisted back to him, and quickly grabbed at his shoulders.

"Sorry, I'm sorry!" I look him over. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, I'm fine." He gazed up to me, panic written all over his face. "Bowser—"

"How can you be fine?" I shook my head and backed away from him. My hands shook wildly, and I struggled to close them. "Look at you, stuck here with a boyfriend that's done so much damage to you. And everyone you love!"

"Hold on—"

"I—I have to go."

Twisting around, I didn't bother waiting for him to try arguing it. He's suffered enough from me, why should I keep at it with him?

For the sake of the Stars, he should be erupting like this, not me.

Hurrying across the bridge, I shoved the door open for the Warp Pipe. I dragged myself up and over it, and dropped into it.

Even though I was supposed to be going up, it only felt like I was dropping as hard as ever…

Jumping out from the other end, I slammed down. Punching the door open, I trudged from the room and gripped my horns as I climbed the stairs back to the bedchambers.

"Papa?"

Not him. I don't need my son to see me falling apart like this…but I can't just take off on him again. So, I stopped midway through the hall and knelt down to him.

"Junior, what do you need?"

"Where's Mario?" He tilted his head and gazed up to me.

"Hopefully still down below."

"But why?"

"Because I need to keep away from him for a little bit."

"Did you guys fight again?"

"No, but he should be furious with me," I admitted. "Son, I've caused a lot of trouble."

"That's not new." His giggle stabbed hard. "But, that's ok! You'll figure it out!"

"Uh. Maybe not this time."

"Why not?"

"It's just your dad keeps making messes of virtually everything, son," I carried on. But this is stupid; I can't dump my problems on my own kid, not again. "Don't worry about that though. Everything ok with you?"

"Um, I'm fine." Junior rested his hand on my knee. "But Papa, the Koopalings were upset when they came up, Kamek was upset before he went to you, so—"

"Yeah, that's all on me." I raised an eyebrow. "You upset too?"

"No, I just wanted to see if you're ok."

"Ah…not exactly, no." My head's ringing by this point, and I rubbed at it. "Uh, Junior, you know what? I, uh, I think I need to get some air." He can't be around me either. I can't keep torturing this kid. "Look, how about you go practice your painting, and I'll come check on it after? And then we'll play a game or get something to eat, ok?"

"We don't have to."

"But we should!" Forcing a grin, I threw my arms around him. "Junior, we haven't had enough time lately, and if I can make at least one person in this castle happy, I should make it you."

"Papa, I'm already happy."

"Good, that's good." I pulled back from him. "We'll spend some time together in a little bit, ok? I owe you. Promise."

"…Ok." He wiped at beneath my eye. Damn it! Don't lose it in front of the kid! "Papa?"

"Great, good." Standing back up, I dragged my claws over my face. "I'll be down in a little while, Junior. Just going to roar and scream out to the world for a bit." Again, I forced a grin for him. "Don't worry, son, I'll be back before you know it! And then I'll stay back for a little bit, ok? I promise, I really do."

Hesitating a bit, he nodded, not really understanding as I walked back from him. Stars, how am I still losing it in front of my own kid? This is pathetic. I'm supposed to be his pillar of support, and now I'm even failing him!

Darting off, I can't look back for him or anything else. Just for a few minutes, I just need to…I need to let it out, let it go. My heart needs to stop hammering already. But it won't, and my body won't stop quaking, even as I thunder upstairs.

I…I've truly failed…everyone.

[Mario]

Walking back upstairs, I pushed my way into the hall, only to find Junior staring off down the hall. If he saw the state his father's in, he's bound to lose it on me too.

But as I started toward him, Junior just turned around and looked up at me. His face showcases how truly puzzled, lost, perhaps worried or fearful, he was.

"Mario?"

"Junior, I'm sorry." I knelt down to him. "Something went wrong, and I think a lot of us have put your father on edge." Biting my lip, I rubbed behind my head. "I think a lot of it is my fault."

"No it's not." He shook his head and patted me. "Papa seems like he's mad at himself."

"That makes sense too."

"Do you hate him?"

"Not at all."

"Then can you go talk to him?" He leaned back and tugged on his scarf. "I think he thinks you do."

"Yeah, I think he's very confused then," I decided as I rubbed Junior's head. "You want to come up with me?"

"He wanted me to stay here and paint," Junior divulged. "He told me he'd come spend time with me after, but I don't want him to feel bad when he does."

"Nah, he wouldn't, but I'll make sure of that," I promised. "Leave it to me, ok?"

"Go get him!"

Junior cheered as I got up, and watched as I wandered my way upstairs to the roof. I glanced back to make sure he went to his room, and then hurried up.

It's been a while since I've been up to the rooftops. They're wide, not a lot is decorated up here at the moment. The table from earlier was still set up nicely near the edge, but it's a bit duller without the decorations.

Wandering across the top, it wasn't long until I spotted Bowser on the east side, slumped down against the parapet and gazing out at perhaps something, though likely nothing. His head drooped down a bit and his shoulders went up. Crying?

My footsteps must have been just loud enough for him to hear as I neared him. Twisting around, I am correct, as loose tears slide from his eyes and down his cheeks. There's a rough mixed expression on his face, in those eyes, but it all connects to pain.

"Why are you here?" He puts his hand over his eyes. "Just leave, you don't want to be around me."

"Well, I can't go, because your son sent me."

"Of course he did." His fingers part as he looks past the openings.

"But if he hadn't, I was still making my way up here regardless."

"Is misery a turn-on for you or something?"

"By this point, it might as well be one for both of us," I joked.

A slight grin showed up for a flickering moment, but it twisted away as Bowser returned his attention outward. My shoulders slumped, but my fists tightened as I walked over and sat down beside him.

"I'm sorry that I'm a colossal screw-up."

"You're not."

"But I am." Bowser sniffled and shook his head. "You tried to come along to help us fix everything with the Mushroom Kingdom, with Peach, and I somehow took that, twisted it up, and ruined everything."

"That's not true."

"It is!"

Bowser whirled around to me, and I stared at him. The deep despair in his red eyes isn't foreign, but it always hurt to see.

"All I had to do was let you reason with the Toads, with the kingdom, that was it! You were there, you could have told them anything, everything! But with just one trick, one lie, I stole that from you." He dropped his head and stared down. "Just once, I could have let it play out, and they might have listened, and you could have saved us all, but I…" Bowser slowly lifted his head back up at me. His eyes were glassy, but he held back on the rest of the tears. Still, I heard his voice breaking as he uttered, "I blew it."

"…Maybe." I scooted into him. "It's possible that I could've told the Mushroom Kingdom everything, and maybe they would've worked with it." He lowered his head again, a tear slipped away, but I brought my hands under his chin, and lifted his face back up. I couldn't really smile or frown right for him. "Or maybe you were right, and everything would've crashed down that much harder. What if they did react against us? What if they cast me out along with you?" I shrugged. "We'd be in an even worse position than we are now, and my blind faith would have created an even greater disaster."

"We don't know that."

"You're right, we don't." I rubbed his chin and brought his face closer to mine. "Here's what we do know: the Koopalings are back home, like you set out to do. Your troops, even if they're not the same, will still heed your orders. Toadsworth now knows about us, and in spite of everything, he…" I glanced away for a moment, trying to piece it the accurate way. "…Well, he at least did listen in the end, and helped us, so, that's something." Bowser weakly chuckled and I turned back to him. There was that toothy grin, his signature smile I loved; even if it didn't come easy for either of us, it still came naturally. "So, things aren't at their best, that's true, but…they are working so far." I kissed his lips, just pressed softly for reassurance, and not holding it too long. "A long while back, we both assumed it was impossible. Yet, here we are, still going."

"Yeah…" He smirked and raised an eyebrow at me. "Guess we're both stubborn like that, huh?"

We laughed, harder and heartier than before. His slowed though, I heard him quiet down, perhaps forced it to stop. I did the same, and gazed at him. Why was he beating himself up so hard?

"But what about you?" Bowser leaned closer to me. "I'm sorry that I lost it so horrifically around you—"

"And that's ok," I persisted. "Everything hit you at once."

"It's not," he contested. "Mario, this whole time we're attending me, or talking about how hard the whole thing was, but what did that do to you?" Bowser's eyes were locked onto mine. "What are you feeling?"

"Believe it or not, after all of that…hopeful."

"What?!" His eyes widened as his eyebrows shot up. "How?!"

"Are we or aren't we still together?"

"Ok, but…" He settled a bit, but was still at a loss.

"Bowser, I won't lie to you, and what happened was truly hard on me," I confessed. "We both tried our best to stop everything from escalating, but no matter what, the tension was insurmountable."

"Right…"

"But, in the end, no one died," I rationalized. "Yes, we caused a lot of destruction and pain. I desperately wanted to avoid that, and in the moment, it broke my heart not being able to." My hands went under his chin again. "But you were trying your best to do the same. In spite of your troops begging you to fight back upon initial assaults, you hesitated, for them, and for me." Rubbing at his jaw and his neck, he adjusted himself, bringing his head forward, further into me. "We definitely need to figure out ways to make up for it, probably better than what we can offer at the moment. They will still hate us."

"Hate me, not you," insisted Bowser.

"If they hate you, then they hate me," I decided.

"That's not true."

"Why not?" I brought my hands up his cheeks as I massaged at him. "I love you. Hating you only hurts me."

"Pretty sure they'd be putting you in agony for…years…" It connected for him. "Which it has. And you wrote about how did."

"Yep."

"How am I still figuring that out all this time later…?"

"It's a bit harder when you've got everything hitting you at once." He snorted as I smiled to him.

"There's got to be a way that I can help you with all of this." Bowser sulked. "But I only put us back every time, and sent us right back to square one."

"Not quite." I kissed his cheek. "We made it past that some time ago."

"Ok, maybe a little bit further along," he relented as he blushed a bit. "But we still need to get ready for the blowback that's definitely looming its way over."

"Toadsworth might help cushion some of it," I debated. "But…Peach will definitely lose her mind over what we did. And what her own council did, now that I think of it."

"Ha, yeah, they're screwed." He deflated a bit. "Unless they're not. They seem sneaky."

"While they might try, Toadsworth was definitely livid after learning we were right."

"True." Bowser chuckled. "How many levels of anger must he have hit between them and us?"

"Apparently enough to give him a heart attack," I realized.

"Too soon."

"Sorry."

"Well, worst case scenario would be…" Bowser leaned back and gazed skyward. "Uh, Peach is already reclaiming the kingdoms and coming at me." I followed his attention up to the sky, but it was too difficult to see much of it in his territory, at least at the moment. "If there's only one left, she'll go to the Skyline."

"Then she'll be definitely on her way there next."

"Right, but since they were at Star Hill, they're headed back to her castle after, since we'll definitely be the next news."

"Maybe she'll go directly up?"

"Doubtful."

"Ok, so Peach goes back and gets a full report on us." I shrugged. "Why would she go to the Skyline fortress after that? Won't she just come directly here?"

"Risking my troops picking off her and the others off while crossing my territory and dealing with whatever hazards both the land and I have waiting for her?" Bowser shook his head. "No chance. She takes the sky, there's a direct access that will help line her up against us. It cuts down the amount of traversing she does on my land and puts her nearly at my doorstep."

"What if we head her off and go right back to her castle now?" He blinked and tilted his head at me. "If we go back, we could try explaining everything—"

"Mario, she'll have the support of her entire kingdom with murdering me and taking you back if we go there again," Bowser countered. "That's almost guaranteed, unless you meant that I bring the war to her doorstep first."

"No, that's escalating and making it worse," I quickly extinguished that one. "Ok, so, we can't go to her, she's likely on her way here, the Mushroom Kingdom will be up in arms." I scratched at my head and ruffled my hair beneath my cap. "Isn't there any way to get people to settle down from this?"

"…We…could get married."

Jerking back, I looked up to him, and he smirked as he rubbed at my cheek. A joke, it must be. How could he be serious about that? …But he wouldn't fool around with that, because he's taken it so seriously this whole time, so why…?

"Exactly what would that accomplish?"

"Well, think about it: everyone hates me more than ever right now, but they're worried about you." His smile widened. "But, if we were to thrown them off by announcing a wedding, they'd be so baffled at first, but then decide—"

"That I'm still under mind control," I reminded him, "and that you're forcing me into it like you have Peach too many times."

"Oh yeah." Bowser deflated, but perked up a bit. "Although, if Peach puts everything out in the open…!"

"Then everyone will end up hating me that much sooner," I realized.

"…Crap!" Bowser grabbed at his head. "Aw, damn it! I didn't even think of that! Peach is just going to end up telling everyone that I'm dating you anyway!" He buried his face in his hands. "Oh, I didn't help you at all! Everything I did to protect you was just delaying the inevitable!"

"All roads only lead to that," I admitted. "We knew that."

"Yeah, but I thought I bought you a little more time!" He picked his head back up, and his eyes returned to a glassy state. "Now it was pointless for me to screw all of that up!"

"Maybe, but I guess that does put marriage back on the table as a viable option," I suggested. He jumped a bit at that. "Should that really be damage control though? I wanted it to be…" My lips came in as I pressed them together. "Well, I was hoping it would be a time when we could choose it for ourselves and when we were ready, when we wanted to."

"Getting married to maybe stop war from bubbling over doesn't exactly scream romantic, huh?"

"It could be, if we frame it right."

"But is that what you want?" He gazed at me, and I hesitated, but I shook my head. "Didn't think so. Honestly, I didn't like how you put it, and now I'm not a fan of it either."

"Did you really want to for that though?"

"The idea hit me, and I thought it was good enough to put out there, so I wasn't really thinking it through," he admitted. "But…no, I don't know if we're there yet." Bowser smirked and raised an eyebrow at me. "And yet you did consider it viable."

"You did first."

"I've got an entire castle telling me to do it," he fired back. "What's your excuse?"

"No excuse." I smirked. "I just love my boyfriend."

His face flushed hard with that one, and I laughed, in spite of my cheeks warming up as well. Still, we settled in a moment, and he sighed, taking my hands into his.

"So…we do want to get married, somewhere down the road?"

"That's the good ending," I joked. "But…yeah, I think so."

"Yeah…that's a good goal to work for…" He started to smile and drifted off, but wildly shook his head. "No, no, that's not for right now!" Bowser straightened himself back up. "Sorry, that's just distracting. We need a solution."

"Fighting isn't working, marriage isn't, talking it out won't help either," I listed. "Can we try anything else?"

"Debating, but I'd lose that in an instant," mocked Bowser. "The Mushroom Kingdom only knows me for hurting others."

"That's not true," I countered. "You and I both helped keep Toadsworth alive."

"Ok, yeah, in the moment—"

"But that's not the first time that you've helped defend and heal others," I persisted. "We have worked together before, and you've been by my side defending the Mushroom Kingdom."

"They chalk it up to me being selfish, which…they're not entirely wrong about," confessed Bowser. "It's not just for me, but…I am." He picked at the parapet. "I've never been one for healing…"

"…Do you mean with helping the kingdom, or as in magic?"

"Both, now that we're going there." He shrugged. "Light magic is something that I just don't really stray into."

"Toadsworth argued with you about that back at Peach's Castle," I recalled. "You were defending your Dark magic, but I didn't realize that you could be a practitioner of both."

"It's…hard." Bowser rubbed at his chin. "Natural is the best to start learning, because that deals with the active environments. From there, one can branch into Light or Dark, since those have heavy strengths backing them, but they cost a lot to use." He sucked in his cheek and glanced up. "There's space magic known as Cosmic magic, but that's basically useless unless you can harness it properly."

"Wow, I didn't realize there were a few ways to break them down," I admitted. "And you sound like you know a lot!"

"Some, not a lot. That's what I have Magikoopa for." Bowser folded his arms. "It's just something that we go over when we're younger, since they make sure royals know about that kind of stuff. Basic information, not necessarily going in-depth, just to know its properties." He snorted. "Of course, I found ways to work with Dark magic, because that's just what always works for Koopas. Peach and her family were raised on Light being the right might." He rolled his eyes at that. "Meanwhile, Shamans tend to take more advanced approaches with Natural, which is what Merlon taught you."

"Huh."

"Yeah, weird stuff."

"But…you still don't like using Light?"

"Not really." He slouched a bit. "Just like Peach is taught that 'Dark is evil,' I'm pretty much taught that 'Light is evil and full of lies!' But that's a load of nonsense, because any spell can be weaponized in the wrong hands, or any can help in the right ones."

"Who taught you that?" Bowser lowered his eyes and lifted an eyebrow. "…Kamek."

"Got it in one." He squeezed his eyes shut. "Can we not…?"

"It's fine. We're getting off-topic again." I paused. "But…I think you should look into healing."

"What?! Why?!"

"Why not?" He blinked as I smiled to him. "Don't you want to be able to rescue someone if the day ever comes? It could be you doing that for someone that needs it."

"Like you?" Bowser snorted. "Not happening, because no one's going to hurt you."

"First, that's a tall order that you can't guarantee," I reminded him.

"…Ok, yeah…"

"Second, it doesn't even have to be me that will need it." I shrugged. "Anyone could."

"So…why should I be the one learning it?"

"Maybe I could too," I offered. "But we should make sure one of us can."

"Right, sure…" Bowser grumbled a bit and glanced away from me, but he settled and turned back. "Ok, so, now what do we come up with?"

"Suspending your campaign out of your own decision and start helping the Mushroom Kingdom recover?"

"And then have my own people overthrow us outright, cast us out, and then the war shifts to someone else besides me in charge," speculated Bowser. "Which, given that I'm actively listening to you, would be really bad, since someone else would be far less likely to."

"Is there any way to get the Koopa Troop to come around to a more peaceful resolution?"

"These soldiers were bred for war and blood long before I took charge," elucidated Bowser. "We could try getting them to cooperate, but you've already seen how disastrous going about it can be."

"There must be a way to get your people to come around too," I tried. "I know the Toads need to be more open-minded, but from what you've told me, that sounds less likely."

"More like equally unlikely," relented Bowser. "Koopas are hard to sway, not everyone, but a good number of them hated growing up in a world that treated Toads like the Stars' gift to the universe and them like the dirt of the earth. That's not even going into all of the others on my roster, most especially the Goombas. None of them would be swayed easily." He paused for a moment and then closed his eyes. "Ok, maybe it's just that the entire Mushroom Kingdom is teeming with stubborn people."

"Honestly, that could be likely," I concurred. "So…I'm out of ideas."

"Same." He folded his arms behind his back. "I don't think we've got a good handle on solving this war at all."

"Just waiting to see how it blows over can't be the solution, because that just leads to fighting," I contested. "We must do something."

"If neither of us has a good idea, then what do we do?" Bowser waited as I bit my tongue. "Not so easy, huh?"

"All right, I'll admit that it's not coming to me yet," I caved. "But, I'm not giving up."

"Neither am I," pointed out Bowser. "But I'm lucky that I was able to clear myself up enough for this much."

"Yeah…" Nodding, I picked at my mustache. "Thank you for that. For…everything."

"Of course." He grinned. "Everything I do is for you. And my…" He jumped up. "My son! Junior! I told him I'd be down, I need to go—"

"Bowser, take it easy," I soothed. "Junior's not demanding to see you. He was worried and just wanted me up by you."

"Fine, but I should still go see him." Bowser sank down. "And check on the Koopalings." He rolled his eyes. "And then Kamek…"

"He might have been on your case and annoyed you, but he's only doing what he can to look out for you," I defended.

"I know, I know…"

"So, then," I pushed up, "we should get to them—"

"Wait." He picked my hands back up into his. "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Positive." Ok, maybe that was a bit strong, but I really was at the moment. "We'll get to working everything out somehow."

"You personally," corrected Bowser. "Not you based on everyone else."

"And I'm ok too." I smiled as I took his hands into mine as well. "Really."

"…Ok…" He squeezed our hands together before releasing them.

We both gazed out to the land below. It's dark here, hazy, so hard to see the land around Bowser's Castle. A bit hot outside too, considering the lava moats below his castle, and probably the volcanoes and flowing lava rivers around the area. It's too difficult to tell the sky's color underneath the darker skies above.

But just being here with Bowser settled me well enough. I glanced at him as he turned his gaze to me, but my eyes drifted back across the roof, and to the table closer to the front edge.

"It's been a while since we had our date up here," I reminisced.

"Wow, it really has!" It must not have occurred to him until now. "How long has it been since I've taken you on, or uh, at least given you a proper date? Months?"

"Well…" I scratched my head for a moment. "There was the time on the roof when I was first here, we had some time together around the castle when I came back the second time, and I count the time on Star Hill as date material."

"But it's really only been that first time that I've given you a true and proper date, huh?"

"We don't exactly have much time for it," I reminded him.

"If I don't have the time to date my boyfriend, then what good am I?" He shook his head. "Before things get too crazy, I owe you at least one more. Just a nice, normal, quiet time for us together." Bowser picked up my hands back into his, and settled his gaze onto mine. "And no talking about anything with the war, either. I know it's silly, but I just…I want to treat you to some kind of a nice life."

"That's sweet of you." I blinked and raised an eyebrow. "Actually, shouldn't it be my turn to plan out the date?"

"Nope, you got Star Hill."

"But that wasn't—"

"Hey, you called it one."

"No, I called it 'date material,' that's—"

"We were there for you."

"That's not fair," I complained, but he only smirked.

"Look, you can definitely take the next one after." Bowser brought my hands to his lips and kissed them. "But I want to treat you to at least one more first." He lowered his eyes and his grin widened. "After all, I am the king, and I have the proper pull that helps."

"Is that so?"

"Certainly so!"

"Then so it is." We giggled a bit. "Ok, fine. But I owe you one at some point too."

"Don't worry, I'll hold you to it." He grinned. "After all, I love being spoiled by you."

"Being spoiled or spoiling?"

"Both." His toothy grin broadened. "Could you expect any less from me?"

"Not at all."

Bowser laughed again and pulled me into him for a hug. His arms wrapped gently but firmly around me, and we leaned into each other. Snuggling against him was soothing, and I loved his warmth, as always. We stayed together for a little while, and neither of us wanted to be the first to break away; it was nice, up there together, taking all of each other in.

But he did shift back a bit, and we broke apart after a few minutes. He kept his hands around my waist, and I left mine at his chest.

"Stars, I do love you so much," declared Bowser.

"I love you too," I returned. "…Um. But, your son?"

"Ah! Right!" He scooped me up into his arms. "Let's go!"

"Hey!"

"It's faster when I carry you."

"No it's not!"

He laughed and carried me off from the roof anyway. Even as I tried to feign anger, I couldn't contain my grin.

Back downstairs, Bowser slowed and I twisted around in his arms as he set me down. Kamek stood across from us and silently observed us for a moment.

"…Kamek—"

"Lord Bowser." He nodded to Bowser and looked to me. "Master Mario."

"Uh…"

"Knock if off, Kamek," growled Bowser. "What do you need?"

"Nothing."

"Then why are you up here?"

"Just fetching what the Koopalings requested." He spun around and hurried off. "Back to work, goodbye."

"…You're going to need to talk with him soon," I determined.

"Absolutely, especially because he lied," revealed Bowser. "If the Koopalings are grounded, they can't request Kamek to do anything as part of their punishment."

"Just Kamek?"

"He's one of the best retainers."

"That doesn't sound like torture."

"Not for you, but for them?" Bowser chuckled. "It's the small things."

While I puzzled that over, Bowser guided me to Junior's door and knocked on it. His son pulled the door open and peeked out at us.

"Is everyone ok now?"

"You bet," reassured Bowser. "And you knew just who to send up, son." He massaged at my shoulder as he leaned down. "So, thank you both."

"Yay! You're welcome, Papa!" Junior pushed out from the door and tightly hugged us both. "I knew Mario could do it. He always saves the day!"

"Hey, I can too," complained Bowser, as he and I hugged Junior back.

"Yeah, but Mario's better at it."

"What?!"

"He's a hero, Dad," reasoned Junior as he tugged back. "It's what he does."

"Well…yeah, you've got a good point," admitted Bowser, as he winked to me. I don't know which one of them could have me blush harder. "So, ready to spend some time with your old man?"

"Oh, yeah! Let me show you my paintings! I started a new one, but I have a few that I made while you guys were away earlier!"

Junior hurried back into his room, and Bowser moved to follow, but bumped into me. He stopped and raised an eyebrow at me, as I tried to step aside.

"What?"

"You two should have time together," I whispered.

"Hey, are you guys coming in or what?" Junior hurried back over. "Come on!"

"Son, did you want both of us in here?" Bowser smirked as he looked from his son to me.

"Duh. You guys come together for everything!" I rubbed at my arm as Junior bounced around. "Besides, I haven't spent a lot of time with Mario anyway, so this is the perfect time!"

"You're right, Junior!" Bowser's grin widened as my shoulders lifted. "So, show us what you've got!"

As Junior hurried back inside, Bowser took my hand into his, and softly smiled. I returned it as he led us inside.

...

Well, that was a bit of up and down with the emotions, but it's nice to have settled to somewhere sweet for this ending!

You would think that Mario would be the one feeling despair from the previous encounter, but poor Bowser was actually hoping to do better by him, and failed. Nevertheless, they seem to have come to a good place regarding the events, thanks to their efforts at comforting one another, and can hopefully resolve it some day. Who knows, maybe they can going forward.

The Koopalings should be fun, when they're done with their punishment (and sulking over it). Then again, they're much better off staying with Bowser. Kamek, on the other hand...I wonder what's eating at him? Well, besides Bowser bungling all of their efforts so far.

At the very least, Junior seems to be happy with Bowser being back around, and Mario helping him to come around! They should have a nice time together soon, right? Sounds like a good place to pick up for the next chapter!

Feedback is most appreciated, so I would love to hear from you. It certainly brightens my day immensely, and helps with developing the ensuing chapters so that they may be ever enjoyable as the story progresses.

It seems interest about this pairing has grown immensely over the years! I remember starting out and it wasn't a very supported pair. Heck, even this story has actual fan art that talented artists have shared! Though it's still certainly a rare couple compared to the popular pairings, we've at least gotten a lot of people on board the ship!

Until next time, thank you for reading and all of your continued support of the story!