(A/N: Okay, so Mario and Peach have made it home, but right now, they both need a little time to recuperate after what they've been through. You can't really blame them, though, can you? Let's stay with Peach and see what she's going to be up to!)
After Mario disappeared from her sight, Peach started making her way upstairs, to her bedroom. She knew that she really needed a shower after Bowser had put his filthy hands on her, and she hadn't wanted to take a shower on the airship. What if Bowser had microscopic cameras installed in the shower just so he could see her naked? It was obviously how TEC-XX, the computer owned by the X-Nauts, came to see her and find out about her. That was creepy enough.
However, unlike Bowser, TEC couldn't really do anything to Peach because he was just a computer. But in spite of what he had done when he saw Peach, he did prove himself something of an ally to her during her time in the clutches of the evil X-Nauts (even though she had a sick feeling during the invisibility potion fiasco).
Because Bowser was flesh and blood, and her worst enemy, that meant that he could (and would) do vile things to Peach. The worst part was that he wouldn't hesitate, either. She was sure of that. The thought of him putting his vile hands on her body made Peach feel sick.
Peach hurried up the stairs as fast as she could, and as soon as she came to her bedroom door, she threw open the door, entered her room, then slamming the door shut behind her. She leaned back against the door, feeling nervous and upset. This whole thing had been so rough for her.
Also, Peach knew that this past adventure wasn't the first time someone had changed her clothes, either. There was that time Luigi had changed into her clothes in order to save Mario when the Koopalings were holding Mario captive in their tower, but she was unconscious the entire time.
When she finally awoke, she started to remember her escape from the tower, and seeing Mario. When Toad informed her on Mario's whereabouts, she intended to rescue him right away, but Toad stopped her, letting her know about the green-clad plumber's plan. That was when Peach looked down at herself and realized that she was dressed like a plumber.
Although Peach had been creeped out that Luigi had changed into her attire and put her in his clothes while she was out like a light, Luigi told her later on that hadn't gotten any ideas when he was changing her, and he looked her in the eyes when he told her, so she knew he was telling her the truth. She thanked him for that, and she also told him that she was more than thankful that he didn't just leave her lying there in her unmentionables. If Bowser had gone out and found her like that, she would've been more than afraid that he would have taken advantage of her unconsciousness and violated her for sure!
Peach was so relieved that Luigi had been the one to find her. Luigi was Mario's brother, and a good friend to her. She knew that he was someone who could be trusted. Plus, when it was time for Luigi and Peach to get back in their normal attire, they were easily able to swap back their gloves and shoes, but they were back-to-back when they swapped their clothes, and Mario helped, too, by taking the articles of clothing from each and handing them to their correct owner. Neither brother looked at Peach's body during that time, much to her great relief.
As Peach looked around her room, she began to lose the sick feeling. She was starting to feel happy. It was always pleasant to see her room again after Mario rescued her from Bowser's clutches. Whenever she saw her room after a rescue, she always had to have a look around. She often felt as though she hardly knew the place whenever she returned.
"Dorothy was right. There's no place like home!" Peach said happily as she looked around her room. Gee, it was good to be back home.
Suddenly, a sparkle caught Peach's eye. She looked in the direction that sparkle came from, and she gasped. Sitting there on her nightstand was her crown!
"My crown! Oh, the Toads must have found it!" the Princess cried in surprise. She ran over to her nightstand and picked it up, inspecting it all over. She needed to make sure that it wasn't damaged after Bowser flicked it off of her head. To her relief, it looked to be okay, and it appeared that it had been polished, too, hence the sparkle.
"Thank goodness. If Bowser damaged my crown, then I'm afraid I'd have no choice but to go back to him and damage his face." Peach said.
"Wait a second. Where the heck did that come from? I think Daisy's beginning to rub off on me. Oh well, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, given the bond she and I have always shared." Peach thought. She shrugged and began to remove her gloves while stepping out of her red high heels. She set the gloves next to her crown, then padded over to her vanity table, where her jewelry box sat. She took off her earrings and set them in their place in the box.
Then Peach walked over to her closet and took out a fresh dress. She threw the dress over her white linen dressing screen. She'd change into it after her shower.
With that done, Peach grabbed some clean unmentionables, took them with her to her bathroom, and closed the door. There was also a linen closet in her bathroom, and she grabbed from it a clean washcloth and a soft, fluffy towel. She put the washcloth in the tub and the towel on the rack outside the tub.
The only reason Peach had a tub is because sometimes, after a rescue, she felt like taking a relaxing bubble bath. While that sounded like something she needed right now, she reminded herself that what she really needed more than anything was a hot shower.
Peach walked over to the sink and took off her make-up, then she walked back over to the tub and turned on the shower, stripping off while she waited for the water to heat up. Once it was hot enough, she got into the tub, pulled the shower curtain, and got ready to wash up.
Once she was behind the curtain and under the hot water, the Princess looked over her shower gels. She decided on using one of the Aromatherapy shower gels, but which one would be right? She had several that she might want to use to help with what she had been through...
After a bit of deliberation, Peach finally decided to use the shower gel for Stress Relief, because Bowser seemed to really enjoy stressing her out, and all she wanted was to relax and unwind.
As Peach scrubbed herself clean, she started to feel so much better, and it wasn't just because the oils in the shower gel were beginning to calm her as she breathed them in. She was able to wash away the feeling of Bowser's claws on her body. He didn't seem to have hurt her physically, either. She'd noticed that as she inspected her body during her shower.
When she finished washing her body, Peach began to wash her hair. She knew Bowser had to have been touching it while changing her into the Lochlady Dress. At least he allowed her to do up her hair as she wanted, and put on the gloves and shoes that went with the the dress.
"For all I know, that creep was sniffing my hair while I was out like a light! Ugh!" Peach muttered in disgust as she massaged the shampoo into her scalp. Then she rinsed out the shampoo and added the conditioner. She worked that into her hair real good before rinsing it out.
Several minutes later, Peach turned off the water, grabbed her towel, and began drying her hair as best she could. It was still damp, but she had a hair-dryer, so she would use that to get it completely dry. With her hair as dry as she could get it, she began drying off the rest of her body.
After drying her body, Peach quickly put on her unmentionables, then put her soft, fluffy, baby pink robe on over them. Then she slipped her feet into the slippers that matched the robe as she walked over to where her hair-dryer was, right by the bathroom sink. She turned it on and got her hair dry. Now her hair was shiny and soft, but it would look a lot better once she brushed it out.
"Okay, now I can get dressed." Peach said with a smile.
Peach went back out to her room and walked behind the dressing screen. She threw her robe over it, then put on her corsets, pulling the strings tight before putting on her dress. Thankfully, her dressing screen was in a corner of the room, so no one could look behind it and see her changing. Well, okay, they could only see her silhouette, but they weren't able to actually see her looking indecent.
Now that she had her dress on, Peach walked out from behind the screen and over to her bed. She put on her gloves while slipping her feet out of the slippers and back into her red high heels. Then she picked up her crown and made her way over to her vanity table, where she set down her head gear, put on her earrings, brushed out her long, silky golden hair, and began applying her favorite pink make-up, keeping it light.
"Mario is such a sweetie. If it wasn't for him, I'd most likely still be with Bowser right now, and I'd probably still think he hadn't survived, even though I did kind of hear Bowser warning the Broodals about him before he caught up with Daisy in tow." Peach said to herself as she peered critically at her reflection in the vanity mirror. She looked as good as usual. Satisfied with her appearance, she set her crown on her head, feeling fully dressed again.
Now that she was feeling fresh and new, and dressed, Peach needed to think of something that she could do to kill time until she saw Mario again. Should she go to the castle library and take a book to read out on her balcony on this nice, sunny day? Or should she grab a movie to watch here in her room? Or should she play a video game? What could she do?
(A/N: In the first part of the "Super Mario Adventures" comic, when we get our first look at the Princess, we can see her playing a game like "Super Mario Bros.", so we can assume that Peach is something of a gamer.)
"Well, I could always write in my diary..." Peach decided, taking her pink diary out of her nightstand drawer. She got on her bed, laid down on her stomach, and began writing in her diary what had happened to her when Bowser captured her, and what Mario did to save her life, as well as her kingdom, once again.
If there was one thing Peach loved writing about in her diary, it was Mario, and how much she loved him. A lot of her diary entries mentioned the fun she and Mario would have whenever they were together.
After she wrote all she needed to write, she looked at her clock. Only 20 minutes had passed. She put her diary away in the drawer she kept it in and tried to think of something else to do.
"Oh, I know! I'll go down to the kitchen and bake a cake! That usually helps me to relax." Peach said. So after removing her gloves and tying her hair back in a ponytail, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen, where she tied on her apron, found one of her recipe books on a high shelf, and started looking through it for a cake recipe.
But she wasn't having that much luck finding a recipe that was good enough. She so badly wanted to make a really good cake for Mario, to thank him for saving her life.
"Wait a minute! Maybe I'll do him one even better! I'll make cupcakes instead, and they'll be the kind Mario likes; the chocolate ones that seem to 'explode' with scrumptious chocolatey filling." Peach said to herself as a light bulb popped up over her head. She quickly found the cupcake recipe in her book, washed her hands, and got out the ingredients and supplies she was going to need.
After spraying the cupcake pan with non-stick cooking spray and setting the oven to preheat, Peach went right to work, making something special for the most special man she knew.
"He earned this treat. After all he does to keep me safe, to prevent me from becoming Bowser's wife, he deserves something as nice as this. I know I normally fix him a cake to thank him, but I know how much he enjoyed these cupcakes the first time he tried them, so I think he'll be happy." Peach smiled as she finished mixing the batter and handed the beaters to Toad and Toadette to lick. The siblings had been passing by the kitchen, but when they heard the familiar sound of the mixer running, they hurried into the room as fast as they could.
"Well, we know for a fact that Mario's going to like these cupcakes because the batter is really good." said Toad as he licked the beater clean.
"Yeah. You know he'll like the cupcakes if we like the batter." said Toadette, having licked all the batter off of the beater she was given.
"I'm glad to hear it." Peach said as she started filling each container with cupcake batter. When that was done, she put the cupcakes in the preheated oven, then handed the bowl to Toad and Toadette, which made them even happier than they were.
"Whoo!" they cheered as they began to lick the bowl clean. If Mario was around, then he was the lucky beggar who got to lick the bowl and the beaters. But he wasn't here, so Toad and Toadette did the job for him. After they licked the bowl and beaters clean, the Toads put them in the sink. With that done, Peach put away her recipe book and decided to wash the supplies, for that would give her something to do while the cupcakes baked.
And while Peach is busy preparing sweets for Mario, the sweetest man she knows, we'll rejoin him in the next chapter! Stay tuned!
