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Chapter Twenty-Five
Peach struggled and flailed all that she could, but the ropes around her were too tight, and the tape on her mouth only allowed her to make muffled noises. She could hear a few hushed voices around her, but she didn't recognize any of them or understand what they were saying. Within a few minutes, she felt the group stuff her into a small Kart and begin driving.
Once the Kart finally stopped, she felt a few of her kidnappers take a hold of her and carry her into a building. It must have been some kind of business establishment because a little bell chimed when they opened the door. The moment they entered, her nose was filled with the smell of alcohol and she could hear them walking on hardwood floors.
Peach tried to squirm out of their grasp and make more noise, but it did no good. She had a terrible feeling that no one but her abductors would hear her. By the time she had given up escaping their grasp, the kidnappers sat her in a chair, tied her loosely with rope, and scrambled out the door they had come in from. The bell rang one more time as they left, letting her know that they had vacated the building.
"Did they really just leave me here?" Peach thought, feeling a bought of panic rise in her chest. She wiggled in her chair and made more muffled noises, but there was no answer. From what she could tell, she was alone, so she sat on the chair quietly for what felt like a long time.
*SMASH*
A loud crashing noise came from somewhere in the same room as the princess. Something wooden had been completely shattered underneath something rather large and heavy.
"What are you doing here, Toad? I thought I told you I was bringing him here and having you take the princess somewhere else," Kamella stated angrily.
Suddenly, Peach heard a chair scrape across the floor behind her and footsteps walk up beside her timidly.
"I just want you to wipe her memory! That's all... Once you do that, we will be on our way. She won't remember that Bowser was here anyhow. Besides, what took you so long to get here?" Toadsworth stated with eager nervousness.
Peach couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Bowser scorched a part of my wand so it kept sending me to all the wrong places!" Kamella growled angrily. "Anyhow, I wasn't worried about her! I was worried about the League of Investors! If there are any witnesses..."
"There will be no witnesses. I told all of them that Bowser was coming for us so they wouldn't get nosey. The League was scared out of their minds when they saw him coming after them outside the castle," Toadsworth stated reassuringly. Peach flinched.
"Bowser had still been outside the castle?" she thought with surprise.
"There better not be or you'll lose more than your job," Kamella threatened. "Now, let me see…" Kamella walked forward and pulled the bag off of Peach's face. Peach glared at her and grumbled noises angrily.
"Aww… It's so good to see you too, Peachy," Kamella said with a laugh. "You know? I made a mistake when I made that Magical Promise with you. If that old Toadsworth fool wouldn't have talked me into it, I might have already gotten rid of Bowser by now. I just really thought that he would have gone back to normal after losing all of his hope in you. Instead, he became even weaker after you broke his heart… Tell me, did you mean everything you said or did it break your heart just as much as his?"
Peach only continued to glare at Kamella as she stood beside her chair.
"Well at least the Promise kept Peach from making a grave mistake of her own," Toadsworth said on the princess's other side. Peach turned her hateful gaze to Toadsworth. She couldn't believe he had betrayed her so fully. "D-don't look at me like that, ole gall. I had to do what was best for the crown. I would never have accepted Kamella's invitation into the League of Investors if you hadn't started talking about wanting to be kidnapped by Bowser. I really couldn't have pure blood like yours to be tainted by that… monstrosity," Toadsworth said as he shook his head distastefully. Peach leaned forward and made angry noises at him. Toadsworth's eyes went wide and he took a step back fearfully as he watched her scoot to the front of her seat.
Kamella stepped forward and, with a wave of her wand, tightened the ropes around the princess and tied her to the back of the chair securely. Peach wiggled and did her best to yell at both of them, but it only seemed to frighten Toadsworth.
"Please, erase her memory! This has gone far enough!" Toadsworth fretted.
"You touch her…. and I kill you both…" a gruff voice came from the broken table behind them. Toadsworth ran back behind Peach's chair in fright while Kamella turned around with a frown on her face. Peach's eyes went wide when she saw Bowser clumsily try to lift himself from the splintered wood that had once been a pool table.
"Hm… I must not have used enough of my magic on you," Kamella sighed.
"Kamella! Put him out at once! We are in a bar surrounded by alcohol! He could blow up this entire place to smithereens with one blow!" Toadsworth whispered loudly.
"Yes. But that might work to our advantage with Peach still in the room with us. Bowser wouldn't want to hurt his precious bitch now, would he?" Kamella stated goadingly.
Bowser stood up shakily and huffed, "I don't need to roast you. I just need to beat the hell out of you." He pounded his chest with his fist and the spikes on his shell lengthened. Reaching his hand back, he took a hold of one of the long spikes, pulled it out, and began spinning it in his hand menacingly.
"Kamella!" Toadsworth screamed worriedly from behind Peach's chair.
"Shut up, you old piece of shit!" Kamella yelled at the Toad. She took her wand in hand and watched Bowser closely. He was still swaying slightly from the effects of her sleeping spell. "You look a little off-balance, Your Fearlessness. Are you sure you want to be swinging that spear around like that?"
"Well, at least dizziness goes away with time. You're old and time only makes you die faster!" Bowser shouted from his side of the room. Kamella sneered as he flung himself forward with the spear in hand.
Kamella transported herself to a corner on the other side of the room and Bowser spun around to face her again. This time she pointed the wand at her own head and chuckled evilly.
"You know… I read this magic book once that stated, 'A promise once forgotten is as if never made.' I wonder what would occur if I just happened to forget?" Kamella whispered as she looked in Peach's direction. With a wink at the princess, Kamella chanted a spell under her breath and suddenly fell to the ground unconscious.
"Well, there's your answer, idiot. You lose consciousness," Bowser scoffed. But he wasn't going to complain. That was one less thing that he had to worry about dealing with right now.
"Peach, are you okay?" Bowser asked as he walked over to her, meeting her blue eyes worriedly. Peach grumbled at him and nodded her head.
"Stay away from her, you fiend!" Toadsworth yelled and threw a bottle at Bowser from behind the bar.
It was a terrible throw.
The bottle flew for Peach's head, but Bowser caught it from mid-air and scowled at Toadsworth who had gone back to cowering in the corner. Bowser shook his head and looked back down at Peach.
"Peach, forgive me, but this is going to hurt a little," Bowser said as he grabbed a corner of the tape over her mouth and pulled quickly. With a *riiiip!* the tape was off and she groaned. Despite the pain, Peach looked up at him with a smile.
"Bowser, you saved me!" she cried happily.
Bowser's shattered heart twitched under her warm gaze. No wonder Mario always came to save her. Getting praised by a beautiful princess wasn't half bad."But Mario is still an idiot so…"
"Did they hurt you? Did they make you forget anything? How many hotels did we stay in? Do you remember the color of the dress you wore yesterday?" Bowser rattled off worriedly.
"No, they didn't hurt me. We stayed in two hotels on this last trip and I wore jeans," Peach said with a chuckle.
"Peach, I am so sorry. I tried to stop them when I saw them take you, but Kamella caught me off-guard and I didn't…" Bowser rambled.
"Bowser it's okay. We just need to get out of here before Kamella wakes up," Peach said, trying to keep herself calm. The look in Kamella's eyes when she cast that spell on herself told Peach that something very bad could happen when Kamella woke up.
Bowser cut Peach's ropes and helped her up from the chair she had been confined to. As soon as she was free, she walked past Bowser and made her way over to Toadsworth who was hiding under the bar in the corner.
Peach took a bottle from the counter and stood in front of him with anger in her eyes.
"Princess… I know you don't understand but…"
"No. I understand perfectly," Peach stated sharply. Toadsworth looked up at her with fear. "You are a traitor to the Mushroom Kingdom and you deserve to be executed for your crimes against the Royal Family." The princess raised the bottle above her head and threw it with all her might. Toadsworth screamed and the bottled shattered.
"Don't ever show your face at my castle again! Consider yourself fired! I will do the paperwork myself," Peach muttered darkly. She looked at Toadsworth one more time with warning in her eyes and then left him shivering in his sad little corner. "Pick up Kamella, Bowser. It's time we go home."
With that, Bowser walked over to where Kamella had been laying and sighed.
"She is gone," Bowser stated with frustration.
"Then you need to go home and I need fortify my castle," Peach decided. Bowser nodded his agreement and growled one more time at Toadsworth as he made his way to the back of the building. Bowser kicked the back door down and they left the bar.
A neon light flashed over a rusty sign that read "Koopaburra Bar".
"This must have been the League's secret meeting place that Mario talked about," Peach thought outloud. Bowser hummed in agreement but said nothing more.
Neither of the royals said anything more as they made their way through the woods outside the town they had been brought to. The adrenaline had begun to wear off, giving them more room to feel less welcome feelings. Both of them avoided so much as looking at each other when their lonely hearts began to ache again.
"Peach, can I ask you something?" Bowser asked sometime into their walk. She only nodded, keeping her eyes on the ground in front of her. "Did you agree t…"
*CRACK*
A bright green flash lit up the night and another sharp crack ripped through the air. Before Peach could say anything, Bowser scooped her up into his arms and started running as fast as he could.
"Bowser! What's going on?" Peach asked with a panicked look in her eyes.
"Kamella is attacking us! My shell can deflect most of her magic, but we have to get to an open area where she can't hide," Bowser explained between breaths. Peach's heart sunk when she thought back to what Kamella had said.
"I wonder what would occur if I just happened to forget?"
"No," Peach thought to herself when she realized what it meant.
"Bowser put me down and let me run! You'll run out of energy before we make it out of the woods!" Peach shouted.
"Absolutely not! If even one of those blasts hits you, you're a goner Peach. I am not losing you like that," Bowser argued.
"It will be okay! I am a smaller target anyhow!" Peach fought his grip, which he only tightened. "Bowser, please!"
"No! Peach, you are not running on your own," Bowser said as he began to pant harder. At that moment, a large magical flame burst against Bowser's shell. With a grunt, the Koopa fought to keep his balance as he continued to run. The princess could only watch as his shell was pelleted with powerful magic.
Bowser knew they wouldn't make it out of the woods at this rate. His shell was starting to crack and Kamella was getting closer with every second. He wouldn't be able to protect Peach if Kamella got in front of them.
Bowser looked down at Peach as he ran.
"Bowser?" Peach asked, seeing a weird look on his face.
Without another moment's thought, Bowser bent down and kissed Peach roughly. He was out of breath, but he poured his whole heart into his kiss. Before she could react, he took her into his left arm and used his right hand to unlatch the green spiked dome from his main shell. Bowser put Peach in-between the spikes on his shell, took a big leap, and grinned at his princess.
"I love you, Peach," Bowser said and then he threw the shell with all of his might.
"Bowser!" Peach screamed as she flew through the trees at a breakneck pace. She looked back and watched as Bowser took his battle stance and stuffed a mushroom in his mouth. He grew five times his original size and roared.
"I hope you're better at fighting than you are at politics, asshat! GWA HA HA!"
A barrage of green sparks lit up the woods and the shell Peach was riding bounced off of a tree, jerking her around and out of sight. She was now too far away to see or hear the fight anymore and she only kept getting farther away. Bowser no longer had his main form of protection and Kamella probably hadn't even used half of her magic yet.
Peach's eyes filled with tears as she laid her head down on Bowser's shell and took in his smell. He was going to die if she didn't do something.
"I have to find him," Peach whispered. Clenching her teeth, she looked up and pushed off the back of the shell as hard as she could. Luckily, none of the spikes caught her as she flew off the shell. Hitting the ground, she went rolling into a tree with a sickening crunch. She screamed as searing pain shot through her left side. Panting, she laid on her right side and felt the left side of her chest. It hurt like hell, but she had to get up.
She had to find Bowser.
A hiss exuded from the princess's mouth as she pushed off the ground and used the tree to pull herself onto her feet. Slowly, she followed the trail the shell had dug into the dirt. She didn't know how long she walked, but time seemed to move slower as her mind went into a haze. The pain in her side and the fact that Bowser could be dead was numbing her mind.
Time continued to stretch on forever until she came to a section of the forest that had been leveled to nothing but ash.
Lying in the middle of it was the Koopa King.
Peach gasped and her side ached in protest as she willed herself to run forward without bothering to check if the coast was clear. Kamella be damned.
(Cue Music)
Clumsily, Peach stumbled and fell to her hands and knees just as she got to Bowser's side. Hot tears streamed down her face as she crawled towards his bleeding body. His chest-plate was shattered and his torso had two massive blast holes. Peach laid a shaky hand on a section of his chest that hadn't been burned and blinked in surprise when she felt it moving slightly.
He was still breathing.
"Bowser," she called softly. "Bowser, can you hear me?"
Bowser's chest moved as he took a big shaky breath and coughed. "Peach," he wheezed.
Peach sobbed and laughed at the same time. He was still alive.
"Bowser! Bowser, I'm here!" she said, grabbing his hand, holding it in her own as she smiled at him. He opened his eyes slightly and coughed again.
"I did it all wrong didn't I?" Bowser gasped. "I always wanted to impress you… But big and fearsome could never impress grace and purity."
"No... I just..." Peach tried to say through her tears.
He grabbed her hand, "Don't, my Queen... Let me acknowledge my mistake for once. It's not every day that someone as perfect (cough) as me has something wrong to admit about themselves." He chuckled and coughed up blood.
"But it's not true. You may have been kind of overbearing or stubborn at times but... I found it charming," Peach said quietly.
"Peach... you don't have to..."
"Shhh… Bowser, I lied to you," Peach said, tears rolling down her face as her lips trembled. "You are enough." Bowser coughed and his arm twitched as she kissed his hand. She could feel a tinge of heat coming from the Contract mark in-between her shoulder blades, but she wasn't going to stop. She refused to let him go this time.
"It's true you made some mistakes, but I was also prideful and pushed you away because I was afraid of being rejected by others. The truth is..." her back was starting to burn hotter, "I really enjoy being with you. I like your stupid grin when you talk about yourself like a god. I feel safe when you wrap your arms around me. My heart beats faster when you look at me for too long and my head spins when you kiss me.
"To be honest, I hated you for making my childhood dreams look terribly dual and giving me impure thoughts. I hated that I couldn't even breathe without thinking about you! You stupid, selfish Koopa! Don't make me live without you now that you finally got what you wanted!" She sobbed and the searing fire on her back flooded her veins throughout her body. "Bowser, it was all a lie! Everything. I don't care about having human children! You are more than anything I will ever deserve. I'll never leave you again! Please, forgive me."
Peach gripped his hand and put her head on his chest, grinding her teeth as she gasped from the heat that coursed through her veins. Suddenly, there was a burst of pressure around her and her pain was gone. She opened her eyes and found herself in a white courtroom.
The Contract had been broken.