(A/N: Okay, the story you are about to see here used to be called "Fixing The Problem", but when that title worked better for another story, I decided to change the name to "Talk About It". This story is still inspired by "Super Mario Odyssey" (and slightly from a fanfic called Distance by 1TGN). I hope you like it!)
It was 8:00 p.m. in the Mushroom Kingdom. Princess Peach had finally returned to the Mushroom Kingdom that morning, much to the relief of the people who lived in her castle. The world tour she and Tiara had gone on came to its conclusion in the Moon Kingdom the previous day, and Peach decided it was time to go home.
But Tiara wasn't ready to go home to Bonneton just yet, for what if Cappy wasn't there, waiting for her? She didn't want to wait for him to come back, because if she was alone, Bowser might come back. Also, she was afraid of being left all alone. Peach didn't argue with that; she agreed to let Tiara stay with her until they knew where Cappy was.
Now even though it's dark out and some of the kingdom's citizens have already gone to sleep, I know for a fact that Peach hasn't gone to bed yet. She may get ready for bed at this time, but she won't be ready to turn in for a couple more hours, so let's head on over to her castle and see what she's up to!
Princess Peach was currently in her bedroom, dressed in her nightgown, robe, and slippers, sitting at the desk where her pink laptop was. She appeared to be using her laptop to have a video chat with her cousin, Princess Daisy. Tiara was lying on Peach's bed, relaxing and watching Peach.
Daisy was on her bed, lying on her stomach, looking at something on her laptop sitting before her when she found out that somebody was trying to have a video chat with her. Upon realizing who it was, she smiled and answered it.
"Hey, Peach! It's so good to see you!" Daisy said when she saw Peach on her laptop's screen.
"Hello, Daisy. I'm glad to see you, too." Peach said.
"And as you might have guessed, I'm not the only one who feels that way." Daisy said.
"I know. My subjects went crazy trying to find me, and even Mario was looking for me. But he found me." Peach said.
"They're not the only ones who were concerned, Peach." Daisy said.
"Who else?" Peach asked.
"I'll show you." Daisy said. She turned the laptop, and Peach could see Rosalina on the screen.
"Hello, Peach." Rosalina said with a smile and a wave.
"Oh, Rosalina! Are you really at Daisy's Castle right now?" Peach asked her friend, surprised.
"Yes, I am. I thought I'd stop by the Mushroom Kingdom to surprise you and Mario, but you weren't there, and no one at your castle knew where you were. Luigi showed me the text he got from Mario, who was out looking for you. So I went to Sarasaland to visit Daisy instead. I'm going to be staying here for a week." Rosalina said.
"I'm so sorry, Rosalina. I didn't know you were coming." Peach said.
"It's okay. I'm sure you had a good reason for not being home when I stopped by." Rosalina replied.
"And perhaps you wouldn't mind telling us where you went and what you were doing." Daisy said as she turned the laptop to face her again. Rosalina looked, too.
"I suppose I should tell you girls what's been going on these past few weeks." Peach sighed.
"Please do." Daisy said.
"You sound unhappy, Peach. Whatever you've been through must have been pretty bad." Rosalina noted.
"It's worse than you could ever imagine." Peach said. She began, "It started out as a fine day in the Mushroom Kingdom. I was out on my balcony, hoping to see Mario making his way to the castle to pay me a visit. However, I was so intently looking for him that I failed to notice what was above and behind me."
"I wish I'd been there, Peach, 'cause if I was, Bowser would be a dead Koopa right now." Daisy said.
"Daisy, how in the world did you know I was going to say that Bowser was behind me?!" Peach said in surprise.
"Since when is it not him? Whenever you have a story to tell about what happened to you, Bowser is usually the culprit." Daisy said.
"Is that true?" Rosalina asked. She knew that Bowser had nabbed Peach twice, but she didn't know about all those other times that Daisy knew of.
"Oh yeah. I've noticed." Daisy told her.
"Okay, you're very observant..." Peach mumbled, before asking, "Do you girls want to know what Bowser's plan was this time around?"
"You mean it wasn't just a routine kidnapping like it usually is?" Daisy asked.
"No, Daisy. I'm afraid it was worse than that. Far worse." Peach replied.
"What was it?" Rosalina asked gently.
"Prepare yourselves, girls. The thought of it will make you both nauseous." Peach warned.
"Oh no! Don't tell me he...!" Daisy gasped.
"No, Daisy, I don't think Bowser would really go that far..." Rosalina assured her.
"I know what you're thinking, Daisy, and you're not far from being right. He was planning to forcefully marry me." Peach said.
Rosalina blanched at the thought, but Daisy bolted upright and turned green in the face.
"Oh Grambi, I'm gonna be sick!" Daisy yelled, leaping off of her bed and running into the bathroom to throw up.
"Are you serious?!" Rosalina asked Peach, shocked.
"I wish I was kidding, but I'm not." Peach replied, her voice sounding serious.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Peach..." Rosalina said.
"It wasn't your fault, Rosalina." Peach told her.
"I know it's not. But still...!" Rosalina said. She couldn't believe what Bowser had tried to do her friend.
Eventually, Daisy returned, looking a little pale and weak, but otherwise fine.
"Okay. I'm sorry about that, Peach. Please continue." Daisy said as she flopped back down on the bed, lying on her stomach again.
Peach told them everything, from her meeting with Tiara (who shyly greeted them, "Hi, ladies..."), to Bowser's numerous attempts to kill Mario...
"All right! That does it! Where is he?!" Daisy said in anger, sitting up.
"Who? Mario, or Bowser?" Peach asked, confused.
"Bowser, of course! When I find him, mark my words, I'm going to work him over so good, he's going to wish he'd left you and Mario alone!" Daisy said.
"Daisy, I actually haven't seen any sign of Bowser since Mario rescued me." Peach replied.
"Mario rescued you in spite of Bowser's attempts to kill him?! Now that's a man!" Rosalina said, referring to Mario.
"He sure is something!" Daisy said.
"Don't say that just yet, girls." Peach said.
"Why not? Mario is a good man with a big heart." Rosalina asked.
"He is. But if you think I downing Luigi, I'm not. I really love my man in green." Daisy said.
"I know, Daisy, and I'm glad that you'll always love Luigi. I'll get to the reason why I said what I said in a moment." Peach said.
Peach proceeded to tell them about when Mario showed up to crash the wedding. Bowser was in the process of trying to force the Binding Band (which she could use like a hula-hoop) on her, to bind them together.
"Good for Mario! He stopped Bowser from staking his claim!" Daisy cheered, while Rosalina smiled. Mario had arrived in the nick of time, and she was proud of him for that.
But then Peach told them what happened after Mario defeated Bowser in battle for the second time, how a bunch of Moon Rocks fell around them and caused them to fall into what Mario called a new section of the Underground Moon Caverns. And she also told them how Mario used Tiara's brother, Cappy, to capture Bowser so they would have an easier time escaping.
"Capture?" Daisy and Rosalina asked in unison, question marks appearing over their heads. They had no idea what it meant for Mario to capture.
Tiara had to explain what the term meant and how it worked.
"Okay, that makes a lot of sense." Rosalina said.
"It does." Daisy mumbled, before asking Peach, "Did Mario try to talk to you while he was in Bowser's body?"
"No, because he still sounded exactly like Bowser." Peach said.
"I can understand why he wouldn't. He wouldn't want to try calling you 'his principessa' in Bowser's voice." Rosalina said. She'd heard Mario call Peach that sweet Italian nickname every now and again when she visited them, and she also heard Mario give the English translation after he said it, so she knew what it meant.
"Yes, it wouldn't sound right coming from Bowser." Peach said. And hearing what Rosalina had said actually made her feel a little sad. She hadn't heard Mario refer to her as 'his principessa' for a while now, and she so badly wanted to hear him say it to her again.
"So, what happened after Mario used Bowser to get you all out of there?" Daisy asked.
Peach told them that Bowser was out like a light, like he had been when the Moon Rocks crashed down, and she could see Mario approaching her as if he was getting ready to propose to her, but she didn't know if he had a ring on him or not.
Both Daisy and Rosalina clapped their hands over their mouths, fighting down the impulse to squee like a couple of crazy fangirls.
"Peach, look at them. I think they believe it really happened." Tiara whispered to her friend as she looked at the screen.
"I know. I feel bad knowing that I'm going to have to prove them wrong." Peach whispered back, keeping her voice quiet enough so only Tiara could hear it.
It took a minute or two for Daisy and Rosalina to cool their jets, but their excitement was still evident.
"Did he?!" Daisy asked.
"I bet he did!" Rosalina said.
"Actually, girls... Mario never got the chance to ask me..." Peach replied.
Just like that, their excitement had been shot down like a couple of ducks.
"Wwwwhhhhaaaatttt?!" Daisy screamed in shock.
"He didn't?! What happened?!" Rosalina asked.
"Care to guess?" Tiara asked.
It took only seconds for Daisy to figure out what happened, and she was not amused.
"Okay, now I'm mad enough. I am going to find Bowser, and when I get done with him, his own kids won't even recognize him!" Daisy said.
"Yup, you guessed it. Bowser pushed Mario down, away from Peach, and offered her the Soirée Bouquet in what Cappy called a last-ditch attempt to propose." Tiara said.
"How rude!" Rosalina said.
"It gets worse, girls. When Mario saw that, he quickly tried offering me a Rocket Flower, but he still didn't get the chance to ask me with that because Bowser hit him and kept trying to shove him aside while shoving the bouquet in my face! That move, unfortunately, prompted Mario to start doing the same thing with the Rocket Flower!" Peach said.
"Oh no!" both Daisy and Rosalina cried. That must have been why Peach told them not to say good things about Mario. Now they knew they were going to hate whatever Peach said next.
"Because I was so sick and tired of being forced, I told them 'Enough!', and stalked away from them in a huff!" Peach said.
"Wait a second, Peach. Who did you mean to say that word to? Mario, or Bowser?" Daisy asked. On the inside, she was begging, "Please say Bowser, please say Bowser..."
Peach swallowed nervously before answering, "B-both of them..."
"No..." Rosalina said quietly. She knew that Peach was Mario's 'special one', and for her to turn him down like that...
"Oh man! Mario must have been ripped!" Daisy gasped.
"Poor guy... But I do feel bad that you and Mario had to suffer so much at the hands of that awful Koopa, Peach." Rosalina said.
"It still wasn't your fault, Rosalina." Peach said.
"What happened next?" Daisy asked.
Peach told them about how she had calmed down enough to invite Mario and Bowser to join her as she made her way home... on Mario's airship.
"Both of them...?" Rosalina asked. She didn't think that was a good idea, considering what Bowser had been trying to do that whole time...
"I hope not!" Daisy said. She couldn't figure out why Peach would even think of invite along the guy who tried to kill the man she loved and force her into an unhappily ever after.
"Mario made it... by kicking Bowser out of the way." Peach told them.
"Atta boy, Mario!" Daisy cheered.
"Did Mario speak to you at all during the ride back to the Mushroom Kingdom?" Rosalina asked.
"No, he didn't. And I was afraid to speak to him because I was afraid that we might say things to each other that we'd regret for the rest of our lives." Peach said.
"Ohhh... that's not good..." said Rosalina, wincing at the thought.
"Haven't you two spoken to each other at all since then?" Daisy asked.
"Well... sort of. I did try to engage Mario in conversations during the world tour Tiara and I went on to replace our bad memories with good ones." Peach said.
"That was a good idea. The tour, that is." Rosalina replied.
"And what happened? Did Mario reply to you at all whenever you spoke to him during that tour?" Daisy asked.
"Sadly, no. Cappy was the one who did all the talking. Mario only replied to questions I asked him by nodding his head, shaking his head, or shrugging his shoulders." Peach replied.
"Peach, there may be a reason why Mario wasn't speaking to you..." Rosalina said.
"I'm listening." Peach said.
"I think Mario may want to apologize for what he did, or even ask for forgiveness, but he's afraid to say it because either you won't want to hear it, you just want to forget all about it and change the subject on him, or you'll never forgive him and tell him that what the two of you shared is over. Add to that the fact that you are his special one, and he's yours. I think you and him are both hurting right now." Rosalina said.
"Oh... I should've realized that Mario must be hurting, too. He and I really do need to work this out, and soon." Peach said.
"You do. That is, if you still love him." Daisy asked.
"Of course I still love him, Daisy! I always will! And I can forgive him, but not Bowser. If Mario wants to talk, and he brings up what happened at the Moon Kingdom, I'll be sure to listen to him. I'm more than willing to let Mario speak his piece." Peach said.
"That's a girl!" Daisy smiled.
"Also, Peach, if he doesn't come to you, then you may have to go to him." Rosalina said.
"If he's too afraid to come to me, then I will go to him." Peach promised.
"Get in touch with us again after you and him talk, and let us know what's going on, okay?" Daisy said.
"I'll make sure to." Peach promised them.
"Okay. Let that man know you still love him!" Daisy said.
"And let him talk. It's more than likely he's going to give you a big apology speech." Rosalina reminded her.
"I'm well aware of that." Peach said.
"Good. So, are you going to talk to him tomorrow?" Daisy asked.
"I'm not sure. I called Luigi and told him that I'm home, but he said that Mario hasn't come home yet. However, he promised to call me when Mario gets back." Peach said.
"That's what I love about my man in green. He can always be trusted." Daisy smiled.
"We hope to hear from you again real soon, Peach." Rosalina said.
"You will. And it was nice talking to the both of you." Peach said, feeling better now that she'd gotten that off her chest. But as she ended the video chat, she knew that she wasn't going to feel completely better until she spoke to Mario about the whole thing.
After Daisy got out of the video chat, she saw Rosalina go over to her guitar case. She took out her guitar and began to play and sing a song. The song she picked was "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song".
"What brought this on?" Daisy asked her friend.
"To fit the mood. I feel bad for both Mario and Peach." Rosalina said.
So Daisy sang the song with her. Both princesses were feeling bad for their favorite couple, and hoped that they would be able to talk it out and fix everything.
What's going to happen next? If you read this fic before, then you should already know the answer to that question. But if you haven't, or you just don't remember... then stay tuned!