Chapter 3: Despair and... Kindness?
"This is where you will be staying," the first guard said. "Oh, and don't try any silly escape attempts. We'll find you."
The guards left the room, locking the door. The clone took the time to observe her surroundings: a square room, at least 25 feet by 25 feet, enclosed by stone walls (one of which had a door to a small shower room). The room itself had its own bed, a wardrobe, and a small bookcase (mostly empty). A chandelier gave the room light.
Well, at least Bowser was nice enough to provide a full-size bed and clothes presumably made by tailors within the castle.
But she didn't care about that. She was drowning in memories that weren't hers—birthdays, vacations, go-kart races, and the absurd number of times Peach was kidnapped, with Mario coming to save her... except it wasn't her he was saving, as she was only a copy who tried to kill her original self in some warped sense of replacing her. And it wasn't even entirely her fault; Belome made her do part of his dirty work! And now she was Bowser's slave with no real hope of rescue.
She wept.
Of course, with her having all the memories of the original, she remembered back when Mario, Mallow, Geno, Bowser, and Peach fought Belome, and the first time Belome ever used his cloning powers. Could those clones have free will, which Belome denied? Did they have souls? Did she have one? Would she... cease to exist should she die?
Bowser opened the door.
"Muahahahaha! You might as well give up, 'princess'!" Bowser gloated.
"... You're right," she responded. "It's hopeless."
"... I... am? Wait—Of course I am!" Bowser said. "Now... for the reason I came in here... would you like a tour of my splendid castle?"
"What? Why would you be giving me a tour? You just implied I was expendable fifteen minutes ago!"
"I had thought you weren't much more than a walking piece of stuffing. But... you DNA seems to be a perfect match, so maybe that was uncalled for."
"Since when could you test DNA?"
"A Magikoopa did it."
"I see."
"Well, how about that tour, then? I think you'll be impressed at how cool my newest castle is."
"I guess. I have nothing better to do."
"Good! Now, if you would come with me..."
The Koopa King took her on a tour of his castle. The castle had three floors above ground, not including the four towers on top of the castle.. On the first floor was the castle lobby and entrance to the south, with the kitchen and mess hall to the far north. The rest of the floor was filled out with mostly barracks for some of the soldiers and a few rooms for recreation. Within the basement was what appeared to be a geothermal power plant and water pump, as well as machinery that maintained the lava moat surrounding the castle. The second floor had more barracks, a private meeting room, and an academy geared around training soldiers. It was also from this floor that the drawbridge was controlled. This floor also contained the room of the captured clone. The highest floor was mostly devoted to Bowser himself, with a large throne room in the dead center of the floor. The towers were at least a floor high and were mostly used for spotting unwelcome visitors in advance.
The tour showing the castle highlights concluded in Bowser's own throne room.
"So, what do you think? Is it not totally awesome?" Bowser asked.
"I'm surprised you haven't flooded parts of the first floor with lava that has to be jumped across," she responded.
"Yeah, it looked pretty cool. But there were too many accidents happening, so it had to go."
"Wait... why are you showing me all of this, anyway? Don't you usually lock up the princess until Mario... Oh, Mario... why?"
"I thought we established that Mario wasn't coming. You don't really need him, anyway. Besides, what does the Mushroom Kingdom have to offer you?"
"I... don't know."
"Exactly. How about you stick around with me?"
"I..."
"Gwahaha! I won't force an answer out of you. Now, I need to have a meeting," Bowser said, then turned to a Hammer Bro nearby. "You there!"
"Yes, sir?" the Hammer Bro asked.
"You're on guard duty. Please gently escort this lady back to her room, but don't let her do anything suspicious."
"Yes, Lord Bowser, sir!" The Hammer Bro said, taking the clone with her. Kamek came out afterward.
"Oh, Bowser. What was she doing up here?" Kamek asked.
"Oh, nothing. She seems to have mostly gotten over her actual kidnapping," Bowser answered.
"She's already starting to succumb to Stockholm Syndrome?"
"Stockholm Syndrome? What's that?"
"Basically, she's falling in love with you because she interprets your actions as acts of kindness."
"Oh. You mean what I've been hoping to happen actually has a... you know what, Kamek? I just got an idea!"
"Yes, your wretchedness?"
"You know I'm eventually going to attack the Mushroom Kingdom again, right?"
"Yes."
"If she really is falling for me, then in due time she will completely alienate herself from the Mushroom Kingdom and swear loyalty to yours truly. So... I think I'm going to make her my general."
"So she'll be attacking the Mushroom Kingdom?"
"Isn't it so diabolically ironic?"
"Excellent, my lord! Truly splendid! We'll manipulate her into doing our dirty work, and when Mario is finally killed off and Peach is yours, we can get rid of her."
"Now now, Kamek, let's just wait and see. I think she might turn out useful now. Throwing away a perfectly good girlfriend is wasteful..."
"Hmm... well, if you insist."
"Oh, Bowser..." The clone said, returning to the throne room with a guard escort.
"Yes, my—oh..."
The clone had found one of the skimpy sets of clothing left by Bowser and was now wearing it. The set included long green gloves to replace her white ones, long green boots with spikes around the top, and what looked something like a green two-piece swimsuit, with a thick vine around the waist with thorns pointing away.
"Kamek, did you cast a spell on her or something?" Bowser asked.
"No, your despicableness, I didn't do anything to her. She's wearing it by choice," Kamek said.
"I can't identify with my other self anymore. I don't see why I should wear her clothes. But... why did you have to make the this so skimpy?" she asked.
"You don't like it?" Bowser inquired.
"No, it's... not that... it just doesn't feel right."
"Oh, don't be so silly. You look great!"
"*blushing* Really?"
"Well... if you really don't want to wear that, then I can get you something else instead."
"No, it's alright."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm just a little embarrassed, that's all."
"She looks kind of cute," the Hammer Bro said.
"I... do?" she said, blushing. She was enjoying all of these compliments. "Hmm... isn't it kind of late?"
"Oh dear, it is," Kamek said, looking at his watch. "Say, hasn't dinner been served yet?"
"Shall I escort her back to her room, sir?" Asked the Hammer Bro.
"No, that isn't necessary," Bowser said. "She knows where her room is. All she needs is someone to bring her food. We can continue talking tomorrow, my lady."
"If you insist. Now I'll be on my way..." she said.
The clone returned to her room.
"Well, this isn't so bad after all! Everyone's so kind... I was afraid at first, but I see it clearly now. There's no reason to leave. Although... I feel kind of embarrassed wearing this. Maybe I'll get used to it... It does feel kind of comfortable... I never thought I would like green so much."
She looked at herself in the mirror.
"I do look cute! But of course, I did inherit Peach's looks. And voice. And... everything."
She thought back to Peach trying to talk her out of killing her.
"Peach, I'm sorry... but I wish you hadn't given up on me. Then again, this is hardly as terrible as I thought it would be..."
Still in the throne room, Bowser was gloating about how awesome he was.
"Holy smokes! This is actually working! Something is actually working!"
"She's falling for you, your terribleness! And very quickly, in fact! This is remarkable!"
"I can't believe I convinced her to keep wearing that!"
"But... now that I think about it, don't you think that was a bit... much?
"Now, now, Kamek, even I have standards."
"So... where did you get that design, anyway?"
"Fan art."
"Oh. Be careful searching for that stuff, you know..."
"I already know," Bowser said disdainfully. "Kids, don't try this at home. Google SafeSearch isn't safe."