There's Something Different About Her

After that day Peach was in a constant state of misery. No one had ever seen anything like this. When Daisy brought her home she was still crying. Mario tried to go over to her and ask if she was okay, but she just ran into her room and told everyone to leave her alone. She stayed in her room all day, only leaving her room if she had to. At dinner she sat as far away from everyone else as possible, and after she was done she would go back up to her room and close the door. Her expression was different too. She was usually so bright, even when she was recovering from an attempted kidnapping, she just had this purity about her. Now that light was gone. She looked either sad or angry constantly, and was known to snap at people if they bothered her for too long.

Both Mario and Luigi were concerned. They heard from Toadsworth that she had come under attack while she was in the forest, but was that the only reason why she was acting this way? Things like this happened often, and while she would be upset for a while, it was never like this. This time it was like she was a different person. Luigi was afraid to approach Peach, even tough he considered her a dear friend. He felt that the best thing to do was to give it a while and see if she recovers from this funk on her own.

But weeks went by, and it seemed like it was only getting worse.

Mario left the house in a hurry, on his way to Peach's castle. He need to make sure that his future wife was okay. Luigi was right behind him trying to catch up to Mario.

"Mario, think this through a little more," Luigi called over to his brother.

"I'm done thinking it through! I have to see her!" Mario called back.

"Mario, this is not logical in the least. Surly you've heard what people have been saying about her," as Luigi spoke, Mario was getting angrier and angrier. This was the difference between the two of them, Mario thought on impulse and based his decisions on his emotions. Luigi on the other hand based his decisions on logic. This made him seem like a coward, but in truth he was just as brave as Mario, he just preferred a more strategic approach to things.

"Luigi, she's my future wife! She's going trough something and I need to know what it is! Now you can either come with me, or you can get the hell out of me way!" and with that Mario turned around and continued on his way to Peach's castle. Luigi decided to go with Mario, after all he was worried too. He may not be her boyfriend, but he cared for her as much as Mario did.

When they made it to Peach's castle, the whole atmosphere was wrong. The place usually seemed so bright and active, but now it was like the life of all the people there had been sucked out. Toadsworth walked up to Mario and Luigi when he saw them.

"Ah, Master Mario and Master Luigi. It's always a pleasure to see you," Toadsworth said to them.

"Likewise... Toadsworth..." Mario said, his voice trailing off as he looked around at the castle. "Hey, what's wrong with everybody?" he asked Toadsworth even though he had an idea why everyone seemed so down.

"They're all worried about Princess Peach," Toadsworth said gravely. It was clear that he was affected by this too. After all, he had been with Peach ever since she was born, and saw her almost like a daughter.

"Is it really that bad?" Luigi asked.

"I'm afraid so," Toadsworth replied with a sigh, "She used to be so lively, these days I don't even know who she is anymore.

"Where is she now?" Mario asked, Luigi nodded showing that he wanted to know too.

Toadsworth's heart was warmed at this sight. He used to think that it wasn't good for Peach to associate with them, but now he felt that she was lucky to have such good friends.

"Where she always is," Toadsworth said to them, "in her room."

Mario went straight to her room. Inside, he saw her. She was looking out her window silently. Mario felt strange looking at her; she looked the same on the outside, but there was a major difference that he just couldn't put his finger on.

"Peach," he called to her, "are you feeling better?"

"I don't know..." she said slowly, almost detached from the world around her, "Why?"

"Well, it's a nice day. Luigi and I were thinking we would go for a walk, and I thought you might want to come along," he said with a smile.

"That's okay, you two can go by yourselves," she said still with that slow monotone.

"But you haven't been outside for weeks. What happened in the forest?"

Peach was hoping he wouldn't ask about that. What could she say? That she turned into a monster and almost killed five koopa soldiers? That she actually like every second of it? That she wanted to feel that way again? She felt so confused that she held her head in frustration.

"Peach?" Mario asked in confusion. She was really scaring him.

"Oh, Mario!" she said as she ran into his arms crying.

"What's wrong? What aren't you telling me?"

That your girlfriend is the one who shall bring the end of the world, is what Peach was thinking. She wanted to tell him everything, but what would he think? What would he say? She then felt that dark feeling again. When she felt it she pushed Mario away from her and ran to the bed, burying her face in her pillow.

"Peach?" Mario said as he walked over to her.

"Don't come near me!" she shouted, stopping Mario in his tracks, "I'm sorry, just go away! Please!" she continued. Mario was getting really worried, but he respected her privacy.

"Alright, I'll leave you to your thoughts," Mario said with a sigh, and then left her room. Luigi and Toadsworth were waiting for him outside.

"So, how is she?" Luigi asked, even though he had an idea.

"I really don't know. She wouldn't tell me anything," Mario stated grimly.

"Do you really think this is just due to the koopa attack?" Toadsworth asked.

"Maybe she just had enough. It was only a matter of time before she finally broke down," Luigi stated.

"I just don't think that's all. She's had to deal with this for years and she seemed fine to me," Mario said.

"I've seen her mentality break down over the years, and I always expected this," Toadsworth said sort of ashamed, since he felt he should have done something a long time ago.

"Don't blame yourself Toadsworth, we're all to blame for this," Luigi said.

"So what now? We can't just leave her," Mario said looking back at Peach's closed door, "If this is Bowser's fault, then I say we go over there and-"

"Absolutely not!" Toadsworth said stopping Mario, "We don't have enough men to attack his army. Also, the Mushroom Kingdom does not support war, even the Princess herself stated that."

"I still say if we just leave her alone she'll be back to her normal self soon." Luigi said trying to put an end to the conversation seeing that Mario was getting very emotional.

"I suppose that's all we can do," Toadsworth agreed. Mario wasn't convinced though.

"Come on bro," Luigi said going over to his older brother putting his hands on his shoulder, "let's go home."

"Alright..." Mario said defeated. It was two against one, and his approach didn't seem to work well. Eventually all three of them left, unaware that Peach was listening to the whole thing.

Go against Bowser head on? Strangely to her the more she thought about it, the more she liked he idea. She wanted to show Bowser that she meant business. So a few minutes later she left her room and called all of the villagers for an announcement, one that shocked everyone.

"I, Princess Peach, have decided to go to war with Bowser's army!"