A/N: I rewrote this chapter about four times, and I'm still not completely happy with it but I wanted to go ahead and post it. Annnd I also wanted to thank my awesome reviewers: Ikuni Hattori, DaLover (you were so right about the guard/cop distinction; I've edited it to reflect that!), dragon19kyoshi, and Tally. I totally appreciate the time you take, it's really awesome. :)
That being said, I own nothing. As usual. Nintendo rules.
Also, if you guys are Bowser fans, I recommend you google '5 Reasons Bowser is the Most Successful Video Game Character' because I recently found that article and it was HILARIOUS. Also, very true. Go Bowser!
She watched Bowser eat five servings. Five! At first, she'd thought he only ate to deliberately lengthen their dinner - but soon it became quite obvious that he was hungry. Peach had never seen someone devour so much in such a short amount of time - but she'd never eaten in the company of someone his size, either. She asked him what he intended to show her, and as he wiped his claws on the tablecloth (ooh, it was lace!), he told her they were in the library. Who? Peach wasn't foolish - well, she liked to think she wasn't - and she knew she couldn't possibly have met all of Bowser's forces occupying her castle. But to see them pulling apart her father's library before her very eyes? It left her with an overpowering sense of intrusiveness.
Both she and Bowser stood in the threshold - and Peach caught her breath as she not only saw teetering columns of books stacked on mahogany tables, on the staircase, on the floor, but two magikoopas hovering in mid-air, pulling down texts from the highest shelves of her bookcases, flicking through the pages with practiced ease.
"Oh my Stars."
"Ah, Princess!" The third bespectacled magikoopa peered out from behind a mound of anthologies on the library floor - and although thick blue robes didn't distinguish him from his companions in the air, the white sleeves and brim of his hat did. "It is a pleasure to see you again - and in the company of His Majesty."
She wished that she could say the same. "Hello, Kamek."
"Yeah, yeah, big reunions, yadda yadda," Bowser interrupted, "Tell her why we're here."
"Of course, Sire." The magikoopa was utterly unperturbed by his king's rudeness - but Peach imagined he must've been used to it after so many years. "Please, Your Highness," he indicated a chair at one of the tables with the tip of his scepter, the books shifting themselves aside by use of magic.
Peach summoned a tremulous smile as she took a seat, acutely aware that she was allowing herself to be directed in her own library. Kamek seemed so very familiar with this room, she wondered how long he had been here, pouring over her kingdom's most valuable archives. What a mess.
Following her gaze with his own, Kamek accurately guessed the source of her anxiety. "I assure you, Your Highness," he ventured, "All will be restored to its rightful place. I've been keeping a very precise inventory."
"I see." The princess wasn't in a position to demand anything - she could only trust (trust?) that the magikoopa would keep his word.
"Your library is extraordinary," he added respectfully, "It contains extensive magical and historical resources that complement those we have in the Dark Lands." Kamek was quite careful in his choice of words, knowing that if he implied in any way that His Majesty's library was...lacking, he would overcompensate. Belligerently.
"Yeah," Bowser cut in, realizing that as boring as he found this stuff, he still wanted Peach's attention on him. "Too bad it doesn't do you any good."
"I beg your pardon?"
As defensiveness faintly echoed in her tone, Kamek sighed. "Right you are, My Lord," he admitted, but with a certain measure of finesse, amended, "We would not expect Her Highness to have an innate aptitude for koopa magic. However," he acknowledged the princess, "You are in possession of texts that may aid us in interpreting a difficult spell."
"Oh." Peach remembered the first time Bowser had abducted her - to prevent her from reversing his transfiguration of her people. While her natural power remained largely untapped, she did have an elementary knowledge of magic. And following her safe return (the first of many), the castle's library expanded upon its volumes of koopa mythos - in hopes of preventing a second attack of such magnitude.
Before Kamek could elaborate, Bowser spoke - from behind her, which she didn't appreciate for it reminded her of those long hours where he guarded her himself, "Kamek's been chief adviser to my dad and me," surprising Peach with such an off-hand mention of his father. It had never occurred to her that someone such as him would have parents. "Before him, we had Kamul."
"Yes," agreed the magikoopa, nodding in acquiescence to his king, "My predecessor was renowned for his foresight." Though apparently not into his own fate - for he was flayed alive over a lake of lava as a traitor before His Majesty had been hatched. It was better left unsaid. "And his great aptitude for spellcraft-"
"The spell is mine," Bowser added arrogantly, "But I can't use it until these idiots figure out what's missing." He glowered at the magikoopas above them, who paid their respects but continued to work feverishly. They did not acknowledge the princess at all.
She wished that Bowser would extend her that courtesy. Must he interrupt every other word? "Can you not guess?" What is 'missing'? As one might with a recipe.
"Unfortunately not, Your Highness," Kamek replied, this time before Bowser had the opportunity to interrupt, "Kamul safeguarded his most potent spells through...a sort of runic gibberish, a cipher. While we've successfully linked the cipher with its key, there are still elements that are uniquely Kamul's - they will be difficult to replicate, even for one as skilled in the arts as myself." Kamek spoke without any conceit; it was simply a fact that he was an extraordinarily powerful magikoopa. "We have exhausted our resources." And so have come for yours.
Peach could not imagine her library yielding what the magikoopas sought: there was no dark magic here. What incantations were stored in her shelves would be those of protection and defense.
"Forgive me, what is this spell for?" she asked uneasily - not at all comforted by the manner in which Bowser towered over her, so close that their shadows merged on the tabletop.
The princess really couldn't stand it, to have her silhouette swallowed up by his. It made her feel- "Power," he said, and as a great proponent of prophecies that guaranteed his absolute domination over everything he set his sights on, it was with supreme confidence that the Koopa King informed her, "No one will stand against me." This was what he'd been told by Kamek - and he liked the sound of it so much that he took the words for himself. The Mario Brothers didn't stand a chance with their high jumps and their stupid mustaches; he would destroy them in the time it took his princess to blink.
"I- excuse me."
"Peach-" She stood suddenly and Bowser, without thinking, extended a claw to her which she made every effort to avoid as she darted out of the library. He followed her to the doorway, reaching it in time to see her dress as she turned down a corner- "I didn't even threaten her!" Hell, he didn't mention those stupid plumbers either, or Mushrooms, or...
"Perhaps she is merely overwhelmed, Sire." Kamek was unsurprised, and watched the princess leave with a calculating gaze. "For now."
"I'm gonna talk to her."
Tread carefully, Your Majesty. "Very well."
The princess steadied herself against the wall, pressing her hands to her face. The smell of satin only seemed to encourage her eyes to sting and she took a very deep, unsteady breath. You mustn't cry. What if someone sees you? She could not frighten her servants by showing them just how thoroughly the Koopa King scared her.
"Peach!" She dropped her hands to her sides as soon as Bowser saw her - and she thought she saw relief in his face. Why? Because she didn't run from him? Where would she go? "Peach, hey." You already said her name, she knows her name.
"Why am I here?" she asked softly, "If you only wanted the spell, you-" He could've found it before she ever received word that the castle had been breached. This was not to say that Peach wished harm on her people, or that she would've willingly left them here among the Koopa Troop, she just- she didn't understand.
"I don't only want the spell!" Were he more of a moron, he might've allowed himself to think she was jealous - oh, he wished. Anything would be better than disdain.
"Why am I here?" she repeated. He never answered her questions.
"I want you." Or when he did, he said things she wished he hadn't. Peach refused to look at him, and Bowser hastily explained, "I want..." to marry you, "...you to see what I'm gonna be." He braced his hands against the wall, several feet above her head, claws digging into stone. "Look at me."
Peach tilted her chin up obediently, uncomfortably, but found it so difficult to hold his gaze. "What will you do once you complete the spell? Will you hurt us? Is that why you've brought your soldiers?"
Bowser scowled down at her, disbelievingly. Where did she get an idea like that? "No. No. I would never hurt you, Peach." Not purposefully.
If she believed him, she didn't let it show. "And my people? What will you do to them? My castle?" She closed her eyes slowly, lingeringly, in an effort to withhold the tears. Power, he said. Even as he was, Bowser had more than proven that her kingdom was no match for him. "Must you destroy everything?" It had slipped out, unintended, but to hear the question echo in her voice, the air, she started to cry.
Bowser swore, a string of profanities that would've blistered the fair princess' ears had he spoken them aloud. He hated it when she cried - typically, it just made him angry 'cause it was a sure sign that his...courting methods were ineffective. But tonight, he wished he could have told her the truth - she wouldn't get it, and she'd be mad, but she'd come around. Eventually. Probably. He figured that the only reason she wasn't happy with him was 'cause she hadn't been with him long enough - and that damn plumber was always crashing in, ruining the mood, what a pain. Tonight, it was all on him.
I don't wanna destroy, I wanna rule. He only destroyed when things didn't go his way - which was pretty often with Mario around, but he didn't figure Peach would make that distinction. She thought that moron could do no wrong. "Princess," he slid a clawed hand down the wall with a quiet, even scrape, then skimmed scaly knuckles, the back of his hand, against the line of her jaw.
He was so careful that the muscles in his arm and wrist nearly shook - she really had no idea how much he restrained himself with her. She was, evidently, too upset to shove him away - and he gritted his teeth with the promise, "Once I get what I want," the spell, that is, "I'll leave your kingdom out of it." It won't be yours anymore. It'll be ours. Mine. Was he splitting scales? Probably. He didn't want to lie to her, but he couldn't tell her the truth either. And he wanted her to stay right where she was, permissive of his touch.
What he said, it got her to look at him. That was the best part. "Your word?" she asked, having no better way to insure his honesty. She wanted to believe him so much.
That made him uncomfortable. "Yeah," he forced it out, "What I say goes. Believe that." And? "Stop crying." He practically pleaded it.
"I'm not crying."
"Uh huh."
Embarrassed, Peach wiped the evidence away with her fingers, first one cheek, then the- her hand bumped into his, and she flushed at the impropriety. "Bowser." He reluctantly withdrew, even shuffled a step back. "Thank you." She knew that she couldn't help him find this spell - and that, if possible, she ought to discover its counterspell. Its weaknesses, so that the Koopa King might be defeated. If Bowser were any more powerful, he would be a grave danger to the free kingdoms bordering the Dark Lands (and those far beyond). But he had promised the safety of her kingdom - and there were no people she felt more responsible for than her own. Now she felt that she could direct all her efforts towards aiding Mario.
"Yeah." That's it? Smooth - as a spiked koopa shell.
Peach uncertainly dropped her gaze to her dress, smoothing out the bodice. "I should retire." She gave a very small smile. "I'm very tired."
Say something. "Do you, uh, need me to walk you-"
"No," she interrupted quickly, but gently so as not to offend him, "Thank you. I believe I know the way." Bowser allowed her to leave, and it was with such relief that Peach slipped into her bedroom, she did not even change out of her dinner gown before she fell asleep.