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Chapter 21: Stronger, Together

Bowser's Castle

"Hey, Junior. I want to-"

"Shut up." Mario sighed. Communication with the Koopa hadn't been the easiest thing to deal with in the last three days. He figured that his time was up already, but as each day went by and no news, that gave him hope that Peach and everyone else was still alive. He had a hard time reliving the memories of the war in his head, especially with Peach's supposed death, but not hearing anything gave him the slightest bit of hope that she was still alive, and he was willing to cling onto anything that gave him such hope.

With that said, he turned his focus onto repairing the bridges he burned a long time ago, except the Koopa wasn't even willing to bat an eye at him. All he wanted to do was lay in silence with only the sound of stomachs grumbling to fill the void as neither had been fed and the numerous amounts of of Toads screaming to be freed, though they were located in a different part of the castle. Even then, Mario wanted to do something to repair their relationship. He didn't want Junior to go down a path of revenge, and the Koopa's heart burned with such, but all Junior would do is yell at him to shut up, which caused Mario to sigh. What could he do to save him, especially when he had the time? Well, one thing was for sure. For anything to work, he had to push through the Koopa's snarls. He had to get his words out or else he would feel nothing but regret. "Junior, I-"

"I said shut up! I don't want to talk to you, so shut up!"

"I won't," Mario said. "I know what I did was wrong and no apologies I say can bring Bowser back, but I just ask you to hear me out. Please listen to what I have to say."

"Forget it! I don't give a crap at what you say! I hate you!"

"What's with all this yelling?" Kamek entered through the doors. "Mario, what do you think you're doing?"

"Using what time I've got to try to make amends."

"Amends?" The Magikoopa snorted. "How ridiculous. There's nothing to amend after everything you've done."

"But you need to understand you're doing what I did to Bowser! Look at what happened! I only caused more misery, and I don't want anyone to follow down the same path I did! Please, Junior! You must understand that! I'm sorry! I don't want anyone to suffer!"

"Well, maybe you should've thought of that before you killed my Papa!" Junior snarled.

There was a moment of silence as Kamek shook his head. "Honestly, I don't understand what you're trying to accomplish. What kind of response were you expecting? That he or any of us would cry tears of joy because you said, 'I'm sorry?' Well, that's foolish! You know nobody will forgive you! Even if someone did, what good would it do for you? Are you really that in remorse that you just have to rub your apologies everywhere? Well, news flash, no one wants it!" He shrugged. "What am I saying? You're gonna be dead anyway, so why should I even bother? Well, have fun weeping in your own misery because no one will forgive you." He slammed the doors behind him as he walked out, drowning the prison in darkness once again.

"Junior, please-"

The Koopa banged his arm against the metal door, causing the plumber to rear back in fright. "I will only say this once, so shut up and listen closely. Papa was the only Koopa who ever loved me. Everyone else hated me for who I am, and you took him away from me. I will never forgive you for what you did, so just leave me alone. It's bad enough that I have to be in here with the person I hate the most. Just shut up and leave me alone before I go even more insane."

That was an interesting point that Junior brought up. It went beyond Bowser's death. Junior's heart was filled with so much revenge that it affected everyone around him, which explained why Ludwig was king and not him because Junior was overthrown. But Mario couldn't stop. Maybe, if he could get him to have a change-of-heart, then the both of them could escape from this place, that way, Junior could take back what was rightfully his, hopefully with a changed outlook than being a snobbish child. That was probably how everyone viewed him. "Do you still want to become king?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I might not know what happened between you and Ludwig, but I can tell he's just the same as you, even if he's better at hiding his anger. Even if he doesn't show it, he's still heading down the same path I did." The plumber sighed. "I should've given Bowser a chance. Instead, I let my anger get the best of me, but I want to change things. I want to repair the relationships I ruined, and that includes you. You don't have to hunger for revenge. It only eats at a person's soul until there's nothing. Please. Let me help you-"

"I don't need your help! You took away the one Koopa who ever loved me! Everyone else hates me for who I am, and I hate it! I hate you!"

"Hello!" A sing-songy voice rang along the halls as Ludwig bursted through the doors with dramatic flair. "Good morning! Or is it good evening? I can hardly tell with the darkness clouding these halls." He quickly read the room with a few glances. "I can sense the thick tension in this room. Well, Kamek informed me of what happened in my absence." He glanced at Mario. "You were really trying to atone for your mistakes, despite knowing well that A: your time is almost up, and B: no one would forgive you? You're just that desperate, aren't you?"

"No," Mario said. "I just wanted to correct some of my wrongs, or at least try. I wasn't gonna sit back and weep in my own misery. I had to try."

"Yes. Key words 'had to.' Well, at least you acknowledged your own failure, so I might as well cut to the chase." He glanced at Junior. "You don't have to be sad anymore. Today is the day you've dreamed of. It's time for Mario's trial, and I know we had our differences…" Junior snorted at that comment. "...But if you are willing to cooperate, I'm willing to give you a front row seat for Mario's death, that way you can soak every ounce of satisfaction knowing your efforts weren't in vain after all because this was a team effort, even if you don't think so. Do you accept my request?" Mario scratched his head. Why was Ludwig offering him such an offer? Surely, he must've known the risk to it. Junior could easily try to escape or even kill Mario himself, which would provoke even more violence, and there had been enough as is.

"Forget it," he hissed. "If this is your way of saying sorry, I don't accept. I want to kill him myself. I don't need you to spoon-feed me your own selfishness!"

Ludwig shook his head. "What a shame. Well, have it your way." He snapped his fingers. The guards opened Mario's cell and grabbed him. "The trial will commence with or without you, but if that's how you want to act, then I might change my attitude towards you. Let's move."

"No!" Mario tugged against the guards' grasp as he glanced one last time at Junior. "Remember what I said! You don't have to be like him! Please, Junior! Remember!"

"Get moving!" As he went around the bend, he couldn't see the Koopa's expression. He couldn't tell if his words had any lasting effect on him, but if not, then the only one who could save everyone from this madness was Peach. He had to believe she was gonna be OK, or else everyone was doomed.

Elsewhere

The light faded in and out. In and out. Eventually, the light grew brighter as Peach woke up, her head panging with pain. It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the light, but she sat up and glanced at her surroundings. She was inside what looked like some sort of medical room. Beds were laid across in rows as she glanced at a desk with medical supplies sprawled on it. Where was she? How did she end up here? Her memory was foggy. She could remember some sort of battle, but the specifics were unknown to her. Who won? Was this Bowser's Castle? She sighed. There were too many unknowns. She had to get answers. She glanced at her hands, which were covered in bandages. That gave her some sort of clue of what was going on.

She tried to move her feet, the pain making her grimace, but she fought through as best as she could as her feet touched the cold gravel floor, making her shiver, but it was strangely a nice feeling. She slowly trudged, using the beds as a support until a figure caught her eye. She turned around to see Rosalina unconscious. "No!" She ran to her, collapsing on her feet as she crawled to her. "Rosalina, wake up!" She shook her, but there was no response. Her body was covered in scorch marks as her head was bandaged, covering her entire face save her left eye. No. How did this happen? Did they truly lose?

"Don't touch her." Peach jumped at the sound of a voice. She glanced to see a Toad wearing a purple robe around his body.

"What happened to her? Where am I?!"

"Calm. Breathe with me." They inhaled and exhaled together and a couple minutes later, Peach had calmed down, but that didn't stop the twitching of her legs. "Allow me to provide you with context," he said. "Is Rosalina dead? No, but she's also not alive. In other words, she's in a coma." While that did provide slight relief, it barely calmed her down. She was in a coma?

"We have to wake her up!"

"I've tried. Will she have to wake up on her own? Yes, as she won't respond to physical stimuli."

"But for how long?!"

"I don't know. Come. You're still injured. You must rest." He guided her to her bed, but Peach kept her gaze at the princess. She laid on the bed as he bowed. "I shall inform everyone of your awakening." He left her to her thoughts. Between the injuries she sustained to the fact that Rosalina was unconscious practically confirmed what she feared, but even if she knew they lost, the specifics scared her more like how long was she passed out? What happened to Mario and everyone else?

The room was slowly filled up as everyone had gathered around her. "Peach!" Toadsworth was the first to move as he ran to her and hugged her while being aware of her injuries. "You're OK! Thank the Stars you're safe!"

"Yes. I need to know what happened. Where are we? How long have I passed out?"

"Indeed. You do need to know but brace yourself. None of this is good for us." As the Toad told her of the events that happened, Peach shivered, horrified at everything that happened. The raid. The number of organisms either killed or captured, including Mario himself. It scared her to the bone how much had happened in only 72 hours.

"No! What are we waiting for?! We have to go save them!"

"Look around!" She flinched from his tone of voice. He took a deep breath. "Look around. How many soldiers did we lose in this war? Too many to count. Understand this, Peach. We are razor-thin on soldiers right now. We barely escaped alive while trying to flee! If we go back, that would be suicide! You really expect us to waltz in a second time and expect everything to work out?! No! It will not!"

"But staying here is only making things worse! We have to do something!"

"Peach, look at me!" Luigi knelt to her. "I'm just as worried as you. I get you want to do something, but we only have 50 people with us at the most. 50. Many died trying to escape. I know how much you want to save your kingdom; we all do, but we've had no choice but to run and recuperate. I'm not saying we abandon Mario and everyone else, but you have to look at the odds stacked against us. I want to-a save Mario, save everyone, but we can't given the state we're in. We're barely surviving as is. We can't make much food trips since Ludwig's troops are everywhere. We're doing the best we can." He pointed to the purple Toad. "Dr. Toadley has stayed up for the past 24 hours to make sure everyone is attended, including you. Until we get the clear from him, we're not making a move. We have one shot at saving our kingdom, and if we mess this up, our games are over."

Peach sighed. It was hard for her to stand on the sidelines while people die. She just wanted the violence to end. Too many people from both sides had died. The trauma had started to become too much for her. She just wanted things to end where everyone could be happy. So everyone could live in a world as Mario described to her before the battle. One thing was clear from all this. With every minute that passed was one the enemy was taking advantage of. She wasn't gonna wait any longer. Sure, the odds weren't in their favor, but she had to try something. She had to take the first step. She got out of her bed as she made her way to Rosalina. "Princess!" Toadsworth grabbed her. "What are you doing? You need to rest!"

"I'm not waiting any longer, Toadsworth. We need to act now, and that means we need every hand we can get. Let go."

"But you just woke up! If you try to awaken her, you could fall back into your coma! I assure you that Miss Rosalina will wake up in due-"

"We don't have time!" Toadsworth reared. "Every minute, someone is dying! I'm not waiting any longer! I will save her! Let me go!" She snatched her hand out of his grasp and stumbled onto Rosalina's bed. She knew the risk Toadsworth mentioned. She could very well go back into unconsciousness, but as stated before, she couldn't wait. Sure, they needed to come up with a plan, but if nobody was gonna take the first step, then she was gonna take the initiative. She placed her hands on Rosalina, the pink energy swirling around her body. The seconds slowly ticked by as the princess's energy slowly began to dissipate, but she held firm. She wasn't gonna stop until Rosalina was reawoken. Second turned into minutes. She could feel the intense gaze of everyone as they stared at her with anticipation. As her muscles began to give way, Peach felt the slightest bit of muscle twitching. Then a leg moving. Then a groan. Peach released her magic and collapsed to the floor.

"Peach!" Toadsworth ran to her. "Help me get her to her bed!" Luigi and Yoshi picked her up and gingerly placed her on the bed.

"D… Did it work?" Peach murmured, huffing for breath. "Is she OK?"

Dr. Toadley approached Rosalina and examined her. "She is alive. Rosalina, can you hear us?"

She groaned and slowly raised her head. "Hello?"

"Yes. Good. You're awake. Time to examine your injuries." He examined the space princess. "Mmm!"

"What is it?" Toadsworth said.

"It appears her injuries are healed. Amazing. Try to stand for me, but take it slow, miss." She nodded and slowly rose to her feet. She stood up, her feet wobbling a bit as she walked, but she appeared to be just fine, the result Peach was hoping for as she smiled. "How are you feeling? Any pain?"

"Not that I can tell," she said, examining her body. "What happened?"

"Peach restored your consciousness."

"What?" She flew towards her. "Peach!"

"Rosalina?"

"You used your magic to heal me, didn't you?" She nodded. Rosalina sighed. "It's all my fault."

Peach sat up. "What?"

"I saw everything that would happen. That we would lose. That I would almost die. I saw everything, but I thought if I tried hard enough, we would win. I thought I was strong enough to take down some of the ships so we could have a fighting chance, but I should've been more prepared. As I was charging up my blast, one of the ships crashed into me. I shielded myself the best I could, but the explosion nearly cost my life, and I'm sorry to everyone. I didn't think to ask for anyone's help because I thought I could do it, but I was wrong. I'm so sorry!" Peach's eyes wavered as the space princess broke down into tears. This whole time, they were fighting back against a future everyone wanted to avoid, and despite everyone's best efforts, it wasn't enough. Everyone probably blamed themselves for either not doing their part or being enough, but this was a team loss. Even then, they were still alive. Peach believed that this wasn't game over. As long as someone was alive and held onto the promise of a bright future, then they had a chance. Peach was gonna show them that.

"No," she said. "We are not done. Things might've turned horrible for us, but we can still win. I don't care how much the odds aren't in our favor. As long as we still have breath in our bodies, we keep fighting till the end!"

"Exactly," Toadsworth said. He turned to Rosalina. "Don't blame yourself for this, my dear. If we believe with our hearts that we can win, then we will. You are a big believer of the Stars. Tell me. Do you believe the ending they showed you was the end of everything?"

She sighed. "Part of me wanted to say yes. I was horrified by what I saw. And seeing my own fate had practically scarred me. So, yes. I once thought that that vision was the be all, end all. But I was reminded throughout all this that if we worked together, we could overcome any obstacle, and the first two battles are a testament to that fact. So, now I don't believe that vision was the end of everything."

"Exactly. Listen, everyone. Our games aren't over. We still have a fighting chance in all of us here. We can make things right for the better. All you have to do is believe!"

"And I can do some reconnaissance to give us an edge in battle!" Vivian said. "I'm gonna start now!"

"Return safe to us," Peach said. The Shadow Siren nodded before leaving.

Goombario sighed. "I remember seeing my dad killed in battle. Seeing his death scared me to pieces, but I know he wants me to keep fighting for his sake, so I will. For his and everyone else's sake, we will save this kingdom!" Peach smiled as cheers erupted from everyone. Hope was finally restored. But the celebration didn't last for long as the castle shook, spooking everyone. "What the? What's going on?!"

"Everyone outside!" Peach yelled. She stumbled to her feet, still feeling light-headed from earlier, but Luigi held her up as everyone went outside. She had a feeling of who it was. As they entered the bright daylight, she stared ominously at a huge airship that slowly descended towards them. Multiple figures jumped off.

"Hello," Wendy said with a smirk as her troops emerged from behind her. Now their mission became a whole lot harder.

Thanks for reading. I'm here to let you all know I've posted a new story based on the Super Mario Bros Movie. If you're interested, you can check that one out after this chapter. Regardless, next time, the group struggles to fend off Wendy and her forces and Toadsworth makes the hardest decision of his life in Chapter 22: The Will to Protect.