A/N: Thank you so much for the kind reviews! Every single one really inspires me to update this so thank you so much! Also, I'm sorry if this chapter drags for a bit in the beginning. I actually had to split this chapter into three parts because it was way too long! So, expect three new parts within the next few days, seeing as they're already written. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
After her second day at rehearsal, and it being painful, yet enjoyfully long, Peach slumped in her chair.
She sat in front of the large vanity with her lips puckered. Carefully applying her lipstick and subtle makeup with one hand, the other gently combed through her hair as she hummed one of the many songs she had heard played earlier.
The lipstick was a bright red; far more bold than she ever wore, but it paired well with one of the many new dresses she had been given. Its teal fabric was silky and felt wonderful against her skin when compared with the scratchy dress she had worn before.
A subtle, white petticoat rested under the light fabric, giving it a wonderful form. She wore white stockings and casual black heels, tied together with one of the many jewelry pieces that had been in her room: a ruby pendant, matching with her ring.
It was a bit more formal than what she would normally wear, but, to no surprise, stage costumes tended to be a bit more formal than everyday wear. Thankfully, this dress wasn't as impressive as the others that sat in her dresser.
Seeing as she was, for now, one of the many faces of the opera house, Kamek refused to let her walk around in such, as he put it, 'homeless' clothing for the remainder of her stay. For the time being, he had lended her several dresses for past human roles, many of which were far too tacky for her to wear in public, but they would suffice.
The way Kamek had phrased 'her stay' made her realize how fragile her position in this theater was, and that it was only going to last with this role; she would likely not be needed after after the final showing, whenever that was. But, it didn't bother her too much, as Peach and her father had a place to stay for the time being.
However, besides finding Peach some durable clothing, Kamek had also discussed the play with her on the side while the other leads rehearsed on stage. Instead of having her miss several rehearsals to read the script, he gave her a quick overview of the play's plot.
Peach's role was one of a royal character, specifically from the Mushroom Kingdom, in fact. At first, she had been content with playing such a role, seeing as she had much experience with the location. Yet, the more Kamek spoke, the quicker her spirits fell.
Peach frowned as she leaned back in her chair, playing back the description in her head.
The story truly was as tragic as she had assumed. While most tragedies left you wanting more, the plot Kamek described left a bitter taste in her mouth. The plot seemed innocent enough, but the undertone that went over Peach's head left her feeling dirty.
Her character, Mary, was a naive girl with her head set on finding true love, which leads her into several questionable situations. With her father, the king, ill and quickly falling away, she was left with two options: passing the crown, or finding a man to marry to aid her in her monarchy.
Killing two birds with one stone, she immediately started pursuing a future king. From Kamek's description of love, that in itself was foolish of the girl to pursue. The play, from this point, seemed harmless enough, even with Kamek's snarkiness.
Clearly, Dark Land creatures had different views on love than humans.
That's where Mario's role comes into play: a wealthy man named Vincent. He was a refined young man who quickly stepped up to take Mary's hand in marriage, which she happily agreed to without a doubt in her mind; she fell in love immediately.
Mary's father eventually passed, and the two were wed as soon as possible, regardless of the fact that they barely knew one another.
But, Vincent only married Mary for the throne. Even after finding himself able to return the princess' affections, his true lover, Anastasia, played by Pauline, persuaded him to kill her for the throne.
With a heavy heart, he complied.
Peach immediately knew that was the bittersweet song she had overheard Pauline and Mario singing during her first rehearsal. The loyal emotion pouring from Mario's lyrics, and the deceitful promises that spilled from Pauline, quickly made sense.
Once Mary was disposed of, the two true lovers were wed.
But, in turn, Anastasia killed Vincent once had completed his task, taking the throne for herself.
Kamek spoke of the intentions of the play: it acted to show how weak humans are in the eye of their emotions, and also with their greed; they were foolish creatures that were no threat in the war. Well, that's what Kamek said, in the least.
Subtle themes like this seemed to be common in the Dark Lands after another war started four years ago. In contrast, in the Mushroom Kingdom, koopas were regarded as heartless creatures. It was ironic how, here, humans were regarded as exactly the opposite, in a negative manner: emotion-driven.
It was amusing in an ironic, bitter way.
While it may have seemed like a normal tragedy at first, Kamek's bitter descriptions of the scenes left Peach uncomfortable with the undertone of the message. Even when practicing simple scenes where tragedy would happen to any of the main characters, many of the stagehands and workers would cheer, rather than feel...tragic.
It's almost as if this were more of a comedy to the Orchestra as Kamek had to consistently hush them for snickering during the most 'intense' of scenes.
But, it gave Peach and her father somewhere to stay. She felt dirty helping produce a play that, in the eyes of koopas, spoke poorly of her identity and further divided the two species, but decided to push that feeling under the rug in favor of shelter.
Peach put her hair into a quick ponytail before pushing the small chair back and standing up. As if on cue, a gentle knock on her door broke the silence. She quickly put down her brush and makeup before brushing off the front of her dress as she headed to the door and opened it, meeting exactly who she was expecting.
"Are you ready?" Mario asked warmly. "I'm sorry I'm a bit late."
Peach giggled. He was barely even ten minutes behind schedule! She stepped into the dim hallway before gently closing the door behind her with a quiet click.
"I didn't even notice. Where are we heading?" Peach asked curiously.
Mario held out his arm for her to take with a charming smile.
"I know a shortcut."
Ludwig rushed down the opera house's hidden corridors within its stone walls. Nearly stumbling over his feet due to his speed, he barely paid attention to what was in front of him, to a point where he would occasionally stumble into a spiderweb and yelp in disgust, but quickly swatted away it instantly.
He had followed Peach for the second day, just as his father had directed. Today was far less entertaining, as there were no fights or warnings to issue, but he had done as he was ordered.
Rehearsal was as expected, to his liking. Even with the lack of entertainment, he was instead met with a productive day of rehearsal. Peach was slowly catching up with the rest of the cast while others were showing clear signs of improvement. With that risky stagehand out of sight, nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
But, the second Peach left the building, his eyes were limited, leaving him on edge.
Running down a steep set of stairs, Ludwig hopped down four stairs at a time, occasionally stumbling, but always catching himself. Once he reached the bottom, he placed both his claws on his knees to catch his breath.
"What are ya up to?" A squeaky voice called out a few feet in front of him. The silhouette crouched down as it eyed Ludwig curiously. "Did the lady do somethin' again?"
Ludwig squinted as his eyes were still adjusting to the labyrinth's lack of light. Once he made out Lemmy's frame, he sighed.
"None of your business, Lemmy!" He squinted bitterly in his brother's direction, but was only met with an innocent gaze as his eyes gazed in two directions. "Perhaps I would tell you if you were not so foolishly distracted from father's orders!"
Lemmy scratched the back of his head.
"Huh, that makes sense, I guess," he groaned in defeat, realizing he wasn't going to get any juicy information without some work. "Do ya still need help? I can be useful! Promise!" He gently bounced up and down in excitement.
Ludwig tried to move around his younger brother but he continued to shift and block his path, clearly only taking one answer. Even being so tiny, Lemmy was easily able to speedily hop around his brother and not allow him to pass through.
With a frustrated groan, Ludwig scowled in annoyance.
"Lemmy, I do not have time for this! Father said to report to him if anything-"
"Then let me help ya! C'mon, Ludwig! A team of two is better than one!" He held up three fingers, oblivious to his clear mistake, as Ludwig rolled his eyes.
"If you tagging along will get you out of my way, fine!" Ludwig huffed in defeat. "Just move! Father needs to know of Peach's location!"
Lemmy arched a brow as he complied.
"Peach? Now that's a weird name if I've ever heard one." Ludwig frowned as if to say, you're one to talk, before pushing past his brother and heading towards their father's study. "Is she the one who went bonkers on that old guy?"
Ludwig frowned. Who else would his father be asking for updates on?
"Yes, though it seemed vaguely justified. She seems to have quite a temper." He sighed. "I'm glad I was there to warn them. I'm afraid of what would have happened to her if not for my presence." He cringed, knowing exactly what would have happened.
Lemmy snickered alone as he hopped next to his brother, who kept trying to outspeed him in hopes of reaching their father's study alone.
"We get enough of that from papa. It's kinda funny hearing it come from someone else, though. How did he react? Was he angry?" Lemmy speedily asked countless questions, seeing as Ludwig was the only koopaling in the loop.
"He called her a lot of crude names I don't think I'd feel comfortable repeating," Ludwig muttered. Lemmy stared at him blankly, causing Ludwig to grunt in frustration. "Yes, of course he was angry! He doesn't seem quite fond of her."
Ludwig began snickering in amusement again before he was abruptly cut off, replacing his laughter with a yelp of shock. With one gentle motion, Lemmy was lifted in the air by his mane, resulting in the tiny koopa kicking his feet wildly as he whined.
Ludwig froze in place as his posture stiffened.
"Of who, exactly?" A deep voice questioned from behind the two. Ludwig cringed at the familiar voice, refusing to turn around, while Lemmy continued kicking in desperation.
Even with Bowser's size, he was seemingly always silent when he wanted to be. Ludwig gulped as he hoped his father hadn't overheard everything.
Lemmy stopped kicking as he was flipped around to face his father. Meeting his gaze, he smiled widely, happy to show off the new information he had just gotten.
"Peach!" Lemmy stated confidently. Ludwig gasped as his brother dug their graves even further. "Ludwig told me you were angry at her after she got in trouble!"
Bowser's face fell as he casually released Lemmy, who landed on the cold floor with a loud grunt. He whined in pain but the other two koopas didn't seem to care; Ludwig was too concerned over his father's reaction while, well, Bowser was fuming.
Even no where near the woman, he seemingly couldn't get away from her.
With a grunt of frustration, he scoffed.
"She acted stupidly! Stupidity is annoying, so I was angry. What of it?" He defended angrily and rather quickly. "What does she have to do with anything?"
The two tiny koopas looked between each other nervously. What was he saying? All of his recent orders had revolved around the girl! Why was he trying to brush it away? They may be children, but they weren't oblivious. Or, at least, Ludwig wasn't.
But, they bit their tongues, knowing not to speak out of line about such a thing at a time like this.
"You told me to report back to you, father, if she were to leave or act out of order again." Ludwig turned his gaze back to the enormous koopa sheepishly. He was met with a glare, making him speak even quieter. "And, about thirty minutes ago, she left the building to ask some questions…" He paused for a subtle gulp. "...with Mario."
Ludwig didn't know why, but he had assumed this information would make Bowser unhappy. While he was rather young, putting two and two together was not difficult for the koopa. Something was clearly going on between Peach and Bowser, which made this information even more difficult to spill.
Even Lemmy visibly paled at this information. Bowser's distaste of Mario was common knowledge to a point where even he knew.
Bowser's face darkened as he clenched his fists, proving Ludwig's assumption. A subtle puff of smoke left his mouth as he digested the heavy information.
Peach, alone, with that damned Mario? There was no way in hell he was letting that happen more than once. That man held far too much information that Bowser was comfortable with Peach knowing.
He was well aware Mario held enough information to have Peach connect the dots, which coated his jealousy with a thick layer of anxiety. For the hundredth time, he reminded himself that she could not come back into his life.
Mario, of many things, he despised. While jealousy was a key factor, most of his hatred was a result of the man's personality. He was truly the generic, obnoxious human: happy-go-lucky, positive, and infuriating beyond all belief. Just hearing him sing made Bowser's blood pressure double.
But, he had never acted out of line, no matter how much he made Bowser cringe. In fact, he had been a positive addition to the theater for this performances. So, instead, he remained on thin ice.
This, however, pushed Mario far into the deep end of Bowser's wrath. He nearly shook as he imagined the two having such a wonderful time.
Peach willingly being around that pompous man made Bowser's blood run cold before rushing back, thrashing full of molten rage. Anger was a common solution to any bitter feeling he had, which was clear when he turned to his two children in a silent, furious rage.
Noticing Bowser's silent fury, the two koopalings flinched and covered their heads as they expected a scolding. Bowser, of course, was about to empty some of his frustration on the kids, for the sake of calming down, before he held his breath and hesitated.
Deep down, the father in him knew the kids didn't deserve a punishment. Hell, they had even done what he had asked. But, every angry nerve in his body screamed at him to do something to end his overthinking.
But, with a deep exhale, he realized that this was a distraction. He was distracted. Realization hit the koopa as he unclenched his fist and pulled away. Punishing the kids was holding him back from fixing this.
Bowser paused as he quickly put two and two together.
He could do something.
The two koopalings continued trembling before, instead of a scolding, they were met with Bowser's claws gently brushing their heads as he roughly messed up their manes. Lemmy smiled while Ludwig's brow furrowed in both concern and confusion.
"Good work," he whispered through clenched teeth. While anger poured through his quiet words, he hid it behind praise. His kids stared up at him with a mixture of awe and fear. "Keep it up, kiddos."
And with that, he simply turned around, silent as ever in his movements. Leaving his two kids confused as to what he was planning, they stared at their father until he was out of sight. If they had skipped out on a scolding, something was off.
After a few minutes of heavy silence, and the two replaying the situation in their minds, Lemmy turned to his brother.
"See! We make the best team, huh?" Lemmy questioned bubbly with his eyes full of prideful stars. He seemed oblivious to the fact that he hadn't actually done anything, but remained happy nonetheless.
Ludwig sighed as he realized Lemmy had stolen half the praise simply because he was at the right place at the right time. He had done all of this work to one up his siblings in the first place; to prove himself! And here he had one of the very siblings leeching off of his work!
Whether he liked it or not, it seemed Lemmy was going to tag along from here on out.
But, nonetheless, he couldn't help but slightly smirk at his brother's joy. Maybe having a partner in this wouldn't be so bad?
A/N: I apologize for any run-ons/typos/missnames...it's very late! I'll be checking over this later. Thank you so much for reading!