A/N A double upload? Heck yeah! Thank you so much for the kind words again! It motivates me so much to pump out these chapters for you guys!
Bowser's claw easily fit around the human's waist like a glove, much to his disgust. He had almost forgotten how much he had dreamt of how she would fit in his grasp, and it was exactly how he had wished it to be:
Nearly perfect.
As much as he tried to convince himself that he wanted to be rough with and harm her, he found himself being as gentle as one could as he held her in his grasp. If he wanted, he could crush her in a matter of seconds, but, surely, that would ruin the fun.
Or, that's what he kept repeating to himself as his grip refused to strengthen.
Seconds after grabbing the woman, she fell limp and fell against his arm. He had grabbed her so lightly that he knew he hadn't harmed her, but the emotional exhaustion must have gotten to her.
Daisy's paled complexion showed she believed otherwise.
He growled in annoyance as he glared at her from the corner of his eye. It was typical of a human to burn out so quickly. Perhaps Peach wasn't as feisty as he had remembered?
Putting Peach over his shoulder, Bowser turned around and headed down the large corridor, not even daring to give Daisy so much as another glance, knowing exactly how she would react. As much as he usually respected her input, he was not in the mood for her sudden heroic words.
Not hesitating, Daisy followed after, struggling to keep up with his large strides. Junior hopped behind the two, but bit his tongue, as even he understood this was beyond him.
"What exactly is your plan here, genius?" Daisy questioned angrily. She was practically steaming as she walked with the phantom. "I hope you know I won't let you-"
"Shut it, already. This isn't any of your business," Bowser grumbled. "It's not my fault she's remarkably stupid."
Daisy grunted in annoyance at his childish banter.
"You just don't like her. You're being stubborn."
Bowser gave a dark chuckle as he gazed over his shoulder at her.
"What gives you that idea?" He grumbled sarcastically before staring ahead. "I can't say that I easily take liking to stupid people."
Junior snickered at his father's words, earning a frustrated glare from Daisy from over her shoulder, which quickly shut him up. She quickly turned forward and glared at the phantom, her eyes as daring as ever.
"You knew I was the reason she came down here! Why not let me fix it?" Daisy grumbled sourly with her cheeks puffed in frustration. "I could've handled it."
Bowser furrowed his brow, ignoring her words. Or, refusing to reply. He had no doubt in Daisy's capabilities and that she could have handled the situation, but this was more than a simple error she could fix. This had to be handled by his means.
He scoffed at her words, continuing to refuse to give her any sort of glance or acknowledgement.
"You know people will wonder what happened to her, right?" Daisy paused as Bowser's head twitched. "People are gonna question what you did to her. You can't just get rid of her."
Daisy knew she had a strong bias due to her brother-in-law's feelings for the woman, but she refused to let Bowser dispose of her. Peach was far too important in this production than to be shoved under the rug as another "phantom mystery." Getting rid of her was too risky, regardless.
Bowser froze in place, catching Daisy off guard as she gently bumped into his free arm. Had she convinced him?
"I'll handle it," he muttered bitterly, expecting this issue, but not realizing the extent of what could follow after koopas began wondering where their newest actress wandered to. What followed could be more dangerous than a disappearance.
With a clear hole in their newest production, koopas and humans would wonder and quickly assume he had done something to her. The last thing he needed were more questions and more heads poking down below.
"You're late. Your husband is going to worry," Bowser stated sarcastically, as if he didn't have a limp body resting over his shoulder. He gazed over at the small koopa hiding behind Daisy's dress. "Junior, c'mere," he ordered.
Daisy shook her head in disbelief at Bowser's dry order for her to go home. The last thing she wanted to do was leave Bowser alone with Peach, especially with the woman being unconscious, but knew Bowser was not a shameful man. He would not lay a hand on her, or she hoped.
From the looks of it, she had convinced him not to kill her for the time being, so Daisy sighed. Maybe she could run home and find an excuse to come back earlier. Thankfully, as much as she loved him, she had married a gullible man.
Without a word, she turned on her heels, knowing she would be back soon enough to keep the beast in check.
Or so she hoped.
Junior carefully crept along the sturdy loft, a small letter resting in his left hand while the other blocked out the bright light blinding his eyes. His steps were extremely slow and cautious.
He held his head high, knowing how important this task was. Very rarely was Junior put in the position of delivering crucial notes to the public, but here he was, one of Bowser's own hand-written notes in his claw, ready to be delivered.
Whatever the note contained, it was surely some important information about that blonde lady, especially since Bowser had written it himself. He had bitterly snatched Junior's note pad and written a quick letter before sending Junior off with it.
Even so, he couldn't help but have a massive grin on his face. He had noticed the blonde human follow after Daisy and immediately ran to tell his father of the intruder. As a responsible koopa would!
However, as soon as he had ran into Bowser's study, his dad was already fuming, causing Junior to hide in the doorway.
Bowser had sat with his hand in his claws at his desk, the silent rage almost toxic. Even Junior could read that his father was...broken in rage.
He had already known.
There was no mess. There was no sign of distress, yet the amount of hate that seeped from his form was worse than any tantrum he could have had.
Junior had never seen his father so furious. For a moment, even Junior was terrified of what was to follow and knew he needed to avoid being in the spotlight while his dad was this upset. He had been thumped on the head a few times when his father was angry, but he knew this was...different, and he didn't want to be the one used as stress-relieving punching bag.
Without so much as a glance, Bowser had stormed out of his study, his clenched fist slamming a pile of organized books onto the floor. Wherever he was heading, Junior had hoped that blonde lady was good at hiding.
Junior tipped the letter over the loft's railing, his grin replaced with a deep frown. What exactly was going on with his dad? Normally, intruders were aggravating, but were a good pawn to restore fear in the workers. Or, that's how his dad worded it, anyways. Why was he so mad?
With an exhale of air, the letter fell down to the crowded group of workers getting ready for rehearsal. Junior's eyes followed it until it landed on a goomba's head; his que to leave, as it had been delivered.
He dusted off his hands as he hurried back towards the labyrinth, his mind landing on one question he just couldn't answer:
How did his dad even know she had gone down without him telling her?
Her smell. Her damn smell.
Bowser could feel his insides twisting in a sickening intoxication from Peach's sweet scent as she rested over his shoulder. Her blonde hair fell over his neck, tangling against his rough skin, not allowing him to escape. It had taken him years to forget her scent, but he knew no matter how much he tried to wash away her smell, it would now linger.
Everywhere she had walked down here, her presence was cemented. Whether it be her scent, or her hand resting against certain tiles, he would not be able to forget.
His home would never be the same.
He would never be the same.
When she ran into him, unable to see, Peach's gazes and looks were so soft and curious; almost childlike. Bowser, in his many years of dreaming about her, had never expected to gain such a soft look from her. Though he constantly told himself he no longer craved such a look, the second the softness was replaced with fear with her vision returning, he quickly realized he wished for such looks to linger, no matter how much he despised that woman.
It was a fabricated, ignorant softness, if anything. Such wonder only existed in the dark; before Bowser's looks were revealed. Perhaps that's why the longing in her eyes left him feeling bitter and disgusted.
He couldn't even find himself able to look at her since he had grabbed her.
But why did he continue to crave her fingers on his chest once again? To see her stare at him in a longing, soft fashion, regardless of his identity?
Bowser shook his head with a bitter growl.
He was behaving like a child, fawning over something as meaningless as a pretty face. A human face, no less. He rolled his eyes at how fragile his composure had become thanks to her. She was nothing more than a human that looked nice, smelled nice, felt nice against him-
Bowser stopped as he arrived at his destination, thankful for a change of thought. With a frown, he turned towards his safe space.
His study.
With quite literally no effort, Bowser removed the human from his shoulder, opening the large door with his free hand. He grunted at the mess he had left his study in, annoyed that he had let his temper get the best of him...again.
He stepped over the messy pile of books as he held Peach, careful not to stumble, as he had company in his claws. Though, he wouldn't complain if he accidentally dropped her.
Almost instantly after having such an amusing thought, Bowser stumbled over the corner of a large book. He took several clumsy steps forward as he desperately tried to maintain his balance and not to disturb Peach, but was failing miserably.
He quickly held her close to his chest as he clumsily stumbled around, looking like quite the fool, he had to admit. Thankfully she wasn't awake to see the amount of embarrassment on his face.
Finally catching his footing, Bowser released an annoyed sigh.
He mumbled some explicit words as he quickly turned Peach to face him, sighing as she was still out of it, and, well, okay.
He froze, taking in her face. Though not awake, she was not tense or in distress. If anything, she seemed to be doing nothing more than taking a nap.
This sleeping face was one he had seen more times than he would like to admit-
He choked on his breath as he quickly glanced away, realizing how ridiculous this was. How ridiculous he was. Moments before, he was hoping he would drop her, yet here he was...worried about her.
Wanting to see her.
He grunted with a roll of his eyes. These feelings were nothing more than what was left of what used to be and would fade quick enough, he was sure. These feelings were almost foreign to him now that he had moved on; It was nothing more than a hindrance.
Bowser quickly forced himself to focus on why he was here and made his way to the back of his large study where a wooden door stood, one of the three doors of the room. Opening the smaller of the group, he was met with a wave of dust and rotting wood, a smell he had, sadly, gotten quite used to.
The small, compact room was about half the size of his study; still quite large, but stuffed to the brim. It was dark and cluttered with scraps of paper, books, old furniture, and other items that were hidden away for storage. As messy as it was, Bowser knew where everything was.
Bowser's height made maneuvering around quite difficult as his tail bumped into and knocked countless items over. His large frame was always an issue when it came to walking around cluttered areas, but that didn't make it any less annoying.
Finally making it to the back of the room, Bowser laid her down on a large loveseat next to a bunch of old, abandoned furniture. It was dusty and clearly quite old, but it was the safest and, well, most comfortable place he could lock her away in.
There was only one entrance, and one that he had the key to. Not only that, it was in his study; somewhere he regularly was. This was the perfect way to keep an eye on her.
He had to be cautious. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew the girl well, and knew she would try to get away. Until he decided what to do with her, he needed to keep her on lockdown.
Bowser squeakily closed the door behind him, letting the last bit of light rest on her face before fully closing the heavy door. He rustled through his shell and pulled out a ring with countless keys on it. He quickly picked out the correct one and locked the door.
Bowser released a large breath as his posture fell, rubbing his his right claw through his hair as he closed his eyes.
What had he gotten himself into?