A/N: Thank you for reading! Uploading may slow down a tiny bit because there are some things I want to add/change...but we're getting closer to the "big" stuff! I know this story has dragged on for a long time, but it's intentional! I have a lot of fun writing it so I'm making it as long as I can, LOL! A lot of things have changed throughout this story before I had a concise plot planned out, so I'd like to go back and fix things that have changed/gone different directions. Nothing too big, just little things I've noticed. Apologies if you've noticed things that haven't lined up from when I first wrote the earlier chapters. Thank you for the support!
Peach jolted as King Koopa slammed his fist against the stone that blocked their path, a sickening boom crashing and echoing, the stone unflinching to his impressive force. Each hit landed with extreme intensity, having done so in concentrated rhythm for nearly an hour, yet the most he could muster were a few chips and cracks clanking against the floor around his feet.
With each attempt, his teeth grinded together in annoyance when the wall did not give into his strength. He growled, his anger only fueling him further into a blind stubbornness. Normally, breaking stone, metal, or any sort of wall was an easy challenge for him–if you could even call it a challenge–but whatever marble-like material it was seemed unbreakable, even by him. He had managed to subtly dent the marble from pure stubbornness alone, but beyond that...it was unflinching.
The dents that patterned the rock ran a few inches deep through the coarse material; nowhere near close enough for the two to escape, but the rhythmic punches he landed made Peach's hands tingle from the idea of mindlessly looking for an exit. The loud booms and vibrations made her eyes twitch each time, though never failing to startle her.
However, even with his lack of progress, he continued striking the stone, harder and harder, until the tips of his knuckles began to turn a bright white from the impacts. He lifted his hand and stretched his fingers into a fist, snarling at the buzzing pain that started pulsing up his arm.
King Koopa raised his hand to return to the rhythmic slams, but Peach's loud voice caught him off guard. "Stop!" Peach cried from behind him. "You're just going to keep hurting yourself!"
She called at him like a mother scolding its child for something obvious, but all she got from him was a side eye and a scoff as he returned to trying to snap the towering rock. What seemed like common sense to her was disregarded annoyingly quickly, though she knew he would rather harm himself in hopes of escaping rather than thinking logically when he was afraid.
She sighed as the wall vibrated from the intense slams, occasionally rattling pebbles around her shoes. It sent chills up her body, watching him silently crumble to desperation. Though he wouldn't show it, he was terrified. She could tell by the way he hit the stone in a trance, or the way he hadn't looked at her once...and especially by the way he threw himself in harm's way.
Peach quietlly took small steps towards him between the crashing vibrations, flinching from the sensation as she crept closer to him. She reached out for the back of his shell, desperate to comfort him into silence, but yelped and backed away as he angrily grunted and lowered his fist.
King Koopa growled a few animalistic, foreign curses she was unfamiliar with before groaning one she understood. "Damn it!" He hissed through clenched teeth as he angrily shook his hand by his side. The movement caught Peach's attention and she was able to notice his knuckles covered in blood, his scales scraped off from the constant force, and one of his fingers' claws chipped off entirely.
Peach's heart sunk as she locked her hands against her chest. She took another step towards him.
"You're hurting yourself," she angrily repeated. "More than you already have!"
She was sure in her words, yet they escaped her with little confidence as they rattled and shook in her throat. She spoke to him but her eyes refused to leave his self-inflicted injury.
The phantom noticed her worried eyes and further clenched his claws, releasing a few deep drops of his blood to plop against the marble floor. Peach's worry doubled at the sight.
"Hurt myself?" He repeated like she had insulted him. "I've endured worse," he spat, "What's our other option? Rotting away in here? You can't expect me to–"
Peach, with a sudden wave of confidence, cut him off as her eyes shot back towards his. "I'm sure we'll find a way out faster if you rest or think of a way out of here...anything but hurting yourself," she argued, "I'm scared, too, but you're only making it harder on yourself. And my ears," she sourly added.
He squinted at her, uncomfortable with the word scared, but bit his tongue as he felt a sharp heartbeat ring up his arm from the large gash in his fingers. He gave one last glare towards the wall, irritated by the lack of progress through its surface, before growling and unclenching his claws. Peach's features lit up at his silent compliance, earning another angry grumble out of him.
"Here, sit down and give me your arm," she kindly requested as she crouched down and sat against the wall.
His eyes intensely followed her movement and he thought to himself, but he eventually complied with a sharp glare as he followed her onto his knees. He sat next to her, his back against the wall, and looked down at her with hesitant interest. He reluctantly gave her his arm and she put in her lap with a thankful sigh, eager to avoid any other complications or arguments. She eyed his arm, endlessly captivated with his worn strength, as usual, but more struck by how desperate he was to escape as to hurt himself.
His warmth contrasted the thick, cold stone pressed against her legs.
His knuckles were gray from the soot and gravel. The jagged cut that ran across his knuckles thankfully wasn't as deep as she had thought but still ran deep enough to concern her; it was clear it stung and ached as it bubbled with large beads of dark blood…and he flinched whenever she held him. A part of her heart ran numb from his hesitation to let her help him. Did he think she would harm him?
She sighed as her curious eyes slipped to the scars that crossed up his arm and tangled around his wrist. Would this simply become another scar to him? Did he even care? Why was he so haphazardous with his well being? He shifted as he noticed her silent worry.
"I'm a lot less fragile than you are. There's nothing to worry about," King Koopa muttered as he snatched his arm away.
Peach sighed and reached over towards him, pulling him back into her lap. Thankfully, he allowed it with a roll of his eyes.
She looked at his wound and the other signs of damage on his body from the initial fall. She hadn't noticed the marks and cuts along his body in the darkness, but in the well-lit room, she could see that he was covered in signs of their descent. Cuts and other signs of damage ran up and down his body. He didn't seem in any discomfort, not as much as she felt looking at him in such a state, but her mind bubbled with worries of how well he could hide his conditions from her.
After all, she knew how he was conditioned to hide everything, including pain.
Her mind trailed back to the night he had collapsed in her room and how he had seemed perfectly stable right before. She bit her lip as she spiraled, wondering how much pain he was in.
It was her fault he panicked until hurting himself in the locked room. It was her fault he had fallen down here with her. It was her fault he might be in pain.
"I know you'll be fine," She finally responded. Though, her words were somewhat to reassure herself more than him. "I just don't like seeing you in pain."
She absentmindedly trailed her fingers against the tips of his sharp claws, making sure to avoid the one that had chipped off. His skin was rough and very warm to the touch. Unlike her own hands, his knuckles and fingers were covered in scars and signs of careless fighting. As she carefully caressed him, she could feel his eyes intensely track every subtle movement she made, even as far as every breath she took against him.
He smirked at her. "That's an optimistic thought."
She frowned and looked back up at him. "At the very least, there's nothing that will hurt you in here," she reassured. She paused with an angry glare up towards him as her hands paused. "Besides yourself."
He burst out into loud laughter at her frustration at his stubbornness. She stiffened at the way his booming laughs shook her but made sure to hold his hand tightly against her.
She did not match his amusement. "It isn't funny!" She scolded once his laughter died down. "You worry me!"
He disregarded her concern, suddenly too distracted by the way she started wrapping her arms tightly around his forearm to hold him still. He squinted down at the subtle contact as he began to notice how he could feel her body pressed against him, but only for a moment, as her chilling skin contrasted his burning heat and caught his attention much louder; she was always cold to him, somewhat-pleasantly so, but something was wrong about the way she felt.
The cold didn't bother him, he had been exposed to every degree of intensity, but he could not silence the worried hum at the back of his mind from the lack of life he felt from her frozen skin.
His eyes hardened. "You're the one who needs to be worried about," he quitely argued. "Look at you, you're nearly freezing."
Peach furrowed her brow in confusion before gasping and releasing his hand into her lap, terrified to see her breath escape her in bursts of mist and her fingers shaking. How hadn't realized how freezing the room had become?! Was it because they were so far underground? Her eyes shot to the statue before them…something about it felt like it was sucking the heat out of her. Was it her? Why wasn't he cold?
All at once, the sensation hit her in buzzing waves, the painful numbness running up her spine in electric waves, thumping against the edges of her limbs. The only other thing she could feel was his warm hand against her legs and the heat that radiated off of him to her right, though she had to focus to feel the heat, as the chilling cold seemed to be stealing her of her ability to feel.
Peach silently panicked until King Koopa reached his hand underneath her, cautiously so, and lifted her off of the cold marble. Normally, she would have scolded him or complained about the brutish contact, but instead she froze–in more ways than one–and stared at him in docile confusion. In one gentle movement, after she did not object, he placed her on top of his right leg with her back against his chest.
Her legs fell over his, landing further in his lap and entangling her body against his and shielded her from the frozen marble. She looked up at him in shock for his clear, unfiltered concern of her, no matter how he tried to hide it. No matter how she looked at him, he sat in silence, refusing to look at her or acknowledge her pleading eyes.
Peach, on the other hand, couldn't ignore him.
His heat rang through her as she leaned into him, rushing through her in comforting waves. The clashing warmth with the chilling cold made her body ache as the numbness began to fade to sensation, replaced with a silent buzz that ran in her core. Thankfully, her senses slowly began to return the longer she focused on his heat.
"You'd freeze otherwise," he quickly defended before she could outwardly confront him of his intentions.
Peach tried to sit still against him, cautious of what he could feel or interpret out of her movements, yet her heart beat intensely against her chest and refused to still; she knew he could feel it and no matter what she did, she couldn't stop her wandering thoughts filled with him. She smothered her thoughts, pushed them away, everything...but with the way he kept her warm, she could not object the thought of how right it felt to feel herself against him.
King Koopa tried to avoid every essence of her company: her eyes, her body, the way her figure pressed into his chest, and countless other things that tried to lull him into distraction. Yet, even her racing heartbeat crawled through him as she pressed against his body. Her legs pushed into his lap and her hair trickled over his forearm, coating him with her smell.
He was in far too deep to avoid her.
The two sat in silence, both secretly consumed by one another's presence. Peach, for some reason, she couldn't find the courage to thank him, and matched his avoidance of her. She looked up towards the stone ceiling with distant eyes. The ceiling was dark, barely lit up by the king's embers, and faded into obscurity. The stone was rough and untouched...though, she wasn't interested in it, and instead was looking for a distraction to reassure her aching heart.
Peach sighed. "Here, give me your hand again," Peach repeated as she gently reached out towards his hand.
She felt his posture stiffen, but after a few seconds, he curiously complied and hesitantly gave her his hand to which she gently placed in her lap. She looked down at his long claws and placed her hands against his palm. Her hand enveloped in his sent a chill down her spine. She held her breath, hoping he was unaware of her reaction.
"My mother always told me to keep this hidden...but you've saved my life several times now, and...if it only helps a little bit, I want to help you. I don't like seeing you in pain, even if you try to keep it hidden from me," she nervously whispered. "I used to wander into trouble a lot. So, she taught me a way to take care of those around me when they wandered into trouble, too...usually because of me," she awkwardly laughed. "I would like to help you if you'll let me."
His brow furrowed as he silently watched her hands tremble against his. She felt her heart race from the interest building in him.
"You wandered into trouble a lot? I feel as if you haven't changed much," he grumbled under his breath. His words were shallow and quiet, as if the feeling of her skin against his made it hard for him to pay attention to anything but. "Give it your best shot," he quietly added.
Peach pressed further against him, matched his fingers with his, her hand hardly coveirng half of his powerful hand, basking in the warmth he radiated. Her hands were icy and chilling to the touch, much smaller than his own, contrasting the raw power that radiated through him, and thanks to the contact she was starting to feel the cold melt away from her.
His posture stiffened the closer she leaned against him; she could feel his body dripping with anticipation from her generous contact. Her heart, too, stiffened from how his large fingers brushed against her chest and torso.
"Hold still," she gently requested.
He frowned at her. "I don't have many other options, do I," he angrily growled.
Peach's calm demeanor melted as she shot him a quick, annoyed glare at his dismissal of her care. The phantom cursed to himself before angrily falling silent to her request, the emotion behind her glare more than enough to temporarily subdue his temper. Or, perhaps it was the contact...maybe both, neither knew. His eyes darted towards the wall and avoided her adamant stare, like an angry child who was told to behave, and waited for her to do whatever she had planned for him.
For once, she seemed to have tamed him.
She was a bit flustered from the way his normal aggression cracked when she touched him or looked at him; it was as if she had mildly tamed a beast with nothing more than the graze of her fingers or a glance of her eyes. When he had put her on his lap, he had acted so casually confident. Yet, when she touched him, she could feel his mind wandering away from his usual emptiness. It was an odd feeling, having a royal koopa behave so differently for her...though, she knew his change in demeanor was likely a result of the anxiety pooling in him.
Peach felt her chest tighten as the desire to comfort him was growing uncomfortably stronger.
After a few moments of his bitter agreement, she slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She paused, held it in for a few seconds, and exhaled a small, focused hum with a puff of cold mist. She pressed against his hand and furrowed her brow as she fell into a deep, focused trance.
The phantom's eyes returned to her the second he felt her glare leave him; he was deeply suspicious of her intentions and eager to stare at her without her awareness of his prying judgment of her intentions. Thankfully, she was deep in thought and unaware of the way he looked at her.
Her skin was soft and her hands were light; it was as if he were being caressed by silk, yet horribly cold against him. He stared at her, enamored with how she peacefully sat so close to him, neither looking at him in anger or hatred; he felt his skin crawl from the way her porcelain skin lit up from the room's blue hue. It crawled against her skin, illuminating her collarbones and delicate, untouched neck.
He could not deny the hunger that lingered within him as he felt and eyed her fragile body. It was like a spell that always tried to condemn him when she was close to him; it was a reminder to him of what she was capable of doing to him.
A deep, annoyed growl resonated from within him. He was not ignorant of her beauty and it often frustrated him that his mind even perceived it. Her existence toyed with him, but only in moments where he lost control of himself.
She leaned further over his palm, her golden hair drooping over her face and tangling against her neck and jawline. He groaned and turned away as her sweet scent spread even further towards him. Was it even possible to evade her?
Finally, her lips parted.
The phantom's eyes narrowed as Peach quietly sang a foreign hum under her breath, hardly above a whisper; her words were like gentle bells ringing against the deep cave's howls and whistles...her voice was high and dainty, though distant and unintelligible.
The haunting, sorrowful tune was unfamiliar to him, but like a siren's call, he was enchanted.
Her singing was airy and light, though it seemed to take a lot of energy for her to form the words that quietly seeped out of her. The longer she sang, and the more foreign words she spoke, he could feel her strength deteriorating. He could not understand the language she sang in, though it was somewhat familiar.
He sat in silence, enamored with the purity of her voice, and did not try to hide away from it, as he had never heard her sing without walls of stone between them. He could not deny that her gentle voice calmed him, though it did not strike happiness in him, as it only made him bubble with discomfort from the emotions it brought out of him.
After a few moments, her whispers fell to silence.
She gently looked up at him through her eyelashes with an insecure frown. "How do you feel?" She curiously asked with pleading eyes. She looked up at him through her messy hair, peering through her knotty bangs, and he clenched his jaw; how she could toy with him without even trying was beyond his knowledge.
He glared down at her with hesitant, suspicious doubt. Before he could question her intentions, he felt a deep, burning heat trickle and trail up his forearm, resonating in his sore core and the tips of his knuckles. It pulsated and crawled through his skin like he had dipped his claws in a deep fire, though disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, replaced with the chilling air of the mysterious room.
He cursed under his breath as he lifted his hand out of her lap, and to his surprise, any signs of damage had fully healed, leaving a new, large scar across his knuckles. His injured center, too, was empty of the ringing pain he had suppressed since he had taken the fall for the human girl.
He moved his fingers around, clenching and stretching his joints in confusion, anticipating a sting, ache, or discomfort of any kind. Yet, he had gained full motor skills without any sign of wear...hell, even his sore shoulder he had been dealing with for a week had stopped ringing!
Peach nervously looked away from him, anticipating the interrogation that was going to follow. His arm fell back to his side and his eyes slowly dragged to her in accusatory confusion."How…" His words trailed off to silence as he stared at her in suspicion. "How does a human know any sort of magic?" He finally asked in disbelief.
Her eyes widened for a moment. "Magic? Is that what you call it?" She asked with a small, nervous laugh. Her humor fell as he didn't seem amused in her discomfort.
The king stared at her as if she were toying with him to cover up a dark motive behind her story. He had to ask himself: Was she truly that ignorant, or was her explanation a mask to cover up her knowledge of what she had just done?
She stared up at him innocently, though a bit concerned, about the way he looked down at her; he looked at her with his usual sense of bitter dread, though clearly anticipating something horrible about her; whether it be her song, her company, or just her...she knew he was looking at her with emotions she wasn't fond of. She nervously threaded her fingers together against her lap as he analyzed the intentions behind her eyes. But, that didn't matter to her. As long as she could help him.
Magic? Within a human?
It was unheard of throughout King Koopa's time in his kingdom. Boos and other creatures had clinged to their supernatural practices throughout the years, but most had lost their abilities over time as the world was divided with other focuses, ambitions, and wars. Humans especially were not known to have any ties to magical abilities in any physical or spiritual capacity, all throughout history.
Peach noticed his hesitation. "I'm not hiding something from you if that's what you're worried about," she whispered. "I promise you."
His suspicion slightly faded though still rang thick behind his words. "Magic hasn't been common in creatures, especially humans, for thousands of years."
Peach nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. "I know it seems ridiculous, but my mother had a song she would sing to me when I would come home with a new injury. I wouldn't call it magic. She always told me it was a song to sing to my loved ones when they were hurt."
Peach's face flushed with color as she stumbled over her words. She shook her hands in front of her defensively. "Not to say you are a loved one!" She groaned. She quickly continued in a nervous ramble. "Well, I do worry about you and I do care for you, but there is a clear difference between care and love–"
Peach continued rambling through her embarrassment and King Koopa ignored her, his mind instead wandering towards the thought of her; who she was, what potential she held...He squinted and glared at her as she sat, continuing to defend herself, unaware of his prying eyes.
What exactly was she?
King Koopa's thoughts of the girl and her nervous ramblings were interrupted as a echoing drop of water clanked against distant stone. It was gentle and soft, seemingly far away, and started slowly growing in intensity...but the peaceful rhythm of drops only lasted for a few moments, as a booming sound of water crashing and flowing within the walls replaced it.