Liminal Lacuna

by Cyndi

Bowser discovers he has a dangerous heart condition that leads to heart attacks, and Junior makes an unlikely friend. This is a story about fatherhood and coming of age. (Prequel to Vicessitude)

2. Second

Song credits:

"Faithfully" by Journey

"Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson

Metal cover of the NES Bowser Castle theme…it'll make sense, TEEHEE!

.o

.o

Bowser usually made himself scarce when Junior brought Cherry over, but not this day.

He knew to give credit when credit was due. Mario's daughter had a lot of guts asking Junior for an audience with him in his dining room.

It only took two years for her to work up the courage.

Cherry bore strong resemblance to both her parents. Her brunette hair, olive skin, big ears and dark blue eyes? Definitely Mario's genes— especially her prominent nose. Somehow, it protruded like Mario's while being pointy and turned-up like Peach's. Maybe her face would grow into it. A lot of kids started out looking like one parent and grew up to resemble the other later on.

The rest of her? Practically identical to her gorgeous mom. Same heart shaped bangs, same jawline, same long eyelashes, and the mischievous little smile on her face forming were unmistakably Peach.

"You're not that scary," Cherry declared, much to Junior's wide-eyed shock.

Bowser leaned forward to get eye level with her and answered her grin with one of his own, making sure she saw all of his sharp teeth. "But I have you right where I want you, little princess."

"Oh, yeah?" The Mario in her came out with the way she frowned and puffed her lower lip out.

"Yeah. You might as well give up."

They stared at each other again, the air vibrating with tension.

Bowser raised his claws, wiggled his fingers…

…and moved his gold rook one square to the left.

"Gotcha!"

"You sure?" Cherry took it out with her silver queen. "Checkmate!"

"What?" Bowser gawked at the chessboard, where she had successfully boxed his king in between her knight, queen, rook and bishop.

He just lost a game of Chess to a seven year old!

Junior fell over backwards with his feet in the air, laughing. "She beat me, too!"

"Pipe down," Bowser grumbled, studying the board. Cherry's strategy was sound. He made a mistake when he sacrificed pawns to place his king in a back corner.

Barely seven, and she was a strategist!

His expression darkened. He crossed his arms, tail twitching behind him.

"Hmph." Bowser took his rook and gently knocked her king piece over with it. "Counter-checkmate!"

"Nope, game over," Cherry pushed his hand away and put her king back. "I won." Now she crossed her arms, matching his pose.

Smoke escaped Bowser's nostrils as he drummed his fingers on his bicep. The gloomy low light shadowed his eyes beneath his bushy reddish-orange eyebrows.

Cherry huffed, flaring her nostrils.

Keeping a fake-angry face proved impossible. Bowser smacked the table and burst out laughing.

"BWAHAHA! Okay, okay! You win. This time!" He righted all the pieces he just knocked over and reset the board. "Who taught you how to play?"

"My mom." Cherry giggled, extending a hand. "Good game."

Bowser gave her his index finger, since that was all her tiny hand could grab. They shook hands.

He picked Junior up by his tail and stood him upright.

"Ack! Dad!"

"Quit goofing off on the floor," Bowser hissed at him. "Don't you two have somewhere to go?"

Junior wriggled his tail indignantly, scowling. "Yep."

"Good. Scram." He patted Junior's shell. "I've got business to take care of."

"Not with my mom, I hope," Cherry frowned.

"Nah." Bowser lied with a smile. He rested his cheek against his palm, his elbow propped up against the tabletop. "Just king stuff, same as your dad."

She eyed him while leading Junior away from the kitchen table.

Mushroom Kingdom fashion is getting weird, Bowser mused at her retreating back until she rounded the corner.

Cherry had shown up wearing a blue leotard getup with red boots, a short red skirt, a red cape, a yellow belt and a funny-looking S emblazoned on her chest.

He reached back to rub out the cramp in the back of his neck and moved to the window to make sure the kids made it to the warp pipe.

Once they disappeared, he swiped the Koopa phone off the wall, dialed with his thumb and called his airship captain. "Captain Capaldi? Prepare for takeoff."

From the other end, a cheery voice replied, "Aye-aye!"

Bowser hung up and listened to the silence. Except for Junior, his Koopalings had all moved out to their own places around the Darklands.

Ludwig chose a tiny apartment deep in Koopa City where he could focus on his music. Morton and Roy built a house to live in near the suburban east side. Larry, Lemmy and Iggy lived together in a huge penthouse near the northern border. Wendy gravitated to a luxury high rise loft with plans for a castle later.

Their absence loomed in quiet halls that once rang with laughter, footsteps, Wendy singing and Ludwig's piano.

He poured water into a black teakettle, set it on the stove and brewed himself some cactus tea. It came in two flavors, sweetened and unsweetened. He steeped the unsweetened variety, drank it to drown his ruminations and set off to meet his airship.

"Hello, you menacing marvel," Bowser whispered to the floating fortress that looked like a chunk of the volcano broke free. He grinned, all sharp teeth and gleaming eyes.

This was going to be fun!

.o

"Where are we going again?" Junior asked as he emerged from the warp pipe in the mushroom forest.

"Outside." Cherry replied.

"We're outside now!"

"No, silly, outside -outside." She stopped, twisting to face Junior. "Wait! You need a costume!"

"Huh?"

Cherry circled him, shaking her head. "It's a special day there. Everybody wears costumes for it."

He arched his brow. "Is that why you're dressed funny?"

"Hmph. You dork! It's not funny, it's cool." Her eyes sized him up from head to toe and she pressed her finger to her chin. "Now hang on. Lemme think."

She had a loose bottom tooth that she wiggled with her tongue while she pondered.

"What's wrong with your tooth?" He asked.

"Nothing. It'll fall out and I'll grow an adult tooth."

"That's gross."

"You only have one tooth!"

"So? Mine are going to grow in."

"How do you chew food?"

Junior pulled his upper lip back to show the bony ridge under his gums. "See? This will turn into teeth!"

"Koopas are weird."

"Humans are weirder."

"Let's call everybody weird." Cherry kept circling him, still wiggling that tooth.

"Uh…" Junior twisted his head side to side to watch her.

"I've got it!" She tore a narrow strip off the bottom of her red cape and blindfolded him with it. Her arms wrapped around him to tie it in a knot at the back of his head.

Their sudden closeness startled him. He wasn't used to having anyone who wasn't family touch him. Well, aside from doctors or battling Mario, but this was different.

Cherry stepped back, her red boots rustling the grass. "Now poke some eye holes so you can see."

Junior's claws didn't need much pressure to push through the thin cloth. He tore himself decent sized eye holes. "How's that?"

"Okay! We don't have sais, but— oh, it's fine! Got the bags?"

Nodding, Junior pulled two brown cloth sacks out from under his shell. The second one got stuck and he almost punched himself in the face while yanking it out.

"What are sais?"

"Weapons, but they're just for show. You don't need them."

"Huh?" His mind conjured up dangerous terrain with tanks, cannons, flames and bombs. "I don't need weapons?"

"Nah. Just…c'mon, you'll have fun."

He smiled and squinted at her. "Do your parents know you're doing this?"

"They know I'm going, they don't know you're going with me." Cherry beamed, leading him through the thick mushrooms to a green pipe sticking out sideways from a series of brick archways draped in vines. Pipes like that were usually only in cities or places of travel, not out by themselves in the middle of nowhere.

Junior hesitated, scraping at his bag with his claws. "My dad says I shouldn't jump into pipes if I don't know where they go."

"Junior, it's just outside-outside. It's not outer space or anything. It's another land. Are you chicken?" Cherry curled her arms and flapped them like wings. "Bawk-bawk!"

"I'm not scared!" He waved his fists in the air.

"Then come on!"

She climbed inside without looking back. Junior followed her. Reality spun as the pipe pulled them through tunnels of darkness and colorful swirls.

They tumbled out together into a dim, smelly place similar to the cisterns under his dad's castle— only it was cold and humid, not steaming hot. Huge silver pipes lined the walls. The ground here was cement, not brick.

"Whoa, are these warp pipes?" Junior wondered aloud.

"Nah, they're for water. Some of it is dirty. We're in a sewer. Come on." Cherry draped her cloth sack around her shoulders and climbed up a nearby ladder.

"Where are we?"

"Shh."

She nudged aside a metal cover, climbed out and beckoned him up.

Junior held his bag in his jaws as he heaved himself upward onto black asphalt.

It was twilight, so the sky took on a vivid purple hue. The buildings here were square or rectangular— kind of like his dad's castle, but alien, too. Some rose taller than anything he'd ever seen in his life. Especially the huge bridge lit eerily in the distance.

"This is Brooklyn," Cherry said, rocking her weight from heel to toe. "We're in the world my dad came from. I wanted to show it to you."

"Wow!" Junior turned a full circle, his russet eyes glowing with reflections of this strange outside-outside world.

She took the sack off her neck. "People might call you Raphael. Just go with it. We're in disguise. I'm Supergirl."

"Oh, nobody's supposed to know we're royalty?"

"That's right!" She twirled, fluffing her dark hair. "Now let's go up to some houses. Do you remember what to say when somebody opens their door?"

Junior wagged his tail, watching her. "Um, kick and scream?"

Cherry laughed, holding her sides. "No, silly! It's 'trick or treat'."

"What if they don't give us candy?"

"You do this." She stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry. "And walk away."

What a weird place. Junior eyed the fake spiders and ghosts hanging off the side of a gray building. Many windowsills and doorsteps had pumpkins with faces carved in them. The candles lit inside gave them an eerie yellowish-orange glow. One place had what looked like tombstones next to it.

Groups of people began shuffling from building to building, many dressed in odd getups, like pointy hats, skeletons and colorful outfits similar to Cherry's. He made a face at one person who appeared to have construction bolts coming out of his neck.

Humans, it turned out, came in multiple colors like Koopas and Yoshis. Some looked paler than Cherry, some were as brown as Morton's darkest scales, and still more came in all the shades between.

"I am Groot!" Shouted someone dressed like a walking plant with a face.

"I am Raphael!" Junior called back, waving his arms. The plant person slapped his extended hand as they walked by.

Somebody dressed like a woodland creature carrying a giant fake gun followed behind. Junior glanced back at the fluffy ringed tail and wondered where they found a Magic Leaf.

"Let's go." Cherry grabbed Junior's other hand and pulled him towards a house with plastic ghosts framing the door.

.o

Nerves and nausea had Bowser hugging the toilet platform in his airship quarters. A good puke seemed to relieve him of his anxiety, but he regretted the cactus tea. That stuff never tasted good coming back up.

He straightened, flushed, wiped his mouth and gargled charcoal-flavored mouthwash to remove the sour vomit taste from his tongue.

"Ugh, this is getting old," Bowser grumbled, rubbing at his cramping neck. Dull aches bloomed in his upper back and went away almost as fast as they came.

I'm not having another heart attack, am I?

His left arm was tingly when he woke up that morning, but it went away! And he wasn't dizzy or short of breath!

There's no way, it doesn't feel the same. I'm psyching myself out.

He pulled a leaf off the large Piranha Plant outside the porthole and ate it. They were poisonous to most, but they settled upset Koopa stomachs better than ginger or crackers.

Looking in the mirror once more, he smoothed his hair with a pass of his hand, licked his thumbs and wiped them across his eyebrows. The one gray hair multiplied over the past two years, creating a silver streak beside his left horn.

"Just be your sexy self," Bowser pep-talked his reflection. He smacked both fists on the counter. "You'll get her."

Turbulence rocked the floor under his feet. They had to fly through a storm brewing, but the clouds and lightning would provide perfect cover.

"Mushroom Kingdom in sight!" Capaldi called over the intercom.

Bowser stomped into his quarters and touched the button. "Copy that. Ready the Pulsar Cannon!"

Iggy came up with a smaller version of this a month before he moved out. It did nothing more than emit an electromagnetic pulse that shut down electrical devices within range. He used it to knock down Morton's drones, much to his frustration.

Bowser took the schematics and built a giant one capable of knocking out cities. He couldn't wait to test it.

Weight pressed down on him while the airship ascended higher into the storm cloud. Lightning flickered outside the windows.

The floor vibrated from the cup-shaped cannon deploying out the bottom of the airship. It would knock power out in the ship for exactly five seconds, causing it to stall and lose altitude.

Bowser's Koopa Troopas saluted him as he made his way from his quarters to the bridge. Capaldi was an elderly blue-shelled Koopa Paratroopa who ran a tight ship. One flick of his bushy white eyebrows sent his crewmen scurrying to do his bidding.

"Are we in position?" Bowser asked.

"Perfectly so," Capaldi replied, gesturing to the infrared image on the viewscreen.

Smirking, Bowser pulled night vision goggles out from under the control panel and set them atop his head where his horns propped them up. The lenses shone poisonous green under the overhead lights.

"I'm gonna drop in like a wrecking ball," he laughed, "They'll never know what hit 'em!"

Capaldi didn't crack so much as a smile. He stayed laser focused on his task. "Target sighted."

"Fire!"

There was a thump. All the electronics in the ship flickered off. Bowser's head swam at the weightless sensation of free fall lifting his feet off the metal floor.

But, while the lights in the cabin came back on and his feet returned to the floor, all the lights on the infrared camera winked out into nothingness.

"Paratroopas, go!" Bowser ordered over the intercom.

Boots hit the deck. Wings unfurled. Lightning silhouetted dozens of Koopa Paratroopas leaping into the storm.

"Where do you want me?" Boom-Boom called into the cabin.

"Stay onboard. Make Mario's life hell if he comes up."

"You got it, sire."

There would be pandemonium below, and Bowser wanted to make it worse. He saluted Capaldi and left the bridge for his Koopa Clown Car, which was tethered to the deck.

The last set of Paratroopas dove off, their feathery white wings fluttering in the wind.

He rubbed his twinging neck before vaulting into the Koopa Clown Car and taking off into the gloom.

Halfway down, he lowered the night vision goggles over his eyes. Ghostly gray-green images of the Mushroom Castle courtyard presented themselves to him.

Mario and Peach were on opposite ends, trying to help people find the exits. The Paratroopas arrived. Everything erupted into chaos.

Peach's silhouette looked a little different. Her skirt was fuller, and she lacked her usual puffy sleeves. What had he interrupted?

Nobody looked up to see the smiling Koopa Clown Car burst out of the clouds.

Bowser swept past Peach, pressed a button on the control stick and a net exploded out of the side of the car to trap her. He pulled upward, causing the net to ball her up in a fetal position.

His princess now captured, he tugged the control stick backwards and rose into the angry clouds. Lightning illuminated his grinning face beneath the night vision goggles.

"So long, fungus faces! BWAHAHAHA!" He cackled at the chaos below.

.o

Strobe lights outside a large house flickered on Junior's grinning face as more candy tumbled into his bag.

"Trick or treat!" Cherry opened her bag, too, and welcomed her prizes.

"Cowabunga, dude and dudette!" The guy in the house grinned, flashing fake sharp teeth. He was dressed as a creepy clown and holding a single red balloon.

Two kids stopped on the sidewalk and cried when they saw the clown costume. Junior shouldered past them, looking back to make sure Cherry didn't get left behind.

"Why are kids so scared of him?" He asked.

"I don't know." Cherry swung her cloth sack partly full of candy.

Another house projected a film onto its white garage door. It showed a living doll with red hair, blue overalls and a colorful long sleeved shirt walking out of a school classroom closet, much to the horror of the woman he just sent flying across several desks. He slapped the ruler against the palm of his other hand.

"You've been very, very naughty, Miss Kettlewell," said the doll.

"Junior!" Cherry tugged his hand, "Come on."

She knocked on the door. It swung open to reveal someone dressed like the doll projected on the garage door.

"Wanna play?" He laughed.

"AAH!" Junior leaped back, almost tripping on his tail.

"Trick or treat!" Cherry opened her bag, unruffled.

Junior grumbled, only getting close enough to extend his bag at arm's length. His heart hammered in his chest. He darted away as soon as he got his candy.

"I didn't like that," he said once the door closed.

"You scared?" She hopped off the steps into the grass.

"No…"

"You were!"

"Was not!"

He could still see the movie projected on the garage. The doll murdered the woman with the ruler in a series of shots through the classroom window. There was just that ruler, all bloodied, coming up and slapping down as each consecutive shot moved further away from the boxy school buildings.

My dad can be meaner and scarier than that! Junior told himself.

"That house always has movies projected on their garage." Cherry led him past a fake tombstone in the grass. "They had a girl with a spinning head last year. She puked green stuff. It was gross."

"I liked the house with the pumpkin pile better. That was cool." Junior fell into step with her.

She grinned, meeting his gaze. "That's my favorite, too!"

"What about the— what the…?" Junior stopped when the glow of enormous signs lit his face. "There's movie theaters in outside-outside too?"

Cherry scoffed, looking upward. "Duh! They're everywhere."

He walked closer, drawn to the lit sign showing a massive dinosaur-like creature unleashing blue flames skyward. Three rows of sharp scutes ran down its back.

"Whoa."

The clerk behind the window was asleep on the job. Junior looked at Cherry and smiled. He knew what to do because he did this with Morton a million times.

"Hey, wanna sneak in?"

Cherry grabbed his arm and side-eyed him. "Can you do it without us getting caught?"

"Watch and learn." He grinned.

Giggling, they ducked under the window, edged through the entrance and bolted down the corridor. Cherry pointed to a theater with Godzilla: King of the Monsters above the door.

Junior shoved the giant door open, let her in and ran with her up the hallway ramp. The movie was already in progress, but that didn't matter. He stood in the aisle in awe as the creature named Godzilla burst out of the ocean like an unstoppable force and recreated the sign he saw outside.

"He reminds me of dad," Junior whispered, face softening.

Onscreen, Godzilla bent towards the gathering of humans standing on the deck of their vessel. His nostrils flared as he sniffed them, heedless of the rain. He seemed to exchange something silent with the man in front of the group. Then he turned away and dove into the waves as though daring them to watch what he would do next.

Junior didn't realize Godzilla was so enormous.

"Wow," he murmured to himself.

The theater was empty except for a few people sitting way in the back. Junior climbed onto a seat that smelled like a mix of dirty rags and bad breath. He waved Cherry over.

They opened identical bags of weird, very tasty cheese-flavored chips called Doritos while watching the movie unfold.

"Is Boston an outside-outside place like Brooklyn?" Junior asked.

"Maybe, I dunno," Cherry stuffed chips into her mouth.

He found a drink cup in one of the cup holders, tasted it and it was still bubbly and cold, so he passed it to her. They shared it and watched the rest of the movie with rapt attention.

A new monster showed up on screen, an enormous gold dragon with leathery wings, two tails and three heads. It spat lightning!

Junior froze with his hand in his Doritos bag when King Ghidorah bit an electrical station and turned the entire screen into a lightning nightmare. He remembered to chew halfway through, and forgot again when burning orange Godzilla melted everything he touched.

"Oh, he ate him!" Cherry exclaimed.

"He's the king." Junior swallowed a mouthful of Doritos as Godzilla stared down every monster present.

The way the other monsters fell in line at Godzilla's roar reminded Junior of his dad's commanding presence.

Finally, the screen went black and the credits rolled. Cherry was about to get up and leave when a final scene appeared, something involving one of the golden Ghidorah heads. Then the lights began to come up.

Junior left his empty Doritos bag on the floor. He licked the orange powder off his fingers as he headed for one of the two exit doors near the screen.

"Littering, Junior? Really?" Cherry trailed behind him.

"What? There's people here who clean up messes."

But, to make a point, he put their shared soda cup in a trash can before kicking the door open.

Cherry paused outside. Instead of the neighborhood, they emerged into a darkened alley between buildings. Steam oozed out of vents above them.

"That was epic!" Junior jumped up and down. "I liked the part when Godzilla was glowing and burning up everything around him. What was yours?"

Cherry wiped her fingers on her candy sack, leaving orange streaks. "Mothra crawling on Godzilla. She sacrificed herself to save him."

"Yeah, did you see her wings in those shockwaves he gave off?"

"Oh! Yeah!"

They grinned at each other as they passed under a bare light bulb under another theater's door.

"Your mouth is orange," Cherry giggled.

Heat rushed into Junior's face. He wiped it on his bag. "How about now?"

"Wow! You made it worse!" She laughed harder, using the edge of her bag to wipe his mouth for him. "There."

"Your teeth are orange," Junior said, still blushing.

She looked away for a moment to rub her teeth with her finger. It didn't help. "Did I fix it?"

He smiled, and lied. "Yeah."

They kept going, heading towards amber street lights in the distance.

"I wanna try something." Junior took a deep breath and attempted an imitation of Godzilla's haunting roar. The sound that came out of him was something between a screech and a belch, and it sounded nothing like Godzilla.

Cherry doubled over and fell against a dumpster, laughing. "Junior!"

Sheepish, Junior scratched the back of his head. "I thought I could do it."

"Well, well, well, what have we here?"

Cherry and Junior froze as two taller people emerged from between two dumpsters further down. One wore some kind of hockey mask and gray jumpsuit. The other had a striped red and green sweater. He looked severely burnt as he brandished a glove with blades on its fingers.

"A couple of kids wandering around where they shouldn't, eh?" The hockey guy muffled through his mask. "Hey, Jeff, check out the ninja turtle reject."

"Tch, I thought Supergirl was blonde." Jeff wiggled his bladed fingers. "Whaddya think, Mark? Bag snatching?"

"Bag snatching." Mark, the masked guy, took a step forward. "And maybe a little roughing up."

"No way!" Junior growled, pushing his bag behind him. "We spent a long time getting all this candy!"

"I'm not asking for permission." Jeff snickered.

"Hey!" Cherry jumped backwards out of Mark's reach. When he wouldn't back off, she swung the bag in an arc above her head and whacked his ear.

"Yow! Ha-hah! We've got a feisty one here!" Mark reached for Cherry's bag. "C'mere, little cutie."

Cherry tossed her bag to Junior. She leapt up onto the dumpster and drop-kicked Mark squarely in the face with both feet.

The plastic mask snapped in half, revealing a pale, red-headed human.

"Try again, I dare you!" She shouted.

"Bitch! Jeff, let's roll 'em!"

"Sounds good."

Junior ran in front of Cherry, faced them both and unleashed a torrent of fire from his mouth. Both boys leapt apart.

"Shit!" Mark grabbed his broken mask. "Forget this, I'm out!"

"Mark!" Jeff watched his friend bolt up the alley.

Junior grinned, smoke rising from his nostrils. "How about I make you uglier?"

Jeff held up both hands, the bladed one looking pretty pathetic. "It's just makeup, dude!"

"Junior!" Cherry tugged Junior's arm, "Come on."

Still grinning, Junior burped up a fireball. "Snatch bags all you want, but leave ours alone."

"Sure, sure, whatever you want!" Jeff took baby steps backwards, almost smacking into the dumpster behind him. "Just don't burn me!"

Smoke curled out of Junior's nostrils again.

Jeff squealed and scrambled onto the dumpster. The lid was off, so he fell in with an undignified bang.

Cherry pulled the lid over, dusted her hands off and approached Junior.

Somewhere on the street, Mark's voice shouted, "One of 'em has a flamethrower or something, he almost lit my feet! They were back in the alley behind The AMC Theater!"

Junior picked up her candy bag and gave it to her.

"We better go home."

"Good idea." Cherry pointed towards the street behind them. "Let's go that way."

"There's people!"

"Yeah, and we blend in!"

Nodding, Junior followed her out and cut in with a group of kids heading towards a house they already went to.

"Okay, time to run for it," Cherry hissed.

They broke off the group and ducked through bushes, between trash cans, around buildings and climbed fences until they reached the manhole she opened earlier.

"What's this trick or treat ritual for, anyway?" Junior asked as they descended the ladder into the sewer.

"It scares away evil spirits, I guess." Cherry hopped in with a grunt.

He scooted in behind her, closed the manhole and slid down the ladder. "I like it."

They exchanged smiles. The only sounds were dripping water and their fast breathing from exerting themselves.

The teenagers they scuffled with stopped on the manhole cover overhead.

"Where'd those shits go?" Mark stomped his foot.

Jeff dropped something horribly smelly into a small hole in the manhole cover. "We'll never find 'em if they took their costumes off. That turtle kid especially."

Their shoes banged away until their voices faded.

Junior picked up the smelly thing. It was white, paper and one end smoldered faintly orange. Gray smoke rose off the ashy tip.

Brooklyn had Koopa Stix? Those were a candy delicacy in the Darklands! Charcoal flavor was his favorite. The best part was only Koopas seemed to like them, so he never had to worry about sharing unless his siblings were around when he had one.

Everyone with Koopa Stix guarded their stash with their life!

He stuck it in his mouth and bit down, but didn't get the gritty charcoal flavor he expected. There was just some weird fluff, leafy bitter stuff, paper bits and the hot ash on his tongue wouldn't emit more smoke when he opened his mouth again.

"Eugh!" Junior spat everything out.

Cherry's laugh echoed in the space around them. "Did you try to eat a cigarette?"

"Yuck!" He coughed and scraped his tongue with his claws, trying to remove the weird cold feeling left behind. "I thought it was candy!"

She guffawed so hard she had to sit down against the ladder. "You ate a cigarette!"

Junior pouted, still spitting every now and then. "What's wrong with that? What're you supposed to do with them?"

Cherry stopped laughing.

"I don't know, but you don't eat them!" She went right back to cackling. "Plus, it was on the ground! Do you eat stuff off the floor at home, too?"

"Sometimes."

"Ew!"

"What?"

"That's gross!"

"So are mouths."

"How?"

"Cuz people use them to kiss!"

"It's not that bad! My parents kiss each other all the time. They kiss me, too, but on the cheek or my forehead."

"Ew."

"Hmph! Does Bowser kiss you?"

"Wha— sometimes. Here or here." Junior touched the top and side of his head.

Cherry jumped up, walked over and kissed his cheek. It was warm, wet and weird coming from somebody other than his dad.

"Ack!" Junior wiped his cheek, "Hey!"

"See, it didn't kill you."

He twitched his tail and rubbed his cheek again, trying to wipe off the girl germs before they sank in to give him cooties. "You better not tell anybody you did that!"

"Fine, but you better not tell either, cuz your dad might get as mad as mine. I'm not supposed to play with anybody from the Darklands." She picked up her candy bag and eyed him. "We still friends?"

Junior wrung his candy bag between his claws. "Whaddya mean?"

"Boys get weird with me because I'm a princess."

"Are they princes?"

"No."

"I am." He grinned proudly. "Dad doesn't make me do royal protocol unless we're trying to impress somebody, so don't worry."

They skipped over a series of walkways leading towards another ladder.

At the bottom, Cherry looked up at him and said, "You're the only person I don't have to be all prim and proper around. I can play, get dirty, run, scream, be silly and there's nobody telling me I'm being improper. Your dad laughs and tries to outdo you when you burp loud. My mom and dad tell me to stop it."

"Wow, why? Burping is funny!"

"Yeah, tell them that!"

"You know what else is funny?"

"What?"

"Hang on. Just gotta…there it is!"

Junior bent over and blasted out a fart that echoed along the pipes.

Cherry gawked at him for a good ten seconds before they both collapsed in laughter.

"You think mine are loud? You should hear my dad's!" Junior guffawed. "Hey! Wait, can girls fart?"

"Wh-what kind of question is that?"

"My sister, Wendy, she says girls don't fart."

"We do. Everybody does." Cherry giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "It's biological, or something."

"Then do it. Fart."

"I can't do it on command!"

He snickered. "Neither can I, but my dad can. It's funny."

"Heh! What do you think our parents are doing right now, anyway?"

"I don't know. Probably something boring."

They reached the green warp pipe leading back home. Cherry crawled in first with Junior not far behind.

.o

Faint heat came off the lock after Bowser armed it.

"Now don't try to pick this, my lovely Peach, you'll be shocked by the results."

Only the lock posed a danger. The bars of the cell reached floor to ceiling, blocking her into a quarter of the large room, which could only be reached by a warp pipe in the ceiling.

Peach looked extraordinarily gorgeous dolled up in an off-the-shoulder pink ball gown more elaborate and sparkly than her usual pink number. Bowser knew hand-made bobbin lace when he saw it. Intricate lace netting, dripped here and there with clear crystals, traced floral patterns beneath her sweetheart neckline. The poofy skirt had several layers of tulle over satin that made it impossible for her to kick free after capture.

Her blonde hair was pulled up in a crown of braids accented with faceted crystals. Somehow, only a few stray locks came loose during the struggle. They fell like gold ribbons against her bare shoulders.

Rather than a necklace, she chose statement chandelier earrings that were waterfalls of pink and clear gems. They sparkled enough to be visible across the room!

The makeup she wore— absolutely smashing! Smoky gold dusted above her eyes, rosy cheeks and lips painted glossy pink. What a dream of a woman.

Bowser's eyes softened as he gazed at her. If her dress had been white instead of pink, it would've made a perfect fairy tale wedding gown.

Peach scowled, blue eyes not returning his softness. She pulled the last of the rope netting off her waist and let it fall behind her. Every movement rustled her dress.

"What's the occasion this time?"

"You first, Peach. You look—"

"My wedding anniversary." She crossed her arms.

Bowser rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I ruin your day?"

"You always ruin my day!"

God, she was cute when she got mad. He grinned, scuffing his clawed foot on the deck. Just being close to her sent his heart racing.

This part of the airship had no windows. The warp pipe ended on a narrow platform. Reaching the cage on foot required crossing a precarious chain bridge over a vat of lava, though Bowser hadn't opened the trap door to it.

That bridge was his best trap yet— all chains, no planks, and set up like a carnival ladder. Two thinner chains connected it to each end. Somebody had to know where to place their center of gravity on it to avoid getting dumped off as soon as they stepped on.

Bowser turned away from his fantastic bridge to regard the gorgeous queen brightening his airship.

"Have you eaten yet?" He asked.

Peach averted her eyes and shook her head, her arms remaining firmly crossed. "No, thanks to you."

She eased herself to sit on the bench behind her, sighing. Everything sparkly glimmered like constellations written across her body.

The bench was more of a shelf running along the entire wall, so he could sit next to her outside the cell if he wanted to.

Bowser grinned, flashing his sharp teeth. "In that case, let me accommodate you."

He snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened.

He glowered upward, stomped his foot and snapped again.

A platform in the ceiling descended, bearing a large plate of scrummy steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes drizzled in garlic butter and a silver goblet of warm, sweetened cactus tea. The carrots were arranged into a cursive capital P on top of the greens. He chose metal silverware because it would be dangerous to stick into an electrified lock to pick it.

"Here." Bowser slid the plate through the bars, followed by the silverware wrapped in a cloth napkin and leaving the goblet for last.

Peach glanced at it. "It's rude to eat in front of someone without their own food."

"Who's watching us? I already ate. Go ahead." He gestured. "I cooked that myself."

One of her delicate eyebrows inched up. "You cook? You?"

"My dear, I know what you like and how you like it." Bowser gestured to the plate again. "Can Mario say the same?"

"Mario cooks for me all the time." Peach eyed the food and bit her lip. "Just…ah, damn it."

She bent over, picked up the plate and set it on her lap with the napkin draped underneath it.

Bowser looked away to hide a snicker. That was the first time he heard her swear in all the years of kidnapping. Who knew getting her hangry was all it took?

"How is it?"

"I refuse to answer that." Peach replied between bites.

She loves it. She loves my cooking. Bowser tittered inwardly. He stepped backwards towards the bridge to pull a gold, green and white wireless Flying V electric guitar and amp out from under the shelf. Two silver knobs on the front and a red one jutting off the side gave it some snazzy accents.

This wasn't a huge room, so he didn't need to turn the amp up that loud.

He twisted a silver knob. Lights on the amp and side of the guitar glowed soft white, indicating they were connected properly.

"What's a formal dinner without a little music?" Bowser rumbled while tuning his guitar by ear. Having perfect pitch came in handy for things like that. He adjusted the tone knob, draped the black strap over his neck and waggled his eyebrows at her. "Been dying to show you my ax. Now give me a sec to warm my fingers up."

Bowser licked his claws, wiggled them and started shredding. His fingers danced agilely on the strings and moved between the frets whenever he needed to change chords.

Peach watched him between dainty bites of food. She frowned, squinted, tilted her head and looked down at her plate again.

But he saw her foot tapping beneath that poofy skirt. Maybe she didn't realize she did it.

"Yeah! Ooh, yeah!" Bowser bobbed his head and hopped a few steps to his left, his tail smacking the deck in time with the beat. Every so often he cracked an eye open to peek at his lovely captive. She refused to look back at him.

He chuckled when she hesitantly sniffed the goblet.

The song he played was the perfect length for her to eat her dinner. He fluttered an easy arpeggio, swung his arm in a circle and thrummed the last chord, wiggling his left hand on the frets to add vibrato.

"Ahh, so good," Bowser threw his head backwards, teeth bared in a placid grin.

The hand he had on his guitar strings moved immediately to rub the back of his neck. All the head-bobbing made it hurt again. And man, the room sure felt stuffy. He paused to catch his breath.

"How was that?" Bowser flexed his fingers.

"No comment." Peach side-eyed him and sniffed the goblet again.

He chuckled. "It's just tea, I promise."

She set it just outside the cage. "Drink some and prove it."

"Are you serious? Do you think I'm so pathetic that I would put something in it?"

"If you won't drink any, why should I?"

"Fine."

Faint noises came from the amp when Bowser approached. He held up the goblet like a magician performing a trick, brought it to his mouth and sipped generously. There was a lot, so the two mouthfuls he drank wouldn't leave her without enough.

"Ahh, sweet cactus tea." He licked his front teeth suggestively. "See? Nothing weird here."

Peach wouldn't take it from his hand. She waited for him to slide it between the bars again.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Not to a castle." Bowser cocked his head and grinned, giving his left arm a little twist when it tried to cramp.

She held the goblet in both hands to sip. Her expression did not give away whether she liked or hated the tea, but she took another drink.

"I'm surprised you still wanted that after I used it." Bowser pointed out.

Peach shrugged, earrings sparkling as she moved her head. "Having kids makes you immune to a lot of things you normally find unpleasant."

"HAHA! Ain't that the truth! I used to hate snot. Now? I wiped it off the noses of eight kids, got sneezed on, got boogers wiped on me— heh!" He noodled around on the guitar strings, playing random notes. "Kids, gotta love 'em, right?"

"They change everything." She sipped, swallowed and sighed. "I don't miss the diapers."

Bowser laughed, clutching the guitar's neck. "Geez, I remember…three days after Junior hatched, he blew up a diaper so bad it was down his legs and up to his armpits. He kept wagging his tail and splattering it everywhere. Stinkiest kid ever!"

That time, Peach giggled into her hand. "And you didn't panic?"

"Nah! I was proud. Now, Peach, be honest…can Mario handle a nasty diaper?"

"He used to work in sewers, so he did fine." She eyed him, humor still sparkling in her eyes. "He only gagged the first time. What about you?"

"I never gagged." Bowser lied. "Nope, not me, never."

He didn't tell her he had to stuff cotton in his nostrils and breathe through his mouth the first six times he changed Ludwig's poopy diapers, nor did he mention how he couldn't look at mustard or ground meat the same for a year. It got easier after that.

Kids…you learn to tolerate the grossest stuff because of them.

"I'm sorry I asked," Peach muttered.

"Wha— but I never gagged!" He reiterated.

She scoffed, massaging her forehead with her fingertips.

Chuckling, Bowser sat close to the bars of her cell, so he could see her face. His fingers worked over the guitar strings again, plucking and adjusting the knobs to tune it up a semitone. The song he intended to play next needed serious retooling to sound good on a guitar instead of a piano, but he made it work.

The nerves that had him throwing up earlier threatened to run him over. Only his kids knew he could do this. He wanted to impress her, wanted her to understand how much he loved her. This was the last thing he had left to give.

Peach's eyes darted from the guitar to his face. "Really, Bowser, where are we going?"

"We're on a journey."

Bowser smirked with more confidence than he felt, breathed down into his diaphragm, sat up straighter and began to sing.

" Highway run into the midnight sun. The wheels go 'round and 'round, you're on my mind… "

His deep voice came out timid at first, then cleared and gained volume as he became more comfortable. He strummed and sang, embracing the moment.

" …through space and time, always another show. Wondering where I am, lost without you. And being apart ain't easy on this love affair. True strangers learn to fall in love again… "

Bowser flexed his biceps just a little when moving his fingers along the guitar neck, fingertips seeking chords by touch alone. The gentle way he brushed the strings matched how he longed to caress her face and hold her in his arms. Really hold her, not just carry her kicking and screaming.

" I get the joy of rediscovering you. Oh, girl, you stand by me… "

He looked sidelong at her, finally daring to meet her gaze through lidded eyes.

" I'm forever yours…faithfully… "

Peach's forehead wrinkled. Maybe she tried to piece together what was happening. Maybe he finally shattered whatever wrong notions she had about him. Maybe he could love her better than Mario!

Bowser leaned forward, breathing deep since the bridge needed a lot of air to nail just right. He switched from chest voice to head voice and dropped his jaw, which relaxed and opened his throat.

" Whoa-oh-whoa-oh… "

The bridge always got to him, especially the crescendo. He repeated it three times, losing himself in how deeply he loved her. She was by his side, watching him do this for her, for only her.

His voice jumped two octaves higher and rang as it soared through the room.

" Whoa-oh-whoa-oh-whoa! Faithfully! I'm still yours! Faithfully! "

He segued perfectly, the guitar notes replacing his voice for a short interlude. His fingers shaped themselves along the frets. The notes came so easy, like rainfall.

Tears pricked at his eyelids. It was too much to look at her and sing something so heartfelt. He closed his eyes, ignoring a painful twinge in his chest while he threw his head back and laid his heart out with everything he had.

" I'm forever yours! Ever yours…faithfully! "

His breath almost ran out. Almost. But he made it through the song without faltering.

Six chords later, the guitar strings stopped vibrating under his fingertips. He doubled forward over it, panting. How did this room get stuffier than before?

The silence grew deafening.

Without looking at Peach, Bowser crossed the room to stand his guitar against the wall near the chain bridge. His hands shook. He returned to his previous perch and sat with one ankle resting across his knee.

Now, at last, he turned his head to look at her, trying not to appear nervous about her reaction.

"You like that?"

His heart galloped in his chest. Would she laugh? Cry? Ignore him? He hung there in time-dilated silence, waiting.

"Bowser…" Peach sighed, dropping her face into her hands and massaging her forehead with her fingertips. "Come here."

"Yes?"

"Closer."

"Uh-huh."

"Closer."

Bowser grasped the bars, his glistening russet eyes huge as he peered at her. His chest ached at how beautiful she was in all her sparkling finery.

Peach reached through the bars and slapped him so hard the tears in his eyes flew off and glimmered like the crystals on her dress. There were tear streaks on her face too. Her lips curled in a snarl he'd never seen before.

"Peaches!" Bowser rubbed the cheek she slapped. Man, she had an arm, and she didn't even use all her strength.

But the blow didn't hurt nearly as much as her reaction. He balked at her, barely processing the tirade she unleashed.

"You kidnap me on the night of my wedding anniversary, take me away from my husband, rip me away from my daughter, threaten my kingdom, and you expect me to love you? You think I'll marry you?"

She clenched her fists and her voice rose in volume, "The answer is NO!"

Crestfallen, Bowser leaned back and pushed his hands towards her in a frantic placating gesture. "Whoa, whoa, wait a sec. I just—"

"Enough! I hope you're not planning to do this to Cherry next." She narrowed her eyes. Her rage was palpable. "Because, Bowser, I swear, if you hurt my daughter, I'll march into your castle and kill you myself."

And the chill in her eyes made it clear she could do it.

Bowser moved his hands to his chest. His left pectoral muscle kept having spasms.

"I…I-I'm not interested in Cherry," he whispered.

"How do I know you won't encourage Junior to kidnap her like you kidnap me?" Peach glared at him again. "Are you teaching him that?"

He bowed his head and smiled softly. "No. That's the truth. No, I'm not."

Damn, Peach kept being impossibly, excruciatingly gorgeous. The only straps her dress had were crystal-encrusted ribbons draped across her upper arms. If only he could kiss her and run his fingertips over her small, smooth shoulders to make her forget about being angry.

He took some deep breaths, annoyed at how suffocating the room kept getting. Maybe he should've added more portholes to vent the heat from the vat out.

Peach tilted her head and backed away from the bars of her cell. "Is something wrong with you?"

"Huh?"

"You're breathing hard. You're talking so quietly. That's not like you."

"Two seconds ago you were threatening to kill me. Now you're worried?" Bowser looked askance at her with one bushy eyebrow raised.

Her dress sparkled when she looked away. "You're a parent, don't tell me you won't end anybody who poses a threat to your childrens' lives."

She had him there, and she was right.

He smirked, polishing his claws on his chest and examining them.

"Some punk ass twat named Wart kidnapped Wendy when she was a baby. I burned his castle to the ground with him in the middle to get her back. Then I sent his bone bits to all the surrounding kingdoms as a message to everyone else who thinks they're gonna try that. Now the guys that worked for him work for me instead, and that's why nobody tries anything with my kids."

Focusing on her, he went on, "And I would act in the same way on Cherry's behalf, too."

Peach pressed a hand over her mouth. "Why?"

"She's yours."

She shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Yes it does, Peach. I would do it because I love you." Bowser stated it like the most obvious thing in the world.

They both fell silent at that. For a heartbeat the only sounds were the airship engines, wind blustering outside and the chain bridge occasionally rattling.

Peach gawked at him through the bars of her cell. Then she sat down again, sighing.

"You're impossible," she muttered. The tears she shed earlier caused some of her mascara to run. Even with dark streaks under her eyes, she looked so unimaginably elegant.

Bowser rolled his shoulders to flex his muscles for her and work out the cramp forming in his back. "What does Mario do for you?"

"He doesn't kidnap me out of anniversary dinners." Peach shot back.

His nostrils flared. He detected something faintly coppery. Blood. His heart sank.

"Are you injured?"

"Huh?"

"I smell blood. Did I—"

An embarrassed blush darkened her cheeks. "No, I'm not hurt, but I don't feel well either."

"Are you sick? How can I help?" He stepped closer to her cell.

"I'm not, and you can't. Your timing for this was extraordinarily awful. Just…" She sniffed, swatting the air in his general direction. "Mind your own business!"

Bowser held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Fine, fine, I'll just—oof!" He clutched his achy left elbow. "Heh, guess I went too hard on the guitar."

Peach didn't see the humor in it. She hugged herself and leaned back against the wall behind her with her eyes closed.

"I'll tell you what else Mario does for me." Her eyes opened and her lips curled in a soft, sweet smile.

Thunderous booms shook the airship. Bullet Bills whistled into the wind.

Mario was aboard.

"He does that." She sat up straight again.

The softness rising in Bowser's chest became a Thwomp slamming down. That smile was supposed to be for him! Not Mario!

Growling, he pulled the lever that opened the lava vat under the chain bridge. The orange glow illuminated his face from below in all its malevolence. Sweat beaded on his scales immediately. Blood throbbed through his ears.

Cannons fired. Footsteps thudded over the upper deck. People shouted. Somehow Capaldi kept the airship steady despite the chaos.

"Fine, I guess it's time to unleash it." Bowser grinned coldly, picking up his guitar again without draping the strap over his neck. Faint noises issued from the amp.

He twisted the red knob on the side with a decisive click and plucked the B string.

An explosion boomed somewhere overhead.

"Mamma-mia!" Mario bellowed, his voice faint through the layers of airship between them.

Peach leapt up, grabbing the bars of her cell. "Mario!"

Bowser looked over his shoulder at her. "Thank my sons. Ludwig came up with this and Iggy put it together."

Facing forward again, he gripped the guitar neck and shredded, fingers flicking wildly. He played the riff in more than one key. Explosions rocked the airship every time he plucked the B string.

"BWAHAHA!" Bowser cackled, throwing his head back with his teeth bared in glee. "I'm better than him, Peach, and I'll prove it!"

Mario dropped down the warp pipe looking singed. Bowser blasted him with his flame breath without missing a beat on the guitar.

"Whoa!" Mario's tanuki suit disappeared in a flash of light, leaving him in his blue tuxedo with a cutaway coat, dark red shirt and a shimmering gold bow tie.

"You lost this time, pipe breath!" Bowser laughed again.

The little plumber kipped up, panting. "Peach!"

"I'm okay!" Peach answered him.

Sweat dripped down the sides of Bowser's face. His fingers continued their relentless strumming. The music gave him chills. Nobody would rock as hard as he was in this moment! Nobody!

"Scared, Mario? You should be." His cruel grin grew, baring his teeth. He stepped forward and stared unblinking into Mario's widening eyes, daring him to make a move.

But it wasn't Mario who moved.

The metal dinner plate spun up behind him and knocked the guitar from his hands.

"Ack!" Bowser scrambled to catch it. The guitar flipped out of reach. Its strap fell across the pole hooking the chain bridge to the platform, stopping it from plummeting into the lava vat.

He glanced behind him. Peach's arm was still in a follow through position. She smirked, keeping well away from the electrified lock.

Chains rattled. Mario wobbled precariously on the bridge. He gripped the ropes on either side and backflipped back onto the platform behind him before it could dump him into the lava.

"You-a never learn!" Mario narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, I learned a lot tonight." Bowser stepped onto the bridge. He stood like a tightrope walker, using his tail and arms to balance himself while his toe claws gripped the links. "Happy anniversary, by the way. Enjoy these few minutes, because they're your last."

Mario wiped a hand across his fluffy mustache and sniffed. Bowser took pleasure in seeing blood streak his white glove.

He stopped to gasp for air. It got so much harder to breathe all of a sudden. The spasms in his chest transitioned into steady, familiar hot pokers radiating along his left arm. His legs were rubbery underneath him. Anxiety knotted his stomach with a sickening sense of doom.

Not another one. Not now. Bowser stared Mario down, trying not to let his pain show.

"Come at me, Mario!" He roared, beckoning with his hands. "Let's see who's really worthy of Peach!"

Mario's eyes darted to the left, up, down, then fixed onto Bowser's again. He smiled, eyebrows tilting in a cocky frown. Cherry made that face during their chess game earlier. A dangerous expression that meant a hairbrained plan.

"You-a asked for-a it!"

Roaring— half in pain, half in rage— Bowser charged.

Mario leapt, bounced off the top of his spiked shell, landed on the other side and spun. Bowser twisted in time to see Mario snatch up his electric guitar. The hot metal singed his white gloves. He swung it in an arc that ripped the chain out of the pole and accidentally hit the trap door lever.

The chain bridge coiled in on itself. Unfortunately for Mario, and fortunately for Bowser, the trap door sealed quickly. Bowser landed on it instead of plunging into the lava vat.

Searing chain links smashed against his chest. Pain blasted every nerve in his body on impact. His heart palpitated, radiating agony every other beat. He laid there in a daze as the room spun around him.

Metal clunked and clanged.

"Stand-a back!" Mario said.

More banging. Random whines clamored through the guitar amp.

"Be careful!" Peach's heels click-scraped.

"Don't-a worry, amore mio, I'm always careful."

Bowser watched Peach reach between the bars to play with Mario's slicked-back hair. She looked at him through soft, lidded eyes blooming with affection.

"My hero."

"Heh, heh!" Mario's body blocked the view of what he did with the guitar. "Right-a, here we-a go!" He pushed upward after Peach backed herself against the wall, her dress rustling and sparkling. "Almost got it-a…aha!"

Something zapped and the door sprang open.

Bowser pushed himself onto his feet as Mario reached for Peach's hand. Heedless of the painful pressure in his chest, he bum-rushed the plumber full-speed, swatting him aside like a toy. Mario hit the wall like a sack of potatoes.

"Mario!" Peach shouted.

"Ugh, ouch," Mario groaned, "He rang-a my-a bell! Oof…"

Bowser picked him up by the lapels of his coat and tossed him to the other end of the room. "Let me ring it again!"

Pain shot through his chest. He doubled forward, gasping for breath.

Mario tucked himself into a ball, so the impact didn't faze him much. He still slid down the wall to sit on the floor, panting. Good, he was miserable too!

His vision blurring and going fuzzy, Bowser loomed in the smoking door of the cage with rage burning in his eyes.

"Peach." He advanced on her.

"Back off!" Peach snapped, bringing her arm back.

Bowser caught that fist. And the other.

"No." He pushed her backwards and slammed his left hand into the wall next to her head. Before she could duck to the right, he did the same with his other hand, boxing her in. His nostrils flared, smoke escaping as puffs in time with his rapid breathing.

Apprehension darkened her eyes instead of her earlier defiance.

"B-Bowser, stop, please." She pushed her hands against his chest. Her earrings clinked and sparkled. "Bowser, don't!"

Agony bloomed where her hands flattened on his plastron. Her touch bled the rage out of him. His expression softened. Tears welled in his eyes. She was so beautiful, it hurt to look at her.

"Peach," Bowser whispered, leaning closer. The tears in his eyes skittered onto his cheeks. Her breath bathed his face. He inhaled her peachy-wine scented perfume.

Hands seized his tail. Mario's voice roared with a rage he never heard before.

"Take-a your hands off-a her!"

"Argh!" Bowser thrashed his tail, effortlessly shaking him off while keeping Peach boxed in.

Fresh pain crushed the center of his chest, driving the air out of his lungs. He was an inch from kissing the woman of his dreams when his legs gave out, and he sank against her instead, his claws leaving long scratches in the wood paneled wall.

"Get off me!" Peach hollered.

"I can't," Bowser replied. It kept getting harder to breathe, like drowning in the air that should be keeping him alive. His eyes were wide, desperate.

Confusion replaced the fear on her face. She wrinkled her forehead.

"Help," he rasped through the pain. "I don't want to hurt you."

Thin bits of wood fiber were the only thing holding him up. The fibers snapped, and he fell.

"What do— oh! Wait, don't! Ouch! Bowser!"

Peach wrapped her arms around his neck to push him sideways without getting crushed against the wall by his weight. He still took her down with him, his shell, left shoulder and hip bearing most of the impact. She struggled onto her knees, her enormous ball gown skirt billowing over them both.

"Just go." He wheezed. "Get Mario and go."

Peach's hand came down and pushed his hair backwards off his face. She looked at him, really looked, and realization dawned in her eyes.

"Mario! Something is wrong with him!"

Bowser twisted onto his stomach, gripping his chest in a failed attempt at soothing himself.

"Peach?" Mario's voice was closer. He panted, too, though not as hard, and nudged Bowser's shell with his foot.

Bowser growled between rapid breaths. Sweat joined the tears on his face. Pain kept spiraling along his chest, upper back and left arm. This was humiliating!

"Don't move." Peach said. She stepped around him, skirt rustling against his shell and the sillage of her perfume trailing after her.

Mario went outside the broken cell with her. "Peach!"

"We have to do something." Peach murmured.

"What do you-a mean? It's-a Bowser, he could-a be a-faking it!" He whispered back.

"He doesn't want to look weak in front of anybody. If he's down like this, it's real."

"Are you-a sure?"

"His tongue is turning white. Look at him. He could be dying."

She rustled something on her dress.

"Think about it, Mario. In all the years he's been a problem for us, he's been repelling other invaders. We always know what to expect when he shows up. If he dies now, someone worse will fill in the power vacuum. We can't leave him like this."

The silence after was broken only by airship engine noises.

"Okay," Mario's voice stayed low. "I don't-a like it, but I trust-a your-a judgment."

"I don't like it either, but my gut tells me this is the right call."

"Then it's-a good-a call."

Whatever they exchanged after that was silent. Peach's heels clicked across the floor, her dress swishing with every step.

Bowser managed to sit up with his head slumped on the shelf inside the cell. His vision lost definition and his guts churned. Dread opened a pit in his stomach. He grimaced and doubled forward. Every breath ached, and he couldn't get enough air.

Mario entered the cell to glower skeptically at him. He was roughed up and holding his right shoulder. Thin trails of blood dripped along his right eyebrow and he had a goose egg on the back of his head that protruded almost as much as his nose. Good! He deserved to suffer a bit, too!

Bowser tried to stand up and menace him one more time, but his legs refused to cooperate. Breathing was all he had the energy to do. He couldn't even move away when Mario sat next to his head and crossed his arms.

"What're you doing?" Bowser growled.

"Something I never thought-a possible."

"You hoping to watch me die, piss brain?"

"No. Worrying about-a you."

"Yeah, right!"

"My-a wife is-a very persuasive."

"Oh, rub it in, why don't you?"

"If-a your-a anger keeps you-a awake, good, that's-a the intention."

"Eat shit and rot," Bowser rubbed his cramping left shoulder. Now his whole arm screamed like an electrical circuit completed itself inside the bone. He closed one eye, wincing. The pain kept waxing and waning, it wasn't as constant as his last heart attack, but the slow throbbing made it feel so much worse.

Across the room, Peach pushed buttons on the intercom panel.

Bowser coughed, "Peach, it's the blue box."

She glanced back at him, pushed the button shaped like a blue box and the panel lit up.

"Capaldi here."

"Bowser needs medical attention. Get a doctor in here immediately!"

"A doctor? Who—"

"Never mind that! Send a doctor, now!"

She punched the blue button again. The light went out. Her heels clicked across the floor towards the cell.

"Help is coming."

"You're being too compassionate," Bowser looked up at her. "You—"

"Somebody in this room has to be, I guess it's me."

Peach and Mario exchanged looks. She raised an eyebrow. He shook his head.

Bowser scoffed and let his head fall chin to chest. It took everything he had to not whimper or moan, no need to let them know how much pain he was in. But he couldn't conceal his shortness of breath.

Footsteps scrambled over the deck above.

"Hey. Can you take a deep breath?" Peach asked him.

"Not really." Bowser tried. It offered no relief.

"Just breathe." She twisted to look up at the warp pipe. "Your guys are almost here."

Mario uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on his knees. He leaned forward, pinning Bowser with his gaze.

"I hope-a you-a live to-a see another-a day, Bowser."

"I will, just to spite you."

A shiver ran down Bowser's spine. Old Koopa proverbs talked about that moment. If an adversary makes you shudder, take note, their eyes may behold you in death.

He shook it off and tried to think about Junior instead. That poor kid was going to go through hell again.

"Junior," he mumbled.

Peach said, "Somebody will let him know. Worry about you."

Bowser coughed a laugh. "He's my kid, I can't do that."

Mario gave a knowing nod and scratched the back of his head. "I got-a blood on my-a tuxedo."

"Good. Makes it look better."

"Stronzo," muttered Mario.

"Go plunge your asshole."

"You-a wish."

"Enough," Peach cut them both off.

Two Sledge Brothers and two Hammer Brothers dropped down the warp pipe.

Peach stood to leave. Bowser caught her hand. It was so tiny in his grasp. She had bones like little twigs compared to him. He gazed softly up at her as he stroked his thumb over her knuckles.

Hesitantly, she turned her hand around in his and squeezed the pad of his thumb. Concern replaced the chill in her eyes from earlier.

"Good luck."

"I love you," he whispered to her. "Peach, I—"

"Bowser, no." She sighed, her shoulders sagging. "I have to go."

He held onto her hand until she wiggled it free.

Then she was gone from his presence like a dream.

Mario's knees popped when he got up. "Maybe it's-a time-a to retire."

Of all the offensive…

"Bastard!" Bowser tried to incinerate him with his breath, but he couldn't breathe deep enough to reach it. Only a tiny fireball came out.

Mario ripped his glove off and stomped it to put out the fire. He smiled wryly under his mustache and followed Peach to the warp pipe.

"He sang to me," she said.

"What?"

"That guitar? He played it, and he sang."

"Oh. His-a latest trick to-a woo ya?"

Peach glanced over her shoulder at Bowser. Her eyes returned to Mario. They kissed and held hands under the pipe.

"You know how he is." She smiled, looking up. "The funny thing is, he was pretty good."

They leapt into the pipe, so Mario's response to that got lost in the warp.

Bowser closed his eyes and grinned. Peach liked his singing!

He gripped the neck of his guitar and pulled it towards himself. Mario didn't damage it much, just some bent pegs and scratched metal. Nothing he couldn't fix.

Maybe his giddiness came from the lack of oxygen. Maybe it was love. It didn't matter, he welcomed the odd euphoria without questioning it further.

He was still smiling when the airship medical staff surrounded him.

.o

A Fire Flower patch lit the grass where candy piled up on top of two cloth sacks. Junior and Cherry examined their collected treasure. They sat facing each other, hidden in a little nook adjacent to the huge green warp pipe leading outside-outside.

"There's always one candy that you get a lot of and it's different every time." Cherry said as she arranged her candy in piles.

Not sure what to do, Junior copied her, wrappers crackling under his claws. First, it was candy and snacks, since he had a few small bags of those Doritos chips and something else called Flaming Hot Cheetos.

"Will this one light on fire when I open it?" He pointed to it.

Cherry giggled. "What? No! They're really spicy, though, so it's like eating lava. I don't like them very much."

Junior took her bag and set it next to his.

"Hey!" She smacked his hand, "You can't just take! You have to trade!"

He stared at her. "Seriously?"

Cherry pointed to his pile. "You didn't like the Tootsie Rolls, so give me all of yours. I'll eat them."

"Um…fine." Junior dug through his colorful assortment until he found all the brown cylindrical pieces with twisted white bits of paper hanging off the ends.

Tootsie Rolls came in two sizes, apparently, so it took awhile to root them out.

Cherry accepted his handful. She started arranging candy and snacks and shifted to separating chocolate from non-chocolate.

Junior noticed the abundance of orange Reese's Peanut Butter Cups at the same time Cherry did. They grinned at each other because they both agreed those peanut butter infused chocolate cups tasted delicious.

Somewhere in the distance, voices called out.

"You hear that?" Cherry peered over her shoulder.

"Kind of?" Junior took one small peanut butter cup from his pile and put it in hers while she wasn't looking.

Flashlight beams cut pale white pillars through the humid night air.

"Princess!"

"Oh, it's Toad." Cherry brushed her candy sideways and threw her bag over Junior's candy pile to hide it. "Get down in the grass!"

He got on his belly in the long grass, which concealed him from sight since it was dark.

She jumped up and hurried in front of the pipe, waving her arms. "Here!"

"Guys!" Toad yelled, "She's here, she's safe!"

"I just got back. Can I go get my candy? I was sorting it."

"Be quick." Toad's red and white mushroom cap stood out in the moonlight. "Bowser made an attempt on the queen again."

"Did dad—"

"Yes. They're both fine. Now hurry, get your candy and let's get you home."

Grass rustled. Cherry reappeared around the pipe. "Sorry, Junior, I have to go. I guess your dad did something stupid again."

"He's not stupid," Junior grumbled.

"Didn't say he was."

Candy plopped and crackled into her cloth sack. She kept pulling up blades of grass along with her treats.

Her eyes met his in the dim Fire Flower glow. "Bye, Junior."

Then she was gone, her dark hair disappearing among the speckled Mushroom caps that rushed to surround her.

Junior didn't sit up until the flashlight beams disappeared. He tipped the candy off his bag and swept it all in with one swipe of his arm. The grass was gathering dew, so cold droplets sprang up onto his face.

One package didn't make it in. He examined it.

Why do they call it a Warhead?

Pulling the wrapper off, he popped the hard yellow sphere into his mouth and swore his face tried to invert itself from the sourness. It hurt so good, like deep cleaning his taste buds.

The sour wore off after awhile, leaving behind a pleasant sweetness that lasted until it finished dissolving. He licked at the inside of his mouth.

"Junior!" A voice called above him.

Junior looked up at the yellow and green Koopa sitting on a puffy white cloud. He grinned, waving. "Lakitu! Hi!"

Lakitu didn't return the greeting. "We have to get you home."

Junior hefted his candy sack over his shoulder. "I can walk to the warp zone."

"King Bowser had another heart attack."

Those words wiped the smile off Junior's face and dropped ice into his stomach. Memories of his dad gasping on the ground shot across his mind, each one still as crystal clear as the day they happened.

He swallowed over the lump in his throat. "Is he—"

"He's alive. He was still conscious and talking, last I heard, but that's all I know. The airship is bringing him back to the castle now." Lakitu swooped down. "Hop on, let's go!"

The cloud widened to make room when Junior got on. They didn't speak during the entire cold, windy rush. Frigid air became warmer, then comfortably hot once they passed into the glowing volcano where Bowser's stone castle stood.

Junior leaped off on the tallest tower and climbed into his dad's bedroom window while Lakitu ascended to watch the skies. He ignored the Hammer Brothers and Goombas patrolling the halls as he threw his candy bag into his room and scrambled across the upper levels towards the hangar bay.

It wasn't long before the replica of his dad's flaming stone face emerged through the gloom. The front glowed orange like the cigarette he tried to eat.

Dad is awake, if he's awake it's not that bad…

The massive airship passed over the castle as it descended and a metal ramp dropped off the lower left aft section with a loud ka-thwang. Two doors pulled apart, and familiar reddish-orange hair stood out between the shiny green and black armor of the Sledge Brothers and Hammer Brothers guiding the gurney.

The first Sledge Brother spoke into a walkie-talkie.

"…positive for ST elevations, and the angio showed a ninety-five percent blockage. Doctor Amy said we have another STEMI on our hands. Stent was placed thirty minutes ago to restore blood flow, but he's still complaining of chest pains. Repeat echo and angio were inconclusive."

"Copy that, we're ready," Neil's voice crackled through.

Junior recognized Jack and Black because they were the two Sledge Brothers whose arms and legs looked like they belonged on pro wrestlers. Jack wore round red-framed glasses with thick lenses and Black's medic helmet had extra writing on the side. They were followed by short, chubby Hammer Brothers named Miya and Moto. Miya had a jagged scar on his left arm, and Moto wore a thin gold choker necklace.

"Dad!" Junior called.

The gurney descended the ramp in a cacophony of squeaking wheels and footsteps. They took Bowser's shell off again and four Koopa Troopas trailed behind carrying it. He was on his back, holding a dome-shaped oxygen mask over his snout. Red blankets hid where the IV connected to the bag at the foot of the gurney.

Seeing his dad holding the mask by himself gave Junior a small comfort.

Bowser gestured at the crew to stop at the bottom of the ramp. Black didn't see it, so Jack tapped his arm and pointed to Junior.

Black nodded, extended the index and middle fingers of both hands and moved them up and down, signing, "Hurry."

Next to the red medic cross on the right side, his helmet had I am deaf, talk to me with this painted on it and a small tear-off pamphlet full of medical terms to facilitate communication.

Bowser whacked Black's arm and moved both his palms downwards to sign, "Calm down!"

Then he focused his attention on Junior. His breathing was ragged and fast.

"It's okay, Junior." The mask muffled his voice and impeded the movement of his jaw. "They caught it and put a stent in the artery. All this is a precaution."

"Dad," Junior grabbed the hand he offered and used a parapet to climb onto the gurney with him. "How bad does it hurt?"

Bowser pulled the oxygen mask off to talk properly. "Hard to say right now. They're giving me medicine to help."

"He can't be there," Miya began timidly.

"Pipe down!" Bowser snapped, "That's my kid, he goes wherever he wants! Got it? Now keep walking."

Jack signed what he said for Black.

The gurney went into motion again. Junior curled up against Bowser's side, careful not to touch the white ECG leads on his chest.

"What's on your face?" Bowser wrapped an arm around him.

Junior pulled off the red cloth Cherry made him wear. "It was for our trip to outside-outside. Cherry said I was a ninja turtle named Raphael! We went in disguise, so nobody knew we were royalty, and we got lots of candy by showing our disguised selves to people!"

Bowser grinned, his eyes shining. "Did you cause trouble?"

"We snuck into a movie and beat up some jerks who tried to steal our candy bags."

"Atta boy!"

The gurney shifted, reminding Junior of where they were and why they were there.

"I'm scared," He whispered.

They rattled into the elevator that went all the way to the underground levels. Smoky skies became a metal ceiling with a single circular light overhead. The ride down felt like spinning.

Moto looked at something hidden under the foot of the gurney. He signed for Black while he spoke to Bowser. "Your majesty…your SATs are dropping. Please wear the oxygen."

Bowser grudgingly fit the mask over his snout again, his nostrils fogging the clear plastic. Something about the expression on his face seemed off.

He shifted on the gurney and rubbed at the center of his chest. Sweat beaded on his forehead. The next time he looked up, his eyes were more glassy than before.

"I'm having palpitations. They're making me woozy."

"You're throwing PVCs," said Miya.

"He shouldn't be!" Jack snapped. He stomped on the elevator floor. "Hurry up, you damn machine!"

Tension filled the air like fog.

Black's expression darkened. He used signs and abbreviated finger spelling Junior didn't understand and adjusted something on the oxygen concentrator by Bowser's head.

Moto shook his head and signed back to him. Junior knew most everyday signs for conversations and such, but medical language wasn't part of his vernacular.

Whatever it was, they weren't happy.

The elevator reached the bottom floor. Black yanked on the gurney as soon as the doors opened.

"Junior?" Bowser's eyes stared through him.

"Dad?"

"I think…you're going to see something really scary in a minute…" He tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace, "…sorry."

Junior shook his head, digging his claws against his dad's scaly side. "Stop it! No!"

The huge hand on his head stroked his topknot.

"Be a tough kid, okay?" A muscle in Bowser's neck twitched, which moved his spiked collar. He gasped twice and bore his teeth, his voice escaping as a rasp. "Love ya, brat."

His face twisted. He grabbed his chest and sat halfway up with a strangled roar.

"Dad!" Junior grabbed his hand, "What's the matter? Dad!"

Bowser fell back onto the gurney and looked straight at him with tears on his face. The plea in his eyes was as intense as a scream. He gripped Junior's shoulders with shaking hands and pulled him to his chest. A horrible gurgling rose in his throat, as if he choked on his spit while trying to roar again.

Junior felt Bowser's heart throb faster and fainter. The monitor under the gurney beeped a two-tone alarm.

Moto shouted, "Damn it! He's in v-tach!"

Jack yelled back, "We're almost there!"

Junior wailed because alarms meant something very bad. Without thinking he interlocked his fingers, pressed his palm against the middle of Bowser's chest and threw all his weight into his arms like Boom-Boom taught him, but he was still too small to move the huge bones and muscles under his tiny hands.

"I'll be a tough kid! I'll be a tough kid! Dad! I'll be a tough kid! Don't die!" He screeched through tears. "Dad! Don't die!"

The gurney sailed around the corner and into a cold brightly-lit room. Bowser's head shifted limply sideways, his eyes slowly rolling back.

"Dad! Wake up!" Junior shrieked again, but there was no response.

Black pulled Junior off the gurney as Jack climbed on. He wasn't nearly as tall as Bowser, but his sculpted muscles made him almost as thick.

Junior kicked and screamed in a way that would've floored somebody who could hear. He stuck his middle finger up and angrily tapped the thumb of that hand on his chin.

Black pushed his signing hand down with his beefy one, clicked his tongue and shook his head. He furrowed his brow, pretended to scoop something into his head, pointed at Junior and wiggled his pointer finger side to side.

"Where did you learn that?"

"Ludwig." Junior used Ludwig's sign name, which was a finger spelled L followed by swishing his hands side to side as if playing piano.

Black's eyes lit up at the mention of Ludwig the same way Bowser's did whenever he saw Peach.

He moved his hands quickly, shaping his thoughts. "Those are adult words."

"Fuck!" Jack swore.

Junior raised a brow. He pointed at Jack and finger spelled his name, "Jack just said a bad word!"

Black rolled his eyes, hands flicking. "Jack swears a lot. Ignore it." He used Jack's sign name, which was a gesture like pushing glasses up on his nose— something Jack did often.

Another alarm sounded, ripping Junior back to reality.

"V-fib. Son of a bitch!" Jack snarled as he positioned his hands and began compressions. "We had him stable! What happened?"

Lights flashed on the monitor under Bowser's feet. Junior's stomach dropped.

"Black!" Neil took out his penlight and waved it around.

The light moving on the wall got Black to turn and look. He patted Junior's head and rejoined the fray.

"Did he throw a clot?" Miya asked.

"Don't know! Black, suggestions?"

Moto interpreted for Black, who signed back in three quick flicks of his hands.

"Did the stent move?" Moto voiced what was signed.

"It shouldn't have," Jack grunted with effort.

Elton hung up another IV bag and almost crashed into Moto stepping past the foot of the bed.

Packages rasped open. Voices chattered over each other.

Junior scrambled to a far corner. He watched Elton insert what looked like a small hand-held scythe into his dad's mouth and push in the huge, clear breathing tube he remembered from last time. After that, he hooked a blimp-looking thing to the tube and squeezed it, which caused Bowser's chest to rise and fall.

Black took over the chest compressions from Jack, but Junior didn't see the trade off.

Horrific memories rushed back in nightmare flashes. Junior backed against the corner because everybody forgot he was there.

Chemical smells stung his nose. Feet scrambled and alarms blared.

The monitor above the gurney popped on, showing ragged sawtooth patterns instead of a proper heartbeat. Those lines jumped all over the place from Black's chest compressions.

Miya and Moto spoke a lot of medical jargon to Neil while Celine and Josh brought the crash cart in.

Celine whipped the spiked collar off Bowser's neck. It was the Koopa equivalent to a royal crown, so she respectfully set it aside on a tray rather than throw it on the floor with the blankets. She took over squeezing the weird blimp thing, freeing Elton to rummage in the crash cart.

Josh placed a gray square pad near Bowser's right shoulder and stuck the other on his left side below his armpit.

People kept talking. Miya signed everything they said for Black, though he wasn't wasn't as fast at it as Jack.

Bowser's arms kept flipping up and falling back down, but the chest compressions continued. It looked horrible and painful, could he feel that?

Jack held his fingers up in Black's line of sight. He counted down from three to one and took over compressions again without missing a beat.

"Charging," Josh said. There was a rising high pitched whine. "Clear!"

Everybody jumped off the gurney. Bowser's chest and shoulders jerked. The lines on the monitor screen baltered wildly. Jack resumed chest compressions.

Seeing a defibrillator in action didn't bring Junior any comfort. In fact, he wanted to unsee it.

Josh felt Bowser's neck for a pulse and beckoned Neil over.

"Hold compressions!" Neil called. He listened to Bowser's chest with a stethoscope while watching the monitor.

The artifacts caused by chest compressions gave way to spikes with extra sloping lines in between.

"We got him!" Neil gave Black a thumbs up. "Okay, stabilize him and let's get an angio. Oh."

He stopped upon noticing Junior bunched up in the corner.

"Hey." Neil pulled his gloves off and walked over while the others headed through the silver double doors behind him.

Shaking, Junior hugged himself with his fists balled up under his armpits. "You got his heart beating. I saw everything."

"That was scary, wasn't it?" Neil's eyes softened.

Junior nodded, averting his gaze. He wanted to be a tough kid, so he swallowed. "Did it hurt?"

"He's unconscious. No."

"L-Last time…you said it took a long time to make his heart beat." He sniffled, wiping his face with the heels of his hands. "It started right away this time, so that's good, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's good. Now we worry about fixing what made it stop."

"Doctor Neil, we're ready to take him back for the angio." Moto stuck his head into the room.

"Hold on!" Junior pushed past Neil and tried to vault onto the gurney. Black ended up helping him.

Bowser's eyes moved beneath their closed lids. It didn't look purposeful. The weird blimp thingy hissed as Jack squeezed it to force air into his lungs.

"I'll be a tough kid," whispered Junior. He leaned over, kissed Bowser's cheek and used the pointed tip of his huge bandanna around his neck to dab the sweat off his forehead. "Be tough, too, dad."

Black eased him down and the gurney squeaked off through the huge doors.

Neil waited with a stuffed plush of Bowser. It was half Junior's size with fuzzy orange hair and giant eyebrows.

"I won this at the Fire Carnival yesterday. Here. I think you need it more than I do."

Junior latched onto the enormous plush, using it to wipe the tears and snot off his face. He sniffed, lower jaw quivering. "Take care of my dad."

"I will, little majesty." Neil's eyes gleamed with confidence. If he was so positive, that meant everything would be okay! It had to!

Junior sat on the floor with the plush in his lap and dozed lightly without falling fully asleep. He didn't know how long he stayed that way before the doors swung open and somehow smacked shut.

Footsteps approached. A hand lightly patted his head. He blinked awake and looked up.

Black waved and signed something. Junior recognized his dad's sign name, a finger spelled K and B for King Bowser, but the sign after was new.

"I don't understand." Junior wiggled his index finger by his head as he shook it to indicate no.

Black drew his thumb in a line down his chest and finger spelled. "Surgery."

"Oh!" Junior nodded vigorously, raising his eyebrows as he signed, "Dad needs surgery?"

Black wiggled his fist up and down, his expression grave. "Yes. Bypass. He is going into the OR now. Doctor Neil sent me out to update you."

"Thank you." Junior gestured by moving his hand forward away from his mouth. He lifted his eyebrows, signing, "Is dad going to die?"

"No." Black made a pinching motion. "But it is delicate surgery that will take hours because he has Crash. You should rest."

Junior put the plushie down and waved his arms. "Hey! What is—" He raised his eyebrows and tried to finger spell it, "V-t-a-c-k?"

Black held up one finger and corrected his spelling, "V-tach."

Then he went on to sign, "VT is the bottom chambers of your heart beating too fast to fill up with blood and pump it out."

"So it's not the same as v-fib?" Junior raised his eyebrows as he finger spelled the V and passed his bent hand across his mouth. That was the sign for lie, but lies were called fibs.

Black facepalmed and laughed, a wheeze like someone shaking a whistling teakettle. Nobody Junior knew laughed like Black, it seemed to take over his whole face and body. The sound of it alone would've cracked him up in different circumstances.

He quieted himself and finger spelled it properly, "V-fib—" and he showed his abbreviation by finger spelling VF— "is a different rhythm. VT turns into it sometimes if something is wrong with somebody's heart."

"How do you fix it?" Junior signed.

"It depends on why it happens, but sometimes—" Black mimed the use of a defibrillator by positioning his hands like the pads and twitching as if getting the shock.

He lifted his eyebrows and tapped his thick finger on the nose of the Bowser plush. Junior passed it to him so he could get a better look at it.

Turning the plush around, Black somehow held it between his forearms and signed as if he was the plush talking. "Doctor Neil is taking good care of me and I will be okay soon!" He waved its arm up and down and gave it back, his expression soft.

Junior wiped his eyes and hugged it tight.

"Wait here." Black pointed to the floor. He straightened, headed into the staff only lounge near Neil's office and came back with a Meaty bar and a water bottle.

After handing them to Junior, he gestured, "Don't go to sleep hungry."

Junior nodded, accepting the offerings. Meaty bars were ground meat baked in various ingredients, sealed, treated to be shelf-stable without refrigeration and sent off to be on the go meal replacements. They packed a lot of nutrition into a small space. He peeled away the gold foil wrapping and took a bite while Black watched. Red meat, cooked with onions and garlic. This one had bits of tomato and lettuce in it. Very tasty!

"It's good!" Junior signed, gobbling another mouthful.

Black smiled, patted his head and gestured, "Try to sleep after you eat. The surgery should be done by morning."

"Where are you sleeping?"

"There's crew quarters in the staff area where people can sleep. Don't worry about me. King Bowser needs you to eat and sleep."

With that, he straightened and went back into the lounge. The microwave hummed and packages crackled.

Jack leaned on the counter with his glasses off and rubbed the inner corners of his eyes. He and Black were identical twins. Junior could not tell them apart until they smiled. Black's smile creased his cheeks and exposed the whole length of his jagged teeth, while Jack's was thinner and more reserved.

They signed to each other, with Black leaning in and signing close to Jack's face since he couldn't see more than a foot away without his glasses.

Junior finished his food and trudged towards the elevator with the Bowser plush and water bottle tucked under his arms. A Goomba cleanup crew bustled out with cleaning supplies in tow. He let them pass before getting in.

.o

Sleep eluded him. Between worrying about his dad and not wanting to pee the bed, he found himself rocketing awake every time he almost dropped off. Having the plush to hug helped a little.

The last time this happened, he had his siblings around. Now they were all moved out into their own places, and the castle was as silent as ancient catacombs.

Junior gave up on sleep at dawn and picked through his Halloween candy again.

Aside from the abundant Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, he also had a handful of Warheads, several fruit flavored Tootsie Pops, pink and blue Nerds boxes, tiny chocolate bars like Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Butterfingers, Snickers and Hershey's, two full-sized bags of M&Ms, one small bag of Skittles, some Welch's fruit gummies, a pack of trail mix and some pumpkin-themed stickers.

None of it looked appealing, so he ventured downstairs.

Vivi, the cook, gave him dejected looks through her long eyelashes. "What can I make for you, young sire?"

Junior sniffed. "Waffles and bacon. But it better be dad's bacon with the pepper and lots of ash and syrup on the waffles!"

She half-smiled. "Coming right up."

Breakfast tasted good. His appetite turned over at the smell, so he devoured everything on his plate. He left the table for the maids to clean up and took the elevator down to the medical ward.

"Neil, you better have results!" Junior announced himself the way he heard his dad do it.

"Loud friggin' kid," muttered Boom-Boom from one of the rooms.

"Please be still," Stevie said to him.

"Ow!"

"That's why you have to stay still. You're a whole lotta trouble."

"Bah! I'm not moving! Ow!"

Junior kept walking.

The yelling won the desired result— Neil emerged around the corner wearing surgical scrubs and yawning as if he barely awoke.

"King Bowser had quite the night, but he made it through." He beckoned to his office. "Let's talk."

Junior followed him, jumping onto the seat next to the wooden desk. Diplomas lined the walls. Only really smart people had those!

"I'm going to talk to you like I talk to adults and explain what happened."

Neil brought his computer online and twisted the monitor around to show Junior a ghostly angiogram.

"Here is your dad's heart. Doctor Amy took this angio last night." He used his pen to point at a spot on the right where the thick dark line thinned to a sliver. "He had this heart attack in the posterior descending coronary artery. It wraps around the right ventricle of his heart. He has a long one, doesn't he?"

Junior leaned closer, studying the blood vessels that looked so narrow for such a huge organ. "How big is my dad's heart?"

"As big as your shell."

Blinking, Junior popped it off his back, held it up and turned it over in his hands.

"Wow." He fit it into place again with a fresh understanding of how huge his dad really was. "So his artery clogged up?"

"Yes, but the reason why is a little different than before."

"How?"

"This. Here is the angio I took after we got his pulse back." Neil showed another angiogram, where the whole far end of the artery disappeared. There was a swirly dark shadow in front of the blank area.

He slid a scratch pad over and used a clicky pen to draw four parallel lines down the length of the page.

"As you know, your arteries are muscular tubes made up of layers. Your dad's was very narrow with plaques. We all develop some as we get older, and some get more of it than others, but it causes him extra trouble because of the Crash defect."

Neil demonstrated the plaques by drawing squiggles along the sides of the artery.

"Now, arteries have an inner lining that's kind of like skin. It's called the intima." He added another line over the squiggles and colored it in with the black ink.

"When we do an angioplasty, we use a balloon to pump the artery open, which flattens out the plaques, and we leave behind a stent to hold it open. A stent is a little mesh cylinder like this."

He showed Junior one of the long balloons, which was attached to a black tube. Then he showed him a stent, which looked like a spring that crisscrossed instead of spiraled.

"Your dad's artery wasn't completely blocked while on the airship. They did the balloon part and placed a stent to open the narrowed artery, and it worked for a while! But this intima here? The stent moved a little bit and tore the intima without anybody realizing it, and it got worse when they were bringing him from the ship to the castle."

"How come? I thought stents fixed arteries so you don't have to do more surgery." Junior crossed his arms, trying his best to not look as scared as he felt.

"In normal circumstances, they do, but your dad's circumstances aren't normal." Neil never missed a beat. "Blood pumps harder through arteries than it does in veins, so the intimal tear kept ripping loose— that's called a dissection— until it formed a flap that blocked off the artery completely."

He moved the pen in small jerks, drawing a curving line across the bottom of the stent. "And a blood clot formed right behind it because blood likes to coagulate when it isn't moving. Clotting is good when you hurt yourself on the outside, because it helps stop bleeding, but it's bad when it happens inside blood vessels where they can block it or circulate around your body and get stuck somewhere else."

Junior took a deep breath as he absorbed this information. It all sounded scary. He swung his legs and tapped his tail against the backing of the chair. "Isn't a stroke what happens when a clot gets in somebody's brain?"

"That's right! You're a smart kid." Neil shot him a look of pride.

Such attention from an adult might've puffed up Junior's self-importance in any other circumstance. But here? After hearing all this info about his dad? It brought little relief.

"He felt that, didn't he?" Junior laid a hand on his own chest. "When it tore, he felt it. That's why he roared so loud."

"Dissections can be painful." Neil nodded, agreeing. "But we took care of it right away. I performed another bypass operation because his right ventricle was being deprived of blood flow by the flap, and I gave him clot-busting medicine to break up any blood clots that try to form. It was a big tear for such a small artery, so I'm not sure if the flap will heal in a way that lets blood keep flowing through."

Sighing, Junior rubbed the side of his head. He wasn't whirling helplessly through a dozen unknowns this time around, but he still dreaded seeing his dad hooked up to all the machines again.

"Doctor Neil, is dad doing a coma again?"

"No, but we gave him medicine that makes him sleepy so he doesn't get upset or scared."

Junior nodded, letting his tail flop off the back of the chair. "Does he have the ventilator tube still?"

"For now, yes, but he won't need it when we wake him all the way up. It's helping him breathe instead of doing all of the breathing for him. We should be able to extubate him later."

Neil put his scratchpad away and steepled his fingers. "Do you want to go see him?"

"Yeah."

"Come along, it's the same room as before."

Except, this time, the curtain was pulled around and the lights weren't on as brightly. Bowser's enormous spiked shell sat on the floor in the corner, not propped on the wall beside the bed. His armbands and collar had been neatly piled up on a small purple cushion beside it.

Judy sat at a computer station adjacent to the door with her signature yellow ribbon tied around her head as a headband. She waved hello without taking her eyes off her screen. Junior chose not to bother her and focused on his dad instead.

They had Bowser reclining on his back with his neck propped up by a brown U-shaped pillow. His face was swollen and his hair in disarray. Orangish-yellow goop stained his plastron under the clear dressing taped across his chest. There were forty-five staples this time, like silver train tracks overlapping his old surgical scar.

The ventilator had translucent gray tubing, and it hiss-whooshed its promises to keep someone alive. Bowser made it hiss by breathing a little, it wasn't doing all of it for him.

All the machines Junior remembered were there again. They weren't so alien or menacing because he knew what they did.

Neil patted his shoulder. "I'll let you visit. Try not to excite him too much."

"I won't."

Junior climbed onto the stool— purple this time— and placed his tiny hand in Bowser's huge one.

"Dad?" He whispered. "Can you hear me?"

Bowser's fingers closed around his hand. Moving and alive, not still and unresponsive. He cracked his watery, bloodshot eyes open just long enough to show he was conscious before closing them again.

"I'm being a tough kid," Junior said. Hope created a lump in his throat. He swallowed over it, sniffling.

The corner of Bowser's mouth moved up for a few seconds.

"Does anything hurt?" Asked Junior.

Bowser gave his head the faintest shake no. He released his hand and patted the bed next to him.

Junior climbed onto the mattress and hugged his dad's head. "I love you, dad. I didn't get to say it back because your heart stopped."

Bowser's nostrils flared at that. Faint wisps of smoke spiraled through the ventilator tube and caused the machine to emit extra clicks and whirs. Normally, that would've come from his nose.

His eyebrows furrowed and his hands moved lazily, gesturing. No, signing. He looked hilarious doing it with his eyes shut.

"How do I look?"

Junior fought off a giggle and said aloud, "Kind of messy." He smoothed his rumpled hair and eyebrows as best he could with his fingers. "There."

Bowser wrapped his arm around him like he did outside. The movement caused artifacts on the heart monitor. Lights above the screen lit up as if it threatened to set off an alarm.

"You can sleep if you want to," Junior sank into the comfort and strength of that arm. "I'll be quiet."

Bowser was way ahead of him.

.o

Shadows moved across the pale curtain. Its track formed a silver U shape overhead. Chilly air brushed his face and ruffled his hair. Where was he?

Bowser gripped the raised metal bars running along the sides of his bed. Something emerged from under his shell in the corner. Footsteps approached.

"Bowser," said a familiar voice. Familiar, yet not quite right, because the words weren't being pronounced the way he usually pronounced them.

Mario leaned over his bed, blue eyes devoid of life. Without another word he stuffed a plunger into Bowser's mouth, choking off his airway.

Bowser gagged and gripped it, trying to yank it off. The plunger would not move out of his throat. His chest burned. He couldn't breathe!

Tri-tone alarms beeped and a light on his heart monitor flashed red.

"Dad? Dad!" Junior scooted under the curtain. "Dad, let go! Don't pull that!"

Bowser shook his head. His eyes were huge, how could Junior not see Mario trying to—

But Mario wasn't there.

More hands joined Junior's. Bowser turned, focusing on Neil's dark eyes. Neil's expression remained calm.

"Junior," He peered across the bed, "Talk to him. Be calm. Tell him who you are."

"My dad knows me!"

"Right now? He may not know who anybody is."

Junior grasped the bars on the bed. Fear widened his eyes. "Dad, it's Junior. It's okay. You're okay!"

No, he wasn't. Nobody was okay! Mario was in the room again, behind him!

Bowser snatched Junior into his arms, holding him tightly against him. Protecting his son became his only priority, higher than worrying about why moving made him dizzy with pain.

Air rushed into his lungs, not entirely by his doing. Nevertheless, it was enough. Heat spread through his chest. He unleashed his fire breath. Flames transformed the plunger into an orange fireball.

Burning agony filled his chest, seared his throat and scorched his tongue. Black smoke curled off the corners of his mouth. He tasted hot plastic.

Alarms blared. Junior shrieked something unintelligible. Footsteps thundered into the room. Faces surrounded him.

He tried to roar, to fight, to protect his kid, but the sudden sharp pain in his chest knocked him back into bed.

Hands appeared everywhere, holding him down. Voices told him to calm himself. They were people he thought he should know, yet could not recognize.

Why did everybody ignore Mario lurking behind them?

Alarms continued to scream as someone injected something into his IV. Somebody took Junior away from him, and the hands holding him back from trying to grab him tightened their grasp.

He sat up anyway, only to be presented with a familiar paracosmic staircase flashing before his eyes like a ghost. Mario hopped up and down the crystalline steps, mocking him.

Smoke blasted from his throat as he ripped the tape off his snout and tried to burn Mario into ash.

Something next to him exploded. Fire lit part of the room. Pain ripped through his throat when hands pulled the plunger out of his throat, and his flames followed behind it.

Smoke filled the room. People coughed. A fire extinguisher hissed.

Bowser ignored everything. Nothing made sense anymore. He was still spewing fire when everything shrank away into distant murmurs.

.o

Junior didn't fight against the hands that dragged him away from the intensive care room. He was led down the hall and told to wait in one of the exam rooms while his dad's roars woke up everyone sleeping.

Those weren't Bowser's usual rage-roars. Maybe it was because he just had the tube taken out of his throat, but something about them sounded off. Like he was terrified out of his mind and calling for help.

The roaring stopped. Deep silence fell. Junior's ears rang.

Alone in the room, he glanced around.

Cold white lights shone through grates in the ceiling, but they were too soft to create harsh shadows. It gave the space an eerie, alien feel. Various medical instruments for checking blood pressure, looking into eyes and ear holes and a locked red plastic box for discarding needles sat on the counter by the metal sink. The wall adjacent to the door had a labeled diagram of a Koopa heart. Valves, atria, ventricles, aorta, pulmonary veins, coronary arteries and everything.

He paced for a few minutes, clutching the plush Neil gave him against his chest. The room gave off a stinging scent, it must have been recently cleaned. A primal part of him hated the scent, it reminded him of bad things happening.

He finally perched on the papery exam table with a frustrated huff.

Moments later, the door opened and Celine walked in. Nothing about her demeanor indicated bad news. That meant she had something good to say, right?

"I'm sorry you saw that. It's delirium," She explained without preamble. "He grabbed you because he was in an altered state and thought you were in danger."

"Delirium? Altered state?" Junior asked, "What's that mean?"

Celine clasped her hands together and looked upward, thinking it through. "It's, hm…it's kind of like he was awake and having a dream at the same time, and the dream was more real to him than what was actually real."

She shifted her weight. "Sometimes delirium causes hallucinations, so he might see, hear, feel, smell or taste things that aren't there. There are delusions, which means believing things that aren't true."

Junior clutched the plush, as if holding it tight enough prevented his dad from waking up scared again.

He would never forget seeing Bowser wreck a ventilator by shooting flames up the tube. It was the coolest and most terrifying thing he watched his dad do. The tube melted and the machine caught fire!

Neil had to extubate Bowser immediately and stuff a mask over his snout. The mask emitted some kind of steamy gas that prevented him from breathing more fire. Miraculously, he only had superficial burns in his mouth and throat.

Junior kicked his feet, rattling the long paper strip running off the table. "Dad didn't get delirium last time, so why now? Was it me?"

"No, it wasn't you. He was unconscious for a long time after his first heart attack. All the drugs from surgery had time to wear off and clear out." Celine adjusted her green scrubs. "He's going to be okay, little liege."

"What if he got brain damage nobody noticed?" He held the plush tighter.

"If he did, we can take care of him. But I don't think he did."

She sounded so sure. Her eyes didn't get the weird, sad look in them people got when they tried to say everything was fine when it wasn't.

Junior looked away at the silver trash can in the corner. This time was just as scary as last time, but for different reasons. How did adults deal with this stuff?

He studied the heart diagram above Celine's head, his eyes following the coronary arteries up to the aortic arch. Dawning realization shot across his mind like lightning.

"Celine, is this going to happen to me someday?"

"What?" Celine looked up from checking her phone.

"I have Crash too, like dad."

She inhaled through her nose. "You're still young, so we won't know until we see your coronary arteries stop growing. They're still growing right now. We think your dad's stopped growing with him right before he started adolescence."

Junior slipped a hand behind the plush he held to rest a hand over his heart. "I want to go be with dad now. Can I?"

"Sure." Celine sidestepped the door and swung it open. "I'll just—"

"Put me DOWN!" Cherry's voice rang through the hall. "Hey!"

"Oh, no!" Junior dropped the plush on the table. He burst past Celine in time to find Black in the hallway, carrying Cherry under one beefy arm and some kind of basket in the other.

Since he was off duty, he wasn't wearing his helmet, so his hair stuck up off his head in thick, wavy spikes as black as his eyes.

"You goon! Jerk! Fart head! Put me down!" She shrieked.

Junior ran at Black, pointing to the ground and pinching his thumb, index and middle fingers together. "No, no, no!"

Black tilted his head quizzically. He hooked the basket over his forearm and signed, "Intruder."

"No!" Junior signed back frantically, linking his index fingers together. "Friend!"

He waved his hands, clarifying by touching a finger spelled P to his left shoulder, right shoulder and hip, followed by finger spelling her name. "That's Princess Cherry Toadstool!"

Black blinked, looked down at Cherry and set her gently on her feet. Cherry grumbled indignantly while the Sledge Brother placed her basket next to her.

"Sorry." He rubbed a fist in circles on his chest, his face expressing genuine remorse.

The remorse shifted to mischief. He grinned, gestured at Cherry and signed, "This is the first time I accidentally kidnapped a princess!"

"Where was she?" Junior furrowed his brow.

Black gave off a wheezy laugh. His hands moved, shaping his answer. "In the upstairs hall, going the wrong way. She almost wandered into the throne room."

Cherry arched a brow, watching Junior sign.

"Thank you for finding her. She's my friend."

Black nodded, mischief twinkling in his eyes again. "Aren't you too young to be bringing girls home?"

Junior stuck his tongue out at him and signed in quick jerks, "She's a girl and she's my friend. You're a butthead!"

Black laughed again. He snapped his fingers in quick zig-zag patterns and turned on his heel towards the elevator he came through.

Celine pulled him aside and had him look at something on her clipboard. She wasn't fluent in Koopa Sign beyond basic things like yes or no, so they took turns typing on his phone to talk. He showed her the screen, she added something to the clipboard and gave a thumbs up.

Junior used that moment to lead Cherry into the exam room he just came out of and shut the door.

"Geez, that guy." Cherry grumbled.

"That's Black. He's deaf."

"I figured that out when I saw you using sign language." Her face turned a funny shade of red.

Junior scratched the back of his head. "My brother, Ludwig, is deaf, so I grew up seeing Koopa Sign all the time. Everybody in the castle knows some."

Cherry nodded and pointed at the exam table. "That stuffed animal…is that supposed to be your dad?"

"Uh-huh." He scooped up the plush. "Um, it was a present."

"It's funny-looking."

"Yeah, his hair is too long."

Cherry shook her head, looking down at the basket that had a bunch of cloth in it.

"My parents don't know I'm here. I had a hard time sneaking out. They have security really tight back home."

She moved something aside and pulled out a yellow envelope.

"Mom said she saw Bowser get really sick last night. She was going to mail this. I saw your address and stole it since I was sneaking over here anyway. What happened to him?"

Junior accepted the envelope. It had Peach's royal seal and was addressed to Bowser, so he didn't open it.

"He had a heart attack. His second one."

"Oh, wow, is he okay?" Cherry's hand flew up to cover her mouth.

"Yeah, but he's confused and in a lot of pain." Junior scuffed his foot on the smooth tiled floor. "Tell you what, lemme take that envelope to his room. I'll get you if he says it's okay to come see him."

"Sure." Cherry rearranged the bits of cloth in her basket.

Junior left the plush sitting on the exam table like a patient waiting for a doctor. He led her out and up to the door where Bowser was being kept. The snoring was so loud he knew what he would find before he got there.

He chuckled. "Oh, he's sleeping."

"Wow," Cherry giggled behind her hand. "My dad snores, but not that loud."

Junior tiptoed in, left the envelope resting against the bars of the bed where Bowser would find it when he woke and slipped back out without a sound.

"He sounds like he's launching himself into space," Celine muttered.

"Dad always snores like that." Junior passed her and shook his head when Cherry peeked in. "Let's go. He needs sleep."

"What are we going to do instead?" She followed him into the elevator.

He grinned, punching in the ground level. "Wanna play Koopa Kart? Roy gave me his game system before he moved out."

"Cool!"

"What's in the basket?"

She blushed, looking downward at it. "Um…"

"What?"

"I fixed us a picnic before I found out what happened."

"We can do it in the living room instead of outside. It'll make gaming more fun."

Cherry's expression brightened at that. "Nice plan."

The elevator dinged and the doors swung open to reveal the gloomy gray brick hall. People not familiar with the castle always got lost here.

He went straight ahead to the first doorway, turned right and shoved open a huge door at the foot of the staircase. The living room was adjacent to the kitchen and dining room.

"Here."

"Wow, your couch is huge!"

"Dad likes to nap there sometimes."

"That's your TV?" Cherry gaped at it. "It's as big as my bed!"

Junior grinned proudly. He passed the couch and dragged out two brown bean bag chairs tucked behind it. They were made with thick cloth inside a leather outer shell, very resistant to being punctured by Koopa shell spikes. "Here, you can set up the picnic stuff. I'll get the game going."

A few minutes of finagling cords later, the colorful game splash screen came up. He turned to see Cherry lay out bagged sandwiches, two sour green apples and little silver fruit juice bags on a pink blanket she spread out on the floor.

"I made my two favorites, so you can pick what you want. Baloney, or peanut butter and jelly?" She grinned, gesturing.

Junior picked baloney without hesitating. He ate the sandwich in one bite since it was smaller than his hand.

With his mouth full, he asked, "What color racer do you want?"

Cherry flopped into the beanbag next to him. "Red!"

.o

A peachy-wine scent stirred Bowser out of slumber. He snorted himself awake and glanced around the intensive care room.

Celine turned to check on him. "Sleep well, your Spikeyness?"

"Uh, I guess." Bowser coughed painfully as soon as he spoke. "Throat hurts."

"I'm not surprised. You had quite the early morning."

"Eh?"

"You awoke in a state of delirium and blew up a ventilator unit."

He smirked, "Awesome!"

"Not awesome!" Celine folded her arms and frowned at him. "With all due respect, your majesty, you nearly melted an endotracheal tube to your vocal cords."

"I didn't, so why are you mad?"

"Mad isn't the proper word. More…concerned." She crossed the room and straightened out the white blankets covering him from the chest down. "Prince Junior watched you being resuscitated last night, and this morning you thought we were attacking him."

"That wasn't a dream?" He blinked. "Because I could've sworn Mario was trying to choke me with a plunger."

At that, Celine's frown melted half a degree. "You hallucinated, sire."

Bowser stretched his legs and yawned noisily without covering his mouth. "Damn. How's Junior handling this? Is he okay?"

"He mentioned it's frightening to him in ways it wasn't the last time."

Now the guilt stabbed Bowser's guts. He rubbed his eyes, wincing when the movement caused deep aching across his chest. A familiar pain, albeit more intense than last time.

"I had surgery again?" A peek down at the dressing and drain attached to his chest confirmed it. "Shit…"

What started as a little aching became a sharp line right along his breastbone. He swore someone hammered nails into him! But it was more of a throbbing bone pain, not the sickening dull pressure caused by his heart muscle suffocating.

Celine's furious scowl cooled to mild annoyance. "Yes, another bypass. This heart attack hit the right side of your heart."

That explained a lot about why it felt different.

"How d— ack!"

A weird, slithery sensation in his chest ripped him back to alertness. Celine explained the details of what happened while she emptied the reddish-pink fluid from the drain.

"…and we used a small vein from your chest wall for the graft."

Bowser raised both eyebrows as he took in all the information.

"I felt kind of 'bleh' all day, but I didn't start having trouble breathing until after I had Peach onboard the airship. The worst of it hit when I scuffled with Mario."

He glowered up at the ceiling. Pain stopped him from angrily crossing his arms, so he settled for clenching his fists at his sides instead.

"Little bastard, hmph!"

"And you returned his compassion for you by letting him and the princess go."

"Hey, Peach was the one who used the intercom! Mario sat there like bird crap on a bench. I would've had his ass if I didn't, well, this!" He gestured at himself and his surroundings.

"I'm not judging you, my liege." Celine wrote something on the chart beside his bed. Her face never lost its seriousness.

"Tell the truth now. I mean it, don't act all tough guy on me." She met his eyes. "Are you feeling any discomfort or pain?"

"My chest is starting to hurt pretty bad." Bowser coughed chunkily and his face twisted when salty thick mucus came up his throat. He swallowed it and sipped from his water glass to get rid of the nasty taste.

"Hm, your drain site is a tiny bit swollen. I'll make a note for Josh to watch it. Now relax while I get your pain relief."

She changed her gloves— diligently washing her hands in between— and injected morphine into one of the IV lumens attached to the caudal vein in his tail.

"I just coughed up and swallowed something. I hope that's supposed to happen," Bowser grumbled.

"Yes. And since you're conscious this time, you should take a deep breath and cough periodically. It helps prevent pneumonia."

"Coughing hurts."

"I would worry if it didn't. You don't have to cough hard, just cough a little to help shake the mucus loose." Celine withdrew the needle and eyed him. "Give that a minute to work."

His pain shrank away to barely noticeable in the time it took her to throw the syringe in the sharps disposal box by the trash can. She washed her hands once more and took a seat at her computer station again.

Bowser reached for the bed controls and found the source of the pleasant smell. A small yellow envelope bearing Peach's purple royal seal, which was a mushroom with a crown above it.

His stomach fluttered and his pulse jumped ten beats on the heart monitor. He pushed his thumb claw under the seal to loosen it with the same care he used when wiping the egg goop off his children's faces after they hatched from their eggs.

The card inside depicted grass against clouds, as if the photographer laid the camera down on the ground to take the photo.

Get well soon was written on the front in Peach's distinct script handwriting.

A soft, goofy smile unfurled across his face. He brought the card to his nose and breathed in the perfume clinging to the cardboard. His fingers trembled when he flipped the card open.

She used a fountain pen with black ink to write on the cover and used her official formal gold ink for the inner note and her signature.

Dear Bowser,

I hope this finds you recovering from what ails you. Good luck and get well soon.

Sincerely,

Princess Peach Toadstool

Tears stung in his eyes as he brushed his thumb against her name. His pulse jumped twenty beats on the monitor. Enough that an alarm pinged a high B. Celine twisted sideways to look at him.

"You're getting tachy."

"Tacky isn't the worst thing to be."

"Tachycardia," she pointed to his heart monitor.

Bowser snickered, taking a deep breath. "Nah, I'm in love. It'll go on and on and—"

"Don't give me any 'my heart will go on' speeches, sire." Celine smiled halfway, humor flickering in her eyes. "I don't care how far in love you are right now. Cool it, your heart has been through enough."

"I think my love for Peach caused this heart attack. That makes me love her even more," he replied, only half-serious.

She wrinkled her nose. "Sure, tell yourself that. Now get calm before Josh gets here or he's going to think you're about to crash again."

Bowser laughed even though it hurt like hell. His mirth created jagged artifacts across the monitor tracing. "I'm trying!"

Every time he approached placidness, he remembered Peach's arms wrapping around his neck and her hand brushing his hair back off his face, and his heart raced all over again.

"Really, your Badness?" Celine looked over when the alarm squeaked another high B.

"Um…heh!" Bowser grinned sheepishly.

He thought about smashing Mario's face flat under his feet. That worked.

The alarm stopped lighting up. Celine nodded resolutely, signed out of her work session on the computer and picked up her knitted tote bag from under the desk.

"That's it, I'm off." She erased her name off the whiteboard by the left side of the bed and wrote Josh's name next to the pre-written your on-duty nurse is…

"Hey, how's your wife?"

"Pat is doing fine." Celine plucked the card out of his hands and put it on the table beside the bed. "Your heart rate jumps every time you look at this, so I'm taking it away until you behave."

"Party ruiner," Bowser muttered.

"Looking out for your health is my job. I take it seriously, your majesty."

"And you're damn good at it."

She smiled, curtseyed and headed out as Josh walked in carrying his usual red thermos of coffee.

Just that silly exchange left Bowser as exhausted as fighting a war. The soporific effects of the morphine added to it.

"Morning, your highness." Josh sipped from his thermos.

"I'm about to fall back to sleep," mumbled Bowser, eyelids drooping. "I hate this part. Everything makes me tired."

"Can't say I blame you." Josh perched on the stool, making it creak. "You went through a lot. Rest is the best thing for you."

Bowser resisted the urge to look at the card on his bedside table. He closed his eyes, shifting his tail around until it slipped into the groove in the mattress and took the uncomfortable pressure off his lower back.

Josh started humming with his pleasant baritone voice. The soothing sound eased Bowser towards slumber.

.o

"…so dad had to get staples in his head. Mom hugged me until I couldn't breathe before she put me to bed. I snuck out of bed and heard the guards talking about what happened, and then they increased security. Guards by all the windows and doors. Guards outside. Guards everywhere. It was still like that when I got up today." Cherry explained while poking the straw into her juice bag.

"Wow," Junior wadded up a napkin. "How did you sneak out?"

"I ran faster than them." She smiled wryly, picking up her gray game controller. "I'm going to get in trouble going home later."

His mouth hurt a little as he chewed on his sour apple, but he only half-noticed it because he got distracted watching Cherry's red-shelled Koopa sprite run a time trial.

"You're not scared of getting grounded?"

"Not really. I get stuck in my room and have to do my schoolwork. Does your dad ground you?"

He laughed, spraying bits of green apple skin onto his legs. "Once! When I broke the propeller on his Koopa Clown Car. I couldn't go outside to play for two days, it stunk!"

Cherry finished her race and set her controller down to slurp her drink. "How'd you break it?"

"Stole the Koopa Clown Car and crashed it into a mountain. I was busted for stealing, not the crash. Dad didn't ground me until after he made sure I was okay." Junior grinned.

The word 'crash' brought back a flash of Bowser's vitals crashing in the medical ward. Suddenly the conversation wasn't so funny anymore. His smile melted.

"Last night was bad," he whispered.

"Yeah, for both our parents."

"My dad almost died. His heart stopped. They had to do all kinds of stuff to make it start again."

"Wow. I—" Cherry finished her fruit drink and looked at the stone clock above the TV. "Oh, poop! I have to go home. I was gone too long. They'll send guards through the warp zones soon."

"You just got here!" Junior protested.

"I know. Sorry." She frantically piled up the sandwich bags, apple cores and her empty drink. "If you don't see me tomorrow, I'm grounded. I hope Bowser gets better soon."

"Why don't you tell them dad won't hurt you?"

"Sometimes adults are the biggest dummies, that's why."

"We'll grow up too someday, are we going to be dummies?"

She snickered. "Maybe we'll be bigger dummies than them."

Junior tried not to look as dejected as he felt by her leaving. He showed her the way out so she wouldn't wander around a bend and get lost in the castle grounds.

At the warp pipe under the drawbridge, Cherry threw half of the picnic trash onto the lava and it burned up on contact. Destroying evidence, how perfectly sneaky! She smiled, waved and disappeared into the pipe.

Junior hung his head and began the difficult climb up the sheer cliff. Without Cherry there to help distract him, he couldn't avoid recalling how Bowser looked into his eyes under the bright lights of the medical corridor.

What if Mario and Peach left him on the floor of his airship? Would he still be alive?

More garbage came down an external pipe to flare and disintegrate in the lava below. Junior dusted his hands off upon reaching the drawbridge and went straight inside to the elevator.

His forgotten Bowser plush sat waiting in the middle of the floor. He hugged the giant stuffed Koopa against his chest during the whole ride down.

No roaring or confused shouting greeted him. There weren't a bunch of nurses rushing around. Only one pair of booted feet were visible under the curtain around his dad's bed. They were black with red accents. Unmistakably Josh.

Junior set the plush on the chair by the door and made his way past the curtain. Josh hung up an IV bag full of clear blue fluid.

Bowser had a thick white blanket covering him up to his shoulders. His eyes were closed and a frown creased his forehead. He was curled up on his right side with his right hand buried under his cheek. Somebody put those weird oxygen prongs in his nose again. The tubes for that were draped over his horns and came back around under his chin, and the other end connected to a silver concentrator in the wall near where the ventilator used to be.

Burn marks left dark streaks up the wall, but beyond that there were no signs of the fire from earlier.

Junior spotted the drainage bulb next. Off-white pus sat in it with the other red goo.

"That looks bad," he whispered.

"Yeah." Josh set up the IV pump. "He has a mild infection in the drain site. Neil took the old one out and inserted a new one."

Junior climbed on the bedside stool long enough to touch Bowser's forehead. Cold with fever, like he expected. He got down and joined Josh at the foot of the bed.

"I thought you guys made everything clean so this won't happen."

"Sometimes it happens anyway, regardless of how careful we are." Josh finished adjusting the pump. "The good news is it's not an antibiotic-resistant bug, so we'll have him feeling better soon."

"That's good."

"Yes. Please wash your hands, Prince Junior."

Junior padded to the sink. He scrubbed using the soap and the brush.

"Do I hear my kid?" Bowser rumbled sleepily, keeping his eyes shut.

Junior brightened at his dad's bass voice. He clambered onto the bedside stool and rested his elbows on the mattress. "Hi, dad. Guess you feel kinda rotten right now, huh?"

"Mmhmm." His warm breath brushed Junior's face. "Moving around hurts."

"Fevers stink."

Bowser chuckled, wincing. "Yup."

Somewhere, a timer beeped. Josh crossed the room and poured something red into a tall mug with a wide anti-spill base. He screwed on the lid, which had a curved straw extending off the edge.

"Here we go, a nice, hot mug of blood-marrow bone broth. Prince Junior? Do you want to give this to him?"

Junior made grabby hand motions at Josh. The mug ended up being heavier than he expected, and he almost dropped it.

"Hey, dad? Here." He poked Bowser's snout.

Bowser caught the wayward straw in his mouth and slowly drank the brownish-red broth.

"Does it taste good?" Asked Junior.

Bowser nodded without missing a slurp. After a minute, he spat out the straw and licked his chops. "You can finish that."

There were three mouthfuls left. Junior drank the coppery thick concoction and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. He set the mug on the bedside table.

It knocked over a card, so he read it. He made a face and put it back. Just a get-well note from Peach, nothing fancy.

The oxygen tubing emitted faint hiss-hiss noises. It reminded Junior of the hydraulic trebuchet Iggy tried to build. That hair-brained idea was a spectacular failure, it kept slamming Birdo eggs into the ground so hard they exploded and left eggshell shrapnel embedded in rocks.

"I keep falling off the stairs," Bowser mumbled.

"Stairs?" Junior stirred out of his thoughts. "Where?"

"The stairs…" Bowser opened his eyes and they weren't focused. He stared through anything his gaze landed on.

"Where did you go that had stairs?"

Pausing, Bowser rubbed his eyes with the hand he rested his cheek on. "Beyond."

"Dad, there aren't any stairs here." Junior leaned on the mattress. "You're in the intensive care ward."

"I know that. They weren't here." Bowser tucked his hand under his cheek and closed his eyes again, his whole body shifting on the mattress.

"Stairs, right, um…what did they look like?"

"Bright. So bright." He grimaced, deepening his frown. "Ow."

"Okay, okay, dad? It's okay." Junior looked across the bed at Josh, who stood up from his computer station to approach the bedside.

"My king," Josh said gently, "Are you in pain?"

"Kind of." Bowser coughed and opened his eyes. "What day is it?"

"Sunday."

He smirked, eyelids drooping. "I could use a Cheep-Cheep kabob right about now."

Josh chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, you can't have that yet. Is it okay if I check your incision and drain?"

"I know, still friggin' want one. A giant one."

"Bigger than us?" Josh smiled.

"Yep. This sucks." Bowser snuffled indignantly, moving the blanket aside to expose his chest.

The edges of the drain site were angry red and puffy. Similar redness ran along his incision like somebody smeared meat juice through it.

Josh nodded, gesturing for him to cover up again. "Is it painful to breathe?"

"Only deep breaths. It hurts worse when the painkillers wear off." Bowser covered himself again. "I don't remember it hurting this bad last time."

"You were in a coma at this point, and you never had a fever." Josh pointed out. "Is the pain when you breathe new?"

"Yeah, and it's worse in all the spots Neil cut me. I can handle it right now. It's irritating, that's all."

Junior rested his head on his arms, which were folded on the mattress. "How can it hurt if they put you to sleep for surgery?"

"The same reason a scraped knee or broken bone still hurts after you take care of it. Surgery is a controlled injury." Josh leaned over and lightly poked his side. "Your body only knows it's been cut into."

"But my brain should know it was for a good thing. Doesn't the brain control everything?"

Bowser coughed a laugh, and flinched. "You poor kid. I wish it was that easy."

"Don't we all?" Josh laughed too and crossed the room to his computer station.

Junior had to do something about Bowser's fever, because fevers made everything hurt.

He wet a small hand towel under the scalding hot sink where everybody washed up and climbed onto the stool again.

"Gah!" Bowser bared his teeth when Junior slapped the hot, wet rag on the nape of his neck without warning.

"Is that helping you get better faster?" Junior asked.

"Um…Junior?" Bowser grunted.

Junior spread the towel over the speckled hump of his shell-less back. "How about that?"

"You're trying, kiddo. Appreciate the effort, but…ugh," Bowser groaned, closing his eyes. "I think I just need more sleep."

Junior took the towel off his back, folded it up and rubbed it on his forehead.

"Knock it off!" Bowser snapped.

Startled, Junior yanked the towel back. "I'm just trying to help!"

"You can't make me better faster."

"Okay, okay, um, sorry!" Junior looked up at the monitor, watching the heart rate spikes increase in frequency as the BPM numbers jumped higher. "I'll stop. Don't set off your alarm."

Hurt, he put the wet cloth on the bedside table and moved to climb off the bed.

Bowser caught his wrist, halting him.

"I hate putting you through this again." He blinked slowly, eyelids drooping. A slow smile twitched the corners of his mouth. "I'll get better, like I did last time, don't worry. It's going to take time."

"You're tough, dad, I'm not gonna worry." Junior held onto his hand. That wasn't entirely true. He told himself not to fret, but it always crept up on him when he was alone and had nothing to distract him.

Bowser closed his eyes with a growling sigh and his grip relaxed. His nostrils flared as he fell asleep.

"I promise to keep being a tough kid," Junior whispered to his sleeping face.

He held onto Bowser's hand while watching the heart monitor. The spikes looked a little smaller than he remembered.

Josh got up from his station to use the bathroom across from the desk. When he moved, Junior saw the red cylindrical tube half-hidden by the stool.

Koopa Stix! Not just any kind, the foot long ones! That was like finding buried treasure!

Junior tip-toed over, swiped the tube and bolted before Josh opened the door. He ran from the elevator to his room and stashed his new find between his desk and bookshelf.

.o

Pain and the cool touch of a stethoscope roused him out of deep slumber. Yellow greeted his sleepy gaze. Peach's hair? No, Judy's ribbon and the concerned frown etched on her forehead.

"What's happening?" Bowser hated how croaky his voice sounded in his own ears.

"I'm figuring it out right now."

Judy wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his upper arm. It squeezed tight and slowly loosened. She measured that while still watching the heart monitor.

"I'm tired. My chest hurts." He grumbled. "Leave me alone. Whatever it is can wait."

"Your majesty, I'm sorry. This can't wait. I have to check a few things. Can you lift your chin and let me see your neck?"

Would cooperating get rid of her sooner? Bowser tilted his head back while her cool, gloved fingertips palpated both sides of his throat.

"Okay, thank you." Judy draped her stethoscope over the back of her neck and crackled the blood pressure cuff into the little basket on the wall. "I have to wake Neil."

"What's the problem?"

"There's fluid building up around your heart."

She took her gloves off, washed her hands and picked up her phone. It took her three tries to get an answer.

"Doctor Neil? It's Judy, sorry to wake you. I think King Bowser is developing tamponade. We need a bedside echo, stat. It's— yes, all three signs. Muffled heart sounds, prominent jugular veins and low blood pressure. Mmhmm, thank you. See you in a few."

Bowser's head swam when he sat up in bed, ignoring the bone pain in his chest. "Is Junior sick?"

"Sorry?" Judy returned to his bedside.

"Junior…is he sick?"

"No, sire, you are."

"Take me to him."

"Your majesty, you're experiencing delirium." Judy laid a hand on his forearm, halting him from getting out of bed. "Junior is fine. It's two in the morning on a Monday. He is asleep in his bed upstairs."

"Upstairs, where?"

"His bedroom. This is your castle. You are in the intensive care ward."

Bowser shook his head and wiped a hand backwards through his messy hair. The information made sense and simultaneously didn't quite compute. He could've sworn he was on his airship a few minutes ago.

"Junior's okay?"

Judy nodded, still speaking calmly and clearly. "Junior is safe, healthy and sleeping."

"Okay. That's good." He laid back in bed again, blinking sleepily. "If he's okay, I'm okay."

His chest hurt in a weird, dull way, like a heavy water balloon laying under his ribs.

Neil bustled in a few minutes later with the sonogram device rattling on a cart behind him. "Sorry for the wait, your highness."

Bowser waved him off. "Do what you have to do."

"This is going to be unpleasant, since I'll be touching around your incision. Going up." Neil tapped the bed controls to sit the bed up slightly.

That really made Bowser's head swim. He gripped the bars on his left side and tried to breathe deep instead of panting.

"Getting kind of fuzzy here."

Judy patted the back of his hand. "Your blood pressure dropped. I'm not surprised."

"Am I having another heart attack?"

"I don't think so." Neil gloved up, spread unpleasantly cold gel across Bowser's chest and reached for the fan-shaped transducer.

Ghostly images appeared on the screen. Bowser clenched his jaw when Neil moved the transducer close to where his incision was the most tender. The weird, gray fuzz on the screen transformed into the moving outline of his beating heart.

Bowser couldn't make out more than the four pulsing chambers and winking valves. His heart appeared to be surrounded by a faint halo of black and gray. It rocked side to side while the ventricles collapsed like balloons being popped over and over.

"Diastolic collapse. Shit," Neil swore under his breath. "Get the centesis kit. We need to drain this now."

Elton came on shift at the same time everything started moving.

"Oof, what did I walk into?" He asked, eyes widening behind his bedazzled tinted glasses. Blue, this time.

Judy passed him, "Tamponade."

He set his silver travel mug near the computer. "I'll scrub in."

"Sorry, sire, I have to turn the lights up." That was all the warning Judy gave before twisting the dimmer dial.

Bowser grumbled at the brighter light stabbing his tired eyes. Neil put something soporific in his IV that left him not caring much about what happened around him.

Feet rustled on the floor, the sink hissed three times, stinging betadine permeated the air, hands snapped on gloves, and packages crackled.

"Where are we prepping?" Elton asked.

"Left intercostal, outside the plastron. Chest is too risky." Neil replied. "His left lung will help me with placement."

Bowser wrinkled his nose at the cold betadine-soaked sponge rubbing an outward spiral on his side. Someone placed a sterile paper drape over him.

"You'll feel a poke," Neil said. "This will numb the area in a minute."

Bowser closed his eyes and grunted at the needle stick on his side, just to the left of his plastron ridges. He breathed faster— his body kept demanding more air.

"Elton, hold the transducer," said Neil.

Elton's gloved hands reached for the device.

"His SATs are dropping," Judy whispered.

"Noted. Turn his oxygen up." Neil prodded Bowser's side. "Can you feel that, sire?"

"Feel what?"

"Then you're numb. All right, your majesty, take two deep breaths and be as still as you possibly can until I tell you otherwise."

Bowser cracked an eye open. He wished he hadn't after glimpsing the length and girth of the needle about to stab him. Taking two deep breaths, he shut his eyes again and recalled how Junior screamed while getting poked.

Judy took hold of his hand and rubbed it. "Neil does this all the time. You'll be fine."

Neil's scrubs rustled. "Here we go. Needle in three, two, one."

It wasn't pain, just unpleasant pressure. Bowser clenched his jaw when the transducer shifted near an angry spot on his incision.

"Got the needle in. Breathe normally. It's resting on your lung now. Your majesty, you may feel pain similar to a heart attack when I penetrate the pericardium." Neil stayed bent over, eyes fixed on the sonogram screen.

"There's a needle sitting on my lung and you want me to fucking breathe?"

Neil answered matter-of-factly. "Yes, because you'll have to hold your breath in a minute."

That got Bowser to inhale and exhale a few extra times. His SATs rose marginally.

"All right. Take a deep breath and hold it until I tell you to exhale. I'm going to advance the needle. Ready?"

Bowser nodded, filling his lungs when Neil gave the word. There was a weird pressure in the left side of his chest. Shocking, shooting pain pounded white-hot pokers into his shoulders, up his neck and through his lower jaw. The edges of his vision vibrated. He wrinkled his forehead and bared his teeth so he wouldn't roar.

This didn't feel similar to a heart attack or coronary dissection, it was worse!

Judy continued holding and stroking his hand, that one gesture his only anchor in this sea of hurt.

"Needle is positioned, you can exhale." Neil rustled something on the tray. "I'm going to draw out some of the fluid for a sample, and then I'll place a catheter to drain the rest."

Another shock of pain blasted through Bowser's shoulders. He didn't dare take a deep breath for fear of moving or dislodging the very sharp thing sitting too close to his heart for comfort.

More movement inside his chest. Nauseating, but not painful.

"He's inserting the catheter tube. It's almost over," whispered Judy.

Elton adjusted the transducer. He kept pushing against an aggravatingly sore spot. Bowser longed to grab the medical probe and smack him with it.

"Drain placed." Neil withdrew something long and dropped it noisily on the metal tray. He cleaned the area with betadine again and taped a sterile dressing over it.

Almost immediately, Bowser's lightheadedness went away. The gnawing pain behind his breastbone stopped. His favorite part was the transducer finally moving off his incision.

Judy patted his hand a final time before withdrawing. Packages rattled as she cleaned up the mess created by the drape and betadine sponge.

Elton offered a clean rag to wipe off the gel and moved the sonogram equipment away.

Neil held up a small tube of pellucid pink fluid.

"Ta-da! It doesn't look purulent, so I don't think this is related to the infection around your drain and incision."

"If there's a next time, I'm sticking you with a monster needle," Bowser rumbled, still wincing.

"You have to go to med school first, my liege." Neil deadpanned, lowering the vial.

"Nah, I just wanna stab you a little bit. I don't need a degree for that."

"I'll be sure to sleep with one eye open." Neil walked away to process the fluid he drew out.

Bowser adjusted the bed to a more comfortable angle. "Hey, Judy, where's my sticker?"

Judy laughed as she washed up. She came over, took a neon blue star sticker out of her scrubs pocket and stuck it to his nose.

"Your reward, your highness."

Bowser crossed his eyes to look at it. "Nice."

"Your vitals look much improved," Elton said. He turned the lights back down to where they were before this mess.

Bowser's headache cut itself in half. He looked down at the two drains attached to him. The drain entering his chest cavity had no labels, but Neil labeled the other drain with pericardium on a red band around the top.

His chest drain still hurt like a stubbed toe and had angry dark pink lines around its smooth edges.

Bowser picked the sticker off his nose with his pinkie claw and stuck it to the back of his hand instead.

"Damn, I miss being healthy," he muttered.

"Sorry?" Judy approached his bedside, her gold purse slung over her shoulder. "Were you addressing me?"

Behind her, Elton reviewed a chart and passed it out the door to Neil.

"Just mutterin'." Bowser looked at her through sleepy eyes. "I was almost back to normal after the first heart attack, and here I am again. I don't like sitting around feeling sorry for myself, but I think I'm allowed to be mad for a couple minutes, right?"

Judy's expression softened. She clasped her hands in front of her. "You don't need permission to feel anything. People say suffering is a choice, but I never agreed with that notion. Nobody chooses to be ill."

"Wish I could make Mario suffer more," he muttered. Louder, he went on, "Who would've thought a few genes would cause this, eh? I just…damn, I hope Junior isn't watching his own future."

"He's still young." Judy grasped the strap on her purse. "There are treatments to help when it's found earlier, and there may be better treatments by the time he grows up."

"I hope so. Last thing I want is him dropping dead like I almost did." He rubbed his eyes when the mere thought had him tearing up. "It's years ahead, but…"

Judy touched his wrist, her hand tiny next to his.

"I know." She eased the blankets up to his chest and refilled his bedside water mug. "Rest, sire. You can worry about the future after you've solved your problems."

Bowser chuckled, rubbing a crampy spot on his stomach. "Easier said than done. Now— hey, you're off duty. Go home and sleep so I can make Elton regret his existence."

Judy grinned and curtseyed, waving her hand at him. "As you command, your majesty."

"And how are you going to make me regret my existence?" Elton took the spot Judy just vacated.

Bowser looked him dead in the eyes. "I have to take a crap."

"Oh," Elton pushed his glasses up on his beaky nose. "I thought you intended something grotesque. Just a minute. I'll get the bedside commode."

"It will be."

The commode looked similar to a stationary exercise bike— it had an open seat over a trough with a drawstring liner that could be pulled out and disposed of without having to touch the waste. A bar across the back of the seat held his tail out of the way and there were handlebars in the front for balance.

Elton controlled the IV tubing. Bowser held onto his drainage tubes. He crouched over the trough and twisted one of the handlebars like a motorcycle accelerator when he passed noisy gas.

"Morphine plugs most people up," Elton remarked, wrinkling his snout. He left the toilet paper roll on the bed.

"I'm not most people," Bowser replied. "Besides, I'm on antibiotics, and those always make me shit mud. Here it comes."

He bore down and proceeded to unleash hell.

Every nurse had a weakness. Elton could eat offal while watching the goriest surgery videos, dig through malodorous infected wounds and not flinch at getting splattered in blood, puke, piss, phlegm or pus, but the smell of poop did him in every time.

The poor guy turned greener than moldy bread!

"I'll just…wait outside. Call me when you finish."

Elton bolted while Bowser cackled.

Laughing hurt, but it was worth it. Certain things had to be done.

At the end of it, he wiped his cloacal vent clean, dropped the toilet paper into the trough and had mercy by pulling the drawstring to close the bag.

"Done!"

Seeing Elton's nose shiny with menthol gel was too funny for words.

Taking a crap aggravated Bowser's incision and exhausted him. He washed his hands on a sanitizing wipe and collapsed back into bed without bothering to thank the poor nurse who endured his phenomenal fecal fracas.

.o

Time became fluid sparkles of wakefulness between sleeps.

Bowser stirred to peachy-whine perfume and a gentle hand caressing his hair. He cracked his eyes open to Peach leaning against his bed, her blonde head resting on the bed rail.

"Shh." She held a finger over her lips.

Where were they? His airship?

"You'll disappear if I go to sleep," he whispered. "I don't want you to go."

Her wry half-smile was beautiful. "Your fever is coming back. Sleep is the best thing for you."

"No, don't wanna," he grumbled.

Peach stroked the side of his face. Her tiny hand was so soft against his scales. "Will you do it for me?"

He cupped her soft cheek. "Hurts."

"Where?"

His hand indicated his incision site.

"I'll get you more pain meds. Relax, okay?"

That wasn't Peach's voice, but he was too hazy to care. The pain always came on quick and sudden, like fire on his nerve endings.

She withdrew from his bedside, heels clicking on the floor as she walked out of sight.

Bowser lifted his head to peek over his shoulder at her, but all he saw was Elton injecting morphine into one of his IV lumens.

"Where did she go?" He asked as the pain in his chest receded.

Elton's cheeks darkened a tad. "You're back with me?"

"Elton."

Elton finished emptying the syringe and lifted his hands in a defensive posture.

"Your majesty, you were delirious, and you seemed so content that I was afraid to disturb it."

If there was ever a moment Bowser wanted to sink through the floor…

"Don't tell anyone," he growled.

Smoke escaped his nostrils. The cannula in his nose diluted it to thin wisps. Then he rested his head on the pillow again and grudgingly closed his eyes to sleep.

.o

"I'm sorry, Junior," Neil's voice came from somewhere distant.

Junior stared up at the flatlined monitor. Gray blankets covered Bowser completely, leaving only one limp hand exposed.

"No," Junior clenched his fists. "You're lying!"

"I'm sorry," Neil said again.

The monitor flicked off. Junior crossed the distance without recalling moving and picked Bowser's enormous hand up. It was so scarily cold that he dropped it again.

"Dad!" He whipped the blankets back.

Bowser's blank eyes stared up at him. His chest was cut wide open.

Somebody turned on the sink in the corner. They let it run and run and run until water overflowed onto the glossy tiled floor.

"Dad!" Junior gasped awake to wet warmth flooding under his tail. The familiar, musty pee smell alerted him before he fully opened his eyes.

He jumped up, ran into the bathroom and got himself over the toilet, only realizing he made a trail after he finished.

Why did his bedwetting start up again? Bowser told him he would grow out of it. Wasn't six old enough?

I hate this! Junior snarled to himself.

He used his bedsheets to wipe the trail up, ripped the waterproof topsheet off his bed and stuffed everything through the laundry chute.

I'm going to pretend that never happened. Nope, nobody wet the bed here! Junior thought while washing himself off in the bathroom.

Two test sniffs didn't give away the tattle tale smell of pee. Junior breathed smoke throughout his room to remove the last traces from the floor.

He went downstairs and bullied the cooks into making him ash toast.

Pain shot through his jaw every time he bit the half-burnt bread. He rubbed the sore spot on his way to the elevator, but it began to hurt more by the time the doors slid open.

Wait, wasn't that one of the signs of a heart attack?

He leaned on the wall as the air left his lungs. Suddenly, it got a lot harder to breathe— like someone forced a plastic bag over his face. Pain tightened his chest. His vision turned fuzzy around the edges. Something terrible was about to happen.

What did dying feel like? Would he know if he died? How much worse could it hurt?

The doors rolled open, letting in stinging antiseptic smells.

Now close to tears, Junior spun and hurled himself into Neil's open office door. "I'm having a heart attack!"

"Prince Junior!" Neil dropped a folder on the desk.

Panting, Junior doubled over.

"My mouth hurts! And…and—" He noticed his heart beating really fast and pressed both hands over his face— "Help!"

"All right. Shh, it's okay." Neil righted his rumpled folder and stepped past his desk. "Can I look in your mouth?"

Junior sniffled and opened his mouth wide. Sharp pain jolted him when Neil touched his gums.

"Ah! Ow!" He slapped the hand away.

"Hm." Neil pushed Junior's mouth closed. "I want you to take some deep breaths, okay? In through your nose and blow it slowly out of your mouth. With me, like this."

He demonstrated by inhaling through his nose and exhaling as if blowing out an invisible hatch-day candle.

Junior flailed his arms. "But, I'm—"

"You aren't having a heart attack like your dad, little liege. I promise." Neil wrapped an arm around him. "Breathe with me, okay? It'll help you calm down. Big breath in, come on."

Sniffling, Junior tried it. The first two times were hard, but the third breath came easier. His heart slowed to a normal pace and the fuzziness disappeared from his vision.

"Is everything okay?" Stevie poked her head through the door.

"We're fine. Our young prince had a little panic attack." Neil patted Junior's head. "But he's a real tough kid and fought it off. Right, sire?"

Junior felt like he ran miles. He nodded, unable to put on a tough guy face. He glanced over his shoulder at Stevie, watching her bedazzled shell sparkle as she turned the corner.

Neil led Junior to the chair by his desk and sat him down. "You're teething. That's why your mouth hurts."

"I don't like it. How do you make it stop?" Junior cupped both hands around his snout. He rubbed his tongue over the bony ridge he always had and there were lumps with needle-like points everywhere!

"You can't stop it, it has to run its course. Popsicles help it hurt less. What's your favorite flavor?"

"Lemon."

Neil made a show of picking up his phone and dialing. "Stevie? Hi, sorry to bother you. This is important. Are there any lemon teething popsicles in the freezer? There are? Great! Prince Junior needs one, stat."

He set the phone down with a grin. "Why don't you show your dad what's going on while Stevie gets the popsicle for you?"

Nodding, Junior got off the chair and peeked in on his dad. Bowser's eyes were closed and the blankets pulled up to his neck.

"Dad?" Junior vaulted himself onto the stool beside the bed.

"Hm?" Bowser raised a bushy eyebrow.

"Can you look at me for a sec?"

"What?"

"I gotta show you something."

Bowser opened his eyes and picked his head up.

"Look!" Junior gripped the bedrail and opened his mouth wide.

"Heh! You poor kid! Cutting 'em all at once. Ouch." Bowser flicked the blanket off his shoulder and patted Junior's head. His eyes were soft. He gave his nose a playful poke. "You're growing up."

Junior wagged his tail. "Did it hurt when your teeth grew?"

"Oh, yeah! Mine came in at different times, so it hurt for a month. You'll be through this in a couple days."

"And then I'll have teeth like you?"

"Yeah, but smaller. They'll grow with you."

"Good." Junior patted his hands against the mattress. "Um, dad? Can I tell you a secret?"

"What's up?"

Looking around, Junior cupped his hands around his snout and loudly whispered, "I did it in bed again."

"Aw, really?"

"Shh! Yes." Heat crept into his face. "I thought I was old enough for it to stop! How old do I have to get before it stops?"

Bowser chuckled, the sound ending in a chunky cough. "I did it 'til I was ten. Hey, I'll tell you a secret, okay? C'mere."

Wide-eyed, Junior climbed onto the bed to get in better whispering range.

Bowser told him, "Remember the coma I was in?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Well, my body got a little too used to going to the bathroom automatically without me telling it to, so sometimes I boo-booed. I soaked my bed a lot, too. I had to set alarms to remind me to use the bathroom until I retrained my body to hold it. It was gross, and took weeks, but I re-toilet trained myself."

"Really?"

Bowser nodded, face serious. "Freddie told me that's a normal thing that happens after a coma, so I didn't get too embarrassed about it, except the first time."

"Okay, then I won't feel bad about mine. Just don't tell people."

"I won't if you won't. Pinkie deal?" Bowser held out his pinkie finger.

"Pinkie deal." Junior hooked his tiny pinkie finger over his dad's huge pinky claw and they shook on it.

Just in time, too.

"Here we are!" Stevie bustled in carrying the weirdest yellow popsicle Junior ever saw.

It wasn't a frozen stick, it looked more like a paddle exactly as wide as his mouth.

Stevie handed it to him with a lot of paper towels and a plastic kidney shaped basin. "Keep this underneath so it doesn't drip and make a sticky mess."

Junior grasped handle, which had even more paper towels wrapped around it. Stevie gave his shoulder a squeeze and returned to the computer station.

"How do you eat this?" Junior whispered.

Bowser laid his head on the pillow again, grinning. "Just shove it in your mouth and bite down. Swallow it as it melts."

Junior had to sit on the stool with the basin in his lap to do it properly. The coldness of the popsicle overtook the achy feeling, and the sourness helped him forget about being in pain.

"I remember when Lemmy cut his teeth. He did 'em all at once like you are."

Bowser shifted positions on the mattress, causing it to creak.

"Pain is hard for autistic kids like Lemmy. He can't tell somebody where it hurts, it just hurts. He kept punching himself in the face, and I saw what was going on when he opened his mouth to scream at me. Poor kid, heh! I ended up carrying him around nonstop for a week, since letting him chew the edge of my shell was the only thing that distracted him from the pain."

"He didn't eat popsicles?" Junior burbled around the icy confection occupying his mouth.

"Nope! He refused to eat ice cream until he was ten." Bowser covered up with the blanket again.

Cold dripped on Junior's foot. He moved the kidney basin forward in his lap. "You have another drain thingy."

Bowser wiggled it a little. The container for it was almost full.

"Mmhmm. I had a little problem last night. Neil fixed it for me."

"Are you still sick?"

"Kind of. How's your face now?"

Junior popped the popsicle out of his mouth and licked the sticky lemon flavor off his snout. "It's going numb."

"That's—"

"No infection in the pericardium!" Neil announced as he marched proudly into the room.

Startled, Junior almost bit off a giant chunk of the frozen popsicle.

Bowser made a face and picked his head up to look at the foot of his bed. "That's good to hear, Neil. You almost made my kid choke."

"Sorry." Neil ducked around the privacy curtain, one hand on the back of his head. He set the clipboard aside, studied the drain and emptied the weird pink fluid into a metal kidney shaped basin. "I want to do another echo later."

"Echo?" Junior cocked an eyebrow.

"Echocardiogram." Neil washed his hands. "It's a machine that uses soundwaves to look at your dad's heart."

"Oh, like sonar?"

"Pretty much. You had one before, but the medicine to relax you put you to sleep before I started."

"Neat." Junior bit off a chunk of popsicle and swallowed it. "I better go see if Cherry got grounded."

"What'd she do?" Bowser asked.

"Sneaked out to see me. I think she got caught going home."

Grinning, Bowser reached out and lightly slapped his shell. "That's cute."

"Dad!" Junior wanted to sink into the floor.

"Hey, it's my job to embarrass you."

"Is that why there's a sticker on your hand?"

Bowser glanced at the star stuck on his knuckle. "I earned it after the needle I got stuck with." He indicated length using both hands. "It was giant, and Neil stuck it in my heart."

"Wha— and you didn't die?" Junior balked at Neil. "You stabbed him?"

Neil chuckled and crossed his arms, squaring his shoulders. "I know how to stop a heart, cut it open, fix what's wrong with it and start it again without killing somebody. That's why I'm a cardiologist."

Coldness dribbled onto Junior's lap. He moved the basin closer to his body and wiped his sticky hands on the paper towel as the last bits of popsicle broke off the metal stick.

"You guys are crazy." Junior put the popsicle stick in the basin half-full of melted drippings and set it on the sink. He crunched on the lemony goodness until it melted enough to swallow. "I'm gonna go. Neil, don't stab my dad with giant needles anymore."

Bowser and Neil laughed when he crossed around the privacy curtain.

.o

Dazzling green grass and colorful mushrooms dotted the forested landscape Junior warped to.

But it wasn't Cherry sitting under the shade of a nearby giant mushroom.

Peach looked up from the sun-dappled book she read. Whatever it was, it had gold leaf on the edges of the pages that shimmered like her hair.

Two white caps speckled in blue swung around towards the pipe.

"Princess!" The Toad guards lifted their spears in a defensive position.

A gesture from her stood them down. She gathered her pink skirt and uncurled from her comfortable spot in the grass.

"What are you doing here, Junior?"

"Nothing. I used the wrong warp." Junior prepared to jump back down the pipe.

Peach arched an eyebrow, challenging him. Sometimes his dad's expression changed like that, too! How did grownups do those things with their faces?

"You came looking for Cherry." She stated it like she knew the truth.

Junior huffed, crossing his arms and staring at his feet. He realized too late that he assumed the same posture he did whenever he got in trouble back home.

Finally, he blurted, "I'm not kidnapping her!"

Peach's expression softened to a faint, amused smile. She stepped away from her nervous guards and stopped next to the pipe. The sunlight glowed on her blonde hair.

"How's Bowser? Is he okay?"

The unexpected question pulled Junior off-guard enough to uncross his arms and blink at her, speechless.

"All I knew is he collapsed. What happened?" She asked, voice gentle.

He hated remembering it. Those lifeless eyes rolling backwards…and further still, the dust rising under his chin when he toppled beside his Kart.

"Dad had a heart attack." Junior blurted it out and looked away. "Um— his heart stopped, and they did all the zapping and pushing on his chest to fix it, and then he had another surgery."

Dull pain crawled along his gums, adding to his misery. He winced, rubbing his mouth. The effects of the popsicle wore off too soon and too fast.

She extended a hand, hesitated and withdrew it. "Another? This happened before?"

Junior nodded, still stubbornly staring at a spot on his left. If he looked at her, all his scared feelings would flood out of him. They bubbled up as he talked and his voice shook.

"Two years ago. His heart stopped in the Kart garage. Then he did a coma after getting an operation on his heart. He had a big breathing tube in his mouth, and all kinds of wires and machines because his heart stopped for a really long time and they thought it hurt his brain, but it didn't! He woke up and got better from that, and he's getting better from this, too!"

Peach blinked a few times, one hand moving to touch her chest. She looked over her shoulder at the distant guards before returning her attention to him.

"That's awful, and it sounds pretty scary to see. Are you taking care of him?"

"I'm helping the doctors and nurses do that. My dad is gonna get better and stronger. He did it before, he can do it again!" Junior clenched his fists at his sides, trying to harden himself against the emotions knotting his throat.

I have to be a tough kid!

He jumped down behind the pipe with his face buried in his hands. His voice cracked as he shouted, "Dad is gonna be fine! Better than fine!"

The pain in his mouth crashed into how scared he was. He tensed up his whole body, trying to fight it off, but talking about it caused everything to erupt at once. All those days of holding back ran over him like volcanic ash.

A sob slipped out of him. Then another.

Junior sniffed and burst into tears.

"Just you wait! My d-dad is g-gonna b-be super strong!"

Clothes rustled. The grass shifted. A hand touched his arm.

Unable to stand it anymore, Junior curled into Peach and bawled on her shoulder. Once the tears started, there was no stopping their escape or the flood of terror behind them.

"Dads d-don't g-get sick like this! They d-die when they're really old and g-gray and c-can't walk anymore! He's my d-dad, this isn't supposed t-to happen t-to him!"

Peach knelt awkwardly and wrapped her other arm around him. Her hair was finer and softer than Bowser's.

"That's a lot for a kid to go through," she said gently.

"I'm supposed t-to b-be a t-tough k-kid!" Junior blubbered with his face hidden against her shoulder.

"Oh, but you are!" Peach gave him a squeeze. "Being a tough kid doesn't mean you never cry, it means you cry your guts out, get up after and keep soldiering on."

"Even g-grownups?"

"Especially grownups." She patted his shell and let him cry himself out. "You'll be okay. Shhh. It's okay."

Junior sniffled, his tears slowing. His head hurt and his jaw ached. He pushed back off her to wipe at his face.

Peach pulled a dainty pink handkerchief from her glove and dabbed his eyes and nose. Partway through, she realized what she was doing and continued anyway.

"Look at that, you activated my mom mode." She smiled and it didn't feel forced. "Cherry is grounded for a week. She'll be back outside after that."

Junior sniffled, rubbing his eyes. "You're letting her play with me?"

"Ah…" Peach straightened with the handkerchief wadded up in her hand. "Maybe you two being friends will teach our kingdoms to be friends when you grow up."

He lifted his chin, trying to look tough even though his nose ran. "That's going to take a million years!"

She laughed and returned to her worried guards. Whatever she said calmed them, because their tense stances relaxed.

Junior rubbed the last evidence of crying off his face. Weirdly, he felt better after getting those feelings out.

He hopped on top of the pipe, scared the Toad guards with his best roar and jumped into the warp zone.

.o

Bowser's infected incisions and pericardial effusions cleared up, and he did not miss either of the drains after Neil removed them. The oxygen and IVs came off next. Those wouldn't be missed, either.

He looked down at Junior, who slept curled up in the crook of his arm. His gums were angry red with erupting teeth pushing through, and the pain left him both tired and cranky. Popsicles and numbing gels only offered temporary relief.

"Poor kid," Bowser whispered, lightly kissing the top of Junior's head.

Junior slept through the entire echocardiogram Neil performed. Neil politely kept his voice to a whisper, and somehow moved the enormous transducer around without disturbing him.

"…still showing apical akinesia in the left ventricle from your last heart attack. See how it doesn't contract as much? That's scar tissue." He pointed to the ghostly onscreen image where part of the left ventricle barely moved at all.

His finger swept to the side, indicating a new spot that didn't thicken as much. "Now your right ventricle isn't contracting as well as it used to. But we caught this one right away, so the damage is very minimal. I expect this to improve over time."

Neil tilted the transducer. It didn't hurt Bowser's incision anymore, but the tingly-hot sensation wasn't pleasant either.

"Your valves look great. No regurgitation. Some cases of Crash have valve abnormalities, but you don't."

Junior shifted in Bowser's arms. Bowser moved his arm with him until he settled again. He nodded for Neil to continue the procedure.

"Your heart swelled three sizes when you looked at your son," Neil teased.

Bowser smirked, "He is my heart, Neil. But don't tell anybody I said that, or I'll scorch your ass for a week."

"Charming, sire." Neil focused in on the valves as they winked open and shut like tiny doors. "Hm, perfect valves."

He switched off the sonogram screen and offered a paper towel to wipe off the gel.

"I think you're ready for light rehabilitation. No lifting anything heavy, though."

Both he and Bowser looked at Bowser's shell in the corner.

"Which means you're not ready to wear that yet," Neil added.

"Is dad okay?" Junior murmured.

"I'm fine." Bowser squeezed him lightly against his side. "How's your mouth?"

Junior's hands moved to rub his snout. He wrinkled his forehead. "Hurts. Can I get that red goop again?"

Neil handed Bowser the tube. Junior opened his mouth and let Bowser smear some all over his gums. Then he burrowed his head under Bowser's armpit.

"Does looking at me really make his heart get bigger?"

Neil cackled so much he coughed.

Bowser let his head fall backwards against the horseshoe pillow propping his neck up. Kids overheard the worst things!

.o

"Your majesty, please recon—"

"Nope!"

"But I beg you, pl—"

"Neil, don't."

The elevator doors whined shut.

Neil hit the 'door open' button just in time to spout off again. "My liege, I implore y—"

"Bye!" Bowser hit the 'door close' button and the elevator ascended.

Getting out of the damn medical ward never felt better.

Bowser insisted on wearing his shell again, regardless of how painful it was to lift and put on, and once more he refused the wheelchair. His legs worked, he intended to use them.

He sighed. The low growling sound reverberated off the metal walls. This elevator always smelled like halitosis, and he hated it.

His hand moved to his chest, claws brushing over the staples under a clear dressing. Those would come out in another week, the dressing had to stay on until then.

The elevator stopped. Bowser went straight to the dining room because he needed to sit down. If he didn't rest, his body forced him to. He collapsed at the far end of the table with his head resting on his folded arms.

"Hey, Boss," Boom-Boom passed through, nibbling on a Cheep-Cheep kabob.

Bowser picked his head up and stared at the gray cast and sling on his soldier's right arm.

"What happened to you?"

Boom-Boom flashed a sardonic grin full of jagged teeth. "Mario, up on the airship. It's just a crack. Cast comes off in a week. How's the ticker?"

"Working like it should." Bowser shrugged.

"I'm surprised you're up and out so soon."

"Boom-Boom, I was going to burn the intensive care ward down if I had to stay there another minute."

"Heh, heh, tell me about it!"

They laughed. Boom-Boom continued out the back door, the smell of fish meat trailing in his wake.

Bowser's tablet jingled. He flipped the cover off to find a ClawBook messenger message from Ludwig.

Good morning, dad, how are you faring? Ludwig's icon was musical notes.

I'm cut loose. Bowser's fingers tapped across the touchscreen. His icon came up as the royal Koopa seal he stamped onto official messages. Video call?

Three dots flickered on the screen before the reply appeared. I'm about to take a shower. I'll contact you when I'm presentable.

Fine with me. Dial me up when you're ready.

Bowser rested his head on the table and took a short forty-five minute nap. The tablet dinged, waking him again. He pressed the green phone icon to initiate the video chat.

Ludwig appeared onscreen with his wet blue hair hanging around his slightly flushed face. One rebellious strand squiggled straight down between his eyes. He waved a hand and signed.

"I haven't connected my new hearing aids to my phone yet, so I can't hear you. Turning up the volume doesn't work."

"Not a problem," Bowser signed back.

He opened the bag full of medicine Neil insisted he take with him and examined the bottles.

Percocet for the post-surgical pain. He took that religiously as prescribed because it helped.

Sublingual nitroglycerin pills to keep his coronary arteries from collapsing— he hated how woozy he got after taking them.

Baby aspirin that was supposed to prevent more heart attacks, but it hadn't prevented the second one. He intended to take at least one a day.

Bowser flashed all of it before the tablet camera. Ludwig leaned closer to read the labels.

"The same as last time," he noted.

Bowser wagged his fist up and down. "Yeah."

Ludwig frowned, mouthing words as he signed, "How do you feel?"

"Tired."

Bowser's biggest annoyance was fatigue. Everything wiped him out. Pain aggravated it more because it made resting difficult.

"Show me your place," Bowser gestured. "I was going to drop by, but…" He pulled his thumb from the bottom of his other fist, "Shit happened."

Ludwig chuckled and turned his phone to show his array of dark blue brick walls, the old grand piano he learned to play as a baby, papers piled on a desk and the Koopa family crest on the back of the front door. Tiny white fairy lights shaped like eighth notes festooned the wall above the piano.

The wall adjacent to the front door had home gym equipment piled next to it. Dumbbells, barbells and a weight rack.

Ludwig didn't live alone.

He set his phone down on the table and crouched to get in frame again.

"I just painted the walls last month. I'm still waffling on how to decorate, so I might move the fairy lights later." Ludwig shrugged, looked upward and wiggled his fingers a few times before continuing on, "The bed is where it belongs, that was my main priority."

Rustling in the background. Footsteps.

Suddenly, Black's muscular arm came into frame and pulled Ludwig into a playful headlock. Ludwig yanked him down, kissed him and shoved him away with a wicked smirk.

"How does it feel to come twice in five minutes?" Black signed. His face wasn't in frame, but he was undoubtedly grinning like a fiend.

Ludwig went from slightly flushed to bright red. He pushed Black's hands down, his eyes like saucers as he pointed to his phone and touched his thumb to his forehead with spread fingers.

"My dad is on camera!"

Bowser barely held in his mirth. He pretended to be looking at instructions on one of his medicine bottles to save Ludwig some embarrassment.

Those two had loud, vocal sex. Bowser heard them do it in Ludwig's room the night before he finished moving out, and it sounded like a good time.

They waited until they thought everybody went to sleep, so it wasn't their fault he stayed up late to finish paperwork. He acted unaware the next morning. Black had a case of the giggles, and Ludwig's smug face at breakfast was hilarious.

They still had no idea Bowser knew what they did.

"He didn't see me." Black signed quickly. He leaned sideways, wet black hair flopping almost in Ludwig's face. "Hi, king dad."

Blinking, Bowser refocused on the screen and played his part of oblivious dad.

"Good morning," he gestured.

"See, he didn't notice!" Black signed one-handed. He let out his wheezy laugh, kissed Ludwig's cheek and set a rainbow mug of steaming coffee down so it blocked the camera. Bold, black writing on the side said I can't hear you over the sound of how fucking gay I am.

Ludwig picked it up, sipped and gazed sideways at his amorous boyfriend with the same sly little smile he wore the morning he moved out.

"You put cream in it for me," he signed.

Black knelt, wrapped his arm around him and gestured one-handed, "Only the best for you."

Ludwig interlocked their fingers.

Bowser kept quiet when he watched them make eyes at each other as if they were the only two in the universe. He got that way around Peach, and it always sucked when Mario turned up to burst the bubble.

Black planted a final smooch on Ludwig's snout and gently tucked the rebellious elflock between his eyes into his wet side swept bangs before standing up. He slid his helmet on and left through the door in the background. As expected, he banged it shut.

"Black is hopeless with doors." Ludwig used Black's sign name, which was a finger spelled B held close to his bicep to indicate muscles.

He set his mug out of frame on the table and picked up his phone, causing his image to jiggle. With one hand, he signed, "I made progress on my piano piece. Care to listen?"

"Yes!" Bowser wiggled his fist enthusiastically.

Ludwig had to put his hearing aids in first. They were very new models with green ear molds and blue microphone domes at the tips that blended into his scales and hair.

"I haven't named it yet, sorry."

He turned his phone sideways to trigger landscape mode and positioned it on a chair. The image rustled and shook while he stabilized it with books. Once he had it set, he perched at his glossy black grand piano. He was in profile against the window, similar to what someone saw when entering his old bedroom.

That piano held a lot of nostalgia. Bowser smiled, remembering how Ludwig used to sit in his lap while he played it. Ludwig bought him a new one as sort of a trade.

Bowser watched his eldest weave beauty into that old piano full of memories.

Haunting notes flicked off Ludwig's nimble fingers. It sounded like nothing he ever heard before.

Bowser visualized every single chord and the care they had been penned onto the paper. Every time Ludwig played a specific harmony, Bowser caught himself hanging onto it because it gave him ideas.

Ludwig's fingers pieced out a minor chord and abruptly stopped. He lifted his hands and looked over at his phone.

Out loud, he said, "That's where I'm at."

Bowser smiled, then furrowed his eyebrows and signed, "How do you feel about it?"

Ludwig ran both hands through his wet blue hair, fluffing it backwards. "I'm pleased."

"Then it's going well." Bowser dramatically kissed the back of his fist and moved it in the tablet camera's direction. "I love it!"

Later, after the video call ended, he climbed the stairs and entered what used to be Ludwig's bedroom. Now, it was a music room for all his instruments. His newly-repaired electric guitar, a drum set, a cello, a saxophone, a clarinet and a grand piano took up various parts of the space. Bookshelves contained music by composers from all over the world, and one shelf had compositions he wrote.

Bowser sat down at his piano to catch his breath. Just sitting and talking to Ludwig took it out of him.

Footsteps slapped through the hall.

"Is that my kid running around?" He called out.

"Nope, I'm a ghost!" Junior jumped in front of the doorway, his snout smeared with chocolate. "Boo!"

"Gah!" Bowser spun away from the piano and acted startled. "Wow. Where are you running off to, ghostie?"

"Gonna see if Cherry is still grounded." Junior wagged his tail.

"Nah-ah-ah! Not like that." Bowser beckoned with a finger. "Come here."

"What?"

The second Junior came close enough, Bowser used his palm to wipe all traces of chocolate off his mouth. "Go brush those new teeth, first."

"Ugh, you don't brush yours," Junior protested, frowning.

"That's because they're thick and strong. Yours are still new and fragile. Don't ruin them before they have time to toughen up."

"Fiiiiine, I'll go do it."

Junior padded out, his little tail wagging behind him. The sink in the hallway bathroom ran.

Bowser licked the mix of kid-drool, chocolate and peanut butter off his hand. He paused and chuckled, remembering what Peach said about parenting making people tolerant of unusual grossness. She was right.

Setting his fingers on the piano keys, he plunked out the chord that first grabbed his attention. A smile blossomed across his face.

From that single chord, more came.

From those chords, a melody.

Bowser began to sing.

" Peaches, Peaches, Peaches… "

.o

Life went back to normal. Not the same normal as before, a new one. Like the last time.

But Junior could live with that.

Sneaking his stolen Koopa Stix out of the castle was easier than expected. Nobody questioned him carrying a brown sack because he had one when he left with Cherry. They didn't need to know it wasn't empty.

He studied his reflection in the fiery red pipe one last time. The week of pain paid off— now he had sharp teeth like his dad! They were small, more akin to rose thorns than pillars, but they would get bigger to match the one he already had!

Maybe growing up isn't so bad.

He dove into the pipe, zoomed through the spiraling colors and popped up to flash a huge smile.

"Hi!" Cherry jumped up off the log she sat on. "Hey, you got teeth! I lost my loose one! Look." She grinned back, revealing a gap on the bottom.

"Nice!"

"How's your dad?"

"He's out of the medical ward and walking around."

She nodded. "That's good."

"Yeah, because that was scary." He sighed, fumbling with the bag. "I brought something."

"What's that?"

"Koopa candy!" Junior produced the red cylinder of Koopa Stix and twisted off the top, revealing the long sticks that resembled coal rods. "Grab one and take a bite."

"Is it poisonous to me?" Cherry eyed the treat warily.

"I don't think so. They react to spit."

"You mean like Pop Rocks?" She took one.

"Yeah! Kind of…but cooler."

"Okay." Cherry bit a small piece off the tip and her mouth emitted gouts of smoke. Her forehead wrinkled. She grimaced, covering her lips. "Um…"

Junior took a huge bite and let the smoke pour out of his jaws while he chewed up the smoke flavored sweetness.

Finally, Cherry spit the smoking mess out onto her palm and coughed. "Whoa— sorry— ack! I don't think I like this."

He laughed. "Most people who aren't Koopas don't. I still wanted to share."

"Um, thanks?" She flicked the goopy, smoky mess into the grass and wiped her palm across her tongue. Little curls of smoke rose off the grass and her teeth.

Junior chomped through his whole foot long Koopa Stick before he capped the cylinder and stashed it in the bag. Gray smoke kept wafting between his teeth every time he talked.

"Gonna have to hide this till I go home."

"Leave the bag by the pipe. The grass will hide it."

"Good idea!"

And it did. Junior pulled up a clump anyway and put it over the sack so it blended in. "There. Hey, wait! One sec."

"What?" Cherry came to his side. "What's wrong?"

He grinned with smoke curling from the corners of his mouth, tapped her shoulder and took off running through the mushrooms.

"You're it!"

"Not fair! Get back here!" She sprinted after him. "Junior!"

"NEENER, NEENER!"

"Slow down, cheater!"

"Catch me first!"

"I'm so gonna get you!"

They laughed as they darted between sunbeams.

.o

.o