Bowsette: A New Life

Chapter 17
Peace….?

Three months had passed since the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom entered into a decidedly lopsided peace agreement. Mario was walking around Toad Town on a bright sunny day, a smile on his face as he passed the Toads. It seemed by all appearances that Bowsette intended to actually keep her word at least for now. Mario was glad enough to see this, and he threw himself into his plumbing work to pass the time. Without Peach constantly getting kidnapped Mario hadn't been on any adventures for a while.

Mario had to go on hikes around the kingdom every day to stay in shape when he wasn't working. Whatever was going through Bowsette's mind Mario knew the peace wasn't going to last forever. Mario did his best to stay away from Peach, though his brother was another matter. After his revelation at the meeting Luigi had expressed concern and visited almost every day. Small wonder, he had nearly lost his brother forever and was probably looking to make up for lost time.

Speak of the Koopa Queen, Luigi was in the town square. "Hey Luigi." Mario waved without enthusiasm. Mario knew that Luigi would eventually ask yet again. Luigi tried to be nonchalant about it, but he wasn't going to let it go. Luigi joined Mario on his walk, and they made small talk for a while as the two did some shopping until the two trudged back to Mario's house.

As the two reached the outskirts the sky suddenly darkened with black clouds within seconds. "Not again bro!" Pink lightning jumped from cloud to cloud for a few minutes as the brothers continued on. Just as abruptly as they appeared, the clouds vanished. "What IS that?" Luigi asked. "I dunno bro. The weather has been-a weird ever since the treaty. I never seen pink lightning before that." Mario noted. "Maybe Bowsette has-a something to do with it?" Mario froze in his tracks at the mention of the Koopa Queen. "I hope-a not Luigi."

Finally, as they approached Mario's house Luigi spoke up. "Mario. Ya gotta tell-a me what happened sometime." Luigi said. "Maybe Luigi, but not-a today." Mario deflected. "Ah come on bro…" Luigi tried. "Not today!" Mario tried to discourage the Green Hatted plumber. "Wow Mario, was it really that-a bad?" Something about how Luigi said that made Mario's blood boil.

"SHE-A KISSED ME OKAY!?" Mario yelled. Luckily where was nobody else around. "Say what…? Peach kissed-a you?" Luigi scratched his head in confusion. "No, not-a her. Bowsette." Mario sat on the steps of his porch and sighed. "She kicked-a my butt and then as I lay there helpless, she-a kissed me. A lot." Luigi just stood there with his mouth open.

"Wow." Luigi took a seat next to his brother. "You-a lady killer bro." Luigi tried to lighten things up with a joke. "Not the time Luigi." Mario said flatly. "Have you heard from-a her since?" Luigi asked. Mario shook his head. "No. Not-a even a letter." Mario sighed. "After it-a happened, Bowsette totally freaked out and ran off with her tail between her legs. I got Peach out and well… you-a know the rest."

The two brothers sat there in silence for several minutes. "Well now, what-a you gonna do about that bro?" Luigi eventually asked. "I don't know. All I know for-a sure is me and Peach are done." Mario admitted. "You really don't think-a she'll change her mind?" Luigi asked. Mario shook his head. "Well… women huh?" Mario looked at Luigi for a moment. "Heh. Yeah. Women." Mario started to laugh, and Luigi nervously followed. The laughter grew stronger between the two until it turned to full bellied hysterics that lasted for several minutes before tapering off.

"Heh… what am I-a gonna do bro?" Mario asked. "Well… was-a it good?" Luigi asked. Mario looked away. "Actually…" Mario hesitated. "You-a liked it didn't you?" Luigi said with a grin. "Come-a on Luigi!" Luigi gave Mario a poke. "You-a liked it! Come on! Admit it bro!" Luigi needled. "Okay… maybe a little." Mario said sheepishly. "Heh, don't-a downplay it bro."

"MAIL CALL!" A Parakoopa the two knew well, Parakarry, yelled. The two distracted brothers jump in surprise, but Mario soon heads to the mailbox and opens it. Inside is a black envelope with red stationery, with the Koopa Kingdom emblem. "It's from…" Mario opens and reads it. "Her." Out of the envelope slips an official diplomatic badge. "Go on bro! Go get-a her!" Luigi winks. Mario blushes and rushes into the house to pack for the trip.

***

Bowsette sighs and idly scratches another crude Bob-omb drawing into the arm of her throne with her claw. The last several months had been the most boring of her life. After cleaning up from Mario's latest rescue Bowsette hadn't had much to do but sit in meetings with her subordinates authorizing this or that or dealing with some petty complaint. "…a parade of goombas attacked Koopa village last week." Kamek began. "The Koopas fought them off with minimal casualties."

"And the Goomba King?" Bowsette asked. "He denies involvement, just like King Bob-omb in a similar incident a month ago." Kamek sighed. "Once again, the goombas appeared seemingly out of nowhere during a thunderstorm and bodies of the goombas seem to have vanished into thin air after they were killed. Aside from the damage there's no evidence that anything happened." Bowsette grunted. "Sounds like a summoner's work. Maybe Wart?" Bowsette said. "There was an unusual magical signature near the…"

***

Bowsette drifted off again. 'Petty troubles and more petty troubles.' The Koopa Queen lamented. The one bright spot in all this was having plenty of time to spend with Junior, although… it was still weird. The meeting for dinner had been enough to dispel the awkwardness between the two of them, but there was this distance. It was like the two were getting to know each other for the first time and yet… wasn't. Bowsette didn't know how much she might have changed from what Junior knew of his mother, but if there was much of a change Junior showed no sign of noticing. For his part Junior was mostly the same as she remembered though Junior seemed to love to have tea parties when his mother came to visit. Otherwise, he was just as cheerful and devoted as ever and it warmed the Koopa Queen's heart.

Naturally however, he still managed to strike fear into her heart in the way only one's children could. "So um… Mama?"Junior said one day. "Is Mario going to be my new Dad?"He had asked while Bowsette was struggling to drink the tea the little Koopa had prepared, which as always tasted terrible not that Bowsette would admit that to him.

PFFT! Bowsette involuntarily spat out the tea that was in her mouth in surprise, a fringe benefit perhaps but not one the Koopa Queen would consider worth it. "Um… uh…"Bowsette looked at her son dumbfounded. 'How had he…?' Bowsette thought. After a moment she shook her head. "Of course not my boy! Who put those thoughts into your head?" She scoffed. "Kamek did! He said he saw you two… yuck… kissing a lot."The young child's face cutely curled up in disgust.

Bowsette grunted. "Hmm. Kamek and I are going to have… words about his spying, and what he should tell my son." Which they later did, involving Kamek scrubbing every last corner from the floor to the ceiling of the entire throne room by himself and without his magic. Junior could tell he just got Kamek in trouble and his face looked pretty guilty, but he continued. "Well uh… I just wanna tell you it's okay."

Bowsette's eyes shot open wide. "Huh? What is?" Junior smiled. "It's okay if you like Mario Mama, or anybody." He said. "If Mario can make you happy that's great!" Junior gave Bowsette a smile that always lifted her spirits the most. "Junior…" For a bit she was too struck by her son's devotion to really respond. "But I… I don't even know him. Not really." That was true enough in either reality. Their relationship, such as it was, was built almost entirely upon kidnapping Peach and then trying to beat the crap out of each other. It wasn't one that fostered much knowledge of each other on anything off the battlefield.

"Mama, maybe you should find out?" Junior suggested. Bowsette sat there for a while considering the idea. "Humph! We hate each other son." Bowsette finally said. "We'll never be anything but enemies." She said firmly. "But Mama…" Junior tried to say. "Enough Bowser Junior! I don't want to hear another word about this." Bowsette said in a sharp tone she rarely used with Junior which immediately shut him up.

***

Bowsette sighed at the memory. She had to turn her attention back to royal affairs, but it was difficult. 'Maybe I should go invade some other land.' Bowsette thought. 'The Mario Brothers probably won't interfere, but…' Bowsette tried to think of where to invade, but like every time before the thought would slip away to be intruded on by another. 'He wouldn't like that…' Time and again Bowsette's thoughts drifted to that Italian pasta freak. She wondered what Mario was doing right now. Did he patch things up with Peach maybe?

The thought made Bowsette's blood boil for some reason. Bowsette couldn't be jealous of Peach, the Koopa Queen wasn't attracted to Mario at all. Bowsette spent years as Bowser despising Mario with every fiber of his being. They were enemies! Outside of fighting him countless times she barely even knew the man. What did they even have in common besides a love of kicking butt? What could…

"…tress? My Queen are you listening?" Bowsette jumped. "Ah… um… what was that Kamek?" Bowsette shook her head and tried to focus. "I said a letter has come for you. Apparently, it was sent by Mario my Queen." Bowsette stared at the letter in Kamek's hand. "Mario…?" Bowsette scoffed. "So? What do I care what that shit diving plumber wants?" Kamek shrugged. "I guess I'll throw it out th..." Before he could complete his sentence Bowsette all but leaped out of her throne and snatched the letter from Kamek.

Flustered, Bowsette opened the letter and began to read it. Any attempt at nonchalant words caught in her throat and she took a deep breath. "What does it say Mistress?" Bowsette sighed. "It's an invitation." Bowsette considered what she read for a moment. "Send back a confirmation and diplomatic authorization immediately." Bowsette turned and left to go up to her room. 'Now I can try to explain, and we can go back to fighting again.' Bowsette decided. 'I need to change my dress and I should put on some makeup and file my claws and fix my hair and… and…' Bowsette's thoughts raced.

Kamek sighed in relief. The fake letter Kamek had written seemed to have worked on their end. Now the problem was the unknown factor, if Mario responded to the fake letter Kamek had already sent him. Kamek had to focus to keep nonchalant, he had just technically betrayed his Queen by speaking in her name without her consent. If Bowsette found out about this she could have his head. However, Kamek knew there was no alternative, his Highness would never admit to her feelings unless forced to confront them. Kamek pretended to follow through on sending the letter before joining the harried Queen as she got ready.

Author's Note: I suppose I could just say I'm late again and so here's 3 more chapters, but really I just felt like moving things along a bit more quickly. Enjoy and review!