Chapter 2 Here Comes the Goddess

Bowser gawked. His eyes remained locked on Rosalina, as did the eyes of everyone else in the room. She descended down to the floor, her expression conveying an absolutely serious mood. She looked at Mario and Luigi. She looked at Peach. She looked at Bowser. For some reason, she looked really angry when staring at the Koopa King. This made chills run up and down his arms.

"Rosalina!" Mario exclaimed. He tried to stand up, but unfortunately for him, his feet still hurt. He winced as he lowered himself back down. "I… what are you doing here? I haven't invited you to any special events yet!"

Rosalina snickered, now smiling at Mario (why she couldn't smile at Bowser, he would never know). "I am perfectly aware. However, I have been observing this little squabble here." She looked back at Bowser, her eyes filled with heat. "And I couldn't just stand by and let everyone suffer."

Bowser blinked before letting out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you, powerful goddess lady." He approached her, with a sparkling smile growing on his face. "I have been suffering so much from not getting Peach for myself, so the fact that you are willing to help…"

"I wasn't talking about you."

Silence. Bowser gawked at Rosalina, unsure if he had heard or interpreted those words correctly. "Uh…" he chuckled nervously. "That's a joke, right?"

Rosalina shook her head. "No." Her voice was eerily calm for someone who had just denied the desires and mood of a king. "You have been causing far too much trouble for my friends this time around. I simply cannot let that slide."

Bowser's jaw dropped. Okay, seriously! A freaking GODDESS appears in his castle and doesn't even bother to help him obtain the desires of his heart? What the heck was going on here? Gods and goddesses were supposed to be loving and generous, weren't they?

"But… but…" Before he could even find the strength to give a proper response, Rosalina waved her wand. Sparkles shot towards Bowser, but much to his relief, they didn't harm him. Unfortunately, the relief was short-lived when he realized that Rosalina had caused a force field to imprison him.

"HEY!" He banged his fist against the force field, on some level supremely freaked out that it didn't shatter against his awesome strength. "What gives? Let me out!"

"Not yet," Rosalina said, her voice low and level. Without any more words, she floated over to the injured Mario brothers. She kneeled down towards Luigi, who still winced and cried his eyes out. "There there." She waved her wand, causing Luigi to glow with a soft white light. When it cleared, he blinked and sat up. He felt the various parts of his body before standing up, letting out a sigh before smiling at Rosalina.

"Thank you, Rose."

"Of course." She then went over to Mario, doing the exact same procedure. When she finished, Mario once again had the ability to stand on his own two feet without experiencing excruciating pain.

"Grazie, Rosalina."

Rosalina giggled, possibly because of Mario saying such a funny word (Bowser had a hunch that it was a foreign language, but he couldn't say for sure). Then, she did something that made Bowser freak out; she turned toward Peach's cage and started walking toward her.

"Hey, wait!" He banged on the force field again, his heartbeat speeding up and his eyes refusing to blink. "You can't take Peach! Peach is mine!"

Rosalina ignored him, as did everyone else. Bowser tried to breathe fire on the force field, but that did nothing except make the interior boiling hot. As a result, Bowser was forced to watch the love of his life be freed while sweating up a storm. His heart felt as though it was literally being broken into pieces when Rosalina opened the cage, allowing Peach to roam free.

"Thank you so much, Rosalina," Peach said as she did a curtsy. "We all owe you a lot."

"We do!" Mario said. "Bowser probably would've killed us if you hadn't intervened! You deserve some sort of reward!"

Rosalina beamed. "Seeing you guys free to live your lives away from Bowser is enough of a reward as is." She waved her wand again, sending sparkles raining down on each member of the trio. They all rose into the air, with each of them smiling at this new ability Rosalina had granted them. Rosalina then pointed her wand at the ceiling, and a hole formed. Honestly, this just made Bowser mad more than anything else. Well, that's going to violate the warranty.

"Come on everyone, let's get back to the Mushroom Kingdom." Without any more words, Mario, Luigi, and Peach flew upwards and exited the castle through the hole. This just left Rosalina and Bowser in the room. Steam shot out of Bowser's nostrils as Rosalina gave him a stern look, but he didn't say anything.

"Now, we are going to go," Rosalina said, her voice as stern as her face. "Now, I implore you Bowser to please… please stop with this endeavor. It will only cause you, as well as everyone else, pain."

Bowser gripped his hand into a fist. Man, what a bitch! He was a king; how dare she tell him what to do! Sure, being a goddess, she was naturally in a higher position than him. Even still, nobody should tell Bowser what to do. Not unless they want to get a stream of fire in the face.

Before she left, Rosalina waved her wand one final time. The force field around Bowser vanished, and she shot up into the air. Bowser ran after her, looking at her through the hole in the ceiling. She got smaller and smaller until she vanished, but that didn't mean Bowser's emotions regarding her and what she's done vanished. He seethed. A vein bulged in his head, and he could feel something hot and smoky building in his throat. He almost screamed. He so wanted to scream, scream loud enough to cause the entire world to shake. However, he didn't do that. He was just about to when…

He started to cry. The cries started off as just a few tears flowing down his face, but quickly morphed into straight-up bawling. He knelt down on the ground, banging his fist into the carpet. With each tear shed, a new question popped up in his mind. Why did this have to happen to him? Why did Rosalina come to save everyone? Why couldn't Bowser finally get Peach for himself, to have someone who he could love and trust? Why was this so difficult for him? Why? Why? Why?

"Master Bowser?"

Bowser seized up upon hearing Kamek's voice. He tried to get his crying fit under control, but the tears still flowed. As such, as the magikoopa advisor approached him, he felt all different types of embarrassment develop within him. When Kamek got close enough, he put his hand on Bowser's shoulder (but not before waving his wand to remove the pain spell on him).

"There there," Kamek said, his voice almost smooth enough to soothe the king. "It's gonna be okay."

Bowser sniffled and lifted his head, finding that the tears blurred his vision as he looked at Kamek. "How can it be okay?" His voice sounded weak; too weak. "Nothing ever seems to go my way!"

Kamek nodded while frowning. "I take it Mario and Luigi rescued the princess again?"

"No! What happened was worse than that! Far worse!" He gestured up toward the hole in the ceiling, and Kamek gawked upon seeing it. "That stupid little goddess Rosmaya or whatever her name is decided to come and give them her aid! I lost the fight because of her!"

Kamek's frown got deeper. "I see. I can imagine that was strange, as Rosalina doesn't usually get involved." He looked at Bowser with a warm look as the Koopa King wiped his face. "Well, either way, sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to."

Bowser sniffled again while hanging his head. "It seems that things never work out the way I want them to."

"Hmm. Yes." Kamek somehow managed to smile. "Tell you what, my liege. Why don't you go get yourself cleaned up while I prepare a nice dinner? I'm sure some rich comfort food is exactly what you need."

Bowser wiped his nose. "That… that might work." As much as he would hate to admit it, his mouth actually started to water as he imagined all of that comfort food.

"Alright." Kamek patted him on the arm before making his way out of the throne room. Bowser slowly rose to his feet before sulking and going in the direction of his bedroom.

…

Bowser had to admit when he went into the dining hall and saw all the food Kamek had gone out of his way to prepare for him, he actually felt a lot better. Creamy mac n' cheese. Rotisserie chicken. Moo moo burgers with bacon and cheddar cheese. Every flavor of ice cream that could be found under the sun. Oh man, was this Heaven? It felt a lot like Heaven.

"Boy oh boy Kamek; you certainly did a good job!" He smiled at his advisor, sitting right next to the head of the table. Bowser blinked upon seeing him reading through some sort of large book. "Uh… whatcha reading?"

"Hmm?" Kamek lifted his head before waving his hand. "Oh, just some ancient legends." He turned the page of the book. "Why don't you go ahead and eat your food?"

Bowser licked his lips. "Sure thing." He took a seat at the head of the table, reaching for the ice cream. Sure, he knew that eating dessert first wasn't the best idea in the world. But honestly, that didn't really matter to him right at this moment. This dinner was set up in order to help him feel better, and right now, eating ice cream would be the perfect way to help him feel better.

So, he dipped his spoon in a chocolate scoop and shoved it in his mouth. "Mmm." He smiled. "Oh man, I can barely remember what I was so upset about!" He continued eating the ice cream, not even worrying about all the calories that he was going to consume (partly because he was a giant dragon koopa; he required more calories than normal people). All the flavors, from mint chocolate chip to vanilla to cookies and cream, blended together in the most amazing way while resting on his tongue. Now there was no doubt in Bowser's mind that he was actually in Heaven.

When he finished, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Man, this is amazing. Thank you, Kamek."

"Yep." Kamek turned the page again. "Anything to make my king feel better."

Bowser chuckled. As he reached for the moo moo burgers, he got to thinking about his most recent loss once again. "Damn, Rosalina just didn't mess around." He picked up the burger, sighing as he did. "I suppose I should feel honored that I got to interact with a literal goddess, but…" he stopped, looking at Kamek. "Sorry, is it okay if I vent?"

"Of course," Kamek said without taking his eyes off of the book.

"Thanks." Bowser took a bite of the first burger. "Anyway, I just find it so strange. Being a goddess, Rosalina is supposed to have the same opinion on every creature that walks on this planet, right? And yet, she somehow seems to have a special connection to Mario and Luigi. Why? Is it just because they helped her collect Power Stars for her Comet Observatory? Because I can do that too!" He took another bite. "I bet, if I was the one who had helped Rosalina find all those stars, then I would be the one who's on her good side!"

Kamek snickered. "Bowser, you do know that the only reason those stars were missing in the first place is because you caused them to scatter, right?"

Bowser did a double-take. "Wait, really?" When Kamek nodded, he sat completely still. "Huh. Okay, so I guess I should've done more than help her gather those stars." He took yet another bite of his burger. "But even without that, aren't goddesses supposed to be forgiving?" He finished eating the burger in its entirety, deciding to move onto the rotisserie chicken. "If so, then the fact that she still hasn't forgiven me makes her a horrible goddess!" He plucked the leg off the chicken and started to gnaw on it. "I think this goddess deserves to be taken down a peg. Stripped of her powers, be forced to live her life as a mortal like everyone else." He looked at Kamek. "Tell me. Don't you think that would be perfect?"

"Yes, I do," Kamek said after a pause. He turned his page again before seizing up. "Oh goodness."

Bowser blinked. "What? What is it?"

Kamek sat, stunned, before turning to Bowser with a grin. "Well, I think there might be something… or rather, someone, who can reveal to us how exactly to do that."

Bowser's heart skipped a beat. "Really? Who?"

Kamek's grin grew bigger as he started to explain.