Chapter 15 Hanging On

Peach's heart raced. She looked at all the Beanies, seeing that there had to be about fifteen of them. They all sneered at her and Peasley, and they had an impish shine in their already wicked-looking faces. Peach backed up a little, having trouble breathing as she also had trouble looking away from these fiends. There were so many of them! So many beanies were here, and they were all looking at her and her brother. As someone who had never encountered Beanies before, only really being exposed to them through textbooks, Peach's stomach couldn't help but churn.

"Uh.." she continued backing up, her breathing entering hyperventilation territory. She looked over at Peasley, who surprisingly didn't look nearly as frightened. "Peasley, what do we do?"

"The only thing we can do." Peasley took a deep breath before shouting at the top of his voice and charging at the Beanies. He hopped on the head of one, trampling it underfoot. Some of the Beanies looked frightened when they saw this, or at the very least taken aback. Peach hoped that their fear would be enough to make them decide it was time to retreat. Unfortunately, they just as quickly put on determined faces and all charged at Peasley. The ex-prince looked relatively unphased and bounced on each of them one by one. Peach watched this, unable to take her eyes off her older brother. How was he able to do this so effortlessly? How could he display this sort of bravery, when most people Peach knew would more than likely run away screaming?

Unfortunately, Peach's marveling time came to a halt. Right before Peasley bounced on one of the Beanies, it growled and jumped up, effectively stopping him before he even had the chance to deal any damage. Peasley shrieked as he went toppling into the dirt, and once he was lying down, the Beanies surrounded him. Peach could barely move as she watched this happen, watched every single Beanie swarm him like honey bees gathering around a murder hornet.

"PEASLEY!" Her legs wobbled. She should do something; she wanted to do something. But… wait. Maybe she needed to hop on the Beanies' heads too. Sure, the thought of doing so made Peach nervous beyond belief, but what choice did she have? If she didn't act, Peasley was going to end up severely hurt. Or worse.

So, she took in a breath and charged. She stomped on one Beanie, and the green imp shrieked as it got its skull bashed on. It fell to the ground unconscious, a sight that actually helped Peach feel a little more confident. With a smile growing on her face, she bounced on another Beanie. Then another, and another. She laughed as she did, taking out every Beanie one step (or bounce) at a time. Somehow, it was a very satisfying practice. It made her feel brave, it made her feel strong. She was doing a good job! She could hardly believe it, but she was actually…

"OWW!" She fell back after one Beanie had headbutted her. She stumbled back, and the Beanies surrounded her too. She pushed them off of her, her adrenaline going through the roof. There were so many of them, and it seemed like even more were coming right out of the bush! She… she couldn't keep this up! She really couldn't; doing so would only serve to exhaust her!

So, acting purely on her fight-or-flight instinct, Peach turned and bolted away. She ran as fast as she could go, which sadly wasn't very fast because she never really spent any time accumulating stamina. Every time she looked over her shoulder, it always seemed like the Beanies were right on her tail. One even caught up to her and tried to bite her feet, but Peach kicked them away. That was probably the biggest mistake she could have made because the remaining Beanies put on angry glares and sped up. Peach sped up, doing her best to travel at a decent speed despite her creeping exhaustion and the weight of her backpack strapped to her back.

Despite her best efforts, Peach eventually had to come to a stop on the edge of a cliff. She tried to catch her breath, tried to gather her bearings, and think of a plan. But she would soon come to find that she didn't have enough time to do that. The Beanies jumped on her, landing on her and creating nasty bruises. She shrieked, trying to push them off. She backed up, desperately trying to take care of these nasty enemies…

"AHH!"

She slipped and tumbled down the cliff. In a fit of desperation, she reached her flailing arms out. It was a miracle that she found a branch, and once she had it in her hand, she didn't dare to let it go. Her hyperventilation becoming unbearable, she gripped the branch extra tight. She sweated bullets as she saw the Beanies, sneering at her as she hung from the cliff. The looks on their faces were of pure satisfaction as if they were actually happy to see that the queen's life was in immediate danger. Slowly but surely, they turned and left. This just left Peach, whimpering and sweating as she clutched the branch in her hot little hands. She looked down below her, trying to judge how far off the ground she was. It looked to be forty feet at least. A fall from this height would certainly kill her.

Grunting and trying to ignore the sweat her body produced, Peach reached her hand up. Hopefully, she would be able to reach the side of the cliff and pull herself up. It wasn't too ridiculous as a prospect, as the ledge did look to be within arm's length. Peach used all the might she had at her disposal to reach up. She was almost there. Her fingers could just about touch the ledge…

SNAP!

"AHH!" Peach screamed. The branch snapped, sending her tumbling down the cliff. Peach's hands scraped against the wall, and she only barely managed to find a loose crevice. She dug into it, her breath almost entirely unmanageable as she dangled from so high up. She looked up at the ledge, now completely out of reach.

"H…HELP!" she yelled. "PEASLEY, CAN YOU…?" It was only once she yelled that out that she remembered Peasley was currently unconscious. When she did, she began to cry. "SOMEONE! ANYONE! HELP ME!" Her voice echoed off the various parts of the mountain, but no one responded to her. Not that she was expecting that to happen; they hadn't seen much life on the mountain, after all.

So… she was stuck. No, she was worse than stuck; it was only a matter of minutes until her strength gave out and she went plummeting to her death. She couldn't even climb the cliff, mostly because she didn't know how to do such a thing. So… this was it.

This was the end.

Peach hung on the side of the cliff, thinking back to all that had happened to her over the last twenty-four hours. Cackletta taking over the Beanbean Kingdom, reuniting with her long-lost brother. The memories about those two events played out so vividly in her mind that it was like she was experiencing them all over again (she wondered if it had anything to do with a person's life flashing before their eyes in a near-death experience). Unfortunately, neither event brought her any form of comfort. As amazing as seeing Peasley again was, the memory was soured by the circumstances surrounding it. And imagining Cackletta… the evil Cackletta, who took over Peach's kingdom while wearing the nastiest grin ever…

Peach whimpered. She had wanted to fix things so badly. At this point, she would probably trade her soul away if it meant that she would be able to pick up the pieces and make things better for everyone. She had wanted to be the queen that her kingdom needed her to be, the queen her brother believed that she could be. And yet, her reign ended before it had even begun. And now, her life was about to end in a very similar fashion.

She whimpered again. "I… I'm sorry." A tear flowed down her bright green cheek. "I'm so sorry…" her tears and sobs became almost unbearable. They were even interfering with her ability to hold onto the crevice. Her fingers slowly began to slip, and her hold on the crevice became looser and looser. Her heart ached with pain and sadness. Even though there was no escaping this fate now, she still couldn't say that she accepted it. She wished she could get over this. She wished that she could get someone to help, someone who could help her be the queen she needed to be. But instead…

She let go.

Peach didn't even bother screaming as she fell off the ledge. Tears fell out of her eyes, hanging in the air above her like little planets suspended in space. Peach sniffled, sorry that there was nothing more she could've done for her kingdom. Perhaps this was the best, most appropriate fate for her. A queen who had no chance of effectively ruling didn't deserve to live. She closed her eyes, finally ready to accept her fate…

"Exiss Mark!"

Peach opened her eyes, surprise claiming her. Before she even knew what was going on, she landed on something… soft. What… what happened to the ground? What happened to the impact that should've claimed her life? She lifted herself up, wondering what in the world could've possibly saved her. She was shocked to see that it was… a cloud?

"What in the World?"

The cloud gently floated down to the ground, going slow enough to relieve Peach of all her fear and stress. She looked down at the ground, gasping when she saw someone down below. They… they were a hoohooligan! A hoohooligan that held their arms up to the sky, as if they were directly impacting the speed of the cloud's descent. It quickly occurred to her that actually was the case. Somehow, this hoohooligan had used magic, and they were directly responsible for making the cloud. Tears welled up in Peach's eyes as she thought of this. It… it was incredible!

Before long, the cloud finally reached the ground. Frazzled, Peach lifted herself up and put her feet on the ground. She had to admit that it was a nice sensation, being able to touch ground again. It was somehow more overwhelming than the fright she had experienced while fighting the Beanies. She let out a little chuckle, thanking the Star Spirits above that she was actually alive. Giggling, she turned to the cactus-like being that was the hoohooligan.

"Thank you," she said. The words came out in the form of a whisper, but that didn't diminish their value a all. "Thank you so much!"

"Of course," said the hoohooligan. They walked closer to her, furrowing their brow as they did. "I never in a million moons would've expected to see Beanbean royalty on this mountain."

Peach's eyes grew wide for a second before she nodded. "Y… yeah." She curled a strand of her hair back. "I… I'm on an important mission." She gasped, looking back up the cliff she had just fallen down. "And my brother is too! We got attacked by Beanies, and they… they hurt him pretty badly."

The hoohooligan's face looked grim. "Ah. Beanies. The imps of the mountain." They shook their head. "They are much tougher than they look, that I can say for a fact." They looked back up at Peach. "Your majesty, why don't you and I retrieve your brother so that we can take him back to my village and give him some medical attention."

Peach's heart welled with relief. "That would be perfect; thank you!"

The hoohooligan smiled before chanting the incantation again and making the cloud appear again. Together, they hopped on it and rose back into the air. Peach's mind raced as this happened, mostly because of the concern she felt for her older brother. Oh, I hope he'll be okay, she said in her head. Please dear Grambi let him be okay.