Chapter 17 Fears

Peach blinked as she took in the place surrounding her. It was an all-barren wasteland, so empty and dead. Not a single stray wind jostled the ashen gray land. There were no trees, no mountains, and no manmade structures. She could see from one horizon line to another, and it made her feel smaller than she had ever felt before.

The queen swallowed a lump. The silence beat down on her as if some evil being was clamping their hands directly on top of her ears. She wanted to hear something, anything that would indicate that she wasn't alone in this eerie dust bowl. She would even take seeing the appearance of one of her sworn enemies over this… haunting wilderness.

Eventually, it occurred to her that she wasn't going to see anything if she were to stay still. She put one foot forward, cringing when she took the step. She looked behind her, noticing her footprint for a split second before some invisible force completely washed it away. Feeling her stomach churn like butter, she faced forward.

No point looking back if it would only make things worse.

She walked through the land, trying to see if there was any trace of color. All she saw was gray, from the dirt beneath her feet to the lifeless sky hanging over her head. It was almost as if she had lost her ability to see color at all, and like everything else that the dismal sights displayed, it beat down on her. She decided that she needed to call out if she were to have any hope of finding someone.

"Hello?" Her voice was softer than a bacterium's whisper. She knew that she needed to be louder if she was going to attract anyone's attention. "Hello?" Okay, that was still pretty quiet, but it would do. She looked from one direction to the other, hoping to see a person. Unfortunately, she still saw nothing but the colorless wastes.

Sweat started to roll down Peach's back, much more frequently than it did normally. Seriously, what was this place? How did she end up here? Where were the people? Statistically, there should be just one… ONE measly person who dwelled in these parts. And yet, nothing. It was one of the most nerve-wracking things that the Beanbean queen had ever experienced. Actually, it was more than just nerve-wracking.

It was terrifying.

Peach felt a shiver, even though the temperature of this place hadn't changed in the slightest. She rubbed her arms, willing herself to keep walking forward. I'll find someone eventually, she thought. And maybe if I do, I can ask them what this place is supposed to be. After all, Peach had never heard about a place as haunting as this in her royal studies. The only thing that even came close was the Koopa Kingdom, but even then, that realm had mountains and volcanoes. This place had absolutely nothing, which only served to add to the queen's dread and confusion.

So, she trudged across the land. After a little bit, it felt as though her feet were starting to sting. Looking down, she gasped to see that she wasn't wearing shoes. How…how could this be? Wasn't she wearing shoes earlier?

Well, even if she was, that knowledge wouldn't help her right now. For some bizarre reason, the ashy black ground dug into the bottom of her feet. It was like she was standing on top of needles, needles constructed solely out of broken glass. Peach lifted her foot, swallowing a batch of vomit when she saw little red cuts bleeding out.

Deciding that it would be best if she didn't look, she put her foot down and resumed walking. She began calling out again, calling out to anyone who was present and willing to listen. Her soft, feminine voice was like a raindrop landing in the ocean; so small and so insignificant that no one would spare it a second thought. She bit her lip, telling herself to not panic. Sure, both her chances of survival as well as the land around her were looking pretty bleak, but…

Wait. Was… was that a person? Peach looked forward, squinted actually. She could barely see them, but they were certainly there, standing in the form of a silhouette amidst the sea of gray. Relief flooded Peach's soul like it never had before. Ignoring her injured feet, she rushed toward the person. She huffed and puffed, but she didn't dare stop. That person was more than just a person; they were her ticket out of there and her only way to get answers.

Eventually, she caught up with the person. As she panted, trying to get her breath back, she saw that they appeared like a hoohooligan. They had the same body type and were about the same height. But… since when were hoohooligan's gray? They were as colorless as everything else Peach saw, and it… it was off-putting.

Ignoring the little voice in her head that told her to run, she put her hand on the hoohooligan's shoulder. They turned, and their face was the most dismal face the queen had ever seen in her life. There was no light and no spark in her eyes; they just looked like two endless, eternally black pools. Their mouth wasn't any better; they frowned in a way that was simultaneously saddening and worrisome. Aside from their mouth though, their face didn't appear to be conveying any other kind of emotion. They were as unreadable as a blank sheet of paper, one that someone had made two big dots on with an inky black pen.

Like before, Peach swallowed a lump. "Um… excuse me sir, but could you tell me where I am?"

The hoohooligan slowly tilted their head up to her, as if they were some sort of broken animatronic. Chills ran up and down Peach's spine, and she once again heard the voice in her head telling her to flee. Still, though, she ignored it as she waited for this stranger to answer her question.

"You are nowhere."

Peach blinked. "Uh… pardon?"

"You are nowhere," the hoohooligan repeated with a firmness in their voice that wasn't there before. "There is nowhere for you to go, and there is nowhere that you came from. There is nothing for you here, and there never will be again."

Peach's mind instantly latched onto the last thing that they said. "Never again? You mean there was something here before?"

The hoohooligan looked back at her with their thousand-yard stare. Slowly, they turned and began walking away. It took far longer than Peach was proud of to realize that they were leaving her, leaving her in this wilderness without any other words.

"HEY!" She called out after them. She began following them, feeling a sort of frustration welling up within her. They couldn't just leave her with some vague, cryptic statement like that! She needed them to explain what was going on! "Come back!"

The hoohooligan didn't turn around. Peach noticed fog coming in from the sides of her vision, and it covered the entire land. She tried to keep her eyes locked on the stranger, but they seemed to have vanished in the clouds. Peach bit her lip, trying her best to deal with all the emotions making themselves known in her heart. This… this wasn't the end! It couldn't be the end! There was more to this; this place wasn't "nowhere." It had a name, it had a history. Come hell or high water, she was going to solve this place's mysteries and figure out what was going on.

So, she ran through the fog. She once again focused on the goal she had before encountering the stranger; that being, finding any sign of life or civilization. For a good two minutes, she didn't see anything of significance. Her frustration grew at an alarming rate, like a poisoned oak that was digging its roots into her heart. She frowned; scowled, actually. This shouldn't be so hard! There had to be something she was missing, something she wasn't seeing! She didn't know what that something was, but dammit, she would find it!

She continued searching. She squinted through the fog so much that it put a strain on her eyes, but she didn't care. She had a goal. She wasn't going to stop. She couldn't stop.

Unfortunately, she eventually did see what she was looking for. In her search, she tripped over something in the fog. Turning around, she gasped when she saw it was a person. Wait, no, not a person; a person's dead body. They lay in the dirt, not moving or showing any reaction to the fact that Peach had trampled over them. Their eyes were closed, but they didn't look peaceful. With that horrible frown on their face, it looked as though they had suffered the most painful death possible.

Peach had no choice but to look away. She began walking again but soon found that that corpse wasn't the only corpse in this place. There were hundreds, all scattered around her. They lay on the ashy ground, all looking like their death was one of suffering. As someone who had never seen a dead body before, Peach felt as though she was about to throw up.

She continued walking, doing her best to ignore this sight as she hoped that she would eventually see someone alive. She wanted to call out again but knew that doing so would just give her nausea invitation to take her over. So, she stayed silent. She searched every last inch of this place, praying that she would eventually find the life that she sought.

In her search, she came crashing into what felt like a very heavy rock. She fell to the ground, cursing under her breath as she tried to combat the pain. Raising herself to her feet, she took deep breaths before lifting her head to look at the rock. Or, rather, the sign. It looked old, older than any other sign Peach had seen in her life. Dust and dirt covered it like a headstone, and it was just as gray.

Despite this, Peach felt relieved to see this sign. This would tell her where she was. This would provide her with the answers she sought. So, she reached out her hand. She wiped off the dirt on the top of the sign first, uncovering letters. There was a W, there was an E. Within no time, the word "Welcome" was fully visible. Smiling (mostly because of relief) Peach wiped off the next word. This one was "to," as to be expected from a sign of this nature. Feeling her excitement and relief multiplying, she wiped off the last few words with gusto.

As soon as they were visible, all of the queen's excitement vanished. She gasped, her eyes growing wide as she saw what the sign said. She shook, unwilling to believe what she was seeing. No! It… it can't be!

"Welcome to the Beanbean Kingdom."

All at once, every last inch of Peach's body felt dreadfully sick. Turning away from the sign, she noticed for the first time that the corpses littering the ground were those of beanish people.

"No." She closed her eyes, and a whimper escaped through her mouth. "This isn't true. It can't be true."

"Our queen doomed us."

Peach's blood turned to ice when she heard those whispers. She lifted her head, hearing the whispers growing louder. And the louder they grew, the more Peach was able to detect the ire in their inflection. The disappointment. The hatred.

"Our queen doomed us. You doomed us."

Peach began backing up. "No." Tears fell staining the gray ground black. "No…" she wanted to say more, wanted to deny the truth these whispers were saying. Alas, she couldn't. She knew she couldn't.

"You doomed us. And now… you shall pay."

The ground from under Peach's bare feet gave out, giving way to a pit that had orange lava glowing at the bottom. Being the only thing of color that she had seen in this landscape, Peach's fear became all the more strong when she saw it. She screamed as she plummeted to the lava, tears falling from her eyes as she felt its heat getting stronger and stronger.

"NOOO!"

…

"No!"

Peach bolted upright, sweating a cold sweat as she sat in bed. She hyperventilated and hyperventilated a lot. She looked around, her brain not even fully grasping what she was seeing at first.

She didn't even feel relieved when she did realize where she was.

"Ohh…" she put her hands to her head, groaning as the tears grew stronger and stronger. "Oh, what have I done?" She sunk a little bit into Hoolina's mattress. "What have I done…" Her insides churned, and her soul ached. She wanted to disappear, wanted to do something that would make up for all her sins.

"PEACH!"

Peach bolted upright, gasping when she saw her brother. "Peasley!" She hyperventilated again. "Peasley, I just had the most terrible nightmare…"

"PUT YOUR SHOES AND BACKPACK ON! WE NEED TO GO!"

Peach's heart skipped a beat. "Go? Go where?"

"THERE'S NO TIME TO EXPLAIN! WE NEED TO GO! NOW!"

Deciding it would be best not to question Peasley, Peach bolted out of bed and began getting her stuff ready so they could run.