Chapter 20 A Yucky Task

Peach's stomach churned as she followed Tolstar. She imagined all the things that he would force her to do, the horrible things that would create quite the roadblock for her. Were they going to fight? Was he going to do something unexpected, like throw her off a cliff? She didn't know, and it was killing her. She knew that if they were going to fight, there was no way she'd be able to win. Peasley might've had a better chance, but seeing as how he was gone, Peach essentially had no hope of getting out of such a situation. And thus, her stomach continued to churn.

Her stomach stopped, however, when she saw a little hut appearing in the distance. Peach blinked at the sight of it, the brown standing out amongst the sparkly purple this landscape boasted. She looked at Tolstar, unsure of what exactly this meant. He didn't stop walking, and something inside the queen's mind told her that asking him probably wouldn't be the wisest action. So, swallowing a lump, she just followed after him.

When they got to the hut, Tolstar held up his hand to signal Peach to stop. He got out some keys and turned them in the lock, gesturing for the queen to enter, By this point, Peach's worries were through the roof. She had heard stories of what happened to people when they went into a stranger's house. Those stories had kept her up at night as a little girl, and now they were making her feel sick to her stomach. She tried to get her breathing under control, thinking that if she showed Tolstar any sign that she was afraid, the sequence of events that followed would be infinitely worse. But even though she didn't reveal her fear, she still felt like she was drowning in it. She tried to keep herself from collapsing as Tolstar closed the door and approached the queen.

"Follow me."

Peach nodded, albeit hesitantly. The two of them walked through the main room of the hut, which Peach immediately noticed was covered in gunk. Trash was everywhere, even in places where it seemed impossible for trash to be present. Peach also noticed the smell, and it made her gag. She had never smelled something this atrocious. As royalty, she spent most of her life in squeaky-clean perfection. Servants always went out of their way to ensure that her living quarters were spotless and aromatic. This was the exact opposite of that. If it wasn't for the fact that she needed to follow Tolstar to gain access to the Mushroom Kingdom, she would run out of this hut projectile vomiting

And honestly, the room that Tolstar ultimately took her to made the desire to projectile vomit almost impossible to ignore. The place in question was a bathroom, and it. Was. DISGUSTING! Everywhere in here looked to be covered in literal shit, and the parts that weren't were covered in metaphorical shit. The trash that was in the other parts of the house was present and accounted for here. Cobwebs were situated in the corners. And what REALLY creeped the queen out was that she could see things moving out of the corner of her eye. She never got a good look at any of those things because they scurried away when she turned to head, but even still… gross. Gross gross gross.

"If you wish to get to the Mushroom Kingdom," Tolstar said, turning toward her with a grin as nasty as the room, "then you will clean this room up for me."

Peach swallowed a batch of vomit. "Clean the room…" Oh dear word, how could she do that? No, seriously, how could she do that? Not only would spending another second in this room be a literal hell, but she had never cleaned a room once in her life. Sure, she had kept her bedroom straightened up for most of her life, but a bathroom? No. She had never cleaned a bathroom, instead having the task be done by her servants. She didn't even know where to start. She didn't know what she was supposed to do or how she was supposed to do it.

In other words, she was screwed.

"The cleaning supplies is in that cabinet," Tolstar said, pointing to a cabinet that had grime on the door. "I will be back in two hours to see how you're doing it." He chuckled. "So, you might want to get your royal highness to work, because if it isn't clean by the time I get back… well, it's back to the Beanbean Kingdom for you."

With that, Tolstar left, leaving the horrified and disgusted Peach alone. Her legs shook, and she tried to keep herself from collapsing. This… she couldn't do this. She really had no idea what she was doing. She did know that you weren't supposed to mix chemicals, but that was something everyone under the sun knew. She didn't know anything else! She knew more about the secrets of the universe than she did about cleaning bathrooms. Part of her was tempted to leave, to try to find another way to enter the Mushroom Kingdom.

But what other ways to the Mushroom Kingdom were there?

Swallowing a lump, Peach put on a determined face. "I can do this." She gripped her hand into a fist. "I can DO this!" She was going to do this. She would clean this bathroom and get to the Mushroom Kingdom. If Peasley was here, he would give her enough encouragement to last a month. He would tell her that she could do this, so guess what? She was going to believe in those words, and she was going to clean this bathroom.

So, still wearing the determined face, she opened the cabinet. Inside was a cylinder container with the name brand Meteor on it, as well as what looked like cleaning wipes. Letting out a breath, she reached for the Meteor and read the directions. "Okay, sprinkle on a surface or in the toilet if you wish to clean…" she nodded. "Simple enough."

With that, she opened the toilet. She almost threw up upon seeing the interior, but she pushed her disgust to the side. She sprinkled the Meteor inside it, thinking about all the people that she hoped to save. Her mother. Lady Lima. All the citizens who had showed up at her coronation. All the servants who have dedicated their lives to ensuring her quality of life. All of their lives were on the line, and they were all counting on her. She would save them. She would get rid of the darkness covering the Beanbean Kingdom, and above all else, she would be the queen that her kingdom so desperately needed.

Once she finished sprinkling the Meteor, she noticed a toilet brush. Figuring that was the way to clean the bowl, she picked it up and started scrubbing. She smiled when she saw the results, feeling delighted that the stains were getting washed away. It was like magic, in a way; the best, most amazing magic Peach had ever observed. After about ten minutes and a whole heck of a lot of scrubbing, the toilet was clean. Sparkling, as a matter of fact; it resembled the toilets Peach was accustomed to using. Closing the bowl, she cleared her throat and stood up, She observed the rest of the bathroom, feeling a new kind of confidence. She managed to clean the toilet. She could clean everything else.

She knew she could.

…

After about an hour and a half, the bathroom had gone through one of the most dramatic and jaw-dropping transformations in the world. The brown walls were white not, the sink looked clean as a whistle, and the floor was spick and span. Peach smiled as she observed her handiwork. She had no idea how, but she had managed to do it; she had actually cleaned a bathroom! She even wiped the mirrors down and got the cobwebs off the ceiling! Talk about a major glow-up!

Of course, Peach's limbs were a little sore and her fingers a little rough after all that crouching and scrubbing. But somehow, even those feelings were pleasant. They told her that she had put all the effort she could into these tasks. They showed her that she had done a good job, that she had pushed herself and took a risk that paid off immensely. Besides, feeling sore was definitely preferable to feeling nauseous, so she would gladly accept the strain on her muscles.

So, with a grin, Peach exited the room (after washing her hands of course). Wiping her brow, she lifted her head… and was immediately met with disgust once again. The bathroom might have been clean, but the rest of the house was still a dump. As such, Peach didn't know if she would be able to wait the whole thirty minutes for Tolstar to return in here. It just wasn't possible.

But… well, Peach did clean the bathroom. And she did have half an hour left, so…

…

Okay, now THIS was more like it! The little hut that Tolstar claimed as his own sparkled like a jewel. Not one speck of unwelcome dust was present. The floors were so clean one could eat off of them, the windows looked like they were made out of crystal. Even the trash that had been strewn all over the floor was gone, and as such, Peach's soul felt leagues more comfortable being in this place. Smiling, she lowered herself down on the couch. She laughed to herself, her soul dancing over the fact that this dumpster was now a liveable abode.

"Well, Peasley." Peach put her hand up to her sapphire broach. "I did it. I made some good progress with our little quest." She frowned. "You would probably be really proud of me if you were here." She sniffled. Wiping a tear from her eye, she let go of the broach and wiped the rest of her tears away. She… she was going to be sad about this for the rest of her life, wasn't she? This was worse than how she felt when Peasley left the castle for the first time. At least then, there was the possibility that her brother was alive and well.

Peach shook her head. She shouldn't dwell on this. Peasley would want her to keep moving forward. He would want her to complete the quest and save the Kingdom. So, she wasn't going to cry over this. She was a queen; she couldn't cry over this.

Creak.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Peach immediately perked up. She rose to her feet, her soul dancing when she spotted Tolstar. She only grew more giddy when she saw his face, shocked and appalled in the most pleasant way possible. The way his jaw dropped, the way his eyes bulged… Peach was responsible for this. She was responsible for making his day.

"Well. What do you think?"

Tolstar blinked his eyes out. "I only asked you to clean the bathroom! You cleaned the whole house?"

"Yes, yes I did." All at once, Peach felt a little squirmy. "Is… is that okay?"

Tolstar stood frozen for a minute, inadvertently making the suspense build. Peach sweated bullets and her mind raced as she worried about what this strange creature was going to say next. If he was actually upset about this… if he really didn't appreciate Peach doing this to his home…

Thankfully, Tolstar eventually put on the biggest, brightest smile. "Of course it's alright!" He laughed, the sound making Peach breathe a sigh of relief. "That actually saves me a lot of trouble! I completely forgot to clean up during spring cleaning, but since you did it for me…" he beamed at her. "You, ma'am, are a godsend!"

Peach's heart welled with pride. "Well… I figured it would just be a nice thing to do."

"And indeed it was. You, Queen Peach, have earned access to the Mushroom Kingdom."

Peach grinned. "Thank you so much, Tolstar." She started moving toward the door, but Tolstar stopped her by grabbing hold of her hand.

"Hold on just a minute." His eyes glittered. "Since you did more than what was required of you, I was wondering if I could make you a meal?"

"A meal?" Peach thought about this. That would be nice, but she needed to get to the Mushroom Kingdom right away. The more time she spent dilly-dallying, the more time her subjects would spend as zombies. She couldn't stop for anything.

But, then again, it has been a while since she's actually eaten anything. And she knew that she couldn't ignore her basic needs, even on a quest.

"You know what? I'd really like that."