Forbidden Fruit (A Bowigi Fanfic)

... is no sancutary

The hospital ward was a place Bowser hated being.  He hated watching his troops get hurt or worse die because of a stupid war his father had started. A stupid war he couldn't end. 

The worst part of all was that when he entered the hospital wing, he could see the doctors, nurses and even some patients suddenly tense.  He knew, for the patient's sake, that he had to make his visit brief. 

Luckily, all of the patients injured in last night's raid would make a full recovery.  Still, he felt bad.  It was a botched kidnapping. Next time, he should just go in and get her himself. But if it went bad... his people would be without a King. Or worse, a King like his Father. 

Morton Koopa Sr had been a tyrant. He instilled his troops with fear threatening them of what he might do to them if they dared disobeyed. He craved power, was a cruel King and an absent father. When Bowser learned about his father being run off a cliff by yoshis, his biggest concern was that he didn't feel ready to be a King.

Hell, he still felt that way.  Being a king would probably be a daunting task at best.  Right now, it was at its worst.  He started off by inheriting the figurehead position and leadership of a war he didn't start. He wasn't even alive when the war started. He had millions of troops who thought he was just like his Father.

To be fair to them, he didn't exactly give them much proof.  He had his father's temper and frequently yelled, broke and, set fire to things.  He had never laid a finger on a troop. Prisoners and enemies? Of course.  He also had to deal with propaganda being sent in from the Mushroom Kingdom. Propaganda that made him sound worse than he was, made his troops actively afraid of him like his father, and the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom hate him with passion hotter than the lava surrounding his castle. A castle that despite being full of citizens, sometimes felt like a prison for the lonely King. 

He shook his head and grumbled to himself as he left the hospital wing after speaking with the doctors and troops. He was hungry, he always got mopey when he was hungry.  He began to make his way toward the kitchens.  There'd probably be a couple of cooks doing some prep for tomorrow's breakfast, but they were used to Bowser's late-night visits.  They knew he wouldn't bother them if they didn't bother him.

What they didn't know was that the king wished they would say hello, he wished they'd ask about his day or even just acknowledge him. He was better at turning this pathetic version of himself off during the day, but he simply didn't have the energy at night.

When he first became king, he wanted the first thing he ever did to be ending the war.  Within a week of his coronation, he sent a letter to the Mushroom Kingdom.  It was ignored. He assumed that it must have got lost in all the mail Princess Peach got.  So he sent another with a larger more elaborate envelope.  Still nothing.  He continued to send letters for two years becoming more and more desperate.  Finally, he proposed a political marriage out of desperation.

She finally responded, "Absolutely not," and nothing more.

Bowser was angry.  No,  furious. Letter after letter had gone unanswered until the, admittedly, crazy one.  That was when he kidnapped Princess Peach for the first time. He wanted to talk to her but she wouldn't listen, or even look his way.  That was also the first time he had met Mario and Luigi, they arrived later to retrieve Peach and teach Bowser a lesson.

When Peach returned, the rumours about him being hopelessly in love with her began.  He was portrayed as a stalker, a creep, and well... a monster.  

He kidnapped her again to ask about all that and again tried to talk to her.  Of course, it didn't work.

The rumours continued to fly.  He could hear it in the whispers of his own troops and even the staff around the castle. He was a monster and a tyrant kidnapping an innocent princess.  At this point, it became very clear to Bowser that he couldn't win.  There wouldn't be peace or an end to the war.  No sense in trying to fight it, he might as well just be who everyone saw him as.  

He continued to capture the princess and repeat his cycle of torture again and again.  It was incredibly exhausting being someone he wasn't.  He hated the facade but sometimes he even found himself keeping it up when it was just Kamek. Or worse, when he was alone.  Sometimes, he feared that he was becoming that version of himself.

He shuddered at the thought and pushed open the kitchen door. 

As predicted the staff seemed to tense but did not acknowledge him.  He wished he could disappear or become someone else, even just for a few moments.  He quickly gathered more food than he could possibly eat in one night in his arms and ducked out of the room.  He could almost hear the collective sigh. 

On his way back to his room he made a quick stop by the cellar to grab a bottle of wine.  Like he needed any more.  He had a mini fridge (regular size for any other koopa) in his room.  He felt like a cool one rather than a cold one this evening. 

When he arrived at his room he felt himself relax and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.  He laid out the food on the balcony table, poured himself a glass of wine, and sat back in the custom-made chair to accommodate his shell.  He rarely took it off anymore for fear someone may try to attack him while he was asleep or resting. 

The King closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the warm air blowing up from the volcanic landscape surrounding him. 

He let himself relax for 5, maybe 10 minutes.

Suddenly, there was a crash from behind him and he knew his plans for the night were ruined.