Princess

Part 1: Belonging

Peach gazed forlornly out of the window at the wasteland beyond the walls of her prison. She longed for the days before her lover had been taken from her side in an attempt to save her from the most extreme kidnapping in history. Many lives had been lost that day. Peach wished she was amongst the corpses that had littered the streets. Being dead would be a thousand times better than being trapped in Bowser's castle with no way to leave. No red-capped plumber would save her this time. There was no jovial Toad ready to guide someone on their adventure to rescue her. Peach was alone in this mess. The only person she knew that was remotely safe in this fiasco was Rosalina, and even then she'd heard Bowser devising plans to kidnap her and enslave her. Nothing would escape unscathed. 

She heard the noise she'd been dreading. The door lock clicked open and was pushed open to allow her kidnapper in before being locked once more. She hated the times he came to visit her. Bowser would try and be kind, but it was impossible for Peach to appreciate it. How could she feel anything towards the man who had ruined her life that wasn't hatred? 

"Princess," he crooned, appearing behind her and stroking her golden locks. She flinched at his touch. His clawed hand felt cold and reptilian. Peach had never been good with reptiles of any sort, they made her uneasy.

"Don't flinch when I touch you. It's rude." he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him. She shuddered, her disgust evident. 

"Are you ready for your big day, Princess?" he whispered into her ear, his hot breath making the hairs on her neck stand bolt upright. She wanted to stab him with the white wedding stilettos. She would kill herself before she married this monster. Angry tears dripped down her cheeks. 

"Answer me and stop crying." he hissed, roughly setting her down onto the window seat and glaring into her tear-filled eyes. She bit back the urge to spit in his face and instead muttered incomprehensible words that she knew he couldn't hear. Good, he wasn't meant to.

"Speak up you stupid bitch!" he snarled, raising a hand threateningly. Peach shrunk back, fearful of what he would do to her. She knew he wouldn't hesitate to hit her if she aggravated him further. No one would bat an eye if she turned up to her wedding with bruises scattered over her arms, they all knew Bowser had serious issues. Everyone was scared of him.

"I don't want to marry you!" she yelled, pushing him away from her. As he stumbled back a step, she realised what she'd done. She'd fucked up. Badly.

"What did you say?" he snarled, stalking towards her with his eyes practically ablaze with fury. He was angry. Bowser grabbed her arm and pulled her up, roughly. They locked eyes, fiery red to ocean blue. Bowser was angry. Extremely angry.

"I said, I don't want to marry you! I'll die before I kiss you!" she screamed, kicking him in the knee and trying to pull her arm out of his grasp. Peach would fight for her freedom. She wouldn't surrender.

"I own you. You belong to me. You must do as I say or else," his voice became low as he bent down to her level, "Your little princess friend gets sliced."

"What? Who? You can't kill someone!" Peach questioned, knowing that she sounded stupid by saying that. Of course he would kill someone. He'd already done it for fuck's sake. 

"Oh, Princess...I can do what I like. I can kill your precious Daisy in a second. If I wanted to, that is." he laughed. His laugh was cruel and mocking. Bowser knew that he could do anything he wanted. 

"You wouldn't dare." she hissed, her eyes narrowed. 

"I would. Now, don't ever defy me again. Because next time, it won't just be a threat." Bowser growled, releasing her arm and quickly exiting, leaving Peach alone with her thoughts once again. She sighed. Daisy was suffering because of her. Everything was her fault.

Peach walked back over to the window, gazing down at the sparse grass 50ft below her. She saw the medieval guillotine in the execution yard, which, to her disgust, had rusted blood on it. Bowser had clearly taken to ordering people to execute those who defied him. She hoped her best friend's head wouldn't be on that block anytime soon. She watched as another Toad was dragged forcefully towards the guillotine by Bowser's designated executioners, Wario and Waluigi. They performed a swift execution, displaying no emotion. The two really weren't the idiots that Peach had once thought they were.

A rapid knock sounded on her door and Kamek walked in, gesturing for a handcuffed Princess Daisy to enter. Kamek wasn't as mean as Bowser. 

"Princess, Bowser has requested for your friend to join you for about an hour. You may not leave this room, unfortunately. Enjoy your time together." the sorcerer said, removing Daisy's handcuffs and leaving the room. Peach listened for the click of the lock before running over to Daisy and throwing her arms around her in a tight hug.

"Peachy! You're choking me!" Daisy laughed, hugging her best friend back. They were practically sisters. 

"I missed you so much! I'm so sorry for getting you into this mess!" Peach cried, burying her face in Daisy's shoulder. She felt like a horrible friend. What kind of person allows their best friend to be captured and locked in a dungeon and not do anything about it? 

"It's not your fault, Peachy. None of this is your fault. I missed you too." Daisy soothed, rubbing her friends back comfortingly. Daisy never let anyone feel bad. She lead the weeping princess over to the bed and sat on it, gently rocking back and forth. She marvelled at the huge room, especially at the beautiful, extravagant wedding dress in the corner that was locked in a bulletproof glass case. It was so different to the dungeons Daisy had become used to, which were dim and cold with hundreds of people packed in them. 

"I'm still sorry. I should stop crying, Bowser doesn't like it if I cry..." she mumbled, sitting up straight and pushing her yellow hair back. She blinked a couple of times, her wet lashes enhancing her gorgeous, blue eyes. 

"Don't listen to that idiot. You deserve better." Daisy smiled, "Now, cheer up so we can have some fun. After all, I'm only here for an hour!"

Peach sniffled, a weak smile forming, "Alright. Who else is down there, in the dungeons?"

"Practically everyone, even some of the workers. I know for a fact that the executioners have a giant furnace that they burn all the bodies in. It's horrible, Peachy. It really is." Daisy sighed, her mind flashing back to the times when they pull a huge cart of bodies and heads through the dungeons and into a huge room. She kind of felt bad for the executioners. 

"Have we...lost anyone we know, personally?" Peach questioned, her voice quiet. Daisy was silent for a moment.

"Yes." Daisy murmured, trying to block out the thoughts of Toadette screaming for the executioners to let go of her. It was painful to think of these things. 

"Oh God...I wish I didn't have to marry this fuckwit. He's a psycho." Peach said, throwing her hands up and striding over to the window, resting her forehead on the glass as she contemplated jumping out of it. She knew she couldn't, the window was bulletproof glass and always locked, but if only. 

Daisy joined her, gazing out at the world she once walked with freedom. It was a wasteland. She heard loud, jovial whistling from the yard below and groaned, turning her head away. The executioners were back again, this time wielding a blue Yoshi as their unlucky victim. The Yoshi was screaming and cussing at them, but the pair of masked murderers ignored it. The Wario brothers were numb to the feeling of taking lives. Daisy wasn't as numb to watching it as they were. She couldn't stomach it. 

"How do you deal with this every day, Peachy?" Daisy asked, resting a hand on the blonde's shoulder, sighing as she fixed her gaze on a distant, withered tree that rested atop a hill. The Tanooki tree was their favourite place to go before all this mess.

"I don't know, Daisy. I really don't know." Peach murmured, shutting her eyes and imagining a world where she was just a humble princess who's biggest worry wasn't if she was going to watch her best friend die.

Woo! New book! Hope you guys enjoy, it took like 6 hours to write because I'm lazy. Did you like it? Leave your thoughts in the comments. Sorry if it sucks, I tried!