Princess

Part 7: The Dark

The days were now shorter, colder and harsher to bear. Despite all these negative aspects of the fall, Peach was happier. The darkness brought on by the daylight fading faster calmed her. It left her alone to brood and mourn the loss of so many souls in this hell. It was a concentration camp masked as a castle. The body count had to be over a thousand by now, almost the entire population of Toad Town gone, reduced to ashes by the executioners on the Koopa Kingdom's payroll. Bowser, being a sick and twisted bastard, had resorted to slaughtering members of his army if they slipped up, just to bump up the number of deaths that had taken place at his Auschwitz-Esque death camp. 

New methods of taking lives had been employed as well, ones much more brutal than the decapitation method. Electric chair, lethal doses of drugs that had been banned decades ago but were making a comeback, shooting, burning at stake, and so many more outdated medieval murder methods that had been brought back alive, courtesy of perhaps the most evil ruler to ever exist. Bowser used to be just plain nasty, now though? He was fucking insane. Deranged, even. Crazed with power.

And all because of her. If she'd never shown a shred of kindness to the psychopathic redheaded king, none of this shit would have happened. If she'd never risen to the Mushroom Kingdom's ruler position, none of this would have happened. If she'd never depended on Mario, none of this would have happened. If she'd never been so weak, none of this would have happened.

Her pathetic cry of 'Mario!' haunted her. It had always been the same. He'd gaze up at whatever monstrosity Bowser had had his mechanically talented children create, then he'd watch her writhe and struggle against the iron-grip of the creation as she called his name frantically, then he'd come save her before Bowser could conduct the plan that he was now finally putting into action. Mario was gone, there was nobody to stop him now. A bullet to the head had blown out the light in her life and she was left in the dark. 

Peach's eyes wandered across the pale grey sky, the clouds as bleak as she felt, imagining what her late lover would be doing if he were still alive. He'd be smiling, Mario always had a peppy, cheerful grin on his face, even in the most dire of circumstances. His smile was one of the most charming parts of him. His smile was one of the things that lifted her spirits on a particularly depressing day locked in her chambers. He'd never failed to give her the energy boost she needed to power through the duties as ruler that made her want to throw her now hidden crown against the wall and just be a civilian for once in her life. Yet, as she was not and had never been and probably would never be legally Queen, all her decisions had been made by her guardian, a seemingly ancient Toad named Toadsworth, who had served both her grandparents, parents and herself. He was an old-school bore but he'd treated her like she was a favourite granddaughter instead of his 'boss', earning himself a special place in her heart. Ever since her parents had disappeared, he'd taken the position of parent. But now, due to the cold and cruel heartedness of the monster who ruled over her and many others, he was a pile of ashes amongst many others who'd met the same fate. 

"Calm yourself, Peachy," she said aloud to herself, her eyes gazing into the moonlit room before her. She'd never talked to herself before, but somehow it just felt right, in a sense. 

"How?" she asked herself, becoming aware that what she was doing would make herself be considered off her rocker and completely mad. She felt relaxed, strangely. Her voice talking to nothing eased off some of the tension that constantly resided in her body. 

"For starters, you're still here. You'll be here for the rest of your life, might as well not live it wracked with terror and grief," she began, "And you're a strong woman. You can do this. There's nothing that is going to break you down to bones, I believe in you."

"But you are going to break down, you're doing it right now. You aren't a strong woman, a strong woman would never be in this situation in the first place. You're a fucking failure," the colder, meaner side of herself growled. The sour Peach was the side of her she had blocked off so many years ago. It couldn't be coming back. She'd banished it. Sour Peach had to be gone. She was a changed woman now. 

"S-stop. I'm not you anymore. Go back to the hell you came from," Peach stuttered, desperately trying to forget Sour Peach ever existed.

"You created me. If I'd never existed, you wouldn't be the prim and proper whiny bitch you are now. I formed you into who you are, so be fucking grateful," Sour Peach sneered. Peach could practically imagine Sour Peach. Her cold, crimson eyes and her deranged grin. She knew Sour Peach was just another figment of her imagination, brought on by a deeply-rooted loose hinge in her mind. But Sour Peach was so real. Too real. Sour Peach was what had turned Peach into the respected monarch destined to make the Mushroom Kingdom thrive and be the greatest it possibly could. Sour Peach was, as much as Peach hated to admit, the 'real' Peach. 

"Remember that time you wanted to stab Daisy? Duh, you do. How could you forget? You planned it all out in graphic detail. You'd stab her exactly six times, you-" Sour Peach taunted. 

"Shut up shut up shut up!" Peach screamed, cutting her alter-ego's sentence short, her thankfully short nails clawing at her temples, desperately trying to rid her brain of Sour Peach. Yet Sour Peach would never leave. She'd always be there, taunting, laughing and driving Peach to the point of madness where she acted out Sour Peach's plans. Footsteps thudded down the corridor and the door was flung open, a pair of warm and comforting arms wrapping themselves around the distressed princess, halting her attempts at getting rid of Sour Peach in their tracks. 

The person and Peach stayed in their embrace for well over twenty minutes, the only sounds being their soft, rhythmic breathing and the occasional brushing of fabric on fabric. Peach felt dizzy, her head spinning with thoughts of Sour Peach. She surely wasn't going to return for good. Right? Sour Peach was almost as bad as Bowser. What if he found out about Sour Peach? What if he used Sour Peach to manipulate her into doing his evil bidding? Sour Peach didn't have any of Peach's morals and wouldn't hesitate to go along with what Bowser said. Sour Peach was crazy, delusional, she'd even go as far as to say that Sour Peach was evil. But she was Sour Peach. Her brain ached from all the panicking and overthinking she was doing about Sour Peach.

She looked up at her consoler to say 'thank you', but her mouth turned as dry as sand and her mouth couldn't form the words. The crimson eyes gazed into her cerulean orbs and the smile formed, sharp, pointy teeth adding the final piece to the puzzle of horror.

"Don't worry," Sour Peach said, "We're not in the dark yet."

The words swam around Peach's head until she blacked out and the illusion was shattered, Sour Peach vanishing back to the place she came from.

Read Player 2 to understand what all of this means