CHAPTER V

This night spent at her castle left him with many unanswered questions.

Mario had awakened up some hours after Bowsette's dramatic episode. He looked at her sleeping face. So sound, safe and lovely, a part of him couldn't believe she was the same and cruel Koopa princess. Truth be told, she was beautiful of his eyes. He could not stay any longer unfortunately; he was in enemy territory after all. Mario had been very careful not to wake her up by carrying her on the bed. He had covered her delicately with her cotton sheets. And silently, he had escaped the castle through the balcony with no noises made, but many worries left in his heart.

After he had regained his home, the sun was already risen. Luckily for him, Master Luigi was still sleeping. He did not want to bring him worry nor felt the need to answer numerous questions. He walked in haste to his room and swiftly landed on his bed. His mind acted like the rest of his body and laid all of his being to sleep. He dearly needed it. One thing did not stop resonating in his slumber; the image of Bowsette. Not as the cruel princess of evilness that she was known to be, but as a young woman crying for help. That impression would stay in his heart like a symbol marked with hot iron.

**

"You let him escape???" Kamek was in a state of shock, anger and disappointment.

"Yeah..." Bowsette simply said. She looked aimlessly to her side, her chin held by her right hand.

"And you're cancelled the attack?!"

"Yeah..."

"Why?! The plan would have been—"

"Kamek!" Bowsette interrupted him with a loud, but calm voice. "I..."

"Your Highness?" Kamek was clueless about her behavior. He was surprised of the lack of energy that she usually carried; whether in anger or evil optimism.

Princess Bowsette leaned forwardly as she joined her hands together in front of her lower face. She shut her eyes in a short reflection. The princess was not known for being thoughtful as such. Other than for kidnapping Princess Peach or planning her evil scheming, she was not known for much else. But a brush with death could make anyone re-evaluate some life's choices.

She was no exception.

The silence was short, but too heavy for Kamek to let it last. "What is going on—"

"I died last night," she said opening her eyes again. "Literally."

More confusion was added to Kamek's mind. He stared at her waiting for a justification for such words. Whatever the next words that would escape her lips, there was one thing clear: she was not kidding on the matter.

"I had a nightmare about him, and them," she started. Kamek knew exactly what she meant by them. The silent jolt on his face was proof of it. "Among all the nightmares I had, this one was so realistic. Father grabbed me by the neck and kept reminding me of how much of a failure I was. It felt so real that my body felt the pain; I literally couldn't breath. I couldn't wake myself from this torture. And then, I felt my body going numb, and then... nothing. I was gone."

Kamek was speechless to Bowsette's nocturnal ordeal. He felt powerless towards her at this moment; he could have lost her forever.

"Your Highness, I..." he said with dread. "I feel ashamed that I couldn't have saved you from such horrible pain!"

She moved her head slightly sideways. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known."

"But if you died, then..."

Bowsette sighed as she gazed at the windowed doors of her balcony. Her eyes looked as if they were reminiscing a fresh memory. Her eyes set on the red cap with the letter M imprinted red on a white circle.

"Mario..." she said. "He had escaped the cage. He was looking for an exit; that's when he entered my room. He saw me having an apnea cardiac arrest and then die. He could have left me here dead; I am his sworn enemy after all. But he didn't. He brought me back from death with CPR." She stopped to take a deep breath and continued. "I woke up from the grave in a huge startled, confused, angry and scared beyond my mind. I didn't understand why he saved my life. But when I managed to ask him, he said that he couldn't let me die like that; that it would be cowardly if he had."

"He... saved your life..." There was a blend of relief and incomprehension in the wizard's voice.

Bowsette got abruptly up from her seat in frustration. The words Mario had told her still bothered her core. As she walked around aimlessly, she still could not believe to be alive thanks to her sworn enemy. She had always believed that one fateful day that they would be locked in absolute battle in which only one could walk out alive. But after this brush of death and second chance at life, her perspective was changing, though she would not want to admit it. Her life was impacted in the most unexpected way. It was as if she only believed in blue and yellow, and someone showed her green for the first time.

She did not know what to think anymore.

Frustration building up, she let out a huge curtain of fire in the air through an angered cry. She ripped her throne from its bolts and propelled it through the balcony doors, making the seat now airborne.

She finally let out a long and relieved sigh. Everyone had their own way to vent building stress; hers was throwing royal furniture outside with brute strength.

Kamek walked to her now-calmed side. The shattered glass crushed under his shoes, but he made a few steps to halt the annoyance of the sound.

"Your Highness," Kamek said softly, "you are well and alive. Isn't that what matters the most?"

"It does! But..." she said clenching her fists. "Of all people, why him?"

"Who cares if it was Mario who saved you!" Kamek said with disgust. "You don't owe him anything—"

"But I do owe him, don't I?!" she shouted back! "You would have walked to a corpse if it wasn't for him! Or am I wrong?"

Although Bowsette was conflicted with her feelings, she saw wisdom from what Mario had done for her. Kamek, on the other end, was not ready to concede anything to the plumber, even if he had saved the Koopa monarch. He wanted to oppose her words, but he could not. And whether he agreed or not, there was truth in her saying.

She started walking towards the gates of the throne room. She took Mario's cap on her way from her dresser. "Guards!" She shouted.

The giant doors opened. Two large Koopa guards, armored and hammer to their waist, bowed to her, "How can we be of service, your Majesty?"

"Ready my ship!" she said with calm authority, "I'm heading to the Mushroom Kingdom!"

Kamek started following her. "I hope you're changing your mind about planning an attack—"

"I said I am heading to the Mushroom Kingdom; you're not coming."

"What?" Kamek's surprise was raw. "But—"

"I need to deal with this on my own," she said. "And I hate owing debts."

"This is ludicrous! What if they sneak an attack on you and kill you in the process?"

The princess's attitude suddenly changed as her eyes and slit pupils were embedded in a color as vivid as blood. A pure aura of fear and dominance surrounded the room coming from her royal instance. The Hammer brothers at the gate along with Kamek, despite his wizardry prowess, trembled at her sight and distanced themselves from a few steps.

"Do you find me that weak, Kamek?"

"M-my apologies, your Highness... I forgot my place." He bowed to her apologetically.

The imposing air dissipated as she returned to her usual self. She walked a few steps outside the throne room, but slowly stopped.

The way Mario had qualified her legacy was troublesome as well. Not because of the insulting tone behind his explaining, but because of the realization of it. Bowsette wondered if he was right in his words; that her legacy was always to lose.

"Kamek..." she said.

"Yes, your Highness?"

"What's my legacy?"

Kamek did not grasp the question's meaning. "Whatever do you mean, your Highness?"

"No..." she sighs. "It's nothing. Forget it."

Guided by her guards, she left the throne room to head towards her kingdom's rival.

On a usual day, she would have been thrilled for a classic kidnapping of Princess Peach Toadstool. Today was not one of them. She had to confront the stir within her heart on her own. And Mario was the key for such matter; it started with him, it had to end with him.