CHAPTER XVI

I had lived a long life. But... listening to Bowsette's origin story was raw in emotion.

I was wrong about her; we all were.

The emotional atmosphere weighted as heavy as the ocean. And instead of salt water, it was a mass of palpable guilt, sadness, regret and sorrow. From saddened faces to rivers of tears and loud sobbing, all our desires aimed at making the Koopa princess well again from now on. But alas, our combined regret was not able to change her past for a better one.

"Dear child," I said wiping tears from my old eyes, "there is not enough time in life itself to say how much my heart aches at the tale of your past. Do know that despite what happened that all of us here present will make sure that you never suffer as such ever again."

"Toadworth..." she said. "Your words mean an incredible lot to me. Thank you."

Master Mario held a very saddened face. He pulled Bowsette closer to him. I could tell that he, too, wanted to do more than humanly possible to see her well.

"I wish I could do something to ease your-a burden," he said to her. "I wish I could have saved you from such pain."

She smiled as she rested her head next to his. "I'm fine. Besides, you saved my heart in a way that is so meaningful than all of life itself. Without you, I'd probably still be trapped in my old ways. I thank you so much for that."

"And I thank you."

"For what?"

"For..." Mario looked at her clueless expression and smiled. "For so many great things."

She returned the smile. "If you say so."

The attention suddenly shifted towards the couple. Slowly, the heavy, cold and thick aura that sat in the room left to give place to a much charming, warm and adorable one. These two embracing each other had done a great deal to save all that existed. And no one defied their happiness.

They truly did deserve each other.

As we looked at them in silence, we could only be hopeful for the future.

"Your mother loved you," a voice said from the entrance.

A short figure occupied the door frame. Suddenly, all gazes towards him transformed to being hateful and threatening; mine included. An old Koopa cladded in blue walked slowly towards Princess Bowsette. Master Mario, Larry, Clein and Master Luigi interjected his path with menacing and imposing composures. It was no mystery or secret that all of us wanted ill happened onto Kamek. Him releasing the Shadow Queen and threatening our realm for selfish reasons was worthy of the worst punishment possible. A death sentence would not be enough in my perspective.

"You..." Mario said aiming pure vengeful hate at the sorcerer.

"I know that my presence is ill-appreciated at the moment..."

"You think?" Bowsette, Mario and Luigi said at the same time.

"P-please Princess..." Kamek begged. "I know that my actions are far from being unforgivable. And I am ready to pay for them, even if death must be axed upon me."

"I doubt it will be enough," Bowsette said as she got up from her hospital bed. "My mother loved me, you said. What did you mean by that? Is that yet another trick?"

"No! God, no!" Kamek quickly waved his head. "Never would I do that! I swear on her resting soul!"

"And yet, you didn't mind throwing me like a wrapped gift towards the Shadow Queen. I don't know if I should believe you or bash your head right now through multiple walls."

"That..." there was guilt bore onto his face as he was fixing his glasses. "That was a mistake. And you don't have to trust my words. But... you can trust hers."

Kamek gave her a portable watching device, a mini-DVD machine. Bowsette remained skeptical about this. She laid the device on her bed for everyone to see. She then pressed the Play button.

The device came on. After a few seconds of static, the screen became clear. A younger Kamek appeared too closely to the screen as he was adjusting the device.

"It's ready now, Lady Scarlett." The young Kamek said. He was talking to someone. "You may take your time; King Bowser won't return for a while. If so, I will buy you some time by distracting him somehow."

"Thank you Kamek," an elegant voice coming from a woman was heard. "I owe you one."

A pregnant woman sat in front of the camera. From the size of her belly, she was approaching the moment to give birth. But more than that, her look left us all in utter shock.

She was dressed in a long white dressed that emphasized her angelic traits. Her beauty possessed a mix of strength, elegance and independence, her long hair of gold were long and perfectly unruffled, and her apple-green eyes glowed with a light that was too celestial. But despite such majestic appearance, it was not this that left us in awe.

Her face; she was the spitting image of Princess Bowsette. The woman in this recording was none other than Scarlett Joan Alecksonn; her mother.

...

"Okay!" She sighed in the video as she rubbed her belly. "Where do I even start with all of this? Well... let's get the bad news out of the way. If you're watching this, then this must mean that I'm no longer in this world. But it's okay, baby girl. And yeah, I said girl because I know you're going to be a girl! But anyways...

"I never saw myself as the damsel-in-distress type. I always got to where I wanted to go with my own strength. I'm not perfect, I did some mistakes in the past, but I always managed to pull it off. But of all the weird and difficult situations that I've gotten myself into, this one takes the cake. By far!

"Although I always wanted to have children, I never thought that it would happen like this; trapped by false love and... forced. I tried to escape this monster's grasp so many times. I knew that carrying his child would not allow him or his bastard children to harm me. But unfortunately, I failed at every attempt. And as time went on, you became bigger and stronger inside of me. And the last thing I wanted was to cause you any harm. And so, I decided to stop fighting it and accepted my fate.

"I always fought myself through any difficult situation in my life, from shooting a movie to other life challenges. But this time... there's no happy ending in this story; at least for me. But for you, the sky is the limit. Your asshole of a father wants to use you as a weapon of mass destruction. Just like your Mama right there, I know you'll kick ass in the future. But not like this; not like he wants.

"Listen to me when I say this. It's your life; nobody else's. You can be whatever you want. You don't have to follow the path that he wants you to follow. I know that... times will be though and you'll feel alone, an outcast, like no one loves, accepts and understands you. I'm not going to lie to you my angel, you'll go through a living hell. But don't worry; I made sure that Mommy's friend, uncle Kamek, would take care of you. But more than that, I know that you will be strong and live through this like a total badass! Why? Because you're my daughter! And everything that I can do, you can do it a million times better; that I know."

Tears flowed from her eyes, but she wiped them out as she took a deep breath, rubbing her belly very protectively.

"I wish I could be there by your side to witness your whole life: your first steps, your first words, your first bicycle ride, your first day at school, your first karate class, your first date, with MY approval of the boy, because let's agree that some guys can be jerks.

"But it's okay. I will be able to watch over you from the Heavens. So no matter what you do or become, I want you to know that I'll always love you; always. I don't care if you become a saint or the Devil himself, I will always, always love you, no matter what. Coming from me, you will always be loved, forever and beyond.

"And lastly, I know that he wants to name you Bowsette. I mean... A+ for originality, but I'd like to give you a simpler, yet beautiful and brave name. So then, Andrea, be strong for me. And be... amazing! Mommy loves you, always."

As she smiled, she blew a kiss to the camera meant for her daughter before the screen went dark.

...

A picture partially ejected itself from under the device. Bowsette took it delicately. She saw her mother holding a beautiful newborn girl in her arms. Wrapped in a soft white blanket, the child that was Bowsette slept soundly while Scarlett looked at her pouring all the love of the universe from her gaze towards her little bundle of joy. Bowsette was unconsciously holding her mother's index finger.

The entire hospital room was buried in silence, except for Bowsette's tears and sobbing, her hands trembling. She was loved; always had been, and for the rest of her life, always will be. This proof of maternal love was more than she could ever hope to have.

"I..." she said turning towards to Kamek as she slowly fell to her knees. "I was... loved."

Kamek took off his glasses. His eyes showed a genuine level of sadness and guilt. "Your mother was the strongest person that I've seen in my life. Even after giving birth, unlike the previous others, she lasted five hours before giving her final breath. Those five hours, as she said, were the best of her life. Alas, when you awakened your powers and vanquished your family, you were so filled with wrath and hatred that I didn't know how to raise you like Scarlett had envisioned. And so, I ended up failing and forgetting my promise to her by making you as the successor of your father. And there is not enough time in the universe to redeem for such a sin."

"This..." Bowsette said. "This... doesn't change anything."

Kamek nodded. "I know."

The anger was still there; that same anger nourished by his actions. But for this moment, she felt a welcoming moment of reconciliation with her past. She had suffered hellish torment in her childhood to then massacre her entire family and be groomed afterwards to be the crown over the Koopa kingdom.

While going through life, she had always missed the motherly touch of love in her heart. Until tonight.

"I never meant to do you harm, child," tears formed in the wizard's eyes.

The princess let go and wept rivers of sadness. She pulled Kamek into her arms as he, too, cried. None of us stopped them. As a matter of fact, we all believed that they needed this moment, more than anything in this world.

In this moment of tears, I was relieved and happy to discover a certain thing about her; about Andrea.

That she was, and always will be, loved.