Long Live the Queen - A Peach Centric Fan Fic

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

This is still in progress and it's nearing the latter half, but I am pretty proud of this. It's my Peach centric, her and Mario fan fiction piece "Long Live the Queen". I made a cover for it:

There's a link here: one for AO3 and one for Fan Fiction Net. It's definitely in the mature category, the warnings listed with it on AO3 apply.

Excerpt:

Heat. It's too much for me to open my eyes or breath. I'm going to die here. I'm going to die like this. Long before the fire gets me the smoke inhalation will. Burn to death or suffocate, those are my choices. The tile floor is searing into my skin and if I stay right here too long it will probably do permanent damage. And it won't be long before my debris falls near me or possibly on me.

Move Princess. I press my hands to the scorching floor, forcing myself up on my hands and knees. Great wooden beams from overhead crashed down all around the throne, but the sturdy build of the old chair stopped the weight and protected me from being immediately crushed. Now my leg won't move.

I glance back through bleary vision to see a section of the wall against the steps of my dais has pinned my leg in place. It doesn't hurt, but that could either be really good or really bad. I manage to roll over onto my back and start to work my foot free. My gloves and ankle were covered in fresh, blood that honestly felt cool compared to the rest of the throne room.

On the ground a few feet away is my crown. It must be violently hot, but still I snatched up, pushing it into my thick dress to keep it from burning through my gloves.

When I am back on my feet I search the room for signs of anyone else still moving around. A few of my citizens escaped the room in the initial shockwave that rocked everything, the only person I didn't see get out for sure was…

"Toadsworth," I spoke his name outside as soon as I realized that it was him. The body was under a huge stone piece of the castle from the chest down. It must have mashed his head flat into the floors. Fire is all around his body, but there's no point attempting to get to him. There's nothing that even I can do.

My bloody hand goes to my mouth and I'm gasping in air, the smoke chokes me and burns at my throat. But I can't stop taking these huge, panicked breaths as the tears start to flow. I have to get out of here. I have to get away. My feet are rooted in place. More coughing.

A searing noise followed by what sounds like shifting ice breaks through the roar of the flames from all over the room. The heat is draining the life right out of me, but I can't move. I can't…

The stain glass portrait of me that adorns the high wall above the entry way to the castle is starting to give. It's shocking the glass held this long. If that air rushes in here the fire is going to find renewed vigor. It'll certainly strangle out what little life I have left.

Directly in front of the throne was the exit, but there was no way I was making it to through that door with all of the debris and fire in the way. I didn't have the necessary space to safely clear the jump it would take to make the jump.

Instead I run deeper into the castle's eastern wing, testing the door first to make sure that it isn't hot. No fire on the other side. I charge through, barreling down the hallway. This part of the castle is mostly unaffected by the falling debris, but the fire has already reached here. For centuries the Toadstool Dynasty had called this place home. The east wing hallway is lined with paintings of each ruler in succession, dating all the way back to the beginning. From my grandmother's picture down to the end of the hall the heat is so intense that the paint is beginning to run and bubble.

There's a spot in the hallway where the fire hasn't quite reached yet, I slump against the burning hot wall to catch my breath. It's like my lungs are pulling at the air, but can't get enough. Every movement stings my throat and my eyes just won't stop watering. I've got to move; got to get out of here. Something heavy and blunt crashes into the side of the castle spraying bricks and dust past me, narrowly missing my face. I tuck my head down against my shoulder to protect my face.

If I stay here the Toadstool Dynasty ends with me.

With everything that's left in me I push off of the wall and charge down the hall toward the store rooms and the kitchen. I moved through the room, headed to the far corner where the storeroom was. Once again I check the door for heat and then move through it.

The air inside is cooler and safer than it had been anywhere else thus far. With the door closed I could buy myself some time, but not much. Towering bags of flour are stacked in one corner and I tip them over to reveal a darkened passageway in the brick. Daisy and I discovered it when we were children. I could barely fit into the hole in the bricks now, thank goodness for corsets.

This castle won't easily fall, it's been here over a millennium, but it will turn into an oven if this fire keeps up. I crawl deeper into the hole, bracing myself for the fall that I know is coming. The walls are broken through with roots that push into this area—it's been probably fifteen years since Daisy and I last crawled down in to this thing. This crawl space runs below the moat comes out in the back of the groundskeeper's shed. Hopefully time hasn't allowed this whole thing to be flooded, otherwise I'll probably drown.

My hands and knees are pressed into the walls and I move slowly down he shaft toward my goal at the bottom. Cool liquid laps at my injured ankle, causing it to sting. The water is much too high, but climbing into the castle is out of the question. I can still feel the rumbles of explosions behind me as the fire rages through my home.

Suffocate one of two ways or burn to death—those aren't very good choices. I drink in big gulps of air, trying to clear the smoke from my lungs with each exhalation. I plummet into the dark waters and struggle to get deeper down until I hit the floor. My mouth feels like it's going to fly open at any second and my head is getting hazy. Have to stay conscious. Have to keep my lungs closed. I kick my legs furiously.

How wide could this moat be? I flush the thoughts from my mind and focus on kicking. I'm fighting against my thick, bell-shaped dress and the icy water. My fingers hit stone and I paddle upward into the shaft.

My face clears the water and I stop to take several panicked breaths while leaning against the wall. I'm still in the cold of the groundskeeper's shed for so long that I'm afraid I might freeze solid. From one extreme to the other, I'm too wet and it's too cold out here for me to stay still.

This shed hasn't been used in years. There's a few tools strewn about on the walls and the only source of light is the red-orange glow of the fire outside filtering through the spaces between the wood. Luckily this place is untouched by…whatever happened to the rest of my castle. I crawl out into the center of the floor and pull myself to my feet on the center column of the shed.

I press against the door, but it doesn't budge. I hit it again, harder this time and it feels like my shoulder joint is going to give, but the pain was short lived. She reared back from the door and slammed into it again. And again. My skin is raw from the extreme hot and cold, the scraping of stones and dirty water.

Still, I hit the door again. And once more.

There's a thunderous creak followed by a snap as the doors burst open. My legs go weak and I tumble out into the snow that is packed around the shed. I look around the shed at the Mushroom Palace, the roof glows red against the night sky with the pressure and heat from the conflagration. The spire in the center has collapsed inward and, with it, my stain glass portrait that my father had installed in my honor.

There's no going back. Countless people could be injured, at least one is dead, and the fire is too out of control to salvage much of this. These are eventualities that I hadn't planned for and this attack is on an unprecedented scale. Bowser would never attempt something this brash. Someone wanted her dead, that much was obvious. She couldn't stay anywhere near the Mushroom Kingdom. She couldn't make it to Yo'ster Isle without an airship or boat and she definitely wouldn't make it as far as Sarasaland on foot and the warp pipe was inside the castle.

Only one option left to take. I make my way to the tree line at the edge of the green around the castle. My teeth won't stop chattering and I bundle my arms around myself in the hope of staying warm. Normally, I would use my magic to conjure up a small fire, but I'm so tired that any attempt to cast would result in my passing out, which would more than likely lead to me dying.

The snow crunches underfoot as I move into the forest. I use the trees for support and rest my back against them, careful to check my surroundings for anyone else who escaped or the culprit.

Behind me the eastern wing, where I escaped, caves in under the stress from the fire. A sharp gasp escapes my throat and I hide my eyes in my hands falling against a tree. My heart is thundering in my ears and I'm light headed. I should give up now. I should just lay down here and die.

That's when the darkness comes to life.

It might have been gradual or all at once, but the snow is gone from beneath me and though I feel the tree I'm leaning against I can see nothing but the black. The darkness moves and swirls like it's alive. Something slithers past my body and then pulls at me. The little hairs on my arms stand on end and then I'm running.

My legs pound through the snow and my chest is sore from the cold air and the smoke. My throat is going to freeze. How long before I succumb to hypothermia? How long before there's a risk of frost bite?

Can't think of that now.

There's a presence in the darkness, even my untrained magic can sense it. Something tugs at me from nearby and that just causes my legs to pump harder. For a moment the cold air is gone, the wind doesn't blow, and the smell of pine is absent. Is the forest around me a void? Am I in some other place entirely or is this just an illusion and there's some risk I'm going to run into a tree?

An oily smell like death itself fills the air causing me to gag. It's horrible and familiar and I want it over.

In the blink of an eye everything is back to the way it should be. The warp pipe is right ahead of me and the snow is underfoot. I glance back to see nothing but the darkened stalks of the trees. No sign of that shadow.

I dive head first down the white pipe. Light streams around me in all different colors as I spiraling through the center of a vast expanse. Using a warp zone isn't like falling, it's a free floating weightless feeling lacking any discernible temperature. There's no wind or air movement.

Then I feel a slight jerk, like I'm being pulled upward by a rope at the waist and I'm laying on my chest in warm, shallow water and staring at a mosaic tile wall with two familiar feet pressed against it. My legs are wrapped around the person I've landed on. A person I know to be Mario.

"What the heck, Peach! You know you can't use the warp without warning." The Brooklyn accent and chipper tone confirms I'm laying on who I expected.

The drain gurgles down water, my coming out of the warp zone opened it. I roll over so that my back is in the water. "Mario." Where do I start.

He grabs me at the shoulders with warm hands and helps me to sit up into his lap. I'm aware that he's nude and yelling at me and. I don't have time to care. "Your skin is all cut up and bruised and you're cold as death."

I'm caked in mud and covered in red sores where my body touched the hot surfaces in my castle. I can't keep my voice from shaking as I reply. "It's all gone, Mario."

"What's gone? What happened?" His grasp on my arms steadies my shivering.

He's the first thing that's been right this whole night. He's the first thing I've seen that felt like something could ever be normal again. I throw my arms over his shoulders and lace my fingers together behind his neck and I bring my body close to his, the warmth of the water and his chest and his face radiates into me. I know he's naked right below me, but I've also just nearly died and seen one of my long time advisors corpses.

I push my mouth to his selfishly, leaning against Mario with my full weigh and causing him to catch the edge of the bath tub. His mustache scratched at my face and my skin is already sensitive from the fire only minutes ago. I don't care.

I had been clear with him in the past about the boundaries between us. Mario wants more from me, it's just a fact, but he never complains or pushes me. Now I just want something to feel warm. I want anything that isn't bitter emptiness.

My lips break away from his and I sink against Mario's chest, resting my cheek on him. My family's legacy is gone. My home is destroyed. I'm a ruler with nothing left to rule and the last of my line.

At the very least I could use what is left of my energy to heal myself. That's one small thing that I do have control over.

"What's gone, Peach? Who did this to you?" Mario asks.

Blue streams of light swirl around the two of us with glittery particles caught in them. My body begin to mend itself, though it's slower than normal and I can tell that I am so exhausted. I just want this over. "I don't know who did this, but it's my castle…it's gone, all of it." My jaw and eyelids become heavy. It's over, but it's okay. Mario is here now.

Mario is here and everything is going to be okay. My world is flipped on its side and everything goes dark.