Peach Cake

Mario and Luigi had little else to do in their jail cells but wait. The only view they had inside the cell aside from the dirty gray of the stone blocks that made the cell was the inside of Bowser's castle in front of them. All that separated them from him were iron bars that were too thick and clumped together to break free. Despite being taken in so suddenly by the Koopa army, the two held a shaky sense of hope. All because they knew that help would arrive sooner or later. Despite being responsible for saving the day most of the time, they had good friends that could come to their rescue. Or at least, friends that'd do it for a quick buck.

From what they can recall, they were being held on Vibes Island. Bowser always had a tendency to leave a letter for anyone who wanted to challenge him so any rescuers would know exactly where to go. But for now, they were kept locked up in a jail cell with nowhere to go. For now, all they could do was ruminate on how they got captured and count the time until they were set free. At first, they were peaceful. Or at least, Mario was peaceful. Luigi was still rather afraid but was calmed down by his brother. While they hadn't been on the other side of the damsel in distress routine, they didn't think it'd take too long for rescue to come by.

As they sat on the cold floor, they caught onto the fact that just beside the cell to the left, there were guards that had a tendency to gossip about the recent happenings of the island. At first it was nothing much, just some workplace relationships and strange but inconsequential sights. But then, it became focused on someone who was taking down the people of the island. A woman in a pink dress and blonde hair, who was able to control her ‘Vibes' unlike anyone else. The two knew who it was immediately and were overfilled with joy. Mario talked in length about how much he was looking forward to seeing her again while Luigi was more or less hoping to finally get a good night's rest back at home. While the taller brother was still shaken up by being held captive, he at least had some confidence in knowing that he'd be set free soon.

But it wasn't meant to last. The regular news soon took on a dire turn as Princess Peach was brought up in less and less conversations. And whenever she was brought up, it was said that she was looking "worse for wear" as Bowser's minions were not being kind to her. Happiness turned into anger. The two held righteous fury as the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom was being treated as no better than a mere pest. For Luigi specifically, he held anger at Princess Peach herself for getting in this mess. Although he hated the thought of being mad at her for wanting to rescue it so he kept it to himself. He didn't want to make Mario even more angry than he already was.

But anger soon dissipated. Bowser eventually caught onto the fact that the two were listening in on the guards so he assigned them elsewhere to the building. Now that they couldn't know if help was coming or not, all that was left was sadness. Now they didn't have a clue if things would get better. They wouldn't know if Princess Peach would be making a return again. They wouldn't dare ask anyone that approached. They didn't want their hearts broken in case they would tell them the worst. Luigi was taking quite a hard hit of it due to being mad at Peach. The sadness warped it into making him feel like he hated her. Which just made things worse. But Mario was taking it the hardest. The woman he loved was in danger. And he had no idea whether or not she was okay. Worse than that, he couldn't guarantee her safety. The two sat alone in the cell, unmoving and besides themselves.

But sadness was going away too. It lingered in the back of their minds, not quite leaving but rather keeping themselves by the front door. Instead of sadness, the feeling that began to overtake them was hunger. While they couldn't pinpoint why, less and less visits from the guards happened. Instead of being fed on a daily basis, it was rare for any kind of food to come at all. Any kind of chatter, even from King Bowser himself, was starting to dissipate. So they could only focus on the hunger they felt. It became hard for them to sleep as the pain in their stomachs kept them up at night. Or at day too. Sleep only came when they passed out and even then, it wasn't for long. The two barely talked. If they did, it was bouts of irritation where one brother would wish for food and the other one would tell him to pipe it down. The two didn't sit anymore. They merely laid on the ground. Footsteps would come and go but they didn't pay attention. They just wanted to eat.

But as the two sat alone, Mario remembered something. Vibes. Or as he put it together, feelings. It was something unique to this island in that everyone was affected by core emotions. Mario took account of everything he had felt and everything he didn't. He didn't feel an ounce of fear at his predicament, nor disgust at the living conditions. Not even a sense of shock from being taken in. But he felt calm, happy, angry and sad. Only other thing he felt was hungry. Princess Peach was able to control those feelings. Calm would be a zen-like state, happiness would be a sense of floatiness, anger would be a fiery state of fury and sadness would be a torrent of tears. But what was hunger? Could she control a sense of hunger? What would that mean?

Before he could finish the thought, Mario heard the door open. The jail cell had been unlocked and the two could go free. Luigi was looking towards the ceiling in a state of delirium before Mario alerted him to the door. The two could barely walk on their weakened muscles but held onto each other as they entered the hall. There wasn't a guard in sight. There wasn't much to see at all as it was night time. The only sources of light were candles. Placed onto the walls...and right by where Bowser would sit to the left of them. Walking towards the seat, the two saw an unfamiliar figure. It was a thin figure. It stood by something.

A cake.

It was a cake in three layers, and they were in the mood to see what it was made of. They kept walking through the darkness before being asked to stop by the figure. A match was struck and the two could barely see the blue gem on the person's chest. Princess Peach. She held the match around the cake and lit up the candles around it to show the two her cake. The first piece they saw of the cake was the green scalp of Bowser, used on a flat piece of cake. The two observed her as she revealed the cake to be the reason why they didn't eat in so long. The bottom layer was made of Goombas, little pieces of teeth adorned the outside of it with a mixture of flesh and brains coating the rest of it. The second layer was dedicated to the Koopas, being made of shell and organs. The final layer was of Bowser, his bloodshot eyes slotted inside the cake, facing towards the brothers.

The two also looked at Princess Peach. Her pink dress had turned into a shade of dark red. It seemed to drape over her easily as her defined bones could be seen past it. Her face was gaunt and chapped. Her skin seemed to be peeling off of her while her eyes were sunken and reminded Luigi of doll eyes. She still had a smile on her face. It proudly presented her broken and chipped teeth. Her jaw chittered and gritted together often, sometimes splintering the teeth even more. She was just as hungry as the brothers. She held out her broken and sharpened umbrella and sliced it through the cake, revealing the insides to be made up of a mish mash of organs. She pointed her arms towards the cake and stared at the two. Inviting them to eat.

Mario was in a state of happiness. He finally got to see Princess Peach again. He didn't choose to eat the cake, rather he just went in for a hug. She reciprocated it and held him in an embrace.

Luigi was in a state of calm. Because now he could finally eat. He grabbed a handful from the top layer and began to bite into it. It was a mish mash of texture and chewiness but there was no disgust for it. It was just food. He was fine with eating it, regardless of quality. Because Princess Peach made it for them, it just reminded him of peaches. He was okay with that. Mario and Peach soon came to join him, sloppily taking their time enjoying the cake the Princess had made for them. Hunger was no longer there.

The day was saved and the three happily enjoyed their meal.

The End.