25m Distance Between Us

Confessions and Reflections

A few days of Earth time have passed, and Mario had collected many Power Moons and various memorabilia during his visitations to many lands. The last Broodal who he had fought, Topper, had spilled the beans about Bowser's moon wedding before Mario could stomp his throat inwards. The Plumber had then allowed him to live and rushed to his ship.

The Odyssey was in full force, headed straight for the Moon.

Mario's blue eyes brimmed with determination and hope. He was going to put an end to Bowser. He was not going to allow anything to happen to the women he loved. He felt the fire burning within his chest and in his knuckles.

He wiped underneath his nose and turned away from the window and sat in his chair for the meantime. His new beige-coloured dog lay on the floor and looked up at him, confused and wide-eyed.

Mario's ship cruised fast, but not fast enough, he found. The plumber was antsy and could not sit still.

"You know," Cappy began. "it would be better if you saved that pent-up energy for your confrontation with Bowser."

"I-a know."

Cappy did not know what to say to console Mario. The hat spirit could feel the tension in the air, as well as the love and determination. He could tell that both Peach and Pauline meant a great deal to the hero. He knew that it would be very tragic if Mario were to lose either one of them. He would be horrified himself, if anything happened to Tiara.

Cappy flew over to Mario's bureau and opened it up. Inside, he found a wedding tuxedo. "Huh. Planning for something, Mario?"

"Eh?" Marios attention was grabbed. He noticed the tuxedo that Cappy was joking about. "Shut up!"

"Oh, come on!" Cappy said in a rolling tone of voice. "You should totally show up to Bowser's wedding and wear this!" He chuckled after stating that. "Maybe you can get the Intermediator to marry you and Peach instead!"

"Pauline will-a be the Intermediator." Mario said, his voice filled with regret. He felt sorry for Pauline. He knew it would hurt her the most. He stood up again and walked back to the window.

From space, he could see the white Cathedral standing tall on the Moon's surface. He knew that it had all come to this. The kidnappings at the Mushroom Kingdom and New Donk City, the Broodals' attacks, everything. What was Bowser planning?

Mario felt something sinister in all of this, and feared for his ex-girlfriend more than he feared for Peach. He knew all too well what the Koopa King was capable of.

Meanwhile, Peach was in her waiting room. It had been an entire day since she last spoke to Pauline on the moon's surface.

She could not stand Bowser for what he was doing. She had had her quarrels with him in the past over his terrible treatment of his minions and unorthodox way of dealing with other nations and his awful manners at the dinner table, but what lengths he was going to to hurt Mario... this was new, and this was vile. This was beyond vile.

So much hatred.

And where hatred is concerned, innocents are harmed.

"Peach, are you ready?" Tiara asked.

"Of course." Peach said, brushing her hair while looking at the mirror. "I'm going to be married to a monster while the love of my life gets to watch his former love sing words of hatred towards him and potentially die afterwards. I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

Tiara closed her eyes and breathed a sympathetic sigh. She did not fully understand the situation, as she had not known Peach and Mario and Bowser long enough to. She floated beside the princess and gazed at their reflection in the mirror. Peach looked sadder than usual, and a lone tear formed in her left eye duct. It escaped and fell down her cheek.