Super Mario Odyssey (Fan Novelization)

Chapter 21: A Long Journey's Finale

Half an hour passed before the Princess saw a source of light other than Tiara's pale pink glow. The door to her prison swung open, revealing her captor in his lilac tuxedo. He snatched her up with a single clawed hand. As they walked along the path to the little while chapel the Koopa King had set up on the moon, Peach could only think back of her time on her home planet. 

It was no surprise that she was feeling homesick after all this time. She'd spent over a week stuck in an airship cabin with only a sentient tiara to talk to, brought and locked up by force. She was soon going to be forced to attend her own wedding to a suitor that she had no say in. Afterwards, there was no doubt as to what would happen. Bowser would take the Mushroom Kingdom, and his "wife" would be locked up in his castle for the rest of her life. Given what she knew about him, he probably thought she would get over it in time, that she was just pretending to be mad.

But she wasn't. And she wouldn't. 

As she was carried into the chapel, the blonde's hands flew to her mouth. There weren't many guests, but their identities were clear. A turquoise skeleton and his driver. A mermaid in a hot pink dress. The mayor of New Donk and her bodyguards, as well as four other humans. A rusting yellow robot and a sunset-colored fork chef. A group of snails and seals in oversized coats. Each of them had a reluctant look on their face, some of them even disgusted by the scenario in front of them. Peach was the latter.

"What is this... global-scale kidnapping I'm looking at?" Tiara squeaked. "Is this normal?"

"I'm Bowser, King of the Koopas and evil lord supreme. My wedding can't be a small one!" 

"Still doesn't give you the right to force us here," Gianna the Volbonan muttered with an angry glare. "I was just about to put the finishing touches on the stew, too..."

"I-I just wanted to check out the Luncheon Kingdom when I was snatched," the Desert Wanderer behind her whimpered, the Shiverian next to him trembling even more furiously. "I... I didn't want..."

"He's right," a firm voice echoed, and Galyna turned to look at the couple as well. "We didn't want this. Now let us go."

"I can cut the speeches for a half-hour wedding. In fact, seeing how things are going, I'm going to have to cut everything before the wedding vows. Where is Topper, anyway? He should be here by now... perhaps I should call in the understudy." Bowser's expression changed for a moment, almost as if he had forgotten about the horde of angry guests, which he probably had.

"Please, Lady, calm down." One of the snails spoke up. "He won't listen. And we can't fight. Oh, what is there to do? We should've brought the rock catapults..."

The blonde looked over the madness around her. She knew that she couldn't do anything now, no matter what she wished. Without the physical strength to bust herself out of the turtle's grip, she was doomed. While Mario was usually there to rescue her, and he should know where she was, it was probably too late.

Above all of them, the golden bell at the top of the chapel began to ring out, each resounding clang quieting the audience a little. Everything was ready. Even Topper's understudy, a specific Koopa pulled from his ranks, was in place at the altar. 

The wedding had begun.

• • •

Cappy flung the door open, motioning for his friend to get out. "I landed us quite a distance from the actual wedding hall so he can't break our only means of escape. Now hurry. Tia and your princess are waiting."

Exiting the Odyssey in his new white tux, Mario looked about the area, blue eyes frantically searching for a wedding hall. Thankfully, it wasn't hard to miss. The towers stretching far into the dark atmosphere made it quite easy to spot.