just burning daylight

Today, she’d said her final prayers. She prayed for a suitable heir to the throne. She prayed that whoever it was would lead the Mushroom Kingdom with love and compassion. She prayed that the next one in line could pick up where she left off, right before her point of failure. All this, she prayed to occur for Toadsworth's sake. He deserved to retire and spend the rest of his life in peace.

Then she turned her intentions to her loved ones. One by one, she called them by name, until she circled back to the very first name she’d uttered.

“Please… let Mario be alive.”

There was more between the lines of her request: that he be loved, that he’d live a long and happy life, that he could one day forgive her for her weakness, her cowardice. That somehow, he'd know her very last wish had been for him.

Her prayers were said. Her power was spent. Whatever tears she had left were shed silently, muddied by the grime that coated her cheeks. All that was left to do now was the very thing she'd come to excel at: lie down, close her eyes, and die.

And yet, suddenly, she couldn’t. For once, sleep eluded her. She’d been laying on her cot for what felt like weeks, staring at the cold stone encasing her, with neither the reprieve of darkness nor the company of dreams. She’d never felt so powerless in all her life.

That is, until she gained a visitor.

“How are you feeling?”

She almost didn't hear him. The gentle caress he laid against her cheek was nearly intangible, demanding she concentrate just to feel it. Peach didn't move, fearing he'd go as quickly as he'd arrived.

Still, she found her words, just for him.

"Tired," she sighed wearily."Very, very tired."

Mario chuckled. “I can tell. You’ve really been through the wringer, yeah?”

Leave it to him to make light of the darkness. She lay perfectly still as his laugh echoed in her ears.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

His answer came all too easily.

"Rest," he said. "You've done all you can, Peach. Just rest."

She let his words sit with her a moment, waiting for them to ease the weight in her chest. This was when she was supposed to feel okay, wasn't it?

"Rest… rest… rest."

The more she heard him say it, the less she recognized it as Mario, until she couldn't remember what he sounded like to start with. His words, his presence, failed to comfort her, because she knew deep down that it wasn’t truly his. Deep down, she knew none of this was real.

Had her father done the same in his final hours? As he lay dying, a husk that was once a beloved king, had he imagined Peach’s mother lying beside him, urging him to move on— to forget his uselessness, the tarnish left on his legacy, to join her and rest?

For the first time, Peach felt like she understood him. Their legacies would be one and the same: lead a promising life, watch it spiral, and then succumb to their circumstances. A legacy of failure.

"I'm really nothing more than my father's daughter.” She sniffed, her smile bitter. “Aren’t I?"

"Of course not!" Mario's outburst felt so certain, so resolute, that Peach couldn't tell if he was still speaking, or if she was merely remembering something he’d already said. "Princess, look at you. Even here, stuck in some dingy old prison, you've kept fighting for all of us. And you’re still trying! Even now, when it’s already over!”

A pause, and then:

“It’s okay to let go. No one can fight forever, Princess.”

That wasn’t his voice. Not even a facsimile or misremembrence of it. Mario would never say that.

Peach’s eyes almost opened, and she squeezed them shut before her brain could process the empty space beside her. Mario, her kingdom’s hero, a man who never knew when to quit, would never let her give up. What she'd heard had been her own thoughts, her own voice, threatening to shatter the last line of comfort the Stars had seen fit to give her.

Then again, it wasn't impossible. Maybe it was something he'd say if the situation was hopeless enough. Surely he could recognize when a battle couldn’t be won, that there’s no need to die in agony if you’re going to die anyway.

“No one can fight forever.” He said it in the correct voice this time.

Peach sighed, relaxing once more. Better. That was much better."Will you stay with me, then? Until… until I—"

She didn't dare finish that thought. Instead, she curled in on herself, convinced herself that she was curling into him instead. And as she finally began to doze, she was even able to feel the kiss he pressed to her forehead. It was scratchy and soft, everything she could’ve possibly wanted, and backed with a gentle, reassuring smile.