the cavern is endless, their journey only beginning. one foot in front of the other, it's like she's back training at the outskirts of the mushroom castle. if princess peach closes her eyes, the sand beneath her shoes is traded for the familiar turf of her obstacle coarse. it's a home in front of her own eyes: it's a return to what is known. [ an odd reminder to a girl that is as foreign to the toads as mario . . . how his stories seem so profound, too impossible to be real. ] peach pulls toad up as he finishes the outlandish tale. ❝ really? that sounds like a story — you're going to tell me you're a plumber? what does that even mean? ❞
mario gives her a look, facing her for emphasis before echoing out: ❛ it’s not a story ― it really happened. ❜ mario & princess peach ♡ @bravetry
❝ you work underground? ❞ she supposes deep under the roots of the mushrooms that guard the edges of her kingdom there is water, a precious resource she remembers from her lessons with toadsworth all those year ago. peach wonders if there's a world without sunshine down there, a place she cannot even begin to imagine her poor toads lost in. ducking under a branch, she edges them forward — onward to stop bowser. maybe this is what they need : to outlast darkness, you need someone from the underground. the underground where mario comes from might be the same place she is from : a home where she belongs. it's not her home, the mushroom kingdom will always be her home — but peach wonders and dreams of what its like. ❝ i'm glad you're here mario — you're exactly what we need to defeat bowser. ❞
