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Peach hated being left out of adventures.
While yes, being left out usually meant she had been taken hostage by some new “Evil of the Week” or perhaps Bowser if he felt like being a little more evil that month, there was now another reason on her mind. Because now, one emotionally constipated plumber refused to tell her why he was so upset.
It had been around a week since the origami festival and Mario had not slowed down since. From helping toads fix buildings destroyed by the streamers or getting confused Darkland citizens back home or even just helping pack up what remained from the celebration, he hadn't taken more than a couple hour break to sleep. She understood Mario always wanted to be helpful, it was in his nature. However, she could always tell something was on his mind when he started to avoid her or his brother, who hadn't seen Mario home in some time. While Peach didn’t see Luigi’s soft heart as a negative trait, it did make it hard for him to confront his brother like this. He had admitted to her a couple of days ago that he had been skirting around the topic entirely recently. So it seemed it was up to her to figure out what was wrong.
She started with Luigi who had been of some help, he at least knew more than she did about what had happened while she was…folded, but he had also missed some major parts of that adventure trying to find a key? From him she got the impression that the origami girl accompanying Mario had sacrificed herself to save everyone who had been folded at King Olly's hands. That did explain some of Marios actions, but she was confused as to why her?
Other party members Mario had in the past didn’t get this kind of reaction. While a lot of his former compatriots had simply moved on, some had sacrificed themselves to stop a world ending disaster. She thinks back to Huey at the end of that adventure and how none of them knew what became of him, assuming he must have died taking in that much black paint. Or Tippi who they assumed died when fixing the world with the Purity Heart. Yes those events had affected him in the moment, but after? Mario moved on, he would have a remorseful look in his eye that he quickly buried and moved on to the next person trying to destroy the world, it was what she had come to expect.
This? This was something completely different. selfishly, she was a little glad that something had finally shook Mario, it was better that he was feeling something than nothing. Was this just the straw that broke the camel's back? Or was there something different about this situation particularly?
The toads were also of little help, most of them just applauded the two's bravery when she asked or were too out of it to remember anything that had happened while the two were around, getting your face cut off or cut into pieces did that to a toad. She also managed to track down the one toad who was responsible for this mess, The Origami Craftsman. He didn’t have anything much to say that she hadn't heard from Luigi, but what he enlightened her to over tea was more about Olly. How he had thought the origami fold of life was more, metaphorical, then literal. How he didn't expect to be saddled with a son like that, and from what she gathered had never really seen the origami child as a person to begin with. Only after talking more with Olivia at the end had he really put two and two together and realized how much he hurt the poor kid. However, while enlightening, it still didn’t explain what was up with Mario.
Regretfully, Luigi and the toads weren't going to give her any more information. Which meant she was going to have to reach out to the one person she really didn’t want to see, Bowser.
At least he was already going to be over in her kingdom, they did have to figure out how to get his subjects that had come to the festival back so it was a perfect excuse to bring it up.
During their meeting the princess started prodding him about his experience, which he immediately started rambling on about. While Bowser added some… embellishments to his side of the story, it painted a clearer picture for Peach. One she was surprised she had not seen in the first place.
Mario cared deeply for Olivia.
She was surprised she hadn't seen it earlier. Luigi had said how Olivia always seemed to hover around Mario when he had been around and the toads had said how he seemed protective over the girl. But Bowser described it as downright parental, and “too sappy” for his tastes. When she asked for clarification about that wild statement, he had just said she wouldn't understand.
“I know you call all the Toads your kids, but you wouldn't understand being a parent. Surprised Red-Stach managed to figure it out first though” he had said, snickering to himself in amusement.
This certainly threw her off, and not just because of the very intentional shade thrown her way by the Koopa.
How could she have not realized? Had anyone but Bowser? She needed to stop underestimating his emotional capacity, it somehow always managed to blindside her.
Once their meeting was finished and after wishing Bowser and his minions a safe trip home to the Darklands she immediately made her way over to the brothers house after asking a couple of Toads where the two brothers were. She had been trying to be polite, as their residing monarch she could have just demanded Mario take a break, but she liked to believe she had more tact than that. But, since it was looking like no one else was going to address this, it might as well be her. She should have done this sooner, maybe then she could have gotten this whole situation under control. Maybe she could have stopped the whole Origami invasion but even then she realized she was just spiraling into what-ifs.
Knocking on the plumbers’ door, she was answered by a surprised Luigi who, from what she could smell wafting out of the door, was cooking something for supper.
“Oh! Princess! What-a brings you to our home? Sorry I was just makin’ dinner”
“Hello Luigi, I um, I was wondering if I could talk to Mario?”
“Eh, I appreciate the thought Princess, but I don’t know if that’s a good ide-”
“Please Luigi,” Peach interrupted, she paused before letting all the tension out of her shoulders. “I’m worried about my friends, I know you have to be as well. Please Luigi, you know I would never do anything to hurt him.”
Luigi thought for a moment before sighing and opening the door the rest of the way to let her inside.
“He's in the garden” Peach nods and heads for the back door but is stopped one more time by Luigi grabbing her hand “Princess’a, please don’t… um, just, he’s fragile right now Peach…”
“Of course Luigi, I wouldn’t dream of it” Peach answered, causing Luigi to give a sad smile and let go. He walked back over to the kitchen to continue cooking, nervously fidgeting by stirring a pot on the stove.
She must have spent more time getting to the brothers house then she realized, as the sun was setting behind it casting the garden in shades of red as she walked outside. She perused through Luigi’s work, full of all kinds of different plants and vegetation, down to a bench surrounded by Piranha plants and a very distracted plumber resting on it. She decided to sit next to him instead of prod him, and waited for him to acknowledge her. Now that she was closer she could see the bags under his eyes and how his fists were curled up as he leaned on his legs.
“Ah, hello Princess,” he said without looking up. Peaches' worried expression softened and she looked at him.
“Mario, are you… okay?” she asked, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. He straightened up and sighed before saying “Ah, I’ma sorry Princess, i’ve been so busy cleaning up I guess I haven't had time to really focus on what-a you need- ”
“No, Mario, that’s not what I mean. Well, I mean I am worried that you haven't been around, but that's just because it’s so unlike you” Mario deflates a little at that and Peach continues “I’m just worried about you, you haven't… slowed down recently, I think this is the first time I've seen you sit down in a week. I just wanted to talk about what happened before the festiv-”
“There’sa nothing to talk about, We won, didn’t we?” Mario interrupted shrugging her hand off his shoulder.
She didn’t really know how to respond. All her diplomatic training hadn't really prepared her for any of this. However, she tried thinking back to how Toadsworth used to get her to talk about her feelings and thought pulling out one of those tools of his might help. Grambi, she wished she could just ask him, he was always the best at this sort of thing.
“Mario… Look, how about I say how I was feeling at the festival and if you want, afterward you can tell me how you were feeling?” she asked, giving him a hopeful look. He hesitated then gave a tentative nod causing her to continue.
“I felt… shaken. I was trying to rush the festival so that it could still happen before people had to return back to their home. I should have waited, waited another week, maybe another year. The whole time I could just feel the slight creases in my paper, the way… I was folded into someone else. Sometimes it really feels like every other adventure the universe conspires to make me the vessel of some dark power or sidelined as a villains trophy. I’m glad it happened, the festival I mean-, I really am, just wish…” she trailed off before stopping.
Mario stared at Peach for a long moment, processing, before grabbing her hand, she hadn't realized she had been shaking slightly till it was settled “Peach, I’m… I’ma really sorry. I should have come sooner-”
“No, that is not what this was about. I don’t blame you, you saved the day, you saved me”
“Olivia saved the day, not me” Mario responded, shrinking down even more than she thought he could. “She sacrificed herself for you, for everyone and I couldn't stop her”
“Do you… want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know where to start” he chuckled a little at the end, like it was some funny inside joke.
“Okay, well how about the beginning then?”
And so he did. He told her all about what they had done on their adventure. He told her about how they met, with him having to pull her out of a wall she had been trapped in by her brother. Stories of how they had defeated some living stationary…? (Peach didn’t really understand but Mario made them seem very ferocious, which made sense for 20 foot scissors).
But what he mostly focused on were the little things. How excited Olivia was to explore the world she had been crafted into, how she “hadn’ta really gotten any time to explore around livin in that craftsman's’ house”. He mentioned her love of a very silly goomba mask that made her burst out into hysterics any time he put it on.
He talked about how she used to nap in his pocket which he wouldn't have minded till it got him in some trouble when he needed her help to do the “1000 folded arm technique” during a battle. He said he didn’t mind though, he had been able to beat whatever foe he was fighting at the time and not interrupt her nap.
He talked about how scared he was when her brother stuck her under a boulder, afraid he’d never be able to get her out. He talked about how sad she was when her friend Bobby died, and how much he missed the Bob-omb too. Mentioned how his sacrifice is what led to them being able to save the kingdom, but how a small part of him would have rather it never happened. How later she called a different Bob-omb Bobby in either pure ignorance or some blatant denial of the truth. Peach really hoped it was the former.
Eventually he got to the part when they were at Shangri spa with Kamek and Bowser Jr. How at one point Olivia and Jr were goofing off while the two adults were sitting at the edge of the pool. At one point something must have happened because Kamek told the young prince off and apologized to Mario for Bowser Jr harassing “his kid”. He didn’t even realize what Kamek had said before it hit him a few seconds later.
The comment had flown over him because it was true, Mario had just accepted that Olivia was his kid, and he didn’t know what to do with that information. Later he started making plans, he was excited to show Olivia the mushroom kingdom when it wasn't under attack, wanted to teach someone how to cook all his family recipes that the brothers had remembered from their own world, show her how to be a kid and not someone who was just forced to save the world. He’d even convinced himself that maybe he could save Olly as well, that they could be some semblance of a family after all of this. He hadn't realized by the time he got to Peach's castle that possibility had long since passed.
And by the time he did, it was too late, she was just another unfolded page of the Craftsman.
“And the thing is, I don’t even know if she meant it. What if she just wasn't thinking. She could’a made a different wish, something that didn’t involve… being unfolded. She sacrificed everything- for you, for the kingdom, she was just a child and I… couldn't protect her” Mario finished, pulling harshly at the brim of his hat in some feeble attempt to hide the quiet tears she saw streaming down his face. Peach gently grabbed his hand away from the brim before he could hurt himself but left the hat where it was, she wanted to give him that much privacy at least.
“I think you may just have to trust her on this. From what I’ve heard Olivia sounds like a very smart girl, I don’t think she would have made a reckless wish like that without thinking it through”
Mario sighed into his hands “I know, but no one should have to sacrifice themselves like that…”
“She learned it from the best, you’re always trying to find some way to throw yourself at the next problem” Peach jokes, hoping to break the tension. Thankfully Mario let out a snort which she counted as a success.
“I’ve never had to sacrifice like that, if anything Bobby was responsible for that.”
“They seemed like good people”
“They are”
Mario paused and wiped his eyes before finally looking up at Peach.
“Do you… ever want to just, wish it all away?”
“Wishing always goes wrong, you can never win with the star spirits, no matter how much Starlow tries to convince me otherwise…” She grimaced, hoping to make him laugh again, this time it didn't seem to work.
“Well I more mean… if you could wish for one selfish thing, no monkey paws or genie shenanigans, just, a wish. And not voting for the good of people, purely selfish ”
Peach thought it over, what she would really want? She wanted her kingdom and people to be safe. She wanted peace throughout the land and all that, but Mario had said purely selfish and she only had one really selfish wish.
“Hm, I think, if I truly got one free self centered wish, I’d wish to stop being used in evil villains schemes all the time, it would be nice to catch a break.” she sighed before nudging Mario.
“What about you? What selfishness rests in the hero's heart?” It seemed Mario had been thinking about this as he responded almost immediately.
“I think… I think I’d wish that I could be with everyone I've lost again. It'd be nice to see my family in Brooklyn again, get to introduce them to you Princess. See all the people I failed to save. I would really want you to meet Olivia, I think you two would get along.”
“Sounds pretty selfless to me”
“No, it’s not”
Peach hummed at that, she didn't like where this conversation was heading even if it was better than the alternative. So instead of responding she decided to just stare up into the now starry sky above them. When did that happen?
The two sat in semi-comfortable silence before being interrupted by Marios stomach grumbling.
“When was the last time you ate?” causing Mario to squint trying to remember “look, if you can’t remember then it’s been too long. How about we go see what your brother has been cooking up, hm?”
Mario nodded, and the two headed inside. Luigi seemed surprised that the princess was able to get Mario out of his “funk” and they all quickly sat down for dinner. It was a great rest of the night, with the three laughing and talking about nothing in particular.
But something was slightly off with Mario, getting a weird glint in his eye a couple of times that night or something she said would cause his face to drop. Seems the conversation didn’t exactly fix everything, but at least it was a start.
Well, she always had time.