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Complications: Chapters 8 to 10

Peach was moved back to her guest room for her own safety, according to Bowser. The guards that had been put to sleep by Lavanda's magic were harshly woken up, and the Koopa Troop was put on full alert. Even the koopalings were woken up and informed about the situation concerning the Mario brothers. As the koopalings stood in line receiving instructions from Kamek to prepare for the plumbers' arrival, it seemed that Wendy and Ludwig were the only ones who were fully awake, but none of the eight koopalings was paying attention.

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"Stupid boys and their stupid cooties! Why do I have to be here?" Lavanda would be useless against the Mario brothers in her current condition, so she was sent to her room.

"Someone sounds upset, is it the sound of failure?" A voice was heard, but Lavanda couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

She frantically looked around, searching for the source of the voice to no avail. "Who's there? Keep your cooties away from me!" It was a male voice; that was all she could tell.

The shadows moved, twisting and turning in ways that did not match the objects they belonged to. "What a failure! You claim to be the heir? Two and a half minutes is not enough to reclaim such a title, dear sister." The shadows united in the center of the room, and a figure emerged from the floor.

Lavanda looked at the male magikoopa curiously. He was surrounded by shadows that made it hard to see him. She pointed at him. "The cooties are strong in this one!"

"You're so foolish. Go finish your mission and fail once and for all." He gathered energy in his wand, the large onyx at the end glowed silver.

Lavanda didn't even have time to blink before the spell hit her. Time seemed to move faster for both magikoopas, and soon, the side effects that the medicine had in Lavanda wore off. "Ugh... That's so annoying! You're going to turn yourself into an old geezer, you know!"

Even if he was still covered by the shadows, Lavanda recognized the male magikoopa as Kuvio, her brother. He dressed in black, actually wearing pants instead of the long robe most magikoopa preferred. His eyes were a deep violet and his hair was long and black. He was supposed to be two and a half minutes younger than Lavanda, but he looked several years older, thanks to his ability to speed up time. He could not time travel or turn time backwards; he could only speed up time affecting one target, while suffering a small side effect.

It was useful to cause his opponents to tire out, by making it feel as if they have been fighting for hours, or even days, instead of minutes. Kuvio would age ten times that much, but he would not feel the effects of exhaustion. The result was a possible advantage in battle in exchange for a relatively small portion of his life. He had mostly used his powers to speed up time by the hours, and in some rare occasions by days. A week was his limit.It had all added up, making him five years older than his sister, yet their father still recognized Lavanda as the heir, even if she did not posses the time magic Kuvio did.

He didn't respond to what she said, he merely ignored her and sunk back into the shadows.

Lavanda held her amethyst wand tightly. Her bother moved by using shadows as portals. Even if she didn't have the ability to speed up time, at least she didn't depend on the environment to change locations. Lavanda's specialty was teleportation, and she was about to put it to good use.

She then rapidly teleported to different locations in the castle, until she found Bowser, and as expected, Peach was in her room. Lavanda focused on Peach and Bowser, and teleported them to Bowser's castle in Iceland.

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Peach was shocked, to say the least. She thought she saw Lavanda appear in her room and disappear in a split second. Then, she was suddenly in a different castle, freezing cold. "Lavanda," Peach frowned. She had a very bad feeling about this.

Lavanda appeared before the princess with a blank look. "This isn't how it was supposed to be. You were supposed to taste happiness, or at least pretend to be happy with Bowser for a little while before your life came to an end. Sorry Peach, it's not personal, it's only... my purpose!" Lavanda raised her wand and gathered a massive amount of energy. A force-field of pale lavender light appeared around them, preventing Peach from escaping. The approaching koopas in charge of that castle were thrown back violently by the magical power.

Fierce wind blew inside the force field as Lavanda's magic was focused in her wand. She had placed Bowser in the other side of the castle, he would never make it in time and a normal koopa didn't have the power to stop her.

"Lavanda, stop! Please stop!" Peach pleaded, she was hurt and confused. She had forgiven Lavanda and thought the magikoopa could be a nice person. But Lavanda was a traitor...

"Goodbye!" Lavanda shot a ray of purple light towards Peach. The princess tried to escape the approaching ray, but the shield that once surrounded them both had become much smaller, holding Peach in place.

Suddenly, another beam of light, this one blue, intercepted Lavanda's purple energy. Kamek appeared in front of Peach, pushing Lavanda's magic away with his own. "Traitor!"

"You're the traitor, Kamek!" Lavanda yelled angrily. "Have you forgotten what you did?" She intensified her magic, pushing Kamek to his limits. He was far more powerful than Lavanda, but she was younger and had stamina that he had lost with his youth. The purple beam of magic split into two, passed left and right of Kamek, and reached its target- Peach. At the same time, Kamek's magic no longer had an obstacle to stop it from reaching Lavanda.

"Princess!" Kamek rushed to Peach's side. The princess had fallen and wasn't moving. "Princess Peach!" He tried to use his healing magic but Peach didn't have any physical wounds, she just wasn't moving, she wasn't breathing and her heartbeats had stopped.

Lavanda was inevitably reached by Kamek's magic. That last move would cost her life and she knew it, but she would not leave without completing at least a portion of her father's revenge. The two cast spells were quite different from each other. Kamek's spell was turning Lavanda into a stone statue. In Lavanda's opinion, there were already enough statues of Peach in the world, plus turning things to stone wasn't her specialty.

Maybe it was true what they say, that when someone is about to die, or be transformed into an inanimate object, their entire life flashes before their eyes. It was certainly true for Lavanda…why else, right then, would she remember when she first arrived at the Koopa Castle?

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The rain fell heavily, and the world outside the castle could barely be seen. The place wasn't called Darkland for nothing, but tonight it was darker than ever, and the harsh storm brought more rain and wind than anyone would expect. Kamek and Kammy were both perplexed. Neither had seen such a harsh storm during the summer season in all their years, not to mention that they felt traces of magic in the storm. The koopalings who leaned more towards a scientific interest were also puzzled by the unexpected storm. There wasn't supposed to be any rain in Darkland during the summer, let alone this much. Yet the rain continued to defiantly pour.

As if coming out of nowhere, a light was seen in the distance, slowly approaching. The guards of the main entrance to the castle remained in at their posts despite the bad weather, and watched the light carefully. The figure holding the light approached and was finally recognized as a young female magikoopa. "Good evening,” she greeted them, though it was late night.

The guards exchanged looks as they silently asked each other 'do you know her?'

"You shouldn't be out in this weather, miss. Please return home right away. If you don't find shelter, you'll catch a cold." One of the guards was a koopa troopa with a yellow shell and blonde hair.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I must see the king right away. I’m certain you won't deny me this." Her smile was enchanting, but there was a hint of mischief in her eyes.

Keres, the koopa troopa with the yellow shell, glanced at his partner. The other koopa troopa, wearing a green shell, had a lost look in his eyes. "So beautiful," he whispered in such a quiet voice, Keres almost didn't catch it. "We can't just leave her out in the rain. Let her go inside." The way he spoke was different from his usual tone.

Keres blinked. Did the magikoopa use some kind of charm on his partner? Well, it wasn't like they were going to leave her out in the rain anyway. Wait, couldn't magikoopas easily generate items from their magic, for example, an umbrella? Why didn't she? Was it all done to add to some dramatic effect? Keres felt suspicious. "Miss," he started, but by the time he managed to sort out his thoughts, the magikoopa had entered the castle already. It shouldn't be anything too troublesome, so Keres simply continued his watch.

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Making her way into the castle was easy. Lavanda's charm spell didn't work on the koopa troopa with the yellow shell, but it didn't matter. He must have been in love with someone, true love. Lavanda's spells couldn't break it, she wasn't sure anything could. That is what kept her from using magic like she had that night, to get Peach and Bowser together. It was all an act. Lavanda never believed they were right for each other. She was convinced that Peach was in love with Mario, and never bothered using magic to find out if it was true.

It was all part of the plan to make Bowser suffer. He would get what he wanted the most, Peach. Then she would be taken away as he had barely started to enjoy true happiness. The cherry on top of the evil cake would be Bowser being blamed for Peach's death. Lavanda's mission was to play matchmaker, then frame Bowser; the Mario brothers would do the rest. Her plans didn't work; she became frustrated and impatient when Kuvio interfered.

Lavanda remembered when she offered to help Bowser. It was evident how much he cared about Peach, but even then Lavanda didn't believe it could work, Peach and Bowser were too different.

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"You really care about her, don't you?"

Bowser was surprised by the sudden voice behind him. It made him swallow a fireball, not to risk burning his precious Peach doll. He was talking to the doll as if it were the real princess. "Who are you?" He glared at the intruder.

She was a young magikoopa that Bowser did not recognize. "My name is Lavanda. I'm a traveling fortune teller and matchmaker. Please hear me out, your highness, for I am sure I can help you and Princess Peach be together."

Needless to say, her words caught his attention, but still the fact remained that she had intruded in his secret Peach shrine, which he personally built for his eyes and his eyes only. The walls were covered in pictures of the princess. Her dresses were always similar, but Bowser had stared at those pictures for so long, he was capable of identifying the slight differences in each one. There were also pictures of Peach playing different sports such as golf and tennis, pictures of her in a go-kart, all of them happy pictures. One of the pictures was special, because it represented Bowser’s most desired wish. In that picture, Princess Peach appeared in a white dress similar to her pink ones, save for the color. It was a wedding dress, and beside her was the Koopa King himself.

The picture wasn't real. It was something that convinced him that computers were wonderful devices indeed, regardless of the bitter-sweet feeling he always got when looking at the picture. They had a real wedding before, even if he didn't have any pictures of that one. That wedding unleashed chaos, but even after that, Bowser wouldn't stop loving Peach. "You sound confident, but that's still no excuse for intruding here."

Lavanda remained perfectly calm. "I have never failed as a matchmaker. I can guarantee that you and Princess Peach will be together. If not, feel free to throw me in the nearest lava pit or feed me to the chain chops."

"You're that confident?" It seemed that the image of the angry Koopa King had no effect on her, or at least not the effect it had on most people.

"Yes, I assure you, I'm a matchmaker and fortune teller of exceptional skills. I can make Princess Peach your queen, if you give me the chance." Lavanda was certain that Bowser had no suspicions of her true plans.

It seemed that Bowser was starting to consider her offer. "If I agree to this, what's in it for you? What reward are you looking for?"

Lavanda expected that question, and she had prepared an answer for it. "I do not require a reward. Just seeing my king happy with a queen worthy of him is more than enough."

"I supposed there's nothing to lose by letting you try, but you better not mess up or I might just throw you into a pit of boiling lava, or feed you to many ferocious chain chops, or both. Good ideas, huh?" Bowser didn't want to get his hopes up. He told himself not to expect too much from the magikoopa, but she was so confident that he couldn't help it but to wonder, what if she was right?

"I am very thankful that you are giving me this chance, your majesty. I assure you, I will not disappoint you. Very soon, you and Princess Peach will be happy together."

"I want to know more about your plan, but not here." He led Lavanda to one of the many rooms in the castle, and once they were comfortably sitting with a goomba maid serving tea and cookies, it was time for Lavanda to start explaining.

"When two people are destined to be together, I can feel it. I guess you could say I can sense love, even if those people are not aware of it yet. Peach, being the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, is under a tremendous amount of pressure. I'm sure she doesn't appear to be this way, but she is actually quite stressed. She is always thinking about what is expected of her as the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, about the image she must project. She is expected to care for the hero before ever thinking about caring for the man that constantly kidnaps her. That is what is expected of her, and it is clouding her judgment when it comes to love," Lavanda explained.

Bowser looked thoughtful, so far it made sense. "Go on."

Lavanda continued. "What I plan to do is help Peach relax to help her clear her mind, and, in a way, find herself. Then, she will see you in a new light. She will judge you by her own heart and not by what is expected of her. Only then can she realize how she truly feels about you. Once she has been given a push in the right direction, everything else will unfold by itself. You must be patient and let her notice her love little by little, so that she is not too overwhelmed. If you follow my advice everything will turn out as expected, and Peach will realize that she returns your feelings.”

Bowser had to admit that the deal sounded good. He picked up a large cookie and ate it, savoring the taste of chocolate chip. "That might work. For your sake, it better work."

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Lavanda remembered the recent events in her life. Meeting Peach at the train station, the supposed ghost invasion of the mushroom Castle, the events of the forest Maze, and all the time she wasted under the effects of that medicine to recover her magic. Her childhood wasn't worth remembering, nothing but magic training and fights with her brother. He wanted to see her fail. It had been his wish for as long as she could remember. It seemed that it was finally being granted.

Her life had been wasted, she didn't achieve her purpose. She had been born only because her father wanted someone to carry out his revenge. Lavanda never met her mother, she didn't know if she was still alive somewhere, but it made no difference. If her mother never bothered looking for her then she didn't care.

Revenge, that was the purpose of Lavanda's life. She couldn't achieve it; she might as well never existed... With those final thoughts, her body turned into stone completely and her consciousness faded away.

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Peach had no idea where she was or how she got there, but she knew she wasn't in Iceland anymore. The ground was made of clouds, similar to Nimbus Land, but Peach was sure this place was different. The buildings were not made of vines and leaves, as they were in Nimbus Lands, and there were no pink and white gates leading to the entrance of Mellow's palace anywhere in sight. The atmosphere felt strange, as if the world itself was bored.

The Princess remembered being hit by Lavanda's magic. She was disappointed at how things turned out, she had tried to look at Lavanda's good side but she was betrayed. She hoped that Kamek was alright and wondered what Lavanda was talking about. Everything sounded so complicated, and top it off, Peach didn't know where she was. With no time to waste, she just started walking. This place appeared a little empty. It didn't feel completely deserted, just too big with too few people living in it. She had not seen anyone yet, but she had feeling that she would find people.

Up ahead there was a large building made of pure white stone with golden details. Peach went up a few steps and walked down a short white road towards the building. The large golden double doors were left open, as if the one inside the building didn't really care if someone wondered in. "Hello?" Peach called.

"Come in," a voice answered from within the building.

Peach went inside and walked across a room that looked like a lobby. There was a door that led to an office. Inside the office there was a young man sitting in front of a desk. On the desk, two piles of papers could be seen, one considerably larger than the other. The young man had amazing long golden hair, as shiny as the rays of the sun and violet eyes, similar to the colors of the sky during sunset. He was wearing elegant white clothes with golden details. He looked rather bored and was reading a newspaper. The newspaper's headline caught Peach's attention, it read 'Princess Peach banished to the Spirit World'.

"So you came." The golden haired young man folded the newspaper and set it on the desk. "I can't help you. There really isn't much a sunny day can do for anyone."

Now that his face was no longer partially covered by the newspaper, Peach could fully see his sour expression. She wondered if he ever smiled, but it seemed to be unlikely. "You knew I was coming?" So far nothing made sense, the strange headline on the news paper, this man who apparently expected her to show up, and his peculiar comment.

"I read it on the paper, Princess Peach." His reply sounded bored, as if he didn't really care. "Life continues to be as boring as ever, though. I'm not one to follow stories like yours."

"I don't understand… and may I ask who you are?" Peach asked. Her confusion only grew with every word he spoke.

"I am the Sun." The young man replied as if it were the most obvious fact. Peach looked at him in disbelief. He was the sun? That was impossible... Seeing Peach's doubt clearly on her face, the Sun continued, "humans... They can't tell between the truth and a lie. Your life wouldn't be half as complicated if you could. Alright, I'll explain it to you, once and only once."

“This is the Spirit World and I am the spirit of the Sun, the leader of all the suns in all the galaxies. I'm not the sun of your world but that sun works for me. The other suns do most of the work while I'm stuck in this office, approving and disapproving regulations for solar temperatures. Even with so many years of experience, they would cook the worlds if I didn't set some rules. Stories like yours, romantic comedies, don't interest me. I haven't been following your little drama with the plumber and the koopa, but some people around here talk about it all the time. From this world, it is possible to see anything happening in yours from a reflective surface. Also, the newspaper works really fast around here. That is how I know about you. It seems that magikoopa girl's specialty really was teleportation. I'm pretty sure she wanted to kill you, but instead she threw your soul into the Spirit World. What a clumsy mistake."

"I'm in the Spirit World..." Many strange things had happened in Peach's life, but even then it was hard for such a surprising fact to sink in. She was in the home of the spirits who represented many different things in her world. The Sun was only one of them.

"Don't believe it if you don't want to. I'm busy and I can't help you get back if that's what you want. Go talk to Mercy; she liked watching you and the koopa." With those final words of advice, the Sun went back to reading his newspaper and ignored Peach.

"Thank you... I'll let myself out now." After receiving a quiet "hmm" as a reply, Peach left the building. She still didn't quite believe that she was in the spirit world, but she knew she wouldn't obtain any more information from the man who claimed to be the Sun.

He was nothing like she would imagine the spirit of the Sun to be. His hair really was like the sun, golden and shiny, but she would expect the Sun to be cheerful. If he stayed at the office doing all the paperwork, then he wasn't the Sun that shone in her world. Peach walked around the building and saw a garden behind it. Across the sunflower garden, there was a tall staircase that seemed to reach endlessly to the skies above. Peach had a feeling that she might find the answers she was looking for up there.

It took the Mushroom Princess about an hour to climb all those stairs. At the top of the stairs there was a large platform, supported in mid-air only by the staircase. In the center of the platform, there was a large pool with many blooming pink lily-pads floating in it. At the far end of the platform behind the pool, there was a throne. A young woman sat on the throne with an amused smile. "You're finally here, Peach." It seemed that she also knew Peach was coming. "Come see." The woman had black hair and violet eyes similar to the Sun's eyes. She was also dressed in white, though her outfit was far more revealing. She wore golden jewelry and a necklace with a mirror.

Peach approached and looked at the pool where the woman was pointing. The reflection in the water surprised her. She saw herself unconscious, surrounded by doctors who shared the same helpless expression. Kamek and Bowser were there as well. The magikoopa looked frustrated and disappointed while Bowser threw a fit. "What is this?"

"Haven't you heard?" The woman asked. "Reflective surfaces in this world, such as mirrors or crystalline water, show what is happening in other worlds, including yours. I have been observing the recent events from here. Things have become quite complicated and they will only become more complicated from now on."

Then it was true, Peach was really in the sprit world... "If this really is the spirit world, who are you?""It really is, and I am Mercy. Before you say anything, keep in mind that people don't always listen to me, so it's no my fault if it ever felt like the world had no mercy.

“Anyway, I've been following your story; it's interesting, even more so if you knew what is really going on. It's not my place to tell you, but I am Mercy so I will have mercy and help you out. I like peaches and you were named after one so it's no trouble at all. Follow me," Mercy got up from her throne and started walking down the stairs, followed by a perplexed Peach.

"Could you tell me a little more about what is happening? Like, what I’m doing here?" Peach asked, as she followed Mercy down the many stairs. It didn't feel very merciful making her climb all those stairs only to go down again soon after.

"Nope, sorry, I can't say. I will tell you this though, it's complicated." Mercy smiled in amusement. To her this was all a good movie to watch.

"If you're Mercy and you know what's going on, then shouldn't you be merciful and tell me? Bowser must be worried..." Peach didn't know what he would do if he thought she had died. If her spirit wasn't in her body then she probably appeared to be dead, or maybe she was. "Can I revive?"

"No, but that's not a problem since you didn't die in the first place. Your spirit was simply moved. I'm being merciful by helping you get back. That's enough mercy; you have to do the rest yourself." After getting to the bottom of the stairs and walking for about fifteen minutes, Mercy stopped in front of a strange fountain. There was fire burning in the middle of the fountain. It was impossible to start a fire in the water, yet it there was, that flame in the water's surface.

"I need to go back as soon as possible." Peach didn't like to make people worry about her. She felt that she made the Mario brothers, Toadsworth, Toad and so many others worry too often when ever she was kidnapped. Peach looked at the fountain. She amazed by how the fire continued to burn in the middle of the water. She remembered that when Mario used a fire flower his power worked even underwater, so maybe she shouldn't have been so surprised, but there was something special about that fountain.

A couple was sitting at the other side of the fountain. Mercy walked around, passing by in front of them. She paused for a moment as if hinting for Peach to look at the couple then continued walking. "Did you see them?"

"Yes." They looked like normal humans at first but their eyes were different. His eyes were a bright golden color and seemed to carry a special light to them, like burning flames. Her eyes were a peaceful blue with the grace and serenity of water. "Are they the spirits of fire and water?"

"They are, and they're also a couple. They're opposites, but they're in love. Their differences don't really matter because they love each other." Mercy and Peach continued walking until Mercy stopped at the end of the white road. The white stones faded into soft and fluffy white clouds, and up ahead there was a man and a woman. The woman was working on a robot, while the man stood with his back against a cherry blossom tree watching her. She looked like a normal human; except her hair was a deep violet color, and he looked like an elf with light blue hair and red eyes. "Science and magic are not only opposites but they shouldn't even coexist, yet there they are. They make a cute couple too, don't they?"

"If they love each other, then it doesn't matter how different they are." Even if that was her answer, Peach knew where this was going, but she wouldn't directly say anything if Mercy didn't. Mercy said she had been watching, maybe she had her own opinion about who was best for Peach. Everyone seemed to have an opinion about that these days.

"I'm glad you agree. Well then let's continue; Rainbow should be around here somewhere." Mercy smiled, as much as she wanted to interfere a little more, she knew she had to let people figure things out on their own.

"Rainbow?" Peach asked. She wasn't sure how the spirit of the rainbow could help her return.

"Yes, Rainbow has an important job. It is the rainbows that can connect the spirit world to your world. Pipes don't reach this far, so making a rainbow bridge is the only way for you to return to your world. You could also be teleported by Magic, but he's not always in the best mood. Besides, you look like you're good with children and Rainbow's preferred form is a child." Mercy explained. They approached a garden of yellow and white flowers. A man with spiky blonde hair was there contemplating a kiwi in his hand. "Kiwi!"

"Mercy..." The young man looked up, responding to the name. He must be the spirit of the kiwis. Peach wondered if peaches had a spirit too. "Is this Princess Peach?"

"The one and only, but she can't stay for long. Bowser is freaking out because his beloved Peach won't wake up. I'm pretty sure Kamek is smart and skilled enough at magic to realize that Peach is still alive, even if an ordinary human would die after having her soul separated from her body like this. But Kamek can't really help Peach from that world. The Koopa King will fall apart without his Peachy and I'm sure she misses him too, right Peach?" Mercy's expression was a mix of amusement and teasing.

Peach wondered what she meant by saying that a normal human wouldn't survive. Then why did she? "I don't want to make anyone worry about me more than they already do." Peach truthfully replied.

Kiwi nodded. "Magic should be able to send you back. I'm sorry, I can't help you."

Peach smiled, "It's okay." Why did Kiwi look so guilty? This wasn't his fault.

Mercy shook her head. "Typical Kiwi, always blaming himself for everything that goes wrong in the worlds. One of these days you're going to carry more guilt than the spirit of guilt. Either way, maybe you can help us. Magic is probably busy fussing over the lack of magic in Science's robot, let's leave them alone. Rainbow will provide Peach's transportation. Do you know where she is? I thought she liked to play around here."

"Rainbow... But..." Kiwi paused and observed Mercy's expression. He wanted to say that one day Mercy would be more gossipy than the spirit of gossip but held the comment back. "Wouldn't that complicate things?"

"Silly Kiwi, the things that are to come are already as complicated as they can get. If anything, this might help clarify them in time." Mercy looked confident, despite Kiwi's worry. Peach still had no idea what they were talking about, and she knew they wouldn't tell her.

Kiwi decided to trust Mercy's judgment. She spent a lot of time watching the events that unfolded in the other worlds, and she had been closely following Peach's life, so it was best to trust her. "Rainbow went to play in the sky maze, she said she was bored. I told her not to go but she wouldn't listen."

"That's fine, Kiwi, don't blame yourself. Rainbow looks like a child and acts like a child but, just like us; she's thousands of years old. Thanks for the information, you've been a real help." Mercy smiled as if to reassure Kiwi. He appeared to be the type of person who took everyone's problems as his own.

Kiwi smiled, it was a rare expression for him. "Any time." He looked towards Peach as if he knew her his entire life. "Be careful, Princess Peach."

"I will, thank you Kiwi, and try to relax a little, okay?" Peach thought he was a nice young man, but a little too stressed over things that were not his fault.

"I shall try," Kiwi replied with a smile.

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The Sky Maze was an interesting place; beautiful but deadly, though not for a spirit. In a way, it reminded Peach of Nimbus Land, with thick vine-like trees tangled up to form a complicated structure. The vines had many large, sharp-looking thorns, but unlike the ones in Nimbus Land, these didn't have any leaves. The maze extended beyond the skies, twisting in odd shapes. There were pieces of wood attached to the vines to make it easier to walk on them without stepping on the thorns.

"Rainbow!" Mercy waited for a moment, footsteps were heard rapidly approaching then the sounds came to a stop.

At the base of the boards forming stairs, there was a koopa child with a spiky pink shell and rainbow hair worthy of her name. The koopa pouted and pointed at Peach. "Why is she here?"

"Peach is stuck in our world and needs your help to get back," Mercy explained. She knew that Rainbow wouldn't easily accept helping Peach.

"Magic can get rid of her!" Rainbow ran back into the Sky Maze in a hurry. It was clear she didn't like Peach, even if she didn't really know why.

"It looks like you'll have to chase after her. Let me tell you something; those thorns can't physically harm you. The way you look, the dress you're wearing, it's how you looked when you were still in your body. That is how you think you look, so that is the shape you take in this world. You base your looks on what you remember from your world, but spirits are used to manipulating their shapes. In other words, because you're only here in spirit your dress won't be ruined by the thorns."

"Then, I'm not in any danger?" Peach asked. It sounded as if that was what Mercy tried to explain, but somehow Peach thought it wasn't quite all there was to it.

"Oh no, all the opposite," Mercy was a good person at heart, but sometimes she could be a little sarcastic and misleading. She grinned, amused by Peach's predicament. "To injure your soul, that must hurt. There's a reason why you were able to survive being sent here, but it won't help you in this case. Be careful." With that final warning, Mercy started to walk away.

"Wait! What’s the reason? Why can't you tell me more? I know I'm supposed to understand things for myself, but are you sure you can't tell me anything else?" It was clear that Rainbow didn't want to help... Magic didn't look like he was too busy earlier. Even if he had a temper, so did Rainbow, from the looks of it. Peach was tired of all the ambiguities, she felt helpless in her confusion, following directions even if what was happening hasn't fully sunk in. "What about Magic?"

"It is necessary that Rainbow is the one who helps you find your way. I can't tell you anything else, and you might not believe it if I did. It's about time Rainbow's unfinished business was put to rest, and I know of no one else who can do it, only you." Instead of clarifying the situation, Mercy's words only made it harder to understand. It was as if she spoke in riddles that Peach couldn't decipher.

Peach sighed as she watched Mercy walk away. The princess turned to look at the Sky Maze looming before her. If she was going to return home, and possibly come to understand what was happening, she needed to find Rainbow. Peach entered the Sky Maze carefully avoiding the thorns. The old wooden boards creaked with every step she took, as if they were ready to fall apart.

"Go away!" Rainbow's voice came from above. "Don't follow me!" She sounded annoyed. More footsteps were heard, she was moving fast.

Peach tried to follow the sound of Rainbow's voice. She caught a glimpse of bright pink, blue, yellow and green, hidden among the dull shades of brown, right above her. She wasn't sure how to reach that area. There was a tunnel of tightly spiraled vines up ahead; it appeared to be the only way to move forward so Peach ran through it. "Rainbow! Please wait, I just want to talk to you!" If only Peach could understand why Rainbow was so upset, then maybe she could do something about it.

"I don't want to!" This time Rainbow's voice came in the form of an echo. It was impossible to identify in which direction it originated.

"Princess Peach, is in our world?" Peach jumped in surprise and turned around to face a raven. "Is it her heart, she cannot quell?" The bird looked like a normal raven except for the fact that she could speak with the voice of a young woman.

"It seems a lot of people know me here." Peach wasn't sure what the raven's second question meant and somehow, she was sure she wouldn't get a straight answer. "What's your name?" Peach's guess was that this raven represented the spirit of the ravens, or the spirit of flight, or feathers, or something along those lines; or perhaps the spirit of poetry, but her guesses were all wrong.

"Denial is what I am called, though they should call you that more, about the one that you adore." The raven spoke in a poetic way, including a rhyme in each of her puzzling sentences.

"Denial..." The spirit of denial was telling Peach that she should be called 'denial'? "The one that I adore? Who are you talking about?" Just when Peach thought no one could speak in a more ambiguous and confusing way than Mercy, the raven had arrived with her poetic riddles.

"Forevermore!" Denial screeched.

"I don't understand. Mercy told me that Rainbow would help me return home, so I'm following her right now." Maybe the spirit of Denial could help Peach find a way to reach Rainbow in that eerie, silent maze.

"I was once there, as was her. For me, in love we were. For her, I do not know if poetic devotion he bestowed." Denial spoke of her past as well as Rainbow's, but there was little to no information that could be interpreted from her riddles.

There was an amused laugh as new footsteps approached. The boards creaked, the air felt lighter and the solemn silence didn't feel as eerie as before. The young man who had just arrived had red hair, in the brightest shade Peach had ever seen. His blue eyes revealed his carefree nature and he smiled. "I'm Freedom, they all want me," he winked.

Freedom, the spirit of freedom… this was one guess Peach would have gotten right. Everything about him seemed to say how carefree he was, from his casual clothes to his relaxed posture, even his attitude. "Pleased to meet you," Peach paused as Freedom looked like he was holding back laughter.

"I don't think we've met yet, Peach, but you're very well acquainted with Denial over there, a lot. By the way, did you catch what she was saying before?" Freedom asked.

Peach considered what Freedom had said. Peach spent most of her time in her castle; or in captivity in Bowser's castle, even if it wasn't the way one would expect captivity to be. Every now and then she felt a little trapped and confused, but everyone felt that way sometimes. She could spend time with her friends, play sports, and visit all kinds of interesting places.

Overall, Peach didn't truly feel like she wasn't free. She liked her life, she was thankful for everything she had, she wanted to go back, she didn't want to make Bowser or anyone else worry about her anymore. "To be honest, I don't understand what either of you are talking about," Peach admitted.

"I thought so. She wants you to move on." Freedom's words felt incomplete and Peach still looked puzzled. He decided to elaborate, "Denial, the raven, once went to your world. Even without a spirit, the feeling of denial will still exist, so it's not like it disappeared while she was a mortal. She got married and all that stuff, then, she came back. When spirits take a mortal form they die young most of the time, because they don't truly belong in that world. Denial still remembers; it's kind of ironic because she doesn't deny any of it, but her husband was in denial for a long time."

"Rainbow is an entirely different story. She has no idea what happened while she was a mortal, but the feeling of an unfinished life bothers her. Mercy watched the entire thing, gossipy as she is, but she won't tell us. I thought it would be another cheesy romance, cheesier than the fox; the spirit of cheese is a fox. What an odd guy he is... wait, I wasn't talking about that. Oh yeah, so anyway, Rainbow's memories of her time as a mortal are gone, but her unfinished business bothers her, a lot. That's pretty much it." Freedom nodded to himself and smiled. There were few things that could bother him.

"Mercy said that I was the only one who could help Rainbow with her unfinished business. Is this related to her time as a mortal?" Peach felt that the conversation was finally moving forward.

Freedom shrugged. "I don't know, a lot..."

"With a painful goodbye, her spirit echoed 'why?' She did not know how to let go, her memories were sealed, she could flow. Only a small hint remains of whom she once was, the seven colors that the rainbow can encompass." Denial spread her wings and flew out of the Sky Maze; she had nothing more to say.

Peach watched Denial disappear in the distance. She looked at Freedom; maybe he had an explanation for Denial's words this time too. "Did you understand any of that?"

"Denial said that Rainbow didn't want to leave the mortal world, but she had no choice. Rainbow lost her memories because she didn't know how to deal with not being able to go back to mortal world. We can only have one life there and then we have to come back to the spirit world. I think the last part meant that what rainbow left unfinished is all that's left of her time in your world, since she can't remember her life there."

The spirit world was a surprising place. The spirit's personalities didn't always fit in with what they represented, yet in a way they did. Peach was letting it all sink in. She was trying to make the connection between Rainbow and what she left unfinished, since it was clear that, even if Freedom knew, he wouldn't tell Peach directly. At least he gave her more information than most of the other spirits. Rainbow's unfinished business must be something that happened during her time as a mortal. But if that was the case, then Peach couldn't do anything about it unless she returned to her world.

"Who do you like?" Freedom suddenly asked. "From your world, who do you like? Do you have a crush on anyone? Tell me." Curiosity seemed to be another of Freedom's characteristics.

"Mario." Peach had to pause and think about her answer before replying. She realized how much she had been thinking about Bowser, and how worried he must be.

"Are you sure? Its okay, you can tell me. You're free to like someone else, even if it's not the one people expect you to like. I'm Freedom and I say so, it must be true. So, who do you like? Who do you like a lot?" Freedom asked again.

At first, Peach wasn't sure where this was going, then she caught on. Freedom was asking about Bowser. Suddenly what Denial had about the one that Peach adored made sense. Why was it that most of, if not all, the spirits thought they made a good couple? They saw the world from a different perspective; maybe they had seen something that she had missed. Or maybe they were just expressing opinions and nothing more. "I... appreciate him, but I don't think of him in another way..." Peach was at a loss for words, since when did she appreciate Bowser? He kidnapped her constantly, even if it was out of love, but that was certainly an unusual way to show it.

"Look over there," Freedom pointed towards a barrel that was unnoticed in a corner. A path of boards made it accessible, despite the thorny vines on which it stood.

"A barrel?" Peach wasn't sure how that could be helpful.

"It's in the barrel, a lot!" Freedom shook his head. He wasn't one to stay in a single place for too long and he didn't have too much patience. Besides, this was Peach's mystery to figure out, he couldn't do it for her. "I'll be going now."

"Wait, what's in the barrel?" Peach asked.

"Take a look," Freedom was gone the same way he came and Peach was left with curiosity.

The Princess approached the barrel and looked inside. It was full of water... She remembered what Mercy had told her about water and reflective surfaces. "I want to see Mario." Peach concentrated on Mario, but she wasn't happy with what she saw. Mario was in the middle of a fierce battle in Bowser's castle in Darkland. She couldn't bear to watch this; she needed to return as soon as possible. Peach wondered if Bowser was still in Iceland and if he knew what was happening in Darkland. The image changed to match her thoughts.

"She's alive," Kamek tried to explain. "I didn't say she wasn't. Her body is just empty, frozen in place. The spell I used will help preserve her body, so that it doesn't die before Peach's spirit can return. There's nothing that can be done, she has to find a way back on her own... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry to have failed."

"Kamek, it's not your fault. I know you tried to help," Peach spoke even if she knew they couldn't hear her.

"Leave!" Bowser roared. In a puff of blue smoke, Kamek was gone. Bowser gently brushed Peach's hair away from her face. She had been placed in a guestroom, but they were still in Iceland. He looked so sad; it broke Peach's heart to watch. "My princess... I shouldn't have trusted that stupid matchmaker. This is my fault for making that deal." He held her hand and watched her; she was like sleeping beauty. Kamek didn't want to say it, but Bowser knew there was a possibility that Peach would never wake up, and he couldn't stand to think about it. "Wake up Peach... I love you."

Peach had never seen Bowser so sad. He looked helpless staring at her motionless body. He looked frightened, so different from what she had seen before. She had to return to her world.

To be Continued

Many thanks to Razzi (ebtwisty9) for beta reading and giving me advice.

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