Free

Prologue

16-year-old Princess Peach sat at her mirror, brushing her hair. She tied it up in a bun with a white ribbon and examined herself.

She had long, blonde hair and ocean-blue eyes. She was tall and lean, and over-all gorgeous.

Peach wore a short, pearl colored sundress with white flats with a pearl charm bracelet. She had 4 charms: One of a pink castle, one of a yellow crown, one of a blue mushroom, and one of an orange flame.

She stared down sadly at the flame. It reminded her of a friend she had once, 8 whole years ago, that she hadn't seen since. She missed him.

Peach stood from her bench and set down her brush. She sighed and walked out the door to her room and down the marble staircase to the front door of the castle. She started walking through the forest.

Thank god she wasn't required to have a guardian anymore. Now, she could walk freely around the castle and kingdom on her own.

Walking out of the forest trees, Peach stopped in a large clearing. The grass was dark, but no longer tall and wild. Some while ago it had been trimmed, and it had not reached its tallest height yet.

Sitting down on the grass at the edge of the woods, Peach let a tear trail down her cheek. She remembered this place; its name and appearance were permanent in her mind.

Night Meadow.

The place she met him.

With a shaky voice, much like the one she used that day, she let herself say his peculiar name.

"Bowser…"

She let the tears fall, one by one, fast and free.

Seeing as how her eyes were filled with quickly reproducing tears, and she was looking down at her knees, Peach couldn't very well see anyone around her.

She didn't see the figure in the shadow of the trees opposite her, which backed away slowly, tears falling from his glowing red eyes…