Chapter Text
She slumped back in her chair, eyes closed, and enjoyed the feeling of water rushing through her hair. More than just cleaning her hair—which she had been putting off more and more, as the months got colder—, the warmth also washed away her anxieties.
But soon enough, the water stopped, and she felt a towel wrapped around her hair and her shoulders.
Peach tried not to sigh.
Instead, she listened to the patient instruction of her hairdressers to sit up, and move to the stylist's chair. Once she was there, the comb began running through her hair. With it came awareness of where she was, what she was doing, what had yet to come.
The past few weeks had been incredible. New Donk City was still out of reach, just barely—somewhere between the Federation's meddling and Sonic and Tails still not being ready, they weren’t able to visit for the holidays—but for now, they were able to send Mario over with candid family pictures. Instead, they spent the holidays in Sarasaland, which bled into a treasure hunt in Shamar that left Knuckles, Rouge, and Wario all screaming in jealousy.
But those days were weeks behind them. The snow still fell in white sheets, clothing her entire kingdom in sparkles. Her boys were talking about going out to explore the snow covered mountains, once this was all over, and she wanted dearly to join them—but, first, they had to get through today.
The comb worked out the knots in her hair, but it couldn’t quite work out the knots in her soul.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
"Toadette?" she asked, over the sounds of the hair dryer turning on.
"Yes, Your Highness!"
She couldn’t see her lady-in-waiting—a pair of manicurists had grabbed her hands and were working on either side of her—but she knew her most loyal servant well enough. She spoke anyway. "Run me through the schedule for today, one more time."
"Yes ma’am!" It was less formal than decorum demanded, but Peach didn’t care. "The Federation emissaries are on a tour of Toad Town as we speak. Last checked, it's the G.U.N. commander and his small attaché. At your word, they’ll enter the castle grounds for the introduction, followed by the lunch reception. After that, you’re free to entertain them however you see fit."
"Excellent." She liked having her options open, her plans fluid and moving to account for the actions of others. "The plan for if they have good intentions is to take them for dinner and a show. See that my box in the Sparkle Theater is open for Mario and I."
"Very good. Will you be taking the boys?"
"Depends." She pursed her lips. "…The ice skating show is the one in, now. Do you think they would like that?"
One of her manicurists pulled a face, and that was all the answer Peach needed. Toadette snorted anyway. "I wouldn’t count on it."
"Fair enough. I’ll take them to the action hero's play, one of these days."
"Now that sounds more like those maniacs," Toadette laughed. "I’ll make a note of it. What's the plan for if you hate the Federation?"
"Dislike has nothing to do with it," Peach corrected. She sighed heavily. It was improper, but she was safe in the confines of her own room. "If they give me reason to believe they have bad intentions, then I’ll need to slip away to contact Pauline as soon as possible. We can host a small dinner reception, so that they don’t suspect anything, and send them on their way. Is everything prepared for that possibility?"
"The kitchen staff is on standby, along with a few extra hands from New Donk's culinary academy."
"Very good." She took a deep breath. "Did I miss anything?"
"Not that I can think of."
"Wonderful job, as always, Toadette. Will you have my maids lay out my dress for me? And the white shawl. It’s cold enough that I think I’ll need it."
"Already done."
Peach scoffed lovingly. "I swear, you’re a mind reader."
"Nope! Just very, very good at this." She couldn’t hear her phone buzzing, but apparently Toadette had. "Mario texted, turns out your boys have gone missing."
Peach lifted an eyebrow. "Has he checked my library? I think Tails got ahold of the passcode a few days ago."
"…And you just let him?"
"I dare you to try stopping him," she scoffed. There was nothing but fondness in her voice and heart as she thought of her fluffy genius, and said, "I swear, nothing in the world could."
"Sure, but you don’t have to make it easy for him." Toadette groaned. "I’ll text Mario back for you."
"You’re amazing," Peach sighed, and she meant it.
"Getting old now, Princess. You just sit back and focus on entertaining our guests."
Peach didn’t need to hear that twice.
The text Mario received from Peach was enlightening, because no, he hadn’t checked her secret library. Though the explanation left him wondering, he knew better than to question it by now. Sometimes Tails's capacity for brilliance scared him.
Then again, Sonic had loved the secret library, when he saw it for the first time. He wouldn’t doubt that he would show it to his brother.
So all in all, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that he found the boys there. They were both sitting on top of a table, with pens stuck behind their ears, a large, weathered book, and several pages of notes in between them. They were mostly reading the book, but as he watched, Tails drew his pen, and began scribbling more.
Mario couldn’t help his curiosity. "What are you working on?"
"A theory," Tails responded.
They didn’t look up at him, didn’t even startle. Mario was only surprised by how that realization made him smile.
"Are y’all allowed to tell me about it, or…?"
Tails laughed awkwardly, and glanced at his brother. Sonic just shrugged.
"I got bored, so I decided to look into power stars," Sonic explained. "You know how most just kind of get absorbed, give you a little bit of invincibility, and then disappear after a while?"
"I know."
"But that Star that hit me during the Convergence never really gave me that infinite boost, you know? So." He gestured to their materials. "You know. Boredom. I started looking into what could’ve happened."
"And then I found this!" Tails chirped.
He slid the book around, allowing Mario to get a better look.
Upon further inspection, he found it to be a written account of many past deeds of the stars and their wielders. Many of the stories here, Mario already knew—a few of them, including the one Tails was showing him now, he had lived.
"If this particular story is true, then that means it’s possible for certain, stronger stars to be absorbed and, instead of temporary invincibility, provide a permanent enhanced ability," Tails explained, as he handed a page of notes to Sonic. "But there’s no record of what that would've meant in practice. If it’s true that some of these…star children pop up in every generation, then I’d like to track down further record of them, maybe even in this generation. Maybe we could find out if their enhancements could shed some light on what happened to Sonic during the Convergence, or if he’s been altered in any way."
Mario couldn’t help but chuckle.
"You know you could just ask, right?"
They blinked. Stared at their notes for a little bit, before—jaws dropped—both looked up to stare at Mario incredulously.
"What," they demanded, in unison.
"Ah! Well," Mario said as he took the book back. "This generation had seven, right?" he asked, and he pointed to a red silhouette. "This one's me." He pointed to another two, in pink and green, and added, "This one is your mom, and this is your Uncle Luigi."
"No way," Sonic demanded. He pointed at the yellow one. "That one?"
"Wario."
The black one was next, "And that one?"
"Bowser," Mario replied simply, and then, to save him from further questioning, "Donkey Kong, and my zio Yoshi."
Tails's eyes bulged. "Is that why he can speak English?"
"Yup."
"Oh, that’s weird."
"Yoshi's a special case," Mario explained, and he sat on top of the table with them. "For most of us, it granted some sort of strength or ability. Your mom got magic."
"And you got fire?" Tails guessed.
"No, I got my strength. Firebrand was something entirely different," Mario explained. At Tails's look of confusion, he added, "We do think maybe my star power is the reason I've been able to handle Firebrand so well, but I didn’t get that ability until I was older."
"So if the stars impact powers you get later, in theory, they could also affect powers you already have," Tails hedged, frowning. "For example, Sonic's speed?"
"Absolutely!"
Tails immediately reached over to smack Sonic on the shoulder. "I told you!"
"That would work if I actually noticed a difference."
"Who said you had to? Maybe it’s like some latent power thing." He snapped his fingers suddenly. "Or maybe instead of your speed, the stars affect your Chaos energy."
Sonic lifted an eyebrow. "You noticed any difference with that?"
At the sarcastic tone, Tails deflated. "Well, no."
"That’s what I thought."
Tails looked away from their work. Sonic didn’t even seem to notice his brother's distress, which left Mario with a deep frown on his face.
"…Is something wrong?"
Sonic shrugged. "I don’t think so."
"Then what's the problem?" he asked. "Some gifts take time."
Tails scoffed. "You know we're both really bad at that, right?"
He cocked his eyebrow at Tails, and for a brief moment, forgot who this was actually about.
He should have known. He used to do this for Luigi when he was especially afraid of someone—command their attention, so no one noticed his trembling brother behind him. Luigi used to do this for him, too, when he had taken an especially hard beating and needed to pull himself together.
Tails had, somehow, wedged himself between Mario and Sonic. Commanded Mario's attention, so that his brother's sulking went unnoticed. He had managed to do it without either noticing, so that it looked casual—but now that Mario was thinking about his own brother, suddenly Tails's gambit was becoming clear.
Mario looked past him, and stared at his eldest. "You’re also bad at being honest."
It wasn’t a question, so Sonic didn’t respond. All he gave him was a cocked up eyebrow.
If he had to guess, it was buried fear beginning to surface, again. He still remembered interrupting Sonic in the middle of an escape attempt. But whatever was going on in the kid's head, they didn’t have the time to unpack it, nor did he suspect Sonic wanted to try.
It could wait. They had time.
"You know nothing's going to happen to you, right?"
He scoffed. "I know."
"Then why worry? When the time comes, you’ll know. You can feel it."
"But that’s it. I don’t feel any different," Sonic protested, staring at the picture of this generation's seven. "If that’s what really happened to the Star that hit me, then shouldn’t I?"
Mario was about to give a cocky response, but for a split second, he looked—really looked. He knew that worry on Sonic didn’t look the same as it did for most people. He was still open, relaxed—except for his nose, which creased upward.
Mario had wondered that himself. Up to this point, Sonic hadn’t looked or acted any differently than before. He wasn’t faster, or stronger, or gifted with some new, fascinating ability.
Inexplicably, though, the star children always—always—knew each other. They could see each other's light, burning as bright as any star. He had seen it in his brother their whole lives, in his beloved from the moment he met her. And these days, if Mario looked hard enough, he could see supernovas burning in Sonic's eyes, nebulas left in his wake, and galaxies, old and new, swirling all his kid in every breath he took.
(Inexplicably, he always remembered Super Sonic's light every time this happened.)
"Ay, Sonic," Mario murmured. "You’re already powerful enough that I don’t know what else they could’ve blessed you with. But I’m sure that's all it is. So just give it time."
He didn’t seem to like that answer, but Mario didn’t expect him to. At the very least, he exhaled a deep breath, and said, "Sure."
And that was all he could’ve asked for, at this point in time. He ruffled Sonic's quills, causing him to yelp, and Tails to point and laugh.
"Come on," Mario urged, when the world felt right again. "Find a stopping point. The Federation's people are here."
Sonic's face fell. "Ugh, that’s today?"
"Afraid so."
"Dang. …You sure we can’t just ditch?"
"And leave your mother to deal with this alone?" Mario demanded, aghast. "Nope. Best behavior, and this might end quickly."
Sonic groaned.
They marked their books with scraps of paper and dog-eared their notebooks. Once they were done, Mario helped them set the desk in its proper place, and the second he turned around, all their research was gone.
He chose not to ask.
Instead, he walked out, and let the boys follow him, into the main study and back into the hallway. Once they were finished hiding their research in nooks and crannies, Sonic and Tails each walked at his side.
"…Hey, uh, Dad?"
It was the best feeling in the world. "Yes, piccolino?"
"Being there," Tails hedged, "doesn’t necessarily have to mean being visible, does it?"
Sonic stopped, stiff. Mario turned around just in time to watch a sly grin spread across the hedgehog's face. Tails, though, was staring up at him with the widest, most pleading eyes he had ever seen.
Damn these independent kids and their ingenuity. It would be the death of him one day. At the same time, though, he couldn’t refuse them—because how often had he himself wanted to melt into the floor at these diplomacy meetings?
"Go," he scoffed, "before I change my mind."
"Sweet!" Sonic yelled, as he disappeared into a cloud of smoke. "Thanks, guys!"
Tails stayed put. His innocent eyes dropped into a smug grin.
Mario's eyebrow lifted. "Not you?"
"Nope," Tails chirped. "Just wanted that for Sonic. I wanna stay and see if the Urban Development guy shows up."
That struck Mario as odd, but he trusted Tails had his reasons.
"Well, at least one of us is actually looking forward to this."
Tails laughed.
The walls surrounding the castle were large and imposing. Ten years ago, they had been humble—an idea her mother had, to allow their people easier access to the king and queen—but times had changed, and during Peach's reign, she had walls put up in grand, imposing white brick. It was mostly Bowser's fault, but even he couldn’t take all the credit.
For the most part, she didn’t care for it. Toads still came and went as they pleased—and she went to great lengths to keep it that way—but it wasn’t what she truly wanted. She loved to be connected to her people, and she yearned for the freedom to visit them as she wished.
The walls, though, they were a protection. A prison, perhaps, but a necessary one—and one she was, in this moment, grateful for.
A black limousine, guarded by a pair of trucks, slowly rolled in. The doors behind them stayed open, but a double guard took their place at its doorframe.
Prisons were meant to keep people in, after all. She was the master of this one.
(And she tried to ignore the disgusting feeling that thought left her with, in the back of her throat.)
The Federation's representatives disembarked at the castle's fountain. There was still a short walk, which gave her time to size them up and compose herself.
In. Out.
Six men from the first truck, another six from the other. They were trying not to look like they were armed—respectful black suits tailored to hide the outlines of their weapons—but Peach knew better. From the limousine, there emerged a man she vaguely recognized from the conference. Not the man with heterochrome eyes, who had punched out Kamek—this one was different. But he wore the G.U.N. commander's gray suit.
At her side, she heard Tails gasp sharply. She and Mario exchanged a glance.
"That’s not who I remember," she whispered to Tails.
Tails shook his head, slowly taking flight. "It’s not. And I can’t see Tower anywhere."
"Then who's this guy?" Mario chimed in.
Tails didn’t respond. Peach stared in concern as his hackles raised. Even just the fact that Tails was in flight, prepared to flee or fight, was telling.
"…I don’t know him," was what Tails finally said.
He glanced at her out of the side of his eyes, and Peach suddenly understood.
She knew how much Tails didn’t care for G.U.N. Sure, he tolerated Commander Tower, even praised him somewhat for standing up for humanity during Black Doom's invasion, for not putting up with the Darklands' bullying. Overall, though, there was a general dislike of the entire organization that had made itself painfully clear during the last conference.
To be faced with what was effectively a stranger, now, now that she had more than just herself or her people to worry about…
If Peach was perfectly honest with herself, all she really wanted to do was snatch up her baby and hide away in a tower, until this all passed by.
But what choice did she have? This wasn’t even about her, or her people—it was a favor to Pauline. It was the alliances of nations she cared about at stake, and the choices of her family in the balance. She couldn’t cancel or send them away now, not when they were right on her castle doorstep.
"Do what research you must," she whispered to Tails. "But be discreet. We still must welcome him."
A part of her hated it, especially as she watched the way Tails's entire being tightened, but G.U.N. was on her doorstep, now. There was no turning back.
She plastered a gentle, graceful smile on her face. And when the Commander finally approached her, the first words out of his mouth being the usual "Your Highness", she felt every ounce of training she ever had click back into place.
"Commander," she greeted warmly, with a small curtsy for good measure. "I believe we haven’t been acquainted."
He cleared his throat. "Forgive me. I am Commander Walters. Tower was out of sorts this morning, so I’ve been asked to fill in."
"I see." It was innocent enough, she mused. She exhaled her worries, even as her phone buzzed in her pocket. "In any case, it is lovely to meet you. I’m told you know Tails, my son, and this is my fiancé, Mario. Perhaps we can go inside? You must rest before the luncheon."
"As you say, Princess."
At the very least, he was polite. Sometimes that was the least one could ask for from these people.
Peach felt her practiced smile slide into something a little more natural. She gestured to Walters and his men with a sweeping motion as the servant Toads approached. "These Toads will show you to your quarters, and will fetch you when lunch is ready. We'll talk soon."
They motioned forward, with a practiced, "This way, please!"
Peach held her breath as they entered her castle. Not one of them looked back, or even looked out from under their tinted sunglasses. It made it hard to tell where they were looking.
At the very least, she knew she had nothing to hide.
The moment the last guard entered, and she saw his ridiculous suit disappear behind a wall, she exhaled deeply. "How was that?"
Mario just kissed her neck and murmured, "Bravissima."
She smiled, but his wasn’t the opinion she wanted. (Not that she was about to tell him that…)
"Good enough, I guess," Tails moaned. "We had to let him in?"
"At this point, yes," she sighed, her arm wrapped around Mario. "Some people consider being turned away at the door the absolute height of rudeness."
"I don’t think he would have."
"I know, but I’m the one who invited them. I couldn’t come up with an excuse in five seconds." She sighed, scooped him up out of the air. "Besides, it’s not like we're without plans for even if he and his men do attack."
Tails’s eyebrows raised. "We’re not?"
Peach nodded, but it was Mario who responded, "I think about this sort of thing a lot."
The candidness of Mario's reply got a startled laugh out of Tails, at least.
Tails didn’t even bother flying again. He let himself be handed to Mario, and Peach let them walk ahead of her, as ready as they could be to face whatever came next. Her phone buzzed again—a bit more insistently—and this time, without any distractions, she let herself pull it out of her pocket and check it.
What popped up was a message: brb checking on tower
She smiled as she typed out her response.
What in the world would we do without you, Sonic?
His only response was the shrug and grin emojis.
For all his research, for all he had studied and practiced at the art of diplomacy, he still had no idea how she accomplished any of this.
They had started off lunch by asking about imports and exports. That led her into a discussion of favorite candies, when Peach mentioned one of her favorites being Sarasaland's famous candied oranges. She expertly used that discussion to goad her guest into bragging about the agricultural industries of the United Federation, and she listened with rapt attention as Toadette, faithful at her side, took incessant, private notes.
She showed them to Mario when he glanced over. That helped, because he was bored.
The food was delicious, as always—but it was barely a distraction today. His mind kept wandering to the tapestries, to what they were doing later, to the way Tails kept fidgeting with his tablet.
He was glad Toadsworth wasn’t here. The old toad would have a fit if he saw either of them right now.
But eventually, he watched Tails give up on the conversation entirely. "Hey, Mom?"
"Yes, darling?"
He held his tablet up, the screen dark. "Do you mind if I step out for a sec? Chris is asking me about something."
"Yes, go ahead."
Tails ran off, and Mario's head snapped back around to the commander, just in time to see his eyebrow lowering slightly. Despite Walters' best efforts, though, he couldn’t quite erase the shock from his face.
Chris and Rosie were out of town for the holidays. Suddenly, Mario got a very bad feeling.
"I’ll go with him, amore."
She didn’t verbally reply, just nodded, and gave him a smile. The squeeze of their hands was all he needed, anyway.
He raced out.
He found Tails walking down a hallway, one that led further into the basement of the castle. His ears flicked in Mario's direction as he ran to catch up.
"I could’ve told you all that," he scoffed, without looking up from his tablet.
Mario frowned. "Really?"
Tails paused. He himself think about it. "Well," he sighed, "maybe not the bit about dairy farming. But what the heck is the point of sharing that?"
"Kid, you’re asking the wrong person." He groaned. "I don’t know. Maybe it’s just as simple as making friends?"
"Really?" Tails scoffed, and kept walking. "Sonic's friends with the President. If diplomacy was really the goal, why not let the President come? Why send a G.U.N. commander in the first place?"
"Ensuring everyone's safety? We do have some pretty powerful magic."
"And that’s just part of what worries me," Tails muttered. He paused in the doorway of a basement room, and groaned. "I know I’m being ridiculous."
"Hey." He scooped Tails up, and held him under his arm like a limp cat. "None of that. I trust you. If you think something's wrong, I’ll help you look into it."
Tails lifted an eyebrow. "And if I’m wrong?"
"We both know that’s not likely, but if you are, then at least that means I’ll be with you during the court-martial."
Tails grimaced, but smiled.
The next time Peach was able to check her phone, she had called her advisors into the throne room, and they were all chatting with Commander Walters and his people. Even the guards had been asked to sit down and relax. In the interests of diplomacy, most had complied, save for one or two who took their duties extra seriously, and stood at attention amidst her own guards. Peach allowed them that.
She was still careful to keep her phone pointed away from them.
There were about fifteen messages. Most from Tails, one from Sonic. She checked Sonic's first.
yeah he’s legit sick, his men think its food poisoning
Peach was mostly concerned about how he had gotten that information, but that was a question for another day. She didn’t bother responding to it. She instead switched to everything she had received from Tails.
He had done his research, and quite extensively. Somehow, he had gotten ahold of, not just the commander's dossier, but those of every single guard in his attaché. Peach had seen it before, but Tails had left scribbles of his thoughts all over the copies he sent to her.
Mostly, he kept pointing out how each of the guards had been personally recruited by Walters himself.
That left a sickening thought in the back of her throat. How had she missed that?
She knew the answer to that—before today, Walters had been a nonissue. The person she had spent weeks preparing to face was Towers. And now he was gone, rather conveniently sick with something that looked completely ordinary.
However, one of the men on the list of guards was once a chemist, who specialized in biological poisons.
There was a very strong suspicion taking root in Peach's mind, but for now she smothered it. She didn’t need to assume the worst.
…yet.
…her sons' bad feelings could, after all, mean the life, health, or freedom of her people.
It looked bad, Peach would not deny that. But there was a chance she was looking at this completely out of context. Tails, after all, was young and distrustful.
(She doubted it was without reason.)
She lowered her head into her hands. Why had she agreed to this in the first place? She thought she could be objective, that she was doing a favor to an old friend. But in doing so, she had underestimated the abilities and comprehension of her boys, who had seen the world at least twice over.
Why had she doubted them?
If that weren’t bad enough, her lack of faith had possibly put them in danger.
Her heart lurched.
Stars upon stars, what if they had no interest in alliances? What if they were only here for Sonic and Tails?
She shoved that thought into her throat before it could take root in her mind. This was no time for regrets. Instead, she walked through what she knew. She had Walters in her living room. She wasn’t sure of his intentions yet. Those were the facts, and all she had.
If he had no bad ones, excellent. If he came to harm her people or her family, but she could disarm him before there he had a chance to turn on them, good. If she could do it without raising her hands to him, even better.
Mentally, she edited her to-do list. Possibly forge an alliance with a nation from another planet, possibly stop a coup, but either way, apologize to Sonic and Tails until she was blue in the face.
The scope of her plans would depend entirely on how this next conversation went. She had to rejoin them. But before she did so, she straightened up, and tossed all three of her boys—Mario, Tails, and Sonic—into a group message.
Sonic, return to the castle at once. Come to me, but stay out of sight. Mario, Tails, I’ll cover for you. Continue your investigations, and center them on Walters himself. Find me his motives. We will reconvene in an hour.
She didn’t get much in reply, just a pair of emojis from both Sonic and Mario. It was good enough, and so she slipped it back into her pockets and rejoined the gathering.
When she approached, her advisors and Walters's people all attempted to stand. She stopped them in their tracks with a raise of her hand, and floated over to Walters, as he sat with a glass in his hands.
"Tell me something, Commander?"
He nodded, placid smile on his face. "Yes, of course."
There had to be a natural way to ease the commander into the conversation she wanted. She sat, and spoke. "Since Sonic and Tails have been living with Mario and I, I’ve been fretting about ways to give them the best education possible."
Walters sat up in his chair. "Do you think they aren’t getting that, here?"
…The wording of that question gave Peach pause. She couldn’t dwell on it for long, but she took note of the sudden flash in his eyes. Not alarm, not concern.
"…I believe," she declared, placidly, "that I have given them what they need to suit their lives. So to an extent, yes, I believe I am giving them the best education I possibly can. But there’s a world out there, one I haven’t been privileged to see just yet. All I wish now is to learn about that world, so that I might help them explore it."
"I see." He frowned. "I think."
She smiled lightly. A servant came over with a cup of tea, which she accepted gratefully. "Will you tell me, Commander, what you studied in your youth?"
"Political and social science, in Empire City."
"Ah." She took a sip. "Lifelong G.U.N. member, then?"
"I sure am. Started when I was twenty-two, fresh out of college."
"How does one end up in the military for a whole lifetime? Even fighting for just a little while exhausts me."
"Probably the same way one ends up a Princess."
"…oh?"
He smiled. "I have family who served from G.U.N.'s founding. In a way, I was born into it, the same as you were."
She nodded sagely. He really knew nothing.
"In my youth, I didn’t enjoy being Princess. All of this," she gestured to the grand, majestic castle walls behind her, "always felt so limiting."
"How so?"
She shrugged. "Until Mario and Luigi showed up at my doorstep, I rarely had the opportunity to give into my wanderlust or my passions. It was a life of constant sacrifice for the sake of my people, and in my youth, I was selfish. Truth be told, I wanted nothing more than to be a patissier."
"Quaint," he commented, dryly, and that left one of Peach's eyebrows raised. "But you grew into it, didn’t you?"
"Hmm." She stirred some sugar into her tea. There was a bitterness to this conversation that she didn’t enjoy. "I now understand the importance of my role, and so I have learned to find my own joy in it. How about you?"
He shrugged. "This was always going to be my life. I looked forward to it, when I was younger."
She nodded. "How interesting. What do you enjoy about it?"
Walters sat, and thought for a long moment.
"I enjoy," he began, carefully, "getting to take an active role in protecting my country. It is hard, make no mistake. The decisions I and my coworkers have to make at times are sometimes things no man should ever have to carry."
Peach raised an eyebrow, but Walters continued on, undeterred, "But to have the power to act in behalf of my country, to protect its people in a way very few ever will…" He sized her up, eyebrow raised, and chuckled. "Well. I’m sure you understand that, at least."
"…I do," she said.
She meant it. That thought left her teacup shaking in her hands.
Apparently, Tails's genius plan was simply to break into one of the G.U.N. trucks. While it wasn’t the worst idea, Mario deeply wished he had known this before they had to dash like mad across the entire entrance.
But it was too late to turn back now. Fortunately, the Toad guards distracted G.U.N. without needing to be asked.
The truck was empty. They double and triple checked before they hopped into the backseat. Still, Mario's skin crawled with anticipation, his Firebrand ran hot, and so he stood guard within the double doors. Occasionally, he dared to take a peek out, and found nothing but the same green fields and cobblestone driveway.
"Tell me you’ve found something," he moaned.
Tails just groaned in response. "What sort of old man encrypts his entire freaking email? It can’t all be that important!"
"…whose email?"
"Walters, obviously."
It took Mario far too long to process that statement. But when he finally did, he startled—"What?"
Tails didn’t blink. "It's G.U.N.," he groaned, as if that should’ve been obvious. "They weren’t great before Eggman took over the entire world, and now that they’re back, they’ve just been even more insane. I know they’re planning something else. This is just the fastest way I can find out what it is."
Okay. He trusted his kid's instincts, but by now, he had to know. "What are you so worried about?"
"Mom," Tails shot back, curtly.
Mario's jaw dropped, but he quickly closed it. Diplomacy carried a certain risk, as evidenced by, if nothing else, her constant face-offs against Bowser…
There was a cunning glint in Tails's eye that made him wonder if he was only saying that. After all, everyone knew he would do anything for the Princess. Maybe it didn’t matter. He had said that he would stick with the kid during a court-martial. Maybe this was just the best way to prove that.
He groaned. "…Anything I can do to make this go faster?"
"I wish," Tails grumbled. "I can’t even guess at his password right now, so I have to write this code to unlock it. It’ll take time."
"How much time?"
He shrugged. "Five minutes to write the code, after that, who knows how long it’ll take to work?"
Mario almost wanted to scream.
But it was fine. Really. It was. He only had five minutes to think of every worst case scenario. Surely, it couldn’t get that bad, could it?
Turned out, it could. After just a few of those minutes, he had found himself entertaining scenarios in which the castle had been bombed and he lost everyone he loved in the explosion. Which was impossible, Luigi wasn’t even here.
(…but it would be close.)
(…why was he thinking about this again?)
He shook himself out. That hadn’t come, not yet. And he couldn’t afford to get lost in things that had yet to happen, not when the present situation needed his focus.
He was extremely grateful when Tails exhaled a sigh of relief, and whispered, "Got it!"
One by one, the messages in Commander Walters' inbox were decrypting. Tails's code was far more effective than he was decrypting them all manually. Unfortunately, the man had a lot of emails.
"We only need to focus on the last few weeks," Mario mused aloud. "Should we start with what's marked important?"
Tails shook his head. "Nah, it looks like he accidentally hit 'mark all'." He scoffed, and cracked his fingers. "Typical. What I will, do, actually, is run a search for the messages with Mom's name in them." He paused. "Wait, should I be searching for your name, too?"
Mario felt like the biggest hypocrite when he said, "Tails, focus."
"Right."
Tails typed his query into the search bar.
And meanwhile, Mario kept a mental record of what he had seen.
Tails might have haphazardly dismissed the emails marked as important, but Mario hadn't. He had caught every important email that had the subject line "Project Windstorm". He wondered what that was about.
But he didn’t get to for long—the results pulled up, and Tails clicked on the first email. It was sent from Walters, and had the subject line "Proposition: Project Windstorm".
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ve made my point clear enough. Princess Peach's selfishness has cost us the security of our nation. She must be made to understand this, by reason or any other means. And while the thought of escalating this assignment might be offensive to you, I feel that, for our nation to rest assured of their continued safety, they must see their heroes back within their borders, by whatever means necessary.
"Wait," said Tails, his voice dropping to a whisper, "what?"
He read the other emails in that chain faster than Mario could. He went back to the search bar, and started looking for Project Windstorm. Meanwhile, slowly, Mario felt his blood turning to ice.
Without thinking, he let himself inch closer to his son. He couldn’t read anything on the screen that fast, but Tails could, so he let him. Honestly, he had seen enough.
Because, prior to the last few months, the Federation had only known two heroes. The hero of Station Square, and the tamer of Chaos—yes, Mario and Peach knew these stories. They had to, in order to attempt an alliance with an unfamiliar nation. They knew that nation's basic history, their values, their recent attempts—successful or not—to stave off Eggman's constant invasions…
"Oh," Tails whispered, when he was finally satisfied with the truth. He was already completely rigid. "Oh, no."
Mario snapped him out of it. "We have to warn your brother."
Tails nodded, stiffly. Quickly, he went to clear off everything he could from the computer, but the second he did, the whole thing lit up red.
He yelped.
Mario heard the locks slide in place as the whole truck was bathed in red light. And meanwhile, all he could think to do was grab Tails, and hold him tight against whatever they had to face next.
(That determination only lasted long enough to see the gas flowing in.)
As people filed in and out, she saw Sonic flitting about, on the edges of the reception. It was where he had seemed the most comfortable, and it was the easiest place for him to escape when he needed to. She saw nothing wrong with it.
Which was why it was an immediate cause for alarm when he broke from the edges of the party, and came right to her side when she sat on her throne.
"…I can’t find Tails," he whispered, "and he’s not answering his phone."
She covered her mouth.
She was at the head of the party. On a balcony, so that she might have a chance to breathe herself. This far away, she doubted anyone could see the way her jaw tightened, but she didn’t need to take chances. She had no idea what G.U.N. was capable of. They didn’t need to see her weaknesses.
Her mind ran through every possible scenario. Best case, he had disappeared with a more technologically savvy soldier, and they were geeking out over inventions together. Worst case, he was in the back of one of their trucks, tied up, or…
Quickly, she did a headcount, and found two of the G.U.N. guardsmen missing.
Her teeth clenched as a wave of panic swept over her.
"Where's your father?"
"I don’t know, either. I should-"
She breathed in sharply. "Sonic, don’t-"
She choked on the last syllable, and his eyes flashed in panic.
It took a moment for her to realize what she had done. Slowly, she loosened her vice grip around his wrist, and dropped the hand that covered her mouth. She gestured him closer, showed him the chip in her armor, and hoped it was enough.
"If someone took him," she whispered, "it’s likely they’ll be after you, too. So the longer you stay here, where everyone can see you…"
He nodded sagely, his eyes wide. "…the harder it is for them to get me."
"And the more time that gives us to find your brother and father." She took a deep breath. "I know it’ll be the hardest thing in the world, but I need you to stay where I can see you. Do you think you can do that?"
His claws dug into her knuckles as she lowered her hand to his. She squeezed back with equal force, hoping it would say what she couldn’t: I’m here. It’ll be okay.
Sonic's mouth pursed, but he nodded.
"Good." She gestured Toadette to her side, since she was closer than any of her guards, and whispered, "I need your discretion."
"Always, Your Highness."
"Alert the guards that my fiancé and son are missing, as are two of the G.U.N. soldiers. Have the castle locked down. Toadette, listen to me. Do it quietly, but find them, please."
Her eyes widened in surprise, but they narrowed quickly. She nodded, and walked away as slowly as possible, only breaking into a run when she left the ballroom. Sonic's eyes didn’t leave Toadette's back for a second. Not until they saw her turn a corner, and disappear from eyesight.
"What do we do?"
Peach sighed. "We have the hard part."
She stood from her throne, and her hand didn’t leave Sonic's for a moment.
As she walked downstairs, she ran through every reason she had to not be afraid. She was in control. She was the Princess, owner of this castle. Sewn into her petticoats were power ups aplenty, the magic of her kingdom that bent to her will. Functionally, she was a Queen, but she was more than even that: she was a star child. Starlight bubbled and churned behind her throat, slid down into the pit of her stomach and dripped into her hands and fingers—at a mere whim, she could render them unconscious.
She was well prepared to deal with whatever came her way.
It didn’t stop her from gripping Sonic's hand tight, like he was about to be taken from her.
(He squeezed back, though—claws digging into the side of her hand, grounding her—and that was a comfort.)
"Friends," Peach greeted, once she was close enough to the group. "My deepest apologies, but a situation has come up, so I must lock the castle down."
One of her own advisors piped up. "Are we in danger?"
"No, far from it," she lied, and she hated every second of it. "It’s merely precautionary. Will you ensure that all of our advisors are here? Walters, do the same for your people, please, I couldn’t bear it if something happened to one of them."
She already knew the answer. Of her advisors, only Toadsworth was missing, and that was because Toadette needed someone to manage the household staff in her absence. She was grateful. She might have wanted his support, as she faced this terrifying situation—but more than that, she wanted him safe.
So instead, she stood with Sonic, and watched as both her people and Walters' took a headcount of their own.
"All accounted for!" Toadbert called.
"Same here," Walters declared. A lie.
It was the last straw. She glanced at Sonic—and found the same realization etched onto his face in his barely-concealed snarl.
She had a lot of decisions to make, and all of them had to be made in a split second or less. She could just ignore this. But the longer she did that, the easier it would be for the missing two soldiers to escape with almost everything she loved.
Besides, she had a feeling her eldest wouldn’t wait.
In.
Out.
"Toadbert, see to it that our advisors make it to the safe rooms. Walters, you and your men stay behind for a moment."
Something about the gravity of her tone left the G.U.N. soldiers on edge, and her advisors scrambling to comply. She had been trying to hide how serious it truly was, but, oh well, at least they had listened to her.
When she was sure the advisors were gone, and the bars to her prison locked behind her, she straightened out.
"…you lied," she accused. "Two of your men are missing, aren’t they?"
Walters gaped. For only a split second, and then he had his composure again, but it was a split second too long.
"Missing, yes," he responded, cooly, "but not unaccounted for."
"Where are they?"
"In the gardens, checking on one of the trucks."
"Is that where I’ll find Mario and Tails if I look?"
She watched every last one of them bristle, and, slowly, as if she were blind, inch for their weapons. Sonic's hand in hers fell, and she didn’t need to look to know his quills were all upright, on the defensive.
"You can’t know that."
Peach scoffed. "Oh, but I can guess. And you know what else I can do? Call your men back here. If you truly have nothing to hide, you won’t mind me searching your trucks, would you?"
At that, he fell completely silent. He sized up his only two opponents, eyes wide, yet keen as he frantically searched for any amount of control. Finally, he stopped fighting.
"Your Prince," he began, when he had his voice back, "was never supposed to be a factor in this."
"Then what was?" Sonic yelled.
"Simple answer? You."
Even just glancing at Sonic, she could see the way his entire body tensed.
"Absolutely not," Peach shouted. "Not without their say so, and not if I have any say in it!"
"See, that’s the problem, Your Highness. You don’t. But I have your nation's hero, and I’m willing to strike a deal for mine. That is what you do have a say in, and I promise, no one will be hurt."
Oh, but even that was a lie. To hand Sonic over would absolutely destroy her. To let Tails be taken would probably do the same. And if Mario got wind of it, that she had traded their boys for his safety? He would never be able to look at her the same.
Honestly, she wouldn’t be able to look at herself the same way, knowing she had failed them.
Slowly, she eased herself in between the soldiers and Sonic. Their red reticles landed on her, and she heard Sonic gasp, but she didn’t care. Her hands outstretched, and they turned outward to protect him, as she let her magic slide into place in her hands.
She couldn’t bring herself to speak louder than a whisper, in case her voice cracked in fear—but still, she held firm.
Her son was worth every ounce of determination she could muster.
"I will not allow it."