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Chapter Text

The dungeon reeked of a musty scent. Similar to a wet cave, an old basement, and a dusty attic all combined into one, disgusting stench. There wasn’t much to the little cell other than the bland, sheetless, nearly rock hard bed shoved into the corner.

The princess’s pink dress stood out in stark contrast to the dingy dungeon, although is was considerably duller and dirtier than when she had first arrived at the castle. How long had it been? Three days? A week? With the lack of windows, Princess Peach found it nearly impossible to tell time.

She was fully confident that her Italian hero would come to her rescue. She laid on the bed, blissfully unaware of the turmoil unfolding in the rest of the castle.

XXXX

Pain. All he could feel was pain. Blood stained his already scarlet shirt a deeper shade of red. He looked up at the oversized turtle in front of him.

Where had it gone wrong? Probably around the time that Mario’s dumb ass had decided to get cocky. But it had been a routine up until this point. Mutant turtle kidnaps princess, travel across the Mushroom Kingdom, kick some koopa butt, save the princess, maybe even receive a small kiss. Maybe. But this was never part of pattern. Losing to the king of Koopas had never seemed like a possibility. Mario hadn’t tried hard enough this time. He was overconfident and severely underestimated his adversary’s abilities.

“Surrender, Mario.” The Koopa King demanded, snapping Mario from his thoughts. “I have finally bested you.”

“N-never!” The plumber yelled back, his defiant and confident tone clearly tainted by fear. The Koopa smiled.

Mario struggled to stand from being previously smacked down, but a crushing weight had him crashing back onto the floor. He sputtered out a cough, feeling the blood leak from his body at more rapid pace. He felt nauseous. Bowser had placed a clawed foot on his chest and was steadily applying pressure. Although Mario feared for his life, the only thing he could manage to think about was the well-being of the pretty blonde princess he had fallen in love with. He had to save her from this monster.

With a quick but muddy thought process, Mario realized he had to let go of his pride or he would most likely die and the princess would be trapped here. “St-sto-o…” he tried, but the suffocating weight on his lungs made breathing alone difficult, much less speaking. Unexpectedly, however, the pressure was removed all at once. Mario lifted his head to see the Koopa King staring at him intently. Expectantly. It was now or never.

“I-I have a proposition for you, Bowser.” His lungs ached with each word, and his voice sounded weak and raspy, but the koopa raised a brow in curious interest nonetheless. “Let’s make a trade for the princess.”

“You’re in no position to be making deals, you little pest.” Bowser’s low voice boomed. “Even so, what could you possibly offer me that would be as valuable as my princess?”

The plumber swallowed hard, fear building behind his resolve. No. He had to stay strong. For the princess. Mario pushed down his nerves and calmly answered, “Me. I will stay here if you set her free.”

The Koopa King immediately burst out into loud, undignified laughter. “You?!” He shouted. “Why the hell would I want you?!”

Mario grimaced at the noise and turned away from his foe. What now? His offer had been denied. He didn't have a plan B. Quicker than he had expected, though, the laughter subsided, leaving behind a tense silence and an expression of thoughtfulness on Bowser’s face. Then, a smirk. After a few painfully long seconds, the Koopa King finally spoke.

“I accept your offer.”

Chapter Text

The princess sat up with hesitant hopefulness at the sound of footsteps nearing her cell, but her heart quickly plummeted into her stomach upon seeing the battered and bleeding hero. Never before had she witnessed a sight as horrifying as this. She found herself paralyzed as the cell door was opened and Mario was roughly tossed inside. Finally, she found the will to move and rushed to her hero’s side.

“Mario!” She exclaimed as said plumber struggled to get onto his hands and knees. Tears began to pool in her eyes.

“Don’t worry, princess.” Mario said, voice heavy with fatigue. “I’ll be okay. But you… you need to go now.”

“W-what?” She questioned, wiping away the tears that were now cascading down her pale cheeks. “I don’t understand.”

“I don’t really have time to explain, but you need to return to the castle. You have an entire kingdom to look after.” Mario looked at the princess, forcing a smile. “Don’t worry about me. I won’t be far behind.”

Before Princess Peach had time to ask any of the questions she so desperately needed answers to, she found herself being tossed over the shoulder of the Koopa King himself. Her protests fell upon deaf ears as she was hefted out of the dungeon, leaving Mario behind in unnerving silence.

XXXX

When Bowser returned, he noticed that Mario had climbed into the bed and was fully unconscious. His face contorted into a devilish smirk as he let his mind wander. He would destroy his foe. Make him a shell of the man he was. Then, when there was nothing left, the King of the Koopas would end him. There would be no one to stop him from kidnapping the princess other than weakling of a brother Mario had.

Bowser had never planned on keeping his end of the deal. No one ever said he was an honest king. He just needed to keep his end of the deal until the pesky plumber was out of the way.

A coughing fit from the man resting on the bed recaptured Bowser’s attention. The plumber opened his eyes and locked onto the king. He wiped the blood that had dribbled onto his lip with his sleeve, but otherwise made no attempt to move. The two stared each other down for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, though, the king broke the silence.

“You’re a decent liar, Mario.” He said.

Mario let a soft smile grace his lips. “Best not to make her worry.”

“Do you understand just what exactly you’ve done?” The Koopa King asked. “You’ve surrendered your freedom to me, and I fully intend on turning your life into a living hell. You sold your soul to the devil.”

Each booming word made the plumber’s head throb with the worst headache. His body ached with each injury and from the bed that was not much more comfortable than the stone floor. He tried to hold onto the king’s words, but pain and fatigue made his mind hazy. Mario shut his eyes.

“Listen to me when I’m talking to you!” Bowser yelled, causing the plumber to yelp and hold his head at the unexpected, painful loud noise.

Mario opened his eyes to the king hovering over him. When had he gotten so close? More pain shot through his body as a crushing weight encircling his throat strangled him. Airflow to to plumber’s lungs had come to a halt, and tears pricked at the corners of his eyes from the physical stress. He helplessly gripped at the massive hand choking him, the edges of his vision succumbing to darkness.

“I don’t care how exhausted you are!” Bowser screamed into his face. “You will always pay attention to me when I’m addressing you!”

As quickly as it appeared, the hand vanished, and the Koopa King turned to face away from him. “I’m going to destroy you, Mario. Both mentally and physically.” He started. “You’ve made a terrible mistake. For years, you have been a major pain in my ass.” He turned to look at the plumber. “And I intend to make you pay.”

The look in the koopa’s eyes made Mario shudder. It was a predatory stare, one a wolf would give a sheep before lunging in for the kill, mixed with something else that made the plumber want to squirm. He couldn’t decipher it. He had never seen that look in Bowser’s eyes.

Before he could give it any more thought, the Koopa King was speaking again.

“I’ll return shortly for the first of many play dates we will have over the length of your stay.” He said with a toothy smirk. “Don’t have too much fun without me.” And with that, Bowser left, locking the plumber in the lonely dungeon.

Mario sat up, resting his head against the wall. Weakly, he brought his hand up to gently touch his neck, wincing the second his glove fingers grazed the tender flesh. He was sure the area would be dark purple before the day was over, if it wasn’t already.

He found himself nodding in and out of consciousness as time went on before the sound of clanking metal caught his attention. A lone Koopatrol, smaller in size than most Mario noted, made it’s way to the cell door carrying a tray of… something. The Koopatrol eyed Mario the entire visit, opening the cell door to drop the tray onto the floor and quickly locking the door back. Without a single word, the soldier left, clanking metal echoing through the dungeon, growing quieter with each step.

With strength he didn’t know he had, Mario stood on shaky legs, cautiously making his way over to the tray of something. Upon seeing its contents, the plumber rolled his eyes.

A slice of bread and a glass of water.

How thoughtful.

Leaving the plate untouched, Mario went back to the bed. He wasn’t hungry anyway. He was, however, exhausted beyond comprehension. He somehow found comfort on the rock of a bed, closing his eyes as soon as his head hit the flat pillow. He could faintly smell the faint scent of the princess’s perfume. Despite the pain and exhaustion, he smiled and almost instantly drifted off to sleep.

XXXX

Mario didn’t wake up until his head hit the floor with a sickening crack, and he found himself being dragged across the floor. Through his blurry vision, he could vaguely make out the shape of his captor. He could hear the koopa speaking to him, but the loud ringing in his ears prevented him from understanding anything.

After being pulled to the other side of the cell, Mario found himself being hefted up by his arms, causing a painful strain in them. Bowser locked his wrists into cuffs on the wall that the plumber hadn’t previously noticed. He was facing away from the king, face pressed into the wall. The restraints were so high that he found himself standing on his toes just to reach the floor.

“We’ll start off easy today, Mario.” Bowser stated, placing a massive hand on the plumber’s back. In one swift motion, the king jerk his hand downward, and the sound of fabric ripping filled the small cell. Mario winced as the cold, damp air hit his back.

Mario heard the koopa back away from him along with an ear-splitting snapping noise. Mario turned his head to the side, but the odd angle made his neck ache. He couldn’t see what his captor was doing, and that filled him with anxiety.

He didn’t have to question the king any longer, though, as the snap rang through the air again and a blinding pain spread across the plumber’s back. He screamed out, smushing his face against the cool stone in front of him. It was clear now that Bowser was armed with a whip.

Another snap followed by another wave of pain crashed over Mario. Through his unintelligible yelling, he could hear the low rumble of Bowser’s laugh. The plumber could already feel tears prick at the corners of his eyes.

The king continued his assault on the small man, gradually picking up pace. Between lashings, Mario could feel a hot a sticky substance, which he could only assume was blood, slowly cascade down his back.

By the time Bowser stopped, Mario was fading in and out of consciousness. His back was on fire. It was the only thing keeping him from completely slipping into the dream world. He suddenly realized the koopa had been speaking to him, and he used the rest of his failing strength to focus on the words.

“-have someone come for you in the morning.” Bowser said. “Have a good night, Mario.”

The plumber heard the king’s retreating footsteps along with demented laughter, leaving him restrained and bleeding. His stomach grumbled and his mouth felt like sandpaper, and he suddenly wished he would have eaten his ‘meal’ earlier. His energy was depleted, but despite his exhaustion, the plumber knew he wouldn’t be sleeping. Even if the searing pain wasn’t present, the second he relaxed, his arms had to bear the weight of his body. He didn’t really feel like dislocating his shoulders.

Unable to do anything else, Mario closed his eyes and tried to take his mind off the pain.