Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Recently, life had been boring. Well, of course she was well acquainted with the world of unemployment from the first four years of her adulthood (especially the days before she met Chujin… at least she could fly around and explore the woods to keep her entertained? And watch TV, but the Underground’s entertainment industry wasn’t exactly the best… to be fair, it was the only entertainment industry she knew but... human entertainement had to be better!)… and she did occasionally get commissions to do stuff like work on buildings or make things like furniture or toys, but, in general… well, her life consisted of lazing around and reading books about puzzles. Ok, it wasn’t that different than her life as a Royal Guard. Honestly, it had been a pretty easy job! (And yet she still got put on probation…), but… there was a reason she quit.

Clover. The kid who lived with her, who wasn’t allowed to go home, who was a human. Her “job” had been to murder them for their SOUL to be used wipe out humanity, as she learned from Ceroba. She couldn’t tolerate ever having been part of an organization with such heinous goals, which would murder someone so peaceful and kind as Clover, someone who forgave even people who tried to hurt and murder them and who made her be someone more responsible. She was actually doing chores daily now! The way Clover always tried to do chores was nice, but… she felt they should also enjoy their childhood, see themselves as a person worthy of unconditional love and not a burden or tool. The day they explained they didn’t want to be ‘useless’ or a ‘burden’ to others… it broke her heart. But… as the months passed, Clover changed. They stopped hiding their emotions, became more willing to play with her and became someone more cheerful, who appreciated their mother (gosh… it felt so weird to be called that, but if it made the kid happy...) and all of their friends. Her performance in the “cooking” and “cleaning” and “remembering to go out with her wallet, phone and keys” had been… substandard, she admitted, but at least she wasn’t doing it alone, and she had her friends to lend her a helping hand. And… hugging Clover, making things with them (they made a birdhouse all on their own a few weeks ago! She was so proud… though, hopefully they didn’t use her more dangerous tools… it took her long enough, but eventually she realized letting them keep the gun Starlo got them was probably not a good idea, as much as they complained about the confiscation. Bribing them some pancakes and board games and hugs helped them relent though!... as did letting them use the toy gun. She had to admit, the kid was a great gunslinger!... which was probably a bad thing for an eleven-year-old to be, but that was beyond the point. Anyways, she did shoot their revolver and it really was fun, even if she was terrible at it and put an embarrassing amount of bullet holes into the walls of her house!)… it was all so nice. Being with Clover… it made her ashamed of ever being in the Guard. Still, being open about it would risk Clover’s life, so she decided to do what she did best: being terrible at her job. She spent practically the entirety of the first four months sleeping in her post (…at least when puzzles didn’t entice her) and, finally, her strategy bore fruit and she became the first person in history to be fired from the Guard! Though… she then realized she had to find the means to feed Clover. Thankfully, Starlo helped her out with money (and Mooch also offered, but something about her just seemed suspicious. Maybe it was just her imagination, but for some reason, whenever she talked wirth the squirrel some of the G in her pockets just… disappeared. It’s like she was cursed or something! Well, she didn’t know if curses existed, but poor squirrel, being doomed to make people’s money disappear whenever she was close to people!... if the money actually disappeared and the curse was real, that is. Martlet, c’mon, be actually financially responsible for once!),  but she didn’t want to be a total freeloader, so she opened commissions.

Still, things had  been slow… and she wasn’t with Clover. Not that anything bad happened to them, she’d feel a lot worse than “bored” if it did, but… it was Summer now, and at Clover’s request they were on vacation in the Wild East now and taking a break from her and Ceroba’s attempts to educate them (unfortunately, they couldn’t go to school… sure, she could teach them about puzzles and technological subjects, and Ceroba about anything else, and sometimes Dalv and Penilla taught them art and Starlo gave them “film classes” that may have just been excuses to watch movies, which, to be fair, she also appreciated… even if sometimes they got a bit violent…). She was sure they were happy in the Wild East, as she checked up on them occasionally (the free food from Ceroba and Starlo was great too! Better than anything she could make…), but she also had a home to take care of, and a workbench and tools to tinker with, so she was home alone most of the time, and not working much. During the past few weeks, she had spent the time reading books about puzzles and sleeping in a replica of her Royal Guard post (old habits die hard, she supposed.) Without Clover, she was utterly bored, though at least she could dream about things like pancakes and hugs and she and her friends being happy (even if the dreams about Chujin and Kanako still hurt).

Today was just a day like any other. Wake up, get dressed, drink five cups of coffee, eat some cereal and trail mix while making sure to pick the raisins out, read Advanced Puzzle Construction for Critical Minds for the 430^th  time, go outside and make some simple sculptures of things like birds or plants, go to her second post and snooze! She was having a nice dream about pancakes, and thankfully not one of her nightmares where she was a powerful and enormous being locked into a fight to the death with Clover until she melted, or like the ones where she was with Clover in the UG Apartments before suddenly being stabbed in the back (even though it was just a nightmare, it really did feel painful) or the ones where she learned from the King they had been murdered and she wept and put their hat and gun in a raft alone. Then she woke up for a bit, just… watching the snow fall. She reminded herself that Clover’s vacation ended in two weeks, that she could visit whenever, maybe tomorrow… but gosh, her life had really become routine, hadn’t it? The lack of incidents regarding Clover was great, but maybe she wanted something that could get her out of her rut.

As she muttered to herself about her situation, thinking about maybe heading back to sleep, she heard a noise. Right, sometimes monsters came to her and she had to explain that she was no longer a Royal Guard and that this wasn’t an information kiosk (she still had a summer home in lala land though!... even if it was too metaphorical for her to move out of her usual house, despite it being summer!). Though, as she checked… it looked like something had emerged from the ground, and it didn’t look to be sentient. It was some sort of… green tube? Well… this was certainly unusual! She checked the area, and turns out there was a note buried in the snow!

Dear Mario:

Please come to the castle. I've baked a cake for you. Yours truly—

Princess Toadstool, Peach

Well, whoever this Peach princess was, she seemed nice, and also someone who assumed people’s names based off of their first three letters. Still, though, cake! She was horrible at baking, so she had to really on Ceroba for her and Clover’s cake needs, but… now she had the offer of free cake! She was just about to fly to New Home, but she realized she hadn’t read the back of the letter. Like, maybe there was more in there! There was no more space in the front, after all. And, sure enough, there was a “P.S.”! (only one… well, this Peach really wasn’t like her! Though, she realized… did her kingdom ever have a princess? Her King had… he had two kids, a hundred years ago, but sadly one of them died due to illness and the other, Asriel, was murdered after being attacked on the Surface. And now, five more children were murdered despite having nothing to do with it, and unfortunately, her child was also at risk. It was truly unfortunate she couldn’t take them on trips to New Home, because it was such a nice place. But, surely… the King would understand a monster raising a human, when he had done the exact same thing? Still… pleading for mercy, and thus exposing their existence was too risky, and the stakes were too high, unfortunately… in any case, she’d never heard of a Queen, or of any princess in the history of the Underground… though Asriel had to have a mother, didn’t she?... it must have been horrible for the parents, losing both children. She knew how terrifying the thought of losing Clover was, how it kept her awake at night…). It said… Go down the pipe to reach the castle. Wow, she really hadn’t kept up with the news! She didn’t know the green thing was a pipe, or that it was part of new means of traversing the Underground! And, for that matter, she didn’t know about this Toadstool Peach either. Still… what was she waiting for? There was a sweet, creamy, delicious cake just waiting to reach her beak! She took flight and fluttered down the pipe, expecting to reach New Home on the other side.

But what she saw wasn’t New Home. In fact… it seemed like it wasn’t the Underground at all. Somehow…

…she was on the Surface.

Chapter Text

At the very least, it seemed to be the Surface. After all, it was bright, brighter than anywhere she'd ever been, even the gemstone-covered walls of Waterfall, and there was so much light blue in the air… the sky was that color, wasn’t it? And as she looked around, she saw a bright sphere. This had to be the Sun… looking all around, it was so overwhelming. She wept tears of joy. Somehow… she managed to leave the Underground, cross the Barrier. Monsterkind had been unjustly sealed under a mountain, the Sun and Moon and sky denied for them, as she recalled from school, but… here she was. And… it looked no children had been murdered for it either. She had always wanted peace between the races, and freedom for monsterkind, but she was willing to sacrifice the latter during her lifetime if it meant mercy for humans, but…

Here she was, outside the mountain, with no violence required. It was a miracle. She wondered what kind of breakthrough was required to make that pipe, but, whoever made it… she was eternally grateful. The Surface was so beautiful… she wondered if other monsters had gone down the pipe too. Surely, they soon would…

She did hear birdsong all around her. They were probably animals, not monsters (though seeing the little guys whenever they fluttered down Mount. Ebott was always a treat! Though the poor things couldn’t go back…), but obviously she felt a kinship. She wasn’t a good singer, but they sure were! Biologically, both the monster and animal kingdoms had managed to create birds via evolution, and she found that pretty neat! The chirping was so pleasant…

Beyond the sky, she noticed something about the ground. Part of it was green, covered by vegetation, not just trees but also some very short plants, as green as the leaves of the treees. This must have been grass, right? She didn’t know that much about the Surface, and Clover had been rather cagey about what their Surface was like (they didn’t seem too happy talking about it, and their self-esteem didn’t indicate good things about their upbringing there… that’s part of why she tried so hard to make them feel loved) but… she knew that, apparently, there was a lot of grass there. Actually, wasn’t there grass in Asgore’s castle too?... well, not like she had any plans to go there, not after she had become acutely aware of the vile things that happened in its history after meeting Clover.

Still… there was clearly an opportunity for her to do something she had never seen before. She touched the grass with her wings, and… it feel so nice and soft. Blue skies, birdsong, soft grass… maybe this was Heaven. She laid down on it, and it felt so nice…

So nice she fell asleep without realizing. Well, she didn’t come here to rest, she had cake to eat!

Which brought her to another feature of the landscape. No, not the water: she hated the feeling of wet feathers, and she wouldn’t enter bodies of water if she could help it (though being around Clover motivated her enough to take daily showers, at least…), but the big building. Maybe it was a shot in the dark, but given how similar its structure to the pictures of Asgore’s castle she’d seen… maybe this was a castle?

Still, unlike the dark grey castle with blue spires, this one was light grey, with a red roof. Its most noteworthy feature was probably the stained-glass window of… someone looking to the side. Whoever they were, they had blond hair and were wearing a pink dress, white gloves and… a crown. Which maybe meant they were a monarch, if the Surface was anything like the Underground… wait, crowns were hats! This was probably a human, and a monarch to boot! This was a great opportunity for peace between humans and monsters! After all, she didn’t really hate humans, unlike other monsters, and if she was the first to meet a human figure of authority… maybe war could be averted!

Besides, she hadn’t forgotten about the cake! Surely Princess Peach was from somewhere in the area, and the castle was the first thing to check! Beforehand, though… she had to do something. Something she’d promised she’d do whenever she reached the Surface since she was a kid…

Fly.

Still, though, as much as she tried… it seemed to be so difficult for her to do so. Eventually, she pulled it off after jumping thrice (…could she always jump that high?), but it seemed her stamina in flight was much lesser here. And, not just that, but somehow… she had lost some height?

…well, this was certainly a very strange occurrence. Maybe the pipe was magic or something, or the Surface had different properties. She obviously wasn’t too happy about her loss of abilities, but at least she hadn’t lost all her flight, and being on the Surface really made things worth it. Actually, she had to go back and tell Clover and Dalv and Starlo and Ceroba and the others at some point, but not before eating her piece of cake!

Also strange was the turtle-like being with goggles on a cloud who followed with a camera. It took her an embarrassingly long time to realize she was being filmed, but… why? As she crossed the bridge to enter the castle, the turtle spoke up.

“Good afternoon. The Lakitu Bros., here reporting live from just outside the Princess's castle. Mario has just arrived on the scene, and we'll be filming the action live as he enters the castle and pursues the missing Power Stars,” said the turtle before explaining how to change the camera angle for the sake of the viewer (…was she going to become a celebrity on the Surface?... actually, she supposed if she acted good enough that would be good for human-monster relations, even if she never really desired fame…). Apparently, the reporter’s surname was Lakitu, though that wasn’t the only tidbit of information she learned from him… first, though, she had to clarify something.

“Um, actually, my name as Martlet, and I’m a ‘she’”. The name was understandable, given they shared the first three letters, but how could they get her gender and pronouns wrong? “That aside… the Power Stars are missing? That’s the first time I’m hearing about this!”

“Yes… King Bowser stole them earlier today, we’ve just heard.” Wait… there were Stars? Was she on Earth? After all, she recalled hearing that she would die long before she could get remotely close to flying a star as a kid… it broke her seven-year old heart so much!

“That King Bowser guy… he sounds like a jerk!” Like, don’t just steal people’s stars! Wait, how big was he to be able to steal them? Maybe she didn’t shrink, it’s just that the world got bigger. Or, wait, maybe Power Stars weren’t actually stars at all! Her mentor was a scientist, she knew how important it was to not accept or reject hypotheses until she had proof!

“It is the official editorial line of the Lakitu Bros. that… yeah, he sure is. But you can beat him, Mario!”

“Um, alright, that’s the spirit! Like, if he doesn’t back down he’s going to be in a world of trouble!” She punched and kicked the air to show off… wait, why did her foot become so huge for a bit? “By the way, um… I’ve been meaning to ask you a few questions. Like, I don’t know if it’s appropriate to ask your cameraman this, but… this princess, what’s her name?”

“Well… her surname is Toadstool, but recently more people are calling her by her first name, Peach. I thought you kept up with the news. Mario!” So it seemed the princess did live there, and so did her cake! She had to move forwards, but not before correcting him yet again, and asking his something that was in the back of her mind.

“Wait, didn’t you hear me? I’m Martlet! …that aside… um, this may be a stupid question, but are you a human?”

“Mario, I didn’t know you were such a jokester! Of course I’m not a human.”

“Yeah, sorry. My bad…” Martlet, c’mon! Goggles aren’t even remotely hats! “Anyway, no more time to waste! Let’s go take back the Power Stars!”

Though, as she opened the door to the castle, she was immediately greeted by the growl of a deep voice.

“Welcome. No one's home! Now SCRAM and don't come back! Gwa ha ha!”

Wait, really? What a bummer! Now how was she going to get her cake? Wait, actually if nobody was home… no, that didn’t mean anything, that message could totally have been pre-recorded! Martlet, can you stop being such a scatterbrain?... well, after 24 years, it was safe to say the answer was probably “no”…

Still, even if nobody was there… maybe she could at what happened to the stars, assuming they hadn’t been taken away… and besides, the first floor of the castle looked so interesting! She’d never even been inside a home on the Surface before! Red carpets which covered three staircases, the middle one being taller than the others, bare floor with a chessboard pattern and a depression with a symbol of what was seemingly a compass or the Sun painted on it, and walls covered with… wow, where those hills covered in grass? Like, not even she was stupid enough to think those were real hills, but the green implied that grass really was everywhere on the Surface! And, well… it was so soft and nice to rest on… the Surface was great!

And, above the hills was the sky and clouds… wait, did clouds have eyes? Yeah, of course, they did, Mr. Lakitu was sitting on one with them! Wow, monsterkind really didn’t know much about the Surface… the actions of the Seven Mages really were terrible for denying so much information to Monsterkind… or maybe she fell asleep when this was taught in History class. Could be either!

Anyway, as she looked and flew around (and hit the wall an embarrassing number of times… owww it hurt…), she noticed that the voice was wrong! There was totally a person in there! She didn’t know if they were a human, but… did this really matter? After all, as a monster with a human child, she’d learned enough that Chujin was misguided, judging people by their race was wrong. In any case, she listened to what they had to say…

“Am I glad to see you! The Princess...and I...and, well, everybody...we're all trapped inside the castle walls. Bowser has stolen the castle's Stars, and he's using their power to create his own world in the paintings and walls. Please recover the Power Stars! As you find them, you can use their power to open the doors that Bowser has sealed. There are four rooms on the first floor. Start in the one with the painting of Bob-omb inside. It's the only room that Bowser hasn't sealed. When you collect eight Power Stars, you'll be able to open the door with the big star. The Princess must be inside!”

“Really?... we need to stop that Bowser! And, um… you’re sure the Princess is there?” And her cake, right?... well, actually, she supposed stealing stars and trapping people inside castles using magic was wrong. It was… a familiar situation. Well, she realized she might have to resort to violence if people didn’t back down. Oh well… hopefully she wouldn’t have to take a life.

“Well, not exactly… but Mario, you know how Bowser is! He’s definitely kidnapped the Princess and held her somewhere in this castle! After all, it’s not like he can leave it either.”

“Oh… right, I guess the Star’s power must apply to hi… Wait, did you say kidnapped?” Seriously, that Bowser guy had to stop! And apparently it wasn’t the first time he’d done this? What a jerk!

“Yeah, that’s what he always does. Honestly, I’m pretty used to it by now… and to you stopping him, Mario! We’re lucky he was careless enough to forget the door with the Bob-omb painting” … OK, at this point, she was pretty sure she was being confused with someone else. Also… she didn’t know how the Surface worked, but why wasn’t Bowser in jail? If they had one in the Wild East, as she unfortunately knew very well (… maybe she went back there sometimes to eat moss again. Maybe), so… maybe sovereign immunity?... actually, murder was probably illegal on the Surface, so… would Asgore be in jail soon or not?

“Hah, what a scatterbrain!” OK, she would probably commit a blunder like this too… “Well, I Martlet, vow to rescue the Power Stars and the Princess! Oh, by the way, I’m not anti-human at all, so don’t take this the wrong way, but…are you a human?”

“Mario, c’mon! You still don’t know us Toads aren’t human?”

“Oh, sorry! It’s just, with your hat…”

“What hat?”

“Wait, aren’t you wearing a hat?”

“No?” Wait… that was his head?... she was about to die of embarrassment. “And what does that have to do with anything?”

“W-well, you see, my child is a human, a-and they wear a hat, a-and, by the way, they’re around your age too…”

“Anyone can wear a hat. Also, Mario, … you’re 25. How could your son be older than you?” Oh god… why was she still talking? She was mortified. “By the way… it doesn’t seem you’re wearing your cap right now but that doesn’t make you any less human!”

“I… well, u-um, I… actually, I’m not Mario or a human. W-well, g-gotta go retrieve some stars”, she said while sweating bullets. Martlet, what is wrong with you? was the only thing that crossed her mind as she went through the door to a room with a painting of three black… circles? (Bob-ombs, if what the monster with a mushroom on top his head was to be believed), a blue sky with… no, those weren’t clouds, clouds had eyes… well, in the sky were white things whose names she didn’t know.

She had no reason to delay. She’d heard that evil King created worlds inside paintings, so she had the bright idea to jump into one of them. After her brain caught up with her, she expected to crash soon, but… shockingly, her strategy worked!

Suddenly, she was outside, in a world with green grass and blue sky, like the castle grounds. Still… she knew this wasn’t the Surface but a world made by magic. Actually, could all worlds have been made by magic too?

…not like those deep metaphysical questions were something she was remotely equipped to answer. More importantly, a being like those Bob-ombs on the painting, but red walked to her, and said something that she never expected to hear…

“This is a battlefield. Even now, on this barren earth war continues”.