It was a while before Bowser was able to calm his nerves and realize again how upset he felt about practically everything in his life. He was still a failure, still unhappy, still a loser in a body he hated. Conquering the Mushroom Kingdom, inhabiting the form and identity of someone as energized and cool as Bowsette, was a breath of fresh air, but even that didn’t do anything but distract him from his feelings at hand.

He was shaken to the absolute core by the Dry Bones resurrection of Morton Koopa, the imprisonment of most of his children and his impending doom. It meant that everything he did, from abdicating the throne to coming here, was all for naught. It invalidated his entire life and all its past accomplishments to have such an evil man, a ruthless tyrant come back to life and take over, after all he accomplished-- no, he and his many allies accomplished.

At this point, being executed in the Mushroom Kingdom would have been a saving grace, because at least then he would never have known about Kamek’s incomprehensibly-idiotic decision to bring Morton back.

The way Boom Boom was suffering was also entirely his fault, and he had to bear witness to it in plain view. The succession crisis was over and Boom Boom’s “threat to the throne” should have been over, but Morton must surely have been keeping him down here with the sole purpose of further torturing Bowser.

Little did Morton know that Bowser was very good already at torturing himself.

The two of them had come up with a plan were they ever to escape. They just needed a way to do that, and it so far had never come. Bowser was starting to get very worried that Morton was going to seize him for whatever magical ceremonies they needed to perform to restore Morton to his full strength. Without the High Priest Shisai around to perform it, it was going to be a difficult and delicate situation, so they were likely practicing and trying to find a magician with enough skill and finesse to actually do it. The Magikoopa clan was vast, but most were not of that level of skill, and surely Kammy Koopa would not sink so low as to sacrifice her own surrogate grandson or great-grandson, if it came to that.

Sigh...

The Koopatrol guards, who cycled out every few hours and stood mostly silently, even if Bowser and Boom Boom and the others were talking loudly together, suddenly began chattering.

“A visit? No way,” one said. “Who are you, any-- uh, from her? Well, okay then, but... no funny business.”

The cell door opened...

A woman in a blue shell entered.

“Mario let me borrow one of his power-ups,” she said. She leaned in close to Bowser and whispered, “You guys are... really stupid, you know that? This disguise is NOT very good. How in blue blazes did I get past you all without anyone recognizing me?”

“Peach, what are you doing here?” Bowser asked. “Wait, is this actually you?”

“Huh?”

She squatted down, her knees touching the muddy, damp floor and getting dirt all over herself. She quicked at this, but kept talking. “I know this was dangerous and stupid and I didn’t even tell Toadsworth that I was doing this, but I’m here for you, Bowsette. I’m here to rescue you.”

Bowsette smiled.