Mario's cabin

Chap. 25

Peach woke up, bed and dress drenched with sweat, and looked at the clock, which read 4:25 am. She didn't want to go back to sleep, but she was so drowsy. She also had to use the restroom, so she went, did her business, and came back. She also felt hungry, so she went to the fridge and grabbed a few apples that happened to be in there and ate them in under two minutes. She went back to bed and looked out the window.

"It's a beautiful sight, little one," she whispered to her unborn child. "One day, I'm going to show you this tree ocean, and you'll thank me for it. Trust me."

"Who are you talking to?" a voice from behind her asked.

She turned around to see Mario.

"My future self," she lied.

"Then why did you say, 'little one?'" he asked suspiciously.

"I meant that my future self was such a little ways away, you know," Peach lied, trying to sound as convincing as she could. "I hope obesity doesn't kill her."

"I do too," Mario agreed. "I'm telling you, Peach, you need to stop eating so much. You're becoming fat. No offense, but you look like someone knocked you up."

Peach made an offended look on her face, then she said, "None taken."

Mario then went back to bed while Peach thought about what he just said.

But I need to keep eating, she thought to herself. If I don't, we'll both die.

Daisy was still clueless, but she did agree with Mario, which was a good thing. She didn't get as offensive about it as Mario, but it didn't matter.

When Daisy noticed that Peach's belly was getting bigger, she (Daisy) asked Peach if she was carrying a child. Peach, of course, lied and said that she was hungry all the time. Daisy bought it and joked by saying, "Peach, you need to stop smoking weed; you've obviously got the munchies."

When she noticed that Peach's belly wasn't going down after a while, Daisy started urging Peach to stop eating so much.

Peach was always trying to steer clear of Daisy and Mario when she could, especially when the child was changing form. Daisy only saw it once, but it was just a quick glance and she wasn't really in the mood to care that day.

These days, Peach spent most of her time in her room trying to come up with more names for the child (well, that was what she did when she wasn't eating or getting sick, or going potty). This is what she had written:

Possible baby names
Male
Jettison
Killer
Hilson
Hill
Fang
Gorgon
Basilisk
Hunter

Female
Penny
Salem
Sally (short for Salamander)
Diamond
Gila
Medusa
Tangerine
Ostium
Lil Red (don't ask)

She had pitched the last list she made and made a new list when she saw that this child was going to be reptilian. She hadn't shown anyone this list yet, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to show anyone this list, especially Bowser. She knew he would have a cow and a half if he had seen the names she thought of. She suddenly heard a light knock at the door.

"Who is it?" she whispered.

"It's Luigi," a voice answered.

"Come on in," Peach whispered. Luigi entered, and he was in his green-striped pajamas.

"I'm not tired," he said as he sat down. "What's that?"

"List of possible names for the child," she answered as she gave him the list.

He read the list, looking at her when he came across a name that was related to reptiles.

"Fang? Really?" he said. "Gorgon? And what's a basilisk?"

"A snake version of a gorgon. It's basically a giant snake that kills you by looking into your eyes."

"Dang. And look at this! Medusa?! Sounds a bit mean. How do you even know that this child is gonna be mean?"

"I'm not saying the child's gonna be mean. I'm just writing down whatever comes to my mind. I may not even name my child a name on this list. And this is why I don't think I'm gonna show Bowser this list. He's gonna think I'm species racist."

Luigi just continued reading the list, and then he asked about the name Lil Red.

"Because who knows?" she replied. "If it's a her, and her eyes are red, then there you go."

"Red?"

"I mean Bowser's eye color," Peach answered. "Well, his eyes might be fiery, but it's still technically red."

"Uh, no it's not," Luigi whispered. "It's just a fiery shade of orange."

"No, it's red!" Peach barked.

"Sh," Luigi shushed. "Don't wake anyone up over eye color."

"Oops, sorry," Peach whispered. "Hormones, I guess."

"That's alright, but you gotta be more careful than that," Luigi warned. "These are dangerous times for you, and you can't be letting this whole thing be your downfall."

Peach didn't know what to say to this, so she just nodded in agreement.

"Now if Mario noticed that attitude, along with the odd-shaped stomach, he'd definitely know something then," Luigi continued. "Now I'm thinking of getting you an apron or something to make your stomach less visible so you won't have to try as hard to hide it."

Peach looked down at her belly; even through the dark indigo color of the dress, she could notice the curves and shapes of the unborn child's shell spikes. Since the dress was a bit tight, the shape definitely showed.

"Do you think you could get me another dress?" Peach asked.

"Of course," Luigi answered kindly. "Any color preferences?"

"Dark colored," Peach answered quickly. "Doesn't have to be black, but it can be if you can't find anything else. And make sure it's loose."

"You got it," Luigi whispered as he made a list. "Anything else?"

"Um, a hunting knife, I guess," Peach said. "I'll use it to hunt, and I can use it as an alibi when I'm having my child."

"Ooh, I know just the place to get one for you," Luigi whispered with joy. "Is that it?"

"Yeah, that's about it," Peach replied. "Thanks, Luigi."

"It's no trouble," Luigi replied. "Well, I'm gonna try and sleep. Good night."

"Goodnight," Peach whispered as Luigi left.

Peach wasn't tired, not anymore. She looked at the clock, which read 5:11 am. She was just going to have to stay up all night, because she was not about to have dreams of death again.

But, even though she wasn't gonna sleep for the rest of the night, she was still in for rude awakening...