Toadette's Story

Chapter 69 - A New Price

Even in an action-packed place like Mushroom City, it was incredible to have hospitals overflowing with so many patients. It was so abnormal that I heard that many of the injured were left sitting outside just because there weren’t enough beds.

I was alone in my room, glued to the TV as it replayed the event from less than 24 hours ago. They initially estimated about 15,000 lives to be lost. Then it thankfully lowered to 1,000 (only a mercy by comparison) before rising to 1,513, a number that eclipsed the already-horrifying number of the Mushroom Bridge explosion from years ago.

The stink of burning flesh was always gonna be in my mind, a constant reminder of the endless sea of bodies I walked past. Such a fantastic end to my first Star Festival, huh?

My body was covered in little bandages, along with a thick cast on my left arm. This wasn’t my first rodeo with having a broken limb, but the itchiness was driving me crazy. Of course, every time I complained about being in such pain, I had to remind myself how lucky I was to even feel it. A month of throbbing headaches seemed like a blessing compared to being wiped out unexpectedly by an explosion.

Knock, knock, knock.

The nurse entered the room, carrying an extra bottle of water just as I’d requested. I silently thanked him, desperate to ease the scratchiness of my throat from all that yelling yesterday. After he sat, the doctor came in, carrying a traditional clipboard that I was sure brimmed with distressing information.

“How are you doing this morning, Toadette?”

“Pain.”

“Yes, I’m already in the process of prescribing you something for that. You’ll get some medication before you people leave on your flight to Toad Town.”

“What the…? We’re still leaving today?”

“Princess Peach and her staff have concluded that it’d be unwise to do so today. It appears you’ll be here for another week for recovery.”

“Great…” I leaned my head back into the pillows, shutting my eyes. “Can I talk to Minh T. yet?”

“Still being operated on.”

“My brother?”

“Still being stabilised along with his mother, who I presume is yours as well.”

“Jeez, can I get one shred of good news today?”

“Did somebody call for good news?” That voice caused me to stick my head up. “She’s allowed to have visitors, right?”

The doctor stopped the intruder at the door. “It’s best that she continues to get more rest.”

“Ah, I see.” And Captain Toad pushed right past her, giving me an upbeat wave. “Good news is that I came out that event still looking handsome, and you, Toadette, still look like one hell of a snack.”

I didn’t even know what to say to that.

“Doctors, some space would be nice. Come on, speed it up! The longer your asses are on those chairs, the harder they sob. Thanks a ton.” Once the room was empty, he pulled up a chair and sat by my side. The first few moments were in pure silence, with us either looking at each other or at the various surroundings. Not like there was more entertaining to stare at in a hospital, what with the markerboard-white walls.

“You ever wish you were dead?”

“What?”

“No more chances to come back? Game over?” I continued to let my vision fade into the white. “I thought about it all the time when I was a kid. I was always too scared to actually go through with being eaten by savage Piranha Plants or Dino Rhinos. Hanging also looked too hard to actually go through with, but I often wondered what the world would be like if I just saved people from myself.”

“No, just… No.” His chill nature was gone, replaced with a confused and disturbed one.

“If I hadn’t come to this festival, they would’ve never attacked it.” I dug my nails into my bandaged palms. “Have you heard how many are dead? Life Shrooms can give people a boost, but they can’t bring back people who were incinerated. Like, why do I deserve to be here when all of them are gone?”

“I don’t want to yell at you, especially knowing why you’re like this. But Toadette, they were gonna this whether you were a factor or not. We knew they were planning something for years. We just thought we stopped it, and you see we failed.”

“They killed people I’d seen in the castle! Completely innocent people! They wanted to kill Minh T.! They could’ve killed DT, killed my mom! What about you? Aren’t you mad!?” It hurt to breathe so heavily. “I am going to kill every last Scapelli until there is nothing left of that family. You got that?”

“Yeah, I hear you,” he said, nodding along.

“Take me seriously.”

“Again, you’re sensitive, and I get it. But real talk, you don’t stand a chance.”

“I told you to stop treating me like a—”

“We have laws for a reason. They’re gonna face the music in court, and considering we’ve got 1,500 bodies worth the evidence, you’d better believe they’re getting locked up for life. And if you let yourself get mixed up in their web again, you’re not doing anything but hurting yourself and your family. That what you want, Toadette?”

Fuck! I knew he was right, but something had to be done. I couldn’t just accept that they were gonna get away with this, even for a short time.

“Let’s look on the bright side,” he continued. “You get some extra time with your mom and brother before we’re gone from here. And the princess isn’t gonna get in the way, as everybody is hurting in some way.”

“Are you hurt?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you came in here looking like yesterday was a lovely day from start to finish. Besides, not like you have family here, so no one you cared about was hurt.”

“That is…” He looked down. “Ignoring the crazy patient before my eyes, I gotta support my guys. You think you’re feeling bad?”

“You all did what you could. Hey, you promised to protect me.”

“We’re supposed to protect everybody. Just, dang… Bonzai Bill out of nowhere. The real miracle is that more lives weren’t lost. Right now, we’re in the mourning stage.” He rubbed his eyes. “Let’s just forever be grateful for the ones who have a chance to continue.”

If only he was always sweet like this…

“Hey, I’ll wheel you around once you’re awake enough.”

“Thanks,” I whispered, shutting my eyes once more. “Can you scratch my foot for me?”

“I… What?”

“Just the top of my right one,” I slowly giggled. “It itches pretty bad.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m doing this because I feel bad for you, not because I share your creepy foot fetish.”

It was an innocent request, come on. As soon as I felt his nails on me, I let out a near-silent moan, the first positive one since that incident. I was practically purring like a cat, especially when he got to scratching my toes.

“Yeah, that’s the stuff…”

***

By the time 11:42 had hit, he had taken me into a large waiting room with many other injured talking to each other. Some of them weren’t even injured physically; they were simply loved ones visiting. But in my scan of the room, I couldn’t spot anybody who I was super close to.

“Miss Toadette.”

Penelope approached me with… Goodness.

“Your eye?”

“I think I cut it on something sharp,” she said, pointing to the patch covering her right eye. “They stapled it together or something, but it looks like I’ll be Penny the Pirate for months.”

“You’re handling this way too well,” I mumbled. “Are you okay otherwise?”

“My head still hurts a little, but that’s about it.” She got on her knees, leaning on the arm of my wheelchair. “Miss Daisy says you were a real powerhouse out there.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Man, take some pride in your actions,” Captain Toad groaned, tapping my shoulder. “If you hadn’t run into that fire like an idiot, I wouldn’t have remembered we were both on Red Essence. Considering I was able to get down there by myself, the smoke was reduced early enough to where most these people are still breathing. You and that little brain can create big surprises.”

“Mmm-hmm!” Penelope giggled, giving me a hug. “You’re awesome.”

“No, I’m just…” I couldn’t bring myself to speak further, even to thank her.

“I’m really sorry. I don’t know what it’s like to have family hurt like this.”

“And I spent so long growing distant from them.”

“At least they’re still being stabilised, whatever that means. They’re alive.”

“Until I find out that DT is blind or my mom will be crippled for— Ow!”

“Lighten up, she’s a kid,” Captain Toad whispered, flicking my neck. “Wait, what are you doing?”

I strained trying to pull myself out of this chair. My balance was so off from the extra weight on my right side. I got my butt about ten centimetres in the air before dropping back down, exhaling as if I’d swam between two kingdoms.

“I want to see Peach.”

“I mean, she’s gotta be busy right now,” Penelope said.

“Tell her that Toadette demands an audience.”

Captain Toad could only groan. So what? There was way too much about this event that didn’t rub me the right way, and the only way I was gonna leave peacefully was if I had everything laid out. No dancing around the truth, no secrets, nothing. Of course, nothing guaranteed me that Peach would even tell me all that she knew, but it was worth a shot.

You know, my feet were already itchy under the sheets, and these hospital slippers weren’t helping whatsoever. I kicked them off repeatedly while waiting, only for Captain Toad to frustratingly keep trying to put them back on my feet.

“Please make something easier for me, Toadette.”

“I really don’t wanna be wearing shoes now. My feet itch, and I spent all day yesterday in high heels, so they’re pretty dang sore.”

“I’m not rubbing your feet.”

“Didn’t ask you to.”

“You have a godawful poker face.”

“I can’t even get a few seconds of a massage? I feel I honestly deserve one.”

He pouted. “Rub your own feet.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. Use your own feet to rub them. You’re not lacking in strong legs.”

It wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t the same experience. Rubbing my feet against didn’t do much for the pain. All it gave me was another way to pass the time without being completely bored out of my mind.

“Only person here feeling horny after that festival,” he snarked.

“And you don’t think I feel extreme guilt for that? Ugh, I didn’t ask for this stupid fetish…”

“You had a higher chance of developing it with that best friend you chose.”

“Seriously?” I rolled my eyes. “All she did when we were younger was make me loathe feet more. Always touching mine without consent…”

“And now I’m probably gonna be like younger you, while you’re just another Minh T.”

Hmm… I didn’t really touch his feet without consent at this point. Besides, as far as I was concerned, he consented to whatever I did to him. Though there was some truth to what he was saying, as I was definitely planning on making him touch my feet more and more. Until he was finally comfortable with the idea.

“Better hide your fetish, freak. Your audience arrives.”

On the other end of the room was an approaching Peach. If I thought Penelope’s attitude was surprising for someone to have after those events, Peach’s caught me even more by surprise. She was practically dancing her way through the waiting room with how whimsical her movements are. It was a stark contrast to the limited movement many of us had. Looking at Captain Toad, even he gave her an expression as if to say, “This is very tone-deaf.”

“You’re lucky, Toadette,” she said, fluffing her hair. “You caught me right before I could head out to give a press conference.”

“What happened, Your Highness?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You sent us out there on a dangerous mission to guarantee that these microphone coins got into the hands of the Scapellis. I thought we’d be eavesdropping on them to prevent an attack from happening in the first place. Can you tell me why that didn’t happen?”

I appeared to have caught her off guard with my straightforward questioning.

“Listen, I will answer all that I know to the—”

“You owe it to me!” I pushed Captain Toad’s hand out the way before he could cover my mouth. “I have been close to dying far too many times for comfort, so give me an answer, or I quit.”

“Quit!?” Penelope’s eyes widened.

I kept my anger-heavy glare on Peach. The chipper princess’ bouncy movements slowed to stiff levels. Then, out of nowhere, she began to laugh. This caused me to scrunch my face and curl my hand into a fist.

“Oh, forgive me, but I’m just laughing at how you can’t remember your own contract.”

What was she talking about?

“You’re required to work for me for at least 20 years before you can leave.”

“When was that established?”

“When we return to Toad Town, I’ll be more than happy to have someone show you the signed contract. Do they not teach students in these schools the importance of reading all the print before signing? Especially concerning royal documents.” After hitting me with that bombshell revelation, she put on a serious face. “Now, concerning the Scapellis…”

She had my full attention, as I blocked out all sound around us.

“I will not leak those tapes to the public, but I can confirm to you that not once was a plan with a Bonzai Bill mentioned. Captain Toad, will you back me up?”

“She’s right,” he said. “It’s not like they used code words we couldn’t decipher.”

“What about…” I quickly stopped myself. If I revealed that I knew she had an order for less guards inside the festival, both Captain Toad and I would be in serious hot water.

“We took every precaution we could’ve,” she said. “You did a good job, don’t doubt yourself. In fact, Minh T. was surprisingly useful to our cause as well, for a weak florist. Be sure to give her my thanks if you see her.”

She began to turn around.

“Thanks for sending me to get those fireworks we didn’t use!” I shouted.

“What did you just say?”

“I mean, did you just buy them for show, Your Highness? All these super-ultra-mega fireworks did was cause the buildings to blow up even harder than they would’ve. And more bodies, let’s not forget that.”

She glared at me. “They were intended to be used minutes after the star bits began to rain down. Forgive me, but I didn’t anticipate a giant bombshell dropping from the sky.”

“Sure.”

“We are ending this immediately,” she snapped, pushing her gloved finger against my nose. “I don’t know what is going on with you, but accusing me of having been involved in this is a really dangerous thing. The last thing we all need is misinformation.”

I didn’t even flinch, just pulling her hand from in front of my face and huffing.

“Princess, please, she’s just going through a lot right now. You know, she had to watch her mom and brother get attacked.” He pinched my back. “I’ve been there too, wanting someone weird to blame when I’m confused. I know you have, right?”

Peach took a few breaths, and then a relaxed tone returned to her face.

“Right. Toadette, I will have Captain Toad present to you all the evidence of what we knew before yesterday, is that acceptable?”

“Yes, ma’am…”

“Now, allow me to focus on helping my people.” Once she was out of the room, many of the lingering eyes were on us. My face was a deep red, and Captain Toad put his mouth to the side of my head.

“I’ll look into this on my own, don’t worry.”

I nodded.

***

“At least you’re not paralysed.”

“Paralysed? I’m grateful I didn’t have something even worse happening, like one of my legs getting ripped off in the blast.”

Minh T. had many more bruises than I did, and with her legs crushed, it made everything way more complicated. Rather than having the mercy of crutches, she’d be stuck in a wheelchair.

“After nine weeks, I should be able to walk again.” Just like Penelope—or rather, just like everybody—she was taking things very well. “I’ll just be living with my parents until then, no biggie.”

Nine weeks without being able to even properly see her feet… It was going to be weird for me, but definitely stranger for her. The only part of her feet that peeked out from the casts were the very tips of her toes. I noticed her attempt to wiggle them when she realised I was looking, but no movement came.

“Hey, just gotta get this nail polish taken off, that’s all.”

“Aw, but it looks so nice on you.”

“I know, I know. Don’t know what colour I’ll try next. Maybe back to pink. Hot pink? Light pink? What do you think?”

“You’ll make it work, whichever tone you choose.”

She giggled, playing with her fingers. The whole time, she had a faint blush on her face. She must’ve still had the taste of me on her lips, that scene replaying a million times in her head. It was still stuck in my mind—the smoothness of her skin, the happy cheers and wishes surrounding us, her incredible scent…

“I don’t think I can explain why I did that,” I said, looking at the ground.

“Hmm?”

“It just came out of nowhere.”

“Means you must’ve really wanted to do it,” she whispered, audibly licking her lips.

“I… Yeah, obviously I did.” I looked back up at her. “Is that weird?”

“Pssh! With everything you know about me, how am I in any position to consider you weird? Or, well, the bad kind of weird.”

“I don’t think I’m trying to, like, be your girlfriend or anything,” I blurted out. “I think I just, I’m a bit more open to being… Gosh, I don’t even know, man.”

“My friend with benefits?”

“You know, you’ve used those words before.”

“It basically means a friend who you get intimate with. Not quite boyfriend or girlfriend stage, but you’re down for some adult time together.” She smirked. “I think it’s a perfect phase for a girl as confused as you tend to be.”

I took a deep breath, trying to hide my flustered smile.

“I guess we’ll see where it goes from here, best friend with benefits.”

Her grin almost fell off her face.

“I hope this means more threesomes because I am feeling pretty lonely in this conversation.” Oh yeah, Captain Toad was still guiding my wheelchair. I snickered, looking up at him.

“Who knows? I have to broaden my horizons after a while.”

Just then, a doctor entered the room.

“Is Toadette in here?”

“That’s me.”

“If you would, I’d like to talk to you and Senior in her room, please. Concerning your brother.”

“See ya, Toadette,” Minh T. yawned.

Captain Toad wheeled me to my mother’s hospital room, opting to stand outside so that it was just us.

Mommy looked like she’d seen better days, notably being paler. But once she saw my face, it was like everything magically became okay. The first thing she did was try to reach for me, before groaning in pain and retracting.

“I am so proud I can say my daughter is a badass,” she chuckled. “You could’ve told me that years ago, and I would’ve never believed it.”

“Oh. Thank… Thank you.”

“Alright, mom and daughter? Are you ready?” When we nodded, the doctor gave us seconds to prepare ourselves for whatever he had to say. My nerves were already tensing considering the length of the wait. It felt like an absolute eternity. “Dane T. has made it.”

“Yes!” Mommy put her hands on her heart. “Oh, I can’t even imagine…”

A rush of relief washed over me with that news.

“However, and I need you to brace yourselves for this,” he explained, taking a gulp, “he will never talk again.”

What optimism blossomed in that brief moment had immediately wilted.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He pulled out a binder, flipping to a marked page.

“For us Toads, our vocal cords should look something like… It’s going to sound strange, but bear with me. They should look something like a uterus at the top, slowly forming into a canal at the bottom.” He pointed to DT’s throat. “That bullet to the throat would have already hurt him, but we’re finding evidence that he was already severely burnt by the blast, as if he almost sucked in the fire. He will be able to communicate with his hands and signs and things of that nature. But his voice can’t be restored with this amount of damage.”

“You guys can’t use a Life Shroom?” Mommy asked.

“They’re so rare and expensive; we don’t have any.” That statement made me feel such an immense guilt. “Even if we did, they’re best at patching up more natural wounds like a hole through someone’s chest. Restoring vocal cords isn’t one of their abilities.”

“But… I can’t just have my son being silent for the rest of my life. It’s… TT, are you okay?”

I shook, sniffling. Damn! Why couldn’t I have just not used that Life Shroom when we ran from the Scapellis’ building the first time? Even if it couldn’t save his voice, he’d probably be in a lot less agony. But no, my selfish ass had to gobble it up.

“You guys are professionals. There has to be something you can do!”

“Ma’am, the resources needed to help him are beyond what we can get you with free hospital care.”

“Okay, so… Rehabilitation and/or complicated surgery, right? Is that possible?”

“In theory, as there is some remnant. But it would be a very long and expensive recovery.”

“How expensive?”

“Ma’am, we’re happy to give you guys alternatives that are more in your financial range to at least support him.”

I felt more than a little offended by the assumption we were absolute vagabonds in wealth.

“How about you respond to the question I asked you?”

“A minimum of 800,000 coins.”

“I can…” I paused. “Excuse me?”

“I’m very sorry.”

“I’m scraping by at just around 13,000 coins a year,” Mommy said. “TT?”

“I only just got hired,” I said. “And even if I’m making more than you, it can’t be by that much.”

“Jeez… Where the fuck do we even get 800,000 from!?” She rustled up her own hair, screaming at the top of her lungs. “He doesn’t deserve any of this!”

The doctor simply stood by, his silent glance giving us all the condolences in the world. While my mom lost her cool, I thought of all the possible alternatives to helping DT out. I abandoned my brother once. I wasn’t abandoning him a second time, especially in his time of need like this.

Minh T. would be more than willing to help, but while she was well off, she was a long distance from rich status. That comfortable middle bracket was her home, probably on the lower end with how often she’d help others and needed to run her own business. This extended to her family; they had great-paying jobs, but they weren’t made of money either.

If I used Russ T., the most I’d be able to do was get him to arrange a bank robbery or something. Wasn’t the first crime he’d helped me commit. Robbing a bank would be hard but possible. The hard part was that I’d be unable to use that money without being arrested. Naturally, our financial rulers would wonder where the hell little Toadette splurged up 800,000 coins.

The only way I’d be able to help him was…

Later that night, when Peach had returned to the hospital, I was the first to arrange any sort of meeting with her. Admittedly, Penelope was way worse at steering this wheelchair than Captain Toad, but that spunky energy made her far quicker.

“You want me to pay for your brother’s medical needs?” she asked.

“Your Highness, I beg you,” I pleaded, my voice softer. “I know that this is a selfish request and that there are others who could use your financial support. But I can’t live with myself if DT couldn’t ever talk because of…”

“Because of what?”

“Please.”

She gave me a cup of water as she paced around the sterile hallway, her heels clacking loudly on the floors.

“This is a very high thing to ask for, Toadette.”

“I know.”

“Mother,” Penelope interjected, “we’re more than capable of helping him out.”

“It’s so much more complicated than that.” Peach put her head down. “Toadette, if I do this, then I expect you to be prepared for your workload to increase.”

“Increase how?”

“It’s almost silly to still refer to you as my footslave. You’ll still retain the title, but I’m going to need you more active for me. You’ll need to tackle more missions that I can’t trust some of my other workers to execute successfully.” She turned her back to me. “They could be more dangerous. You’ll leave Toad Town a lot more than normal. But if you accept this ‘promotion’, you will receive a tiny pay raise, and I will bear the costs of Dane T.’s recovery.”

It was a glimmer of hope in all this darkness.

“Now, if you accept…” She turned around, kicking off her shoes one by one. “You will kiss my feet.”

Before she could lift her foot up, I threw myself out of the wheelchair, a move that startled Penelope. I crawled to Peach and began to smooch the tops of her feet all over, leaking tears of joy as I performed this act. A bit of humiliation didn’t matter one bit as long as DT was gonna be taken care of. Even the mild sweat from her feet failed to put a frown on my face.

“Thank you so much, Your Highness,” I said between wet kisses.

“No, thank you.”

Before going to sleep, there was one brief stop I needed to make. And this time, I’d work myself through the pain and walk.

Looking at DT hurt. I hadn’t even noticed it during the festival in all the chaos, but there were countless burns on his body. They had him hooked up to a breathing machine, and since he was sedated, he wasn’t going to see my face today. But at least he seemed somewhat at peace in his unconscious state.

Even if I got him this help, there was no telling how long it would take to hear him speak again. The last thing he said was my name, diving in front of me to take that bullet.

“You saved me,” I whispered. It was as if every day I’d rejected him and Mommy from my life was playing back in the span of seconds. So much water was coming out of my eyes, but there was a smile to offset it. “This time, I promise I’m gonna save you.”