Driad I: Coping With a Loss
The skies were filled with joyous cheers and victorious whistling, as citizens all across the planet Plit celebrated their return from non-existence at the hands of the mighty leviathan "Shattered Reality". Many people did not know just who was behind their return, and if they assumed the Elemental Overlord Mewmaster they would only be partially correct. Still, to be alive again is something that didn't need to be questioned no matter how strange the circumstances were, especially when just moments before their erasure everyone was gripped by fear and paranoia. The town with the biggest cheers though was the place where the event began, the town of Toads called…Well, "Toad Town." There, streamers flew across the sky alongside the rain of confetti, and the sounds of whistling and good cheer were joined by thunderous claps of happiness.
Amidst the crowd of Toads was someone whose appearance couldn't be anymore different from the rest. His name was Driad, and he was a Crayzee Dayzee whose body was composed mostly of vines and moss to differentiate himself from the rest of his "kind". I use the term loosely there because as has been revealed to most the citizens here today, Driad was once one of the Elemental Overlord's outer guardians until a single defeat robbed him of his true form and gave him amnesia for a good thousand years. It would take far too long to explain just how he regained his memories while also mentioning how he came to live in this town, but rest assured some tidbits will be spread about this tale just as they will be for the rest of the protagonists we focus on…
Anyways, to make a long story short, Driad came to live with the planet's two most famous heroes, Mario and Luigi, and a year ago he was joined in these accommodations by the first new Elemental Overlord…That period of time is being mentioned because, as it should be known, the one called Alex Whiter perished in combat a year ago, leaving Driad both angered and the feeling of abandonment looming inside of his mind…At least until just a couple days ago, when the clone of Alex Whiter, the aforementioned Mewmaster, came to this world. After helping to quell his innermost demons, Mew vowed to Driad that when all was said and done with the current threat, he would return safe and sound and along with the Mario Bros. they would be a happy if sometimes dysfunctional family.
And as of the current moment, that was what the young in appearance Crayzee Dayzee was waiting for. His head was reared up in eager anticipation as his eyes glistened in the face of the sunlight and a smile widened across his face. While most planets don't have a heart, Driad, being one of the few notable exceptions, felt his pounding against his chest in eager anticipation. The young flower hadn't actually seen eye or ear of his other colleagues since they had returned from non-existence, but he figured that they would seek him out once the celebration had died down a bit. After a few minutes of standing in the center of the ever-moving crowd with his eyes looking up towards the sky without so much as anything changing besides the Light Citadel vanishing from above, Driad starts to become a little worried, and his face becomes slightly more uneasy in expression.
However, unbeknownst to the living flower, someone was pushing his way through the crowd at that very moment to deliver news about the person Driad was waiting for. His voice barely makes its way through the cheering crowd for the first few seconds, but when he is within twenty feet of the Crayzee Dayzee Driad begins to hear the gruff, polite sounding "Pardon me…" being repeated over and over again and quickly averts his gaze from the sky to turn to the right and see just who is coming his way through the crowd. Though only the person's head can be seen at first, its more than enough to begin describing just who said person was. His name is Gemini, a yellow-shelled turtle creature called a Koopa who happens to wear a red scarf around his left arm. Both of his eyes are purple, but save for that there really isn't anything important to note about his appearance…Yet.
After wading through the crowds of Toads, Gemini catches his footing on the one barren piece of ground beside Driad and balances himself up straight before folding his arms in front of his chest as he waited for the Crayzee Dayzee to turn himself all the way and face him before speaking. "What's up Gemini?" The living flower spoke with confused familiarity towards his friend, and after the Koopa lets out a light cough on reflex due to a bit of dust going into his throat Gemini says to Driad "Alpha just got off the intercom with Mew…He is heading back to Mario's house right now and asked us all to meet up there to celebrate. I came looking for you since you were the last person we needed to round up and considering you are barely as tall as these Toads…" Feeling a bit embarrassed to comment on Driad's height like that, Gemini lets his sentence fizzle out quickly before waving his hand towards his body and turning to the side.
"Come on, lets get a move on while we have room to walk…" And thus with Driad's smile returning, he allows himself to be guided across Toad Town by the good-natured Gemini until the two of them reach the green pipe that leads back to Mario's house. After asking a few partying Toads to scoot aside so they can jump in, the two take a swift trip through a unexplainable dimension until they are shot out the other side with their feet pointed towards the lip of the pipe. They leap out onto the ground and find the other heroes standing in front of the house completely still, with only the red and blue overall wearing plumber that you should know by now to be Mario glancing over his shoulder to see the two heroes arriving.
Driad immediately notices two things off with the scene, and questions the most glaring one first by asking to the red garbed plumber "Hey, what happened to Geno?" To give a brief explanation, Geno is the herald of the Star Spirits who mostly exists as a miniature star body unless he possesses the body of a wooden doll that bears the name Geno. There will be more details on him later, but for now the most important thing to note is that though the star herald had been forcibly tasked to watch over the planet while the Star Spirits are on probation, he was asked to join the fight against the reality bender because of how high the stakes were. But now he was gone, and Driad would quickly find out why from Gemini…
"Geno had to get back to the Star Haven…Something about an urgent affair from those 'higher-ups' that he mentioned when he came down earlier today…He offered his deepest apologies that he wasn't able to talk to you though, Driad." The Crayzee Dayzee merely shrugged his shoulders towards Geno's apology, for he didn't really consider it that much of a reason to start feeling down seeing as the star herald would be able to freely leave Star Haven in a few due months. He was far too busy feeling happiness over the fact that he would be seeing Mew again soon enough, and he thought that nothing would break this joy of his…And things would have stayed that way, had the mechanically armed Goomba named Alpha hadn't pointed out "Curious…My intercom device is getting a lot of static, and Mew hasn't showed up despite having a decent lead on all of us…"
Driad didn't take the comment seriously at first, especially since it couldn't have been possible for Mew to have been killed if he had just communicated with Alpha, but after a few seconds of waiting patiently the living flower started to grow concerned for his "brother", especially as his expression became sadder and his eyelids sank in fear for Mew's situation. Gemini took notice of this, and as Driad turned around the Koopa glanced to the left and said to the living flower "Hey Driad…You alright there?" The Crayzee Dayzee looks up towards the sky with his head shaking back and forth while the rest of the heroes turn around upon hearing Gemini express concern towards their flowery friends, and with a melancholy vibe suddenly dropping upon the heroes Driad says to them all "No…I'm not…" With his smile swiftly becoming a frown, the living flower says "Something…Something happened to Mew…He's just…Gone."
Three months later…
Things have quieted down for the most part in the Mushroom Kingdom since the defeat of the reality bender. Any minor repairs to the buildings in Toad Town have been completed, and save for the occasional "Bowser kidnaps Peach" situation nothing really terrible has occurred across the planet. But alas, for all the peace this world has earned, there is still one question that hasn't been answered for a particular Crayzee Dayzee since that fateful day three months ago…No one has heard eye of ear of Mewmaster, and even Alpha's thorough searches have come up with not even a hint of his presence discovered across the vast landscapes of Plit. Ever since the end of the first month since his disappearance, Driad has completely given up on trying to find Mew, and has chosen to seclude himself from most of the world by resting his body against the side of Mario's house, his arms and legs compressed into his body as he refuses to communicate with anyone who happens to try and speak to him.
Though he doesn't eat solid food at all, he manages to survive thanks to the sunlight and periodical rainfall that flies by the house, though his petals sometimes wilt during the night. In a way, Driad became a flower to the core, his body remaining motionless as roots grew from his legs and planted him into the ground so he can absorb nutrients to keep himself alive beyond what the sunlight and rain can give him. He doesn't sleep, he just continues to stay awake with his eyelids creaked slightly open and a dark blue tint forming below his eyes from a lack of rest. Everyone knew just why the Crayzee Dayzee refused to move from his spot, but no one had the guts to try and even approach and stop his depression.
That is, until one particular day, when upon returning home with a couple sacks of groceries wrapped in his arms, Luigi peered to the left to check up on the saddened little flower, and found that a series of cobwebs had started to form between his legs and the ground. With a naturally disconcerted arching of his eyebrows, the man in green walked into his household and placed the bags down on the groceries nearby table before walking over to the living room and finding Mario sitting down on the couch with a normal, laid back expression on his face as he watched the news unfold on the TV in front of him. "Mario, what are we gonna do about Driad?" Luigi quickly yet embarrassingly asked his brother to grab his attention.
The plumber garbed in red glanced to the right to assure his brother that he heard what was said, and with an outstretched right hand Mario clicked down on the power button of the remote in front of him to shut the TV off so no outside noise distracted him as he rose to his feet and turned towards Luigi with his expression taking on a more serious nature as he blinked his eyelids twice and shrugged his shoulders to say "I honestly don't know at this point…" In as honest of a tone as he can muster. Luigi gestures concernedly with his right hand, saying to his brother "What do you mean by that exactly?" "Well lets be honest here Luigi…Driad's depression stems from something we can't find a solution for, and that's Mew's sudden disappearance three months back."
"Oh yeah…" Luigi had actually forgotten about that since while it was concerning it wasn't the most important thing on his mind for the last week or so. After tapping his fingers against his chin and murmuring for a moment, the man in green's eyelids widen and he snaps his fingers before asking his brother "Say, did the Star Spirits ever get back to you or Alpha about Mew's whereabouts?" Mario shook his head twice in response. "No, they said they weren't allowed to talk about anything like that right after we asked the question…With or without their probation." "So what you are saying is…" Luigi said with a bit of hesitation, and Mario interrupts by nodding his head once and stating with a gesture of his left hand "Driad is going to have to deal with his emotions on his own. We've done everything we can to help him out as is…"
"Hmm…" Luigi hums in a melancholy tone as he glances to the right for a moment and wanders into thought for a few moments, after which he turns back to Mario and tells him "I'm going to try talking to him." Mario nudges his right eyebrow, already thinking that such an idea was not advisable until the man in green points out with a slight smile on his face "Hey, it can't hurt, can it?" Mario agrees after a brief moment of hesitation, and as Luigi turns around and waves his brother off the red garbed plumber asks "But wait, aren't you supposed to head off to Sarassaland today to meet Daisy?" "Yeah, but she'll understand if I'm a few minutes late because I decided to help a friend out. Catch you later bro, and keep the house clean while I'm gone alright?"
With a fond farewell shared between both brothers, Luigi left the house and began to move towards the right side where Driad was still seen sitting down with a depressed gleam in his eyes and a bit of rot visible on his arms as the man in green slowly approached the Crayzee Dayzee. A bit nervous to speak to the living flower after it had been months since he secluded himself from the rest of life to the side of their house, Luigi hesitantly raises his left hand into the air before retracting it upon thinking that he didn't really know what to say nor did he know if Driad would even react beyond a creaking turn of his head. Would he even be able to speak since his mouth had been sealed all this time? The man in green felt he didn't quite know enough about a Crayzee Dayzee's biology to determine how his friend would behave upon speaking to him…
But after a few moments of having doubts, Luigi sighs and decides to proceed onward with his original plan. Raising his right hand into the air, the man in green tries to quietly grab Driad's attention by saying to him "Driad…Hey buddy, can you hear me?" The most important thing to do at first was to grab the flower's attention, which appeared to work in the man in green's favor as over the span of ten seconds Driad slowly creaked his head to the left to look at Luigi, his eyes dreary and limp as he hides his mouth behind his folding arms and glares into the man in green's face. "…I guess that's a yes." He then says. "Are you willing to listen to me for a bit?" He then inquires, and the fact that Driad doesn't immediately turn away signifies that he wants to hear Luigi out.
"Its about your depression involving Mew's disappearance…" The Crayzee Dayzee swiftly turns his head back forward right away even though it pains his neck to do so, giving Luigi a huge hint that he really doesn't want to hear anything related to Mew still. "Driad, unless you want to break off from your current position, then you really don't have a choice but to hear me…I'm trying to help you, please understand that." And as Driad glances to the right in an attempt to ignore the man in green as he talked, the living flower couldn't help but think and realize that he had to listen to Luigi talk. So, for the first times in months, the man in green hears Driad speaks in a raspy, dried up tone "…Go on ahead, Luigi." And with a hint of a smile appearing on the man in green's face, Luigi gestures and says "Thank you" to his friend.
"Look, I understand that you are depressed over the fact that Mew disappeared, but you can't just keep sitting around our house doing nothing…" Driad looks to the left while keeping his head down to mope after hearing Luigi out a bit, saying to him in response "…And why should I do that exactly?" The man in green paused for a moment, turning his head towards the house to think about that question for a bit, and it turns out that the answer he is looking for relates to the thing he is looking at, and he quickly looks back at Driad and snaps his finger once to signify his revelation. "Well think about for a moment…Sticking around this place for so long has more than likely given you bad memories of your short time with Mew, right?"
Driad's eyes widen in shock for a moment, as he actually finds a bit of truth in what Luigi has told him, and with a more attentive turn of his head the living flower looks at the man in green as he smiles and continues speaking "If anything, you would be wise to go walk around outside the range of our house or something more proactive than sitting around where the harshest memories plague you." With his polite idea spoken in full, the man in green turns around and pokes his head over his right shoulder to crack another smile at Driad and say to him "Just think about it, alright?" Before he looks forward and continues on his way so he can head off to Sarassaland for a good week or so, and the living flower is left to consider Luigi's words.
And really, it didn't take long for Driad to think about them. With his head creaked back to look towards the house the Crayzee Dayzee realizes how correct Luigi was in his assessment on his own depression. In fact, as the flower looked towards the front of the house, he quickly saw a phantasmal image of him and Mew walking into the house while laughing about something they were discussing. It wasn't a memory he was having, but rather a moment he was thinking would occur in the present day had the young Overlord been with him now. The man in green couldn't be more right about his mental state in connection to this household, and it would truly be better for him to leave this place for the time being in order to clear his head of these negative thoughts.
But first, Driad would have to remove himself from his current position, something that he hadn't done for the last two months. His body was at the very least easily made loose by an exertion of his mind, but the roots that grew out from his legs and the cobwebs would be another story entirely. The living flower grunts and pulls himself upward, his vine hands pressing against the ground beside him on both sides as he lets out a strained, prolonged grunt from between his grit teeth. It takes all of his might to even begin budging from his location, with the roots not even giving an inch at first until thirty seconds have passed, at which point the roots start to obey the will of their once again mobile master and weaken their structures to make it easier to Driad to break free of the ground he had been rooted to.
With one last push of his arms, Driad breaks all of the roots off of his legs and wobbles onto his feet, his body barely able to support his weight at first and nearly causing him to tumble forward onto his knees. To counteract his imbalance, the living flower tosses his vines into the ground on both sides of his body and digs in to plant himself for a few seconds until his muscles re-adjust to his own weight and allow him to stand without any assistance. The Crayzee Dayzee takes a few deep breaths in to get used to the air around him through his mouth instead of his skin, and pulls his arms back into his body. He felt rather dizzy, but would recover over a brief span of time so long as he didn't go running towards the nearby pipe.
Despite how triumphant it was for him to conquer his rooted position, Driad didn't really feel any better about himself at the moment. He still had his lips curled into a frown, and his eyelids sank down to show his melancholy further. "…I guess I can head into town…Maybe E. Gadd can help me take my mind off of…Mew…" Trying his hardest to avoid letting that name slip from his mouth, Driad shivers and shakes his head simultaneously, his mind dropping the subject for the time being as he recovers from his dizziness and runs towards the pipe to travel through it and head into town, hopefully managing to get his mind off of Mew upon arriving there…
Next Time: An Option to Consider