A/N: This story has been a passion project of mine for a very long time. I first uploaded this fic in spring of 2015 but I basically ripped off the show this is inspired from and didn't add a whole lot of originality. No wonder it flopped, only garnering about 10 reviews over 5 chapters which I was really working hard on. Now, I've redone the script and casted characters for weeks and weeks pinning down who would serve what roles best. I've extensively planned this story to go on for at least 70 chapters at the moment.

This fic is going to be very long, longer than any other story I've ever published by a very wide margin. It will feature nearly every Mario character you could think of with just a few exceptions. I hope you enjoy it, because I'm putting a lot of hard work into it! So without further ado, I present to you the opening chapter of – The Dreadful End.

The Dreadful End

Chapter 1-1: The Awakening

It was dark. Slowly opening his eyes, Mario could not tell if his eyes were truly open or if this was reality. Blinking a few times, his eyes adjusted to the pitch surrounding him. Mario confirmed it was indeed dark, black even, with not a hint of sunlight coming in. Where was the light? More importantly…where was he? Rubbing his head, Mario felt a dull throbbing coming from the back of his skull. Wincing in pain, he felt as if he should remember the source of his injury but nothing came to mind. Confused, alone, and beginning to grow afraid, Mario tried to stand up.

It was difficult, to say the least. His legs ached as if he hadn't used them for some time and his arms felt like jelly. Shakily coming to his feet, Mario felt around in the darkness. Stumbling forward, he felt around in the void until he came to a wall. He bumped into it, giving a little grunt of surprise. Feeling the wall to the right, Mario shimmied across the room until his hands touched the corner of his wall and a new one. Transferring to the new wall, Mario shimmied along until his hands touched something new. It felt like a window.

Feeling up and down, Mario could tell what he was touching were shutters. Fumbling around for a cord, Mario felt a cry of hope rush up inside of him as he pulled the small string and flipped the old shutters horizontally open. A ray of sunshine filtered in, momentarily blinding Mario as it hit him right in the eyes. Backing up, he held a hand up to block the light until his eyes could focus. Squinting, he approached the window cautiously and peered out into the world.

Cracked earth and ruin surrounded him. However, this was normal for where he was. The badlands, inhabited by a nefarious gang of koopas bent on nothing but brewing trouble. Slowly, memories began to collect themselves at the back of Mario's mind. Nodding, he remembered why he had come out to the badlands and this place. The mayor of Toad Town had asked Mario to look into the Koopa Bros. Fortress. Apparently, the pesky ninjakoopas had been plundering local shops and were starting their wicked ways up once more. Coming out to the fortress, Mario had made to talk reason into the koopas, perhaps supplement his talk with boot and hammer, and then return to Toad Town. But something had happened.

That accounted for the dull pain in the back of his head. One of the sneaky turtles must've knocked him out from behind. Groaning, Mario let the shutters open wide and staggered back as a full beam of light entered the room. Adjusting once more, he turned around and surveyed the room. There was a bed, which was what he had been laying on. A sink and a toilet completed the room with gray concrete walls. Nothing much to look at, which made Mario assume this was part of the fortress's jail. Scowling, he wondered how long he had been out.

Stomping over to the door, which was a slab of concrete akin to the walls but finished with a three-barred window at the top of it, Mario wrapped his hands around the iron bars. Trying to peer out into the dank hallway, Mario had no luck.

"Hey!" he cried. There was no response. Looking down the door, Mario tried the handle. To his immediate surprise, the door was unlocked. Skeptical, Mario slowly heaved the heavy door open and poked his head out into the hall. What lay within frightened the otherwise heroic man.

The lights above the hall flickered on and off, casting eerie bursts of light and then darkness upon the musty hallway. The walls were coated with black grime, decaying with mold from the general neglect the Koopa Bros. served the fortress. But that was normal. What truly terrified Mario was the blood. In thick coagulated puddles the blood pooled along the floor of the hall. The walls were coated with spatter and starbursts of crimson. Shivering, Mario put one brown boot out of the room and carried himself into the scarlet-streaked hallway. The haunting ambience of the flickering lights made the sight of the blood all the more horrifying.

Mario inched along, keeping to the center of the hall as to avoid the blood-soaked walls. Coming to a corner, he rounded it, fear welling up inside of him for what might lay on the other side. The fear was justly felt, for the next hall was filled with more blood and something more. A body. Crying out, Mario took a step back and mistakenly laid his back against the wall. Hearing the sickening sap of blood sticking to his shirt, Mario whirled around and took three hurried steps backwards. Stumbling over his feet, he fell to the floor, his head landing inches from the gaunt head of a dead koopa. Screaming, Mario scuttled forward and flipped around on his stomach, rising shakily.

He inspected the body, face contorting into a disturbed frown. Old blood stuck dry from three bullet holes in the koopa's chest. One finite hole marked his forehead, black blood frozen to it. A yellow bandana marked the koopa, complimenting his shell and boots. Mario recognized this corpse. It was one of the Koopa Bros. Now thinking he was in some sort of horrific nightmare, Mario sidled past the body and continued down the hall, his eyes affixed on the carcass until he made it to another corner. Not mentally prepared to handle more carnage, Mario took a deep breath and braved the turn.

This hall was relatively cleaner than the others. Mold and blood still hung thick from the walls, but there was no body. The blood, there was so much of it. Mario wondered where all of it had come from. Paying no attention to his fear, Mario rushed forward as he spotted a set of double doors at the end of this hall. Ambling forwards, he picked up his gait to a trot and shoved the doors open. Harsh and blinding beams of light shot him in the eyes, causing him to bend his neck and cover his face momentarily. Adjusted now, he raised his eyes and surveyed the land.

He was outside of the fortress, the prison being on the base floor. The fresh air and lack of blood was refreshing. Looking around, Mario pinpointed the path leading out of the badlands. It was the same road he had taken here…how many days ago? Mario couldn't be sure, still unaware of how long he had been out for. Shrugging off the amnesia, he decided he'd get his answers from Peach or Luigi when he made it back to town. They were probably worried sick about him and he needed to tell someone about the body. What happened here while Mario was imprisoned?

Mario was just about to set off on the path when he heard a low groan. Spooked by the sudden sound, Mario whipped around to see one of the Koopa Bros. shuffling towards him, the red one. His jaw was hanging open limply, blood and decay marking the interior of his mouth. His eyes were soulless and pure white. Arms hung limply by his side but raised in fevered hunger upon seeing Mario, clawing out with the makings of want. He picked up speed, dragging one twisted foot behind him. The sight was terrifying, causing Mario to back up.

"H-hey…" Mario said quietly, "y-you don't look so good. Do you need help?" Ever the model citizen, Mario was more concerned about helping this koopa out instead of worrying about his own safety. The thought did not occur to him that he might be dangerous until the koopa was upon him. He lashed out at Mario with clacking gnashing teeth and outstretched limbs. Backing up, Mario was too slow. The koopa forced itself on him, trying to tear into Mario's right arm. Shoving the creature away from him, Mario called out.

"Hey! What's the big idea!?"

Red bro didn't reply. He immediately came back, not pausing for a second. He was deadest on having Mario for lunch, but the hero couldn't figure out why. Sensing that his life was in danger, Mario picked up a loose rock at his feet and waited for the koopa to come close. It grabbed Mario by the arm, twisting and producing a strangled cry of pain. Raising the rock in his hands, Mario bashed the sorry koopa in the head and sent him tumbling towards the ground. He did not stir.

Had Mario just killed him? Dropping the rock, he looked around the badlands and the exterior of the Koopa Bros. Fortress. What had just happened? Why did he look so haunting and why…w-why had he tried to eat Mario's arm? Where were his brothers, Green and Black? So many questions hurtled through Mario's mind. He knew he needed to get back to Toad Town immediately. His friends and family, especially his adoptive daughter, Lumalee, were missing him. Without a second thought, Mario tore down the path leading out of the badlands.

"It's been three days," Wario grumbled, picking at the loose ear wax in the corner of his right ear.

"W-we said we would wait three days," Luigi said meekly, his hands shaking and his chin wobbling in fear. His brother had been missing for three days since he went to check on Koopa Bros. Fortress, and in those three days, the world had come to an end. In the course of seventy-two hours, a virulent plague had swept through the neighboring kingdoms and ripped humanity straight from its seemingly unshakeable core. The balance of the world had been tipped upside down and kicked back around as those gripped with the infection passed away in a matter of hours from uncontrollably surging fevers. But when they died, they didn't stay dead.

They rose; hungry for flesh.

Locked within the conference room of Peach's Castle, a group of survivors huddled together. The streets of the kingdom were no longer safe, teeming with ravenous gloombas and dry bones. Toads, shopkeepers, people they had known were shambling about in search of their next meal, dead but unable to leave the cold grip they were in. Contact with the Beanbean Kingdom had dipped first. Then the grid fell in Sarasaland. The plague had called for peaceable communications between Lord Bowser Koopa and Princess Peach, and while Bowser had said Kamek was working on a cure, their servers went down soon after. Alone, alive, and afraid, those who occupied the conference room believed they were the only ones who had survived the infection in Mushroom Kingdom.

At the head of a long table, Peach clutched a neon aqua Luma in between her hands. Shivering and fearful for her father, Lumalee Toadstool clung on to every shred of hope that he was alive. She burrowed into her mother, trying to hold back her tears but unable to. Peach gave her reassuring pats here and there, trying to calm her quivering daughter while leading the group of survivors.

"It's your call, princess," Waluigi muttered, leaning against the wall.

"You can't expect me to abandon my husband," she fired back instantaneously.

"Princess!" Toadsworth blurted, his words shaking with the hollow fear they held. "We can't hide in the castle for much longer. We have transport stationed outside the castle, waiting and ready to take us to sparsely populated land. The crowds of roaming…whatever they may be, will only grow with each passing day. We cannot sit idle and expect…"

Peach cut her aide off. "Then go," she told him. "Take those who wish to leave and go."

"Y-you can't be serious?" Toadsworth asked.

Before Peach could open her mouth, Wario stepped forward. "Wait a minute, hear her out. It makes sense. We can't stay here for any longer, but we can't just leave Mario out there. For all we know, he's holed up trying to make his way back to us. But Toadsworth is right, princess. We can't sit idle. Those who wish to leave should go, and some of us should stay behind and wait a bit longer for Mario."

Luigi shivered at the thought of his brother walking around the badlands aimlessly, a soulless monster with an unquenchable desire for flesh and blood. Having the same thoughts, Lumalee let a few tears fall onto her mother's rose t-shirt.

"Splitting up…it's unthinkable, I can't let the princess…" Toadsworth muttered but found himself interrupted once more, this time by DK.

"I don't think those rules apply anymore, Toadsworth," the ape told the aide. "We have to think about survival. Chiefly, you need to start thinking for yourself. What kingdom is there left for you to manage, old man?"

"Now you wait one…" Toadsworth began but was cut off for a third time, beginning to grow rather annoyed.

"He's right, Toadsworth," said the princess. "Look around you. The kingdom is gone. All of the kingdoms are gone. You don't need to worry about me anymore. In fact, I need you to worry about everyone else. I need you to lead some of us to safety, away from here."

"But how will we contact you?" Toadsworth asked, fearful of losing the princess.

"I salvaged some two-way transistor radios from my shop," Plenn T. said, rummaging through the brown duffel bag he bore on his shoulder. He produced two black radios with small antennas. "Pick a channel and you can communicate with one another for up to a hundred mile radius." The shopkeeper handed one to Toadsworth and placed one on the table next to the princess.

"So who's staying and who's going?" Waluigi asked.

"Oh this is ridiculous," Toadette piped up, stepping in front of her brother, Toad. "We can't split up! What if we never reunite?"

"It's the only thing we can do, sis," Toad told her, trying to sound reassuring. "We can't all stay here, like Toadsworth said. But Wario's right when he says some of us should wait for Mario. We'd be so much stronger with him by our side, we can't give up hope yet."

Toadette grumbled something under her breath but had to agree. Alongside she and her brother, only four others occupied the room. Toadiko and Toadbert, Toadsworth's two children, Diddy Kong, DK's son, and Parakarry, the local mailman who Plenn T. had rescued outside his shop. Together there were fourteen of them. Still shaking, Luigi not only worried for Mario's safety, but for that of his girlfriend, Daisy. She had been governing her people in Sarasaland when they lost contact with her. Unsure of her fate, it was the not knowing that was killing Luigi. His brother and his girlfriend, the two people who meant the most to him, were missing.

"I'll stay," Luigi immediately said. "He's my brother."

"He's my husband," Peach concurred, "like I'm not staying behind. Ha, I have to."

"T-then I wanna stay," Lumalee said shakily.

"No," Peach asserted herself. "You can't stay here, it's too dangerous. Toadsworth will take good care of you."

"But I want to be here when…" Lumalee began but was swiftly put down by her mother.

"No, Lumalee," Peach said sternly. "I won't put you in danger like this."

"But the castle is safe!" she protested.

"For now," Peach told her. "But if something happens…I'd like to know you had a fighting chance, my dear. Please, go with Toadsworth and the others. We'll be safe here and once Daddy returns, we'll all be back."

Sniffling, Lumalee floated from her mother and over to Toadsworth, who gave her a little pat. She was fond of the old aide, who had helped nursed her from birth. Lumalee didn't even remember her birth parents or anything of the foster system. Peach and Mario had adopted her soon after her birth, and this castle was her home. Leaving it behind it felt wrong in a way. It was like her home had been destroyed.

"I'll stay too," Wario said once that was over with. "Three should be enough."

"W-wait!" Waluigi barked. "I'm not going to leave you here!"

"I won't have you stay behind," Wario growled, his clenched teeth and stern expression concealing a deep care for his best friend.

"But Wario…" Waluigi said quietly.

"Go, Waluigi. Toadsworth needs your help," Wario argued. Seeing the reason in that, Waluigi shook his head and shouldered the rifle he had leaning beside him. Waluigi was a sharp shot, and Wario was right when he said Toadsworth could use his help. In staying behind, Wario was depriving the group of their strongest fighter. They would certainly need all the extra muscle they could get.

"Channel two," Toadsworth told Peach. "Once we make it outside of the city, I'll radio you."

"Be safe," Peach told him, tearing up as she looked at Lumalee in his arms. "We'll only stay here for another day."

Luigi somberly agreed.

Nodding, the others said their goodbyes. For a moment, Lumalee wouldn't let go of her mother as she went to hug her.

"It's time to say goodbye," Peach told her, her heart feeling like it was ripping apart. As a mother, she wanted to be by her daughter's side, but she couldn't place her in danger. If the castle was overrun, she couldn't live with herself if something happened to Lumalee. Placing her outside the city with a bigger group was her best shot. Pulling apart from her daughter, Peach kissed her forehead and turned, unable to let her daughter see her cry.

"It'll be fine, princess," Wario said, trying to sound reassuring. The others had left the room now, filing out of the castle. The three in the conference room, using the large monitors that serviced every camera in the castle, watched them quickly pile into two vans and pull away from the castle. Supplies had been loaded up into the vans prior to today so they could make their getaway when Mario arrived. Toadsworth had left Peach's pink Jeep behind. It had four seats, one for each of them, including Mario. Holding onto nothing but hope, Peach mustered up what little strength she had to respond to Wario.

"He'll make it back," she said tearfully, brushing a salty drop aside. "He has to." Swallowing, Luigi tried to mirror her courage, but he wasn't so sure. Worrying about Daisy and Mario, he slumped down in his chair and resigned to waiting. At the head of the room, Wario watched as the vans left the corner of the monitor. They were on their own now. Hope in their hearts, they began the final day of waiting. Mario had to return, and if he didn't make it back in twenty-four hours, he would be left behind.

Coming to the edge of the badlands, Mario found himself out of breath. He had run and run and run after killing that horrifying Koopa Bro. Panting on the edge of Toad Town, Mario knew all he had to do now was open the large gate and he'd be back in town. Dragging his boots towards the gate, it took him a moment to notice the gate guard was missing from his post.

Odd, Mario thought. Where was he? Every day the gate guard was posted outside of Toad Town, one for each entrance. Mario had never seen them gone from their post, even on festival days. Fear and paranoia crept back up within him. Unsure of what was going on, Mario still wondered if this was some sort of nightmare. The corpse, the attack, and now this guard? Shaking his head, Mario believed he'd find all the answers in Toad Town back at the castle. Manually opening the gate with the lever in the guard booth, Mario walked back around and stepped into Toad Town. The answer to his questions presented itself to him.

A massive crowd of zombified koopas, goombas, and Toads all turned their heads towards Mario at the sound of the gate. Standing alone and unarmed at the foot of a hoard of undead, Mario felt fear grasp him in a paralyzing state. A stone statue on the edge of town, Mario could not believe the sight the lay before his eyes. Groaning and moaning, the legion of zombies shuffled towards Mario, picking up their speed as they centered in on the lone hero.

"What's that!?" Wario cried, jamming a finger at the northeast monitor. "The whole horde around the castle is moving!"

"They're moving quick, too," Luigi observed, unsure of what the sudden change in the horde's movement could mean.

"Wario," Peach commanded swiftly, "change that monitor to the eastern gate camera. It looks like their moving towards the exit to the…" she realized what the final word in her sentence was.

"The badlands!" Luigi exclaimed, euphoria rising but then soon dying as he realized what this might mean. Moving like lightning, Wario typed in a command on the computer, bringing up the monitor by the gate. Sure enough, standing there eyes wide with fear, was Mario. Relief and glee were not emotions the three in the conference room had time to experience. Mario was in dire trouble, and if they didn't do anything to help him, he would be zombie lunch in a matter of moments.

"Why isn't he running?" Luigi asked, panic infecting his voice. "Why is he just standing there!?"

"I-I don't know!" Peach shouted back, the intensity of the situation heightening the volume of her voice.

"Both of you shut up!" Wario hollered, not taking his eyes off the monitor. Scanning the keyboard, Wario went to the console command and began typing.

"What are you doing?" Luigi asked.

"Princess," Wario said, ignoring Luigi's question, "what's the input code for the bells?"

"The bells?" she asked, not sure what he meant.

"The bells, woman, the bells! Those big beautiful brass bells you keep at the top of your castle! Forgot about those, huh? The noise they make might be the only thing that could drive the horde away from Mario! Do you want your hubby to look like that stupid spaghetti sauce he adores so much?" Wario snapped feverishly.

"O-oh! The bells!" Peach exclaimed. "The code is CHIME."

Wario quickly typed in the word and then pressed ENTER. Nothing happened at first.

"I-it takes a moment," Peach supplied.

"We don't have a moment!" Wario growled. He typed in MICROPHONE on the computer and pressed his lips to the microphone on the desk. "Hey fat-nose!" he hollered. "RUN!"

Outside the castle in Toad Town, Mario could see the herd of zombies moving closer and closer. They gnashed their rotten green teeth and approached him with hungry hands. Fear kept him implanted to the ground, as if a structure of roots had taken hold of him right there. His trance seemed unbreakable.

"Hey fat-nose!" came Wario's voice over the castle loudspeaker, ringing out loud but with a bit of static. "RUN!"

It was as if something had shattered within Mario. Wario's call to action broke whatever spell had him frozen to the ground. Turning on his heels, Mario threw his head over his shoulder to look back at the crowd one last time before taking off. Just then, the bells above the castle began to chime with a clanging cacophony of metal on brass. The sharp melody turned the attention of the horde away from their midafternoon snack and towards the castle.

"W-what are we going to do?" Luigi asked, biting the ends of one of his fingernails. "The whole horde is coming straight for the castle now!"

Wario gritted his teeth. His gamble hadn't paid off. Now Mario had fled back into the badlands with no way to the castle because the whole herd was advancing on the very castle they wanted Mario to head towards. "We've got find some way to get him to the back of the castle," Wario said. "If he can meet us by the Jeep, then we can all make it out of Toad Town together."

"How can we do that?" Peach asked. "Cellphone towers are down and the only source of power left in town is in this very room. We have no way to contact him."

"Then we have to go fetch him ourselves," Wario said.

"Are you insane!?" Luigi cried. "We'd get torn to p-p-pieces out there!" The thought of becoming zombie food was not appealing to the man in green.

"It's our only shot!" Wario barked back. "We take the Jeep and try and make it through the hoard."

"You're totally…" Luigi prepared to insult Wario once more but Peach cut him off. That seemed to be a habit of hers.

"He's right, Luigi," she said. "It's the only thing we can think to do. The zombies will be upon the castle soon. We have to leave. Now." Sighing, Luigi realized that with both of them in favor of Wario's plan, he was outnumbered. Resigning himself to their judgment, he agreed to the idea he deemed very, very stupid.

Leaving the castle was the easy part. Peach's pink Jeep was behind the castle where the zombies hadn't made it to yet. Wario devised a plan to drive around the side of the castle, through the back of Toad Town, and then mow down a section of the herd blocking the gate with the Jeep. It'd be difficult, but it might just work.

"It might work?" Luigi asked, not sold once Wario had gone over the whole plan. "I'm not betting my life on a maybe."

"Well maybe is as good as it's gonna get if you wanna save your brother," Wario grumbled. Hopping into the driver's seat, the plump man made sure his revolver was locked and loaded. He had kept it in his home for safety reasons, but now it was starting to come in handy what with the sudden advent of the apocalypse. Climbing into the passenger's seat, Peach buckled herself in. Muttering something under his breath, Luigi clambered into the backseat as the Jeep roared to life.

"We're all gonna die," Luigi mumbled.

"We can't die," Peach told him. "Not yet. There's still a few things left I need do. I'm seeing my daughter again…and Mario too."

Luigi's thoughts drifted towards Daisy. He truly hoped she was alright. His daydreaming was interrupted by Wario, who shouted something as they rounded the corner of the castle. The zombies were thick, blocking their way. Taking a sharp left, Wario careened through the hedges of the castle's courtyard. Peach felt it a shame to let her beautiful landscaping die under the wrath of the Jeep's front tires, but with the state of the world, tulips were no longer her concern.

Circumventing the herd, the Jeep jostled into the main square of Toad Town, now free from the courtyard. The gate that Mario had been by wasn't far, but a swarm of zombies blocked the way, shambling towards the car. Seeing no other way around, Wario gunned the engine and sent the car cannonballing towards the zombies. They crushed the first few under the hood of the car, the sickening crunch of body and bone splashing up from underneath. Then, the herd became thick. Arms reached up towards the Jeep as the undead moaned for the flesh inside. They surrounded the car, groaning as viscera pooled from their mouths. Red chunks leaked out; the asphalt drank.

"Get back!" Wario cried, firing a round into a nearby zombie's head. The gunshot rang loud and clear, alerting the rest of the herd. Luigi and Peach screamed as the zombies swarmed the Jeep, Wario doing his best to evade them. Two more shots into the crowd, dropping two undead koopas to the ground. Clearing the way a bit, Wario revved the Jeep and tore through the walking dead. With three shots left in the gun, he hoped he didn't have to use them.

They neared the gate, leaving much of the crowd behind. Coming from the right, a zombie neared Peach. She leaned back to let Wario take care of it, grey matter oozing from the back of its head as it collapsed to the ground. They were free now, with only two bullets left at their disposal. The Jeep passed through the gate and into the beginning of the badlands.

Having covered a bit of ground, Mario looked behind himself as he entered the badlands. What had those things been? They reminded him of the way the ninjakoopa he had killed looked. Grisly and dripping blood, those creatures looked dead…but they were alive somehow. Mind still clouded with questions, Mario wondered where to go. The voice over the castle intercom had sounded a lot like Wario's, but was that really him? What was the burly man doing inside the castle? Where was Peach, Lumalee, Luigi? Sighing, Mario was unsure of what to do.

That's when he heard the engine. Low and rumbling, its sound pierced his eardrums. Turning around, Mario bore witness to his wife's bright pink Jeep Wrangler coming in to the badlands. In the driver's seat sat Wario, sweaty and breathing heavy. In the passenger's seat, his beautiful wife. Behind them, his brother.

"There you are!" Wario cried, cutting the engine off and hopping out of the car. "You've caused a good bit of trouble, ya know?" Nearly vaulting out of the car, Peach dropped from the Jeep and ran over to Mario, hugging him tightly. Hugging her back, Mario pulled away and planted a kiss on her cheeks.

"I thought I'd never see you again," she said, eyes brimming with tears of joy. Laughing, Luigi came over to his brother, shaking his hand and pulling him in for a hug.

"Oh man bro…I thought you were a goner…we all did," Luigi said, pinching himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming of his brother's safe return.

"W-what…w-why?" Mario began, confused. "Why would you all think I was dead? I know I was gone a long time…and what…what were those things? There was one at the Koopa Bros. Fortress. One of the bros was dead and another came at me, but he looked dead…he looked dead and he tried to bite me…"

"Are you bit!?" Wario asked immediately, eyes flashing with concern.

"N-no!" Mario stammered. "W-why?"

"That's how it transfers, through bites," Luigi said.

"What transfers?" Mario asked, blinking slowly. Exchanging glances, Peach, Luigi and Wario all swallowed.

"You mean…" Peach began, "you mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" Mario asked, beginning to grow irritated.

"The world's come to an end, Mario," Wario told him. "While you were away, the world stopped, at least for a good while."

Mario's eyes widened. He looked around quickly, noticing the absence of his daughter. Peach interpreted what these signs meant.

"She's safe," she said, stilling his swiveling head with a gentle touch of her hand. "She's outside of town with Toadsworth and some others. We can travel there now."

"We stayed behind to wait for you, bro," Luigi said, smiling. "Thank God…thank God we did."

Mario sighed, breathing deep with relief. They led him back to the car, everyone's spirits uplifted as Mario climbed into the back with Luigi, feeling grateful that his loved ones had survived whatever epidemic was causing this. Wario stuck the key in the ignition, turned it, and the Jeep roared to life. Pulling out of the badlands, the four of them headed back the way they came. The crowd had meandered towards the sound of the bells, leaving the way open. Peach spoke through the radio, reaching Toadsworth and telling him they had found Mario, that he was safe.

Mario looked up to the sun. The world seemed the same as it always had, but he had received the answers to his questions. As Wario said, the world had ended, and everyone's goals, individual dreams and hopes and desires had all turned towards one thing: survival.