Hey guys, what's going on? There's a new game out you know. A new game with Fawful. What joy!

So here's a story based on the new game. Everything from this point on is spoilers, I am warning you now.

… okay, so the not-likey spoiler people are gone? Good.

So yeah. The point of this one-shot is to bridge the gap between Bowser's Inside Story and my previous fanfics. Considering that Fawful kinda-probably died (pretty thoroughly…) at the end, but I still plan on writing at least one more fanfic in this continuity (if I can figure out some friggin events to back up all this lovely drama I've got planned), I need to post something explaining it all, yeah? Yeah? So here it is.

Lucky for me, death is cheap in the Mario universe, so that leaves me the luxury of being able to pick and choose which deaths are and are not permanent…

If you haven't read my previous stories (especially Fragmented Spectrum, but also a little but of An Evil a Day, for the Mimi stuff), you'll probably be pretty lost here. Just a fair warning.

…

Mimi panicked when she heard the news. Fawful? Dead? She refused to believe it from anyone; she had to confirm it herself. So she found herself dashing through the pipes of a place as icky as the sewers under Princess Peach's castle. Arriving in Fawful's badge shop, she saw everything packed up and in disarray, a state probably caused by Fawful's relocation to Bowser's castle. She jumped over the counter, weaving around boxes and debris, and made her way to the back room.

There she found Fawful, lying curled-up in his bed. His new cloak was already tattered and shredded. He was facing the wall.

She let out a loud sigh, both in relief and to alert Fawful to her presence. "I knew not to listen to those stupid plumbers!"

"Be going away," Fawful mumbled, not bothering to look in her direction.

"Everyone told me you'd died!" Mimi said, walking toward him.

"They are without knowledge of anything about anything," Fawful said.

"Obviously," she said. She stood next to his bed, looking at him. "But from everything they said, your death seemed pretty… er…," she paused, knowing that she should probably be delicate in this situation, but also knowing that sensitivity wasn't her strong point. "Thorough."

He shifted, but still didn't turn towards her. "If there is anything I had learning of from the death of the Great Cackletta, it is that even when a plan has utter perfection, like a sparkling diamond of perfect sparkliness, that plan can go awry and the diamond can become broken like so many glittery pieces of garbage. I had preparation."

"But you did like a kamikaze thing and everything," Mimi said, "Or that's what Luigi told me."

"Yes," Fawful said, his voice not hiding his frustration, "Because I had preparation."

It was then that Mimi noticed an empty bag of 1-up mushrooms lying on the ground nearby. She nodded, understanding. "Well, I'm glad you're okay. I mean, if you died, who'd I complain about the good guys to? Nassy and O'Chunks have gotten too friendly with them, it's so lame! You're like the only person I can be mean with anymore."

Fawful grunted, but didn't say anything more. Mimi looked around, feeling a bit awkward in the silence. She tried to prompt some small talk, asking about when his shop would re-open and if he needed her to pick him out some new clothes, but those elicited no response. She rolled her eyes, knowing that if she wanted her friend back, she'd have to get him out of this funk. She didn't know much about making people feel better, but she knew the typical thing to do was to get them to talk about it. "So tell me about that world-conquering plan of yours."

Fawful huffed.

"No, really, I wanna know," Mimi lied, "I mean, I know about it, but only from Luigi's standpoint, and I'm sure your side of it is a lot cooler. C'mon, tell me about it."

Fawful took a deep breath, shifting again. "Fawful heard of the Dark Star after the thing with the dark thing from the darkness which was trying to consume everything in a bad way."

"Dark thing?" Mimi asked.

"You have knowing, the darkness which was controlling bad guys, and then the brother of redness who I hate had to save us," Fawful said.

"I live in a whole 'nother world, Fawfie, I'm not up-to-date with the stuff going on here," she said.

"Oh. Hmph. I hate you with envy." He curled up tighter, as though comforting himself.

She frowned. "You were saying?"

"I had the hearing of the Dark Star, but after the darkness had the trying to possess me and me fighting many many shadows I was without trust for powers of darkness."

He paused, trembling a bit. "Fa—Fawful had fear. I cannot hope to be describing what I saw then. I still have the fear, but…"

He sat up, scratching his head. "The thought was not leaving my head. This star of dark powers had potential beyond even the Beanstar! Would the Great Cackletta have ignoring such a thing? I think no. And… and this thing, perhaps it was a piece of the darkness which had the terrorizing of me before. Perhaps even it was a means to control it! Stars are meant for controlling! Like power stars which power the castle, or the Beanstar—these are all things which have capacity for being controlled! Perhaps Fawful need not fear the darkness—Fawful must control the darkness! I have brilliance, yes?"

Mimi nodded.

Fawful continued. "I found out how much power darkness was truly having when the shadows of badness were in the head of Fawful. I was seeing all, darkness in its truest form. If Fawful could control that… not even the brothers of Red and Green, not all the armies of the puny countries of the soon-to-be-conquered world, not even a giant robot built from superpowered smaller robots with little engines powered by nuclear ants, none could stop Fawful!"

He looked her dead in the eyes, holding his hands up with excitement. "And I had correctness! Oh—you did not see, but you should! Thanks to the Bowser who I hate, I was not absorbing the whole darkness, but even what I had—even that—I—I—it had magnificence! I have never had the feeling of such a thing, so much power! Is this what the stars high up in the sky so far away feel like, as they burn so hot it would melt everything into gooey liquids? This was the power of the universe, something forever and unmatched, and I, Lord Fawful, had control of it!"

Fawful let out a laugh, high and manic, that echoed in the distance as it hit the pipes just outside. As the echoes faded he caught his breath, his smile twisting into a frown, and looked away again.

"But I had failure. Bowser who I hate very, very—so much! He was somehow beating me. Fawful's powers were new, I needed more time, like the runner who practices months before allowing a bull of angriness and pain to chase him! If only… but Fawful ran, trying to find the rest of the dark power. I needed more but it… but I…" He put his head in his hands. "I… I was consumed. Fawful has little memory after. Sometimes I think I was fighting the brothers of Red and Green, but I am not knowing where or how. Eventually I found myself before them, I knew I had the losing because I had the feeling of that last little bits of power leaving my body like teenagers leaving a movie with too few explodings. I had knowledge that my plan was over. No conquering would be had that day. It was their fault somehow—it is always their fault! I had rage—I had a mighty need for revenge!"

"So you exploded at them," Mimi said.

Fawful nodded. "As I was informing you previously. I had preparation."

She nodded. "Well, I think it was a cool plan."

"If it had so much coolness it would not have failed," Fawful said, plopping back onto his side, once again facing away from Mimi.

"Well, you learned a lot from it, right?"

"Like what?"

She shrugged. "Like, um… I dunno, probably to get rid of Bowser before doing anything involving absorbing powers."

"He had such uselessness back then," Fawful mumbled, as though to himself, "With his crashing ship and his amnesia and…"

"See? Lesson learned," she said, slapping him on the back. He went rigid, and she wondered if, despite the 1-ups, he was still injured. "You'll get 'em next time for sure, Fawfie."

"Hmph."

She sighed. There wasn't much else she could do. Maybe he just needed some rest, she figured. She took a step back.

"Anyway, I'll let everyone keep thinking you're dead," she said. "So you can really surprise them."

He didn't respond, not that she was expecting much.

"I'll just get going now. Stop moping, okay? I'll be back with some of my new outfits, you have to tell me what you think of them!"

He mumbled something. She couldn't understand what he said, but she assumed it wasn't anything nice about her fashion sense. She shrugged, turned around, and left.

She stepped back out into the pipes, only to find an old Magikoopa waiting there, sitting on his floating broom. She jumped, startled.

"The kid's just too tenacious for his own good, huh," he said.

"Wh-who the heck are you?!" she asked.

He cocked his head to the side, as though thinking. "I ought to just go in there and finish him off myself. He deserves it after all that, after shoving me into such a small cage with all the others…"

Mimi pulled out a pair of rubees, ready to lob them at the strange Koopa. "Don't even think about hurting Fawfie when he's already so tired!"

"'Fawfie'? Pfffft," he tried not to laugh. "Anyway, relax. King Bowser would have my head if I touched him—surely he'd want to wring the kid's neck himself. Ugh, not that I can tell him the kid's alive at the moment… he'd just try and march down here and he's in no condition to do anything of the sort…"

Mimi relaxed a little. Was this guy just here to think aloud at her? "Well… you should get out of here," she said.

"I'm sure. It smells awful here anyway." His wand appeared in his hand. "Don't bother getting too attached to the kid. He's too reckless, he's making too many enemies. He'll end up six feet under in no time flat, I promise you."

Before she could open her mouth to retort, he'd cast a teleportation spell and was gone. She scratched her head. She went back into Fawful's shop. Not wanting to disturb him again, she wrote a note saying simply, "Creepy Magikoopa guy was hanging about. You might wanna watch your back."

Then she left, glad that Fawful was okay but worried that more trouble was yet to come.