Chapter Four: Bad Tidings Come Your Way
The crowd moved as a whole towards the dingy-looking gear shop, Fawful and Cackletta slinking among them. The Beanwitch knew that she looked nothing like she had when she'd been "older"; however, she could not help but cringe in apprehension, being so close to those who had once hunted her down with the intent of torture and, finally, execution. Looking warily around her, her eyes locked on a specific target…one she'd known that Fawful had been hoping desperately to never see again. Ever.
She poked his shoulder to get his attention. When the child finally turned around, his jaw dropped, and soon closed to form a low, shockingly deep snarl. The offender was Peasley. That hair-flipping, sword-swinging, ostentatious-
Cackletta almost broke out in hysterics at the look on her apprentice's face.
That boy, so furious over such a petty rivalry...? How childish. You should punish him. He's even more unenlightened than you are...
The voice. Of course. You mean "having fury"? Yeah, he does that a lot. Now shut up, I'm about to be listening to something.
Her retort was apparently not enough for the voice (who Cackletta was now beginning to believe had an obsession with the word "enlighten"). I will come and go as I please. Luckily for you, my patience with this has been depleted for now. Goodbye, witch.
The voice departed just in time; as Cackletta felt the ominous presence leave, the announcement began.
"Attention, all residents and tourists! An important issue has been discussed regarding your safety. To help spread the message, we've asked the monarchs of both the Mushroom and BeanBean kingdoms to pay a visit." Oh, thought Cackletta, that's why so many people are here. "Because the beautiful Peach couln't make it, our fabulous Prince Peasley shall now be taking the stage. My prince?"
The prince, dressed in an unnecessarily fancy cloak, stepped daintily onto the wooden platform on which the introductory Bean stood. He began to speak in a crystal-clear voice: "Dear citizens, I have very concerning news to tell you. A huge explosion has been reported in the meadow by Plack Beach, in the Mushroom Kingdom. This town, in its unfortunate location on the border of our country and our neighbor's, has been recieving some very odd waves of dark energy as of late. We suspect the two events are closely connected, but the source seems to have been jumping around, and it is now assumed to be somewhere in this area." A few nervous murmurs broke out in the midst of the crowd. "Shh, settle down," the prince said calmly. "I assure you, my mother and I are doing our best to track down the base foundation of these strange energy bursts. You have no cause for worry, at least not yet."
Now the murmurs swelled into rude shouting: "'Not yet'? And what happens when we do have something to worry about?" "I'm scared, Mommy!" "Are the bursts radioactive?"
At the same time, Cackletta found herself shaking, sweating on the nape of her neck. Heart pounding madly against her chest, she turned to Fawful with two words spoken under a short breath. "Going. Now."
And at the same time as that, a certain green-haired girl and black-clad jester moved in the same direction.
It'd been an hour, and still Mimi did not know where exactly she and Dimentio were. The jester didn't seem to be lost at all, however; by simply glancing at his surroundings, he somehow gained an understanding of the territory. As the bedraggled pair traveled, they'd tried to avoid people in general, so they'd supposed that it was as good of an idea as any to make camp on a virtually abandoned beach. Mimi was sick of pretending; she knew that neither of them were up for any more walking; now that the dimensions were disconnected, no more flipping was going to happen, at least not for a while.
The tent was simple, constructed out of the limbs and huge leaves of the trees, and taking further shelter in the bushes. It looked sturdy enough to provide shelter for a night or two.
Exhausted from the day's strange events, Mimi plopped down on the dirt floor, not even caring when her dress got dirty. Her last sight before slipping into unconsciousness was her companion looking up towards the sky, with the same faked smile he'd always worn.
Fawful could not comprehend why Mona, who was just seconds ago carrying herself with pride and authority, was now acting so childlike and afraid at the mere mention of possible danger. Not even he, a child who new full well the dangers of darkness from his encounter with the legendary Dark Star, was afraid. Before he got a chance to ask, however, he was dragged by the arm out of the crowd and the town square. He had a feeling that she would keep on dragging him had he not yanked his arm out of her grasp. From there, he reluctantly obeyed her hasty command to follow, and tailed her like a little duckling.
Once she was sure they were safely away from civilization, the girl plopped down in the soft rolling grass, heaving not from exhaustion, but from some kind of mental anguish.
In other words, it looked like she'd been talking with a ghost, and it hadn't been a pleasant conversation.
Before he could open his mouth to ask if she was "having the sickness", she threw up. He winced, turned around, and started examining their location as if nothing had happened.
Upon rummaging around in the leaves for a few minutes, he came to the conclusion that the two were nearing the place where he had activated the Blooper statue to use against a dumbfounded Bowser. If he was correct, it should still be spouting water. Ripping a few leaves and twigs off a low-growing tree, he fashioned a pair of cups that looked more like bowls than intended. After that task was complete, he pushed through the bushes and assorted plants of the ground, to find the water still flowing from the spouts on the statue.
As he watched the splashing of water into the makeshift cups, he noticed that it was unusually dark-colored. He leaned forward in concern. The water wasn't getting any clearer.
It was morphing into a deep, dark, bloodcurdling black.
An omen.