Author's Note: the idea I will be attempting to convey regarding the Dark Realm is that it's a place of exile for video game villains who have been defeated in their games and were not revived in later games, so other Bravely Default villains will make an appearance here.
Chapter 2
I, Roommate
Fawful led Airy through the eternally night-fallen town until the duo had reached what looked to be a small apartment building. The two went up four floors and stopped at one of the apartments. Fawful fished a small key from his pocket and unlocked the door for said apartment, then walked in with Airy following close behind.
Fawful then called, "Midbus, Fawful has returned with a guest following," to what looked like an odd large pink boar/armadillo hybrid that was sitting on a nearby sofa in the main room while reading a magazine titled Pork Illustrated (You can thank the YouTuber Fawfuls Minion for that little joke). The hybrid that Fawful called Midbus closed his magazine, got up from the couch and approached the two, focusing his eyes on Airy. In Airy's opinion, Midbus's facial expression was like that of a warrior always ready to fight. She could only assume that Midbus acted as a sort of bodyguard for Fawful.
"Lord Fawful rarely brings guests. You are different," Midbus said as he examined the butterfly-headed girl who was accompanying his master.
"The girl of wings is Airy. She has become our new roommate," Fawful explained to Midbus. After that, Midbus plopped himself back on the sofa, which bent downward slightly under his weight, and continued reading his magazine. Airy looked around the small apartment. It was notably small. Various odd contraptions dotted the interior, some which were incomplete. The living room was a bit big with a small kitchen nook in the corner, and a single door was fitted into the back wall of the room while another door was fitted into the left wall.
"This apartment has little, but it is that which is home," Fawful said to Airy as he led her to the door on the back wall and led her into the room that lied beyond. It was a bedroom with a single big window. A small bunk bed sat next to the window. Its bottom bunk had a huge indentation in its mattress, presumably because Midbus had originally used this bunk. A larger bed sat at the other end of the room, this bed had a metal frame, most likely to support Midbus's weight.
"Do you prefer the top or bottom?" Fawful asked Airy.
"I'll take the bottom," Airy answered. Fawful nodded and proceeded to turn the mattress on the bottom bunk over and change out the sheets.
"I really appreciate you letting me stay here, Fawful," Airy said.
"It is the least Fawful could do," the Beanish man replied as he finished fixing Airy's bunk. Fawful and Airy then exited the room and plopped down on the other sofa. Fawful grabbed the remote off his coffee table and was about to switch the TV until the trio heard a knock on the apartment door. Fawful got up and answered the door, revealing his two next-door neighbors, the peewee arcanist Victoria and the bespectacled spiritmaster Victor.
"Hello, Fawful," the two greeted in unison.
"We just heard that you and Midbus got a new roommate," Victoria said. Upon hearing those words, Airy sprung from her seat and flew to Fawful's side.
"That would be me," Airy said, greeting the two.
"The girl of wings that is Airy has just arrived in this realm of burnt cheese that is darkness," Fawful said to his two neighbors. Victor and his miniature friend started laughing. It took them a bit to catch their breaths.
"Fawful, you and your food talk," Victor said while wiping a tear from his eye.
Victoria finally managed to stop laughing as well and resumed floating, she then said, "Anyway, welcome to the neighborhood, Airy," she then turned to victor and said, "Let's go, Victor."
"Coming, Victoria," Victor said, prior to bidding Fawful and his two roommates adieu and then proceeding to follow his midget partner. Fawful shrugged then closed his door, he and Airy went back to the couch. Fawful switched on the TV, he and Airy chilled while Midbus kept reading his magazine. The three sat and relaxed well into the night, or what their clocks would register as night. Fawful went into the bathroom and changed into his pajamas. The trio of roommates then headed into the bedroom. Midbus climbed into his metal-framed bed while Airy flew into her bunk and Fawful climbed into his.
"Fawful bids you all goodnight," Fawful said as he switched off the lights. Midbus and Airy both bid Fawful goodnight as well. However, their sleep did not last long, as ten minutes later, loud mechanical sounds accompanied by psychotic laughter emanated from outside the building. Airy groaned and pressed her palms to her elfish ears in a futile effort to drown out the noise. Fawful attempted to drown out the sound by pulling his nightcap over his head and sandwiching his head between his mattress and his pillow. After three minutes of this Fawful growled and threw his pillow and nightcap to the floor before jumping out of his bunk.
"I HAVE FURY!" he said angrily as he stormed over to the window. He threw open his window and shouted out toward the only open window on the building next door.
"Kefka! Be having silence, you clown who is stupid!" Fawful shouted while shaking his fist. The mechanical sounds did not end, nor did Kefka's psychotic laughter. Angered further, Fawful grabbed a piece of scrap metal off the floor and chucked into Kefka's window as hard as he could. The resulting sounds were a brief shout of pain and machinery clattering.
"Your loud noises and those of your Magitek machines are the annoyance of rotted smelling onions!" the Beanish man shouted before slamming his window shut. With the loud annoyance quelled, Fawful retrieved his pillow and nightcap and climbed back into bed and the trio went back to sleep, however Airy remained awake for quite a bit. Her mind flashed back to those she travelled with before being sent into the Dark Realm, the very four beings her master had ordered her to strike down, the four friends who cared for her. With these thoughts buzzing through her head, she went to sleep.
Later on in the next morning, the trio down at the town's local diner while chatting.
"So Fawful, did you ever have a master?" Airy asked her Beanish roommate.
"Fawful was once the pupil of Mistress Cackletta and was assisting her to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom," Fawful explained.
"Did your mistress betray you?" Airy asked.
"No, quite the opposite. Shortly before the downfall of Mistress Cackletta, I planned to rise above her, with my genius that is the immensity of a giant watermelon, I could have easily conquered the Mushroom Kingdom, but alas Fawful failed the first time due to a faulty invention, thus Fawful chose to bide his time before returning. Once I returned, I set a virus onto the Mushroom Kingdom and began tracking down the Dark Star. Eventually Fawful was close to succeeding, but alas, the moustaches of Red and Green had allied with the king of Koopas and Fawful was defeated," Fawful explained to his butterfly-headed companion.
"And what was Midbus's role in your plans?" Airy asked.
"Fawful is beefless, for Fawful's power lies in the mind. Midbus serves as muscle," Fawful answered, "And what of your failure, girl of wings?"
"I failed because my dark power was just simply not enough to handle the four Warriors of Light, and my master had ceased supplying dark energy to me to keep me alive," Airy answered. Fawful began to fiddle with the single thick strand of black hair protruding from his head while in deep thought.
"It seems that you had become overconfident in your powers and relied too heavily on your master. Perhaps you should have thought of a backup plan, one that could have prevented your fate at the hands of a dark god and four Warriors of Light, one that would be the mustard on your sandwich of success," Fawful said while flashing his large grin once again. Airy promptly went red in the face.
"Oh! This coming from Mr. Faulty Inventions himself?" Airy retorted sharply.
"You mock Lord Fawful?" Midbus said as he stood up and began punching his large fist into his other hand. This was more than enough to shut Airy up, as she had no interest in picking a fight with a pig monster that was three to four times her size.
"Midbus, be having calmness, your beef is currently not necessary," Fawful said. Midbus nodded and sat back down.
"Fawful advises you, do not let the misery resulting of your master's betrayal gnaw on your brain like a watermelon," Fawful said. An unknown but familiar voice emanated from a booth near theirs.
"Misery? You can speak for yourself," said the voice, which belonged to a Fiore DeRosa, who went back to kissing the girl he was sitting with: the now older Artemia Venus. Fawful fell into deep thought again. After a few minutes of thinking, Fawful spoke.
"Maybe there is a way that which you can make amends with your former friends," Fawful said. That phrase instantly caught Airy's undivided attention.
"Fawful can construct a machine that can send transmissions beyond this realm of white peppers that are ghastliness. If Fawful can track down the world that which you come from, Fawful's machine can project an image of you at your former friends' current location, allowing you to speak to them and see them through this projection," the Beanish genius explained.
"You'd really be able to do that?" Airy asked, her eyes growing big. Fawful nodded in response. Airy promptly sprung from her seat, flew straight at her Beanish roommate and wrapped her arms around him. Fawful felt a blush creeping across his face. Airy remained in this position for quite a bit until she realized what she was doing, she then quickly released Fawful while giving a nervous chuckle and returning to her seat. After that, the gang ordered their food, ate, and went back to Fawful's apartment to begin working on Fawful's machine.
Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter seems a bit crummy. The next chapter will focus on Airy making her amends.
