"Pauline!" Felix shouted through the din. As soon as the arcade's doors closed, the handyman ran into commotion within Game Central Station. A sizeable crowd had already surrounded itself around one game's outlet in particular: 'Donkey Kong.'

Having seen what had unfolded through his own game screen, Felix was terrified to find out if the characters had made it out in time or not. But he had to know that she was okay. He continued to call out for her as he cut through the crowd of onlookers.

Finally, he broke into the clearing. Weaving through the last couple of characters, Felix found himself just outside of 'Donkey Kong's' gate, which was now completely empty. The light of the setting sun from the outside world poured through the socket, giving the surrounding area an eerie, orange glow.

"Pauline!" Felix called again; he was getting desperate.

The characters in the center of the clearing, including the Surge Protector, turned to look at him morosely as he approached. His breath hitched, his eyes turning glassy…

"Felix?" a meek voice answered, and Pauline stepped out from behind her dear friend, Donkey Kong. She looked to the handyman with surprise, tears running down her face. "Oh, Felix!"

The two of them ran to each other and embraced the other fiercely. Both of her arms wrapped around his neck, while one of his wrapped around the small of her back, the other at the nape of her neck, his fingers running through her hair. Pauline sobbed into his shoulder and Felix took in a shaky breath, just relieved that she was still here. He did his best to comfort her and held her close as she wept, trying to understand how hard it must be to have one's life turned upside down like hers had just been minutes before. Her job, her game—her life as she knew it—was gone with the simple pull of a plug.

"Oh Felix, it was so awful," Pauline cried. "Everything was collapsing around us… Donkey Kong and I tried to help Mario, but he couldn't go through—he—he's gone, Felix."

Another tragedy had struck the arcade. Felix hadn't known Pauline's Mario well, and even though the general consensus throughout the arcade was that he wasn't a very pleasant man, the loss of a life wasn't common, and it always struck the game community hard. The fellas from 'Asteroids,' Centipede, the folks from 'RoadBlasters' and 'Turbo Time,' and now Mario, the original Jumpman himself, were gone forever.


"Do you have anywhere to go?" Felix asked her. After things started to calm down in GCS, he and Pauline retreated to their favorite spot within 'Fix-It Felix Jr.,' sitting on a bench that looked out upon the reservoir from underneath a Weeping Willow. The handyman was ready to offer her an apartment on the spot if she had nowhere else to turn. To heck with what Gene would think!

"Our friends, Mario and Peach, offered D.K. and I a place in 'Mario Kart,'" Pauline sighed, "They're such kind people." She placed her petite hand over Felix's.

"I know what you're going to say," she continued. "And you're so sweet, just like always… but we both know that it would cause more problems than it will fix. I don't want to put any more strain between you and the Nicelander's any more than I already have."

Felix opened his mouth for a rebuttal, but after many failed attempts, he let out a sigh of defeat. Oh, how he wished things hadn't gotten so complicated between them.

"I just want to make sure you're taken care of… Even though things didn't work out for us like we hoped, you're still dear to me, Pauline," he said.

"Oh, Feenie," the brunette placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. "You're still dear to me too."

He let her rest her head on his shoulder as they watched the moon dance on the surface of the water before them.

"Let's stay like this for a while," Pauline whispered, wanting to forget that today ever happened. She let out a contented sigh and closed her eyes as she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder, and daydreamed about the things that could have been instead of the way they already were.