Chapter 7: Captive
Fawful
'HAHAHAHAHA!'
High pitched, psychopathic laughter echoed through the hallways of Castle Bleck. Deep within the prison cells of the castle, Fawful was expressing his extreme satisfaction.
'Ha ha!' Fawful laughed to the exhausted Koopa King. 'Fawful sings a song of bad! Fawful's vengeance will be had!' He was grinning with evil delight as he cited his little song. 'This Koopa is locked up tight! Shaking with a lot of fright! Many chortles are for Fawful! And the...' He paused. 'Um...and the...rhyme with that!' How embarrassing. He still couldn't find a rhyme to go with "Fawful."
He stared at the bulky figure, hidden in shadow at the end of the cell. Bowser was completely secured. Long chains were clamped onto his hands, feet, and throat. His mouth was covered by an fireproof mask. Large, metal clamps wrapped around his shell, offering more restriction. Fawful pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. Thank the Overthere he had them back. As soon as he and Dimentio had come back, he had demanded that Dimentio take them out, then he had snatched them out of his hands, stomped the stupid things into the ground, and then picked them up and threw them out the window, into the dark vortex which always filled the sky.
'What is the matter being Bowser?' he mocked. 'Where is your toughness of consistency? Where is your fury?' Bowser grumbled. 'How is it feeling Bowser, to be being beaten again?'
Bowser growled. 'I beat you last time...' he muttered.
'Yes, but not the time of this! This time, Fawful is being the winner!' He laughed again. Fawful turned around and picked something up. 'Do you know what this is being...?' he asked. He held out a large chicken drumstick. 'General Fawful's Spicy Chicken!' Bowser looked up. 'Fawful knows how much you are liking it...the tender, the spicy, the chicken! And you are not having any!' He took a large bite, relishing it with an over exaggerated smile. 'Mmmm...the chicken, it has the yummies!' He waved it in front of the bars. 'General Fawful's Spicy—'
'YOU LITTLE FREAK!' Bowser roared. He leapt up and ran at Fawful, claws bared. 'I'LL POUND YOU INTO CONFETTI!'
Fawful snickered and pushed a button beside him. The chains, which were fed from a machine at the back, immediately locked, stopping Bowser with a yank. He gave a strangled yelp as the chain around his throat stopped him, and he collapsed to the ground. He laughed again. 'Oh Bowser, you have such patheticness!' He took another exaggerated bite of the chicken.
'Now, now...' a cool voice said. 'We don't want to starve him.'
Fawful turned to see Dimentio descend into the room. 'And what if Fawful IS wanting to have the starving of him?'
Dimentio, now clothed in his regular jester attire, smiled. 'Oh Fawful, you just don't know.' Fawful scowled; he was sick of Dimentio's patronizing tone all the time. He was not a child! Well...he supposed he technically was, but that wasn't the point! 'Fawful, you need to think outside the box. You need to think wickedly. You see, if we starve poor Bowser to death here, his suffering will be over before you know it. However, I say we drag it out.'
Fawful was interested. 'Ru?' He raised an eyebrow. 'Fawful is wondering what you are thinking...'
Dimentio grinned. 'We need to drag out his suffering. If we kill him now, what fun is there? We need to add to his woe, to make him lose hope. We'll keep him here, in this humiliation. He's never been imprisoned before, so we'll keep him here. As time goes on, he'll lose more hope. Our domination will continue, and everything will become more hopeless for him...soon, he'll begin to wish the thing I know he's dreading...that Mario will come to save him.' Bowser looked up. 'But it will never happen...and in the moment of our conquest Fawful, when it all falls into place, when the worlds are ours for the taking...then we will kill him. Slowly...and painfully.' An malevolent, sadistic smile spread across his face.
Fawful grinned wickedly. 'I am liking the way you are thinking once again!'
Dimentio laughed. 'Ah ha ha. Yes, as am I. I suppose you simply have much more to learn about villainy.'
Fawful's smile immediately vanished. 'Fawful is not needing the learning!' he shouted. 'Fawful is having much villainy! Fawful had learning from the best, from the Great Cackletta!'
Dimentio looked thoughtful. 'Ah yes...I remember Cackletta.'
Fawful almost choked. 'You...you had the meeting of the Great Cackletta?'
Dimentio smiled. 'Yes, I did meet her.'
'How? How could you have had the meeting of her?'
'Inquisitive,' Dimentio noted. 'Well Fawful, Cackletta and I have a small history together. Not much to note, but still.'
'Be telling me!'
'You see, in my many, many years of living, I have wandered the dimensions, travelling...sightseeing, if you will. One time, I came across the Beanbean Kingdom, having no idea, of course, that my future enemies were living in the neighbouring kingdom. After a time, I came across a Beanish witch who called herself Cackletta.' Fawful shifted at this tale.
'She was curious,' Dimentio continued. 'She had never really met another competent spell caster, and my methods of using magic were...unorthodox. We both were obvious villains, and Cackletta told me that she had set her sights on a particular artefact, rich in power, capable of boosting one's energy by quite the amount. I had no interest in such a thing, but I wanted to have some fun, so I decided to accept her offer for help, such as it was. 'The artefact was located in a small house near the Beanbean Castle Town, owned by to Beans, male and female. They had been out for the day and Cackletta, wanting to remain unnoticed for her own reasons, decided that that day would be the best to steal it. So we went into the house to find the artefact. Cackletta went ahead to find it, while I stayed and explored. What we didn't count on was the couple returning to the house. They went in and saw me. They tried to force me out with a weapon. Cackletta, having retrieved the artefact, tried to stun them with electricity and get away. The artefact boosted her power and the lightning burnt them to charcoal, uplifting the house as well.' Dimentio snickered, obviously delighted by the memory.
'So, the artefact had been stolen successfully. The two owners had been killed. Our job was done. However, we heard something. Something interesting: a baby crying. Cackletta went to investigate. Found among the wreckage was a tiny Bean baby. Cackletta had regarded it for a moment, and then, for reasons I still don't understand, decided to take it as her own. I left soon after. I'd had enough fun, and didn't want to see the witch I had once respected spoil her villainy on a child.' He looked at Fawful. 'That is how I know her.'
Fawful stared at Dimentio for a moment. Shakily, he asked, 'How...how many years ago was this being?'
Dimentio thought. 'Hm...I'd say about nine years ago, more or less.'
Fawful almost had a heart attack. Nine years ago...and Fawful was about nine years old. All signs were pointing to one, obvious fact...
'The baby in the house...was Fawful,' he said.
Dimentio raised an eyebrow. 'It was you?' he questioned. Fawful nodded, feeling his heart freeze. Cackletta had killed his real parents...and taken him in. No wonder she would never tell him they story of how she had found him; he would've been distraught. However...Cackletta had been like a mother to him. He could never hate her for killing the parents he had never had. And now...Fawful knew his origins. 'Hm...they grow up so fast. I never would have guessed she would've raised such an odd villain, but I suppose you take on the habits of the one who raises you.' He laughed.
'Do not have the making fun of me!' Fawful shouted. Dimentio just laughed again. 'Hmph!' Fawful pouted. 'I am going to go work on my weapons of fury!' He stomped away up the stairs.
Fawful slammed the door of his room shut. He hated how smug Dimentio was about everything! Taking something as important as his birth and making it look stupid...how dare he? He sat down on his chair, looking at all the work he had done on his machines: he had leftovers from some of the traps he had used in the castle against Bowser...they could prove useful. He still had the concussive grenades he had built in the shape of durable, silver balls. He had a few ray gun prototypes he needed to test; he was trying to make a gun that could tear through flesh like paper. It'd be instant death for anyone he were to use it on. He meant to make one during his attempted conquest of the Mushroom Kingdom, but when his plan got going, he had been stuck with the first model. It had been okay, but not good enough. Looking around more, he saw his ultimate project: his Headgear. When he had shown Dimentio into his room to fix the tracker, he had seen Dimentio looking at the Headgear. He had only got to work on the outer shell then, and not much more work had been done...he still needed the inner wiring and fuel for the rockets. Not to mention the energy cell and base for the projectiles...and a lot of other things to do on it as well. Making a living helmet was a very difficult task.
Fawful looked at it. The Headgear really had been his ultimate weapon. He had even rebuilt it once; the Headgear Mk. II. Now it was Mk. III he was working on, trying to fix some of the problems the Mk. II had. Maybe a better A.I...or more powerful shields. He picked up his tools and pushed in his chair. Time to get to work.
Easier said than done. He had started working on it for about five minutes before he remembered something...or someone rather. The face of that girl, Mimi, had popped back into his head. He lost himself in those thoughts, tapping his tools on the desk dreamily. He noticed this and shook his head furiously. He needed to work, not waste his time thinking about a girl! A really pretty girl...but this was more important! Then why couldn't he concentrate on it?
He slammed his hands on the desk, panting slightly, sweating a little. Look at him: he was wasting precious time and energy. He needed to think straight; what was the thing he wanted to do? The answer was easy; go and find that girl. He got up and opened the door.
'Dimentio!' he yelled.
Dimentio appeared right in front of his face. 'Yes, what is it?' he asked. 'No need to shout across the castle.'
'Fawful is going out.'
'"Out?"' Dimentio repeated. '"Out" where?'
'Out,' Fawful said again. 'Can Fawful not have some privacy to himself?'
Dimentio shrugged. 'I suppose. Be on your way then.'
Fawful drew a flat square around himself and spun around twice. On the first half turn, he was in the castle. When he turned again, he was in a completely different world.
When he spun around again and stopped, he was in the Mushroom Kingdom. He drew his cloak around him and searched for shade; the sun would make him more noticeable, and the last thing he wanted was to get caught.
He needed to find that girl...he wondered where she was. He figured maybe at Princess Peach's Castle. That's where they had been the first time. He walked in the direction of it; he could take his time. He was in no hurry. He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose again. He wondered what race Mimi was. She didn't look like anything he had ever seen, though she resembled a Bean a little, with the colour of her skin. Fawful scratched his head; he needed to find her.
He saw the castle from the distance. Looking at it now, he found himself wishing now, more than ever that his plan had succeeded. Control of both Bowser's and Peach's Castles...it had once been his...now he had nothing. He clenched his fists. He supposed it didn't matter. They'd be his soon anyway, and he'd have his own castle. Castle Fawful! Yes, that was nice.
He went into the castle and searched around for a while, to no avail. She simply wasn't here. He walked out into the gardens. He never really had appreciated the gardens during his takeover. There just had been too much to do. Even villains needed to relax and unwind in peace. That was why he and Cackletta had snuck into the Beanbean Castle Gardens sometimes to rest. They were only caught once. Granted, they never snuck in again after that, but it was only once.
Fawful's breath caught; there she was, just lying there in the gardens, peacefully. He swallowed a mouthful of spit; all he had to do was walk up to her and say hi. That was it. Nothing too hard. So do it. Or maybe not. He didn't have to. Yes he did! No he didn't! YES! NO!
'ARGH!' Fawful shook his head violently. 'I have conflict!' he screamed.
'Hm?' Mimi turned her head in Fawful's direction.
Fawful froze. He hadn't been expecting that. He stared at her, and she stared back. 'Um...h-hello!' he sputtered.
Mimi smiled, and Fawful almost melted. 'Hi!' she said. 'I haven't seen you around here.'
'N-no. You wouldn't have the seeing of me.'
'So, what's your name?'
'My n-name?'
Mimi nodded. 'Yeah, your name. You know, what people call you.'
Fawful mentally beat himself up for acting so stupid. She was just a girl! He gulped. 'My name is being "Fawful,"' he answered.
'"Fawful?" That's a neat name. I'm Mimi.' She stood up and walked over to him.
Fawful nodded. 'Fawful is not wanting you to be telling anyone of our encounter.'
Mimi looked startled. 'Why?'
'Fawful is...not being very liked. Just do not have the telling.'
'I dunno, that seems a little—'
'Do not have the telling of anyone!' he shouted.
'Okay okay, sheesh!'
An awkward silence took over. 'Um...Fawful is being sorry. Fawful did not mean to shout.'
Mimi smiled. 'That's okay. You're probably scared or something.'
'Hmph! Fawful is not being afraid of anything!'
'Whatever you say.' Mimi looked at him. 'Where are you from?'
'Fawful is being from the Beanbean Kingdom. It is being the neighbour of the Mushroom Kingdom, which we are standing in. Where are you being from?'
'Um...' Mimi thought. 'I...really don't know.'
'Ruru?' Fawful mused. 'Why is that being?'
'Um...I think I'll keep that to myself.'
Fawful frowned. 'Okay.'
'What do you do?' Mimi asked.
'...Fawful is not knowing what you are asking.'
'Oh come on. Everybody does SOMETHING. Like me. I'm a maid at Merlee's Mansion. What do you do?'
'Um...Fawful is not having a job.'
'Oh.'
Fawful waited a moment before asking: 'Why are you with the mustaches of red and green?'
'The what?'
'Mario and Luigi.'
'OOOHH...' She smiled. 'They saved my life! They saved the Count's life, and the lives of everyone in every world there ever was! Without them we'd all be dead. They're such great people!' Fawful just stared. 'Why? What do you think of them?'
Fawful stared at her, blindly, for a moment. He dropped his gaze from her. 'I have fury...' he muttered.
'What?'
'I have fury!' he shouted. 'I have much, much fury for the mustaches! Them, with the killing of my mistress and the destroying of me and my plan! Them, with their hammers and stomping and mushrooms and...and...' He hung his head back. 'I HAVE RAGE!' He sank to his knees and hung his head.
Mimi paused. She looked down at him. '...Fawful?' she asked.
Fawful struggled to his feet. 'Fawful...Fawful is sorry. Fawful should not concern you with things that do not concern you.'
'That's okay...'
'Fawful hopes that we can be friends...'
Mimi smiled. 'Of course silly!'
Fawful almost collapsed. 'R-really?'
'Yeah!'
Fawful gave a wide, toothy smile, which made Mimi look small by comparison. 'I have happies! Fawful's happies which he is dining on are tastier than an all-you-can-eat sandwich buffet!'
Mimi laughed. 'You sure are a weird character Fawfie!'
'So they are saying.' He looked at her. 'Would you like to come to Fawful's home?'
'Uh...sure.'
Fawful's grin widened, along with Mimi's eyes. 'I have more happies!' He grabbed Mimi's arm. 'Have the bracing!' He drew a box around the two of them and they flipped out of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Dimentio
'I suppose. Be on your way then.' Fawful flipped out to wherever he was off to. Dimentio really didn't care where. He had important business to attend to. He warped up to his room, shutting the door. He snapped his fingers and the lights came on. He went over and sat in his chair, pulling the Dark Prognosticus out from its drawer. He opened it to the first page, where he had written his sentence last time. As he looked down the page, he saw something that hadn't been there before:
How long?
Dimentio started. He knew this would happen, but..."How long?" What did that mean? He picked up his pen; it was time to get into a conversation...with a book.
What do you mean, "How long?" he wrote on the page. A moment passed. Dimentio jumped as words materialized on the page.
How many years? Dimentio realized what he meant.
About 1500-1100 years ago.
A pause. That long?
Yes.
Another pause. Is he alive?
Dimentio snickered. Unfortunately. He'll die soon enough.
I can hardly wait. Yet another pause. How long?
Don't be a smart aleck.
How long until the seal fades?
Dimentio thought. I don't know. I could try and speed it up, but I don't think I will.
A long moment passed. What do you mean "you won't?"
I mean I won't help you. I have far too many things to worry about right now. It isn't the right time yet.
When WILL the right time be?
When I want it to be.
The longest pause yet. Words cannot describe how much I hate you.
Now now, don't be rude. A pause. Farewell. Hope we can chat again. He shut the book,
cackling. He just loved to be so...in control.
Loud knocking erupted from the front doors of the castle. Dimentio almost jumped out of his skin; he wasn't used to knocking. Normally everyone just warped or flipped in. There was no need for the doors. Dimentio warped to them. More knocking. Dimentio grabbed the door handle and opened.
'Why don't you just flip—' He paused as he saw something he wasn't expecting. '...in?' He finished.
Fawful was standing there, along with Mimi, who had also froze and was staring at Dimentio, shocked.
'Fawful...?' Dimentio spoke slowly. 'Why is Mimi here?'
Fawful looked from Dimentio to Mimi and back. 'Fawful...just wanted to be polite?'
'Why are you in the Count's castle?' Mimi demanded.
This couldn't be happening. This absolutely could not be happening! This was the one thing he had feared from the beginning: that someone would discover them. And it was Mimi, of all people.
'Well?' Mimi demanded. 'Why are you here?'
In all his vast mind, in all the possibilities and scheming and planning, in all the things he had thought of...nothing had prepared him for this. He just didn't think it would happen.
'Ah ha...what an interesting turn...' he muttered to himself.
'What?' Mimi asked.
'I didn't think we'd be discovered...'
'"Discovered?" Discovered doing what?'
Dimentio gave a sick smile. 'Ah ha ha. Well Mimi, I suppose an explanation is in order. You see, Fawful and I are plotting our vengeance, using Castle Bleck as our base.'
Mimi's eyes widened. 'V-vengeance?' she sputtered.
'Yes...' Dimentio hissed. 'Vengeance! Vengeance against those four pathetic heroes who crushed our plans under their feet! And, of course, you and the rest of Count Bleck's merry crew will face your justice as well.'
Mimi looked at Fawful angrily. 'How could you?' she exclaimed.
'F-Fawful was not knowing!' he gasped.
Mimi put up her hand, preparing to flip back. Dimentio snapped his fingers and an explosion sent Mimi hurtling across the walkway leading to the front doors. Dimentio walked slowly toward her, leaving Fawful staring at the scene in horror. 'Oh Mimi, I'm terribly sorry you had to be brought into this. Or perhaps not.' He laughed.
Mimi stood up, shaking. He snarled at him, tilting her head abruptly to the side. A sickening crack echoed through the air.
'Oh now, we'll have none of that.' Dimentio snapped his fingers again, and dark, rope-like coils flew out from behind him, wrapping tightly around Mimi, one of them forcing her head back into place. They squeezed tighter, leaving Mimi gasping for breath, to no avail. 'I'm afraid you won't be leaving here Mimi. You'll be a permanent guest in Castle Bleck. Quite the change from living here, I'm sure.' He snapped his fingers again and the coils sunk into her skin, spreading throughout her body. 'I hope you don't mind parting with your powers. We wouldn't want you starting an attack, would we?'
Mimi sank to her knees, crying through the pain. 'You...' she breathed. 'You...stupid...evil...clown!'
Dimentio pointed at her, snapped his fingers, and quickly moved his hand to the door. Mimi flew the length of the walkway, crashing to a halt on the floor of the castle. Dimentio flew into it, Fawful following suit, looking terrified. With a snap of Dimentio's fingers, the doors creaked shut, crashing together with a bang. 'Welcome again to Castle Bleck, Mimi. I hope you enjoy your stay.'
The psychopathic jester's sadistic laughter filled the ears of both Mimi and Fawful, filling them both with more despair than they ever thought was possible.
