Blumiere was quick to come and go, grabbing what he needed and leaving again. His father had come back some point at the night, and he seemed to be asleep—but Blumiere didn't want to bet on it, so he was quiet.

It was only noon when Blumiere went back to the ledge, but the hours went by quickly. He didn't often use the powers his ancestry gave him, but he knew that in order to fulfill his promise, that was what he had to do. He waited for Timpani, slightly wishing he had brought something to eat.

The sun set and the sky grew dark. "Where is she?" Blumiere wondered aloud. He knew that she had family and friends to say goodbye to, but surely she would've come by now? Dread began to creep over him.

"This is a sad scene." A voice hissed. Blumiere recognized it as his father.

Blumiere turned to, indeed, see his father standing beside him. "What did you do to her?" He asked.

"I didn't do anything." Father replied. "Can't you see that she's ditched you?"

"She would never do such a thing." Blumiere said. "What did you do to her?"

"If it interests you," Father began. "She's no longer in this world. I wouldn't be surprised if she's dead already."

Rage instantly replaced the dread. A tinge of sadness tried to creep in as well, but Blumiere refused to believe Timpani was dead. Not until…not until he had proof.

"I'm truly sorry, Son." Father said. He tried to put his hand on Blumiere's shoulder, but he stepped away.

"Not for her." Blumiere replied quietly.

"I'm sorry that I didn't do it sooner. It's obvious she's had a large effect on you. Come on; let's get back to the castle so we can both forget this whole mess." The words were like daggers.

"I'm not going back to the castle with you." Blumiere said. "You'll just lock me away and not give a second thought. You don't care about my wellbeing—you just care about your stupid powers!" He turned away before he hit his father—or worse—and stared in the direction of the village. Her village. He lifted his hand, and a black door appeared. "I'm going to find her. And once I do"—he looked back to glare at his father—"you will pay for what you did."

Blumiere faced the door, opened it, and walked through.

Blumiere opened his eyes, and saw a quaint little town built in grassy hills. This was the tenth world he's visited today; one never realizes how small a world is until he searches every corner in it. Or at least, one was able to detect the habitable places in a world. A few hundred acres didn't take long to search when you equip yourself with several spells that has the sole purpose of finding someone.

He was worried about Timpani. How could he not be? Most of the worlds he's visited so far were beautiful, with friendly people and wonderful scenery. It would've looked magnificent if he was there under different circumstances.

He made his way toward an inn. While he hated having to rest, he had to sleep or he wouldn't be able to search well enough and he might miss her. Blumiere entered, requested a room, and was grateful the innkeeper didn't charge him.

Blumiere's room was small, with only a bed, nightstand, and a small cage. Inside the cage was a purplish bat, who looked sad. Walking up to the cage, Blumiere opened the tiny door, and the bat flew out of the cage, but simply perched on the nightstand. Blumiere, however, was too exhausted to fully care, to he laid down on the springy inn bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

When Blumiere woke up, the morning was taunting him. He noticed that he was covered in blankets, even though he had fallen sleep without any. The bat he had let out of the cage was gone; there was now a young woman standing there, putting her long hair in a neat bun.

While she looked no younger than him, she was shorter than Blumiere. She wore a simple black dress, and glasses hid her eyes—if it wasn't for the fact that this town was populated purely by humans, Blumiere would assume she was from the Tribe of Darkness.

She noticed he was looking at her. "Are you the one who rescued me?" She asked. She sounded like she hadn't spoken in a while. She glared at the cage.

Blumiere realized that she must—somehow—be the bat. "Yes, I think so." He sat. A part of him wanted to continue searching for Timpani, but he didn't want to leave this girl here. At the very least he could send her to some other world.

The girl looked back at Blumiere. "Thank you." She said. "I'm Nastasia." She bowed. "May I ask who rescued me?"

"Blumiere."

Nastasia stood straight again. "Thank you again, Lord Blumiere."

Blumiere wasn't used to being called by his title—while it was there and it was official, he was barely allowed outside the castle, much less to the little Darkness village that was hidden behind it. He stood up, and Nastasia followed him to the door.

"Wait." She said quietly. "I, um—I'm going to go with you, wherever you're going. You saved me; my life is now for you to use." Blumiere stared at her for a second. Calling him by his title was one thing, joining him find Timpani was another—but was she swearing her allegiance to him? While he wanted to protest, he couldn't argue with the company—nor could he argue with a second set of eyes.

"All right," He said finally. "Let's get something to eat. I'll explain my mission when we're alone."

Nastasia nodded, and bowed again briefly. She held herself in such dignity that Blumiere couldn't fully believe she was a bat before.

Quietly and quickly, the two exited the inn and searched the town.

(Okay, yes, first of all, Blumiere's father is the villain in a way, but he isn't completely to blame. In my own personal opinion, if he had just let the two be, they probably would be fine and happy. And I also know this is a longer chapter; it would've been too short with just the beginning part. From this point until the last/second-to-last chapter, it will mostly be thinking and a few conversations. And I'm going to say this now—I believe that this happened relatively closely to Super Paper Mario, probably set—at most—ten years before Super Paper Mario. That's just headcanons though.)