A/N: I apologize for the slightly disoriented feel of the chapter. Things are going to move very quickly.
ERR!
CHAPTER 9: The Fall
Timber fell through onto the hard brick ground, the vapors having no affect on him, being a wolf after all, and not a human. He ran over to the deathly still Luigi, whose hat had fallen off. Timber placed it back on his head with a single claw, and then pricked his ears as he heard guards approaching. He grabbed Luigi by the back of his shirt with his teeth and began to drag him towards one of the doors that led out.
He stood up and fiddled with the door knob. It was locked, and the sounds of the guards were coming closer. The door on the other side of the room opened; the guards found the small wolf cub with his tail tucked in between his legs standing next to a lifeless Luigi.
"Well, looks like we found the little snoop," one of the guards said, walking over to the wolf and Luigi. Timber growled a somewhat pathetic growl, standing over Luigi's body. He wasn't going to give him up.
The koopas laughed at him, and Timber remembered how he'd dealt with the koopas from last time. One of them grabbed at Luigi's arm, but Timber nipped at the koopa's arm, causing him to bleed.
"Not going to go down easy, are you?" the injured koopa teased. Timber continued to growl.
"Hey, Bowser, he's in here," another koopa yelled back. The ground shook as a terrific beast entered the room, a koopa with spiked shells, hair as orange as fire, and bigger than any beast Timber had seen. He stopped growling.
Bowser smiled and roared at the wolf cub, who turned tail and got out as fast as possible. One of the unfortunate koopas standing beneath a vent was jumped on by Timber, who then jumped off the koopa and into the vent.
His claws clattered against the metal of the vents. It was a one-way vent, so he found himself back in the room with the crack in the wall and the monitors, which now showed Bowser shouldering Luigi and carrying him out of the room. He ran out the slightly open door, and then looked out into the hallway, where some koopas were celebrating their victory.
He slipped through another door unnoticed, and found himself outside. That easy? he thought. And then he realized how he'd just let down his hero, Luigi. He should have stayed and helped, defended him.
Suddenly aware of his shame, Timber ran, and kept on running, running from his shame, his abandonment of his hero, and everything, until his legs gave way from exhaustion in the dark night of the Mushroom Kingdom.
The clown car rode quite smoothly over the dark lands, until it was once again up above the ruined castle. Bowser laughed along with King Boo, as the frightened toads cried as they looked up to see the limp body of Luigi being hoisted into the cannon sitting on the rim of the clown car.
"M… Mario…?"
Bowser looked at King Boo shocked. Luigi was still alive? That amount of vapor was lethal. No, surely he was dead. Bowser shrugged off the noise, until it came again.
"Mario… I'm sorry…"
Bowser shook his head. Luigi was dead. And that was that. He laughed again, shoved Luigi farther into the cannon, and then lit it. "Here, toads of the Mushroom Kingdom, is your 'hero'! Your precious hero who couldn't even defeat his own brother in a battle! Let's see what you make of this!" The cannon fired, and when Luigi finally opened his eyes, the last thing he saw was the ground drawing nearer.
You must die, you ignorant plumber! Now that your brother is dead, all that's left is Peach.
Oh, no, please….
Ha ha ha! You can't even stand it, can you?
I got through; I had control over Dimentio, why did I lose it… Luigi would still be alive…
You lost it because anything is stronger than love. Love is ignorant, one-sided at times, and will leave you for someone else. Love can't be trusted.
Love is constant. Love is what binds everything together. Without it, you are nothing. Luigi, oh, how will I ever live without you…?
You won't live much longer, Mario. Your soul is fading with the loss of your brother. Just sit back and relax…
"Dimentio!" Bowser's voice rang out, panicked as could be, as he entered Mario's room. "We have a situation. Luigi wasn't quite dead when we shot him out of the cannon."
"WHAT?" Mario's eyes narrowed. "Well, darling Luigi won't survive a cannon blast straight to the ground, now will he?"
Bowser chuckled. "Yes, but even though we are free to rule as we please, we must keep a radar for Luigi's return, just in case."
"Shouldn't we just go raid all the toads' houses and search for him?"
Bowser glared at him, and then left the room.
LUIGI! He's alive, oh, thank the stars… I knew it! He's Luigi! He doesn't go down easy.
Quiet you. We are free to rule the world… I am free to rule the world. It's all mine…
It was the Mushroom Kingdom that was the first to fall. Beanbean Kingdom, Fang Kingdom and many of the other kingdoms provided relief for the toads as their new leader ruled with an iron fist, allowing no one in or out of the Kingdom. Some toads escaped, but many did not.
They found out later that Toadsworth had destroyed the castle. He said he'd done it for the good of the kingdom. Without a castle, Bowser wouldn't have been able to rule properly, if at least for a little while. Although many agreed with his reasoning, he was later shunned by many.
Beanbean Kingdom fell next. Prince Peasley surrendered two months after Bowser came into control in the Mushroom Kingdom, giving Bowser and his forces complete control. They didn't surrender without fight, however. Prince Peasley's forces just weren't enough to tromp the koopa troop.
Most kingdoms fell quickly within a year, a year in which no hope arose, no hero stood up to take a challenge. There were a few, unsuccessful heroes, but only a few of these few that even had the courage to match Luigi or Mario, and the ones who did were too arrogant to realize their downfall.
The Fang Kingdom kept its distance from Bowser's side, often giving him gifts and sometimes portions of their land. It was the only way for them and a few lucky other kingdoms to keep the peace.
Queen Silver had been stressed, however, as she saw her people live in fear of the tyrant known as Lord Bowser, King of the Koopas. But they kept on friendly terms with the dark leader, as all the lands he conquered became as dark as his intentions themselves.
No one knew what had happened to Luigi. Some claimed him to be dead like his brother, and therefore, the world was over. Others said he had joined Bowser, possessed just like his brother. Others said he was living underground in hiding, waiting for the right moment to jump out and defeat Bowser.
Mario hadn't been seen either. The whole world knew he was mad, but no one knew exactly what had happened: Had he willingly joined Bowser, had he gone insane, had he been possessed, or was he really dead and a shapeshifter was pretending to be him? No one quite knew the real truth. Everything had happened too fast. Few knew who Dimentio really was, only that he'd died long ago, and to those who did know him, the concept of his return was unfathomable.
A year after the fall of the Mushroom Kingdom, came the fall of the Fang Kingdom and all the other kingdoms left standing. Queen Silver and her daughter, Princess Kayla, disappeared, and the wolves who'd been lucky enough to stay free protected the other toads, goombas, and creatures fortunate to be in hiding underground, with tooth and claw. These wolves came to be known to many as the nightwatch. For the wolves, it was the only freedom left; to fight to keep secret the underground.
Rofur watched as the koopas drew closer. His wife, a skinny red wolf was carrying two pups in her mouth. Rofur ran over to their other two cubs and picked them up, nodded to his wife, and them bolted out the door.
Queen Silver and Princess Kayla had disappeared a week ago. They'd known about Bowser's invasion early, and prepared early for it as well; the queen and her family's protection was top priority. However, something had gone wrong when they suddenly disappeared on their own. Whether it was Bowser or their own personal choice, no one knew.
Rofur and his wife skittered down the street amongst other panicked wolves. No one carried anything other than family, except for a few of the greedy ones.
They passed the statue of Cypro, which some wolves had surrounded, growling at any koopas who got to close.
"Stop!" Rofur yelled, and his wife stopped. He set down the cub and nudged it over to its mother.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I need to stay behind and help."
"Rofur! No! We need you!"
"I know, but the Fang Kingdom needs me too. I need to stay behind. This is my fault. If I hadn't done what I had, then none of this would have happened."
His wife pulled back her ears, but understood what Rofur needed to do. She nodded and lifted the other two cubs onto her back, taking one last look at her husband and then running off in the direction of the other fleeing wolves.
Rofur looked as his wife and children as they left, but was suddenly hit to the ground by a hammer bros, who had a rope with him. Rofur sprang up and latched his teeth onto the hammer bros arm, biting down hard.
He released as watched him run away, and Rofur ran over to where many other wolves were guarding the statue of Cypro, their famed wolf of the ancients.
"Come here, little doggy," some of the koopas were teasing. Rofur joined the other wolves and growled at the koopas with them.
"Why don't you come here?" a white wolf said, stepping closer to the koopas. "Show us how brave you and your leader are."
"Alright. Koopas! Attack!"
The wolves and koopas dashed together, jumping and biting, while koopas on clouds threw things from up above. Meanwhile, some koopas had set up a cannon, and loaded a bullet bill, sending it straight for the statue of Cypro.
Bowser tapped his claws against the arm of his throne, every noise sounding like clinking glass. It was all so boring, running the world. There was nothing left to conquer, except for the cold regions to the south and the place rumored to be 'across the worlds' to the northeast. There was nothing up there anyway.
Why was it so boring?
"Kamek!" he called out, and as if waiting to be called upon, she appeared.
"Here, your awfulness," he said dully. "What is it this time?"
"What is there to do?"
"What is there to do?! Your gruesomeness, there is much to do! You're just bored because there's no one standing in the way. Am I right?"
"I do not like Mario or Luigi getting in my way! Why would not having them around make anything different?!"
"You seem awful upset… Would you like me to find you something to do?"
"Yes, anything, please!"
Already your soul is weak. Mario walked over to the balcony and down upon the gloomy inhabitants of Toad Town. His purple glow was gone as were his yellow eyes. No one ever saw him, though, so it didn't matter to Dimentio. The castle they'd built over the old ruined one was much darker and gloomier than the one they'd had before, and few toads dared to look at it, despite the fact that the they'd been forced to build it.
I… am… still here…
Barely, Mario, just barely. All you love is gone! You have nothing to live for anymore.
Peach…
Peach should have been disposed of the moment we captured her. Along with Daisy and all the others. What use are these queens and princesses to us? Bowser only wants Peach around because he himself loves her. And like I said before, love is weak.
Love… will… survive…
Survive? Your kid brother is dead! And you say it still exists.
No…
YES! He is gone, Mario! Face it, and soon, once all the others will be gone too. It'll just be you and I forever…
And it was in that fateful month of June, that the hero the people longed for finally appeared.
