Happy Halloween, everyone!
…Is what I'd say, if I hadn't missed my deadline by an entire week. I tried to get the "spooky" arc finished in time, but I ended up having to leave town for several days, which meant no writing.
I spun in lots of autumnal imagery, so think of this like a "Fall" chapter instead. :3
Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 10 – Two Shadows in the Twilight
The southern fringes of Forever Forest were an odd and eerie place, filled with fallen leaves and fading magic.
Deeper in the woods, the land lay beneath the shroud of an endless midnight, as dark and dreary as a forgotten crypt. Boos and nameless spirits haunted the overgrown paths that twisted endlessly through the gloom, searching for travelers to lure ever further into their woodland web. These things had made the forest infamous, and most folks would insist that there was precious little to the place besides darkness and the dead.
People never gave much thought to the few sleepy acres that stretched beyond the spell's boundaries. Here, amidst the forlorn and ancient groves, the enchantment's waning power transformed the eternal night into a perpetual foggy dusk. It was always twilight here, in these last few miles of forest - a lonely world suspended forever at the edge of night.
Not many people lived here, even in this new world where the lack of daylight meant so much less. The ground was fertile enough for farming, and the forest's ghosts were rarely seen; but lingering fears of old magic had kept the mainstream away all the same.
Even so, there are always those who seek safety in the shadows; and these woods had become a sort of haven for both the gloomy and the shy. The outcasts and introverts who chose this half-lit life were known to the kingdom as Twilighters, and their dim little hamlet had thus been named Twilight Town.
Just now, Mario and his friends were approaching the village gate, stumbling through the leaves at a slow and weary pace. The little group had gotten themselves hopelessly lost on the trip back from E. Gadd's lab, and they'd spent much of the past day – so to speak – simply trying to find the path again.
"I'm not sure why you think I can help," Lady Bow had said at one point, eschewing her position as guide after a few wrong turns. "Leaving the forest isn't something I ever thought much about, honestly."
In the end, they'd found themselves wandering down Twilight Trail in severe need of an inn. Goombella was trudging along, barely awake; and Luigi hadn't been able to go ten steps without wistfully wishing aloud for a nice, warm bed. When the thatched roofs and grey curls of chimney smoke finally appeared between the treetops, the sight felt as good as a miracle.
Vivian had perked up noticeably since they'd set a course for the twilit town, and Mario guessed that she was eager to finally be someplace familiar again. Back home, this is where she had settled down with her sisters after the Shadow Queen fell; and as Mario had heard it, the three sirens had made a fairly calm and tranquil life for themselves.
"Just don't expect too much of this place," he silently urged her as she swayed ahead of him down the path. Mario understood what it was like to feel homesick, perhaps more than most; but this version of Twilight Town wasn't Vivian's home. No matter how much the two villages might resemble each other, they were still worlds apart.
But the similarities were plain enough to start drawing out some long-buried memories. Mario frowned slightly as the gate came into view - he'd always had mixed feelings about this place. Between the body-snatching spooks and the endless chases up and down the trail, Mario's one night in Twilight Town had been like something out of a nightmare.
"This time will be much better," he assured himself, glancing around at his brother and their friends. They weren't here to fight, only to rest for the night – perhaps he'd learn to see the village in the same way that Vivian saw it. He hoped so; he liked finding ways to turn sour memories into sweet ones.
By now, they were at the gate – a splintered old thing that would've looked more at home as part of a Li'l Oink pen. The surrounding fences didn't look to be very sturdy, either. They were made of rotten logs and snapped limbs, haphazardly lashed together with bits of old rope and twine. It wasn't so much a fence, as it was a gesture of one – a halfhearted boundary, meant to mark the village and not much else.
There was a Twilighter leaning on the gatepost, warily eyeing Mario's party from beneath matted bangs and the brim of a worn cloth cap. His pale skin was stitched and seamed, literally; and he was oddly shaped in a sunken sort of way, like a ragdoll left too long in a moldy basement. Beside him on the fence perched a lone crow, which watched the group with yellow eyes of its own.
"Names?" the gloomy gatekeeper asked simply, sliding lazily into position to bar the way. "Nobody gets into town without 'em. We keep no secrets here; so say your names, and maybe I'll let you pass."
This had been expected, as the people here were well-known to be suspicious of strangers. Even when they'd been required to install a Warp Pipe by the kingdom's transit authority, they'd managed to find a way to make it reject most people. It was yet another reason why outsiders kept away.
The heroes introduced themselves with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and the gatekeeper jotted the five names down on a scrap of paper. When he was finished, he passed the scrap to the crow, which snatched it up and flew off toward the houses. "That'll get delivered to Mayor Dour," the gatekeeper explained. "He likes to stay updated on the comings and goings."
Mario thought he'd seen a faint flash of interest in the boy's eyes when he and the others had said their names. Such a reaction wouldn't have phased him back home, where he was something like a celebrity; but weren't they all strangers in this world? "Maybe the professor told the villagers to be expecting us," Mario guessed, for lack of any better explanation.
Either way, the gatekeeper seemed pleased. "Come in, then. The inn is in the middle of town, if you need a place to stay. You should introduce yourselves to the mayor while you're there. He's usually having supper with the innkeeper right about now." With that, he opened the gate and ushered the party inside.
Twilight Town would've been a quaint little place, if only it were a bit brighter. The cottages were cozy, and farmland was everywhere – from weedy vegetable gardens between houses, to fields of slender cornstalks that stretched back, row-by-row, to the shadowy tree line that lay beyond the town.
Far out in the cornfield, Mario glimpsed a shabby scarecrow that wasn't doing its job very well. The thing was little more than a tattered white sheet tied limply to a wooden cross, and the local crows paid it no mind as they fluttered and hopped about the field. There was something very sad about the sight, Mario decided, but he couldn't quite say what it was.
There were a few villagers out there too, tending the crops; but most of them were standing beneath the gables of their homes, silently watching Mario's party as they approached the inn. That was the life of a Twilighter in a nutshell, really – working the fields and lurking suspiciously in dark corners.
"This place gives me the heebie-jeebies," Luigi admitted as he shuffled along beside Mario, nervously trying to dodge the villagers' mute stares. Mario looked over at his brother, who had turned back to question Vivian. "You really live in a place like this? How can you stand it all the time? I think I'd last maybe a week before I cracked."
Vivian's expression fluttered between cheerful and nervous as she tried to think of a way to explain. "It's shady and peaceful, and nobody here thinks I'm spooky or weird." She hummed slightly, trying to think of more reasons. "Ooh, I especially like the way the shade dapples over by the trees, especially in the early autumn when the leaves have just started to fall." She was rambling now, as she often did when she didn't know quite what to say. "At least I did like the shady spots, until lately, that is…"
The next part was hard to hear, and the siren seemed to say it mostly to herself. "But mainly, this place is just really sentimental, since this is where…" She trailed off there, lapsing into a heavy pause. "It's, um, not important. Forget I said anything, please."
As Vivian fell into silence, the group found themselves passing into the shadow of the old village inn. Mario remembered this dreary place - a weathered and beaten sort of house, with leaning walls of mossy stones and cracked brown brick, all cobbled together and held within a frame of black timber. The roof was pitched so steeply that it had begun to sag back into itself, giving the upper floor a slightly melted look. On the whole, it looked like a once-proud structure that had simply given up on trying.
Mario stepped up to open the front door, only for it to swing back in his face as somebody inside tried to shove their way out. He cleared the way with a small hop, and watched curiously with the others as an ancient man hobbled feebly out into the twilight. Mario knew him immediately – this was Mayor Dour.
He was a Twilighter, and all stitched up like the others; but time had worn him threadbare, and his body was beginning to unravel with age. A crow sat perched on his shoulder, idly nipping at a loose thread in the old man's hair. It must've been the same bird from earlier, because the mayor was holding the gatekeeper's note, clutched tightly between one trembling fist and a gnarled old cane.
When he caught sight of the party, his bushy eyebrows twitched upwards in what may have been mild surprise. "Oh… You must be the newcomers I just heard about. It's been a long time since any travelers have passed through these parts…" He pulled out the paper scrap with his free hand, brandishing it absentmindedly at the group. "It's been too long, I think. Let me welcome you all to Twilight Town, on behalf of every…"
He trailed off, staring quietly at a spot just out of sight. Mario turned to find Vivian, who was starting to fidget nervously under the old man's gaze. The tense silence lasted only a moment, as Mayor Dour violently shook his head and sent his crow shrieking off into the trees. "…On behalf of everyone here, that is. Sorry, I just forgot how things were for a minute there. I never was the sharpest fellow…"
With that, he began to make his tired way off down the path. "You all should get some sleep, y'hear?" he called back over his shoulder as he shuffled away. "Get inside and bed down for the night, nice and cozy..." He was barely within earshot now, but kept right on muttering. "Yep, stay put until morning, not that morning ever comes…"
"…I'm not super sure about that guy," Goombella finally said when the old man was gone. "Like, where is he off to in such a hurry, anyway? And did you see that weirdo stare he was giving to Vivian? Uh, creepy much?"
"No, it's fine," Vivian answered, trying to look sure of herself. "I know my version of the mayor, and he's very nice, even if he's a bit quiet. Also, he likes to go home and read for a while after supper; so, um…" She paused and looked off down the trail where Dour had been. "…Anyway, I'm sure it's okay. I trust him."
"Well, that's great," Luigi said through a very pointed yawn, "but can we hurry up and get inside? I feel like I could outsleep a Clubba right about now."
Feeling tired as well, Mario opened the door and led his friends inside. Despite the building's dingy exterior, it was fairly homey and nice in here. The wooden floors had been kept polished, the walls were papered with a flowery print, and the room was equipped with cushy armchairs that surrounded a roaring fireplace at the back. It was warmer in here, too; and Mario had to fight back a yawn of his own.
The innkeeper, a young patchwork girl with kind eyes, smiled and gave them each keys to separate bedrooms. The space was available, after all - it had been a long time since the village had seen any other guests. Luigi, Bow, and Goombella retired straight away; and Vivian lingered only a bit longer before heading upstairs herself.
Soon, only Mario himself was left, sitting in one of the armchairs while he waited for his meal to cook. Try as he might, he'd never been able to sleep on an empty stomach. He hated to think that he was troubling the innkeeper, but the poor girl insisted that it was alright – there was plenty of fresh food to spare.
At least the fire was burning brightly; and besides, the waiting gave him some time alone to think. It was much welcomed - after everything he'd learned lately, Mario's thoughts were a jumble in need of a good sorting.
This quest had been gnawing at the back of his mind – there was much left to be done, and he knew so little. Princess Peach was in the hands of the enemy, and that same enemy had stolen a machine of terrible power. What was the Empress planning, and how could Mario hope to infiltrate the capital in time to stop her?
Even if he did manage it, what would happen then? How would they all get home, and would that mean abandoning this world to its slow, starless death? He hated the idea of leaving innocent people behind, but how could he even hope to help them now? This world's life had ended twenty years ago.
…And what about himself and Peach? Every day brought them closer to a reunion, but what did that mean? They were "friends," but their last meeting had been awkward at best. After the rescue, how would they fit back into each other's lives? Mario couldn't say, so he chose to ignore those feelings for now.
Before long, he was enjoying a nice meal of warm cornbread and roasted mushrooms soaked in broth. He wanted to keep sorting his thoughts, but every bite was making him a little bit sleepier. By the time he'd finished the bread, he could barely keep his eyes open. "I must've… been more tired than I thought," he mused groggily. "It usually never… works this fast…"
With a final yawn, Mario settled back into his chair and let the fire's soft warmth lull him into a deep and dreamless sleep.
When Vivian snapped awake in the middle of the night, it took her a few moments to work out what was happening.
She was snug in her bed, curled up in a pile of blankets with a candle burning nearby. It should have been warm and cozy, so why did she suddenly feel so deathly cold? Why were the crows making such a terrible ruckus outside in the trees? Who were the voices speaking in hushed tones downstairs? They didn't sound like any of her friends…
Whatever this was, it had pulled her from the nicest dream. She and Mario had been on an adventure, but it was just the two of them this time. They'd stopped in a sunny meadow by a lake; there was a picnic set up for them, and… She tried to recall more, but the beautiful dream was already starting to fade…
Sighing, Vivian untangled herself from the blanket pile, and then made her way over to the bedroom's little window to nudge it open. Her room faced the forest, so there wasn't much to see; but all she really wanted was to feel the breeze. If there was wind, it meant that it was morning, and that she'd simply lost track of time.
She'd lived in Twilight Town long enough to learn the subtle ways that time passed within the village. The sky never changed, but lots of other little things did – the wind died during the night, for example; and the crows all gathered together in a certain big tree to sleep. Even in another world, those things shouldn't have changed.
…But there was no breeze outside the window, and yet the crows kept right on shrieking. It was still nighttime, so something must be happening out there to frighten them. There were footsteps stomping up the stairs now, so Vivian hurried across the room to put on her scarf and badge. "It might be Mario," she thought, "coming to tell me there's a battle happening. I need to be ready for anything!"
Suffice to say, it wasn't Mario who was outside in the stairway. When Vivian went to open the door, the first thing she saw was the glint of a spear somewhere down the hall, and the first thing she heard was the dull clanking of iron armor. With a tiny gasp, she looked back the other way to see a line of silent soldiers marching stiffly up the stairs, their lit helmets casting the usual flickering lattice across the shadowy walls.
"No! H-how did the Empress' army find us all the way out here?!" Vivian was at a loss for answers, but there wasn't much time to stop and think about it anyway. They'd been found out, and that was that. Right now, the soldiers were moving into position, seemingly gearing up for a fatal sneak attack. "I have to warn everyone! I have to get to Mario, right now!"
But where would Mario even be? She'd last seen him in the lounge, by the fireplace; but how long ago had that been? If it was late at night, he'd surely have gone up to bed by now, right? She was starting to panic, realizing that she didn't even know which bedroom Mario would be in. Would she have to try them all, fighting her way past enemies to reach each one? There was one alternative, but she really didn't like the thought of it…
There was a solider approaching her own door, though; and before long she'd either be found out or penned in. It was decision time, and the smart choice was sadly obvious – she'd have to swim through the shadows. The idea scared her, but she could fight back that fear. After all, nothing bad had happened to her yet, despite all the times she'd used her ability lately. She'd been totally safe every time, even though the presence she felt was scary. Perhaps, in the end, she was just being paranoid…?
She was still trying to work through her fears when the ambush began. As the soldier burst into the room, Vivian realized that it was now or never – no time left for hesitation. She had friends to protect, and there was a battle to fight. Her mind set, she plunged into the abyss beneath the inn…
…And promptly started to sputter and choke, her body thrashing and her vision starting to blur. That terrible feeling of anguish and hatred was back, but it was so much stronger now than it had ever been before. She felt the ice-cold touch of phantom hands clawing furiously at her limbs and throat, trying to drag her down while strangling out her very life. She could barely see, she could barely think – no, this wasn't paranoia at all.
The sound of mad screams filled the void; painful cries that echoed in Vivian's own voice. The siren aimed for somewhere – anywhere at all – above the ground that she could surface and get away. She would rather fight a hundred grey soldiers than endure another second in this evil darkness. In the end, she burst free from the shadows to find herself sputtering for air amidst the dry vines of a Twilighter's pumpkin patch.
Up here, the crows were still screaming and the villagers were nowhere to be seen. Vivian heard the sounds of battle, and turned to see Mario and Luigi far across the field, fending off spearmen with a pair of hammers that they must've looted from a toolshed. She wanted so badly to go and help them, but she was still coughing and fighting hard to stand.
She'd no sooner gotten her bearings back than a new group of soldiers rounded a nearby hut to confront her, no doubt drawn by her distressed gagging. As they readied their spears, Vivian looked around for Mario and Luigi; but the brothers were already gone, their battle having swept them off to some other part of town.
She'd have to fight these new enemies by herself, but she wasn't sure if she could. Her stamina was almost gone, sapped by whatever force she'd grappled with down in the shadows. She tried to form a fireball, but the flames only flickered and died pitifully in her hand. "I can't… I can't win this fight. I'm not strong enough, and there're way too many bad guys!"
The tree line wasn't far behind her, and those twisting trails seemed pretty inviting just now. She wouldn't be able to make it very far, but maybe she could lose these goons if tried some sneaky weaving? Perhaps she could snake her way around the village perimeter, and meet up with Mario on the other side!
It wasn't a great plan, but it was either that or get skewered. Steadying herself, Vivian summoned every last bit of her remaining energy, spun around, and made a break for it back into the underbrush. With hollow screams and rattling spears, her pursuers followed.
The dark wood stretched endlessly away before her, the paths overgrown and choked with dying weeds and grasping thorns. Vivian juked this way and that, each new tree a precious barrier between her and the soldiers. The woods were getting thicker, and the sky was getting darker – this nightmare chase was taking her back towards the heart of the forest!
Every time she intended to start swerving back, a soldier would surge ahead across the gap, or appear suddenly from over some hill or behind a tree, eliminating whatever lead she'd managed to gain. "I just can't shake any of them off," she thought desperately as she watched yet another enemy come vaulting over a nearby log. "It's like they all know this forest so well… But how is that possible…?"
Once or twice, she managed to summon and throw a fireball; but they were measly little embers, no brighter or hotter than a candle flame. She was losing the last of her stamina, and frighteningly fast. Briefly, she thought about ducking into the shadows just long enough to get behind the soldiers and reverse trajectory back towards town; but then she remembered that screaming stranglehold from earlier, and realized that if she submerged again, she probably wouldn't be coming back up.
It only got worse when they decided to start throwing the spears. The first was badly-aimed, and Vivian watched as it sailed harmlessly past into the wilderness with a pitiful whish; but the next managed to embed itself in the trunk of a gnarled old tree just inches away from her, and Vivian nearly tripped over her own tail as she leapt back in shock.
The third spear found its mark – taking advantage of Vivian's brief pause to pierce her straight through the chest. The siren barely noticed – she only heard the whoosh of empty air as the projectile passed, and felt the light tingle of lifesaving magic somewhere above her left eye. "The Pretty Lucky badge! It sometimes makes attacks slip right through you," she recalled, silently thanking the little smiling hairclip as the chase resumed.
The next few minutes were a painful blur of failing strength and desperation. Vivian stumbled through prickly thickets, tripped her way across a dark and rushing stream, and staggered her way up a winding game trail, before finally collapsing in a heap at the entrance to a wide and shady clearing.
She was out of juice, and no amount of panic or fright would be enough to get her up and moving again. Somewhere, she heard the mournful peal of a church bell; and she flopped onto her side to glimpse the tall, twisted belfry of Creepy Steeple peeking at her over the distant treetops. She'd made it pretty far, for a girl too scared to use her own powers; but this was finally the end. Vivian felt the last of her resolve scatter like dust, as she lay back and waited for the soldiers to find her.
…But they didn't find her, or even pass nearby. A tense minute passed, and then a few more; but no armed foes ever entered the clearing. There was no armor clanking to be heard in the distance, either – only the wind, the crickets, and the faraway bells. Eventually, Vivian found just enough strength to sit back up and take a few deep breaths. "They were right behind me… weren't they? Maybe they got bored and went back?"
"Look at her, master. She barely even put up a fight…" The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once, and suddenly all the fear and the deathly chills came rushing back. Vivian shot up into a fighting stance, only to sway sideways and collapse yet again. All around her, she heard the nothingness giggle mockingly. "This is what the light world does; it ruins you. She shouldn't have come here. She doesn't belong~"
"W-who's there? Where… where are you?" Vivian called out, glancing around so fast that her hair whipped into her face, briefly blinding her and starting another coughing fit. "I'm… I'm not afraid of somebody who won't show themselves!" It wasn't true, and she had a sense that the voice already knew it. Struggling, Vivian pushed herself up onto a shaking elbow, and looked hesitantly behind her…
…To see the silent, still shape of a hooded figure; a cold and motionless presence that watched her from between the trees. Slowly – ever so slowly – it began to glide closer across the clearing, and Vivian felt her world shrink in, until nothing but her and this looming reaper remained.
"B-Beldam, is that you?" she called, hoping against hope that this was just a silly mix-up like the last time had been. "It… It isn't you, is it…?"
She got no answer from the figure, but there was a fresh wave of roiling hatred from the surrounding shadows. "S-she said that name! The one that I can't stand… I should kill her, just for that!" Vivian could feel so much anguish, just seeping up from the ground like a dark ichor. "Just a quick little twist – it wouldn't even be that hard. I've dreamt about killing myself for YEARS, but never like this~"
The hooded figure simply raised an arm, and all the ambient rage melted backwards into the fringes of Vivian's periphery. The thing spoke, then, in a calm and measured whisper that was somehow even scarier than the other voice's mad wails. "Well, here we are. I'm quite busy, but my lovely assistant kept insisting that I come speak with you. Your presence in our world is vexing her quite badly, I think."
"She isn't supposed to be here," the voice from nowhere cried, the hatred starting to creep back in. "She makes me so sick, master; can't we just get rid of her? Let's kill her together, you and I!"
Somewhere behind the hood, the figure tsked and shook its head. "That isn't why we're here – how do you expect to learn anything from her if she's dead?" Vivian was so confused, even as the figure leaned down and spoke to her in a pseudo-friendly whisper. "She's a bit scatterbrained, my assistant. I bought her from a traveling circus, so her quality was already a bit dodgy."
"T-that's a lie! You BEGGED me to go with you, because you were ~so lonely~ serving the Empress by yourself." The shadows seemed to swim and dance beneath the ground, the darkness spinning in hypnotic patterns that made Vivian's tired eyes start to cross. "Just admit it, master. You've been a total wreck ever since you lost your precious Pr-"
The hooded thing raised a fist in a flash of sudden fury, the shadows silencing with a squeal as the earth shook with a pulse of magic. "Don't test me, shadow. We both have names that we can't stand to hear."
Throughout this mystifying exchange, Vivian had been trying her best to regain some kind of strength. She could fight, for maybe a minute or two; or she could run, and pray that a miracle saved her again. "Y-you hurt my friends, and Princess Peach is missing because of you. I won't… I won't let you do any more harm…!"
In front of her, the hooded figure gave a single small chuckle; while beneath her, the shadows openly laughed. "You think that you're a heroine?" the cloaked thing mocked, swishing and swaying in a circle around the siren. "You think that you can be better than you were made, if you just try? That's such a precious sentiment…" Without warning, the shadows opened up like a yawing pit, and suddenly Vivian was falling. "…BUT I'VE SEEN WHAT YOU ARE IN THE DARK."
Something cold and clammy latched onto Vivian's tail as she began to fall, and she glanced down to see a pale violet hand slithering up from the darkness. Another snared her by the waist, as the first shot up to lock her in a fierce and merciless stranglehold. Vivian tried to call out for help – to Mario, to Luigi, to anyone – but she was choking, and couldn't make a sound.
"Don't worry, she won't kill you," the hooded figure cackled as it stood at the edge of the abyss and watched her fall. "But she's probably going to play with you, which is so much worse. She likes to play… quite rough!"
"No… It can't end like this…!" Vivian's vision was blurring, the light fading from her eyes; but in her heart, she felt a sudden rush of determination that she hadn't known in years. "I can't… let them down. I can't let HIM down… Not after we promised… to go the rest of the way… together!"
In an instant, her left hand erupted in a wreath of fire so bright it almost hurt. The void was smashed away; and for one second, Vivian saw a purple shape streaking away into the darkness with a startled yell. The hooded figure drew back, surprised; but not nearly quickly enough. Vivian reached out, suspended in shadow, and sunk her burning fingers right into the thing's leg.
It was screaming – a frantic and tormented howl that threatened to wake all the dead in Forever Forest. Vivian didn't like that she was hurting this creature; but, oh, she wanted to. She needed to. It thrashed to get away, but she held on, determined to repay all the suffering it had caused. The siren's fire ate right through the tattered fabric, and she could feel the flesh beneath starting to blister and char as she gripped as tightly as she possibly could.
…But all too soon, the hands in the darkness were back, and she was being yanked away. The hooded figure jerked itself free, still ablaze, and teleported out of sight with a final desperate scream. Vivian was alone in the abyss with some mad thing that hated her; and the last bit of fire extinguished with a fizzle as her arms were pinned behind her.
Again, she tried to scream for help; but she had no voice. Again, she tried to free herself; but all her strength was gone. Vivian could only watch as the last lights of the world disappeared overhead, flickering like sad stars before winking out altogether.
She was sinking, and there was truly no escape. This time, she could only watch and wait as the icy darkness consumed her world.
Back in the village, the ambush-turned-skirmish was finally drawing to a close; but not quickly enough for Mario's liking.
The hero slammed his mallet down on yet another advancing soldier, staggering him long enough for Mario to land the final hit – a hard sideways swing that sent the enemy tumbling like a ragdoll into the bushes. There was no time to rest, and Mario was already spinning around to engage the next fight.
It was lucky that Luigi had managed to find these hammers, stashed in the back of a shed somewhere in town. Mario wasn't surprised that his brother had been hiding in the shed when danger struck, but neither was he surprised when Luigi finally dashed out to join the battle. The bludgeons were a welcome bonus, and Mario soon found that he'd missed the feeling of ringing bad guys like bells.
As for Mario himself, he'd still been asleep by the fireplace when the troops had burst into the room. Those first few moments had been absolute chaos, and he hadn't fully been able to get his battle bearings until the fight had spilled outside. He'd since seen Luigi once or twice, and even caught glimpses of Goombella and Bow; but Vivian was missing entirely, and that was starting to worry him a bit…
…But there wasn't any time to think about that, because two more soldiers were charging into view up ahead. There weren't too many enemies left by now, but the troops that were still standing had proven to be the sturdy ones. Mario leapt up high, landing hard on the closer enemy while swinging his hammer in a diagonal arc to try and catch the other.
Unfortunately, the second solider anticipated the attack, stepping back and then thrusting ahead while Mario and the first soldier came crashing down together. One foe had been beaten, but the other was moving in fast; and Mario had no choice but to leap backwards as far as he could – a blind dodge that landed him right in the midst of the nearby cornfield.
The cornstalks did a poor job of catching him, and he ended up scattering the crows as he landed several rows back with an undignified grunt. As he pulled himself up, he heard the telltale rustling and tentative footsteps of the soldier, who must've decided to follow his prey into the field.
Mario was prepared, hoisting up his hammer and waiting for the first bit of armor to flash into view between the crops. As soon as it came, not ten seconds later, he swung wide and smashed his enemy out cold. The fight was over just like that, and the soldier crumpled into the soil with a wheeze and a pitiful groan.
As he toppled over, his flickering helmet jangled loose, and the impact of the landing made it tumble off altogether. As eager as Mario was to get out of this field and back to his friends, a twinge of morbid curiosity compelled him to go over and take a peek. In a fight, it's all-too-easy to see your enemies as faceless goons; but the truth is, they're often just ordinary people beneath it all. Now, Mario wanted to see just who he'd been up against all this time.
"Maybe it's a Shy Guy, or a brainwashed Koopa slave, or even a plain old Toad…" He ran through the list of possibilities in his head, preparing himself for whichever one it might be. But when he pushed aside the stalks, he was utterly baffled by the sight that lay before him – a normal Twilighter, passed out with a split seam trailing down his cheek.
No, it wasn't just a typical Twilighter; it was a familiar one. "This is the gatekeeper," Mario realized with a growing mixture of confusion and horror. "I saw him just last night, and he was a traitor this whole time?" Had he been the one to let the other troops into the village? Or… had the troops even come from outside to begin with? "Wait a second…"
Mario replayed the battle in his head, from the moment he woke up in that chair beside the fire. He'd been preoccupied, of course; but he didn't recall seeing a single villager during that whole span of time. Maybe they were all hiding inside, like Luigi had been; or perhaps they'd been behind the masks all along. He thought back to the wary stares beneath the gables, the mayor's shifty excuses, and the gatekeeper's own odd smile; and suddenly it all made sense.
What if E. Gadd hadn't told the villagers that they were coming, after all? What if the gatekeeper had recognized their names from elsewhere – from some superior in the capital who already knew them? The only person who fit that description was the hooded figure from the castle; so did that mean it was here somewhere, commanding the forces from the shadows?
The soft rustling of leaves brought Mario back to reality, and he turned to watch the cornstalks sway and bend as an unseen figure entered the field. The hero picked up his borrowed hammer, ready for another fight; and he only lowered it slightly when old Mayor Dour hobbled tiredly into view. For a moment, neither one of them said anything.
"Your gatekeeper attacked us," Mario started, hoping that his wild assumptions were nothing more than that. He wanted to trust the Twilighters, if there were any way that he could. "He works for the Empress, it turns out. He must be the one who started this attack." The gloomy old man still wasn't saying anything, and Mario was starting to get worried. "You should, uh, probably lock him up, or something. For the town's safety, right?"
Mayor Dour quietly regarded the fallen soldier, and then turned to Mario with a sullen sigh. That sigh alone said everything that needed to be said; but the old man started talking anyway. "My gatekeeper did his duty, that's all. He isn't working for some royal in a faraway palace… He only works for simple old me."
"So you're the one who betrayed us?" Mario bristled, taking a pointed step forward. The old man silently stood his ground, gripping his gnarled cane and quivering with a feeble kind of resolve. "I want to hear why you sold us out, when none of us ever meant you any harm!"
"Listen, son; I don't know who any of you are," the mayor began, not moving an inch as the mud began to pool lazily about his feet. "But the wizard told us to watch out for you, and so we did. He says you're a threat to his safety… And we don't take kindly to threats in this here town."
For the first time, Mario noticed that he'd been standing next to the shabby scarecrow – the one he'd seen all those hours before. His eyes were drawn up to the ragged sheet that hung from the cross; and as a hollow wind nipped at the frayed fabric, Mario saw two empty eyeholes staring sightlessly back at him, above the threadbare remains of a faded blue bowtie.
"Once upon a time, this village was under a terrible curse," the mayor was saying, although Mario's eyes hadn't yet left the scarecrow. "We were tormented, night and day… Everyone had lost hope, even me… But then the wizard showed up; him and his laughing shadow…"
Wait, this sounded pretty important. Mario turned back and listened as Mayor Dour kept on with his tale. "They gave us weapons and armor, and showed us how to defend ourselves. They helped us end the curse, and all they asked for in payment was loyalty. We had to be ready, if they ever needed a helping hand…"
The old man's cane had sunken deep into the mud by now, and he tried to keep from stumbling as he yanked it free. "A few nights back, the wizard showed up with a list of names; he said to call him if the folks on the list ever turned up…"
So that was the story, then. Twilight Town had been suckered into the Empire's service to pay for an exorcism, and Mario's party had wandered straight into a trap. "But he works for the Empress; he's a villain! He's just trying to use you," Mario urged, praying for the old man to listen. "Whoever he is, he doesn't care about you all."
"You think I don't know that, boy?" The mayor scarcely raised his voice, but his quivering mustache betrayed a quiet fury. "Nobody out there cares about this town; not him, or even you. We're the misfits; the outcasts who lurk in the dark. Admit it, when you're out there fighting your big battle someday, will it be us gloomy folk that you're fighting for?"
Something in the old man's eyes looked so utterly lost and forlorn. "…No; heroes always fight for the bright and beautiful things, don't they? Never the broken shadows…"
Mario wanted to say something, but the words just wouldn't come. The truth was, he'd probably never think of this dreary place again, once he was back home in the cheery streets of Toad Town. Could he still call himself a hero, if there were people that he simply didn't care to fight for? He wasn't sure if he knew the answer.
Slowly and weakly, Mayor Dour reached into his back pocket and pulled out what seemed to be a pair of slightly-oversized sewing scissors. In the dim light of dusk, they looked almost like a dagger. "Nobody fights our battles for us, son, but it's silly to expect anyone to. In the end, we only have ourselves." With that, he held the scissors up and staggered forward into a charge.
The attack was predictable, and painfully slow. Mario didn't really dodge, so much as he calmly sidestepped out of the old man's way. Already exhausted, Mayor Dour tripped and crumpled to the ground, losing his scissors somewhere in the thick muck. After a short moment of futile searching, all the fight seemed to leave him at once. Softly, pitifully, he sunk into himself and began to sob.
In a flash, Mario was kneeling by his side. He wasn't sure if it was instinct or pity that moved him, but he helped the broken man up into a sit. Mayor Dour didn't resist, and together they made their way over to where the scarecrow stood. The old Twilighter sat back against the wooden post, utterly spent, and closed his eyes. "You understand, don't you? Heroes can't save everyone… Somebody always gets… left behind…"
"I still have to try," Mario replied quietly, talking more to himself than to the mayor. "How can I stop fighting, if the misfits and outcasts still need me?" The mayor only managed a last, tired half-smile; then he closed his eyes and was still. Mario watched him for a long moment, then rose and turned away.
That's where Mario left him – slumped in the cornfield beneath the sad eyes of that tattered old sheet. The other Twilighters would carry him home, whenever they woke up; but by that time, the heroes would be long gone.
They found Vivian much later, lying in a heap in a clearing somewhere near the steeple. Even at a glance, Luigi could see that she was in a bad way.
It had been a long search, but here she was at last. Goombella's sharp eyes had spotted her from far down the path, but Mario was the first to reach her side. He had cleared the gap in a single frantic leap, and now Luigi watched as his brother tried his best to shake the siren gently awake. "What was she doing up here by herself?" Luigi wondered as he tried scanning the area for threats. "And what in the world happened to her?"
Vivian looked like she'd been ripped into by a pack of rabid Chomps, and then spat back up so the Piranha Plants could have a turn. She was pale, limp, and strangely gaunt; and Luigi wondered if her health had been sapped out of her somehow. There weren't any vampires in this haunted forest, were there?
Her arms and back were crisscrossed with painful-looking scratches, plus a few deep gashes that were oozing something sticky and blueish-black. Her typically-silky pink hair was matted and clumped with leaves and dirt; and enormous chunks of it seemed to have been torn out of one side, leaving her with something of a gruesomely-shredded undercut.
Worst of all, she smelled awful, like something that had just crawled up out of a long-forgotten drain. Luigi didn't know if the siren wore perfume, but she normally had a mildly-sweet cotton candy scent to her. That was all gone, replaced instead by something stale and vile.
"Poor dear," Bow murmured, keeping a respectful distance as Mario cradled the mangled shadow's head on his lap. "Do you suppose she's going to be alright?"
"The Empire are a bunch of sickos," Goombella spat, pacing the clearing in a vain effort to burn off the long night's frustration. "Vivian was probably outnumbered and scared – what jerk would just beat her down like this?!"
It took a tense minute or two, but the girl eventually began to stir. Luigi stepped in for a better view as her eyes fluttered open, unfocused and dull. She winced in recoil against the dim light of the clearing, but eventually her gaze settled on Mario. "You… found me. I knew… that you would; so I waited..." Even her voice was thin and hoarse.
Luigi was about to ask if she remembered anything from earlier; but before he could speak, the injured siren reached up to pull his brother into a deep kiss. Bow and Goombella shared a unified gasp, and Mario's eyes were wide with shock when he pulled hastily away. Luigi, for his part, was mainly stumped. He'd worked out by now that Vivian had a crush, but he'd never expected the shy girl to be so forward. "She must be delirious, then. She'll be embarrassed about this later, if she even remembers it."
"…Are you feeling alright, Viv?" Mario asked, helping her to sit up, and then backing off. His voice held genuine concern, but he was giving her an odd sort of frown that Luigi couldn't quite figure out. Vivian merely shook the leaves out of her lopsided hair while giggling hazily to herself.
"I've never felt better, now that I'm here with all of you," she eventually said, looking around at the worried party, before turning to Mario for help with getting the rest of the way off the ground. "But, um, we should probably leave this spooky forest, and get back to base. Who knows what nasty things might be lurking down in the shadows?"
"Are you sure everything's okay?" Luigi asked, skeptical that she was as healthy as she claimed. By the look of it, she'd nearly died. "What happened up here, anyway?"
"Nothing important, honest! There was something gross, but I got rid of it." She stood up, unsteady with her balance, and turned to him with a mysterious smile. "But I really think we should get going, now. After all, we shouldn't be here~"
Oh, this was hard to write.
Vivian is too sweet to have to suffer, and I feel awful.
…We're nearing the end of Act I, but more info on that next time. I hope you'll stick with me!
Review Corner -
Lewot – Oh gee, your theory game is strong. I'll say nothing, except that you might have one thing at least partially half-right, maybe. Or not. :I
As always, thanks for the input!
Perdidit Umbra – So nice, you sent it thrice! Sometimes the site bugs out and reviews take a while to show up; but I get email notifications, so I'll always see them anyway!
Anyway, you asked about the two Vivians meeting just in time. Now that it's happened, what are your thoughts?
Where once was light, now darkness falls…
~Sight