Author's Notes: Two updates in one week. When I said "by God I will finish this," I MEANT it, dammit.
Things progress. Suspense is had. Words were probably misspelled.
Oliver fell, stumbling out of the warp pipe to Sky World, and tripping down into the clouds. They felt wet, like they used to when he was very small. Strange. He wiped his hand on his tunic, and staggered back up toward the small village. He'd only accompanied the brothers up here a few times. He didn't know exactly who to find or where they were. The place looked deserted. Panicked, he simply hollered into the sky.
"Hey! We need you! The Princess needs you! The Princess needs you! Bowser's coming!"
He heard sounds of alarm from within the stone homes, shredded curtains pulled away from windows, several allies crowding out of their doors.
"Oliver?"
"No, that's Kaden."
"Where are the Marios?"
"What do we do?"
Oliver gasped out of reflex when he backed up into an equally frightened turtle, but didn't have time to feel much guilt. He climbed up one remnant of a vine for height.
"Listen to me! Bowser is coming! He knows where the Princess is! The Dark World pipe, he's found his end of it, and he could be warping to her any second! You have to help us!"
"How can we help?"
"It's over!"
"No, listen! Those blocks and bo-bombs we brought you, they're not for self defense anymore. You have to bring them, all you can carry and use it, now!" Oliver pointed at the pipe for emphasis.
Panicked murmuring was the only response. Oliver was desperate.
"If you don't fight for your freedom at the palace, you'll surely die for it here! Please! Save the Princess!"
A purple shelled turtle glared up at Oliver, then stalked back inside her stone hut. The fungus messenger was breathless with disappointment at her leaving…until the turtle emerged with a power block in her hand, ancient and dusty, but unused. Her gaze bore into Oliver with a dedication he didn't know was possible, and she lifted her fist in the air.
"Save the Princess. Save the Princess!"
She chanted until it convinced all the allies joined in, going in to their homes and returning with power blocks, power gloves, feathers, bo-bombs, even the most rudimentary of weapons. Their chanting grew to a roar, and Oliver smiled a little, finally hopeful.
"Hurry, hurry, careful!"
"I am!"
"Careful, hurry!"
"Which one is it, Mario, 'be careful' or 'hurry up', cause I can't do both!" Luigi wanted to throw the bag of bo-bombs at his brother, but set them down gingerly, gritting his teeth with frustration. Mario wasted no time in grabbing one with his only hand, and dropping it down the Dark World pipe. He waited cautiously for any sound or explosion, then gestured to Luigi to bring more.
The two pitched all but four bo-bombs into the warp pipe. Mario held up his hook to stop Luigi from tossing in the rest. "…just one more. Light it, Weegie."
"Light it?"
"You heard me! Light it and throw it in there!"
"Alright! Here…" Luigi gripped the dusty thing, turning it's key handle, feeling gears clicking into place inside the sphere. Ancient eyes cracked open on the bomb's surface, metal feel pumped mechanically, haltingly, and the fuse lit itself into sparks. Cursing, Luigi chucked it down the pipe with all the adrenaline he had, then followed his brother up the ladder, out of the warp room. They stumbled into each other for an uncertain moment, then Mario caught Luigi's shirt with his hook and dragged him behind a pillar, ducking down.
They both waited, breathing hard, bodies tense. They felt the movement of the dull blast deep, deep beneath them before they heard it rushing up the pipe.
The rushing sound gave way to a shattering, crackling blast. Mario yelped in alarm and Luigi covered his head with his arms as the fire spewed from the warp, filling the entire pipe room. It felt longer than mere seconds, but the roaring finally ceased with a sudden, de-escalating whoosh.
The brothers hesitated, glancing at each other with uncertain hopefulness, climbing up and over their hiding space to inch toward the pipe room.
The warp to Dark World was charred and black, even looking a bit melted around the edges. Thick smoke still billowed from of it. The wooden ladder was nearly incinerated, reduced to charcoal embers on the floor. Luigi coughed and brushed at the air, trying to clear the smoke away. Mario stared at their handiwork, looking a little impressed.
"… …I've always wanted to try that."
Luigi glared at him, a bit incredulous, and Mario only shrugged wearily in defense.
"Do you think it worked?"
"We put fifteen bo-bombs in there, Weege. It had to work."
"Yeah. Okay. …so we stalled 'em."
"…yeah." Mario gripped his brother's shoulder with his hand. "We got this. We didn't make it this far for nothing."
Luigi just nodded mutely, and startled when Kaden ran to them across the grand hall, boomerang in hand.
"What was that?! What did you do?"
"Hopefully, we sealed off the Dark World pipe. Now they'll have to march here, which...will should a while. Where's Peach? Is she safe?"
"Yes. I have them safe in the vault."
"Good. Go back there and make sure no one can get in."
"But I can help you out here! I can fight!"
"I know you can, Kaden," Mario assured him. "That's why I need you in the most important place today: protecting the Princess...the heir...and your kin. …We're the front lines… You're our last hope."
Kaden searched his eyes, then nodded, understanding the solemnity of this responsibility. "Alright."
Mario grabbed his arm to keep him from running off, barely glancing at the mushroom.
"Tell… …tell Peach…" He sighed wearily. "… ...you know what to tell her."
Kaden's eyes flickered, and he nodded, biting his lip.
"…Good. Now—"
They all heard it. The faint, rushing roar, growing louder from the pipe room. They exchanged nervous looks. Mario grabbed a power box from their small stockpile, and Luigi took up a piece of rubble in his hand. The three shuffled back to the pipe room, peering into it from the hole in the floor. Kaden finally raised his boomerang, trembling anxiously.
The roaring grew louder, til it became a coherent chant. "Save the Princess! Save the Princess!"
Kaden lowered his boomerang in relief when Oliver popped out, choking on the lingering smoke from the blast.
"What happened? Is it over already?"
"No. They haven't come, yet." Luigi looked over his shoulder anxiously.
Mario offered Oliver a hand out of the pit. "How many did you bring?"
Oliver grinned sheepishly. "All of them."
Peach paced a little in the vast, empty vault, her hands taking turns touching the rough wall as she walked, left, right, left, right. Her free hand remained faithfully over her belly.
Adeline watched her slow and careful strides, with only torches to light their space, anxious for her Princess' safety. Jack huddled under a blanket he brought with him, shivering. Adeline put her arm around him to help soothe him.
"W-when will K-k-k-kaden come b-back?"
"When he's done getting orders from the Marios. He'll be back." She forced a smile into her voice, though she didn't feel like smiling at all.
The only sound for some time was Peach's footfalls, until they, too, stopped.
Adeline gazed at her in worry. "…Princess?"
"…Did you know this vault used to be lined with gold? Every wall, covered in tiles of pure gold. …can you imagine it?"
Adeline looked up, and tried picturing it. The flickering orange light already made it look a little golden in hue. "A bit."
"…They must have taken it all, when it happened." Peach's voice was rather calm, though sad.
"How…how did it happen, Princess?"
Peach sighed quietly, setting her jaw, stoic. Several moments of silence passed, until she spoke.
"… …Something…broke inside of him. Something…impossibly cruel. Some said it was his MagiKoopas, offering spells of strength, victory. Some said it went horribly wrong. …Some said he went mad, and killed all the MagiKoopas. So...there was no undoing what had been done."
"…Is he? M-m-mad?" Jack chirped shyly.
Peach didn't answer. She only solemnly brushed her hand over the rough surface of the wall where golden tile once was set.
"…This vault was where we kept the Toadstool riches. But we wouldn't need that anymore now, even if it was still here." Peach perked up bit, remembering something.
"…We need to find the medicine cabinet." She walked toward them with some urgency, hand on the wall guiding her. "Adeline. Look ahead and tell me what you see."
The mushroom girl grabbed the nearest torch from the floor, standing and leaning into the inky blackness around them. "Just walls. Just a big, empty space." She craned her head to look upwards. More inky blackness. She stared all around the vault. "Wait. There's a key. It's…it's in the wall, the stucco, I-I can't get it out."
Peach pried. "What shape is it?"
"…it's a m-mushroom!" cried Jack excitedly. Adeline hushed him sharply.
Peach started to smile, just a little, enough to lift her blindfold a bit. "It's not supposed to come out. Follow the wall, there should be a trail of them."
Adeline obeyed, mystified and anxious, running her hand along the wall as she spotted more mushroom keys. She started counting them outloud.
"…six, seven, eight—"
"Stop." Peach trailed behind her slowly, feet shuffling uncertainly. "There should be a door. Behind number eight."
"What kind of door?" Adeline fussed with the key, pressing it and trying to free it from it's plaster prison. It did eventually fall, clattering to the dusty marble floor, shattering the bits of stucco that clung to it. Adeline looked closer at it in the dust and ash, and her hand traced along the bottom edge of the wall. She felt a sort of valley, a hidden space no deeper than her own small hand, and she gasped.
"I think I found it!"
"Good. Jack, please help her open it."
He scurried over to Adeline, leaving his blanket behind, and together they gripped the space, like a handle, and pulled and tugged with all their might. Peach heard them straining, and licked her lips anxiously, praying this part of the vault was left untouched.
"Please open. Please, be there. Please."
Adeline and Jack both counted down from three together, then groaned in unison, tugging on the handle. There was a sudden burst of light from above, and the sound of the vault door closing shut with a frightful finality. They grew quiet at the footfalls, until, much to their relief, Kaden came into view on the stairs, with his torch and his boomerang. He looked distraught, but Adeline wasted no time in giving orders.
"Kaden. Thank the stars. Come on, help us get this open!"
"I have to tell the—"
"Hurry!"
Kaden gave a glance towards Peach, who nodded in agreement with his sister, then set his things down and moved to help them pull. "What…is this…thing?"
"It may be what helps save us all." Peach murmured, as if to herself. Kaden pulled harder.
They all gave the same joyful sound of relief when the stone wall finally gave way a few inches, and they pulled again, straining til their muscles ached, until the stone creaked open and lifted, like a garage, door, lifting the mushrooms into the stale air with it. They whooped a bit with victory, til Kaden shushed them. They let go, only a yard or so in the above the floor, landing on the dusty ground one by one, and Adeline took up the torch again.
She peered into the darkness, holding the torch before her to light the way and the sight that met her eyes took her breath away. Even Kaden was in awe.
"...The medicine cabinet," Adeline breathed to her brother, who met her gaze.
"We have to get these to the Marios."