Daisy watched in horror as the last hope for the world was quickly consumed. "PROFESSOR!" she screamed, pain and despair lacing her voice. She took her attention away from the battle, distracted by the sudden hole forming in her heart. Without the Regurgitator 9000, she had no hopes of restoring the people and the world around her. Everything she'd worked for, everything her allies did as well, was all gone in a second.
She felt a pain shoot up and down her glowing body. She moved to place a hand where her heart should be but felt something foreign instead. Seth had approached quickly when she wasn't looking, forming a blade with the shadows at his command, and driving it straight through her heart. "H-how... How can you finish your so-called bologna duty if I'm dead?"
Seth shook his head. How foolish and ignorant the people of this world were. Had they accomplished nothing within their cosmic Great Year? Was there nothing worth keeping? "I only need your energy. Your form matters not."
"My form..." The words struck Daisy as rather odd. She had been turned into a great glowing ball of energy in the shape of what she once was. She didn't even sound the same and she could manipulate her form to create bursts of energy and blades merely by imagining it. What was she now anyway? Just energy?
"By boogity..." Toadbert gasped, clinging to Doctor Toadleys' robe. He was terrified, his legs shaking as he attempted to stand upright. Not only had the star eater overtaken the sky, he'd invaded the castle and killed both the professor and Daisy. "This is the end, isn't it?"
"Is it truly the end?" the doctor echoed. "I don't believe so. You don't give the princess enough credit."
Daisy glanced over to the doctor. She had expected some ominous words of the end of the world from him. "Have you seen some sort of vision, doctor?" she inquired, ignoring Seth's attempts to impale her again. She'd ceased breathing but she still was alive somehow. She really was just energy, a golden light literally persisting in a world of darkness.
"Have I seen anything?" the doctor shook his head. "I have not. This is a professional opinion."
Daisy stared at the doctor for a moment. He was a doctor specializing in medicine and fortunes. He'd helped the brothers countless times, offering fortunes and readings as well as helping the people of Toad Town with ailments and remedies. He was odd and difficult to understand with his way of answering his own questions, but she'd never once heard him voice a professional opinion. She pondered the possibility that he knew what she had become or that she simply was doing as he'd said, giving her credit for her own abilities. He had more faith in her than she'd had during half her journey. She wasn't about to let that faith be misguided.
She turned back to Seth to see him generate another arm from underneath his cloak and ram it through her heart. She felt the pain shoot up her arms, but it was fleeting. She was stronger than this. Even Luigi had said so. She was always the strong one.
She reached forward, wrapping her glowing hand around the blades which impaled her. She felt the warmth around her hand again. It was the power of recreation, the power of green she had gained in her love and friendship with Luigi. If the star eater could destroy, she could counter and create. She closed her eyes, imagining things and letting her creative mind run wild. "Luigi, this one's for you!"
The dark blades driven through her body reacted to her touch. The transformation started at her hands, the green power of renewal heeding her call. Quickly the green power emanated from her hands, shooting to the tips of the blades on the back of her body up to the base of Seth's arms.
The sudden surge of power caused the starborne to reel back and withdraw the attack, separating himself from what he had created. He watched as she turned the darkness of space he commanded into a green light then disappeared, repairing the hole the attack had created in her heart.
Daisy looked at herself, almost shocked it worked. But what did she truly expect? This was a battle of cosmic proportions, something that Rosalina would enjoy babbling on about as they watched another meteor shower.
Of course, Rosalina. She represented the power of restoration, the power to recreate a new world. "Okay, this one's for you, Rosie!" She stepped backwards, pressing her hand against the wall. The power of turquoise manifested at her touch and overtook the crumbled wall. Before their eyes, the wall rebuilt itself, the bricks appearing as they always did, every time Daisy came to visit. She recreated the portrait on the wall as best she could. It was crooked and the king in the painting looked like he got hit by a tree stump, but it was the best she could remember.
She could feel a new power grow within her, much greater than the power of just the three friends representing the cosmic colors. There were others too, giving her all their strength from somewhere within the shadows. She felt the warmth she got when Peach hugged her, greeting her everytime she visited the castle. She felt the odd sense of hope the wigglers gave her when they gave her the satchel of turnips and odds and ends. She felt the relief of the survivors she first met in Birabuto. And strangely, she felt the fiery strength Kamek had when he fought the star eater on the moon. She wasn't alone. They were all here.
"How can someone like you exist?" Seth seethed. At his silent command, the nebulous shadows attempted to overtake Daisy and restrain her but the light she was emitting was too bright. They couldn't even touch the wall she'd restored.
Daisy had surpassed all expectations. Seth knew there were powerful sources on this planet. He'd come here to gain the power he needed to fuel a world engine like none had ever seen. He was determined to be the best starborne, to restart the cosmic Year in a way that no other had ever seen. He desired to create the perfect world, one even he would live in, but to do that, this world would have to wither away.
But Daisy, that enigmatic human, countered every move he could make. She was a mess of a creature, strong but barely capable of wielding her own weapon. Had her power truly grown? Had the loss of everything and the presence of nothing truly fueled her stubbornness and persistence?
"Are you really that stupid?" Daisy questioned, planting her hand on the floor. The ground reacted to her touch, reforming the tiles of pink and white which decorated the castle floor. A long area rug wove itself across the floor. It was a bit crooked but it was what she remembered sitting along the boardroom floor when they'd first gathered. "This isn't my power! It's everyone with me! My friends, my people, the love of my life, even my enemies. We're all reuniting together to stop you and your damn plan. This is our planet, and you're gonna leave!"
The restoration of the floor caused Seth to jump into the air, floating towards the ceiling where the nebulous shadows persisted. "You have nothing left."
"You really are that dumb," Daisy shook her head, standing back up. "Aren't you even watching? With the power everyone's giving me, we'll all restore this world to what it once was."
Seth reeled back in anger, withdrawing a newly formed arm from his cloak to prepare for another attack. Swinging back, he felt resistance in his movements. He glared back at his arm to find a turquoise form made completely of energy wrapping her arms around him. "Mfk3t."
"Rosie!" Daisy exclaimed, relieved to see even the form of her lost friend.
"This ends now, starborne," she declared. "Your quest to reset the Great Year must come to an end. That cycle has long since been abolished. The worlds will persist as they are."
"Nonsense, Mfk3t!" he countered angrily. "I will complete my purpose."
"I am the guardian of this cosmos," Rosalina hissed. "You have no place here." Her form grew brighter, the shape of her dress and crown coming into view. "Daisy, I give you my full power. Fix this. Bring everything back."
"Leave it to me!" Daisy proclaimed. She could feel the life coming back to her, fueled by the hope of everyone lost and the encouraging words of her galactic friend. She placed her hands on the ground, feeling the cosmic power surge through her. She began emitting a golden light which first restored the boardroom, placing the chairs back underneath the newly reformed table and restoring the professor and the Regurgitator 9000. The light spread outside the castle, restoring the houses and people of Toad Town then the busy streets of Fortune Street. The shops stood back up, the shoppers placed back on the streets. The place wasn't perfect, but she built what she could remember, restoring the land to nearly what it once was.
The power felt overwhelming, suddenly culminating into a huge burst of light. The sky returned, lined with happy clouds and the usual cranky sun. Trees sprang up in the fields and water returned to the lakes. Sarasaland resurfaced, building each kingdom piece by piece. Distant lands returned. The BeanBean Kingdom's Starfields sprang up, the land dazzling like a starry sky as it once did. Bowser's kingdom returned, though with strangely less lava as Daisy hadn't quite remembered where it all was.
Kamek and Waluigi fell from the ceiling, restored to their normal forms. Mario and Luigi returned, Luigi clinging to his brother for dear life. Wario and Starlow fell on top of Waluigi with a heavy thud. Birdo tumbled forward, landing at the doctor's feet. Peach returned as well, dressed in her usual pink gown. Rosalina manifested still holding the star eater's arm.
Seth himself had been reduced to a corporeal form of a man with shaggy brown hair and a long black cloak. "What have you done?!"
"The power you sought has returned you to your normal form," Rosalina informed him, still gripping his arm. Several Luma fell from her sleeves, hopping around and huddling behind Mario. "Now it is you who has nothing left."
The light in the room finally subsided. Daisy had vanished, her engagement ring clattering to the ground where she once stood.