Author Note: This is the second-to-last chapter. Also, take a look at my profile; there have been some major changes :)
"You're too late." He approached me and started to walk circles around me. "Do you know what time it is?"
"…Adventure time?"
He smacked me upside the head. "This is no time for jokes! I'm dead serious."
"Well, you should be 'dead' serious. I killed you already."
I could see the color in his eyes darken, almost turning black. "Well, aren't we a smart-ass?" I didn't answer. "There is no time for this nonsense! Fawful; aren't we ready yet?"
"The dressing is on the salad of the elder Princess's revival." He spoke.
….shit
L smirked at me. "Looks like you are too late, Mother dearest, to save your pathetic little Luma! There is nothing you can do now!"
"You know; you could always give him back."
His face read confusion. "Wait…what?"
"I said: you can always give him back. Luma may be pathetic and useless to you, but he is not to me. He is everything to me. So, if he has no value to you, you might as well give him back. Make sense?"
"Enough! We end this now!"
"Wait, L." Princess Shroob cut him off. "Let's…do what we came here to do. We are all ready now."
L smirked at me, and turned to fetch Luma. He stopped dead in his tracks. How much I wish that I could have seen his face. The cage Luma was in was gone, and in its place was Bubba. He was floating there, minding his own business. Suddenly everything came to life. Brian and Wendy started disconnecting everything, Mario and Peasley took on Fawful, and the rest (minus the Queen) took on the Shroobs and their Princess. That left me to deal with Mr. L.
He faced me, anger and frustration breaking his calm composure. He tore off his eye mask, and his eyes became black with rage. The shout that came from him was inhumane, and the world around me burst into black and green flames. The heat was intense, and I found myself throwing fire at him. He dodged each one with ease as he approached me. Gently he raised his arms towards me, and streaks of black lightning emitted from it. I fell backwards, dodging the lightning in the process. He walked over towards me, and I couldn't escape; the fire was too intense behind me and L was standing in front of me. Calmly, he stepped on my wrists, preventing me from moving or using any of my magic. The flames died, and I was forced to look into his soulless black eyes. He fell to his knees (still pinning me) and without a change of expression, pulled out a long, thin dagger. The blade was blood-red and its light danced in a satanic-like glee. I knew that he was just milking the time so he could enjoy the slow painful death he was going to give me.
"I have waited too long for this moment." His voice was no longer his own; it was deep and malicious. "Your soul will be perfect for the Revival."
Silence filled the area. I noticed that all the fighting had stopped once the black flames dissipated. The wind picked up, stronger than usual, and I knew what was going on. Before anything else happened, I watched in slow-motion terror as the crimson red blade in his hand sliced through the air, aiming for my heart.
Instead of a scream of pain, a clank of metal followed as soon as the blade touched me. There was a moment of pure silence; nothing was moving, nothing was happening at all. His eyes started fading back to blue, and the only thing different was that they were also filled with confusion. Suddenly, Luma flew in between us. He faced L, blew raspberries at him and flew away. Along the way, he took his hat, laughing in wicked glee along the way. While he was distracted, I managed to throw him off of me with a blast of electricity of my own. As soon as I stood up, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped dramatically. It was the middle of summer and it started to snow. Despite the snow, vines grew from the ground, wrapping and cocooning L. his eyes began to turn black again as he fought against his prison. The wind continued, picking up in speed. The snow also increased, the both of them showing no mercy. It took a few tries, but L managed to break out of his vine trap. He wasn't slow in approaching me this time. He charged head on at me. We locked our hands, forcing fire onto one another. The sounds of fighting echoed around us.
Repeatedly, L tried and tried again to stab me with the blade. Each time it only cut a hole in my shirt, the metal chest plate deflecting each deadly blow. It had gotten to a point where he was swinging it like a madman, and the only thing I could do was dodge his attacks. His eyes were black again, and blood trickled down the side of his face due to a good hit from me a few minutes back. While I was dodging his knife, somehow he managed to release a powerful fire attack, hitting its target. I was sent flying back, landing on my back a few feet away. Before I could stand again, he pounced on me, hissing in hatred in the process. He placed the knife under my chin, wasting no time. He screamed in rage as a wall of ice knocked him off of me. Jumping up, I shouted my thanks to Wendy, who nodded before firing another ice storm at her targets.
L stood back up, wincing in pain in the process. He faced me, and gritted his teeth before giving out another battle cry. Another fire circle was cast, but it was so close to me that I couldn't move. If I took a step in any direction, I would be completely roasted alive. The ring contracted at an alarming speed, and I could feel my skin burning (like when you are too close to a flame, not literally on fire) and I started to panic. L belted a truly horrific laugh; filled with revenge and delight. He released another ring of fire, preventing anyone to get close to me.
Is this how it's going to end?
"Try to get out of that one!" he shouted in pride. "No one can save you now!"
I tried to conjure my own flames to counter his, but I only got electricity. More panic flooded me as I tried again, but I only electrocuted myself. I closed my eyes, trying with all my heart to get some sort of counter-flame, but nothing happened. Hot tears flooded my eyes and burned them as they made their trail down my face. I opened my eyes, and stared in awe at the large, red flame that was dancing wild and free. Over the roar of the flames, I could hear Mario's cry of war as his flames bathed the area. Some of them went directly to me, sheltering me from the heat of the green flames and healing me in the process. Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm my shaky nerves down. After a few terrifying moments, I managed to get a grip of myself, and released a small flame of my own, telling Mario that he could extinguish his. They slowly died out, and we both had our flames dancing freely around us.
I turned to Rose, and winked at her. Smiling a wicked smile, she winked back, and summoned a small whirlwind. I starting throwing flames into it, and Mario followed suit. As the tornado of fire increased, I caught a glimpse of fear in Princess Shroob's eyes. Still throwing flames, I made my way towards Rose. Mario countered my walking, making sure we kept an equal distance away from each other so that one power would not overwhelm the other.
"Aim for the pedestal." I spoke calmly. "We need to destroy that statue."
She nodded, and slowly started walking the wind. Mario and I walked alongside it, adding more flames. As soon as we got close, both of us stopped adding flames. In sync, we jumped back as the tornado of fire hit the pedestal, not only destroying the statue but frying everything else that was in its path. There was dead silence as Princess Shroob, Fawful and L watched in horror at their project. I knelt down on one knee, resting. Luma flew next to me, telling me not to rest yet because the 'bad guys' weren't dead yet. I stood back up, and Luma sat on my shoulder. We both watched the flames eat and destroy everything it came into contact with. Waluigi summoned a small rainstorm, and put the flames out, revealing the damage the flames had done.
"What have you done!?" the Princess screamed in rage. "You…you murderers!"
"You shouldn't be talking." Rosalina spoke. "Look what you did to the Lumas."
"Oh, come on; none of them were hurt. My sister's heart was beating, and you killed her! She didn't have a chance!"
"Lie." Luma spoke softly.
I turned to him, and noticed that he was crying. Before I could ask him what was wrong, he flew up to Fawful.
"Where Luma's friends?" he asked softly. "What happen?"
The smiling bean character said nothing. He turned away, not making eye contact with Luma. He followed his face, and made Fawful look at him.
"Where?" his little voice demanded.
"You set them free." He answered.
Luma shook his body. "Others. Where others?"
I knew the tactic Luma was using; he was going to pester Fawful about it until he confessed true. We could be here all night.
"Mr. Smiley Man murderer, not Mama." Luma spoke loud enough for all of us to hear. "Smiley Man know it. Mean. Hurt Luma's friends. They ask not to, but no listen. Suffer; Smiley Man laugh at Lumas, make them cry. They wanted their Mama, but Fake Mama no let them. Fake Mama hit and hurt Lumas more."
"Shut up!" L shouted at him.
Luma flew straight to his face. "Not nice shouting. Luma finish first." He then flew to the Princess. "Evil Purple Princess laughed at Lumas crying. All thee do; laugh at Lumas crying. Hundred Stars, Smiley Man keep saying. Hundred Stars. Hundred Stars. Hundred Stars to bring back Princess's sister." He started crying, and he was shouting at this point. "Hundred Stars. No, Hundred Lumas. Hundred Lumas. Fake Mama hurt Hundred Lumas. Those Lumas never come back. Fake Mama the murderer. Hundred Lumas…murdered…for Princess's Sister. Why?"
He flew straight to me, bawling in the process. I held him tightly, kissing the top of his head and whispering to him that he was safe. He looked at me, whispered 'thanks' and hid under my hat. I made flames appear in my hands, and got ready to fight, but put them away when I noticed that they had vanished. I walked over to Brian, who was soothing Rosalina.
"Where did they go?" I asked.
He shrugged. "They vanished after Luma went on his rant about the others."
"We shouldn't let our guard down, but we should rest while we can."
He nodded, agreeing. I walked over to Peasley, and checked on him. After checking that everyone was alright, I found a fairly large rock. I sat down on it, and tapped my hat softly. Luma flew out, carrying my hat with him. He started to cry again as I held him. I hummed my mother's lullaby quietly to him. We sat there together for a few minutes before Mario and Waluigi came over. Luma looked at them, his little body covered in his tiny tears. Mario sat next to me, and Waluigi knelt down to his height in front of me. Slowly, he lifted the tears off of him with his magic. I felt a smile form when I realized what he was doing. Poor Luma was confused, and he watched Waluigi and the water he was controlling in interest. Slowly, the water blob that was floating in mid-air started to morph and change shape. I groaned in frustration and Mario laughed as the water was shaped into an unmistakable form.
"What Tall Purple Man doing?" Luma asked.
"Cheers to your mustache!" Water Peasley spoke. "Luma, you have grown so!"
"No; you small. Luma same size."
"Really? That's quite a problem." Water Peasley flipped his hair. "It seems that my shine has gone as well."
"Luma do shine for Princely Water Bean Man."
Water Peasley flipped his hair, and Luma glowed bright for a few seconds. "That's what I call a TRUE shine!"
Luma laughed as the shape dissipated. It took a few minutes, but a replica of me was floating in front of Luma.
"Mama?" Luma asked. "Why Mama so small?"
"Why me?" I asked.
Slowly, the form started changing. The first thing that changed was that there was now a face veil where my nose and mustache used to be.
Heaven help me.
The transformation was complete, and Water Luigi was wearing the outfit I wore when I infiltrated the Mushroom Kingdom castle.
"Pretty, Mama." Luma purred.
The Water Luigi danced for a little bit, then dissolved.
"Thanks for sparing him." I spoke lightly
"Now for the crowd favorite." Waluigi gave off a wicked smile.
The water morphed into a floating Wario head. The look on Mario's face was priceless when Wario started mooing.
"Cow." Luma spoke. "Moooooo…"
After mooing for a few minutes, the water returned to a blob form, and was placed on the ground. Luma thanked Waluigi, and started happily munching on a cookie I had in my pocket. I knew that he was still upset with what happened to the other Lumas, but what can we do about it now? I kissed the top of his little head, and he moved to sit on top of my head. I approached the rest of the group. Before we could do anything, a laugh broke the silence.
Fawful reappeared in a flash of blinding light. He was accompanied with Shroobs and Mr. L. Princess Shroob came from behind us with more minions at her command.
"Give us Luma." L spoke approaching me. "And no one gets hurt."
"Not on my life!" I hissed back at him.
He shrugged. "That's fine with me."
In sync, all the Shroobs pulled out their lasers. Before anything happened, a wall of ice encompassed us, deflecting all of the shots. Waluigi and I held hands, blending our power. As soon as the wall fell, we attacked, wiping out a good chunk of the Shroobs. I saw Daisy shooting vines at them, and Mario igniting the plants. Using her wind power, Rose launched Peasley in the air, and he started throwing mini-daggers like some sort of ninja. Between all of us, we managed to destroy the minions, only leaving the Princess, Fawful and L. L stepped in front of them, flames dancing in his hands.
"You can destroy our plans, but I won't let you destroy them!" he screamed.
Mario stepped in front of us all.
"No; we won't destroy them." He stated calmly. Fear engulfed L's eyes. Mario walked up to him, inches away from his face. "I know exactly what we are going to do with them."
Not waiting for a response, Mario punched L straight in the face, sending him back towards the others. Peasley and Brian walked towards them, and the each grabbed one of the two leaders. Daisy used the plants to tie their legs to the ground, preventing them from running away. Calmly, he walked up to Fawful and Peasley.
"Peasley; I will leave him with you. I'm sure he has caused your Kingdom more trouble than Princess Shroob."
He nodded, summoned his flying Bean, and they flew off without another word.
"And for you…" Mario faced Princess Shroob. "What to do with you?"
I never really heard what her fate was. I noticed that L was trying to sneak away, so I bolted after him. He broke out into a run, but I was faster. I tackled him, pinning him to the ground in the process. My knees were on his legs, one hand was holding both of his, and the other was pinning his head against the stone ground. He started sobbing, complaining about how I was hurting him. Mario's Star flew over, danced in a circle around my head, and faced L. Its light faded to almost nothing, and I turned away and closed my eyes. I still saw the bright light from under my eyelids. L screamed a terrible wail, but it slowly faded to a moan and finally silence. He relaxed under me and his hands grew cold under mine. I stood up slowly, backing away from him.
"What do we do with him?" I asked Mario as he came up from behind me.
"We have to make sure we dispose of him properly." He responded his tone grave. "And make sure he won't come back to life."
After debating a few minutes with everyone else, it was decided. Mario and Brian disposed of his body by dumping it into one of the lava pits at Bowser Land.
It was over…it was finally all over.