Chapter 38: The Eighth Door

Mario

Mario ran. He ran faster than he had ever in his entire life, ignoring everything around him. He ignored the poor Toads running rampant through the streets of the town. He ignored the Void roaring in the sky, the same Void that had torn a huge white scar across the sky with its power. He ignored the now small band of Inverse monsters that terrorized everybody; he could still hear them back at Peach's Castle.

Or...back at what once was Peach's Castle.

The hero felt his heart convulse in his chest and the thought was instantly ejected from his mind. He couldn't tell if he was merely avoiding that fact or if his brain was currently giving him selective amnesia along with the adrenaline coursing through his body.

He barrelled through the gates leading to Shooting Star Summit. He didn't know for certain whether or not they would all be there, but the Summit was the place the Star Spirits would be, at the very least. They would be waiting for him. Mario was never one to try and be conceited, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what their mindset must be at this point: if he was gone, then there was no hope. So many people had been destroyed...

'Guys, c'mon!' Mario urged them. They hadn't been too far from the exit...but they only had seconds. 'Run faster!'

'I'm...I'm going as fast as I can, Bro!' Luigi gasped.

'Mario, I...' Peach panted, exhausted. 'I can't run as fast as you!' She was lagging behind, but neither brother looked back; they needed to get to the door.

Mere seconds had passed and it hadn't gone off. Maybe they had a chance! 'Faster!' the red plumber cried desperately.

'I can't Mario,' the princess responded tiredly. I c—'

Her words were cut off; a deafening explosion tore through the air behind them, knocking the wind out of them and burning their skin from the sheer heat. Mario was lifted off his feet and thrown through the air, crashing headfirst through the castle's front doors. He struck the ground and his entire world flipped and cart wheeled, everything in his vision turning into unrecognizable blurs.

He came to a stop and heard someone land beside him: tilting his head, he saw that it was his brother. 'L...Luigi!' he coughed.

'G...Grambi...' he muttered. 'That really h-hurt...'

Mario understood; his entire body was in pain and he was sure he had broken a few bones; one of his arms was splayed awkwardly to the side. Using the arm that was still intact, he took out an Ultra Shroom and ate it in a few quick bites. A few seconds passed and he felt his strength returning, his bones repairing, and his burned skin disappearing, replaced with new skin. He got up and stumbled, falling on his back; even though his wounds were healed, his coordination wasn't; the Dark Energy Bomb's explosion had taken its toll on him.

When he had regained his footing, he took out another Ultra Shroom for his brother. 'Luigi, have this,' he told his younger sibling. Luigi nodded and ate gratefully. The two were on their feet in a few moments.

'That was crazy...' Luigi sighed, still a little wobbly. 'All right, now we've just gotta give a Mushroom to Peach and—'

'Peach!' Mario suddenly cried out. 'She's...' Their eyes were drawn to the castle; Peach hadn't been thrown through the door or a window. She was still inside the castle! Panic set in and both plumbers ran towards the castle.

'We're coming!' Luigi called, trying to be reassuring.

'Peach, don't worry!' Mario chimed in at the top of his lungs. 'We're going to—'

A loud rumble cut him off and the entire castle shook. He and his brother looked at each other. 'Bro...' Luigi whispered. 'What was—'

Another rumble and a crash rang out; the castle shifted. Another moment of paralyzing terror passed...

Then the castle fell, a gigantic boom filling their eardrums. Both of them screamed in horror, shielding their eyes from the cascade of dust and stone particles that washed over them. Mario yelled out the princess' name, but the cry was lost amongst the thunderous sound of stone and glass collapsing in on itself.

The sound stopped and the wave of harmful powder subsided. Mario remained frozen in place; there was no way he could prepare himself for the sight he knew he had to see. Ten seconds passed...then he looked.

The wonderful castle that to him had been a home away from home had ceased to exist; instead, a huge mass of stone, metal and glass dominated the area. Worst of all...he didn't see Peach.

A cold revulsion gripped his heart and his eyes widened. 'P...Peach...' he breathed.

'M...Mario...?' Luigi tapped his shoulder; the green hero's skin was pale and tears were tracking down his cheeks, but Mario felt no sympathy. Luigi had respected the princess incredibly, but his feelings for her had been no more than a close friendship. The painful knives in his heart didn't run half as deep as Mario's. 'Mario...?' Luigi asked again. 'Say something, Mario!'

'P...P...P...' He couldn't believe what he was seeing, he couldn't believe what had happened. Lying dead underneath the rubble...the one person he connected to so much...that he loved so much...she was...

Mario's stony, heroic composure, which had held strong in impossible situations, which had helped him survive and keep his mind strong, completely crumpled. He ran like a madman towards the remains of the castle. 'PEACH!' he screamed, his entire being filled with the most heartbreaking, soul-crushing emotional pain he had ever felt in his life. 'NO!'

'B-Bro!' Luigi cried after him. 'We can't stay here! The Void!'

Mario heard him, yet didn't. His mind was on one thing, the one thing he had never failed: he had to save Princess Peach. He grabbed the nearest stone, heaved it up, and threw it aside. 'I'll save you!' he yelled. 'Just...just like I always save you!' He grabbed another stone and hurled it away; it was a horribly hopeless effort, but this thought didn't occur to the hero. He needed to save Peach. He would save Peach.

Luigi came up to him. 'Mario, you can't do this!' he cried. 'We need to get out of here!'

'How can you say that?!' his brother demanded, enraged. 'Peach is in there! She needs our help!'

'No Bro, no she doesn't!' the younger sibling said, shaking his head and trying to hold back tears. 'She doesn't need to be saved anymore! Stop it!'

'I need to save her!' Mario grabbed yet another block of stone and threw it away. 'I always save her! Always! I...I've never failed! Never! I won't fail!'

'Mario, cut...cut it out!' Luigi grabbed his brother's shoulder, only for his hand to be angrily shoved off. 'You need to stop! The Void's going to get rid of us if we don't get out of here!'

'Not without Peach!' Mario growled firmly.

'Mario, stop!' the green plumber demanded. He grabbed Mario and tugged hard; Mario struggled against him, yelling into the air. 'Listen to me Mario! Listen, I...just STOP!'

Luigi swung his fist and punched Mario on the side of his head. The red hero dropped the rock he was holding and fell over sideways. Mario laid on the ground for a few moments, silent. Luigi felt like apologizing...but he didn't. Mario needed that. Luigi offered him his hand and the older brother pulled himself off the ground. Tears were fresh in his eyes. 'I'm...sorry,' he said weakly.

'Mario,' the younger one said again. 'We need to go. Merlon and the rest will be at Shooting Star Summit. It's the only place they could be.'

Mario leaned against the side of the Summit, gasping for breath. He had never felt so weak in his life. He pulled himself together as well as he could and climbed the rest of the way.

They were all there. Merlon's whole family stood around the star symbol: Merle, his son, and Merlee, Merlow, and Merluvlee, his grandchildren. The sages of Flipside and Flopside were on the Toad Town fortune-teller's sides, talking fearfully in his ears. The seven Star Spirits, along with their Star Rod, floated around talking amongst themselves. The person he was most happy to see safe and sound was Rosalina, who clutched her wand close to her chest. Kamek's face was locked on the remains of Peach's Castle where he knew his king lay under the rubble.

'Mario!' The fortune-teller was the first to notice his arrival. 'Thank the Overthere you're alive!'

Mario grunted in response and fell over. Everyone scrambled to help him. 'Are you all right Mario?!' Eldstar asked, worried.

'I'm fine...' the plumber muttered, the words sounding distant and hollow in his ears. 'Everyone's here...Rosalina, you're all right?'

The princess of the stars nodded. 'I was saved by that red-haired girl...have you seen her?'

Mario shook his head. 'She's probably dead. At least she saved you.' The princess' look was crestfallen. 'We need to get out of here now. No questions asked.'

They all hesitated at the lack of heroes, but nodded in response. 'Let us depart to Flipside,' the dimension-between-dimensions' Merlon said. Merlon and Nolrem waved their hands in the air; 2D boxes appeared around everyone and they flipped out.

Mario was left alone; another tear had ripped itself into the skyline. As he looked at the world that had become his only dimensional home, his mind slowly sorted itself out. He had failed in saving the world. He had failed at being a hero. He wasn't so super after all...

His heart a cold pit in his chest, he took his red and white Return Pipe out of his pocket and held it above his head. Flipside was the only place he could go to now.

Fawful

Flipside. He had almost forgotten what it looked like. Being in Flipside made him feel somewhat disjointed, as if he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. He didn't like it; it felt too much like home and too little like it at the same time. He supposed that's what it was like living in a dimension between dimensions. It wasn't really real, but it existed somewhere in the dimensional mess of existence anyway.

He looked at the seven colourful doors around him; he was on Flipside Tower. He decided to open one: behind the door was a huge expanse of whiteness. He stuck his head in, tapped his foot on the "floor." In the distance were clusters of lifeless black...things. He closed the door and moved onto the second one. Same thing. All seven doors led to a world of nothingness. He wondered if the Mushroom World and the surrounding galaxies had been the last regular dimension to be annihilated. He sighed; it didn't matter now. His home was gone.

He walked to one of the ends of the tower and saw a completely two-dimensional square floating in the air; it had a red triangle on it pointing down. He pressed it; the square disappeared and another still completely two-dimensional square appeared; it was white with a black line down the middle. It opened up to reveal...an elevator. Fawful frowned and stepped inside; it was the same size as a regular three-dimensional one. He felt the elevator going down, then sideways, and then down again. It stopped after a couple of seconds and opened; he stepped out.

Merlon, Merlon, and Nolrem were in front of Flipside's Merlon's house, accompanied by what looked like several of Toad Town's Merlon's family members, the seven Star Spirits Kamek, and Princess Rosalina. They all turned as they heard the elevator open. 'Fawful!' Toad Town-Merlon exclaimed. 'We thought you were...hm. You've...changed.'

Fawful didn't reply, he just walked over to them. He looked straight up into the air, everyone else following suit. Like the Mushroom World, the Void had blocked out what Flip- and Flopside could call a sky in its entirety. The world didn't have much time. 'We have little time,' Nolrem said to them, putting the thought into words.

'Do you know how many dimensions still exist?' Merlow asked. He was small and probably no older than thirteen, but he was handling the situation surprisingly well.

Flipside-Merlon bit his lip behind his hood. 'I...I believe that there are only three left.'

'...three? How do you know that?' Merluvlee demanded.

'This one, the Underwhere and Overthere, and Castle Dimentio,' he replied. 'I don't believe any regular dimensions are left. You were all very lucky to be on the furthermost edge of the Void's reach.

'Jeez...' Merlee said, tugging her cloak. Fawful found himself wondering why all of Merlon's relatives wore the same kind of clothes.

'What happened to the Cobalt Star and Beanstar?' Muskular asked.

Fawful reached into his dark cape and pulled out his storage cube. Pressing a few buttons brought him to the inventory and a few more made the two objects appear. 'Spirits of Stars,' the Bean said. 'I am wishing for the Beanstar to have awakeness.'

The Star Rod glowed for a moment and the Beanstar woke up without warning. It flew around, a smile on its face, looking at all of the people around it. It make Fawful sick.

'Oh!' Fawful remembered something. He pressed a few more buttons and the Heart Stone appeared in his hands. 'You will be needing this!'

'You found it!' The fortune-teller was grinning under his hood. 'Fantastic!' He took the stone from Fawful's hands.

'How will we create the Purity Heart?' Rosalina asked.

'Simply concentrate your magic on one area and think of the most powerful love you have ever felt. The Purity Heart runs on nothing but love's power. Things are grim...but the fates of all worlds depend on it.' Flipside's Merlon shook his head and put on a determined face.

They all nodded. Kamek and Rosalina pointed their wands at one point in the air. Merlon, the Heart Stone in his hand, and his family put their hands out. Nolrem grabbed the Cobalt Star and Merlon grabbed the Beanstar. Nolrem pointed his free hand at the spot. 'Beanstar,' the Flipside sage whispered. 'I wish for you to become energy in my palms.' The Beanstar nodded and disappeared, leaving Merlon's hands glowing with magical power. They all closed their eyes and each sent shining beams of magic out at the spot in the air, a light glowing brightly. Fawful wasn't interested in the process at all, but he found comfort in knowing that all of their work wasn't for nothing. The Purity Heart was going to be created after all. He stepped into Merlon's house.

To Fawful's surprise, he saw Mario sitting tiredly on a chair in the room. He held the Light Prognosticus in his hands and was reading a passage. 'Red mustache?' the Bean said in disbelief. 'You had the surviving?'

Mario looked up and a chill went through Fawful's body; the always-present determination that shone in the hero's eyes was completely gone, replaced with a sapped lifelessness. 'Yeah...I survived.' His eyes travelled back to the book.

Fawful walked across the room and brought up another chair. The silence was deafening; he could hear the ticking of a clock in the background. 'They are having the creating of the Purity Heart,' he said. 'We are having closeness to the finale.' Mario just kept reading. 'You should begin to have readiness,' he continued. 'Dimentio will have waiting for the ones who are us.'

'No,' Mario said. 'He'll be waiting for you.'

The Beanish boy had heard many ridiculous things in his life, but this took the cake; was Mario quitting? 'But...'

The plumber sighed. 'You know, I never really took notice of this line.' He showed it to Fawful.

'"Darkness breeds despair"...' he read, feeling cold; he remembered saying that to the Void what seemed like a long time ago. The fact that it had actually appeared in the Prognosticuses...

'Everyone's gone,' Mario told Fawful. 'I'm the last one. You and I.' Fawful detected a horrible self-loathing in the plumber's voice. 'When it shouldn't be. I don't deserve this.'

'Mustache...' Fawful muttered. 'Why do you have stop now?'

'Because it's useless. There's nothing I can do. I've already failed. I'm not Super Mario. I'm just Mario Mario, your regular Brooklyn carpenter-turned-plumber. I can't believe I forgot that after all this time in the Mushroom Kingdom.' He paused for a moment, then laughed dryly. 'Haha. "Mario Mario." What a joke.' He closed the book and set it on a table. He turned his chair around to face away from the door and leaned back.

Fawful frowned and stood up. He couldn't believe it: Mario, one of the two people who had wiped Cackletta's very soul from existence, one of the people who had defeated him, was admitting defeat. The one person he had always known would come to the aid of others and fight to the bitter end wasn't fighting anymore. Super Mario, the Mushroom Kingdom's greatest hero, had given up. 'Hmph...' Fawful spat. 'I have disappointment.' He walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

The Purity Heart really was incredible. A huge, shifting heart, gold in colour, it spun in the air in a very similar manner to the Chaos Heart. Indeed, it was the Chaos Heart's opposite in every way; whereas the Chaos Heart gave off a feeling of darkness and destruction, the Purity Heart gave off a feeling of love and, yes, purity. It was because of this that Fawful was standing much farther away from it than everybody else.

'Pah...' he muttered, tugging at his chest. 'It gives Fawful the discomfort!' He coughed. 'Does anyone have deadness?'

'No, everyone's alive,' Nolrem answered. 'Most of Merlon's relatives are exhausted though, and Merle's unconscious. Kamek's wand shattered just as we finished and the Cobalt Star doesn't give off energy anymore. The Star Spirits and their Star Rod are just fine though. I imagine it still grants wishes.'

Fawful nodded. 'I have approval.' He took out his storage cube and put the Purity Heart inside it.

'It is simply amazing, the things your inventions can do,' Flipside's Merlon complimented.

The Bean put the cube away. 'I will have going now.'

'Hm? What about Mario?' Merlon asked.

'Be asking him yourself,' Fawful replied darkly. 'Nolrem, you must have the guiding of me to the door which is leading to the Castle of Dimentio.'

'Is it not possible to simply flip the dimensions and arrive there that way?' Nolrem asked.

Fawful allowed himself his trademark grin. 'Yes,' he answered, 'but Fawful has thinking that it would have more dramaticness if he arrived in the way of that.'

Flopside's sage sighed. 'You villains...'

As he began to walk, he stopped. 'Nolrem, have the meeting of me there,' he told the sage. 'Fawful has...a wish that he is wanting to be granted.'

Mimi

Mimi was tired. After everything she had gone through, she was simply tired. Her body was exhausted, her soul was exhausted, her heart was exhausted. All the drama, all the pain, all the heartache...it had left her drained in every sense of the word.

That doesn't matter now, she told herself as a tremor shook the rocky world. It'll all be over soon. She looked around her; at least she wasn't alone. Blumiere, Timpani, O'Chunks, Peach, Nastasia, Bowser...they had all formed a circle on the floor. Mimi found the floor uncomfortable, but what could you expect sitting on the stone surface of Queen Jaydes' temple?

'It's almost the end...' Timpani muttered. 'I'm...I'm scared.'

Blumiere hugged her tightly. 'Don't worry,' he told her. 'It'll be painless.'

'But I don't want to just disappear!' she cried.

'Aye...tha Count's right, lass,' O'Chunks told her. 'Yeh shouldn't be afraid. Our time's come. We should jus' a'cept it.' Timpani sniffled.

'At least we're together,' Peach said.

'Those plumbers aren't here,' Bowser reminded her. 'Neither's that wimpy Bean.'

'Which means they're still alive,' Blumiere told them. 'And while one of us lives, there's a chance. Sammer's Kingdom was revived in the end after the Chaos Heart was destroyed and the Void closed. There's still a chance.'

Mimi's legs were propped up tightly against her chest and she was again reminded of Jaydes' generosity; if it hadn't been for her magic she would be a Shayde and have no legs to prop up. There were no Shaydes in the Underwhere now, and probably no Nimbis in the Overthere. There's still a chance... Her red eyes glistened with tears; for her to live, Dimentio would have to die. What a cruel fate...

Suddenly, a light flickered in the centre of the circle they made; a projection of Fawful appeared. 'Whoa!' Bowser exclaimed. 'Hey...that's his Dark form!'

'So...' Blumiere breathed. 'He's succumbed to the Chaos Heart after all...'

The Fawful projection looked around for a bit; apparently they couldn't be seen by him. 'Fawful is having a message,' he said to the air. 'The Purity Heart has creation...Fawful had the finding of the Heart Stone and Merlon and the others had the surviving. Fawful is close to the battle of finalness, so...he is just wanting to tell you this information of usefulness.' He looked around again and another tremor shook the Underwhere. 'If...Fawful has the failing, then he will never have the seeing of you because the Underwhere will no longer have existence. So...Fawful would just like to have saying...' For a moment, his eyes met Mimi's and she could swear he knew he was looking at her. 'Fawful will try to have the saving of you. Don't have worry. If he is not, then...goodbye forever.' Mimi saw what looked like a tear forming in one of his eyes. 'That...is all.'

'Oh Fawfie...' the shape-shifter whispered sadly. 'I'm sorry...for breaking your heart in the end.'

The apparition disappeared.

Fawful

Fawful stood before the colossal door, black as night. He knew just where it led: straight to Dimentio's stronghold. He clenched his fists; he and Dimentio had butted heads a lot, with all of their confrontations ending in a stalemate. It was too much. Their score would be settled now, finally...and depending on the victor the worlds would either be saved or perish.

'That is unless you decide to follow Dimentio's path...' the Chaos Heart said.

He picked at the skin on his face; the veins had travelled up halfway across his cheeks. If the Chaos Heart wasn't completed soon, he would die.

'Hey, kid!' It was Kamek; the Magikoopa came running towards him, huffing and puffing. 'Haah...haah...I am...way too...old for this!' he gasped.

'Heh,' Fawful chuckled. 'I have agreement, nanny.'

'I am not Bowser's NANNY!' he roared. 'Jeez, you come to see a guy off and all he does is insult you!'

'Pff...' Fawful snickered.

Kamek sighed. 'Listen, I just wanna get this off my chest, okay?' He took a breath. 'I think you've done a pretty good job, kid. You've exceeded my expectations. Now stop trying to kill me, you might actually win next time.'

Fawful nodded. 'Thanking you.'

'More and more like a hero each day, huh kid?' He stretched his back. 'Well...be careful, all right? And don't let that thing,' he added, jabbing his chest, 'get to your head. Or heart, I should say. The last thing we need is a megalomaniac Bean destroying all worlds and making a new one.'

The Bean nodded again, this time with a firm look on his face. 'You have the word of mine,' he told the old Koopa.

'Prove me wrong about your word, then,' Kamek replied.

Fawful smiled one last time, savouring the muscle movements; he imagined it would be the last time he smiled in a long time. Turning around, he clenched his fists and took a deep breath. This was the point of no return. He exhaled and pushed the huge door open.

Castle Dimentio awaited him once more.