Act 3: The Final Ending

Chapter 60: Reunion


Edit Finished On 3/16/20

Published On 4/9/20


Author Note: This is it, the longest chapter in the fic (so far). The Steven Universe Future Finale was perfect in every way, but I'm sad to see it go. The reason this chapter is so long is that there was so much I wanted to do in it, and I think I accomplished it all. Have fun reading! Also, I decided to upload today because today is Super Paper Mario's 13th birthday! (In the US, that is)

Also, my upload schedule is gonna change a little bit since I have more time to write, so I'm gonna try and write two chapters ahead before I publish the next chapter (I'm already finished with Chapter 63 as of posting this) I hope you enjoy this chapter!


Review Response

Wishmaker1028: Thank you, I hope everything is going well for you too.


She inputted the code on the screen ahead of her, allowing her to check on her newest colony.

Yellow Diamond smiled, seeing how quickly the green planet was getting colonized. The screen in front of her allowed her to see the progress without having to actually travel there herself. The Jades that would emerge from the Kindergartens would surely be a useful addition to Homeworld.

Blue Diamond was overseeing the colonization of a nearby planet that would also bring forth a new wave of Jades. It was funny, really. A group of Jades that would be in her own court, and another group of Jades that would be in Blue's court.

She was almost tempted to laugh, but forced her expression back into an unmoving frown. A new colony was no laughing matter. Even if it was just she and her Pearl here, she still had to set an example. That was what was expected of her and Blue.

They were Diamonds. Supreme rulers of all Gems. They had to show that no Gems could fall out of line. In the past, they'd used certain methods to absolutely make sure of this, such as the rejuvenators, but… they'd stopped being produced for thousands of years. She didn't exactly agree with the decision, but whatever. She had her own project in the works for making Gems obey, anyway.

"Pearl." Yellow Diamond spoke. Her Pearl stood up straight and faced her, giving the Diamond salute. "Turn my communication device back on."

Yellow Pearl nodded. "Yes, my Diamond." She turned to the inactive communication panel before inputting the password on a nearby screen. Once activated, the screen dinged, pulling up a selection menu. Yellow Pearl scanned the menu, before pausing on one item. "You have one missed audio message from Blue Diamond, my Diamond."

"Pull it up on my larger screen." Yellow Diamond ordered. A few moments later, a large block of text in Gem Glyph appeared. Audio messages would always be transcribed so anyone listening to it could follow along on the screen. And then, she heard Blue Diamond's voice.

"Yellow… I hope you hear this as soon as you can. Those two giant masses, the ones we've named 14-GH-53 and 76-QD-32, I wanted to give you an update on them." Yellow Diamond raised an eyebrow. She hadn't expected one so soon, only a few days after the initial call.

"14-GH-53… has changed its behavior. It seems to be fixated on Earth…" Good. Then when the Cluster finally forms, it'll destroy it. It'll be a double victory, killing two birds with one stone. She'll have her Cluster and it'll destroy that giant entity. However…

"And 76-QD-32… well… it appears to be getting bigger. What's strange about it is that when we try to get closer, it just stays the same size. It will randomly just… grow bigger…" That was very similar to what some of her own highest-ranking Gems reported to her before she'd temporarily shut off her communication device.

Looking back now, maybe that was a mistake. It was just a brief bout of anger she had. In all the endless years she'd been a Diamond, she'd never been that angry… except for one time. She just as promptly drove away the memory as it came back to her.

Of course, this time that she'd gotten angry… Was because of a Peridot. She'd already forgotten the Peridot's identification, but why would that matter now? After all, it was just a tiny, useless Peridot that had gone against her orders. A Peridot that didn't even have her limb enhancers.

The Peridot had somehow lost the Jasper that she assigned, and to add insult to injury, somehow managed to land on a completely different planet that was not Earth. And to think, that Peridot had given her a good report on several species that were on Earth a few months prior.

The reports were still useful, but the Peridot not. Whatever. It was just one measly Peridot anyway. Due to her horribly misguided actions, she was lower than a speck in the gargantuan authority that was Homeworld. Any other Peridot could replace that horrid old one in an instant. Why, it would just be as easy as the snap of her fingers, figuratively.

In her thoughts, she realized she'd lost focus and the message was now over. Shoot, just how much did she miss? She rewound it a bit back to where it was when she was still listening.

"I'm going to give it just two more days. If it grows again, then I'm going to talk to her about it." Of course Blue would do that. Then again, she herself had been a bit tempted… although perhaps Blue was just rushing into it too fast. If anything, 14-GH-53 should be the bigger threat. 76-QD-32 hadn't done any damage to anything, while 14-GH-53 has reportedly swallowed at least several planets.

The message was over. The screen turned off. Yellow Diamond put a hand on her chin, thinking over what she should do. She needed to think calmly and rationally, to make sure that her decision would be based in logic and not in blind fear.

14-GH-53 could just swallow up Earth, get destroyed by the Cluster, and that would be it. There was the possibility that it might just fly away from Earth and go somewhere else… no, if it was already near Earth, then it would swallow it up. That was the rational course of thinking.

So 14-GH-53 would take care of itself. Great, so what about 76-QD-32? The first reported sighting of it was merely just several days ago. So why was it suddenly becoming a big deal? Well, because it was growing. Slowly.

And so far, it hadn't done anything except be an eyesore. Yellow would wait around… five more days at minimum. If the issue became bigger, then she would take action. In the meantime…

If the first Peridot she assigned for the mission wasn't going to do her own job… well maybe this new one would. She turned on her screen and began typing up an assignment herself for the Peridot in question.


"What!?" Count Bleck's voice rang through the room. Yet again, he and his minions were having a meeting. Today, there was a full attendance. Nastasia was in her usual spot next to Count Bleck, and Dimentio, O'Chunks, and Mimi were in their usual spots too. The Dark Prognosticus floated next to Count Bleck.

"…Spat Count Bleck in utter disbelief." Count Bleck continued. "Surely, this news cannot be true! The heroes still live?"

Dimentio chuckled a little to himself. "Oh, I'm afraid so, my count. In fact, I think they will be here before long." He said in a sing-song voice.

"Whuh? Izzat true, then?" O'Chunks questioned, raising an eyebrow. "What're we doin' twiddlin' our biscuits 'ere?" He cleared his throat. "Count Bleck! Lemme go throw 'em a nice welcome party… I'll bring the punch!"

"Ooh, I wanna party with those party poopers too!" Mimi cheered. "Wait for me, O'Chunks!" She then giggled before teleporting off of her platform right after O'Chunks jumped off of his own.

"Well, I'm normally not one to miss a party…" Dimentio said. "But of course, I can't be skipping out on the count's request, can I?"

"There is one reason only that Count Bleck chose you to join me and Nastasia for this, Dimentio." Count Bleck said, a small smile creeping onto his face. "And that is because out of all of my minions, I have trusted in you the most."

"It truly is an honor, Count." Dimentio said, wearing a smile of his own. "You know, you made a very good call in coming back for me. I never did figure out why, though."

Count Bleck paused. "Count Bleck realized that you would be a good asset. That is the only reason."

"I'm charmed." Dimentio chuckled a little. "Hm… perhaps I should go to your requested location a bit early? I don't suppose it would hurt anything."

"Hm… Very well, but remain hidden until Nastasia and I get there." Count Bleck ordered. "We do not want our plans given away too early."

"Understood." Dimentio nodded. He looked ready to leave, but then remembered something. "Oh, but wait one moment… Dear Count… Does the name 'Blumiere' ring a bell?"

It would seem as if a chilled breeze just swept into the already cool room. At Dimentio's seemingly innocent question, Nastasia froze up and Count Bleck's smile disappeared. "Where did you hear that name, Dimentio?!" Count Bleck questioned.

"Oh, the mustache man's Pixl went on and on…" Dimentio explained, the smile staying on his face. "She said, 'I must stop Blumiere.'" Count Bleck lowered his hat. "But I suppose there's no reason to pay any mind to the ramblings of a Pixl… Ciao for now, my count!"

At once, Dimentio disappeared, leaving a surprised Nastasia and a sullen Count Bleck. For a few moments, both of them were silent, not uttering even a single word. Count Bleck pulled his hat down even further over his face, attempting to conceal the few tears that streamed down his eyes.

"Count Bleck!" Nastasia said, trying to snap Count Bleck out of it. She paused, unsure of what she should say next. "If… Um… If that Pixl is who you think it is… There's still time! You can still stop the prophecy from destroying everything! Yeah, because. if that's really her… If she's alive, you have to stop all of this!"

"…You know not what you are saying, Nastasia." Count Bleck said, facing away from her. "The prophecy can no longer be stopped by Count Bleck. No one can stop it. You know as well as I do that what we are going to do soon will make that impossible."

Nastasia looked a bit surprised. "Yeah, I'm on board with what you're saying…but there must be a way. There must… A-After all, if we don't execute the final part of the prophecy, then we… could stop doing this… and look for her… Lord Blumiere!"

Beat.

Count Bleck let go of his hat, letting it sit back upright to where it should be. He wiped his tears away before lowly chuckling. "The man known as Blumiere died long ago. Now there is only Bleck! The Dark Prognosticus's choice to fulfill the prophecy! Nothing more!"

Nastasia looked at the ground, a few tears of her own dropping to the ground. "But…" She didn't have the heart to say anything else.

Count Bleck turned to her. "Please, Nastasia, do not cry. Come now, let us away to prepare for the final part of the prophecy." Nastasia wiped her tears away and nodded in response. With that, both of them vanished.


"Blumiere, my son, don't! Even your ancestors could not handle that dark book…"

"If you open it…there's no telling what might happen!"

"I do not care, Father! A world without her is empty. A life without her is empty."

"Speak, Dark Prognosticus! Teach your dark history! I await your command!"

"BLEH HEH HEH! BLECK!"

"Blumiere… What have you done?"

"Silence! The first prophecy beckons. I will erase every inch…of this blasted world!"

"Blu-Blumiere! Don't do this! Blumiere!"

"Blumiere is no more! I am Count Bleck! And no one shall stand in my way!"

"BLEH HEH HEH! BLECK!"'

Lightning crash.

"No! Blumiere! You mustn't! Darling… How could you… Oh… Darling… You… Why…"

"Hey! Tippi! Snap out of it, will ya?"

"Wh-huh?!"

At Bowser's exclamation, Tippi suddenly floated upward a little. Looking around, she could see that she was in front of the purple door in Flipside, and the others were standing around her. "What… happened…?"

"We got back to Flipside, and we were about to take the elevator until we saw that you weren't with us." Connie explained. "We looked back and, well…"

"You were just lying on the ground, not moving." AJ finished.

"And then you began screaming." Chester added. "Which totally freaked me out."

"Yeah, that was a bit spooky, I'll have to admit." Violet chuckled a little, though it was more out of nervousness than anything else.

"You're okay, aren't you?" Trixie asked. "Like, you don't feel weird or anything like that?"

Tippi floated there for a few seconds before answering. "Um… I'm all right… I'm sorry for startling all of you…"

"No need to apologize." Kammy said. "It can happen."

"Tippi, I heard you say something about a 'Blumiere.'" Peach remembered. "Is that a person's name you were saying? Were you remembering something from your past, perhaps?"

"No… It's nothing…" Tippi waved her off. "Nothing at all…" She tried to laugh to ease the situation, but it just didn't seem to work.

"Whoever this Blumiere guy is, we don't have time to worry about it." Mario said, attempting to refocus the situation. "What we do need to worry about is what we're going to do now that we've gotten the last Pure Heart. Every single other Heart Pillar led us to the next Pure Heart, but now that we have the last one, what would happen if we put it in a Heart Pillar?"

"Maybe we should go to Merlon's, he'd know what to do…" Tippi suggested, glad that Mario changed the topic.

"Last one to the elevator is a rotten egg!" Tootie suddenly exclaimed, already racing to the elevator.

"Okay, can we please stop with these unnecessary races?" Bowser huffed before walking to the elevator.

"Plus, the elevator's literally just several feet away." Connie pointed out.

The group went into the elevator, and the trip down seemed a little shorter than usual, but that was probably just the buzzing excitement that was mixed with slight anxiety from what could be to come next.

When the elevator dinged and opened, there were Flipside citizens roaming around, acting like they were relieved to finally be home.

"They're back?" Violet asked. They'd all gotten used to Flipside being empty as it had been for the past few days, but now it was beginning to look as it did previously, before the Eliminators took them all. It was a good thing that the Eliminators didn't know about Flopside.

"You bet they're back!" From their left, Terrance was walking up to them, followed by Tamara. "My wife and I helped get them back, and it was so awesome! You should've seen us!"

"We're in the process of getting everyone back here." Tamara explained. "It's been taking a little while because… Fairy World kinda got a little destroyed."

"But don't worry, it's in the rebuilding process right now." Terrance assured. "And we're almost finished with getting everyone back here, too."

"It already looks lively around here." Mario commented.

"Ooh, it sure is!" Tamara agreed. "And there was this really nice chef that offered to cook us something for our troubles. I'll have to pay her another visit sometime, that soup she cooked was really good."

"And I liked her chocolate cake!" Terrance added. "Although it could've used a bit more chocolate, if I'm being honest."

"Come on, honey, we need to get back to Dark Laser and Vicky so we can help them move some debris." Tamara said before she or her husband could waste any more of their precious time.

"Oh right, sorry." Terrance apologized before turning back to Mario's group. "Well, I hope you all get those Pure Hearts!" He walked off, his wife following him.

"We've already gotten all the Pure Hearts!" Trixie called out, but Terrance and Tamara were already too far away.

"Oh well, they didn't hear us." Chester shrugged. "Guess there's nothing else to do now except talk to Merlon."

"Wait, shouldn't we eat first?" Tootie asked.

"It can wait a little bit longer." Kammy said. "For now, we need to talk to Merlon."

Merlon's house was already very close by, so it took them almost no time at all to get there. When they entered his relatively small house, he was pleased that they'd all gotten the final Pure Heart, and that they were all reunited as a group.

"So, what would happen if we put the Pure Heart into the last pillar… considering we've already gotten all the Pure Hearts?" Violet asked.

"Well, if the Light Prognosticus is correct, then a black door will open up on Flopside tower once you've put the Pure Heart in." Merlon explained. "And on the other side of that door would lie the stronghold that is Castle Bleck."

"Wait, right to where that dumb Count Bleck is?" Bowser asked. "Well then what are we doing just standing around here then? Let's go put that Pure Heart in the pillar and kick some Bleck butt!"

"Hold on, we can't just charge in there willy-nilly!" Peach argued. "We need a plan! What if we decide to go there right now and he has his minions lined up at the door, waiting to ambush us?"

"Yes, we do need a plan before making any hasty decisions." Merlon agreed. "Hm… Since Terrance's group is finishing up, I'd say that the other groups should be finishing up as well."

"In the best case scenario, the Cluster and the Darkness have already been taken care of." Connie said. "And if they aren't finished yet, then we'll help them out, and then all as a group we can come up with a plan."

"Okay, but how would we even get there? I don't see any way out of Flipside aside from those doors at the top." Tootie asked.

Merlon appeared to be in thought for a moment, before he had an epiphany. "Ah, I just remembered! Somewhere in my house, there is a passageway that leads to a rainbow portal that leads… somewhere. I only remembered it because after I'd come back here yesterday, I found my place ransacked by the Eliminators That… was not fun to clean."

"Oh, that portal?" Bowser asked casually. "The one that leads to Dimmsdale?" A few seconds passed, and he looked around, seeing the others stare at him as if he grew another arm. "Right, nobody else knows about that portal…"

"…How did you know about that portal… and where it goes?" Tippi asked.

"Ugh, back when all those Eliminators arrived and ambushed us, I… sorta got mixed up with Mr. L." Bowser explained. "And he destroyed the house looking for the portal… so yeah. That's pretty much it."

"…That explains it." Mario said after a moment of silence. He clapped his hands together, as if to try to hurry things along. "Okay! So, where is this portal?"

"It should be behind one of the walls, I dunno which it was." Bowser shrugged.

"I know." Merlon responded. "After all, it was the wall that had a giant hole in it." Merlon walked to his shelf, most of the previous items that had been on it having been replaced with new ones. On the top shelf, there was a dull book lying on its side. Even though it looked to never have been opened, it hadn't been gathering any dust.

"This is how you're supposed to open the wall." Merlon said. He grabbed the book off the shelf. A moment later, one of the walls opened, revealing a room with a pole that went downward. "Once we slide down this pole, we should arrive at the portal."

"It's safe, right?" Trixie asked.

"If you're referring to the pole, then yes." Merlon answered. "If you're referring to the portal, then…"

"I was fine after I went through it, don't see how it would affect anyone else differently." Bowser said.

"Then that settles that, I guess. As a quick warning, it takes around half a minute to slide down the pole, so don't let go too early." Merlon said. "I'll be tagging along, because I'm getting close to uncovering new info from the Light Prognosticus, and it would be imperative for you to hear it as soon as possible." He made sure to grab the Light Prognosticus before carefully grabbing onto the pole and slide down.

A few seconds passed. "I'll be next." Mario said, taking the initiative. He walked forward, waited a few seconds, and then slid down the pole.

"I call next!" Chester yelled. He hardly waited at all before racing to the pole, quickly jumping onto it.

One by one, all of them took turns going to the pole before sliding down. As the number of them that were still in Merlon's house slowly dwindled, Tippi went into the open room with the pole and began floating downward. By the time she made it to the bottom, the last person just finished sliding down the pole.

It was dark in this new hallway, so Mario used his firebrand to light it up a bit as they walked down. Mario didn't have to keep his firebrand up for long, because after around a minute of walking, they found the big, rainbow portal.

The portal was mostly rainbow in its outline, but the middle was just a little bit translucent, whatever was on the other side masked by the rainbow overlay. But, if one were to squint hard enough, they could just barely see that above the portal's exit would be above a lawn. More specifically, the one that led to the Turner's house.

"So, quick question." Connie said. "Why is this portal here? It just seems a bit… convenient."

"…I don't even know the answer to that question myself, to be quite frank." Merlon answered.

And with that, there would be nothing else to do except for them to go into the portal, wondering just what would happen on the other side.


After the several earthquakes that the now-bubbled Cluster caused, it was no surprise that the area around the barn was now in disarray. Even with Bowser's minions trying to make sure everything stayed orderly, the earthquakes make it very hard to do so. The earthquakes stopped around close to an hour ago, to which they were all thankful for.

The drill that they'd been building had to be used a bit earlier than they wanted to, but it was necessary, otherwise they might not even be here anymore. And, after the earthquakes stopped, it was only natural to assume that the Cluster had been stopped.

Eventually, the drill could be seen climbing out of the long hole that it made. It appeared to be moving quickly, using the three metal prongs it had to climb up through the hole. Upon getting close enough to the ground, the drill managed to spring up out of the hole, inadvertedly falling onto its side.

The drill's window opened and the three occupants practically fell onto the ground, letting out grunts as they did so. Immediately a few of the minions went over to help them in case they were hurt.

"Ugh, that was too terrifying." Peridot said, already standing up. "…But we did it!"

"Yeah, we did it together and it was great." Steven agreed as a Koopa helped him up. As the three all got up, two of the captains they'd met earlier walked up to them; Captain Koopa and Shy Guy.

"So… did your journey go okay?" Captain Koopa asked a bit nervously.

"If you discount the drill malfunction, getting attacked by mutants, and nearly losing our lives, I'd say it went pretty well." Mike answered.

Peridot couldn't help but snigger in response. "Wow, when'd you get a sense of humor?"

"When didn't I have one?" Mike asked. He turned to the two Captains. "Hey, do one of you have any water?"

"I'll go get some." Captain Koopa said before rushing off.

"You did take care of the Cluster, right?" Captain Shy Guy asked, just to be sure.

"Yeah. I put it in this huge bubble, and now it's not going to hurt anybody!" Steven answered, raising his arms up to emphasize his point.

"That's cool, that's cool." Captain Shy Guy nodded. There was a small bout of silence.

"So, Steven!" Peridot suddenly said, breaking the silence. "I have to say, there's just one tiny thing I'd like to ask you." She took a deep breath. "I've seen you use pretty much all of Rose Quartz's abilities; her shield, her bubble, but… I have never seen any Gem change the color of their own gem without going into a fusion."

"Huh?" Steven asked, not following what she was saying.

"Right before you passed out on us, your Gem started to glow black." Mike explained. "After a little bit, right before you woke up, it went back to normal. I… don't think that's normally supposed to happen."

"Yeah, in all my years on Homeworld, there has not been one singular recorded instance of a Gem changing color like that." Peridot added. "Do… you know why that happened?"

"Uh…" Steven looked away, a little nervous. "I… no. I'm just as confused as you are."

"Well, you did jump into the Darkness a while back." Peridot remembered. "Maybe that-"

"I got the water!" Captain Koopa said, coming back at the worst possible time. "I got one for each of you, since you all looked thirsty." He handed each of them a water bottle.

"Wow, thanks, but no thanks." Peridot declined. "I'm a Gem, so I have no thirst." She gave her water bottle to Steven. "So, now that the Cluster has been taken care of, you guys can focus on fixing the barn."

"Was there anything special that you wanted done to it?" Captain Shy Guy asked. "Cause, we can do anything if you really want us to, just ask."

"Just make it look like how it was before." Peridot answered, already trying to wave them off. She gestured to the other two. "Okay, let's go." She began walking away, though stopped when they weren't following her.

"Can you hang on a second?" Mike asked. "I finally just got to breath in fresh air and have something to drink, let me enjoy this for a minute."

"Yeah, drilling to the Cluster was pretty stressful." Steven added. "Maybe we could just take a rest for five or ten minutes?"

"You wanna know what else is stressful?" Peridot questioned. She pointed her arm up into the sky. "That!" Constantly in the sky, always in view, was the Void. "And there's also the Darkness, even though it isn't in view right now, I'm pretty sure it was very close to Earth! We need to hurry so that we can take care of them!"

"Peridot, you know that the others are taking care of that!" Steven said. "Look, I want both of them gone just as much as you do, but you have to remember that we don't have to do everything alone! That's why the others are there to help!"

"...You're right." Peridot conceded. "Sorry about that, I just… got a little too carried away. I really, really care about the Earth, and…"

"I wouldn't want anything to happen to the planet I live on either, I get it." Mike said after taking another sip of his water. "But I would try not getting too overboard about it like you just did. People can do some very crazy stuff when they're very passionate about something. Trust me, I… know from experience."

"Okay then, let's take a more rational approach." Peridot said. "Hm… we could try and help the other groups with what they're doing. We know that Fairy World has been freed, and that Timmy's group is busy with the Destructionator, and that Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are busy with Malachite."

"I think the Gems can handle Malachite, so we should probably help with defeating the Destructionator." Steven suggested.

"Hm… actually, wait a second." Peridot said. "Since we didn't see any weapons in the Earth while drilling… I'd have to reason that they've already taken care of the Destructionator, but I don't know how."

"Sounds like pretty good logic. What else is there we can do, then?" Mike asked.

"Well, there is the matter of gathering all the Pure Hearts still." Peridot answered. "But the people in charge of collecting those are in a completely different dimension, and as of right now we have no way to get to that dimension."

"So what you're saying is that we have nowhere to go." Mike said bluntly.

"No, I didn't say that." Peridot replied. "I just said that every group is either probably finished with what they're doing or is unreachable at this time."

"That's pretty much the same thing, Peridot." Steven said. "Well, if Lion's still here, maybe he could show us where to go."

"You mean the same pastel 'Lion' Peridot chased me with a few days ago?" Mike questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"How many times are you gonna mention that?" Peridot asked, noticing that this was his second time pointing it out.

"As many times as I feel like." Mike shrugged. "So, where did this lion go? It was here right before we began drilling."

"I dunno, maybe he needed to get some exercise." Steven said. He cupped his hands over his mouth. "Lion, where are you?" He made sure to be as loud as possible in his call. A few seconds passed.

There was suddenly as commotion behind them, and they turned around to see Lion bounding toward them, pushing past the minions and knocking down several tables. Lion barely managed to stop himself right before he ran into the three that were waiting for him.

"Hey, there you are Lion!" Steven cheered. He looked ahead, seeing the mess that Lion caused. "Next time you might wanna be a bit more careful, buddy. Anyway, we aren't really sure where we should go now, so… do you know?"

After several seconds, Lion closed his eyes before lowering his front legs, arching himself downward. He opened his eyes again, looking at all three of them one at a time.

Steven gasped. "He does know!" He hopped onto Lion's back, and then waved for the others to hop on.

Mike finished up his water bottle and tossed it aside before getting on right after Peridot did. "So, is this Lion just gonna run until he gets to his destination like a normal Lion would?" Mike asked. "I'm not sure if I can handle any more weirdness today."

Lion began running forward. "Mike, you should not underestimate Lion." Peridot said, turning her head around to talk to him. "He can do some pretty crazy stuff."

"Like what?" Mike challenged. Just then, Lion roared, and a giant, pink portal opened up him front of him as he charged toward it. Mike was speechless as Lion jumped through the portal, his destination unknown to his passengers.


…Sleep was all that he wanted right now. At the moment he didn't know why, but it was the best and most soothing option for him. He wasn't even aware of it at first to be completely honest; only recently he was. And yet, it was only… sometime after he became aware that something felt wrong. Almost like there was a presence, a sort of-

A low, ghoulish roar woke Timmy up. He sat up, just about ready to scream. He kept it in, though.

His vision was still fuzzy as he tried to recall what he was doing before he'd fallen asleep. Yeah, he went to fight the Destructionator, Luigi and Junior were with him… and then they all got mixed up with the Gems and Malachite… and then the Destructionator sucked in all the weapons, and then he pressed the button…

After that, his memory stopped. Anything after that button press seemingly didn't exist in his head, so he had no idea how he got to… his front lawn? Slowly, he became more aware of his current situation.

Junior and Luigi were also asleep not too far from him, and several feet away were Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl; all three of them passed out. And a bit away from them were the two components of the fusion they'd been fighting earlier, Lapis and Jasper. Both of them were conked out as well.

Timmy stood up. It was nighttime. How long had he been out? And, now that he thought about it… His clothes felt a bit lighter than before. He looked down. Somehow, he was back to his regular clothes; his pink shirt with his blue pants and shoes. …There were more gaps in his memories than he thought.

Well, standing here thinking about it wouldn't solve anything. First things first, the others need to wake up. Timmy walked over to Junior, deciding that the young koopa was the first one he should awake. Though, as he got close, Junior began to stir on his own.

Junior let out a small groan as he slowly began to wake up, blinking a few times. He remained laying down, not wanting to get up. "Ugh…" He then saw that Timmy was standing by him. "Hey."

"Hey." Timmy replied. "How… are you doing?" It was still just a little bit awkward, for some reason.

"Everything hurts." Junior groaned. Eventually, he picked himself up off the grass, attempting to stand up. He wobbled a little, but Timmy was there to help him get his balance. "Thanks."

"No problem." Timmy said, stepping back a little. Next to him, he heard a grunt followed by a cough. Luigi just woke up, and was already getting up.

"Why are we here?" Was the first thing Luigi said. He turned to Timmy. "At your house?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Timmy answered.

"…I need a minute." Luigi sat back down. "Geez, what happened after I…" He paused, holding his head.

"You okay?" Junior asked.

"I'm fine. I just have a small headache, that's all." Luigi answered. He let go of his head. "So, what happened?"

"I'll explain when the others wake up." Timmy said.

As if right on cue, there was a small shuffling sound as Pearl woke up, trying to push herself off the ground. For a few seconds, she looked content. Suddenly, her face contorted into that of a look of horror before she looked at Garnet and Amethyst for a moment before turning to the other three that were awake. "What happened?"

"I think everything's fine." Luigi answered. "Apparently Timmy knows everything that happened, so we should wait for everyone else to wake up first before explaining it."

"…Okay." Pearl said. She stood up, and only moments later did Garnet wake up. She got up, kneeling on one knee before turning to her left to check on Amethyst.

"I'm alive." Amethyst gave a thumbs up, revealing that apparently she'd been awake for a lot longer than they thought, but she didn't want to move too much right now.

"So… are those two gonna wake up?" Junior asked, referring to Lapis and Jasper.

Garnet stood up fully before turning her head to look at the two fallen Gems. "They'll be fine." Garnet answered. "Lapis and Jasper spent an unbearable amount of time fused together. The emotional and physical strain of that type of fusion; I can't even begin to imagine. Both of them will need a lot of time to recover."

"That's fine." Timmy said. "Now that most of us are awake, I think we all need to make sure we're up to speed on what happened."

"Yeah, after a certain point I just… don't remember anything. I'm not sure why." Luigi answered.

"Okay, then let's start with you." Pearl said. "What was the last thing you remember doing?"

"I… remember hearing a noise, like something fell on the ground, and…" Luigi closed his eyes, trying to remember more clearly. He reopened them. "That's it."

"You grabbed the detonator, that's what you did." Timmy finished. "You put it in your pocket, you passed out, and then I found the detonator in your pocket."

"I think I got kicked by Malachite…" Junior said, just talking about it making him relive the pain over again. "I was in my shell, but it still hurt a bunch…" After he finished speaking, he groaned, sitting back down.

"Obviously we defeated Malachite." Garnet said. "Though what happened afterward… we got defeated by the Destructionator. It's obvious because Alexandrite began struggling against him, and I don't remember beating him."

"He sucked in all the weapons he put in the Earth, and then he blew himself up." Timmy answered.

"That still doesn't answer why we're here." Amethyst said, her voice muffled due to her not moving from her original spot.

"Amethyst, get up!" Pearl scolded. "This is no time to be laying around!"

"Fine." Amethyst said, lifting her head up off the ground. "Aw, dude!" She was looking at Timmy. "Why'd you get rid of that cool costume you had?"

"Oh, now you think that costume is cool." Timmy crossed his arms. "And I don't know what happened to it."

"None of this explains how we got here still." Junior added.

Beat.

"…I think I may know how we all got here." Luigi said, standing back up. "It's simple if you think about it." He cleared his throat. "There was a warp pad near where we were all fighting. One of the Gems must've woken up and used it. I'm assuming there's a warp pad near here, so we probably just all walked back here and then passed back out."

"As for how Timmy's costume came off, that's easy to explain too. The Destructionator's explosion must've blown off the costume, leaving him in his regular clothing." Luigi finished. "I think that clears up all the confusion about this."

"There is a warp pad near Dimmsdale, so I'd say you're right." Garnet said.

"So what should we do now?" Amethyst asked, sitting up all the way.

Pearl cleared her throat. "Well, we should-"

"Stay here." Garnet finished, adjusting her glasses.

"Let me guess, future vision." Timmy said.

"Bingo bongo." Garnet answered, smiling.

Without warning, there was a large POOF! above them, accompanied by a pink cloud that dissipated after several seconds, revealing three floating figures.

"Are you sure that this is where they are, Wanda?" Cosmo asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Wanda answered while she held Poof. "You can see them below us right now!"

"Oooh, I see now." Cosmo said, looking down. Not wasting another second, he floated down to where Timmy was, Wanda right behind him. "Hi Timmy!" He paused. "Hey, why'd you change out of your cool suit that Turbo gave you?"

"Ignoring that." Timmy responded.

"So, did you beat up the Destructionator?" Wanda asked a more reasonable question while also trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Sure did." Timmy answered. "He's gone forever and never coming back."

"Also, us fighting the Destructionator sort of got mixed in with the Gems fighting Malachite." Luigi added for clarification.

"Eh, I just see it as killing two birds with one stone." Amethyst gave her two cents.

"Were you or any of the other fairies able to find the Ice Wand?" Pearl asked to Cosmo and Wanda.

"Nope!" Cosmo answered. "We looked everywhere where there was ice, such as Greenland, several hockey and skating rinks, but there was no luck. Some of the other fairies like Turbo and Jorgen are still looking."

"Hold on a second." Wanda said, cutting in. "Did you not see any Ice Wand at the North Pole? You were all there, so you probably could've seen it at some point."

"No. There was no Ice Wand at the North Pole." Garnet clarified. "There was a lot of fighting and destruction there. If there was an Ice Wand, it would've easily stuck out."

"Well, it has to be somewhere!" Timmy said. "We're just gonna have to keep looking, then. But where would-"

Suddenly, there was another POOF!, but this one was close to the entrance of the house. As the pink cloud quickly began to dissipate, Terrance and Tamara could be seen standing near the front door to the Turner house, both of them holding wands.

"I'll be right back, honey." Tamara said, walking to open the door. "I'm just gonna powder my nose real quick."

"And I'm gonna get some eggnog!" Terrance said.

"…I think we ran out a few weeks ago." Tamara nervously said.

At that, Terrance dramatically went to his knees. "NO!" He cried, the anguish in his voice very clear. He then stood back up. "Ah well, I'll just buy some more later."

"Uh, mom? Dad?" Timmy said, getting the two adults' attention.

"Timmy!" Terrance and Tamara cheered, running past everyone else to get to him. They picked him and pulled him into a hug that lasted for several seconds before setting him back down.

"So, how did everything go, son?" Terrance asked.

"Did you take down that big, bad Darkness yet?" Tamara added.

"No, we haven't." Luigi answered for him. "That Eliminator with the sunglasses got powered up thanks to some government agents, and we had to stop him first. Plus, there was that Gem fusion that got in the way, so we had to take care of that too."

"Oh." Terrance said. "Well, we've pretty much rescued everyone that was trapped in Fairy World."

"We just finished a few minutes ago." Tamara said. "I guess since it looks like you all are finished for now, we'll tell our group to come back here. …Right after I powder my nose." Tamara ran inside the house.

"Dad, there was something in particular I wanted to ask you about." Timmy said, getting Terrance's attention. "So, about that whole thing about my fairies…"

"Timmy, we'll decide what we should do once this is all over." Terrance said. "For now, we just need to make sure that everything will go back to normal. Oh, and remind me when this is all over to buy some extra eggnog."

"Will do, dad." Timmy responded.

"Great! I'll go ahead and round up the others to come back here while your mother is powdering her nose." Terrance waved Timmy goodbye before raising his wand and poofing away, presumably back to Fairy World. Upon Terrance's departure, Timmy let out a sigh, which did not go unnoticed by Junior.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Junior asked. "Was it something your dad said?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact." Timmy answered, trying to lower his voice and be a bit more discreet. "Back when I got rescued from Darkness, my parents suddenly decided that they weren't sure if I should have fairies or not."

"I mean… I wouldn't blame them. It sounds like you've gotten in a lot of trouble with those fairies around." Junior said.

"Not helping." Timmy narrowed his eyes. "Besides, Cosmo, Wanda, and Poof are like a second family to me! They can't take that away from me!"

"Sport, I think you should calm down." Wanda said. "After all, your parents haven't made any concrete decisions yet. And who knows, something may have happened that got them to change their minds."

"I'll just wait and see what happens." Timmy said.

Just then, there was another POOF!, but this one was a fair bit larger than the previous ones, and for good reason too. Namely, the amount of people that the pink cloud momentarily hid. Crocker and Vicky were talking to each other, as were Shirley and Dark Laser. Greg and Mark were not talking to each other, but rather they were just standing there, with Terrance near them all.

Upon seeing that he was back on Earth, Mark cheered before rushing over to Timmy. "Timmy Turner, the greatest warrior in the universe!" Mark said. "Our team has been successful in crushing the Eliminators on Fairy World! Um, has your team been able to stop the Darkness and possibly return my planet back to me?"

"No, not yet. But we're getting there." Timmy answered. Now that he thought about it… while he was in Darkness, he never even saw any glimpses of Yugopatamia or even Wonder World, which was a testament to how massive Darkness truly is.

"Don't fret, foreign exchange student." Vicky said, walking up to them. "That Darkness is going to cough up everything it's swallowed when I'm done with it." She cracked her knuckles. "Because that thing has caused me to pretty much change my whole world view, it's made me realize who I should really be using my evil babysitter techniques on."

"You know, for a little while I've been wondering where the Darkness came from." Shirley said.

"Who knows, it's probably just some space thing." Dark Laser shrugged it off.

"Well, you've been around space in your Death Ball." Crocker pointed out. "Surely you've seen it somewhere before?"

"No, I haven't." Dark Laser answered. "That thing could've been in the far reaches of space, it would've been near impossible for me to run into it at all."

"Okay, I see your point." Crocker said. "It still would be nice to hear its origins, though."

"I don't think anyone here knows about the Darkness's origins." Garnet cut in. "So asking here would be a waste of time."

"Okay, but you don't have to be so blunt about it." Shirley said. "There's nothing wrong with wondering."

"You're right, there isn't." Garnet replied. "However, if one were to plunge too far deep into trying to solve a mystery that they care too deeply about, then they could drive themselves insane from trying to figure out an answer that possibly doesn't even exist."

An awkward pause.

"Um… okay then." Mark said, breaking the silence.

A few seconds later, the front door to the house opened, Tamara walking out before shutting the door. "I'm back." She walked over to Terrance. "And I see you've already brought the others back."

"That's right." Terrance said. "Though, nothing I do will bring back my eggnog…"

"You know that you have a wand, right?" Vicky pointed out. "Now use your brain and figure it out."

It took a few seconds, but Terrance eventually put two and two together. "Oh, right!" With a wave of his wand, a bottle of eggnog appeared in his free hand. "Sweet!" He popped open the lid and began to gulp down the eggnog.

While that was happening, Greg decided to check on something with the Gems, so he walked over to where they were. "Garnet. Amethyst. Pearl." Greg greeted. He glanced and saw Jasper and Lapis's fallen forms. "Yeesh, what happened to them?"

"It's what happens when two Gems force each other to stay fused for far too long." Garnet answered bluntly.

"Huh. So, anyway, I was just going to ask you guys if you've seen Steven recently, cause I wanted to make sure he's alright." Greg explained.

"Yeah, he's fine." Amethyst said. "Last time we saw him was right before he and Peridot and some other dude were about to drill into the Earth to stop the Cluster."

"Wait, drill into the Earth?" Greg yelled.

"Well, how else will we prevent the Cluster from destroying the Earth from inside out?" Pearl asked. "If that drill wasn't finished when he got there, then it could be a little while longer before he destroys the Cluster."

At this point, Greg had a look of absolute bewilderment on his face. "Geez, I should be getting used to this by now. I'm gonna go sit down or something." He rubbed his head as he walked away.

"So, what are we all supposed to do now?" Crocker asked. "Surely we can't just all be standing here waiting for something to happen."

"That'd get really boring really fast." Shirley agreed.

"What we could do since a sizable amount of us are here," Luigi began, speaking up. "Is have an impromptu meeting about what our next move should be."

"Hey, that could work." Wanda agreed. "After all, everyone that's here has finished what they were supposed to do."

"Then what should we do?" Tamara asked.

"I say we all combine our efforts to look for the Ice Wand!" Cosmo yelled.

"That would probably be a waste of time on our part." Dark Laser disagreed. "With all the fairies we've freed, a sizable majority of them are currently looking for the Ice Wand now. The amount of fairies looking for the wand is more than enough."

"Then what should we do?" Vicky questioned. Almost as if to answer her question, a huge rainbow portal appeared above all of them. "Okay, can anyone explain what that is?"

"I've seen this before, a few days ago." Crocker explained. "Right after this appeared, two-GAH!" Crocker suddenly fell to the ground as Chester landed on top of him, having fallen out of the portal.

"Oh, sorry about that Mr. Crocker." Chester apologized, getting off of Crocker, allowing the teacher to get back up.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll remember this while grading your summer book reports in the fall." Crocker said before walking away, hoping to avoid any more raining children.

"Looks like Mario's group is coming back." Pearl deduced. "They must've gotten all the Pure Hearts." Just as she said that, Connie fell out of the portal, landing on her feet. "Oh, Connie!"

"It's nice to see you again, Pearl." Connie said before bowing to her in respect. "I've been using my sword fighting skills that you've taught me in order to help my group out."

"Very good, Connie." Pearl complimented. "Now, since you're back, I assume that you've gotten all the Pure Hearts?"

"Yes, my team has assembled every Pure Heart. We have all eight of them." Connie answered.

"Great." Amethyst said. "Now we don't have to worry about that junk."

It was only another few seconds before someone else fell out of the portal; Merlon. He fell out of the portal right above Shirley, landing right in the larger man's arms.

"…Thanks." Merlon said, jumping out of Shirley's arms before it could get any more awkward.

Someone else then fell out of the portal, though she slowed her descent thanks to the broom she usually flew on. Once Kammy was close enough to the ground, she hopped off her broom. "Good thing I have my magic broom with me so I don't have to take such dastardly falls." She chuckled a little.

"…Maybe I should invest in one of those brooms." Merlon commented. "Now, back to the Light Prognosticus." Merlon got said book out before flipping to one of the pages. He walked a little bit away from the others so he could focus better.

Someone else then fell from the portal, that person being Tootie. She managed to land on her own two feet, and her first target upon landing was already clear to her. "TIMMY!" Tootie nearly shrieked before suddenly running over to him, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Can't… breathe…" Timmy managed to say while Tootie had him in her death grip.

"Tootie, easy." Chester said, walking over. Tootie promptly let go, allowing Timmy to finally breathe. "Timmy… you are not going to believe what happened while we were looking for the Pure Hearts! We participated in a tournament, went into the underworld, fought a huge dragon, and did a bunch of other stuff!"

"That's great, Chester." Timmy said. "You'll have to tell me all about it later."

"And I will!" Chester replied, clearly in a joyful mood.

Another person fell from the portal, landing on her butt. "Great." Trixie said, standing up while dusting herself off. "Couldn't stick the landing."

"Trixie!" Timmy said before running over to her. The two exchanged a short kiss. "So, did everything go okay?"

"Aside from eating an apparently 'forbidden' fruit, yes." Trixie answered. She blushed a little before looking away for a moment. "Um, Timmy, there's something I'd like to… Nevermind. I'll ask you later."

"Oookay then." Timmy said. "Anyway… yeah, I don't really know what to say." He admitted. Trixie giggled a little in response.

Bowser then landed on the ground in a heap, thankfully no one was below him. "Ugh… I feel like I landed in this exact spot last time I went through that portal." He groaned as he stood up.

"Daddy!" Junior said, running up to Bowser, giving him a hug that the koopa king returned.

"Glad to see you again, Junior." Bowser said, chuckling a little. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just hurt a little from fighting two giants at the same time." Junior answered.

"Heh. Maybe next time you could grow giant to defeat them."

"That would be awesome."

The two kept hugging for several more seconds before breaking it off, right before Vicky walked over to them. "So, lemme ask you a question real quick." Her statement was directed at Bowser. "Since you were pretty much the only father figure in that group, I'm assuming that you were taking care of all those kids in the group, right?"

"Uh… yeah? So?" Bowser asked, not understanding what she was saying.

"Good, good." Vicky nodded. "Because if anything happened to my little sister Tootie, I just wanted to let you know that something not very good might've happened to you."

"Wh-" Bowser was speechless as Vicky simply walked away. "…I'm just gonna stick to taking care of my own kids."

"Those Koopalings might be a little anxious to see you when you get back home, you know." Kammy pointed out.

"…Don't remind me." Bowser groaned, not particularly wanting to deal with that later, knowing just how chaotic it would turn out.

Yet again, someone fell down from the portal. This time, it was AJ, who screamed as he fell to the ground. Moments later he stood up, getting the dirt off of him.

"Your arrival was pretty delayed." Chester said, walking over to AJ. "In fact, didn't you go through the portal before I did?"

"Yes, that is correct." AJ answered. "I guess that doesn't operate quite the same way that other portals do, like the one that took us to Retroville a while back. I can't really explain right now why it's different, I just know that it is."

Just as it was several times before, somebody fell out of the portal. And this time, it was Peach. She fell slowly to the ground thanks to her parasol, and once she landed, she looked around. "Wow, there are sure a lot of us here."

"Indeed." Garnet agreed.

"It's starting to get a bit crowded here, doesn't anyone else notice that?" Mark asked.

His question going unanswered, another person fell out of the portal; Violet. She landed on the ground without incident. "Whew. Glad I'm able to take a break now." She was able to sit down, but then straightened herself up. "After I use the restroom."

"I'll show you where you can powder your nose." Tamara said, walking over to her. "That's how I say 'going to the bathroom'." She clarified.

"Thank you, Mrs. Turner." Violet said.

"Please, call me Tamara." Tamara replied. She began walking to the house, Violet walking behind her. Tamara opened the door, and they both went inside before closing the door.

And then, there were just two more that came out of the portal. First, Mario fell out of the portal, landing on his own two feet, followed by Tippi, who floated out of the portal, stopping when she was next to Mario. Right when they were out, the portal closed.

"Hm, the portal closed." Mario said, looking up. "Guess that means we're all through." He then looked around. "And it looks like literally everyone else had the same idea about coming here."

"Well, I still see that we're missing a few of us…" Tippi corrected.

"Right, but anyway… we still need to get caught up on what went on with the other groups." Mario said. He walked around, Tippi following him. Now that so many of them were here, most of them were getting into their own little conversations with each other, making the place a bit more lively.

"Shouldn't Violet be here?" Tippi asked. "Because I don't see her anywhere…"

"Oh, my wife just showed her to the restroom." Terrance answered, pointing his thumb in the direction of the house.

"Ah, thanks for clearing it up." Mario said. He was considering asking Terrance about what happened with the others, but… decided to ask someone else. Perhaps…

He walked to the person he was going to ask, hoping that he wasn't wrapped in a conversation himself. Thankfully, he wasn't, and Mario continued making his way toward him. Once he was close enough, he cleared his throat to make his presence known.

"Oh, I didn't see you there." Timmy said. "What's going on?"

"I would like an update on what's been going on, if that is alright." Mario explained. "I just want to make sure that I'm caught up on everything."

"Yeah, I can." Timmy answered. He then explained it all to Mario; what happened at the mall, the training with Turbo, and then how he defeated the Destructionator and helped defeat Malachite, explaining the presence of Jasper and Lapis. "…And that's pretty much it." Timmy finished.

"So Steven and Peridot are still trying to take care of the Cluster." Mario confirmed. "And they brought this guy that Steven saved… Mike was his name?"

"After they get finished, we really should bring that guy home…" Tippi said. "It's probably somewhere in Dimmsdale, since you guys found him in the Dimmsdale mall…"

"Well, as it stands, we really can't do much right now until they get back." Mario reminded. "I suppose we just have to hope that they can find some way to stop the Cluster."

"There haven't been any tremors since I got back here." Timmy recalled. "Maybe that means something good?"

Just as he said that, a large pink portal appeared above the house. A moment later, Lion leapt out of the portal, carrying Steven, Peridot, and Mike on his back. He landed on the rooftop, only stopping for a second before he began running along the roof, only jumping off right before he would've fallen, landing on the grass near Mario and Timmy. This caused a few of the others to jump a little and look over, though they quickly went back to what they were doing upon seeing that it was just Lion.

"I never want to experience anything like that ever again." Mike said, looking like he was about ready to vomit. He managed to keep it down though, and hopped off of Lion as soon as he could.

Right as Lion had landed, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl walked over to check on Steven. As they got close, Steven and Peridot hopped off of Lion, allowing the large animal to walk off and lay down somewhere nearby.

"We're back!" Peridot cheered. "And someone beat the Cluster!" She ruffled Steven's hair, causing the young Gem to laugh a little as she did so.

"Ooh, tell me how you destroyed it." Amethyst said. "Did you use a rocket launcher, or a giant axe, or…"

"No, I didn't destroy it." Steven said. "I talked to it, any now it doesn't want to hurt anyone!"

"You talked to it." Garnet confirmed.

"Yeah, yeah! Now it doesn't want to destroy the Earth." Steven explained. "It just wants some company, and it's got it now. It's like a bajillion people! They'll have lots of time to get to know each other, now that they're in a bubble.

"How on Earth did you bubble that whole thing?" Pearl questioned.

"We had a little help. They all started bubbling each other." Steven answered. "So… is Malachite…"

"Jasper and Lapis are resting over there." Garnet explained, gesturing to where the two Gems were. "You can visit them if you want, but try not to disturb them. Both of them need their rest, and they need a lot of it."

Steven wordlessly nodded before walking in the direction that Garnet pointed. Peridot, after deliberating for a few seconds whether she should go with Steven or stay with Mike, decided to chose the former and run after Steven.

"Wow." Mike said, looking around. "Full house, huh?" He tried to make a small joke to the person nearest to him, Mario.

"Yeah, guess it is. You're Mike, correct?" Mario asked.

"Yep. Hey, are you Luigi's brother? I just noticed that you have very… similar clothes to him." Mike pointed out.

"…Yes, we are." Mario answered. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason. In hindsight, I just find it a little weird that Luigi never mentioned you." Mike said.

"Well, maybe he has his reasons for not wanting to mention me, just like how I have my own reasons for not wanting to mention him." For a brief moment, Mario glanced at his arm.

"Maybe we shouldn't try and start this right now…" Tippi interjected before it could escalate.

"Sorry, I was just curious." Mike apologized. "I'll drop the subject."

Meanwhile, with Steven and Peridot, both of them found where Lapis and Jasper were. As they expected, both Gems were lying on the ground, unmoving.

"Wow. They look terrible compared to the last time I saw them." Peridot commented.

"I hope they're okay." Steven said. "And… I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad that I wasn't there when the Gems were fighting Malachite, because I had to stop the Cluster, and I just wanted to help…"

"But you did help, Steven." Peridot said. "If it wasn't for you, nobody would've even known that Malachite was in the North Pole. And it was your idea to bubble the Cluster, giving us an easy solution to stop it. And, Steven, trust me when I say this, because even though I never saw Malachite for myself, I can say for certain that she would've been a very powerful fusion."

"How would you know?" Steven asked.

"By themselves, Lapis and Jasper are incredibly powerful Gems." Peridot explained. "Lapis is able to manipulate any liquid for terraforming, and Jasper is pretty much a perfect cut of Quartz. Combine those two and you get… Malachite."

"I just hope that we all get out of this okay." Steven sighed. "So much has happened in these last few days that it's hard to keep track of anything anymore."

"Well, try to think about it this way. We've pretty much almost got everything finished." Peridot said. "We've taken care of the Cluster, we've freed Fairy World, we've beaten the Destructionator and Malachite… the only things left to do now are destroy the Darkness and the Void, and then we're all set."

Steven smiled a little. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Peridot."

"Steven!"

Steven whipped his head around to see Connie running toward him. "Connie!" When she was close enough, Steven pulled her into a hug that she gladly accepted. They broke off the hug, but only after staying there for several seconds.

"There you are, I was looking for you!" Connie exclaimed. "But I'm glad to see you're safe.

"I'm glad you're safe too." Steven said. "How was it, trying to find the Pure Hearts?"

"I'll tell you all about it later." Connie answered. "But let's just say that I did have a couple close calls, but nothing too serious."

"Well, I'm glad you're here now." Steven chuckled a little at his own statement. He looked over to the side and saw his dad talking with someone else. "I'll be right back, I'm gonna talk to my dad real quick." Connie nodded in response, and then Steven walked off to see Greg.

"And then she threw a jungle gym at his babysitter!" Greg finished his story, nearly doubled over in laughing so hard. He wiped a tear of laughter off his face. "So yeah, we pretty much had to pay that babysitter double to compensate for that."

"I'm guessing she never came back." Crocker guessed.

"More like she ran away screaming after I paid her." Greg corrected. "I heard she moved to another country after that, which is kinda excessive if you ask me."

"Hey dad!" Steven said, getting Greg's attention.

"Oh hey, there you are, schtoo-ball!" Greg said, turning around to face Steven. "I've been waiting for you to come back!" He playfully ruffled Steven's hair. "So, did you really have to drill all the way down into the Earth?"

"Mhm." Steven nodded. "It was… fun, but I don't think I'd want to do it again."

"I can see why." Greg chuckled a little, though it was mostly out of nervousness.

The door to the house opened, and Tamara exited, followed by Violet. Tamara promptly shut the door.

"Thanks for showing me to your restroom, Tamara." Violet said.

"It was no problem, Violet." Tamara replied.

Mike blinked.


Far, far, far above them all, three people appeared. Even if the people down below looked up, they would only see three, tiny blips in the air. The people appeared one by one, the first of them being Count Bleck, the Dark Prognosticus appearing beside him.

Next were the two minions Count Bleck brought with him; first Nastasia, and then Dimentio. Count Bleck smiled a little at the prospect of the final part of the prophecy being put into action. Once he pulled this off, those foolish heroes wouldn't stand a chance of stopping him, no matter how hard they tried.

"And so, the time has finally arrived!" Dimentio said. "I just cannot wait to see the look on those heroes' faces when they see our masterpiece!"

"Yes, Count Bleck will assure you that it will be most incredibly delightful." The smile on Count Bleck's face only grew bigger the more he thought about it, it would all be so glorious in the end.

"Dimentio, there's something I need to check up with you, 'K?" Nastasia asked. "Just where did you go after you disappeared?"

"Oh, I merely went to check if Mimi and O'Chunks were in their assigned spots." Dimentio explained. "And as I expected, they were right where they should be."

"Thank you for checking on that, Dimentio." Count Bleck said. He truly was lucky to have a minion as loyal as Dimentio. "Now, let us commence." He put on a more serious face. This would be the moment of truth. "I will fetch the other giant vortex, and Dimentio, you will bring the giant Gem fusion up here. I do not care if those heroes see it, it will be useless for them to stop you."

"Very well, my Count." Dimentio nodded. "Although, what is Nastasia's job, if I don't mind asking?"

"We will save that for after this is completed." Count Bleck answered. Everything needed to go one step at a time. Then, it would all be perfect. "Now, this should only take a minute." He vanished, taking the Dark Prognosticus with him.

Yes… this would be his and everyone else's finale, to prove that nobody should mess with him… Nobody would take anything from him ever again.


"It was no problem, Violet."

First, Mike blinked. Then, reality caught up with him and he suddenly gasped, Mario giving him an odd look in response. Though he didn't care about that now. Only a few seconds passed, though it felt like so much longer.

That name… that name… that name… After what he'd done, he thought he'd never hear that name again. Just for a moment, all his other problems or worries were washed away, just for the fact that he heard her name.

But those worries came back in full force, reminding him of all he'd done, why he was standing right where he was now. …His own thoughts seemed to make the passage of time much slower than it was in reality. But, who cared?

The last time he heard that name was years ago, when he called out to her… for the last time. He closed his eyes. No… He reopened them, trying to shove away the intrusive thought. He could not let those kinds of thoughts control him. After all, she was… just over there…

From where he was standing, he was facing away from the house, and he was pretty sure that someone larger was standing behind him, so even if someone standing at the front door of the house were trying to look for him, they wouldn't see him.

Though, something felt a bit… off? Like… when she talked right before that other lady did, she sounded… a bit different. Wait, what was he thinking, he hadn't seen her in years, of course she would sound different!

But there was just one way to confirm it. All he had to do was turn… his… head… except that… who was that? A bigger version of Junior… Bowser was his name, wasn't it? Yeah, Bowser was standing behind him, talking to someone he didn't recognize.

Idiot. If Violet's view of him were blocked, then his view of her would also be blocked. He should've already known that, but of course he didn't. Stupid, stupid-

"Are you… doing okay?" That rainbow butterfly, Tippi asked, taking him out of his thoughts.

"I…" What could he say?

"Tippi was right, maybe we should take you back home." Mario sighed. "Sorry you got caught up in all this."

Home… hah, as if a place existed anymore. He'd never return to his home anymore if he could help it. He knew exactly what would happen if he dared to even come close to that place. "…No."

"What?" Mario looked a bit taken aback. "Look, you're probably mad because you got sent on a wild goose chase, but we can get you home now. And then you can get back to… whatever it is that you do."

…Mike nearly wanted to scream in rage at him, but that would not be the slightest bit fair. He only met Mario like what… 5 minutes ago? That guy had zero idea about his situation, and was clueless. "I said, no."

Mario stayed quiet, almost as if he was trying to study Mike. Great, he probably just pissed him off somehow. …Which led him back to what majorly pissed him off the most. How… his life was like this. Out of every single human on the planet Earth, seemingly every bad thing had to happen to him and him alone. Well, no more.

If Violet was truly who he thought she was… then… he didn't know. If she wasn't, then all of his hope from the last minute may have been all for nothing. But if it was her, then… at least… he was able to… No, now was not the time to think about that.

He needed to find out.

And it was now or never.

"Tell you what." Mike was more straightforward, looking Mario in the eyes. "I just need to confirm one thing real fast. If what I think isn't true, then I will walk away from here and never look back." He was right, if he just aimlessly stayed here, then he would just make himself look like a fool.

"But what if it is true…?" Tippi asked. He noticed that she always seemed to trail off when saying anything.

"I'll find out." Mike answered. Before Mario or Tippi or whoever else could say anything, he turned around and began walking. His pace was quick; he was going faster than he usually would.

He walked past Bowser, and if Violet was still in front of the house… shoot, she wasn't. Both her and the other woman were gone. Great, he'd spent too much time thinking to himself and now she'd vanished. …Would he even recognize her?

Idiot. Of course he would. Anyone would recognize her, if they knew one fact about her. He walked a bit more, looking around. The one, truly distinguishable fact about her was that her skin… it was a pure white.

Ah, there was that guy, Luigi. He spotted him talking to someone he couldn't see, mainly because whoever he was talking was standing directly across from him, and Luigi's face was facing him so… yeah.

You know… just what exactly happened to Luigi and Mario anyway? Luigi never mentioned Mario, and Mario seemed annoyed at even having to mention Luigi at all. Wait, why was he even thinking about it in the first place? It wasn't his problem, so he has no right to randomly but in.

Mike was just gonna walk past him to see… if he could find her. If he didn't in the next minute or so, then… oh well. Bye bye, Peridot. Bye bye, Steven. Bye bye… everyone else here.

He was about to walk past, but as soon as he took a step forward, Luigi turned around.

"Oh, Mike." Luigi said.

Whatever he said next, it did not even matter the tiniest bit. When Luigi turned around, he also moved to the side a little bit. That action… and along with saying his own name…

He'd been talking to Violet. His Violet.

"D-dad?" He could hear Violet's voice, almost like she was a young child again.


She continued to wait.

And yet they would not come back to her… not yet. She just had to wait a bit longer.

She'd only been waiting for not even two days, and yet it felt much longer than that. Before, when she'd been floating around space… time flied faster than she could catch it… up until… she didn't know how or why, but…

It was not the first time it happened. The first time was… thousands of years ago. If it'd only happened one time, she wouldn't have even caught it, but now that it happened a second time…

Darkness was just endlessly floating through space, just like she always did, and over time, she began to feel an… urge. An urge to find someone and… do what with them? …Who knew. At some point, she realized that she had a massive army of robots she dubbed "Eliminators"… the name just sounded cool, okay?

She'd used those robots to find… whatever she needed to find, but that changed when she happened upon a certain place called "Fairy World." This place… Rose Quartz… that powerful little Gem tried to her, so she tried to give her the ultimate thanks… and… she… she…

…Anyway, Rose Quartz was gone. Darkness fled, and… she didn't find herself wanting to find someone again. It was… weird, but she accepted it. So, she continued to drift space… until it happened again.

The urge, almost like it was a hidden command within her… find the Chosen One. She grew angry. How many more times would it come back? Well, maybe she should find a way to get rid of the urge, and the only way she could think of…

Destroying him didn't work. He fought back with beams of light from a guitar, and… in a way, it… changed her… She wanted both of them. Rose Quartz and Timmy Turner. She was foolish for thinking she could destroy the Chosen One.

To this second, the urge still resided within her. But she… reconfigured it into something else. The urge to have both of them, there with her… it ate away at her, almost drove her crazy… she would do anything to get them back.

She floated above Earth. Darkness only wanted Timmy and Rose. That was it. Timmy and Rose. Timmy and Rose. Timmy and Rose. Timmy and Rose… maybe she could get them to fuse again… and finish the process that she invented… in becoming her perfect child.

…Soon. It would all be worth it. All the waiting, all the urges, all the agony, it would all be worth it.

A presence, in front of her.

She did not have eyes, but she did have another way of sensing things. Her mist… it acted as her "eyes", though it didn't work in the way of actually "seeing" anything, but they were able to sense what was around her in such a way that she didn't need eyes at all.

The presence in front of her was a cloaked man with a top hat… just who did he think he was, suddenly appearing in front of her like this? She almost wanted to sic some of her Eliminators on him, but… this person might destroy them. She didn't know if he was a friend, an enemy, or whoever else.

"…Count Bleck greets you, Darkness." The man apparently named Count Bleck said before taking a bow. She noticed he had a book with him. "The Dark Prognosticus tells me that you are the other vortex I need for my plan."

"…Who… who exactly are you?" Darkness asked. Another vortex…ah yes, the thing that was constant for the past week or so… that purple thing…

"I suppose simply stating that would not be enough. Very well." Count Bleck shook his head. "You see, you play a very, very important role in this plan. Nobody else can fill this role."

"You never answered my question." Darkness said, a bit more forceful in her tone. Count Bleck felt just a bit… suspicious…?

"Hmph. If only to speed things along, then fine." Count Bleck said. He seemed a bit impatient. "I cannot afford to waste any needless time." He lowered his hat a little. "Let Count Bleck tell you a story… a story about a man who was wronged. His father wronged him, and for that, the man wanted to seek revenge… and…"

"Stop..." What was this? Darkness felt… incredibly sorry for him. It was obvious that the "man" he was talking about was himself. "You've… said enough."

"Count Bleck wants to get the person back he loved the most." Count Bleck continued, despite her telling him to stop. "…And he stops at nothing to do so."

"!" …. "I'm… missing someone too…" Darkness said. Count Bleck perked up a bit. "Well… I'm missing two people, actually, and… I can't take being away from them. Timmy and Rose, I…"

"Timmy… and Rose?" Count Bleck asked, putting a hand to his chin. She swore she could hear him laugh a little. "So you are missing someone, just as Count Bleck is?"

If Darkness could've nodded, she would've, but her silence felt like enough of an answer.

"Very well then…" Count Bleck said. "Perhaps… if you help me with my plan… I will make sure that Timmy and Rose are returned to you."

This was… very sudden. She'd just met this man, and almost immediately told her his backstory. Then again, right afterward, she'd told him her own backstory… So what should she do…?

She was willing to do anything to get her perfect child, Tiven back.


Count Bleck disappeared, leaving Nastasia and Dimentio alone. Dimentio should've left, but he didn't. Figures.

Nastasia had been keeping tabs on the minions a little more than usual lately. Why? Well… she grew suspicious. Other than her, there were three minions that Count Bleck relied on. O'Chunks, Mimi, and Dimentio.

Mimi had grown a bit… rebellious lately, but it was nothing to worry about. She still did what her superiors told her, so it was fine. O'Chunks was a little more dim-witted than the others… but he still did what he was supposed to. And last but not least… Dimentio.

She'd been quick to check up on the progress of his assignments. And for a little while, he'd done what he was told to do. For example, he'd disrupted the heroes at the Dotwood Tree, to test them, to see just how powerful Count Bleck's forces needed to fight back. But afterward…

Killing their biggest ally Mr. L… and then getting rid of another ally, Bill Cipher, by driving him off after fusing with him… allowing the heroes to restore the stone Pure Heart, and… His most recent report, there was nothing filled in. For when he was supposed to make sure that the Cluster remained intact. Count Bleck asked Dimentio to get the Cluster, but Dimentio didn't move from his spot.

"…Dimentio." Nastasia addressed. Now that she thought about it, wasn't Dimentio supposed to get reprimanded by Count Bleck a while ago? …Did that ever happen? No time to worry about that now. "I thought you were supposed to go fetch the Cluster, were you not?"

"Oh, you see, that would a bit… complicated." Dimentio answered. Obviously, he was hiding something. …But what?

"And just how would it be a bit complicated?" Nastasia wanted to try to draw a bit more info out of him. "You can teleport anything you want to, so I don't see why teleporting the Cluster would be any different."

"Well…" It looked like Dimentio didn't expect that response. "Ah, that is very easy to explain. You see… You know that I cannot teleport anything too… complex. Of course, that includes the Cluster."

"You can't teleport anything too complex?" Nastasia repeated. "If that's true, then explain to me how you were able to teleport 10 people at once in Flipside yesterday. That sounds pretty complex to me."

Dimentio stayed quiet for a moment. "Teleporting 10 average-sized people is different than trying to teleporting a giant sphere."

"But the Count wouldn't have put you up to this task if it would've been impossible." Nastasia countered. "After all… in order for the prophecy to work, all the steps need to be done correctly, 'k? And… you just said 'trying to teleport', didn't you?"

"Yes, so?" His tone began to get a little more agitated.

"If you said you 'tried' to teleport it, then that implies you've tried to teleport the Cluster before." Yes, she was slowly starting to get closer to the truth of the matter… Maybe it would all just turn out to be nothing… that would just be convenient.

"That is correct." Dimentio said, which surprised her a bit. …Was he… "A little while ago, when I was told to go check on the Cluster, I decided to do a little… teleportation test."

"Oh? What for?" Nastasia asked. This should be interesting.

"Yes. The Count had graciously informed me about a bit of extra information about the Dark Prognosticus, so when I went to check on the Cluster, I decided to see if I could teleport it, but my experiment failed, and then I never had any chance to inform the Count about it." Dimentio explained.

Nastasia thought on his explanation before coming to a realization. "If you never had any time to inform the Count, then you could not have had any time to update the report for that mission, correct?" She paused, trying to make sure her logic was correct. "Your report indeed is blank. Which means I'm going to have a hard time believing that any of your story is true."

"Then you're just going to have to take my word for it." Dimentio said. "Besides, right now it feels like you're treating me as a criminal, does it not?"

"I'm only questioning you because… I have found some of your actions troubling." Nastasia needed to keep control of the conversation. And she needed to get this over with quickly before Count Bleck came back. "The earliest offense I can think of is when Peach suddenly disappeared from the castle right before I brainwashed her. The only person in the castle at the time that could've known what I was doing and provide a way for her to escape was you."

"When you put it like that, I may as well confess." Dimentio laughed a little. Confess to…? "Yes, I was the one that teleported her out of the castle and sent her to Flipside." Before Nastasia could respond, Dimentio spoke up again. "And now, let me ask you a question. …What are you hoping to accomplish by doing this?"

…Dimentio had a good point. She had a feeling that… Dimentio never even went to check on the Cluster in the first place, but instead did something else. But, she had no definitive way of proving that.

"Sure, I've made a few mistakes." Dimentio admitted. "However, does that really matter? Even if you take a few different paths than intended, if you use a guide, then you'll always get to your destination, no?"

Nastasia had nothing to say. …Honestly, what could she say? Dimentio had turned the tables around on her, and now she was a loss for words. He'd done so many questionable actions, that she couldn't help but wonder… was Dimentio…?

…She stayed silent.


After Violet exited the Turner's house and thanked Tamara, she went to find the one person she was hoping would be okay. She found Luigi standing by himself, a bit away from everyone else. She casually greeted anyone else she came across while walking to Luigi, as to not be rude.

Immediately, Luigi had perked up upon seeing her, and afterward appeared to already be in a slightly better mood. "Appeared" was the appropriate word to use here, because Luigi looked banged up from some battle or something and there was a very tired look in his eyes. She questioned him on this, but he shrugged it off.

Violet was so very worried about him, knowing what she did about what Luigi went through. …Even if she may not know everything, it still was heartbreaking.

Eventually, their topic of conversation shifted to what happened with Violet. And so, she explained what happened with her and the others while they were getting the Pure Hearts. While doing this, she decided to test something. She told Luigi about how Mario found her in the Underwhere, and waited for his reaction.

His face seemed to get a bit more scrunched up, but aside from that… nothing else. She internally frowned. Sooner or later, those two were going to have to talk, and it better be soon, because their cooperation was essential in stopping all the current threats.

When she was nearing the conclusion of her story, about how it turned out that Luvbi was the last Pure Heart the whole time, Luigi decided to shift the conversation to yet a different topic, which got Violet thinking.

After collecting the stone Pure Heart from what used to be the Sammer Kingdom, she'd noticed that… and it was really subtle too… Mario's behavior seemed to change, ever so slightly.

Violet lost her train of thought when Luigi turned around for some reason and stepped slightly out of the way. But, that hardly mattered compared to what happened next, she nearly forgot about what she was thinking entirely.

"Oh, Mike." Luigi said casually. Both him and Violet were staring at someone now, a person… that looked… very… familiar… Mike. Of course she'd recognize him, because… because…

"D-Dad?" Violet questioned. There was an instant change in Mike's face; he looked just as surprised as she did.

"Wait, hold on." Luigi cut in before anyone could say anything else. "Violet, this guy's your dad?" It was an honest question, not anything meant to be demeaning.

That only seemed to increase the… what would she even call it? Hm… she could've sworn she already had something with her that related to her dad, but when she thought of it, all she remembered was falling somewhere.

"It's…" Mike's voice was a bit shaky. "I… I… thought… I…" There were tears coming from his eyes. "After… I… What happened…" Violet grew a bit confused. She had no context to what he was attempting to say.

And at the same time, she felt incredibly happy. Mike, her father, was here… and the last time she saw him was… umm… aside from when… uh… This was strange, but it was also… familiar… like a block of memory that for the life of her she could not remember, similar to the one she had for an event that she could hardly remember that took place right before Count Bleck kidnapped Peach.

Here she was now, actually seeing her dad for the first time since… Bleh, she would probably just waste her time trying to remember. Instead, she should be happy that he was here at all, because… well… heh…

A few tears fell from her eyes, and she wiped them away. She didn't care if she and Mike were silent, she was happy that she got to see him again at all.

"Violet… I need to know." Mike walked a bit closer, trying to wipe away his own tears. "All this time, after…" He appeared to cringe a little. "Where were you? Please, just…"

"Hang on, let's try not to rush into things too fast." Luigi said, cutting him off. "You two have just reunited, I'd think asking for your life stories would be a bit much."

"Luigi, wait." Violet said. "Dad, I…" What should she say…? "I want to know… how you got here. My situation… it would take a long time to explain."

Mike gave a look that almost said, 'my situation is complex too' but he didn't say it; at least that was how she interpreted it. "Well… I…" He got a water bottle that he apparently had and drunk the rest of it. "I'll tell you with what I feel comfortable with saying for now." He took a deep breath. "So, I was at the Dimmsdale Mall…"


It was… interesting to partake in that kind of conversation with Nastasia, Dimentio had to admit. Although, he had to stop her before she dug too deep in topics that she shouldn't get into. After all, what he did while she wasn't around wasn't her business, right?

"Dimentio, I just have one more question for you." Nastasia said. Oh great, she finally spoke up. Heh, this should be interesting… depending on what she says, anyway. "As of right now, how do you view Count Bleck?"

"Nastasia, that should already be obvious." Dimentio chuckled a little. "Why, I think of him as a brilliant and charming person that is very fitting for his purpose." He waited for her response

"…I see." Nastasia said, adjusting her glasses a little. And she didn't say another word.

Soon, Count Bleck himself reappeared, the Dark Prognosticus right beside him. "Count Bleck has returned." He announced. "And the other vortex, which calls itself Darkness, is willing to cooperate. When I give the appropriate signal, it will appear before the heroes. Dimentio, have you done your part?"

Nastasia was ready to speak up, but Dimentio answered first, as he should've. "Unfortunately, I have some very grave news, Count." Count Bleck's expression lowered a bit, and waited for Dimentio to continue. "You see, when I checked the Cluster earlier, it appeared fine. However, someone must've slipped under my nose, as when I went to fetch it a few moments ago, it was put in a large Gem bubble." Dimentio explained. Count Bleck knew that Dimentio could not pop Gem bubbles.

"…That is… not what Count Bleck wanted to hear." Count Bleck tipped his hat down a little. "…But having Darkness will be enough, I suppose." Dimentio could tell Count Bleck wasn't feeling angry. He was moreso feeling… sad. Well, that was to be expected.

"I am truly sorry for this, my Count." Dimentio apologized. He could hear Nastasia silently scoff. "Is there a problem, Nastasia?" He wanted to see how striking a nerve with her would go.

Nastasia's face became a bit more determined. "Actually… yes. I do have a problem." Nastasia's response just seemed so funny, this should be good. "Count, I…" She looked down after addressing the Count. Hm, it seems like even now she can't hide her feelings for him.

"It can wait, Nastasia." Count Bleck said. Oh well, tough luck for her. "After this is finished… you can speak up about what's on your mind." He was always so sentimental.

"O-Ok…" Nastasia sighed.

And now would begin the part Dimentio had been excited to see for a long time, and he would enjoy every second of it.


Tippi followed behind Mario as he walked to where, who was it… Mike? Yes that strange guy Mike, to see where he went off to, because after a few minutes he didn't come back to confirm whatever theory he had. He didn't even mention what that theory was…

It didn't take long at all to find where he went; he was with two of the others she recognized. Luigi and Violet. It sounded like Mike was explaining something to Violet… She should probably listen.

"…And after we climbed back to the surface, we used that big pink lion to teleport back here." Mike said. "And that's it." …Oh, he was finished.

"Mike." Mario spoke up. All eyes were now on him, yes, even including Luigi's. …Tippi knew that their relationship had started to become a bit… strained. She didn't know too much other than what Mario told her all the way back when they first started the quest for the Pure Hearts.

"Explain to me exactly what this thing you needed to confirm." Mario demanded. …Lately, Mario sounded a bit… different… not in his voice, but his personality… Hm…

"Mario, this is…" Violet spoke up first before Mike could. She took a deep breath. "Mike is my dad."

"Wait, what?" Mario asked. "Violet, I've hardly ever heard you mention a father, let alone his name."

"She would not have too much of a reason to mention it that often." Luigi said. Well, at least he was finally talking to Mario, though it was about a completely different topic…

"Yeah, I didn't keep dwelling on it during my time in the Mushroom Kingdom because… I felt like there wasn't even anything I could do about it." Violet explained. "And now… here he is." She gestured to Mike. "I never really expected to see him again, to be honest."

"Yeah… same, honestly." Mike said, finally speaking up again. "And now that's she's here, I'm just… really happy to see her again."

"…" Tippi felt… a feeling rising up in her. She was happy that Mike and Violet reunited, but… she also felt… jealous. Jealous that those other two people could happily get reunited with each other, but not her and… ugh…

"I will want to know more later about this… Mushroom Kingdom." Mike said.

"Maybe later we can both try to catch up with each other." Violet replied. "Right now… it's pretty hectic." There was no denying that.

"Are we waiting for anything in particular?" Mike asked.

"Right now, we're waiting for any of the fairies to find the Ice Wand." Mario explained. "As soon as they do, I'm sure that Jorgen or Turbo will come back sooner than later."

"I'd hope they come back sooner than later." Luigi said. "The more time we spend here, the more time is wasted."

"Yeah…" Tippi finally said something. She noticed that she'd been quiet for a little too long. "I hope they come back soon…"

"Luigi, there is something I'd like to say to you." Mike said. "Thanks for bumping into me back when we were at the mall. I probably wouldn't have ever reunited with my daughter if it weren't for that."

"You're welcome, Mike Calico." Luigi responded.


"I think we're all back, aren't we?" Timmy asked. Near him were Trixie, Cosmo, Wanda, and Poof.

"Well, there's still Jorgen and Turbo helping to find the Ice Wand." Wanda reminded him. "I guess we should wait a little longer to see if they come back, and then figure out what we should do."

"That sounds like a good plan." Trixie said. "You know, I think it would be a little better if we all went in the Timmy Cave, because all of those gadgets are down there."

"With this many people?" Timmy gestured to some of the others. "No way that's happening. And I don't see how we're going to get everyone's attention at once."

And then, a presence made itself known. There was laughter, one that only some of them recognized. Trixie looked up and gasped, having recognized who that laugh belonged to. "Look!" Trixie pointed upward.

Of course, when everybody else heard the laugh, they also looked up. Visible in the night sky, his form clear thanks to the stars… Count Bleck stood there, above them all, laughing.

Count Bleck looked down, seeing that he's gotten the others attention. Right now, he was alone, all by himself. The Dark Prognosticus was floating right by him. "Well, Count Bleck sees that he has quite the audience, does he not? I'm so glad that all of you could show up for such a wonderful occasion!"

"What are you doing here?" Mario questioned. "Come to taunt us some more?"

"No, I am actually in quite a bit of a hurry!" Count Bleck answered, followed by some insane laughter.

"Yeah, and so am I!" Timmy narrowed his eyes, much more determined. "Cosmo, Wanda, Poof, I wish Count Bleck was gone!"

"Say goodbye, Count Bleck!" Wanda yelled. She, Cosmo, and Poof raised their wands/rattle, all three fairies ready to grant the wish. The magical items lit up… before they made a noise and flopped over to the side.

"Hey, why isn't it working?" Cosmo asked. "Come on, stupid wand!"

"No wish is going to work on him." Merlon said. "The Chaos Heart protects him from all attacks, magical or physical."

Count Bleck scoffed before shaking his head. "Count Bleck has no time for these pathetic displays. Very well!" He raised his staff. "Darkness, come to me!"

A low, ghoulish, almost feminine scream pierced the air as Darkness swiftly came into view far above Count Bleck, blocking out part of the sky.

"You're working together with her?" Steven cried. "But… why…"

Darkness stayed silent.

"There is no reason to know why!" Count Bleck yelled, almost like he was in a hurry. "And now…" He grabbed the Dark Prognosticus and began flipping through it, trying to find the page he was looking for.

"No, stop!" Garnet's voice suddenly rang out. "You do not understand what you are doing! Don't do it!"

Count Bleck looked down at her for a moment, as if he was going to consider what she was saying. "…You do not have any right to speak to me." He finished flipping through the pages. He cleared his throat.

What he said… it appeared to come right from the page he was reading. It was impossible to understand, it just sounded like gibberish. It went on for nearly a minute, and nobody on the ground could think of anything to do to stop it, mostly because they were more confused than anything. Even Darkness just stayed floating there above Count Bleck, waiting… The entire situation was so tense, so nerve-wracking, just what exactly was Count Bleck even doing? Eventually, Count Bleck finished, and closed the Dark Prognosticus. And then…

There was a sudden flash of white. The Void, all this time it'd been looming over them, showing them what would inevitably happen if they failed to stop it. And then there was Darkness, waiting above them all right now, waiting to claim what she'd come to get back.

The Void was visible right now, and to the view of everyone looking up from the ground, Darkness was on the right, and the Void was on the left.

There was another flash.

The Void seemed to stretch itself, not exactly outward, but toward Darkness. The black and red vortex sensed this and tried to move away, but the Void lurched out and somehow… latched part of itself onto her.

Another flash, shaking, and a low scream. It was hard for anyone to stand up thanks to the shaking, and the flashes came more consecutively, making it hard to see anything.

The low scream was from Darkness. She tried to pull away, but the Void only pulled her closer. The scream continued as the Void pulled Darkness as close as physically possible, despite Darkness's attempts to push and pull away.

Even if she could, it may as well be impossible now. The Void began sticking parts of itself onto her, before some of those parts seemingly melted into her. The slow, agonizing process continued, the Void and Darkness's bond becoming tighter and tighter.

By now, even if it was supposed to be impossible, part of Darkness was inside the Void, and part of the Void was inside Darkness. The Void seemingly stopped what it was doing, which gave Darkness an opportunity to try to pull away. It was futile, she couldn't even break a tiny bit free.

Count Bleck raised his staff again, and then aimed it at where the Void and Darkness were forcibly connected. A huge, dark beam shot out from it.

The flashes were getting to be too much, the shaking made it impossible to stand, and Darkness's screaming only became more agonizing by the second. As soon as the beam hit where the two were connected, the screams became only more distressed.

An invisible force began pushing the Void and Darkness closer together as the beam Count Bleck shot began wrapping around both of them. The beam, after shooting part of itself into where the two were connected, seemed to aid in making sure the two vortexes would tightly stay together.

The invisible force that pushed them closer became more forceful, and the beam, seemingly having finished its job, spread out into various places across the two vortexes.

…The scream suddenly grew so loud, so painful, that it was impossible to bear. It was impossible to see anything; every waking moment felt like someone was trying to drill into their brains… Covering their ears didn't even help at all, the scream was so ungodly loud…

And then, the screaming stopped, followed by the flashes, and then finally, the shaking.

But what replaced it was worse.

There was a momentary bout of relief, until someone looked up and screamed.

Much worse than any of them could've ever dreamed of.

The others soon looked up, looking past Count Bleck and into the sky to see…

Darkness and the Void…

Those two separate entities… were now one, unknown entity.