The blue-haired cyborg strolled through New Donk City, humming the Mario overworld theme while she took in the sweet fresh air. Today felt great, no enemies threatening the world, no misadventures to get wrapped in, everything was in harmony. Plus, people were really excited about Meta Runner's third season and the grand finale of the series.
Everywhere Tari went, she could see Meta Runner posters everywhere, showing her with Theo on them. And with the third and final season of the show, the visage of Doctor Sheridan was on them, providing an ominous sense of dread.
It felt great to have helped SMG4 work on the show for so long and she was eager to help him work on the last few episodes as soon as possible, hopefully, the finale would be amazing with one wiz-banger and crackerjack of an ending for a series that SMG4 loved so much. Even Tari had high hopes for the series finale, her friends did as well. What could possibly ruin the mood?
She was just walking past an avenue when she heard some voices and stopped, watching a pair of kids in Meta Runner T-shirts talking. And even from a distance, she could hear what they were saying.
"Absolutely wild." One kid said.
"Yeah, prepare yourself for an emotional ending." Another said.
Tari just smiled, SMG4 had told her the ending would be emotional and she was wondering how emotional it would be, the only thing she assumed was that the ending would see her part ways with Theo and she'd give up her powers to revive Lucinia. But was that the ending SMG4 had planned?
"Whaddaya think is gonna happen to Tari...?" A third kid asked.
"Honestly, SMG4 said the end of Meta Runner is the end of Tari's story. I dunno what he means by that, but I can't shake the feeling she's not gonna survive the final battle." Remarked another.
"Funny enough, I heard a chat between some folks and one of the production members the other day..." The second fan replied, "Word has it that we're gonna be seeing Tari's end. You could say the song of Meta Runner ending spells the end of Tari's song."
Her smile melted into a frown, her heart slowly pounded, filled with dread and uncertainty. Tari could not believe what she was hearing, SMG4 was going to write her off. But if she met her end in Meta Runner, what about her future adventures with SMG4? Were they going to end as well...?
"I really honestly hope she lives." Remarked a fan, "If SMG4 axes her, that'll be sad..."
"Yeah, really sad. If that happens, rest in peace, Tari. We'll miss you."
Tari turned away, pulling out her phone and she looked at the text message screen with dread. She walked down the street towards the park, nearly bumping into a man in a business suit as she passed. The cyborg had been scared before, but for the first time in her life, she was filled with a bigger sense of dread, dread of her own future.
For a full minute, she stared at the texts, dreading SMG4 contacting her to let her know they would be working on the finale and she would be needed for those last episodes. Was Tari facing the end of her days, what was her future truly going to be like after Meta Runner?
Church bells rang in the distance and a tear rolled down Tari's fear-stricken face. She turned off her phone, sheathing it and looked around, almost in a panic as though she expected to see someone or something observing her from a distance and serving as a dark omen of what was to come. More bells rang, intensifying the fear in Tari, making her feel as though the final hours of her life were looming.
Heck, not just that, she almost felt like the apocalypse was looming. This world meant so much, her friends meant so much, everything they did together all mattered.
'Is it time?' Tari thought, 'Is it really the end?'
She'd lived long enough to see something like it happened. She was there on Anime Island when Desti perished, when the Octoling begged with her final breath for Meggy to come out victorious in Splatfest, and she'd been there to see Axol's demise when he'd been possessed by Zero and Melony had to deliver that final blow to defeat the virus at the cost of the manga artist's life.
Not to mention that doing Lucks' death scene was chilling. Sure he was a villain, but how he met his demise was just nightmare-invoking.
'Please... No...' Tari thought, 'I don't want to go.'
She ran, ran through the park, ran through the city and through the suburbs all the way to the outer districts of New Donk to a grassy hillside. Tari looked around as grey clouds loomed, lightning exploded and thunder rumbled in the distance, the weather had shifted. Today had gone from a bright, sunny day to a cloudy and ominous afternoon.
A distraught Tari made her way to a tree, sniffing and whimpering with dread. She collapsed to her knees, the rain drenching her hoodie and her blue hair.
"No..." She cried, "I can't... I don't want to... Please, I don't want to die."
Her phone beeped, cold chills crawled up Tari's skin, and she pulled it out. Her heartbeat quickened, she couldn't breathe, every pulse was through the roof with intensity. A text said she'd just gotten a message from SMG4, this was it; Tari feared what it was and sobbed dreadfully.
It didn't have to be like this, she wished there was more time, that there was a way of escape. She wanted to run, to hide somewhere, hoping to delay her fate for as long as possible.
But in her heart, Tari knew you couldn't run forever and to face your destiny at some point.
She looked at the text, worried what it was going to be. However, the message was just a simple: Hey, Tari. Where are you at?
'New Donk City...' Tari texted, 'Near a tree, nice view from here...'
A fearful Tari shut down her phone and put it back in her pocket, hugging her legs under her chin while rocking back-and-forth under the tree. She often glanced around, eyes wide with dread, whenever a shadow passed over her. Tari was so terrified, she felt as if death was all around her, waiting for the time to take her.
If Tari dreaded anything now, it was the day the Grim Reaper would come for her.
She looked at her Meta Runner arm, wondering what would happen to it once she was done. Then she thought of Belle. What was going to happen to her too, what was her fate after Meta Runner when it came to an end?
"NO!" Tari was crying now, her tears falling upon the grass in the rain. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing with fear and sorrow.
She had so much to live for, there was so much to do, so many friends to see and so much to experience. Every day was a new adventure, a different experience, full of wonder and intrigue. And she was still young, she was in her late teens and early adulthood. The rumble of thunder intensified and the clouds overhead became even darker, casting darker shadows upon Tari and her spot of the world.
Usually, Tari was never afraid of what her future and her life had in store for her as long as it was promising. But this, this was one of those instances where she really dreaded it and the cyborg was so unsure of herself, as though she didn't know what to do about it.
'Always get back up...' Axol's voice said in her mind.
'No matter how many times life knocks you over, you always get back up.' Said another voice.
'But life isn't knocking me down...' Tari thought, 'I don't want to die.'
"I don't want to go..." She sobbed aloud, "I don't want to die."
"Whoa, Tari! Who said you were gonna die?"
Tari looked up; her eyes wide. SMG4 stood before the cyborg, holding an umbrella above himself. He was concerned as much as she was, she could see the look on his face.
"Oh... SMG4..." She croaked, "It-It's about the final season of Meta Runner, the series finale. I heard some people saying you were planning to write me off, saying I was gonna die and..."
She trailed off before she could finish, another tear rolling down her face. SMG4 understood what she was saying and approached her, putting a comforting gloved hand on her shoulder and looking at her with a very kind smile.
"It's ok, Tari..." SMG4 said, "You're not going to die. If you were to kick the can, it would just be your Meta Runner-self. You can still have adventures with us in SMG4, I understand why you're scared, it's natural. Everything has its end and we gotta live our lives to the fullest in the time that we have left. Meta Runner's just a show, you're only a character in it, but you can still have a life outside that."
"Y-You mean... I won't really die?"
"I never said that was going to happen. That was just a rumor, we're okay. Why would I let one of my best friends leave us like that, why would good old SMG4 do that to a friend, huh? You're not Desti, you're not Greg or Axol? We'll fine, we're together until the end."
Tari smiled weakly and stood up on shaking knees, looking into SMG4's honest eyes. She then threw her arms around him in a hug, the two blue friends hugged it out for a minute, then Tari wiped some tears from her face and SMG4 patted her on the shoulder.
"Being nervous is normal, but there's no need to be so scared of something like death, especially when we've been through so much and came out okay in the end." The meme man said and held her hand gently, "Now come on, why don't we go make some memes and try to do some brainstorming for ideas for the finale of Meta Runner?"
She hugged her friend, the very man she had known since the day they met at Bob's carnival, during the days when Waluigi was on a rampage after being unable to get into Smash.
"I'd be happy to make some memes with you, SMG4." The gamer girl said.
Tari and SMG4 walked down the hillside through the rain, leaving New Donk City and hitching a cab back to the Mushroom Kingdom, back to the castle where SMG4 had his room and where they would brainstorm Meta Runner ideas and make memes until it was time to film the final episode of the first original show that the meme man had been crafting for a long time since Tari and SMG4 first met...
The End