Reunited

Chapter 28: Scattered to the Winds

"You thought it was me all along, huh?" Beldam asks as her younger sister has her pressed down. "Then why didn't you bother telling the others?"

"I didn't want Cackletta or you to know. Figured I could gain an upper hand if I knew more than I let on."

"I'll give you credit, but how did you figure me out?"

"Several things. First, you taking the jewel at the Flower Fieldhouse. At the time I assumed it was just you in a state of power lust just like Insanee, Deathnify, and all those others we've run into. But then was the experience with Deathnify."

"You recognized my voice?"

"In all honesty, I didn't. I figured it out through some deductive reasoning: after all, in the fight with the fountain, the only people who beared witness were me, you, Marilyn, Doopliss, and my friends. Mario, Bobbery, and Flurrie are dead, while it couldn't have possibly have been Goombella, Koops, Doopliss, or
Eggo, and Ms. Mowz wasn't likely either. And, of course, Marilyn would have been unable to say everything that had been said. How'd you come to work for Cackletta anyway?"

"Long story. I grew furious as the Palace of Shadow was overrun, and seeing Marilyn blow all our money on that fast food idea was the last straw. I decided to seek vengeance on you and your stupid friends, Vivian, for stopping me from achieving what I had worked for for over 1,000 years! So I joined up with a sea captain named Popple, who promised to fit you and all of your buddies on his death list while on his quest to gain the Philosopher's Stone. That's when I coaxed Bobbery into going out to sea near him by acting as though Popple was bringing in a load of food and needed Bobbery to bring it the rest of the way in. Bobbery went and never came back. Well, I decided to split from the boating thing and went to the Beanbean Kingdom, there meeting up with a Shaman named Sharm. He made me an offer to supply me with supplies and a few new spells if I helped him and his leader out. Turns out he was working for Cackletta, so he brought me to our former hideout and there I met her. When I explained all of my magical expertise, she sent me on a mission to grab some scrolls for her as a test. I did it in short order, and began to gain Cackletta's trust. We made a deal that she would supply me with you and your friends' carcasses, and while doing some 'work' for her I happened to weaken Mario before he fought Bowser and then, once Bowser killed him, I picked up the scraps. Then while I went to attack those two old men and shut down your base of operations, Flurrie showed up. That made three of eight. And the rest, as they say, is history."

"But wait-" Vivian starts, but Beldam cuts her off.

"There's more. Like you 'guessed', or rather pretended, I was attacked outside the Flower Fieldhouse. Specifically, it was Donkey Kong. Apparently he had been guarding the place and fell asleep, and then he was woken up by the fight. When I came out, he attacked. I spared him because if there's one crime I
don't enjoy it's animal cruelty. Heh heh." Beldam suddenly explodes into a cloud of vapor, causing Vivian to fall off of her and land on the ground. She looks up to see the cloud of vapor above her reforming, then as Beldam tries to use her Freezing Rain attack Vivian ducks into the shadows to dodge.

Goombella, Eggo, Koops, Ms. Mowz, and Yoshi all stare at the resurrected Cackletta standing before them, her arms outstretched and revealing the colorful robe she is wearing.

"Finally, back where I belong," Cackletta cackles while examining her body as if she'd never seen it before. "You five are just a warm-up." Cackletta raises both of her arms into the air, causing three strikes of lightning to appear in midair, striking Eggo, Ms. Mowz, and Koops. All three disappear in a flash of light when hit.

"My minions will handle them," Cackletta sneers before ducking into the shadows and resurfacing along with two copies of her.

"Well, let's see how long we can last at least," Goombella tells Yoshi while continuing to glare at the Bean witch. Yoshi merely nods in response.

Eggo appears in midair, expecting to fall onto the floor of the room he is in. This does not happen, much to his confusion. The Yoshi floats in place for a second before seeing another figure, a Shaman wearing their standard blue cloak but with a medallion shaped like Cackletta's demon form around his neck, lowering from above.

"Cackletta must have sent you up here to die," he muses before his hands both go up in flames. "Well then, I hope you realize the gravity of the situation you're in, boy."

Ms. Mowz lands on the floor of a room in the mansion. She pulls herself to her feet, eyeing the room and seeing that it appears to be some sort of archery range. She sees not a soul in front of her, then spins around to see the familiar figure of the living bow known as Bowyer staring down at her.

"Nyah! Lucky you were getting in the town of Toad. A graveyard will this building soon resemble!" The mouse soon finds herself using her superior speed to run about the room, doing everything she can to dodge the arrows fired by the insane bow.

Mack bounces in place around the large, empty room he is within until he sees a flash of light with Koops appearing on the floor of the room. The Koopa Troopa pulls himself to his feet, seeing the knife hopping up and down while staring at him.

"Cackletta sentcha up here, huh? Well, I hope you're ready to fight because I'm ready to bounce!"

"Vivian," Beldam chuckles before nailing her younger sister once again, "only one person could save you and the rest of this pitiful world at this moment, and he's dead! But I'll tell you what, I don't like an unfair fight, so I'm gonna give you a shot at it!"

"What do you-" Vivian starts to ask, but never finishes as Beldam pulls into the Shadows, then emerges with seven specific objects in her left hand. She then grabs onto her sister with her right, and pulls her into the Shadows.