Swept Away in Suffering

"Well, I guess we got to get over the top of that ridge before we can go, 'cause that's the only N-gate we're going to see for the next two-thousand feet," a young boy in a blue parka said to his twin sister, who was wearing a similarly-styled pink parka. The children's names were Popo and Nana, respectively, and they were the Ice Climbers of Icicle Mountain, a virtually inseparable duo on and off the mountain slopes.

"It's a good thing we're already pretty close, then, since we're low on supplies," Nana remarked in a somewhat remorseful tone. "Maybe we should've gone to the Centropolis at the last N-gate we passed."

Popo and Nana continued climbing their way up the steep ridge to the N-gate, stopping now and then to catch their breath.

"We made it!" Popo panted at last. "So where to—do we go to Onett and see if Ness wants to play, or do we go to the Mushroom Kingdom, since Princess Peach says we're always welcome at her castle?"

Nana had to think for a moment. "I say we should visit Peach; she's sure to offer us something to eat or maybe some hot chocolate to drink, and I'm really thirsty," was her reply, and with that, she strode to the N-gate and programmed it accordingly before she and her brother entered.

The designated destination N-gate was just a little way along a path leading to Princess Peach's castle. It must have been midnight in the Mushroom Kingdom; the night sky was cloudy as if threatening rain. Upon lowering the hoods of their parkas Popo and Nana were relieved to feel the cool breeze playing about their ears.

They reached the door to Peach's castle and knocked politely, hoping that there was at least a good Toad (a member of a race of mushroom creatures by that name) awake to answer the door.

But the Toadette (female Toad) who answered the door had red eyes, as if she had been crying. "Oh—Popo and Nana—you must've come to see the Princess—but I'm—afraid you never will," the Toadette stuttered, pulling at her pajamas nervously as if trying to pull herself together.

"Never?" Popo repeated, shocked. "Why—how?"

"Well—Mario came to see us—about three hours ago…" the Toadette stumbled over her words as she began to explain, "…he was crying something awful—he said the Princess—was badly hurt in a battle—and tried to get to an N-gate—but she—didn't make it!" Barely able to choke out these words, the little Toadette was soon overcome with sobbing.

Nana put her arm around the Toadette and waited a few long minutes until the Toadette's crying abated, and then she asked, "Where's Mario now—is he still here? Can we speak to him?"

"Mario's here, but—I'm surehe's cried himself to sleep by now, and we don't know where Luigi is—he must still be searching for Ness, who was wormholed," the Toadette answered with difficulty.

"What? Ness was wormholed?" responded Popo, dumbstruck.

"Yes—that's why Mario and Luigi and Peach went out looking for him, and I think I recall hearing that Ness's friends Paula, Jeff, and Poo were wormholed too," answered the Toadette. "Maybe you can find out more at the Centropolis, if you were going there."

After trying unsuccessfully to comfort the Toadette, Nana turned to Popo. "Let's go, and see if maybe anyone else knows something about what happened—who knows, maybe Ness and Paula and Jeff and Poo have been rescued by now," she offered hopefully.

"I'm afraid it's all true, what the little Toadette must have said," answered Princess Zelda of Hyrule when Popo and Nana met her upon entering the Centropolis at an N-gate and inquired after Princess Peach and the Earthbound children. "Peach found the children being held hostage and tried to lead them to safety, but they were all chased down by Black Shadow's soldiers, and there was a battle. Black Shadow's men recaptured Ness and his friends, and Peach was wounded in the battle," Zelda explained in something of a despairing tone, "and she tried to reach an N-gate to get to the Central Hospital—but she didn't have the strength; she died before an Emergency Response Team could get to her."

Nana started in surprise at this news. "What? Peach is dead?" she repeated.

"No wonder the Toadette said Mario was crying his eyes out!" Popo realized.

"And I thought Peach might've been lying in the Central Hospital…" mumbled Nana unhelpfully as her eyes filled with tears.

"It's okay, Nana, I understand—I didn't want to believe it either, when she was brought into the ITC with all the evidence of having disguised herself to try and find Ness and his friends and been killed in a battle. You aren't the only one grieving; even Link shed a few tears—partly for Peach and partly because I had been crying harder than I had in a very long time. How Mario suffered more than anybody else there when we all got the bad news…how—oh, never mind…" Zelda trailed off, apparently fearful lest she start weeping again.

Wiping away a tear on his cheek, Popo finally asked, "What about Ness and his friends? Will they be okay?"

Zelda gave a soft but painful sigh as she went on, "One can only hope—Peach was fortunate enough to stumble into Captain Falcon's path just before she breathed her last. But by the time that happened it was too late; she lived just long enough to tell him what happened to the children."

"And Captain Falcon's looking for the kids where Peach left off?" reasoned Popo.

Zelda nodded. "Bound by the last request of a dying princess…" she tried to say, but she somehow faltered and couldn't form into words what she had intended to say next.

"What is it? What's wrong?" asked Nana, seeing the Hylian princess's weeping-reddened eyes well up and sensing the hesitation in her words.

"You and Popo wouldn't understand, Nana," Zelda replied with a feeling of abandonment apparent in her voice.

"Well, I guess all we can do is hope for the best," concluded Popo dejectedly before he and Nana parted ways with Princess Zelda and went to a café for something to eat before stocking up on supplies.

"So the little Ice Climbers, too, grieve for the princess everybody so loved? Well, well, maybe drowning in the river of suffering will, in fact, ease their pain…" Nephorius began to muse as he slipped his way through the Centropolis and to Icicle Mountain to work his evil magic once again.

"Oh, no! What's happening down there?" Popo yelled in alarm as he pointed down below where he and Nana had just emerged from the N-gate on the ridge.

Nana jumped back in horror. Everywhere the Ice Climbers looked, a dark cloud surrounded the mountain below, and everywhere ice and snow melted into water as wisps of the thick black cloud touched it. The cloud seemed to be rising, melting ice in its path.

There was only one thing for the Ice Climbers to do: climb as fast as possible to higher ground. Both struggled with all their strength to cover as much distance as they could in as little time as possible.

But alas, Nephorius's ice-melting cloud was rising to claim the struggling Popo and Nana faster than they could climb to escape it. In a last-ditch attempt to out-climb the cloud of evil energy, Popo threw Nana up toward a ridge of bare rock that would hopefully give Nana good footing to pull Popo up behind her. Too late. Feeling the ice melt below his feet, Popo lost his footing and fell into the rushing water below, dragging Nana behind him by the rope that held them together.

Popo and Nana struggled to swim to safety as best they could for the pain that resulted from the icy water soaking through their parkas, weighing them down like suits of armor. It seemed there was no safe ground to which they could swim; Nephorius's cloud of evil energy blinded the hapless children to anything but the water that swept them away…until they both drowned and sank into the dark oblivion.