MLBotS: THE TRUE ENDING

"It's settled, then," Daisy announced. "The current universe Mario Brothers will enter the black hole and stop its creator. I advise caution, however, as it may reactivate at any minute."

With that, Mario and Luigi headed for the looming darkness above them, an irksome feeling in their guts. They could feel Star glare as they left. There was definitely something wrong with him, and he was in no state to take on his rival.

The mazy castle was full of enemies and traps, with no signs of stopping the hoard of oncoming monsters. They slowly got through all of them, and headed to a hallway with something inscribed on it:

"Once upon a time, when the universe was new and life had just begun, a star of two colors descended to the new land to give it's power to the world and it's people. This star, that had infinite power within it, unlike anything else, was known as the Infinity Star. For generations, this star's power was shared between two kingdoms on a small planet in this universe, and people were happy. Both kingdoms, lush and plentiful from the star's power, thrived for many years to come, until...

The king of one of the kingdoms grew greedy, demanding the power of the Infinity Star be his and his alone. Of course, the other kingdom refused, demanding the power be shared equally as it always has been. The argument grew and grew, until, for the first time since the universe was born, the kingdoms declared war. The battles escalated and no end was in sight."

It was the origin story of the First Universe. Though, there was something different about it. Reading onward, Mario and Luigi began to learn the reality behind Black Hole Bowser's power. It went like this:

"The koopas became deformed, body and soul. Their negativity began to create a new energy in the universe, the polar opposite to the Infinity Star's light. The negative darkness started small, weak and frail from the remaining good in the koopa's hearts. But, nothing lasts forever. As the king grew more corrupt, the residents of the koopa kingdom fled to avoid being consumed by the now ever-present darkness. They had a label for the thing now. It was known as the demon that hides in shadow, the one with a heart of chaos and soul of darkness. This was an evil entity born of greed and hatred, a divine being with a lust for elimination. It became The God of Destruction. To counter it, the ancient people of the land sealed the Infinity Star away and created seven hearts to at least keep it under control. The king of koopas, corrupted by the god, did not want the master he created to vanish so easily. He created a book, based of dark predictions of the destructive one, and called it The Dark Prognosticus. A heartbroken on found the book and decided to use it in finishing what the demon had started by creating a powerful, dimension destroying black hole spell, known as the Void. But, while summoning the demon's heart and soul, a man in green intervened and stamped upon the thing. Not knowing the consequences of his actions, he proceeded to mess with the wedding summoning the heart and soul. At that very moment, the God of Destruction became two entities.

The two pieces of the darkness separated, one remained sentient and roamed on in the world, the other latched on to the Man in Green's subconscious, lying dormant to be awakened. It became so when the heartbroken one's assistant attempted to put the Man in Green under the control he desired. That's when the half of darkness within awakened, and absorbed the negativity of the green one. It became his own darkness, awakened as a sentience inside the subconscious. And time passed, the darkness regaining its Chaos Heart in time, announcing itself as Dark Thunder. The monster was sealed away by the pure hearts, but never destroyed.

As for the other being, the one that still existed in the outside world, it soon gave its power to the one known now as Black Hole Bowser. When the God of Destruction split in two, the current koopa king had absorbed its Soul of Darkness. The piece soon returned to the half form, within Black Hole Bowser. And well, you know the story from there…"

The throne room lay ahead of the hallway. At that moment, a green blur rushed by, into the throne room, Fire Mario giving hot pursuit (No pun intended). "Guys, did you see Star? He just barrelled out of the castle in this direction, there was no stopping him!" The ghost exclaimed. Luigi pointed to the throne room. "We'd better go after him," Fire Mario concluded.

A grizzly sight awaited them inside the throne room. Black Hole Bowser was laying on the ground, his deep purple eyes were wide with fear and a large hole was clawed into the front of his shell, mainly around the chest area. The winged koopa was gasping for air as his attacker stood over him. Star, with long claws and a far off look in his dark eyes, gave a fanged smirk, holding a purple heart, the soul of darkness, in his clawed hands.

"Dark Thunder…." Fire Mario uttered, and Star's grin grew wider.

The possessed king carved a door frame out with his electroblades, and retreats into the created portal, with the Soul of Darkness. "After him!" Fire Mario yells, and they pursue.

Already, reality begins to tear at its seems. Lighting is crackling and everything is becoming distorted. The portal closes behind the bros, and everything begins to shake. Star is standing at the very center of the universe, limp, yet alive and floating, like a stuffed toy being held up by its owner. It was Star's shadow doing all the moving. Dark Thunder's silhouette lay behind Star, the shadow lighting up and showing the full demon in the storm. "Finally…after all these years…" Dark Thunder musses as he absorbs the soul, becoming some crazy fusion between Black Hole Bowser and himself. Star begins to twitch, violently. Dark Thunder, still shadowed behind the poor first universer, raises his claws and controls Star like a puppet. Star's eyes open again, showing the same, demented look as any time he's under Dark Thunder's influence. Grinning, Star lands on the ground, approaching the three in front of him.

"Heh heh heh…well, what do we have here?" The god of destruction mused through Star's own lips. "Let my brother go, you overgrown puddle of dark matter!" Fire Mario growls. Star tilted his head and smirked. "Sorry, this body's mine now… your brother is gone, lost in the ether of his own subconscious," growls Dark Thunder, amused at Fire Mario's futile attempts. "Then we'll stop you ourselves!" exclaimed Fire Mario. A dark chuckle from Star. "Do you know the situation you fools are putting yourselves in? I'm the God of Destruction. I have reunited my two halves and regained my ultimate powers! And, this vessel now has the fully awakened Infinity Star, you fools would be fighting against all the power in the universe itself! Do you really want to do that?" Dark Thunder declared, the silhouette leaning in and encircling Star, looming over Mario Luigi and Fire Mario menacingly. Fire Mario floated forwards. "Your choice, mortal fools…"

And that's when Final Star attacked.

The God of Destruction proved to be extremely powerful. It wasn't just the cut-chop electroblade attacks like when you first fought Star, as the stars of the universe were being thrown at you, shockwaves of green electricity flew at you, and lets not forget the giant laser Final Star would charge and shoot at everyone, even damaging the field itself. To top it off, the more damage you took, the more pain you felt, the stronger Final Star gets. The God of Destruction feeding off the negative energy from all those around.

It felt as if the entire universe was against them.

Dark Thunder's plan was fully realized at that moment. When Dark Thunder destroyed his opponents, Star would feel guilty that they died at his hands, guilt Dark Thunder could feed off of for power. Then, everything would lead to the universe getting destroyed, except for Star. An eternal fountain of negative energy, fed off of for all the eternal darkness The God of Destruction planned for. That couldn't happen, but it was just too powerful.

"Is there any way to beat him…?" Fire Mario groaned. He looked at his possessed brother, and through the darkness, he could see hurt in the eyes of Final Star. "No, there is one way…" Fire Mario decided, remembering his studies when he had the medallion Star now possesses. "There is one attack… one person who can end this once and for all!" Fire Mario called, hoping that Star could hear him. Dark Thunder quizzically raised and eyebrow. "Do you really think he'd do it? THAT attack is far too dangerous, it would kill us both!" Dark Thunder cackled. Fire Mario wasn't going to give up that easily. "Little Bro! I know you're in there! You have to use it! You have to activate the attack Infinity Crasher!" the ghost pleaded. "Not on you life…" Final Star growled. The medallion began to glow. Dark Thunder began to look bewildered. "You're actually going to…?!" It growled. Everything faded around the field as we take a look inside the depths of Star's subconscious.

Star and the God of Destruction are facing each other. "What makes you think you'll live though this? Do you know what happens if you use Infinity Crasher?" growled the being at Star. Star nodded. "I know what I'm doing. If I let you continue the way you are now, everything will be destroyed, by my hands and your will. If I sacrifice myself to stop your plans, it will be worth letting people see another day, it will end the cycle we've been caught in for far too long. It will finally end this story, a story that has been continuing for fifty trillion years. I'm tired, Dark Thunder, and I just want to see everyone happy for one day in their lives. If it means that this is my time of dying, so be it," Star explained. "Besides, haven't I lived long enough?"

The area brightens to white, as Star puts everything he has into Infinity Crasher. The fabled star raises into the air and crashes down on the ground, exploding into a blinding light, then colors and objects return to view.

Everything was repaired, even the destroyed universes had life and color returned to them. Everyone cheered and celebrated. Well, everyone except a certain fire ghost, who was looking at an epty green coat and medallion on the ground. The Infinity Star lay in front of it all, and looked up at Fire Mario. "He is not gone…" the star explained. "His essence is still here, but you must wish him back…with all your hope, he can return…"

The light flashed again as Fire Mario wished. Star came back into existence in a brilliant light show. The two stared at each other a moment. They stumbled forwards. They embraced each other in a tight hug, and didn't let go for hours, even when the Mario brothers joined. "I think it's about time we headed home, don't you agree?" Star asked. With a nod from everyone, Star whistled the Thunder Starchaser over to their location. Everyone hopped aboard and the ship sailed back to the Mario Brother's home planet, the credits rolling.

"Do you think it's finally over?"

"This story is, but there is always a new one waiting to start."

"What happened to the God of Destruction?"

"It's not gone, it's essence will grow strong again. It will gain power from the darkness in the hearts of all creatures, rise again and reign again"

"What happens then?"

"A new story, weakening the darkness again, having it grow strong again. It's inevitable…"

"Is it truly?"

"Yes, but when it happens again is up to the people. If they continue to act the way they do, let their hearts have shadows and darkness, the return of the God of Destruction will come sooner, but if they choose to expel the shadows, using the goodness within them, it may be a long time before that darkness come again. It's up to the hearts and minds of the creatures, now."

"Why was the Infinity Star never fully activated willingly?"

"A wise mortal once said that power corrupts, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Imagine the consequences with infinite power."

"I see."

Mario and Luigi returned to the castle to tell everyone the good news. Handshakes and thank yous, and even a royal feast was issued that day. For one day, even if it seemed impossible, everyone in the universe could smile, everyone can be happy, now that the ever lasting darkness that plagued the hearts of creatures was finally put to rest, even if just for one day. Everyone had seen a change in heart. Even creatures that had no heart, learned to love again. Black Hole Bowser embraced his son for the first time in so long, and for one day, he cried and was happy with what he had: A flourishing kingdom with the son any father would be proud of. Everything just seemed so right.

The first universers returned to their now lush, reborn universe with promises to return and visit. But they had to leave eventually. There was a long overdue wedding that had to be attended to, after all.

Let's let everyone be happy.

THE END