Authoress' Notes: Giyah! Damn! I'm sorry for taking so long, but I really want to keep this story interesting, so it took me about a week to write this!
Better Off Alone
Chapter 2: Acquaintances
The sun peeked over the hills in the distance and through the window on the Rougeport Inn, shining brightly against the wall. Vivian sat upstraight in her bed, asleep. Because of her posture and her limber frame, she was able to sleep standing up and without ever having to relax all at once. The blanket she had wrapped around herself hung loosely off her shoulders, slowly easing off the bed and onto the floor, as Vivian was no longer clutching onto it. As soon as it hit the floor, Vivian sat up, alarmed, and rubbed her face in exhaustion.
Walking in, the innkeeper smiled at Vivian. "Awake already? Why, it's barely 6:00! An early bird, yes?"
"Six..." Vivian mumbled to herself, not fully awake.
"Like I said last night, don't worry about a thing. You don't have to leave so soon, if that's what you're thinking," the innkeeper informed Vivian.
Suddenly, without any warning, Vivian snapped awake in horror. "SIX? In the morning?"
The Toad innkeeper made a face, shocked by her outburst. "Yes, is that a problem?"
"Oh no... Beldam's going to kill me..." Vivian panicked. Grabbing the Jelly Ultra on the nightstand, she rushed towards the stairs, running into a bewildered Toadsworth on the way down.
Toadsworth stumbled over a step, shaking his cane at the fleeing Vivian. "I say! Where's your respect for the elderly these days? I could've broken my hip!"
Making her way to the dark alley behind the inn, Vivian pulled herself into the shadows, not leaving even a small trace of herself behind. When Vivian was consumed in her own obscurity, she became a part of it. A difficult process to explain, but it was one of the special powers that came along with being a Shadow Siren. Vivian felt safer when she was in the dark, anyway, so it suited her just fine. Moving through the dark abyss of her own power, Vivian soon reemerged in the gloomy town, ready to face Beldam's anger.
Seeing her older sisters over in the grass, Vivian sighed and unwillingly went over.
Beldam help up a strange grenade-shaped object and laughed. "This is it, Marilyn! I have finally come up with the perfect plan to destroy this 'Mario' and take his Crystal Stars!"
Marilyn nodded. "Guh!"
"Um... Beldam… sorry I'm so late..." Vivian whimpered quietly.
Beldam frowned at the young Siren. "Yes... well, luckily for you, I'm in a good mood today, so don't do anything stupid to screw this up!"
Vivian breathed in relief. A scolding from Beldam was very rare, so she really must've been feeling good about something.
"Now, my lovely Marilyn and not-so lovely Vivian, listen to my plan, for it flawless!" Beldam boasted, carefully handling the grenade.
"Guh?" Marilyn asked.
"Well, Marilyn, I've decided I'm finally going to put Vivian to a use for a change," Beldam said, glaring at her baby sister.
Vivian backed away. "What do you mean?"
"Instead of chasing this guy all over the Mushroom Kingdom like a bunch of idiots, I'm going to penetrate Mario's defenses from the inside out! So, Vivian, I want you to join up with Mario and stay with him for a while. Learn his strengths, his weaknesses, everything! Then, when he gets all seven Crystal, Marilyn and I will move in for the kill," Beldam explained.
"But... what if he doesn't trust me? He knows we want his map and the Stars... What if he attacks me? I'll be outnumbered!" Vivian asked.
"That's why I'm using you for this; if something goes array, at least I won't lose anything important!" the leader spat.
Vivian hung her head and sighed, her feelings hurt. "Yes, Beldam..."
At that moment, two X-Nauts chose that time to show up. One was an Elite X-Naut, a much stronger version of the average fleet of X-Nauts, while the other was a normal X-Naut, a regular foot soldier.
"Hey, you three!" the Elite X-Naut called.
The regular X-Naut waved his arms. "Yeah, dudettes! Look over here!"
"Shut up!" the skilled X-Naut knocked over his comrade.
Beldam looked at the experienced X-Naut soldier. "What? Can't you see we're busy?"
The Elite X-Naut made a face. "Too busy to see Sir Grodus? He wants to talk to you guys about the plan with Mario!"
"Yeah, man! The plan with Mario!" the X-Naut repeated.
The stronger X-Naut knocked the rookie over again. "Shut up! You're only here to observe, not talk!"
Beldam mumbled something inappropriate under her breath, turning to her sisters. "Our plan will have to wait for now, my siblings... We have other matters to deal with right now..."
"Yes, ma'am," Vivian nodded, feeling a little better that Beldam's intentions were sidetracked.
"Guh!" Marilyn responded.
Watching her sisters vanish into the shadows, Vivian followed them to the X-Naut base on the Moon. Seeing them disappear into ground, the novice X-Naut called after them.
"Hey, dudes! You're going the wrong way! The Moon's up there!" he shouted at the ground, pointing to the moon in sky.
"Shut it!" The Elite X-Naut stepped on the trainee's head.
Reemerging from the shadows inside the fortress, Beldam greeted the head X-Naut, Sir Grodus. "Yes, sir? You called for us?"
Grodus fingered his staff impatiently. "Yes. Why haven't you three disposed of this Mario yet? I though we had a deal, Beldam; you get the Crystal Stars and I bring your beloved Queen back, am I correct?"
Beldam nodded her head in false respect. "Yes, sir. We had a slight mishap in Boggly Woods, thanks to Vivian's blundering mistakes."
Vivian opened her mouth to say something, but Marilyn quickly shook her head, indicating that was a bad idea.
"I promise it won't happen again," Beldam continued.
"It had better not," Grodus replied, facing a computer camera that was monitoring Peach's captivity area. "I want those Crystal Stars, Beldam... and I want them now."
Beldam scowled under her hat. "...Yes, Sir Grodus..."
The X-Naut leader waved them off. "Now, go. I don't want to see any of you three again until you do something worth my time."
"I understand. We'll bring the Crystal Stars back, sir," Beldam replied.
With that, Beldam signaled her siblings to leave and the sisters left Grodus alone in his quarters.
Sometime later, the trio of Shadow Sirens found themselves back in Twilight Town.
"Damn that Grodus..." Beldam griped. "Who does he think he is, telling us what to do? This is our Queen... but he'll learn that soon enough..."
"Guh?" Marilyn asked.
"No, don't you worry about that, Marilyn. We've got the Superbombomb... Right, Vivian?" Beldam asked, holding out her hand.
The youngest looked up. "Huh?"
Beldam paused for a moment, then growled. "Vivian... Where's the Superbombomb?"
Vivian gasped. "What? But, Beldam... you..."
She was cut off mid-sentence as Beldam slapped her across the face. Almost instantly, Vivian cupped a hand over her tender cheek. No matter how many times Beldam beat her, it always had that awful stinging pain, full of hate and anger.
"...I don't have it..." Vivian said, looking down.
Beldam shook her head. "You lost it! It was the perfect plan! Mario could've been blown to bits! We could've gotten his map and found the rest of the Crystal Stars!"
"No... please... it's not my fault..." Vivian choked, feeling her eyes starting to brim with tears.
"We've could've brought the Queen back!" Beldam continued ranting.
Vivian took a shaky breath, trying not to cry in front of her sisters. "Please, Beldam... I'm not lying... You said that it was too important to trust me with, so you took it!"
Beldam picked up a fallen branch from a nearby skeleton tree and smacked Vivian in the face, right across her eyes. Recoiling from the hit, Vivian shrieked in pain and rubbed her face in her arms. The branch snapped across her head, cutting the side of her lips and cheeks.
"I've had it with you, Vivian," The elder dropped the broken limb to the ground and turned to Marilyn. "You're not going to ruin my ideas anymore! If you don't find that Superbombomb that you lost, don't even bother coming back home! Find that Mario and find that Superbombomb!"
Vivian didn't dare look at Beldam and after hearing her threat, she trembled.
Beldam looked at the hefty sister. "Come, Marilyn. Let's go and take a load off... I swear, Vivian just isn't worth squat, is she?"
Marilyn reluctantly nodded as Beldam motioned for her to follow her into the shadows.
Vivian went to the grass patch and started looking for the Superbombomb, her vision blurry through her advancing tears. Marilyn gently touched her back, stroking her shoulders gently with her large hand.
Knowing it was Marilyn, Vivian cracked a small smile. "Thanks... It's... It's okay... I'll be fine. You just go on with Beldam... I'll catch up..."
Without a word, Marilyn slowly removed her hand from her younger sister's back. She stood behind her, her face covered with concern and fret for Vivian.
Sensing Marilyn still watching over her, Vivian turned around. "I'm okay, Marilyn, really... I promise. I'm alright... Maybe I did lose it... but... I'll find it..."
Although she didn't say anything, Vivian could tell Marilyn didn't completely believe her. Nonetheless, she obeyed and departed into darkness after Beldam.
After Marilyn left, Vivian sat in the bushes, staring at the ground with tears in her eyes. She took deep breaths, trying to hold them back, but it was no use. All the hurtful things Beldam had said to her earlier resided in her mind. Closing her eyes, she let a small tear trickle down her face. She hurriedly wiped it away, only for it to be replaced with two more. Vivian soon found herself quietly weeping against a lone skeleton tree, hiding from the natives of Twilight Town at the same time.
Huddling herself together at the base of the tree, Vivian rested on the cold, hard dirt and sighed. Was she just meant to live this way? Forever overshadowed by Beldam and constantly beat against her will? Vivian could feel herself starting to get a headache from such stress. She put her head down and was about to fall asleep when someone gently tapped her on the shoulder. Slowly, she raised her head to see a strange, little person in front of her. She couldn't really make out any features on him, as his complexion was vague and shadowy... just like her.
Rising from her position, Vivian wiped away another tear. "Oh, uh, can I help you with something?"
The shadowy figure shook his head, but he reached into his pocket and pulled the missing Superbombomb. Vivian tried her best to look surprised, remembering Beldam's plan.
"You... you found it! That's the missing Superbomb thingy!" Vivian pulled the shadowy figure into a hug. "Oh, thank you so much! I... really appreciate it!"
The figure didn't say anything, but he made a few gestures, some of which Vivian assumed were his ways of saying "You're welcome".
Taking the Superbombomb, Vivian looked it over. She wasn't entirely sure how to use it or what to do with it, but she felt her breath taken away when she noticed a large crack on the side.
"Oh... no..." Vivian said, ready to cry again. "I... I think it's broken..."
The silhouette rubbed his chin, then jumped up and down like he had idea. He took the Superbombomb and tinkered with it, seeing if it could be fixed.
Vivian held back her tears and shook her head. "No... Don't even try fixing it... it's completely broken..."
The shadow dropped the Superbombomb to the ground after hearing what Vivian said. He put a hand on her shoulder and nodded to Vivian, almost as if he was certain everything was going to be okay. Just as a tear trickled out of her eye, he gently wiped it away from Vivian's face.
Surprised by his actions, Vivian blushed and wiped away the rest of her tears. "Oh... thank you... I really needed that..."
The shadow person nodded in understanding.
Vivian squeezed the vague outline's hand. "Thank you... I don't know how times I can say it... You've been so nice to me... I just have to help you out, somehow."
The shadow shook his head, obviously not agreeing with Vivian's decision.
"No, really... I... I want to repay you for what you've done for me... Please... I promise I won't be a burden..." Vivian struggled, not very good at talking to total strangers.
Seeing that Vivian refused to take 'no' as an answer, the unclear figure finally accepted her proposition and her let tag along with him. Vivian knew that she had to follow Beldam's plan, but it wouldn't hurt if she helped this guy out first...
Vivian followed the shadow around, all the way from Twilight Town, through Twilight Trail, and up to the Creepy Steeple several times. The dark tower and the moonlit forest leading to it were both very familiar sights to Vivian, as her sisters' domicile was barely a mile away, in a darker part of the Twilight Trail. Throughout the journey to regain the silhouette's body and name back, Vivian learned about the culprit's name and eventually came face to face with Mario... or at least that's who she thought it was.
"Hey, Slick!" the culprit, Doopliss, called. "Just because you got a little girlfriend with you doesn't mean you can beat the great Super Mario that easily!"
"Wait... if he stole your name... does that mean... Are you Mario?" Vivian asked, in shock.
"No! I'M Mario now! He's a nobody!" Doopliss spat.
Vivian felt her heart drop. She didn't think it'd hurt to help out this strange person... just as a friendly gesture... only to find out it was actually Mario... What had she done?
"Hah! Come on, fraud! I'll show you boss!" Doopliss shouted, challenging Mario.
Vivian stood on the sidelines, watching Mario and Doopliss fight, with Mario at a huge disadvantage. Doopliss had a small female Goomba with him, outnumbering Mario 2 to 1.
"I'm such an idiot... How could I be so stupid?" Vivian clenched her fists in anger, feeling her eyes burning with tears. "I actually helped out Mario... and I'm supposed to be taking the Crystal Stars from him... But I'm going to set that straight..."
Using Mario's own Hammer against him, Doopliss laughed. "Forget about it, Slick! You can't take down Super Mario!"
"Maybe alone, he can't..." Vivian emerged next to Mario in the fight.
"Just what I thought! This guy knows he can't beat me, so he calls in this wimpy shadow to help out, like it'd make a difference!" Doopliss mocked.
Mario attacked Doopliss with a powerful Super Jump, causing a nice amount of damage to the Duplighost. Then, it was Vivian's turn.
Trying to visualize she was fighting along with her sisters, Vivian used her basic attack, Shade Fist, on Doopliss, giving him a nasty burn.
"Ow!" Doopliss jump backed. "What a cheap trick! Only a fake would do something like that!"
"I'm right behind you, Mario!" the Goomba said, attacking Mario.
Vivian felt like she didn't have to worry about Mario now that was with him. He preformed a flawless Superguard against the Goomba's attack, sending it back at her.
After a few more minutes of fighting, Doopliss was finally defeated and Vivian felt her confidence with Mario soar. With him, she actually felt safe and... cherished...
"What a bunch of meanies! You all hurt Super Mario!" Doopliss complained, dropping the Ruby Crystal Star and making his escape out the window.
Seeing her chance, Vivian quickly grabbed the shining object, but suddenly stopped. She felt so important to Mario, like he respected her, even though he barely knew who she was. She couldn't steal from him... It was the reassuring look he gave after her the fight... He trusted her... He believed in her... and he would help her in anyway he could... Vivian was torn between what to do... but she just couldn't steal the Star...
"So, who's that girl with you? Isn't she one of those Shadow Sirens?" the Goomba girl asked.
"Yeah, and she's trying to take the Crystal Star!" a small light blue thing shouted.
"Oh... no, I'm not... I'm giving it to Mario..." Regrettably, Vivian handed Mario the powerful Star. "See?"
"Yeah..." the azure creature scoffed. "We'll see about that..."
Vivian tried not to show her fear in front of Mario's friends, but she couldn't help but feel intimidated by them. They every right to attack her and not show any remorse in doing so, due to the fact that she and her sisters had ambushed them once before.
Seeing how uncomfortable Vivian was around the others, Mario stood beside her and decided that it'd be a better idea if they went back to Twilight Town before anyone else was to jump to conclusions. Halfheartedly, the posse agreed.
A little while later, the group sat in the Twilight Town Inn, getting to know their new partner and resting up before they made their long trek back to Rogueport Sewers. After paying the innkeeper a fee to stay, Mario sat aside and surveyed the scene, making sure no fights broke out against their most recent companion.
Vivian remained in the far corner of the room, anxious about getting to know these new creatures. She'd never been good at introducing herself, so she just lingered around, waiting for someone else to say something first.
The small light blue creature from earlier decided to break the ice. He had a curly strand of blonde hair right between his eyes and a small spotted diaper on his back and around his bottom. Vivian would've assumed he was a baby, but she wasn't entirely sure. His eyes flared with determination and spunk, ready to take down an entire army twice his size.
"So, you gonna say something, or what? Are you deaf or just stupid?" he asked.
Vivian bit her lip. "Um..."
Another small creature came up, looking angrily at the smaller light blue one. It was the female Goomba from the fight earlier. Vivian could tell it was girl from her ponytail and her slight trace of mascara. She wore a clunky helmet on her head, similar to the kind that miners and diggers wore, leaving Vivian to wonder if the hat would light up in the dark.
"Waffles!" she scolded. "That's not nice! She's our new friend now and you need to start treating her like one!"
Waffles sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay! Jeez, I'm sorry!"
"Just ignore him, Vivian! My name is Goombella; glad to have you with us!" the armless thing said.
Vivian waved faintly at Goombella. "Oh, hi, Goombella."
Vivian felt a little more comfortable around Goombella, even though she was a little loudmouthed.
Aside from Mario, the other two members of the party weren't as small as Waffles and Goombella. One of them was a cloudy kind of thing. She looked very proper and posh, with shining lips and jewelry, one of which was the necklace Vivian had dropped in Boggly Woods. Vivian still wanted the pearl necklace, but since it belonged to someone, she didn't deserve to have it.
The cloud thing approached Vivian and gently ran her fingers through her pink hair, causing Vivian to cringe a little.
"Oh, my! Such lovely hair you have! I have to say, I'm very jealous!" she said.
Vivian perked up. "Jealous? Of me?"
"Of course! Your hair is so soft and pure, almost as if it's been that way since the day you were born! I've tried forever to get my hair in the same fashion, but it always ends up so messy and unkempt," Flurrie laughed, flipping her hand back through her locks.
Vivian tried not to blush. "Oh, thanks so much..."
The last partner was something that Vivian had seen several times before; a Koopa. He had a lazy left eye and a bandage across his nose and wore a hooded light blue jacket with plain dark blue shorts. He looked very soft-spoken and timid, as he sat quietly on the bed, waiting for his turn to say something. Vivian had to admit it; he looked pretty cute and sweet, a real nice guy. Seeing him look towards her, she suddenly disregarded her thoughts.
Walking up to Vivian, the Koopa smiled weakly. "Um... hi."
"Hi, what's your name?" the Shadow Siren asked.
"...Koops..." the Koopa said, bashfully.
"Oh, that's a cute... uh, I mean, nice name!" Vivian unintentionally blurted out, trying to correct her mistake.
Koops blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Um, okay then. Thanks... I think..."
Vivian mentally kicked herself in the head. How could she something stupid like that slip so easily? She made herself look like a fool in front of the group... or at least she figured.
Annoyed by the whole scenario, Waffles sat up. "Okay! Okay! We're done resting and with the introductions, so can we go now? I wanna hurry up and kick some other guy's butt so we can get the next Crystal Star!"
Goombella frowned at him. "Stop being so persistent, Waffles! We'll leave in an hour."
Waffles' mouth dropped. "An hour? But I wanna go right now!"
"Well, good things come to those who wait, so do that and try not to bug us until then!" Goombella demanded.
"Yeah, right, you little... Come on... I can't believe this...! 'Good things come to those who wait...' Blah blah blah..." Waffles mumbled to himself, retreating to his side of the room.
As everyone decided to turn in for the next hour or so, Vivian remained in the corner of the room, silently scheming about the Crystal Stars. She scanned every corner of the small tavern, remembering everyone's specific spot, as it would be necessary in order her to make a clean getaway. After she was clear of her surroundings, she set her eyes on Mario, already sound asleep in his bed. She would wait until everyone was asleep, snatch the map and Crystal Stars, and disappear before anyone noticed...
"Hey, um, Vivian... You know, you can take a rest, too, if you want..." Koops offered, holding up his blanket.
A little irritated about her thoughts interrupted, Vivian glowered beneath her hat, but lightened up when she noticed it was Koops talking to her. "Oh, that's... that's really... nice, but don't you need it?"
Koops shook his head. "Not really. I can just sleep in my shell. I feel a lot safer in there anyway."
Vivian took the blanket, experiencing déjà vu from the innkeeper back in Rogueport. "...Thank you..."
Koops smiled. "Oh... uh, you're welcome... Good night..."
Vivian watched as Koops made himself combatable on a small cushion on the floor and retreated into his shell. It wasn't long before she could hear his soft snoring. Looking at Koops' blanket, Vivian decided that... maybe she wouldn't take the Crystal Stars... just yet... Everyone had been so nice to her... Despite the fact that she was once a threat to them, they completely disregarded it and accepted her into their party anyway. No one had ever been nice to her before... Beldam had always warned about going off on her own, saying that everyone else in the world was 10 times worse than her punishments...
For the first time in her life, Vivian realized that was a lie.
Authoress' Notes: Giyah! I don't think I did such a good job with this Chapter, but the fans might think different! And yes, I changed the plot of the game so that Vivian was only pretending to be Mario's friend! I think that'd be awesome if it was more focused around Vivian. Anyway, Chapter 2 is done! Things will start to get more interesting in Chapter 3, so review and stay tuned for the plot twists! (And yes, the "small light blue thing" is a blue baby Yoshi and I named him Waffles. So shoot me :P)