.
(A/N: Not sure how happy I am with these last three chapters, but hopefully my readers enjoy them. Let me know what you think of them though.)
Last Ditch Efforts
Mona, Daisy, and Peach stared in wide-eyed shock at Ashley, who had opened a portal to them. The young witch sat with one leg crossed over the other holding the Shadow Queen's book in a hand. Kammy hovered nearby looking grave. "I'm sorry, we need to what?" Daisy incredulously asked.
"Eh," Ashley said, shrugging. She tossed the book up and snapped her fingers. The next second it appeared above the two princesses and Mona, and dropped into Daisy's hands. The princess blinked at it in surprise then grimaced a little, handing it uncertainly off to Peach. "Maybe I'm wrong. You should probably hope I am. Honestly, it seems like introducing an invasive species to take care of an invasive species to me. Since this is her book, it could just be one of her tricks, so I suggest you run this by the Cosmic Spirit before you do anything."
"This is really all you could find?" Daisy asked.
"Yes," Ashley replied. "Be glad I found anything at all. It wasn't easy. I haven't slept for days, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a well-deserved rest." She hesitated a moment. "Be... be careful. About what you do from here that is. You really don't want to exchange one evil for a worse one." With that she closed the portal, and Peach, Daisy, and Mona looked uncertainly at the book once more. Peach let out a shaking breath.
"You okay Peachy?" Daisy asked in concern.
Peach shook her head and gave the book back to Daisy before turning and walking back to Rosalina's room. "What's wrong with her?" Mona asked in concern.
"It's uh, it's a long story," Daisy said with a sigh. "I'll fill you in later. Right now we should go after her." Mona nodded uncertainly.
Daisy led the way to Rosalina's room and pushed open the door. Peach was looking down at Rosalina in exhaustion. "A pure maiden was what she needed to be returned to the mortal plain," Peach quietly said.
"She could control a mortal maiden," Daisy said, stepping worriedly towards her friend. "Ashley's... Ashley's suggestion has merit. If-if the Queen... If she needs a pure vessel, you don't get purer than Rosalina. Rosalina, though, isn't mortal. She won't be able to control her."
"Rosalina has been controlled before," Peach said.
"Because she was weakened," Daisy said.
"She's weak now!" Peach replied.
"But not in the same way!" Daisy argued. "Even if she is and the-the Queen can take over her, will she? She'll know her, Peach. She has to."
"Then what happens when she realizes?" Peach asked. "There are too many risks. Too many chances we can't afford to take. If-if we step into this, there may be no backing out."
"We need to talk to the Cosmic Spirit," Mona said. The princesses looked back at her tiredly. "Wouldn't she have the best idea of how this plays out? We can theorize all we want, but she might not have to theorize."
Peach looked woefully back at Rosalina. "We don't have a choice, Peach," Daisy said.
Peach's mouth trembled and she looked away, bowing her head. "Then let's find a way to summon the Cosmic Spirit," she said.
SMB
The Cosmic entity hovered before them. They gazed up at her in nervousness and awe. "We-we think we've found the answer. Are we right?" Daisy asked.
"What answer have you found?" she asked.
They exchanged looks, then turned to her once more. "Rosalina won't last much longer. Not on mortal strength. She's dying. But if she can subside on the strength of another..." Peach began.
"Do not play with words, mortals. Tell me simply what you plan," the Cosmic Spirit said.
"If she can subside on her mother's strength," Daisy said.
The Cosmic Spirit was utterly silent. "Explain this," she at last said, her tone cold.
"There was a passage in her book," Daisy said. She opened the book and flipped to the pages in question. "It says: One day the heart of darkness will shatter. Its shards, trembling with wrath, will call out, and a harbinger of chaos and darkness will answer. On that day, the end of all things will be assured. The harbinger will send forth those who would do his bidding and gather up the shattered pieces to reforge the broken heart, and Dharkon's force will awaken in the world. What choice will they have, then, but to restore me? I alone can return their doom-bringer's true heart to him. Then mortal kind will owe me their very existence."
"Her grief and arrogance drove her to pen those words. She cannot restore his true heart to him," the Cosmic Spirit said.
"But maybe she can open the doors for those who can," Peach said. "Rosalina is going to die. The Shadow Queen... She needs a pure vessel. She controls the minds of mortals, but can she control the mind of a demigoddess? Even if she can, will she be able to bring herself to control the mind of her daughter?" The Cosmic Spirit was silent.
"What other choice do we have? The Cap Bros can't possibly gather up all the shards in time to save her. If she dies, Waluigi dies. If he dies, Mario, Luigi, and Wario are done for. They can barely hold their own against the Smithy Gang as is! What happens if they lose Walu?" Mona asked.
"You do not know what you toy with, mortals," the Cosmic Spirit said.
"Then tell us!" Mona pled.
The Cosmic Spirit was quiet, watching them. "Dimentio's judgment approaches," she at last said, changing the subject.
"It took them this long?" Daisy dryly asked.
"There was... strife," the Cosmic Spirit said.
"Dare we ask?" Daisy dryly said.
"No," she answered simply. "His fate rests with Jaydes and her alone. There is no one who will rise to his defense. Even if his father senses his child's fate, he cannot intervene. The jester's prospects are dim." The three girls shifted uncomfortably. The Cosmic Spirit looked towards Rosalina's room. "Do what you will to save her," she hollowly said. "I will do all I can to keep the Shadow Queen in check should this not end as I hope."
"Meaning...?" Mona fished.
"Do as you will," the Cosmic Spirit repeated before fading away.
"That's... ominous," Daisy said.
"What about this isn't ominous?" Peach asked with a frustrated sigh, running her fingers through her hair. "If nothing else, we buy Rosalina time. If we have to deal with the Shadow Queen, we will. Mario defeated her before. We thought he'd destroyed her. If that isn't the case, and she returns with malicious intent, we can defeat her again."
"Will she take Rosalina with her, though?" Mona asked.
"Those are the risks we're taking if we do this," Peach solemnly replied. "Sometimes it's better to leave well enough alone... But I don't know if this is one of those times."
"We're putting all our stock into her remembering and recognizing her daughter, and on top of that still retaining enough of a capacity for love to not use Rosalina for her own gains," Daisy said quietly.
There was silence. "If we're doing this, we need to do it now," Peach finally said.
Daisy let out a breath. "Here goes nothing then," she said.
"We should bring Ashley, Kammy, and Kamek in on this," Mona said.
"Agreed," Peach said.
SMB
Kammy and Kamek were visibly disturbed by the prospect before them. Ashley looked uncertain at best. "This is madness," Kamek said. "We can't control what happens next! If she decides that tossing her daughter away and starting fresh is in her best interests, we're done!"
"I know how big a risk this is, Kamek, but at this point, we don't have a choice," Peach said.
Kammy and Kamek stared at Rosalina uncertainly. "Alright," Kammy at last said.
"We're dead," Kamek dryly remarked, rolling up his sleeves. "Fine. Let's get this done. The quicker the death the better off we are. On the count of three. One, two... three!" Immediately all three magicians cast their powers at Rosalina, who at this point had a death rasp. The space Queen gasped, body arching up, and began to seize.
"Rosa!" Mona exclaimed.
"Wait," Peach said, holding her back.
Eventually, the magikoopas and Ashley paused and watched Rosalina anxiously. In only moments, the death rasp began to change and the breathing became more normal. Slowly the eyes opened, but they weren't blue anymore. They were dark red. An evil smile played across Rosalina's lips and nervously they all stepped back. Slowly the woman sat up in bed. Her eyes, dead and dark, fell on them. The smirk grew into a slasher grin and slowly she rose and stretched. Darkly the woman chuckled and began to move towards them with clearly malicious intent. They swallowed nervously, willing there to be a change.
Suddenly, about halfway to them, the woman stopped, her smirk vanishing and a stunned expression filling her eyes. "Rosalina," the woman said in shock, her voice decidedly not Rosalina's. Her eyes darted to them again, this time wide. "What have you done?" she asked. They kept silent. "What have you done?!" she screamed, lunging.
"She was dying!" Mona blurted. "A shard of the Black Jewel was used against her. It turned her semi-mortal and they tried to kill her and she just couldn't survive on her own strength anymore! We're trying to find a way to help her but she's running out of time too quickly. You were the only thing we could think of that could keep her alive long enough for us to fix this!"
The woman stared at them in disbelief and mounting horror as she began to do... something? They weren't really sure, but it almost looked like she was reading or watching something. Her daughter's mind? Rosalina's memories? "No," she breathed, wavering. "No. No, no, no, no!" With a furious scream, the Shadow Queen in Rosalina's form suddenly vanished. They gaped in disbelief.
"Uh, wh-what just happened?" Mona asked.
"Whatever happened, we'd better hope it rights itself real quick," Kamek flatly said.
"Um, guys? She might have seen Dimentio," Daisy said, turning to the others nervously. "If she did, I think we may have just unlocked one-half of the key we need to defeat the Smithy Gang. Or something even bigger." They were silent and visibly uneasy at this.
The Underwhere
"Your judgment is clear, jester," Jaydes coldly said to the masked villain before her, who was glowering from behind his harlequin mask. "You will spend the rest of eternity chained away in the darkest depths of the Underwhere, never to walk the mortal coil again. Are there any who have come for you or who will speak in your defense?"
He was quiet, looking down bitterly. "No," he coldly replied.
"Then even your own sister has judged you unworthy," Jaydes said. Dimentio winced and scowled darkly, clenching his fists. "Tremble in your dark prison. Farewell, masked shade."
Suddenly there was an explosion like thunder and Dimentio and Jaydes gasped, Dimentio spinning around with eyes wide and Jaydes looking up in shock. There, appearing in a column of haunting, shadowy hands, was the figure of a woman! Dimentio's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Rosalina?" he asked, a tinge of hope coming to his voice. The woman looked up and he started, falling back a bit with eyes widening even more and filling with some concern. The woman before them was not Rosalina, though indeed she was in her form.
"My son's fate is mine to judge! Am I not also a queen?!" the woman bellowed at Jaydes in a voice that definitely wasn't Rosalina's, but he could hear his sister's voice beneath it and a chill ran up and down his spine as he registered what had just been said.
Jaydes was utterly still, stunned by this intrusion. It took her a moment to process what was going on, but when she did, her tension faded away and a look of defeat filled her eyes. "Not down here. You, Shadow Queen, have no authority in this place."
"Remove his chains or I will make you suffer," the Shadow Queen said as Dimentio gaped at her, barely able to comprehend what was happening for how overwhelmed he felt.
"At the cost of your own daughter?" Jaydes asked. Dimentio started, looking sharply back at the Underwhere's Queen with eyes wide.
"You will regret your actions if you refuse me. Whether you are his sister or not," the Queen darkly said.
"And what would your judgment be for your son, Queen of Shadows? To set him free upon an unsuspecting world? He is too dangerous. Your daughter knew it. You know it too. He is his father's son," Jaydes replied. Dimentio looked utterly lost and confused now, looking rapidly from one to the other in anxious uncertainty.
There was a shimmer not far off, and all parties quickly turned to it with soft gasps. Slowly materialized the Cosmic Spirit, hovering before them and looking utterly exhausted and defeated. The Shadow Queen straightened up ever so slightly, lips slowly parting. "Know you not what happens in the world above?" the Cosmic Spirit asked.
Jaydes sighed tiredly and bowed. "Cosmic Spirit," she greeted. "What tidings from the world above?" She didn't confirm or deny she knew.
"The heart of Dhakon, shattered by the yellow-clad antihero, now trembles, its pieces slowly being gathered," the Cosmic Spirit said. "He would exert his influence on their world and hold captive all that is good. He would see his heart returned to him. His true heart." The Cosmic Spirit turned to the Shadow Queen. "Your daughter tried to stop it, alongside others, but Dharkon's vassals used the shard they possessed to zap away her immortality and drove a spear through her body to kill her. It poisoned her with darkness and she began to die, though slowly. Her friends are doing all they can to rescue her, but they cannot win this fight on mortal strength alone. Not any of it. Nor can they even keep her alive. So they looked into your age-old book and found a passage you wrote foretelling this day, and saw their chance, but knew they could not let you loose upon the mortal coil ever again. They gave you a pure-hearted maiden as your vessel. Your own daughter. Your own daughter so that your strength would be lent to her and she may be preserved until the time they found the appropriate cure. A cure they must obtain by healing one of their own to whom your daughter bound herself to preserve alive. Should he die, she dies. Should she die, he does. Should he be healed, so too will she. Should she be healed, she will continue holding him to life until he has been healed as well."
The Shadow Queen let out a sharp, pained breath, closing her eyes. "What?" Dimentio icily asked, eyes narrowed now.
"In this manner, they may save your daughter, but it will be your choice, my darling, whether she lives or remains a husk, your vessel for eternity," the Cosmic Spirit said, drifting to the woman and gently cupping her cheek. Her hand trembled at the contact with her long-lost child, but she remained composed.
"If I live, my daughter remains a shell," the Shadow Queen said, looking up at her.
"And if she lives, you cease to exist once more, never to exert your influence upon their world," the Cosmic Spirit confirmed. Her hand moved to gently take her child's chin between her fingers. "There are bargains to be struck and deals to be made. Be wise with your words if you would save your children. What that I could have saved my own." The Shadow Queen reached up, taking the spirit's hand in both her own, squeezing it longingly. The Cosmic Spirit felt her unseen mouth tremble and pulled away.
The Shadow Queen let out a pained breath but didn't move to go after her. Only turned to her own son once more, eyes locking on him. He gaped at her like he barely dared believe what he was seeing. Slowly she approached him. He suddenly felt incredibly small and felt his size shrink accordingly. Gently she reached out, taking his chin lightly and tilting it. "Mother?" he tightly asked, voice wavering ever so slightly. She tilted her head at him, then turned to Jaydes. Releasing her son, she went towards the Queen of the Underwhere who looked defeated. It was clear this aspect of her job was her most despised one.
"They cannot win on mortal strength alone. Nor will they even save my daughter without help from a higher order. Send them my son in his sister's place. I know he cannot remain, but may the aid he gives them earn him some measure of mercy," she said too in a tongue she knew her child would not understand.
"What mercy?" Jaydes asked in the same.
"Send him to his father's realm. From there, let the stars fall where they may. I know you do not want this fate for your brother's son," she replied.
Jaydes tilted her head, then looked to Dimentio, who was gaping at them clearly overwhelmed. "Pleaser of Crowds, Master of Dimensions, you would save your sister, would you not?" she asked in the common tongue
He started, eyes widening a bit. "Answer her," the Shadow Queen commanded.
"I would save my sister," he replied. "My mother as well."
"It can be one or the other," Jaydes replied.
"You will save your sister, littlest one," the Shadow Queen said, turning to him. He swallowed over a tightening in his throat and nodded numbly. "It will win you leniency, but it will not win you freedom. At least, though, you will ensure your sister lives."
"Yes," he said. It was all he could manage to get out. He didn't dare try and say more. He didn't believe he could handle that.
"So be it," Jaydes said. The Shadow Queen swallowed and crossed to her child once more, gently cupping his face and running her thumbs over his mask. She made as if to remove it, but quickly he turned away, closing his eyes tight. The Shadow Queen paused, considered pressing on, but soon released him and backed away. He turned to look painfully after her. He saw Rosalina's body tremble. He sensed his mother's influence fade away and watched as Rosalina's returned, giving his sister domination of their shared body. He grew to his true height once again.
Rosalina let out a soft gasp and opened clouded, confused eyes. She frowned a little and looked around, then caught her breath softly as she recognized the location and saw Jaydes. There was a moment in which she just stared at the Goddess before at last she looked ahead once more and caught her breath when she spotted him, paling. Then her eyes filled with grief and devastation. "Dimi?" she asked, pitch high and voice wavering as though she were about to cry.
He approached her slowly. "It's only a dream," he said, outright lying to her. Maybe it would make this easier on his sister. "You're dying, Rosalie. You don't have much time left. But don't worry, sister. Your... companions, I'll say, will save you. How they'll manage, of course, is beyond my understanding."
She watched him quietly. "Were you the one who started this?" she at last asked.
"I toyed with the concept, maybe planted a seed or two. Then determined I was playing with forces beyond even my understanding and stopped," he said.
"But the seeds had already taken root," she said.
"Clearly," he replied. "Or a seed was unintentionally sowed somewhere even I couldn't predict, and it took over from there. Or maybe the seed that was planted was in me from the start. A strange turn of events, isn't it? The puppet master becoming the puppet. Now rest, sister. Leave everything to your little associates."
"Friends," she said.
"Playthings," he coldly replied.
"If you call them such, you are not just a dream," she said.
"Then pretend I am. It'll make things easier," he replied. He reached out suddenly, touching her neck, and a jolt went through her. She caught her breath, stiffening up, then her eyes glazed over and she collapsed. He caught her in an arm, then snapped his fingers, flipping her out of the Underwhere and into the Observatory once more. He turned to Jaydes. "Well?" he asked.
"Patience, jester," she said. "Your chain will be broken when you are needed.
"Then off I shall go, like an ancient shade summoned to battle once more!"
"You are an ancient shade summoned to battle once more," Jaydes flatly said. He started and gave her an annoyed look before huffing.
SMB
Screaming, terror, death, fire, darkness…
Waluigi tossed and turned restlessly in his sleep, unable to wake up and really wishing he could.
They were dead. Everyone was gone! Toads, koopas, Bowser and his children, the Bean Kingdom and its citizens, Sarasaland and its people, all of them! Mona, Mario, Peach, Wario, Daisy, him… Then finally Luigi fell to his own power, and darkness began to spread unhindered.
Waluigi shot up with a cry of terror. His heart was pounding in his chest, his shoulder killing him. He gasped and jumped up. Frantically he raced around the room trying to rid his mind of the images, trying to clear out all the thoughts of pain, trying to find the pills.
"Oh stars. Oh stars!" he cried in mounting fear. He couldn't find them! He felt a pain in his chest and cried out, falling against the wall. "W-Wario, Mario, Luigi! Help!" He was only barely aware of himself sliding down the wall. He could barely register the door being broken in. Wario, Mario, and Luigi raced inside and gasped, then ran towards him presumably shouting his name, but he really, really couldn't focus right now to be able to process it.
Mario was suddenly there, holding him in his arms and barking orders to Luigi. Somehow he registered that Luigi was searching for the pills. With a victorious shout, his cousin dragged them out of the most obvious spot and raced toward him and Mario. Wario was off to the side gawking in terror, helpless to do anything else. Luigi handed the pills to Mario as E. Gadd burst in. Luigi looked quickly over to the old man and raced to him. That was the last thing Waluigi saw before the world went black.
SMB
"When will he wake up?" Wario asked in a strained voice.
"I don't-a know," Mario answered, voice strained as well.
"You saved his life, Professor. If you hadn't-a had the defibrillator, he'd-a be dead," Luigi said to the old man. Nothing had been more relieving to them than to hear the machine rattle off the heartbeat had been restored.
"It was no trouble, son. When you go off treasure hunting in the mountains, though, you'd better hope he doesn't get one again. There won't be anything that can help him then," E. Gadd solemnly said.
"Then we'll-a leave him here and go on our own!" Wario said. Luigi winced a bit at the thought. He really, really didn't think that would be a good idea.
"Oh no you won't," Waulgi suddenly said in barely a whisper. All eyes immediately went to him.
"Walu!" Wario exclaimed in relief. "What do you mean? Of course we're-a leaving you here! You almost died!"
"I'm-a fine. Haven't-a felt this good in a while," Waluigi replied testily, slowly sitting up.
"You're-a not coming, Waluigi," Mario seriously said.
"Stop me," Waluigi challenged with a sneer.
"Let him come," Luigi quietly backed. "I'm-a not so sure it's-a gonna be a good idea to leave him behind."
"What?!" Wario and Mario demanded.
"With the Smithy Gang powered with shards of Dharkon, you'd-a better believe you're-a all screwed without me. You said it yourself, Mario. We're-a strongest together," Waluigi said.
"What the heck even sparked the panic that set this off?" Wario demanded.
Waluigi paused. "Another nightmare," he quietly said.
There was silence. "What nightmare?" Wario coldly asked.
Waluigi hesitated, grimacing, then sighed and narrated all he could remember of it. For a moment, there was silence. "Maybe I should just Game Over myself and get it done," Luigi quietly said, breaking the silence and bowing his head.
"Like heck you will, Weegie!" Mario snapped, sharply turning on his brother. "We're-a gonna fix this!"
"But what if we can't, bro?!" Luigi demanded.
"We will," Mario insisted, eyes hard. "Now let's-a go after this shard so we can gather up more before the Smithy Gang intervenes."
"Good luck on your quest, boys, and be careful," E. Gadd said in concern.
"Yes Dad," Luigi defeatedly replied. Mario started and raised an eyebrow at his brother.
"Stick a sock in it, old timer," Wario bit, turning and marching out.
"Yeah. Go crawl in a hole and join your ghost friends," Waluigi bit, following his sibling.
Mario frowned after the two then turned to the professor. "Ignore them, Professor Gadd. They're-a nothing but bad attitudes."
"Oh, I'm not upset, my boy. I know the type," E. Gadd assured, smiling. "Best of luck to all of you."
"Grazie, Professor," Mario said with a smile. Frowning at Luigi, had took his brother's wrists and pulled him out.
SMB
Obtaining the shard wasn't a problem. They returned to Cortez mostly unscathed and immediately set out for the next destination. On the ghost ship, precious little they met proved a challenge. The race was in full force now, though, because far too often Cortez was informing them he felt another piece of the Black Jewel disappear. It wasn't a good sign, because already a bunch of locations on the map they'd picked up had been cleared out. Which meant the Smithy gang had already had a headstart. Wario had no idea how many pieces the Black Jewel had shattered into either, so that wasn't helpful. When at last no more shards could be sensed, they felt their hearts drop. They'd managed to collect nine, and somehow they got the feeling it wasn't an impressive number.
"What now?" Luigi nervously asked, looking at Mario.
"I don't-a know," Mario replied solemnly.
"We have to confront them and get the antidote to Waluigi's poison," Wario said.
"We can't-a rush in blind hoping for the best," Mario replied.
"We can't-a wait for them to put themselves somewhere they have the advantage either, though," Waluigi said.
"We might not have a choice in that anymore," Mario said. "What we should do is get the shards to the Observatory where they can be kept safe." He started. "Wait. The shards. We can use them to bring the Smithy Gang to where we have advantage!"
"No way. It's-a too risky, bro. If they win and get a hold of them, we're-a done for," Luigi said.
"They'll-a hunt the shards before they hunt us, Weegie," Mario replied. "Maybe they would be safe on the Observatory, but with Rosalina out of the picture, I'm-a not so sure about that."
"Plus they probably still wanna grab Mario and torture him," Wario said.
"Which probably means imprisoning or killing all of us," Waluigi grimly said. "Heck, if they win and grab us, we end up prisoners and maybe they offer to exchange our lives for the shards. At which point we're-a all done anyway. I hate to say it, Wedgie, but Mario might be right. Their best bet is coming after us with what they have and hoping their power carries the day. Which at this point, it might. Daisy said the Cosmic Spirit told them we couldn't-a win this on mortal strength alone, so our prospects don't-a exactly look rosy here."
Suddenly the shards of the jewel flashed brightly, causing them all to gasp and look quickly over. Cortez and Jonathan were watching the shards closely, looking grim. Jonathan turned to them. "The shards of the jewel are starting to pulse with power. They turned themselves in the direction of Shooting Star Summit," he said.
"The gateway to Star Haven," Mario said, paling a bit. From there they can reach the Dream Depot where the Star Spirits live! And where the wishes and dreams of the Mushroom Kingdom go.
"Ooh, that's-a gonna be a problem," Waluigi said.
"Do you think they'll-a have enough power to get to Star Haven?" Luigi asked.
"They won't-a go without the Black Jewel," Mario replied.
"So let's-a go to the opposite side of the world," Waluigi said. "Eventually someone's-a gonna give."
"You're-a dying, cuz. We don't-a have time to outwait them," Luigi seriously said, turning to Waluigi worriedly.
Waluigi was quiet. He hadn't actually thought of that. Whispering a curse under his breath, he started to pace and try to think up a way out of this. "Putting them on the Observatory is better than taking them with us," he said, turning to the others. "We lose the extra power, but we also don't-a immediately screw over the universe if we're-a defeated."
"Just delay it," Wario bluntly said.
"It gives the princesses and Mona time to figure something out!" Waluigi insisted. "They're-a gonna be our last chance here."
Mario hesitated, considering this, then sighed in defeat. "We bring four shards. One each. The rest go to the Observatory."
"I can't-a risk touching one, Mario," Luigi quietly said. "I already feel Mr. L being drawn to them."
"One shard will not corrupt Mr. L beyond your control," Cortez said, picking up four with his tail and offering them to the cousins. "But you had best hope you win, because many shards might."
"We're-a walking ourselves into a suicide mission," Waluigi flatly said.
"It's-a that or you die, then Rosalina dies," Wario said. "We're-a doubly screwed then."
"We're-a doubly screwed anyway," Waluigi solemnly replied, looking towards Shooting Star Summit in the distance. Above it, grey clouds were starting to swirl ominously.
SMB
Roslina was awake, but catatonic. They had tried to snap her out of it, but nothing was working. Her eyes kept flashing between normal and red, and they didn't even want to know what that meant. It meant one of three things. Either they were losing her fast, the Shadow Queen wasn't quite ready to let go of the reigns, or Rosalina wasn't letting her. "Rosy, please. We need you," Mona pled.
"She cannot help you," the deeper voice of the Shadow Queen replied.
"Why?" Mona asked nervously.
"If I let her go, she will die. The one she tethers to life should already be dead. I have tried to sever the tether. She will not let me," she answered.
"She's already lost everything. She can't lose even more," Peach said. The Shadow Queen in Rosalina's form turned her head curiously in the princess's direction. "She's... fonder of the man she's protecting than she is of most," Peach carefully said.
The Shadow Queen frowned in a measure of disapproval. "Love?" the woman coldly asked.
"No. But maybe something building to it," Peach replied quietly, hanging her head.
The Queen stirred ever so slightly then looked ahead once more, focusing on her daughter. "Who is this man?" she darkly asked.
"One who can never be worthy of her, no matter how much he wishes it," Peach said.
"A mortal," the Queen deduced icily. "She would call a mortal her paramour."
"He's... not of horrible stock?" Daisy lamely offered. "I mean he's..." She stopped herself and looked nervously at Peach, then back at the Queen. "He's the cousin of the hero who defeated you."
The Shadow Queen looked sharply over, momentarily seeming enraged before calming herself ever so slightly. "Oh?" she coldly asked.
"So he has potential! That-that's all I mean," Daisy said. "I-I mean, it would take someone really, really special to conquer you, right? So it stands to reason his relatives might be special too! They're... three of them are of the Seven Star Children. Not-not him though. As far as anyone knows."
"That makes no sense," the woman said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, well sometimes things don't," Daisy quietly said, looking down.
The Shadow Queen seemed ready to respond, but suddenly drew a sharp breath, closing her eyes. Quickly they looked at her.
"My Lady?" Kammy Koopa warily asked.
The Queen was quiet. After a moment, she bitterly started to chuckle. "Pray for the souls of your hero and his relatives," she darkly said. Peach, Daisy, and Mona paled.