"Not to insult your knowledge… but where are we even going?" Bowser groused at Blumiere.
"I'm going to say good-bye to Ariel… I didn't have the chance last time," Blumiere informed sadly. His brisk pace had slowed, allowing the group to catch up with him.
Timpani kissed him on the cheek in comfort. "Better late than never, Cake."
The eerie quietness suited the realm's scheme. Blumiere seemed unsettled; possibly because he remembered it in a different way.
They all finally reached Blumiere and Ariel's house. The Count knocked once more, but there was no reply. The Count narrowed his eyes and quickly but silently opened the front door, running through the entrance without shutting the door behind him. No footsteps sounded, making him impossible to track.
Timpani gathered the group. "This way!" she whisper-shouted, beginning to run the direction Blumiere had run himself. Their footsteps echoed over the spotless mansion, reminding Luigi of the false one he had met Professor E. Gad in. He shook away the memories, focusing on not running past Timpani so he wouldn't get lost.
Timpani slid around a corner with remarkable precision, her father surprisingly following suit. The Kingdom gang had some more difficultly, but somehow managed to not trip over their own feet or each other.
A flung open door showed where Blumiere was. The magician was desperately running around the room, muttering under his breath. Objects were grabbed then tossed on a table as he passed it to go get more… what appeared to be ingredients.
The reason for the mad dash was painstakingly clear: Ariel lied in a pool of blood that stained her green clothes an awful, murky brown.
Peach and Timpani ran to her, but Blumiere shouted "Stop! She has too much magical energy; you'll get hurt as well!"
Timpani and Peach, having no protection against magic, stopped in their tracks.
Timpani's father, however, had no such reservations. He ignored Blumiere's shouting and touched her forehead.
"She's searing hot," he informed, all business. He was remarkably calmer than Blumiere, which was probably a good thing. "I don't know much about your species, but I can almost guarantee that she's not supposed to be this warm."
"Pretty much the same as humans, we just have some different DNA codes," Blumiere explained as he gathered what were the last ingredients.
Timpani's father slowly turned Ariel to her other side, revealing the wound.
The Kingdoms gain had to turn away due to the gruesomeness of it all. Even Link with his war experience under his belt couldn't gaze at it.
"It looks like a broadsword that was… heated?" Timpani's dad removed some of her clothing from the around the wound, leaving her decent but still allowing access to the injury.
"Magically," Blumiere tacked on, quickly crushing ingredients.
Timpani went to help him. "Water," he said, and Timpani went to grab it. It took a few more minutes, but Blumiere finished the paste. He muttered something under his breath, moving his hand over the bowl in a slow circle. The contents glittered and glowed for a moment before fading. Blumiere picked up the bowl and ran over to where his sister lay.
"Hold her steady; this stuff stings and she will react accordingly," Blumiere warned. Timpani's father nodded and gently but firmly took a hold of Ariel's arms.
Blumiere picked up a handful of the stuff, slopping it on his sister. Her eyes opened, unseeing, and she screamed. Her arms twitched, but the man held her steady.
Blumiere started humming something strangely familiar. Timpani placed her hand on his shoulder and joined in the song.
The Kingdom gang recognized it as the song the two had sung earlier about how they met. The potion glittered and glowed once more, and Ariel stopped thrashing. Blumiere removed the pile of now-dried goop and tossed it, putting the bowl in a nearby sink.
"Thank you, sir," the Count said as he tossed his soiled gloves into a nearby trash can and replacing them with a spare pair.
"Just Paul is fine," the man smiled. "You are, by law, family now, it seems."
Blumiere blushed and refocused on his sister. "She should be okay to touch now. Which reminds me, how were you able to touch her and not get injured?"
Paul tapped a flower on his lapel. It was the exactly like the ones Timpani grew in the reformed window box at their house.
"These flowers are special, as you know. But what is very seldom known is that they protect anyone from magic of any kind, but only certain amounts. If it's too much, they'll wither and die. This one will probably be dead by tomorrow."
Blumiere nodded, picking his sister up and leading the group to another area of the house.
"Will she be okay?" Link was the first to pipe up.
"Should be," Blumiere informed, "that was the point of the healing business. Usually it takes a lot longer… I just got lucky with the age of some of the ingredients. The aging thing is why I don't normally do the healing spell, before you ask. There's probably a simpler version, but I've never been able to find one. To be fair, I wasn't exactly looking for one."
"Is it just me, or are the quiet ones talking more?" Bowser commented.
Blumiere and Link weren't amused. "Well, let's see, the worlds are ending, I have info, and you guys need info. Would you prefer I talked less?" Link groused.
"Peace, you two," Paul shushed, "don't start."
They had reached whatever destination Blumiere had in mind. Timpani opened the door for her husband, allowing him into a purple and brown room that seemed to be a bedroom. The rest of the group stayed outside the door and waited. Timpani nodded her head and closed the door, allowing the small family some time to say good-bye.
"What kind of sicko would do that?" Daisy ground out.
"One who cares very little of anyone's well being except their own," Paul stated darkly.
Link grunted in agreement. The rest of the group stayed silent, mulling over the events.
Meanwhile, Blumiere and Timpani bustled around in Ariel's room. Blumiere picked out a new outfit for his sister, and Timpani went to change the girl's clothing. When she was decent, Blumiere aided his wife in putting his sister down on her bed. They sat on the end for a bit, not knowing what to say.
"I'm sorry," Blumiere started. "I'm so sorry for a great many things… for leaving, not saying good-bye, leaving you here with him, not being here for you today… I can say I'm sorry but it can't mean anything to me… not yet. I hope, Ariel, that one day you'll realize what I've done is wrong but will still have it in yourself to spare a decent thought for your brother now and then."
Ariel twitched. "Brother… love you… unconditionally…" the words are not as clear as they appear here, but both Blumiere and Timpani could hear them.
"And we you." Timpani kissed her sister-in-law on the forehead, followed by Blumiere.
"And by the time this is over, he should be gone…" The couple got up.
"Good-bye, Ariel. We shall see each other again, soon enough." Blumiere tipped his hat and walked out the door, leaving behind Ariel's ruined clothing on top of her dresser along with the gem he had placed on his cane earlier.
The group turned as they heard the door open. The couple walked out, looking tired but satisfied.
The Count turned to Link. "Where to next?"
"The… Flower Kingdom," Link recalled.
"We end where we begin?" Daisy suggested, "after all, I think we've only got about two Stars left!"
"But how the heck are we supposed to get back there? It's not like we have an actual, reliable source of-"
Timpani withdrew the candy-cane plumbing from a pocket in her tunic, raising an eyebrow at Bowser.
"You were saying?" she asked rhetorically before throwing the pipe on the ground and jumping into the now full-sized reliable mode of transportation.
Everyone else just shrugged and followed suit, the pipe disappearing after Link went through it. There was no evidence they were ever there except for the gloves in the trash can and the gem on the dresser.
"Welcome, heroes!" Merlon greeted as the group exited the pipe, Mario giving the shrunken form back to Timpani.
"Hello, Merlon. Anything new to report?" she asked.
Merlon's usually happy face went grim. "Unfortunately. Time here is beginning to fluxate… if you run into past versions of yourselves, do not panic."
Everyone but Blumiere and Link nodded.
"Rosalina and I have also confirmed that you are on a much tighter time limit than previously suspected… you only have about a week until this universe ceases to exist."
"And then that's it. Game over, no lives left," Link tacked on, catching Merlon's attention.
"I don't believe I've met you before." He turned to Paul. "Or you."
"Long story short, Beardo, I'm the guy in green that's meant to help them. You might want to tell them this next prophecy, there. Pleasantries later."
Merlon cleared his throat. "Of course. I wish it weren't true, but wishing only does so much unless it's upon NOVA. Anyway,
This is it, the final stretch
Into stone you will have to etch
To find the last two items of which you seek
But be careful not to peek.
This is our last warning, from us to you:
There is one, but also too.
Beware, beware, the mirror that doesn't shine
Help awaits at the Armageddon Shrine."
"I think that's the most sense the ancients have made in… forever," Blumiere commented, met by several agreements.
Luigi turned to Daisy. "Do you know what to do?"
Daisy smirked. "You betcha! Let's go! Thanks, wizard guy!" She grabbed Luigi's hand and started running off, followed by the rest of the group who called various good-byes and thanks to the helpful wizard.
A/N: Quick thing here about me and the gloves: no way in hell are they ever going to be perfectly immaculate on anyone ever. Blumiere is the most obvious case, as it is mentioned several times that he tosses his gloves and has a lot of spares lying around. The Mario Bros. and the Princesses do the same thing, it's just not mentioned because we don't really focus on them.
By the way, they're not thrown into landfills. By some process or another, sanitation workers are able to clean and salvage the gloves that are then donated to charities. That's why so many people in the universe have gloves: they're easy to get a hold of.
As for Ariel… every fic I've read has always mentioned Blumiere as being an only child with maybe a few friends. In my version, I like for him to have a sibling. So there.
As for Paul… Timpani stated several times in the game that pretty much everything was against them getting married. Attempting to tie in my previous two-shot, it was only her father that vehemently opposed it. Her mother was actually quite supportive, happy her daughter found someone who wouldn't hold her back and cared for her genuinely. Paul was originally going to be unsupportive until the previously mentioned epic scene where Link shouts at him and reminds him: "She's your daughter, you empty jar! Shouldn't you be happy that she is?" And then startling realization, blah, blah, blah. But I like the idea that he's had years to mull it over, believing his child to be deceased because he didn't allow her to come back to a safe haven. Plus with his wife and an utter stranger who seem to view something in the same way… well, it gets you thinking. Blumiere forgives easily (he's not exactly a saint himself), and he helped with Ariel in a dire moment, no questions asked. Are they going to be buddy-buddy? Hell no; awkward "you-hated-me-but-now-you-don't-and-I've-sort-of-been-related-to-you-for-years-but-we-don't-know-each-other-that-well" moments are hopefully coming your way! Also, the name was decided by one of my friends. So shout-out to him for a answering a random Skype question.
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Well, except my ideas.
So, where do we stand now, oh count of mine?
(Current Length: 70 pages and about 25,980 words in MS word.)