"Bleck," Blumiere grumbled as he picked himself up, checking on his comrades.
Only to find himself alone.
The magician rolled his eyes. Sure, Dimentio may be downright crazy, but stupid is something he wasn't. At least, most of the time. Blumiere brushed off whatever dust may have taken lodging on his clothing as he looked around, taking in his surroundings.
To put it simply, it was his old castle on acid. Same basic layout, but some of the tunnels were twisted and the whole placed glowed like a neon sign. His eyes turned blue due to the amount of light, he knew.
Having long since memorized his own castle, he walked forward towards the far end of the castle. Chances are that this realm had also been resurrected with the others that had been destroyed with the voids. Dimentio probably redesigned it to his own tastes…
That much was clear when he entered a hallway filled with mirrors.
Blumiere rolled his eyes again but put up his guard. Does he think I forgot? Or is he just playing mind games?
The Count sighed and walked forward.
"Blumiere?" he heard Timpani's voice from beside him. Turning, it appeared as if she were trapped behind a mirror. Something was off and Blumiere noticed right away, but left no hints to him knowing.
"Timpani? Where are the others?"
"I… I don't know."
Blumiere had to admit, it was a good copy, accurate in most of the details of his wife.
Most.
"Can you get me out? That stupid jester locked me behind here. I think it'll work if you just break the glass."
Blumiere nodded, lifting his cane as if preparing to use magic.
He then turned and fired a spread shot at the Dimentio clones that moved to attack him from behind. He then placed a barrier over the mirror frame that lacked a mirror.
"I hope Timpani knows what they meant," he muttered to himself, making his way towards the altar he and Timpani had renewed their vows at as they used the Pure Hearts to calm the Chaos Heart.
He whistled as he walked, ignoring the taunting voices in the back of his head that he wasn't who he made everyone think he was.
Meanwhile, our other heroes hadn't been split up apart from Blumiere.
Timpani got frustrated and kicked a pillar that held a pot. The jar fell and shattered, leaving behind… a very Valentine-looking pink heart. Link got really excited.
"Oh heck yes, a recovery heart!" He picked it up and it dissolved into smaller hearts that disappeared into Link himself.
"So it's like a heal block?" Mario gestured at his universe's equivalent.
"Erm… more like the food you guys eat. That's more like a Heart Container." Link rubbed the back of his head.
Meanwhile, the two outsider family members looked at each other and shrugged. It felt a bit awkward, Timpani noticed, getting along wither father after these long years, but it was a natural rhythm she felt they'd settle into soon.
"So… do we look for Top Hat or…" Link started up the conversation again.
"Blumiere will be fine; he and I know where to go. Follow me." Timpani took the lead this time. She may have been distracted when she first came here in her Pixl form, but she remembers the path Mario took immaculately, and this area looked awfully familiar.
Paul watched as his daughter marched forward, the whole group in tow. Bowser hung back with him due to his slower speed.
"They grow up fast, don't they?" the king commented without preamble.
"What?"
"Kids." Bowser gestured at Timpani. "Heck, she's almost as motherly as Peach when she wants to be. And that's saying something."
Paul tilted his head and Bowser sighed. "Let me put it this way; my own kid started calling Peach 'mama' about a year after he met her."
"Is she? His mother, I mean."
Bowser laughed. "No way. She's got a thing with Mario, I think. Those two have never gone official but it seems to suit them; same with Daisy and Luigi. I had my own partner a few years ago who's Junior's real mom… but she passed away quite a few years back."
"I'm sorry."
Bowser shrugged. "They're gone and I can't do much about it. I just remember the happier times. And Junior, of course. It's what they'd want me to."
Paul nodded, pondering.
Perhaps a bit more than apologies were in order.
Blumiere sighed. That was the fifth time the Dimentio clones had attacked him. He was beginning to get a bit bored.
It didn't last long.
He dodged a Curseya, cursing himself for actually letting those things into his castle in the first place. Then again, it's not like he could help it. They were attracted to dimensional disorder, so these ones might've come a short time ago.
He looked down the hallway and saw that it was nearly swarmed in the creatures. The magician sighed and set up a barrier around himself. The creatures couldn't help that their abilities were activated by touch.
As he forged through, he focused on those voices, wanting to get them out of his head.
You're not who you say, the first voice sounded like Paul's.
A Count is true, but Blumiere isn't you. It's Bleck who holds the deck! The sing-song voice reminded the Count of Dimentio.
He sighed at the feeble mind games. If Dimentio had bothered trying before the Carnival of Time, or even before Yoshi's Island, he might've been convinced. But the demented jester hadn't, and so he spoke with authority in his mental voice.
I am not who I claim to be? What about you, Dimentio, with your mind games, parading as these voices inside my own head? I am who I claim to be; I am Blumiere, Count of my family, spouse of Timpani the Flower Girl, proud resident of the Flower Kingdom, and one of few magicians left in my own realm. That is who I am. Count Bleck was who I was, formed out of heartbreak and grief and suffering. Let it be perfectly clear that if you so much as think about touching any of them, the next sunrise will not be pleasant for you.
Ooh, to the death, then?
No, to a pain.
…What?
Blumiere sent the mental impression of a smirk, but said nothing else before delicately kicking Dimentio out of his head, granting him peace and quiet again. He saw that he had made it through the Curseyas and entered the door at the end, leading to he and his minion's chamber. The large, ornate door he had summoned right before the first destruction of worlds was still there. He opened it a bit, peeked inside, and then slid through the crack, leaving no evidence he was there at all.
Nearby, the larger group was having far less difficulty. Mario and Luigi felt no such reservations against the creatures, finding them annoying to get around with their large group. The brothers had since taken out their hammers and were pelting them to the sides.
Link had attempted to help, but found that all of items that could would probably also bring the building down, so he just shield bashed any of the ones who got through the brother's barricade to the side, away from everyone else.
They made it through the Curseyas without incident and entered the room.
No one was there, but they did see the familiar door. Silently, they all crept up and entered it, closing it behind them.
Dimentio teleported into the room, but did not find anything strange about it, so here he waited for the heroes to come fight him.
If he went out, he decided, unlikely though it was, he'd at least go with a bang.
Inside the room, Blumiere and Timpani hugged at their reunion, but nothing more. There was something they all had to do.
"Remember the prophecy? The Armageddon Shrine…" Timpani stated, looks of realization coming over everyone's faces.
Link sighed. "I'm gonna tell you now you guys: I leave in a few minutes. Or so you've said… will say? Eh, whatever. But the aid that was mentioned is up there at the altar." Link gestured.
"Well then, let's go," Mario said, leading the way up the stairs.
They all stood around the altar, which started humming.
"Oh! Peach and Daisy, you two together. Top Hat, you and your wife! Mario Bros, you two, and Bowser and Paul, over here! There!" Link arranged the rest of the group in a somewhat circle around it with each of the pair touching one another with one touching the altar.
Words projected themselves for the whole group to see.
Four different loves are joined here together
The lovers, the friends, the sisters and brothers.
One alone was enough to overcome,
Four is enough to revive and then some!
The words disappeared, a blinding light surrounding them all.
"Bye guys! See you next tournament!" Link shouted as he faded away, bringing the ocarina to his lips and playing.
When the group opened their eyes, in Link's place they saw the eight Pure Hearts they had worked so hard to collect last time.
Help shall be here soon…
And so it was. The Light Prognosticus replica reacted of its own accord, forcing itself out of Peach's bag and onto the altar, opening as it did so.
"Heroes!" Merlon greeted, Rosalina and Chief Rain-shi and the unnamed white Yoshi beside him. "You have your Stars?"
Everyone nodded and whoever held a Star pulled it out.
"Lumas! Now!" Rosalina commended.
Hundreds of Stars started dropping, their powers mixing with the Pure Hearts'.
"Get rid of the Void!" Rosalina said before the connection cut off.
"You head Star Girl! Move, move, move!" Daisy commanded. Everyone joined together, focusing on the Pure Hearts, their love and care for their friends, new and old, their countries, their homes, and their love of life powering the Hearts. Another blinding light shone through the altar, forcing the heroes to close their eyes again.
As soon as it started, it faded. The group watched as the Pure Hearts sunk back into the altar, a feeling of protection emerging from the pedestal in which they resided. The Powers Stars shot back off, probably towards the Comet Observatory.
Blumiere heard a whisper in his mind.
We have granted him peace. Or perhaps it was you. Either way, it works out. Eight different tones resounded and he knew what the Pure Hearts had done.
Mario opened the book, please to see that everyone was there still.
"Everyone alright? Are the universes returning to normal?" he asked.
A very tired Rosalina gave him one of her small smiles. "Yes," she said airily, "your friends will come back soon. Time and space are normal again… for the most part. You must complete a paradox, after all. But that is for another time."
They all nodded.
"That was… anticlimactic. I'm not complaining," Bowser stated.
"Don't we have to deal with that demented jester?" Peach asked.
Blumiere shook his head. "The Pure Hearts already did. I know not how, but… they had ample amounts of energy to do as they wished." He shrugged.
"So… home?" Bowser asked.
Everyone muttered consents except Paul.
"Timpani… Blumiere… would you mind if we went to see your mother?" he asked timidly.
The couple looked at each other. "I have a better idea. Why don't you two come to our house? That way, we can all introduce ourselves to one another. It'll be a lot easier that way, too."
Paul bowed his head. "I would be honored… but I… uh… kind of need to know where you live, first."
Everyone laughed. "We'll take care of that," Timpani assured, taking out the candy-cane plumbing. "Now, who's ready to go home?"
A/N: Sorry, no epic final boss for you all… I kind of like that actually. I mean, seriously, the brothers collected hundreds if not thousands of Stars in their adventures. Why can't they reuse them? It's fairly obvious they aren't a one-time deal. And since they have so many, it would make sense that the Pure Hearts have basically free reign over whatever they want to do.
Also, I suck at writing boss battles, can't you tell? And if you really want to get technical, Blumiere defeated him inside his head, so… yeah.
This story isn't over yet. This last scene and the repeated mentions of Smash Bros. need to be tied up to, and shall be within the next chapter, or maybe two, depending.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own ideas!
(Current Length: about 79 pages and about 29,084 words in MS Word.)