AND THE NEXT CHAPTER! Thank you all for stopping by faithfully and reading this!

And sorry about the wait, life's given me the short end of the stick. For now, I'm starting to ignore my opponents completely, as they deserve such. Can't let them bring me down now. Also, from the wise words of Hank Morgan (from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court)… "Well, whenever one of those people got it into his head, there was no getting it out again."

But, on another note, school's back, and with it, work… so updates might be sporadic. Forgive me for the inconvenience.

And as per publication standards…

DISCALAIMER: I do not own Smash Bros., Super Mario Galaxy, or Dark Souls, or their characters; this goes to Nintendo and FromSoftware, respectively.

CHAPTER THE EIGHTH

Oliver was wakened rudely from his sleep by a loud, startling sound for the second time in the night. Feeling the strange sense of déjà vu wash over him, he blinked the sleep out of his eyes, quite incensed… then his annoyance turned to worry as he saw Mama sitting up, panting laboriously and quite evidently afraid of something. In a trice, he'd leapt up into her chest and hugged her, squealing. "Mama, what's wrong? Mama, are you ok? Mamaaa!"

Oliver's alarm began to intensify as a thought struck him. This was what Grandma had told him to watch for – when his Mama might break, he'd have to help her in any way he could. But how? It seemed there was so little he could do… and it even seemed Mama was broken already. He shuddered, now quite sad and scared his Mama was losing her mind all because of a dream… with him unable to help. He began to wail quite loudly.

The pitiful keening managed to bring Mama back to her senses a little, although was a bit too shell-shocked to respond properly for the moment. "I-uh-Luma-Oliver? Uhh… s-something - so dark - Z-Zachary-" She seemed to be in an extreme loss of words. "L-Let me b-breathe for a m-m-moment…"

Even just these few stutterings – as they were a sign of coherence - calmed the frightened little Luma to an extent. "Mama? O-Ok… just please don't give in, Mama!" he shrilled, still weeping. He clutched his poor mother for dear life, not wanting to lose her. "Please hold on, Mama!"

Then a chilling, grating sound – metal against the ground – made the terrified Luma go delirious with the tears… but, at the same time, brought Rosalina to full alertness. Gasping fervently, she called her wand to her with a gesture of her hand, and drew frightened little Oliver closer to her protectively. She steeled herself, began breathing more slowly, and then clarity of mind resumed its' course within her mind. I can't let his happen on my watch. My enemy is weaker. I will prevail.

The terrible scraping sounds drew nearer, and nearer still… but this time she was well prepared. She stood up and began to stride to the Bedroom's entryway, the flames blazing in her eyes once more. She then walked out, yelled resolutely and flung out her hand…

…and flung away the Undead, who had been of course jolted rudely from his rest, as we know. Unfortunately for him, he was sent flying onto the roof of Anor Londo and then a railing with a sickening CRUNCH! Rosalina watched in stark horror as his body slipped free from the railing… and onto some buildings below.

Oliver bounded out, still quite frightened, but for the most part curious. "Wh-What happened, Mama? Did you get him, mama? Who was it, Mama?"

Rosalina merely shuddered, harrowed by what she had done. I just killed my friend and my job. In a blind panic. Ugh. Good job, Rosalina. What a way to go. WHAT A DAMNED WAY TO GO. She sank to her knees and buried her head in her hands, the tears beginning to flow again. Oliver saw her predicament and decided to carefully snuggle into her arms.

Suddenly he saw Stranger's bonfire glow a bit brighter, and then Stranger himself came rising out of the ground near it. A wave of both amazement and need washed over him as he leapt out of his mother's arms and barreled into him (as usual) squealing loudly. "Stranger! Please help mama! Pleeaaase! I don't really know what's happened to her, but she's quite strange now!" he shrilled, gesturing wildly at his mother, now staring at them quite shocked down to her corns.

But Sir Stranger paid little heed to them as he leapt over to the spot where he had smashed into the railing and stood there for a few moments. As suddenly as he had left, he quickly sprinted back to his bonfire (actually managing to get back up to the Observatory merely by jumping) and swiftly knelt over his Bonfire with little ceremony, stretching out his hand. A sudden burst of flame course through him, and he was still for a few seconds.

Then he strode over to Rosalina, and clamped a heavy steel gauntlet down on her shoulder, gripping the poor frightened lady like a vise. "Before anything else, Lady Rosalina, and especially before the hostility starts. What happened to you in that room? And why the scream?"

For the most part, she was too dumbstruck with a myriad of volatile emotions to respond properly. But she managed. "I – uh – I fell asleep – th-then – my dream - I was in this abyss, a-a-and – my children – "

His hackles rose at the dreaded word, and he softened up considerably, although for the most part he was still quite guarded. "The Abyss? I see. A terrifying place to be in, even in spirit. And certainly harrowing, for your children in it… If there was a grain of truth in your dream... So you woke up in a panic, as people usually do. And then what made you want to kill me, dearest lady?"

"I-I-It was an a-accident! Y-Your approach w-w-was terrifying!" was the succinct answer. Almost a customary afterthought she hastily added, "I-If you intend to harm me, go ahead, I d-deserve it for my panic-fueled and ultimately reckless action. J-Just don't harm my child!"

"So I see things this way – as your child was in your room, you hastened to protect it, and thus was alerted as I approached." He gave himself a lopsided chuckle. "What a night for you indeed. I'll forgive you, all right." he finished, while Rosalina gradually regained her composure and allowed herself a sad smile. "I-I never said I was sorry, Sir... but ok. I'm truly sorry about k-knocking you into a railing and killing you. I tend to be on edge. What can I do to make it up to you?"

"It's all right, milady. Just don't let the panic get you, and you'll be all right." The knight replied warmly, all traces of hostility gone. Oliver watched the exchange uneasily, and when it was over he leapt up and squealed happily. But as Rosalina turned towards her Bedroom and started to excuse herself, the Undead chided her. "No can do for now, milady. You'd stay awake trying to sleep, except what you dreamt will keep you awake, and your child as well. And I'm right here, ready to help you, eh?" he stated primly. "But it's your choice."

She pondered this for a few moments. "I see your intentions are well-meant… but I'll have to put my child to sleep first, ok? Wait for me outside. And thank you, sir knight, sincerely." She put on her warmest smile, and stepped in the Bedroom, proceeding to start stroking Oliver on his now placid features. He cooed, and sighed and said, "That was close, Mama. What did you dream of?"

"That I'll tell you tomorrow, ok, Oliver? T'was a scary sight, to be sure. Just go to bed for now, ok, Oliver? Mama loves you…" She continue cooing and stroking him tenderly, until his eyes began to droop.

The Chosen Undead, meanwhile, pondered on one fact which struck him. He voiced this out to the Knightess, who was quite nonplussed at the recent turn of events, and wanted to give him a piece of her mind first.

So she killed you, eh? Well, what about-

"It's not really her fault, knightess, she meant it not maliciously."

-your power? Won't it lessen your power considerable?

"Ah, maybe, maybe. Mayhap you have a point. But so long as I am on her side, I need not worry." He stifled a smile and a blush under his visor.

Hmm, I see some hope within you two. You've manage to redefine "till death do us part", for that matter. That was definitely worth a rude awakening, eh?

His grin grew wider. "Right there, right there. Anyways, as I was thinking…"

"…how come those little children of hers survived in the Abyss? If that dream of hers contained even just a tiny grain of truth, anyways..."

And yet hauntingly, the dream indeed had truth in it.

The Dark of the Abyss swilled around, disturbed by the large foreign unidentified object which had now entered it since two days ago… but it remained impenetrable, thanks to both the combined – and immense – power of the five terrified Lumas now currently bickering in it, and the fact that the Sarshroom was quite airtight... As for the Lumas They'd had enough of flitting around smashing random buttons and dials with their bare limbs, steering the Starshroom around the void, all to no effect. Then at first they sat down and wept fearfully… then as the Dark in them stirred, they became angry.

"We should never have left Mama!" screamed Scotty and Louise in unison. "You brought us into this, Zachary!"

"Oh, excuse me?" retorted the rebellious little miscreant. "You followed me on your own! Don't blame me for what you did, and be losers in the process!"

Looking pretty sheepish for themselves, the two backed down a bit, but then Bob, feeling level-headed for a Hungry Luma, defended them. "So what, Zachary? You were the one telling us to take initiative, along with all those things you said about Mama! You made us join you!"

"So what? It's still your fault you joined… don't blame me… you ought to try harder than that!" Zach replied with a sneer.

"But you did things to make us join you! Don't blame us entirely!" said the fourth of them, Lena, a normally yellow-colored Luma. She usually kept to herself and was usually overlooked by the other four, and up to this time she took no part in the chaos, but still was quite frightened, in her own way. This time, however, the situation enraged her, which gave way to a state of unruffled yet sordid calm in her mind, and her voice rang out crystal clear with quite an amount of authority and rage in it, surpassing even Zachary's stentorian voice and making him cower. "Don't you think you're acting like a loser yourself, running away from Mama like that and bringing us along with you – when you could have done it yourself, alone? And that big convincing, conniving act! Shame on you and us all for that, eh!"

Zachary was now trembling in rage. "You dirty little piece of – why, you came along with me, so you're not really exempt – "

"You don't say, Zachary! But it's not like you have all the blame in the world, we screwed up bad following you around until you got us into this... abyss! This hell we can't escape from! What kind of Luma are you, telling us of better things we now can't get thanks to what you did? You started this all, and you ought to bear it the most!" She then turned around to face a porthole in their Starshroom, which showed nothing but inky black outside. "And to think you'd throw your weight around and bicker instead of find a solution to this mess... and blame everyone else for what you took a part in. What a coward you are."

Stunned by this outburst, yet managing to muster the last of his remaining bravado, Zachary managed the most meager of his snarky replies. "And what do you intend to do, hmm? Solve this problem you speak of! I dare you. Elseways, we're all going to hell, and you deserve it! For being a Luma who can't -"

He was cut short as Lena suddenly sprang and threw the Starshroom's entryway wide, and let the Dark in. The lights from the tiny little spaceship were dimmed, eaten away greedily by the blackness, and the Lumas quailed at it collectively… save for one. A powerful draining sensation suddenly began to course through them all, but Lena was resolute, and she mustered up her strength to grab a startled Zach, shove him outside, and close the hatch tightly. The Dark remained, ever pervading, until finally the four Lumas overcame it and actually absorbed it (as it was isolated), letting the lights return once more. Then they flopped to the ground, in a very weak state.

After a few moments more, Louise shakily sat up and clamped a hand down on Lena furiously. "Why did you do that?! Why did you kill him?! HOW COULD YOU?! YOU MONSTER-"

Lena reacted somewhat impassively. "Don't you think it had to be done? If he'd remained, he'd have stirred up more of our anger, which might have made us fight, knowing most of us can't ignore insults. And you know, fighting's not going to do us any good."

Scotty mumbled obeisance. "She's right, Louise. It had to be done, or else we'd all be kicking and biting inside here, and in minutes… Zach would've won."

Bob nodded in agreement. "So what do we do now?"

Lena sat down on the floor, reaching into the floorboards and, after a few minutes of probing, finally came up with a bag full of Star Bits, much to the other's amazement. "We can do nothing now. There is definitely no exit to this abyss. Let's just stay in here and stay alive, all right? Maybe Mama might find us… if she's still alive." She finished, handing out a Star Bit apiece to everyone.

"Hey, guys, I've got something I brought!" Louise added, pulling out a bag from behind the pilot's wheel, and dumping out three books and a Snakes and Ladders box. "We'll have this so we won't be bored, ok?"

Thus the four starchildren began their vigil of waiting, reading and playing… not noticing the immense serpent gathering up the now-unconscious Zachary in its maw.

After a long time of caressing, cooing and petting, Rosalina had finally put the poor tired Oliver to sleep. She listened to his rhythmic snores for a few minutes, and she began nodding off as well, very much tempted to join in the quest to Dream Land. Suddenly, as she started to drift off, an insidious mist began to form in her mind… and she immediately jolted awake. Looks like he was right. Oh right, I forgot!

Slowly getting out of bed as so not to wake Oliver up, she then quietly floated out of the Bedroom, and over to the knight, who was leaning against the outer wall of the room. "Sorry to keep you waiting, sir!"

"That's quite all right, milady. Better late than never, so they say. Anyways…"

"I'd like to ask a question first, sir knight." She cut in. "Sorry. Well, how did you get reborn?"

"The knight cleared his throat, ready for a long night's worth of talking. "As an Undead I am inexorably linked to the First Flame, and thus to every Bonfire around and about. Thus, when I die, the Darksign brands me and I am reborn in the nearest and most recently used Bonfire, since it sustains us. However, this comes with the downside of me becoming Hollow, more known as a mindless, hostile Undead with a monstrous husk of a body. But, thing is, when I get reborn I'm not mindless yet. I still have purpose, so I'm all right, whether in Hollow form or not. The only downside is, every time I die, my memories and sanity slip away dependig if I still have a purpose in life or not."

"I see… so you try to stay alive as much as possible. Again, I'm deeply sorry – had you not been immortal, you might have died, and…" She sighed. "Mind I tell you something which might hurt your dignity as a living being?"

Quite startled at his lady's strange choice of words, and yet managing to play along, the Knight (with a bit of egging on from the Knightess) replied somewhat smoothly. "Maybe… but if it does hurt me, mind I tell you that I am a knight, and pass lightly, eh?"

At this remark, Rosalina's face cleared up. She gave herself a lopsided smile, and braced herself. "Ok. Here's the thing. The main reason I came here is that I work for some sort of peacekeepers' organization all over the universe." She cleared her throat, somewhat nervous. "Am I making any sense here?"

"What's a universe?" was the succinct reply. Trying to supress the smile that inevitably came was hard, but she managed to be patient about it. This was the first time she had dealt with a clueless anomaly, and it was taxing on her part.

"The universe is the entirety of all the galaxies, stars and heavenly bodies, like planets. A planet is where beings live, like this Lordran is your planet, as you live in it." She clarified somewhat vaguely.

"I see. But how can you manage something as large as the very cosmos itself?" the knight replied, intrigued.

"Um, let's say there's a lot of us, and that we all have enough power to live up to what we need to do" returned Rosalina, quite abashedly. Back at Smash Mansion, they were good comrades (or most of them were, anyways), had to protect their reaches of the cosmos, and had great fighting capability. She had to be proud of that.

"Ah, I see. Do continue." The knight returned, a bit… starstruck, to be sure, much to the Knightess' delight.

"Ok. So, all over the universe, we've been sensing disturbances from beings with immense amounts of power, which we call anomalies. We sense two here, one of which is you, and the other being the one who attempted to murder me and my families. Now, here's the hard part…" She sighed, now quite scared that a bad evening would turn into a worse one.

The knight immediately noticed this. "So that means - What's wrong, Lady Rosalina?"

"N-Nothing, eh, it's just that, uh, the hard part – "

"Don't get too scared, ok? Elseways you'll put up less of a fight when it comes to that, milady. If that is what you expect…" the knight returned. "But don't be worried, milady, I'll give my damnedest to not harm you. Carry on!"

Slightly buoyed by the knight's encouragement, and yet still wary, Rosalina shuddered, and began the tricky part. This she'd managed to hide in herself for so long. "Thanks for that, sir Stranger. I'll carry on, all right. So, these anomalies are a source of power, right? Let's say that our peacekeepers' organization needs just enough power to sustain itself. More so for the beings with godlike reaches. So, we have our unique sources of power, but sometimes it's just not enough. Then we spotted anomalous beings and disturbances all over the universes, most of them being evil and all. So we're sent out, either to capture those beings, or destroy them if the put up too much of a fight. Then we take them back, drain them of their energy, and…" She sighed, unable to continue. "Point is, I don't want to kill someone or something I could be friends with… and here you are right now, an anomaly who's doing just that. The first one in ages. And you're putting me into quite a dilemma." A deep sadness coursed through her entirety, leaving her pretty much drained again.

After a long period of pondering and consulting with the Knightess, the Knight finally spoke. "I see. I must be of much value to you, in different ways. Long time since that last happened, thanks a lot!" This made both of them smile. "But you know? Since I'm the first case when it comes to anomalies of my kind… let's try something different, shall we? But let's think it over later, eh?"

"You're quite… let's say, practical, eh? And I thank you for that!" exclaimed Rosalina, now quite relieved, grabbing his left gauntlet and clasping it warmly.

The Knight, quite embarrassed but still managing to play along, continued. "But we better move on to why I wanted to talk to you, eh?"

Rosalina, now quite intrigued, replied. "What exactly?"

"Your dream."

"Oh." She managed. "But why so interested about – oh yes, the Abyss. But why so interested?"

"I've been there before…" was the answer, "…and with a bit of stealth, I might be able to rescue the children you hold dear to yourself. If they are alive, that is -"

He was cut short as Rosalina suddenly wrapped him in a somewhat desperate embrace. "Please do… oh, I beg of you… save my poor children..." she pleaded quite desperately. The overpoweringly combined feelings of surprise, motherly love, worry, and desperation became all too much for her, and she began to weep uncontrollably onto the knight's shoulder. All throughout this, the knight did his best to hold the taller - and surprisingly heavier - woman upright while blushing furiously, the knightess chuckling quite amusedly at the scene. The sobs echoed throughout the night as the stalwart knight held his lady tight.

A few minutes later, the lady of the stars had finally calmed down. "Sorry about all that. I'm just on edge, and my children –" She stifled a sob. "I used to give little worth to them, at times even using them. I treated them like objects. And I paid the price when the blue murderer attacked. When we landed, most of them rebelled as I lay unconscious."

"I see. But that's the past, eh?" the knight returned. "And as for your children… I'll have to plan for a while. In your dream, were your children alive and healthy?"

"Yes, they were."

"Then they're bound to stay that way."

"I saw this huge… serpentine being too –"she mentioned, with a tinge of dread.

"Ah. Darkstalker Kaathe. Leader of the Darkwraiths and of the Abyss. My former master. But that's a story for another day, eh? That's the Abyss we're looking for, then – the Abyss I can visit. So, I'll take maybe two or three days, then I'll get them, sure!"

"Thank you… I will aid you in any way that I can, sir Stranger!" And with this, they laughed for quite a time.

After the chuckles had died down, the Knight broke the ensuing silence. "Mhmm… seems to me you're already calm enough to sleep, eh? That's it, that's it. You ok now?"

"Mmm hmm! Strange eh, we're getting so close to each other, and you've even been able to calm me down, despite us knowing each other for just a day. Pretty amazing, huh? Well, again, thank you about all this, and please." She took his hands, staring at him longingly. "Rescue my children, ok? If you do so, I'll try to help you stay alive once we get back to my home, all right?"

"Fair enough deal, milady! And good night to you!" replied the knight.

They parted quite regretfully, Rosalina heading to the Bedroom and getting slowly into the bed and nodding off into Dream Land without any further repercussions. Meanwhile, the Knight, satisfied with his work, walked back to his Bonfire and sat down beside it, talking with the Knightess once more.

So now you've got her, ehh?

"No, knightess, no. Especially not if her superiors kill me, and even more so if there's competition for her hand back in her home."

And for good reason, indeed. But about her children... be prepared about all the Darkwraiths, we're in for a bloody fight, if you really have drawn much of their ire, as I can gather.

"Indeed. By the way, knightess, I'm in a mind to upgrade you a bit, in preparation for the trip to the Abyss."

Oh, I'm in for a world of pain, right?

"Depends. Don't worry, an ascension won't take that long. Also, I took this from your body." He pulled out a copy of Darkmoon Blade. "If it works – "

I get the drift, eh? But it's gonna hurt. Well, I'll brace meself for it, ok? And off to sleep for both of us. Save the thinking for when you're well awake for it, eh?

"Sure, knightess. Sure."

Zachary awoke in a cage. Looking around the intense Dark swathing the Abyss, he finally found a source of light.

A Bonfire.

But this calmed him not, as the shapes of monstrous Darkwraiths preceded over by one Primordial Serpent stood wreathed in it's light.

But he was not one to scream in panic; he was a different Luma, born to deceit and cunning. Or so he told himself, anyways. He floated to the middle of the cage, and there he stayed, plotting his escape, and cursing his fate all the while. "Curses on that Lena… curses on that Rosalina… curse this abyss… curse it all!"

Kaathe paid no heed to these castigations, though. "So it seems our little captive has awakened. Very good. He is of immense power. You were right, my Darkwraiths. Now we shall have an Emissary of our own, thanks to this lovely turn of events. Very well done, everyone!" He laughed in delight, the sibilant sound spreading through the Abyss, with his Darkwraiths following suit. "Now, noble Darkwraiths, we need to spread the Abyss, more than ever. The Fire is strong, and will not fade for a long time, thanks to that insect Solaire. But for now, we have a weapon, but it may only be used at the right time. And more are waiting in that strange container, though it remains impenetrable. So for now..."

"…we merely bide our time."

And that's it for now! Stay tuned, and rate and review, people! If there's anything right or wrong in this writing, feel free to tell me. Peace out!

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