A faint and gentle thud sounded, picking up the king's attention. Olly exited his crafting of tiny origami stars and followed where he had heard the strange sound. Upon entering the room, he spotted nothing out-of-the-ordinary expect for a small pink origami rose. He brought it to his face.
"Oh, it looks like Scissors' craftsmanship." He flipped it over and saw a small paper taped to the stem. He carefully removed it and saw it read: "For the princess" in Scissors' penmanship; the cursive making it a bit hard to define.
Peach had been teaching Olly how to read the modern Mushroom Kingdom text whilst he had not been doing origami crafts, that is. He was doing fairly well, and Peach told him many times he was "so smart to catch on so quickly," and Olly felt very prideful of those complements.
"Aww, how thoughtful of him." Olly smiled at it.
A small piece of green confetti landed on the king's hand. He picked it up, turning it between his hands.
"Confetti? Where did that..." His gaze turned skywards, then to the open window. He moved over to it so he could close it when he had spotted a small group of ash floating in the breeze. "N-no...It can't be, right?"
Olly rushed back to the throne room and picked up the walkie talkie he had used to communicate with the Legion and turned it on.
"Scissors?"
No response.
"Scissors? Answer back. Please!" He shook the walkie talkie, as if that would cause it to respond back.
Nothing came besides static.
"Scissors...?" The walkie talkie began shuddering, forcing Olly to drop it on the ground. "N-no...I can't be alone. Not now..." He attempted to stop his shaking hands, but to no avail. The shuddering spread to the rest of his body, causing his breathing to accelerate into hyperventilation.
Peach was walking nearby and heard Olly's quickened breathing. She rushed over. "Olly? Are you okay? What happened?"
"Th-they're gone...All of them..."
"Oh, your Legion?" She gave him a saddened gaze. "Does that mean Scissors...?"
Olly grabbed at his arms. "I-I'm alone...! I can't be alone, no...!"
"You're not alone, you have me-"
"You're not what I need! I need my Legion! I made them to be just the kind of people I wanted HIM to be. They were so nice to me...!" He grabbed the sides of his head. His vision was becoming slightly blurry, and a headache started.
"Olly, breathe. You're going to pass out-"
"Don't TELL me what to do! You're LOWER than me! You should follow orders! I-I don't need you! You're nothing to me!" His vision continued to blur. He looked at his shaking hands.
Peach was visibly upset. "I was nice to you...I tried to help you, Olly."
Olly closed his eyes and shook his head. "Leave me alone! I told you already, I don't need you..."
Peach placed her hands around his. "Olly, breathe, please. I'm worried for you. What's going on?"
Out of reflex, Olly tossed her aside. She crashed into the shelf, knocking over hundreds of cranes. They all fluttered down to her, covering her in a pile of colorful cranes.
Olly held out his hands, "I-I...Princess Peach?"
The pile shifted a bit, and Peach poked her head out of the top. She brushed a blue crane off of her head and straightened her tiara.
"Olly..."
The shelf toppled over, crushing her throne. Peach was also in the impact of the collision and was knocked unconscious.
"Her throne..." Olly muttered. He picked up a purple crane and fixed the wing. "Her kingdom...it's about time it fell, no?" His gaze returned to the princess. He went over to her and brushed her hair away from her face.
She slowly opened her eyes to find Olly holding her head up with his small hand, a purple crane resting on the other.
"Olly...? You calmed down, that's good." She rubbed her head and sat on her knees, resting her hands on her lap. "Did I get knocked out? How long was I out?"
"Not long." He faced away from her, still holding the crane. "I never told you how absolutely stunning you were, princess."
Her face reddened slightly. "O-oh! Thank you!"
"But you know what would make you look better?"
She touched a hand to her cheek. "Makeup?" She tried. "People say I look pretty young already..."
"No." He turned his head, left side facing her. The bangs blocked off his eye, but Peach could feel the cold anger deep within it. "If you were origami, like me."
"Oll-"
"That's King Olly, thank you."
Peach was shocked. Olly was so nice, and now seemed so vengeful. What happened to the happy little bot Peach had grown to trust?
"Olly, you want to...to fold me?"
"Is it bad?"
"Um..."
"Does my anger make you uncomfortable? Is my anger...ugly? Is it too vicious? Too violent? Does it make you nervous?"
"King Olly, what happened to you?"
"Answer my question, princess. Does it?"
"Honestly?" She looked at the floor and nodded.
He fully faced her. "Good. Now you fear me, as you should. As they all should. You and all of those cursed Toads."
Peach floated from the floor when Olly lifted his hand. "King Olly! Stop this! This isn't you-"
"Well, maybe you don't know me. Maybe I was just tricking you the whole time. Did you think about that? Did you even consider the fact that I was the one who brought your castle here? You're a terrible leader!"
"I'm not perfect, sure, but I don't hurt people like you are doing!"
"To get what you want, some people must be hurt, princess." The crane in his hand floated back over to the shelf as it lifted itself from the ground and the cranes returned to their positions. "I'll be your example, your teacher. I'll show you how to properly rule a kingdom, an empire. And you, you will be an important part of it." Olly raised his now empty hand. "Come," he called.
A giant silhouette entered the room. Peach was unable to see what it was.
"Olly please! Listen to yourself! Whatever kind of panic attack you had back there made you snap! You're acting insane! Listen to reason, Olly! Come back! Bring back the Olly I know! Please..."
"Meet the true final member of my Legion." He signaled for the shadow to draw nearer. "Now hold still, princess. The less you squirm, the less painful this will be for you."
She screamed as Olly folded her out of proportion. She landed back onto the ground, still and origami. The shadow drew ever nearer. Olly turned and raised his hand above him.
"Bind her." He exited the room to the loud clacking sound from before with Bowser, and started towards the room he had kept blocked off for so long.
It reminded him of the Origami Craftsman's basement. The room he had been folded to life in. He had allowed Scissors access to that room on behalf of the kindness in his heart; but now it was time to end this once and for all. He raised his hand, the room crushing itself upon the movements.
"Sir!"
Olly jolted, the room returning back to normal. He turned and turned his gaze down to the Koopa Troopa he had left in charge of all the Folded Soldiers.
"They're headed this way on a airship!"
"Oh? Really?"
The Koopa Troopa nodded. "What should we do, sir?"
"Send out the air forces," Olly ordered. "All of them."
"Sir, they may destroy them all."
"Then let them. If Mario is so persistent to arrive by air, then so be it. Oh, and one thing. Save the best for last. Sneak strike them while they're distracted."
He saluted the king, followed by a bow. "Yessir! Right away, sir!" He tucked into his shell and went off.
Olly turned back to the room. He resumed destroying the room when his Sledge Bro. wandered over to him.
"King Olly..."
Olly faced him, hand still raised. "What is it? Can't you see I'm busy at the moment?"
"Do you...miss her...?"
That question took him by surprise. Miss who, exactly? He had known the Princess and Toadette and...
Of course. The Sledge Bro. was speaking of Olivia.
"I suppose I do a little," Olly admitted. "It's so sad to think she would side with those fools until the day of her death."
"You're going...to kill...her? Why?"
"She fights against me, so she gets the same treatment as everybody else who chooses to as well."
"Oh..."
Olly sighed and shooed him away. "Begone with you. I have some business to do still."
He waddled away and Olly resumed destroying the room. It was interrupted by the gentle shaking of his hands that grew stronger upon eye contact with it.
"No, no...Not this again." He grabbed his hands to make them stop. The room collapsed on itself, knocking the origami king back into the nearest wall. "Not this again..."
