Full Circle
Word Count:5446 (+6) (+3 rapport)
Bowser complained as he tried to squeeze himself into one of the drop pods, claws, horns and spikes catching on it not to mention his raw bulk while Kamek simply shook his head at the sight. He at least wasn’t going to have to deal with this, intending to simply teleport out of the ship once the other two were on their way. Blazermate meanwhile had a roomy pod that Kamek could easily pile into, although the teleport plans made that moot. Still, a nice comfy roomy pod for the healer.
Once loaded into their pods, the team of three needed only to wait for the Avenger to pass over their target for the technician on hand to pull the trigger and fire their hellpods from the heavens. For the sake of nostalgia -and neither risk damaging Peach’s property nor landing too close to Empty Space- they aimed for the junkyard that sprawled out on the other side of the castle’s drawbridge. After just a short weight, the hellpods slammed into the ground among the heaps of discarded metal, sending shrapnel everywhere as their shock absorbers worked their magic. Then the lids flew off the Seekers’ cans, and the mechanisms within lifted them up into the evening sunlight. After flying all the way to Markarth in the Land of Adventure, and then here, it was late in the day. Streaks of gorgeous yellow and orange painted the undersides of indigo clouds and cast long, black shadows across the Mushroom Kingdom, from the grassy highlands in the east to the mountainous swamplands in the west. To the south of the junkyard lay the Ancient Garden, the colorful and cheerful riverland favored by rabbids of all shapes and sizes, and to the north lay Peach’s Castle. Everything seemed just as the first Seekers remembered it, right down to Hat Kid’s spaceship, still floating in the moat where it crashed.
There
was one difference, though, although Bowser, Kamek, and Blazermate might not realize at first. When first they forged a path through this place, it had been a hotly-contested battleground, caught in a chaotic back-and-forth tug-of-war between robots and rabbids. Even after that conflict subsided, 1-1 teemed with abundance, from the aquatic creatures of the moat to bird of the air to wandering Pokemon. Right now, though, it was quiet. Once the hellpods did their jobs, the newcomers could hear nothing but the gentle lap of water, and the whispering breeze through the grasses and leaves.
A much smaller than usual Bowser scratched his head at the lack of noise, then shrugged and began to re-enlarge himself, while Kamek appeared in a puff of smoke next to them. He, at least, did have a thought, which was
”hmmm, odd, where did those noisy rabbids get off to?” Again bowser shrugged with disinterest and an
”Eh” followed by trying to joke
”gonna be noisy enough when we give the toads the bad news” and then just sighing forlornly, unable to muster the energy for mockery of the mushroom kingdom’s shrill voiced residents.
”I’m not sure… something just feels… off” Kamek said, before remembering Bowser Junior had mentioned short green creatures who’d taken it upon themselves to fortify the entrance of the castle. Their presence or lack would surely signal the state of things, he thought, and so he floated up in the air a bit to see if he could spot them, or, well, anyone.
”Huh… is this the upside of taking out a Guardian? The area becomes peaceful?” Blazermate said, her optimism in full display as she rode on Bowser’s shell, scanning the area and noticing the quietness of the area. Try as she might, however, her scan picked up nothing.
With nothing else to do, the Troop proceeded across the drawbridge. They found the front doors barred against intrusion, but no guards posted, and no amount of rapping -or pounding, for that matter- on the doors evoked a response. Of course, Bowser happened to have a wealth of experience when it came to breaking into Peach’s Castle, so after applying some force the three were able to get inside.
Within lay black and white checkered tiles, lavish red carpets and walls freshly painted to resemble the Mushroom Kingdom’s outdoors with rounded green hills beneath fluffy white clouds with eyes, the vaulted ceilings a deep azure blue. Most of the candelabras and sconces that provided light to the interior seemed to have burned out, so much of the light that illuminated the castle’s confines came through the stained glass windows. The most lavish window colored the evening sunlight into a facsimile of Peach herself, cast over the throne room. When the Seekers last departed, they left the throne room heavily damaged from the fight with Megadragonbowser, but between then and now the toads had done a very good job with cleanup and repairs. Only a few cracked tiles and crumbled stones remained to suggest that a massive fight went down at all, but of the castle’s denizens themselves, the newcomers could find no sign.
Any amount of searching around the ground floor would only serve to reinforce the eerie realization that the castle was empty, as if its entire population had simply up and gone.
”What's going on here? Weren’t there like lots of people here last time? This is kinda… weird…” Blazermate said, now being on Kamek’s side of all of this with how things felt off.
”Maybe they up and left already?” Bowser suggested optimistically
”We can only hope, I suppose,” his advisor replied, sadly not convinced before suggesting,
”best we check for clues then. Upstairs or down do you think, your optimisticness?”The king scratched his chin and decided
”Basement” because
”The treasury’s down there and Wario for sure wouldn’t have left without a whole load of that gold” which would then prove he was right.
”Which one was Wario again? I assume hes a friend of yours?” Blazermate said, nodding with Bowser as she had no idea what to do besides just fly around aimlessly til they found something.
”Like Mario, except fatter and yellow” Bowser explained perhaps unhelpfully as they made their way down.
Blazermate nodded, remembering him. Although unlike the others, that's all Blazermate had to go off of.
The treasury was, as one might expect, shut tight, and its vault door proved to be much sturdier than the castle entrance. That, of course, just reinforced the notion that this castle had neither been attacked nor ransacked, leaving no obvious explanations as to why it seemed to be depopulated. By now, though, the Koopa Troop boasted a lot of power, and if they couldn’t force their way through the door or magically unlock it, they could probably smash and blast their way through solid walls until they found their own way in.
Naturally, Bowser took this option without even really considering any other. He wanted to get into the vault, it was locked, the fact that this was sort of evidence of a kind of its own never occurred to him, and so the inevitable occurred. Kamek attempted to advise caution, the king ignored him, and promptly slammed a kinetic strike module enhanced punch right into the lock on the vault door, buckling it inwards.
The mage sighed, and then promptly joined in with magically summoned fists and, following a swift volley of blows from the pair, the door was down.
Within the vault the Troop and their airborne attendant found a spectacular display of opulence, thousands of golden coins piles high like snow drifts. If any of them had been present for the arena where the final round of the fight against Vandelay’s head of finance Roquefort took place, this hoard might not have been as impressive, but the room still contained a huge amount of wealth by Mushroom Kingdom standards. Scattered among the piles of coins were other relics and valuables, the most expensive of which appeared to be a pink-topped crown with eyes, but there was only one thing present that the newcomers could call ‘priceless’:
A large, circular contraption set in the far wall, its
glass face ringed with gold. Bowser and his family had seen it before, more than once in fact, but this one had one important distinction: that like Peach’s Castle itself, it was completely and utterly empty.
”Uuhhh…. If the clock empties, does everyone just… poof?” Blazermate said, confused.
”I was under the impression that being unstoried means that people no longer need to fuel themselves with death but…” Kamek replied now very uncertain if that was the case
”I hope that this was a Consul doing shenanigans instead of the flame clock thing… Didn’t Sectonia say something about learning about them? Uuh…. we might need to do that.” Blazermate said, clearly confused and unsure what was worse, the clock ticking down and killing everyone, or a Consul thing.
”It’s fine. Probably one of those, what they called, coincidence things. Definitely” Bowser insisted, before thinking and saying,
”we should take it with us” eliciting a
”what?!” from Kamek
”I mean if people wanna learn about this thing then having one would help” he explained simply, before stomping over and ripping it out of the wall. Of course, this took a while and a lot of effort, exhausting much of the strength the Koopa King had left from an already tiresome day.
In the wake of the Troop’s discovery, an electronic tone pinged off the treasury’s walls. Blazermate’s scanner had picked up a living thing at last, and though the signal was patchy down here, the origin seemed to be on the castle’s second floor, near -possibly outside- the royal bedroom, if Bowser’s (or more likely, Kamek’s) memory served.
”Hey guys… theres someone upstairs.””That’s good. Or bad. Or something” Bowser rolled around opinion wise, before saying for them to
”grab the good stuff and let's check that out” because it would be a waste to leave it simply laying around now wouldn’t it?
The king, of course, had his hands full with the oversized and magic resistant clock which he now had to roll up the stairs, but Kamek at least blasted some artifacts with shrinking magic and stuffed them into pockets before hurrying after his king to ascend up towards the royal bedroom. Blazermate carried what she could, including the funny looking crown, but unlike Kamek her pockets were pretty limited.
Using Blazermate’s signal as a sort of dowsing rod, the three made their way up through the castle and closer to the source. It led them to the royal bedroom, left pristine and undisturbed since the day the princess departed on a grand adventure of her very own. A fine coating of dust lay across the furniture. Opposite the main door lay a set of French doors, cracked open just enough that the wind could play at the curtains. Through the glass and shifting veil the Seekers could see a balcony more like a widow’s walk that overlooked the Mushroom Kingdom. A lone female figure stood there, clad in intricate rose gold armor that caught the fading light of the sunset quite brilliantly. A low blonde ponytail hung behind her as she stood, gloved hands on the bone-white railing. She seemed to be waiting.
The flame clock was left leaning against the wall as the king approached, clawed hands gripping each french door and pushing them wide open, the wind setting the curtains fluttering to either side of him stepped across the threshold and into the light.
For a moment after the doors’ hinges stopped creaking, only the wind could be heard. Then the strange woman began to speak, her voice low and flat.
“I had…a bad dream,” she confessed. “Many a night, I would awaken from a dream of dying. Of being slaughtered. Not unusual, I know. Not in this world. Most people forget these dreams as soon as they wake. But they’re real. Bloody stains left by past…deaths. For most, that’s all you get. The only proof that you ever existed…a memory, passed down into someone else’s skull. But…”
The women turned. A rose gold mask hid her face, though her sapphire blue eyes shone through. In the middle of her breastplate, a red X shone, a lemniscate-shaped core at its center. “Not so with Moebius. When you become Moebius…it all comes rushing back. Every joy. Every agony. Every insignificant end.” A hollow, rattling laugh escaped her. “I never once achieved anything. Never became my own person. The archetypal damsel with an empty title. No purpose. No volition. No story…of my own.”
She held a hand to her head. “And to top it all off, the worst end by far. You couldn’t imagine…what it was like. My brain…was screaming…and screaming…” She closed her eyes, wincing. “My head...still hurts. But it’s much better now. It all is. Because I’m free. Finally free.”
Slowly, she opened her eyes, then looked up at Bowser. “So. Here we are. Back where it started again. We weren’t friends. Nor were we enemies. But you and I are linked. What’s one without the other? So…I wanted to talk. I was wrong, you know. About the world. I mean, it
is awful. Full of suffering. We deserve better than that. But that’s life. And that’s all any of us…will ever get. So when I ask you, please…” The woman raised her arm and pressed a button on the side of her mask. It deconstructed into light, revealing a familiar face.
“Hear me out.”
Blazermate, at the mention of Moebius stepped behind Bowser and began giving him an overheal.
”Uh… I guess?” Blazermate said, using Bowser as something to hide behind as she leaned over to take a look at this Consul with… Peach’s face? Ok, this was getting super messed up now. But she was going to get ready for a fight since that's all she's seen from these Consuls. Granted… a Consul of Peach? What…? Was this a face stealer or….?
Bowser simply looked shocked, confused, and befuddled as he tried to process what was in front of him, and so simply nodded, while Kamek sighed at all the implications of all this.
The position of Consul P had, it seemed, very quickly been refilled.
P leaned against the railing, relieved, her body language completely lacking in both energy and hostility. At a certain point, Blazermate’s combat readiness would just seem embarrassing. After a moment, P continued speaking. “Listen. If you’ve ever heard anything about a ‘past life’ or ‘reincarnation’, you have to forget it. That wasn’t you. That wasn’t even ‘Bowser’. There is a true ‘Bowser’ out there somewhere, but not here, in the World of Light. The only you is the ‘you’ that exists right now. This world is nothing but a single stolen moment, the Endless Now, one split second strung out into eternity. By Moebius. If it ends, you…all of us, that’s it. We’ll cease to be. And if, somehow, the Bowser that’s out there continues, it won’t be you. Or anyone.”
She sighed, staring up at the sunset sky. “Unlike me, the Seekers have many heroes. They aren’t afraid to die if it means a brighter tomorrow for others. They don’t know that it’s meaningless. Nothing of us, any of us, will endure. But we don’t have to die, or disappear. We deserve to live. We have to seize the lives we’ve got. “ She narrowed her eyes, looking at Bowser. “So, I have something important to tell you. What you do with this knowledge is up to you.”
She crossed her arms. “In Esaka, the Tiered City, in the Forbidden Kingdom, you will find Moebius B. She wields a very sharp blade, and her specialty is lightning. But not even a very sharp blade can cut everything, and all lightning dies when it reaches the ground. Kill her, and as you die, call for me. I can make you Moebius. Just like C did for me. The new Consul B. We can take over Moebius, clean out the deadwood, and replace them with good people who can turn the World of Light into a better place. I promise you, a thousand year voyage guided by compassion. That is how we can live.” Her voice dropped to an urgent whisper. “The only way we can live. Forever, in this stolen moment we’ve been given.”
”Or, we beat Galeem and things stop repeating and theres no need for any of this. ” Blazermate said, pointing out their mission.
Despite the confusion now, of all times, of all people, Peach, P, whoever she thought herself as, was speaking his language
”You know that’s not a bad plan””For an amateur” ”I’ve been there, I’ve done that, and it’ll work riiiiiiight up until wherever next batch of seekers who get strong enough start taking out Consuls and then we’re toast” he told her, speaking from his, and as far as he was concerned they were his, years of experience
”You don’t get anywhere playing second fiddle and by someone else’s rules, other than stabbed in the front by heroes, or stabbed in the back in some power games””so here is what we are going to do instead. We take down the Consuls who stand in our way, we take down the guardians, we take down those organization chumps, we take down Ganondorf and everyone like him, and then we take down galeem” he declared, before leaning in and adding the cherry on top
”and then we take its power for ourselves” ”Our world, our rules, our Endless Now and forever, with no one above us making the rules, no below who can stop us” declared boldly with a raised fist, before adding, more softly
”and no clocks, or ten year life spans stealing everyone who’s not part of an alphabet gimmick away” There could, after all, only be one B, and there were two candidates for that in the castle right now.
P hesitated, her expression pained. “Moebius
is Galeem’s power,” she told him. “A drawing cannot change what’s on the page. Only the drawer can, and Moebius is its pen. If Galeem is defeated, the world stops turning. The paper is left alone to crumple, tear, and blow away in the wind. Game over.” She paused. “...Only Moebius can change things. Once we’re in power, the old guard destroyed and replaced, we can make life better. Get rid of the clocks, the ten years, the wars. That’s the best we can do.” She turned her brow upward, pleading. “So. Please?”
Bowser frowned, pausing to chew the words over, which Kamek took as an opportunity to act on the thoughts he had had while his kind had been acting on his passions
”If I might interject, your majesties?” he asked with the air of someone asking it rhetorically,
”But I must ask how you know these truths about Galeem’s reality, and, perhaps more importantly, how trustworthy you find the source of the information?” Wincing, P held her hand to her head again. “C. The Consul who made me…Moebius. Or…well, it was him who made the offer. And I made my choice. In his world, he was ‘cursed’ with absolute knowledge…and in this one, his Moebius power, Script, expands that knowledge to all worlds. He doesn’t care about winning or losing, living or dying. He’s only it for the drama.” She chuckled dryly. “So…just as you can trust a snake to bite, or a scorpion to sting, I trust him. To tell a truth that makes things more ‘interesting’.” P glanced at the koopas with a dubious look. “Maybe you don’t believe a Consul. But who do you believe? The Organization, who just wants to rewrite the world with Kingdom Hearts…?” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Ah…my head hurts. It’s been…such a long day.”
”Ah, the ‘Happy Chaos’ fellow. We know of him,” Kamek said, before glancing at Blazermate who’d actually encountered him and asking and asking
”Does that fit?” ”Oh no, it goes much further than that. He was super crazy. He took control of the debate between the two leaders of Midgar, made them sweat it out for no reason, then we fought him during the guardian fight and he’d just take hits and ‘replace’ himself with another version of himself with no regard to his own well being. Then he just… left. He was weird and crazy but I doubt he knows everything. He did say big book nerd things though.” Blazermate said, recounting her time with Consul C.
Bowser meanwhile was more concerned about the Princess, saying
”Wow hey, no need to figure this all out now. Come back with me, we can have dinner, and no one needs to know about your plan except us, yeah?” which did somewhat rely on the medabot’s agreement with that.
“Back?” P’s brows scrunched together. “Back where? Did you find somewhere to stay?”
”Sire!” Kamek interjected so urgently that for once Bowser actually listened. Well. enough to argue about it anyway.
”What? It’s Peach” he insisted, before pointing out
”besides, didn't some of the others say there was already a Consul helping out?” ”Well, let me ask a question first.” Blazermate said, still suspicious.
”Where is everyone. All the toads and the others who were chilling here in the castle and helping. Bowser was adamant that one of them wouldn’t leave something behind, but it was left behind. So where did they all go.” P raised her arms helplessly. “How should I know? I’ve been gone for a week. When I returned today, it was already empty.” She shook her head. “I've said all that I can. I don't need to stand here and be interrogated. You have no idea what I went through. What it was like.” Wincing, she turned away and strode down the balcony. “Please consider what I said. This is the only life you've got. Even after all that you've done to me, I don't want you to throw it away.” She looked over her shoulder, frowning. “Maybe Mario would understand.”
Blazermate’s expression didn’t change much, something still felt off to her. Peach wasn’t like this before, so something happened but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
”Mario wouldn’t help you take over the world, he’d be all ‘wahoo that’sa not’a like my princess at’a all’ or something” Bowser replied with contempt for his rival, while Kamek, a touch more pragmatic, simply asked
”what will you do now? You said his conflictedness would have to call you, so I assume you will not be sticking around?” ”Hey, no, wait a minute that can’t be safe, going out there all on your own” Bowser insisted, taking a step after her, hand half raised in a way that made it clear he didn’t know if he wanted to try and stop her with it or to offer it to her.
P shook her head. “I'll be fine. I've got to figure out this new life of mine. Mostly, I just need to rest.” She crossed her arms, a wry smile on her face. “But should danger arise, don't worry. I won't lose to anyone. Nobody's captive, and nobody's damsel, ever again.”
While Kamek mulled over if this change in Peach’s attitude was a logical result of having played that role for so much longer, and with such raised stakes and no confidence in a victory she might have had in her pre-Galeem life, the king did no such thing. He thought only with his heart.
And it belonged to Peach. Perhaps now more than ever.
The conflicted hand tilted not up into a grasping claw, because be it for different reasons, he was not he was ones was either, but fully down into an offered hand as he said
”Then take me with you, and I’ll make sure of it.” Blazermate leaned to whisper to Kamek, saying.
”So uh… We both agree Peach is like, mind controlled by whatever C did to her and Bowser is too blinded to notice that right? They have the power to mind control people…” ”Hard to say, but I do not like this” the mage replied, because he could see how she would have gotten here, but he could not say if she had indeed done so on her own.
After giving the whisperers a withering glance, P turned an expression of concern toward the Koopa King. A hint of amusement crept across her features as well, though. “Heh…you’re just the same old Bowser. It’s…heartwarming, in a way. Though, I’m really not much like the Peach you knew anymore. After everything that’s happened, all rushing back at once, I’m…damaged. Things won’t be like before. They can’t. I even became Moebius, the enemy we opposed all that time.” Given how little P knew of Moebius over the last week, that could only mean that this wasn’t her first rodeo. “But I haven’t betrayed you, or anyone, a-and I don’t want to. We deserve to live. To be happy. That’s all I want.” After a moment, she cracked a weary smile. “If you’re really willing to join me…well, I guess I’ll have you.”
Bowser smiled back, all teeth, while behind him Kamek ran his finger and thumb across his brow, but knowing very much that he wasn’t going to logic his king out of this instead went to tug at the other strings of his heart
”Think of your children, your fatherlyness. We can hardly leave them with the seekers if we are to break with their path now, it would simply not be safe” ”Eh, they’re tough,” Bowser insisted, which would have been rather callus had he not added that
”and beside, they’ll have you” ”Absolutely not!” the mage bit back, much to the shock of his king , before insisting
”I will not have you running on your own with this… this…!” as visions of all the terrible fates that might befall Bowser wracked his mind.
He panted, then breathed deep and turned to Peach and said
”Your majesty, I implore you, return with us, in secret if you must, and rest at, in, well, the ship we came here on. Not only does that make things simple for us, but aboard said ship is Consul S, who has surrendered to the Seekers, and might very well be a great source of information upon the path you wish to tread, for supposedly he attempted a variation of it themselves” ”Worst comes to worst, I have something that can hold Bowser for a bit.” Blazermate said quietly to Kamek, being on his side of the whole situation.
P’s eyes narrowed. “A ship?” After a moment, she shook her head urgently, however much aching that caused her. “I can’t,” she hissed, her voice low. “Look. When I woke up, it was in a dark theater. In front of me, I saw…a recording of my own death. Not just in Midgar, either. Other deaths. Other lives.” The consul paused. “Moebius has some way of watching. Now that I’m one of them, they can see
me too. While I’m sure they’d be thrilled if I led them right to you…I told you, I don’t want to betray anyone. It’s not safe for me to come.” She stepped away, turning as if to run.
”Oh, I get it. Shes been kidnapped by the consuls like those shady government suit guys do. Shes got a permanent wire. So it's either join the Consuls, or beat all of them to free her. Now that makes more sense.” Blazermate said, getting an ‘ah ha’ moment.
”I do not understand the metaphor, but that does sound like a very difficult position to run a coup from” Kamek noted, prompting Bowser to interject that
”Which is why we’re gonna stick with her” Kamek sighed, and then echoed with resignation
”Yes, which is why we will do that” before saying that
”well I suppose all that is left is an explanation that does not raise suspicion, or at least keeps the heat of the young master and mistress” and turning to Blazermate and saying
”and for you to deliver it” ”You guys do know what I mean about shady government guys right? Ask Roland or Zenkichi, they seem to be one of those types or know way more about them than I do. Short of it is, I doubt we’ll ever see Bowser again. Well, not like his lovable big boss self anyway…” Blazermate said, making sure this is what they wanted. She then got another idea, saying.
”Besides, if we wanna know how those flame clocks work, we’ll need Bowser to carry it back.””Hey, have some more faith in me, would ya?” Bowser balked at this notion that he’d ever not be himself. Despite, of course, standing just above where another much meaner him had been ruling only a few days ago
”We’ll be fine” Kamek assured her, before pointing out that
”and as for the clock, we simply need to move it somewhere it can be brought back the same way you will be” referring to the fulton balloons.
”Yeah yeah hang on” Bowser said, before going back for and then rolling the clock out onto the balcony while Kamek asked P
”ah, any risk involved with the seekers having one of these?” The consul shrugged, her expression unsure. “I’m…well, new at this, but…probably not?”
”Well… Kamek will be with you and he's smart so… I guess it’ll be ok? Just don’t turn on your friends, ok? I don’t think Jr. and Rika would take that well.” Blazermate said, conflicted but her methods of ‘stopping’ this wouldn’t work if Bowser really wanted to go.
”Speaking of, what do I tell them?” Blazermate said.
”Uh, hmmmm” Bowser replied with a scratch of his chin
”It is perhaps simplest to stick as much to the truth as possible, and simply leave out the whole grand scheme of taking over the world? We are still on the same side, but Peach would give away the seeker’s location should she rejoin, and thus his enamoredness and I shall be sticking with her to help her face whatever the other Consuls intend to throw her way” Kamek suggested, before adding that
”and, indeed, that it is best we get moving as soon as possible lest they come investigate this meeting” ”Well uh, I’d probably best get everything back to the others then… Someone needs to tell them all what happened here.” Blazermate said, clearly not comfortable with the situation but resigning herself to doing what she had to.
”You’ll need these then” the mage responded, stepping in close and surreptitiously transferring his fulton balloons to the medabot.
While the mage focused on their past, his king looked to the future, asking
”So, where to princess?”P looked overwhelmed. “I need to rest for tonight. Tomorrow…I don’t know. This region still has both its Consuls, so…I’ll need to go somewhere else. Wherever there’s an…an opening. To build
my kingdom, for the first time.”
wintersoldier
Snowdrops
LG
Lord Zee
Timemaster
Damycles
Izurich
Villamvihar
FunnierPrez
