Instability (Mario)

Chapter 18

plєαѕє dσn't hurt mє

No

No

No!!

Stop!

Please!

Pauline awoke, panting loudly and gasping for breath. She sat up in bed, clutching her heart.

Nightmare.

"What's wrong?" Mario mumbled, still half asleep. Pauline laid back down, and Mario wrapped his arms around her.

"Nothing," Pauline shuddered. "I'm fine.."

She closed her eyes, and imagined that she had a better childhood than the one she was granted.

<><><>

Toadette and Saiko were having as much luck as Daisy and Saiko.

That is, nothing.

"This is boring," Saiko complained. "Saiko's bored."

"I am too, but this is necessary," Toadette sighed. "You know it is if we want to escape."

"...does Saiko really want to escape?"

"I thought we were all adamant on escaping. What's making you have second thoughts now?"

"...kaira," Saiko admitted. "Saiko doesn't want her to destroy everything... Satsuki knows better. Of course she does... she just does it because of the world. Satsuki's different than kaira-"

"I'm well aware."

"Yeah... but Satsuki loves Mario and Pauline, and truly believes they're doing the right thing. Even now... she still can't believe they're monsters. After all these years. Kaira can comprehend that. But Kaira will never be Satsuki... just a subdued version of her at best."

"...how did you even get Kaira to be... well, Kaira?" Toadette asked quietly. "It's.."

"...it was Saiko's idea," Saiko admitted. "After... after Satsuki started going on a bunch her blood rages... Saiko wanted her friend to be normal again. So Mario and Rosalina went through this procedure..."

She paused, and took a deep breath.

"It was supposed to be a good thing," Saiko sighed. "Saiko guesses it technically is. Satsuki doesn't go on her rages as much. But Kaira... she's not...truly the same... of course they're still technically the same person, it's just... Kaira doesn't retain some of her characteristics when she's... Kaira."

"Oh..." Toadette said, not really understanding. "I understand.."

"...Saiko just wants her friend to be back," Saiko looked up. "But Saiko never can.."

Toadette had been so wrapped up in Dixie's death that she forgot other people were also suffering. No wonder Saiko was insane- her childhood had been completely messed up. Her life had just been messed up.

"Why did she go insane?" Toadette asked quietly. "Why did Ka-er-Satsuki want to go on these rampages..?"

"...it all started because..."

<><><>

"H-Hey, come check this out."

Luigi motioned to Rosalina. The two were investigating the halls, looking for any suspicious cracks or blemishes. So far, there had been nothing, but now...

"What... is that...?"

It was a large, black... vortex of a sort. Black tendrils spewed from it, and Rosalina reached her hand towards it, Luigi pulled it back.

"You don't want to touch it... just in case," Luigi told her. "Y-y'know."

"Oh..." Rosalina nodded. "You're.. you're right...maybe something bad is coming from there..."

"Maybe? I'm pretty sure something bad's coming from there."

"Let's go get the others..."

<><><>

"Everyone! Rosalina and I found something... something t-terrible," Luigi said frantically. "It was all... gross."

"Well, what was it?" Saiko asked impatiently. "That's not a good answer! Gimme a better answer, now, now, now!"

"Okay..." Rosalina took a deep breath. "It's... some black, stick... long... substance. Reminds me of tar... tendrils.. I'm not sure what it is.."

"Well, let's go check it out," Kaira yawned. "Doesn't sound like its anything too bad-"

"This sounds horrible!" Daisy burst out. "What if it spreads, and it burns everything, and then we're all killed alive-"

"She said like tar," Toadette pointed out. "Not actual tar."

"Oh.. well, it still sounds dangerous!" Daisy blushed in embarrassment. "Whatever it is, we should put an end to it right away."

"Yeah... you're right..."

The group traveled to the location of said black tendrils, and Luigi gasped as it had grown larger.

"What even...?" Rosalina gaped. "This is new..."

"Why would it grow for no reason?" Toadette mumbled. "Something's wrong..."

"Yeah, you're not wrong there," Dash agreed. "Let's have caution around it."

"It looks puny," Saiko frowned. "Luigi's description was so-"

"It is menacing!" Luigi argued. "It's so-"

"Oh please, I was expecting so much worse," Kaira scoffed. "It's probably nothing."

She unsheathed Muramasa, and then swung at the offending black substance. Instead, it grabbed onto her hand, and pulled her into it. She yelled as it yanked Muramasa away from her, and in a puff of black smoke, she disappeared- the only thing remaining was her demon blade.

"Kaira!!!"

Hey everyone! Hope you enjoyed the chapter :) it's a little bit under normal.

What happened to Kaira?

Thanks for reading!