Chapter 29: In The Final

Riba continued onwards. He could hear above him that parts of the cave were giving in to the pressure of the abundance of bodies. Then, he heard voices. He hid behind a rock, as two figures continued past him. Again, a language he couldn't understand. He took notice that they were in black cloaks.

Riba followed them deeper in. Careful not to make his presence known. As they walked further, the cave walls turned to what looked like black brick. Riba could tell they were entering some sort of cathedral.

Lined against the walls were statues of everyone he had met in his journey, on paintings of everywhere he went in his journey. In order. It started with Len in the forest back in the Seaside Kingdom. Then, Koi and the Screekers in Honyrup Jungle. Bowser, E. Gadd, the Toads and Luigi in the Mushroom Kingdom, the Aduraices in the mansion. All leading up to Mario against a blank background. That must mean... Mario must lie at the end of his journey!

"Mario?" Riba asked, in disbelief. Out loud. The cloaked figures turned around. "Um... oops..." The figures charged Riba, and knocked him out.

Riba awoke with his limbs held by something stronger than rope, but with the same feel to it. Looking down, he was held up on a cross made of maple tree wood. There was no fire below him, and he wasn't nailed to it. Just held on it. There was a crowd in front of him in a short pit, watching intently through cloaks.

A short, cloaked figure walked into the room, on Riba's level of the cave. "Himeboshi!" The figure shouted, in the same voice of the cloaked figure who killed Abir in the Memory Fragment! Was he their leader?

"Ensei!" The crowd roared.

"Very good," the figure spoke. The figure turned to Riba, and looked up at him. There was a dark matter shrouding the figure's face. It slowly cleared. No way... it was... "It's-a-me~!" The figure sang in a familiar voice. The dark matter went away completely, revealing his face. "Mario."

Riba yelled in surprise, fear, and agony. "Mario! What are you doing here?" Riba cried. "Please, help me!"

Mario shooed him away. Riba felt his heart break. "Speak not, lowly demon," Mario said. "I do not care. I only want to see you suffer... but before that, I guess I owe you an explanation."

Mario walked around the cross as he talked. "Long ago, I was named... Mario. Yes, yes. I was. Now I am Allen. I was such a stupid man, I was weak and frail, and that is because I saw good in everyone. Even you," Mario explained. He pointed a finger at Riba.

"What do you mean?" Riba asked. "Mario, did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, I see your confusion. I am not the Mario you have lived with for the past several years," Mario--- or Allen, explained. "I am a different iteration. In this iteration of ourselves, I never gave you that apple. We had not become close enough by the end of our journey in Evangeline. As a result, you stabbed me and left me to die. You said I would be with the princess and Luigi soon. But you were wrong." Allen cleared his throat.

"My real friends here in Abor's Cave saved me and healed me with their magic," Allen stated, gesturing towards the crowd. "When they found out I was an acquaintance of yours, and that you had failed to kill me, they thought me worthy to be their new leader. As opposed to the pathetic waste of energy everyone calls Riba. So, they ate me. They destroyed the old me, Mario. And what they regurgitated, was me. Allen."

Riba couldn't believe what he was hearing. A thought he always regretted even thinking about was back in Evangeline, how he thought of killing Mario once the curse was broken. But he never would have thought an iteration of him would go through with it. "Mario--- Allen... I'm sorry!" Riba sobbed. "I'm sorry, please, forgive me!"

"I don't care what you have to say," Allen groaned. "Puncture his hands and feet! Let him bleed dry!" Allen looked to Riba in fury, gritting his teeth.

Four cloaked figures ran in, and jumped up, driving nails into Riba's hands and feet. Nailing him to the cross. Riba cried out in physical and mental anguish. Everything in that moment hurt so much. He felt his blood ooze out by the gallon. He wasn't a human. He was a demon. Meaning his death would just be slower.

"You poor, poor thing..." Allen sighed. "You know, you're just an unimportant next step on my conquest. I will remove you and your influence from time itself with my pocket watch." Allen held up a golden pocket watch. "The last one of you that remains is the iteration that betrayed me. I've saved worst for last."

"Mario..." Riba hissed, in a raspy voice. "You... I love..."

"Shut up," Allen said.

Riba felt something inside him. His chest felt like it was bleeding once more. He felt a glow from his bloodstone. This wasn't Mario. This was Allen. If Riba's influence was erased from time, it would have all been for nothing. His friends... adventures... experiences... they'd all be gone. Riba couldn't control himself. He was going to smash through the blocks that barred his way. Shake off the chains and run through.

Riba threw his head back and screamed a goat's scream. He looked back to Allen, the pentagrams that lined the walls reflecting in his eyes through the torchlight. He gritted his teeth, and felt the fires of Hell burn within him. He started to grow in size. He wasn't just transforming into Abor, he was now...

Giga Abor!

"Mamma mia..." Allen said, stepping back. "Wait, no! I shouldn't be scared... I too can---!" Allen felt something hit him in the back of the head, and an echoey laugh. Turning around on the floor, it was... a Greenie! But how?

The roof of the cave broke due to Giga Abor's head breaking through. He had long since grown beyond simple nails hurting him. He roared, and took a step forward, planning to squash Allen where he lied. He didn't care about being a pacifist anymore. He was going to kill Allen. In cold blood.

"Riba, my good man!" A voice called. Giga Abor looked over, and saw E. Gadd poking his head out of a flying Koopa Clown Car amidst the storm of bodies and ghosts. Bowser, Bucken-Berry, Ala-Gold, and even Luigi were in it. There was a platoon of other, smaller Clown Cars with the Koopalings and Bowser Jr. in their own.

"We're here---!" Bucken-Berry exclaimed.

"---To help!" Ala-Gold finished.

Giga Abor nodded. He then stepped down, but felt something catch his foot. Allen was holding it back with superhuman strength. Then, Giga Abor was thrown backwards, and fell onto his back. Allen started to grow in size, until he was face to face with Giga Abor. The bodies pelting them in the face was no matter to them. They were just focusing on killing each other.

Giga Abor punched Allen in the face, and Allen headbutted him. Allen was charging something up, so Giga Abor used his wings to fly up above the clouds and smash down onto Allen. Allen released a fiery punch to where Giga Abor used to be, before Allen was jumped on by Giga Abor.

Koopalings were swarming Allen, hitting him with hammers, and drilling off parts of his body. But they were but an annoyance to him. Like bugs. "Finally! I've been waiting for this moment all my life! The turns have tabled, Mario!" Bowser shouted, jumping out of the Clown Car and ground pounding onto the gigantic Allen. Allen was squashed, but then returned to normal height. Bowser went flying, and the Clown Car picked him up. "Ugh... my head feels like I stuffed myself with too many big bean burritos..." Bowser groaned, holding his temples.

Luigi jumped out of the Clown Car. Allen turned around, and seemed to have a moment of clarity. "Luigi?" Allen asked. But then Luigi charged something up, and shot forward diagonally in a green rocket, hitting Allen square in the nose. "Agh! Why?" Allen cried, before swatting Luigi away like a fly. Luigi landed in the arms of King Boo.

"Heheh, hey Luigi! Nice of you to drop by!" King Boo laughed. Luigi laughed nervously in response.

"Heheh... phwew!" Luigi sighed, wiping a sweat from his forehead.

Giga Abor and Allen continued to fight. Swing after swing. Kick after kick. It was almost like the two were too powerful for one another. They were equally matched. Giga Abor felt little stabs on his legs, crawling up his body. It must have been the witches from Abor's Cave back for more. He shook them off, having them fall to their dooms.

Giga Abor had the Mushroom Kingdom on his side, with Toads and monsters alike attacking Allen. Blue Spiny Shells shot down onto him, exploding. Toads threw spears and shot their Light Guns towards Allen. And the Koopalings were doing whatever they do. Allen had all the witches in the cave on his side. Neither side was really losing.

"Ugh... that hurt..." Marie whined, alive as a ghost can be, down in the caves. The bodies they were swept away with made an opening for them into the caverns. Marie gasped. "Look!" She pointed up at Giga Abor, and once everyone got up from the bodies they were in, they looked up too.

"We have to help him!" Alice cried. "Is that... Mario he's fighting?"

"What does it matter?" Mercy asked. "We must fight!"

The spirits of Aduraice Mansion flew up towards Allen and joined the fight. Giga Abor caught Allen's punch, and suplexed him, throwing him into the forest. "Urgh... you imp! I'll kill you!" Allen shouted, getting up and charging towards Giga Abor with a giant dagger in hand.

It was a warzone around them, as Allen tackled Giga Abor. He inched the dagger closer to him, swatting away Koopalings and spirits. King Boo and Luigi. The Clown Car. The Aduraices. Giga Abor screamed something unholy, as if to damn Allen for killing all his friends. He was still trying to push Allen back. But then...

SHANK!

Giga Abor had lost as soon as the dagger entered his body. With it, Allen scooped out his bloodstone, and cracked it in the palm of his hand.

"Without this, you're just an ordinary human," Allen stated. The fighting continued, but the Mushroom Kingdom was being pushed back. Soldiers were falling, and people were fleeing. "Let's see you try anything without it."

Giga Abor, now back to an ordinary human, Riba, just lied there. Coughing up blood. "Oh, poor thing! You're having a convulsion! Bleed more!" Allen laughed. "Don't worry, you'll be with your loved ones soon. Len, Mario, all of them." Allen turned back to normal himself, in the pit that he had made upon slamming Giga Abor into the ground.

Riba couldn't speak. He just closed his eyes, and hoped his death wouldn't last much longer. It will be over soon. He promised himself. "Now there's only one left," Allen stated. "Won't be long now, won't be long now, won't be long now."

The last thing Riba saw was Allen's face. He pretended it was Mario's face, staring back at him. The fighting slowly died down outside. They had lost. This reality sunk in, as Riba took one last breath. And life left his body. He was dead.

Allen snickered. Until he heard something. "Oi!" A voice called from above him. Allen looked up, and saw the last Riba. The Riba that had betrayed him.

"Riba. I see you've come to seal your own fate?" Allen asked. "Very well." Allen jumped up to the last Riba and raised his dagger. But he felt something grab him. No way. Riba had hugged him.

"Wha---?" Allen asked. "What are you doing?"

"Mario, I'm sorry for what I did before," Riba sighed. "I didn't think we'd be able to go on living at the same time, because I was sure I would hurt you much more than death ever could. Like I hurt Alice and her family."

Riba and Allen hugged amidst the ocean of bodies threatening to kill them, and the dying warzone around them. "Riba, I---!" Allen sobbed.

"I've grown a lot over the past few years," Riba stated. "I know you want to kill me. I know I tried to kill you. But that doesn't matter anymore. Mario, I think the world is ending. So I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am."

"Riba, I don't want to kill you!" Allen whimpered. "Not anymore. I'm sorry too. I don't know what I was thinking."

"I'm glad we're on the same page," Riba said. "You were my best friend, and the most important person to me." The surrounding kingdoms were shrouded in bodies. Not even the New Donk City Hall's peak could see the light of day. The tallest mountains in the Snow Kingdom were buried in the corpses. "So while the world ends around us..." The grasslands of the Mushroom Kingdom, along with Peach's Castle, were invisible past the carcasses concealing them. All those familiar locations and happy, friendly faces... "Let's make a deal. That we'll never leave each other behind again."

It was all gone. Riba and Allen died under a mountain of bodies. And the hero, Riba, became but another body in the mound of corpses.

The last thing that remained was a familiar music box melody in the distance, accompanied with the sound of bodies falling on top of each other.

The---