Oh noes oh noes, what have I done! I'VE STARTED A NEW FIC OH JEEZ

Um… yes! Hey guys, new fic time! Wow, and it hasn't even been that long since my last one. I am back in the fanfic-writing groove! This makes me happy.

It's another Fawful fic too, oh joy! Oh, but here's a note for everyone who read my last major fic: this is totally not connected to my last one, and in fact this interpretation of Fawful and Kamek is pretty different. For one, this Fawful is still a kid! And also this Kamek is currently not in the employment of Bowser. See? Lots of changes. I like to play with different interpretations of characters. :)

The title of the story comes from the song "Rest, Until Tomorrow," by Nobuo Uematsu from Final Fantasy VII. Likewise, the title of this chapter also hails from that soundtrack! I don't know if this is going to be some sort of theme for all of the chapter titles, but it would be interesting… hmm. There's something for me to consider.

Er… anyway! Enjoy the fic!

…

Chapter one: Ahead on our way

Darkness hung over the lair of Cackletta and Fawful, a decrepit old mansion hidden away in the outskirts of the Beanbean Kingdom. The moon shone in all its full-phased glory, but it seemed as though none of that light reached the house. Some would say that it was because of all of the tall trees shielding the place from the rays of cosmic light sources, but the one lone inhabitant of the house would insist that, rather, the darkness was caused by the overwhelming gloom that had come over it.

The lair was quiet now, a stark contrast to how it had once been. Once a place noisy with the sounds of experimental spells being cast, orders being yelled, and Engrish being shouted, all noise had died down to little more than the quiet, muffled sound of one small bean sobbing and crying over and over the name of his lost mistress.

She was gone now. They had come so close, but in the end he had failed to prevent the Mario brothers from getting to her and now… that was it. She was gone. All he could think to tell himself was that it was all his fault. She was gone because he failed her, simple as that.

He lay in his bed, his face buried in a pillow. He had been there for days, getting up only rarely—usually to have some water or use the restroom. He really couldn't find the will to do anything else. He was too devastated; his every thought was of her, his guilt wracked his brain down to its very neurons. He simply couldn't find it in him to get out of bed. The thought never even occurred to him that he even could.

Fawful eventually became aware of the sound of knocking on the front door. He didn't care. Whoever it was, they weren't important.

The knocking continued, growing ever louder and more impatient. Fawful responded to this by shoving his head under the pillow and compressing it over his ears. He didn't want to see anyone!

Still the noise went on, until finally the knocking was replaced by the sound of a blast and splintering wood. He shot up, recognizing immediately the sound of magic. Grabbing his glasses from the nightstand, he dashed to the front room with hope filling his little heart.

The hope drained away when he saw not his mistress, but rather an irritated Magikoopa standing in the wreckage that was once a door.

The Magikoopa looked up at Fawful and frowned, stepping over some charred wood. "Oh, now you get here. Couldn't very well just get up and open the door for me, huh?"

Fawful sniffled. "Who are you being?"

"A royally ticked-off Magikoopa, that's who," the Magikoopa brushed some dust off of his white robe. "I try to take some time off and dabble in hypnotism, but as soon as I'm out of the limelight some nobody witch goes saying that she's the greatest magician in the world! Hah! I can't just let anybody go trying to show me up," he took a few steps toward Fawful. "I'm here to teach that no-good beanwitch a lesson. Where is she?"

Fawful opened his mouth to speak, couldn't think of the words and closed his mouth again. He looked away.

"Well?" the Magikoopa prodded, impatient. "I haven't got all day."

"She is… that is to be saying… the Red and Green ones, they… she…," he stopped, biting into his lip.

"Yes?" he blinked, paused, and realization dawned upon him. "You're kidding me! You mean she—she got herself killed?"

Fawful choked a little, holding back a sob, and nodded.

The Magikoopa kicked a piece of wood. "Drat! Now what am I supposed to do? I can't very well prove to the world that I'm better if she isn't around for me to humiliate! Everyone's going to start thinking that I'm second-rate!"

Fawful grimaced at the unwelcome visitor. "You are being rate of second. The great Cackletta is having superiority over everyone."

"That's the sort of thing I'm talking about!" the Magikoopa groaned. "Ugh. I don't suppose you plan on doing anything about this any time soon?"

"What are you meaning?"

"Are you going to bother bringing her back?"

Fawful's face took on an expression of awe. "You are saying that this is having possibility?"

"Well, yeah. Maybe," the Magikoopa said, somewhat surprised that Cackletta's minion was completely unaware of that option, "If she was even a half-decent witch she would have set up some sort of means for bringing herself back."

Fawful was overcome with relief. "I demand that you have the telling of me how to do this thing which would bring back the great Cackletta and make me have the happiness of being able to be serving my mistress once again!"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"But you had the saying…"

"You're supposed to know that sort of thing, you're her minion after all."

"But… I…," Fawful sniffled, "I am not knowing…"

Fawful tried to hold back his tears, but he didn't do a very good job of it. Soon he was bawling, once again completely possessed by grief. The Magikoopa sighed harshly, hating having to deal with crying kids. He decided that, for the sake of his eardrums, he'd better do something to stop Fawful's shrill crying.

"Hey, hey—don't cry! I'm sure she left some sort of instructions somewhere!"

Fawful sniffed, wiping his eyes. "Yes?"

"Yeah… I guess. Come on, I'm sure she has something hidden away," the Magikoopa started walking down the hall. Fawful followed. "By the way, I'm Kamek. I guess you're Fawful?"

"Yes," Fawful said quietly, "Were you not in the employment of the Bowser who I hate?"

"Sort of. I've been on hiatus for a while, studying and all," Kamek nudged a door open, and looked in. "Here we go, this looks like her room."

Kamek walked inside, looking around at everything in the room. Fawful, however, stood at the threshold, staring at his feet. Kamek noticed this. "Hey, what're you waiting for? You want to revive your master or what?"

"I am not having the permission to be entering the room of the great and powerful Cackletta. It is her room of privateness and I am being forbidden to be stepping the foot which is my own in it," Fawful explained.

"You know, I really don't think she'll mind," Kamek said, flatly irritated. "It's so you can help her, after all. Now come on."

Fawful hesitated, then slowly stepped onto the dark purple carpet of Cackletta's room. He looked around at the unfamiliar place. The room was clearly hers; her scent permeated the place and her personality showed through all her decorations and possessions. It only served to remind Fawful of how much he missed her.

Kamek frowned at the little bean. "Stop standing around like that and start looking."

"I say okay," Fawful said, a little nervous about going through Cackletta's things. A small part of him still felt like she was going to walk in the door and zap him for his intrusion. Nevertheless, he made his way over to one of her dressers and opened a drawer and started to rummage.

Kamek started looking through a bookshelf, trying to find anything of use. After a few minutes Fawful addressed him.

"Kamek?"

Kamek didn't bother looking over. "What?"

"What is this being?"

Kamek turned to see Fawful holding up a frilly purple bra. His eyes went wide. "Wh-why in the world are you looking through her underwear!"

"You had the saying of that I should be looking for things," Fawful said.

"I didn't say to go looking through her unmentionables! Put that back and look somewhere else!"

"I have confusion."

"I don't care! Do what I said!"

Fawful shrugged, put the bra back into the drawer, and wandered off to another part of the room and started to rummage.
Kamek sighed, shook his head, and continued looking.

After a long while of relatively silent searching, Fawful finally proclaimed: "I have the finding of something!"

"Yeah?" Kamek walked over. Fawful was holding a small book with the words 'WORST-CASE SCENARIO' written across the spine. He opened it and read aloud, "'If you're reading this, Fawful, then I'll assume that I'm probably dead. If I'm not, then get out of my room before I'm forced to punish you!'" Fawful squeaked meekly at that, and Kamek continued. "'In the pages that follow are instructions for a ritual that can bring me back to life. I understand that this is much more complex than most revival rituals, but I was afraid that a normal one would diminish my magical powers. Follow the instructions exactly, and get all of the ingredients right! This is an order!'"

Fawful took the book back and started to flip through the pages, looking at all of the instructions.

Kamek smiled. "Well, there you go, kid. Give me a call when your master's back to her old self, will you?"

Kamek started to walk away, but Fawful grabbed him by the arm.

"Waiting," Fawful said, holding up the book. "This is having the saying that I am needing to use magic to perform this ritual of reviving."

"So?"

"I am not being a wizard!"

"What? You can't be serious! You're her apprentice—what in the world was she teaching you if not magic?"

"I am needing your help," Fawful said, ignoring Kamek's question, "I am having sureness that the great Cackletta will have much rewarding of you once this is complete."

"I've got better things to do," Kamek said coldly, pulling his arm free from Fawful's grip.

"But! But!" Fawful tried to think of something. Kamek was walking away now, and Fawful started following him. "But—um—How will you be proving your 'superiority' over the great Cackletta if I am not having success? Would you not prefer to be making sure personally that it is done correctly so that you may have the dueling with my mistress once she is back to normalling?"

Kamek stopped. He thought on this for a moment, sighed, thought some more, groaned, and nodded. "I guess… but if this gets to be too much of a pain, you can count me out. Where do we start?"

Fawful looked in the book. "First we are needing to have the assembly of the components."

"Yeah?" Kamek took the book and looked at the ingredient list. "Half of these are incredibly rare! How on Earth are we supposed to get them?"

"I am having sureness that we will be able to have success!" Fawful said enthusiastically, "Aftering all, I am being a genius, and I am sure that you are probably somewhat competent also as well!"

Kamek glared at the little bean. "'Somewhat competent'?"

"Let us have commencement!" Fawful said, not noticing his companion's disdain. "Onward!"

Kamek sighed. This was going to be a very frustrating ordeal.