Hi again!

Whew. School started, and it got to me, so sorry for the VERRRY long silence from me. o.O But in that time I beat Super Paper Mario, so I made a sequel to SPM! YAY!!

Cautions:

-This is a more serious story than any of my other ones. Don't expect this to be full of randomness and humor that my stories are usually full of. I apologize for any disappointment, but it does have some laughter tucked in there. ;) Hang in there with me...

-As for those of you who don't really know the plotline of SPM, I don't think it's a very big issue, but there are some points that might need to be hit. Please let me know if there is any confusion; I'd love to help sort it out. :)

DANGER!! IN ADDITION TO THE LAST CAUTION, SEVERAL, SEVERAL, SEVERAL SPOILERS FOR SUPER PAPER MARIO ARE INCLUDED IN THIS FIC! WHEN I SAY SEVERAL, I MEAN SEVERAL, PEOPLE. Don't say I didn't warn you, guys. If you're one to kill when you see a spoiler, don't read this fic until you're certain you're ready for it.

-The rating may or may not go up in future chapters. And I'm talking going from K+ to T. Nothing terribly serious.

-Blumiere DOES speak French in here, cuz his name is French. XD;; It's not too much, though; it's like substituting for a few words or so. ;)

So, ready to start? I am. Review without flames please! ;)

I don't own Nintendo.

1

A young lady ran her hardest over and across hills. She almost couldn't run, she was laughing so hard.

"Timpani!" A voice shouted after her. "Wait up, mon amour!"

"Catch me if you can, Blumiere!!" Timpani laughed, looking behind her. But Blumiere was not there, so she stopped. "…Blumiere?" She began to walk the opposite direction, concerned about her husband. A hand grabbed Timpani and pulled her back.

"It was pretty easy, Timpani," Blumiere smiled. Timpani smiled as well, and gave a kiss to Blumiere on the cheek, who blushed, and returned it. They sat down under a tree, letting the gentle breeze blow through to cool them off. "Ah, a lovely day, isn't it?"

"It's an alright day today; better than the other days," Timpani replied, her smile fading slightly. "Is autumn coming soon? Summer is getting so hot here..."

"I hope it'll come. But in the meantime, we should try to enjoy the light."

Light…she repeated in her head, remembering only a few months ago that darkness was threatening the entire planet. She closed her eyes and rested her head on Blumiere's shoulder. "Blumiere?"

"Yes, Timpani?"

"…Thank you for stopping the Dark Prognosticus's prophecy. I thought you would lose hope and destroy the worlds anyway, but I knew that there was a part of you that still wanted to save us, too." Timpani sighed.

"You're certainly welcome. I was just hoping that we could see the Heroes again, seeing how you loved the friendship of Mario and the others." Blumiere replied.

"Yes, they were quite the friends to be around. After Francis' attack, I recognized how much I was grateful for them all." Timpani sighed. There was a pause, and Timpani hesitated to say something. "Do…do you think we'll see them again?"

Blumiere shook his head. "There's no way to tell." Seeing his love look away and frown, he instantly hugged and held her close. "But if you would like to see them, I'm sure we can find them somehow." Timpani looked up, her eyes full of doubt.

"But, Blumiere, I don't want to leave you here alone!" She said. "And besides, they can't even find us. How will we know where THEY are?"

"First of all, Timpani, I never meant to sound like I'd send you alone out there in the cold, cruel world; I'll always come with you anywhere," Blumiere assured. "And as for finding them, I'm still unsure, but it's possible."

Suddenly, the earth began to tremble, and Timpani cried out, frightened of what was happening.

"YAAAAGH!" Timpani yelled. Blumiere covered them both with his ivory cape to keep them out of harms way. "Blumiere!! What's going on?!"

"Just stay down, Timpani!!" Blumiere cried.

An odd rumbling noise rang out in the sky, and the earth only shook more. Behind the two of them, a figure summoned his power, aimed it at the tree, and disappeared without a trace.

Shing…

CRACK!!

Blumiere looked up at it and gasped; the tree was going to collapse right on top of them.

"Timpani, look out!!" He dove for the young lady as a branch hit the ground and shoved her out of the way.

Timpani slid on the ground, scuffing her arms slightly. "Blumiere!! Oh, gosh, are you okay?!" She got up and knelt beside her husband. The branch had just missed Blumiere; he had lucked out with his life.

"I'm alright, Timpani, I'm alright." Blumiere got up and looked at the tree.

"Are you sure you aren't hurt?"

"I'm not hurt, I promise. But I can't say the same for the tree…"

Timpani smiled at his joke, but something caught her eye. There was a violet and black dot in the sky. "Blumiere…" She pointed at the sky. "It's—it's just like before…" Blumiere gasped.

"It is, but the Dark Prognosticus was destroyed, as well as the Chaos Heart…" Blumiere commented. …Right?! "There's no one who could've activated it once more; Nastasia was killed, as well as O'Chunks, Mimi, and Dimentio, but I suppose it's still possible for someone to…"

"Blumiere, Dimentio disappeared after we fought him. No one knows where he is, and O'Chunks and Mimi were still loyal to you after we left them. Nastasia is…" She swallowed. "Anyhow, no one could've activated the Prognosticus again; the Prophecy was defeated, the Heroes are set back into their normal lives. We're probably just hallucinating this from the heat…hopefully…"

Blumiere took Timpani's hand and placed it on the branch that had fallen. "I don't think this is a hallucination. Your hand would slip through that if it was; and how could we be hallucinating the same thing?"

"But…but what should we do then?"

"We must find the Heroes again. If this is going to do the same thing as it did last time, we need to hurry. I won't allow this world or any worlds to end now that we're together."

"Then how will we find them?"

Before she could say anything else, Timpani began to sense a strange strength, and it was very nearby. This was familiar in some way, but she couldn't put her finger on it; something that seemed to get stronger with love, something that overcame darkness, something light, affectionate, and comforting…

She gasped. "Blumiere, do you sense that?!"

Blumiere took out something, and showed it to Timpani. It was a red Pure Heart.

"A Pure Heart?!" Timpani exclaimed. "I thought they all faded back to the Ancients' spirits after we fought Dimentio!"

"'As long as love is present, the Pure Hearts live on'…isn't that something like what you said?" Blumiere replied. "I kept one, just in case."

"Could it be that we can find Mario with this?"

"We can try."

Timpani smiled. "Yes, we can."

"Then let's pay a visit to the Heroes, shall we, mon aime?"

"I'll be right beside you!!" Timpani hugged Blumiere as they both focused on the Pure Heart, and disappeared.