Hello all and welcome to my fic! I wrote this fic because I just replayed SPM for the third or so time and I thought '...What if Timpani hadn't ever lost her memory...or hadn't even turned into a Pixl?' Looking around on this site, I realized that I couldn't find a fic like this at all! So, I decided I was going to write an AU just like it. And here it is! I hope you enjoy it!

And don't worry, since it may start out almost the same, it's going to branch out and is not going to be a rehash of the game.

Disclaimer: I do not own SPM.

Timpani had to fulfill the prophecy.

The Light Prognosticus spoke of her as the 'Multicolored maiden who would help end and save the world'. How she could end it and save it at the same time was beyond her. But the prophecy was hazy at best, and to be honest, it could mean almost anything. She liked to focus on the save part, because there was no way she would end the world. Even though her world had ended the moment she had arrived here.

It had been a few months since she had arrived at Flipside, half dead and half mad with grief. Merlon, the wizard, had found her and managed to save her from certain death. But, as a result of her wandering through dimensions, or Merlon's magic, or perhaps both, her hair had…changed. Instead of that plain, mousy brown it had been, it became a rainbow of colors, twirling and shimmering and always changing.

Suddenly she was all but thrown into the prophecy, everyone looking at her. For she, Lady Timpani, was going to save the world someday.

She went along with it, because well, she had nothing else to lose. She had lost the one thing that truly meant anything to her when she had been banished from her world by dark magic. Had it truly that much of a horrible thing, her and Blumiere to have fallen in love? His father had thought so, which was why she was here right now. And now, she would probably never find her way back to Blumiere ever again. And that hurt, more than anything. But she wouldn't give up or give in.

So she tried, really tried, to be happy and cheerful and positive for all the people counting on her. But she didn't know what she could do. She was just Timpani, she didn't have any special powers or skills and wasn't even that athletic. She didn't know how she was supposed to save the world…the entire world, all worlds. It was a pretty big job. But to be honest, it was all she had left to focus on, so she wouldn't give into despair.

Her mother had always warned her not to fall in love, because love hurt. She hadn't believed her, and she certainly hadn't when she and Blumiere had been together. But now she was starting to wonder, if maybe her mother had been onto something. Didn't mean she regretted it. She would have rather loved Blumiere and then have lost him forever than to have never had known him, to never have rescued him from the bottom of that cliff.

But only if she could see him one more time…

"Lady Timpani!" She looked up from where she had been idly doodling on a pad of paper. A man was at the door for her. "Merlon says he would like to see you, and that time is of the essence." She sighed and stood up, looking down at the paper where she had been drawing hearts. One of them had 'B+T' written in it.

"I'm coming," she said, as he left her door and she walked out, locking her house behind her. Looking up at the sky, she saw…something. It was purple and looked sort like…a whirlpool. A whirlpool in the sky.

She all but ran to Merlon's house, dodging people in her way, and threw open the door to see him with his back turned to her, reading the Light Prognosticus. "Merlon, was is that in the sky…?"

He turned to face her, closing the book. "The Void," he said simply. Timpani felt her heart clench when she realized what that meant. "It's begun, my dear. The prophecy in both the Light and Dark Prognosticus has come to pass."

"…What do I have to do?" she asked fearlessly. Merlon chuckled at her.

"I do have good news. With a bit more searching of the Light Prognosticus, I have determined that you do not have to do it alone. There is a hero spoken of that you will accompany and help along the way to collect the Pure Hearts." She sighed in relief, because if she had to do it alone, then… she wasn't sure she would make it.

"So when does this hero appear?" she asked, stepping over to him.

"You must go collect him, Timpani. The book says he can be found at 'the furious monster king's castle'. The very same one spoken of in the prophecy that will be married to form the Chaos Heart. Using my magic, I can send you there, and once you have him, bring you back." He paused, raising his hands in the air to cast magic. "Are you ready?"

She nodded. "Of course." The sensation of teleporting magic rose over her and suddenly she wasn't in Merlon's shop anymore. It always gave her chills, teleporting between dimensions. It reminded her of her time wandering dimensions, in darkness. But it only lasted a second, before she was standing in a castle, on a red carpet. Though a hole in the stonewall, she could see lava bubbling far below.

"Oh jeez… This looks safe." She stepped cautiously, not wanting the ground to fall out from beneath her. Timpani wandered down the hall, wondering where exactly she was going to find this hero. Then she came to a large open room-the throne room, she figured-and saw a figure on the ground.

She ran over to him and crouched down to get a look. He was short and kind of round, with a red cap and overalls on and the biggest mustache she had ever seen. The cap had a letter 'M' on it. She shook him.

"Hey, wake up. You need to wake up." He moved and she stepped back, watching him as he woke up and immediately jumped up and looked at her like she was an enemy. She stepped back.

"I'm not here to hurt you. My name is Timpani, and I'm here to save you…er…"

"I'm Mario."

"Mario, then. Anyway, here to save you… Erm, did someone take an evil king and a princess, by any chance?" She was aware she must sound slightly uncertain, but really, she didn't know how this whole…saving the world thing went. This was all new to her.

He nodded and said, "It was-a Count Bleck." And now she had the name of their enemy to give to Merlon when they got back.

"Then they were taken to create the Void… You have to come with me, to save your friends. They may be in grave danger." He nodded again, and she wondered if he ever said anything more than a sentence or two together. Making a little hand gesture, she signaled Merlon from across dimensions to bring them back.

Even as the teleport started up, she looked around. There was something very…familiar here. Not the building, but…in the air. Timpani shrugged it off, though, and let the teleport take her and Mario to the top of Flipside Tower.

Merlon was waiting there for them, and Mario looked suitably confused. So she let Merlon do the talking as she focused up on the Void. She wondered idly if it could be seen in her world, and if Blumiere was looking up at it. Blumiere, I know you can't hear me, but I'm going to save the world from Count Bleck and the Dark Prognosticus so everybody can live. So you can live, because you, alive, even if you're not here with me is the only thing I want.

"And of course, you've already met Timpani. She has been foretold in the prophecy to accompany you and help you save the world. You must go and collect the eight Pure Hearts to fight the powers of the evil Chaos Heart." He then pulled out of the folds of his cloak a red Pure Heart. Mario jumped, and even Timpani was surprised, because she didn't know that Merlon had one. "This is the first Pure Heart. Will you take it, Mario, and help save the world?"

"I will!" Mario said firmly, reaching out and grabbing it from Merlon. It glowed brightly, then faded to its regular color.

"Excellent! You truly are the hero spoken of in the Light Prognosticus! The first Heart Pillar is on the third floor of Flipside. Timpani can lead the way for you. It will open the door to the next Pure Heart right here, on Flipside Tower. I'll wait for you to come back."

Mario looked expectantly at her, and she knew it was her turn to do her part. "Okay then, follow me!" she said, walking towards the elevator, trying to look like she was a formal guide to the hero. "See," she said as the elevator took them down to the first floor. "We just have to go up two floors and it should be there. It's big and white, so you can't possibly miss it."

"Don't worry. I've got-a it all covered," Mario said. Timpani tilted her head.

"Have you…done something like this before?"

He nodded. "All-a the time. I save Princess Peach from Bowser a lot. And sometimes-a the world."

"Sorry," she said apologetically. "I'm new at this…saving the world stuff." She gestured at the second floor of Flipside. They were about to board the final elevator to go up to the third floor.

"Don't worry. It's-a easier than it looks," he said almost sagely, nodding his head. Timpani smiled, because she actually felt better. This could have been a lot worse, but maybe this could be…fun. Well, it wasn't fun that the world was ending, but making a new friend…

She had never had many friends in her small town. She wasn't truly athletic, she liked to read books, liked to take long walks… The other girls had always been more interested in who was doing what and parties and things like that. She had never really had any friends.

Until she had met Blumiere…

Timpani shook herself out of it when the elevator stopped. She didn't have time to get lost in her thoughts right now, now when there were worlds to save. Stepping out of the elevator, she gestured at Mario.

"Come on, it's this way." Down at the end of the walk she could see the Heart Pillar. It was only a few seconds before they got to it, the white stone stretching up high above them. "Now, I guess…hold out the Pure Heart…"

He did so, and there was a flash of light as it left his hands and fitted itself right into the indent made for it. Red circles formed and spun, like…gears unlocking, she supposed. Then they flew away.

"Did it work?" she asked, tilting her head sideways. Mario shrugged.

"The only way we can-a find out is to go and see Merlon." Timpani nodded and they both walked back to the top of Flipside Tower to see Merlon. Right there, in between two pillars, was a red door.

"So you two return!" he said, and gestured at the door. "As you can see, the door is already here. Go through this and find the Pure Heart that rests behind it. Timpani, you should be able to sense the power of the Pure Hearts, so you must help Mario find it."

"I…can do that," she said, nodding and smiling slightly. Merlon then handed her a red pipe. She looked up at him quizzically.

"This is a Return Pipe. Use it when you are trapped or want to return to Flipside quickly." Timpani nodded and moved towards the door with Mario at her side. Merlon held out a hand. "Before you go… The Light Prognosticus foretells that the hero will meet a 'dimension governor' that will teach you a dimensional technique. This must be Bestovius, a fellow Ancient. Keep a lookout for him."

"We will. …Are you read, Mario?" she asked, looking down at him.

"Ready, Timpani." And they both opened the red door and walked in together.

"BLEH HEH HEH HEH! BLECK! The Void has opened in the dimensional fabric in space, just like foretold in the prophecy! And now it will only be a matter of time before all words disappear within it! Count Bleck is pleased with this success."

"Wow, that's super! We can erase all these naughty worlds and then build a new one where there's no weird, icky stuff like war and all that," Mimi said, shape-shifted into O'Chunks.

"Oh, yes…" Dimentio chuckled. "No one likes all that 'icky stuff', as you've termed it. But a perfect world… this I cannot wait for."

O'Chunks dropped in at that point, onto his platform. "Sorry I'm late! …GOOD GRAVY! Did I get 'ere before I did?" O'Chunk's asked, looking at Mimi's perfect carbon copy, confused.

"Mimimimimimimimimi! You slept in again, didn't you, you silly! You're supposed to be here on time!" Mimi changed in a cloud of green smoke into a perfect carbon copy of Count Bleck. "But of course when you're that stupid, it can't be that hard!"

"'ey, wait a tic! Yeh can't fool me! It's Mimi, innit it, wit' all that shapeshifting stuff? Show the count some respect, lass!" O'Chunks said, crossing his arms and glaring up at her. Mimi giggled.

"Bleh heh heh heh …Wonderful, Mimi, but not as wonderful as Count Bleck!"

"Aw, thanks, count! I do try!" she said with a giggle, changing into Peach. "That's all it is here at Castle Bleck! Smiles and hanging out with the count all the time! Forget all that, this is my perfect world!"

"I always thought that Mimi's perfect world was populated with shirtless men and lots of rubees," Dimentio said, rubbing his chin in mock thought.

Mimi frowned and turned into Boweser. "Dimentio, you haven't been reading my diary again, have you? …Er…Never mind."

"Well, different strokes for different minions, I suppose…Bleh heh heh heh… Don't worry, my faithful minions, once these worlds have ended, Count Bleck will grant your every wish and make your dreams come true!"

"About that," Nastasia said, adjusting her glasses and entering the conversation. "I have a quick memo for you, count… There's been some unscheduled interdimensional activity that I've caught. Yeah, I think it's the hero of the prophecy. We're gonna need a plan for this one."

"Interesting, mused Count Bleck. An interdimensional interloper and possibly the hero! Well, we must get rid of this nuisance…"

"Hey, count! Lemme get this one, if this 'ere 'ero's yer enemy! I'll give 'im a proper chunkin'!" O'Chucks said, throwing a mock punch.

"Very well then. Count Bleck leaves the hero-chunking to you. But do not fail."

"Don't yeh worry, count! I got this! Mimi! Dimentio! Yeh two should come along to see a proper chunkin;!" O'Chunks jumped off his platform and left.

"Hee, I suppose I could do with seeing a good chunking. I shall take him up on his offer." And Dimentio disappeared.

"Hero of the prophecy…you defy Count Bleck? Hurry if you must, for the end of the world draws near! BLEH HEH HEH HEH! BLECK!"