Sup homies.

Ugh… last chapters are hard. Muzukashii…

Well anyway I think I can go hide in a corner and die now and not feel guilty for not working on this because I'm finally DONE. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, although I wish I'd written it quicker.

Enjoy—

…

Epilogue.

It seemed like an eternity had passed before he finally opened his eyes again, and when he did the first thing he noticed was light.

It was blinding.

And at that moment he knew that he was still alive.

After all, he knew that whatever afterlife would take him definitely wouldn't be anything like this. Brimstone and smoke clouds, maybe, but bright light would be a bit of a stretch.

He put a hand to his forehead, groaning. He continued to stare upward, at what he realized was a bright, cloudless sky. Eventually a green blur appeared above him.

He blinked. "… Kid?"

"Ah, so you still have aliveness," Fawful said.

"Ugh… not so loud," Kamek forced himself to sit up, his aching muscles protesting all the way. He looked around, squinting against his poor vision. "What happened? Where is everyone? … and my glasses?"

Fawful handed over a pair of glasses, which Kamek put on and promptly realized were shattered beyond usefulness. "The red moustache had victory, I am assuming. When I was waking up he was carrying you and some others out of the cave."

"And you didn't attack him or anything?" Kamek asked.

"My Headgear has brokenness," Fawful said. "Mario and the others had leaving to tell the others of our successfulness. I am assuming that the airship will be arriving shortly to retrieve you."

"So they just leave me lying here in the middle of nowhere. Great."

"In case you are too stupid to be noticing, you have injury and they were unwilling to carry you around high in the sky and risk being dropping you," Fawful said, sounding exasperated.

Kamek started poking at himself, quickly confirming that, yes, he was indeed injured, although he wasn't sure how badly.

Fawful continued talking. "As I am lacking the flying ability without my Headgear, I was volunteering for watching over you. Since… since you had rescuing me from the shadows that were attacking me in my shop. So we have evenness, now! I am not owing you a thing, yes?!"

Kamek was barely paying attention. "Hn? Oh, yeah. Sure."

Fawful sat down and continued to prattle on about something, but by that point Kamek was too busy thinking about these new events to bother listening. So Mario really did it! He saved the world and they were all okay?

Even an old codger like Kamek, still alive…

Kamek started to laugh.

"Against the darkness of the universe! Against a thing older than time, Mario saves us?!" He laughed harder. "What hope do any of us have against someone who can do that?"

Fawful groaned. "Brain damage. Of coursing. Now I am having to explain to the others that their precious Magikoopa has lost his mind. I have fury…"

"I haven't lost my mind, shut up," Kamek said, still chuckling.

"You are acting like someone who has lost his mind."

"I'm just a little overwhelmed, give me a minute," Kamek said.

Kamek wasn't sure, what with his awful eyesight, but it looked like Fawful rolled his eyes at him.

"Anyway, I think I am seeing the airship coming now," Fawful said.

"Oh good," Kamek adjusted his broken glasses. "I could really use an aspirin about now."

The airship arrived within a few minutes. Kamek tried to get to his feet, but fell over.

"May I remind you again that you have injury?" Fawful said.

"If you don't shut up, you'll have injury."

Kamek called his broom and was trying to get onto it when two other Magikoopas came down from the ship.

"Kamek, sir! You're awake!" said one.

"D-don't try to fly, sir, you'll hurt yourself!" said the other.

"I'll be fine," Kamek insisted, floating about a foot off the ground. "It's my triumphant return, you think I'm gonna let everyone see me being carried by my underlings?"

"Well, there's a certain dramatic effect to seeing an injured hero carried home by his friends, sir…" said the second Magikoopa.

"That's stupid. I order you to shut up and let me fly myself," Kamek said. He jerked his head in Fawful's direction. "Carry the kid or something."

The two Magikoopas looked at each other. "Uh… understood. Sir."

So they all flew back up to the airship, the two Magikoopas following behind Kamek, afraid he might fall. As they got onto the ship's deck, Kamek stumbled as he got to his feet. He leaned against his broom for support, glaring at his underlings who were rushing to assist him. They backed off. The rest of the people on deck cheered, glad to see their leader alive and mostly okay.

"Alright, alright, quiet down…," Kamek said, rubbing his temples.

It wasn't long before Bowser Jr. pushed his way through the crowd. He ran up and hugged Kamek's legs.

"Kamek! You're back!"

Kamek flinched. "Yeah… I'm back… uh, that kind of really hurts, Junior, could you maybe let go?"

Junior either didn't hear this or wasn't paying attention. "Mario said he got rid of the big shadow guy but—but but!! I know he's making it up. I bet you did all the work, huh Kamek?"

Kamek laughed. "That's absolutely right."

Fawful had been looking around. He shoved one of the nearby Magikoopas. "Where is the moustache brother of red overalls?"

"Mario? He left already," the Magikoopa replied.

Junior nodded. "We didn't want him around anyway! He's a loser."

Fawful huffed. "We could have had the overpowering and destroying of him! Surely he is weakened and not expecting it!"

"Ah, shut up, kid," Kamek said. He looked back at Junior. "So we should start heading home, I should think. Your father's waiting for us."

Junior's face lit up. "I'll go tell the helmsman to get moving!"

Junior then let go of Kamek and ran off. One of the Magikoopas that was with Kamek looked at him warily.

"You're only in a hurry to gloat at Kammy."

"That goes without saying," said someone else.

"I can't just be anxious to get home?" Kamek shrugged. "You people know me too well. I ought to be worried. Well anyway, I'm going to go stumble around for a while, find the infirmary, and go lie down."

"Sir, let me help you with—" the Magikoopa shut up when Kamek glared at him again. "Er… here, just take my glasses so you won't walk into a wall…"

The Magikoopa held out his glasses, which Kamek snatched out of his hand. Replacing his broken glasses with the new pair, he hobbled away, into the ship's interior.

As Kamek went to recuperate and everyone else went about their business, the ship flew on, heading to a home its inhabitants never thought they'd see again. The sky was bright and clear, and under it lay a landscape no longer marred by dark spots. Even the world's magic field was already stabilizing, going back to the way it once was.

Kamek could barely believe it was finally over. He was glad for the pain from his injuries. They reminded him that he wasn't dreaming.

Life would finally return to normal. They were done hiding, cowering in fear, waiting for the doom that, just a day ago, had seemed so inevitable.

… now all Kamek had to do was explain the whole mess to Bowser.