4A/N: Alola, peoples! Lily here, bringing you the next part of The Shadows of My Past! Last time, our amnesiac protagonist awoke to find themselves on Twilight Trail, and set out for Twilight Town to look for answers. Will he find any? Let's find out!
Disclaimer: I'm not Nintendo, so I don't own the Mario franchise.
After entering the town, the shadow found the streets to be empty and confused him, until it crossed his mind that the townsfolk must be indoors, most likely asleep.
It must be late…I wonder how they keep track of time, with it always being dusk here?
Wandering through the peaceful streets, he was looking around for anyone who might be out and about when he suddenly heard the sound of someone softly crying. Concerned, he searched for the source, finally discovering who it was after peeking behind a house.
In a large patch of dried grass stood–er, floated a shadowy spirit. It was female and vaguely humanoid, but instead of legs, her lower body trailed off like a wisp of smoke. She was a deep purple color, with swirly bubblegum-pink hair that came to her shoulders and covered her eyes, yellow lips, and soft pink cheeks. She wore a pair of white gloves and a raspberry-red witch's hat striped with white atop her head. The spirit appeared to be searching for something, but judging by the tears falling from her face, the shadow could tell that she must be unable to find whatever-it-was that she was looking for.
"What'll I do?" the spirit said with a sniff, her voice sounding both quiet and desperate. "What'll I do? I need to find it…or Beldum'll…" She sniffed again, sinking to the ground as her tears flowed.
The shadow felt sorry for her, and wondered how he could help. Quietly, he approached the spirit and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Startled, the spirit shot up and whirled around to face him, backing up slightly as she did. "Wha–Where'd you come from?!"
"II'm sorry I startled you," he stuttered. "I just…heard you crying, and…well, I was wondering if there was anything I could do to help you."
"Really?" She sounded surprised and hopeful, but then frowned, shaking her head. "No, I don't think you could help me…You see, my sist–I mean, I.. .lost something really important, and if I don't find it, my sister Beldum is going to punish me… again. ..but it's not here…" The spirit sank back down.
"I can help you find it," the shadow offered.
"No, you don't have to," she insisted. "It's my responsibility, you shouldn't have to worry about it…" She hung her head, sobbing quietly as she turned away.
The shadow could tell that, in spite of her denials, the spirit truly wanted–and needed –help. Surveying the area, he noticed something strange poking out of one of the patches of grass. Inspecting it, he pulled out…
A bomb. He was so startled that he nearly dropped it.
Why is there a bomb here? Is this the thing she lost?
Pushing his questions aside, the shadow approached the crying spirit.
"Is this what you're looking for?"
She glanced over her shoulder, then did a double take. "Wha–How did you–You found it?!" She stopped crying and hovered over to him. "How did–Oh, thank you! Thank you so much…" The spirit trailed off. "This…must look really suspicious, mustn't it? Me having lost a bomb, I mean…"
"What you need it for is none of my concern."
The spirit gave him a smile. "At least I won't get punished…" She took the bomb from him. "…Wait a moment, this doesn't…No! Oh no, oh no…"
"What's wrong?" The shadow was worried by this sudden shift in tone.
"It's broken! It must have broken when my sister dropped it…" She sank down again, the bomb on her lap. "I guess… I was just meant to be punished for life…" Her face fell into her hands.
The shadow put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't feel so bad…maybe we can fix it?" he offered.
The spirit looked up at him. "You.." She sniffed. "You really mean it?"
He nodded.
"Th-thank you," she said, a faint smile showing through. "You…you may be the sweetest person I've every met…You're much sweeter than my sisters, anyway."
They both chuckled at this.
"I'm just glad to help," he replied. "Now, let's see what we can do."
The two of them working together were able to fix the bomb (or 'Superbombomb,' as the spirit said it was called) in no time.
"Phew…just in the nick of time, the spirit sighed in relief. "Marilyn and Beldum should be back any minute now…" Turning to the shadow, she smiled. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you–my name's Vivian."
"Vivian…that's a pretty name. It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too, er…" She paused. "What's your name?"
The shadow hung his head. "I…I don't know," he admitted.
"You don't know?! " Vivian was shocked. The shadow gave a sad nod."That's…that's just horrible! You don't even know your own name?! "
"No, I don't. I can't remember it. All I know is that I woke up on Twilight Trail with no memories, shortly before finding you. Anything before that…" He sat down, then looked up at Vivian. "Nothing. I don't know my past, my identity…I can't remember any of it."
"…Gee…You have way worse problems than I do," Vivian realized, sitting beside him. "…And you were worried about me that whole time?"
"Well, you needed help. I may not know who I am, but I know for a fact that I'm not the kind of person to ignore someone in need."
"That's…so kind…" Vivian trailed off, deep in thought. "…All right, that's IT! " she suddenly declared, shooting up.
"What's it?" The shadow was confused.
"I'm going to help you find your identity… and your past!"
"But…what about your sisters?" he asked as Vivian helped him up.
"Hey, it's okay! Don't worry about my problems…Besides, I'm not really sure that I want to stay with my sisters anymore, anyway…" She looked him straight in the eyes…well, as much as she could with neither of them having visible eyes–but that's beside the point.
"And…" Vivian continued, "…I feel like I need to repay your earlier kindness to me. It's the right thing to do." She smiled sheepishly, and gave the shadow a kiss on the cheek, making him blush.
"So…" Vivian hummed softly. "Here we go!"
Vivian has joined your party!
Vivian's Abilities: A Primer
Vivian is a Shadow Spirit, and is thus capable of not only entering the shadows, but bringing others with her. However, taking others through the shadows is much more tiring and can easily wear her out. Vivian is also a master of Pyromancy, able to set foes on fire in battle with her fists or a fiery jinx. She can veil herself and others from taking damage, and infatuate foes by blowing a kiss to confuse them. Vivian has a strong knowledge of all magic, both light and dark, elemental and non-elemental, and has a natural affinity for spells that can interact with the world in mysterious ways. And who knows, maybe she can even help the mysterious shadow discover and hone his own innate abilities…
"Now, where do we start…" Vivian wondered aloud. "Oh, I know! The crows!"
"The crows?"
"Yes, the crows! They pretend to be all innocent and dumb when people are around…but in reality, they're actually pretty smart! And they know a lot , from all the flying around and eavesdropping that they do…"
"But…how will we get them to tell us?"
"We can hide in the shadows and listen in on them without them knowing!Here, I can teach you how."
"Teach me? "
"Well, you're a shadow yourself, right?"
"I...think so…"
"Then you should be able to do it, with just a little practice! Watch carefully, I'll demonstrate it for you." She backed away a few feet, then, in one smooth motion, slipped down into the shadows below her and vanished from sight.A few seconds later, she emerged a short distance from where she'd entered."See?"
The shadow was stunned. "…Whoa…"
"It seems weird to others at first, I know, but it's actually quite simple. Are you ready to try it?"
"I…I guess…How do I start?"
"You just imagine yourself being pulled down into the shadows at your feet, and relax," Vivian coached. "Other than that, there's not much to it."
Taking a deep breath, the shadow closed his eyes and pictured himself falling through the shadows, vanishing from sight. He felt a strange sensation, like a chill running down his back. Opening his eyes, he could only see darkness. Well, mostly darkness–he could almost make out the shapes of the surrounding area, but only barely.
"Um…" he asked, "…Where am I?"
He heard a giggle, and Vivian suddenly materialized next to him.
"Great job!" she congratulated him. "You're a natural!"
"I did it?"
"You sure did." Vivian gave him a smile. "Now, let's look for some crows…"
Hiding in the shadows as needed, the pair listened in on multiple groups of crows. Most of what they heard was gossip, but one conversation in particular got their attention.
"So, that Mario guy meeting with the mayor…There's something… off, about him, am I right?"
"Yeah, he was acting kind of different when he got back from when he'd headed out to the Steeple…and none of the townsfolk noticed. I mean, seriously, are they blind or something?"
"I dunno. At least he was able to stop the 'monster'…I heard that they'd only put the pig curse on the town cause they were bored!"
"Man, that's just crazy. Oh well, I just hope that we're able to enter the Trail again."
"Yeah, that was pretty rude of them, forcing us crows to stay away…They were really secretive."
"I know, right?" The crows laughed.
Vivian and the shadow shared a startled look.
"A monster?" the shadow asked.
"I remember hearing about this," Vivian recalled. "A monster living in the Creepy Steeple put a curse on the town so that whenever the Steeple bell tolled, someone in the town would turn into a pig."
"…A pig? Why a pig?"
"Who knows? Anyway, what I'm more concerned about is the fact that Mario's here."
The name "Mario" seemed to ring a bell, but he couldn't tell why. Had he known this person? "Who's that?" he asked.
"He's a hero from the Mushroom Kingdom–have you heard of it?"
"Yeah, I know what the Mushroom Kingdom is…somehow…"
"Huh, weird…Anyways, my sisters? They…don't really like him. You could say that they're basically evil."
"Are… you evil?"
"Not exactly…At least, I don't see myself as being evil. I mostly go along with my sisters so that I won't get punished."
The shadow put his hand on Vivian's shoulder. "You don't seem evil to me."
She blushed. "Thanks…The problem is, though, that Mario doesn't know that I'm not really that evil. You see, the last time I saw him…I ended up helping my sisters battle him."
"So…this is a problem."
"Yeah, pretty much."
The shadow thought for a second, remembering something that the crows had said. "Didn't those crows mention that something seemed different about him? What do you think they meant by that?"
"Hm…No idea." Vivian gave the shadow an apologetic look. "I'm sorry that this hasn't been much help to you…"
"It's okay–at least it was a good idea."
Vivian smiled. "Thanks…" Then she let out a yawn.
"Tired?" the shadow asked her.
She nodded. "It's pretty late, isn't it?"
"Yeah…We should find somewhere to spend the night."
Slipping out of the shadow of the tree where the pair of crows roosted, they searched for a place to rest. They soon found an abandoned shed just outside of the town, and lay down on the straw within. Before falling asleep, however, Vivian turned to the shadow.
"No matter what happens," she told him, "I promise that I'll try everything I can to help you remember who you are."
"Thanks, Vivian," he replied with a smile. "Good night."
"Good night."
And soon, the shadowy pair was fast asleep.
A/N: Well, there's Chapter 1 done! I told you things would be a lot clearer now…
The chapter name may seem strange. I mean, "Lively"? This evening wasn't all that lively…But it's a bit more thought out than you'd see, Vivian's name actually means "lively," so even though it may not fit the circumstance, it certainly fit the character's introduction chapter.
Also, Vivian's here! This is a pretty big clue as to what's happening in this story, especially if you've played TTYD.
I expanded Vivian's abilities, because, why not? I can see her being a low-level reality warper.
The shadow having, well, "shadow" powers is a shout-out of sorts to this story's inspiration, "Shadow in the Night."
If you're tired of me calling him "the shadow," don't worry, next chapter he gets a more substantial "name."
Also, I still have internet cookies (: :) (: :) for whoever can guess the musical the line I got the title from is from! Here's another hint: the full line is " This is a warning to us all/These are the shadows of my past "
Anyways, that's all for now! See you next chapter, where we meet my Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker OC, as well as her companion, who is a, well…I don't want to spoil the fun, do I?