The four heroes and Bleck slowly made their way through the large castle. Something about how silent it was made them feel more anxious than usual. All they could hear was their own breathing and the sound of their footsteps as they continued forward through the unnaturally bright palace. 

"This reminds me of a story..." King Boo trailed off.

"Ugh, not another ghost story," Prince Mario complained, earning a short laugh from the ghost king.

"Not a ghost story," King Boo corrected. "A... story of love. A story about the light... and the dark..."

Prince Mario rolled his eyes as Bleck eagerly turned to face King Boo.

"What's it about?" the pixl asked.

The ghost king smiled, then seemed to look forward, squinting his glowing purple eyes as if trying to remember.

"It was... less of a tale and more of a legend. Something acted out by my people before I was a ghost. Back when everyone who loved me was alive. The play involved two people; a boy from the dark and a girl from the light. I...I remember the day well, the day I first saw this story. The boy... he had fallen. From where? The story never said. Maybe it didn't matter. Maybe the fall was metaphorical... who cares? What mattered was where he landed, which was in the arms of a young woman. They were from two different worlds, a world of light and a world of dark. It was against all laws for them to be with each other. It's... it's been years since I've even thought about this story, so I don't remember many details... but that was the day the tragedy was set in motion."

"Tragedy?" Daisy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes... for the boy's father... he was harsh and cruel," King Boo explained. "Legend says he couldn't handle the love that had grown in his son's heart for the young woman. So... he stole his eye. Still, the son refused to stop seeing his love. The father seemed to let it go for a while... then there were rumors. Rumors of a different young boy, one created from both the light and the dark. Some claimed to spot him, wandering the land between the two villages. Having no idea where he came from, they turned their fury toward the son, accusing him of doing the unspeakable. Of course, the son was innocent, but the people of the dark didn't care, nor did his father. The son's father then took him to the center of town and executed him in front of all the people of the dark, warning them that this was what would come of anyone who dared disobey the rules. The girl waited in the flower fields for her love to return after that, but he never did... and that, according to the story, is why people of the dark are truly evil. For their hearts are so dark, that not even love can light them."

Everyone more or less paled at the dark implications of the story.

"What a horrible man," Peach muttered. "People like that shouldn't be allowed to have kids—"

"It's not true," Bleck interrupted.

Everyone frowned and looked at the pixl, who seemed slightly smaller than normal.

"Well... of course it's not true. It's just a story. Most of them aren't real, they're just myths," King Boo chuckled.

"But what you said, it isn't true," Bleck repeated. "About the father killing him. About the people of the dark being so cold that not even love could warm them. It's all wrong."

"Ignore King Boo, Bleck," Prince Mario breathed. "All his stories are all a bit messed up—"

"But this one is wrong!" Bleck cried out. "He said it was a story about love, but it wasn't! It was a story about hate driving people apart. And... maybe that happened, but there was love there too. From both the dark and the light, there was love on both sides."

"Okay, okay, don't blame the storyteller," King Boo laughed, putting his arms up. "You can interpret the story however you want."

"But later, because we're here," Daisy said as she walked up to a large door. 

It was the kind of door that separated the calm before the storm from the final boss. She and Peach were used to seeing doors like this one.

Bleck fell silent, then slowly floated up to it.

Peach took a deep breath, then stood next to him. She let out a slow breath, then smiled slightly.

"Let's do this," she breathed, feeling filled with excited energy. Maybe it was adrenaline. She had no idea what she was going to be facing on the other side of this door, but whatever it was, she knew she could handle it. They could handle anything together.

"On three?" she asked, looking back at her friends.

King Boo, Prince Mario, and Daisy all looked at one another, then nodded. Each hero placed a hand on the door, ready to push it open together.

"One...two..." Peach trailed off.

"Three," Bleck said.

The heroes all pushed the door open and slowly walked into a large room. There were a number of seats all arranged in a circle. In them were Countess Tippi, Dimentio, Mimi, and O'Chunks.

Daisy looked at the empty seat situated across from the countess. She wasn't sure why her attention was drawn to it so quickly. It was almost as if she knew that seat. She couldn't remember ever sitting in it, though. She couldn't ever remember even being in this large room.

Countess Tippi raised her eyebrows at the heroes, then hopped off her seat. All her minions followed her example and gathered behind her, silent. Not one of them smiled.

"So... you're here," the countess breathed.

"We're here," Peach nodded, clenching her fists slightly. "Countess Tippi, we are the legendary heroes of the Dark Prognosticus, and we've come to stop you—"

"Oh, I know you you are," Countess Tippi breathed, holding up a hand to silence the blonde heroine. "You don't need to give me the speech. I'm well aware, thank you."

Peach rolled her eyes, although a part of her was slightly grateful. Half of her battles with King Boo were composed of nothing more than villainous vs. heroic speeches. Sometimes, talking that much got tiring. Besides, Peach didn't really prepare much of a speech anyway.

The countess turned her gaze down to Bleck. Her eyes seemed to soften slightly, but she kept her arms crossed.

"This is it, huh?" she breathed. "This is the moment he's been training you for. The moment when you finally defeat me."

Bleck blinked a few times. Why was she talking to him instead of Peach?

"Look... we never wanted it to come to this," Bleck explained. "All we want is to save the world."

Mimi let out a snort, though she quickly covered her mouth.

"Save the world?" Countess Tippi hummed. "Is that what he's telling you?"

"It's what we have to do," Bleck replied. "Because you summoned the Purity Heart!"

Countess Tippi tapped her foot a few times, then nodded to herself and clapped her hands. The Purity Heart appeared overhead, glowing far brighter than it did at the wedding where it was initially summoned.

"This wasn't built to destroy," she explained. "It was built to save. Bleck, I never wanted to destroy the world. Will I if I need to? Yes. But that's never been my goal."

"Liar!" Prince Mario exclaimed, pointing at her. "We know what you're trying to do! You're trying to rid the world of all darkness!"

"I'm trying to rid the world of his darkness," Countess Tippi corrected. "Unfortunately, he's touched a lot since my world fell apart. But... this doesn't have to happen. I can stop the heart. If you just let me save you, please."

The heroes all frowned, then looked at one another, unsure what she was talking about.

"Save us?" Bleck asked.

"No," O'Chunks explained, his voice low and gruff. "Save ye, lad."

Bleck drew back slightly.

"From what?"

"From him," Mimi added. "Blecky... he's got you trapped with him forever. He's morphed you into something he can always keep and control... you may not realize it, maybe he doesn't even realize it, but you're his prisoner."

"How do you know me?!" Bleck asked, his voice getting slightly louder and more frantic. "What are you talking about?! I'm not a prisoner—"

"This all could have ended before it even began," Countess Tippi explained. "If he would have just given you to me. And... I admit... I was willing to destroy everything if he didn't... but it's because he refused to give you up. He didn't want me to somehow trigger your memory, he didn't want you to remember either of us until he, in his words, fixed things."

"Pierre?" King Boo asked.

"Of course, who else would we be talking about?" Countess Tippi breathed. "He's desperate to make things right. He doesn't want Bleck to know who he is until he does. But... that book has him so blinded that he can't even see that it's playing him like a puppet, and now he's pulling all your strings too!"

"Pierre's not the enemy," Peach stated. "He's been helping us the whole time. He just wants to keep the world a place where light and dark can coexist."

"Does he?" Countess Tippi asked, shifting her gaze past the heroes and nodding. "Do you?"

The heroes all froze, then slowly followed her gaze, turning around themselves.

Surely enough, there was Pierre, holding a large, dark heart.

"Pierre..." Bleck muttered.

Pierre looked down at the pixl, then up at the countess.

"Timpani—"

"You turned all these people against me," she hissed, stepping forward and clenching her fists. There was a dangerous look in her eyes. "You—"

Dimentio suddenly snapped his fingers, trapping her in what looked like a large glass box.

Countess Tippi's eyes widened as she turned to face her minions.

"Dimentio?" she asked, her voice smaller than before. She pressed both her hands to the glass, confused. "What are you doing?"

The jester seemed to let out a sigh, then waved his hand, teleporting beside Pierre.

The countess's eyes became glassy as she bowed her head and rested it on the glass walls.

"No... no, no, no, no, not you," she whispered. "You... Dimentio, I raised you... what are you doing?"

"He was with me," Pierre quietly explained. "Timpani... I'm not doing a bad thing. We're just trying to—"

"You don't even know what you're doing, you insane freak!" she screamed, pounding her fists against the glass as hard as she could.

"I'm going to fix things," the red-cloaked man breathed, his voice shaking slightly, though there was a brightness to it. "Now... now that I have the heart, I'm going to get everything back while keeping what I've built. Merlon, Blumiere, Flopside, everything. Then... you and him can be together, living in the world you always dreamed you'd find! Like he always wanted—"

"You're going to destroy everything to do that!" Countess Tippi screamed, desperately trying to escape her small prison. "I didn't need all of that! I just wanted you to let me see him and help him remember! I wanted to move forward, not bring the past back!"

The heroes continued to look back and forth from the countess to Pierre. Beforehand, it felt so clear who was good and who was bad. But now? Now they both looked good and bad at the same time.

"Pierre..." Bleck trailed off. "What... what's happening?"

Pierre turned his gaze to Bleck, then waved his fingers, making the Dark Prognosticus appear in his hand.

"With... with the power of the Chaos Heart... I can bring you back," he explained. "Merlon, you... all the people who were lost can come back, Blu. You can come back. You can be happy like you always wanted."

"So... you lied to us?" Prince Mario asked.

"No! No, no, no," Pierre breathed. "I just... the countess really was going to rid the world of all darkness. This... this is how we stop her. We let the darkness take control for just a little bit, then stop it once Merlon is back. This is how we save everyone."

"Save everyone who was already lost," Mimi snapped. "What about everyone here?! What about us?! The heart doesn't let you pick and choose, it's messing with you! It won't give that control back!"

"You'll all be okay," Pierre exclaimed. "The book says you'll all be fine—"

"The darkness is manipulating you," Countess Tippi hissed. "It prays on grief. The Light Prognosticus warned me about this. Yet you let it sway you. Those are empty promises. All it wants is for you to use the Chaos Heart and destroy everything!"

"No," Pierre said. "No, because this book was guarded by my people. And... my people were more than that. Dark, light, it's all good, and it's all bad!"

"You're an idiot," Countess Tippi huffed.

"No... we're just determined," Dimentio explained, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, Prince L appeared in front of the jester, the sprout in his head larger than before. "And we're going to save the people who were lost, then create a place where they can all go and live in harmony. A place where everyone can belong. That way everyone can get the happy ending they deserve."