A diamond hidden within the gray line

Chapter 27: Seconds make a difference, and max's awakening.

-25 minutes earlier/Bowser pov-

All i could do was stare down at fawful's corpse...it's one thing to know that he had merged with the dark star core, but it was another to know that the dark star might not be who we think it is. He must've withheld that kind of information in the whole time..."King bowser, sir? Shall i take his body?" A koopa asked me whom i looked down at. This one wore the armor of the koopatrol corps, a elite squad among my army that did their job well even though they too get stomped on by mario from time to time. "Yes. You better make sure his body is preserved. I'll deal with what to do with him next." I tell the koopatrol. "Yes sir. Hm..at least he didn't die as a burnt corpse." He says, before deciding to close fawful's eyes, picking him up, and carries his lifeless body away.

I already knew that the entire koopa kingdom will hear about this on the news for a long while, which i can deal with. But dealing with how max is doing after taking the hit for roy, and going into dark fury and killing eight of those magishadow weirdos, whose burnt bodies are now being dealt with? What will i even tell him? What will i say to roy who has no idea that max looks like him? "Hey. You ok?" I hear mike ask me, noting the concern in his voice. "Fawful didn't deserve how he died. I honestly can't believe i'm saying this even after he tried to kill max, and what he's done in the past. We need to head to the hospital, and fast." I say with a heavy sigh. I can't believe i have sympathy for the little runt, but i'm at least grateful that the likes of mario isn't here to hear me say this!

"He'll be fine. He has to be..." Mike says in response. I couldn't help but note how much he cares about him. We all do considering how much of an impact he's made on our lives even though we have only known him for a few months. "Everyone, get in the van. We're heading to the hospital." I say to everyone once i saw that all the koopalings, mike, and my son were together. "Any idea what happened?" Wendy asked me. "We all saw what happened...max just killed those guys." Morton says in response. "A lot more happened than just that." Ludwig mutters, as the sun began to shine the moment the storm clouds parted.

"All i can tell you, is that max broke the concealment spell, and...his true self showed itself after he collapsed." I explained to them, before we all got in the van, which was surprisingly undamaged after what had happened. "What about rylie? Shouldn't she.." iggy began to say before i quickly interrupted. "I'll handle that." I text kamek to make sure that rylie gets to the hospital before leaving the parking lot.

-Narration-

During the whole ride to the nearest hospital, which, based on bowser's gps on his phone, it was only 15 minutes away, no one said a word. It was just a lot of emotional tension, and rightfully so. Especially with roy, who felt terrible. But before he could say anything, they arrived at the hospital known as grand valley medical. Everyone got out in a hurry after they parked, but left their wands and for mike, he decided to leave his sword behind, which for him, was a rare thing for him to do.

The moment they practically ran inside, they were all greeted by kamek. "How is he? Is he ok?" Mike asked immediately, followed by questions from the koopalings and junior consisting of being able to see him, and what room number is max in, and if he's ok. Settle down! Settle down...all of you will need to go to the waiting room. I will explain everything from there." Kamek says, before everyone agreed to sit at the waiting room, which was just a couple of steps away..

"Ok, so we're here. What can you tell us?" Bowser asks, while everyone looks at kamek while they all sat on the waiting room chairs. "Before i do, should junior hear this?" He asks. "What are you, nuts?! I can handle it!" Junior says who quickly got irritated by kamek's question. "Alright. Max has a few broken ribs after being hit with whatever that claw..thing fawful hit him with, and while i can heal his ribs, he will still still be sore for a couple of weeks. They were able to clean his wound up, which wasn't deep enough to be fatal but....i'm afraid that the claw wound will remain as a scar on his body for the rest of his life." Kamek explained, as everyone looked shocked. "This part will be hard for me to say...if..if i had arrived here a few seconds later...we would've lost him due to the fact that he was bleeding out." Kamek adds, who was visibly upset.

Everyone's heart sank hearing just how close max came to dying, with lemmy beginning to cry while iggy comforts him with tears in his eyes, roy just standing there in deep shock as well as morton, wendy covering her mouth in horror as a tear fell from her face, larry looking horrified, which included ludwig and junior. Mike on the other hand, just sat down on a chair, deep in thought and on the verge of tears. As for bowser? He was both horrified and angry at the fact that fawful had nearly killed his adopted son.

"Take me to him. I want to at least be there for him when he wakes up." Bowser says to kamek. "The rest of you stay here. And don't worry...he'll be fine." He says, while kamek takes him to where max is, which wasn't far. "Just to let you know my king...his body is very...different." Kamek says to bowser. "How so?" Bowser asked, who was confused. "Breaking the concealment spell is said to be beneficial to those who are able to break it. I may not know what those benefits were for others, but for max...he grew four inches height wise, which definitely makes him a little more taller than he already is, and his body? Well...his body still has a human like appearance even though he's now a koopa." Kamek explained.

"How in the hell is that possible?!" Bowser wondered as people that were around the two of them, wisely stayed out of their way. "I believe it's because of the fact that he's lived as a human for much of his life that it has made him look like a hybrid of a koopa and a human mixed together. I am even hypothesizing that because of this, he can easily walk around without his shell on! Normally, that would be a bad idea for koopas like us, but in max's case? It's a very real possibility. It would seem that max has become a living marvel of wonder." Kamek explained to bowser.

Bowser chuckles at the explanation while they come across a room that was numbered 237. "He's in there. He's still unconscious, and the doctors don't know when he'll wake up." Kamek says. "Hopefully soon..." Bowser mutters before going inside. What he saw was a unconscious max laying on a hospital bed, with a heart monitor that was beeping every few seconds. His chest was bandaged up and his tail was hanging on the side of the bed. "Ah..i forgot to mention that his tail is longer than normal. It won't drag to the ground, but it will definitely be noticeable to max." Kamek says. "Another benefit, i presume?" Bowser questioned. "Perhaps..i will leave you alone with him. Call me if anything changes." Kamek then leaves the room as bowser sits there with max.

-Bowser pov-

My god, he looks so much like roy, but without the shades. His body is just so different that it was mind boggling to me, and it definitely would do the same for the others. "Look at you...laying in that hospital bed. You don't know just how lucky you are..." I say to him. "I don't know why you decided to get in front of roy like that, but...i guess in your mind, you thought you were doing the right thing. Heh..you're definitely not mario, that's for sure..." I say with a chuckle.

"I can only imagine what you think of me, now that you know i am the king of koopas...i never wanted you to find out from fawful. I wanted to tell you myself. Ah, if only you knew how proud i am of you for breaking that spell...i can't even imagine how much pain you endured the first time around. The fact that you were able to break it up simply accepting you aren't human is simply remarkable. All that needs to happen now, is for you to just wake up." I say to him, hopping that max would actually hear me. "Wake up! God, i can't fucking stand this!" I says, choking up on my words.

I would've lost it right then and there, until i saw max move. "Max?" I asked worriedly. I was hoping my mind wasn't playing a trick on me...i wouldn't be able to handle it if it was.

-Max pov-

I slowly moved my head a bit while slowly opening my eyes, and immediately feel like it hurts to breathe. I could at least see that i was in a hospital room. "Wh..where am i..?" I ask in a whisper, since i didn't want to talk very loud. "Max! Oh, thank the seven stars! HEY, KAMEK! HE'S AWAKE!!" Dad yells, as i saw kamek coming in while riding on that broom of his. "Ah, you're awake! Finally, some good news..." I heard him say in a relived tone. "Ugh..it hurts..to breathe.." I mutter as i winced. "Just relax. You've had quite the ordeal. Having broken ribs is, from what i can see, far from pleasant." Kamek says to me.

...How the hell did i break my ribs?! It was at that moment that i remember that fawful wounded me. "Where..is fawful? He..he tried to..." I could barely move, much less see even though my vision was returning. "He's gone. Fawful will never hurt you again." Dad said to me. At least that's good to know...

-Narration-

With max slowly waking up, and unaware of the fact that he's no longer human for the time being, max saw that both of them were relieved that he was ok. Especially bowser, who has been in the verge of breaking down in front of kamek. One thing was certain however...max was going to be in for a shock once he sees that his body has gone through a drastic change.