A diamond hidden within the gray line

Chapter 39: Scattered puzzle pieces and the second visit.

-Narration-

"So. What is this 'ancestral plane'? Roy asks max. "Well..it was the very place i found myself in after my uh..encounter with who i thought was the dark star." Max says to roy, who immediately took note of the last part max said. "What the hell are you talking about?!" Morton wonders. "It's hard to explain fully. But when fawful said that the dark star isn't who we think...he was telling the truth." Max says, whose new shades hid his emotions, making him look stoic. "Wait, so that nutcase was right?!" Roy asked. "That nutcase who nearly killed max ended up dying of a heart attack, and said all that in his dying breath." Mike quickly said.

"HOLD ON!! So max didn't kill him?" Said a confused larry, while wendy had lost interest and went back to her social media, and everyone else listened in. "He would have, but...he actually chose to stop." Mike explained. "Wait..what?" Said a caught off guard ludwig. "What do you mean 'he chose to stop'?" Junior asked. "Didn't know he died of an apparent heart attack...but i do remember him ranting and raving and something called the vision. I ain't got no idea what he was talking about." Max commented. "So..there's actual truth to what he's been saying?" Lemmy asked, trying to follow the conversation without getting confused. "Considering that he bonded with the dark star, he clearly found out things that he never mentioned over a year ago when this all happened. But..why wait until we encountered him at the parking lot mall to say anything?" Mike explained, before asking the very question that even bowser wanted to know.

"Why indeed..." Ludwig mutters. "So far, all we have are bits of information. One side on what fawful said, and another for claudia, whose name is strangely similar." Mike says, while bowser grunts. "Must we talk about this now? I get that this is definitely something worth looking into, but you know what? I would much rather be cooking out! Sound good to you?" Bowser says, who was annoyed with the fact that his entire family unwittingly got in the middle of marx's sudden appearance. "Oh hell yeah! Dibs on the cheeseburgers and hot dogs!" Max blurts out. "Same here!" Larry, morton and roy said in unison which earned an eye roll from wendy.

-Max pov-

I chose to leave out the part where the dark star, or dark bowser may be someone named xaczxar. It's far too early to be revealing that kind of information even though dad and kamek are the first ones i talked in detail about what they said. It leaves me to wonder though...who were they talking to? As for the ancestral plane...it's come clear to me that my questions will be answered there, but...why do i have the feeling that i will shown flashbacks of another's life?

With that, including my mom's secrets and maybe my stepdad's considering that...huh..been awhile since i've remembered something. I remembered how he says he goes on many adventures, but never told me where he goes to. I knew that he sometimes goes to the human world, but other times? He never told me. Nate...i hope you're ok. Hm..i can't bring that up now though, because i'm far too hungry right now. Too bad it's not fry-day though!

-Mike pov-

I get the sense that max is holding out on us. Especially when it comes to dark bowser. What does he know that we don't? Those new shades of his make it hard to physically see his emotions, but he can't hide his aura....not from me.

-Bowser pov-

Why am i so surprised, even now? Marx being who, or what is he is is one thing, but this place...why does he know what max is about to encounter? It's incredulous to think that he's not just some random being, and yet his appearance and reasoning certainly comes off as such! Still..i can't help but wonder just how he's gonna involve us all into max's unpredictable trip...

-Ludwig pov-

The more i learn, the more it becomes hard to not let my other self out. It's not like kooky to become so interested in meeting someone while becoming angry with max. Why? What has he done? He keeps calling him arrogant and blind, which makes no sense to me...shit..it doesn't look like i'll be able to hold him back for much longer, but i can't let him out now. Not yet...

-Lemmy pov-

I heard that fawful was crazy, and obviously a would be killer, but now i hear that he was telling the truth about the dark star who looks like dad? It's almost overwhelming to wrap my head around all of this...

-Roy pov-

Fawful was telling the TRUTH?! What are we living in, crazy town?! I don't know what the connection between my bro and the dark is all about, but i'm more invested in about my mom, and why her name is similar to clawdia. Something about that doesn't sit well with me...

-Iggy pov-

The unknown...that's not something i can explain away through the power of science or tech! We are going into outlandish territory, and for the first time in my life....i don't have a definitive answer! I mean, i would have an answer for much of everything i see, if only everyone could be as crazy as i am...could marx be the exception?

-Wendy pov-

I'm phased at the fact that fawful brainwashed us into doing what he wanted, but to hear that he died of a heart attack? What, was he like, old? Still, he would've been better off with dad finishing him off! However, boys will boys...especially when food is involved!

-Morton pov-

The fact that fawful of all people set the notion of the dark star not being who we think think they are sounds like a insane trap...but it involves max in some way...i can only imagine just how far this will go!

-Larry pov-

I don't know what everyone else thinks, but i don't buy what fawful said. How do we know that it's all a trap and max's emotions are being played with? Unless i'm convinced of something that makes me think otherwise, i won't be budging!

-Junior pov-

I'm still wondering about just who is this clawdia...i feel like i should know who she is! Anyway, putting the pieces together, which sounds so confusing to me, will be such a damn chore!

-Time skip pov-

Hours have passed since they cooked out for dinner, and the sun had long since gone down. Mike had gone back to his place though bowser wanted him to come back after breakfast while the others all had gone to bed with max being the only one to be awake who had much to ponder about, especially with what marx told him.

-Max pov-

"11:34 pm..hm..guess i ought to head on to bed now." I say, getting ready to take my shell off. After i found that i am unbothered by not having my shell on, i experimented on the first night and slept with it off and found that i was still very much unbothered by the fact that i didn't have a shell on, which i found to be incredible and i have been sleeping without it on ever since. However, just when i was about to get my shell off, I heard a strange...wind sound, and i could sense that something strange was waiting just beyond my closed bathroom door, which made me grab deceiving aura and slowly walked to my bathroom door, gun at the ready.

-Narration-

Slowly, he walked to his bathroom door, unaware that as he grabbed his gun, his ipod was no longer on his nightstand. The moment he opens the door, was the moment he saw it...overgrown grass, and the sky looking as if a storm from hell was brewing. "How..?" He wonders, as logic at this moment, had been thrown in the trash as he walks in and shuts the door. "Don't know how in the hell this is possible, but there's no turning back now..." max muttered, as he starts to walk towards the distant dollhouse and barn.

"Nobody's here..." He says, while using his gun to scout around, making sure that nothing would attack him from within the overgrown grass, while max had quickly convinced himself that it was just him and marx..who he knew was somewhere nearby. What max didn't know however, is that a looming figure was silently watching max, and they were hellbent on unleashing their wrath upon him.