Junior vaguely heard the future generation wailing, but it faded into the voices he knew from the past. He sat up on the couch of his glowing childhood home and approached the lambent white brilliance cast by the dining room door.
Cherry poked her head out, grinning, her dark hair gleaming. “It’s about time. You! Handsome guy! Come on!”
“Junior!” Bowser hollered, “Your spot’s ready, c’mon, kiddo!”
Junior’s hair went from white to reddish-orange when he kissed Cherry and hugged her to his chest. Everyone cheered and hollered when he walked in with her. Luminescence overtook everything, he barely made out the faces of his family gathered at the polychromatic table.
Peach sat beaming between Bowser and Mario, holding both their hands while they smiled at her. Luigi kissed Daisy’s cheek. Daisy played with his mustache. Ludwig and Black signed animatedly to each other. Wolfgang and Melchior hooked their pinkie fingers together and rocked in unison. Scott spun his wheelchair as he playfully bonked heads with Lemmy. Aretha wrapped her arms around Gaspar and Balthazar. Pom-Pom and Roy gazed lovingly at one another. Wendy pushed Jack’s red-rimmed glasses up on his nose. Morton and Sienna kissed softly. Boom-Boom and Lakitu chatted as they walked in with trays of steaming, delicious food. Iggy and Larry pulled out a chair for Junior.
They were together again, but when did they part ways? Hadn’t he always been here?
Light superseded everything when Junior sat at the table beside Cherry, and from that moment on he never felt pain or sorrow again.
— Super Mario Bros. fic Vicissitude
, Epilogue
, Epilogue