Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was over. Void Termina was defeated and the universe was put out of peril once more.

Kirby lain on the grass of Popstar, relieved to be back, but now that the threat was gone, the Star Allies would disband. Susie, Magolor, Dark Meta Knight, and others already left to go back home. It made him a bit sad. He wanted to have a celebration or a proper goodbye at least before they left, but they had other plans. King Dedede and Bandana Dee were busy repairing Castle Dedede. He didn't even know where Meta Knight had gone. 

It was safe to say that everyone was too tired for a celebration party so soon. 

The sun was setting. He watched the orange hues of the sky gradually turn pink, then dark blue, until he was met with the moon. The crater in it was a reminder of one of his many past adventures to save the world. It was funny, he had no clue if using the Star Rod would work as a weapon. It was quick thinking on his part. He figured if the rod repels bad dreams and Nightmare brought forth bad dreams it must repel him too.

He felt someone nudge his shoulder and he threw himself up quickly, only to realize it was just Gooey. He sighed, "Sorry, Gooey I guess I'm still a bit tense after that whole ordeal."

Gooey looked concerned and gave him a sympathetic look. They motioned to his house and yawned.

"Oh, I'm not that tired yet," Kirby assured.

Gooey didn't look convinced and pouted. They motioned to the house again and stamped their foot.

"I said I'm not ti—whoa hey!"

Gooey grabbed Kirby's shirt with his mouth and trudged over to the house. Once they got to the door he patiently waited for Kirby to give in and open the door.

Kirby's mouth gaped open as he saw Marx on the ground napping on his carpet, but he knew he wasn't actually asleep. Marx never sleeps. "What are you doing here!?" 

Marx scrambled up, falling on his face from moving too fast and finally standing up by pushing himself off the floor with his head. "Am I suddenly not allowed here anymore? This is our home if I remember correctly."

Gooey looked up at Kirby, who had a stunned look on his face with a hint of annoyance. They backed up from him and Kirby strode forward and grabbed Marx's shirt. "You aren't welcome here anymore," Kirby declared, staring straight into his eyes.

Marx frowned and sniffled.

Gooey watched as the atmosphere tensed. They didn't know much about Marx and Kirby's past, but they knew a smidge about Marx's betrayal. Even though Marx was allowed on the team, like some others, he was only allowed on for their strength and even then Kirby hardly talked to him.

"Get out." He said through gritted teeth, yet Marx didn't seem all that intimidated.

Gooey, on the other hand, was certainly intimidated. He's never seen Kirby get like this unless he was faced with a world-ending threat.

Marx's lip quivered, not out of fear, rather out of a false sadness to invoke pity. "Bu-but I don't have anywhere else to go!"

"OUT!" Kirby yelled and turned around—still grabbing Marx by the shirt with one hand—and opened the door with the other. He chucked him out the door and slammed it. He panted as he leaned his back on the door. "Not dealing with that today!" He turned to Gooey and his expression softened. "I'm sorry if I scared you, Gooey, Marx just... gets on my nerves."

Gooey looked out the window. They saw Marx lying on the ground; he didn't move a hair from where he landed. He could probably get up on his own but instead he stayed down on the ground. He did say he didn't have anywhere else to go. Gooey knew he wasn't necessarily a good person, but they still felt bad. They looked back to Kirby and then pressed their forehead on the window.

"What? You seriously want me to let him in?"

Gooey nodded their head.

Kirby groaned and rubbed his face with his hand. Kirby crossed his hands and leaned on the door once more, defiantly. "He's slept outside before many times he'll be fine."

Gooey gave him a disappointed look then heard a raindrop on the window and soon rain was pouring and splattering against the window. It was loud enough for Kirby to know it was raining without him even having to look out the window. Gooey stomped their foot on the ground.

Kirby rolled his eyes and walked over to Gooey. They both looked out the window to see Marx still on the ground, but now he was wet and mud was on his clothes. He looked pathetic. "This is ridiculous," Kirby muttered to himself and opened the door. "Hey dungwad!"

Marx stayed still.

"Get up! Go to the forest or something, stop staying in the rain!—Gooey!"

Gooey kicked Kirby's shin, "Inside."

Kirby fought a scowl, "Fine. Marx, get in here before you get sick..."

Marx finally got up at that with a smile on his face. He was clearly shivering and mud dirtied his clothes and face. He took a step forward only to slip.

Kirby caught him before he could fall on his face.

Marx chuckled awkwardly, "Thanks."

"Save it." Kirby drug Marx into his house. He winced at all the mud he brought in. "Stay on the welcome mat. You need a shower—"

"Guess I'll just go back outside," he quipped.

"You know what I mean! Gooey can you get him a towel, please."

Gooey nodded and walked over to the drawer. They opened it and grabbed a towel with their mouth. Then they gave it to Kirby, who was helping Marx take off his shoes to prevent more mud getting all over his floor.

He took the towel. "Thanks Gooey. Alright Marx go to the bathroom and take a shower." 

"I don't have a change of clothes!" Marx complained.

Kirby let out an exasperated sigh and walked over to his drawer and dug around. Marx tilted his head as he watched Kirby sifting through his clothes until he finally found a top and pants he could wear. They looked familiar. "Here, use these for now." Kirby showed the clothes to him.

Marx studied the clothes for a moment. They were his old pajamas. They've always been too big for him but maybe now it would fit perfectly. He remembered vividly when he was given the pajamas—and when he stopped wearing them suddenly out of spite. "You still have these?" Marx mumbled.

"Just take the shower!" Kirby shouted and dragged him to the bathroom. He placed the towel and clothes on the bathroom counter then shut the door. Kirby heard some shuffling around and it took him a few minutes to actually get the shower on. He heard a shriek once the water turned on.

"WHY IS IT SO COLD?!" Marx cried.

"Fluff told me cold showers are healthier."

"Well, Fluff's opinion is wrong!" 

"Well, don't use all the warm water!"

"Like you even use it!"

Gooey shifted their head from Kirby to the bathroom door as the bickering continued. They questioned how they were ever friends in the first place. Their personalities clashed like ketchup and ice cream. Although Kirby was mostly able to get along with anyone, it seemed that even he had limits and Marx hit them. Maybe things were different before his betrayal. They couldn't tell when Marx's anger or emotions in general were faked, he was too unpredictable for Gooey to read. Kirby probably couldn't either.

Kirby only let Marx shower for twenty minutes at maximum, and almost broke down the door when Marx claimed he'd shower longer when asked to stop. After ten more minutes Marx was finally out of the bathroom and clean. 

Kirby stretched and got ready for bed. He sat on the bed along with Gooey.

"Really, you two are going to bed this early?" Marx asked. He was pacing around the room, the claws of his feet scraping along the floorboards as he dragged his feet. 

"Yes, now stop dragging your feet on the ground, it's annoying," Kirby scolded. He turned off the light and rolled into bed.

Marx sat down on the carpet, looking disappointed. He didn't whine any further to Kirby's surprise.

Kirby stared up at the ceiling. He didn't know how long it's been since he turned off the lights. He couldn't sleep, though his eyes ached from staying up so late. He looked to his side to see Gooey sleeping soundly and then to the carpet. Since it was so dark he could hardly see Marx at all, but at the very least he saw a figure on the carpet. He needed to find him a new home fast. He couldn't stand to live with him again. He'll ask King Dedede if he can stay in a room at the castle or maybe just tell him to go away, it wasn't like he was his problem. He liked the latter idea better.

Kirby heard Marx starting to stir around as if he was dreaming, he didn't understand why he was putting so much effort into selling his whole "sleeping act" when they both knew—Kirby stopped his train of thought once the sound of shuffling intensified. He was still acting, wasn't he? He had to be.

"Marx, quit it," Kirby murmured.

No response besides thuds against the carpet. 

Marx didn't sleep, though. He couldn't. That's what he told him, but since when did he ever speak the truth? 

Then, Marx summoned his wings which dimly lit the room with the multicolor shine of his false feathers.

Kirby saw that his eyes were still closed and his expression was twisted into a glower. He sprung out of bed as Marx prepared to take off. "Marx! Wake up!" It should've been impossible to have a bad dream in Dream Land, but there was no mistaking that he was having a nightmare. He shook Marx's shoulders in an attempt to wake him up. 

Marx's eyes shot open. He hissed and flinched away from Kirby and fell back on the carpet. Chest heaving as he sat up and stared defensively at Kirby before he registered what just happened. He unsummoned his wings, making the only lighting in the room disappear.

Kirby could only see a vague outline of him now. He tensed up, bracing for an attack.

"Relax, I'm not a rabid animal," Marx whispered, sounding offended.

Kirby's shoulders sagged, feeling a bit silly for bracing himself. "What was that? I thought you didn't sleep."

"I don't need sleep, I think, but I can."

"But, it looked like you were having a nightmare."

Marx stayed quiet.

"The Fountain of Dreams should've—"

"Well the dumb fountain doesn't work for me!" Marx blurted out, fortunately Gooey didn't wake at the loud noise. "I don't know why it doesn't. Just forget it and go back to sleep."

Kirby got back on the bed again, taking care not to wake up Gooey. He was too tired to question Marx further. It must've been past midnight by now. He really should get some shut eye.

He'll figure out how to deal with Marx tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Kirby woke up as the sun rays from his window shone on his face. He stretched his arms out and yawned. Gooey awoke as well and sat up in bed. Kirby looked at the carpet and saw that Marx wasn't there. His heart dropped for a second and he felt a rush of deja vu. He was gone, just like that.

He found it weird, he should've felt relieved that he was gone. Instead, he felt desolate. 

Gooey looked around, noticing the jester's disappearance.

"He's gone, Gooey. He was probably just waiting for his magic to replenish after the fight with Void Termina and now he's most likely in space," Kirby speculated.

Gooey looked dejected. They shimmied off the bed and looked out the window. Then he went to the bathroom door.

Kirby watched as they tried looking for Marx. "He's not going to be—" Kirby trailed off as Gooey noticed the bathroom door was locked.

They looked back at Kirby with a "I told you so" look on their face.

Kirby stood up and approached the door. He knocked on it forcefully. "Marx?"

He heard shuffling around inside before the doorknob rattled. It took a second for it to actually unlock. Then, Marx opened it. He didn't have his hat on and his hair was ruffled. He had very prominent eye bags—more so than usual. "G'mornin," he slurred.

"You didn't sleep at all last night did you?" Kirby hardly slept last night himself, so he was in no position to judge. 

"I don't need it anyway."

"Of course you need it! Every living thing needs sleep! And you look like crap for someone who claims that you don't need it." Kirby pushed him back into the bathroom to show Marx himself in the mirror. "Look!"

Marx merely glanced at his own face before looking at Kirby's reflection, or moreso the lack of thereof. "Have you always been missing your reflection?" Marx said, changing the subject. 

Kirby frowned, Marx always changed the subject whenever he didn't want to talk about something. He's done it enough times that Kirby knew it was better to just drop it. "No, not always...Where's your hat?" Kirby asked. Marx was wearing his hat last night despite it being dirty. He knew how important that hat was to him.

Marx whipped his head away from the mirror and gave him a wide-eyed stare like Kirby just told him he would die tomorrow. "Where is my hat!?" he exclaimed and looked around the bathroom frantically. 

He was opening cabinets and drawers with his foot as Kirby noticed his pile of dirty clothes in the sink. It looked like he tried to wash it, but he used hand soap which wasn't that effective at getting the mud stains off. Kirby lifted a wet clump of cloth to see his hat underneath. "It's right—"

"THERE!" Marx pounced on the counter and grabbed the hat with his mouth while knocking some of Kirby's toiletries off. He stood up, hat in mouth. The hat itself was still damp and a bit muddy. It looks like there was still some soap that wasn't washed off too. He scrunched up his face like he regretted grabbing it with his mouth, but didn't spit it out.

"I could wash it for you, properly," Kirby offered and extended his hand out, urging Marx to give him the hat.

Marx's lip curled into a growl and his hold on his hat only grew.

"You said you weren't a rabid animal so act like you aren't! Stop growling!" Kirby scolded.

Marx let go of the hat and let it fall into Kirby's hand with an audible "bleh" as he opened his mouth. "If it gets destroyed, so help me I'll tear you limb from limb," he threatened.

"Uh huh." Kirby gave him a nod as he held the hat by one of the pompoms. He looked to the sink. "While I'm at it, I'm gonna wash the rest of your clothes. Go hang out with Gooey or something so I can do this quickly.” He shooed him away.

Marx obliged and left the bathroom.

Then, Kirby grabbed all of the damp clothes and took them out of the sink. He reached down to grab his washboard and soap in the cabinets and put them next to the sink. He looked at the hat in hand. The colors were faded, some of the seams were coming undone, but every rip and tear was stitched, albeit poorly. He was surprised that it was even able to stay intact. He filled the sink with warm water and put in a few drops of soap and submerged the hat in. He looked at Marx’s clothes as he waited. It was an…interesting outfit. The pants were pretty simple, just brown trousers held up by blue suspenders that matched the color of one side of his hat, but the top. It was obvious that it belonged to Marx. It was a normal beige dress shirt but blue and red cloth were used to make the sleeves longer. The coloration matched his hat. The stitches connecting the shirt and colored sleeves looked poorly done, not necessarily rushed, more like the person didn't know what they were doing. Kirby wondered who stitched Marx’s clothes and hat. 

It took a few hours to get the clothes washed, but he didn't hear Marx causing any trouble. In fact he didn't hear Marx or Gooey at all; they probably went outside. He put the wet clothes in a basket and took them outside. He didn't see either of them at first and then he looked up to see Marx flying around with Gooey on his back.

They were both laughing as Marx flew around recklessly. 

Kirby found himself smiling before remembering he came out to hang the clothes. He hung them up on a clothesline held up by two trees next to his house. He heard a swoosh near him and next thing he knew, he was up in the sky!

“Huh!?” Kirby exclaimed as he was lifted away from the ground, legs dangling beneath him. 

Marx was holding him by the shoulders with his pseudo-arms and he was cackling wildly. Gooey was on his back with a delighted face.

“Marx!? What are you—WOAH!”

Marx spun around before diving abruptly and landing in a nearby lake.

When they all resurfaced, Kirby splashed water at Marx. “What was that for?!”

Marx was still laughing like someone just told him the funniest joke he's ever heard. He unsummoned his wings, but his fake arms stayed to help keep himself afloat. “The—The LOOK on your face when I picked you up! Priceless!” he said in between laughs.

Gooey was giggling as well.

Kirby couldn't help but start laughing too. He splashed more water at Marx, getting a splash back in return. Soon they were sloshing water at each other back and forth as Gooey watched the heated water fight after stepping out of the river.

They were at it for a few minutes before Marx started getting cold and called it quits.

“If you get a cold from this I might just leave you to sleep out in the woods,” Kirby said as they got out of the river.

“So cruel. I'm not the one who drew first blood,” Marx bantered. He sneezed loudly and sniffled.

Kirby crossed his arms and gave him a look.

“Hey hey hey! Do not make me sleep out in the woods!” Marx exclaimed. He rubbed his nose with his sleeve. “Kirby!” he cried at Kirby’s lack of response.

“Hmm… I don't know, I never agreed to have you live with me in my house again in the first place…”

“Huh?! I wasn't joking when I said I didn't have anywhere else to go!” He said worriedly.

“And that's my problem, how?” Kirby asked and raised an eyebrow.

Marx clasped his “hands” together and kneeled down. “Please! I'm desperate, Kirby. I don't want to be homeless!” he pleaded. He was giving him puppy-dog eyes.

Kirby rolled his eyes. “Why my house anyway? Why not just live with Magolor. I thought you two were close friends.”

Marx scoffed. “Oh we're hardly close. At least not anymore.”

“You seem to be very great at keeping friends.”

“Listen! It's not—I don't —” Marx groaned as he failed to think of words. He grabbed his horns, “Rghh! I'm trying to get better, okay?”

“Fine. I'll let you stay at my house.”

Marx let go of his horns and perked up. “Really?”

“Yes, but, you better be looking for a new house to stay in. I'm only letting you stay, temporarily,” Kirby said firmly.

Marx’s mouth twitched a little but he agreed to the terms regardless. 

“Now fly us back. I don't want to walk all the way to my house.”

Marx nodded and carried them to Kirby’s home. This time he didn't do any loops or spins. They were mostly dry by the time they landed. 

“Your clothes are drying over there, in a few hours it should be dry enough for you to wear,” Kirby said and pointed to the clothesline.

“Neat. Thanks,” Marx said. It sounded genuine enough that Kirby couldn't distinguish if it actually was or not.

“Now if you excuse me, I'm going to Patch Land. Fluff and I planned to hangout today.” Kirby turned to his house. 

“Oh,” Marx said, sounding disappointed. 

“Something wrong with that?” Kirby asked.

“Nah, no. Have fun, I guess.” Marx awkwardly waved goodbye as Kirby went inside his house.

Kirby got the Magic sock he kept in his drawer and was soon transported to Patchland. Like usual, Prince Fluff was waiting nearby for him.

“Hey Kirby! How've you been?” Prince Fluff greeted.

“Well…I got a new roommate,” Kirby replied.

“Really? Who?” Prince Fluff raised his eyebrows.

“Marx,” Kirby forced a smile.

Prince Fluff gasped, “Marx?!” He was shocked, as Kirby expected him to be. He's told him about Marx before, mostly when he was ranting about him angrily, so he knew that Kirby wasn't that fond of him. “Why is he staying with you? Did he threaten you or something? Do you need help?”

“No no no! I'm just letting him stay until he finds a house for himself no longer than that,” Kirby assured. As if Marx could ever threaten him. If he wanted to, he could kick him out right now, but he wasn't cruel.

“And you're sure he'll even try to find a house?” Prince Fluff looked unsure.

“I'll help him find one and make sure he does, don't worry. Anyway, how're you?” Kirby asked and changed the subject. He didn't really want to think about the situation with Marx right now.

“I've been doing great. Oh! And get this, Dark Meta Knight doesn't try to kill me on sight anymore every time I meet up with Shadow in the Mirror World! I'd say it's a big step forward,” Prince Fluff chirped proudly.

“That's great!” Kirby cheerfully exclaimed. That's odd, Kirby didn't really feel any of the usual happiness for his friend. Instead he felt a twinge of jealousy. He pushed that feeling away. He was probably just having an off-day or something. He smiled anyway to seem happy for him.

Prince Fluff led him down to the inside of the castle to have lunch. His cooking was good, as usual, but for some reason he still felt sort of...numb. He didn't know why and he did his best to ignore it and hide it throughout the rest of his time in Patch Land.

He came here to unwind but…

Every time Prince Fluff mentions Shadow Kirby he feels somewhat mad. Hearing about his reflection having a better time than he is made him felt like he was almost cheated.

Shadow Kirby didn’t need to go through all that Kirby’s had, so why does he get the happily ever after? And with a prince no less.

Just ignore it.

After a little while Kirby said his goodbyes to Prince Fluff and went home. He immediately went to bed to take a nap and ignored Marx despite him clearly saying something to him. One thought kept nagging him as he did.

Something was wrong.

Chapter Text

A long time ago a young kid arrived at Dream Land. No one knows where they came from; they just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of a meteor shower. The Dream Landers were busy trying to conserve food that no one batted an eye at the young child. 

The kid noticed how something was amiss and heard passing conversations.

"How cruel for shooting stars to fall after we lost the Sparkling Stars to that jerk who calls himself king."

"How are we going to get food now!?"

"Don't panic!"

"Don't panic!? King Dedede took most of our food as well! None of us can even get close to Mt. Dedede to get it back because of that group of thieves he orders around. We're all going to starve to death at this rate!"

The kid was alarmed. This person named "King Dedede" must've been real evil if he took all of their food. Without food, these people were in trouble! Something itched at them that they should do something to help. Despite how small and young they were, they were determined to get back the food. They climbed up on a boulder so that the Dream Landers could see him in the huge crowd.

"Don't worry, I'll get your food and your Sparkling Stars back!" They promised. 

They heard murmuring in the crowd of unsure remarks, but then some started cheering him on. He felt a rush of courage and leaped off the boulder to set off towards Mt. Dedede. 

There was no doubt it'll be a dangerous mission, but it will all be worth it to save the people of Dream Land. 

He went through Green greens and fought the mighty Whispy Woods. Some Sparkling Stars were in possession of the tree but it still wasn't enough to feed all of the people of Dream Land so he continued on to Castle Lololo.

It was a long journey. He made it through Float Islands and Bubbly Clouds and finally, made it to Mt. Dedede. He was a bit tired, he'd been fighting all day, but his mission was almost over. He entered the castle at the top of the mountain. Inside the castle, he found an arena where he found King Dedede.

He stepped into the arena and a light shone down on them. Many people were cheering on the bleachers. They couldn't tell if they were cheering for him or Dedede or both.

They readied themself.

King Dedede took one look at him and snickered. "This kid thinks they can stop me?!" He guffawed. He lifted his hammer and slammed it down on the stage, making the whole arena rumble.

The child had to catch himself from falling. He heard the cheering in the crowd grow louder. They fixed their footing. The hammer was certainly powerful and two maybe one hit could be enough to knock them out. They had to play it safe.

A bell rang and the fight began.

King Dedede charged at him, surprising them with how fast he was despite holding such a heavy weapon.

They just barely got out of the way of his attack. He inhaled the stardust from his attack and spat it back at his head.

King Dedede was surprised at his peculiar ability and was knocked back.

They took this as an opportunity to get in and kick Dedede, throwing his whole body into it.

King Dedede fell to the ground.

For a second the child thought he won, but King Dedede was suddenly up and attacking again.

"You're tough!" the child exclaimed as they ducked under a swing of the hammer.

"You're not too shabby yourself," King Dedede replied. "But you're not good enough to defeat me!" Then, he knocked them over and brought the hammer down on them before they could get out of the way.

The child did the unexpected, he was holding the hammer up! Preventing it from slamming down onto them with their arms and legs. With a heave, the child kicked the hammer off of him with such force that it threw the hammer along with King Dedede out of the ring.

The crowd went wild.

The child pushed themself up and dusted their hands off.

King Dedede was stunned. "Who even is this kid?!" He roared angrily.

"The name's Kirby! Now return the food and the rest of the Sparkling Stars, meanie!"

The crowd oohed.

King Dedede groaned and reluctantly gave Kirby the last of the Sparkling Stars. 

All of the Sparkling Stars he gathered floated and circled around him. He was lifted up by the stars and flew out of the castle. With the Sparkling Stars he flew over Dream Land, bringing the food back to the Dream Landers.

When he landed, a crowd of Dream Landers lifted him up and cheered. 

"Kirby! Kirby! Kirby!"

Before today, Kirby's name was hardly said by anyone. In fact, he wasn't even sure what his name was before.

From then on, stories of Kirby's noble quest spread throughout Dream Land and he was granted the title: Kirby of the Stars, or just simply, the star child.

A house was built by the Dream Landers as a gift for their righteousness and he's lived in it all his life.

Now, the star child rose up to any danger to Popstar and their name spread throughout not only the whole planet, but throughout the galaxy.

Kirby took a lot of pride in protecting the universe. When he wasn't relaxing or hanging out with friends, he was out saving the world. They were willing to help out anyone in need. It was their duty.

Their origins were hardly questioned, which was lucky for Kirby since he hardly knew where he came from either. It wasn't until he saw Void Termina that he started questioning his origins. He chalked it up to coincidence that they looked so similar, but they knew it couldn't be. They remembered the terrified looks that Void Termina got and once they saw their core looked identical to Kirby, he felt a heavy pit in his stomach ever since.

Kirby woke up from his nap, the sun was still out and Gooey and Marx weren't in the house. He stretched his arms and legs then stood up. He thought about his dream he just had. He hasn't thought about his first adventure in a very long time. Back when things were simple and the line between evil and good seemed so clear to him. He went to the bathroom to wash his face. He looked in the mirror. “Wah!” he shouted. He was surprised to see that his reflection was with him for once. “Shadow Kirby?”

“So, you're letting Marx stay at your house again, huh?” Shadow Kirby asked.

“How did—did Prince Fluff tell you?”

“Yeah. By the way, you look like shit.”

“Thanks, you do too, and yes I am letting Marx stay at my house but it's no big deal,” Kirby shrugged.

“Doesn't look like it's not a big deal. Don't you hate the guy?”

“No!” Kirby shouted. “I don't hate him. Hate’s a strong word.” Kirby scratched the back of his neck. He wasn't really sure what he felt about Marx. It was certainly more complicated than just “hate”.

Shadow Kirby looked unconvinced. “Don't be afraid to stand up for yourself, dude. You don't owe him anything.”

“I know I don't. I'm doing this because I want to.”

Shadow Kirby raised his eyebrows. “You want to have Marx in your house.”

“I'm doing this out of my free will,” Kirby rephrased.

“Psh. Sure. Oh yeah, before I go. I heard about the situation with Void Termina,” Shadow Kirby said.

Kirby cringed. Now that was a topic Kirby didn't want to think about.

“So it looks exactly like us and Zero, big deal. I've gone through my fair share of existential crises to know we shouldn't care for it much. Well, I shouldn't at least.”

“That's very comforting,” Kirby deadpanned.

“I don't see why you should be worried. You already have this whole reputation thing you built for yourself. Just cause you may be related to some ancient horror doesn't mean people will fear you. Just look at Gooey!”

“But some people are afraid of Gooey!” Kirby cried.

“Who?”

“I've heard some people say it sometimes…”

“I need names, Kirby.”

“You are not going to beat them up! I've already given them stern talkings.”

“Tch, you should've beaten them up.”

“Oh I would've, but I'm trying to be as friendly as possible so no one would even think to compare me to Void Termina,” Kirby explained. If Kirby didn't have a reputation to uphold he would've done a lot of not-so-good things. Maybe he was similar to Void Termina. No, that's silly. He had to stop thinking silly things.

“Well good luck with that. A word of advice though, looks sometimes speak louder than actions to people.” Then, his reflection faded away.

Knowing him, Kirby knew he was speaking from experience. Kirby’s shoulders slunk down as he thought over his words. Would it be best to just ignore the whole Void Termina situation and let people think whatever? He didn't want people fearing him, though.

He walked out of his house and saw Marx and Gooey lying down, basking in the sun. At least those two were getting along. When the Star Allies were together they decided to split up into groups of at least four. He remembered how Marx originally had no trouble finding a group until Chilly and the other helpers recognized him and pointed out who he was. Then, nobody wanted to be in a group with him. Except for Gooey, who invited him to be in his group along with Rick, Kine, and Coo. Kirby would've allowed Marx to join his group, but it was already full and the three in it, King Dedede, Bandana Dee, and Meta Knight, all had gripes against him.

He made his way towards the two. Marx was wearing his clothes and hat again.

“Look who's finally awake. You okay? You seemed pretty out of it when you got back from Patch Land,” Marx asked. 

Kirby remembered how Marx tried telling him something when he got back, but he didn't catch a single word of what he said. “Yeah, sorry I was just very tired yesterday for some reason.”

“It's still the same day?”

Kirby realized his mistake, “Right! Right. Off day today.”

Marx hummed in acknowledgment.

Kirby sat down next to Marx. "You're oddly calm today."

"It's an off day for both of us. At least Gooey's vibing," Marx said and turned to Gooey.

"Vibing," Gooey echoed.

"Hell yeah," Marx sprawled himself out on the ground. 

"Are you enjoying yourself, freeloading at my place?" Kirby asked.

"Eh, right now I am," Marx shrugged. He took in a deep breath and exhaled. "Dude, I missed grass. I didn't know it was possible."

"Space doesn't have that much grass?"

"Not where I was. Oh yeah, while you were gone, I've been telling Gooey about my adventures in space."

"Banned from planets," Gooey remarked.

"Yeah... I was banned from most of em," Marx chuckled. 

"Somehow I expected that," Kirby said. Those planets were smart to ban Marx. He's a menace, Kirby thought.

"Harrsh."

"It's not harsh if it's true."

"I don't think that's true."

They lied there for a bit listening to the wind whistle in their ears. It's been awhile since Kirby's been able to just talk to Marx like this. He was unsure if he missed it or not. Although it did feel easier to talk to Marx for some reason.

"Hey Gooey, do you mind leaving us alone for a sec? I want to talk to Kirby in private for a moment," Marx said, breaking the silence.

Gooey nodded and stood up. They went inside the house.

"Talk about what?" Kirby asked.

"Oh y'know catch up and stuff. We haven't had the chance to yet. You said you forgave me for betraying you all those years ago?"

"Yeah," Kirby said. He wasn't sure where this was going.

"Why? I haven't even apologized yet."

"I'm used to it now," Kirby admitted. At this point he didn't even think his forgiveness was worth anything anymore. He gave everyone second chances, sometimes even more than two. 

"Do you hate me?"

"What? No," Kirby gawked.

"Ok maybe not hate, but dislike?"

"..."

"I'm right on the money aren't I?" Marx asked. He didn't sound disappointed or sad.

"Don't put words in my mouth. You're annoying and get on my nerves but I don't necessarily dislike you. It's complicated."

"Wow, are you like this with anyone else?" Marx asked. 

Kirby found the question weird. "What do you mean by that?"

Marx sat up to look Kirby in the eye. "Are you this honest with anyone else? Like Magolor or Susie? Maybe even your closest friends?"

Kirby took a moment to think about the question. "No, not really," Kirby admitted. He didn't even think he would be this honest with Marx if it wasn't for the fact that they made that compromise to never lie to each other again.

"That's not very healthy."

Kirby scoffed, "Like you care."

Marx looked at the ground. "I do, actually. Do you wanna talk about it?"

"About what?"

"I don't know, you just seem to have a lot on your mind. Magolor and I used to do this thing where we'd talk about our troubles and we felt better afterwards. And maybe it could help you out of this 'off day'.

"I guess I've just felt down ever since I saw Void Termina. Seeing how they look exactly like me... It's just scary," Kirby admitted.

"Yeah, it was certainly something."

"I've been worried that people are scared of me now or won't trust me anymore," Kirby mumbled and brought his knees close to his chest.

"Anything happen for you to think that?"

"Bandana Dee hasn't been answering my texts... I mean they are busy so it makes sense and I'm probably just being over dramatic but—"

"Woah woah, it's alright to feel sad about that Kirby. You aren't being over dramatic," Marx assured.

"You're being nicer than normal."

"I did say I'm trying to get better. I take my duty in being your best friend very seriously! Well ex-best friend..." Marx's voice faltered at the end. "Anyway. How come you don't just tell your friends how you feel face to face? For reassurance."

"It's—" Kirby tried to find the words he wanted to say, "it's not that simple, I know they trust me and it would be silly for me to ask them if they do. If anything, asking them if they trust me would give them less of a reason to trust me!"

"Kirby, that's not true. That's just clear communication. Y'know, so you're open with them and all that jazz."

Open? He couldn't be open with them. He didn't want to burden them with his negative feelings that he shouldn't have. That's what he was for. He was the shoulder to cry on not the other way around. Couldn't Marx see how opening up could be harmful? "I can't. I can't tell them. There's no reason to. It's fine!" Kirby yelled.

Marx flinched back which he immediately regretted doing as Kirby noticed.

A broken smile spread across his face. "See! You do fear me! This is what happens if I open up to others. They get scared!" He gestured at himself. "I'm supposed to be energetic and cheerful. I can't just destroy that image of me. They'll find out I'm just a fake!" Kirby spat. His heart was racing.

They were standing now, Kirby didn't know when that happened. Just a second ago they were both sitting down peacefully until Marx decided to ruin it by asking him to talk about his feelings and he ruined it further by actually opening up.

Marx's breath hitched.

Kirby could see the fear in his eyes, only furthering his point. He just had to ignore these feelings. It was dangerous to let them out. If he did he'd end up like Void Termina. And he was letting them out right now, and it was scaring Marx. But he wasn't running away. He should've been. Why wasn't he running away? He was just making things worse.

"Kirby. You have to tell your friends how you’re feeling. This isn't good for you," Marx said, voice trembling. He looked angry for a second. This is just great! Now he's angry at him!

"Don't you see that telling them would make things bad for them too!? At least when I ignore it it's only me I'm hurting! I don't need to drag anyone else into my business!" Kirby growled. His face contorted into a scowl. Anger and annoyance bubbled inside him. Things are fine the way they are now. Marx wasn't in any place to tell him what is or isn't good for him. Especially when he himself is one of the reasons he feels horrible sometimes in the first place.

"Well if you aren't going to tell them, I am!" Marx declared. He stood up straight in an attempt to cover his fear. 

Kirby laughed, "Really? And who'd believe you?!" What an empty threat. Marx was notoriously known for being a liar and he wasn't close to anyone besides Magolor and even then he managed to ruin that friendship too.

"Meta Knight," Marx said with unfaltering certainty. "He will."

Kirby widened his eyes. Meta Knight was a skeptical person and could easily catch anyone lying, but he could also tell when someone wasn't lying. And Marx does have a past with him, Kirby wasn't entirely exactly sure of the details but he did know Meta Knight would be Marx's best bet. He couldn't risk that. 

Marx was already trying to walk away. Big mistake to turn his back on him again.

"I'm doing this to help you," Marx said. It almost made him laugh again at the absurdity of it.

Kirby clenched his fist along with his teeth. "Oh that's rich. Coming from you," Kirby snarled.

Marx didn't even bother to turn around. He summoned his wings. He was going to fly away. Kirby couldn't let him do that.

He raised his fist.

"When all you've ever done WAS LIE TO ME!" He threw all of his power into the punch that knocked Marx all the way into a tree of the nearby woods. 

He did it. He stopped him. He—

Oh no. 

What did he just do?

Kirby ran over to Marx, tripping over pebbles as he did.

Marx slowly brought his false arms to the tree and slowly pushed himself off from the tree. Blood oozed from his forehead trickling all the way down his chin and there was so much of it.

Kirby covered his mouth in shock. What did he do? What did he do? What did he do!? His eyes stung at the sight. He felt lightheaded. This didn't feel real. He wished he was still napping and this was just a bad dream. But that was impossible. The Fountain Of Dreams would prevent any nightmare. Unfortunately it couldn't prevent real ones.

Marx was hyperventilating. His body probably kicked into overdrive to keep himself conscious. The look he gave Kirby was something he definitely wasn't ever going to forget. He looked terrified, and it didn't help that his blood was dripping all over himself. There were splinters of bark in his face from the tree, leaving small cuts where they were embedded.

"Marx, I—I didn't mean to—What are you doing?" Kirby's blood ran cold.

Marx suddenly took off without warning. Flying away as quickly as he could. Vision blurred and head pounding yet he was going so fast.

"Oh fuck oh fuck oh—He's going to tell everyone!" Kirby thought aloud. Without wasting another second he screamed, "Warp Star!" and leaped onto the oncoming shooting star to fly after Marx.

Chapter Text

He had to get away. His scrambled brain finally banded together to give him one coherent thought for once and it was "get away". He didn't know where he was going and he didn't care. 

But then he heard Kirby's voice ring out which extinguished all of his hope of leaving. And next thing he knew, he blacked out.

He only saw darkness for the longest time until he heard that mechanical voice resonate around him.

"I WILL GRANT YOU ONE WISH... ->"

But he already said his wish. He wanted to control Popstar, so that he could bend it to be exactly the way he wanted. He'd be able to cause all the mischief he wanted. He could do anything. It was a simple wish really.

Kirby... He ruined everything! That stupid kid ruined his plan! It appeared that he even managed to reset his wish by breaking apart the nova, but why was he able to hear it now? When all of its parts are scattered around the cosmos.

He couldn't see anything or feel his body. All he could do was think. Was he dead? No, he couldn't be. He wanted to live. He wanted to survive. He still had so much to do. That feeling of fear burned in him and let out a hush scream.

Somehow, Galactic Nova heard his silent wish.

"OK. -> 3... 2... 1... GO! ->"

“...M”

“...Marx…”

“Marx, wake up. Please."

He jolted up from the bed. When did he get in bed? He doesn't have a bed. Where was he? Why did his head hurt so much?

He took awhile to realize that Kirby was standing next to the bedside, calling his name in a fairly quiet voice. The lights were off. 

“Wh—augh!” Marx reached up to hold his head that was throbbing with pain but realized he didn't have his arms summoned, he must've been low on magic. Everything was fuzzy and there was a constant faint ticking noise in his ears. 

“Lie back down. You're badly hurt.” Kirby said worriedly. 

Marx flopped back down on the bed with a groan. “Aw man what happened?” He asked, words slurring.

“You got hit into a tree and now your head is bleeding. I think you have a concussion.” Kirby explained. He had a concerned expression on his face.

“I feel like shit dude. Who even—"

“It was a Grizzo. You were taunting it and it got mad and now you're here..." Kirby explained.

Something about that sounded off, but Marx let it slide. They promised to each other. No more lies. It was even backed with a magic spell.

Though, his head shouldn't be hurting that much if it was just a grizzo. He winced as his head throbbed in pain again. It wasn't necessarily coming from his just forehead, but also his horns? They were tough, but also sensitive. A head injury would most certainly make them act up. Though, it felt like the pain was directly coming from a horn. Did it somehow crack?

Kirby softly put an ice pack on his head for a few minutes before removing it and placing it down on the carpet. His breath and hands were shaky. The smell of iron was pungent.

Marx didn't understand why he was so worried. Why did he care so much? Kirby was so naïve sometimes. He couldn't understand him.

"Kirby. Can you take off my hat? It's uncomfy..." Marx whined.

Kirby obliged and carefully removed Marx's hat. His expression changed from worried to mortified. He held his hat in one hand and covered his mouth in shock with the other. 

"What?" Marx questioned. His horn still stung even when his hat was removed. It felt like a constant stab to the head and the ice hardly helped, but luckily he had a high enough pain tolerance to refrain from screaming. 

"It'll grow back," Kirby murmured to himself, hand muffling his voice. 

Grow back? Grow what back!?

"What??" Marx raised his voice to the best of his ability.

"Your horn..."

His horn. His horn broke?! No wonder why he was feeling so much pain. "It can't," he mumbled. Normally he would be panicking, but his mind was so muddled he could hardly talk coherently.

Kirby gasped. "It can't grow back?"

"My horns can't regrow," Marx said. His head felt sticky and wet. He was still bleeding out. If he were human he'd probably be in mortal condition by now.

Kirby scrambled to the bathroom to get a towel and bandages. He gently lifted Marx's head to put the towel under his head and wrapped his horn in bandages.

Marx gritted his teeth and hissed as Kirby bandaged his horn. 

Kirby babbled a slew of apologies as he finished. It was a pretty shabby job and it wasn't nearly tight enough. Marx was lucky he could heal fast on his own, but he probably needed a professional or at least someone who was more experienced than Kirby to help him if he wanted to heal properly.

"Kirby, you suck at this." Yeah that's exactly what he wanted to say.

Kirby frowned, "I'm trying." He looked down at his hands. His knuckles on one hand were bruised. "If only I wasn't so careless..." he muttered.

"Now don't go 'n blame yourself, dumbass. You're like twelve. I just need help from someone who actually has experience."

"I'm not even close to tw—"

"That's cool. I hate to say it but can you call over Meta Knight? He's the only one I'd trust to patch up my wound," Marx asked. 

"Is this not enough? I can just use the doctor ability or something. No need for Meta Knight or anyone else," Kirby said. He grabbed a piece of the bandages and opened his mouth.

"Kirby, you can't help with this," Marx enunciated each word.

Kirby ignored him and ate the piece of the bandage and copied it. A head mirror, along with the rest of his doctor outfit, appeared on him. He started mixing potions.

"Kirby."

"I can help." He continued mixing potions, not even batting an eye at Marx. He tossed red, blue and yellow potions behind him causing the bottles to shatter on the floor. He only stopped until he had a green potion in hand. He looked proud of himself as he shoved it at Marx's face. "See? Drink this."

Marx looked unsure, but Kirby kept pushing the glass to his mouth so he drank it anyway. It took a few seconds for him to feel any different. Soon his mind felt less blurry and the pain in his head lessened. 

He could think clearer now and he realized how Kirby's entire demeanor has changed since he's been injured. It could be that he was actually that worried for him, or it could be that something was nagging at him. "So, a grizzo did this, right?" Marx asked as he sat up.

"Yes," Kirby nodded. "Do you feel better?"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks," Marx answered. With his mind less foggy, another thing he noticed was that something felt different, like a weight was lifted off of him. 

"My hat's purple."

Kirby looked puzzled. "Are you sure you feel better? Your hat isn't purple."

Marx hid his inner shock. The compromise. It broke. He could lie to him again. That means Kirby lied to him— recently.

It was not a grizzo. That much was obvious. His horns were sturdy and could take direct hits from swords. Only something as powerful as Meta Knight's Galaxia, or the Lor Starcutter could crack it, much less break it. 

...Or someone as powerful as Kirby.

He thought over what happened before the injury. He remembered having a conversation with Gooey about his time in space, Kirby finally woke up from his nap, and then they had a chat. Then the chat escalated and Kirby punched him into a tree and he blacked out after hearing the words "warp star". That's what happened.

"Marx? You should probably drink another—"

"No! No. I'm alright," Marx exclaimed. He couldn't let Kirby know he knew the truth now. No, he wanted to wait for him to slip up. Although he didn't understand why Kirby would lie about this when he clearly seemed guilty. "Can you tell me where that grizzo went? I'd like to get my revenge."

"There's no way you can fight a grizzo in your condition! Besides, I didn't pay attention to where it went because I was too busy carrying you over here," Kirby said, not missing a beat. He discarded the doctor ability and his clothes returned to normal.

Marx looked down at Kirby's bruised hand. Really he could've connected the dots sooner if he didn't decide to trust Kirby. He gasped, "What happened to your hand? Are you alright?" He feigned his concern.

Kirby looked worriedly down at his bruised hand. "O—oh. I didn't really notice."

"Yeah they weren't there while we were talking earlier."

Kirby froze like he struck a nerve. "You remember that?"

"Everything else after that is fuzzy, though. Get it? Fuzzy? 'Cus a grizzo attacked." Marx lied. He was sitting cross legged on the bed and looking up at Kirby as if he wholeheartedly expected a laugh.

Kirby squeezed his hands together. His stressed expression didn't change one bit. He really was an awful liar. If Marx was hurt by something as weak as a grizzo he wouldn't be this worried.

"You should probably ice your hand, oh and maybe your pants too."

"My pants?" Kirby looked down at his legs. He wasn't even wearing pants, he was wearing shorts.

"Yeah."

Kirby looked perplexed. He bent down to grab the ice pack he placed on the floor and put it on his knuckles, keeping his eyes on Marx.

"They seem to be on fire."

Chapter Text

It's been hours since Marx found out his horn broke. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but it seemed like it would take a long time for it to heal completely.

Kirby paced around the room in a panicked state as Marx napped on his bed. It was the first time he's ever deliberately taken a nap in a long time. He must've been really exhausted. 

Kirby felt the guilt he felt in the pit of his stomach grow. He lied to Marx, broke their promise, and his horn! What was wrong with him? It was only a matter of time before he fully remembered. What then? Kirby kept wringing his hands together. His bruised hand from punching Marx was already dulling in pain, if only Marx's horn healed that fast.

It'll be fine. He can figure it out, he always has.

He managed to calm down a bit until someone knocked on his door. He told Gooey to go hangout with the Animal Friends. Were they already back?

He walked up to the door but didn't even make a move to open it. "Who is it?"

Kirby felt a flare of panic once he heard their voice.

"Hey Kirby, it's Bandana Dee! We finally finished with repairs at Castle DDD and we're holding a celebration. Wanna come?"

If it were any other time Kirby would've gladly said yes. He glanced at the napping demon occupying his bed. Now was definitely not the time. He coughed and hacked dramatically, "I can't actually. I got this horrible fever and I don't want to get anyone else sick so I'll stay here. In my house. Where no one can get sick."

"Oh that's terrible! I'm sorry Kirby. Do you need any medicine to lessen the pain?"

"Nah," he coughed more for good measure, "I can just wait it out." He noticed that Marx was awake now and eyeing him. He choked on his saliva out of surprise and started coughing for real.

Marx silently laughed at him as Kirby tried to clear his throat.

"Are you okay!?" Bandana Dee's worried voice shouted from the door.

"Yea! I just need—" Kirby rasped, "water."

"I got some water for you right—" Kirby rushed over to the bed and slapped Marx's mouth shut.

"WAS THAT MARX!?" Bandana Dee exclaimed.

"UHHHH NOO?! Of course not!—Ow fuck," Kirby yanked his hand away from Marx's mouth after he nipped him. "Dude, that was my bruised hand!" he hissed at Marx as he rubbed his newfound wound.

"Kirby, open the door!"

"No, I'm good! No demons in here!"

"Yeah I'm not in here!" Marx assured.

"I'mgoingtokillyou," Kirby whispered.

"I would not doubt that at this point," Marx shrugged. He looked pretty amused for someone who just got threatened.

"What is he doing in there anyway?! The alliance is over!" Bandana Dee shouted. "Are you trying to manipulate Kirby again!?" They asked, anger seeping into their voice. 

"I would neeeeverrrrr!" Marx insisted with an offended tone. Marx must've known he was playing with fire, his smug expression said everything.

Kirby frowned at Marx.

It was like they had metaphorical knives over each other's throats, except Marx wasn't scared of death.

"Kirby, just promise me you're okay. If Marx did anything to harm you..."

"He hasn't! Okay?! Why are you assuming that anyway?" Kirby snapped. It came out way more aggressive than he wanted it to. He sighed, "I'm sorry. This fever's been making me a bit irritable. Marx has been... helping me with it and I don't really appreciate that you assume he's always up to no good. I'm okay, really." His words sounded genuine enough but the face he was giving Marx was comically contrasting his words.

Kirby and Marx stared at the door in anticipation, waiting for them to respond.

"Okay. I'm glad to know you're okay. I'm sorry for assuming the worst in you, Marx."

"Full offense taken. Now SCRAM!" Marx barked then he buried his face into the pillow covered by the bloodied towel.

To both of their surprise, Bandana Dee actually did leave without protest.

"Marx, what the heck!?" Kirby blurted.

Marx uttered something incomprehensible into the towel.

"What?"

"I said you suck at lying," he repeated after lifting his head up. "We're gonna be stuck in here for months unless your doodoo head learns how to lie better."

"What do you mean by that?" Kirby questioned.

"Oh, y'know if you want to convince people it was a grizzo you'd need to step up your lying game."

"I don't...wait—" Kirby stammered. "But it was a grizzo."

"Atatatata! See!? You slipped up. Only reason people don't catch your lies is because they trust you. If you want to keep that trust you gotta be more convincing than that!”

Kirby was stunned. Not because he was caught in the lie, but because Marx was critiquing his lying. Why was Marx even saying this? He didn't like lying. He didn't want to get good at it. 

"Don't you remember how tough my horns are?" Marx asked and knocked his intact horn on the wall. "I remember that time I had a fight with one of the rams in the village and you were whining the entire time. Saying 'Noooo Marx you'll get hurt!'" Marx mocked Kirby's voice. "And then I managed to knock over the ram by butting horns with it, not even a scratch on my horns even though I was so young."

Kirby winced at the sudden flood of nostalgia from that memory of his childhood. He was surprised that Marx remembered that.

Marx went on, leaving Kirby no time for words, "A grizzo. Really? You knocked me into a nova, sure I died, but the horns were fine. Don't you get it? The only thing that could've caused this,” he tilted his broken horn towards Kirby, “is you.”

Kirby clenched his hands on the bed, ruffling the covers. His brows furrowed while he looked at the broken horn, a blood clot was forming between the cracks. 

He felt terrible for what he did so he tried to convince himself that he could never do such a thing and blame it on something else, but seeing it now in clear view, he could feel his guilt eat at him. It was too overwhelming. He felt his eyes sting and soon tears ran down his cheeks. He shouldn't be crying. He wasn't the one who was hurt, Marx was. "I'm sorry," Kirby sobbed. He didn't deserve to cry. He expected Marx to insult him.

Instead Marx leaned on to his shoulder, as if giving him a hug. He nuzzled his head on his shoulder reassuringly. "I'm not mad," Marx said.

Kirby slowly wrapped his arms around him. He choked out another sob, failing to suppress it. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Despite all the apologies he didn't believe that he deserved forgiveness. He cried onto Marx's back.

"It's okay."

"No it's not! I lashed out and hurt you, all because I'm afraid of myself and I lied to you and broke our promise and—"

"What matters is that you're trying to make up for it. You stopped the bleeding and healed me well enough so far.” His voice was calm. It felt weird for Kirby to hear him like this. Marx probably felt weird to be this kind. "Why did you lie anyway?"

Kirby sniffled, "I was scared you'd hate me, or fear me."

"Now why would I fear or hate you?" Marx asked.

"I almost killed you! Again! And it was on accident! You looked terrified earlier," Kirby croaked.

"Of course I'd look scared in a situation like that, but I wasn't scared of you. I'm scared of what you're doing to yourself." Marx felt a sense of deja vu. He's said something like this before, but to someone else.

Kirby broke the hug to look into Marx's eyes. There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in his tone. He saw that Marx didn't look scared, he looked worried.

Marx summoned his arms, they looked more human than the normal bird-like structure they'd usually have, and cautiously cupped Kirby's cheek with one and wiped some of his tears away. "You're in a rough patch, Kirby. I'm willing to help. I want to be a good friend. I was pushing your boundaries earlier, I'm sorry for that." Marx paused. "I'm also sorry for betraying you and manipulating you all those years ago."

Kirby let out a bittersweet laugh that Marx mistook for more crying at first before he noticed Kirby was smiling. "It took you that long," he teased.

Marx pulled his hand back."W-well maybe I wanted to make sure that I could convey—that I could, uh," Marx stammered. "Bleh, words." He cleared his throat. "I just wanted to sound as genuine as I feel when I said I'm sorry." He coughed, "Unlike Magolor."

"Haha, Magolor's apology was really..." Kirby remembered the times Magolor would attack him while he was doing a challenge stage and laugh when he got hurt, "fake." Magolor hardly changed, even after his apology. Although it seemed like Marx hardly changed either, Marx at least acknowledged that he did something bad and didn't give him a half-assed apology before sweeping it under the rug. 

"How're you doing now?"

"Calmer. I still don't want to tell them about how I've been feeling though."

"And I thought I was the one that had trouble with being open. You shouldn't be scared to just say 'hey guys I'm not feeling that well today' to your friends. They aren't good friends if they react badly to that."

"I guess you're right," Kirby sighed. 

"How about you just practice with me? What's troubling you?"

“Because that went so well last time,” Kirby scoffed.

“Come ooooon don't be shy.”

Kirby clapped his hands together and made a face. "Well, besides all that stuff of fearing being feared, I've been thinking about my status as a hero as of late and stuff..." It took so little convincing for him to dump all of his troubles on Marx. It was probably because he didn't really think of Marx as a close friend, at least not anymore. I'm a horrible person, Kirby thought. He desperately wanted to say his troubles that any stranger would do, but Marx wasn't a stranger. Kirby just pretended he was in the moment.

"Go on," Marx ushered when Kirby paused.

"And I thought: Hey, why have I put all this pressure on myself to protect the entire universe ever since I was a tiny toddler? And then I realized that I'm the only thing stopping the universe from going to shit! So I can't even quit being a hero or else I'll lose everything! That would be terrifying for everyone and I do like helping people. It's just so exhausting to do it all the time! I know Meta Knight and others have tried to protect the universe too but they're just not strong enough alone! I just wish there was someone strong enough to protect the universe besides me. Isn't that selfish?"

Marx gave Kirby a look and gestured his hands around but the gestures seemed meaningless. "No?? How the fuck is that selfish?" he blurted out.

"Because saving the universe and controlling this immense amount of power comes with pressures I wouldn't want to put on anyone else! Sure it starts out as a fun adventure, I make new friends, I strengthen my bonds with old friends, but near the end of the adventure it stops being fun and it starts being terrifying. I had to fight King Dedede, whose stomach split open when he was possessed by Dark Matter that one time, then I fought a giant eyeball in the sky TWICE, and each time it kept spitting blood at me! Then the whole Nova incident with you. Then I fought this weird sorcerer lady after being turned into a tiny rubber ball or something. I even had to protect a whole different world just to get Meta Knight back and even then the world apparently still got worse because of my interference. I lost my cake and when I tried to find it I found a weird dark star that wanted to kill me instead. I got split into ten of me and I had to watch myself die so many times. Magolor. Fought a big bee in the sky, killed it, and gave Taranza depression. Another Nova incident, except worse because the nova was created by a bunch of colonizers so it wanted to eradicate all organic life. And then Void Termina. I could handle everything else but for some reason Void Termina just stuck with me and I feel like I'm lost now. Who were they exactly and why did they look like me but act so differently?" Kirby sighed. He said way too much. “I just don't want anyone else to feel this way.”

Marx was stunned. "I really missed a lot haven't I? Aw man Kirby, you shouldn't have gone through all that." He thought for a moment. "Y'know, there is a legend about the Greatest Swordsman in the Galaxy: Galacta Knight. Maybe if we find them, they could take over. I mean, they are an adult. Aren't adults supposed to be the ones taking care of things?"

"What do they look like?" Kirby asked. He's heard of that title before, but he didn't remember from where exactly.

"They have a white mask over their face, kinda like Meta Knight's, except it has another slit that cuts vertically and they have feathered wings with huge yellowish horns," Marx described.

Kirby's eyes widened. "I've had dreams about them!" he exclaimed. "Very very often recently, actually. I've been wondering what they meant, maybe if I learn more about them I can figure it out! Not too sure about the ‘letting them take over heroing’ thing though…”

Marx hopped off the bed. "Well then, we got research to do!" He put his hands on his hips and turned his head to Kirby. 

"Wait, we're going out? What about your horn?”

“Eh it'll be fine. People’ll question it but I don't have to answer.”

“Why can't you just hide it with your hat?" Kirby asked and pointed to Marx's hat that he put on top of the drawer.

Marx pouted, "Because it really hurts when something touches my broken horn. Besides, we can just say nothing! People haven't seen me without my hat. How would they know that I had horns, much less broken one? Worst case scenario I say it was from the Nova incident."

Kirby sighed in relief. At least he didn't have to lie. As long as no one else knows about his little outburst he's fine with whatever. "Is there anyone who would question it?"

Marx hummed and thought for a moment. "Magolor and maybe Meta Knight. They're the only others that know I have horns in the first place. Oh and I guess Gooey now too. Where is Gooey by the way?" Marx looked around.

"I told them to go hang out with the animal friends because I would be busy, but considering that there's a celebration going on they're probably there now... Where are we even going to get info about Galacta Knight?"

Marx let out an awkward laugh. "Funnily enough the person I learned about Galacta Knight from was the only other knight we know! But I can't go to Meta Knight with this broken horn he'd question the hell outta me. You could go alone though. I'm fine with staying here."

"Are you sure you're fine with being alone? I don't know how long this is going to take."

Marx smiled then dropped it as soon as it came. "Yeah, never mind, I can't stand being alone."

"That's what I thought."

"Y'know what! I can just ignore Meta Knight's questions! I don't need to say anything to that old coot. Don't worry about it, I'll do all the lying for us," Marx assured.

"But Meta Knight doesn't really—"

"Like me? Nah he's faking his hatred, totally," Marx said with absolute certainty. 

Kirby gave him an unsure look. He didn't know much about Marx's past with Meta Knight. All he knew was that they felt a mutual dislike for each other. At least that's what he's thought this whole time, maybe that wasn't the case. Kirby rethought over the choices. Yes he would like to talk to Meta Knight and learn more about the mysterious knight in his dreams, but with Marx tagging along…

It almost slipped his mind that Marx did plan to tell Meta Knight how he was feeling. “How do I know you aren't going to tell Meta Knight that I broke your horn and about my troubles?” Kirby questioned.

Marx looked at him innocently, “I swear I won't!”

Kirby gave him a half-closed eye stare.

“Would I risk losing my other horn?”

Kirby crossed his arms. “That's not funny.”

“Tough crowd. Listen. Do you wanna learn about Galacta Knight or not?” Marx asked. He sounded impatient. At this point he probably just wanted an excuse to get out of the house.

Kirby silently debated to himself. He could always just go on his own but he knew Marx hated being alone for too long. He reminded himself that Marx has been trying to get better and he has shown that he does care about him.

Kirby studied Marx’s expression, he used to be able to catch if he was lying or not by his expression alone when they were younger. Back when they were best friends. He felt a little sad as he realized he didn't really know who Marx was anymore. They used to be the closest of friends that told each other everything. As Kirby looked at him now it felt like they're hardly acquaintances. Despite all this, he could probably be trusted. After all, Marx hasn't lied since their promise. He knew he was probably a fool to trust him again. "Fine, let's go."

Marx grabbed Kirby's hand and tugged him out of bed. "Woohoo!" he cheered and spun him around.

"Hold on! I don't even know where Meta Knight is right now! He completely disappeared without warning after Void was defeated." Kirby protested and planted his feet down when Marx tried dragging him out the door. 

Marx let out a loud sigh. "Of course he did. His poor social battery must've been working overtime. Don't worry, we'll find him." Marx let go of the doorknob.

"And how?" Kirby quirked an eyebrow.

"Teleportation, of course,” he said with a smile and stretched his arms. He stepped away from the door and Kirby as he rubbed his hands together, with the sound of static and sparks of magic flowing from his hands. 

“Don't you need to know where someone is to teleport to them?” Kirby asked as he watched him.

“Pshhh. Of course not!” Marx denied. He cupped his hands, a small glowing light hovering over them. “You just need to know what you're doing.” He lifted the light up and it grew larger. A shade of purple surrounded it and it looked like the same light that Marx would emit when teleporting himself. “Get closer! Or you won't come with me,” Marx ordered.

Kirby stepped close enough to Marx so that their shoulders were touching. Then, the light enveloped them both and next thing Kirby knew, they were in the Halberd.

Chapter Text

Teleportation is a fairly common and often utilized ability by creatures all over Gamble Galaxy. Even the weakest of magic users could teleport due to the vast understanding of how it works. It's been studied and perfected for millennia, the source of where teleportation originally came from was a mystery because of how ancient it is.

There were many different ways to teleport. Portals, wormholes, and rifts, for long distances, and simply dematerializing and materializing somewhere else quickly for short distance travel. Teleporting wouldn't be possible without Another Dimension, a gateway for every portal ever made. It's like the train tracks for the train. Which makes those living in Another Dimension able to teleport as easily as blinking. It is also impossible to reach Another Dimension without teleportation.

There is little risk when teleporting, as long as one fully understands how it works.

All inhabitants of Popstar had the potential to teleport, but not all actually unlocked it or needed it. 

Marx was one that learned everything he could about it. Constantly reading scrolls and books he could find regarding the topic, a majority of said items coming from Meta Knight’s personal library. Most people in Dreamland presumed it was a mythical ability, only available to powerful sorcerers, but Marx didn't care how hard it was to achieve. No matter what, he told himself, he would learn and master teleportation. Often people would ask him why he's bothering to learn such an impossible ability. He wasn't even a magic user. He was a defective noddy. An inferior demon that didn't even have the right ability. Marx disregarded all the nonbelievers and persisted. Maybe he wanted a cool power to flaunt off to others. Maybe he wanted easier transportation. Maybe he just wanted to prove them wrong. He spent so many hours sitting and reading at this point if he gave up he would've wasted a lot of time. Go big or go home, as they say, and he didn't have a home.

While reading a scroll he came across a legend about a powerful god with incredible magic. They were sealed away because of all their power. He thought he already read a legend similar to this, but it was about a knight, not a god. Marx kept looking over the scroll to find the name of the god. 

The Destroyer of Worlds: Void.

"So it happened two times..." Marx leaned his head on his hand with his elbow resting on the table. He heard loud footsteps with the sound of metal clunks coming closer. He perked up. "Meta Knight!"

The masked swordsman approached him, expression unreadable as normal due to his glowing irises being the only thing visible. "What are you doing in here again? I've been looking all over for you,” he asked. 

Marx carefully assessed the situation. Meta Knight's tone was pretty neutral so he wasn't mad. The question was most likely purely asked out of curiosity rather than being accusatory. Being honest will be fine. "I'm reading about this cool thing called teleportation! It's a thing the ancients did and the magic sector of them learned—"

"Teleportation. I know about it. You don't have to explain to me," he interrupted.

Marx snapped his mouth shut and looked down at the mess of books and scrolls around him awkwardly. He got carried away again. Of course he already knew about them when he was in his library to begin with. He was a busy knight. Marx felt a little silly.

Meta Knight looked at the mess too, taking note of how many books had its back facing up rather than its cover, signifying that Marx finished reading it. "And you're reading so many books about it for what reason?"

"Well I wanted to learn how to do it myself so..." Marx said, looking coy. He wanted to learn to impress him, but he didn't want to tell him that. He's tried to learn sword fighting before to impress him but he was never good enough to outshine Kirby, who Meta Knight was a lot more interested in training. He's resorted to learning magic to get his attention back on him. He hoped that once he got his attention again, things would go back to the way they were. When he was a mere toddler. When Meta Knight would tell him stories every night. When he was worth Meta Knight's time.

"Don't waste your time with magic," his voice hardened. It wasn't a growl, but it might as well have been one.

Marx clenched his teeth. Something in him hoped that at least one person would support him in learning magic and he hoped it would be Meta Knight. Because if not him, then who? He felt his fantasy shatter. Everyone's against him. He never felt so alone. This all wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for that other kid. 

Kirby! He'll kill him!

"Marx, stop scratching the table, and put all of that away we’re going out."

Marx broke out of his thoughts once he heard that. It's been awhile since they've gone anywhere outside the castle. He relaxed his hands that were previously stabbing at the table and started gathering the scrolls together while Meta Knight picked up the books. Marx neatly put the scrolls back where he found them. 

Meta Knight walked over to his book shelf and found that most of the books Marx got were located higher than a child his height could reach. 

Marx couldn't see his face but he could tell he was confused. How did a child shorter than him possibly reach that high without a ladder? He walked over to Meta Knight, waiting for him to ask.

"Did you climb the shelves?" he asked, sounding like he was ready to scold him for doing something so reckless.

"No!" Marx scoffed like the answer was obvious. "I can show you how I did it, gimme a book!" He reached a hand out.

Meta Knight handed him one of the books and watched. 

Marx held the book with both of his hands and looked down intensely at it. He grunted as he slowly removed his hands from the book. Instead of falling, it stayed where it was as if gravity wasn't real. Sparks of magic flickered around his hands. He glanced at Meta Knight, hoping he was impressed. He hated that mask so much, he couldn't ever tell what he was truly feeling. 

He looked up at the spot where the book was meant to go and slowly lifted the book upwards. It was a lot harder putting it back than taking down. Be had to be a lot more precise. With a final push, the book was back in its original spot. He looked at Meta Knight with a proud look on his face. "See? Isn't that cool?" He wanted praise. Say something at least.

He waited patiently as Meta Knight thought of what to say.

"Telekinesis... You don't have the ESP ability..." he remarked.

"It's magic. I taught myself," he explained. Say it's cool!

"So he can use magic..." he thought out loud. He sounded concerned out of all things. He looked at the eager child. It was times like this where he was glad to have his mask obscure his expression. He was scared. All those unfounded fears that people had regarding Marx could become true if they knew he had access to such a dangerous weapon. He's already learned telekinesis and is moving on to teleportation. If this goes on any longer he might not be able to defend him any longer.

He looked down at Marx's hands and then grabbed them suddenly, startling the young kid. "Your hands," his worry grew at the sight.

Marx looked at his own hands too. A dark shade of purple vein-like streaks were beginning to coat his fingers. It wasn't there until he started practicing magic.

Meta Knight kneeled down to be eye-level with Marx, gently holding Marx's hands in his own. 

Marx could feel Meta Knight's hands trembling subtly. He didn't get why he was so worried. He should be impressed! Magic didn't even hurt his hands, it just changed how it looked. It wasn't harmful.

"Marx. Magic is a dangerous weapon and using it will only hurt you. You have to stop." he said. 

Marx's face twitched in concealed anger, but Meta Knight didn't catch it or care. “Okay. I will,” he lied.

“Now let's go. We're going to Secret Sea. For a… vacation,” Meta Knight said and stood at his full height.

Marx nodded his head and followed Meta Knight out of his library. He didn't know why they were going on a vacation so suddenly but his mind was too occupied with something else to question it.

Normally he'd listen to Meta Knight and do anything he tells him to do, but he's seen what magic can do. He thought the knight was always right, but saying that magic will only hurt him, that was wrong. Magic is so much more than a weapon. 

He will prove that to him.

Kirby looked around, a bit thrown off to be in the Halberd so quickly. Unlike traveling by portal, Marx's teleportation was spontaneous. 

They appeared to be in one of the corridors. It was empty, so Meta Knight must've been somewhere else, presumably the helm of the ship.

Marx looked around sporadically. He's never been in the Halberd himself, he's only heard about it from Kirby and seen the outside. He looked uneasy.

"You okay?" Kirby asked.

"Uhhhh, y'know what, I think my horn doesn't hurt so much anymore! I'm putting my hat back on!" Marx promptly disappeared and came back wearing his hat. His eyes twitched subtly but it was clear he was uncomfortable with wearing it. "This isn't too bad!" he said.

Kirby didn't believe it for a second but brushed it off. Marx wearing his hat meant less questions from Meta Knight. He turned to where he guessed the front of the ship was. "He's probably in the helm which should be over there." He pointed to a set of conveyor belts that led up. The path to the hull has changed drastically but it's still the same direction.

Marx and Kirby walked on the conveyors scanning around for anyone, but they found no one. Not even the Meta-Knights were here for all they knew. 

It could be that Marx's teleportation was off and he wasn't even on the Halberd to begin with, but that was unlikely because the power was on. So why was Meta Knight on the ship alone?

They finally made it to the helm and saw Meta Knight standing by the large windows. His sword was in hand but in a loose grip.

"Meta Knight, what are you doing here?" Kirby asked.

"I could ask the same for you,” was all he said in reply. He continued to look out the window, his back turned to them. He didn't even bother to say hello or acknowledge that either of them were there besides his reply.

Something about that made Marx furious.

"Holy shit. We get it, you're dark and mysterious and a lonely brooding asshole. You've been spending your time in the Halberd the whole time to be prepared for the next world ending threat. Well guess what ass-mask, the Halberd ain't shit!" Marx snapped. He didn't want to deal with his mysterious schtick today.

Kirby looked at Marx in shock, speechless.

Meta Knight turned around suddenly. "Marx.” He was caught off guard. It seemed like he didn't notice he was here until he heard him speak. 

"Marx, this isn't what we were here for," Kirby whispered.

"Yeah it isn't, but I just need to scold him real quick for refusing to take a break! " Marx shouted. "THERE IS A CELEBRATION GOING ON RIGHT NOW AND YOU ARE STANDING HERE. TENSE AS IF VOID TERMINA IS STILL ALIVE!” He gestured to Kirby. “Your friends are worried.”

Kirby waved awkwardly at Meta Knight. This all came from nowhere as far as Kirby could see. Everything Marx did gave him whiplash.

"Why would they be worried?" Meta Knight asked.

"Because you just disappeared without telling anyone where you were! Who does that?!" Marx exclaimed. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, Kirby's here to ask you about Galacta Knight."

Meta Knight was a bit thrown off at Marx's sudden change of tone. 

Kirby was still trying to process the fact Marx called him an ass to his face twice, and lived.

Meta Knight looked at Kirby. "You wish to hear about Galacta Knight?" He regained his composure quickly. Kirby couldn't even notice he lost it in the first place.

"Y-yeah? I've been having recurring dreams about them and Marx told me you knew about them," Kirby replied.

Meta Knight nodded. "I've told Marx many tales regarding the greatest warrior in the galaxy. I can tell you all I know. Though it is odd you're getting recurring dreams about them."

"Oh, it's ‘greatest warrior’! Not swordsman! I found that title odd since he uses a lance," Kirby said.

"I remembered it wrong okay!? It's been decades since I heard the story and many people get it wrong," Marx said. This is why I didn't take us to Magolor, Marx thought.

"Would you like me to say everything I know about them?" Meta Knight asked. "It is quite a lot."

"Tell me everything," Kirby replied eagerly.

"Very well. Galacta Knight went by multiple titles. Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy, Aeon hero, there may be many more we don't know about. He is similar to you and I. Our origins aren't well known and we are extremely powerful. Though, they were quite old by the time they earned their title as 'Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy'. Much older than me and immensely older than you. They were also a hero like you, happy to help everyone and defeat universal threats. It's even been speculated that they helped with sealing the original Void away and that they were one of the Four Heroes of Yore. Much of their story has been warped and twisted over the eons, but it has been made clear that they were sealed away for eternity for their great power."

"What!?" Kirby exclaimed. "Sealed away for eternity! Why!?"

"They were feared for their great power. They were strong enough to destroy planets with ease," he calmly explained.

Marx looked at Kirby. He looked stressed out at hearing that. It made sense, Kirby was regarded as one of the most powerful beings at the moment and he was scared that people feared him. For Galacta Knight to be so similar to Kirby... What if their fate paralleled Kirby's?

"Where are they now? I want to free them," Kirby stated. It was unfair to be locked away for all eternity and he wouldn't want to wish that on anyone. He couldn't stand to do nothing when Galacta Knight was out there frozen in time. This is why he was having these dreams, it was a call for help.

"They were sealed away for a reason, Kirby. They didn't stay a hero," Meta Knight cautioned.

"I've handled Void Termina. If anything goes south I can take care of it. Being sealed away for that long... That's not a justified punishment no matter the crime! It's a fate worse than death!" Kirby said with conviction. 

Meta Knight sighed, "They haven't been spotted in a long, long time. I suppose the only way to find them would be..."

"Wishing for it," Marx finished his sentence. Eyes were on him now. "A nova has the power to find and bring Galacta Knight to you if you wish for it," he continued. "But the nearest nova was destroyed decades ago soooo."

"I'm afraid Marx is right. As of now, there's no way to find Galacta Knight, unless someone knows where they are or can find another nova.”

"But Marx teleported here and he didn't know where you were!" Kirby pointed out. 

Marx looked embarrassed once Kirby pointed that out. It was like he visibly shrunk down in an attempt to go invisible.

"That only works with people who have formed a strong bond together," Meta Knight said, surprised. "It wouldn't work for Galacta Knight because none of us know them."

Kirby looked at Marx, "A strong bond?"

"It's not as specific as a strong bond! Any strong feeling towards someone can work. Hate can work. Though, we're lucky to even land on the Halberd since my connection to him is so weak," Marx elaborated. He was avoiding eye contact from both of them.

"Ok, can one of you please explain what happened between you two?" Kirby questioned. Every time he's asked one of them alone about the other they'd brush it off. Normally he'd understand it wasn't his business, but at this point they were just avoiding whatever is bothering them.

Marx groaned, "I thought we were here to learn about Galacta Knight." He was clearly put off by the question.

"We were and we did. Now you two seriously have issues you have to work out."

"I could literally say the same for—" he cut himself off with a grunt. "Fine! You want to hear my tragic little backstory, huh?" Marx barked. "Meta Knight raised me. He did a shit job at it and then left in this dumb hunk of junk of a ship to take over Dreamland. End of story." He glared at the knight.

"It was not that simple—"

"Right! I guess you weren't all bad at it. At the very least you told me bedtime stories and pretended to be a decent caregiver. Oh wait! All of them were true legends about the ancients instead of actual stories for children. Well, there was one that you made up yourself. Which was about a knight killing a family of monsters or something and regretting it. It made sense why you relied on legends, that story you made up was way too morbid for a toddler. You couldn't even tell bedtime stories to a child correctly! Why'd you even... Why am I even here if you didn't want to handle the responsibility of a child?”

"I didn't make that story up," Meta Knight admitted, his voice was almost too quiet to hear.

Marx bursted out laughing, "You're joking, right? Who would it even be about?"

Kirby watched Meta Knight attentively, waiting for a response. He noticed the knight's shoulders were tense. He didn't know what to expect from asking about Meta Knight and Marx’s past, but it certainly wasn't this. He always assumed that they just had long time grudges about some prank Marx pulled.

Meanwhile Marx was looking over him, scanning for any body language that could show him he's joking, but he found none. His laughter stopped abruptly as he bit his lip, drawing a little bit of blood. 

His face instantly turned into a scowl. "It was about me. Wasn't it? That's how you found me." Marx stepped forward. "That family of monsters," another step, "was my real family, and you killed them!?" he growled.

Marx was right up in front of his face, able to see the uncovered sliver of his face peaking through the mask. For a moment, Meta Knight felt like he had no mask at all.

"I was ordered to." He struggled to keep his voice from wavering. "I didn't know it was a family. It was too late once I did and even then I probably wouldn't have been able to convince them to be spared."

Marx twisted his face into an expression of morbid curiosity. "Why didn't you just kill me with the rest of them so I didn't have to put up with a sorry excuse of a parent like you?" The venom in his words stung.

Meta Knight fell silent. Marx definitely struck a nerve because the room stayed quiet for seconds that felt like hours.

"...I tried to do my best, but I know it wasn't enough. I didn't want to snuff out a life so young and I wouldn't have killed them if I wasn't ordered to."

"You could've at least found someone better to take care of me."

"I tried. Believe me. I couldn't find anyone better. Everyone was scared of you. So many times did I have to defend your life. So many times I risked not only my reputation but my own life as well by keeping you under my care."

"Well then, tell me. Was it worth all the trouble?" Marx dared to ask.

"Of course it was." There was no hesitation to his answer.

"Fuck!" he swore and jerked away from Meta Knight to hide his face in his sleeves. It clearly wasn't the answer Marx was expecting. "I tried so hard to just hate you to make things simple, but this isn't simple! You hurt me so much. So why do I still care about you?"

"You shouldn't,” he put his head down in shame.

Marx sniffled, he didn't know when he started crying but he couldn't stop it. He hated it.

Kirby watched from a short distance as Marx cried into his sleeves, his face completely obscured. He knew exactly how he felt. It was funny, because it was the same way he felt about Marx.

It was ironic, really. To still care for someone that's hurt you. It seems so obvious at first that if someone hurts you, they're a horrible person and you should cut them off, but things aren't that black and white. The world doesn't work that way no matter how hard you try to pretend it doesn't. 

It could be by accident. 

They could regret it. 

They could be trying everything to reconcile.

It all comes down to whether or not you're willing to forgive and it isn't always easy to choose. When you've known them for so long, cared for them, loved them. 

Any harm done by loved ones cut as deep as your connection with them. 

It's scary and it's why some would rather avoid forming deep connections completely.

"I'm sorry,” Meta Knight said, struggling to keep his volume level and voice steady. 

Marx looked up from his sleeves. He looked skeptical despite all the tears and snot on his face.

Meta Knight reached up and removed his mask, revealing his expression to Marx for the first time. His silver eyes shone with tears threatening to fall.

Marx's sleeves fell to his sides. He never expected to see the day where Meta Knight willingly showed his face to him.

Meta Knight unfurled his cape into his wings and wrapped them around Marx to pull him into a hug. 

“I'm sorry I couldn't be the father you deserved. I shouldn't have ever abandoned you."

Marx nestled into the hug, afraid Meta Knight would disappear, afraid this was a dream waiting to turn into a nightmare. But it never did, and Meta Knight was still here.

"I missed you so much."

Chapter Text

Kirby sat down on the grass, looking at the permanent crescent moon. He was happy that Marx and Meta Knight finally reconciled, but what he learned about Galacta Knight...

To be sealed away out of fear, and fear of their power no less, made Kirby uneasy. It could happen to himself.

Didn't something similar happen to Void? He knew Void didn't do anything wrong; they just weren't given love. It was all a misunderstanding. Maybe that's how it was for Galacta Knight too.

He needed to find them.

"Hey hey hey!" Marx said in a cheery tone. "Did ya forget I was here or something? You haven't said a word since we got back here." He had his hat off, he had it off the moment they returned from the Halberd.

"Hm? Oh, sorry," Kirby said. He avoided looking at his horn. He didn't like seeing the harm he caused. It made him feel like trash.

"Dude, you don't have to apologize. I'm just wondering if you're okay."

"Sor—I mean yeah, yeah I'm good." Kirby tried to sound authentic, but his voice wasn't cooperating with him. He sounded as stressed as he felt.

"Y'know, just because the compromise was broken doesn't mean I can't tell when you're lying." Marx lied down on the grass. He was looking up at the sky as he spoke.

Kirby flinched at the reminder. He sighed, "I'm tired."

Marx nodded to himself. "You wanna talk about it later?"

Kirby hummed a yes in response. He was starting to nod off. It's been awhile since he's last slept. He's been avoiding dreaming.

Marx got to his feet and yawned obnoxiously. "Welp, it's getting late." He looked at Kirby, waiting for him to get up as well.

Kirby stayed where he was like he didn't even hear him.

Marx cleared his throat. "I said it's getting late. You need to go to bed."

Kirby groaned in protest, still unmoving.

Marx summoned his arms and grabbed Kirby by the legs. "Come on!" He draped Kirby's legs over his back and onto his shoulders. He carried Kirby to his house. He kicked open the door and took him inside. He let go of his legs and left Kirby lying down on the carpet. After he shut the door he joined Kirby down on the carpet. "Go take a shower and brush your teeth. You need some shuteye."

Kirby sat up. "I can't sleep after that!" he fussed. "If Galacta Knight was sealed away because he was so strong, then what'll happen to me?!" He brought his hands to his chest, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt's fabric.

"You're not that strong. I mean, you are strong as hell but how do you know if you're as strong as Galacta Knight?" Marx asked. He put a hand on Kirby's shoulder.

"Did you forget the fight with Void Termina?!"

"Yeah, yeah. Blah blah blah, they looked like you and dark matter, whatever."

"'Whatever'? You can't just say whatever to that! That means something! It could mean I'm related to Void, and Void's probably related to Dark Matter too, so."

Marx cocked his head. "Do you think that's why Meta Knight wears his mask? He looks like you and Void too."

"Huh?"

"And you're not like Meta Knight. Just because you're possibly related to those two eldritch horrors doesn't mean you're going to be similar to them."

Kirby's grip on his shirt stayed. He still looked unconvinced. "You can't be sure about that."

Marx gawked, "Just look at Gooey! Or me! Actually just look at Gooey, he's a better example!" He gave Kirby a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "Look, we'll sort things out more tomorrow. You just need to rest first."

"Fine." Kirby finally relaxed his arms and laid them beside himself. He went into the bathroom for a quick shower. When he stepped out he was in his pajamas. 

Marx also took a quick shower and surprisingly also changed into his pajamas despite showing dislike to it prior.

Kirby sat down on his bed. He looked down at Marx who was shifting around on the carpet. "Why do you always sleep on the carpet? Isn't it uncomfortable?"

Marx shrugged, "Eh it's better than the outside ground."

Kirby lay down on the bed and patted an open spot beside him. 

Marx wordlessly stood up and went to the spot Kirby pointed out. He suddenly felt like a foreign object as he sank into the mattress. He opened his mouth to say a teasing remark but promptly closed it. He stole all the covers off of Kirby instead, and faced away from him.

Kirby turned off the light. He didn't really mind having no covers. It was fairly hot in his house and Kirby couldn't understand how Marx was wrapping himself in covers without overheating. He decided not to think about it and closed his eyes.

He must've been more tired than he thought because he fell asleep almost instantaneously.

When he opened his eyes once more he looked down at his hands to see they were porcelain, stained with multicolored cracks. The ground looked similar to that on Halcandra, except the soil seemed more fertile.

Someone was speaking to him. 

He couldn't understand. Not anymore.

His head felt heavy. He reached up and felt that he had long horns. 

The voice speaking to him sounded clearer and harsher. The changing of tone caught him off guard. They stepped into clear view. 

Galacta Knight.

They were holding a heart spear. 

Kirby backed up unwillingly before bursting into an outright sprint. He had wings, but he forgot how to fly. He tried jumping and hoping his wings would do the rest. It was futile, Galacta Knight was faster. 

The heart spear pierced right through him. It didn't physically hurt, but the spear left a heavy sensation on his chest. He beat his wings in a last ditch attempt to get away, like a bird trapped in a cage.

Kirby woke up. It wasn't that late nor early. He rested fairly well, besides having whatever that dream was. Most of his memory of it faded away by now, but the feeling of the heart spear piercing him and Galacta Knight's unfeeling gaze stuck with him.

He noticed that part of the blanket was on him and looked at Marx.

It seems that he pushed away some of the blanket off himself some time last night. He also changed positions as he was facing towards him rather than the wall. It looked like he was still sleeping, so Kirby didn't bother him as he got out of bed. 

He walked into the bathroom and washed his face. When he looked up he saw Shadow Kirby staring back at him. Kirby flinched back. "Hey... Shadow. Nice haircut," Kirby greeted.

Shadow Kirby gave him an unamused look. "Yeah. How're you holding up? Marx still here?"

"I'm doing fine and yes he's still here," Kirby replied. He completely left out the fact that he had a little fight with Marx that ended in his horn being broken. He didn't feel like being blackmailed today. 

"Hmph." Shadow Kirby smugly smiled. "I knew you were a pushover but man, this is just sad."

Kirby squinted at him. "I don't see how this is a problem, I'm just being a good friend."

Shadow Kirby laughed. "You really do just throw that word around. I have your memories of that time he betrayed you. You didn't want to forgive him for what he's done and yet here you are, forcing yourself to."

Kirby crossed his arms. "I don't see why you're here when it's my problem."

"I'm waiting for you to snap."

Kirby widened his eyes.

"Oh? You already did, didn't you?! Aw man, I can't believe I missed it!" 

Kirby pinched the bridge of his nose and massaged it. "I didn't snap, it was just a little disagreement and we're already on good terms again."

Shadow Kirby began to step out of the mirror. "Oh I need to see the damage."

"Huh?!" Kirby exclaimed. He rushed over to block the bathroom door. "There is no damage! It wasn't a big deal."

Kirby was pushed off the door as it swung open. He almost fell over. He nervously looked at the doorway. To his relief, Marx was wearing his hat.

"Hey, mirror boy, can you hush? Some of us are trying to sleep!" Marx hissed.

Shadow Kirby's face hardened and both of them glared at each other. He looked over Marx and was disappointed to see no injuries. "Sure. I was just leaving anyway." He turned to the mirror and went up on the counter. "Try not to betray Kirby again, clown."

"You should mind your own business," Marx said. "Maybe if you did that instead of meddling in on Kirby's life, you wouldn't have trouble protecting your world."

Shadow Kirby's head whipped back to Marx.

"O-kay let's calm down and say bye, politely," Kirby said in a desperate attempt to diffuse the situation.

Unfortunately he failed.

Shadow Kirby pushed himself off the counter and cracked his knuckles. "Excuse. Me?"

Marx gave him a smug look, "You're excused, Oh failed Guardian of the Mirror. Now leave."

Marx instinctively ducked as Shadow Kirby tried to punch his face. He let out a giggle as if to taunt him.

Shadow Kirby reached for his head and grabbed at his hat.

Marx let out an inhuman garble before biting his arm in retaliation.

Shadow Kirby lurched backwards with a grunt.

Kirby stepped in between the two to prevent the fight from going on. "That's enough! Just go!" Kirby ordered Shadow Kirby. The malice in his voice was enough to take both of them aback. He didn't like raising his voice like this. It didn't feel natural.

Shadow Kirby didn't have to be told again and leapt through his mirror, clutching the arm Marx bit. 

"I hate that guy!" Marx complained. 

Kirby let out a labored breath and crouched down. 

Marx's ear flicked and he noticed Kirby kneeling on the ground. "You good?"

"I thought—he could've... If he found out about the thing with your horn he would've," his breath shuddered, "he would've told everyone."

Marx crouched down next to Kirby. "Hey, it's okay."

"Why did you provoke him like that?"

"I—" Marx trailed off. He didn't have an answer.

A faint ringing echoed from the other room.

Kirby grunted into his hands, "What now?" He stood up and walked to the countertop he kept his phone on. He saw that it was from Prince Fluff. He tightened a fist by his side and answered the phone.

"Hey Kirby."

"Hi Fluff..."

"How's the situation with Marx? Did you find him a home yet? We got an apartment open at Quilty Square if you haven't."

Kirby clutched the phone as he looked to the bathroom. "We have found a home actually!" Kirby blurted out.

"Oh, that's great! Where is it? Not that I'm planning on visiting him," he said with a laugh.

Kirby immediately regretted the lie. He thought for a moment. "He's staying with Magolor now. On the Lor. So it's not really in a static place."

"I see. I'm glad you sorted that out."

"Right, thanks. Bye!" Kirby hung up immediately and put the phone down like it was on fire. He sighed.

"The Lor Starcutter, huh? That's not that bad of an idea actually," Marx said. He walked out the bathroom.

"What? You staying there?"

"No, no, the Lor has so much knowledge on the ancients and artifacts there's gotta be something that can find Galacta Knight or at the very least we can get more information about them," Marx elaborated excitedly.

"You haven't given up on that?" Kirby asked, surprised. He nearly gave up on finding Galacta Knight once Meta Knight said the only way would be by wishing on a nova, but the reminder of the Lor Starcutter gave him a glimmer of hope.

"Nope! I'm stubborn." Marx shrugged.

Kirby smiled, he knew where Magolor was at the moment too. Magolor told Kirby himself that he was going to park the Lor near Sacred Square. Before Kirby could take a step towards the door, Marx grabbed his hand and they were instantly in the Lor, right beside Magolor.

The hooded wizard shrieked at the sudden intrusion and dropped whatever he was holding. "MARX I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT!" He yelled, angrily.

"Soooorry." He didn't look guilty one bit.

Magolor sighed and looked at the mess of mechanical parts scattered on the floor. He began picking the parts up.

Kirby instinctively did the same.

Magolor jerked up when he noticed Kirby was also in his ship. "Oh! Kirby!—Ahem—Didn't see you there." He clutched the parts he was holding close to himself. "You don't need to help with picking up the parts I got it covered." He hastily snatched the parts that Kirby was holding away from him.

"Hi, Magolor. I'm sorry for the sudden intrusion, Marx did this without warning," Kirby apologized genuinely on Marx's behalf. He took note of how nervous Magolor was. He hoped it wasn't because he was scheming something again, but he also hoped Magolor wasn't scared of him.

"Yeah, he does that." He sounded annoyed, but in a way that he was used to Marx's usual tomfoolery.

Kirby remembered what Meta Knight said about teleporting to someone. A stronger bond meant landing in a more accurate destination. For Marx to teleport directly beside Magolor, they must be good friends. Despite how destructive both their personalities are when combined. He couldn't help but wonder how accurate Marx could teleport to Kirby.

"So... What's Kirby of the Stars doing here?" Magolor asked. He placed the parts he picked up onto the workbench behind him.

Marx opened his mouth to answer for him, but Kirby cut him off.

"You know a lot about the ancients right?"

"That's right!~" Magolor clasped his hands together.

"Right, I've been having recurring dreams about Galacta Knight and—"

Magolor gasped. "Recurring dreams!? Oh those have always been known to be prophetic of some sorts. Oh my stars, are you going to fight against Galacta Knight!?"

"No! I just want to meet them," Kirby corrected.

Marx leaned on a wall while watching the conversation go down, eyes shifting back and forth to the person speaking.

"Just 'meet' them? Aha! Get in line! People have been searching for the crystal they were sealed in for eons!" He sounded amused. "Meet the pink demon! Hilarious."

Kirby frowned. "What did you call them?"

Marx stood up straight and signaled at Magolor.

"Oh, no no no no! I wasn't calling Galacta Knight 'pink demon' I was calling you that. I just worded it weirdly," Magolor elaborated while waving his hands.

"So you don't have anything that can find Galacta Knight?" Marx peeped in.

"Unfortunately no..."

"Can you locate another nova at least?"

"There's only so many functional novas left and you led to the destruction of one! It'd take forever to find another functional one and it's frankly not worth the effort with how hard it is to find star power these days," Magolor complained. He noticed Kirby's glum look. "There is one legend that I've heard of that can guide you to Galacta Knight, but I don't know if it's true."

"Get on with it," Marx urged.

"There's an orange butterfly that flutters across dimensions and 'feasts on the most powerful soul it finds'. So if you ever find the right orange butterfly, you theoretically could find Galacta Knight because they are the most powerful soul there is."

"That's not helpful at all," Marx deadpanned.

"No wait, I've seen an orange butterfly often! It always lands on me after I save the universe. Except, it didn't show up after I defeated Void Termina. It leaves this weird pollen all the time too, it's kinda warm."

Magolor slammed down his hands on the workbench, making all of the parts on it jolt up. "YOU'VE CAME INTO CONTACT WITH WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY DEATH MULTIPLE TIMES AND LIVED?! " he screamed.

"I guess?" Kirby shrugged. The butterfly seemed harmless for the most part, but he should know by now that looks don't mean everything. Heck, he was with the two people that taught him that in the first place. 

"No wonder people call you pink demon." Magolor put a hand on his forehead. "So you haven't seen it recently."

"No..." Kirby said.

Magolor hummed while thinking. "Well, like I said earlier. Recurring dreams are prophetic. You finding Galacta Knight is probably bound to happen, but it might be in the far future, who knows? I say just take your mind off it and let things run its course. Or you'll go insane."

"It happens a lot when researching anything to do with the ancients," Marx added.

Kirby looked disappointed. "Okay... One last thing. Can you tell me any details about why Galacta Knight was sealed away? I know it was because of their power but did they do anything particularly bad?"

Magolor glanced at Marx before answering. "They've destroyed planets, Kirby. Think of how many innocents that were killed. No amount of heroism excuses what they've done." His voice hardened with malice.He rubbed his hands together.

"Oh." Kirby oddly felt relief. He's never done something like destroy planets. He could clearly see now that Galacta Knight was sealed away not just because of power, but because he was evil. He asked himself if this changed anything about wanting to free them. Although being trapped for all eternity is something he wouldn't wish on anyone, all those people they killed... Maybe it wasn't his place to judge.

"Do you still want to free them? After hearing what they've done?" Marx asked.

Kirby stayed silent. 

Magolor bursted into laughter. "Ahahahaha! Free them?! The ancients locked them away for a reason! People only want to find them for a fight of the lifetime or just take a look at them! No one in their right mind would want to free them.”

"You two know how I am with second chances," Kirby said, sternly, "but now I'm not sure..."

"So even you have your limits! Good for you," Magolor said in a demeaning tone.

Kirby knit his eyebrows close together. "I don't give everyone a second chance, Magolor." Sometimes he couldn't.

"Right, right. Oh! Since you're here, can you accompany me to Halcandra?"

"No," Kirby answered without hesitation.

Magolor shrunk down. "Really? No consideration?"

Kirby sighed, "Why do you want to go to Halcandra?" Magolor was silently banned from going to Halcandra alone ever since the incident. He couldn't go without company anyway because Landia would attack him.

"I'm running low on tech parts! Popstar doesn't have the advanced technology for my projects. I went to Sacred Square because it was closely tied to the ancients, but there's nothing salvageable here! Only rubble and ruins! I'd ask Susie for parts but none of her company's tech is compatible with other parts not made by her company! Pretty dumb if you ask me."

"Parts for what kind of projects?"

Magolor grabbed something off his workbench. It looked like a kind of scepter. "Look, I'm a descendant of the ancients. Of course I want to make things. But! Unlike my ancestors I'm trying to combine magic and machinery." Magolor activated the scepter by lighting the tip of it on fire. Once the scepter was lit, he lifted it up and a stream of fire flowed out of it. He brought it back down and snuffed out the fire. "I was intrigued with the whole applying abilities to other abilities thing and I managed to make this scepter that can mimic elemental copy abilities."

"You made this, why?"

"Because it's cool! And I guess, if another catastrophic event occurs and I make enough of them, I can lend them to waddle dees so they aren't as... weak."

"He was going to say useless."

"Yeah, I got that. Listen Magolor, I know that's just an excuse. Why do you really want parts?”

Magolor looked disappointed as he put the scepter back on the workbench. “Okay look, I really do just want to make these inventions for fun. Nothing more. It's my hobby. Before I'd work on fixing and upgrading the Lor Starcutter, but she's all finished now and I've moved on to new projects. Totally harmless projects that I swear I'm not going to use for evil.”

He sounded really convincing, but he was always good at sounding convincing. Though, he hasn't done anything wrong as of recently. Kirby looked at Marx for a second opinion.

It took Marx a second to understand what Kirby’s silent question was. “I don't think he's lying. Dude likes making his trinkets. Besides, a trip to Halcandra would be fun. All of us on a space trip—”

“Who said you're going too?” Magolor asked.

“He can come,” Kirby said.

“Haha! Yeah! Juuuust the three of us~ We can make it if we try! ” Marx sang horribly off-key and wrapped his arms around Magolor and Kirby. He rocked side to side, causing the two to unwillingly rock along too. “ Just the three of us~! ” Marx continued.

“Just the three of us, ” Kirby echoed.

“Yeaha! Mags come on! Just the three of us. Building castles in the sky. Just the three of us… ”

“You two are excruciatingly horrible at singing!” Magolor whined as he reached into his hood to cover his ears. “Lor! Set a course for Halcandra.”

The ship hummed to life and began to rumble. It lifted itself off the ground as the oars stirred the air.

Magolor shrugged Marx’s arm off of him and trotted over to the controls of the Lor.

“You just don't have taste!” Marx nagged. He patted Kirby’s back. “Don't worry, we're awesome singers.”

Kirby chuckled. They both knew they were horrible at singing, but he was glad that Marx didn't mind it.

Marx dramatically inhaled, “Juuu— ”

“SHUT UP!” Magolor bellowed, voice cracking from how loud he was shouting.

Maybe this surprise space trip to Halcandra could be fun. It's been awhile since he's gone to space casually rather than to save the universe.

Chapter Text

Marx and Kirby sat on the floor nearby Magolor. Despite how big the ship was, there wasn't anywhere to sit. Kirby would've questioned how Magolor doesn't get tired standing around all the time until he remembered he has fully prosthetic legs. They sat around for a few minutes, listening to Magolor murmur to himself as he typed away at the control panel. He talked to himself a lot, presumably because he was used to being alone. At least it was decent background noise.

It didn't take long to reach Halcandra thanks to the Lor Starcutter's rift technology. The warm and ashy atmosphere of the planet covered the windows as soon as they began to land. From what they could see from the windows, the industrial ruin of the place looked even more worn down than it was the last time Kirby came here.

"We've arrived! Kirby, stand near me just in case. I don't want Landia to attack me on sight." Magolor beckoned him.

The ship's hatch opened with a mechanical whirr. As soon as it did the dry, hot air streamed into the room. It looked and smelled like everything was on fire. Which was expected because of the gigantic active volcano.

Kirby felt like he was under ten layers of blankets. He managed to get a headache from the shift in atmosphere alone. Marx and Magolor didn't seem phased at all by the harsh air. To be fair, Magolor had a scarf covering his mouth and Marx probably didn't even need to breathe. They both walked out with no problem adjusting to the atmosphere. He took a few deep breaths to adjust.

He stepped out to join the other two and looked up at the orange sky. He felt his heart jump in anxiousness. It was so violent and sudden it threw him off guard. He didn't understand why it happened. A lingering anxiety stayed in his chest as he looked around. He was probably still adjusting to the environment.

He remembered what Magolor said and quickened his pace to catch up with him and Marx.

"The old factory should be around... there it is!" Magolor chirped. He floated over to the massive metal hunk of a building.

Egg Engines. He remembered this place. It was the second to last place they went to right before Magolor betrayed them.

"Just hurry up and defeat that dragon for me. And for Halcandra!"

"it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to Landia's mountain lair!"

He winced. He could practically hear the words being said to him right now. He unconsciously dug his nails into his hand. He kept his gaze on the ground. I don't like being in Halcandra, Kirby quickly realized.

"Kirby. Hey!"

"Huh?" Kirby looked up to see Marx staring. He let his hand loosen.

"You good? You looked pretty angry there for a sec," Marx said. "What'd the ground do to you?"

Kirby realized he was staring at the ground intensely most of the walk to Egg engines. "Nothing! The ground did nothing. I was just thinking about...stuff." Great save. At least it wasn't a lie.

Marx opened his mouth but was interrupted by Magolor, who rubbed his hands together. "Alrighty! We're here and no complications with Landia, how nice! Anyway, I should be fine on my own for now. You two can go do your own thing now," he shooed them away dismissively.

"Wait, what? That's it?" Kirby asked. He was expecting to do more than just walk around. He thought he was going to help.

Magolor was already beginning to walk away. "Yeah, Landia didn't shoot down the Lor immediately so I should be fine. Unless you're still skeptical of me you're free to watch or wait in the Lor. Your pick."

Kirby's shoulders slumped. "Oh. You don't need me for anything?" Disappointment seeped into his tone. Why was he disappointed? Shouldn't he be relieved he didn't have to do anything? The chagrin he felt was unwelcome and the more he tried to push it away the more he felt it.

"Nope!" Magolor shouted from afar. He walked into one of the entrances of the factory. And then he was gone.

Marx put a hand on Kirby's shoulder, startling him and earning himself a bitter stare. "Yoooooou, wanna ditch this place?"

Kirby thought for a moment. It would be smart to keep watch of Magolor but at the same time... He looked around. The familiar surroundings threw him for a loop. He almost felt like he was younger and looking for energy spheres again. He didn't like that feeling. He nodded, "Yeah." 

Marx's wings materialized. "Up we go!" he exclaimed before picking up Kirby by the shoulders and flying up. He took them away from Egg Engines and somewhere Kirby hasn't been before. There were many caves and rocks, hardly any lava, surprisingly, but no vegetation at all. No buildings were in sight either, not even ruins of some.

Kirby took in the new surroundings. He was grateful that they were somewhere Kirby didn't recognize. The memories of his adventure around here were too bittersweet and being in one of those areas most certainly didn't help. Being somewhere he's never been before was refreshing. "Where is this?" Kirby asked.

"Oh, y'know. Just some place away from the modern civilization of this place," Marx replied. He lowered them down gently, right in front of one of the caves. "I just find this place neat. There's funny scribbles on the walls of each cave. Go take a look in the cave yourself." He ushered Kirby into the cave.

Kirby decided to humor Marx and walked in. He looked carefully at the walls and saw the many drawings etched into the rocks. They didn't look like simple "funny scribbles" to him. He saw drawings of people that looked similar to Magolor in ships that looked like the Lor Starcutter. There appeared to be multiple ships. There was also writing that seemed to label parts of the drawing in an ancient language. He walked further down the cave. Studying the drawings. He recognized another drawing to be of Landia wearing the Master crown. They were drawn in an almost god-like fashion, with people bowing down to them. He reached the end of the cave, which was lit by glowing rocks. The drawing etched on the very back was huge and it was of Galacta Knight. They were holding a heart spear rather than the lance he usually saw him with. And below, what Galacta Knight was aiming at, was a creature that looked eerily familiar. It looked vaguely like Void Termina, except they didn't have Kirby's face. It had one eye, strikingly similar to the shape of Galacta Knight's mask. Kirby didn't get it, they were clearly portrayed as a hero in this drawing. Why did they destroy those planets? Why throw away what they had?

"Kirby."

Kirby flinched out of surprise. He didn't notice Marx walk in at all.

Surprisingly, Marx didn't laugh or tease him for flinching like he normally would. His expression was completely transparent, showing his mixed feelings of nervousness and perhaps a hint of guilt. He looked over the drawing of Galacta Knight. "I need to tell you something about Galacta Knight," he said.

"What is it?" Kirby asked.

"The reason I didn't take us to Magolor sooner," he paused to look at the cave entrance, "was because some of the stuff he's said about Galacta Knight is wrong. There are too many different stories about them and I've gone crazy carefully dissecting as many as I could. So many of them contradict. I ended up with the conclusion that Meta Knight's is the most accurate one, which is why it is so vague. It's hard to tell what's true or not, but I was able to find something out on my own."

"Uh huh?" Kirby put all his focus in following his words. He didn't understand why they had to be alone for this. He could've told him all this back at the Lor. Better yet, why was he waiting until now to say all this?

"Galacta Knight... They didn't actually kill innocent people. It was only rumored that they destroyed planets because they were strong enough to. They didn't do anything wrong, or maybe they did, but nothing catastrophic like those things. They were sealed away purely out of fear of their strength."

Kirby was stunned. Upon hearing that, his head flooded with too many feelings to process. It got overwhelming. He didn't want to cry again. He wasn't going to. He took a deep breath to calm down his speeding pulse. 

“What instigated that fear? What could've possibly given the Ancients the idea to seal someone away because they were so strong?” Marx asked on Kirby’s behalf. He looked at the carving on the wall.

“Void’s imprisonment,” Kirby answered.

It all clicked together. The Four Heroes of Yore imprisoning Void away, and then disappearing afterwards. Galacta Knight was one of those heroes. He saw how he could wield heart spears in his dreams. He didn't quite know what happened to the rest of the heroes, maybe they weren't as strong as Galacta Knight and were forgotten. 

Galacta Knight was sealed out of fear. Out of assumptions that he would destroy planets just because he could.

This was what Kirby dreaded, that Galacta Knight was sealed away for something unfair. Their story was so tainted that Marx had to go through many stories just to piece something together. Kirby let out a choked gasp that sounded somewhat like a laugh. "What—what if that happens to me? Ahahaha ... What if I get sealed away too? If word gets out that I hurt you on accident. Without even thinking about it—I mean I was able to defeat Void Termina. What does that mean for me?"

"I won't let that happen."

"I can't even tell if you're lying or not anymore. I broke the compromise. Oh stars, I broke the compromise." Kirby brought his hands to his face and started itching at his cheeks just so he had something to do with them. He was spiraling. He knew that but he couldn't stop. Marx could lie to him again, and he could lie to Marx. He could be lying right now. He could be playing some twisted prank on him. As angry as that would make him, he foolishly wished that was the case.

"Forget the stupid compromise!” Marx shouted, snapping Kirby out from his thoughts. “We don't need magic to trust each other." Marx held his hand out, with only his pinky extended. Like when he summoned his arms to comfort Kirby, they were noticeably human. "I promise you I won't deceive you anymore. No strings attached. No magic backing this. This is a promise."

Kirby hesitantly wrapped his pinky around Marx's. It wasn't anything like the handshake they did when forming the compromise. There was no magic to provide certainty. There was only trust.

"And I will do anything to prevent you from being sealed away," he said before letting go of Kirby's pinky.

His words brought more comfort this time. "Thank you." He sighed and crouched down against the wall. He was still processing everything. Upon hearing they destroyed planets he tried to paint Galacta Knight as an evil villain, despite knowing things were never black and white. It brought comfort to think for a second that the world was fair.

To be sealed away purely out of fear, and after being a hero that stopped universes threats. He needed to save them. 

Marx patiently waited for Kirby to think things over.

Finally, Kirby stood up. "Magolor should be done by now, right? We should check on him," he suggested. He didn't want to think any longer about Galacta Knight at the moment. He was too emotionally tired.

Marx nodded and they walked out of the cave so he could fly them back to Egg Engines. They looked around for Magolor and called out his name. Kirby and Marx even split up to search around faster. They couldn't find him.

“Let's check Dangerous Dinner,” Kirby said. From what Kirby remembered, there was hardly any technology that could be salvaged for parts near the volcano, but if he wasn't here, it was their best bet.

They took flight once more and looked around the volcano. Kirby most certainly did not miss the harsh heat of this place. At least the place was more open than Egg Engines. A quick glance around was enough to spot Magolor near the top of the volcano. They landed next to Magolor, who jolted at the sudden company.

He fumbled with a piece of gold and put it behind his back. “Oh! You two done dilly-dallying?” he asked innocently.

Kirby instantly recognized that piece of gold. "Is that... A piece of the master crown?!" he inquired.

"I—uh. Y-yes," Magolor stammered, "but I swear I wasn't going to do anything bad with it! I just wanted to study it! Come on, we're best friends right? You have to believe me!"

“Do you think I'm that stupid?” Kirby spat.

Magolor was lying. Again. And pulling the “best friends” bullshit. Again!

Well guess what? He wasn't as naive and dense as he was back then. It was so obvious he wasn't telling the truth. He should've expected this by now. If anything, he was anticipating it the entire time. The fury was instant. Anger spread throughout his body like a wildfire. He clenched his hands into fists, tight enough to draw blood. He didn't even feel the sting. His adrenaline prevented him from feeling anything but pure unadulterated rage. His face twisted into a sneer as an inhuman growl bubbled in his throat. He drew his fist back.

Right as he did, two arms held him back. One wrapped around the arm he reeled back. The other, tightly holding his chest in place.

He brought up his other arm to tear off the hands from his body, but they stubbornly stayed in place. This only made his fury grow. He thrashed around, trying to get out of the tight grasp. He could hardly think properly. Has he ever been this mad before? Besides that one time with Marx, he's always pushed it down before. It felt good. It felt liberating to lash out like this.

He saw the fear in Magolor's eyes. He couldn't bring himself to feel any guilt or sympathy. In fact, he felt a twinge of satisfaction. Damn right he should be scared. He wanted to rip his mouth off. All he did with it was lie, anyway.

"...you need to stop!" Marx’s voice rang out.

Magolor staggered backwards before turning heel and jumping down the side of the volcano. He broke his fall by floating down at the last second.

Marx's voice bled into his ears. Marx was the one holding him back? He had some nerve getting this close to him when he was angry. Didn't he learn last time? He was going to lose another horn if he didn't back off soon. "Let go." Was that what he sounded like? He couldn't recognize his own voice. It was a lot deeper and void of emotion.

Marx refused and kept his hold on him secure. "You are definitely going to regret this later if I let go!" he argued.

He was so tired of being manipulated there was no time to think about regrets. He struggled to take a step forward, bringing Marx with him. Then another. Magolor was already long gone, but he continued to stagger in the direction he went.

Marx's shoes skidded harshly against the ground. He grunted with effort as he struggled to restrain him. "He's not worth it! He's not worth all this trouble! Just—just..."

Luckily, Marx’s words were able to stop Kirby from taking one more step off the ledge.

"What, you want me to calm down? Am I not allowed to feel anything?! Right, because I'm a perfect ray of sunshine. Always positive and willing to roll over and take everything dished out to me unless it's a universal threat. I'm so innocent and naive, I'll excuse anyone's bad deeds. But I couldn't even do that right! I've killed people, some less deserving than others. Like Sectonia! Why did I kill her when she was corrupted by the mirror, yet let Magolor live when he hasn't even learned from his mistakes!?"

Marx's hold on him slipped. Kirby didn't move. "Are you planning to kill him?"

Kirby let his hands fall to his sides. His breathing stopped for a moment. He let the words sink in rather than deflecting them like everything else he's said. No. No he wasn't planning on killing Magolor. He was...He wanted to hurt him? What was he doing?

“I...No. Of course not.”

Kirby looked down. He couldn't even see Magolor anymore. For all he knew he probably left with the Lor and stranded them here. This was the second time he's lost control. The only reason no one got hurt was because of Marx. He must've been at a new low if Marx of all people was being more reasonable than him. His anger had mostly faded by now. Now the guilt hit him. Magolor probably wasn't even lying. From what he saw, the piece of the crown he had was only the gold part. What harm could he bring with gold? Definitely nothing world-ending. He was being paranoid. He needed to stop. He couldn't let himself get this angry when he was this strong. Kirby hesitantly looked at Marx. He definitely looked scared there was no hiding that. Great job ‘Pink Demon’, as if he couldn't have more of a reason to fear you.

Marx didn't look back at Kirby. Instead, he was looking up at the sky. His expression changed to annoyed as his brows furrowed. “He left. With the Lor Starcutter,” he groaned.

“We're stranded here!?” Kirby asked concernedly. “I'm so—”

Marx lifted a hand to silence him. “Your apologies are getting annoying. It's fine, I can get us back.”

“From this far away?!”

Marx cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck like he was getting ready for a workout. He was rusty at long distance travel but he has done it before. He grunted as he pried at the air with his hands and ripped open a portal. It was nothing like Magolor's mesmerizing hand movements to open a portal. It was more of a brute force way of doing it. He grabbed Kirby's arm and pushed him through, causing Kirby to yelp. He promptly jumped in the portal as well before it snapped shut.

Chapter Text

Marx didn't understand why they were at Secret Sea. It was relatively safe in the castle. He hasn't seen a single dark matter. "Wasn't it safe enough in the castle?" He asked as he kicked around the rocks in the cave they were in.

"Not anymore," his voice was gruff with contained anger or worry, Marx couldn't tell. He tightened his grip on Galaxia as he guarded the entrance.

Marx could tell it was getting late. If Meta Knight had to guard this place, how safe could it be compared to the castle? What happens when night falls and he has to sleep? He didn't need to sleep himself, but he couldn't protect the two of them. All he could do was hide. He felt powerless. He hated it.

"The king was possessed."

Marx scoffed, "I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner—"

"He protected everyone. Don't disrespect him," he growled. "While you were huddled away in the library he fought to keep his citizens safe."

Marx looked up at Meta Knight, trying to read his body language. "He doesn't consider me 'his citizen'." He made a quoting motion with his hands even though Meta Knight wasn't looking at him.

"He protected you anyway."

Marx leaned on the wall of the cave and crossed his arms. "He didn't protect Tiff..." he mumbled.

Meta Knight flinched, but said nothing in response besides a sharp inhale.

Fresh wound... Marx thought. He remembered how Meta Knight acted at the news of Tiff and Tuff's disappearance. Marx foolishly tried to convince him they could be alive. He was lying and Meta Knight easily saw through it. That didn't stop him from lying to himself, even now. Once upon a time that was called hope, now it's denial.

Ever since they've gotten to Secret Sea Meta Knight was less composed, less patient. It worried Marx. It was easier to hide this way and avoid the dark matter entirely, but if they were caught...

It made sense why Meta Knight was more on edge since their departure.

It won't be like this for long, Marx reminded himself. They just had to hold out until the leader of the dark matter was vanquished.

Kirby was supposedly the one out saving the world as usual. He was so young, yet so strong. Marx was jealous of him. They were around the same age! Why was Marx so helpless in comparison?

He looked down at his hands. Staring at the purple glow that crawled up the veins of his fingers. They've been growing longer since he's been practicing magic more and more. He lied about staying away from magic and he lied that the glow was getting longer on it's own. He couldn't stay away from magic, especially now. He was physically weak, as a mere child. At least with magic he could deal real damage, albeit inconsistently.

 It wasn't long until the sun set. The two of them went further back in the cave until they couldn't see the entrance anymore. Marx's ears twitched as he heard the garbled screeches of the dark matter outside. They sounded distant, but it was still a problem if he could hear them in the first place.

Meta Knight sat down and lied back against the rocky wall. "Stay quiet, tap my shoulder if you hear one get too close," he whispered. And then he closed his eyes with Galaxia still in hand.

Marx pushed down the anxiousness he felt at Meta Knight falling asleep. He could handle this. He didn't sleep. He was in charge of night duty and he was going to do his job right. 

The distorted whispers of dark matter haunted Marx throughout every night they were there. Luckily they never got close.

They would stay inside the cave for as long as they could. Meta Knight brought some food and water that they could ration before they had to go out to get more. It was boring and stressful. Marx hated it.

It's been around a week since they've gotten here. They finally ran out of food and water. Marx pestered Meta Knight about going outside with him to find food. He was dying to go outside at least once in a while. He didn't care how dangerous it was. "We can carry more food this way," he said.

The knight sighed and allowed him to come. He put a bag he brought from the castle over his shoulder. They walked out of the cave together.

Marx winced at the view of the outside. The clouds were a viscous black against the dark red sky. He could swear he saw an eye amidst the clouds. A hazy gray fog covered the area.

Meta Knight grabbed Marx's hand with his free hand and they stepped outside. Both of their ears were pointed up, listening close, as they trekked the area. They walked to a nearby river that lead into the ocean.

Marx drank straight from the river as Meta Knight took out multiple canteens and started filling them up.

The whispers of dark matter were gradually getting louder. They were coming, Marx thought. He looked around. The fog made it hard to see anything. 

Meta Knight finished filling up the canteens and hastily put them away. He stood up and tightened his hold on Galaxia. He gazed at Marx to make sure he was okay. "I'll get some fish in the ocean. You take this to the cave and stay there." Meta Knight held out the bag containing the canteens.

Marx nodded and grabbed the bag. He rushed over back to the cave without protest. Though he did want to go outside, he started having second thoughts the moment he heard the whispers of dark matter grow. Besides, at least Meta Knight doesn't have to carry both the water and food. He went to the back of the cave and silently waited for his return.

It felt like a few hours until he finally came back. He felt a bit anxious that Meta Knight wasn't going to come back and just left him here, but he knew that was just paranoia speaking. It was a possibility though.

He stumbled in, using his cape to carry the fish he caught. He put the fish next to the canteens except for two. The two fish in his hands wriggled around as Meta Knight held one out to Marx. "I...don't think we have a way to cook them," he said. If Marx didn't know any better he'd think that he was unsure of himself. "A fire would attract them. You can eat it raw, right?"

"Yeah," Marx nodded and took the fish from his hand. It was certainly not preferable to eat raw meat but being a demon it was hard to upset his stomach with raw food.

They sat down on the rocky ground next to each other. Meta Knight faced away from Marx and lifted his mask just enough for him to be able to eat. Galaxia was set down by his side.

"How much longer do you think this'll go on?" Marx asked in-between bites.

"Not much longer. I believe Kirby has everything under control." 

"You sure do put a lot of faith in him, even though he's just a kid. Why aren't the adults like you handling this?" he questioned. 

"If I was strong enough I would." He sounded guilty.

Marx giggled at the absurdity of it. "That's another thing. Why does everyone put their faith in one person? Why is everyone else just cowering away instead of helping? That's the problem with the peacefulness of the village, they don't react well to danger." He quickly gulped down the rest of his food and licked his hands clean before wiping the spit onto his pants.

"Are you still mad at the villagers for being afraid of you?" he asked.

 Marx fiddled with his hands. "I was never mad at them. I just hate them! Y'know recorporating their feelings!" he explained.

"Reciprocating," he corrected. He finished his fish too and tossed the bones to the side. Then he brought his mask back down to cover his whole face before turning around to look at Marx.

"Right, that. Anyway, this isn't about me," he waved his hand dismissively. "I just think it's dumb that everyone's relying on Kirby."

"He's the only one with the power to," Meta Knight stated as if it were fact. 

Marx frowned and gave him a challenging glare, feeling a sense of opia as they locked eyes. "How do you know that? In fact, why do you know so much about that kid anyway?" he pondered. When Meta Knight didn't respond, Marx took that as a reason to push further. "What is he? What are you? "

The knight sighed, "It's getting late." He leaned his back against the wall.

"Really? You're going to dodge all of those questions?" Marx said disappointedly. It wasn't surprising but that didn't make it any less infuriating. He never told him anything.

"Good night, Marx."

Marx ground his teeth together. He moved over to the wall opposite of Meta Knight and sat down with his knees against his chest. He hated nighttime. There was nothing to do and no one to talk to. He's gotten so bored that he's even tried sleeping on multiple occasions. He even almost succeeded one time but the susurration of the dark matter kept jerking him awake every time he got close to loosing consciousness. 

The familiar noises of the palpitations of his heart accompanied him every night. It was oddly comforting. A reminder of some sorts that he was still alive. Despite all the bedlam going on in the world this little runt managed to make it...This far at least.

A few minutes later, the voices spitting in unknown tongue seemed to be louder. He locked his eyes at the entrance of the cave yet saw nothing. He was terrified and his increasing rubatosis didn't help. He could hear them coming closer but saw nothing was there. 

His eyes reluctantly shifted to Meta Knight. There was a slight scowl in his expression as he watched him sleep. He knows so much about Kirby. Probably even more than he knew Marx. Now that made him feel bitter. Something caught his eye and he felt his heart slow for a second before speeding up. 

There was a puff of smoke that seemed to thicken around him and grow darker. His eyes widened as the being fully formed.

A dark matter. A dark matter formed inside of the cave, and it was right next to Meta Knight when he didn't have his sword in hand. And the one night Marx decided to move far away from him. Just their luck.

He couldn't scream, much less speak, as much as he wanted to. It felt like the wind was knocked out of him. Maybe it was for the better. It didn't notice him yet, it probably didn't know he could see in the dark. He just looked like a harmless child to it.

There was no time to wake him up, there was hardly even time for Marx to stand. The dark matter already readied itself to stab him with a tendril.

Before it could, Marx growled and pounced at it. 

There was a sharp crack as Marx's arms shapeshifted into something more bird-like with strong talons and grew longer in order to reach it before it could hurt Meta Knight.

He aimed right for its eye and pierced through it with his claws. His hands were stuck in its eye. He winced at the sight of it.

Black blood oozed out of its wound. It was still standing. It lifted more sharp tendrils.

Since his hands were occupied he resorted to biting one of its tendrils instead. It felt like biting into a rotten watermelon and tasted rancid, but kept his hold as it tried to shake him off. He ripped the tendril off it. Some primal part of his brain decided to chew it and swallow before biting at it once more. Oh he was definitely going to regret that later, but this was now. 

And right now he was pissed off that this thing would even try to hurt Meta Knight.

He finally found his voice again or he was screaming this entire time and just didn't notice.

Meta Knight flinched awake and rolled out from under the dark matter and grabbed Galaxia. Before he could say anything, more dark matter formed around the two and they were surrounded.

Marx found the last bit of strength he had and used it to yank his hands out of its eye. It soon dissipated and he fell down. He found that his hands and arms felt numb. A huge wave of fatigue swept over him along with a burning in his chest.

The last thing he remembered from that night was seeing Meta Knight's cape unfurl into wings before darkness covered his view.

Marx's eyes fluttered open. He squinted at the bright light of the room he was in. He was in a room? He was lying down on a cot with a cover thrown onto him. He tried to push himself up but he couldn't control his arms. He resorted to surveying the room he was in. It was empty and it seemed to be... Doctor Yabui's place? His eyes widened. 

He was back at the village near Castle DDD.

He kicked the cover off. It felt like time stopped when he saw why he couldn't control his arms. 

They were gone. Nothing but two short nubs by his side was left. He felt a laugh rise up in his throat, but he just ended up screaming.

The door flew open as someone quickly ran in. It was Kirby of all people. He was pretty battered himself. "Marx!" he yelled in a mix of relief and horror. 

"What are you doing here?" Marx questioned. "Aren't you supposed to be out saving the world?"

Kirby halted at the side of the cot. "I did it! I killed the leader, I think." He glanced down at Marx's lack of arms. He looked horrified. "What happened to you?!"

Marx looked away from Kirby's face. He didn't want to see it right now. Not when he had that pitiful look on his face. He couldn't think of a concrete answer. The fight against the dark matter went relatively fine. He doesn't remember any injuries he took to the arms. Unless... it was because he shapeshifted. "I dunno," he shrugged.

Kirby's worried expression shifted to somewhat angry. His brows furrowed slightly and his mouth tugged into a pout. "Why do you always lie about stuff like this?"

Marx frowned. "I'm not lying! I swear! But if I had to guess, maybe it was because of the dark matter."

Kirby looked shocked. "I thought you evacuated to somewhere safe..." He curled his hands into fist. "If only I was faster," he muttered under his breath.

Marx turned his attention to the door as he heard footsteps.

Doctor Yabui entered the room cautiously, clearly perturbed by Marx. He cleared his throat and looked down at the clipboard he was holding. "So Maruku—"

"Marx," he harshly corrected.

"M-Marx, you must be wondering why you lost your um..."

"My arms are gone, yeah. I'm not any less dangerous now, though. I can still bite your face off though," he threatened.

Doctor Yabui recoiled.

"Marx..." Kirby scolded.

Marx only rolled his eyes in response. He was only joking around, though it was true.

Doctor Yabui regained his composure and continued. "Well, Marx. You were in horrible condition when you got here and your arms were already gone by the time you got here. They also appeared to be healed, though the rest of your body was covered in wounds."

Marx moved around what was left of his arms. They cut off just above where his elbow would be. It was weird, it felt like he could still flex his fingers, but when he looked there was nothing. Oddly enough it looked and felt fully healed. Doctor Yabui said so himself that it was healed before he got here. Besides, Yabui was not that good of a doctor to heal something like that so efficiently. Someone definitely healed him with magic.

"We can make you a prosthesis—"

"I don't need it," Marx said.

There was stunned silence for a second.

"Why not?" Kirby asked.

"I just don't need them, it's fine," he reiterated. Magic could bring them back. He didn't need plastic limbs. He'd get his arms back as soon as he was well rested.

Doctor Yabui nodded. "Um, how are you feeling now?"

He winced dramatically at the question. "Feeling really bad, doc." He let out a hiss of pain. "Oww, I need pain killers stat!" he yowled.

"Oh, I'll get those right away!" Doctor Yabui hastily walked out.

Once the door closed, Marx sat up with a deadpan expression. He stared out a window. "Kirby, let's ditch this place."

"Huh? But you're in no condition to—"

Marx got off the cot, not paying any heed to Kirby's words. He walked over to the window. "Help me open this," he ordered.

"But, I wanted to check on Meta Knight..." Kirby protested.

Marx turned away from the window to face Kirby. "He's here too?"

"Yeah, he's in the room next to yours. Mr. Yabui wouldn't let me see him earlier."

Marx headed over to the door. "Open this door then."

"Would it kill you to say please?" Kirby asked. He opened the door for Marx anyway.

"You know the answer," Marx replied. He walked past Kirby to go to what he assumed was the room Meta Knight was in. He was stopped by yet another door and awkwardly looked back at Kirby.

Kirby crossed his arms in a silent protest.

Marx sighed, "Can you open the door, please?" He said that last word as sarcastically as possible.

Kirby obliged. "That wasn't so hard was it?"

"I might actually need those pain killers now," Marx said as he walked into the room with Kirby. He fell into silence when he saw Meta Knight.

He was covered in wounds shown by the bandages around his legs and chest. His wings were out, normally he kept those hidden to the villagers for the same reason Marx hid his horns. He rested his head against a pillow but was clearly awake.

"Meta Knight!" Kirby exclaimed worriedly and rushed to the side of the cot.

"Kirby," Meta Knight greeted.

Marx furrowed his eyebrows. Meta Knight looked worse off than he was. He was going to go to the side of the cot too, but he paused once Kirby started crying and explaining how he defeated the leader of the dark matter. Full attention was on Kirby. He felt alienated.

"—I was able to save Dedede. And-and then I got this sword that let me slash that dark matter into bits. And the rest just went away."

"That's good, Kirby. You did a good job," Meta Knight praised.

Marx felt a pang of jealousy. He finally walked closer to Meta Knight.

The knight shifted his attention to Marx. "Kirby, can you give us a second alone?"

"Oh, okay," Kirby nodded his head and left. He took one last glance at Meta Knight before shutting the door.

"I thought I told you to stay away from magic," Meta Knight recited, his tone instantly hardened, contrasting the softer voice he used with Kirby.

"Magic saved us back there," Marx said, defensively.

"Your arms are gone now," he stressed, "and you passed out not long after you used it. And even before you passed out you—It caused more harm than help."

Marx kept his gaze down. He hated the guilty feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was his fault they were in the hospital right now. His fault that Meta Knight was this hurt. It wasn't because of magic if he was just stronger. If he just had more power. If he just had better control. 

He would obtain that power and control one day. He got closer to reaching that goal when he met that Halcandran years after he lost his arms.

"The ancients created many powerful artifacts. The ancients may not be around anymore but their toys certainly are. This hat is infused with just a tiny fraction of their magic," Magolor explained. He held out the multicolored hat. One side was blue and covered in circles while the other side was red and covered in triangles. It vaguely looked like a jester hat.

"How much for the hat?" Marx asked.

"How much? Oh, Marx. We're buddies! You can have it for free. But, I'd like to ask for a little favor."

Marx quirked an eyebrow. "Go on..."

"That little guy... Kirby was it? You said he's strong."

"Yea?" He's told Magolor a lot about Kirby. In fact he was the only thing he talked about besides magic with Magolor. Most of the time he'd be going off about how perfect he was and how it frustrated him. He was pure of heart, the most powerful person he knew, and so happy all the time. Yet he hangs out with a demon like him and doesn't care how that affects his reputation with the villagers.

Magolor fiddled around with the hat in his hands. "For our plan in the future, he might be a problem. It would be nice if you could take care of him," he said slyly.

"What do you mean by that?" he sneered. He instantly shifted into a more threatening demeanor. He didn't like what Magolor was hinting at.

The ears of Magolor's hood faltered. He cleared his throat nervously. "Like, just take him out of the equation? N-not like kill him or anything of course not. Just make sure he doesn't get in our way."

Marx hummed before coming to a conclusion. "Deal." He instinctively tried to offer his hand for a handshake. He disappointedly grunted when he remembered it was gone. 

Magolor gave him a condescending laugh. "Should I put the hat on for you?"

Marx lowered his eyebrows. He didn't want to remove the hat he had on right now in front of Magolor. He hated having his horns exposed, but he didn't have any hands to put it on himself. And if he wanted the magic to regain his arms he needs to take off his current hat to wear the magical one. He grumbled out a yes.

When Magolor reached to remove his current hat, he couldn't help but flinch. He silently scolded himself.

"Hm? Marx, I need you to stay still," Magolor said. "What? Do you have a bad hair day today or something?" he teased.

Marx grunted, "No." He was starting to have second thoughts. Maybe he didn't need the magical hat, he could just give in and ask for the prosthetic arms. Or maybe he didn't even need arms, who needs arms? He could live without them.

"Is it something you're hiding under your hat you don't want me seeing?" Magolor asked.

He snapped out of his thoughts. "No—I mean yeah... I'm sorta self conscious about it." He winced; they were getting a bit too open for comfort. Not even Kirby has seen him with his hat off. The only person who has was Meta Knight... He stifled that thought. He didn't want to think about that traitor.

Magolor glanced around the two to double check they were alone. "No one else but me is going to see, and it'll only be for a moment. Hey if it makes you feel better I'll take off my hood!"

Marx rolled his eyes, he doubted that'd bring any comfort. "Fine, sure. Just get it over with."

Magolor took off his hood with one hand and then Marx's hat. He reached to put the multicolored hat on Marx but stopped midway at the sight of his horns.

There was a pause between the two of them.

"You have horns too?!"

"Those aren't ears?!"

They both shouted simultaneously. 

Magolor put the hat on Marx and quickly threw his hood back over his head. He giggled awkwardly, "Huh, the more you know."

Marx was too busy processing what just happened to notice the surge of magic he felt coming from the new hat. "Why can your horns move? That's fucked!" He was so sure those were ears.

"Hey, I'm not judging your horns."

"Sorry..." Marx said. Welp, he was never going to be able to see him the same way again.

"Anyway, how's the hat feel?" Magolor asked curiously. He poked at one of the puffballs on the tip of one side. "I've never tried it on myself."

"Feels weird," Marx replied. He felt less tired and groggy as usual. He guessed that was a side effect of having more magic. With this much magic he could surely use shapeshifting to get his arms back. He extended what's left of his arms forwards and focused on rushing the magic to the tips of them. Rather than the instant explosion that he felt last time he shapeshifted it came much smoother and less forced. His arms soon came into view. They looked...not right. He flexed his hand. For starters he only had four fingers, and they were covered in yellow scales. And they looked more bird-like than human-like. He supposed it was better than nothing or dealing with prosthetics, at least. The problem with it was that it was immensely draining. He let his arms fade away to release the strain he felt. He still wasn't as powerful as he'd like to be, but it was a start. "Thanks for the hat. Now if you excuse me, I'll be taking my leave now."

Magolor watched Marx take a step to leave. "Don't forget about the deal," he reminded him sharply.

"Yeah, uh huh, got it."  He already began to walk away back towards the village.

"Meet me here again at the same time next week."

"Sure thing," Marx said, hardly paying attention to him. He already knew the drill, he's been meeting up with him ever since he found him passed out in the forest when he was practicing magic. He didn't need the constant reminder.

Kirby stumbled as his feet met the ground. He stood up straight. This wasn't Popstar. He looked around frantically and finally up at the sky to be met with the stars. This was where...

Marx came from the portal and landed behind him as it snapped shut.

"Marx? I think you missed—"

"Nah, I didn't miss," Marx interrupted. "This is exactly where I wanted to land."

Kirby raised an eyebrow. "What are we doing here?" he asked, skeptical now. "What are we doing on the moon?"

This was where Marx and he fought that night.

Chapter Text

"What are we doing on the moon?" He stared into his light purple eyes stained with blue and red. They stared back at him calmly.

"Chill out. You've been getting very heated very easily recently so I took you somewhere where you don't have to keep all of that suppressed and explode," Marx said.

Kirby crossed his arms. "This is unnecessary," he complained. Marx was being overdramatic, he wasn't going to explode. Sure he snapped at Magolor, but that's not really surprising. Who wouldn't snap at him for scheming something again? He knew for a fact Bandana Dee, Ddd and Meta Knight would have acted out the same way, had they been in the same position.

"Tell that to me and my broken horn! We're staying here until you're less," Marx gestured to Kirby's entire body, which was twitching from time to time, "like this."

Kirby bit the inside of his cheek and averted eye contact. Okay, in that department he was guilty. Marx was just trying to help him and he attacked him! It was different from fighting someone who was threatening the world. It was uncalled for. It was a bad thing to do. He was a bad person... He was a shitty person for attacking him and having the gall to lie to himself and Marx that it was an accident; pin the blame on someone else. He was no hero—He should just stay away from everyone. It would be safer that way if he just didn't—

"Kirby?"

He came to a sickening realization. It felt so satisfying to let out his emotions through violence. It felt good to knock Marx into that tree. Why did it feel good to hurt him when he did nothing wrong? He felt like shit after thinking he killed him that time he saved Popstar from him. 

It was funny how he was the only thing holding the universe up. He could decide to drop it at any moment. Given how he was at the moment, it could be soon.

"Kirby! What's so funny?" 

Marx's concerned voice penetrated through his thoughts. He was laughing until now and didn't even notice. He didn't even feel like he was controlling his body at all right now. "I-uh." He was going to reply with "it's nothing" but both of them knew that wasn't true. Why would he laugh for no reason? He knew why he was laughing but he didn't want to admit it, but there wasn't anything to lose with Marx, was there? He already knows how messed up he really is. "Y'know I just found it funny that the entire universe basically lies in my hands alone." He smiled, it wasn't on purpose, but it didn't look genuine either. It was strained. "And at any moment," Kirby stuck out a hand towards Marx with his palm facing up and then clenched his palm into a tight fist. "I can crush it," he enunciated each word.

Marx looked worried. It was ironic how he found that worrying when he's previously tried world domination. He frowned as he thought of what to say. "Since when did you have thoughts like this?"

"What? Are you surprised?" he asked.

"No. It's a genuine question."

Kirby's smile faltered. He put his hand on his head and ruffled his hair as if that would give him an answer. "I don't know when I started thinking this way. Maybe after I defeated Queen Sectonia? I don't see why that's important. Did you just want to know how long I've been messed up?" His voice cracked as he spoke.

Marx gave him a look of such understanding that rubbed him the wrong way. He should be disgusted by him. The veil that was "Kirby of the Stars" has been shattered. Yet he looked so empathetic. "Those aren't your thoughts and you're not messed up for having them," he said carefully.

"What do you mean they aren't my thoughts!? Who else's thoughts would it be?" Kirby cried.

"It's not really anyone's thoughts. They're called 'intrusive thoughts' if I remember correctly. I have them too. A lot of people do, but that doesn't make those people messed up because what makes an intrusive thought intrusive is that it's unwanted. You don't actually want to do what those thoughts are telling you to do."

So there's a name for it. Kirby relaxed his shoulders. Intrusive thoughts, huh? It was a very fitting name. But how could he tell the difference between his own and intrusive thoughts? Did he want to crush the universe? No. He chalked that one up to intrusive. Did he want to hurt people? People being fuckers like Magolor for trying to ever double cross him again. He didn't like that his immediate answer to that wasn't a no. He came to the conclusion that calling all of these violent thoughts intrusive would be lying. A good handful of them were actually his own.

"Hey, sit down with me," Marx interrupted. He was sitting down and looking at Popstar.

Kirby automatically sat down. He brought his knees close to his chest and hugged himself tightly. He stared down at Popstar too. It looked so small from here. So insignificant. Each time he blinked he could swear he saw past looming threats over it. He rubbed his eyes and saw that it was fine.

"Do you think Void Termina was ever a person like us?"

Kirby looked confused at the question and sudden change of topic. "I don't think so?" The Void Termina they saw was hardly even a being. Scratch that, they weren't a being. They weren't anything. They were Void. "No," he answered.

"I dunno, they looked pretty persony when we all dealt the final attack," he ventured. 

"Persony?"

"They looked pissed off, human. They were fighting hard to survive. Did Zero ever do anything like that?"

Kirby thought back to when he was fighting alongside Gooey. The entire fight, Zero glared at them with an emotionless stare, but then in a last ditch effort their pupil shot out to continue the fight. The Love-love stick was the only thing protecting him and Gooey from the pure animosity that radiated from Zero, but it was different with Zero Two. Zero Two didn't radiate the same hatred, they were an empty shell, it was unnerving. "Sort of..." he concluded.

"I see. I'm just spitballin here, but what if Galacta Knight and Void were friends?"

"What?" Kirby almost laughed at the absurdity of it. "That's crazy. What made you think that?"

"Some of the legends I've read about them."

"Care to tell me about the one that made you think they were friends?" Kirby asked.

"Well if you insist," Marx replied. "Bear in mind this one didn't quite refer to them by name but the way they described them just has to be those two I'm sure of it. I also don't know how accurate it is but it's interesting to think about."

Kirby nodded his head and turned his body to Marx to give him his full attention.

"So basically the story centers around a knight who was a highly regarded hero, obviously that was Galacta Knight, and their lesser known friend who was often seen by their side. Though their friend wasn't much of a hero themself, they were cheerful and spread their positivity to others, especially to the Galacta Knight. Throughout all the good and bad in the story, they were Galacta Knight's anchor. They kept each other happy. Near the end of the story the friend disappears. It was pretty vague during this part, but if it was Void then it could be referring to their imprisonment. Now the story takes a turn after that. Galacta Knight was grief-stricken from the loss of their friend and in a fit of that sorrow, unleashed a powerful attack on the planet, strong enough to crack through its crust. Afraid of the further damage the knight could cause, they sealed them away. To be locked in a permanent stasis. Who 'they' were was pretty vague too, but it was definitely the Ancients."

Kirby frowned. "Huh. Their friend doesn't sound like Void at all."

"I'm not necessarily sure it was Void, they're just the only plausible candidate for that spot that I know. Hardly any books mention they ever had a friend and none of them mention them by name."

"If Galacta Knight did help in sealing Void away... I wonder why they went through with it." Kirby thought back to his dream where Galacta Knight impaled him with a Heart Spear. He saw that dream from Void's perspective, didn't he?

"Maybe they had a fight?" Marx guessed.

Kirby gawked at nothing in particular. "A fight," he recited. "A fight!" He turned to Marx suddenly. "Marx, fight me!"

Marx stared at Kirby with a perplexed look. "What?" His brows knit together as he stood up. "Why?!" he exclaimed.

Kirby shot up and put his hands on Marx's shoulders. "It's been awhile since I've dueled someone one on one! Come on, it's fun!" He grinned. He remembered the rush he got from attacking Marx, as much as he hated to. Maybe dueling could give him the same feeling.

"But, I'm not strong enough to put up a fair fight—"

"Not unless you wear that amulet! I know you keep it somewhere, just put it on and let's duke it out!"

"Why do you even want to—" Marx paused mid sentence, mouth agape. "How do you know about the amulet?" he questioned.

Kirby's mouth twitched but his grin remained plastered on his face. "One, fighting is my outlet for emotions and two, I saw it in a dream awhile ago. So it is real?" 

Marx bit his lip for a second before replying. "Yeaaaah." He's never actually put on the amulet before; he never had a need to. "But I don't want to fight!"

"Oh." He shrugged off his disappointment. "I'll just ask Shadow Kirby then. Can you take me back to Popstar?"

Marx shook his head frantically. "No no no! No fighting! That's not a good outlet!" Especially with someone as powerful as Kirby, even a "friendly" duel is bound for disaster if he's not in the right headspace and he's definitely not in the right headspace now. His broken horn itched. Talking hasn't worked with calming him down, in fact it made Kirby more on edge. Marx thought back to what caused all of this to start in the first place. Kirby appeared to be fine until he showed up at his doorstep. 

His words echoed in his head.

"This is what happens if I open up to others. They get scared!"

"I'm supposed to be energetic and cheerful. I can't just destroy that image of me."

"And then I realized that I'm the only thing stopping the universe from going to shit!"

"Am I not allowed to feel anything?!"

That question wasn't targeted to him, Marx realized, Kirby was asking himself that. "You can let out your emotions without fighting."

"Well I don't like talking or crying." His grin vanished.

"Those are not the only other ways to let out your emotions and you know that!" Marx lectured. He grabbed Kirby's hand. "We're going somewhere else, this was a bad location to choose..."

"You think?" Kirby deadpanned.

"I'm trying my best okay. I'm not exactly experienced in this category," he reminded. His wings emerged from his back and he carried Kirby as he flew up.

Kirby exhaled sharply. "You're doing... decently." To give Marx credit no one else has noticed that he wasn't doing so well and when someone did ask him how he's doing he'd say "good" and they wouldn't question it no matter how unconvincing it was. Sometimes he tried to make it sound unconvincing to see if they cared enough to point it out. Gooey also noticed when he's going through a rough patch but that's because they live with him. It's pretty hard not to notice at that point, but he wasn't going to push his problems on Gooey. They were much younger than him and they didn't deserve that burden. And here Marx was, taking up that burden willingly. His face softened. "You're doing good."

Marx smiled at that. "I'm glad I'm helping."

"Where are we flying to?"

"Somewhere nearby. I can't teleport to it because it's been awhile since I've been there. I've forgotten what it looks like."

They floated through the cosmos. It was peaceful, just staring at the stars and distant planets. Flying through space was weird. It wasn't anything like flying on a planet. There was no wind to slow you down, no chirping birds; just the comfortable silence and purple hues of space.

Marx brought them to a dwarf planet not so far from Popstar. When they landed on the grassy ground, Marx gently put Kirby down and tucked away his wings.

The environment of the planet reminded him of Popstar. There were many grassy hills emerging from a large interconnected body of water. Frogs, chickens, sentient flowers, and grizzos populated the planet.

Kirby vaguely remembered going here before. He went here to take the planet's star power for Nova. It was nice to know taking the star power didn't harm the living creatures here.

"Now follow me, it should be somewhere around here," Marx beckoned Kirby before walking off.

Kirby followed right behind. "What is 'it' exactly?" he inquired.

"One of my homes, or as I like to call 'em, one of my bases," Marx answered. He jumped down into the water and walked towards one of the larger hills. Once he reached the side of the hill, he pushed aside a big boulder leaning against it to reveal a nook in the hill. He turned around to make sure Kirby was behind and then bowed while pointing a sleeve towards the inside. "Welcome to my abode."

Kirby peaked inside immediately noticing how much of a mess it was. He wrinkled his nose. But upon closer inspection he noticed most of the mess was crumpled up paper and a mass of broken or empty pens leading up to a wall filled with papers filled with text or drawings. To the side, there was a cassette player and a stack of tapes stacked onto and next to it. He followed Marx inside, taking care to watch his step. He studied the mass of papers hung up on the wall. From what he could read, most of the writing was incomprehensible to anyone but Marx. It was like he made his own code to write less to convey the same amount of words, it made sense considering the amount of time he could keep his arms summoned was on a time limit. 

However, some stuff drew Kirby's attention. There was a clear sketch of the master crown, amulet he saw in his dreams, and Galactic Nova, each on different sheets of paper, all connected by a string that lead to one sheet of Marx's code. All the paper looked old and yellow. This was probably where Marx created his plan to take over the Popstar. Though the drawing of the Master Crown confused him, he never showed any interest or sign that he even knew of the crown. Did he learn about it from Magolor? But Kirby thought he didn't meet Magolor until after the Nova incident.

Instead of looking at the wall of papers, Marx immediately went towards the cassette player and looked over the tapes, and dusted them off with his sleeves. He sneezed as he did, causing Kirby to snicker. "So which song you wanna listen to? I think some of your favorites are here."

"Song?" Kirby was surprised. "I honestly expected those tapes to be like voice messages rather than songs."

"I couldn't plan all this out in silence!" He picked a few of the tapes up and looked over them and groaned once he realized he never labeled any of them. Curse his younger self. He motioned for Kirby to come closer. "You choose one."

Kirby kneeled down next to the cassette player. "None of them are labeled..." He picked a random one up and looked it over. Then he placed it in the player, and pressed play.

Marx's ears perked up once the song started. "Oh, it's this song!" He nudged his shoulder. "You were obsessed with this song as a kid. What's the title of it again?"

Kirby listened to the song for a bit locked in some sort of momentary stasis caused by the wave of nostalgia he felt. "It's 'Write Me Letters'."

Marx hummed to the chorus of the song. "Y'know the lyrics are a bit more depressing than I remembered them to be," he said.

"It's not a depressing song!" Kirby urged. He was immediately proved wrong once the second verse started.

" I talk too much, you know I told 'em everything. I told them that I'd like to disappear now and have nobody know I was here, " the cassette player sang.

"Wow okay!" Kirby threw his hands up. "Honestly don't think I paid attention to lyrics as a kid!"

"Yet you sang along to all your favorite songs, including this one, perfectly."

"I didn't pay attention to the words I was saying either." Kirby pouted. He didn't know how, but his little-self managed to think this song was a happy one. He's gotten really good at pretending things were happy.

"This doesn't ruin the song for you does it?" Marx asked as the song came to an end.

"No." Kirby scratched the back of his neck. "Though, it does hit a bit too close to home right now," he awkwardly chuckled. "Uh anyway. What's up with this place? When did you stay here?" he changed the subject.

"Oh uh. This was one of the places I'd meet up with Mags to come up with stupid world domination plans. That was such a long time ago, I was like what? Ten orbital periods old?"

"So that's where you went during the night... You knew Magolor that long ago? How did you two even meet?"

"It's a funny story really, some random space rifts were opening and one of them spat out Magolor when I was chillin in the woods. He was so confused! Then me being me, I demanded for him to teach me how to open portals and he swore he didn't open that rift and he didn't even know how to teleport himself. We ended up learning how together in like a week and he was able to go home after that," Marx reminisced. "That was around the time after Meta Knight tried taking over Dream Land, so after I was driven out of the village and before you found me in the woods."

Kirby eyed the drawing of the Master Crown. Gears turned in his head. "Was Magolor the one who taught you about Nova?" His expression hardened. "Is he the reason why you planned all that in the first place?!" he yelled.

Marx tensed at the question, a guilty expression washed over his face. "Well, we planned it all together. Magolor's the one that brought it up after I told him about the fiasco with Meta Knight..."

Kirby twisted his mouth sharply into a grimace, eyes narrowing. "Of course. Of course he played a role in that too." His tone was cold and empty despite the burning fire inside him. 

Marx sighed. He brought him here to chill out and listen to music, instead he's back to thinking about Magolor. He needed a way for Kirby to release his anger in a safer way than reaching a breaking point and snapping. He looked at the cassette tapes once more. Maybe they could sing to an intense song? They loved doing that as children. When he reached for the tapes, Kirby grabbed his wrist to stop him. He looked up, confused and was met with a blank stare.

"I just want to go home and be alone," he stressed the last two words.

A protest died on Marx's lips. He looked disappointed, but maybe Kirby was right. Maybe he just needed some alone time. He nodded.

Instantly they were back on Popstar, in front of his house.

Kirby walked up to the door and noticed Marx wasn't following him. Even though he did say he wanted to be alone he didn't expect Marx to actually leave him alone. He felt relief as his shoulders slumped.

"I'm going to check on Mags. I'll see you later," Marx said. 

Kirby couldn't bother to say goodbye and just opened his door. He shrunk down when he saw Gooey waiting right at the door for him. He instantly lightened himself up. "Hi Gooey! How are the animal friends doing?" he greeted. His sickly sweet tone left a bad taste in his mouth. Someone like him shouldn't sound that innocent.

Gooey gave him an unsure look, tilting their head to the side. An unusual frown painted their face. Worry. "Why weren't you at the party?" they asked, talking slowly from saying more than usual.

It took Kirby a moment to realize what they were referring to. Right, there was a celebration because the repairs to Castle Ddd were finished. He's lost track of time; he didn't even know how many days passed since then. He looked to the side, trying to conjure up an excuse. He remembered that he already came up with an excuse, it would be best to keep that lie going. It'd be believable if he was consistent. "Right, the party. I got sick from Marx. I knew we shouldn't have brought him in! He was carrying some virus or something that infected me. I didn't want anyone else to get sick so we didn't go."

It looked like Gooey accepted that answer, despite the fact Kirby's never gotten sick in his life. "Gooey didn't get sick."

"I don't think you can get sick."

"I don't think you can get sick," Gooey repeated.

Kirby shrugged, "Well I did." Silence fell over the room after that. He didn't want Gooey here, to be honest. It ruined his plan to just be alone in his home. If he wanted to be alone, he'd have to go somewhere else. He was about to turn to the door before his phone rang. He swore if it was Prince Fluff again... He picked up the phone. Lo and behold, it was Fluff. Just great. He almost debated just ignoring it but sucked it up and answered.

"Hey Kirby! Sorry for the sudden call but I needed to tell you that I won't be able to hangout next week. Something came up."

Kirby had to fight a smile from spreading on his face, Gooey was still here after all. They might get suspicious if they saw how relieved he was at seemingly "bad" news. "Oh," he tried his best to sound disappointed, "it's alright! What's one weekly hangout missed compared to the million we've done and will do in the future?" He heard Fluff laugh on the other end.

"Right. I'll see you next next week then. Bye!"

"Bye," Kirby hung up. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious as to why Fluff would call off a weekly hangout, but he didn't feel like talking to him anymore than he already has. He put down his phone again and looked back to the door. He wasn't sure where he'd go, but he didn't want to be here with Gooey, that's for sure. He went to the door and waved goodbye to Gooey. "I'll be out for a bit, see ya, buddy."

"See you," they sounded disheartened. It gave Kirby a short feeling of guilt for just avoiding them for the past few days.

But it wasn't sharp enough to stop him from leaving again. He left the house and called the warpstar. He hopped on and took off. He didn't know where he was going to go, he just wanted to be alone. Popstar wasn't the best place to be alone so he steered his star up. He just needed a little break from this planet.

Chapter Text

Marx flew around Sacred Square looking for the Lor Starcutter. He looked all around the ruins twice before concluding Magolor was not here. Magolor did tell him to stop teleporting over to him, but he didn't really give him much of a choice. Ironically enough Marx also hated teleporting to Magolor, it's what made it so easy for him to get it right. Mutual feelings between two people was what allowed for teleportation between them to happen. With a flash of purple light, he was in the Lor.

Magolor was hunched over his workbench as usual. He seemed to be messing with the piece of the Master Crown he stole.

"Are you seriously trying to repair it?" he asked.

Magolor flinched at his voice and whipped around to face him. He was holding said piece close to his chest. He looked livid. "I told you not—"

"To do that, yeah," he interrupted. His expression matched Magolor's. "Answer my question, Magolor," he demanded. One of the things he hated the most about Magolor was how he skirts around every question he's asked. He found it even more annoying than straight up lying. He wasn't going to leave room for him to avoid them.

Magolor tried to look threatening, but to Marx he just looked pathetic. He really threw his life away for the stupid crown and here he is holding a piece of it with such desperation like it still had a hold on his head. Well, it definitely did still have a hold on his head, just not physically. "So what if I am? I'm not doing it to bother Kirby or take over the galaxy. Ironically enough I want to get the heck away from him." He rubbed the piece of the crown with his thumbs.

"You're leaving again!?" Marx blurted.

"Oh don't yell at me like that's bad! You saw how he was earlier. He's an unstable force. He would've killed me if you didn't stop him. Of course I'm leaving," he argued. 

Marx took a step towards him. They were now only a few inches away from each other. "Maybe you'd deserve it."

Magolor gasped, sounding offended. "I am your friend! Why are you siding with him?" Catching Marx off guard, he grabbed his hat and yanked it off. "I gave you this hat for free and this! Is...the..."

Magolor dropped the hat and his own horns pinned down to the sides of his head. He gagged at the sight of Marx's broken horn. He took a minute to regain his composure, placing the piece of the crown down on the workbench. His eyes never left that broken horn. "Did-did he do this?" he stammered.

Marx did not appreciate his hat being removed without permission and even worse, the secret he and Kirby were trying to keep was being threatened. He could still save it, Magolor doesn't know how long the horn's been broken. He crouched down to quickly grab and place the hat back on his head. "Of course not! He wasn't that strong back then to even put a scratch on my horns. It broke after you abandoned me in space, like you care," he spat. That second part technically wasn't even a lie. He backed away from Magolor. "And if you ever touch my hat again, I'll make sure there won't be a next time after that. Got it?"

Magolor stared holes into the floor, avoiding his gaze. "Of course," he said meekly. 

"Now I'll be taking the piece of the crown. I don't trust you with that," Marx declared and snatched it from the workbench. He examined it. It really was just all gold, without the jewel it was useless. Even then, it was enough to enable Magolor. "I've been making an effort to change. You should be too." 

Magolor rubbed his hands together. "I have been... Believe it or not I am sorry for what I did—"

"Then what's this for?" He waved the piece at him. Marx let out an exasperated sigh, not even bothering to give him time to answer. "Listen, Kirby's going through a rough patch and you are a huge part of it. If you're truly sorry then you shouldn't run away and abandon your friends again. That's the least you can do."

"I admit, I originally picked it up on impulse but it doesn't have any magical capabilities, I assure you. I'm not even going to bother with trying to repair it. It's impossible to anyway. But, what I can do with it is trace its origin. You two wanted to find Galacta Knight, this can help."

Marx looked down at the piece with uncertainty then back to Magolor. "How?"

"You remember the fight with Void. It summoned the crown! And you've done research about Void and Galacta Knight. They come from the same place."

"Are you suggesting Void made the Master Crown?"

"I'm suggesting this is your best bet at finding the knight."

Kirby traveled from planet to planet, the same planets he trekked to power Nova, searching for hideouts like the one in Floria. They weren't too hard to find, most of them were just a little ways off the path he took to get to the star power. Surprisingly, there was a hideout in each planet, seven he's found. At first he doubted there'd be one on the unnamed planet, but now he didn't underestimate Marx's meticulosity. All of the previous ones had relatively the same stuff. A map of the area near the star power, cryptic notes written in frantic chicken-scratch, a few cassette tapes, but a lack of the cassette player, and drawings of varying objects he assumed to be ancient artifacts.

He was originally just going to stay put on the nearest planet to rest but he found that Susie mechanized most of the nearby planets, besides Floria and Aquarius presumably because it was too close and she didn't want to provoke Kirby. He's definitely going to give her hell for it eventually, maybe. He didn't want to think or deal with that at the moment so he let his curiosity lead him back to Marx's "base". One thing led to another and he was traveling planets again. 

He did take a snack break on Floria before embarking on his adventure. He realized how long he went without eating when he took a look at a nearby apple tree. He ended up eating at least six apples, he didn't keep count.

Now he was cruising on the warp star, making his way to the unnamed planet. He remembered how tedious it was to navigate the place with all the Tacs constantly stealing his copy ability or hurting his helper, but as he landed it was eerily silent. It didn't look mechanized, but it seemed to be abandoned. Maybe all the Tacs got old and died? He had no clue what the life expectancy of Tacs were but he decided to roll with that.

Looking for a secret base here was going to be a lot harder than the ones on—oh never mind he found it. He pushed aside two bushes to reveal a hidden hole in the ground. The size of the hole was telling of how old Marx was when he made it, he really did plan all of this when he was living with Kirby. "I guess you have a lot of time on your hands when you don't sleep," he thought aloud. He managed to slip through the hole just barely, when he landed inside the base, the first thing he noted was how much bigger it was to the others. The second thing he noted was that the notes were actually legible. As if he had more time to write at this time.

He rushed over to the wall of notes and began reading. He skimmed over most of it; they were just notes about the enemies on this planet anyway. A smaller piece of paper pinned to the wall with larger writing caught his eye.

"He doesn't remember the promise," Kirby read aloud. He gave a perplexed look at that. Which promise? They've made so many when they were young. Does Marx still care about it now? He hasn't brought it up.

He continued skimming over the notes, occasionally smirking at Marx's tangential commentary. He eventually got to a part where the Master Crown was brought up again and he started reading closely. 

"I don't think this is a good idea. Magolor said we'd have to 'fight' Landia for the crown. He definitely has the intention to kill, but I don't want to kill anyone and even then we'll definitely lose to someone like Landia. I'll try to convince him to stop. We don't need the crown, Galactic Nova's wish is all we need."

Kirby kept reading, taking a much longer time now to make sure he isn't missing any details.

"I was able to convince him to wait until after I get the wish. Now our focus is solely on the nova. Magolor's searching for a ship now. Called something like the 'Lor Star cutter'. Must've been where he got his name or something. Now I just need to find a way to prevent Kirby from getting in the way of the plan."

"Honestly, I'm scared of what he's doing to himself. He's been staying up night and day trying to get the Lor to work. He hardly has any time to relax. This might be going too far."

"Today a meteor shower is happening, I was supposed to start the plan tonight but Kirby invited me to stay up with him to see it. Just the two of us alone. 'We're best friends right? I wanted this to be something fun for just us,' is what he said."

"Dumbass. You've been my only real friend for years."

He felt a flutter of bittersweetness. He remembered that night. He didn't invite anyone else because he knew how Marx felt about his other friends. He felt left out when he invited other people.

"I'll wait until the next night."

And that's where the notes came to an end. Kirby couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that he didn't keep logging after he carried out the plan. It was odd and intriguing to see things from his perspective. He guessed he could just ask Marx about it, if he already told Gooey about his space travels. Judging from how Magolor crashed the Lor on Popstar and was alone it was clear Marx didn't go through with getting the crown. He was smart, he knew Kirby would win.

After reading all of the notes on the wall, he looked around the rest of the base. It was a lot tidier than the previous ones and there weren't any tapes. He wrote all of this in silence. Besides the mass of paper on the wall there wasn't anything else, except... He noticed a loose rock next to the note with the words 'He doesn't remember the promise'. He grabbed the rock and it easily came out of the wall, revealing a small notch containing a notebook.

He carefully took it out to see that it was pretty worn down from time, but even then it seemed to be taken care of with caution. He stared at it for what felt like minutes as nostalgia hit him hard. This was the same notebook they shared a while back. It looked fragile, so Kirby hesitated when opening it.

He felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes as he saw the first page where Marx and he signed their names. He carefully turned the page and was met with a bunch of doodles and random blurbs of words about nothing in particular. He felt entranced as he flipped through all the memories they marked down.

He came across a page filled with drawings of buildings. One of them was circled. It took a second for Kirby to remember what it was for. The promise! They made a promise to build a secret fort together. They never really had the time or materials to.

He lost track of time of how long he was in here. He only stopped until he got to the end  of the notebook which is when he realized how hungry he was. 

He closed the notebook and held it in his hands with such care as if it was made of glass. He debated bringing it home, but on the flight back it could fall apart. He turned to the entrance and exit of the hideout. Maybe if he went slow?

A crackle of magic flashed before him, snapping him out of his thoughts. He stepped back as Marx appeared in front of him.

"Great news, Kirby! We've located the origin of Galacta Knight and Void's home planet..." Marx trailed off as he noticed where they were and what was in Kirby's hand. He felt the chills go through his body. He opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say.

"Wait you have?" Kirby asked. "Where? How?!"

"Yeah—they, uh," Marx stammered. He grunted as words didn't want to work with him. "Hold that thought. Have you been here this whole time reading through all of my nonsense? And is that our notebook?"

"Well, I've actually been all over the solar system looking through all of your bases. I got curious, sorry. And yeah, this is our notebook." He smiled fondly at it, "I thought it was gone forever."

"Yeah, I put it here before I carried out the plan, didn't want it getting damaged," Marx said awkwardly. He was saying 'yeah' too many times. Just speak normally, dumbass. "Anyway! I don't know about you but I'm starving! Let's go to Kawasaki's or something before we free a war criminal or whatever your deal is."

"If you teleport us back to Popstar, would the notebook stay intact? I kinda wanted to bring it home but flying on the warpstar might ruin it."

Marx looked at the book, taking note of how old it was shown by the yellow pages. "It'll be fine," he assured.

He put his hand on Kirby's shoulder and with a familiar crackle of magic they were home once more.

Kirby opened the door and paused mid-step. "Fluff, what are you doing here?"

Prince Fluff locked eyes with Marx with an angry expression. "I was just about to meet up with Shadow. What is Marx doing here?"

Kirby mentally cursed to himself. He had to put the magic sock somewhere else; having Prince Fluff appear in his house whenever he wanted to leave Patch Land was not ideal at this time. 

"Can't a friend hangout with a friend? I mean, that's what you're planning to do right?" Marx challenged. "We were just about to go to Kawasaki's. Kirby just needs to drop off something real quick."

"Right!" Kirby walked past Prince Fluff, into the house and placed the notebook next to his cellphone. He stared at the phone and hesitatingly picked it up. He checked his notifications to see he had a lot of texts from various people. He tucked it into his pocket. Then he hurried back to Marx. "I'm ready to go now," Kirby said, really wanting to leave as soon as possible.

"Hold on, Kawasaki's? What a funny coincidence," the prince forced a laugh, "Shadow and I are going there too. What if we had lunch together?" he suggested.

For a moment, Kirby looked shocked, "Huh?" but then his face lit up immediately. "I mean, sure!"

Marx flashed a plastic smile. "That would be great! Would really be a nice way for us to get to know each other more. It's a date, Fluffy."

"Never call me that," Prince Fluff said. He had the most disgusted look on his face.

"Got it, Princey." Marx wrapped his arm around Kirby's shoulder and brought his head to Kirby's ear. "What are you doing?" he hissed low enough that Prince Fluff couldn't understand.

"He'll get suspicious if I deny the offer," Kirby murmured. In a normal circumstance, he'd be ecstatic about this. To have an opportunity for Prince Fluff and Marx to get just a little closer. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, let's go!" He exclaimed cheerfully. He slipped out of Marx's grasp and walked ahead of the two in the direction of Kawasaki's.

Prince Fluff looked at Marx with suspicion before following Kirby. "Shadow said he'll meet me at Kawasaki's. I'll text him to give him a heads up that you two will be there too," he said. He was texting as he walked, paying just enough attention to his surroundings.

Marx discreetly put his foot out in front of Prince Fluff to trip him, causing him to fall.

Before he could hit the ground, Kirby turned around and caught him. "Marx, seriously?"

He gave him a sheepish grin in response. "What? It's important to pay attention to your surroundings. I was just stopping him from tripping on that huge rock." He looked down at a tiny pebble.

"How kind," Prince fluff said with a scowl. He stood up straight, brows furrowing more than they already have been. He put his phone away from that point on to avoid Marx tripping him again.

The rest of the walk there, Marx hardly spoke. Prince Fluff and Kirby made small talk about nothing in particular to fill the silence.

No matter how much he tried to be positive and optimistic, he couldn't push down the dread he felt as he saw Shadow Kirby waiting in front of the restaurant. He was all dressed up fancier than usual, similar to how Prince Fluff dresses. Oh, this was supposed to be a date for them was it? Oh boy.

"You can still back out of this," Marx whispered.

Kirby ignored him and strode forward to Shadow Kirby. "Hey SK! How's it going?" he said casually as if he never yelled at him in the bathroom after Marx and he had a quarrel.

Shadow Kirby rolled his eyes. "Worse, now that he's here." From tone alone, it was clear "he" was Marx. "Fluff, I got your text." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why?"

"They were going to Kawasaki's too. Might as well eat with them." Prince Fluff shrugged.

Marx narrowed his eyes. He sensed an ulterior motive and he didn't like it.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Come on guys.” Kirby entered Kawasaki's first, throwing both doors open and walking in.

Both Shadow Kirby's and Prince Fluff's eyes were fixed on Marx.

Marx almost felt like he should stick his hands up in surrender with how deadly their gazes looked. Instead, he avoided eye contact and walked in too. Well now, this was going to be fun.

Chapter Text

Kawasaki got the four a booth at the corner of the restaurant. He immediately left after placing down the waters and menus as the tension between the four of them was overwhelming the entire restaurant. Everyone except Marx opened their menu.

He crossed his legs and bounced them under the table. He's been here a million times before, sure it's been awhile since he's last been here but he already knew what he wanted to order.

No one at the table has said a word, leaving the chatter of the other customers to fill the quiet.

"You're looking all fancy, Shadow Kirby," Marx remarked, daring to break the silence.

"This was supposed to be a date but then you decided to show up," he replied coldly. He set down the menu and laid his hands down on the table, cupping them together.

"You two are dating?!" Marx exclaimed. He laughed, "Oh you have a type!"

Prince Fluff ignored Marx. "I invited them over, and this can still be a date."

"It's not necessarily a date when two other people tag along, is it?" he argued.

Kirby drank from his glass to hide his nervousness and avoid having to speak. He hoped that Kawasaki would come to take their orders soon.

"Well it can be a double date, if you're gonna bitch about it."

Kirby spat out his water while he was still drinking, causing it to splash all over his face.

"Geez, Kirby. I was joking!" He knew Kirby was aromantic and Kirby knew he was too, nevertheless he made a mental note not to joke about that. He was expecting him to join in on the joke, not go into a coughing fit.

Kirby put down his glass and wiped the water off his face with his shirt. His face was beet red with embarrassment. "That's hardly a joke."

"And even if Kirby wasn't aromantic he'd never date someone as detestable as you. No one would," Shadow Kirby added, sharply.

"Okay, ow?!" Marx made a wry face. "Did you just invite me here to bully me? Shame, I really wanted to be friends."

"I don't think we'll ever be friends," Prince Fluff muttered under his breath.

To Kirby's, and probably the whole table's, relief as well, Kawasaki finally came over to their table to take their orders.

"What can I get you four for today?" Kawasaki looked to Shadow Kirby first, holding the pen and notepad in hand. He looked visibly on edge as if they all held him at gunpoint. Which was fair, everyone practically radiated negative energy. One could swear they were possessed by dark hearts. To his credit, Kawasaki kept his voice fairly steady.

"Three plates of sukiyaki." Shadow Kirby turned to Prince Fluff to signify it was his turn.

"I'll get the salmon sashimi."

Kawasaki jotted down the orders then looked up from his notepad to Kirby.

"I'll get the curry rice, large bowl of ramen, and shrimp tempura."

And now it was Marx's turn. He took a glance at the menu. He had a perplexed expression on his face. "Kirby, what do I normally get here again?"

"The teriyaki."

"Thanks, I'll get the teriyaki," he said to Kawasaki.

Kawasaki finished writing and read out the orders to make sure he got it right.

Prince Fluff handed the menus to Kawasaki and the four were left in their little arena one more.

"Maybe you should've read the menu instead of getting Kirby to order for you," Shadow Kirby said. He placed both of his elbows down on the table. 

"I can't ask him a question?" Marx asked, baffled.

"Shadow, it's fine," Kirby assured. He really did not appreciate all the accusations Marx had been getting. It was like they were trying to shield Marx from him, but he didn't need any shielding. Marx isn't a bad person. Well, at the moment at least. He wasn't going to deny that he used to be. He was surprised that Marx hadn't snapped at either of them, assuming he's hungry. He probably just jinxed it by thinking about it.

"Sooooo, you two are dating, huh? Congratulations. When did that happen?"

"More than two years ago, actually," Prince Fluff proudly stated.

"Is it two consecutive years?" That earned an elbow from Kirby. "Ow, what?"

"Yes," Fluff deadpanned.

"I wouldn't expect you to know how a healthy romantic relationship works. You don't even know how a healthy friendship works," Shadow Kirby said. He flicked his eyes to Kirby.

"Well, gee! Quit acting like you know me, 'cus you don't," Marx said. He leaned on Kirby. "Besides, Kirby and I are great friends."

Kirby didn't deny nor agree with that statement but he didn't shove Marx off him either. This was going horrible, which was to be expected. He was starting to think this wasn't worth the trouble to avoid suspicion, but he also wasn't ready to talk to Prince Fluff about all the stuff that's happened. How would he even start? "I've been feeling like shit because I may be the spawn of the same thing that has harmed my friends and almost ended the universe on multiple occasions"? Or better yet what about: "I don't want to save the dumb universe anymore. I'm getting tired." Hell why not say that he almost killed Marx with "one punch" and wanted to kill Magolor just the other day? Maybe he should even admit that it wasn't just one punch and that after he tackled Marx out of the sky he—

"Kirby?"

"Get off of him, you're clearly making him uncomfortable," Prince Fluff scolded.

Marx jolted away from Kirby like he was on fire, snapping Kirby back to reality. He gave him a worried look. "You zoned out there," he stated.

"Oh, sorry." Kirby looked down at his hands that rested on the table. They were slightly shaking. He put them down on his lap, hoping no one noticed.

"You don't have to apologize," Marx assured. It felt weird to be like this in front of other people. Especially since he's normally rude and snarky around everyone else. He could tell it weirded out Shadow and Fluff as well by their surprised looks.

Kawasaki approached the table with a cart of their food. He placed down all the plates. There was almost not enough space for all of them.

Marx looked down at the food and hunger washed over him at full force. He could feel his mouth watering at the sight and smell of the juicy cooked meat. It's been too long since he's eaten at a restaurant. 

Kirby snorted at the sight of him.

"What? The food looks good!"

"I'm sorry it's just that your pupils expanded so much at the sight of it," Kirby explained.

"My hunger humors you. I see how it is." Marx frowned and brought a sleeve up to his forehead like he was going to dramatically faint. "You just looooove to see me suffer," he teased.

"Shut up and eat, you dork," Kirby snickered.

On the table the same dishes of Shadow Kirby's contrasted the versatility of Kirby's food. The amount of food they ordered made Prince Fluff's and Marx's look like snacks in comparison. The big bowl of ramen that sat in front of Kirby created a dense enough steam to block the view of the shadow from the caster.

Despite all the tension at the table, Marx let his guard down and rolled his sleeves up. He casually grabbed a fork and knife and took the first bite.

No one else has touched their food yet, Kirby was blowing on his ramen to cool it down, but neither Prince Fluff nor Shadow Kirby made so much as a twitch to grab their cutlery. 

"He has hands?" Prince Fluff whispered to Shadow Kirby.

"It's magic, buddy," Marx said with a mouthful of food. He hacked away at his food with the knife and fork, spilling some of the rice on the table. He immediately took another bite once he finished the first one.

Embarrassed that Marx heard him, Prince Fluff straightened his back and brought his plate of sashimi closer to him. He put the napkin neatly on his lap, but still didn't start eating.

Kirby took note of how Prince Fluff was just awkwardly sitting there instead of eating. He decided not to say anything and grabbed his chopsticks to begin eating his ramen. Normally he'd gulf down everything in one sip, but if Marx was making an effort to use cutlery, Kirby would make an effort to eat normally too. The steam faded away enough that he could see Shadow Kirby once more. He was disappointed to find that he also wasn't eating. He swallowed his food and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Guys it's lunch. Why aren't either of you two eating? Your food's getting cold."

"It's because I'm here," Marx answered for them. He was already halfway done with his meal.

Kirby frowned. "Then why did you invite us if you aren't even going to make an effort to not hate each other?"

"I only invited Marx for you,” Prince Fluff remarked.

Marx put his fork and knife down on his plate once he finished his food and wiped his hands on the napkin. He rolled down his sleeves and stood up from the booth. “Well in that case, I bid you all adieu.” He walked away and left the restaurant.

"Now look at what you did!" Kirby shouted. "You two were rude to him the entire time but he was trying to get along. 

"You can quit acting like you care about him so much," Shadow Kirby said.

Kirby gawked and slammed down his chopsticks on the table next to his bowl of ramen. "I am not acting! Why do you think I'm acting now, out of all times?” he fumed. "I care about him, despite everything he's done to me I still care about him and I never stopped caring about him!" He snapped his mouth shut, almost surprised at his own words.

Shadow Kirby shared the same shocked expression before his eyebrows furrowed. "You're lying. Did you forget I share the same exact memories as you before Dark Mind cursed my world? I remember the fury you felt. You didn't have to throw him at Galactic Nova at the end of that fight, but you did. Not because of justice, not because he was a danger to Popstar, but because you hated him! And you felt satisfied afterwards."

"Well then maybe we don't have the exact same memories because I felt like shit after that!" Kirby challenged. Who was Shadow Kirby to tell him how he felt? Shadow Kirby wanted to be his own person, then why was he claiming that they used to be the same person. Take one glance at them and anyone can see how different they are. Say they did share the exact same memories, they'd certainly react differently towards them.

"Kirby... what do you mean by 'out of all times'?" Prince Fluff asked.

Kirby stood up. "You know what? I don't need to put up with this," he declared. He left the table to go outside as well, massaging his forehead with his hands. He ignored Fluff's words as he left the restaurant. He was tired of Shadow telling him how he felt and he was tired of Fluff asking him all the wrong questions. He just couldn't handle the two right now.

To his surprise, Marx was waiting patiently right outside the restaurant. Seated down next to the entrance and picking at the ground. He looked up once Kirby shut the door. "That was a mess, but at least I got food," He probably meant for it to be a humorous statement but even he couldn't find that situation funny.

"Yeah," Kirby agreed with a sigh. He kneeled down next to him. "I'm sorry for putting you in that situation. It wasn't even worth—no. I shouldn't just drag you into stupid shit like this just to keep up my dumb happy-go-lucky facade. It didn't even work anyway."

"Apology accepted, you acknowledge you're a wingnut for doing that," Marx said, to which Kirby felt somewhat disappointed in. "What happened in the two minutes I was gone anyway?"

Kirby scoffed, "They told me I could 'quit acting' that I care about you and Shadow had the audacity to say that I felt satisfaction after I threw you into Nova."

"What's up with Shadow anyway? I don't even know him and he has such a huge grudge against me. Kirbs tell me, is my face really that punchable-looking? Or are my bastard vibes that powerful?"

"No, no it's none of that... Well maybe you do have somewhat of a punchable face? No wait shit."

Marx snorted at Kirby's realization.

"Fuck! That's not what I meant, it's way too soon to joke about that!" Kirby explained while waving his hands around frantically.

"Chill, I know you aren't joking about punching me into a tree. You aren't that insensitive."

Kirby frowned. "I'm not insensitive."

He shrugged, "Eh sometimes you are."

"Anyway!" Kirby raised his voice to get back on topic. "Shadow Kirby and I share memories from before the mess with Dark Mind. The mirror used to be a perfect reflection of Dream Land until Meta Knight and I entered it, so remembers being friends with you and he remembers your betrayal, but I'm starting to think he interprets our memories differently if he's that bitter about it."

"Whoa that's weird." So that's how the mirror world worked. "Why's he so different from you then?"

"Like I said, Dark Mind screwed up the world and I screwed it up more and now we're completely different people and now I don't have a reflection! It's as simple as that."

"That's not simple at all, but it does explain why Shadow Kirby hates me so much. I guess. Oh well! At least I got the better Kirby to be friends with." Marx rested his head on Kirby's shoulder.

"He'd kill you if he heard that."

"He'd kill me anyway, might as well add to the list so my gravestone is longer. Imagine it," he outstretched a sleeve towards the sky. "Maruku the nobody: killed by Shadow Kirby because he tried to take over Popstar, considers him the lesser Kirby, and intruded on his date with Princey Plush-boy when he was invited."

"I don't want to think about you dying."

"Aw, you're so sweet.”

The door to Kawasaki's opened and Shadow Kirby stepped out. "Kirby," he started, "we need to talk."

Kirby looked at Marx.

He waved his sleeve nonchalantly, "Yeah sure, whatever. You two talk, I'll just be here, chillin."

Kirby nodded and stood up. He followed Shadow Kirby away from Kawasaki's and they didn't stop walking until Marx was out of view. Kirby sat down on a rock while Shadow stood there with his arms crossed.

"You're being awfully trusting to someone who gets on your nerves. I don't know what happened for you two to get closer but whatever it is, don't you think he has some ulterior motive? You and I both know Marx, at least when he was younger. He was selfish and ordered us around often. He befriended us because he had nowhere else to go. He used us and he's doing it again to you."

"He's not doing it again. He's changed since then. You and I have changed since then,” Kirby argued.

"Prince Fluff should be interrogating him now—"

"What?!"

"We'll go see for ourselves just how much he's changed."

Kirby couldn't believe what he was hearing. "This whole thing was a set-up, wasn't it?"

"Hey, if you're right about him everything should go steady."

"This isn't right!" Kirby yelled. He rushed back to the front of Kawasaki's only to see that Marx was no longer there.

Shadow Kirby followed behind. "He's behind the building," he answered the unspoken question Kirby had.

Kirby ran to the back of the building. He gasped once he saw Prince Fluff threatening Marx with what seemed to be a  shard of glass.

"I'm going to ask you politely. Why are you staying at Kirby's house?"

"It's not very polite to threaten someone but okay. I just needed a place to stay and he's the first that came to mind."

"What are you planning?"

"You're jealous of me, aren't you?" Marx asked, ignoring Fluff's question.

Prince Fluff sputtered, "Why would I be jealous of you?"

"Oh y'know, because I'm much closer to Kirby than you are. Glad to see you found a replacement for him though."

"Right. I'm jealous of the person who was best friends with Kirby and then threw it away for world domination. I know you're up to something." He brandished the shard.

"Yeah, sure. What I'm 'up to' is keeping tabs on the incarnation of Void. I'm up to saving us all from Kirby! If he calls it quits on saving the universe or snaps and follows in Void's footsteps we're all doomed. But you two think I'm scheming something horrible and selfish—"

"Is that really why you've been staying with me?"

Marx snapped his head around to the new voice. He was like a deer caught in the headlights. 

Kirby's blank face stared back.

"It's not! I was just—" Marx stammered.

"I told you he had an ulterior motive," Shadow Kirby interrupted. 

Anger seeped into his voice, "Oh shut it! I was being sarcastic! Come on Kirby, I made a promise to you—"

"Oh like your promises are worth anything," Shadow Kirby said.

Now those words stung. Marx shut his mouth.

It was uncanny how neutral Kirby's voice and face looked. It was hard to get a read on him. "I see. Fluff, back off."

Prince Fluff complied immediately and the mirror shard dispelled. He had a sheepish look on his face.

Marx calmly walked away from him and towards Kirby. He looked unharmed, to Kirby's relief. "I was only saying that to get him off my back," he mumbled.

"As if I would believe something as ridiculous as Kirby being an incarnation of Void," Prince Fluff said with a sneer.

Everyone else fell silent.

Prince Fluff's sneer fell at the sudden silence. "What?"

It felt like Kirby's throat constricted on itself. Prince Fluff didn't know about that yet. He wasn't at the fight with Void Termina. He didn't see the eldritch horror's true form imitate Kirby's own face. Only Bandana Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight were there inside Void Termina's fake shell to see their true self. The rest of the Star Allies only got a glimpse of what their true self looked like when the shell disappeared, but most people focused on the fact it looked like dark matter rather than Kirby. After the fight no one brought it up; they just had a brief moment of relief that they saved the universe.

Prince Fluff looked at Kirby with a cautious but patient gaze. 

Well there was no avoiding it now. Kirby sighed. "You remember how I explained that Gooey is made out of the same stuff as Zero?"

"Yea?"

"There's a possibility I'm made out of the same stuff as Void." Kirby almost laughed at his own diction. "Possibility", the connection was so clear it was much more than a possibility.

"Oh," Prince Fluff breathed out.

Kirby could see his expression change around as he processed that and thought of what to say.

Marx shifted in place wordlessly, looking at the ground.

Shadow Kirby stood straight, his eyes fixed on Kirby the entire time.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, Prince Fluff spread out his arms to offer Kirby a hug.

Kirby eagerly accepted it despite the confusion he felt.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he patted Kirby's back softly.

Kirby could already feel the tears forming at the corner of his eyes. "I'm not sure," he answered truthfully. "Probably not," he let out a dry laugh as he leaned into the hug.

“That's okay. I'm here for you Kirby, I hope you know that,” he said softly.

The hug ended sooner than Kirby wanted it to, but then again he wouldn't mind if the hug lasted an eternity. He wiped his eyes. Thankfully he didn't cry too much. “We should finish our food.”

Prince Fluff gave him a smile. “Right.”

“I'll be at the Starcutter, Kirby,” Marx said.

“No wait, you can stay,” Prince Fluff said.

“What?” Marx and Shadow Kirby exclaimed.

“Really?” Marx narrowed his eyes at Fluff. “Who are you and what did you do with Prince Fluff?”

“I'm sorry for being rude. I really thought you were planning to do something. Shadow Kirby didn't really give me a good impression of you.”

“Y’know what that's fair,” Marx shrugged. He held out a hand, “Let's let bygones be bygones.”

Fluff and Marx shook hands.

Marx held Fluff’s hand for a second longer, “Also, Kirby considers me to be his best friend.”

“Hey, I never said that!” Kirby protested.

“Is that a challenge?” Prince Fluff raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe,” Marx replied he let go of Fluff's hand and wiped his hand on his pants as if it was contaminated by him.

The two glared at each other as they all walked back in the restaurant. They sat down.

Kirby immediately resumed eating his food, a bit saddened it was room temperature.

“By the way, who's paying?” Marx asked.

“I am,” Fluff said before he took a bite of his sashimi.

“In that case. Hey Kawasaki! I'll order everything!”

“WAIT NO! DON’T LISTEN TO HIM!”

"You threatened me earlier, so I think I deserve a little treat."

"A 'little'!?"

The two bantered as Kirby ate. He looked at Shadow Kirby, who looked grouchy as usual and didn't even make a move to eat anything.

It made Kirby wonder what would've happened if he never broke Marx’s horn. They wouldn't have talked and Kirby wouldn't have opened up to him. He wouldn't be here right now eating with him. Would he be bitter to him like Shadow was? Even though he knew it was wrong to hurt Marx like that, he probably wouldn't be here with him right now, content. It was somewhat comforting. Even after both of them made mistakes, they could still be happy together.

Chapter Text

Kirby, Marx and Prince Fluff walked home relieved there were no casualties at lunch. Shadow Kirby already left on his warp star.

"Ugh, it was not a good idea to declare a cake eating duel," Prince Fluff groaned, holding his stomach with his arms. He stumbled from time to time when trying to keep up with the other two.

"Speak for yourself, I'm feeling great AND I won!" Marx exclaimed. He walked a little bit ahead of the two.

"You'd think you'd learn the first time," Kirby said. He slowed his pace to keep watch of Prince Fluff and make sure he wasn't going to fall.

"I swear he has a black hole for a stomach,” he said drolly.

Marx turned around to face them, walking backwards to their destination now. "Oh I do, Princey. Literally."

He laughed dryly, "Of course you do. I was doomed from the start."

"I'm more worried about the amount of money you spent," Kirby said.

"Oh it was nothing but pocket change," he assured.

"Pocket change!?" Marx yelled. He nearly tripped upon hearing that. He continued to walk backwards anyway. His mouth was agape out of shock. They spent so much money at the restaurant.

"When money lies all around your kingdom you tend to have a lot of it,” Fluff shrugged. He let his hands fall to his sides as his stomach ache started to subside.

"Doesn't that count as stealing?" Marx quirked a brow.

"If I was stealing it, someone would just try to take it back."

"But Fluff people have tried to take it back—" Kirby remarked.

"And they lost the fight, it's fine,” he waved off Kirby's concern.

"Your economy must be great," Marx said sarcastically.

"It's going horrible, but appears to be doing better than Dream Land's since you two don't know what a real job is. So I'd say I'm doing fine in that department."

"How is being a prince working out for you? Also, is there a king or queen of Patch Land?"

"Being a prince is somewhat exhausting, but luckily most of the time I don't have much to do. My citizens of Patch Land get by just fine on their own and no, there is no king or queen."

"Woah, so you work solo? No advisor? Knight?"

"Well the knight part is being worked on... Having Shadow as my knight would be nice but he's already busy with the Mirror World so I haven't gotten around to asking him. It's not really urgent or anything. I can hold my ground pretty well."

"That's not what you said that day you two had a sleepover," Kirby pointed out.

Prince Fluff's face flushed as he pouted. "I was paranoid! Dark Meta Knight hates my guts and he would've killed me if I was alone," he made an excuse.

"Ooo a sleepover? Care to share?" Marx asked.

"Oh look we're almost at Kirby's house," Prince Fluff said and pointed at the dome-shaped home. "Sadly I will not have enough time to tell you, maybe next time."

"I'm totally just going to ask Kirby later." Marx smiled.

"Kirby please don't," Prince Fluff begged.

"I won't," he assured, "I wouldn't be able to retell it properly without the interesting details anyway."

"Then next time it is," Marx declared, knowing fully well that “next time” won't come for a while.

They reached Kirby's house. Kirby opened the door and they all went in. Prince Fluff picked up the magic sock and said his goodbyes before entering the portal to Patch Land.

Once Fluff was gone, Kirby scanned the room, surprised to see that Gooey wasn't here. He walked over to check the bathroom, nothing.

"What's up?"

He walked back to the main room. "Gooey's not here. I wonder where they went," Kirby said. That means they were alone together again.

"Thinking about it now, I haven't seen them since you threw me into a tree."

"Yeah, I told them the animal friends wanted to hang out with them before carrying you to my house. They were here again after we got back from Floria," Kirby explained.

"Ah, I see. They're probably just off doing Gooey things," Marx said. He shook his head until his hat fell off, leaving it on the carpet.

Kirby fell back onto his bed with an "oomph" and spread his arms out on the mattress. "Lunch went well, sort of." It went horrible, he shouldn't have ever accepted the invite.

"No one died," Marx agreed. He sat down on the bed next to Kirby.

You almost did, Kirby thought. Whether by Shadow Kirby's or his own hand he wasn't sure. Probably both. Ironically Prince Fluff, the one who actually threatened him, was the only reason neither of them lashed out. At least it was the reason why Kirby didn't immediately lose his shit upon hearing Marx's fake reasoning for being around him. He probably wouldn't have given him the time to explain that he was lying to Fluff if they were alone, but there wasn't anything to worry about, really. Marx wouldn't have come up with that lie and said that in the first place if they were alone. 

It was a lie to Fluff, that's all it was.

Then why did he feel so betrayed anyway? It sounded all too real.

He hated how good of a liar Marx was. He remembered how often he would lie before the incident with Nova. Some of his lies were blatant and he'd say them often, but those were to cover the lies he says with a straight face. The ones that sounded truthful. He had false cues for when he was telling the truth and when he was lying. 

"Don't you have a phone? You could call Gooey to check on them," Marx said, breaking the silence.

"Right." Kirby checked his pocket. He almost forgot he put his phone there. He turned it on to see many unread messages from Bandana dee, and Gooey. He was intimidated by the amount of messages the former sent, so he checked Gooey messages first. Oh, some of these were days old.

Gooball: Are u okay?

Where are u? The party's starting.

Kirby scrolled down to the newer messages that were sent a couple of days ago, probably while he was in space.

Gooball: I noticed the broken tree nearby ur house do u know what happened? 

There's something on the ground near it

[Gooball sent an image]

Kirby breathed out an "oh boy".

"What?"

Kirby showed the picture to Marx, who cringed at the sight of it.

It was a picture of the broken-off half of Marx's horn. It was on the ground with dried blood on it.

He scrunched his eyes. "Oh man that's a pretty big chunk, I never realized it until now," Marx stated. "Wait Gooey sent this..."

They looked at each other in a tense moment of silence.

Kirby quickly looked down at his phone to read Bandana Dee's messages. These were from today. He frantically scrolled and skimmed through them.

BD: Where have you been?

Gooey found a piece of a claw or horn or something next to a broken tree. Are you okay?

They say it might belong to Marx.

Why aren't you answering? Did he attack you?

[6 missed calls from BD]

"Shit..." Kirby exhaled. He began typing. It wasn't often that he didn't answer his phone on time but in a moment like this it definitely stressed his friend out. He hoped sending a message now would calm them down at least a little bit.

Kirby: Hi, Bandana Dee. I'm sorry I didn't see these messages earlier. I was busy, but I'm okay! I didn't notice that the tree was broken and neither did Marx. We don't know where that claw or whatever it is came from.

Three dots appeared on the bottom, next to Bandana Dee's contact photo.

"They're already typing back?" Kirby exclaimed.

"What did you respond with?" Marx questioned. He peaked at the phone.

"I said I didn't notice the tree and I don't know where that horn came from. Shh! They answered!" He brought the phone closer to his face.

"It's not like you're on a call—"

"Oh this is bad, Marx. This is real bad." Kirby reread the message over and over again hoping like that would change what it said.

BD: I already brought the piece to Meta Knight to identify what it is. Marx is lying. That's his horn. Do you know where he is? Where are you right now? What happened!?

"They know it's yours." Kirby covered his face with his hands in anguish after dropping the phone on the mattress.

Marx read over the message, eyes widening once he finished. "Well crap," he said. He already started brainstorming lies and excuses. "Okay, stay calm. I got an idea, but first things first. Magolor can NOT find out about the broken horn in the tree thing, because I already told him my horn broke after he left me in space."

Kirby put his hands down on the mattress and looked Marx in the eyes. "He knows your horn broke?!"

"He yanked my hat off my head, it wasn't exactly something I anticipated. Anyway, lying about this is going to be harder now that Meta Knight knows. I think you have to tell the truth, Kirby. That's really the best course of action I can think of."

Kirby's heart sank. The one time he hoped Marx could find a way to lie out of something and he says it would be best to say the truth, just great. Well the truth was going to reveal itself eventually, right? Might as well rip off the bandaid now. 

He wasn't ready to, but when would he ever be ready? "I don't," his breath hitched, "I don't want to..."

"It'll be fine. They'll understand. You have good friends, well, except me and Magolor."

Kirby wrapped his arms around Marx. "You are a good friend."

"They're better friends. And if I'm still here after you threw me into a nova and a tree, they will be too."

"If you phrase it like that, I'm a horrible friend!" he wailed. He let go of Marx and got off the bed. "Why are you still here?"

"Hey," Marx said sternly, "I was a bad friend too, but according to you I'm now a 'good friend'. So according to me you aren't a horrible friend. But . You need to open up to your other friends. You're worrying them. You don't wanna be all emotionally constipated like Meta Knight, right?"

"...Don't call it that," Kirby mumbled.

"What, don't like the phrase 'emotionally constipated'?"

Kirby shook his head with a frown.

"Okay, fine, whatever, how about emotionally closed off? You remember how frustrated it makes you knowing someone is having trouble with something but you don't know what because they aren't telling you? Yeah, you're kinda doing that to them right now."

Kirby clenched his teeth and looked down guiltily at the phone. He stared at the three dots bouncing in the bubble as Bandana Dee typed another message bringing him closer to his doom. 

BD: I'm coming over to your house. DDD will send a search party if you aren't there.

Kirby: I'm okay! And I am at my house so you don't have to worry so much.

He turned off his phone and looked up at Marx. "They're coming over now."

"Do you want me to leave?" Marx asked.

"What? No! I...I don't know!" Kirby babbled.

Marx patted Kirby's shoulder with his sleeve, a gesture he meant to be comforting. "I'll stay for now and leave if need be, alright? I'll back you up as long as I'm here," he reassured.

Kirby forced his body to relax. He nodded with a determined look. He'll get through this, they're good friends. If Marx is here by his side, of course Bandana Dee will be understanding. He tried to convince himself he was prepared, but he just kept remembering Bandana Dee's face when they were fighting Void Termina. They were dismayed, not just at Void Termina but at himself as well. 

What will they do when they find out Kirby really isn't just a positive little boy with no care in the world? That was the only thing that stopped them from assuming the worst with the connection between him and Void. No, no he doesn't have to go so far into detail. He can just say they had a heated conversation and there was a slip of his hand. They don't need to know that much.

There was nothing to worry about anyway. Kirby would never become a destructive force and doom the universe like Void because he never does anything evil! He would never think of something like leaving the universe to rot because he just wants to selfishly take a break for longer than a few months, never!

He heard a knock at the door. He sprang off the bed and breathed in deeply. 

You got this! Don't fuck it up! Or things will go very wrong! 

He thought to himself as he extended his hand to the doorknob. He curled his hand around the knob, it felt like it pierced through his hand as he did, and turned it hesitantly. He was ready for this, he could do this. If Marx was still here—

"Yeah, sure. What I'm 'up to' is keeping tabs on the incarnation of Void. I'm up to saving us all from Kirby! If he calls it quits on saving the universe or snaps and follows in Void's footsteps we're all doomed. But you two think I'm scheming something horrible and selfish—"

—If...he was still here...his other friends would be understanding. What if he wasn't being sarcastic? Then that would be lying, he promised not to lie to him.

"Oh like your promises are worth anything."

His promises are worth something. He was the one who broke the first compromise in the first place.

But if it was true he'd—

Oh shut it! They're here!

He opened the door after slapping a practiced plastic smile on his face. 

"Hey Bandana Dee!"

Upon seeing Kirby, the waddle dee's expression was a mix between concern and relief. They had their spear with them in hand but they appeared to have come alone. "Kirby! You're...you look tired. When's the last time you slept?" Bandana Dee asked.

Kirby opened his mouth to answer but he wasn't actually sure what the answer was himself. He looked back to Marx who was still on the bed, still not wearing his hat as there wasn't a point to hiding the broken horn anymore.

Marx looked back at him and shrugged; he didn't know the answer either, but it was definitely for more than one whole day.

"Oh, do I? My bad. I've been busy, I guess it slipped my mind?"

"Sleeping slipped your mind?" they said, aghast. "Kirby. Tell me what happened between you and Marx, please. You two clearly weren't sick that day. Meta Knight said you couldn't get sick."

Kirby unintentionally sighed at that. Of course Meta Knight would rat him out on that too. There really was no room for lying anymore. "Okay, but we should sit down for this. It'll take a bit to explain." Kirby stepped aside from the door, letting them come in.

They sat down on the carpet as Kirby didn't have any other places to sit than his bed. Marx moved down to the carpet as well, which earned a scowl from Bandana Dee. He stuck his tongue out in turn, which was a pretty tame response for him.

Once they were all settled, Kirby began, "So I'll start from the beginning."

"A few days after we defeated Void Termina, Marx showed up in my house unannounced. Originally I told him to leave but he explained that he had nowhere else to go, so I decided to let him stay for a bit until we could find him a home. Skip a day or two, Marx and I sat down to have a chat mostly to catch up and the chat kinda escalated, I lost my temper, and then I..." he trailed off. It was still very hard for him to think about it let alone talk about what happened. Marx made it seem so easy, like it didn't even bother him. He swallowed nervously before continuing. 

"I lost my temper and punched him into a tree and he was bleeding so much but he was still awake somehow and he tried flying away. I couldn't let him fly away so I called the warp star and tackled him into the ground." He knew very well "tackled" was an understatement, but Marx didn't even know about that part. He definitely wanted to spare them both from the details. "It turned out after all of that his horn broke. I didn't mean to, it was an accident. We made up though."

Bandana Dee shifted a little. They looked puzzled. "...That's it?"

Kirby flinched back. "What do you mean by 'that's it'? It's a big deal!" he shouted.

Marx looked shocked too. He slouched to look a bit smaller, the nervousness hitting him now.

"It's just Marx," they stated. "I don't see why you would hide something this mundane."

"I...I uh," Kirby's face shifted through many different emotions. Confusion, bewilderment, a hint of relief, until it turned neutral again. "I just thought you were scared of me? After the fight with Void and all," he confessed. "I thought you'd be more afraid of me."

Bandana Dee seemed to finally understand. Once it clicked for them, they visibly relaxed. "Oh Kirby, I wasn't afraid of you. I was just scared of Void Termina. Confused about why you two looked so similar, yes, but not scared. Besides, Meta Knight cleared it all up for me. He explained that you two weren't related. You were right, it was just imitating you."

Marx gave them a skeptical look, but continued to say nothing.

"IT WAS?!" he yelled. He heaved out an exasperated sigh, "What a relief."

"Yeah, it was imitating other things too. It made more faces than just yours, remember?"

Kirby nodded, "Yeah, I do remember."

"Well, I'm glad that was cleared up. I understand you didn't want to scare me but you don't have to keep secrets, okay?"

"Okay," he lied. There was no way he was telling them about that second breakdown on Halcandra with Magolor or that third one that almost happened just this afternoon. If it wasn't for Prince Fluff watching he probably would've lost it. He had to take a minute to remember how genuine Marx was being when making the promise to not lie just so he didn't lose his temper again. Besides, none of this was their business anyway. 

Despite the mask covering their mouth, Kirby could practically see Bandana Dee smiling just with their eyes. They stood up. "I'll be going then, I'll explain to the others that it was all just an accident. See you later Kirby."

"Oh, bye!"

Then they walked out the door, shutting it as they left. 

And that was that.

That was it? All of that stress and fear over nothing?

“Rude. They didn't even acknowledge me,” Marx hissed quietly.

"I'm not related to Void," Kirby said.

"They really think that little about the value of my life," he muttered at the ground.

"I'm not an incarnation of Void!" Kirby shouted with glee.

"Of course you aren't! I said I was being sarcastic. I pulled that outta my ass. How could you be an incarnation when Void Termina was right there?" he grumbled.

"Right. It's still a relief to know that I'm not related to them."

Marx hummed in agreement. There was a beat of silence before he spoke out. "Hey. Do you really think that situation was 'mundane' because it was me?" Marx mumbled with a frown.

Kirby came down from his high of happiness to realize how put-off Marx was by that whole interaction.

He thought about the question. Did he overreact that entire time? Marx doesn't even flinch when talking about it, but that doesn't mean it was "mundane". 

"No, of course it wasn't mundane! I hurt you when you didn't deserve it. Bandana Dee just...doesn't like you enough to care about it," Kirby assured.

"Right, yeah," Marx said. He breathed in. "Cool." he whispered to himself. " Cool ." He looked lost in his thoughts, but a second later he perked up. "You should sleep. It seems like we were in space for a few days, and we might be going back soon depending on when you want to free Galacta Knight."

"We could go tomorrow,” Kirby suggested.

"You sure?"

"Positive," Kirby affirmed. "The sooner we find them, the better."

Marx nodded. "I'll go tell Magolor that. He'll prepare everything, and don't worry, he's over that outburst on Halcandra." He walked over to the door.

Kirby went over to his drawer to get a change of clothes. "You're not gonna sleep?"

"Don't need to," he answered as he summoned his arms and wings to put on his hat and open the door. "G'night Kirby, I'll be back by sunrise tomorrow."

"Goodnight," Kirby replied. He was a bit saddened as Marx left. He stared at the closed door for a second before assuring himself that he'll be back.

He grabbed a towel and went to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and flinched back when he saw Shadow Kirby. He somehow hasn't gotten used to that.

"I'm going to shower! Get out!" he shouted.

Shadow opened his mouth to speak.

Kirby cut him off before he could, "NOPE NOPE NOT TALKING TO YOU RIGHT NOW. STILL MAD ABOUT WHAT YOU PULLED AT KAWASAKI'S BYE BYE!" He grabbed chipped paint off the wall and ate it, allowing him to gain the paint ability. He covered the entire mirror in paint, forcing Shadow to leave. 

He discarded the ability with a sigh. He'll wash the paint off eventually, or never. He didn't even need a mirror; he didn't have a reflection anymore. 

He took a quick shower after that and brushed his teeth before heading to bed. With neither Gooey nor Marx to accompany him all he had was his thoughts. 

Well ain't that just great!

He could just use the sleep ability to will himself to sleep, but his dreams get very, very vivid when he does and when he wakes up he almost mistakes it for real life. Maybe it'll be fine, just for tonight. He made sure he was comfortable before he put on his nightcap and passed out immediately after.

Marx sat outside on a boulder nearby the Lor. Magolor got everything set up and the course has been made. Magolor managed to trace the crown piece origin to a desolate planet in the same solar system as Halcandra's. He doubted they'd actually find Galacta Knight there, but he had a backup plan.

He stretched himself out on the boulder as he watched the sun set and moon shine. Normally he hated being alone, couldn't stand it, but oddly enough it wasn't that bad right now. It was just him alone with the tick-tocks of his heart to accompany him. Sure the Lor was right there and he could go in to bother Magolor at any time, but he considered this an accomplishment regardless. He was clingy, he knew that it could get annoying; sometimes he didn't care.

But that isn't the only reason you're staying with Kirby, is it?

The thought gave him a distasteful taste in his mouth. Despite the promise he made to Kirby, he has lied to him still. Sure one of those lies was said before the compromise was broken and after the promise was made.

"I wasn't scared of you." Bullshit, you were terrified you were going to die, and you felt the same feeling this afternoon. 

He wasn't going to tell Kirby that, he'd just feel bad.

That led to the next lie he's said—well it was more of a half-truth. He felt bad that he meant some of what he said this afternoon.

It was true, of course, that the universe was doomed if Kirby quit or went rogue. That's why he foolishly hoped Galacta Knight could take his place, once they were freed, but no one would willingly take that position. Especially the person who was sealed away despite filling that role for so long.

But to phrase it in a way that Kirby was a ticking time bomb...

He didn't want to think about what he said. It was a lie and nothing but a lie. He didn't mean it. 

Then why are you scared of him? He cares about you.

He scrunched his face up into a scowl directed to no one but himself. He was scared for multiple reasons. They all boiled down to: he didn't want to hurt him again and he didn't want to get hurt again.

He curled up into a ball, shutting his eyes tightly. He didn't plan on sleeping, but he didn't want to think right now.

The thrumming of his clockwork heart helped him drift away into a guilty sleep. It felt heavy, and not just because it was reinforced with metal.

Chapter Text

Kirby woke up with a start. He threw off his nightcap and stepped out of bed to stretch.

Okay, he was going to free Galacta Knight today. 

He strode over to the bathroom, wasting no time getting his morning routine done. Wash face, brush teeth, change out of pajamas. He finished right as the sun began to rise. Right on time.

He waited by the door, tapping his foot on the ground.

It only took a few more minutes for Marx to get here.

"I'm here! Open the door!" Marx yelled at the top of his lungs.

Kirby opened the door immediately. "Did you have to do that instead of knocking?" he inquired, amused.

"I'd kick down your door first before resorting to knocking," Marx quipped. "Magolor's waiting for us, come on."

Kirby stepped outside and looked at Marx.

"What?" Marx stared back and tilted his head.

"Oh, I thought you were going to teleport us there," Kirby said.

"Psh, I'd like to save up my magic if we're going to free the strongest warrior in the galaxy. You take us there with the warp star."

"I don't know where he is," Kirby said. He summoned the warp star regardless, silently this time as he didn't feel like screaming so early in the morning.

The familiar hum of the star grew in volume as it approached them.

"He settled back near Sacred Square again, just last night." Marx's ear flicked as the star approached, though he didn't look down at it.

Kirby got on the star and waited for Marx to get on as well.

He hesitated for a second before stepping on. The sound of it was throwing him off more than he'd like to admit. He tried to push that feeling away and hoped Kirby wouldn't notice how uncomfortable he was.

They flew over to the Lor Starcutter in no time and entered the ship.

"Hey Magolor!" Marx greeted them as they barged in. He immediately went next to Magolor and looked up at the monitor.

Magolor was at the controls of the ship, typing away at the keyboard with one hand and scanning the tabs on the large monitor. "'Sup," he replied dryly. He sounded tired. He took a sip out of the mug he held in the other hand.

Kirby noticed the piece of the master crown, set on the workbench, was hooked up to some sort of machine that had long antennas sticking out of it.

"Hi Magolor," Kirby said awkwardly. He was hesitant as he walked closer to him. "I'm sorry for what happened on Halcandra. I jumped to conclusions." He fumbled with his hands as he spoke.

"It's fine," he slurred in response before taking another sip from the mug.

"I appreciate that you're doing this."

"Mhm," Magolor hummed.

Kirby squinted his eyes with concern, "Are you alright?"

"Oh he just gets like this when he pulls an all-nighter. It's fine," Marx chimed in.

"Can you drive the ship like this?" he asked Magolor.

"The Lor can take us," he mumbled slowly. He pressed the star buttons at both ends of the control panel. "Just follow the map," he ordered.

Just like last time, the Lor began to rumble as it lifted off.

"He never even drives the Lor himself anyway," Marx assured. "We'll be fine."

Kirby looked at the monitor, one of the tabs was live footage of a camera outside. He watched as the Lor Starcutter formed a rift in front of itself.

The ship went through the rift and they were instantly somewhere completely different. They were definitely in Another Dimension judging by the starry space and crystal-like asteroids around them. They were nearing a planet he's never seen before. It was spherical and appeared to be bigger than Popstar. It almost reminded him of Shiver Star, but it had color.

The ship landed a few moments later.

The three ventured out to be greeted by a deserted planet. Magolor carried a compass he explained was linked with the machine that he used to track this planet.

Another difference this planet had with Shiver Star, there didn't seem to be any life left on this planet. It was barren, with only dirt and many puddles of possibly water scattered throughout.

"Is this the right planet?" Kirby asked.

"It is the planet of the crown's origin, yes," Magolor confirmed.

"But was Galacta Knight sealed here?"

"If not this planet, it has to be somewhere near here at least."

"This is kind of an odd planet for a dangerous artifact like the master crown to be created," Marx remarked. "It looks peaceful. Are you sure this is their home planet, Magolor?"

"Peaceful? There doesn't seem to be any life here, though," Kirby pointed out. There weren't even any plants as far as he could see.

"Eh, it's quiet."

"That doesn't mean peaceful.”

Magolor treads off, not bothering to wait for the two to get used to the surroundings. He looked down at the compass frequently to check if he's going the right way.

Marx and Kirby quickly noticed he was wandering off and followed behind.

"So how does using the master crown help us find Galacta Knight?" Kirby asked. He walked without a care, stepping in the puddles.

"Void Termina made a version of the master crown while we were fighting it. The original master crown was most likely made by the first Void, and all my research points to Galacta Knight and Void sharing the same home planet. So it was likely they were sealed somewhere around here," Marx explained.

After a few minutes of following Magolor, who soon started floating to avoid the puddles, they began to see rubble, and after that, ruins. The ruins were probably of a city, but it didn't look like anything back on Popstar. There were some similarities between the architecture in Halcandra and Jambandra with it, however.

"Woah," Marx said in awe. "What do you think dug up that building?" he said as he gazed at a huge broken down building completely on its side.

"It wasn't dug up. It used to be floating," Magolor elaborated. "It probably fell down once the planet was abandoned." He continued walking after surveying the area.

Kirby stopped in place to look at a crumbling wall with a mural of a person on it. They looked god-like and whimsical, with long platinum hair, streaked with colors of the rainbow that blended with each other, that matched their marble skin almost void of any warm color. Their skin contrasted their burning red eyes, even though the colors of the mural were washed out, it was clear they were supposed to be a vibrant bright red. Long horns jutted out from their head along with crude wings that spanned twice their arm span, almost ruining their angelic appearance. At first Kirby didn't know who this was, but seeing those horns and wings again, there was no mistaking it. That was Void.

"What's the hold up?" Marx asked, walking back to Kirby. His eyes landed on the mural. With a quick scan his eyes widened, like he was entranced. "So that's what they truly looked like. The books and scrolls always depicted them as more monstrous."

"They emphasized the horns and wings, didn't they?"

"Yeah," he huffed out.

They stood there for a moment just looking at the mural. The True Destroyer of Worlds stared back, but even with the horns and wings, they didn't quite fit that title. Their soft, joyful expression was filled with so much compassion.

"I guess I was right. They really were a person," Marx mumbled to himself.

Void Termina was nothing but an empty shell. A newborn unable to feel but able to see everyone else feel. All it could do was copy others to try to understand, but like giving an ant the knowledge of a human, all it did was confuse itself beyond anything it could handle.

Kirby furrowed his brows once it hit him: Void Termina was just a baby, but they were already a lost cause . He remembered how it copied him. It made him mad that it stole his face, his body, his demeanor, but now...Now he just hoped they could have what he has in the next life. A good family.

He placed his hand on Void's. Wishing that he could comfort them now.

Magolor approached the two. He gave a sympathetic look at the mural and Kirby. "History distorts us all," Magolor said, sullenly.

"But I'm gonna set things right," Kirby assured. He gave the mural a determined look.

A butterfly with orange and red wings landed on top of the mural.

"A butterfly?" Marx questioned.

"I didn't think there'd be any life left from this planet," Magolor said, amazed.

"No that's—that's from Popstar. How'd it follow us here?" Kirby looked at the butterfly, perplexed. He recognized that butterfly. It always greeted him before or after an adventure. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

The butterfly fluttered off the mural and went towards Kirby.

Kirby extended the palm of his hand to give it a place to land. It was slightly bigger than his hand. It then started to fly away.

“Huh? Wait!” He shouted towards the butterfly. "We need to follow it!" Kirby exclaimed and chased after it.

"Kirby, wait!" Marx shouted and took off along with Magolor as well. "Why are we following a butterfly?"

"It's leading us somewhere!" Kirby responded. He kept his eyes on the butterfly as he sprinted.

"Really? Because it seems to be flying away from us."

Kirby kept running anyway, but the butterfly was getting farther and farther away from the ground.

Marx summoned his arms and his wings erupted from his back. He leapt forward to pick up Kirby by the shoulders and with a powerful beat of his wings they shot after it, leaving Magolor behind.

Kirby glanced up at Marx. He was focused as can be on following the butterfly, going at speeds Kirby didn't think Marx could go.

They soon left the orbit of the planet.

"Where is it going?!" Marx grunted as he twisted and turned to avoid the asteroids.

The butterfly came to a halt once a pink crystal entered their view.

Marx slowed down and stopped right in front of the crystal. He let go of Kirby's shoulders and switched to holding his hand to prevent him from drifting away.

A low hum emanated from the crystal. It sounded like a sad choir to Kirby, but to Marx it sounded like voices.

He ground his teeth together and let go of Kirby to cover his ears. It was so loud and sounded desperate, but he couldn't understand any of it. He could feel his clockwork heart tick faster in response to the voices.

"Marx, what's wrong?"

He could hardly hear Kirby's voice over all the noise. Even if he covered his ears he could hear it, but Kirby couldn't. It was like it was being forced into his mind.

The butterfly landed on the crystal and it began to glow.

Marx wrapped his wings around Kirby right before the crystal broke and the pieces scattered all over the place. Some of the pieces nicked his wings, prompting him to hiss in pain. He carefully unfurled his wings.

Galacta Knight stretched out their own wings fully. They were much bigger than Marx and Kirby. Just one of their wings spanned longer than their heights. Their build was strong, their horns were long and sharp. Their eyes shone a violent magenta.

The sight alone struck terror in Marx. It didn't help that the voices grew even louder now. He could almost make out what they were saying.

"Grant.. my w.ish....," They hissed. "L.et..me out."

"Hey, Galacta Knight," Kirby said carefully. "I'm not here to fight you. I just wanted to free you."

Their eyes pinned on Kirby and narrowed.

Marx groaned as the voices cackled mockingly. He covered his ears again, claws digging into the sides of his head.

"Impossible for a child to free me." "It's futile." "You can't help."

"But the nova can."

Marx felt his fear grow and spread throughout his body. He shook his head furiously. "No. No! I can't grant anything! I won't!"

“Marx, what are you ta—”

"I wasn't talking to you," Galacta Knight spoke aloud. Their voice was deep and gravely from misuse. 

The knight moved as fast as light and tackled Marx, bringing him down. 

Kirby could only watch as they crashed down to the nearest surface: the moon of the planet.

Galacta Knight was on top of Marx, lance positioned at his chest, pinning him down.

"Grant my wish, nova!" they roared.

INSUFFICIENT POWER!->

With a grunt, Marx slipped into his shadow.

Galacta Knight stabbed at the dark purple shadow repeatedly.

Marx shot out of the ground flying upwards. The crystals of his wings were cracking. His arms were gone. He didn't have the magic to keep them summoned and he was struggling to keep his wings intact. He wasted it all on chasing that dumb butterfly. He crashed to the ground immediately. He quickly regained his footing.

Galacta Knight thrusted their lance at him.

He crouched under it.

And so the dance began.

Kirby floated far above them in space cupping his hands together, trying to call the warp star, but they were so far it couldn't hear him. He looked around desperately for something he could use to get down.

The asteroids!

He grabbed onto the nearest one once it floated close enough and broke off a chunk. He quickly copied it and pushed off of the asteroid in the direction of the moon.

His body solidified into stone as he slammed down into the moon.

He broke out of the stone and looked around for the two.

The moon was a pale blue and full of shallow craters, but other than that it was flat all over. There was nowhere to hide.

Marx came into view, but so did Galacta Knight.

Kirby sprinted towards them.

They paid no mind to him. Their moves are fueled by desperation. 

The knight's movements quick and calculated. The jester's sporadic and unpredictable.

All Marx could do was dodge. He was out of magic. His clothes were cut up.

Not even a scratch was laid on the knight. They were relentless with their attacks.

Marx wasn't fast enough.

Kirby wasn't close enough to stop it.

Galacta Knight lunged forward.

He had his hand outstretched to him as it happened. 

"Marx!" Kirby screamed.

Marx weakly turned his head to him. “Kirby,” he whimpered. He wanted to comfort him and say he'd be fine, that he'd gone through worse, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. He didn't feel in control of his body, he couldn't feel anything except for the piercing pain in his chest.

He thought he'd seen Marx scared before, but this was something completely different. Marx knew he would never have the actual intent to kill him. Even when he was so furious and threw him into Galactic Nova he held back because he cared, but Galacta Knight did not.

The lance pierced through his heart directly. There was no remorse.

He hasn't gone through worse than this.

The ticking of his clockwork heart weakened.

Galacta Knight pulled the lance out of the jester's body, letting him fall to the ground like a worthless doll. They kneeled down next to him, setting their shield down, and grabbed his head.

"Grant my wish," they ordered.

INSUFFICIENT POWER.->

The grip on Marx's head tensed. He weakly hissed out. They lifted his head up and slammed it into the ground with a sickening crunch.

"Grant. My. Wish."

CRITICAL DAMAGE.->

POWERING DOWN.->

...->

The ticking ceased and life vanished from his eyes.

They let go of his head and stood up. "I overestimated his strength. What a waste of my time,” they spat.

Every muscle in Kirby's body tensed. He started trembling.

Marx wasn't moving, he was bleeding out too much.

Kirby took a step closer, alerting Galacta Knight.

They glared at him coldly. "He's dead." They drove their lance down into Marx's shoulder. "See?"

"No!" Kirby cried out. "No, Marx, get up!"

"How foolish can you be? He would've screamed if he was alive." They raised their lance and positioned it to Marx’s head. "Do you need further clarification?"

"No! Just stop," Kirby croaked. He sniffled, as tears blurred his vision. "How were you ever a hero?"

"I was never a hero. I just killed the 'right' people according to the ‘good’ people." They held their lance by their side. It was coated in his blood. "There is no such thing as a hero. The galaxy is too cruel for something like that," they dictated.

Kirby gritted his teeth. "You're wrong!" he challenged. "Being a true hero doesn't mean killing people!"

"And how would you know that?"

"Because I'm a hero!" He put his hand on his chest. He shuddered out a breath. "I'm Kirby of the Stars! I'm a hero and I do more than just kill people! I bring peace to my world. Sure sometimes that involves ending someone's life, but I only do that as a last resort! Being a hero means helping others better themselves, being there for others when they need you most. Helping people redeem themselves!”

"You've got vengeance in your eyes, child." Galacta Knight looked down upon Kirby. "You call yourself a hero, but do you think it would be heroic to kill me?"

Kirby blinked, causing the tears to fall.

Marx's lifeless body entered his view.

He felt disbelief. He was alive just a minute ago. 

His blood pooled around him, staining the ground.

He was alive just a minute ago.

And he did nothing to help him.

He was alive.

He just stood there like an idiot.

Just a second ago he was alive!

The tears that didn't fall to the ground soaked into his skin.

He copied it and gained the water ability.

"Heroic?" Kirby's voice cracked. Water began to form and swarm around him. The moon rumbled as he brought up his hands and leeched all of its water from the ground, forming a gigantic wave behind him. "You think I give a shit about heroism when it comes to my friends?"

Galacta Knight gazed upwards at the ever-growing wave. Before they could make a move, chains of water wrapped around their legs.

“You're wrong!” he wailed.

Kirby threw his hands down and the wave came crashing after.

Galacta Knight looked surprised, but unafraid.

“Your title means nothing,” they said.

The force of the wave was enough to fracture the entire moon.

He blacked out.

He saw a flash of violet.

Then, he opened his eyes to be met with space and floating debris.

Kirby floated in space, alone, tired, and in pain. He was caught in his own attack due to his recklessness, but he didn't care. Even if all of the bones in his body were broken it didn't compare to the pain of knowing Marx was gone, again. Permanently.

He forced his body to curl into a ball.

He sobbed. No one heard.

Chapter Text

A long time ago…

Marx and Kirby took a stroll around the outskirts of the village, taking care to walk quietly. The moon shone overhead. It was dead in the middle of the night yet the two kids were up all night playing.

After hours of roaming around the forest and playing games they finally started walking home once Kirby got tired.

“Hey, Marx, do you think you’ll ever make friends with other people?” Kirby thought aloud.

Marx stopped for a moment at Kirby’s question, and glanced at the village with disdain in his eyes.

“I hoped so, but you know how most people are. They see a demon and immediately think 'hey why isn't that thing dead?' Y'know?" Marx said, tilting his head. 

"…But you could try? Maybe convince people that demons aren't so bad?"

Marx scoffed, shaking his head with disbelief. “Like I'm gonna go around lying to people. You gotta keep in mind that I'm the only cool demon, Kirby. Besides, the whole village hates me already. That's the thing about mistakes, once you make one it's almost impossible to go back and fix it." he paused. "There's nothing really left to do but make even more mistakes." He muttered, almost too quiet for Kirby to hear. 

"But it wasn't even your mistake."

"It doesn't matter if it was." Marx mumbled and walked ahead of Kirby, ending the conversation. 

It didn't take long until the two arrived at Kirby's house. Marx arrived at the door first and waited for Kirby to catch up and unlock it. 

Kirby opened the door and they both walked in and sat on the carpet. 

Marx sat their cross-legged, frowning, looking down and bouncing his leg with annoyance. 

Kirby put his hand on Marx's shoulder, trying to comfort him. It's been awhile since they've hung out with each other. Ever since Dark Matter attempted to take over, Kirby's been busy keeping them at bay. They had just recently begun talking to each other again due to the Halberd incident.

Marx didn't have anywhere else to go.

Kirby didn't know where he stayed during the past few months he spent saving Ripple Star from Zero Two. Knowing him it was probably in the woods.

He's been having a rough time. Kirby wanted to help him.

"Maybe... Maybe someone will want to talk to you! Like if you explained about… y'know, what happened to you and Meta Knight to the villagers, you wouldn't have to hide away anymore!"

Marx raised an eyebrow, and let off a chuckle, a bit amused at the notion. He smiled, "You know it's too late for such a thing, Kirby, don't you? I couldn't even say anything before all of the villagers shunned me away like they did Meta Knight… Honestly they were all happy to finally have proof that I'm a horrible person. And with my only friend at the castle gone…”

Kirby frowned and pulled back, slightly dejected. The atmosphere thickened.

"But don't worry about me! You're the only friend I need." Marx said in a sudden cheery voice. He laid himself down on the carpet as Kirby got up from the floor to lie down on his bed.

Kirby turned off the lights.

"Goodnight, Kirby."

"Goodnight, Marx…"

Kirby took a look out his window to see the stars before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Morning came and the sun's rays shone through Kirby's window. The rays flooded the room with a warm glow that tickled at Kirby's face. He opened his eyes and stretched as he sat up in bed. Then, he looked at the carpet.

Marx was gone. 

Kirby jolted out of bed. Where was Marx?! He tried to calm himself as he left his house to look. Sure Marx never left without telling Kirby, but surely he's fine, probably. He should be in Whispy’s woods. That was where he usually went when he goes off on his own.

He had to be there.

He was definitely not taken away by DDD or his soldiers and finally executed while he was asleep.

Kirby made his way to the woods, pace increasingly speeding up as he got closer. Something about Marx suddenly disappearing overnight gave Kirby a bad feeling. 

"Marx!" He shouted, his worry increasing as he saw no sign of Marx anywhere. The leaves crunched under his slippers as he ran through the trees, hoping he would eventually find Marx somewhere.

Then, he spotted a figure ahead of him in a cave. It looked to be his friend. He approached Marx slowly, trying to contain the anxiety he felt. The darkness of the cave swallowed any color, leaving just enough light to see colorless forms.

Kirby stood before him, staring. Marx was lying on the ground, and his clothes were dirty. One thing managed to stick out over the whole sight: Marx wasn't wearing his hat. It was on the ground next to him.

Kirby could see the two horns jutting out of Marx's head. The horns Marx tries desperately to keep hidden under his hat to conceal that demonic part of himself.

Marx's hair fell over his eyes. His posture and expression were defeated, eyes shut and probably sleeping. The only thing that Kirby could hear was Marx's raspy breathing. Kirby kneeled beside his friend. He noticed a cut on his left cheek, his dried blood already forming a scab. His eyes widened, and he gripped Marx's shoulder and shook him gently.

Kirby tried to speak but he found himself unable to form words.

Once he did manage to say something his voice was hardly above a whisper. "Marx..? Marx, wake up," He said, but still the latter didn't respond. 

Marx laid there on the ground, motionless. 

Tears began pooling at the edge of Kirby's eyes. It was too dark to examine Marx's wounds but the stench of blood was overpowering enough to make Kirby feel sick.

To his relief, Marx opened his eyes.

"Don't tell me you...Did something attack you?" He managed to ask between choked sobs.

Marx simply nodded weakly.

"Come on, we need to get you cleaned up." He said, as he helped Marx to his feet. He grabbed his hat off the floor and put it on his head for him. "I'll help you, okay?"

Marx shook his head in protest. "I can't risk being seen by the villagers like this, especially with you."

Kirby frowned at that. "I'm just going to take you to the creek—"

"No." Marx cut him off. "I can go by myself. I don't want the villagers to see me with you, what if they start hating you too?"

"I'm not gonna leave you alone when you're injured. Besides none of them are out this early."

Marx sighed and gave in. "Alright, alright. Fine, your funeral."

The duo went silent as they walked out of the cave. Marx lagged behind, probably due to his injuries. 

Kirby turned to Marx, "So what happened, exactly—"

He halted suddenly, face paling.  

Marx's blood was bluish-green, Kirby knew that, but most of the blood covering Marx was red . 

He wasn't the one that got hurt, was he?

Marx hesitated as he scanned Kirby's expression. "...A monster attacked me while I was going on a night stroll."

Kirby decided to ignore a feeling in his gut and believe him. 

"A monster!? Did you defeat it on your own?!" Kirby shouted in shock.

"Yep," Marx said. "I can handle a simple monster on my own, Kirby."

"But I should've been there to help," Kirby mumbled.

"Tch! What, do you think I'm weak or something?" Marx replied in a pseudo-offended tone.

"No! No. It's just..." Kirby paused, searching for the right words. "Aren't I supposed to be 'Kirby of the Stars, Protector of Popstar'? I should've been there." He waited a moment as he guided Marx to the stream, "That way you wouldn't have gotten hurt at all. Maybe I should start going with you on your night walks—"

"No!" Marx hissed, taking Kirby aback. He cleared his throat, "I mean, no. I don't need you to escort me all over the place like Meta Knight did."

Oh, so that's why Marx hated that idea.

"Sorry... I forgot that's what he..." Kirby trailed off. He didn't want to say anything more about Meta Knight because he knew that he was a sensitive topic after the incident, especially for Marx. 

Marx sighed, "It's fine. You're just trying to look out for me. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"I just want you to be safe is all."

Marx chuckled weakly, "I know, Kirby." A pause. "Thank you, by the way." He said.

Kirby blinked and tilted his head slightly, "Huh?"

"Thank you for giving me a place to stay. For helping me."

"Nah, it's fine!" Kirby smiled. "What are friends for?"

"Yeah, but—" Marx continued. "...Thanks anyways."

"Of course, I'll always be here for you!" Kirby exclaimed cheerfully.

Marx smiled back.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Once Marx was cleaned in the creek they immediately went back home, luckily none of the villagers were out at this time.

Later that day, things carried out as normal. Marx and he adventured in the woods and played games like hide n seek or tag. They played until the moon rose overhead.

Once they got back home Kirby went straight to bed. He was tired from all of the running he did today. Playing tag with Marx was a pain. He always weaved around trees and rather than actually running away, he sticks close and ducks or jumps over Kirby's hand.

He reached for the light and turned it off to sleep, but Marx had other plans.

"Truth or dare!" Marx exclaimed. He hopped around Kirby's bed waiting for him to answer.

Kirby groaned, he rolled on his side and covered his head with his pillow. "It's bedtime Marx! Let me sleep!" he complained.

Marx kicked the legs of the bed, causing the bed to shake. "Answer meeeee!" he whined.

Kirby gave in with a disgruntled sigh. "Your dares are too extreme, so truth."

"Aw man," Marx pouted, disappointed but not surprised. "Weenie," he muttered.

Kirby crossed his arms as he lied on the bed and waited for Marx's question. He already expected a pause, Marx definitely only formulated dares in his head.

"Uhhhh, If I was suffering and in irreversible pain would you do the honors of putting me down?"

"See this is why I don't do truth or dare with you!" Kirby shouted. He grabbed his pillow and smushed it on his face. "What kind of question is that!?" his muffled screams leaked past his pillow.

"I'm out of ideas," Marx drawled. "Wanna switch to dare?"

He didn't even want to know what the dare is. "No, I'll do the truth." He removed the pillow from his face and hugged it as he reluctantly thought about the question. "Would you want me to?"

"Now who's asking the morbid questions?" Marx taunted.

"You are! You're the one who brought up this topic!"

Marx laughed at Kirby's anger. Once it died down he answered him, "I guess I would if it had to be anyone, yeah."

"Then I would."

"Daaang. You wanna kill me that bad?"

Kirby sputtered, "No!? You said—"

Marx continued to laugh. "I know what I said, I'm just messing with ya!"

"You're so weird..." Kirby said with a giggle. Curse Marx's laugh, it was so contagious.

"Okay your turn. Truth or dare?"

"Hmmmmmm," Marx pretended to ponder. "Dare."

"You never pick truth..." Kirby pouted.

"Truth is for weenies, weenie. Now lay it on me."

"I dare you... to tell the truth for the entire day!"

Marx gave him an annoyed look. "Aw what!?" he whined.

"Wanna switch to truth?" Kirby offered smugly.

"Ugh, you're learning from me and it's awful. Fine, I'll do truth this round."

"Why do you go by 'Marx' when your name is Maruku?"

"'Cus it's easier to pronounce. Okay your turn again!"

"Whaat? That can't be right. You're infringing on the rules of truth or dare!" Kirby accused.

"Well it is. Just admit you wasted a turn." Marx blew a raspberry at him. "Your turn again."

"Dare," Kirby said, surprising Marx.

"Really?" He cocked his head. "Then I dare you to eat a handful of dirt!"

Kirby turned on the light. He rolled out of bed and walked over to the door.

Marx watched as he stepped outside and kneeled down.

He scooped up a pile of dirt and made eye contact with him as he shoved it into his mouth without hesitation.

He was speechless.

Kirby accidentally got the stone ability from doing so. His eyes narrowed challengingly at him. "Truth or dare?"

"I didn't expect you to actually do it. There could've been a caterpillar in there."

"Unlike you, I adhere to the rules of the game," he said with too much pride for someone who just ate dirt.

Marx snorted amusedly. "Hit me with a dare."

"Let me sleep!"

"Okay! Sheesh."

Kirby discarded the ability and walked back inside. He lied back down on his bed and bundled himself up.

Marx stayed down on the carpet and spread himself out. "It would be cool if you didn't need sleep. We could stay up aaaaaall night."

"It's kinda weird you don't need sleep though," he mumbled. "Have you ever needed sleep?"

Marx rolled his eyes. "Again with this. I told you not to think about it."

"But you're a noddy right? Don't they normally sleep for most of their lives?" He looked down at Marx who was on his side now, facing away from him.

"You and I know that I'm not normal. I told you already, I'm the only cool demon. I don't need sleep and you don't need an explanation why."

"...Right." He flicked off the light with a sigh. "Goodnight, Marx."

"G'night."

Chapter Text

Kirby woke up with a start. For a moment he just sat there on the bed, crying. He wiped his eyes with his shirt.

Once his adrenaline died down he realized he was sleeping this entire time. He tore off his nightcap and dropped it on the carpet. The sleep ability made his dreams feel so real.

He fell back against his pillow and sniffled.

It felt too real.

After a little while, he grabbed his pillow and threw it against the door with a loud thud.

The sun was already out. He rushed out of bed to change out of his pajamas and wash his face. He silently swore off using the sleep ability to fall asleep ever again.

"I'm here! Open the door!" Marx yelled at the top of his lungs.

"I'm coming, hold on!" Kirby answered. He pulled down his pink shirt before opening the door. "You're okay," he mumbled to himself.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Marx cocked his head.

"Oh uh, I just had a bad dream. You were hurt in it." He ruffled his shirt as his fists clenched the fabric. “Hurt” was the biggest understatement of the century.

Marx gave him an empathetic look. "That makes two of us. I didn't really plan on sleeping, because y'know, nightmares, but I did end up snoozing for a bit. My dream was horrible—wait, how did you have a bad dream?"

Kirby’s eyes widened with shock as he processed that question. They already knew the fountain doesn’t work on Marx, but the fountain should've stopped his own nightmare at least. He decided to push it aside for now. "I'm not sure. I’ll check on the fountain later. We have something else to do first."

"Riiight. Magolor's waiting for us in his ship. We should get going."

They stepped outside and Kirby called the warp star.

Marx got on cautiously. "He's back at Sacred Square."

"I know," Kirby said.

"You do?" Marx questioned. "I don't recall telling you." He quirked an eyebrow.

Kirby shrugged, "I mean I had a feeling he'd be back there." But why was that feeling right? He shouldn't even know if Magolor was back on Popstar. He thought Marx was going to teleport them there. He only knew because of the dream but the dream wasn't real.

They got on the star and began flying

He slowed the star when he thought over what happened once Galacta Knight was freed. By now, most of the dream was hazy, but the image of Marx being impaled stuck with him.

"What's up?"

Kirby looked unsure. "Do you think this is a good idea?"

"Personally: ehhhhhh. I mean, from how you've described it, it sounds like the right thing to do. Eternal imprisonment does sound worse than death. Which is still on the plate if things go south, right?"

"Yeah," his voice sounded distant, "yes it is."

"I'll keep that in mind."

They got to the Lor. Kirby talked to Magolor. Things went similar to how his dream played out except Marx wandered off in the Lor this time, rather than staying by Magolor's side.

Almost everything else played out the same. From leaving the Lor Starcutter to Marx calling the planet "peaceful", looking at the mural of Void, following the butterfly, and to finding the crystal that sealed Galacta Knight away.

It was scaring Kirby. Maybe he shouldn't do this. Maybe he should just leave Galacta Knight in their permanent imprisonment.

"Marx, you hear something don't you? What is it?" Kirby asked.

He removed his hands from his ears. "I can't make any of it out. It's all jumbled."

Kirby noticed the butterfly was getting closer to the crystal. He could swear that Galacta Knight was staring at him through the barrier. He grabbed hold of Marx's hand. "Don't leave my side, we don't know how they'll act."

Marx took note of how nervous he looked. He gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Got it."

Kirby copied an asteroid and gained the stone ability.

On cue, once the butterfly landed on the crystal, Kirby formed a shield in front of them.

He lowered the shield after the crystal broke apart.

Galacta Knight unfurled their wings. Their armor gleamed from the light of the crystal asteroids. Their long magenta hair tied into a braid flowed behind them.

"Marx, fly us down to the moon as fast as possible," Kirby ordered and pointed down to it.

"Okay?" Though unsure, he followed Kirby's order anyway. He wrapped his arms around Kirby. They shot down to the surface of the moon.

Galacta Knight dove after him. He struck the ground with his lance, shaking the ground around them all.

"I can hear them clearly now. They want me to grant their wish? I'm not..." His eyes widened. He shook his head. "No. They're not talking to me. They're talking to Galactic Nova."

"Wait, Nova? What wish?" Kirby asked. How were they talking to Galactic Nova? They fell apart after he threw Marx into them.

"I don't know. They just keep saying 'grant my wish' but Nova can't. There's not enough star power," Marx replied.

They drew their lance from the ground. "Surely you can figure it out on your own. It's quite obvious, really."

"Is it freedom? But you're already free!"

"The crystal is only a part of this curse placed upon me. Here's a hint: haven't you two already tried to free me?"

Marx recoiled at that, expression darkening.

Kirby thought about it. Those dreams he had of Galacta Knight were more like nightmares. The fountain of dreams should've stopped them. The one last night should've been repelled by the fountain if it was a dream. He turned to Marx. "Marx, did you...die in the dream you had last night?"

His eyes widened. "We shared the same dream?"

"But it wasn't a dream, was it? It felt too real and it's all repeating again."

"Aeon hero," Marx spoke up. "It's time travel. It wasn't a dream."

"Time travel!?"

"You're smarter than you look, jester," Galacta Knight commented.

In an instant they charged at Marx.

Marx split his own body in half; the knight passed right through him.

Kirby brought up a stone dome around the two as Marx reassembled himself.

Marx grimaced as the turquoise goo that glued him together seeped into his clothes. "Eugh, hate when that happens."

"But you're okay, right?" Kirby asked.

"Yeah." Marx wiped the goop from his face with his sleeve. "I'm not dying this time."

"They've been time traveling?"

"I don't think they are the one controlling it." Marx explained. "Maybe...the ancients didn't just seal them away. They sealed them away permanently. By sealing them out of time."

"Sealing them out of time?"

The dome rumbled around them. The knight was trying to break it.

"I don't know! I'm just spitballing here! What other dreams have you had about them?"

"Well, every time I've seen them I fought them, but the dream didn't end immediately after I defeated them," Kirby muttered. He recalled every memory he had of fighting them. Each time was similar to one another. They'd be freed. They fight. They're defeated. "But every time after they're defeated in battle the dream tends to end after a few more minutes."

The rumbling intensified, causing rubble to fall from the dome.

"It is a bit odd you’ve never seen them outside of a ‘dream’." Marx remarked. “In a way, we’re lucky time went back. Though it is weird that you’ve defeated them every time when they’re the strongest warrior in the galaxy.”

Kirby winced at the image of Marx being defeated by Galacta Knight. He easily took them out after that, but he was swept away in his own attack too. It almost looked like they gave up after he formed that giant wave. Maybe they were holding back?

"Argh, we can figure this out later," Marx said, noting that the dome was close to breaking. "What's the plan now?"

This wasn't going as planned. He just wanted to bring justice to them, but now he saw that the ancients might've had a good point to seal them away.

But didn't sealing them away in the first place cause all of this?

He took a deep breath and faced Marx. "I'm going to try to talk to them, stay in here. The dome might not last long so get ready to run or fight." He created an opening, walked out and immediately closed the dome.

They were right outside the dome, within arms reach of it.

"Why are you fighting us?!" Kirby asked.

Galacta Knight broke off a chunk of the dome with their lance. "You saw the butterfly didn't you? That means one of us here is going to die, and it will not be me. I didn't stay sealed away for eons just to be finished off by a naïve child!" They brandished their lance. "You wanted to free me without fighting me?! Why!?"

"Because no one deserves to be sealed away forever! That's worse than dying, because at least then you get to rest!" Kirby exclaimed.

"Worse than dying? Who are you to decide that?" They narrowed their eyes. "Tell me. If you had a friend that was about to die wouldn't that be better?"

"No," he answered without hesitation.

"What?" They flared their wings out angrily. "You'd let them die?!"

"Yes I would, if it meant the alternative was something like that! I'd do anything to keep them living, sure, but being trapped forever isn't living!"

"Bold words." Galacta Knight tightly gripped their lance, "Let's put it into practice," and pierced through the stone dome with a swift strike.

Marx was pinned down by the tip of the lance at his shoulder.

Kirby gulped. Not again!

"I'm about to kill your friend. Unless, you go with a second option. It's your choice."

Kirby froze in place. His heart raced despite his inability to move.

Marx was taken completely off guard, struggling to move away. He turned to Kirby.

"You don't want to see him die again, do you?" they surmised.

Marx groaned, "Oh fuck off—"

They pushed the lance further into his shoulder. "Silence."

He let out a garbled cry, voice rising an octave.

"Tell me what the second option is first," Kirby demanded.

Galacta Knight scoffed, Same response. "The boy holds the power of a nova in his heart. Their powers are limitless, but only one wish is limited to one nova. You can, however, change the wish the nova is granting." Even with the mask covering their face, Kirby could swear he saw a sinister smile spread on their face. "I'll pass on my imprisonment to him and rid myself of it."

"Why can't you just leave us alone? You're already free!"

"I'm hardly free. In a few minutes the crystal will regenerate. Now which option do you choose?"

Kirby blinked at them. "Then just use the wish to free yourself! Why push it onto Marx?"

"Oh I would, but you wouldn't want that either. That'll kill him. Care to guess what wish the Nova is currently granting?"

Marx wished to rule over Popstar, but that wish failed to be granted. He didn't even know Marx had the power of the nova. What could the wish be?

"You want to tell him?" They were speaking to Marx.

He forced a laugh. "Well, uh here's the thing," he looked nervously at Kirby. "When you knocked me into Galactic Nova, all those times I over-exaggerated or joked that you killed me, it wasn't a joke."

Kirby frowned, "I already knew that. Magolor told me he revived you."

"No, I was too far gone for necromancy. It wasn't Magolor who revived me, he just stitched me back together using some of the parts of Galactic Nova's heart and doing that reset the nova. I was able to change my wish and my wish was to keep living."

"If I simply free myself using his wish, he'll most likely die. All his life force comes from that nova," Galacta Knight chimed in, "but if I passed on my imprisonment to him, the crystal would keep him alive. Which sounds better to you?"

"Both sound horrible!" Kirby shouted.

"You have to choose one."

"Killing him. Killing him would be better than eternal imprisonment," Kirby declared.

Galacta Knight gave him a look of acknowledgment. "I see."

"But now you don't BITCH!" Marx shouted before splitting in half once more. A black hole formed between them.

Galacta Knight was vacuumed in along with their shield and lance which dislodged from his shoulder.

Kirby solidified their body into stone and planted his feet down to avoid being sucked in as well.

The black hole spat Galacta Knight out covered in the turquoise goop and without their weapon or shield. They landed lying on the ground and their braid came apart. Their long magenta hair scattered around themself like a bunch of snakes.

Marx quickly reassembled himself and got up.

Kirby rushed to his side.

"So things have gone south right?" Marx clarified.

"Yeah," Kirby breathed out.

Marx reached into his hat. "I thought so." He took out his amulet and put it around his neck.

"You've had that the whole time!?" Kirby exclaimed.

Marx gave him a sly smile. "I got it while we were in the Lor. Magolor keeps it for me." Electricity flowed around the amulet and engulfed his body. Marx's appearance had changed, resembling how he looked in the dream Kirby had. His hat was a lighter blue and magenta, now missing the circle and triangle patterns. His skin was completely a light shade of lilac. His wings were a deep magenta with three claws. He looked a lot more lively now, to Kirby's relief.

The knight regained their senses and stood up. They shook off the goop that got on them. Their wings spread out, but they couldn't fly at the moment; their wings were wet. They took a moment to examine the goo and then glared at Marx. "You," they growled.

"Mwah?" Marx taunted.

"Where did you get that power!?" they roared.

He examined his claws mockingly, "Oh y'know. Not your business." His pupils constricted into slits akin to a snake.

"You don't know what you're toying with," they said matter-of-factly.

"The ancients didn't either, yet here I am," he quipped.

Galacta Knight scoffed, then noticed their braid had come undone. They scooped a chunk of it and pushed it out of their face angrily. With their lance in hand once more they thrusted it to the sky. Lightning shot out from it and fired around the area randomly.

Marx narrowly avoided a strike by a hair. "Oh they are pissed!" he exclaimed and grabbed Kirby's arm. He brought them into his shadow until the knight stopped.

They popped out to see them preparing to charge at them once more.

"How are they still fighting!?" Marx whined.

He breathed in deeply. Marx shot out a laser at them.

Galacta Knight blocked it with their shield.

Marx fired electrical arrows immediately after his laser attack ended. The arrows curved around their shield. It pierced their wings and shocked them.

"Marx, give me a ball," Kirby said, discarding the stone ability.

A multicolored ball materialized in front of Kirby. He copied it and got the circus ability. His clothes changed accordingly to a tighter and more aerodynamic outfit.

Galatca Knight ripped the arrows out of their wings and broke them. They held their shield in front of them. Multiple beams of light rushed at the two.

They worked together to avoid them. Grabbing and tossing each other around out of harm's way.

Marx focused more on attacking while Kirby served as a distraction.

Galatca Knight's movements became more frantic as time went on. They teleported all over the place, striking randomly.

Kirby somersaulted over and under their lance.

Marx flew overhead and planted seeds into the ground.

Vines covered in roses bursted from the ground.

Kirby led the knight right above one of the seeds.

The vine shot out of the ground and tore through their armor. It impaled Galacta Knight straight through the heart.

Kirby looked horrified as they spat out blood right in front of him.

Marx landed next to Kirby. "What's with the face? I thought that was the plan."

"I thought you were just going to restrain them or something!" Kirby stammered. "I didn't know you could do THAT!" He gestured to the bloody rose vine.

"Oh me neither, but a little karma doesn't hurt." Marx shrugged.

He stared at Galacta Knight.

They dropped their lance and shield. Their legs gave out, but the vine kept them up. They stared back with contempt.

"I'm sorry I can't help you, but I'm not just going to let you kill my friend," Kirby said.

They grunted, "And you call yourself a hero. You're an idiot for trying to free me. Perhaps you aren't even fit to be a hero. You're too young and naïve."

"It's funny you say that. I don't really want to be a hero anymore, but I don't really have a choice anymore. I can't quit now."

"You don't want to be a hero? Then why are you here now? What's prompting you to free me?" They questioned.

Kirby stayed silent, unsure how to respond.

"It's funny you say that you don't want to be the hero. Yet here you are. You didn't have to go out of your way to come all the way here, twice. Even after your friend was killed right before your eyes."

Marx scanned Kirby's expression, trying to get a read on him, but he couldn't.

His face was blank.

"You wouldn't be here right now if what you say is true," they said.

Why was he here? He came here to fix his own problem, not fix someone else's. Why was he so hardwired to put others first?

Because I'd feel awful knowing I could do something to help but stand around and do nothing.

But this is too much, you should be taking a break right now. You're a person too.

Am I?

Then why did it feel like all his life he's done nothing but help others?

He knows that's not true, but that didn't make the feeling go away.

"You're a star child, aren't you?" Galacta Knight turned their head to the side.

"A what?"

"Ugh, how are you still alive!?" Marx complained.

They ignored Marx and kept their attention on Kirby. "Do you have a star marking on your back?"

"Like my birthmark?" Kirby discarded the circus ability. Once his clothes returned to normal he lifted his shirt and turned around. On his upper back was a huge marking, the same shape as the warp star. It looked more like a burn than a birthmark.

Galacta Knight hummed in acknowledgment. "Yes, I guess you can call it that. Star children are typically seen as miracles, though I have yet to see one that is remembered fondly in history. I wonder how you'll fall."

"I don't know what you're talking about. 'Star children' isn't something ever mentioned in history and I've read numerous books and scrolls," Marx said with a scowl.

They laughed insultingly. "Oh so we have a scholar here. Your young mind can't comprehend even a sliver of real history no matter how much you read. Let me give you some examples: I was a star child. Void was a star child. Surely you know how Void fell, yes?"

"You sealed them away," Kirby said through clenched teeth.

"For a reason. They were too unstable," They clarified, tone hardening. They shuddered out a breath as they grabbed the vine poking out of their chest and yanked it out with one tug. The gaping hole in their chest quickly closed up and healed before their eyes.

Marx bit his lip nervously and exhaled from his nose.

"They failed to realize their purpose as a star child. As did I." Their wings flared out around Kirby, almost wrapping around him. They leaned their head towards Kirby, like an owl looking down upon their prey. "If you fail to realize and adhere to your purpose you too will fall!"

Kirby grabbed at his hair, overwhelmed by their booming voice. He groaned, "I don't know if I have a purpose! I don't even know what I'm doing here right now.  I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know anything!"

"Then maybe, you already fulfilled your purpose. Now there's no place for you."

Marx stepped in front of Kirby defensively. "Blah blah blah! Screw your 'star child' and destiny bullshit. Kirby doesn't need to fulfill anything to prove he's worth–"

Marx was interrupted by a chuckle. He looked back to Kirby with confusion.

He was sneering. He was pissed.

"Was killing Void my purpose like yours was sealing them away? Now what's going to happen to me?!" he yelled hysterically. "Is that why I've been feeling so incomplete ever since killing them? I finished the job that you were too much of a coward to do and now the universe is going to throw both of us away!"

"You killed Void?" Galacta Knight asked, their wings curled slightly.

Marx quickly stepped out of the way of Kirby.

Kirby gave them a cocky smile. "Yeah. I did what you couldn't do." He gestured to himself. "You wonder how I'll fall? I won't, because I'm no angel like you."

He grabbed their neck and lifted them off the ground. He stared up at them with malice he didn't even know he was capable of having. He could feel their pulse speed up as he tightened his grip, almost crushing their windpipe.

"I'm the Pink Demon."

He slammed Galacta Knight into the ground, using all of his body. The force was enough to create a huge fissure and shake the entire moon.

Kirby let go of their neck and stood there with his head down. His fingers were bruised and bleeding slightly. His hair, usually a bright light pink, but now dulled by the dust of the moon, obscured his face.

Marx approached him carefully. He stared down Galacta Knight to make sure they were finally dead. His heart was still pounding with fear as if the danger wasn't gone. "Kirby..." he whispered.

Kirby didn't stir or speak.

Marx stepped closer to Kirby.

Now that he was right next to him he could see that Kirby was shaking slightly.

"I'm tired," was all he could say.

He finally knew what he was: a "star child".

A child put in this world for a purpose that they needed to fulfill and his was to save the universe.

They were made to make the universe a better place.

Somehow, that left a bitter taste in his mouth.

All his life he's felt the need to help people, even strangers from other planets.

Even his first memory involved him saving people. As far as he knew he just popped into the world and went off to give everyone their food back. He hardly knew how to speak yet. He didn't even have a name until he came up with one on the spot after defeating King Dedede for the first time, but he knew how to fight from birth.

He was made to save the universe. He was made to help people. Then what did that mean if he was tired of it? 

He shouldn't even be tired of it. 

Isn't that a good thing? To help people?

You're selfish. You shouldn't be tired. You just want to slack off. What are you even going to do? Sit around and stuff your face with food?

It was a mistake to even make him sentient.

Now that thought made his breath shudder.

"Who am I?" He brushes his hair back as he lifts his head up.

"You're Kirby?" Marx answered. He looked concerned for him.

"And who is that? A jolly little kid with no cares in the world. All he does is eat, sleep, and save the world every few days, but he's happy." He pushed the corners of his mouth into a smile with his fingers, yet his eyebrows were furrowed. He dropped his hands, regretting that he did that as it made his bruised hand and arm hurt. "That's not me, but that's how everyone wants me to be. I don't know what I want to be, but it's not that ."

He laughed. "I chose my own name and it doesn't even feel like mine!"

He winced as he tried to move his right hand. It was a deep purple now from the bruising. He let it go limp by his side.

"I know I said I wasn't ‘going to fall’ to Galacta Knight, but both Galacta Knight and Void had such a horrible ending, no matter what they did... What's the point of saving this universe anyway when I feel like shit afterwards!?"

"Kirby, I know you're scared and mad about this—"

"Mad? I'm furious! But I shouldn't even be able to feel this emotion. If the universe wanted a perfect little 'star child' to lighten up the world they shouldn't have made me think or feel anything!" He ranted while staring up into space as if the universe were sentient and could hear him now.

"—You have to take a moment to listen to what you're saying. You are in control of your own life."

Kirby glared at Marx. "You will never be able to understand something like this Marx. I've been thrown into adventure after adventure to save the world. Sure I have people to help me but in the end it's me that kills the 'big bad guy'. You think I'm in control? There were thousands of dark hearts and only four heart spears. Yet a friend heart was what landed on me. They didn't land on anybody else! If I truly had control then..." His mouth twisted into a smile.

"I should take over."

"What!?" Marx exclaimed. He stepped back as his expression hardened.

"You and countless others have failed because I stopped you all, but who's going to stop me? " 

Marx's face paled. 

"Oh calm down it's not like I'll do anything bad, if anything things would be better! No one would be strong enough to challenge me!"

"That plan is crazy!"

Kirby paused, smile faltering for a second. "Right, right. How could I forget? Shadow Kirby would be a problem! I'll just take him out of the equation first, I've beaten him before I can do it again."

Marx put his hands on Kirby's shoulders and gave them a tight squeeze. "Kirby. You aren't being yourself right now." He made direct eye contact with him.

Kirby just stared right through him with an expressionless face. He looked down, the body was gone. "Where'd Galacta Knight go?"

Kirby woke up with a start.

His hand hurts.

Chapter Text

Kirby laid in bed for what seemed like hours, holding his head in his hands.

"What the fuck were you saying!?" he shouted at himself.

Take over!? Take over the universe!? You're the hero dumbass! You shouldn't even think about doing that!

I don't want to be the hero anymore.

You're lying to yourself.

He sprung out of bed and screamed. "What is this voice in my head anyway!? These aren't my thoughts! Get out of my head!" He kneeled down to the ground. "Get! Out!" Then he slammed his head into the floorboards. The only thing he accomplished from this was earning himself a headache and broken floorboard.

He hissed in pain and brought up his right hand to massage his head, only to hiss in pain again because his hand was still bruised. It shouldn't be bruised because what happened yesterd— in that dream , didn't happen! None of it! He certainly never planned on universal domination, Marx never said he wasn't being himself, Galacta Knight never told him he was a star child.

What even is a star child? They're nothing, they aren't real. It was just something his head made up.

He wasn't made for anything, he was just a normal kid that helped people out of the goodness of his heart, not out of the aching pressure to.

It was a dream.

He was in control of his own life.

He wasn't going to be sealed away.

He wasn't a star child.

His stomach lurched. His hand throbbed in pain.

Marx woke up, falling from the boulder he was sleeping on. He landed on the grassy ground with a soft thud.

Now what?

He got to his feet and looked back to the Lor. There was no way he was going back to free Galacta Knight. He didn't even know if he should go over to Kirby's, but he knew fully well that if Kirby was alone in the mental state he was in, things would definitely go wrong.

Okay let's recapitulate.

Freeing Galacta Knight results in time going backwards to before they were released, so freedom for them wasn't going to happen any time soon; even then, they seemed...not in a good headspace. That was putting it lightly.

Those “dreams” were just memories of before time went backwards. "Star Children" are what Galacta Knight, Void, and Kirby are. They're supposedly made to fulfill their purpose, but who made them? Was Meta Knight also a star child? He's never mentioned that phrase ever. Maybe only the ancients called them that.

Alright, so what's the best course of action? He clearly can't give Kirby any help with this; he doesn't know what to say. “Sorry you're bound to fate, at least fate is saving the world”?

Yeah, he wouldn't be any help.

Who could help? Meta Knight could probably give good advice, but he's not that good at comforting people. He's horrible with emotions and too blunt. Besides, it would go against a promise he made if he told him about Kirby's predicament. Even though it wouldn’t really be a secret much longer if Kirby does try to take over the universe, he still didn’t want to break any more promises and piss him off further. What about the self-proclaimed king? He's a very emotional person, always there to comfort his servants when they need it, he practically treats them as family, but Marx would never be able to get ahold of him and he probably wouldn’t understand what Kirby’s going through. Even Kirby's closest friends, Prince Fluff and Bandana Dee don't seem like they'll be any help.

Gooey. Gooey would be best for this.

They defied their instincts as dark matter to take control over their own life. If anyone can understand Kirby, it's them.

He knew that Kirby didn't want to burden them, but taking over the universe is a lot worse.

Best course of action: Find Gooey. Get Gooey to Kirby. Hope all goes well.

Now he just needed to find Gooey.

He went inside the Lor.

Magolor was hunched over the controls checking over the route to Galacta Knight’s home planet.

"Magolor, bring up the cameras I need to find Gooey," he ordered.

The sleep deprived wizard squinted at Marx, glancing at the large monitor and back to him. "I thought—"

"Yeah, the trip's canceled! I'm sorry. I know you worked all night setting the course but the plan's changed."

Magolor paused and blinked at him. A weak scowl crossed his face. "You do it then..." he muttered angrily. He floated away from the controls and out of the room, in the direction of his bedroom, most likely to get well deserved rest.

Marx stepped in front of the controls. "Lor! Pull up the cameras around Dream land and look for a dark blue-haired kid with a blue poncho."

As the ship searched, numerous panels appeared and disappeared on the big screen.

Marx scanned each one until the Lor stopped. His eyes lit up at the sight of Gooey, but were immediately extinguished when he saw that they were with Meta Knight, outside of castle DDD. Well, at least the trip would be quick.

Bandana Dee already told everyone about his broken horn. Would Meta Knight fuss over it? It doesn't matter if he does, there's more important matters right now.

"Alright. Thanks, Lor. You can close all of the cameras now."

In an instant all the panels disappeared.

After taking a deep breath, Marx teleported.

He landed in front of Meta Knight and Gooey, the latter looking surprised and the former tensing up.

"Marx?" Meta Knight uttered. His arms shot up to grab his shoulders. "Are you alright!?"

"I'm fine! I'm fine! Calm down!" Marx wriggled out of his grasp. His head snapped to Gooey. "I need your help." He took Gooey a few feet away from Meta Knight.

The knight simply watched them from afar, looking a bit disheartened.

Gooey leered at him.

"It's about Kirby," he whispered in hopes Meta Knight couldn't hear.

Gooey sighed and shook their head.

"Gooey you don't understand, he needs you right now. He lost it. Like completely lost it."

Gooey cocked their head. "Lost it?" they whispered back.

"His patience. His mind. He wants to take over the universe. I can't convince him not to because he'd just call me a hypocrite. You have to smack some sense into him.”

Shock and confusion dawned on their face. Then they nodded.

"Kirby wants to what?" Meta Knight questioned from afar.

Marx ground his teeth. Curse his bat ears! He cleared his throat as he faced Meta Knight. "Well uhhhh. You wouldn't happen to know what a star child is, do you?"

After many hours of arguing with himself and beating his head against a pillow, he finally decided to go through with his plan. Well, it wasn't really a plan besides "kill Shadow Kirby" and "take over the universe". He wasn't really sure how to take over the universe per se, but he has stopped and heard of many plans before.

He scrubbed the paint off of his bathroom mirror and waited. No reflection. No Shadow Kirby.

Guess he was going to the Mirror World.

He couldn't believe he was doing this. No one else would believe it either. Or would they? Do they all secretly know this was in his nature? That he was so selfish that he didn't even want to do what he was made for? He was pathetic.

He surfed on the warp star up to the entrance of the Mirror World. He entered the mirror to be greeted by Dark Meta Knight on the other side.

He pointed his sword at him. "What brings you here?" he interrogated.

Kirby smiled nonchalantly while raising his hands above his head. "Oh, y'know, the usual. I just wanna see my buddy!" He’s always thought he was a terrible liar, but he’s actually pretty good at controlling his tone. Though the actual words he says could use work.

Wait. “use work”? He didn’t want to work on lying.

Stop thinking. Stop thinking.

Dark Meta Knight scoffed and lowered his sword. He allowed him to pass with no further questioning, despite narrowing his eyes at him and taking note of his bruised hand.

Kirby took a detour to the forest in Rainbow Route. He copied a bomber and went back to his route to Shadow Kirby's house. He wanted to make this quick. It wasn't going to be their usual kind of duel. In fact he wouldn’t even call what he planned a “duel”.

No, this was straight up murder now that he thought about it.

As his reflection’s house came into view, Kirby began charging the crash. The ground rumbled and rocks were rising at Kirby's feet. Electricity revolved around his body, intensifying each step. His skin was prickling with fiery animosity directed at the wrong person. His energy poured into the upcoming fulmination.

Once the prickling became an unbearable piercing threatening to tear through his skin, he released his hold and the explosion escaped from his body with a shriek.

The sheer force of the crash ruptured the entire area around Kirby as if an earthquake was happening. It was ruthless. A pure bedlam that was merely a manifestation of the user’s mind.

The forest was ruined. The trees that weren't brutally uprooted by it, caught on fire along with the rest of the vegetation.

He searched the debris of the house. No glass. Shadow Kirby wasn't here.

He took out his phone to text Prince Fluff.

Kirby: Hey buddy! Do you know where Shadow Kirby is? I want to talk to him.

He stared at the phone until Fluff replied, occasionally looking up to check if anyone's there.

Fluff: He's kind of mad at you for shutting him out...

Kirby fumed at that. He was mad!? Shadow was the one who constantly barged in on his life, trying to tell him how he should feel and what he should do. He was sick of it! And he has the gall to be mad!?

Fluff: But he's going home right now from my place. He's a bit grouchy right now so I wouldn't really suggest talking with him now.

Kirby: It's fine. I can handle him. Thanks.

Fluff: "Handle him"?

Kirby: You know how it is with spaghetti !! ;P :DD

Kirby turned off his phone and stuffed it back in his pocket, rolling his eyes at that last text he sent.

He needed to find another bomber fast, or at least a strong copy ability. He didn't want this fight to drag on.

When you fight against yourself. Playing dirty is the best way to win. Shadow Kirby taught him that.

He sure as hell taught him that.

All he could find nearby was a Boxin. Good enough, fighter was a tough ability. Assuming Shadow doesn't have an ability, the fight'll be over quickly. He hid behind a tree that was still intact and waited.

Shadow Kirby entered the Mirror world.

"Kirby's looking for you. Something was off about him. His hand was bruised." Dark Meta Knight warned.

Shadow Kirby nodded. Kirby and him were both resilient people. Sure they can get hurt like any other person, but it was rare for them to have any visible injuries like bruises. Maybe someone attacked him? Or maybe he attacked someone.

On his way to his house he got the sword ability, just in case. For Kirby to suddenly show up after shutting him out was suspicious.

Normally Kirby'd at least text that he was coming over.

It was like he was trying to surprise him.

Or sneak up on him.

He heard rumbling. He looked ahead to see a stampede of critters leaving the forest.

He smelled smoke.

He sent a text to Fluff. If they were going to have another duel he wanted to at least warn him before he sees him again with a bunch of injuries.

He ran past them, towards the smoke.

The forest was on fire and there was a huge crater...right where his house should be.

Oh for f—You’re kidding.

He grit his teeth and brandished his sword. "You wanted to talk, huh!?"

He darted his eyes around, scanning the area.

"Come out then you coward!"

A huge fireball shot at him.

He sidestepped. It hit the ground next to him.

He shot a sword beam in the direction it came from.

Kirby appeared from behind a tree. He moved out of the way before the beam snapped the tree in half. Kirby shot another fireball at him in response.

Shadow Kirby avoided it, because of course it did. It’s never that simple with him.

Kirby rushed at him soon after the fireball hit the ground. He kicked his counterpart before unleashing a flurry of punches. There was no hesitation between any of his attacks, which was usual with any other duel.

Funny how used he was to fighting to the death with himself.

Shadow Kirby held his ground, blocking each punch with his sword. He couldn't find an opening to counter. Usually he was the one pressuring Kirby.

Then Kirby grabbed his sword. He snapped it in half. Blood leaked out of his newfound cut. The scent of iron filled the air.

Shadow Kirby’s eyes widened. What is he doing?!

Kirby grabbed Shadow Kirby and threw him into a burning tree.

There was a loud crunch as he made contact. He staggered up. Smoke assaulted his senses as he limped away from the tree, back now burned.

He lost his copy ability. This wasn't good.

"Okay!" He lifted his hands in defense. "You win this duel. You happy?!" He was glowering at him. He really wasn't in the mood to fight and Kirby was the worst thing in the universe to fight. He knows Kirby feels the same about him.

Yet despite that, they’ve done it so many times before. For no other reason than taking everything out on each other. It was dumb, really.

Kirby threw his fist towards his face. He didn't even bother to reply.

Shadow Kirby grabbed it. He struggled to keep the punch from connecting.

Then, he dug his nails into Kirby's hand. It began to heat up.

The bastard copied the fire.

Kirby yelled in pain as his hand was being burned. He tried to rip his hand away, but was unsuccessful. He glared at Shadow Kirby.

"So, it's a fight to the death, you want?" Shadow Kirby asked. His free hand spread open as a blazing fire ignited in the palm of his hand. It was hot enough to turn blue. He grabbed Kirby's shirt.

They both smelled nothing but burned flesh and cloth.

Kirby shrieked. He hasn't felt this much pain since the last time they fought. It stung badly as a few layers of his skin burned away. His breath hitched as he felt his skin blister. He felt like he was going to die.

He shifted his foot further into the ground to get good traction before pushing off and launching Shadow Kirby, along with himself, into the burning tree.

As Shadow Kirby’s back connected with the tree, he heard a crack.

His flame went out and his grip on Kirby's shirt and hand faltered. He lost his copy ability again.

Kirby repeatedly jabbed at him without mercy.

Shadow's eyes widened as cracks littered his body from each hit. Without the fire ability his resistance to fire greatly diminished. This wasn't good. This wasn't good!

"Wait!"

Kirby uppercutted him straight in the chest.

All the cracks connected with each other to form fissures. His face was full of disbelief as it fell apart.

He shattered.

Kirby lost his ability a second after he threw the last punch. He looked down at the bits of glass. His eyes stung at the sight, or because of the smoke. Probably because of the smoke.

Shadow Kirby’s phone rang. Kirby kicked it into the fire to silence it.

His chest was pounding and his breathing was ragged. He took a step, wincing as he did so. It hurt to move, as if someone was stabbing at him every time he did. He looked down to see both his hands charred, half his shirt burned, and his stomach was white where Shadow Kirby grabbed him. His vision was blurred and fuzzy. His head hurt.

No no no! He can't pass out right now.

He tried to take deep breaths, sucking up the pain as he ran, to the best of his ability, back to the Central Circle.

Thankfully Dark Meta Knight was still guarding the entrance, which was fairly far away from the exit so he didn't have to deal with him. Though it was confusing that the entrance and exit weren't linked, it came in handy in a moment like this.

He sprinted to the Dimensional Mirror, tripping as he went. He leaped into it and was home free.

He was spat out of his bathroom mirror. His landing wasn't so graceful and only furthered his pain. He needed to heal, and fast. At any moment his body could give out on him and collapse. Passing out right now was not ideal. He opened a drawer and took out a bandage. He quickly copied it.

Now with the doctor ability, Kirby mixed his potions together desperately. The vials clinked together; some of the liquid spilled onto the floor. He was getting every color but green.

He heard the front door creak open.

He paused his mixing and shoved the vials in the pockets of his coat. He hid in the tub, closing the shower curtain and keeping his hands over his mouth. His eyelids felt heavy, but he had to stay awake.

He listened to the intruder pace back and forth, presumably looking for him. They opened the bathroom door and peeked inside.

Kirby bit the inside of his cheek as the shadow of them appeared on the shower curtain, thinking they would open it, but then the shadow left and the bathroom door closed.

He heard the footsteps fade away.

Kirby let out a sigh of relief and then immediately resumed mixing the vials together. He finally saw green and he swore he was the happiest he’s been since he’s fought Void Termina.

He gulped down the vial viciously. He leaned against the tub and waited for his wounds to heal.

Shadow Kirby was out of the way...for now. He can always be revived. He wasn't sure how it worked necessarily, but the pieces of him will eventually come together again. So he had a time limit.

How do you take over the world anyway? Normally when someone tries to take over they use an artifact, but that was to get stronger. Kirby didn’t need to get stronger, or did he? He did just have a near death experience.

A smile crossed his face as he got an idea.

Then he heard footsteps once more, coming from his main room. He heard them circulate around the room before they faded.

His smile dropped as soon as it came as he heard a faint familiar voice outside.

“Where's Kirby?!”

Chapter Text

"Star child?"

Marx gaped. "You don't know? You better not be pulling that 'pretending like I don't know anything' schtick."

Meta Knight raised a hand defensively. "I assure you, I do not know what a star child is. Does it have something to do with what Kirby is planning?"

Marx nodded. "Sort of, yeah. Basically he learned he was a star child—which is a child put in this world to fulfill a purpose—and he just kind of... broke down."

"And he wants to take over the universe because, why?"

"Well," Marx pursed his lips as he paused to think. "He doesn't feel in control of his life and I guess he thinks taking over the universe would give him the control he wants."

"Ah..." Meta Knight simply said. It was clear he was overloaded with multiple feelings right now, namely concern and confusion, despite sounding so monotone.

Marx sucked in air through his teeth. "Wait, that's just like you..." he mumbled. It was also like himself. "Anyway! I came here for Gooey. I don't think you can help with this, full offense you suck with emotions."

"Hang on, where did he learn he was a 'star child'?" Meta Knight crossed his arms. He looked skeptical.

"Galacta Knight told him. They are also a star child and so was Void. You know how their stories go, of course Kirby would be upset at that."

His eyes widened. "You two found Galacta Knight?"

"Yes and no. We've seen and talked to him, yea, but none of that really happened because time went backwards. We remember most of what happened but vaguely, as if it was a dream. That last part was stupid vivid, though."

Meta Knight stared at him, dumbfounded. "It wasn't a dream..." he mumbled to himself. "Hmph. You are right about my... inefficiency in dealing with feelings, but you think Gooey would be enough to help?"

"Of course they would be enough!" He exchanged a look with Gooey. "You understand that what you are doesn't dictate what you do! You can explain to Kirby he doesn't need to take over the universes just to feel control, right?" He gave Gooey a worried smile.

"What if talking isn't enough?" Meta Knight asked.

Marx's half-smile faltered at the notion.

Gooey's unsure expression didn't help Marx feel any calmer.

Frankly he was doing better than he thought he would at keeping it cool, on the outside at least. On the inside he was terrified like any sensible person would be. His greatest fear is coming true. He's tried preventing this the entire time he's been with Kirby. From barging into his house to check in on him to annoying him and acting like a clown to distract him from what happened with Void Termina. When it was clear that wasn't working, he switched it up and tried to just talk to him, and look where he was now.

Broken horn that really fucking hurts when it's touched, chest still aches from being stabbed in an alternate timeline, and Kirby is doing worse than ever.

That begs the question: did he make things worse?

A quiet voice answered yes.

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you insinuating?" he drawled.

Meta Knight moved his hand to the hilt of Galaxia, which rested in her sheath attached to his belt. "If talking doesn't work, we'll have to subdue him through more forceful means."

"And what would we do after that, wise guy?" Marx's tone hardened, finding that idea ridiculous.

"What are you going to do if talking doesn't work?" Meta Knight retorted. He let his hand fall from Galaxia's hilt.

"Oh it'll work," Marx assured.

"I'll mark down ‘using force’ as a plan b."

Marx groaned. "Do you even care about him?! Why are you so sure talking to him isn't going to work?!"

Meta Knight looked to the ground. "I'm not sure if it will work or not. I am simply taking extra precautions. Blind optimism isn't going to magically make your first plan be guaranteed to work."

"It's not blind optimism, it's an educated guess. Are you forgetting who we're talking about here?"

"Aren't you?"

Marx tensed.

"Kirby isn't the type to talk . When he took down the Halberd for the first time he didn't say a word. When he took the chest from me that contained Dark Nebula he didn't let me explain. He does not care for someone's reasoning of forcefully taking something. He just cares that they did it, and he'll fight anyone who does so. Name one time he resolved something from talking."

"This time. Gooey can get through to him." He put his sleeve on Gooey's shoulder. "Let's go."

With a purple flash they were gone.

They appeared right before Kirby's house.

Gooey tapped Marx's leg with his foot to grab his attention.

Marx looked down at him. "What?"

"Are you sure this will work?"

Marx sighed. "What will, Gooey? Fighting him? I've fought him before, a long time ago when he was weaker and I lost. How do you think fighting him now will go?" He sighed. "This is our only shot." 

He grabbed the doorknob. "Hey, if you really want me to be blindly optimistic, maybe he isn't even planning to take over the universe anymore. He did say that in a time that technically doesn't exist!" He pushed the door open.

The house was empty.

"Ah shit," he cursed under his breath. He looked around the room multiple times to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. He walked in and out of the bathroom.

Gooey kicked his shin as a reassurance that Kirby was, indeed, not here. They tilted their head to the door and walked out.

Marx stared up at the Dimensional Mirror with his eyebrows furrowed. His wings emerged from his back. "He said that he'd have to get rid of Shadow Kirby first. He's the only one that's any match for him." he explained.

Gooey nodded. Orange orbs around Gooey's clothes lifted them up to follow him as Marx flew up.

Before Marx could get high off the ground something caught his leg and tugged him down.

"Woah!" He crashed to the ground. He looked behind him with a scowl. He immediately dropped it once he saw Prince Fluff with a much angrier face.

Gooey looked down, with a gasp.

Prince Fluff tugged his whip to pull Marx closer. "Where's Kirby!?" he yelled.

"I-I'm not sure! He might be in the Mirror world. I was about to che—"

Fluff stamped his foot down, "I know he was in the Mirror world! Something happened to Shadow Kirby! I need to know where he is right now!"

A stroke of fear crossed Marx's face. He furrowed his brows. "Is he not there anymore?" he asked.

Fluff retracted his whip and placed it on his belt. "No. Dark Meta Knight told me." He showed his phone.

"You have his number? I thought he hated you." Marx said.

"I don't. I don't think he even has a phone. He just showed up in the reflection of my phone." As soon as he said that Dark Meta Knight faintly appeared on his screen.

Marx jerked back. "Woah!"

"The connection here is hard to keep—Where's Fluff?"

Prince Fluff turned the phone to himself. "Here! I'm right here."

"I need to make this quick. I've gathered the shards of Shadow Kirby, but I'm missing one piece."

Fluff's lips tightened. "You can still revive him with what you have right?"

"No." Dark Meta Knight replied firmly. "It's too risky to do that." He pointed at the cut on his mask.

"You need to at least try!" Fluff yelled. "He's strong. One missing piece isn't going to do anything."

"You don't know that." He narrowed his eyes. "Find Kirby, maybe he has the last piece."

Then, Dark Meta Knight disappeared from the phone's reflection.

Fluff sniveled as he was met with his own reflection in his phone. He wiped his face with his arm.

"Are you crying?" Marx questioned.

"Wouldn't you be if your boyfriend is dead!?" he retorted.

"Uhhhh," he looked to Gooey for an answer who was frantically nodding their head yes. "I don't know?" he shrugged.

"I'm not being weak," he muttered angrily. He was still rubbing his eyes as tears unwillingly fell from them.

"Never said you were," Marx pointed out. He stood there awkwardly, waiting.

"I don't need your comfort. I don't need anyone's comfort right now."

"Sure, bud."

Gooey walked up to Fluff and leaned their head against him in their form of a hug.

Fluff crouched down to return the hug, eyes still moist but no longer crying. "Gooey, what are we going to do?" he whimpered.

"Find Kirby," Gooey answered.

"But how?"

"I can try to teleport us to him," Marx offered.

Prince Fluff shot up and grabbed Marx's shoulders. "You can!?"

"Try! I can try. I don't know if it will work," Marx elaborated. "Teleportation to other people only works when your bond with them is strong enough and you have mutual feelings towards them."

Fluff looked like he practically deflated when he slumped in disappointment.

"Hey! I'm close to Kirby!" Marx shouted, offended. "Although, in the state he's in, it probably won't work."

"Right, yeah." Fluff said sarcastically, nodding like he understood. "What the hell is going on with him exactly?" He crossed his arms.

Marx rolled his eyes. "I'm not explaining everything, it'll take forever, so I'll skip over a few things. He's trying to take over the universe," he said bluntly.

"He's WHAT!?" Fluff yelled.

"Now I'm going to try teleporting over to him, alone, just to be safe. If I don't come back, I either died or found him."

Fluff sputtered, still taken aback at the new information. "Wait what?!"

Marx closed his eyes and tried to envision Kirby in his head. He thought about their recent times together, good and bad. Mostly bad. He latched onto those feelings of worry for his friend, until he found a connection.

Prince Fluff and Gooey watched as Marx vanished out of view, and waited.

Kirby scrambled out of the tub, his wounds finally healed. He initially froze at the sound of Fluff's voice, but finally snapped out of his momentary stasis when he heard Marx's voice as well. They were right outside of his house. This wasn't good, he couldn't leave.

He tried to stay as calm as he could and listened to their conversation. As expected, Fluff was here because of Shadow Kirby's disappearance. The news got to him extremely fast apparently. Maybe he should've taken out Dark Meta Knight too.

But they didn't have all the pieces, so they couldn't safely revive him. He doubted that Dark Meta Knight would take the risk.

The missing piece, of course, was with him. He didn't mean to take it, he didn't even know he had it until he was healing and he noticed a shard of glass got caught in his hand like a splinter. It now sat on his bathroom counter. He didn't know if he should keep it with him or hide it. He didn't like looking at it or touching it, but if he kept it, it would be harder for them to get it and revive Shadow Kirby. He grabbed it and shoved it in his pocket. He immediately took his hand out and away from the shard as fast as he could. The feeling he got when he touched it was awful and it lingers.

He washed his hands in an attempt to get rid of the feeling, scrubbing them with his nails. He noticed something in the mirror and looked up. He jerked back as he saw himself staring back at him, not Shadow Kirby, his actual self . 

He breathed out as he studied himself for the first time in a long time. He remembers seeing himself back in that haunted house when going up the Dreamstalk. There were huge mirrors that could even reflect ghosts inside, somehow it even reflected him rather than Shadow Kirby. He remembers looking over himself like he was now. Except this time was different, back then he looked at himself with familiarity. Seeing himself now, he looked like a total stranger.

His pink hair was a frizzy mess and looked much different than he thought it would. His deep blue eyes looked like the galaxy; he could see faint stars in them. He had faint scars on his cheeks from his most recent adventure. They'd heal and disappear soon. He never had permanent scars. Physical permanent scars.

The talking outside stopped.

A flash of purple lit up the bathroom.

Kirby had a second to step into the other room before Marx appeared inside. He dove under the bed. He did not want to see or talk to Marx right now.

He held his hands over his mouth as Marx walked around.

"Dammit!" he cursed. "I thought it would work..." He sat down on the bed and stayed there for a moment. He sighed. "It's kind of ironic how we swapped positions. Now I know how he felt," he let out a dry laugh.

After a few minutes, he stood up from the bed and left the house, closing the door behind him.

Kirby slowly crawled out from under the bed and stared at the door. He could hear Fluff's muffled voice through the door.

"It didn't work?! Great! That's just great!"

He certainly wasn't going outside the door anytime soon. He needed some other way to get out. He let his eyes wander until it landed on the fireplace. He can get out through the chimney. He grabbed his pillow and ripped it. The stuffing, including feathers, fell all over the floor. He picked up one of the feathers and used it to gain the wing ability.

He went over to the fireplace and climbed up. Soot got all over him as he did. He sneezed.

"What was that?"

Kirby pushed himself out of the chimney and spread his wings. He flew away, out of the three's sights before they could spot him. For a second he wanted to turn around and just be with his friends like nothing happened, but he's already started his plan. It would be a waste to go back on it now. He pushed down that feeling of guilt.

He's already put so many people first before him. He's not going to go back to that. He can't. It's time he put himself first.

He landed near Honey Hill. He cupped his hands together in front of him, summoning a friend heart.

Prince Fluff, Marx, and Gooey entered the Mirror World.

Fluff led them to Central Circle and went up ahead when he saw Dark Meta Knight in front of the Dimensional Mirror.

The knight turned around and pointed his sword at Fluff's neck when he stepped close.

Fluff didn't even flinch, to Marx's surprise. He swatted his sword away and furrowed his brows. "Where's the pieces?"

Dark Meta Knight stepped to the side to show Fluff the glass shards of Shadow Kirby piled near the Master sword. "A piece of his back is missing."

"How big is the piece?"

"It doesn't matter how big the piece is!" he roared and spread his wings as he glared at Fluff. "We cannot revive him without all of the pieces!"

"You were revived."

Marx and Gooey watched from a distance as they argued. Gooey looked worried. Marx was intrigued. He didn't know Fluff had a backbone.

The knight's wings casted a shadow on Fluff, giving the illusion that he towered over him. "And I have a permanent scar now. I'm waiting until we have all of the pieces."

"You're not going to get it any time soon if Kirby has it," Marx chimed in.

"Where is he?" he growled, turning his attention to Marx.

Marx shrugged nonchalantly. "What are you going to do anyway? Fight him for it? Shadow Kirby lost to him. How are you gonna stand a chance?"

"We can group up. The four of us together can probably take him down. He'd be overwhelmed!" Fluff said.

"If that's not enough I can always make copies of you all." Dark Meta Knight gestured to his sword.

Fluff chuckled nervously. "I think four's enough."

"Hmph." He lowered his sword. "I suggest we split up to look for him—"

A portal appeared behind Marx. Magolor shot out of it.

"MARX! MARXMARXMARXMARX!!" He shouted. He grabbed Marx's shoulders and shook him violently. "MARX!"

"WHAT!?" Marx screamed.

"Kirby's gone out of control and took over Dream land by mind controlling everyone using his friend hearts! He even got Dedede! Meta Knight and I managed to get away but everyone Kirby's taken control of can throw friend hearts too! All of Popstar is doomed!"

"He WHAT!?" Now it was Marx's turn to grab and shake Magolor's shoulders.

"Children! Shut up!" Dark Meta Knight bellowed.

Marx let go of Magolor who flopped to the ground with an "ow". He gave the knight his attention, cocking his head. "Children??"

"That's what you're acting like. Get it together," Fluff chimed in.

"I'm older than you!"

"Then act like it! Quit panicking, we need to plan!"

Dark Meta Knight brought up his sword.

Fluff shook his head. "It doesn't matter how many people we have, if everyone under Kirby's control can throw a friend heart, we're screwed if we get near them. We need to sneak over to Kirby himself to confront him."

"By ‘confront’ what are you going to do exactly?" Marx asked.

"Constrain him, fight him? Anything to get him to release his control."

"Trust me. That's the right way to go. Dedede already tried talking to him and it just made him angrier," Magolor said and pushed himself up. He dusted his clothes off. "Last we saw Kirby was at Castle Dedede. All the King’s servants and soldiers are protecting him. We'll need a distraction to sneak past them."

"Great! Thanks for volunteering!" Marx said. He patted Magolor on the back.

"Wait no!"

"Magolor and Dark Meta Knight can serve as a distraction—"

"What!?" Dark Meta Knight exclaimed.

"—while the rest of us will ambush Kirby," Prince Fluff declared.

"You don't see anything wrong with ambushing your friend?"

Prince Fluff scowled at Marx. "He certainly didn't see anything wrong with killing my boyfriend!"

"Quit fighting!"

Both of their attention went on Gooey.

"The longer we stay here the worse things are getting on Popstar. We have to go!" Gooey shouted.

"You guys can get Meta Knight to serve as a distraction instead. I'm not leaving Shadow Kirby," Dark Meta Knight said. He scooped up the shards into his arms.

Marx huffed and rolled his eyes.

Fluff nodded and stepped onto the platform of the Dimensional Mirror. "Let's go." He entered the portal.

Gooey followed close behind.

Magolor glanced back at Marx before going through as well.

"He's not going to get away with this scot-free; he can't. You know that, right?" Dark Meta Knight asserted.

Marx didn't bother looking back to meet his gaze. He could feel his eyes burning holes in his back anyway. He wanted to argue and say he was wrong, but he didn't have anything to back that up. He wasn't wrong. "Shut up." Was all he said. He went through the portal.

Kirby sat on the throne, looking down on all the servants. Even though this was what one would normally do when ruling, it didn't feel right. Then again this whole thing didn't feel right, that's why he was doing it. To spite his purpose. To prove he's capable of doing what he wants to do, not what the universe wants him to do.

As he looked at the servants he couldn't help but take note of their lifeless stares. Honestly, he didn't even know he could use friend hearts like this; take complete control of someone like this. This was much different than how he used them when collecting the Jamba Hearts. He could calm people down, make them feel happier. This was straight up mind control. He was more similar to Zero than he'd like to admit.

He avoided looking at King Dedede.

"Leave," he ordered him. He leaned on the throne's armrest with one arm, massaging his head with the other. He felt like a robot going against his coding, or he was getting nauseous from keeping so many people under control. Probably both.

Dedede left the room. Kirby didn't feel any better.

"Someone's here," one of the servants said.

"Just throw a heart at them." Kirby waved his hand dismissively.

"It's Bandana Dee. They want to talk to you."

Kirby sighed and stood up. He pushed through the crowd to leave the room. In the halls, amongst all the servants, he saw Bandana Dee running towards him.

Their face lit up upon seeing him. "Kirby! I'm so glad you're okay! Do you know what's happening!?" They asked. They skidded to a halt in front of Kirby. "Everyone's been acting weird like they're being mind controlled and Dedede's gone missing and no matter who I talk to they don't answer!"

Kirby mirrored their cheerful expression. Despite his happy face, a huge pressure he felt in his chest suffocated him. "Well get this: I did it!"

A look of confusion crossed their face. They furrowed their eyebrows as they studied Kirby's expression. It didn't change from that cheerful smile at all. He didn't appear to be mind controlled; he wasn't acting robotic like everyone else. "A-are you joking?" they sputtered out.

Kirby spread his hands out by his sides and the servants circled around the two. "Do you think I am?" His same smile suddenly looked more sinister.

Bandana Dee took a step back and grabbed their spear. "Why are you doing this?"

"Don't act so shocked!" Kirby snapped, mouth tugging down into a frown. "I remember how you looked at me while we fought Void Termina." Was he even still mad about that?

"I thought we cleared that up! I already told you—"

"Oh that you were 'just scared of Void Termina' and not me? Liar! You were scared when you thought I was related to them and only stopped fearing me once Meta Knight told me we weren't!"

Bandana Dee's hold on their spear tightened. The look on their face made the pressure in Kirby's chest grow.

His ribs started hurting.

"And news flash: I am connected to Void Termina! We're both star children! To summarize what that is for you, it basically means I'm not supposed to have free will. How neat is that? My one purpose is helping others, except apparently I'm not included! I'm doing this because I want control over my own life, for once!" A friend heart formed in one of his hands. It looked paler than normal. "Anyway, you can go back to fearing me now."

Two of the servants nearby held them in place.

"Don't do this! Kirby, we're already friends! We're best friends you don't need to give me a friend heart to make me love you!" Bandana Dee begged. They couldn't move no matter how much they struggled.

Kirby frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. That's what they thought he was doing? He hesitated, only giving him more time to look at Bandana Dee's expression and hate himself even more. He gritted his teeth and weakly tossed the heart at them while avoiding eye contact.

It dissipated once it touched them. They blacked out.

The servants carried them away while Kirby went back to the throne room; he didn't want to stick around to see Bandana Dee's blank stare when they woke up. He sat down on the throne again. He's taken over most of Dream land by now, but he didn't feel like pushing forward to the rest of Popstar, not yet.

You shouldn't be doing this. You don't want to be doing this. You need to stop.

That's why he was doing this. He didn't want to listen to this voice that wasn't his. This horrible heavy feeling in his stomach, this was what control felt like, right?

Did Marx feel like this when carrying out his plan? Did he feel like utter shit as he manipulated everyone into playing his game?

Did Magolor? Meta Knight?

One of the servants walked up to Kirby, "Meta Knight's here."

Speak of the devil.

"Throw a friend heart at him, I don't want to talk to him again," Kirby ordered.

"He's taken out most of the soldiers. It doesn't look like he's stopping any time soon."

"Stop talking." He was really talking to himself anyway. He could see through the eyes of everyone who was under his control. He was the one making them speak and making them move. His hands gripped the throne's armrests. He had to focus and get rid of Meta Knight. 

He closed his eyes. Then opened many to see Meta Knight.

Sword clashed with spears. The knight was fairing well on his own against the small army, to be expected.

King Dedede's army was never good at protecting him. Meta Knight was the real muscle of his army, yet he wasn't that good at protecting Dedede either. Just look where he is now.

Oh well, it doesn't matter who's stronger. He just needs to get a heart in.

One of the soldiers behind Meta Knight summoned a friend heart and aimed.

Before they could throw, the heart was destroyed by a fireball.

Magolor was here too. He waved his hands around rhythmically, summoning many portals above and below the soldiers and sucking them in.

Kirby cut off his connection from those soldiers. He couldn't tell where they went and they were only dead weight when they were so far away.

Magolor and Meta Knight fought alongside together, disabling his soldiers. They took care not to cause any real damage.

He couldn't find an opening.

"Kirby!"

He opened his own eyes and jolted out of the throne. 

Prince Fluff was charging right at him with his rapier in hand.

He dove out of the way, only for Marx to tackle him to the ground from behind and hold him in place with a tight hug. He thrashed around to get out of his hold, but it was in vain.

Fluff stood in front of him, carefully watching the servants nearby.

Gooey was also here. They approached Kirby with a look of disbelief on their face. "What are you doing?" They sounded worried.

Kirby was starting to hate that question. "What I want to do, okay!?" he barked. "Just leave me alone!" He continued to struggle in Marx's grip.

Marx only tightened his hold around Kirby. He held his wrists together to prevent him from summoning any hearts.

"I'm not leaving you alone when you're like this. Please, tell me what's wrong. I want to help."

"I'm already helping myself!" He gritted his teeth. He glared back at Marx. "If you don't let go, I will make you."

Marx didn't even flinch at the threat. "No,” he said. No jokes, no sarcasm, none of his usual stuff, just a stern “no”.

"You need to stop pushing your friends away," Gooey said. They kneeled down to get closer to Kirby. "We care about you."

Kirby gave up on struggling and let Marx hold him in place. "You shouldn't. There isn't anyone to care about. I'm just a mindless machine made to save the universe. There isn't a person behind my eyes,” he spat

"That isn't true."

"But it is! The moment I came into this world I was thrown into adventure after adventure to save the world or help someone. I was never allowed to say 'no'. I never got a choice in what I wanted to do. I'm just fated to do it."

"So you killed Shadow Kirby?" Fluff questioned, bitterly.

"He would've gotten in my way. Besides, you can revive him anyway. I have the last piece of him. I can give it to you, if Marx lets go of me."

Fluff looked at Marx.

"He's clearly lying. I'm not letting go," Marx protested.

"Let him go, Marx."

With a groan, Marx complied. Kirby and him stood up. He watched the other carefully as he reached into his pocket.

Kirby held out his hand with the missing shard of Shadow Kirby.

Fluff snatched it from his hand and held it close. He examined it carefully to make sure it was real.

"You got what you wanted, now leave.” He shooed Fluff away.

Fluff closed his hand around the shard. "I'm not leaving you like this. Look around! You can't seriously want this."

Kirby didn't bother looking, he already knew what he wanted. He wanted control, this was control, wasn't it? "What I want is for you to just go!" He turned to Gooey and Marx. "You guys too!"

Gooey shook their head. "I know you want to feel like your own person, but this isn't how you do it. Just because you're going directly against the reason you were created doesn't mean you're in control!"

Kirby's eyes widened.

"Yeah! Just look at yourself! You don't look happy. What you're doing isn't helping," Marx added.

"I—" Kirby cut himself off.

The room rumbled as a wall cracked.

All the servants around them brandished their spears.

The first thing everyone saw was the shine of the master sword as it broke through. The next thing they saw was the pure rage on Shadow Kirby's face as he landed right in front of Kirby.

"You were revived!?" he gasped.

“I thought Dark wasn't going to revive you without all the pieces!” Fluff exclaimed.

“He wasn't the one who did,” Shadow Kirby stated.

The servants immediately rushed over to him, only to be swatted away like mere flies. He thrusted the sword at Kirby.

Kirby dodged late and was nicked by the blade.

As Shadow advanced, swinging his sword, Kirby backed away. Still in a state of shock, Kirby didn't do anything to fight back.

Shadow and Kirby moved faster than Marx, and the others can see.

Even if he could hardly see what was happening, Marx could still tell Kirby was losing. He smelled blood.

Neither Gooey or Fluff made a move to intervene. If this fight goes on, Kirby will lose, and if it's anything like their last fight, that means he'll die.

Marx felt his body move on his own.

"What are you doing?!" Fluff shouted towards Marx.

Kirby lost his footing and crashed to the ground. He was covered in cuts.

The servants that were previously swept away, got back up and surrounded Kirby protectively.

Marx threw down seeds into the floor. Vines coated in thorns sprouted out and wrapped around Shadow Kirby, bringing his attention to him. Most of them bundled around his arm that held the sword.

“Stay out of this, Marx!”

“No! You'll kill him!”

Shadow Kirby tore himself out of the vines and lunged at Marx.

Marx twisted himself out of the way and retaliated with arrows.

Kirby's vision was fuzzy as he looked up at all the people surrounding him. It felt like he was in a tunnel, but there was no light at the end. There were only the empty stares of the people he was controlling. They were hurt too, because of his own recklessness. What was he doing? He didn't feel in control of anything. He just felt worse and he was dragging other people into his own mess.

He couldn't tell what was happening anymore. He could hear Marx and Shadow Kirby's muffled voices. They sounded angry. He staggered to his feet and released his hold on everyone. Each person he had in his control fainted.

Then he jumped out of the castle through the broken wall.

"Kirby, No!" Marx shrieked and watched as Kirby fell. He dove after him, summoning his wings and prepared to catch him, but Kirby already landed on his warpstar and flew away.

He went too quick for Marx to follow. In a second he was out of sight.

Marx sighed and flew back into the castle. He landed not-so-gracefully. He ground his teeth together; this went horribly.

Everything was a mess. Shadow Kirby stood there, sword still in hand and still pissed. Prince Fluff didn't know what to feel and was motionless. Gooey simply stared off in the direction Kirby went.

"You let him get away!" Shadow Kirby roared. He shoved Marx hard enough to get him to stumble.

"I wasn't just going to let you kill him!" Marx argued.

Shadow Kirby backed him into a wall. "He. Killed. Me. With no hesitation!" He jabbed Marx with a finger. "And you just let him leave."

Marx slapped his hand away. "Oh fuck off with that 'he killed me' talk! How many times have you brought him to near-death with your 'pranks'?!" He scowled at him.

Shadow Kirby's frown deepened.

One of the servants opened their eyes and blinked many times as they adjusted their vision. They brought a hand to their head and rubbed it. "What happened?"

Everyone's attention shifted to them.

Everyone formulated different answers.

None of them answered.

Chapter Text

Marx doesn't know how long he stood there staring out the broken wall and looking at the ocean. The hole Shadow Kirby left was around the same size as him; big enough for him to look through without crouching.

It was a shame, the castle was just recently repaired too.

Gooey already left the throne room and was checking in with the servants, making sure they were okay.

Prince Fluff and Shadow Kirby stood by the throne.

"If Dark Meta Knight didn't revive you, who did?" Prince Fluff asked Shadow Kirby.

"Shadow Dedede."

Fluff raised his eyebrows. "How'd he find out you were shattered?"

"You think he wouldn't notice the amount of property damage Kirby caused? Speaking of him, he's banned from the Mirror world now."

"Enforced by you?"

"By the king," he replied dryly.

Fluff's shoulders slumped. This whole situation was stressful. "Well, I'm just glad you're okay now."

Shadow Kirby winced. "Not entirely." He turned his back to Fluff and brung up his hoodie to reveal a large scar that went right through his birthmark.

"The missing piece," Fluff muttered. "Oh!" He reached into his pocket and showed Shadow Kirby the glass shard in his hand. "I have it!"

Shadow Kirby gave him a faint smile and pushed Fluff's hand toward him. "I can't fix the scar now, but you should hold onto it until next time."

"Next time you shatter?" Fluff asked nervously. He didn't want to imagine that there would be a next time.

He nodded in response.

"But shouldn't you hold it? It is a part of you."

Shadow Kirby pecked Fluff on the cheek for reassurance. "I trust you with it."

A loud groan interrupted the two. Magolor walked into the room along with Meta Knight and King Dedede. 

"Nice to see that you two are fine!" Magolor grumbled. His clothes appeared to be ruffled and a tad dirty, but other than that he seemed perfectly unharmed.

Meta Knight held a hand in front of Magolor to shut him up. He cleared his throat. "I appreciate you all for helping with the...situation here at the castle, but if you will, please leave me and his majesty to be alone. We have much to discuss." His hands fidgeted at his sides as he spoke.

"Get out of my castle," King Dedede rephrased tiredly. There was no bark or bite to his words, regardless everyone else left.

Everyone but Marx, who was still staring out the wall.

"That means you too, buster," Dedede said.

"Oh, right," Marx snapped his head away from the wall and made his way out the throne room.

King Dedede mumbled angrily about the wall as he walked past him and sat on his throne.

Meta Knight gazed at Marx as he left. Almost opening his mouth to say something, but as Marx disappeared from view he only sighed.

Marx stepped out of the castle and noticed Bandana Dee by the side of the door, squatting down with their face buried in their arms. "Bandana?"

They looked up at him with moist eyes. They furrowed their eyebrows at him. "What?!" they snapped.

"Chill! I was just worried!"

They scoffed. "I don't care, go away." They pushed their face back into their arms, completely obscuring their expression.

Marx blinked. Instead of listening to their order, he leaned against the castle wall. He waited as a few beats of silence passed. "Are you mad at Kirby?" he asked.

Bandana Dee grunted. "I don't know what to feel about him right now!" They lifted their head up to Marx. "I didn't even know what to say when I confronted him earlier." They pinched the bridge of their nose. "I couldn't think of anything. I knew he didn't want to do that. He just isn't the type of person to just—Argh! He's not like you! It's simple to hate you! You wanted to take over Popstar. You carried out your plan with no hesitance, no regrets, none of that bullshit that was going on with Kirby! What was that!?"

Marx stared at them, awestruck.

"...No offense," they mumbled.

Marx snickered. "All offense taken."

"Honestly, if I'm mad at anyone, it's myself. You guys convinced him to quit what he was doing so easily. I didn't even do anything."

"That's not true—well yeah you didn't do anything—but! We didn't exactly 'convince' him either. Heck, Shadow Kirby almost killed him! It was more like he just...reached a breaking point." Marx inhaled and slid down the wall to sit down. "We don't even know where he is right now."

"You don't!? Shouldn't we look?"

"He could be literally anywhere." Marx gestured around. "He took his warpstar. He might not even be on Popstar. I don't know if we should look for him so soon. I feel like he needs space."

"After all of that? I don't think he should be alone." They hissed out a breath, annoyed. "I'm worried about him. What caused him to do that? Was it something to do with you? Was it because he broke your horn or something?”

"Don't even try to push the blame on me. That was all his decision, albeit a dumb one he made out of pure impulse. I'm not explaining his actions for him. You'll get your answers when he's ready to talk. If he wants to." Marx stood back up. "As I said, he needs space, but you're right; after all of that he shouldn't be alone. I'll try to check in with him after a few hours."

"If you can even find him."

Marx side-eyed them as he walked away. His wings emerged from his back and he flew off. As he got high in the air he looked down at the castle. He definitely wondered how the conversation with Meta Knight and King Dedede was going. Both of them looked out of it. He'd be surprised if it didn't end in a yelling contest.

He flew around the area aimlessly. Amongst the crowd below he spotted Magolor at his shoppe. Before this whole mess he was probably trying to see how many people he could get to buy his mostly useless trinkets.

Marx landed in front of him. "You're still doing this?"

"I need to make money somehow, Marx," Magolor said as he put a few baubles away in a bag. "Today was not a good day for sales."

Marx chuckled. "I bet...but really, with the way you explained it, I thought Kirby took over the entirety of Dreamland. Turns out he couldn't even bring himself to go past the castle."

"I assumed he did. You should've seen the rate at which people were being infected with those hearts. It was exponential! But I guess he just stopped advancing once he took over the castle." Magolor continued packing up his stand as he talked.

"Huh..."

"The arrogant self-acclaimed king must've hit a nerve of his. He distracted him long enough to let Meta Knight and I get outta there..." Magolor set down the crate he was carrying on the ground. "Hang on. Where is Kirby?"

"We don't really know." Marx shrugged.

Magolor's shoulders rose. "What!? What if he isn't done with his plan? What if he tries to take over again!? We need to find him!"

"Did you try again immediately after failing? Don't think so. He isn't going to try again. He doesn't have it in him," Marx assured.

Magolor shook his head. "That's what you think. That kid is perseverant!"

"He would've gotten the job done the first time if he really wanted to go through with it," Marx said.

A hand tapped Marx's back.

"Marx—"

Marx yelped and recoiled away. When he turned to see who it was he straightened himself out. "Oh hey."

It was Prince Fluff along with Shadow Kirby.

Fluff exchanged a glance with Shadow Kirby. "We're creating a search party for Kirby. Do you want to join?"

Shadow Kirby glared at Marx. "You really don't have a choice."

"Gee! Okay. I guess I do," he said sarcastically. "Where we off to first?"

"Don't play dumb, just teleport to him," Shadow Kirby said.

"It didn't work the last time I tried it,” Marx remarked.

A mix of shock and anger crossed Shadow Kirby's face. He frowned as he took out his hands from the pockets of his hoodie. "It should've worked." He grabbed Marx's shirt and yanked him close. "Try again!"

Marx tore himself away from him. "What is your problem!?"

Magolor, having finished packing up his stand, begun walking away with his goods in hand. "That's my cue to leave," he mumbled as he left.

Marx pressed his lips together in a tight frown, his two incisors poked his bottom lip. "You know what? I'm not going to do anything for you until you tell me what your problem with me is."

Fluff took a step back to give the two space. He tensed as the two argued.

"It should be obvious why I hate you," Shadow Kirby spat. "Now, try it again."

"No, it's not obvious. I already apologized to Kirby, and made up with him for the stuff I did in the past. We've put that behind, but you're still mad."

"You never apologized to me!" He slammed his arm on the countertop of the shoppe. The sudden loud noise made Fluff and Marx flinch.

Marx's frown shifted into a straight thin line. "I wasn't the one that hurt you."

Shadow Kirby only seemed to get angrier at that, until it went out like a snuffed out flame. He sighed. Marx was right. In his plan he manipulated Kirby, not him. The mirror just reflected what happened, but Shadow Kirby was his own person and so was the mirror version of Marx. Though what Marx did was detestable, he owned up to it. The mirror didn't reflect that. "You...weren't," he remarked.

"I'm sorry the reflected version of me didn't apologize. I hope he does eventually, but you're taking out all of your anger on me. Isn't that hypocritical when you know you're not the same person as Kirby?"

Shadow Kirby didn't respond, but Marx already knew the answer. The silence agreed for him.

Marx noticed Prince Fluff’s glum expression at the mention of a mirrored version of himself. "...Where is the mirror version of me?" he asked carefully.

"He died. Just like you. Except he was never revived,” Shadow Kirby replied grimly.

"Are you sure? Because that's what Kirby thought—"

"I saw him."

There was a brief moment of quiet. "Oh. I'm sorry."

Shadow Kirby turned his head away. Not wanting to look at anyone as the memory of finding his lifeless body replayed in his mind. He could only find a few pieces of him left. Everything else was smashed beyond repair.

Prince Fluff put his hand on his back and wordlessly patted it softly.

"Why can't you teleport to him? You've done it so many times before,” Shadow Kirby asked, his head turned to the ground.

"It doesn't work unless we have a strong bond."

His eyes flicked to Marx's. "But you do."

"It didn't work last time!" Marx reiterated.

"Are you sure it didn't? He could've ran away or hid."

Marx paused. Kirby was avoiding everyone when he teleported over. There's a brief moment before he fully materializes when teleporting, which would give Kirby the time to get out of view if he's quick enough. He's teleported to Kirby recently, too. So maybe Shadow Kirby was right. He took a deep breath. "Fine, I'll try again, but what do I even do if it works?"

"Talk to him. Just be there for him."

Marx looked unsure. "That's what I've been trying to do but I've just been making things worse."

"Well, I don't see how you can fuck stuff up more," Shadow Kirby said.

"What he means to say, is that you got this," Fluff butted in.

Marx quirked an eyebrow. "Suddenly not pissed at him anymore, yarn boy?"

"I assure you I'm still mad. That's why you're going alone. I still need time before I want to have a talk with him," he gestured to the castle, "about everything."

"I see," Marx mumbled. "I guess I'll be off then."

Kirby's had enough time alone now. It was time for him to face his problems now. Though his attempt at "taking over the universe" was hardly successful nor carried out wholeheartedly, what he did was bad. He didn't even look ecstatic about what he was doing either. He put himself in a lose/lose situation and for what? To prove he was a real person? To prove he wasn't some saint made for saving everyone but himself?

He didn't have to prove that. Marx already knew he was his own person. Hell, he's known the guy for practically all his life.

Marx blinked, and when he opened his eyes he was on the moon.

Right in front of Kirby. It worked.

He was sitting on the ground, knees brought to his chest and head down on them. His hands grabbed at his hair as he silently wept. He didn't even try to tend his wounds at all.

He was just here, out in the open, on the moon. Covered in cuts and wearing a burnt shirt.

A search party would've never checked up here.

Marx crouched down, alerting Kirby he was here.

Kirby jerked his head up to meet Marx's eyes. His own eyes, normally twinkling like the stars, were dim and moist. He shuddered out a breath before speaking in a small voice. "Why are you here?"

The sad tone to Kirby's voice hurt Marx. It hurt him to see him this way. To see him so defeated.

"I want to be here for you," Marx answered. Shit, he didn't have anything to use as a gauze for Kirby's wounds. He was hardly any good at healing magic, but some of those cuts were too deep for him to just ignore. He extended a hand to Kirby.

Kirby smacked it away with a look of anger on his face. His expression instantly shifted to regret. He stood up and moved away from Marx, wincing at the pain as he did.

Marx followed. "Let me heal you. You're badly hurt."

"No! All I've done these past days was hurt and scare people! This is the least I deserve." Just because he saved the universe multiple times doesn't give him the permission to take it over himself or kill people. He deserved every hit he got. He can't just heal it all instantly.

"Hey! You don't deserve to be in pain. How many of your friends have done similar things? Meta Knight, King Dedede, me! The list goes on. You forgave them. How are you any different?"

Kirby pointed at himself. "Because I did it and I put all those people under my control. I took away their free will! It wasn't just strangers either, I put my friends under my control! I even killed Shadow Kirby! Neither you or Meta Knight or Dedede hurt anybody like that!" he stressed.

"But, we hurt you," Marx said.

Kirby's arms went slack by his sides. The words sunk in. He didn't know what to say in response. So he didn't say anything. Next thing he knew Marx brought him into a hug, but he was somewhat holding him up. He was falling but Marx was there to keep him standing. His vision was blurring again like those times he fought Shadow Kirby.

A pink glow surrounded the two, and Kirby's wounds healed.

He could see clearly again.

There was still scarring, which normally didn't happen after healing via magic. Then again, normally healing magic wasn't pink.

Marx frowned at them as he pulled away from the hug. "I couldn't heal you properly."

"It's okay, Marx. Thank you," Kirby assured.

He looked away, slightly embarrassed. "It's nothing, really. I left scars I did it poorly—"

Kirby held Marx's hands, getting back his full attention. "Not just for that. For everything. You've been so patient with me. You tried to help me and I punched you into a tree! I really don't deserve any of this."

"Kirby, I told you I wasn't mad."

"But it wasn't just a single punch. I tackled you from the sky! And that wasn't even when your horn broke, though it was probably cracked by that point."

"It's okay."

Kirby let go of his hands. "It's not okay! I... I slammed your head into the ground after that! That's why you had a concussion!"

"Listen to me. All of that is in the past now."

"You were in a coma for days!" Kirby yelled.

Marx snapped his mouth shut. The words hit him like a slap in the face.

He thought he was only out for hours.

Days. For days he was unconscious and when he woke up Kirby was right next to him. Did Kirby stay with him the entire time he was out?

"I thought I killed you. It wouldn't be the first time," he added bitterly.

"You killing me that time was deserved, okay?!"

"So was Shadow Kirby trying to kill me!"

"No—that's not—Argh! Fine! Let's say none of this was deserved," Marx said.

Kirby choked out a laugh. "So why did any of these bad things happen? Life's just that unfair?"

"It's not that it's 'unfair'. People choose to do these bad things. I chose to deceive you, so in turn you stopped me. You chose to kill Shadow Kirby, so in turn he tried to do the same."

"We're in the wrong. So you're saying we're both bad people."

"We're only bad people until we recognize what we did was a mistake that needs fixing. I recognized what I did was a mistake and I've been trying to make up for it, what about you?"

Kirby sharply inhaled. "I recognize I made a mistake too. But I've made so many. What if I just keep making more?"

"Then you'll own up to them. You can fix them. Thinking you can't only makes things worse." Marx thought back to his time in space with Magolor. He lived by a nihilistic view during that period of his life. He gave up trying to be a "good person". It wasn't a fun lifestyle and it only led to more pain. Joining the Star Allies helped him better himself. "But as hard as it is, sometimes people won't forgive you no matter what you do. They don't owe you anything. The best you can do is apologize and move on."

Kirby thought over Marx's words. He's really grown since they lived together a long time ago. He's right, if Kirby forgave him, Kirby could forgive himself. He just has to own up to his mistakes. What he was doing right now wasn't helping. He had to stop running away and hiding. "Okay. I understand..."

Marx patted him on the back.

"Hey Marx? When you were carrying out your plan on taking over Popstar, how did you feel?"

Marx's chest tightened. "Excited," he admitted guiltily. "Everything went to plan—you have to keep in mind I planned this with Magolor for years . It was only the first part of the plan. It was going so smoothly I never thought about the impact it would have on you."

Kirby hummed in acknowledgment.

"Sorry."

"You've already apologized and I already forgave you," Kirby remarked.

Marx took note of Kirby's neutral expression. "You okay?"

"Not really, no. I guess me being a star child really does force me to follow what I was made for." He rubbed his face with a hand. "I'm just like a robot."

"That's not true. You're a person with feelings and just because you can't commit world domination doesn't mean you aren't. It's just something you don't want to do and that's a good thing. You're a good person."

"Am I really?"

Marx put his hands on Kirby's cheeks and stared into his eyes. "Yes."

Kirby didn't look convinced.

Marx disappointedly let go of his cheeks and frowned, feeling bad for Kirby. He stood there silently before he lightened up and pointed his sleeves to Kirby as if he was introducing him. "This is my first and best friend Kirby. He's quite the glutton, eats even more than me!"

"Haha, you're so funny," he muttered. He really didn't look like he was in the mood for his antics.

"He's also extremely petty and impulsive. A bit of a troublemaker if you ask me. He's not so good at playing tag, but man is he good at hide n seek! It takes me hours to find him and he finds me in mere seconds!"

Kirby's expression softened as Marx went on.

"And if there's anything he loves more than food, it's his friends. He doesn't save the universe because of some dumb destiny, he does it to protect his friends. So that we can continue living, playing games, eating food, all that good stuff. I wish he knew that he doesn't need to carry all that pressure alone and that his friends are willing to help him as much as he's helped them. I also wish he loved himself as much as his friends loved him."

Kirby couldn't help his lip from curling into a genuine smile. "You had to talk about me like I'm not here to say all that," he teased.

Marx sputtered, "I—well, maybe! You know I'm not good with authentic cheesy talk."

Kirby giggled and playfully punched Marx's shoulder. "You did pretty good, I'm just teasing you."

They smiled at each other. Marx's grew sinister.

Kirby caught on too late to realize what he was planning.

Marx laughed as he grabbed him into a headlock. "Come here!"

"Noooo don't noogie me!" Kirby complained.

"Don't tease me!" Marx replied, mocking Kirby's tone of voice. He ruffled Kirby's hair a bit before letting him go. "You feeling any better?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"No problem.”

"Can you take me back to Popstar now?"

"Of course,” Marx replied.

They held each other's hand as Marx prepared to teleport back.

"And Marx?"

"Hm?"

He leaned his head on his shoulder. "I'm really glad we're friends again."

Chapter Text

Kirby stood on the grass, relieved to be back on Popstar. Castle Dedede was probably being repaired again, though the damage done this time was much less significant.

Marx flew down and landed next to him. He stood by his side. "You ready? I told all of your friends that were there to go to the plaza."

"Yeah," Kirby breathed out. He was nervous of course, but he wasn't backing out now. He had to come clean to his friends.

The warpstar flew over to him and settled next to him.

Kirby hopped on and extended his hand to Marx. "Come on."

Once Marx got on the warpstar Kirby took off, going slow on purpose. He looked around, hoping he'd feel less nervous if he looked at the scenery. 

How was he even going to start with his explanation? "Oh I'm sorry guys I was having a rough one. Don't we all have those moments?"

...

Well most of them did have those moments but that's besides the point.

He didn't have to go too into detail. He was just going to explain enough so that they could understand. Unfortunately that means shattering that happy-go-lucky image of him. Maybe it would be for the best, but he's so used to acting like the cheerful one, the undying positivity of the group. Everyone else was probably used to it too. Would his friends still like him if he changed?

Marx is still here, he reminded himself. Even Magolor came back and even helped him after that outburst he had.

The plaza near Castle Dedede came into view shortly after he passed Whispy's forest. His chest tightened. There were a lot more people here than he was expecting. The nearby villagers and Dedede's servants were here too.

"I'll be by your side," Marx assured as they began to land.

Kirby landed in the middle of the plaza and stepped down from the star with Marx. He faced the crowd, scanning for his friends, but he was only faced with villagers that lived nearby Mt. Dedede.

Then, after a beat of silence, all of them went into an uproar. Shouting angrily at Kirby.

"Back for more!?"

"Go away!"

"Monster!"

His eyes widened as he stepped back. He should've expected this, of course they'd be mad at him. Though he didn't control most of the people here, he did send some of the soldiers he had under control to the village. 

Stars that was such a stupid idea.

He felt like he couldn't breathe with how overwhelming everyone's bellowing was.

Marx stepped in front of Kirby. A scowl crossed his face. "Everyone SHUT UP!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. It was loud enough to hush the entire crowd.

"Are all of you forgetting who this is?! This is the guy who saves all of your useless asses from death every time there's a universal threat! This is the thanks you're giving him?!"

"Why would we thank him when he took over the castle and tried to rule over Dreamland?" a member of the crowd argued.

"Yeah! And why should we listen to you?"

"Hush," a new voice said.

With the sound of wings flapping, Meta Knight came into view. He flew down next to Marx. He stood up straight, wings tucked by his sides. "Clearly Kirby isn't here to harm anyone. Instead of spouting accusations and insults, I recommend letting him speak." He turned to Kirby.

Marx moved out of the way.

"Oh, uh. I'm sorry everyone!" Shoot what the fuck was he supposed to say? He fumbled with his hands. "I really am and I'm willing to do anything to make up for it." He forced a smile.

The crowd stared at him skeptically. Some of them shifted around, splitting the crowd and leaving an opening in the middle.

King Dedede alongside Bandana Dee were walking down through it. "What's going on here?" He asked as they made their way through the crowd.

Worried voices from the crowd answer him. "Your majesty, Kirby's back!"

"What if he tries to take over the castle again?"

The king scoffed, "He wouldn't." He and Bandana Dee stopped walking once they were in front of the crowd. He looked Kirby in the eyes. "Isn't that right?"

Kirby nodded profusely. "Yeah," his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "Yes! I will never do that again!"

"Why did you do it?" Bandana Dee spoke up. "Why did you do it in the first place then?" They sounded so confused and mad and also kind of sad. They were mixed up with emotions.

Kirby hated himself for making them feel that way. "I...will explain everything when the rest get here. And in private." He flicked his eyes to the crowd. This wasn't their business, though they looked disapproving that he wouldn't be explaining to them.

The crowd's low murmurs filled the silence as the five already there waited for the rest to show up. 

Fortunately it didn't take long for Magolor to turn up through a portal. Prince Fluff arrived shortly after with a very annoyed Shadow Kirby covering as much skin as possible, locked by his side via holding his hand.

Gooey hasn't arrived yet. Kirby doesn't even have a clue where they are. Maybe Marx couldn't find them either and never got to invite them to the plaza.

"So? You gonna talk?" Shadow Kirby asked impatiently. His hood loomed over his head and combined with the face mask it was almost impossible to see his face. Though his expression was obscured, Kirby could tell he was unnerved by the amount of people here.

"Yeah but Gooey isn't here yet..." Kirby replied.

"Just talk to them later or something. You're not going to have the rest of us here in one place for long."

Kirby sighed. "Okay. First we gotta go somewhere more private."

Shadow Kirby groaned. "Why did you tell us to go to the plaza if we're just going to go somewhere else?" he asked Marx.

"Look, it's just a place we all know. Now we can go somewhere more secluded without worrying about people getting lost, like Fluffy over here. He hardly knows his way around here!" Marx said.

Prince Fluff simply glanced at Marx at that rather than verbally replying.

Marx bit his lip. "Okay...Anyway let's go!" He strode off out of the plaza. Kirby and the others followed, some more reluctant than others. They went towards the outskirts of Whispy's forest.

After making sure they were alone, Kirby began. "First of all, I know a simple sorry isn't enough to make up for what I did—"

"You think?" Shadow Kirby asked.

"—And it seemed so out of the blue for me to do that, but it wasn't really out of the blue." He paused to look over everyone's faces. It did not help that half of the people there had their faces obscured in some way. "I know I'm usually the 'jolly little kid with no worries ever' to you guys but that's not who I am anymore. I'm getting tired of being the last defense of Popstar—the whole universe, even! So I looked for Galacta Knight with Marx originally with the intention to get them to replace my role as hero, but as we got closer to finding them I knew that wouldn't be a good idea."

"You wanted someone to replace you?" 

Eyes shifted to Shadow Kirby. 

"To fill in your role as hero? Are you kidding me!?" he fumed.

"I just wanted a break from—"

Shadow Kirby's forced laughter cut him off. "Oh that's rich! I spent so long wanting to be you and now you want to be like me! That's why you killed me, huh?!"

Prince Fluff put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed softly. "Shadow, stop."

Shadow Kirby shoved Fluff's hand away. "No!" He glared at Kirby. "You're sick of being the hero!? You stole that role from me! You don't just get to throw that away now!"

"I'm not throwing it away!" Kirby snapped.

The two glowered at each other as everyone else stood back, a few were sure they'd break out into another fight, but then Kirby reminded himself why he was here.

Kirby backed away from Shadow Kirby. "Listen, I learned something about us that I didn't like to hear and I overreacted and thought taking over the universe could magically fix my problems."

"What in Gamble Galaxy could possibly have you think that?!"

Everyone waited for his answer. Bandana Dee in particular seemed to lean in at that. 

Kirby pointed at Shadow Kirby. "We're star children. So-called miracles put here to fulfill a purpose. Void was a star child. Galacta Knight was a star child. Both of them were to be sealed away forever because they failed to fulfill their purposes. This whole star child thing forces me to feel obligated to help people that I forget to take care of myself. I don't like it! So I tried to go against my purpose by doing the opposite of it, just to get some control in my life. I know you've felt the same. Our purpose is to be the hero, keep our worlds safe, but I've gotten thoughts saying, ‘I don't want to be a hero anymore’ and you failed to protect the Mirror World from Dark Mind. What do you think'll happen to us?"

Shadow Kirby narrowed his eyes at him. He crossed his arms. "How do you know you're a 'star child', exactly?"

Kirby turned around and showed him the star marking on his back. "This marking defines us as star children."

Shadow Kirby turned and lifted his hoodie up. "You mean this marking?"

Kirby couldn't believe his eyes.

Shadow Kirby didn't have a star marking on his back. At least, not anymore. A huge scar ran right through where it should be, the original star shape was distorted beyond recognition. If Kirby didn't know it was supposed to be a star he would've never guessed.

"Oh... but you're still a star child like me!" he insisted.

Shadow Kirby shook his head. "No. I'm not like you anymore. This is your own problem."

"But—"

Meta Knight took a step forward, cutting him off. "Kirby."

Kirby turned around to look at him.

The knight lifted his chin up and exposed his neck. He had a star marking there. After a brief moment he put his chin back down, concealing the mark. 

"You have one too," Kirby remarked.

"And I am in control of my life. What you're talking about, being a star child, you're just using it as an excuse," he said bluntly. “It's not why you're feeling that way.”

"It's normal not to feel in control of your life," King Dedede said. "But when that happens you need help to get back in control. Taking anything isn't going to help, not even the universe." He patted Kirby on the back. "How come you've never told us you felt this way?"

He didn't know how to answer that question. He was scared about how they would react for one, and he didn't want to burden them. And he didn't feel like his own well-being was worth troubling them with his trivial feelings. They were trivial feelings, right? If he was able to push them away for so long, why would they be important?

They were clearly important. He wouldn't be standing here having this conversation right now if they weren't.

So why has he never said anything?

The words died on his lips before he could even say anything.

"He was probably scared you guys would react negatively like the gray one," Magolor guessed.

"Or that we wouldn't understand," Bandana Dee added. "Kirby, when you told me what happened between you and Marx I downplayed the situation. I thought it would make you feel better, but I really just invalidated your feelings, didn't I?"

Marx rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.

"Situation?" Fluff whispered to Shadow Kirby, who shrugged in turn.

"Maybe just a bit..." Kirby replied.

"I'm sorry." They ducked their head down as they apologized.

"I should be the one apologizing," Kirby said. "Especially to you and King Dedede. I possessed you two! I'm so sorry!”

King Dedede shrugged, "It happens. Of course I don't like when it does, but you stopped. And what's important is that you're sorry. I'm definitely making you do community service to make up for it though."

Kirby tilted his head. "Oh, community service?"

"Just community service?!" Magolor exclaimed.

Marx kicked his shin. "He didn't steal an ancient artifact by using psychological manipulation like you did."

"You're one to talk."

"Shut up you two," Bandana Dee scolded.

"So that's all, huh?" Shadow Kirby asked.

"That's basically it," Kirby replied. "I got ahead of myself, I'm sorry Shadow."

"Whatever. You're banned from the Mirror World so don't come back any time soon. I think it's safe to say that we should stop fighting each other," he said sharply.

Kirby lowered his head. "Okay."

"And don't be afraid to talk to your friends. They're here to help you. I don't see how you think you can't talk to them."

"I haven't really been thinking rationally these past few weeks."

"You can say that again." Shadow Kirby flicked Kirby on the forehead before turning around. "I'll see you around, gum-wad."

Kirbh rubbed his forehead. "You're leaving?"

"You've told us everything you wanted to, right?"

"Yeah."

Shadow Kirby nodded. "Then I'm going." His own warpstar arrived from the distance. He got on and looked at Fluff.

"I'm not leaving yet," Fluff told him.

Shadow Kirby nodded before taking off into the sky.

"Kirby, when we hangout you know you're allowed to tell me your troubles. I do that all the time with you. Do you want me to stop?" Fluff asked.

"No, it's okay when you talk about your troubles to me," he assured. "I want to be there for you."

"I want to be there for you too."

Oh. It clicked for Kirby. He's been so worried about being a burden he never thought that they would be willing to take it on just to make him feel better. His body relaxed.

"Oh my stars. It's almost like I told you it's healthy to be open with your friends," Marx nagged. He leaned on Kirby obnoxiously.

He gently pushed Marx off. "Oh shush."

"He told you that?" Magolor chortled. "What a hypocrite."

"It's called bettering myself and you should try it," Marx retorted.

The two began bickering with each other.

Meta Knight rested his hand on Kirby's shoulder. "My crew and I have meditation sessions from time to time. You're welcome to join us in those sessions if you want to. It calms the mind and keeps your wits sharp."

"That'd be great," Kirby grinned.

"Oh and if you ever want to talk to someone other than your friends, why not get a therapist?" Fluff suggested.

"A what?" Kirby questioned. He's heard Shadow Kirby say that word once or twice but he never actually knew what it meant.

Prince Fluff cleared his throat and stared daggers at Meta Knight and King Dedede. "I would like to have a word with you, King Dedede."

The two walked to the side. Dedede gave Meta Knight a nervous glance as Prince Fluff's expression remained suspiciously calm.

Meta Knight followed the two, leaving Kirby alone with Bandana Dee.

"Bandana Dee, I know I've already said it but I'm so sorry for controlling you like that—for taking over the whole castle! I was being dumb and unreasonable. I should've just told you everything from the start. I should've done everything differently—"

Bandana Dee brought him into a hug. "It's okay."

Kirby returned the hug. "But it isn't! I hurt so many people because of my rash actions."

"And you're sorry for it." Bandana Dee pulled away from the hug to look Kirby in the eyes. "Most of us here have also hurt people because of rash actions, but things ended up okay, and you're going to be okay. But you also need to forgive yourself."

"Do you forgive me?" Kirby asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Of course I do! You're like my brother! It's hard to stay mad at you."

Kirby felt relief wash over him. Sure some of the villagers near Castle Dedede were mad at him but he could live with that as long as his friends still liked him.

Prince Fluff, along with the other two, walked back to Kirby.

Fluff clasped his hands together. "So! I talked to King Dedede and apparently Dream land doesn't have therapists OR know what therapy is in general," he said with slight concern in his voice. "So to explain for you, Kirby, therapy is meant to help people through their issues and traumas as well as teach them good coping mechanisms. A therapist is a person who helps you with that process."

Kirby pouted in confusion. "I don't have trauma."

Despite being a few feet away and arguing with Magolor, Marx managed to overhear. He chortled at his words. "No one here doesn't have trauma! Except maybe Fluff… Mmm nah nevermind just look at him.”

Fluff ignored Marx's words. "Anyway, I can set you up with a therapist in Patch land if you'd like," He said.

Kirby pursed his lips. "I'll think about it."

"Well, now that you're done explaining the whole mess I think I'll go too," Magolor said. "You should probably take up Prince Fluff's offer with the therapist. It sounds like it'll help with," he gestured at all of him, "all that, better than seeking out world domination would. It's not really worth it honestly. It's hard to keep good relations with friends." He looked guiltily at him as he wrung his hands together, the ears of his hood drooped. "Catch you later, buddy." 

As he turned to leave, Marx followed. "I'm gonna go too. See ya Kirby!"

"Oh, bye you two." Kirby waved goodbye.

With a swish of hands, Magolor summoned a portal. He waved back before entering it.

Marx gave him a smile before he entered it too.

"It's crazy how much you get along with Marx now," Fluff remarked, hand on his chin.  "How long has it been? Weeks? Since you first came across him in your house uninvited? You didn't look so happy that he was freeloading at your place. Why didn't you just kick him out?"

Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Bandana Dee stared at Fluff awkwardly. Not daring to answer for Kirby.

Fluff furrowed his eyebrows skeptically. "I feel like I'm missing a chapter."

Kirby's eyes widened. "Shit!" he exclaimed and brought his hands to his head. "I was distracted by everything else. I forgot only you three know what happened between me and Marx."

Fluff's skeptic look softened just a tad.

"So uh, after that day we hung out at your place—no it was the same day—whatever! Marx, Gooey and I were sitting outside my house and chatting. Everything was fine until Marx told Gooey to leave us to talk in private. He said it was to 'catch up' but really he was just... checking in on my wellbeing. I'm so stupid!" He covered his face with his hands.

Fluff only looked concerned now. He waited patiently for him to continue explaining.

The three definitely heard of this before, judging by their reaction to all of his words.

Kirby groaned, mostly at how irrational he was being back then. His hands slid down off his face. "I told him everything. I told him how I was feeling because he asked me and I unloaded everything on him because I told myself, ‘Oh he’s just an object you could vent to without bothering’. I told him I was scared that you guys don't trust me anymore after the fight with Void Termina because of how similar we were. I told him I was scared you guys would find out I was a fake when you find out my constantly cheerful self is a façade! And then he told me to tell you guys all about this but I didn't want to." He turned his head to Bandana Dee. "You were ignoring my texts, and I know it's dumb and petty, but that made me feel bad. I thought you didn't like me anymore after seeing how similar I was to Void Termina, but I know you were just busy helping with the repairs on the castle I was just being stupid and..." He felt tears fall from his face. He was crying. In front of his friends. Besides with Marx, when was the last time he openly cried in front of them?

King Dedede was first to bring him into an embrace to comfort him. "It's okay," he cooed as he rubbed his back. "It's okay to cry. You're safe. You're not a fake. You don't have to pretend to be happy all the time. You can just be you."

With those affirmations Kirby quit holding back his tears and let himself wail. He was a loud crier, like a baby, he hated how annoying it sounded but his friends didn't seem to care.

The others joined in on the hug. He didn't even finish explaining, but there was no rush. None of them told him to continue. Comforting, but not telling him to stop. They all just waited patiently as he cried his eyes out.

His paranoia that they'd see him as a fake was unfounded.

"I'm sorry I didn't answer those texts, Kirby. If I had known that's how it'd make you feel I would've answered them right away," Bandana Dee said.

Kirby couldn't bring himself to verbally respond, so he squeezed their hand reassuringly instead.

Once he felt more put together he ended the hug. His eyes were still wet and a few tears still fell here and there, but he didn't feel like wailing anymore. With a few deep breaths he decided to continue. "After I told Marx all of that, he told me that I should tell you guys, but at the time I didn't want to. He threatened to tell Meta Knight for me if I didn't do it willingly. I panicked and punched him into a tree, but he was still up and trying to leave. I knocked him unconscious." His expression darkened. "He was out for days and it turned out I broke his horn." He paused to let Fluff take that all in and let himself realize he actually said all of that.

"I couldn't kick him out after that, I had to make sure he healed properly, and that he wouldn't tell anybody I did that... But we somehow ended up growing closer? It's kind of funny in a messed up way. I don't think we would've become friends again if that didn't happen. I was surprised that even after he healed he stayed.”

“What I'm 'up to' is keeping tabs on the incarnation of Void.”

Fluff's eyebrows rose as he realized what Marx was saying during his interrogation. It was his own convoluted way of saying he was helping Kirby, twisted to sound like what he was doing was wrong to make it sound believable to him.

“I'm up to saving us all from Kirby!”

Including from himself.

“Thank you for telling me all of this," he said. "I know it was hard... How do you feel?"

Kirby grinned. "I feel okay." He was glad that it was true. "I guess that's everything." Though, he's worried about Gooey. They didn't show up at the plaza at first. What if they were there now? He'll check after.

Fluff looked pleased. "I'll be on my way then, can't leave my kingdom alone for too long."

"Are you going to walk?" Kirby asked.

"Yes. It's no trouble really," Fluff replied.

"Oh, okay. Bye, Fluff." 

"Goodbye, Kirby. Don't forget about my offer." Fluff turned around and began walking home.

Kirby turned his attention to King Dedede. "So, when do I start my community service?" he asked while stretching his arms.

"Not soon that's for sure," Dedede guffawed. "You need a break. It hasn't even been long since you defeated Void Termina, I think that can wait."

Kirby wasn't going to lie, he didn't expect that answer. He was fully prepared to start right now, but Dedede was right. He did need a break and he'll gladly take it.

Which is what he thought he was going to get, until a portal appeared before his eyes and sucked them all in. It happened so fast, Kirby couldn’t believe it was happening.

In the portal the four of them were tossed around by heavy winds.

Kirby looked around frantically. They were in what looked like some kind of space-like multicolored tunnel similar to how it looked whenever they would enter a portal to Another Dimension, except it was much bigger. Kirby didn't know where this portal was taking them, but he feared that they'd end up in different places because of how far away they were from each other.

Bandana Dee was closest to him, which wasn't saying much because they were far from arms reach.

"Bandana!" he yelled. He reached for his friend, who reached for him as well, but they were too far away from each other.

"Kirby! I can't reach you!" Bandana Dee yelled back. It was hard to hear over all of the wind.

He couldn't even move closer to them, there wasn't any gravity or surface to push off of.

Bandana Dee looked up, spotting Meta Knight.

The knight was attempting to use his wings to move. He couldn't fight the wind, he couldn't even beat his wings much less open them fully.

King Dedede was as small as a speck from Kirby's view.

Then, he saw a blinding bright light that forced him to cover his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the ground in The Divine Terminus. He was greeted by yet another portal, except this one didn't instantly vacuum him in. It was shaped like a star.

No one else was here.

He was promised a break. Kirby stayed down on the ground. He'll just lie here for five minutes or something.

He'll get up soon and go in that portal and look for his friends, but that was later.

Right now, he was taking his break.