Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Particles flickering in the air disappear as the elevator door suddenly, and without warning, screeches and shuts forcefully with an indescribable, raucous noise. 

It is pitch-black in the elevator. 

No lights.

No voice. 

Only Kirby and Elfilin, breathing in deeply. Nothing they can see through the darkness. Nothing they can smell but smoke and lava and fire and a phantom’s blood drying on the head of the hammer stolen from it.

Kirby can only taste his own saliva, and blood from biting his cheek, lips, and tongue. He should probably stop.

The elevator lurches upwards, startling the two out of their collective daze.

Vividly, Kirby remembers the first time in this elevator.

The sound of tinny speakers comes to life with a fakely saccharine, “Welcome visitors,”  backed by a lively tune. The speaking of a tour, of the origins of ID-F86—that entity that looked like Elfilin. The speaking of a part split from a being that it and Elfilin once were.

That voice should be speaking about ID-F86’s attempted invasion of the planet. About its capture. About the studying of its teleportation abilties, about the planetary warp technology. About the “incident”. About Elfilin. About its stasis.

Yet only silence fills the elevator as they rise through the dying dream.

It’s so quiet.

If you listen closely, you can hear electronic humming.

Quiet.

“...Kirby—”

“...Elfilin—”

They both jump at each other’s voices in unison and don’t continue speaking. It is silent again.

Kirby grinds his teeth together in unease.

“And here we are!”

Elfilin squeaks, and with a whimper nuzzles Kirby’s cheek like he is trying to bury himself in him. Kirby gently pats Elfilin’s small back with the paw not holding his hammer. A slowed-down, distorted tune plays, soft piano notes making Kirby shiver.

“And here wWelcome visitors toAutomatic language detection aWelcome—”

Kirby tries not to focus on his own fear, or Elfilin’s fear, and instead focuses on Elfilin running his paws through his plush fur.

Elfilin is making it hard.

“Remember all the things I said about not being scared?”

Kirby lightly nods, trying not to dislodge Elfilin.

“Can I take them all back now?”

Kirby opened his mouth—

“Let’s meet the ultimate lifeform, specimen ID-F86!”

Elfilin squeaks again.

The elevator stops.

And here they are, in what was now Forgo’s Land.

Kirby holds Elfilin’s paw in his own as they trespass. 

Unnatural, ethereal light filters through broken glass windows.

Sparks fly from broken cords.

On their adventure through the realms of Forgo’s dreams, Kirby has come to the terms with the fact that the places he was in before are going to be off. 

Distorted. Uncanny. 

After all, that was only natural for dreams. Kirby knows from experience dreams are distorted and uncanny compared to reality.

“This is real,” Elfilin murmurs.

But Kirby has never experienced anything like this before, ever.

Was this what nightmares were like?

Chapter Text

Leon, to put it lightly, is not in the best shape.

From how lifeless and cold his body looks, suspended in a bubble in front of where his “throne” is...

Kirby gulps. Was he dead?

Elfilin hovers forward, wide-eyed and body drooping.

He turns to Kirby, “Leon’s still alive, but...without his soul, Fecto Elfilis could easily take over his body.”

“We must be inside of my other half’s nightmares—er, dreams. That means they must be here, somewhere, and...”

The tinny, distorted voice rings out and echoes through the facility once again.

“And here we are!”

Elfilin shivers. “We must return Leon’s soul, right away!” Quietly, he adds, “I want to get out of here,”

Kirby chirps, running ahead. He doesn’t even have to look to know Elfilin is following him—he beats him to the middle of the room.

Kirby watches as Elfilin’s body glows like a lampshade, lit from inside, as he releases the gathered parts of Leon’s shattered soul.

Kirby smiles at Elfilin, his eyes dark yet glittering with stars, the adrenaline of the fights they have fought fading. Enveloped in a warm light is a good look for Elfilin—his outside reflects his inside, then.

Kirby gasps when he becomes aware of his thoughts, and turns his gaze to look at Leon instead.

The magic bubble fades, leaving Leon to fall to the floor—but he catches himself.

Elfilin chuckles in awe. “We did it,” turning to Kirby, he says again, “Kirby, we did it!”

Kirby does an excited wiggle.

Leon stands up straight and as if he was waking up from a long nap, blinks slowly. His fur is greasy and matted, face sunken in and eyes bloodshot and downturned. He’s far from the lion Kirby had fought earlier. But his soul had been returned to him, so now Clawroline can bring him home!

Something is wrong.

“Something is wrong.”

Kirby huffs curiously at Elfilin.

A violet glow surrounds Leon when he grunts and lurches forward.

Kirby is only startled, not shocked when he recoils.

Ignoring the aches and pain in his body from the previous fight he had just won, Kirby wipes the blood off of his hammer and raises it again, frowning.

Nothing can ever be easy, can it?