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As he stood his ground, his beady black eyes scanning the darkness for any sort of physical threat, he could not detect a thing. The ground had seemingly dissipated beneath his feet, and the walls of the forgotten cavern had vanished in the chaos. The only other objects in the area were his friends — blocky, stiff-faced robots that would have been weeping trails of tears if the lenses they saw through were capable of such a thing. Even so, Ness knew they were just as terrified as he was. After all, echoes of their human voices — the voices they’d left on the other side of a millennia-long gap — were shrieking over the speakers built into their mouths.
The crimson clouds rushed around them, brushing against their rigid bodies. Then, what remained of their voices was silenced by a cry for help. It rattled whatever dark dimension they’d slipped into, and it pierced Ness through his core.
“Go... back...”
Their adversary, Giygas, wailed in protest. The alien overlord they’d come so far to defeat was already tearing himself apart. In the process, reality itself was being ripped to shreds, and it felt like Ness could only watch. Helplessly, he thrust another wave of psychic energy into the void. The matrix of glowing, multicolored polygons erupted from his steely chest, and as they plunged into Giygas’s being — or lack of being — they simply seemed to disappear. Shortly afterwards, the Universal Cosmic Destroyer responded with disproportionate force. Ness and his friends couldn’t even understand what was happening, but what they saw was a pulsating ring of pink light. It zoomed closer and closer, eventually overtaking their vision. Then, a sharp pain seared all their senses, and they collapsed to the ground, too weak to continue standing.
“It’s not right...!” Giygas’s disembodied voice bellowed throughout the cavern. “Not... right!”
Ness whimpered, struggling to drag himself back to his feet. He’d always had a problem with homesickness. He remembered one year, he’d gone to a summer camp, and on the second night, he missed his mother so much, the counselors had to call her so she’d pick him up. At that time, it had seemed like she was worlds away. But she really wasn’t. She’d been there, waiting in her car, in less than an hour. And Ness had laughed and smiled all the way back, and he’d even gotten a kid’s meal at his favorite fast food joint out of it.
Now, though? He couldn’t call his mom. He couldn’t eat a hamburger to make himself feel better. He couldn’t even ride home if he wanted to. He was thousands of years away, and the world itself was collapsing around him, and his friends were being battered down by Giygas’s incredible senselessness. Even now, he could hear them clamoring in the darkness, screaming for his help. To his confusion, though, Giygas was crying out for him, too.
“Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness, Ness...”
Another ring of pink light erupted in the distance, and as it began rushing towards Ness and his friends, a strange thought popped into his head. Even though he was thirteen years old, he’d somehow never considered this thought before in his entire life. At least, not on anything past a superficial level. Ness realized that — one way or another — he was going to die.
They were thrashed by dark energy on all sides, and when Giygas’s attack struck them, the blow was so great that their vision was stolen away. They remained on the floor this time, and no matter how much they tried to readjust their lenses, all they saw was static.
* * * * *
Ness stood outside an electronics store in Onett, his palm pressed against the shop window, looking at a wall of television screens. And what a display that was. Some of them advertised baseball bats that you could swing as hard as you could and yo-yos that could do all sorts of fancy tricks. Others showed off the newest plush bears — now in an even larger size that could absorb more hugs than ever before. Despite all those flashy commercials, Ness didn’t find himself attracted to them. Instead, he was staring at a television in the center of the stack. A television with a pair of crooked antennas that was only showing static. Pure, uninterrupted chaos.
Ness... I feel... good...
“Ness!” a chipper voice called out behind him. Suddenly jolting to attention, he pivoted on his heels, finding himself face-to-face with someone he hadn’t seen in weeks. Her pink dress was as poofy as ever, and her smile was even brighter. Her arms were folded shyly behind her back, but she never once averted her eyes. It was Paula — thankfully not being followed by a team of news reporters.
“P-Paula?” Ness stammered. “It’s really you... what’re you doing in Onett?”
She opened her mouth to reply, but she didn’t get a chance before Ness raced forward and embraced her. With a satisfied sigh, she held him tight, and they enjoyed each other’s company with those televisions as their audience. Eventually, Ness pulled himself away, adjusted his ball cap, and nervously ran his fingers across his forehead.
“Your hair.” Ness pointed towards her blonde locks. “It’s much curlier now. I like it a lot.”
“Oh, that?” Paula was beet red. “I didn’t think you’d notice. But, uh, to answer your question... I’m in Onett ‘cause I wanted to play Xevious at the arcade. I’m really close to beating Frank’s high score, and I fully intend on whooping his butt!” She paused for a moment, giving Ness a chance to reply. Ultimately, though, he didn’t say much of anything. That was when Paula noticed that Ness’s old smile wasn’t really there anymore. Instead, there was just a neutral expression on his face. That didn’t seem right to Paula. He’d been so photogenic before.
Eventually, Ness realized it was his turn to speak, so he mustered up a lackluster response. “Well, I hope you have fun at the arcade, Paula.”
“...What do you do nowadays, Ness?” Paula said with a raised eyebrow. “Baseball practice?”
“I haven’t practiced baseball in weeks.” Ness shrugged. “I mostly just go on walks. I go on walks, and I do a lot of thinking.”
“...Would you want to go to the arcade with me?”
“Probably not.”
At this point, it was abundantly clear to Paula that something was very, very wrong. So, stepping forward, she put a hand on Ness’s shoulder, made sure they were eye-to-eye, and put a stern expression on her face.
“What’s gotten into you?” Paula tilted her head. “The Ness I knew was able to go toe-to-toe with Sanctuary Guardians and have fun shopping at the local department store in the same hour.”
“There’s no point in shopping at the department store,” Ness said, his gaze returning to the staticky television on the other side of the shop window. “They just want your money.”
Paula really wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she just draped an arm around Ness’s shoulder, and they stood there in silence for a while. During that time, he remained fixated on that black-and-white screen, and his thoughts pushed him towards Giygas again. That all-powerful somebody who’d spiraled out of control and died and become an all-powerful something. Ness remembered he and his friends being locked away from everything they knew and loved, captive in an endless darkness that never wanted to let them go. Somewhere deep underground, their metal corpses still lay in front of a cave entrance, slowly collecting dust and rust.
“Paula, how do you still have fun doing kid things?” Ness finally said. “I feel like I’m not the same me that found Buzz Buzz.”
“I don’t know.” Paula pulled him closer. “I just go, and I do them. I love doing them.”
“But once you’ve realized just how crazy and awful the world can be, how can you go back to the way it was before? There are so many... bad things out there.”
Paula considered her answer for a bit, ultimately tugging Ness away from the shop window and leading him down the sidewalk. As they resumed walking, the midday sun cast golden rays upon their faces, and the trees near the sidewalk rustled in the wind. The sounds of life filled Onett, from the grumbling of car engines to the laughter of families sitting outside the burger shop and even the twinkling songs of a roving ice cream truck. A white, big-eyed dog, yapping and panting, raced past them, only to go bounding through the nearby tall grass.
“The world’s not all bad,” Paula said to Ness. “Focus on the good things. We all went into the past for a reason. It wasn’t to discover how awful things could be. It was to save all those good things and people we’d already come to love.” She smiled wide and flung her arms around Ness again. “Like you!”
“Ah, geez...” Ness was the one blushing this time. “I care about you a lot, too. I just wish we could’ve skipped the whole part with Giygas, you know?”
“I guess there are always going to be bad parts you can’t skip,” Paula said. “But I love my family, my friends, Mach Pizza, and the arcade. And if having to go against Giygas and face that darkness is the payoff? Well, I think it’s worth it.”
As they made their way past the library and up the slope that led to Ness’s house, he found himself pondering a new question. How many hardships was he willing to face for the people he loved? The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized that he’d been through a lot. He’d gone up against town gangs and cultists. He’d put himself in the crosshairs of a corrupt politician, and he’d ventured into uncharted continents. He’d even delved deep into the recesses of his mind just to eradicate the evil part of himself. And if he could vanquish his impurities, he could quell his doubts, too.
For the sake of Paula, Jeff, Poo, Tracy, Mom, and Dad, going to the past and facing Giygas had been worth it. He’d been able to keep his chin up the entire way there. Maybe there was a chance he could do the same now that the war was over, too.
“...I miss them, Paula.” Ness put a bittersweet smile on his face as he approached his front door. “Don’t you miss seeing all our friends?”
“Every day,” Paula said with a smirk.
With a twist of his wrist, Ness opened the door, and he walked into the house. Imagine his surprise, though, when he found that the living room was draped with colorful streamers and several dozen balloons. Near the kitchen table, there was a gigantic chocolate cake, and Jeff and Poo were slowly putting candles on top of it. A gaggle of Mr. Saturns roamed around, their feet covered in glitter and leaving a trail of sparkly tracks behind them. On the sofa, Tracy and Ness’s mom wrapped presents with big bows while King patiently sat with a wagging tail. Eventually, everyone noticed that Ness had entered the room, and they raised their voices and shouted together.
“Surprise!”
“What the...?” Ness’s hand floated up to his mouth on his own. “But my birthday isn't until tomorrow!”
“Well, Ness,” Paula said, “now you know the real reason I was in Onett today. Your mom let us know that you love your three-hour walks, and that gave us plenty of time to put together your party.”
“We even made a cake together!” Jeff hollered from the other side of the room. “Even Poo can eat it, and you know how picky he can be about food.”
“Old Dalaamese recipe,” Poo said with a smile.
As Ness drew closer to the cake, which had Happy Birthday Ness written on it in white frosting, Tracy bolted over with a cheeky grin on her face. “Big Brother Ness! You’ll love the presents I got you. I was even able to get your Escargo Express storage space increased. Just in case you decide to go on another adventure.”
“W-Well, gosh, Tracy, maybe I should!” Ness said, kneeling over to pet King. As he did, his mother approached the dinner table, using a candle lighter to add the finishing touches to the cake. Now, there were fourteen little flames dancing on the dessert, and they were inviting Ness to make a wish.
“Alright, Ness,” Ness’s mom said. “Let’s not waste any time. You wouldn’t believe all the festivities your friends have planned for you.”
With a reawakened smile on his face, Ness took a seat at the table as the chorus of Happy Birthday rang out around him. As his friends and family all sang, he was able to look at all of them at once, and that brought a new, warm feeling to his heart. Sure, that all-encompassing darkness was waiting across a gap of many, many years. But Ness had faced it, and he’d come to terms with it. Now, it was time to enjoy the good things. After all, life had given him many.
Even still, there was still someone he missed. So when Ness closed his eyes and blew out the candles, he wished that he could see them again. As everyone applauded and cheered, and Ness opened his eyes again, he saw those now-extinguished candles and grinned. Suddenly, he felt someone poke him between the shoulders, and he turned around to see who it was. Ness couldn’t help but gasp, and his eyes even watered up a little bit.
“Hey, son,” his father said. “I told you I’d make it down for your birthday, didn’t I?”
“My birthday wish...” Ness whispered. “It actually came true this year.”
He had another realization. Somehow, from the void that rested behind him in the past, a boy named Ness had entered the world. And it was thanks to that miracle that he was here now, enjoying the company of his friends and family. That didn’t mean that life was always going to be easy, but Ness was beginning to think that it was all going to be worth it after all.