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It was a peaceful morning in Dream Land.
Getting specific, the sky was a dark lavender-blue; just about ready to meet the Sun. But even this early, you could predict a peaceful morning for Dream Land, because, well… Every day was peaceful.
On mornings like these, one might want to sleep in, like those Noddies that loiter about the Grape Gardens. Lazy things.
One might want to indulge in sweets, like that oafish brat Dedede, who could order his Waddle Dees to bake an entire cake for him. It probably wasn’t even his birthday!
On mornings like these…
Well, one or two people might want to ruin the peace by waking up extra-early to sneak around and plant a little Bomber in someone else’s cake.
BOOM
Hapless guards were flung in all directions, some slipped on the simultaneously burned and melted icing, and the pranksters responsible used the chaos to make their daring escape.
“ Hehehe! ” They giggled joyously, rounding the corner from the kitchen. It wasn’t much of a head start, however, and their laughter directed the more competent ones to follow them right away. Dedede flung a thick gob of icing and sprinkles off his face and pointed, “STOP THEM!!”
“Avenge the Great King’s birthday!!” Captain Waddle Doo cried, although he didn’t draw his sword; this sort of thing never ended in an actual fight.
“Oh, whoops. Hey, Kirby, did you know you and Dedede share a birthday?” Marx turned to his accomplice.
“ Uhhh, nope! I guess I’ll hafta make it up to him later.”
Marx was the director of their pranks, but Kirby knew this castle inside and out, and so he began running a little ahead to navigate them to their exit.
“ Aww, let me handle it! We’re celebrating your birthday!”
“I don’t trust you to not hit him with another prank!”
“Of course not! Not without inviting you! ”
The duo continued to laugh freely, not too concerned about being actively chased. Dedede wasn’t a threat on his best days, but today Marx noticed that he was running well ahead of his Waddle Dee lackeys, and even the Captain. Had he been exercising or something? At this rate, he’d have a good shot of clipping his shoes if he dove for it.
“Hehehe! He might get us this time,” Marx half-teased, half-warned his friend. Just in case. Kirby ran well ahead of all of them now, radiating all their usual bravado. He’d gotten a little full of themself ever since that time he gave everyone back their food, but who wouldn’t?
“We won’t get caught,” they assured, rounding another corner at the end of a long hallway. “This way! We’re almost there!”
Marx saw it almost before Kirby announced it; daybreak was fast approaching, and it illuminated their path. Kirby’s pink, soft skin, somewhat translucent, caught the light just perfectly, and he radiated warmth. They ran forward into that brightness, and Marx could no longer see him.
He continued to laugh without a care in the world until he saw Kirby again on the stone railing of an outdoor balcony.
“Huh-?” Marx skidded to a stop, his shoes squeaking against polished stone.
“What’s wrong?” Kirby called back.
“I– Where, uhh–”
Where was the exit? There didn’t look to be any stairs, and behind that railing was probably a thousand feet of open air. The early spring breeze made Marx run over with goosebumps.
“What, are you scared? Trust me, it’ll be great!” Kirby laughed, and cut themself off. He pointed, “Watch out!!”
Marx felt another breeze on his back that smelled vaguely sweet, and leapt forward just as he felt something with a lot of force graze the back of his right shoe. Dedede locked eyes with him at that moment, and was clearly upset that he wasn’t Kirby.
“Hurry, Marx! It’ll be okay!” Marx heard Kirby’s voice, but when he looked up again, all he saw was an empty balcony.
With little other choice, he stumbled back into his run, leapt once onto the railing, and pushed himself off its ledge.
The sky itself shifted; Marx felt his hat slipping. He saw Kirby turn around, his blue eyes twinkled, and all around them was–
Marx shut his eyes tight.
“– Come here, Warp Star!!”
There was a ringing sound.
He gasped softly as he felt himself sit on something far sooner than he was anticipating, and his eyes snapped open. Shimmering stardust trailed ahead of Marx, or rather, behind him, because he was seated at the very back of–
A firm hand pulled him backwards and fixed his hat.
“What did I tell you? Is this a clean getaway or what? Hahaha, look at his face!” Kirby pointed past Marx, at that balcony and that Dedede that both looked so small now.
“I’m getting you back for this, Kirby! And that Noddy, too! I hope all of your birthdays are cursed forever!!” Dedede cried out, shaking his fist.
“... It’s… It’s Marx! Oh , uhh, happy birthday!” Marx stammered out of a big, bewildered smile. He was almost too stunned at the sight to respond.
“ Mark?! I’ll get you, Mark!!”
That got Kirby laughing all over again, as warm and bright as the sunlight Marx felt on his back. Any remaining fear Marx may have had melted away, then, and he began to laugh too.
It might have made the most sense for them to travel straight down Mt. DeDeDe, but Kirby just went higher instead, weaving between the clouds and straggling stars as dawn broke out into day. Marx could clearly see all of Dream Land’s landmarks now, from the forest surrounding Green Greens to the glittering Orange Ocean. Nutty Noon’s cliff faces, which had once seemed unscalable, had an uncharacteristic pale blue hue to them from up here.
“This is a Warp Star! Pretty cool, right?”
“Why don’t you just use this everywhere?” The words just sort of fell out of Marx’s agape mouth.
“Eh? Well… For one thing, it tends to only show up when I really need it to. I like running around. And, it’s easier to get lots of yummy food on the ground!”
“Of course you’d prioritize food, Kirby… ”
“Well, yeah! It’s hard for me to land this thing right because it moves so fast, so any time I wanted to come down for food, I’d have to crash, and that’d probably be annoying–”
“You’re telling me this after you made me jump on?!” Marx cried out.
“It’ll be fine! After all, you’re really good at balancing!” Kirby started to pull himself up onto his feet.
“ Me? But I’ve never done anything like- ”
“It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine~” Kirby repeated in a singsong voice. "I’ll teach you right now, and you’ll get that it’s easy. Think fast!” And they proceeded to do a backflip into the open sky.
“KIRBY!?” Marx shot up to his feet.
Actually, Kirby himself was fine, and Marx knew it. At any time in their free fall, Kirby could inflate himself with air and choose to stay in the sky, or touch down safely. The reason Marx was suddenly frightened was because he, who was so painfully normal , had been left alone with no such sense of safety. Even the act of standing nearly knocked him off balance as the Warp Star continued to shoot forward, past his center of gravity.
He leaned into it, following his instincts without fighting the trajectory he was on. And…!
He was flying!
He was flying!
He had to turn around, as Kirby was now far behind him. He took a wide curve, still playing safe and adjusting to the speed of it. But on the bend, he skimmed the top of a cloud for fun and was surprised by its density. Aren’t clouds supposed to be light?
A mist erupted from where the Warp Star carved through, spraying Marx lightly with condensation, and he laughed.
He was flying!!
He spotted an unmistakable speck of pink in the bright blue sky, and dove for it. The Warp Star began to ring as it picked up speed, but thankfully, Kirby had sharp reflexes and caught on on their own.
“You’re a terrible teacher, by the way!” Marx chided him as they leveled out, coasting once again.
“But you’re having fun,” Kirby pointed out. Marx realized that he was still laughing, and he didn’t know how to stop, nor did he care to stop.
“Okay! For my birthday, I’m going to sit back, and you’ll do the work and show me around!”
“... Okay!”
The Warp Star picked up speed.
*~*~*~*
Mr. Bright was approaching the West by the time Marx finally guided the Warp Star down to Popstar, but he hadn’t noticed. Euphoria had driven him dizzy in the best possible way. In the end, it was Kirby who had suggested they touch back down before they spent too much of what was, admittedly, supposed to be his day.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take care of it, Kirby?” Marx asked, and he had definitely meant to be casual about it, even if the tone came off as pleading.
“... Yeah. I can’t help but think if it had been me, and my birthday cake was ruined… Because I can understand that kind of feeling…”
“You and him are kind of alike, you know?”
“ No way! ” Kirby stuck out their tongue, and adjusted himself on his Warp Star. “I just want to get this over with so we can spend the rest of the day having more fun! I’ll definitely find you after, okay?"
They waved good-bye to his friend for now, and with a whirring, ringing sound, the Warp Star began to tremble before it launched back into the sky.
… Back to where it belonged.
“…”
Marx kicked a rock over.
Life had always been so unsatisfying in Dream Land. Without Kirby, Marx would probably die of ennui while everyone around him moved along in their ever-peaceful, ever- boring humdrum.
And yet, for that brief moment where he sailed through the sky, none of it mattered. The world itself donned a different face, like he was seeing it for the first time; it all felt alive.
“…”
Ahh, how could he ever be happy now that he knew how different it all could be?