Solace

by Apples Of Avalon

The universe has been saved from darkness, and now it only remains to celebrate. But there's one person in misery among the joy, and comfort may come from unexpected sources. DededexFairyQueen, which I also like to call RoyalStarShipping...Pfffffff.

Fireworks lit up the night sky of Ripple Star, coloring the houses and streets below. Fairies sang and danced down the streets, marveling and cheering at the bright spectacle above them. And in the middle of it all stood Ripple Palace, its yellow structure and the luminous rings around it glowing brighter than ever under the starlight as fairies of all ages poured through its front doors.

Inside the palace, the celebration took place in the Main Hall, which was currently bustling with the chatter and laughter of thousands of fairies and the harmonious music of the band playing in a corner. Tables of food were lined up against the walls, brimming with all sorts of delicacies that were currently being devoured by a pink, red-footed puffball. A human girl in a red beret sat in front of a canvas, surrounded by a cluster of young fairies that peeked curiously at the painting she was currently working on. A brown, tan-faced puffball was dancing in middle of the hall beside a pink-haired fairy, both laughing as they swayed to their own crazy rhythm.

And in the farthest corner of the hall, a massive blue penguin in red regal robes watched the party take place as he happily munched on a rib, a platter full of meat and pastries resting beside him.

King Dedede of Dreamland was not one for parties to begin with. There was, of course, the exception of parties with him as the center of attention, but Kirby had been the one to ultimately vanquish the Dark Matter so this was certainly not the case. He wasn't one to socialize either, and he was quite a lousy dancer, so it didn't bother him much anyways. The only thing left for him to do was eat – what was miraculously left of Kirby's rampage anyways – and watch.

Kirby, after eating all the food left, had decided that the table was suddenly edible too; now a whole team of fairies were struggling to pull what remained of it out of his mouth. The fairy kids watching Adeleine paint squealed in delight as multicolored butterflies came to life and flew out of the canvas, fluttering around them. Waddle Dee had danced so much he had gotten dizzy, and he was now sprawled on the floor as Ribbon, in her desperation, was chucking glasses full of water to his face.

The penguin chuckled to himself. It was true that he disliked Kirby – he was pretty much neutral to the others – but he couldn't deny that the past weeks of traveling through the Gamble Galaxy, recollecting Crystal Shards and defeating enemies of all sorts, were the most fun he had gone through for a long time. The bad thing about Popstar being such a happy-go-lucky planet was that one could get easily bored, and although he had been reluctant to join at first, their interplanetary expedition had proven to be a great challenge.

And he loved challenges.

Finishing his rib and disposing of the bone, Dedede reached out for his platter of food to see that there no more ribs. He pouted; they were his favorite food, and Kirby had eaten everything else. He reached out his hand to grab a slice of cake instead, but a glint of blue in the corner of his eyes distracted him again.

His outstretched hand grabbed the Crystal Shard tied to his neck instead. The clear blue, indigo and purple gem had been given to him and his friends by Ribbon and the Fairy Queen herself as proof of their heroism after defeating the Dark Matter, and its purifying properties gave him a sense of great calm and ease of mind as he stared into its depths.

"Man, this thing's actually pretty cool," he thought to himself. "It even has the same purple hue as her eyes – WAIT, NO!" He slapped himself, embarrassed by the heat spreading on his cheeks; "Don't think like that, you moron! You do NOT like her!"

"Your Majesty!"

Dedede turned around, believing the voice was talking to him. But then he realized that the voice was too feminine, and the only person here that called him "Your Majesty" or anything similar was Waddle Dee, and he was barely conscious; anyone else in here preferred to call him "King Dedede", "Dedede", "Mr. Dedede" or even "Mr. Penguin".

That's when he saw a group of four of five fairies, all of them looking distressed, chasing after a tall figure. He couldn't get a good view of the chase from where he was, but he managed to see braids of black hair and red ribbons and a pointy gold crown.

The Queen.

The monarch of the fairies ran across the dance floor, passing through a shocked Ribbon who had been helping a newly awakened Waddle Dee off the floor. Before the fairy group could reach her, she flew straight into a door on the far right of the hall and disappeared. The fairies on her trail stopped on their tracks and looked at each other in dismay. Ribbon flew to them, and although Dedede couldn't hear what they were saying, it was obviously not a good thing judging by the way Ribbon's face fell.

Leaving his platter of food behind, the penguin made his way through the fairy crowd towards Ribbon. Upon seeing him, the other fairies of the group fell silent and kept their gazes on him, and Ribbon herself looked upset and impatient, but he ignored it all, "Hey, what was that just now?"

"King Dedede," Ribbon said while trying to hide her foul mood behind a smile. Always the polite little girl. "We appreciate your concern, but I assure you nothing's wrong-"

"That was your Queen, wasn't it?" All the fairies in the group grimaced at his words, but he continued on, "She looked pretty upset...which is sort of ironic, considering we're having a party since the universe got saved and stuff. So I'd say there IS something wrong-"

"We don't know what's wrong with Her Majesty!" A red-haired fairy in a purple dress behind Ribbon suddenly wailed, "She's been so sad since you guys left for Dark Star! We tried to console her, but she just broke down in tears and ran away!"

"I-I´m sure it's nothing, Poppy," Ribbon soothed her friend, but she didn't look so convinced herself, "Whatever it is, I'm sure she can pull through. The least we can do is give her some space and time to pull herself together-"

"Wait, since we left for Dark Star?" Dedede exclaimed. He had never noticed anything wrong with the Queen of Ripple Star, but now that it had been mentioned, there had been a hint of sadness behind the happiness in her eyes during the victory ceremony. He never paid attention to that back then, but now…

"I'm gonna go talk to her."

"No, wait!" Ribbon held on to his sleeve, "Didn't you hear a word I said? The Queen needs privacy!" But the king of Dreamland ignored her and made his way towards the hallway the Queen had taken, leaving her and her friends in middle of the ballroom with all eyes upon them from the commotion, "Darn it."

"Should we go after him, Ribbon?"

"No, never mind him; I guess we should give him a chance…" Ribbon sighed, looking towards the door both monarchs had run into, "Please, please don't do anything stupid…"

/

"Heeeellooooooo? Anyone here? Um, are you here, Your Majesty?"

Dedede stumbled through the dark, vast corridors of Ripple Palace in his search for the Queen. Since most of the population in the capital – if not all of it – were at the party in the Main Hall, there was no need to keep the rest of the palace lit until much later. This was a problem since he was technically stumbling through the darkness, but at least he was free to holler at the top of his lungs.

"I know you're upset right now, but c'mon; we're celebrating! Whatever it is you have, it's nothing a juicy rack of ribs and a slice of cake can't fix! Well, except that Kirby ate all the ribs, but the cake's more than enough, I promise!"

Silence.

"Well, that's just great," he grumbled, "Offer the lady ribs and cake; such a greeeeeaaaaat idea, why not?" He began to bang his head against the wall, "What – the heck – is wrong – WITH ME!"

Dazed and annoyed, he continued to walk down the hallway again, muttering angrily to himself all the way. Moonlight served as his only guide, filtering from the windows and basking the path in silver light. Dedede, of course, paid no attention to this as he kept searching for the Queen, wondering how many fairies had died from starvation while wandering the seemingly endless pathways of the palace.

Suddenly he stopped.

Crying. Faint, but it was definitely there, and it came from farther to the left. With renewed energy, he ran towards the source of the sound, his feet pounding against the marble floor and echoing through the vast emptiness of the palace.

The hallway eventually led him into an open balcony, surrounded by white marble pillars that glowed silver under the moonlight and reverberating with the chirp of crickets. The moon of Ripple Star itself was a giant silver disc amidst the stars and the dark night sky, and underneath it stood the Queen herself, her body racking with sobs as she stared into the distance with her back to the King.

"Uhhh….hello?"

"Aah!" The black-haired fairy turned around and screamed, scaring them both. It was at that moment that Dedede noticed that her crown and glasses were askew, her braids a complete mess and her violet eyes red and puffy from crying, "K-King Dedede! What are you – How did you –"

"I saw you at the party; you seemed pretty upset." As a fellow member of royalty, Dedede knew he should have addressed the Queen in a more courteous way, but at the moment he no longer cared about formalities. "So ummm….wanna tell me what's wrong?"

"Wrong? Oh no, there's nothing…." The Queen hesitated, her eyes filling with fresh tears, and turned away from the King again, "I…I don't wish to talk about it. I wouldn't want to bother you with my problems, anyways."

"That's silly; you won't bother me!" He tried to give her the friendliest smile he could muster, but saw it wasn't working and stopped. "Look, I hate to insist so much, but it'll be better to at least tell somebody about this."

She didn't reply him, just staring at the horizon and into the dark, star-speckled space. Thinking she was done with talking to him, Dedede sighed and decided to leave the courtyard and return to the party. Part of him knew from the beginning she wasn't going to talk to him, but feeling the rejection here and now was still painful.

"I was possessed by Dark Matter."

Had not the courtyard been so eerily silent as it was now, Dedede would've never heard the Queen speak. He turned around to face her, finding her staring directly into his eyes. Her own were filled with a typhoon of emotions – frustration, guilt, anger, sorrow – and it was so powerful and heart-wrenching that Dedede's words stuck to his throat.

"I'm the Queen of Ripple Star; it's my duty to guide and protect my people," she continued saying. Her expression became pained as more tears rolled down her cheeks, "And I failed. The Dark Matter took over our planet, they took over my mind, and I couldn't do a thing to prevent it. No one even noticed I was possessed, and they probably would've never noticed it if you hadn't collected all the Crystal Shards-"

"Whoa, calm down!" The Queen was in hysterics now, her face red from shouting and lack of air. Dedede reached out to calm her down, "Look, I know what you're going through, but the Dark Matter is gone and everything's all right now-"

"You think you know how it feels?" The Queen lashed out at him, her expression now furious, "You think you know how it feels to be so helpless and weak while evil, dark creatures corrupt your very being! HOW DARE YOU CLAIM YOU UNDERSTAND!"

"Now, wait a minute-"

"TO HAVE YOUR MIND WARPED LIKE THAT?"

"OK, look now-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO BE MANIPULATED LIKE THAT!"

"YES I DO!" Dedede's shout echoed through the courtyard and silenced even the crickets. The Queen's rage was replaced with surprise at the outburst, but the penguin king's own fury didn't relent, "Those one-eyed freaks came to Dreamland and thought it would be funny to possess me…" He held up his hand, "THREE TIMES!" He stepped closer to her until their faces were merely inches away, "So don't tell me I don't know how it feels, because you're the one who doesn't know SQUAT!"

Not a sound was made for minutes as both monarchs stared at each other, the Queen in shock and Dedede in anger and frustration. Suddenly, the Queen's eyes began to water again as she tried to suppress a sob on one of the long sleeves of her dress, and all of Dedede's rage vanished, "Hey wait, I didn't mean-"

He was stopped short on his apology as he suddenly felt arms wrapping around him. Eyes wide, he turned to see the Queen of the Fairies burying her face on his chest. "O-oh my goodness…I-I had n-no idea…" She raised her face to look at him, "I-I'm so sorry…"

"Wait, what?" Dedede pushed the Queen away, albeit gently, "No! You're not supposed to be sorry! Heck, I came all the way here to make you feel better and instead I made you feel worse!" He stepped back and sat down with his back on one of the stone pillars, "Darn it, I suck at this. Some comforter I am…"

The Queen looked at Dedede as he sulked, and walked closer to sit next to him, "Oh, please don't say that; you have…comforted me in a way." She put a hand on his shoulder and smiled sweetly at him, "At least now I know that there's someone who truly understands what I went through…" Her face fell, "It must have been awful though, to be possessed three times…"

"Well…the first time wasn't really that bad…" Although not sulking anymore, Dedede kept his gaze to his feet. "The first time the Dark Matter came around, it was only one of them; he was dressed up as a swordsman, asking for an audience with me. One second he was suddenly coming towards me, and the next thing I remember after that was waking up on the roof of my castle, watching Kirby fly after a black blob while holding a rainbow-colored sword…"He lifted his head upwards towards the sky, "It was funny that time, being possessed. I felt so sleepy and my whole body felt heavy; y'know, sort of like when you wake up at 2:00 in the morning and you stumble around and you just have no idea of what's going on."

The Queen giggled slightly at such description; being the leader of Ripple Star, she had often woken up at ungodly hours to attend to royal matters, so she knew what he was talking about. Dedede smiled at the sound of her laughter, and kept on with his story; "The second time they invaded Popstar, their whole lot came over. Even Zero Two was there, but I think he was known just as Zero back then. Anyways, they took over the center of the planet and then spread to its five points, including my old castle at the Iceberg. They possessed me so quickly I didn't even notice until it was too late." He frowned, "This time I was completely aware of what was happening, but I couldn't feel my body. I could see myself attacking Kirby, but I simply had no control over my actions."

"Like a puppet that moves only by the will of its puppeteer's whims…" The Queen whispered, "That's exactly how I felt when I was possessed."

"And the third time…" She turned around to face Dedede and saw him closing his eyes and gritting his teeth in an expression of pain; "The third time was the worst. It was about a week ago, when Ribbon crashed into Dreamland. I didn't know anything about it, though; I was in my castle, minding my own business while staying on the roof when a Crystal Shard fell behind me. Then Kirby, Ribbon and the others burst in, saying that I had to give them the Shard because it was a matter of life and death or something like that…" His beak twisted into a tight smile; "But I…never liked Kirby, so I decided to get to his nerves and not give him the Shard. We were at it when the Dark Matter crashed in front of us…" His voice suddenly began to shake, "and then it went inside me."

Dedede's body started shaking, and the Queen could do nothing but look in dismay, "Please stop, you don't have to remember-"

"It was painful," the penguin whispered, opening his now dull and faraway eyes, "It hadn't been painful before, but this time it was and it hurt a lot." His hands tightened into fists, "I could feel the darkness inside, and then the thing started talking to me in my head…and it was telling me to kill Kirby." He chuckled, but there was no humor in it; "I mean, I never liked Kirby; I still don't like the idea of some round, pink brat fighting all over my kingdom as if he were the King, but…" He closed his eyes again, "The worst I wanted to do to him was to hurt and humiliate him. The idea of killing him never crossed my mind until that day. And the worst part is that the more the Dark Matter urged me, the better his suggestions sounded."

The Queen's expression was grim, but she said nothing, and Dedede continued talking, "That day, I literally saw red. I felt so angry and full of hate; all I wanted was to see that puffball's body squished under my hammer. The rest of the fight is a blur to me, but after I lost and the Dark Matter left my body, the first thing I remember seeing is the faces of Kirby and his friends, looking the most terrified they had probably ever been in their lives." He let out a sight and let his back slide down against the pillar, "I'm still wondering why in the world they wanted me to join the group after that." He paused as if realizing something, and began laughing again; this time the laughter was cruel and mocking, as if laughing at himself, "There, I'm doing it again. I'm supposed to cheer you up and instead I'm just whining about myself. Just dandy."

None of them said a word for a long time after Dedede finished his tale. The King of Dreamland leaned over and directed his gaze towards the floor while the Queen watched him, still processing all the terrible things the penguin before her had been forced to endure during his possession. Compared to him, her fretting over her own possession seemed meaningless.

Dedede jumped as the Queen wrapped her arms around him again – this time from the right – and laid her head on his shoulder, "You poor thing…" She lifted her right hand and stroked his back as a comforting gesture, and Dedede shivered under her touch, "I'm sorry you…you had to go through all of that. But it's OK now; the Dark Matter are gone forever now."

"Are you sure? Cuz those ugly freaks always find a way to come back somehow."

"I am sure of it. They won't be able to hurt us or anyone else ever again." She smiled to reassure him, and Dedede found himself smiling back. And for some reason, he knew she was right.

It was at that moment that they both realized how close their bodies were, but despite blushing, they did nothing to change that. Their gazes found one another, and without realizing it they began to move closer…and closer….and closer-

"YOUR MAJESTY!"

Both King and Queen yelped and tore apart from each other, their gazes turning to the courtyard's only entrance to see a beet-red Ribbon, a flustered Waddle Dee, a joyful Adeleine and an oblivious confused Kirby looking at them. Ribbon, who had been the one to shout, was futilely trying to hide her embarrassment by covering her face, "O-oh my stars, if I had known you were…" She turned to the exit, "I'm s-sorry for interrupting; we've better leave you two alone now!"

"Ribbon, wait!" The Queen, her face as red as the skirt of her dress, flew to the exit in order to intercept the younger fairy, "I-it's not what you think! I can explain-"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE, YOU IDIOTS!" Dedede roared to Adeleine, Kirby and Waddle Dee, the latter running to hide behind the artist., His face was just as red, although for different reasons, "WHO THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, SNEAKING ON US LIKE THAT!"

"I knew it. Oh my gosh, I knew it!" Adeleine, who was completely unaffected by Dedede's shouting, was smiling like crazy; "I knew you guys would end up together eventually!" She turned to Waddle Dee cowering behind her, "By the way, you owe me 15 Den-Dens."

"A-Addie! Not in front of them, they're listening!"

"DAMN RIGHT I'M LISTENING! WE'RE NOT TOGETHER, YA HEAR!" Subconsciously he reached out for his hammer, but realized he had left it at the ballroom and groaned. "And even if we did, THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" he spat.

"Poyo?"

Everyone turned their heads towards Kirby, who among all the chaos and shouting, still had no idea of what was going on. Adeleine sighed and walked closer to him to pat his head, "Yes, Kirby; Dee-Dee and the Queen now love each other."

The pink puffball's sky-blue eyes widened, and he turned around to give Dedede a heart-melting smile, "Poyo!"

"ZIP IT, YOU BRAT!" Dedede stomped on the ground, managing to create cracks on the marble, "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THAT WE ARE NOT TOGETHER!"

"Stop denying it, Dee-Dee. We all saw it, and we're all happy for you!"

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"Adeleine, that's enough!" Ribbon, although still looking flustered, had regained some of her dignity; "We should return to the party; the other fairies are getting worried, and the best thing to do now is give Their Majesties some…time alone." With that, she flew past her Queen, followed by a snickering Adeleine who led a shaking Waddle Dee by the hand and lastly by Kirby, who kept giving out excited 'poyos' along the way. Soon enough, both rulers found themselves alone again, gawking at the door from where the group had left.

"What the-"

"But I-"

"It's not-"

"We're not-"

"I'M GOING TO KILL THEM!" Dedede stormed after them, but stopped in his tracks as he felt something tugging his sleeve. He turned around to see the Queen smiling sheepishly at him, and his anger lessened considerably.

"Just let them be. They're all just children after all; they mean no harm." The penguin huffed, but didn't say anything and simply crossed his arms. The black-haired fairy giggled and reached out to grab his hand, "We should return to the party, too. We've stayed here long enough, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess." His heart thumped loudly against his chest as her hand touched his, even with his glove and her sleeve in between, but he kept his feeling in check and looked away from her "But Kirby better not have eaten my food, or I'll force-feed him my hammer next!"

The Queen sweatdropped at his threats against the young pink warrior, but decided to dismiss them as just jokes for now. She floated closer to him and rested her chin on his shoulder, "Oh, and King Dedede?"

"You can just call me Dedede, y'know."

"I'm afraid I'm not really that fond of meat, let alone ribs…" She leaned closer to him, "But that invitation for cake actually sounds just about right."

Dedede blushed, and the Queen laughed.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Has it ever happened to you that you think of a story in your head and it sounds awesome, but then you type it down and you just want to sit in the corner and cry?

Well actually, this wasn't so bad. Not the way I wanted, but it still works. Funny enough, I wanted it to be longer, but it's almost midnight here and I wanted to go on with WLWtA (soon to be shortened to just Abyss) so I said screw it.

So while you wait for the next Abyss chapter, I give to you: DededexFairyQueen! Why? Because even jerks like Dedede deserve love and this couple is underrated, that's why…..and no, OCs don't count. I blame Evanatt and Hisui-sama on dA for making me ship them (Not really, they're awesome.) I might write another romantic oneshot (you can bet your ass it'll be a Kirby one), but not until Chapter V is up. And I'm not telling which couple it will be about, so HA. Good luck trying to guess ;)