Chapter 3: Loyalty


She awakened from getting sun in her eyes.

Her eyes weakly opened up and she stared at the cave's entrance. Being filled with water and wind earlier, her little "shelter" was now filled with warm and inviting rays of light. For a couple of minutes, she didn't want to move. It would be too much effort, no matter how morning grumpy that sounded. Therefore, she laid still on the uneven and sturdy floor, feeling the warm embrace of the burning sun slowly heating her up. She was thankful that she wasn't sick, at least, she didn't feel like she was. Heavens know what she might have caught from that storm yesterday. At least she had a place to relax.

Suddenly, a painful noise spread out inside the small opening. Her stomach was crying, desperate for food of any kind. Of course, she thought. She hadn't eaten at all since she woke up under that tree the other day.

She picked up her cowl, that was now completely dry from laying perfectly in the sun's rays, and put it on her neck again as she shoved herself off the ground and forced herself to the cave's entrance. She scouted out over the forest. The trees all seemed dried out, completely without moisture despite the heavy downpour from yesterday. Puzzled by this, she looked to the sky to see the sun past midday again. She had been sleeping for a very long time. Her stomach growled again, reminding her of the hunger that was eating her up. She looked once more at the mass of trees below her. One of the trees had apples growing from their branches. Perfect, she thought. She wanted to fly down, but her wings were still too strained to fly. Perhaps she could glide down? She's have to force the wings to be stretched, but other than that it seemed plausible.

She stood upright, prepared for flight. If this failed, she would plummet to the ground, a good 20 meters below her. She decided not to think of that any longer. Slowly, yet carefully, she raised her four wings out in a stretched position. This was it. Flight or fight as they said.

She threw her weight over the cliff side. Slowly, she floated downwards, steering her body towards the apple tree. Right before reaching the ground, she beat her wings backwards a little bit to smoothen out her landing. The pain that then spread through her wings made her wince, but she didn't think too much of it as the fresh juicy apples were now right in her reach.

Her hands moved over to the nearest one and, with a little force, pulled it off its stalk. She turned it around in her hands a couple of times before taking as big of a bite as she could. It was delicious, probably the best apple she ever had. She continued digging in, reaching down to the apples core. She wiped off some of the fruit juice that had settled on her lips with her gloved hand, as she finished off the apple. Her stomach wasn't exactly filled, but she felt some energy return to her spirit. Throwing the apple core away, she handpicked two more of the fresh fruit and stored them away for later.

Walking back to the mountainside, she looked at her temporary resting place one last time, before taking a sharp turn left and continued to head down the path she ran on yesterday. She still felt weak, no doubt about it, but her stomachache was gone at least. The sun was high and there were no other clouds than clean snow white stripes that decorated the sky as a beautiful detail. For the first time since she woke up yesterday, she felt a satisfying feeling of...genuine hope.


After walking down the dirt path for what seemed like a couple of hours, she was beginning to feel a bit excited. The road had begun to widen up a lot and she took it as a sign that she was close to a little town or a city, perhaps. Colorful and pretty flowers had begun popping up by the wayside, neatly organized in a straight line, further suggesting civilization. Admittedly, ever since the young child had ran away from her, she felt a bit lonely. It would be nice to have someone to actually talk to, without people running away in fear.

A strange figure down the road caught her attention. It was small and thin, with a little spike on top. As she came closer, she realized the figure was a road sign. Gears turned inside her otherwise famished mind and she came to the conclusion that whatever that sign said, it was important. Excitement returned at full force as the young woman flew over to the sign. Pointing to the left, it read:

"Castle Dedede"

What a weird name she thought. She did like the sound of a castle though, for whatever reason. Maybe that's where...

She pulled the crystalized crown out, staring at it for a few seconds. Could the crown be from this castle? The people of it must be missing their crown pretty badly then. Maybe she was the princess of this castle? The thought was ambitious to be sure, but she couldn't help but like the idea. Maybe she was a tad selfish.

Straightening herself out, she felt a sudden strong gust of wind blow past her. A bit surprised by this, she looked around searching, rapidly turning her head.

"Hello?" She called out. No answer. Shrugging for herself, she turned around and began heading down the path towards the castle again. Where did that breeze come from? It hadn't been windy all day, so this wind was a bit out of-

"Queen Sectonia."

She stopped. The voice was deep, authoritative and demanding, clearly trying to catch her attention. Was it really her name it spoke? After a brief second of shock, she turned around.

And instantly froze in fear.


Taranza was having a pretty nice day so far. The sun was shining brightly on this spring day and the rain from yesterday was long gone. Strolling through the streets and having just finished assisting with cleaning up at the castle, he was heading down to the local café for a nice cup of lunchtime tea to relax himself with. Not that cleaning at the castle was exhausting or anything, but it sure as hell helped clearing his head. It was tradition in Dreamland to celebrate at Castle Dedede after saving the world, yet again, from certain destruction and the most recent alien invasion had been no different. The party yesterday was definitely the best of the three he was invited to.

He didn't go to the first one.

He stared down into his porcelain cup he had ordered for a minute. He had found his usual spot, alone beside the window. It was hard to believe it was one and a half year ago since that day. That one day where the beautiful Dreamstalk grew and bloomed in the same span of 24 hours. Thinking back on it, he couldn't stand how otherwise...pretty that day and night had been.

A single teardrop hit the lukewarm drink. He shook his head and looked away, from no one in particular. "No, don*t do it again. Stop crying. Keep it together you wuss", he mentally scolded himself. It was no secret that Taranza was often sad. Few people knew how much. Fewer knew why. He had told himself that he was over it. He had to have been over it.

Someone banging on the window he was sitting by suddenly startled him. Quickly turning his attention, he was pleasantly surprised to see one of his friends, recognizable by the blue cloth wrapped around their head. Standing by the window, he appeared to be completely out breath. The six-handed spider used one of his left hands to open up the window. He would have to try to hide the fact that he had been crying when he greeted him.

"H-Hi there, Bandana. What brings you here" He failed. Of course he did. He always failed. Nevertheless, the young Waddle Dee didn't seem to take notice, being too much in a hurry.

"Ta-wheeze -Taranza. There is..There is something I need to tell you pant." It's...Meta Knight"

He was curious. What did he mean about "Meta Knight"? Taranza had spoken to the stern warrior on few occasions, but apparently that was common.

"Hmm? What about him?" He inquired, taking another sip of his tea, now with a subtle salty flavor added to it.

"A young waddle went to Meta, scared out of his mind, late yesterday. ..He said that he had been attacked and chased by a "giant girly wasp." Meta Knight thinks its..."

But the young spear wielder didn't get his chance to elaborate, as Taranza simply stopped listening. It couldn't be true, could it? He hastely interrupted him by grabbing on to the railing of the window.

"Where is she?! H-He?" He felt bad for shouting at the boy, but he had to know. If what he said was true, then...

"Uh-uhm, he took off to the forest! He told me to report it to the King first but I-"

"Bandana, I need you to do something for me"

"Huh?"

Vigorously, the spider dug through his pockets and pulled out a bill decorated with a blue star on it.

"I need you to pay for this tea here."

"But that's-"

"It doesn't matter, just keep the rest. I really have to go! Thanks!"

And with that, he took to the window and flew straight out of the narrow opening, right past his perpetually surprised and confused friend. He headed towards the forest on the outskirts of town, flying as fast as his body would let him. Entering the woods through the main path, he rapidly darted his eyes around to search for any sign of the winged swordsman. Confronting Meta Knight was something he hoped he wouldn't have to do. Taranza was no slouch when it came to fighting, but the knight outclassed him in every way possible. When it came down to it, Meta Knight let no one stand between him and his goal. Fully understanding the contradiction in searching for someone he did not want to stand against, his rushing head came up with a different plan. He had no hope of catching up to the masked warrior to begin with, but if he got there first he may have a chance of doing whatever he was throwing himself into. If the caped crusader got there first, however...

Taranza hoped to everything that that wouldn't happen.


She was completely paralyzed. All her rational thinking had ceased completely. Internally, she was screaming at her body to move, to run, but it would not respond. Instead, the only thing it would do was stand frozen in complete terror and stare at the demon in front of her.

Even though the person she was facing was much smaller than she was, she could not stop shaking in fear. It's yellow eyes that kept a stern watch on her drilled through her soul and shook her very core. The rest of its face was covered in a metal plate with a long dark blue cape engulfing the rest of its body, hiding its appearance. Why was she so damn scared of this thing? Why did looking at it give her a massive headache? She did not know. She was to caught up in the moment to even dare question it. It's glare did not falter in the slightest, as it spoke again:

"You have made an unwise decision to appear in these peaceful lands, Tyrant. Tell me, how did you return from the dead?"

His voice was rough, yet refined and deep. She had no idea what he was talking about, but even if she did she would not have been able to get a word past her lips, with her teeth rattling this much. Finally, she mustered up the instinctive willpower to take a step back, almost falling over in the process. Her head was starting to throb from pain. She wanted to run. To turn her back around and flee as far away from this...this monster as she could. The demon's voice spat at her as he continued.

"You refuse to answer then? Very well, I too shall let my actions speak for me!"

Suddenly grabbing his coat, he twisted it around his body and threw the cape behind him to reveal his weapon. The warrior wielded a short golden sword that burned with energy. It's blade twisted and turned around itself, having several edges in a powerful and demanding design. He pointed the sword at her as he yelled; "Prepare yourself! I shall make sure this is the last time that you return to terrorize the defenseless!"

Suddenly, a new feeling was slowly filling her body. She looked down at her hands when a weird sense made them feel as if they were overflowing with heat. The tear in her skin on her left ring finger stung a little, but she was too caught up with this strange feeling to give it too much notice. She looked back up to look for the knight, only to immediately regret it as those glowing yellow eyes stared her down again. He had started to approach her, blade ready to strike at any moment's notice, and was now a much shorter distance away than previously. The sensation was growing stronger, making her hands give off little sparks of energy. This felt weird. It felt like nothing she had ever felt before. It was like she was holding the void in her palms. She was thrown out of her trance by the sound of the knight's footsteps speeding up. He was charging her, blade at his side waiting to slice. Starting to panic again, she threw her arms towards her aggressor, closed her eyes and yelled at him, interrupting him mid-sentence.

"GO AWAY!"

From the middle of her palms, small, unstable orbs of light shot out, flying out in every direction before losing stability and exploding into small smoke fumes. The several failed attempts at some form of magic collected into a massive cloud that blocked the way between the knight and herself. Surprising herself for a second, she eventually realized the window of opportunity she had created, turned her back and ran as fast as she could. With tears in her eyes blurring her vision, she went as fast as she could in her weakened state, but the knight did not give up in his pursuit. Suddenly zooming past her overhead, the swordsman had grown dark blue and skinny bat-like wings himself, carrying his weight with ease. As he sped past, he performed a shuttle loop in the air, before turning around and began diving her. She had to move out of way, fast. Escaping from the experienced airborne fighter would be impossible in an open area like this. In a split-second decision, she turned towards the thick forestation and fled into the trees.

Not even daring to look back, she flew with as much speed as her body could muster. Making sure to do as many random turns as possible, she desperately tried to get far, far away from the open road. In the corner of her eye, she spotted a shadow in the woods. Before she knew it, a white shine of a golden blade sliced at the tree in front of her, barely missing her face a few millimeters off. Instantly startled, she ran left from the tree, now cleanly cut in half, and kept on running. Her wings took quite the beating from colliding with all the trees branches, but she was too affected by the adrenaline coursing through her veins to notice it. Another tree was cut down in front of her, as the shadow struck once more, pushing her away from area. The shadow seemed to running circles around her as it continuously chopped tree after tree down, making sure never to let up the offense. She was getting very, very tired, not only of running, but of crying as well. But she had to keep running, even if it wasn't working. Heel turning from another close call with the sharp end of a sword, she found a new forrest path to run down until...

She reappeared in another clearing, not unlike the one she woke up in. She stopped and looked around in confusion. She was back on the road. How did she get here? She had been running away from the path, not towards it! The shadow suddenly bursted out of the woods, performing a backwards landing in front of her. His iron boots dug through the loose gravel as his wings fully stretched out to stop his momentum. His yellow glare stared her down with a content expression burning behind his cold mask. She realized what had happened. He had guided her right back out of the forest by scaring her, manipulating the direction she ran.

Now being in an open space like this again, her plan of trying to hide had been completely shattered. She was at her wits end at what to do. Her breathing had become heavy and she was both physically and mentally exhausted. The feeling of power from earlier was gone, no more smoke tricks to perform anymore. The swordsman charged her again, presumably for the last time. This was it. Fight or flight, as they said.

And she chose flight.

Using every inch of will she had left, she extended her wings and skyrocketed upwards. Up, up and away she forced her wings. She was pushing herself to the limit, growing fainter by the second. She looked back down and nearly screamed when she saw the knight was still after her. She turned her away and somehow made herself fly even faster than before. She was reaching for the clouds. But they were so far away. Her masked pursuer out sped her greatly, as he overtook her with relative ease. Performing one last shuttle loop, the warrior gracefully twisted himself above her and around in midair, before aiming down towards her and letting gravity do the rest of work as he dive kicked her with insane force, instantly slamming her downwards towards the ground.

Her crash landing was anything but soft. Hitting the ground way too fast, her momentum carried on as she roller and spun several times through the rough gravel, only coming to a stop when her body slid across the road and dug into the sea of small pebbles. Painfully opening her eyes, she saw the knight had landed again and was approaching her. With her entire body shaking violently, she attempted to push herself up with her wavering hands. An earthshattering jolt of pain struck through her body, causing it to plummet down into the dirt again. Her consciousness was starting to fade again. She glanced at her lowered left wing, feeling it pulsate with agony. Bent in an unnatural way, the wing was without a doubt broken.

"Resistance is futile. You are defeated."

Her basic survival instinct refused however and tried to push her away, across the ground, but the loose stones gave under and she merely shoved pebbles away in place. The knight held his sword in front of his face as he continued;

"For your crimes against Dreamland, Florelia and Popstar..." He twisted the blade in his hand, now holding it over his head. This was it. She had nowhere to run. No power to fight back. No one to save her. Her eyes were barely open as she took her last glance at the world she wanted to see more of.

"...I sentence you...to death!"

Her memory of the next events are blurry. She saw something glowing with a sharp purple color tackle the knight at full speed, blasting him away. A new figure now stood in front of her with it's back turned against her, sizing itself up while yelling at her attacker. The person at her side had silvery white hair with two orange tips growing out of it. Several ominous sparks floated around it as it prepared for a counterattack, should an initiating one be fired. Everything was going white. The last thing she remembers was two slightly tinted white eyes looking at her with an extremely worried expression. Her eyes blinked as her vision started to fade, whitening out completely in a bright light...

...

Light...

...

Light...

...

Light...

...

And then...

...

...

Total Darkness.


AN: Hello everyone. Thank you for reading chapter 3. Or skimming it, thats fine too. Im writing at the bottom of this chapter to inform you that my schedule for the next week is looking pretty tight, so i apologize if the next chapter is in a while.

On a more positive note, Taranza finally found his best friend again! Though not exactly in the state he was expecting, but its certainly better than nothing. Next chapter will explore a bit more about Sectonia's memory loss.

Sleep tight, borbs!