Marx quietly turned to page eight hundred and forty nine on the book labeled Ancient Creations. Once again, he stared around the room that he was to stay in to be force-studying. If a normal person were to stay in the room as long as Marx had, that person would've completely lost control.

But not Marx.

At least, not visibly.

Mentally and emotionally, he was a wreck, and usually took his blind rage out on a toy or two that he had to fix later, behind the Queen's back before she found out he had broken it. Studying clockwork, anatomy, and structures, he knew a thing or two about fixing a toy.

Of course, the book he was reading at the moment was read by him at least fifteen thousand times.

Along with a whole library of books on history, mathematics, chemistry, etc. But, of course, no books that a normal fifteen year old would enjoy. Of course.

There were only a few toys, as mentioned earlier, here and there, a mix of stuffed animals that he would tinker with for, the most, four hours.

If he was lucky, they'd let him play five hours.

Only three people were allowed to visit him from the outside world, people who he had befriended before: a young Halcandran named Magolor, who taught him magic and entertained him, usually (playfully) arguing with him, a small witch named Grill with her three onion friends, who often amused him with her, what he called, 'incompetence,' and a young spider-like being named Taranza, who Marx usually compared himself to.

The large room he was in was in fact fit for a king, which was ironic, considering how much he wanted to leave it.

It had a large bed with more-than-comfortable sheets and giant pillows, two desks which were covered with paper, notes, and pens, and colorful paint covered the walls: neon green, purple, blue, red, everything. But it's not like he saw them that well with hardly any lights in the room.

He was only allowed to leave the room under a few purposes: the Queen was asking- no, DEMANDING- him to tell her the books text, word for word. If he got it wrong, one word wrong, he was sentenced to an even more uncomfortable room, that had only the light of the candle she gave him to use to read until he got it right.

She would pull him by his hair (or whatever stump of hair he had), no matter how much he hated being touched and it hurt him, and ask him if he had any distractions at all, to which he'd reply teary-eyed that he just didn't have enough time and apologize to her.

The queen was a cruel, sickening person, a woman about a head taller than him with long, flowing lavender hair, pink skin, and glowing red eyes that looked as if they'd tortured thousands of poor souls by just looking at them. She would make millions laugh at his pain and mistakes, along with her, not with him.

She would make him suffer.

He didn't know why his mother had abandoned him to her.

And why he had to listen to her.

The second place he'd be if not there, would be the cell of what he called the 'Frozen Knight.' A lavender knight with a lance and shield, he had been trapped in the crystal because of his powers five thousand years before Marx was born. Marx didn't know why, but he always felt comforted whenever he went to the knight.

There were many rumors that the knight was a traitor of the GSA, betraying Sir Arthur himself, who he was fairly close to at the time. But Marx didn't care.

In fact, each time he saw him, he swore he saw a small smile form on his lips behind his mask, even though he was frozen. Maybe it was his crazy imagination.

The third place he visited, the one he visited the most, was a secret room that was behind the 'Frozen Knight's' crystal. He'd found it when he was just nine (thousand) years old.

It had started when he had heard a voice humming as he visited the knight. As he went behind the crystal, he saw a door he hadn't seen before. It had horrifyingly deep scratch marks, as if the creature imprisoned in the room had put up a fight.

But this didn't faze Marx at all. Instead, he continued walking to the door, the humming getting louder, until finally, as he stopped next to the door, it stopped, as if sensing his presence.

"I'm sorry..." the voice suddenly said, as his voice got louder by each word. "I'm sorry, onee-sama. I'm sorry, tou-chan. I'm sorry, okaa-san. I'm sorry, nii-nii..."

(translates to, I'm sorry, sister, daddy, mommy, and brother, all in the cutest form)

Suddenly, loud scratching could be heard on the other side of the door, followed by a series of crashes, not scaring Marx either.

"I'm sorry, Kirby. I'm sorry, nii-nii. I'm sorry, Terra. I'm sorry, nii-nii. I'm sorry, nii-nii. I'm sorry, nii-nii! I'M SORRY, NII-NII!"

This last shriek caused Marx to step back in surprise. He had never heard a voice so scared, much more than his own.

Suddenly, his voice changed, to a much older version of his voice.

"Why are you apologizing? You didn't know. I hurt you. I hurt HIM. HIM. Why did I hurt you?!"

His voice changed back to normal, laughing.

"But the worst you did was mock me from time to time-"

"WHY?!" he interrupted himself. "WHY!? WHY WHY WHY WHY?!"

Younger Marx listened more intently now. It was like a show, but you couldn't see the characters.

"I wanted to make you happy, nii-nii. You were really sad. HE made you cry. You were always angry at me. And never smiled... You were mean, too..."

Marx heard the voice sob and laugh syllables that weren't understandable, and suddenly he started scream-sobbing, until finally, Marx nudged the door.

"Hello?" he said with his normal voice, not a cautious one that a normal person would've used.

The scream-sobbing stopped immediately.

"Hello... hello... What is this hello? Nii-nii used it a lot."

"A simple greeting. You should know this."

"WELL, I DON'T!"

Marx had sighed, peeking through the key hole.

"My, my. You are quite the charmer, aren't you?" he chuckled.

The creature inside had tried to poke his eye out, but Marx had backed away, giggling. He hadn't thought about it much that day, but everyday he came, he would hear the same thing, as if he were rehearsing something, or if he was a stuck tape recorder.

He asked the queen hesitantly who the creature was, and she answered with a blunt, "Darx is his name. Also, try not being an idiot around him. He could tear your guts out."

Now that he thought about it, he couldn't comprehend what had happened that day. Darx was the same creature as him, for sure, only with hands, or wings, or whatever those things were. Marx had gone deeper in the book that had held species types, and soon enough, he had read about the Warpstar Knight, better known as Kirby. He read about his status, and how he was supposed to save the universe from peril. But, instantly after he had studied enough, he was sent to go to Popstar, the reasons why, unknown.

And that's what led him to read 'Ancient Creations.' He had to learn about Nova. Before he messed up. And people would laugh at him again, and-

"MARX!"

...

Marx blinked, looking around. He was on the roof of the castle, staring at the sun and moon fighting.

As soon as he had recovered, he felt a force jab at his back. He screamed, a scream that almost made the whole castle jump, and turned around, suddenly coming face-to-face with Kirby.

Kirby had retreated a few steps, eying Marx with wide eyes.

"Marpoyo?"

Marx left eye twitched, something that would happen if somebody went too close to him.

"I-I'm fine," he said reassuringly, but it was clear he wasn't. "I just hate it when somebody... touches me."

Kirby gasped dramatically.

"Wha-poyo?!"

"Hey, hey, hey, it's fine. I just got nervous."

Kirby shook his head, in a non-believing way, reaching out to comfort him, until he hissed, to a point where he drew back his hand again. Marx looked at the floor, and each time the sun would come back, he could see a scared expression on Marx's face.

After a long, awkward silence, Marx spoke.

"Sorry. It just reminds me of something horrible. It's-

He was about to say 'It's nothing,' but stopped himself when Fumu and Bun ran onto the roof, their expressions revealing complete shock.

"Are you two alright?!" shouted Fumu, skidding to a halt next to Kirby. Bun, who wasn't so lucky, tripped on her foot and landed face-first next to Marx.

Marx uncomfortably stared at Bun, who got up, embarrassed, for a moment before answering.

"We're fine," he muttered. "I got a bit too sensitive."

Kirby nodded guiltily.

"Yeah-poyo."

"But it sounded like millions of camels screaming," said Bun, rubbing his head. "You managed to scream like that? Ha, that's freaky!"

Marx shifted on his feet and sighed.

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes."

He regained his posture as Bun pouted, then walked towards the latch that led towards the inside of the castle. Tears were forming on his eyes, but no one could see them.

"Why don't all people try that?" He inhaled heavily, then exhaled. "We're leaving in a while. Get ready to leave."

And he entered the castle, not giving any of the children a second glance.