"Do you want to hear a song, Kirby?"
Marx had secured his beach ball in his tent, the tent he shared with Kirby, and had turned to Kirby after a moment of silence in the remembrance of who's fountain this was.
Night had come fast; so fast, that it had almost passed by like the fake special effects Dedede usually put on his television show. Except this was real. Almost too real to believe.
They had went back to the shuttle, without Dedede this time, and had brought back all their belongings, minus Marx, who had no belongings other than his beach ball, hat, and bow.
Kirby nodded, punching his pillow with all his might to make it a bit more comfortable, because it had been crumpled up in the shuttle for a while, and had a few of Tokkori's feathers still on it.
It didn't affect the pillow much, but still, it made him feel better in a way.
Marx smiled, then coughed, almost uncomfortably.
"U-usually I don't perform for just anyone, even for free. But... you know, we're friends..."
Kirby giggled, and was about to raise his hand for a high five, something people like Bun, Joe, and Sir Falspar gave him, but remembered Marx's no-hand/touch rule and turned around to punch his pillow again with the same hand.
"Yeapoyo!" he said awkwardly.
Marx jumped on his ball with no effort at all, balancing on one foot for a moment as if preparing himself for something. When he realized it wasn't coming and that Kirby was staring at him with a soft smile, he returned the smile and cleared his throat.
"Don't laugh, OK?" he almost whispered.
"Okay-poyo!"
He inhaled and began, speaking as a narrator:
"Once, there was a dream. Who dreamt it is still unknown. Possibly a great evil, possibly only a child, but nobody knows. The dream realized, right before it ended, "I will be forgotten! What should I do to bring happiness to the one who created me?" He thought and thought, and finally came up with an idea. A gruesome one, but still an idea. With a small, almost mischievous smile, he said, "I will let living beings stray into me, and they will create a story... a spectacular Wonderland!""
He turned on his ball, noticing Kirby's wide eyes, and flipped, landing on one foot and closing his eyes.
He began to sing:
"The first Alice was a daughter of red. And, blade in hand and chin held high, entered Wonderland~!"
He looked solemn for the next verse, almost as if he could feel the emotions in the song.
"Misunderstood and mocked by the men and woman of the land, she cut down things in her path to create a road of red~"
He put on a scared expression that made him look even more innocent.
"This Alice was walking down an unknown path in the woods, and was imprisoned deep in here, locked in as a sinner~"
He bowed his head as he always did.
"If not for the memories of sadness, she would've been completely forgotten~"
He twirled with one foot on his ball, making Kirby look on with awe.
"The second Alice was a noble man, building things for all the people in Wonderland~!"
He turned his back to Kirby, slumping.
"Everybody loved his works, which were the best in the universe, but rejected him, so, in return, he created a world full of madness~"
He made a mime of himself choking, rolling his eyes back with amusement.
"But this all ended soon when, with greed, he was sliced in half by a true hero. With one last dying breath, he looked up, a twisted but forgiving smile on his face."
Marx flipped off his ball, and balanced it on his head, now completely in the act and not noticing Kirby staring with wide eyes at him and clapping, laughing as well with excitement.
He was actually happy. He was making somebody laugh. And not at him.
"The third Alice was a beautiful girl; she was the queen of Wonderland~!"
Kirby gasped with surprise as Marx twisted high into the air in an acrobatic pose almost too unreal to believe, and soon, landed perfectly on his two feet. ON the beach ball.
"She was well-known throughout the land, using her skills to amaze her surrounding people~"
He slumped again, but this time in a more convincing way.
"Sadly, she was controlled by the corruptions of evil. But soon she escaped her dark thinking, and instead focused on another goal: "I will ignore the evil thoughts in my head, and continue to search for my meaning, and others like me!" She is the only Alice to have a happy end~"
He flipped again, but this time, kicked the ball overhead with him, and landed on one foot, balancing his ball on the other.
Kirby stared, mouth wide open, then began cheering loudly, clapping.
"Marpoyo! Marpoyo!" he laughed, jumping up and down now. "Yea! Yea!"
Marx blinked, as if realizing just now that Kirby was in front of him, then looked down.
"No, I couldn't have been that good. I always mess up, and then you have to laugh at me."
Kirby shook his head, and balanced on his pillow, as if he were Marx balancing on the beach ball. This attempt failed, and he fell down, face-planting in front of Marx, but continued laughing, getting up.
"Yea, yea, Marpoyo!" he squealed.
"Y-... you liked it?"
"Fumu-poyo! Bun-poyo!" he called loudly.
Fumu came running in, a worried expression on her face and her hair a mess. Bun came trailing behind, a blanket still on his head.
"Kirby!" Fumu yelled. "We were worried you might've been hurt!"
"'We?'" repeated Bun. "Seriously? Kirby's defeated a LIVING NIGHTMARE, and you're worried some bug is bothering him? You really are weird sometimes, sis."
Fumu crossed her arms, almost sarcastically.
"And you're an idiot when you wake up. Why'd you wake up in the first place?"
Bun lifted an eyebrow, and gestured dramatically to Kirby and Marx, who looked as if they were holding back a chuckle.
Fumu sighed and left, ignoring the fact that Marx had burst into crazy laughter, so much that tears were pouring out of his eyes.
"Oh- oh my- I can't breathe!" he gasped.
"Wow, you laugh a lot," said Bun, grinning. but suddenly frowned. "But isn't sis acting weird? Sure, she's bossy, but I don't think she's ever called anyone an idiot, if you count out Dedede. And Escargon."
"Sad-poyo?" asked Kirby, tilting his head.
"Puberty?" said Marx flatly.
"What's that?"
"Ask your sister, and then she'll call you an idiot again. You'll find out, but maybe it's not that. How old is she?"
"She's fifteen," said Bun. "In OUR years, not human years. Human years are too fast."
"I know, right? So, she's basically my age? Was she ever rebellious?"
"Nah, never said the words 'You're not the boss of me' to our parents, EVER. Maybe she's just sad."
"Sad about what?"
Bun suddenly looked stone-frozen, as if he had said something wrong.
"Nothing."
"But-"
"Nope. I'm not talking to you anymore."
"But-"
Bun speed-walked out of the tent, muttering 'Nope' over and over again, until he was out of earshot.
Until then, Marx rolled his ball over to his bed, and let it sleep next to him.
"Why'd you call those two?" he asked, as Kirby landed on his pillow, on his stomach in front of Marx.
"Nice-poyo!" he said, smiling.
"Pfft, nobody's liked my shows. I just make people laugh when I TRY to do something, but do it horribly... You're saying I did good?"
Kirby nodded, then pointed to his head, then his heart, almost as if signalling a life lesson.
This action would cause all of the future to alter, but nobody knew this at the time.
Not Marx. Not Fumu. Not even Kirby himself.
He just felt as if he needed Marx to know this. And he did.
With one last smile, Kirby tucked himself into the bed with a blue blanket designed with yellow stars, and quickly fell asleep.
But Marx stayed up, staring at the pink puff.
"Are you saying," he whispered, without realizing he was actually saying this out loud. "That my mind is saying one thing, which is all lies, if not smart, but my heart shows what is true?"
He thought about this, and couldn't believe he was actually saying it.
Did Kirby actually feel remorse when destroying Nightmare and Zero?
Did Kirby actually think of him as a friend?
Did Kirby actually... CARE?