-Chapter 11-
They could only stare at Magolor in disbelief. The inert, cracked Master Crown sat in his mitten hands, stripped of it shining beauty. Magolor had a pit of butterflies in his stomach and he felt like he would just vomit. Marx had explained issue and the others grew silent for a moment
"You couldn't be more careful with the crown! Reckless idiot!" Dark Mind barked furiously at Magolor. "Nightmare, surly a punishment must be done for such a reckless action!"
"Oh shut up! He got most of the keys for us. The most we should do is-" Marx stopped for a moment, if he said let Magolor go he would not hear the end of it. "Er…leave him to die in space!"
"WHAT?" Magolor squealed in disbelief. Marx quickly turned around and winked at him. They all looked at Nightmare, brushing his chin.
Nightmare stared at the ceiling hard. He was clearly agitated, as deep down inside he wanted that crown's power from day one, but he kept his lusts to himself. He could have used the crown through Magolor as he was obedient to Nightmare and he knew how to conduct the Master Crown's power well. Controlling the boy to do his bidding wouldn't have been too much of a problem. The only thing to really worry about was the crown's "mental" issues. But was there a way to fix the crown though? And then the question of how would they?
"Leave him behind!" Dark Mind growled. Drawcia seemed to be staring into space at the moment. She doesn't really care what happens to Magolor. She was just happy she was finally going be free from here. The world will soon become her canvas again. Galacta Knight also really doesn't care what happens to Magolor; in fact he was annoyed they were even arguing about what to do with him. It's obvious he is weak now, just kill the boy and move on.
"Or…send him home to suffer on his miserable planet." Marx gave a sinister smirk. "A fitting punishment when you think about it, He will just work himself to death on the factories and return to the inferno! Problem solved! Added suffering for those of you who wanted him to also." Marx concluded his plan, Magolor was breathing heavy. He hoped Marx knew what he was doing.
Nightmare smirked, at the idea. Send him back to Landia…. He thought. An evil grin appeared on his face. "I have come to a decision! I am afraid I will have to let Magolor go." He declared in a stern, leadership tone.
"What?" Dark Mind sounded surprised.
"Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Magolor said with quick breaths.
Marx eyed Nightmare suspiciously. Nightmare? Sparing the weak and helpless? He musta had some serious…
"But, you must return to Halcandra and give the crown back to Landia. Own up to your crime." He pointed an accusing finger at Magolor, who quickly slumped to the ground. Gripping the crown tightly, a wave of fear shot up Magolor's spine. But he knew the time would come when he had to face Landia on the surface anyway.
Dark Mind looked agitated still, but it was better than letting him off the hook completely. At least Landia will tear him to shreds. He thought viciously.
"If the bickering has ceased, may we return to the land of the living?" Galacta Knight asked, slightly impatient.
"Yes, the time is long over do." Nightmare opened his dimensional cape and the 5 keys: grey, light blue, green, red, and purple floated toward the one of brick sand walls in the back of the temple. They began to trace a circle in the wall before all the keys disappeared after completing it. A twisted image began to become clear…
The group gazed in awe as they saw the image complete itself. It was deep in space, a swirling dark mass was there. But it wasn't a black hole…
"Dark Star…home of Zero and all Dark Matter." Nightmare said pleased at the sight.
"Didn't that star get blown up by Kirby years ago?" Marx said looking puzzled at the sight.
"Darkness can never be destroyed boy! Matter can never be destroyed either." Dark Mind proceeded to belittle Marx. Marx glared fiercely at the fiery mass; he was getting really tired of Dark Mind berating him.
"The time has come." Galacta Knight spread out his white wings. Determination on his face spiraled gracefully into the portal, making ripples inside of it. Drawcia and the others moved slowly toward it.
Nightmare stopped midway in entering the portal, Dark Mind stopped near him. "Marx…" Nightmare called back toward the two villains left on the ground. Marx looked up, surprisingly bored.
"Yeah I know; you wanted to escort Magolor home first. Figured you would ask me, since the others would probably kill him or-"
"Glad you know." Nightmare said before completely entering the portal. Dark Mind gave one last scowl to Marx and Magolor before going through himself. Marx spread out his golden wings; he looked back to his friend. Magolor was holding the crown in one hand and holding his head with the other.
"You alright?" Marx asked quietly. Magolor moved his hand to look at Marx, the halcandran was worried about a lot of things. "Hey look it was the best I could do, the other would have-"
"I know…" Magolor cut him off in a soft tone. "I'm just…a bit scared ok?" He moved toward his friend. "I don't know what Landia will do to me…"
"Try and kill you." It came off a bit more casual than Marx intended. But the answer was pretty obvious.
"That's what I hope, but I don't expect it…" Magolor looked at the portal despondently.
"What do you mean? With all the trouble you caused to her, that's what's gonna happen. At least that's what I would expect her to do."
"Landia is vengeful; she will probably seek out torturing me and find a worse punishment that death Marx." Magolor lowered his head. "Maybe its better I stay here, like what Dark Mind said…"
"No! You won't survive here without the Master Crown… and why would you want to stay here anyway? Look Magolor I'm sorry but…you can't stay here. Everyone in the inferno is hostile and without the Master Crown…" Marx let his heart sink, maybe it was better to push the let-him-die-in-space idea. At least Marx could have snuck out of Dark Star and dropped him off somewhere…
Magolor shook his head. Marx was right; for one thing Magolor would be alone down here. If he didn't waste away, something would kill him. Guilt and pain of his past would follow him forever and the regret that he turn down the chance to right his wrongs would also follow Magolor. "Fine…" He latched on to Marx's back. "I have to face the music at some point don't I?" He snuck a playful grin on his face.
"Guess so." Marx flapped his wings, slowly lifting off the ground. It was about time they left here. This inferno had smothered all of their dreams, now it was time to take them back and leave. Marx took a deep breath, there were times he thought he wouldn't make it out of Hell. But he made it…and now the exit was right in front of him. He exhaled and rushed through the portal, it closed as soon as he passed through completely.
The surrounding area was completely black, the clouds that made up the world of Dark Star were barely visible. The air was damp and cool, a little too cool as it was almost cold. Disturbing whispers and loud bangs and booms were heard in the distance. Some of them were too close to the villains for comfort. Nightmare, Drawcia, Dark Mind and Galacta Knight stood side by side.
In front of them was a large, orb like creature. It was white as snow; its eye was as red as blood. The orb had red pointed tip at the bottom of it. It had two, large segmented wings, tapered off red at the end. A bright yellow halo floated on top the creature's head, a bandage was under it. By the angelic creature's side were black clouds with single red eyes. They were Dark Matter.
"Good to finally see you again Zero." Nightmare said pleasantly. "Or should I say Zero Two?" The angelic creature simply stared back; no one could tell what Zero was feeling unless he spoke it in his tone of voice. All they knew was that he hated joyous worlds with a vengeance. Zero moved his eye, looking for something that may have been missing.
"Where is the crown?" Zero asked and in low, eerie voice. "Did you not say a new member had obtained the Master Crown?" Nightmare covered his face with his hand in embarrassment. Dark Mind groaned in the back.
"He died." Mind didn't care where Magolor may have ended up; he didn't even want to hear his name.
"Don't lie to me." Zero said blankly, he could see right through most lies. "What happened to the Master Crown?"
"The child who had the crown obtained most of the keys…and ended up destroying the crown at the last temple. So we sent him to Halcandra with Marx to fix it while we take over other worlds." Nightmare explained. "It will be back with us soon." Zero narrowed his eye at them.
"Landia could destroy him…did you think about that?" Zero asked. Nightmare smirked.
"Yes, but she would not destroy the crown. She would simply repair it and wear it again. Then we will come to Halcandra and face Landia. All of us could easily overpower her, even with Limitless power."
Zero made a low groan of frustration. He wanted the Master Crown on the spot, not excuses as to why it shattered and had to be repaired. There were reasons he did not trust others, this was one of them. No matter, he will do away with them at some point after world domination. He just needed them now, the army was preparing. Speaking of the army..."Do you know that Popstar is preparing an army?" He asked. The others simply looked at him before bursting into laughter, Galacta Knight remained silent.
"An army? The people of Popstar could barely keep themselves together!" Drawcia scoffed.
"Pitiful bunch of low lives!" Dark Mind sneered. Zero stared hard at them in discontent, ever so serious.
"Among their ranks are Meta Knight, Kirby and seven others of his kind." Zero growled. The laughing ceased, their faces became pale.
"How do you know?" Galacta Knight broke his silence, he stepped forward.
"A month or so back, I began sending some Dark Matter as spies. They reported back every single detail. Apparently Meta Knight started this army, merging his with King Dedede's ." Zero replied.
"Of course he would, no one else on that blasted planet had the strength, courage or brain cells to do so." Galacta snickered.
"Despite their appearances and nature, Meta Knight has apparently trained them well. Fortunately, I have more than enough Dark Matter to divert the Kirbys' attention as well as the soldiers. But we must do away with King Dedede and Meta Knight-"
"Leave that to me." Galacta interrupted him. He griped his Lance tightly. "I have a title to reclaim from him."
"Very well. Nightmare, assist my Dark Matter army in picking off the troops. Drawcia and Dark Mind, eliminate King Dedede and any Kirbys in the way. Make sure the pink one is not spared of any torture. " Zero ordered. The group nodded in agreement to their assigned positions, the darkness around them swirled faster. Red eyes peeping from the clouds, staring down at the group of villains. "We invade in one hour."
The space was violet-blue. Wireframe like lines made the strange abyss look like a tunnel. The stars whizzed passed them quickly, as well as strange blurry images that seemed familiar. It took Marx some serious teleporting around space before finally finding this inter dimensional tunnel. Magolor wasn't the best at giving directions, especially when he was nervous as hell and stuttering almost every time he talks. Marx found it pretty hard to be patient with him. But honestly, if someone stole something from a dragon and that person had to go back to the dragon to get the stolen item FIXED, they had all the right to be scared. Magolor held on tight to Marx's back, with the tarnished crown on his head. All sorts of thoughts rambled on in his mind.
"J-Just remember, this t-t-tunnel is unstable and tends to collapse onto itself in some p-places! So we have to keep m-moving!" Magolor spoke out.
"Got it." Marx said. Marx wondered if he should go with Magolor back to Halcandra. He couldn't face Landia by himself without being killed, and his death would honestly wreck Marx's heart. Magolor damn near died again at least twice in the inferno to get those keys for everyone to escape. But once that crown shattered, they threw him out like a tissue. Once he was of no use, which brought him to his next issue.
Nightmare made Magolor repair the crown instead of killing him, which was completely out of character. Making Magolor right his wrong, Marx knew Nightmare was up to something and it wasn't just added torture to please the others in the group. Nightmare wanted Magolor to get the crown fixed and be killed to satisfy Dark Mind. Then he and the others could get there grimy little claws on the Master Crown after defeating Landia themselves. Clever tactic Nightmare, you sick bastard. Marx thought sarcastically.
"Magolor?" Marx broke the silence they had through the tunnel.
"Y-yeah?" Magolor spoke nervously.
"Did you like Nightmare and the others? Did you trust them?" Marx asked his friend. Marx himself never did and what respect he had for some of them diminished. Magolor was silent, he finally sighed after a few moments.
"Eh, they were alright I guess. Nightmare seemed a little nicer than the others, Drawcia too. But Dark Mind was a jerk and Galacta Knight scared me." Magolor said it innocently like a child. It amused and irritated Marx at the same time.
"But did you trust them at the end of the day?" Marx asked.
"…only Nightmare, cause he seemed like he knew what he was doing. He was the conductor of the orchestra, the ringleader." Magolor said.
"Nightmare was the one you should have trusted the least." Marx picked up speed as he said this. Magolor gave a confused look. Marx's expression hardened to anger. "Do you know why he wanted you to own up to Landia? So you could die and he and the others could take the Crown from Landia after dominating Popstar!" Marx shrilled. "Once they were done, I'm pretty sure Halcandra was next!"
"W-What? But…he…he…they!" Magolor stuttered at a loss of words.
"They were not your friends Magolor…they weren't even worth calling acquaintances. They were pure evil and only wanted you for evil intentions. It took me a while to get this but…back when you got the first key there was a reason that blob chose you.
"Why?"
"As cheesy as this sounds you were purist of heart, you were the least likely to let your second chance go to waste! I know this all sounds weird coming from me, but it's something I needed to get out of my system. You would have never known the truth about everything unless I told you!" Marx took a deep breath, he said all of that pretty quickly and it was difficult to say to begin with.
Magolor stared out into space now; it was a lot to take in. The people you helped throw you away once you were useless and betray you on top of that. Leave you to die and then take over your planet. It sounds a lot like…what he did to Kirby. Kirby… That name made him cringe; it was another once friendly relationship that haunted Magolor. Because he was the one that screwed it up, as usual. His own selfish goals made him leave Aureole to suffer alone on Halcandra; his selfish desires made him betray Kirby.
Marx and Magolor stopped in front of a floating volcanic island. The heat could be felt even from the distance they were at. Lava Rivers littered the landscape; a large volcano was at the middle, sky high. With many plateaus, a city could be seen on one end of the island.
"Halcandra…my home…" Magolor whispered despondently.
"That's Halcandra, is it even livable?" Marx stared in awe at the hostile looking planet.
"I've been alive for 18 years on it, haven't I! Course it is. The factory part at least." Magolor joked. Marx giggled, they descended slowly toward the city, clouds appearing and disappearing in view. Magolor's heart was racing; he lied down on Marx's back and clung tightly. The jester was descending steadily but he was moving faster. Magolor knew if the first person they didn't face was Metal General, it was Aureole.
You….You…how could you return me to that wicked dragon?
Magolor's head shot up immediately. "No…No!" He whispered in panic.
"What's wrong?" Marx asked worried.
Blasted child! Putting me back to be enslaved by her? Have you no shame in your actions! After all that we have been through!
"Don't talk like we were friends! You possessed me, and then tried to kill me!" Magolor gritted his teeth under his scarf. "You deserve the imprisonment Landia is gonna give you!"
"Hard to believe you're still alive Master Crown. As far as I see it, you put Magolor for a death sentence too. Landia is gonna fry him!" Marx snapped at the Crown, despite the fact he couldn't hear it. Marx guessed what it was saying by how Magolor responded.
"How are you even still talking to me, I swore I destroyed you back at the last temple!" Magolor shouted.
Fool! I was put into a state of shock yes! But we now have a link, I can still tamper into you mind! The crown snickered.
"But you can't control me!" Magolor shouted. "You won't take over me, I won't let you-" He was cut off by a sharp explosion that appear from seemingly out of now where. It stunned Marx but it knocked Magolor off of his back.
"Gah! Damn it!" Marx shook himself out of confusion. He recovered to find Magolor plummeting toward the clouds below, screaming his head off. "MAGOLOR! Hang on!" He accelerated quickly, chasing after his falling friend.
The clouds cleared and the factory land was up in flames. Large buildings and structures were burning and collapsing. The bending and snapping of metal and the screams of Halcandrans echoed through the air. Marx had to be evasive of the oncoming fiery projectiles. Magolor finally managed to stable himself while falling rather than spinning around. His eyes grew wide at the sight of his home up in flames. What happened here? Was he still in the inferno?
"No…please no! NO!" Magolor freaked. Thousands of questions and horrific images passed through his mind. Had the General done this? Did he go insane? Did Landia go insane at the loss of the crown? Where was Aureole? Was she dead? Images of her lying in her own pool of blood or burning to death kept passing in his mind. In fact many horrific images of Halcandrans dying became present in Magolor's mind. He knew it was the crown creating these mental images and intensifying the moment. But Magolor couldn't take it. The landscape became a blend of red, orange, yellow and black. The blackness eventually overcame all the other colors.
Marx pressed on after his friend, hoping to catch up so he didn't go splat on the ground. "Come on!" He whispered to himself. The city was become clearer and the people of the land can be seen running. I'm running out of time here!
He jumped up from drifting off to sleep. The sunset gleaming on his mask, Meta Knight looked at Orange Ocean's sky. It was another nightmare of the villains returning. Normally he is able to be calm and collected even after such dark dreams. But now for some reason, this feeling of fear could not be brushed off. He held his head; he must not let fear overcome him.
Then he heard something, like a cough of some sort. Meta Knight turned around quickly; he saw the cannon of the Battleship Halberd. Something was behind it, something black and gas like. Meta Knight's eyes took a deep orange tint. He grabbed his sword out of its hilt, the golden sword Galaxia materialized from the sparks. Meta moved slowly, approaching the side where the creature was. He gripped the sword tightly; he was close to it now. Something inside him told Meta Knight it wasn't something to kill just yet. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the dark mass. It felt, soft…when he pulled to look at what it was; it seemed like a black mass. Meta turned his hand slowly to reveal a red eyeball in the middle.
"What? No!" Meta Knight gripped it tighter. Red eyeball, black mass…no other than dark matter. That means… if dark matter if still alive. Then Meta Knight's dreams were true, they are returning. Dark Matter may have just been spying for them, and that means that Zero is... His eyes turned Red…he had to get everyone ready…this was it.
The ground began to rumble, the sky's orange tint turned a dark purple. Black clouds shrouded the sky. Meta Knight dashed across deck toward the captain's room, still holding tightly to the small dark matter mass. War wasn't coming anymore. War is here.
-End of Chapter 11-