29. Reality
Kirby was paralyzed, unable to look away from Meta Knight's fallen form. He barely heard Joe shout, barely heard Kirisakin's roars. All of that was unimportant now that Meta Knight had died.
Why?
Why did Fumu and Meta Knight both have to die? Why had Meta Knight killed Fumu?
Now he would never have the answers.
He barely noticed that he was crying by now, only noticed when his vision began to blur and a sob escaped him.
No, no, no, no. No!
Why had it come to this, what had they done wrong? What had they done wrong to make Meta Knight-
Something crashed to his right.
Kirisakin had destroyed something, but Kirby didn't care. Kirby didn't care how many chess pieces the demon beast destroyed, he didn't care if they were all destroyed!
Taking one last look at Meta Knight, Kirby turned away, wiping the tears away shakily. Meta Knight was dead, but there were others still alive and they needed his help. He had let down Fumu, and by extension Meta Knight, but he was not going to let Joe, Arthur, and Bun down.
They counted on him to support them, and now that it was only Yamikage and Kirisakin, Kirby knew they would be able to defeat them.
Arthur struck at Yamikage, the elusive ninja dodging the attack easily. Joe didn't have much more luck with Kirisakin either, the demon beast putting him on the defense and attacking him relentlessly.
Now was the time to act and use their two on one advantage. Kirby hesitated briefly and then decided on helping Joe; he probably needed the help more than Arthur did.
Disregarding Arthur and the ninja, hoping that Yamikage would not be able to outsmart the Galaxy Soldier, Kirby focused all his attention on Joe and Kirisakin. They had defeated Masher together; they would also be able to take this opponent as well!
"Smash Punch!" he shouted as the demon beast turned its back on him, hitting the right side of its head. Its attack missed Joe clearly, who took advantage of the situation immediately.
"Spin Kick!"
His attack hit the head as well, and the demon beast stumbled slightly. Now was their chance!
"Smash Punch!" they shouted in unison, and again both attacks hit.
Kirisakin roared in pain, but was far from defeated yet. It slashed its scythes at Joe, who was unable to evade in time. Another bloody gash appeared on his cheek, right under the small cut Bun had inflicted earlier, and Joe backed off before the demon beast had the time to land another, more precise hit.
He cursed as he wiped the blood away with an angry expression.
"Let's do this, Kirby!"
Kirby barely had the time to nod before Joe attacked again.
"Smash Punch!" he shouted, followed by Kirby's own attack only two seconds later.
This time Kirisakin dodged, unfortunately getting closer to Kirby like this, who hastily took a step back and out of its reach. The demon beast followed, slashing its scythes at Kirby as it did so. He ducked and moved to the side, distinct marks of Kirisakin's attack left were he had been barely a second ago.
"Spin Kick!" Joe snarled from behind the demon, hitting the back of its head and making it stumble forward. And still it was not enough to bring it down!
It jumped at Joe just as he landed on the ground again, headbutting him into the closest black pawn with a resounding crash.
"Joe!" Kirby exclaimed as Kirisakin turned in his direction, a creepy grin adorning its face.
After that Kirby had little time to worry about Joe's wellbeing, was much more focused on not being butchered by his opponent. All the hits they had landed had not slowed Kirisakin down in the least, had in fact only enraged it to a point where it didn't care for any more hits they landed.
Much to Kirby's despair he didn't have the time to retaliate either, and was hard-pressed to keep dodging strikes for the moment.
If he just had a different copy ability!
With the fighter ability he was unable to block any attacks, and his own attacks didn't seem to faze the demon beast either! If just-
He took a daring jump to the front, finding himself right under his opponent suddenly. Thinking fast, Kirby used the opportunity he had so recklessly given himself to attack a hopefully more vulnerable spot. Seriously, attacking the head had not done too much damage, and if attacking the stomach didn't help either, Kirby had no other ideas where to hit.
"Smash Punch!"
He rolled out of the way when a scythe came down at him.
No, what was he supposed to do now?
His attack had hurt the demon beast, there was no mistaking it, but it only fueled its anger. They had been utterly incapable of causing any lasting damage, whereas Kirisakin had managed to cut Joe and have him crash into a chess piece.
Kirby himself had been spared any of the demon's hits so far, but like this there was nothing that would stop Kirisakin from injuring and ultimately killing him.
What he needed was another copy ability, preferably one with which he was able to block the demon beast's attacks. A sword ability would be perfect, but he could hardly take Arthur's weapon to obtain it, could he?
He could think of one other way to obtain a sword, but just thinking about it made him feel sick.
Meta Knight no longer had any use for Galaxia, but Kirby just couldn't take it. It would be like accepting the fact that Meta Knight would never again be able to use it, and right now Kirby just couldn't accept that. He doubted that Meta Knight would want Kirby to have it after he had tried to kill him with it as well.
Dodging yet another attack, Kirby saw a movement from the corner of his eye, making him breath a sigh of relief. Joe was up again, and even if there was no small amount of blood running down his forehead, he was at least not swaying on his feet and didn't look nearly as bad overall as Kirby had feared.
"You alright?" he asked when Kirisakin's attention was on Joe for a moment.
Joe grumbled something in response, but that was as good as Kirby would get from him. Then he directed his attention at the demon beast.
"Ya seriously piss me off," Joe growled, and Kirby silently agreed. Kirisakin seemed unimpressed, but then again it had only reacted with anger when their attacks had hit it. Not even Meta Knight's death had fazed it in the least and that although it had been the one to kill him.
It attacked with a roar, sending Kirby and Joe dodging in different directions.
"Vulcan Jab!" they shouted, but Kirisakin didn't even bother with dodging their attacks. What was wrong with it? Not even Masher had lasted this long although it had always been said to be the strongest demon beast!
Focusing its attention on Kirby, he couldn't help but panic for a moment. Why were they unable to defeat it?
"Smash Punch!" he exclaimed only a split second after Kirisakin attacked him, but it was still too late.
Kirby had not expected an attack like that, had expected Kirisakin to be nothing more than a close range fighter. Sadly, he was quite wrong in his assumption, and what he would call two Sword Beams (although they obviously weren't; Scythe Beams more likely) were headed directly for him.
They crashed into his own attack, creating a much bigger explosion than he had expected and also much too close for Kirby to dodge.
"Kirby!"
He was thrown back, hitting some chess piece on his way and finally landed painfully on the ground, much farther away from Joe and Kirisakin than he would have thought possible.
Well, damn it. Kirisakin had been able to unleash an attack like that? What else was it able to do?
Struggling to get back up, Kirby looked around dizzily. He was no longer able to see any of the others, the chess pieces preventing his view.
Shaking his head, trying to clear it that way, Kirby abruptly stopped when he saw something after all, or rather someone. That couldn't-
He approached in a daze, walking closer to one of the black knights. Someone was lying on the ground, and Kirby paled when realized there was only one person it could possibly be.
Damn it...
He had screwed up, hadn't he?
He heard a crash, probably Kirisakin destroying another chess piece, but as long as they stayed close to his current position that didn't matter. It didn't matter as long as they only stayed away from that piece.
Meta Knight felt blood pouring out of the wound Kirisakin had inflicted, felt it pooling under him already. Like this he might actually die of blood loss this time; he had recovered at a ridiculous rate from the other injuries he had thought were going to kill him, but all of those might be a little too much.
How pathetic to be the first to be incapacitated, and by an ally as well. He should have been the one to triumph, and maybe, just maybe all of this might actually have worked.
He cursed himself for his own mistakes, enraged how it had ended this way. He had so obviously betrayed them and actually fooled Yamikage and Kirisakin to a point where they were at least willing to fight on his side, and still he had failed spectacularly!
Meta Knight opened his eyes, seeing nothing but the blood he was lying in. Good, he hadn't lost consciousness yet, that was a start. Or had he and was just not aware of it?
Nightmare had left them to fight on their own without any interference, but how long was that going to last, now that his own side had lost one of their players? Meta Knight was sure Kirby, Joe, and Arthur would be able to win in a three on two, even if Kirisakin and Yamikage were dangerous opponents.
They should have been killed before this fight had started, but Meta Knight had hesitated for no reason he was able to explain.
His hesitation had forced him to fight Kirby and almost kill him.
He slammed his fist to the ground in anger.
This had escalated to a point where nothing mattered any longer. So what if Nightmare realized that he had betrayed him as well? What did it matter now?
"Kirby!"
Joe's shout made Meta Knight raise his head in alarm, ignoring the feeling of vertigo. What had happened?
Joe attacked Kirisakin recklessly, but Meta Knight was unable to spot Kirby from his position. No, had he condemned Kirby to an early death with his decision to place revenge above all else?
Gritting his teeth he got up completely, picking Galaxia up almost in passing and ignoring the blood that splashed to the ground.
Meta Knight took a step in Joe, Arthur, Kirisakin and Yamikage's direction, only to notice that it was not going to work. He was never going to reach them.
He staggered as he tried to take another step, and Meta Knight saw only one chance.
The Sword Beam he released was not aimed at any of them. Meta Knight didn't care whom he hit any longer. As he fell again, he just wanted to hit anyone.
Time had stopped for a moment when Arthur and Yamikage both had their attention directed at what had just happened.
Arthur had not expected Meta Knight to be the first one to die. No, in fact he didn't even want him to die - yet. He wanted answers, but now he had lost his chance, and there was no one else who had the answers he wanted.
It was certainly ironic how the backstabber had ended up dead first, and if Arthur had his way, the second one was going to follow soon enough.
And yet... In a way Meta Knight's death was utterly catastrophic. Arthur was denied the answers he sought, and Kirby... Obviously there had been some people who had actually genuinely liked Meta Knight, including Kirby and-
Maybe it was better that he didn't have any answers after all.
Yamikage had not used Arthur's distraction to attack him, although that was exactly what the Galaxy Soldier had expected. He was surprised to say that the ninja was actually more distracted than himself, giving Meta Knight's untimely demise a curious amount of attention. Arthur had assumed they hated each other, and Meta Knight's reaction to the mere mention of Yamikage's name had reinforced that belief, but now the ninja seemed almost upset with Meta Knight's death.
Of course it might be a purely selfish reason, like wanting to kill Meta Knight himself.
He frowned for a moment, wondering what repercussions his death was going to have for them.
Then he was the one to attack, deciding that Yamikage would never have waited had the situation been reversed. It was underhanded, dishonorable even, but in a situation like this Arthur cared very little for that. Meta Knight's betrayal had made it quite clear that insisting on honor was only going to be his downfall.
Yamikage's split-second defense move was rather clumsy, lacking the usual precision his other moves exhibited. It was, however, enough to escape Arthur's strike without suffering any damage.
He glared, focusing his full attention on the Galaxy Soldier again.
"How unexpected. The great Sir Arthur attacks when his opponent is distracted. What comes next, attacking the innocent and defenseless?"
The ninja had a point, as loathe as Arthur was to admit it.
Obviously he was not going to attack innocent and defenseless people, but using an opponent's distraction in a duel to his advantage was not the way he usually went about doing things. Then he remembered that it was Yamikage, and it didn't seem nearly as bad as before.
Arthur didn't deign respond to Yamikage's apparent mockery, deeming it smarter to just ignore it and instead focus on actually killing his opponent. Of course it was not as easy as he would have liked.
Before Arthur came close enough to strike at the ninja, he had backed off, figuring that close combat was more Arthur's forte than his own.
It left Arthur frustrated with his inability to get close enough, and left Yamikage with enough distance between them to throw more weapons at the Galaxy Soldier.
The first kunai was easily avoided; the second one hit Arthur above his right eye. The clank of the weapon hitting his armor left him stunned for a split second, more than enough time for the ninja to think of something new.
"Fuujin no Jutsu," he stated with a bored voice although he was fully capable of using his attacks without calling their names. It was just another way of mocking Arthur, warning him of the attack that was to come in advance.
Nonetheless his attack did hit Arthur, not exactly doing any damage but pushing him back slightly. Another gust of wind pushed the Galaxy Soldier further back without any real chance of evasion.
Arthur growled in frustration, but saw no use in trying to struggle against the attack and actually try to get closer to the ninja. It would be an unnecessary waste of energy.
It would probably also have killed him.
The Sword Beam came unexpected and much too soon after the last attack. Arthur barely had the time to raise his sword (still wondering why Nightmare had even given one to him) before Yamikage's attack had reached him.
He was violently thrown off his feet, landing on the ground with a heavy crash.
"You really should have killed me when you had the opportunity. Now you won't find yourself with the opportunity to do so again."
Arthur got up quickly again, glaring at the ninja, who had taken an almost relaxed stance with the katana leaning on his shoulder. He was no longer even taking this seriously!
"Arrogance will be your downfall!" he shouted back, finding himself angry mostly at his inability to injure Yamikage.
"You would know, wouldn't you?" Yamikage responded with an unmistakable air of amusement.
The insinuation was not lost on Arthur, as much as he would like to deny it. He clenched his fist around the sword's hilt for a few seconds, trying but failing not to feel angry. Then he pointed the weapon at Yamikage's face, eyeing the ninja with a grim expression.
"Let's end this then."
Yamikage was all too happy to comply.
Contrary to his former strategy the ninja actually went in close, stabbing and slashing at Arthur with his weapon.
The Galaxy Soldier parried the attacks easily enough, but Yamikage's intention was not to hit him. For some reason or another Yamikage seemed quite intent on getting Arthur closer to the other ongoing fight between Kirby, Joe and Kirisakin, and he was succeeding.
"Kirby!"
Joe's shout distracted Arthur for only a moment. More than enough time for Yamikage to use it to his advantage.
The ninja went around Arthur's defense and used his katana to stab him in the left arm, making the Galaxy Soldier cry out in pain and slash imprecisely at Yamikage. He missed clearly.
Any movement of his left arm hurt now, and he gritted his teeth in anger and frustration. Such a stupid mistake! Whatever had happened, he should have waited to find out what it was. Now he was at a disadvantage.
"Spin Kick!"
Joe and Kirisakin were close now. Yamikage seemed alarmingly satisfied with that fact, and Arthur soon found out why. He ducked away when Kirisakin suddenly turned around and attacked him instead of Joe, silently cursing Yamikage.
Now the ninja had given himself a position of power in this fight. Kirisakin seemed capable enough of fighting two opponents at the same time, and Yamikage thus had the time to just observe or attack them from behind whenever he chose to do so.
"What happened?" Arthur asked Joe in between dodging attacks, noting the blood on his forehead with some worry. Kirby was nowhere to be seen.
"Kirisakin got him," Joe responded grimly, using the distraction Arthur involuntarily provided for the demon for an attack of his own. "Smash Punch!"
The attacks stopped for a moment, and Arthur thought it might have been enough, finally. He was wrong.
Kirisakin shrugged this attack off as well, and Arthur himself didn't dare get too close. He had fought the demon beast already once, and although it had been a three on one fight, they had been unable to defeat it completely.
Yamikage chose that moment to attack Joe from behind, death only avoided by sheer dumb luck. Joe had used the same moment to jump at Kirisakin, getting him closer to the dangerous weapons it used, but having him avoid certain death in form of Yamikage's katana.
The ninja was off balance for a second, Arthur decided to use it to his advantage, Joe had punched Kirisakin and already jumped back, and Kirisakin glowered at Joe.
A second later Kirisakin was as good as dead, Joe's eyes were widened in surprise, and both Arthur and Yamikage had lost their weapons to the Sword Beam that only one person could have used.
Impossible! He was still alive?
Briefly glancing to the side, Arthur saw Meta Knight fall again. He had survived Kirisakin's attack after all, but had he survived his own attack and merely lost consciousness now? Or had the effort actually killed Meta Knight?
Arthur wasn't quite sure now if he wished for Meta Knight's death or not, for he had finished Kirisakin off. Intentional or not didn't matter in this instance, as Meta Knight didn't seem like he was going to enter the fight again.
Kirisakin was still alive, wailing in agony on the ground, but Meta Knight's attack had left fatal damage. In a matter of seconds, minutes at most Kirisakin would die, bleeding to death.
Meta Knight's Sword Beam had severed almost the complete right arm, leaving only a bloody stump. The demon beast wallowed in its own blood as it gave dreadful wails of pure agony, and Arthur found it hard to focus on something else.
Joe had even more problems, looking like he was about to throw up for a moment. Then his face took a grim expression, focusing on Yamikage instead.
Arthur followed his example, watching the ninja take the safe option of silent retreat. He had had every chance of winning, and now it was all gone. Sure, Arthur had lost the sword, but so had Yamikage. And Arthur still had an ally left.
"You are outnumbered," he stated with a grim satisfaction, watching Yamikage's every move. "Give up."
Unsurprisingly Yamikage had other plans. "Don't be ridiculous, Arthur. I admit my team," he looked briefly in the dying Kirisakin and Meta Knight's direction, "lost half its members, but did you forget where we are?"
Arthur shifted uncomfortably now. Yes, he had almost forgotten, or at the very least ignored it. They were in a place controlled by Nightmare, and Yamikage had said he had lost half his team. That was only correct if he actually counted Nightmare on the same team, and wouldn't that make sense?
They had also been four people, three of which had fought. Bun had not participated in the fight, and neither had Nightmare for the other side.
"I see you remember now," Yamikage continued. "Which means you realize that you had no chance from the start."
"Correct," Nightmare agreed as he reappeared again. Arthur didn't know if he had been truly gone for a while, or if he had followed their confrontation from the shadows. He didn't care.
Joe next to him stiffened.
"You fought valiantly, truly befitting for the Galaxy Soldier Army's leader and a Star Warrior's son," he continued derisively. "But you cannot harm me. Your fight was hopeless from the start."
Arthur tensed. No, there had to be a way. There was no such thing as immortality.
"No."
Joe and Arthur turned around, and even Nightmare seemed surprised for a moment. Then he smiled, dangerously.
"Do you refuse to see it, Kirby? Or do you truly think you ever had a chance?"
Kirby looked horrible. Whatever Kirisakin had done to him, it had hardly left damage, if any at all. His eyes, his whole expression were what made him look horrible.
He looked haunted, as if he had realized or seen something terrible, and Arthur didn't even dare ask if he was all right. Obviously he wasn't.
"It's a lie," he replied, never once even looking at Nightmare. Instead, he stared in the vague direction of Meta Knight, and Arthur wondered if Kirby was talking to them at all.
"Let me show you one reality then. Behold my power!"
Arthur had to close his eyes when white light suddenly engulfed them all, so strong in its intensity that he was blinded. When he opened his eyes again he didn't see anything at first, suffering the aftereffects of staring into the light for just a moment.
Slowly vision returned to him, and he almost wished it hadn't.
"W-what is this? Where are we?"
He had no idea. Was this an illusion that Nightmare had created? But if so for what reason?
Yamikage took a questioning look in Nightmare's direction, apparently unsure what exactly had happened. Even Nightmare himself seemed much less certain of himself than just a few seconds ago, but he covered it quickly enough for Arthur to wonder if he had imagined it after all.
They were no longer on the chess board, not even in a place that was similar in appearance. Only the unsettling feeling of unease had accompanied them to this hostile environment they now found themselves in.
Arthur hardly dared look around for fear of something happening, but did after all when nothing happened for several seconds and neither Yamikage nor Nightmare spoke.
They were in a desert. In an ice desert if his eyes didn't deceive him, but there was no biting cold, not really. There was... a remnant of the cold that had reigned this place, but although he was sure now that it was ice, it was barely any colder than it had been anywhere else in Nightmare's fortress.
Were his senses deceiving him?
Great cracks traversed the ice as far as he could tell, for even the air directly above the ground seemed to be freezing. It left him unable to see more than the ground in immediate vicinity, but he was almost certain there were cracks everywhere in the ice.
But there was more. Their surroundings weren't flat, a high cliff towering to one side with more in a greater distance, almost out of sight. The cliff was higher than Nightmare was tall in some places, towering even over him like a giant would over a normal person.
The full moon shone in the sky, casting a sallow light on them and their surroundings, and yet Arthur saw everything that wasn't obscured by the freezing air clearly. He had disregarded the light at first, but it shouldn't be possible to see much.
The sky was of the deepest black he had ever seen, leaving no room for other colors. There was only the pitch black of the sky and the gray, almost white ice. They were stranded in a world almost devoid of colors, left to despair in their world of black and white.
"How interesting," Nightmare remarked after a few seconds of tense silence, and indeed he seemed interested.
"Where are we?" Joe repeated his question as Kirby stepped closer to them, disregarding their surroundings completely. Arthur saw Kirby had lost that ability of his, and he wondered briefly why that was.
"We are in a dream, a nightmare. Meta Knight's nightmare." Nightmare's grin widened slightly as he savored their reactions to that particular piece of information. "Everyone still alive entered the nightmare I created. It is why Kirisakin did not accompany us."
"Bun..." Kirby mumbled, but Nightmare heard him.
"Ah yes, the boy. He was still alive, so he entered as well. But where did he end up?" Nightmare's grin promised nothing good. "Maybe he met Meta Knight."
"Meta Knight was almost dead," Arthur interrupted before Nightmare had more time to discourage them, fearing that even more insinuations would make them despair when their surroundings had not managed to do so yet.
"Yes, but nothing of that matters. This is a nightmare; the outside world doesn't matter here. Did you not notice that all of your injuries are gone?" he mocked as Arthur looked at himself in surprise. No, he had not noticed that, but Nightmare was telling the truth.
How could he not have noticed that?
"However, if you die in this nightmare..." Nightmare didn't finish his sentence, didn't need to. It was crystal clear what he meant.
For the first time Arthur was actually afraid.
This was just as real as their fight on the chess board had been, a reality created by Nightmare, but reality nonetheless. And if he judged the situation correctly, this wasn't all, not by far.
Why would Nightmare have them enter a nightmare if not for the sole reason of giving himself an advantage? There had to be something, something that gave him an even greater advantage than his ability to bend reality on the chess board.
"That means if we kill ya here, you'll die for real?"
Nightmare seemed amused by Joe's daring question, taking it not quite as seriously as one would expect with a question like this. His confidence was beyond the point of arrogance; he was not concerned at all.
"That is correct, Knuckle Joe. It is, however, utterly impossible for you to harm me." The grin was enough to make Joe angry, and with a sudden recklessness Arthur had not expected, he attacked Nightmare.
"Smash Punch!"
Arthur and Kirby flinched slightly, and even Yamikage twitched. Nightmare spread his arms, grinning amusedly at the useless attempt. Joe's attack hit him square in the chest, or where his chest would have been if he were a normal person. As it was, the attack just vanished in the mass of stars that made up Nightmare's body, proving his earlier statement in a depressing manner correct.
Joe stared, dumbfounded.
"You see now it is useless. Nothing you can do will harm me. I, on the other hand, don't have that restriction."
When the ice under their feet cracked, Arthur was quick to move away. Just a moment later and all of them would have been crushed by the ice fragments that rose from the ground in some places and fell in others.
"You all right?" Joe shouted from the other side of what looked like an icy forest now, the tree-like ice pillars blocking Arthur's view.
"Yes," he called at the same that Kirby did, out of breath already from just one time escaping an attack of Nightmare's.
What were they supposed to do now? It was impossible to dodge things like that for an extended period, and Nightmare still had Yamikage at his disposal as well.
The ninja seemed at least content with just watching the happenings for now, although Arthur suspected that was because he had lost his weapon prior to entering this realm. Just like Arthur, it left him with only few ways of fighting, none of which he seemed inclined to use at the moment.
That was one less problem; not that Nightmare was not more than enough already.
It didn't get better when Fumu's brother reappeared either, though that gave them a reprieve at least. Nightmare was in no hurry to finish them off and seemed more than happy to take his time.
Kirby was the first to notice him (probably still after Nightmare, though), alerting everyone else to his presence.
"Bun!" he exclaimed, sounding terribly relieved. Then his expression turned to one of alarm as he saw Bun's expression, one of despair.
"K-Kirby, what is this place?"
He sounded like he was really close to tears, looking around fearfully.
It was a frightening place, and if Arthur imagined a child to wander it alone... The horror and fear he must have felt, alone in a dark world, where the only companion was silence...
"Nightmare," Kirby replied, but Arthur saw that the boy didn't understand the true meaning. He shook his head in something like denial when looked at Nightmare for a moment, and quickly looked away.
"Now we are only missing one person," Nightmare stated, looking almost thoughtful for a moment. "He would do well to stay away, but he will not. It will be his undoing."
The statement was met with disbelieving silence from everyone including Yamikage. Nightmare was discarding Meta Knight? At least it sounded a lot like he was.
Nightmare certainly noticed their reactions. "Did you think I would openly welcome him back? No, he has outlived his usefulness. Watching Meta Knight betray you was amusing, but he betrayed me, and I do not forgive betrayal."
Which meant Meta Knight was doomed.
Meta Knight had undoubtedly betrayed them, placing him on Nightmare's side. If Nightmare betrayed him as well, it left Meta Knight unable to fight for either side. If he survived long enough for one side to win, the other side was going to kill him.
"That means he is fair game?" Yamikage asked, speaking for the first time since entering the nightmare.
"Not just yet," Nightmare responded dismissively, uninterested in what the ninja had to say. He focused on Kirby instead, whose eyes had widened considerably in silent horror. "This concerns you as well."
Every last trace of amusement was gone from his voice now. Nightmare was looking at Kirby, and Arthur felt like the temperature was decreasing around them. There was a cold fury, easily hidden behind the obvious amusement before, but now Nightmare had removed that mask he had been wearing.
He was beyond angry, and while most of it seemed to be directed at Meta Knight, Kirby was the only one present right now he was angry at as well. Arthur took a step back, further away from Kirby.
"Meta Knight-"
"Is not here yet," Nightmare interrupted Kirby, scowling down at him. "And until he is I will deal with you myself."
Nightmare pointed his right arm at the ice cliff next to them, surprisingly shooting electricity from his fingers. Part of the cliff exploded, debris falling down at them with alarming speed.
Joe was closest, but managed to get out of the way easily enough. Arthur was farthest away and didn't have to do much to dodge the bigger debris, but Kirby was closest to Bun and had to make sure he was all right as well.
"Look out!"
They were not going to make it!
Arthur saw the chunks of ice rain down on them and ran in their direction in an unreasonable attempt to help them, but was thrown to the ground when one of the bigger chunks landed directly in his path.
Groaning he tried to sit up immediately, barely noticing that the cold had actually increased now.
No, had they been hit?
Coughing reached his ears, and yes, yes they were still alive and unharmed he saw when he got up again and approached their position. Bun was pale and shaky but alive, and Kirby...
"Get away..." he mumbled, looking at the ground next to Bun. Arthur wasn't sure if he meant all of them or just Bun, but Nightmare would make sure all of them stayed in his direct reach.
"What do we do now?" Joe asked when he reached them, not nearly as confident as before. No one replied, all of them with no ideas what to do against Nightmare's dominance in this arena he had created himself.
"Impressive," Nightmare's booming voice broke into the silence, the mocking undertone unmistakable. "All of you survived. But how much longer do you think you will last now that Meta Knight has arrived?"
Meta Knight.
Arthur looked up to see him standing on the ice cliff far above them, his posture exactly like Nightmare's with his cape firmly wrapped around him. His red eyes were looking down at them, seeming almost disinterested.
What was he going to do? He didn't know that Nightmare was planning his demise, and would he believe them if they told him of Nightmare's plan? Even if he did, how could they fight with him after he had killed Fumu?
His eyes sought Kirby's, and Arthur was sure that for a moment there was a silent conversation going on between the two of them. Kirby's expression was not quite as full of despair as before, but the question of why was unmistakable.
Meta Knight looked away, briefly settling on all of their faces without much interest, before he stopped on Nightmare's face. He was standing even higher than Nightmare was tall and had to look down.
Arthur dimly remembered that Meta Knight had oftentimes chosen higher places to look down at other people. He couldn't help but wonder if he was doing so intentionally right now as well, and wanted a message to get across to Nightmare.
Nightmare eyed him critically, his expression threatening to turn into a scowl for a second or two. Then he grinned, obviously satisfied with the situation.
"Kill them," he spoke quietly, anticipating the confrontation with barely hidden glee.
Arthur tensed, knowing he would be unable to survive a confrontation with Meta Knight. Without a weapon he was as good as helpless, only a minor obstacle on Meta Knight's way to kill the others.
Now was the time when they had to tell Meta Knight. They had to tell him that Nightmare was betraying him, was hoping to kill all of them. Maybe they could-
"No."
His thoughts came to an abrupt halt, too surprised to follow them any longer.
A/N: And finally we're getting somewhere.
Next chapter will be the last one. As in the last chapter of the whole story. No epilogue, I fear.
