A/N: Whew, I finally got this done! Apologies if it's a little rushed, but I'm still proud of it! Also, the three characters in this chapter are all references to Kirby enemies. Can you guess them?
The sky was a deep shade of red, as if it were an ocean of blood. Flames licked the wind amongst ravaged buildings. Under the brutal heat, Lily scurried around, searching for people who were still alive. They saw Buddleia, who was dashing away from a beam of pink light razing the ground.
"Buddleia! What… what's happening?" Lily called in distress. Their friend was close to crashing into them when she caught up.
"I… I have no idea." Quick, frequent sighs accented her voice. "It's like… the sky was torn apart by light, and…" She shook herself to simmer down. "We need a place to hide…"
The two started to wander the city, avoiding the strange beams of light and looking for shelter. They eventually came across a pile of rubble that had worried voices coming from an opening. They attempted to enter, but one of the people inside punched at Lily, knocking them out of the shelter. After they fell back, Buddleia rushed over to them.
"Lily!" she cried. "A-are you okay?" Lily nodded in response, and pushed themselves back up. "We need to k-keep looking…" All of a sudden, a flurry of crescent shaped beams bashed at the shelter, and dust and screams filled the air as Lily was once again knocked away.
"B-buddleia! Help!" Lily cried out. They soon felt their friend's paw grabbing theirs, and they stood back up as they dashed away with her. As they escaped the dust cloud, Lily felt uneasy, like someone was watching them.
"Watch out!" Buddleia cried, before she halted herself and Lily. In front of them was a giant sinkhole in the road, accented by smoke and embers. Lily looked towards Buddleia with worry.
"I… I can't fly!" That was an exaggeration. Their wings had fully grown recently, but they hadn't practiced flying much, unlike Buddleia, who also had grown her wings shortly before Lily.
"Just hold on to my paw then!" Buddleia sprang, her paw firmly grasping Lily's, and spread her feathered wings. Lily started flapping their own wings to gain air above the fallen earth.
About halfway across the pit, someone else flew by.
They were also an Asteri, with a magenta colored body and a face covered by a white mask with both a vertical and horizontal opening, with a pair of glowing red eyes visible through it. In one paw, they held a magenta colored lance, and in the other, they held a shield with a four-pointed emblem upon it. Golden horns shot up from the top of the mask, and white feathered wings like those of a swan's sat upon their back.
Lily recognized the individual instantly. "Galacta Knight!" One of the heroes who vanquished Void Termina centuries ago! He was here to save the world from whatever crisis was occurring! "P-please, help us!"
Galacta Knight didn't respond, but his lance started glowing. With a slash, a crescent shaped beam sliced at Buddleia and Lily's paws, and they broke apart from each other.
"Wh-what?!" Lily cried as they tried their best to keep themselves up in the air. "I-i didn't do anything! P-please don't-" They were cut off by Galacta Knight's lance glowing again, and tried flying away from the next attack.
But they weren't fast enough.
As they plunged into the pit, seething with pain, their friend cried out the last thing they would ever hear her speak.
"LILY!"
"...M-morpho! Are you okay there?!"
Oh dear, did I yell that out loud? "I'm fine." Thank goodness they had woken up from that nightmare, that was something they didn't want to remember…
Morpho Knight pushed themselves up from the grass they were sleeping in. It was dawn, with the sky shades of orange and purple, and the sun emerging from the sea beyond the hills. They were rather close to the town in the distance, and would likely be able to arrive there within the day.
"Um… Who's Lily?" Berry queried. "Are they a friend of yours?"
"...No one. They're no one." In a sense, that answer was correct.
Sure enough, they had arrived at the town within the day, and even faster than they expected, too. Its name was Pleasant Bloom, a rather small, quiet town, with rather aged houses that were covered in ivy. An avian person with hot pink feathers and a pilot's cap stood at the mouth of the gate serving as the entrance.
"Hey there!" Apparently, this person wanted to greet the newcomers. "What are you folks here for? We don't get a lot of people!"
"Hi to you too!" Berry responded excitedly as he waved at them.
"So, you're coming here with your kid?" Well, that's a fair conclusion to come to… The avian person's feathers suddenly stood on end. "Oh right! I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Irdon, and you two are?"
"I'm Berry, and this is Morpho!" responded Berry excitedly. "Morpho wanna knows if we could stay anywhere?"
"Hm… A place to stay…" Irdon tapped his claws to his chin in thought. "Well, I'll look around. You should come with me!" With a swoosh, he turned around, and gestured for the two Asteri to follow him. Morpho Knight grabbed Berry's paw as they strolled into town.
The entrance led into a rather wide street. More narrow paths were dotted around, but Irdon was leading the duo straight down the current street.
"Hey, there's the town square!" the avian announced after about a minute of walking past houses. Indeed, the town square lay ahead of them. It was less like a plaza, and more like a garden. The ground outside the walking paths was covered by moss, and several flowering plants of various species were spread around. There were several cherry trees strewn about, and in the distance was a pond, which seemed to have many lilypads floating in it.
"Woah, it's so pretty!" Berry squealed. While Morpho Knight made no comment, they were enamored by the garden, and how well-cared for it was.
"Yeah, that's where our name comes from!" Irdon proudly responded. "The town hall is somewhere around here." He pointed towards it with his talons, after looking around. "If you're looking to move in, that's the best place to go."
The three walked down the dirt path to the town hall, which was a warm beige in color, and had vines covering it. Irdon knocked at the mahogany door with curled up claws. A few seconds later, someone opened it.
"Oh, hello there!" This person was insectoid in appearance, with a black carapace and a single horn on their head. "You two look new. Are you here to move in?" they addressed Morpho Knight and Berry.
"Yes," Morpho Knight replied, "we would like to-"
"Wow, you actually do speak!" Morpho Knight turned around at Irdon's voice. They gave the avian an annoyed glare. "...Uh, yes, Beetlorn, would you be able to help them settle in?"
"Oh! We have some places open, yes." Beetlorn answered. "And I suppose you would like help with a job, too."
And I don't even have a resume or qualifications or anything… Morpho Knight sighed, before a thought sparked in their mind. "You… wouldn't be accepting gardeners, would you?" they queried.
"Well, we are, actually, now that you mention it!" Beetlorn chuckled. "It's a lot of work to maintain our town square, you realize."
Oh, thank goodness, Berry won't have to go hungry after all… Speaking of the little one, how was he? He hadn't been saying anything since they had gone to the town hall… And Morpho Knight had a feeling that something was off. They looked to their side, and Berry wasn't there. Concerned, they looked around, and…
"BERRY! DON'T EAT THOSE ROSES!" Morpho Knight snapped.
The little Asteri turned around with petals falling out of his mouth. "But I'm hungry…" he whined.
Morpho Knight sighed. "Just come back over here…" Berry grumpily obeyed. "...Anyway, yes, I think I could apply for that. Do you… require a resume?"
"Just show you're good with plants, and you'll be good!" Beetlorn affirmed with a nod. "I'll get you with someone, hold on." They gestured to Morpho Knight for them to follow them. Before doing so, Morpho Knight grabbed Berry's paws, and dragged him over with them.
The town hall was rather impressive, with walls painted with a pattern of flowers and climbing plants. Each door had a pair of potted plants at their sides, and Beetlorn was specifically walking to a door with some snapdragons by it. They proceeded to open the door to a dark green colored room.
"This is the gardening center!" Beetlorn announced. Inside the room was a plethora of flower species, some tools, and a single gardener. The gardener was a water serpent with pale blue scales and long tendrils flowing from their head, and they were exhaling a thin jet of water onto one of the flowers. "And that would be Purua! She'll help you through the ropes."
Berry let go of Morpho Knight's paw and eagerly waddled over to the serpent. "Hi Purua!"
"Hello to you too!" Purua happily responded, with a surprisingly silvery voice. She looked over to Morpho Knight. "This must be your child, am I correct?"
"Not biologically or legally." Morpho Knight responded.
"Oh… So is he your nephew or grandson?"
"It's complicated…" Honestly, Morpho Knight was somewhat embarrassed to admit how much they had come to care for Berry. It was likely they would end up legally becoming his parent if they explained the whole situation, which they really didn't have time for at the moment.
"Oh! They just found me and took care of me after I lost my family!" Berry explained rather quickly.
"Aw, that's so sweet!" Purua beamed at Morpho Knight. "We'll get you two a place to live together soon."
Morpho Knight simply sighed. What have I gotten myself into?
Around sunset, Morpho Knight and Berry had gotten a house. It was a nice little apartment, with a sort of garden around it. Lining the front of it were butterfly bushes, which were a dark purple in color. When they went inside the house, there were several empty flower pots, and walls colored lavender. There seemed to be four rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. Morpho Knight decided to go to the kitchen with Berry, because something had been weighing on their mind, and they needed to talk to the little one about it.
Berry hopped on one of the mahogany chairs with periwinkle cushions. "Wow!" he squeaked, "This house is so nice! It's like the house I used to live in!"
Morpho Knight also sat on one of the chairs before sighing. "Berry… I need to talk to you about something…"
The little Asteri tilted his head. "Hm? What is it?" he asked.
I really don't want to have to talk about this… But they needed to be honest with who was now basically their child. "Berry… How would you feel if someone you looked up to… someone you trusted… was a monster?"
Berry's expression turned uneasy. "W-what are you talking about?"
"The truth is…" Morpho Knight swallowed. "…I survive by consuming life force. I… something happened to make me this way and…" They felt like they were choking on their own words. Again, their eyes started becoming
"Are you saying… you're a monster?" Berry mumbled. "Because… you really aren't."
What? "Why… why do you not see me as…"
Berry chuckled slightly. "Well, if you wanted to eat me, you would've done so already, right?"
Morpho Knight's very existence was unnatural. They were born out of a desire for life to be brought back, but they only ended up causing more death. And they kept themselves alive by devouring the life force of the slain. And yet, this child didn't see them as a monster?
"You saved me from that batamon thingy, remember? And then you healed me! If you were a monster, you wouldn't do that!"
Morpho Knight didn't have an answer to that. Berry was right, they had to admit. "...But I consume life force." they tried to argue, somewhat pettily.
"That doesn't make you a monster!" Berry protested.
"...Fine. You win." Morpho Knight conceded. They looked up, and realized Berry had left his chair. After a second of worrying, they felt a tug at their paw, and looked down to see a somewhat distressed-looking Berry. "...What is it?"
"Could you get down, please?" Morpho Knight proceeded to do so, and Berry pulled them into a hug.
Well, this isn't something I'm used to… They slowly proceeded to wrap their paws around Berry, patting the top of his head. While they would argue they didn't deserve to be treated like this, they had to admit it felt… nice.
"Thank you, Morpho…" Berry's smile filled Morpho Knight with more life than anything ever could.