Warning: Gore is mentioned here as well as vomit (though the latter doesn't happen)
After he left "Dedede's" castle, Dark Matter found that he was somewhere back in the Grass Lands. He felt as if a swarm of butterflies fluttered in his stomach. If the rest of these illusions were of any indication, he knew that the worst was about to happen soon.
It didn't take long until he found what looked like Lord Zero's remains. Dark Matter took a closer look, despite his body telling him to get away from this place. Not only was the eye here, so was the body. There was a large chunk of flesh missing from where the eye used to be, it was as if someone had deliberately scooped it out.
No matter how much time had past, and no matter how free he was, seeing Lord Zero like this was a disturbing sight. Dark Matter wrapped his cloak around himself, he wrapped himself as if his heart would burst out of his chest. He could feel the guilt overwhelm him once more, but there was something else. Was it anger? Was it fear? He couldn't tell.
"...Why?"
Dark Matter jumped as he heard Lord Zero's voice. The body began to move, and a new eye formed under the empty eye socket.
"Why would you do this?" Lord Zero asked miserably as a pair of wings formed beside hims. "Why did you let me die?
Dark Matter was frozen, Lord Zero rose from his spot and began to fly. As he did, a cactus-like tail began to form on his backside. The smaller blob wasn't sure what to do, but seeing Lord Zero like this made him want to vomit.
"You were supposed to protect me, so why is it that you're still alive and I'm not?"
"...Honestly, I asked the same question every day." Dark Matter told him, he let out a deep breath in order to gain some composure. "Ever since I found out what happened, I stayed hidden because I thought I didn't belong anywhere."
"And you don't!" Lord Zero said bluntly. "You're nothing but a useless waste of space, you should've been the one who died. At least then, you would've served what little purpose you had!"
Dark Matter took another deep breath, Lord Zero was an illusion like everything else. He wasn't there, he wasn't real.
"I...I know I have no purpose...but as someone once told me, I don't need one!" Dark Matter said, his voice was a bit louder than usual. "I've had so much good happen to me lately...I refuse to live with the guilt you've given me, and I refuse to be some toy you can get rid of at any second!"
Lord Zero glared at Dark Matter, he looked as if he was ready to kill his creation. "You were always so different from your siblings, it's too bad that I'll have to take your life in exchange for losing mine. It's only fair, is it not?"
With that said, Lord Zero attempted to attack Dark Matter by swatting one of his wings at him. Dark Matter dodged the attack as he swung his sword and released a beam of Dark energy at Lord Zero's wound. His creator flailed in pain as he whacked Dark Matter with one of his wings. Yet despite the pain, Dark Matter had to keep fighting.
Once again, he swung his sword in Lord Zero's direction. This time, he managed to shoot a few more dark beams towards his former leader. Lord Zero defended himself with his wings. Afterwards, he attempted to strike Dark Matter with his tail.
The fight seemed like it would go on forever. Dark Matter started to show signs of fatigue, and yet Lord Zero looked as if he hardly lifted a wing.
"Hmph...Do you really think you'll get rid of me so quickly? Even if you live, you can't erase all that you've done!"
"...Maybe so, but there is no point in dwelling in the past anymore," Dark Matter said loudly "After all...you're still an illusion like everything else."
"I beg your pardon!?"
"You've heard me," Dark Matter said as he put his sword away. "You're not Lord Zero, you're just another voice telling me that I'll never change. You're the voice in my head telling me that I should have died, and that I don't belong here. Nightmare has given you so many forms, all of which were...uncomfortable, for lack of words. But you know as well as I do that I cannot stay in the past."
"...What are you saying?"
"As I've said, I'm not going to live with the guilt anymore," Dark Matter said as he offered a piece of his cloak to Lord Zero...or rather, the being that looked like him. "I know I can't get rid of you, but the best that I can do is accept you."
The being stayed motionless for a moment before it lightly brought its wing to the cloak. If it had a mouth right now, it probably would've smiled.
"Perhaps you're right, the only way to find out is to keep going."
Soon, the world was engulfed into a bright light. Dark Matter couldn't feel anyone's presence here anymore, and though the light hurt at first, he knew he was going to be fine.
Dark Matter was curled up on the floor. When he looked around, he could see that he was inside the tower. The walls were grey, and the outside was just as foggy as he'd remembered. When he looked up, he could see that there was a long staircase that lead to the top of the tower.
...He could sense Gooey at the top. With that in mind, Dark Matter quickly floated up the staircase, he could sense another dark being was there as well. If he had to guess, he would guess that Nightmare was up there tormenting Gooey as well. He needed to hurry!
As Dark Matter reached the top, he found that it was free of fog. When he looked above the tower, Dark Matter could see that the sky had a purple tint. It was almost as if Dark Matter himself could blend in with it had it not been for the stars. Below the tower was the fog, it was so dense that it was nearly impossible to see the bottom.
"So you're finally awake," said a chilling voice. Although he wasn't paralyzed, Dark Matter could still feel his spines stand up. Despite this, the blob turned around and saw that Nightmare was behind him.
"I hope you enjoyed your little nap," Nightmare told Dark Matter, "Because I have other plans for you."
"Whatever it is, let's get it over with," Dark Matter said bitterly, he had a jaded look in his eye.
"What's this? You're not going to scream or argue?" Nightmare asked with a puzzled look. "No matter, because I'm not the one you're going to fight."
"What are you talking about?" Dark Matter asked bitterly. "WHERE'S GOOEY!?"
"Why, he's standing right here of course!" Nightmare said as he flew aside. Gooey stood behind the demon, his eyes were foggy and he looked as if he was ready to fight at any moment.
While he'd seen many illusions here, this certainly wasn't one of them. Instead of standing there in complete shock, Dark Matter pulled out his sword and attempted to swing it in Nightmare's direction.
"You BASTARD!" Dark Matter yelled as Nightmare continuously dodged his sword. "You had NO reason to drag Gooey into this, it's ME that you're after, not him!"
Suddenly, Dark Matter was tackled onto the ground by a blue fireball. For a moment, Gooey managed to knock the wind out of him.
The elder blob sat up as he shook his head, his eye widened as a star headed towards his direction. When he looked at Nightmare, he could see that the demon held onto a stick with a star on top...Wait, that thing must've be the Star Rod!
"You didn't think I'd let the little one fight on his own, did you?" Nightmare teased. Dark Matter growled in frustration as he tried to think about his next move. He obviously needed to bring Nightmare down, but in order to do that he'd have to focus on getting the Star Rod from him. And before he could do THAT, well...
As much as he hated to admit it, he would have to knock out Gooey in order to reach Nightmare. Otherwise, he'd just get in the way like he was doing now.
"Forgive me, Gooey." Dark Matter said coldly as he raised his sword. He released a dark beam from his sword as he attempted to strike his brother, Gooey rolled out of the way as he tried to grab Dark Matter with his tongue. Dark Matter got out of the way, but he screamed as smaller star struck him in the back.
"You'd really go out of your way to hurt your brother?" Nightmare teased. "What a shame."
Dark Matter sat up slowly, his body still shook from the star. But before he could do anything, Gooey wrapped his tongue around Dark Matter and threw him onto the ground. He was stunned for a moment, but Dark Matter grabbed onto Gooey's tongue and threw him onto the ground as well.
Like with the voice in Dark Matter's head, The fight felt like it would go on for a while, and from the looks of it, Gooey and Nightmare were winning. Dark Matter held part of his cloak over his chest as he tried to catch his breath. But for some reason, Gooey looked as if he'd just gotten started. Then again, he hadn't gotten hit by those stars Nightmare used, either.
Speaking of which, Dark Matter's spines began to stand on end. He could tell that Nightmare was going to strike him in the back again. This time with an even bigger star. He could move out of the way, but then Gooey would get hurt in the process...
Of course, it wasn't like Dark Matter had a choice, either.
He jumped out of the way and dodged the attack. Although he expected it, his heart sank as he heard his brother scream. He refused to look as his brother lied there in pain.