PART 5: The Drawing of a Circle

Laughter filled Meta Knight's ears. Considering the death he had just witnessed, this suprised him. As he had fallen asleep, he awoke and looked around him. There was nothing there. No people. No life. No sounds, no light. No heat, no cold, no air, no sun, no clouds...

Nothing.

The laughter returned again, surrounding him. It was like the giggles of small children. The strange force returned, lifting him into the air. A voice spoke into his mind...

"Save us..."

There was an enormous flash, and Meta blacked out again. The last thing he heard was the laughter, filling his ears once more.

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"Galaxy Reporter 6 recently picked up some very strange images. Images are shown of the same mysterious black fog that surrounded Super Star a few days ago surrounding Ripple Star. Other images show a black cloud splitting up from the fog and flying away, and another image shows a huge red eye appearing in the fog just before we lost contact with the satellite a few minutes ago."

The news reporter showed the images he spoke of, but it was the last one that got Kirby's attention. That eye looked familar, but he couldn't put his paw on it. He thought hard, and an image appeared in his mind.

"Could it be...Dark Matter?" he thought. His thought process was interrupted by Tuff running into the room to announce that the Halberd was returning. Kirby ran after him to see, all thoughts of Dark Matter erased by this happy news.

A short while later, they arrived at the Halberd, in perfect condition. Blade and Sword jumped from the deck to greet Tiff, Tuff, and Kirby. Kirby smiled at them, but the first thing Tiff said was "Where's Meta Knight?".

"He's gone. We looked for him everywhere, we did." Blade replied. "After the fog attacked us, we blacked out. Next thing we know, we're awake and back on the ship, but we can't find Sir Meta Knight."

Kirby's hopes shattered like a wine glass. Meta Knight, his teacher...his counselor....his friend...gone. It wasn't possible...it just couldn't...it had to be a joke...some cruel joke...

"Liar." he said, shaking. Everyone looked at him. This was the first time he had spoken in English,but before Blade could say anything, Kirby was gone. Tiff ran after him.

Kirby arrived at his house. He climbed into the tree, and sat in the old bird nest he slept in. Looking into the sunset, a tear fell down his cheek. He still wasn't used...to death. But it had sunk in. It was true, Meta Knight was...gone. Forever.

"First you draw a circle..." said a voice. Tiff had followed him to the base of the tree and was sitting on the hill, clutching a sketch pad and a pencil.

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Meta Knight was standing on the planet of Ripple Star. The thing was, he was looking at it in the past. He was standing in an illusion, showing what the planet looked like only 10 years ago. 10 years was nothing to him. Or to his kind. He looked at a land filled with joy and happiness..and fairies. An image appeared of a small fairy that he recgonized. The one in the red dress. It was then that he realized where he was... Ripple Star. In the span of three days, it had been destroyed. The image began to fast forward... now, he was looking at the planet only three days ago. He saw the town square and the fog move toward it, engulfing everything it touched in destruction. A gaint eye opened in the center of the fog as it began to engulf the town, turning everything it touched to dust. Everything...except the fairies. He watched as the fairies stared at in shock, watching as it made an eclipse of the sun, and he watched them attempt to escape, only to be engulfed in it. He saw the effect it had on them.

He saw it grab them, rip them to shreds, and throw them away like a chew toy in a dog's mouth. He watched as everything was destroyed...as everything was lost... the tower eroded in moments, fairies decinegrated into rotting corpses, skeletons, or dust, trees were destroyed, grass withered, flowers died. It was as if everything the fog touched sped up time.

And time...destroys everything.

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When this finished, the illusion disappeared, replaced by the images of the fairies.

"Fate has sown her seeds again. Your ship is repaired, but this world was then. Run home now, Star Warrior, another awaits. May destiny lead you to your destination, and may fate destroy what goodness hates." they all said in unison. They vanished as well, and Meta found himself back in Dreamland, on the deck of the Halberd. Blade and Sword weren't there, but Meta Knight jumped off the edge of the ship and landed easily on the ground. He went to find Kirby.

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Kawasaki had forgotten to ask Dedede the question. He was nervous, but he decided to ask him anyways while he was serving him his dinner which was more like a feast really. It had chicken, it had fish, it had soup, it had drinks, it even had a fish cake. No matter, for the more he cooked, the better chances he had of getting his question answered.

As he entered the dining room with this meal, he asked the question.

"Sire, why did you buy ME..you hate my cooking."

Dedede looked at Kawasaki after he had asked this. He stared at him with an expression that looked like supressed rage.

"That's none of your business." he said, grabbing a chicken leg from Kawasaki. "I have my reasons...and..." Dedede stopped.

"For the love of... YOU CAN'T EVEN COOK A CHICKEN LEG RIGHT!" he roared, spitting it out and throwing it at Kawasaki. "Get out of my sight and learn to cook..."

Kawasaki obeyed and sighed. He still didn't understand...Dedede hated his cooking...

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When he arrived at Kirby's house, he found that Kirby was already asleep, with Tiff sitting next to him, a worried smile on her face. Kirby wasn't looking well and he had fallen asleep on the hillside, where he had jumped down after seeing Tiff. Blade and Sword were the first to notice Meta Knight, and they immediately told him what had happened.

"After we got back, Kirby and them were there to meet us." Blade explained. "Tiff asked us where you was, and we told her we couldn't find ya."

"Kirby got sad and called Blade a liar...the first time he's ever spoken in English...and ran out the door." Sword continued. Tiff followed him, and we followed Tiff."

"Honestly, I don't think any of us have ever seen Kirby that sad...or sad at all." Blade said. "He looked sickly and pale, and he was crying. Kirby was crying."

"We tried to reassure him, but he just called Blade a liar again and turned away." Sword finished. "Tiff's been at his side ever since, and he eventually just cried himself to sleep."

"Which reminds me..." Tiff said softly. "I don't think Kirby's been getting much sleep lately. He has seemed worried and sad, as if something within him has died. The Fountain of Dreams hasn't done anything to help, either... so this is the first time he's slept in a while."

"Then we should let him sleep." Meta suggested. "He needs his rest, and I will see him in the morning." Tuff, Sword and Blade agreed, and the four of them began to leave.

"Are you coming, Tiff?" Tuff yelled.

"Just a second!" she replied. "Sweet dreams, Kirby." she whispered as she softly kissed him on the forehead and walked off.

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Kirby had a dream that night, but it was not a sweet dream by any means. He was trudging through a sea of dead bodies in the middle of a moonless night...he could feel them under his feet. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. He was tired, and cold, and it had felt like he had been walking through them for weeks. He stopped moving for a minute and took a deep breath, and then he continued.

Something grabbed his feet and pulled him over. He was now looking the bodies in the face, and the bodies were looking at him. One blinked. Kirby screamed out as the sea of bodies began to move, leaping around...right at him. One held his wrists, another his legs, another his waist. Kirby struggled furiously, attempting to knock them off. One of the corpses hissed in his ear. Tiff's corpse.

"Death is only the beginning..."

Kirby's eyes grew wide... the bodies were forming an undead tidal wave, towering thousands of feet above him, hissing furiously, reaching toward him and grinning. Kirby tried to scream, his voice muffled by the rotting hands over his mouth. The tidal wave sailed at him... he saw the faces of Meta Knight and himself, hissing at him, with his own mouth opened wide and Meta Knight carrying a sword in his only arm, the other one having fallen off...

Everything struck him at once, pulling him down, hissing at him. Kirby looked at the ground... and looked at the black fog that had been haunting his nightmares...

The black fog opened a red eye, and an enormous mouth, with black fangs that didn't seem real.. it swallowed him alive, and everything went black.