"Great King! Great King? Great King, where are you? Great King!"
Dedede followed his advisor's voice down the hallway it was echoing from, trying to find the Dee and resolve whatever it was he needed. Then it occurred to him that he could probably just shout back, and the Dee would find him first. "BANDANAAAAA! I'm right here!"
It took barely half a minute before the Dee was standing in front of him, with a Christmas hat on his head, and plenty of decorations stacked on top of it. In his paws, the Dee held a clipboard with a blue bandana tied to the top, holding several colors of pens and markers in it. Perhaps it was a makeshift pencil case? "Great King! Allow me to update you on the status of the decorations!"
Dedede blinked. "You've been tracking all that stuff? You didn't need to do any of that. Especially you. I have better things I could've given you to do."
"I…" The Dee shuffled back and forth on his feet, and Dedede suddenly remembered that Waddle Dees loved cleaning and decorating places. "I know, but—for inventory purposes, we have to know how many of each decorations we have to put in each box, to make sure that all the items are put up before New Year—"
"Yes, yes. Good job, Bandana." The king bent down to pat the Dee on the head. "I didn't have any other work for you to do anyhow. Now, you don't need to give me a report, but I'm glad you're still helping…off the clock. Bandana, I said you had time off to go visit your family this week. I know you aren't gonna do it unless I clear you, so I cleared you, and you're still here now. I'm not too happy about that." He scooped the Dee up in one arm and separated him from the clipboard. "C'mon, Dee; you're gonna go pack. I command you to be out of this castle by sunset. Which is earlier this month, by the way."
"Wh…Thank you, Great King." Bandana Dee stared longingly at the clipboard, a safe distance away in the king's other hand. "B-But, I can pack on my own—"
"Huh? You think I'm gonna pack for you?" Dedede made a face at him. "I'm not gonna do that, and I don't even know what you're bringing. I hope you have some presents for your family ready to roll, though. Don't you usually bring them something?"
The Dee's eyes widened. "Great King! Thank you, I almost forgot that!" Bandana Dee scrambled to get out of the king's arms. He was relatively unsuccessful. "Great King, let me goooo…I need to go pack!"
As the duo reached the hallway where Bandana Dee's room was, Dedede let his arm relax. The Dee rocketed out of the king's grasp and dashed over to his room, flying inside without even closing the door. Dedede followed closely behind him, watching what his advisor threw into his backpack. Most of his subjects didn't need clothes, so their packing was relatively easy. Instead, Bandana Dee threw in a few spare bandanas, a small knife, a fishing rod and some bait, some oatmeal bars from the king's kitchen, materials for a one-Dee tent, his Christmas hat (which, Dedede noticed, was a band with little foam-and-felt animal horns on it. What animal did they come from? Maybe it was part of a Dee holiday legend or something?), some water, and his family's presents. Of course, he hadn't wrapped the presents yet, so he had to take them back out. The Dee muttered a few things in his native language as he flew around, gathering items.
Dedede leaned over his advisor's shoulder, watching him wrap the presents. Bandana Dee's gifts were a basket full of fruit from the other side of Popstar, a pack of ropes in various sizes, and two books with various pictures in them. The first book was titled 'Skies of Popstar: Birds and other Flying Friends'. The second appeared to be a detailed guide on various kinds of plants from the five corners of the planet. Dedede peeled off some pieces of tape for the Dee as he continued to wrap the presents.
"Thanks, Great King." Bandana Dee sighed, slowing down slightly. If his mouth had been visible, the king could have seen him smiling. "I guess I just need to calm down a little. But I can't wait to see my family again."
After being invited to one of Bandana Dee's annual family parties, he'd gotten to know the Dee's family a little better. "Is the fruit for your mom?"
Bandana Dee brightened. "Yeah! And the rope's for my dad, and—"
"And the books are for Silva," Dedede finished knowingly. Bandana Dee looked slightly embarrassed.
"I already apologized for her…mauling you, Great King…"
"You don't have to worry about that. But if you want to apologize, take Kirby to her instead."
Bandana Dee had a younger sister named Silva who enjoyed science and biological studies, and spent her days out in the fields studying the various species that lived on Popstar. Upon the king's first visit to his advisor's family, the little Dee had thrust herself upon him, asking him what planet he came from, what 'biome' he lived in, what sort of food he ate, how his feathers grew, and a hundred other questions. Dedede had allowed Silva to spend no more than an hour with him as he tried to answer the questions he understood, and let her observe his feathers. Even then, she'd spent the rest of the visit doting on him because he was blue and had blue eyes. He could see her fascination, as Waddle Dees didn't have blue eyes or fur, but he'd felt as if she was almost stalking him. Ever since that episode, Dedede had been trying to get Kirby invited to Bandana Dee's house, hoping that the same thing would happen to him.
Dedede's phone suddenly emitted a short, electronic jingle from a Splatoon movie titled 'Secret Agent 3'. Bandana Dee stared up at the king curiously, wondering who had sent him a message.
(ST_Meta: Some JERK is keeping his best advisor holed up in his room, when he should have left to see his family approximately 3 hours and 56 minutes ago. How selfish.)
Dedede's eyes narrowed. He could suddenly think of someone else who deserved to be sent to Silva.
(BIG D: Shut up Meta.)
"Who was that?" Bandana Dee asked. "I've never heard that jingle before…"
Dedede shrugged. "No one; it's just Meta being a jerk."
"Oh."
Bandana Dee said nothing more on the issue. The king having arguments with his employees was rather commonplace due to his nature, so he tried to ignore most of them. Instead, he directed his attention back to finishing the presents.
"Great King, I…Thanks for giving me this time off. I really appreciate it."
"Hey, no problem. Just be back in time, okay?" The king rested his hand on the Dee's shoulder—or at least, as close as he could get to it. "You take good care of your family, Bandana. At least do it for me."
Bandana Dee's face fell, and he stopped preparing presents to turn back toward his king. "G…Great King, I'm—I'm sorry I always leave you at the holidays—"
"No! No…" Dedede held a hand up, offering the Dee more tape. His advisor reluctantly accepted it. "…Well…Bandana, I was selfish to keep you here in the past. It's not your fault I don't have anyone left here for me."
Maybe he shouldn't have said anything. He didn't want Bandana Dee to dwell on this while he was on vacation with his family, nor did he want to sound pampered and whiny. But the penguin missed spending time with his family; two decades had passed, but that twinge of nostalgia had just never faded. Who did he have to spend time with at the holidays? Well, besides—
"Um…Great King, Kirby and Meta Knight aren't doing anything this year, as always. Maybe you could get together with them…?"
…Besides the puffballs. Kirby and Meta Knight were also aliens whose families had died; it was something they had in common, it seemed. Though, Dedede was only an alien in species—his parents were from another planet, but the king himself had been born and raised on Popstar. It was sort of the same, but…not entirely. Kirby and Meta Knight were of a rare species whose planet had been destroyed when they were toddlers. The duo had probably landed on Popstar out of luck and desperation to escape the massacre inflicted on their kind. Dedede's parents came to the planet with the intention of settling down and raising a family, and just happened to see the opportunity for power. His home planet of penguins was still perfectly alive and unscathed, should he ever decide that he wanted to 'go home' and visit.
But, like the puffballs…Dedede didn't have anything on his planet to really 'go back to'. Sure, his planet wasn't obliterated, and his kind was still alive, but…he wasn't affiliated with any of them. He hadn't grown up with any of them, and he'd never even set foot on the planet before. Why would he? He was King of Dream Land and Beyond; on his home planet, there were no special roles for him to fill. Nothing spectacular about him at all. The only thing on his planet that was different from Popstar was a bunch of other creatures that looked like him. Otherwise, it was probably just another coast, backed by another meadow, which led further inland, inhabited by various other native creatures. There would be some fruits and other tropical plant life, and some fish, but other than that…
…That was probably it. It was very likely that his home here on Popstar had more to offer than his 'home' planet. Besides…it was his 'home' on Popstar that he missed. Being in the castle with his mother and father, playing games…
Dedede sighed. "I don't regret things, Bandana, but…even with Kirby and Meta Knight here, that won't stop me from glancing over my shoulder and wishing mom and King Dad were here." He sat down on the floor in Bandana Dee's room, smiling wistfully. "You know, mom and dad would've loved seeing you guys with me. They promised that they'd give me some little brothers, you know? …Well, you wouldn't know. You'd be too young. But, mom and dad loved kids. If we could've had you, and Meta, and—" The king tried to frown, but failed to show any genuine displeasure. "—Kirby together when I was a kid, my parents would've spoiled you guys to death. There was so much that we could've done together…Uh, don't get the wrong idea! My parents played with me and spent time with me! But, I know Meta said he didn't have anyone to play with when he was younger, and you and Kirby like to go fishing all the time…I wanted to play and go fishing; we could do that together!"
Bandana Dee blinked, sticking a bow on Silva's present. "Great King, we can do that any time you'd like, you know…Although you have to be quiet when you're fishing, and you can't move a lot. But I'm sure Meta and Kirby would play with you if you asked them…"
"I don't wanna ask Kirbyyyyyy…" Dedede complained. "He has a bunch of friends already and it's not like he's my uber-super-best-friend or anything. Plus, it's embarrassing to hang out with a vacuum cleaner all day. He eats everything."
That expression on the Dee's face…Did Bandana Dee think he was bluffing by saying that? Or that he was just stating it out of obligation? How dare he?! Dedede most CERTAINLY didn't enjoy being in the pink puff's presence! He would never allow the puffball to come back to Christmas dinner again and sit on his fine dining room table!
Bandana Dee hoisted his backpack over his shoulders, heading past Dedede for the door. "Well, Great King…I'm sorry about your family—"
"Bandana, don't worry about that." Dedede waved his hand, making a disgusted face. "Don't waste your vacation thinking on that. I've got people I can hang out with for the holidays. Go and ENJOY yourself, Bandana!" He gave the Dee a little push down the hallway. "Enjoy yourself, 'cause if you aren't enjoying yourself, I'll just order you back here to finish some report generation!" The penguin stomped his foot. "Now get out! That's my highest order today!"
"Y-Y-Y-Yes, Great King!" Bandana Dee scrambled down the hall, being pursued by his king to make sure that he really was leaving the castle. The Dee scooted down a few flights of stairs and burst out of the main doors, dashing toward the drawbridge. Dedede stopped in the castle entrance, waving goodbye to his advisor.
"GOODBYE, BANDANA DEE! MERRY CHRISTMAS!" the king shouted. "BRING ME BACK SOMETHING, YOU HEAR?!"
"Acknowledged, Great King!" Bandana Dee yelled back. "And merry Christmas to you too!"
The Dee was soon out of the king's sight, headed back toward his village of Waddle Dees. Headed back to his family.
Dedede's face turned neutral as he walked back inside, admiring the decorations on the walls. Everything was beautiful, but…some things seemed as if they were the same as from his childhood. The certain place a certain banner was hung, or the location of a candy cane in a random vase, or even some of the paper snowflakes…brought back too many memories for him to recount in one holiday. He just had to think about a few pieces every holiday; that way, he could focus on the present time as he created it. After all, he was making memories now, wasn't he? Even with Bandana Dee, and Kirby, and Meta Knight…these times would all be memories one day, wouldn't they?
Dedede entered his room, noting a photo in a Christmas-themed frame. The picture displayed him and his friends in a Christmas food-fight, flinging cheap, wax sprinkles at each other while they were all still sticky from snacks. The penguin couldn't help but crack a grin.
Who said I needed to be 'home' to enjoy the holidays?
Kirby and Meta Knight would probably come over sometime soon, as well…and the Dees here surely wouldn't let the holidays pass by without throwing a celebration of their own…Maybe there were enough people left for him, after all…
Yeah, who said I needed to be 'home' for the holidays? I'm already home, right here.