Star's Allies

Chapter 19 - Red Roses

The next day came, and it wasn't a hellhole. At least, not yet. Kirby stepped out of his bed, in hopes of completely decimating the bastion Hyness had set up. Now, though…

"Absolutely not!" Flamberge yelled. She did not approve of their plan to basically nuke Jambaation. "Lord Hyness worked tirelessly for their goal, and you will simply not ruin it this instant!"

"But, Flamberge…" Francisca pouted at her, as her sister made a face at the tone, "Miss Hyness is…"

Francisca stopped herself right there. Mainly due to the fact that she also did not know what to think of the situation.

Kirby shook his head. "In any other case, I would let this go. However, your group kinda, you know, made an enemy of Dreamland, as per King Dedede's rules. We had to set that one up after the last time someone tried to invade our world…"

...

Susie, who was nearby and talking to King Dedede as they paced around, sneezed.

"Eh? You sneezed. You go' a cold or somethin'?"

Susie fired back. With her laser gun.

King Dedede, already ducking as Susie pulled out her weapon, the laser burning his hat, sighed. "We really ought to have better communications, you know, as business pa'tne's."

Susie calmed down. "Yes, yes, alright…"

…

Kirby walked around the hallways, after leaving the argument, no sister following him. He needed a proper break the next time… the last one was not enough, and there was too much bad room service.

Sighing, Kirby headed out of the castle. "Time to get to work," he murmured, as the puffball floated and flew up to the hovering castle way up in the sky, damaged and smoking.

Landing pretty smooth, Kirby saw Magolor, who was already at it, disembarking to the main hallway they once fought whatever the black mass was. Kirby had the nerve to call it Dark Matter, but it was too small for it to be Dark Matter itself. Maybe… a child of Dark Matter, like Gooey? As Kirby thought of the creature, Magolor floated over, past the overly large hole they had made yesterday.

"Ah, the door. Now…" Magolor readied a black hole. "I don't think this door will withstand this one." With some unnecessary flair, he fired the physics-breaking attack; nearly collapsing from the sheer power lost to the attack and the amount of energy and focus it required of it.

The ball enlarged, sucking away the door, as matter itself disintegrated into the hole, never to be seen again. Magolor closed the hole immediately after he was done eroding nearly all of the door, minus some parts that a sphere couldn't reach.

It was a nice door. It was terribly thick, too massive for Kirby's liking, but he had to admit that the design was pretty cool.

"Nice! Now, let's head on in-" he panned to Magolor, who had already hit the hay not four hours after his awakening. "Ah."

This may be a problem. Oh well. Kirby head right on in, shrugging off the fact that he might not have backup with him as he strode into the barely lit room.

Inside the room was… nothing. Nothing was visible enough that Kirby could see it clearly. Except… for one thing.

A massive heart had placed itself right in the center, just a few strides away from where the door was.

Like a priceless artifact, the heart was put on display for all those who came to see it quite clearly even when first entering the room.

Somehow, Kirby had felt a certain… kinship upon placing his eyes on the heart. There had been some sort of feeling, some sort of presence that he could not shake off, as he neared the heart to investigate.

The feeling became stronger, as if the heart was emanating it, and Kirby walked forward even more.

He had been so close to the heart that he could hear the small thumps beat soundly against his ears, as a cold chill rose upon his back.

He just had a feeling that this was a part of his family. Just like Meta Knight, the connection of feeling was strikingly close to when he had first met with the knight all so long ago, when the king had stolen all the food for himself.

Simple times.

This chill… this feeling... why does it sound, so hollow? It was so hollow… So empty. The void of emotion was what he was feeling here; he had no doubt about it.

Backing away slightly, Kirby stared at the heart, as the heart stared back. It was missing a piece, begging to be completed.

How… intimidating.

Kirby backed away even further, nearly exiting the room now, as he turned his back against the heart. A hand shot up.

Kirby gasped as his foot was gripped against his will, noting whoever was trying to bring him down.

A pathetic and frail old woman was there. She was the one holding the pink ball, and though Kirby may think she was out to get him, this woman hugged Kirby. Crying her lungs out, this emotional breakdown of a woman simply repeated one sentence over and over again. It was unnerving, so wrong that Kirby flinched as he saw the overwhelming pain this woman beared.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry-"

The blindingly deaf woman had also made Kirby this much more confused and startled as she straightened herself. She then keeled back, her head glancing up to the ceiling.

"What is love? I had been searching for such love, I had given such love, but was I not loved back? My Lord Termina, please…" and the woman collapsed back down again raving and ranting about a name she could not remember.

It was pitifully sad to watch as Kirby slowly hobbled over to the woman, patting her shoulder. The woman looked up. "Hello, Hyness. I'm Kirby."

"I'm Hyness… but a question must be heard. Do you love me so? Love… the question for love, the act of love, the love I seek… do you have it?"

Unsure, Kirby could not give an answer to that immediately. However, he would always remain true to his beliefs. So, he said the best thing he had.

"I love all those around me, whether they return it or not. I love how Magolor had turned for the better, how Taranza helped us so much, how King Dedede is hardworking, how Marx had helped me in particular, Rick, Kine, and Coo for becoming my friends, and Adeleine for a smile she would always show when she'd be around me and Ribbon. I see good in you too, even though you captured me once… I'm glad to share my love for you, the love of knowing when to stop…"

"I see… thank you. Thank you. Thank you so, so much," Hyness wiped her tears for the first time since she had been crying after that night. "Zan Partizanne, I'm sorry…"

Hyness wept some more as she calmed under Kirby's presence, the puffball so soothing and comforting.

The scripture was wrong, the prophecy a lie, and the world an illusion as all of it shattered over a single night. The conversation with Zan Partizanne has rebuilt her into a better person. However, one last thing she needed to do…

"Kirby," she called out. "Yes?" answered the puffball. "I need you to destroy the heart. Quick. Before… before…"

Hyness stopped. Kirby looked down at her. Her gaze was transfixed in fear as a hand of shadow locked itself by her torso. She began to get pulled toward the Jamba Heart, Hyness struggling all the while.

The witch- no, Hyness chanted multiple lines of magic trying to harm the hands to no avail. The crack in the heart glowed ever so brighter. Hyness eventually gave up her attacks as she saw the end right behind her. As they got closer, Hyness started to hyperventilate at that thought.

As the leader panicked, Kirby quickly dashed over and delivered a quick kick to the hand, expecting it to give way, much like Hyness. Instead, the hand shook and slapped the puffball away, as Hyness was brought closer and closer, released once from the grasp of the hand and taken back in once Kirby was out of the way.

Then… the hand pulled her in. It was a somewhat slow process, as Hyness gritted her teeth in pain.

"I'm sorry. This'll be our last meeting, I suppose. Argh-"

Hyness forced out a hand from the wells of the heart. Her hand.

Kirby, who saw the opportunity, clutched her hand like it was his lifeline.

"My time had been fun. Sorry for kidnapping you. Please, tell the sisters… that I-"

"No! Not yet! I am not done with you just yet! Please, hold on…"

"I truly, truly do LOVE them!" Hyness yelled, as the cultist's head went into the wretched being, her hand slowly dissipating as Kirby fell to the ground, in fear, in pain, in confusion, and all the madness in the world.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Hyness was swallowed into the blackened heart, as the beating grew faster, stronger…

He had always saved everyone, didn't he?

Kirby had cried out as Hyness was absorbed into the heart. He felt a sense of despair, of loss of a person he only knew for a good ten minutes or so, but that wasn't about to bring him down. "Gah… I'll tell the sisters, Hyness… I can promise you that!" he yelled, as tears started coming down. An emotional ride had begun, as more shadowy hands started to appear.

No. No. NONONONONONO-

The tendrils snuck all around the dark room, as Kirby immediately ran for the door. Being close enough due to the fact that one the previous hand knocked him away from the heart, he took advantage of that and closed the door behind him. Breathing a sigh of relief, he came to check on Magolor, still sleeping on the cracked floor, with a somewhat giant moth looking down at him.

Suffering from what could become a stress disorder, Kirby breathed in and out as he tried to calm himself. Those breaths turned erratic the longer and longer he stood by that door.

Turned his eyes away from the main hallways, he cried as flaps surrounded him, burying him in this even deeper hole.

I've failed. That person could've lived. Would have lived. Hyness might've lived…

An optimist could only go so far.

Dark thoughts surrounded him as a cloud of misdirection formed all around.

A voice snapped him out of it, as he jumped in fright.

"Oh, hello. I don't think we've met quite like this," the moth greeted. Kirby, still in shock from the events that had transpired inside the chamber, nodded. The moth gave a hearty laugh. "Well, I'm Taranza! Cool form, right? It's like I was born for this, or something!"

Kirby, giving no response, collapsed onto the floor. He was done. No more. He could take no more...

The moth scowled at that, mumbling about how it's 'twice the work now'. As the moth transformed into Taranza, Kirby closed his eyes, tired from emotional distress.

Hyness surrounded him in his dreams. He hadn't known the person for long, and yet when he saw Hynes being irrevocable eaten alive by the heart, he had a feeling of dread crawl up his back.

Hyness wasn't getting out of that.

Zan Partizanne kept looking around her room, and yet…

There was nothing left. Hyness had rejected her, her name thrown aside, her promise broken, her heart oh so torn.

Though she would be the one to move quickly from one emotion to another, this time was a time of sorrow, her heart filled to the brim with sweet despair.

She moped in her room, not knowing that the one who did her wrong was already dead.

She began to lie down on her lush bed, her partisan off to the side.

Now was the time to-

CRASH

Zan Partizanne jolted up from her comfy bed. Has something happened to the Jambastion?

Zan Partizanne slowly crept up to her door and unlocked it, peering out to the hallway. What she saw was a bright pink ball, being carried by a moth…?

It was a confusing creature, and one that Zan Partizanne wasn't sure if it's friendly or not.

In any case, this was a blatant intruder, and one that she needed to eliminate immediately. Going from the door to her partisan, she nabbed the handle and swung the door open in haste.

THUMP

This sound clearly bumped up the ante as she slowly approached the ever so slow moth.

THUMP THUMP

She readied her weapon, the lightning coming to her to her aid as she held it up to the sky.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

The moth has noticed her. She isn't in trouble, is she? Whatever will pan out next, she could not tell. As the lightning surged across the air, she swung down her weapon and herself as a beam of light came crashing through where her head had been just a moment before.

Yelling, Zan Partizanne gave in to fear and dashed back in her room.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

Her fear was immeasurable. The fear crept up her skin like some slinky worm, all pricking against her back.

The door swung open. The next second, she was flung out of her bedroom's window as the lightning mage fell a hundred meters, two hundred meters…

She closed her eyes as her hand clasped her beret, keeping it from flying off.

She could not breathe. The air… gasping for air, Zan Partizanne opened her eyes to an extremely odd sight.

The Jambastion was flying away. It was flying away…?

Did Hyness not care anymore? After Francisca and Flamberge had gone, she was left by her lonesome, the only sister…

They might've been dead under the hands of the beings down below.

And Hyness left her all the same…?

Tears trickled out as this thought raced across her mind. She bawled, her tears floating, as she fell from outer space.

Beginning to lose consciousness from oxygen deprivation, Zan Partizanne closed her eyes one last time, without family or friends to soothe her… or so she thought.

She did not catch the fact that the moth, who was carrying two people, was not carrying three soon after.

Magolor awoke first, to a sight that would've caused panic in most people.

No ground below him. Widening his eyes and the sensation of being carried, Magolor looked up to see a giant moth carrying him and Kirby, along with a yellow-haired woman. "Aaaaah… Wait."

"Oh, you're awake?" said the moth, quite some distance from ground level. "Yeah, I am. I think I am, anyways…" Magolor muttered in response, still delirious.

"...I see. I'll land soon; you guys are too heavy!" the moth complained, as his wings flapped harder.

"So easy for you and your levitation! And here I am-"

Realization popped. "Wait, Taranza!?"

And came an attack to the moth in reflex.

The moth screeched as the attack connected, his grip releasing the three individuals. Magolor, of course, noticed the feeling of air rushing from below him, as he looked up to see a pained moth gliding down himself.

Quickly transforming into his soul form, Magolor flew over to Kirby and snagged the puffball by the foot, as Taranza held onto the yellow-haired girl.

"Dude, what the fuck!?"

"I panicked, okay! Last I saw you, you attacked me, and even though that wasn't you, how dare you act so nonchalantly!"

"I'm sorry?" the moth quipped sarcastically, as he gave a quick 'ha'.

"Well, if it's not about my friends, I don't get worried now do I? Of course I am not worried, so why the hell did you blast me!?"

Not one person noticed that they were losing altitude fast while they bickered.

"I blasted you because you were an idiot!"

Taranza struck back. "How am I an idiot!?"

And then he remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

"Oh, shitshitshitshitshit-"

His wings flapped hard as he tried to slow down their descent. Magolor, who wasn't quite worried about his descent, simply slowed down his levitation.

The two bickered some more, but this time, it was friendlier as the two got back together.

"Ah, yeah, I'm sorry for that attack."

"You're sorry now?"

…

They both landed on the ground.

The castle soon became a paramedics bay. Housing three well-documented patients and one newcomer, the place was certainly getting crowded, what's with the stupendously large amount of Waddle Dees and the fact that they all had connections to one another.

Kine worried himself greatly seeing Kirby sleep. As Coo soothed him, Rick patted the fish's back as they looked on at their friend. Kirby's eyes were bloodshot, open, even, but it's as if his mind was in another state completely.

This vegetative state didn't dampen their mood much though; not as much as to what Taranza sighted as 'a whacking big castle floating off'.

Daroach immediately commented on that. "That means they're running. Tucking their tails between their legs. Though I have to question their sanity in leaving children behind like this…"

Francisca was on the verge of tears when Zan Partizanne came back, unconscious. Flamberge, who was in a similar state, helped to support the sister beside her, though she was failing spectacularly.

Both Magolor and Taranza were now awake, however, and they had a plan.

"We chase that thing. All the way," the spider smirkingly suggested.

King Dedede slammed him with his hammer after the suggestion, to the disappointment of Taranza.

"So. Your plan is to carry all the people you can with you to go to war. Great idea, bad execution. I'm out," King Dedede swore.

Susie punched the royalty. "Don't always take the easy way out. Rule number 54 of business." She then proceeded to pull down a big book and whammed the king some more.

"Are you joking, lady!?" the king roared. "No," she replied.

Meta Knight was open to the idea. "If, we can board a vessel… we can eliminate the threat, good sir. Course I'm in."

Galacta Knight agreed to that. "To the end, brother! Our adventures had yet to fail!"

Taranza backed up a bit after that exchange.

The animal trio, on the other hand…

"I don't want any more trouble to befall me or my friends. Should we really chase that thing?" Coo questioned, as Kine nodded. Rick disagreed. "The sense of adventure! Oh, I'm on that ship right now-!"

"...What part of trouble do you not understand, Rick…"

"Trouble? All I see is fun."

Coo sighed. "That's the problem, see…" she stopped herself, before continuing in a forced manner. "Fine, we'll go too."

Rick bounced off in delight as Kine awkwardly laughed.

Magolor and Taranza wandered around some more, gathering thoughts from the rat pirates and then visited the mage sisters.

Beside them, was a despondent Kirby. "Hi…" he mouthed, as the sisters looked even more worried.

Francisca noticed the two standing in their doorway. "Oh, come in, come in… Kirby's just woken up."

Magolor and Taranza stepped in the room, observing the pink ball.

"See, Kirby just woke up, and she hasn't said a word…"

As Kirby's voice returned to him, he spoke a single word. "Hyness."

That definitely shocked the three sisters. Zan Partizanne grabbed Kirby. Following that, she asked the puffball a question. "What happened!? Please tell me."

"The heart, it absorbed her… Nothing left of her. She's dead."

And that was enough to send the room into a spiral of chaos.

…

"...and she wanted to tell me to tell you that she loves you."

"And here I thought the woman was crazy," Taranza commented.

"She has been crazy, since some time ago…" Zan Partizanne admitted. Flamberge gave a fierce look into her sister, as she yelled, "And why haven't you been telling us this?"

Zan Partizanne continued. "I…"

At a loss of words, she took a breath, and exhaled. "I was too scared to tell you. Trust me, when Lord Hyness told me that… she'd…"

"I thought it had to be some kind of joke, you know? She wasn't the type to become crazy, according to how we first met her."

"And yet that happened," Francisca saddeningly added.

"But then… who's controlling the ship you gals were on?" Taranza queried. By now, realisation had dawned on Magolor. "It must be the heart. It knows something that we do not-!"

Magolor rushed over to the Lor as he panicked. If he was right…

Taranza, pretty confused at this, followed the magician. Leaving the sisters with a quick goodbye, Taranza headed for the infamous ship.

Entering the command room, he saw the floor, filled to the brim with papers and studies, with knowledge so brimming that he didn't even see Magolor as he entered the room.

The Halcandran was a mess, floating from here and there, mumbling to himself.

Taranza approached him. "Hey. What's going on?"

"I just realised what these events mean. You remember that time we talked about the Jamba Hearts?"

"...Yeah?"

"You see, they're tied to a legend. I was able to uncover that one, the last time we visited that volcano lab… the depictions were enough."

"What?"

"One dark, one light. One fallen, one in heaven. And the heart. Oh, it all makes sense now!"

"Wait, which depiction!? There were no depictions!"

"There was one, a singular one… Do you remember the hangar?"

"I do?"

"There was a hidden room there. On the side of the ship."

This got Taranza pretty confused. "Huh?"

"A hidden room. Not one planned in the blueprints. Trust me, I know my Halcandran ships well enough to recognise the same model ship, and that ship had a peculiar room on the side of it."

Taranza chuckled. "Uh, couldn't it have been any other old part of the ship?"

Magolor shook his head. "No, it's a hidden room. I'm sure of it."

"And my theory proved to be true."

Magolor pushed a button masquerading as a screw, as a click sounded throughout the entire ship. "What?" Taranza mumbled. Then, the rumble grew louder and louder….

A door had opened up by the entrance to the command room.

Taranza gulped. "Well, that was it. I looted that old ship while you all were relaxing here, and I found nothing. Then I looted my own hidden room and found this thing," he nabbed a piece of paper from his desk.

Magolor closed the hidden door again.

"W-what is it, then, that got you so worried?" Taranza trembled.

"Listen to this," Magolor instructed.

"A child of dark. A child of light. A child of lies. A child of skies."

Magolor took a deep breath, and continued.

"A soul to seek, a journey to behold, not to stop the rampant sin, but to end the greater evil hidden within. Termina was their name, a great and old fool, who shall condemn all those who bargained with him so."

Another deep breath.

Reality shifted a tiny bit. Something stirred.

"Stop right there," Magolor…? sounded.

"Did you say something?" the spider asked. He looked at Magolor.

"I did not…?" he answered, as Magolor split in two. "...What?" he noticed.

"Well, it seems we've all met, yes?"

"Of course we've all met!" another spider proclaimed as they stood aside Taranza, gripping their hips.

"You're here?" Taranza commented, to which both souls respond to him, "We are always here."

Magolor distanced himself from his own soul, as Taranza's soul did the same, joining Magolor's counterpart.

"Well, we suppose…"

"...we're off to space, aren't we?"

The souls laughed, as they said those two things. "Aah, always wanted to do that," Magolor Soul remarked. "Same, same," Taranza Soul agreed.

Magolor Soul turned to them, as he nonchalantly smirked. "Well, because my Magolor there is the type who would go for theatrics, I'm just going to spoil it. You see, bring Kirby, Marx, together with you two to the fight against the big bad, and basically your job there is to band together and -"

A flurry of unrecognizable words flew out of the soul's mouth. He stopped, then chuckled. "Hm, so that's as far as the gods would let me go on for. Future events. Bah."

Taranza went wide-eyed. "You can predict the future?"

"No, silly! Haven't you known Magolor for quite some time now? He usually assumes things. It just so happens that his predictions actually line up with the truth, this time," his spider counterpart smiled.

"Ah. I see. Well- Leave it to us, then," Magolor reassures himself, as he raised a hand.

"Hah! Such a charmer. You're the type of person I like…"

Taranza looked in confusion before deciding to change the topic. "Say, how did you two appear here, and now?"

Taranza's soul looked at himself. Then, back up at the arachnid as they spoke. "We are not sure ourselves. Magolor overthere assumed we were pulled by some greater force."

"Greater force? What sort of fantasy is that, now? I know Termina claims to be in a prophecy, but come on-"

An orange butterfly enters the room. The ship's doors opened for him, as Magolor started to panic. "Lor.. why did you let him in…?"

"This is not the souls' world, but real life in truth."

The sentence rang in their heads, as this butterfly approached them.

"Sadly, I am not here to seek you. I am here to seek the trickster. To offer him… a test of will."

Magolor gaped at this. Taranza, not so caught up, warily spoke. "Why?"

"To help, not hinder. To prevail in battle, not as a witness, but as a contender."

And the butterfly flew through the solid walls of the Lor.

"...That's the first time Lor opened its doors without my prompt."

"You got a security breach, man," his soul snarked.

AN: Off we go.

Butterfly makes an appearance once again! Weird things kept happening. And the castle's inhabitants are off to help!

Well, this chapter took quite some time, but we did it. To the next one!

Mini Extra: The Painter

"Absolutely not."

Adeleine refused King Dedede's offer to help the folks in their plans.

"I am quite done with world saving after Ribbon's planet nearly got extinguished, and this is the last straw. I am off painting again."

"But… why?"

The king was moping at this point, trying his best to ask for Adeleine's help, even if she might not be so useful in the long run against Hyness.

"With due respect, king, you do not understand artists."

A massive blow against the king was dealt, as Adeleine raised her brush against the white canvas.