Star's Allies
Chapter 20 - Narrow Narratives
A connection of half-baked individuals started their crusade to space. The supplies were being loaded, as Susie forced King Dedede to follow Magolor and his friends off to catch up with Jambastion.
Their launch date was tomorrow.
"Faster!" Susie yelled, as she pointed a finger to the direction of her ship. "Ain't this a bit too degradin'...?" the king complained.
"Hush."
"Ag, what a pain of a woman." Susie raised an eyebrow to that. "Say that again?"
"I said, you are one hell of a pain in the a-"
King Dedede ran for his life.
As the soft breeze of the wind glided down and onto the running fat penguin, a small orange butterfly could be seen phasing through Dedede's castle. Flapping its tiny wings, the butterfly nudged its way up the flights of stairs.
Phasing through a specific room, the butterfly began to glow as it approached its' final destination.
...
A bloodshot Kirby opened his eyes to the worry of the three mage sisters. Well, only Francisca was worrying about Kirby; Flamberge kept watch for Francisca's sake, and Zan Partizanne simply did not care at all.
"Ahhh…" Kirby stretched his arms, as he tried to ignore the dulling pain behind his head. "You're up!" Francisca quipped, as she checked on the puffball's condition. "You've been out for quite some time, Kir-by!"
"Hahah…. Yeah, I think so, too. Say, I'll just go back to sleep…" The puffball returned back to sleep as snores came out. Francisca pondered at this behaviour and decided that it was normal for people to do this. She herself had been a victim of exhaustion before, too.
Deciding to wander around the castle, she notified her two sisters (both gave a thumbs up in return), and off she went around the royal halls of Dedede Castle, armed with nothing but her magic.
The halls were enticing, and it never seemed to get old. The decorations were otherworldly to the mage trio, Francisca in particular seemingly attracted to the beautiful artworks hanging on the hallway.
It was now that she had a good appreciation of the artworks. Scrambling through the castle willy-nilly wasn't a great idea, and the beauty of finding new friends wore off quick.
Francisca hummed to herself a small tune that had originated from somewhere. She didn't know where from, but the tune had stuck to her brain ever since she heard it. Maybe it was from Hyness.
Oh. Hyness.
Francisca cracked a little inside. From what she could tell from a devastated Kirby, Hyness was dead.
That unnerved her. She had never seen death before. She had heard of it before, though. Such a topic wasn't up for discussion back at the bastion. It was usually a prayer to the dark lord, and that was it for her.
She never thought death was something so cruel.
The way Hyness had sweetened it, death had an embrace that the dark lord appreciated, but never wanted.
It was confusing at best; Francisca didn't get it one bit.
Slowing down, she crept up to a barely lit hallway as things went darker in her vision. It was becoming dusk.
The lovely orange and pink would soon dip down into black. Francisca glanced at a nearby window, as the light slowly dimmed. There it was, the setting sun. She watched, as it descended down, slowly ebbing, disappearing…
It was somber, as Francisca couldn't help but to feel an odd sense of sadness. Where had this come from…?
Her hand shot up as she wiped the tears dripping from her face. Clutching her hat, she took it off as she faced the nearly set sun.
"I'm sorry, Miss Hyness. We failed you. We weren't good enough…"
…
Sitting in silence, the girl with blue hair stood up, leaving her position nearby the window. Walking back to her room, she stumbled across the now dark hallways as the light of the moon soothingly pranced around her. The light of various rooms was off, now. It was nearly pitch black, but she had the moonlight to guide her. All she needed to do was to follow the moonlight.
Some sort of grunting was there. Francisca froze. She turned her head to the nearest door. It was spilling with light, as the grunting and grumbling soon turned into shrieks of pain. Squinting her eyes, she opened the door and as her eyes adjusted, she found herself at a twitching jester, his limbs moving in discordance, his eyes everywhere, and a heavy atmosphere; a great pressure; which knowingly impeded her.
Francisca shut the door with a screech and ran to report the findings to her sisters. Marx was their teammate, in the bastion as outside it, and she wasn't going to just let him twitch in pain. A true friend helps others in need.
Marx opened his eyes. It was black again.
"Nonononononononono-"
Heavy breathing. The rumbling...
The flaps of wind as he was falling, falling, falling, into the depths of the open wide maw of death.
"I had enough of this from last time… why now?"
No one responded. How foolish was he, to not know nor notice that there was nobody around?
Except there was. A piece of gear appeared from behind him, startling him through and through.
"No, stop! Get away!" the jester yelled. The gear dropped down, and the floor pierced and shattered, breaking as if it was glass. Marx fell again as he activated his wings. Gliding, he stopped short of the small, black island he fell into, surrounded by a sea of black.
The gear returned.
"Get away!"
In desperation, Marx flung himself into the sea. When he looked back, the island was gone.
Turning back forward, he saw a creature with those similar, pleading eyes. Shouting a quick "NO!", Marx flew off into the sky. Reaching for the now broken floor turned ceiling, Marx hit an invisible wall as the jester floated down disgracefully, plummeting down even more as the environment changed once more. Now, a bright surface covered the entirety of the place. Marx noticed it was hot.
Too hot.
Marx panicked as he pulled up, using all of his might to be rid of the melting ball of death. A curve of fire dangerously whipped past him, as he dove under it and over.
Yelling, Marx fluttered once more, before gravity decided that there would be no more flying. Pushing down on him, his wings failed as he fell into the hot pit of lava. Marx closed his eyes, hoping for the best.
"You really like to avoid me, don't you?"
Another Marx approached the Marx who was supposed to be dead.
"Hah. So it was your fault all along. All right. Soul."
Marx spat out the word like it was poison, as his soul sighed. "I didn't want this. My job was to guide you, but instead you continue in denial?"
Marx snapped, hearing this. "You DARE claim I am in denial!? I simply do not like you. You are the epitome of my ruined life. I do not care what happens to you, nor what will happen to you. LEAVE ME ALONE, DAMMIT!"
His soul, sitting down, content, began their proposal. "I'm here to help. Yet, you keep denying my help. So, here's my last attempt at giving you help."
"Go die."
"Very well then." The soul sighed. He turned around, and walked off to who-knows-where, gone in a black mist.
Marx calmed down. He started to gingerly walk around, trying to find his way out. It was a dream, so maybe willing himself awake is an option?
He tried that.
It didn't work.
Stuck in this black void. Marx sat down, tired of standing. It was an odd feeling, sitting on nothing.
Black simply covered everything that there was no telling of what was what and who was where.
Which is why Marx got cautious the moment he spotted a peculiar, indescribable being.
This odd creature began to descend upon him. With a sneering voice, the creature muttered out a word.
"Fool."
And the world crashed. And the world crashed. And the world crashed and broke and smashed and utterly utterly utterly utterly-
Marx ran as the world collapsed, his pace quickening at the sight of a monstrous glutton consuming the dark black void with overbearing light-
And the world became white.
Marx ran and ran, and yet the white still caught up. Speeding up , the white raced beyond Marx and off into the distance. Marx slowed down. He was on edge, on guard, and extremely paranoid, now.
There was a noise. He jumped. Turning to the source of the noise, his eyes glanced upon the weirdest of creatures. Some sort of four legged creature, surrounded by a pile of eggs was there. It seemed to be sleeping. Marx decided he wanted no part of that. Running in fear, he made a lot of noise, not thinking about the consequences that might just happen.
And happen it did, as the four legged creature awoke, chasing down Marx ferociously with glee. As the world turned once more, Marx shot a quick look behind him, to see that the creature had at least doubled in size.
"Shit!" he hollered, as the jester backed off, his wings outstretched as he gained lift.
The massive beast followed suit.
The flaps, the drowning of noise, all around; Marx glided off to what seemed like a circular platform, above the black sea of mist.
Landing precariously, he checked on the beast's movements. With grace, Marx fired off a blue cutter projectile, narrowly missing its target as the monster dove underneath and right back on top, gaining speed.
The monster landed on the platform Marx made way for the being. It was a surreal sight, as Marx tried to calm himself down.
"Fool," the butterfly spoke. Marx scowled. "I am a fool, but screw you for doing this dream bullshit to me! It's already hella cliche-"
The butterfly shrank. From the wings, an entity came. "How interesting of you, then," the entity commented. The entity still floated, as its wings flapped.
It strode right up to Marx. "Let's have our conversation."
"I'm not here to hear your ramblings. I'm outta here!"
Marx dove for the being, intending to crush it, point-blank with a laser. Unfortunately, that did not come to pass. The being slashed at Marx, as the jester noticed this and turned his course by growing a plant right in front of him instead.
The entity, already aware, dodged the sprout. "I'm here to talk. Please do not resist."
Marx groaned. This person was good. "Fine, fine."
The entity sighed. "I am Morpho, one of the ancient gods."
That caught him by surprise. "What the hell? Mate, are you off your rockers?"
"I assure you, I am not joking. When you have Termina as an acquaintance, shouldn't you already be partially immune to this response?"
"Who is Termina?" the jester genuinely asked. "Aaah. You're at that part. All right, Termina is a god of chaos, destruction; all the necessary things for free will."
All of a sudden, Marx really didn't like this man.
"I am not necessarily his counterpart; that job falls to [●●●●●●●●●]; but I do rule the war aspect of the world. If you might, I am a mighty warrior."
"Okay, great. Can you leave me alone now?" the jester said, uninterested.
"Of course. But, you should know this," Morpho advised, before pulling out an absolutely massive sword. "I am to stand against you until I am merged with you."
"Ah. Okay."
Marx booked it, falling off the circular platform. Readying his laser, Marx turned himself, facing up to the Morpho in pursuit. Morpho got closer and closer….
And that's when he had his chance. He fired his shot, point-blank, and nailed it as Morpho moved away, the god's body breached by one massive hole right through the thing's abdomen.
Marx, tired from the shot, took some time in their skydiving, as he lay there open for an attack.
Morpho began to swing their oversized sword, missing the whole lot but cutting down whatever escape plan Marx could have from that moment in time, as the blade jutted out from one end to the other.
Cripes. This massive sword is going to hit him.
"Fine then."
Marx blinked, to see a facsimile of himself holding down this gigantic and oversized sword, all with the power of a kick.
Coming in with mach speed, the facsimile blasted through the air, bursting into the fight. In sonic speed, the fake knocked the sword way off, as Morpho widened its eyes. It began to flap off and away.
"But why?" Marx questioned?
"Are you joking? I just did a massive save for ya there and you're still doubting me?"
"No, nonono… Not-"
"I am YOU! Face it! Your soul is part of you! Why do you hate yourself so much, then!?"
Marx stood silent. "We both should know the answer to that," the soul bitterly spat out.
Kirby had given him a slight taste of that.
Friendship.
A tiny bit back in the past, and a lot more in the present.
He had missed this feeling…
"Do you understand, now? Please, I can't see myself in denial…"
"It's what Kirby showed us, right?"
Marx hoped this was the answer. The answer.
No more running for him. His soul just berated him on this. He needed to face it; the past is the past.
"There you go. Finally, the idea back into the skull of yours…"
Soul sighed. Backing up, he nudged a ball towards Marx. "Heads up. It's going to be a rough fight."
"You don't say," Marx smirkingly responded.
"Hah! And to think you despised me so. Laughable, ain't it?"
"Not to that extent, no," Marx said.
"Oi!"
Morpho came rushing back, full speed, slicing through the ball. Unable to change his trajectory, Morpho scowled as he passed through. The device popped, and sent the two Marxes up in the air from the propulsion.
Morpho turned around, and complimented the duo. "Well done. You've managed to anger me."
The real fight started there. Morpho disappeared, and in his place was a spinning ball of orange as miniature butterflies came spiralling over to them in a flower pattern, should it be viewed from above.
Marx, pulling up an arrow to shoot the nearing butterflies, couldn't hold himself against the flanking ones.
That's where his soul came into rescue. Growing a full on garden right there, spiky thorns grew as more seeds were planted, all with a gorgeous rose.
Spiking through the ground, the terrifying plant burst out and pierced all those above it, as Marx Soul defended himself with a speedy and clean fight. Piercing arrows came and barraged in the same way the butterflies came to them, as the arrows sparked with lightning, connecting the electricity from the arrows across multiple creatures, jumping from butterfly to butterfly, frying them all.
Marx, on the other hand, wasn't looking too peachy. He was certainly drained from firing that point blank laser, and he wasn't having it tonight. Running through the flight of butterflies like a madman, Marx started his black hole. The intense gravity of it managed to suck in a lot of the critters, as Marx panted on the nonexistent floor.
His soul, seeing this, noted the exhaustion. "You know not to overwork yourself-"
"-and I still do it anyways! Ha!"
Marx, stumbling to his soul, grappled the floor as he took a small moment of rest.
A fatal moment, it was, as Morpho reformed and charged at the unprepared jester. Clambering on to stand, Marx struggled to run as he tried to make a run for it-
His soul, who had an arrow ready, pierced the god with the electrical projectile. Roaring, Morpho disappeared again and out of nowhere, a gear fell from the ceiling. Or was it the sky…?
More gears began falling. Marx ducked under some incoming ones and weaved his way stylishly across the sudden battlefield.
His soul gracefully did the same, before getting hit by one. The pain from that gear managed to cause a minor concussion, which attracted the attention of Marx. Already struggling, he decided to hop over to his soul and help him avoid the falling metal.
Striking close to one of the falling gears, they both danced their way through as a ball of… something lay on the tippity top of the proper sky. Morpho was standing next to it, its wings outstretched as another giant sword appeared, though this one is more accurately named as a rapier.
The entity wielded these two massive weapons, ready to kill the two.
Knowing that he won't just give up here, Marx readied himself. He turned to his soul. His soul gave him a pat on the back, slurringly falling back down to the ground.
It was up to him now.
With newfound respect for his soul, he marched forward, leaving a circle of seeds behind, surrounding his soul, soon to be a cage of plants.
Nobody was going to touch him.
…
Turns out that the plants are resistant to swords. Huh.
To Marx's delight and surprise, the plants don't actually get cut from the swords. With courage, he started as his vigor was boosted.
He felt like his exhaustion was gone, his spirit uplifted, and himself feeling pretty all right.
Preparing a quick dash, Marx executed his plan. As Morpho crazily stabbed and slashed at the jester, who carefully bounced back and forth with his ball, he began to lure Morpho nearer to the plants.
If it was indestructible, he was going to abuse it as much as he wanted to.
Too bad Morpho caught on way too fast.
Marx dodged another swipe as the two played their games. Firing off a quick laser to halt the progress of one sword, pushing it back, he neared to Morpho and shot off a cutter projectile, slicing the god square in the face. As it dissipated, the energy started to shape in the air. In fact it seemed as if…
The energy is being sucked into Morpho. No doubt about it. It was as clear as day, as the lightshow turned swirly and topsy-turvy, all swept into Morpho.
Seriously, how overpowered is this guy!? Marx thought, as he frantically avoided using any type of magical attacks. It seemed as if those would just provide his enemy with an advantage.
Physical attacks were the key, then.
Marx divekicked the god, sending Morpho a good kick before jumping away from the quick swing the rapier had just made, and kicked his ball at Morpho.
Another circling swing came from one of the rapiers. What? It shouldn't-
It has become a stage obstacle, spinning, keeping Marx on his toes.
Morpho still held one, as it noticeably shrunk down compared to the now absolutely massive spinning rapier that was nearly about to knock Marx down.
Marx scowled, jumped once, and began dovekicking again. This was simply too predictable, however, as Morpho parried each kick, dancing all the while. The only feasible way now for Marx to attack was to divekick, and this was something Morpho definitely knew.
Panting, Marx was put to the test as he struggled his best to avoid the spinning giant rapier and the jabs Morpho was making at him. As the jabbing rapier nicked his foot, Marx yelled in pain before sending his other foot to kick, intending to knock away the rapier.
As the kick came, the rapier was indeed knocked away. Surprised, Morpho left it alone and began attacking with magic, spitting out fire as the area burned.
It had, unfortunately, also burned the plant cage his soul was in. "No!"
Morpho flew straightaway to the cage, as it took back its two rapiers, reforming them from their hands, taking the two discarded ones out of reality.
"I could end this right now," Morpho commented.
"Please don't. I do believe he is innocent in all this," Marx pleaded.
"I will do so, then." Morpho turned back. The entity turned its back to the soul, as it flew towards Marx.
Marx thought it was alright to not act. He was torn. He hesitated.
And Morpho turned back, with a blinding speed unlike mortals, stabbing Marx's soul straight through his bowtie. There was a yelp of pain, though it wasn't from the soul. The soul did not squeak even once.
As Morpho stabbed and stabbed and stabbed, showing no emotion as he did so, Marx felt a bit queasy.
Looking down, he noticed that he, too, had holes everywhere.
Pain kicked in. It was writhing; withering pain, as Marx lay on his own blood, killed through a connection from his soul.
For his strongest to become his weakness… how hilarious it was.
Marx cackled. Humorous, humourous indeed.
This is a false god. What sort of god would do this…?
"Ahh. You've failed the test, then. You are not worthy as my champion," Morpho casually blurted out, as if it was just another day. "You have too many doubts and too much power to control. Such is imbalance."
"A waste of my time. Now, death comes knocking. This is your price to pay."
Morpho turned back into a butterfly, as he left the dream-induced world, with a small flash. The two bodies of Marx lay there, as the plants burned and all that was left is the hell the fight had created.
All is silent.
Francisca shook Marx. He shook Marx again. But the jester never woke up. Instead, his breathing got slower, and slower, as the cries of pain and writhing stopped.
Francisca looked at this and thought it a job well done. Thinking that Marx had calmed down, she joyfully left the room. As time ticked, the carefree girl went back to her sisters, off to report and sleep through the night. Unbeknownst to her and unnoticed by everyone, a single orange butterfly left through the window, phasing through the solid glass as a murder was left in the wake of the chaos.
All there was is the dead, rotting body of Marx.
"..."
"And so you're here."
"...What?"
I blinked. I blinked again. There is an odd creature here. A ball, with elongated legs and stubby arms. It looked alien.
It shone a bright light, a million colours at once, as it kept talking.
"So you've finally accepted your own soul?" the mysterious creature asked.
Me, being done with it all, snapped. Wasn't ever the patient type. "What's your problem? Is this heaven? Or is this hell? I know for a fact that I just died. I saw myself getting fucked up, pierced through a goddamn crazy amount, and here you are asking some enigmatic questions? What the fuck!?"
I was pissed. The face this lady had was one of shock.
Good.
"Please, just wait."
"I got all the time in the world, lady. None of that is going to be spent on you. Send me to whatever afterlife you have. I'm done."
I even put some snark in there. "To answer your question, me and my soul are fine and dandy. Yup! I didn't just get killed right now, definitely. This is totally real. Oh, who am I kidding…"
I broke down. I was dead. I am dead. Why can't I just take a break? I didn't ask for this. I didn't want this. Why?
A pat was on my back. It was me.
My soul had come to comfort me. Why?
Because we are together, he said. Bullshit.
Another backstab.
Because we are the one and the same, he said.
Another planned manipulation.
Pah.
I rejected my soul's hand and off I was, running away from all those lunatics. There was a reason I wished.
I wished to be alone. But Kirby proved that wrong.
I wished to not be dead. But in turn, I got caught in all this mess.
Why does everything turn against me so?
A dark heart was to the left of me. Spooky.
Growing ever closer. Looming.
"Would you want to destroy the world?" it asked.
I certainly did wish for that, the only wish to Nova I did. Nova exploded after that.
It was a bad wish. So...
"No."
So quick, so brutal, so undeniable.
"What a pity."
Dark, dark scenes began showing up. Nova, exploding. Kirby, dead. Magolor, dead. Taranza, dead. Dedede, dead, Susie, dead. Rick, dead. Kine, dead. Coo, dead. Marx.
Dead.
I stood above it all, as the remaining few alive stared at me in fear, in fright.
Daroach tried to pick a fight with me. I drowned him.
Meta Knight tried to slice me. I tore off his wings and crashed him.
Galacta tried to do the same. And I burned the angel at the stake.
The bodies keep on piling up.
As I looked on, me with this once familiar body, a monster showed up.
Me.
How odd I looked. It was off off off off off off off off-
This is reality, right? Right… this must be what happened.
I killed everyone.
A tap on my back. My caution is through the roof. As I fired an arrow to the tapping man, I looked as I saw myself, dead, an arrow stuck to my chest.
Fear.
"Stop this!" a holler came. What was that? Must be a bad dream. Ignoring it seemed best.
"Don't listen to him!" it screamt again. Ignoring it again. I must kill.
It was the only logical way.
Kill Morpho. As they say, an eye for an eye.
A death for another one.
As the images blurred and shattered, I regained my vision. My soul was battered up by the single arrow, as I felt the same pain. Gritting my teeth, I sucked up and watched as the same sentient glowing ball of… something fired at the dark heart.
The Jamba Heart broke into pieces, as the projectiles soon dissipated, too.
"In the name of Andromeda, your wish is granted!" With a swish, the creature turned to me. It was a beautiful one. One that actually looked like an angel. With a small hood and a design reminiscent of Magolor's robe, with some stars attached to it, it was not like Magolor, but instead the creature wearing it was like a fish, a creature barely gracing Kine's species. "Child of Tricksters, let us finally speak. Now that Termina's influence is rid of you, let us speak, heart to heart."
"My… wish?" I didn't care about any of the other hodgepodge. This lady just promised me something grand.
Killing Morpho. That was it…!
…
Marx smiled as he kept the plans to himself. "Finally, a person who I can trust. I accept."
This certain narrative was all he needed. Not a lie, not the truth, but something just in the middle.
A white lie. The blackened truth.
Silence rang across as the confirmation hung in the air.
He wasn't so sure anymore, after he said that. Not sure any longer. Something died inside me after that.
"A good choice."
The lady walked up to Marx, as the jester invitingly welcomed her.
Morpho, Deity of Challengers
A peculiar deity, as it does not align itself with anybody, thus performing a chaotic neutral role in all this despite his oath. Providing challenges to the world to make it 'interesting', it has a knack for challenging strong mortals, who usually will give him a chance to prove their worth before deciding if they are worth it or not as a potential candidate.
It hates both Andromeda, the Goddess of Will and Termina, the God of Chaos equally, both for various reasons.
AN: How odd. It took slightly bit longer than I thought.
Anyhoo, here's the newest chapter on Star's Allies. More extra lore, to fit the already going theme. Would be weird if there was only one supreme being (Termina). Where's the counterpart?
And so Andromeda came to fruition. Morpho, in all honesty, is a weird one. He appears mostly in beginning cutscenes, but I think he's an underdeveloped character. Sure, he fights you once, but then that's it. Where's the reason?
Filling this gap, I decided to add some parts to Morpho's character. Hope it feels well to read.
The reason Francisca doesn't recognise Marx as dead here is because she is too sheltered. Sure, she may know what the concept of death is, but she hasn't seen one firsthand, what the dead usually do, etc.
Also, Andromeda.
Anyways, off to the next one.
I mustn't allow this to happen. To think, that all the deities have fallen into such a manner of disarray.
I mustn't allow my children to be corrupted.
...
Something shone in Marx's room.
The click-clacking, the tick-tocking. The light, breaching from the windows as it blasted the walls away. The explosion rang for miles.
With steps, the entity moved. Not so graceful, and yet so soft, compared to the explosion that just happened.
It approached Marx's body. A hand, over the jester.
"No more lies from you, Andromeda," it spoke.
Hands off. A sigh came.
"I'm free, then. After all this time."
It allowed itself to revel, to bask in the crisp air; for it was free.