Morning was a well-established routine for the Mage Sisters. Wake up, brush your teeth, brush your hair, eat breakfast, get dressed, head out. The problem was when three people tried to accomplish these tasks at once.
The most often occurrence was that Flamberge and Francisca, their eyes still half-closed from sleep, would get out of their respective beds and both try to leave the room at once. They would then get stuck in the doorway with their bodies pushing against each other. This was typically followed by Flam's angry and confused shouts mingling with Fran's apologies stammered out at a thousand miles a minute. Zan Partizanne then had to manually extract them from the doorway and herd them one at a time through the door into the bathroom.
Then all three of them tried brushing their teeth, which quickly devolved into the sisters climbing over each other to try to get in front of the mirror (strangely, none of them ever seemed to remember that they could fly). Eventually, Zan calmly told the others to wait their turn and they immediately calmed down. From there, they applied the same amount of patience to brushing their hair, though Fran had to hold Flam in place while Zan brushed the fiery girl's hair for her (Flam would always try to get out of trying to tame her crazy hair by questioning the point of brushing their hair when they always wore hats).
Breakfast was a much calmer affair, though that had more to do with the very real threat of accidentally burning down the castle (Dedede had generously given them a room until they could find a place of their own). Francisca would typically contend herself with something simple like cereal and a banana. Flamberge ate as much toast as she could fit in the toaster with various jams and jellies. Zan was really the only one competent at cooking, so she typically made something egg-related and got egg whites all over the countertop in the process.
In short, the Mage Sisters' morning was filled with chaos and they loved every second of it.
On this particular morning, Zan was the first to finish her breakfast, so she was the first to disappear into the bedroom to get dressed. Francisca was nearly done with her cereal while Flamberge continued to devour the toast drowned in strawberry jam on her plate. The ice mage let her gaze fall upon the three new additions to their décor: their paintings of Adeleine. Fran found herself smiling at the memory, and felt a little guilty at the swell of pride she felt upon seeing her painting was the most recognizable of the three (Zan had confusedly tried using her spear as a paintbrush and skewered her first canvas while Flam… well, the scorch marks on the ground from would probably go away eventually.)
But then she noticed something else: the calendar in the middle of the triangle of art. It was just a typical dollar store calendar, nothing remarkable. It was what was printed on it that got her confused.
"Hey Flam?" The fire mage looked up from her stack of toast and saw her little sister had plucked the calendar off the wall and was showing it to her. "What's this right here?"
"That's a calendar, Fran," Flamberge replied. "Come on, even I know that."
"No, this!" Fran said, pointing frantically at one of the dates. "The one with the words written on it?"
Flam saw what she meant. She was pointing at this coming Sunday. Today was Thursday, so that was three days away. Then she noticed that there were two small words printed on the box alongside the number for the day of the month.
"It says 'Mother's Day.' Based on what it's called, I think it's a day about celebrating… motherhood or something?" Flam said. "I've never actually heard of it."
"Me neither," Francisca replied. "And if we don't know, I don't think Zan will know either."
"I'll ask Meta Knight today during sword practice," Flam said. "He's got all that worldly wisdom junk that you get when you turn old."
"Good idea," Fran said, not even registering Flam's possible insult. "I bet King Dedede might be able to help too."
After they all finished breakfast and cleaned up their respective messes (Zan had drilled into them from birth "if you make the mess, you clean it up without complaining."), they went down to the training yard for their respective weapons practice. It had become a regular occurrence since they had joined the Dream Friends; Zan would teach some new spear tricks to Bandanna Dee, Flamberge would try and fail to beat Meta Knight in a duel at least half a dozen times a day, and Francisca would join Dedede for what he called his "SMASHIN' TIME!"
It was after her fifth loss to the Star Warrior that Flamberge got around to asking about the mysterious secrets of "Mother's Day." They were taking a short water break, which Flamberge had been excited for the first time it happened. However, much to her disappointment, Meta Knight did not remove his mask even for eating and drinking, as a small panel opened up on the mask's face to allow passage to his mouth.
"Yo Meta Knight," Flamberge said. "What's Mother's Day?"
Meta Knight gave her a sideways glance. "You don't celebrate Mother's Day where you're from?"
"Never even heard of it," Flam confessed. "I'd figure I'd ask you cause you've got that 'worldly wisdom' stuff that old people have."
Meta Knight stared at her. "Anyone else might be insulted by your lack of tact. I think I'll just take the compliment."
Flamberge's cheeks took a slight pink hue and she looked down in shame. "Uh, sorry."
"Mother's Day is exactly what it sounds like," Meta Knight said. "It is a day where children celebrate all the hard work that their mothers do to take care of them by spending the day taking care of their mother in return."
"Whoa," Flam remarked, her eyes filled with wonder. "That sounds so adorable. It sounds like an episode of one of those kiddie cartoons! So what kinds of stuff do people do on Mother's Day?"
"Well," Dedede said, winding his hammer up, "I remember I always made Mama Dedede breakfast in bed. Course, I nearly burned the house down every time. Pull!"
At his command, Taranza released the latch on the catapult and launched another boulder at the king. Just before it flattened him, he swung his hammer up and completely pulverized the rock, sending its many tiny pieces everywhere.
"Wait, you have a mom? Ow!" Taranza's question was followed in short order by a rock falling on his head.
"O' course I got a mama!" Dedede replied, stepping back and allowing Francisca to take his place. "Darn near everyone's got a mama! 'Cept Gooey of course. That guy's just weird."
"We never really knew our mother," Francisca confessed, conjuring her axe with a flick of her wrist. "I've been working for Hyness for as long as I can remember."
"My mom was the only parent I had," Taranza said as he used his webs to lift another boulder onto the catapult. "I did have almost a hundred brothers and sisters to make up for that, though. Crazy one, my mother."
"What did you do for Mother's Day, Taranza?" Francisca asked.
"Oh, you know, got her some flowers, made her a card, promised not to eat anything in her rose garden for the rest of the week, typical Mother's Day fare," Taranza said. "Incoming!"
Francisca tuned out everything else and watched the boulder fly through the air. She slammed her axe down on the ground and a massive ice pillar burst forth and smashed the rock into dust.
"Not bad, Frosta," Dedede said. "I think that'll be enough for today. Now let's see if I can't rustle up some lunch."
The ice mage sighed. "It's Francisca."
"You know, the more I hear about this whole Mother's Day thing, the more I really wish we could try it out," Flamberge said between bites of her burger.
They were sitting at a table inside Chef Kawasaki's restaurant. Zan would have joined them, except she said she wanted to join Dedede for his lunch so they could talk about getting a home outside the castle. Certainly, the sisters were grateful for his hospitality, which he shared to all the Dream Friends that didn't already live on Popstar, but they would feel better if they got to live on their own.
"I know what you mean," Francisca said. She had already finished her salad and was watching her sister with interest. It amazed her how the fiery girl was able to devour her food with such gusto. The only thing that came close to her zeal was Kirby's own insatiable hunger.
Then Fran gasped and rose from her seat. "I KNOW WHAT WE CAN DO FOR MOTHER'S DAY!" she screamed.
"SHHHH!" Flamberge shushed, accidentally spraying bits of burger on her plate. "Chill out, Sis! Shouting suddenly is supposed to be my thing!"
"S-sorry," Fran said, lowering to her chair with a blush forming on her face. People were staring, but a quick glare from Flam made them all suddenly remember that they had meals to eat too.
"Now, what were you saying?" Flamberge asked, finishing her burger afterward.
"Oh, right!" Francisca said, perking up as she was reminded of her exciting idea. Her eyes filled with wonder, she leaned forward and said, "What if we celebrated Mother's Day, but we did it for Zan?"
Flamberge tilted her head in mock confusion, though already a smile was creeping onto her face as well. "She's not our mom, Fran."
"So?!" Francisca asked. She noticed her voice had risen again and looked around nervously, but no one seemed to notice this time. "She's practically raised us for as long as we can remember. She taught us how to fight and how to do magic. And she had to teach all that stuff to herself before she could teach it to us! She's the most amazing woman I know, and I just want to do something nice for her."
"Stop right there, Francisca," Flamberge said, "because I am already way on board."
And then Francisca, one of the most feared mages in the galaxy and a high-ranking member of a cult of darkness, actually squeed.
"Oh, this'll be so much fun!" she shouted, darting around the table and nearly tackling her sister to the floor in a very aggressive hug.
"Y-yeah, I can feel the fun," Flamberge managed to wheeze out.
Francisca gasped and let her sister go. "But what should we do for her?"
"Breakfast in bed, flowers, chocolate." Flamberge frowned in concentration. "But aside from the chocolate, Big Sis would probably find that stuff boring."
"You're probably right," Fran conceded, looking a bit downtrodden.
Flamberge grinned and put a hand around her sister's shoulder. "Hey, cheer up, Little Sis! There's no rulebook that says you have to celebrate Mother's Day like everyone else – the boring way."
Francisca looked at Flamberge in confusion. "What're you saying?"
"I'm saying we turn Mother's Day into Zan's very own Not-Mother's Day!" Flam said. "We give her a day she'll never forget, because that's what sisters are for!"
Francisca smiled. She could already see where her fiery sister was going with this. "Okay, what did you have in mind?"
"Okay, first we need everyone's help," Flamberge said. With that, the two sat back down and began conspiring to make the most memorable Not-Mother's Day in history.
The first thing Zan Partizanne noticed when she awoke that Sunday was that it was quiet.
She sat up and looked at the doorway to their bedroom. Indeed, her younger siblings were not stuck in the doorway, unable to move thanks to their own early-morning disorientation. A look to her right confirmed that their beds were empty and – this was the biggest surprise of all – neatly made.
Zan was getting the distinct sense that today would be an odd day.
Things only became stranger from there. She brushed her teeth in utter silence, her mind racing as she tried to figure out where her two little sisters were. Was there some extraordinary occasion taking place today that she had forgotten about? If that were the case, Zan would have to get a specialist to examine her; usually it was Flamberge who was forgetting the important dates and Zan who was reminding her. But the more she thought of it, the more she realized that wasn't the case. If there were some special event today, surely her sisters would have had the decency to wake her up beforehand? Zan definitely remembered raising them to be better than that.
Zan floated into the kitchen and found that her sisters had not abandoned her. They were sitting at the table, fully dressed and nearly finished with breakfast. At Zan's seat there was a steaming omelet waiting for her.
Francisca looked up and smiled at Zan. "Good morning, Big Sister!"
Flamberge turned around and gave Zan a cheeky smile and a wave. She didn't say anything, as she wasn't quite finished with her last piece of toast, this time covered in marmalade.
"Are you two… alright?" Zan asked.
"Yes, why do you ask?" Francisca replied. Then she motioned to the chair. "Please, sit down and eat. We've got a big day today."
Zan lowered into her chair and picked up her fork hesitantly, as if afraid it might explode in her face. "It's just that you're acting remarkably… civilized this morning."
Flamberge slurped her toast down her throat… somehow. "Well gee, Zan, you're acting remarkably polite this morning."
"Sorry," Zan said. "I'm not used to it being this quiet. It's… a bit strange." She took the first bite of her omelet and her eyes widened. It was… well it just might have been the most delicious thing she had ever tasted. There was bacon, green peppers, and cheddar cheese inside the omelet, perfectly blending with the taste of the eggs. And the texture!
"Did you make this?" she asked her sisters.
"Pffft, no!" Flamberge said with a dismissive wave. "We got Kawasaki to make it for us. Could you imagine if we tried cooking for you?"
Though she would not say it out loud for fear of hurting their feelings, Zan had to admit that Flam was right.
She continued eating her omelet while the other two mages merely watched her in silence. The whole time, Zan couldn't decide if she liked the change of pace or not. On one hand, it was nice to be able to hear her own thoughts without Flamberge or Francisca drowning them out. On the other hand, she found herself thinking that something was missing. Without the sounds of them arguing or laughing or just the sounds of their voices… the room just felt empty.
She finished her meal, then looked between the two sisters. "You mentioned that we had a big day today?"
Flamberge made a show of smacking her forehead. "Oh dang it! I almost forgot!" she shouted. She could not have more obviously been acting if she tried. "We have an important meeting in the foyer right now!"
"Gasp! Oh, gee gosh golly!" Francisca said, putting her hands on her cheeks. "I cannot believe we could have been so careless as to have forgotten such an important detail!"
Zan tilted her head in confusion. This was obviously some sort of joke, but she could play along. "I don't remember King Dedede notifying us of such a meeting."
"Well, there's only one thing we can do now," Flamberge said, rising from her seat and taking Zan's left hand.
"We've got to skedaddle on down there lickety-split!" Francisca finished, taking Zan's other hand.
"Wait, right now?!" Zan asked. "But I still have to get dressed!" She was still wearing her pajamas and nightcap, both white with bright yellow smiley faces and lightning bolts on them.
"No time!" Flamberge said, and she and Francisca literally began dragging their older sister out the door. "I'm sure they'll be understanding."
Zan struggled to get free, but her sisters would not relent. It wasn't long before all three had left their home and slammed the door behind them.
Zan had given up fighting against her sisters dragging her through the halls of Castle Dedede. She just offered exasperated expressions to the occasional members of the castle staff that they passed on their way to the foyer.
When they actually got to the foyer, they just stopped and stood there.
"Well?" Flam asked.
"Well what?" Zan replied. "I'm facing away from the room."
"Oops! Sorry," Fran said.
They both turned their older sister around and let go of her hands.
What she saw made Zan Partizanne gasp.
The foyer was decorated with yellow streamers hanging down the walls. Every one of the Dream Friends was gathered there, mingling about and laughing. In one corner, someone had plugged in an arcade machine labeled "Air Ride," along with a pinball machine labeled "Canvas Curse." In another corner, there was a limbo stick set on a stand. Tables with snacks and drinks dominated the center of the room. On a raised platform in back, Mic Kirby was acting as DJ and playing some party music. A huge banner hung above the platform with the words "HAPPY NOT-MOTHER'S DAY ZAN" written in bright yellow.
"Hey everyone! The guest of honor's here!" Flamberge shouted.
At her words, everyone turned and gave varying calls of greeting.
"What in Jambastion is this?" Zan asked.
"So we learned about this thing called 'Mother's Day…'" Flamberge said.
"…and we decided we wanted to do something special for you to celebrate it!" Francisca finished.
"But we knew you would get all bored with the usual flowers and breakfast in bed junk," Flam continued.
"So we decided to get everyone to help us throw you a surprise Not-Mother's Day party!" Francisca said.
They both looked at the lightning mage expectantly. "Well? What do you think?" Flamberge asked.
Zan looked from the many guests to the various activities set up to the two individuals who had coordinated it all just for her. "What do I think?" she asked.
Without warning she lunged forward, wrapping the two in her arms in a tight embrace.
"I think I have the two best sisters anyone could ask for!" she shouted, her voice filled with genuine mirth.
Flamberge and Francisca, at first surprised by the sudden display of affection from Zan Partizanne, returned the hug just as tightly.
After what seemed like an eternity, the three broke up and Zan looked at the arcade machines with determination. "Now, before this day is through I will have ALL the high scores on that thing!" She took off like a lightning bolt, leaving sparks in her wake.
Flamberge lightly smacked Francisca on the side of the head, causing the ice mage to give her an annoyed look. "What was that for?" she demanded.
"Skedaddle? Lickedy-split?" Flam asked.
"You know I don't improvise well!" Fran protested.
"I'll say," the fire mage responded. "You actually said 'gasp' out loud instead of actually gasping!"
"I'm not good with stage directions either," Fran said, rubbing her neck nervously.
And that was how Zan Partizanne, most feared mage in the galaxy and former second-in-command to a dark cult, came to play Air Ride in her pajamas in the middle of Castle Dedede's foyer.
A/N: A very happy Mother's Day to you all! Let this be a reminder to show the mother(s) or maternal figures in your life the same care and love they give you every day. I certainly know that I will.
If you haven't already, leave a review and check out my other stories! Though admittedly, some are slightly less kid-friendly than what you see here.