Chapter 32: Light Beneath the Darkness
The five saw darkness all around them.
Ribbon could not tell when she blinked. Just the glow of the Crystal Shard provided the one source of light as the Warp Star made its way through endless rows of dark clouds. What little life this planet may have had must have been corrupted, Ribbon thought.
"The Dark Matter must have used the Queen's body as a holding space-"
"Because no one would even suspect that the Queen of Ripple Star-" Adeleine made a dignified gesture with her hand, "-could ever be made evil."
"Yes." A brief annoyance flashed on Ribbons face at Adeleine's interruption. "Yet when the complete Shard exposed the darkness within my Queen, it couldnt use her as a vessel anymore and became...this." Ribbon could not describe the everlasting darkness without using the word 'dark.'
A Dark Matter sphere struck the right of the Warp Star, throwing Adeleine off of her feet. Kirby guided the Star further toward what he hoped was the center of the planet. With a black void greeting him in every direction, he had as much success as he would have reading a map written in black crayons.
Dedede leaned forward to help Adeleine up, but a second sphere zipped past him, stinging his beak. He maintained his stern composure and batted away small dark spores littering his beak. The penguin readied his hammer and swung into the darkness with no success.
Waddle Dee jumped over another orb that just missed his feet. A violent wind tossed the Warp Star further into the void.
"What the heck's wrong with this planet?" Kirby yelled.
"All this darkness in one place must be making it unstable," was Waddle Dee's best guess. "But maybe with the Shard here, too-"
An explosion of darkness did more than throw off Waddle Dee's thought; it threw the Warp Star into a frenzy that sent the five spiraling further into the depths of the planet. In separate directions. With no prior knowledge of Dark Star or even how to begin thinking how one would navigate through the sphere.
And alone.
Wake up, star warrior. Wake up. I am not finished with you yet.
Kirby's head ached- that feeling of not wanting to start the day hit him as he struggled to flex his arms. He won the battle of raising his head and saw an elemental crystal a few feet away from him. His pudgy arms stretched out to grab it before it shattered.
Eyes lowered, feet springing to life, Kirby tried to stand, but what seemed like hours of fatigue hit him as he stumbled back. Endless clouds of crimson fog met his eyes. The wind howled with the shrieks of many lost souls. Get up, already. Stand, Kirby thought to himself as his hands and feet shook with anticipation and nervousness.
As he stumbled to the end of the red hexagon he stood on, he planted his right foot firm on the platform and began gasping for air. He looked around. "Ribbon? Waddle?" He paused. "Artist?"
No one. Just a few mindless N-Z creatures pacing back and forth as if waiting for an epiphany to hit them. Kirby inched towards the edge of the platform and floated through the air. Except he didnt float. His body crashed against the next platform as more exhaustion hit his body.
The N-Z charged towards Kirby, who craned forward far enough to inhale the black ball. Kirby's face soured at the taste of emptiness. He turned to his left and spat the N-Z right into another on another platform next to him. Kirby blanched. "At least the ones on Pop-Star have some kind of taste to them." He sighed and leapt to the next platform. I'm talking to myself already.
Refusing to amuse the other N-Zs, Kirby huffed and charged into the air- expecting to drop like an anchor again- when he regained control of his body and managed to float over the multitude of scarlet hexagons.
Then he reached a dead end. He peered over the edge and nothing but red clouds again. His foot shook. This wasnt like Shiver Star where Zebons could guide him down. He sat on the ground and groaned. "Now what?"
The platforms behind him rumbled. All of a sudden, one of the hexagons burst into the air, followed by a familiar red puffball.
"So here's where you ended up!"
A familiar face brought Kirby to his feet. "Waddle! But how'd you get up here?"
Waddle Dee motioned to the contraption with rockets strapped to his back. "That artist can make anything work."
"But if you found her, why'd you come up here?"
"The Warp Star went missing, so I thought I'd check up here, but I haven't seen it. What about you?"
Kirby shook his head. "No idea."
A beat, then Waddle Dee spoke again. "Well, we better head down here. Dedede said he may have an idea."
Kirby watched Waddle Dee jump down the hole. As he approached the gap, he wondered just how it took the others no time to regroup. Or maybe just more time had passed than he thought.
Adeleine's welcoming interrupted Kirby's thoughts as he and Waddle Dee landed next to the artist, who had enough time to not only remove her easel and paint supplies, but paint a juicy looking tomato to hand to Kirby just as he landed.
"Kirby, I thought you would have turned into some kinda 'evil dark black Kirby' with zombie eyes or something!" Adeleine stretched her hands outward to simulate a zombie's walk.
Kirby, too focused on his quick snack, looked back to Waddle. "But how? When we got to the planet, we couldn't see anything but darkness. Now this?"
"All the Dark Matter spheres that weve seen had that red eye." Waddle looked around. "Sky's red. Maybe we're at the heart of the planet."
"You mean we're in the eye's heart? How does that even work?" Adeleine asked.
"We went into a volcano without melting and you're questioning this?" Kirby ended the debate there and looked into the distance. "If that's Dedede, it looks like he wants us to come over."
"Yeah, that's what I meant by the idea part," Waddle added.
The three leapt two chasms, Adeleine taking longer due to gathering up her art supplies, and approached Dedede, who clutched his hammer with pride as he kept his eyes trained on Kirby.
"Well, there ya are." Dedede didn't try to hide the annoyance in his voice. "Ribbon's up there and says she needs your help looking through the sky for the Warp Star."
"But what about you all? If Adeleine can paint stuff to fly with, then we all-"
"She asked for you, Kirby," Waddle interrupted. "Besides, we can cover a lot more-I was gonna say ground, but theres not a lot of ground here anyway, so we can get down here. You and Ribbon should take the sky." Kirby gave him a skeptical glance. "You should take the red clouds."
Realizing he couldn't win the argument, Kirby sighed in acceptance. "Fine. All right, Adeleine, paint me another of those fancy jet planes."
"If you could take two steps forward, puffball, she'll get right on it," came Dedede's response.
Not understanding the correlation, Kirby obliged and walked forward, not noticing the hexagon he stood on had a light shade of blue and not the crimson of the others. "I don't see the point in moving here when she could just-"
Kirby didn't get to finish his sentence, for Dedede had slammed his hammer into an emerald hexagon in front of him, bouncing Kirby off of the blue platform and high, high, higher towards Ribbon.
As Kirbys voice trailed off, Waddle Dee looked to Adeleine. "Rubber hexagons? What made you think he'd fall for that?"
Adeleine snorted. "Hey, it worked."
"-and that way, I could be up in the sky in no time," Kirby's voice trailed off when he noticed the red clouds fly past him until, all of a sudden, he stopped.
"So could you jump this fast the entire time?"
That familiar voice brought sweet relief to Kirby as he found himself caught by Ribbon's embrace. He would have said hello, if not for the strange jewel in her hand. He asked her what it was.
"This? Well, the Crystal Shard can be converted into a weapon that pierces the darkest of evil. We call it the Crystal Gun. I couldn't give it to you back on Ripple Star because we'd been separated, but I think I can use it to cut through the Dark Matter and get us back home."
"That's great," Kirby responded as he grew wary of being in the air. "Just make sure your wings dont get tired."
Ribbon laughed. "Don't you worry about me, Kirby. Just try not weigh me down with your-"
An explosion broke Ribbon's concentration. Pain singed her back as she lost her balance, causing her and Kirby to lower a bit.
You die tonight, star warrior.
The air surrounding them chilled. Ribbon's hands shivered as she struggled to fly back up. As she regained altitude, her eyes met it.
A white orb.
The orb took shape, its ends extending in three segments, breaking apart to form blood tipped wings. Red bled into the center of the sphere, white bled into that until a perfect eye took form.
The wind murmured in a low hum as a dim light grew more brilliant above the top of the orb. The light expanded, curving itself into an oval of pure radiance.
It didn't have a spiteful laugh. It wasnt a spinning cube. This thing, was it an angel of some kind? It lived isolated in the darkness, yet represented one of the purest forms of innocence. Its eye leered towards the two with no contempt or hatred, but a blank stare: hard to interpret, easy to misinterpret.
Ribbon looked toward the ground, yet all she could see was a blanket of darkness. This thing floated in front of her, so why did she feel its ever-present gaze pierce her soul no matter where she looked? She closed her eyes, she still felt its gaze snake its way around her, tracing down her body and locking its gaze upon the Shard.
Push. You continued to push.
Ribbon shrunk at the sound of its voice cutting through the darkness.
You feel fear now. That shaking hand will not maintain its grip on your weapon of light, fairy. And yet, you are able to feel.
Its eye traveled towards Kirby.
And you, star warrior. Your presence would again pain me, if I could feel pain at all. A beat. You remember me.
A statement, not a question.
Kirby released the grip on his eyes and saw it. Like spotting an old flame when she walked into town or refusing to look a bad grade in the eye, Kirby refused to believe that it existed. That it lived.
That it survived.
It growled with the low anticipation of an awakened tiger, yet it giggled with the excitement of a newborn having keys dangled in front of its face.
You do remember me.
Its confirmation dripped with absolute certainty.
It was no accident that you did not choke on the emptiness of space during your descent to the star warrior's planet, fairy. Miracle Matter served its role as a pawn.
Ribbon arched an eyebrow in mild curiosity.
Your perseverance, your joys and supposed triumph over darkness, planet after planet, pushed you onward. Your planet, young fairy, serves as a bastion for all things pure and incorruptible. Your Shard represents all the good in the galaxy.
But do the creatures in the dark feel any of this elation? Its tone grew venomous, like the tiger now ready to strike. Do creatures of the dark feel at all? Should we be exiled to stumble in darkness, to suffer in sadness, while you continue to extinguish what little life we have?
"You had your pawns try to kill me! Kill us!" Ribbons wings fluttered, her fists clenched.
We exist in this universe just to suffer. Just to be extinguished by the light, and to die without being able to feel. Many of those creatures perish. Dark Star once existed as a planet without any source of light. If you ever experienced living in the light, you would agree that living in this planet would be enough.
Do you believe that all beings, once they perish, leave this realm for eternal bliss? No! Those who failed to attain that type of glory reside in Dark Star. And their request for being rejected from what they perceive as paradise: to be punished for the lack of light in their life. As such, the cold and solitude became misery. This star warrior now twice refuses to acknowledge our plight. I've spent years listening to the wails of the damned. If we in this lost planet cannot be allowed to feel any semblance of joy, then all other entities in the cosmos should suffer in eternal darkness!
The creature's eye widened as several bluish stars flew from the center. Those stars scattered into smaller stars and exploded mere inches from Ribbon's face.
Ribbon's wings sprung to life as she zipped back and forth to evade the explosions. "Kirby, fire the Shards!"
At once, Kirby gripped the Crystal Gun and fired all over the sphere, but the projectiles just bounced off of the orb.
You said you wished to find the source of your planet's agony, young fairy. Are you satisfied?
"Stop it!" Ribbon turned her head to the side and shut her eyes. A crimson fury came over her and she failed to notice the glistening star sneaking to her side. All of a sudden, noise rang in her ears as the explosion hurtled her and Kirby throughout the darkness.
Kirby felt Ribbon's iron grip loosen, but he refused to drop. He gripped her left hand and tried to speak over the fairy's wails. He focused his aim more on the sphere's center and his lip twitched in mild joy- and disgust- when red began to bleed down the sphere's eye. "Ribbon, its the eye!"
Ribbon shook her head. With her free hand, she wiped sweat from her forehead and avoided another series of explosions. The bangs still rocked her ears as she flew closer to the orb.
As Ribbon came up on the sphere's left, Kirby fired shard after shared into the orb's center. More red poured from its center and the halo atop flickered on and off with each penetrating shot. With a few more shots, the orb's wings extended at attention. "Ribbon, take me up!"
"What if it starts shooting again?"
"I think I know what I'm doing, now do it!"
Ribbon stared long and hard at Kirby, the closest she'd come to refusing his advice, before flying closer to the orb's top. Something about the intensity in his voice led her to believe he had the right idea. Her eyes widened at the sight of a bandage hiding beneath the halo.
I do remember some of this, Kirby thought to himself. He shot a barrage of shards at the halo, the magnificent yellow changing to a pale green, then a blue that bled into red before the entire halo shattered.
"Down, down! We have to go under it now!"
Ribbon descended just as one of the orb's wings slammed into her body. Her body buckled downward and her ears rang. Her heart thundered as her left hand broke with a wet snap. Pain stabbed through her straining chest as she gaped for air, but she felt power coarse through her right hand as she guided Kirby toward the bottom of the flailing orb.
"There!" Kirby aimed the Crystal Gun at the long, green thorn-like tail swinging on the bottom of the creature. He fired shards through the green globs the orb spewed as a greenish liquid oozed down the tail.
Ribbon could not ignore the pain in her hand as she moved around the globs. The wind blown in her direction when the wings flapped whipped her hair back.
"We're almost there, Ribbon! Just a bit more!"
Just then, a glob struck Kirby's foot. A stinging sensation surged throughout his body as he felt the Crystal Gun slip a bit from his hand.
The thorn tail disappeared within the sphere as its eye rolled back into view.
Happiness. Just a mere word. Sorrow and despair- that shall resonate throughout this galaxy. Do not resist.
Ribbon gripped Kirby's hand for life as she moved to the side, keeping away from the blast range of the explosions. "See if you can shoot its wings!"
An explosion blew Ribbon back, but aside from reminding her of the pain in her left hand, she survived.
Kirby fired at the crimson tips of the orb, the pain leaving his foot all of a sudden when the wingtips shattered into nothing.
The ability to feel makes you weak, star warrior. The fairy burdens you, day after day. Do away with those emotions and cast her into darkness-
A shard cut through the wingtips of the other wing. The orb's voice grew raspy, as if speaking with sandpaper rubbing against its throat.
Your inner decay gave rise to this abyss. Give into it.
Kirby focused on the eye. The shards blasted from the gun one after another as Ribbon maneuvered with grace around the explosions.
"You don't have to tell me twice to just ignore that thing, Kirby!"
As Kirby continued to fire, he couldn't resist watching Ribbon banking left and right, evading dangers with a fierce determination he had seen in glimpses, but never for a continuous amount of time.
"I've had a bunch of things try and tell me to back off! All just pieces in this creature's game!"
"Ribbon-"
"I DIDN'T WATCH MY PLANET FALL TO DARKNESS OR SEE MY QUEEN CORRUPTED JUST SO I COULD DIE HERE!"
Don't need to remind me, Kirby thought, a smile forming across his face. He fired faster into the sphere's eye, blood staining the creature all over.
The halo began to crack again. Ribbon zipped towards it and Kirby unleashed a fast flurry of shards at the halo, almost without his command. The halo faded from yellow to green, from blue to red again until it vanished.
Why, why cant I strike her again?
"The wings, Ribbon! The wings! It's not going as fast as before!"
Ribbon soared to the sphere's soft underbelly as the swinging thorn tail came into view.
Light has to be extinguished at some point.
Kirby fired shards through the globs, the sharp pain in his foot begging for attention. The tail shined with each shard cutting through it.
You cannot outrun the darkness. No one can.
Several more shards impacted.
You are soft and sympathetic, star warrior. Convincing you to abandon this parasitic fairy fell on deaf ears.
Kirby continued to fire.
What are you doing? Do not ignore me! DO NOT THINK DARKNESS WILL FADE AWAY!
The tail vanished. A beat, then a ray of light burst from the creature. Then a second, a third, too many for Kirby and Ribbon to keep count of.
"Did we-"
A low grumbling grew angrier like the tiger now ready to rip its captured prey to shreds. Ribbon couldnt tell if she trembled on her own or if that was the grumbling of the planet. Her eyes widened as the light grew brighter. Was this it? Did they succeed? Could they still lose?
More light shined.
"Ribbon-"
Ribbon struggled to swallow and ignored how fast she blinked. "It's for the best, Kirby. If this is where we end, at least the Shard will go with us. No evil shall try to corrupt it again and-" Ribbon's right hand gripped Kirby's. "-we are together."
Kirby closed his eyes, ready for the inevitable.
The light took over.
You will never escape the dark. No one will.