Author's note: This'll be my second last author's note since I'm not doing one at the end of this chapter. I just didn't want to ruin the mood…what am I saying? Please keep reading. Reviews are welcome, but don't feel like I'm forcing you. I'm not.

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16

Never

"I can't take it anymore! We need to do something! Just look out the window!"

I looked at Marx, who was lying down at the end of the bed. His head was turned slightly to see out of the window. "What do you mean? We can't really help, you know that."

He scowled at me, trying to look angry and frightening. It didn't work. "We don't know what's going on and that feeling…it bothers me. A lot."

"Control freak," I giggled as he glared at me with such fury he probably could've shot lasers out of his eyes. I leaned over and patted his head.

"If you aren't careful, you'll be missing a paw pretty soon!" He snapped. He was about to say something else when a deafening crash sound hit us. I grabbed Marx for safety as he screamed hysterically.

"Hey! You two! Get out of there NOW!" a pair of arms wrapped around us and ushered us out of the room. I opened my eyes and realized I was still holding Marx.

"Meta Knight!" he shouted. I let go with the shock of his ridiculously loud voice,

Meta Knight began to walk away and we followed reluctantly. "Did you hear it?"

"Nah, we just thought it would be fun to sit in the room and panic. Of course we heard the goddamn CRASH!" Marx shrieked. He was shivering with a terrified expression on his face. I hugged him again reassuringly.

"I believe that it is downstairs," Meta Knight continued walking. Marx glared up at me.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. He shook his head and looked at the ground.

I saw Meta Knight staring us angrily. "There's no time to waste. Please hurry."

"I'm sorry, that was my fault," Marx murmured. I placed my paw on his back and pushed him along.

When we reached the throne room it was barely recognizable. There was rubble everywhere and no one was in sight. I ran in to see Zero in the center of the room. I'd never noticed he was so big. His wing span was the width of the room and his actual body was a fourth of that. A much smaller Drawcia began to circle him. They must've been battling outside before crashing through the wall.

"Holy-! What happened here?" Marx stumbled in, studying our surroundings. I heard a shout from across the room and turned to face it. Ribbon's head, along with a few others, was peeking out from behind a pile of rubble.

I grabbed Marx by his hat and ran over to them. "What's going on? Is anyone hurt?" I asked upon arrival.

"My castle is RUINED!" Dedede screamed loudly. We all stared at him, "What?"

"No one really cares," Marx sighed, "So, is there battle plan yet?"

Kirby raised his paw like a student. "We're gonna attack Drawcia with brute force! YEAH!"

Marx gave him a blank stare. "Um, I guess that's as good as anything else. We'll need to fight strategically though. I was thinking of ambushing Drawcia from behind or…oh whatever! Just try and kill her!"

There was a cheer before everyone invaded the battlefield, nearly trampling Marx and I. "Who cheers about hurting others? Isn't that sadistic?"

"Them, and yes it is," Marx transformed into his soul form and scowled at me, "get on my back."

"Why?"

"Just do it!" he scooped me up, placing me gently on his back. I snuggled into him lovingly, "This isn't the time for that! Where's your parasol?"

I shook my head. "Someone's angry today," I hopped off his back and pushed some of the rubble aside, revealing my parasol. I took it and climbed back onto Marx, who looked amazed.

"How did you know..? Whatever, I don't care. Let's just get going." he flapped his wings a few times before flying up and towards the battle.

"What are you planning on doing?" I asked nervously as we plunged down, aiming for Drawcia. She dodged just in time and we were sent hurtling to the ground.

"What on Pop Star was that?" we (or rather Marx) flew back up to face her, "Oh, I should've known. Deranged clown and peasant girl."

I waved my parasol in the air with anger. "Old witch lady, you'll pay for that!"

"Calling one another names isn't helping…" Zero floated up, looking malevolent. He shot an energy ball at an unsuspecting Drawcia. She was knocked out instantly and fell to the floor, paralyzed.

Marx and I looked at her body in curiosity. "Is that all? Nah, that was too easy!" he complained. One of the ends of his hat touched my face, tickling me. I giggled and swatted at it aimlessly. I ended up hitting him.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry!"

"No, you didn't…look out!" this time Drawcia was the one shooting an energy ball. I wasn't sure if it was at us or Zero. I concluded it wasn't us because she didn't chase after us when we flew away from the battle.

Marx and I floated there for a long time, watching the two exchange attacks. Neither was really getting anywhere. After a while I saw projectiles coming from the ground. I looked down to see that everyone was firing things at Drawcia to the best of their abilities. I waved though they probably couldn't see me.

"Hold onto me," Marx said suddenly, "we're going to fly at Drawcia at full speed. If we die, I want you to know I love you."

I hugged him tight. "I love you too. Please go ahead." with that we dashed through the air. I felt like I was going to fall until some strange liquid wrapped itself around us. The surprise distracted me as we collided with Drawcia. The liquid, which I recognized as paint, enveloped and trapped her.

"Hell yes! That was awesome. Wasn't that awesome? Yeah! I was awesome!"

I patted Marx's head and laughed. "Yes you were. You were awesome."

Without wasting any time, Zero brushed past us. A few Dark Matters formed around him and began attacking Drawcia. She shrieked in pain and began to panic. It hurt to watch so I closed my eyes.

"Dee, are you okay? What are you doing?" Marx asked. His voice was soft and tender like he was talking to a child.

I shook my head. "I'm fine. This's just horrible, though! I can't look!"

"How could you..?" the sound of Drawcia's voice made me finally open them. She was freed from the paint and hung in the air, looking weak and beaten, "All my dreams have faded away. Never to come again. I'll never be happy." She swayed around a few times before a black hole opened behind her.

Marx's wings flapped up and down frantically. "What's she doing? TELL ME!"

"Omigod, Marx!" the suction force coming from the hole tore me off Marx's back. I grasped onto his right wing. It was the only thing keeping me from flying away.

"Dee!"

I couldn't take it anymore after some time, so I let go. Marx screeched something that made no sense and flew after me. We got sucked into the black hole together and lost consciousness.

I woke up in a world made of nothing. There was no ground, no life forms, no anything. The only other living thing was Marx, who had his wings wrapped around my body in an embrace. I struggled to get out but realized I couldn't. So after a while I just cuddled into him. It was so comfortable and quiet I almost fell asleep.

"Dee?" Marx's eyes fluttered opened and he hugged me tighter, "You're alive!"

"Of course I am! I wouldn't die and leave you all alone," he let go and I made my way onto his back again, "okay, so where are we?"

He shook his head. "Beats me. Huh, well let's see…Drawcia dragged us here so she might be in this place too."

"I agree. So we look for Drawcia, right?" This earned me a nod and we were off, exploring the vast space.

We were flying for what seemed like years before we spotted a shape in the distance. Marx approached it carefully and as we got closer I realized it was just an empty can. Neither of us wondered what it was there for, we just kept going.

"Are you looking for me, sweeties?"

I took out my parasol in defence. "Who's there?"

Drawcia materialized in front of us. She appeared just as she did before we came to this place; beaten and ragged. "You don't understand how sorry I am right now!" there was a silence so she kept going, "I just…you wouldn't understand. You wouldn't know."

"Know what?" I asked.

"Know…the suffering," her yellow eye welled up with tears, "I had no parents and no one ever loved me. Even the painter, the one who created my painting form, even they abandoned me. I was a freak and no one understood! They would just hate me before they even got to know me! It was horrible! So I forced them to understand! I wanted them to know what it was like to be trapped in a world made solely of paint!"

"So, you were only trying to be accepted?" Marx wondered, "Because the people here would do that. They're cool."

Drawcia let out a happy sigh. "I can see that now, but it's too late for me. Even so, I won't have to go to the lowest death world," a holy looking light shone behind her. She turned to it with a happy expression on her face, "I hope we all meet again in the afterlife. I would really like to be…friends."

Marx and I waved her goodbye. "Okay!" I shouted, "We'll see you there!"

She stopped halfway over to the light and returned. She floated in front of Marx, who was crying. "Marx, I want you to forgive me for being angry at you and Dee. I want to make it up to you."

He sniffled and shook his head. "No, you don't have to! We're alright, we know you didn't mean it!"

"Oh no, I insist," Drawcia began to melt and mould herself into some weird form of a ball. We just stared at her with wide eyes. As her body took shape she appeared to be a giant blob of pink and purple paint with multiple eyes and a mouth, "I'm taking you with me!"

Marx groaned. "Well this's great. Where's Kirby when you need him? And what's with the loud voice?"

"There will be no fighting. I'm just doing what I said!" Marx was pulled away from me violently. I floated over to him as fast as I could and grabbed his wing like before.

"Marx!" I shouted as a black vortex polluted the once holy light. Drawcia hovered in front of it, waiting for Marx to join her.

He looked at me. I could see it pained him to say his next sentence. "Let go. I love you, but please let go. Everything will be okay."

I didn't know what else to do, so I did as he said. In the blink of an eye Marx was gone. Drawcia was sucked into the portal not long after him. The dark vortex disappeared in front of me and I found myself alone in the never ending space. The shock of what just happened paralyzed me for the first few moments, then I realized I would never see Marx again. No more laughter. No more endless teasing of everyone else. No more long talks about absolute nonsense. I wouldn't even be able to celebrate his birthday with him. There was no more Marx.

I burst into tears and hugged my parasol close to my body. A sudden wave of fatigue washed over me and I was knocked unconscious. My last thought was that nothing else would ever matter to me again. Wherever he was, Marx still had half of me with him. Without that, I was half empty…and I would never be filled.

Never.