Review replies are in order (again)...

Nobody (again?? WTF)

Please read and review. Now on to the story we go! Some more serious themes this time around; you've been warned! Hope you enjoy!

He was alone... For the first time in his life, he was alone...

There was no one here to cheer for him. No one here to drive him on. No one here to help him, care for him... He was finally truly alone... And with all said and done, that was probably all he wanted.

These last few weeks have not seen Kirby in his usual happy-go mood. Had he changed? No! The rest of Dreamland has changed, that's who! Since when were its inhabitants allowed to ask him about every nook and cranny of how he felt? Where could they have gotten the gaul to ask why he had no interest in playing children's games? Why was everyone so...annoying??

Were they trying to help him? To try and end this pain? No...th-they couldn't understand. They wouldn't understand... He's a Star Warrior and yet, he felt, wasn't at the same time. Even Meta Knight admitted the speed of which he had grown and matured was astonishing, likely because of his exposure to a species with a far shorter lifespan than his own. As such, talking about these sorts of things were...complicated. So he refused their assistance, refused their pleas — he even missed multiple training sessions because Kirby no longer felt that his mentor could understand what was happening, either. And he seemed to be right, wasn't he...? So he descended further into his cesspool of darkness, desperately trying to block all else out.

This was his crowning achievement: he had let Marx go. After so many years with so much torture and so much tension on both sides, their bond snapped in two just like that. Good riddance, if he'd say! What had Marx ever done for him? Whilst he was running around, risking his life for Dreamland, Marx just stayed at home, bouncing on his ball like it wasn't at all infuriating. And when he did offer to go on an adventure, he betrayed him and gave in to his selfishness, trying to take over the world! What kind of friend was that? How could he have even have a special interest in such a person?? It was...it was for the best that he was gone...

So why...? Why does he feel so...sad? A this what growing up feels like? He had overheard Tiffany and Theodore argue many more times than usual with each other over the smallest of things. It felt heartbreaking to the puffball, seeing them like this. It was once they reached a particular age when this occurred, so perhaps one just gets more easily aggravated when they're older?

No! That can't be it! Even if they've started using their conventional names, they're still the same Tiff and Tuff he had always known! The same Fumu and Bun! The pair of siblings, children of the cabinet minister, who always bickered amongst themselves but could always come together at the end because, well, that's what siblings are for, aren't they? Kirby sometimes wondered if he had a brother or sister, and what it would've been like if he had one. He could picture the two of them, frolicking along, content with their lives and enjoying each other's company. The other would probably be yellow or...blue. Dark blue. He didn't know why, but something dragged him toward imagining that specific color...

It doesn't matter! He was still...not happy with himself. His vision was blurred by the tears — they would always come at night and stay during the day, there to haunt him. About what, though?? What?? What was he sad about?

It has been approximately a month. A month since he had landed in this strange maze-like structure, and yet he was no closer to leaving than he was beforehand. Although, to be fair, he hadn't been searching for an exit all too often...or at all, to tell the truth. No; instead, he sulked up here, in these weird house-like rooms that resembled his own, surrounded by a literal void. He had stopped caring about leaving. He had stopped caring about escaping, leaving to the cheering of his friends and to the relief of all to know that their hero had returned. Or perhaps they had all already perished... Maybe they've all forgotten about him...

Whoever this kidnapper is, they were either just wasting their time or taking too much satisfaction in this sadistic form of torture. That's what it was: torture. Torture for his mind, his soul. Why hadn't they come out and, like, try and kill them or something? Surely it would be faster than letting the puffball rot away like a corpse along with any sense of love he had left.

Heh... Rotting like a corpse. He very much was a corpse — a shell of his former self. He had bags under his eyes, his eyes themselves were almost always bloodshot, and his body was covered in dirt, dust, and debris. His body was numb. His mind was numb. That's all he could feel about anything anymore...just numb, without a care in the world for himself, anyone, or anything.

He might as well just die. Right here and now. Put himself out of this misery. If their goal was to break him beyond repair...then they have won before they have even started...

Kirby shook his head in a panic — the first emotion he had felt since he rid himself of the traitorous Marx. Wha-? Why did he think like that? How could he have thought like that? Was he— What was going—

He stood up from his corner of the living room, away from the furniture and other rooms. It was isolated...and he liked that. But this was getting...creepy. Why hadn't he he felt this before this moment in time? Was something wrong? Had something gone wrong...?

His stomach growled. He had eaten little since Marx left. Actually, he had eaten little since he had first arrived here, period. The fridge in the kitchen only had so much, and some days he simply didn't feel like eating. On days where he felt like giving up...

Kirby set his mind straight. No excuses. No delays. Nothing to set him off track. He was getting out of this place, right here, right now.

Since this house was clearly a dead end, he wandered back to the mysterious dungeon downstairs; the one from whence he came. Within a few seconds, he was in the large hub-like room. Of all the pathways, two faded into darkness whilst the rest abruptly stopped. This certainly wasn't a good sign, and despite everything Kirby still remembered which path where the original room was located. The unchecked path was directly across from this one, so he traversed down it without much question.

Not even a few seconds into this walk, he bumped into some stairs. The stairs, as did many other things, didn't come close to matching the motif of the room it was connected to. They both were stone brick-based, but the dungeon was clearly grey whilst the stairs where a shade of yellow. A familiar shade of yellow. The yellow of Dedede's castle! Kirby even had an idea as to what part of the castle this was! Why hadn't they gone here before?

He dashed up the stairs with a newly reinvigorated sense of excitement, eager to see where this new path would lead. If anything, it would be something new, something to help him escape.

Once reaching the top of the staircase, he was proven correct: the stairs had led to hallway in the castle leading straight toward the chambers where Meta Knight and the cabinet minister resided. They were on opposite sides of the hall, and he had entered from the stairwell connected to the center of it, with the wide open castle wall that would usually give a grand view of the surrounding plains and sealine instead revealing the same, familiar darkness, although part the moat was surprisingly still visible.

Even if this didn't lead anywhere, at the very least this new location provided the pink puffball with something new to keep him somewhat entertained for a short while before he would again grow bored stiff. Kirby continued along the walkway, trying to discern any additional differences between this replica and the original section of Dedede's castle, of which there were very few.

But then, he heard a distant voice call out for him. "Kirby!!" it yelled out, as if it were calling for help.

Kirby recognized the voice quickly, the adrenaline and panic quickly spreading throughout his body. "Poyo!" he responded, rushing toward where the sound had come from. It was Tiff's voice, though it sounded younger than when he had heard it last. Kirby was more familiar with the voices of his friends when he was but an infant — or a much younger infant, seeing how he technically was still considered one according to Meta Knight and his knowledge of how Star Warriors were groomed and trained. Point was, this was the Tiff he more could more easily recognize in a gathering or crowd, rather than the now nearly-adult Tiffany she had grown up to be. But what was she doing here? Had she been kidnapped too?

"Kirby!!" she yelled out again. Kirby quickened his pace.

He soon reached the cabinet minister's tower — the section of the castle (?) that housed the official's family. This was where the voice had originated from, and he kicked the door open and rushed inside to see what had happened.

He was shocked to realize that nobody was in the vicinity. The bed, desk, pieces of furniture — everything was untouched, as if the room had never contained any inhabitants in its history. This was clearly wrong... Where was Tiff? Was she even here?

"Kirby!"

He had forgotten the children were housed upstairs in the tower, whilst their parents slept on this first floor. He face-palmed himself for nearly forgetting this important detail before proceeding upstairs. Once up, he listened closely, trying to hear anyone or anything here. There was nothing, a deathly silence surrounded him. The puffball trembled slightly before at last arriving at the door to Tiff's room.

Opening the door slowly, he found Tiff sitting up on the windowsill, looking out toward the darkness. She didn't seem distressed at all. Maybe this was a trap? He gasped. W-was it Marx in disguise??

His irrational fears were proven wrong when she softly spoke, "Hey, Kirby... You wanna check out the night sky?"

"Poyo!" Kirby flinched. He hadn't said that. He was further surprised to find a smaller version of himself, smiling and happy as ever approach Tiff on the windowsill. It was here that he realized that this wasn't Tiff calling out for his help; it was a memory. A relatively old one, too, from a few months after he had first landed on planet Popstar. He approached the children slowly and cautiously, his expression somewhat confused yet curious at the same time.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" the young Cappy asked.

"Poyo poy!" the small Kirby replied. Tiff chuckled a little.

The two looked out toward the blackness, seeing things the real Kirby did not. He couldn't help but reminisce; Tiff, despite being a bit of a control freak, was quite the fun person to be with. She had done so much for him...cared for his wellbeing so deeply and all. She could always bring a smile to Kirby's face, unlike the often busy Tiffany of the future. Well...it wasn't because she didn't try. It's just...

"Hey, check this out." she pointed. "You see those stars over there?"

The younger puffball tilted his head in confusion; he probably hadn't payed much attention to where she was pointing, so was trying to figure it out himself.

"No, no, Kirby." Tiff laughed. "Over there. It looks like a star, right?"

Suddenly, a series of dots of light illuminated the darkness that they were starring at which, indeed, resembled a star. In fact, it looked not too dissimilar to the warp star Kirby had in his arsenal. Tuff would later refer to it as "the meta-star", since multiple stars in the sky made up the shape of a single 5-pointed star in the sky, but Kirby never liked that name. It didn't resemble Meta Knight.

The younger Kirby starred in awe, amazed from being able to draw such pictures in the sky. He now looked around earnestly, searching for what else he could find. It was an interesting exercise, trying to discern which stars when connected created which images, and it was hard for the older Kirby, too, only being able to see the star-shaped constellation in the sky. But suddenly, tons of different shapes appeared one after the other, forming various things. One of the constellations even matched almost exactly with one that Dedede called the "Penguino constellation", even if nobody else seemed to notice it.

Afterwards, they started playing a fun game where Tiff would say a random object, then Kirby would manage to find it up in the stars somewhere. This continued for some time, with more and more of the darkness lighting up until at last all of the night sky was filled with bright spots of light. Tiff would have an arm wrapped around her Star Warrior friend, as Kirby started laying down, the drowsy pull of sleep soon overtaking the child.

Tiff would depart not too long afterward, leaving the puffball in a peaceful slumber.

Something about this situation struck Kirby's heart deep. Was it sad that he couldn't really name another moment in his life after this in which he felt so at ease? If something like this did happen, he just couldn't remember. But...but why...? Why couldn't he remember?

The tears trailed down his cheeks as continued starring at the sleeping puffball before him, each of the stars slowly disappearing, again leaving the darkness behind. Why? Why did everything want to leave him?

He gasped in realization. Everyone — Tiff, Tuff, and the rest of them — they hadn't left him. They didn't want to leave him alone. They were his friends, his allies. So then...why did he feel so lonely inside? Why was there a gaping hole in his heart?

They didn't leave him because they grew older. They didn't leave him because they grew away from him. They left because he pushed them away.

But it was necessary! He needed to save the planet! On a multitude of occasions! Star Warriors can't rest when evil is afoot!

Ugh. That sounded so much like something Meta Knight would say. The ever-mysterious ever-isolated Meta Knight. He was always reluctant to join Kirby during times of play, and he had few, if any, friends of his own. He was always serious, always focused on his duties than anything else. Kirby wasn't like that — could never be like that. It was...it would be too much to bear... The strain... The loneliness...

Kirby sobbed. He sobbed and sobbed without end, without wanting there to be an end. He was alone...truly alone, with no one there to soothe him. No one there to offer their shoulder to lean on. No one there to see him to sleep. He was utterly alone for the first time in his life...

Did he deserve it? For retreating into himself and shutting out the girl that had shown him the images in the sky and had led him through so much? For shutting out her troublemaking yet caring brother? For shutting out Meta Knight, Dedede, and everyone else? And for what?? Nothing...

Maybe he did deserve to rot here in this mysterious construct, alone, afraid, cold, and forever numb. Maybe he did deserve this loneliness...

Maybe he should just die. Right here. There was no one else he could go back too, only the faint memories of an era of optimism and hopefulness that had long since sailed its course. What would be the point of going on?

Kirby's blurred vision shifted toward the windowsill. The young puffball had disappeared, leaving the window wide open... He headed towards it, preparing to climb up upon it.

"So you feel it too, don't you, Kirby..."

He froze in place. Th...that voice... H-how...?

"That eternal emptiness within you... That consumes you until there's nothing left..."

Kirby turned around slowly, but found nobody there. "M-Marx..." he whispered, his voice shaky and scared. "Wh...where are you, poyo?"

"...I'm rotting... Like you..."

Kirby could feel it. His skin starting to shrivel up, starting to decompose itself. "N-no, I mean...wh-where are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding, Kirby... I'm laying here with the forgotten a-and the dust..."

After a quick scan, Kirby finally found the emotion-drained jester, his eyes dry and red, starring into nothingness, bunched up against a dark corner of the room. Kirby approached, lying down next to him.

"I missed you." Kirby said.

"I know..." Marx replied.

"I miss...everyone..." Kirby admitted.

"Why now? Not sooner...?"

"I don't know."

"Then it doesn't matter..."

"It does!" Kirby snapped. "I'm hurting everyone by turning the other way! I've hurt you!"

"It...it doesn't matter anymore..."

"Yes, it does! And I need to fix everything, starting with you!"

"Kirby...I-I don't want this... I...I want to escape the loop. This loop of anger, depression, and reunion ad infinitum... It...it tires me, Kirby... I want no more..."

"...W-we can always start over, Marx..."

"..,Not this time..." Marx breathed in heavily, his lungs sounding bare and unused. "...Not anymore, Kirby..."

"B...but Marx, I..." he stopped, not really knowing why. At least not until a bit later. Marx had lost consiousness, his eyes now lifelessly looking toward him like glass, "Marx...Marx, I...I—"

Marx didn't respond.

"Marx...wake up... I...I-I l-loved you, Marx..."

Nothing. Nothing again. He was alone again...but perhaps not for long.

His eyes felt heavy. His body felt heavy. Everything was telling him to sleep...to leave behind the torture of this pathetic little life... He drifted away without a question. He never noticed the blood seeping out of his chest. He had stabbed himself with a sharp knife when beside Marx, though it wouldn't matter if it was fatal or not. The damage had been done without its support; he was dead beside his former friend.

The clock stuck nine, and he woke up again. No blood, no nothing...

TBC next chapter