Disclaimer: Kirby belongs to Nintendo and HAL Laboratory.


With a plan made solid, Dedede and Bandee returned to the entrance of the lab. Meta Knight took off in one direction while Kirby, Elfilin and Marx headed in another direction. The small chinchilla floated ahead of the two and listened in for any commotion from the members of the Beast Pack. Kirby huffed as Marx told bad joke over bad joke.

Still, Marx turned his gaze to another door in the hallway.

"Poyo?"

"There's another group in here," the jester sighed in a way which hinted at boredom.

Kirby and Elfilin scurried into the room and spotted a few Sssnackers, three Rabiroos, one Tortorner and a couple Buffahorns.

"Poyo!" Kirby stood on the tips of his feet and waved his arms.

The Tortorner leered at Kirby, its expression giving a hint of nausea. Elfilin made an expression of discomfort and turned away. In a matter of seconds, the Tortorner spat out a Rare Stone which plopped onto the floor. The small chinchilla made a brief glance over his shoulder.

"Eww," Elfilin muttered, "it's one of those neat rocks we found, but now it's all icky and covered in spit and…other stuff. I don't wanna touch it."

Kirby cautiously approached the Rare Stone, his gaze focused on the locals.

"Poyo… poyo," Kirby asked, "poyo?"

After a moment of silence, the Rabiroos approached the pink star warrior. Kirby proceeded to use his limited speech and body movements to explain the order to evacuate the ancient lab. Before long, they filed out of the room, the large tortoise creature taking a while since it was so large and slow. Kirby turned to pick up the Rare Stone and stash it into his pocket dimension.

"Poyo!" Kirby called over to Elfilin.

Elfilin turned around carefully, having already turned his nose off for a bit which was something his older sibling taught him.

"Poyo?" Kirby asked.

"I guess so," Elfilin nodded.

Elfilin's eyes wandered to Marx, who made an uneasy expression.

"Hey, Marx?" Elfilin asked, "you're awfully quiet, are you ok?"

Marx blinked twice.

"Oh, I'm fine," Marx answered, "I was just wondering what that soul fragment was doing inside that turtle thing."

Kirby and Elfilin exchanged surprised glances.

"Soul fragment?" Elfilin warbled.

"Poyo?"

"Yeah, you know," Marx balanced on his ball, "of tall, blue and traumatized?"

Kirby lowered his gaze and thought of the blueprints he found during his travels through the Forgotten Land…of the Rare Stones he found in the Treasure Vortexes. No doubt he already hired the weaponsmith at Waddle Dee Town to upgrade his copy abilities before he even set foot in the ancient lab. No doubt those fragments of Elfilis's soul had also been ripped out of the upgrades which set all of his copy abilities back to normal.

"Yeah, he's kind of a patchwork right now; missing one big chunk," Marx continued, "you and a bunch of little pieces that seem to be just settling in and repairing itself. It'll probably be a few years until their soul fixed the parts that were torn off and put back into them, and a decade or more to fix the parts that are just outright missing."

"Poyo," Kirby sighed.

Kirby led Elfilin and Marx out of the room.

"Poyo," Kirby suggested, "poyo poyo."

Elfilin also took a moment to think over his own existence, almost like it meant his sibling was spiritually incomplete. He never really thought about that too much, yet he still felt bad for his larger fragment.

Still, Kirby, Elfilin and Marx went on to search the rest of the lab. The jester would point to a group of locals and the pink star warrior would persuade them to evacuate the lab. It wasn't long before the entire building was empty, and Marx gave the final confirmation of the vacancy. From there, Kirby, Elfilin and Marx met up with Meta Knight, Dedede and Bandee outside.

"So are we ready to blow this place up?" Marx grumbled impatiently, "I have other things I want to do today and I do not want to suddenly get morals again before we decide to do this."

Magolor shifted his gaze to Marx.

"What?" Marx blurted, "I'm serious! I don't want to feel guilty later and a big explosion might make me feel better."

Magolor facepalmed with a sigh before shifting his attention to the teleportation array.

"Ok," Magolor instructed, "everyone into the magic circle, we're going to teleport you out of here."

Dedede nodded at the evolved animals, compelling them to enter the array. After that, Kirby, Elfilin, Bandee, Meta Knight, Dedede, Marx and Magolor stepped into the array. Soon enough, the entire group became enveloped in white light as the array teleported them back to the Lor Starcutter. Magolor led Kirby and the gang towards the bridge, where they met up with Vesa and Elfilis.

"Blow it up! Blow it up now!" Marx exclaimed, "I need there to be a crater where that building is or I'm gonna freaking lose it!"

Vesa and Elfilis blinked twice and exchanged glances.

"If you do it," Marx insisted, "I'll offer you a bribe!"

Marx grew wings and used them to reach into Kirby's pocket dimension, eliciting a startled yelp out of him as the jester yanked out the Rare Stone.

"Do it!" Marx added, "I need to see it explode so I can go home!"

Elfilis's eyes widened in shock as Marx threw it at their feet. They initially attributed the missing parts of their soul to Elfilin, but the mere thought that there might be more fragments of their soul distressed them on the inside. Vesa gently grasped her partner's hand as she examined the strange shard.

"Kirby," Vesa asked, "do you know where you found it and how?"

"It got puked up by a turtle," Marx interrupted.

Vesa noticed as Elfilis's fur began turning white at the tips.

"Elfilis," Vesa called to them, "stay with me."

Kirby gave Marx the stink-eye.

"I…will be ok," Elfilis lied with a straight face.

Vesa tilted her head sideways, not seeming convinced.

"I'm…frustrated," Elfilis confessed with a sigh, "this…is a piece of my soul. I was convinced I had recovered all of them after we left last time…I seem to have been mistaken. I assumed the void in my spirit was simply Elfilin at this point and that I had retrieved all of my missing pieces."

Their tail thrashed in agitation as their fur slowly changed to white and red. The revelation about this specific violation left them rather angry beyond words. Kirby took a step towards Elfilis with a sad expression in his eyes.

"Poyo," Kirby apologized, reaching out an arm and waving it slowly, "poyo."

Elfilis glared at Kirby.

"Now is not the best time to be telling me this," Elfilis snapped, barely restraining themself.

The idea of the pink star warrior actively tearing parts of their soul away while they were asleep through the portals generated by their affinity for space losing control brought Elfilis to the edge of blind rage. Dedede thought fast and strode over to the tall space rodent. When they spotted the approaching penguin, Elfilis initially thought of telekinetically picking up the king and forcing him to sit down. But of course, they decided against it.

"Can someone get that crazy jester out of the room?" Dedede requested.

Magolor began dragging Marx out of the bridge.

"I will not be silenced!" Marx yelled, "I will be heard!"

Kirby blew a raspberry at Marx. Once the jester and the floaty manipulative mage were out of the room, Dedede returned his gaze to Elfilis, who summoned their spear, gently rubbing their thumb up and down the side of it.

"Now how are you feeling?" Dedede asked.

"Somewhere between absolutely livid and apocalyptic."

Releasing her grip on their hand for only a moment, Vesa reached up to cup their cheek. Elfilis felt a bit of calmness from her gentle touch, the white fur seeming to pause for a moment. Kirby went to chatter with Elfilin. Dedede and Vesa slung Elfilis's arms over their shoulders. The king sweated slightly since Elfilis's arm felt tense and their fingers were twitching in a way which made him distinctly uncomfortable. The human and the penguin led the ultimate life-form out of the bridge and into the lounge. Their fur slowly started to change back, though their rage still lingered as they remained deep in thought. Dedede and Vesa guided Elfilis over to a couch. She sat next to her partner while the king sat across from both of them.

"Elfilis," Vesa whispered.

Elfilis snapped out of their thoughts and focused on Vesa.

"Yes?"

Vesa leaned closer to Elfilis, wrapping an arm around them. This affectionate gesture was enough for them to begin to slowly calm down.

"I'll just leave you be," Dedede stood up and turned to leave the lounge.

Vesa cupped Elfilis's cheek with one hand before she planted a kiss on top of their head. The warmth of rage became replaced with warmth of affection, which Elfilis couldn't help but appreciate.

"Do you need more time before you're ready?" she asked.

"I just need a few minutes."

"Ok," she nodded softly.

Vesa perched her arms over their shoulders and rested her head on their chest. Elfilis placed their paw on her back, holding her close. Her fingers ran through their chest mane, eliciting deep purrs out of them. By then, all of their white fur dissipated. After a few minutes passed, Vesa stared deep into their eyes. Elfilis gazed back, no longer feeling any better. Vesa didn't pay attention to Meta Knight as he sheathed his blade and left the room.

"I'm ready to get this catharsis over with," she told Elfilis, "you?"

"I'm not entirely sure it'll even be cathartic for me, personally," Elfilis sighed, "I would be fine with just never going there again. Knowing it exists isn't an issue for me anymore. I think…it might help, but I'm not entirely sure if it'll make me feel better or not."

Vesa gave Elfilis a confused stare.

"I…I don't like thinking about that place," Elfilis continued, "and honestly, I feel like I'm getting better. I haven't had a panic attack in a while, I still get nightmares and flashbacks, but it's not so bad that I'm collapsing anymore, or getting incredibly emotional. I feel like it won't really help me personally, or harm me, to destroy the building."

Vesa glanced over her shoulder, examining the animal refugees in the lounge waiting in anticipation.

"Should we," Vesa pondered, "at least help these guys find new homes?"

"I wouldn't mind that," Elfilis answered.

Vesa stood up from the couch and approached a trio of Mookies who stared at her and chattered in an unrecognizable language.

"Are you," Vesa asked, "are you guys upset with me?"

One Mookie scratched his head while the other two continued to chatter, their voices hinting at confusion.

"If it makes you feel any better," Vesa offered, "we'll talk to Leongar and see if he'll offer new homes for you. Does that sound fair?"

The lead Mookie waved his hands, indicating he wanted an explanation for the evacuation orders.

"W-Well," Vesa tried to clarify, "bad memories with the lab may be one thing, but I'm also worried some villain somewhere in the universe could learn about the lab and ransack it to find what's still there. Maybe the paper documents there might've rotted away over time, but there could still be something any sinister person could exploit. Does that make any sense to you?"

The Mookies tilted their head sideways, almost like they're trying to understand her reasoning. A minute passed before the lead Mookie let out a sound of acknowledgment before they turned to chatter with the Awoofies. Vesa turned to approach Elfilis.

"Do you think the papers in the lab rotted away or are they still there?" she paused.

"It depends on how well contained everything was and if the elements got inside. But I would doubt that much survived. It's a demented miracle that my own containment lasted as long as it did."

Elfilis stood up from the couch and led Vesa on their way back to the bridge. Their eyes wandered until they locked onto the Rare Stone still on the floor. Elfilis went on to pick it up, absorbing it into their body. Already, they could feel their mana levels jump a bit and quickly reach a new maximum. Kirby and Elfilin paused in their conversation and approached Elfilis.

"Poyo!" Kirby happily waved his arm.

"So you ready?" Elfilin chirped, "it felt kinda scary returning to the lab."

"I'm ready to destroy the lab," Elfilis answered, "if that's what's still happening."

"I'll let you do the honors, Elfilis," Vesa shrugged.

Elfilis gave Vesa a silent nod, moving to the deck of the ship. Vesa stayed behind and locked eyes onto Kirby.

"Poyo," Kirby told her, "poyo poyo!"

Elfilin drooped his ears.

"Yeah," Elfilin agreed, "those poor Waddle Dees."

Outside, Elfilis observed the lab from the deck of the Lor Starcutter. For a moment, they thought of whether orbital lasers would be effective in the task. After some mental calculations, they figured the lab's destruction required a more effective method. Their fingers twitched a bit as they summoned a magic circle. The amount of magic focused into a single point by the circle actually caused the air to become a little heavy. A magic circle appeared in the air over the lab. Vesa, watching from a port window, took in deep breaths, anticipating what could happen next.

Before long, the magic circle lit up in a dark purple light and a small black dot appeared in the center. That small black sphere lifted rocks, trees, lava and buildings into the air and pulled them in. The unassuming hole grew as more objects were pulled in until it lifted the entire lab out of the ground, engulfing it in the process, nothing left to be spared. After a moment, Elfilis flexed their wrist and the black hole collapsed into nothingness. Everything that remained of the lab sprinkled out as a large amount of dust particles, pieces of metal scraps and rocks which drifted to the ground or got blown away by the wind.

Vesa didn't give much of an expression while Kirby and Elfilin stared in awe. With the task complete, the magic circles dissipated. By then, Magolor returned to the bridge while the ultimate life-form made their way back inside.

"Well," Magolor commented with only slight surprise, "that was an impressive feat. I'm surprised you decided to use an unstable black hole. Even Marx uses stable ones."

"I assume that's because he can't focus properly enough to restrain it and he would actually risk killing himself if he did lose focus on his restraints," Elfilis shrugged.

Magolor didn't say much as he made his way to the main terminal. The floaty manipulative mage tapped on some keys and the Lor Starcutter took off into the skies of Redgar Forbidden Lands.


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