Blade stepped through the castle gates, trying to ignore the seeping excitement in his stomach. Freezing cold liquid flowed up from the bottom of his stomach to just below the edge of his ribs, filling his torso with dread. It was okay, right? Things would turn out… fine. Even if Dedede never wanted to see him again after this, it was better than getting killed by him, yeah? But even the very idea of the king hating him made his heart pound. As much as he hated to admit it, he wanted Dedede to like him.

No, that wasn't surprising at all… He cared about him. He wanted him to be happy. But more than that, he wanted to be liked by him. So… so maybe he should just change his mind and- and not tell him anything at all. Like a coward.

He couldn't do that either. Bandee already knew he was supposed to visit. He probably already told Dedede. The king would probably just come looking for him if he turned tail and ran now. Or call Gooey. Or… OH, what does it matter! He could come up with an excuse, right? He could… uh… he got sick! Yeah, he got sick because his body was still readjusting and-

"Oh, hello Dark Matter Blade!" a guard Waddle Dee waved to him as he drew near. "What brings you here?"

'It's just Blade. And I'm here for an… audience with the king?' GAH, why did I say that?! Uh, maybe the guard will turn me away because-

"Oh, sure! Go right on in!"

NO! 'Yes, thank you very much.' Blade bowed and continued deeper into the pits of hell.

The Dark Matter trailed into the entryway somewhat listlessly, unwilling to make himself known. People passed him by as he took miniscule footsteps forward. They all waved hello and he reciprocated. It's funny. Just a few weeks ago, he was agonizing over not being able to do such a thing. He was staring at this very castle, worrying about harming the king.

He didn't HAVE to do this. He didn't HAVE to torture Dedede again like this. He was only doing this for his own selfish satisfaction, right? It wouldn't ACTUALLY benefit the king in any way. Not all truths need to be brought to light. Sometimes a lie is easier to take.

Not that these excuses stopped him from trodding onward. After only a few short moments, he spotted Dedede at the top of the main staircase, chatting with one of his Dees. Blade sighed and approached as slowly as feasibly possible, his heart expanding outwards with nails all the while. This wasn't a big deal… but it felt as if he was making the walk to his execution.

It reminded him of being summoned by Lord Zero.

Dedede wasn't like that… He banished the thought from his mind.

Halfway up the stairs, Dedede spotted him and waved him over, shouting, "Hey Blade! Good to see ya!"

'It's good to see you too…'

The king looked him up and down, his eyes widening a bit in surprise. "Woah! Lookin' good! The kid was right, you were gettin' a real makeover!"

Blade blushed and lowered his head at the compliment. He could say goodbye to those soon, so he might as well relish in it…

"Anyway, Bandee told me you'd be comin' over like half an hour ago! What took ya so long?"

'I… ah… ran into someone on the way here. But that's not important. I have something I wish to speak to you about.'

Blade was keeping his emotions deliberately restrained, so Dedede didn't pick up on any tension. Instead, he casually nodded and moved his arm behind Blade, guiding him forward. "Sure! Let's walk 'n talk."

The two began heading down a somewhat isolated hallway, with very few Dees visible. On occasion, you could spot some when you passed an open door, but there didn't seem to be any eavesdroppers. Blade breathed a slight sigh of relief before speaking.

'I do have to apologize for the delay. I ran into Daroach and some of his… team members? Whatever they are. They showed me a shortcut, but I may have gotten a bit distracted along the way regardless.'

"Nah, don't sweat it. You ain't used to keepin' an eye out for those guys yet. We shoulda warned ya, heheh…" Dedede shot a quick glance at the shorter man. "So, what'dya think of him?"

'Certainly unlike anything I've dealt with before… I am unsure of what to make of his… advances.'

"Oh, you don' need to worry about that. Daroach flirts with basically everyone over 20. He prolly just mistook you for an adult."

'Right…' Mistook… 'Wait, does he even flirt with you and Meta Knight?'

"Yep."

'Even though you are both taken?'

"Yep! Though he learned his lesson 'bout doin' it in front of us when we're together. Man, he couldn't walk for WEEKS after that!" Dedede burst out laughing at the memory. "But yeah, I just ignore him most a' the time. He just does it to get under my skin at this point."

'Fascinating…' Blade paused for a moment, realizing he was just putting off what he REALLY wanted to do. He halted in place and bunched up his skirt in his fists. Dedede also stopped once he realized no one was following him.

"You alright?"

'It's pretty funny, you know.'

"What is?"

'We're walking in this isolated space together. You're not even worried that I might attack you anymore.'

Dedede shrugged and smiled reassuringly. "Eh, I can still make noise. I'm pretty sure people'll figure out pretty quickly if I'm in trouble. Plus, I could prolly take ya. Maybe~"

'It's funny how things change though. How opposite we were five years ago? I still remember the first things you said to me when I took you… They were rather funny, I think. You were trying to get me to leave by saying you weren't important. You said something about… 'tearin' me a new one?' And being a 'silly ol' man' even though you were… like, 26, or something.'

At first, Dedede had clammed up in discomfort when Blade started talking about their first meeting. But as he went further, he realized how distant that time had been, and how silly it seemed in retrospect, even if it had been the first step on a long path of pain. It's not like either of them had known it at the time… So in isolation, he probably could laugh at it. He let a small chuckle escape his lips and nodded.

Blade smiled softly, but then lowered his head. 'Even so… it led to a nightmare… for both of us. But…' he shot a quick glance at Dedede. 'I dare not compare my pain to yours… I should never have done what I did…'

"Um… hey, you don't need t'beat yourself up over it, yeah? It's… it's in the past now. And I think… uh, DYING is a pretty bad pain…"

'Still, I never apologized. I realize that now. So… I…' Blade raised his fist to his chest and looked up at Dedede, trying to will his apology into existence.

But he wanted to… make it mean something. He wanted to do something he'd never done before. He let his jaw fall open and tried to move his mouth in the way he'd seen so many other people do before. And he forced a voice from his strange, unused throat.

"Aaaaaiiiiiiii…. Aaaaaayyyyyyymmmmmm…. Sssssszzzzoaarrrrrriiiiiiiii…"

For a few seconds, King Dedede just stared at the Dark Matter in shock from hearing his real voice for the first time, let alone a verbal apology. But then Blade began repeating himself until he got the words just right, staring back at the king with desperation in his eyes, voice, and body language.

"Iiiii aaaaammm ssssorrrrrryyy! Iii ammm sorrrrryyy! I aaam Sorrryyy! I am sorry! I am sorry!"

It's strange, isn't it? Though the method of telepathic communication is supposed to be ideal for conveying one's emotions perfectly, choosing to speak verbally had far more of an impact. The choice to reduce himself to a form of speech that he was unused to, just to make it seem more genuine, far more greatly forced Dedede to acknowledge the Matter's emotions. He found it hard to brush off the apology. He found it hard to ignore or deny or just say it was unneeded. Because he understood, far more deeply, that Blade wanted him to feel this too. Far more than if Blade had just forced his own emotions onto Dedede.

This was what communication for normal people was like. People who didn't have the privilege of melding their minds so perfectly. So he had to respond to it genuinely.

"Wow… I… I mean, I knew already that you regretted it but… I guess…" The king's voice caught in his throat and he took a few seconds to calm down.

"I haven't had a lotta the people who… directly hurt me… apologize. Maybe one or two. And- and I- I guess just hearing someone- when I was- back then, I never woulda thought a Dark Matter would apologize to me. I mean it makes sense that ya did, I'm not sayin- but…" He took another deep breath. "It's different, I guess… y'know? You were the first one. Y'kinda… I hate t'say this but you kinda started it."

'I know. That's why I understand the importance of this apology.'

"Yeah… yeah, exactly. It's like… freein' somehow. The start got all dealt with, yeah?"

Blade smiled. He'd worried that Dedede would just brush things under the rug in an attempt to ignore his lingering issues. After all, that had been the pattern for the past five years. But he really had grown, hadn't he?

All it took was attempting to kill himself…

Heh… hehehehe…

It's so funny you can't stop laughing. Blade put a hand to his face, covering up the half of his skull that spewed Darkness. His smile turned somewhat desperate as he thought his next words.

'There is something else I need to talk to you about though. This is even more important… But it needs to be somewhere private. I can only trust YOU with this. No one else.'

Dedede narrowed his eyes. "With ME? What about Gooey?"

'Not even Gooey. It has to be you.'

Anxiety started to fill Dedede's lungs, though he tried not to let it show on his face. The kid was supposedly trustin' him with something super important, and prolly super upsetting if he couldn't tell his little brother about it. Still… "Why me?"

'Because… this involves you. And you deserve to know more than anyone.'

With that vague-sounding explanation, Dedede finally relented, letting out something between a groan and a sigh. "Alright, alright. I'll hear ya out. Come on, let's talk here." He pushed open a nearby door which led to a small, yet quaint room. It had a few sofa chairs, a small counter with a few items for tea making, and a table with chairs. He flicked on a lightswitch, causing a warm orange bulb to flicker on in the center of the ceiling.

"No one really comes in here anyway. This should be good enough, yeah?"

'Yes. It's perfect.'

Dedede shut the door and plopped down at the table, gesturing for Blade to sit across from him. He let out a sly smile. "You ain't gonna kill me in here or anythin' I'm assuming?"

Blade took his seat, setting his elbows on the table and folding his hands. The soft overhead light cast a strange shadow over his face. 'Correct. Quite the opposite in fact. I'm…. going to confess how I managed to come back to life…'

At that, the king immediately sat up, his eyes wide and his full attention grabbed.

'Truthfully, I was never 'fully' dead. I came within an absolute inch of my life before I managed to find somewhere safe for my existence to hide and… recuperate. And that place was….'

Blade's body twitched slightly. This was it… This was his last chance to back out…! His innards inverted, his head grew light, he didn't have the will to even look at Dedede anymore.

As the seconds ticked on, the king grew increasingly unsettled. What sort of location could be so horrible or secret or something else as to leave Blade paralyzed in fear just by thinking about it? He raised a hand to reach over and nudge the Matter, but he was stopped in his tracks when Blade lifted his hand instead.

And… pointed… right at Dedede.

At first, the king wasn't certain he was indicating to him. He swung his head around, looking for some sort of weird item or secret door he somehow hadn't noticed. But nothing stuck out at him. Awkwardly, he pointed to himself as well.

"Uh… what..? What do you mean?"

'I… hid myself… within your heart, your mind, your soul, whatever you want to call it….. For the past five years…..'

Dedede's heart rate shot up, but reason and logic tamped down his anxiety. Okay. No, that didn't make any sense. He would have noticed something like that, for sure. All the times he was trapped within his own mind, he surely would have felt another presence there. If he was really as close to home as he claimed. Besides, he'd never once heard of someone or something being able to 'hide inside' someone's heart. And considering all the weird shit he'd gone through, that said a lot.

The king raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Uh-huh? Listen, if you didn't wanna admit it, you didn't have to come up with a fake explanation. You coulda just said you didn't wanna talk about it."

Blade's eye widened and his hand dropped loosely on the table. 'You… don't believe me…'

"Of course I don't. It ain't make a lick of sense."

'I… did not expect this outcome…' He pressed both of his hands against the tabletop, clawing lightly against the wood. Darkness instinctively seeped out of his fingertips and caused rot to spread out from his irritation and worry.

'Alright then… I can… prove it. When I lived in your heart, I was privy to all of your emotions. I can tell you things that no one else can.'

"Yeah sure, go for it kid." It was probably gonna just be stuff that Kirby told him that they thought was a secret or something.

Please let it be that. The very idea of it being true caused a jaw of horror to clamp down on his spine.

Blade pushed his chair back and stood up, then pointed back at Dedede. He sucked in a breath he didn't need and began his list.

'You first acknowledged it when they referred to you as Dad in Patch Land, but you first felt genuine, undeniable care for Kirby during the Crystal Shard hunt. In fact, you keep wanting to go back to that time, because things were so much simpler and you had a wonderful adventure with your friends.'

"Wait…"

'You have an extreme difficulty remembering your past. However, one of the strongest emotions you can glean from it whenever you try to think back is hunger, and loneliness. As a result, every time you feel either of those things in excess, you feel a subconscious remembrance of then.'

Dedede shot to his feet, about to speak, but Blade kept going.

'You first fell in love with Meta Knight on the same night he confessed to you. You didn't even consider the idea of loving him until he made such a concept known. However, you still have such a strong, burning passion for him that sometimes you get physically sick thinking about it. In your Core specifically. It makes flying difficult for you.'

"I- How did you-"

'This is a very recent thought you had, but it stuck with me so strongly. Pretty soon after Meta Knight caught you having a hallucination of me in the New World, you thought something along the lines of 'there are good things in this world, they just aren't for me.' I thought about that a lot between then and when I left your body.'

"I- I didn't know that- wait, how soon did-"

'I have been in your heart since the day Kirby cut me down with the Rainbow Sword. I was only partially awake until you were possessed by one of my siblings… When Zero attacked. I… have felt… every single emotion of yours since that day. I FELT IT! SO STRONGLY!' Blade's cool composure cracked and he began clawing at his chest. 'I- I HATED IT! I couldn't talk to you, I couldn't make you do anything, all I could do was just WATCH. I wanted you to be happy! I hated seeing you tortured over and over again! I wanted to undo you! I wished you were DEAD just so you didn't have to suffer any longer!' Tears started to rush out of his eye as he felt all of those disgusted, tortuous, clamoring emotions rush back into his body. 'I hated feeling emotions that weren't my own- I hated that I chose to stay inside you- and- and when you returned from the New World, I couldn't stand it anymore. You didn't die… you didn't free us from this painful reality… so I chose to do so myself. I forced myself back into this world, and… I couldn't stand being alive. I couldn't understand how you could live your life, with all the things you suffered through… How you could still choose to live despite everything…

'Even though… I ended up doing the same myself….'

With that, Blade dropped to his knees, his face buried in his hands. His body shook as distorted sobs ratcheted through him. But Dedede just stood there, completely at a loss for words.

Inside… his heart…. Felt everything… he felt…

He….. invaded him…. For five straight years, he'd never once… been alone. All this time… he saw… EVERYTHING…. He saw every horrible existence that Dedede ever was in the past five years….!

If he felt everything he felt, saw everything he saw, knew everything he felt….

Blade knew everything about Dedede. More than he even knew himself. More than ANYONE could possibly know…! His heart didn't know how to feel about that… All he knew was that something filthy was crawling around in his throat and his veins. He curled his wrists so the tension would be closed shut. His breath hitched as some sort of warmth flowed in the back of his eye sockets.

Blade still sat curled up on the floor, still shaking. He slammed a fist against the ground and more emotions exploded out of him.

'I'm…. so…. So so so sorry…! I wouldn't have done it if I had known what would happen- I just wanted to live- but I SHOULDN'T HAVE! Not if it meant doing THAT to you and FEELING everything that you went through! This- this wasn't supposed to happen… And- you- you NEEDED to know- I couldn't- I couldn't keep going knowing what I did to you and being the only person who could possibly understand what- it's selfish- I'm so selfish- I'm so sorry-'

Dedede had no choice but to acknowledge these feelings. So strong they were, that he felt them as if they were his.

Was this what it was like for Blade these past five years?!

To have someone else feel what he felt…..

It…. felt…..

Good…..

That was the disgusting feeling crawling around in his body. It wasn't horror. Not after the realization wore off. It was… satisfaction, and vindication, and an overwhelming joy that there was someone else in this world who understood what he was going through. No, understood who he WAS.

And for that, he hated himself. He felt disgusting. He WAS disgusting. Any NORMAL person would be absolutely horrified at this violation of self. But…

The king let out a small laugh that spiraled into something desperate and hysterical.

"Ehehe… Ehahaha- EHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA! OF COURSE! OF COURSE IT'S YOU!"

Blade's head shot up and he stared at the king in horror.

"Of course- the one person- the one person who knows me- who gets me- I wanted it to be him so BADLY- even my kids- but no- it's YOU. It had to be YOU."

The Dark Matter shrank away even as he stood. He took a few steps back, avoiding eye contact and running his hands through his hair.

He really hated him, didn't he? He must, with the way he was spitting 'you' like a curse. The one man in this world besides his sibling who he could say he 'loved,' and he hated him.

This wasn't supposed to hurt. This was how it was supposed to go. But it didn't make the searing heat in his chest fade any faster. In fact, he could feel those flames leaping out of his chest and charring his brain. He tried to wipe away the Darkness leaking from his skull, as if it would somehow clean his sin away.

He grit his teeth and continued, even as his back hit the wall. 'I- I understand if you never want to see me again. I'll- I'll leave. I'll go somewhere you never have to look at me- I won't bother you and I won't ever force you to-'

"NO!"

Blade reeled back from the shout, instinctively lifting his arms to shield his head. Realizing how wound up he was, Dedede pulled back, calming himself. The unbearable excitement had mostly escaped him through his crazed laugh, and he was able to crash down in his seat, somewhat exhausted and dizzy.

"I mean… no… you don't gotta go… I don't want you to."

The Matter slowly lowered his arms. 'You… don't..?'

"No… I don't. Because I-" The king flicked his gaze between Blade and the space between his own shaking hands. "Actually…. If you really are… if you really do get me… Why don't YOU tell me why I don't want you gone? Why don't I hate ya?"

Prove to me that you really can give me what I want. More than anything. Show me this isn't some sort of weird dream.

The young man took a few tentative steps back into the light. He closed his eye and focused in on everything he knew about Dedede. His most desperate instincts and deepest darkest fears. Why would this man who had been possessed several times over, even by people of his own species, not be infuriated at the confession that he'd been hiding in his body for the past half decade?

'You… wanted nothing more than for people to understand you. You wanted to be seen through, even as you feared them discovering your supposed failures. You 'wanted to be saved.' So…' He wrapped his arms around himself. 'You… LIKE that someone… that I can understand all your feelings. You LIKE being seen. Don't you?'

After a few seconds of shocked silence, Dedede let out another, slightly less maniacal laugh. "Wow… you really hit it on the nail, kid…" He ran his hand down his face. "I'm… pretty messed up, huh?"

'No. You're not… I… understand.'

"Of course you do."

'...'

Blade sat back down, the two of them just resting silently at the table. All sorts of strange, mixed emotions floated between them freely, unrestrained. Blade couldn't even attempt to hold his feelings in, letting them radiate out from his skull and infect Dedede's brain. In the same vein, Dedede's emotions seeped out in droves, with little effort made to hold them back. Blade could sense every thought racing through his head.

They just sat there for a few minutes, content to let each other's minds be melded and filled with their own feelings.

"It's just… so hard sometimes…." Dedede mumbled. "I… wanted my partner to be the one who… got me. Y'know? I… it's not fair…"

'I know… I don't deserve to be the one. I'm not even your family… But I know you better than even your own love does…'

"Yeah… heheh… it's kinda funny, ain't it? I guess that's just my luck. First person who ever tortured me gets to answer my prayers."

'It's not as if I wanted this either. I didn't… want to feel what you did…'

Dedede shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry… no one shoulda had to feel what I went through… I wouldn't have wished that on my worst enemy. And I… I thought a lotta really horrible thoughts back then… and now… It's no wonder you couldn't stand bein' alive. I couldn't. I'm sorry I couldn't be better."

Blade slammed his hand against the table. 'Don't you even dare apologize for that. This was all my fault. I started everything. I did this to myself… I'm sorry… it led to this. I'm sorry it led to everything that happened to you. Even when I embarked on my mission all that time ago, I never could have imagined you would have experienced such extended suffering because of me…' He leaned back, resting his head on the back of the chair. 'I can't be sorry enough for what I've done.'

"I know. And I can't ever forgive you enough for you to be satisfied, right?"

'Yeah… I guess. All this did was relieve a bit of the dread resting on my chest. I… know I shouldn't want this, but you cannot believe how grateful I am that you don't hate me. Maybe it's strange to hear, coming from me. But it's hard to spend five years with someone and not value what they think of you.'

Dedede laughed sardonically. "Lemme guess. You didn't wanna admit it cuz you didn't wanna affect my decision?"

The Dark Matter's eye widened ever so slightly. '...I suppose this isn't a mutually exclusive understanding after all.'

"You ain't exactly the most subtle guy in the world."

The two of them chuckled this time. A much more comfortable silence enveloped them this time, much more like a warm blanket than a throttling pair of hands. Though this had been a truly horrible experience for both of them, neither of them came out the other end feeling like their lives were completely over.

That was probably the best outcome Blade could ask for.

A little while passed, allowing the two to unwind. The king stood up and walked over to the counter.

"Y'want some tea, kid?"

'...Sure.'

He began boiling the water and fishing through the cupboards, picking out whatever tea seemed the most flavorful. He shrugged after grabbing a rasberringo mixture. The tea seeped into the transparent kettle and flowed out like blood.

"So you really are twenty then?"

'Yes. I phrased it a bit strangely when you first asked because I was afraid of you figuring it out somehow.'

"But I didn't know how old you were back then either. You coulda just lied."

'...I don't work well under pressure.'

"HA. No kiddin'. Well," he shrugged, "even so, you're STILL a kid to me."

He snapped his fingers. 'Curses.'

After the tea was properly seeped and poured, Dedede set the mugs on the table and moved to sit. But Blade grabbed his robe and held him in place, standing up to face him.

'There's one more thing I need to discuss. Something that… I don't know if you'll be able to answer, but I need to get it off my chest anyways. Is that alright?'

"Go for it, kid. Can't be any worse than what you just told me, right?"

'No… I guess not.' Blade let go and folded his hands in front of his chest. 'I don't know what to do about this but…

'I love you.'

Dedede nearly burst out laughing from pure surprise, but instead stumbled over his words. "Uh- wh- I mean, jeez- I'm flattered kid but I- uh, don't really- I mean I already love Meta and-"

'Not like that! I certainly do not love you romantically! I would know, because I felt how YOU felt about the knight and I can say for certain it does not match. But… if not that, then what is it? It can't be familial… I wouldn't dare be so bold as to call us family.'

"Ah… right…" Dedede glanced away like he didn't want to admit something.

'But is it platonic? Are… are we even friends? I don't want to force that idea on you either… But if it's not any of those, then what is this love? I don't… know what to do with it. How could I have possibly avoided this? I spent five years with you and I… I loved you so much that I wished you were dead… it was a horrible love back then… but what do I do with it now that it's something less… disgusting?'

Dedede let out a winded huff of air and ran his hands through his hair, lifting up his crown slightly in the process. "Jeez, I dunno if I can answer that kiddo. That's a weird place to be in, gonna be honest. I dunno if ANYONE can tell ya how t'feel about that?"

Blade's disappointment was palpable, and Dedede scrambled to save it. "B- but! I don't think- I mean, I don't mind you feelin' that way, okay? I ain't gonna judge you for it. You can't help it, yeah? So there ain't no reason to get too worked up about it. Besides…" He placed his hands on the Dark Matter's shoulders and forced him to look him in the eye.

"I think we ARE friends. It ain't wrong or weird t'love your friends, mkay? So… we can start with that."

'But I-'

Blade was cut off by the king suddenly pulling him forward, wrapping him up in the warmest, most overwhelming hug he'd ever felt in his entire life. This was the first time being embraced by someone taller than him, in a way that felt bone-achingly familiar despite knowing he never had the chance to experience it.

Despite everything, despite his insistence that he wouldn't dare assume a familial relationship between them… in that moment, Blade felt as if he was receiving a hug from his father.

Not from Lord Zero. From his father.

He slowly lifted his arms and reciprocated the hug, burying his face in Dedede's robes and trying not to stain them with his tears or the filth constantly seeping from his skull. That wouldn't do at all… That wouldn't do at all….

That infinity was perhaps the longest one he'd ever felt. When Dedede finally pulled away, Blade felt as if he could hold that sensation inside his chest forever.

"C'mon. Let's have some tea. It'll make ya feel better."

'It'll make you feel better.'

The two sat back down. Blade took a sip of the warm liquid, letting it chase out all of the frigid, terror-induced feelings that still lingered. Despite everything, this still held a tinge of "wrongness." He couldn't ever win, could he?

'Is there any way for me to make things up to you? Even just a little bit?'

Dedede hummed in thought for a moment before responding.

"I hate to do this to ya, to anyone really… But if you really do get me that well, could ya… just… try 'n make sure I don't do anything stupid again. Like I tried to do on the last night of the New World… I dunno how much I can trust myself yet, t'be honest."

'Of course. I'd be glad to prevent you from doing something like that.'

"And… try not t'put yourself in situations where I'll worry about ya anymore? I got enough crazy kids to deal with as it is; I can't be worryin' that you'll off yourself every time I look away."

'…Yes. I promise, I'll try my best.'

"Oh, and one more thing."

'Yes?'

Dedede pushed his empty cup across the table. "Could ya refill my tea?"

"Pff-" 'Of course. It would be my honor, Great King.'