Chapter Text
Space.
Space was a beautiful abstract area. The seeming darkness splayed across the galaxy, giving way to shining diamonds to develop and nurture their growth.
That was another thing.
The stars.
And galaxies.
They held wondrous treasures. Such items to be accomplished through time.
Shame, such a shame. That all this perseverance and hard work to develop those connections would soon be consumed and returned to stardust. The nothingness.
They opened their eyes, stretching out a smile. The sight before them had caught their interest, a photograph to be remembered in all eternity.
For who would go as far as to stop the demolisher of worlds? That was deemed insane by the legends itself.
But Kirby was known to have done such insanity.
The pink puff, seated comfortably on top of his golden star donning a pink tinted visor, casually greeted his foe.
With thousands of allies, in an array of questionably vividly colors to dulled and darkened hues, from varying sizes of tall, small, and in between, poised and ready to battle.
The god blinked, amusement arising in colors blending and shimmering in his veins. Such galaxies, or maybe stars. They weren’t sure just yet.
But the pink thing, the one disguised in shades of light pastels and warmth, constantly surrounded by sparkles and emitting wonder... It was not a star.
Instead it, the god decided, was a consumer.
A black hole.
The same kin.
Surrounding themselves with more and more goodness of lights and life, an undying whirlpool suctioning in nearby and orbiting satellites.
Consuming, until there was nothing left to consume.
Kirby blinked, silently staring in awe of the unmasked vessel. Hovering closely, but not too close to the face of the destroyer’s core.
They were much alike, he found.
Simple faces, round features, similar designs.
He gave a smile.
Endless possibilities, they both thought.
When two black holes encounter each other, they dance around and twirled, swirling around each other in a long battle of endurance.
It’s only when that one gives into the motions that the other consumes it and emerges revitalized and renewed.
This, they found, was much like that.
An otherworldly battle of fate.
Of whom returned victorious could have drastic effects on the rest of the universe.
The peace of mind, or peace of self -- the embrace of blissfulness, or the embrace of acceptance that leads to the end.
The planets held their breaths.
The stars burn brightly.
Someone laughs.
Explosions, burn outs, a quiet hush of a flame dying and leaving no remains.
Collapses, scatteredness; gases, nebulas, unknown planets, blooming universes, newly birthed black holes.
Energy spent too high or too low, wavering between the lines and limitations that could be.
Red and blue.
Distance, temperature; closeness, warmth.
A scary fun fact about stars-- they could have died eons ago, and yet we see their light gleaming down from the sky like it was yesterday.
Some of Kirby’s friends were that exact exception.
If he had time right now, he would recollect in simple, vivid details of his once-enemies-now-friends screaming in horrendous pain, their figures distorted and maimed in shreds, flickering and disappearing into the far end.
Yet, they’ve appeared, breathing and in the flesh.
Kirby didn't know what had happened to them afterwards, but he supposes that they must have been somewhere nice, with all their smiles and pats and reassurances of, “ Oh, Kirby, we’ve been having a grand ole time !”
Oddly enough, they’d stay the farthest away from him whenever they take breaks and regroup, but Kirby would respect their boundaries.
The celestial-like core had morphed their face, his mouth opening up and revealing a far too tiny eyeball peering out at the collected horde of allies.
A part of the group shivered, the spine crawling acquaintanceship rearing the familiarity of the Dark Matters and Zero.
The eye analyzed and drank in its opponents. Scanning and memorizing faces and structures, potential dangers and flaws that could lead to its downfall.
Yet the one course of action that it could not anticipate was that of its nemesis.
Void Termina was surprisingly white and pale.
Kirby was reminded of glacier ice catching the light of those pretty rainbow light streaks in the night sky in winter-like places full of fluffy snow.
Those were cold areas.
Space was also cold.
Termina was, too.
Cold to the touch.
Kirby could’ve sworn that he heard someone shouting-- several people, in fact, screaming his name with a collective wave of sighs and sharp inhales, but his attention was primarily on that in front of him.
Termina.
Termina with a wide smile and dot eyes, and Kirby realizes with a start that maybe, just maybe, they weren’t fond of being touched.
He should have considered asking before patting-- or even better, giving them a hug instead!
With how cold they felt, a nice, long, warm hug would have fixed them right up!
...Oh. Termina doesn’t seem too good, becoming all glowy like that.
W-wait, glowy ?!
“Kirby,” he hears someone say, and he can’t quite remember nor place whom’s voice it is. “Why’d you do that?!”
And he turns around, tilting his head to find the source of the question, already forgetting about the situation behind him, saying, “He looked all cold and lonely like that! How could I leave them be?”
Kirby almost misses the beam that shoots past his raised arm.
Almost.
He pulls back in shock, his hand blaring in pain as he looks back at the floating core, tears gathered in his eyes.
A black hole doesn’t concede. It doesn’t rest when there’s a challenge prepared at its throat.
This was a matter of life and death.
And Kirby, well…
Maybe he should have learned by now, but...
Naiveness is a trait that doesn’t truly die.
“Are you satisfied with your choices?”
He remembers someone, just like himself.
“ Poy... What do you mean? ” Kirby remembers relaying back in the memory.
“Well, are you happy with what you’ve got?” It’s him, but... not quite.
“Of course, poyo!”
The other ‘ him ’ gives a small frown. “...Are you really?”
He tilts his head, confused at the suggestion. “ Why shouldn’t poy?”
His shadow self stands up. They were having a small picnic together. “Aren’t there things you’d like to go back and… change?”
Kirby puts a paw at his mouth, thinking about it. “Poyo… Don’t know.” He frowns; Shadow Kirby had been sad. “ Would you? ”
He goes quiet for a while, and replies with, “ Maybe. ”
Another pause.
“I could do things better, quicker. Know what to do when it comes again.”
The rest of their time together stays like that. A little sad.
Kirby wishes he knew what more to say.
Even now, he wishes that he could have done something to avoid a small mistake such as this.
“What were you thinking?”
And oh, Kirby hadn’t noticed his friends hopping up on his star sparkler, forcing the vehicle to comply to their notions; redirecting it further upwards after the monstrosity.
He could feel his companions’ gazes burn into his back. Kirby only shrugs with a half-hearted smile, wincing as they yell at him.
“You could’a died!”
“Be careful, Kirby!”
“Focus and pay attention!”
Kirby squeaks, huddling into himself as he turns his attention back to the task at hand. They were now in front of Termina yet again, with the latter watching them dauntingly.
A moment passes, and the orb’s face morphs upside down, ever so grinning.
And the unexpected happens; they open their mouth.
“ I wonder… ”
Everybody freezes. The soft yet shrill sound takes them off guard. It sounds harsh and hoarse, unused for a long time-- it’s to be expected from being banished for so long, but a surprise nonetheless.
It’s ethereal, for something that someone speaks in the middle of a fight for your life.
“ Is this your collection? ”
For a minute, nobody says anything, then Kirby speaks up, hopping onto his feet.
“Poy-yeah! My friends!”
“ ...Friends? ” It was odd, seeing the massive destroyer that’s praised to high hell and back, with a background of sacrifices and hatred in order to be summoned, confused by a simple term.
“Yep,” Kirby chirps. “They’re fellows who help each other out when someone’s in trouble, poyo! And we get to go out and have picnics and explore and eat more and fight baddies and eat some more food--”
Someone thwacks him hard from behind.
“We take care of each other,” Kirby concludes with a wince, rubbing his side.
“ They’re pawns for you to use ,” Termina sums up.
“What, poy no!” He waves his hands around hurriedly. Objections shout out from around him, but not as many as there could be, feeling empty. “That’s not true!”
The ever radiant and luminous blorb with colorful veins only smiled ominously. They started moving clockwise, and Kirby scrambled to redirect his vehicle to gain distance.
“ How much do they really mean to you? ”
Kirby almost pauses right then and there, but his companions urge the star to keep going.
“They mean everything to me, poyo!”
Void didn’t look convinced.
A gloved hand reaches out in an attempt to override and start shooting, but the pink puff huddles closer towards the star. “I care so much about them, so much that I know they know!”
“
They seem to think otherwise.
”
The whirling of the spinning gets stronger, the star’s energy becomes more and more exerted. He can’t hear the voices in the background, desperate yelling, yet they blur and become part of the white noise. Instead, Kirby hyperfixtates onto the one in front of him, onto the blinding figure that are his everlasting doubts and fears.
“I reach out to them, and I’d listen to them! I’d hang out with them forever if I could! I miss them when they’re leaving, even when they’re out of sight a few feet away from me, when they’re only walking away to hang out for another day! I know that they’d know I’d do everything and anything for them, if it helps us grow together and closer as a family! Even if it means painful methods in order to tell them that I love them! I’m frightened when they blow up into obscurity, I don’t know if that’s the last time I’ll ever get to see of them-- if it’s the last time they’re alive and I actually off’d them! I care about their well being, their lives-- themselves! Poyo, I’d even sacrifice myself in the end if I knew that they’d be doing well and fine in the end!”
It’s eerily quiet when he finishes his rant. Kirby looks up and around to see himself alone and standing on his warp star-- it probably reverted back during his rambling. In front of him, Termina has that strange smile on their face, simple and small.
“ If that’s all it takes. ”
Kirby’s mind is numb, slowly processing the words as a bright flash of light blasts and engulfs him. He thinks that he might’ve heard shouting, another shimmering of a star similar to his own, but he’s just
so tired
and he can’t help but to give into the blinding shot, sparks and needles tingling his skin until it recedes and fades into a distant feeling.