The Arrow of Time

Separation

"I'd like the record to show that the next time Bandee suggests something, I will be against it." Magolor, covered in yellow powder, kicked off the discussion in the dining room. Everyone else looked pretty much the same.

Dedede was clearly displeased with the events of the day. "I take it you three know how we all got blasted like this?"

Bandee sighed. "Yeah, a flower exploded and pollen went everywhere. I imagine you got covered in it thanks to the ducts."

Coo raised a wing. "Now that we know it happened to everybody, how do we proceed?"

"How about we go over everyone here and consider what the grounds might be for suspecting them?" Taranza suggested. "I mean, it's entirely possible we're looking for more than one person here, but it'd be good to see where everyone stands, right?"

"Fine." Meta Knight agreed. "Let's start with Kirby. As far as I am aware, there is no reason whatsoever to be suspicious of him. He pressed the elevator button, and he was with me when Kine and Marx disappeared." It was an easy pill to swallow for everyone there. "Now for King Dedede, for whom there are also no grounds for suspicion."

"Whoa there," Daroach interjected. "I get that you're biased and all, but I can't agree with what you're saying here."

"...Pardon?"

"Earlier, when we were checking out the jail room, he went and got the keys to the cells without saying anything beforehand. If you ask me, that's at least worthy of considering."

Dedede sighed. "I just took those because I knew I'd be able to keep them safe. You can't really think I'm shady just because of a ring of keys, can you?"

Daroach waved a hand in the air nonchalantly. "Not really, but that's not what I'd call nothing. Worth keeping an eye on, anyway."

The argument continued for another minute, but they agreed to move on to someone else after some urging from Meta Knight. That someone being Meta Knight himself. The only things worth going over for him were that he was one of the seven unconfirmed in the room with the elevator. Bandee was in the library, which was near where Zan Partizanne was when she would have vanished, but there wasn't much other than that. There was hardly anything to go over with Rick, Coo, Gooey, and Adeleine, and Dark Meta Knight was ruled unlikely for behaving far too recklessly to have anything to do with something that took this much setup. Daroach and Magolor were both under a decent amount of suspicion, particularly the latter, but they were able to sidestep any potential allegations with clever wording. When the subject turned to Taranza, Magolor had no hesitation blocking any suspicion by providing his alibi for Marx and Kine's disappearance. When Bandee brought up the fact that Taranza was alone for quite a while while Zan disappeared, Magolor looked about ready to throttle them. While there was nothing concrete to say regarding Susie, most people agreed that something was slightly off about her. Francisca and Flamberge didn't have many points of information for the others to go off of, and Elfilin was protected from any questions by Magolor, slightly derailing the conversation. Despite all the unease and suspicion in the air, everyone was much too cagey to be able to really get to the bottom of any kind of mystery. The meeting split, with a silent agreement for everyone to try to look after themselves and each other.

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The group splitting up, even if most were going to be back soon, had given an OSO a good opportunity to call someone on their transceiver. They were sequestered away from any potential visitors well enough that there was no way for them to be caught in the act. "Well, I was wondering something."