"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Void's unnerving voice echoed through the cave, bringing attention to everyone.
"Yes!" Dark Taranza pushed Dark Meta Knight to the side before throwing his hands in the celebration. "I'm finally the only spider around!" He coughed a little bit of blood, being interrupted by the man in armor right after.
"Not for much longer." Managing to make his opponent groan in annoyance, the dark knight continued their fight. While some would think the underworld arachnid would be wincing in pain, he was grinning like a true madman.
Meanwhile, the beloved spider was rubbing his eyes after almost dying; he also patted his clothes and fixed his scarf with the remaining hands. "What happened? Why am I... still alive?" Taranza didn't understand why Void was having the time of its life if it had failed with its objective, only if...
As soon as the boy looked to the side, he saw the silhouette of Zan's weapon in the middle of the dusty arena. But something felt off for him, it almost seemed like the partisan was destroyed in half...
"That's odd, she usually never lets go of her- AH!" The moment in front of him was able to make him stop scratching his 'chin'. "W-why is it broken?!" He grabbed the two pieces and tried to put 'em together, but his efforts were to no avail.
What made the situation even more worrying for him was the fact that, unlike most of the scenes in this story, there wasn't a single piece of music playing. No sad piano or a chilling violin, just silence... The same silence that reminded us of loneliness and... death.
Taranza was the type of guy who's very sensitive, which meant that even the tiniest problem would be a big deal for him. His mind had endless thoughts as he feared the worst that could've happened.
"No. She's fine." He nervously laughed and hugged the weapon like she used to do. "There were times where she lost it, maybe it was just fragile and bound to break." As he said that, the dust began to disappear, revealing the only one he didn't want to see.
"..." His many eyes widened and he dropped the two pieces when he saw the girl he vowed to help. The spider couldn't say a single thing, all he did was look and process the information. Zan was a tough girl, she wasn't the type of people to lose like that, right?
Right...?
"Sacre bleu!" All of a sudden, Taranza rushed towards the seemingly collapsed girl who had invaded his dreams for weeks. "No no no no no no! This cannot be happening!" Once he got close enough, the boy carefully analyzed her condition.
Since Zan was lying on her side, all Taranza could see was the same two wounds she got from the fight in his kingdom; that brought him a false sense of hope he desperately needed to cling to. He did not want to do this, but it was the only way of checking on her.
So, the spider tried to be as gentlemanly as possible and turned her towards him. He knew that touching a girl without her consent wasn't a nice thing to do, especially when she's vulnerable like the lightning mage. He only hoped what he did was right.
When he gently let go of her, his level of concern went through the roof. Her hand pads were all ripped, but what drew more attention was that her chest was completely burned and black. He connected the dots in his head...
"Void fired a laser in my direction, but it never hit me... That means..." His eyes watered.
"N-no... Hey, Miss Partizanne, do you hear me?" He called out for her. "Z-Zan? It's me, Taranza the bowlcut." No matter how hard he tried, the girl in yellow did not move a single inch. This caused him to start crying.
"S-say something... s-si vous plait." Taranza begged for it to be just a dream, he couldn't believe she was gone...
"It can be a-anything... Just one of your rough but c-cute sentences will be enough." The poor boy was slowly becoming a sobbing mess as the first tear finally fell from his face and dropped on the cold and depressing platform.
Completely ignoring his politeness, Taranza touched her chest hoping that he would feel their weird version of a heart beat. But like the soundtrack, it was completely nonexistent...
"D-don't leave me, I n-need you. I can't do this w-without you." The arachnid cried onto her lifeless body, tightly holding her hand while doing so.
He kept doing that for what seemed to be hours, but he had no plans of stopping. "Remember that t-time when I said it was o-only a simple crush?" His low and muffled voice was the only thing holding him back from soaking her clothes.
Despite everything showing that she was dead for good, Taranza insisted that she still had a chance. If losing one loved one managed to break him for years, imagine what a second one would do...
"W-well, that's no longer the case. I. I-I..." He couldn't say it, the realization of the occurring events prevented him from having positive feelings.
"I love you." Boom. He finally broke and cried uncontrollably. The best thing that happened in his life after the tragedy of years ago was just... gone. "At f-first I didn't believe it, I thought it was only my mind playing tricks." Each time a small smile dared to appear on his face, the sadness inside of him made sure to make it disappear.
Once he said that, Void stopped and wanted to see what was happening, how many tragedies it caused. "YES, continue. Let the darkness take over your heart, become the villain you are bound to be." Its eyes twitched with excitement.
"This is all my fault." The spider tried to wipe his tears away, but they were endless... "If I wasn't the wimpy coward I am, my emotions wouldn't prevent me from teleporting. T-therefore, she wouldn't have to save me." He delicately held her cheek with one of his hands and rubbed his thumb on it.
"She- I m-mean... You would still be-" Void smiled at the mess the two 'friends' were. One was about to flood the arena, while the other was soon becoming a lifeless corpse.
"That's right, Taranza." The god in white floated around them. "This is your fault and your fault only." It started chuckling. "You are a loser, a complete joke. You will spend the rest of your life knowing that you could have done something, but you didn't..." Its grin was as big as its body.
The white orb kept making him reach the limit of his grief. "You've placed your faith in me, prayed so I would make your life better. I only did this to show YOU that HAPPY ENDINGS DON'T EXIST!"
The three cavities on Void's body spun around it while it laughed and laughed. It didn't even notice Kirby and his three best friends landing a few meters behind it. However, even the wisest people couldn't tell what was about to happen.
Taranza closed his eyes and made a fist with the hand that was holding Zan's. He took a deep breath before facing the god itself. Suddenly, the arachnid emanated a purple aura and his white eyes began to glow.
With a scream of rage, Taranza canalized all of his magic into one powerful punch. The attack caused Void to be pushed several miles until it crashed into a floating platform, forcing Dedede to duck to avoid getting hit.
The spider breathed heavily as the glow faded away, getting four pairs of surprised eyes. Right as Taranza fell on his 'knees' and sobbed into his hands, Kirby looked at him with a sad expression. The puffball's eyes widened once he saw the girl in yellow.
Kirby wasted no time and ran towards her, but he was stopped by Dedede. "Stop, Kirby. We can't do anything to help." While it looked like the king of Dreamland had a serious face, he was holding back sadness.
Meta Knight patted the poor spider on the back as a way of comfort while Bandana Dee lowered his head.
"Come on, we have a villain to stop." The bird slowly nodded to himself, getting an 'okay' from the pink ball right after. "Waddle dee! Ya stay here and protect the two girls." He pointed towards the collapsed mage sisters.
"Are ya coming with us, Meta Knight?" He asked the man in armor, who nodded and opened his wings.
They left to end the god's suffering once and for all. Taranza and Bandana Dee looked at each other for a brief moment before looking at the ground with sad faces. The camera zoomed in on the lightning mage...
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The girl in yellow gasped, opened her eyes and got up with half of her body. However, she wasn't inside the meteor anymore... The surroundings around her had multiple butterflies and were all orange, even the floating rocks were colored with orange tones.
All of a sudden, one butterfly among the kaleidoscope of insects shined bright like the sun and made its way towards Zan. It then transformed itself into a scarlet knight-like figure, who had a mask with antennas and a black round body.
"Wha... What's going on? Where am I?" The oldest mage-sister looked around, hoping she would understand why she wasn't in that fight anymore.
As soon as she saw the butterfly in armor, she tried to get her weapon only to find out it wasn't there. "Where's my beautiful partisan?!" Instead of running away, she entered a fighting position and noticed that her hand wasn't tangible.
Zan checked her whole body, which only had a yellow and black outline. She could even see through her hair...
Anxiety took control as she panicked and stared at the armored insect, not knowing if she would get out of there alive... Wait...
She recalled her last moments in the heat of the battle, or as Zan herself would say: the eye of the storm; one thing that brought her attention was her jumping to save-. "OH MY VOID! Am I dead?" Her widened eyes and endless rambles stopped once Morpho Knight raised his hand and summoned his sword.
"I told you we would meet again, didn't I?" There was the deep voice from a month earlier. Zan remembered the moment where she sat on that lonely hill, frowning as she did so. "Are you that ethereal butterfly? Why are- oh wait, I get it."
She made no expression, but her mind was going crazy. "It knew when I was going to die? How is a freaking butterfly Death itself? That means it wasn't just a threat, it was actually going to kill me on that hill if I didn't desire a second chance..." Deep down, Zan knew she didn't have to be afraid, she was already dead.
"Come... with... me..." Morpho made a gesture for her to follow it. They jumped on a rock that floated away.
"So what is this place?" She awkwardly said, trying her best to initiate a conversation; much for her disappointment, the insect did not speak. "Is this where every foe defeated by such a strong person as me goes?" Zan proudly grinned and crossed her 'arms', getting only a bored face from it.
The rock finally stopped and revealed a much scarier place. It had a large court with eight butterflies and an empty place in the middle that belonged to Morpho Knight. Right next to it resided three different pathways, one that went down to a fiery portal, another that led to a light blue one, and the third to a smaller white portal.
"This is where we judge the souls of all living beings that have one." It pointed in the portals' direction. "Once the judgment is complete, we decide if the being will suffer for its sins, live in eternal light for its virtues..." Morpho put its hands together and took a deep breath.
"Or resurrect and continue its life..."
The lightning mage widened her eyes once more as she understood the situation she witnessed. This place was the purgatory of her universe, which means...
"Sit down, Zan Partizanne."
A chair suddenly appeared on her side. "This is it, my final moments..." She thought.
"Fellow arthropods, we are here to judge this girl's life." Morpho clapped twice, which summoned a scroll with her name on it.
"From the strange planet Towara, Zan had a humble life. HOWEVER, she had a big problem: her short temper, which overwhelmed her parents and caused them to leave her." This brought many gasps from the council and a sad look on her face.
"Is that the reason they left?" Zan hugged herself and closed her eyes for a few seconds before the judgment continued.
"This girl tried to commit suicide by angering the cycloptic storm cloud, Kracko. Though her plan failed as Hyness, a direct descendant of the ancients, saved her." One of the butterflies sighed in relief while some were disappointed.
"She swore to protect said man by following him to the ends of the universe. And... when she had the perfect opportunity to enjoy her life, she MISTREATED everyone in her path by being rude and aggressive." The insect in armor closed the scroll.
"Impossible." "There is no way a follower of light would do such a thing, right?" "She should BURN for her mistakes!" "Now there, I'm sure she changed. "Naive as always, Bugbert." The council started to debate, only stopping when Morpho raised his hand.
"My dear comrades, this judgment isn't like the others. Zan here died by sacrificing herself to save the one she loves, who is the depressed spider himself." That caused some of them to 'frown'.
"Hmmm..." "No way, Taranza actually hit the jackpot?" "Ugh... stop with the teenage romance thoughts..." "She might have a chance..."
"Since the events were caused by Dark Taranza, who refused to die and is denying his destiny, I consider her death as out of fate." The council agreed. "Which means that we can allow her to resurrect, if she's worthy, of course."
"Worthy?" Zan tilted her head to the side and had a puzzled look on her face. "Yes, I have prepared a question for you. If the council thinks your answer is good, then you will be able to come back to life and..." Morpho summoned a portal of Taranza crying, which made her heart ache. "...build a relationship with him."
The armored butterfly snapped his fingers. "BUT, if you fail, then your soul will stay in our dimension until the end of times while your body disintegrates. Do you accept my challenge?"
Feeling confident of herself, the lightning mage nodded. But she didn't expect the question to be...
"Are you happy with your life? Please give us a concrete and complex answer." Morpho sat down on his floating chair as the rest of the insects waited.
It was at this moment that the girl broke. "How am I going to answer this?" A part of her wanted to use her mind to create an answer that would blow their minds, but then...
"Try connecting herself with your heart, you'll know what to do next..." Francisca's words looped inside her mind. "Loving what you have... being grateful..." She desperately tried to say something related to the things her youngest sister once said.
Zan wanted to give up, just accept defeat and make her 'life' a lot easier; after all, she couldn't even answer Taranza's weeks old question- Hold on a second. "Regardless of the past, everyone can bloom in happiness." She whispered, bringing curiosity to the insect in armor.
"Was that your answer, mage in yellow?"
Zan closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them with hope... and a little bit of her overconfidence. She then pointed towards the butterfly council and grinned. "The old me would have bragged and said how stupid others are and how it's all their fault... But I'm no longer that girl. Listen to what I have to say." They all seemed like they had raised their 'eyebrows'.
"Dear council, I know you think of me as a selfish little brat. Well, you're right." She had a neutral smile, which confused them. "I was an awful person, I'm not gonna lie. Every time someone tried to help me, I refused, which brought me to a near-death situation." Zan winked in Morpho's direction, who looked intrigued.
"However, I had a second chance to fix this... Uh... That would make this my third chance...? It's complicated... You have every reason to not give me that opportunity, but I have hope." The lightning mage placed a hand on her heart.
"That's right, I have hope! Hope that I will become a better person... I have friends to help me, the most amazing family I could ever ask for and..." She smiled. "A... special someone." The girl laughed at herself. "To be frank, I'm actually happy, it was my mind that told me otherwise. Mayyybe I should have started with that, yeah..." An awkward silence could be noticed...
"Having such blessed moments in my life made me realize what my purpose is... All of my life was a mess made by my own flaws. Nevertheless, I'll do my best to eliminate my excess of selfishness and focus on serving... helping people to at least compensate for what they all did to me. That's what happiness feels like." She took a deep breath before continuing.
"A plant who tried to live without symbiosis has now found a way to use its roots." Deep down, she could not believe she was just using plant knowledge to explain something. "Did that make any sense? I'm sorry if the plant talk is too confusing." Zan almost burst with laughter.
"And here's where I end my (possibly terrible) answer, I won't pressure you. Just know that it would make someone- And... I'm just doing it, sorry." Finally ending her speech, Zan returned to sit down on the mystical chair.
It was impossible to tell what the butterflies were thinking, so many things could happen. "Very well, we shall now decide your fate." At the blink of an eye, Morpho Knight and the rest of the insects teleported away, accidentally leaving the portal open.
Once they were all gone, the girl in yellow looked at the portal and saw two girls and a spider mourning for her loss. "Please have a positive view." She put her hands together. "I just wanna say how much they matter to me."
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The camera then zoomed out of her and returned to the last scene, where Francisca and Flamberge were just waking up. Meanwhile, Dreamland's most epic trio made its way towards the god in white; they had hope that Void would give up on its negative feelings.
"Ouch..." The girl in red slowly returned to her senses. "YO. DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT FIRE-" Her admirable excitement vanished once she saw her younger sister, which brought just a little bit of concern... and anger, of course.
"THAT'S IT!" She closed her two hands and shook in fury. "JAMBLASTED! Who dared to hurt her beautiful blue hair?!" It almost seemed like she had steam coming out of her body.
"Berge, I'm okay." Francisca suddenly appeared from her sister's side, managing to scare the life out of her. "AH! Don't scare me like that!" As the fire mage got a 'shrug' for the bluette, she crossed her 'arms' before smiling and hugging her.
The two girls' joy didn't last for long due to Bandana Dee jumping in worry. "Girls, girls!" The spear wielder stopped once he realized he had no idea how to tell it to them, so he forced a smile and nervously snapped his fingers.
"I... am so glad you're okay!" Despite him not lying, everyone could notice he was hiding something. Francisca then put a hand on her hip and looked at him with an unimpressed face while Flamberge held back from shaking the information out of him.
Both expressions made the boy give up and sigh. "Okay, okay. I don't know how I can say this to you. Honestly, I never expected for something bad like this to happen. I'm always a positive guy, but I'm not sure if I can remain optimistic about this." Bandana Waddle Dee wanted to facepalm, he just made it worse.
As expected by the waddle dee, the two girls widened her eyes, with the girl in blue gently pushing him to the side. After doing said thing, they found her beloved sister in a critical condition.
"Zan!" The mage-sisters said in union and flew in her direction with incredible speed. "Are you okay?!" Once again, they were in full synchrony.
"S-she is gone." Taranza's broken voice caused them to look at him. "She took a direct hit from Void while... while-" The spider looked down and continued with his sobbing, causing Francisca to form tears of her own.
When you looked at Flamberge, you could tell she was breaking from the inside. "No, I won't accept this. There must be a way to-" She was stopped by the bluette. "Franny, what are you doing?!" She struggled to break free.
"Miss F-Flamberge, all we can do is honor her." Francisca's falling tears immediately turned into ice cubes before they hit the ground, but she still kept the same cool and collected expression as usual.
"Cold as always, dear sister of mine. Just let me- ugh- GO!" In one smooth move, the girl in red broke free and held her older sister. Flamberge knew Zan could be really dead, but her fire wasn't dying that soon. "Hyness is probably in his ship, I-" She groaned as her attempts of lifting the lightning mage failed.
"He can fix this!" Despair was apparent. "I mean, he saved us while we were in extreme situations, right?" The fire mage then pointed towards the sad arachnid. "You carry her, you have six hands. Let's bring her to the ship." This caused Taranza to frown.
"Miss Flamberge, I don't know if this-" "I SAID CARRY HER!" The middle sister's angry but depressed voice showed him that she wouldn't take a no as an answer, and so he did what she demanded.
At the same time, Francisca sat down and looked at the two discussing. "Oh, dear Void, what shall I do now?"
"WELCOME BACK, KIRBY!" Void stared at the three while changing expressions. "Here to fight me again? How silly of you. I told you, I'm pure misery and suffering!" As it laughed, Meta Knight and Dedede got into fighting positions.
Kirby's smile was filled with confidence and joy, he knew exactly what his next move would be. "Yes, I'm back again. But this time, I'm not here to fight." Kirby stored his copy ability.
"Show it how it's done, Kirby! Wait, what?" The king of dreamland, who had its hammer raised, tilted his head to the side. Meta Knight looked sideways and frowned behind his mask. He cursed in spanish for not being able to fight.
"Why are you here then?" Void narrowed its eyes; it was really intrigued by the puffball's words.
"Hope." Kirby said, getting many confused faces.
"Listen, Void." He looked down and took a deep breath. "I know how you feel. You and I are opposites. Two sides of the same coin. While I was taught to love and forgive, your past only showed you darkness."
"NO, NO POSITIVENESS!" Void interrupted, but his words didn't affect the pink boy.
"The answer is right in front of you, you have no hope inside your heart. No hope of changing." Kirby sadly smiled.
"I created Dark Matter, everything you see is my creation. I have come from the void, and from there I never left. I'm telling you, you can't forgive a being like me." The god in white made his Zero-like face to make sure that Kirby would give up.
Meta Knight soon knew what Kirby's plan was. "Hope is never lost." He nodded.
Dedede wanted to do something as well. "Most of the people in here had twisted paths, but Kirby healed each one of us." Although he maintained a serious expression, the penguin imagined himself doing a triumphant pose.
"Exactly!" Kirby nodded in his friends' direction. "Love can end the pain, you are no exception. You have it inside of you." As soon as he said that, Void charged a laser beam and fired it. "You're lying! How can you be so sure of that?" The attack was dodged by just walking to the side.
"Because I'm a direct creation, one who was created with positivity. But love can also be scary." The boy in pink recalled the lighting mage and Meta Knight's fears of love. "With that in mind, you've kept it locked... Let me be the key to open it."
Kirby's emotional speech started to affect the white orb, however...
"Don't believe in him!" An almost destroyed Dark Taranza showed himself as he still fought Dark Meta. "Remember my words. Besides, if hope is all powerful, then why is my counterpart living in sadness as we speak?" The underworld arachnid summoned a weakened version of his shield as he smirked.
They all looked to see the last events, making Void frown and nod. "Hmm... it seems like hope is flawed..." Kirby widened his eyes as the dark spider managed to manipulate them once more.
Dark Taranza's plans, though, crumbled as Taranza's voice reached them. As he was forced to carry the girl in yellow, he felt a slight 'heartbeat' caused by Zan's proximity to the portal. "GIRLS, COME HERE!" The beloved spider gasped.
When the two conscious girls went to check it for themselves, they jumped in happiness and hugged themselves; they pulled Taranza as well into the hug, who only patted them back as he tried not to drop the electric girl.
"WHAT?! THEY WERE SAD TWO MINUTES AGO!" Dark Taranza fell unconscious after getting punched by Meta Knight's counterpart, who teleported away after doing his job.
King Dedede couldn't help but smile at the sight, nudging Meta Knight as he did so.
"Look for yourself Void, just a small fraction of hope managed to remove their negative feelings. You ARE a sparkling star, but for it to shine, you gotta open yourself first. You CAN be happy, it all depends on you." Kirby wiped a small tear away and jumped to hug Void.
The god started to shake and sniff as Kirby carefully rubbed it. "You will have those beautiful dreams again. Now then, just cry, release the tears of angst." Kirby hugged him tighter.
"Feel the love..."
"Feel the happiness..."
"Feel the hope."
"W-what. What is this feeling?" The gigantic black tears fell on the ground, forcing Meta Knight to walk backwards. "You're loved, Void." At this moment, Void broke into tears.
"It's gone. Every dark feeling is just gone. I don't see it anymore. Please don't stop, I want more." Hearing the white orb's words, Kirby made a gesture for his two friends to hug it as well. They were a little reluctant at first, but they decided to do it anyway.
After a few moments of pure love, the trio stopped hugging it and looked behind them. They saw Bandana Dee, the three mage-sisters and Taranza, who all had different expressions on their faces. Once the waddle dee saw his best friends, he immediately ran so they could make their victory dance.
"Wow." Bandana Dee looked at the smiling god in front of him, truly mesmerized by the sight. "Seeing it finally happy brings me good expectations of my future again." He nodded in Dedede's direction. "I don't have to be afraid of weakness anymore."
Void then saw the girl he killed before, feeling regret as it did so. "I'm sorry." This brought many surprised looks. "I wish I could go back in time and fix my mistakes." It lowered his 'face' for a minute of silence.
Even if they had a little bit of hope, Taranza couldn't help but be worried. As he faced the god in white, his face emanated anxiety; this caused Kirby to smile at him, mouthing 'go on' right after.
"I... I know how you feel..." He recalled the death of his queen. "But I forgive you." The spider suddenly felt a lot more relieved, almost as if forgiving Void fixed a part of his healing heart.
The white orb was shocked. "But I... Thank you. I wish the best for you, for all of you." It made a silly face before continuing. "You all have my blessing. A happy ending for everyone! And-" An unexpected ray of light coming out from it caused Void to stop.
"Kirby, what's happening?" The bird asked as he took a few steps backwards. Two more rays came out from the god.
Before any of them could plan their next move, Magolor came from behind panting for breath. "Guys! We gotta get out of here. Void will soon explode!!" The panicked movement of his hands was enough for Kirby, who took one last glance at his creator.
Kirby slowly walked in its direction and touched his 'forehead' on it. "I may be related to Dark Matter, but I'll make sure no one follows the path of evil. You have my word, Void." When Kirby gave it a final but beautiful smile, Void this time smiled back.
"Good luck, Kirby. I am proud of you." The number of rays grew, giving them the sign that it was time to leave.
"Bye!" Kirby waved at his creator and jumped off the platform with the rest of his team, leaving a dark arachnid behind.
As the Star Allies left the cave, whose entrance had been blown up by Magolor, Dark Taranza woke up and tried to understand what was happening. Until...
"NO!" The villain of this story slapped Void, hoping that it would make it feel any kind of negative emotion. "YOU OBEY ME! ARE YOU LISTENING?!" Void though, never stopped smiling as the ambient around it began to glow white.
"I PLANNED EVERYTHING!" He slapped it multiple times, each one weaker than the last. "HAPPINESS WILL BE MINE!" His breathing became heavier by the second.
"You know what's your problem?" Void began to say its last words before it appeared somewhere else.
"You lack hope." Colored stars emanated from its body, making him desperate. "No. No! NOOOOO!" Dark Taranza braced himself for impact as everything became white.
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"Quick, get on the ship!" Magolor made a gesture for them to follow him. As soon as they all entered, Hyness looked at them with disbelief. "What took you so long? I was cooling my heels in here, and I don't even have legs!"
The living ancient was slightly pushed to the side by the egg-shaped wizard, who had pressed a button so they wouldn't die by the imminent explosion. A few members of Kirby's team looked behind them to gaze upon the gorgeous destruction. Dark Taranza was no more.
"Kid! I warned you not to-" Hyness widened his chameleon-like eyes when he noticed that one of his adoptive daughters was severely hurt. "W-what happened to her?"
"Void hurt her badly, Hyness." Flamberge made a sad expression; she was then side hugged by her youngest sister who also had a similar look. "We were wondering if you could save her like you did years ago." The bluette said.
"I cannot be of any use." Hyness scratched his big nose. "Back then you were struck by elemental magic... Void is everything... and at the same time nothing." He patted his daughters on the back.
The king of Dreamland decided to light up the mood. "But luckily, the villainous spider has failed his mission. With my mightiness and awesomeness..." Dedede struck the famous pose he wanted to do earlier. "Void was filled with love. Oh, Kirby and Meta Knight helped too." This brought a facepalm from the man in armor.
Seeing that no one responded to his commentary, the penguin realized that it wasn't his best plan...
"Her heart was beating before. But now it just... stopped." The spider wiped the last tears from his face, it was apparently a false alarm...
"The council has decided your fate." Morpho Knight stopped in front of the girl in yellow, who nervously looked at it. "And?"
The butterfly in armor clapped its hands twice, making the red and light blue portals disappear. It then pointed towards the remaining one.
"I was right to give you that second chance. There I saw your future, I saw the change in you. It is unfortunate that a rebellious being brought so much darkness to Popstar. Worry not, he will show himself in a few minutes." That made Zan chuckle a little.
"Can I see him before I... go wherever you guys decide. I have a few things I wanted to say." The lightning mage held her fist with the other hand, but gave up when she saw Morpho's annoyed look. "Fine." She sighed.
"Seeing that much of a change in you after a month brought high expectations to the council. Therefore, Zan Partizanne, I will allow you to come back to life." She smiled after hearing those words. "Your confidence is truly remarkable." It nodded.
"Thanks..." She rubbed the back of her head in shyness, she wasn't used to getting compliments from others. "But I know I gotta keep it under control. After all, the bigger the ego, the bigger the fall." This time, she didn't think of her previous fights, but of the dark spider with his selfish acts.
"Indeed." Morpho felt a little proud of its work, it usually didn't help people that much. "Although I am inevitable, I hope that you take a long time to come back. Live your life to the fullest. Now go, I have a few more 'clients' waiting."
At a blink of an eye, the butterfly vanished. Zan looked at her hand, whose particles were being sucked by the portal. She made a fist with the other hand and closed her eyes, letting it take over...
Suddenly, the yellow mage's fragile body moved a little, making her two sisters tilt their heads in confusion. Zan slowly opened her eyes and looked around her, still on the ship's floor. "What are you all looking at?" She smiled.
Hearing Zan's words caused Flamberge to shake her younger sister, who sighed in relief. "Sis sis sis! She's alive! I told ya!" Francisca placed a hand on the chest and bowed. "Indeed she is." The ice mage then made an unexpected move...
"Don't scare us like that!" She helped the girl in yellow get up and tightly held her 'shoulders'. "Wait a minute, how are you back?" The bluette could not believe it, by her accounts, it didn't make sense; but she wouldn't complain about it.
Zan rubbed the side of her head, finally returning to her senses. "Let's just say someone gave me a second chance." She winked in their direction. At the same time, Magolor hummed and nodded. "I think I know who she's talking about. I wanna know all about it later." The guy grabbed his notes and politely nudged the king.
"Now, Dedede... I wanted to talk about legal land purchase." The penguin frowned. "Say what right now?" After a few seconds, he agreed, a little upset for not being able to see the wholesome moment.
Just as the two of them left, the three girls hugged each other and did not say a single thing. Even Hyness joined the hug for approximately six seconds, he then returned to pilot his ship.
Not everyone was in the same room, Taranza, Kirby and Bandana Dee didn't know that the lightning mage was back. "What are ya doing here? Go and check what has just happened!" Dedede gave 'em two thumbs up, with the egg-shaped wizard doing the same.
Kirby and the spear wielder seemed to understand what was said, so they happily left while guiding the sad spider. Taranza did not want to raise his head, he was too depressed to do anything.
Once the three of them arrived, the three girls had already ended the hug and smiled. "YO! My spear friend is okay!" The waddle dee jumped in excitement, which made the girl laugh. Kirby did the same thing, however, the arachnid didn't seem to be paying attention.
The oldest mage-sister saw the one she saved, causing her to force a smile and look at her family. Francisca knew well what Zan wanted, so she hugged the mage in red from the side and took a few steps back, giving her enough space to make her comfortable.
Nervously approaching the hopeless spider, she cleared her throat and playfully punched his 'arm'. "You broke the promise, bowlcut." Right as she said that, Taranza raised his head and widened his many eyes. "I thought you told me that when something happens, you would focus on yourself. So why did you cling to me and carry me around?" It was hard maintaining a straight face.
Then, Taranza hugged her at the speed of light, causing the girl to tense up a little. Zan smiled and hugged him back, feeling the warmth of his body. It surely helped after Francisca's cold touch.
"I thought I had lost you." His broken voice mixed with falling tears made her heart explode. They did not care that there were other beings around them, they were finally together after three painful chapters.
"Nah... my stubbornness doesn't let me quit. Also, would you believe me if I told you that your plant talk helped me escape my purgatory?" This caused him to burst in laughter, but he didn't let go. "I would be on the fence. What did you say? Oh! My best friend in the whole universe told me that..." Taranza joked by making an impression of her voice.
"Pfft! No... But you being my best friend is true..." She could feel her face heating up. "I've found an answer to your question!" She proudly grinned, bringing confusion to him.
The Floralian king ended the hug and narrowed his eyes. "Oh really? What is it?" He smirked.
"Do you really think I'm gonna say a long speech while I have you-" She widened her eyes and bashfully looked to the side. "I mean..." The girl nervously laughed. After the last few days, Taranza noticed her getting shyer around him, she could barely look him in the eyes.
Almost as he had an idea of what was happening with her, he decided to make her less uncomfortable. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me. After all, I did hide my secret for a few weeks. We can keep it slow." Before he could continue, she once again was mesmerized by how good at reading people he was.
"We are still healing from our traumas, Zan. Two weeks or three months (maybe even more), take all the time you want, I'm not going to complain." He brought her hope by slightly smiling, all of her anxiety finally disappearing. "Although I must say..." He bowed as a joke. "I am most sure it won't take longer than the moment you will come for that revenge."
Just like that, the lighting mage huffed and rolled her eyes. "Is that a challenge?" They both laughed, with Taranza 'shrugging' right after. "The way you say it makes me think that you really want to 'build' something with me and are just hiding it." The spider teased her before extending one of his hands. "Together?"
Zan nodded and shook his hand, completely trusting him. "You bet."
"Group hug!" Flamberge exclaimed as her sister, along with Kirby and the waddle dee, all joined in. This caused the duo to get a little shy.
"Taranza, if you hurt my sister in the slightest possible way, I'll turn you to ashes." The girl in red said inside the hug, bringing two confused looks, a facepalm from Zan and a pair of widened eyes from the spider.
"C'est quoi?!" The group then burst into laughter, with the camera slowly zooming out of the ship.
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Back in the Morpho dimension, an incredulous spider had just gotten up. "Welcome to your judgment." The butterfly clapped its hands, summoning the council of insects.
"Yes!!" "Wow, he's ugly." "Too emo." "Let's just end this, I'm exhausted." "NOW YOU'RE TIRED?!" "I can't wait to see his face while we judge him." "Oh my, Bugbert, I didn't expect this from you..." Seven members talked to each other, but there was one butterfly missing...
Once Dark Taranza took a few steps back, he felt something big behind him.
"Kids are gonna die tonight!" The eight member had a club lightly hitting its invisible hand, which made the others laugh.
All of a sudden, the rest of the council grabbed clubs of their own and 'nodded'. "Wait! Please! Stop!" The underworld arachnid tried to convince them otherwise, but his efforts were to no avail.
"Ouch!" He ran away, but he soon fell after getting hit by one of the butterflies.
"This is for giving us so much work." "Do you have any idea of how many people we had to judge in ONE DAY?!" "That's it, hit him more!"
Morpho chuckled for a bit before facing the camera and winked in its direction. The screen slowly turned black...
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A/N
Wow. This little beauty took me several days to make, I was planning 5k words at max and ended up with 6.8k. Anyway, this is the last official chapter of my story.
But that does not mean it's completely over, a short and simple epilogue will be released as soon as I finish it (I haven't begun it yet, so please be patient).
Thank you so much for 2.6k reads and more than 100 votes! And see you next time!