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aromantickirby · 1 year

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Words Unspoken Chapter 1

The Divine Terminus

Kirby opened his eyes and stretched. He yawned loudly, which echoed throughout the area. After a long nap, he had a clearer head. He realized he could always just go back to Dream land from here if he can reach his warp star, but from the looks of it, the rest of his friends didn't end up so lucky.

The portal in front of him glowed brightly. The cyan glow lit Kirby's face.

Something told Kirby he'd find his friends if he entered it, but what if he was wrong?

Maybe he could stick just his head in?

Kirby punched the floor, leaving a small crater. He picked up a small piece of the rubble and put it in his mouth.

Now with the stone ability, Kirby anchored his feet on the ground by turning them into stone. He brought his face closer and closer to the portal until he saw the other side.

It was similar to the last portal they were sucked into. He looked around the mess of colors until his eyes landed on a blue bandana.

Bandana Dee!

Stone turned back into flesh as Kirby threw himself into the portal. He pushed off with enough momentum to go in the direction of Bandana Dee.

Soon enough, he reached them.

He brought them into a hug, they twirled around from the impact.

"You're okay!" Kirby exclaimed. He kept hold of Bandana Dee, scared they'll drift off if he let go.

"You're here!"

"How long have you been in here?" Kirby asked.

"Just for a second. We probably won't be here for much longer, but look up there!" They pointed.

Kirby looked upwards to see Marx. He gasped. Why was he here? Was that a cane by his head? And why were his eyes closed?!

"Is he passed out!?" he shouted, now panicking.

"I think so!"

"You need to throw me to him!"

"What?" Bandana Dee furrowed their eyebrows.

"Quickly! He can't be alone while he's passed out. What if he gets hurt? Or worse!?"

"But then we'll be separated," Bandana Dee mumbled.

Kirby clenched his teeth nervously. They were right, he didn't want to leave Bandana Dee alone either, but they were running out of time. In the spur of the moment he decided to go with a last second option. He shifted his grasp on Bandana Dee to their arm and threw them upwards over to Marx.

"Kirby!?" Bandana Dee yelled in shock. They floated right into Marx. A second later there was a blinding white flash.

They exited the portal.

Their eyes flickered open as they found themself on yellow glowing soil. They stood up, grabbing their spear that fell next to them while blinking multiple times to adjust to the light.

The sky looked like space–or more like there was no sky and there was only space to look at. The whole place was jumbled, with bits of ground floating all over the place with no rhyme or reason.

They had no idea where they were.

Kirby was alone in this unknown place.

The thought hit Bandana Dee with anxiety. Their grip on the spear tightened.

They'll find Kirby, they declared silently.

A groan from behind startled the dee. They relaxed once they realized it was just Marx.

Marx...He ended up in the same place as them. If it wasn’t for him, they'd be with Kirby right now instead.

"Oh greaaat, you are here," he slurred. He blinked his eyes and struggled to keep them open. He stumbled closer to them and met Bandana Dee's eyes. "Where am I?" he asked. After a quick look around his eyes widened. "Wait, Another Dimension!?"

"You know where we are?" Bandana Dee questioned.

Marx paused as he registered that he and Bandana Dee were the only two people here. This felt like a fever dream. "Of course I do! What kind of nut doesn't know about Another Dimension?" He answered harshly. His entire demeanor changed.

"I've been there before but it wasn't this colorful! It was all gray and—" Their stomach dropped as they looked around in a panic. As fast as they tensed, they relaxed once they made sure there was no cosmic wall coming in to crush them.

"Oh drown your fear! I mean, this place is kind of dangerous—but I'm here and nothing gets past me!" he said with a cocky attitude.

"How do you know this is Another Dimension?"

"Ugh, you ask of too many questions!" Marx turned and began to strut away.

"Wait!" they called after him.

"Blah blah blah blah blah!" Marx said in a high pitched tone, trying to mock their voice. He continued walking without any signs of stopping. "Your voice is annoying, has anyone told you that? Because it is!"

Bandana Dee was speechless, which was just what Marx wanted.

They flung their spear at Marx, intentionally missing. It landed right next to his shoe.

Marx paused mid-step and turned around, looking at them with a slight scowl.

"Kirby is alone somewhere in this confusing place because he didn't want you to be alone! I am not leaving you. I am going to stick by your side to make sure you don't get hurt whether you like it or not!" Bandana Dee swore.

Marx tapped the spear with his shoe. "Really not doing a good job in the 'don't get hurt' department." He couldn’t help his interest pique at the mention of Kirby. What did they mean he was alone because he didn’t want himself to be? "Besides, I'm able to take care of myself, thank you very much. I don't need you. I'm stronger than you could ever be. Y'know, you being a simple dee of course you would be," he shrugged as if he didn't mean any offense with those words and was just saying it because it was a fact. They both knew that wasn't true.

They ignored his clear insult as they walked over to their spear to pick it up. "Funny you say that you're so strong yet in the portal you were knocked out cold."

"I was just resting my eyes!" he lied through his teeth.

"We both know that's not true."

"We do?" He cocked his head teasingly.

"Yes."

"Well you're wrong, because I really was just resting my peepers. All the super-duper bright colors hurt them really, you see." He pouted.

"Aw, you poor thing," they deadpanned. "If that was true I would've skewered you with my spear. I'm not gonna let Kirby's sacrifice be in vain." Bandana Dee could've sworn that Marx's expression softened a little at the mention of Kirby. Maybe he was just seeing things.

"And exactly what did he sacrifice?"

"While we were in the portal he managed to get over to me—which ensured we'd end up in the same place, but you were also in the portal and far away. Kirby threw me over to you just so neither of us will be alone wherever we ended up. Now Kirby's alone," Bandana Dee explained.

Marx's shoulders slumped at the explanation. “What a dumbass,” he mumbled loudly enough for Bandana Dee to hear. He looked around the area, ignoring the dee’s furious expression at his remark.

Most of the place was just the vast sky of stars. There was hardly any solid ground around here, but with what little ground there was they could probably get around without having to fly. The ground was a weird bright yellow color with a faint glow to it.

“‘Dumbass’?! Urgh! You wretched little—grrah!” they sputtered, unable to find the words to express their anger. They opted to point their spear at Marx’s head. They squinted their eyes, brown irises almost looking red from all the hatred sparking from the dee. “You are unbearable! Why can’t you just-just shut up!? Shut up for once instead of rudely insulting people!”

He cackled, “How’s about you don’t listen to Marx’s inner thoughts that he is voicing out loud and mind your own business.” He moved the spear away from himself with his foot. “Anyways, cya.” Wings emerged from his back, unzipping the back of his shirt. The rainbow hexagonal feathers flickered into existence once the wings were unfurled all the way. He leapt up and flapped his wings, but he wasn’t able to get in the air.

Bandana Dee snickered as Marx’s cockiness evaporated and was replaced with confusion.

“What the donk?” he muttered. He flapped his wings again, the air going right through them like the first time. “Ohhoho, you’re kidding!” he groaned. “Hellooo? What’s going on with my magic?”

“Wow, you’re right! You’re so much stronger than me, noddy,” Bandana Dee complemented sarcastically.

“Do not call me that!” he snarled. His wings were gone in an instant. “Groddammit I forgot you knew about that. Whatever! Fine! Let’s just look for Kirby. Go lead the way because you’re sooo devoted to keeping me safe.” He could practically see their smile under their mask and it annoyed him.

Bandana Dee gladly walked in front of him. With no further words, they began walking aimlessly.

Their path was linear as there wasn’t much ground, ironic considering how vast the sky made the area seem. There wasn’t much life around besides the occasional sphere doomer high in the sky, but they weren’t any issue as they never got near them. It wasn’t until they reached an area with much more ground to stand on that they started seeing other creatures which were much more of a problem. It wasn’t anything they haven’t faced before when dealing with the dark hearts, but they still had to be careful. Especially in an unknown area.

Due to Marx’s current predicament with his magic, he fought mainly with exploding beach balls he was getting from who-knows-where. Bandana Dee thankfully didn’t have to do any heavy lifting as he was quite skillful at fighting with beach balls. Although, it was somewhat concerning to think about what other seemingly harmless items Marx could weaponize.

As they kept going, their path became more labyrinth-like. Which meant they had to start making decisions on where exactly to go.

At the first fork in the road, Bandana Dee carefully thought over this decision. However, the amount of time they were taking to choose was getting on the other’s nerves, who was tapping his foot on the ground the entire time, and at that point created an indent on the ground.

“Just flip a coin and choose one!” he impatiently shouted. He glanced at both paths and then stepped towards one.

“We should be careful with which one we choose,” Bandana Dee argued. Kirby could be down one of these paths, they didn’t want to make the mistake of choosing the wrong one. They didn’t want to make a rash decision.

“Okay, smart on paper, but! Have you considered even that there is not a single anything to go off of?!”

“Well they aren’t identical—“

“Yeah but there is exactly not an indication that one is the ‘correct’ path—just, they’re both paths!”

Bandana Dee bit the inside of their cheek, taking a look at both paths again. After a beat, they sighed and walked down the path Marx wasn’t going towards.

Just glad they finally made a decision, Marx followed behind without protest.

The path behind them warped and moved until it no longer looked the same. The area they were in was definitely not stable.

Bandana Dee looked owl-eyed at this revelation. How were they going to find Kirby in a place that changed all the time?

“Drab…all those minutes wasted that were over that decision of yours that needed to be careful,” Marx teased. He acted as if he expected this, or at the very least unbothered by how much harder this makes their quest.

Bandana Dee continued on, not letting this deter them from looking for their friend. They noticed Marx has been walking a tad closer to them ever since they saw the path change, but they didn’t comment on it.

They both had a vow of silence while walking around, mostly so that they could forget the other was here and also because it helped them be more alert.

Up until this point, they encountered no enemies, but once they got deep enough in their path, they were attacked left and right. At some points, portals would open up and enemies would appear from them to stop them in their tracks. Marx didn’t question this and defeated them and moved on without a second thought. Bandana Dee, however, was confused by this.

“They’re coming from portals too,” they remarked.

“Uh-huh,” Marx replied with no interest.

“Why are they just attacking us like this? I thought defeating Void Termina got rid of the Jamba heart’s influence on everyone.”

“Try thinking not about it. Yet better, let’s go back to the silence I so dearly prefer.” He walked ahead of them dismissively, like he didn’t care if Bandana Dee fell behind and got lost.

They furrowed their eyebrows at Marx. Their hatred towards him was undeniable, but even they knew that they needed to communicate and at least pretend to get along if they wanted to make this expedition to Kirby as smooth as possible. They weren’t just going to stay silent the entire time. Besides, a prodding question bothered them too much to do so.

“Why are you talking like that?”

“What ever you do mean?” Marx slowed down his pace, letting Bandana Dee catch up.

“Yeah, you’re talking weird. Like the order of your words are off sometimes and it’s been getting worse. You haven’t talked like this before.”

Marx’s face twisted into a frown. “Fine. I’m fine! Just think not about–don’t think about it.”

Looking at his face now, he looked like he was in pain. Something was wrong. Was the landing from the portal rough? “You sound like Kirby. Your magic isn’t working right, of course you aren’t fine.”

“Kirby!” Marx exclaimed. Wings emerged from his back once more. “Stupid place, he’s all alone in it!” He tried flying in vain, not even able to get his feet off the ground. He then howled in pain, suddenly crumpling his body to the ground with his forehead firmly pressed against it.

Bandana Dee winced at the sight. They were shocked and confused at the sudden turn of events.

Marx was in pain, that much was clear. But he didn’t seem to have any injuries from what Bandana Dee could see.

“Argh! I thought this shit was healed already!” Marx shouted.

“Stop exhorting yourself! It’s only making it worse! You need rest.”

“Hhhh but Kirby is–“

“He wanted us both to be okay. So he wants you to be okay. Rest,” they ordered. “I’ll keep watch.”

With no further protests, Marx changed the position he was in on the floor to get more comfortable, as comfortable as he could get on this solid ground. “It might be a concussion,” he said slowly. “Similar, or something–ugh wording hard.”

“A concussion? Was your head hit in the portal or something?”

“Horn…” he corrected.

“Your horn?” Bandana Dee didn’t know how a hit to the horn could cause such pain, but they never had horns and never will, so what did they know about horns? Then it hit them, one of Marx’s horns was already broken. Further damage to it and now he’s like this. Thinking about it now, did Marx ever get proper care for that injury?

Judging by how it’s affecting him right now, and that he’s kept it secret for however many weeks, he probably didn’t.

Marx had already fallen asleep, so they couldn’t pry further.

Seeing him sleep made them jealous, they haven’t slept since Kirby took over Castle Dedede. They’ve lost sense of time here but it felt like at least an entire day since that happened. They were tired and rightfully so after everything that’s happened.

Still, they stayed awake. They had to. To keep both of them safe, in case another portal opened up with enemies pouring out of them. As long as they have their spear in hand, they’ll stay awake and alert.

“Yoo-hoo! Little waddle dee!” A voice called out, causing Bandana Dee to jump. The voice revealed himself. With a swish of the cape and tip of the hat, Daroach introduced himself. “Do not worry, it is I, the leader of the Squeak Squad and finest thief there is: Daroach.”

They sighed in relief. Daroach, he was a part of the Star Allies and Kirby’s friend. But wait, why was he here too?

“I’m Bandana Dee and that lump on the ground is Marx. We’ve never formally introduced ourselves to each other, huh? Not the greatest place to do it…but I’m relieved it’s just you. I didn’t really want to fight more people. How did you end up here?”

“Oh it was awful!” he said dramatically. “A portal suddenly appeared and dragged me through, the other Squeaks must be so worried for me! Alas, I have yet to find an exit. And you, Bandana Dee?”

“Same as you.”

“And the lump?”

“He came through the same portal as me, actually. We’ve been wandering around together for…I don’t know how long at this point.” Bandana Dee looked down. Even if they did find Kirby, how were they getting back home? Another Dimension was an unstable place and if they learned anything from Magolor, it was that nothing was certain here.

“Ah-ah, chin up, little dee. Even if we haven’t found an exit, we’ve found each other. That’s progress! Maybe there’s even more people here to find.” He stroked his chin.

“We’ve been looking for Kirby, actually. Oh! King Dedede and Meta Knight are probably here somewhere too! I was so worried about Kirby I almost forgot.” They put a hand on their head.

“Good good, we have a more doable goal now. We’ll find those three.”

“And then what?”

“One step at a time. We needn’t worry about that now. Now then, you seem tired. Do you want to join the lump on the floor? I’ll keep watch for you,” Daroach offered.

They brightened up. “Oh really? Thank you so much, Daroach! Just make sure we don’t sleep too long. I’d feel bad leaving you to fend for yourself that long.”

“Worry not, I’ll wake you when you’ve gotten a sufficient amount of rest,” he gave them a smile.

Bandana Dee bowed their head in gratitude before lying down. They rested their spear next to them and used their hands as a pillow. They closed their eyes and attempted to nap.

Meanwhile, Daroach scanned the area for a bit, once sure that no one else was near, he looked over the two.

Bandana Dee didn’t have anything of note on them, besides the spear. Marx, on the other hand, wore an ancient artifact on his head. It wasn’t the most fashionable, but for the power it holds it was almost worth stealing. Until you remember who the wearer is. He wouldn’t want Marx to have a grudge against him. That would make life much harder.

Marx’s eyes snapped open, meeting his eyes and causing Daroach to flinch back in surprise. They narrowed dangerously. “And what are you looking at? Wait a second…” He sprung up. “You! You’re the jackass that hit me in the head!”

“I beg your pardon?” Daroach took a step back. He doesn’t remember doing anything like that. He hasn’t even seen Marx since they were dealing with Void Termina.

“Ohoho, you’re gonna beg alright. Once I tear your face apart!” He lunged at Daroach, only for someone to hold him back by the collar.

“Bandana Dee, Let go!” he yelled. He wrenched himself out of Bandana Dee’s grasp.

“What are you doing?! I nap for a few minutes and you’re already up to no good!”

“He’s the one who hit me! Why my head hurts so much!” he argued.

“I did nothing of the sort,” Daroach challenged. “Besides, what would I have hit you with? I don’t even have my cane on me right now. I lost it in the portal.”

“You dipshit, that’s exactly what hit me!” He hacked out a fully intact cane from his mouth. It clattered when it hit the ground. “See?”

Bandana Dee and Daroach cringed at the sight.

“You…ate it?” Bandana Dee questioned.

“This is your cane isn’t it?” Marx asked, ignoring Bandana Dee.

“Why, yes, but I didn’t hit you on purpose. It slipped out of my hands.” Daroach raised his hands in defense. “Besides, it shouldn't have done that much damage. If I recall, you were allowed in for your strength. If that weak little tap hurt you so much why were you ever let in?“

“Are you calling me useless?” Marx slunk closer.

Daroach broadened his shoulders. “I’m saying that you are a burden.”

“That’s enough!” Bandana Dee yelled. The volume of their voice startled the two. Usually they were more on the quieter side, even when yelling, but not this time. They needed to make sure they were heard. They pinched the bridge of their nose through their mask. “How are we ever going to get out of here if we can’t get along? Daroach! You don’t know the full situation with Marx and you shouldn’t mock him over a mistake and Marx, you shouldn’t immediately set out for revenge. It was an accident and no one was to blame for it, so quit fighting!”

To their surprise, Marx backed down and nudged the cane over to Daroach with his foot. “You’re lucky there’s someone with morals here.”

Daroach kicked up the cane into his hand, wincing at the saliva coated on it. It was a good thing he was wearing gloves. He sighed, “Bandana Dee is right. We should be getting along, at least for now. Let’s call a truce until then.” He held out his free hand to Marx.

Marx just stared at him with a look that screamed “really?”.

Daroach jerked his hand back upon realizing. “Oh right, no hands…wait I thought you did have hands?”

“They come and go,” Marx said. “Just pretend I shook on it.”

“Okay…”

“We should have one of us lead, like back when we formed groups when the Star Allies were together,” Bandana Dee said.

“How are we going to choose?” Daroach asked.

“Just say out loud who you think it should be on the count of three. Ready?”

Seeing a nod from both of them, they started counting down.

“One, two, three! Daroach.”

“Myself.”

“Bandana Dee–what? You can do that?”

The three of them said simultaneously.

“Well they didn’t say anything against voting for yourself,” Daroach remarked.

“Yeah, well, I thought that was a given not to do that?”

“It’s fine, Marx. At least we didn’t all vote for ourselves,” Bandana Dee said.

“So he’s just the leader now? From a self-vote?!” Marx exclaimed.

“Oh don’t be sour that no one voted for you,” Daroach taunted. “Come along now.” He walked ahead and began leading the way.

“That’s not what I’m bothered about,” Marx muttered under his breath. He followed him, albeit reluctantly.

The three of them wandered aimlessly around the place. Everywhere looked the same and it was hard to tell if they were making progress.

The soil was the same bright yellow, there were weird floating cubes everywhere, and the ground they were on moved often, sometimes bringing them higher up or down.

Daroach stopped in his tracks, alerting the other two.

“What’s up?” Marx asked.

“There’s a pink heart here. Like the ones that Kirby threw. It’s called a friend heart right?”

Bandana Dee gasped and recoiled.

“Oh…coool,” Marx shared an anxious look with Bandana Dee. “Hey, don’t pick it up!”

Daroach cupped the heart into his hands. It dissipated immediately, but as far as he could tell nothing happened. “How odd,” he commented.

Bandana Dee sighed in relief when nothing happened. “Oh look, there’s a door up ahead!” They pointed to a door with a gold heart-like arch above it.

They approached the door cautiously.

“Should we even go inside? It’s probably a one-way door,” Marx remarked.

“I’m not quite sure,” Daroach answered.

“‘Not quite sure’ isn’t going to get us anywhere,” Marx said.

“Hmm…I think we should.”

“Hm?”

“We should go through the door. If there was a friend heart so close to it, maybe Kirby is there?” Bandana Dee said.

“Well you’ve got me convinced,” Daroach said. He walked through confidently.

Before Bandana Dee could follow, Marx tapped their leg with his foot.

“Do you think it’d be funny if we just stayed here and left him to get lost?” he asked slyly.

“No! This is serious, Marx. There’s no time for tricks like that.” Bandana Dee crossed their arms and furrowed their eyebrows, before their expression suddenly softened. “Is…is your head doing fine right now?”

Marx’s eyes widened ever so slightly, a detail that could be missed in a blink of the eye. “Yeah, the nap helped. For now. I’ll need food soon, probably.” He shrugged as if getting food was going to be an easy feat.

To be fair on their previous adventure, they came across a lot of food, and Bandana Dee has found food in Another Dimension, although that was a long time ago.

“Tell me when you need to rest again.” They said before walking through the door.

Marx looked amused. They must care about Kirby a lot if they were softening up this much. In any other circumstance, he’d be left for dead.

Kirby…

He bit his lip, unfortunately with his sharp teeth, the action drew blood. The small sting didn’t compare to the creeping guilt he felt, however. “Dammit, Kirby,” he swore.

Was him standing here right now proof that Kirby hasn’t learned anything? It should be Kirby here with his friends. Why was he so stupid?

To have another adventure so soon. Why was fate so cruel to him?

He just hoped that friend heart was from him and that he was past that door.

He licked the blood off his lips and stepped through the door as well.

First thing he saw upon entering the door was, of course, Daroach and Bandana Dee, but that wasn’t the concern here. The second thing he saw was the major change in scenery, the grass was dry and golden and the sky was orange and gray, which made sense.

Because the third thing he saw was fire.

#Words Unspoken #/present

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