Personal Sacrifice
Chapter. 1
Something strange is afoot. Kirby doesn't like it.
Gooey and he are closer than brothers, closer than lovers. They're two halves of a whole, and Dark Matter or not, that wouldn't ever change. They share thoughts, feelings, do everything together as extensions of each other's limbs. Working in tandem is their thing, and there isn't anything they wouldn't do for the other.
And Gooey is avoiding him.
See, they have a routine together that's solid as steel. They get up at the same time, eat at the same time, and they patrol together at the same time. Then, they both come back for dinner, and sure they both have their own hobbies outside of it, but that's the routine. You don't just break it when Pop Star is constantly under threat.
But Gooey is, and has been for a few days now. When Kirby wakes up - early, because it's his job - Gooey is already gone. And when Kirby comes back after a long, /long/ patrol without company, Gooey is already in his room, without dinner, and without any acknowledgement for Kirby no matter how much Kirby tries to knock, bang, and plead through the door for Gooey to come out already.
The first day, he thought it was just...decompression time, or something. Maybe Gooey needed a 'him' day, it happens!
The second day, well...it's weird, but he waved it off.
But it's been three days now. Three days, and not one proverbial word in Kirby's direction, no reassurance, no anything. It's like Gooey is a ghost, and it's got him both worried and maybe a bit irritated. It isn't /like/ him, to do this. He's calm and collected, sure, but never...frigid.
So something is going on. Kirby is going to get to the bottom of it, and he has the perfect plan just for that.
Kirby gets up /early/. Very early, even by his standards. He doesn't usually head out for morning patrol until about six, six thirty, but to catch Gooey he gets himself up as early as three, hovering by the door, waiting for a good hour for the sound of movement. Gooey is already gone when Kirby wakes up, but even Gooey wouldn't get up that early now, would he...?
And he hears it, a solid hour later, almost at four on the dot because Gooey did so like being punctual. The sound of a door creaking softly just outside, careful not to wake anyone, and he knows it's Gooey because it comes from right beside his own room.
"Aha!"
--And his own bangs open without ceremony, slamming into the wall as he rushes into the hallway, standing tall, wide, and wings flared out so that Gooey could have no chance of escaping. He'd already planned for that!
Gooey, the same as he's ever been, jumps and lets out a quiet huff of air as the Dark Matter that composes his form shivers and rattles with the surprise that thrums through Kirby's mind. He looks...normal. Good, even, not sick, not injured, and a small part of Kirby relaxes even as another part puffs out in outrage.
To Gooey's credit, it doesn't take long to compose himself once he's been found out. Smoothing right back down, expression calm if a little annoyed, Kirby feels his presence echo through his mind, a mixture of curiosity-question-confusion that Kirby can interpret without ceremony.
"You've been avoiding me, Goo, and I wanna know why."
Denial, he feels, smarting warm and sudden, and narrow eyes looking him over.
"Yes, you have. Don't fight me, I know you have! I haven't seen you in days, Gooey, days! That's so weird! You leave early, you come back late and never let me see you-- I don't even see you when we have to meet up for lunch, and we /always/ do that to tell each other what's been happening in Dreamland!"
His face twists with each word he speaks, and the loneliness smarts right then. It isn't hard being alone, but Gooey was different. Had always been. They were two halves of a whole, and he didn't /like/ not having Gooey around for so long. It's not right. None of this is.
"I may be a clown sometimes, Gooey, but I'm sure not stupid. So why are you /avoiding/ me?" It. Couldn't have been him, could it? Surely not. "Did I do something wrong? Just...tell me!"
And Gooey...doesn't say anything. Kirby feels not one thing come from Gooey's head, and for a good minute he thinks Gooey might be trying to figure out what to say, to parse the metaphorical words together. So he waits.
But then he sees it. Feels the absence of presence and sees the way Gooey is looking, not at him but through him, like he's spaced out somewhere else entirely. It reeks of disregard, of /boredom/, even, and Kirby suddenly feels hot in his chest.
"Listen to me when I'm /talking/ to you, Gooey!"
Nevermind that he's close to shouting, nevermind that he could wake the whole house up. He wants answers and he wants them now.
He feels something. The vaguest sense of something odd, something dark, even, brush up just barely against his mind. And then it's gone, as quickly as it had come, and so is Gooey, he realizes, ducked under his wing and halfway out the front door before Kirby can even blink.
An apology echoes against him. Soft, quiet, sad. And then Gooey is gone, and Kirby can do nothing but stand there, staring at the doorway with wings falling limp behind him, heart burning and cold at once with too many harried emotions to name.
Kirby doesn't bother going back to sleep. He takes off early, in the direction of his usual route, eager to get his day done with already. Nothing happens and good that it doesn't, because his mind is wandering more than he can admit.
Some part of him, still hopeful, waits for Gooey to come to his senses. Now that Kirby has had a chance to really talk to him, maybe he's gotten through to him somehow. They locked eyes, they talked. It had to count for something.
But it doesn't. This day, like the past few, is much the same, and what little hope Kirby had of hoping his friend came to his senses is quickly dashed when the sun reaches high into the sky and there's still no sign of him. They meet for lunch every day, and he won't show up. Not even now.
He could go to the usual spot. Eat his lunch quietly there, without anyone around. Gooey sure wouldn't be.
Furrowing his brow, feathers raised behind him, he turns and heads in the familiar direction of home.
-
"Kirby? What are you doing home so early?"
"Just...thought I'd hang out with the family on lunch for once I guess!"
Kes watches her son keenly with a frown gracing her features, sizing him up where he stands tall and proud in the entryway to the kitchen with his ever familiar grin, helmet under his arm. The room is warm and well-lit this time of day, light flowing in through the windows, and seeing her son there so early makes her think of the days when Kirby would stay home sick from training. Out of place, although certainly not unwelcome.
A cry comes from behind, a squeak of a yell that Kes knows quite well by now, and she watches him quietly as he sees him let out a guffaw and turn to reach for the boy currently attempting to climb his great wings like the world's best jungle gym. Tulok is grinning widely, a toy sword in his hand, and it does make her smile when she sees the boys roughhouse, laughter and excitement bleeding from them both.
"You're home! You're home!!"
"Sure am, squirt! You been giving our mom a run for her money?"
"You bet!"
She's quiet at the joke, long used to such prods, merely stepping to the side to let Kirby walk through with his brother at his back, on the hunt for something to eat. Gooey, noticeably, is not with him.
Kes remains silent, right up until the plates of curry are served, until Tulok has been ushered off to rest despite how he complains about it these days. Kirby at his customary spot, Kes at hers, they sit. Quiet, until she looks him over and states bluntly,
"You're upset."
Kirby, who has a spoon of curry in his mouth, chokes.
"Um--?"
Kes watches him not quite smiling, the corners of her mouth twitching as he fights for his composure. "You're upset. You wouldn't be here, let alone by yourself, otherwise. So what's wrong?"
Kirby looks at her like a fish right out of water, his mouth opening and closing while his eyes dart from side to side. She lets him, doesn't interrupt as he fights for the words as much as they might try to deflect.
And deflect he does, because when Kirby finally manages enough composure to smile, it's only to give her a smile of dismissal, a dismissal and wave of the hand as though nothing at all were wrong. "Nah, nothing's going on, mom! What makes you say that, huh? I just wanted to hang out with you guys more is all! That so weird?"
He chews his lip and his wings shudder just so. Quiet and uninterrupted, he's sitting there looking to the face of his mother who is as passive and quiet as a glacier, unreadable, and something about it feels off. Something about the entire thing feels off. Because she's waiting for something, isn't she? In that way she stares and waits for him to confess when she knows he's lying right through his teeth.
"Really, it's nothing..." Comes the murmur, and that sounds pathetic even to him. It's not nothing, but--
"Gooey isn't with you."
--And he exhales. Gooey. What is it with /Gooey/ right now. Trying to lie to him, trying to /avoid/ him like he's just--
--And he's. Acting like him, isn't he. Different words, different situations, but right then they're similar, and it smarts more than any avoidance from his friend ever had. Doing the same thing to his mother of all people, and by the way she looks at him, she knows it very well.
So Kes will see him freeze up at the words. Freeze and look down at his plate, and will see his wings lower until they're brushing the dirt from the floor until his voice comes quiet, bereft. Lost.
"I think...something is wrong with him. Gooey."
Kirby stares hard down at the curry, avoiding her eyes although he feels them like shards of ice in his back. "He's been acting really weird. He's been avoiding me, and he's not said one word to me in /days/ except when I managed to corner him once this morning, and that was only because he had to. I tried to think about if I had done something to upset him? But I can't think of anything. It's just...all for no reason! And it's /weird/, mom. It's worrying me. Is he sick? Can Dark Matter /get/ sick? I don't know!"
Kes listens quietly to her son as he lets off the worries that had been plaguing him for almost a week now, absorbing the information quietly. It isn't as though she knew the particulars of their routine; they woke up before she did and came back well after she went to bed most of the time. If there had been issues, none of the family would have known about it until now.
But Gooey is as much her child as Kirby is, and both of them are hurting. Gooey won't say why and Kirby is upset, and rightfully so. Those two had always been together. And now that they aren't... It is concerning.
"I can admit that I'm not certain myself as to what might be the problem," She murmurs after she takes a bite of food, looking down at her plate in a haze of thought. "I've not seen him myself, so I can't judge, and neither can your father. But..." And she glances up, and a smile toys at her face. "I do know that Tulok's birthday is this weekend. And I know Gooey is /incredibly/ excited, judging by that conversation you two had last week about who would be buying the better gift, hm? Maybe that might work in your favor."
"I mean, he's been avoiding me for a few days now, mom. I don't know if that would work..."
"If something is as seriously wrong with him as you say, he won't come. And if he doesn't, I'll have your father speak with him. But if he does come - and I think he will - then this might be a good opportunity to resolve whatever's happening. Either way, we'll get to the bottom of it, Kirby."
He doesn't look certain. She doesn't blame him. He knows the situation better than she does, by all accounts. But it's better than nothing, and when he looks at her, so much the young boy she knew from years ago, she gives him a little smile that, while weak, is reassuring.
"Now, I need to finish making lunch for the others. I don't believe Meta had been fed yet, and Tulok has his own diet. Eat as much as you'd like, alright?"
Kes stands up with her plate and moves to do exactly that, and Kirby is quiet, looking down at his curry which he's pretty sure is starting to go cold. He remains that way long after she's left, long after it's gone quiet, and Kirby, toying with his fork, toying with food in a way he never has...doesn't feel hungry.
Gooey and he are closer than brothers, closer than lovers. They're two halves of a whole, and Dark Matter or not, that wouldn't ever change. They share thoughts, feelings, do everything together as extensions of each other's limbs. Working in tandem is their thing, and there isn't anything they wouldn't do for the other.
And Gooey is avoiding him.
See, they have a routine together that's solid as steel. They get up at the same time, eat at the same time, and they patrol together at the same time. Then, they both come back for dinner, and sure they both have their own hobbies outside of it, but that's the routine. You don't just break it when Pop Star is constantly under threat.
But Gooey is, and has been for a few days now. When Kirby wakes up - early, because it's his job - Gooey is already gone. And when Kirby comes back after a long, /long/ patrol without company, Gooey is already in his room, without dinner, and without any acknowledgement for Kirby no matter how much Kirby tries to knock, bang, and plead through the door for Gooey to come out already.
The first day, he thought it was just...decompression time, or something. Maybe Gooey needed a 'him' day, it happens!
The second day, well...it's weird, but he waved it off.
But it's been three days now. Three days, and not one proverbial word in Kirby's direction, no reassurance, no anything. It's like Gooey is a ghost, and it's got him both worried and maybe a bit irritated. It isn't /like/ him, to do this. He's calm and collected, sure, but never...frigid.
So something is going on. Kirby is going to get to the bottom of it, and he has the perfect plan just for that.
Kirby gets up /early/. Very early, even by his standards. He doesn't usually head out for morning patrol until about six, six thirty, but to catch Gooey he gets himself up as early as three, hovering by the door, waiting for a good hour for the sound of movement. Gooey is already gone when Kirby wakes up, but even Gooey wouldn't get up that early now, would he...?
And he hears it, a solid hour later, almost at four on the dot because Gooey did so like being punctual. The sound of a door creaking softly just outside, careful not to wake anyone, and he knows it's Gooey because it comes from right beside his own room.
"Aha!"
--And his own bangs open without ceremony, slamming into the wall as he rushes into the hallway, standing tall, wide, and wings flared out so that Gooey could have no chance of escaping. He'd already planned for that!
Gooey, the same as he's ever been, jumps and lets out a quiet huff of air as the Dark Matter that composes his form shivers and rattles with the surprise that thrums through Kirby's mind. He looks...normal. Good, even, not sick, not injured, and a small part of Kirby relaxes even as another part puffs out in outrage.
To Gooey's credit, it doesn't take long to compose himself once he's been found out. Smoothing right back down, expression calm if a little annoyed, Kirby feels his presence echo through his mind, a mixture of curiosity-question-confusion that Kirby can interpret without ceremony.
"You've been avoiding me, Goo, and I wanna know why."
Denial, he feels, smarting warm and sudden, and narrow eyes looking him over.
"Yes, you have. Don't fight me, I know you have! I haven't seen you in days, Gooey, days! That's so weird! You leave early, you come back late and never let me see you-- I don't even see you when we have to meet up for lunch, and we /always/ do that to tell each other what's been happening in Dreamland!"
His face twists with each word he speaks, and the loneliness smarts right then. It isn't hard being alone, but Gooey was different. Had always been. They were two halves of a whole, and he didn't /like/ not having Gooey around for so long. It's not right. None of this is.
"I may be a clown sometimes, Gooey, but I'm sure not stupid. So why are you /avoiding/ me?" It. Couldn't have been him, could it? Surely not. "Did I do something wrong? Just...tell me!"
And Gooey...doesn't say anything. Kirby feels not one thing come from Gooey's head, and for a good minute he thinks Gooey might be trying to figure out what to say, to parse the metaphorical words together. So he waits.
But then he sees it. Feels the absence of presence and sees the way Gooey is looking, not at him but through him, like he's spaced out somewhere else entirely. It reeks of disregard, of /boredom/, even, and Kirby suddenly feels hot in his chest.
"Listen to me when I'm /talking/ to you, Gooey!"
Nevermind that he's close to shouting, nevermind that he could wake the whole house up. He wants answers and he wants them now.
He feels something. The vaguest sense of something odd, something dark, even, brush up just barely against his mind. And then it's gone, as quickly as it had come, and so is Gooey, he realizes, ducked under his wing and halfway out the front door before Kirby can even blink.
An apology echoes against him. Soft, quiet, sad. And then Gooey is gone, and Kirby can do nothing but stand there, staring at the doorway with wings falling limp behind him, heart burning and cold at once with too many harried emotions to name.
Kirby doesn't bother going back to sleep. He takes off early, in the direction of his usual route, eager to get his day done with already. Nothing happens and good that it doesn't, because his mind is wandering more than he can admit.
Some part of him, still hopeful, waits for Gooey to come to his senses. Now that Kirby has had a chance to really talk to him, maybe he's gotten through to him somehow. They locked eyes, they talked. It had to count for something.
But it doesn't. This day, like the past few, is much the same, and what little hope Kirby had of hoping his friend came to his senses is quickly dashed when the sun reaches high into the sky and there's still no sign of him. They meet for lunch every day, and he won't show up. Not even now.
He could go to the usual spot. Eat his lunch quietly there, without anyone around. Gooey sure wouldn't be.
Furrowing his brow, feathers raised behind him, he turns and heads in the familiar direction of home.
-
"Kirby? What are you doing home so early?"
"Just...thought I'd hang out with the family on lunch for once I guess!"
Kes watches her son keenly with a frown gracing her features, sizing him up where he stands tall and proud in the entryway to the kitchen with his ever familiar grin, helmet under his arm. The room is warm and well-lit this time of day, light flowing in through the windows, and seeing her son there so early makes her think of the days when Kirby would stay home sick from training. Out of place, although certainly not unwelcome.
A cry comes from behind, a squeak of a yell that Kes knows quite well by now, and she watches him quietly as he sees him let out a guffaw and turn to reach for the boy currently attempting to climb his great wings like the world's best jungle gym. Tulok is grinning widely, a toy sword in his hand, and it does make her smile when she sees the boys roughhouse, laughter and excitement bleeding from them both.
"You're home! You're home!!"
"Sure am, squirt! You been giving our mom a run for her money?"
"You bet!"
She's quiet at the joke, long used to such prods, merely stepping to the side to let Kirby walk through with his brother at his back, on the hunt for something to eat. Gooey, noticeably, is not with him.
Kes remains silent, right up until the plates of curry are served, until Tulok has been ushered off to rest despite how he complains about it these days. Kirby at his customary spot, Kes at hers, they sit. Quiet, until she looks him over and states bluntly,
"You're upset."
Kirby, who has a spoon of curry in his mouth, chokes.
"Um--?"
Kes watches him not quite smiling, the corners of her mouth twitching as he fights for his composure. "You're upset. You wouldn't be here, let alone by yourself, otherwise. So what's wrong?"
Kirby looks at her like a fish right out of water, his mouth opening and closing while his eyes dart from side to side. She lets him, doesn't interrupt as he fights for the words as much as they might try to deflect.
And deflect he does, because when Kirby finally manages enough composure to smile, it's only to give her a smile of dismissal, a dismissal and wave of the hand as though nothing at all were wrong. "Nah, nothing's going on, mom! What makes you say that, huh? I just wanted to hang out with you guys more is all! That so weird?"
He chews his lip and his wings shudder just so. Quiet and uninterrupted, he's sitting there looking to the face of his mother who is as passive and quiet as a glacier, unreadable, and something about it feels off. Something about the entire thing feels off. Because she's waiting for something, isn't she? In that way she stares and waits for him to confess when she knows he's lying right through his teeth.
"Really, it's nothing..." Comes the murmur, and that sounds pathetic even to him. It's not nothing, but--
"Gooey isn't with you."
--And he exhales. Gooey. What is it with /Gooey/ right now. Trying to lie to him, trying to /avoid/ him like he's just--
--And he's. Acting like him, isn't he. Different words, different situations, but right then they're similar, and it smarts more than any avoidance from his friend ever had. Doing the same thing to his mother of all people, and by the way she looks at him, she knows it very well.
So Kes will see him freeze up at the words. Freeze and look down at his plate, and will see his wings lower until they're brushing the dirt from the floor until his voice comes quiet, bereft. Lost.
"I think...something is wrong with him. Gooey."
Kirby stares hard down at the curry, avoiding her eyes although he feels them like shards of ice in his back. "He's been acting really weird. He's been avoiding me, and he's not said one word to me in /days/ except when I managed to corner him once this morning, and that was only because he had to. I tried to think about if I had done something to upset him? But I can't think of anything. It's just...all for no reason! And it's /weird/, mom. It's worrying me. Is he sick? Can Dark Matter /get/ sick? I don't know!"
Kes listens quietly to her son as he lets off the worries that had been plaguing him for almost a week now, absorbing the information quietly. It isn't as though she knew the particulars of their routine; they woke up before she did and came back well after she went to bed most of the time. If there had been issues, none of the family would have known about it until now.
But Gooey is as much her child as Kirby is, and both of them are hurting. Gooey won't say why and Kirby is upset, and rightfully so. Those two had always been together. And now that they aren't... It is concerning.
"I can admit that I'm not certain myself as to what might be the problem," She murmurs after she takes a bite of food, looking down at her plate in a haze of thought. "I've not seen him myself, so I can't judge, and neither can your father. But..." And she glances up, and a smile toys at her face. "I do know that Tulok's birthday is this weekend. And I know Gooey is /incredibly/ excited, judging by that conversation you two had last week about who would be buying the better gift, hm? Maybe that might work in your favor."
"I mean, he's been avoiding me for a few days now, mom. I don't know if that would work..."
"If something is as seriously wrong with him as you say, he won't come. And if he doesn't, I'll have your father speak with him. But if he does come - and I think he will - then this might be a good opportunity to resolve whatever's happening. Either way, we'll get to the bottom of it, Kirby."
He doesn't look certain. She doesn't blame him. He knows the situation better than she does, by all accounts. But it's better than nothing, and when he looks at her, so much the young boy she knew from years ago, she gives him a little smile that, while weak, is reassuring.
"Now, I need to finish making lunch for the others. I don't believe Meta had been fed yet, and Tulok has his own diet. Eat as much as you'd like, alright?"
Kes stands up with her plate and moves to do exactly that, and Kirby is quiet, looking down at his curry which he's pretty sure is starting to go cold. He remains that way long after she's left, long after it's gone quiet, and Kirby, toying with his fork, toying with food in a way he never has...doesn't feel hungry.
-End Chapter 1-
Chapter 1 (Gooey's POv) >>
Artist Comment:
Date: November 1 2021
-----------------
First chapter of a small series about Kirby and Gooey. The relationship they share is as strong as any Guardian and Star Warrior. Gooey may be part Dark Matter, but he will do anything to protect his other half....hm...but it seems like he's avoiding Kirby for some reason. Huh...I wonder if something happened. Check out the next section to see~!!
AND YES! Kirby can understand Gooey despite him not being able to talk. Just one of the many things they share from the powerful bond they have~! >v<
And again~! I'm commissioning my good friend Dogblog. (dA- Shadowrealmprincess) to help me out on this~! ^o^
Date: November 1 2021
-----------------
First chapter of a small series about Kirby and Gooey. The relationship they share is as strong as any Guardian and Star Warrior. Gooey may be part Dark Matter, but he will do anything to protect his other half....hm...but it seems like he's avoiding Kirby for some reason. Huh...I wonder if something happened. Check out the next section to see~!!
AND YES! Kirby can understand Gooey despite him not being able to talk. Just one of the many things they share from the powerful bond they have~! >v<
And again~! I'm commissioning my good friend Dogblog. (dA- Shadowrealmprincess) to help me out on this~! ^o^
Species © Nintendo/ HAL Laboratory
Interpreted characters created from said species © Rhylem
Interpreted characters created from said species © Rhylem