Personal Sacrifice
Chapter. 5
Cold.
That is what Kirby feels the moment he steps through. Cold, gnawing through his bones, his soul, and absolute darkness that has an oppressive weight behind it that no Pop Star night could recreate, nor even the vastness of space. He inhales, a labored breath, and he knows where he is. Knows exactly where he is, despite that he had not been here since he was a teenager. It feels just as terrible as last time.
02 is here.
"Show yourself!" He calls into the darkness, devoid of anything, a pitch black that would have made anyone panic. "I know you're here, Zero Two! Now!"
And show themselves they do.
Kirby's memories of the being are burned into his mind such that he couldn't forget him if he tried, but when they show themselves, they're /different/ than he remembers. Large, all-encompassing that Kirby looks like a speck by comparison, they are a terrifying presence to gaze upon, white shell and dark remnants dripping like tar from their fractured form. An eye, amongst it all, larger than Kirby would ever be, gazes down at him with a murderous malice that could have killed him on the spot were it able to. He barely notices Gooey hovering at their size, so large are they.
A husk of what he had defeated in years past, reanimated and overgrown, and it screeches with the rage of a monster out for revenge that reverberates and forces Kirby to cover his ears.
Kirby only has barely enough to release his ears and look up before a familiar pink whip is screeching for him, and he barely has enough time to jump before it slams downward into a ground that neither of them can see. Gooey is wide eyed, wild and utterly devoid of emotion, and Kirby knows that this is not him.
"Gooey, please, listen to me!"
Kirby doesn't fight. Even as Gooey winds up for another hit, as Kirby starts to dodge with what little energy reserves he has left, he refuses to raise his blade towards the one that is the other half of his soul. His voice is ragged, his tone desperate, but he does not raise his hand or blade towards him. Could never.
"This isn't you, Gooey! This isn't who you are! Zero-- They have control, you have to fight it, please! We're a bond - Star Warrior and Guardian! This guy is nothing to us!"
A whip, careening for his face, hits him enough to send him flying into the ground, pain lighting up over freshly bandaged wounds and a headache that threatens to turn into a concussion. Already is, probably.
"Gooey...!"
He stumbles up despite the pain, the burning and soreness of wounds and bruises all over and moves before Gooey can get another hit.
"Do you remember when we were little kids? We didn't know anything about Guardians, heh, but...but we still managed to find each other! We were still friends, best friends, remember! Despite the memory loss, despite everything--"
Another hit to his side, and he swallows the urge to throw up from the pain. No.
"We always promised to be there for each other, Gooey. We'd be there and we'd protect each other, even if it meant risking our lives. You remember? We knew we were special right when we met... All this, before we knew who we were!"
He grins, even as Gooey goes in for a hit that makes him land on his back, wings screaming with agony from the impact. He's barely even dodging at this point. Doesn't bother.
"Nothing can split us apart Gooey," He cries, his grin wild and desperate, but somehow still so /happy./ "And if I gotta die to break you out of this trance, then I'll do it."
The hit that meets him forces his already weak grip to loosen around Galaxia, and the blessed blade falls to the ground with not a sound. Gooey has it in his grip before Kirby could think to make a move for it again, but he doesn't.
He lays there. And waits.
Glancing at the monster that he had defeated so long ago, its eye piercing Gooey with untold commands, he knows what is about to happen. As Gooey dashes with the blade held tight, pointed towards Kirby's form, he knows what is going to come next.
He could dodge, if he wanted.
He doesn't.
Guardians have always been willing to give up their lives for their Star Warriors. It was practically in their nature. It was their purpose, to serve and protect, to keep them safe.
If Guardians are willing to die to protect their Star Warriors, he thinks distantly, then a Warrior should be willing to die to protect their Guardian just the same. Dying by Gooey's own hand just shows he failed Gooey as a Star Warrior. Failed him as a Warrior and as his other half. He would deserve no less.
It's almost poetic, some part of him thinks as the blade prepares to make its mark. Squeezing his eyes shut, tears stinging but unnoticed. Them as children flashing in his mind, the only thing left he wants to think of as he meets his end.
Waits.
And...
...He isn't dead.
Kirby cracks open his eye. The blade is inches from him, inches from his face, but it hasn't touched. He...isn't even injured. It never made contact.
Quiet, stunned, he looks up, past the sword and at the blade's holder. Gooey is frozen to the spot, his eyes wide and filmy, as if a statue, and Kirby's heart thumps a nervous staccato as he watches him. Waiting. For what, he isn't sure.
They're stuck like that for what seems like an eternity.
And then Galaxia falls.
And Gooey...flops. There's no better word for the way he just /sags/ against Kirby, buries his face in Kirby's shoulder and wraps his hands around the bulk of his form in a weak hug.
Kirby opens his mouth, to say something, to yell, he's not sure, but whatever it was he's frozen by the absolutely overwhelming sense of emotions that flood through him as if a tsunami. So many feelings, so many impressions that can't be expressed verbally, crashing on him, threatening to drown him--
Apologies. Remorse, sadness, so much of it his eyes sting with tears not his own. Guilt, rancid, such that it makes his throat clog, happiness and appreciation, /love/. Worry and something parental when Gooey's eyes finally skim his form, and Kirby chuckles, torn between laughing and crying at the same time. So many feelings!
"It's okay, Goo, really, geez--" The worry is at the forefront, gnawing and nervous, and Kirby can't help but reach his hand up to ruffle Gooey's mop of goo hair. Some part of him thought he might have broken down, or hugged Gooey tight, something dramatic now that he was back. And yes, he is ecstatic. He couldn't be happier. But just beaming, and smiling, and /laughing/ is enough for him. He knew Gooey would come back.
So when the worry in his mind starts to shift into a kind of sorrow that threatens to make his throat wobble, he holds Gooey tighter and shakes his head head enough to give him whiplash before he freezes and groans. Shouldn't have jostled his stupid concussion...
"It wasn't you, Gooey," He mumbles, half gritting his teeth, looking Gooey in the eyes and feeling his heart squeeze at just how pained he looks. "I know you'd never do that. It's that /thing/ there...treating you like some /puppet/..."
He gestures as he slowly comes to a stand, Gooey helping him easily. The monster, Zero, or...whatever its name is now, Sub Zero? It hovers, massive, reeking of killing intent, edging closer now that its servant is lost. "We need to kill that thing," Is what Kirby mumbles. He has Gooey, now he just needs it /gone/. "Both of us. Together." They can't do it alone.
Gooey looks at him, eyes bright and concerned, and Kirby can't help the laugh bubbling in his throat. Of course he has it in him to worry about his injuries, even now when they're going to fight what is probably a literal god of some kind.
"I'll be fine, Gooey, geez..."
And as if to prove it, Kirby reaches up to fiddle with his paudron, quickly with the behemoth rapidly gaining on them. What he pulls out glows bright in the darkness, a beacon of life, love, hope, all things good in the miasma that surrounds them now. His Warp Star.
"I can still fight. And we can take this thing down /together/. Can't we."
And the Warp Star expands. Larger and larger until Kirby can't hold it, until it's larger than Gooey and then larger than himself. When it ceases, it shifts horizontal, and Kirby hops on in a well-practiced movement. Gooey's eyes follow him the entire time, still with concern, and Kirby can feel his determination too. He's ready.
"Let's do this!"
And they're off.
-----------------------------
That is what Kirby feels the moment he steps through. Cold, gnawing through his bones, his soul, and absolute darkness that has an oppressive weight behind it that no Pop Star night could recreate, nor even the vastness of space. He inhales, a labored breath, and he knows where he is. Knows exactly where he is, despite that he had not been here since he was a teenager. It feels just as terrible as last time.
02 is here.
"Show yourself!" He calls into the darkness, devoid of anything, a pitch black that would have made anyone panic. "I know you're here, Zero Two! Now!"
And show themselves they do.
Kirby's memories of the being are burned into his mind such that he couldn't forget him if he tried, but when they show themselves, they're /different/ than he remembers. Large, all-encompassing that Kirby looks like a speck by comparison, they are a terrifying presence to gaze upon, white shell and dark remnants dripping like tar from their fractured form. An eye, amongst it all, larger than Kirby would ever be, gazes down at him with a murderous malice that could have killed him on the spot were it able to. He barely notices Gooey hovering at their size, so large are they.
A husk of what he had defeated in years past, reanimated and overgrown, and it screeches with the rage of a monster out for revenge that reverberates and forces Kirby to cover his ears.
Kirby only has barely enough to release his ears and look up before a familiar pink whip is screeching for him, and he barely has enough time to jump before it slams downward into a ground that neither of them can see. Gooey is wide eyed, wild and utterly devoid of emotion, and Kirby knows that this is not him.
"Gooey, please, listen to me!"
Kirby doesn't fight. Even as Gooey winds up for another hit, as Kirby starts to dodge with what little energy reserves he has left, he refuses to raise his blade towards the one that is the other half of his soul. His voice is ragged, his tone desperate, but he does not raise his hand or blade towards him. Could never.
"This isn't you, Gooey! This isn't who you are! Zero-- They have control, you have to fight it, please! We're a bond - Star Warrior and Guardian! This guy is nothing to us!"
A whip, careening for his face, hits him enough to send him flying into the ground, pain lighting up over freshly bandaged wounds and a headache that threatens to turn into a concussion. Already is, probably.
"Gooey...!"
He stumbles up despite the pain, the burning and soreness of wounds and bruises all over and moves before Gooey can get another hit.
"Do you remember when we were little kids? We didn't know anything about Guardians, heh, but...but we still managed to find each other! We were still friends, best friends, remember! Despite the memory loss, despite everything--"
Another hit to his side, and he swallows the urge to throw up from the pain. No.
"We always promised to be there for each other, Gooey. We'd be there and we'd protect each other, even if it meant risking our lives. You remember? We knew we were special right when we met... All this, before we knew who we were!"
He grins, even as Gooey goes in for a hit that makes him land on his back, wings screaming with agony from the impact. He's barely even dodging at this point. Doesn't bother.
"Nothing can split us apart Gooey," He cries, his grin wild and desperate, but somehow still so /happy./ "And if I gotta die to break you out of this trance, then I'll do it."
The hit that meets him forces his already weak grip to loosen around Galaxia, and the blessed blade falls to the ground with not a sound. Gooey has it in his grip before Kirby could think to make a move for it again, but he doesn't.
He lays there. And waits.
Glancing at the monster that he had defeated so long ago, its eye piercing Gooey with untold commands, he knows what is about to happen. As Gooey dashes with the blade held tight, pointed towards Kirby's form, he knows what is going to come next.
He could dodge, if he wanted.
He doesn't.
Guardians have always been willing to give up their lives for their Star Warriors. It was practically in their nature. It was their purpose, to serve and protect, to keep them safe.
If Guardians are willing to die to protect their Star Warriors, he thinks distantly, then a Warrior should be willing to die to protect their Guardian just the same. Dying by Gooey's own hand just shows he failed Gooey as a Star Warrior. Failed him as a Warrior and as his other half. He would deserve no less.
It's almost poetic, some part of him thinks as the blade prepares to make its mark. Squeezing his eyes shut, tears stinging but unnoticed. Them as children flashing in his mind, the only thing left he wants to think of as he meets his end.
Waits.
And...
...He isn't dead.
Kirby cracks open his eye. The blade is inches from him, inches from his face, but it hasn't touched. He...isn't even injured. It never made contact.
Quiet, stunned, he looks up, past the sword and at the blade's holder. Gooey is frozen to the spot, his eyes wide and filmy, as if a statue, and Kirby's heart thumps a nervous staccato as he watches him. Waiting. For what, he isn't sure.
They're stuck like that for what seems like an eternity.
And then Galaxia falls.
And Gooey...flops. There's no better word for the way he just /sags/ against Kirby, buries his face in Kirby's shoulder and wraps his hands around the bulk of his form in a weak hug.
Kirby opens his mouth, to say something, to yell, he's not sure, but whatever it was he's frozen by the absolutely overwhelming sense of emotions that flood through him as if a tsunami. So many feelings, so many impressions that can't be expressed verbally, crashing on him, threatening to drown him--
Apologies. Remorse, sadness, so much of it his eyes sting with tears not his own. Guilt, rancid, such that it makes his throat clog, happiness and appreciation, /love/. Worry and something parental when Gooey's eyes finally skim his form, and Kirby chuckles, torn between laughing and crying at the same time. So many feelings!
"It's okay, Goo, really, geez--" The worry is at the forefront, gnawing and nervous, and Kirby can't help but reach his hand up to ruffle Gooey's mop of goo hair. Some part of him thought he might have broken down, or hugged Gooey tight, something dramatic now that he was back. And yes, he is ecstatic. He couldn't be happier. But just beaming, and smiling, and /laughing/ is enough for him. He knew Gooey would come back.
So when the worry in his mind starts to shift into a kind of sorrow that threatens to make his throat wobble, he holds Gooey tighter and shakes his head head enough to give him whiplash before he freezes and groans. Shouldn't have jostled his stupid concussion...
"It wasn't you, Gooey," He mumbles, half gritting his teeth, looking Gooey in the eyes and feeling his heart squeeze at just how pained he looks. "I know you'd never do that. It's that /thing/ there...treating you like some /puppet/..."
He gestures as he slowly comes to a stand, Gooey helping him easily. The monster, Zero, or...whatever its name is now, Sub Zero? It hovers, massive, reeking of killing intent, edging closer now that its servant is lost. "We need to kill that thing," Is what Kirby mumbles. He has Gooey, now he just needs it /gone/. "Both of us. Together." They can't do it alone.
Gooey looks at him, eyes bright and concerned, and Kirby can't help the laugh bubbling in his throat. Of course he has it in him to worry about his injuries, even now when they're going to fight what is probably a literal god of some kind.
"I'll be fine, Gooey, geez..."
And as if to prove it, Kirby reaches up to fiddle with his paudron, quickly with the behemoth rapidly gaining on them. What he pulls out glows bright in the darkness, a beacon of life, love, hope, all things good in the miasma that surrounds them now. His Warp Star.
"I can still fight. And we can take this thing down /together/. Can't we."
And the Warp Star expands. Larger and larger until Kirby can't hold it, until it's larger than Gooey and then larger than himself. When it ceases, it shifts horizontal, and Kirby hops on in a well-practiced movement. Gooey's eyes follow him the entire time, still with concern, and Kirby can feel his determination too. He's ready.
"Let's do this!"
And they're off.
-----------------------------
-End-
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Artist Comment:
Date: N/A
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Date: N/A
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Species © Nintendo/ HAL Laboratory
Interpreted characters created from said species © Rhylem
Interpreted characters created from said species © Rhylem