Sakura Dee | さくら•ヂィー

Thankfully, we ended up being able to have a nice, long rest that night— er, yesterday. It was probably afternoon by the time Kirby, Bandanna, and I all woke up, but you could hardly tell it by looking at the sky. The world was barely any lighter than twilight, and every few minutes, a low, quiet rumble of thunder would crawl across the hills, an ominous signal of a distant storm that somehow never seemed to draw any closer. Once in awhile, I'd notice a small flash out of the corner of my eye, as though a small amount of lightning was jumping from one cloud to another somewhere in my range of vision, but I never managed to glance fast enough to see it actually happening. Meta Knight kept suddenly giving the sky brief glances as well, so I assume he noticed it as well. The kids, on the other hand, other than seeming a bit nervous after waking up (mostly from fear that they'd wake up into another awful, vivid nightmare, which I think we were all worried about yesterday), didn't seem to notice the worsening weather.

Like I said, though, we all spent the first day after the cave tense and quiet, all of us still processing what we'd been through the night before. Even after that long rest, my head still had a dull ache to it, and if I pushed at it at all, it felt rather tender. Meta Knight advised me not to do so, as it'd probably slow down the healing process, but it was hard not to. When your head hurts, you're tempted to rub it. It's just a basic fact of life for most people.

But worse than the headache was the cold feeling that filled all of us. I don't know if it was just the nightmares, or the weather, or what, but yesterday afternoon, as we all stood around silently munching on the small loaves of bread Meta Knight passed out from our supplies, all of the feeling of teasing camaraderie from the days before was completely gone. Even the kids were quiet, and even Kirby's enjoyment of the simple meal seemed uncharacteristically muted. It wasn't that we were upset at each other— if anything, we seemed to have even more of an eye out for each other's safety yesterday than usual. We just... all were quiet. We didn't want to talk. Even if we weren't physically exhausted anymore, the night before had all but drained us of our emotional and mental strength.

And... I don't know if the thought occurred to anyone else... but if a little, inconsequential monster who had nothing to do with our quest, whom we just happened to run into, managed to do this to us... I don't know. It just makes me more and more anxious about the monster hidden somewhere among the clouds. If the monster we weren't even supposed to face succeeded in hurting and upsetting the four of us so much, what will the mighty giant succeed in doing to the pesky, weak flies?

Well, even if all any of us really felt like doing was sitting around and staring off into space, we still had a job to do. We spent the rest of the few remaining hours of usable daylight scouring the rest of Cookie Country, searching for the monster. We didn't find the Lightning, unsurprisingly. We were nearly finished when night started to fall, so we found another safe-seeming tree to spend the night in. Last night, I took first watch, despite Meta Knight's initial protests. At first, I thought he was going to win out like he always did, but last night, his mind seemed to be elsewhere, occupied by other things, and so after a single attempt to tell me to go to sleep instead, he quietly agreed to my offer to keep watch first. Sometime around midnight, just as I was starting to get really sleepy, he quietly approached and we wordlessly changed the guard. I fell asleep soon after, and dreamed nothing all night.

This morning, Meta Knight woke all of us up not long after dawn. The night had been uneventful. Now that some time had gone by after the whole cave... incident, everyone seemed to be in better spirits, even Meta Knight, to a degree. But even so... Sir Knight seemed to be anxious about something, somewhere underneath the surface, even if he was doing his best to hide it. The kids and I, on the other hand, were pretty much back to normal, or at least much more so than we were the day before. Breakfast was accompanied by the laughter of the kiddos and Kirby inevitably proclaiming that he was still hungry, and even though the clouds still hung above, seeming almost to keep drawing closer to the ground, it was like a fog had been lifted.

Like I said, yesterday we'd almost finished scouring Cookie Country. Today, we approached a secluded vale we hadn't searched yet. Inside we found a giant Poppy Bros. Senior wearing a baker's hat, a being large enough to fit the classification of 'boss monster,' rather than the medium classification of 'miniboss; or the typical classifications of 'loner,' 'horde,' or 'normal' monster. At any given time, every different area (or 'world,' as they're sometimes called) in Dreamland plays lair to one or two boss monsters. They usually scare the smaller monsters into submission and/or some kind of basic tribute system. Basically, they make themselves king of the 'world' (huh, kinda like somebody else I know) and expect the other monsters to unquestioningly accept this fact and treat them accordingly (isn't the resemblance to someone else simply uncanny?). However, unlike for a certain 'king' we all know, possession of the 'worlds' tends to change hands fairly quickly. Either some hero comes and kills the boss monster, a hopeful boss monster kills their predecessor and takes over, or someone stronger comes along and scares the previous boss monster into submission along with everybody else. Sometimes, a monster that's been a 'world's' boss monster before ends up taking over again— for example, a sentient, seemingly-immortal tree who serves as the somewhat-amoral guardian of Whispy Woods, known simply as Whispy Woods, is almost always the boss of his own world, but when no one else is around to fill the part, his area of rule extends into Cookie Country, and sometimes the similar (except for the lack of Windy Woods trees) Green Greens as well.

Today, obviously, that's not the case.

With a yelp, I dance out of the way of another barrage of cookies. This boss monster is definitely not like any other I've encountered in my few months of questing experience. Most bosses throw some kind of elemental attack at you; this is the first one I've seen that switches between burying us in piles of bullet-like bite-size cookies of apparently all typical flavors and varieties, pelting us with regular-sized cookies, and trying to squash us with giant cookies bigger than we are. As delicious as the attacks smell, I can now assure you from experience that being buried under a pile of itchy, crumby cookies is anything but fun.

And here I was, wondering whether anything in Cookie Country was even remotely cookie-related. Welp, I'm glad after this we can go— I've had enough of cookies in the past fifteen minutes to last me a long time.

Behind me, I can suddenly hear Kirby yelp as so many cookies come flying at him that he can't keep up with simply inhaling and eating them all, and when I spin around to look, I see a small mountain of cookies with Kirby (and I'm assuming also Bandanna Dee, who was using his friend as a sort of anti-cookie-shield) buried inside. Thankfully, the cookies stack on top of each other such that it's easy enough for air to get in, rendering them not-very-dangerous, but re: being buried in cookie crumbs is really, really uncomfortable.

"Sakura, look out!" Meta Knight's calm, focused voice suddenly calls out to me. Spinning around, I just barely manage to jump up and over a giant oatmeal raisin cookie, aka the lying traitors of the cookie universe, as far as I'm concerned.

"Ha! That all you got?" I demand of the monster with a flourish of my sword, proud of how I've evaded most of its attacks so far, only to for it to turn its attention on me with a wicked giggle (which is as creepy as it sounds, coming from such a large creature). "Oops." Seconds later, I find myself buried in a pile of white-chocolate-macadamia-nut-flavored crispy pastries.

As I begin to try and dig my way out of the huge pile, groaning at the sensation of being coated in cookie crumbs, I can hear the monster launching barrage after barrage of cookies at the airborne Meta Knight, followed by its irritated grunts as he deftly dodges them all. A moment later, Meta Knight tells it in a calm voice after a quiet chuckle, "Give me all your cookies, beast. I fear them not."

A moment later, I can hear a series of small explosions, and realize with a sigh of happy relief that Meta Knight has dealt the final blow. "Finally," I laugh as I manage to break out of the side of my pile, sliding down the edge, followed by a small cookie-lanche that pelts my head with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Over nearby, a starry-eyed Kirby and a highly-confused Bandanna Dee pop out of the top of their pile of sugar, snickerdoodle, and chocolate chip cookies. After taking one glance at Kirby, Bandanna Dee wisely air-hops out of the way, while I yelp and desperately tuck and roll away from the path of the oncoming chaos.

Thirty seconds and one Super-Inhale (a trick which apparently only Kirby possesses, and is strong enough to allow him to suck up even giant boulders) later, there is no remaining sign of the boss monster whose hands Cookie Country has now passed out of, defaulting its rule back to Whispy Woods for the time being.

Meta Knight, as always, stands in the middle of the eaten zone, wrapped up in his cape again, looking entirely nonplussed as he eyes Kirby evenly. I don't know how in Dreamland he can stand against a Super-Inhale when I know he's not all that overly heavy, and definitely weighs much, much less than a giant boulder. Maybe it's a mind-over-matter thing, or maybe it's a Star Warrior thing— who knows? All I know is that Kirby is perfectly capable of sucking me up even with a regular inhale, so a food-laced Super-Inhale is definitely not something I ever want to get in the way of.

While Kirby giggles at Meta Knight and shrugs in joking apology, Meta Knight rolls his eyes and sighs once before letting go of his cape to show us something he holds in his glove. "I found where the monster was getting its ammunition," he tells us, sounding almost-but-not-quite amused.

Walking over, I accept the proffered object from his glove and look it over, only to find that it's just a small, red, velvet pouch with golden-colored, tasseled rope on it with which it could be tied shut. "What is this, and how could it hold so many cookies? Dimensional fabric?"

Meta Knight shakes his head as he takes it back. "Inter-Dimensional fabric is my guess. A one-way portal to an alternate dimension where everything is cookies. There's no going into it, but plenty can come out of it. Dimensional fabric can only offer whatever has already been put into it; this, obviously, seems to be something else entirely, unless that Poppy Bros. Senior had a serious baking addiction, which is, I suppose, certainly not out of the question."

"Ah," I muse, nodding as I devote the lesson to memory. Meta Knight really is the closest thing to a walking encyclopedia of the Galaxy anyone could ever find anywhere, I think.

Kirby, of course, as soon as he heard that the pouch is an endless source of sugary, high-calorie goodness, dashed over to Meta Knight with a gurgle-whine and began attempting to take it from the knight's glove. In response, the elder puff sighs heavily and uses one glove to keep Kirby pushed away from his body as far as he can reach, leaving Kirby continuously dashing fruitlessly, kicking up a small dust cloud behind himself as he does so. Ignoring him, Meta Knight tucks the cookie pouch into his cape where it's safe from the living bottomless pit, releases Kirby, and wraps himself back up in his cape all in one fluid motion.

"Well," Meta Knight starts, turning to me and Bandanna Dee, only to have Kirby skid in front of him, both paws stuck straight up in the air.

"Wait, poyo! Hold ev'rytin'!" Kirby declares while Meta Knight eyes him warily. Turning partway so he can give Meta Knight a mischievous glance, he announces proudly, "S'time for the Kirby Ta-Da Dance, poyo."

"Oh, for the love of..." Meta Knight groans, burying his face in one of his gloves and shaking his head fiercely, while Bandanna dashes over to stand next to his friend after all but tossing his spear at me, leaving me staring at them all in utter confusion.

Kirby clears his throat, and then starts singing a simple tune with adorable little 'lyrics' while he and Bandanna start flipping cartwheels, doing turns, and jumping in circles. "Ta-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, ta-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, ta-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, ta-da, ta-da, ta-da! Da!" The two little ones finish their dance proudly, with Kirby shaking his paws like jazz hands, while Bandanna Dee pushes himself into a wobbly-yet-strong headstand.

While Meta Knight gives a deep groan that indicates that he's put up with this already for a long, long, patience-of-a-saint-level long time, I can't help but collapse on my back in peals of laughter so strong that I can barely breathe. "Oh my gosh... oh my gosh... Kirby, Bandanna, that was absolutely adorable, augh!"

Giggling his head off while Bandanna Dee silently does the same, Kirby comes over and grabs me by both of my gloves. "C'mon, S'kura-poy," he laughs. "Do the Kirby Ta-Da Dance!"

"Okay, okay," I agree, gasping for air as the giggles try to die down. Any of the remaining fog from yesterday seems to have cleared, even if Meta Knight does seem annoyed at all of us. While Kirby sings the song again, the three of us all do a little dance around Meta Knight, me giggling my head off the whole way and putting my own little spin on the routine by adding a pirouette, wink, and a curtsy to the end of my piece.

Meta Knight keeps his mask thoroughly buried in his glove the whole time, and when we've finally finished, the only thing he asks is a defeated-sounding plea of, "Et tu, Sakura?"

Rolling his eyes with a giggle, Kirby tells him teasingly, "Hey, Meta Knight-poy, you dance-ed on the one quest..."

Snapping his mask out of his glove, Meta Knight scolds Kirby fiercely, "We do not speak of that—"

Laughing, I demand, "No, please, do speak of it. Sir Knight danced? How? Why?"

Kirby laughs. "Meta-poyo thought I thought that Mag—"

Interrupting with an irritated clearing of his throat before Kirby can finish his thought and a veritable death glare directed at the smaller puff, Meta Knight explains briefly, "I made a gentlemen's wag— er, honestly, just a wager— with Dedede, and he won, so I upheld my end of the 'bet' and participated in the 'Kirby Ta-Da Dance.'" His eyes scrunch up as he says those last few words, as if they taste bad in his mouth. Shuddering once, he finishes, "I am nothing if not a man of my word. Now, may we please change the subject to the important matters at hand? I will remind you all that Dreamland is still in danger; in case you have forgotten."

Kirby and Bandanna continue to snicker at memories that I ever-so-sadly have missed out on, but I snap to attention immediately. "Of course not, Sir. What next?"

After directing a final glare at the younger two, finally getting them to quiet down and pay attention, the masked knight continues.

"Obviously our foe is not here in Cookie Country. It is time to move onto the next world. I suggest that we head to Green Greens, the closest area that also neighbors Whispy Woods, and from there navigate to the Float Islands south of there when we have finished with that world. Green Greens is small and usually has a weak boss in control, if not Whispy Woods, and he hasn't found reason to interfere with us for awhile now. If we hurry, since it is still only mid-morning, we could finish that world today and be off on our way to the Float Islands first thing tomorrow."

"Yes, Sir," I agree, and the little two nod as I toss Kirby a feather and grab Bandanna's paws. With a single strong stroke of my wings, I manage to get up into the air, and after a few awkward (but less awkward than ever before flaps) I get my upward and forward momentum going. With Meta Knight in the lead and Wing Kirby and I flying right behind, we bank east and begin flying towards the world of Green Greens.

************************************************

Nothing exciting happens for several days after that. The Lightning is nowhere to be found in any of the worlds we traverse. Green Greens, the Float Islands, Onion Ocean, Raisin Ruins, even Castle Lololo— all of these unique and beautiful places pass by without any real event. At first we continue to do what we did in Cookie Country, where we clear out any monsters that try and attack us, but by the time we get to Raisin Ruins, hardly anybody bothers us except for the minibosses and each world's boss monster. As the skies grow darker and darker every day and the cloud layer grows thicker and thicker, driving our flight up higher and higher until we get to the point where we all have to dip below the clouds every few minutes to breathe some thicker air so we don't pass out, more and more of the smaller monsters begin to seek shelter anywhere they can find it— in caves, in old huts or buildings, in decorative structures, even in hollowed out trees. More than once we peacefully navigate a large swath of a world, encountering no hostile monsters along the way, and more than once we can see a small horde of little monsters shivering in the ever-chilling air and barely paying heed to us, mainly watching the dark, rumbling skies with anxious eyes.

Every day, the feeling of excitement and adventure slips away a little more, replaced increasingly by a sense of anxiety and worry, and determination to find the monster and save Dreamland. I wondered back in Whispy Woods if Kirby would ever serious up and sense the imminent danger to the planet, and I guess now I have the answer, because he certainly has. He doesn't ever mention being hungry except when it's actually mealtime, and he never asks for more than he's given or complains about the amount (and trust me, that's as weird as it sounds).

We cover as much ground as we can during the day— thankfully, the lack of small monsters makes this easier all the time— but still, we all grow more and more nervous, and the amount of time with enough light for us to travel grows less and less. We need to find the monster, even if that's a dreadful and terrifying thought in and of itself. We need to get rid of it. Already, plants everywhere are starting to wilt and dry up from the combined lack of sun and rain. As for myself, I'm really starting to miss being able to see the sun without feeling like I can't get enough air, and even more, I'm really, really starting to miss the stars.

Every night, the world turns pitch black, so dark that without some source of light, I can't even see my glove in front of my face, or much of anything other than Meta Knight's golden eyes staring out at the world around wherever we have chosen to seek shelter, ever watchful, ever wary.

And every day, we have to spend more and more time finding shelter just as the monsters do, whenever a huge lightning storm comes up, bringing with it crashing thunder and strikes of lightning so huge (not to mention fiercely bright) that just one strike would most likely mean instant death.

"He grows stronger," Meta Knight worries late one evening as we huddle up in an old, abandoned brick room with half-broken glass windows somewhere in the middle of the elevated, castle-like world that somehow hovers above the seemingly-endless ocean found south, east, and west of the peninsular area of which Cappy Town and Castle Dedede are plunked right down in the center. This world is beautiful, like all the others, but also lonely and sad, in my opinion. Maybe if there were more monsters around, it wouldn't feel so devoid of life, but as it is, the grand-but-empty castle just feels empty and alone.

Tonight, though, I hardly notice that particular tug at my heartstrings. I'm more concerned by the twin tugs caused by the obvious fear Kirby and Bandanna Dee are both displaying as they stay snuggled up together under a blanket in the corner of the room farthest from any of the windows, jumping every time a clap of thunder goes off or a bolt of lightning strikes nearby, rendering all other sights and sounds unnoticeable for a few seconds. I don't blame them for their fear; I'm pretty anxious tonight too. There's just something so unnerving about this unnatural rage. A storm like this should bring rain with it. The fact that it doesn't makes it feel so weird, smell so weird, even sound so weird. Aside from the stale, dry, staticky wind that blows occasionally, there is no sound outside between the angry roars of thunder. As scary as it is, thankfully, we seem to be safe here inside the old, steady castle walls.

As a particularly bright bolt of lightning streaks across the world, Kirby lets out a cry of fear and lurches into my side where I sit not far away from him. As the accompanying thunder roars a second later, Bandanna gets up and leaps against me on the other side, both puffs snuggling as close to me as they can. Once we get our hearing back, Kirby whines softly, "Scary, poyo."

My heart aching for them, I put on the brightest face I can and assure them warmly, "It's going to be all right. I promise," only to jump as much as they do when the overwhelming process of lightning and thunder repeats itself right after. The only person in the room who doesn't seem frightened is Meta Knight, but even he is tense as he stands not far from one of the windows, staring out at the world around us, making sure nothing tries to harm us during the storm.

After several more minutes, the thunder and lightning both start to die down until they reach a level more like a regular storm. Now I'd find them almost soothing if it weren't for the complete lack of rain. At least we haven't had to risk having ourselves or our shelters damaged by hail so far; thank goodness for small mercies, I guess.

But even though the storm has started to calm, both of the little two continue to seem absolutely terrified. Unable to come up with anything else to do, I clear my throat, and nervously— but growing stronger— I sing out loud where someone else can hear me for the very first time. "All have been well-fed, rest has been well-earned. Close your heavy eyes, and sleep, sweet child... When the sun comes back, we will rise again, so close your heavy eyes, and sleep till then..."

The storm has reached its normal level of distant rumblings and occasional tiny flashes, and Kirby and Bandanna Dee's eyes start to droop. Lowering my voice accordingly, I finish, "I am glad to have served you, and you are glad to have served me. If we all served one another, what a wonderful land this could be." By the time the chorus has finished, both of them have fallen asleep, snuggled so close on both sides that I can feel their tiny, quick heartbeats. Well. I guess that at least means that I'm not a bad singer, even if nothing else. Letting my cape turn into wings, I carefully curl one protectively around both of my small friends like a fuzzy, fluffy, feathery down blanket.

Meta Knight remains quiet for another long moment, before shakily clearing his throat once. "Are you all right, Sir?" I question quietly in surprise. Maybe it was bad. Maybe the kids were just so tired that they didn't notice.

Meta Knight turns to face me, his eyes a medium blue in concern (although it looked almost like they were fading away from a deep blue of sadness, but that can't be right). "Of course, Lady Dee. Your voice just... reminded me very much of the singing voice of someone else I used to know, that's all. It... brings back memories that should be good, but have been turned bittersweet by the passage of time." Remembering himself, he clears his throat again and tells me, "You have a lovely voice, and that was a lovely song. I had no idea you could sing. You should do so more often; we'd all three enjoy it, I can assure you." After a pause, he questions, "Where did you learn that song, anyway? The tune sounded familiar, but I don't think I've ever heard the words before..."

"Oh. Well... I kinda wrote it myself, I think..." I tell him with a blush. "I mean, maybe I heard the tune somewhere else, but I think I wrote it myself. I just, uh, made it up one night as a lullaby for the Litdees— er, I mean, the little Waddle Dees. It's soothing and helps them fall asleep, but it still carries an important message, I think. I've sung it to them many times, so Bandanna's probably heard it before. I've just always, uh, always sung it in my head through the One Mind. I've never sung it out loud before— well, that's a lie, I guess. I've just never sung it out loud where anyone else could hear it before." I don't know why I feel so embarrassed. Part of me feels proud that the other three enjoyed it so much, but for some reason I mostly just feel... shy. I guess 'cause I've never sung for anyone before, and performing, no matter what kind of performance, almost always induces some kind of stage fright.

"Well, wherever you learned the tune, whether you came up with it yourself or not, it was very lovely," Meta Knight repeats softly, turning his eyes back to the window for now. Checking the bolt on the old stone door to make sure it looks like it will hold fast, he then gives a sigh of relief and sits down in the opposite corner with his cape hugged closely around him for warmth. Eyeing me curiously now, his eyes still tinged with worried blue but mostly their normal golden yellow, he asks softly, "So. It was written to soothe the... 'Litdees,' you said. Did they often need soothing? I was unaware that Waddle Dees even could cry."

Rolling my eyes good-naturedly, I reply quietly, both of us being careful not to wake the children, "Of course Waddle Dees can cry, Sir Knight. It's just that we don't do it in front of anyone else, and only the other Waddle Dees can hear it. Trust me, it might not bother any inhabitants of the castle who aren't part of the One Mind, but I've spent many a sleepless night rocking some little one who had had a nightmare, or had a tummy-ache, or what have you."

Turning his gaze to the children briefly, he then instinctively glances out the window again and muses, "That sounds like something you would excel at, my friend. After all, you do an excellent job of looking after the little ones, 'ghost stories' and all."

I giggle a bit in response to that, making his eyes flicker with amused lemonade-pink for the briefest of seconds for the first time in days. "Thanks, Sir Knight. I was the only girl, so I worked in the nursery a lot. It's not like the boys can't do it, but I guess I have a gentler, more patient hand or something." Pausing for a moment, I murmur sadly, "I really miss it, honestly, even if my life is so much better now in pretty much every way. I really like babies and little kids, and Bandanna Dee and Kirby are wonderful, don't get me wrong... but I miss being able to hold the tiniest babies while they open and close their itty-bitty paws in and out of fists or play with their little feet. They only get two or three years to be babies before they're sent to work, but they are the most precious little things while they're small."

Seeming to frown, he turns to me again. "Beg pardon, but... I have always wondered. If you are the only girl, where do Waddle Dees even come from?" Clearing his throat, he adds, "If that, of course, is not too personal of a query."

Confused by the way he dances around the subject, as if it's somehow embarrassing, I giggle and explain, "Oh, it's not personal at all Sir Knight, and it's pretty simple really." If I didn't know better, I'd think he was blushing underneath the mask. "Once a year, we have a holiday called the 'Birthday,' the only purely-Waddle-Dee holiday that we celebrate. We eat the nicest food we can make that day, and then at the end, we all gather in the sleeping quarters, even the youngest Dees, who on that day all turn a year old. If it's been a good year for us Waddle Dees, around three hundred of the oldest Waddle Dees all gather in the center of the room. If a lot of us have... passed away by one way or another over the year before, then it's more. We all stand there, totally silent, while the Waddle Dees in the middle of the room all say in unison, 'You have been glad to serve us. We are glad to have served you.' And then, all of the oldest Waddle Dees disappear, and in each one's place is two tiny new baby Dees, neither one sharing any of the traits of the old other than our uniform appearance— so we usually have 600 new baby Dees all at once. Most of them are given to the wandering Dee forces out and around Dreamland, where a few in each group will tend to the little ones. Around thirty to fifty of them stay at the castle, and that's where I always come in. Those first days are so busy, but once the new Babdees get used to their new home, they mostly just sleep all day. They're so sweet, like I said. If I could, I'd have to show them to you sometime."

Just then, I finally look at him rather than out into space again for the first time in a few minutes, and notice in shock that his eyes are a sad deep blue. "So for the next generation of Waddle Dees to be born, the oldest has to die?" he demands in shock. "That is... that is absolutely terrible!"

Shaking my head urgently, unable to fully understand his upset, I assure him, "No, no, it's not. It's the best way for a Waddle Dee to go. It's what we all aspire to... or, well, what we're all supposed to aspire to. I only ever dreaded it, myself... but. 'There is no greater way to serve a friend, than to lay down one's life,'" I tell him fervently. "That's what the Eldees always say in the days before they go, if one of the Litdees chances to ask why they have to leave. It's... it's an honor, y'know? Or, well, it's supposed to be. But, like I said... I always only dreaded it. I didn't want to have to die that young."

"What do you mean, 'that young?'" Meta Knight demands.

Taking a deep breath, feeling a mix of shame and old fear, I tell him quietly, "We've... we've been having bad years lately. So many Waddle Dees die every year, that even though we're supposed to live to at least twenty-five years, it's been quite a bit less than that for at least a decade now. Ever since Kirby arrived in Dreamland for his first short visit, honestly, although it's finally stabilized, and is even starting to slowly go back up. But..." Glancing over at him, I have to look away a moment later to be able to get the words out. "If it weren't for the fact that I became the Kirby Dee... I probably would've been one of the ones to go last fall. I was living on months when that meteor hit me. Maybe that's why I was so unafraid."

When I glance back at Meta Knight, the color of his eyes has disappeared entirely, meaning that his eyes are closed. At first I wonder if he hasn't fallen asleep right in the middle of my telling him something so important, but a moment later, he takes a deep, slightly-shaky breath before telling me in a steady-but-quiet voice, "I am even more glad now that you became the Kirby Dee when you did. If you had not been changed... if I had never had the pleasure of meeting you, training you, watching you grow..." He pauses for a long moment before getting out, even quieter, "Life was so very dull for me before you came along, Sakura, and much darker than it is now, as well. To think that I so very nearly never even got to know you..." he falls silent again, his eyes still closed.

Now I feel bad for making him feel bad. Trying to cheer him up or make it seem less unpleasant, I add, "Well, I mean, I always dreaded it, but it was less scary when I remembered that someone must've done it just so that there'd be a me, and it was my duty to do the same so there could be a someone else. And like I said, most Dees consider it an honor. It's just part of our natural life cycle, like leaves on a tree. Besides, there's really not that much difference from one Dee to another. One leaves, two come, it hardly feels any different, and—"

"Sakura, please," Meta Knight demands, raising his slightly-wavering voice so loudly all of a sudden that the children stir in their sleep. Taking a deep breath, he finishes, much quieter and steadier again, "Please, stop speaking of this, at least for now." Almost as an afterthought, he adds to himself almost angrily, "'Leaves on a tree...' I wonder who taught them that... That their lives are worth nothing more than 'leaves on a tree...' that is preposterous..."

Feeling embarrassed, I mutter, "I didn't mean to upset you; I'm sorry. I was just answering your question, Sir."

"You didn't upset me," he tells me gently. "It's not your fault, my friend." Shaking his head slowly, he finally opens his eyes, both of them tinged with blue again, although I can't tell if it's sad or anxious blue. "Let's change the subject... The song. Your song from earlier. If you don't support the Waddle Dees' enslavement to Dedede, then why would you write a song about serving?"

"Well, yeah, I don't support slavery of any sentient being, or the way the king treats us," I answer, starting to grow sleepy. "But if everyone did serve one another, even with just little random acts of kindness, think how much better the world really would be. If people saw others as being just as important as themselves, and just did little things like held the door for one another, helped each other to carry their burdens, physical, mental, and emotional, listened when the other needed a sympathetic ear... Can you imagine how much better things would be? Life is fleeting and precious, and we should all remember that. We should all be kind to each other, because we never know what anyone else is going through, or how much time they have left on this beautiful planet. Nothing is certain, y'know? Selflessness, a servant's attitude... that's something that comes naturally to most of the Waddle Dees. For me, it's tougher, but still. When I or any other Waddle Dee sees someone, anyone, who needs help, we jump right in, without worrying about what's in it for us. We are glad to serve others, whether they're glad to serve us or not. Or, at least, we're supposed to be... sometimes I'm not... but I try my best anyway, Sir Knight. I'm glad to have served you, and Kirby, and Bandanna Dee, that's for sure, at least."

Meta Knight still seems a bit sad when he answers, although I still don't fully understand why. "We are glad to have served you too, Lady Dee. Always remember that, all right, Sakura? We are all three very glad to have you here."

Beginning to doze off as the last of the light vanishes and Meta Knight's eyes become the only thing I can see, I reply quietly, "Thank you, Sir Knight. I'll see you in the morning."

"Same to you, my friend," he answers softly, and after that, everything is silent as sleep gently pulls me down into its sound, safe hold.