Chapter 43:

And now, months later, as I write a record of the quest against the Monstrous Lightning? Well...

The trip back to the castle passed without event, other than the fact that we were all three soaked and quite thoroughly chilled by the time we reached our final destination. The King and Escargoon seemed back to their normal selves, and when I informed them that Sakura had fallen, they actually began rejoicing at the fact that the 'creepy talking Waddle Dee' would not be returning. I have always tried to prevent myself from ever feeling outright hatred toward the ridiculous king and his cruel-hearted advisor, but that was certainly one of the times I found it most difficult to avoid hating either of them.

After that, Kirby and Bandanna Dee both headed to the kitchen to find some hot soup, but I locked myself in my training room and spent the next several hours deep in meditation, bound and determined to force myself to have a heart of stone once and for all.

I always knew that caring for others would only end in pain, but foolishly, I allowed myself to do so anyway. Now, I was resolved to never allow myself to do so, ever again.

As time has passed, Kirby and Bandanna Dee have all but returned to their normal selves. Occasionally, one of them will mention Sakura or somehow be reminded of her and will grow sad for a short while, but those occurrences have become rarer and rarer as time has passed. In the meantime, I have avoided them— and really everybody— as much as possible while I strive to regain the cold, distant demeanor that once came so easily to me. Over the past two months, I have succeeded more and more in building back up all the walls that I allowed to be torn down during the year preceding the quest against the monster.

As for the 'Profiles' book, I can now no longer even open it without being met with a raging 'corruption' alarm. Once, I did press past it long enough to open my file and see that it has grown much, much longer than it was before. That was all I was able to see before the room began to sway and I was forced to slam the book shut. It is now in the place it has always belonged, a secret room hidden within my library, sealed up with all of the other wicked artifacts I have been unlucky enough to stumble across over the years, where no evil being will ever be able to get ahold of them and use them for mischief.

As for myself... In a sense, it makes me proud to be able to say that in the time since the final battle, I have shed not a single tear over the loss of the Kirby Dee. And yet, at the same time, simply admitting that fact fills me with guilt. No one at the castle other than Kirby, Bandanna, and myself even cares about her death, and no one outside of the castle ever even knew she existed. She is an unknown hero who, by all appearances, is hardly even being mourned, despite the great service she did to the entire planet.

Whenever I let myself think about the whole mess too hard, I start to grow ashamed. In the aftermath of Sakura's death, I never even took the time to give her remains the final salute a fallen soldier deserves. And worse... while she was dying... I offered no sort of comfort or reassurance. I should have said something, anything... I should have agreed that she had fulfilled her purpose of weakening the Lightning, or something... But fool that I am, I just stood there, angry at her for taking my place when it should have been me that died that day.

Worst of all, my reasons for wishing to take her place were not altogether altruistic. Part of me is jealous that she took what should have been 'my' heroic warrior's death... and that disgusts me at myself more than anything else, that I could entertain a thought like that for even an instant.

One thing is certain, whatever Sakura, the Kirby Dee, True Wielder of the Cherry Star Sword was, she deserved far better than what life doled out to her. She should have had many more years to spend exploring the world around her, reading the books in the library, and experiencing all our planet had to offer. She said that night in White Wafers that if she had to die, it would be without regrets, but still... She spent her childhood as a slave, and then, the one year that she wasn't a slave, she was made (by necessity) to spend in training and questing for Dreamland's safety and sake.

I wish I'd known what to say to her the night before she died, or in the moments before she faded away, but I had no words then. Now...

Now...

Scowling, I slam the pen down on its side against the table, before burying my unmasked face in my gloves. The night-wrapped secret library is silent, aside from the sound of a gentle, natural rain pattering against the windows outside. It is already Latesummer; the days have been long, hot, and humid, and the nights have been brief and often rainy. The planet, as far as I can tell, has fully recovered from the drought caused by the Lightning. A few fires did start due to lightning from the clouds that coated the entire planet during the last day of the Lightning's attacks, but the rain that came once the monster was vanquished easily put them all out before they could do too much damage.

Here and now, my mask sits with its strap looped over the corner of the wooden chair I sit in to write, and on one corner of the desk I sit at, the prophecy book that first told me Sakura would one day come is lying open to the page containing her prophecy, the 'Prophecy of the Kirby Dee.' A warm sphere of light surrounds me, allowing me to see well enough to write, while sitting on the back shelf of the desk, safely bundled, rests the Cherry Star Sword and Sakura's gloves and ribbon, carefully wrapped up in her Dimensional Cape.

Moving my gloves so that I can rest my lower face on my arms, I stare at the bundle silently, flatly, still feeling that hot anger inside me that caused me to pause my chronicling of the final battle against the monster and the rough details of what happened in the weeks before. Sakura deserves better than this coarse recounting of her life, but I didn't know her well enough to be able to know everything that was going on in her head over those weeks. I know what I was thinking and experiencing, of course, but so much of it is too... emotional to be recorded. I am the Meta Knight; I can't allow myself to be seen as soft, caring... I am neither of those things. I am cold, distant, a soldier hardened by war, who is used to losing his allies to battle, never to see them again.

So why does it hurt so much whenever I start to think too hard about Sakura's death? Why can't I just let her memory go, like I have with so many other friends over the years? She is just like my parents, and the few close friends I have dared to allow myself to have over the years... No matter how hard I try, I cannot get her to release her hold on my heart. I let her in too far; I knew I was doing so as I did it, but I did anyway, just like I did with Garlude, and Joseph Jecra, and my dear old friend...

As my face crumples, I bury it in my gloves, still bound and determined not to allow myself to cry. I have worked far too hard over the past two months to let it all be for naught now. I want to have a heart of stone. I want to stop feeling this pain forever. If I knew the potion to brew or the incantation to cast to be able to get one the easy way, I would do it, but as it is, I have to build it myself.

I can't let myself keep caring about others, alive or dead, but especially those who have already passed beyond my reach. I may not be the last of my kind after all, but I might as well be. I cannot allow myself to let anybody else in; this is no longer a Galaxy I belong in, and it hasn't been for decades. The age of the Star Warriors is over. The best thing I can do for everyone is to fade away into the background and never touch anyone else's life, ever again.

And yet, even though I should be used to it by now, the thought of being alone forever fills me with a pain I cannot describe.

As if in answer to my pain, a tiny stirring of warmth enters my heart, but that just makes me even angrier. Finally, I cannot hold the sorrow and the anger and the loneliness I have carried for so long back any longer, and it all floods out in a cry of rage directed at the ceiling as hot tears begin streaming down my cheeks, bringing shame at my own weakness along with it.

In fury, I leap up and throw over the chair I was just sitting on, causing my mask to go skittering along the floor, casting sparks everywhere as it goes. Turning around swiftly, I angrily go to knock the desk over as well, only to see the cape resting on the back and freeze.

The rage boils down into sadness as screams of rage turn into quieter sobs. Falling into a sitting position against one leg of the desk, I bury my face in my gloves. For a long moment, my quiet sobs are the only sound in the room, until I finally look up at the ceiling again and weakly address the source of the weak, wavering warmth that still tries to flicker up into a fire within my heart.

"Why did you choose me for this path, or it for me? Why must I be destined to forever be alone, to never have anyone who can truly know me or be my friend? Why is it that every time I am foolish enough to let someone begin to grow close to me, you tear them away?" Burying my face in my gloves again, I cry weakly, "It is said that you love us all, and yet, you let the War happen... You let entire species of the creatures you guided be erased from the universe. You allowed families to be torn apart and souls to be shattered into nothing but dark sludge; you allowed children to die, sometimes in their mothers' arms, sometimes as orphans. The whole Galaxy is still reeling from that war; even Popstar is still healing from Nightmare's reign... And yet, rather than letting me pass on like nearly all the rest of my kind, you force me to remain here, alone, unable to love or be loved by anyone, unable to ever let them in, because the instant I try to make a friend, you take them away from me again!" As I spoke, my voice rose to a pitch of rage once again, but suddenly, it falls flat. I haven't gotten an answer to any of these complaints in years. There is no reason why I would or should get one now. The Star Power has finished with me, as far as I can tell. I served the purpose he had laid out for me, and now I'm just another pawn to be set aside and left to fend for itself in the cruel, empty Galaxy that remains after the War that was allowed to tear it apart.

Still crying, feeling thoroughly ashamed of myself for undoing all of my progress over the past two months once again, I slowly get up and right the chair, but just as I go to sit down in it and rest my arms and face on the edge of the desk again, the warmth within me finally catches and flares up into a fire hotter than I've experienced in decades.

Gasping in shock, I stumble back against the nearest bookshelf, as pure stellar energy goes racing throughout my veins. And then, as everything falls still, with nothing but the secret library around me and the warmth streaming throughout me, a voice, calm but huge, kind but powerful, fills my heart.

"Meta Knight... Do you really believe that I ever stepped away from the Galaxy? Guiding it and all who live within is a post I chose for myself, and not one that I will ever abandon. The Ancients created you and your world, but I am the one who guides it still, centuries after they left. I am always watching it, tending to it, guiding the footsteps of every being within it who does not refuse my guidance. Do you truly believe that I have ever abandoned it, or you?"

Despite my awe-struck fear, I manage to scream a reply back, not yet done being angry at the voice's source. "If you care about it and you guide it, then why do you let such awful things happen? Why did you let so many warriors die? Why do you force me to be all alone?" My voice cracks again at the end, making me flush in shame once again.

"Why do you act as though emotion is a cause for shame? Emotion is what makes you truly alive, Meta Knight, and it is a gift, not a curse."

"Then why does it hurt so much? If it is a gift, then I don't want it!" I shout, only for the voice to grow large and angry.

"You should not say things of which you do not comprehend the depth and severity," the voice roars within my heart, making me cringe in fear. How can it be that when I am on his side, I feel like a beloved son, but when I am rebelling against him, I feel so afraid of him?

Instead of responding, I just continue to cry, knowing no argument I could ever make could ever change his mind. The voice softens again, and the warmth within me begins to feel rather like a warm, fatherly hug. "Guardian of my stars, I have always watched and guided you. I love you just as I love every being of the Galaxy, every one who has ever existed, every one who exists now, and every one who will ever exist in the ages yet to come. When I took those whom you loved away from you, it was not out of hatred toward you or a wish to pain you, but in order to give them rest. Their time was done, their race was run, and their battle was won. Their part in my story was complete, and it was time for them to return to be with me, among the stars.

"But my story and the story your world was created to follow do not always align, and that is why you did not die when your world said you should. That is why your part in the story did not end when your world willed it. I sent Sakura to save your life and to change the lives of many, just as you have, that the story may be changed to be what I have always willed it to be. Your part in my story is not over."

Hanging my head, I question softly, "When will I also be allowed to rest? When will my pain finally be allowed to end?"

There is no answer for a long moment, but the voice is still kind and soft, even if still large, when it finally answers. "Your part in my story is still not over, as I said. I cannot tell you when it will end, but I can tell you that you will not always be alone, and I can also tell you that Sakura's part is not over yet, either."

Confused, I stare up at the ceiling. "Sir... What do you mean?"

The Star Power's voice grows even larger once again, flooding myself and the room and making the pages on the table go flying wildly in his presence. "She is still alive. She is still within my Galaxy, somewhere among my stars. I cannot tell you where or when, for that is not yours to know— at least, not yet. There are others who need her, just as Dreamland still needs you." As the room falls still once more, the voice grows quieter by just a bit. "Fear not, my dear child. She will be returned to your world in time. Your paths will cross again, and more often and more closely than you realize now. She will return to you. This chapter of my story has reached its end, but for the entire Galaxy, the next is only now just beginning."

As suddenly as it came, the voice and the warmth and the streaming stellar energy all vanish, except for a tiny flicker of warmth that persists within my heart. Exhausted, I slump into a sitting position against the bookshelf I fell against moments ago. With a heavy sigh, I dry the remaining tears from my face and finally manage to staunch any more that try to follow. But somehow, they feel cleansing, not like a source of shame.

Slowly getting up, I step over to the desk again and begin picking up the papers that were sent flying by the Star Power's presence. The prophecy book has been turned to another page— something about Time Travelers— but I carefully shut it and place it on its shelf before turning to the nearest window and staring out at the sky outside.

Between the soft, gray clouds that water the ground beneath, more than a few stars are visible, all twinkling, all singing softly in joy, safety, and rest. Sighing again, I turn back to the desk and silently eye the bundle that rests on the back. Before, it was there merely as a token of remembrance, but now, I am saving it for her for when she returns.

Her return will not be an easy matter, whenever it happens. She is still a sorceress, and I still have reasons to fear whatever is buried behind the 'block' in her mind, but she is also my friend, and I will help her past whatever is buried within her to the best of my ability.

Unable to prevent it, I allow a tiny smile to creep across my face before gently picking my mask up from where it landed after being thrown off of the chair. After looping its strap back over the chair, I sit back down and straighten my papers, pick up my pen, and finish the account of the Heroes of Dreamland and their battle against the Monstrous Lightning.

Now, I would tell her how proud I am of her for all of her growth over the past year, and for her bravery during the fight with the Lightning. I would tell her that no matter what secrets she hides, I am willing to help her face them and fight them. I would tell her that it is an honor to be her friend, mentor, and ally.

Someday, I will be able to tell her all of this. When that will be, I do not know, but at least I know that it is coming.

This chapter is over, yes, but another is just about to begin. And so, I will close this chapter in the most fitting way I can:

The End.

Frowning, I tap the top of the sharp-tipped pen against my mouth as I think for a moment. That seems too final, for this really isn't the end. On the contrary, something tells me that everything is even now only just beginning.

And so, with a faint smile, I top the final period with a curve, turning it not from a proclamation of what is, but into a question of what will be, a question that is waiting to be answered with a firm 'No, this is what happened next, once upon a time...'

The End?