Sakura | 桜

The Whispy Woods is dark and chilly this morning. Of course, that makes sense, considering Christmas is less than a week away now. It also makes sense considering that it's early in the morning.

We're already less than two weeks away from the end of Earlwinter. The new year is already almost one month gone. The last month has gone by so fast.

Just a couple weeks ago, the Waddle Dees set sail for the Origin. It's been around a month since the Galaxy rearranged itself. And very little has actually changed since Sir Arthur and the other Sirs showed up, other than Forest being around to keep me company along with Dweebert and Thdwee. Kirby and Bandanna stay at Kirby's house, fishing on a quiet beach a ways down the coast and stuff; I see them every couple of days. Meta hides out in his secret library (which none of the Sirs know about yet); I see him every couple of days, too. Sir Arthur... I think he's down somewhere near Cappy Town most of the time, but I'm not positive. Either way, I haven't really seen him much since the night he insulted Magolor and offered to fix Mags' ship for me.

Actually, I hadn't seen him again until today, when he showed up right before dawn with a knock at the castle guest room that's basically become my own in the meantime. I was still asleep, so it took him a couple knocks to get my attention. When I finally answered the door, it was with my cape on backwards and my flower ribbon askew.

"Mornin'," I mumbled sleepily, rubbing my eyes with the back of one glove. I was expecting to see Meta or Forest for some reason, so I instantly straightened up and shook off sleep the instant I saw who it actually was.

Arthur's aura immediately went apologetic. "My apologies, Lady Dee. I was so excited to pass along the good news to you that I failed to recognize a civilian like yourself would still be asleep. How rude of me."

I shook my head, standing up straighter. "It's not a problem, Sir Arthur. How can I help you?" Of course, it was just then that I noticed my cape was on backwards due to my tugging it on without turning the lamp on. I quickly glanced away from it, hoping he wouldn't notice. "Is everything alright?"

He cocked his head, a smile on his currently-unmasked face. I noticed that he was holding his mask in one glove. "Everything is fine, dear lady. As I said, I have good news. I just wanted to let you know that we finished repairing the Lor Starcutter, as you requested. Sirs Dragato and Nonsurat will be piloting it down to the surface within the hour; it will be in the castle courtyard for you to attend to at your leisure."

I brightened despite myself. "Oh, thank you so much! Mags'll be happy to hear that. I'll go tell him straightaway. Thank you again!"

He grinned, the biggest smile I'd ever seen out of him (though to be fair, I don't exactly have a lot of experience). "My pleasure, Lady Dee. As I believe I've said before, it's always a privilege to serve a lady. Please let me know if there's ever anything else I can do for you; it would be an honor to look after you."

I felt slightly awkward, but I gave him a polite smile anyway. "I can't think of anything else; I'm already unsure how to repay you for this." I regretted saying that the moment it came out of my mouth, but it was too late at that point. I was too sleepy still for my own good.

Thankfully, he just gave a sweeping bow, keeping his eyes on mine the whole time. "You don't owe me anything, Lady Dee. As I said, it's a privilege." He stood up again slowly. "I'm afraid I don't have any time to stay and chat, though it would be wonderful to spend some proper time in a lady's company after so long. We must have tea together some afternoon or something when I get the time; I'd love to learn more about you. All I really know is that you're a mysterious traveler of equally-mysterious origins to whom two of my best soldiers are incredibly attached."

I blushed a little bit. "Well, that's all there really is to know, Sir."

He shook his head, his smile smaller, searching somehow. "Nonsense. You're something special. You wouldn't have found a way into Meta Knight's frozen heart if you weren't." Before I could object to that (even as I found a tiny, tiny part of myself agreeing with it), he turned away. "Good morning, Lady Dee, and Happy Christmastide. I hope you have a pleasant day."

"Th-thanks," I stuttered after him. I waited until it was proper to do so, and then shut the door quietly.

Then I turned around and started nervously pacing the room for some reason. I stayed quiet, not wanting to wake Thdwee where he slept on the smaller bed I'd had put in there after his arrival and following refusal to be more than three feet away from me at any given time. Dweebert was still sound 'asleep' on my bed, backed against the headboard, where he insists on going every night so he can put a chunky paw on my head while I sleep.

I started rapid-fire mumbling to myself under my breath. "I hope Sir Arthur doesn't 'have time' for tea anytime soon. For some reason I don't really want to have a long conversation with him—I suppose I could take Forest as a buffer—no, he admires him too much and it'd just make it even more awkward. I can't take Meta; he'd never forgive me. Then again, he'd never forgive me if I went alone, either. But I couldn't exactly ignore an invitation from the Head General—gah why does this have to be so complicated."

I eventually caught a glance at myself in the standing mirror by the curtained window and remembered my backwards cape. Blushing brightly, I shrugged it off and turned it around right-side-out before tugging it back on. "It's gonna be fine. After all, he's said he's not gonna press you into anything on the mom topic—why do I have to be the only female left in the first place? I mean, yeah, I want to have a romantic relationship eventually, I guess, but I don't even know what that would really look like—I mean, look at what a disaster Clover was. And who would I even—oh, I don't know. It's a mess. I don't... I don't want..." I leaned my forehead against the cool, smooth surface of the mirror and forced myself to take a few deep breaths. "If I'm really a Star Warrior through and through, I have almost eight hundred years left. And Arthur aside, they all have like six hundred years left. You have plenty of time to figure this out; heck, you have a practically-incomprehensible amount of time to figure this out. It's gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine."

I finally turned my eyes up to myself in the mirror. "I really don't wanna think about this anymore today..." I stood up straight and pulled one of the heavy blue curtains slightly to the side to look outside.

It was dark and gloomy; the sky was cloudy. I forced myself to shove aside old fears. It wasn't a Lightning sky; just a typical nearing-rainy-season sky. The sky was graying with coming dawn, but the sun hadn't yet started to actually rise.

I glanced over at Dweebert and Thdwee in the faint light. They wouldn't wake up until ten, at least; it was only seven-ish.

I could easily make it to the Woods and back before they woke up. But I didn't want to worry them too much.

I finally went over to Dweebert and gently poked him in the side until he turned from staring off into space in his form of 'sleep' to look at me. "I'm going out for a while, just to the Whispy Woods and back. I'll probably be back before Thdwee wakes up, but calm him down if he does, okay?" I whispered.

Still staring at me, Dweebert silently slid off the bed onto his feet and reached to pick me up. I sidestepped just out of the way. "No. Not this time. We don't have the leather wintershoes Forest special-ordered you from the tailor in town yet, and the ground's still all soggy from the rainstorm yesterday. We don't want your feet getting mildewey, right? I'll be fine; promise."

"Dwee," he argue-droned.

Thdwee rolled over in bed and quietly snuffled.

"Shhh!" I desperately hushed the stuffed Waddle Dee, holding one pointer finger in front of my mouth. "You're staying. End of discussion."

He looked at me for a long moment, but finally patted my head twice with his heavy paw. He turned around and clambered back into bed, the mattress softly groaning and slightly sagging under his weight.

I sighed and gave him a big smile. "Thanks, Dweebert. You're the best."

"Dwee."

"Shhhhh!!"

That was about forty-five minutes ago, and now I'm nearly to Mags' hut. I've literally just realized that he may likely be asleep still, too, but... well, that's a problem for Later Sakura.

Even if Later Sakura is technically Two-Minutes-From-Now Sakura.

I pad quietly through the leafy underbrush in my leather wintershoes, an extra cloak on top of my cape. It's not nearly as cold as winter in River Village, but it's still chilly enough to not exactly be pleasant. It reminds me of Midautumn in River Village in some ways, I guess.

Dreamland doesn't get cold enough for the Woods' plant life to die during the winter, but some of the trees lose their leaves. Others lose some of their leaves in Earlspring; some of them shed and regrow leaves on a constant basis. It makes for an odd walk through the woods, since some of the trees will be fully barren of leaves and others will look completely normal. It certainly doesn't look anything like Courage Province in the fall the few times me and the boys visited.

I can hear the Woods' river nearby, which means I'm getting very close to Mags' hut. I step past the last copse of trees into the clearing where his small hut lies.

I place one glove on the trunk of a tree and take a deep breath as I look over the scene and commit to memory. Knowing Mags and his feelings about the Sirs—which have come up a couple more times in my regular visits to him out here over the past month—he'll be flying out by the end of the day today. I know I'd heard from Forest that Sir Arthur ordered the ship fully stocked with supplies to make it easy for Magolor to take his ship and go.

My mouth goes a bit sour. Sir Arthur probably doesn't want Magolor around anymore than Magolor wants to be around him.

My reverie is suddenly broken by offkey screech-singing sounding out from inside the hut. "Jingle Bells, Dedede smells, Meta-Not burst a vein!" I try not to burst out laughing, wanting to hear the rest of the chorus. "The Halberd took another dunk, and Kirby won again!"

I start enthusiastically applauding, earning myself a frightened squawk from inside the hut. Magolor's eyes and ears pop out of the broadleaf door a moment later. "Kury! What the heckles are you comin' and scarin' me like that for?"

I giggle and gave him a small curtsy. "I live to serve." He rolls his eyes at me, unimpressed. "What are you doing awake so early?"

He instantly looks a bit sheepish. The rest of him floats out after his ears. "I think you mean to ask what I'm still doing awake so late." It's my turn for my expression to go unimpressed, but I don't have time to scold him before he speaks again. "It's my fault for drinking so much instant espresso I got from Cappy Town to stay warm. I'm not gonna need to sleep for days at this rate. I'm pretty sure my blood caffeine content level is somewhere around ninety percent at this point."

"Great, so not only are you sleep deprived, you're also poisoning yourself," I wisecrack. He narrows his eyes teasingly at me. "You really gotta take better care of yourself, you nutcase."

"I'm doin' what I can out here, Princess. I don't exactly gotta space heater or anything; there's no space for one, however ironic that is." He ducks back inside his hut and gestures for me to follow him. "C'mon in. If you're up this early then there must be something up—besides you, obviously."

"Something good, thankfully," I assure him with a giggle as I follow him into the shoddy wooden structure. "Do you have any tea?"

"Not at the moment, no; haven't picked and ground any of my tea leaves recently. I can get you an espresso, though," he assures me as he gets out another one of his coconut cups from his ramshackle shelf. "Don't worry; it's instant stuff so it's creamy and sweet even with just the powder."

"Sounds good," I assure him. "Where is that stuff even made?"

He shrugs. "Any time before, like, thirty years ago, I would have said Halcandra. Though, I guess we didn't have much trade with Popstar. I have no idea, honestly." He looks at the canister in the light of the lantern on the table. "Shiver Star. Ah. That makes sense. I know they've picked up most manufacturing since Halcandra's basically collapsed in every possible sense of the word. Wonder how they ended up trading with Dreamland, though."

I shrug back, settling onto one of the banana leaf cushions at the low handmade table. "I think Dedede initiated most of that stuff a few years before Kirby showed up. He got tired of the natural cuisine around here and started importing junk food, and the convenience store in Cappy Town popped up to support it. Though, I'm surprised they can persuade anyone to deliver stuff clear out here; Popstar is out of the way of... well, basically everywhere."

Magolor shakes his head, suddenly slightly muted. "I don't think you realize how much less, uh, alive the Galaxy's gotten since you were hanging out with baby Meta-Not a couple hundred years ago. Anywhere that still does manufacturing is probably eager to do trade with literally anywhere able to trade with them. Most planets don't even have enough of an economy going anymore to afford even basic manufactured goods. Popstar's one of, like, maybe five planets that didn't end up blasted practically all the way back to the Ancient days."

I frown, knowing he's right. The mood in the hut starts to feel somber, so I quickly shake myself. "Oh yeah, I still haven't told you why I came. I have good news."

He glances up at me, mischief in his eyes. "Meta-Not's getting a sense of humor for Christmas?"

I snort. "No, Mags—"

"You're gifting Sir Arthur a bee for his bonnet."

I choke back a laugh despite myself. "No—"

"Arthur's gifting all his cronies a new pair of boots to lick."

"Magolor, I swear—"

"Don't; you're a lady." He plonks the cup of cheap coffee down in front of me. "I will say it was nice of green boi to help me set up a generator out here so I could get a hotplate and a hot water kettle going instead of using a fire for everything. I thought I was gonna die of happiness that first cup of instant noodles I had a few weeks ago."

"And my cooking is chopped liver," I wisecrack. He scrunches his eyes up teasingly at me as he takes the cushion across from me. "Seriously. Shush and listen."

He mimes zipping his lips shut (despite the fact his scarf is in the way) and flicks away the imaginary key.

After pausing to make sure he's actually staying quiet, I wrap my gloves around the welcomely-warm cup of coffee and lean towards him slightly. "The Starcutter's fixed."

He shoots up off his cushion and practically crashes up into the ceiling. "Get out."

I laugh delightedly. I'd hoped he'd have a reaction something like this. "No, seriously. It's why I'm up so early. Arthur knocked on my door about an hour ago and told me; it should be parked in the castle courtyard by now."

"Kury that's the best news I've heard in like five years," he says in a rush. He zips into the middle of the small hut and jerks in several directions before finally streaking over, yanking the hot water kettle's plug out of the wall, and stuffing it in his cape. "Can you help me move some of this stuff? I don't need the table or shelves or whatever, but I will take the cushions; I'll put them in the sitting room; they'll be cute lil mementos or whatever."

I giggle again as I stand up, letting my coffee cool. "Got it. Want me to grab the generator too?"

"If you would, please. I don't think it'll fit in my cape; cape's too low-capacity since it's a knockoff."

The next few minutes are spent with us shoving various objects in our capes. Most of the handmade stuff Magolor decides to leave, but along with the cushions, he decides to take the coconut serving ware. Other than that, we mainly just have to gather the few things he brought out from his starship four and a half years ago, like the lantern and his plasticky space blanket.

Within ten minutes, we've packed up nearly everything he wants to take. Mags has been bubbling over with excited chatter the whole time. "—I'm probably gonna fly to the Sunshine Nebula first; that's beautiful this time of year and every other time of year technically since it's a celestial body—oh wait the whole Galaxy is messed up right now isn't it. Well actually that's even better; tons of new space to explore. Who knows what sorts of gor-gee-ous things are out there just waiting to be explored by a debonair, uh, explorer such as my fine self?"

I giggle yet again, thoroughly enjoying his excitement. "Sounds great, Mags."

He floats in the center of the room for a moment, practically vibrating despite going silent for the first time in ten minutes. He quickly picks up the stream of chatter again a second later. "Well let's get going I can't wait to see her again I've missed the Lor so much the past few years especially the past month since those SWs took her away—if they've altered the AI at all so help me I WILL track the Master Crown down again and yeet them a few planets over until they say 'uncle.'" He zips out the door, and I quickly walk after him. "They'd better not have messed with her interior, either; I appreciate them fixing my ship for me and all but I don't care what they say she is MY ship."

"Arthur said you could keep it," I point out good-naturedly.

He spins around to glare at me, still zipping backwards at the same velocity. "I wouldn't care if he said I couldn't; I just wouldn't've let him take it in the first pla—OOF." He slams straight back into a tree trunk. Spinning back around and floating around the tree trunk, he shakes himself, making his ears flop around rather comically. "Ahem. Anyway, as I was just saying before this stupid tree so rudely interrupted me, the Lor is mine and she knows she's mine and no pompous SW is gonna take her from me."

The walk back to the castle mostly consists of Magolor happily rambling about his ship and their previous adventures together, and me quietly listening. I'm just glad to see him so happy. I mean, Mags is almost always some form of cheerful, but he's been a little bit down-in-the-mouth the whole time the Sirs have been here, even though as far as I know he hasn't had any contact with them besides the infamous conversation with Sir Arthur last month.

"—and anyway, I told the kid that NO, I was NOT gonna accept my burger without any bacon; I mean, I specifically paid extra FOR the bacon. Now, I didn't want to be a middle-aged Star Warrior mom about it, but I'm not exactly made of money and if I spend money on a burger I want the burger I paid for, right? And I get it; I used to work fast food too; I get that accidents happen but when they do you politely say 'sorry, sir; I'll get you some bacon,' not 'yeah whatever it's what you get, okay?'" He rolls his eyes as he floats through the castle gate into the courtyard, me right behind. "Anyway, he tells me—" He suddenly cuts off into utter silence.

"Sweet Nova there she is."

I grin at the sight of the ship, which I've never seen in a non-crashed state before. "I get why you gush about it so much; it really is beau—"

"BABY I'M HOME AND I'M NEVER LEAVING AGAIN," Magolor interrupts in a screech, zipping off across the courtyard at somewhere just short of Mach One. He slams into the side of the ship with a heavy oof a moment later, this one even louder than the one he made when he backed into the tree earlier.

I run to catch up with him, and get close enough to hear him murmur to the ship, "If they hurt even an inch of you I swear I'm feeding them to the nearest Wolfwrath."

I laugh. "I'm sure they didn't hurt it. They were doing it as a favor for me, remember? I'm pretty sure Arthur would seriously be on the two Sirs' case if they did anything wrong."

Magolor seems to ignore me, but I don't blame him. After tightly hugging the bow of his ship and rubbing his cheek against it for a long moment, he suddenly pops up and zooms along the side of the ship. I run to catch up with him again.

He pauses at the foot of the gangplank, staring reverently up at the glowing hatch. He finally glances over at me as I stop next to him again. "Kury, look how beautiful she is. Her circuits are finally flowing again."

I look up at the side of the ship, and notice a faint, heartbeat-like pulsing of blue light that flashes out through vein-like lines all along the edge of the ship. "Wow," I murmur. "That is really beautiful."

He stands there a long moment, watching the side of his ship, before finally inching his way up the gangplank. I follow right behind.

He reaches the hatch, and for a moment, all is silent and perfectly still.

But then the door slides open from top to bottom, bathing us in light. A soft, feminine, slightly-metallic voice from inside says gently, "Welcome home, Captain Magolor."

"LOR SWEETHEART I MISSED YOU SO MUCH," he screeches, zooming in the doorway. I follow with yet another laugh, blinking my eyes against the soft-but-bright lighting. After my eyes have a chance to adjust, I spot Magolor hugging and rubbing his cheek against a wide control console next to the hatch. "I missed you so, so much, beautiful. This month has been torture; TORTURE, I tell you."

I turn a slow circle, gazing around myself in awe. On either side of the spacious bridge are doorways similar to the hatch, though a bit smaller. A massive viewscreen makes up most of the one wall of the bridge, up above the control console. It doesn't make much sense to me to have the bridge here in the center of the ship—then again, I suppose it does make sense, since it's shaped like a literal ship rather than a normal starship shape. Behind me is a wall of portholes that are currently looking out onto the castle courtyard. The whole room is covered in pure white metal with stripes of gentle blue light rhythmically shooting through it the same as the circuits on the ship's exterior.

"This ship really is beautiful," I tell Magolor in a muted, amazed tone.

He practically giggles. "And this is just the bridge, Kury. The rest is great, too. The sitting room downstairs has a huge observatory window I put in just before crashing this last time; it's great for reading or listening to music by. And the bedroom is super cozy; confiest bed ever—and yes, that's confy, which is like... comfy times at least twelve. The Lor's interior customization engine is incredible; it's like designing a house in a video game but then BAM there it is in real life."

I shake my head, stunned, still just drinking the bridge in. The control console looks so incredibly complicated, but Mags seems right at home as he presses buttons and flips switches, bringing the ship back to life. The viewscreen blinks on, showing a view of the castle courtyard and the castle wall from the front of the ship.

I frown slightly. "Isn't it confusing basically flying a ship sideways?"

He shrugs, paying attention to the console. "Not once you get used to it. I just thought of this way as forwards at first even though I knew it wasn't, and eventually it was just second nature." He glances over at me. "Just dump the stuff you put in your cape on the floor; the floor is teleportation equipped for inanimate objects to everywhere else in the ship. I'll have the Lor put it away in a bit."

"Okay," I agree, still a bit shell-shocked from everything at once. I take the items out of my cape one by one, putting them in a neat pile together against the wall. "That work?"

"Uh-huh," he agrees without looking. The ship suddenly shudders a bit, and I feel it move up just slightly. "There. We're airborne—but don't worry, I'll let you get out before I take off. I just... wanted to feel the ship floating beneath me again as soon as I could."

I roll my eyes with a giggle. "Mags, you're already floating all the time."

He rolls his eyes back. "It's still a different sensation, okay, landwalker?" I giggle again. He floats closer to me and puts a glove on my shoulder. "I still hate Arthur and his bodacious bootlickers, and this doesn't change that fact at all, but... well... thanks, Kury. Thanks a lot."

I grin back at him. "You're welcome, Mags. I'm just glad you can get back to where you belong, flying around and exploring the universe."

"Yee," he agrees excitedly, golden eyes flashing yet again with overflowing joy. They suddenly go just slightly sad. "I'm gonna miss you, kiddo. It's... fun having you around."

I feel a lump growing in my throat, but I swallow it back and keep grinning. "It's fun having you around, too, Captain Floaty-boat. Come visit sometime once the Sirs leave, okay?"

He stays silent, but his eyes suddenly light up with glee. "Come with me."

My grin vanishes in confusion. "What?"

He squeezes my shoulder, a wide grin in his eyes now. "I said come with me. There's a whole Galaxy out there, Kury—a brand new Galaxy ready to be discovered." He backs away from me just slightly and throws his gloves wide. "There's all sorts of gorgeous things to see and nothing bad has shown up yet—Kury, there are so many planets you'd love. You love White Wafers, right? Imagine that but a whole planet. Yeah, that's out there. And the endless multicolored meteor shower over by Ripple Star—Kury, it's to die for. You'd love it all so much; I know you would."

"Mags," I say gently.

He starts flying excited circles around the bridge, gesturing wildly with his gloves as he goes. "And that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg." He turns to face me, painting an invisible rainbow across the air in front of his gloves. "You imagine it, it's probably out there. You just tell me whatever you've always dreamed of seeing and I'll take you right to it; it'll be great, Princess. We can have all sorts of adventures and I can show you all the amazing little hole-in-the-wall shops and restaurants that are still open here and there—and since you look like a Halfling, no one'll give you any grief anywhere we go."

"Mags."

"Kury, it gets so lonely on this ship and it'd be so great to have a friend to explore with. You can be first mate—the Lor can be a little rude at first to new people but she'd grow to love you; I know she would." He floats closer to me again. "I can have her halve my room and put another bedroom in with just as confy as a bed; and there's tons of books in the sitting room and plenty of records; I know you'd love it here—"

"Mags!" I say, raising the volume of my voice just slightly. His ears instantly droop at the sound. "I need to stay here."

He stares at me for a second. "Why?"

I blink back at him, surprised. "What do you mean, 'why?'"

"I mean, why? Why do you need to stay?"

I blink a few more times. "Uh, the kiddos need me, not to mention Dweebert and Thdwee—"

"Dweebert and Thdwee can come with us; I'll make them space too, and we can come to visit the kiddos every month or so."

I shake my head. "Mags... Forest and Meta Knight—"

"Are grown and they'll manage. You're grown, too; you need to take care of you, Sakura Dee." He holds his gloves out in my general direction in a rather imploring manner. "You can't just stay here and look after all the boys forever; you need to take a little time to live. Even if it's just for, like, a year or something. Okay?"

I shake my head harder. "Magolor, they need me."

"Sakura, they'll be okay. I promise. You can't just hang around being a servant forever."

I narrow my eyes just slightly at that. "I'm not a servant. I stay because I love them, not because I feel like I'm obligated or something. I've been a servant—a slave, honestly—and my life now isn't nearly that." I take a deep breath and tuck my gloves behind my back. "I want to stay, okay? Everything is weird and messed up right now, and I—" I catch myself about to say 'I want to be with my boys,' but I say instead, "I want to be here. In Dreamland."

He watches me sadly. "...You don't have to stay here waiting for Arthur to mandate you into motherhood. You're a free gal. You can go where you like."

I reach out and pat one of the gloves that floats limply at his side. "I know. And I would like to stay here for now."

He goes quiet for a moment, looking at the ground and thinking hard. He suddenly pulls something out of his cape and holds it out to me.

I look at him for a long moment before accepting the small, round, flattish white object. "What is this?" I flip it over to see it has a small clasp on the edge and a hinge of some sort on the opposite edge. "Looks sorta like a compact mirror."

He reaches out and presses the button to make it flip open on a spring, revealing two buttons and a speaker inside. "It's a communicator linked to the ship's console and another one I have on me at all times. It's an instant hotline to yours truly." My eyes dart up to him in surprise. "I'm always just a button press away if you change your mind, or if you ever need me. It has a tracking device in it, too—don't worry; it only activates when you call me. Green button to call, red to hang up. Easy enough, no?"

"Mags," I say gently, pushing it into his gloves.

"Kury," he says firmly, shoving it away towards me. He stares at me until I tuck it into my cape and hold my empty gloves up as proof. "If I can't be here keepin' some form of an eye on you, I at least want to make sure you're doin' okay. Kirbs and Meta-Not and green boi are fine, maybe even great, and all, but..." He glances away and sighs. "I know you're technically one of them, but you're not at the same time. Not really." He looks at me again. "And I worry. I know what SWs can be like. They think they own everything." He shakes his head slowly. "I don't want them decidin' they own you."

We stare at each other in silence for a moment, but I suddenly slam into him in a tight hug, even though I can't quite reach all the way around him. "I'm gonna miss you, Captain Floaty-boat."

He floats in frozen surprise for a moment, but hugs me back a second later. "Likewise, Lady Landwalker." I giggle, expecting the hug to end then, but he hugs me slightly tighter. "I don't care if you're a Halfling, a Waddle Dee, an SW, or anything else. You're one of the best people I've ever met, and I've met a heckton of people in my time."

I grin and blink away the bittersweet tears that are threatening to spill over. I back away out of the hug and cross my gloves. "This better not be goodbye, mister."

"You'd better bet Dedede's ugly mug it's not," he assures me, and I laugh. "I'll be back. I'm like a Nightmarish disease; once you've got me, there's no getting rid of me no matter how much you beg."

I laugh harder. "Take care, Mags."

He cackles back and presses a door to open the hatch. "You too, Kury. I'll see you soonish or laterish. Don't take any wooden nickels; annoy Meta-Not at every possible opportunity; buy low, sell high; all that. Got it?"

"Will do," I giggle. I back out towards the doorway. "Bye."

"Bye," he replies, snapping me a two-finger salute and a jovial wink.

I climb down the gangplank and hop the couple of inches down onto the ground. The gangplank slides smoothly up into the side of the ship.

And with a silent whirring, the ship begins to ascend into the sky.

I stand and watch as it rises higher, past the castle walls, up into the clouds.

And then it pauses, and sits still for just a moment. The sun clears the horizon, bathing the gorgeous white and blue ship in the pinkish light of a new dawn. The flapping sail glimmers in the breeze, the sun-like emblem in the center all shine and sparkle.

It looks almost like it's giving off light itself.

"Be careful, Mags," I whisper. "You crazy Halcandran."

And in a blink, the ship zips away in a blinding streak, off to who-knows-where.