Nowhere To Go But Up

Down in Flames

Taranza worked on the garden pretty extensively. It helped him keep his mind off things he didn't want to think about. Over a year had passed since he had moved into Castle Dedede, and it seemed to be helping him that he wasn't in Floralia anymore. He still hadn't smiled, but he was happy about being around people as upbeat as they were. Magolor would drop by on occasion to see how he was doing, acting more playful than he'd remembered. Maybe it was because they were alone together far less often, but he lived up to the adjectives that others described him with. Whenever they did end up alone, Magolor seemed to make a conscious effort to avoid discussing anything personal, instead sticking to things like a video game he'd played recently, or a funny story about something Meta Knight had done. He acted the same way around everyone else, but in these cases it seemed... forced. Like he was actively suppressing the urge to say more. Taranza didn't pry, but he couldn't help but wonder what that meant.

- .. -- . / ..-. .-.. .. . ...

"Morning, Taranza. Slept in a bit today?" King Dedede looked up from his huge plate of food when Taranza entered.

"Not intentionally. I was kept awake for longer than usual because I had recently developed a crippling fear of submarines."

"I'm guessing Magolor bought you a game and then said '432', right?" Bandee had barely looked away from the sink.

"How did you guess?"

"Same thing happened to me. I will never get on or near a submarine, ever."

"Agreed."

They had a lively discussion over Taranza's breakfast. Talking about one thing or the other, laughs and smiles from the ones who weren't Taranza, but then the mood changed when Kirby showed up.

Usually, he was a good sign, but he bore a grave expression-or as close to one as he could make-and he was out of breath. "Something's wrong. Magolor's acting completely different!"

Dedede shook his head slowly. "He's always doing that. Tell me when he starts shutting up. That'll be a new one."

Kirby waved his arms. "He did! I was at his souvenir shop for fifteen minutes and he didn't say a single word!"

Dedede dropped his plate on the floor from shock. "Kid, I didn't mean it literally. That can't be. I don't believe it."

"But it's true! Just yesterday, everything was normal! Now, he won't even look at me!"

Bandee looked puzzled. "Maybe he just didn't realize you were there?"

"I talked to him, though! He must have heard me!"

Taranza looked around the room. "Well, we should probably go and see whatever this is about. Last time he was doing something anywhere near this weird was after the Claycia incident."

When the four of them arrived at the souvenir shop, it looked like there had recently been a fire. Smelled like it, too. Kirby ran in the door to see Magolor throwing balled-up pieces of paper into the fireplace. The fire changed colour with every new page thrown in. He looked in the general direction of the people watching him, but made no indication that he registered the presence of anyone there. Magolor looked at the crumpled pieces of paper next to him, then went behind a support pole with more paper, scribbling violently on each page before crumpling them and putting them next to the others. Once he was done, he floated back to the pile of paper and resumed throwing them into the fireplace. There was no passion in his eyes, no effort into the throwing, no emotions were on display other than cold, calculated, animosity. The scene was utterly incomprehensible.

Bandee was the first to speak. "What are you doing?" It was what everyone was thinking, but none of them had remembered to ask. Magolor didn't respond. It didn't even seem like he heard them. They decided that it'd be more effective to stand in the way and see how he responds. Magolor's face registered that there was an object there, but nothing he would consider a person. Bandee was at a loss for words.