A Spark of Happiness

Chapter 25 - Hope

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Void's unnerving voice echoed through the cave, bringing attention to everyone.

"Yes!" Dark Taranza pushed Dark Meta Knight to the side before throwing his hands in the celebration. "I'm finally the only spider around!" He coughed a little bit of blood, being interrupted by the man in armor right after.

"Not for much longer." Managing to make his opponent groan in annoyance, the dark knight continued their fight. While some would think the underworld arachnid would be wincing in pain, he was grinning like a true madman.

Meanwhile, the beloved spider was rubbing his eyes after almost dying; he also patted his clothes and fixed his scarf with the remaining hands. "What happened? Why am I... still alive?" Taranza didn't understand why Void was having the time of its life if it had failed with its objective, only if...

As soon as the boy looked to the side, he saw the silhouette of Zan's weapon in the middle of the dusty arena. But something felt off for him, it almost seemed like the partisan was destroyed in half...

"That's odd, she usually never lets go of her- AH!" The moment in front of him was able to make him stop scratching his 'chin'. "W-why is it broken?!" He grabbed the two pieces and tried to put 'em together, but his efforts were to no avail.

What made the situation even more worrying for him was the fact that, unlike most of the scenes in this story, there wasn't a single piece of music playing. No sad piano or a chilling violin, just silence... The same silence that reminded us of loneliness and... death.

Taranza was the type of guy who's very sensitive, which meant that even the tiniest problem would be a big deal for him. His mind had endless thoughts as he feared the worst that could've happened. 

"No. She's fine." He nervously laughed and hugged the weapon like she used to do. "There were times where she lost it, maybe it was just fragile and bound to break." As he said that, the dust began to disappear, revealing the only one he didn't want to see.

"..." His many eyes widened and he dropped the two pieces when he saw the girl he vowed to help. The spider couldn't say a single thing, all he did was look and process the information. Zan was a tough girl, she wasn't the type of people to lose like that, right? 

Right...?

"Sacre bleu!" All of a sudden, Taranza rushed towards the seemingly collapsed girl who had invaded his dreams for weeks. "No no no no no no! This cannot be happening!" Once he got close enough, the boy carefully analyzed her condition.

Since Zan was lying on her side, all Taranza could see was the same two wounds she got from the fight in his kingdom; that brought him a false sense of hope he desperately needed to cling to. He did not want to do this, but it was the only way of checking on her. 

So, the spider tried to be as gentlemanly as possible and turned her towards him. He knew that touching a girl without her consent wasn't a nice thing to do, especially when she's vulnerable like the lightning mage. He only hoped what he did was right.

When he gently let go of her, his level of concern went through the roof. Her hand pads were all ripped, but what drew more attention was that her chest was completely burned and black. He connected the dots in his head... 

"Void fired a laser in my direction, but it never hit me... That means..." His eyes watered.

"N-no... Hey, Miss Partizanne, do you hear me?" He called out for her. "Z-Zan? It's me, Taranza the bowlcut." No matter how hard he tried, the girl in yellow did not move a single inch. This caused him to start crying.

"S-say something... s-si vous plait." Taranza begged for it to be just a dream, he couldn't believe she was gone... 

"It can be a-anything... Just one of your rough but c-cute sentences will be enough." The poor boy was slowly becoming a sobbing mess as the first tear finally fell from his face and dropped on the cold and depressing platform.