The Arrow of Time

Respite

Magolor carried Taranza into the Captain's Quarters of the Lor and laid him on the bed. Daroach was sprawled on the couch in the study next to Sailor Dee. None of them were awake. Most of the others were injured, although nowhere near as severely. After the Lor verified that they would all survive, Magolor dragged himself into the Captain's Quarters and collapsed on the floor. He remained there for a very, very long time. Or at least, it felt like it. He let the pain overtake him, and quietly sobbed into the carpet.

He was home. He never thought he'd be back home like this, but he was home. They had a free ride back to Popstar. That meant it was the end.

No it wasn't.

Of course this wasn't the end yet. After all...

The worst had yet to come.

They had all agreed to take a day or two for the more mildly injured to recover before going back, but after everyone had a pleasant nap on the cold, hard floor, some were ready to finally call their loved ones back on Popstar.

Meta Knight called the Halberd. No response. He called Axe Knight. Nothing. He called Captain Vul. Nothing. He called Javelin Knight. Nope. None of the crew was picking up. Neither were any of the waddle dees at Dedede's castle. The same was true of the Squeaks. The Lor displayed a sad face on her monitor. "It seems they do not like you anymore."

Zan Partizanne was grumbling in the corner of the room. "We get an overnight stay in the jamn Lor Starcutter- The one and only Lor Starcutter, and we're not even allowed to explore. This is stupid. I want to go in there and give that deceptive egg a piece of my mind."

The Lor played an extremely loud buzzer sound, like when someone gets a wrong answer on a quiz show. "You may not."

Francisca giggled, then whispered to Flamberge. "Ancient holy vessels have a surprising amount of attitude. Maybe that's why the egg's... like that. He's been living with this."

"I can still hear you." The Lor interjected. As Magolor opened the door to the Captain's Quarters and came out, she began going on a tirade. "And I'll have you know, anything he may have gotten from me was a much better alternative to the things that happened to him beforehand!"

Magolor clapped his hands. "O-kayyyyy, let's get off this topic now."

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Taranza winced in pain. "Ngh... ow. Owww..." He looked around and saw that he was in a securely guarded hospital room, heavily bandaged. His head was throbbing, his torso ached, his gloves had blue blotches on them, likely from his blood. Then everything came back to him. The chase through the garden, the frequent pleas from Sectonia to stop, the gambit from that dangerous criminal, and the long fall down from the top floor of the prison. After the memories came the immediate rush of regret.

The guards stepped aside as Sectonia entered the room, looking furious. "Taranza! What were you thinking? You could have died!"

"I'm sorry..." Taranza almost immediately started crying.

"How many times did I tell you that it was way too dangerous for you to try and stop him? You're a fool and an idiot! Why didn't you listen?"

"I..." Taranza tried to apologize harder, but he was crying too hard.

"You need to listen to me when I tell you things!"

Taranza couldn't respond. He tried to apologize, or to say something in his defense, but it came out as an incoherent babble.