Heroes of Dreamland Rewritten, Book 1: Stars Amidst Lightning

Chapter 38

Magolor|マホロア

Welp, I just fell out of a tree again. Welp, there's Meta-Not, ready and all excited to kill me. Welp, I'm gonna die.

Welp, this certainly isn't how I was hoping this evening would go.

Then again, I never wanted to come to White Wafers in the first place, but once I found myself getting painfully shocked by seemingly nothing every time I strayed too far from the heroes, I quickly realized that the Lightning wanted me to stay as close to them as possible. And not being the huge fan of pain that the Lightning apparently thinks I am, I've done my best to do just that, being careful to stay out of sight, so that I don't end up dead thanks to either party. Honestly, I don't want to be involved with either one of them, but despite my fondest wishes, I'm trapped right in the middle of the whole mess now.

Giving an awkward laugh while the thoroughly-ticked-off Meta-Not approaches me like a lion stalking an injured baby antelope, I murmur awkwardly, "So, uh, you still remember what happened way back then, huh?"

"How could I ever forget?" he growls, eyes flickering between red and that awful, terrifying crimson I remember from last time, as he slowly half-circles my tree, slowly getting ever closer. "You made a fool of me, you tried to destroy Dreamland, and then you got away with it scot-free. I will never forget."

Not far behind him stands the Waddle Dee girl, glancing back and forth between us in something resembling worry. "Sir... I know you said everything he did, but... If that Star Power you mentioned the other day kept him alive after all that, shouldn't that mean something?"

"This monster needs to be brought to justice," he growls, his voice practically a rumble now, his accent having all but disappeared due to its depth. "He's going to get exactly what he's long deserved."

Starting to hyperventilate, I beg, "I said I was sorry! Hey, wait, I can be useful to you! I know where the Lightning is building his cloud fortress; he's in Bubbly Clouds!" only to suddenly find myself pinned up against a tree, one of Meta Knight's gloves closed tightly around my throat. "Please!" I wheeze around it, gloves both scrabbling at his, desperately trying to loosen his hold. "I'm sorry, all right? I've been thinking that every day for two years, what a jerk I was, how awful I was to all of you... I was bossy and monstrous and I'm so sorry! Please, forgive me!"

Ignoring me, Meta Knight growls to his squire, never taking his by-now-thoroughly-crimson eyes off of mine, "Sakura, you should leave now. You don't need to see this."

"Sir," she says more desperately, coming closer. "If he's really repentant, then you shouldn't kill him. It's not your place to play judge and jury. Didn't he wrong the other two just as much? Shouldn't they get a say in this too?"

"Sakura. Get. Out," he orders, sword clenched so tightly in his glove that the seams of the gray fabric look fit to burst. "This matter does not concern you. Leave. Now."

"Sir, please," she begs, only feet away now. "Please, if he's sorry, you shouldn't do this..."

"He is a deceiver," he barks angrily. "Don't let him deceive you as well!"

"Sir, please!"

My vision has spots all over it by this point. "Please, don't," I beg in a wheeze, only for him to start squeezing harder. "Please... I don't want to die..."

That's about when everything starts to fade out to black, only to come back into crystal clear focus what feels like an instant later as I find myself in a slumped pile on the ground and hear Meta Knight give a scream of rage not far away.

When I roll so I can glance up, one glove clutching at my scarf as I gasp for air, I can see the Waddle Dee— 'Sakura,' I guess— standing in front of me defensively, her sword grasped tightly in her glove. Scrabbling up, I back myself against the tree again, away from Meta-Not, and then finally notice what caused him to cry out—

On the back of the glove that was just gripping my throat, there is a sharp slash that's torn it, rendering it dangling and useless. Since it's cloth, he felt no pain, but now he only has one hand that's worth anything.

Voice trembling, Sakura tells me, "Magolor, run."

She doesn't gotta tell me twice. I go to do just that, only to find Meta Knight just in front of me again as he appears out of his cape. "You will not get away from me again!" he roars, only for his squire to step between us again, blocking the strike he aims at me with her own sword. "Sakura, get out! I have waited two years for this! I will not let you take my victory away from me! This is my destiny!"

"Some destiny," she mutters fiercely, holding him off as I try to run again. Once again, he warps to my location, blocking off any hope of escape. "Sir!" she calls after him warningly as she dashes closer again. "Don't make me do something we'll both regret!"

Ignoring her, he raises his sword to strike me, not even noticing as she runs right toward him, her sword out and ready to strike.

But then, she runs right behind him, slashing carefully as she does, and there's the jagged sound of tearing fabric.

Everything freezes as he realizes what she's just done. "You little nightmare," he hisses hatefully, slowly turning to her, revealing his tattered cape that now also dangles behind him uselessly with a giant hole ripped straight into the center. "So you would defend a traitor, would you? Your loyalty to your leader is so easily forgotten?"

Staring at him in terror even as she ignores his words, Sakura cries out desperately, "Magolor, run! He can't teleport or fly; run!"

Floating away as fast as I can, I zip to the edge of the thicket, only to freeze and turn back as swords clang together. Sakura grips hers with both her gloves, terror in her eyes, and tries to hold Meta Knight away from her, only for him to back away and start sending slash after furious slash at her. She yelps as he aims right for her face and ducks in response, but drops her sword in the process.

Triumphant, Meta Knight kicks it away and then kicks her roughly onto her side. "You should have left when I told you to," he growls. "Now you're going to pay for what you've taken from me."

And me?

Like the coward I am, I turn and flee as fast as I can, heart pounding, breath coming far faster than it should, not caring what the Lightning does to me at this point.

I hate this planet. I just need to go back to the Woods and fix my ship and then fly away from here, never to return. Surely the Lor could understand that I've done my best to make things right, won't she? Can't she see that I should never be involved in these guys' lives, ever again?

Part of me fills with guilt at the knowledge of the fate that Mister Vampire-Eyes is gonna give the Dee girl who just saved me, but there's nothing I can do about it. I couldn't stop him; I don't even have a sword to defend myself with, unlike her.

And so, I do what I've always done best...

I run away from what scares me, and just keep on running, until it's all far out of sight.

Unfortunately for me now, and in the long months that follow, out of sight is not even remotely the same thing as out of mind.