Heroes of Dreamland Rewritten, Book 3: Stars Amidst Darkness

Chapter 3

Sakura | 桜

Up. Down. Up. Down. Lean to bank to the side. Pull up to rise on an updraft; tilt down to go streaking towards the ground. My wings already ache a little bit from the effort of flying for the first time in so long, but I can hardly bring myself to care. The beautiful world is underneath me, the wind is whistling through my feathers, and the bright sun is above me, warming my wings.

I'll never find anything I love more than flying. I'm sure of it.

As I can feel one of my wings threaten to start cramping, I realize that I really do need to take a break. And so, with a laugh of sheer joy, I go banking back down towards the castle grounds, where Kirby and Bandanna are sitting in the grass and playing a card game of War. This area of the grounds doesn't really have much in it besides open grass that stretches between the brown stone walls of the castle proper and the matching outer wall that wraps around the castle.

I pull my wings back and flap them several times to slow myself down once I near the ground, and then continue to flap them heavily as I land, being careful not to drop too fast or crash. Once I've touched down, I turn them back into a cape right away so they can have a chance to rest.

Kirby glances up at me over his cards. "Oh good, you're back. How was it, poyo?"

I wave him off for a moment, out of breath and still grinning so big it hurts. Once I've caught my breath a bit, I tell him in between gasps, "It was incredible. It was so good to be back in the sky again."

He gives me a smile before turning his attention back to his game, setting down a Jack that beats Bandanna's ten. "That's great."

Sitting down on the grass next to them, I continue to catch my breath and watch as Bandanna plays a five, beating Kirby's three. "So there really haven't been any attacks on Dreamland since I was gone? No villains at all?"

Kirby nods, smirking a bit as he plays a queen, only to frown a moment later when a smug Bandanna plays a king in return. "None at all. Is that really that weird, though? It's been peaceful for so long, now. Almost as far back as I can remember, though not quite. All I can really remember is fighting the Monstrous Lightning with you there and fighting Magolor with Meta Knight, Bandanna, and the King a year before. Meta Knight says I've fought a lot of badguys besides, poyo, but that's all I can really remember."

"Huh," I murmur quietly. "Haven't you fought a bunch of villains, though?"

He shrugs. "Meta Knight says so, but like I said, I can't remember most of them. Well, I guess I can also remember fighting Nightmare, but that's not exactly an easy one to forget. And there was also one that had something to do with yarn, or something?"

"'Yarn?'" I question blankly.

Kirby and Bandanna both draw nines, leading them to place a card face down on top of the nines, and then play another face-up on top of those. Bandanna wins the battle, since seven beats four. Making a face at him while Bandanna silently chuckles, Kirby shoves the lost cards over to his opponent, only to pout a bit when Bandanna shows the two hidden cards to be a king and a queen.

As they continue their game, I question again, "What did you mean by 'yarn?'"

Glancing up at me from the cards, Kirby says, "I mean, one time I fought a badguy who was made out of yarn and went around turning Dreamland into yarn, poyo. I only really remember that one because I had to fight both Meta Knight and the King while they were made out of yarn, and because there was this yarn kid I made friends with." Frowning once again as Bandanna beats him in yet another round, he adds, "Oh, and I think I turned into yarn, too, poyo. And that I could shapeshift into a yarn car and stuff?"