Heroes of Dreamland Rewritten, Book 3: Stars Amidst Darkness

Chapter 24

Meta Knight | メタナイト

The alternate Sakura's reflection fades away behind her. All that is left is her smiling at me with tears all over her face. Her glove is still in mine.

I don't fully know how to begin to feel about all of this. Now I know where Blossom really came from, I suppose. She was a Star Warrior from Star World after all. Heritage Clan, even. It's certainly a stroke of luck that I gave her a Clan-appropriate name.

Around us, the pitch black fades back into the real world. The now-silent Kabu stands towering in front of us. The sky is gray above with the weak light of early dawn. Sakura stands beside me again, facing the statue once more.

It takes her a moment longer to fully regain consciousness from the trance. When she does, she jolts a bit. She looks around herself, probably solidifying her surroundings in her head. Then, she flops down into a lying position on the ground. She gives an exhausted sigh.

I manage a weak smile down at her, despite everything. Of course, she can't see it, thanks to my mask. She half closes her eyes and stares up at the slowly-lightening sky.

I sit down on the ground myself, and sink deep into thought. I don't even know how to begin processing all of the many ramifications of everything we've just learned. Nightmare tried to kill her but failed, first of all. That's somehow terrifying in and of itself. Of course, the Star Power could have easily been keeping her alive so she could fulfill the prophecy about saving Dreamland from the Monstrous Lightning. According the prophecy, she also had to be a female Waddle Dee, so it makes sense that that is what her appearance was changed to. Even so, it feels so... strange to me. Why would Nightmare care about her enough to kidnap her as a child and try to turn her into a monster? I suppose the fact that she eventually trained me might have something to do with it, but... I don't know. It hasn't all finished adding up for me, yet. How did he know she was the one who was going to train me?

And the whole Buccaneer Waddle Dee side of things... Oh, dear. As I said, it's not terribly surprising that the tiny cabin 'boy' was actually her as a young one, but... It still feels strange. I always assumed that Bucky was extremely young due to his—or 'her,' as it turns out—size, but... she can't possibly have been all that young.

I frown. "How long were you in Nightmare's Fortress?" I ask suddenly. Before she can answer, I ask another question. "How long were you in Dreamland before you found your voice again? At least your small size makes sense now; you looked so sick and starved in Nightmare's Fortress..."

Her face immediately sinks into a pout, making me laugh despite myself. "Don't go picking on my smallness; you know I'm sensitive about it." I can't help but laugh harder at that. She rolls her eyes, and then seems to try to remember the answer to my first question. "I think... I want to say that Yuki was thirteen or so when Nightmare turned her appearance into a Waddle Dee's? But... if I was stored in a computer for two hundred years..." She makes a face. I find myself doing the same. "Who even knows how that affected my aging process?... And let's see... Sailor Dee told me he assumed I was about three when I appeared, and I figured I was around nineteen or so when I gained my voice, so that's sixteen years in Dreamland in the interim."

"And then fourteen years on Star World," I mutter, adding up the numbers in my head. "Just counting the actually-lived years, that would make you... Forty-three. Ish. And that's not even counting the time in the... 'server.'"

She stares off into space. "And here I was thinking I was thirty-something."

"Happy birthday many times all at once?" I suggest lamely. Her eyes flicker back to mine. After a moment, she bursts into laughter.