Kirby had gathered up a lot of friends on his journey to stop the new evil threatening Plant Popstar. Except one of them isn't sure if he's even considered a friend to begin with.
Kirby and his pals had been traveling for quite some time now. They had stopped at many Dream Palaces and more of his friends joined him on his quest to rid Dreamland of a new evil.
King Dedede was the first to join - he was more than eager to team up with Kirby again. Meta Knight joined next - sticking to his code of honour and defending the planet. Bandana Dee had also joined - they were concerned for the planet and didn’t want anything bad to happen to it, and both the Waddle Dee and the pink puff shared these thoughts.
At another Dream Palace, some unexpected faces showed up. Rick, Kine and Coo, Kirby’s animal friends, were summoned by the palace. All three were overjoyed to see Kirby again and gladly joined him on his quest. Gooey was another. He still didn’t have the answers to his questions about his new life, and thought maybe tagging along with Kirby would help him find those answers. And his new home was being taken over by bad dark guys. Gooey didn’t like bad dark guys.
All of Kirby’s companions were fast asleep. Dedede, Meta Knight and Bandana Dee were huddled together, and Rick and Gooey slept not too far apart from each other. Kirby had made sure to stop by some water so Kine could rest properly, and Coo had found a tree and decided to take a quick nap.
Kirby was wide awake, however.
He didn’t exactly know why, though. Maybe it was Dedede’s snoring. It was rather loud, and Kirby wondered how anyone got to sleep with such a racket. Maybe it was the looming threat of evil taking over the world. While it was always scary to think about, Kirby had defeated evil before and he knew things would turn out alright. Maybe it was the gentle wind blowing through the tall grass - the breeze was rather chilly. Or maybe… It was because Marx was still awake, too.
The purple jester was a few meters away from Kirby’s current spot, lying on his back and looking up at the stars. A peaceful activity, Kirby thought, but maybe he wasn’t feeling okay. He didn’t seem too happy when he was summoned by the Dream Palace.
Kirby stood up and waddled over to Marx. He sat down next to him and looked up at the stars too. Marx took brief notice of the pink hero, but returned to his stargazing almost immediately.
“...Why are you so sad?” Kirby asked after sitting silently for a few minutes.
Marx blinked, before reluctantly replying, “...Not gonna… lead into the question or anything? You’re… straight to the point…”
“It’s okay if you don’t wanna tell me,” Kirby told him. “I just wanna make you feel better.”
Marx sighed. “Okay,” he mumbled under his breath.
Kirby looked at Marx with concern before saying, “Marrrrrrx, you don’t sound okayyyyyyyyyy.”
Marx’s eyes narrowed with thought as he continued studying the stars above. There was a beat before he said, “You know how you’re like all those stars up there, Kirby?”
“I ride a Warp Star.”
Marx paused. “...That was a rhetorical question. What I meant was, you have lots of friends. You’re one of the really bright stars and all the other stars are your friends. And those stars are friends with the other stars as well.”
“Oh!” Kirby said with surprise, “Really? Thanks!”
Marx just blinked. He glanced around, as if he was looking for something. “And I’m like… that dumb twig over there,” he grumbled as he glared at a nearby twig.
“How?” Kirby asked, his voice starting to creak.
“That twig is dumb and lonely and so am I,” Marx growled, his eyes still set on the twig.
“But King Dedede and Dad and Bandana Dee and Rick and Kine and Coo and Gooey are here!” Kirby exclaimed. “And me!”
“It doesn’t matter if they’re here or not,” Marx spat, “none of you like me anyway.”
“But Ilike you, Marx!” Kirby said.
“Really? Do you actually , Kirby? You forgave Magolor and Taranza way quicker than you forgave me- hell, you only forgave me, like, A DAY ago.”
Kirby’s heart tightened. “I know that it was unfair of me to not forgive you so soon, and I know that I should’ve done it way earlier. I’m reeeally really sorry, Marx. A-And I’ve actually been meaning to apologise for a while-”
Marx ignored Kirby’s apology as he continued, “And and and and Magolor had some bad Halcandran omen mojo-jojo going on and Taranza was doing some favour or something for his girlfriend.”
“I don’t actually think they were dating-”
“Why was I chosen to do this whole ‘save the world and be a hero’ business, anyway?! Why not Magolor or Taranza - at least people actually like them! At least they have friends! I don’t have any! I bet they only put up with me because they think I’m lonely! Well they’re damn right! How come everyone else gets to be happy but not me?! How come-”
“Hey hey hey hey HEY!” Kirby yelled. “That’s not true! Magolor and Taranza reeeeally like you, and they think you’re a great friend! And you do have friends, because you’ve got them! And you’ve got me, as well.”
Kirby leaned into Marx as he pouted and Marx bit his lip. Tears started to blur the jester’s vision.
“Kirby…. how are you so... happy all the time…?”
There was a beat before the young puff murmured, “Because nothing good comes out of being sad all the time. If you want to be happy, you gotta look at all the good things, even if they’re really really small, and you gotta just focus on them. You can’t just sit around and expect it to come to you if you don’t do anything.”
There was a silence as Marx blinked, letting his tears flow down his cheeks.
After a few minutes of silent stargazing, Marx croaked, “...Thanks, Kirby.”
Kirby gave a quick nuzzle before moving away and saying, “No problem.”
Kirby was struck by a thought. He nudged Marx, who looked over at him and hummed.
“You know how you’re like those stars, Marx?” Kirby asked.
“I dunno, Kirbs, how.”
“You’re cool! And even if you don’t have a lot of friends now, you have some really good ones! And I bet you’ll make more!”
Marx simply smiled.
Kirby let out a big yawn, feeling drowsiness take over him. He slowly got to his feet.
“Good night,” he murmured as he padded away.
“...Yeah. You too.”
Kirby and his pals had been traveling for quite some time now. They had stopped at many Dream Palaces and more of his friends joined him on his quest to rid Dreamland of a new evil.
Marx, at first, wasn’t keen on the whole ‘saving the world’ idea. In fact, he was sure the Dream Palace was mistaken. But Kirby’s support was unconditional. And now, he felt like he actually belonged for once. He would be fighting to keep his home safe - no one messed with the planet only he could fail to control. So he also joined Kirby in his quest.