"But how? I can't just return to the castle and say: Hi, I'm sorry." Zan hit her head on the tree trunk and groaned. "I don't know if I can do this." The girl in yellow sighed and sadly looked at her sister, who facepalmed as she said that.

"Zan, it's just an apology, you're overthinking." Francisca gave her an annoyed look; she was then shaken by the lightning mage, who put both hands on her shoulder. "It cannot be a simple apology, I need to give him THE apology. Only then he can forgive me."

The ice mage gave a sigh of annoyance and slightly smiled. "Let it come out naturally. If you speak from your heart, he will see that you are deeply sorry. Planning the whole apology can show that you can't be yourself. It would look forced, giving him the chance to avoid you."

In response to her commentary, Zan facepalmed and rubbed her face. "This is too hard, there's probably a manual to explain this." She shook her head right after. "Where can I find it? It would help a lot." Touching the tip of her weapon, she forced a smile.

At this point Francisca was losing her mind, so she thought of something that could resolve the problem. "Look, sis, I think it'd be better if we go already." Widening her eyes, the oldest sister gasped.

"What? Now?! Are you nuts?! I have no idea what to say!" She made a gesture to emphasize her nervousness, which caused the ice mage to hold her hand. "Think about the things he likes, be thoughtful. Show him that he means a lot to you and you're willing to fix this."

The girl in blue took a deep breath and continued. "If it makes you feel better, I'll go with you to the castle. But when we arrive there, it's up to you." Zan sighed. "Okay."

As the two girls were about to leave, someone ran up to them. "Girls!" Flamberge panted. "Phew! What a run. Where were you?" The red-haired mage sat on the ground and rested her back on the trunk, gaining a stoic look from her younger sister.

"We're in the same place as before."

"Oh." The girl in red mentally facepalmed, but smiled when she saw that Zan had woken up. "Zan!" She got up and stopped, making a suspicious expression right after. "Wait, are you still in your anger mode?" Flamberge rubbed her chin, which made her oldest sister slightly smile.

"Nope, I'm back to normal." She rubbed her hands and nervously looked at the ground, in one of those memories she recalled threatening to turn her into ashes. Boy, how she felt bad for that.

Flamberge smiled and pulled the two to a quick hug; the moment it ended she jumped. "If you're asking about Hyness, I'm happy to say that the he is recovering from the wound." She put her hands together and nodded.

The girl's information caused Zan to sigh and Francisca to put her hand on her chest. "One less thing to worry about." The bluette hugged herself and relaxed.

When the fire mage saw her older sister's sad face, she frowned and pointed at her. "Is she okay? Her expression says otherwise."

"She feels bad for making Taranza cry. She is finding a way to apologize and I'm helping her. We were about to go to the castle." The bluette sighed and the two looked at Zan, who widened her eyes and forced a smile. "Yeah..." She slowly nodded. "Sorry if I threatened you earlier, I lost control, again." She scratched the back of her head.

Flamberge made a worried face and tilted her head to the side, touching Zan's shoulder as she did that. "Oh... It's okay, what matters is that you apologized." The girl in red pulled her sister to a quick hug, making a face of alertness right after. "Oh-oh."

"Oh-oh what?" Full of sternness, the lightning mage held her younger sister's two shoulders, begging that nothing bad happened.

With sweating hands, the red-haired girl freed herself from Zan's touch. "So... I didn't come just to say that, there's another thing... A worrying one..." Now Francisca got worried. "What is it?" She stroked a lock of hair in a nervous motion.

"Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee disappeared... they were probably captured by the mysterious person who hurt our dear father..." The girl paused for a moment to breathe. "And I don't know if you'll be able to apologize, since some Waddle Dees told me Taranza left the castle?" She slowly shrugged and widened her eyes, giving a forced smile as she did so.

"Oh, great, now I have to go to Floralia." "Two more, what are they planning?" The other two said at the same time, with the older one facepalming and the younger girl sighing. Flamberge tried her best to answer both questions.

"I have no idea, but it sure is nothing good." The girl shook her head from side to side and looked at the blonde mage. "I'm not so sure, his ship is in a critical condition, I bet someone sabotaged it." That caused Zan to think of a plan. "I mean, didn't he say they were after him? It could've been a plan to gain more time." Flamberge finished her sentence.

"Yes, he did." The ice mage whispered in worry. "If my time with Hyness' visions taught me something, it means that when the days end, this villain wants Taranza with him for some reason. But I don't know and I'm tired." Francisca yawned and rubbed her eyes. "It seems this apology will happen in another time, let's go home, Zan."

As the younger girls started to leave, Zan saw an orange butterfly flying in front of her, which gave her an idea. "I think I know where he is." She pointed east. "That spider is fascinated by flowers, there's a hill not far from here with lots of them. I know I'm not the greatest person, but I'll do whatever it takes to fix my mistakes. It's my best chance, just trust me."

Flamberge and Francisca looked at each other and smiled. "We trust you." The girl in blue raised her hand to say something, but was caught by surprise when her sister left her weapon with her. She blinked twice, not understanding what was happening.

"It'd be better if I go unarmed, there're less chances of him getting scared. Take care of it, I want no scratch on my lance, okay?" The blonde girl gave them a last hug. "Thanks for helping me, I'll try not to come home too late." As she finished her sentence, Zan floated away.

The girl in red made a confused face before turning back to her sister. "I'm telling you, sis, Zan did a complete 180. I'm happy for her though." The youngest mage smiled. "What love doesn't do, am I right?" Francisca giggled.

"Right." The fiery mage said, smiling in the process.

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After a few minutes, Zan got to the place she wanted. She then looked to the sides and saw Taranza holding a yellow flower, pulling its petals while he lowered his head. His face was filled with sadness, puffy eyes from all the crying. "Wow, he looks like a mess... if only I could go back in time..." The girl took a deep breath before returning to her thoughts.

"Okay, it's now or never." The blonde mage rubbed her hands in nervousness, one wrong move and there will be no more chances. When she finally gained the courage needed, Taranza finished what he was doing and looked to the side.

"Oh, you're here." He barely tried to remove the monotonicity of his voice, which caused the girl to be filled with surprise and embarrassment. "Dang it, Zan, you've already started badly." She thought and mentally facepalmed, sighing right after. "Yeah..."

Zan stood there for a few seconds, she had no idea how she could do this, but tried anyway. She awkwardly smiled and shortened the distance between them, an action that made him keep his distance.

Taking her by surprise, the girl stopped and made a face of concern. "Oh great, he's now afraid of me." She decided it would be better if she approached him in a circular motion, that way she could keep the same distance and face him directly.

Every time the arachnid raised his head, he immediately looked away. "Why is she here?" He thought. "Didn't she say that she hated me?" Taranza removed his nervousness by summoning a shield around him, that way he felt a lot safer.

The lightning mage raised her arms. "I'm disarmed, if that makes you feel better." He shook his head from side to side and lowered his head, which made her return to her original position. "Weeks of trust, now shattered in less than one day... What have I done?" She scratched the back of her neck, it's impossible to fix a broken mirror...

As she tried saying something, his sorrowful voice interrupted her thoughts. "How?" The spider mumbled. "How did you know about her?" Tears fell from his face as he finished his question, but he would not lower his defenses.

"Oh." She sat next to him, keeping a distance that wouldn't make him uncomfortable. "I may have had a look inside your private room and spent my last days there trying to find out what was your weakness." The girl looked in the opposite direction and fiddled with her dress. "And what a weakness..."

Taranza frowned. "How vindictive is she to the point of invading my personal space?" He then sighed and wiped a tear away. "So, when I found you in front of my door, did you lie about wanting to see me?"

As if it wasn't enough, she realized there were more moments where she messed things up. "Kind of..." Zan turned her head in his direction and saw that he removed his shield, so she took one last deep breath.

"That wasn't a full lie, I also wanted to see you..." The spider looked at her. "You're the first one who gave me a second chance, I appreciate that..." The mage slightly smiled. "If I knew what effect it had on you, I would never use that, sorry..." She was terrible at apologizing, but tried her best.

"I-" "Zan, are you a good listener?" Taranza may have interrupted her, but he wasn't full of resentment anymore. "He said my name, that's a start." The girl whispered and looked back right after, realizing she needed to give him an answer.

"Not really, but I'll try." Zan did what Francisca told her, she was being sincere and spoke with her heart. "What is it?"

The arachnid sighed and grabbed a pink flower, smelling its sweet scent. "I have a story to tell you, would you mind? This could take a while." He caressed the flower and looked in her direction, this time his voice didn't break. "Go on." She made a gesture for him to start, a sad smile appeared on her face while she did that.

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"Finally! I've found you my flower! You'll do wonders in my garden." A young spider, probably twelve years old, said while he wandered through the castle. He made sure no one was seeing him and quickly grabbed the plant, leaving as he did so.

"Dreamstalk, you're now-!" He raised the flower in victory, but fell as he bumped into someone.

"Ouch!" The mysterious person said, it sounded like a girl. When Taranza looked in her direction, he widened his eyes. "It's the princess! Oh boy, I'm going to be arrested." The boy thought as he made sure nothing bad happened to the plant.

With a big smile, the princess extended one of her many hands to help him up. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Silly old me, hehe." She nervously laughed and played with her hair, an action that stunned him.

Taranza smiled and grabbed her hand. "I suppose I'm the one who needs to apologize, my princess." He awkwardly bowed at her, gaining a giggle from the girl. "Please, don't do that, I'm not better than everyone else. Keep the formalities apart." She noticed the flower in his hand and tilted her head in confusion.

"Why are you holding a seedling from the Dreamstalk?" That made him raise his head with two hands patting his clothes, two nervously rubbing each other and the last hand still holding hers. "Oh! I-I... wanted to add it to my collection?" Taranza shrugged and gave her the flower. "I'm sorry, you can have it back."

The princess pouted and held it. "It's my favorite flower." She smiled while she caressed it, gaining a regretful look from him. "Your collection has now one more plant." The girl put the flower on the hand that she held, winking at him right after.

That made him confused, so he asked her a question. "But it's your favorite..." The boy frowned, but the girl just laughed. "Don't worry, I have a bigger one." She whispered the last part. "Consider this a friend's gift. Oh! I almost forgot, call me Sectonia."

Sectonia smiled and waved goodbye. "Bye! I hope to see you soon!" She left and returned to her royal duty, leaving the boy alone.

"Friend..." He blinked twice. "I've got a friend!" Taranza jumped in glee and smelled the flower, making a happy sigh. "Ah... I want to know more about her." The boy thought and happily returned home.

"A beautiful friendship bloomed on that day." Taranza said as he told his story. "Wait a minute, she said the same thing you did." The girl in yellow raised an eyebrow, tilting her head in confusion. Giving her an annoyed look, the spider cleared his throat. "Please don't interrupt me. Where was I? Oh, right."

A few years later, a now grown up Taranza laughed with his friend, who chuckled and wiped a tear off her eye. "Ha! That was a good one!" She threw herself on the couch and looked at the clock, which made her widen her eyes.

"Oh, it's almost 7pm!" The girl wasted no time and quickly grabbed her stuff, he also helped her. "Sorry, but I need to go, tomorrow is my coronation. Will you come? I'd love it if you did." With a bashful smile, she looked anywhere but his eyes.

"Of course, I'll be in the front row." The boy pointed to a plant vase. "Rooting for you." His terrible joke caused her to burst in laughter, she almost dropped her things.

The two spiders only smiled at each other. "Awww, you're so sweet. But seriously, I gotta go." She gave him a quick hug and lowered her head, kissing his cheek right after. "Bye!" Taranza was in shock, he wasn't able to say goodbye as the girl left, all he could do was grin and touch the place where she kissed.

"I need to give her the best gift ever! Like she did when we first met..."

"I searched everywhere, until I decided to go to Dreamland..." The young lover looked from side to side and saw a golden mirror. "This is perfect!" The boy thought and noticed something that raised his interest, the mirror was heavily guarded.

This wouldn't be easy, but he needed it, so he went there and stole it. One spear hit him right on the back of his neck, which made him wail in pain. "Nothing will stop me, she needs to see her own beauty." He sighed and left for his kingdom.

"I felt like a winner, but I didn't know the mistake I made..." Taranza moved the back of his hair. "I still have the scar." Zan took a brief glance and gasped when she saw two marks, one white and the other black. "I knew it, I hurt you. That lightning hit the back of your head." She looked down in shame. "Please forgive me."

The arachnid slightly smiled. "Don't worry about it, I've been through way worse. You'll hear it soon..."

After Taranza gave her the mirror, she found it fascinating. "Wow, it's beautiful, I don't even know what to say." The girl covered her mouth with two hands, a huge smile forming on her face. "I loved it, thank you so much."

The spider boy had a proud smile on his face, which got even bigger when she gave him another kiss, this time on the other cheek. "Only the best for the best, am I right?" He teased her by bowing, which always made her shy, especially when it came from him.

Before starting her day, Sectonia would always look at her gift, it helped her beautify herself. However, after a few weeks, the girl felt a dark feeling that slowly shattered her heart and placed bad emotions to 'fix' it.

A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts, so she went to answer it. "Bonjour, my queen." Taranza bowed. "Are you ready for our talk?" The boy smiled when he raised his head, but that look disappeared after he saw the stern look on her face.

"Why would I talk with you?" She asked. "Your jokes are unfunny and they waste my time, I need to get as beautiful as possible, so bye." The girl closed the door in front of him, who scratched his forehead.

"That was weird." He shrugged. "Eh! She's probably having a bad day, it would be better if come back later."

"How wrong I was... The mirror was corrupted by Dark Meta Knight, Meta Knight's counterpart. Each moment she took a glance at it, a part of her memory was erased and her vanity grew..." Taranza paused for a moment and looked at the flower he held, tears forming. "It got to the point that she changed her own appearance, from a beautiful spider to a tyrannical wasp..."

Zan widened her eyes. "Now everything makes sense."

The arachnid sighed. "It continued this way for four years, she ordered me to do her evil deeds. But my love blinded me, I loved her too much to try to stop her... But one day I saw the light..."

"What's the meaning of this? I did just as She commanded." Taranza looked at the fallen King Dedede, who was defeated by Kirby. "Majesty! Oh glorious Sectonia! Please come to my res-" As he was about to finish his call for help, Sectonia hit him with a powerful purple lightning, which sent him flying away.

"Wh-why...?" The spider said as tears fell from his face. "There is no longer any hope of bringing her back, her evil reign needs to end... But, I'll have no one else... Nah! It's probably the best decision. If I become depressed that's okay, it's my fault anyway... I could always ask for my creator to zap me out of existence." When he finally landed on the ground, he wiped away his tears and made a serious expression.

"It's now or never..."