Nobody Deserves to be Alone
Disclaimer: I own nothing from Kirby. I only own this plot and the OCs mentioned in the story. All rights go to Nintendo!
A/N: This is for the Hoshi-no-Kaabii-Fans group contest on Deviantart. I have no other information other than the fact that this contest is centered around Meta Knight's birthday. I hope you enjoy the read!
I am still alive! But I have been busy with a lot of stuff lately, too much to write anything to the point I lost every doc of the stories I was working on since I haven't clicked in. Please enjoy this entry I wrote for a contest on Deviantart.
There was a nip in the air. Leaves have been changing colors and falling to the grass. Flowers have started to wilt before the cold of winter could claim their blooms. Such is the way of the autumn change. It was the middle of October in Dreamland. Cappies were preparing for Halloween, the farmers were in the middle of their harvests, and the children continued to play.
This was a common familiarity at Castle Dedede too. Kirby and Tuff play with the Cappy children, King Dedede will be causing trouble, and Tiff will be reading her books about marine biology. While they did their activities, Meta Knight always stayed within the shadows, watching, like a guardian angel among mortals. It was his duty to keep the citizens of Cappytown, as well as the residents of Castle Dedede, safe from King Dedede's foolish dealings with Nightmare Enterprises. He trained Kirby to prepare for the day he could no longer rise to battle, and to destroy Nightmare when the time came.
Yes, such is the life for a highly respected soldier among his Star Warrior and Galaxy Soldier peers. Meta Knight was content living in this way, although there were times when bad memories from his past would resurface, and then, he'd be hidden away in his room, hours passing by, thinking about what could have been done. Those thoughts have always plagued the knight, for seemingly his entire life. However, they started in his teenage years, just after he turned seventeen. While the thoughts would leave every now and then, they followed him for the rest of his 1002 years of life.
Meta Knight hadn't had thoughts of the past for a while, as of late. He was currently sweeping the dust out of his bedroom. Normally, the Waddle Dees would take care of that, but Meta Knight was never an open, easily trusting person, especially considering who the Dees worked for. Well, the Waddle Dees weren't bad; fairly sentient, with good intentions at best. They followed Dedede's orders at every beck and call, however, and that was why he didn't trust them.
So, this was why he was sweeping the floors of his room. Not easy for someone of his… stature. Meta was small, and the broom that he found in one of the cleaning supply closets was taller than he was, and that made it difficult to have a handhold. Luckily, he finished with the sweeping after fifteen minutes, and went on to dusting.
The dusting wasn't pleasant, far from it considering he only had the visor for his eyes to breathe through as well. When he went to one of the shelves, he bumped into it, and a box fell from the third rung of said shelf. The dust kicked up, causing Meta Knight to cough and sneeze. Whatever was in this piece of cardboard carried dust years and years old. The box's flaps were already opened, probably due to the age and use. Curiosity got the better of Meta Knight, and so he peeked into the box.
A gasp escaped him when the contents were revealed. There were several old photos, three old journals, and a wooden sword with teeth marks all over it. It even had the knight's initials carved into the wood. He set the toy sword out of the box and examined the photos. They were very aged, and pretty damaged, but he could still make out the people in the pictures.
One was a family portrait. Meta Knight looked very young, and three other people and what looked like a Wolfwrath puppy were with him as well. Two of the people looked just like him; one especially did considering they had the same eyes and face entirely. It was like looking into a mirror of the past.
The second picture showed an older Meta Knight with an old friend from the Galaxy Soldier Army. They were both unmasked, and the man beside him did bunny ears on Meta in the picture. Although the pictures were in sepia tone, Meta Knight could tell that the man behind him had purple skin, purple eyes, and blonde hair. Meta Knight recognized the man as Jecra. His heart panged at the memory of his dear friend's death… at his very hands.
He saw a picture with himself and a beautiful female humanoid woman. Then another with himself and a pink skinned Puffal woman with black hair. There was another picture that had him with the female Puffal, and they were kissing.
"Why did I keep these in here?" He asked himself. Meta Knight picked up one of the journals and opened it. Another picture fell out. Examining the photo, he saw the previous three people and himself gathered around a birthday cake… his birthday cake.
"A photo from that day, huh?" He mused to himself, chuckling a little bit. "Sure brings back memories. Jecra… Garlude… Mira… damn it all. Why did they have to die like Mother and Father?" Meta asked himself, voice cracking from emotion. He walked to the nightstand of his bed and set the birthday picture down. There was a small calendar and he looked at the date.
October 19th… just a day until… no. I don't want to think about it. Thinking about it will only make everything worse.
He went back to the box and checked inside for anything else. There was nothing else inside except a mask just like his own with a large jasper gem in it, adorned with other smaller gems; it was a family heirloom that's survived through the millennia, and in good condition too. The three old journals belonged to the family. One had the stamp of a raven on it, the other two had stamps of his signature mask. Meta Knight almost opened the raven journal when…
Knock knock knock! Someone was at the door. He stacked the journals, set them on the bed, and when that was done, he opened the door. Tiff was standing there.
"Hi, Meta Knight, do you need any help? Sword told me you were doing some cleaning." She explained. "The help won't be necessary, Tiff, but thank you. Actually, if you do not mind, I would much rather be alone right now."
"Oh. Is there something wrong?" She asked. Tiff cared very much for Meta Knight, and the feelings were mutual. She was very very very intelligent for her age, and Meta Knight admired that. He found it a little amusing that the elder Cappies relied on her guidance for a lot of things. But the girl in her pursuit of knowledge also had a natural curious streak, especially with anything regarding Meta Knight himself. He was aware everyone saw him as "a mysterious Star Warrior with a hidden past" because, well, he was.
Meta Knight hid away his past for many good reasons. If the citizens of Cappytown understood why, it would make living in the town much easier. It would allow him to have a little bit of mental and emotional peace with his past. They'd never understand, however. They would have to go through everything that happened in his life in order to truly feel the pain that he felt.
Tiff was still standing in his room, waiting for an answer, perturbed as to why he won't respond. He shook the thoughts away for a mere moment to respond.
"I am fine. I've just got a lot on my mind, that's all." Tiff frowned at his answer.
"You've been rather avoidant lately, Meta Knight. Come on, it's almost Halloween, everyone's getting decorations together, it'll be fun instead of sitting in this gloomy room all day."
"Decorating the castle is not among my best interests at the moment. Besides, as lazy as this sounds, why put them up when they will be taken down after Halloween? Then two months later, we will have Christmas, and the same logic applies. It seems pointless."
Tiff's frown turned into a scowl at that point. Child or adult, it mattered not. The citizens of the tiny, isolated village couldn't handle brutal honesty well, though Tiff handled it best.
"Something has put you in a bad mood, Meta Knight. What is wrong?" She asked.
"Nothing is wrong with me child! I am as chipper as Kirby!" Sarcasm practically oozed from his voice as he sat on the bed.
"That's not funny, and you know it, Meta Knight." Tiff stated angrily.
But when she entered the room, she noticed the box. She saw the worn wooden sword lying on the floor, the old sepia toned pictures from Meta Knight's childhood, the jewel encrusted heirloom lying against the end table, and the maroon colored journals sitting atop his bed.
"You found something that made you feel bad, didn't you?" She asked.
"You're making me feel worse with your incessant questioning. I do not wish to talk about this, Tiff. You may be my friend, and I may trust you, but you wouldn't understand the half of everything that I endured in my life." Meta Knight finally said. Tiff glared at him as she saw him lie down on his back on the bed. But she said nothing else and walked off. At the corner of her eye, she stole a glance at the calendar. She noticed the 20th of October was circled.
"Why do you have that date circled on the calendar?" She asked. He sighed heavily in irritation.
"If you must know, October 20th was when I was born."
"Well that's nice! Do you want a party and cake? Nobody deserves to be alone on their birthday."
"Tiff…" He didn't have to say another word, for Tiff understood what he meant, and left the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
Strange… I always thought his birthday was in March. He seems so sad though. Is it about the birthday? Or something else? Oh well. Like I told him before, nobody deserves to be left alone.
With that last thought in her mind, Tiff went back to her family's apartment to formulate a plan.
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"Everyone! Stop what you're doing for a second!" Tiff yelled as soon as she burst through the door. Everyone; Kirby, Tuff, Sir Ebrum, Lady Like, Lololo, and Lalala all stopped doing their tasks for decorating for Halloween.
"What's up, Tiff? Is Dedede causing trouble again?" Tuff asked. "No. I talked to Meta Knight. I learned something about him, actually." The family, excluding Kirby, was very surprised. There was a small bit of miscellaneous chatter for a brief moment. "You learned something about Meta Knight…?" Lololo asked.
"From Meta Knight himself?" Lalala finished her brother's sentence.
"Yeah! Apparently, his birthday is tomorrow!"
"His birthday? Did he want a party? Cake? Presents?" Lady Like asked. "He told me he didn't want a party. He sounded sad when he told me about that though. I guess his birthday brings back bad memories… but I feel bad for him. I want Meta Knight to enjoy that time. You guys understand, right?"
They all nodded at her. But then the group looked at the Halloween decorations. "Ah, that can wait," Tuff said, waving a dismissive hand. "Let's decide what to do for Meta Knight."
"Right!"
"Poyo!"
And they got to work. They gathered around Tiff and she had a pencil and some lineless paper readied for the layout of the party and some notebook paper for any ideas that they may have. "OK. First things first, what are we going to do for where the party will be held?"
"Well, we could try Kawasaki's, but I don't think Meta Knight would want to go to Cappytown. He isn't entirely fond of the Cappies based on his few interactions with them." Sir Ebrum mused.
"Yeah, and Kawasaki would insist on making the food for the party. I don't think we need to give Meta Knight food poisoning. Any other ideas?" Tiff asked.
"What about Whispy Woods?" Lalala suggested.
"Meta Knight loves going in the woods." Lololo added.
"That's a fairly good idea, but remember what happened last time we went in the woods? We got lost. Come on, is there a place?"
"What about the beach, Tiff? I see him go to the direction of the beach at sunset." Lady Like suggested.
"That's a good idea. But there's also the issue with Cappies at the beach and bringing tables without completely stable ground. Any other ideas?"
"Ooh! Why not have the party in the fields?" Tuff asked.
"Tuff, the fields are also hilly, and we'd have the same issue as what we'd have at the beach." Tiff sighed. "We're running out of options. Any other place would be fine, but who wants to travel almost an hour just to get to their birthday party?" Kirby tugged at her shoulder. "What is it, Kirby?"
Since Kirby couldn't speak very well, he drew a picture. While it was crudely done and some might say it wasn't anything in particular, Tiff could make out a cake, the castle, Meta Knight, and a flower. It seemed like Kirby was suggesting the castle garden.
Tiff opened her mouth to try and argue why they couldn't hold the party there, but then she began to think it over. There was a lot of space for tables, Meta Knight wouldn't have to deal with the Cappy citizens, it was fairly close to the kitchens where they would get the food prepared, and it wasn't a far walk for Meta Knight to go back to his room either. The only only problem Tiff could foresee was Dedede doing something stupid and ultimately ruining the party, most likely with a demon beast. Escargoon might be an issue as well, so they would have to keep their distance away from the snail and penguin.
"We'll have the party in the castle gardens. I'll ask Sword and Blade if they can help."
"I'll come too, sis!" Tuff remarked. Kirby responded with some "poyo's". Tiff sighed, though the smile on her face was too good natured to mean anything bad. "I suppose I can't stop you. When I come back, I hope to hear some good ideas."
The Ebrum siblings walked outside the room to find Sword and Blade. They would be on their afternoon patrol of the castle right now. It didn't take long to find them, however.
"Sword! Blade! We need your help!" The two young men turned and looked at her.
"What do you need help with, Tiff?" Sword asked. "Is it Halloween decorating or help with Meta Knight's birthday?"
Tiff was surprised when he asked that. "Yeah… it is. How did you know that?"
"We know more about him than anyone in this castle, I think we're obligated to know something like that." Blade explained. "Oh. Well, can you help us?"
"There's one small problem." Sword said, emphasizing small by using his fingers. "What?" Tuff asked.
"Meta Knight doesn't want a birthday party."
"We know that, but why not though? Could you please tell us? There's no reason that he wouldn't want to celebrate the day he was born." Tiff said.
"Because that brings back memories from his past. You kids might not realize it… but all of his old friends... his family… they're dead. All of them are gone." Blade explained.
"But… we just want him to feel better. Meta Knight deserves it, doesn't he?"
"Tiff, just think for a second. Would you want to be constantly reminded of people that you loved and still love that ended up dying? You know Meta Knight had to kill Jecra thanks to Nightmare, and you know what happened to Garlude because of the Kirasakin battle and when Sirica came." Sword began.
"Yeah, and…? Why can't we throw a party to make him feel better?"
Sword resisted the urge to facepalm when Tuff asked that, with what he told the duo previously and how rude the tone was. Sword knew Tiff was truly concerned for Meta Knight; the girl saw him as part of her family in a sense. The guardian of their whole family, their protector. Their friend. Tiff cared for Meta Knight just as much as she did Kirby. However, knowing how spoiled Tuff was, Sword just figured that the boy would ask for a toy after the party since he helped set it up.
Well, Sword knew Tuff wasn't that selfish, but he was certainly a spoiled kid. Not the fastest to get something in his head either because of how stubborn he was.
The young knave sighed in annoyance. "You wouldn't understand. Hell, we don't even know the entirety of the story, all we know is that it just had something to do with all of his friends and family dying. Look. Just leave this alone for now. We'll ask him to see if he's changed his mind, but just forget planning a party right now." Sword looked at Blade, then the duo walked off, continuing their patrol.
"Well, that answers that then." Tuff said with a tone of boredom. "Let's just finish decorating for Halloween, sis." He started to walk away but Tiff grabbed his hand. "What the heck?! Why can't I go?!" He asked angrily.
"Because I still need help with Meta Knight's birthday!"
"But they just said he don't plan a party for him!"
"I don't care about what they said, Tuff! Don't you get it?! What Sword said just reinforced why I want to do this for him! Meta Knight thinks he's all alone, that nobody else cares or sees him as a friend. I want him to feel happy. Is that so wrong?" Tiff asked, releasing her grip off of her brother's wrist.
"No, it's not, sis, but what about what they said? Who knows if he'll even want it in the end, and y'know? Why care now? He's been here forever and did we even bother caring? Have we ever had a party with him? No. He doesn't do anything." Tiff glared at him.
"Of course you'd say that, Tuff, all you care about is yourself." She turned on the heel of her foot and walked back to the apartment.
So what if they say that. I'm still giving this to him. Doesn't Meta Knight deserve that much?
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It was 6:27 in the evening, and Meta Knight had just finished his evening patrol. Even though he only trained with Sword and Blade a couple of hours and did nothing but patrols for the rest of that day, the blue skinned Puffal felt exhausted. He didn't even feel like eating before going to his bed. He slipped out of his armor, first kicking off his metal shoes, taking the pauldrons off next, then his cape, and finally, his mask.
Meta Knight yawned, a pretty cute sounding noise with it being uncharacteristically higher than his normal voice. His eyes grew heavier by the minute. He walked to the light in his room and turned it off. The only source of light in his room now was the glow of his eyes, and they were glowing their bright amber yellow.
He made sure to keep himself from tripping over his armor as he climbed into bed. He settled himself in, but couldn't sleep. For thirty minutes, he stared at the ceiling, thinking, trying to close his eyes. Everything began darkening even more as he slowly shut his eyes.
…
…
…
There was nothing to be seen. It was all just a haze. A shadow. Did he recognize this place? No. He couldn't recognize it because he couldn't see a thing. It was just blackness everywhere, blackness as far as his eyes could see.
Everywhere except the ground, that is. But even that just added to the gloomy atmosphere of this strange void. It was just gray, and the ground felt like stone. Concrete. Meta Knight started walking. His footsteps echoed loudly, and the odd thing: he was barefoot. He didn't have his armored shoes on. He felt that his cape was on his back, but his mask wasn't on his face, so he knew something was wrong.
All of a sudden, the void started growing colder. Chills went up his back, and Meta Knight swallowed hard. He was sensing a lot of things all at once. His mind was unable to distinguish if they were allies or monsters or if they were even "there" at all. The echoing footsteps seemed to grow and Meta Knight kept walking, but the echoing of the steps just kept growing louder.
He stopped in his tracks and drew Galaxia, glaring at the surrounding darkness around him.
"I know you are hiding somewhere! Come out and fight, coward!" He shouted. Silence was the only thing that answered him. He started walking again, but he fell down and dropped Galaxia. Meta Knight felt himself being dragged away, and he luckily grabbed the sacred sword in time before he would lose it.
Colors began coming into view the further he got dragged. Black was the dominant color, but the ground started changing to green, and he could feel grass growing as he kept getting dragged. The dragging was leaving friction burns on his stomach and with how long it's been, Meta Knight's skin on his belly might start to peel. But soon enough, the dragging stopped.
Meta Knight stood up and tightened his grip on Galaxia. He could hear the faintest of whispers echoing all around him. He darted around and kept an offensive stance, ready to fight whatever it was that dared to attack him.
All of a sudden, the whispering ceased. The voices just silenced. Meta Knight eased his stance and sighed in relief. Though this action was done far too soon. The colors began changing. Everything was changing. And suddenly, the ground disappeared, and Meta Knight found himself falling somewhere but nowhere at once. Everything came back together after a while and Meta Knight found himself on solid ground again, with his mask resting where it belonged.
Galaxia was gone, however. The sword he held in his hands now was an old cutlass that he used for three hundred years. But wait… he hadn't used the cutlass since-
He heard the sound of another sword ringing in his ears. Meta Knight slowly turned around and his blood froze at what he saw. Or, more importantly, who he saw.
The humanoid man standing in front of him with blazing red eyes was none other than his old friend Jecra. Meta Knight held back a gasp, as he was at a literal loss of words. Jecra started attacking, and Meta Knight did as well, though not by choice.
Metal crashed against metal, when one pushed, the other pushed harder. This equally matched fight lasted for a long time until Meta thrust the cutlass in Jecra's chest. The body fell backwards from the blade and a pool of blood formed underneath him.
Meta Knight's eyes widened in horror behind the mask. Whatever this was, a vision, a cruel, sick joke, or some sort of a nightmare, he didn't care. He wanted to leave.
The cutlass fell from his grasp and everything began to change again. Meta Knight could hear whispers circling around him once again, and he fell, ending up in a cave.
He was dazed when he stood up again, but felt his body moving once more against his will. The blue Puffal could barely get a good view of his surroundings, but he seemed to know what was happening. He was reliving the battle against Kirasakin. Meta Knight saw that he was holding the cutlass again. His blade crashed against one of the demon beast's elongated claws.
At that very same moment, from the corner of his eye, he saw Garlude up on the stone that held Galaxia. She was trying to pull the sacred sword free from the stone, but her body was already getting burned from the electricity. She pulled the sword free, but fell, and the sword went flying to the side of the cave opposite from where Meta Knight was.
He continued fighting Kirasakin, but the beast was strong. He respected the beast's power, but had no reason to lose his will around it. Now, he might just have such a reason.
"Meta Knight! Hurry, get the sword!" He heard Garlude call out. No response from the blue Puffal. Was this really how the battle went? Has it been so long that Meta Knight doesn't even remember much about it anymore? Or was the real pain being suppressed under a mask of its own?
The next thing he saw was sparks flying from where Garlude stood. She had the sacred sword raised in the air. Meta Knight cut across the nose of Kirasakin and dashed to Garlude just as she threw the sword. He caught it with ease, but his friend fell to the ground. The beast was charging at them. Meta Knight reflexively checked her pulse. To his surprise, it was faint- she was still alive. He remembered her death being more instantaneous.
The monster was still charging. He tightened the grip on the hilt of the sacred sword, and unleashed a Sword Beam that, while it didn't kill the monster, knocked it unconscious. Meta Knight started to run away, leaving Garlude behind to die, not caring what happened when the monster wakes.
Why though? Why didn't he grab her body and take her to the medics? If he ran there fast enough, they could have saved her. All he could do is keep running.
What a coward. Didn't even kill the monster, and he left her behind to rot.
What do you make of this?
I make out that he is just as much of a sniveling child as he was when he was younger. How he rose through the ranks of the GSA like he did baffles me.
He could clearly make out the whispers, what they said now. The voices they belonged to, that was another story. The whispers seemed to blend the voices of people that he knew in his younger years with people he was allied with in the army. Everything was starting to weigh heavier on him. The trees and the bushes were getting bigger.
He crawled out of the brush, noticing now he was without his mask AND his cape, as well as Galaxia. What he held now was a wooden sword. He crawled to a small house at the edge of the woods. He tapped at the door with the sword, but the it simply creaked open.
Meta Knight went inside and saw nothing but a lone female Puffal lying on an old bed. He purple skin was very very pale. Her eyes were closed, as if she were asleep, and one of her arms draped off the bed. He poked the woman to gauge a reaction. Nothing. He grabbed her arm with one of his paws, and the skin felt so icy cold it was reminiscent of the coldness the skin felt at death.
That was what it was. This woman was dead. But this wasn't a stranger to Meta Knight. This woman was his own mother, dead from the dreaded Blackblood Drain. He felt himself crawling away from the corpse that laid on the bed. But he noticed something odd. Stairs in their own house. Curiosity seemed to get the better of the Puffal in his child-like state, and he stood up and walked up the stairs.
How amusing. He didn't even seem to recognize his dear mother Raven. Is it because his brain degraded over the many years he's lived?
He's an idiot child even now. 1003 years isn't that old.
Right. But I digress. It's clear even his closest relatives meant not a damn thing to him.
NOVA have mercy on the souls that know him now. Everyone that associates with this man always dies in the end. Whether it's a freak accident, a tragedy, or something he caused himself. It doesn't seem to matter. Meta Knight is destined to be forever alone.
The outside was at the top of the staircase. Meta Knight looked around and saw carnage all around him. He seemed to comprehend what was going on better than what happened when he saw the lavender skinned Puffal asleep in the bed because he felt his smaller than normal feet running toward a navy blue Puffal that looked exactly like he did, aside from a few details on his mask. The man was fighting a fiery demon beast known as Batafire.
Meta felt himself run toward the monster whilst grabbing a sword from the ground. He drenched the blade in water and sliced through the fiery, limbless creature. The body turned into a very thick mist that other Puffals proceeded to blow away. Meta Knight's vision began to improve, and right as the mist cleared, an armored lizard demon beast grabbed the navy blue Puffal by his arms and tore him in half.
Everything started changing again until there was nothing but darkness. Meta Knight was now alone in the void, once more. But soon enough, the whispers were back.
I almost pity him. He was a child when both of his parents died.
He was a child, but he killed a monster when he was eight. I'm sure he could kill a stupid lizard.
Those voices sounded much like Garlude and Jecra now. Meta Knight looked around to see where the voices were coming from.
Why are you so weak? It's just sad and pathetic how you were unable to save the very people you cared so much about. Do you even care about the supposed "friends" you have in Dreamland, Meta Knight? Do you care that there's one little girl desperately trying to make you happy? Do you care enough to even acknowledge her? Or those so called "pupils" of yours?
"Show yourself, you coward! Where are you?!" Meta Knight yelled angrily.
"You"? It is more than one. Meta Tsukio Knight. Look at yourself, you insignificant little wretch. Do you still pride yourself in the sword? Do you still pride yourself for being one of the few survivors of a war we all died in? Do you still hope that Nightmare will one day be defeated by a Guardian that YOU trained? You are just a blind and stupid little egotist.
"What does that have to do with anything?!"
It has a lot to do with everything surrounding you, Meta Knight. A LOT. And what you do not realize, my good man, you are HOPELESS. You will always be alone. You will NEVER have another soul that will sympathize with your pitiful existence, and you will NEVER find another person that knows just how bad of a hell you endured. Everyone that you come in contact with that you love and that you hate always die in the end, Meta Knight.
Your friends are dead, your family is dead, the woman you loved dearly is dead, and these children will soon die as well.
And it's all because you aren't strong enough for the false hope you cling to. You are weak.
You are NOTHING!
…
…
…
Meta Knight awoke, gasping for breath, as if he was just being suffocated in his sleep. A cold sweat was running down his back, not to mention the tangled up mess of a cover and bedsheet before him. He glanced around the room to see if everything was real. It was. He was inches away from falling off the bed however.
Meta Knight slipped out of the covers, off his bed, and onto the floor. He looked at the clock and sighed. How was it 2:00 in the morning? Dreams don't last a long time, do they? The thoughts that slipped past his defenses from his subconscious definitely reminded him what was wrong.
Of course, that dream was one of many bad ones that has plagued him most of his adult life. Mostly, he had nightmares about the war, about the demons coming back from the grave, or Nightmare successfully enslaving the galaxy. Seldom did he ever have dreams about the friends and family he lost, though that didn't mean he never dreamt a dream with them in it.
A dream that involved his parents, Jecra, Garlude, and his deceased wife ALL at once was peculiar. This one didn't even seem to be a dream, now that he thought about it. Machinations of old memories smushed together more like it. It hurt him all the same, though.
Guilt had always raged Meta Knight's mentality like a flooding river. The voices in his head were the voices of his old friends and that of his family. To be the only one alive while they were rotting in the cold ground…
He barely noticed that tears were falling from his eyes. The shallow breaths became longer, but he was barely able to choke back his sobs. Meta Knight furiously wiped away at his eyes, soaking his right glove.
"Why did they have to die? Is this Nightmare's way of breaking me? Torment through reliving those gods forsaked days?!" Silence answered the Puffal, and each breath he took sounded more like a sob.
"Why did they all perish? Was I really so weak that I couldn't save them? Was I so pathetic and cowardly I couldn't save anyone but myself? Why should I grow older?! Jecra and Garlude had families! I have NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING!" He screamed.
The tears kept falling from his eyes, staining his navy blue face, his glowering amber eyes growing dimmer and seemingly duller as well. He flinched when he heard the door creak open.
"Meta Knight, sir? Is everything alright?" It was Sword. Sword and Blade had come into the room, possibly woken up from the knight's yelling. He turned to face the two. The room was dark, and while the light from the castle's hallways provided enough light to hurt the Puffal's eyes when he looked their way, they couldn't see any of him except for the glow of his eyes thanks to his room being very dark.
"Please, just go, Sword. Blade. I just wish to be alone." He told them. His voice was still cracked, and to his knaves, that was very rare. Meta Knight never showed emotion that way before. It was unusual. Foreign. An oddity in several hundreds of ways. And they knew then that there was something wrong.
"We heard you screaming, Lord Meta Knight. We just wanted to make sure if you're OK. I think Sword and I have our answer, but why can't you tell us what's wrong?" Blade asked.
That was a difficult question to answer. Sword and Blade understood the pains of war better than anyone else in the village. Their homeworld was wiped out by Nightmare. With the brothers living as bandits barely able to scrounge for food, Meta Knight knew that they had a hard life in the war too.
Still, he didn't wish to tell anyone what happened, Sword and Blade included. Meta Knight would be telling a lie if he told them they wouldn't understand. The fact they were bandits when Sword was almost eighteen and Blade was just sixteen cemented many different points that would completely negate the "you wouldn't understand" phrase. It wasn't that Meta Knight didn't trust them…
His pride made it hard for him to tell them.
Some prideful warrior I am now. He thought bitterly to himself. What he actually said was, "Just. LEAVE. I mean it when I say "leave me alone"! I do not wish to talk!" Sword and Blade looked at each other, faces heavy with concern. Disobeying his order would only make him more furious, so they left the room, not even looking back.
"How humiliating. To scream at my own knaves like I'm a damn child." He shut the bedroom door and locked it. After that, he went to the bathroom. Everything was smaller than the restrooms in the castle, customized for him because of how small he was compared to the other residents. He rinsed his face off, looking at his face in the mirror afterward.
At first glance, one could say that he was a spitting image of Kirby, minus the color of his eyes and skin. Nobody noticed what he noticed, however.
His eyes had little vitality in them whatsoever. The lack of restful sleep has left dark circles underneath them that made the knight look even older than he already was. Age lines seemed to faintly appear to him just above the eyes on the forehead. His silver eyes looked pinker and puffier than normal, thanks to the fresh tears that had stained his face. His pink cheeks were red, not unlike a blush from embarrassment, but more like when someone was ill.
To say he looked awful was an understatement, but to say he felt awful was the worst understatement of the millennia.
Meta Knight felt horrible. It was bad enough that there will always be mementoes from those days, when life was actually right, haunting his conscious because he failed to save his friends and family, but to be reminded of that TOMORROW? Meta Knight just wanted to swallow a Noddy and stay asleep for the rest of his life.
He knew there were people who cared. He knew there was someone that wanted to help him. Sword, Blade, Tiff, they all wanted him to feel better. But they will never help him. He just had to accept it. He will never be healed.
He was meant to be alone.
(0.0) (0.0) (^u^) (^u^) (0u0) (0u0)
It was 6:30 in the morning. Tiff was the only one awake. She had business to take care of. It was time.
Since Tuff wasn't able to care about anyone other than himself, and since Sword and Blade didn't want to disobey their lord, she was awake, coordinating what must be done. Meta Knight's birthday was today. Sure, she had little time to plan, and little time to get everything ready, not to mention the fact that she was setting everything up alone, she was determined to see this through.
"Tiff poyo?" A familiar voice chirped to her. She turned around and saw Kirby. A small smile grew on her face, seeming to understand why he was awake this early himself.
"So you want to help too, huh? I won't stop you, Kirby, I need all the help I can get."
The little Puffal nodded, and he followed Tiff to a storage closet that had foldable tables and chairs, but other items like brooms, mops, and an ugly, disused, old green tablecloth with a dead cockroach on it. Tiff grimaced a little in disgust while trying to pull the tables free from their prison. But pulling seemed to mess with a fragile balance in the chaotic system inside the closet, and an avalanche of the items came crashing before the two. Luckily, the tables and chairs were much easier to access, but before they could grab them…
"Now what do we have here? What are you brats doing up at this hour?" Tiff and Kirby turned around and saw Escargoon, wearing a very smug and condescending smile on his face.
"We should as the same for you, since you're usually at Dedede's beck and call." Tiff retorted. "We don't have time for this. Come on, Kirby, help me take these tables outside." Kirby nodded and babbled something before grabbing one side of the table.
"Wait, what are you doing though? I thought you were committing vandalism. What is this?" Escargoon asked, genuinely confused at the situation.
"Figures that you wouldn't know." Tiff said as she and Kirby continued to try to lift the table. "Frankly, I don't have the time or the patience to try and explain anything to you, and you would just rat us out to Dedede and ruin everything. Face it, even if you caught us, we probably won't escape Dedede ruining everything."
"Maybe I won't tell Dedede if you would just explain this to me without an attitude, please."
Tiff sighed heavily. "Why we are in a hurry is because Meta Knight's birthday is today. I want to throw him a surprise party, so he won't feel upset. He was pretty sad when I asked him about it yesterday. Like something bad happened on that day. That's all. I just want him to feel better."
Escargoon took in Tiff's explanation and pondered the words that came out of her mouth. Normally, he would go straight to Dedede about this sort of thing because they would be using resources from the castle, but barring Dedede's track history when it came to celebrations put on by the Cappies or something remotely supervised by Tiff usually meant there was something that involved Kirby.
The one year anniversary celebration of his landing in Dreamland would have been a fiasco if Kirby didn't destroy the monster. But a celebration involving Meta Knight? The knight's birthday nonetheless? And based on Tiff's explanation, he wanted to be alone? Why? Who would want to be by themselves on their birthday? Something that made the knight that solemn made Escargoon feel some level of sympathy for the navy blue Puffal.
"OK. I'll forgive this incident just this once." Tiff sighed in relief upon hearing those words. It surprised her that Escargoon would even say that. "If you don't mind me asking, would you need some help getting everything ready?"
"You actually want to help, Escargoon? Why would you? Do you expect anything in return?" She asked, glaring daggers at him. "If you think doing this will earn you a favor, you're dead wrong!"
The snail's expression changed from sympathetic to irritated in the blink of an eye. "I may work for an idiot like King Dedede, I may act like a fucking moron, and I may do things I'm not proud of just to appease that egotistical bastard, but I am not that petty. You two have a lot of work to do if you want to throw him a party on such short notice. I can some of the Waddle Dees to help you too, so maybe you'll have time. Where will the party be held at?"
"The castle gardens. You promise that you won't tell Dedede?" Tiff asked once again to make sure.
"Yes, Tiffany Ebrum, I sincerely promise that I WON'T tell King Dedede what you are doing, happy?" Escargoon asked, voice showing annoyance, but the small grin on his face contrasted heavily with the tone of voice.
"You didn't have to use my full name, but the help is really appreciated, Escargoon. Thanks." Tiff said with a smile. The snail nodded at her.
"You're welcome. But don't expect this to happen again, got it?"
Smirk replacing the cheerful smile on her face, Tiff merely said, "We'll see." The snail left, probably to get some assistance from the Waddle Dees. "Come on, Kirby, let's get this table outside, and maybe we can the other one out too as well as a few chairs."
Kirby merely "poyo-ed" in response, and the two kids carried the table outside. It took a LOT longer than what Tiff wanted, as she underestimated the weight of the table and the distance to the garden. Kirby was still happy and cheerful, but Tiff was exhausted.
"NOVA above, Kirby, I'm glad you kept going on your side. I doubt the table would have made it if I was by myself. Thank you, little buddy." Kirby giggled, and "poyo-ed" happily. He started jumping when a cluster of Waddle Dees came in carrying the remaining two tables and enough chairs for the few attending the party. Some Dees were hard at work standing everything up while others were heading back into the castle. Waddle Doo approached Tiff.
"We are at your command by His Excellency's orders, Miss Tiff. Just say the word, and the boys will carry it out." Waddle Doo said, saluting with his sword.
"Wow, thanks! Um, is there some already in the kitchen though?"
"There are some Dees working on His Majesty's breakfast, but I think His Excellency is trying to shoo the Dees that don't know the orders out to let the Dees that do know bake the cake for Sir Meta Knight. Red velvet will do, right?" Waddle Doo asked.
"Yeah, that would sound delicious, but I'm not sure if Meta Knight likes that kind. I guess we'll just have to see." Tiff shrugged adamantly. "I'm gonna wake up my parents and Lololo and Lalala. If they cooperate, maybe they can give you guys an extra hand."
Waddle Doo nodded in cooperation. "That would be nice, but what about your brother?"
"He won't care enough to do it, as long as something benefits him in the end, he's not gonna do it."
Waddle Doo merely shrugged at the girl. "Alright then. You'd better hurry though, Tiff, it'll be 7:00 soon, and Meta Knight reports to Dedede at 8:00 in the morning."
"Waddle Doo, I hate to contradict you, but it's a Friday, and Dedede is bound to sleep in at least three hours."
Waddle Doo laughed sheepishly, and would have smiled as such if he had a mouth. "Ah, to each his own, I'm just used to seeing him report in an hour early than me. Sorry to keep ya."
Tiff spied out the corner of her eye that the tables had already had nice tablecloths on them and that the chairs were set. She smiled at the sight, then at Waddle Doo before she ran back to her apartment with Kirby in tow.
(0.0) (0.0) (^u^) (^u^) (0u0) (0u0)
Meta Knight was sitting in his bedroom alone, by himself, without his mask. He was reading one of the journals found in the box, the journal that had a raven on the cover of it. So many regrets were flowing in his mind as he turned each crinkled and yellowed page. The scent of the ink with the paper in his depressed state almost made him sick to his stomach. At least the poems written inside of them were beautiful. His eyes were already trying to tear again. The poem that he found written in the back of the book was the last one his mother ever wrote, and it was about him.
Dark as night
Eyes of stars
Such a lovely sight
For mine eyes to behold
He is mine
And I am proud
The sparkling of his eyes
Is worth more than gold
I see hope
I see a man that shalt not mope
I see a man that shall stay strong
I see a man that will live long
May he find happiness eternal
For these years will be infernal
All of life will be filled with strife
But may his spirit be not filled with fears
Meta Knight always felt guilt over his death. He knew that she got in worse health from her disease because he remembered the talk among the villagers about how that was so. To this day, he still doesn't know much about what killed his mother. The only thing that makes him feel better, however, is that his mother died in her sleep. He only hoped that she didn't feel pain as she passed.
Tears were falling from his eyes again, almost to the point where he couldn't stand it anymore. He shut the book and laid it to the side, curling up under the plush pink covers.
"Maybe I can lie here for the rest of my life. Maybe I can pray to NOVA to rip my soul from this body. I just want to see them all. Just one more time. All of you… you have no idea how much I miss you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I've done."
His sobs weren't as bad as the ones from the bad dream, but he could faintly hear the voices from the very dream.
Your mother didn't deserve to die to give birth to a failure of a soldier.
You aren't a hero. You are pathetic. Stop clinging to your false hope and just commit suicide already.
Meta Knight ignored the last part of the short tirade. He still had his pride, and that kept him from killing himself a long time ago. His pride, and his hope.
Hope…
Should he just abandon everything and leave? Live out in seclusion? Avoid contact with anyone ever again? He was ready to leave, to be forever alone, forever lonesome, forever a failure.
One has to wonder though… where did everything go wrong? Was he just unable to stay strong enough to help keep his friends safe? Did the war take away everything he held dear? Or was he being overdramatic and he didn't even realize it? Or even care enough to realize it?
Meta Knight sat up on the bed and walked toward a desk in the room. He noticed there were several sloppy and scrawled drawings lying in a messy pile. The drawings had belonged to Kirby, but the little Puffal wanted to give them to his mentor. It used to make Meta Knight smile at the thought of the child giving him little gifts because he cared so much for him.
Now, it just brought a feeling of dread and sorrow to the elder Puffal. The hope of the entire galaxy rests in the small paws of Kirby of the Stars. Yet the child clings so close to a failure like him. Why?
Kirby was and still is impressionable. He is still a small child, a baby to the Puffal race but a toddler to other races. Meta Knight knew Kirby since the day the pink child was born. The child's real parents had died three weeks after his birth. Meta Knight found the pink newborn alone in the woods on another planet called Hope Star, crying. There was a demonbeast attack, and unfortunately, Kirby's real parents didn't make it.
Meta Knight knew them as well. The child's real mother was an old friend when he was a teenager. And she seemed to have met a fate not unlike Meta's own father. Kirby was under a tree when Meta Knight found him. He took the baby back to the castle of the royals he was guarding. The queen was that of an avian race, taller than almost every other race in the Gamble Galaxy, and she gladly allowed the knight to keep the boy.
That was, until another monster attack happened, and Meta Knight had to send Kirby away in a starship. The little Puffal was about two months old when this happened.
Did Kirby sense a sort of familiarity in the veteran Star Warrior? Was that why he seemed to feel comfort in being around Meta Knight? Puffals imprint on their parents three weeks after birth. The imprint doesn't fade until the Puffal is in their 20's.
Meta Knight sighed, wiping his eyes again. He walked away from the desk and dressed into his armor. He wrapped his navy blue cape around himself and walked toward the door. Before he left, however, when he opened the door, he didn't expect to see Tiff standing in the entryway.
"Um, hi, Meta Knight. Happy birthday." She stated awkwardly.
"Tiff…"
"There's no reason for you to be alone today. Nobody deserves to be lonely on their birthday. Please, just come with me."
"Tiff…"
"I just want you to feel happy. Is that too hard to understand?"
"Tiff, just be quiet!"
There was a moment of silence between the two after that. In that same moment, Tiff could finally notice what was wrong with the veteran soldier. She could see it in his very eyes. Meta Knight's eyes always had a fiery passion for fighting against Nightmare. Their glow behind the mask burned with a hope that they would someday live in peace. His eyes were beautiful because of this.
Now, they seemed to have lost their spark. Their fire. Their life. Eyes as golden as the sun that sparkled just as beautifully were as dull as fool's gold. There was a sorrow in them. Not only sorrow, but weariness as well. It was as if he hadn't had a restful sleep in centuries.
Meta Knight was the one to break the silence first. "I'm going to leave Dreamland, Tiff."
Her face fell from shock, outrage, and sadness when he said that. Truthfully enough, she dreaded thinking about that possibility, and now it's coming true.
"Why?! We need you here! Kirby is still not ready to fight Nightmare when the time comes! You're supposed to keep us safe. What happened?" She asked, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
"What happened? Child, you wouldn't comprehend why I wish to leave. You just wouldn't understand…"
"Don't give me any of that bullshit. I'm tired of you saying that we wouldn't understand. So what if we don't? Is that cause enough to not try to make you feel better? Or do you not trust us?" He didn't say anything, only looked away from Tiff so that his eyes wouldn't meet hers. "Go on. Tell me what's wrong. If not, I won't stop you from leaving. You can do whatever you want-"
"Be QUIET!" Meta Knight snarled, snapping his gaze back towards Tiff whilst also ripping his mask off of his face. It hit the floor with a harsh CLANG.
"Look at me dead in my eyes, Tiffany Ebrum. Do you really want to know what has been wrong with me all this time? I'm a failure. A gods forsaked failure of a Star Warrior. I couldn't save everyone I cared about. I couldn't save them. I left behind one friend in a damned cavern and stabbed the other in his heart. My own father was torn in half right in front of me when I was a boy. Hell, my mother died because of a disease that got worse after I was born."
He pulled the girl into the room and shut the door, his gaze never leaving her own.
"Now that you have heard my lament, take a look at your own life. Have you been orphaned on your own from the time you were eight years old? Did you have to fight monsters all of your life just because you had to keep yourself alive? Did I live in a castle, did I stay with my older sibling, or did I have friends to play with? No.
You were never close to starving to death. You didn't have to relieve yourself in a pit that you dug with your bare hands. You didn't have to freeze on cold nights or burn on hot days. You were blessed with an easy life, Tiff. Every day of the rest of my life up until this point was a fight for survival. And I always feel guilt for the people I left behind.
I have no regrets slaying Nightmare's hellish monsters. I regret killing my best friend and leaving another to die. I regret not being able to save the love of my life or my own father. I regret that my birth took such a toll on my sickly mother that she died when I was barely older than Kirby… do you see why you wouldn't understand?"
"Yes, I would see why, but that doesn't mean I can't try to understand you. I know I, or nobody else except Sword and Blade would truly understand. Please Meta Knight, just come with me. You have nothing left to lose, do you not?"
Meta Knight sighed. "I suppose I don't." He went to get his mask but Tiff stopped him. "No mask. Don't get your mask." Tiff said, shaking her finger as if she were scolding him. He grabbed the mask anyway and strapped it back on.
"I have an image to keep, child. It may be damaged for you, but not for everyone else. Besides… it's a little comforting."
Tiff smiled wryly at him and they walked down the hallway for a while, not saying anything, until they got to the garden. There, they saw everything was set up the way it should be. The food table was in the middle, a place was set for everyone to eat, and there was actually a small pile of gifts on a third table. Kirby, Sword, Blade, and oddly enough, Tuff was there. Meta Knight saw from the corner of his eye that Lady Like and Sir Ebrum were there as well. In the distance he saw Escargoon and a few Waddle Dees.
Tuff and Kirby were the first to approach Meta Knight. Tuff had a present in his hands and Kirby had an untouched slice if red velvet cake on a plate in his little paws. Tiff glared at her brother.
"I thought you didn't want to help."
"I did, sis, I just didn't think you'd actually go through with it. Um, happy birthday, Meta Knight. I have a present for you. I got it from Biblio's store, so… it's a book." Tuff averted his gaze from both Meta Knight and Tiff. The warrior rest his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"I'm 1003 years old, Tuff. I don't expect to have a toy." He chuckled lightly. "I'm sure a book will be fine." Meta Knight mussed Tuff's hair and turned towards Kirby. The little Puffal was offering him the cake.
"Thank you, little one." Meta Knight felt something at the bottom of the plate, but disregarded it at the moment as he tried the cake. A smile grew under his mask. "Red velvet? I love red velvet cake." Tiff smiled very big upon hearing those words.
"I came up with the idea, I wasn't sure if you liked it or not." Tiff rubbed the back of her head, her happy smile turning into a slightly sheepish one. "Haha, it's alright. This is actually my favorite kind of cake." He said in between bites. Sir Ebrum and Lady Like began walking to him.
"If it isn't the man of the hour! It's a rather lovely day to spend this outside, eh?" Meta Knight nodded at him.
"I didn't even want a party… too many bad memories surfaced. But I believe I will be OK."
"Bad memories?" Lady Like asked. "Did you have bad birthday parties when you were young?"
"I didn't have birthday parties when I was young. I was 500 years old when I had my first real birthday party. That was a very happy day. But it brings back bad memories because the friends I had that did me the kindness of arranging it are all dead now." Meta Knight explained. Then he began to think for a moment. "No, wait, I remember when I turned two years old. I had a small party that day as well. It was the first time in 200 years my mother came out of the house. I never saw her so happy before." But then his voice turned even graver. "But she died later that year, two days before Christmas Eve."
"Oh. Well, don't let that get you down today. You're surrounded by friends today. The past may shape your future, but it's important to live in the now. Have fun, Meta Knight. Today is your day."
"She's right, Lord Meta Knight." Sword said, walking toward him with Blade by his side. "You're not alone anymore." Sword said.
"Tiff told us what was wrong. And you're not a failure. A failure is someone who didn't try to do anything. We will always follow you, to the ends of this star if we had to." Blade added.
They are right. Today is your day. You are not a failure. You are not alone.
The words echoed in the Puffal's mind. Today was his birthday. And for the rest of that day, Meta Knight spent time with everyone there. It was sunset before Meta Knight opened his presents. What he found under the plate Kirby handed him was a handmade card. It had a picture of him. Kirby clearly drew it, but it looked much better than his other drawings. The only thing remotely off about the picture was that his eyes came out of the visor onto the mask a little bit.
"Happy… baatday… Meda." Kirby said as Meta Knight looked at the card. The pink Puffal hugged the elder warrior. Meta Knight smiled happily behind his mask. His eyes glowed with a renewed vitality, his passion for fighting, reignited. Hope was still alive. Hope for a peaceful future where Nightmare was a distant memory was still alive. But best of all…
Meta Knight learned he was not alone anymore. And as he went to bed that night, he slept easy, with three pictures resting on the nightstand. The newest one had him in the center, with Kirby hugging him, Tiff and Tuff smiling big. Sword and Blade were behind them as well.
I am no longer alone.
I have the solace I've waited for so long to reach.
Now I have it.
Thank you… everyone.