Meta Knight was calmly walking around, completely oblivious to the fact that he was wandering in pointless circles. His sword drawn and ready to attack, he finally found a door. "Here we are," he sighed. "Hopefully the others have not found their way out before me."

He opened the door and walked in, and was astonished to find himself in his bedroom at the castle. "How can this be?" he questioned, confused. Opening the door again, he found that it led into the castle hallway now, not the cave. "This does not make sense..." he whispered, then frowned. His face felt strangely... light. He turned to a mirror, then nearly had a heart attack. "Where is my mask?!?" he gasped, then began frantically searching for it.

There was a tap at the door. "Meh-uh Nait ugg raffen sanbo!" Blade's voice said.

"Yeah, what he said," Sword's voice agreed. "We need you, right now, sir."

"Please, wait just a moment. I am terribly busy," Meta Knight ordered, trying to remain calm. None of this made the least bit of sense. He had been in the cave, looking for a way out. How had he appeared here, and where could his mask have possibly have gone?

"It's urgent, sir," Sword tried again.

"Please, Sword. I said I was busy," Meta Knight snapped, tearing the room apart.

"Too busy to save Dreamland?" Sword pointed out, then after he heard a crash from inside, added, "Are you all right, sir?"

"Meska tuff ruff cossen?" Blade asked, sounding concerned.

"I have been better," he admitted, getting more and more frightened.

"I'm coming in there," Sword announced.

"No! Do not! I order you not to!" Meta Knight shouted, but enter they did.

"Kirby?" Sword asked, confused. "Where's Meta Knight? Why are you in his cloak? And why are you blue?"

"I am not Kirby, you fool. I am Meta Knight. I seem to have misplaced my mask. Help me find it!" he pleaded.

The two stared at him for a second, then collapsed in laughter. "And we were actually scared of you?!?" Sword managed to gasp out.

"Har har dee maro tenn!" Blade agreed.

Meta Knight frowned. "Quit laughing at me. Just because I am adorable does not mean I can no longer best you in a swordfight." He pulled his cloak around himself in an attempt to warp away, but quickly discovered it wouldn't work. "Why is this? What is this madness?"

DeDeDe appeared, stomping mad. "All right, what is this ruckus about? It's the middle of the night, for cryin' out loud! Why, I-" he saw Meta Knight, who tried to duck his head in shame, but failed, seeing as how he was basically all head. "Why is Kirby blue?"

"That's not Kirby!" Sword guffawed, managing to stand back up. He paused for a second, then gasped out, "That's Meta Knight!" He collapsed back onto the floor again, still laughing.

"Wait, you're Meta Knight?" DeDeDe asked, disbelievingly.

"Yes," Meta Knight almost whispered, his eyes looking at the ground. "I have dreaded this day for a very long time. Even now, I am not prepared for it."

DeDeDe stared for a second, then joined the laugh-fest. Running out of the room, he yelled, "Escargoon! Waddle Dee! Somebody get me my camera!"

"Is there any way this could get worse?" Meta Knight sighed, rubbing his forehead with one hand.

An exhausted looking Sakura walked in, rubbing her eyes. "What's going on?" she yawned, then added, "Huh? Kirby? Why are you in Meta Knight's room?"

"Why do people keep confusing me with Kirby? I am twice his size, and blue!" he shouted, his eyes dark brown in distress, so upset he didn't even wonder how Sakura had gotten here. And he couldn't see that his maskless eyes had changed color, so that couldn't help him either.

"Meta Knight?" she asked, confused. "You're like Kirby?" She stared for a second, then shook her head. Slowly, she started to laugh too. "I thought you were, like, some creepy monster, or something. I actually looked up to you... I can't believe this!" Still laughing, she walked away. "I've learned enough from a puffball... I'm going to find a real Star Warrior to train me."

This was awful. He was panicking. Why would nobody look up to him anymore? He was still the one who wielded Galaxia! Taking flight, he tried to run away, something he did not want to do, but had to, even if the last thing he needed was to also be known as a coward.

As he flew over Sakura, though, he noticed something strange. "Your flower ribbon..."

She glanced up at him for an instant, then looked away. Scoffing, she huffed, "What about it, Sir Chibi?"

"It is on the wrong side of your head," he frowned, calming down a little.

"What?" she asked, seeming nervous, then quickly moving it to the other side of her head, continued, "No, it isn't. Losing your mask seems to have made you gone bananas."

"And the way you speak is not like the way you typically do," he added, then realization came into his eyes as he noticed strange little things all around him. "The Waddle Dees' spears are supposed to have red flags, not blue. That clock is supposed to be in a different hallway. You should still be in the cave, alone!"

"So? We... just... redecorated. And I flew back. Easy, there, Sir Chibi," she laughed lightly, but her eyes were darting around in nervousness.

"You are not really Sakura! None of you are really who you seem to be!" He landed, then grinned. Pointing his sword toward her, he concluded forcefully, "This is not real! It is simply... a nightmare!"

"Well, bleah to you too," she huffed. "You've made it out, but I still have your three friends to play with. I doubt they will be as hard to frighten as you have been, Sir Chibi." Its voice had changed to being much deeper as it talked, and she slowly faded away. The room gradually changed back to being the cave, a piece he hadn't been to before. A door was before him, and he saw faint moonlight at the end.

"I am almost positive that was some variety of Noddy. Definitely not a foe to be trifled with," he mused, then held his hands up to his face. His mask was still there, of course. He tested his cloak to make sure it could still warp by teleporting to the place with the moonlight. He sighed in relief, then flew up to hide in a tree and wait for the others to find their way out. "Be strong, all of you. It is nothing but a dream."

*********************************************************************

Kirby would have admitted it quickly, if there was someone to talk to. This cave was scary. "Dark, poyo. Drippy, poyo. No snacks, poyo," he whispered to himself. "Zero ten, no recommend."

He walked nervously through a door, then found himself on a hilltop near the castle. "Huh?" he murmured, confused. The hill was completely bare, as was the countryside around him. Where had all the snacks gone?

He heard footsteps coming up the side of the hill, so he quickly flapped behind a bush.

"Well, Mayor, I didn't find a thing today," he heard the Chief say tiredly. Kirby hadn't talked to him in a long time, he was surprised he still recognized his voice.

"I didn't either, Bookum. Things just haven't been the same since Kirby ate everything. We should've known he was just a menace from the start."

Kirby muttered, confused, "Eat everything, poyo?"

"Did you hear that?" the Chief asked.

"It sounded like Kirby, but that cream puff wouldn't dare show his face. There's a reward on his head. Meta Knight's looking for him, and I heard one of the Waddle Dee was too, until she starved to death." the Mayor shook his head sadly as he walked past.

"Sakura, poyo?" Kirby jumped out and asked them. When they didn't understand and just glared at him, he tried, "Girl Waddle, poyo?!?"

The Mayor practically spat out, "She starved to death, like I just said. It's all your fault too, you monster."

Kirby shook his head in distress. He didn't remember eating everything. When did this happen? Why couldn't he remember what must've been the best hour of his life? Why did he do this?

"I'll go get Meta Knight," the Chief announced. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't let Kirby get away!"

Kirby jumped over the Mayor and flapped off toward the castle, as fast as he could. "Sakura, poyo," he sighed mournfully. He had to find her, she had to be there somewhere. Being a little kid, he didn't really get the idea of death yet. All he understood was that the Cappys had said she was hurt, somehow, because he ate all the food. How could he have done something like this to his closest friend?

At the castle, there weren't nearly as many Waddle Dee as normal, and the ones that were there looked tired and sick. What had he done? he fretted. As soon as they saw him, they glared angrily at him and backed out of his way.

"Kirby. You dare to show your face?" he heard Meta Knight say softly, angrily, from behind him.

Kirby gulped and turned around. "Meta Knight, poyo," he whimpered, tears in his eyes. "Where Sakura, poyo?"

"She is gone forever, and it is your fault. I thought you were a Star Warrior like me, but in reality, you are just a monster." His eyes were red in anger as he stared at Kirby.

Kirby shook his head as hard as he could, really crying now. "No, poyo, no! Kirby not eat everything, poyo!"

"Do not play cute with me, I know what you really are now!" Meta Knight thundered, leaping up, prepared to strike.

Still crying, Kirby took off, flying as fast as he could to Sakura's place in the library. All that was there was a pile of books, a cape, and a sword. "No!" he shouted. "No! Sakura, where you?"

DeDeDe appeared out of nowhere. "There you are, Kirby! You ate all the food! You'd better be prepared for a good hammerin'!"

Kirby frowned through his tears and walked over to DeDeDe, resigned to his fate, when he noticed something odd. DeDeDe was still fat. If there was no food, how was DeDeDe fat? And, more importantly, how had he found Meta Knight's secret library? "DeDeDe wrong, poyo," he muttered, staring at the king in confusion.

"What are you talking about, you menace?" DeDeDe roared.

Kirby's face changed to a look of determination. He couldn't remember eating the food, because he never had. This was all made up. Someone was just trying to scare him.

"Pretend, poyo! Pretend, poyo!" he roared, over and over again. Closing his eyes as tight as he could, he kept shouting it until he believed it. "Pretend, poyo!!!" After a few minutes of this, he opened his eyes. Everything was gone, he was in the cave again, and he could see his way out. Running as quickly as he could, he ran out into the moonlight, then curled up in the grass and starting crying again.

Meta Knight appeared out of nowhere. "Kirby! What is wrong, my small friend?"

"No Kirby eat everything, poyo!" Kirby wept, crawling into Meta Knight's arms and hiding his face in the bigger Star Warrior's cloak. "No Sakura gone, poyo!"

Meta Knight looked down at Kirby, his eyes a sympathetic blue. "It was all a dream, little one. It is over now."

Kirby nodded, still crying for a few minutes. "Where Sakura, poyo?" he whimpered.

"She is still inside. She may very well be fighting her waking nightmare right now," Meta Knight murmured.

Kirby sniffled, then wiped his eyes. "She okay, poyo?"

Meta Knight nodded once, staring sadly off into space. "I assume that is true. But, I cannot know for sure. All we can do is sit here and wait for the other two, and hope they can be brave." He turned back to Kirby, and whispered proudly, "You made it out, little one. You were very brave."

Kirby nodded in a sad-but-proud way. "Kirby brave," he sighed, then fell into a light sleep. Meta Knight carried him up into the tree, then resumed anxiously staring at the cave exit, carefully searching for the slightest bit of movement.