Meta Knight sighed as he warped back into reality on the ground, not too far ahead of where the others were. "I should stay close to them, in case they really would need my assistance," he muttered, just a little bit hurt. Sakura of all people should have understood his concern, but she was too busy enjoying the nice weather. He would be have been perfectly happy to just savor the warmth on his wings as well, but he had every conviction that this would simply turn out to be a trap.

He went on like this the rest of the afternoon and evening. He'd warp ahead a ways and then wait until he heard the others overhead, then warp ahead again.

The last of these times, he took a break and found a fruit tree. After picking some fruit that had managed to weather the recent storms, he sat down underneath it, removed his mask, and ate. Even he had to smile a bit at the light filtering down through the leaves above, but his pleasure quickly soured into annoyance again as he heard the others approaching. Putting his mask back on and flapping up into the tree, he watched as the other three landed not far from where he was.

Kirby sent his Warp Star back, and Sakura gathered some berries from a nearby bush. There weren't that many, but she and the two little boys seemed content with what they had. After their supper, she sat down between them and told them one of their favorite stories from a book from memory. After it got dark, she helped them build a sort of nest out of leaves, and wished them a good night.

Now she will go to sleep, and leave them all completely unguarded, he thought rather bitterly to himself. He wasn't even completely sure why he was so mad at her, but he was.

To her credit, she didn't go to sleep. She instead held her sword up so it began to glow, and pulled a book out of his satchel, which he had foolishly left with them.

"Kirby and the Monstrous Lightning," he heard her read quietly. Opening the book, she began to peruse it, seeming extremely confused. He nearly fell asleep, but after awhile, understanding seemed to slowly come into her eyes. She flipped faster and faster through the pages, reading them as fast as she could, it seemed.

She understands the Ancients, somehow, he thought in amazement, leaning forward subconsciously. Even I find them impossible to comprehend, but she has decoded their tome!

But moments later, she seemed to freeze, fear now filling her eyes. Suddenly, she began to flip the pages ahead as fast as she could, then returned to that one and stared at it. In the blink of an eye, she slammed the book shut and backed away from it quickly, shaking her head in what could only be described as disbelieving terror.

What has she seen? What has she discovered that is so troubling? he wondered, worried. When she began to cry almost silently, he flew over to her as fast as his wings could carry him.

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

Earlier that night:

This is impossible, Sakura thought to herself with a mental sigh. Meta Knight was right, this code makes no sense. She kept reading, anyway, just to have something to do. It was a long, big book, but it wasn't that heavy, so she assumed there was some sort of charm on it.

But, after awhile, it began to make some sense to her. The sentences followed a logical sort of order, like "c\:kirbyfly c\:waddledooattackbeam c\:kirbyinhale c\:beamkirby." It began to be less and less confusing, as she went on.

She eventually came to a point that seemed like the final battle. "c\:kirbyattack c\:monstrouslightningdefend c\:metaknightslash c\:monstrouslightninggroan c\:bandanadeespearthrust c\:monstrouslightningfade c\:battlecontinue."

They're winning, she thought to herself optimistically, then sadly, Why do they even need me? Why did anyone decide I need to exist? But what she read soon after was anything but optimistic. Faster and faster her eyes sped along the words on the pages: "c\:metaknightattack c\:monstrouslightningboltthrow c\:metaknightdefendothers c\:metaknightdie."

What?!? she thought, panicked. She flipped furiously through the pages, searching for even one more mention of her masked friend, but there was none. I must have read it wrong. I must have! she cried out in her head. She turned back to the awful page and stared at the words again in horror. "c\:metaknightdie." But that can't be right! He's a hero! Dreamland will still need him after this quest!

She slammed the book shut as hard as she could and ran away from it. It's not true. It's a trick. It can't be true, she thought, as tears began to stream from her chestnut eyes.

Flying in out of nowhere, the One Who Wielded Galaxia himself appeared. "Sakura!" he whisper-shouted. "What is it?" His eyes were a frightened grayish-blue. "What has it revealed to you?!?"

Shaking her head, she managed to choke out, "No. Please don't ask me!"

"Please! Tell me, what is the matter?" he pleaded.

"No! Please, Meta Knight. Please, just leave me alone. I don't want to think about it." She shook her head harder.

"Just tell me!" he shouted, nearly as upset as she was, although he did not cry. Whatever had caused his brave ally to fall apart like this must be horrific.

"I said to leave me alone!!!" she shouted at him, her eyes flashing in anger for a moment.

They both heard a whimper and spun around. "What going on, poyo?" a now-awake Kirby asked, his body trembling in barely constrained sobs. "Why Sakura Meta Knight fighting, poyo?"

Sakura instantly softened. "We're not fighting," she reassured Kirby, hurrying over and pulling the little puffball into her arms. "I've just read something scary, that's all. I need to remember to not read scary stories right before bed," she gave a tiny 'smile' as she began to rock the small Star Warrior. "Peace comes with the dawn, the light drives out all fear. Just close your eyes my child, and keep my heartbeat near," she sang softly. Kirby sniffled awhile longer, then fell asleep in her arms.

Meta Knight had stood by through this. It was amazing how Sakura could drop everything that concerned her when one of the small ones needed her, no matter how important was the matter she herself was dealing with. He turned to her, but she shook her head once.

"Please. I respect that you have things that you do not wish to talk about. If you consider me a true ally, please. Do not ask me about what I read tonight, ever again," she begged, tears beginning to cloud her chestnut eyes again.

He nodded once. "I give you my word as a Star Warrior." He hesitated for a moment, then sat down beside her. Leaning against him, she fell asleep there, after crying silently for several more minutes.

He sighed heavily. Whatever it was she had read, it had been terrible. Maybe he didn't want to know the secrets that old volume held, after all.

He stayed awake until much later, when she also awoke because there was a rustle in the woods. Several rustles, actually. "Monsters," she whispered nearly silently, looking up at him.

"Yes," he murmured under his breath. She gently set Kirby aside, and they both drew their swords. Treading as lightly as possible, they waited until they were at the edge of the clearing Sakura had made camp in, and then they both simultaneously lifted their swords, shedding a small amount of light on the situation.

"Shoot! They've found us!" they heard a voice whisper.

"Great going, dummy. Now they really know where we are," another voice went ahead and moaned aloud in irritation.

"Idiot!" another hissed. "Don't yell! That won't help!"

Sakura looked at Meta Knight in something resembling amusement. "These monsters don't exactly know the meaning of stealth, do they?" she murmured.

Shaking his head, he led her into the trees, where they discovered a much larger group of monsters than they had expected, including several mid-bosses and Magolor. "Maybe we don't know stealth, but we do know how to trick a couple of heroes into walking right into an ambush," he chuckled.

"You. I had a feeling you had not really turned away from the darkness," Meta Knight hissed at the small blue, yellow-eyed creature before him.

"You know this creep?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Yes. Kirby, the king, Bandana Dee, and myself took him on not that long ago," he explained, not taking his narrowed red eyes off the little guy. He hardly looked threatening, Sakura thought.

"And, of course, you completely skip the part where I trick you four numbskulls into doing my dirty work for me. If I hadn't have done that whole monologue thing, you never would have figured out I was a badguy, would've you, Meta-NOT?" Magolor almost giggled darkly. "At least tell the little lady the truth."

"What does he mean, his dirty work?" she asked in confusion, glancing over at her friend.

"We rebuilt his ship and then fought a dragon for him. In the end, the dragon turned out to be our true ally, not this Magolor you see before you," Meta Knight explained in disgust. "He is a coward."

"Hey, hey. Shut up. I've kind of got a big-badguy image to uphold here," Magolor humphed.

"Don't worry," Sakura scoffed. "You've kind of got the image-ruining thing taken care of. You're so adorable, no one will ever take you seriously in your life." She didn't notice that as Magalor winced, Meta Knight did as well. "So. Are you going to fight us, or what?"

"Not on your life, girly," Magolor laughed, then pulled some sort of electric field out of the air and around himself. "You should really join the winning side, lady. We get all the cool toys," he winked as the lightning warped him out of mid-air. They heard his voice call out as he left, "Have fun with your new playmates!"

Rolling her eyes, Sakura muttered, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "My, what a lovely person. We really should get to know him better."

Meta Knight chuckled once, hopping into fighting position right behind her, prepared to defend from the back. "Maybe, after this quest is over, we should have him come over to the castle for dinner sometime."

Sakura snickered. "Such an important guest... Help me to remember to tell the kitchen to use the fine china."

He smirked to himself. "I will be sure to make a note of that."

Staring straight at one of the monsters, Sakura called out in fake exasperation, "Come on, we don't have all night."

The monsters looked at each other. "Aren't they supposed to be scared, or something?" one asked.

"They probably are. Why else wouldn't they come over to us?" another pointed out.

"They've got that weird honor vibe going," another put in his two cents' worth. "They can't attack first, betcha."

"Well, then, let's just get on with it. I have a comic book at home I really want to finish," the first one sighed.

Meta Knight groaned as Sakura laughed. "Some ambush," she giggled. "Very well put together. You all are complete geniuses."

"Hey, I resemble that remark!" one grumped, leaping at them.

"Finally!" the two said in amusedly-annoyed unison. Kirby and Bandana Dee suddenly floated in, ready to fight as well. Meta Knight and Sakura instantly switched to guarding the air, simultaneously taking flight.

"Come at me, bro poyo!" Kirby grinned. Sakura had to giggle, he was just so dang cute.

Together, the four of them managed to work their way through the 'taskforce' within half an hour.

"Well, that was entertaining," she joked when the last monster was dealt with.

"Maybe, but it proves that I was right. Even though we did have lovely weather today-"

Interrupting, Sakura pointed out, "It's probably yesterday by now."

"All right then, yesterday. My point being, the good weather was a trick." A bolt of lightning in the sky and a crash of thunder punctuated the end of Meta Knight's little speech.

"Maybe so, but if those monsters were the only consequence of that good weather, then I still vote yes," she said sadly, as the stars began to be blocked by clouds again. She flew straight up and held one hand out, as if trying to keep the stars from leaving her. Of course, they did anyway soon after. She landed again and took Kirby and Bandana Dee by the hand. "Come on, we need to put you two back to bed. Late-night battles aren't good for you."

"Thank you's good, poyo." Kirby stuck his tongue out, slightly offended.

"All right, thank you. You two are super brave," she 'smiled.' "Now go to sleep, my little Star Warrior and Hero Dee." They soon did, proud looks on their young, innocent faces.

"I am afraid that the monsters were just the first of the consequences of today's reprieve," Meta Knight murmured.

"Probably so. I should've known to believe you. I'm sorry," she admitted.

"My apologies, as well. Even if I was nervous, I should not have been so terse with all of you," he told her.

She looked at him, deep sadness in her eyes even though her voice was happy. "Good night, Sir Knight."

He frowned to himself, but replied lightly, "Sleep well, Sakura."

He fell asleep soon later, but she couldn't now. Doing a sort of warrior's ballet through imaginary enemies, to keep her mind off the night's earlier events, she suddenly froze. That's why I am here. That's why I exist, she realized, turning and looking at her once teacher, now friend, in determination.

I exist to save the Masked Knight's life.