Meta Knight|メタナイト

Nudging my pupil with a foot from where she lies weakly trembling against a tree, feeling rather disappointed in her, I order, "Kirby Dee. Wake up, you need to eat a Maxim Tomato." Even after I finished off the Poppy Bros. Seniors, I did not help her right away. It was her fight. But she just sat there, just let the young monsters attack her. There was once where I thought she had found the ability to attack, but no. She grew weak at the last second and proceeded to just stare blankly at the Poppy Bros. Junior she had cornered in a way that made me wonder if she had become a regular Waddle Dee again without warning, apologizing to it and leaving herself entirely open to attack.

With a quiet moan, she wakes up, still shaking. Looking up at me, she lets out a single sob of shame and sorrow, but then shoves her gloves against her eyes, forcing herself to stop. Breath shaking, she takes a moment to try and calm herself, and finally accepts the Maxim Tomato without a word a long minute later. As soon as she has finished it and her color has returned, I gesture for her to get up and follow me.

"I-I'm sorry," she suddenly sniffles from behind me, somehow making me more irritated with her than I already am. "I just couldn't. I can't hurt anything. I just can't."

For a moment, I feel like snapping at her about how only someone weak would be unable to end an enemy, and about how I have killed so many things in my life that one more hardly makes a difference anymore and that she'll be the same way someday. But then I remember that I was exactly the same once, a long time ago.

A very long time ago.

And truly, I would never want to see her as battle-hardened, emotionless, and uncaring as I have been forced to become.

Shuddering as a wave of mental pain washes over me, I pause to lean against a tree with one glove, still holding my cape to myself with the other. Kirby Dee freezes behind me, obviously frightened. "Sir? Sir? Are you all right??"

Forcing my breathing and racing heart to calm, I shove the memories away and curse myself for my weakness. Someday. Someday I will succeed in fully turning my heart to stone, and then nothing will hurt, ever again. Nothing will ever be able to make me stop short like this, blinking back hot tears of anger and sorrow at all the things I have seen. That day cannot get here sooner.

Kirby Dee reaches out a glove to me and rests it on my shoulder. She of all people should know that I do not like to be touched, and so it is hardly my fault when I turn at her and roar, "Get away from me!"

Shaking, eyes wide, she stumbles back a bit. "I-I'm sorry, I—"

Growling, I bark at her, "Would you please, for the love of all things peaceful, stop it with the incessant 'I'm sorry's!" As tears bubble up in her eyes, I continue, voice filled with rage and hatred, enough to change my eyes to red, I am sure, "What good do you think 'sorry' ever did anyone? Do you think 'sorry' ever saved any lives? Do you think 'sorry' can keep a soldier from being killed by a monster? What if Kirby fell at your side because you were too weak, too afraid to kill the monster that wanted him dead? Hmm? What good would 'sorry' do you then? Would 'sorry' reanimate his corpse?"

Shaking her head in shock and hurt, the Waddle Dee stumbles back from me farther. "Sir, I..."

I've had enough. Waving her off angrily, I shout, "You are pathetic. Get away from me. Be gone, you weak, impotent, emotional, disgusting little child."

That's the final straw, as she sobs once and lets out, "Fine. If that's what you want, then fine!" Spinning around, she dashes off into the woods.

All alone.

Instantly, regret floods through me as horror at what I've done begins to replace the rage I feel, but not quickly enough to get me to say anything until the sound of her crashing through the trees fades out of hearing. When my rage finally takes second place, I growl and ball one glove up into a fist, slamming it against the tree I lean against bitterly. She didn't deserve that. She's a child, yes, but that's not a bad thing, and it's hardly her fault. The fact that she was not able to kill on her first try is not something to be ashamed of; it shows she values life and is loathe to cast it away when the only one in danger is herself.

Breath still shaking, I lean my head against the tree and shake it once, slowly. "Curse you, Meta Knight. The young one did nothing to deserve any of that outburst. Why can you still not control your temper? Why are you still so weak when it comes to controlling your own emotions?" Growling once again, I push myself away from the tree and sigh heavily, finally entirely calmed down, even if now I am much angrier at myself.

When the memories get too strong for me, I cannot be kind to anyone around me. Everything annoys me. It is not the fault of anyone around me that I have seen what I have seen and done the things I've done, but somehow, it always somehow becomes their fault. I always seem to find some way to blame my misery on someone else.

Wrapping my cloak around myself again, I narrow my eyes in determination and start to follow the thankfully-totally-visible trail Kirby Dee left as she plowed through the forest underbrush at a brisk walk. If it weren't for the low-hanging branches all around me, I would fly with the batwings my Dimensional Cape can become, but as it is, that would not be a wise idea.

Exhaling in frustration, I curse myself yet again for sending her running and for taking so long to calm myself down while she fled farther and farther from me. Who knows how far away she's gotten? She's probably lost, that's for certain. Add to that the fact that the Woods are filled with all manner of unpleasant creatures, and the situation turns even more grim. At least she has her sword to protect her, but she's already demonstrated that she's unable to use it. Lovely. Wonderful work, Meta Knight.

Her trail is easy enough to follow for quite a ways, but eventually, I realize with a sinking feeling that I am approaching the river that cuts through the center of the Woods. Once I reach the river and her trail vanishes, I fly across to see if she's left any muddy footprints, but the ground is rocky here and offers no help. There's no visible breakage at the opposite edge of the forest, either. She seems to have disappeared.

With a deep breath of worry, I close my eyes and search for even the tiniest sign of her presence, only to come up empty. Then, a thought of fear strikes me. Kirby Dee can't fly. As far as I know, she can't swim. The river's far too deep to wade through... Thankfully, then I remember that she can puff up and float like Kirby can. Hopefully, nothing like what I was fearing has happened.

Opening my mouth, I go to loudly call for her, not caring a whit about any monsters that might hear. Let them come. I can handle them easily, and at the moment, Kirby Dee's safety is my main priority. But before I can get any words out, my unspoken summons is met with a distant, dreadful sound I've never wished to hear.

Somewhere in the Woods ahead of me, Kirby Dee screams. And it's not just a scream of fear, it's a scream of terror, a scream of blind horror. Something's found her, and it's something that she is certain is hostile.

As soon as I've processed the sound, I spread my cloak out into dark, leathery batwings and shoot off through the Woods, ignoring the branches that scratch against me as I fly, no matter how they sting. When I am finished saving my pupil, I can change them back into a cloak and let it repair itself. Until then, I can bear the cost of my heartlessness.

I can only hope the true cost is no higher.

A moment later, her scream repeats itself, much closer, but now it's even more dreadful sounding, laced with pain. Grimacing, I push my wings faster, unable to truly comprehend the anger I feel at myself right now. Just earlier, I was mourning the fact that today she would have to lose some of her innocence. Now, I've placed her into a situation where she may be in danger of losing her life.

Finally, I reach the part of the woods her two screams came from, fear growing as no more sounds come from her. Landing, I find myself surrounded by giant, sticky spiderwebs with strands as thick as ropes. "Mariels," I mutter to myself, and then softly curse, "Shotzo."

Mariels are a rarer monster, one you don't run into very often, but they're quite dangerous when you do. For those of you who do not know, Mariels are like spiders, only much crueler, and made out of concentrated, somehow-living dust and ash. One like Kirby cannot swallow them, for they are deathly toxic. Cautiously, I swing my sword through a web which blocks me and carefully call out, "Kirby Dee?"

A muffled cry answers me, followed by continued muffled pleading. Hurrying toward the sound, I soon reach a web stretched up far above me between two trees, with Kirby Dee wrapped up in it, everything but her head from her eyes up and her toes covered in web. Her sword lies on the ground below her, far too far away for her to reach.

Relieved to find her alive, I draw my sword and spread my wings once again and carefully fly up to her. "There you are," I murmur, making my voice as kind as possible. "Let's get you down from there and get ourselves out of here, shall we?"

Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head fiercely, protesting with words I can't hear.

Rolling my eyes a bit, I carefully slide my sword through the web around her, being careful not to harm her in any way, unable to help a small sense of satisfaction at the way Galaxia cleaves through the thick strands like so much butter. "While I understand your hurt, I would think you could humble yourself enough to be able to allow yourself to be saved by me," I comment in a low, careful voice, not wanting to alert whatever Mariel owns this nest to my presence.

As soon as the web clears her face, Kirby Dee gets out in a terrified shriek, "Look behind you, please! Just look, quick—"

Eyes widening at her words, I spin around, only to be met by a swing of a giant, black leg, which is the last thing I see before my world goes black.