Meta Knight | メタナイト

Time continues to drag on, and I get more and more anxious. Hopping down out of the tree so I don't wake the children, I begin to pace back and forth in front of the tree, wondering what on earth the young Waddle Dee could be facing at the moment, wishing I had the bravery or the ability to go in, find her, and help her find her way out of the nightmare she must currently be facing. But the cave stays silent.

At least when Kirby was facing his nightmare, I could hear his cries of terror as he struggled through it, but when I entered to try and help him, I couldn't find him. His presence was nowhere to be felt, even if I could hear him. Of course, with Bandanna Dee, I couldn't even hear him, so I had no idea when he was facing his nightmare. But now, as time continues to stretch on and no sound comes from the cave, I cannot help but grow more and more afraid for my young friend within.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, a scream comes forth from the cave, at first filling me with a strange kind of relief. But no sooner than the relief comes, it goes again, as I realize that the urgent, wordless cry that goes on, growing more and more ragged, is not a scream of fear, but a rising wail of agony.

She is not merely being frightened, no matter how desperately. Something in there is torturing her. Why else would she be making that awful sound, the sound of a being who is in so much pain they cannot even string a coherent thought together, the only sound that they can make to try and release some of the pent-up anguish?

Cold fear seeps through my heart as I clutch my sword tighter and take off flying for the cave. Forget the fear and the nightmares, I have to help her, no matter how fierce the monster is. I can't leave her to face whatever it is she is facing.

Within the cave, I raise my sword for light, casting my eyes all over, hoping and praying that I see her. Thank goodness, I do, but the sight thoroughly confuses me even beyond my fear.

Sakura is half-collapsed against one of the cave walls, face screwed up in pure agony, gloves clawing at her head (but doing no damage, since they're made of soft cloth). That makes my heart ache, of course, but the confusion comes from what is standing right in front of her, eyeing her in an odd mixture of amusement and irritation.

A tiny, ball-shaped, off-pink monster, barely half her size, stands there, with large eyes, tiny mouth, small orange feet, no paws, and an orange-with-beige-polka-dots nightcap on its head. A Noddy, giver of bad dreams if you fall asleep too close to one, but otherwise a harmless creature. Eating one will only give Kirby the Sleep Ability, the most useless of the Copy Abilities, for it does only exactly what its name implies— that is, puts him to sleep for a few minutes (which is every bit as inconvenient as it sounds, especially when he's surrounded by enemies). So how could it have caused her this kind of nightmare?

Finally noticing me, the Noddy informs me in a bored, girlish tone of voice, "I didn't do that. At least, I don't think I did. Either way, I think she's probably gonna be a vegetable if she ever manages to get herself out of this."

Sakura, who has been mostly writhing in silent agony for the past minute, gives out another cry of pain and continues clawing at her head.

Not knowing what to do, I turn to the tiny monster. "What do you mean, you didn't do that?"

Rolling its eyes, the creature sighs heavily. "I really have to just spell it out for you, don't I? Look, I'm the one who's been playing with you four all night. You were dumb enough to walk into my cave; I decided to have some fun with you. No harm there."

"Yes, but you're just a little Noddy," I mutter in confusion. "You cause nightmares when people are asleep, but never anything so vivid and real, and never when they're awake."

It snickers. "Why do you think I picked this damp and cold cave to be home? It's the biggest tenebrisium deposit I've ever seen."

"Tenebrisium," I groan, inwardly shoving my face into the palm of my glove. "Of course. The dark ore. Any dark force near it is greatly strengthened by its presence. It must all be shut up on the other side of the wall..." Thinking harder, I realize that we've probably been under the Noddy's influence since not long after we entered this cursed cavern. "So everything from when we first heard you... the growling, the earthquakes, the tunnels, everything... that was all you. That was all just in our heads."

"Yup," the monster nods, turning its attention back to the anguished, unconscious Sakura. "Geez. What does she have in there, anyway?"

"What nightmare are you giving her?" I demand suddenly, turning my sword on it. If I kill it, she should be freed.

Glaring at me, eyeing my sword nervously, the Noddy orders, "Hey, hey, calm down. I said I didn't do this. Well, not directly. I was giving her a nightmare, yeah, but it was so boring. She wasn't even fighting you; she was just gonna let you kill her. So I figured I'd dig beyond her current consciousness back into the memories she's forgotten of her earlier years. You know how Waddle Dees work; always forgetting stuff. Well, there was nothing interesting there, either, so I was just about to give up when I hit a block."

"A 'block?'" I repeat, confused. "What do you mean, 'a block?'"

"I mean a block. Someone, sometime, has locked up a bunch of her earliest memories even deeper than her subconscious, somewhere where even she doesn't know they're there. So, I, uh, pushed the block out of the way, only for the tenebrisium to reach in and push me out. I have no idea what I let out. I also have no idea why the stuff's so interested in her. All I can say is, you'd better watch out for her, if she's not a vegetable when she comes back. Who knows what she's been?"

Growing more afraid, I shake my head. Tenebrisium only reaches its power out towards those who not only are capable of using dark power, but actually have at some point in their past. Why would it be interested in Sakura? What is it that could be hidden in her mind that someone would wish to block away from her? She's just a normal Waddle Dee... isn't she?

Shaking off any thoughts even slightly related to that concept, I stab my sword through the Noddy so fast that the only response it can give is a single yelp of shock before it's gone. Part of me still thinks that once it's gone, Sakura's pain will be too, and she will be freed. But of course, she isn't.

Quickly and cautiously, I sheathe my sword and carry her out of the cave, hoping the distance from the tenebrisium will help end her agony. A moment after we leave the cave, she suddenly freezes stock-still, her gloves frozen to her head still, her body limp and motionless.

Carefully placing her on the ground under the tree we have been using for shelter all night, I eye her worriedly, not knowing what to do, as I pull my last electric lantern out of my cape and switch it on so I have some light to work with. My instinct says to wake her up, but that might do her more harm than good. Finally, a long moment later, just as I prepare to try and gently shake her awake, she springs awake by herself with a final cry of terror, only to see me and grow even more afraid. Scrambling up onto her feet, she tries to back away only to run into the tree and continue panicking.

"Sakura," I say in a gentle voice. "It's over. You're awake now. The nightmare is over."

Her eyes dart down to my sheathed sword and then back up to me, causing another wave of fear to go through me. Did entering the cave drag me back into my nightmare? Am I going to have to live through that again? Not wanting to chance it, I unsheathe my sword and drop it on the ground, gently kicking it a few feet away from me. "Sakura. I'm not going to hurt you."

"You don't think I'm a monster? Even though I couldn't get to you in time to help with the Lightning, even though I let Kirby die?" she demands, voice shaking, eyes watering. She continues to tremble as if she is freezing cold, still pressed away from me.

"Sakura, that was a nightmare. You are not a monster, and Kirby is fine," I tell her quietly, gesturing up into the tree. Her eyes follow, and once she sees the sight of Kirby peacefully sleeping in the branches above, only a branch above Bandanna Dee, she relaxes just a bit. The children must both have been truly exhausted if they have managed to sleep through all of this, but somehow, I am thankful they don't have to see this, both for their sake and Sakura's.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief, the Kirby Dee slumps down into a sitting position against the tree and buries her face in her gloves. "Thank goodness. I'm not a monster. I didn't fail you. Thank goodness."

The knowledge that I am, in a sense, her worst fear makes me feel even worse about the whole situation. She can't possibly believe that I'd ever harm her over a mistake, even that grave of one, can she? Do I really come off as that heartless and uncaring, that hateful and spiteful, even to the few people I can consider friends? Sighing heavily, I return to the cave just long enough to retrieve our lanterns, batteries long dead, and the blankets, all left exactly where they were when the nightmare first began. We were all just standing there the entire time, trapped in our own heads by a tiny monster and a cave-full of dark ore.

Once back outside, I throw a blanket over the trembling Waddle Dee and then carefully pick my sword back up and sheathe it, back turned on her as I do so. Part of me desperately wants to know what it was that caused her such anguish and agony, knowing as I do that that part of it was not caused by the Noddy's nightmares, but the rest of me knows that it is hardly any of my business. And yet, I can't help but be afraid that there is something sinister buried deep in her mind, placed there by someone else.

"Meta Knight," she whispers softly, out of nowhere. "I didn't just have the nightmare about failing you and everyone else. There was... something else. But I can't remember. It's all just... white pain. That's all I can describe it as. Pain so strong, so blinding, that it was white." Shuddering again just at the thought, she tells me, eyes full of fear as she stares up at me. "All I can remember is a tiny puffball with fangs. She was a she... I think... but that's all I can remember. She looked like Kirby, but not pink, I don't think, and she was much smaller. She must have been only a baby, but she had fangs, and she hated me. I feel like there's something else, too, but I can't remember it. It just keeps darting away, like it doesn't... like it doesn't want to be remembered." Hugging the blanket around herself, she stares down at the ground. "The pain... it... it wasn't mine, I don't think, even though I felt it. None of it was mine. It was someone else's, but I was the one experiencing it."

Shaking my head in confusion, I turn away from her for a minute. A Star Warrior with fangs... There are stories, but only stories. That's one of those few terrifying things in the Galaxy that is, as far as I know, actually only a myth. Aside from the Copy Abilities, Star Warriors are relatively helpless, hence why those of us who took on the role of soldier wore (and wear, in my case) so much armor. It's why we learned how to fight even without the Abilities. We had to, to survive. We didn't have claws or fangs or any other way to defend ourselves.

In the end, even what we did have wasn't enough.

Shaking off the pain this stream of thought always brings with it, I turn toward her once again, not knowing what to tell her. Fanged Star Warriors can't possibly be real, so what she saw must have been another nightmare. But that doesn't explain why the tenebrisium was so interested in her, or why she had a 'block' in her mind, or who or what placed everything hidden behind that block into her brain.

It reminds me, somehow, of the mysterious friend I knew so long ago. I never knew where she came from, and I never will, I suppose. She had the kindest heart... she would never kill unless she absolutely had to... and yet, there was that once. I saw what she had hidden within her. I saw what she could do when she was cornered and there was no other way out. Yes, she assured me that it was a chance occasion, something she kept locked away, something she did not know the source of, but then there was what he said... what Nightmare said...

No. Nightmare was a liar. I can't believe what he said, just like I can't believe what the Noddy said. What Sakura saw tonight was all the creation of the Noddy, carried on by the tenebrisium even after the monster passed. Nothing more.

Glancing back at her, I can see that she's still looking up at me, as if I hold the answers, as if I can tell her what happened and why she saw what she saw. "It was only a nightmare," I finally tell her with a sigh. "As far as I know, there is no such thing as Star Warriors with fangs. All of it was only a nightmare. The monster within would have been harmless, but the cave is..."

"Hexed, cursed. I know. We can't have kept wandering endless tunnels like that if it wasn't," she murmurs softly, surprising me by her prudence, even if it's incorrectly directed.

"True, but also false. The monster was tiny, nothing like what we thought it sounded like. From the moment you and I prepared to duel, it had us trapped in its nightmare. The earthquakes, tunnels, everything; none of it was real." Reaching up under my mask to rub my weary eyes, I tell her, "The cave was cursed, yes; otherwise the monster would have been unable to touch us. It was just a Noddy. But it was not cursed for the reasons you pointed out."

"Oh," she replies, unable to come up with much else. Now, to my relief, she seems fine, even if shaken and exhausted. Just a few minutes ago, though, the look on her face... the sounds she was making... I never want to see her in such pain again, even if it is all only in her head. It was an awful sight... and I will do my best to ensure she never has to experience it again.

In exhaustion, I fall down against the tree next to her and give a quiet groan, the long day and even longer night finally beginning to catch up to me now that all of my companions are safe.

Next to me, Sakura asks quietly, "Did you have a nightmare too, Sir?"

Images of her cowering away from me, accusing me of destroying the others, and then fading away flash through my mind once again, making me shudder violently once. Of course, that does not go unnoticed by my young friend, and I can sense her resulting concern. Forcing my voice steady, I tell her, "I did, young one, but I do not wish to talk about it." A faint, wan smile creeps across my face as I tell her quietly, "But I'm sure you will be most gratified to know that indeed, I can be frightened, when the occasion truly calls for it."

However, unlike the responding giggle that I expected and hoped for, what I receive instead is a sad sigh as she leans against me, making me jump a bit. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," she tells me quietly, voice kind but sad.

Clearing my throat (after all, I still don't like being touched, even by those I think of as friends), I reply, "From what it seems, yours was worse, my friend. I felt very little pain; just fear, mainly."

"Okay..." she mutters softly, a bit disbelievingly, and then yawns deeply. "Is it safe to sleep now? I'm so tired... and my head really hurts, Sir..."

"Go ahead," I tell her, only to receive a quiet snore in response. Evidently she wasn't even able to stay awake long enough to hear her respectful request granted. Part of me wishes to scoot away, but I'm worried she'd fall over and be woken up again most unpleasantly, and so I sigh and lean further back against the tree, resigning myself to being used as a headrest for the time being. Closing my eyes, I decide to try and get some rest too.

But until I manage to fall asleep some time later, the only thoughts I have dancing urgently around in my head (besides the ever-present threat of the Lightning) are of two friends, one new and one old, both hiding a secret that I cannot know, but only fear.

Fear for them, and fear for what they truly are, hidden underneath the surface.