Chapter Text
An aeon ago in a remote corner of the galaxy, dust from a collapsing star gathered and came to life.
It awoke falling through the darkness of space, a lonely comet streaking across the never-ending void. Its destination was no more. Nobody had welcomed it to the world.
It was so cold. It was so, so small and so, so hungry. So alone, for so long. It shivered without warmth, cried without comfort and starved without food. It had no name. It held out hope.
It called out for help one more time like the dying wail of an imploding star.
It petered out and faded away. Large hands snapped its dimming shell up at last. Cold, cruel hands that sapped its last shred of hope and warmth and squeezed it until it couldn't breathe. "Come, my forsaken treasure from the stars, let me reshape you. I shall make you better than you or anyone could ever dream of."
It was so cold. And it was so weak. Father fed it. Father improved it. Father cut the weakness out of it and drew out its strength. Father showed it the glory of victory and the consequences of failure. It learned the motivation of pain and the weight of despair. It learned what nightmares were and how to spread them.
It had wings and magic now. Father had taught it well, taught it how to punish, how to betray. It could lure its prey in with its innocent face, then finish them with claws and fangs. "Strike fear in their hearts, then feast all you want, my dwarf star! Fill the emptiness in your core and never go hungry again!" All it had to do was to become a monster. A vicious, obedient pet.
It was good at it. It was the best at it! It was Father's useful weapon that knew no restraint! Father was so proud of it!
It was still so cold. And it was still so small. It made a secret friend who taught it how to smile. It learned about mercy and kindness. It learned about sweets. Its eyes shone! Its core felt warm and full at last!
Father didn't show mercy. Father made it feast and scolded it for its hesitation. Father punished it and discarded it on a desolate planet for its weakness. It was so cold again and it was in so much pain. So ravenously empty and lost.
Somebody found it. It did the only thing it knew. It lured them in and finished them with claws and fangs, as expected of Father's obedient pet. Its core was empty and cold as ice. It was strong and broken and victorious. Its prey had been so afraid. It had feasted and was no longer hungry. Father had taught it well. Father would be proud of it again.
Father would find use for it again.
Father never came back.
He was a monster with no name, no master and no purpose.
* * * * * * *
Meta Knight opened his eyes. Out of all the nightmares he'd had in his life, this was definitely the most irritating one, if only because he wasn't sure how much of it was memory and how much his imagination running wild with flowery nonsense and terrible what-ifs. He'd had one like it around this time every year for as long as he could remember. But it couldn't be true. Nobody remembered their own birth like that. It was just his mind wanting a different explanation for his origins than what his first master had given him.
He wasn't supposed to have nightmares anymore. Nobody in Dreamland was. Nightmare was defeated! There shouldn't be a sliver left of him anywhere, in anything. Or anyone.
He sat up, rubbed his face and looked at the time. Three o' clock. Much too early to get up, but he didn't feel like trying to sleep again yet. He shivered. It wasn't winter yet, was it? Then why did the old injury in his right wing ache like it was? Why did his core feel heavy with ice?
He got up, turned on the light and paced around his bedroom. Moving would help him warm up. He stretched his wings to relieve the tension that had built up in them. Round and round he went, from his bed, to his desk, to his cabinet and back in endless pursuit of warmth. His limbs had warmed up a little now, but his insides were still a ball of ice.
It was half past three and pacing was getting old. Plus, now he was dizzy too. Time for another plan. He sat down on his bed, opened the hidden compartment in his nightstand and took out his emergency chocolate bar. That usually helped him feel better.
The chocolate helped a little. With every piece that melted in his mouth he felt a little warmth return to him. He still wasn't ready to go back to sleep. Maybe he would read his book in the mean time. It would be nice if he could finish and close it off before tomorrow.
After all, he might never get the chance again after tomorrow.
* * * * * * *
Three days earlier Kirby had asked him a question he'd always dreaded.
"Meta Knight? When is your birthday? What kind of party would you like?"
He'd frozen. His birthday? Did he even have anything that qualified as a birthday? He couldn't tell Kirby about his origins when he didn't fully understand them himself. When they would only raise more unanswerable questions. But the boy wanted an answer. "I don't celebrate my birthday. There's no use for it." He looked away. Please drop the subject.
"Poyo? No birthday? But birthdays are so fun! You can have cake and presents and you can invite your friends and have a party!" Kirby beamed at him. Why not have a party for Meta Knight!
Sigh. He didn't want to disappoint the child. "I know that, Kirby. I know you love birthdays. But I don't love my birthday." Another year of existence didn't feel like something worth celebrating.
"But—"
"No! I said no. We will not speak of this again. Never ask about my birthday again." He spread his wings and took off. Aye, maybe that was too harsh. But he could not have this conversation right now! Or Kirby would want to know more about his origins and their uncanny resemblance to each other.
He couldn't let the truth come out. Not yet.
* * * * * * *
That afternoon Kirby rested on top of the castle roof. He liked coming here when he had to think about difficult things. King Dedede didn't like it so much, though.
Meta Knight had looked very upset earlier. He didn't even want to answer the question about his birthday! Meta Knight was normally polite to him, so why was this time different? Kirby tilted his head. Maybe Meta Knight had never had a fun birthday party and now didn't like parties anymore? But he always came to Kirby's birthday! Even if he only visited for a short time and stood quietly in the corner most of the time.
He laid down on his back, spread out and closed his eyes. Caaake. He really wanted cake. Birthday cake... Yummy...! Surprise party...for Meta Knight...? He jolted awake. Maybe somebody else knew when his birthday was! Then they could have a surprise party after all!
Time to investigate! He curled himself up and rolled off of the roof. "Wheeee~!"
He fell, bounced off a turret, landed a couple meters down and bounced up onto a flat surface. A balcony? He sat up and looked at the doors leading inside the castle. Oh! He knew this place. This was King Dedede's study! He walked closer and looked inside through the window in the door to see if he was here. Maybe King Dedede knew when Meta Knight's birthday was!
* * * * * * *
King Dedede sat at his desk, a letter in hand. Meta Knight'd written him that, some kind of unofficial report, 'n' his elegant handwritin' was as always impeccable. Now if only he could go 'n' figure out what the sentence "We must take into consideration the subject of averting the imminent decline of staff morale by diverting resources towards proper nourishment to the exclusion of instant noodles." was s'pposed to mean, he'd be golden. He leaned back in his chair. If Meta Knight wrote it, it was probably important, but he was kinda too busy makin' sure his attendants ate their veggies instead of junk food to go 'n' worry about whatever he wanted exclusive instant noodles for!
Maybe he just needed some fresh air. He'd go 'n' open the door a crack, do some stretches, give the ol' grey matter a rest. He got up, headed for the door — 'n' found an uninvited guest gazin' up at him.
That cursed pink ball was just standin' there...menacingly.
"Nope." Dedede closed the curtains and turned back to his chair. "Not dealin' with that today."
Tappin' on the door. Bangin' on the door? A gale-force wind rattlin' his door?! He sprinted back, opened the curtains and gestured at Kirby to stop. "Oi, alright! I'll hear ya out, if ye stop yer inhalin'!"
Kirby quieted down and Dedede opened the doors. He crossed his arms and puffed out his chest. "This better be important, ya li'l scamp! Y'should know, I was doin' my job 'n' nothin' else, so ye'd better not be here to scold me for stealin' or breakin' or somesuch again!"
Kirby looked up at King Dedede. He didn't have his hammer with him, so he couldn't really do much other than huff and puff at him. He stepped forward into the room. "It's about Meta Knight."
Dedede immediately deflated. "What? What happened to him?" He picked Kirby up, resistin' the urge to rattle him. "Is he hurt? Speak to me, Kirbs!"
Kirby blinked at him. "I don't think so?" He smiled at King Dedede. "I just wanted to ask when his birthday is!"
Now it was Dedede's turn to blink. "His birthday?" He pouted. "W-Well, I ain't tellin' ya that!"
Kirby pouted right back at him. "Why not? You don't want to have a surprise party for him?
Dedede blushed. "No! I mean, of course a party for him would be great!" He let his head hang. "...I dunno when his birthday is. He never told me." An' after he dodged the question the first time he'd never asked his knight when his birthday was again! Darn, that one stung. How his knight put up with him, he'd never get. He put Kirby back on the ground. Now that he was thinkin' 'bout it, Meta Knight wasn't what ye'd call generous with background information, now was he? He'd said barely a bitty thing 'bout his life before arrivin' on Popstar with the first couple of them Meta-Knights of his.
"King Dedede?"
He'd puzzled out a thing or two himself in time, of course. Like the way he always acted weird 'round this time a' year, actin' all frosty 'n' grave when the winter proper hadn't even dug it's claws into the land yet! Maybe a party would bring the cheer outta him again? What kind of cake would he like? Would he even eat any in front of 'em? How many guests would he be willin' to put up with? What special gift should he get him?
"King Dedede!" He pulled on Dedede's robe.
Aw, darn it! "What! Can't a guy think in peace?"
"If we don't know when his real birthday is we can still have a party, right? Let's have a party on the day he came here for the first time!" Kirby looked up at Dedede. He always celebrated his own birthday on the day he landed on Popstar!
Now, he had to give his pink pest credit, that there's an idea! The anniversary for that was...when again? It'd been some dull day in autumn just like this one when he'd arrived sudden as a storm with his crew 'n' offered their services. That sure had shaken things up, 'specially when he gave that quick as lightnin' demonstration of his skills. He reckoned that was the fastest he'd ever promoted someone. Never did get a straight answer outta him why he came to Dreamland though. Not back then, when he'd been darned frosty 'n' grave still.
Wait. Frosty 'n' grave? Oh, right. He remembered now.
That anniversary was in three days.
* * * * * * *
Meta Knight flew faster and faster in an effort to clear his mind. Why couldn't he calm down? What was this icy pit inside him that plagued him so? Was it really just uneasiness about something so trivial as a birthday party? Surely he could have endured it for a while. But the restlessness only grew deeper.
Around him stars flickered against a backdrop of auroras. Was he really up that high, approaching the border of space? He looked down at the frosty landscape and felt his insides grow colder and colder when he saw more and more rainbows.
He'd unthinkingly flown to Rainbow Resort, the home of the Dream Spring and its blessed Fountain of Dreams. The normally serene resting place of the Star Rod, a piece of which he'd once guarded as his first great test after allying with Dedede.
The place where Nightmare had met his end at Kirby's hand.
It must be a sign. The consequences of that fateful day...he would have to face them soon.
* * * * * * *
King Dedede headed towards the courtyard where the guards would be soon finishin' their drills. Now it wasn't a guard per se that he was lookin' for. No, it was somethin' else. Somethin' blue. Somethin' waddlin' into view right there! "Oi! Bandana boy!"
Bandee whipped around at the booming voice. "Wanya! Great King Dedede! Hello!" He made his best approximation of the guard salute. Oh, he couldn't get used to the real King Dedede talking to him...towering over him too...
Heh. He'd taken a shine to the kid. He hadn't known what to think when Meta Knight'd first dragged him along 'n' informed him the kid would be practicin' with the guards thrice weekly. Didn't seem like a real good plan, 'specially when he turned out to be that darned Kirby's friend. But wouldn'tcha know, the kid was barely a teen 'n' already gave some of the adults a run for their money! Heh. Droppin' some prodigy child in with the guards to give 'em a wake-up call was just like his Meta Knight! Now he was sure at some point the commander of the guard had made the kid their unofficial mascot.
But that wasn't why he wanted to see the kid. "Bandee, was it? Y'wouldn't happen to know when Meta Knight's birthday is, now would'ya?"
"Excuse me, Great King? Um, no, we haven't talked about birthdays. Sir Meta Knight likes to keep it professional." Although he was almost entirely sure that fancy whetstone left on his doorstep last week was a late birthday gift from him.
"Darn. Oh well. Me 'n' Kirby made a truce so we can organise a li'l party for him anyway. He ain't doin' it himself so we gotta do it for him, y'see? An' since he brought ya in 'n' all, yer invited if y'want."
A party! "I'd love to— I mean, I would be most honoured, Great King Dedede!
* * * * * * *
Meta Knight had been cold inside for days now. That always happened around this time of the year and as always his crew was concerned about him. Their furtive glances and whispering told him as much. But this wasn't something he could or would bother them with. So instead of their routine morning excercises together he had gone to the mountains to train his endurance and recenter himself. He needed to focus. If nothing else, he at least had Galaxia on his side. He would hone his skill with the blade. Going back to the basics and reminding himself of his strengths would fill the icy pit in his core. It always had before. Soon he would be a strong and capable leader to his crew again.
He drew Galaxia and raised her up — only to find her cold and heavy.
He couldn't feel her presence. He couldn't feel the reassuring hum of his blade telling him that as her Champion she was with him, he was worthy and he would be alright, as he always had. His blade was cold and quiet metal and nothing else. She hadn't rejected him, not exactly, or he would be in a world of pain right now. But she didn't respond to him either. Perhaps she had cut herself off from him because she'd realised the same thing he had.
Then this really was the end. He would do it tomorrow. The truth would come out then, for better or for worse.
* * * * * * *
Dedede paced back 'n' forth. All the party preparations were done. All of 'em except for one. Nobody had seen or heard of Meta Knight today. He'd even asked the Meta-Knights but they couldn't tell him anythin' other than that their leader had gone to hone himself at the crack of dawn again like he had yesterday. Now this sure wasn't the first time Meta Knight'd gone off on some ascetic trainin' somewhere on his own. But it sure was darned inconvenient he'd picked today. Maybe he'd caught wind of the party 'n' was lyin' low?
He looked at Kirby 'n' Bandee who'd put so much effort into drawin' 'n' craftin' a banner. He thought about the poor cake he'd specially made accordin' to —what he hoped was— Meta Knight's tastes, that would slowly dry out 'n' wither away by tomorrow if it was left uneaten. Now that Meta Knight'd better have a good excuse for stayin' away 'n' worryin everyone 'n' twarthin' their efforts to cheer him up!
He felt a tug at his robe. Kirby!
"King Dedede, I'm hungry! Can I have something to eat?" Kirby gazed up at him. He knew he wasn't allowed to touch the cake yet, but...
"Oi! Y'better not be thinkin' 'bout gobblin' up that whole thing! Y'know that's for Meta Knight!" This is what he got for allowin' the li'l scamp into his castle.
"When is he coming? I really wanna start the party!"
Ah, darn it! "I told you, I don't have the bittiest idea. He was s'pposed to be here already on the summons I sent him."
Kirby sat down, dejected. "I'm so hungry..."
Well now, what was he s'pposed to do 'bout that? He'd better come up with somethin' quick, though, or the pesky puff would be off raidin' his pantry. Unless... "Fine. I got somethin' for ya." He pulled a paper bag with three cinnamon rolls out of his robe. He'd been savin' those for a snack since breakfast, but this was an emergency. He handed one to Kirby, who swallowed it whole and offered another to Bandee, who thankfully had somethin' resemblin' table manners.
"Yay!" Kirby blinked. "I'm still hungry though."
Oh, that pink pest! He oughta clobber him! "Fine, y'can have the last one, it's stale anyway." Kirby swallowed that one whole too. "Y'know what? Why don'tcha eat the bag too while yer at it! At least clean up the trash, if ya intend on robbin' me blind."
"Okay!" Kirby inhaled the bag. "I feel better now. Thanks King Dedede!" He happily went back to drawing.
Dedede went back to pacin'. Darn it. There went his snack, gone with the wind, never to be seen again. An' all that pacin' had him sweatin' now! He sat down 'n' reached into his robe for his handkerchief. Huh? Somethin' fell on the ground when he pulled it out.
A folded note? In his pocket? With today's date on it? Oi, he knew that handwritin'! When did Meta Knight slip this in here?
"The day has come for me to cleanse myself and clear my conscience for good. You and only you will share this nightmarish burden with me as you did back then. You know what must be done and where."
Cryptic as always. Although, cleanse myself? You and only you will share this nightmarish burden? You know where?
Could he be talkin' 'bout the Fountain of Dreams? So that's where he'd gone 'n' disappeared to! But why would Meta Knight want to meet him there? Why now? Why did he have the stinkin' feelin' he wasn't goin' to like this in the ittiest bit?