A/N: Here's another one-shot from yours truly! And by the way, they're gijinka. If you have a problem with this, well, screw you.

Deep Blue

Click. Click. Click. The sound of my metal shoes echoed hollowly off the unyielding stone walls, helping to push me deeper in my contemplation. Moonlight wavered between columns, separated by black shadows into separate squares. Even though my body cried out for sleep, my mind was working faster than it ever did during the daytime hours. Random flashes of memory danced in front of my eyes, propelling any thoughts of my bed and pillow away.

I could still remember everything. Every battle, every scream made of pain or sorrow. Intermingled were some happier times, but they became small and insignificant compared to the torrent of negative emotion. Finally, my legs gave out from exhaustion, and I slumped against a wall, letting my weight carry me to the floor. Every cell screamed for the peaceful blackness of sleep, but I simply stared ahead at the cratered moon, letting the wind caress my hair as the flashes became more and more separated from reality.

Then, suddenly, she was in my thoughts, helping shove the gory images into the abyss. The way her sun-blond hair bounced as she ran to heal Kirby after he got another soccer ball in his face. The particular shade of her neon orange tennis shoes as she ran the perimeter of the castle. The way she would step up to defend her friends from King Dedede with fire burning in her emerald green eyes. I moaned and licked my lips, then tried to get up again. I swayed for a moment, then fell down onto the carpet, and slept.

"Are you sure, Meta Knight? Why would you want to teach a total klutz like me to use a sword? I'm more likely to kill you when I trip over a rock then actually learn anything." She said as she hefted the sword in one hand, laying the blade on the other to test its weight.

"Well, it can't hurt to see, right?" I raised an eyebrow at her. She stopped her inspection and looked at me for a moment, then threw her hands in the air.

"Okay, fine. But when you're dying on the floor, don't come crying to me."

"Deal."

We went down into the basement and began to train. At first, she was a complete failure, unable to find her center of balance, not able to hold the sword right, and almost tripping over her own feet. After several hours however, she slowly began to improve. I stopped us both for a moment and waited until we had caught our breath before saying,

"You're improved slightly. I'm going to be a little harder on you, okay?" She nodded, smiling.

"Bring it."

We continued, clangs of hardened steel resounding against our ears. I stepped in closer, thrusting Galaxia towards her in a surprise assault. She did the same, and there was a grating screech as our swords ran along each other's blades until our wrists touched. An electric shock went up my arm and into my heart, almost making me drop the sword.

'I'm actually touching her.' Was the only thing I thought. Her skin was soft, like the petals of a flower, and slightly warm and damp from sweat. I grabbed onto my emotion and forced it under control, knowing that if I let it develop any more, it would end badly for me and her.

We quickly yanked apart, and for a moment, I thought I could see a slight flush color her cheeks. But then we were back to training, and there wasn't another chance to address it.

We both stopped when the sun touched the horizon, our swords feeling like lead bricks and salt stinging our eyes. I smiled beneath my mask.

"You did well for your first day." I remarked. She breathed in for another heartbeat before replying,

"Thanks."

"I think that's all for now." She then suddenly came over and swung both her arms around me in a hug. I simply stood there, not sure what to do, until I put up my arms and wrapped them around her. My heart began to speed up, and I could feel the blood roar in my ears. After several seconds we separated, and my pulse began dipping back to normal. She handed the practice sword back to me, then left quietly, her bare feet making no sound. I simply stood there, frozen, staring at the door like I hoped I could see some kind of remnant shadow, a faint outline of her.

"Fumu." I whispered, trying to pull my head back down from its loft in the clouds. I took a deep, shaky breath and touched my chest, where a strange, warm feeling had settled. Deciding it was nothing, I left to put the weapons away.

'Four years ago.' I thought as I awoke from my fretful slumber. She had only been fourteen when that occurred, two years after Nightmares defeat. I remember she had been determined to learn how to use some kind of weapon, so I had decided to teach her before she tried something alone and got herself hurt. The moon had barely passed from its previous position, so it was likely I had only been asleep for about fifteen minutes. I got up again, putting my outstretched hand against a wall to keep from falling back down.

Hoping that maybe some air would clear my head, I wrapped my cloak tighter around me and began making my way down to the courtyard. When I began feeling grass under my shoes, I fell to my knees and began to sway again, shivering at the cold breeze that whipped around my body. Forcing my aching legs back upright, I began running out of the gate, across the drawbridge, going faster and faster, as if it would help me outrun the past I had sealed behind fathomless walls.

Braking near a cliff, I stopped and stared out over the deep blue ocean, my sides heaving, shoving white misty breath from my nostrils like an angry dragon. My entire body trembled and quivered like a bowstring right after firing an arrow, so I sat on the wet grass, quaking with fear and suppressed emotion. I sat like that for what seemed like lifetimes, but was likely only a few minutes, listening to the waves break over the rocks, sending up roaring spray like a great whales spume.

"Meta Knight?"

I nearly swore as I leaped up, almost throwing myself over the cliff to a painful death below. Turning around, I saw Fumu standing behind me, blushing and rocking on her heels. She took a step towards me, while I regained my composure.

"What are you doing out here, Fumu? It's late, and you should be in bed right now." I scolded.

"I'm eighteen now." She shrugged with a slightly exasperated tone. I flicked my eyes up and her, taking in her entire length.

After Nightmares defeat six years past, she had begun growing rapidly and developing in her chest area. Her legs and arms had become long and wiry, while she let her hair grow down to the waist and let her skin tan. My breath stopped. Even in just jeans and her pink-and-green t-shirt, she looked breathtaking.

"Well, do you want to sit here with me? It's not too cold out tonight." I asked, patting the ground beside me. She stared at me, dubious, for a moment, then sat cross-legged next to me. We were both silent, but then Fumu spoke up,

"Are you okay, Meta Knight?" She asked. I looked at her and plastered a look of questioning on my face.

"Of course I'm all right! Why wouldn't I be?"

"I've been noticing that during the day, it seems like you're barely able to stay up. Whenever I talk to you, there's this glassy look in your eyes, like you're not even listening."

"I just haven't been getting enough sleep lately, that's all."

"Should I go talk to Dedede about it?" She stood up and was about to walk away when I grabbed her hand.

"No, please. Not yet, anyway. Just…sit by me." She obeyed and huddled close to me, like I could shield her from the swift land breezes. For a moment, I looked at her and wondered what would have happened to her had Nightmare been left undefeated. I shook the thought away, deciding not to think about that and instead concentrated on the way her body pressed warmly against mine, the gentle rise and fall of her chest in its predetermined syncopated rhythm.

Looking back, I can't exactly tell when I first began thinking about her all the time. I would have to guess right around the time of her fourteenth birthday was when I began graduating from thinking of her just as a friend or comrade to something more. All those years, I had been able to keep my emotions in check, sealing them up like I did everything else that inconvenienced me. But soon, they began crossing over into my waking mind. It was subtle signs at first, just stumbling or almost tripping over a carpet or crashing into a wall, all while thinking about her. I finally decided that I would tell her how I felt tonight, or die trying. And if she rejected me…well I tried not to think that far ahead.

"Fumu…Have you ever loved anybody?" I asked quietly. She looked up at me.

"Well, I love Kirby and Bun and Mom and Dad. Why did you ask that?"

"It's just that, I've loved a lot of people, just like you have. Jecra… and Garlude… and Sir Arthur…I wish I could see them again." My throat closed up as tears blurred in my eyes. She reached over and squeezed my hand.

"Please don't cry, Meta Knight. There's got to be something left for you to look forward to." I lept up and turned on her, openly crying by now.

"Except there's nothing! Don't you see? All I do is patrol around the castle, once, twice, three times, training Kirby and Sword and Blade when there's no point anymore! Will I just keep doing the same thing, every day, until I can finally be rested in a coffin six feet in the ground? Sometimes, I wonder what keeps me from jumping off that cliff right there."

"Meta Knight…"

"Fine, I'll say why. I love you, Fumu. Love you with all my heart, mind, and soul. Every night, I dream of the way your hair dances in the summer twilight, of the way you captured and held me captive every waking second. I don't care if you don't feel the same way, because I feel like this about you and nothing going to change that. But now, I don't think anything can make me stay. Not even you."

"Meta Knight, what are you trying to say?"

So that was it then. She didn't love me. Well, there was no point in keeping up this dead-end conversation. At least it made things a lot easier. I looked at her, then out over the ocean. The moon was full and bright, casting the wave crests in a silver sheen. I sighed inwardly and finally came to a realization.

"My time is over." I said, and began walking toward the cliff. At the edge, I stopped and looked up at the constellation Orion, and turned to her. Rocks crumbled beneath me.

"Goodbye, Fumu. I love you."

Then I threw my arms outward, letting my weight carry me over the edge. As I hurtled towards the sea, I wondered what would happen when they found my body. All of a sudden, there was water all around me. In my nose, my ears, my mouth, my eyes. It forced its way in, pressing on my lungs with all its might. My clothes became heavy, and I began to sink down. A distance above me, I faintly heard a splash. The water was caressing me, speaking in hushed whispers, telling me that everything would be okay if I surrendered myself. Opening my mouth, the last of my air drifted upwards in bright columns of luminescent pearls. I felt a hand grip my shoulder, and a pull that brought me up towards my rescuer.

'Fumu, why can't you just let me die? There is nothing beyond death, and that is what I deserve, for leaving you to face the world alone.' I thought. My lungs were burning, screaming for the sweet gas, but I would have to deny them for just a little bit longer. Blackness had begun to swarm the edges of my vision, taking me closer to the endless void.

That was when her lips pressed against mine. They were soft and wet and salty all at once, locked against mine in a reverent dance that had been repeated since ages past and by people whose bones had long turned to dust in the eternal catacombs of time. I felt like I was inflating with emotion, then realized that she was pushing air into my body, helping me hold on for a little longer. We separated, two different entities once more, and she looked deep into my eyes.

There I saw a swirling sea of emotion, almost too deep to understand. I saw happiness and sadness and worriment and resignation and motherly protection. And I saw love. It filled her soul, seeming like it would make her glow from the inside out. How wrong, how stupid I had been! She had loved me for a long time, but had been too scared to try and tell me. My soul felt so light with happiness and relief, I worried it would slip away. Our hands grasped tightly around each other like lifelines, and I felt the callouses that had built up over the years, the lines in her palm where the skin folded over itself, and the slight ledge her fingernails created.

Instinct took over, and I kicked my legs, sending me towards the surface. The water turned a lighter shade, and soon I could see the moon rippling above me. Using the last of my energy, I broke through the surface, coughing and gasping, breathing air like a dying man drinks water. I treaded in place for several minutes, waiting while my lungs were cleansed of salt water. It was only then that I remembered Fumu was still down there. Trying not to panic too badly, I took in several massive gulps and dived again.

For several dozen feet, I couldn't see anything. Going deeper, I began to pick out rocks and sand. Another couple feet, and everything suddenly became as clear as if it was daytime. Every rock, every shell, every fish, was pointed out in stunning clarity. I pushed away the urge to gasp at the beauty, knowing that if I did, both of us would die.

Looking down, I saw her below me, her hair having turned an almost silver in the light, waving in the current like a signal flag. I grabbed beneath her arms and pulled, only to find out that something had trapped her. Swimming down, I saw her ankle had been trapped between some rocks. Before trying to clear them away, I swam back up to the surface. After reliving my body of its toxic load of carbon dioxide, I went back down and was able to clear enough rubble to free her. Grabbing around her waist, I pulled hard, and forcing my legs together, I moved them up and down like a fish towards the surface.

Ascending was an absolute nightmare. She sagged against my body, dead weight pulling me down, while my entire body screamed to let her go.

'Shut the fuck up, body. I'm saving her, and nothing that will stop me.' I thought.

Everything seemed to be crawling by in slow motion, while a brand of fiery iron had constricted around my lower chest. Blackness crawled in again, until I was only concentrating on moving my legs up and down, not letting her slip, pursing my lips in a tight line so no water would make it in. Suddenly, I was through the skin of ocean, back in air again, heaving and coughing and gasping all at once. She flopped like an empty sack away from me, pale and grey, and I shook her gently.

"Fumu? Are you okay? Come on, Fumu, you got to wake up. We have to bring you back home." I wheezed with effort. When there was no response, I gave up and swam towards shore, kicking and flailing to keep us both from drowning.

After laying her on the sand, I ripped a hole down the front of her shirt using only my hands. Putting one hand over her heart, I drew it back when no pulse beat at me, only clammy, slick skin. Throwing my cloak aside, I put both hands on her chest and began to thrust down violently to try and bring her back. I don't know how long I did it, a least in terms of minutes and seconds. All the time I knew was in heartbeats and breaths, tidal waves and moving moons. Finally, after doing it nearly three times in a row, I gave up, curling into the fetal position, not bothering to control the sobs and tears that bubbled from mouth and eyes.

Soon, I was having a complete breakdown, tears blurring the stars, hiccups raking my body, snot dripping like a leaky faucet from my nose. Ripping my mask off, I threw it into the ocean, screaming after it as though it had been the cause of this tragedy instead of me.

"Why, God? Why? Why did it have to be her, dammit! Why couldn't she just have let me die, like I should have?"

'You stupid cuddy! She loved you, and you spat on it and threw it back in her face! You don't deserve her, you don't deserve life, you don't deserve to live, you worthless piece of goddamn crap!'

Then a calmer, gentler voice interjected,

'No, you deserved her, very much so. But it seems wrong to leave her there, with no one to guide her to Heaven.'

'You're right. And there's nothing left for me in this world, so what's the point of staying? The one thing that kept me here has left, gone so she could guide me to where I truly belong. Maybe, my time really is over.'

Standing back up, I took off my shirt and chainmail, crying out with pain as, for the first time in years, my wings sprouted from between my shoulder blades. Making sure Galaxia was secured to my hip; I gently fanned out my wings, then took off in a desperate gamble, hurtling left and right while I tried to gain control. Clipping the crown of a tree, I winced but kept going, knowing full well I didn't need to worry about anything so trivial as scratches anymore.

All too soon Kirby's house came into view. It was a rather simple one-story that looked as though twelve-year-olds had built it (although thinking about it, I realized this was true). Slamming into the ground, I picked myself up again and walked over to his rather small front door. Except this time, I wasn't here to merely visit. Undoing Galaxia's scabbard, I kissed the hilt and laid it on his doorstep.

'This will be the last time we see each other. I just wanted to tell you, thank you for serving my loyally for the years in the war and far beyond. But now I have to go, so Kirby will be your new partner.'

'I understand.' The sacred blade whispered back with what almost sounded to be tears in its deep masculine voice.

Smiling sadly, I took off again, this time heading back towards my original location. All the way there, I looked up at the clear sky, marveling at such constellations as Draco and Cancer and Aries. When I landed back on the cliff, it took me only seconds to find Polaris.

'You've helped me very much, North Star. But now it is time to say goodbye.'

Looking south, I spotted Orion as he battled the marauding bull Taurus. Drawing the sign of the cross, I sent out a silent plea to the ancient warrior,

'Please, Orion, great hunter of the stars, please guide me through the void until me and my lover are united once more.'

Then I flung myself over the cliff, and into the ocean.

There was the water all around me again, but this time it was welcomed as a friend instead of an enemy. I opened my mouth in an instant, letting my lungs fill even more quickly with salty liquid. Only ten feet down, and the water overcame me, finally overpowering my puny body. The void crushed me into its depths, and a final sigh escaped my lips.

The last thing I felt was my lips pulling into a smile as I realized, now, me and Fumu could soar together for an eternity, in a world of endless deep blue.

A/N: Oh, I killed both Meta Knight AND Fumu! And I know this story is over-descriptive, purple proisy crap. I don't need your fuckin' flames to tell me that! If you're going to flame, make it a critique, at least. that way I can damn learn something!

Okay, sorry abut that, but I hate flamers who flame you and give no reason.

And I am so sorry for being away for a month! I have been very busy as schools winding down, along with typing all my other stories. I am also suffering a case of writers block on introducing a new character in Blood of Innocence, and just too lazy to type. Hopefully I'll get over it and start updating a lot once schools out.