Enjoying the feeling of the night-time breeze against his skin, Meta Knight quietly walked through the courtyard. It had been a noisy day because of KittariHattari and he was glad to have the chance to relax. Sighing, the blue puffball looked upwards to take in the sight of the stars glimmering in the sky. How many of those stars were empty or suffering because of Nightmare? The knight shook his head, forcing himself to redirect his chain of thought. There wasn't anything he could do about Nightmare right now; worrying about him would only interfere with keeping an eye on Kirby.
Quiet whispers, colored with distress, suddenly reached Meta Knight's ears. Who else was awake at this hour? Frowning, the knight cautiously approached the voices. He blinked when the source of the whispers turned out to be Minister Parm and Lady Memu's adoptive children, Lololo and Lalala.
"Lololo, Lalala," Meta Knight called, stepping into their line of sight, "What are you two doing out so late? Won't Lady Memu and Minister Parm be worried about you?"
The floating children shot further into the air, an action Meta Knight recognized as their equivalent of jumping in surprise. "Sir Meta Knight!" They exclaimed in unison.
"What are you doing out here?" Lololo asked.
Lalala continued with, "Isn't it late?"
"It is," He acknowledged, "But I wanted to go for a walk. Is something bothering you two?"
Lololo and Lalala shared an uncomfortable glance. "Well," The blue child began, "We've been thinking about what happened today,"
"And considering what everything we learnt means," The pink child continued. After an uncertain pause she added, "If Lola was a demon beast... Does that make us demon beasts too?"
Meta Knight blinked. He'd expected them to be upset about being stuck as two people, but this... It wasn't surprising that they wondered about this, their past experiences with demon beasts considered. The Knight took a moment to organize an answer to the question. "Technically, yes, that does make the two of you demon beasts."
The children grimaced. "Does that," Lololo tentatively began, "Make us bad people?"
"No," Meta Knight answered, shaking his head. "Could you two follow me? I think there's something you should see."
Lololo and Lalala shared an uncertain look, having a silent conversation before nodding. "Alright," the pink child began, "We'll follow you." The blue child finished.
He nodded to confirm that he'd heard the children before turning and setting off for their destination. After a few seconds of silence the tell-tail 'whoosh' of their flying assured Meta Knight that the children were following him.
Carefully peaking around corners, the knight led Lololo and Lalala through the halls of the castle, avoiding the sleepily patrolling Waddle Dees. Frowning, Meta Knight briefly wondered how much sleep the creatures were getting. If they were going to do their jobs properly the Waddle Dees would need a few hours of sleep, but it wouldn't surprise him to learn that Dedede was over-working them and preventing them from getting that sleep. Shaking his head Meta Knight gently pushed a brick, opening a secret passage in the wall.
Lololo and Lalala gave twin gasps of surprise before rushing into the passage to look around. Eyes briefly twinkling pink, Meta Knight followed the children with a small smile. The secret entrance slid shut behind him with a quiet grinding noise. The passage opened into a bland, unfurnished room, just big enough for practicing sword-work.
"Um," Lololo began nervously, looking around the room with wide eyes, "Where are we, Sir Meta Knight?
"This is a room His Majesty doesn't know exists. Essentially, it's one of the only places in the castle that doesn't have security cameras or Waddle Dees."
Lalala's eyes widened. "Wow! But... Why go through this much effort to be unseen? What is it you wanted to show us?"
Meta Knight took one glance around the room, reaffirming that they were alone, before turning back to the children. He simply answered with, "This," Letting his cape flare open and shift into clawed bat-like wings. The knight closed his eyes for a moment, basking in the feeling of stretching his wings.
Lololo and Lalala gasped, flying in a few quick circles around Meta Knight with wide eyes. "Sir Meta Knight," Lololo began, "You have wings?" Lalala finished.
"Indeed. Many Star Warriors and Galaxy Warriors did. But," Meta Knight sighed, letting his wings shift back to their previous cape-like appearance. "This matter is more complicated than that."
"Many years ago, long before either of you were created, Nightmare and his forces fought against the Galactic Army. It was the first true opposition Nightmare had seen and unsettled him. So," Meta Knight took a deep breath, his eyes shining dark green, "He decided he would create a demon beast to infiltrate the Galactic Army and destroy it from the inside."
The children gasped quietly, subconsciously linking hands. "Really?" Lololo asked. When Meta Knight nodded he added, "What was the demon beast like?"
Before Meta Knight had the chance to answer, Lalala asked, "And how do you know all of this?"
"I am the demon beast." Meta Knight answered, suddenly tired, "However, in order to create a demon beast that would be able to infiltrate the Galaxy Army Nightmare needed to use the DNA of a Star Warrior. I had far more free will than Nightmare had intended and, in the end, refused to turn my back on the people who had become my comrades."
"Then," Lalala tentatively began, "You're a demon beast too?" Lololo finished quietly.
"Yes. Does that make me a bad person?" Meta Knight answered, turning their question from earlier on them will a small smile.
"No!" They cried in sync. "You help Fumu, Bun, and Kirby!" Lololo elaborated, "And you came to comfort us when we were upset, even though you didn't have to." Lalala added.
"Then being demon beasts doesn't make the two of you bad people either." The knight assured them. "Now, while I understand that this is something you two would like to tell Fumu, I must request that you keep this secret for a bit longer."
"Why?" The children asked, sharing a confused glance.
Meta Knight's eyes flickered dark green. "The time for this particular secret to be revealed has not come yet."
Lololo and Lalala nodded, eyes shining with determination. "Alright, thank you for trusting us." The blue child answered, "And thank you for telling us all of this." The pink child added. "It's helped, a lot."
Author's Note: Yes, this was in fact one of those Meta-Knight-is-a-demon-beast fics, but I felt like the headcanon would fit well with what I wanted to do in this fic (I.E. Meta Knight comforts Lololo and Lalala about finding out that they're demon beasts because it makes no sense for them to say, "Oh, we're demon beasts? Cool." in canon).