Hey guys. This is a little one-shot story, but don't fret, it will definitely have a sequel 8D Enjoy!

The crisp nighttime air made Fumu shiver as she walked across the castle courtyard, eager to get inside her warm bedroom. King Dedede had forced her parents to join him for dinner- which had been a plate of fish and horse parts slopped together that Fumu had found revolting- in attempts to acquire Kirby's secret weaknesses. Or course, it had once again been a failed attempt on his part, as it normally was. Kirby himself had enjoyed the disgusting meal, inhaling a couple pounds of it, and had skipped out the door halfway during, most likely to find something else to munch on with the Cappies. Fumu's parents knew very little about the pink puffball and Fumu herself, along with her brother Bun, would never betray their small pink friend and had decided to play it stupid.

One thing that Fumu had been looking forward to was that after the meal (if she could keep it down for a little while), she would have a chance to speak with Meta Knight about Dedede's latest plans. That hadn't happened, though. Right after dinner she had excused herself and rushed to the bathroom to empty her aching stomach and then hurried back to see if the knight was still there, but no luck. She hadn't set her hopes too high, though. He had been acting strange all during dinner. Of course, he hadn't touched his plate, which Fumu figured was either because he refused to take off his mask or he was smart enough not to eat the goop. Either seemed pretty logical. He also hadn't muttered a single word, which was the odd part. Usually, he would hint to her or make eye contact or...something! Fumu knew there was something awfully weird going on, for she was not usually so paranoid.

Not only had those small yet meaningful events happened. Meta Knight's loyal partners, Sword and Blade, hadn't been there. This is probably what threw her off most. The last couple days, he had barely seen Meta Knight, and he was scuffling down the halls alone. Sword and Blade hadn't been with him. She had once thought to of seen Blade staring at her curiously from the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look he was gone like a leaf on a windy autumn day. Sword, she hadn't seen at all. Anyone would have to admit that it was rather peculiar.

As Fumu approached one of the entrances, she began to jump up the stairs eagerly, already feeling semi-warm air waiting to greet her inside. But an echoing cracking sound startled her and she spun around, just in time to see a brick and some small rocks drop from the tiled rooftop and land in the grass a foot or two away from her. Barely daring to breathe, she gingerly glanced upwards. A black figure vanished onto the castle's balcony, sending down a couple more unstable tiles. Fumu stared, eyes wide in fright. Had that been another demon beast? It was rather small, about the size of herself, but she knew all too well that just because a monster was small didn't mean it wasn't deadly.

Shaking a little, now out of fear and not cold, she continued staring up at the darkened sky and roof until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

The yellow girl let out a sharp scream and jumped backwards. But once she saw the familiar masked face, she put her hand over her chest, breathing heavily and blushing, feeling stupid. "S-Sir Meta Knight! I didn't know it was..." She let out a sigh of relief and laughed nervously. "I thought you were another one of Nightmare's creations."

The round blue knight was quiet for a moment, his yellow eyes turning a light shade of pink for only a moment before switching back. Fumu had a strange feeling he was holding back a laugh. "My apologies, Fumu-san. I did not mean to frighten you. On the contrary," he lowered his hand, of which had still been out as if to rest on an invisible shoulder. "I believe you wish to speak with me?"

Fumu had been a little distracted by how the knight was warmly wrapped up in his cape, but blinked and nodded, coming out of the trance. "Yeah, actually. I was wondering if you knew anything about what Dedede is planning. Can we go inside?" she added.

Meta Knight did not answer her first question right away, but agreed to her second statement with a soft, "Sure." He stepped backwards into the building and closed the door behind Fumu as she followed. Feeling better now, Fumu smiled politely and turned back to the knight, waiting for him to cease her worries. They stared at each other for a moment before the star warrior realized this. "Oh, Dedede. Unfortunately, I would not know. I've been rather..." He hesitated. "...Busy lately." Even wrapped in his night-blue cape, Fumu could tell that he was shifting uncomfortably on his feet. This surprised her.

"Is something wrong?" she questioned, staring at him with an unavoidable gaze of curiosity. It was very uncharacteristic of Meta Knight to act like such.

"Nothing..." He hesitated. "...Nothing I can't handle. Thank you for your kindness though, Fumu-san," he gently murmured. He saw the expression on the girl's face, confused and somewhat hurt. Feeling a little regret, he quickly stated, "Tomorrow, I think I'll have a chat with His Majesty and see if I can find anything else." Deep down, he knew that his pitiful attempts to change the subject would be in vain.

He was correct. Fumu felt a rush of annoyance boil in her stomach. "I don't care about that now, alright? Something's up. You're hiding something!"

"Aren't I always?"

This made Fumu be quiet for a moment. "Well, yes. But this is different."

Meta Knight stared at the ground rather stubbornly. "I don't need your help."

"See? Something is wrong!" Fumu prodded the knight with a hand childishly on his shoulder. She had no patience to deal with hints and clues. Just a straight answer that she somehow knew wouldn't come. "Sir Meta Knight, you always help us. So why can't we help you?"

"It's not that. It's just I know you can't help, so what's the point in trying?" His eyes turned a darker hue in sorrow.

"I'm not a little kid!" Fumu snapped.

The two glared at each other for a long, quiet moment of awkward silence. Finally, Meta Knight sighed in defeat and nodded slowly. "I know you are not, Fumu-san. I respect that. Truthfully, I don't even know everything that is going on. And," he lowered his voice. "That....irritates me. I am not use to being so..." He struggled to find the right word, glancing back up at the girl. "...Helpless."

Fumu gave a small, understanding smile. "Okay. I'm all ears."

"It's...Sword and Blade..."

"Sword and Blade?" Fumu repeated in awe. "But they worship you! They bow to you! They treat you like a god! They-"

"This did not start with me, Fumu-san," Meta Knight interrupted. "It started a couple weeks ago. In the middle of the night, there was what we thought to be a fallen spaceship in the middle of the woods. Very much like Sirica's. I thought it might of been the same situation." His eyes turned green in thought. "We started to go check it out, but along the way, the ground started shaking and a tree fell flat onto Sword." Fumu winced and Meta Knight paused before continuing. "I pulled Sword out, who was unconscious, and told Blade we had to go back. But he was convinced that we had to go check it out. So he ran off, and I had no choice but to bring Sword back here and wait.

"It was at least an hour before Blade came back to the castle, and he reported that it had been a tiny meteorite, nothing to be worried about. But he was hiding something." Meta Knight sounded a little hurt now. "Sword healed after a day of rest. We continued patrols like normal, Blade scouting the upper floors and Sword the lower, as I myself followed around His Majesty. We often joined together as a team, nothing out of the ordinary. But after a couple days..." He stopped.

Fumu pursed her lips, a signal for him to continue. He did. "....There was tension. Static in the air between the two loyal partners. I never thought I'd see them upset with each other like that. The other day, when we were split up on patrols, I heard them arguing with each other inside the room." Ashamed, he admitted, "I eavesdropped on them. But it didn't last long, because I think they heard me, and I had escape. I could never let them know I did something so traitorous to them."

"What did they say?" Fumu's curious tone urged the knight on.

"I couldn't hear complete sentences. Only parts." He stared at the ground. "Blade was talking about a boy, and I could tell he was defending himself against Sword. Sword was saying that Blade was being 'sick' and then I heard Blade say something about me...he said, 'Don't tell Sir Meta Knight!'" The knight's voice cracked a little. "And that's when Sword said that he heard someone outside the door."

Heart dropping, Fumu realized how sad the Meta Knight really was. Softly, she patted his shoulder. "Hey. They would never betray you. Maybe you should just talk to them."

"I tried."

"Hard?"

Silence greeted her. Fumu took her hand off his shoulder and asked, "Why don't you go find them now?"

"I don't know where they would be." Meta Knight sighed. "Trying to find them at the moment is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. No," he exclaimed bitterly. "Trying to find hay in a needle stack."

"I saw someone climb onto the balcony."

Now the knight looked up in interest, eyes yet again turning a serious and deep-in-thought lime green. "Yes?"

"Yeah. I thought it was a demon beast at first, but now that I think about it, it clearly had the shape of Blade's armor."

"Yes...yes, I will go look for him." He looked upwards, like he could see through the ceiling. Then he glanced back at Fumu. "Thank you, Fumu-san. I will remember this." He gave her a parting nod and quickly walked off. Fumu stared after him, into the darkness. She knew only one thing for sure.

This would not be the last time she would hear of this problem.

Yes. xD Anyone think they know what's going on? Feel free to guess! And thanks for reading!