Adrenaline coursed violently through his veins as he slayed the final demon beast in the area, his labored breath coming up in a cool fog. The hot, metallic scent of blood was everywhere, being wafted through the air with a gentle breeze.
A few cold drops of rain fell onto his flared wings, making him tense up even more than he was already. Was that all of them? Were they finally gone?
He remembered, he was training his student, Kirby, when all the sudden, monsters came out of nowhere and begun to attack them. He assumed King Dedede ordered them, of course, but this time, they weren't just nuisances that were easily brushed off, no, they were bloodthirsty demons out to kill him and his student.
...Kirby.
He whirled around, looking for the familiar pink child, only to be met with nothing but messy piles of what was left of the various demons that had attacked, not a trace of Kirby to be found. Surely he hadn't run away from the fight? Kirby never ran away, he wasn't a coward.
He looked around in the dark silence, listening for any telltale signs that Kirby was nearby, or if anyone was around for that matter. It was completely silent, save for a small gust of wind and the tiny pitter-patter of the rain falling into the bloodied grass.
Meta Knight tensed up heavily when he heard a small cough a little ways away, looking around wildly for the source. Was it Kirby?
His question was answered when his eyes laid on a bloody pink mess on the ground, mixed in with the torn up remains of the monsters that they had slain.
Kirby was laying in the grass, weakly grasping a gaping, heavily bleeding wound on his side, his breaths short and labored. He smiled softly when his mentor dashed up to him, coughing up some blood. "Mena..."
Meta Knight had begun to panic immediately after getting a closer look at Kirby's wound; it was fatal, causing heavy bleeding that wouldn't stop. "Kirby, h-hold on, okay?" It wasn't in his nature to be panicking like this; it was a rather amusing sight to Kirby, despite the circumstances being something he would've not preferred.
"Mena..."
"Save your breath, child." He found some torn up cloth attached to a piece of a demon, ripping it off and going back to Kirby, pressing it against the wound. "Just stay still. Deep breaths."
Kirby obliged, looking up at the dark, cloudy sky as his vision spun. He was tired, and he didn't feel very good at all, like he was faint and barely there. What had happened? He remembered fighting off some monsters with his teacher... but now he was laying in the grass, the awful smell of blood nearly suffocating him, and was unable to move. He could see blood pooled around him; was it his? If it was his, why didn't he feel anything?
In the midst of his scattered thoughts, a question found its way into the child's head; he wondered if his fighting had actually satisfied his mentor. Was he fit to become a star warrior, yet? Or was he not strong enough?
Despite not being able to feel his physical pain, Kirby felt his heart ache at the thought of not pleasing his teacher, his friend, his...
What was that word he was looking for?
"Kirby, you're going to be okay." He could hear Meta Knight's voice, but it felt warped; faint, like it was far away. "Just don't close your eyes. Stay with me and listen to my voice."
"Mena..." He repeated, his limited vocabulary preventing him from speaking much further. However, one question managed to make it out: "...good enough...?"
Meta Knight froze, clenching his fists in shock. Did Kirby just ask him if he had done good enough on the battle field? Why would he even ask that? He looked down at Kirby, seeing that his normally bright blue eyes were dulled and glazed over. His face was paled, his bloodied lips twitched in a small smile as he awaited his mentor's response.
"Kirby, you shouldn't talk about that..." was all he could let out.
"But..." The child suddenly convulsed violently, gasping for air. "Mena..."
"Save your breath, child... calm down..."
Kirby tried to calm his erratic breathing, but it was nearly impossible. His body was twitching out of control, tears beginning to bubble and stream from his eyes. The pain began to hit the child full force, making his movements and breath violent and uncontrollable. Why wouldn't Meta Knight answer his question?
Meta Knight shuddered, his body shaking slightly at the realization of what was going on. He knew that the child was dying, and that nothing could be done about it. Even after all that had happened, after all he had done to prevent it, he was going to lose the last thing important to him. Despite everything, he kept on urging Kirby to calm down and breathe. He had to make his student's last moments as peaceful as possible.
"Everything's going to be okay, Kirby."
What a cold, dead lie that was.
Kirby could feel himself grow more and more exhausted, his vision swimming as all feeling began to leave his small body. All he wanted to know before he fell asleep was if he was good enough. "...good enough...?" He asked again, his voice nothing more than a feeble whimper. What was going to happen to him? The pain was going away, but he was so tired... maybe he could sleep for a while...
After many long and agonizing minutes, Meta Knight had taken the child into his arms and stared at him in the eyes. Kirby, the child whose smile had the radiance of a thousand suns, the child whose heart was of the purest gold... was going to die, bathed in the blood of himself and his enemies.
"Kirby... you've made me proud. You did more than good enough."
The child smiled as much as he could at those words, his eyes finally closing as he began to give in to his exhaustion. He would just sleep for a few minutes... maybe when he woke up, all of this would've been a bad dream. Yeah... he'll wake up, and play with his friends...
And what a peaceful rest it was.