Meta Knight's Birthday
The sun broke through the horizon with a bright blaze, shining light through the dim, dark air and bringing life to the world. The glorious rays shot in every direction, a few heading in the direction of a window that belonged to a certain masked knight...
He could feel the rays dancing on his eyes lids as they slowly opened. A bright and sunny morning beheld him outside the window frame.
But today wasn't any ordinary day. Today was the one special day of his life where he was truly the man. The one day which belonged to him and him only. Today was Meta Knight's birthday.
Oh, what excitement! Presents and cake; the day was truly his! He knew himself that he was a loved figure in the Dreamland community, therefore his birthday was popular. In times before, the castle would hold great parties for him to celebrate. Although his emotions remained unknown behind hid silver, stern mask, he was beaming on the inside. And today would be no different.
Yet, as he walked out into the castle corridors and started to patrol, nobody spoke a word to him. Only simple greeting were exchanged as Meta Knight walked past them, instead of a rousing 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!'.
Maybe they had forgotten? He didn't want to seem selfish, but it was his birthday! He didn't particularly want to spend his one special day of the year just like every other day of the year. Maybe if he asked some of his close associates, maybe they'd remember. He couldn't just blurt out the fact it was his birthday, the selfish remark would disobey his knightly code of ethics. It was up to the people of Dreamland to remember his birthday.
So he walked towards the throne room, where King Dedede would reside everyday, sitting down, complaining and eating lots of food. He was a rather selfish king, but Meta Knight knew that if anyone knew him better, it would be Dedede.
As he opened the doors, Dedede took note at once.
"Ah, Meta Knight!" he said enthusiastically. Meta Knight felt hope brew in his heart, he'd remembered.
"Yes, sire?" Meta Knight replied calmly, trying to mask the excitement in his voice. Dedede suddenly pulled out a plunger, causing Meta Knight to grunt. Was this a present.
"I need you to go to the toilets and unclog them for me. I had too much fibre yesterday, and well...you know..." he said quietly, blushing out of embarrassment. Meta Knight felt the hope inside him crush like a bug beneath a boot. He watched as the plunger flew from Dedede's hand and landed beside him. Maybe a little coaxing?
"Um...sire, do you know what day it is?" he asked.
"Uh...well, Tuesday?"
"But sire, today is a special day, you know"
Dedede's expression remained the same.
"Yeah, today's toilet cleanin' day! And the cleanin' crew are all absent, so why don't you do me a favour Meta Knight, and go unclog them toilets!" he ordered.
Meta Knight looked down at the plunger, before sighing and picking it up. He wasn't looking forward to cleaning the refuse of King Dedede, but he was equally as disappointed with the fact that Dedede had forgotten his birthday.
"Yes sire, right away" Meta Knight said monotonously, walking out of the room with plunger in hand. As he closed the door behind him, he tossed the plunger away, walking down the corridors. So Dedede forgot, but maybe Sword and Blade remembered? Meta Knight spent a lot of time with Sword and Blade, practically training with them every day. Surely they'd know him well enough to remember his birthday?
As he walked into the training room, he saw the two there, ready to commence.
"Good morning, you two" Meta Knight greeted.
"Morning sir!" the two chanted back. Meta Knight cleared his throat.
"Today is a special day" he explained. "Do you two know why?"
This would remind them, he thought. Yet, the two looked on, expressionless. They turned to each other, whispering.
"Were we given an assignment?" Blade whispered.
"I dunno what he's talking about..." Sword whispered back. Meta Knight felt his hopes crush once more, sighing in the process. They had to know, maybe if he pressed the issue a little further, they'd remember.
"It is in commemoration of a certain someone..." Meta Knight hinted.
But the two were clueless. They replied with a synchronized shrug.
"Sorry sir, we don't know" they replied. Meta Knight looked down, feeling his heart sink a little. It appeared they had also forgotten.
"...Never mind" Meta Knight replied. "He's a boring historical figure anyway..."
The training session was long and hard, made worse by Meta Knight's slight depression. Did anyone remember his birthday? There was another person on his mind at the time, someone who surely must have remembered. If Dedede, Sword or Blade couldn't remember, then there could have only been one more person. Tiff.
It was already evening when the training session had finished. Meta Knight went at once to Tiff's room, hoping she would have remembered. Seeing the sun beginning to set made him feel as if his birthday was slowly being wasted. He had to celebrate somehow!
Knocking on her door, she answered, smiling when she saw him.
"Oh, hi Meta Knight!" she said.
"Good evening, Tiff" Meta Knight answered. This was the time to try and get Tiff to remember.
"I was calling because I needed help remembering something" Meta Knight explained. "Today marks a certain event in history, an anniversary of some sort...but I cannot put my finger on who it celebrates. Do you remember?" he asked. Tiff put a hand to her chi, looking to be deep in thought.
"Um...I don't know, to be honest" she replied. So that didn't work. Time to probe deeper.
"If memory serves me correctly, it was a birthday. We celebrated with big parties in the castle..." he said. Tiff's eyes opened slightly.
"I do remember the parties..." she said quietly. "But who's birthday...
"Must have been someone quite important..." Meta Knight pressed. Tiff still didn't seem to be producing the answer Meta Knight wanted and he was beginning to get frustrated.
"A fighter?" Meta Knight said quickly, pushing his hints to the limit. Tiff then lowered her hand.
"...Jecra?" she answered finally. Meta Knight swore he face palmed himself at that moment. He exuded his loudest sigh of the day, turning around.
"Forget it, good night" he said in a huff, walking away.
That was it. It was night time, time for Meta Knight to go to bed and rest. Nobody had remembered.
Walking into his room, his heart was heavy and hung. The one day of the year that was supposed to mean something to him, wasted. Wasted like paper. It was going to take a while for his wounds to recover from this day. He didn't celebrate in any way, nothing to commemorate.
"...Happy birthday...Meta Knight..." he said quietly to himself, sorrowfully as he looked out of his window to the night sky.
He removed his mask and placed it on his desk. Removing his armour, he turned to his bed; hoping sleep could perhaps take the sadness away.
But as he turned, he noticed something sitting on his bed. It was a jar. And not just any jar. Upon closer inspection, it was a jar of candy.
Meta Knight's favourites.
He felt a spring in his heart as he quickly walked to the jar to examine it. It wasn't filled with one type of candy, like you would in candy shops. It was filled with an assortment of Meta Knight's favourite candy. It had mint humbugs, strawberry bonbons, chocolate bars, lollypops, sticks of fruit flavoured gum, boiled sweets, gummy sweets and more! It was a jar of pure indulgence! Could have it been...a gift?
There was a note attached on the side of the jar. Meta Knight noticed it at once and ripped it from the duct tape it was fastened to. Opening it, his eyes opened slightly at what was inside.
There was a crude crayon drawing inside. On one side of the paper was a drawing of Meta Knight, with one foot larger than the other and his eyes masked by the scribbling of black crayon that was meant to be the darkness within his mask. His sword was also way out of scale, about ten times the size of Meta Knight himself.
Beside Meta Knight's drawing was a picture of someone familiar. A little pink puffball, which was beaming from one side of his body to the other, a hand outstretched and fusing with Meta Knight's strangely shed glove, meant to look like holding hands.
And on the bottom of the paper was messy handwriting that spelt out "HAPPI BIRRTHDEAY META NAIHT, KIRBYYYYY", with an uncontrollable amount of kisses written underneath, making it look like black grass.
Meta Knight put the paper down. An unfamiliar feeling was creeping up on him. He couldn't make out what was happening to him, but his heart was feeling far heavier than before. But heavy with content instead of grief. It was only when he noticed that a stinging tear had come to his eye that he realised his emotions were overflowing.
He lied down on his bed, placing the jar and the paper by his bedside. He wiped a tear with his pillow, staring at the card. Someone did remember his birthday. The unlikeliest person. As fatigue overcame his body, he smiled to himself. Even the biggest and most extravagant of parties could never amount to a present that came from the heart. And from that day forward, Meta Knight would always value the lessons of appreciation.
Um, yeah. Meta Knight is a little OOC, I agree, I just wanted to write this little nugget because it wouldn't leave my mind. It is also quite short, and asking four people to remember your birthday isn't much, but then again, I didn't want the story to be too long, so I cut it down to that. Plus the ending's a little rushed and naff, so my apologies for that. In any case, leave a review and let me know what you think!