Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Kirby characters I do own Lunabell, Gemstone and my version of what Sword and Blade look like without their armor.

Old Photo, Old Memories

"Sir, it's past midnight and Blade and I are going to bed," Sword said as he walked onto the balcony. Sir Meta Knight was standing on the small wall that surrounded the balcony.

"Very well," Meta Knight said quietly. His eyes never left the sky.

"Sir? Sir, what's wrong?" the younger knight asked as he approached his master.

"Just thinking," the older knight said in a sigh. Sword didn't buy it, he always knew when there was something bothering his master.

"'Bout what?"

"…Nothing important, just the past."

"Huh, I know what you mean," Sword said as he rested his arms on the wall of the balcony. "Blade does too, he's been asking a lot of questions lately."

"Questions? About what?" Meta Knight asked, now curious.

"About our parents, since he never knew 'em," Sword said as he turned his dark cobalt eyes towards the sky.

Meta Knight raised an eyebrow in a questioning fashion.

"I did not know you two were brothers, let alone related," Meta Knight stated, "Why did you not tell me?"

"It never came up and you never asked," Sword said as he pulled back his cobalt bangs.

"If Blade is asking about your parents, then why don't you tell him?"

"Well, we were separated from them when I was three-hundred and sixty-seven years old, Blade wasn't even off the bottle when it happened. I'm not all too sure about what happened but one night, our home, a small and very poor village, was attacked, now that I think about it, I think it was demon beasts that destroyed everything. All I know is that Mother and Father came tearing into my closet of a bedroom, we were very poor even for our village, Mother had Blade in her arms and they dragged me out of bed and into the streets.

"Everything was on fire and people were running in all directions, screaming the entire time. Mother finally found a very tiny alleyway most of the houses were either made of wood or carved into boulders and this place was between two of the stone houses, that was just big enough for us, Blade and me, to hide in. Mother pushed me in and Father gave me Blade and told me to stay quiet and try to keep Blade quit so we wouldn't get found. I used a trick I learned from Father to keep Blade quiet, I put my finger in his mouth and he started sucking on it. He fell for it and stayed quiet. I'm just glad he wasn't old enough to start teething at the time.

"We were up the whole night from all the chaos. We finally left the alleyway once the sun was up. I carried Blade the entire time and saw stuff nobody at that age should see. The demons were gone but I never found our parents, I don't even know if they're alive.

"Being honest, it bothers me so much sometimes that I can't help but cry. It's like a physical ache trying to tear out your heart. I want to wait before telling Blade, I don't wanna scare him, he's fragile with this stuff but… man I miss Mother and Father."

"I miss them too."

Both older warriors turned to see the orange-skinned warrior looking at them. His own red bangs only covered half his eyes, allowing them to see his ruby eyes.

"Blade I-"

"It's okay bro, I understand, I'm more mature than you think," Blade said before his older brother could finish his sentence.

"Please, you're not even two-hundred years older than Tiff!" Sword said in a playful way,

"You lookin' to start a fight?" the youngest of the three said in a joking manner.

"In the morning you two," Meta Knight said before they could start, "It's much too late for this."

"Yes sir," Blade said as he completely dropped the idea of play fighting with his brother.

"Yes sir," Sword said with the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice.

Meta Knight smirked under his mask. Sword was maturing fast and becoming a rebellious teenager, he would one day lead many countries through rebellions for their freedom. Meta Knight had predicted this when he started seeing the changes in his follower when he became one thousand and three hundred years old only fifty years ago. If Blade stayed the same kind-hearted child-like person he was, Meta Knight expected him to become just like Jecra when he was older, a fun-loving soldier who took every chance he could to be with the most important person in his life whoever that might be.

"Hm, hey, Sir Meta Knight, I was just wondering," Blade spoke up, "I'm just really curious, but… what happened to your family?

The question was sudden and unexpected and took the older knight off guard and by complete surprise. Blade's eyes were on the floor as he shifted from foot to foot in the awkwardness of the question. Meta Knight had expected this day to come, when he'd finally have to tell everybody about his past but he didn't expect quiet little Blade to ask the question or for there not to be others around. Meta Knight remembered when he first gave them an actually decent meal, Sword had simply wolfed it down while Blade, who had never seen anything similar to ramen before in his life, simply stared at the bowl in silence and tried to figure out how to eat it. Meta Knight had never thought that he would be the one to work up the courage to ask him such a personal question while everybody else around him had never been able to work up that courage except for a very small few.

"I am surprised you asked," Meta Knight stated as best he could.

"You don't have tell us if you don't want, I was just curious," he small knight said as he started twiddling his thumbs.

"Yeah and now you got me curious too," Sword sighed.

"I never said that I wouldn't tell you both, I had just always expected it to be under different conditions," the older knight said.

"So you will tell us?" Blade asked with a tinge of hope in his voice.

"Of course."

Sword tailed their mentor as he went inside while Blade went ahead and sat on the floor in front of Meta Knight's bed. Sword joined his brother on the floor and looked up at his mentor while his brother giggled cutely. Meta Knight himself sat on his bed and looked down at the two. Blade looked up at him with his big ruby eyes that were now sparkling in wonder while Sword's eyes were in a blank stare. Meta Knight took in a deep breath and looked at them.

"To tell you my past, I must tell you a story to do it," he began, "You see, it all began in a kingdom very much like Dreamland, the only difference was that much more peaceful and happy. There were outrageously small taxes to pay, the harvest was bountiful and rich, even the weather seemed to reflect this happiness and brought calm and peaceful rains with a spectacular rainbow and new flowers after every single time it rained. It was ruled by a kind king and queen and had three sons. It was the perfect paradise that was the one thing no one could deny.

"However, there was a small bit of trouble in this paradise, the first born prince. He was always getting into trouble and making things hard for others. He had a small gang of children who followed him, mostly to avoid his beatings. The second born was nothing like his older brother, he took after their mother and helped around the nearby village he was liked by everyone while his older brother was fairly cruel to him. The third and final son was an infant and loved by anyone who came into contact with him, especially his mother and the second born son.

"It was perfect, until one day, when the first born son started acting worse than usual. Their father, the king, had left for war and had refused to bring him with him. He began acting out, skipping his lessons, not minding his manners and more. The second born was now beginning to fear him while their mother was losing her tolerance with him. On night, demon beasts acted the castle. The second born went looking for his family only to see his mother defending the infant from a demon. She told him to take the baby and take the emergency transporter. It was only to be used to escape in times of disaster.

"They were forced to leave their mother to fight the demon beasts. While looking for their older brother, they happened to pass by a large window where they saw the army of monsters heading for the palace. The second born was terrified not by the demons, but by the one leading them: his older brother. He had betrayed the throne and was now having his way. Now realizing who had turned against them, the second born took the infant and ran to the emergency transporter. He punched in a random number got on and they were transporter to a place far away.

"They ended up on a desert planet, where by chance, their father was leading their army against Nightmare. They were found by the army and taken to their father. They were kept secluded from the rest of the camp, until the day the infant happened to wander away from their tent. Despite their father's strict orders, the second born followed him to take him back and get there before their father returned. The infant ended up in the tent where the army kept children they found during the war, which at the time was only three, two little boys and a little girl about the same age as the second born.

"At first, the prince was timid towards them but he quickly understood they meant him no harm. They started playing and having more fun than the prince had had in a long time. He even brought them to their tent to play. The king found out but was strangely calm about the friendship and allowed it to continue. Not long after, the strongest warrior in the entire army, Galacta Knight, arrived at the camp, only for them to discover he had wavered under Nightmare influence. He ravaged the camp and nearly killed the prince, only to be saved by one of his male friends, a ninja in training. It left the ninja with a scar under his eye but it did not blind him.

"The army decided to scatter themselves out throughout the galaxy to avoid detection, separating the four friends. The little girl than had an idea and gave the other three star-shaped badges, claiming that as long as they wore them their friendship would last. After that, the prince was never without the badge but his trials and hardships were only beginning,

"His father was starting to go insane from the strain of the war and began training the prince at an unsuitably young age and beat him if he did not meat the standards his father wanted. He forced him to try and use a large sword but he could barely hold it up. The prince's life was miserable but what he didn't realize was what his father was doing was wrong. His father, while whipping his son for dropping his sword, had claimed that this punishment was the only way for him to get stronger. So he endured this pain for about fifty years before a miracle saved him.

"While on a mission with his father, the young prince, who was barely five hundred and sixty-seven years old, were attacked and taken by surprise from behind. Before they were killed, a female warrior came and destroyed the demon beast. She held a staff, which was golden with four red gems at the bottom and the gold turned into bark as it neared the top, where the bark held a large crystal. She claimed that she had come from a kingdom from a far away planet to help fight. She was a wolf who called herself Lunabell.

"The king allowed her to follow them, however, instead of being a warrior like she had anticipated, she was put on kitchen duty. She was miserable but still practiced her fighting. One day, she saw the prince trying to practice with his over-sized sword only for her to stop him. He was angry, especially when she gave him a wooden toy sword in replacement for the actual thing. She later saw the prince limping away from his whipping that day and somehow instantly knew why. She took the prince to her tent and tended to his wounds.

"She later confronted the king with her accusations and she was angry. With the prince's own confession the other warriors were unsure of what to do while Lunabell did: she would take the two princes with her to protect them from harm. The king was outraged but the others held him back for the protection of the children. Lunabell watched them for the day, following night and half way through the next day, when they met Star Warriors, who offered to take the two off her hands and take them to someplace safe.

"Though reluctant, she let them take away the two. She was right to be reluctant; the two Star Warriors were in fact monsters in disguise and took them both straight to Nightmare's base. The infant was too young to fight so they placed him in a sleeping-like status and left him like that. The second born was put to work and trained to become a demon beast. Despite making his body stronger, they were unable to break his spirit.

"About four-hundred years later, he was liberated… by Lunabell. She had actually intended to rescue an informant that had been captured and while making her way to the cell, she found the prince. She rescued him along with the informant and the baby. She and the prince sent the baby away on a star-shaped ship to a planet far away for his own safety. Lunabell then took the prince to her home, to an underground city, hidden from Nightmare. For the next three hundred years, he was trained to wield a sword. However, he was unable to go on any of the missions until he could best Lunabell in a fight. He never could.

"One night, he followed her and a few other warriors only to be captured. Lunabell and the others could only watch as the prince was taken away and could do nothing about it. This time, Nightmare dealt with him personally. He placed a new soul inside of his body and locked his memories away in his mind, making him the ultimate monster. He ravaged the universe and destroyed anyone who got in his way nobody was his equal. Years passed and when he was fourteen hundred years old, he was taking a female prisoner to one of their slave camps to turn her into a demon beast when he was attacked and intercepted by an unknown enemy.

"It turned out to be Lunabell, who had been tracking him down for two years. She also had backup: his childhood friends. He did not realize who they were because of his lost memories until Lunabell, using her staff, the Golden Bark Scepter she used a strange magic to return his memory. Realizing what he had done, he was completely horrified but his friends, along with the prisoner, Gemstone, a female puffball, forgave him. It was the no-long-little girl who suggested that they join the Galaxy Soldier Army. All six of them agreed and left for the frontlines of the war.

"During what little free time they had, the prince caught up with his friend. He learned the two of them, the female and one of the males, had their own children and were fighting for them. The ninja revealed that he nearly lost his brother to the war and was fighting for him. The prince, in private revealed that he was fighting for his little brother and his mother, whom had not seen in more than nine hundred years and not knowing she was alive. As time passed, he realized that he was falling in love with Gemstone and she was falling in love with him too.

"However, his female friend, died reclaiming a legendary sword that the prince was destined to wield. He killed the monster that killed her and told her family what had happened. It broke his heart when he saw her young daughter crying her eyes out when she learned of her mother's death. Two years later, his best friend, one of the two males, was captured and turned into a monster. He attacked them but with very weak monsters. The prince, despite his desperate attempts to return his friend to normal, in the end had to kill him.

"The prince was devastated at the two deaths and strived to protect the ninja, Lunabell and Gemstone. Then, one tragic day, the ninja betrayed them and brought a terrible blood bath to their camp. Gemstone was struck down dead in the prince's arms where they confessed their love to each other. In the chaos, the prince was separated from the others and knocked unconscious. When he woke up, he was under a pile of bodies, probably the only thing that saved him. He only saw death, bodies and fire everywhere. It was then that he realized he was alone. He then remembered Gemstone's death and that he hadn't seen Lunabell since before the attack.

"He was without the closest thing to mother he had had in hundreds of years.

"His best friends were dead.

"The love of his life had died in his arms.

"He felt completely alone.

"He ran from the sight, only to be chased by a demon. He ran as fast as he could and once he thought he had lost the monster, he ran into probably the only other two survivors for hundreds of miles: two children. He told them to run but they refused. The demon beast then jumped down onto them from a cliff above them. The children were terrified but the prince defended them and defeated the monster. The two children were grateful and the prince took them in. He finally had enough of this war and wanted to protect the two children. Then one night he remembered his peaceful homeland and wondered what happened to it so, with the two children, he returned home after more than one thousand years. At first he intended to find out what had happened to his home when he left. It was still beautiful but under the rule of a selfish and foolish ruler.

"The prince decided to stay in the kingdom posing as a knight with the two children and watch over his kingdom until the time came that he could reclaim the throne but first, he intended to defeat Nightmare although he had no idea how he would do that. Then one day, just days before his one thousand and five hundred birthday, his little brother, whom he had not seen in nearly fife hundred years, crash landed in the kingdom. Only when he found him did he remember that it was Lunabell who had programmed the ship to fly to a distant planet. His brother's return home was her final gift to him.

"However, the new ruler, who was cruel, hit him hard on the head, causing brain-damage that the prince kept secret. His younger brother, despite his age and brain-damage defeated Nightmare and now lives peaceful in Dreamland, while his brother plans for the day he would one day reclaim his kingdom."

Meta Knight looked down at Sword and Blade only to be surprised. They were fast asleep and curled up on the floor. Despite their age, you'd still think they were three hundred and forty-seven. With a content smirk, he picked them both up and placed them in their beds. They were getting too big for him to pick up, well Sword was but Blade had always been on the light side. Once they were tucked in, their mentor headed to his own room but looked back at them to confirm that they were asleep, then turned off the lights and closed the door. He'd tell them the last little detail another time.

He returned to his own bedroom but before climbing onto the bed, he pulled open the drawer on his nightstand and went though what was inside. Old photos and trinkets littered the inside, but to the old knight, they were treasures. He rummaged through them until he came to the photos on the very bottom. In the first one there was a small, blue puffball wearing a medallion on his forehead with a blue gem in the fire-shaped crest and held up by a blue ribbon. He was being held by a purple wolf-like creature in a tender fashion. She had the look of a mother in her eyes. The second one showed the same puffball with a white puffball wearing a similar medallion on her forehead except the stone and ribbon were white and her cape was also white, just like her. She was holding a bundle of pink blankets, revealing a small pink puffball, also wearing a medallion with a pink stone in the center and a pink ribbon. The third one was of himself, Jecra, Garlude and Yamikage during the war, when they were happy and celebrating a victory. The final one had him in it, except he was without his mask and next to him was what appeared to be a very nervous orange puffball with a pair of fox ears and a fox tail.

The photos were stained with tears that he had shed many times before. He missed them all so much, but he would not let them down. He would restore his home to what it was when he was a child. Then maybe he would be able to find out what happened to his mother. He would have to deal with Dedede first but he would be more than happy enough to do the tyrant in any day. However, to do that he would have to get past the guards, he could probably do it, if he accessed his powers but for now he was too tired and wanted to sleep. He crawled under his blankets, removed his mask and fell into a deep sleep unaware of what was going on in the room next to his.

Once the last trace of light left his face, Sword's sapphire eyes snapped open. He turned to see rubies looking back at him.

"So, when do we tell the others about this?" Blade whispered.