2

Those pink judging eyes danced before you. Laying on the ground you clutched your side and tears flowed down your face in pain. His steps filled with a dance as he paced around you. You look at your hand and no longer can see the skin; just blood. Gritting teeth in pain, you somberly accept this fate. The man started to laugh before you, and you began to feel trepidation. You gasped and you realized his plan,

"W-why! P-please please nooo please don't!" Stuttering out and tears flowed down your cheeks. He laughed harder, and louder. "Pleaaase!"

"Heh, how pathetic! You didn't realize?" You thought over it in your head. When he first came up to you, and threatened you. You didn't realize, and that was very stupid of you.

You thought over the deal; to save your friends in turn for your life… but it was stupid. It was a stupid deal with a stupid kid. Mentally slapping yourself, you looked toward him. He smiled maniacally and whisked his cape toward you. Letting your head rest on the ground, you took in what you thought would be your last breaths of air.

He had seemed to of disappeared as time was slowing in your eyes. That sensation of falling came to you and you made garbled noises to fill up the silence. The sun was out and gazing down at you and the wind wasn't there to carry your voice. That didn't matter because you heard someone coming, and coming fast. You didn't look around; you didn't want to see who it was. The sun sparked and dazed in your vision, and Meta Knight appeared in front of it, pushing it out of the way.

"Kirby, Stay with me." The light flashed again, and each time, made to send pain spiraling through your body. "Kirby."

Rushing wind, what was that? What was that? Too much light! Too much… Squint. "Uhhh, hnnnn…"

"Kirby, wake up!" Meta Knight hoisted you up into his arms and bundled his cape up in front of the wound, as to persuade it to stop bleeding. Light flashed again, and each time stronger than the last. You felt so warm, so very hot and weak.

Meta Knight carried you into Dr. Yabui's house, receiving a shocked glance from the old doctor. He immediately set you on the table and asked for assistance. "Kirby! You have to wake up!" He ran over to a cabinet and pulled out… "Kirby!" You felt a jerk as another flash came. You noticed him grab a towel, and how did Fumu and the others end up here? They looked so very worried… "Kirby, wake up this instant!" This was by far the worst flash of all, and sent you in a heaving fit. You look over to Meta Knight as he…

You…

Y…

Jolt.

Lurch.

"Kirby, can you hear me now?" You open your eyes and find yourself back in that forest with the familiar sight of Meta Knight, who's eyes, seemed to be orange while holding one of your arms. You blink lazily a few times and realize what had happened. "Kirby?" You want to sit up, but you felt even worse than you did earlier. His eyes had returned to normal but he did not let go of your arm.

"H-how long haave I been… asleep?" He looked up at the stars that peeked through the tree-tops, and back at you. Letting go of your arm, he began.

"You have only managed an hour and twelve minutes." He stood and went over to the supply bags and put them around his shoulder. "We need to leave now. Not only are we in danger by staying here through the night, but you have become ill. You will be fine, I will see to it."

He came back over to you and picked you up, which was way past odd… Meta Knight rarely even touches, let alone carries! He's not one for physical contact, but you guessed this was a no-exceptions scenario for him.

You rested your head on his shoulder plate, which felt amazing considering it was as cold as ice. "Mmeta Knighht… R-you sure, I'm-gna be okay?" You didn't feel well enough to go thinking too much about it, but what if this was fatal? What if he was just lying to make you think you were okay? Meta Knight began to walk through the woods and all things were silent just for them. No animal sounds, no rustling of leaves; it was the calm that came before the storm.

Meta Knight said you'd be okay! Meta Knight doesn't lie, you told yourself, but that doesn't mean he can't! You jolted up while in his arms as tears filled your eyes at that realization. "Meta Knight please don't lie to me!" You whined and began to cry, which was a terrible idea and only made your nausea and headache more prominent. "Please, I just don't! I-I just. Auh, my head!"

Meta Knight stopped walking and lowered you so you could look into his eyes. "Kirby, you will be alright; this, I promise; this, I would even swear." You opened your eyes enough to look at him, and he wasn't lying. You shouldn't doubt him like that, but you just felt downright awful…

"Wha'd-you know about it, Sir Meta Knight?"

"You need not worry about it at this moment. You must rest." with that note, he hoisted you back up to your original position with you laying your head on his shoulder plate. You pondered over the situation before tiring out, then settling upon sleep once more.

Two hours and thirty-four minutes of trekking in the dark. For anyone else this would be dangerous, and terrifying for many reasons, but for Meta Knight it is simply a "walk in the park." Meta Knight began pondering over his days in the war; how he would sit upon a tree at nighttime and guard his area of the base while trying to solve philosophical anomalies. A book or two would even capture his time, but that was rarely permitted. Sometimes Jecra would find sleep uneventful and decide to sit up with him staring through the tops of the leafy jungles their bases were stored inside of. Stars would glide past but of course they weren't stars that were falling, they were flying and soaring - rocket ships, star ships, battleships ; if its engine could propel it out of 14 or more different types of atmospheres it was definitely up there. On rare occasion they would see a firefight of enemy vessels attempting to break the walls of defenses; which in the end turned uneventful.

"In your quest to become a knight, you will take up activities as guarding the base. Guarding requires endurance, and the ability to notice slight disturbances in your surroundings. These skills will be taught to you and you will retain them through the rest of your life. As a puffball, your eyes grant you the ability to see in the dark, but it can also compromise your position for they also glow in darkness as well. Your tasks will be to guard perimeter areas as assigned for any hours. Further instruction on this task will be broadcasted at morning lineup."

To what he remembers, things were going well. He remembered back to a night where Jecra had climbed onto his tree branch and simply stared at him through the darkness. His eyes squinted as it was nighttime and he could hardly see a thing except for Meta Knight's glowing amber eyes. Jecra randomly blurted various one-liners, even saying "Meta Knight, you're the ponderer of ponderings. You think too much." It was true, and Meta Knight did not think it a bad thing, but Jecra said it might drive him insane one day. Maybe he was true, or maybe he just wanted his friend to stay alive and not get lost in his own head. Either way; it would not make a difference for his life now.

As Meta Knight was walking, you start to violently shake in his arms; in which he lays you horizontally on the ground to examine you. Meta Knight starts to the bags of supplies on his shoulders to find an interceptive medicine to reduce overall symptoms. He supposes for an instance that it is good for Kirby to go into shock; it narrows down the list of illnesses to only four, and then he could properly treat him for what he knows he has, once he has discovered truly what it is.

You start to shallowly gasp in breaths now pulse elevating, and sweat beads on your face while you lay unconscious. Meta Knight grabs three tubes of differently labeled liquids. Two of them are green and different sizes but another is indistinguishable for its paper covering. He has a syringe as well, with a needle almost as long as your entire hand; if you were awake that would definitely scare you.

Meta Knight puts a quarter of both of the green liquids into the syringe, then places them back in the bag. He then fills the rest with the other liquid, which turns out to be clear. He hurriedly places the needle in a vein and empties the syringe into your circulatory system. It takes a few moments to give its push but finally your breathing normalizes and the shaking goes down.

He places a hand under your head to elevate it and after about 3 minutes of this you begin to blink your eyes. "Hnnnn... Sir-Meta-Knight?... Where are we?"

"Kirby, do you remember why we are here?" Meta Knight questioned. You looked at him and your pulse sped up in your chest because you didn't know. Why were you here?

"Sir Meta Knight, I really don't remember! What is happening?" Meta Knight looked at the syringe he was still holding and placed it in his pack. "Sir Meta Knight? Please, jog my memory! I don't want to be scared right now!" You tried to prop yourself up, but your arms wouldn't respond to your commands. It was as if you weren't in control of yourself.

"You need not worry about this, Kirby." He responded coolly.

"No Sir. Please... just... please. I mean I can't even remember anything. I don't even know who you are or how I met you or why I'm here or why I feel so bad... I just don't know! All I know is your name right now and that I look up to you like a father but I just don't know why!" He pondered for a few moments and then sat on the ground next to your side.

"I will ultimately summarize for time sake. Kirby, a masked man asked for something from you. He wanted you to choose between saving your friend's lives, and saving your own. In return for saving your own, he would slaughter your friends. In return for saving your friend's, he would take your life instead. You chose the noble way, thus him stabbing you; note the wound on your side. I am sure he poisoned the knife, but I have not found the conclusive illness as of late. After you were stabbed I found you on a trip to the village and then took you immediately to Dr. Yabui's. I helped stitch the knife wound, but all was not well. The villain had gotten away with something important. So both you and I waited three days for you to recover mostly and went to find him. It was my plan to set checkpoints and make them under time, but now with you ill I fret we will be on this journey far longer than I earlier anticipated."

You blinked a few times, registering the story. "Why can't I remember that?"

"The illness has rendered some brain functions unimportant. You seem to have amnesia at this point."

"Oh, okay." You lay your head back down on the grass and feel a fairly cold breeze wash over you. You shivered a little and closed your eyes. The last thing you saw was Sir Meta Knight putting his hand under your back to pick you up again, and then you fell asleep.

At this point it has been one day and fifteen hours of this trip: four hours since you woke up last. Both Meta Knight and you have finally arrived at the cabin owned by Andony, a close friend of Meta Knight's and a doctor. The cabin is a mile and a half away from the city, Niet, and is the only clearing in the forest.

Andony comes outside to greet Meta Knight and noticed him carrying you. She puzzles over the situation and understands without words.

"Come in," she says. She led him straight inside where on the right were the kitchen and the left a small sitting area. Straight across was an open area with two fused rooms, and in the corner on the left was a small bed. "You can lay him here."

"Thank you, Andony," and with that he placed you on the bed.

"It's nothing," she smiled a warm sort of greeting, the one he remembered to be comforting; "I'll go get medical supplies. Anything you might need, I'll get from in here." With that she went into the kitchen and began rummaging around for various items.

Meta Knight noticed that behind the curtain room-separator; someone's eyes. A small girl with a red hat and a green shirt, and she was holding a paint brush. He would have offered a hello to her, but she disappeared behind the curtain after a few seconds of staring at him.

After a few minutes, Andony appeared back in the room with a cart full of tubes and liquids and bottles. "Thank you, Andony. I am truly grateful for your help." She smiled a warm energetic smile, and pulled up a stool for Meta Knight to sit on. She pulled up a stool for herself too, but didn't sit on it.

"You must already know what illness he has, so you can just tell me the things he needs." With that she pulled out a table compartment from the cart to set things on.

"He needs wire gauze for redressing, and various other things..." He trailed off as he noticed Kirby started to shake, as he did four hours and thirty minutes earlier. He took off the packs he was still wearing and placed them on the floor next to the bed. "Andony, I need to get fluids into his system; he hasn't had anything to eat or drink for a day." With that she went into the kitchen again, and Meta Knight began to check your pulse. It was erratic and unsteady so he took a large wire and wrapped it around the upper part of your arm. Andony came back into the room with a glass of water, and a syringe. "Thank you, Andony," he said as she placed them on the table compartment.

"Would you stop saying thank you all the time," she said with a slight humorous tone. He looked up at her while holding the bands on your arm, and then he nodded. He looked through the cart and found a particular drug and opened it with one hand. He grabbed the syringe and filled half of it with the drug and the other half with water. Since the bands were on your arm the blood flow did not reach the rest of your arm, so it had stopped shaking. He placed the needle in a vein and injected it into your blood stream. Letting go of the bands he placed them back onto the table and checked your pulse again. It was still fast, but it was slowly steading back to normal.

"Meta, you must be hungry too... I'll go fix you something." She went back into the kitchen and then yelled for an Adeleine. The painter girl from earlier came out from behind the curtain and stared at Meta Knight for a few seconds, just like earlier, then ran into the kitchen with her mother.

"Interesting..." Meta Knight murmured to himself. He looked back to you, where you had stopped shaking by now, and patted you on the head. "I will see you awake, yet."

Cantus de Campos (Song of the Plains) - watch?v=CVPsavYWacg