A/N: Excuse me for not being able to publish this chapter for a long time. I didn't get much time to work on it or precheck it so there might be a lot of mistakes. Please point them out if you see any
What will Meta Knight's reaction be now that his darker side has just abducted his wife?
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone except for my OCs. Everyone else belongs to their respected owners.
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--Chapter 10: The Dark One--
The others gasped as Dark Meta Knight revealed himself. The last time they had seen Meta Knight's darker self, Nightmare had called upon the counterpart to fight the real one while Kirby fought his shadowy self as well. However, Kirby's darker self was extremely weak from the pink Star Warrior's lack of any actual hate for anything or anyone and the two joined together, completing Kirby as a whole, making him stronger. Meta Knight was unable to fight himself as his darker self was stronger than he was. From living in hate and fear, Dark Meta Knight was powerful than most people's darker selves.
After Nightmare had been defeated by Kirby once again, Dark Meta Knight had simply disappeared and everyone had assumed the battle was over.
Clara struggled in the shadowy Meta Knight's grasp, screaming and crying out. He flew into the air, neatly landing on top of a large rock as the real Meta Knight ran towards the others.
"Who are you?" He demanded, drawing his sword out.
Dark Meta Knight laughed, pulling Clara closer to him. His laughs sounded just like Meta Knight's. They held the same deepness and they were short and controlled.
"Someone who understands you better than yourself." He replied smoothly. "We didn't have much time to meet each other the last time we met, but I have always been with you, even if you've never realized that."
"Answer the question."
"I'm you. Or should I say a part of you."
Meta Knight did not shift his gaze from his darker self as he continued.
"I am your emotions; your hate, your anger, your sadness and grief. I am you pain and suffering, your fear and shame as well as your loneliness, jealousy and arrogance. I am also you deep desire for power and revenge. You see, I am more of the Meta Knight than you are yourself! You are the faker! You try to cover up your true self, deceiving your own family, friends, and comrades."
"What do you mean?"
"Have you not noticed that I am darker in color than you are? Most people's true selves are barely visible, but you experienced so many of the negative emotions in your life, rarely ever truly happy or relaxed. Your emotions are what created me, just like any other, only your negative emotions made me powerful. Nightmare created you that way, to have strong emotions than most. It made you his prized demonbeast as well as the most sensitive and weak. "
Meta Knight unfolded his wings and leapt into the air when suddenly, much to the shock of the others, only kept him in the air for a brief moment before he crashed into the ground. They no longer seemed to have the strength they used to hold. Meta Knight tried again and again, each time failing, much to the amusement of Dark Meta Knight.
"You can't even fly without me. When we were still a whole, you were more powerful than anything. All of your powers, including the ability to fly heavily depend on me. Now that I have left you, you might as well chop off your wings since they're now useless."
Meta Knight snapped his fingers together, trying to feel the energy from his power over fire. All he got were a few sparks.
"How do you know all this?" He asked, glaring back up to his dark side.
"Because I am the one who felt your suffering, your sadness, and your fear. I understand your hate and want for someone to love you. I could have helped you, Meta Knight, but you pushed me away, trying to think that it wasn't you who had a powerful hate for the world. You didn't want to believe that you could possibly have those feelings, to want to hurt others because they had more than you," Dark Meta Knight said, showing a small sign of anger towards the end. "You remember Galacta Knight? Do you know why he was so powerful?"
Meta Knight did not reply but his eyes flashed red at the name of the White Angel.
"He understood his true self, his dark side, and accepted it as a part of him. They became of whole and were more powerful than you were because you only had a fraction of yourself. I came to you when you fought him and lent my strength to you and because of my generosity, you came out victoriously."
Meta Knight looked at his hands and wings in shock before he stood up again. Dark Meta Knight was about to say something more when Clara broke free from his grip for a moment, sobbing and screaming at the same time.
"META KNIGHT!"
Her cries were cut short as Dark Meta Knight covered her mouth and yanked her back towards him, wrapping his wings around her to keep her from escaping.
"Enough of idle chat. I'll be leaving now…with her," He said, looking at Clara.
"Fine," Meta Knight said without the slightest concern.
Everyone turned to him in shock. Clara's muffled cries were abruptly stopped as her eyes looked at him, shocked as well. Meta Knight turned away, not meeting her gaze.
"Oh. So you don't care about her anymore?" Dark Meta Knight asked casually.
"I did…when my heart still beated." Meta Knight said quietly.
"Suit yourself. I'll trade you this for her," Dark Meta Knight said, pulling out a silver key and dropping it on to the ground in front of Meta Knight. "You can have all of the lost souls that I have collected over the centuries. They're all in the silver chest in the rock quarry."
Just as Dark Meta Knight was about to fly into the air, Blade suddenly stepped forward. He suddenly realized thatthe one standing above him was the one behind all of the shadow monster—including the monsters that had brought Sword's death.
"Y…you're the one who had Sword killed!"
Dark Meta Knight looked at him in slight puzzlement.
"Was that the dark green armored one?" He asked, gloves tightening into fists. "She killed my creations. They were the equivalent as my children! I would have never forgiven her for what she did, so I called upon a few memories to assist me and make her pay."
Blade gasped as he stepped back, before all of a sudden, he grabbed his sword and charged. Dark Meta Knight vanished almost the same second the blade of the sword was about to strike him. He reappeared on another rock, Clara still struggling in his grasp.
"I don't have time to play around. Anyway, it won't be long before the rest of you die."
He took the ends of his cape, just like the way Meta Knight would when about to use Dimensional Cape and spun it around both him and Clara. She screamed out one last muffled cry before they vanished, leaving no trace of them anywhere.
Kirby looked at his father, almost angry enough to shout at him. However, he kept his voice leveled as much as possible.
"Why in the world did you just let him have Mom?!"
"Your right, Clara would have probably preferred Galacta Knight." He replied, saying the White Angel's name with hate and dislike.
Kirby could not find words to say. His father…he did not know the truth. Just as he was about to say anything more, they heard a familiar voice call out.
"There you are! I was starting to get worried! What did I miss?"
The group looked up to see the faint figure of Kamira, followed closely by another spirit: Sir Arthur. They glanced around at the group before Kamira, wide eyed, clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Did Clara and Wolfwrath…"
Escargon explained of what had happened when the sword lady's spirit had left the group to complete a mission of her own. Kamira looked at Kirby's angel wings in surprise but did not say anything until she had heard everything.
"I think I now know why I had to go back to the Mirror Tower to fetch Sir Arthur…"
The group looked at her and Sir Arthur, confused.
"Remember what the phoenix spirit had said? 'Bring the father to his daughter and follow fate'. At first, I thought about Meta, but he didn't have any daughters so then I thought about Sir Arthur. I realized that the spirit had said to bring Sir Arthur back for something that would stop us from continuing and it was directed towards me to do."
She floated down to the ground along with Sir Arthur, who now in his younger form, looked even younger than Kirby did. He smiled sadly as he looked at both Kirby and Meta Knight.
"I regret so much from when I was still alive, I didn't realize how much Galacta Knight had been hurting Clara. I thought…he was the perfect husband for her…but one thing you should know is that you, Meta Knight, are Kirby's true father. I never said anything about this, but Clara and Galacta Knight are from the same blood line. If you go far enough back into my late wife's family tree, Galacta Knight is not that distant from my daughter."
"I'm…Kirby's father? But how did he get feathery wi-"
"I was just getting to that. On Clara's mother's side of the family, all of the males grew white and feathery wings. Her ancestors were said to be from an old race that lived among the clouds. While she herself did not grow wings, she carried that trait, giving it to Kirby, thus is why he has feathery wings. However, the way he grew them, is not a trait from her, it is a demonbeast trait for it to suddenly start to grow like that. Had Galacta Knight been his father, he would have had them from birth."
Meta Knight sank to the ground, partly from relief that he really was Kirby's father, but also in realization of the terrible mistake he had made, thinking Clara did not love him back. His gloves dug into the ground as his body shook.
Kirby could hear him murmur to himself.
"Clara…"
"Dad, there's still time. We can get Mom back if we keep going."
"The last time…my darker self would have defeated me if he hadn't vanished before the fight was over…he's too powerful…I'm too powerful for myself! I've lived so long in hate and fear…it all built up over my life…I can't fight myself…"
"So you're not going to even fight for Mom? Don't you feel guilty enough as of now that she still thinks you don't know the truth? Are you going to leave her that way?"
Kamira floated down towards Meta Knight and placed a transparent hand on his shoulders.
"Also another thing I just thought of, Clara has the hourglass. You do realize what's going to happen if your darker self finds it, he's going to smash it open and everyone will suddenly disappear from the Mirror World and fall into the void. For the sake of our friends, we better hope and pray that Clara's keeping it safe from him."
Meta Knight did not say anything but continued gazing at the Tower of Shadows. Slowly, he stood upright and turned towards the others. He did not say anything but he seemed to show it in his eyes that he wanted for them to give their support when he faced Dark Meta Knight. Kirby remembered his father's cape and handed it to him.
"You…left this…it's kind of bloody though…"
"Forget it. Capes are replaceable, but wives trapped by your darker self are not."
Meta Knight picked up the silver key that Dark Meta Knight had traded for Clara. He held it tightly in his hands.
"Clara…forgive me for my misunderstanding…I'm coming for you…"
Tears continued rolling down Clara's face as she looked at herself in a shattered mirror. She had been forced into a white dress and the second she looked at its reflection from the mirror, she knew exactly what it was.
Her wedding dress.
Every last detail of it, from its fine silk to its intricate stitching, it was familiar, however, now it was torn and resembled the state of Dark Meta Knight's cape. The once bright rose on the veil was now withered and gray. And like the last time she had worn it, her heart had been shattered. This dress did not bring back happy memories.
One of the rose's petals suddenly broke apart and it fell to the floor. Clara carefully picked it up and she held it in her hands. She remembered Meta Knight's first flowers to her: sunflowers. Rather than what most men gave their loves, he had chosen sunflowers.
"Roses are for mourning the dead…These…these remind me of you…happy and cheerful…"
Clara smiled sadly at the memory. How red Meta Knight's face had turned! Without knowing it, he had actually selected Clara's favorite type of flower.
Dark Meta Knight's figure suddenly appeared in the refection of the shattered mirror fragments and Clara nearly flinched as she was pulled back to the present. He silently strode forward, his metal shoes not making one sound against the hard stone floors. She backed away until she felt the cold glass of the mirror touch her body. His snake-like eyes looked her over as he admired her beauty. Reaching forward, he pulled Clara closer to him. A muffled cry escaped from her taped mouth.
"Why do you reject your true husband? Is it because of the way I look compared to your dear Meta Knight? He's the fraud, a disguise to deceive the world around him. When you married him, you married me. Now that we are reunited, no one, not even that faker will ever separate us again."
With a swift wave of his hand, the walls of the room were replaced by the crumbling stone arches of the Tower of Shadows. Unlike the Mirror Tower where the main rooms appeared to go off into eternity, this tower's walls looked as if they were barely capable to standing straight. The arches had a small glow from the hazy skies above and the large tear connecting the Mirror World to the Dimensional World shone brightly down into the tower. Glimmering stairs made of mirrors coiled around the inside of the tower, reaching all the way to its very top and beyond.
Dark Meta Knight grabbed Clara and lifted her up. She kicked and struggled in his strong grasp as he carried her to the center of the tower's base where a large stone coffin was propped up on a slab of rock. As he came closer, its lid slid open, revealing its dark red padded interior. Clara was pushed inside before Dark Meta Knight lay down beside her. The coffin's heavy lid closed shut and darkness engulfed them. For a long time, Clara could not see anything until very faintly at first; she could see the small glow that was emitted from the stone of the coffin. Finally, she could make out the figure of herself and Dark Meta Knight from the blackness. He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, the way one appeared in an open casket at a funeral.
She huddled as far as she could away from him, pressing herself into the stone. She felt her breaths come in short muffled gasps as her eyes looked wildly around her for some escape route. Even as she managed to rip the tape off her mouth, Dark Meta Knight did not stir from his almost motionless position.
"Someone help me!" She sobbed, choking on her tears.
She continued to shout for help until her voice became so hoarse that it was barely audible. As she regained her breath, Dark Meta Knight opened one eye and looked at her.
"Silence. Go to sleep."
She pounded on the stone, tears flowing in a steady stream from her eyes. Her weak arms could barely make the heavy rock move at all and she finally collapsed, sobbing. Her head began to feel dizzy from the lack of any fresh air flow inside of the tomb. Trying to keep her mind clear enough to help her make some kind of plan for escape, she buried her face in her arms.
"Meta Knight!"
She felt Dark Meta Knight's glove gently stroke her cheeks and she looked up to his gold eyes. She recoiled away from his touch.
"Get away from me!"
"You're asking for your own husband to leave? Why in the world did you agree to my proposal?"
"You're not my husband! Meta Knight is!"
Dark Meta Knight let out a low chuckle.
"What do you mean? I am your husband and I am Meta Knight."
He pulled Clara closer to him and held her hands in his gloves. Clara was exhausted from screaming for help and struggling to lift the lid off of the coffin to fight against his grasp. His hand twirled lightly through her pale hair as he spoke.
"You still are being tricked by my counterpart's disguise. I don't blame you; you've never seen your dear Meta Knight's violent thoughts or true emotions."
"Y…you're wrong!" Clara stammered.
"I've shared the same emotions since the day the two of us were created. I'm the only one who knows him, probably even better than he does. I've felt his sadness and fear, I've shared that same burning hate as he; I've also had the same deep desire for the world around me to suffer the same pain I had shared along with Meta Knight. We are two halves, Clara, I easily make up more of the Meta Knight than he does. You don't know what it's like to live someone else's life rather than your own."
Clara looked at him with almost a slight tinge of pity. She could feel the anger and sadness in his voice. He suddenly sat up and moved his body directly above her, pressing her hands to the stone.
"You reject me, but I love you Clara. You wouldn't be able to imagine it, but Meta Knight had an intense desire for your love. He wanted it above all else in his life, even above his own soul. Instead of showing his true side, he was all gentleman-like and proposed to you, rather than take you with force."
"But…h…how did you get separated in the first place?" Clara gasped.
Clara watched as his eyes twitched a little but continued to look into her eyes.
"For a very, very long time, I supported Meta Knight through his emotions, slowly healing him by experiencing his pain and sorrow with him. Meta Knight's emotions are stronger than anyone else's; Nightmare created us this way. Feelings like anger and fear come to him much more easily than what a normal person would and from living under such abusive conditions at Nightmare Enterprises, I would have thought I would have been greatly appreciated for helping him when he had no one. However, that all changed after the news that you had been killed from the war reach us. He didn't know what to do with Kirby. He had felt extreme hate and anger and wanted to avenge your death. It had almost cost our son's life when his emotions became stronger than he could control. After that, he began to fear himself, fearing that he would hurt Kirby. You know what he did?"
Clara did not say anything and Dark Meta Knight continued.
"He rejected me. He tried to push me away, telling himself that it could not possible be himself that had that powerful hate. The more he blocked me away from him, the more the link between us began to wither away. I felt lost and unwanted. The one thing you must realize is that the dark side of people isn't bad. As long as the body accepts the soul for who he is, the two halves can be a part of one. When this is achieved, the body becomes more powerful as a whole. So when I was pushed away, I slowly disappeared, only deciding to return to help Meta Knight fight his mortal enemy: Galacta Knight. After that, I came to the Mirror World to build my empire along with my dear creations. Each one of those monsters that your friends selfishly murdered was created by using the lost spirit of one of the fallen in the void between worlds. I became less lonely with them around and it helped heal my own scars."
This was Meta Knight, her Meta Knight. It was a part of the knight that Clara had never seen before and all of his hidden emotions could be easily felt by his darker side.
"M…Meta Knight…"
She reached up and unstrapped the mask from his face. Letting it drop to the coffin's base, her eyes softened as she looked upon the same familiar face. She slowly wrapped her arms around him and brought her lips to his face.
"I…I didn't know…" Clara said slowly.
Suddenly, Dark Meta Knight drew back, lying down back in his original spot. His eyes seemed to change but they remained gold.
"He..he's coming."
"W..who?"
"Meta Knight. He's going to come and take you away from me again…"
Clara curled close to him, eyes looking at him in concern as his gloves curled into a fist.
"I…I won't let him take away what little I have…I'll erase him from existence before he even reaches the tower."
"No! There must be some other way to resolve this!"
Dark Meta Knight ignored her as he continued to stare at the stone.
"I have called upon my most fearsome creation to kill any dark blue figure with gold eyes it sees. It's already been decided, blood will flow in a steady stream and soak into my lands."
Once again, the group nearly had to run to keep pace with Meta Knight. Kamira had actually brought more than just Sir Arthur back from the Mirror Tower with her; Jecra, Garlude, and SailorDee floated close by in the air behind the group. The others, besides Meta Knight, had never seen or met Jecra or Garlude and they finally had the chance to see the father of Knuckle Joe and mother of Sirica.
The group almost had to beg Meta Knight to slow down so they could catch their breath. They came across a few more shadow monsters along the way and they were taken care of immediately. The lost spirits from inside vanished into their weapons but unlike the other ones the group had came across, they did not say anything or offer any advice in some riddle-like manner. They came to a rock quarry where the Black Angel finally stopped. His eyes kept shifting back to the Tower of Shadows but he did not say anything.
"How much sand is left in that hourglass? Can't be much left!" Dedede said, glancing at the shimmering tear in the sky.
"Maybe about an hour or two left," Escargon said wearily. "If we don't reach the tower soon, we're all going to die!"
The ground under them liquefied, forcing the group to move out of the way as the large glob broke away from the black lands and disappear into the sky.
"There's no way we're going to make it to the tower, climb the stairs, fight Dark Meta Knight, rescue Clara, and still survive to make it back to the Dimensional World!" Sirica exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air.
Meta Knight turned from the tower and over to the girl, eyes curved downwards as he kept his eyes to the ground.
"I…I can't transform…nor fly…If I was able to, I would have been able to fly us all out of here and save Clara…but now, I can't even feel my wings!"
"But what if I could fly us out of here?" Kirby said, stepping forward. "I have wings too."
Meta Knight looked up at his son but shook his head slowly.
"They're too weak as of now. Even if you could, how would you get everyone to the exit? It's too high above the ground and there's too many of us to transport efficiently. Besides, I have a feeling that my darker self will not allow us to take a short cut. We will have to reach the tower and you all will have to make your way up those stairs."
He slowly sank to the ground, leaning his mask on a large rock that jutted out from the ground. Jecra floated over and waved his hand as if to slap the knight on the back in a good-naturedly way.
"You worry too much, Meta. I remember the spasm you had when you didn't know what kind of flower to give to Clara. Kind of reminded me of Garlude…anyway, just let the future play itself out and see what happens. I'm sure we'll find some way to get everyone back home safely."
"Excuse me?" Garlude questioned as she placed her hands on her hips and leaned towards Jecra, making him back away a little. "Usually you are the one getting worked up about something! Especially after Joe and Sirica were born."
"Wait, Sirica's my sister?" Knuckle Joe asked, eyes widening as he glanced at the girl who returned a equally shocked glance.
"Yes, Joe. You and Sirica were born on the same day, just a few minutes apart." Jecra said, placing a transparent hand on his son's shoulder.
Knuckle Joe and Sirica turned to each other and for the first time recognized the other as their sibling. Jecra and Garlude had to laugh a little at the sight. Just as they were about to say something more, Meta Knight stood up, eyes looking at the group gravely.
"I'm sorry to interrupt this family moment, but if we do not keep moving, the hourglass will run out and all of you will fall to the void." He said with slight impatience.
The others still felt tired, but each of them knew the consequence of letting the hourglass run out before they were back into the Dimensional World. They nodded and picked up their bags. No sooner had they begun walking through the rock quarry, they heard muffled sobs. Running forward, Meta Knight looked wildly around, hoping to find Clara. The others had to chase him through the maze of black rocks in his frantic search when they suddenly drew to a halt. The sobs were slightly more audible, but they were not that of Clara's. It sounded like a child's.
They came around a bend and stopped. Directly in front of them was a small dark blue ball huddled within the shadow of a large stone slab. His arms were strapped down across his chest over a dark gray like jacket. A bronze metal guard had been fitted tightly over his face and much of his body. Through the small holes that had been punched into the metal sheets, the others could hear his desperate sobs abruptly stop.
A short gasp escaped from Meta Knight as his eyes flashed orange.
"It…it can't be!"
The others watched as he slowly walked forward towards the figure, stopping about a foot away from him. The boy pressed himself further and further away from the knight as he felt the vibrations of his footsteps.
"It…it's okay…" Meta Knight coaxed as he reached his shaking hand towards the boy.
Almost as if sensing his move, the boy cried out.
"Leave me alone!"
Meta Knight carefully ran his hand down the child's side, trying to calm the boy down. He drew his sword out and sliced through the straps. Almost the exact moment he was free, the rocks around the group shattered into thousands of pieces as the boy stood up. He blindly backed away, stumbling over the unlevel ground. He fell backwards and curled as tight as he could as a pitiful last defense against anyone who could possibly try to hurt him.
The group could feel their minds being prodded at, to see whether they were dangerous or not. Slowly, the almost familiar presence drew away as the boy sat up. He reached out with his white glove, blindly searching for Meta Knight. The knight held his hand out and let the boy feel around his arm. Suddenly, he pulled on him and then pointed at the metal guard that covered his face. Meta Knight turned the boy on to his chest to reveal the large key pad on the back of the metal guard. Nightmare's symbol was imaged on its small screen as it called for a password.
"P…R…O…J…E…C…T…M…E…T…A…K…0…2" Meta Knight said aloud without knowing it while he punched in the password he knew by heart.
A small whirring sound emitted as the gears inside of the metal guard began turning and the metal slid apart. The boy lifted his face out from the metal guard, letting it fall with a loud clatter to the ground. The others gasped as the all too familiar gold eyes opened to look at them.
"D…Dad?" Kirby stammered.
The figure was Meta Knight—a younger version of the knight.
The younger Meta Knight's face looked as if someone had punched him as hard as they could straight into his right eye. A black ring was left around it as a reminder of the vicious attack. A stream of blood flowed down from the corner of his mouth where a thin metal bar had been wedged, cutting into his flesh. Meta Knight carefully removed it and his younger self's sad gold eyes looked at him for a brief moment in bewilderment before he stepped back, frowning.
"Who are you?" He demanded.
Meta Knight was silent, almost as if he did not know how to answer the small blue puffball. The younger ball stepped forward, holding a sharp rock like a knife.
"Speak! Else I'll slit your throat open and let your blood stain the ground!"
"I am someone close…much closer than you may realize." Meta Knight replied.
While the young blue puffball, had extreme bloody threats, the others could see the fear in his eyes. He leapt out, stabbing the rock into the air in a desperate attempt to scare away the strangers. Meta Knight easily side stepped, catching the blue ball by the base of his wings and lifting him into the air. Surprised, the boy looked at him before he stabbed the rock as hard as he could into Meta Knight's arm. The knight winced as the rock dug in deeper and a dark red pool formed at his feet but he held the boy firmly.
"Let go of me! I'm the high Prince of Demonbeasts! My father will have your eyes ripped out and your back whipped until your blood splatters!"
"You seriously think Nightmare would listen to a little arrogant brat like you?"
Stunned, the boy looked at Meta Knight. No one had ever called him a brat before until now. His eyes flashed red as he took a swipe at Meta Knight which missed.
"How dare you speak to me like this! I'm the heir to the throne and all of you will suffer! I'll have you all thrown into the dungeons and let you rot, until your insides have been eaten away and your bones are dried!"
"You were never an heir to anything. You know why Nightmare wanted you? He only wanted to make you into his puppet to help him expand his empire. Once you no longer proved useful to him, you would be disposed of without hesitation."
"T..that's not true!" The blue puffball stammered. "I…I will be ruler one day! Just you wait! I'll have the universe bow down to me with my every whim!"
"You have lived in that lie for too long." Meta Knight replied, looking directly at him.
"You're wrong! You're wrong!" The blue ball said as he covered his head, trying to block out anything his captor might say. "When I tell Nightmare, he will have you stretched out on a table and have your insides ripped out and your bloody remains staked out on the battlement walls!"
Unable to say anything more, Meta Knight turned just as Kamira floated down to the two, shaking her head with a slight smile.
"I remember how arrogant you were and the threats you used to say after I took you in after that one day on Icronth. You were just like this."
Meta Knight blinked.
"I…I acted like this?"
"Oh yeah you did!" Kamira laughed. "It was almost up to the point where I had enough! I remember when you threatened that my limbs would be dismembered one by one while by blood would be painted across the walls and my neck would be snapped and my body would bleed from the inside while blood leaked out of my eyes. I think that was the most amusing one."
Meta Knight looked back at his younger self, at a loss for words as Kamira continued.
"Also, you'd say that I was inferior to the likes of you and that I should have to bow down to the emperor's heir. Like I would give anything for the emperor! I ended up dumping a bucket of water on you and tossing you out into the cold garage until you started to show me a little respect and appreciation for what you were given."
Meta Knight turned back just as his younger self released a powerful electrical charge. He immediately was forced to let go and the small blue puffball took off, flying up on to a tall rock that looked over the entire group.
"You all deserve worse than death penalty! I'll remember this!"
Just as Meta Knight was going to run after him, he stopped. A shadowy figure suddenly emerged from the hazy skies and was flying down towards the rock quarry at an alarming rate. Like a giant pterodactyl, the monster had a wing span that stretched longer than a bus and its thick membranes blocked out the light from the small golden disk in the sky.
"Run!" Meta Knight shouted.
The small dark blue ball turned around just a moment too late. The monster knocked him over, sending him thudding to the ground. As it made a graceful U-Turn in the sky, the younger Meta Knight picked himself up. The monster faced the group again, suddenly realizing there were two dark blue balls. Its orders had been to specifically kill anything that color with gold eyes. However, Dark Meta Knight had never said anything about two puffballs. It decided to go for the smaller one, the one who seemed unprotected and weak.
Both Meta Knights ran just as the monster swooped down, grazing the air overhead. The small dark blue scampered away, clumsily tripping over black roots.
"Idiot! Don't run in a straight line where that thing can attack you!" Meta Knight shouted after him.
Through the younger Meta Knight's mind connection, he could feel the barrage of thoughts that wildly swam in his mind. He could not hear him.
The monster swung its head back and lunged downward with a burst of speed. The young dark blue ball ran to the side just as its mighty talons grazed the back of his arms. He cried out in pain as he collapsed, holding his arm to keep the blood from flowing out. Meta Knight ran to him and lifted the small blue ball into his arms. With one hand, he held on to his younger self protectively while he held his sword in the other.
He turned around to face the dark shadow swooping down towards them and held his sword in front of him. Just as he prepared to fight back, the monstrous bird-like creature landed, making the ground shake. Its head turned to them, red eyes flashing. It leaned its head back and opened its sharp beak. A long metal tube emerged and pointed towards the two. From the top of it, a small red laser locked on to its target. Meta Knight's eyes flashed orange as he realized what it was.
He ran just as the machine gun began firing. Bullets flew past, narrowly missing both him and his younger self. Meta Knight was about to take cover behind a study looking rock when the ground in front of him liquefied, forcing him back. The red dot locked in on his forehead as he turned to face the creature. It fired, the bullet coming straight towards him. Moving slightly to the side, the fatal attack was missed and instead, embedded itself into his shoulder plate, knocking him back off his footing. The small blue ball leapt up into the air, running for his life as the monster flew above. Its shadow engulfed the running figure as it landed directly in front of him. He stopped in his tracks and was about to turn around when the monster threw its head back and stabbed its beak towards him. It caught him by the wing and it lifted him off the ground.
He screamed out as his wings ripped from his weight pulling down on the thin membrane and as he pulled, he finally freed himself from its horrible beak. He tumbled to the ground and scurried away, diving into a small hole. The bird stepped forward and began drilling into the hole like a woodpecker. The rocks crumbled under the power of its beak as it searched for its prey. The younger Meta Knight pressed himself as far as he could into the hole, the beak snapping at the air less than an inch away from his face.
Suddenly, he was jerked out as the monster caught his wing. He struggled as it lifted him into the air, this time with a better grip on him. The monster raised its wings and flew into the air.
The group followed the older Meta Knight as he ran to the very edge of a deep ravine. Only blackness could be seen down into it. The monster was now gliding directly above it and there was no way the group could keep following it on foot. Kirby turned to his father.
"Dad! The Warpstar!"
Meta Knight nodded and immediately placed his hand on his chest. The others watched it awe as it began to glow with a golden light as the warp star appeared in his hands. The star that Kirby had thrown to his father when the Black Angel had fought Galacta Knight had remained in his body until now. Throwing it into the air, the Warpstar expanded and with a nod, both father and son jumped aboard. At almost the exact moment they were on, the star took off towards the creature with the struggling figure in its beak.
Raising Galaxia high into the air, Kirby swung down, sending a powerful sword beam at the monster. It turned around just as the light sliced through its left wing, the light eating its flesh. It thrashed about in the air as it began falling from the air. The Warpstar flew down alongside it as Meta Knight reached his hand out to his younger self.
"Take my hand!"
Reaching for it, the smaller dark blue ball struggled to get a hold as he pulled away from the monster's beak. Kirby looked up, suddenly realizing they were going to smash into the hard ravine walls if they kept going.
At the last moment, the blue ball broke free and leapt towards them. Meta Knight immediately held on to his younger self tightly as the Warpstar began to slow. The monster smashed into the wall, its talons digging into the rock. Its red eyes seemed to glow brighter red in anger and it suddenly threw its tail towards them. It struck out at the Warpstar, sending Kirby into the air. Meta Knight grabbed on to its neck as the younger Meta Knight was knocked away. The knight drew his sword and stabbed into the monster's eye. It slammed its head repeatedly into the ravine wall, nearly crushing Meta Knight in the process. It turned towards him, deciding that bringing one of the dark blue balls to its master would be better than bringing none and its beak closed around his body.
Kirby flew the Warpstar to catch the younger Meta Knight and he turned to see his father get taken away. The monster opened its great wings and took off towards the Tower of Shadows, flying slightly crooked from losing part of his wings. He heard his father shout something but it was lost as the monster became a distant figure in the sky.
"DAD!"
His shout echoed throughout the ravine only to hear no other reply. The Warpstar landed back on the ledge and the others helped him and the small dark blue ball up. The younger Meta Knight looked up towards the pink Star Warrior who he did not realize would one day be his son.
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A/N: Hurr…I didn't know how the chapter should have ended because I wanted to keep adding more and more to the chapter. Now time for my usual, annoying author note.
How in the world is it possible for Meta Knight to meet his own younger self?! In the Dark Half, news that things not possible occurred there, so that's kind of my explanation…
Looks like the group will have to rescue Clara and Meta Knight! But there is one more member to the group now, Meta. In the next chapters, the younger Meta Knight will be referred to as just plain 'Meta' to prevent confusion.
Also, now we finally had the chance to really see Dark Meta Knight's point of view. He's not really 'evil' though, he's just angry at Meta Knight for pushing him away. Now Clara is stuck between the two both fighting for her when both of them are Meta Knight!
Sheesh! Too many Meta Knights now…
One other thing is that I would like to thank all those who voted in my poll! I have a little better idea what I should be focusing on now and hopefully, my writing will get a little better! ^_^
Please review!