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In the photo, the aqua-colored puffball was smiling happily down at the chocolate-furred Waddle Dee and their child. The baby was slightly discolored, and he looked rather weak and sick, but overall he was a quiet child who rarely cried unless he was hurt. The mother Dee held the little puff and his gigantic, fuzzy cap…not caring about how disadvantaged he was compared to other infants. Not even caring if he was compared to Kirby. It…
It seemed like she cared about him anyway, despite all this.
But…
…
How was he supposed to care about her? He didn't know her. It had been over two decades since he'd seen her, provided that he had any memory of her at all, being an infant.
But…she's…my mother…
She loves me…
Despite the heat, Meta Knight pulled his cape around himself, walking back over to the tree roots and situating himself in a tight crevice. He really didn't feel very good. As a matter of fact, he felt…guilty…
This is so awkward…What do I do? Meta Knight stared up at the treetops, almost wishing for someone to come and explain it to him.
She's my mom. I should feel sympathy for her. I should love her. But…I never knew about her until today, so how can I do that? I feel sorry for her, but…ugh; Meta, you're a horrible person! You wanted a family, and now you have one! Aren't you the least bit satisfied? Don't you care about her at all?
But…he was still stuck with that problem. That guilt.
Because how can you care about someone who you never knew existed?
Familial bonds…He didn't know much about them, and he certainly didn't know how they came into existence. There wasn't any straight answer he could get from anyone. Asking why a child loved their parent, or sibling, or aunt, or cousin just yielded a smile and the answer "Because they're my family!" And even asking an adult, the mature, responsible one of the situation, only turned up the same justification. Because they were related.
No matter how much time he spent thinking on it, Meta Knight simply could not understand the reasoning behind it. Out of two strangers, how could one of them be more important and trustworthy than another, simply because their genetic structure was more similar to one's own? There were so many people in the universe who looked similar, or had the same magical powers, or lived in the same place and relied on the same things, but weren't related…and therefore, merited no trust from those similar people, despite having shared genetics from their species. Though, some people did jump to the 'related to me' conclusion when there were enough similar qualities. Even he was guilty of that…
What…am I going to tell Kirby about this, anyway?
Did Kirby deserve to know anything about this? Did anyone need to know about this? Not telling Dedede would be a direct lie; the king's documents recorded him as an orphan, and that wasn't true. But outside of the penguin…who else would find out? Who else would even care? It would be a lot harder to interact with Kajinara without telling his friends about things, but…
…but what if they think differently of me?
Would Kirby still care about him? After all they'd been through, he…probably would, perhaps? One reason that the two had grown close was because they believed they were related, or at least close to it, since there were no other puffballs in the universe that they'd seen. Looking back, that reasoning seemed a bit stupid. But…would Kirby still love him, even if they weren't related? Meta Knight hoped so. For so many years, he'd admired the pink puff from afar, hoping that they could be on good terms someday. To have that snatched away…just wouldn't be fair. But now that he was genetically closer to a Waddle Dee than to his black-hole kin, of which only Kirby remained alive…would the pink puffball still be willing to keep the bond they had already…or would he care about him less because he was just a friend…?
Kirby was so perfect, it wasn't as if he couldn't find a thousand more friends to replace him with, anyway…just like everyone else had…
No, Meta; his Majesty and Bandana Dee still cared about you when they knew there was no way you were related to them…so maybe Kirby won't care, either! It—It's still a thought, right?
Oh no. What would Bandana Dee think of this?
Meta Knight moaned. He really was a part of the Dee's tribe now…
Genetically, he wasn't directly related to anybody but Kajinara…unless she had relatives in the tribe that he wasn't aware of. But by those mysterious familial bonds, she was part of the tribe's family, and therefore, he was part of the tribe's family. Plus, from her genetics, wouldn't he be…?
Wait…
But that means…
…
Something.
Something in the puff's chest twisted the wrong way.
He felt sick…
Wait a minute…
Her genetics, plus my father's genetics…I'm a Pikonyan, but…my mother is not…so…where does that leave me?
He couldn't be anything but a Pikonyan. He just had to be a rare space guardian. He'd built his whole life around fulfilling the role that all members of his species had to fill. If he wasn't one of those special creatures, then that would mean that almost half of his struggles and pain would have absolutely no purpose or reason in his life. But just because he looked like a Pikonyan, and was able to utilize their abilities…did that really mean he was one, completely? He'd disguised himself as other species plenty of times, and used abilities similar to theirs…so could that mean…that maybe…
…was he really a pure-blooded Pikonyan, or…was he something else, potentially something else less special…?
No...That's not plausible…
But it's not a fact you can ignore…
A fair person takes in every aspect of the truth. And the truth is, I'm…
He stared at his paws, and then his feet. The wings on his back twitched, which reminded him to test them and see if they really flapped the way they should. The nerves in his body prickled uncomfortably as he tried to pick out something; anything that might have potentially been wrong with him. He didn't know what to think of himself anymore. What was he? He'd thought he was a puffball all his life, but now?
Now that was a lie.
Now he might not be a puffball.
The way he'd thought of himself was turned upside down, because now…
I'm part Waddle Dee… The sapphire puffball placed a paw on his forehead. I'm not…really a pure-blooded Pikonyan like Kirby after all…
…
…
…What does this mean? What…What am I; what does that make me?
It makes me…different from everybody else…
He wasn't one species or another anymore…He was half of a species, and half of another. Or was it equally split? Or just a random proportion? He had to be more puffball than Waddle Dee, or else he'd look more like one…right?
Wrong. Well, not really, but he didn't know much about genetics, so any guesses he made weren't guaranteed to be valid. If only he had some facts. Solid, logical proof that he was worrying about nothing and he didn't have a thing to be concerned with. But he had no proof. He didn't have any facts to even build a proof with. Meta Knight was aware of his species' basic abilities and powers, and he knew a slight bit about their anatomy, but the actual growth and inner functions of his species were completely beyond him. He hadn't considered it very important, so he'd focused his attention on other, more important things, like academics, fighting, and magic (and some, ehem, less-than-academic technological hobbies; like video games…) Now that he was thinking about it, however, it wasn't as if there was a vast number of books on that sort of thing, either.
But his wings had grown so early…It had been years since he'd gotten them, while Kirby was still running around as if he'd just stepped out of his spaceship yesterday. But if Kirby was truly such a 'normal' child, why did he have access to any copy ability he wanted, when Meta Knight himself still had decades ahead of him if he wanted the same powers? Puffballs took years to learn and then advance their copy abilities, particularly when they were younger and inexperienced. In order to use more than a few moves in each ability when a puff was still a child, one had to devote extra time and energy to battle training or general practice with it, whereas Kirby didn't have to train at all on his own. Admittedly, Meta Knight did know how to use the basic seven copy abilities of their species and a few others, but his practice as a younger child had yielded no advances in skill. At some point, he'd eventually surrendered to just learning Sword and Ice; Sword because every puffball wanted to learn it, and Ice because sapphire-colored puffs were supposed to know Ice instinctively. How ironic that Kirby, as a pink puff, just had to have Sword as his instinctive power. Meta Knight would never confess this to anyone, as nobody would understand, but…it was just so easy to be jealous of Kirby. Kirby's abilities were everything any puffball could ever want. Kirby was special; spectacular, even.
…or…
…was he?
All these years, Meta Knight had thought it was Kirby who was spectacular, and himself who was normal. But…what if, all along, Kirby's abilities were simply normal…and perhaps, for some odd reason in genetics…Maybe…he couldn't copy things as well? Maybe he was defective. Maybe some of those copy abilities that he just couldn't grasp correctly were things he'd never be able to use anyway. If he didn't have the physical abilities and powers to pull off an attack or a copy ability, it would make sense that he would fail to utilize them.
But is it because part of me is messed up, or is it because I'm just…different…? What if…What if Kirby is normal, and I'm…just screwed up?
If…he wasn't a member of either of his parent species…was he alone…? Truly, no Waddle Dee in the universe would be likely to form a romantic relationship with a cute-faced space puffball that lived infinitely—at least, not anytime soon. His species was borderline, if not outright, extinct, so a combination of those two species wasn't probable to hope for. So what was he, anyway? Was he a puffball? Or would he never be able to say that about himself again? Why did he keep beating his head against the wall on this topic?
Ironic, isn't it, Meta? The puff smirked to himself. You wanted something about you that was special. Well, isn't this something? Not exactly what you were thinking of, hm.
…
Am I some sort of unnatural anomaly? I know there are separate species names for certain types of mixed breeds of creatures…but what about mixed species? That would be odd.
How many ways could you mix 'Pikonyan' and 'Waddle Dee'? Even 'puffball' and 'Waddle Dee'… 'PuffDee'? 'Wonyan'? 'Waddle Puff'? None of those sounded even remotely appealing. At least, to him.
Forget that. The only thing I can call myself, as far as a species goes, is Kajinara's child…
…
…
…But who cares about that?
I'm Kajinara's child.
She's my mother.
She's my mother and I should love her instead of whining about not being a space guardian.
Well. Back where he started.
Of course, it didn't help that this was so confusing. Meta Knight honestly wasn't sure of any way to accurately and constructively expression his frustration with all this uncertainty. How did someone deal with something like this? Who would even have to deal with something like this? It wasn't a simple math problem, where he could just look up some information and find out what he needed to do; who the heck would have this sort of experience? What was the right way to go about these things? How was he supposed to deal with all this and what was expected of him? Was he considered part of the tribe now? What did they do all day? Or were things just allowed to keep going on like they had before, disregarding what just happened? What would change because of this and what wouldn't?
He didn't know…He was locked in a situation where there was no way to get help about dealing with it; no previous experience to learn from and no advice to gather from research. His only option was to plow forward blindly, making those mistakes himself and testing things out as he went along. And while this may have been of little concern to the rest of the quartet, to Meta Knight, functioning under such circumstances may as well have been directly equivalent to stepping out on a minefield…a fenced-in minefield with no possible escape routes. If there was one thing Meta Knight hated, it was making mistakes. This was usually because these mistakes could have been avoided as a direct result of research, experimenting, or common sense. But here? …Well. What did one do when they found their long-lost parent since two-and-a-half decades?
Yes, Meta. What are you going to do, to interaction and associate with your long-last parent who hasn't seen you in two-and-a-half decades?
He had no idea how to deal with this situation.
However, being Meta Knight, he did always have a solution on how to deal with situations he had no idea how to deal with, though it sometimes made him sick: Pretend to ignore what had happened, and stuff it in the farthest depths of his mind he could muster.
…
…
…
…
…
It didn't work.
And he was starting to feel sick.
Oh, come on, Meta… The puff shifted to the side, putting his wings away in favor of grasping his cape. Stop being such a whiny, baby puffball. Other people have…much worse problems than this…
But it was so irritating not knowing…!
Dang it, Meta… He pulled his cape over his face, squirming uncomfortably. Stop that. Stop being stupid. Don't…Just, focus on feeling like yourself again. Being half Waddle Dee isn't going to change much of anything, is it? It might explain a few things, but you'll just have to become accustomed to dealing with those; it's not like this is going to change your life or friends or…
…Oh wait. He'd forgotten…
This would change my relationship with Kajinara, of course. How am I supposed to be someone's child when I don't even know how to act like one? Every kid has a soft spot for their parents, correct? So I suppose I should be different when I'm around her…perhaps. Maybe. What does Bandana Dee do around his parents and sibling…? I should've paid more attention to that.
Of course, there was one advantage that he had. Outside of academic-level material, Meta Knight loved reading stories about adventures and friendship and families. Certainly, there had to be at least some truth in those fictional relationships, right? He could certainly be obedient to rules and customs if he had to; heck, he'd considered those sort of things before he even set foot at this gathering. He could only assume that most parents wanted a mature, intelligent child with spectacular abilities and…well, the books hadn't gone too far past that, but he could at least fight and do math! Certainly, that had to count for some reason for her to like him…or, for her not to be ashamed to call him her child…
But…
What if she was still disappointed in him? He wasn't a Waddle Dee; he didn't know her…He didn't know his father either, so he couldn't even try to live up to his dad's legacy…And he didn't know anything about Waddle Dee traditions…Honestly, Meta Knight already felt as if he didn't belong on Popstar anyway, being so different. What if Kajinara would take all that into account, negatively? What if…What if she didn't care about him if he wasn't good enough for her…?
Well, wasn't she the one hoping for you to care about her? And now you are the one who's looking to impress her.
Did that mean…Did that mean that he loved her…?
…
…
…
He…He did want to love her. She seemed cool, and respectable, and polite, and...
…and…she was his mother. He shouldn't have to have any more justification than that.
Was it really okay to completely fling himself into this relationship, though? Trusting someone he didn't even know, because they were his mother? …That sounded rather stupid. He would tell anyone else that they should trust their parents; it would be hypocritical to not follow that advice.
But this was so strange…! How could someone he didn't even know honestly care about him? How was he supposed to understand that?! She barely knew him, yet…she already cared about him? Although…she was his birth mother. If she hadn't wanted him, she wouldn't have decided to have a child…so certainly, her intentions would have to be caring for him. The only purpose of a parent's job was caring for their children, correct? Then with that evidence and logic, the chance that Kajinara genuinely cared about him was very probable.
She's a family member. If she's a family member, and fictional tales have any truth in them, the parents always care about their children no matter what. It's always open love when it comes to parents, remember? The parents…love their children. They always love their children.
…more than anything else…even when the children don't reciprocate that love instantly…
Though he wasn't aware of it, the puff let a smile slip across his face.
Maybe she won't mind your faults. Maybe she might…not mind that you're such a secret math nerd, or that you're so reliant on a thesaurus for everything. Come on, Meta—how bad could this…
This could go badly. If he pursued this relationship, he really would be stuck with her until one of them died. What if there was something about her that he didn't like? What if—
How ironic. If she's going to excuse your faults, why would you care about hers? Honestly; how bad can she be anyway? She prefers a sword! Surely, you've at least got some common ground, correct? You're misjudging her, Meta. Take a shot. She seems nice…
But so had all those other people who betrayed him…or backstabbed him, or said that he was better off dead than even acquainted with them, or just used him to get—
But she's my family! They weren't! The puff rolled over, sitting up straight and stretching his arms and wings. That bad feeling in his chest had started to fade, and the forest seemed a little brighter and happier. She has to care about me. She said she did. And she's related to me…right? If all those other families are willing to care about their relatives…
…she should care about me, right…?
She might love me.
The smile on his face only grew as he pulled his wings back out and readjusted the bandana on his head. He'd forgotten he still had it on.
At least I look like I belong here now. I have a piece of headgear just like the rest of the Dees.
It made him feel a bit more secure about things. Meta Knight didn't particularly care too much about fitting into society, but in the case of being part of a Dee tribe now, he figured he should at least have some common ground with them. Even if it was just a hat.
But wait…I wonder if Kajinara would appreciate it if she knew I still kept that cap. It might actually fit me properly now that I'm older. I should slip out tonight and fly back to grab it for—
Something sharp pierced the puff's arm, and he couldn't help but let out a surprised cry. He froze almost instantly, desperately wishing that the searing pain would stop and that he'd just walked into a thorn bush or something.
Instead, as he turned his arm into view, he was greeted by some odd liquid, his blood, and what appeared to be a spearhead, with nothing else attached to the weapon. The puff glanced around quickly, trying to process what was happening and where the projectile had been launched from.
Someone just shot me.
Of all the things to encounter at a Waddle Dee party, Meta Knight had prepared for but not expected armed ambushes, particularly when he was by himself. But in that moment, someone had attacked him, and could be aiming to shoot him again. From what he could see, there was nobody in the surrounding area. Whoever it was had to be sniping him from above, in the trees. He did have Galaxia, but fighting directly would require him to seek out the enemy and engage them in hand-to-hand combat, which would give them plenty of time to see him coming and shoot him again. And while magic projectiles were tempting, he was in a forest full of large trees and very flammable vegetation. Launching a sword beam or a fire blast would either crush him under a tree or burn the forest to a crisp.
Take Galaxia out anyway! You can still hit them with electricity!
But as he moved his good arm to withdraw his sword, he realized that staying still would make him an easy target. Despite the pain, Meta Knight grasped his injured arm and awkwardly broke into run—just as another spearhead cracked the roots behind him. Could he make it out of the woods before they hit him? One of his friends would surely be within range, and though he was certain he could deal with this himself, it would be nice to have some backup just in case.
…He hoped they were close. His arm was really hurting him when he moved, and he wished he could slow down so he could stop jostling it. As his friends had found out over their adventures, Meta Knight didn't tolerate pain too well. A good hit or few would completely take him down, so the puff had to fight carefully and quickly to avoid taking damage. If he didn't get hit again before he made it to safety, he'd be okay—
The puff squeaked in surprise as another projectile barely missed him.
…but if he went down and his friends didn't know about it, he wouldn't be doing much fighting against the enemy, to be sure…
As soon as Kajinara had finished her conversation with her son, she'd fled when she was out of his line of sight. She couldn't stand being around him any longer; having to wonder whether this was all just an absurd joke, or if he was just being polite when he told her he didn't hate her.
She still loved him. After all these years, that rush of emotions she'd felt when she looked at him proved that she'd not been able to move past events that happened over two decades ago. As coldhearted as it sounded, grieving for someone that long shouldn't be plausible. Surely there had to be a time to move on.
And she'd tried to do that. She thought she had. Maybe she had managed it, at some point.
…But after all that time and work of trying to forget, here was her sweet little child, staying in her tribe's camp without a clue to his background, and everything she'd built up to protect herself from those memories was suddenly threatening to come crashing down.
I still love him.
I'm so glad I still love him.
But…
The Dee would have frowned if she'd been able to, though the rest of her posture and expression gave her feelings away well enough.
…I don't know this boy. He's my child, but…I've not even lived with him for a year. How…Why should I still care so much about him, when I don't even know if he still cares about me…?
Why…
Why should he care about me? He doesn't even know me. For all he knows, I could be lying to him…
But I miss him. I missed him so much…
Kajinara clenched her paws, striking at some nearby thistles with the first weapon she could pull out of her headdress. The sword sliced cleanly through the weeds.
...
If he doesn't care about me…so be it. She withdrew her blade and tossed it back into her headdress. It won't be any different a scenario than how the rest of my family ended up…If he doesn't need me, I don't really have a need for him, either...
With that, she slowed her pace, and continued walking to the village. The forest was behind her now, and maybe…maybe she could keep the past behind her, as well…
C/N: I don't really like how this chapter and the last have both been very expositiony/get-into-the-characters'-heads, only because they're back-to-back, but the next chapter is going to be back to normal with more conversations, quartet action, etc. so hopefully that makes it better.
On actual story focus, looks like Kajinara's view of the situation is slowly declining. Meta's trying to hope for the best, but his past experiences with relationships gone wrong make him pessimistic about maintaining close relationships. The quartet and Sailor Dee are his only exceptions, and in this canon, that's only because they've shown that they would save his life over letting him die or suffer. So. HMMMMM...
On another note, I may make a journal on dA about things relating to this story. If you're on dA, check it out. If not, you can read it there and if you feel compelled to answer any points, you can leave a review back here. I also have a poll on my profile for this story; nothing serious, just opinion-fishing. :)
And in case I haven't mentioned this already: Thanks SO MUCH for reading. I don't actually check to see how many people view this (as to me, the reviews, favs, etc. are a more accurate standing sometimes), but it makes me so happy to see people review and favorite this, and ultimately enjoy this.
Reviewer Replies:
Indigo Puff: That's the best part: it was never a reunion to begin with! Bandana Dee's family all live in the same place together, so it's not a 'reunion' for the tribe because they all see each other every day. (There was a line in the narration of 'Introduction' that poked at this.) That means that it's just a party, which would make the title useless…unleeeeess it was referring to something else…
Awesome to see support for the Robobot fics! I've been working on them bit by bit.
I'mSpiderman: Haha, I wasn't sure if anyone'd figure out to look over on dA! Glad you liked the plot twist!
Hmmmm…I'll try to give no hints…but I grinned while reading that. I'm glad you enjoyed the rewrite, and the story so far. It means a lot to me.
Meow: Hello again! It's been a while on my end…
I don't think there's any limit on how many art pieces you can upload to deviantArt, and if there is, it's really high. I've seen people with over 700 uploads and counting before. And no, there's no other way to communicate outside reviews without an account. But don't worry about the space—well, unless this site cuts your review off. That always happens to me.
To your question, I don't remember the answer exactly, but I do have it in some old files for the story. It will come up sometime in-story, though.
I actually do prefer to write in the gameverse alone…but, there are a few concepts from the anime I like to keep, so I just try to stay in a mix. However, my future stories don't involve the anime much, if at all. Plus, I've found throughout talking to people and reading reviews (on my own stories and other people's) that bringing the anime into a game story sets up the expectation that it's going to be an anime story with all the anime stereotypes, and I don't like that forced upon me. I feel somewhat trapped though, because I think a lot of the Kirby audience on this site is here solely for anime-related content, so if I don't include it, people will think it's bad.
As for Dedede, his bonds will be some of each. He lived and was raised with his servants, but he had enough time to get attached and bond with his parents before they died, so he still remembers what his family was like.
Moon: Their ages are never stated in either anime or games. It's completely open-ended. Plus, we don't know how old any of the other characters are in relation to each other; 200 years in their universe could be 5 years in our equivalent.
And, for Knuckle Joe, I'm afraid I already have most of the plot planned out. I can't change much of it without messing up the story's direction. But thank you for the suggestion.