He watched her go for a bit, thinking about how kind she was to patch him up... No pun intended. Meta Knight sighed and pushed through the door, getting the expected responses from both Bun, who was sitting on the bed, and Kirby, who was sitting on the floor.

"Ha! Kirby, look! It's a ball of yarn! Be careful or it might turn into a sweater and try to make you warm!" Bun laughed and Kirby did too.

Meta Knight was getting tired of Bun's rowdy behavior after so many years and muttered something uncharacteristic that shut both boys up, "Shut up, the both of you. This is a problem."

Bun snipped, "Well, it's not my fault you came in looking like a dope. I mean, seriously? You look hilarious! You're about the same size as Kirby now!" And he continued laughing as Kirby stood next to Meta Knight, putting his hand on the knight's head as if measuring, making Bun laugh harder.

Fumu walked through the door. "Oh, quit teasing him. How would you like it if you were turned into a ball of yarn? Besides, he's hurt and he needs to tell Kirby of a new threat coming to Dreamland. Would you like to tell him while I fix you up?"

Meta Knight did something like a nod and skillfully hopped up onto Bun's bed, making the latter join Kirby on the floor. "Kirby. Do you remember a few years ago when Drawcia came to Dreamland to turn the world into paint?"

Kirby nodded and babbled something like, "Drawcia?" as Fumu set two baskets next to Meta Knight and sat down herself; one basket had first aid supplies and the other was full of things used for sewing and knitting, including some cotton fluff.

"And surely you remember four years after that when Yin-Yarn tried turning Dreamland into yarn?" Kirby nodded and murmured something like, "Yin-Yarn?"

Meta Knight sighed as Fumu slowly worked on his head, applying cotton and water and sometimes extra dark blue yarn when need be with a crochet hook that did not hurt Meta Knight at all. "They both returned. They are both fully alive, fully armed and fully prepared for anything. They said that they only did this to me for revenge, but they still have the knitting needles and the power paintbrush, thus another chance to strike."

Bun raised his hand.

"Yes, Bun?"

"Who're Drawcia and Yin-Yarn? I've never heard of those guys before."

"That is right, Dreamland was evacuated because of the threat. Neither of you could have remembered much of it because you were fairly young, even when Yin-Yarn struck. Drawcia is a witch who tried to make Dreamland paint. Legend has it she popped out of an unsigned painting and wanted to make the world her own masterpiece. Kirby tried getting in her way, but she turned him into a ball, like I am now."

Bun suppressed another snicker. "You were beaten by a girl?"

"I was tied up! I was not going to do anything today, how could I have known what was going to happen?"

Fumu turned to and scolded her younger brother, if only to hear what else Meta Knight had to say, "Bun, seriously. Give him some slack. If you worked twenty four-seven on guard duty, wouldn't you want a break from work and immature comments?" Fumu returned to her work. "Please continue."

Meta Knight cleared his throat as his nerves stood on end when Fumu's working hands came dangerously close to the strap on his mask. "Yes... Well, it took the combined strength of Kirby, King Dedede, myself, a Waddle Dee, and a Waddle Doo. Drawcia exploded, but Yin-Yarn said that her paintings found her and put her back together."

"Why does Yin-Yarn sound like he has a split personality?" Bun asked. Two shadows lurked in the windows behind him, but no one noticed.

"Okay, so you'll use invisibility to go through the wall and cast a temporary mind control spell, right?" Yin-Yarn asked his companion as they hovered by the window, just out of sight except for their shadows which they did not notice.

Drawcia nodded. "Yep! I'll wait for just the right moment..."

Meta Knight's eye twitched as he ignored Bun's remark. "Yin-Yarn got mad at Kirby for eating his Maxim Tomato and sent him into Patch Land, where he had to stitch the world back together in order to come back to Dreamland and defeat Yin-Yarn. After the fight, Kirby and his Patch Landian friend, Prince Fluff, sent Yin-Yarn's knitting needles to Patch Land, where we all assumed they broke because of gravity's effect. The knitting needles remained alive sneaked into the castle where the portal to Dreamland was and knitted Yin-Yarn back together, or so Drawcia said. I think they might currently be-"

Meta Knight was interrupted again by Fumu, who was asking an entirely obvious question, "I can't fill you up all the way. There's a huge gap going through you that starts at your upper back and ends under your mask. I'm going to have to take it off to fill the gap. Can I take off your mask?"

"Now!"

Meta Knight was about to snort his reply when suddenly, his mind filled with dust and lint and he felt like something was poking him in the back. "Yes." Meta Knight looked around, wondering who in the room had a voice as deep, quiet and soft as his, then rolled back out of reflex when his mask was removed from his face.

Face-down on the bed, Meta Knight slurred, "Why did you do that? I never said you could."

Drawcia floated back through the window and joined Yin-Yarn just as her ghost spell wore off. She cackled to her companion, "It worked! She actually took off his mask! I bet he's ugly if he has to wear that thing all the time! He'll never be able to live this down! Now to take that thing away so he'll have no choice but to come get it from us!" Drawcia casted a teleportation spell.

Fumu replied to Meta Knight, "Yeah you did! I asked if I could take off your mask and-" Fumu was cut off this time as the mask completely disappeared from her hand as she was looking at it. She saw something that her mind registered as a floating blob in a poncho and a sombrero out the window, but did not pay any mind to it as she was too busy freaking out.

"Woah, sis! Where'd it go?"

"What?! It's gone?!" Meta Knight jumped up in a time of forgetfulness, but recovered in a literal jiffy* as he realized that all eyes were on him.

Meta Knight quickly turned around and faced the wall, blushing brightly as he pressed his face hard against it, so brightly was he blushing that his entire yarn body was turning cherry red, all the way to the tips of his toes which were probably floating around a strange dimension somewhere.

"Did I see that right?" Fumu inched closer to Meta Knight and placed a hand where his shoulder used to be, him letting out a near silent, long, high-pitched squeak that was so unlike him as Kirby hopped up on the bed and poked Meta Knight. Fumu could feel his breathing; shallow and fast.

"Do not look at me," he commanded quietly as he tried to scoot closer to the wall, "I do not want you to see my face. It is everything I have, the fact that nobody alive has seen me for what I truly am. Just find something to serve as a temporary mask, a paper plate if you have to, just do not look at me."

Fumu rubbed a circle into Meta Knight's side. "You think I would laugh at you no matter what you look like? I wouldn't do that, Meta Knight, I'm your friend. Your face can't be too bad, can it?" Fumu slowly started turning Meta Knight around.

"NO!" He shrilled, unable to do anything at all as for the first time on Popstar, someone other than Sword or Blade saw his face.

Luckily, once Fumu saw part of Meta Knight's eye and mouth, just in the right position where Bun could not see anything, Fumu stopped without taking her hand away. "Oh dear Gordo. Meta Knight, you're..." She glanced at Kirby, then back to Meta Knight, then Kirby again and then her gaze rested on Bun, who was trying to sneak up behind Fumu to get a glimpse at Meta Knight's appearance.

"Ack! Bun, no!" Fumu picked Meta Knight up again and buried his face in her own stomach, crossing her arms over him so Bun wouldn't snatch him away as she dug her back into the wall.

"Why can't I look at him too? You saw him, why shouldn't I?" Bun pouted, reaching across the bed for the knight.

"Because I do not WANT you to!" Meta Knight's voice was muffled by Fumu's stomach grinding against his mouth as she turned and kneeled in the corner where the bed met the walls muttering, "I get it now. I get it. That explains why during the war you seemed to play both sides of the field. If anyone around here saw it... I'm sorry I peeked. I get what you've had to live with now. I won't tell anyone, I promise. I'm so sorry."

Meta Knight murmured what Fumu took to be, "I forgive you. It was not your fault you were curious. Thank you for understanding and not telling anyone."

"C'mon, don't hog him for yourself! Let me see him! I'll tell Mom you're being unfair if you don't!" Bun grabbed Fumu's shoulders and suddenly pulled back on her, hard. Fumu landed on her back and Bun tried wrenching Meta Knight from her grasp, only to fail horribly.

Fumu grabbed Bun's pillowcase and made an attempt to stuff the dark red ball of yarn that was turning blue again inside, but she missed and he went flying against the wall where he bounced off and was quickly scooped up by Fumu who returned him inside the pillowcase, twisting the top in a tight knot and holding the bundle tight to her chest.

"Mom!"

After a few seconds, Memu entered the room. "What is it, dear? You sounded angry."

"Fumu's not letting me see what's inside the pillowcase! It's supposed to be this really important thing and she said she would let me hold it if I did something for her, but she's keeping it all to herself! Make her show me!"

Memu angrily looked over at Fumu. "I thought I told you when you were a child not to be greedy! Do what you promised!"

"But Mom, you don't underst-"

"Now!"

The only reason Meta Knight was not saying anything was because of how Fumu was holding him, his mouth was blocked by her hand.

Caught in time, Fumu looked down at the pillowcase she was clutching. She knew better than to go against her mother, but she could not just let people see Meta Knight's face! And so, before her family could react, she dashed out of the room through the open door as fast as she could and out of the apartment into the halls of the castle before Memu could respond.

*A jiffy is an actual measurement of time. One one hundredth of a second.