Chapter 6

Meta Knight sat at the table of Chef Kawasaki's restaurant. He very rarely ate out, particularly because Chef Kawasaki was the only lunch and dinner restaurant in the small village and his cooking was notoriously terrible, but he knew that their soup and salad menu was at least tolerable. Bland, but decent enough and cheap. Plus, soups and salads were generally pretty hard to mess up.

It was not long after he arrived that Shieldmaiden walked into the restaurant. Meta Knight smiled behind his mask upon seeing her walk in, and lifted a hand to quietly gesture her over to the table he had chosen. She walked over and sat down across from him, and the two exchanged greetings. A waitress collected their orders shortly afterward, with Meta Knight warning Shieldmaiden in advance to avoid virtually anything else on the menu if she could help it.

As the two exchanged small talk, mostly about the war, Meta Knight suddenly began to feel...strange. He felt happy, and was enjoying her company, but at the same he felt an odd, growing tension. He felt surprisingly self-conscious, more so than usual, as if he were standing in front of a crowd.

Meta Knight eyed his soup, stirring his spoon lightly. He could tell it was too hot to eat, and the last thing he wanted to do was make a fool of himself. Across from him sat Shieldmaiden, wings folded awkwardly behind her in a wooden booth that was obviously not designed for winged guests. The frontal part of her armor was lowered down to allow her to eat, revealing the lower part of her previously hidden face. Her bright blue eyes were still engulfed in darkness from the rim of her winged helmet.

"Has anyone had any luck on our search yet?" Shieldmaiden asked.

Meta Knight lifted his mask with one hand, spooning the still hot soup into his mouth with the other. His hand shook slightly, and without meaning to the usually dignified knight audibly slurped his spoonful. He laid the spoon down into the bowl, head tilted down to the point where his eyes weren't visible. Usually the stoic knight preferred to eat alone, as he preferred to conduct virtually any activity, but he didn't mind doing so in front of his friends. Why did it suddenly feel like a daunting task to eat a bowl of soup, of all things? He felt his cheeks redden, thankfully hidden behind his mask. Ridiculous.

"Fumu may have", Meta Knight managed to say after realizing that a few seconds passed after he was asked the question. "She's cross-referencing it now. It may be a relic to the south, in Popstar's jungle region. According to legend the relic was considered too much power for one person to wield, so it was split into two halves."

Shieldmaiden paused while her forkful of food was raised, gently letting it down. She raised a hidden eyebrow. "I do remember while in the ship, looking down at Popstar, that two bright points on my radar were lit up to the south... but there was no population surrounding it, which is why I instead chose to land in Dreamland. Whoever made that jungle relic is obviously long gone now."

"They are", Meta Knight replied. "Either way, Fumu is researching it right now and will let us know what she thinks shortly. Until then", he continued, stirring his soup spoon, "Sword, Blade and I are going to continue training. No matter where we end up going, there may be battle...and even if we can't harm Dark Matter itself, we can at least neutralize any threat its possessed minions may cause."

Shieldmaiden frowned slightly as she considered the older veteran's words. "Good thinking, although the only known way to release a being from Dark Matter's grasp is to cause enough physical harm to them that Dark Matter leaves the host, possibly because the body has outlived its usefulness. It's sick...the possessed are always innocent...but there's no choice."

Meta Knight gave a brief nod in response, looking up from his soup at her. His piercing yellow eyes met hers briefly, unblinking, then looked away. He could not figure out why, but for some reason he found even looking at her to feel a bit awkward. Even with his face concealed behind his mask, which naturally emboldened him, the Star Warrior felt shy.

Meta Knight looked back down at his soup, moving the spoon idly. "Do you wish to join us in training?"

Shieldmaiden nodded eagerly, smiling. "Yes, Sir, I would very much like to. I've wanted to for the past few days, but due to the situation with King Dedede I could barely leave the room, let alone the courtyard."

Meta Knight grimaced. "I apologize for that, but the King can be...rash."

Shieldmaiden averted her eyes, fork teasing a lettuce leaf from the salad on her plate. Though she understood why, being rendered both effectively powerless the day of the ship's crash and having to impose as a secret guest still stung her pride. Even if the King wasn't a nice person, it still seemed very rude of her to do.

"It was for the best." she said softly. "But still...I understand why you may have wanted to keep my presence a secret, but why conceal the threat of Dark Matter?"

The blue veteran shook his head slightly. "Even when trying to justify your staying at the castle we couldn't let him know what was going on with Dark Matter, or his "help" would have made things worse."

Meta Knight sipped his soup again, almost too daintily in an attempt to overcompensate from slurping before. He had no idea why he felt so awkward, but he knew it was best to ignore it.

Shieldmaiden popped a cherry tomato into her mouth. "What time do you and the others typically train?"

Meta Knight, who appeared to be staring deeply into his soup, looked up abruptly as if startled.

"Typically in the morning, after breakfast." He felt that strange feeling well up inside of him again as he processed his thoughts into words. It annoyed him. His mouth dry, he swallowed reflexively as he continued. "Would you care to join us tomorrow?"

Shieldmaiden nodded eagerly, her smile broad. "It would be an honor to train with you all. Thank you", she continued, dipping her head in a seated bow.

They finished their meal with little more said, Meta Knight's muddled feelings urging him to eat quickly so that he could extricate himself from the entire situation. When they were both finished, they exited the restaurant. Meta Knight walked ahead of her to hold the door, chivalrous as always. She smiled and thanked him, exiting first.

Shieldmaiden stretched and fluffed her wings. She turned her body to look at Meta Knight out of the corner of her eye, who still stood outside of the restaurant with his cape wrapped around him. He looked at her for a split second before averting his eyes, as if there was something fascinating to his left.

"I think I'm going to try to fly back to the castle", Shieldmaiden said. She turned to him fully and waved. "See you tomorrow!"

"Farewell", Meta Knight replied, a gloved hand emerging from the depths of his cape to wave back at her.

Shieldmaiden took off, broad white wings spread and flapping enough to cause a breeze as the Star Warrior lifted herself into the air. Meta Knight watched her go, her round form soaring into the sky until she was nothing but a faint silhouette against the afternoon sun. He then closed his eyes, turning around while still wrapped within his cape. A gloved hand slipped under his mask, rubbing his curiously hot cheeks. The hand traveled higher to squeeze between his eyes, where the bridge of the nose would be on other species.

Meta Knight's unusual feelings still nagged him. His stomach felt odd and floaty.

He blamed it on the soup.