Meta-Knight packs up his small shack of a house easily, and Kirby watches with some sort of spark in his eyes, lighting them up, open yet mysteriously so. He only had three boxes of things, picking them up with ease. He was about to start walking to Kirby's-their-alleyway, when the boy on his mind pulled his sleeve. He sets down the boxes and squats down to Kirby's level.
"Yes?" Kirby does not reply, but picks up one of the boxes. When Meta-Knight tries to grab it, Kirby turns away stubbornly and waddles slowly in the direction of the alley.
He smiles, picks up the other two boxes, and follows close behind.
He doesn't need to look at the boy's face, but he knows Kirby is smiling too.
When they finally get to the alley, he picks out the pieces of metal he had collected over the years and made a makeshift roof stretching across the alleyway. It was as tall as him, maybe a bit more, and he made a wall in the middle with the rest of the metal plates, separating his and Kirby's respective rooms. Satisfied, he lays down on the ground with a sigh. When he turns to look at Kirby, he sees a wall.
NoIcan'tseehimwhereisheIneedtoseehimnOW.
He tore down the wall with ease, and slumped over in relief at the sight of Kirby's familiar smile.
He decides to use the old wall for a front wall instead, and adds in a door. He lies down again, and feels Kirby lay down next to him.
No.
He moves away, but Kirby moves with him, until his back is up against the wall, and Kirby's head is nuzzling his chest.
Nooo...
He frowns, but turns so he is comfortable.
He does not smile as he falls asleep.
Or so he tells himself.
Kirby is not there when he wakes up, and he scrambles to look around, sighing with exasperation when he saw Kirby waddling around, setting up a table with plates and silverware.
Where the hell does he get these things?
With a groan, he got up and walked toward the hyperactive child.
"What are you doing Kirby?" He asked, and he boy turned to smile at him, holding up a bowl filled with fruit.
I swear he's stealing this stuff from someplace.
There's another bruise on Kirby's neck, a black ring that makes Meta-Knight think of big hands wrapping around the boy's neck and squeezing until the blue eyes close forever. He shivers at the thought. They sit on the ground, the table having no legs and the absence of chairs making it impossible to sit anywhere else, and Meta-Knight watches Kirby suspiciously as they eat.
The boy favors his left arm, and winces while eating.
"Kirby," He speaks up, because Kirby will never bring it up on his own, and Kirby looks up at him, cocking his head in confusion. "Where do you get all this?"
Kirby stiffened, but didn't say anything. Meta-Knight sighed. "I wish you would stop. I'd rather go hungry than see you every day with a new bruise or cut," He continues, and Kirby looks away guiltily. Smiling softly, he ruffles the boy's hair.
"Poyo!" Kirby cries indignantly, trying to fix his pink locks. Meta-Knight laughs.
Kirby looks over at Meta-Knight in surprise, and then smiles.
The next day, Meta-Knight wakes up to a summons.
One of DDD's minions are poking him with a stick, and he swats it away as he reads the message.
Get your but over here or I'll smash you with my hammer! I have a job for you.
-DDD
Not very wordy, but it's DDD, and Meta-Knight doesn't believe the 17-year old has the brain capacity to write a paragraph. Still, he appreciates the effort, and runs out to see what job DDD has for him.
In his haste, he doesn't notice that Kirby is gone.
DDD tries much too hard to be intimidating.
His roughy brushed blue hair makes him look ridiculous, and his get up isn't any better. He wears a huge red robe and some sort of hat/crown, as if to make himself look kingly. He wears long dark blue pants, but, unfortunately, no shirt.
Thank god the man was somewhat toned, or Meta-Knight would have to vomit.
He sat on a makeshift throne, his huge, ornately decorated hammer resting beside it. Usually it had some blood on it, but Meta-Knight guessed it had been cleaned. He kneeled down like a knight.
"Hey, Meta-Knight, what took ya so long! Had ta wait about 5 minutes till ya got here!" DDD laughed, and Meta-Knight rolled his eyes underneath his mask. "Anyway, I gotta job for ya. It's pretty simple, so I won't pay ya too much. 'Bout a hundred bucks, hmm?" Meta-knight couldn't believe it. With that money, he could spare the cost of washing clothes, maybe getting Kirby some new ones, and he could buy plenty of food. He could even get some polish for his sword, or at least have it cleaned. He nodded at DDD to continue. "Well, ya see, there's this person who keeps coming into my kitchen and stealin' my food! I've caught 'em once er twice, but the stupid thing keeps getting away! So, I want ya to get rid of it," Meta-Knight tensed. "Oh I know, I know, you have this no kill/torturing rule, but all I want ya ta do is beat the kid up a bit, ya know, make sure he doesn't show his face here again," Meta-Knight somehow finds some sort of relief in that. And anyway, it's not like the kid hadn't done something wrong. The kid stole, so he was exacting justice, and that was fair.
Even if DDD is the reason children live in poverty and need to steal, and DDD is the reason the city suffers.
He squashes down the voice of reason in his head and focuses on the task at hand.
The voice whispers in his head anyway.
So this is a boy...someone new...who steals food…
Meta-Knight tenses.
They bring the boy in, and his heart drops to the floor and shatters.
Because right there, in front of him, bruised and beaten and held back by DDD's minions, is Kirby.
The boy looks at him, and beams.