Chapter Text
Dark Meta Knight squinted at the light. Was it bright? No, not really. They just hated the light. They missed the quiet shadows of the Mirror World.
It was the same feeling he got in the Jambastion. Everything was just… wrong. He missed home, he missed Shady.
Their eyes adjusted. They were on a thin pathway, there was plenty of tall grass around, a stark contrast to the gray stony area they were just in. Unfortunately, there were more pits, these had a visible bottom, sure, but Dark couldn’t survive a fall from this height. Especially not with-
Y’know what, he was going to choose to not remind himself of his wing. It hurt, and there was nothing more to it.
It made them feel like a bird with its wings cut off. Which was exactly what they were, wasn’t it?
Dark summoned his sword to deal with the tall grass, and started following Bandana, who had already left him and Elfilin far behind.
It wasn’t long before they caught up though, Bandana had stopped. There were boulders falling directly in their path, with only a few nooks to hide away in on the sides of the alley.
It was just like when Heavenly Hall collapsed. He could remember that vividly, he nearly sacrificed himself trying to get Adeleine out of there…
Why did they do that? Adeleine didn’t even mean anything to them at the time. They’d hardly interacted with her and yet…
He remembered seeing the girl so scared and it was as if something buried deep, deep, within him resurfaced.
They were brought back to the present moment by Bandana clutching his spear a little tighter. Staring at the boulders with a mixture of determination and fear.
Bandana remembered too.
--------------------
This. Wasn’t. Happening. Bandee remembered Heavenly Hall, he remembered nearly dying to some falling rocks.
His breathing started to pick up, he couldn't do this. He couldn't face this. He couldn't-
Elfilin's tail brushed against him. He turned to them.
“You alright, Bandee?”
“Hm? Oh, uh, yeah! Just… something I’d rather not remember.”
Dark Meta Knight glanced at Bandee, however he didn’t say a word. Didn’t even offer sympathy.
“So, uhm, what do we do?” Elfilin stuttered.
“Make a run for it!” Bandee said, “We don’t have much of a choice.”
“Wait-!” Dark called.
Bandee took off sprinting. Dark Meta Knight did not follow, hesitating.
There were three columns of boulders, if he could just weave through the three of them-
He did not time his run correctly. He was bound to get hit, there was no way to get around it without either getting hit by a different boulder, or just running back downhill, and getting crushed anyway.
Bandee felt like a deer in the headlights. Why did he try to lead? Why? There was nothing wrong with following. He should have just listened to Dark and waited. He should have followed.
Suddenly, he was grabbed and dragged to a gap in the wall. His life had been saved.
Bandee let out a shaky sigh of relief, before realising the only person around to save him was-
“Dark Meta Knight?!” Bandee threw himself away from the knight, glaring at him.
He didn’t emote, he just looked away from Bandee.
“Why’d you-” Bandee started.
“You would have died.” Dark looked back at him.
“I didn’t need to be saved! I would have found a way out!”
“Bandana. How do you think Kirby would feel if-”
“Don’t bring them into this!” Bandee pointed his spear at Dark.
Dark actually paused, before turning away from the Dee and speaking once again, “... If I did not save you, Kirby would blame me for your death.”
Bandee said nothing. “So that’s all this is? Just a way to keep up an image with Kirby? Of course it is. Of course he wouldn’t care for anyone really.”
Dark moved to leave the safe spot, ready to time his sprint to the next one down the way. Bandee, admittedly, hadn’t noticed these when he first made his sprint.
Dark was about to sprint, when suddenly his broken wing dropped to the floor, and he fell straight down.
--------------------
Dark felt their wing hit the ground, and suddenly they were struggling to stand. The pain had gotten worse, his wing wasn’t healing at all. Elfilin was just reducing the pain as the crack worsened.
He didn’t know what was causing it to become worse, not even Elfilin pulling at the loose shards earlier could have caused this…
“E- Elfilin! Why-” They choked. It hurt. Dark had never been good with pain, quite the opposite.
“Bandee.” Elfilin ignored him entirely. A sting to what little pride he had in the moment.
Bandana looked at them with sympathy, Dark wanted to yell. They didn’t want his pity!
“I asked Dark to save you. If you’re unhappy with that,” Elfilin was trembling, but they put a paw to their chest either way, “Then you should blame me, not him.”
“I’m sorry, Elfilin.” Bandana looked away.
Elfilin got back on Dark’s wing, and the pain dissipated. He let out a quiet sigh of relief.
“Come on.” Bandana took charge again, though his voice wavered. Odd.
Dark was about to say something, probably just a hum of sorts, but the Waddle Dee didn’t look in the mood to acknowledge anything he said. So he quietly followed.
They managed to make it through the rest of those boulders without any further hitches. Just a droning silence.
--------------------
Elfilin wanted to shrink. The still quietness left them to dwell alone in their thoughts.
Thoughts they wanted to avoid. Memories they wanted to forget… but forgetting would only cause harm.
Elfilin tried to focus on their surroundings instead. Bandee was leading Dark across a metal plank bridge, attempting to avoid shots from a Bernard until Dark shot a sword beam at it, knocking it into the pit below.
There was still not a word from the two of them.
The three of them rounded a corner, only to find a gap too large to cross. There was a platform on the side of the wall, which could be used to cross the gap.
Bandee moved forwards to try and jump across, but Dark Meta Knight stopped him.
“That platform looks as if it will collapse under the slightest weight.” He was right, the platform was sketchy at best.
“Well, do you have any other ideas?” Bandee glared at Dark.
The knight fell silent. Releasing Bandee’s hand, and allowing him to jump across.
Bandee made it across without a hitch. He moved a little recklessly, the platform crumbled a bit. Elfilin could feel anger coming off of him.
Dark was much more cautious, stepping gently across the platform. The platform didn’t seem to take his weight at all, almost as if he weighed nothing.
Dark joined Bandee on the other side, who looked angry, but gave off unsureness.
“I hate to say I told you so,” Bandee started, beginning to walk forward.
“...” Dark seemed on alert, which confused Elfilin. There was nothing to be alert about!
“But, I told you s-”
CRUMBLE… RRRRUMBLE
Bandee froze. Everyone looked up, towards the source of the noise.
“... maybe we should have found another way around.” Bandee whispered.
--------------------
Great. Just his luck. Dark Meta Knight looked up at the boulder about to drop.
Nobody ever listened to them, why did they try? They knew this would happen. There was no use trying to outrun a boulder-
Bandana grabbed Dark’s hand as the boulder dropped, and began dragging him downhill.
Dark didn’t know how to respond. For one, Bandana didn’t even seem to notice that he had grabbed them. For two, he had them in a death grip. As if they were something valuable…
Despite the fact he would probably lose feeling in his hand soon… he felt wanted, even if only for a moment.
Their feet barely skimmed the ground, the Waddle Dee was running on pure adrenaline, right?
There was no way he was that light, right?
Dark looked at Elfilin, who had the same confusion in their eyes as they did. Neither of them understood what prompted Bandana to save Dark of all people.
Really? Dark Meta Knight? Traitor of his own home? Scourge of the Mirror World? The Lonely Reflection? Him?!
Bandana got them all to safety, getting them out of the way of the boulder.
The poor kid was out of breath, Dark felt bad for him. Gross.
“...” Bandana’s whole body shook, Dark stepped closer, just enough to brace him if he were to fall, “Are… are you okay?”
Dark paused. It felt as if time had stopped, was he okay?
“... you saved me?” Was all they could ask. It felt wrong to be saved.
Bandana seemed to remember who he was talking to. Looking up, the Waddle Dee glared at the Mirror Worlder, “I saved Elfilin. Not you.”
Of course. What else did they expect? “...”
As the adrenaline wore off, Bandana looked at the knight as if he were some foreign object, “Why are you so light? I wouldn’t have been able to drag Sir Meta Knight like that.”
“...” Dark looked away. How were they even meant to respond to that? That’s not something people usually just… ask! “I… do not wish to talk about that.”
“Why not?” Bandana looked more confused than angry now.
“Boundaries? A vague sense of respect for myself?” Dark thought to themself.
“... why do you think?” He asked.
“...” Bandana couldn’t come up with anything.
He turned to Elfilin for their input, but they avoided his gaze. Of course.
They couldn’t help but sigh, whether of relief or disappointment, they couldn’t tell. “If you both cannot even manage a guess, then it is not worth telling you.”
Dark glared at Bandana, who shot it right back at him. The Dee began to walk away, prepared to move forward with this adventure.
The knight wasn’t quite ready yet.
“Thank you.” He whispered.
--------------------
Bandee turned around, surely he had misheard Dark Meta Knight, right?
That can’t be what he said.
He would never.
“Huh?” Bandee waited for him to repeat himself.
The Mirror Worlder didn’t make a sound. He simply walked past Bandee. Elfilin looked at him from Dark’s wing, incredibly confused.
Bandee followed. Where he should be. Not leading.
“Hey, what’s that?” Elfilin asked, pointing at something.
Bandee followed their point.
It was a car, similar to the ones the brainwashed Waddle Dees drove when the Haltmann Works Company took over.
Bandee approached it, “A car? It looks worn down…”
“I don’t think we need a car.” Elfilin said, “We should keep moving.”
Bandee touched the rusty hood of the vehicle, “I mean, it covers a lot of ground pretty fast, if I remember correctly.”
Dark Meta Knight walked towards the car, something actually changing in his expression, “... you have these in Dream Land?”
Bandee turned to Dark, “Oh! Um, it’s kind of a long story… but, the short of it is that when the Haltmann Works Company took over,” Bandee saw the dark knight tense a little bit at the name, despite not having been involved at all, “they brought these with them. I never actually drove one myself, but…”
Bandee looked at the car again.
“It doesn’t look like it’s in any state to be driven-” Elfilin said.
“It would not hurt to try.” Dark stared at the car analytically.
Without further word, the knight got himself on top of the car.
“Hey, that’s not how you-” Bandee tried to say.
The car’s engine started, and it started to move forward.
Bandee used his spear to grab on the side as it took off, and hoisted himself up to the top.
Dark Meta Knight was clearly just as confused as he was.
--------------------
What.
Dark Meta Knight could feel the foreign magic puppeteering the car. Though, he’d be lying if he said he knew what he was doing with it.
The car moved forwards on its own, they had no control. All they could do was steer left and right as it drove forwards, speeding up and slowing down on its own.
The road ahead was narrow, and Dark could hardly think straight. He didn’t even activate the magic, how- what?
They turned a little too late, and barely made it around the corner, nearly falling into the pit below.
He could hear metal scrape against the car, “Hey-!” Bandana squeaked.
Dark couldn’t look back at the Waddle Dee, but they could tell he was upset, “Stars-! Who gave you your license?!” Bandana yelled.
“...” He could only assume a license was a Real World term, “I… do not have one.”
Elfilin stiffened on their wing, letting out a small squeak, “Oh my Void. We’re going to die!”
“What do you mean you don’t have one?!” Bandana cried.
The road widened a bit, there were more boulders falling, because of course there were. Dark really should’ve been used to their own luck by now.
“Watch out for the boulders!” Elfilin called.
“I am trying!” Dark yelled, their voice finally reached a volume that wasn’t a whisper (even if that was just normal speaking volume), “Believe me when I say this is harder than it looks!”
“... It’s only hard because you don’t have a license-” Bandana mumbled.
“Please, be silent, or I will crash.” Dark could feel themself slip into the violent thoughts again.
As much as he agreed, what Bandana said was uncalled for, he didn’t want to hurt the kid! That’s all Dark Mind seemed to want, though.
They made it through the boulders safely.
“Don’t go up the ramp.” Bandana spoke slightly more calmly, “Please, for all of our safety, do not go up-”
“Fine, fine.” Dark steered around the ramp, it was probably smart not to go upwards.
“Careful!” Elfilin said, completely unprompted. Dark wasn’t even close to crashing!
Though, they did threaten it just a few moments ago.
The road was paved now, there was a turn up ahead. It was safe for the moment. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
And then Dark turned the corner. Only to reveal 3 giant boulders, headed straight their way.
“... Bandana. Hold on tight.”
“Wh- Huh-!?” The Waddle Dee sounded scared.
Dark couldn’t directly control the speed, but if he just poured more magic into the car-
It sped up, faster than it had ever gone before.
While not the best driver, Dark Meta Knight could still avoid things that only moved in a straight line, even if just barely.
What they could not avoid, however, was crashing into a stationary pedestal, sending everyone on the vehicle flying off.
--------------------
“...” Elfilin stared at Dark Meta Knight for a moment, “Please never drive again.”
“Mm.” Dark hummed in agreement. Elfilin could feel him radiate exhaustion.
“Where do we even go from- Oh!” Bandee cut himself off, spotting something in the distance.
Elfilin followed his gaze, a mall. The mall.
“Perhaps we will find something there.” Dark said.
“Uh- um.” No. Not there. “M- maybe we should wait until morning? I- I mean, the sun is about to set a- and-” Maybe they’d forget about heading to the mall by daylight. Maybe-
“We will make the trip now.” Dark had a certainty in his voice, there was no changing his mind, “We can head into the building when dawn arrives.”
Elfilin couldn’t do anything but nod in silent agreement. Even if their heart felt like it had dropped all the way to their tail.
“Hm, sounds good to me!” Bandee smiled, mostly trying to cheer Elfilin up.
The trio set off towards Alivel Mall.
Only one knew what awaited them.