Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The darkness came all at once. It swirled and crackled, shimmering with malefic energy. Within minutes, practically everyone knew about it - news traveled fast in Popstar, and bad news even faster. The mass roiled, and expanded, hour by hour, until it covered the sky and blotted out the sun like black paint. 

All of Popstar knew that it's sole hope had fallen, and the shadow's hunger would soon be slaked with their lives. They just hoped they wouldn't be devoured first.

---

 It had been nearly a year since Popstar fell under darkness, and very few of Dreamland's residents were still untainted by its influence. Bands of marauding Waddle Dees, once-proud Gordos, all bent the knee (or were forced to) by the dark.

One of these residents was Meta Knight, who had since fled his base near the Orange Ocean. He traversed Grape Garden, gliding for a time among the cloudbanks before landing to check his position. It was once a peaceful land amongst the clouds, high above Dreamland. Now, like everywhere else, it was infested with Dark Matter's thralls, not to mention its own spawn. Even still, Meta Knight had found somewhere safe; a small pocket among the clouds where he could hide his belongings and protect the remaining members of his crew. 

Axe Knight chewed his cheek awkwardly, his eyes scanning his companions' faces. It was silent, save for the shuffling sounds of bodies in armor and the quiet whistling downdraft of this cloud lair.

Axe, Mace, Trident, and Sword Knight awaited Meta Knight's return in their new shelter. He had been gone for almost a week, and the Knights were starting to worry. Axe Knight took another look around. Mace Knight looked stoically ahead, focused on his plate. A single sliver of tomato sat solitary in the center. He just stared. Trident fidgeted with a shoulder pad, stroking its velvet lining with a finger. Out of everyone, Sword Knight looked the most… volatile. He teeth were set, and he ate rigidly, as if he were barely restraining himself. 

The Knights ate silently, living off of whatever scraps they could find. Lucky for them, the former King Dedede had hidden "secret stashes" all over Dreamland and, most of the time, immediately forgotten about them. Usually they would be found by Kirby and immediately eaten, but there were still a few scraps he missed. It was all the kind of stuff you'd expect from a man like Dedede: candy, cake, soda pop; their sweetness reminiscent of the world that Dreamland once was. Occasionally they would find some fruit, or bread, or even the odd maxim tomato. 

Axe Knight, like usual, felt ill. The sugar weighed heavy in his stomach, and he chewed a little on his tongue before deciding to speak up. 

"So...when do we go look for him?" said Axe Knight, deciding to just get it out and over with. 

Across the table, Trident grunted. "We don't." He shot Axe a glare, or at least what seemed like one, what with the mask. "We stay here and wait for him to come back." 

Mace Knight agreed; "I think he'd rather we stay safe. I mean, he wouldn't want us to compromise our position." 

Axe looked over to the knight sat beside him "Howsabout you, Sword?."

Sword Knight idly prodded at his food, impatiently poking his sliver of the tomato they had split. "We should do it. If you won't, I will." he said, dry and curt. 

Mace pipes up; "Of course you want to go! But I won't let you risk your - and rest of our - hides on some, forgive my bluntness, love-poisoned suicide mission!" 

The group could feel Sword's angry blush through his mask. He had been Meta Knight's most loyal follower for about as long as he could remember. But recently, that loyalty had blossomed into something far deeper, a rich feeling that suffused his entire being. He'd only figured out he was in love partway through writing a song for the caped warrior. 

Either way, for their own reasons, the group was split down the middle on this.

Mace continued, "I just think that, as the team mother, my vote should hold a bit more weight." 

Sword gets up out of his chair, sending it skittering backwards, "Now hold on just a second, buddy, who died and made you the mom? What if I wanna be the mom?" 

In an effort to mediate, Axe speaks up. "Fellas! FELLAS! It's fine! We can have two moms! There's nothing wrong with two team moms!" 

Trident looks across the table and says, in his flat affect, "I will also be a mom."

After a moment of silence, the group couldn't help but burst into full-throated laughter. Moments of levity like this seemed important to hold onto, when everything else seemed so bleak. 

Wiping a tear from his eye, Mace chuckled lightly. As the laughter began to die down, he leaned forward to speak. "Listen, if we're all going to be the team mom, we should watch out for each other. Which means, since Sword is so dead-set on finding our boss, we need to come with. So lets hunt us a leader!"

--

Meta Knight leapt from cloud to cloud, being careful to watch his footing - you could never be too sure which ones were dense enough to stand on, and even then, your steps had to be light. He occasionally looked back to see if it was still following.

The living stormcloud that had torn his wings was still on the chase. He had encountered Kracko plenty of times before, but it had never been this aggressive or this stubborn. Its eye was glazed over and bloodshot, a tell for Dark Matter's thralls. That cloud had really slowed his progress, and a round trip that would have normally taken one or two days stretched on for almost a week. 

It fired another lightning bolt at his feet, and he could feel the air beneath him crackle as he barely leapt out of the way. The smell of burnt skin and ozone hit his nose - the bolt must have grazed him. He was slipping. 

Meta Knight wasn't sure how long he could keep this up. He kept telling himself that he only had to go a little further. Only a few more miles. That would be no problem. He stumbled, catching a stray spark to the shoulderpad. His body was growing weary. The world spun around, His breath slowed.

Not like this, he thought. Not like this. He grit his teeth and flipped his blade into a reverse-grip. Lifting it over his body, he flung it like a pilum directly into the storm's eye. It crackled in agony, falling backwards. That was his chance, thought Meta Knight. He dove into the clouds, hoping to lose it in the dense fog. 

He quickly realized his mistake as a shriek of electric rage echoed throughout the cloudbank. In it's blindness, the cloud began to wildly fire off thunderbolts in all directions, with no concern for its surroundings.

It felt an awful lot like getting hit with a rocket-powered hammer, Meta Knight considered in the brief second after a bolt of lightning hit his shoulder head-on. Then, gut-wrenching pain as he was flung backwards, burying him deeper in the cloud. He laid within the cloudbank, staring up as the stormcloud released its stored energy. He didn't even have the energy to move. All he could do was lay there and hope he wasn't struck by another bolt. 

Meta Knight didn't often feel fear. At least when he did, he'd never show it. But in this moment, he couldn't help but cower at the realization of his impending doom. No, he scolded himself, he should at least die with some dignity.

He took a deep breath, and lifted himself onto his feet. His arms burned, and the stench of ozone made him reel, but he persisted, clambering out of the bank to meet Kracko head-on. 

He emerged, facing the storm cloud. But it was pointing away from him, uninterested. Something else had caught its attention. Something that was winning. 

The cloud buzzed in rage as its attacks slowed. The edges of the cloud began to unravel like smoke, dissipating in the wind. Once the cloud had evaporated completely, its eye fell to the ground, frozen solid. Meta Knight felt a bolt of relief rush through his body, and craned his head upwards to see his sudden savior. 

And thus, Meta Knight saw who he came here for: a light blue dragon, artificially bright against the blackened sky, with a child riding atop it's head.

Meta Knight had reached his destination: Cloudy Park.

Chapter Text

  She hammered the last nail into the board, and then gave it a good whack to make sure it was sturdy.  "That's the last one.", she thought, "Now I can paint."

---

Her beast trotted along at a steady pace, with Meta Knight riding pillion on it's back. The child walked alongside it, giving up her seat for her exhausted guest. He had initially declined, citing chivalry, but one stern look had given Meta Knight all the impetus he needed to get on the dragon.

Cresting a cloudy peak, they arrived at a small house hidden in the clouds, looking only slightly worse for wear than it had a year ago, its windows boarded up. That it had made it through all of this chaos virtually unscathed seemed near-miraculous to the short-statured knight. 

That was, until he saw the guards. Painted facsimiles of Dreamland's creatures; bronto burts and ghost knights, mariels and mumbies, all gathered in military rank and file around the structure. These were her defenses. 

"Step aside." she mumbled tiredly to her retinue, unlocking the door with a key she had tied to a thread of yarn around her neck. She opened the door, and Meta Knight, dismounting the dragon, limped inside. 

The place was a disaster. There were paint bottles and canvases haphazardly strewn around, brushes soaking in weeks old water, unfinished sculptures lining the walls. There were small painted critters skittering around, which fled to the baseboards of the room at Adeline's footsteps. The child seemed embarrassed. "Sorry about...all of this. I wasn't expecting guests."

 Meta Knight looked concerned, "Ado, I-"

She cut him off, "That's-" She hesitated, "That's not my name. It's Adeleine now." 

Meta Knight looked confused for a moment, and then understood. So that's how it was. Gender was never a strict concept in Dreamland, and most of its residents considered it fairly arbitrary. But some still found comfort in labels, so that's the way things went.

"Understood, sorry.", he apologized. He looked around the room, and then back to her. She had bags under her eyes, and her hair was unkempt, and it was hard to tell through her loose fitting smock, but she seemed much thinner than before. "Have you been doing alright?"

"I've certainly felt worse. Here," She walked over to her coffee table and pushed some of the unfinished sculptures aside. "Want something to eat?" Before he could answer, she sat him down at the table, and stepped into another room. Meta Knight sat in silence for a moment, watching the painted creatures navigate the maze of art supplies. A vivid purple ant skittered by his hand. She must have been lonely, to draw all of these.

 Adeleine returned to the room, bringing back a small sandwich, cut in half with the crust removed. "Here you go," she set the plate down on the table, "I made you a B.L.T." Meta Knight squinted at it. Upon closer inspection, Meta Knight realized the sandwich was a paint construct. He lifted his mask but hesitated to take a bite. 

"Go on." Adeleine prodded, "I promise it's good." 

He slowly lifted it and took a bite. To his surprise, it tasted amazing. As he chewed, he couldn't help but notice it melting in his mouth, eventually dissolving into nothing. It wasn't very filling at all, he decided, putting the sandwich down. He took another look around. This wouldn't do. This wouldn't do at all. 

 "Is this all you've been eating?" He gave her a stern look as he pushed down his mask. His yellow eyes stared bore-holes into the painting prodigy's own. "Adeleine...are you absolutely sure you're ok?" 

 "I.." She looked away. "I don't know." 

"Answer honestly, Adeleine. Are you?" 

She started tearing up. "I don't-" she pulled out a chair and practically collapsed into it, struggling to hold back a sob, "I don't think so." 

Meta Knight hopped to his feet and made his way over to her. Even after all of this, she was still only a child. An exceedingly tall child, he noted, as he gave her a comforting… arm hold. 

"Hey, hey. It's going to be fine. I swear it." he placed a gloved hand on her back, "You can live with us, alright?"

 She looked even more miserable at that, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I don't..I don't want to leave my house behind." Her voice cracked. She laid her head down on the table, "This house… my art.. it's all that I've got."

"That's fine." Meta Knight reaffirmed, "We can move in with you."

Adeleine lifted her face up a bit off the table, a thin line of cry-snot bridging the gap, "You-you really mean that?"

"Of course, " Meta Knight looked around again, "but we're gonna have to clean up a bit, and get you some real actual food." Meta Knight walked over to her kitchen and turned on the faucet. Thankfully, it looked like the cloud-based plumbing was still working. 

He walked back in a filled glass and set it down on the floor beside her. "Here, let's get you hydrated."

Adeleine downed the glass in one go. She breathed a little bit and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. After a brief moment, she put her hands on the table and got out of her chair, looking the slightest bit refreshed, "O-okay! Let's do it!" 

They began cleaning up the clutter; gathering up and storing the canvases, putting the paint bottles in the appropriate drawers, cleaning off the brushes and pouring out the cups, neatly organizing the sculptures on the shelves. It took a while, but eventually they got it done.

"All done!" exclaimed Adeleine, "Thank you for your help, Meta Knight."

"Don't mention it." replied Meta Knight. "We need to inform the rest of my crew, though. We have a secret base in a cloudbank not too far from here." 

After packing some paint-snacks for the trip, the two set out to retrieve the Meta-Knights. 

Chapter Text

She lay in the nest where her children once lay, sleeping peacefully. When she awoke, she saw only the void. But the void saw her, too. 

---

The clouds below passed under them, dappled by the shadow of their ship. Above, the void glowed with a mild ambient light, just enough to see by. Moonlight could barely pierce the veil, and while sunlight would suffuse it with light, it did little to alleviate the feeling of permanent dusk. 

"We're making good time." Meta Knight noted, sounding about as pleased as he could, which wasn't all that much. "We should arrive before the end of the day."

"Cool!"

They traveled by air, riding on a hastily-scribbled version of Kracko. The trip so far had been peaceful. Tinged with gloom, as most things were, but peaceful nonetheless. Adeleine glanced over to her passenger.

"Hey, you know what I've been wondering?"

"Eyes on the road." Meta Knight interrupted. "Er, clouds. Eyes on the clouds."

"R-right!" She turned her gaze back to the sea of clouds in front of them. "A-anyway, I've been wondering-" she paused for a second. "-why isn't Dark Matter controlling us? I mean," she gestured to the canopy far above. "it's already won."

 Meta Knight paused. He hadn't really considered it before in depth. "Honestly, I had assumed it was due to the tenacity of my spirit, or the strength of my values, or... honor… or… something like that."

Adeleine giggled, "Wow, really? You're such a dork."

Meta Knight scowled darkly. Adeleine yelped a little at the feeling of Meta Knight's eyes burning a hole into the back of her head. 

"A-anyway, I was just wondering because, like, Dark Matter could control me before, right? And it wasn't even hard! So why can't it do that now?"

Meta Knight considered it. "Maybe it's stretched too thin." he hypothesized, "I imagine controlling an entire planet would be taxing."

"Maybe." Said Adeleine, "It'd be pretty funny if Dark Matter bit off more than it could ch-" 

Adeleine stopped, and whispered. "Do you hear that?"

Meta Knight concentrated. That ringing in his ear was making it quite hard to hear, though. Damn that storm cloud, he thought. "All I hear is the wind."

"No it's something else. It's almost rhythmic? Almost like a heartbeat..."

Meta Knight jumped to his feet and searched the skies frantically. Suddenly, he could hear it now, and it wasn't the first time, either.

A giant pair of beating wings.

The gargantuan avian beast screeched by like a missile, just barely grazing the two of them. It disappeared into the clouds as fast as it came.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Adeleine yelped.

"Dynablade." he said, grimly. "She must be under Dark Matter's control!"

The bird flew by again, the accompanying gust of wind almost taking Adeleine with it.

Adeleine began to panic. "Can't you shoot it down? Don't you have magic sword beams or something??"

"There are limits to even my prodigious sword abilities when a vehicle is involved! Can't this cloud shoot lightning?"

Before Adeleine could respond, Dyna Blade tore through their faux Kracko, cleaving it in half.

"Adeline!" Meta Knight gasped, reaching out a hand in mid-flight. She failed towards it, and just barely managed to grasp it before Meta Knight unfurled his wings, driving the two into a soft vertical cloudbank. 

They weren't safe yet, though; Dyna Blade was getting ready to dive bomb them. It looped upwards and over, and folded in its wings, plummeting towards their location. Meta Knight and Adeleine could do little to move out of the way in the cloudbank. It was closing the gap between them fast, knife-like talons outstretched to tear them to ribbons.

-CRACK-

"Take that, you, uh, featherhead!" Mace Knight shouted, his flail buried deep within Dyna Blade's side. With a gargantuan pull, he flung the bird out of the way, sending it spiraling off. 

The Meta-Knights had found their leader. 

Sword Knight ran over to him, concern in his voice, "Are you alright, sir?"

"Of course. How is Adeleine?" He searched around.

"I'm good!" Adeleine popped her head out of the clouds and gave a thumbs up. With a little effort, she dislodged herself from the her-shaped indent she had made, and slid down to the ground on the less dense portions. 

The rest of the knights convened on Meta Knight's position in the cloudbank, each making sure their leader was unharmed and helping him out of the cloudbank. 

Axe Knight nervously scanned the area. "Alright guys, we should get out of here before Dyna Blade comes baaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- "

"Axe Knight's being carried off, sir." said Trident, lining up his shot, "I'm going to spear it." He took a single step back, aligned his side with his mark, and pulled his arm back. 

Trident made his throw, his spear soaring through the air with pinpoint accuracy. It sliced cleanly through the bird's talon, and it screeched loudly, recoiling instinctively. That gave Axe Knight just enough room to wiggle free, dropping like a stone from Dyna Blade's talons. 

Far too late, Trident noticed that the spot that Axe Knight was falling towards was a thin spot. If he fell through, he'd fall straight to Dreamland. But while he calculated this, Mace Knight acted. He threw out his flail, and Axe took hold of the chain, swinging down through the thin cloud before laboriously clambering up. 

The bird disappeared into the clouds with a final screech and a hate-filled look backwards. 

The Meta-Knights finally made it back to base.

Chapter Text

Deep under the ocean, a battleship rests, inoperable. Soon, it will fly again.

---

"So, here's our plan!" Mace knight unfurled a large sheet of paper, completely covering their modest coffee table, and revealing a large map of dreamland.

 "Oh, wow! Did you draw this yourself?" Adeleine coos, clearly impressed by the cartographers artistic skill.

 Mace Knight scratches his head, sheepish. "O-oh no! This was actually Trident's doin! He was flying around for days trying to map it all!" 

"Oh, really?" She turns to Trident Knight. "Well, color me impressed! I thought I was the only artist here!" Trident nods quietly; he'd be blushing, if he could.

They turn their attention back to the map, and Mace Knight continues. "So, as I was saying..." He points to a cloudy area of the map. "Currently, this is where we are: Cloudy park." His finger glides across the map, to a big red X labelled HALBERD. "THIS is the approximate location of the Halberd, somewhere at the bottom of the Orange Ocean. We're currently figuring out how to fish it out, with some help from Acro. That's the uh...the whale looking thing right there." He points to a little scribbly critter in the corner.

"I added that part." Axe Knight whispers to Adeleine, clearly pleased with himself.

Mace Knight looks back up to Adeleine. "Once it's out of the water, that's where you come in. We need new crewmates to repair the ship, as many as your little hands can paint. Think you can do that?"

She grips her paintbrush tight, eyes full of fiery resolve, "I...I'll do my best!!!"

"Very good." Mace looks back to the map. "Unfortunately, that alone won't be enough to get the ship up and running again, so while you and Meta Knight oversee the Halberd's recovery, the rest of us will be going...here!" He points to the circle labelled ???  "You see, the Halberd needs a new engine, and Trident has been picking up energy readings in the Rainbow Islands that might be just what we're looking for!" 

"That all sounds great, but...what exactly is all of this for?" Adeleine furrows her brow.

Meta Knight speaks up, quiet this entire time. "We're going to get my ship back, and then..." He looks to Adeleine, probably-beaming under his mask, "...We're going to escape Pop Star!"