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A soft grunt echoed through a small dark room dotted with thousands of stars, making the room look like a beautiful night sky. A small round blue ball rolled back and forth in his bed as he grunted tiredly again. He buried himself in his pillows and blankets to suppress the uncomfortable feeling, not wanting to leave the warmth and comfort under the covers, but the feeling in his stomach kept returning. His little wings twitched and he squeezed his eyes shut as the feeling grew stronger, robbing the little ball of sleep.
He was hungry
very, very hungry.
Meta tried to suppress his hunger, but he couldn't help biting into his pillow with his new sharp little teeth, hoping it would turn into something tasty. His saliva increased more and more until the pillow formed a stain and he swallowed feathers, which he quickly coughed up again. He knew it was late and he should be asleep, after all, his big bat mother woke him up every morning when his mother had to go to work as usual. His brave warrior father, on the other hand, always put him to bed, and Meta had to think again about how his father wanted to offer and give him that disgusting solid food again today. Of course he was a big boy! But he preferred to be fed with magic and not with this solid food that didn't taste good!
Meta yawned tiredly, stretching under his blanket, his little wings spread wide as his hunger did not subside and he had only one option left... it seemed he had to ask for food. He knew he wasn't allowed to stay awake so late at night, but today was surely an exception, wasn't it? With an empty stomach, he couldn't fall asleep again, and it already annoyed him to leave his warm place just for that
He closed his small eyes again, hoping that his hunger would disappear like a breath of wind, but it remained as unstoppable as before, his stomach growling so loudly that it could be heard throughout the entire room. Meta's face twisted into an angry grimace, a face that was a little too cute for many to imagine how big and strong he would become in the future. Tired, Meta threw his blanket aside, annoyed at having to leave the warmth behind, and rubbed his eyes as he set off on his little adventure to satisfy his hunger and continue dreaming his dreams.
The only problem was that he had to wake up one of his parents, who, like him, had long since gone to bed
At least, that's what he believes. His big bat mother was away most nights and evenings and was only free most of the time at midnight, so he had to check first.
Meta paused for a brief moment as thoughts finally filled his head. An idea that every child has had at some point at night.
He also had the opportunity to sneak out to get something to eat so he wouldn't be a burden to anyone, but he was afraid of the consequences if he got caught, not only because he would surely get in trouble for it, but also because he knew it just felt wrong. His father, a star warrior, had always told him that it was better to be honest than to lie and continue doing the wrong thing, so he didn't want to break the advice he had always been given.
But… physical urges can quickly influence your thoughts and actions, so he had to pull himself together! He is a big boy and, had to ask his parents first if he wanted something, as a big boy should! Of course, he had his negative characteristics that he had to work on, such as controlling his biting and not biting everything, like his pillows and stuffed animals... That was a minor problem he was currently having.
But apart from that, his parents were proud of him...and he hoped they would continue to be.
With a little burst of courage, Meta crept to his bedroom door, tiptoed, and with a little momentum and a slight jump, he managed to lower the door handle and open the door. He opened the door slowly, leaving only a crack open at first to analyze the room, his small glowing eyes peering into the darkness like little glowing stars, alone and hoping for company. At first glance, Meta saw only pure darkness, but after a few seconds, his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could see his parents' huge bed as usual. He had expected to find his round, puffball father there rather than his big bat mother, partly because his bat mama didn't often sleep in bed and also need to work a lot. His curiosity had once prompted him to ask why, and the answer he got, which he didn't quite understand, was that his mother didn't need as much sleep as many other living creatures, magic and stuff. But when his mother and father slept together in bed sometimes, he was the one who slept in the middle most of the time, happy and glad to be so loved on all sides.
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After watching for a long time, he listened to the sounds instead. He could hear a very faint snoring echoing, and this snoring sounded more than familiar to him. He continued to stare into the darkness, unsure whether he should make a move, until his stomach suddenly growled loudly, reminding him why he had gotten up in the first place. He tried to cover his stomach with his little hands and looked back at the bed, a little frightened but still hoping it had woken someone up so that he could finally get something to eat and go back to sleep. Meta sighed wearily and annoyed and finally walked through the door, his little footsteps echoing through the room as he reached the bed. He quietly nudged and clung to the blanket that was hanging down a little and pulled on it.
“P-Papa?” he asked in a whisper and pulled on the blanket again when he didn't get an answer.
“Papa...? I-I'm hungry” Still no answer, but Meta didn't give up on this mission so easily. He tugged at the blanket again until he decided to climb onto the bed to make sure someone was there. Meta grabbed the blanket tightly and firmly, his wings fluttering and his feet moving back and forth, hoping to get up, but he kept slipping down. Meta wondered when he would finally be able to fly. He tried every day! But he hadn't even managed to fly over the smallest obstacle, even though he practiced every day. He tried again, but this time with momentum. He took a running start and, after a bit of a struggle, he finally made it.
There he saw his sleeping father, wrapped up and surrounded by lots of pillows and blankets, as always alone in bed. He seemed very exhausted after a long day of training with his soldiers, as even Meta couldn't wake him up with the noise he made when he climbed up. Meta approached Arthur, his father, the leader of the Star Warriors himself, and relayed the words.
“Papa?” Meta whispered, then whispered again, louder this time, and when he still received no response, he gently shook Arthur back and forth. “Papaaa please wake up...”
Arthur grunted and twitched slightly, his eyes unable to open fully, so tired and exhausted was he after days of physical training. Meta had to continue shaking him awake to bring him back to reality, and when Arthur still didn't respond, Meta sat there for a few silent seconds until he suddenly pinched Arthur's cheek, a trick he had always seen his bat mama use when his papa didn't want to listen, and this quickly roused Arthur from his sleep. Arthur, tired and exhausted, could have spouted thousands of words and was sure he would see Nightmare before him, because he was the one who always did that when he slept, but he fell silent when he saw Meta's small glowing eyes, surrounded by worry.
“M-Meta? W-What's wrong?... Why aren't you in bed?” Arthur asked tiredly, his hand on his face, almost unable to utter the sentence, struggling hard not to fall asleep again.
Meta fell silent, suddenly unable to form the words he actually wanted to say, and played shyly with his hands, feeling a little embarrassed about waking his father just because he was hungry.
“M-Meta, go back to bed, will you?” whispered Arthur, his breath shallow and quiet as fatigue returned, ready to fall asleep again at any moment.
It took Meta a few seconds to finally speak, his little hands wrapped around the blanket this time. “I-I'm hungry...” he said, but his words went unheard and he only got a sound that did not answer his sentence.
“Mhm...” Arthur sighed and paid no attention to the little Meta, his little warrior, not because he wanted to, but because exhaustion overcame him and drowned him once again in the wonderful world of dreams.
Meta remained silent, waiting for a clear answer. He stood there for several long minutes until he spoke again.
“Papa?” he called once more and rocked Arthur back and forth again until Arthur sighed loudly and pulled the blanket over himself. For little Meta, this meant only one thing: he’d better not disturb his father any further...
Thousands of thoughts filled his little head about what he should do now. Then he looked at a door, the door that led to the kitchen. He could surely find something there, but definitely not solid food! If he remembered correctly, his bat mama had once hidden a jar full of magic-created candy in the kitchen, but no hidden treasure was safe from him. He couldn't sneak around the company either. He had tried it once when he was looking for his parents, but on the way there he encountered some weird looking employees, who looked very scary and frightened him. So he ran to his teenager babysitter in fear, whom he liked and trusted only because he looked very similar to his mother.
so he had only one option, which could be risky…
Meta sighed quitly, glanced briefly at his father, who was fast asleep, and then climbed down from the bed, his hunger driving him to get the candy jar if he had no other choice.
Meta reached the kitchen door, opened it, glanced at Arthur to make sure he wasn't waking his father, and crept inside. Meta looked for the light switch; without light, he couldn't search for a hidden object, so he pushed the chair against the wall where he was sure the light switch was located, jumped up, and had to feel along the wall for the light switch. After a short time, he found it and turned it on. Immediately after turning on the light, Meta scanned the entire room for the candy jar, and suddenly, hidden behind wine bottles and high up on a shelf, he could see it.
His eyes lit up as brightly as if he had received a birthday present. He pushed the chair he had been using quietly next to the shelf. Once there, he stood and wondered what to do next. He was unable to jump or fly up. He had found the candy, so why did this obstacle have to appear now? He jumped up and down on the chair, his little arms outstretched, as he tried his best to somehow get up there. At that moment, his stomach growled again; he was so incredibly hungry. His expression changed dramatically and he became annoyed, and then he simply decided to climb. He had always been good at climbing, so what could possibly go wrong?
His little hand grabbed the edge of the shelf, careful not to knock anything down, and with all his strength he managed to place one of his little legs on the edge. Once in position, he worked his way further and further up. He dared to look down but got scared when he realized how high he was and just wanted to get to the top before he fell down. With one last grab, he made it to the top of the shelf. Out of breath, Meta squeezed between the bottles and jars and, of course, greedily reached for the candy jar. As he tried to open the jar, he suddenly bumped one of his wings against a glass, which fell down and made a loud shattering sound.
It was very loud.
With wide, shocked eyes, Meta slowly looked down. There were shards everywhere, and the liquid had covered the entire floor. He panicked, so much so that he momentarily forgot his hunger. He listened quietly and was sure that almost the entire company had heard the noise. He hid his small form behind the candy jar, hoping no one had heard, but unfortunately for him, he had woken up none other than his warrior father.
A loud crash echoed through the room and Arthur startled awake. Things like that woke him up quickly. When you've been a warrior for years, even the slightest obvious noises that could be a danger can jolt you out of sleep in an instant.
Arthur rubbed his eyes, startled by the noise, and had to get his bearings after waking up when he suddenly remembered that Meta wanted to ask him something, but he couldn't see him anywhere... wait, did he fall asleep when Meta wanted something from him?
Oh-oh no
Arthur threw off the blanket and was about to go to Meta's room when he noticed that the kitchen light was on.
Nightmare would be furious if Meta had done something stupid, just because of him.
“Meta, my little lad, is everything all right?” Arthur asked, worried, and opened the door to the kitchen, where he was greeted by lots of little shards and red wine and a chair that was suspiciously close to the shelf.
He looked around in alarm, hoping to see Meta somewhere, when he saw him hanging from a shelf at the edge, a candy jar between his arms as he tried to climb down.
“M-Meta, what are you doing?!” Arthur didn't want to scold him at that moment, but he was rather concerned.
“Daddy, I'm falling!” cried Meta as he suddenly slipped off the edge he was holding onto and fell to the ground. Startled, Arthur reflexively tried to catch his little one, but he wasn't fast enough and Meta landed hard on the ground. Arthur could only count himself lucky that his little one hadn't fallen into the broken glass, but that didn't matter now; his little boy had fallen and it certainly hurt.
Meta tried to get up, his little hands buried in the ground, when he suddenly started crying and whimpering. Arthur quickly rushed to his little one and wanted to comfort him and see if everything was okay.
“Come here, my little warrior... what were you thinking...” Arthur rubbed Meta's little head, concerned. “What you did was very dangerous.” Suddenly, Meta broke free, which startled Arthur a little, and at that moment, Meta suddenly flew up onto the refrigerator. Frightened, he had wrapped his wings around himself and his crying grew louder and louder. Arthur was surprised, but still worried. Had Meta just used his wings? Arthur would have been proud if his boy hadn't been surely injured.
The crying above the refrigerator grew louder, and Arthur tried his best to somehow get Meta down. The best thing to do with a child was, of course, to encourage them and make it clear what a great thing they had just done.
The crying grew louder and more incomprehensible. “A-Are you a-angry?” Meta asked, very concerned, his wings still tightly wrapped around his form.
“Angry at you?” Arthur said, spreading his arms wide as he beckoned Meta down.
“Look at you, you just flew!” Arthur squealed in an excited tone. Then Meta realized what he had done.
“R-Really?” he asked innocently, as if he hadn’t even noticed what he had done in his panic.
“Look at you, you're a big boy now!” Arthur was proud, too proud at that moment. “Still, you have to come down, okay? So I can make sure you're okay and give you a nice patch." At that moment, Meta flinched back a little, still a little too scared.
Then Arthur had to try harder to get his little one down. “If you come down, you can have some sweets from the jar, and if you want, you can sleep in the big bed tonight, okay?” For Meta, this was a perfect deal that every child would want to hear. Meta calmed down and stopped crying, but then suddenly saw a familiar figure standing in the doorway and his face lit up.
Meta suddenly began crying louder than before, which briefly confused and startled Arthur. Meta's little hands were reaching towards the door, trying to grab something, and at that moment Arthur finally understood.
“Leaving you two alone always ends in chaos, doesn't it?” Arthur turned to the familiar voice as if nothing important had happened here, the kitchen a total mess, the wine glass shattered, chairs scattered around the room where they didn't belong, and his own child sitting on the fridge.
Meta was now crying louder until Nightmare finally rushed to his little bat and took him down from the fridge. After all, he was big enough to do so, unlike his little green rubber ball. Nightmare gently stroked his little bat's head until he calmed down and wondered what had happened.
“What happened to cause such chaos?” asked Nightmare, and Arthur was also unsure how to explain it exactly.
“I—Meta climbed onto the shelf at night and wanted to get the candy up there, then he fell off.” Arthur tried to explain the situation, and at that moment, Nightmare noticed something.
“Then how can it be that he's sitting on top of the fridge? Arthur paused briefly when Nightmare suddenly understood. He poked Meta between the eyes and was suddenly filled with pride.
“Could it be that my little bat has finally used his wings?” Nightmare spoke in a gentle tone that many had not expected from him. Meta nodded slowly, tears still in his eyes.
“Look at you, you're such a big boy now!” Nightmare could have spouted thousands more words of encouragement, which finally cheered him up after his hard work, until he suddenly heard a loud growling stomach. It sounded very hungry, and Nightmare now understood why his little bat had come up with such silly ideas.
“Could it be that you were hungry and that's why you climbed up?” He got only a shy nod, and of course he couldn't let his little one go to bed hungry.
He knelt down next to Arthur and, as always, pinched the brave star warrior's little cheek. At that moment, as Nightmare did this, Meta did the same to Arthur's other cheek, imitating Nightmare, which elicited a little laugh.
Arthur rubbed his cheek as the two let go and blushed slightly when Nightmare gave him an order.
“Would you be so kind as to clean the kitchen? I'll feed Meta and put him to bed in the meantime." With a little magic trick, a star suddenly appeared around Nightmare's finger. It wasn't one of the dangerous kind he could use; after all, he could adjust his magic, and he handed the star to Meta, who immediately chewed and licked on it.
“When are we finally going to give him solid food? You know we can't feed him magic all the time,” Arthur asked, worried that Meta wouldn't be able to wean himself from magic-created food if he hadn't done so at his young age.
Nightmare, on the other hand, took it more calmly as he walked to the door, turned around to Arthur, and gave him a gentle smile. “Today is an exception, after all, he's very hungry right now, as you can see.”
“When you're done in the kitchen, you can come to bed with me, so hurry up, my little rubber ball.”
“I'll be faster than you can bet,” said Arthur. It didn't take long for him to finish, and he realized that his tiredness was suddenly increasing again. His body was still not completely rested after training, so he finally decided to go back to bed.
Nightmare and Meta had already made themselves comfortable in bed, Meta already sleeping and finally with a full stomach in bed. Nightmare, on the other hand, had removed all his jewelry, except his sunglasses, of course, but Arthur didn't care about that at all. At least he could see his tall wizard with long brown hair and pointed ears most of the time. Nightmare always said that he never really liked these features about him, but Arthur, on the other hand, loved them very much. In general, he was impressed by the appearance of human-like creatures and liked them very much, even though Nightmare often spoke disparagingly about them.
“He fell asleep very quickly...” Arthur whispered softly so as not to wake the little bat and gently stroked Metas head.
“You know how quickly he falls asleep when I sing to him...” Nightmare laughed softly and pinched his little star warrior's cheek again. "You're lucky, I have the next few days off, so we can finally do more things together,” said Nightmare and kissed his little star warrior on the forehead, causing Arthur to blush slightly.
“Oh? Is Takashi finally done with his exams?” Arthur asked, aware that Nightmare was currently helping his small, human-like young teenager with his exams and preparing him for customer work at the company, which actually sounded very ironic because he was among the top fifty students with a very good grade point average, but Nightmare was still trying to teach his best creation everything he knew.
“Hmm... if it weren't for that one thing...” Nightmare fell silent, and the entire vibe around them suddenly changed.
“Huh—what thing?” Arthur asked in surprise, and for some reason, the hairs on the back of his head stood on end as if there were danger, but he couldn't perceive what that danger was, and then it finally burst out.
“You really don't remember?” Nightmare's smile disappeared into nothingness.
“He didn't finish his exam and never could again after you left him bleeding on the ground when you disappeared with Meta.”
Arthur was startled. What? How? What...? what was Nightmare suddenly talking about? His eyes widened, the sudden warmth and comfort turning to coldness and disgust, and he could feel his stomach churning as he didn't understand.
"Is this all you ever wanted? Such a peaceful life Arthur?" Arthur was confused by Nightmare's sudden words, which made no sense to him, but in retrospect, Nightmare often spoke in riddles, so he wasn't surprised. Nightmare's claw brushed and stroked Meta's little head again, gently and slowly, as if he hadn't done so in a long time. Somehow it seemed like a longing that shouldn't really exist to this extent, and it made Arthur uneasy. Nightmare's behavior had changed completely, as if in an instant.
Nightmare looked at him, suddenly ice-cold and with a lowered smile, as if all the feelings between them that they had felt for each other all these years had suddenly disappeared into thin air.
“Dreams can seem so real, can't they? So real that you never want to wake up from them...” Nightmare was speaking in incomprehensible riddles again, and Arthur could feel his little heart suddenly start to ache, as if it were being squeezed into tiny threads. Nightmare held Meta closer to him as Arthur clung to Nightmare in panic, his hands buried deep in Nightmare's cape, hoping to finally find out what was going on here, but instead he only got a brief glimpse behind Nightmare's sunglasses, a glance that would have killed him if it could.
Tears of uncertainty welled up in Arthur's eyes, and at that moment he finally understood... it was all too good to be true, not only from his point of view but also from Meta Knight's.
“Do you think I'll forgive you for the days you took Meta away from me? Do you think a simple ‘I'm sorry’ would heal everything?”
“I think it's time to wake up, Arthur, ŇØŇ€ Ø₣ ŦĦƗŞ ƗŞ Ř€ΔŁ.”
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Arthur startled awake, disoriented and panicked, he reflexively drew his sword, his breathing heavy and his vision blurred, not only that, his body was weak and his head heavy, and the nausea and dizziness were increasing. He rubbed his head as a faint voice called out to him. It took a few seconds before he could clearly recognize the voice and the bright eyes that looked like small, beautiful stars, shaped by concern.
“Captain..., are you all right?” Meta Knight's soft, soothing voice brought him back to reality, a reality he had never wanted, and at that moment, Arthur had to briefly hold back his tears as the dream that seemed so real, made him emotional, or it was most likely the alcohol as he now realized that he had fallen asleep in the bar. He lowered his sword and apologized for the inconvenience, of course.
“Sir Meta Knight, I'm sorry, please don't scare me like that. You know how strong my warrior instincts can be when I get a little drunk, especially at night...” Arthur sat back down in his chair, relaxed, as if nothing had happened and nothing was bothering him.
"I know that very well, Captain... but it's late, midnight to be precise, so it's very strange for you to still be here so late at night, especially alone." Meta Knight walked behind the bar counter and searched for something, a small activity he often did at midnight. He didn't know exactly why, but over the last few years it had become a small weekly activity for him, partly because he had become a bit of a night owl most nights.
Meta Knight opened several small cabinets until he finally found what he was looking for. “Did you have a nightmare?” he asked with concern. “You were trembling when I woke you up.” Sir Arthur's cheek was pressed flat against the counter, tired and still a little shaken by the dream.
“I-I don't know...I cant remember” Arthur was unsure whether he wanted to tell the truth. It had actually been a lovely dream that had turned ugly, but he didn't want anyone to know that.
Meta Knight suddenly handed Arthur a glass of cold water, certain that it would help in this situation, and placed his small find on the counter.
“T-Thank you...” Arthur took the glass and drank from it, and he could honestly say that it cleared his head a little.
“It's ironic that I find you here at midnight Captain. You always caught me at this time of night whenever I succumbed to my sweet tooth...” Meta Knight opened the small jar filled with little candies shaped like stars and moons, a personal find that he was glad no one had taken and that belonged to him alone. He was a little embarrassed to be a sweet tooth, so he had postponed his little snacks until midnight, where no one could see him, or so he thought, until Arthur was the first to catch him. Arthur looked at Meta Knight when he had gulped down all the water, his eyes darting back and forth, his breathing heavy as he watched Meta Knight open the jar and eat the candy.
What a coincidence...
A coincidence that reminded him of the dream again.
Was this dream actually real? Was it a memory of times past? He wasn't even sure.
His mouth was half open, his cheeks red as wine, and his breath still reeked of alcohol as he tried to clarify something, but Meta Knight stole his words. “But you're not the only one who had a strange dream today,” Meta Knight took off his mask to better eat the sweet candies, and at that moment, you could see his pointed teeth, a special feature that no one else in their race had, not even Arthur. There had been a lot of speculation in their group about why Meta Knight was the only puffball with pointed teeth, but luckily, these speculations were just silly nonsense that Arthur didn't have to explain.
After all, it was he who brought Meta Knight into the group as a young infant.
Meta Knight took another lick of the candy, still somewhat reluctant to talk about a dream he couldn't even remember well. “For some reason, I dreamed about a melody today... a melody I've never heard before, and when it ended, I woke up.”
Arthur let out a small laugh and shrugged “Dreams can be very strange, so don't worry too much about it.” Meta Knight, on the other hand, took the subject a little more seriously.
Meta Knight suddenly stared into space, his thoughts entangled in thousands of speculations. “But... for some reason, it seems so familiar to me...”
There was silence until Meta Knight tried to hum the melody. It wasn't loud, but it echoed through the small room like a dream sequence. Arthur's eyes widened and his hand clung tightly to the glass as the humming made his ears pop, even though it was as quiet as the smallest insect. Nevertheless, it irritated him, and Meta Knight noticed it when Arthur almost shattered the glass between his hands.
This was exactly the same melody HE always sang to Meta when he was little
“Do you know the melody?” Meta Knight paused briefly, guessing that it must have been the influence of the alcohol that made Arthur so tense at the slightest sound. “Did you always sing it to me when I was little? Maybe as an comfort after you saved me from Nightmare?”
Saved, saved...
Saved was the word Arthur always used to gaslight himself and those around him, especially Meta Knight. Fear of the reality and the truth that only he knew in their group.
You couldn't really call it a saving, even though he kept telling himself that; it was more like a kidnapping.
He was the one who kidnapped Meta and snatched him from Nightmare's hands, even though he didn't even have the right to do so... No, that wasn't true. He had absolutely had the right to do so in that situation and even wanted to blame Nightmare entirely for the fact that it had come to this... but deep down, he also blamed himself for involving half the universe in this, just because of a misunderstanding and two disagreements that could have been easily resolved.
Arthur bit his lower lip, completely wrapped up in himself and his thoughts, sweat running down his forehead as memories came flooding back, memories he would love to relive in order to build the future as it had originally been planned.
It was during the time when their group, the GSA, and the galactic company HolyNightmare had made peace for a few years, and during this time, he and Nightmare also grew closer. Of course, no one knew about their relationship, at least no one on his side, as it would have caused a complete uproar if it had become public knowledge.
Arthur's breathing became heavier and he had to pull himself together, his eyes began to tremble and he also began to tear up.
It would be a lie to say that he didn't miss Nightmare. He will never forget the beautiful moments they spent during their short time together.
How Nightmare always pinched his cheek, and that he was always allowed to sit on Nightmare's shoulder. Nightmare sometimes promised him sweet dreams and just the smallest little things made him the happiest puffball at that time, and he also knew that these were Nightmare's happiest moments too in the millennia he had already lived. Trust also played a big role, and although the two now want to bash each other's heads in, Arthur did not reveal that Nightmare had always had a problem with his appearance and covered his eyes, hair, and ears with his jewelry because of that. On the other hand, Nightmare does not exploit his strange quirks, which he even hides from his warriors.
But one night stayed in his mind forever, one he will never forget. It was the night when, despite their differences, the two trusted each other and gave each other shelter and comfort, and because of that night... Meta Knight now exists, a hybrid with incredible strength that he himself is not yet aware of. Arthur is lucky that Meta Knight took the path of sword art and not that of magic.
How would that have ended? Not well…
He could only speak of luck that their race had never been good at remembering their infant years, and so Meta Knight had almost no memories of having been in the HolyNightmare company. Of course, they could remember traumatic events that could shape their lives for better or worse. Now that he remembered, he was glad that Meta hadn't witnessed the situation with the little human-like teenager that Nightmare had created from his own DNA. If remorse could eat away at him, it was this situation. He had accidentally stabbed the poor young teenager in the abdomen when he was driven by rage. It was one of the things Nightmare would never forgive him for.
Never again.
He had lost everything...
Everything...
A pat on the shoulder brought him back to the present, and once again he made Meta Knight question whether everything was okay.
“Captain, is everything really all right. . .?” Meta Knight paused briefly. “You’re crying.” Arthur quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and, as always, blamed the alcohol for his emotional outbursts.
“It's just the alcohol again, I always get emotional for no reason...” Sir Arthur stared at Meta Knight, even though he didn't want to, because it sometimes reminded him too much of Nightmare, the pointed teeth, the dark color palette, and not to mention how the two of them always wrapped themselves in their capes like bats.
Sir Arthur looked away; he really should go back to his room and repress everything as usual, as always. But of course, he had to send Meta Knight somewhere so he wouldn't be bombarded with questions that made his head explode.
“Don't worry about me... aren't you on patrol with Yamigake at this time?” Meta Knight nodded; he hadn't forgotten this task, of course, but the health of his captain was obviously more important.
“If everything is all right, then I'll be on my way back there. Take care, Captain, and good night.” Meta Knight popped one last piece of candy into his mouth as he was about to walk out the door, until Arthur added his final words for the day.
“Eating so many sweets at midnight isn't good for your teeth. Maybe you should switch to something else?” Meta Knight was surprised by this question, but he figured Arthur was still a little drunk, so it was normal to hear such sudden statements.
“You sound like a concerned father,I can take good care for myself.” Without another word and with a small laugh, Meta walked out the door, leaving Arthur alone in the bar again.
“Concerned father, hmm?”
“If only I could say that's true.”