Chapter Text
It started out simple enough, Adeline asking for him to go and fetch a bottle of some rare paint only found on some far off planet that he could barely pronounce the name of. All Dark Meta Knight needed to do was to fly in, pretend to buy it but secretly steal it from the vendor, then fly out towards the nearest mirror. Super duper simple, right?
Wrong.
The place that Dark Meta Knight stepped out of was a warzone, and by double checking the mirrors it would appear that Adeline had given him the wrong address. He couldn’t blame her, she was still new to the mirror world’s short-hand for such coordinates. Hell, his Kirby even had difficulty with finding their way. Dark Meta Knight grumbled, he should really sign those two up for lessons, maybe with an actual tutor they would learn way better and way faster. Triangulation was a simple task and it still baffled him that some people had trouble finding out where to go via landmarks.
Perhaps he could go bother one of the pink Kirby’s friends into making a compass-that way outsiders would have some sort tool to find their way in the mirror labyrinth. The not-dark Taranza cou ld even make some sort of markings with his magical webbing for signposts or something.
Speaking of Taranzas, Dark Meta Knight took a quick peek at the mirror he was about to jump into. Dark Taranza was monologuing to some sort of flower, preparing for the next time he would ever fight someone. Yikes.
He should probably take a detour instead, dealing with someone like that is bound to take forever, and the quickest way back to Adeline the better. She would be on Popstar, right? He better just pop into the mirrors at Castle Dedede and then fly to her. That's just a quick Right, Left, Down, Down, Left, Left, Up, go to the next room and then down, Then-
Wait.
Darouch wanted to take her to…Ripple Star? Dark Meta Knight only heard part of the conversation thanks to the earbuds he had in at the time. Then he better just go to the Squeak Squad’s ship!
The ship’s shorthand was…URLDDDLRRRUD? Wait, that was the code from getting to the main hub of the labyrinth from the ship. So if he wanted to go to the ship he needed to do those directions backwards. In the main hub of the labyrinth, Dark Meta Knight flew downwards.
Down, Up, Three Rights, Left, Four Downs, Left, Right, Up! Perfect! He sho-
Dark Meta Knight fluttered out of the mirror in confusion. Either the squeaks had remodeled or he was in the wrong bathroom. Fuck did he accedenlty take another left or something? Maybe he should attend those lessons as we-
NO
He smirked, he could find his way home! Simple as that! He was Dark Meta Knight for crying out loud! He helped defeat a god! He could do something as simple as find his way back home! Hahhaahhaha-
Suddenly, the door to the bathroom he was in opened, the waddle dee jumped in surprise at seeing the knight. Dark Meta Knight froze, while he wasn’t quite acquainted with the waddle dees of his Dedede’s castle nor the ones of the nice Dedede’s castle, the waddle dee looked slightly off. The shine in their eyes was not their usual glowy brown but a coal-like black. His wings froze at their gaze, something about this location gave him goosebumps.
With a not so gentle kick, he nudged the waddle dee out of the bathroom and stared back into the mirror. Like many doppelgangers born from the mirror, he had the power of being able to see behind a mirror instead of just a reflection. He hissed, the columns behind the mirror looked to be battle damaged, so the place he currently was at must have had some sort of war. The image of an old map he once drew came to mind, back when Adeline and Ribbon wanted to see what would happen if they just kept taking left doors at a crossing. In the farthest reaches of his mind, something felt familiar.
The knight had only briefly gazed at this place when he was flying with his friends, Adeline sketched out a couple creatures they had seen while over in this section of the multiverse. The general location of where he was now established in his mental map, he needed to find another mirror to see where the nearest exit was.
He swiveled back towards the door, waddle dees usually worked in communities so finding another mirror or mirror like object to turn into a mirror would be simple.
“Sir Meta Knight, are you in there?” A voice called out. Dark Meta Knight muttered a swear as the person behind the door knocked. Meta Knight-or at least some version of Meta Knight- must have been a well respected figure here. Thus, some versions of the dreamlanders must exist in this other world.
Considering that he and the blueberry still fought about once a week….Dark Meta Knight needed to play this one carefully. With a simple bending of light, the hues of the knight shifted. Another spell for giving off the illusion of not-being-DMK added on top, the disguised knight opened the door.
A waddle doo wearing the sling of either a short sword or a dagger gave a waddle version of a frown as ‘Meta Knight’ stepped out of the bathroom. “Did you kick that servant!” They sternly glared.
“My-” Dark Meta Knight gave a fake cough and shifted the tone of his voice to a different pitch, “My apologies.” He added in another couple fake coughs to sell the illusion. Dark Meta Knight held his cape up, as if he was sick, “I was startled.”
The waddle doo softened up. “Oh I’ve heard about something like this.” They turned their body away from the knight and outwards a nearby window, “When a person goes though something very very bad, sometimes they can forget that they escaped such a terrible situation.”
“Yes,” Dark Meta Knight stated blankly. What the fuck did this world’s Meta go though? Did they have some sort of ptsd? They internally winced, confusing people is one thing but if this Meta had gone though something horrible it was kinda a dick move to pretend to be that knight. He would need to pretend that he went though something horrible and.. He had some lines he didn’t want to cross.
Luckily, the waddle doo did not seem to notice his internal plotting as he gestured in the air. “I’ll try to explain to them what happened. Just try not to do that again.” They paused before adding on a bit more. “Also you should talk to your soldier buddies, it's always good to have a support system. I know Sir Arthur should be in the town square, he mentioned about wanted to try the delicacies of popstar this morning.”
“Thank? You?” Dark Meta Knight tried not to stare. Soldier buddies? Oh gods was this version of Meta Knight some sort of soldier? The waddle doo did address him as ‘Sir’ so maybe this Meta was a general or something?
Welp, he already committed the crime of identity theft, so pretending to be a soldier…in for a penny and all that.
"Yes I am still alarmed from the last battle." Dark Meta Knight bullshitted.
The waddle doo nodded, " I see. The battle against eNeMeE still shakes me." They gave a slight laugh, "Even though it was merely 2 weeks ago." They gave a little wave and then walked off, heading to the waddle dee Dark Meta Knight had kicked.
'eNeMeE? That's a name I've never heard of.' Dark Meta Knight raised a brow, 'but they must have been a tough enemy'. They snorted at their own internal joke. He then frowned, that joke was too lame, even for him.
Hopping onto the window sill, Dark Meta Knight stared at the new world he was in. It…it wasn't a dreamland. Yes it was, in the loosest sense of the word reminding him of dreamland, but it just wasn't it .
Dreamland was a place of naturally forming columns. Clouds shaped like spirals and a sea of fruit trees everywhere. Hues like the ones found on Adeline's board thing dotted the landscape. It was dreamland but it wasn't. From underneath his illusion-cloak, his wings twitched. The magic of this world felt corrupted.
Where were the bronto burts buzzing in the air? Where were the animals playing tag? He could spot what looks to be a place for sheep, but the land just felt magicless. The dreamless-land sent butterflies in his stomach as the sheer sense of " something is up " blared in his head.
There was a battle here, he could feel it in the air. There was a battle here and it did not end well.
Or did it?
Narrowing his eyes, he could spot the distant shape of a banner being pulled up. Then another and then another. Were the inhabitants of this realm setting up a party?
With everyone over at the party, he could wander this castle looking for more mirrors. At least one of them has got to show a place familiar to him. Any landmark would do, from the parallel president's mechanical madness to the smiling glow of Ripple Star.
All he needed to do was stay out of sight.
He could do that!
"Meta!" A childish voice shouted.
It would seem he couldn't do that.
A not-quite pink Kirby waddled up to him. Yes, the Kirby in front of him was a shade of pink, but Adeline could probably name a better color to describe them.
"Hmm…what should your nickname be?" He thought to himself as the Kirby babbled at him. "Mmmh?"
"Meta! Meta Look!!" They waved their paws around.
"I see," he lied. What the fuck was this kid trying to show him.
"Kirby!" A kid's voice called out, "Oh there you are!" Whatever was talking to him waved. They had blueish-green hair and sounded like an extrovert. He tried not to glare under his illusion-mask, extroverts were the worst.
"Tuff." The Kirby of this alternate world giggled. Alternate Kirby…AKirby. KirbyA. Kirbay . Perfect, that's a good nickname. You're an amazing nicknamer Dark. "Play?" Kirbay paused and looked at the individual Dark Meta Knight assumes must be named Tuff.
"Festival!" Tuff cackled. "Tiff's been in a tizzy over it!." He sighed. "Another day of her just reading at the library all day." Tuff looked at the knight," Maybe you can talk to her?"
'What is going on.' Dark Meta Knight starred. 'Who are these people? Where is this library? Why is Kirbah talking like Gooey? Oh wait are they talking to me-'
Tuff groaned, "Never mind you're probably busy." He smirked, " Well you snooze you lose! Come on Kirby, let's go play!" Kirbay nudged the knight. He must be asking for hims to join as well!
This Meta Knight must be super close with these kids and play with them on a daily basis! Clearly there is no other option!
"My apologies Kirby, I need to go," Dark Meta Knight flipped through an imaginary list of things he's seen his star ally do, "I must go polish the Halberd."
Tuff gasped.
Oh fuck was that the wrong word to use.
"You got that thing up and running again? Didn't it take you decades to build the first time?"
'The halberd of this world must have been destroyed at some point and time.' He thought to himself. He turned away from the duo, "I am currently working on a small test version for better improvements. Testing to see what I can do better." He lied.
Luckily, the kids bought it. Waving goodbye, Kirbay and Tuff ran off as the fake Meta Knight wandered the opposite way. There has to be another mirror in this place and he was going to find it.