Meta Knight Adopts You

MELMAN'S A SNITCH

So, the letter had been sent, and it had barely been a day, but I was feeling much better. Just having gotten some line of communication across made the problem seem... well, not as much like a problem. Like when you have a very clear line of thought, and then you say it out loud, or explain it to someone else, and you realize how absurd it is.

Feeling much better, I was more comfortable going back to town the next day, which was my second mistake.

Turns out, Melman has a habit of reading the mail he delivers.  And as it also turns out, nobody in Cappytown is immune to gossip.

So, walking into town the next day, I'm met with expectant, and knowing grins on their faces as they watch me, giggling and whispering to each other like they're middle school girls. I feel uncomfortable, and confused, up until one of the kids lets slip what happened.

I feel humiliated, lost, frustrated, and a bunch of other things that I can't find the names for. I march straight back home, slamming the door and locking it, pulling myself up onto the loft, before flopping down onto my bed. I bite down on my blanket and make all sorts of small noises, not wanting to scream, even if no one will hear me, but unable to not make any noise.

I don't know how long I stay there before there's a knock at the door. I sigh heavily, cleaning myself up, moving around a bunch to try and get out any excess energy or aggression, before dropping down and opening the door, looking down to see who it is.

Kirby walks straight past me, into my kitchen, and I don't have it in me to protest. So, I shut my door, and slump down to sit in a corner as I watch him, making sure he doesn't get into to much trouble.

"... Hey buddy, what're you up to..?"

"Poyo!" He happily responds, smiling, as always. He grabs a bunch of food, happily scarfing it down, before skipping over to me, and plopping down next to me.

"... Hi." I wave to him a little, unsure what else to do. He smiles at me, putting his little nub hands up, and I hesitantly pick him up, setting him back down in my lap. "... This town fucking sucks, man." Kirby, of course, doesn't respond, just smiling at me.

"Don't swear in front of him." I jolt at the sudden Spanish voice, looking over, flustered and caught off guard as I see Meta Knight standing in the opposite corner from us.

"Wha- How did you get in???"

"The door was unlocked." He shrugs a bit, and, yeah, I forgot to lock it when Kirby came in. God damnit... "We should... talk, yes?"

I huff, groaning. "Well the whole point was that I didn't want to talk." That was definitely the wrong way to phrase that- "Like- I- I'm not- We already know I'm not good at in person conversation- a- and I don't like the idea of writing notes and just... passing them back and forth. I don't wanna see how you react and stuff- and it would be even worse if you read out loud!" That's what my mom always did. If I gave her something to read, she'd read it out loud, and it always humiliated me, even if that wasn't her intention.

"I will not read out loud, and you will not see my reactions, I wear a mask." I stare at him for a few moments, still nervous. He's right, and I hate that he's right, because it gives me less of an excuse than I already had.

"... Well, it's embarrassing..." His eyes flash pink for a brief moment, before he sits down beside me.

"But it's necessary by this point, no?" I shrug a little, looking away from him and shifting around. "If you just write it, you can decide after if you want me to read it. I'll write in return, so no one speaks. Would that make you feel better?" It probably would, if it's not verbalized, it's not as... real, or something.

"I- I guess..." I hesitantly pick up the pencil and paper, moving to have my back in the corner, so he can't see what I'm writing. I'm very hesitant, not wanting to write and erase, wrote and erase, write and erase, over and over and over again. That would only frustrate me. I'm very slow with what I write, still erasing a lot, both to fix grammar and because I just don't like what I wrote, until I come to a 'final draft' of sorts.

It feels wrong to have you as a 'parental figure'. I was with my family, right before you all found me. I was with them. It doesn't feel real that they're not here. It doesn't feel right to 'replace' them, even though I know you're not trying to replace them. It feels fine to call Kirby my 'brother' or sibling or cousin or whatever, because I had so many cousins and siblings and family, but I only had two parents. Only had one 'dad'. It feels wrong. What's worse is, after the whole 'Wolf Wrath' incident, with all that it did, I feel more nervous. That was my Dog before it was a monster. She was my pet, and I was just me, but then there was the armor, and that pink liquid, and it was all awful. But it didn't feel awful. But it does looking back now, because what if that's what all the monsters Kirby fights are?

What if they were all people, and animals from Earth? What if my family was there somewhere? What if my family was some of the monsters already killed? You fought in a giant space war, what if you killed one of them? We would never know, we could never find out. It all makes me feel awful, like I've done something heinous, that I am something heinous. I feel like I've done something monstrous. How long was I like that? Was that the first time? The second? The tenth? It was all a blurr, but what if I just don't remember the previous times? What if that whole situation is just who I am? Have I always been like that? Have you all always been so small? When I was like that, I didn't know how to be anything else. How many people have I hurt? Do I even deserve a 'family' or friends anymore?

I hesitantly hand it off to him, and try to preoccupy myself with other things while he does. It's hard though, nerve wracking, seeing him just staring at the paper. I can't just leave, I don't want to. But seeing him, watching him just stare, I feel powerless, and scared. Kirby nudges me, pointing to my 'kitchen'.

"... I think you are all my food already." He points again, and I sigh, getting up, walking awkwardly, that walk you do when you're to conscious of how you're walking, and setting him on the counter. "What?" He jumps up, and puts himself right into a cabinet, excitedly pulling out an apple. "Dude, that thing's rotten, don't eat that." He brings it closer to his mouth. "Dude, stop!" I start trying to get it away from him, wrestling him a bit, but he always manages to slip out of my grasp. After about a minute of this, Meta Knight snatches the apple from Kirby, and tosses it out the window.

"We will get you real food later." He pats Kirby's head and hands me back the book. I feel like there's a rusty, metal coil, wound up in my stomach, waiting with tension, building up pressure before it breaks and snaps my spine in half.

I hesitantly sit back in the corner to read what he wrote.

I will not push the matter then, you do not need to call me any sort of 'parental' figure to you. I can't relate to your stresses, but I understand them. If there were a way to help you, I want to. If there is something I can help you with, ask me, please. I will not call you 'Mija' again if you do not want me to. You are not awful for what N.M.E.'s serum did to you. That is not who you are, and I know it's not, because you just spent five minutes trying to keep Kirby from eating a rotten apple.

I can't help but laugh a bit, despite myself. Maybe it's the nerves. I'm not sure, but it's slightly comforting, in a way.

By this point, you've surely realized how much stronger than you are then all of Cappytown, if you were 'truly heinous', you would not need the serum to do something awful. N.M.E.'s influence would not be necessary if you were bad. That serum is powerful, I've watched completely defenseless creatures be turned into vicious, untamable, uncontrollable beasts with just a small injection. They had you for weeks, who knows how much they had to put into you to get you like that. We can't change what happened before, but we can try to learn now. The idea that N.M.E.'s supply of monsters came from your home planet is distressing, I can only imagine how you feel. If that truly is the case, then we can look for a way to reverse it. I promise. I am here for you.