Heroes of Dreamland, Book 7: Kirby and the Battle for Dreamland (OLD)

Darkness Won't Go Down Without a Fight

Meta Knight's POV:

Worried, I pull my cape tighter around myself and continue to lead the others, but don't pay as much attention as I probably should to where we are going. It hasn't been long at all since our fight with the Kracko was cut short by its absconding with Sakura and disappearing through the cloudy roof above. Of course, my first reaction was to cry out the name of my closest ally and try to follow, but by the time I'd reached the roof, the clouds had gathered again, far too thick for even my sword to slice through. Down below, one of the original twelve entrances to the battlefield reappeared, beckoning us to continue on, but the battle had made us lose all sense of direction. For all we know, this door that we've since passed through, only to have it seal closed again behind us, is the exact one we used to enter this clearing.

"We'll probably find another clearing before too long. Solar's probably set up a bunch of mid-bosses for us to face," Kirby suddenly muses aloud and swings his lance back and forth once anxiously, careful not to hit anyone with it, as we continue our wanderings through the cloudy, seemingly-endless maze. "I just hope that we find Sakura soon, too..."

Grimacing, I quietly agree, "I hope so too, young one." From the moment she disappeared through the clouds, trying to pull her sword away from the monster, I've been rather fearful for her. Of course she could handle finishing the monster off on its own as soon as she got her sword back, and possibly before that if she used magic, but the way that Kracko glazed over and was so obviously no longer in control of itself... Wherever the beast controlling it forced it to take her, it is not a place where she will be safe. Certainly, I still have hope... But there is a terrible feeling that I simply can't shake, no matter how hard I try.

Suddenly, someone tugs on my cape down beside me. Even though my first reaction is to want to snap at whoever it is, since I'm not in the mood for a round of 'let's all pull on "Mety's" cape to get his attention,' I manage to hold my tongue and just look and see who it is. A good thing, too, since I'm quite sure that snapping at poor Shadow in the current state of events would do him no good.

Now that I'm looking at him, the young one pulls on my cloak until I let go of it, and then grabs one of my gloves with both paws and hugs it to himself with a sniff as we continue trekking onward. "I'm scared, Mister Meta Knight. What if we never find S'kura? What if we never get out of here?" A moment later, he practically hugs himself to my side, which makes it rather difficult (yet not impossible) to continue walking. "You said before you guys became outlaws that you'd protect all of us. You're gonna make sure S'kura is okay, right?"

Swallowing slowly, I can't bring myself to answer at all with anything other than a simple, "I will try my very best, young one. I swear that much on my sword."

Trying to sound cheerful, Kirby assures him with a friendly glance, "I'm sure we'll find Sakura soon, baby brother. We're all gonna be okay."

With a huff of mild exasperation, Magolor grunts, reprimanding, from where he drifts along at the back of the pack. "Let's not water things down so much, Kirbs; it doesn't help anything. Princess, wherever she is, is probably in a whole boatload of trouble right now. Telling the kid nice lies really isn't any better than telling it like it is."

"You mean we're not gonna find S'kura?" Shadow hiccups, making an honorable effort to not cry. 

Disgusted by Magolor's being so inconsiderate, I give him a frigid glare.

Obviously already feeling rather sorry, Magolor waves his gloves around frantically. "Hey, now, I didn't say that, either. All I was saying was to not set our hopes too high."

Suddenly, I freeze and hold a glove up, signaling the others to stop moving too. "What is it?" Magolor whisper-hisses in what I'm sure he thinks is a very quiet voice. In actuality, it's quite annoyingly (and possibly quite dangerously) noisy.