Work Text:
The sun was almost setting as Meta Knight made his way across the greenery of Cookie Country. The sky was painted orange at these hours– which he would find beautiful if not for the fact that it brought back memories of his battleship plunging into the ocean, with all his plans and dreams along with it. They, like the Halberd, had been for naught.
As much as it pained him to admit it, he messed up. His efforts to make Popstar a better and safer place weren’t warmly welcomed, and though they had taken the form of a coup d'etat, his near-success only proved the lack of preparation and security that the kingdom was suffering from. They had only survived thus far due to Kirby’s heroics, but even he refused to live up to his full potential, rattling on about how friendship was the most powerful thing of all.
Meta Knight could not see the value in the power of friendship– he saw how much he was despised by the waddle dees after his attempted coup, with some refusing to come near even after knowing it was all to keep them safe. His own team held disdain for his incompetence and their own-near drowning, as though he could be blamed. Even Sailor refused to hear Meta Knight out after he used their twin as bait to disarm the king, unable or unwilling to understand that he held nothing against the engineer and was simply looking for the fastest solution at the time.
However, this was merely a setback. He was not accustomed to the social politics of Dream Land, but this is not the first time he had been saddled with a bad reputation. Though in the past he was forced to adopt a new identity entirely, he had much a much grander plan to restore his honor and reputation this time: show everyone his might and benevolence by slaying the feared god of anger, Aeon Galacta, and banish the fear of his return from the minds of all Dream Landers.
The only problem lay in the question of what exactly Galacta was. The true nature of the beast was known to almost no one, and every folk tale or whispered rumor about the Aeon Hero seemed to have its own tweaks. There were only a few common threads between them: He worked alongside humans to kill Void the Creator and was subsequently sealed in a crystal prison for fear of his power. Some praised his deep love of humanity, while others trembled as they recounted how he squashed mortals like mere ants. All of them were consistent in how inconsistent they were, and that’s what left Meta so frustrated– how could he defeat the Aeon Hero if no one could figure out who or what it was?
Meta Knight learned what he could through Dream Land’s libraries and word of mouth from traveling merchants, but he was banned from leaving the kingdom without a chaperone. Coupled with his fear of someone realizing what he was planning, he was practically out of options until he found his one and only lead: an unusually colored flyer proudly advertising never-before-seen pictures of Aeon Galacta.
The picture accompanying it was… Unusual. It had a strange, quasi-realistic quality to it, with printed colors and a very glossy appearance. It depicted these strange spherical creatures with beady eyes and nubby hands, even one with horns like Galacta’s and a familiar mask. Some of the creatures had six fingers or three eyes, making the drawing almost as eldritch as the creature it was advertising. Meta Knight couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad sign.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have much of a choice: This was the closest thing outside of Dream Land that he could access without alerting anyone. Admittedly, he didn’t particularly fear Dedede’s planned “punishment” (or lack thereof, considering Dedede’s general reluctance to do the work required to actually imprison someone in the castle’s dungeon). What did worry him was Kirby’s chipper insistence that he should “stay out of trouble”.
Meta Knight arrived just after twilight. The location was easy to spot at night, some huge, blue ship with bright square lines beneath it. They seemed Ancient in nature, just… off, somehow. He couldn’t place his finger on it, musing as he approached.
He swept his gaze over the ship, looking for any way to see inside as he knocked on the door. The few portholes in the side of the shockingly pristine, cream-colored hull shimmered with a pattern of purple galaxies. It was likely they were one-way windows, hiding the ship’s true contents from would-be onlookers, but it meant that at the moment, it was difficult to tell if anyone was home.
From somewhere deep within the ship, Meta Knight could hear a rustling. Someone was home, and perhaps a bit too eager in their last minute organizing, as he heard a furious series of rattles, clicks and sweeping of fabric. It sounded like a massive, wooden crab was scuttling over the deck. As he raised his fist to knock again, the door of the ship snapped open with a hiss, revealing a feeble, hunchbacked old man squinting at him— whether from nervousness or a wide smile, Meta Knight couldn’t entirely tell.
“Heyyy there, Mister, uh, Knight,” the elder warbled. He fidgeted with nervous energy, wringing his prosthetic hands with an irritating clacking. He seemed ready to topple over even a strong gust of wind. “You wouldn’t happen to be here for some delayed tax payments, would you?”
Meta Knight frowned under his mask. He did not recall any mention of taxes on any of the posters for the exhibit, and with (supposedly) never-before-seen photos of Aeon Galacta on display, he couldn’t imagine a single soul who would come here just to see his tax forms.
Practically squirming under the pressure of the short silence, the old man’s voice pitched further upwards, and he began to gesticulate anxiously with his hands. “Ah, maybe you’re here for the due payment I have for a certain knight? Or that one restaurant I accidentally dined and dashed at, perchance? My memory really isn’t what it used to be, heheh…”
Meta Knight was beginning to get frustrated. He did not come all the way out here to be pestered about this gaudy magician’s pawned garbage. “No, I–”
“M-Maybe that magical artifact I sold mysteriously stopped working?” the elder asked, almost pleading. He was moving faster than Meta Knight could keep up with, saying more with his frantic hand gestures than could ever be told by words alone. “Well, ah, if you would be ever so kind as to tell your liege that they’ll get their payment in no time at all and to please have a bit more patience with this poor old man!”
He smiled with his eyes again, expression strained to the point that it looked almost painful. Meta Knight fought the urge to shove him right back through the door and fly away. He settled for shoving the flyer in his face with a growl.
“Nobody sent me here. I’m here for the Aeon Galacta Tour, unless… I’m mistaken about the type of historian you are?”
The old man straightened, his entire posture changing instantly as though he had been pulled up by invisible marionette strings. His fingers curled in barely disguised delight, a frazzled excitement glowing brightly in his eyes.
“O- oh my Void! W- wait here just one moment!”
The elder suddenly scrambled in the other direction, moving with a frightening speed for someone so frail-looking and practically tripping over his own feet as the ship’s door slammed shut between them. As the wooden scuttling disappeared into the belly of the ship, Meta Knight was once again left waiting, staring aimlessly at the curved steel door.
Just as he was preparing to abandon the endeavor completely– he couldn’t imagine what kind of farce this fraud had concocted but surely it was nothing worth his time– the door burst back open to reveal a new and improved mage. The feeble old man had seemingly undergone a transmutation of outfit and personality, dressed like a gaudy ringleader and with all the pompousness and confidence to match.
“Why hello there! Apologies for the mix-up earlier– I mistook you for a loan knight!” he said, laughing awkwardly at his own mistake.
“I only fight monsters,” Meta Knight said bluntly, cutting off the mage.
“... Um. Yes. Well– pleasure to meet you, Mr. Knight! I’m Magolor, and–” he threw his hands out, wiggling his fingers for emphasis– “welcome to Merry Magoland!”
“You named the ship after yourself?”
Magolor stiffened briefly, his eyes taking on a darker hue before he collected himself almost instantaneously. “What? I– no, nonono, it’s the name of the amusement park. The ship’s called—”
Suddenly, the screen behind Magolor crackled to life, displaying a cute, mascot-like woman with a visor like the ship’s hull and a light blue dress. “Welcome! I am Lor Starcutter.” the AI said, words appearing in bold letters across the screen as it spoke.
Meta Knight, intrigued, stared at the screen. “That’s a rather complex projector.”
Puffing out his chest, Magolor swept his hand behind him, pride dripping from his voice. “This is no mere projector, but hyper-intelligent ancient technology the likes of which have never been seen on this star! It can generate and display images, no photo required. Show ‘em, Lor!” he finished with a flourish.
“Certainly, Magolor.” Slowly, the screen buffered, generating a crude, oddly shiny image of an amusement park, complete with cartoonified waddle dees running around enjoying themselves. He squinted at the garbled mess of text, which was either ancient in nature or complete and utter nonsense. He was inclined to believe the latter. As the ship rattled off recommendations of the ‘best attractions’, Magolor appeared to be surveying Meta Knight’s reaction carefully.
“Isn’t it fascinating?” Magolor chirped before Meta Knight had the chance to admit his true feelings about the glossy garbage that Lor was currently displaying. He was still gesturing around busily, turning the entire two-foot radius around him into a danger zone. “As a matter of fact, for being our first ever visitor, I will give you the generous offering of a mere 4 gold coins to generate a picture of your choosing! Ooorrr you could win it as a prize by winning one of our one-of-a-kind minigames!”
To demonstrate, he pointed in turn at a series of doors, all emblazoned with more of the messily generated pictures of people playing minigames. He could have sworn one of them had six fingers, but it was hard to tell.
Meta Knight shifted slightly away from him. “... No, sorry. I’m just interested in gathering more information about Aeon Galacta.”
Magolor balked. “Awwwwwww come on; I’m sure you’ll like the other attractions! Though, say… I am surprised. Why would such an elegant and brave knight need information from an old geezer like me?”
“You happen to be an old geezer that owns an ancient artifact. I surmise you’re more knowledgeable than you let on.”
Magolor’s face crumbled like he was struggling not to laugh. “Her?” he asked, pointing to the Lor. “Young man, I know nothing about ships, less so ancient ones! I just happened to stumble upon her.”
Meta Knight glanced over at the projector for any kind of confirmation, but the ship remained silent, simply letting the list of theme park attractions slowly scroll down the screen. Meta Knight squinted. He didn’t believe him in the slightest, but every second spent arguing with him was a second delaying his return, and whether this turned out to be a bust or not, he wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. “... Okay.”
Magolor shook his head, waving off the Lor as soon as he saw Meta Knight’s expression. “But back on track, you sure you don’t want to shoot at targets in Ninja Dojo? OR we can shoot at each other in Booming Blasters– oh, and since you’re such a strong knight, surely you’d want to practice i–”
“Please save your words for when you talk about Aeon Galacta,” Meta Knight barked. Magolor fell silent, a dark expression falling over his face for the briefest of moments. He quickly returned to form, huffing and placing his hands on his hips.
“Rude! If you insist, we can skip the minigames. But, before entering that room, you must sign your name here.”
Magolor pulled a scroll out of his robes, flicking it at Meta Knight so that it unrolled perfectly. Rolling his eye, Meta Knight signed on the first line he saw before shoving it back into Magolor’s hands. He knew how these contracts worked, and he wasn’t concerned about the possibility of blasting his own eye out with a toy gun or suing for emotional damage or whatever. Worthless fine print.
Magolor chuckled, beckoning him towards the room with the famed pictures.
“Ah, well, I’m so glad to have you here, Mister….” Magolor froze, eyes flicking back and forth from the signature to its signee and back again. “... Meta Knight…”
For a moment, Magolor remained frozen, gripping the scroll harder than necessary as his eyes bored into Meta Knight’s. Within a moment, however, Magolor was back in a good mood, tucking the scroll back into his robes and herding Meta Knight to the center of the room, turning off the lights with a snap of his fingers and letting the projector flicker to life.
A bevy of stars burst onto the dark walls, leaving Meta Knight alone in the center of a vast, empty universe. Slowly, colors swirled in the center of the screen, forming comets and planets and the stuff of galaxies. An indescribable being took form in the center, looking out at the emptiness of space with an expression that Meta Knight struggled to name.
“Once upon a time, Void created our universe. Despite the beauty of the stars and galaxies it created, it felt lonely without someone to share it with. From fragments of its soul, organs, skeleton, and flesh, it created the four heroes of yore to act as its companions, imbuing them with the essence of happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. The last of them, the hero crafted from the rage and very flesh of the creator, is the being we call Aeon Galacta.”
The projector crafted each of them in turn, giving form to a legend that had occupied Meta Knight’s mind for longer than he could conceptualize. Looking smugly at the awestruck knight, Magolor continued.
“It was Galacta who made the shells of mortals, the flesh that gave them shape and silhouette. Slowly, he fell in love with them, his loyal-but-naive pets, defending them against any harm that may befall them.”
Meta Knight felt a pang in his heart. This beast of muscle and sinew looked upon these mortals– fragile, stupid things with a lifespan like insects compared to him– and felt love. It felt protective over the beings who made their homes in the galaxies of the creator, and that made something deep within Meta Knight’s heart ache indescribably. Galacta may have been a target to him, but he couldn’t help but empathize with the god’s plight. To defend the weak with incredible power and be rewarded by imprisonment and demonization… he could only hope he did not share the hero’s destiny. Perhaps, in another lifetime, they may have even gotten along.
“... So, he gave them protection and training. Why would they betray and imprison him?”
Magolor chuckled. “He was a God afterall. The flesh he gifted them with was still his in the end. Their bodies belonged to him, and any misuse of that was tantamount to a great disrespect. It was punished accordingly.”
“... What kind of punishment?”
“Oh, you know, all that you might expect from a God of fury. Bother him? He would drive his lance through your skull to shut you up. Stayed up past curfew? He’d slit your throat to teach you the cost of disobedience. When you’re the god of anger, lashing out violently was second nature. He had the capability to regenerate all flesh– so nothing was ever permanent. In modern days, we might call that torture, but for someone like Galacta, the concept was entirely foreign. The principles of barbarism meant very little.”
Meta Knight frowned, maybe it is for the best that they’ve never met. “Well, if he can revive people whenever he wants… does he himself have limitless regeneration? That’s… troubling.”
Magolor shrugged. “He’s been stuck in a crystal long enough to be practically forgotten. ‘S all good– only something like a Nova’s wish could free him from that shiny prison– and last I heard, a certain someone blew that thing to smithereens, so no chance of that, haha!”
Meta Knight’s frown deepened, gaze still locked on the shimmering images of Galacta plastered across the projector.
“... I see… Huh…. Are these the… Allegedly real pictures of Galacta you spoke of?”
Magolor huffed. “Allegedly?” I’m much too kind of a soul to ever think of lying! I had to scour all of the Lor’s database to find this beauty in pristine condition.”
Lor gave a cheerful thumb’s up in confirmation.
Meta Knight glanced over at Magolor, skeptical. “... So I’m supposed to believe that people from centuries ago had access to cameras of this high quality and color?”
Magolor laughed, throwing his hands out proudly as the lights flicked back on. “Look around you! The ancients had far better technology than us! I, well–” he faltered. “I can’t even begin to understand it myself.”
Meta Knight sighed. “... Well, thank you for the information. I will be taking my leave now.”
Magolor straightened up instantly, rushing at Meta Knight as he raised his cape. Meta Knight winced as Magolor’s wooden hand grabbed and yanked on the corner, eyes wild.
“Heyheyhey, you wouldn’t rob a defenseless old man blind, now would you?” he extended his other hand with an expectant look. “Kind young man, I believe you forgot the tip!”
Meta Knight tugged his cape out of the geezer’s grasp, sneering down at him. “What are you talking about? I don’t owe you anything.”
As though expecting this, Magolor pulled out the form from earlier in a single, smooth motion, his hand tapping on some extremely small fine print in an entirely different (and less legible) color than the rest of the contract.
“Ah, well.” He tapped his finger on the text. You must pay 2000 coins per entry, it read. Meta Knight’s eye widened. “You very much do owe me a healthy amount.” Magolor’s tone edged on something dangerous. “And I don’t think you can afford a dark mark on your record, Mister Meta Knight?”
The Lor’s screen suddenly lit up with an image of Meta Knight’s mugshot. Meta Knight bristled. Technically he did exit Dream Land without Dedede’s explicit permission, and if word got out… he didn’t want to deal with that headache regardless.
“I was arrested recently and have been doing community service these past few months, so I have nothing to pay you with. I don’t exactly have money to spare– but surely you know that, right?” he said, looming over the old man as he stepped towards him. Magolor cowered instantly, waving his hands in front of his face.
“N- now now, no need to get violent! The Lor is watching.”
Meta Knight bristled. “I am not–” but as he looked over, the Lor was displaying security footage, blinking steadily red in the corner as it watched them both in perfect, mechanic apathy.
“You’re lucky I’m a kind old grandpa,” Magolor said, scrambling backwards away from the knight and straightening up with a quick readjustment of his bowtie. “You happen to be someone who has the information I’m looking for, ironically. How about this: we talk a bit about what you know and I’ll graciously forgive your debt. Let’s call it… An exchange.”
Meta Knight narrowed his eye. “... What kind of knowledge are you hoping to find out?”
Magolor’s eyes gleamed, his cat-like pupils mere slits in the sterile, blue backlight of the Lor’s projector. His eyes narrowed in a barely disguised grin, lacing his fingertips together and leaning closer.
“Tell me all about Kirby of the Stars.”