Chapter Text
They enacted their plan the following night. It was simple: sneak into the throne room, don't make noise. It went without an issue (besides the lone wandering Waddledee, who wouldn't tell anybody anyway).
Dedede didn't bother to lock his teleporter's console so Galacta Knight was easily able to put it in debug mode and look at past uses. He looked up the most recent one, two days ago, in which the source's location was a long scramble of numbers and letters
"This is definitely encrypted," Galacta Knight said. "We'll have to ping their location directly."
"As expected," Meta Knight said. "Sword, Blade, you know to keep watch."
Galacta Knight nodded. "Yes, and if we aren't back in fifteen minutes, go get Kirby."
The apprentices agreed, and Galacta Knight began to prepare the teleporter.
Sword Knight shifted uneasily. "Sirs, are you sure you wouldn't need a third person to help? It's better to be safe than sorry."
"We will be able to hold our own just fine, Sword, but I appreciate your concern." Meta Knight said.
After some ambiguous typing on the throne's keyboard, the teleporter was ready for use. It rose from the floor and ceiling and glowed with white charge. Meta Knight took notice and approached it, standing on the launch pad. "Stay safe, we'll be back soon."
Galacta Knight fluttered over to the pad as well. "Don't worry, you two. I'll make sure he's back in one piece." He said with a wink.
The teleporter finally released a crackle of electricity, and they were gone.
-
Meta Knight shuddered at the teleportation. It was always awful. Teleporting created this stiff, aching feeling, like he hasn't moved in hours. It also made his brain foggy, so he required a minute to adjust. Horrible side-effects.
Side-effects that are particularly unpleasant when two demonbeasts open the door.
An orange beetle creature seemed taken aback. "Oi, you aren't supposed to be here!" He said to Galacta Knight, immediately unsheathing his machetes.
The red gorilla monster to the right of him smirked. "Heh, it brought a friend." It was already brandishing a hammer the size of Meta Knight's head.
Galacta Knight tensed at the bug's attention to him. "You must recognize me from last time I infiltrated NME."
The bug cackled. "Sure." It said, before using its wings to launch himself at the warrior.
The gorilla beast also attacked Meta Knight, who had to duck in order to avoid the dense hammer. He tried to slashes in, but was hindered by being unable to get close-range.
Galacta Knight parried with the bug. It unfortunately was taller than him, so it left the warrior more vulnerable. He managed to predict most of its moves, however, so the monster was kept at bay. Eventually, the beast got sick of not being able to hit him, and attempted to swipe at Galacta Knight's wings from overhead.
Meta Knight by this point had managed to stab the gorilla a few times, but had yet to take the beast down. He did his best to dodge, but had been smacked around a few times himself. Meta Knight looked over when he heard a yelp.
Galacta Knight was quickly pulling his wings closer to himself. He had barely managed to pull them away from the giant swords. As the duel continued he realized he was being backed into a corner and couldn't fly away. His back bumped against a console on the wall, and the beetle raised his machetes and heaved them downwards, aiming for the space between Galacta Knight's horns.
Galacta Knight braced himself and attempted to block the machetes with his lance, when a slice of light cut through the bug monster. It froze and exploded into nothing.
He looked to the side and saw Galaxia crackling wildly in Meta Knight's hand; the knight in question quickly went back to dodging the gorilla's enormous hammer. Surely he wouldn't be able to use that ability again soon.
Galacta Knight was stunned for a moment, but then took the chance to pull out his phone and started the procedure to contact the GSA. The phone took its time establishing a connection to the base that was lightyears away.
Meta Knight was busy still fighting the gorilla. It proved itself to be more focused than its beetle companion had been. It hadn't even paused when its fellow demonbeast perished.
"Is it done!?" Meta Knight shouted from over his shoulder.
"Just about!" Galacta Knight shouted back. He waited for it to finish before putting away his phone. As he looked up he saw the gorilla swing and hit Meta Knight hard across the face. He landed backwards with a heavy thud, sword falling out of his hand.
Galacta Knight panicked. How long had he not been looking? He gave a great beat of his wings charged with his lance forward. The angle was off so instead of stabbing, his lance threw it against the wall. It crashed into some machine that began to start smoking.
Now with a moment to spare, Galacta Knight went to pick up Galaxia. Or, he almost did, before he remembered how sparky it got and decided to kick it over to Meta Knight. He followed along with the sword and looked over the knight to assess the damage.
He had a scrape on his head, however he wouldn't know about anything serious until later. Meta Knight started to gain consciousness again, and managed to come back to himself, blinking up at him.
Meta Knight, in his delirium, saw a blurry winged-figure above him. For a moment—a brief moment—he was convinced that the lance in its hand was pointed at him and Meta Knight would have to hurry and get ready to fight again and what was that on his shoulder?
A hand reached out and he remembered. Yes, of course. Galacta Knight was helping him.
He instinctively patted along the ground and found Galaxia before taking the hand. Galacta Knight held it for too long. "Are you alright?" He asked with some sort of emotion in his voice.
Meta Knight nodded, which sent a rush of pain to his head. "I'm fine for now."
Galacta Knight still seemed concerned, but was convinced for now. Not that it mattered, because the demonbeast was recovering from being thrown into the wall. It groaned and turned to look at them with daggers.
Meta Knight felt his hand being squeezed, and was surprised that he hadn't realized it was still being held by Galacta Knight's. He didn't let go until Galacta Knight adjusted the shield on his armor and prepared to charge.
-
"You're so fidgety, what's your problem?"
Sword sighed. He was leaning against the throne, and had been constantly adjusting his position. "I'm fine, I'm just nervous about them."
"What's there to be nervous about? They can handle a couple of demonbeasts on their own."
"...I suppose I just don't trust Galacta Knight. He acts strangely towards Sir Meta Knight."
Blade looked over the armchair of the throne, from which he had been sitting in. "Are you dull , Sword? Of course he's been acting strange!"
Sword stood up suddenly and turned to look up at Blade. "So you've noticed it too!"
"Yeah! Because he fancies him, you walnut!"
Sword stared silently for a moment. "What?
Blade threw his hand onto his forehead like a fainting maiden. " Ohhh, Meta Knight, I'm going to cling to your arm every moment of the day, and even when I don't I'm going to talk about you constantly. " He said in Galacta Knight's tone. " My favorite activities are long romantic flights, stargazing, and fanning my wings out so you'll look at them. "
"Shut up! Shut up!" Blade laughed when Sword attempted to hit him over the armchair, despite not being tall enough to do so. "Don't be disrespectful to our lord! They're honorable warriors!"
"Nothing dis honorable about it, Sword. Besides, it's true! Do you think they were just running errands all day when he arrived?" Blade couldn't stop chuckling. "What were you thinking Galacta Knight was up to, anyway?"
"I don't know! I thought maybe he had a grudge against Meta Knight for winning that duel or something!" He fidgeted. "I was concerned he might be plotting revenge or trying to manipulate him."
Blade sighed. "That's technically possible, but wouldn't he have already done something by now? Meta Knight hasn't exactly had his guard up."
"That's exactly why I've been trying to look out for him! When I talked to him he completely dismissed it."
"Ah, is that what you were babbling to him about? I thought you wanted me to get him alone so you could ask about raises…"
Sword scoffed. "No, I'm not as rude as you. Not that it matters anyway. Again, Meta Knight isn't suspicious, so all I did was let you destroy the kitchen."
"Hey, at least that was fun. Galacta Knight's actually nice to talk to, he listens to all my gossip."
Sword rolled his eyes. Luckily, that topic of conversation was avoided when the teleporter crackled two figures appeared on the launch pad. Meta Knight and Galacta Knight were back.
Meta Knight had a gash on his head and Galacta Knight was littered with bruises. The former of the two was leaning on the other.
"Lock the teleporter." Galacta Knight commanded.
He said it with such sternness that not even Sword questioned him, and the knights simply programmed the teleporter into disuse.
Galacta Knight got them both down from the teleporter pad. "Are you alright to walk?"
"I was fine to begin with." Meta Knight replied, swaying a bit.
"Sirs, what happened?" Blade asked.
"The guards attacked us, we slayed them. Galaxy Soldiers will be on their way soon to dismantle their hideout." Galacta Knight said.
Blade relaxed. "Not too bad, then."
"We should leave before any one wakes up." Meta Knight said.
They headed back to their quarters. Luckily, they were able to make the walk a second time without being caught.
"Alright, Meta Knight," Galacta Knight said. "Let's get you bandaged up."
"Are you sure you don't need help?" Sword asked. Blade scoffed and elbowed him in the side, but went unnoticed.
"I think Galacta Knight is capable enough, Sword. Get some rest, we've kept you up late enough.”
He sighed and trailed behind Blade to their shared room.
"He gets so worrisome." Meta Knight shook his head. "You don't have to help, though, I can do it myself."
Galacta Knight waved a hand before digging through cupboards. "Consider it thanks for helping me with my little mission—oh, where do you keep your first aid?"
"Ah, top shelf, yes that one—and, it was nothing. I’m sure we’ve both handled much worse."
They sat in silence for a moment while Galacta Knight began applying surgical tape. Eventually he let out a soft hum. "It's odd."
Meta Knight winced at the pain. "What?"
"You are still a good fighter. An excellent fighter, yet you still won't come out of retirement. I suppose I just don’t see how you don’t get restless."
"I wouldn’t call it retirement ,” Meta Knight said, Galacta Knight rolling his eyes in response, “but Popstar isn't ready to defend itself yet."
"I can see that, however have you considered trying to set up a GSA station here? It could be in a non-intrusive area in one of the other nations or even on their moon or…"
"Perhaps, but that certainly won’t be done for the next few years." Meta Knight said shortly.
Galacta Knight sighed and dropped the subject. It was late and they were both tired, it wasn't a time for discussions like that.
He pulled Meta Knight's mask forward a bit. The abrasion had somehow managed to run below the mask, perhaps from the hammer impact causing friction.
"How come I haven't seen you take your mask off yet?" He asked. "Bad scar?"
Meta Knight shifted uncomfortably. “I just wanted to keep it hidden. When people can't see you, they tend to ask less questions..."
"And…?" He said expectantly.
"...And you know our species isn't exactly the most intimidating ."
Galacta Knight snickered. "And here I thought we were too old for insecurities."
He was done cleaning and stitching the wound at this point. Galacta Knight put away the equipment, but found himself staring at Meta Knight a second too long.
Meta Knight shifted in his seat. “Is there something wrong?”
Galacta Knight snapped out of it and laughed a bit. “No, not at all. I was just remembering what your face looked like.”
“I suppose it has been a long time, hasn’t it.”
“A while. Especially since you wore your mask more than I ever did.”
Meta Knight thought to himself for a moment and wondered. He began to unclip the back of his mask while Galacta Knight blinked in surprise.
“Tell me,” he said, “do I look any different?"
His mask was now off and Galacta Knight gazed at him thoughtfully. There was a long pause. "Just as I remembered," he finally said.
Meta Knight flushed, and this time there was no hiding it. "I would hope you would remember, we look about the same."
That broke the tension, and Galacta Knight couldn't help barking out a sharp laugh. "No, you're definitely cuter."
Meta Knight swore at him and Galacta Knight laughed again. He shuffled his mask back on and tried to not think too much about their interaction.
-
Galacta Knight laid in the makeshift bed in the living room, staring at the ceiling.
Why had those demonbeasts recognized him? He had assumed it was from a previous incident with NME, but truth be told he had never seen those two in his life, nor been to that particular base.
And lately he had been feeling a bit...Volatile, was the best way to describe it.
Only towards Meta Knight. It felt like he was constantly being reminded of their rivalries, their competitions, and every time seemed to spark a bit of jealousy in him.
This was nothing new, this was the nature of their relationship, however instead of a playful kind of jealousy, it was more spiteful and bitter. And it was one thing to have a moment of envy, however, the worst part was that he never felt consistent.
He also felt oddly affectionate towards him. Despite his moodiness, Galacta Knight felt so proud to consider him a friend, and he couldn’t stop himself from noticing the smaller, positive changes. Sure, Meta Knight was not the same warrior as he was years ago, but he was in more control now. More patient, more focused, not as quick to resort to outbursts. There was something to be said about getting older, as much as he would like not to admit it.
But, ever since he was attacked by that demonbeast in the hallway…
Galacta Knight sighed. It was most likely just him dealing with old wounds. He rolled over and tried to fall asleep, trying to enjoy the moment of calm after a busy day.