Some of you might find this oddly similar to my other fanfic, Betrayal for the fact that Meta has a cough in both. I'm sorry for the monotony, but I couldn't think of anything else at the time because when I started this, I was actually sick and was lost in my terrible misery. I've recovered whilst writing this, but I still can't shake the feeling that it's too similar to my other fanfiction. Do you guys agree? Let me know what you think please!

(There will also be a lot of random dots throughout here. I'm trying to see if I can reduce my use of these Nova-forsaken lines. It makes the paragraphs seem too short.)

"Where Meta? Kaabii wanna see Meta!" Kirby cried.

"I already told you, Kirby, he isn't here," Fumu replied, sighing. She had offered to volunteer as a nurse while the pink puffball was being treated after a particularly difficult demon beast battle. Since then, she had regretted her decision. Kirby just wasn't happy unless he could see the knight. "Alright, alright, I'll look for him in the castle. But if I don't come back, Kawasaki will come and give you some ramen, okay?" Kirby seemed happy with that, completely ignoring the fact that she had said it extremely loud so the other nurses could hear. With that, Fumu immediately left for the castle.

.

She knocked on the door to Meta Knight's apartment. Normally he'd be awake by this time; after all, it was already 10 in the morning. Fumu opened the door to his quarters and walked in. The knight was nowhere to be seen, but she knew he was probably inside his bedroom reading. She carefully approached his room and crept inside the open door. He was still asleep, his body covered by his cape, mask on a nearby table. Fumu had caught him sleeping at times and he always looked half glad to see her, half embarrassed that he'd been caught without his mask. She ran to where he was facing and gently shook him. "Sir Meta Knight, Kirby wants to see you," Fumu said. The knight's eyes opened halfway and she knew something was wrong. Often, when she walked in on him sleeping, his silver eyes shone with life and slight embarrassment. Now, those eyes lacked any kind of emotion, looking glassy and almost lifeless. Then she noticed how his skin was more gray than blue and it hit her that something was terribly wrong. "Meta Knight, do you feel alright?" Fumu asked. She didn't notice when he shook his head, but she answered her own question when the knight sat up and began violently coughing. It was so harsh and rough that it made Fumu's throat tingle. When his coughing fit ended, he groaned and collapsed face-first onto the bed.

"You must feel terrible," Fumu frowned, patting the puffball's back. "Don't worry, you'll feel better after you eat something. Wait, when was the last time you ate?" Without moving from his position, Meta Knight traced some words on the bed with his hand.

"Three days ago?! No wonder you seem so weak… Coughing like that so often must really tire you out. I'll get you some water." Fumu understood why the knight seemed so exhausted now. With his knaves halfway across the planet, Dedede and Escargon at a royal convention, and the Cappies not caring what happened to the masked warrior, anything could've happened and nobody would know. He must've tried to get help but with no one around, he just had to stay like that. Her mind was swirling with guilt as she filled the largest cup she could find and quickly walked back so as not to keep him waiting. She held the cup out to him and he turned on his back. Meta Knight sipped from the cup, somehow managing not to spill anything, and finished the entire thing before rolling back onto his face. "Do you want any food? I'm sure I could get you something," Fumu offered. He didn't answer, which she took to be that either he didn't care or he didn't want anything. She decided to act on the former and ran to the kitchen, filing through the recipes in her brain that her mother had taught her. Pulling up an old recipe, she heated a pot on the stove and began to cook.

Kirby stared delightedly at the bowl of ramen. He gulped and looked expectantly at the nurses to gain permission for eating the noodles. They smiled at him, waiting for the vortex of air to appear. One nodded and held on to the rail of a bed. For the pink puffball, that was the sign to begin; he opened his mouth and inhaled the entire bowl of ramen, bowl included, before spitting out the bowl into the tray and patting his stomach with his nubby paws. He grinned guiltily before remembering that Fumu hadn't returned yet. "Whewe Fumu?" he asked. To him, the most important thing was the safety of his friends.

"I'm sure she'll be back soon," a nurse replied, taking his tray. "Would you like me to call Kawasaki and have him make you some more ramen?"

"Yes, poyo pwease!" Kirby could worry about Fumu later… after he had eaten some more.

.

Meanwhile, the girl in question was stirring a pot of soup and occasionally tasting it. She knew Kirby was waiting on her, but Meta Knight looked so close to dying that she just couldn't leave him. At least, not yet. Fumu turned the heat off and spooned some of it into a bowl. She carried it over to the room to find the knight leaning against the wooden backboard of the bed, silently waiting as she approached. "Here you go, Meta Knight. Sorry it took so long," she said. With his mask still off, Fumu could glimpse his kind smile as he turned to the side, probably as a way to thank her. She had never seen him so grateful for a simple thing like food; it was normally Kirby who was happy over that kind of stuff. But then again, he hadn't eaten in three days. She could see why anyone would be happy to have food after so long without it, and when they were so ill… Fumu slipped out of her thoughts when she felt something poke her. Meta Knight was gently pushing the bowl into her arm with the embarrassed grin she had come to associate with his being unmasked in her presence. "Let me guess, you want some more?" she said, poking fun at him.

"If it isn't"-he paused here to cough- "too much trouble," the knight murmured, blushing slightly. Fumu shushed him.

"Of course not! Save your voice, I'll get you some more." She took the bowl and refilled it, taking it back to the room. When she got there, however, the warrior was already asleep, a serene look on his face.

"That tired, hm?" Fumu pulled a chair closer to the bed and began eating the soup. She hadn't had lunch yet, after all. Using her other hand to stroke Meta Knight's back, she watched as he relaxed under her gentle petting, a smile growing on his face.

"So he likes being pet," Fumu thought. "Strange. I guess he and Kirby aren't very different after all." The puff's wings revealed themselves- first folding across his back, then fluttering delightfully. She didn't actually know why she felt like she had to stay; it was just something inside that compelled her to be at the knight's side until she knew for sure he was alright. Then again, why did it matter? She had the time to wait until he woke up.

Ten bowls of ramen later, Kirby was finally satisfied. "Well, Kirby? How was it?" A nurse asked.

"Poyo!" A grin lit up the pink puff's face. He absolutely loved ramen and was thinking about falling asleep before his mind returned to what he had been thinking before the other bowls of ramen.

"Fumu! Need go castle and see fwiends!" He cried, standing up on the bed and shaking the rail.

"You want to see Fumu? Well, I suppose you're well enough now. She's probably in Meta Knight's apartment," the Cappie said, lifting Kirby out of the bed and setting him in the floor. "You never could spend a moment without her- or Meta Knight, for that matter." Kirby knew it was true. If there was one thing he needed besides food, it was his friends. The moment the nurse had all of the pink puffball's bandages off, he raced out the clinic door and out. Skidding on the dirt path, he scrambled to his feet and darted towards the looming castle in the distance.

.

As Fumu continued stroking the knight's back, she noticed something odd. Whenever her hand ran over a specific spot, his body would subtly tense- not enough to be seen, but enough to be felt. She brushed the cape aside and found a small, nearly flat machine attached to the blue puffball with sharp claws. It looked like it contained a virus of some sort and somehow, she knew that this was causing Meta Knight's illness. She pried the machine off the knight's body and set it on the table, wiping off the drops of blood that formed on his skin. Fumu pushed his cape back into position and was about to continue exploiting one of the blue puffball's guilty pleasures when Kirby suddenly ran into the room. "Poyo puyo piyo," he sang, skipping into the room. Fumu slapped her hand over his mouth as the knight stirred in his sleep.

"Kirby, be quiet," she chided. "Meta Knight's asleep!" The pink puffball wiggled out of her grasp and climbed onto the bed.

"Poy?"

"Kirby, no, he's sick. Stop bothering him, he needs to rest."

"Kaabii make feel better?"

"Not right now. Maybe when he wakes up, you can do something for him." An idea sparked Kirby's mind and he began shaking the other puff as hard as he could before Fumu could grab him. The knight rolled over and grabbed the pink puffball before tickling him mercilessly.

"Poyo, Meta! Stop, pwease!" Kirby giggled. After a few more minutes of squealing, Meta Knight let go of his student, causing him to scamper away and hide behind the door. Fumu started walking towards the door. Her work here was done today.

.

"I'll be leaving now, alright?" She took a step towards the door and heard the rustle of motion. She turned back and immediately wished she hadn't. Meta Knight was looking at her with a plaintive look in his eyes that begged her to stay; in some ways, it was similar to the puppy-dog face Kirby used when he wanted something. There was a touch of sadness in his gaze and she suddenly understood why. He was so used to someone checking in on him, be it Dedede, Kirby, or his knaves, even though he could be annoyed by it at times. But they acknowledged him, and to the knight, it was all that mattered. Fumu always saw a spark go off in his eyes when she or Kirby greeted him. They knew he was there… but now, as he lay on his bed, too sick and weak to get off it, no one had come in to see how he was doing or checked on him and it had hurt his feelings. It was almost like they had forgotten he existed, and from this, he thought they no longer cared. And if Meta Knight was anything like Kirby, Fumu thought, he liked care and attention- the only difference being that the knight was less likely to try and get it, instead hiding behind the image that he was powerful and stoic. She made up her mind; she wouldn't leave. She stepped away from the door and closed it after Kirby hurried in. At the knight's surprised expression, she giggled; obviously, he had expected them to leave. "Don't worry, Meta Knight," Fumu reassured, once again stroking his back. "We won't abandon you."

Kirby had run to the kitchen after Fumu told him there was food. How the pink puffball was able to consume so much food was still unknown to her, especially after she had heard that he ate ten bowls of ramen from Kirby himself. Meta Knight was still under her gentle petting, almost falling asleep again.

"Fumu, you understand you don't have to stay here…" the knight whispered, half-asleep.

"I have the time. Besides, you clearly need the support, being so ill," she replied, lifting her hand. He seemed more alert now that the petting had stopped and she decided to show him the machine.

"When you were asleep earlier, I found this on your back," Fumu told him, holding up the small contraption. Meta Knight took it in his glove and observed it carefully.

"The release mechanism on this is fascinating… I may take it apart in my spare time," the knight noted, "though it may be better to crush it. As for its contents, it seems to hold a strain of a virus only deadly to my species, which I share with Kirby… Best to keep it away from him until we find out exactly what it is."

"That's good to know. At the very least, he'll know not to touch it. In the meantime, are you feeling any better? If you're hungry, I think there's more food in the kitchen if Kirby hasn't finished it yet."

"That'd be nice… and I do feel better, thank you. However, could I grab it myself? I do not wish to rely on you too much…"

"I really don't mind! You deserve to rest after putting up with this- by yourself, might I add- for so long."

"I didn't do a very good job, did I? I was so weak…"

"At least you were able to survive it! You said this virus was deadly to your species, so the fact that you're alive is a good thing."

"But I was helpless… and you know I probably wouldn't have survived if it weren't for you…"

"Listen, Meta Knight. You don't have to be strong all the time. Personally, I don't care whether you're strong or weak because you'll still be the same puffball knight you've always been. Sure, you won't be able to fight or defend us if you were weak, but you're our friend and nothing will ever change that." The blue puff was at a loss for words as he felt a blush creeping onto his face. No one had ever thought of him as anything more than a guardian. To most, he wasn't even remotely close to a friend and what friends he had were all dead. Fumu merely grinned at him and ran off to the kitchen for the soup. She knew the knight was perfectly capable of doing it on his own, but he was her friend and she couldn't just leave him to fend for himself. When she got to the kitchen, though, Kirby had already polished off the remains of her cooking.

Meta Knight sat up on the bed. Fumu was taking an awfully long time with whatever it was she was doing and he was becoming bored. Having taken apart the weird machine earlier and finding that Escargon, the king's right-hand snail, had engineered it, he had tossed it out the window. Just having it out of his sights already made him feel a lot better than he had been before. He grit his teeth and pushed strength into his legs as he carefully jumped off the bed. When he landed, his feet gave out from lack of use and he crashed to the ground. The knight sighed and grabbed the edge of his bed, pulling himself up. Dragging his hand across the wall for support, the blue puffball slowly walked out of his room into the kitchen.

"Meta!" Kirby laughed, jumping on the blue puff excitedly. Both puffballs tumbled to the ground and hit the floor with a thump.

"Kirby, don't do that," Fumu chided, picking him up. "Sir Meta Knight? Ah, Kirby, you knocked him unconscious. I told you not to do that, you know he's ill right now." Fumu carried the knight to the couch and laid him down on it as the pink puff bounced up beside her. Kirby poked the other puff expectantly, waiting to be grabbed and tickled again.

"Urrrgh…" The blue puffball groaned and opened his eyes. "Fumu, are you there?"

"Meta Knight! You're awake, are you okay?" she asked worriedly. "Do I need to check you out?"

"I don't think so… on the other hand, maybe… my head hurts…" Kirby hopped onto the couch and lightly shook the knight, who groaned in pain. Fumu was equal parts worried for the blue puff's wellbeing and angry for Kirby bothering him yet again. She grabbed the pink puffball, dragged him away from the knight, and shut him inside a room, ignoring his cries to be let out. Then she gently checked Meta Knight over; he seemed fine except for a large bruise where he'd hit his head on the floor and according to him, a headache. Relieved that it wasn't anything worse, Fumu helped him sit up and to his dismay, touched his injury.

"Please don't… you're making me dizzy…" the knight murmured, eyes closed and swaying slightly from side to side.

"Poor little puffball," she giggled. "It must really hurt. Do you want to go to your bed?"

"Please…" She took the knight's arm and began leading him towards his room. The knight could barely walk straight and Fumu had to make sure he didn't bump into anything. Along the way, Meta Knight heard Kirby's wild cries to be let out of the closet and tugged at her arm. Fumu didn't let him at first, scared that the knight was going to hit something, but as soon as she was sure he was fine, she let go of his arm. The blue puffball opened the door only to find Kirby ready to pounce on him; he braced himself, expecting impact. When the pink puffball saw who it was, he didn't pounce and instead gently hugged the elder Star Warrior. "Well, at least Sir Meta Knight didn't get tackled this time," Fumu thought happily. "Another crisis averted."

.

Kirby had stopped talking to Fumu; instead, the pink puffball locked himself in Meta Knight's room along with the knight himself, so she was left in the living room of the apartment with absolutely no way to get to the two puffballs. She listened to the laughing and talking inside sadly and as much as she loathed to admit it, with a hint of jealousy as well. She should've been in that room having fun with the other two. Then again, it was mostly her fault. She should never have locked Kirby in that closet, and of course Meta Knight had to be the one to get him out. Kirby probably loved the knight like a father now, having saved him from the dark, scary closet where one of his friends had just abandoned him for the sake of another. Knowing that trying to eavesdrop on whatever they were doing inside wouldn't do her much good, she opened the door out to the castle hallways only to slam into something and go reeling right back in. "Fumu, where's Meta Knight?" Sword asked menacingly.

"He-" Fumu stuttered. "Kirby-"

"Kirby is here as well? If you or Kirby have done anything to harm Lord Meta Knight," Blade added, "we will not hesitate to do the same to you." Fumu glanced around the room. There was nothing around she could use as a weapon and even if there was one, she didn't have the skill to possibly take on two people that had been trained by one of the best swordsmen in the galaxy. Looking around the room quicker now, apprehension growing inside her, she couldn't do anything else but yell, "Meta Knight! Help!"

.

Meta Knight turned his head towards the door at the sound. He slid off his bed and tugged at the locked door before pulling out Galaxia and slashing it to pieces. He could always get a new door later. As soon as he stepped outside, Kirby came running up to him with his mask and with a big smile, presented it to him. "Meta head feel better?" Kirby asked.

"Fine, little one," the knight chuckled, patting the pink puff's head. "But I do appreciate your concern."

Meta Knight took his mask and snapped it on, running into the living room with Kirby. There, Fumu was slowly backing away from his two knaves, who both seemed extremely angry. Neither noticed the two puffballs waiting near the hallway and at the moment, it seemed that nothing could grab their attention. Are they really that deep into their anger? Meta Knight thought. He tried slashing in front of him, careful not to hit Kirby or anything else. At the sound of his sword slash, the duo turned towards him; once their gazes met, obvious relief radiated from their bodies.

"Sir, you're alright!" Sword exclaimed. He rushed forward, causing the knight to quickly step back in annoyance. Meta Knight could see Fumu relax from where she was; after calming herself a little more, she forlornly looked his way before slipping out of the open door. Though he knew she was leaving because of Kirby, the knight could not suppress a feeling of guilt. He'd probably have to apologize later and if he could, drag Kirby along with him. It was his fault, after all. But his mind was brought to a current fact at hand, one that had never crossed his mind before. "I always thought I knew everything," Meta Knight thought. "I guess what they say is true. You never stop learning." For that day, he had learned one very important fact- his friends were there for him just as much as he was for them.

Yes, I know it's short, I'm sorry!