The woman reflected in the cold steel was certainly not the Susie Haltmann Meta knew. Her hair was a stark red and she was somewhat stockier than Susie, with defined muscles visible on her bare arms. Dark was giving her a positively murderous glare.

"Why are you in my castle, Parallel?" he snarled. Meta glanced between the two, keeping his hand on Galaxia's hilt.

"Taking what's mine," she responded, crossing her arms.

"I am the rightful heir! How can you claim to have been my father's most loyal ally when you ignore his wishes!" Dark spat, his eye glowing blood red "Where is my brother?!"

"Dark Mind was going mad when he named you his heir. Nobody in their right mind would choose such an unstable idiot to lead their kingdom," Parallel drawled.

"You disrespect his memory and his son? You were only loyal when it benefited you! Where did you put Shadow?!" Dark hissed. The near permanent smirk he wore had disappeared, his lips pressed into a thin line. Meta just stayed still, a look of clueless concern on his face.

"You aren't his son! You are an abomination that was taken in out of pity!" Parallel snapped. She paused to regain her composure and continued. "Your brother is fine."

"Prove it!" Dark growled. Parallel snapped her fingers, and a strange man stepped into view, dragging a bruised and resigned Shadow with him. The man was clad in an extravagant purple and yellow coat, with two tri-colored horns jutting out from his head. The fanged grin he wore reminded Meta of a new face he'd seen at Castle Dedede, though the man's name eluded him.

"Ta-da! One ingrate prince!" the man cackled, dropping the poor boy to the floor. Shadow's torso was completely restrained with strange silk-like threads.

"Hey bro..." Shadow mumbled, taking care not to disturb the painful bruise on his cheek. Dark's eye was now glowing with pure rage, adding a red cast to his features. "And other bro," Shadow added, looking at Meta. Meta raised a hand awkwardly in greeting.

"What did they do to you?" Dark asked, baring his fangs with every word.

"I tried to fight em off, but it was two against one. Nothing's broken I think," Shadow mumbled.

"How are the others?"

"Fine. ShadowDe, Officer Dee, and Sable Blade escaped. The rest are down in the old dungeon," Shadow said, "Listen, bro, you need to hurry. They're trying to let out Eclipse."

"WHAT?!" Dark shrieked. "Are you absolute fuckwits completely insane?! What kind of head injury does it take to think letting out that maniac is a great idea!?"

"It is a necessary idea if we are to be rid of you," Parallel sneered. Meta turned to Dark, completely lost.

"Who are they?" he muttered.

"Parallel Susie and Dark Taranza, CEO of Haltmann Incorporated and king of Rosalia respectively. They're considered excessively cruel even among Mirror-World residents," Dark deadpanned, not even looking at his counterpart. Parallel seemed somewhat irritated by the description, but Dark Taranza only gave a mocking bow.

"A coup, hm? Yet they wait for your absence... They must be quite fearful of you," Meta said, just loudly enough for the two invaders to hear.

"You insolent-! " Dark Taranza was cut off by Parallel raising an arm to block him.

"Enough. We have work to do, and I don't feel like being insulted by some pathetic Dreamlander," she barked.

"I'll be ok, Dark. Just get back here quickl..." The reflection faded away before Shadow could complete his sentence. Dark let out a horrible noise composed entirely of concentrated rage, then slumped back as his rib began throbbing again. Meta gave him a wide-eyed look.

"They have control of the mirror. Which means..."

"They can stir up trouble here too. Though I'm currently more concerned with the fact that they are ACTIVELY TAKING OVER MY KINGDOM!" Dark screeched, letting out a second noise as he aggravated his injury. Meta chewed his lip.

"Who is Eclipse?" he asked. Dark shuddered at the name.

"Eclipse Galacta. She's a crazy bitch with a lance capable of permanently killing or injuring us Mirror-Worlders," Dark said bitterly.

"I do not follow," Meta said. He folded an arm behind his back and fidgeted restlessly with his cape. Not knowing something was always anxiety inducing to him, but he'd be damned if he let Dark know that.

"Mirror-World residents can only be shattered permanently when their counterpart is killed first. Additionally, our injuries do not truly scar, as we 'reset' when we shatter and reform. Eclipse and her lance are the only things to break those rules. She was an... ally of mine before she went mad and cut my eye out," Dark explained. Meta frowned, narrowing his eyes. There was a connection to Eclipse that he was hiding, but Meta had a far more pressing question to pose.

"What would happen if a Mirror-World being was destroyed before the death of their Dreamland counterpart?" he asked. Dark shook his head, looking genuinely disturbed.

"I have no idea. She never managed to kill anyone before he sealed her away. Er, Dark Mind that is. He used some ancient mirror mage technique to lock her in a glass crystal. She'd been sealed away by someone else when I released her, but I have no idea who..." Dark said. Meta crossed his arms, digesting this new information. If something horrible happened to a person from their world when their mirror counterpart was killed, they could potentially be completely unable to defend themselves. He had to intervene somehow...

"Whoa, watch it!" Dark squawked as Meta roughly grabbed the wheelchair and pushed it, speeding off down a corridor at a pace that sent jolts of pain from Dark's chest with each bump. Meta rounded a corner, nearly tipping his unwilling passenger over, and slipped through a doorway. The room was mid-sized and cluttered with various medical supplies. They skidded to a stop in front of one of the empty stretchers.

"Hold still," Meta ordered, his voice accompanied by a faint clicking noise and the flash of a switch blade.

"Holy shit, I don't want any of your DIY surgery!" Dark squealed, squirming despite the pain. He fell still when he felt the rope fall away from his arm.

"Ungrateful and high-strung," Meta muttered, deftly slicing through the remaining restraints. Dark stretched his aching limbs as much as he could. "On the bed."

"You don't need to ask twice," Dark said sweetly, though his shriek of pain at moving his torso dampened his innuendo somewhat. Meta kneeled beside the bed, aligning himself with the injured area. "So what, you're gonna load me up on painkillers?"

"No. I am going to simply fix the issue," Meta said. An impossible breeze began to blow through the infirmary, ruffling the men's hair. Meta's cape stretched and molded fluidly into his wings, and the faint outline of stars and galaxies began to show on the velvet-like membranes.

"I should have known you were a mage," Dark said, exerting a little of his own abilities to feel out Meta's magic. It felt like strong wind and biting sea-spray, as if an ocean gale flowed around his person. There was something else there as well, beneath the wind and fury. Something ancient and arcane, infused with the scent of entropy and decay. It didn't belong, but yet it lurked there, just beneath the plane of reality that Dark could sense.

"Hold still."

"Wind mage, right?"

"This is going to be exquisitely painful, yet brief. Are you prepared?" Meta asked, ignoring the man's question.

"Painful? I thought this was a healing charm or something!" Dark said. Meta rolled his eyes. Dark was such a primadonna...

"Did you truly believe that knitting a bone back together sans anesthesia would be painless?" he asked, giving Dark a flat look.

"I mean, when you put it that way..." Dark mumbled, scowling. Meta put his hands over the broken rib.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Oh ho ho, can't keep your hands off of me-"

"ARE. YOU. READY?" Meta snarled, losing his patience rapidly.

"As much as I can be," Dark mumbled. Meta let out a deep breath and relaxed, allowing his energy to flow into his palms. A pale light washed over Dark's chest, bringing with it a nearly unbearable yet strangely pleasant heat. Meta was totally focused, gazing unblinkingly at his work.

"Brace yourself," he said. Dark had barely processed his words before he went ramrod straight, mouth agape in a silent scream. It felt as if Meta had jammed a white-hot knife beneath his rib and was now attempting to pry it out. There was a final crescendo of pain accompanied by a sickening wet clicking sound, and it was over. Dark slumped back into a relaxed position, his eye hazy and brimming with tears. Meta put a hand to his chest, panting. Healing magic certainly took its toll on him, though he knew he'd recover quickly.

"Holy fucking shit," Dark whimpered, a tear running off his face and disappearing into his hair. Meta gave him a distinctly unsympathetic look as he stood and dusted off his knees.

"It was only one rib. Compose yourself," he huffed. Dark carefully sat up.

"You are such an asshole," he sniffed, wiping his eye. Meta shrugged.

"I can live with that. Now come, we have work to do and people to shatter," he said. Dark felt his chest to ensure that the pain was gone, then stood.

"Oh, I'll do more than just shatter them," he grumbled, cracking his knuckles. Meta raised his eyebrows at the display.

"Indeed." He retrieved his helm from within his cape and slid it on, pausing before he led Dark out of the room. "Ah, I remember now. You should request an X-ray whenever possible."

"Uh, why? It's useless if it's healed, right?" Dark said suspiciously.

"I am far from adept at regenerative magics. Medical imaging should identify any... unwelcome anatomical changes you may have incurred," Meta continued sheepishly. Dark's eye twitched.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY CHANGES?"