Metacina

Metacina is the het ship between Meta Knight from Kirby fandom and Lucina from the Fire Emblem fandom.

Canon
Meta Knight and Lucina have met in Super Smash Bros. as they are both playable characters. First meeting each other in the fourth game in the franchise. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS where they act as playable characters. Alongside all previous fighters they teamed up to fight the threat of Galeem in Super Smash Bros Ultimate's story mode, World of Light but like every fighter and character besides Kirby, were beaten and imprisoned by Galeem. Still imprisoned after Galeem's first defeat, both were later taken to the Dark Realm when Dharkon briefly took over as the main threat. Once rescued by Kirby and the other fighters, they rejoined the fight against both evil beings, ultimately helping the Smash Bros. fighters win and returning everything to normal. Unfortunately, neither has canonically met each other in their respective series due to being set in different universes with each's franchises having different developers each, making an specific crossover unlikely.

They do have some similarities as characters: Meta Knight and Lucina are both swordfighters who wear or have worn masks that conceal their faces and wear capes that have their symbols (Meta Knight having his shoulder armor's logo and the Mark of Naga for Lucina) marked on them. Both also wield legendary blades that can only be wielded under special conditions (the Falchion requiring a ritual or to be a descendant of Marth; and Galaxia, Meta Knight's sword, not being able to be wielded by the unworthy). As for other aspects, both are recognized formidable warriors and tend to work in a mysterious way most of the time, staying away from the main cast unless they need to interfere directly. The anime incarnation of Meta Knight even has more similarities as like Lucina he is the survivor of a great terrible war that costed the life of most of his friends and allies, and even wound up alone until he found survivors later on after escaping to Popstar; not unlike Lucina finding other surviving child characters after her escape to the past. Another similarity this backstory brings them is their firmness and will to fight on despite their losses and the baggage they carry from all the losses they've suffered each. Finally, there's their tendency to appear and vanish in the blink of an eye when there's a situation that needs their assistance.

They both are also similar in design to major characters in their franchises, with Lucina having a heavy resemblance to her ancestor, the Hero King Marth which is a plot point used for her disguise and Meta Knight looking similar to Kirby albeit with wings. In terms of personality, both are depicted as outwardly no-nonsense, serious and often even unintentionally silly due to their tendency to not joke around as much as their peers or engage in less serious talks even in the face of more ridiculous scenarios that their allies and friends partake in more commonly. Similarly, they are part of the major main cast, yet remain aloof and act alone for the most part. This has become another basis for the shippers to use when writing them. Other parallels drawn to them are their preference for dramatic actions despite their serious attitude and penchant for being as vague as possible with their allies (until Lucina revealed herself that is).

Fanon
had its start around the release of Super Smash Bros for 3DS/Wii U, the game where Lucina was added to the roster, with Meta Knight having been added since Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The main basis for the ship's dynamic is the idea of Lucina finding Meta Knight adorable and taking every chance she can to admire him, much to the Knight's protests and initial discomfort. While some works have Meta Knight react with apathy or disdain at Lucina's admiration, others have him slowly warming up to her to the point that he won't make an effort to avoid her. Occasionally some works also play into the memetic characterization of Meta Knight as a mini-Zorro and have him be the one flirting with Lucina or becoming smitten first.

More recently they have been shipped on a more traditional romantic knight/princess dynamic, with Meta Knight acting as Lucina's close protector and both respecting each other's cred and skill as warriors. Another dynamic that might come into play is Meta Knight being insecure about his feelings for Lucina, often based off his implied insecurities in canon over his face and skills, with Lucina being more confident about starting a relationship with the Knight if she isn't written to be as insecure as him. At times there might be even be an exploration of conflict between their personalities or flaws when they cause strife in their relationship. It's also common to have their family, friends and allies get involved in the development of their relationship and be either moved or confused by their relationship.

While the ship can be popular in certain circles, it is quite small in amount of fanfiction and fanart compared to other more common Smash Bros ships. It has no specific fanfictions in AO3 with 2 fanfics having it as a minor ship in the story, and about 3 fanfictions in Fanfic.net; there are more fanworks to be found in sites such as Pixiv with a record of 23 novels under the Rukimeta (ルキメタ) tag. The ship also mostly enjoys a peaceful coexistence with other Lucina and Meta Knight ships, besides a one-off incident in Tumblr with Robcina shippers harassing a Metalucy blog.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

ART

TUMBLR

TWITTER

Trivia

 * Meta Knight and Lucina are shown side-by-side in the official Super Smash Bros Ultimate panoramic art.
 * The name "Metacina" comes from joining Meta Knight's and Lucina's name. The same rule applies to Metalucy and the ship's japanese name where Lucina's name is spelled as "Rukina" with the order of the name combination changed.