It was a stormy night when a body decided to give in and give birth to another. This new life, this creation, was unwanted since the realization that this…thing existed. However, this mother who had just given birth, was homeless and poor. She could not afford a baby, nor could she afford the hospital bill that would mercilessly charge her for just walking in.
As she looked at the tiny thing in her arms, screaming and demanding for the love and comfort she couldn't give, the new mother couldn't help but notice certain things about the baby under the dim light that the buildings around her supplied. For one, the fragile thing was pale and her eyes were a shade of gentle blue. Her hair was black as night and was only a wisp upon her tiny little head. She was adorable.
No.
The mother sighed and looked away from her latest creation and toward the rain outside the cardboard box that fashioned as her little home. She couldn't let herself get attached to the baby. She didn't want her newborn child to be stuck in the same predicament as herself…but she had to do something about her. Maybe someone else could take care of her? Yes. Someone could take care of her baby until she was ready to take care of her.
At her new, sudden plan, the mother placed her baby gently on the floor of the wooden box and took off her sweater. She then wrapped the green, plushy fabric gently around her baby. This action helped the newborn calm down. An act of warmth. An act of love.
"Love…" The mother whispered into the night as a crack of thunder met the sky. All her life, the mother had never received an ounce of love. She was always pushed aside, ignored. No one went to look for her when she had ran away and gotten herself into this sticky situation; she owed an infamous gang down the street quite a sum.
Love is something the mother had never known or received. Yet, this baby who had only been living for a few seconds, has been teaching her this lesson. As the mother picked up her baby, she looked into her eyes. She wanted her daughter to have always have love wherever she went—even if it wasn't from her. She wanted her baby to love, and to be loved. So why not name her 'Love'?
Yes.
The mother smiled for the first time this night and hugged her daughter close so she could feel her own heartbeat. She would name her baby the one thing she never had but always wanted. Love. She looked at her baby again and suddenly got the urge to sing. Sing a song that she hadn't heard for years. A song that was like an ancient relic to her but would be a new experience for the baby. Tears sprung to the mother's leafy green eyes as the lyrics and melody escaped her lips.
"Time will tell when the spell will end
Go away from lands made from man
There the winds sing a song for you to keep
Go to sleep, go to sleep, my baby darling…"
As she sung, she soothingly rocked the baby back and forth, to and fro. Little Love immediately felt the effects of drowsiness take place in her, her eyelids growing heavy as the rhythm of her mother's heartbeat, the melody of the lullaby, and the drizzle of the rain were the only things she could hear. The new mother continued to softly sing her song in a whisper, as if time seemed to stop for this moment only. In this moment, she didn't need to worry about giving her daughter away. In this moment, she didn't need to worry about the dangerous gang finding her hiding place. This was the only moment the duo were to spend as mother and child, and both enjoyed it equally as much.
"Though the journey has yet to end
It's best for you to go to bed
Don't you fret for the world today
Go to sleep, go to sleep, my baby darling…"
Once the last verse passed her cherry red lips and her baby was sound asleep, the mother couldn't help but cry. The mother cried in anguish for her past and cried in sorrow for the fact that she had to give her Love away. This Love was all she had, and she couldn't even be granted the sole wish of seeing her grow and blossom into a beautiful and wonderful girl.
The thunder had stopped for now, leaving only the pitter-patter of the rain to echo in the alley way. The mother had no time to lose. She looked at her small, defenseless baby one last time. Love was so small and fragile. She shouldn't have entered this world, not this way at least. Hopefully someone will nurture her, and love her, and make her grow into a beautiful young woman. Hopefully, someone will take care of her.
She had to do this. For Love's sake.
For love's sake.
It was a stormy night and, as per usual, the Smash Mansion and all of its inhabitants were quiet as the thunder made all the noise for them. Either Smashers were in the Training Room for obvious reasons, Smashers were sleeping in their dorms, or Smashers were in the Quiet Room, fighting the biggest battle—boredom. Roy sighed as he looked out the window, his eyes following the drops of rain that landed on the window, sliding down the smooth glass. It was cloudy, so he didn't even get a chance to see the moon.
Roy hated boredom and with it, hated rainy days not too different from this one. To him, boredom was like a sickness, with its claws stretched out to grab at the unsuspecting person. This is why he usually kept himself busy by bothering Marth, but sadly, the blue swordsman had given in to the land of dreams an hour ago and Roy didn't care for waking him up. He didn't want The Fridge Accident to happen again. Who knew oil would be so hard to clean up?
Roy's attention shifted to the environment around him. What could he do to pass the time? The red head yawned loudly as he moved his body so that he could occupy the most space on the couch he was on. With half lidded eyes, the swordsman studied his fellow Smashers in the Quiet Room. How did they battle boredom?
Both the male and female Robins were busy challenging themselves to a game of chess. Both were equal in skill and tactics, proven by the fact that they had found themselves in many stalemates in the past hour or so. Not so far away from them, Ness was busy coaxing Lucas out from under a bean bag. The former was obviously tired from lack of sleep but the later was frightened by the loud sounds of the thunder. As Ness groaned at his friend's antics, Roy couldn't help a small laugh. The red head got up and made his way over to the two PSI users.
"Is Lucas refusing to sleep again?" The swordsman asked as he crouched down so that he and Ness' heights would match. Once the boy nodded and gave an irritated sigh, Roy smiled and decided to help. It wasn't the most fun thing to do in the world, but at least it was something to do. With quick hands, the red head tossed the bean bag out of the way and swiftly carried the small blond boy over his shoulder.
"Wha?!' Lucas shouted in surprise from suddenly being lifted. When he realized what was happening, the PSI user started to wiggle in vain," L-Let me go! Stop carrying me! Put me down!" He protested. He didn't like storms and he didn't like heights either. Yet no punching or kicking was going to loosen Roy's grip.
Ness rolled his eyes at his friend's actions," C'mon Lucas—just give up. Next to this guy, you are just a flea. Stop being all whiney and go to bed already, I'm tired." As if to put more emphasis on his last statement, the black haired boy yawned softly, lazily readjusting his baseball cap.
Lucas was about to argue more, but a sudden crack of thunder made him squeak and revert to silence. Roy couldn't help but stifle a laugh at the blonde's reaction. Although he wasn't present in Brawl, Roy could easily tell that Lucas hadn't changed much, judging from the way Ness talked about him in the times they had spent together recently.
"Hey, Lucas," Roy started as he walked out of the Quiet Room, Ness quietly trudging behind him," Why don't we find Peach—I'm sure she has some spare earplugs on her that you can use." Even though he had just met the PSI user a few months ago, he treated the boy like a brother.
Lucas, now used to the situation he was in, sighed in slight relief," You think so? I-I don't want to trouble her…she is really nice…" To Lucas, everyone was nice and he avoided being a trouble to them. Yet he failed to notice that the actual trouble was that he didn't trouble them—each Smasher cared for him, equally as he cared about them.
"Nah, you wouldn't bother her. I think she would actually welcome your company. You are a nice kid, after all." The red head said honestly as her walked down a long corridor of the mansion. Roy didn't understand how such a nice kid like Lucas was so sad all the time. Then again, he didn't exactly know what Lucas went through.
"This is exactly what I keep tellin' ya Lucas," Ness sleepily added," You are a nice person—don't be afraid of asking for a few favors now and then." The PSI user yawned again as he followed Roy, the trio nearing the Toadstool Princess' dorm room. Once they were in front of the door, the swordsman knocked on the door with his free arm.
Zelda, however, opened the door instead of Peach. The Hylian's long, elegant hair was coiled up in hair curlers. It had seemed the three boys had walked in a slumber party. Which wasn't surprising since Peach was always hosting all-girl slumber parties and such in her room. All of the ladies of Smash (minus Robin) were tending to each other's hair, makeup, and nails. This was how they battled boredom.
"Oh," The long eared female greeted the boys with a surprised, yet graceful smile," Nice to see you boys tonight—what brings you here in these hours?" Her blue eyes peered at the PSI users that accompanied the swordsman," Aren't you two supposed to be in bed at this time?" She nagged.
The bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom acted very much like an overbearing older sister to all of the kids of Smash. It was Zelda who decided to single-handedly worry about the food they ate and wonder if they had a good, balanced, and nutritional meal. It was she who did the laundry of the kids of Smash every weekend. It was she who was such a worrywart, overreacting to every bump or bruise each child may have accumulated during a day of play. Because of this, many Smashers, such as Roy, Link, and even Ganondorf wonder why Zelda hasn't put all of the children in leashes by now.
"Aw, c'mon Zellie!" Peach called from inside the room," You know that Lucas can't sleep when it is storming outside." With that, the pink princess walked over to the doorway as well, her face painted green from a freshly applied exfoliating mask. Smiling at the trio, the princess giggled," Put Lucas down Roy—I'll have these two for now. The ladies and I are just getting ready to go to sleep. We can take care of them for the night."
Once Roy nodded and put down the boy, both Lucas and Ness ran inside the Princess's room—probably to check if the ladies had left any snacks from the sleepover untouched. Peach smiled at Roy as Zelda left to follow the two, her voice raising to tell the boys that they shouldn't eat sweets before bed time. Rolling her eyes at her friend's antics, Peach stifled a laugh," Anyways, thank you for bringing the boys over. Now go and do your own thing—I'll leave you to your devices."
Once Peach shut the door and the red head was alone yet again, Roy could feel the talons of boredom sink into him. There went his only source of entertainment. The swordsman could only sigh as he resorted to roaming aimlessly along the halls—at least that WAS his plan until he heard the doorbell of the Mansion echo throughout the place. It was like an answer to his problem. Something to do.
"I'll get it!" The red head said to no one in particular before dashing to the front doors of the mansion. Much to his surprise, however, he was only greeted by dreary weather, an empty porch, and the soft pitter-patter of rain. At least the annoying thunder had stopped. Just as Roy had resolved in giving in and going back to his dorm to sleep, he heard a soft cry that made him visibly jump.
Just what was that?
The swordsman slowly looked to his left, then to his right. He started paying attention to his senses and to his environment, but most of all his gut feeling which was usually correct. Right now, his gut was telling him to look down, so he did. Only to make eye contact with soft blue eyes…
No.
Much to his horror, someone had abandoned a baby; an obviously defenseless infant, outside on the front steps to the mansion. How could someone do such a thing? Before Roy could ponder any possibilities, the baby gave a soft cry again. The redhead gingerly picked up the poor, shivering, wet thing and cradled it in his arms. The baby was ice cold, wrapped around a dingy green sweater that smelled of urine.
Roy quickly took the baby inside and shut the door, hoping to shield the both of them from rain. The swordsman had to think fast—who was smart enough to know how to take care of a baby? At once, a sole answer popped in his head. Marth Lowell. He was plenty smart, right? Maybe he would know what to do with the baby? At this point, any idea would help the poor thing in surviving.
Roy held the tiny human close to his heart, hoping the baby would take in his body heat as he sprinted down the halls, careful not to shake the child too much. He was in such a frenzy that he almost bumped into Sheik, who gave him a strange glance before rolling his eyes and continuing his own journey down the hall.
Once the swordsman made it to his dorm, he nearly broke the door trying to get in, startling a certain bluenette awake as he did so. Marth knew his quirky roommate was filled with surprises—and this was definitely a surprise. But perhaps since the Prince was barely conscious at the moment, he barely registered how dire the situation was and could barely register the rushed, panicky Japanese Roy flung at him.
"Hmm…baby?" Marth answered in English in a heavily accented voice," Take off anything wet…dry it off…feed milk…diapers…sleep in…" Whatever else the tired teen tried to communicate faded into the silence as he scratched he neck and yawned. He would have fallen asleep sitting up if Roy hadn't slapped him in the arm with his free hand.
"Sleep in what? Sleep in what?!" The red head insisted in a hurry as he carefully took off the sweater the baby was wrapped in and gently placed it on a nearby dresser. Now Roy could easily see what the gender of the newborn was. Female. Roy swiftly took out one of his many capes from said dresser and wrapped it around the baby as he awaited his friend's answer.
"…Sleep in bed, whatever. I don't care…" Marth groaned as he lie back down on his side, positioning himself so that his back was to the young swordsman," Just make sure comfortable…good." The Prince didn't even hear the other happily thank him and drifted back into sleep.
Roy felt his heart pounding as he left the room with the baby. Now he had a solid plan, and now he was surer in what he was doing. The red head had just taken care of the heat situation, now he needed to take care of feeding her and getting her a diaper somehow. Roy looked at the clock near his dorm—11:49. This meant that most Smashers were asleep, so the red head wouldn't have to worry about crowd control. Once his heart steadied, Roy made the long trek to the kitchen where he hoped no one was busy enjoying a midnight snack—he didn't want the baby to gain attention just yet.
Miraculously, no one was at the kitchen when Roy made it there, so the red head had no problems giving the baby some milk. The only problem was, since there was no babies in Smash, there was no baby bottles. So the teen ended up spending a sold half hour doing a very tedious and tiring task in silence. Dipping a finger into a tiny glass of milk and then giving it to the baby for her to suck on.
When he was finished, Roy then had to really think about how he was going to fashion a diaper for the baby. Since there were no infants in Smash, naturally there would be no diapers as well. This was especially difficult seeing as whatever Roy would use needed to be absorbent yet comfortable. In the end, he decided on a towelette that Marth and himself kept in their bathroom, using a safety pin to fasten the fabric around the baby's little waist.
Now that Roy was satisfied with his work, the teen had tucked himself in bed, the baby wiggling silently right next to him. The red head was tired, but happy knowing that the baby girl was going to survive this night with warmth and a full belly. He gently grabbed the child's hand with his own large one and smiled. She was one adorable baby.
Roy then closed his eyes, pulling the tiny body closer to his. For now he wouldn't worry about the baby's future or everyone's reactions. He would save that for tomorrow. Tonight, he was going to give the baby a peaceful rest. A peaceful rest she deserved. Although he had only met this baby for an hour, Roy knew that he loved this child as if she were his own.
Yes.
He would be the family this baby needed. He would find a way. Roy swore in the flames of the sun that he would protect this child and love, and care, and nurture her for as long as he could. Even if it meant doing so along. He would do this.
For love's sake.
