Note: I took this down and edited it a little bit, in order to have Samus's childhood story updated to the Metroid canon storyline. This was originally in a set of one-shots that were all together as a collection, but I took that down and decided to edit them before posting them separately. I've been contemplating drawing some fan-art based on these, but I'm afraid I'll epically fail, so if anyone has ideas or wants to go ahead and do it, feel free!

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is copyrighted to their respective owners (none of which is me.)

Samus Aran: Ruthless

I used to be just a girl, a girl who, like any other, enjoyed being young and looked forward to the various opportunities laid out in front of me.

That's when they came. Space Pirates. The foulest creatures in the entire galaxy. And their leader, Ridley, the foulest of the bunch,

He came one night and destroyed my family.

He killed both of my parents, forcing me to leave Colony K-2L.

He is the reason I am what I am today -- a ruthless bounty hunter with no regrets.

I was always alone. Even as a child, I was alone. I had been raised by Chozos, who accepted me and did their best to make my life on Zebes comfortable. When I matured, they were the ones who gave me my power suit, to use as a weapon of revenge and combat, and I was grateful for that.

Even so, I was still alone.

That's when he found me.

I was traveling in the midst of the Zagragon Galaxy, hunting for that lowlife, Ridley, when a giant glove came out of nowhere and offered me a place at his mansion. He said if I joined him, I could have a place of my very own to lay my head on a cold night. Master Hand, as he called himself, offered me a new chance at the life I once had, the life I remembered having as a little girl. With such an offer, I couldn't say no. Suddenly I was whisked away to a humongous mansion with other interplanetary heroes and heroines. "This is Samus Aran," he said. "Make her feel welcome," he said.

Yeah, right.

As always, I was treated like an outcast. No one would ever venture near me. Everyone was afraid of me, treating me like I was the bully of the house. Only Roy, the pyro-loving swordsman, seemed to accept me, and he wouldn't stop flirting with me. But now, I look back and see that...that I was lucky he was around.

When I got to know him better, I found that he was pretty amusing. He got me to open up to others. When I was down, he'd do everything in his power to make me laugh. As soon as I realized that, I felt like...I don't know...like I was six years old again. Like I had a friend to call my own.

Seeing my reaction to Roy, the other Smashers began to open up to me as well. After Roy it was Zelda, the princess of a land called Hyrule. I remember that day very well. I was sitting at the Fountain of Dreams, thinking about my life, when she came up and asked me to sit next to her at dinner. (You have to give her credit, because she looked a little – no, a lot scared. While I was offended that she would be afraid of me, I was impressed that she had the guts.) I accepted, and at dinner I felt the same feeling...that sense of friendship. Soon we found out that we had more in common than at first we realized. She was certainly a piece of work, I must say!

Pichu was next in line. It was a Pokemon or something like that, and it was surprisingly cute. Yes, you heard me. Samus the evil bounty hunter called it "cute". (Although I still can't tell if it's male or female.) I woke up one morning to find it curled up on my pillow, next to my head. I remember poking it to ask him what it was doing. It took one look at me, saw that I was awake, and began chanting. "She's awake!" Pichu yelled to no one. "Now we can hang out!" (At least, I think that's what it said. It takes a while to get to understand exactly what they're saying.)

While a little surprised by this enthusiastic offer, I accepted. It hid under the blankets on my bed while I got dressed (because of which, I've started to think it's a male), and then we headed out to Termina Great Bay. (But Pichu insisted I bring a bathing suit and towel.) Pichu was so adorable there, diving in and out of the water like a happy little dolphin. Then the little runt pushed me in, and we stayed there laughing and splashing each other until lunchtime. (We completely forgot about breakfast.) Then it sat on my lap as I ate my spaghetti and meatballs -- prepared by Mario, of course.

Mario was a nice guy, too. When he saw how much I liked his spaghetti, he and his brother Luigi invited me into the kitchen to teach me about Italian cooking. Both Mario Brothers said that I had a natural talent for culinary arts. (Personally, I thought I stunk at it.) It was actually a lot of fun -- even when I accidentally dumped the spaghetti sauce on the new carpet. (In my defense, Luigi was the one who tripped over thin air and dropped all of the spaghetti. I bet the carpet enjoyed some good eating there.) Master Hand made the three of us clean it up. (Housework...one thing I thought I would never miss on my home planet.)

That's when Peach filtered into the scene. She came in, took one look at us cleaning, and did the whole thing herself in a manner of seconds. I seem to recall her yelling and screaming and ranting about "Oh, you should be more careful!" "You men are always blah blah blah!" (What's scary is how she could switch to being all friendly and sweet and cuddly so...instantaneously. I'm still a little creeped out by it.) Then she took me to the mall with her and Zelda. People kept shooting the three of us weird looks. I mean, really, you had Zelda and Peach standing outside the fashion boutique or whatever-the-hell-it-is, chatting animatedly with a muscular woman in a blue spandex jumpsuit who looks bored and creeped out by all the activity. But Peach did her best to try and include me in the girly conversations she was having with Zelda, as well as trying to talk about more tomboyish things like sports. I found out that Peach is really good at baseball. Then everyone in the mansion decided to take the day off to play baseball, with Master Hand and his brother Crazy Hand being the referees. Peach and Link were the captains of the teams, and do you know who Peach picked first-off?

Me.

And one by one, the other Smashers warmed up to me and did their best to make sure I was welcome in any event, in any situation.

And I felt...happy.

I haven't felt that way in a long time. Mewtwo and Link were a little distant with me -- Mewtwo because that's just the way he is, and Link because of that baseball rivalry. But Link opened up to me eventually, and he even taught me some cool sword tricks. And sometimes, I would meditate with Mewtwo, who was still a little distant. But Ness says he's like that with everyone.

And for the first time, I realize that...that I had regained what I had lost so long ago. I realized that...I did have family. Even though they weren't blood relatives, they were like brothers and sisters to me. I guess that's the reason I stayed for so long.

...Maybe I'm not so ruthless after all.