"Whoooa!" Little Mac puled on the reigns of his horse, before hopping off the green beast, stroking its red crown before walking to the nearby pond for a drink.

As he cupped his hands, dipped them in the water, and began to sip, he looked over his visage in the glassy reflection of the pond. He was a young man, about eighteen. The age that a boy should setle down with a wife and focus on continuing his family line. But the life of an adventurer had called to Little Mac, the life of protecting the local villages from the cruel subjugation of King Chrom's soldiers.

He was a handsome man. At least that's what he had been told by several innkeeper's daughters over his travels. He wasn't quite sure how much water that statement held. He knew he had gotten his dark, gentle but sharp eyes from his mother, and his unruly black hair from his father. The same hair his father used to ruffle while he affectionatley called his son "Little man."

His father. His memories of the man were fading now. It had been so long since—

"Yoshi!"

Little Mac looked back to his horse, to see that in his place on its saddle sat a pudgy, dark-skinned man, who kicked the steed in the sides and was now riding off.

"Hey!" The young adventurer pulled the hood of his pink cloak over his head as he ran after the thief. Unfortunately, even as fast as Little Mac was, a man on a horse was even faster, and so he could only stop and point as the man got away. Helplessly, he shouted, "Yonder moor hath commandeered mine steed!"

His cry was to no avail. With nobody else in the vicinity, much less near enough to the theif to be able to stop him, the man was soon out of sight, Little Mac's beloved horse with him. The young man was at a loss for what to do. The animal had been his companion for the past few years, ever since it had been gifted to him by a short, mustachioed merchant. The man had, judging by his accent, been from a distant land. When Little Mac had discovered the merchant's goods, vegetables mostly, to be confiscated unjustly by a group of royal soldiers, he had recovered them. To show his appreciation, the merchant had rewarded him with Yoshi, who was a very rare breed of horse from a foreign kingdom, presumably the merchant's homeland.

As he reminisced, Little Mac realized that the theif likely recognized the value of such a steed and was intending to sell it. Surely, with such a rare beast in his possession, he would try to do so as soon as he could. Now that Little Mac had some idea of where he could start looking in order to reobtain Yoshi, he began heading for the nearest town in order to find any merchants that might have bought his horse.

"Sorry, stranger."

"Nope, no green horse around here."

"Get out of our house!"

The man in green that had issued this last statement threw Little Mac out of his home raher rudely. All this over a few broken pots...

Sighing, Little Mac continued down the street. Whatever was he to do without his old traveling companion?

"My, what a handsome young man you are..." came a creaky voice from the alley Little Mac was conveniently passing by. Startled, he turned to see an old, haggard woman squatting against the wall. Dressed in the robes of a dark mage, which covered very little, Little Mac felt the need to avert his eyes.

"Um...Thank you, Madam..." he said uneasily.

"Looking for some adventure, are you, boy?" the old sorceress queried. Her gnarled mouth twisted into a smile, revealing crooked and missing teeth.

Afraid of what the witch was implying, he responded nervously, "...Actually I'm just looking for my horse. Have you—"

"I know of a place, boy!" the witch interrupted him. She had sprung up, shaking a bony finger at him.. "A place far into the woods, that frightens even the bravest of men. They call it the Banshee's Swamp, for the wails of a young woman echo day and nite. Are you a brave enough adventurer to seek your destiny in the Banshee's Swamp?"

Her strange outburst made Little Mac feel both uneasy and intrigued. This could simply be the ravings of a madwoman, but what if it was more? He hesitantly replied, "True, I am an adventurer... I don't suppose you could elaborate on this Banshee's Swamp place?"

"What more would you need to know? Your destiny awaits you there!" The old woman asserted incredulously. She attempted to step towards him intimidatingly, but found it to be too much of a challenge considering that she was doing so while wearing metallic, high-heeled shoes on her ancient feet. Undeterred, the sorceress continued admonishing Little Mac. "Surely you are not foolish enough to ignore your own destiny when it is staring you in the face!"

He wasn't sure about all of this destiny talk, but Little Mac couldn't deny that any place that a witch made such a big deal out of was worth checking out. He took a step backwards, away from the woman, but still informed her, "Okay, ma'am. I'll do as you say and go to the Banshee's Swamp."

"Excellent, excellent!" she cackled gleefully.

"If I do as you say, will I find my horse?" Little Mac couldn't help but ask, assuming that the sorceress was looking into the future.

"Horse? Sure, sure. Now go, young adventurer! Find your destiny!" She began motioning in the direction of the woods she had mentioned.

Though he was eager to get away from her, before he left he inquired, "Couldn't you give me any advice, if this place is so-"

"Destiny!" The witch interrupted him again, waving her fingers spookily as she did so.

It seemed Little Mac would be questing through this swamp with no other information to go on. Unwilling to spend another minute with the increasingly creepy old woman, he hastened out of the town and towards the woods which housed the Banshee's Swamp. Apparently, he had a destiny to find.

Prince Shulk never liked palace life. He always dreamed of traveling the lands to help the good people of his homeland, Ylisse. You could say he wanted adventure in the great wide somewhere. He wanted it more than he could tell. It, at least, was far better than palace life.

His only company growing up had been his sister, Zelda. Blood may have run thicker than water, but sister or no, he couldn't abide by her constantly quetioning about which dress she should wear to what cotillion, or which suitor she should pursue. She was just so...girly. But even her girliness almost paled in comparison to the odiousness of their father, King Chrom.

The King was a piece of work, and Shulk prayed every day that he wouldn't turn out like him. But he hadn't always been king. Shulk remembered his childhood, when the land was under the benevolent rule of the good King Henry and his beautiful wife Lady Sumia, his dearly departed uncle and aunt. But while Shulk happily practiced swordplay with his beloved cousin Princess Lucina, his father plotted, lusting after the throne that rightly belonged to his brother Henry, as well as Henry's lovely wife.

Ten years ago, he struck. In a coup led by Chrom and supported by Henry's traitorous generals, the good king was killed. When Chrom offered Sumia the opportunity to regain her queenship, she stated that she would rather die than become his queen. The defiance never left her eyes, even as the enraged usurper ran her through with his sword.

As for Lucina...Well, she hadn't been seen since the death of her parents. But she was still alive. Shulk could see visions of her. The power that his father tried to exploit was also his one source of hope, as it gave him visions of Lucina, now a young woman, leading the charge to take back her kingdom, a man in a pink cloak at her side.

"Your Eminence?"

Shulk looked up to see a shy, green-haired servant girl peeking in through his door. Palutena was the beauty's name. He had long looked upon her with the eyes of a man, but he could hardly expect her to accept the proposition of the son of such a corrupt king.

"Pardon my interruption of your brooding," she said sweetly, "but your father requests your presence in the dining hall for supper."

"Of course," he said. He stared at her, wishing this moment could last forever.

"...Will that be all, my prince?" she queried tentatively.

Shulk gasped, and his eyes grew wide, a telltale sign of his visions.

He saw himself with Palutena. He couldn't tell exactly where, only that it was far away from this hated palace. He was embracing her, kissing her neck, as she held to the fabric on the back of his tunic.

"Take me, Shulk-sempai," she whispered huskily into his ear.

And then he was back in the present. Shaking his head to clear it, he said "Yes, thank you, Palutena."

He could have sworn he saw her smile as she left.

Squelch

Little Mac's mood was growing fouler with every step he took through the mud. He was completely covered in it from the knees down. He had certainly found a swamp, but it didn't seem like any Banshee's Swamp. It was certainly not as dangerous or mystical as would be expected from the way the old sorceress had spoken of the area. There was no sound other than the buzzing of mosquitoes and croaking of frogs, much less "the wails of a young woman." The witch was surely playing him for a fool. Here he was, traipzing through over a foot of mud in order to find a destiny he had no idea about simply because a half-dressed old woman had told him to.

He could see the sunlight filtering through the leaves above growing dimmer and dimmer. Little Mac sighed. Very soon it would be too dark to travel back to town, or even out of the marsh. He would have to make camp here.

He searched for the dryest sticks and branches he could find in order to make a fire and had managed to acquire a small handful when he noticed a soft blue glow in the distance. He immediately forgot his irritability at the sight of something that maybe, just maybe, meant that there really was more to this swamp than there first appeared to be.

As quickly as he could through so much mud, Little Mac approached the glow. Once he was close enough, he could see that it was a breathtaking sight. In front of him were two rows of trees lining a path. These trees, and these trees alone were glowing an incandescent blue at the tip of each branch. They looked to be covered in some sort of magical substance.

This must be it! Little Mac thought. This path must lead to my destiny! Luckily, the mud between the rows of trees was much shallower, only covering his feet. He ran down the path and shortly came upon a tall, foreboding tower at the end. He paused and listened. He hadn't noticed it in his excitement, but as he grew closer to the tower, the sound had grown louder: the lamenting of a young woman, just as the witch had said.

"Oh, woe is me! Must I forever be trapped in this cursed place, while my people suffer around me?"

That was definitely no banshee! Little Mac sprang to action upon realizing that the owner of that voice was in trouble. He burst through the door and dashed up the spiral staircase that greeted him inside.

"Please, won't somebody free me and put help to a stop to the evil reign King Chrom?"

As if on cue, Little Mac slammed open the door at the top of the staircase. Before him was a young woman. She was dressed in rags, but they did nothing to detract from her beauty. She had features that were soft, yet strong. Her flowing hair was a lovely dark blue, the color of a sapphire. The most striking part of her, however, was her eyes. They were blue as well, though much lighter than her hair. Oddly, it seemed that there was a strange mark on her left eye.

The woman gasped upon Little Mac's entrance. "Do my eyes decieve me? Surely I am dreaming. A brave, dashing young hero coming to break the curse, rescue me, and help me lead the charge against Uncle Chrom? Of course not, Lucina! You have no such luck!" She appeared to admonish herself.

This poor girl! Little Mac didn't know what all she had been through, but she must have met nothing but terrible misfortunes in her life. "I don't know what all has befallen you, but it seems that it is my destiny to save you from it! So, I assure you, miss, I am real and I have arrived to rescue you!"

The girl burst into tears of joy and embraced him. "So you have! And you have already broken the curse placed on me!"

Though he was surprised at her show of affection, he wasn't about to deny her human contact after she had clearly been alone here for so long. "Miss, would you mind elaborating on just what this curse was?"

She nodded through her tears. "Surely you saw the glowing trees outside of the tower? They were filled with magic in order to keep the curse in place. It is simple: I could not leave this tower. I could not open any of the doors nor climb out of the window. Only once a person from outside came in would the curse be broken. You see?" She gestured out of the window. Sure enough, the light was gone from the trees, presumably because the magic had left them now that the curse was broken.

"Now that that's been cleared up, might I know the name of my hero?" The maiden turned back to him with a dainty smile.

Little Mac blushed. He had never seen anything so pristine as that smile. "You can just call me Little Mac. Though, I'm just an adventurer. I'm no hero, Miss..."

"Lucina. Princess Lucina of Ylisse. 'Twas my evil Uncle Chrom who had me confined to this tower. But now that you have freed me, dearest Little Mac, I have a chance to bring peace to my beloved parents and save my people from his despotic rule, with you at my side! For you most certainly are a hero!"

Little Mac was slowly becoming enamored with the deposed princess, but rather than declare his love for her on the spot, he settled on, "Well, perhaps we should start our revolution by leaving the tower, then..."

"Why of course!" Lucina said brightly. She took the young hero's arm, but halfway out the door jerked to a stop. "Oh! I forgot Falchion!"

"Falchion?" Little Mac questioned as Lucina darted over to the small bed at the corner of the room.

Bending over to reach under the bed, she stood back up, now holding an ancient-looking sword. "Falchion," she repeated. "Slayer of dragons, forged by the gods, treasure of House Ylisse..." She looked sorrowfully down at the blade and said bitterly, "My uncle let me keep it during my imprisonment as a reminder of my father." She ooked back up. "But I shall run him through with his cold comfort."

Little Mac smiled. "Well said, Princess."

And with that, she left the tower with her hero, never again to return.

Heiwa: Well, minna-san? What do you think so far?

Mamori: We tried our best, so please be nice! Next chapter will be updated soon! Will Little Mac and Lucina be able to defeat the evil Chrom?

Heiwa: Rawr! Stupid Chrom! I hate you! *kicks Chrom repeatedly*

Mamori: *grabs Heiwa* Wait, calm down! Save it for next chapter!

Heiwa: ...*gives Chrom one final kick*

Mamori: Mata ne, minna!