Hey there. I figured I'd write Smash Bros. for once.

So uh, this is a Falconcina (Captain Falcon x Lucina) fic that is gonna be several chapters, likely some angst and emotional depth and character development. There's most likely gonna be some sensuality in some chapters, and a fair share of violence, so I'm rating M to be safe. Don't judge me ok ;; if this isn't your cup of tea, feel free to click the back button. But if you like this ship and/or angsty hurt-comforty storylines by all means stick around. This story also contains Xenoblade spoilers in chapters 3, 4, and 5.

Also to new and old readers - yes, the promised revisions have happened. My vision for the direction of some of the plot in this fic has changed slightly from when it started in 2015, but the end goal is the same, and with Ultimate's release, I may throw in a few more surprises. I hope you enjoy, nevertheless.

This chapter was named after "The Real Me" by Natalie Grant (the title of the fic itself is taken from the lyrics too)

Hiding in my Skin, Broken from Within

Prologue - The Real Me

"Agh!" Lucina gasped, jolting awake and sitting up in bed. Sweat covered her face and her breath was shaky. She clenched her fist and held it to her chest, trembling.

This is the third time I've had nightmares like this, she thought. Even though the chain of events in those nightmares were different each time, like on one occasion she had her leg pinned under rubble, two things remained constant: the crowd of people, including some people she cared about, merely looking on and then walking away; and then, there was always that same shadowy figure running toward her. Whether that person was going to save her or not remained unclear, as she always awoke with a shout when that happened.

The future Ylissean princess looked at the window. Moonlight shone through very faintly, and Zelda, her apartment mate, was sleeping in the bed across from hers. Zelda seemed to be in a deep sleep, as she did not stir when Lucina awoke from her night terror.

I don't even know why I have these dreams. I know that in the future I come from, even though my parents were slain, I fought bravely alongside my comrades. But I wouldn't know what to do if I lost any of them... She stepped out of her bed barefoot and walked across the carpeted floor to the small study the two princesses' apartment had. As she walked quietly she continued to ponder, I think what would be even worse would be to become abandoned by those you care about. Which is what I thought at first, but what if something bad did happen to me? And the people I loved would willingly walk away?

She shook her head. No, don't be silly. I fought bravely in my father's place that day to enter the Smash tournament, and Robin came along too, and I met so many friends...they wouldn't do that. Walking over to a bookshelf, she thought, And what about that person that always comes running to me at the end? Something about it seems...familiar.

She grabbed a book from the bookshelf, turned on the reading lamp on the desk, and sat down and began to peruse the tome. Maybe if I just read something, anything to get my mind off this, I could feel better...

On the topmost apartment suite of Smash Tower, Captain Falcon lay on the couch in the TV room of the flat he once shared with Snake, staring at the ceiling. He wasn't usually one to let regrets and worry weigh him down. In fact, in his days of F-Zero racing, he projected himself to the public as an optimistic, confident man who could do almost anything. But lately, he began to feel insecure because those appearances were just a facade, even in the Smash tournaments. As long as he wore the helmet, no one would really know who he was inside.

What's more, he started experiencing feelings of remorse and regret, something he didn't think he would experience until now.

Why am I having these thoughts? Why do I feel so guilty over that day...?

That day being the day he fought Lucina and Robin as a testing grounds to allow them into the Smash tournament. They were worthy opponents, but one thing about what happened that day never really left his memory.

That girl only wanted to protect her father...he probably wanted to fight alongside her as well, and I...

He got up and walked toward the large glass window which offered a breathtaking view of Smash City's skyline, the neon lights of the buildings appearing as fluorescent dots from afar. It was truly a stunning view, which somewhat reminded him of Mute City at night. But he couldn't help but feel melancholy in spite of having the suite in Smash Tower with the most stunning view, and not just because his friend wasn't occupying the flat as well at this point in time.

That day, I did what any person would. I tried to protect myself. It's a natural instinct, but I didn't mean to hurt him at all...or her, for that matter.

"Her" being Lucina, the daughter of the man he defeated. He remembered how she looked back at her fallen father with sorrow in her eyes, then turning to Captain Falcon with a determined expression on her face, saying "For my father...!" before dashing toward him.

When she ran to attack me, I tried my best to defend myself too, but...I just couldn't bring myself to hurt her...

The memory of him intentionally mis-aiming his punch to just send shockwaves past her face flashed into his mind. And then how he kicked away her sword, making sure not to hurt her...

I even held off on my Falcon Punch, in the hopes that she'd run and save herself. For someone to go through all that...if Robin hadn't shown up, who knows what... He sighed. No, I shouldn't even think about it.

He walked to his room and, eyeing the smartphone on his dresser, picked it up and opened up the texting app. As the bright artificial light from the screen faintly illuminated his dark room, he went through his contacts and spotted a familiar name: Snake. He started with this message:

"Hey Snake, it's been a while. Something's really concerning me right now."

A few seconds passed, and Falcon sighed, saying, "Yeah, right. As if he'd answer-" and then the cellphone vibrated briefly and a new message appeared on the screen. Surely enough, it was from Snake. It said, "this better be important if you're texting me at 1 AM"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Falcon typed his next message: "So you'll listen?"

Snake's reply was, "yeah, you woke me up and I don't even have any tournaments to participate in right now so shoot"

"Right then. Not so long ago, when I was fighting two newcomers to prove their worth in Smash, I feel I may have wronged one of them somehow."

Falcon sent that message, and then typed, "I don't want to go into details, but...I want to set things right with her."

Snake's reply took a while, but then his next message said, "woah, HER?...I guess I shouldn't ask, but" followed by "you should do whatever you can to help her whenever she needs it you know?"

"I guess so..."

Snake's last texts for the night said, "just don't stress it too much. do what comes naturally and I'm sure things will be fine." followed by "it seems this is really heavy for you, so you should try to get some rest."

"Okay...thanks," Falcon texted back before he collapsed on the bed and put his phone down.

"The question is, though," he mumbled, "how exactly will I do it...? How can I settle things peacefully with her? I don't even know how she feels about me right now..."

So yeah, this was a bit of a quickie.

But anyway, I might revise some parts of this prologue if need be. Plus, I'm not going by the standard Smash Mansion setting here, idk but I never really liked that idea too much. And yes, Smash Tower was slightly inspired by Tiny Tower ok I love cute pixel art games shut up :b

And Snake appears since he's a veteran I really want to see return as DLC, along with some other vet and newcomer choices of mine which may or may not be alluded to in future chapters and depending on any official reveals in upcoming months.

I kinda wanna make things clear for the purposes of the story though. I read a review of another fic with this same ship as the focus, the review was a critique and it (somewhat harshly imo) criticized the age gap. Yes, Falcon is 37 years old canonically, and here, Lucina is 21. That's a 16 year difference, but frankly I don't see much of an issue with it. They're both legal, and my own father is like 20 years older than my mother (they're both currently elders).

...haha, sorry. I get insecure at times, so sorry if i came across as passive aggressive. I just wanted to clarify a thing.

Also, when I read Falcon's lines in my head, I imagine them in Crispin Freeman's voice (you've def heard his voice at least once if you've watched anime lel) I highly recommend you do the same. It makes him ridiculously sexier. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) You're welcome.

And if there's anything I need improvement on, do let me know. I seek to always improve.