On the nineteenth of December, the temperature dropped. Nobody really noticed.

On the twentieth of December, the clouds apparently decided to reveal their true, malignant intentions, and unleashed a mighty blizzard upon the entirety of the Smash Mansion and Grounds. Some of the Smashers wondered if Master Hand had decided to make everything a little more festive; others thought maybe Crazy Hand had just wanted to play a prank on everybody.

Either way, on the morning of December the twenty-first there was at least four feet of snow on the ground. It ranged from wet and slushy snow to dry and fluffy, and it lingered in places snow really shouldn't—Norfair, for instance, still had a foot of slushy snow on its platforms, despite the boiling hot lava less than thirty feet below. The Bridge of Eldin was so deep in snow, King Bulblin couldn't charge across, and his bulblin minions didn't even bother to try. Delfino Plaza and Wuhu Island were frozen over entirely.

In the light of these sudden weather conditions, Master Hand finally agreed to Mario and Peach's proposal of a holiday break, as the smash battles could hardly go on with the stages in that state. In exchange, however, the Smashers had to agree to put in a few hours during the week clearing away the snow so the non-flying non-Samus people could actually get around, and they agreed.

…

Which is why, in the early afternoon of December the twenty-first, the hero king of Akaneia and the angel of Skyworld were dressed for the cold and trying to dig out the Battlefield.

If they could find it, that is.

"It's supposed to be right here!" Pit said, listlessly poking around the hole in the snow he'd spent the last half hour digging. "You have got to be kidding me! I know it's here! It's, it's...rrrgh!"

Marth glanced around, a frown on his face. "It's the closest stage to the mansion, right? To the left of Final Destination...which I'm pretty sure is over there."

Pit climbed out of his hole and stared vengefully at the mansion. His scarf was itchy, and he was rather annoyed. "Pittoo better have not given me a faulty map..." he growled.

"Pittoo gave you the map?" Marth asked in surprise. "...Since when does he even remember which stage is which, let alone where they are?"

Pit was quiet for a moment. Then he scratched his neck and sighed in frustration. "Stupid Pittoo! You were just messing with me, weren't you!?"

Marth laughed faintly. "Map or no map, this is where I thought the Battlefield was..."

"How can we even lose an entire stage..." Pit growled. "Shouldn't there be some platforms sticking up in the air? Or something?"

"The blizzard knocked out power to half the stages early on," Marth explained. "So the platforms went down before most of the snow fell. Master Hand didn't mention that?"

Pit had been wondering how to trick Pittoo into letting Pit cover him in snow so as to make a "snow angel," instead of listening, during Master Hand's briefing. Inwardly, he punched himself. "I must've missed that," he mumbled.

"Well, that's why it's important to dig these out as soon as possible," Marth went on. "So we can fix them...you know?"

"Except we can't find them," the angel grumbled. "He should've made Samus do this, so she could use her X-ray visor or whatever. Thermal visor? Would that have helped? Probably."

Marth nodded absently, looking around again. "...Okay," he said after a minute. "Maybe that's Final Destination, and that is actually the Wii Fit Studio...?"

"Well, Battlefield isn't here, so I'll go with that," Pit said, even though he wasn't quite sure where all the thats that Marth was referring to were. "Where now?"

"...That way," the bluenette said definitively. "We'll give that a shot."

…

On the other side of the Smash Grounds, at Delfino Plaza, Princess Peach was trying to coax Samus Aran into trying on some shoes.

"Come onnn," the blond pleaded, still holding out the pink ice skates. "They're really comfortable, and then you can just whiz about the ice! Super fast! It's really easy! Pleeeease?"

"Why is pink the only color you ever wear?" Samus asked, trying to change the subject. She was in her full Power Suit, sans the helmet, as it was still very cold out—she didn't understand how Peach could be fine with only the added warmth of socks, mittens, and a scarf.

"I have other color dresses!" Peach protested. "...But all my ice skates are pink. So what? Come on, Samus, it won't be any fun without you!"

"I highly doubt that," the bounty hunter stated, crossing her arms. "You and Zelda are perfectly capable of enjoying yourselves without me."

"But it's Christmas," Peach whined.

"Not yet," Samus corrected.

"Fine, almost Christmas," the princess grumbled. "It's still winter! Holiday season! You wouldn't help me put up Christmas lights, so you have to ice skate with me!"

"...I did help you put up the Christmas lights," Samus said, frowning slightly. "I found you the ladder, the hooks to put them on, the extension cords, the lights themselves—"

"Regardless," Peach interceded quickly, "you're still going to ice skate with me."

"I am not."

"Please please pleeease? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?"

"I don't like cherries."

"Stop nitpicking my begging!" Peach pouted. "Please, Samus. One lap around the ice. That's all I'm asking."

Samus knew her well. "And when I'm out there, you'll insist on one more...and then one more...and then just one more..."

"One lap, I promise! Or I'll make everyone call you 'Sammy' for a month!"

The bounty hunter narrowed her eyes. "...You wouldn't."

Peach smirked. "I would too."

Samus adopted a bored expression and glanced away. "Well," she said airily, "then I won't speak to you for a month."

The princess's face fell. "Y-You can't do that! I have all this holiday stuff for us planned! Making holiday sweaters—singing Christmas carols—cookies!" She fell to her knees at Samus' feet dramatically and gripped her leg. "We can't-a make Christmas cookies if you-a won't talk-a to me, Samus!" she said desperately.

Samus resisted a smile. The princess was far too predictable. "Then may I skip ice skating?" she asked.

Peach seemed to consider it for a minute. Then she got a devilish glint in her eyes. "...Zelda will be very disappointed," she said sweetly.

Samus grimaced. "Bringing her up is cheating."

The princess laughed. "Since when are there rules?"

"Since I made them," Samus replied smoothly.

"Well, I don't follow those rules!" Peach hopped to her feet and turned to the door, pushing it open slightly. "Hey, Zelda!" she shouted. "Come in here, will you?"

Samus did a facepalm and sighed deeply. "It's just sliding around on ice," she muttered. "What's so fun about that?"

"You wouldn't know, you've never done it," Peach retorted.

Just then, Zelda came in, slightly breathless. She, unlike the blond princess, had dressed more for the weather; she wore a big poofy purple coat, thick black mittens, a long red and white scarf, and a matching red and white hat. She did still have her dress on, but she'd removed all the metallic elements, so as to be softer if she fell. She was holding a pair of pink ice skates by the laces, and her dark gray socks were soaked through. She'd already been skating, and her smiling face was flushed red. "What is it, Peach?" she asked.

Samus tried not to stare. Zelda really is pretty when her face is all pink like that... Then she shook herself slightly, pushing those thoughts out of her head.

"Oh, Samus just had something she wanted to say," Peach said teasingly. "What was it, Sammy? You were going to...?"

The bounty hunter grimaced. Zelda was looking at her expectantly now, her blue eyes seemingly sparkling. "Yes, Samus?"

"...I was going to say I...I'll be out in a minute," Samus said wearily, defeated.

Zelda's smile brightened. "Oh, good! I was worried you wouldn't come," she said cheerfully.

Peach grinned and held out the ice skates. Samus sighed again.

…

Elsewhere on the Smash Grounds, Pit had dug another hole and found Yoshi's Island. He was on top of one of the orange blocks that normally would have fallen through; as it was, with the power off, they just sat on the grass and didn't do anything.

He stood up, and the snow he'd piled up beside the hole was just short of his height. He looked up at Marth helplessly. "Does it need to be the Battlefield we dig out?"

"What's down there?" the bluenette asked, craning to see.

"Yoshi's Island..."

Marth frowned. "...Well, it is one of the ones that lost power...so, we can probably dig it out instead."

Pit sighed in relief, tugging slightly at his scarf. "Oh, phew! I really don't want to tramp around for another hour trying to figure out where that is..."

Marth laughed, then picked up his shovel. "I guess we'd better get to work, then."

Pit nodded, then briefly looked around. All the snow suddenly seemed like a lot more than it had when they were just walking through it...

"This is gonna take forever!" he blurted out.

"Guess we'd better get started, then," Marth replied with a smile.

…

At Delfino, Samus had succeeded in her first shaky lap of the ice, and was working on her second. She'd been forced to switch to the Zero Suit to put the skates on, and despite the suit's insulation, she was a bit cold.

Ice skating didn't seem like such a difficult thing when you weren't actually doing it, but now that she was actually trying it, she couldn't figure out why it was so hard. Her ankles wobbled uncontrollably in the size-too-small pink skates, and she held her hands out slightly to the side just to keep her balance. She was growing increasingly frustrated with herself—a frustration that only increased every time Peach smoothly whizzed by, happy as can be.

A fuzzy mitten suddenly clamped around her wrist, and Samus turned to look down into Zelda's cerulean eyes. "You doing alright?" the hylian asked, looking concerned.

"Fine," Samus muttered. "Just fine." She noted that Zelda didn't wobble, but slid along the ice quite smoothly.

"Have you never skated before?" Zelda queried.

"No," the blond admitted. "Why would I have? I always had work to do."

Zelda frowned slightly. "But you've been here at the Mansion longer than most of us," she stated. "There was snow here several times, was there not?"

"Yes, well, Peach never dragged me out skating before," Samus grumbled.

"Certainly she's tried..."

"Certainly I've refused."

"Why?"

"It seems so pointless. Sliding around on ice...what fun is in that?"

Zelda smiled. "The fun, my dear Samus, is when you get better at it," she said sweetly. "So perhaps I can give you a few pointers?"

"Fine," the blond replied, a little too hastily. But she wasn't about to turn down Zelda's help.

The brunette's smile widened. "Okay! The first thing is learning how to push yourself along. You don't want to take 'steps', you need to slide your skates on the ice, like so..."

…

Working together, Pit and Marth had managed to dig out several square feet of the buried stage, but every time Pit looked up from the snow at his feet it seemed like there was even more to be done.

For the moment, he stuck his shovel in the snow beside him and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. "How long have we been out here, you think?" he asked wearily.

Marth tossed another shovelful off to the side, where they'd been piling the snow, and shrugged. "Two hours, maybe?"

Pit sighed faintly. He tugged at his scarf, scratched his neck, then finally tore it off in annoyance and tossed it away. "Stupid thing's too itchy!" he complained.

Marth paused, then set down his shovel and knelt in the snow to pick up the discarded scarf. He ran it through his fingers thoughtfully. "It's not a bad scarf," he commented. "I like the reindeer."

The angel glanced over at him. "It has reindeer?"

Marth laughed. "You never noticed?"

"I was distracted by the itchy."

The bluenette laughed again, then rolled the scarf up and put it in his coat pocket. "I'll hang on to this until you want it," he stated.

"I'll be fine," Pit said. "I don't need it."

"That doesn't mean you won't want it," Marth replied.

There was a brief moment of silence. Then Pit stretched his wings as far as he could, deep in the snow as he was, and asked; "Did someone make you that scarf, actually?"

"This?" Marth picked up one of the ends of his long blue scarf, and smiled faintly. "...Yes. My sister, Elice, took up knitting one year, when I was thirteen...she made me three of these. They were so itchy, but I thought if I took them off she'd be upset..." His eyes lowered slightly. "...Anyway. We should probably get back to digging."

Pit was struck by the realization that he didn't actually know the blue-haired hero king very well at all. They got along, sure, but he didn't even know Marth had a sister until now...

Well, he sends letters home all the time, the angel thought reasonably, so of course he must have people back there he cares about. What other family does he have I don't know about...

Not really thinking, he asked that last question aloud; "What other family do you have?"

Now Marth looked a little sad. "...Not much," he admitted. "I...my parents died when I was young. Elice is married...and...so was I, once, but that didn't..." He glanced away and bit his lip, hesitating.

Then he looked back at Pit, a smile on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes. "We can't chitchat all day if we're going to dig this out!" he said. "Let's get back to work. Think about how we can sleep in tomorrow if we get all our hours done today..."

Marth picked up his shovel and started tossing snow away again. Pit stared at him for a moment, then retrieved his own shovel with a sigh and started digging again.

I really should talk to him more... he thought.

…

Samus was getting the hang of it now, and though she was still a little shaky, she made a mostly smooth lap around the ice with ease. She was still a little unsure of herself, though, and was glad to have Zelda on her arm in case she lost her balance.

Though the blond wasn't talking much herself, the brunette seemed to enjoy chatting as they glided over the frozen water, and was still talking even now.

"...and I always tell him to brush his teeth before he goes to bed, but half the time he skips it just to annoy me!" she was saying, her voice a little fretful. "For a hero who saved the world twice, he can be so...immature sometimes."

"I imagine that's how most children are," Samus found herself saying, quietly. "Even heroes."

"Yes, indeed," Zelda agreed. Then; "Oh, Samus, that was your tenth lap and you barely leaned on me at all! You really are picking this up fast!"

Despite herself, Samus smiled faintly. "I have a good teacher," she mumbled.

Zelda smiled bashfully. "Why, thank you, but I didn't learn this half as fast as you have."

"When did you start skating?" Samus asked, a little curious.

"Oh, a long time ago," the princess said wistfully. "...I couldn't have been more than eight. The winter got so cold that the fountain in Castle Town froze over, and the other children had started skating on it. I begged my father to let me join them, but he refused..." She paused. "So I sneaked out of the castle one morning and went down, dressed as a peasant girl. Another girl let me borrow her sister's skates, and they taught me how to do it. That was a fun day..."

Her voice trailed off dreamily, and she stared off into the distance, lost in her thoughts. As she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, Samus had to catch her arm and turn them both as they neared the plaza; her legs wobbled, but she succeeded, and they kept gliding.

Zelda snapped out of it and laughed faintly. "I got in such big trouble later, of course! But the year after that my father actually allowed me to go out, and so I managed to keep practicing."

"How about Peach?" Samus asked, gesturing her head towards the cheerful blond princess some distance away.

"Oh," Zelda laughed again, "she told me she was such a willful little girl, she could bully her guards into letting her do whatever she wanted. She made them take her out to the lake every winter, when it froze, so she could skate. I'm sure she was even more trouble than Tink!"

"Probably, yes," Samus agreed. "Still is."

Zelda laughed, quite charmingly, and the blond resisted the urge to smile again.

…

By the time they'd dug all the way to the pipe on the far left side of the island, both Pit and Marth were soaked through and getting rather tired. They'd been out three, maybe even four hours, as the sun was getting quite low on the horizon now.

The angel dropped his shovel and fell backwards onto the snow with a long, tired sigh. "How are we still not done," he lamented. "We've been out here forever!"

"Do you not like the snow?" Marth queried, setting his shovel down more carefully.

"No," Pit replied. "It's cold and wet and it gets everywhere."

"But that's what's so pretty about it," Marth said gently. "It gives everything a blanket of white...don't you just love how the world looks when it's like that?"

"What, cold and monotone?" Pit asked roughly.

"No..." The hero king smiled faintly. "It's not cold, rather...soft. A soft whiteness, that falls gently from the sky to cover the land in purity...like how everything looks when the snow's just fallen, you know? Not a footprint to be seen, just...white. Simple, unadorned, beautiful white..."

He paused, then looked away bashfully. If he wasn't already flushed red from the cold, he'd probably be blushing. "I'm, er, I'm not making any sense, am I?"

Pit laughed quietly. "No, you're...you're fine. It is kinda pretty, if you think about it that way."

Marth smiled shyly, then lay back in the snow himself, arms extended. "Winter was always my favorite season, actually..."

"I'm more of a summer person myself," Pit admitted. "Still, I guess winter isn't all that bad."

"Does it ever snow in Skyworld?" Marth asked.

"Not usually," Pit replied, "but sometimes Lady Palutena moves it lower to get beneath the snow clouds, and then we get some! I do like making snowmen, but Pittoo thinks they're silly, so he's no help at all." The angel smiled to himself. "We didn't really have Christmas back in my world, but last winter I was there we made cookies and muffins and hot chocolate and camped out around a fire, and I tried to get everyone to sing with me but they refused. Those were the days, though..."

He turned his head to look at Marth. The hero king had his eyes closed, a smile still on his face. "Did you have Christmas, back in Akaneia?" Pit asked.

"We had a winter holiday that was similar..." Marth replied softly. "We gave gifts and decorated a tree. When I was young, I had this one ornament—a little gold star, with snowflake designs around the base. I always insisted on putting it on the top of the tree, and Elice or my mother would help me get a ladder and hold it while I climbed up to place the star."

"Did you give gifts to all your friends, too?" the angel queried.

"No..." Marth sounded a little sad. "I was a prince; the royal family didn't associate with commoners for holidays. And my father was almost never around that time of year, either, so it was usually just the three of us. We still had fun, though...winter holidays were the only time I could convince my mother to come out with us and play in the snow, so we always did that. We made snowmen and...have you ever made a snow angel, actually?"

Pit blinked. "That would be a heck of a snowman! Do you actually sculpt the wings, or—"

"No, no," Marth interceded with a laugh. "A snow angel is when you lie in the snow, and you flap your arms and legs, like this..."

He started moving his arms and legs up and down in the snow, clearing out indentations with his movement, and then stood up carefully so as not to disturb his creation. "See?"

Pit sat up and agreed that yes, the indentation Marth had made did look a bit like an angel. "You probably wouldn't have done those anyway, though," Marth said, looking a little embarrassed. "I mean, you are an angel, and you have wings, so..."

Pit glanced at the spot where he'd lain in the snow. "Well, mine does look a lot like an angel," he said lightly. "That looked fun, though. Maybe if I lie on my stomach..."

"I wouldn't advise that," Marth said, and they both laughed.

"What did you do for the holidays, the last year you were in Akaneia?" Pit asked, slightly hesitantly.

Marth was quiet for a long moment. "...Well," he said softly. "After Altea was invaded, I never cared much for...celebrations. I always spent the holidays in my room, when I lived in Talys...And after the wars, I was always so busy. I guess that's why my father was never around. As it is, I...I barely remember what my last winter holiday there was like..."

Pit looked up at him, and there was no mistaking the sadness in the hero king's eyes. "...And you've always skipped Christmas while you've been here, at the mansion?" he asked.

Marth nodded, almost imperceptibly. "I don't actively avoid everything when Peach puts up Christmas lights and a tree, but I don't really participate, either. I guess I haven't...felt like it, in a long time."

The bluenette's eyes were closed, and the angel, suddenly, wanted him to stop being sad. Impulsively, he slid his hand into Marth's, and gave his fingers a squeeze. Marth looked back at him, eyes slightly lowered. "We really shouldn't be so sad all the time," Pit said. "Um..."

"We don't have much further to go," Marth interceded, looking away towards his shovel and the half-buried stage. "We ought to get back to work."

"...Yeah." Pit reluctantly let go of the hero king's hand, and went to retrieve his shovel. He tried to remember what he'd wanted to say, but the words doggedly refused to come back to him.

"...Let's get back to work."

…

Peach finally slowed herself down enough to meet up with Samus and Zelda, and linked her arm through the former's, so the three of them glided alongside each other. "So how's it been going with you two?" she asked, a slightly teasing tone in her voice. "Enjoying yourself yet, Samus?"

"No," the bounty hunter replied automatically.

The blond princess laughed. "Come on, I know that's not true! Zelda, is that true?"

"Of course it is," Zelda said with a smile. "We've both been perfectly miserable over here the entire time."

Both princesses laughed. Samus felt a little ganged-up on. "If you already decided the answer, why did you ask?"

"I don't 'decide' answers!" Peach protested. "But anyway, I'm glad you're having fun. It's not so hard once you get into it, right?"

"Once someone tells you how..."

"It's not my fault I thought you knew!"

"...How is that not your fault?"

"It isn't because I say it isn't." Peach smiled wickedly. "Besides, I'm sure Zelda was a much better teacher than I would've been."

"Um...thanks," Zelda said hesitantly.

Samus just narrowed her eyes. As much as she liked spending time with the brunette princess, she didn't like how Peach tried to put them together at every possible opportunity.

...Okay, maybe she didn't exactly mind being with Zelda at every possible opportunity, but Peach didn't have to be so smug about it.

"It's starting to get dark," was all she said aloud.

"Oh, hardly at all!" Peach insisted. "We've got plenty of light left!"

"But it must be nearly six by now."

"And didn't you tell Rosalina you would help her make dinner tonight?" Zelda queried.

The blond's face fell immensely, and her eyes widened with panic. "Oh no! I did tell-a her that! Oh no! Oh no! I'm-a going to be so late!" Pulling her arm out of Samus', she turned and skated off towards the plaza in a hurry.

Zelda laughed. "Poor Peach. She's been planning this dinner all week."

"It's her own fault for forgetting," Samus retorted.

"Yes, setting the two of us up does seem to take priority in her mind, doesn't it?"

It took Samus a long, heart-pounding moment to realize the princess was joking. She forced herself to laugh, faintly. "U-um, yes, indeed."

Zelda smiled sweetly, apparently unaware of the stammer. "Shall we go in as well? I wouldn't mind getting a hot drink and defrosting for awhile."

Samus nodded, slightly distracted by her thoughts.

…

The sun had just disappeared below the horizon when Marth and Pit tossed the last shovelfuls of snow out of Yoshi's Island.

"Phew! We're done!" Marth said cheerfully. "Thank gods we won't have to do that again, eh?"

"Yeah," Pit agreed.

"Well, I'm starving," the bluenette laughed, climbing out of the hole and onto the snow above, "so if you're ready to go in, so am I."

"Marth?"

"Hmm?" The hero king glanced back down at the angel. "Yes?"

Pit hesitated. "...I don't want you to, um...I don't want you to be sad on Christmas."

Marth was quiet for a moment. "...What do you mean?"

I mean," —the angel flapped his wings a couple times and landed lightly on the snow next to Marth— "I don't want you to be sad on Christmas anymore. I can tell you are—you get this look in your eyes, every time you talk about it. I don't know if it's because you miss your family or if something happened, but you're definitely sad about it!"

"Pit, I'm fine..." the bluenette said quietly. "I'm fine."

"I don't think you are," the angel insisted. He switched his shovel to his other hand and put his free one into Marth's again. "So I thought, um...m-maybe you'd spend Christmas with me?"

Marth blinked. "...Pit, I-I..."

"C-cause, you know," Pit continued hastily, "if you have sad memories from Christmas, then you need to make some happy ones, right? S-so...we could spend the holiday break together. Decorate a tree, give presents, do Christmas-y things...make you some happy memories, so when you think of Christmas, you won't be sad." He looked up at the hero king, his eyes a little pleading, and desperately hoped he didn't come off as pushy. "Please?"

Marth looked down at him, his eyes a little wide. And then, unexpectedly, he pulled Pit close to him in a hug and made a noise halfway between a laugh and a sob.

"Th-thanks, Pit," he said shakily, his voice slightly muffled by the angel's hair. "I-I'm sorry, I'm really emotional r-right now, I just..."

"It's alright," Pit assured him, wrapping his arms around the hero king's waist. He liked the way Marth's hands felt on his back, just brushing his feathers. "It's alright."

When Marth next spoke, his voice was barely a whisper. "...You're the f-first person who noticed...since R-Roy..."

Right. The second boy from Marth's world, Roy...he left before I came to the mansion...

"Is that why you're sad?" Pit asked, hesitantly. "Because he noticed you and then...left?"

He thought Marth might have nodded, but it was hard to tell. The angel closed his eyes and smiled. "I'm not leaving, Marth," he whispered. "...I promise, I'm not leaving."

When the hero king finally let Pit go, and stepped back, he had such a smile on his face that the angel felt his heart melt. It was the sweetest, most genuine expression he'd ever seen. "...Thank you, Pit," Marth said gently, and Pit could see the faintest glisten of tears on his cheeks. "...Thank you...and...yes. I'll...spend Christmas with you."

Pit smiled, too. He liked the way his name sounded when Marth said it.

"Then I'll do my best," he said quietly, "to make this your best Christmas ever."

…

At the mansion, Peach and Rosalina's dinner had been completed on schedule, half of the Smashers were done with their work hours, and everybody was sleepy and relaxed.

Zelda and Samus were sitting together in front of the great fireplace in the main room of the mansion. The princess was wrapped in a blanket, and both held steaming-hot cups of peppermint tea. Samus had never really cared for tea, but when Zelda made it it wasn't half-bad.

"Thanks for coming ice skating with us today, Samus," Zelda said softly.

"No problem," the blond mumbled vaguely.

"Seriously." Zelda sat up a little. "I know Peach used me to coerce you into coming out, and I'm sorry for that, but...we had fun today, didn't we?"

Samus blinked, then smiled. "...Yeah. I guess we did."

From somewhere behind them, Rufure's voice loudly exclaimed; "You have got to be kidding me!"

Twisting around, Samus looked out the window and saw that snow was falling. "It's...is it really snowing again?" she said, a little startled.

Zelda looked over to see for herself, then laughed. "Oh, dear. At least we haven't put in our work hours already..."

Several of the Smashers who had worked that day were voicing their complaints—Pit and Shulk were some of the loudest. Samus tuned them out and looked back at the fire. "I wonder if it will snow all week..." she murmured.

Zelda smiled, took a sip of her tea, and leaned against Samus' shoulder. "If it does, then we'll be in for a very white Christmas," she said lightly. "I think I'd like that..."

Samus glanced at her, then smiled as well. "It wouldn't be so bad," she agreed. "Though getting around might be a problem."

"I'll have to rely on you to carry me, then, Lady Aran," Zelda murmured playfully. "Can I count on your assistance, my lady?"

"...Of course, Your Majesty," was the bounty hunter's soft reply. "I'll take you wherever you want to go."

The princess gently slid her arm around Samus' waist and released a little sigh of contentment. "And I shall hold you to that, my lady Aran..."

Samus' smile had yet to fade.

And I will be happy to oblige, Princess Zelda...

A/N:

So, after trying to think of a good winter/Christmas-themed story all month, I finally get an idea for one.
...A four-part story.
...A week before Christmas.
...I just like to stress myself out, don't I? XP

So yes, there should be three more chapters for this, following various yaoi/yuri pairings during the holiday season. As some people don't like hetero, I thought I'd write something that didn't have any of it at all. Fun, eh~? :3

(On another note, I like the idea that Peach slips into a stereotypical/Mario Italian accent when she's overly emotional. ...I don't know why. :P)

Guess we'll have to see if I can actually write this before Christmas...XD

Thanks for reading! Reviews are always very much appreciated, and I hope you enjoyed~

~DarkieDucessa