Preface
I have never actually placed any Fire Emblem games, and have played Super Smash Bros. Brawl exactly once, at a friend's house. That said, I do own Super Smash Bros. Melee, so I know how this world works. I am also familiar with both SSB Brawl and FE Path of Radiance (but not Radiant Dawn) through the magic of the internet: I have watched let's plays of both, though I have not yet finished watching the let's play of Path of Radiance.
In any case, while watching the let's play of Path of Radiance and after reading far too many out-of-character portrayals of Ike in fanfiction (it's fine to have some OOC portrayals, but there's a problem when it's a majority of the fics about the character), I got the idea for this rather short oneshot, which deals a lot more with the themes of Path of Radiance than pretty much any other Smash Bros. fic that I have read.
Spoiler warnings: This fic may contain spoilers for the Subspace Emissary mode of SSBB and the first half of Path of Radiance. Hopefully it's consistent with the second half of Path of Radiance as well as Radiant Dawn, but I am completely unfamiliar with them.
Defending Peace
Our world is a utopia.
We all live in harmony, whether we are fighters or we are non-fighters. Perhaps it doesn't seem this way, given how much we battle with each other, but they're always friendly matches. Even with people like Ganondorf and Bowser, there is never any true hatred among us. And racism is the last thing on anyone's mind—there are Beorc, robots, animals, Pokémon, even an odd two-dimensional figure, all living together. The Laguz/Beorc differences in Tellius are nothing compared to the variety of creatures who live here. And yet outside of battle—and even during battle—we're all friends. This place is nothing like Tellius, ravaged by prejudice, war, and death.
I still remember Tellius, but it is such a distant memory that it feels like another life. I don't quite remember when or how I got to this world, but it's so much more peaceful here than in Tellius. There is no danger in this world; we cannot harm each other. I can slash at Ness or Kirby all I want with my sword, and they'll be perfectly fine—sure, it might sting a little bit, but they sustain no lasting injuries. Even the sandbags of this world can't be broken open with a sword.
Had Tellius been similar, perhaps things would have turned out differently for my family and friends. My mother would not have died, and my father would not have had her death on his hands for so long. This world would have been much more forgiving towards his spontaneous madness. And all those who gave their lives for their countries would still walk among us today, instead of being brutally torn apart or incinerated. Unlike Tellius, this world is a sacred place without injury, a sanctuary from hatred.
And yet you wish to destroy it.
Your world is not our World of Trophies. Your Subspace Army can be destroyed, Primids cut to pieces and Floows torn apart. You try to leak their mortality into our world. You cannot attain peace in your world, and so you try to destroy ours.
You endanger the lives of all of us who reside in this world, fighters and non-fighters, Beorc and Hylian, Pokémon and animal, adults and children. You corrupted some of us, most notably Master Hand, into turning against our own world. You have destroyed practically the entire R.O.B. population already. You tried to revert the rest of us fighters into inactive trophies. Your Subspace Bombs are the first true threat that this world and its inhabitants have seen since I've arrived here. You bring along hatred, ignorance, violence—all the things against which this world has been a shelter.
I cannot allow this. You endanger the lives of the peaceful residents of this world. I shall fight you for their sakes. I shall fight for my friends.
But you fight us for nothing. You gain nothing from your violence; you fight us merely out of jealousy. You are still hateful and mortal and imperfect, and will always be that way. Your life is governed by war, death, and hatred, as mine once was. But unlike me, you refuse to try to change your own world for the better. You make no attempt to eliminate hatred, or war, or violence. You merely act against us out of jealousy of our world.
There's no way that you can attain the peace you long for. You're a pitiful, jealous, and hateful monster; no part of your nature can bring about the change you want.
That's not my problem. But you endanger this world, governed by camaraderie and friendly rivalry. You are trying to destroy our peace. So I must defend it against you.
Prepare yourself. You'll get no sympathy from me.
Published May 6, 2013