Heyyo! Blade here with a brand new story (drumroll please...): Boy in the Plastic Bubble! Yup! Interesting title? That's because it was thought up by my very great friend here on this site...(another round of drumroll, please...) Paradigm of Writing! Yeah! Thanks to him, you guys are getting this story! It was a little request that I promised to do after he asked me for some suggestions for some reading. Paradigm gave me four criteria: 1) Psychological drama between Pit and Marth. 2) Rate this story T. 3) Name this "Boy in the Plastic Bubble". 4) Multi-chaptered. And I will try my best to fulfill those four. Hopefully, I will succeed and, even more importantly, you guys enjoy. I had some fun thinking about which characters I would use in here, how I would portray them, and the whole plot (if you guys know me...you guys already know at least three characters that're going to show up).

I'm back in school, so a little heads-up that I would be extremely busy. I'm also dealing with some things in life right now so...I'm not sure how long it's going to take to update this. I don't know if I'll be able to update and review as much as I usually do, but I will try. Anyways! Enough about MY rambling! Go on, read, and review please! I seriously hope you guys enjoy this project of mine, especially you, Paradigm!

As They Fly

The day started out as normal as it could be. The sun rose and woke the blunette by seeping through the clear window of his bedroom. Yet it was all very familiar to him by now as he slowly sat up away from the shine. All he had to do now was crack his eyes open. It was all the same.

Too dull for Marth Lowell. Too routinely for Marth Lowell. Too boring for Marth Lowell. Wake up, go to the bathroom, brush his teeth, take a piss, change his clothes, make some breakfast, eat said breakfast, grab his bag, go outside, walk to college, and that's where the day varied from there. Even so, it still followed a pattern much to his distaste. Marth easily chose between attending the lectures, hanging out with friends, working his job, eating some lunch, or going back home. Once he actually went home, Marth would usually go with finishing up school work, dinner, and sleep. There were no in-betweens, no change from his regular schedule, no exceptions. It was as if his life was simply a wheel to cycle around over and over and over again through the same things over and over and over again.

Why was he forced into such a mold? Was it possible for him to change his routine even once? Could he actually do it? Yes, it was possible and yes, he could actually do it. It wasn't so hard for him to simply wake up that morning and decide off the top of his head to switch things up a bit. It wasn't going to hurt anybody, least of all him. That's exactly what Marth did in fact. He suddenly made the decision to change things up a bit. Though he already finished his early morning ritual of preparation, he still made his first change of his loitering around his apartment during the time he should have been at lecture. Most people possibly couldn't stand just sitting around for an hour. Marth wasn't like most people. And that's what he did, in fact. Simply staying put on his couch, watching the clouds float by through his windows. It was relaxing, to say the least. If you wanted to know the productive thing he did, if you could call it productive, it was mentally crossing out "attending lectures" and "working his job" on his necessity list. Another productive thing, perhaps, was him questioning random things philosophically, but he submitted a few answers to himself before moving on to something completely different. It took a while, but then the time finally came when the young man felt that he could stand to hang out with his friends a smidge. But just a smidge. He wished to continue lazing about in his house afterwards, another change in his usual routine. With a leftover sandwich from yesterday as lunch today in hand, the blunette gathered the strength to stand up and head out the door towards his college. Once he reached his destination, Marth headed straight towards the one-fire shot where his friends could always be counted on being, the sandwich already gone.

"Hey, Marth. I thought you had work today," Ike Greil smirked once Marth showed his face at the table just outside the Warpcoin. His other two friends also looked up in surprise. That was the second change: not showing up for his job. The blunette simply shrugged in answer as he sat down. Roy Pherae frowned at his lack of answer.

"Tired of college already?"

Marth simply shook his head. "I just wanted a change, that's all," he said truthfully. After a pause, he added, "I skipped classes today as well." Realization briefly lit the redhead's eyes before those lapis orbs darkened to misinformation. He turned back to typing away at his laptop for some paper, muttering:

"Your lost…"

"And…you just skipped on a whim? Just like that?" Meta Knight asked. Marth nodded this time as he looked straight through the eyeholes of Meta's mask. The shorter student shook his head in disgust, "Well, I hope you don't make a habit of it. What's the use of going to college and having a job if you're not going to attend?"

"College isn't all about lectures and jobs, you know," Ike argued. "There's also booze, women, clubs, and other fun things to do."

"Getting a higher education is the main point of college. Lectures help with that," Meta retorted. He leaned back in his chair. A gloved hand lifted up his mask while the second hand covered his face to rub his eyes. Roy instinctively leaned forward to catch a glimpse of Meta's face. However the masked student quickly replaced his mask, earning a sigh from his friend. Ten years of being friends and none of them could claim that they knew Meta's true face. Meta chose to ignore the redhead's obvious disappointment. "Seriously, Marth…you can't continue doing things on a whim. Life doesn't work like that. You're going to have to settle down at one point. And when you do, at that point it may be too late to turn around."

Marth shrugged his trademark shrug. He kept his silence, infuriating his friend even more. Meta threw his hands in the air before crossing them in mute fury. Both Ike and Roy had some difficulty hiding their smiles. Meta was usually a composed person. Little could faze the short student. However, one of the few things that actually got underneath his skin was Marth's disconnected nature. It confused Meta to no end how somebody could be so floaty and whimsical in this world while everybody else worked so hard for their own purposes in life.

And that was the crux of it. Marth could not find anything to really be passionate about. He couldn't really help it. Few things took up his interest, and the things that did only lasted at most three days. Then they were discarded like the rest of the world and its belongings. His friends had attempted to find something to snag the young man's attention for the rest of his life. They actually managed to get Marth the job he was working currently, but they knew that once the semester was over, Marth would have at least already quit his job. It shouldn't be long actually as even now he showed evidence of his distaste for working there. His necessity of money was the only reason why he put up with it for so long.

Speaking of his work, Marth's eyes flitted over to the tall clock tower marking the center of town. The hands notified him that the time he should have checked into his cashier job had long passed. Yet what was he still doing there at the Warpcoin, the clock tower seemed to ask. Marth barely cared to give an answer.

Ike waved a careless hand, "Don't worry about it. He'll get into the swing of things soon enough."

"It's been ten years, Ike. Ten, whole years. And he's still like this. Why can't you find something you like?" Meta asked in his scolding voice. Again to that all important question, Marth shrugged. The short student simply shook his head. "That's it. No more. I give up." The familiar amused look passed between Ike and Roy. They had to admit, even though this was a serious situation, the way that Marth and Meta dealt with it was amusing, to say the least. It was more fun when they didn't join in, but they did know the appropriate time to do so. Roy followed up on that now:

"Still, Meta does have a point. You really can't pass through life not caring about…well…anything."

"I care about my family and friends," Marth muttered.

"Well, isn't that a start! Glad to know that my friend isn't a total robot," Ike grinned.

"I just…don't feel like doing anything," the problematic subject shrugged his shoulders. As he did, he felt something push against him. Something hard and knobby. Something that caused him to turn around to see an albino floundering. His friends naturally fastened their eyes on the two to see what the commotion was about.

The stranger held his hands out in apology, letting go of his bulky bag that was the cause of their interaction. His eyes were wide and cheeks red with anxiety. "Oh! I'm so sorry about that!"

Marth nonchalantly waved it away, sending the stranger off to a corner table just a little way off of their table. He watched curiously as the snowy haired young man placed a laptop on the table he sat at. He hooked a headphone set and mouse to the laptop before starting up the device.

"Oh, it's the nerd," Ike said carelessly as he leaned back in his chair.

"He has a name, dude. It's Robin Sterling." Roy informed.

"Doesn't change the fact that he's a nerd," the muscular student gulped down his water. His friend was about to protest when he heard a voice coming from the corner. When he turned to look, he saw how intensely Robin was staring at his screen.

"Nadir, you're a bit slow. Is your hand all right? …Well…The reaction time between your movement and attacks is a lot slower than usual…yes, Ness. Nadir is definitely slower and there's definitely something wrong with his hand. Can you keep going, Nadir? This is a ranked battle after all…okay, okay. Don't bite my head off…Yoshi, I need some help here! They're flanking me!"

"…" Roy turned back to his friends, ignoring the smirk clear on Ike's face. That brought a slight smile from Marth while Meta's eyes crinkled slightly. The redhead avoided his friends' stares and continued to type away on his own laptop.

In turn, Marth tuned out Ike and Meta's new conversation that had absolutely nothing to do with him in favor of staring at the sky. The clouds he saw now definitely changed from the clouds he saw from his couch. Yet perhaps they were the same clouds from before. Their shapes just changed due to how it traveled through the sky with the wind and God-knows-what-in-the-air battering at it. It certainly was possible that the student had been staring at the same cloud the whole day. Marth entertained himself with the slight notion that the bits and pieces that the cloud lost became a whole new entity by themselves. Then he thought how maybe that wasn't the case and it was more likely that those bits and pieces lose their life the moment the random force separated them from its whole. Where did that leave the cloud that lost those then? Were they still the same? Or different?

Marth blinked when he noticed the pink and orange streaks in the sky that told them how much of the day a wasted sitting here was. He should probably get home now and continue sitting on his couch before moving to his bed. The blunette stood up. "Hey, I'm going home now." His friends, used to his silence, looked at him in initial surprise. Marth usually wouldn't say anything unless one of his friends prompted him. Would this be considered the third change? Naw. His third change didn't come yet. He knew that.

After getting over his surprise, Roy waved to his old friend, "Sure thing. See you tomorrow?"

"Perhaps."

"Just don't skip out anymore," Meta sighed in obvious exhaustion.

"Let the guy do what he wants, man," Ike smirked. "See you tomorrow, Marth."

Marth shrugged one last time before nodding in answer and walking away from his friends. He didn't look back once as he exited the school's premises to enter the streets of his city. They weren't as busy as usual, Marth thought. He paid the minimum attention required to avoid bumping into people in favor of his thoughts. Maybe it was because of the time of day? It was getting pretty late. But then shouldn't the people be driving home this time? Cars packing the highways, causing traffic to the person behind the next. Busy, busy, busy, busy, bu-.

His third change was that he took a different route home. Instead of his usual turn left on the corner street, he turned right. Why he did, even Marth had no idea. He just felt like taking a different path this time around. He was sure that eventually he will come upon his home. For now, however, he could stand to walk down the anonymous streets with an open mind. It didn't look much different from his own neighborhood, aside from a few alleyways that discouraged any mice from mingling with the rats of the city. The fallen leaves on the ground from the sidewalk trees shared similarities to any other leaves on Marth's streets. Sure, there might be the odd rotten leaf here and there, but not too much to suggest a plague. Either way, Marth briskly walked through all of it.

Though Marth could be seen as a robot to most people, even he still possessed human qualities. The freezing wind following him warned him to tighten his navy coat in preparation for the winter to come, which he did. It warned him so he could stay; it discouraged others from waiting out for too long. The shadows on the ground seemed to lengthen with every step the young man took. They stretched to reach the other side of the street, darkening the path. The streetlights soon buzzed on to illuminate small circles on the ground for any pedestrians. Several houses also joined in on the light show with their yellow squares and orange circles. The sounds of the evening disappeared from his ears. Nobody was around him.

Marth continued to walk. His mind mindlessly keeping track of nature slowly moved onto mankind's necessities. What should I have for dinner tonight? At the thought, his stomach grumbled. The sandwich was now truly gone from this world. It was still here…in spirit and energy. And became completely useless to Marth as he spent that energy wandering this unknown place. Perhaps he shouldn't have taken this new route. He could be home right about now, sitting on his couch so relaxed with a bowl of soup or something easy in his hands as he stared through his window at the moon. At least the moon was still there with him. Marth didn't feel alone, oh no. He felt positively…quaint. That's what others would define it. The moon lit the road for him, better than the streetlamps. And the wind brought him new company.

New company?

From the corner of the young man's eye, he saw something floating right next to him. As he moved, it moved. He stopped in mid-step. The thing kept moving. Once both eyes registered the stranger, Marth realized that it was a bubble. One of the soap bubbles kids loved to blow for fun. He straightened to see the bubble more clearly. It floated forward with the wind, uncaring of its eventual death. Marth watched it. What was a bubble doing out here so late in the evening? As he formed that question, Marth noticed how more bubbles flew by to join its leader. The wind blew shocking amounts toward the blunette, unmindful of the curiosity it was sparking in him. He turned around, eyes searching for the source of those bubbles. He couldn't find it, but he knew the general direction. Abandoning his indifferent walk, Marth retraced his steps. The wind howled in his face with so much ferocity, yet Marth continued to plow forward. Some of the bubbles met their end early colliding into his slim body. The leaves accompanying the bubbles quickly left them behind as they bypassed the young man. Marth ignored nature's fallen for the more pressing issue at hand; where were the bubbles coming from?

There!

Marth skidded to a stop, his eyes fixed on the open window where more bubbles were floating away from thanks to the strong autumn wind. The light of that room barely lit the place, but the young man could still see a shadow of somebody blowing the bubbles. The shadow suggested that its owner was sitting down, in a chair perhaps. Though their hair seemed short and messy, Marth couldn't tell whether they were male or female. On a sudden impulse, Marth cupped his hands together, shouting, "Hey!"

At the noise he saw how the shadow jolted away, dropping the bubble wand. The river of flying soap quickly stopped. The unknown person rapidly disappeared from view. The lights abruptly shut off, and Marth was once again alone with only the moon and streetlights to illuminate his path. The college student waited. And waited. And waited. There were no answers. There were no bubbles. There were no reactions. Just…emptiness. And loneliness.

After waiting for nearly an hour, Marth finally began his long walk home. He forwent his usual train of random thought in favor of the curiosity that seized him. Who was blowing the bubbles? Why did they leave when he called out? Usually people looked at who shouted. Then why didn't the bubble blower? Maybe his shout had startled the person. It was quite late now that Marth thought about it. A large sound from the street would startle anybody. Still, it would have raised their curiosity, urging them to see what was going on. Then why didn't the bubble blower? Would they continue blowing the bubbles despite their scare today? Marth found himself hoping they would. Should he go visit next time? See what was up? Would Marth be able to meet them?

He didn't realize how engrossed he was in his thoughts until he nearly walked right into his door. He stopped himself just in time to prevent a painful fate. Marth opened the door and had to remind himself to lock the door this time around. Ignoring the need to take off his shoes, he went straight to his couch and sat down. The warmth of his home drove the cold that bit at his cheeks away, yet he paid no attention to it. His hair, blown out of proportion, wasn't getting fixed. His stomach wasn't growling anymore. His eyes weren't locked on the moon this time around. His mind was still enraptured by the free bubbles and their mysterious creator. Marth saw them so clearly in his mind's eyes, the way they floated by him without a care in the world. And he remembered the creator's shadow as if he himself casted it.

Then came the final change that day. Marth finally found something that held his interest for more than three days.

...'Ey! What's with them soap bubbles! I thought this was "Boy in the PLASTIC Bubble"! Yeah...the first time Paradigm told me the title, that was the first thing I thought of :D Anyways! I want to try a little something...a little questionnaire at the end of each chapter, I guess...*shrugs* XD

1) Which character so far is your favorite? (Trust me, there's more to come.)

2) Have you ever had thoughts about skipping out something "important"? If so, did you actually go through with it?

Hope you guys enjoyed this! Please leave a review!