Love Taught Me

A loud speaker bellowed in the background. It was impossible to deduce the collaboration of a high pitch and the static sound but everyone knew what it was about: a six-man melee with Samus, Link, Donkey Kong, Pikachu and Kirby. The last position has yet to be determined.

Samus basked in the fresh clean air, wearing only her under suit until the match. A woman can only take so much artificial raspant (a man-made chemical created for suit-wearers that is circulated through the hidden wire of the under suit. Filled with nano technology, this liquid will maintain the body temperature but must be replaced every week due to its tendency to bestow an awful rash). She pulled the remote from the white ivory table and switched it to the final round coverage for the sixth seat. "I wonder who's going to win it?" she mumbled.

"Mario will."

Samus twisted her elegant body over toward a large ape. She could hear his panting as he pulled his hairy body toward a much larger sofa. His body covered both of the evening blue cushions while his weight crushed them flatter than the fabric that covered them. Samus watched the large hand take a pamphlet and shove it in her face. She quickly pushes it back when the scent of back-end scratching perfumed his finger nails.

"How do you know? Who is he competing against?" she questioned him as her eyes darted back and forth, waiting for some image from the television or a verbal cue from Kong.

"Does it matter? Mario is a shoe in." Link walked over to a free chair, leapt over its front and plopped right into its seat. With a slight spring against the mattress and a cross of his legs on the left arm of the chair, Link sat with an almost content look on his face.

"Well don't you look happy?" Samus leaned her head on her hand and slid her fingers through her hair.

Link freed any type of modesty he had and allowed his small smile to perpetuate into a large giddy grin. "I am. I've placed a large chunk of my savings into the match and the returns are going to be fantastic. Sure his odds were 2-1 but it adds up."

The large ape snorted. "Its no wonder, every year it's the same, me, Link, Mario, Samus, with usually a couple of wildcards at the end."

Link cocked his finger, at him while producing a wink. "Like I say, Mario is a shoe in."

"Well I'm not trusting what you say again," spoke Samus as she tilted her head toward the television.

Everyone started to get up and surround the television. Samus kicked Donkey Kong in the stomach when she felt the brittle chest hair began to smother her head and the fleas began to soar through the air like dots of confetti in a parade. Link gasped as his tongue slipped into a mash of Hylian cursing. Nobody understood it but it was obvious. Mario was getting tossed around without landing one finger on his competition.

Both opponents were centered in the Pokemon Stage. Sand, water, and rock lie scattered around the arena, indicating that it had already morphed. However, the other, was clean of any sort of battle wear while Mario was struggling to get up. Mario could only take one Smash attack before it was all over.

Link's eyes searched all over the screen. When that didn't work, he switched to searching his heart through praying to his goddess for a miracle. Samus rolled her eyes at his almost pathetic and futile attempt to earn a mere three thousand rupees when the currency on earth was the equivalent to eight dollars. Of course, miracles do happen and it came in shape of a small blue marble that was no bigger than a fist floating angelically near the broken plumber.

Mario crawled quickly to it, ignoring the useless trophy of a gun-toting Jigglypuff and feeling euphoric warmth surround his fingers. Fire began to pervert his eyes as the stage began to fill with a dark shadow. It was almost terrifying but beautiful at the same time. Everyone had the ability to touch the sky and embrace the powers of god. His opponent was dangerously close to Mario. It seemed like Mario was going to give the rare one move KO. If this man was to absorb every fireball that erupted from his fingertips, he would lose and Mario would reign victorious once more.

Of course, in the game of Smash, things can be disadvantage and an advantage. Had the competitor been far away from Mario, he would take far less damage. But like slow motion, Mario's face gazed in horror as a white blur streaked past him. Their faces met, but it was their eyes that spoke to each. Mario unleashed his barrage of fireballs, but his opponent had slipped behind. All he can do is stay in the same position, demonstrating his fireworks display and wait for the gauntlet to fall or in this case, a giant mallet.

Mario was sent soaring, while a lone figure cocked his weapon at his shoulders, and above his wings. The camera focused on his boyish face as it watched food and other items being tossed at him. His golden Mallet disintegrated and restructured back into two angelic halos on his arm. A man ran up to him and produced a microphone in front of his face. However, he merely pushed it away, and walked to a platform to teleport back to the competitors' chambers.

The door opened and a tall man with a red helmet started to march to the trio. His face was twisted in a puzzled look. He looked up to the television, still showing the stadium as the audience was exiting the area for the next round. "Did any of you see that? It was incredible."

"It was lame. Stupid, who were the refs? I bet they chose Bowser to represent what's fair and…"

Before Link could finish his tantrum, Samus produced her wallet. "Here, ten dollars, are you happy now?"

Link kicked his heels and plucked the money. "Yeah! I'm going to go buy a pizza!"

Everyone was silent. The low humming of the vending machines and ecstatic gay tempo of Link as he slicks through the hallway echoed until he finally exited. Finally, Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon followed him, asking if they could share a slice of pizza.

Samus reached for the remote and quietly turned the TV off. She was alone once more. The yearly six-man melee was to begin in an hour. She turned to her helmet on the table and cringed in disgust. Donkey Kong had flipped it open-side up and was using it as a very big salsa bowl.

Later, when the time of the match was about to begin, Samus tried her best to ignore the awful Mexican odor. Amazingly, she can trudge through lava filled arenas or the snow capped basins of unknown planets but the scent of chili peppers and mustard was causing the crowd's favorite to double over. She was sick of Smash, tired of her competition, and the endless waiting involved between matches. "Last time, I will never come back to this arena after this." Samus straightened up as she fixed her posture and cocked her cannon. It was time to get this over with.

Faith and luck were not friends with the high-tiers tonight. Everyone stood on their platforms, each waiting for the chance to strike at the others. The audience began a simultaneous chatter as the delay began to stretch, first five, than ten, and finally twenty minutes. The proud stances all the heroes had faltered to a sitting posture. Link, Captain Falcon, and Donkey Kong were no where to be found.

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"You were eating pizza!?!" Samus wasn't holding a Smash orb at the moment but her eyes burned just as brightly into Link's.

"We were... hungry…" Link had teetered back into his childhood state. Samus could feel his body quaking with fear under her cold gauntlet hand.

"Woman, take an aspirin and keep your mood swings to yourself until it's over." Captain Falcon folded his arms and leaned against a column.

Samus dropped the hylian to the ground and began to slowly pace over to the haughty racer. "Listen, we have been waiting on those stupid platforms for forty-five minutes. Now the match has been delayed and won't be held for another week. That means we have to stay in our chambers for seven more days all because you, Mr-I-am-the-fastest-in-the-entire-galaxy and YOU Hero-of-Time, lacked the capability of being punctual."

Throwing her arms in the air, she stomped out of the room, tossing her salsa-smelly helmet to the side.

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Samus sat in front of her computer. Her quarters were large enough to hold a single bed, a table for two, and a desk. The furniture matched the white wallpaper. Although the ability to customize it to a different color is available, the novelty of it died a long time ago after the first couple of years she was in Smash. The computer itself was obsolete compared to the ones on her ship but for her purposes of simple entertainment, it was sufficient and performed its job smoothly. She took her stylus and tapped a window to open up a game of chess. She then took the laptop and folded the screen all the way down and waited for the action to boot up. Suddenly, the screen and keys were replaced with black and white spaces on top of them. A chart appeared in front of her face. Her finger touched the word "New with CPU" and pieces suddenly appeared before her. Hologram technology maybe ancient but at least its nice to look at. She placed the stylus down and grabbed the glowing pawn. She moved it forward a couple of spaces and waited for the computer to deduct the thousands of ways to attack.

Suddenly, there was a knock before her door. She walked over towards it and questioned the party on the other side. The voice that echoed back was one that she had never heard but the content of it sounded familiar. He had her helmet, and he wished to return it. Samus reached over and touched a keypad. The door slid open and standing before her, was the same angel that had defeated Mario earlier. She allowed him and offered him a seat at her table. He accepted.

"Your friends told me they were frightened of you, and asked me to bring this to you," he said as he held it to her.

"Up close, he looks no more than fourteen, possibly fifteen years old. They must've figured since he was a kid, that I would be more lenient," thought Samus as she nodded to the boy and took her armor back. She sniffed the inside and noticed that there was no odor or a red tint inside. Instead it was clean and the scent of it was enriching that she almost felt like putting it on right now. "Did you clean it?"

"I did. It smelled awful so I used some olive oil, a bit lilac and scrubbed some of the hard to reach places."

Samus nodded her head. "You didn't have to do that."

"I felt that you were upset."

Samus looked at him with a puzzled face. "Felt?"

"It's a sixth sense that only angels have. We can feel the aura of people by just being around them. No words, no facial features. People can see and hear and interpret, but angels know when people are sad or happy."

Samus maybe a bounty hunter who hung around bars a lot and spent most of her time wallowing in galactic rubbish, but she was human and knew when to use the god given gift of manners and being polite. "Thank you…"

"…Pit." He gave a gentle smile and held his hand out. She nodded as she gently shook it. He looked at her curiously as she turned her head away. "…are you okay?" he asked.

"I just feel silly. I should've known you earlier. You've stirred a lot of people into a hissy-fit when you defeated Mario."

"It just means you don't follow the crowd. As some would put it, the majority isn't always right." Pit leaned against the table. His wings were covered with cloth as to avoid any molting on the floor or furniture. Samus placed her hand on chin.

"Easy for you to say," she muttered as she reached for a cup and took a sip of water from it.

"Label it as being a loner or non-conformity but it's not as negative as a trait as it may seem." He looked up at her while folding his fingers in his hands. "Have you ever heard of the Dream Lover question?"

Samus nodded. "It was one of the qualifying questions in the interview in order to get into the service. Three people are standing outside at a bus stop. It's raining. One looks like they are about to die, another is an old friend that saved your life once, and the third is the man/woman of your dreams. Who do you give the keys too?"

"That's the question, now what is the answer?"

"Easy, you give the keys to the old friend to drive the person who is about to die and you stay behind with your dream lover."

Pit smiled. "That's what everyone says is the right answer, but in actuality it isn't. The question is designed to test "thinking outside of the box". However if you think about it, why would a sick person be waiting at a bus stop if they are that ill? Why would you stay behind and get into a relationship with a total stranger when you may already have a spouse or love already? What if your old friend has changed for the worse?"

Samus closed her eyes. It was a strange interpretation of a popular interview question, but for some reason, it made more sense than the true answer. "I guess if everyone spouted out the old answer… it's not really thinking outside of the box or something I would do." She walked over to her game of chess. With only two moves made so far, it wouldn't hurt to start over. "Pit, do you like chess?"

"I play it all the time. Aside from the gladiator games, chess is very popular in Angel Land. I warn you, I'm vicious at it." He smirked as he made his way on the black side of the chess board.

His words seemed so innocent at the time. Ever since she was a child, she always had a CPU to play against. Considering he was only fifteen and she his senior by ten years, surely he's not that good.

Faith was not on her side once more. He was not only good, he was also efficient. He never lost any more than half of his pieces and most of those were above a pawn. First he won once, twice, and it wasn't until the sixth game that Samus began to see the shadows of the pieces began to turn like a forbidding clock. They had been playing past sunset and she had yet any wins to show for it.

Pit angled his head toward the window. It was time for him to leave. Samus closed the computer and they both scooted out of their chairs. She gathers their glasses and places them in the sink. Pit said his goodbye and walked down the hall to his quarters.

Samus walked back to the desk and pulled out a jar and grabbed a snack. He was a sweet child and surprisingly deep. "If only he was a little older…" she giggled to herself as she bites down on the Rhys cake.

The next day, Samus walked down the halls. It was lunch time or even breakfast for those that perceive dawn as the sun being at zero-shadow hour. Everyone sat in their cliques. The balloon battlers are grouped together. Mario, his brother, and a few of their friends were together while the one she normally sat with wasn't anywhere to be seen. Samus turned to Zelda as she calmly sipped some tea while reading a book. "Hey Princess, have you seen your boyfriend, Captain Falcon and DK?"

Zelda blinked a couple of times. "Actually, yes, yes I have. Surprisingly, they had eaten already. I was wondering why you weren't there."

Samus sighed. She was about to head back to her room when she looked next to Zelda and saw Pit again studying a manuscript. "Pit?" she whispered. She understood the need to concentrate and was prepared to leave him be. To her surprise, he looked up at her.

"Hello Samus, how are you doing?" Pit folded the scripture back into its normal roll and pulled his head forward.

"I'm doing well," she smiled as she placed a hand on her hip.

Pit darted his eyes to the side. He sat up and handed the script back to Zelda. "Thank you for letting me read that." He began to walk toward Samus and guided her over to the hallways. They took a seat at a hardwood card table and sat on each seat. "Samus, it's about your friends, isn't it? Please don't lie to me, because the truth is you can't." His words were soft, and calm. He never raised it nor sent it down a pleading streak.

Her posture slouched as her chin sunk below her wrists. "It feels so strange, to have so many people abandon you at once. But it's their fault. They've caused the championship round to be delayed by a week. I have better things to do than sit here waiting for a ten minute brawl. Besides, I don't have many friends here. There are only three other women in this tournament, one is primp and proper by day and a transvestite by night. The other makes me fall asleep all the time and the third, is too girly for my tastes."

Pit reached over and tilted her chin up. "What about yesterday? I have never been more welcomed like that in my life. To be honest, from my perception, I took you to be a nice… lady."

"You're a kid. That's different. My policy is to never act or say anything inappropriate to a minor."

Pit shook his head. "Kindness can only be distributed one way, and that is with love and care. You're not as bad as a person as you show. But on the other hand, I base my judgment on people from the inside mainly because I have the ability to do so. For most, they only see the outer shell. You're very pretty Samus, but there is a side of you that you are always trying to hide that's far more beautiful. Don't be afraid to show it. Just because we will fight each other, doesn't make the other an enemy." Pit moved his hand over hers, and grasped it. "I'll be your friend but its up to you get the rest of them back."

Samus bit her lip. "That's nice of you Pit, but I'm not going to apologize for something they did." She may care about her friends but it just didn't seem logical. She stood up and began to walk back toward the cafeteria. She turned her head toward him and smiled. "You know, I still haven't beaten you yet."

"That's true. Would you like to play a few rounds? I need to take care of something in my room but you can grab a sack and I'll meet you in your room after that."

Samus agreed, and the two split off. She felt a little better and more at ease. At least until she got to the door. She stopped abruptly, feeling her ponytail whip at her face and caused her eyes to flinch. Standing in front of Zelda were three familiar characters. Her body froze until she quickly ducked to the side and avoiding the gaze of hairy ape. "I'm not hungry." With that, she quickly slicked back to her quarters and waited for Pit to return.

Pit didn't come back until a few minutes later. He knocked on her door as Samus programmed the chess game for human to human warfare. He was curious as to why she didn't grab anything to eat but her answer was that it didn't look good. That answer wasn't good enough. She could tell by the way he looked at her, that the aura she presented did not match up. He was not psychic, but it was beginning to feel like it.

The game was more of a repeat of yesterday. Quick and efficient, he knew how to predict her moves several turns ahead. She questioned him on how he got so good. He merely grinned, that he has had a long, long, time to practice.

After a few games, the two sat on the couch trading stories with each one more elaborate than the next. She of course had nothing to hide, being that many of those that she fought were at least twice her size. At the same time, nor than he considering everything was twice his size.

The week did go by a lot nicer than it had in the past tournaments. Pit was adorable like a brother, but when he spoke, he seemed to let loose a sense of maturity that outweighed many other competitors in Smash. But what made it more different was that she couldn't hide any emotion from him. It was the day before the tournament when they were sitting outside next to a tall apple tree munching on the fallen fruit. Pit laid the back of his head against her thigh. Samus turned toward the sky.

"You were going to ask it, aren't you Sam?" he muttered as he placed his hands on his chest.

"What is it like to die?" she whispered as she gazed at the clouds. She placed her hand on his head, patting his brown locks. "You always have an answer to everything and who better to ask than an angel?"

Pit placed his hands on his chest. He chuckled lightly as he sat up. He grabbed a fallen apple and stared at it. "I'm not surprised. Everywhere, I go people asked me "What is it like? Am I worshipping the right god? Is there a god? Will my actions take me up there or down there?" Normally I don't like to answer it, but for you… as long as you keep it secret and tell no one…" Samus looked at him as he fumbled with the apple. She scooted right in front of him and joined him. She crossed her legs and leaned forward as she began to listen, to his precious words. "Death is very hard to describe, even for me. But if I had to describe it, I would perhaps compare it to making one wish. Having the ability to change everything around you, but, its not as easy as it looks. You could wish for a cure for one plague. It will make you feel good, but millions of others kill people everyday. What happens when a variant of the plague comes back?"

Samus bit into her apple and twisted her nose. "Then what do you wish for?"

Pit leaned forward. His blue eyes focused on hers. "This is where, critical thinking comes in; research for a way to where you can word your wish to where it has the most impact. Sam, how many stories are out there, where people waste a wish and receive the worse? Where people would wallow in self-pity that they lost their opportunity to benefit either themselves or their fellow man? However, it doesn't end there. What if someone found a way to take your wish, or even if the wish itself had a time limit on when it would expire?"

"Death is painful, when life is wasted…" Samus took a moment to smile. "I can see how that can be true. I had a comrade who committed suicide in the service all because he was not up to his parents expectations. He videoed his death, and watched him weep as blood began puddle around his neck. But, it looked so painful. If I were ever captured by Space Pirates and interrogated…"

"Pain does not equal death. Pain is just a fact of life; just another obstacle that must be endured, even if death follows afterwards."

Samus watched him as he folded his legs inward and slouched. She reached over and patted his cheek. "Pit, you look upset. Tell me what's wrong." She moved beside him and hugged him. She felt his soft feathers brush against her arm and the warm glow around his halos on his arm.

"Every time I look back, I remembered when I was first reborn as an angel, I knew that the first thing I was going to do, was that I would head to the ground below and tell him, that I love him and I'm sorry for being careless and causing him, to lose his only son. I remember him screaming my forgotten name, as I felt him cradle my broken neck and bitter salt of his tears spill on to my face. I remembered him praying to the gods and goddesses that I would be okay. All I could do at that moment was just spit up blood and watch as everything began to fade out. But how was I to know, that the process of rebirth took a couple of hundred years. When my goddess questioned why I continue to keep my child form, I told her, because I pray that one day, I will see the rebirth of my father, and he will recognize me. I'm thousands of years old now and so far, my search hasn't produced any results. I don't know if his soul is up there, down there or reincarnated back into a human. You may think that the world contains six billion people but when you count the DEAD… Angel Land and the Underworld… sometimes I just… but then I just remember his face... but still…"

Samus pulled him closer until his head was next to her heart. She felt a small amount of shame for even bringing up a subject. She felt his body shiver from the emotion that seemed to flood the normally quiet child. Tears fell from his eyes but she was there to catch them.

"Its through my searching, that I've been able to fully observe people. After a thousand years, you full well notice that people go through the same cycles while maintaining this ideology that their plight is more unique than everyone else, when its not. One is in a fight with the other; one or both has too much pride to resolve the squabble. They would rather dilly with pointless arguments such as who owned the silverware in a divorce or hurting another's feelings and being ashamed to admit it. It's all the same, Sam. I've seen it so many times and it's no different than it is now."

She turned over toward a window and watched as Link, Donkey Kong, and Captain Falcon were standing inside of the hall. "I can apologize tomorrow."

"I know its hurting you to watch them like this. You've told me that they've been your friends for ten years now. Use your common sense. Do you really want to see it end over something as pathetic as pizza? Do you want to go another day, tearing your heart when you have the power to heal it?" He placed his hand over hers and squeezed it gently. "You don't have to apologize, but you can't stay silent, either." Samus turned to him and slowly got up. Pit watched as he continued to sit under the shady branch of the tree of knowledge.

Her lower lip quivered as she began to approach the door. She turned back to the tree one last time. Pit, placed his hands over one knee with the other leg stretched out. He smiled as he waved to her. She smiles back as she turned the handle and walked inside.

The hallway echoed with each step she made. The sounds alone felt like they were thumping her heart like a hammer striking the head of a nail. She took deeper breaths as the familiar green of Link's tunic began to focus under her semi-blurred vision. Perhaps she did have a lot of pride. She had never confronted people in terms of feelings. In her line of work, weapon of choice, twenty paces, and whoever is left breathing afterwards and now she must use her heart.

But will they call her a pacifist?

Weak?

Will they laugh at her attempt?

Will they call her a hypocrite; no, its time to cast doubt aside, and just get this over with.

Samus approached the trio and finally reached over to tap the young Hylian. He slowly turned around. It was then; she noticed something so terrible that it made her want to run back to her quarters. Around his neck were several bandages on where she grabbed him. Instead she reached over and placed her fingers around the bruised impressions. It was indeed her hand. Was she really using that much force? "Link… what… oh god… "

Link stayed silent as Captain Falcon turned to her along with Donkey Kong. "It's a bruised trachea. He can't talk much because it hurts his throat. At least you finally found a way to shut him up," he smiled as Link punched him hard on the arm. Captain Falcon looked up at her. "We've been looking all over for but you were either in your room or conversing with that kid."

"I just needed someone to talk to."

Captain Falcon placed his hands on his sides and turned to the ground. "Look, you could've come to us. We wanted to apologize for hurting you earlier. I didn't think you would be so sensitive to anything I say."

Donkey Kong moved closer to her as the familiar pungent odor lingered in her nostrils. Despite that, she watched as the giant beast reached behind his tie, and pulled a semi-wilted flower that he had taped on the back of it. It was dandelion that seemed more like a toothpick in his large grasp. Samus smiled at the small, gesture and accepted it. She watched as he clapped his hands in delight.

Then she turned towards Link. His expression was cold with his eye narrowed and his lips as thin as the sunset horizon behind him. Of course, he did have every right to be angry. She can imagine how hard it was for him to eat. Is he even fit enough to compete in Melee? His stamina would be cut and he'd be weaker around that area. "I'm sorry, Link. I didn't mean to hurt you. If there's anyway I can do to make it up…" She didn't even finish her sentence when Link's boyish smile appeared with his arms flung out. She walked over and hugged him back. They all walked to the lobby together. With the exception of the currently mute one of the pack, they began a series of catching up, and even more of what they did in the off-season. It was almost like the first time she had entered the tournament. Surrounded by strangers, she tried so hard to avoid being lonely. She may have been a loner, but it is a trait that can sting her eyes when everyone else socialized around her.

Maybe she never was even close to losing their friendship. It was something that was more overblown than it should be. But regardless of the matter, she says her goodbyes, her best wishes to the trio. Tomorrow, she must battle them and she should prepare for that day.

Samus walked back through the hallway and turned to the tree, astonished that the lone angel remained there. She hurried her pace and ran over to the young lad as he looked over some sort of manuscript. She leaned down and shook his shoulder, questioning why he is still outside. But he merely shrugged and said he was waiting for her. He looked up. Time to him was nothing and for a sun to set and a moon to rise, it felt almost like minutes to him.

"Thank you… for being my friend. I'll admit that you sounded a little sappy when you first told me near the cafeteria, but, now I'm glad you stuck by your word," Samus spoke as she and him walked back toward the hallway and into the quarter section. She debated whether to ask him as they passed each corridor to get to the area where Pit was stationed at.

"It's no problem. To be honest when they first asked me to deliver your helmet, they warned me that I should just leave it at your door, knock and run for my life. Even worse when Link showed his marks around his neck, but you didn't raise your voice once to me. Why?"

"You're a kid, Pit. I have my standards. I will not cuss, do anything obscene, or perform any acts of brutality in front of a child." She turned down and saw him roll his eyes. Now she had to ask him. "Pit… is that even what you look like?"

His body halted as he snapped his head to her. "Wha…what do you mean?"

Samus leaned down to his eye level and gazed at him. "Well, for one thing, over the past week, everything I've thought about you was wrong. Sooo, there is this …one thing… that I'd like to know… if you really are more than a few centuries old… and you told me you want to stay like this so you can find your father. That means you can control what age you are… You're always preaching about critical thinking… I think I'm finally right… am I?" Pit's eyes were the size of dinner plates as he began to dodge her gaze. Samus tapped his right cheek and guided his stare back into hers. "Could you show me… the real you?"

Pit stepped back, opened his mouth and said…

The End