Nightmare
Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Brothers. That goes to Nintendo.
Summary: Someone broke the Star Rod allowing Nightmare to go on a rampage without restraint. Now he gives horrifying nightmares to the Smashers continuing to build up his power. Kirby, Meta Knight and King DDD leave with Rosalina to track him down while the rest of the Smashers are left praying for the safety of those who have fallen victim to the nightmares.
Pairing: Pit/Pittoo, Ganondorf/Palutena and Chrom/Olivia and hints of Robin/Shulk, Fox/Sonic and Meta Knight/Kirby
Rated: M (on this website but E on Archive of Our Own)
Genre: Romance, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Family, Friendship and Angst
Warning: Swearing, yaoi, dark nightmares (and pretty much rape in some of them), extreme violence and unintentional OOC
Well this is going to be a really long one-shot with more censored stuff that can't be seen (specifically Dark Pit's nightmare is Archive of Our Own only). There are a lot of spoilers for characters caught in the nightmares (and they'll only be brought up on the notes below as the only nightmares we will dive into are the Kid Icarus cast), so be warned. Enjoy!
How many days as it been since the angel of light sat in front of his bed? It was only three days but to Pit it seemed like centuries. Dark rings were under his eyes as he forced himself to stay awake in the wake of the disaster that struck Smash Brothers Mansion.
What was the problem in the mansion? Last year, a lot of Smashers made it clear that a villain as an assist trophy was not a good idea without being able to restrain them. This was mainly coming from the Star Fox crew (and Wolf who couldn't participate this year because of a bounty he was going after) who wanted nothing to do with reviving Andross. Master's solution was to simply create a program he specifically controlled to make sure Andross wouldn't come back to life in some shape or form.
Master Hand got cocky though and started to anger a lot of the other Smashers. Samus was furious that he would create Dark Samus and Link and Zelda did not want Ghirham around the mansion as much as Ganondorf (but to be fair, he was such as ass kisser to the King of Evil who did not engage in petty squabbles that he was pretty much harmless). Then there was Nightmare who Meta Knight warned that the minute he sees the chance, he would betray the Smashers and unleash hell on them. As long as the Star Rod was kept protected and usable in Smash Brothers, Nightmare wouldn't even think about using his powers on them.
…But then someone broke the Star Rod in the mansion. No one knew who it was and they would not come out and confess to the accident (or the factual sabotage of the item). Nightmare was unleashed before King DDD could stop him and the damage was eminent.
Nightmare went after the people who had fragile minds when they went to sleep. Pit would never forgive him for going after Dark Pit first. Granted he went after both of the angels but it was a miracle that in the nightmare, Pit successfully fought him off. Dark Pit…not so much who was trapped in the nightmare and wouldn't wake up.
It spread to the other Smashers almost immediately. Shulk and Lucina were the next people to fall prey to their inner monsters followed by female Robin (male Robin was able to hold Nightmare off in his dream if only because Chrom woke him up and was by his side). It then hit poor Pikachu and Luigi.
By the time the problem was stated, more Smashers have fallen pray within the couple of hours. Peach, Samus and Marth were added casualties. The last person was Megaman who had a forced shutdown to prevent himself from getting caught by Nightmare. Everyone was panicking and furious at how Master Hand was handling the situation. His solution was to have Kirby's crew deal with the problem.
Now some Smashers seem to be immune to the nightmare bringing but this might be because they didn't have anything bad to think about. Meta Knight made it clear that he would track down the problem before they decided what to do with Nightmare. He advised Kirby and King DDD to assist him. Rosalina went along to make things faster on the Comet Observatory. If the Smashers could hold out for maybe a week maximum then they'll drag Nightmare back. They couldn't hold a week because the minute someone fell asleep, they could easily fall victim without someone watching out for them.
Pit did not want to play the waiting game like everyone else. When everyone was screaming and crying in the infirmary, he told Palutena that he was going to take Dark Pit back to his room and shut himself out. His Goddess begged him not to do anything stupid but Pit's mind was set to watching his twin until he woke up.
Truth be told, Pit was terrified for the dark angel. He wasn't like everyone else. He was the first victim therefore exposed to the most pain…pain that Pit could feel. They were connected and Pit's heart ached whenever he grasped the black angel's hand. His hands were cold as ice…like the life force was draining out of him. Unlike everyone else, Pit feared that Dark Pit would simply seize to exist the longer they waited. He didn't want anyone to know that Dark Pit indeed was fading away and that the lower part of his body was becoming invisible to the naked eye. He didn't want this at all and yet, he could just sit here and pray like an angel should do.
The others felt the angel's isolation when he refused to eat or sleep. The angel was forcing himself to stay up until Meta Knight's group took care of Nightmare. Palutena wished Pit wouldn't blame himself but she had to keep everyone's morale up. Instead every hour, someone would check up on the angel to see if he didn't become a victim to bad dreams. Every time someone knocked, Pit would shoo them away. A few weren't going to leave because Pit ordered them too though.
"Boy, your Goddess of Light worries for your health. She expects you to eat something to keep your spirits up."
"…Sorry Ganondorf. If I eat, I'll just fall asleep. If I take a rest, I'll fall asleep. If I go out and work off my stress…I know I'll just get tired and fall asleep. No matter what I do, I'll want to drift off…and I can't let it happen."
"Three days cramped in this room will not change anything."
"I know that!" Pit suddenly shouted knocking the chair down when he stood up. "What am I supposed to do though? I got away from Nightmare because of Pittoo! I couldn't save him though! What am I…suppose to do? I can't go out there without knowing if Pittoo will disappear. He's not like everyone else Ganondorf! You know that! Lady Palutena knows that! If they don't get Nightmare, Pittoo is going to die and I can't bring him back! He was created by accident and I can't just magically make him come back! I don't…I can't…"
The King of Evil was only sending a message. Not wanting to hear the angel's rant, he turned to leave.
"I am only informing you what the Goddess of Light wants. Why she cannot tell you herself, she is being strong for the others. I am only doing this out of pity of her generosity. She has her problems and she focuses on everyone but you."
Pit wanted to get up and slam the door so the Gerudo could feel his rage even with his back turned. He was too tired to do even that. He just sat back on his chair and watched over his twin. His eyes were getting increasingly heavy unfortunately…
Pit realized too late that he fell back into the dream world. Instead of his wings burning though, Nightmare tried a different approach and had Pit against the wall with only his bow to protect him. It is nearly impossible to win against your nightmare especially when Nightmare controlled everything.
The thing Pit was facing was his fear he buried deep within his heart. The thing that prevented him from flying in the first place…the cursed Minotaur that killed anyone in the human world who entered his Labyrinth to slay him. As a child he was foolish to go alone with a wooden bow. Now he had Palutena's bow facing him. His legs trembled at the sight though. His heart was pounding in his chest to the point he was scared it would jump out and run away like what his legs intended to do if he wasn't back into the corner. The Minotaur was larger than he imagined with his big horns ready to impale his sternum again…
Pit nearly suffocated at the thought. He should have died back then as a child after being impaled and wings torn to shreds. How did his lovely Goddess put him back together given how badly he was killed? Palutena said he didn't die but no angel could survive that many injuries much less a child.
"Heh, the little angel has grown up and still thinks he can take me."
"Y-You're not real! I'll kill you and get out of here!" Pit shouted shooting Palutena's arrow at lightning speed. He gasped at the Minotaur catching the arrow of light and breaking it in half. "B-But how?!"
"Silly little angel. You should have realized bows could not stop me." He chuckled as he attempted to ram the angel into the wall.
Pit jumped out of the way this time to avoid being impaled. If he died here…would he be in this hell forever? The bull monster laughed as he attempted to claw at the angel when he sidestepped. Pit blocked with his bow, but it lead to his weapon being snapped in half causing the angel to scream realizing the implication of having no weapon to defend himself…again.
"What's the matter, scared?" He mocked using Wolf's taunt. If Pit had a weapon he could have shouted how messed up it was to use someone else' taunt of someone he respected to scare him…and he was terrified now. "You're not getting away from me."
Pit didn't realize that he fell on his butt. The Minotaur approached him slowly enjoying the angel's attempts to get back up and flee. Before the Minotaur could grab him, the angel moved out of the way in time and turned to flee. No matter how fast his tiny feet took him, the Minotaur was catching up. The angel didn't want to look back and see how close the monster was. It was a repeat of what occurred when he was a child…
"Lady Palutena, Pittoo, help!" The angel cried out into the darkness as he yelped when he tripped on something. What was on the ground that made him trip? Was that Nightmare enjoying the torment? The Minotaur laughed seeing the captain in this pitiful state.
"No matter how many years have past, you'll never defeat me…and I'll always get you." He smirked examining the angel's figure. "Little angel, how you have grown from when you were a small child. Perhaps instead of pulling your wings off slowly, I'll be breeding with you."
What a weird way to put it but Pit knew what he wanted to do.
"S-Star back!"
The Minotaur only laughed as he seized the angel by the wings. Pit screamed as he was lifted up into the air. In an attempt to get out of his grip, the Minotaur clawed at the angel's tunic ripping it off his body and exposing his naked flesh. Pit let out another cry as he tried to stop those claws from touching his skin.
"N-No! Get back! S-Someone help! No!"
"Ha ha ha! Keep struggling little angel. You're mighty meaty tonight."
"Dammit Pit! You're trying to kill me! Do not give up now!"
The Minotaur jumped looking around. He thought that was Pit, but the angel was just as confused.
"P-Pittoo…where are you?! I can't do this!"
"What the hell do you think I'm dealing with?! I can't bail you out whenever something goes wrong!" He cursed.
The Minotaur didn't realize the voice was behind and sniped him in the back of the head causing his brains to splutter out. Pit screamed seeing the image as the Minotaur dropped him. The angel had to crawl out of the Minotaur's grasp while covering himself.
"Pittoo…"
Pit could only see a small outline in the darkness that looked like his twin. Weakly getting to his knees, he attempted to embrace the dark angel but went right through him.
"Idiot…I'm not here…I just had to get you out. You can't sleep…if you're lost, we're both dead."
"…It's not fair Pittoo…it shouldn't have to be you…it should be…"
"…Can you just keep me warm when you wake up? I don't think I'll last that much longer…" The dark angel sounded sad when he said this. "What a shame that not much has come out of my short life…"
"Pittoo…" The angel stared directly where the outline is. He forced himself to stop shivering and spoke. "I'll…I'll save you. Even if Meta Knight and the other's fail…I'll get you out. I'll jump into your nightmare and get you out if it comes down to it…I won't lose you."
"…Stupid." The dark angel mumbled. "If you dive into my heart, you might not come back out even if you save me…"
There time was up. Dark Pit wanted to reach out to the angel but Pit was still safe from Nightmare while he was growing weaker by the minute. Nightmare wanted to drain him completely and it was working every time he went after Pit…
"…I'll wait for you though Pit."
The angel shot up from his slumber. The energy he has lost the three days returned almost immediately thanks to that short nap…how long was he sleeping?
"Pittoo?!"
The angel was resting his head on the dark angel's stomach. That might have been what saved him though. These two were connected and if one is feeling pain, then the other will dive in to save them. Pit failed to save his dark side not once but twice now and looking at his twin, the results were showing. Dark Pit was incredibly pale. His wings were vanishing from sight leaving only his head and his upper body. It wouldn't be long until he disappeared for good.
"No, no, no! Pittoo, I'm sorry I fell asleep! You lost your wings because of that. No…I have to…save you."
Pit tried to stop himself from tearing up but he couldn't help but weep over his twin's unconscious body. There was nothing he could do without putting his life at risk. He was useless in the dream world, so what could he do in the real world when there was no way to find Nightmare? Everything felt so hopeless even if Pittoo was praying for his survival.
"Wait…that's it!" Pit got up quickly looking down at his weakened twin. "Wait for me, I have an idea…Lady Palutena!"
Not even the Goddess of Light was immune to Nightmare. She was not omnipotence like she made herself be to the Smashers. She could lose matches but there was always that excuse that she was never going all out on her opponent. In the dream world, she's just as defenseless as anyone else and Nightmare wanted her so he could counter Rosalina who was for the most part immune to his spells.
By the time she realized she ended up taking a siesta, the Nightmare wasted no time in trying to dive into the darkness of her heart. Her eyes widened in horror as she immediately used her magic in a weak attempt to fight off incoming mental damage.
"You will not escape me Goddess of Light. I can see all the bad things you have done to your friends and family for the sake of "justice"."
These same taunts were used against her when she fought off the Chaos Kin. It would be no surprise seeing Nightmare take the form of that demonic being who was crawling at her barrier trying to grab at her soul again.
"You won't get me twice…" Palutena murmured. "Rosalina will get you…"
"Oh, not your precious angels? Oh wait! They can't do anything against me! They're at my mercy! If your precious Pit falls to me you will fall immediately."
She would not be provoked to be moved from her spot. Sweat dropped from her forehead as she closed her eyes and could imagine the Chaos Kin poking behind the barrier before constantly slamming it with its tail to get her attention.
"But your heart is so dark! You chased after Medusa because she kept harassing your precious brother? You had no problem helping Hades seal Helios away into the Outer Realm if it meant peace in your realm! You even killed one of your own siblings to protect said precious brother! My, you have a big sister complex! If Pit found out you loved your brother more than him!"
"It was all for the greater good."
"You say that but you loathe your little brother who decided to escape as an angel instead of take responsibility for making all the Gods and Goddesses miserable from the curse they suffer! But you're kind because you weren't cursed. You just have to watch the madness around you."
"I will not pin everything on Dionysus." Palutena responded darkly. "He needs to grow up, but to blame him for the flaws of my family…"
"You say that but your heart says otherwise." Nightmare mocked as the barrier began to crack causing Palutena to open her eyes. "You have your problems, but there's no one to confine in. You have to keep a strong front for your lovely angels, but you can never tell them the problems you have. All your angel subjects must not know anything. The other divine beings cannot know either or they will backstab you. They will get their revenge for allowing Dionysus to walk around with no punishment from the past. And everyone in Smash cannot know that you're a pathetic Goddess that just wants someone to share your problems with."
Palutena flinched seeing the crack in front of her. The magic wasn't working anymore as the Chaos Kin's tail almost impaled her from behind.
"So be a good little girl and surrender. You aren't doing anyone a favor now anyway."
Luckily for her a shadow was approaching her incredibly fast. Any normal person would have freaked out seeing the huge figure, but Palutena saw purple and only smiled weakly as this person was able to go through her barrier and punch the Chaos Kin behind her.
"Unfortunately, I'll have to decline your offer. There's only one evil I'll offer my body to." She said with a hum even though it was obvious sarcasm. "Good-bye. I am waking up."
"Goddess of Light, open your eyes…Palutena…you are stronger than this! Palutena!"
Palutena smiled as she slowly opened her eyes to see the King of Evil over her.
"You finally called me my name."
Ganondorf surprisingly smirked before he went back to frowning. "This is no time for that. I take my eyes off you for a second to check up on your angel and you fall asleep. You cannot let your guard down. I will not always be here to support you."
Palutena let out a huge sigh as she sat up. A headache was coming on due to the lack of sleep. "I know Ganny. I was careless…just like when the Chaos Kin controlled me…"
"You need to stop being caught off guard and get back to supporting everyone. At this rate, the children will fall asleep by the end of the day unless something isn't done."
The endurance of the young Smashers had was amazing to say the least. They wanted to stay up and support their comrades. Ness did a good job using his PSI to allow them to take a nap, but Ness himself could not do so or he would be the next victim of Nightmare. At the end of the day, the Nightmare would claim him unless something was done.
The both of them jumped hearing someone bang on the door.
"Lady Palutena, are you in there? Lady Palutena!"
"Well, the angel is capable of moving from his spot with energy after all." Ganondorf mocked as he went over to the door and opened it. The angel came tumbling in but got back up glancing at his Goddess. "What do you need Pit?"
"I have an idea on how to get rid of Nightmare once and for all!"
"Pit, your insomnia is showing." Palutena teased not believing her angel when he said he had a plan. Kind of mean but Pit usually never came up with a plan especially when he lacked any type of energy.
"T-That's not funny Lady Palutena! I'm serious! What if you used all of your powers to send us all to the dream world and help our friends?"
Ganondorf shook his head. "Absurd. You should go eat to regain your stamina."
"Hey! Don't dismiss my idea just yet! I was thinking that if Nightmare is strong because he took so many victims here, what if we woke them up? That means he would get weaker! If Meta Knight were already fighting Nightmare as we speak, that would allow them to defeat him, right? I mean Rosalina said she would make another Star Rod to counter Nightmare, so all we need is the timing and we should get him!"
Ganondorf still thought Pit was crazy but Palutena stared at her little angel before placing a big grin on her face.
"You can come up with good ideas after all."
"Goddess of Light, if you do what your precious angel suggest, then you might fall victim to Nightmare. Then there would it would take a miracle for Meta Knight's group to defeat Nightmare even with the Star Rod."
"But if we don't do this now, then Nightmare will pick us off one by one!" Pit declared. "Pittoo is suffering because of me! He won't last long if he's left in that state! Ganondorf, I'm begging you! Let Lady Palutena perform the task! I'll take full responsibility if it fails!"
"…Stupid angel. If this plan fails then I won't have anyone to take it out on."
Despite his words, it was Palutena's decision and she already had her mind set. Ganondorf grumbled at how the angels and the Goddess were being too reckless and how he has to suffer because of their tactics.
"It will take a few days," Palutena admitted, "so can you go and tell the others of my plan Pit? I need the uttermost concentration for this to work. Ganny, can you tell Master and Crazy? Don't worry, I won't fall asleep again."
"Ai-ai!" Pit hummed as he rushed off to find everyone.
Ganondorf was less than pleased but caught the Goddess off guard by giving her a weak embrace.
"Do not do anything reckless. Losing something that belongs to me…I hate that feeling."
"Aww, your possessiveness is cute. Can you just tell me that you love me, kiss me on the cheek and then leave because that will make things way better."
Ganondorf scoffed as he stormed off to warn the two hands. Perhaps Ganondorf was not ready for the cuddly part of their relationship.
Three days of searching and they weren't getting any closer to finding Nightmare. Even though his presence was large in the universe now that he was sucking up the energy of people who were having nightmares because of him, his physical presence was difficult to track. They weren't going to find anything near the Smash Brothers Realm. Rosalina intended to go out to the Outer Realm and go to other planets to search (since he wouldn't be anywhere near Pop Star of course). The moral overall was down. Kirby was dragging his feet around the Comet Observatory and the Lumas weren't doing a good job in cheering him up. DDD and Meta Knight would take turns helping Rosalina on where to search next. Whoever wasn't supporting her was trying to keep Kirby's spirit up.
Meta Knight grumbled seeing that Kirby did not want to sleep. Rosalina was the Queen of the Cosmos and Nightmare's magic had no effect here. Kirby didn't seem to register this and suffered a classic case of insomnia thinking about how to actually deal with Nightmare.
"Kirby, you must not think too hard about what your role is in this situation." He reminded the pink puffball as he stood next to his ally. "You just need to remember that you cannot win if you do not sleep."
"…My fault…"
"Hmm?"
Meta Knight had to remember that Kirby could talk but often chose not to because it was too much of a hassle. Yoshi thought the same way and repeated his name like a Pokémon even though he could talk if he wanted to. Kirby just pouted thinking about the situation.
"I didn't do a good job convincing Master Hand not to bring Nightmare in. I didn't think the Star Rod would break again. DDD didn't break it this time…nor did he have time to keep it away. Perhaps if we left the Star Rod at the Fountain of Dreams instead of keeping it at Smash Brothers Mansion…"
So that's what you were thinking about. Meta Knight thought as he just looked toward the stars and interrupted Kirby's train of thought. "You are part of the original twelve. You trust Master Hand despite his questionable decisions. This time, it was not in his favor."
"…Our friends are in danger and it's taking too long to find him. Will I be strong enough to fight him? I'm too worried thinking of what would happen if I failed."
"…Be strong Kirby like you always have. We will assist you during the battle."
Kirby stared at Meta Knight before putting back on his smile. It really didn't take much to make him go back to his bubbly self. "Okay, poyo~"
DDD rushed back to the kitchen where the two just came out of with good news. "We found him at the Fountain of Dreams! Of course that dastard would be there to mock us! Get ready for a long fight!"
"…But we have to chase him first, don't we?" Meta Knight asked.
"Uhh…"
Meta Knight chuckled as he walked away. "Get ready for a long fight."
"HEY! DON'T STEAL MY LINE META KNIGHT!"
The king of Dream Land flared up at how Meta Knight was acting, but Kirby laughed at how Meta Knight was trying to keep his spirits up. He wouldn't let the Smashers down as one of the original twelve who had sworn to protect the others.
The voices of those calling for their friends to wake up and the sounds of Smashers crying rang through Sonic's ears. He hated being useless in this situation. He could go around telling everyone not to lose hope, but if he wasn't feeling it, his words meant nothing.
For three days, he saw Red have a meltdown over Pikachu. Normally Red was the one who was put into these situations (like the one time Mewtwo hit him and he was toned to stone and the other time where he froze to death next to Victini) but the trainer of Pallet made sure his Pikachu was never put in serious danger. Apparently in Kalos, something happened to Pikachu that scared Ash to death and Pikachu was reliving that memory in the nightmare. Every time Pikachu cried in his sleep, electricity would shoot out of his cheeks. Every time this happened, Pikachu's trainer would embrace the yellow rodent refusing to let him go.
"Pikachu…" He cried. "Come back…"
It was disheartening to watch his friend break apart. It got worse when Megaman shut down unable to fight off the Nightmare. Finally Pit's isolation was really what crushed Sonic's spirit that anything will get better. He wasn't getting any sleep because he was too busy running around outside of the mansion. He may have dozed off a couple of times but he found out that if he was running at top speed while sleeping, Nightmare couldn't get him. Either that or Nightmare simply was not interested in the blue hedgehog like his friends.
Sonic ended up knocking on someone's room.
"…Fox…"
Fox and Falco were doing all in their power to assist Palutena specifically keeping in touch with Rosalina when the Goddess of Light failed to do so or was speaking to both hands. Fox was even trying to get in contact with Wolf hoping he would assist on finding Nightmare but when he wasn't responding, Fox called in Peppy Hare specifically to assist Rosalina in the assault.
Falco was not in the room due to training in Smash to get his mind off of the situation. Fox opened the door. Like everyone else in the mansion, black rings were under his eyes. Sonic was fortunate to be one of the few to sleep and not suffer the consequences but his heart was hurting each day the longer this went on.
"Sonic, do you need help with anything?"
All Sonic wanted was to let out his frustration out on how useless he was. Instead, he ended up speeding into Fox, wrapping his arms around him and nuzzling his head into the older male's chest.
"S-Sonic?"
"Fox…don't say anything to anyone…I don't want them to know that I…I…"
He wasn't crying. He was just frustrated with himself. He wanted someone to tell him everything would be okay. Shadow wouldn't offer that when he was paying attention to everyone on the assist trophy side and they were lucky that no there were no casualties on their end. Fox closed the door and returned the hug clumsily.
"…I won't tell Sonic. Go ahead and cry."
"Stupid Fox…I'm not…crying…just let me…"
Fox closed his eyes as he allowed the hedgehog to let out a roar of sorrow. Just letting out his emotion was what he needed to do if he wanted to keep encouraging the others.
Meta Knight was speechless. Nightmare was stronger then the last time Kirby defeated him. Without the Star Rod, his rampage was rampart and nothing could stop him from forcing people into a realm of nightmares absorbing their energy. Even with a Goddess to assist them, this was proving difficult. The Star Rod that Rosalina made for Kirby to handle wasn't strong enough and Kirby soon found himself being chased by dark shadowy figures. They were in Nightmare's territory now and there was no hope to escape. Rosalina could, but if she did, the chance of Kirby's group being murdered was higher.
The Lumas ended up sacrificing themselves creating a huge shield to protect Kirby as she slashed them away when Kirby tripped. Kirby was horrified at the death of his little friends and fought harder than before. DDD felt useless not being able to damage Nightmare directly. Instead he stayed next to the Queen of the Cosmos. Meta Knight assisted Kirby ridding Nightmare's minions.
"Hey Rosalina, hope you got a plan B." DDD growled as he smacked another shadow with his mallet. "We won't last long at this rate."
"No…we won't." Rosalina admitted demonstrating tranquil fury at the loss of her children. "Yet…I feel like Palutena has a plan. We must hold out until the plan is complete."
"How long is that? A few minutes? A couple of hours?"
"Perhaps four days."
"What?! That's impossible! Kirby won't last long with a half ass attempt at a Star Rod."
"…I know…I need to go and get as much dream energy to counter Nightmare…" She frowned as she held her arms up in the air. "My children, I am so sorry for asking this, but you must do all in your power to assist Kirby. Your sacrifices won't be in vain…I swear…"
The Lumas had no problem throwing themselves in harms way though in the name of their mother.
"Don't worry mama! We got this!"
"Anything for you mama!"
"Mama, don't look so sad! Just save the galaxy!"
"We love Kirby, mama! We won't let you or Kirby down, whee!"
These bright star children…going off to battle and charging head on. Nightmare was mighty but the Lumas could hold their own in battle. Smash Brothers demonstrated how great they were when they worked together with Rosalina. They could protect Kirby and Meta Knight from an attack or charge in head on with Star Bits. One Luma wasn't powerful, but an army of Luma would put up a challenge. The loss would be great without weakening Nightmare's grip.
"Meta Knight, save some room for me!" DDD declared as he looked at Rosalina. "Go do your duty as the Queen of the Cosmos! Save as many souls from the lurid dreams as possible! We'll hold him off until we see an opening! We will win!"
DDD may have been the selfish self-proclaimed king of Dream Land, but situations like this are where the penguin really shined. Rosalina smiled as she teleported off the battle despite Nightmare trying to keep her in his territory. She frowned though as she got back on the Comet Observatory. Leaving her friends at the mercy of death. When Rosalina lost her most precious person as a child, never again would she attach herself to living beings. The Lumas were different so she was fine…but then she met Mario who allowed her into his group. She befriended everyone from his brother Luigi to princess Peach. Even Bowser respected her after the first encounter and she showed off her competence against him at the center of the universe. To be fair, the only person she was at odds with was Daisy but that might have been because she saw her as a threat for Luigi's heart. Rosalina was never interested in love affairs and kept to herself. Mario's kindness allowed her to join the Smash Brothers ranking. Mario kept his promise to her before the final battle that she would never be alone…
…That promise when she read her storybook to him, but unknown to the Lumas that after she read the line about her mother sleeping under the hill, proceeded to cry alone. Mario comforted her finally realizing that the girl in the story was the Queen of the Cosmos. He told her that after saving Peach from Bowser again, he would welcome her to join in all the events he has hosted in the past whether it would be karting with the group or golf. Heck, it went even further to Smash Brothers Mansion where Rosalina would meet another Goddess with identical pain to her Palutena.
Rosalina would never be alone again. Now her friendship and how competent she was would be put to the test here. If she did not succeed on her side, all of her friends would fall to the Nightmare leaving her all alone again…and she would not let that happen. Twirling her wand, she moved the Comet Observatory at top speed around the galaxy going to other worlds and restoring those who were caught by Nightmare back to their sweet dream state.
I will not let anyone down. Mario, Palutena, Kirby…all of you…hang on a little while longer. I'm going to get help!
It's one thing to have a fear of going to sleep and falling into the dream world. It is another thing to suffer insomnia after what had occurred. Rob refused to take a trip to dream land after his sister and best friend's daughter fell to Nightmare. Pit wasn't the only one who felt the pain of his twin inside the dream world. Rob could feel Robin's sorrow and could feel her cries for help. He was powerless to help her. Because of what happened, Rob decided it would be best if her husband and son were not called to see her in this condition (Rob would be at Henry's mercy if that was the case). Chrom only listened to Rob's suggestion because he didn't want to see Olivia and Inigo in tears. He would be by his daughter and faithful tactician's side until they woke up.
For Rob though, he was also praying for his friend Shulk. Dunban did not know how Shulk could fall to the nightmares if he could foresee the future. Perhaps no matter how much he could see, sleep would get him if he could not stay awake.
"…Did he have the Monado when he ended up like this?" Rob asked Dunban who waited patiently for Shulk's awakening. "If he had it, couldn't he have held Nightmare off?"
"…No, Shulk does not need the Monado."
This was news to the white haired tactician. "W-What? He…doesn't?"
"In Smash, he likes to give the impression he needs Monado, but in reality he doesn't to see visions. Think of the Monado like a magic feather." Dunban scowled. "But it doesn't do much if his vision is hijacked by nightmares…I feel like I failed him."
Rob wanted to say something but he just stared at the sleeping Hom. Even those who could see the future can't necessary change said future. It's nothing but ironic to see that those who insist on changing it be the first to fall to their terrible fates. Secretly, Rob wanted to grasp at Shulk's hand and whisper that everything would be okay…yet Rob wouldn't be here if Chrom didn't save him. He would loathe the idea that Chrom got to him first and not his sister who Chrom valued more, but that was something he would keep to himself and pray Nightmare would use against him if he did fall into a deep slumber.
There was a knock at the door though causing Dunban and Rob to stand up upon seeing that Pit was finally out of his room moving around.
"I need you two to prepare for Lady Palutena's speech!" Pit declared. "We're going to either save everyone now, or we'll all fall to the Nightmare!"
Rob was interested. "What did she have in mind?"
"She will tell you when she's done preparing. Rob, you're going to need to go either to Robin or stay with Shulk. Prepare your weapons in real life because we're going to be slaying some demons in the dream world!"
Dunban was engrossed with the idea too. Pit didn't stay long as he rushed out and warned the other Smashers of Palutena's plan. The angel seemed to forget that the preparation would take at least until the end of the week (four days perhaps) to finish. This was because Palutena wanted to get everyone in the crisis zone. If everyone were exhausted, they would fight the hardest in the nightmare. Just organizing the battle plan was putting Palutena to her limit. Ganondorf's presence calmed her calm and prevented her from falling asleep in the middle of it.
When day seven finally came when everyone forced himself or herself to stay awake, Palutena made the announcement with her magic. It was amazing what one Goddess could do with a lack of energy.
"Everyone, please listen to me. It took me a while to prepare this, but I'm telling you right now. Rosalina needs our assistance. We cannot join her in stopping Nightmare. Instead, we'll take it to the dream world and save our comrades. Nightmare gets stronger when he successfully manages to make someone succumb to his or her night terrors. What we must do is force our way into their dreams and defeat the problems that plague them. For some of us, this will be painful to repeat an incident that you do not want to do again. You must remain strong because if you are defeated in the dream world, we have lost you to Nightmare in the real world. Please remember this and prepare yourselves. Give the single when you are all ready to go."
Everyone went back to the rooms of where their fallen friends were. Pit grasped at Dark Pit's hand already ready to save his twin this time around. Palutena was being a bit dramatic with Nightmare. Pittoo had already shown him that Nightmare couldn't handle another person in the main dream. Even if Dark Pit was weakened by his own insecurities, he still managed to save the captain twice. The Nightmare's attention would be focused in the real world against his arch nemesis, so them diving into the heart would be successful unless Kirby wasn't picking up the slack on his end.
All the Smashers and even those who were not Smashers were ready. Rob at the end of the day asked Chrom if he could help his sister. It worried him, but Rob had hope that if he could be saved, Chrom could save his daughter and his tactician. Rob wanted to help Dunban save Shulk from his nightmare. It might be selfish to choose his friend over his twin sister, but everyone else was dead set on saving someone close to them, and the quicker things got done, the more likely they could jump into another dream world. Dunban and Riki appreciated his assistance.
Chrom would show just how badass he was though by allowing Palutena to split his power in half while he dove into both Lucina and Robin's world. Link would assist Lucina and Zelda would help Robin, so he wasn't alone.
"If everyone is ready, let us move out!" Palutena declared as her eyes glowed. Her entire room glowed a bright blue color that engulfed the entire mansion that was participating in the rescue mission. Ganondorf held onto her waist tightly so she wouldn't fall over while conducting the spell. Palutena had to remain awake while everyone was in the dream world or it would fail…but as long as the King of Evil was keeping her on her feet, she would be fine.
Pittoo couldn't handle the pain he was feeling in the dream world anymore. Nightmare had broken him down with all insecurities he had and now he was at the mercy of this bastard who disguised himself as the Chaos Kin to him. He was left on the floor of the darkness trying to catch his breath after what he just experienced. His tunic was torn revealing the most private parts of his body. His wings were useless here and his staff was broken into pieces like his mind was.
"I will not lose to that pink puffball again. Your powers are needed."
Why was it just him that was special to Nightmare? Was it because he was considered what people would call the "sacred darkness"? Evil thrived in the dark but pure energy from darkness was hard to come by. Dark Pit couldn't move from his spot. The influence Nightmare had was too strong.
There were footsteps walking toward him. Turning his head slightly, he gasped at the anonymous figures that were walking toward him. They all looked identical: naked and had no face to differentiate them.
"Perhaps my tentacle session was too much for you. Perhaps you would enjoy sex from these clones instead."
"Y-You bastard!"
Going after his self-esteem again. No matter how many times Pittoo convinced himself he was not a clone, everyone would still give him that look as being the shadow of the captain. There was nothing he could do to change that.
"Don't touch me you bastards! I'll kill you all when I get my powers back!"
"Give it up. You have survived this long by praying, but you are finished and I will make sure you and your other friends won't wake up again. Then I can move on to the original. His darkness is amazing."
"You won't get to Pit! I will die first before you get to him!"
"Then you can die now and surrender."
His eyes quivered feeling one of the figures grabbed him from behind and forced him into his lap. The dark angel could struggle all he wanted, but these clones were stronger and forced his legs apart. He tried to kick their hands away but they held him down. There was no way his fragile frame could handle them.
Dammit not again! Pittoo cursed already feeling them pinching at his nipples. Is this how I'm going to die? Violated by these things until I lose the will to fight back…Pit…
He blinked feeling himself be forced to lie on his back with one of the clones over his body in between his spread legs. Dark Pit tried to push him off one last time but another clone grabbed his arms and held them above his head.
"No…get away…"
He wasn't paralyzed in fear at all. They were just overpowering him making him realize how powerless he was to stop this. The Chaos Kin was hovering above the clone with that evil eye preying on the body. It was sickening to hear these "clones" laugh at the situation he was put in with the threat of raping him on the spot. He didn't even have the power to scream now.
"I can spare you the pain if you give up now." Nightmare warned him. "If you surrender now, you can just be in a peaceful slumber. You won't dream anymore and cannot be hurt by my powers."
His eyes were losing focus in this blackness. He was a goner either way. Nightmare continued to cackle seeing frustrated tears threatening to fall down his eyes.
"No one will save you, so stop praying to your precious angel."
"I…"
"PITTOO!"
The Chaos Kin looked up and moved out of the way before the angel of light slammed down on him with his twin daggers. Pit ended up impaling the "clone" that was on top of his twin before kicking it to the side. The other clones were sliced away when Pit twirled the twin daggers around him like a ninja shuriken.
"GET LOST!"
Nightmare did not expect the angel to come in with power that shouldn't have been accessed in the dream world.
"You! How?!"
Pit didn't answer as he put his bow back together and fired an arrow straight for the Chaos' Kin's eye. It wasn't the real Nightmare but it was enough to send it flying against the wall where it would be stuck until Pit decided to pull it out and kill it again.
"Pittoo! Did I make it on time? Pittoo?"
The white angel was confused why his dark half wasn't responding to him. Was he too late? The angel shrieked feeling the weight suddenly weigh him down. It wasn't every day that Dark Pit instigated a loving embrace. The dark angel did this to hide the fact that he might cry.
"What took you so long Pitstain? I thought you chickened out and ran away…"
Pit hummed as he hugged him tightly. "Don't call me that please when I'm trying to be cool. I came up with this cool idea to just have Lady Palutena use her magic to allow us to dive into everyone's hearts now that Meta Knight's group is confronting Nightmare in the real world."
So that's why he's desperate. Pittoo thought to himself. He needs me to stand a chance with this sudden assault from the mansion…
"Pit…"
The angel of light let go of his twin noticing the tears that were in his twin's eyes. He smiled extending his hand out to wipe them away.
"Pittoo…let's get out of here together now. You're not going to sacrifice yourself to save me and I refuse to leave you here."
"Isn't the Chaos Kin going to get us?"
Pit smirked seeing as it was still struggling to break free. The arrow was noticeably different than the one the Minotaur broke.
"Lady Palutena is shining her light down on us. We leave now before he regains his strength."
That was the best thing Pittoo heard all week. Pit extended his hand out confusing the dark angel.
"Take my hand this time. Don't let go."
"Why would I? I want to beat your ass in Smash again."
"Hey, I want to try some things in bed with you…oh that came out wrong. Garhh! Don't look at me like that, we're leaving!"
Dark Pit had no problem jumping into his twin's arms again causing Pit to tense up. Pit wanted to play the knight in shining armor? Well he was getting it now, and Pit had no problem looking upward toward the light that offering them refuge in the real world.
Kirby could see Nightmare was weakening. Whatever the Smashers were doing to prevent Nightmare from hurting their friends was working. (It also helped that Fox asking for his comrades to assist Kirby's group by shooting with their Arwings.) The negative energy was being forced out of him as his gigantic appearance was slowly shrinking to the size that Kirby fought him as originally. Rosalina smiled as she finally finished creating a new Star Rod specifically for the final hit. Saving as many people as possible was not an easy task but their sweet dreams allowed her to create a better version of the rod that would not break so easily.
"No! That cursed angel captain…my best energy source…gone…"
DDD laughed seeing the Nightmare waver. "Heh-heh. That will teach you not to mess with us Smashers. Go on Kirby. Finish him off and let's drag him back to Master."
"Poyo!" Kirby exclaimed as the pink puffball jumped into the air with the Star Rod. The light shined bright as Kirby gathered even more energy from the universe's dreams. Nightmare gasped seeing the weapon being more deadly than before. Rosalina's eyes sparkled seeing how great the light was. With a battle cry, Kirby swung the Star Rod shooting smaller comets in the form of stars at Nightmare. He screamed as he took the full force and he tried to shield himself with his cape. This was proven futile when the star comets would rip past his cape and then hit him directly. His size continued to shrink. Meta Knight would then charge Nightmare and stab him in the chest in the process of Kirby sending out another ray of light. There was indeed no kill like overkill.
"Wow mama! Kirby is cool!" The Luma next to Rosalina declared. "Can I be as cool as Kirby when I grow up?"
"Of course." Rosalina said with a smile as she twirled her wand to create a barrier around Nightmare after the light savagely beat him. "The mission is complete, so we'll be finally heading back to Smash Brothers Mansion. I hope Palutena has taken care of everyone there."
The horrors were over when the Comet Observatory came back with the culprit in hand. Master wasted no time with getting the Miis to take him away where he would deal with him personally. With Nightmare under arrest by Master, everything in the mansion would quickly return to normal as well as the rest of the universe. People were allowed to dream pleasant dreams and nightmares were not sucking the life force out of everyone. As the other Smashers started to wake up, many tears were shed and when they woke up those like Pit and Palutena collapsed immediately and would be sleeping for the entire day. They forced themselves to work the hardest and deserved the rest as much as Kirby's gang who also decided to nap frequently after the journey that refused to give them enough rest.
Before Master could handle Nightmare with Crazy, he had to deal with the one who broke the Star Rod. While it seemed like he was doing nothing during the entire week, he was actually searching for the culprit based on how they were acting based on the situation even going as far as to question the assist trophies. Sure enough he figured it out and brought those particular people in his room.
"Please Master Hand, don't be mad at K. It was an accident."
Master Hand was an intimidating being…especially in his human form. In said form, he was a tall, handsome man with medium length black hair and piercing brown eyes. While he was prone to losing his temper outside of being a hand in Smash, now he displayed cold anger that would scare even the scariest villain.
"…Isabelle, leave." Master told the yellow dog darkly. "This is between me and your mayor."
"B-But…"
The Villager patted Isabelle on the shoulder smiling warmly at her. He didn't say anything to her but urged her to leave so nothing bad would happen to her. She was on the verge of crying but she left with the other Villagers Pink and Ace (the handsome one). It was just Master Hand in the room with the normal Villager who continued to smile even though he was in serious trouble.
"…K…you do realize how serious this situation is, right?"
The Villager stared at Master Hand as a response before nodding his head slightly.
"You were playing with the Star Rod outside of Smash Brothers and broke it. Instead of coming clean about it, you placed it in the assist trophy room hoping none of the Smashers would see you. What happened instead was the one assist trophy that was restrained because of this item was free and the Smashers suffered nightmares that could have killed them. Your recklessness did not just cost the near deaths of the Smashers, but could have affected the whole galaxy. Do you understand how bad this is?"
Again K nodded his head as a response. Master wondered what was going in K's mind with his lecture.
"Was this intentional? Do not try to lie to me because if you do, you will be severely punished."
Now the Villager frowned, but his eyes were still looking past Master Hand before he finally spoke. "…I was showing off how pretty the Star Rod was to Isabelle. She was feeling down, so I thought that would help…but I got into a fight with Ace…and that's why it broke…I did not know that it was used to hold Nightmare…but…" Villager looked at Master Hand straight in the eye. "If you knew the risks, why did you allow a villain to be an assist? Putting him back without heavy restraints might cause the incident to happen again."
Master Hand…honestly had no idea why he would allow Nightmare back. Perhaps it went from the idea that anyone could be redeemed if they hung out outside of their world domination. Nightmare only exists because of bad dreams and feeds off of them therefore it would be impossible to make him more social like Andross hence why that guy needed to be under his absolute control. Now though, extra precautions needed to be taken to avoid this catastrophe again. Thank the Gods he had two of them on his side this season.
"I am aware of that and will take extra pre-cautions. Just make sure you do not try to hide this incident again. For now, I will not tell anyone of your involvement, but I expect you to handle things with care. You will make Isabelle worry."
Again the Villager frowned at the obvious guilt tripping. If he wanted to have fun, he would have fun whether Master liked it or not. However, Isabelle was important to him, so for her sake, he'll tone things down…but if Nightmare ever tried to target her the next time this incident happened…
The Villager smiled again as he nodded his head in agreement before he dismissed himself from the room. Perhaps everyone would feel better if he took Nightmare for himself and put him as a room decoration for his house to represent his status as mayor. Oh wouldn't that be nice for Halloween?
Me: Done with 10820 words.
Li: Really long story. Man…
Me: Yeah, and I still feel like I couldn't squeeze everyone in. Notes!
1. Every character that has gotten caught in the nightmare all have bad things happen to them. If its not stated, I'll go over what the fears are right here.
Pit the first time was his wings burning and dying. Second time is based on my headcanon on why he can't fly.
Dark Pit the first time assisted Pit but gets caught instead. Second dream you see Pittoo getting tentacle raped by the Chaos Kin. The third is the replica and near rape attempt.
Lucina is specifically of the bad future and if she didn't make it in time to go back to the past.
Female Robin is the canon protagonist in this one-shot and she's the one that visions killing Chrom thus setting everything off.
Shulk is the death of his childhood friend Fiore by Metal Face and all the backstabbing that occurs in Xenoblade Chronicles.
Pikachu is based on the new Pokémon movie in which Pikachu is the one killed instead of Ash.
Luigi is based on Super Paper Mario where Dimentio screws him over and they become Super Dimentio and the scenario if Dimentio won.
Peach is based on Paper Mario The 1000 Year Door of being possessed by the Shadow Queen and killing everyone close to her.
Samus is basically the Space Pirates (specifically Ridley) killing her parents.
Marth is the fall of his kingdom and in a scenario where he failed to escape.
Palutena is specifically the Chaos Kin but fortunately for her, she doesn't get caught in the nightmare. Hers though is based on a headcanon that she has dirties her hands in the past and refuses for Pit to know about the awful things she did. This stems from many of the Greek Mythology stories with Athena such as Medusa being punished despite being raped by Posiedon but because Athena could not punish someone hire than her, she took it out on the priestess instead and would later order her execution by Perseus. Given how Fallen Angel implied showed Medusa angry with a specific angel, you can probably guess who Dionysus is at this point in time. Then there's the implication that she killed Apollo (who is not brought up in any Kid Icarus one-shot specifically the one narrated from Pyrrhon's POV of what he had witnessed the main Gods do). Finally there is the implication that Palutena and Hades worked together to stop Helios. In Hot Spring Galaxy, Palutena brings up that Circe should be grateful to her and a few other Gods. This is referring to this specific incident of sealing Helios with Hades and other Gods/Goddesses assistance.
2. Kirby can talk in my Smash Brothers stories and so can Yoshi. The only characters who cannot talk are Pokémon who cannot talk in the anime (Lucario and Mewtwo can but not Pikachu, Charizard, Jigglypuff or Greninja). I wanted to joke that Kirby is a silent protagonist but Kirby honestly isn't silent from the Kirby game cutscenes showing that Kirby is rather energetic. Yoshi is shown to be able to talk in the Paper Mario series hence why I list he can talk.
3. The reason why Nightmare was not at the Fountain of Dreams originally was because he was too busy going around the galaxy giving nightmares to other people to power up. The Fountain of Dreams is now destroyed unfortunately and has to be rebuilt.
4. Rosalina's backstory is revisited in this story because I wanted to touch a little on what goes on through her mind when helping her comrades out. In most of my fanfiction with her, she is just Palutena's best friend and the best Goddess of the three (if Zelda is considered one). We have to remember her loneliness and how isolated she is, so it was my headcanon that the reason Rosalina shows up so much beside being popular is because Mario offered her to join the group knowing full well that they'll die eventually but for the time everyone is alive, she can join in on their parties. This idea of Mario asking Master Hand for Rosalina to join is also why I think Mario is not really surprised of her appearance on Rainbow Road in her trailer. I'm not pairing Mario and Rosalina up though as Rosalina had already accepted that Peach is the most important one. The idea of her remaining single stems from the fact that it's a hassle to get into a relationship that won't last forever (unless it was another God/Goddess but Palutena is out of the question because I have her like Ganondorf.)
5. Okay I fucked up in the Hot Spring Galaxy story like real bad. I had no idea that Shulk did not need the Monado to see visions (meaning the situation he was put in was useless if he could foresee it. The only explanation now is that Circe would prevent magic that strong from working in her hot spring resort.) Regardless, it won't do much if sleep overtakes you and you're stuck in a nightmare here even though he can see visions in dreams too. Again it won't matter if Nightmare hijacks his visions with nightmares that Shulk wouldn't want to remember. Future stories will attempt to use this to his advantage and working around how to beat a vision.
6. So yeah the Villager is the one that nearly screwed everyone over. I finally decided that his character alignment is chaotic neutral at best and chaotic evil at worse. This is because even though I still have great ideas for the Villager, I wanted him to be able to function in Smash Brothers Mansion. The names are listed in the Hot Spring Galaxy fic but the main Villager is named K (Killager or Kidd). I decided that all of the Villagers are creepy in their own way. Some of them are cute and some of them are outright disturbing. K and the Villagers in general though like Isabelle, K more than anyone likes the most as being the mayor of Smashville. Therefore he will do anything for her over his crazy desires and as shown in this fic, he accidentally fucked a lot of Smashers over because he wanted to cheer her up.
Long story done before Halloween. This should be the REAL Halloween fic. Reviews are appreciated. Ja ne!