Prim & Proper

Shattered.

That was what I was.

Out of order.

I was a broken girl. How could anyone, no matter how kind and warm-hearted, want something as damaged as myself?

...

Worthless too, wasn't I? Just like he had said to me, with those cruel, twisted eyes of his. Those unkind words echoed through my head…

"Don't you dare look at me with your filthy eyes, you piece of dirt! You're worthless!" He slashed me across the face. It stung, a lot.

"…hardly fit to stand in my presence, let alone this Earth!" He advanced towards my crumpled figure on the floor. Unconsciously, my hand reached up and touched my stinging cheek. Red. My fingers. They were drenched in red.

I cringed. He had caught some of my hair, and was yanking on it. Tears came out of my eyes at the pain; I struggled not to cry out.

He began to drag me back by the roots of my hair. "Stand up, ungrateful wretch. You're going to the cellar for the rest of the day."

My eyes went wide. The cellar.

No.

Several long strands of blond hair were torn out of my head. He kicked my stomach as I struggled to break free. I felt the air whoosh out of my body. It was aching with pain, excruciating pain.

Malicious eyes scorched through my own; watching my blue eyes swirl faster and faster with fear, his teeth glistened dangerously in a warped grin. His mouth opened and words poured out, but I couldn't hear them, the fear ringing in my ears overshadowing all other sounds.

The devil. He was the devil, I swear it.

"…-other!" He began to laugh wickedly, the light making his teeth sharpen into fangs.

"Weak, stupid, worthless piece of dirt!" His laughter buzzed in my ears as he dragged me away. "You're just like your mother!"

I jolted back into the real world.

Silence wrapped itself around my body; the library was abandoned, with the exception of me. It made sense, of course, everyone would be rushing to the dinner table, eager not to miss out on the best portions of food.

I sighed loudly, (a very un-princess-like thing to do, but who would hear me?). This was my only alone-time of the day; why I spend it reminiscing horrid memories, I don't know.

I stroked my cheek, the very same which had been slapped and cut open countless times, many years back. I was glad my skin wasn't easy to bruise or scar, otherwise, it wouldn't be porcelain white, it probably would've represented something closer to a mottled black and blue.

With my mind roaming to other, more unpleasant places, I got up from the red plush chair I had been resting in and surveyed the bookshelves restlessly. A boring, thick, grey volume caught my eye and I began flicking through it aimlessly.

My stomach growled; I patted it gently, recalling the numerous times it had been kicked.

The day he died, many grieving visitors had offered me handkerchiefs. I remember accepting them gratefully, then turning away and watching them flutter into the garbage bin, unused. I hadn't shed a tear at that funeral.

My mother had been silent through the entire process, stone-faced expression all throughout the burial.

She died two weeks later. People say it was from heartbreak.

It's a funny thing though; no one noticed the knife sticking out of her chest.

After her death, pressure was suddenly put on me to rule the kingdom with the same effectiveness as my parents. I was only nine when I came into power, but I led my land perhaps a hundred times more effectively than my parents had before me. The people had loved me instantly, heartbroken with the tragedy of such an innocent princess being left alone in the world at such a young age.

Regardless of my rather young age, I toiled vigorously. For 10 years since the day of my inauguration at the age of nine, I worked to my very limits, increasing my kingdom's wealth, health, and happiness.

And now… here I was, princess of possibly the most wealthiest kingdom in all the land. My citizens were happy and streets were clean and free of poverty. Everyone was happy; every single individual under my rule was living a good life. I made sure of it.

Shelving the thick, grey tome, something sparkling out in the hallway caught my eye. Upon further inspection, it was a gleaming sword, laying encased in an intricate glass case. The inscription near it read: 'Roy of Pharae's flaming sword, Sword of Seals.' It wasn't the real one though, just a replica of a sword once used by a great fighter.

I tapped the glass encasing idly. He had always held an amount of affection for me, that Roy. Always teasing me one day, then showering me in dozens of pink roses the next. People often mistook that we were a pair… except…

I've never felt anything out of the ordinary for Roy. He was just another boy in my life, nothing more, nothing less. He was quite charming nonetheless, but…I guess he wasn't the one for me.

Was there even a one for me? Perhaps not… No one would want a princess with such a damaged past as mine. Princesses were supposed to be perfect after all. Perfectly prim, proper and prime for anything; including all aspects of pain.

Isn't that right, dad?

I turned away from the sword and looked at the accessories left behind from Pichu. That cute little mouse Pokémon had always been fond of those big blue goggles.

Beside Pichu's accessories (which were also encased) was an indestructible glass box holding what is supposed to be a strand of Mewtwo's DNA. Taking a step backwards, I took a moment and reminisced these three fighters. They had not made an appearance in this year's tourney.

Leaving the display cases behind, I decided to go back to the library and find a book to read; though, I doubted I'd find anything worth interest, having read more than half of the library's contents already. Not only did I teach myself to speak Hylian, I could now better understand the Pokémon, as well as Kirby and Yoshi.

Perhaps it's time for Japanese, Marth's native language…

My musings, as well as the silence which had so comfortably enveloped me, were scattered by a sudden, squeaky voice coming from behind me.

"P-p-princess…?" enquired a high, timid voice I presumed belonged to that dreadfully shy boy, Lucas.

Spinning around, I gave the trembling boy a warm smile. "Yes, Lucas, my dear. What may I do for you?"

He visibly began to relax and even offered me a shy smile in return. "Well, actually… you see… it's, um… dinnertime… A-and S-Sa-Samus says she doesn't want you to be late for this one…"

I pursed my lips. Samus didn't usually care if I was late or early for anything, so long as I showed up. For her to actually worry meant something was up. Something she needed my assistance with.

A secret smile coloured my face. I think I knew. "Tell her I'll be there in a couple minutes, is that alright?" I beamed at the blond boy.

Lucas blushed and kicked the ground ruefully. "O-okay," he said to the ground. In a last minute decision, he decided to look up at me and smile. "B-but don't worry! Dinner doesn't for another ten minutes!" He gave me one last nervous smile and ran off, waving to me as he went.

A trace of admiration lit up in my body for Lucas; it was quite brave of him to trek this place all by himself. This mansion was an enormous place after all; built by what I am assured are the finest architects in the world, I made sure the mansion would be built large enough so that, if anyone was to wander about, the chances of bumping into another fighter would be slim. There were well over 400 rooms, and 100 bathrooms, more than plenty for 36 fighters to live in together.

Yet it still seemed to surprise me that even this mansion's expanse was no where near the size of my castle back at home. Hm.

I looked at a nearby grandfather clock, dinner was nearing. I sighed.

Time to make my entrance.

A/N: I've always sort of held this belief that not all princess's parents were the perfect, stereotypical bearded father and kind-eyed mother as many people think they are in fairytales.
What if they were abusive, suicidal perfectionists? And so, my story was born.

Even though I'm sort of proud of it, I'm sorry the first chapter isn't so interesting (I reread it, and realized there was no "action").
I hope you'll stay with me though, and continue reading!

If you haven't already figured out who the protagonist is (but I'm sure you have), I'd rather not reveal it, so, I can't really talk about this chapter too much xD

Anyway, if there are any errors in my grammar or anything else (I think I switched verb tenses...), please don't hesitate to give me some criticism! But, I'd rather not receive flames, thank you kindly...
As always, I would deeply appreciate it if you wrote me a review~

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I hope I'll see you again! :)

Disclaimer (can't forget this, I suppose): Is this really necessary? I already don't own anything~