AN: Hello! I've been a bit slow writng (got distracted) so I've made it a two-shot so that i can post something ^_^ Dedicated to MarsMonster, the lucky 100th reviewer of Artistic Licence. Please review!


Elisse woke to soft sunshine, and on opening her eyes was instantly disorientated. Whilst she waited for her brain to tell her where she was she looked absently out the window to her right and saw trees and blue sky. Which was a bit odd – normally from that angle all she could see was sky and perhaps a chimneys from the houses opposite. And come to think of it, her window wasn't even to the right of the bed… where was she? Her brain still wasn't catching up. She didn't remember going anywhere…

Yawning she sat up and rubbed her eyes. The whole room was unfamiliar – how had she got here? She was just about to get up and go investigate when Ike came in through the door and placed a tray of cooked breakfast on her lap.

"Awake at last, eh?" He smiled and sat down on the bed beside her.

"Yeah…thanks. But um…what are you doing here?"

Ike laughed. "Well I suppose I could have left without you but I decided to stay here and make you breakfast instead. Do you mind?"

"Um…no…" She cleared her throat. Her voice sounded strange. And she hadn't really understood what Ike had said either.

"Where am I?"

Ike grinned. "Wait 'til you've eaten your breakfast and woken up a bit more. It'll come to you." He leant in and kissed her gently on the cheek before standing up and leaving her to eat.

Alone, Elisse considered her options and in the end settled on eating her breakfast. She wasn't quite sure what was going on – it even occurred to her that she might still be dreaming – but she wasn't about to turn down a good piece of bacon under any circumstances.

However, having finished eating she felt no more enlightened than before. She stood up and wandered around the room a little but then jumped, startled, as she spotted Marth standing beside the door.

"God Marth, I didn't see you there! What the hell is…" Something was wrong. Slowly, she reached a hand towards him. He copied her… and their hands met on cool glass.

"HOLY SHIT!"

"Marth? Are you okay?" Ike rushed in, concerned. Elisse looked back at him and then back at Marth – the pale face, the shocked blue eyes…her face…his face… It was a mirror.

And she…

She was Marth.

"Marth?" Ike shook her gently.

It was impossible.

"You look like you're about to faint – sit down." He guided her gently back to the bed and sat her down.

This was impossible.

"What is it?"

Impossible.

"Marth, speak to me."

She swallowed nervously and pointed at the mirror. Ike looked at it and then back at her.

"You don't look that bad in the mornings," he joked.

"I'm Marth," she whispered.

"Yes you are. Why, had you forgotten?"

She didn't know what to say.

"Your head's in the clouds this morning. Why don't you have a shower and I'll see you in a bit?" Ike suggested gently. She nodded, and he left her to herself once more.

Several minutes passed.

It's not every day that you wake up as your brother, she thought. But she had. And somehow, she had to deal with it. What was it Ike had suggested again? Oh yeah, have a shower and get ready. Right, might as well…

Hang on.

She was a guy.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Of course she had known as soon as she realised she was Marth, but she hadn't really thought about it so much until now, when faced with the thought of a shower. When they were very little their mum used to put them in the same bath together – but this was different. Marth was a man now. She was a man. God, this was weird.

At her scream Ike had reappeared and she turned to look at him helplessly.

"What was that for?" he asked. She took a deep breath.

"I…I just felt like it."

He walked towards her slowly, half-smiling. "You just felt like swearing?"

She shrugged. "The shower…" She waved a hand dismissively. "Uh… it's nothing."

"The shower?" Ike repeated. Then in a slightly more meaningful tone, "Do you want me to give you a hand?"

Broken shower fittings… "No!" Elisse yelped. "I mean… no, thanks."

Ike frowned. "Why are you so tense? Relax." He smiled gently before climbing on the bed behind her and massaging her shoulders.

"Um…Ike?" But what could she say? Sorry, I'm actually Elisse I just seem to be stuck in Marth's body at the moment? Who would believe it?

"Yes?"

"Nothing."

"Just relax," he urged her, continuing to massage. Which felt rather nice actually. Very nice. In fact, scratch that. Marth might just have boyfriended the best massager on the planet.

"Oh god…" She arched her back in pleasure as his expert hands worked the tension from her shoulders. But then he moved closer, his torso pushing up against her back as his arms moved to wrap around her midriff. She froze as she felt his tongue gently tease her outer ear. But of course. Ike was Marth's boyfriend. For Ike, nothing could be more natural.

This could be tricky.

She turned around, gently disentangling herself with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry."

"What is it?"

Quick, think. "Let me brush my teeth."

Ike smiled. "There's no need to be self-conscious."

Elisse shrugged. She'd got out of it for now, but she needed to make sure that after she'd brushed her teeth she wouldn't end up straight back with the same awkwardness.

"Didn't you say we'd be going out this morning?" she risked.

"Ah – Yes I did, didn't I?"

Phew. "You'd better let me get ready then."

"Alright. See you outside when you're done."

Once inside the bathroom Elisse quickly shut and locked the door behind her. She was going to have to act Marth to the best of her ability – she didn't want to mess up Marth's relationship with Ike, but she couldn't let herself get too close to him because that would be plain awkward. Great. She took a deep breath and suddenly something else occurred to her. Something that should have occurred to her much earlier. If she was in Marth's body… what had happened to hers?


Marth was dragged slowly awake by the sound of a baby crying. It was loud too – how thin were the walls in this hotel? Aarrrgh… He waited impatiently for someone to quieten it, but if anything the crying only got louder. God, how loudly could a single baby cry? It sounded like it was only in the next room or something.

"Ike?" he muttered. "Ike, can you hear that?"

No reply.

"Ike!" he hissed, reaching over the bed to locate him. But his hand met empty air. Where the hell? It was pitch black, he couldn't see a thing. He rolled over the other way until his hand found the bedside lamp. He flicked it on.

"Ike?" The room was empty. It didn't look like he thought it should either, though perhaps that was just the lighting. But no, it wasn't just that – the wardrobe should be…and the door should be…

"Ike? IKE!" Still no reply. Maybe he'd gotten up early to do some painting. He felt weird. It just wasn't right. He should probably just go back to sleep. If only that baby would just stop crying…

If…

"Aaaargh somebody shut it up!" he moaned, covering his ears to no avail. Hadn't the thing screamed itself hoarse already? Evidently not. The screams went on.

"I'm trying to sleep here!"

No response. Not a single other voice apart from the baby's, crying on and on and on…

He got up, unable to ignore the noise any longer. Rolling out of bed he followed the sound out of the bedroom door and across the landing. On the way he tried to ignore how everything felt out of place somehow – the layout of the hotel, the lack of lighting, even himself. Somehow the dark and the crying and the lack of Ike was just a little creepy.

"Hello?" he called softly, approaching the door where the crying seemed loudest. Once more, no one answered him. He opened the door and went inside. The crying here was really almost painful on the ear – the baby was definitely in this room. He flicked on the light switch.

It was a charming little room, pale peach in colour and bordered round the middle with a repetitive pattern of cute cartoon elephants. There were baby toys scattered all over the floor and in the far corner was a nappy changing table stacked high on one end with fresh nappies awaiting use. And finally, near the door, was a simple wooden crib which contained the source of the racket. But Marth was preoccupied. He recognised this room, and it wasn't from the hotel. In fact in other circumstances he would have easily sworn it was the nursery room at Elisse's house. But that was impossible. Yet as he leant over the crib it certainly seemed like the baby bore the familiar face of Aaron.

It was impossible. There was no way he could have ended up in Elisse's house. He'd gone to sleep yesterday in a hotel room – this just had to be a dream.

He closed his eyes and then opened them again. Then again. Then he spun around. He jumped and yelled. But he was still in the nursery and the baby was still crying. If this was a dream it was one that was particularly hard to wake up from.

"Ike?" What was he supposed to do? Well whatever was going on, the baby's wails were driving him up the wall. Perhaps he could get it a bottle of milk or something. He headed for the stairs, feeling ever more confused on finding the place ever more appearing like Elisse's house.

He descended the stairs warily, and as he did so was aware of something else odd – the top part of his chest moving up and down, stair by stair. Not painfully or unpleasantly as such, but certainly enough to be noticeable. At the bottom of the stairs he flicked on the nearest light and looked down at himself to see what was amiss. It seemed like his chest had swollen up at the top – an infection? Worried, he removed his pyjama top to have a look.

"HOLY SHIT!" It was like he had…well, breasts. He prodded one tentatively. It didn't hurt – surely it would hurt if his chest had got somehow inflamed? Perhaps he would get a better idea of the problem if he looked in a mirror. He looked around a little and spotted one near the front door. So, feeling more than a little nervous, he stepped in front of it.

From that point there was a bit of a delayed reaction. At first glance, seeing essentially nothing he expected to see, he was first convinced that the mirror wasn't working. He was just turning away when something made him pause – not something he expected, yet something familiar none the less. He turned back towards the mirror and looked again – properly.

"HOLY SHIT!"

He reached for his top before looking again, even though what he'd seen was surely impossible. Yet the person in the mirror was decidedly Elisse.

"Elisse?"

Elisse replied in unison with her voice, her name, her face. Marth quickly looked away from the mirror, feeling ill. How had that happened? This was mad! It couldn't be happening. You didn't just wake up as your sister one day. It wasn't normal.

He leant against the front door, looking into the kitchen. Waiting. To wake up, for things to make sense, for Ike…for anything. But nothing happened, and each time he looked down at himself it only confirmed his new identity. He was Elisse.

Upstairs, the baby kept crying. Aaron. He couldn't deny it any more. And if he didn't manage to soothe it then it would keep crying. Well, one thing at a time. With a sigh he went into the kitchen, resuming his previous task of looking for milk. Hmmm. Fridge nope, top cupboards nope, side cupboards nope, bottom cupboards…nope…He must have missed it. He began to look again, more thoroughly this time. Had Elisse failed to buy some more? She would keep something as important as milk somewhere obvious, right? Oh, this was hopeless. He would have to call her.

He was halfway through dialling when he realised that he was dialling the number to the house he was currently in. He was Elisse now. But then… where was Elisse? And the thought that came shortly after – surely not… But the baby's cries helped him to be decisive, no matter how impossible it all seemed. He picked up the phone and dialled his own mobile number, stomach flipping as he heard it ring. Then a strange voice,

"Hello?"

He almost hung up. That wasn't Elisse's voice. But then he remembered, and feeling somewhat dizzy at the thought he raised the phone back to his ear again.

"Elisse?"

"Marth."

Then in unison: "You're in my body."

"How's the baby?" Elisse asked urgently. Was that his voice? This was going to take some mind-bending.

"Erm…fine." Then he remembered why he called. "No! Not fine! Super bad! He's crying and there's no milk in the house – where do you put it?"

"In the fridge?" She sounded confused.

"Huh, what? No…baby milk."

There was a long silence. The wailing on Marth's other ear increased a few decibels.

"I said where's the milk?"

Another long silence.

"WHERE'S THE MILK?"

"Calm down!"

"Answer me!"

"Erm…um-ye-er…"

"WHAT?"

"…I breast-feed him Marth."

It took a few seconds for this to sink in. Marth instinctively protested. "I can't do that!"

"Marth, you have to or he'll go hungry."

"N-no! Where can I buy milk?"

"Just feed him!"

"No way!"

"It's good for his immune system!"

"That's no consolation!"

"Marth, you have my permission."

Marth muttered something inaudible but probably containing swear words. He paced a little where he stood, trying to think about it and not think about it at the same time.

"Marth, you have to. I'm you and you're me."

"For how long?"

"…I don't know." There was another long pause as they both tried not to consider the implications of this and failed. Eventually Elisse continued, "You'll only have to look after him until almost noon. Then Samus will come over to baby sit and you can go out with Martin."

Mixed relief was followed shortly by extreme nervousness. "What? I can't go out with Martin! I'm not… You're not… It's not right!"

"Marth, you are going to go out with him, you hear?"

"Elisse…"

"I'm not letting you turn him down. I planned Samus to come round and everything and it's not like I've seen him very much since we started talking again. The situation is too delicate. You're not causing one speck of dust on our relationship, you hear me? You're going out with him."

Marth hesitated, then again. In the end he simply raised a hand to his face. "Oh god."

On the other end of the line Elisse sighed, then gave a short, "Oh!" as she remembered something else.

"What?" Marth snapped, terrified. Only a silence met his question. That couldn't be a good sign. He took a deep breath. "Elisse, whatever it is, it's probably better if you just tell me."

"Ok." Still silence.

"Well?" He clutched the phone tightly, trying to imagine the worst thing she could say, and brace himself for it. But he didn't have a clue what to imagine. And then,

"Marth, are you bleeding?"

"What?" He wasn't sure he heard correctly.

"Bleeding, Marth."

"Bleeding? What?" He looked down at himself, but saw no trace of crimson.

Elisse's tone was thick with mixed emotions, wreaking havoc with Marth's nerves as she spoke. "Marth, I'm on…you're on… Period," she finally managed.

Period. It took him several moments to realise what she meant. He swallowed, shuddered.

"Oh god, Elisse, what?" His croak trailed off into nothing. Surely not. No, no, this was all wrong. It couldn't be, this wasn't him! It was all some weird and terrifying nightmare! As if to confirm this to himself he pulled his pyjama trousers down. Looked.

"Marth, you're on the third day. Hopefully there won't be too much blood, and it shouldn't hurt as much if its still going on, there's paracetamol in the cupboard to th– Marth? Marth?"

On the other side of the line Marth lay unconscious.


Elisse sighed and hung up before beginning to avidly text instructions. Poor Marth, he really had been thrown in at the deep end. No doubt it had been the sight of blood that had made him faint – at least, she was pretty sure he had fainted, considering the heavy thud she'd heard on the other end. Hope I don't get bruises, she thought, before realising what a weird thought that actually was. So… they'd swapped bodies. Well she supposed it was better than having some random stranger in her body.

"Ah dear." She massaged her temples nervously. And for all that she'd told him, she'd got not one nugget of information in return. It seemed she would just have to act to the best of her ability and hope.

She hadn't had the shower in the end. She'd run it for the noise, and had been brushing her teeth when Marth's mobile rang. Now she put the toothbrush back in its holder and slipped back into the bedroom, leaving the shower running as she searched through Marth's wardrobe for something to wear. Hmmm. Not bad, not bad. Well what do you know; Marth had a good taste in clothes. She laid the ones she wanted to wear out on the bed, then closed her eyes and got dressed. Then with a deep breath she opened her eyes, turned the shower off, left the bedroom and headed out into the unknown.

She entered into a small kitchen, charmingly decorated and leading off on the right side into a small lounge with a sofa in front of a television. Self-catering, how charming. She wondered how often they cooked for themselves. Ike seemed like a good cook, if the lovely breakfast was anything to go by. She pictured Ike and Marth sharing some home-made lasagne on the sofa and smiled. It would be a perfect picture if it was true. Come to think of it, where was Ike? He seemed to have disappeared. Hmmph. Well she wasn't going to hang around here all day waiting for him to come back. She headed for the door.

"Wow."

The stone landing she had stepped onto extended in a large crescent moon shape around the circumference of the hotel. Doors leading to other hotel rooms were evenly spaced along its length and the landing itself looked down over the huge circular lobby that seemed to be the entirety of the ground floor. There was another, similar landing on the next floor down and descending the past both landings from the centre of the domed ceiling was a huge cylindrical chandelier, sparkling brightly not because the light was turned on but from the sheer amount of sunlight that reflected over each stunningly cut surface. She stared at it, feeling under-dressed for the occasion, even though there was no occasion at all.

"Ike?" It was barely a whisper, she was so in awed with her surroundings, but Ike must have seen her for there came a call from the lobby below.

"Marth!"

And looking down she saw him, waving up at her. She wondered if she needed to bring something – she had Marth's wallet in her pocket, but it felt unusual to go anywhere without a handbag. Still, Ike didn't have a bag either, not even for any painting utensils (unless he'd somehow tucked painting gear into his trousers and from what Marth had told her she wouldn't put it past him), and this reassured her somewhat.

She descended the grand staircase feeling ever so slightly regal, and greeted Ike with a slightly wide-eyed smile. He grinned playfully back at her.

"You look just as awed as when you first saw it."

She swallowed. It is the first time I've seen it. "Yes, well. This isn't the sort of place you get used to."

"I suppose not." He paused a moment himself, looking around as she had been doing. "It would make an impressive picture to paint the view from the doorway, but to make that possible I'd have to sit in the doorway, blocking everyone's entrance and spoiling their first experience of it."

Elisse shrugged. "You can't be painting all the time, no matter how lovely the view."

He frowned at this. "Why not?"

She rolled her eyes. "You don't seriously paint every time you see a stunning view?"

"I try," he protested.

"You don't find that spoils your experience of it?"

"No, you appreciate it in greater detail then."

Elisse turned with him towards the main doors to head outside. "But what if it was just a moment?"

They were heavy rotating doors, but elegant and majestic with it, and rotated surprisingly smoothly for such a heavy door and they both stepped through into the sunlight.

"What do you mean?"

"Well if it is just a single, special moment, isn't it wrong to take it apart and paint it bit by bit, fracture it into single colours, 2D?"

"Fracture." He said it slowly, as if the word was alien to him. "That's ridiculous. Marth, what's up with you? You never question me about my painting."

Oh, damn. "Sorry."

"No, no… Don't apologise. It's just… I've never thought of it like that." He laughed. "How odd."

"I'm sorry."

Now they were outside Elisse could feel the full warmth of the morning sun and she turned towards it like a lizard. Just as the hotel room had slipped into context as soon as she had stepped out onto that magnificent stone landing, so now did the whole hotel slip into context with its surroundings. She was on an island. In fact, it appeared as though the whole island had been given to it – she couldn't see any other buildings nearby bar one, which was just an extended part of the hotel complex, the restaurants and leisure facilities. There was a few hundred yards of grass turning into beach, but after that it was water in all directions – then perhaps a few miles away the shoreline of a proper mainland, with all the usual town attractions.

Lined along the beach were a series of small motorboats with different numbers painted on them, as well as a large landing stage to one side where a much larger cruiser was waiting.

"Drive or be driven?" asked Ike. Elisse figured that meant either one of the motorboats was theirs to drive or they could get on the large cruiser currently waiting at the landing stage. She thought about it for a minute. If they took a motorboat it would just be her and him, on a small boat that could take as long a detour as they wanted. The single thought was enough to persuade her. She headed towards the landing stage. Ike followed, perhaps disappointed, but she didn't look at his face.

The journey passed quietly. For the most part she admired the scenery, wondering why Marth hadn't told her of the amazing hotel, or if he had been anywhere similarly grand before. She was tempted to ask Ike, of course he would know, but if she did it would sound strange. Still, she resolved to ask Marth about it when they next talked. Something as beautiful as this surely wouldn't just slip your mind when writing a letter or making a phone call?

When they arrived they were channelled quickly towards the main harbour to make space for other people to board the cruiser, and as they walked closer to town Ike turned to her.

"So, where do you want to go?"

Elisse looked around her, at the foreign buildings and people, the tourist attraction signs, the roads leading to so many places she had never seen before. Ike nudged her.

"Well?"

Where to start.