AN- Writer of Worlds has a Crack Pairing contest. I have a crack pairing. This seems like it can only end well. If you need more information on the very odd setting of this story, go read my story Angel of Asphodel, as this is sort of a companion to it, and I explain things better there. In short, it's based on the Greek afterlife for people who are neither good nor bad, where souls wander a plain eternally, except it's for forgotten video game characters. So, I do not own anything but my own ideas, thank you for reading, and enjoy! –Twilight Joltik
Death March
By Twilight Joltik
Blackness alone covered the world I had been banished to. Vaguely, I recalled resting in this place between when the Dark Dragon had awoken and Master Hand recruiting me for his tournament, but once the tournament ended, I ended up there once more. I knew what it was, though- what kind of despicable place it was. That realm was where "characters" who were unwanted by the world, those whose "games" had ended and weren't needed for another.
That's what Ness had said this place was, but if that was true, then why was it so empty? In all my time there, be it an hour or a decade, I had never heard so much as a distant footstep from another being or felt a faint breath on the back of my neck. If this truly was where the unwanted ended up, shouldn't it be filled with countless lost souls? Was it truly so vast that I could wander forever and never find another person?
I doubted such a vast place could truly exist, and that kept me walking endlessly ahead, despite my weariness, despite the futility of the task, despite the fact that I was unsure whether I searched for an edge or a voice. All I knew is that surely, something had to be there, for there was, at very least, the ground I walked alone, which couldn't even be seen if I produced a flame to light my never-ending path.
After walking for all my life and a day, I finally heard a faint noise. I couldn't tell if it was my imagination or not, and quickly, I ceased to be able to hear a thing over the pounding of my own blood. "Hello?", I called out into the void. "Is someone there?"
It called back with a small scream. "Wha- who's there?", a distant and distinctly male voice called back.
My heart stopped, or perhaps merely leapt. "My name's Lucas!", I excitedly greeted. After not hearing a response, I did something I hadn't in eons: stopped walking, and quickly produced a flame. "Here, can you see this?", I questioned.
"Ah, no," the voice replied, sounding marginally closer. "Um, keep talking, I can probably follow the sound of your voice."
Keep talking, he said? I cleared my throat and searched for something to say, finding my throat felt a bit odd after all that silence. "Um, okay. L-like I said, I'm Lucas, from the Nowhere Islands. I got sent here after I sort of destroyed my world, but Master Hand came for me and made me compete in a tournament for him and-"
Cutting me off, the voice gave a sharp gasp. "'Master Hand?'", he repeated. "You were in Smash Brothers?"
"Y-yes," I continued. "I fought alongside a lot of lovely people like Ness and the Pokémon Trainer, but I never liked the fighting itself much."
A burst of laughter pierced the black, now sounding only a small distance away. "Wow," the voice mused. "I guess they forgot you as well. I used to fight with them too, but they never called me back after the second one ended."
I found myself taking small strides towards the voice. "I suppose we're in the same predicament, then." I attempted to say it with a laugh, but it came out like a sob. I felt an odd sensation, like the chill of cold lightly brushing my arm, and I found myself wanting to scream before I realized it was a hand. A small splash of droplets accompanied it, as did a sob from the voice, which was practically screaming in my ear now.
"It's been so long…" he remarked softly. "Back in the tournament, did anyone ever mention me, anyone ever talk about someone named Roy?"
"N-no," I replied with a shake of the head, not realizing he couldn't see it. I attempted a PK Fire so I could see the person clutching onto my arm so tightly, but found the flame didn't seem to illuminate anything but myself, whose arm was free of both tears and his hand.
Was I hallucinating it all? I had to wonder if all this solitude had driven me mad, and I felt my own tears escape my eyes as a soft cry escaped my mouth. The finger that the imaginary person next to me rose to wipe them away felt real, the voice that quietly assured me that everything was fine, they felt so real, but as the flame died, I couldn't see a thing in front of me.
"Why c-can't I see you?", I questioned, it coming out more sob than word.
Roy's hand rested on my cheek, his thumb wiping the tears blurring my vision of nothing. "I don't know," he admitted. "I've been setting my sword ablaze since I first heard you, but I can't see you either. Maybe it's for the same reason I haven't ever met anyone else in this place, maybe we aren't meant to be with anyone here."
What kind of awful place would purposely doom people to wander alone eternally, I wondered. I didn't say it out loud, though, I simply and swiftly grabbed the hand Roy was holding to my arm with. "Let's stick together, then," I offered. "If us meeting truly is a fluke, I don't want to lose you."
His soft "okay" answered me, and a smile came to my face. This "Roy", I knew not who he was, but I knew that his hand being in mine was the only thing that had brought me joy in a very long time. I decreed I would not let it go for as long as that awful place would allow me to live, and I kept good on that promise until the day that dark eternity ended.
AN- And then they were DLC and lived happily ever after, the end. I don't know if this is shippy enough for the contest, given it could be read as merely strong friendship, but this is my entry and I'm standing by it. So, thanks for reading! –Twilight Joltik