The Necklace

T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the Smash Mansion, the Smashers peacefully slept, visions of bombs and killing in their heads. Almost everyone was excited for the arriving day, for many different reasons: the sight of the mountain of presents, the Christmas Feast, or even the Christmas Ball.

Ah, the Christmas Ball… oversized fountains, drunken villains, and much mistletoe. To some, this ball is a chance to confess to a loved one, to others a chance to spend time with the one they love, and for some, it's a chance to bond with some close friends. For some, however, this dreaded day brings nothing but misery and misfortune.

Take bounty hunter Samus Aran, for example. No friends. No feelings. Nothing but a killing machine, what she was raised to be. Her purpose of existence. No one could love anyone like her, as she reminded herself every day. No one could relate to her. They didn't know the horrors she'd seen. But, most of all, no one bothered to care. About her past, about her present. About her.

"Not that they should," she muttered, staring at the ceiling of her grey room. Like always, she couldn't sleep. Samus sighed and rolled over. Thoughts of Ridley drifted into her brain. The glowing eyes, the fangs… the fear. The smell of alien blood. The horrible, horrible stench.

Samus didn't know what she was going to do this year. Last year she just hid in the library with a good book. She hoped she could do that again without being caught, because last year Peach and Zelda gave her heck for it the next day.

After another hour or so, Samus finally drifted to sleep.

"Merry Christmas, Samus!" Peach cried as Samus made her way to the kitchen. Samus grunted in response and poured herself a hot cup of black coffee. She didn't understand what was so important about this holiday.

Peach followed Samus into the kitchen, holding a wrapped up box. "Look Samus, a present for you."

Samus stared at the small box. It was blue with a grey ribbon tied around it. There was a small tag with "Samus" written in neat, cursive grey ink. There were little grey snowflakes on the blue wrapping. It was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen, although it wasn't as pretty as a lot of things.

"I-I don't understand…" Samus said in a monotone, hoarse voice. She cleared her throat. "Who is this from?"

"It doesn't say. Hmm… I don't know. Why don't you ask around? Or you can open it. It doesn't matter. Also, there's a letter attached here." Peach gently placed the delicate gift into Samus' arms.

Samus held it in one arm and grabbed her cup of coffee. She turned on her heel and walked back to her room.

Once she reached it, she sat down at her black desk, setting the present down in front of her. She stared at it for a long time, as if it would disappear if she didn't watch it. Finally, she extended one arm and gently traced the silver silk tied into a neat bow. She moved her hand to the card that was tucked under the bow and slid it out. It was a neat grey envelope, with the word "Samus" written neatly on the front. Samus gently opened it and pulled out the letter.

Samus,

I would like to sincerely wish you a merry Christmas. I know that it's not much. Please come to the party tonight. No skipping! :)

Your friend

P.S. I'm always here to listen, if you have anything you'd like to say.

Samus stared at the paper. I'm here to listen, if you have anything you'd like to say. "Who are you?" She set the letter down. It had no name on it, other than "Your friend". Samus decided to figure that out later. She focused her attention to the small package. She almost didn't want to open it, it was so beautiful. Curiosity got the best of her, and she gently opened it, not ripping a single thing.

Inside the box was an astounding silver necklace. It was a choker, with small diamonds embedded in it, and the silver was woven around the diamonds. Samus gaped at the piece of jewelry for about seven minutes straight. It was, definitely, the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in her life. Who would go through so much trouble as to get her something this beautiful?

Samus set the necklace down softly. Tears began rolling down her cheeks slowly, and she placed her head in her hands. She never felt this loved in her entire life, even if it wasn't really love.

Later That Evening

Samus flopped down on her fluffy bed, massaging her temples. She really didn't want to go to that ball. It was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard of in her years. Everyone had spent all week getting the main hall ready for it, and the place (although she didn't really want to admit it) looked amazing. There were red and green ribbons everywhere, mistletoe around every corner, a huge tree decorated to kill, and free punch (although it was probably alcoholic, but no one really cared about drinking age here).

"SAMUS!" Peach and Zelda burst into her room. Samus sat up, wide-eyed.

"What do you want?" Samus narrowed her grey eyes.

"YOU ARE GOING TO THAT PARTY, AND YOU ARE GOING TO LIKE IT!!!" Peach grabbed Samus by the ear and drug her to her room, Zelda following nervously.

Peach's room was entirely pink, with pink fluffy chairs, a pink wardrobe, pink tinted lights, pink everything. The whole place made Samus dizzy and nauseous. "Alright. All you have to do is pick out a dress, we got your size in these three." Peach gestured to three dresses lying down on her bed.

The first one was a teal blue dress that had a low cut and short, lacey sleeves. The back came down semi-halfway to the butt, and had a little tie that went around her mid-section. It was long and covered in ruffles at the bottom. Samus immediately passed it up.

The second one was a small black dress with a v-neck centric base. It had about inch-thick straps, and reached about her shins before flowing out elegantly. There was a small pink ruffle underneath it. Samus thought it was nice, but passed it up.

The third one was amazing. It was a light, silvery kind of color, like the color of the ribbon on her gift. It was strapless, and flowed down softly to her feet, where it separated into many different layers. It had a small, silvery blue ruffle at the bottom, and was beautiful in all ways she could think of. Samus reached down and fingered it gently. "I want this one."

Zelda smiled. "It will look lovely."

Peach nodded. "But first, we need to fix you up." Samus looked at Peach and gulped. She knew Peach's of idea of 'fixing up'.

Samus didn't recognize herself as she stood in front of the mirror. Her golden hair had been curled and now lay in elegant waves along her back. The dress fit like a glove, and the shoes were pretty as well. Peach had put on some mascara on Samus to "Make your eyes really pop." She also applied some soft peach lip gloss, and Samus beamed in it. Her perfectly white teeth (thank gosh for alien speed-braces) were bright white, and she looked different from the normal Samus. Happier.

Before the three of them headed off to the ball (Peach in a pretty light pink flow-y dress and Zelda in a purple dress), Samus stopped in her room and put on the necklace she got. It seemed to complete the look entirely. Samus returned to the other girls there.

"Wow, Samus, where'd you get that necklace?" Peach stared at it in awe.

"I don't know… I got it as a Christmas gift. I don't know who it was from." Samus blushed a bit, despite herself.

"Oooooh… Sammy's got a boyfriend!" Peach chanted as they approached the main hall.

"Shh! Whoever it is isn't my boyfriend!" Samus hissed.

The hall looked fabulous, as they expected, and Samus noticed herself getting more attention than usual. She eventually broke off from the group of girls when they started complaining and approached the punch bowl. She poured herself a glass and was about to drink it when someone's hand covered her mouth and waist.

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you," a deep voice whispered on her neck.

Samus pulled away and turned around angrily. Snake stood there, grinning evilly, looking at her chest lustfully. Samus crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "Don't ever touch me again," she said menacingly.

"Oh, touchy thing, aren't we?" Snake grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to him. "I can fix that."

"Let go of me!" Samus snapped, trying to pull away. He was too strong, and she couldn't break free of his grasp.

Snake laughed cruelly. Someone cleared their throat from behind Samus. "I think she told you to let her go." Samus, too frozen to look behind her, watched as Snake glanced at the person and let go of her. He shoved her backwards, causing her to hit tumble into someone who caught her back and pushed her back up.

Samus slowly turned around.

"Are you alright?" Marth stood before her, looking quite dashing in a dark tuxedo. His dark blue hair was combed neatly, and his sapphire eyes glinted in the dim light.

Samus nodded, unable to comprehend what just happened.

"That's good." She and Marth stood there awkwardly for a moment. "You, uh, look nice."

"Thanks." Samus blushed a bit.

"I see that you're wearing my necklace."

Samus gasped. "Y-you… you gave me the necklace?"

"Um, yeah…" Marth's cheeks looked a bit red, and he twiddled his hair a bit. A slow song came on. "D-do you want to, you say…p-perhaps…um…dance?" His voice was small.

Samus beamed and grabbed his hand. "I can't dance to save Young Link, but I can give it a try."

Marth slowly placed his hand on her waist, and she laid one hand on his shoulder. They danced for a bit, then they slowly let go. "Thanks for the dance." Marth smiled at her and shrugged.

"My pleasure." He thought a moment. "Hey, do you want to go outside?"

"Uh, sure."

Marth led her outside, where it was snowing freely. Samus looked outside at the lake for a while with Marth. "So…when you said that…you're here to listen…if I have anything to say… what exactly did you mean?"

Marth smiled. "I meant exactly that. If there's anything you feel like you need to tell someone, just anyone, and if there's ever something that you need to just…vent, I'll always be here to listen." Samus was astounded. "I… I know a lot of people that wanted to get to know you. You're just so… so stubborn." Marth laughed at bit at Samus' facial expression. "We all do care about you, Samus. We don't want you to be alone anymore, and I think… I think that you don't want to be alone anymore either."

Samus tried to respond, but nothing came out but a slight gagging noise, as she was just staring wide-eyed at Marth. Before she could stop herself, she felt her chin twitch, and she began crying softly. Marth frowned. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No…" Samus stuttered between cries. "Y-you're the first person to say something right."

Marth blushed and awkwardly pulled her into a hug. Samus hugged back with all her might. He was warm, and he smelled sweet. "I know that this may seem to be the wrong moment…" Marth began, "But I think that I like you. A lot. I…I like you a lot."

Samus just sobbed harder. Marth pulled away and kissed her softly on the forehead for a moment. He pulled away quickly and took her hand. "I think that you're going to like my friends. You know Roy and Ike, right?"

Samus nodded.

"Well, they're really nice. I think that they'll like you. Come on, I'll introduce you three."

The End