Author's note: Originally written for the Super Smash Bros. Brawl Kink Meme.
I had to be anonymous on LiveJournal...but this is not LiveJournal.
The firewood that Marth gathered had started smoldering. The exiled prince seemed very focused on starting the campfire. The desert was ruthlessly cold at night, after all. "It doesn't help that we stopped for the night on top of a mesa, either," Marth said to himself. Ike, who was standing only a few feet away, decided to help Marth before the wood became useless.
"Not like that...you have use the wood like this..."
Any doubts that Marth might have had about Ike's survival skills vanished when the smoldering pile of wood caught fire within a few minutes. Ike, apparently satisfied with what he had done, gazed toward the edge of the mesa, where Metaknight was standing. Both Ike and Marth discovered that Metaknight was staring into the starlit sky.
"What's wrong with him?" Marth whispered to Ike.
"I'm not sure," Ike replied.
"Do you think...he suffered a personal loss? Maybe those strange creatures took someone from him?"
"I told you, I don't know," replied Ike. "Maybe he just doesn't want us to know. I respect that, and you should, too."
"Yeah, but..."
Before Marth could say anything else, Metaknight turned around quickly, startling the poor prince. The diminutive, masked knight made his way toward the campfire, and sat down.
The three swordsmen, silent and pensive, sat in front of their campfire for what seemed like hours, although the fire had yet to burn out. They gazed at the dancing flames, warming themselves, and then they looked at each other, seeing the fire in each other's eyes.
They were strangers before this series of unfortunate events. They had become allies in the midst of combat. The bonds of friendship had formed in battle. They were rival swordsmen, and yet...they had become like brothers.
Who knows what caused Marth to stand up, sword raised, and shout: "Rise, and draw your sword!"
If Marth's sudden command was unexpected, then what Ike and Metaknight did next was beyond belief - they listened, and did exactly what he commanded. The three of them stepped away from the fire, facing each other in a circle, their swords pointing to the center. The "fire" was burning in their hearts now.
This time, Ike spoke:
"How far will we go to achieve our goal?"
"We will go to the end of this world," the other two replied.
"Once strangers, we are now brothers," declared Metaknight. "Our enemy will fall before our combined strength and willpower."
"We will succeed...as long as the fire burns within us."
As Marth spoke these words, the three swordsmen finished their oath by crossing their swords.
The next morning, as the sun rose, Ike, Marth, and Metaknight spotted a suspicious, well-armed tank gliding through the desert.
"Let's go."