* Hey, y'all! I hope you enjoy my latest fanfic - it's gonna have plenty of action and lots o' drama! I hope you like it. Please review! Pretty please? It helps me sleep at night! Anyway, enjoy the story.

"Hello?"

That single, hesitant word echoed throughout the empty hollow.

Samus Aran stepped through the cloak of darkness and balanced herself, catlike, on a boulder nearby. He should have been here by now. He should have come.

She bit her lip, worry clenching her heart. Where was he? Was this a joke? Was it a trick? No…he wouldn't do that…he said he loved her, after all…and, Samus told herself convincingly, people, especially Marth, didn't say that without meaning it.

She took out her ponytail, relishing in the relief that came with the release of her long, ripping blonde hair. It was so strange, having to pretend all day that she wasn't as jumpy as a jar of crickets. Strange to have to keep up her exhausting calm mask, when her stomach was full of butterflies.

The moment was finally here – and he was nowhere to be seen.

Annoyed, Samus shifted her legs beneath her to keep them warm. She could see her breath in this weather. What a horrible night to be stood up. For the first time, she felt a stir of anger. Didn't he care about her at all?

"Stupid, unreliable Prince of Altea," muttered Samus.

She curled up more comfortably and closed her eyes.

It only occurred to Samus that she had fallen asleep when she woke with a jolt.

The air was colder than before; a light frost covered the ground. Numbly, every bone in her body stiff with cold, Samus slid off of the rock, the frozen grass crunching under her feet. It must be nearly morning. She felt a piercing of misplaced sadness when she saw the sad, wilting flowers dying on the ground. They, like her, had been abandoned. Hardly thinking about what she was doing, Samus knelt down and breathed softly on their shriveled stems, melting some of the frost that clung there.

"Samus?"

She jumped up and whirled around, feeling a rush of relief that was almost ridiculous. There he stood – his blue hair falling thickly around his face, his equally blue eyes timeless, lit up with…what? Excitement? Her heart jumped in her chest.

Then the anger returned in full force.

"Samus," said Marth again. His voice sent her into a silent ecstasy, but she couldn't show it. She refused to.

"What?" she snapped.

He merely stared at her, startled into silence. The hurt in his eyes pierced her through like a dagger.

"I waited all night for you," said Samus, ignoring the stabbing in her stomach. "But you never came."

"I was held up," said Marth. "The guys, they wouldn't let me leave. They wanted me to train with them."

"Wouldn't let you leave?"

"Well," said Marth, "it would have been suspicious for me to just…leave."

"Let them be suspicious!" said Samus angrily. "What's more important, their feelings, or me?"

"You, of course, but –"

"I'm going back to the Mansion," Samus snapped, whirling around. Marth caught her by the arm, pulling her back.

"What? What did I do?" he asked, looking puzzled.

"You stood me up," said Samus haughtily, wrenching free of his grip. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I'm almost too damn cold to move my lips. I don't care what your excuses are. I'm leaving."

He stared at her in surprise as she stalked back up the hill in the way she arrived.

"Samus, wait!"

"Leave me alone."

"I'm sorry!" Marth said, blocking her way.

Samus pushed around him. "Not interested."

"I'm an idiot," said Marth, shadowing her. "I'm really sorry. I tried to get away, I promise –"

"Seems to me that you might have tried just a bit harder. What did they do, hold you down and chain you up?"

"Close. They invited me to play foosball."

Samus stopped and turned around, examining his hopeful expression. Obviously he was trying to be funny.

"I thought you were training."

"We were," said Marth. "But they got tired of it. So we played foosball and then I said I was tired and left to find you."

"Glad to know that you value me so highly on your list of priorities."

"Samus! Come on," Marth pleaded, blocking her path yet again. "I said I was sorry, didn't I?"

She hadn't expected him to be so close. She could have counted each of his eyelashes.

"You can't just apologize and expect me to forgive you so easily," she said, but her voice had dropped dramatically in volume. She was almost whispering.

Marth took another step forward, so their faces were almost touching. His warm breath scattered any coherent thoughts that she had gathered, and then, her memory spliced. One moment her anger was swirling like horde of disturbed hornets around her head, and in the next instant, as Marth's lips pushed against hers, the anger evaporated.

He broke away.

"You taste like ice," he said quietly.

"Nice try," whispered Samus. She tried to step away, but her muscles had stopped responding. "I'm still mad at you." What an utter lie.

They kissed again, and again. The heat of Marth's body, pressed against hers, slowly melted her bones into little more than jelly.

"What about now?" asked Marth. She couldn't answer. Her breath, and her wits, still hadn't returned.

"That's what I thought." Was that a trace of smugness that she detected?

"You're cocky, kid," she told him.

Marth didn't answer. In another breathless instant, they were on the ground. She dazedly tried to remember when they made the conscious decision to move, but she wasn't sure. The cold grass pushed up against her back, pricking her skin, and Marth, by contrast soft and warm, was partly draped over her, his hands curled around her ribcage.

"It's not…normal…for me to do this. I'm not just another slut."

"That's right, you're not a slut," whispered Marth. "You respect yourself…and I like that about you."

"At least I'm warm now." It was a lame thing to say.

"Let's head inside," said Marth.

"Not yet," Samus said, a little too loudly. Her voice echoed off of the trees, startling a flock of birds into the sky.

Marth smiled. "Alright. Let's stay here for the night, then."

"Fine. Move your ass over."

"Pushy, pushy."

They curled up together in the frosty grass and let the night overtake them.

The sunlight on their faces woke them in the morning. Samus, much to her surprise, was warm. Marth's body heat had seeped into her freezing bones.

"Wake up," she whispered, shaking him.

"I'm up," he whispered sleepily.

"Breakfast?"

"Sure."

They slowly got up, picking grass out of each other's hair, and headed back up the hill toward the Mansion.

"Hey, Marth," said Samus casually.

"Hmm?" He still looked half-asleep.

"I'm going to tell everyone that you're my boyfriend today."

That woke him up. "Really?"

"Yeah," said Samus. "Zelda and Peach have been dying to know. They keep saying I'm acting all 'moony' and 'weird' and they keep begging me to know who it is. It's getting on my nerves."

Marth just stared at her as if she had expressed a desire to become a stripper. "Um, well, okay."

"You scared?"

"No," said Marth, not quite meeting her eyes.

Samus laughed.

The Mansion, as usual, was bustling. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere. Even as they walked down a hallway, keeping a cautious, just-friends, no contact space between them, a harassed-looking Jigglypuff bounced past. Seconds later, Bowser nearly bowled them over.

"Must be a match going on," Samus muttered, tucking her disheveled hair back into place.

"OY!" bellowed Marth, ducking as Pikachu hurtled overhead. "What's the big freaking rush?"

Samus touched his arm consolingly. "Say that louder. I think some people in the Mushroom Kingdom didn't hear you."

"It just irritates me, that's all."

"Lots of people irritate me," said Samus. "If I killed everyone that did, I'd be a mass murderer."

Marth laughed. "And I'd be dead, right?"

"First one dead, in fact." She poked him in the ribcage. "Nah, actually, you're pretty bearable. It's the totally arrogant blockheads that piss me off the most. Like that Red kid, or Wolf, or SNAKE." She spoke the last word loudly, making sure that a passing Solid Snake would hear it. He winked at her. Disgusted, Samus sped up.

"I don't get why we all have to live in the same house, anyway," she complained. "You'd think that Master Hand would have a little more sense than to keep a bunch of people who fight for a living all locked up together."

"For a living?" said Marth. "It's not like we get paid."

"Well, yeah. But we do get free food."

"And bedding, warmth, electricity, water, and each other's lovely company."

Samus snorted.

"I, for one," she said, "think it's a bad idea to keep rivals in the same place. Did you hear about Mario and Bowser?"

Marth nodded gravely. Everyone had.

Apparently Bowser had lured Peach into a makeshift trap, and Mario had taken the bait. Evidence of the resulting fight was scattered all over the dining hall – shards of glass, broken plates, singed tiles, and upended trash cans littered the floor. Everyone had gathered around them, hollering and cheering, standing on chairs to root for one side or the other. They would have killed each other, had not Master Hand intervened. Old habits die hard.

"Everyone turns into apes when there's a fight," said Samus. She had also stood on her chair and screamed, but she conveniently left that part out when she retold the story to whoever missed it. "It's awful. As if we didn't already fight enough."

"Yeah," said Marth, "but a real fight is exciting."

"Exciting?" scoffed Samus.

"Sure," said Marth, surprised. "Onstage, you can't draw blood or seriously hurt one another. Plus, it's all strategized – like dancing instead of fighting. Outside of the stages though, you can kill each other."

"That's a little crude."

"Well," said Marth, looking slightly abashed, "I didn't mean that the killing part was exciting. But there's always drama behind a real fight. That's the exciting part."

Samus was silent. Smiling, Marth slipped his hand into hers.

"I don't why you're so paranoid about us," he said softly, squeezing her fingers. "Nobody's going to say anything. We make a good couple."

"I just worry too much," sighed Samus. She lifted their entwined hands and pressed the back of Marth's hand to her cheek. "You can't imagine how good that feels."

"So, when am I going to be introduced to your friends?"

"Soon," Samus promised. She felt a small flutter in her stomach. What would Zelda and Peach say? Would they approve of Marth?

"Comb your hair," she blurted out. "It's unruly."

Marth shot her a sideways look. "Anything else?"

"Yes. Take a shower and put on that scented lotion I bought you."

"That stuff's feminine, though," said Marth, groaning.

"No, it's for guys. I read the label."

"Alright. But I'm not responsible for any wrong impressions received when I meet your friends smelling like a girl."

Samus had to laugh despite herself. "I just want you to look nice."

"I'm already incredibly sexy. What more do you want?" He was laughing. Samus punched him in the shoulder for his audacity.

"Okay, Marth," she said, tightening her grip on his hand. "I'll meet you back here right before dinner. Then you can sit at my table."

"I can't wait," said Marth, kissing her forehead. Then he left. Samus stared after him for a long time, wishing that he might turn around and come back.

"Let's do this," she muttered, and turned away.

* NOTE: I realize this is a MarthxSamus pairing while it is a Samus and Link story, but all will be explained in time, my patient readers. :3 Sorry for confusion. Please review! Thanks, and I'll try to upload again real soon!