Chapter 1
Double-Crossed Messenger
Dust from the slowly advancing desert choked the cold air, hiding the progress of anyone wishing to see the Smash Stadium. What was once sparse grassland and stranded copses of pine had been turned into an endless expanse of dust, the bones of trees, and wicked wind. This had been quite the odd winter already. Who had ever heard of a drought during the winter? Wasn't it supposed to be cold, and wet? At least that was how Peach expected it to be.
Then again, the past year had been a strange one indeed.
After the Subspace Army incident, little could be said or done to prevent the assembled fighters from going on with a party of legendary proportions. Testosterone-laden males loved parties, she supposed, and knew they all needed it. The whole thing had been a harrowing journey (despite her spending a good part of it captured) and the men needed time to let loose. Three days of stuffing themselves (because of Ike, the Smash Mansion ran out of chicken only two meals in), dancing, drinking for those that were of age, and generally being men, they crashed.
For the other women of the Manor, this was a welcomed thing. Daisy, her sister, had heard of the party from her own kingdom, and insisted on coming to represent her part of the Smash Universe. Peach didn't mind so much, it gave her someone else to talk to besides Zelda, and Samus. Both women were nice, but Zelda was almost intimidating elegant, while Samus didn't understand the stresses of being a Princess.
After that, the Brawl Tournament began. Of course, Peach found herself out of the running rather quickly, but had a blast competing anyway. Maybe Daisy's claims to sports being fulfilling had some merit to it after all... Ike came out to be the winner in the end. Even though she loved Mario, Peach felt her heart flutter a bit at the Mercenary's controlled attitude. But, of course, she wouldn't intervene, as Ike had a secret admirer.
The elder of the two Princesses returned her thoughts to the desolate landscape. The sight of the wind whipping the frostbitten earth over the dead stalks of grass chilled her to the bone. It gave her a bad feeling, too, concentrated in the pit of her stomach.
As expected, nothing stayed quiet for long. Over the past three months, reports had been flooding in of demon-like entities, attacking travelers, and entire cities like it was nothing. Mario insisted that it was nothing, but... The attacks were organized, not at all random. These creatures were reported to be rather dumb under the bloodlust, so that meant someone was controlling them.
But who?
"Peach! Get out here!" The blonde's head snapped up at the voice of her sister, calling her from the door to her quarters, banging heavily on the carved wood. The pink-clad lady's heart skipped a beat at the frightened tone taken on by her sister. Peach wheeled around, heels clacking on the tile as she quickly crossed the room, and flung the door open to meet Daisy's fear-stricken eyes.
"What is it?" She looked the yellow Princess over quickly; there was no blood, but worry was written in the lines of her face. It did nothing to alleviate her fears.
"We have two people here, demanding to see us. Princess Zelda's dealing with them now, but we need to get down there, quick." The brunet paused, and leaned closer to her sister, her hand next to her mouth in a sign of utmost secrecy. "I think it has something to do with those attacks we've been hearing..."
"Let's hurry." Peach nodded, and rushed down the hall, her sister keeping up behind her.
-Foyer-
A swirl of red coat passed Zelda as its owner continued to pace at a comfortable speed, completely contrary to what his face said. His face, with a handsome strong nose and a pair of shining baby blues, said he was not pleased with the current situation, and he would continue to complain and pace until it was made better. To be honest, the oldest of the royalty of the Smash Realm should not have been surprised at the stranger's snow white hair, strange leather shirt, vest, and red coat, and the suspicious aura of something dark coming off of him... But she felt she should be guarded around him anyway. Long had it been since he had made a sound other than a grumble, his sarcastic comments and rants to the air fading into silence.
Behind him, leaning on the wall and nonchalantly polishing the barrel of a gun that reminded Zelda of Snake, was the man's female partner. Her hair was the color of chocolate, contrasting against her pale skin, and offsetting a pair of unusual mismatched eyes. Like her partner, her outfit shocked the princess, more so than Samus without her battle armor. A short plaid skirt showed off much more skin then the princess would ever be comfortable showing, while a white blouse was buttoned down to accentuate the lady's feminine assets. It was almost as if she was flaunting that she was a girl, or, rather, trying to prove it.
All in all, it both confused and frustrated Zelda, and she wished Peach and Daisy would hurry, so she wouldn't have to face the pair alone. Clasping her hands before her, the Hylian offered up a silent prayer to the Goddess, to give her strength.
"So..." The princess tried to create a conversation, uneased at the lack of sound other then heavy boots on flagstone.
"Dante's the name, slaying's the game." The snowy-haired man said in passing, still pacing, much to her annoyance. Was he doing that just to get a reaction? Likely. His response worried her a bit, but she was too used to Ike, and figured he was rather a Mercenary like her friend, or a warrior proud of his abilities. Still, something about him still pulled at the corners of her mind, tugging at her gut to warn her.
"Mr. Dante. Could I be at all informed as to what is going on?" It was hard being this kind, sometimes.
"Nope. I ain't going to explain more than once, so you can wait until your friends get here." The Hylian opened her mouth, about to retort, when the clacking of two pairs of heels met her sensitive ears. Relief flooded the woman, and she let out an audible sigh.
"Well then, you won't have to wait long." Dante, if that was truly his name, stopped his pacing for once, eyes lighting up at the sight of the two Princesses. His female partner shook her head, knowing something the other three did not.
"Well well, I expected princesses to be pretty... But you two are downright stunning. Care to let-" Dante's sentence was cut short by a yelp, as his female partner threw a combat knife at him, blade burying itself hilt deep in his shoulder. Both of the younger princesses gasped, while Zelda stared hard at the offending woman, partially out of shock.
"Idiot." The brunette said simply, which was actually the first thing Zelda had ever heard her say. The Hylian Princess fought the urge to throw the woman out, but managed to overcome it, just barely. The action only solidified her unease.
"Damn, Lady! I wasn't going-"
"Going to what? You were already flirting with them. Can we just get on with this?" Dante grumbled, pulling the combat knife out of the muscle of his shoulder to throw it to the floor with a clatter at the woman's feet.
"Alright, alright. Now that all Royalty is assembled," The white haired man motioned around him, pausing for dramatic effect, "I can explain what has taken me from my shop. As the news has probably already reached you by now, I'll assume you know about that Cursed Army that's been raising hell. Well, I've come to warn you all that there's more to it than just some small timers getting together to loot a couple of towns."
The Hylian Princess narrowed her eyes at the red-clad man, not sure if she could trust his word or not. Appearing out of the cold desert to warn them of a threat that had done little to the Smashers themselves didn't exactly strike her as trustworthy; besides, he smelled of something odd. Over the smell of gunpowder and sweat, she could smell something... Otherworldly. It reminded her faintly of the smell Pit carried, but much darker, and fainter. Almost diluted.
"We've been through the Subspace Army, not even half a year ago. How big could they possibly be?" Zelda stated, quite bluntly, while glaring at the man. Dante just grinned to himself, before shifting the large broadsword bound to his back. The motion made the three Princesses shutter. Peach was proficient in combat, Daisy had never had to yet, and Zelda was the only one of the three that could fight worth a damn.
"Well, let's just say that they are not your normal fighters. Infernal magic isn't exactly something you see every day, after all..." The blue-eyed man chuckled, and Zelda pursed her lips. Infernal? Demonic? What the hell was he talking about?
"What my idiot partner is trying to say is that this Cursed Army is made up of primarily demons. From what we could tell, they are led by seven Generals, each named after a Sin." Dante wheeled around to glare at his female friend, looking angry at her for stealing his steam. Behind him, the three were silent with shock.
"Sins? Demons? How do you know all this, Mr. Dante?" Peach finally spoke up, feeling thoroughly frightened by the thought of demons in the Smash Universe. The blond clung to Daisy, who looked as worried as the older princess was afraid. Zelda looked bitter, and she would have cursed, if she were not brought up to be polite, always.
"Well, let's just say, I've crossed blades more than a few times with Demons." A smirk washed away the sour look on the red-clad Warrior's face, as he turned to look at the Trio once more.
"How do we know you are trustworthy?" Zelda asked, almost fearing the answer.
"Well... That's the thing. You don't. But do you really want to be caught with your pants... er, skirts... down when a General comes knocking at your door?" Narrowing her eyes once again, the female warrior felt a headache building up behind her eyes. This was going to be a long day, she could tell...
"...fine. Follow me; we have to contact the other Smashers."
People would never believe how hard it is to describe Dante from Zelda's perspective. Anyway, I thank those who have reviewed, and cokies to those. My uploading scedual is probably going to be every two weeks, a Wednesday.
