My Dream, My Life

Chapter III

The moment Samus entered her room she tossed her jacket aside and fell flat on her bed. Tonight had been interesting. Zelda wasn't like any princess she'd met before. And it actually felt nice to just go out and spend time with someone for the sake of casually getting to know someone. It was a refreshing change to meeting someone for business; or someone with a hidden agenda.

Dinner quickly turned into an outing of sorts. At Zelda's insistence they took a walk around the city milling about, going wherever Zelda's feet took them. Their conversations had mostly been one-sided. Samus occasionally gave her input but otherwise had remained silent.

"Friends," she muttered to herself. At some point Zelda brought up her desire friendship again. Or more precisely, 'I enjoyed tonight. I hope this marks the beautiful friendship,' was what she said. The word felt foreign on her tongue. She didn't have anyone she could call that anymore. And the only people she interacted with were clients or drunken slobs because she needed information. Otherwise it was just her, her ship, and her suit.

True it was a lonely life, but she'd grown desensitized to it a long time ago. After leaving Zebes, becoming a Galactic Federation bounty hunter, losing her Chozo family, and her friends from her days with the GF military, she came to grips with being alone. But suddenly Zelda barges in out of nowhere and try to strike up a friendship between them. It was strange, to say the least. But she had also said to the princess she'd stick around for a while longer. She laughed at the absurdity of it. But then again Zelda was proving to be someone she could see herself having an intelligent conversation with.

That was always a nice bonus.

Letting out a sigh, she sank further into her bed. She wasn't exactly sure of what to do tomorrow. She had originally planned to leave tonight. But now saying she was going to stay it would probably be bad form to leave. And so she found herself wondering what was there to do for the next few days. She could always train. It would do her good to keep her skills sharp. But even she could only devote so many hours to training.

So lost in her thoughts she almost missed her suit telling her she had a message. She considered ignoring it, but then decided to see what it was about. Propping up on her elbows the back of her left hand glowed and brought up a small holo-screen. She raised an eyebrow in surprise and confusion as she read.

Samus huffed sourly and muttered, "Not even a day and they already want a piece of me." Three more messages came up, all of them challenges. Samus buried her face in the sheets and groaned. It was one thing to be challenged. What bothered her and had her undecided between laughing and crying was how pitifully the messages were written. Not only had they reduced themselves to insulting her, it was some of the crudest things she'd seen in a long time. She peeked at her hand, glaring at the display before her. She was strongly tempted to just ignore it. But then she smiled lightly, remembering how she was trying to figure out what to do with her spare time.

"Guess I owe you idiots," she chuckled. Quickly answering the challenges, she divested herself of her day clothes and tossed on a t-shirt and shorts before falling into bed again. Smirking to herself she laughed at the coincidence. Perhaps staying wouldn't be so bad after all.

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The next morning found Samus on the grand patio that overlooked the front lawn of Smash Mansion, and the city before it. Seated in one of the small tables against the railing, she quietly ate breakfast. The morning breeze was nice, but it did nothing to calm her thoughts. Even good food and relaxing atmosphere failed to keep the thoughts of her upcoming challenges away. Or more precisely, the whole situation of it.

After a good night's sleep she quickly came to realise the absurdity of the situation. First was how all four letters were poor attempts to get her angry. Then there was the fact they even had the gall to challenge her, after she had soundly beaten them. Well one of them. Lastly, she couldn't believe that she actually accepted their challenge. She accepted! Out of the blue she agreed. She had quietly berated herself of such a rookie kneejerk reaction as she had showered that morning. While relenting that she did want something to back up her claim, she probably could've found something better.

Leaning back in her seat she shook her head and sighed. "How stupid can you get?" she muttered.

Finished with her meal Samus stood up and stood on the edge of the patio and leaned against the railing. She stared at the view before her. When she first saw this a few years ago, she grudgingly admitted that the Hands had taste. Whoever designed the entire property had aesthetics in their mind for everything in this mansion. Her eyes roamed the horizon for a time, just watching the sun lazily climb the morning sky.

Getting up she turned to leave when something down below caught her eye. Glancing down she noticed Zelda sitting by one of the fountains that adorned the front lawn, playing some strange blue instrument. Samus strained her eyes, barely picking up the hollow tunes that came from Zelda. Something about it all resonated in her, and without realizing it she quickly scaled down the face of the building and approached the princess. By the time she realized what she was doing she was already standing before the princess.

Instead of turning around, she listened. Few words could describe the oddly relaxing tune she heard. Unthinkingly she sat down next to the princess. She felt strangely calm. It was as if the world around here didn't really matter anymore. Samus smiled lightly finding the distraction welcoming. And somehow she started to imagine a small audience before her, young children entranced by the music the princess produced from her instrument, swaying back and forth to the slow melodies Zelda played. Some seemed to seemingly drift off to the music, leaning against one another as the tune took them to worlds far away from the now and then.

And then it hit her.

The perfect way to describe what she heard. It was like the slow caress of a mother as she lulled her child to sleep. In spite of the memories the thought brought up, she couldn't help but smile remembering her own vague memories.

As Zelda brought the music to a slow and meaningful end, Samus watched as the images slowly fade away. Sitting up at her full height, she finally faced the princess and offered her a nod in greeting.

"Samus," she replied in kind.

Silence settled upon the two of them, save for the constant trickling of water from the fountain. The blonde stared at the princess for a time, before suddenly asking, "Was that a lullaby of sorts?"

Zelda nodded as she produced a small cloth from her pocket. "My mother used to play it when I was young," said the princess, using the cloth to wipe the mouthpiece of the instrument. "It's always helped me sleep."

"I see," said Samus.

"The song has no title, but is widely recognised as 'The Royal Lullaby' by my people," Zelda calmly explained. "Do you remember any lullabies that your mother used to sing or play to you?" Samus shook her head. All she really had left were vague memories and a gaping hole that had yet to close.

Oblivious to the turmoil within the huntress, the young princess continued. "I see…that's too bad. I believe that everyone should have at least one memory their mother they cherish…at least that is what I believe."

"Sometimes, they leave behind memories you'd rather forget," Samus darkly responded in a low whisper, clenching her fists tightly.

This time, Zelda did notice Samus' behaviour and tilted her head in concern. "Did…something happen to your mother?"

"Nothing you need to know," Samus quickly said, suppressing the memories of that day.

Zelda stared hard at Samus for a few moments before her eyes widened in recognition. She had seen those eyes before. "You…you lost your mother as well," she quietly whispered in understanding. "You…witnessed her death."

"Not something I like talking about," Samus quietly stated looking away. It was still a topic, even to this day, she wasn't comfortable about. She wasn't even sure if she truly got over it.

"I can understand," Zelda replied, her eyes conveying the remnants of an age-old sadness. "The pain, the anguish, the sadness of her death, I too know of it. I had to watch as she died a slow, painful death from an illness; one that neither magic nor medicine could cure."

Samus chose to say nothing. There was nothing to say. While Zelda could related it was only so much. They lost their mothers under different circumstances. She leaned forward on her knees and stared aimlessly at the grass. She didn't like thinking about her mother too often.

Zelda laid a hand on Samus' arm. "I don't know the circumstances around your mother's death, but know that I understand." She offered the huntress a wan smile. "How old were you when it happened?"

Samus regarded the princess for a time, mentally debating whether or not to answer. While she wasn't completely pressing on the issue, the fact she asked irked her somewhat. She had specifically said she didn't like talking about it and yet the princess still asked. Seeing Zelda look at her patiently she felt that urge to just answer the question. But in the end she decided not to, and looked ahead again.

Sensing Samus' desire to not speak, the princess relented. "I suppose it's too much to ask of you." Again Samus remained silent. Picking up the instrument off her lap, Zelda brought it to her lips and began to play again. While before the tune was more soothing, this one took a deeper tone, akin to that of a temple. The lower notes resounded within the huntress next to her, who tilted her head to watch her play. The princess closed her eyes and played, letting the sounds of her music carry the two of them to worlds beyond the here and now.

Samus watched as Zelda played. Despite the seemingly sombre tune she could see how relaxed the princess became, lost in the music she produced. She'd never really heard such a thing before. With the Chozo she hardly had time to listen to music. When she got older the sounds she'd hear most were the heavy bass, fast rhythms, and wild sounds people seemed to enjoy these days. It was nice to know that such music exists.

She glanced down at her wrist noting the time. She had some time left, but not much. She stood from her seat, drawing the princess from her music. "Sorry, need to head to the stadium."

"Yes, for your rematch," said Zelda, standing as well. "If you'd like, I could teleport you directly to the stadium."

Samus paused for a moment, surprised by the sudden offer. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, however, she accepted the offer. She took hold of the princess' hand. Said princess closed her eyes, and in a flash the two of them disappeared, reappearing at the entrance of the stadium.

"I wish you good luck," Zelda offered the warrior, and then proceeded towards the stands.

Samus watched Zelda's back as she calmly walked down the hallway before making a turn. Zelda continued to surprise her. While her original intension may have been to scout out the princess Samus found the princess far more interesting than she gave credit for. She chuckled at the thought. It had been a while since she actually found anyone engaging. She'd long since disregarded her previous assessment of Zelda, and considered her an unknown. At least for now.

Walking along the corridor towards the staging room, she pushed aside her thoughts of the princess for now. As the sigil on her hand and back glowed activating her suit, Samus couldn't wait to speak to the princess again.

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Emerging from the hallways and into the sunlit stands, Zelda winced and shielded her eyes warding off the glare. She blinked away the daze and looked around momentarily quickly finding Link and Fox sitting together. Making her way towards them her thoughts trailed back towards the huntress whose match was about to being. Despite her aloof behaviour she'd come to realize that there was more to the huntress than meets the eye. Less than a day and she felt incredibly drawn to her, more so than when she first laid eyes on her. It surprised and perplexed her to no end. What was it about the huntress that had pulled her in inextricably so?

"Princess Zelda," Link greeted, nodding politely towards her.

"Morning," Fox greeted with a simple wave towards the princess.

"Link, Fox," Zelda politely greeted in return, and sat down joining them. "Less than a day and I see that someone wishes to claim the Brawler of Brawlers title."

"Yeah well DK's not too happy Samus took the title, so he's itching to take it from her," Fox sighed, shaking his head a little. "The big guy's got potential…when he's actually trained for it. Samus is just going to mop the floor with it."

Immediately a fanfare began to play across the stadium bringing it to a mighty roar as the announcer spoke. Rhythmic music played in the background as the announcer welcomed the guests. It quickly followed up as the voice began to introduce the fighters, calling up Donkey Kong first.

Bursting forth from a teleport platform, Donkey Kong let out a loud whoop as he yelled "BANANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA SLAMMAAAAAAAAAA!" A confident smirk was pasted across his face, lapping around the field waving to everyone. Even as he returned to his starting position, he worked the crowd into a frenzy as they cheered, hollered, screamed, and hooted loudly for the mighty monkey as he stood ready to face off against the Brawler of Brawlers.

The music eventually transitioned into a majestic fanfare as it played throughout. Another teleport platform appeared as the announcer introduced Samus with as much ceremony as it had with Donkey Kong.

Calmly stepping off of her platform, Samus didn't even spare the crown a glance as the stadium cheered for the champion. She cared little for the crowds. If they found entertainment in her battles, then so be it. Her main concern was taking care of this particular oaf who believed that he would "Banana Slamma" her straight into the ground. Not exactly a wise choice of words on his part. He would pay dearly; that much was certain. And she had a plan in mind that would spell pain for every last fibre in his body.

From above, Zelda watched Samus stare down her foe. She didn't need to see beyond the visor to know the blonde was staring at Donkey Kong, waiting for the buzzer to start. Her posture was relaxed but ready, like a compressed spring, ready to be released. On the other end the ape was bouncing on his feet, a wide smirk plastered across his face. He was ready. He was ready. The princess felt sorry for him. He was going to lose, horribly. Despite his greater muscle mass and strength, which no doubt would serve him well, she feared Samus already knew how to fight him. If her profession and region of space was any indication, she's fought and survived far worse threats than Donkey Kong.

"This won't end well for him," Fox muttered. Next to him Link nodded. Although they had the utmost respect towards Donkey Kong, running headlong into Samus was not something anyone could afford to do without a plan. Unfortunately, he had no plan.

"3!"

Samus simply placed her free hand on her hip as the counter began. Already the crowd could tell Samus had no respect towards the ape.

"2!"

"This is gonna be sweet," Donkey Kong muttered to himself, lowering himself for a big sprint. "I'll show her."

"1!"

"He just screwed himself," Fox sighed and shook his head in disappointment.

"GO!"

Immediately Donkey Kong bolted straight forward suddenly closing the distance. Everyone watched as within seconds, Donkey Kong entered striking distance.

"What the?" he exclaimed in bewilderment. He looked around frantically wondering where Samus had gone too. He barely had to think when an explosion suddenly threw him onto his back in a flash of blue. Quickly gathering his wits he rushed back onto his feet and turned around to see Samus stand straight back up from her Morph Ball form crossing her arms and shifting her weight on one knee. He growled angrily at the mockery of her stance, and charged straight in with a furious barrage of punches from his massive burly arms.

Samus easily ducked and dodged his attacks. Already she was bored and annoyed. She'd fought monsters bigger than him that were far more dangerous. Deciding to end the charade she started her lesson of why people shouldn't just blindly challenge someone. Grabbing a massive arm, she easily threw him one-armed over his shoulder slamming him hard onto the ground.

He bounded up onto his feet fairly quickly, only to be kicked in the back before seeing something leap over his head. By the time he recovered, Samus thrust her arm cannon into his face arming a missile which she promptly launched at point blank range. The impact and resulting explosion threw him a fair distance and skidded along before coming to a complete stop.

Rushing the monkey as he got up to his feet, Samus quickly began a furious assault of punches and kicks across the length of his body, quickly followed up by a vicious strike in the stomach. Samus smirked as he keeled over in pain. She followed up with a sweep, knocking him onto his front. Very casually, the huntress backed away to let the massive monkey stagger back up onto his feet, only to barrage him with a hail of laser fire. She watched him as he stumbled back. His defences were shattered as he was forced back against some of the existing scenery as he was pounded relentlessly by the champion. He opened his eyes when he realized that the attack had stopped, only to watch in horror as a giant ball of energy hurtled towards him and exploded.

Samus watched as Donkey Kong smoking body pitched forward flat on his face. She calmly approached him and casually picked him up. And with all her strength, she threw Donkey Kong as high up as she could and immediately armed a Super Missile. Her target set she discharged the missile watching it explode on contact, sending the monkey flying as he screamed, falling clear over the edge, eliminating the first of what would be her unfortunate victims.

"AND THE WINNER IS, SAMUS!" the announcer declared. The crowd broke into an even bigger frenzy, especially after having bore witness to a particularly brutal assault on Samus' part.

"He's going to be angry about that," Fox chuckled, as he applauded along with the rest of the crowd. "Although Samus did go a big overboard."

"He received what he had asked for," Zelda simply said, rising from her seat and starting to make her way down to the exit.

"Princess, where are you going?!" Link called out after her.

"To change and train," she simply answered before continuing her way out.

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Samus promptly left the stadium as soon as the match ended. She shook her head in disgust. That was one of four matches dealt with. "Why did I even bother?" she muttered. She'd already known that it was going to be a one-sided match. And yet she agreed. Sometimes she surprised herself.

Realized she didn't have anywhere else to go, and seeing no sign of Zelda, she made her way back towards Smash Mansion. The match couldn't even be considered a warm-up of any sorts. She may as well get in some training, she reasoned.

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With water, change of clothes, and other necessities stuffed in her duffle, Samus entered the massive gym underneath Smash Mansion. Loaded with state of the art equipment, including virtual simulators, she entered her usual simulator only to find it in use. She turned to leave when a familiar voice drew her attention. Looking back, Samus realized Zelda was using the simulator. Closing the door she leaned against the door and watched the princess fight against the training Alloys.

Dropping down on all fours ducking underneath one Alloy's punch, Zelda swept its feet out from underneath before picking it up with both hands and throwing it at the other two. She backpedalling she charged a fireball spell before quickly throwing it straight towards the Alloy's. The immediate explosion destroyed them. Three more immediately took their place and continued with their assault.

Zelda quickly threw up a shield around herself. In the instant they closed the distance she detonated the shield, knocking them back. Teleporting away from them she charged another spell until it reached critical mass. Without missing a beat she tossed it forward, exploding in front of them disintegrating them. The buzzer went off, ending of the session. The arena faded away, leaving behind the grid-patterned room.

Zelda fell to her knees panting heavily. Her arms trembled trying to support her weight. Exhausted she collapsed onto the floor where she laid there for a time. She honestly hadn't expected to survive the entire three minute session. By training she was a mage. She knew enough that she could handle one-on-one matches with great ease. Most people didn't know how to deal with her and her magical abilities; something she could exploit to her advantage. But the moment the tide of battle shifted to two-on-one or more, it would become that much harder for her to concentrate and form the spells she needed to combat them effectively.

Pushing off the wall, Samus glanced at the console noting with a mix of surprise and admiration of the difficultly level settings. While admittedly it took everything out of the princess in that session, the huntress had a far better idea of what the princess was capable now. While she was still a ways away from ever beating her in a match, she wouldn't have expected that the princess could do any of that. Pulling out a bottle from her bag she approached the princess and held out her hand.

The princess jumped in surprise she suddenly heard someone ask, "Need a hand?" Zelda looked up to see Samus leaned forward, with her hand held out. She reached out and grasped the blonde's hand, stumbling forward a bit as she was literally hauled onto her feet. Without thinking, she leaned forward and held onto the taller blond as support. Her grip tightened on Samus' shoulder as she struggled to keep standing, especially now that the adrenaline rush had worn off.

Wordlessly the huntress wrapped her arm around the princess and guided her towards a nearby bench. Depositing her on it, Samus handed the princess the bottle which she gratefully took. Nearly tearing off the cap she upended its contents. Samus watched as Zelda visibly sagged in relief as the water helped cool her down.

Zelda sighed in relief. Her breathing was starting to even out, and the burn in her arms and legs began to lessen, somewhat. For a moment, she closed her eyes as she tried to slow down her breathing and get her heart back under control. All the while, she could sense Samus simply standing there, patiently waiting for her to calm down.

Once she felt more in control, she wearily opened her eyes and looked up at the huntress. "How long have you been watching?"

"About the last 30 to 40 seconds of it," she answered with a shrug. "An impressive display of your magic but I think you know the weakness of that."

"It is much more difficult when fighting beyond one-on-one, due to the hectic nature of battle," Zelda calmly answered. "While effective in one-on-one due to my opponent's lack of understanding my magic, it is much more difficult to use due to the division in my concentration when I fight. I am well aware of my weakness, and my lack in hand-to-hand."

"You have the right idea training 3-on-1 to prepare for the possibility everyone will turn on you," Samus commented and immediately started to tinker with the settings.

"That is correct," Zelda replied. Noticing Samus tampering the controls, she tried to get up, only to fall back onto her seat. "What exactly are you doing?" she called out.

"I'm curious…how primitive is your world in terms of technology," Samus asked seemingly oblivious to the princess's question. She wondered how well versed the princess was in modern technology, considering her garb spoke of a much earlier era.

"It is still back in what you would call, The Medieval Ages," she answered, deciding to let Samus' interruption slip. She'd get back to that either way. "However, I have spent enough time to understand how to live in this world, but there always seem to be something new to learn."

"I see," said Samus as she finished operating the control display. "And to answer your question, I'm going to teach you some basic hand-to-hand combat."

It took a moment for Zelda to take in what Samus just said. And even then, all she was able to say was "Pardon me?"

"Like you said, you'd lose in hand-to-hand," the huntress bluntly stated. "If you'd like, I can teach you some basics. It's not much, but it's better than nothing."

"I suppose" said Zelda, somewhat wary of the huntress' motives. "If I may ask, why are you helping me?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," replied the human with a simple shrug. "But as it stands it helps me kill time, and it gives me something to do. Either that or I go into a different training room and get bored with repetitive training exercises. Your choice."

The choice was easy enough. "I'd appreciate the help, Samus."

"Good, then let's get started," the blonde huntress snapped. She hit a button on the control console and stepped into the center of the training chamber. "I want you to watch and pay attention to my movements. I will perform a set of movements a few times, and then demonstrate the applications of the movements." From the corner of her eye, she watched the princess nod her head in understanding. Without preamble, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Falling into a stance she began her routine.

From the side, Zelda watched and studied. Her eyes took in the precision and fluidity of Samus' movements. Her mine studied and dissected what it saw, breaking it all down and understanding the logic. No movement was wasted. Not one iota of strength was misplaced. Each step, each move had purpose. There was hardly any excess movement. Her mind traced the blonde's movements, creating a series of images as she transitioned from one stance to the next, trying to memorize everything the huntress did.

Then suddenly Samus was suddenly surrounded by Alloys. The training dummies charged. The princess quickly realized that they were on a lower setting as Samus easily fended them off. It was then she realized the purpose of Samus' display. The entire set was geared towards self-defense. She watched as segments were used to deflect and parry incoming attacks. While basic, the princess quickly deduced this was likely the core principle behind anything else she'd learn from the huntress.

"Freeze program," commanded Samus. Instantly the Alloys came to a stop in mid movement. "Remove training units." The Alloys disappeared. She then turned to Zelda who wore an expression of awe, surprise, and understanding. She mentally smirked, glad that she had impressed upon the princess of how behind her combat capabilities were.

"A basic training exercise I learned as a kid," she explained. "With practice, you could easily do it blindfolded, and probably fight off most common soldiers with one hand.

"Now, I try to do what I just did." She then raised her hand to forestall any argument. "I don't expect you to get it right. I just want to see how good your memory is."

Zelda considered arguing, but then thought better on that. Instead she rose from her seat and assumed the stance that she remembered. Setting a moderate pace, she began to perform the sequence, despite her aching muscles. They remained in silence for a time as the Zelda continued. Everything felt clumsy and awkward, but she allowed herself some leeway, considering it was her first. She wasn't even sure she was doing it correctly. All she was doing was what she remembered, and what felt right. She completed the last part of the sequence and assumed the final stance. She slowly breathed out before standing up straight and looked over expectantly to Samus.

Said warrior said nothing for a time, opting to just simply stare at her. "That was…" she trailed off for a moment, leaving behind a pregnant pause as she tried to come up with the words to describe what she had witnessed. "Just how good is your memory?"

As if expecting the question, she said, "I have a near-perfect memory, and that was even before the Triforce of Wisdom was bestowed upon me and augmented my abilities."

"Triforce of Wisdom?" the huntress asked in confusion, emphasizing it with an arched eyebrow.

Zelda answered by showing the back of her right hand, and allowed magic to flow through. Moments later the back of her hand started to glow, revealing three golden triangles forming a larger triangle. Samus noted with some interest that the left triangle glow the brightest. She quickly surmised that was the Triforce of Wisdom that the princess was talking about.

"It's because of this," Zelda continued, "that I am able to process and absorb information at a far greater rate than most people ever can."

Samus rubbed her chin thoughtfully before adding her input. "With that ability, you could probably learn virtually anything within a matter of hours or days, instead of months or years."

"There is a limitation," the Hylian princess interjected, "While I am more than capable of processing information at a phenomenal rate, any physical application would still require training. I do not develop the instincts or flexibility to perform any given movement. I am just an incredibly fast learner."

"That just means more time to train," said the blonde. "Alright, I want you to repeat that, but this time slower. We'll work on the accuracy of your form before building up the speed."

"Before we begin, I would like to ask you of something," said Zelda, stalling the resuming of their session.

"What is it?"

The princess smiled lightly and asked, "Would you like to join me for dinner again?"