A/N: Finals are done \(^.^)/

Gurlyoubad 13- I am so sorry; I'm a terrible person for not updating this on schedule.

I don't know why, I had a lot of trouble focusing on this chapter, but that shouldn't have delayed me for a full week. I think I'm just busier now even more than I was before -.-

After this, I'll go back temporarily to one-shots. I need to organize my thoughts, or else everything will start falling apart during any arc I write. I've sort of messed this one up a little bit, but it's okay; it's not that major :)

I also realized just now that I had a really confusing typo in the last chapter. Please, please, if you ever notice something like that, send me a PM or something, don't just let it lie there T_T

In any case, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own SSBB, its characters, stages, items, etc.

"I saw an angel, of that, I'm sure," Master Hand sang to himself happily as he left the store. Held at his side was a paper shopping bag, containing a large, dark bottle. His other hand had already pulled his keys out of his pocket, and he was walking towards his car when he noticed the red and blue flashing lights out of the corner of his eye. Curious, he turned his head to look and saw a pair of police cars in front of a bank.

A bank robbery? he wondered. He considered going over to take a look, but reconsidered when he looked at his watch. I should be getting back, or I'll be late, he thought.

He got in his car, placed the shopping back on the passenger seat beside him, and started to drive back towards the Mansion.

Marth immediately tried to hide his reaction by going limp. He couldn't help but glance at the others, a little bit away from them. No help from there; they were too far to have heard the half-whispered question. He considered denying the allegation, but one look at the boy convinced him that it wasn't going to work.

"I knew it was you!" the boy said excitedly, voice still on the quiet side. A wide smile on his face, his large green eyes held a mixture of wonder, joy, and maybe a little bit of hero worship. "I knew some of the games had to be real!"

Marth tried to come up with another explanation on the spot, but came up empty. Damnit, he sighed inwardly. "Yeah, it's me," he admitted with a weak smile. "You know about me?" he asked lamely, more to buy time to think than actually asking.

"Yeah, I've played both your games," the boy replied, almost cheerfully. "You look exactly like how you do in the games. Did you actually kill a dragon, or did they make that up?"

"Um, yeah," Marth mumbled in response, not really paying attention as he tried to think of a solution. Then- "Wait, what? They said I killed a dragon?"

"Mmhmm," nodded the boy, eyes dancing. "A really big and evil one from a hundred years back, who got beat by your ancestor using your sword and a magic shield."

"Jeez," Marth sighed. "There wasn't anything like that. A lot of battles, for sure, but it was always between us humans."

The boy looked a little disappointed now. "So, no final fight against a revived Medeus?"

"Medeus?" Marth's eyebrows raised; he was momentarily confused. "Oh, you mean the legendary dragon. No, no revived Medeus. It was a horrible war," Marth paused, with a wince as some memories flashed by, "but no age-old evils, just normal present-day evils."

"I guess it's the same over there, huh? Once you're gone, you don't come back," the boy said seriously and maybe a little sadly. "How did you come here, by the way?" he asked, perking up slightly.

"Ah, that's…" Marth trailed off uncertainly; this was a dangerous topic. He glanced at the others, and saw that Zelda had come closer. All three of them were wearing worried expressions; Lucario must've told them something had happened. "I'm not really sure myself," he said, dodging the question. "Look, um- what's your name?"

"Ven."

"Ven, can you do me a favour?" Marth paused, and Ven nodded. "Please don't tell anybody my real identity."

Ven frowned, but nodded after a moment. "I promise." Marth sighed in relief. The boy glanced to the side, where Zelda was standing nearby. He cupped a hand in front of his mouth, gesturing for Marth to listen. Marth, surprised, leaned his, tilting his head.

"I think she heard," Ven whispered in his ear. "Does that include her? Or does she know who you are? I've never seen her before in a game with-"

He stopped abruptly, and turned, slowly, to stare at Zelda. Marth groaned inwardly, as if he already knew what was coming next. You've got to be kidding me.

Deep in the Mansion, one of the pairs that had gone out were currently searching the kitchen for a first-aid kit. The blond-haired one, finding nothing, stood up abruptly and smacked his head on a low cabinet. He swore.

"Found one?" asked the bald one.

"No," said the blond-haired one, shortly.

He went back to searching. The bald one, on the other hand, looked at him for a moment, then said, with growing annoyance, "You're pissed at me. Don't go bottling it up on me, out with it."

The blond-haired one went still, then leaned back, rubbing at his face. "A kid, John, a goddamn kid. Why?"

"Why a bank robbery?" The bald one's knuckles went white as he tightened his grip on his gun. "We've never done something so ridiculous."

The blond-haired one swore angrily. "Does that matter? There is nothing we've ever done that a kid should get involved in."

The bald one spoke with exaggerated patience. "You told us to pack clothes for a couple days. I thought this was another one of those trips the six of us went on before. He wouldn't have needed to get involved."

The blond-haired one barked a laugh. "Damnit, John, those jobs have been over for a year now. The clothes were so you guys could hide out for a couple days while I showed my face at work and the ruckus died down. Why would you need to bring him, anyways?"

The bald one said flatly, "Don't even ask. You know the answer."

The blond-haired one paused then, anger mostly dissipating. "Ah." A pause, then- "Your wife?"

"Yeah."

"I see." The blond-haired one sighed, and then clicked his tongue in frustration. "I guess it's my fault for not telling you, huh?"

"Yeah, well… My fault for showing up late, otherwise I could've sent him back," the bald one said, rubbing the back of his head. A wry smile came onto his face, and he added, "We're kinda screwed now, huh?"

The blond-haired man looked away, then looked back. "I'll figure something out."

The bald one smiled. The two of them bumped fists, and then went back to searching.

The other pair that had been sent out weren't searching at all. Instead, the women stood against the wall, leaning, while the long-haired man talked to her.

"Moe's completely screwed," he was saying. "He left so much blood at the scene, they'll track him down with DNA testing. Plus, he's the one who messed that whole thing up anyways, letting the teller trigger the alarm."

"What are you saying?" asked the woman. "Get to the point."

"Dave's insane if he thinks the mansion residents are gonna let us go without a hitch. Moe's dead weight, but the only one of us he's really associated to is Dan. I say, cut them off, and get rid of the witnesses. Make it look like a murder suicide. They won't have a link, and we'll be that much harder to track down." He hoisted his gun, and smiled cruelly. "You in?"

"Why not just cut them all off? That way, we won't have to share the money. Besides, Dave is dead weight as well. We should've kept our masks on, even if it was uncomfortable," pointed out the woman.

The long-haired man blinked in surprise, then grinned. "I like the way you think."

The boy reached out a hand to touch the side of Zelda's head. She instinctively slapped his arm away, but his finger caught in her hat, tearing it off, revealing her ears. The boy gasped in wonder.

The scarred man noticed.

"What're you doing, kid?" he said gruffly. "You're supposed to be guar- Oh?" he interrupted himself as he noticed Zelda's ears.

Damnit, thought Marth.

Then, the night outside was broken by the sound of a hundred thunderclaps and a large, all-encompassing white light.

"What the hell?" exclaimed the bald man. The blond-haired man swore furiously and rushed to the nearest window.

The woman and the long-haired man both stared out the window, mouths open wide.

Master Hand was about to turn onto the road that led straight to the Mansion when the explosion of sound and light hit him. He jerked the wheel awkwardly in surprise, nearly veering off the road. He brought the car back under control, and came to a stop by the side of the road. He sat there for a few seconds, before opening his door and getting out to look behind him.

The explosion had been completely spent, but Master Hand could see trails of light slowly dropping in the sky. They had all obviously from the same spot. In fact…

"Why does it look like somebody just set off all the fireworks in the stadium?" he muttered to himself. "Oh, of course, because somebody did! God, I can't leave these people alone, ever."

He glanced at his watch automatically, then grimaced. Duty called; he'd have to figure out a way to atone for being late. He got in the car and made a U-turn, going back the way he came, back towards the stadium.

"Gah," growled Bowser. "We spent so long setting that up. This feels like such a waste."

"A pity, a pity," sighed Ganondorf from where he was lazing in his seat. "We could've ruined next exhibition day. Humiliating Master Hand and getting out of work, all in one."

"You better pay me for this," growled Wario angrily. He shook a fist angrily in Lucario's direction.

Olimar stepped forward as if to say something, but Lucario put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Instead, he piped up, "Ignore them, Lucario. It was good timing."

We'll talk about that later, said Lucario to the villains. Now that he had taken a short rest, he could refocus again. He tuned them out and spread his awareness once again to see what would happen.

The curly-haired man was dozing when it happened. He jumped up with a start at the sound, and stared, wide-eyed, at the huge burst of light in the sky. He jumped back a few steps…

And slipped on a banana, falling backwards. His head struck the ground, hard, and his vision went blurry, so it was entirely possible that he was hallucinating when he saw a giant pink hand descend over his mouth. A moment later, he fell unconscious.

Distracted by the lights, the long-haired man didn't notice that somebody was sneaking up on him until it was too late.

"Agh!" he grunted, as he hunched over, then fell to the floor.

The woman spun around. "Rob!" she shouted. She saw him on the ground, with a blond-haired woman next to him, a taser in her hand. Full of rage, she raised her gun, clearly intending to use it, but a pair of hands wrapped around her head and neck, and jerked, hard.

"Snake," Samus said, admonishing, as the woman seemed to turn to jelly.

"Yeah, yeah," Snake said, putting her down gently. "She's still alive, but she'll wake up with major whiplash."

Samus shrugged, as if to say not my problem.

The bald man was right on the heels of the blond-haired man, and was about to follow him around a corner when he heard a muffled yell, and the air in front of him seemed to streak blue, brown, and grey, simultaneously. "Dave!" he shouted as he rounded the corner, only to see that he had, impossibly, disappeared. What the hell?

A tap at his shoulder caused him to turn around. He was greeted by the sight of a short blond woman wearing a pink dress with white gloves. "Hi," she said, and he closed his eyes then opened them again, as if to verify that what he was seeing was real. After all, how could she possibly have snuck up on him in a giant, poofy dress like that?

When he reopened his eyes, all he saw was black, right before he got clunked in the face by a frying pan.

"What the-" said the boy, head whipping around at the sound. The scarred man started to follow suit, then turned back, as if he knew, somehow, what was coming next.

The doors at the top of the stairs slammed open, and Ike came running out, deku nut in hand. He threw it a little above the scarred man, who swore and turned his gun towards Ike. A cardboard box suddenly dropped down onto the man, trapping him inside with the deku nut; above, Link pumped his fist in triumph. A huge flash, muted by the cardboard box, stunned the scarred man, sending him to the ground while the others nearby were unaffected.

Throughout this whole sequence, the boy just stood there in shock, unmoving as he watched events fold before his eyes. When Ike turned towards him, he jumped with fright, and started backing away, raising his gun with a shaking hand. Then, his eyes rolled up in his head, and he slumped to the ground. Behind him was Zelda, pale and drawn. She slowly collapsed to one knee, index finger of her right hand tracking the base of the boy's neck. All three triangles of the faintly imprinted triforce on the back of her hand were glowing.

"A sleep spell?" he asked.

Zelda didn't respond, but Link, leaping down nimbly from the air vent above, did. "Yeah. It's probably her safest spell to use on somebody else, other than healing. It's one of her most difficult spells, for some reason. She has to maintain it constantly, and she can only use it on one person at a time. It also doesn't work against most animals, and some people, as well. It's a hassle," he concluded, with a loud, world-weary sigh.

"I get it," said Marth, a little annoyed. "Wanna untie me now?"

Link laughed and went over to Marth, hands seeking out the knot in the small of Marth's back. While he was doing so, Marth looked at the others.

"I'm guessing, from your expression and what Lucario told us, that the kid guessed who we were?" Sheik asked him. When Marth nodded, she shook her head glumly. "That's a problem."

Twenty minutes had passed. They had moved all of the intruders into a basement room, where right now, Jigglypuff was singing gently, cuddled protectively by a now-asleep Red. Lucario was resting in his room, exhausted, but most of the other Smashers were in the lobby. They were in the middle of discussing what to do.

"Honestly, can't we just hand them over to the police?" Samus suggested. "It's consistent with this world's laws, and we won't have to be bothered by them anymore."

"We don't know what they've seen or what they know," growled Wolf. "Safest for us would be to get rid of them."

"Hey, no killing, remember?" said Falco sharply, smacking Wolf on the head.

"You little…"

Zelda sighed, and detached herself from the main group of Smashers, walking over to the stairs where the other teenagers sat. "We're going around in circles," said Zelda.

"They're not even addressing the real problem," noted Sheik sourly. "We need to figure out how to deal with the kid who recognized us. The rest of them aren't important. Any ideas?"

None of them answered for a few long moments. Ganondorf, who had walked by, shook his head at them. "The simplest answer is to kill him," he said gruffly.

"Go away," said Zelda curtly. She raised her right hand, and the imprinted triforce began to glow.

Ganondorf looked at her for a long moment, then scoffed and shook his head. He walked over to join the others.

"He's right, you know," said Ike abruptly.

The others all turned to look at him.

"Hey, hey, don't even joke about that," said Link.

"I don't like it either, but the easiest way would be to get rid of him. We can't let the secret out, remember?"

"Ike, we shouldn't be killing people to solve a problem!" Zelda said to him sharply.

"I can leave, you know." Marth spoke up for the first time, looking up at the others. It hurt to say the words, but he continued onwards anyways. "If I'm not here, then he can't find me, right?"

Sheik looked at him for a long moment, and then rolled her eyes at him. "My god, I thought you were supposed to be smart under pressure," she said with a smile.

"Don't even try to pull that one on us," added Link. "The problem won't go away just 'cause you do, and besides, we wouldn't let you go."

"Ah… Idiots," said Marth, but he was smiling. The rest of them smiled, as well, but those faded soon enough.

"That still leaves us with our old problem," said Ike. "Do we, well… kill him?"

Can I? thought Marth, as the others began to talk. If the secret gets out, we all get in trouble, but if I kill him, only I get in trouble. That's not a bad exchange, right? It's something I would've done a year ago, right? He tried to imagine the deed, but couldn't. Or, maybe not. I can't kill a kid whose crime is recognizing me. Besides, one rule's already been broken. Why break another?

Having come to a resolution, Marth started paying attention to the conversation again in time to hear Pit say, "Why don't we just keep him here?"

Silence greeted his statement, and then the others began to talk.

"I dunno about that," said Link, scratching his head. "It feels too much like we're jailing him."

"We'd have to keep watch on him, make sure he doesn't try to escape," said Ike, frowning. "That's a major hassle."

"Guys, you weren't here like we were," said Pit. "You never know. What if he wants to stay?"

The rest of them considered this possibility. Zelda was nodding slowly. "He seemed pretty happy when he was talking with you, Marth. It's not that far-fetched an idea, I think."

Marth nodded, thinking. "He was pretty straightforward and honest. He took his promise not to tell anybody seriously, too, I could tell."

"An idea for the others?" suggested Sheik.

"And Master Hand," noted Ike. "He'll probably make the decision in the end."

The night had gone by. The sun was shining brightly, and the sky empty of clouds, as if last night's rain had melted them away. The intruders were gone now; they had been found in the morning, tied up and unconscious, outside of the nearby town's police station. Master Hand had come back, nice white suit covered in soot, heard about the situation from R.O.B., and dealt with the villains appropriately for their prank in the stadium (but that's a story for another time).

In any case, it was somewhat early in the morning. The other Smashers were eating breakfast, and as usual, they were being fairly rowdy. Their shouts drifted up all the way from the dining hall on the first floor to a set of unusually large fourth floor windows. The noise, in the end, was what woke Ven up.

He woke up slowly, wrapped in a warm, cottony comfort that just made you want to continue sleeping. He opened one eye first, and then the other eye, blinking owlishly. He yawned widely, hands barely extending beyond the too-large pyjamas he was wearing- then sat bolt upright.

Where am I?

"Ah, you're awake," said a voice to his left. Ven turned to see a young, tired-looking blond man sitting at a desk nearby, head turned to look at him, pen in hand.

"Who are you?" Ven asked, a little groggily. "Where am I?"

"My name is Master Hand," he replied, and Ven blinked in surprise. "You're at the same Mansion you were last night." He paused a moment, then added, "Remember?"

"Ah." The memories that he hoped were just a dream started to come flooding back. "Ah, ah." His face scrunched up, and he wrapped his arms around his knees, pulling them close.

"Hey, don't worry," said Master Hand, getting up from his seat and patting the boy awkwardly on the back. "It's over now. Have some breakfast, won't you? This tray's for you." He gestured at a tray on a side table.

Still frowning, Ven looked up at him. Then, his stomach growled. His face went red, and he ducked his head and mumbled, "Thanks." He climbed out of bed and took the tray, mouth opening slightly at the food on it. He brought it back to the bed and ate with small, quick bites.

Master Hand watched for a few moments, then took his chair and turned it to face Ven. He sat down, and said, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask me right now." He had to repeat himself once; the first time, the boy, chewing slowly, had a blissful expression on his face, and Master Hand wasn't sure he'd heard anything at all. The boy nodded in acknowledgement the second time.

"Where are the others?" he asked, between bites.

"They're safe," replied Master Hand. "Well, fairly safe. They're at the police station right now."

"Mmm, right," said Ven, expression darkening a little. He took another bite, then swallowed before asking, "Why am I not with them? I… I should be with the others."

"We know, but you're a bit of a special case," said Master Hand. "You see, you're the only one of them who recognized who we are."

"Mmhmm," Ven nodded empathetically. He hesitated before asking, "Last night, when I fell unconscious; the others attacked us?"

"Yes," said Master Hand. Strangely enough, the boy looked almost triumphant as he heard the answer. That faded quickly, however.

"What happens now?"

Master Hand looked at him for a long moment. "We have a problem. See, we don't want anybody to know that we're here. You've sort of ruined that for us."

Ven slowly went pale. "I would never tell anybody, I promise."

"I can't trust that promise."

The boy went even whiter. Master Hand stood up, and said to him, "Don't be so afraid. I haven't decided yet what to do. Even if I had, I wouldn't do it now; I'm not so heartless that I won't let people say their goodbyes."

The boy looked down, and put down his spoon, as if he were no longer hungry. Master Hand had brought his chair back to his desk and had already picked up his pen when he asked, almost as an afterthought, "Oh yes, by the way. What is your name, anyways?"

"Ven," said the boy quietly. "Ven Undskyld."

Master Hand's head whipped around to look at him. An expulsion of air came out from his mouth, and then, he started to laugh. Ven looked at him as if he were crazy, which, under the circumstances, was very reasonable.

When Master Hand had stopped laughing, he said, with a wide smile on his face, "Ven, huh? You know, part of the punishment for a crime is community service. How would you like to work here?"

Ven looked up, disbelieving his own ears. His face changed slowly to a wide grin, and he jumped off the bed. "You mean it?"

"Yeah."

"I would love to! It's what I want to do most in the world!"

"Well then," said Master Hand with a smile. "Your clothes are on the dresser over there. After breakfast, get dressed and go downstairs to find R.O.B., the robot. Tell him what we talked about, and that I sent you to him. He'll keep you occupied for a while."

The boy nodded in assent. He finished the last few bites in a hurry, then grabbed his clothing. Before he left, though, he gave a surprised Master Hand a hug. "Thank you," he said, voice muffled slightly. Then he ran over, a huge smile still present on his face.

Master Hand was left looking at the door to the room, a strange look on his face. "Ven… Undskyld, huh?" he said. He scoffed. "You still have the worst ways of treating people, you know?" he said aloud, as if speaking to the air.

Unconsciously rubbing his eyes- it had been a long night- he picked up a shopping bag from where he left it, last night, by the desk. He pulled its contents out of the bag, hefting a large, dark bottle. With his fingers curled tightly around the spout, he went downstairs, calling greetings to the Smashers that he passed by.

Once in the basement, he went to one of the permanently locked rooms, and entered the passcode. He walked forwards into what could be called a wine cellar, save that every slot for a bottle was labeled with a number. Many bottles, most of them (and the most recent of them) unopened, could be seen in slots of a number lower than 2011. He placed this new bottle into the 2012 slot, and then left the room, but not before giving the bottle a second glance.

A/N: Aha! So those villains were plotting something after all! Zelda is always right!

Lots of little details I couldn't put in this time. You might be wondering, if the Smashers are hiding from the rest of the world, why do they live in a huge Mansion? Well, according to Master Hand, "Only those who need to come here can come here." That's all I'll say about that.

Lots of other mystery too, but I can't spoil.

About those very short, almost too short, chunks of action: see, normally, I would've enjoyed messing around with side characters (the same way Guy Gavriel Kay tends to do in his books). It's a good exercise, making up backstory/personalities that are completely plot-irrelevant, but are amusing. Unfortunately, I don't have the space/patience so all you get is the bare bones of characterization for these people. T_T

Also, I realize that Marth has probably been the most changed Fire Emblem character in terms of visual design over his different games and remakes. I'm just poking a little fun at that in my own way right at the beginning :3

Finally, please review. You guys are a large part of what keeps me going, and I would love to be able to improve my writing, as well. :)