Author's Notes:

Sorry about the almost weeks without a single update! I wrote myself into a hole and had to do a massive rewrite of some of the later stuff. I'm still not 100% happy with what I've got written towards the end of "Act 1" as I call it, but I'll fix that when it comes time to publish it.

I'd also like to how glad I am for all the support; it seems I've got quite a few people interested in my little story. So many of you don't allow for replies or are logged in as guests and such, and I'd like to thank each of you personally. I guess this will have to do for now then :)

Thanks in advance for liking, faving, sharing and whatnot, and don't forget to point out any and all mistakes I may have made so I can fix them.

-Jack Knights


The next day was a hectic mess of packing up what little she had and moving halfway across the building. Ness had a two matches in the morning, but promised to stop by later—after he'd won, he assured her. A ROB showed up and helped her carry her things to her new rooms. As they walked across the lobby, Samus wondered who her neighbours would be and prayed they'd leave her the hell alone.

When the robot opened the door for her, the first thing she noticed was the smell of wet dog. The second thing was how dark it was. Heavy curtains covered all four walls, which struck her as odd. Frowning, she set about tearing them down. Weirdly enough, the walls were covered in acoustic foam. As she tore them down as well, Samus couldn't help but wonder just who the hell had been the previous tenant and for what reason they needed to sound proof the room for.

After she aired the bed, changed the sheets, washed the carpets and found new curtains to put up on the one wall that was entirely made of glass, Samus looked at the three boxes that contained all her worldly possessions. She unpacked them methodically and carefully, placing them where they had been in the other room.

A picture of the 07th Platoon in full combat gear and another of Adam Malkovich went on a desk in a corner of the room. A small scale replica of her ship, the Hunter IV, sat on her bedside table next to an alarm clock. Her clothes were packed away in the floor to ceiling closet and her bathroom was stocked with practiced, military precision.

Just as she was finished placing the two pillows on the bed, the door was flung open. Samus grabbed for her pistol on the bedside table and whipped around, surprised to see Sheik strolling calmly in.

"Yo," he said, voice muffled by the cloth around his face. He toed the door closed behind him before pulling his hat off and running his hand through his short blond hair.

Thinking about Sheik, as a person—a separate entity to Zelda, gave Samus a headache. She knew Zelda was in there somewhere, she'd seen her transform to and back many times, but it was like a switch flicked in the girl's head. He was completely different from the Crown Princess of Hyrule. Sheik was as impolite, crass and disinterested as Zelda was kind, well-spoken and concerned. Samus sometimes wondered if Zelda suffered from a personality disorder.

"You got one helluva upgrade," he noted, red eyes scanning the room. "Mine are shit compared to yours."

"Sure," she muttered impatiently. It wasn't often Zelda, even disguised as Sheik, talked to her, let alone come into her room. And despite Sheik's… casual manner, whatever it was he wanted to discuss had to be important. Instead of an explanation, Sheik threw himself onto her bed, arms tucked beneath his head and sighed loudly.

"Damn, the bed's better too," he groaned.

"So?" Samus prompted. Sheik looked at her, puzzled and Samus felt her patience thinning. "Why are you here? And why are you cross-dressing?"

"I told you before, it's not cross-dressing. It's a disguise, a transformation done by arcane magic, not makeup and contact lenses," he said petulantly. "Besides, sometimes it's fun to cut loose and not have to act all interested in what people have to say."

"Whatever," Samus waved him off. "Again, why are you here?"

"I thought we'd celebrate," he began. He caught Samus's look of confusion and sighed. "You haven't heard? Have you been holed up in here all day? What about television?"

"Does it look like I've got a television in here?"

"Huh, yeah no," he realized. "What's up with that?"

"Just get to the point," Samus interrupted, growing frustrated.

"Alright fine," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "You've always got to ruin my fun."

He jumped to his feet and pulled off his glove. Bright blue light enveloped him and when it faded, the ninja faded into the princess of Hyrule, the same bored look on her face. "Happy?"

"Why do you even bother dressing up like that? Everyone knows it's you at this point."

"Have you seen what I wear to those matches? It's not easy running around in a corset that hardly lets you breathe when you're sitting down, let alone fighting. And the shoes… but that's not why I'm here," she stopped herself.

"It's all over the news. I knew I wouldn't be the only one who caught that look Snake gave you last night. The public is going mad over it, overanalyzing it down to the last detail."

Samus frowned. "He was just being a baby about it. Honestly, I could have done much worse. Remember Falcon?"

Zelda levelled her gaze at the blonde. "I think Snake would have taken inappropriately place buttons on his suit a bit better."

"That's the point. The guy's a creep who can't take no for an answer. If this is what it takes for him to understand I mean business, I'm fine with it."

"He's slipping up, you know," Zelda said, holding out a portable screen, with match results listed on it. Snake rarely lost, he was number three for a reason. Him coming in second and third was uncommon and against opponents like Peach was unheard of. Something about it didn't sit well with her.

"Not my problem," Samus said, despite the small ball of guilt in the pit of stomach.

"I thought you might want to know the kind of effect you have on him," the princess said as she conjured away the screen.

"I'd rather not be in his thoughts at all," she murmured. "Why do you care about him anyway? This has nothing to do with you," she asked eventually.

"We've all experienced enough suffering to last a few lifetimes. I just don't like to see people in pain," Zelda said evenly as she got to her feet. She didn't know what to say to that, so she led the princess out the door.

"I'll see you in the lobby tomorrow," she said lamely. Zelda paused outside door and studied her for a moment.

"You two aren't all that different," she noted. Just as she was about ask what she meant by that, the clatter of mail and footsteps sounded from the end of the hall and the monarch swore. A gust suddenly picked up and Zelda disappeared with a flash just as Link rounded the corner.

He trotted to where Samus stood with her arm against the door frame, looking exhausted and panting for breath. The hero shot her a look and she shook her head.

"Just missed her," she said and he groaned. With a wave, he started off again and Samus wondered how often Zelda used Sheik to escape her watch dog.


There was no sign of Snake that morning, nor was he in the lobby when they announced the line-up the next day. Samus briefly wondered if he was still sulking somewhere. Then she convinced herself she didn't care; if he missed a match that was his fault.

Her first match was over quickly and Samus came in a close second. The satisfaction was short lived however when she ran into Snake on her way out. Or rather, he ploughed into her like a freight train. It was strange to see him worked up enough to be actually angry. She would have chewed him out but he was gone before she could mutter a world.

In the lobby, she watched his fight with interest. Without his bandana, which was tied around her bicep, he looked wilder. He fought less like the trained soldier he was and more like a street brawler, taking risky shots and receiving heavy blows.

"He's being risky," Pit muttered to Ike on the other side of the room. The angel boy looked concerned, arms folded frowning; Ike looked much the same. There were murmurs of agreement from the others assembled. Surprised, Samus turned to discover that the fighters all wore the same expression; one of a strange disappointment. The unnerved her far more than the fact that Snake was acting like a rookie.

"And Snake is the first one out," the announcer said, sounding just as surprised as she was. An instant replay displayed his final mistake in slow motion for all to see. He'd dove at an enemy, who easily sidestepped him and proceeded to smash him out of the ring. The lobby was dead silent, save for the televisions blasting sound.

Samus was the first to break the silence. Having had enough, she headed for the doorway that led to her rooms. She felt the eyes of the other fighters on her back as she marched out, but she dared not look at them. Their unspoken questions were enough to leave her doubting herself.


With her popularity skyrocketing due to her match against Snake, Samus found herself more often than not on the match-ups every morning. Her days were filled with matches that left her exhausted and she fell into troubled sleep that left her feeling worse.

It didn't help any that she was going up almost exclusively against the higher ranking fighters. She wasn't a slacker in any way, shape or form, but she wasn't the strongest nor the fastest. After going up against opponents that much better than her on a daily basis, Samus was beginning to feel the strain.

Of course, she frequently fought against Snake as a result, though they always left her feeling funny when she beat him. The times she gone up against him before, he'd owned the battlefield. But whenever she was in the same arena as him, Snake was like a cornered tiger. He was wild and dangerous, but whenever she got near him, he became extremely defensive.

Things escalated a few weeks later when she'd come back from a particularly laid back matchup between herself, Yoshi and Red, the Pokémon trainer to find her room had been searched through. Not that anyone who didn't live there wouldn't notice. Nothing seemed out of place at a glance, but she found small things had shifted position.

The chair in her room had been left askew, not quite fitting into the space in the desk upon which the photographs of old friends faced towards the windowed wall. The bed had also been remade; it was almost exactly as she had done it. The military precision was there, but the almost obsessive placement of the pillows was off.

When nothing appeared to have moved the following days, she began to doubt her suspicions. Maybe she hadn't been as methodical as she thought. Then she found her drawer left open and the window ajar. And maybe she'd sprout wings and turn into a fairy princess, she thought acidly. Whoever the hell was doing this was trying her patience.

She started checking her things, going through her clothes and whatever else she had. While in the closet, shifting through pants and shirts, she smelt it. At first she thought it was a residue, a leftover from her previous battle. But the smell wasn't coming from her or the clothes she wore. The acidic smell of smoke wafted around her room, almost imperceptible.

Snake, she realized with a frown. After several more minutes, she decided nothing had been stolen and slammed the doors of the closet shut. If he hadn't taken anything, then he had been looking for something, something he hadn't found. But what was he looking for?

He wasn't the outwardly perverted men seen in the media who stole girls' panties. If he was, he would have gotten his fix sometime in the past four years. No, she had recently acquired something, something that was currently tied to her bicep under the jacket she wore.

Sighing irritably, she sat down on the edge of her bed and frowned at the door. Would the man ever leave her alone? She could always report him for trespassing, but what proof did she have? A gut instinct bordering on paranoia. No, if she wanted him to stop, she'd have to take matters into her own hands and resolve this quietly.


I can't say when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully you won't have to wait as long for it as you did for this one xD No promises though ;)