Link versus Marth... oh my.
Outside her room, she headed for the training rooms.
"I may as well do some thinking while I stay in shape."
The training room she had left was practically chaos when she returned. There were more smashers now, and they were crowding the walls, shouting and cheering for the two who were brawling in the middle. The 'two' were Marth and Link.
Link jumped and flipped and dashed and Marth did the same, both using their swords expertly. Sheik leaned against the wall near Roy, and glanced at him. "They're just training, right?"
"Oh, yeah. But it's competitive training. Link said he had better moves than Marth."
Her eyebrows rose and she glanced at Lucina, who was standing in front of Ike. He had one hand on her shoulder in a protective and restraining manner, and she was anxiously watching the fight, her blue eyes darting from one brawler to the other as she tensed and relaxed over and over.
"Lucina's going to give herself a heart attack," Sheik muttered.
"You said it," Roy muttered back, and Sheik failed to restrain a chuckle, causing a grin to spread across his face.
There was a gasp from the audience and Sheik's red eyes watched in frank amazement as Link somersaulted under an aerial attack by Marth, stood and readied a sword attack. Marth seemed dazed as he landed, his back to Link. He looked left and right, but stupidly didn't glance behind him. Link's sword hit him full force and sent him shooting into the wall.
He bounced gracefully off the spongey walls and picked himself up, shaking out his cape.
"Good job, Link. You won."
Link gave a grin, but, playing the gracious winner, walking over and shaking Marth's hand. "It was an honor. I was surprised I beat you." Sheik saw that his mouth was grinning, but his eyebrows plainly said he had grown in his cockiness by a full measure.
She rolled her eyes and watched as Ike released Lucina, who dashed up to them, looking from one to the other.
"I… I can't believe you beat Marth," she said to Link, her voice a gasp. She turned to her hero. "How did he beat you?"
"Some swordsmen are better than others," Marth answered. "Good day." He walked up to Ike, gave a small smile, and the two walked out of the room.
"Cheater," muttered Roy. He dashed out after them and Sheik followed softly.
"Interesting," came Ike's voice. He and Marth were sitting on the balcony and Sheik stayed by the door, just hidden from their view, as Roy went out to engage them.
"What?" asked Marth innocently.
"What do you mean, 'what'?" exclaimed Roy, breaking in. "You totally let him win. Stupidly looking back and forth as if you didn't know where he could possibly be! Why did you do that?" His voice held deep questioning and Marth's caped shoulders shrugged.
"Lucina has a new hero."
"What?" Roy shouted, baffled. Ike looked astonished as well.
"I didn't know you'd go that far to get her off your back," he admitted. "Purposely losing a brawl?"
"It wasn't a real brawl!" Marth snapped, suddenly becoming edgy. "It was all fake. Besides, I don't need Lucina constantly hanging on my every word and deed. I am not a perfect being in any sense of the word, and I'm not the perfect role model. It puts unnecessary pressure on me to try to constantly act angelic around her. Lucina won't listen when I tell her to be herself and be a unique person, so what else is there to do? I don't need people idolizing me."
"But I seriously think you have enough heart not to make her idolize that guy," Sheik interrupted, stepping forward.
All turned.
"What do you mean?"
"Link is a world class jerk, Marth. You may want Lucina off your back, but purposely leading her over to Link is a serious error. You might not be a perfect angel, but if she follows him, she'll be ruined."
Marth shook his head. "Besides that it's too late, Sheik, perhaps you have a better plan than losing to this 'world class jerk' in order to help Lucina find her own."
Sheik opened her mouth beneath her mask and shut it. "I… I don't really know."
"Why don't you beat Link and have her follow you, Sheik," suggested Ike, cocking his head and smiling a little.
"You do it, buff guy," she returned. "Anyway," she continued, hoping he wasn't offended, "I'm not a great role model either."
"Why not? You're a great brawler and you're pretty nice," said Roy. He pursed his lips. "A little silent, and maybe uptight, but still. Marth's a little silent and uptight too." He grinned as Marth playfully punched his arm.
Sheik was quiet, staring. It wasn't true. She wasn't a super great brawler and she wasn't nice at all. And she was just as insecure, or more so, than Lucina.
"I think… I think Lucina is just insecure in who she truly is."
"I think you're right," nodded Ike. He stood up to face her, staring down into her eyes. "How do we make her more confident?"
"I… Why are you asking me?" She grew defensive. "Maybe encourage her to make up her own sword moves and then make a deal with all the other smashers, or most of them at least, to have them willingly lose."
"There is no way anyone is going to do that, especially with the televised brawls," retorted Roy.
"True!" Sheik flashed back. "So think of an idea, genius!"
"Why don't you get her to hang out in your circle of friends," suggested Marth. "Introduce her to Zelda, Peach, Corrin F, and Wii Fit Trainer. Robin F is already in the girl circle, but neither Link nor I are. She'll be surrounded by female friends, and, if you add the two Samuses." He grinned. "She'll get plenty of feminism to make her more confident than anyone."
Sheik was in no mood to joke and folded her arms. "I'm not feminist, and I've got plenty of confidence. Zelda's not feminist and so does she. Robin F certainly didn't seem feminist, and she's probably more confident and sweeter than everyone except maybe Peach."
"Come on, Sheik," insisted Ike. "Girl power. Something. Help her."
"It's his fighting for his friends instinct kicking in," muttered Roy, grinning.
Ike cast him a withering glance, but Sheik's eyes suddenly twinkled as she remembered him mentioning that as his quote.
"You want me to start using your winning slogan as my own?" she asked.
"No," he answered, smiling. "But you can use it with Lucina."
"I'll try," she finally said. "But no promises."
"We believe in you," encouraged Marth.
"If you need any help, just let me know," added Ike, and Roy slapped her gently on the back.
"You're awesome, Sheik."
As she walked back to the training rooms her head was unwittingly held high. She knew she didn't believe them when they said she was capable or awesome or nice or able to make friends, but… It somehow brought on a confidence and she practically strutted up to Lucina.
"Hey. Saw Link beat Marth."
"Yeah." Lucina looked crestfallen.
"What's wrong?"
"My world's in shatters all around," she mourned. "I've looked up to Marth ever since… he started being awesome, and now… he lost in his first battle against Link."
Sheik tried not to laugh. She knew very well it wasn't Link and Marth's first battle. Robin M had said that Marth had beaten up Link the other day during a brawl. "Don't worry about it. Everyone has a bad day. Is Link your new hero?"
Lucina sat down with a thump on the bench and put her chin in her hands. "What kind of follower am I if I just dump Marth for the first guy he loses to? I'm sure it was just a bad day, like you said. But… but I know Marth doesn't even like me. And… and if the leader doesn't like the follower, shouldn't I be justified in learning from Link instead?" Her eyes were full of questioning as she looked at Sheik, who tried to keep her own eyes from filling with tears.
She saw, in Lucina, her own insecure self, back in Tri Force before she'd began seriously training; doubts about herself and her courses of actions and her looks and what people thought of her. It was all too sadly familiar. Sheik knew that she didn't want Lucina to become what she'd become. She'd made herself into a perfect, agile, creature, physically, but she'd thrown off the need for friends, become stiff, and let her stiff thinking control everything. Lucina could not fall to that fate.
"Lucina," she began, sitting down beside her. "Marth doesn't not like you. Marth is a great guy, and he simply wants you to find your own. He wants you to be your unique self. He and Ike are totally different, but look how well they get along. You don't need to be exactly like Marth to get him to like you. He wants you to be yourself with your own sets of moves. He wants you as a friend, who treats him like… like Robin F treats him. And Link will get beaten by other people, just as Marth will get beaten by other people. You can't think that your idol will stay above everyone else. You have to follow… your heart."
"I can't," answered Lucina, choking as tears filled her eyes. "I've followed someone else for so long."
Sheik nodded as she realized what she had said was dumb. Her own heart argued with itself, emotions swaying one way and common sense leading another way. Following oneself was foolish, too. Her reasoning broke off, but she put a hand on Lucina's shoulder.
"Then you keep following Marth, but listen to me. You can keep taking advice from other people. You can try my flips and see if one of my attacks works for you. You can try a stronger attack that's more like Ike's. You can dance all around before you initiate your final attack like Peach told me she does. Don't be pulled down so strictly that you lose sight of what your goal is in life. If you limit yourself to Marth, he's all you'll ever see."
"What if he's all I want to see?" asked Lucina. She was smiling a little as she blinked back tears.
Sheik smirked. "Then you'll have to take him from a whole other level called romance. In the brawl, you have to make your attacks your own."
"So I should just keep following Marth? But he doesn't…"
"Lucina, he doesn't not like you. He just doesn't want you mooning over him. It's awkward. Just be yourself."
"Who am I, Sheik?"
"I can't tell you," she admitted. "I don't even truly know who I am yet, but… hey, you've got your life to figure it out."
"Yeah," agreed Lucina, standing. Her eyes were still red, but she wasn't crying anymore, and her eyes had sparks of hope in them. "Besides, that Link guy didn't seem super nice. He was sorta fake. And I heard from Peach that he used to be with Zelda. If he gets rid of someone like her for no reason, there's no way I'm using him as a model."
"Good girl," said Sheik, grinning so that her eyes showed it.
Lucina beamed at her. "Thanks, Sheik. But don't treat me like a kid. Let's brawl and I'll show you some Lucina moves." She brought her hand to her mouth and whispered. "They'll be a lot like Marth's moves, but they have a female twist."
Sheik laughed and Lucina did as well. Then their brawl commenced with giggles and smiles all around.
Lucina's a sweet heart, isn't she? If you have any questions about the story, beside how it's going to end, feel free to PM me or review.