For the Pherae Family, two weeks slowly passed by peacefully with no troubles. During these days, Roy was slowly rebuilding his strong, powerful bond with his family. He finally began to accept Lyn into his family and his father, who was trying his best to care for Roy. Much to Eliwood's delight, his son began to show signs of recovering from depression.
As for Marth, although he gradually improved his speech, he failed to remember a single piece of his past. Even though he dug deeply into the ground, he could not find a single speck of a golden memory. However, he did not worry about it much. He knew that no matter what, the Pherae Family would always be there to take care of him.
Marth began to realize that both Eliwood and Lyn were working quite hard to support him, Roy, and themselves. He then began to feel a bit guilty, as he felt like a leech. One day, he suddenly latched onto the Pherae Family's arm and boom! He was sucking up their money and food! Yes, he did return the favor by acting extremely cuddly and providing support for Roy, but he felt that it was not enough!
Maybe he could get a job like Eliwood and Lyn! However, what should it be? Definitely not a doctor. Marth was not educated. Besides, it seemed to be a complicated job. Maybe a journalist like Eliwood? Marth's eyes flickered in delight at the idea. He could ask him about it!
That night, after getting ready for bed, Marth crept into Eliwood's office, where Eliwood was busily typing a few reports. The sound of the keys clicking was the only sound Marth heard as he entered the room.
"Mr. Eliwood? Are you busy?" Marth asked softly.
"A little bit." Eliwood answered as he turned to Marth. "What do you need?"
Marth looked down at the ground shyly. "Can... Can I be a journalist? I really want to get a job so I can repay you and Lyn."
"Sure you can! You just need to graduate high school with high grades, get into a college, get a degree, and apply for the job!" Eliwood teased.
"How long will it take?" Marth asked, unaware of Eliwood's mischievous answer.
"A few years." Eliwood answered.
"O...Oh." Marth quietly replied.
"In order to be a journalist, you need good education." Eliwood explained. He was not teasing anymore. "For example in college, I had to take lots of English classes. It would be silly if I couldn't spell correctly, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah." Marth answered with a small smile.
"Why don't you get a simpler job?" Eliwood suggested. "There are plenty jobs that don't require much skill. Why don't you look for an advertisement?"
Marth thought for a few seconds before nodding his head in agreement.
"Is he there?" Roy asked as he, Pit, Link, and Marth cautiously looked through the windows of the pizza joint.
Pit glanced around the area and failed to spot the indigo-haired bully. "No, Ike's not here. Let's go!"
"Why are y'all so afraid of this Ike?" Link asked, a bit confused by his friends' actions. "I know that he's mean and all, but you guys can stand up to 'em!"
"He's someone you don't really want to get into a fight with." Marth answered as he held the door for his friends. "He once beat me up for bumping into him."
"I see now." Link responded as he entered the joint.
Before he followed his friends, Marth noticed a small stack of job applications taped to a billboard next to the entrance. With a sparkle or interest in his eyes, he carefully took an paper, quickly browsed through its information, and quickly went inside.
"So, what are we having?" Marth asked as he sat down at the table with his friends.
"Just pepperoni." Pit answered. "It's all I can afford for today."
"I understand." Marth quietly replied.
Roy spotted the application paper sitting in Marth's lap. "Hey Marth, what's that?"
"Oh, it's a job application." Marth answered calmly. "I got it because I'm thinking of working here." He began to fidget with the paper.
Roy's and Pit's eyes widened in shock and terror. Marth, one of the sweetest and (admittedly) vulnerable people they knew, decided to work here with Ike, the fiercest and scariest person in the world?! But, what if Marth accidentally got into Ike's way? Could he defend himself? What if there was no one there to save him from Ike's violent fury?!
"Er, are you sure?" Roy nervously asked, a sweat drop rolling down his head. "There are plenty of other jobs you can take!"
"But, I would like to work here..." Marth calmly protested. "I looked in the newspaper, and all they had was being a newspaper boy and working as a cashier in the art store!"
"Why don't you work at the art store?" Pit suggested, desperately trying to change Marth's mind.
Marth frowned childishly. "I don't want to!"
"Why?" Pit and Roy asked at the same time.
"It's because I'm not interested!" Marth answered. "Besides, the joint is closer to our neighborhood. Why are you guys trying to convince me not to have this job?"
"You know that Ike works here, right?" Roy reminded its large eyes.
"Yeah, I know." Marth rose an eyebrow.
"If you work here, he's gonna make your life hell!" Pit warned. Marth rolled his eyes; it was obvious that the angel was exaggerating. "If you're not careful, he might kill you and use your remains in a pizza!"
Link chuckled and spoke up. "I don't think Ike's that bad. Look, if y'all so worried about Marth gettin' beaten by Ike, maybe I can apply for a job here."
"Really?" Roy asked.
"Yeah!" Link answered truthfully. "My 'rents suggested me to get a job, so I can get some experience. Besides, I wanna help support the family."
"Do you know how to fight?" Pit asked. "It would be terrible if Ike managed to chop both of you guys up and use your body parts as toppings for pizza."
"Yeah, I know how to use these fists." Link held up his left fist. "Trust me, you don't wanna get hit by my left one!"
"All right! That's great!" Roy remarked.
As his friends chatted eagerly, Marth looked out the window and began to slip into a reverie of thoughts. Yes, he had met Ike before. Ike did get awfully angry at him and harmed him in his rage. But why? That did not seem to be like a bully. A perfect example of a bully would be Wolt (In Marth's and Roy's case); he loved to put people down and act superior towards them, therefore looking down at them like if they were worthless worms.
"Here's your pizza." a brunette, Hylian waitress with violet eyes said to the boys as she carefully set the large pizza onto the table, snapping Marth out of his thoughts.
"Oh, thanks!" Pit, Roy, and Marth thanked.
Instead of thanking the waitress, Link jumped in surprise. His face turning red, he just smiled awkwardly and nodded. Once when the waitress walked away, Link slowly looked away and slipped his soda, trying to make his situation less strange.
Pit saw this as a chance to tease Link. "Hey Link, are you checking her out?" he asked mischievously.
"N-No!" Link replied loudly in embarrassment, as his face turned redder. "I just— Argh!"
Link quickly stuffed his face with a warm slice of pizza and looked away in a vain attempt to ignore his friends' laughter. To be honest, the waitress was beautiful and she seemed nice... Link quickly mentally slapped himself. No, Link! Bad! Get a hold of reality!
After finishing their lunch, the four left the building. As they stepped out the door, Marth pointed to the billboard, where he got the job application.
"I got the paper here, Link!" Marth said as Link took a slip.
Link nodded, took off his floppy, green hat, folded the slip, and dumped it in his hat like if it was a scrap of paper.
"You could've just put it in your pocket, Link!" Pit teased.
"Naw, I prefer my hat 'cause it's easy to remember that you have something." Link replied with a small grin.
As Link put his hat back on, Pit looked at the billboard and noticed an eye-catching flyer for a contest of some sort. With a bright gleam in his curious eyes, he pointed to the poster and exclaimed, "Hey Roy, check this out!"
"What is it?" Roy asked as he skimmed through the poster.
"There's gonna be an art fair next week!" Pit explained to Roy happily. "You can submit a drawing, painting, or whatever for everyone to see!"
Roy just nodded.
"You're pretty good at drawing, so I think you should join!" Pit finished cheerfully. "What do you think?"
"I'm not sure, I draw really slow." Roy replied uneasily.
"It'll be fine!" Link encouraged, patting Roy's back. "Just draw somethin' that comes and submit it into this fair! As long as it's appropriate!"
"Well, I'm not a perfect artist." Roy unconfidently said as he began to fidget with his fingers. "So, people might laugh at it."
"Nah, people won't laugh at it!" Pit replied with a scoff. "They need to have a lot of courage to make fun of art in public!"
"Or a big ego." Link added.
"Or, they just need to be mean!" Marth included.
"So, what do you think? Are you gonna do it?" Pit asked Roy with large, encouraging, puppy eyes.
"Well..." Roy started uneasily. He was a bit undeceive because, he did not like showing his artworks off in public. Why? Every time he showed a drawing to someone, his work was bound to get criticism, especially if he showed it to his father Eliwood. Roy was tired of having his work looked down upon and laughed at. He would spend countless hours to finish a drawing and yet, instead of getting compliments, he would either get a "It's good." or a harsh comment.
But, his friends encouraged him to submit an artwork to the fair! If he declined, he would be letting down his friends! Who knows? His style might've changed and improved!
"O-Ok, I'll do it." Roy hesitantly answered. He was quickly rewarded a high-five from Link.
"That's great!" Pit exclaimed. "Hey, take a picture of the poster so you won't forget! C'mon, just do it!"
"I am, ok!?" Roy shouted back at the excited angel as he quickly took out his phone and snapped a photo of the flyer.
"So, when are you going to start in this drawing of yours?" Link asked Roy.
"I'll try to get started tonight." Roy answered, trying to show confidence. "Hopefully, I can think of something to draw by the time I get home."
"I have no idea what to draw." Roy sighed loudly as he sat at his desk, looking at the blank page of his sketchbook with tired, bored eyes.
Marth, who was sitting on his sleeping bag and quickly drawing something in his sketchbook, suggested, "Why don't you draw a picture of Eliwood, Lyn, and me, Woy?"
"Well, isn't that kinda childish?" Roy replied, looking at Marth. "Little children usually draw picture of their family and whatnot."
"What are you drawing anyway?" Roy asked, taking notice of Marth's sketchbook.
With a wide smile, Marth showed Roy a cartoonish drawing of Roy, Link, Pit, and himself. "This! What do you think?"
Roy made a strange, unsure look. "Well, I really like your style, but the proportions are kinda off. I can see you use the circle method."
"I really like it!" Marth said happily. "It's better than trying to draw freehanded! I'm glad that you taught me that, Woy!"
"Gee, thanks!" Roy suddenly noticed something and remarked, "Hey, I just noticed that your speech improved!"
"W-Really?" Marth suddenly stuttered, a bit embarrassed.
"Yeah!" Roy answered. "But, I still don't know why you still call me Woy instead of Roy."
"I like Woy more than Roy." Marth admitted.
"You know, people might make fun of you if you keep calling me that." Roy stated. "Listen to me carefully and repeat after me. Rr-Rr-Roy."
"Fine, Woy." Marth replied with a pout.
"Not Woy, Roy." Roy responded. "Repeat after me. Rr-Roy."
"Wr...Rr...Woy!" Marth repeated, his face turning pink. "Darn it, I can't say your name right!" The bluenette sighed in frustration.
"Don't worry, you'll get better." Roy encourages with a small twinkle in his eyes. "Just practice!"
"Ok Woy!" Marth responded with a tiny giggle.
Roy softly chuckled back. To be honest, he found the way Marth pronounced his name a bit amusing and admittedly adorable. It was like having a little brother who was just beginning to speak. Although Marth was older than him, Roy always saw him as a younger brother, no matter how many times he told himself that Marth was a bit bigger than him. He did not clearly know why. Maybe it was because of his naive, childish, innocent personality. Due to these factors, Roy felt that he was committed to protect him.
"Are you sure you want to work at the pizza joint?" Roy asked in concern. "I don't want Ike to hurt you again. Remember what he did to you at the game arcade?"
"Yeah, I remember." Marth replied in confidence. "Don't worry! I'm not gonna back away from him! I'm gonna fight back!"
"He's bigger than you, just warning you." Roy warned. "And also, he gets angry easily."
"There's got to be a reason why Ike's like this." Marth spoke up. "He can't be simply like that. Did you ask anyone why he's like that?"
"I tried asking a few people like his sister Mist." Roy answered, shaking his head. "They didn't really tell me a whole lot for some reason; they only say that it was the way he was."
"Well, maybe he's lonely like you before you met me!" Marth suggested.
"I doubt that." Roy turned to his blank sketchbook before saying, "Look, don't try to befriend Ike. He's just gonna hurt you, understand?"
"I understand." Marth replied quietly.
Deep inside however, Marth was determined to know Ike more. He could not believe that Ike was naturally this cruel and bad-tempered! There was a reason behind this! Even though he might get hurt physically and mentally, Marth was willing to do anything to learn more about the larger, mysterious indigo-haired teen.
Don't worry everyone! This story is still alive! *kicks rotting corpse*
OT: Sorry for the late update! I got carried away with homework and school activities! This year, I'm taking more advanced classes than the last, so that means less free time for me. However, I'll try my hardest to write new chapters!
Also, I opened another poll asking what story should I write about again. I know that it's annoying, but the idea suddenly came to mind. So please check it out if you want to!
Story Questions:
What if your dream job?
What do you think Roy should draw?
(You don't need to answer this): Any suggestions on what should happen in future chapters?
