Marth really, really hates Zelda now. Just a reminder.

A boy, about fourteen or fifteen years old, was standing in front of Marth. He had blond hair and black eyes, dressed in a toga like Pit's, only black. He had a bloody lip and looked roughed up. He was trembling.

Marth stepped toward him. He held out his hand kindly. The boy stared at him, then smiled evilly. His eyes suddenly glowed dull, dark red. He pulled out a sword and lunged at the defenseless Marth.

Marth's eyes snapped open. His hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. A dream... a rare experience. And he remembered it perfectly. At the last second... Marth had glimpsed wings, black wings, protruding from the boy's back. Like the Ravens, Marth thought. But that boy wasn't a Raven—not any Laguz.

Marth got up and walked over to his desk. He took out a small blue notebook and made a note to himself to ask Pit about it. He couldn't risk a mental note.

Marth stared out the window into the night. He had vague memories—a reluctant red-haired boy, dared to throw a rock through the window of the High Prince... dressing in peasant's clothes and climbing out a window... Marth shook his head vigorously. He couldn't even think about the good memories, lest the bad memories resurface.

Marth opened the door and walked down the stone hall to Ike's room. Ike's messy room was strewn with comic books and video games, food wrappers and paper airplanes. Ike was snoring softly on his messy, always-unmade bed.

Marth kneeled down and looked at him. He laughed softly. Ike had lost his parents in a much more brutal way then Marth had, but that was really the only loss of Ike's life. Marth hadn't missed his parents too-too much... he got over it in two years or so. But everyone else... Elice, Shiida, Merric...

Marth bit his lip to stop the tears. He had thought the names. All three of the most painful losses. Sister, girlfriend, brother-in-law...

Marth concentrated. He couldn't think. Couldn't remember. It would kill him.

Ike found him there the next morning, sitting cross-legged on the ground with very red eyes.

...

Marth and Ike stood in front of Hyrule's castle. Marth had delayed for hours, saying first that he had had a bad night (which was true, so Ike cut him some slack), then saying that it would be rude to interrupt them during lunch, and that they were probably out anyway. Then he wasted the afternoon reading and playing video games, then delayed again, saying they were probably eating dinner. Finally, at seven o'clock, Marth had run out of excuses not to apologize to Zelda.

Ike nudged Marth, who sighed and walked to the door. He grabbed the heavy knocker and banged it three times on the door.

"Please be Link," Marth prayed. "Please be Link, please be Link, please be Link..."

Unfortunately, the gods of Fire Emblem weren't smiling down on Marth that day. Princess Zelda flounced to the door, her radiant smile quickly morphing to a sneer.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't little Mr. Anger Issues. Have something to say to me?" She tapped her foot and crossed her arms.

Marth couldn't stand that smug grin on her gloating face. He ground his teeth.

"I'm oh so very sorry I insulted you, Miss Princess."

"Yeah. He's, just, um... um, um, um... sick. Yeah. Got a headache." Ike said unhelpfully.

"There. I said it. Happy?" Marth said, ignoring Ike.

Zelda put her hands on her hips and gave the boys a dazzling smile. "Perfect. Now grovel."

"What?"

"You heard me, Martha. Get down on your knees."

Marth's vision blurred with anger. He opened his mouth but no words came out.

"I... will... never... bow... to... you." Marth's voice was deathly quiet. "I am the prince of Altea. I bow... to no one."

Zelda yawned. "Prince or not, I don't care. I'm a princess. Bow."

Marth turned and walked away, his long blue cape billowing behind him.

Ike turned back, then turned back to Zelda. "I'll, uh... get back to you later..." He ran off and caught up with Marth.

"Hey, man," Ike said, still running to keep up with the long-striding Marth. "Uh, yeah. Good job, buddy. But... um... you do realize that you will eventually run into her sometime... right?

Marth remained silent, still walking.

"I-I mean... hey, at least you apologized, right?"

"Ike, shut up!" Marth whirled on Ike, who stopped in his tracks. "Just... shut up, will you? Shut up!"

Ike fell silent, taken aback.

All of a sudden, they heard footsteps behind them. Ike turned, then called to Marth, "Marth! It's cool! It's just Link!"

Marth turned. Link caught up to them, out of breath.

"Hey, guys! Glad I caught up with you. Man, I didn't expect it to be over that fast..." Link noticed Ike making cut-throat motions across his neck. Link cleared his throat. "Um, anyway, I was thinking. Seriously, Samus isn't back yet? Now we should start getting worried. I had a bad feeling about this..."

"Hey, yeah, you're right." Ike frowned.

"And she went looking for the enemies. That can only mean one thing—kidnapping!" Marth cried.

"This is not good," Link muttered. "Look, we don't want everyone freaking out on us. Let's just get Pit and Pia to help us."

This is NOT the end.