Welcome – Ch.54 The Nightmare

Fire. Red was dreaming about fire. But instead of fire lighting up at a campfire or a fireplace to keep people warm, the fire he was dreaming of were burning everywhere around him; buildings, plants, and even people.

Tears began streaming down on the red Link's face as he covered his ears to ignore the screaming of the people burning their flesh to the bone, but no matter how hard he tried, he can still hear them suffering, until he heard a woman singing in the fire.

(A/N: Just before we move on, type in, "Dead Space 2 Ring Around the Rosie" to give it more a scary feeling for the next part of the story.)

"Ring around the rosie

Pocket full of posies

Ashes, ashes

We all fall down."

Shocked, when Red turned to the voice wondering if there was a survivor, his eyes grew wide to see a figure walking through the flames, not getting herself burned up no matter how close she got to the fire.

"Ring around the rosie

What do you suppose we

can do to fight the darkness

in which we drown?"

"Ring around the rosie

This evil thing, it knows me

Lost ghosts surround me…"

As the figure was getting closer to the red Link, the only appearance he saw from the woman is that she had a huge pair flaming wings against her back and a pair of blood-red eyes. Suddenly, the woman's wings were raging with more fire on them and that's when she let out a large burst of fire heading towards Red. When he tried to dodge, he can feel the flames starting to burn his clothes and that's when he realized, it was too late.

"…I can't fall down."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


"IDIOT!" Blue yelled and hit the back of Red's head with rage. "PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!"

Ever since the Minish Winter Festival was over, the smashers decided to stay for the night at Ezlo's home and will continue their adventure to find to find the rest of the other smashers, but as for Green, since he was still worried about the seal being broken after pulling the Four Sword, that's when the other fighters promise they'll take him to visit the Hyrule Castle first thing in the morning.

"OW! HEY!" Red yelled as he rubbed the spot where Blue hit him.

"Everything alright here?" Ezlo woke up and asked as most of the fighters are starting to wake up from the commotion.

"It's nothing. Red has that nightmare again…" Vio yawned.

"Again? Wait. This happened before?" Lucy questioned.

"Not only him, but the four of us when we were back into the original Link." Green explained.

"Do any of you guys remember what the dream was?" Vaati asked the four Links and they all shook their heads.

"I know someone who can help. Sis!" Charles called out to his sister, who just barley woke up and is half asleep.

"On it…" She yawned and went over to the Link in red.

"Zoey has the ability to look through other people's dreams and nightmares, and putting them back to sleep." Krystal explained.

"That must've explain why she always sleeps a lot." Richard recalled.

"Exactly. Her powers get more powerful after she falls asleep." Charles mentioned.

Meanwhile, Zoey placed her hands on Red's cheeks, who was blushing all of a sudden after the touch, and stared at his blue eyes with her gray eyes and that's when both of their eyes turned into a pinkish-purplish color.

"What's she doing?" Aquamarine questioned.

"She's putting him back to sleep." Fear explained, until the female fighter noticed Green, Blue, and Vio were starting to close their eyes too. "Guys, look!" she shouted as she pointed to the other Links.

"They're falling asleep too?" Alex questioned as he couldn't believe it.

"They're the same person. So, I guess that's the reason why." Ezlo explained.

"So, what's gonna happen once they fall asleep?" the poke trainer asked.

"They're going to enter the nightmare." Jake explained. "Hopefully, they can make it through it."

"WHAT?" Alyssa yelled. "You mean something bad is going to happen to them if they enter the nightmare?"

"Don't worry. Zoey will get them out before anything happens to them. Wait. You don't remember?" Charles asked the brunette, until he saw her running towards Green and started shaking him violently.

"Don't go to sleep! Come on, wake up!" the brunette shouted.

"No, Alyssa! If you wake him up, you'll be stuck inside the nightmare, too!" Diana shouted and went to try to pull Alyssa away from Green, until the Hylian began to open his eyes.

But, instead of his blue colored eyes, they were pinkish-purplish and he stared down at the brunette and that's when her own blue eyes began to change color too and slowly went to sleep as Green did the same thing.


In a bright flash, both Green and Alyssa were teleported onto a burning ground and landed safely on the rubble.

"Alyssa? What are you doing here?" Green asked the brunette, shockingly.

"Well, I was trying to wake you up, until you dragged me into the nightmare too. So, here I am." She said and glanced around the burning surroundings. "This is your nightmare?"

"I guess so." Green replied. "Still, I wonder what this nightmare is all about."

"Hey! Green and Alyssa! Over here!" the two fighters heard a voice and turned to see Blue calling out to them with Red, Zoey, and Vio.

"Alyssa? You're not supposed to be here!" Zoey shouted at the brunette after seeing her and Green.

"Hey, I forgot someone can get sucked inside the dream after trying to wake up someone who's trying to sleep by your powers." Alyssa shrugged.

"Wow. You always forget things, Alyssa." Blue recalled, until he saw the brunette's eyes shot wide open.

"How did you know that? I never met you or the other Links in my life before!" she shouted which made Blue realize what she meant.

"You're right. How did I know that?" he asked himself as the other Links were wondering the same thing.

Suddenly, the fighters hear the sound of people screaming in the air through the fire which made Red whimper and cover his ears again.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" he pleaded, until he and the other fighters hear the sound of a woman singing.

"Ring around the rosie

Pocket full of posies

Ashes, ashes

We all fall down."

Then, that's when the woman in the fire stop singing and turned to the fighters with her bloody red eyes as Red shrieked and hid behind Zoey as he and the fighters saw the figure walking through the flames and they all could see the woman was wearing nothing but a black cloak as her face was hooded to hide her appearance.

"What? Survivors?" the woman questioned as her voice was filled with shock. "No matter. I'll still get rid of you all!"

Suddenly, the woman's wings were raging with more fire on them and that's when she let out a large burst of fire heading towards the fighters. Since they didn't have their weapons with them right now, they braced themselves for the incoming attack, until Zoey got in their way and stuck out one of her hands.

"SHIELD!" she yelled and that's when a large pinkish-purplish large colored shield surrounded her, Alyssa, and the four Links, deflecting the fire blast.

"Whoa, Zoey! How did you learn to do that?" Alyssa exclaimed, until the black-haired fighter gave the brunette and each of the four Links a white-colored sword.

"Man, can't believe you didn't remember that my powers are more powerful when I'm asleep." Zoey sighed and made a boomerang for Green, a slingshot for Red, a bow and a quiver of arrows for Vio, a mallet for Blue, and an AK-47 for herself.

Then, the cloaked woman was so furious you could see her clenching her teeth and that's when she controlled some of the flames from the burning grounds and changed them into large fire-formed hawks and they cawed and squawked loudly to the smoky air.

"Holy…" Green trailed off until he noticed both Blue and Alyssa jumped over Zoey's shield and charged at the two fire hawks as Blue took out the mallet and the brunette took out her sword.

Then, both of the fire hawks reacted after seeing the two incoming fighters and that's when the two flaming beasts flew into the air and began spitting out fire balls from their beaks.

"Blue, brace yourself!" Alyssa called out and that's when the brunette shot several chains from both of her hands and used them to tie up the fire hawks and fling them down towards the burning rubble to the ground, ignoring the pain from the burning sparks are hitting against her cheeks and hands.

Then, that's when Blue charged at the fire hawks and used his mallet to crush their faces into ashes. After that, he rushed over and checked the brunette to see if she was okay, until he saw the burning marks where the sparks had hit her.

"No, don't ask. I'm okay." Alyssa said to Blue before he had the chance to ask her if she was okay with the burn marks on her face and hands.

"N-No! You're not okay, Alyssa! Look! You have burn marks all over your face and hands!" Red came by and shouted at the brunette as you can tell he was starting to cry.

"And? I've been through many painful situations than this." Alyssa said back and lifted her front hair away from her forehead which showed a scar on it. "Many situations…"

"Man! I'm starting to like this girl already!" Blue exclaimed. "She's a girl who knows how to fight and doesn't care if she's hurt!"

Then, that's when Vio hit the back of Blue's head.

"OW! Hey! What was that for?" Blue shouted at the Link in purple.

"Idiot. Sure she doesn't care if she gets hurt or not, but she needs to be careful not to get herself killed." Vio explained as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh? So you're saying I'm weak then?" Alyssa retorted. "That a girl like me who's not strong enough or brave enough to fight like a boy?"

"I never said that, Alyssa." Vio said to her.

"Then, what were you trying to say then?"

"I'm saying you have to stop forcing yourself to get hurt even more."

"I don't care. I've been into many fights and no matter how hurt I get, I still stay strong and still fight, even if it does kill me…"

"And leave the ones you've loved left behind? Like, your friends who raised you since you were a little girl?"

"SHUT UP!" Alyssa snapped and felt like she wants to slice Vio's throat off with her sword, until the cloaked woman with bloody red eyes flew down behind the fighters.

"Leave the ones you've left behind? My, what a pathetic girl you are leaving the ones you love crying and suffering when you want to die!"

"Grrr….! Shut up, you witch!" Alyssa shouted at the cloaked woman and pulled out the sword Zoey made for her. "And show your face so I can hunt you down in real life after this nightmare is over!"

"Oh, you stupid little girl. This was just the beginning." The woman smirked and with a snap of her fingers, a large fire blast was coming towards to the brunette.

"ALYSSA!" Alyssa heard the other fighters screaming her name and braced herself for the incoming impact.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Zoey yelled and that's when both of her gray eyes turned pinkish-purplish and all of the fighters were sucked down to the ground, including Alyssa before she got hit by the fire blast. "WAKE UP EVERYONE!"


Suddenly, Green's, Blue's, Vio's, Red's Alyssa's, and Zoey's eyes began to shot wide open as they were panting and relieved the nightmare was over.

"What happened? Are you guys okay?" Peach asked the fighters who barely woke up.

"We're… We're alright." Zoey was one of them to answer while Krystal went up and checked up on Alyssa, until she saw the brunette's burn marks on her face and hands.

"Oh my goodness! Alyssa! What happened to you? How did you get hurt?" she shouted as she was rubbing Alyssa's burned hands without trying to hurt her.

"Alyssa's hurt?" Diana shouted as some of the other fighters were asking the same thing.

Alyssa hesitated at first and pulled her burned hands away from Krystal as the brunette backed away, with fear in her eyes.

"No, it's alright. I'm fine." She said, until Vio came up and held one of her burned hands which made her wince from the pain.

"Don't lie. We know you're hurt." The Link in purple said to her.

"You don't get it do you?" Alyssa scolded at Vio.

Then, a pair of salty watery began to form in the brunette's eyes and let them fall as they began to slid down on her cheeks.

"I've seen…many people die in front of me…and they all died because of me…! They were trying to protect me…from getting hurt or killed! It scarred my life forever…!" Alyssa cried.

"So, that's the reason why you kept on fighting. You want to protect the ones you love instead of them protecting you." Fear realized.

Alyssa nodded. "And…no matter how hard I tried to forget…I can still hear them screaming to their deaths…My mother…my father…everyone…were gone…!" the brunette closed her eyes tight shut and furiously grabbed the sides of her head as she kneeled down to the floor, shaking with fear. "No more! I don't…want to see another person die in front of me again…!"

Suddenly, Alyssa began to feel someone bringing her into a hug and her eyes shot wide open to see it was Vio who was comforting her.

"I understand what you're suffering through. I'm sorry what I said to you in the first place." He said.

After hearing what he said, more tears flown down on Alyssa cheeks and hugged Vio back as she cried on his chest, ignoring how the tears were stinging her face on the burn marks. And the strangest thing that happened, when Vio hugged her, she didn't flinched.

"Vio, is it? Is it okay that you let go of Alyssa so I can heal her burn marks?" Eddie came up and asked.

After the two fighters pulled away, the brunette stood up and watched Eddie has he began sprinkling his healing powders on her burnt hands as they slowly began to change back to normal and did the same thing with her face.

"I might also need you to remove you cloak incase if one of your arms have burn mark as well." Eddie also said.

Then, that's when the brunette did as he said. Thankfully for her, she wore a black tank top and a pair of black pants underneath. Suddenly, she noticed everyone in the room shot their eyes wide open to see many scars and blisters on the brunette's arms.

"Guess I got some explaining about this too…" Alyssa muttered to herself.

"How…How long have you had this…?" Krystal asked her with fear in her eyes.

"I've had these when I was little. And I guess I should've shown you guys about this before I left." The brunette explained sadly. "I got these from a forest fire."

"A forest fire? Wait. I remember now. The nightmare was taken place of a forest fire." Green stood up and said. "A forest fire in Hyrule."

That got the other Links show shock spreading through their faces and are starting to remember about the main reason what was the nightmare all about as well.

"The forest fire…killed my family…" Vaati said as his whole body began shaking as fear struck into his eyes.

"You had a family…?" Red asked the Minish.

"Wow. Never knew a guy who was once evil actually had a family." Blue said.

"Shut it, Blue." Vaati glared at him.

"Hyrule…" Alyssa began to mumble to herself. "Why does that name sound so familiar…?"

Wait a minute, the brunette thought to herself and that's when she searched through her black cloak and pulled out her music box. Then, when she opened it, she took out the photos inside of the three children and the girl with the lavender colored Minish.

"No way…" Alyssa said to herself as she glanced between the Links and the blond boy in the picture, and the Minish between Vaati. "Are these people you guys?"

"Huh?" the smashers questioned, until Green went over to the brunette and took a look at the photo of the three children and that's when his eyes began to shot wide open.

"This is…me…" he said, looking at the blond boy in the photo.

"Let me see that." Blue came up and snatched the photo away from Green and looked at the young boy in the photo with both Red and Vio looking over his shoulders as the other fighters were confuse what's going on.

"This is us…before we were split into for as the original Link…" Blue didn't believe it and glanced at the other two girls. "And this is…Zelda when we were kids…and…"

"Alyssa…?" Green questioned and walked up towards the brunette. "Is it really you?"

"ALYSSA!~" Red shouted and ran towards her and hugged her so hard and tightly, the two of them fell to the floor with a thud before Alyssa had the chance to respond.

"Alyssa?" Eddie, Jake, Fear, Carrie, Diana, and Nick shouted and went up to see if their friend was okay.

"Ow…Red!" Alyssa shouted at the child-like Link, who was still clinging onto her. "Let go of me!"

"It's you! It's really you, Alyssa!" Red exclaimed and turned to the other Links. "Guys! It's really her!"

"H-huh?" the brunette and the other fighters questioned, especially her friends.

"After all these days, that girl was really, Alyssa!" Green exclaimed.

"What about me?" Alyssa questioned.

"You got to be kidding me! There's no way that's the Alyssa we know!" Blue shouted at Green.

"CAN SOMEONE GET THIS FREAKIN ELF BOY OFF OF ME?" Alyssa yelled.

"Elf boy?" Vio questioned.

"It is, Alyssa!" Red exclaimed, until both Blue and Diana punched the back of his head. "OW!"

"She said get off, idiot!" both Blue and Diana shouted at him.

After Red let go, Alyssa got up and dusted off her clothes. "Okay. What is going on here?" she shouted.

"Yeah. That's, Alyssa, alright. The girl who can be forgetful these days." Vio sighed.

"Hey! It's not my fault I was born this way to forget about you guys back when you were back into the original Link when we were kids!" the brunette shouted at him and turned to Vaati. "And Vaati, I also remember meeting you too!"

"M-Me?" the Minish questioned until the brunette sighed and showed him the photo of the spunky girl next to a lavender colored Minish which made Vaati's eyes shot wide open. "That's…my sister…"

"SISTER?" everyone in the room yelled at the same time, especially the Links and Alyssa.

"Her name is, Ivory." Ezlo said. "She was a good student to teach."

"She was also my little sister…until the fire killed her, along with my family…" Vaati explained sadly as his ears began to droop.

"I'm sorry…" Alyssa said to him.

"It's…It's okay." The Minish said back, until Krystal stood up and clapped her hands together.

"Okay. It's getting late. We should all head for bed now if we want to visit Hyrule Castle in the morning." She said.

"Man, she can be bossy these days…" Fear whispered to Carrie.

"Hey, she's like a mother to us. Besides, this always happens." The brunette sighed.

"I heard that." Krystal said which made the two female fighters flinch and everyone said their goodnights and went back to bed.

In the morning, Zoey got up from bed, half-asleep. Even though she doesn't usually get up from bed early in the morning, she needs to get up since everyone is going to visit the Hyrule Castle and that means including her.

As she went to the living room, she saw Fear, Carrie, Eddie, Jake, Alex, Lucy, Rebecca, Diana, Huru, Terra, Alyssa, Ezlo, Vaati, Charles, and Aria who was holding her baby brother, eating in the dining room.

"Morning, sis." Charles said to her.

"Morning, everyone." Zoey yawned, until she felt someone's arms wrap around her waist and looked up to see Nick pulling her into a hug which made her smile. "Morning, Nick."

"Morning, Zoey." Nick said back to her and he placed a kiss on her cheek which made Zoey blush, but still smiling.

"Isn't that cute? They finally told each other that they love each other." Carrie smiled.

"Really? Since when?" Diana asked her.

"After they kissed under the mistletoe." Fear said. "You were so busy yelling at Blue you didn't hear them confessing that they love each other."

"Oh. Yeah, that's right. He can be a pain in the back these days." Diana mumbled to herself.

"Isn't it weird you two act the same way?" Eddie chuckled. "Same personalities, attitudes, and fighting techniques?"

"What? Not even!" Diana shouted and turned to her friends. "Wait. Do me and Blue act the same way?"

"Well…yeah, I guess…" Alyssa was one of them to answer.

"Doesn't matter. You're still our friend, Diana." Ella said after eating a water dew that tastes like candy. "I wonder what are we going to do once we go to the Hyrule Castle?"

"Beats me. This is the first I'm actually visiting a castle." Rebecca said.

"Rebecca, can I talk to you for you a sec?" Terra asked her.

"Okay. Sure." The blond fighter said and that's when the two of them got up and went outside.

"I bet 10 bucks that they're not going to kiss." Charles said.

"15, that they will." Huru said. "Cause I know Terra likes her." She thought to herself.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" Terra asked Rebecca as soon as the two fighters were already outside. "About the mistletoe under the two of us?"

Then, that's when Rebecca began to blush. "Wh-Why are you bringing this up? It was just a-" she said, until Terra placed his hands on her cheeks and kissed her.

As they pulled away, both of their faces were blushing like mad and Terra turned his head away as Rebecca touched her lips after wondering what just happened.

"I…I love you, Rebecca…!" Terra said to her as the male fighter began to blush more. "I've always had…"

The blond fighter was quiet for a short moment and just before she can say anything, Alyssa came by the two fighters.

"Come on, guys. Everyone's getting ready to go to the castle." The brunette said and led the two fighters back to the stump where they were shrunk down in the first place with the other fighters waiting for them.

"Here they come!" Peach called out as she pointed to the last three fighters running towards them.

"Is this everyone?" Ezlo asked.

"Looks like it." Festari said. (Festari's another character from the Minish Cap manga incase if you're wondering who he is.)

"Hey, did Terra and Rebecca kiss yet?" Huru whispered to Alyssa, hoping nobody can hear them.

"Actually, yeah. They did." The brunette whispered back.

"Yes! Pay up, Charles!" Huru exclaimed and Charles pays her his bet, grumbling to himself.

"So, I guess this is goodbye." Vaati said as he turned to the fighters.

"What? You're not coming with us?" Aria questioned as the little angel couldn't believe it.

"Well, I came with you guys because Ezlo told me to tell Link he has to pull out the Four Sword and split into four." The Minish explained. "And, it looks like my job here is done."

"Not quite." Ezlo came next to him.

"Master?" Vaati questioned, until Ezlo gave him a red small-sized diamond. "What's this?"

"It's a Chaos Emerald!" Knuckles exclaimed which made both Sonic's and Tails' eyes shot wide open and the Minish flinched.

"Chaos Emerald?" Vaati and few of the smashers questioned.

"A Chaos Emerald is like diamond, but they have great power inside them and whoever holds them can use them for a large variety of things, such as creating a powerful super transformation, powering machines, and warping time and space." Tails explained.

"There are seven of these kinds and after using all seven emeralds, they're all scattered around in different places and we have to find them all over again." Sonic mentioned.

"You mean like some kind of scavenger hunt?" Diana questioned.

"Exactly," the blue hedgehog answered and turned to the others. "But, didn't we have a white Chaos Emerald before?"

Then, that's when Fear, Pokémon Trainer, and Kuro began to sweatdrop.

"Guys?" Eddie asked them, wondering if they're okay or not.

"Uh…We sort of lost it to those black-cloaked people…" the trainer was one of them to answer.

"You WHAT?" Knuckles shouted at them.

"Hey! Those guys were tough to beat!" Kuro retorted at the red echidna.

"Anyways…Why did you give me this, Master?" Vaati asked, trying to change the subject.

Then, that's when Ezlo didn't say anything for a short moment until he finally said, "When I found this emerald, I had a vision right after I held it in my hands."

"A vision?" the other fighters questioned, especially Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails since the three of them knew that a Chaos Emerald doesn't give people 'visions'.

"What did you see?" Zoey came up and asked elderly Minish since she knows more about visions as well as nightmares and dreams.

"The first thing I saw was Link pulling out the Four Sword, which already happened now," Ezlo explained as the four Links were glancing at their swords and each other. "Then, I saw fire burning everywhere across Hyrule and hearing people scream and trying to escape."

After hearing what he said, Alyssa began to feel a lump in her throat and her whole body became stiff and when she glanced at the Links and Zoey, the five of them were nervous as her.

"Do you think it happened from the past? After all, Link did pull the Four Sword before now and the fire in Hyrule happened many years ago." Vaati suggested.

"I hope so." Ezlo muttered and turned to the small Minish. "Also, I think it's time for you to join them in their adventure."

"Really?" Vaati seemed to be lost in words as his face lit up, until Aria flew down and hugged around his neck.

"Yay! Big brother gets to say with us!" the little angel exclaimed.

"BIG BROTHER?" the other fighters shouted.

"Yup! We're all a family, right?" Aria questioned as a shade of red came upon Vaati's face. "So, that means Vaati's my big brother!"

Then, that's when Krystal began to smile as the little angel let go and landed on the ground. "Yes. We are a family, sweetie." She said to Aria.

The way Krystal smiles, it made the other fighters' faces lit up as well and all of them smiled.

After saying their goodbyes to the Minish people, the fighters went off to the Hyrule Castle.