Author's Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Bros or any of the characters involved in it. I am earning no profit from this story, other than the enjoyment of writing it and sharing it with others! I hope you all enjoy reading it!
Link followed the eager angel upstairs to the soldier's room. Everyone else was already there. As promised, Cloud had a large plate of food laid out on his desk. Chips, fried chicken, doughnuts, and any other imaginable kind of junk food were splayed out on the plate. Toon Link looked like he was in heaven.
"Glad you decided to join us," Cloud stated, nodding at Link.
"I thought you'd be too busy playing the guard dog for your queen," Young Link snickered.
"Shut it, Young Link," Link muttered.
"I talked to him about it," Pit said quickly.
"Anyway," Palutena began, "how long do you think Zelda's in for?"
"Probably not long," Robin replied. "Her offense wasn't too serious, and she didn't resist being taken in."
"If I had to guess, I'd say she'll be out by tomorrow," Shulk answered.
"I hope so," Toon Link whispered.
"She'll be fine," Young Link promised.
"She better be," Link growled.
"I don't know," Cloud began, "if she's not fine, I'm pretty sure Link could take out Master Hand and Crazy Hand by himself he'd be so mad!"
Everyone in the room laughed, except Link. He scowled.
"Lighten up!" Palutena snickered. "Just a joke!"
"Zelda's welfare is not to be taken lightly," Link stated seriously.
Cloud rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. In all seriousness, Zelda's going to be alright."
Master Hand's voice began speaking through the intercom system installed into everyone's rooms and all the hallways. "The fight is complete. The victor is Pikachu."
"We must go check on the queen," Link stated, turning to leave without checking to see who would follow him.
"I'll come!" Pit volunteered. "What about you, Lady Palutena?"
"Sure," Palutena decided.
"I'm coming," Shulk announced.
"Let me come!" Toon Link demanded.
"I'll tag along," Young Link added.
"I shall too," Robin stated.
"I don't want to be here by myself," Cloud shrugged.
Now that everyone had decided they'd come, Link led them up the stairs to the queen's room. He opened the door gently. Queen Zelda was lying unconscious in her bed, in an awful condition. Most of her ribs were clearly broken. Her knees were bloodied and bruised. Her white dress was no longer white, rather a disgusting yellowish gray.
"I'm going to get a potion," Link announced.
"You shouldn't do that," Shulk stated.
"That's what got Zelda in the torture room," Young Link added.
"Because Master Hand commanded it," Link stated. "He did not this time."
"Still a bad idea," Cloud insisted.
"I don't care if I get put in that torture room," Link stated. "I will not let my queen remain in pain longer than is absolutely necessary."
"He seems pretty convinced," Young Link sighed.
"If we can't change your mind, at least let me come with you," Shulk offered.
Link nodded. "Very well." He turned and held the door open for Shulk, leaving everyone else to wait.
"Link," Shulk began hesitantly as they walked, "there's something I want to talk to you about."
"What is that?" Link asked.
"Well...er, I knew it was going to be Queen Zelda."
"What do you mean?"
"I had a vision. Of her coming to the mansion. The night Master Hand announced it."
Link froze. He turned to look at Shulk, his eyes cold and empty. "And you didn't tell me?"
"I-I knew you'd object to letting her come!" Shulk stammered.
"And for good reason!" Link snarled. "I-"
"Just...just listen, alright?" Shulk begged.
Link shut his mouth, impaling Shulk with the iciest of glares.
Shulk took the abrupt silence as his cue to continue. He cleared his throat. "I didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't let us wait for her to come. You'd want to initiate the attack as soon as possible. Which, I get. But I had two visions that night. The first one was of your queen coming to the mansion. The other was what would happen if we followed your advice and attacked early. We failed. That's why we had to wait. Because without your queen, we were all doomed."
"And did you see us succeeding with her?" Link asked, his voice dangerously low.
Shulk dropped his gaze to the ground. "No…"
"What?" Link roared. "So, we don't know if this will work, and we just waited for her to get here? What if it fails now? She'll be punished as well! She'll be stuck here like the rest of us! I-"
"Look, I get it!" Shulk shouted over the enraged Hylian. "But here's the other thing. If we did initiate the attack earlier and failed, she'd still be coming. She'd still get here. And we'd have no plan. Master Hand would move the stupid orbs, probably ramp up security outside his office, and we'd be even more stuck than before. So, Zelda, Robin, and I decided to wait. We knew you'd be mad, but it was the best course of action! What else could we do?"
Link shook his head slowly. Shulk was right. But he wasn't done being angry yet. He didn't speak to him the rest of the way down to the bar. Shulk sighed and followed along behind him quietly. When they both made it to the bar, Link strode up to the robot who served as the barkeeper.
"One red potion," he growled.
"Reason for this medicine?" the robot asked.
"I've got a headache," Link stated. That wasn't even a lie. Shulk's revelation had caused his blood to boil and his head to pound. But he pushed that aside for now. His primary concern right now was ensuring his queen's comfort.
The robot handed him a glass bottle containing the remarkable medicine without another word. Link nodded thankfully and turned to leave. Shulk followed. They retained their heavy silence the entire way back to Queen Zelda's room. Link still didn't want to talk. Shulk didn't dare say anything else.
Link stiffly opened the door and crossed the room without acknowledging anyone. Noticing Link's cold eyes and pursed lips and Shulk's dejected stare, Palutena raised an eyebrow. "You were gone for five minutes. What happened?"
"Nothing of importance," Link muttered.
Shulk nodded quickly.
Link opened the glass bottle and poured it down his queen's throat. After a few seconds, her green eyes fluttered open. Link bowed before her. "My queen."
Queen Zelda smiled weakly. "Link. Please get up."
Link did as he was told.
Queen Zelda seemed to notice everyone else who was in the room. "O-oh. Were you all waiting for me to wake up?"
"We wanted to make sure you were alright," Toon Link said.
Queen Zelda smiled. "That's very kind of you."
"I'm glad you're all healed," Shulk stated, his eyes flicking nervously towards Link.
Link did not acknowledge his statement.
"Thank you," Queen Zelda answered. She stood up and got out of bed. Someone knocked on the door.
"Probably Pikachu and Ash," Cloud said.
"Let them in," the queen commanded.
Pit opened the door. Sure enough, Ash was standing there, with Pikachu seated on his shoulder. Ash entered the room. Pikachu scampered down from his perch and clambered onto Zelda's bed. "Pika pika," the adorable Pokemon mumbled sadly.
"He's sorry for hurting you," Ash translated.
"And I'm sorry for hurting you," Queen Zelda answered. "I'm glad you're alright."
"Pika...chu," Pikachu sighed.
"He's glad you are too," Ash said.
Queen Zelda nodded.
"Lady Palutena?" Pit asked his goddess.
"Yes, Pit?" she answered.
"What time is it?" the angel questioned.
"Why?" Palutena asked.
"I...want to know how long until dinner," Pit admitted. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Only ten more minutes," Palutena promised.
Pit smiled excitedly.
Young Link rolled his eyes.
Ash stifled a laugh.
"We should probably start heading downstairs," Robin suggested.
"Yeah, if we want any food," Cloud snickered.
"Why?" Queen Zelda questioned. "It doesn't take ten minutes to make it down that staircase."
"Because otherwise it'll all get eaten," Palutena explained. "Between Pit, Kirby, and King Dedede, any food that isn't immediately claimed doesn't last five seconds."
The queen nodded. "I see. Well let me get changed into something more comfortable, and then I'll head downstairs. You can go as well if you want, Link. I don't need help changing."
"I shall do that, my queen," Link decided.
Queen Zelda seemed rather stunned that Link hadn't argued with her.
Everyone filed out of the queen's room, and headed downstairs. Queen Zelda sighed to herself. She'd had quite the day. This place...whatever it was...was so strange. She couldn't believe this was where Link had been since that day so many months ago when he had been taken. She was happy she wouldn't have to stay here long.
But something was bothering her. Link had seemed so different than she remembered. Perhaps it had been too long since she'd been with him, but she was certain something was off. He seemed more outspoken than he once had been. And he didn't seem as doggedly committed to his duty as a knight. And…there was something else about him, that Queen Zelda just couldn't quite place.
The queen shook herself out of her thoughts. It didn't matter that Link was different. They'd escape from this place in six weeks as promised, and then everything could go back to normal. And even if it didn't, Link not following her around everywhere would be a welcome change. Maybe she could actually get some peace and quiet.