"Check."

Roy smirked, moving his rook across the board and right next to the opposing king. Sitting on the other side of the board on the floor, Robin raised an eyebrow.

Roy thought it was quite a smart move. Luring out Robin's defenses by using his queen as bait, only for his rook to slip past it had taken quite a bit of maneuvering to put all the pieces in place, but with Robin on the back foot for the first time in their game, Roy was feeling rather proud of this turn of events.

And then Robin slid his own queen in from the side and knocked down his rook. "Checkmate."

Roy frowned. "Checkmate? You haven't even put me in check."

"But you'll need to defend your left side from my queen, or you'll be put in checkmate." Robin motioned to Roy's side of the board. "If you move your rook to defend, my bishop takes it. If you move your knight to defend, my knight takes your knight."

Roy dragged his pawn up two spaces. "And if I just move my pawn away?"

Robin just smiled, leaned over, and moved his rook to take its place. "I win."

Sputtering, Roy swept over the board and said, "When did that get there?"

"Fifteen turns ago. It was one of the first moves I made in the game, actually."

"You did?" Roy groaned and palmed his face. "I can't believe that I missed that."

"Well, what can I say. The others don't call me the most intelligent person here for nothing," Robin said, a smug grin on his face.

"No one calls you that," Chrom called, standing by a nearby wall. Robin's grin disappeared as he shot Chrom a pout. Chrom ignored it, turning to Roy instead. "Roy. You're out. Come over here."

"Yes, sir," Roy said. His head hung low as he made the trek over to Chrom's side. As he walked, he passed by a grim-looking Byleth, heading in the opposite direction, wringing her hands as she approached Robin and the chessboard.

Roy hadn't expected to win the chess tournament here. Though he tended to be an optimist, the trials of war had also taught him to have realistic expectations. He'd still expected to do well, however, and to lose so badly, even against Robin, was still... just so frustrating.

As soon as he reached the wall, Roy slumped against it with a sigh. He heard rustling next to him, and Chrom leaned down into view.

"Roy? Is something the matter?" Chrom asked.

Roy glanced up at him. Then he looked away. Another frustrated sigh passed through his lips before he said, "There's this fort, to the south of Ilia, that lies in a strategic position. During my father's campaign, he was able to capture the fort with only two archers and a cavalier. And do you know how he did that?"

Chrom shook his head.

"He drew out the enemy by using himself as bait," Roy said, and he made a motion with his hand. "Of course, you would have to be an idiot not to take advantage of a chance like that, which was exactly what the enemy did. They sent a force out to take him, and when their defenses were down, my father sent his men to pick off their weakened fortifications and seized the fort."

Chrom hummed. "Well, I'm no tactician, but that certainly sounds impressive."

"It was," Roy said. "I've heard a hundred more like it, too. Growing up with tales of a father as impressive as that... well, it's a bit daunting to follow in his footsteps, isn't it? And, so far, I'd like to think that I have."

"From what you've already told me of your own campaign, you certainly have," Chrom said, and he nodded in agreement. When he reached out to pat Roy on the shoulder, Roy brushed him off.

"I certainly don't feel that way, though. All of you do what I do better. My father, he was a leader, a warrior, and a tactician, and well, as much as I've tried to live up to him–" Roy motioned to Robin, grinning madly over his game, "–he's smarter than me–" he motioned to Ike, sitting at another table across from Corrin, "–he's stronger than me, and you, you're a better leader than I ever was."

Now it was Chrom's turn to frown. "I'm sure that's not the case," he said.

"Maybe it isn't. But it sure feels like that."

Chrom opened his mouth and raised a finger. He stopped, looked down, and closed his mouth. Roy looked over to see a little war brewing in his eyes, and for a moment, he was worried that maybe his own problem had put too much pressure on him.

"Chrom. It's fine, really. You don't have to worry about it, please," Roy said, only for Chrom to shake his head.

"No, I feel like I should," Chrom said. "After all, you've been in this Smash business longer than I have. You wouldn't have shared it if you didn't feel like you needed help. Besides, I wouldn't be much of a leader if I let you deal with your problems on your own." Chrom looked up at the ceiling as if he would find words inscribed on the wooden rafters stretched above.

After a moment of thought, he said, "I think I know what you need to do."

"You do?"

"Yes, I do."

Relief washed over Roy's face, and he smiled. "Okay. What do you propose?"

"So... what you need to do is..." Chrom's mouth closed slowly. When no words came, Roy's smile slowly faded. "No, that's not it." Chrom's eyes wandered around the room, and he clasped his hands together. "Say you have a loaf of bread, and... no, that's not right."

"What's not right?"

"Nothing. It's simply..." Chrom shook his head. "Let's say someone bakes you a pie, right? And then, if you eat it, how do you feel?"

Slowly, Roy's face shifted into a confused expression. "Full?" he guessed.

"Yes! Exactly!" Chrom's face froze. "Wait, no, that's not what I wanted to say. Naga, this is harder than I thought it would be." Chrom scratched at his head, and his frown deepened.

Roy was about to tell him that he didn't need to worry when a scream cut him off. Instantly, his head snapped to the source of the sound, and his eyes widened when he suddenly found a chessboard hurling toward him. He ducked, and the chessboard flew straight over his head, crashing into a cabinet behind him full of chessboards. A resounding crack echoed through the small room they had all been staying in, and as Roy brought his hands up over his head, wooden splinters and chess pieces hailed down on him.

As soon as he felt the pieces stop falling, Roy glanced up. The board that he had dodged now lay embedded in the wall, and when he followed its path, he found Byleth on the other end, shooting daggers with her eyes as Robin laughed from the floor.

"What did I say," Robin said. "I don't lose at chess. I don't care how many times you reset our game, I'll always come out on top."

Byleth, of course, didn't seem to take too well to the taunting and grabbed Robin by the scruff. As she raised her fist to strike him, Roy turned back to Chrom to tell him when he heard Chrom suddenly exclaim, "That's it!"

"What's it?" Roy asked, momentarily distracted. He glanced down, and there he found Chrom on the floor, digging through the chess pieces scattered over the floor. Before Roy could ask what he was doing, Chrom shoved a wooden queen into his face.

"You remember the last chess game you played?" Chrom asked. "You remember how you sacrificed your queen to get into Robin's defenses?"

"I do. It's difficult to forget something that happened five minutes ago."

"Well, I don't think you shouldn't have. Sacrificed your queen, I mean."

Roy frowned. "Why? A queen is just a rook and a bishop. I'm sure that losing a queen is no big deal."

"Maybe not. But then you'll spend the rest of the game playing catch-up with two pieces instead of one." Chrom waggled the piece in front of Roy's face. "You'll spend two turns doing what you could have done in one, and wouldn't you say that feels awkward?"

Roy's eyes narrowed. "Yes. I suppose it does. That still doesn't solve my problem, though."

"Simple," Chrom said, and he clapped his hands together. "You have to become a knight."

"A knight?"

Chrom bent down, rifled through the pile, and pulled a glass knight off the floor, a bit of its base chipped off. "A knight doesn't move like any of the other pieces, and so it doesn't have to worry about overlapping roles with any of the other pieces."

"And just how do you propose I become a knight?" Roy rolled his eyes. "I already have a sword and armor. Am I missing something?"

"Well, first, you have to–"

Before Chrom could finish, a sudden crash cut him off. Chrom, Roy, and everyone else looked over the mess and to the door.

Robin, the other one, stood by the doorway, hand still on the knob and her lips drawn into a frown. "Why are you all touching the merchandise? And who knocked down that shelf? We're not giving away all these chessboards, you know."

Robin, the first one, was the first to stand up. "Robin," he said, raising his hands toward her. "It's our merchandise, isn't it fine if we use it every now and then?"

"Not if you destroy our shop every time you use it. I thought I told you, no more running chess tournaments if none of you are buying anything. If you want to use the chess sets, pay up or get out!"

"But Robin," Chrom piped up, and he motioned around him. "We sleep here, and it's getting rather late."

"I don't care. Shoo! Out! Let me clean up the mess you all made."

For a moment, no one moved.

Then, Roy got to his feet with a groan. "Well, I suppose I should get going. I won't be able to find out something new to do if I just sit here, won't I?"

As he stepped through the door and out of the chess shop, a vast sprawling hallway opened up before him, bustling shops stretching out in both directions. Shoppers of all sizes and colors passed him by, and he took a deep breath and smiled.

After all, what better place could he look for a new goal in life than in the Smash Mall?


Yeah, it's another new ship fic for Christmas. What are you going to do about it?

I think the last time I did a Christmas story was two years ago. The time before that was... I want to say four years ago? I don't do Christmas stories often, because I sort of forget to establish any sort of tradition. Things slip my mind like that.

Anyway, this is one of those things I do to try to get me to write more often. I'll try to post a new chapter per day instead of per week, as to give me something to do over break. It'll be hard, but it's not like I have much else to do than write. This is my Christmas gift to all you lovely people out there. Hooray.

Why did I write this? Because apparently there's no Zelda x Roy centered fanfiction on this site. I did my research. If there is, then that's because they were improperly tagged. You could have had a rewrite of my other romance story, but no, you all had to squander the potential of Zelda x Roy, so now I'm doing it for you all. (for legal reasons, those last few lines were a joke. Don't sue me, thanks)

We'll see how long I'm able to keep up this streak. Hopefully, I'll be able to get through until school begins again. I don't think the story is too long (it certainly doesn't look that way from the way I have things planned out), so I might be able to finish before break ends, but at the same time my stories are incredibly slow, so we still might be here for a while.

Until tomorrow, Merry Christmas to all of you! Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate everyone who comes here to read my stories. Take care of yourselves out there, and stay safe!