A/N: Yes, I'm aware I took Link and Zelda out of the picture quickly, but this was because I changed the focus of the story from Marth's friendships to his personal despair and healing.
Two weeks later....
************
He had put on a convincing act, indeed.
Throughout their entire stay, Link and Zelda saw no indication of Marth's constant state of depression. He had remained cheerful most of those past two weeks, the only sign that could possibly betray the truth being occasional comments on how he wished his kingdom wasn't in such a deplorable state. Of course, that could have only meant, as Link and Zelda assumed, that Marth cared deeply for his people. Though this assumption was correct, it was not nearly enough to reveal what was truly going through the prince's tortured mind.
Marth hated hiding things from his friends. It was as bad as lying. However, he hated even more the idea of burdening them with his personal problems. He was sure they had enough to worry about without having to know what he was going through. There was nothing they could do to ease his pain.
Watching the carriage disappear into a distance clouded with dust kicked up by the horses, Marth whispered to himself, "Alone again, I guess." Though he felt nothing could take away his sorrow completely, having guests at least cheered him a little bit.
He found himself suddenly thinking of Nadia. Not again, he thought, knowing all too well that grief would soon follow. He fought it as hard as he could, but in the end, as always, thoughts of his beloved caused him to succumb to melancholy. Why did she have to die? The war was almost over at the time of her death, and had she just lived a little longer.....
Marth began mentally kicking himself for what he'd never gathered the courage to do. He'd just kept telling himself he'd do it after the war ended, but by then it was too late. The familiar regret overcame him. Would he ever forgive himself for not asking Nadia to marry him?
"If only I'd been braver," he sighed. Marth felt that if he'd married Nadia, things might somehow be different. Maybe she'd even still be alive. If not, she would at least have known how deeply he loved her.
A sparrow alighted on a nearby branch, chirping happily. "Go away!" Marth yelled, waving his arms to frighten the bird. He simply couldn't deal with having such a seemingly joyful creature near him while he suffered so much. No sooner had it flown away, he felt like an idiot for behaving so ridiculously. "That was stupid," he scolded himself softly.
On the subject of stupid, Marth had never completely understood what had possessed his enemies to invade in the first place. It was an addiction to power, he supposed, yet he never really comprehended why power did such things to people. Whatever made foreign rulers decide to attempt to take over other lands? Did they think it was acceptable to barge in and start looting, destroying things, and killing people? Or did they simply not care? Marth sighed heavily and headed back inside. Maybe a distraction would come up.
*****
Short, yes, but expect more very soon. (probably tomorrow) Please be aware that future chapters may possibly contain shounen-ai/yaoi/ whatever-you-want-to-call-it. (I don't intend to portray Marth as gay, though.)
