Author's notes: In answer to a review I got, and if anyone else is wondering, Link's leg isn't broken. It was burned more than anything else (which still makes it kind of weird that he was crawling on it... ^^;). If you recall, he was walking on it by the end of chapter two. Thanks for being perceptive enough to notice that, though. Lets me know someone's paying attention. ^_-
I'd like to clarify one more thing. Now, I know a little bit about Fire Emblem, but I don't know much of anything about Roy's role, or if he's connected to Marth in any way. Hell, I don't even know if he's even appeared in the dang game yet, because everything I read says that he's from the upcoming Japanese RPG. ::shrugs:: So for the sake of the argument, the scenario is that Link, Marth and Roy all met for the first time in the Super Smash Brothers. Kay? Kay.
Chapter Four
Marth's POV
The skies of Mushroom Kingdom was a beautiful sight at night. But considering the situation, there were few, small windows throughout the base. Finding myself restless, I dared to sneak out, since I was one of ten who knew the code to the front doors. We were hardly permitted to leave the bunks after 2:00 AM, so I couldn't afford getting caught outside. I leaned on a stone wall outside the base, studying that wonderful sky.
Earlier in the day, I had trained with Fox McCloud, one of the more hotheaded Smash Brothers. I didn't know him too well, so I also didn't know about his battle techniques. I found myself being defeated in three battles in a row; I had been totally unprepared. Mario ordered that I train with Luigi, saying that we both had a lot of room for improvement. I hadn't been so insulted in my time in the Smash Brothers, and Luigi didn't seem overly thrilled with his brother's reactions to his fighting style. But I couldn't help asking myself...
My thoughts were abruptly interrupted when I heard footsteps approaching me from behind. I immediately reached for my sword and raised it into a defensive position, ready to retaliate any sudden attack. Soon after, I heard a familiar voice from the same direction.
"Calm down, it's just me."
I knew the voice, but in my panic, I couldn't place it until he stepped closer to me. I let out a sigh and lowered my blade. "You scared me half to death, Roy."
"Sorry," he mumbled, then came beside me behind the wall. "You're not supposed to be out here, you know."
I looked at my partner and scoffed. "If you're that concerned with the rules, why are you out here with me?"
"Don't think I didn't hear you leave. I want to know what you're up to."
"What could I possibly be doing out here?" I questioned with a small laugh. "We're in the middle of a firing range, so to speak."
"But doesn't that concern you? I wanted to make sure you were safe--"
I quickly caught onto what he was saying. I groaned and stepped away from the wall. "Just come out and say it: You agree with Mario and think you need to protect me."
My back was turned to him, but I heard him step up behind me. "That's not what I'm saying, Marth. I don't care if you had a bad training session, I don't think any less of your abilities. I'm out here because it's too dangerous for any one of us to be out alone," he paused for a while, then I heard him sigh. "That's why you're out here, isn't it?" he whispered. "You're upset about what happened today."
I fixed my eyes onto the grass below me and nodded. We were silent for a few minutes, until I finally decided to ask him what I'd been somewhat ashamed to say to anybody. "Roy?"
"Yeah?" he muttered in a soft voice.
I closed my eyes and exhaled. "Do you think I'm weak?"
He came closer to me and I felt his hand rest on my shoulder. "Not at all. You're a great fighter, Marth. Mario may not be able to see it, but that's because your style isn't what he'd expect. Your technique is different, and I don't see anything wrong with that."
I raised my head, but still didn't turn. "Is that really what you think?"
"Is what really what I think?" a new voice replied.
I blinked and squinted my eyes, coming back into focus with reality. I looked to my left side to see Link staring at me as we walked. "Nothing, sorry. I was thinking out loud."
"Are you feeling all right, Marth?" he scowled. "You've been kind of out-of-it since we left."
"I guess I'm a little tired," I smiled weakly.
"Oh," Link turned his head forward. "Maybe you should have stayed back, then."
"No, I'll be fine," I mumbled.
"There's nothing wrong with the way you are..."
I closed my eyes and tried to ignore Roy's voice from our past conversation, which was still playing through my mind. But still I remembered the way my eyes met his when I finally turned to face him...
"Marth?"
I quickly shook my head and looked to the boy across from me. "What?"
He raised an eyebrow at my behavior. "What's wrong?"
"I told you, I'm tired."
"You also told me that you'd be fine. Talk to me."
I didn't even want to think those thoughts, much less say them aloud. "It's nothing, Link. Really."
"It doesn't seem like nothing."
Without thinking, I darted a glare to him. "Look, I don't want to talk to you, all right?"
"But why?"
"Don't you know when to quit? How many times do I have to say it? I don't want to talk!"
Link stared at me, surprised. I figured that what I said got through to him... But I didn't want to say it. Why couldn't I stop myself? I sighed and closed my eyes again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean--"
"No, it's all right," he muttered.
I looked back at him and saw how much I had upset him. "Look, if you want to talk..."
"You don't have to talk to me. I understand if... You don't trust me..."
"Link, that's not at all what I meant, I do trust you--"
"Then what did you mean?" he shot back before I could finish talking.
I rubbed my temples, still walking. "I just don't want to talk about everything, okay? It's kind of personal."
"I see," Link responded. "You'll have to forgive me. I just thought that..." he added a scoff, "Maybe all of those things that I told you about myself, the things that went through my mind when I couldn't talk to anyone else... Just maybe I considered those personal. But hey, if we can't talk about things like that, I guess I had the wrong idea about this whole thing."
Had I really made him feel that I didn't trust him? I was just so confused about these things myself that I couldn't put them into words. What was I supposed to tell him? I never meant for that to happen... I didn't mean to hurt him. I slowly lifted my head to glance at Link. He was walking at a faster pace than he had been, perhaps so that I couldn't see his face. "I'm sorry..."
"Just forget about it," he mumbled coldly and continued walking straight ahead.
I hurried my pace to catch up with him. "I mean it, Link. I don't know why I said that... I guess I've been a little scattered since it happened. I just don't know what to think anymore," I sighed.
Link lowered his head and seemed to be watching his feet as he walked. "I know what you mean. It's just that... There are so many things that I never said to him, and if I knew what was going to happen..." he took in a deep breath to collect himself before continuing. "I don't want that to happen again, Marth."
His words began to ring through my mind. "There are so many things that I never said to him..." I squinted my eyes and tried to shake it off. What was going on in my head?
As I was trying to figure out what would be appropriate to respond with, I happened to notice that we weren't on the trail anymore. "Um, Link?" the young elf looked up at me; he probably couldn't tell by my tone of voice what was coming, so he probably thought that would be the safest response. I turned my view around the surrounding trees and brush. "Where are we?"
"Uh..." he examined the area as I had done, a puzzled look on his face. "Oh, great."
"We're lost, aren't we?"
"I'd say so," he sighed.
I immediately attempted to put any survival skills I maybe have had to use and began to study the surroundings, trying to find something notable. "Well, if we can find some sort of landmark, we can make estimate..."
Walking straight ahead, fixed on the trees that hung over my head, I didn't even notice that the second set of footsteps had stopped until I felt myself being pulled down by my cape. I prepared myself to attack whatever had grabbed me, but I found myself looking straight at Link, who covered my mouth with his hand. He had pulled me behind a large rock to the left of our path. I gave him a confused expression as he removes his hand from my mouth. Before I could question him, he adjusted my head to face the direction opposite the rock.
I couldn't believe what was standing in front of me. Master Hand's fort lay straight ahead of us; there must have been a way to get there through the woods. Maybe if we had known of it before, we would have gone undetected...
"Do you know what this means?" Link whispered. I looked at him questioningly, for he could have meant any number of things. "We have to tell Falco that we found a new path."
"The only problem with that plan is that we still don't know how to get back through the woods," I kept my voice low. "I wouldn't say that we found a new path until we can find the path back."
As soon as I had finished trying to reason with him, a loud slamming noise filled the air. We ducked farther behind the rock, at a perfect angle so that we could see the fort, but nobody there would be able to see us. We had been trained for things like that before we were sent out as spies.
Ganondorf came through the main gates of the fort and began walking in our direction. I felt my pulse rising as he came closer to the rock, and I felt Link's hand on my back to keep me down. Once he got close enough, I could see that he was heading further to the right, and he went straight past the front of the rock. I felt a soft sigh from Link. Although he had avoided us, I still watched him to see where he really was heading. He arrived at a smaller structure that I hadn't noticed, although it was right next to us. I kept my attention on him, hoping to see what this thing was.
The rock was close enough for me to see that he was putting in some kind of code combination before the door opened. He disappeared inside the small building, but we knew not to give up that easily. As long as the door was open, we were close enough to hear anything that went on inside. I listened for any sounds, but I could only hear the footsteps on metal flooring. Then Ganondorf spoke.
"This is your last chance," I tried not to wince at the sound of his voice. "You have two choices: You can tell me what I want to know and I'll keep you here to work for me, or you can stay in your silence and I'll kill you and the rest of them. We have an assault ready to launch, but we can stop it if you cooperate. You must choose now."
I turned to my partner, puzzled. I had no idea what he was talking about, and from the way Link was staring back at me, neither did he. Everything was silent for a while, until a frighteningly familiar voice finally answered him.
"You'll launch the attack no matter what I do; if I tell you anything, it will only enforce the plan."
Ganondorf let out one of his trademark disgusting laughs. "You're smarter than you look... You're just not smart enough. If that's how you want to do this, I have no other choice."
I was listening to Ganondorf while running that voice through my mind, certain that I had to have been mistaken, although Link looked equally perplexed. I heard the voice again, but in a different way. It came as a cry of pain this time, followed by a loud banging on the metal interior of the building. My partner grabbed onto my hand upon hearing this, perhaps realizing just as I did that we weren't mistaken. "He's alive..."
"I will have it arranged that you're killed at sunrise. If you won't cooperate, I have no reason to keep you alive." Ganondorf called back as he walked to the door.
Link suddenly got up on his good knee and pulled out his bow. I tried pulling him back down, but he kept himself up.
"What do you think you're doing?" I whispered.
"This guy may be tough, but he's not very perceptive. This'll work, trust me. I just have to time it right..."
I didn't even know what he was planning to do. I saw Ganondorf walk out the door and pushed it behind him; it obviously locked automatically when it was closed. As soon as he did this, Link fired an arrow directly into the doorway, right behind Ganondorf. I would have thought that he would notice, or that the weight of the door would break the arrow, but surely enough, Link had planned it perfectly. I didn't know anyone else who would have been able to pull that off.
While I kept an eye on the door, I noticed Link was watching Ganondorf, waiting for him to get back into the fort. After a few seconds, he pulled on my arm. "He's gone, let's go."
After he yanked me onto my feet, I pressed myself back. "I don't know if I trust this plan entirely," I muttered.
He looked into my eyes, and I could see a gleam of determination in him. "He risked his life for me. And you heard what Ganondorf said; he's about to lose it because of that. I'm not going to let that happen, no matter what the cost."
Within a few short seconds, I recalled everything that the three of us had been through... And that one night outside... I closed my eyes and exhaled. "You're right. I won't abandon him."
Upon my agreement, Link and I headed toward the building, not knowing exactly what we would find inside, or if we'd really want to see what was ahead. But if there was a chance that we could save Roy, I wasn't going to back down.
I'd like to clarify one more thing. Now, I know a little bit about Fire Emblem, but I don't know much of anything about Roy's role, or if he's connected to Marth in any way. Hell, I don't even know if he's even appeared in the dang game yet, because everything I read says that he's from the upcoming Japanese RPG. ::shrugs:: So for the sake of the argument, the scenario is that Link, Marth and Roy all met for the first time in the Super Smash Brothers. Kay? Kay.
Chapter Four
Marth's POV
The skies of Mushroom Kingdom was a beautiful sight at night. But considering the situation, there were few, small windows throughout the base. Finding myself restless, I dared to sneak out, since I was one of ten who knew the code to the front doors. We were hardly permitted to leave the bunks after 2:00 AM, so I couldn't afford getting caught outside. I leaned on a stone wall outside the base, studying that wonderful sky.
Earlier in the day, I had trained with Fox McCloud, one of the more hotheaded Smash Brothers. I didn't know him too well, so I also didn't know about his battle techniques. I found myself being defeated in three battles in a row; I had been totally unprepared. Mario ordered that I train with Luigi, saying that we both had a lot of room for improvement. I hadn't been so insulted in my time in the Smash Brothers, and Luigi didn't seem overly thrilled with his brother's reactions to his fighting style. But I couldn't help asking myself...
My thoughts were abruptly interrupted when I heard footsteps approaching me from behind. I immediately reached for my sword and raised it into a defensive position, ready to retaliate any sudden attack. Soon after, I heard a familiar voice from the same direction.
"Calm down, it's just me."
I knew the voice, but in my panic, I couldn't place it until he stepped closer to me. I let out a sigh and lowered my blade. "You scared me half to death, Roy."
"Sorry," he mumbled, then came beside me behind the wall. "You're not supposed to be out here, you know."
I looked at my partner and scoffed. "If you're that concerned with the rules, why are you out here with me?"
"Don't think I didn't hear you leave. I want to know what you're up to."
"What could I possibly be doing out here?" I questioned with a small laugh. "We're in the middle of a firing range, so to speak."
"But doesn't that concern you? I wanted to make sure you were safe--"
I quickly caught onto what he was saying. I groaned and stepped away from the wall. "Just come out and say it: You agree with Mario and think you need to protect me."
My back was turned to him, but I heard him step up behind me. "That's not what I'm saying, Marth. I don't care if you had a bad training session, I don't think any less of your abilities. I'm out here because it's too dangerous for any one of us to be out alone," he paused for a while, then I heard him sigh. "That's why you're out here, isn't it?" he whispered. "You're upset about what happened today."
I fixed my eyes onto the grass below me and nodded. We were silent for a few minutes, until I finally decided to ask him what I'd been somewhat ashamed to say to anybody. "Roy?"
"Yeah?" he muttered in a soft voice.
I closed my eyes and exhaled. "Do you think I'm weak?"
He came closer to me and I felt his hand rest on my shoulder. "Not at all. You're a great fighter, Marth. Mario may not be able to see it, but that's because your style isn't what he'd expect. Your technique is different, and I don't see anything wrong with that."
I raised my head, but still didn't turn. "Is that really what you think?"
"Is what really what I think?" a new voice replied.
I blinked and squinted my eyes, coming back into focus with reality. I looked to my left side to see Link staring at me as we walked. "Nothing, sorry. I was thinking out loud."
"Are you feeling all right, Marth?" he scowled. "You've been kind of out-of-it since we left."
"I guess I'm a little tired," I smiled weakly.
"Oh," Link turned his head forward. "Maybe you should have stayed back, then."
"No, I'll be fine," I mumbled.
"There's nothing wrong with the way you are..."
I closed my eyes and tried to ignore Roy's voice from our past conversation, which was still playing through my mind. But still I remembered the way my eyes met his when I finally turned to face him...
"Marth?"
I quickly shook my head and looked to the boy across from me. "What?"
He raised an eyebrow at my behavior. "What's wrong?"
"I told you, I'm tired."
"You also told me that you'd be fine. Talk to me."
I didn't even want to think those thoughts, much less say them aloud. "It's nothing, Link. Really."
"It doesn't seem like nothing."
Without thinking, I darted a glare to him. "Look, I don't want to talk to you, all right?"
"But why?"
"Don't you know when to quit? How many times do I have to say it? I don't want to talk!"
Link stared at me, surprised. I figured that what I said got through to him... But I didn't want to say it. Why couldn't I stop myself? I sighed and closed my eyes again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean--"
"No, it's all right," he muttered.
I looked back at him and saw how much I had upset him. "Look, if you want to talk..."
"You don't have to talk to me. I understand if... You don't trust me..."
"Link, that's not at all what I meant, I do trust you--"
"Then what did you mean?" he shot back before I could finish talking.
I rubbed my temples, still walking. "I just don't want to talk about everything, okay? It's kind of personal."
"I see," Link responded. "You'll have to forgive me. I just thought that..." he added a scoff, "Maybe all of those things that I told you about myself, the things that went through my mind when I couldn't talk to anyone else... Just maybe I considered those personal. But hey, if we can't talk about things like that, I guess I had the wrong idea about this whole thing."
Had I really made him feel that I didn't trust him? I was just so confused about these things myself that I couldn't put them into words. What was I supposed to tell him? I never meant for that to happen... I didn't mean to hurt him. I slowly lifted my head to glance at Link. He was walking at a faster pace than he had been, perhaps so that I couldn't see his face. "I'm sorry..."
"Just forget about it," he mumbled coldly and continued walking straight ahead.
I hurried my pace to catch up with him. "I mean it, Link. I don't know why I said that... I guess I've been a little scattered since it happened. I just don't know what to think anymore," I sighed.
Link lowered his head and seemed to be watching his feet as he walked. "I know what you mean. It's just that... There are so many things that I never said to him, and if I knew what was going to happen..." he took in a deep breath to collect himself before continuing. "I don't want that to happen again, Marth."
His words began to ring through my mind. "There are so many things that I never said to him..." I squinted my eyes and tried to shake it off. What was going on in my head?
As I was trying to figure out what would be appropriate to respond with, I happened to notice that we weren't on the trail anymore. "Um, Link?" the young elf looked up at me; he probably couldn't tell by my tone of voice what was coming, so he probably thought that would be the safest response. I turned my view around the surrounding trees and brush. "Where are we?"
"Uh..." he examined the area as I had done, a puzzled look on his face. "Oh, great."
"We're lost, aren't we?"
"I'd say so," he sighed.
I immediately attempted to put any survival skills I maybe have had to use and began to study the surroundings, trying to find something notable. "Well, if we can find some sort of landmark, we can make estimate..."
Walking straight ahead, fixed on the trees that hung over my head, I didn't even notice that the second set of footsteps had stopped until I felt myself being pulled down by my cape. I prepared myself to attack whatever had grabbed me, but I found myself looking straight at Link, who covered my mouth with his hand. He had pulled me behind a large rock to the left of our path. I gave him a confused expression as he removes his hand from my mouth. Before I could question him, he adjusted my head to face the direction opposite the rock.
I couldn't believe what was standing in front of me. Master Hand's fort lay straight ahead of us; there must have been a way to get there through the woods. Maybe if we had known of it before, we would have gone undetected...
"Do you know what this means?" Link whispered. I looked at him questioningly, for he could have meant any number of things. "We have to tell Falco that we found a new path."
"The only problem with that plan is that we still don't know how to get back through the woods," I kept my voice low. "I wouldn't say that we found a new path until we can find the path back."
As soon as I had finished trying to reason with him, a loud slamming noise filled the air. We ducked farther behind the rock, at a perfect angle so that we could see the fort, but nobody there would be able to see us. We had been trained for things like that before we were sent out as spies.
Ganondorf came through the main gates of the fort and began walking in our direction. I felt my pulse rising as he came closer to the rock, and I felt Link's hand on my back to keep me down. Once he got close enough, I could see that he was heading further to the right, and he went straight past the front of the rock. I felt a soft sigh from Link. Although he had avoided us, I still watched him to see where he really was heading. He arrived at a smaller structure that I hadn't noticed, although it was right next to us. I kept my attention on him, hoping to see what this thing was.
The rock was close enough for me to see that he was putting in some kind of code combination before the door opened. He disappeared inside the small building, but we knew not to give up that easily. As long as the door was open, we were close enough to hear anything that went on inside. I listened for any sounds, but I could only hear the footsteps on metal flooring. Then Ganondorf spoke.
"This is your last chance," I tried not to wince at the sound of his voice. "You have two choices: You can tell me what I want to know and I'll keep you here to work for me, or you can stay in your silence and I'll kill you and the rest of them. We have an assault ready to launch, but we can stop it if you cooperate. You must choose now."
I turned to my partner, puzzled. I had no idea what he was talking about, and from the way Link was staring back at me, neither did he. Everything was silent for a while, until a frighteningly familiar voice finally answered him.
"You'll launch the attack no matter what I do; if I tell you anything, it will only enforce the plan."
Ganondorf let out one of his trademark disgusting laughs. "You're smarter than you look... You're just not smart enough. If that's how you want to do this, I have no other choice."
I was listening to Ganondorf while running that voice through my mind, certain that I had to have been mistaken, although Link looked equally perplexed. I heard the voice again, but in a different way. It came as a cry of pain this time, followed by a loud banging on the metal interior of the building. My partner grabbed onto my hand upon hearing this, perhaps realizing just as I did that we weren't mistaken. "He's alive..."
"I will have it arranged that you're killed at sunrise. If you won't cooperate, I have no reason to keep you alive." Ganondorf called back as he walked to the door.
Link suddenly got up on his good knee and pulled out his bow. I tried pulling him back down, but he kept himself up.
"What do you think you're doing?" I whispered.
"This guy may be tough, but he's not very perceptive. This'll work, trust me. I just have to time it right..."
I didn't even know what he was planning to do. I saw Ganondorf walk out the door and pushed it behind him; it obviously locked automatically when it was closed. As soon as he did this, Link fired an arrow directly into the doorway, right behind Ganondorf. I would have thought that he would notice, or that the weight of the door would break the arrow, but surely enough, Link had planned it perfectly. I didn't know anyone else who would have been able to pull that off.
While I kept an eye on the door, I noticed Link was watching Ganondorf, waiting for him to get back into the fort. After a few seconds, he pulled on my arm. "He's gone, let's go."
After he yanked me onto my feet, I pressed myself back. "I don't know if I trust this plan entirely," I muttered.
He looked into my eyes, and I could see a gleam of determination in him. "He risked his life for me. And you heard what Ganondorf said; he's about to lose it because of that. I'm not going to let that happen, no matter what the cost."
Within a few short seconds, I recalled everything that the three of us had been through... And that one night outside... I closed my eyes and exhaled. "You're right. I won't abandon him."
Upon my agreement, Link and I headed toward the building, not knowing exactly what we would find inside, or if we'd really want to see what was ahead. But if there was a chance that we could save Roy, I wasn't going to back down.