I know, I know, I took my time… Been busy and all kinds of stuff… This part is a lot of talk. You'll soon read why. I did it because I wanted to have a little different ending, a little different part. I hope you like it, I was trying to be as realistic as possible and still keep the personalities as they are. It's not easy.
Thank you for reviewing!
Zora&co: Zora and Nagiali clash non-stop, don't they? Good to hear you like it, because I thought it was getting too Marth/Young Link centred. It's true that they are main characters too, but I'd need to keep my thoughts in the Shadow at times too…
RavenGhost: I like to try and write things no one has ever done before, gives me a unique feeling… But, there's one little thing in the love between Marth and Young Link, it's their ages. I don't think everyone would accept their relationship as excitedly as you… Thanks for saying that I'm getting better!
Mewlon: Well, my original plan was to make the Links both like Roy, but then I got another devilish idea. I don't know what inspired me to make Young Link have a crush on Marth, maybe it really was your story. (I don't know I've never spoken with my imagination…) Vincent's daughter, hm? I think her mother should be someone interesting, like Jenova (It's a sick thought, yes) and both of the names are good!
By the way, if anyone reading this would like to talk with me and has a msn messenger, I'd truly love to! Just give me your msn address and I'll contact you! Thank you!
---
Marth woke up, seeing the small elf on one of the other couches, sleeping peacefully. He looked like an angel that had travelled far and was sleeping his exhaustion away. Except he snored. The noble looked at him with a troubled expression for a while, before he stood up and dressed quickly, collecting his blanket and taking it to his room.
He yawned as he stepped out of his room and saw two new paintings. He looked at the stern Link next to the elf's room's door and the fierce general next to Roy's room's door with widened eyes. Soon he wouldn't want to come to the corridor at all, there were already too many paintings.
The noble stepped closer to the elf's picture. Link leaned against his Master Sword, his cerulean eyes judging everyone walking past him. The cobalt eyed man touched the painting and the Hylian turned around, saying something. Marth backed away from him as fast as he could against the wall opposite the painting.
What is going on here? He glanced at Roy's painting. The boy was looking scared, gazing at the elf in the other painting. His hands were against the painting's surface like it was a glass wall between him and the corridor.
The prince looked at Ness's painting, the boy's face was like in pain as he sat on the ground, looking desperately at him. Captain Falcon remained sitting on his chair, but his wineglass had fallen and the red wine was colouring the wall and floor deep red. Mewtwo looked like he was about to hit the surface of the painting with his tail. A small smile was on the painted Zelda's lips, it was a victorious smile. Marth took a hold of his head and shook it furiously for a while, repeating that nothing was happening.
Why do my eyes play tricks with me!?
"Marth, does your head hurt?" Nana walked down the corridor, Popo following her close behind. "Yeah, does your head hurt?" Popo repeated.
"Huh?" The noble straightened, letting go of his head and glancing at the paintings at times. Now they seemed to be completely still, but in weird positions. "Yeah, a little headache."
---
"How can they be gone?" Young Link sat on the couch, putting his hat on his head.
"I have no idea." Marth shook his head. "I looked everywhere. They've disappeared into thin air, just like Mewtwo, Ness and Captain Falcon."
"Link spoke something about the paintings, that they'd be somehow involved…" The small blonde stood up, going upstairs. The noble followed him with a confused expression:
"How could the paintings have something to do with the disappearings?"
"I don't know." The elven boy stopped and turned to face the prince. "But I think Link was right."
"Hm."
"You don't think so?"
"I don't really know. It sounds unbelievable."
They stood silently in front of the painting of Link, Young Link trying to find out what was going on and Marth standing and waiting for the paintings to start living again. But Link's painting seemed to stand still like normal paintings, looking charmingly solemn as the elf's eyes stared at the noble disdained.
"I think we should talk to the princesses. After they brought that painting of Zelda, everyone's gone missing." Marth pointed calmly at the princess's painting, never taking his eyes off the Hylian's picture.
"And Roy can't stay up for long. So they can't have left the Smash Building."
"Good morning, Marth and Young Link!" Zelda ran down the corridor, but stopped for a while when she saw the two new paintings. She mumbled something quietly before running to Peach's room's door and disappearing inside. Marth's forehead furrowed, but he said nothing.
"Why was Link so interested in the animal we saw in the art gallery?"
"I wish he was here to make everything clearer! LINK! Get here, right now!" The small blonde hit the painting with his fist, causing the painting on the elf's leg to rip a bit. The painted Hylian quickly jumped away from it, looking at it with a scared expression. Both of the onlookers jumped a step back and glanced at each other, wanting to ask if the other had seen the same.
"D-did you…?" Young Link went closer to Marth, lifting his hand on his own shoulder to feel saver.
"…you too…?" The prince looked at the tiny boy, whose eyes searched the painting for answer. It had stopped moving, staring at the two again as serious as before.
"…I don't like this!" The elven child hugged the cobalt eyed man, wanting to get away from the corridor.
"What's-a going on here?" Mario walked down the corridor, rising his eyebrows. "You both look-a like you've seen a ghost!"
"Uh. I guess I just didn't sleep well last night." The noble said, freeing himself from the elf's grasp. Young Link tried to hug him again, but he held him back with a hand on his forehead.
"Then today you should go to sleep-a a little earlier! And drink-a lots of warm milk!" The short plumber stopped when he reached the two, looking at the small elf with a confused expression. "Young-a Link? Are-a you okay?"
"Yeah!" The boy stopped trying into Marth's hug, nodding. "It's just that the painting moved!"
"The painting-a? Moving?" The red capped man smiled inquiringly to the prince, who flashed a white smile, trying to look as sane as possible.
"No, Young Link. I don't think it moved." He said behind his teeth.
"Me-a neither." Mario walked past them towards the stairs.
"But…" The elf started but was smothered by Marth's hand.
"We shouldn't spread any rumours before we know what's going on." The noble whispered to his ear.
"Oh." Young Link answered, his hand slipped behind the cobalt eyed warrior's neck, but Marth jerked away, looking at him apologetically.
"And we still need to talk. But first we need to get all the missing smashers back."
---
The dining hall was quiet that day. During the dinner everyone seemed to be thinking about those who'd gone missing. Marth and Young Link had told the others about Roy's and Link's disappearance. It had made especially the two princesses spend time alone, away from everyone else. As the noble and the small elf had dinner in the same table with Pikachu, Luigi and Mario, the boy looked at Peach and Zelda, who quietly argued about something.
"Hey, Marth." The elven child said, nodding at the two arguing.
"Hm?" The blue haired man lifted his eyes from his smashed potatoes and Swedish meatballs, raising his eyebrows.
"I wonder what's made them so tense…" The blonde repeated his nodding.
The prince looked at them, chewing his food with a focused expression.
"Well, they brought the first painting." Marth drank his glass of water empty. "They're blaming themselves."
"You sure about that?"
"I don't know."
"What do you know?" The boy looked at him with his cerulean eyes.
"…That I want to get rid of those paintings."
---
"Okay, this is the plan: You take them outside, while I distract them." Young Link said excitedly. "I feel like James Bond!"
"It's not going to work. They'll soon start asking questions. Eventually they'll know that we took the paintings and got rid of them." The prince inhaled as he sat down next to Link on his bed in his room. "And besides, getting rid of the paintings doesn't bring the missing smashers back."
The small elf banged his head against his hand. "I just don't know what to do!"
"I'm confused too, but maybe we'd understand something if we repeated everything that's happened. Okay, so I carried the painting upstairs the night Ness disappeared."
"…In the morning there was a painting of Ness on the corridor wall."
"Next morning a painting of Captain Falcon had appeared."
"Link asked us to go to Haine and talk to the artist and find out where Ness could possibly be."
"All we found out was that the artist uses Poepaint in his paintings." Marth rubbed his chin with his thumb.
"And the cat!"
"Oh, yeah, the cat. It's the most confusing thing. What did Link mean by it?"
"First he warns you, then the next morning he and Roy are both missing." Young Link put together.
"Weird how everyone's said or done something linked with the paintings before disappearing except Roy."
"True!"
"Ness said that the painting of Zelda looked like an old hag and then, the next morning he's missing and there's a painting of him on the wall."
"I heard Captain Falcon mock the paintings to Yoshi on the day before he, too, disappeared."
"Mewtwo spoke to everyone telepathically, he also didn't like the paintings… And so he's gone and there's a painting of him." The prince of Althea didn't know should he believe in such an unbelievable story, as true as it seemed.
"Link and Roy probably knew what was going on, and that's why they disappeared."
"To get them out of the way. Do you think the artist's cat could have something to do with this?"
"It's big enough to drag them out of this building, but how does it explain the paintings?"
"I don't know."
"Link would've known!"
"But he's not here now. So we can't just sit still without doing anything. All the clues we have are the paintings and the cat."
"But…but…" The boy collected himself and continued after a long while: "We could try my plan at night. If no one disappears when the paintings aren't in this house, we could destroy them and then start looking for the missing ones. Then no more people would go missing."
The paintings are creepy in the dark…
Collect yourself!
"Yeah, we could try that. But how are we going to get rid of the paintings? By burning them?" Marth rolled his eyes.
"Yeah! That's what we'll do!"
"But if someone outside this building sees or hears anything about it, the kidnapper probably becomes alarmed and more careful. He might escape with the smashers, so we'd need to be fast."
"But what's his motive?" Young Link sighed. "I'm so confused!"
"Maybe money. He might want ransom."
They sat still, both putting the clues together, yet still they couldn't link the disappearings with the paintings. Marth hadn't let Young Link think about his bigger self, hoping that Link would come back so suddenly to solve everything as they wished was unlikely. He was gone and they couldn't just sit and wait for everyone to disappear. They had to do something. They made a plan, but they'd start when the darkness of the night would cover the land.
---
The prince of Althea lifted the heavy painting from its place, hoping that it wouldn't start living as he held it. He slowly and securely walked down the corridor as quietly as possible, trying not to wake anyone up.
Why had the paintings back then been so scary? Why couldn't he get over his fear? He couldn't stop thinking about the paintings as they'd glared at him accusingly, their gaze would've probably killed him if a look could kill. Gladly he was now getting rid of the paintings and he'd never need to see them again.
Somehow inside him he felt bittersweet for needing to start sleeping in his own room again, they'd had such a good time last night with Young Link, talking about various things and playing card games and so on. He swallowed hard as he thought about talking seriously with the small blonde. He couldn't avoid it forever.
"Marth!" He heard the boy's clear whisper from downstairs. "What's taking you so long?"
"I'm coming! These are heavy!" He whispered back, not knowing did the elf hear him. Probably, considering his ears.
"Then hurry!"
The noble walked down the stairs, passing the small elven boy as he whispered that it was the last one. The boy nodded and grabbed the painting, helping him carry it outside. They carried it to the forest to a clearing, both heaving a sigh as they put it down.
"Are you sure that's the last one?" Young Link asked, counting the paintings.
"Yeah. Six." Marth nodded. "Shouldn't you start, then?"
"Mm-hm." The small Hylian smiled an encouraging smile to the prince. "Don't get hurt, okay?" He said shyly as he turned his face away.
"I won't. You be careful too."
The elven boy looked at him his eyes wide in surprise. Then it melted to a smile as his cheeks reddened a bit and he walked away from the prince, starting to prepare the fire as he mumbled something quietly to himself. Marth gave a laugh to the boy before leaving to 'Vincent's Vision of the World.' If Link had been right, there should be some answers to the mystery of the disappearings.
He rambled through the thick forest in the dark, having only a little starlight filtered through the canopy. The thick branches sometimes hit him on his face and he walked through spider webs, feeling the thin string covering his face.
Before he got out of the forest, he heard Young Link scream. He turned around without a second thought and ran back to the clearing where they'd taken the paintings.
A large cat-like creature floated above the fire, spinning wildly and transforming into the shape of a huge knife. The small elf had drawn his bow and waited for it to stop spinning so that he could fire his fire arrow. Marth drew his Falchion, getting ready to protect the smaller one and kill the creature.
"What-what happened here?" he asked, never taking his eyes off the creature. Before Young Link could open his mouth, the cat-like monster looked like a huge knife and it slashed at the two of them. The prince and the elf both rolled out of the way and Young Link fired his arrow when the creature was on its feet again, trying to decide which one to kill first. It howled as the arrow plunged through its skin. Then it melted into a puddle, moving furiously towards the boy, who stood in fighter stance, ready to fire at it again.
Marth ran in front of Young Link as the monster emerged from the puddle. It transformed into a giant hand and grabbed him, shaking him in the air and pressing him so tight he couldn't breathe. He struggled to raise the Falchion to cut it, but couldn't move an inch.
"MARTH!" The cobalt eyed man heard the small boy shout. "Hold on!"
An arrow plunged right in front of his face to the flesh of the creature and it let go of him. The prince fell on the ground, enjoying the air flowing to his lungs again. He tried to get up, but couldn't. Breathing was too hard.
Concentrate on it!
The purple spotted monster was face to face with Young Link, transforming into a spear that would pierce the boy and kill him. The boy shot an arrow after and arrow, his expression showed that he was concentrating very hard. Many others in his age would've ducked down, sobbing and screaming, but he didn't. Defiantly he looked into the creature's eyes, the blood of its wounds pouring on him.
When the creature had taken the shape of a spear, the boy rolled off of its way, drawing his bow again. Marth finally got up and took a deep breath as he dashed for the creature's back, slicing it in half.
"Young Link! Get out of its way!" He shouted huskily and the boy ran, stumbling on a stone and falling over. The body of the cat-like creature split in half as its other half fell on top of the fire, it's blood extinguishing the flames and the other half fell on the place where Young Link had stood just a second ago.
The prince ran to the small elf, his worry shining from his eyes.
"Are you okay?" He managed to say huskily as he kneed next to him.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, a-are you?" Young Link let the prince hug him. He wrapped his arms around the noble, the panic of the moment before disappearing from him, leaving only the pleasant feeling of the warm arms around him, holding him close.
As much as he wanted to stay there, breathing Marth's scent and feeling his body against his, he couldn't help his curiosity as he saw a hand in the extinguished fire.
"Marth! Look at that!" He stood up, the prince turned around and saw the same. The body of the monster had disappeared into thin air, it was like there had never been a fight, even the blood had disappeared. He stood up and walked to the pile of half burned paintings, helping the elf to dig out the one in it.
Did we burn someone? A thought came to his mind. How can that be possible?
They both gasped as they saw the face of the one in the fire.
"What!?" Young Link looked at his older self, his face as white as milk. "How can he be here!?"
"Link!" Marth dragged the Hylian from the extinguished fire, seeing that he had minor burns all over his body. He still seemed to sleep like a baby, like he was drugged or something. "Young Link, could you get some blankets from the building?"
"I'm on my way!" The boy ran away. The prince looked at the blonde, he couldn't understand how he had ended in the fire. The paintings had come to his mind, but he couldn't believe that the elf would've been sealed away in one of them. Still he stood up and took his cape, putting it on the naked Hylian, whose clothes had burned away in the fire. Then he started to search the pile of half burned paintings again, trying to find the other missing smashers.
Even though his senses had told him not to look, he had. He had found every one of them, but he couldn't believe it nor understand. They had burns all over their body except Roy, whose clothes and bandages had still burnt off. Young Link had returned with the blankets a while ago and they'd wrapped the smashers in them, trying to make them warm.
"…Link was right." The small elf whispered to the prince as he lit the fire again with a fire arrow.
"I-I… I can't understand…" Marth said, feeling the coldness of the night pleasant. An owl hollowed deeper in the forest.
"They were in the paintings, a large cat attacked us."
"But where did it come from? And how did they end in the paintings?"
"I don't know. Maybe it came from the art gallery where we saw the other cat too." Young Link moved closer to the noble, looking at the fire flicker on his face.
"It's… It's just so unbelievable."
The elf put a hand on his shoulder, looking at him kindly: "So is this." He did what he'd done once before, kissed the prince, this time hoping that his reaction would be a little different.
---
"Link!" Roy woke up in the middle of a forest, his wound aching more than he could ever hope for anyone to take. But still his only thought was the elf.
The Hylian turned his side as he grunted and continued sleeping. The general sat up, holding his wound and realising that he was naked.
What the!? Where's Marth? If I did it again… He looked around and saw the prince sleeping peacefully on the other side of the fire, Young Link not far from him, but not close either. He smiled gladly and heaved a relieved sigh, seeing that the noble and the small blonde were still friends.
He wrapped the blanket around his waist as he stood up to see was Link okay. At least he was sleeping later than he like normal was, but his face and body were burned a little. The redhead studied them, not knowing where they'd come from. Also Ness, Mewtwo and Captain Falcon had burns like him. Roy smoothed down his beloved's golden bangs, his cheek, but stood up quickly and coughed when he heard Captain Falcon yawn.
He remembered the pain in his wound that he had forgotten completely and groaned as he laid down, breathing heavily and trying to think the pain away.
What were the burns on the others? And why am I here? I fell asleep and now I wake up here with all those who've been missing and Marth and Young Link…
"Roy…?" The blonde sat up, rubbing his eyes and looking like a five-year-old.
"Hm?" The general grimaced. He needed his painkillers. Talking and moving hurt in the wound, but as long as he was still, the pain wasn't so bad.
"…Huh?" Link said drowsily as he saw where he was. "Am I still asleep?"
"No, you're awake." The redhead said.
"What're you doing out of your bed?" The Hylian snapped back at him.
"I …don't know."
He looked around, a smile spreading on his face. "I do."
Roy closed his eyes. He didn't want to worry the Hero of his pains. Soon enough he'd get to the building and get his medicines.
When everyone had woken up, they went back to the building. Some of the smashers who were already awake came to open the door and looked at them with surprised expressions. Roy went to his bed and Dr. Mario preached to him about how foolish it was to leave his bed and the wound would never heal if he wouldn't let it by resting. Link smiled to his beloved symphatetically behind the doctor's back.
The prince and the small elf had left to visit the art gallery, but as the Hylian had said, it was there no longer. Everything had disappeared into thin air, in the place where the gallery had been was now a bakery. The two stood in front of it with surprised expressions.
"What… is going on here?" Marth said, blinking.
"I have no clue." Young Link did the same.
---
Goodbye, paintings! So this time Link didn't save everyone. At first I didn't like the idea and even as I wrote the battle against the Shadow I thought that maybe I shouldn't have made Roy and Link both disappear. But as I now finished it, it looks good. And, besides, it was fun to write. Thanks for reading!