Disclaimer: I don't own SSBM, or any of its characters. Not even Marth. Just Sarah Holly. She IS mine.
Marth: Good girl.
Me: Okay Roy, give 'em the stuff.
Roy: Right. Kuroi Tenshi – Dark Angel loooooooves reviews, even if they're flames. So, read the story, and review with that handy little button at the bottom!
Me: Thanks, Roy.
Roy: You're welcome.
Link: On with the story!
Getting Over Our Troubles – Seeing New Places and Meeting New Faces
Sarah Holly walked slowly down the stairs of the girls' dormitory, brushing her short brown hair out of her muddy brown eyes. She headed for the common room, anxious to meet her guide. At least the hallway was empty, leaving her in relative peace.
The common room was a spacious room, or was once, before the Smashers had crammed in so much stuff. It was a large room, stuffed with a dozen armchairs, three couches, and a loveseat over by one of the windows. A large fireplace, swept clean and unused during the spring and summer, covered the lower half of the far wall. The armchairs were arranged primarily around the long oval coffee table in front of the fireplace. Seated in one of those armchairs was a girl with long blond hair. Besides her, the room was empty of people.
Sarah moved a bit closer to the girl and noticed the book lying on her lap. The girl's head was bent over the book, and her golden hair spilled around her face, concealing it. Not wanting to startle her, Sarah cleared her throat as she moved around in front of her.
The girl looked up quickly. "Oh! Hello."
"I'm sorry if I startled you. I was trying not to," Sarah quickly apologized.
The girl shook her head, smiling. "You didn't, but even if you had, it would have been alright. You must be Sarah."
Sarah smiled. The girl seemed nice and very friendly. She nodded in answer to her question.
"My name is Zelda. For the record, I'm the princess of Hyrule, but don't ever refer to me as 'princess'. I hate it." Zelda said, flicking her hair behind her pointed ears. "Master Hand said that I'm supposed to be your guide for your first few days here. No wonder, since this place is so huge!"
Sarah laughed. She definitely liked Zelda. Zelda took her out of the common room and back up the hallway she had just come down. She pointed out rooms as they went.
"Most of these are just nothing rooms, just taking up space, you know? This one, though," Zelda stopped and pointed into the large room on their left. "This one is the dining hall. Some people think it's the most important room of all, which is why it's located so close to the dorms."
"I see," said Sarah.
Zelda led her down a few more corridors, pointing out rooms such as the library, greenhouse, ballroom, and a few others.
"This one here leads to the Stadium. You'll probably be dealing with this area a lot during work. I think part of your job is to put up items for our battles, so," Zelda said, shrugging. She pointed out the Item Closet, a place none of the Smashers were allowed to get into. She told her how to work the teleporter so she could get to the stage she needed to. She showed her the three training areas.
Sarah wished she had a pad of paper with her to take notes. She was sure that she would forget it all by tomorrow. She suppressed a sigh as Zelda took her back to the dining hall for lunch.
Zelda and Sarah chatted, making friends with one another as they walked. Sarah heard a little about Hyrule. Zelda heard a little about summer school. They were laughing together when another girl turned the corner and almost ran into them.
"Oh, Peach! Are you alright?" Zelda asked.
Peach grimaced and brushed her pink dress off before answering. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. I just wanted to get here first. I'm just peachy, as always!"
Zelda laughed, and even Sarah giggled a little, at the joke. Zelda calmed down and turned to introduce the two. "Peach, this is Sarah Holly, Master Hand's new assistant. Sarah, this is Princess Peach, but, like me, she hates being called princess."
"Pleased to meet you, Sarah," Peach said with a little curtsey and a wink.
Sarah smiled. "Pleased to meet you, too." Zelda waved them into the dining hall as more Smashers started to show up.
"The best seats will be taken!" she said.
"There are 'best seats'?" Sarah asked, slightly surprised.
Peach smiled. "You'll see."
Sarah did see, once they were inside. At least, there were best seats for certain groups of people. A couple of shady looking people sat at a table in the darker corner of the large room. A group of children sat at a table in full sunlight under a huge floor-to-ceiling window, all of them unable to sit still with impatience. Zelda and Peach headed for the table nearest to the kitchen, and Sarah followed, breathing in the savory smells coming from said kitchen.
Zelda had Sarah sit facing the entrance with her so that she could point out everyone who came in.
"That's Captain Falcon," Zelda said, pointing to the man in the tight racer suit.
Peach snorted. "The jerk." She waved away Sarah's questioning look.
Zelda shook Sarah's shoulder to get her attention. "The one in the orange armor is Samus Aran. Don't try to talk to her. You'll only be pushed away." Sarah nodded.
"She likes her privacy a little too much, if you ask me," Peach put in.
Zelda sighed. "Just because she doesn't like to gossip as much as you do is no reason to hate her." Peach grunted in response.
"Who's that?" Sarah asked, nodding toward the red haired boy coming over to their table. He was joined by a blond boy dressed in green.
Zelda smiled at them. "Hey guys," she said when they sat down. "This is Sarah Holly. She's working for Master Hand. Sarah, this is Roy, and that's Link."
The two boys smiled at Sarah and said hello. Sarah smiled back and turned back to watching people.
Soon enough, the dining hall was filled with people, and a bell rang. Zelda pulled at Sarah's sleeve, indicating that they were to go to the kitchen. "This is why we like sitting here. We get the best food first." Sarah laughed as she took a tray.
After covering her tray with food, (she was starving after her P.E. class) she returned to the table along with the other four, and promptly began to tuck in.
Peach sat down next to Sarah and looked across the table at Roy. "Where's Marth? It's not like him to miss a meal."
Roy and Link groaned. "We think he's having another mope attack. We haven't seen him since breakfast." Link said. Roy nodded his agreement.
"That's a shame. We'll have to introduce him to Sarah later," said Zelda. "In the mean time, I'll make your arrival public." She stood with a smile at Sarah.
Sarah stuttered. "Uh, but you don't have to...." It was too late.
"May I have your attention, please?" Zelda called to the crowd. The dull roar quieted. "Thank you. Everyone, this is Sarah Holly. She will be living here with us while she works for Master Hand. Stand up, Sarah!"
Sarah felt herself being pulled up, and automatically blushed at being exposed to so many people at once. "Um, hello." she said with a little wave. The crowd grumbled a general 'hello' back at her, and she sat back down quickly.
"There now, was that so hard?" Link asked her with a smirk. Sarah just glared at him, making the others laugh.
"You'll fit right in with us if you already know how to glare at Link," Roy said, pointing his fork at her.
The meal continued on, with the four friends quickly accepting Sarah as one of their own. When they all finished, Link and Peach offered to take all the trays back to the kitchen. Sarah stretched as she stood up.
"I'd like to go over the grounds outside, if that's alright," she stated.
"Sure thing. Mind if we come with you and Zelda?" Roy asked, putting his hand on Sarah's shoulder. Sarah flinched, but it was a tiny movement, and Roy didn't seem to notice it too much. Good, she thought, I'm getting better at controlling that.
Zelda nodded acceptance of the proposed plan, and as soon as Link and Peach returned, they left the dining hall.
Sarah was glad she had made friends so fast. She was curious about the elusive Marth, but quickly forgot as the group went out one of the side doors onto the grounds. She was sure she would meet him soon enough.
Me: I'm only stopping there because I've run out of ideas for this chapter. I'll put the next chapter up tomorrow, though, so don't worry about it.
Marth: I wasn't even IN this one!
Roy: I was!
Me: You'll show up soon, Marth. If not in the next one, then definitely the one after that.
Link: Remember, Kuroi Tenshi – Dark Angel likes reviews! She would also like to say thank you to metamidnight for reviewing!