Back in the castle, Corneilius was standing outside on the balcony. He was staring out to look for any signs of the boys' campsite. He heaved a sigh and began to pace back and forth. There was a gnawing fear in his mind that something might go wrong. Marth and Roy might get hurt. They might not have enough to eat for the night. They might get cold. His worries slowly shifted from both children over to just Marth. He knows that Marth might get frightened about being outside at night. The Altean king suddenly pictured his son, crying, freezing, and scared, wanting to be back inside. Unable to endure this scenario his worried-parent mind projected, Corneilius turned away to head back inside. He nearly ran into Ellis, who has been quite concerned over her father since the two boys left earlier in the day.
"Father... please relax! Have some tea and--" Ellis pleased
"Tea! Marth'll probably want tea right about now... Ohh... I wish he was back here, in his room, having a tea party with his toys... Why'd I have to give in to him? I knew that this wasn't a good idea, I just knew it and--"
"Ellis is right, buddy", said Eliwood. He walked into the room and patted Corneilius on the shoulder. "You should have a cup of tea and relax. Roy knows what to do in case of an emerga--"
"Did you pack any ointments for Marth?!" the king panicked. "What if he got bitten up by any insects?! Especially those darned fire ants?! Poor Marth! He's probably crying because he got bitten up..." Corneilius resumed pacing, this time around the room. He continued to ramble on and on about various things that could go wrong, while Eliwood and Ellis just shook their heads.
"Is he always this overprotective of Marth? Could your brother even breath without being worried over?" Eliwood asked Ellis.
"Sadly, yes. We're very protective of my baby brother. Dad's the worst; he'll flip out if even the slightest thing isn't right with him", she sighed.
Contrary to Corneilius' worries, the effeminate boy was fast asleep inside the tent. It's been quite a day full of fun and adventure! Marth was able to go up until late afternoon/ early evening without his daily afternoon nap. While he was snoozing, Roy decided to continue to fish. He had a bag of marshmallows nearby, just in case it would take a while. So far, he's caught a few small catfish, nothing major. He was sitting cross-legged, waiting for another fish to come. He sighed, feeling bored out of his mind.
"How long's he gonna sleep?" Roy asked out loud to no one in particular. "I need someone to talk to pronto or else I'll end up talking to myself like a crazy person." Roy then realized that he was doing exactly what he predicted. The youngster took a handful of marshmallows and shoved them into his mouth. The sugar would help keep him awake.
Over in the tent, Marth suddenly jerked and quickly sat up. He let out a loud shriek and cried for Roy several times. Roy hastily got up and accidentally knocked the rest of the marshmallows into the water as he ran to the tent. When Roy arrived, he found Marth sobbing and rocking back and forth. The younger prince sat down next to the older one and patted Marth's shoulders.
"Ar-Are you all right?! What happened?!" stammered Roy.
"I... Muh-Muh-Monster! Scary! It got us! So scary..." Marth cried.
"Oh, I see... You musta had a bad dream. It's ok. You're fine now. Nothing bad won't happen, it's just a dream", Roy said in a soothing voice. This got Marth to stop crying, but he still felt shaken over the nightmare.
"Um... Sorry for scaring you like this. I... eh... I have bad dreams a lot, really scary ones. I'm fine now." Marth was turning a deep shade of red, feeling rather humiliated about being frightened so easily.
"I'll go back fishing, just in case you want to be left alone for a bit", said Roy. Marth nodded while avoiding eye contact, so Roy went back to his spot.
A few minutes later, Marth emerged from the tent and wandered over to Roy. He sat down next to Roy and watched him fish. Tired of fishing, Roy stood up and stretched, then looked over to Marth.
"What do you wanna do now?" Marth asked timidly.
"Hmm... Since the sun's startin' to set, we should go pick up some wood", he replied with a joyous gleam in his blue eyes. Marth cocked an eyebrow, wondering why they need to get wood.
He looked at the sky, which was turning a pleasant pinkish-purple, and heaved a depressed sigh. Right now, the Altean prince would be on the castle grounds, protected by the stone walls that kept his worry at ease. Marth felt shaky about sleeping outside with only a tent to protect him. How can it prevent any wild animals or anything from inflicting any harm on him?
"C'mon! Let's go!" called Roy. He pulled Marth's arm and they ran off to look for wood.
"I wonder what they're up to right now...?" sighed Corneilius. He was gazing out on the balcony again, worried about the welfare of Marth.
"Fishing, swimming, just having a great time!" answered Eliwood. He took a sip of his coffee while sitting on a chair and looking at the Altean king.
"Ohh, I wish that there's some way I can find them! It's getting dark outside and Marth's never been outside when it's dark before. I hope that he brought a coat because he'll catch a cold or some--"
"There you go again! Making mountains out of anthills! Just try to relax and not think about this, ok?" asked Eliwood.
"Anthills! Why'd you have to bring that up? Poor Marth! I better go out and try to find them! Marth'll thank me for this!" Corneilius went to get a coat and lantern before Ellis walked in.
"Dad? What are you doing? You're not thinking about looking for them, are you?" she asked.
"Listen, I know you're worried sick about your little brother, but rest assure! I'm going to go out and check up on him! Marth might not like being spied on like this, but he'll thank me someday because I'm just curious to see what they're up to", said Corneilius as he stepped out the door.
Eliwood and Ellis ran after him and had to struggle to get him back inside. Finally, the worried king was back inside. Eliwood just shook his head while grinning to himself, thinking about the whole situation.
"So... Um... I guess I can't go bring them any dinner, eh?" Corneilius asked sheepishly.
"Don't worry. I packed enough sandwiches for them so that they can have them for dinner as well", said Ellis.
"Well, you know how finicky your brother gets about food. He'll love to eat one kind of food during a meal then he'll hate it during the next meal." The worried Altean walked over to the balcony and stared out into space, thinking about his son's safety again.
Back at the campsite, Roy and Marth dropped armloads of sticks onto the ground. Roy dug a shallow hole in the ground and moved the sticks into the hole. The Pheraen dug into his pockets and pulled out a small box that made a light scratching sound as he moved the box around. He opened it and there were many matches inside! Taking a single match, Roy struck it against the tiny box and it suddenly ignited. Marth backed away from Roy, fearing the match in his hand. Roy walked over to the pile of sticks and dropped the lit match onto the pile. A few minutes later, the sticks started to catch on fire. Roy grinned dreamily as the fire started to pick up.
"Wuh-wuh-why do you carry matches with you?" Marth asked meekly.
"Because I love to light things on fire all the time!" Roy replied eagerly.
He looked around for something else to set on fire and his eyes fell upon a few stray sticks. He picked them off the ground and handed one to Marth. Roy lit his on fire, then he lit Marth's on fire as well. Marth held his away from himself, fearing that he might get burned.
"Yee heh ha ta ta ta!" Roy shouted at the top of his lungs.
"What in the world...?" Marth asked while staring at Roy confusedly.
"C'mon! Let's go around with these lit sticks and chant things!" Roy answered.
"Ok, then..."
The boys marched around their campsite, chanting loudly as if they were ancient tribal people.
"Yee heh ha ta ta ta!" cried Roy.
"Keee ha mo-ata!" shrieked Marth.
"Keee ha mo-atata!"
"Loo-ta matata!"
"YEEEEeeeeee!" both princes yelled loudly in unison. They started to crack up laughing and dropped their sticks.
"You hungry?" asked Roy. "Wanna go eat right now?"
In front of the fire, the two boys were having their dinner. Again, Roy was eating at least two sandwiches at a time while Marth was checking to see which ones he got. It's gotten a bit darker now that the sun's shift ended. The light breeze blew a little, chilling the air.
"Hey, Roy? Are there any more sandwiches that have white cheese on them?" asked Marth as he finished up his sandwich.
"I think so... Why just white cheese?" he replied.
"I like white cheese better than yellow. It just tastes better", said Marth.
"Hn... There's either ones with yellow cheese or there's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches", said Roy. Marth nodded as he just said that, so Roy handed him a PB&J one.
"What do we do after we eat?" asked Marth.
"We tell scary stories! Really, really scary ones!" Roy said eagerly.
"I have a really scary one. It's so scary that you won't go to sleep!" gulped Marth. He looked quite fearful, scanning the area for anything that might leap out at him.
"Ok, tell it then!" said Roy.
"Once upon a time there was a teeny-tiny woman who lived in a teeny-tiny house in a teeny-tiny village. Now, one day this teeny-tiny woman put on her teeny-tiny bonnet, and went out of her teeny-tiny house to take a teeny-tiny walk. And when this teeny-tiny woman had gone a teeny-tiny way, she came to a teeny-tiny gate; so the teeny-tiny woman opened the teeny-tiny gate, and went into a teeny-tiny churchyard."
"Does everything hafta begin with 'teeny-tiny'?!" whined Roy.
"And when this teeny-tiny woman had got into the teeny-tiny churchyard, she saw a teeny-tiny bone on a teeny-tiny grave, and the teeny-tiny woman said to her teeny-tiny self, 'This teeny-tiny bone will make me some teeny-tiny soup for my teeny-tiny supper.' So the teeny-tiny woman put the teeny-tiny bone into her teeny-tiny pocket, and went home to her teeny-tiny house."
"Wow, you sounded just like that lady!" joked Roy.
"Now, when the teeny-tiny woman got home to her teeny-tiny house, she was a teeny-tiny bit tired; so she went up her teeny-tiny stairs to her teeny-tiny bed, and put the teeny-tiny bone into a teeny-tiny cupboard. And when this teeny-tiny woman had been to sleep a teeny-tiny time, she was awakened by a teeny-tiny voice from the teeny-tiny cupboard, which said, 'Give me my bone!'
"And this teeny-tiny woman was a teeny-tiny frightened, so she hid her teeny-tiny head under the teeny-tiny clothes and went to sleep again. And when she had been to sleep again a teeny-tiny time, the teeny-tiny voice again cried out from the teeny-tiny cupboard a teeny-tiny louder, 'Give me my bone!'
"This made the teeny-tiny woman a teeny-tiny more frightened, so she hid her teeny-tiny head a teeny-tiny further under the teeny-tiny clothes. And when the teeny-tiny woman had been to sleep again a teeny-tiny time, the teeny-tiny voice from the teeny-tiny cupboard said again a teeny-tiny louder, 'Give me my bone!'
"And this teeny-tiny woman was a teeny-tiny bit more frightened, but she put her teeny-tiny head out of the teeny tiny clothes, and said in her loudest teeny-tiny voice,..." Marth paused and looked deviously at Roy. For a few moments, the only sound hear was the cackling of the fire, the breeze, and a few insects chirping. Marth took a deep breath and shouted "'TAKE IT!'"
Roy fell over backwards in surprise. Marth looked even more frightened than earlier. He heard Roy chuckling quietly until it grew louder. Soon, Roy was laughing so hard that his face was red.
"What's so funny?" asked Marth.
"You are! You call that a scary story!? HA! I've heard that fairy tale before and it's a funny one! Don't tell me that that story scared you so badly!"
Marth just looked down at the ground, feeling rather ashamed. He sniffled a bit while trying to fight back tears.
"Hey, look, I'm sorry about that. Don't cry, ok?" Roy got up and wrapped his arm around Marth to comfort him a bit.
"Do you know any scary stories?" Marth asked timidly.
"Yeah, real scary ones. But I don't wanna tell you them because I don't want to scare you", Roy replied.
They just sat around the fire in awkward silence. Finally, Roy decided to break the ice and start up some conversation.
"So... What do you wanna be when you grow up? Besides the king of Altea", joked Roy. He opened a bottle of soda and took a drink.
"I wanna be a Pegasus Knight!" Marth chirped happily.
Roy immediately spat out his soda and began to cough loudly. Marth pounded on Roy's back until the pyromaniac stopped coughing.
"Are you all right?!" exclaimed Marth.
"You... You're not serious about that, are you?! You really wanna be a Pegasus Knight?!" asked a very shocked Roy.
"Yep! I sure do! Pegasus Knights are so cool! They're so pretty and they soar the skies on Pegasuses and I'll do anything to be a Pegasus Knight! ANYTHING!" Marth immediately jumped up onto his feet, too excited about the idea to sit back down.
"You do know that all Pegasus Knights are girls, right?" Roy cocked an eyebrow at Marth.
"I don't care if I'm the only boy Pegasus Knight! I wanna be one so badly! It's my lifelong dream! I'll do anything to become one!"
"...And my folks thought that I was crazy when I'm sugar high..." Roy muttered to himself.
"Oh! How about you? What do you wanna be?" asked Marth, who was still hyped up.
"Hmm... Lessee... That's a toughie... I wanna be like my dad! A general! Yes! I can be a leader for an army! No, no, wait! A cavalier! Like Sain and Kent! Wait, not like Sain, who goes around and talks to pretty ladies and get beaten black an' blue... Oh! Like Hector! I haven't told you about him, have I? Well, he's a big idiot too, but he's not like Sain. I know! I wanna be a pirate! Dad knows this one guy named Dart and he's a cool pirate! No, Guy! He's a cool swordsman! I wanna be like him! No, a mage! A mage that can cast fire spells! Yeah! Like Erk! Mwahahaha! Ooh, yay! Cast lotsa fire spells! SET A BUNCHA STUFF ON FIRE!!! WOO-HOO!" Roy was jumping up and down, as if he just consumed an entire sack of pure sugar in a single sitting.
"You're scaring me now", said Marth.