Sadly, an illness ended my sabbatical before I was ready to return. And returned I have, to a strange series of events that would make me laugh if it happened to anyone else. Ah, life can be strange sometimes.

I urge you all to ignore the author's note in the previous chapter. The situation has changed some what. You see, my sister is an avid fan of this story, and she stole the disk which I kept Chapter 34 and the epilogues on. So to spite her, I've made another last chapter. 2, in fact. The first keeps to the original's spirit fairly well, for those of you who stole my precious secrets from me, you horrid people. The second, which I consider to be the real ending, is chapter 35. And I give the people who have said secrets freedom to divulge them in a review. You see, I learned that the more reviews there are, the more people come to read the story (So long as my reviews aren't taken up with meaningless spamming, I encourage you all to review every chapter. Then more people will come, and I'll get more reviews, until I have become the most popular writer on the site! And then, I will sell my stories to a publisher, and become so rich, I have to hire people to carry my wallet!). And if you thieves thought Chapter 34 was good in concept (I didn't reveal it all, just crucial plot points, heh-heh), then Chapter 35 will blow you away! I will reveal nothing save this. Chapter 35 is called Revelations.

Sadly, despite the fact that I have been a very good boy, and wished upon a star, and bargained with demonic powers, I still do not own Super Smash Brothers. I do own Keller, Lycis, Enris, Tuthmoss, Nosferatu, Lilian, and Grim. All other named characters belong to Nintendo.

Chapter 13: Battle Royale

Part 25: Waltz of the Dead

Sir Enris parried the blows expertly, slicing the Stalfos's leg off. Around him, more of his brother knights did their best to protect their king. The blades of the renegade Hylian Nobles and the magic of the Hylian Mages were also protecting Marth. Marth sighed. "Can I please have a weapon at least?" One of the nobles slapped himself.

"Of course! Give his majesty the sword." One of the other nobles pulled a familiar blade out of the air and tossed it to him. "Your majesty, this is the Master Sword. With it, you will be able to defeat any evil! I will explain more later." Marth waved it experimentally, and turned to face the incoming enemy.

* * *

Ness and Saria were having a bit of trouble. For reasons known only to the vampire lord, they were being attacked by hundreds of Stalfos. Their psychic and magical resources running low, they had been separated from the main body of Hylians, and were now only accompanied by a few knights and mages. A massive force suddenly erupted behind the Stalfos, scattering them. Keller and Lillian were standing behind them, daggers drawn. "Saria, I have come for you! Lilian, get the boy! Once the girl is dead, the ceremony to free our master may begin." They ran forward, ignoring the magic attacks of the mages and destroying any knights foolish enough to stand in their way.

"My lord, may I take him?" Keller nodded. Lilian threw her daggers at Ness. He gathered what little power he had left and tried to stop them. They screeched to a halt just inches from his face, and turned back at their owner. He had no time to celebrate as a clawed hand lifted him up. "Naughty boy. Did your mother never teach you it's rude to attack a lady?"

"Who's a lady? The only lady I see is Saria." Lilian growled and tossed him into a wall, snarling. Meanwhile, Keller dispatched 3 of the Hylian knights with his own daggers and flames. Then he wheeled about to face Saria.

"It ends now, Saria. Twice before, we have met. Twice, you have escaped from me. You will not be so lucky this time. Threanyo Srethila Klernchor Qetys!" A massive burst of darkness shot from him, taking the form of a great bat. It slammed into her, knocking her into the wall behind her. Keller continued. "Why resist? Why fight me? I will end your pain."

Saria weakly said, "I will never give in. You killed the Great Deku Tree." She raised the medallion that the Great Deku Tree had given her. "Octehn Thanatyos Zenam Klengey!" A green missile shot into Keller, hiding him behind a wall of green light. There was silence. Then a humming sound. The wall disappeared, as if being sucked away. Keller strode forward, swinging his blade in front of him. Saria cringed.

"Foolish girl. Do you truly think you can crush me with magic? I am the holder of Yrenato Senfoun. Your magic is nothing to me. I have complete control over this blade. I alone decide who feels its sting, and who does not. You have no defense." He thrust it into a Hylian Knight that had been charging at him. The knight exploded. As did every other knight behind him. "You die now, Saria."

"Nooooo!" Ness shouted, using all of his remaining power to send a wall of energy into Keller. Keller hardly turned.

"Lilian, did I not ask you to destroy him? Please do so." Ness suddenly felt an extreme pain in his neck. He collapsed…

* * *

"I wonder if zombies feel pain." Mario remarked to Samus as he smacked another Redead's head off with his wrench. The pitiful thing continued attacking for a few seconds before collapsing into dust.

"I doubt it, Mario. Still, we should be considered lucky. We've only had to deal with the zombies and dog things. The big skeletons and those ghosts and mummies are busy elsewhere. And we haven't seen a single vampire this entire battle." Samus, Mario, Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, 300 federation soldiers, Yoshi, Toad and Malon were under siege in a small collection of buildings near the rear of the fort. They had been almost overwhelmed until Donkey Kong had sorted out the zombies' attack pattern. It had been a tad too late for the commander of the federation troops, who had been killed by a zombie the first time, and just recently returned to his rest by Malon (who had pulled a spear out of thin air).

"As much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news, I believe the zombies are pulling back." Donkey Kong sounded concerned.

"How is that bad news, you big ape?" Captain Falcon asked.

"I hypothesize that they are not pulling back, but being called back. I believe that that means stronger soldiers are being sent in to destroy us."

"Nonsense. If that was the case, then we would hear something." Falcon's expression remained unchanged as Colonel Grim appeared, followed by 500 Stalfos Knights and 4 of the big club swingers. 15 Poe floated ominously overhead. "Never mind."

"You have fought as well as any warriors could. Surrender and your deaths will not only be quick and painless, but they will also be part of a new beginning for you." Grim proclaimed. "What do you have to lose?"

"Our souls! We will never surrender to you!" Malon shouted back.

"Very well. One way or another, in dying you will serve Lord Keller, and through him, Emperor Ganondorf." He and his forces attacked.

* * *

"General Pepper, your orders?" Bill asked. Pepper blinked. He had no idea. He had just seen Phoenix get ripped to pieces by the creature known as Nosferatu. He could think of no way to save his forces. True, he could send for reinforcements from one of the other rebel compounds on the moon, but none were close enough to matter. 'General?" A squadron of Landmasters fired repeatedly at a mass of zombies, destroying most of the undead monsters before one of the club swingers spun into the squadron.

"We have supremacy of the air, do we not?"

"Yes, General. Do you want me to try to get some Arwings into the air?" Pepper was about to respond when he saw a huge figure appear in the air. He moaned. There was no way a bat could get that large. The creature was followed by 3 more. They all circled over the citadel, allowing their cargo to jump off. Heavily armored figures jumped down, landing in a large crater. The Iron Knuckles had arrived. At the same time, a horde of Hylian Knights ran in from outside the compound walls. The two forces charged at each other, armor clanging, swords and axes colliding in a burst of sparks. Then, from within the compound, charged the Lycean troops. The Iron Knuckles had no chance of victory, but the soulless automatons were not going to surrender so easily. Before being dragged down, the 50 Iron Knuckles had cut down all but 100 of the 300 Hylian reinforcements, and almost wiped out the unprepared Lyceans. The survivors ran into the melee inside. "My god… how?"

Arwings suddenly shot out of the sky, coming from one of the other bases. They fired at the giant bats. General Pepper laughed. "Ha ha, my boy! One of the wizards must have sent news of our plight to the other bases! We're going to win!" The bats turned elegant cartwheels and then bolts of fire shot from their mouths, destroying the Arwings. "Uh oh." More bats, and hundreds of Arwings, swooped down out of the sky.

* * *

Within the compound, things were not going well. For either side. In a fierce battle, Marth and Lycis, hatred temporarily forgotten, had managed to link the Hylian and Lycean forces together to destroy Tuthmoss and the mummies, though at tremendous cost to the forces of light. No one knew what had happened to Tuthmoss, though Gooey looked a bit fatter than he had at the start of the conflict. Nosferatu had disengaged the undead under his command, fleeing back to Hyrule, but not before wiping out half of the normal federation troops, all of the elite federation troops, and half of the Lylatians. On the plus side, Saria and Ness had been saved, though it was doubtful whether or not Ness would survive, and the few surviving wizards were too busy to expend magic to save him.

"Marth. I knew we would meet." Keller had lost his mask and now he glared at Marth, sword drawn.

"Keller. Why are you here? What happened to you? Have you forgotten what we once were?"

"Silence, Marth. The man you knew as Link is dead. Has been dead for 5 years. I serve a new master, now. As to why I am here… I am here for Saria. And if you defeat me here, then I will return again. I will kill Saria. My master needs her dead." Saria gasped. All this… was to kill me?

"I can not allow that, Keller." Marth drew the Master Sword.

"Then you will die. And die horribly, I assure you. You will die in the certain knowledge that your death will mean that you will serve me, and your family will suffer."

"For those I love, I can't lose!" They charged at each other. Sword rang against sword. Hatred was gone in both of them, replaced by respect. "I hold the Master Sword, the blade of evil's bane. You can't win!"

"You will require more than that to defeat me." Around them, a vicious battle ran. More Iron Knuckles began dropping through the ceiling, as more rebel troops ran through the door. Lilian reappeared, leading more undead. Yet the two warriors fought in an empty circle, parrying and thrusting, neither one gaining the upper hand for more than a few seconds. All it required was a single thing, and one of them would kill the other. Good old Dame fortune, you can always count on her.

A mage gathered magical energy to him, in an attempt to destroy the Stalfos attacking a battalion. He shot it in a missile, but it missed, and by a million to one chance, slammed into Keller's side. Keller was shaken for a few seconds. Marth stabbed the vampire lord right in the heart. He could feel the Master Sword feeding on Keller's evil. "It's over, Keller."

"It's never over for us. You defeated me now. But, I will return…" Keller exploded in a burst of darkness, an almost grateful expression on his face. Around him, the undead disappeared. Marth sheathed his sword, and was about to see to Ness when he felt a burst of heat in his side. As he fell, he saw Lycis standing over him holding a bloody dagger.

"Lycis… why?" Lycis didn't answer. Said nothing as Hylian Knights grabbed him, as mages froze him in a burst of ice. The world grew dark around Marth.

Part 26: Running Away.

Saria looked around carefully. She wanted to be sure no one knew where she would be. I have to get away. These people all almost died because of me. I must flee. She opened the door and stepped outside. If I move fast enough, I will reach some where safe. No one else need die because of who I am. She was distracted by the sound of some one moving behind her. "Who's there?"

"Easy, Saria." Ness walked outside. "Did you honestly think you could leave without someone noticing?" He held a hand to his neck. While the wounds had been healed , he could still almost feel the bite of Lilian.

"Go away, Ness. I need to go somewhere where no one can reach me, and where if Keller does come again, as he said, I would be the only one killed. I'm leaving."

"And I'm going with you."

"No, you're not. I can't allow it."

"Damn it, Saria, I love you too much to allow you to just leave, and go somewhere with out protection."

"And I love you to much to put you at risk by allowing you to come with me."

"Yes, but you can't stop me from coming, can you? I'm stronger." To demonstrate, he picked her up. "Now, which direction are we going?"

"East. But you're not coming with me!"

"That's nice." He started to the east, Saria still in his arms.

"Put me down!"

Ah, young love. How sweet. Well, that's all from me. Good day to you all.