KT – DA: Wheeee! We're back again!
Karanos: You took way too long with this one. No swag for you.
KT –DA: Not even a little bit?
Karanos/glares/
KT – DA: TT
Marth/whispers/ Don't worry, My Lady. I'll share some of mine with you.
KT – DA: Thanks, Marth!
Roy: Can we get to the chapter already? I want to know what happens to me next!
KT – DA: Link has to do the stuff, and then I need to answer reviewers. It's my turn today!
Link: Kuroi Tenshi – Dark Angel does not own SSBM or any of its characters. /sighs/ Except Marth… /aside/ she really doesn't. I'm getting kind of tired of this… oh well. /aloud/ She does own Sarah Holly and Jasmine Miles.
KT – DA: Okay, reviewers!
Rain4Life – I was actually quite pleased with the way his premonition came about. I thought it was pretty cute, don't you agree? Yeah, Roy does get a beating sometimes, but really not much more than anyone else in our little group. I'm glad you like my writing so much!
Lemurian 04 – Thank you. Roy getting jealous is certainly a key point in the story, as you'll see in this chapter.
Max Fuchs – Um… thanks for totally commenting on my story. And thanks for skipping over me in your own replies. As you can see, Karanos is a bit… protective of her things…
Karanos /sighs/ Look, I know this one took a while, but you know it wasn't my worst! It hasn't been three months since my last update! Really! Oh, fine. You know, I really wish you would let me take a break from writing to help defend the ship once in a while… I mean, I'm getting a severe case of writer's cramp here…
Hylian Dragoness – Yes, he's figured it out. Roy just doesn't want to admit that he has weaknesses… besides water, that is. We're all rooting for Roy over here, too!
LVMJ – Yeah, my quick updates are pretty sporadic, aren't they? I'm sorry to hear about your bad experiences with water. Roy commiserates with you, I'm sure. Wondering about your sandwich? Marth will make it for you right now. /calls Marth/ Marth: Yes? KT: Make Sniper LVMJ a sandwich! Marth: Okay!
MoonCat07 – I think it was getting pretty obvious that he would fall in love with her. But then, I write some pretty obvious stuff…
Tymaporer – Oh, don't be stingy with those 'great chapter!'s. I really appreciate them! Hope you enjoy this chapter, too!
KT - DA: Whew! Done!
Roy: Chapter now! Chapter now!
KT – DA: Okay, okay. Here it is.
In Midwinter's Stillness – Fight For the One You Love
Roy sat on his bed, reading again. He wasn't interested in the book. In fact, though his eyes moved over the page, his mind wasn't making contact with the words. His eyes slid over the printed letters slowly, 'reading' the same line over and over again.
He was thinking about Jazz.
More accurately, he was thinking about his revelation of about two hours ago. Even now it surprised him. The emotion seemed to have crept up on him, all stealth and silence. Roy pictured it as a black ninja, slinking through the mansion one night, moving like liquid darkness to his bedside, where it came into him while he slept.
The door flew open suddenly, driven by a force so strong that it came just short of being knocked off its hinges. Roy looked up to see a large cardboard box with legs standing in the doorway. Roy raised an eyebrow as the large cardboard box with legs walked into the room.
Link popped his head out from behind the box and glared at Roy. "You could help me, you know."
Roy shrugged. "You could have knocked instead of kicking the door open. Or called," he added, remembering the Hero's full hands.
Link set the box down on the floor and straightened up. "Sorry it took me so long to get back here. Turns out I was wrong about the hallway the ornaments were in. Twice."
"That's alright," the redhead said, smiling at Link's grimace. "I didn't get the stuff from the common room."
"Oh? Why not?"
It was Roy's turn to grimace. "It was a little too… busy in there."
Link looked confused, but didn't press the subject. "Well, it doesn't matter. There's enough in this box to… ah… hello, Marth."
Roy turned to the doorway. The prince was standing there. Roy could tell he was mad.
"These scratches on the doorframe," Marth said through clenched teeth. "You kicked the door open again, didn't you, Link?"
Link grinned sheepishly as the prince glared at him. "My hands were full." He gestured to the box on the floor.
Marth sighed. "You realize this costs the tournament money to repair?"
Roy and Link exchanged grins. The blue-haired swordsman had suddenly become interested in the affairs of tournament management since Sarah's promotion. Marth saw their expressions and rolled his eyes.
"I know, I know. Don't make fun of me. You know I love her."
The other two snickered lightly, but Roy felt a little jealous of Marth. He'd gotten his girl without competition.
Marth smiled and leaned against the scratched doorframe. "Some of the Smashers are thinking of going outside for a while and sparring, since the training room is closed. We wanted to know if you would join us."
Roy felt excitement course through him. Something that would definitely take his mind off Jazz was certainly welcome. "I'll come. No swords, I assume?"
Marth nodded. "No sphere system to take away the pain. We'll all be covered with bruises tomorrow, I'm sure," he said with a laugh.
The three swordsmen went to the common room, leaving their swords in their dorm. Several Smashers were sitting around, some sitting in armchairs, talking. Roy saw Fox, Falco, Young Link, and Ness. Peach and Zelda sat by the Christmas tree, though Zelda was clearly going to skip the fighting.
The group welcomed them and went outside, moving slowly for Zelda's sake. She complained about the attention, but Roy knew she was flattered.
Some of the Smashers began fighting immediately, wrestling with each other in the snow. The three swordsmen watched the others for a while, standing with Peach and Zelda.
Marth turned to Roy. "Come spar with me, Roy. Both of us depend heavily on out swords, and we don't have them right now."
Roy laughed. "In that case, I guess we're a good match! Let's go!"
The two friends sparred for a bit, rested the watch the others, and fought again. Their sparring was really more of a training session for Roy and Marth, neither of whom were particularly good at hand-to-hand fighting. Link joined them as well, giving pointers and dropping jokes. Roy thought it was the most fun he'd had all winter.
"This looks like fun. Can we join in?" came a voice. Roy turned to see Jasmine and Captain Falcon striding down the front walk. A peculiar thing happened to Roy at that moment. A warm, glowing sensation spread through him, starting at his belly and moving outward. It felt almost exactly like it did when he was lying by the fireplace, except that these flames didn't calm and soothe. Instead, he was being filled with excited energy.
Captain Falcon swaggered forward, cocky smile in place. The racer glanced back over his shoulder and grinned stupidly at Jazz. He gave her a rather blatant wink, and then turned back to the others.
Roy felt as though someone had thrown a large bucket of icy water over him. The fiery energy of a moment ago flared suddenly and then died. Roy almost gasped in shock at the range of emotions rushing through him.
Captain Falcon's voice boomed out, arrogance lacing every word. "I could beat every one of you snow-pansies with my eyes closed! Who wants to go first?"
The gathered Smashers were clearly offended by the racer's speech. Ness and Young Link jumped up and down and shouted. Fox displayed his anger by cursing colorfully at Captain Falcon, an activity that Falco joined him in quickly. The two princesses stood off to the side, shocked. Link and Marth stood with their arms crossed, and were wearing almost identical glares. While Link's reminded Roy of a cold length of steel, Marth's made him think of a blast of icy wind.
Roy clenched his fists at his sides. He was shaking with anger. He knew why everyone else was upset. He also knew that he had a completely different reason. That look Falcon had given Jazz told him so much about how the racer viewed her role as a woman. Just the thought of him using her in such a way made his blood boil. He could no longer feel the cold of the winter weather. He did not notice that a little bit of steam was rising from his snow-wet clothes.
When Roy had time to think about his actions sometime later, he realized how stupid what he did next really was. Eyes flashing, he stepped forward, pushing the irate Fox out of his way.
"I'll beat you, Falcon. I only hope that you'll learn your lesson!" he declared, staring defiantly up at the taller man.
Captain Falcon laughed. "Is that so? I accept your challenge, you snot-nosed little bastard. I hope you'll learn your lesson."
Roy brushed the insult off. Nothing the racer could throw at him now would hurt him more than his treatment of Jasmine.
"Roy, you're being stupid! You can't fight without your sword!" Marth called. Link nodded his agreement, but Roy didn't see it.
Jazz stormed over to Roy. "Roy-Boy, you suck at hand-to-hand. Captain Falcon excels at it. Think about what you're doing."
"I know what I'm doing!" Roy snapped. "Everyone just leave me alone!"
Jazz frowned. "Fine then. It's your funeral."
The Smashers moved away to give the fighters room. Fox decided to take charge of the situation.
"You'll start your fight when I say 'go.' When I say 'stop,' you must stop. If you don't, I'm sure Sarah would be more than happy to dole out a punishment. Do you understand?"
Roy nodded curtly.
"I understand, Fox." Falcon's tone of voice made it clear that he was not calling him by his name, but by his race.
Fox snarled, and then paced away.
"Go!"
Roy darted forward and hit Captain Falcon three times before the racer could do anything. Those were the only three hits he ever got in.
KT- DA: Well, it's an interesting place to leave off. I actually meant for this to go on longer, but I decided that what I had planned for chapter 6 was actually two chapters!
Link: Nice. You just wanted to post more chapters.
Karanos: Quiet, you. Keep rowing. More chapters mean more reviews.
Marth/sneaks KT- DA some swag/ Here, My Lady. Don't let Karanos see you!
KT – DA: Thanks, Marth! You're the greatest/hugs/
Karanos: Marth! Have you finished that sandwich for LVMJ?
Marth: Yeah! Here it is/hands sandwich to LVMJ/ Thanks for your reviews!
Roy: Speaking of which… Review on my beautiful story!