KT: Look! I'm updating on time!

Karanos: Hmph. BARELY on time. You're really pushing it.

Link: Ooh! KT is getting berated again!

Marth: it's not a spectator sport. /scowls/

Roy: No, but it is fun to watch.

KT: Oh, you guys are always so polite. Look, don't you want to get to the chapter?

Link: but we're having so much fun insulting you!

Karanos: Yes, we'll get to the chapter in a minute. Insults come first.

Marth: Um… Milady Karanos… The fans want the chapter now.

Karanos: What? Oh, oh yes. Fine. Marth, do the stuff.

Marth: Kuroi Tenshi – Dark Angel does not own SSBM or any of its characters. She does own Sarah Holly and Jasmine Miles, and sometimes I even believe she owns me.

Karanos: KT, answer the reviews, and I might give you a cookie.

KT: Yay! Cookies!

Hylian Dragoness – I'm sorry (to everyone) about the long wait between stories, but as I said in the author's notes at the end of IMS, everyone was too busy over the summer to work on this. Plus, we all needed a break from the stress of keeping up with a story. (Karanos: Hmph, yeah, if you call always being late for your deadlines 'keeping up with a story.') In any case, this one will be much darker. Don't worry about scaring anyone away. Karanos handles that pretty well.

Lemurian 04 – I never intend to keep my readers waiting. It just sort of happens… heheh… Thanks for sticking with us!

Ledzeplisa – Hmm… were you being sarcastic about the exciting bit? I would put in the play information if I knew it, (was that really from Antony and Cleopatra?) but I'm too lazy to look it up. Besides, the quote is really supposed to be a header. Don't want it to be too cluttered.

Max Fuchs – Trust me, our logic and normality stabilizers have been 'out of order' for quite some time now. And if I don't listen to Karanos, I lose something. Like a finger.

Roy-Marth – I'm glad you like it! I just hope you like the rest of it too, hahah!

Karanos: Um… okay. I don't want to get wounded. I guess… I do come up with some pretty cool stuff sometimes. And it WAS my idea to end chapter 14 of GOOT after Roy had been drugged. Karanos/raises fist menacingly/ KT/cowers/ Wah! Okay, okay, that was your idea!

Lvmj – Haha, Roy doesn't like it when Marth gets kissing scenes and he doesn't. He's really just a jealous, hormonal teenage boy. Roy: I am not! KT: Sure you're not, sweetie. Anyway, I hope you get the chance to keep up with the story!

Polska: Okay, just so you know, both Karanos and I agree that your review totally rocks. I mean totally. Karanos is making you an honorary Swabbie. I'm really flattered that you like my stories so much. Yeah, Roy is fun to torture, and Marth's kissing scenes are the best things to torture him with! But now I only have four words for you: HERE'S THE CHAPTER! Whoops, that's only three…

KT: Whew! There were a lot this time!

Roy: Let's get to the chapter! I'm so curious about this one.

Link: Yeah, me too. I mean, we don't usually know much about the stories, but this one we know even less about!

Karanos: Then shut up and read.

"The night is too dark to walk with your eyes closed." – Peter Sintic

Link hated mornings. The Hero couldn't think of anything he disliked more than the quiet, half-asleep feeling of mornings, and so he avoided them at all costs. He was usually among the last few Smashers to wake up each morning, and he liked it that way. He was perfectly content to let Roy and Marth be the morning people in his dorm.

Today was a very strange day.

The first rays of light were just starting to come through the thin curtains over the window when Link woke up. Pulling his green cap from where he'd hung it on his bedpost, he sat up and looked across the room at the bunk bed. Roy and Marth were both asleep still. Link put his cap on and set about dressing quietly, angry at himself for waking up so early. He wondered vaguely when Marth had come to bed. He had thought the prince would stay with Sarah. Remembering that he had a battle later that day, he strapped his sword to his back before silently creeping out of the room.

Link felt sick. The writhing feeling in his stomach was what had woken him up. Every time something happened to Zelda, he felt this way. If the princess didn't stop finding ways to get herself hurt soon, he'd get in trouble with the king. After all, he was supposed to be protecting her from such things as injury and illness. He almost couldn't stand to look his princess in the eye anymore, he had failed her so badly. Not that he would tell anyone, but he'd had a hard time looking at himself in the mirror for a while after he'd stabbed her during their battle last season. Even now, almost nine months since the incident, he sometimes felt like he was unworthy of her friendship.

Without realizing it, Link had walked all the way down to the hospital wing as he brooded. He stood outside the room for a moment, surprised at how wrapped up in his thoughts he had become, before knocking sharply at the door. He felt a great need to see Zelda right now, even if she was still asleep.

No one answered Link's knock. When he tried opening the door, he found it locked. Cursing softly under his breath, the Hero turned from the hospital wing and started for the dining hall. This is why I don't trust that quack, he thought as he walked. It wasn't that he doubted the little man's abilities as a doctor. He knew they were actually far superior to most anyone else's. The problem was that the doctor wasn't reliable. He tended to go out sporadically and without any warning. Besides, Link reasoned, watching over Zelda was his responsibility, not the doctor's.

Marth was just starting on his breakfast when Link entered the dining hall. The prince smiled and waved at him cheerfully, and Link joined him after getting his own breakfast.

"Good morning! You're up early today," Marth said with a barely-visible smirk.

Link grunted. "Shut up, Marth. I didn't want to get up at this ungodly hour. The least you can do is help me pretend it's a lot later than it feels like."

Marth laughed. "Sorry, Link. I can't help you there. I like mornings, you know. I'd rather drag them out."

"You're weird," Link said, suppressing a shudder at his friend's comment.

Marth changed the subject. "So, you've been down to see Zelda, I presume?"

Link sighed. "I tried. That lame excuse for a healer is out or something. The hospital wing was locked up."

Marth bent his head over his tray. "Out? Or maybe he was getting his full allotment of beauty sleep?" The prince looked at Link through his bangs, trying to hide his mischievous smile.

"Shut UP!" Link yelled, standing up and leaning over the table to swat at Marth. Marth laughed again, and Link sat down. He felt better after shouting, and Marth's laughter helped fill up the otherwise silent dining hall. Link hated quiet.

Marth calmed down slowly and propped his chin on his hand. "Do you know anything about a new Smasher?"

Link was startled. "What? A new Smasher?" He took a bite of his toast and chewed it slowly. "No, I haven't heard anything about that. Why are you asking me? Aren't you the one who's closest to Sarah?"

Marth smiled. "I certainly hope so. Anyway, I'm asking you because she hasn't said anything about it to me, but I saw someone walking in the corridors near the main entrance last night when I came to bed. He seemed to know where he was going, so I didn't say anything to him, but I was wondering if he was here to, you know, fill that vacant position."

Link remembered all too well the reason for that vacant position. He would never forgive Samus for everything she had done before Sarah had caught her.

"I still don't understand why you're asking me, of all people. I mean, I'm usually the last person to hear about important stuff like that."

"Ah, right. I thought you might know about it because he looked a little like he might be Hylian," Marth said almost casually. Link could tell he was really curious.

"Hylian? Hmm… I'm sorry, Marth, but I really have no idea about it. What did he look like?"

Marth bit his lip. "It's hard to tell. He had bandages covering much of his face; however, his outfit was interesting. It was all blue, and pretty tight. I could see how muscular this guy was. There was also a strange symbol on the front of it. It looked sort of like something I've seen in Zelda's room, so I connected that with the Hylian features I could see and assumed…" he trailed off.

Link brushed his bangs irritably out of his eyes. "What did the symbol look like?"

"Like an eye with a large teardrop falling from the center of it."

Link's breath caught in his throat. It couldn't be what it sounded like. The Shiekah had all died out long ago. Impa, Zelda's childhood nurse, was the last of that mysterious race, and she had passed away a little over four years before. If Marth had seen the Shiekah symbol on this person, either they had an impersonator on their hands or Marth had simply been seeing things.

"Link?" Marth said, pulling Link out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, just thinking."

Marth smiled. "That's alright. Tell me what you're thinking about."

Link leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, even though the dining hall was still completely empty besides themselves. "I think the symbol you saw belongs to and ancient race in Hyrule called the Shiekah, but they all died out a long time ago. They were supposed to be highly superior warriors, and they used to be the chief protectors of the throne."

Marth raised his eyebrows, interested. "What happened to them?"

Link sighed. "According to the Royal Library, they were practically wiped out during an attack on the castle almost a hundred years ago. Only three survived that battle. They managed to carry on their race for a while longer, but Zelda's old nurse died four years ago, and she was the last of them."

Marth frowned. "That's so sad."

Link couldn't decide if it was ironic or appropriate for the prince to say that. His own history was pretty tragic as well. "In any event, the person you saw may have been bearing their mark, but I don't think it was a Shiekah. It's impossible."

Marth's answer was cut off as Doctor Mario came bustling into the dining hall. "Oh, thank goodness. I've been looking for you, Link," the little doctor said.

Link glared at him, immediately suspicious. "What's happened to Zelda?"

"Oh, no! Nothing's happened to Zelda, don't worry about that!" Doctor Mario squeaked nervously. "I just came to tell you so that you wouldn't worry about her. It seems that she left on her own in the middle of the night. I looked in her room, just to make sure, and she's there, asleep."

Link felt relief flood through him. Zelda was all right! He felt like he could sing.

"Okay, thanks for telling me. I… really appreciate it," he said to the doctor, reluctantly complimenting him for the first time.

Doctor Mario turned red, squeaked again, and ran off.

Marth laughed. "You'd better watch out, Link. I think he likes you."

Link blanched. "What? Likes me? What on earth do you mean by that?"

"Don't tell me you didn't know Doctor Mario is gay?"

"What? You're kidding!"

"Yes, yes I am. But you're a lot of fun to tease. You're so gullible, Link."

Link made a point of shoving the prince off of his bench as he made his way out of the dining hall. He had to talk to Zelda right away.

KT: Well, that's it, I guess. Not much of a cliffie for this one.

Link: Thank the Goddesses for that. I hate cliff hangers.

Roy: This chapter was boring.

Marth: I thought it was good.

Link and Roy: Pansy.

Karanos: Oh, no, not this again.

Marth: You want to fight about it? I'll fight you both!

KT: Don't hurt yourselves, okay? Readers, review!