Karanos: I am so totally pissed. WHERE is KT?

Roy: Look, I really don't know. None of us have seen her for over a month now.

Link: Yeah, so stop grilling us for information.

Marth: You might as well grill a lamppost for all the good it'll do you.

Karanos: Insolent fools! How dare you speak to your captain that way?

KT/skips into the room/ Hi guys! How's life been?

Link: Look! There she is!

Karanos: Why, KT! How lovely to see you! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!

KT: Ah! I've been… busy! Very busy! But I have a chapter now! Would you like to see it?

Karanos/glares/

KT: I'll… take that as a yes. Marth? Please do the stuff… quickly.

Marth: Kuroi Tenshi – Dark Angel does not own SSBM or any of its characters. She does own Sarah Holly and Jasmine Miles.

KT: Yay! Roy, you introduce the chapter today!

Roy: Finally, after a terribly long wait, Chapter 6!

"There is no such thing as darkness; only a failure to see." – Malcolm Muggeridge

It was a lovely day. Everything was going wonderfully, all according to Marth's perfect routine. Yes, the prince was a bit of a perfectionist, and he'd be the first to admit it, but he liked knowing that everything had its set time and place. And yes, he did enjoy mornings quite a bit. They were always so quiet and peaceful, the perfect compliment to his own disposition.

At the beginning of every perfect morning, the young prince would wake early enough to get to the dining hall first of all the Smashers. On most days, he ate a leisurely breakfast, taking the only chance of the entire day to enjoy a quiet dining hall, though today's meeting with Link had been a rare exception. Sure, it meant having to make his own breakfast most of the time, but it was worth it, and since he wasn't too bad of a cook, it didn't bother him in the least.

At a quarter past five, Marth would move on to the training rooms for some exercise. Usually he trained with his sword, but occasionally he worked on something different. Since he was a little later than he would have liked to be today, he had a shorter workout than normal. On most days, he followed his workout routine with a quick shower and then either a walk around the grounds if it was nice outside or a trip to the mansion's dusty library.

Of course, by this time, the morning would be over. The other Smashers would all be awake by now, some of the younger ones tearing madly around the place, disturbing the still silence of the morning like nothing else could. It was about this time that he would begin to get his "noon headache," and he would have to close his book or turn around and come back from his walk in time for some lunch.

Lunch was the lesser of two evils when it came to dining with the other Smashers. Everyone had their own definition of Lunch Time, and the dining hall was therefore less crowded than it was during dinner. Marth would have his lunch with whichever of his friends were around at the time, usually Sarah, Peach, Zelda, and Roy.

His whole plan fell apart after lunch, though. Every day was different, especially now that the Tournament had started up again. He might have a battle to fight, or sometimes even two in one day. He might go to cheer on one of his friends in their own battles, or perhaps none of them would have a battle at all. Each day was its own separate entity, and he couldn't possibly begin to create a routine for his day after lunch, which was probably the main reason why he liked mornings so much to begin with. They were just so predictable, and he liked predictable things.

Marth sighed contentedly. He'd never been happier in his entire life than he was now. He'd finally gotten over his trauma with Altea, and his life seemed to be simply falling into place. Sarah was obviously a big help with that, and he'd probably never have come to terms with his role in the destruction of his kingdom without her. He smiled to himself as he thought of her

He had finished his workout and had just taken his shower. He had managed to get back on track with his routine, despite his over-long breakfast conversation with Link. It was such a pretty day out today, and he intended to stay outside as much as possible. He did have a battle this afternoon, but maybe he'd have a chance to get back outside afterwards.

The soft sound of voices interrupted Marth's train of thought as he passed a room. Glancing through the door, he saw Peach and Roy sitting on a sofa. Boldly taking more time out of his strict routine, the prince stepped into the room. He smiled as his friends looked up at him, apparently surprised by his sudden entrance. Link and Jazz were there along with Roy and Peach.

"I see you've decided to have a party here and not invited me. I'm appalled!" Marth said lightly, leaning against the doorframe. When no one said anything, he continued. "How's Zelda doing? She must not be too badly off, since Link isn't going on about quack doctors."

Marth's smile faded slowly as he realized that none of his friends looked even remotely happy. Peach was gaping at him, and she didn't seem to realize that her mouth was open slightly. Roy and Link simply looked at him with something like sympathy on their faces. When Marth looked at Jazz's face a second time, he could see that it was tearstained and dirty.

"Is… something wrong? Oh my God, is Zelda okay?" He asked tentatively. He hadn't meant to be making jokes if something had really happened to Zelda. Maybe she had worsened since breakfast, and they had all been talking about it when he came in. the prince immediately felt a wave of guilt wash over him.

Link stood up suddenly, bringing Marth out of his reverie. The Hero approached him slowly, his shoulders hunched as though he lacked the strength to lift them. Marth looked at him concernedly.

"Link? Are you okay?" He whispered.

Link looked at him and swallowed hard. "Marth… you're not going to like this."

Marth felt his heart rate increase by about three. Something had happened to Zelda. She was in a coma, she'd contracted some deadly disease, she'd been injured again and was slowly bleeding to death. A million possible happenings passed through his mind in the ten second pause, and yet none of them even touched on what he heard slip from the Hylian's lips moments later.

"Sarah's dead, Marth. Jazz found her this morning in her office."

Marth felt his blood turn to ice. Sarah's dead. Sarah's dead. Sarah's dead. Dead dead dead dead…

He was vaguely aware that Link was still speaking, that the others had joined him in the act of forming words with their mouths, but he could not comprehend what those strange sounds could possibly mean. They were thick, fuzzy sounds that rang dully in his ears.

After a moment, he realized that his own mouth was forming words out of similar strange sounds. It took him a moment to focus in on the sounds and make some sense of them. His own body was ahead of his brain it seemed, and was issuing a reaction to the piece of information it had just been given. It turned out to be a very simple message that his mouth was sending to those around him.

"You're lying. You're lying, you're lying, you're lying. You're lying!" He ended, screaming, his fists balled tightly.

So ended Marth's perfect morning.

KT: Wow, I personally really like this chapter. What do you think?

Karanos: I think you're never going to have such a long break again. Or else. /brandishes whip/

Marth: I can't believe you really killed her…

Roy: This is kind of depressing.

Link: Are you guys going to eat these chips? Cause if you aren't, I will.

KT: Well, you know how it goes. Reviews are loved!