Thank you to Chaos Wielder and bijoukaiba for the reviews. This chapter will introduce our other main character: Marth.

From now on, chapters will be done in the order of Marth, Link. Marth, Link, yadda yadda yadda.

Thoughts – italics

"Speech" – speech marks

'Telepathy' – apostrophes

Oooo – scene change

Eeee – end of chapter

Chapter 2

A sudden noise alerted Marth. He shot bolt upright in his bed, grabbing for his sword and fumbling to turn the light on. The bulb flickered on slowly, giving a dull red light to the room.

His room turned out to be empty, so it would have come from outside, in the corridor. Marth slid out of his bed, attaching his sword to his hip, and crept towards the door. Voices filtered through the wood. Marth could only barely hear the sound.

"…successful. One of the warriors we feared so much has been sent to the past, to our time. We must get rid of the others by tonight…"

Marth suddenly felt a chill. That was Ganondorf's voice. What could he have been talking about? 'One of the warriors we feared so much'? Could it have been..? Link?

"The genma uprising will soon commence. We must kill the other warriors before they are able to combine their forces and resist us…"

Marth's blood ran cold through his veins. They must have been joking, right? He laughed nervously to himself as he stepped back toward his bed.

Something alerted him. Something told him to duck. Marth fell to the floor just as a huge spiked club whirred over his head. If he had remained where he was, he would have been killed for sure.

"By the gods…" Marth breathed, scrambling to his feet and drawing his sword. He looked up and gaped.

There was a huge, red boar like creature, easily twice Marth's size. He was holding onto the huge club, which itself was about the same height as the creature. It had four serrated tusks, and a mouthful of razor sharp teeth, all of which were stained with red. Marth suspected it was blood.

"Lucky dodge," rumbled the creature, hoisting the club up. "But it won't happen again!"

The creature suddenly roared, and sprang at Marth. Marth rolled to the side, slicing at the creature's leg. As the metal impacted, it stopped, instead of cleaving through the flesh. Marth cursed. How was he going to get out of this one? He suddenly heard screams throughout the mansion. There must have been other creatures, all attacking at the same time.

"You little worm!" roared the monstrous being, raising its club and pinning Marth under its foot. Marth felt his breath leave him suddenly, and struggled violently against the pressing weight of the limb. He looked up in horror to see the club being brought down, felt the searing pain as it smashed his head off, then nothing.

Oooo

'Marth.'

Okay, I know I'm dead. That club smashed my head completely, thought Marth to himself. He slowly opened his eyes and looked to where the voice was coming from.

'Marth, stand up.'

There was a green spirit, floating in the air in front of him. Marth looked around himself; there was nothing but blackness as far as the eye could see. Marth pushed himself up onto his knees, and clambered up to his feet.

'Marth, we are the clan of ogres that has been subverted by demons. By the prophecy, we must call two souls to aid us…'

Marth wasn't listening. He was examining himself. His head was still attached; nothing about him was injured in any way. Marth turned to the spirit sceptically.

"I'm dead, right?" he asked.

'Yes.'

"I'm not dreaming?"

'No.'

"Is this the afterlife?"

'No.'

Marth shook his head. "I don't believe in any of this. I'm dead, so either this is the afterlife or I must be dreaming."

'Marth,' the spirit interjected. 'We have summoned your soul to us. We can send you back to the mortal realm.'

"There's a catch, right?" asked Marth, running a hand through his hair.

'We ask that you defeat the genma of your time. Another warrior in the past is fighting the genma there. You may know of him; his name is Link.'

Link is in the past? thought Marth to himself. But… how?

'The prophecy states that if the two Onimusha combine forces, they will vanquish the genma and restore order to this land. We shall combine our force with yours, and allow you your mortal body back…'

With that, several other green spirits appeared around him. Marth looked around in alarm, ignoring the main spirit; the spirits were circling him. As he turned back to the main spirit, one of the other spirits rushed at his right hand. It collided and seemed to cling there. It was searingly hot, and Marth shook his hand rapidly to try to remove the green spirit from his burning arm. The other spirits began to do the same. All colliding with his arm, all burning. Marth shut his eyes to try to ignore the pain.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. Marth opened his eyes and looked at his arm. He gasped.

There was a gauntlet on his arm. It was simple, and was also sturdy as a quick test with his other hand proved. If felt completely weightless, though. Marth also noticed a white orb positioned above his wrist. The gauntlet didn't even seem to obscure his sword arm, either.

'…defeat the genma!' the spirit finished. Marth looked back to it.

'I will now return you to the mortal realm…' it said. Marth saw something in the corner of his eye, and looked at his feet. There was a white pinprick, which was growing rapidly. Soon, there was a large white patch under his feet. He suddenly felt himself sinking through the floor, and struggled slightly.

Then, the floor sucked Marth straight through, and oblivion assaulted his senses once again.

Oooo

Marth became aware of a sudden pain. He opened his eyes, and looked around. He was back in the mansion; well, what remained of it.

The mansion was a ruin. The walls were knocked in, and rain began to fall. Marth stood up, the pain having been a mere bit of stone under his leg, and looked around. There was silence.

A sudden thought struck Marth. Where was everyone else? Surely there'd be panic after an attack like this?

Marth ran to his door and tried to open it. It was jammed. Marth heaved his shoulder at it and it gave way. Marth ran through the corridor, seeing many piles of debris everywhere.

He knocked at all the doors. No reply. He kept running, not thinking, acting purely on impulse. Tears ran unchecked down his face as he ran to the next door. Knock. No reply. Next door. Knock. No reply.

Eventually, he broke down one of the doors; it was Young Link's room. A sudden flash of lightning blinded Marth for the moment, and he tripped over something. Hauling himself to his feet, he looked to see what he had tripped over, and gasped.

It was Young Link. He was face down on the floor, and not moving. Marth skidded on his knees to the boy, checking frantically for any sign of life. Miraculously, he felt a small pulse beating in the boy's veins. Marth turned the boy over, and gasped again.

His face was a latticework of deep cuts, with blood dripping out of each wound. His tunic was shredded, and his bare chest was in a similar condition to his face.

Young Link suddenly coughed twice, a very weak sound that tore at Marth's heart. The boy's eyes slowly flickered open, and he looked at Marth. Marth smiled at him.

"Marth," the boy croaked. "Marth, we… we tried…" A single tear drop ran out of Young Link's eye. "We couldn't stop them… there were too many…" Another weak cough. Marth felt the boy's pulse again. It was weak and erratic.

"Shh… don't worry, Link, you'll pull through this," muttered Marth, trying to calm the boy.

"Marth…avenge us," said Young Link, his eyes glazing over. The spark that lingered in him fluttered and fled, abandoning the boy's soul to the afterlife. Marth shed several tears as he used his fingertips to close Young Link's eyes.

Marth broke the doors of the other rooms. All had their occupants slaughtered or dying. The ones left alive told Marth the same thing as Young Link, then died themselves.

Even some of the villains suffered. Bowser was mercilessly killed in his sleep, a simple stab through his heart. None were left alive.

Except… there were a few. Besides himself and Link, there were… Marth checked the rest of the rooms. Sure enough, some were empty and unharmed.

Ganondorf… Mewtwo… Captain Falcon... the last one shocked Marth; he would have said Captain Falcon was not in the slightest bit evil, but his empty room said otherwise.

That made three. Marth would have continued to check the rooms, but he heard a sudden noise, like a fight of some kind. It was coming from downstairs. He drew his sword and ran to the landing.

There was another huge beast down the hallway. But there was also a survivor…

"Mario! Get out of there!" Marth shouted, charging down the stairs toward him. Mario ignored the warning, and gripped his beam sword to himself, gritting his teeth against the fear that was threatening to consume him. His left arm was completely shattered, and hung limply to his side.

"Mario!"

Mario looked up at the genma. It moved, preparing to strike. Mario prepared himself, and held the beam sword in his right hand…

Time seemed to slow for Marth. He saw Mario jump to one side, trying to wallkick over the genma, or to dodge a forthcoming blow. He saw the creature lift the club, aiming for Mario's head…

Mario kicked off the wall, trying to land on the genma, pointing the beam sword directly at the monster's head. Marth ran quicker, trying to get there before anything happened to the plumber. The genma slightly shifted the position of the club, and prepared to swing…

Marth did the first thing he thought of. He heaved his sword at the genma's head, aiming for the vulnerable eye. It should at least distract him… Marth thought. At this speed, it should hit the genma before it attacked Mario…

The creature swung its club with astonishing speed, hitting both Marth's sword out of the air, as well as the falling Mario. Mario flew down the hall, landing just by Marth's feet.

Mario's body was twisted grotesquely, his hips and spine completely out of joint. His face was contorted in a similar fashion. Blood started to trickle out through an open wound somewhere, as well as a few drops out through his mouth. He had more than likely been killed on impact. He still clutched the beam sword in his right hand.

Marth felt a fire ignite within him. He pried the beam sword out of the dead plumber's hand, and turned to the creature, who was smirking.

Marth stepped slowly toward the genma, the sword in his gauntleted arm. The orb on his wrist had shifted from white to red. He only had one intent; to avenge the fallen in the mansion.

"For Mario," he muttered, looking down for a moment, still pacing toward the creature.

"For Young Link."

As he reached the genma, he looked up. Its eyes were filled with malice, and it shifted its club again, preparing to deal a death blow.

Marth merely stood his ground. He held the sword loosely in his hand as he waited for the blow…

Eeee

End of chapter.

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