The Super Smash Brothers were some of the strangest ensemble of characters she had ever come across. Zelda led her around the room, introducing her to various faces and people that seemed to belong out of this world.
"Mist, this is Corrin, Princess of Hoshido and Nohr."
"Two countries?" Mist asked, surprised. Corrin laughed.
"It's a very long, and poorly told, story." She said. She was oddly dressed, for a princess. Her bare feet contrasted sharply with her armored calves and thighs.
"And this is Joker." Zelda said, indicating the black haired boy with glasses. "I thought you were staying home to focus on your schoolwork?"
A black and white cat peered up from the bag slung around Joker's shoulder.
"Finished early." Joker said, as he reached and gave the cat a little pat. "This is more important. My friends wanted to come, but we couldn't manage on such notice…"
"No date?" Zelda asked, amused. "You?"
"Yeah." Joker said. Before they could finish the conversation however, Corrin gave a surprised start.
"Eleven!"
Mist turned. Standing to the side was a long haired swordsman accompanied by a shorter blonde woman. They smiled at them as they approached.
"Hello Corrin." He said. "And you, Joker."
"No greetings for me, Luminary?" Zelda asked. "I'm hurt."
"Who is this?" Corrin asked, turning to the blonde woman with interest. The girl smiled.
"I'm Gemma." She said brightly. "I'm Eleven's wife… a pleasure to meet you!"
"Oh!" Corrin gave a surprised start. "You're Gemma… I've heard so much about you! Please, I'm Corrin…. This is Joker, Zelda, and Mist…"
Eleven and his wife started chatting amicably with Joker and Corrin. Sensing that it was time to move on, Zelda and Mist moved their way across the hall, where Simon Belmont was speaking to a shorter, rather pretty blonde girl.
"Oh, hello Minmin." Zelda said, surprised, as they came to a stop in front of her. The girl nodded at her, unsmiling. "I thought you weren't coming?"
"I wasn't going to." The girl answered. "But I had nothing better going on this weekend, so…" She shrugged.
"Nothing better?" Zelda repeated, aghast. "But this is the wedding of Samus Aran we're talking about! This is the biggest thing… well, ever!"
"Minmin shook her head. "Barely know her." She said. "At least the food is good." And she wandered off.
Zelda stared after her, annoyed, and then huffed. "Honestly." She said. "She needs to sort out her attitude problem…"
"She is not that bad." Simon said, defensively. Zelda sighed, shaking her head.
"Oh there you are!"
Mist turned her head downward to see a smiling Isabella staring up at her.
"Wonderful party, isn't it?" Isabelle said happily. "Are you enjoying yourself?"
"Yes, very much." Mist told her. Isabelle beamed.
"Just let me know if you need anything." She said. "I-"
A large, powerful looking hand fell down on her head. She froze, eyes wide, as thick fingers began to comb through her head. She sighed, closing her eyes and leaning into the hand.
"Snake…" She murmured. "Stop it…"
Zelda and Simon turned.
"Snake!" Simon said jovially. "You have joined us!"
The man nodded. "Kept you waiting, huh?" He drawled. His hand never leaving Isabelle's head.
"Hello, Snake." Zelda said. "Still-" She paused as a little blonde girl stepped out from behind him and reached out a hand.
"Can I pet her, Snake?"
"Sure you can."
"I'm not-" Isabelle began, as the girl touched her back. She reeled in surprise.
"No, no, you have to scratch her behind the ears." He said. "Like this…"
The girl nodded. She reached up, and tried to awkwardly scratch behind Isabelle's ears. She couldn't quite reach the spot that Snake could, which led him to stop what he was doing and pick her up so that she could reach.
Zelda and Simon were staring.
"Snake." Zelda said slowly. "Who is this child?"
"This?" Snake said. "This is Sunny. Say hello, Sunny."
"Hello." Sunny said.
"No, really Snake." Zelda said, her voice growing increasingly anxious. "WHO does this child belong to? I know she isn't yours."
"It's kind of a long story." Snake began.
"Explain." Zelda demanded, taking an aggressive step towards him. Simon too, was giving Snake a curious look. Mist, feeling that some kind of conflict was arising, quickly backed away from them.
She found a nice seat some distance away and sat. She hoped that Zelda would come and find her once the argument, whatever it was, was resolved. She tried to look around at the party guests, to see if anyone else she knew had arrived yet. A man with dark green skin and flaming red hair caught her eye, and to her horror he was soon making his way over to her.
"Ah, you are… Zelda's friend?" He asked. "Forgive me, but I saw the two of you together earlier…"
"Oh…" She said, startled. "Actually, we've just met. I'm Ike's sister, she was just showing me around."
The man nodded. "I see." He said. "She's a handful of a girl… I hope she wasn't giving you too much of a hard time."
"Oh no." Mist said quickly. "No… she's been great, really." She laughed sheepishly. "I… honestly just can't wrap my head around everything that's happening. Ike comes back, out of nowhere, and tells me he's getting married. And now I've met so many people I can't even keep them all straight…"
She started. "Oh, forgive me." She said quickly. "I didn't catch your name?"
"I am Ganondorf." He said, bowing his head to her. "A pleasure to meet you."
She didn't feel so pleased to meet him. She could tell at a glance that this was the sort of man if, if given the chance, would cause chaos and destruction. Something about him unnerved her, on a deep level.
"A pleasure." She said. "I-"
She stopped speaking as the great doors on the second floor of the hall opened. As if by magic, the entire crowd turned to look at the door above.
"Hey everyone!" Princess Daisy said brightly. She had, seemingly in a matter of moments, had changed into a much more formal yellow ball gown, something that was far more suitable for the occasion. "Princess Peach is having a little chat with the Bride at the moment, so unfortunately she's not able to greet you all personally… but she has asked me, on her behalf, to thank you all for coming tonight."
"By now most of the wedding guests have arrived. With a few exceptions…" She rolled her eyes up at the ceiling. "FALCO… but we have all managed to assemble here, with very few hiccups. Now there are a few minor details we need to iron out before we can begin our wedding preparations in earnest, but I would like to ask you all to contribute everything you can to make Samus Aran the happiest woman in the world… at least for one day."
She smiled.
"Ike is going to have to keep her happy for the rest of their lives. So let's ease the burden on him, okay?"
The crowd laughed. Mist found herself smiling.
"Thank you all for coming out tonight." Daisy said, bowing. The doors opened again, and she turned and walked back through. They shut behind her.
"It's not like Peach to not greet guests personally." Ganondorf noted. "Samus must be quite a handful."
"A handful?" Mist repeated, staring at him. "What do you-"
"Mist!"
Zelda's conversation with Snake seemed to be over. She was hurrying over, looking a little bit flustered.
"Hello, Zelda." Ganondorf said coolly, as Zelda reached them. Zelda shot him a dirty look.
"What have you been talking about?" She asked suspiciously, looking between the two of them.
"Nothing." Mist said. "Really." Zelda gave her a look, and then nodded.
"Okay." She said. "I believe you."
She walked away. Mist followed her, keenly aware that Ganondorf was carefully watching them.
"Don't speak to him." Zelda said. "Ever."
"You don't need to tell me again." Mist said. "He wanted to talk about you."
"Of course he did." Zelda said, disgusted. "I knew that the moment I saw you together."
"Who was he?" Mist asked timidly, as they made their way to the opposite side of the hall. Zelda sighed, shaking her head.
"An enemy." She said, her voice gloomy. "Of me, and my kingdom."
"An enemy?" Mist repeated. "Then why is he-"
"He's incredibly powerful." Mist said. "So the Hand selected him to fight alongside us." She crossed her hand across her chest and sighed. "I hate it…"
Mist nodded, although she wasn't quite sure that she understood. She was about to open her mouth to ask another question when a beautiful girl with long blue hair stepped up to them.
"Hello Zelda." The girl said formally, smiling. "Is something the matter?"
Zelda shook her head. "No… nothing." She said. "Ganondorf was just bothering me."
"Ah." The girl said, placing a hand on her sword. "I could have a word with him, if you like."
"Not all problems can be solved by the sword, Lucina." Zelda said, annoyed. Lucina narrowed her eyes, and seemed about ready to retort, before catching Mist's eye.
"Oh, hello." She said. "I haven't seen you before. Are you one of the guests?"
"I'm Ike's sister." Mist explained, bowing her head. Lucina's demeanor changed in an instant.
"Oh!" She said. To Mist's surprise she reached out a hand and took hers warmly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mist. Ike has told us all so much about you…"
Zelda was staring at Lucina's hand, her eyes narrowed. Mist laughed sheepishly.
"You're the second Lucina I've met today." She told her. "I'm not sure if I can keep track of all of these names…"
"Oh, Fa- Chrom is here?" Lucina asked. "With his family?"
Mist nodded.
Lucina seemed very pleased by this news.
"Excellent." She said, as she cupped her ring finger in her hand. "If you see them, can you send them my way-"
"Lucina." Zelda interrupted. "What is that on your hand?"
Lucina paused.
"My… hand?" She asked, as she held out her hand. The three girls all stared at it in unison. It was unmistakable. Glittering on Lucina's finger was a beautiful diamond engagement ring.
"You didn't tell us you were getting married!" Zelda exploded at her. Lucina looked shocked for a moment before responding.
"Well… we wanted to keep it a secret!" She said. "We were about to make it public, but then Ike and Samus announced their engagement so we thought."
"We?" Zelda asked, looking increasingly annoyed. "Who is we? Who are you going to marry?"
"That would be me."
Zelda's eyes widened as the blonde man who had been standing some distance away made their way over to them. He had some of the fairest features Mist had ever seen, with piercing blue eyes. But very much like Zelda his ears ended in sharp points.
"L-L-Link!" Zelda stammered. "W-what are you doing?"
"Just saying hi." Link said, smiling brightly, as he turned to look over at Mist. "Oh, you're Ike's sister. You're just as he described."
Mist felt her heart flutter a little as he reached out his hand and took hers.
"Now wait just a minute." Zelda said, regaining her composure. "You can't just… joke with me like this. Stop yanking my chain!"
"It isn't a joke, Zelda." Lucina said, sounding surprised. "We really are getting married."
"And you… you thought to do this without telling me?"
Link's smile lessened somewhat. "You needed to know?"
"Yes!" She exploded. "I needed to know!"
"Why?"
She struggled to find an answer. Still smiling, Link turned to Mist.
"I guess you're in the same boat, huh? Ike coming back with a bride must have thrown you for a loop too, huh?"
"A little." Mist admitted, trying to suppress her blush. "But after getting over the surprise… I was very happy for him. And for Samus too."
"I can imagine." Link said, but before they could continue their conversation Zelda interrupted.
"Does Chrom know?"
Link and Lucina froze.
"We… haven't told him, yet." Lucina said, sounding a little embarrassed. "I had hoped to speak with him about it today, but…"
"You should go find him." Zelda said, a little stuffily. "Before word of this reaches him."
Lucina hung her head.
"Yes…" She said. Link patted her arm.
"It's okay." He said. "I'll be right there with you, okay?"
She nodded, biting her lip, as the two of them headed for the front doors.
