Chapter 1: The Call of a Ceremony
I do not own Smash or the characters
Except OCs, they are mine

A gust of wind and a wave of rain brushed over the hillside where Pit and Link were standing. Link watched the raging swell of waves smash across the eroded rocks and Pit hovered over him.
"Doesn't get more peaceful than this." Pit said chuckling. Link shook his head.
"You ruined it with your unnecessary comment." He scowled. Pit laughed once more. Link leaned over the edge of the railing that drew the hill with the lookout. Pit tilted his head towards Link.
"What's bothering ya?" he asked, resting his hand on Link's shoulder. Link sniffled than rested his head on his arms.
"I'm worried this 'happiness' will end," Pit's eyes widened.
"Why do think that?" he asked, slightly concerned. Link sighed, ignoring the question. Another immense puff of wind swept in from the west. Pit copied Link's position next to him. They smiled at each other for a moment, before returning to silence.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Cloud bellowed from his bike, Fenrir. Shulk was on the back, rolling his eyes. Cloud slid the gargantuan buster sword from his back and waved it around Shulk. He grumbled at him and proceeded to greet Pit and Link.

Together, they fist-pumped as a group and sat down at the 4 neatly placed stone stools that Pit had brought with him when they discovered the meeting place. Cloud brought a battered up table, in which they would set up baskets of food Min-Min would cook for them. Cloud would eat up the food eagerly, leaving hardly any for the others. Shulk rarely ate, and preferred the beverages that were brought. Link had a reasonable appetite, and would yell if Cloud ate too much. Pit ate averagely.

Today was chilly, and specks of dew and frost could be seen in the hills. Shulk had packed Pit a sweater because his outfit wasn't very good for this sort of weather. Cloud, not caring as much, wore his usual no-sleeve outfit in a well below sub-zero environment.

Link was comfortable in his fully green warm clothing, same as Shulk as he wore a thick hoodie type thing. Hours passed and the group chatted for ages, about life, about their career, about smashes they had fought in and about occurrences took place in the mansion. Laughs were exchanged, mostly by Pit. Foul language was spoken, mostly by Cloud and straight up facts expressed, by Shulk only.

Link had been pretty quiet the whole time, in which Pit was concerned about.

As time passed, the clouds flew above them, until they could only be seen peeking out from behind the hill. The sun beamed through the peaking clouds as it prepared to set behind the horizon. They group decided to head to the cliff, where they could see the sunset more clearly. Link had arranged some Noble Pursuits to be delivered to the area. Cloud, being somewhat of an eater and a drinker, would sip on his Noble Pursuit very quickly and try to grab Pit's when he would drink slow.

"Aye, I never realized. What's cooking, Link?" Cloud asked, chugging his Noble Pursuit with such force.
Link raised his eyebrow.
"Whaddya mean?" he said, trying to ignore the fact he was in utter stress. Cloud snorted in tapped his shoulder.
"You know what I mean. Why you down in the dumps?" Cloud shifted towards him, knocking Shulk out of the circle.
"Hey! I exist too, you douche!" Shulk yelled, elbowing Cloud in the ribs. He reluctantly moved back, knowing that Shulk would hit again if he had to. Link didn't want to answer the question. But Pit intended to find out the real truth.

"Just tell us, Link. It's better to get it off your shoulders." Pit said, clearly wanting a real answer. Link brushed away his remark, wanting everyone to leave him alone and continue the usual meetup.
"...nothing." Link said, hesitantly.
"Well, obviously it is something. So just tell us!" Cloud said leaning his arm on Shulk's shoulder. Shulk snarled at him and pushed away Cloud.
"It's nothing, now leave me be." Link pushed. Cloud looked frustrated but Pit urged him to sit down.

Nightfall came and the group departed. Link went separately from the others, riding is Master Cycle Zero in the other direction.
Pit was honestly very worried at this point. Link was usually cheerful, engaging in the conversations and making his own jokes in the process. What worried Pit the most is that he wasn't telling him everything.

He assumed, by the anxious look on Link's face, that he was also worried, by something that was expected to come ahead. But what was it? Why had Link been so bottled up, not wanting to tell them? A million thoughts ran through Pit's mind, and he didn't know which one to believe.

Master Hand had arranged a ceremony, in which no one knew why. When they asked, he simply said he thought it was the occasion for a ceremony. Cloud loved the parties, partially because he got to load up on snacks and alcohol. Shulk usually laid back, talking to some people in the back. Pit would do the same, but would slightly go overboard with the rum. Link was genuine. He'd balance it out.

Pit talked with Samus and Captain Falcon for a while before heading off to find Link in the corner of the room. He was sipping a beverage and trying to hide himself from the rest of the gang. Pit wandered over, preparing himself to ask Link the question that had been consuming is mind for days. He stepped in front of Link.

"So..." Pit started.
"...yeah" Link stared at the ground. Pit gave him a reassuring look.
"I'd appreciate you telling me." He smiled. Link opened his mouth, but noticed Master Hand in the corner of his eye.
"I believe...you'll learn in a second." He said, eyeing Master Hand as he got up on the stage.

Pit swiveled around, eager to learn what had held back Link's good side this whole time. Master Hand called the smashers over, everyone rushing over almost immediately. The crowd formed and many people were interested to see what Master Hand was calling them over for. Especially Pit.

After the party, the four returned to their dorm, looking quite the disheveled. All except Cloud. He'd drank a lot that night, and they were not looking forward to dealing with his hangover in the morning.

To give you a layout of their dorm, it was quite big. Link got a large hammock at the the top of to staircases (that were genuinely small). Underneath the hammock was a bookcase and a swordset. To the left, was Pit's bunk. He had a sort of bunk bed, His bed at the top and a pile of shit behind the ladder. The door next to that was a closet. Shulk had a neat red bed down the small staircases. It had a desk beside it, with a laptop and a gaming setup. Cloud had a sort of same display as Pit, with he slept on a cushiony bean bag down the bottom with posters and a music player.

It had a small kitchenette, a living area and a bathroom. It wasn't a beautiful looking palace, but it was comfy and they enjoyed the tranquility.

Link laid Cloud on his bean bag and slowly backed away, preventing the wake-up of Cloud, who would get aggravated. Pit had already climbed into bed, and Link heard him sobbing from the living area. Shulk was reading a comic in bed and Link knew that he was trying to push away the fact that the friend group would be split apart for almost half a year.

"Hey, Link?" Link twisted his body to see Pit urging him to come to him. His eyes were watering and he tried hiding his obvious emotion of sadness.
"Mhm?"
"Can you come here?" he said, still showing the sign of depression.
"You alright?" he whispered, climbing up from the little booth couch that was below. His head peaked in from the bunk, where he had a view of Pit.
"I...I don't want to go. Not if you, Shulk and Cloud aren't in my group. Link hung his head.
"I wish it was as simple as that, Pit. But we can't. We have no choice." he said. Pit grumbled.
"You're being discouraging."
Link laughed in his softest voice.
"I know it's not ideal, but we'll have fun! In our spare time we'll hang out!"

Pit went silent. Link knew he was upset, mainly because Pit was a cautious fellow, who only hang out with people he trusted. Same with Shulk. And himself.
(Cloud was a social guy, but usually, it was just the group he hung out with)

Link hopped into his hammock and curled up under his duvet. It was hard, considering he was the first to be notified of the news, but he wanted to power through it.

He knew on the other side, everything was at normal and he could live his life happily, amongst Pit, Shulk and Cloud.

As his mind started to wander and he felt his eyes grow weary, he knew tomorrow, he'd have a lot of planning to do. And a lot of explaining to Cloud, who was drunk the whole way through the ceremony.

And just like that...

Link was asleep.