A/n: Minor edits 13/6/20 and 3/8/20.

Edit 23/01/22: ILLUSTRATION of finale linked on my profile :)

ix

A soft material brushing his face and a slight stretch in the arm rouses Marth from sleep. It's still dark, but when he props his head up he finds that he's curled up against Roy's side, and that his arm stretches across his torso, hand clasped in another smaller, braced one.

"Li—" he stops himself when he sees her in the same position as himself on Roy's other side—his mirror image, still fast asleep. He's the only one awake—even Dark Pit is quiet up in the branches of the great tree, and the rest of the forest has finally lulled itself to sleep. The waking world is somehow hazier than his dreams. Even the spirits have disappeared, with only the rain and his visions echoing in his mind. He wonders if he's dead.

A distant rumble of thunder changes his mind. With the tree their best offering of shelter, all he can do is curl up and let them all rest.

The next thing he's aware of is the grey morning light shining in his face. He withdraws his hand from Lilina's, which finally rouses her, but all she does is mumble and inch closer to Roy. A loud squeak scares them out of their skin as Pichu springs out from underneath the folds of Roy's cape, covered in static.

"I'm sorry," says Lilina. "Did you sleep well?"

Pichu's ears perk up as he stretches, and he gives Lilina a forgiving nudge before cantering over towards the beach. With a start Marth notices that the immediate area is empty save for Lilina, Roy and himself, but he soon spots Bowser's horns dawdling past a few bushes and sand dunes.

They suffer another scare when a voice between them suddenly cries out. They call Roy's name in unison as they hover above his face. His eyes are open but he can only focus on them weakly, and he makes no further attempt to speak.

"Can you get up?" Lilina clasps his shoulder as he precariously heaves himself off his back, elbows shaking. She and Marth support him so he doesn't keel over.

"How are you feeling?" Marth stammers. Roy's eyes flicker towards him for a moment before falling back to the ground. Marth looks to Lilina helplessly. She bites her lip.

"If you wanted to get up and stretch, I'll watch him," she finally says, mustering a small smile. "It might wake you up."

His throat dries up and he can only lean closer to the both of them to show that he doesn't want to leave. She mirrors him and they rest their heads against Roy's shoulders until the others return. Dark Pit lurking in Bowser's shadow appears to have no intention of saying anything, but even the usual sharp glint of his eyes is dulled by the grey.

"Pichu briefed us on his condition," Robin says, giving them a sympathetic nod. "We can keep resting if you need to."

Lilina shakes her head.

"How do you expect to travel when you three look like that?" Bowser grunts.

"We're okay," Marth says suddenly. He and Lilina pull Roy to his feet but he quickly collapses to his knees. Bowser growls and nudges past them, heaving Roy into his hefty arms.

"It's no problem," he assures them. "Anyway, I've an inkling of where the nearest town might be."

The sun breaks through the clouds again over their next half day of travel. Marth begins to recognise the rolling hills surrounding the town he'd visited once before, but the town itself is nowhere near in sight when they are set upon by a united false Samus and Ridley that emerge from the forest they'd just left.

Bowser rolls his eyes and roars fire at their opponents. As Ridley bursts through the wall of flame, Marth swipes at his underside, nearly slicing the false beast clean in half. An explosion in his face blasts Samus away from him and fills his head with a spasm of agony. His vision clears just in time for him to see Lilina and Robin beating Samus back with a deadly maelstrom of fire and lightning.

Dark Pit in his peripheral vision pulls his bow back with a scream and sends a volley of violet arrows at Samus. Marth then notices that Dark Pit's mouth is clenched shut, and that the sound actually came from behind him.

"Roy!" Marth spins around and nearly trips as he forgets all else and rushes towards the vegetation they'd hidden Roy behind. He finds him arched over and pulling at his hair.

"What's wrong?" he cries, grabbing Roy's shoulder with one hand and cupping his face with the other.

Roy looks up at him for a while before pushing him away with sudden strength and rising to his feet. He kicks Marth in the head and unsheathes his sword, towering over Marth. Time stops as they glare at each other, eyes wide in terror and Marth seized by pain. The entire world spins except for his partner, still as a beacon, glaring furious death. Then the Binding Blade falls from Roy's hand and he sinks to his knees, head in his hands, silent. Marth's whole body trembles as he approaches again, slowly as if he's approaching a wild animal. But it's not Roy's fault, it's not his fault when he pulls himself away from his company, when the chasm is all he can stand.

Marth's hand hovers half an inch from Roy's forearm for a long moment before he breaches the gap and embraces him, holding tight, not caring if the sword pierces his flesh again. Marth strokes Roy's disheveled hair along the back of his neck as they both shake and cry.

*.*.*.*.*

Their victory goes without saying but it nearly empties their souls. They settle down again sooner than they'd want, even Bowser's fire put out as the rain resumes, harder than the night before. Roy falls silent again and seems barely cognizant of the rain even as Lilina and Marth chatter at his sides and Pichu whimpers in his lap. Their spirits are leaden, but sleep is kept from them until they ache all over.

Marth has visions of the three of them walking side by side in the void, out of the cold and wet and sorrow. Sometimes one of them blinks out of existence. It doesn't bother him until he wakes up in the middle of the night to Roy's face streaked with rain, and what he eventually figure out are tears. Marth wipes the tear away with his thumb, tracing the burn scar along Roy's jaw. He pulls one of Roy's icy hands up to caress against his chest, as in their nightmare. He can do nothing else.

The rain fades away again, and he hears Roy's voice whisper his name. He jerks upright to find Roy sitting beside him in the darkness, looking at him. Looking at him, his eyes so, so bright, more courageous than he could ever feel in this world, so alive that he could cry. But Marth remains silent. As does Roy, brow knitted and jaw clenched as he mulls over where to start.

"Don't place such heavy a burden on yourself," Marth says. "It saddens me to watch you tear yourself apart."

Roy hangs his head, hiding the despair filling his eyes. "I...I don't think I can. I can't—I'm s—" He inhales sharply and makes excruciating eye contact with Marth again. "If...if I fade away again, promise me you'll hold on."

"Promise me you'll come back up," Marth fires back, eyes aflame.

Roy exhales and shuts his eyes, withdrawing back into himself. "I wonder if making promises that we can't keep is the best way to weather this."

In a less dire situation, Marth might have laughed at that.

"Don't say that!" Yet he can't think of what to say in return. They sit in hopeless silence, staring awkwardly at the ground between them until Roy finally speaks, unsure of himself.

"Just don't be afraid to ask Lili for help," he mumbles, fixating himself on wringing the hypocrisy out of his hands. "And help her too, if you can."

"And you." Marth reaches over and entwines his fingers in Roy's, pulling him closer so that their foreheads touch. Tears prick at his eyes as a hand ghosts over Roy's burns. Roy stiffens but lets Marth draw his arm back out. The prince runs his fingers over the raised skin, chest tight as he wonders about the depth of the scars. But it's something that they can lay to rest, no burden to hide, even if they remain as obvious as day. Finally at ease, Roy reaches his other arm around and begins playing with a lock of Marth's hair. They're silent for a long while, but it's the sweetest silence that they've endured.

"Will the spirits be okay?" Roy eventually mumbles, burying his face in the crook of Marth's neck.

All Marth knows is that he will never give up on the world. "As long as I keep surviving. And I will, whether you like it or not."

"I'd love that."

The dream is over all too soon when Lilina and Pichu wake them up, tired and damp but in brighter spirits when they see that Roy isn't staring through them. Lilina throws herself at him with a sob and they stay entangled in their embrace while Marth's eyes adjust to the blue of the sky. He gets to his feet and offers the two a hand.

Roy is still languid and wobbles on his feet, but he manages weary eye contact with his companions. He nods, they draw the attention of the rest of their party, and they march onwards, almost ready to face the foes that lurk in the sunlight.

It's a beautiful day, warm and bright and nearly too revealing. Pichu hitches a ride on Roy's shoulder, who remains a shadow to the world, the spirits and his partner as they walk, until Marth places a gentle arm around them. Roy leans in and sighs.

"Forgive me," he says. "All I can do right now is feel sorry for myself. And to think that you saw my dreams..."

Marth's heart lurches when the visions suddenly return to him in striking clarity, images of fire, ash and terror and forbidden emotion flashing before his eyes and clogging his airways. He shakes his head. Those visions were not given to him by any right means. Misplaced, like everything, maybe except for his heart.

"They were horror for you," he says. "Whatever comes next...we will push through it. I won't allow you to back out."

"Renewing our vows, are we?" says Roy.

Marth suppresses a giddy bout of laughter. Roy melts into his side, laughing as if he's already recovered.

Just for a moment, they forget their landscape of tragedy. Shadows soften, the Wings of Light fold, and Roy's hand squeezes back a little stronger than before. The spirits are a little calmer, whispering among themselves as Lilina renews her harmony with them. They can all breathe in the air that has begun to dance again.

Perhaps the world can heal after all.

A/n: This is the first original plot that I've finished! I'm still working on tying up two of my other stories, so it's kind of a milestone for me :) Thank you so much for reading!

We need more interactions between Roy's boyfriend and sister. Get to it!