Stuff happens and I couldn't find time and motivation to write this chapter at all for days. But it's here, and I'm actually surprised that I enjoyed writing this one so much after being demotivated for so long.

"Rosalina, maybe it would be better if you went home," Zelda asked as she saw the gradually pale face her friend had. "I can see that you're getting worse."

"I was hoping you didn't notice," Rosalina let out a shaky sigh.

It didn't take high observation skills to realize that Rosalina was not in her best conditions. Her pale face appeared to be even paler and sicker, not to mention her breathing was heavier and slower. Not surprising, considering Rosalina had just decided to visit Zelda right after she had to miss work because she was feeling sick (good thing there was a replacement teacher at the daycare that could handle her work).

She should be at her house, resting, but instead she decided now it was a good idea to see Zelda so she could get the medicine she had asked for Robin's headaches. Zelda would have happily delivered it to her house had she known Rosalina was feeling this sick.

"Are you sure these pills will help her?" Rosalina asked as she held tightly the small container.

"I hope so," Zelda crossed her arms. "But keep an eye out on her headaches just to make sure."

"I know, but… I'm still very worried."

"About what?"

"I fear that her headaches might get worse and worse… until it reaches a point where I simply cannot keep things a secret from her anymore," Rosalina confessed.

Zelda had no idea what to say that could be of comfort to her friend, as she too shared the same concern, only to a far lesser degree. If it were up to her decision alone, she would have told Robin right away. Keeping something as important as that information from her would not serve to protect her, it just delayed the inevitable.

But then again, who was she to doubt a mother's instinct? All she could do was provide the medicine that would keep Robin at peace. Though, now that she thought about it, if she did tell Robin everything, her ruse as just a simple pharmacist would falter as well… Yeah, she kind of realized now why Rosalina wanted to keep it all secretive.

Still…

"Rosalina, seriously, you need to go home and rest," Zelda insisted. "I can accompany you if you want."

"There is no need for that," the blonde shook her head and got up from the couch. "I'm fine enough to walk back home, but thank you."

Zelda accompanied her to the front door, still keeping a close eye on the way she walked just to make sure she was alright.

"Alright, then," she said. "Take care, Rosalina."

There is a famous saying that states that Hell is full of good intentions. That people usually do the worse of deeds with the best of intentions in mind.

If that was indeed true and Hell was full of people like Douglas Falcon, then Robin would make sure she would go to Heaven when she died.

Captain Falcon (as he was better known in the community) was notable for his abrasiveness when it came to bringing people he considered criminals to justice. He was loud, proud and very, very stubborn, always in a constant pursue for "justice" and "peace" for the city and its citizens. And while that was, in theory, better than what 90% of the police in Sakurai City did for its citizens, Captain Falcon could also be very ruthless towards people, even towards the ones that were clearly innocent. If he thought someone was acting suspicious, they were in for a world of pain. In all honesty, Robin had no idea if she should pity him or hate him.

One way or another, Captain Falcon was kind of a dick.

She had to leave before he spotted her in the now panicky crowd. Captain Falcon had other three police officers with him, so there was no time for her to waste.

"Palutena, we need to leave!" she exclaimed, pulling her friend's arm.

"I need to get Pit!" Palutena said, pulling her arm away and running towards the boy's body, who was only now regaining consciousness. "Go without us! We'll be fine!"

"But..."

"Go!"

"Ohhhh, fine..."

For a brief moment, Robin worried for Peach's safety, but quickly stopped worrying when she realized that the blonde had already disappeared from sight. Why was she even worried about her anyway? She was just some brat who wouldn't stop harassing her, good riddance! Robin quickly turned on her heels and fled the place as fast as she could. She really hoped Palutena would be okay.

Thankfully, Robin had managed to escape from the crowd without being spotted by Captain Falcon, though she could still her the cries of defiance from some poor soul that got caught. She had managed to outsmart one cop that tried to grab her by the hood, but not without drawing attention to another unfortunate person so the cop could focus on them. In less than five minutes, she was back at the store, sweating horrors and panting from all the adrenaline and running. Her pigtails were actually falling and her face was a complete mess, which only made Shulk worry for her even more as she entered the store.

"What happened to you?!"

"Captain Falcon decided to show up and pay a little visit to the audience," she said as she walked towards the counter. "Gods, I hate that dumb brute so much."

"I wonder why he hates Smash so much… I mean, it obviously isn't illegal, considering it is regulated by Subspace Corp."

"Who knows? Maybe he just thinks everyone who plays it is a thug and should be put in jail," she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I'm just glad I escaped."

"Well… just be careful out there, okay?" he said, his voice with a hint of worry.

"I'm always careful, Shulk."

Shulk just gave her a smile and went back to his work, too hesitant to tell Robin he had the bad feeling that something might still happen to her. He had no idea what it was, being a feeling as vague as it could get, so he just kept it to himself.

Sometimes he really wondered if he was getting paranoid…

By the time Robin had arrived home, she knew something was wrong. For starters, the door was unlocked and she was pretty sure she had locked it this time. She remembered Rosalina telling her early in the morning that she was feeling ill and couldn't attend work because of it. But even then, why would she unlock the door when she was in no conditions of defending herself from any probably intruder?

Wait, she had no way to defend herself from any possible intruder!

"Rosa!" she gasped.

She quickly opened the door and prepared herself to dash inside, but stopped on her tracks once she realized that running around her house like a headless chicken would probably give an advantage to the intruder. Instead, she tiptoed inside, nervous eyes watching her surroundings. The house was dark, none a single light bulb turned on, as well as eerily silent, the creaking sound of the wooden floor being the only thing there to break it. Her first instinct was to check on Rosalina, so she carefully tiptoed towards her bedroom, a sigh of relief escaping from her mouth as she saw her mother sleeping soundly on her bed. If anything had happened, she definitely would not be sleeping the peacefully .

Whoever decided to break in, at least they had left her alone. Was there even an intruder to begin with? Maybe Rosalina really did unlock the door, as out of character as it was for her.

Thud!

Robin immediately looked at the ceiling, alarmed by the loud sound. There was someone upstairs! Worse, he or she might even be in her room! What could they want with her stuff, she didn't know, but she had to do something. Without a second thought, she grabbed an umbrella that hung on one of the wooden hangers near the front door and headed upstairs, her grip on the umbrella tightening with each step she took. She walked towards her room at the very end of the corridor and had her suspicions confirmed once she saw that her room was lit through the half closed door.

She tightened her grip on the umbrella. Deep breathing…

Robin abruptly slammed the door open.

"Welcome home," the person at her room greeted. "You are back rather late. Weren't you worried about your mother?"

Robin stopped on her tracks, for a good couple of reasons. First, who was that person and how could they remain so casual about breaking into her house like that? And second, just what was their deal?

It was only then that she stopped to notice the person's appearance. She said "person", because she had absolutely no idea what gender they were. In front of her stood a young person, probably in their late teens/very early twenties, of a long and slender stature, wearing a very fitting blue sweater and pants. But what stood out the most was the delicate, butterfly-esque mask the person wore on their delicate face.

"I apologize for the intrusion," he (or she) said, surprisingly nonchalantly, "However, this was the only possible way I could get to speak to you alone."

Even their voice was surprisingly androgynous. Robin had no idea if it was a young man with a sweet voice, or just a woman with a deep vocal. It was a perfect blending of both.

"Oh, you apologize?!" she raised her umbrella, "You'll apologize alright once I get you out of my house!"

"Robin, I understand your frustration, but please do keep your voice low," they whispered. "You don't want to involve Rosalina in this, do you?"

"How do you know my name?" she gritted her teeth, umbrella still held high. "Or Rosa's, for that matter?"

"There are many things I know about you..." they hesitated for a moment. "Or rather, heard about you. I was hoping that investigating your room could provide me more information, though."

"And you think this gives you the right to invade my house like you own the place?!" she shrieked, not even caring about how loud she was being.

"No, but it is because of this knowledge that I must keep an eye out for you," they simply said.

Oh, great, another nut job! Just how many crazy people would Robin have to encounter today? Though, to be fair to Peach, at least she had the excuse of just being a spoiled, obsessed with Smash brat who refused to accept "no" as an answer. This wacko just barged into her house and declared that from now on they would be keeping a close eye on them because of things they had heard about her.

They almost made her miss Peach's company.

"That's it, you're leaving my house right now!"

Robin swung the umbrella at the intruder, but was quickly intercepted by them. Before Robin could even wonder what the hell just happened, the intruder twisted the object around, forcefully taking it away from Robin. In less than a second, they got behind her and grabbed her arm, twisting it over her back and pushing her face front towards the nearest wall and firmly pinning her against it.

She struggled to get away from their grip, but it proved useless. Robin could feel her head being pressed against the wall, causing the minor headache she's been feeling all day to throb to unbearable degrees, not helped by all the stress and fear she was feeling at the moment.

Destroy… You know you want to…

"Leave me... alone…" Robin wheezed.

"I am afraid this is out of question," the intruder said, tightening their grip on her wrist and pressing her head into the wall firmly. "I have got to make sure you don't step out of line."

What was this person even going to do to her? Were they going to… No, no! They couldn't…

Destroy them…

"All I ask is for your cooperation," they said, this time a lot more softly.

Apparently, they've noticed just how scared she was, because they had loosened their grip on her wrist and head, enough to not hurt her anymore, but still strong enough to keep her in place.

"I do not wish to harm you, nor do I want any harm to come to you," they continued. "But if you push me enough, I will be forced to take drastic measures."

"Why..." she gulped, her voice barely a whisper, "Why are you doing this?"

Robin didn't know if it was her imagination, but she could swear she had heard the sound of steps coming from the stairs.

"I came all the way here simply to protect you."

"Protect me from what?!"

There was an awkward silence for a moment.

"To protect you from-"

"Robin?!"

To Robin's utter relief, Daraen had shown up right at that moment, carrying his black backpack in one hand and watching the scene in front of him with wide, shocked eyes.

"Daraen, help me..." Robin whimpered.

Without thinking twice, Daraen dropped the backpack on the floor and threw himself at the intruder, knocking them away from his friend. He then stood in front of the still very shaken Robin, extending an arm in from of her as if trying to keep the intruder away from her. The stranger was not amused at all and actually grabbed the umbrella on the floor. While in other any circumstance Robin would think that the sight of a total stranger threatening them with an umbrella would look as silly as it could get, this was the same person who easily overpowered her and was very capable of harming them, so she didn't even dare to think of that as amusing.

"Step aside, sir," they said, pointing the umbrella at Daraen. "This does not concern you."

"You were assaulting my friend in her own house," he gritted his teeth. "Of course it concerns me!"

The stranger then swung the umbrella at Daraen, who tried to block it by raising his arm in order to avoid a blow to his head. He then took the opportunity that they left an opening to tackle them. Unfortunately, the intruder was stronger than they looked and wouldn't fall on the ground that easily, instead crashing into the chair near Robin's desk.

Robin could only watch in despair as the two thrashed around her room, exchanging blows, punches and kicks towards each other. Oh, she knew that cleaning up that mess would be a real pain!

"H-hey! Stop that you two!" she tried to call for them only to be completely ignored.

Their brawl continued, while Robin kept trying to tell them to knock it out. Unfortunately, the only thing their were knocking it out were her mobiles and piles of books she had scattered around the room.

"I said STOP IT!"

Surprisingly, this time they actually did stop, both coming to a halt immediately as Robin shouted the order. The stranger stood still in place for a couple of seconds, almost in a trance, which actually served as an opportunity for her to sneak behind them and grab them from behind. As soon as she did that, however they started kicking their legs around and keeping Daraen from getting close to them.

"You don't understand!" the intruder exclaimed, starting to grow desperate as Daraen managed to grab the umbrella from them. "I mean no harm! I am here to help!"

"Help?!" Daraen exclaimed, completely baffled.

"A-and how exactly is this helping?!" Robin gritted her teeth, holding them off as best as she could. Her throbbing headache was making it difficult for her to concentrate on the task. "Just... who a-are you...?"

"You may call me Marth," he (judging by the name) said. "And if you'd just stop attacking me, I could explain!"

"WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS?!"

The three froze at the voice that came from the door and saw Rosalina looking at them with sickly, yet horrified eyes. Rarely had Robin heard her raise raise her voice like this, so for her to be screaming…

"Rosa, we can explain..." she started, only to be cut off by her raising her hand.

"Robin..." she said, her voice growing the usual cold tone it had when she was mad. "I want to know just what in the world do you think you're doing by bringing two men into your room while I sleep!"

"But you know me!" Daraen protested.

"H-he invaded my room..." Robin meekly explained, gesturing to the now stupefied Marth.

"I don't want to hear excuses," she pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. "I want everyone downstairs, at the kitchen table, in ten seconds and that's final."

"Rosalina, I know this looks bad, but-"

"Daraen, I don't want to know," Rosalina said, sternly. "Downstairs. Now."

And so Robin, Daraen and Marth were forced to sit down at the kitchen table and wait until Rosalina finished making some tea. Robin never really had the courage to tell her she never liked drinking tea this much, but considering how mad Rosalina was before, she would gladly chug everything down just so her mother would calm down. That, and maybe drink it in hopes her headache would lessen a bit.

Once Rosalina set the tea tray on the table, Marth immediately grab his cup of tea and gladly sipped it down. He still had his mask on his face and didn't seem to consider taking it off. Daraen just kept drinking his tea, all while giving the dirtiest glare at Marth that Robin has ever seen from him.

"So, Marth," Rosalina said, now a lot more calm. "I don't think I have seen you around these areas. Where are you from?"

"I live in another district, right next to the commercial area," Marth replied. "My family owns a store and we just live at the second floor of the store."

"Where do you know Robin from?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"From work," Robin groaned, earning a surprised look from Daraen.

He was sure that she would just admit he had invaded their house. But then again, she had tried before and Rosalina didn't seem to believe her. If Marth was there to steal anything, or cause any harm, surely he would have already done anything by that point, right? Aside from pinning Robin to a wall, he apparently left Rosalina alone and also didn't seem interested in stealing anything from the house.

No wonder Rosalina wouldn't listen to that explanation and just assumed she just brought a strange man into the house.

"I apologize for any inconvenience, Robin," Marth bowed his head as he finished his tea. "It was not my intention to cause such ruckus."

"Hmph..." she begrudgingly took a sip of her tea.

It was amazing how his whole demeanor had changed in such a short amount of time. Now that Robin stopped to notice it, Marth was very soft-spoken, if not a little old-fashioned in the way he spoke. He sat in a perfect posture and was all around extremely polite towards them, especially around Rosalina.

"I must take my leave now," he suddenly announced and got up from his chair. "Thank you very much for the tea."

Rosalina simply nodded and continued savoring her own tea.

"However, before I go..." he turned towards Robin. "Robin, could we perhaps talk outside?"

"What is there to talk?" she asked, rather snappy and irritated.

"It is… a personal matter," Marth nervously said. "Please? I promise I won't take more than five minutes of your time. I shall leave you alone after that."

Robin looked unsure at Rosalina, who motioned her eyes towards the exit, as if saying that maybe she should talk to him.

"Alright..." she agreed. "Just don't take too long."

Both Robin and Marth left the kitchen, unaware of Rosalina whispering to Daraen to watch them from a distance. Despite Marth asking to talk outside, Robin simply refused to go past the front door. He didn't seem to mind much and decided to talk to her right there.

"Robin, I wasn't joking when I said I am here to protect you," Marth said.

"Protect me from what?" Robin asked in exasperation. "You keep saying that, but I still don't understand from what!"

"I'm here to protect you from people who seek to exploit your power," he explained.

And he was back to being crazy again. Those moments of sanity were good while they lasted.

"Listen, I don't understand what you are talking about, so..." she opened the door for him. "If you could, you know, leave me alone now, I would be grateful."

"Certainly, by this point, you must have realized that your voice has some power over people's actions, have you not?"

"Only during sales over the phone..." she eyed him suspiciously. "How do you know this? Are you one those people I've talked over on the phone?"

"...No, but how I know about this information is of no concern to you at the moment," Marth shook his head.

"Marth, I think it's time for you to leave," Daraen said as he approached them. "Get out of here before we are forced to call the police."

Marth nodded his head and prepared to leave, but not before grabbing Robin's arm and whispering in her ear: "We will meet again. Please stay safe and have a good night, Robin."

He left the house and Robin tiredly closed the door, letting out a long, withdrawn sigh as she realized she could finally be at peace.

"What did he want with you?" Daraen asked in concern.

"He just kept saying nonsense about wanting to protect me from people who want to abuse some power I have," she shook her head. "Marth is completely crazy."

"Well, I can see that!"

"By the way, thanks for helping me out back there," Robin gave him a warm smile.

"No problem," he replied with the same kind of smile, only for that smile to transform into a frown. "Seriously, when I think about what Marth was doing to you back in your room… it just makes my blood boil! I swear I wanted to smash his face into the wall myself!"

"I believe you," she chuckled. "But what are you doing here, Daraen? Not that I don't appreciate you appearing to save me, but why are you here to begin with?"

"Oh, right, about that," Daraen let out an awkward laugh. "Would you believe it was because I was just passing by? I was going back home when I saw the front door of your house opened. I know how Rosalina always throws a fit for the door not being locked, so to see it open like that in the middle of the evening, with the lights turned off, I got worried."

Good thing Robin forgot to close the door in her own desperation.

"Besides, I kind of had the bad feeling something terrible was going on," he sheepishly admitted.

"Well, your gut feeling is amazing," she put a hand on his shoulder. "Since you're already here, do you want to stay for dinner?"

"You wouldn't mind?"

"Hey, you did save me, didn't you? I can't just make you go away like this after that."

Daraen made no objections and accepted her invitation for dinner. Despite the tumultuous encounter with Marth, he was glad he had decided to check on them.

He still wanted to smash Marth's head into a wall, though.

To be fair, Daraen is already close enough to both Robin and Rosalina that he felt comfortable enough to get inside their home uninvited, much like Palutena. He does it a little more often than her, mostly because Robin and Daraen live in the same street and it's just easier for him. And before anyone starts getting funny ideas, no, Rosalina and Zelda are not supposed to be lovers or anything like that. They really are just good, close friends.

By the way, Rosalina is around her late thirties/early forties in this AU. Zelda is around the same age as well.

nahte123456: Zelda is also out of question. She's a bit older in this AU, almost as old as Rosalina. I'm glad you liked Peach! She's a little out of there, but it's only because she's very, VERY passionate about playing Smash.

Murkardolum: Chrom just knows that he can get through the financial problems, now missing Lucina's childhood is something he won't be able to recover. I don't think I would be able to make Peach a psychopath, mostly because then I wouldn't want Robin near her. She's kind of bratty, but she doesn't do it because she's mean-spirited, she's just really oblivious. I understand your need for vengeance and I can sympathize, because insulting Palutena like that was pretty low (even if she never said it to her face). But let's face it, Palutena as a Smash character is not really good in the competitive scenario… at least, not with the default moveset.

Nope, it will still take a little while until we meet motorcycle woman. But that was a good guess. I'm happy you think I'm doing Palutena's character justice here! She's also one of my favorite characters of all time, so I always have a lot of fun when writing her. It's okay, we all are some degree of Palucina trash, for better or worse. Well, I think that after this chapter, the love interest options are pretty apparent.

mystic moogle: I was referring to the game soundtrack, but the anime one is also pretty good. Chrom is a good father, too bad he's being pretty absent in Lucina's life (not that he wants to be, poor guy). I'm not going to say anything about Lucina being out of the picture. The woman in the motorcycle will still take a while to appear, but I think it's not a surprise anymore who she really is, uh? Well, Peach claimed she used to be one of the best, but how much of that is the truth? Who knows? Maybe she was. Robin apparently can't catch a break at all. She's a protagonist of a yuri story with different possibilities for love interests, her life won't return to normal so soon. Hope you get to write more soon!

SmashBrosFan96: Yup, she's toddler here. Chrom and Olivia aren't old enough to have a daughter in her late teens/early twenties. Olivia's son is actually a boy named Inigo, who is her son in Fire Emblem Awakening and can be Lucina's brother if you marry Chrom with Olivia in the game. Maybe Robin really was that good, maybe Peach is just delusional. Captain Falcon is there to deliver justice for all, even if it's a justice that he likes to make with his own hands.

Wotahbotah3k: Maybe she was! Sorry, no take backs, I have already taken the joke too seriously for me to go back. Once you go serious, there's no way back. Chrom works as a tattoo artist (this was actually stated in the first chapter). It's not really that relevant to the story, but I just made him be a tattoo artist because of the Brand of the Exalt on his shoulder. I thought it sounded like a cool idea. I'm sure Captain Falcon injured someone with the knee of justice, it's something he would try to do every time he tried to capture a "criminal".

Peach claims Robin used to be one of the best Smash players in the past, but was she really telling the truth? I don't know. I think this chapter already answers your question.

Ender212: Glad to have you back! Palutena seems to be a pretty popular choice. That's some good information to keep. Again, if the opportunity appears, I will try to include Lucas and Ness. I also like them as a couple (yeah, I also like yaoi, it's just that there is already enough Ness/Lucas out there, so I don't feel like I would be contributing with anything by writing about them). I'm happy you like Olivia being there, she was kind of begging to make a small appearance.

PozzyP: Captain Falcon likes to believe he's bringing justice to all. At least someone's happy. I'm not going to comment about the whole time traveling shtick you just mentioned, thank you very much. I don't think I would resort to this cheap tactic. Peach can't be considered either a tsundere or a yandere, because a tsundere is a character that's harsh on the outside, but has a heart of gold and cares about the person she likes on the inside (think of Helga, from Hey, Arnold!), while a yandere is a character that would threaten, and even kill, anyone who they think are getting in the way between them and the person of their affection (Gasai Yuno, from Mirai Nikki, is basically the poster girl for this archetype). Palutena just had the feeling Peach wasn't good company.