The Mansion Enigma

Chapter One

I blinked awake. I was unsure where I was, but it seemed to be in a bed… That was odd. I was sure I had left the palace. Had I made it to the inn? Wait, something happened after that…

I sat up at once, my eyes shooting open. The room I was in was small and unfamiliar. It was fairly plain, with fluttering blue curtains on the windows and matching sheets and comforters on the beds. The bed on the opposite side of the room was crumpled and unmade, as if someone had slept in it. What had happened after I ran away? I thought I remembered Roy being with me… Wait.

The memories flooded back to me. A hooded figure had offered me asylum when I was about to be killed by armored soldiers who were viciously invading the country. I had accepted, hadn't I? What was the price he had mentioned?

I got out of bed and opened the door of the room to what seemed to be a long hallway. It stretched on for a rather long way before turning to the left, a mirror at the end of the first section. It was carpeted, with plain white walls interrupted every few feet by a door marked with some sort of odd symbol. A flower, a star, a bow and arrow, an odd triangle marking, and many others. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the one I had just exited was marked with a sword, as was the one on its left.

I was unsure what else to do, so I followed the long hall until I got to a larger room where a few strange figures seemed to be eating breakfast on a few sofas and tables. A humanoid bird and green-hatted man were eating at one of the tables, while an angel was sitting on the sofa, eating something out of a bowl and staring at an odd glass with light emanating from it. He seemed to notice me and turned towards me with a smile. "Hey, you're new here, aren't you?", he asked.

I wasn't quite certain what to say; at least a thousand different questions had occurred to me, so it came out something akin to "What? How? Who are- oh, never mind."

He laughed. "Yeah, you're definitely new. Come on!" He put down his breakfast on the arm of the chair and stood up. "I'll show you around." He ran off back towards the hallway I had just exited. I followed him, unsure what to expect.

He suddenly stopped in the middle of the hall. "Okay, this is the hall where most of the rooms are. The weird symbols are to help you identify your room. People from around the same place as you have the same marks on the door. They'll also be your identifiers in fi- oh, getting ahead of myself. Usually, you'll share your room with someone else from near you, and guys have different rooms from girls. I'm the only guy from my world, so I have a room to myself."

"I'm really not getting any of this," I sighed. "Why are we here? Who are you?"

"Okay, sorry. I've never showed a newcomer around before, but I knew I probably wouldn't get a chance unless I jumped in it when it came to me," he apologized. "I'm Pit. You are?"

"Marth."

"'Kay, got it. And we're here because we all ought to be dead. All of us were about to die when the Smash Reaper saved us by bringing us here."

"Smash Reaper?", I repeated. "Is that the cloaked figure that brought me here?"

"Probably."

"What was that price he mentioned? Why us?"

Pit shrugged. "Not sure, really. I'd imagine it's that we can't really leave. And why us? Um, no clue. Luck of the draw, I suppose."

"What?", I cried. "Why can't we leave?" I started to regret leaving the palace at all, until I realized that at least here I would be treated like a regular person with no rules. Of course, I couldn't even exit the odd, winding mansion, so was it truly a step up?

"Well... You'll see, I guess. It's kind of complicated."

I sighed. "That's not really an answer..."

"You ask too many questions," Pit laughed. I had a sinking suspicion I wasn't going to get many answers. I couldn't make heads or tails of anything, but I could tell Pit couldn't either. Or, at least, he wanted to avoid the subject for whatever reason.

"Fine. Just, keep going with your tour," I sighed.

Pit started down the hall in the opposite direction and we soon arrived in a stark white hall turning to the right. On one side was a large glass panel that seemed to allow a glimpse at a very large room that was currently darkened, and on the other side, slightly inset into the wall was a row of chairs. "What are they for?", I asked.

"Sorry, I'm not supposed to tell you about it right now," he stated nervously. I wondered what he must be hiding, as most of his answers had been dodgy.

At the end of the odd hall was a door. Pit opened it for me. "Um, th-" My gratitude was cut off by my surprise to where it led. A green expanse dotted with patches of flowers and trees was beyond it. I stepped onto the grass easily. "I thought you said we couldn't leave!", I half-gasped.

"Well, we can go outside, but, well," Pit searched for words. "It's... complicated."

I glanced around the green grounds. It was lush and green, but I could see mountains in the distance. "Hey!", Pit cried out, turning to the left. Glancing that way, I saw a girl with ashen blonde hair sitting on the grass reading a rather thick book. "Rose! Maybe you could give me a hand with the tour?"

The girl, apparently called Rose, glanced over at us and smiled. She stood up and seemed to almost hover over, her pale blue dress barely skimming the ground. "Gladly," she stated in a calm, dreamy voice. "It is nice to meet you, young one. I can tell you come from somewhere you are glad to be rid of."

"How did you-?"

She giggled lightly. "I know much. I am Rosalina, the guardian of young stars." She emphasized the last part with a wave of her golden, star-tipped wand. A small, yellow star-shaped creature appeared from nowhere. "Like this one. His name is Chara. Someday, he will be a fine star, or perhaps a comet or planet. You can never tell."

"Strange things happen at this place, do they not?", I asked. I knew if anyone could give me answers, it was probably her. "I saw a humanoid bird inside, and Pit's an angel, and you have that... Chara, and-"

"Hush now, Marth. Answers will come in time. Not even I know the secrets of this realm, but I can clear up a bit of your confusion."

"Thank you."

"You see, this Mansion is known to its inhabitants as the Smash Mansion. At least, that is what Master Hand calls it. Many beings from many realms inhabit this place. I, for one, am from an Observatory that guards young stars, commonly known as Lumas, and the galaxies it passes. Some realms are filled with different species, such as Falco, who you met a moment ago. In his realm, what you would call "humanoid animals" are the primary inhabitants," she explained kindly.

"Okay, I think I've got that," I said. I was unsure if I really understood any of this, but I supposed it wasn't that odd that a time-space transcending cloaked man called the "Smash Reaper" saved people who were about to die in many worlds and took them to a mansion that they couldn't ever leave. Alright, it was incredibly odd, but it was at least a start.

"Understanding and acceptance will come in time. This realm is a small Pocket Dimension, hence the reason we cannot leave. However, it is fairly vast. There is a forest, mountains, ruins, and many more places to explore. Additionally, they change every so often, so those who enjoy adventures never get bored. Of course, there are also the fights, but you will learn of those in time. The mansion itself holds many pastimes itself. A rather lot of technology you would likely find unfamiliar and many rather interesting denizens to learn from. The library is rather expansive, and new books pop up from time to time, which I rather enjoy. Any more questions?"

I shook my head. "Not right now. Thank you, Rosalina. Pit," I turned to the angel. "Can you show me this fighting thing you all keep talking about?"

He shook his head. "They will fetch you and the other newcomers soon enough. Now, you're probably starving, so do you want to get some breakfast?"

"Sure. Thank you." He led me back to the room where I had first encountered him, and opened another door, which was a straight shot from the hallway. It opened to a room filled with a great deal of food items of which I had never seen the likes of before. Fruit, bread, and many meats were among the spread, along with odd collections of grains, mysterious brown cakes of many varieties, including ones with odd holes, and many other foods. I picked up a rounded cake with a hole in the middle and took a small bite from it. It was soft, chewy, and very sweet. "What is this?", I asked.

Pit stared at me with a blank look on his face. "You don't know what a doughnut is? What kind of awful place are you from?"

"Altea," I sighed. "This is good. What else is good here?"

Pit practically shoved me into a chair at a table and ran off to a stack of plates, then placed a small piece of nearly everything in the room on it. He introduced me to such delicacies as bacon, English muffins, non-English muffins, waffles, cereal, and many other things. I quite enjoyed them, and started to feel as if this wasn't such a bad place to be after all. After I had eaten, he asked me a series of odd questions. "So, where you're from, do you have TVs?"

"What are those?"

"No? How about computers?"

"Um..."

"Manga? Do you have video games? How about air conditioning? Electric lighting? Indoor plumbing? Please tell me you have cool weapons, at least!"

"I wouldn't say cool, but we have swords and bows."

Pit buried his face in his hands in exasperation. "Where do you come from, Hyrule?"

"Where do you come from that has so many fancy things?", I countered.

"Oh, we don't have as much cool stuff as they have here," Pit admitted. "I was Lady Palutena's best soldier. Really more magical than technologically advanced. We at least had cool weapons, though.

"That's nice," I groaned. He was starting to sound a bit too far towards the arrogant side for my taste. Suddenly, someone walked through the door. A young man with a black bandana tied around his spiky dark blue hair glanced over at where Pit and I were sitting and glared at me. I started to feel as if I knew him from somewhere as he strode towards me. My memories of the previous night flooded back, and I recalled the young man who had been fleeing from the armored beasts.

"You. You were there last night, were you not?", I asked.

"Yes," he replied haughtily. "But what exactly were you doing there?"

"Running," I stated simply.

"From the soldiers or from something else?", he asked.

"Both," I admitted. "You see, I was getting sick of being royal and all the expectations and-"

He groaned. "Really? You have luxuries the rest of the universe would kill for, and you get sick of it? How idiotic and vain are you?"

"Excuse me, but you will not talk to me that way!", I exclaimed.

"Well, excuse me, but I thought you said you were sick of being treated differently! I'm just doing exactly what I would do for anyone else; tell them what a spoiled, selfish airhead they're being."

"I-"

"Feel entitled to far more than you deserve? Exactly. Some of us have hardships, and some of us are actually fortunate enough to have what they need and more. You could at least be grateful for the life you were fortunate enough to be born into, and not wish things were different because you get bored!"

His words burned like acid, but I knew they were true. I sighed. "I suppose you have a point," I admitted dejectedly.

"A- wait, what?"

"You have a point. I was stupid to have been so ungrateful. But, that doesn't mean I regret what I did. This place is lovely, and I will enjoy it here. Please tell me your name."

"It's Ike," he stated, still a bit dumbstruck. "Sorry. I can be a bit blunt sometimes. I guess I was just a bit frustrated, and you happened to be there."

"I forgive you. It is nice to meet you, Ike."

Suddenly, a loud voice that seemingly emanated from the walls cried out. "Newcomers Marth, Roy, and Ike will now report to the Training Room for their first fight. All who wish to see may report to the Observation Hall," it declared.

I started to ask Pit where the Training Room was, but a blue light soon enveloped me. White flashed before my eyes and I soon found myself in another place.

AN- I feel like I have more explaining to do than Rosalina did. I was unsure whether or not to use a more modern mansion or not, but I decided that if the creator of it could see other dimensions, and some realms represented there (I,e, Pokémon world, Mario world, etc.) had fairly modern technology, it would stand to reason that the mansion would as well. I just fear too much of these next few chapters will be spent with Marth being introduced to modern concepts. Also, I know, so much exposition, but I feel that's exactly what Marth needed to hear. I know Ike's appearance felt a little sudden, and he came off a bit too cruel and calmed down a bit too quickly, but just know that his and Marth's relationship is not even kind of finished developing.

Thank you for reading, and a really big thanks to Mariko Midori for her follow and penmaster13 for her follow, favorite, and kind words! You two rock, as does everyone else reading this! -Twilight Joltik

Next Chapter- Slightly epic fails...