In Marth's point of view, time suddenly froze like ice. His frightened eyes widening as he watched Master Hand, he possessively clutched the petrified Roy in his arms. The other brawlers could only stand and watch. Wanting to get a clear sight on the tense scene, Pit hoisted himself over Ike's shoulders. The anxious Ike didn't seem to mind. All he cared about was what Master Hand had to say about this. His ears drooping in worry, Link guiltily looked at the floor. If Roy and Marth got into trouble, he'll blame himself. Why? Maybe his questioning of Roy got the Hands suspicious! Fox and Falco kept their heads up for Master Hand's reaction. Well, at least Crazy Hand isn't here… right?

"Marth, what are you doing with Roy?" Master Hand sternly questioned the Prince of Altea. Marth did not know what to say. Roy just came out of nowhere! Master Hand floated to him and ordered, "Give him to me."

"Dame!" Marth exclaimed, clutching Roy so hard he could barely breathe. He refused to hand over his precious friend to the hand! They have been separated for months!

"Marth Lowell, hand him over." Master Hand commanded, his voice rising like his blood temperature.

"Dame!" Marth repeated stubbornly.

With a frustrated, heavy sigh, Master Hand took Roy by his purple cape and tried to forcefully pull him out of Marth's grasp. In response, Marth grasped the redhead tighter and began to dismally scream, "Dame! Dame! Dame!" Roy was as stiff as stone. What should he do? Should he struggle and protest?

Pit was greatly upset by the distressed sight. Why's Master Hand trying to take Roy away? What did he ever do to him?! Roy may be the kind of person to pull mischievous pranks but he isn't evil! Unable to handle the tension of the painful sight, Pit let go of Ike and began to quickly force his way through the crowd.

"Pit! What are you doing?!" Ike whispered to the angel in shock. Pit ignored him.

"Stop it!" Pit shouted crossly at Master Hand, who faced the enormous gloved hand. "Roy didn't do anything wrong, did he?!" Pit asked questionably. The other brawlers began to silently mutter to each other. Pit did have a good point. Master Hand alleged that Roy left the Smash Mansion forever, yet he's still here! Was that a immense lie?!

Master Hand took a quick glance at Roy and let go of his cape. As soon as when Master Hand drifted towards the crowd and began to shoo them away, Marth buried his tear-stained face into Roy's soft red hair and began to murmur Japanese words into his ears. Ike and Link immediately rushed towards their two Fire Emblem companions to see if they were ok. Fox and Falco decided to wait for the hallways to clear before entering the cafeteria; they didn't want to accidentally get trampled on. Despite the ache in his ribs, Ganondorf hurried out of the cafeteria before Master Hand took notice of him. He did not want to get scolded!

"Pit, may I have a small discussion with you in my office?" Master Hand sternly asked Pit. "It is about Roy."

Pit anxiously felt the white feathers of his wings stand up "S-Sure." Pit answered with a small, brave smile.

In the Hands' office, Pit was seated in front of Master Hand's desk. The afternoon sunlight that shimmered through the window slowly dimmed as twilight covered the darkening sky. Master Hand was busily rummaging through the file cabinet. Newspaper articles messily piled on the floor. Crazy Hand was also in the office, however he was emotionlessly seated at his desk like his brother.

"What are you looking for, Master Hand?" Pit curiously asked. "Do you need help?"

"Wait, hold on." Master Hand replied. "There, I found it!" He set a dusty newspaper article on his desk. The headlines which were printed in huge, bold letters read: "Melee Tournament Rejections". Pit hurriedly skimmed through the article as quick as a whip. It mentioned that fans were complaining about some of the characters. Mewtwo was said to be too harsh, Pichu was boring and weak, and Dr. Mario was a tad strange. What really caught Pit's attention in a net was when they stated Roy's reason for leaving the Smash Mansion.

"It said Roy needed to leave so he could take care of uprising problems in his homeland." Pit said, a bit confused. "But, he was in the attic all along…"

"That… was all a lie." Master Hand hesitantly confessed.

"So, some of the Melee brawlers were forced to leave just because the fans didn't like them?" Pit questioned, his tone of voice faltering.

"Yes." Master Hand answered. "We hate to see our fans disappointed." Pit was speechless for a minute.

"I'm confused." Pit finally said. "Did you actually tell Roy about what did everyone thought of him? Did he do something bad in response?"

"The story is…" Master Hand began.

It was a breezy November day. Although many people were excited for the upcoming holidays, the Hands didn't find this month pleasant. They had just received another pile of complaining letters from unpleased fans, which shared the same negative topic: some of the characters were "this" and "that". On that day, the Hands managed to convince almost all of the unwanted Melee brawlers to leave. However, they ran into a problem immediately.

Roy and Marth's skills were literally exact clones of each other, so any of them can be disqualified with no complaints from the fans. However, telling either one of them that he needed to leave was as hard as picking a single grain of sand with boxing gloves. The Hands saw the close relationship between Roy and Marth. Forcing one of them to leave would violently shatter both of their fragile hearts.

"Crazy, I just cannot decide." Master Hand said to his twin brother. "I don't want to hurt their feelings."

"I know." Crazy Hand replied, not feeling joyful and hyperactive. "Why don't consider the brawlers? Who's more loved; Roy or Marth?"

"Now that you mentioned it," Master Hand spoke, considering a solution. "Marth is adored more than Roy. W-Wait…" The stunned giant hand suddenly thought of a new problem. "But how can we tell Roy to leave?! If we tell him, he'll be hurt! Marth will eventually find out and be on his own! This decision will upset both of them!"

"Who's more mature?" Crazy Hand asked, desperately hoping to find a solution. "Although he's shy, I think Marth can handle Roy leaving. But judging on Roy's personality, he will defiantly be offended and greatly disappointed in himself."

Master Hand sighed loudly. "We just can't find a solution to this! If only if we can tell Roy to leave without hurting him!"

"Hey, Roy always understands Marth." Crazy Hand said. "Maybe Marth can explain to Roy why he needs to leave!" A light bulb lit in Master Hand's head.

"That's it!" he said. "All we need to do is ask Marth to tell Roy!" The hand turned on the intercom. "Marth Lowell, can you please come to the office? Thank you!" In a few minutes, Marth entered the office with a confused and scared look. Usually brawlers were called up by the Hands when they did something wrong or something terrible happened back in their homeland.

"Ah, Master Hand." The prince said timidly. He stood in front of Master Hand's desk. "Nandesu ka?" he asked, a bit terrified.

"Don't worry, Marth." Master Hand responded. "Nothing bad has happened. But, we had a request to ask you…"Master Hand explained to Marth about their current dilemma. At the mention of asking Roy to leave, Marth's eyes began to glitter with tears, however he nodded in understanding. "Will you do it?" he finished. "It's for the best of Roy."

Marth thought for a few, long seconds before answering. "Hai, ikitaidesu."

"Thank you." Master and Crazy Hand thanked graciously.

Marth went to the front yard, where Roy was looking for him. Marth clutched his mythical sword Falchion, which was encased in a sheath which hung around his belt. Can he really do this, he asked himself worriedly. He was afraid of Roy's brokenhearted response. He hates upsetting his only friend. With a small sigh, Marth looked up at the sky, which was covered by gloomy gray clouds.

"Marusu-kun!" Roy exclaimed when he spotted Marth. He hurriedly rushed towards his best friend which a cheery smile. "Doushita no?"

"Ah, nandemo naiyo." Marth answered, a gentle smile. "Roi-kun, kite kudasai."

"Nandesu ka?" Roy asked with a smile, completely unaware what was going to happen next.

Although it was cool outside, Marth felt a roll of sweat roll down his forehead and his hands began to tremble. How can he explain this to Roy? He doesn't want to hurt him! But, he can't disobey the Hands' orders! Panicking due to his conflicting emotions, the Prince of Altea suddenly shouted, "Mite!" and pointed to a random gray cloud in the sky. Roy turned around with an "Ah?" Not wasting a single precious second, Marth abruptly pulled the Falchion out of its sheath and violently slammed its hilt on the unaware Roy's head. The redhead's consciousness blackened and he stumbled down to the cold, hard sidewalk. Luckily, Marth caught him in his shaking arms and broke his fall.

Rain began to descent from the gray sky, soaking the two Fire Emblem swordsmen. Tenderly clutching the comatose Roy in his arms, Marth looked up at the sky with eyes full of guilt. Clutching his teary eyes shut, he let a choked cry escape his lips as he hurried back into the mansion. He can't do this! Roy is his only friend! He doesn't want to turn his best friend into an archenemy!

"Gomenesai, Roi-kun." He whispered to the redhead.

Master Hand and Crazy Hand looked up when they heard Marth enter their office. They were shocked when they saw him carrying Roy. What happened? Did Roy overreact and tried to beat Marth?

"Marth, what happened?" Master Hand worriedly asked. Marth sniffed loudly and shook a bit.

"Mou gaman dekinai…!" Marth whispered weakly. Master Hand was about to question what was the prince talking about when Crazy Hand spoke up.

"I think he trying to tell us that he can't tell Roy the truth." He said. Suddenly getting a possible solution, Marth went towards Crazy Hand and quickly whispered his idea into his ears(?). "Oh, are you sure you want to do that?" Crazy Hand carefully asked Marth, who responded with a stern nod.

"Hai." Marth emotionlessly answered.

"What does Marth want?" Master Hand asked.

Crazy Hand turned to his older brother. "He requested that Roy should be turned into a trophy and hidden away."

"That could work." Master Hand replied. "Marth, I think we got this taken care of. You may go now."

Master Hand gently took Roy from Marth and began to discuss about where to secrete him with Crazy Hand. As soon as Roy was out of his hands, Marth hurriedly left the office. He did not want to know where they are going to hide the red-haired swordsman, who was completely oblivious what was happening to him. A dark, shamefaced shadow covered his eyes. Coldly walking down the hallways like the grim reaper, Marth did not look back.

"…In the end, Roy was turned into a trophy and hidden in the attic." Master Hand finished. "We told everyone that Roy needed to depart to his homeland because something happened. We replaced him with Ike."

"What about the teleporter?" Pit asked. "It was missing a plug! What happened?"

"After when we locked Roy away, we starting receiving lots of letters from his family and friends." Crazy Hand explained. "It was bugging us, so we simply disconnected the only link to Pherae. We had the plug all along"

"I know that Marth, Crazy Hand, and I look like the bad guy here, but we did this just to keep Roy's well-being in one piece." Master Hand clarified, hoping to convince Pit they didn't do it out of nastiness. "

"I understand." Pit replied with a small smile. "I feel much better now. Do you know what's going to happen to Roy now?"

"We're not sure." Crazy Hand answered unfeelingly. "We might keep him or send him back, whether he likes it or not."

Pit jumped at the hand's icy statement. That was really nasty! "Well, thank you for telling me this. I feel calmer now."

"You're welcome." Master Hand returned.

Pit rose from his seat and headed out of the Hands' office, greatly relieved. The angel looked down at the floor, completely lost in thought. He was somewhat excited to tell the other brawlers about Roy's past. But it had a somber atmosphere to it. It may change the valued image of the Hands and Marth. Should he tell Roy, he wondered. He did not want to make him feel neglected! But, maybe he would understand if he said the Hands and Marth did it for a good cause.

Just when Pit left the office, he looked up and a certain pair of navy-blue eyes glazed into his indigo eyes. Roy was furiously glowering at Pit. He heatedly gnawed his sharp teeth and tightly clutched his fists. Pit anxiously jumped back a bit, his wings rising in defense. Oh no… did he…?

"Roy, you heard everything did you?" Pit apprehensively asked, fearing Roy's violent explosion of rage.

Roy's face tensed as he lowered his eyebrows. "Yes."

Author's Notes: CLIFFHANGERS! CLIFFHANGERS EVERYWHERE!

Next week is my important testing succession, so I may not update my fanfics until next week(?). Wish me luck! Oh yes, if you have any ideas on what should happen next, please let me know!

I had opened another poll, which involves the newspaper fanfic. (If you forgot who are the main characters, it's Toon Link, Lucas, and Ness.) It's asking whether I should include characters who aren't brawlers in SSBB. (Ex: Members of the Greil Mercenaries, Palutena, Star Fox Team members.) If you want (a) certain character(s) to appear in the story, please let me know in your review.

Japanese Translations:

Dame = No, in terms of "You can't"

Nandesu ka = What is it?

Hai, ikitaidesu = Yes, I will

Marusu = Marth

Doushita no = What happened?

Nandemo naiyo = Nothing happened

Roi = Roy

Kite kudasai = Listen please.

Mite = Look!

Gomenesai = I'm sorry

Mou gaman dekinai = I can't...

***I'm not an expert in Japanese. I just used Google to look for Japanese phrases, so their meanings may not be accurate.

Story Questions:

When and how should Roy's family and friends appear?

Who is the most relateable character in the story?

If you needed to tell a friend that s/he needed to leave the Smash Mansion forever, what would you do?

Do you think the Hands and Marth did the right thing?

Worst character in the story so far?

*****Also, I forgot to mention this, but I DO NOT own SSBB and its characters!