Ike was sitting underneath a weeping willow tree in the castle gardens. Trying to keep his mind off the nerve-wrecking, incoming war, he looked up at the sky. As the gold sun sank into the dark hills, the escaping light turned the blue realm into an explosion of orange, red, pink, dark blue, and purple.

Yes, the colors of the sky were beautiful. However, they did nothing to ease Ike's stress. He knew that the violent, blood-shedding war was going to occur tomorrow. This might be the last time he would see a sunset. If he was unlucky, he might get killed during the battle.

Ike knew that the best solution for this situation was to return to Hollow. At the same time however, he did not want to leave. He felt that fleeing to Hollow was an act of a coward. Yes, little blood might be shed, however there was a low chance of death. He wanted to show Demise what he, his friends, and Hyrule was made of!

Soft footsteps on the grassy ground caught Ike's attention. He looked at the source of the steps and spotted Link approaching him.

"Hey Link." Ike greeted, trying to hide his anxiety behind his small smile. "Do you need something from me."

"No, I don't." Link answered, smiling back. His smile fell into a frown, though. "But I need to tell you something."

"What it is?" Ike asked, oblivious to the seriousness that hung in Link's voice.

"You remember Prince Ike," Link began. "and his intentions?"

"Yes, I'm supposed to be the embodiment of his spirit!" Ike replied, not catching Link's hint. "He wanted to revive Medeus and the Earth Dragons to get back at Prince Marth!"

"Are you like him?" Link sternly asked, his azure eyes narrowing in doubt.

Ike was caught off-guard by Link's question. "No... I don't think so. Besides, when we went to see Tiki, she told me that even though I resemble him, I am willing to protect the things I love."

"So... Do you love the Surface?" Link questioned. "Would you do anything to protect it from destruction?"

"Yes, I would!" Ike answered, wondering why Link was asking so many questions.

"Even if it costs your life?"

"...Yes, maybe..." Ike unsurely answered. "Why are you asking me these questions, Link?"

A dark shadowed covered Link's emotionless eyes. He did not say anything.

"...Link? What's wrong?" Ike asked in concern. "Are you worried? You don't have to hide that from me!"

"...I'm sorry, Ike." Link suddenly said.

Link reached for his sword and pulled it out of its sheath. Much to Ike's shock and confusion, Link pointed the sword's razor-sharp, silvery blade directly at his chest. Feeling fear rise in his chest, Ike nervously backed away.

"Link? What are you doing?" Ike asked, trying to stay calm.

"I'm sorry, Ike." Link apologized, fighting back a tear. "But in order to win this war, you need to go."

"Why?!" Ike spat out in jolt. "Explain! Please!"

"When we were fleeing from the Risen, Ghirahim managed to follow us." Link explained, grasping his sword's hilt tightly. "Do you remember a voice talking to you?"

"Yes, I think." Ike answered. "The moment was blurry, but I can remember it."

"Since you are the embodiment of Prince Ike's spirit, Ghirahim or Demise himself managed to cast a hypnotizing spell on you." Link continued. "It only works on you. It won't affect anyone else. They tried to trick you into bringing Marth into their hands."

"I can fight against it, right?"

"I don't know; you immediately fell for the spell. I saw it with my own eyes!"

Ike noticed Link trembling slightly in nervousness.

"I know that this is murder, but you have to go!" Link concluded. "I'm sorry... I'm doing this for the future of the Surface! Do you accept my judgment?"

Ike was unsure. Yes, he did want to live. All living things had a natural tendency to do anything to stay alive. If Link were to attack him with no warning, he would do anything to live, even if it involved throwing a few punches at the blond.

Like Link said however, if Ike lived and went to war, he might unknowingly get hypnotized by Demise and unconsciously capture Marth for them, thus spelling the end of light for the Surface! In order to create a great future, sacrifices needed to be made. Ike finally decided that he must contribute to a better future, even if it removed him from the picture.

"Link, I accept your judgement." Ike calmly said, accepting his inevitable fate. "My life belongs to the Surface."

"Very well." Link bluntly said, positioning himself as he prepared to attack.

Link was about to lunge at Ike and jab his blade into his flesh when suddenly—!

"NO, STOOOPP!" Marth screamed in panic as he hurried towards the scene.

"M-Marth?!" Ike asked out loud in surprise, before the smaller bluenette tackled him, shoving him out of Link's attack range.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?" Marth shrieked, asking Link. His cerulean eyes were not wide with fear, but with disgust. "I DON'T CARE IF IKE TRIED TO CAPTURE ME FOR DEMISE! HE'S STILL MY BEST FRIEND!"

Link blankly looked at his sword and then the ground. He was speechless. Marth would rather get captured by Demise than accepting the death of his best friend?!

"...Link?" Marth asked, his voice softer and worried. "What's wrong?"

"Why did I think of that?" Link asked out loud as he dropped his sword onto the grassy ground and fell to his knees.

Ike and Marth hurried towards Link's side and sat next to him. "Link, are you ok?"

"I-I'm sorry, Ike." Link apologized, lightly clutching his head. "I don't know what got into me! It's just that—"

Ike interrupted Link with a smile that did not look fake. "It's ok, Link. I understand."

"We know that you were doing the right thing," Marth added. "but we can't just sacrifice Ike! He's our friend. Friends are like knights. We protect each other until the end!"

"You're right, Marth." Link replied, reassuring himself. "There HAS to be another way."

"No more sacrificing each other, ok?" Ike said, ruffling Link's dirty-blond hair.

Link gently swatted Ike's hand away. "No more." he said with a smile.

At that moment, Fox, Falco, Samus, Roy, and Eliwood the other five visitors from Hollow, were sitting outside, at the front of the castle. Unlike Ike, who tried to take his mind off the war by gazing at the lovely sunset, the five were discussing about the war. Like all of the residents of Hyrule, they did not want to lose to Demise. Losing the war was not an option!

"I can't believe that we are actually going to war tomorrow." Roy said, shaking his head in disbelief. "This is really stressful."

"I'm stressful too, Roy." Eliwood replied, giving his only son a pat on the head. "Nobody likes war."

"You know what sucks?" Fox spoke up. "We might not have enough people in our army. That's what I heard from Princess Zelda."

"Maybe Demise will give us a little mercy and cut back on the Risen?" Falco asked, trying to relieve the uneasiness among his friends. His sentence was answered with groans and shaking heads.

"It's no use." Roy huffed in frustration. "We might not win the war."

There was a moment of silence. The only things that were heard were the sounds of trickling water from the fountains, wind rustling the tree's leaves, and a lonely bird's chirping.

"You know, I hadn't been hearing much from Bowser." Samus spoke up, breaking the silence. "I know that Wolf was killed, but other than that, Bowser seems to be out of the picture now."

"The police back in Hollow noticed Bowser's and his men's suspicious activity." Eliwood explained. "They managed to discover their hidden base and capture the henchmen residing there. I assume that a few citizens heard about it."

"A few?!" Fox asked in shock. "There were hundreds of them in the hidden base when the police came! They must've gotten tired and suspicious of Bowser's activity!"

"Wait, hundreds?" Samus asked in bewilderment, turning to Fox.

"Maybe a thousand or more." Falco corrected. "Before we left for the Surface, I turned around and saw lots of citizens entering the base."

"Hold on, I have an idea!" Samus said. "Maybe we can gather some people in Hollow and bring 'em up here. They can join our army!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Falco asked doubtfully. "I don't think a thousand people is enough."

"It might work!" Fox said, about to explain to his partner. "They have advanced weapons. This might give us an advantage!"

"We need to try!" Roy said in determination. "It might work!"

"How about this: Fox, Falco, and I can hurry back to Hollow." Samus said, forming a plan. "Roy and Eliwood will stay here and tell Princess Zelda our plan. Got that?"

"That sounds like a good plan!" Fox replied. "But, how are we going to get there quickly?"

"Why don't you ride the pegasi?" Roy suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea." Falco replied. "We can cover lots of land that way!"

"Let's go, we can't waste any time!" Samus said, quickly getting up.

Fox and Falco nodded and followed Samus back into the castle. As Roy watched them leave, he asked, "Dad? Isn't the sunset awesome?"

"Sunset? That's what it's called?" Eliwood replied calmly. "It is beautiful. I never seen one before."

"Do you think we can beat Demise?" Roy asked again.

"I hope we can." Eliwood answered. "I don't want people to miss out on the sunsets."

Author's Notes: Sunsets!

Here's chapter 17! I already have chapter 18 finished, and I'm struggling trying to finish the final chapter as soon as possible, so hang on everyone! Hopefully, you guys did not mind the slow updates! I make it up with the quick updates. The next chapter will be uploaded tomorrow. If I managed to finish the last chapter, it might also be uploaded tomorrow as well!

Story Questions:

If you were Ike, would you accept Link's judgement, or not?

Do you think Link was doing the right thing?