Chapter 8: Link Comes Home

Outside the ruins of Midgar, Tifa saw Sonic, Pac Man, Megaman, Ryu, Snake and Bayonetta sitting on some rocks.

"What happened here?" Tifa asked.

Sonic grinned and said proudly. "We managed to force the villains to retreat back to Smash Mansion."

"However, I am a bit concerned about Ganondorf. When he retreated, he did say something unsettling." Bayonetta commented.

"He said "Even if I failed, I still get to see that meddling boy die". I assumed he's talking about Link" Snake said, concerned for his comrades.

But then, the conversation stopped saw the clouds faded away and rain poured on them.

"Well I'd say he will be disappointed" Ryu said.

"Why say that, Ryu?" Asked Megaman.

Then, they heard the sound of a bike coming towards them, to which they all rose in surprise to see Cloud coming towards them on Fenrir, while Link, who looked back to his old self, was resting on his back.

"Link?" Bayonetta asked upon seeing the pair.

"Is he...?" Pac Man then asked, but Cloud smiled and replied. "Don't worry. He is much alive still. He's just sleeping."

"So it's all over?" Snake asked, sighing in relief.

"Yeah, after the battle, I destroyed Sephiroth's sword, so it can never possess anyone else again." Cloud replied.

Hearing that, Tifa smiled, relieved to see both Cloud and Link were both alright.

"Poor guy. He must be exhausted from staying awake for most of the weeks and being possessed by Sephiroth." Sonic said.

"Let's get him home." Ryu suggested, making Cloud nod in reply before he used his Materia to open the portal outside the Smash Mansion.

It was night there but they decided to go.

"Tifa, will you be okay coming back with us?" Snake questioned.

"No, I must stay here and look after Denzel and Marlene. Cloud, you still have many battles to fight in that tournament. I will wait for you to come home." Tifa replied, smiling at the blond, who smiled back and replied. "Ok, it's a promise."

With that said, Tifa approached Cloud and then kissed his cheek.

"Good luck."

And with that, the third party characters entered the portal, while Tifa looked up to see the light shone down on her, as if she had a feeling who was looking out for Cloud.

"Somehow, I knew you all are looking out for him from your worlds. Thank you all." She whispered.

-Smash World-

The darkness of the night was still out, to which Zelda, Toon Link, Mario, Peach, Luigi, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, Krystal, Pikachu, Lucario, Marth, Ike, Roy, Ness, Lucas, Shulk and Pit watched on in hope.

Suddenly, the sun rose from the horizon, and they then saw seven figures emerge from the distance, before they heard a familiar voice call out. "Hey guys!"

"It's Sonic!" Luigi called, before realizing. "Then that means..."

"Link!" The others called out, before they all saw Cloud coming on his fenrir, with Link resting on his back.

Approaching them, the group watched as Cloud then picked Link up and carried him to the hospital wing, making Zelda smile, relieved to see Link's hair back to normal, meaning he was alright.

'Cloud. Thank you for keeping your promise.' She thought, glad that the hero of Hyrule was back.

-Several days later-

A slow groan was heard as Link slowly opened his eyes after a very long sleep and saw that looking down on him was Zelda and Toon Link.

"Link... are you alright?" Zelda asked gently, though still concerned for him.

"Zelda... Toon Link..." Link managed to get out, causing both Zelda and Toon Link to smiled upon hearing his voice again.

Link looked around to see that he was in a hospital bed, covered with bandages, which were wrapped around his forehead, chest and arms, before the Hyrulian then saw that Zelda and Toon Link were not the only ones by his side, for he then saw Mario, Fox, Shulk and Pikachu in the room too, all smiling at him and Sonic, Ryu and Bayonetta stand by.

"I am so sorry. I caused you all so much trouble." Link said, his tone and expression turning solemn.

"Think nothing of it, Link. We're just so happy you're back." Fox replied.

"You been out for five days now. After everything you've been through, you needed as much sleep as you could." Toon Link told his alter ego.

"Five days!? That's twenty five training sessions that I missed!" Link said, shocked.

"You can do maths while in a dream-like state?" Mario asked, amused.

"Yeah, and he trains five times a day." Shulk laughed, while Pikachu giggled.

While embarrassed a little, Link then changed the topic and had to ask. "Where's Cloud?"

"He's with Rosalina, talking about something." Ryu replied, before insisting. "First, you need to get something to eat and then you can go see him."

"Agreed." Link said, before he nodded and smiled.

Glad to see her hero awake and smiling again, Zelda smiled too, before she kissed Link on the cheek, surprising him.

"Welcome back." She said happily.

-At the balcony-

"So that woman was Cosmos, the goddess of Harmony?" Rosalina asked as Cloud was adorned in his SOLIDER clothing, while his forehead and arms had been bandaged.

"Yes, and I think it's thanks to her that the heroes from other worlds came to help me as well as Zack." Cloud said.

"Well I am just glad Link's ok now and that is everything is over." Rosalina replied.

"Yeah." Cloud said, before he suddenly remembered as he still had something of Link's in his pocket.

His cap.

"I have to go. I have one last thing to do." Cloud said, before he turned around and left, while Rosalina smiled, knowing what it was.

-In the hospital wing-

Link was feeling a lot better after a good meal and rest, as Fox then helped him out of bed and help him stand, for he was still a little wobbly.

"Easy there, my friend. Your body is still not used to stand on its feet yet." Fox explained, before the pair were interrupted as Cloud then entered the room, causing Link to say. "Oh... Cloud?"

"I think this belong to you." Cloud then said, to which he withdrew Link's cap and then handed it to his friend.

Link smiled as he put it on and let the back of his cap fall back over his head, before he told Cloud. "I owe you big time, Cloud. You really saved me back there."

"Well, I still want to get Ganondorf back for putting you in trouble to begin with!" Fox scowled, knowing that the Demon King still hadn't got his comeuppance.

"Don't worry about that. I asked Pikachu and Kirby to do a little favor." Link assured Fox with a big grin, before he then turned back to Cloud and asked. "So Cloud. Is there anything I can do to repay you?"

"First, you need to get your strength back. And once you're back to full strength, I want to fight you again. Only this time, we won't hold anything back." Cloud smirked as he held out his fist.

Link smirked back as he put his fist on Cloud's and told him. "You're on!"

-Meanwhile-

"What? Link still lived?!" Ganondorf yelled, for Bowser had just delivered the bad news.

"Thanks to that meddling Square Enix hero, he foiled everything!" Bowser replied.

"I cannot believe he is still alive after all that." Mewtwo sighed, just as Bowser Jr and Wario, under Bowser's order, then brought several huge crates of Bob-ombs in the room.

"Curse him! He always find a way to survive!" Ganondorf snarled, clenching his right hand into a fist, which radiated with his dark power.

"Pika, Pika!"

They all turned to see Pikachu, Yoshi and Kirby, whose cheeks were bloated, standing just outside the room, both had mischievous smirks on their faces, to which Kirby then spat out one of Link's bombs they had borrowed, gave it to Pikachu, who tossed up and down in his paw.

"Pika, Pika, Pikachu." Pikachu then said.

"He said 'Present from Link' but..." Mewtwo interpreted, before gasping as Pikachu then threw the bomb towards the crates of bob-ombs, used his Thunderbolt on the security panel, causing the door's system to malfunction, shutting the villains in.

Bowser looked a little scared as Ganondorf, Mewtwo and the others all glared at him and yelled. "BOWSER!"

The whole dorm then exploded, while outside from inside Pikachu, Yoshi and Kirby were rushing back to the others, laughing and giving each other high fives along the way.

A/N: Thank you all for reading this.