Alright, guys, I am so, so, so, so, SO sorry for being exactly two months late. I feel completely awful for making you wait this long. Many, many sorries, gomen nasai, however you say sorry in Spanish, in Italian, in French, and in every other language there is. Including Pig Latin. Orry-say.
And also all those sorries for a bit of time traveling in here. Part 2 and 3 overlap in time a little bit, and I'll be continuing Part 2 from exactly where it left off next chapter. Which WILL be up sooner. I promise.
I'd like to thank three reviewers for giving me ideas for this chapter. One would be StuffJunkers, my first reviewer EVER for this fic. Next would be PyrroNeko, another awesome reviewer. And finally, midna-mew-eevee. Without her, I would have never entered the awesome world of MidnaxLink. Thanks, you guys!
And now, after that extremely long author's note, Peach, with our disclaimer!
Peach: UM owns nothing, and all characters belong to their respective owners. Please read!!
Not many people would think it possible to transform a gym into a halfway decent place to dance. But not many people have met someone like Peach. She must have been a miracle worker (or something of the sort) because the gymnasium, the largest room in Smash Mansion, definitely looked the part. Needless to say, all of the sports equipment had been moved to some other (most likely crowded) room, leaving the bare, polished wood as a perfect dance floor. Brightly colored streamers, quite a few of them pink, hung from almost every square inch of the ceiling. The buffet table was decorated with a very fancy table cloth, and it was lined with all types of food and drink imaginable, including punch, fruit salad, and blueberry pancakes topped with spaghetti sauce and garlic. While that appealed to some, others were awestruck by the lighting. Blue orbs floated through the air, giving off a magical glow. Though some of the orbs wandered aimlessly around the room, sometimes picking a couple to follow for a while, a great number were gathered in the center of the ceiling, forming a magical chandelier. It was beautiful, and no one could argue.
Although, a certain group of Smashers weren't very happy to see this gorgeous display, beautiful as it was. These five Smashers were Lucario, Pit, Mario, Ganondorf, and Dedede.
They were the dateless group.
Now, Lucario was probably the happiest of the dateless group, as he had actually joined willingly. He hadn't really wanted to take part in the ball but decided to anyway, just so he wouldn't be a "party-pooper," as Peach had told him many times. Now that he had gotten here, he found it rather fun, watching the couples try to dance and chuckling at their reactions when the blue orbs (which, he pointed out quite a few times, were his Aura Spheres held into the air by Ness's and Lucas's PSI power) started chasing them.
Pit was a bit more sullen. He had been too shy to ask anyone, and he had ended up being forced to come anyway (by none other than Peach). He would occasionally sigh or hum along to a song he knew, but other than that, he was sulky.
Mario was inhaling the buffet, denying every claim that it was comfort food.
Ganondorf had tried to put on his typical "I'm-the-King-of-Evil-and-I'm-too-cool-for-a-ball" attitude, sitting in a chair and crossing his arms. It wasn't too hard to see, however, that he was looking at Peach every chance he got.
And Dedede, who was now wishing he had accepted that date from Jigglypuff when she had asked ("Stupid Meta Knight taking my only stupid lifeline..."), looked ready to pound something into the ground with his hammer.
The five sat there, chuckling, sighing, eating, staring, and imagining they were smashing a blue puffball to a pulp, until one fat Italian plumber let out an enormous belch. You know, the kind that's followed by the sickening smell of whatever the person just belched up? Yep, that kind.
"Eww, Mario!" Pit faked a gag. "What did you eat?"
"The whole buffet table," muttered the penguin.
Mario sent Dedede a glare. "Shut up, fatty, you eat just as much as I do."
"Did you just call me fatty, fatty?"
"I think I just did!"
The two started arguing rather loudly. Pit slapped his head, Lucario nearly fell out of his chair laughing, and Ganon muttered something along the lines of, "Stupid moronic gluttons." Finally, the three were forced to interfere when Dedede grabbed his hammer and threatened to squash both Mario and the buffet table.
Pit grabbed the enormous mallet and held it back. "Stop, Dedede, that's dangerous!" he cried out.
"Yeah," Lucario chimed in, holding Mario back, "think of the poor buffet table!" This earned him a rather painful elbowing from the plumber. He let out a yelp and dropped Mario like a hot plate of pasta.
"Guys," said Ganondorf through his teeth, "people are staring."
The four stopped and looked at him. "Oh no, we can't have people staring," Dedede said. "Why, it would be horrible to add more staring to this group, because you're doing enough staring at Peach to last us a whole month!"
In less than a second, Ganon had his hand around the penguin's throat. "Say that again," he growled.
"You heard me," he choked out, "you've been looking at her the entire time we've been here."
"Why you..."
This time, none of them could stop the fight that ensued. In fact, they were all pulled into it. Multiple crashes, shouts, and clatters could be heard. Though people had indeed stared at first, they went back to their own business now. It wasn't an uncommon sight.
Unfortunately, one blue hedgehog got a bit too close. "Hey, guys?" asked Sonic. "Can I hang out with y—WHOA!" Pulled into the fight, he was swung around a couple of times until he landed full force into Pit's face, knocking them both over into a folding chair, which promptly folded on both of them. The chair landed right on Lucario's toe, causing him to jump up in pain and ram into a rampaging Dedede, who fell into Mario, who fell into Ganondorf, who fell into the punch bowl. And so it ended.
Mario, squashed underneath ten tons of fat blue penguin, struggled to pull himself free as he said, "What is it, Sonic?"
Said Sonic's lungs were at the present moment being crushed by the folding chair, so the most he could let out was a hoarse whimper. Pit had been lucky enough to only get his legs caught, and he said, "I second that emotion. Help!" Dedede pulled himself off of the plumber and began to pry the chair open. A punch-covered Ganondorf rose to help, too. Finally, the chair popped back open, and Sonic had a very happy reunion with air.
"Thanks," he gasped. "Can I hang out with you? Blaze is starting to freak me out."
"'Freak you out'?" Dedede questioned. "How so?"
The hedgehog rammed a thumb in the direction of the cat. "She's arguing with Peach," he said. It was true, the princess and Blaze were indeed arguing. Not much could be heard, but they were able to pick out bits and pieces, such as "Falco" and "I called first." Poor Bowser, held in Peach's death grip, had been dragged into this mess and, noticing the dateless group (plus Sonic) staring at them, sent a Dear god, I beg of you, get me out of here! face.
Most of the group simply sighed with sympathy, but Ganon's eyes went wide. "What if she looks over here?!" he cried. "I'm covered in freakin' punch! I'll be right back!" The Gerudo made a one-man dash for the bathroom.
Sweatdrops from across the board.
"Sure, you can hang out here," said Lucario, offering Sonic the chair. A look of terror on his face, he politely refused. "Suit yourself," said the Aura Pokémon, sitting on it.
It folded again.
One excruciating excavation operation later, Lucario grabbed the chair and tossed it into the nearest trash can. "Good riddance!" he shouted. Just then, Ganon arrived.
"...You're still covered in punch," Dedede pointed out.
"Long line at the bathroom?" asked the angel.
Ganondorf shook his head. "More like epic battle at the bathroom. R.O.B. and Game & Watch are near ready to gorge each other's eyes out over the bathrooms."
"Mr. Game & Watch doesn't have eyes," said Mario. He was ignored.
"Hey, hand me a few thousand of those napkins, why don't you?" the Gerudo asked. Sonic took the whole pile and handed it to him. "Thanks much."
Ganon started to wipe the punch off of him while the others sat down in moderately safe folding chairs and began talking.
"Mario, is it true that your brother's date is from another planet?" asked Pit.
"Galaxy, actually," he corrected. "Pass me a pancake."
Taking the plate and giving it to the plumber, Dedede said, "I can't believe Peach forced me to come."
"I can't believe Peach came up with this stupid idea in the first place," sighed Lucario. "It's her fault that I'm sitting here watching my Aura Spheres scare the heck out of people."
Ganondorf, finally punch-free, glared at him. "Don't blame Peach!" he snapped.
"You know what, Ganon?" said the angel. "You seem to like Peach so much, how about you go ask her to dance with you?"
"WHAT?!"
Both Mario and Ganon shouted this. Face turning red, the plumber returned to his pancake. "I'm not pining!" he added quickly.
The King of Evil's face was also red. "Are you kidding me? I think Bowser sharpened his claws!"
"Now, not to be mean to Peach or anything," Lucario said, "but I'm pretty sure that, at the moment, Bowser would be happy to give her up for a few minutes." They all looked back to Peach, who was still arguing with Blaze and still holding a certain Koopa captive.
"...Fine," said Ganon at last.
He got up, brushed himself off, and casually walked away. The rest of them watched him go. Then, Lucario rose as well.
"Where are you going?" Sonic asked. The Aura Pokémon sent him a devious grin.
"I'm going to get my camera," he said. "Do you know how many awkward pictures we could get out of this?"
Alright. She just had to breathe. Slowly. In and out. Nice, deep...
Aw, screw it. Her heart rate was making a supersonic jet look slow.
Jigglypuff glanced over towards Meta Knight, her hand still in his. So far, there hadn't been very many good dancing songs. Crazy Hand had somehow convinced Peach to give him the position of "Honorary Ball DJ of Awesomeness." Self-named, obviously. But it made for songs of many different genres, including that one heavy metal one that made Peach look like she was about to die multiple times.
Long story short, though. They hadn't danced yet. The two had walked around, basically staying with Samus and Wolf, talking to some people and their dates. That was it.
The butterflies in her stomach were getting impatient.
Well, that was a lie. Half of the butterflies in Jiggly's stomach were getting impatient. The other half was scared stiff. For, despite all her hype and excitement, while she was walking down the stairs, she was truly nervous. She was still truly nervous. She was having a good time, but she was still truly nervous.
But if Meta was nervous, he didn't show it. He seemed perfectly calm as they walked around, squeezing back whenever she squeezed his hand. Jiggly always wished that she was able to see behind that mask. Sure, Meta would drop hints at his emotions with his eyes, and usually his tone of voice, which Jiggly had learned to follow fairly well after knowing him for so long. But when he truly went to the trouble to hide his feelings, to keep his voice where he wanted it to be, to keep his eyes that bright amber, his emotions remained hidden even to her.
And that was why, even though they were now the best of friends, Meta Knight was still one of the most mysterious people Jigglypuff had ever met.
"Jigglypuff, are you there?" His voice brought her back into reality.
"Huh?" Samus, standing next to them, laughed.
"Jiggs, we've been calling your name for the past minute," she said.
Wolf pointed a clawed finger. "Yeah," he said, "look!" The balloon Pokémon followed his claw to see a sight she would have never expected to see in the entirety of her life.
She squinted, disbelieving. "That's...That's not Ganondorf, is it?"
"It is," said Meta. "Hard to believe he's dancing with Peach."
"It's not even that good of a dancing song," observed Wolf. "Though I'm not an expert on dancing songs, not at all!" he added quickly.
Samus wrapped her arms around his neck. "You know, that's what I love about you, Wolf," she said, though she probably didn't realize what she was saying. "Face it. You know more about girl stuff than I do."
"I don't!"
"You do," she laughed.
"Don't!"
Meta and Jiggly chuckled. They are cute together, thought Jiggly. Adorable. And, suddenly, a memory flashed through her head.
"Well, you two are such good friends," the princess told her, "and you guys do make a cute...ouch!"
Of course, Samus's elbow had cut off the rest of the sentence, but now Jigglypuff found herself thinking. Did Peach mean to say that...she and Meta Knight...made a cute...couple?
But, no! They were friends! F-R-I-E-N-D-S, friends. There was no way that they were anything more! She was a hyperactive, slightly annoying ball of fluff. He was...He was amazing. He wouldn't even dream of considering her anything other than a friend. It was impossible! There was no way that she and cool, smart, caring, mysterious, plain out amazing Meta Knight could ever, ever, be anything more than friends.
But she was fine with that. It was just the way it would be. Friends will be friends and everything like that, and she had no problem with it, no, no problem at all. No problem at all, nope, not even the fact that, who was she kidding, she was completely and totally not fine with it and regretted every moment now how it was never going to change, but she probably should stop thinking about it before she completely burst into tears.
When had it started? Just now, as she was thinking about it? The night of the horror movie? The sunset? Or had it been from the beginning, lying in the shadows, ready to pounce at now of all times?
Jigglypuff took a deep breath. Alright, calming down now. He was here, with her, even though he'd never feel anything for her, so, maybe, for tonight, she could just pretend and maybe be content with herself.
Suddenly, Bowser appeared right next to them. "Hey," he said. "Why are we all staring at Peach and Ganon?"
"I can't believe you let him dance with her," said Samus.
"Well, if you had to endure a fifteen minute argument on which stupid call to that Katt Monroe chick got through first, you'd do anything to get away for a few minutes." Then he cringed. "Don't tell Peach I said that, though," he added.
They all nodded. Strange as it sounded, they did want Bowser in one piece by the time the ball was over.
The Koopa clicked his claws together. "Oh, Meta?" he asked. "Can I ask you something?" He glanced around the group, particularly at Samus and Jiggly. "In private?"
Meta looked over to the balloon Pokémon. Though she really, really didn't want to let go, she released his hand and nodded. "Be right back," he told her quietly. Then he followed Bowser. Wolf, curiosity sparked, immediately gave the same response and slinked after them.
The two girls were left alone. Samus said, "Should we go, too?" Jigglypuff shrugged.
"I think I'm gonna go to the buffet for a minute." Maybe some food in her system would calm her down a bit. "You do what you want," she said. The bounty hunter instantly got up and followed her date. Jiggly felt a smile creep onto her face, and then she left for the table of food.
She had barely picked up a plate when she saw another sight she would never had expected to see in the entirety of her life.
"Oh. My. God. Kirby?!"
"Hi Jigglypuff!"
The pink puffball looked like the equivalent of Tiny Tim after he had been run over by two cars and sustained major head injuries. He was covered from head to toe in bandages and was leaning on an oversized crutch. In his other stubby hand was a plate full of food that looked heavy enough to topple him over.
"K-Kirby?! You made it?!" she stuttered in disbelief. Well, this was awkward. How was she supposed to tell him that she was at the ball with his rival?
"Yep!" said Kirby happily. "Peach came in this morning and said that I'd be able to go to the ball tonight!" He stuffed a chicken leg in his mouth. Jiggly stayed quiet.
Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap what to say what to do oh crap oh crap...
Kirby seemed to notice. "What's wrong, Jiggs?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing!" she replied. He smiled.
"Jigglypuff, I know that you're here with Meta Knight," he said.
The balloon Pokémon was hit with that weird feeling you get when you know that you look like an idiot but you really can't do anything about it. "You...You do?" she asked. "You're...okay with it?"
Kirby laughed. "Yeah, I am. You had no idea I was coming until now, obviously." He began to wobble a little bit, probably because of the plate, so Jiggly quickly grabbed him a chair and made him put the food on the table. "And, besides," he said, "I think it's better that you go with him anyway."
The idiot feeling hit again. "Wh-what?!"
The pink puffball made a motion for her to sit down as well. "Did I ever tell you," he asked, "about what Meta Knight was like before he came here?" She shook her head. "Well, he was nowhere near what he's like now," Kirby explained. "Back then, he was all stiff, cold, distant. He talked to nobody that he didn't have to. I thought he was one of the strangest, most antisocial people I'd ever met." He smiled at her. "Then, he got the invitation to stay at Smash Mansion. I, well, kind of forced him to accept," he laughed. "But, anyway, once he got there, he started to, well, change."
Kirby paused, maybe for dramatic effect, maybe to give himself a moment to think if he should tell her or not.
"He started to change...when he met you," he said at last. "He was happier, he was talking more. I think..." He trailed off.
"You think what?" asked Jiggly, eyes wide, eager to hear more. Kirby shook his head.
"I'm just making assumptions," he said. "It's nothing."
Jigglypuff made the best puppy dog face she could muster. "Please tell me!" she said, sniffling. "Please?"
Kirby simply ignored her. "I said it's nothing."
"Five pounds of fudge says it's not."
"I think..." Kirby said, without missing a beat, "...that the reason he started changing is because he likes you."
Okay, this time, the idiot feeling went beyond the idiot feeling. Jigglypuff felt her mouth dropping fifteen inches. "...You're joking with me. That's mean, Kirby," she said.
"I'm not joking," he said. "In fact, I'm fairly certain that I'm right."
Jiggly shook her head. "No, that's not possible."
Kirby smiled. "How about you ask him yourself?" he said, motioning to the now-approaching Meta, followed by Bowser, somewhat sullen, and Samus and Wolf, laughing immensely.
"First Wolf, now Bowser," she heard Meta muttering. "What do I look like, the romance guru? Holy heck...Kirby?"
"Hola, Meta!" said the pile of bandages. The masked warrior gave a questioning look.
"Are you...alright?"
"Are you kidding me? Did you see this plate?!" Kirby motioned towards his food goldmine.
Meta sighed. "I forgot," he said. "If there's food, you're always alright." Just then, an actual dancing song came on (really? I'm astounded.)
Samus immediately grabbed Wolf and pulled him out onto the dance floor, shouting to Bowser, "Go steal your woman back!" Bowser looked to the three puffballs.
"Is it me, or did that raspberry lemonade Samus had have a bit too much sugar on the edge of the cup?" They shrugged, and the Koopa went off to go grab Peach.
Meta Knight turned to Jigglypuff. "Jiggly, do you want to...?" She was already up and at his side, hand in his.
"Sure," she answered, smiling. She squeezed his hand again, like she had done at least fifty times during this ball. And, for the fiftieth time, he squeezed back. The two started for the dance floor, and Jiggly gave Kirby a small wave.
The last thing she saw of him before he buried his face in food was him mouthing, "He so likes you."
"...Mids, you look awesome tonight."
Midna felt a blush form on her face. "Oh...Thanks, Link." Link smiled, and she smiled back, though shakily. The present she had bought was tucked safely in the black and white pocketbook that matched her dress perfectly. She hoped that Blaze was right, that it would work.
The two were sitting down with their food at the present moment. Link had practically inhaled his meal, but Midna had barely touched hers out of nerves. Right now, looking at the Hero of Light was turning her face the same shade as her hair, so she glanced around the room.
There were couples everywhere: Wario and Mona (at the buffet table); Ike and Lyn (the former shamelessly flirting with the latter); Snake and Mei Ling (the former being shamelessly insulted by the latter); Peach and Ganondorf...Peach and Ganondorf?! She didn't want to know. But (with the exception of Snake) they all seemed to be having a good time. So why couldn't she just suck it up and have a good time, too?
It was the present. Definitely the present. The fear that, when she gave it to Link, that he wouldn't like it, or, even worse, that he would like it, but that he wouldn't realize what it meant, what she meant, what she felt. She was after a Cinderella ending, and some part of her knew that her expectations were a tad too high.
"Midna, you're going to be starved the rest of the night if you don't eat that," he said. She looked up.
"Oh, I'm not that hungry," she said quickly.
Link gave her a look. "You're always hungry, Mids. What's wrong?"
She blushed. "Nothing!" she said. He shrugged and returned to his food, but not before giving her another strange look. Midna sighed. There was no way she would be able to do this. She was going to completely fall apart before the first dance.
And as if "first dance" were the magic words, the techno music that had been previously playing suddenly switched to a nice, slow song. Perfect for dancing.
Here's my chance!
Midna looked to Link. He glanced between her, the dance floor, and the last piece of chicken he had on his plate, but then he got up and offered her his hand. She felt her heart doing somersaults. Pulling herself together, Midna took the hand and followed him onto the dance floor.
Now, if ever there was someone who couldn't dance for his life, it would have to be Link. Look up "two left feet" in the dictionary and you'll see his picture right next to it. But, at the moment, Midna didn't care. Sure, it was pretty obvious that she was leading as they danced. But, still...
"Hey, Midna?" said Link.
"Yeah?"
"Did I tell you you look awesome tonight?"
See? This was why she didn't care. "You could always tell me again," she sighed.
Link grinned. "You look awesome tonight."
Her heart changed from somersaults to flips. Soon, the talking stopped. It was just her and him, gazing into each other's eyes. Link stepped on her foot more than a few times, but she didn't even feel it. There was nothing in her mind except those eyes.
The song began to draw to a close. Midna finally broke eye contact, resting her head on Link's shoulder. She felt the arm around her waist pull her in a bit closer. And then, she heard a little voice in her head.
"At a nice romantic moment," said Blaze.
The present! A nice romantic moment?
"Like NOW!!" shouted the Blaze-in-Midna's-head.
Oh! Oh! Now! The song ended, but Midna couldn't break away.
"Link?" she asked.
He pulled away so that he could look at her. "Yeah, Mids?"
Her hand went for her pocketbook, but her eyes were still on his. "I...I've got something for you," she stuttered, finally managing to get the small box out of the pocketbook. Finally forced to let go of him, she handed him the box.
Link's eyes went wide, like a young boy's at Christmastime. Carefully, he tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box. Midna held her breath as he pulled it out.
"...It's a piece of hawk grass!" he said, looking at it. Midna let out a breath of relief. There was definitely delight in his voice.
"Remember when you told me how you always regretted that Master Hand never planted hawk grass?" she asked. The Hero of Light nodded, putting the grass up to his lips and blowing a note. "Well," she continued, "I just thought...maybe...it would remind you of what we did together, you know." It sounded horrible, and her face was bright red. "Just so...you'd...remember me..."
Link smiled at her. "I'd never forget you, Mids," he said. "Thanks so much." And he leaned over and kissed her.
Midna's heart did a triple flip and meowed. She was seeing stars. Oh my god, oh my god, thank you, Blaze!
After an initial moment of shock, she leaned into the kiss, too. It was everything she had hoped for. Everything and more. Well, she thought, maybe a lucky few get a Cinderella ending, after all.
Finally, they broke away. Midna swore she heard Zelda's voice screaming, "Go Midna!" in the background. She smiled. Link smiled back.
"Mids," he said again, "you look awesome tonight."
She took his hand. "You do, too."
Again, sorry if it was horrible. The next one will be up much sooner, I promise. It has to be, or brickthrower21 will get mad at me. ;p (hands him metal objects) You know what to do with these if I get too slow.
Cookies to all my reviewers! And extra cookies if you catch the Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door reference!
Ciao!
-Umbreon Mastah