Chapter 115: Selfish Goals
August 17th
Smashville
Main Mall
With the sun setting, Marth, Chrom, Roy, and Ren followed their feline friends, Duck Hunt and Incineroar as their sniffing source to sniff out the princesses' whereabouts. So far with a long time of aimless searching, no hint whatsoever.
"Arrrhhh. . ."
"Quaaack. . ." Both tired, Duck Hunt let out a whiny tone, after searching in the hot sun.
"Nothing?" Marth crossed his arms, letting out a sigh. "You two outta be grilled alive! Can't do jack!"
"Then how about you get on your four legs and crawl?" Incineroar hissed.
Marth froze at the large monstrous cat and turned to Roy. "I thought you had that thing under control. And it dared to talk back to me?"
Roy frowned. "Hey, don't be a bitch, Wiggles! Bitches get stitches!"
Remembering the scars on his back, Inceneroar kept silent regardless of Roy's unbothered orders.
Ren looked around the crowd of people walking back and forth, adjusting his glasses. "This may take a while. . ."
"You're right. . ." Roy sighed, putting his hands over his head, as he gazed up at the sky. "I should've followed Ike and Richter to the steakhouse. . . I'm so hungry."
"Then go with them. Nobody's stopping you." Marth said.
"I don't wanna. . . Those two like to pay for their own meals." Roy pouted. "And I'm the type to use the bathroom once the bill comes out."
"Perhaps we should take a break," Chrom suggested.
"It's going to be dark. . . I just hope we had at least some kind of clue." Marth said.
(oOoOoOo)
Steakhouse
"This steak is the best steak ever," Richter said, after chewing his first bite. "I could hit this every day."
"Can't agree more." Ike nodded, picking the whole slab steak with his fork and gobbling up. "On God?"
"Dead-ass!"
"Sheeesh!"
"Sheeeesh!"
"You want rice?" Min Min handed two steaming bowls of hot rice from her ramen cart she personally brought into the Steakhouse. There were a lot of people giving off stares in their direction. "Steak good with rice, yes?"
"Ah, yeah, thanks." Richter took both of the bowls, passing one of them to the mercenary.
"So, Min Min. . ." Ike said, staring at the bowl of rice. "Do you usually do this? Ballsy enough to bring your own food business to other privately owned places?"
"It's smart. Make money. Steal customers, yes?" Min Min smiled. "It's great for business. But, Min Min must be careful. . . or else-"
"Hey!" The owner marched his way toward Min Min, after hearing complaints about another food business selling their food in their restaurant.
"You're not allowed to do this! Leave or I'll call the cops!" The owner pointed.
"Aiya! Min Min leaving!" Min Min grabbed a couple of their Steakhouse napkins before dashing out of the restaurant with her ramen kart. Richter and Ike stared at her back, watching the whole thing unfold.
The owner walked up to the two Smashers. "I'm sorry about that. Immigrants like her don't know when to quit."
"It's no problem. . ." Richter laughed. "Although, her bothering us made me think it was you guys trying to put out a performance. Like, I asked for your Cajun Potatoes. And all I got was this Chinese girl handing us WHITE rice."
"My apologies, we'll get your Cajun Potatoes right now. Because of the confusion, it'll be on the house." The owner paced away from their table and headed to the kitchen.
Richter lowered his head, leaning over to Ike. Grinning ear to ear, he scoffed a bit. "And that, my friend, is how you get free food. . . God is my witness."
"I'll be damned. You know so many hacks. . ." Ike said. "Let's just pray it doesn't take you to jail."
"Us." Richter corrected. "When someone knows my secret, they're going down with me." Lifting his back, Richter grabbed his jug of beer and carried it over to his lips. "Don't worry, I prayed to God earlier this morning, so we're good to go when we sin. We'll be coming back here tomorrow and trying their most expensive steak on their menu. . . for free. Using Min-Min as good ol' bait."
"You act like you've done this before." Ike eyed him strangely.
After trying heavy gulps, Richter set his jug of beer down on the wooden table. "We don't speak of the past, my friend."
(oOoOoOo)
Despairful Gifts
Mega Man led Cloud, Tifa, Miru, and Marmalade to the shop the night where he purchased the black feathers. Entering the shop, Tifa scrunched her nose from the odd smell of tar and old wood.
"Smells weird. . ." Tifa commented.
"Wamee. . ." Marmalade groaned. "Like old cheese. . ."
"This is where I got the feathers. I'll go talk to the owner." Mega Man said, walking up to the front desk. The group followed Mega Man from behind and waited.
"Hey, Mister! You here?!" Mega Man called out, after seeing nobody at the front desk.
"Just a second!" The voice answered back from behind the doors. After a few minutes of waiting, the owner appeared out from the back door.
Not only his lips, but his eyes came into a smile. "Hello, my midget Ironman! What can I get for you- -eek!"
The tip of the Buster sword grazed the edge of his neck as a blood bubble formed beneath his chin.
Cloud glared at the owner. "Why do you have Sephiroth's feathers?"
"Um. . . wait! I can explain!" The owner panicked.
"My friends disappeared because of those feathers!" Mega Man cried, leaning toward the owner's face with desperate eyes. "Please, how do I bring them back?"
"Sir, like I said- -" He took in a gasp of air and let out a shaky breath with his eyes glued to the sword. "The feathers are filled with despair, it was sealed the first time I received them. And you, my friend, are the first to use them."
"Can you tell us who gave you those feathers? What did they look like? Is it a man with silver hair?" Tifa then asked.
The owner placed his finger below his lips. "Um. . . I believe a man with a scary-looking scar. . . scars actually. He was wearing a nice suit and tie. "
"A suit?" Miru asked.
"Yeah. . . I think he had a dinner date or something. Didn't want to pry. . . hehehe. Someone as hopeless as me could never afford such luxury." The owner let out a breath of relief when Cloud began to lower his sword away from his chin.
"Do you still have any more of the feathers?" Tifa added.
"Nope, my iron midget man bought the first and last."
"It's pointless if he doesn't have anything," Cloud said, putting away his sword behind his back. He began walking away from the group.
"Sorry if I didn't have anything to help your friends. . ." The owner rubbed his head.
With no answers, the group left the antique shop as the owner waved goodbye.
Cloud turned to Mega Man once he was out of the store. "Do you still have Sephiroth's feathers?"
"Um. . . yeah." Mega Man counted with his fingers, indicating the total. "Maybe five feathers. With three attached to a card. . . and two in a bottle, that makes five."
"What do you plan to do with them?" Tifa asked.
"Yeah. . . I'm quite not getting it. Peach, Daisy, Makato all came into contact with those feathers and disappeared. . ." Miru said.
"That's what we'll do." Cloud then said.
"Huh?" The group looked at Cloud with a confused stare.
Cloud turned his back away from the group and walked ahead. "We'll disappear."
Marmalade tilted her head. "Wamee? I don't get it."
"Ah. . ." Understanding what Cloud meant by disappearing, Miru gave a firm nod. "By disappearing, you mean to go wherever they were. With five feathers. . . one for each person, it'll act as a teleporting device."
"Wow. . . amazing! Then it should locate where the girls are! We'll have to tell the other Smashers!" Tifa smiled.
(oOoOoOo)
Smash Mansion
Once Mega Man's group reached back home, Mega Man hurried to collect the remaining feathers. Or so he thought he would.
He panicked, as his breathing quickened at a faster pace. "It's not there. G-gone! How?!" Falling to his knees, he felt despair tumbling down on him.
"Someone must have taken them, figuring out the trick to this." Tifa frowned. "Maybe we should ask the Smashers?"
"The ones who took them may be gone." Mega Man got back on his knees. "From what I've noticed, they work best at night."
"Daisy. . ." The Inkling teared up. "Please be okay. . . We'll save you."
(oOoOoOo)
Parallel Smash Mansion
Few Hours Ago
"Ugh, obviously I'm not okay with this!" Daisy sighed checking the fridge. "You guys don't have anything to eat that's fresh?!"
"We. . . um. . ." Young Marth twiddled his thumbs. "Since the total wipeout of the Smashers, we've been quite lazy with the shopping. . . we just either buy what we want to eat with Uber or starve."
Daisy rubbed her head to the point she wanted to rip her hair off. "So frustrating! I'm hungry! What can a girl eat?!"
"We have some bread and milk. . . Ike's been obsessed with that combination recently. . ."
"What is he? Twelve?" Daisy laughed.
"Haha. . ." Young Marth watched her back. Wide-open. He had the chance to stab her earlier when he was given a pathetic piggyback ride, but his hand froze once coming into contact with her orange dress.
'Fuck! Why can't I just do it?!' Young Marth bit his lip, balling his fist. Unsatisfied with himself, Young Marth pulled out the knife from his clothes and crept behind her, while Daisy muttered what to do with bread and milk.
As Young Marth lifted the knife, Daisy sighed, opening the milk carton.
"You must be so sad. To be in this big place all by yourself? I mean sure Ike and Cloud are big boys, but you. . ."
'What is she trying to say?' Young Marth paused his operation kill mode and lowered the knife.
Daisy turned her head to the young prince. "You kinda remind me of myself."
"H-how?" Young Marth asked, confused.
"You see, I live in a desert. My very own castle. Sure, I had a great cousin, but I was always. . . alone. I think that's why I like you so much. I learned a bit of the older Marth, also losing everything. I say we are kinda similar." Daisy rubbed her hair and turned back to the fridge. As she opened it, she groaned like a lion, expecting a full course meal to appear in the fridge.
"But you never cared about yourself." The orange princess continued. "You always put others before yourself. Being so selfless and humble, made me fall in love with you."
Young Marth froze from her words, trembling. His grip on the knife loosened bit by bit.
"Now," Daisy then closed the fridge and walked over to the pantry. "Here I am with the kid version of Marth. The other you that's older, ahhh, sexy man! Ah. . ." Daisy sweatdropped and chuckled a bit. "That came off a bit creepy since I'm saying this to a kid. Anyways, I'll try to whip up something edible. . . I found some spaghetti and sauce-"
'Daisy. . .' Young Marth lowered his head, using his bangs to cover his reddened face. Memories before Sephiroth jabbed into his brain.
'Marth! Marth!'
'Daisy. . .'
Flashback
"Marth!" Daisy smiled down at the young prince. Her long hair was almost an angelic shade before him. "It's snack time! I don't know why Richter told you to fast for three days. You didn't even break the vase! It was Ness who did it!"
"Daisy. . ." Young Marth blushed, curling his lips in frustration. "I'm not a kid. It's okay. . . If Richter knew if it was Ness, it would have been worse."
"Well, Richter can kiss my ass! As your big sister, I have to protect my little brother!" Daisy winked. She then tossed Young Marth an apple, to which he caught it. "Besides, I can't have you dying on me. You're already skin and bones."
"I do eat, thank you very much." Young Marth said. "You're so cheesy. Who wants to be related to a weirdo like you?"
"H-hey!"
Young Marth laughed. Laughed till his stomach ached. This was the day before Sephiroth blew in like a storm.
It was when he destroyed the Smash Mansion. Murdering Pastor and Lazy Hand, taking claim of the mansion. Despair spread amongst the Smashers, and it was only the beginning.
Throughout the night, Young Marth and Daisy sat together on a bench outside in the garden area. "I hate him. I hate that guy." Young Marth squeezed his arms as he gritted his teeth. "I can't believe he did such a thing!"
"Yeah. . ." Daisy muttered.
"He keeps talking about the Promised Land, I don't know what he means by that!" Marth cried.
". . ."
"Please, please. . . be careful around that man, okay?" Young Marth pleaded, reaching his hand to Daisy's.
Daisy stared at his hand, closing her fingers. She kept quiet as she stared at the roses and tulips.
"What's wrong?" Young Marth frowned.
"I. . ." Daisy trailed, lowering her head. "I'm getting this bad feeling, and I can't shake it off. . ."
It was then her bad feeling arrived on time. The next day, the Smashers found Peach's lifeless body in the middle of the pond in the garden. A red pond. In the pond next to Peach's body was Sephiroth. Just up to his legs, his body remained dry, but his sword he wielded coated in a crimson red.
This was the beginning of a genocide.
It was cruel and unusual. An unexpected murder. Not in the brawl room. Not in a tournament. In broad daylight.
'Peach. . . she's. . . dead. . . No. . . this can't be happening. . .' Young Marth's face, ice cold. Unable to talk, he let out shaky breaths that drove his fear meter up.
"W-what did you do?" Mario's eyes lost life, shocked at what he was seeing.
"Peach. . .!" Zelda gasped, as tears formed beneath her eyes.
"You. . . monster!" Roy cried out, tightening his fist. Ike held Roy's shoulders to keep him from doing a dumb move.
Makato covered her lips as tears poured down her cheeks. "This can't be real. . ."
"Wamee. . ." Inking's eyes were all pouring waterfalls.
"Going too far, aren't we?" Ganondorf said.
Sephiroth raised his hand that was also coated in blood. "Peach sacrificed herself for the sake of the Promised Land. Unfortunately, she wasn't the Ancient I so desired."
"You disgust me. . ." Daisy muttered, glaring at the silver-haired man. "You fucking liar."
"I'm afraid not. . ." Robin sweatdropped. "Last night, I overheard Peach talking to Sephiroth. She was willing to sacrifice herself for all of us. To end this."
"I happened to be with him, so I can confirm what he said was true." M. Byleth said.
"Sephiroth. . ." Cloud glared at him.
Before everyone knew it, Daisy sprinted up to Sephiroth with two balled-up fists. "Sephiroth! You prick! How dare you let my cousin die in vain! I'll kill you!"
'Before I knew it. . . there was Sephiroth's sword. . . through Daisy's chest, followed by a pool of blood.'
End of Flashback
'I started to work for Sephiroth because he promised he'll grant my wish. Ironic the killer is now my only hope.' Young Marth glared at Daisy's back and crept toward her, lifting the knife once more.
"Do we have any olive oil?" Daisy closed the cabinets after getting a whiff of old spice jars.
"Pl. . .ase. . . ie. . ." Young Marth muttered.
"Huh? I couldn't hear you with all that murmuring-" Daisy froze, feeling a pain stabbing her lower back. Cold and wet it passed by the second, as more pain throbbed. She inched her eyes, catching a glimpse of his wicked grin spreading across his face. He yanked out the knife from Daisy's back, as blood gushed out like a waterfall.
"H-hey. . . this isn't funny. . . Uh. . ." Daisy gasped from the pain, collapsing to her knees. She winced and clenched her jaw. Reaching her back to the wound, she felt the damped area of blood soaking her gloves. It was a matter of seconds when she felt more blood running down her legs and onto the kitchen floor as it created a small pool.
"The Daisy I know is dead. She's the one I want back. . ." Young Marth stepped back, holding the knife in his hand. His eyes widened with tears pouring from his eyes. "Please die. . . and become a sacrifice."
(oOoOoOo)
She tried exploring the room a bit to figure out where she was. The only conclusion she came with was the Smash Mansion wasn't the mansion she knew of. She ate the stale bread and drank the milk. She slept a bit to pass the time. She thought about making a potion, but the noises and the extinct smells would probably trigger the possessive older mercenary. With the time passing at a snail's pace, Makato then walked up to the door and placed her hands on it. The door that stood between the dusty room and the outside. Hearing the intense breathing, Makato knew the older Ike was at the other side of the door.
"Can you tell me about this place?" Makato asked through the door.
"No."
Of course, he wasn't willing to give out any information.
Makato curled her fingers. "Is. . . Peach here?"
"No."
With the same blunt tone, it was hard to decipher if he was lying or not. Makato glanced back at the room, and over to the picture frame of her older self with Ike.
She sweatdropped, uncertain of older Ike's reaction. "I saw this picture that was on a desk. It had a girl that had the same face as I, and you were with her. So it had to be her room. . . Where is she? Where's Makato? The one you know?"
Silence.
He was listening.
Or plain out gone.
Just his silence alone gave Makato a hair of the dark truth.
'With the room being super dusty and dirty, I'm assuming she's gone from this world. . . Being trapped in this room may prove otherwise. The Ike in the picture is completely different from the one I'm facing. What is the root of all of this rage? It's so. . . overwhelming. Something is making him act like this.'
Makato opened her lips once more. "Ike, what happened to Makato-"
"Say another word. . . and I'll kill you!" Ike growled.
Makato flinched and backed away from the door. 'I crossed the line. . .'
Giving up on the questioning, Makato sighed and walked over to the bed. "As if I'm talking to a brick wall. . . I'm not getting answers."
Makato then heard his footsteps fade off in the distance. Now alone for a brief period. The only time he would leave was to either get the same stale, chalky bread and milk or a bucket as her only toilet.
Remembering the bucket brought Makato into a state of panic as she ran to the door. She tried yanking the knob off, but it was glued shut. 'Even the Dark Knights permitted me to leave my room to use the bathroom! He really does plan to keep me locked up. I can't be stuck in this room! There are no useful ingredients either. . .' Opening the door was useless and the only way she knew she could escape was by making a potion.
'Whether it's a dust sandstorm or an army of mutant spiders, I'll make him talk!' Makato walked to the small witch pot and lifted it, just when she did, a bunch of paper stacked on top of each other revealed before her eyes.
"What's this?" Grabbing the stack, she was able to understand the title and info of the first page, as it may look like gibberish to a normal person's eye.
"'Miru-3000: A Robotic Messaging Combat Bird specifically designed for Makato Tachibana. Last Updated Memories of Miru Kozuku: [August, XX 20XX] inputted into Miru-3000.'" Looking at the little blue bird sketch brought back memories of her childhood friend being a bird. As round and soft as a marshmallow. She couldn't help but smile. "Miru as a little, blue bird. Quite a nostalgic time. . ." Flipping to the next page, directions were written as well to prepare the potion. And that was when it clicked to her, after reading it.
"Paper. No wonder she has such a small pot. She uses paper-sealed ingredients to make a potion. This may be very convenient. . ."
Walking to the desk, she laid the sheets of paper on the desk, spreading them apart without ruining the order. Different ingredients with the corresponding image were on each piece of paper.
"What. . . is this?" Her eyes froze in fear reading one of the ingredients listed. "'Miru's. . . Heart'?" She picked up another piece of paper that showed two pairs of blue eyes.
"'Miru's Eyes'." Another picture with his brain. Those three had to do with Miru's body. Were an ingredient.
Not wanting to believe what was an ingredient, Makato flipped the other side of the paper, now seeing a note written at the bottom.
"'Miru's body and memories were cloned by the help of Robin. No actual human was hurt in the process.' Ah. . . I see. I got scared for a second." Clumping them up back together into its stack, Makato glanced at the door.
"It doesn't take long for Ike to come back. Assuming he sleeps, the best time is at night." Makato said to herself, walking back to the small witch pot. "With the ingredients in paper form, I can put it in the pot just as it is. Hiding the pot is easy, but. . . the smell is the problem. . . I need to figure out a way to hide the smell."
Searching through the stacks of paper, she sighed in relief when she found a nose blind potion.
"Time to prepare."
(oOoOoOo)
After Peach changed out of her wedding dress for her pink dress from the other Peach, both Peach and Cloud searched for the missing two Princesses. Anyone to come across at this point in this dead mansion.
Walking near the kitchen, Cloud blocked Peach's track with his arm. "Wait," He warned, after hearing noises in the kitchen. And feeling a dark presence, he knew those two were in the kitchen. Which was a rare occurrence.
"Ngh. . ."
"I know. . . that voice." Peach's voice trembled, hearing the croak of pain from her cousin. Circling away from Cloud's arm, Peach dashed right outside of the kitchen and the first thing she caught was Daisy, groaning in pain in a pool of blood.
Her face went pale in shock. "Daisy!"
She looked up and saw two people that may be responsible for Daisy's crucial injuries. What she saw on the picture wall. An older version of Ike and a younger version of Marth in the kitchen.
Ike didn't mind Daisy as he was getting a tray of bread and milk, and Marth had a smug look on his face, watching her bleed out.
"If we don't do something, she'll die!" Peach cried. As she hurried to Daisy, Cloud held onto her arm.
"Wait, it's dangerous to approach them." Cloud shook his head, walking ahead of her.
"But-"
"It's okay. . ." Cloud assured her.
"Oh, hey, Cloud. Hi other Peach. What do you want?" Marth waved with a half-smile. Cloud could tell he wasn't enjoying this as much as he should.
'They only care about themselves. With Daisy and Makato here, cooperation will be difficult. . .' Cloud sweatdropped.
"And don't worry about Daisy, Peach." Marth swung his knife around like a wand. "I already stopped the bleeding. I just needed her immobilized."
"You bad, bad, boy!" Peach said, tearing up. "You need a spanking!"
"Don't treat me like a child!"
Cloud furrowed his eyebrows. If he had his sword with him. . . A fistfight was out of the question with Ike always armed with his chaotic Ragnell. "Guys, we can't have history repeat itself. We need to-"
"Stop Sephiroth?" Marth interrupted Cloud. "Yeah, I don't think so. Daisy's the perfect sacrifice. As long as you two don't get in my way, we'll have no problems."
"S-sacrifice?" Peach questioned.
"Sephiroth's only going to repeat himself," Cloud said. "We'll lose more people. We need to get these three outta here-"
"Shut up!" Ike silenced Cloud with a punch to the wall, creating a booming sound. "I don't give a damn about Sephiroth or the other world! Makato's not going anywhere! I'll kill anyone who gets in my way!"
"Ike. . ." Peach said.
Marth clasped his hands together. "And there you have it! We all have different goals in mind, so let's just keep it at that! Cloud, you're welcome to leave this place with Peach. I don't care. In three days, Sephiroth will take Daisy and I'll gain what I've lost."
"She won't come back," Cloud said. "You and I both know that. He won't grant your wish."
Marth glanced at Ike and nudged his head to Daisy's body. Knowing Marth couldn't carry her, Ike picked Daisy up from the ground and swung her body over his shoulder.
"She will come back. I know it." Marth murmured. With that, they both walked out of the kitchen.
(oOoOoOo)
Living Room
"Daisy! Oh, Daisy!" Peach sobbed on the couch as her face reddened. "What should we do? What does he mean by three days?"
"Three days before Sephiroth gets back. . ." Cloud sat by her, with an unsure look. "We haven't heard of him for a while. . . but Marth does work for Sephiroth, so any information about that bastard, Marth would know."
". . .Daisy. . ." As tears poured from her blue eyes, Peach's eyelids grew heavy on her, and minutes later she fell back on the couch, sleeping.
"We'll save Daisy. And Makato. Don't worry, Peach. . . Get some rest. . ." Cloud rubbed her head and closed his eyes, also drifting off to sleep. Little did they know, a group of people watched what was unfolding.
"As I predicted. These black feathers do work as a teleportation device." Robin said. He sat in a different part of the mansion with the Heroes that followed him on his devious plan. "The situation in this world is direr than I thought. Right, my brothers? Cloud is aiding Peach to leave this world, but Marth and Ike have their plans. Makato is here, but we don't know where Ike is keeping her. A man named Sephiroth is going to sacrifice Daisy in three days, so we don't have much time. We'll need to split up and search for the two princesses before Sephiroth arrives."
Arusu crossed his arms. "We just need to save the princesses and hold them hostage? And my brothers can have a safe place to eat and sleep."
"And we'll become Smashers, ya!" Eight grinned. "Just as promised!"
"Y-yeah." Robin brushed his hair and let out a nervous chuckle.
"Didn't you say Sephiroth is a myth?" Eleven said.
"And you believed me?"
A loud clap caught Robin and the three Heroes' attention with wide eyes. Turning their heads to Solo, they noticed his hands were glued shut to each other.
"W-what are you doing?" Eleven asked.
Solo kept a dark glare at his hands, slowly spreading them apart. Once he did, a small vibrant butterfly dropped below his feet. The wings were crunched up and its body flattened like a pancake. Leftover blood didn't seem to bother him as he got up from the couch and thoroughly wiped the access off the back of Robin's cloak.
"Did you just wipe its guts on my cloak?" Robin could only smile.
"Yeah. So what? Do you have a problem?" Solo continued wiping his hands to himself. "First of all, I'm not your fucking brother. And second, this fucking bug was following us. So I killed it." Solo answered.
"At least be a little quieter about it." Arusu sighed. "Anyway, it's getting late. Let's get some sleep."
"Yes. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." Robin said.
