Samus opened her eyes. She sat up and looked around. She saw her dresser, closet, and the foot of her bed. And she smiled.

She got out of bed, put on her Zero Suit, tied her hair up in its usual ponytail, and left for the cafeteria. She looked at the hallways, their single toned paint with wood trim lining the bottom. She saw the lights hanging from the walls that seemed to be shining even brighter. Upon passing the lobby, she was able to take note of everything. The flowers looked beautiful sitting atop the table. The chandelier still reflected the light of the room in a way that made the room seem both ten times bigger and incredibly cozy. The couches were in their semi circle and the TV was on the wall. The front door had even been fixed. The room gave off a comforting ambiance.

She smiled and sighed, enjoying the feeling given from having a new way to see the old.

Walking to the cafeteria, Samus began hearing voices down the hall. She unconsciously began picking up her pace. When she came to the door, though, she stopped. She was hesitant to go in, almost afraid. Samus shook her head, smiled, and went in anyway.

Inside the cafeteria sat everybody. Every Smasher that had been sent away by Tabuu was back and in the same room. And upon seeing Samus, they began clapping. Slow and respectful at first, but that quickly gave way to thunderous applause and cheers. The stood up and rushed over to their bounty hunter friend.

"Samus!" Peach cheered. Running up to her, Peach grabbed her in a big bear hug. "You did it! I knew you would!"

"Thanks Peach." Samus said. The rest of her group came up to her, while the others simply stood in the back.

"Samus!" Popo and Nana said in unison.

"Hey there, you two." She said, smiling.

"Get down here!" Nana ordered. Samus laughed as she got down on her knees and was hugged by the two Ice Climbers.

She stood back up and saw Link and Ike looking at her from behind the girls. They smiled and quietly nodded at her in thanks, which Samus returned. Then Red and Pit came over to her.

"Way to go, Space Girl." Red said, holding his hand up for a high five. Seamus felt a little silly, but she gave him on anyway.

"Samus!" Pit said, holding his hand out for a shake. "You really are amazing. Thanks so much for eve-" Samus cut him off by pushing his hand away and going in for a hug. She felt how cushiony his wings were and almost wished she could feel how soft they were on her hands.

They broke and smiled at each other. Samus then turned to see Zelda in front of her. Zelda wrapped her arms around Samus and said, "Thank you. For everything."

When they broke, Samus smiled at the princess. "I should say the same to you." Zelda looked at her friend, confused. "It's like you said. It's nice to have someone there to make things less heavy without even trying." Samus nodded her head to everybody around them. "It's even nicer when there's more than just one." She turned to all of her friends. "So thank you. All of you. For being my friends."

They all laughed. Samus walked to the big group and got all of her individual thank you's from the rest of Smash Mansion's residents. The people Samus didn't know as well, but was still willing to call "friends".

Amidst all of the cheers and laugh, Samus turned to see out the windows. The sun was shining again, but what caught her eye was the sidewalk. Walking away from the front door with their backs to her were what seemed to be three people. One in a miner's uniform, one with long blonde hair and in a dress, and one wearing a Galactic Federation issued suit. Once she blinked though, the three people were gone. Samus smiled and turned back to the others.

Everybody sat together in the cafeteria for one last meal. They talked, laughed, reminisced, and simply enjoyed each other's company for one more day. Everybody knew what would happen in just a few hours.

As the day came to a close, the Mansion began quieting down. Samus and the group had gone to the garden, spending time in the center.

"So," Pit said. "How much longer do we have?"

"About 10 minutes." Zelda said, sadness apparent in her voice. "I'm grateful we were brought back for one more day, but leaving is still hard."

"I don't know what else to say." Peach said. "You guys know how much you mean to me, right?"

Link laughed. "Yeah Peach, after you saying it all day, I think we have a pretty good idea."

Ike chuckled. "Tell me about it."

"But this isn't goodbye is it?" Peach asked with a worried smile.

"Of course not!" Nana reassured her.

"No, this is more like, 'See you later'." Pit said.

"I'm going to miss you all." Zelda said.

"And that'll make seeing us again even better!" Red said.

"Yeah! Missing something means it can be found again!" Popo added.

Samus smiled. Suddenly she felt a few tears trickling down her face, but still didn't lose her smile. "You're right. You're absolutely right."

The Transporter Room had gotten quiet. A few people, like Wolf and Bowser left almost immediately after the chance was given. Others stayed around, finishing their conversations before going into the transporters. Samus, Peach, Zelda, Link, Popo, Nana, Ike, Red, and Pit were the last people in Smash Mansion. The sun had gone down, every light was off except for the room they were in, and everything was ready to shut down.

"Each transporter will know where to take us?" Popo asked.

"Yeah. They'll send you home." Red said, nodding.

"I'd like to say something before we go." Samus said. "Despite what happened here, despite what this place was meant for, I'm happy I was here. Yeah, this is a building made for fighting, Tabuu may have taken over, and I may have broken down a few times. But I wouldn't change any of that. Because it brought me here, to a point where I'm sad to see people leave. That's something I haven't felt in a long time. I've become close to you guys, so close that I'm almost melancholic seeing you leave. To have that type of connection, that type of friendship is something I'll never regret, no matter how it happened. I'm so happy I'm sad to see you all leave. Thank you all."

Ike walked over and put his hand on Samus's shoulder. "Thanks Samus. I'll see you later." And he walked into the transporter.

Red stepped up. "I don't regret a moment of it either." He smiled, shook her hand, and went into the machine.

Popo and Nana came up to her, grinning up at her.

"Samus, you're like the tough big sister I've always wanted." Nana told her.

"Yeah, you're always going to be like family to us!" Popo concurred. They each quickly hugged one of her legs and followed the same path Ike and Red took.

Link and Zelda came up to her. "You're the best Samus." Link said, giving her a high five. "Don't let anybody tell you differently."

Zelda gave her one last hug. "Bye Samus. See you soon." The two Hylians held each other's hands and went into the transporter.

Pit also gave her a hug. "Thanks for putting up with us."

Samus smiled. "I could say the same to you."

Pit smiled back and stepped in to give her a small kiss on the cheek. Both of them turned bright red. "Well, I-I'll see you later, Samus." And he almost ran up to the transporter.

Then it was just Peach and Samus. Tears appeared in Peach's eyes as she went over to hug Samus.

"Thank you Peach. Sincerely." Samus said. "If you hadn't come up to me and asked me to join you guys for breakfast, none of this would've happened. Thank you for being my best friend."

Peach squeezed Samus even tighter. "And thank you for being mine."

Princess Toadstool walked over to the transporter. As she was being sent away, she waved to Samus through teary eyes. Samus gave a small smile and waved back.

She looked around the room, completely alone. She grabbed her helmet off the chair and put it on, after which she materialized her Power Suit. She flipped off the light switch, leaving only the soft glow coming from the lights on the machine.

And Samus stepped into the transporter.

Thanks for reading guys. I'm going to try being a bigger part of the FanFiction community, so please let me know what you honestly thought about the story. Hah, for once I'll actually try to reply to your reviews!

I want to mention a few of the people who stuck with the story and consistently reviewed.

First, sippurp123, thanks for leaving a review every few chapters letting me know how you thought the story was progressing!

Doublexyz, you as well! You always pinpointed exact moments you liked, which helped me to create more similar moments! You have my thanks!

Panda-chan1358, your little words of encouragement meant a lot! Thanks!

Dude884, despite the crap you gave me for not using Yoshi at all, you still read each new chapter. Even though it wasn't a story with your favorite character you stuck with it. Thank you!

And finally, Dapper Dee VI and puppycat12346. You two came in towards the 2nd half of the story, but seeing your consistent reviews always brought a smile to my face. Thanks!

Alright, thanks for reading everybody!

Marc Winter