Confessions, Explanations, and Understanding

"Yes, I would imagine that a lot of things need to be explained regarding the whole ordeal," Samus thoughtfully acknowledged to Mewtwo's words. "How, for example, this Nephorius villain chose the victims who would die…"

"Indeed," replied Mewtwo. "We shall come to it in due course, but first: Mario, am I correct in saying that you had awakened one morning from a dream that contained a fading star that led you to a fountain of tears with a bird perched on the edge and a shattered sword lying in the bottom?"

Mario silently nodded—and then he burst out: "I get it now! The fading star represented Peach's last moments—the broken sword was there because she was beaten in a fight—the fountain of tears was there because I wasn't the only one who cried about losing her…"

"So that's why I found the pumpkin with the Bond of Salvation symbol broken up," realized Ness aloud with a sigh of despair. "It meant that Peach, because she was the first to save a life in the Wormhole Crisis, would die trying to rescue me—and she did…I thought it meant Fox would be the first of us to die, and he survived…"

Link repeated the revival poem as if trying to put two and two together. "Zelda, wasn't it when you recalled your last conversation with Popo and Nana that you tried to say they wouldn't understand something? You faltered, and that's when you confessed to having argued with Peach—and then Nephorius appeared! But why did he kill you when you told me about an argument…" Link broke off.

"He didn't want you to know about the matter on which Peach and I argued," answered Zelda ruefully. When Popo and Nana asked why they wouldn't have understood, Zelda continued, "It's because the revival depended on Peach being wrong…"

Marth turned to Peach. "The poem mentioned that you were wrong about something, Princess Peach, and that a single tear would prove you wrong—but what mistake could you have made, that all it would take was one tear to prove you wrong and revive everyone that died?" he questioned. "And what of an argument with Princess Zelda—it's clear that she was not merely regretting that her last words to you were spoken in anger."

"No, Marth, Peach and I were not angry with each other the day we argued—we merely found ourselves in a disagreement over a matter of the heart…" Zelda faltered, looking at Peach.

At Zelda's words, all eyes turned to Peach. The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom looked fearful at everyone staring her down as if dreadfully shocked that she was capable of embroiling her friend in a heated argument.

Ness cautiously approached Peach. "W-what was it you said about someone's heart that had to be wrong?" he asked at last.

Peach glanced around at several of her fellow Smashers—Mewtwo, Fox, Marth, Roy, Link, Kirby, Mario, Mr. Game & Watch, and Popo and Nana—as she took a deep breath, bracing herself for the worst. But she could not remain silent any longer—at length she finally confessed: "When I argued with Zelda, I believed—and thusly I asserted—in exactly the same words that I used then…"—looking at Zelda, unable to glance at anyone else—"that the heart of a bounty hunter is unbreakable."

With the last word of this statement out of her mouth, Peach instantly clamped that organ shut and looked away into the oblivion, fearful lest she break down crying in front of the entire gathering of Smashers.

Some of the Smashers met Peach's confession with confused looks, glancing from her to Samus Aran and back again, then to Zelda—until Link covered up a startled gasp of realization as he looked from Ness to Captain Falcon, the latter still bearing the trace of the single tear that had rolled down his cheek: the one thing that needed to be in order for the revival to take place.

"It all makes sense now," said Link with a shuddering breath. "The 'single tear' needed to revive everyone was just one tear of heartbreak—but a bounty hunter had to be the one to let it fall, to prove Peach wrong about what she said, and…" Link faltered, glancing down at Ness before suddenly bursting out to all of his fellow Smashers, "and that's why Captain Falcon, of all people, yelled at me for telling Ness to stop crying! It all makes sense now! He had to recognize that Ness was broken-hearted—we all were! How such a hard heart could break when we had finally defeated Nephorius—there was no other way…I was a fool not to realize it earlier…"

Peach shook her head despairingly. "If anyone's to blame here, I am," said she in a grave tone. "If I hadn't argued—if I hadn't tried to rescue Ness—I wouldn't have broken so many hearts, for they that cannot break hearts in their lives invariably break countless hearts in their deaths…and I…" But she couldn't continue. It seemed no apologies could do justice to Peach's regret.

Captain Falcon, however, would not bear to hear this. Crossing the Final Destination stage in barely three strides, he seized hold of Peach by both shoulders and pulled her around to face him. "On the contrary, Princess Peach, you were an honor to your fellow Smashers the day you ventured out to rescue Ness and his Earthbound friends," Falcon vehemently declared. "When those children needed help, you immediately rushed to be there for them—and I know now that it's because you cared. From what I found out about the first rescue attempt, you did some things that would out-clever a lot of the Nintendo universe's worst villains…"

"In fact, I think the only reason you failed was precisely because Nephorius was the villain who tried to take you out of the picture," interrupted Mario in agreement.

"And when Black Shadow's soldiers and the Red Canyon bandits chased you and the kids to Port Town, you didn't give up; you did everything in your power to resist the miscreants—few men and even fewer women can rightly say they've had the courage to challenge Black Shadow, and even he must have actually been Nephorius in disguise," Falcon continued. "Still, even when you realized you were too badly hurt to continue fighting, you kept looking for an N-gate. You never gave up on Ness and his friends; that took determination—and you didn't give up on Mario, either. You had faith enough in me that you asked me to deliver your last I-love-you to Mario in your last breath…You acted as a true Smasher should when fellow Smashers need help…" But Falcon, still in pain over the ordeal, faltered.

Peach made to step slightly away from Falcon and was somewhat surprised at with what little effort he released her. "You couldn't save my life that evening after I had saved yours in the Wormhole Crisis—is that what broke your heart?" she asked quietly, looking down when the words were out of her mouth and stepping closer to Mario, who then put one protective arm around Peach's waist.

"It isn't just you, Falcon, that'd be tragic enough to break anybody's heart," were the words with which Princess Zelda offered consolation. "I'm kind of surprised you didn't shed a tear or two in the ITC when you had to tell us that Peach was dead."

"Maybe he didn't let his feelings show then because he knew Ness and his friends were still in danger, and he had to be strong for them," Link offered.

Falcon nodded. "That and I overheard the princesses arguing not long before that awful battle," he admitted. "Even if I had realized just how broken my heart was in the aftermath of Princess Peach's death, I could never have admitted it until now—I had taken to heart her statement that a bounty hunter's heart can't be broken. I had to prove her right by showing an unbreakable heart—or so I thought—she had given me, as a bounty hunter, some credit for being strong; I didn't want to dishonor her by being weak and lamenting like so many others."

"Even I don't know whether I said 'the heart of a bounty hunter is unbreakable' in praise or in blame," replied Peach miserably.

"You could not have foreseen your own death, nor known that Captain Falcon would be the fellow Smasher of yours unfortunate enough to watch you die," Mewtwo acknowledged to Peach, "nor even had any idea that a simple quarrel could have had the impact that it did on everyone."

"And well you should think a bounty hunter's heart is so hard that it can't be broken," added Falcon bitterly. "If Samus and I are any example, until today you only had enough experience dealing with bounty hunters to know that we're a hard-hearted lot—our line of work demands it; we have to keep others from knowing that it's possible to wound us emotionally, if we can avoid it. After Princess Zelda's death at the hands of Nephorius, I was the only Smasher who knew any more than the fact that an argument between the princesses took place—but for precisely that reason, to guard my heart and preserve my dignity, I remained silent about it. It was only when I recognized Ness's tears for the broken heart that caused them, and shouted at Link for telling Ness not to cry, that I realized just how broken my own heart was."

Roy drew a deep breath as he took in Falcon's words. "So the only reason why it had to be you who let fall a single tear, instead of Samus, was because none of the events leading to Nephorius's appearance and the battle had affected her like they did to you?"

"Indeed," Falcon forced himself to say. "Samus never owed her life to any of her fellow Smashers, let alone found herself unable to save the life of the dying fellow Smasher she owed her life to."

"Maybe that's why Nephorius chose to dispatch Princess Peach first when he started killing some of us," Samus contemplated aloud. "He wanted to break the hearts of the few who survived his covert attempts to kill us before he revealed himself to the rest, and the loss of Peach, given previous events as well as the friendship of those who care for her, would break more hearts than any other loss."

Fox drew himself up determinedly, replying, "But I think Nephorius forgot one important point: they that try to destroy Smashers unify the survivors in an instant." Cheers ensued for this remark, and when they subsided, Fox went on, "We all worked together to defeat Nephorius and restore everything lost, and even though we all suffered to some degree, we came out on top.

"Let no-one ever try to beat us again!" subjoined Mario.