Hello everyone, it's Paradigm of Writing here with a brand new story, one that has been up on my profile for not too long, but its birth and creation has begun! I introduce to you Teach Me How to Cry, a short romance/drama of about ten chapters with the wonderful oh so wonderful characters Zelda, Link, Peach, Palutena, Rosalina, Snake, Robin(F), Marth, Samus and Lucina. Yes, it's only ten chapters. Multi, sure, but not ridiculous in length. I won't be doing a 20 chapter plus story for Smash in awhile, those require some work and the time on my hands is too little for that, sorry. But, I have wonderful hopes for this story and hope you do too. This will be, and I mean it, the last SSB multi-chaptered story I am posting till Creationists comes around next year. I'm gunning up until July but my yearn may grow and it'll come sooner, but I'm staying with July. I'll be responding to reviews for this piece again, so review and you'll get my reply! Now, let's get this started! Enjoy Chapter 1: Futile Intervention.

Rosalina Adeline could not believe she was on that side of town again. You know, the side that no one ever mentioned. The run down shacks, the barking of dogs that accompanied abused screams of children... that one. Her hair was too clean to be tampered with by city air, lord forbid someone from the other area lest touch her with their filthy hands. But business was business, and the matter she needed to attend to was one of importance. She prayed silently to herself.

The sun illuminated her precious sunbeam hair, decorative glass eyes smiling with happiness, however glowing behind with incriminating disgust. It just had to be the Miranda family... of course God spared Miss Adeline no expense. She could imagine him sitting there in heaven writing out the to-do list of the day, and sitting there in all of its cockish glory was Have Rosalina Adeline go visit the Miranda's. Yep, she could envision it.

The Miranda's. An interesting bunch, she deemed quietly to herself while crossing under a dilapidated bridge. The grey light peeking in through the clouds sent a hazy wave of smoke and fog to bequeath the ground with their own problems. Rosalina Adeline hated fog, she hated going under dilapidated bridges... it seemed that she disliked a lot of things, many idiosyncrasies that did not affect life whatsoever if they were removed from the world.

However, there was one thing she did love. She loved teaching. Teaching meant the world to her. Especially psychology, although that job seemed to be hard to get around to doing because no one genuinely appreciated the study. Rosalina longed to undergo the discipline it took to become a psychologist, though it was nothing but a mere dream that seemed faker than a third party winning the presidency. Another supplement to back up her own crazy desires and wants was to maybe scratch the surface towards the Miranda's.

No one could ever really pinpoint the problem, but the sense of insanity was there. Rosalina knew that personally, she teaches one of them herself. The insanity didn't exude from her student, though, oh no. That critical characteristic wafted from the mother, the idiot who was stupid enough to get banged up in ways more than one, to drive the man from her life, to have a miscarriage, and then to raise a kid without a true understanding of the world. Rosalina wrinkled her nose in an unpalatable manner.

"I must help them, I must help her, but I just do not know how..." she thought to herself.

Stories were just that, only stories. But, there was some truth behind it, and Rosalina knew that full and well. She shook her head in dismissal at the sidewalk, iron rich sympathy leeching from her blood, she could not help but feel sorry. "Poor Zelda Miranda... a girl who doesn't know her place in the world. And with a freak for a mother to boot... such a challenge to live at home I wonder."

Zelda Miranda was a mystery to many, and an open book to few. Actually, Zelda Miranda never opened up to anyone, no one was able to make her pry. Rosalina guessed as much. When she had a mother as the one talked about in town, then the resentment was alright and well placed. Who had a green-haired individual for a mother who wore ridiculous Greek robes and carried an awkward caduceus as a walking stick even though she didn't need it? Zelda Miranda had that mother, and there was where Rosalina Adeline placed her pity.

She stopped walking, the wannabe psychologist. A simple manila folder was tucked under her right arm, and so she stared. Rosalina's heels hesitated over the next chunk of sidewalk, she had managed to make it all the way to their house without even vomiting once. "Oh dear," Rosalina clucked to herself. "I must get a handle on these emotions, mustn't I?"

It was a simple one story house, painted a violent and stunning amaranthine, dabbled with bubbles of sea green foam. The front door was quaint, homey and friendly as a grinning bumblebee waved one of many hands as a welcoming gesture into the residency. Numerous multi-colored pinwheels stuck up like stalagmites in the emerald grass that glistened with fresh dew drops from a morning rain. Rosalina frowned, sniffing the air. Smoke, thick and sulfuric. She wanted to gag, her knees clanging together weakly for a moment before creaking up the three rickety wooden steps. And oh dear lord in heaven, was that a bullet hole splintered in the doorknob?

Rosalina cleared her throat, and placed one gentle hand against the door. Sighing, knowing there was no turning back from this point, given she had walked all this way, she knocked. Her mustering of courage was met with silence. Fucking cold stone, dead silence. Wonderful. The teacher scoffed, before giving a gentle smile hoping that perhaps no one was home. An eye, she couldn't figure which one, landed on a shiny doorbell, one covered in alternating layers of dust and cobwebs. Huffing the ancient sand away from the ringer, she pressed the pallid circle. A sharp, echoing bray echoed throughout the house, causing Rosalina to jump. "What the-" What kind of doorbell simulated the braying of a dying dog? How sick must someone have been?

A shift of movement happened inside the house, one full of shattering objects and crashing down furniture. Colorful words erupted from whomever was home, causing Rosalina to be colored purple. Goodness in heaven, this house just had tricks and gags at every corner, didn't it? After a moment of recollection from the other side of the door, it opened. And... didn't it cause Rosalina Inn Adeline to make a double-check.

Holy shit. She was like everyone said. Standing in front of her was Palutena Miranda, the head of the Miranda family. Zelda's mother was real. Rosalina thought it was just a myth. The green hair, one of putrid, sickening radioactive green, gleaming white Greek robes down to the sandaled feet. Thank goodness, though, that the doctorial staff was missing from her grasp.

Rosalina straightened her dress, shocked to have the live gossip of town be legitimately right there. "Oh, I must excuse myself. Good afternoon," she said, smiling. "You must be Zelda's mother!"

Palutena looked out from the doorframe, stunning viridescent eyes giving her pallor complexion a ghastly, eerie shine. "Yes."

"I'm Miss Adeline. Rosalina Adeline." the teacher of the two outstretched her hand.

The other furrowed her eyebrows together, and dear God in heaven those were sea green too. "Rosalina?"

"Adeline," Rosalina finished. "I teach Zelda at school."

Palutena's expression was one worthy of a picture, her eyebrows rising, eyes widening, smile stretching- the Cheshire Cat had found his equal. "Oh! You're Zelda's teacher!"

"One of them, yes Mrs. Miranda. I'm delighted to meet you at last. May I come in?"

"Come in? Oh, yes you may! Please come in!" Palutena ushered in the school teacher with one quick push from the behind, emitting an exaggerated OOMPF from the person in question. Rosalina crashed into a dresser, muttering a not too friendly obscenity as the wooden corner pressed roughly into her sternum. The teacher gave an overt look of the room, her analytical eyes sharp and disparaging.

Old furniture, resembling those of the 60's cluttered up the main living room, one no larger than half the size of her classroom. A illustrious counter bolted into the wall lied on the far right, overlooking a box television. Rosalina hadn't seen one of those since the early 2000's. Why it was in the Miranda's living room was another question. A couch was positioned awkwardly in the middle of the room, centered so it was facing a window and not the TV screen like most families. She frowned, another peculiar detail to note, she supposed. A steaming tea kettle was placed on a dainty silver platter, two cute and girly tea cups right next to it, delicately painted pink roses and amaranthine ribbons decorating the porcelain. A dress, one of comfortable size, was spread out over a chair. Two needles were stabbed near the cut-off by the legs, a bundle of inviting rosy and cerulean yarn clumped into a pile on top of the dress. Palutena waddled over to her seat, and sat down on the couch by the tea,

"A beautiful living room you have, I must say." Rosalina cleared her throat, knocking out the lump under her jaw.

Palutena didn't meet her eyes, instead staring at the platter of tea. "So you teach my precious Zelda? That's nice," she blinked, looking up dazedly at Rosalina, noticing the thick mahogany drawl coat draped over her arms. "Oh dear Miss Adeline, I apologize. Your coat, let me take it and I'll-"

Rosalina held a hand up, although she didn't mean it in an offensive manner. "No matter, don't bother yourself with this old coat. If you wouldn't mind, I'll just toss it over a chair..."

"Use the one with the dress." Palutena instructed, picking at her fingernails.

"Thank you."

"You may sit in as well, if you wish. Or, if you'd prefer sitting next to me on the sofa... it is an antique."

The school teacher blinked, unsure of where the head of the Miranda family was going to direct the conversation next. "Why, that'd be just dandy!" Her words tasted like vinegar.

Palutena clapped her hands together in glee. "Oh, Miss Adeline, I am so glad you came! I don't..." She titled her head towards the tea tray. "Normally people don't come over. I had made tea and everything, for Zelda should be home soon. I anticipated someone's arrival, I could feel it in me, dear Rosalina."

Rosalina wryly smiled, opting to sit next to the lady of wild statements and insane gestures. A fitting, yet evil nickname for a lady of her innocence, but Rosalina didn't care one bit. "That's extremely nice for you to offer-"

Palutena poured some piping hot tea from the kettle into a cup, cutting her off immediately with a cooing of her voice, and a slight jump. "Yes, it's oh so nice. I make tea every day at around two, for I know Zelda will come home soon and we'll share it. However... I drink it by myself all the time," There was a pause, as if the mother couldn't remember what came next. She smiled. "Oh Zel, bless her, lord knows where she goes I tell you, but she's home before dinner and that's all that matters to me. I make the extra cup just in case, but I can't let good tea get cold and go to no use... oh we cannot have that. It's here in case I get a visitor," she drawled on and on, dropping cube of sugar after cube of sugar into her tea. Rosalina's eyes bulged at the amount of sweetener being dissolved into Palutena's drink. Palutena took a lasting sip. "I'm always looking forward to tea time. Would you care to have milk and sugar in yours?"

Rosalina's left eye started twitching, damn all of her antibiotics and stress relievers. Seeing as her host might've given her own body a ticket to cardiac arrest, the school teacher smoothed her dress calmly. "A little bit of milk. My tea is normally bitter and nasty when I have it."

"Why would drink the tea if you say it is nasty? There's no enjoyment in that, is there?"

"Well-"

"That sounds like a complete waste. That's a problem we need to fix, dear Rosa. I suggest you get your psychological thinking figured out before you soon come to hate all drinks."

"I beg your pardon?" Rosalina furrowed her eyebrows.

Palutena didn't bother making sense. The green-haired mother leaned against the cushions. "Isn't it a beautiful, oh perfect and lovely day for tea? It is! So, Miss Adeline, did you walk through the park on the way here?"

"No, I did not, I'm afraid," Palutena handed the tea over to Rosalina, who accepted it gingerly as if the cup was radioactive. The teacher sipped it innocuously, wincing at the lack of sugar. She set the cup down gently, continuing her harmless banter. "This tea is just fantastic, Mrs. Miranda. I appreciate your hospitality."

"So the tea is all right?"

"Why, it's grand! I simply must confess so," Rosalina lied. She cleared her throat. "And, even though this is so nice, Palutena, I need to tell you the real reason why I came here. The tea is lovely, and you are a great woman and all, but-"

"You- you didn't come to see me?" Palutena asked, the woman's voice rich with hurt.

"Oh, no Mrs. Miranda, I truthfully did! But, it's because I needed to discuss something. I have an important matter on my hands that simply must be addressed. Zelda-"

Palutena jolted away from Rosalina in alarm, her eyes flittering around the room as if to look for the nearest exit. "She is a good girl, isn't she?"

"Oh, Mrs. Miranda, I am not here to confer with you on Zelda's grades or her behavior in school in terms of disciplinary action, madam, but on the note she perhaps might not be happy." Rosalina bit her lip.

"Miss Adeline! You are very much mistaken! Zelda is very happy! Her and I are both happy, dear Rosa," Palutena corrected hurriedly, patting Rosalina on the arm. She gestured to the dress. "I make Zel the most gorgeous outfits to wear at school. A dress for every week of the year, and sometimes she must recycle them. They are made of the finest silk, Chinese in fact when I think hard enough. I want my daughter to look better than anyone at that school, for looks make up who you are, do they not? Zelda does look wonderful in them, right? In all of those pretty dresses?"

"I'm sure you make the dresses, Mrs. Miranda. I've seen plenty of your work, Zelda wears them everyday, even during the winter when it is not so much appropriate to wear such clothing. The boys make a tassel out of her, however. Not that she minds, I say, but it is odd how she's indifferent towards it. In fact, I love your dresses so much that one of my friends got married awhile back wearing one you made," Rosalina babbled. "Good, I'm practicing perfect damage control."

Palutena looked down at her lap. "Oh..."

Rosalina licked her lips. "I think though that you must know this. Zelda arrives to school in those beautiful dresses, but she changes into plain and pallid shirts or blouses after lunch."

"Damn her. Damn her to hell," Palutena hissed to herself, then aloud at Rosalina, "I always tell her to wear the dresses. All day, she promises me, she swears an oath to it. I'm telling you Miss Adeline, you have the wrong girlie in mind, darling. My Zelda would never!"

"But, Mrs. Miranda, should you be more present..."

"How does Zelda look when she gets to school?"

"Why, she's lovely. A little dove bird. I've told her that on occasion. But, that's not the issue- a matter concerning dresses. Oh, no, Palutena, I'm worried about what goes on inside of your daughter."

Palutena blinked. "When you came through, even though you've mentioned that you did not go through the park, did you see the cherry blossom tress in bloom?"

"I- I believe they may be. Spring after all comes forth with life and all that jazz, but I didn't come to speak about-"

Palutena rested her cheek on the armrest. "I simply must walk to the park one day and view the trees. The sun must be shining, that fluorescent light must be ascending down to the gale- oh you can see the glow now, can you not? I must admit, I get guiltily pleasured when watching the sunrise, I swear that there is so much enigmatic workings in that simple movement. The world looked beautiful. I had an empty street, slate and concrete being my neighboring friends for the early hours. Just the sun and the road. Nearing noon, however, I think was the time. No shadows either. Picturesque I tell you, Miss Adeline. Our street is quiet and lovely, no?"

"Why, it is a lovely, and quiet street, yes Palutena. But-" Rosalina agreed, hoping to transition to Zelda once more.

"It isn't always quiet, and that's when umbrage falls over this house," Palutena said darkly. "People knock on the door. They resort to ringing that dammed bell fifty times before I yell at them to fucking leave, and it's glorious to have anger leave my lips. It's like a leech sucking your blood, but its the fire instead, from burning rage. Usually the people at the door are men. Zelda makes them leave, sometimes with the broom. But, when it's the mailman, or the local bookstore clerk, she lets them in. I think she likes their company. One time we had an AC consultant come in, could you imagine? He wanted to fix it. I laughed with mirth in his face. I don't use the AC..."

"I suppose Zelda might, however, Mrs. Miranda. She's a teenage girl. They all have their preferences." Rosalina smiled.

"No... not much. I must simply ask you, for Zelda has a cellphone and all, did you once call her?"

"Yes."

"Was it for a specific reason? Did she do something wrong? Or... was it just for company's sake? Comfort? Fake conformity? But, whatever the reason may be, it's because you like her?" Palutena absentmindedly brushed her hair.

"Yes, I called her. I called many of my students, normally after grades go out and things like that. I call people because I know I can help them." Rosalina explained.

"You do help her," Palutena nodded. "She gets amazing grades."

"Oh, yes, Zelda is very intelligent. She's smart, oh so smart, why she can rival any of the teachers at school in intelligence. However, emotionally-"

Palutena's eyes sharpened, her body stiffening. The tea cup sloshed, a spill of murky brown staining the cream carpet. "Zelda is never emotional."

"No, you must be mistaken-"

"Never! We- we have pleasant times together, though. There is after all, only two of us here. We talk, we play games, we laugh. I help her with the schoolwork she has, well, most of it. She sometimes knits for me while I'm napping over my insufferable headaches. But, no, she's not emotional. She'll have stories of the nice things in her life, however. I hope you talk to her about that stuff."

"I do. A majority of it is me trying to envelop a skill or talent set from your daughter, should I blunt," Rosalina scratched her neck, seeing that Palutena's confused gaze stimulated some rash or disease of the skin. "I tried bringing up the subject of choir, it's a marvelous extra-curricular activity to get involved in, Mrs. Miranda. Zelda says she can't sing. She's protested that'll she deny her ability till the day she is buried six feet under. I see through her. It's an evasion. From some truth."

"She sings for me," Palutena sniffed. "Lullabies. Or the songs on the radio, but those are pieces before your time."

"If her voice is being used, and as beautiful as you allude it to be, then Zelda needs to put that gift to use. She needs to sing, especially at school. The doors that could open up for her, I am telling you-"

"She can sing at school!" Palutena declared hotly.

"But, that's the issue Mrs. Miranda. Zelda doesn't. It's like she's afraid. Your daughter never participates, every opportunity is met with a meek no. That's not ordinary Palutena, it's most certainly not orthodox. Unorthodox, I'm telling you!" Rosalina argued.

Palutena dismissed the altercation, adding more tea to Rosalina's already full cup. "I want to talk about those cherry trees instead. They were planted long ago, oh dear me, when my hair used to be a natural color... those were the days. I prayed they'd be in full bloom before I became an adult. And right they were."

Rosalina set the manila folder by her side to her lap. "Have you- how should I put this, Mrs. Miranda... always lived here in town?"

"Peculiar question, but yes. Always, for the longest time. My parents have passed on, but I still have my birth certificate somewhere in the back of the house. I've lived here my whole life. I'm forty-five, and there's nowhere else in the world I'd rather live in. No place I'd rather be, Miss Adeline, and that's a cold hearted fact," A pause, as Palutena glanced at the window. "Shame. It's beginning to cloud over."

Rosalina rose from her seat, seeing that this was going to get nowhere. "Zelda may be home soon, Mrs. Miranda. I can explain very quickly, as to not confuse you, on how we can help her." As she spoke, Rosalina reached to put her cup and saucer down, so she could've went around the chair to grab her coat. Palutena blinked, thinking the tea was being offered to her instead, so she reached for it. A mere pause caused the Earth to stand still as a heavy blanket of awkwardness clouded the living room. Rosalina closed her eyes, accepting the gesture of hospitality, and handed Palutena the tea cup. Palutena accepted it, before staring blankly at the saucers. She began to tremble, coping with the two tea cups was not on her agenda, not at all. Palutena rose, Rosalina's careful eye following her.

"Why do you want to help my daughter? She's a perfectly normal, fine human being Miss Adeline. Least she doesn't judge!"

That took the teacher aback by five or six steps, almost keelhauling over the seat with the dress. "Oh, but Mrs. Miranda..." Rosalina stuttered. "You needn't be frightened."

"I'm not." Palutena objected hotly.

"The reason I stated helping her, is because of a school event coming up. We have a play performed every year by the upcoming senior class. This year we are performing Beauty and the Beast, and I'd love if Zelda could audition for the role of Belle. She'd be just perfect as it, I hope you can imagine that in your head. It's a pity, she said you wouldn't let her even consider coming in for the part. Now, if her grades are what concerns you about the whole ordeal, I can assure you-"

"I won't allow her? I won't-but I didn't know. She didn't tell me that there was a senior class play."

Rosalina raised a blonde eyebrow. "She didn't?" It came as a surprise to her.

"No," Palutena admitted, feeling almost embarrassed. "Zelda loves to act, and it warms my heart thinking about it, Miss Adeline. When she was a little girl, and when my mind wasn't muddled with the global things we adults bore ourselves with, we played. Made up stories, made up romances dealing with death and desire, love filled up by lusting actions with gruesome tragedy at the end. Oh, it was fun. And we used dolls. Perhaps I'm too grown to still have them, but they were mine as a little girl. They're my dolls. We played house with them, although it was skewed as if simply reflected our life now. She's declined my offer to play again, although I plead with her to allow fantasy land to work once more. I make beautiful clothes because of it, those lovely silk dresses. Why, I'll make the costumes for this Beauty and the Beast!"

"So... in a roundabout way, Zelda can audition for the play?"

"I'll make all the costumes, all of them" Palutena declared. "The girl who plays Belle, won't they need many dresses? There's the daisy one as the main, but I can always work something out... correct?"

"Yes-"

Palutena sat on the couch again. "More tea?"

"Why that'd be lovely," Rosalina lied again through her teeth. "But, Mrs. Miranda, would it be too much to ask of you? Just encourage Zelda to muster up the valor and bravery to audition, that's all. It would be an important step for her to, I hope you realize. In English, I see Zelda pick up the most amazing pieces of literature. The Lord of the Rings come to mind, and sometimes a Lewis C. Carroll book if Middle-Earth bores her. It's rather exquisite to watch, I say. It'd be a huge success for her, a boost in confidence."

"And how is that, Rose?"

"I'm convinced that if Zelda will gain confidence, she'll begin to face life for what it is. That's the big problem I have with her. She doesn't face life like she should. She constantly runs. She will not make friends if she runs."

Palutena frowned. "Zel has many friends."

"It's the contraire, Mrs. Miranda. Zelda has no friends. Zero. Not one. She is terribly lonely."

Palutena stood as if she had the force of the American army behind her. "How can she be lonely," she shrieked. "Everyone likes her! I'm the mother of Zelda Miranda, Miss Rosalina Adeline, not you. I birthed her, I've raised her. I know these things, you don't! You're her teacher, that's all. I teach my daughter more things than you'll ever dream of!"

She stormed off, causing Rosalina to turn around in a dizzy state. "Oh, Mrs. Miranda, please!"

The school teacher ran off after the beleaguered mother, knowing what a goose chase it'll soon become. Rosalina didn't have to look far, as Palutena was standing in the doorway of the home, opening the door for a new visitor. Rosalina's heart skipped a beat. Zelda.

The teenager, soon to eighteen, stepped into the house. "I heard voices, and my name."

"Why, yes," Palutena said. "We were talking about you."

"We, mother?" Zelda questioned.

Rosalina waved half-heartedly, taking the deep breath before the plunge. "Yes, Zelda. We were talking about you."

Here we go.

BAM! There we are everyone, Teach Me How to Cry, Chapter One: Futile Intervention. Chapter Two will be up before too long, but it may be next week. I hope this story looks promising, as I've been wishing to do an idea like this for awhile. The second chapter will delve more into Zelda, as she's arrived and is the reasoning behind this chapter. How was this one, in your opinion? Is Palutena crazy, is Rosalina uncaring or just an idiot? Let me know! Please review, as I'll be commenting to them in my beginning authors notes! Don't write essays unless you want essay style responses. Love you all, and thanks for reading! Chapter Two, Good and Gorgeous shall be upon you all soon. Bye!

~ Paradigm