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The Prince of Light and the Mouse who made Light

Chapter 1:

The sound of waves resounded about Marth like those on the shores of Talys, the island where the young man had spent a good part of his childhood with his fiancé and her father when his castle fell.

At this point in time though, it was hard for the prince to tell if the waves were far away or even there at all. His vision swam between darkness and a grayish faint light that danced above his eyes. Weary of the darkness, Marth's eyes began to adjust to the grayness until a mix of tan and dark green joined it.

He was on a beach. Dark cumulous clouds overhead made everything ahead a darker shade of its original color. Marth slowly rose to his feet. Talys…. He could have been back there to greet Caeda's father if that hadn't occurred. Or even at Marth's own kingdom of Altea to return to the life that awaited him in the castle where he was born. The appearance of her changed that like when the allied kingdom of Gra turned on his father leading to its destruction. In both of those instances, no one had seen it coming and in a moment everything he knew was gone.

After rising to his feet, Marth wrung out saltwater from his clothes and hair from apparently washing onto shore. He trekked considerably from evenly timed waves as not to further be drenched. Taking a seat on the notably damp sand from a dense humidity that hung in the air, Marth removed a blue drawstring back from his back which he was wearing in addition to his regular attire for a much anticipated occasion. Marth sifted through its contents for something to help him in his current predicament. He came across a water bottle, his journal and pens, other personal items and, a round peach. Every brawler, Hero or Villain, had been given one as a parting gift by the Mushroom Kingdom's princess. The end of the tournament had arrived and if that hadn't happened everyone would have been home or at least on their way.

Marth heard the excited chatter and sad farewells on looking the crowd of smashers gathered for the official closing of the Super Smash Brothers Brawl Tournament. The same cliff where they had gathered looking upon the sunrise at the beginning was now the place where they would see each other last and the sunrise was replaced with a the sun disappearing over the ocean.

Vehicles which included Fox and Falco's Great Fox, Wolf's Wolfen, Captain Falcon's Blue Falcon, and Meta Knight's Halberd were among of the ones Marth recognized that were parked along the cliff's edge. They had been parked there for the duration of Super Smash Brothers Brawl and were preparing when the sun disappeared from the sky.

Marth had said his proper goodbyes to all the fighters giving an extra farewell to Meta Knight and Ike who had been steadfast companions even before the tournament had begun. Since the duty of bidding farewell to his fellow competitors was done, the prince had separated himself from the others and retreated away from the edge to where he could view the whole sunset and the backs of the smasher's heads. From the blue drawstring bag Marth unraveled a folded piece of paper and indulged himself in Caeda's handwriting.

"Dear Marth, I hope this letter finds you in good health." Marth began reading to himself the details of the lives of those he had left for six months. His best friend had visited from the country of Pales with Marth's sister to get married in Altea. Marth would be in time for the wedding once he got back from the tournament. In his stead, Caeda was running the kingdom with the help of his advisor, Jagen and council. She wrote how it was rather difficult running the kingdom now that all the countries in Achanea were making preparations to become united as one. Marth wondered if he would be able to take the pressure of keeping the land in order when he returned. Aside from that, everyone in the kingdom missed him and even the little dragon girl accompanied by her elderly dragon guardian had stopped by asking the whereabouts of the one she called "Mar-Mar." Scanning where she had signed her name, Marth eyed a post scriptum but read it in his mind. "P.S. We can make our own wedding arrangements as soon as you come home." Marth shoved the letter back into the envelope and was soon approached by Princess Peach who had noticed the soon-to-be-king was alone.

Smiling, Peach handed him a peach as a parting gift which she was giving everyone to enjoy as the sun finally set and fireworks were set off. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the mood to eat it, thus placing his fiancé's letter and the round peach into the drawstring sack on his back when she walked away. Guilt took him for a moment for his discourteousness with Peach's fruit, but it disappeared when large fireworks erupted into the sky dismissing his thoughts and replaced them with awe of the multicolored display. The summer stars even seemed to dull in comparison. Master Hand and Crazy Hand had made their way to the middle of the sky and a more magnificent display was put on than the last tournament.

They two hands waved goodbye to everyone present once the long display was over. Marth was heavy hearted watching the competitors disband to return to their worlds. A ship would come for him sometime but that wouldn't be for a long while. Suddenly, Marth's vision was obscured by a disturbing sight. Over the cliff's edge a dark cloud enveloped the sky and with a powerful gust of wind, blew away Master and Crazy Hands before they could even react to what was happening. From barely visible shadows, a figure emerged from the cloud with a strange light shimmering about it cast an off white twilight and further parted the brawlers who absconded into one of the vehicles lined around the rocky surface. Marth seemed to be the only who had not run, for he was too far away from anyone or anything to. He drew Falchion as the creature from the shadows took form of something rather hard to gaze upon.

Its right half was of a beautiful woman with milky skin and raven hair wearing a black gown and the left half was of a raven. The difference of the species was split clearly as if a line down the middle had been drawn. Possessing the voice of neither things she was composed of, her large wing flapped out toward Marth. "Come here." She said in the voice of some mix of a broken violin and an old hag. The raven woman was so far away, but it was as if she was right in front of him. His grip on the divine blade tightened until his knuckles turned white. The sword was held in front of him. Sweat rolled down his brow. "COME HERE!" The thing's screech surrounded him. It was like she was inside his mind screaming. Marth looked ahead, frozen in terror. In one lift of her left foot, she was so close to Marth her sickeningly sweet breath could be smelled.

And Marth got a nose full of it, for her beak-mouth stretched wider than his face. Sharp white nails from the woman's right side dug into Marth's cheek as she held him fast, sucking in some sort of energy from him. Stunned, Marth let these cerulean colored waves escape from him, weakening him as those waves disappeared into the mouth of the monster. The world was spinning away in a blur of colors from the smashers out the corners of his eyes, the twilight and the woman. His gaze fell, but as it did so, Marth hazily made out that his sword had pierced the woman's stomach with fresh black droplets coming off the tip. Taking control of himself and the little strength he held, Marth thrust upward earning a scream of pain from the raven woman. Her cry was earsplitting. The force of a thousand stakes against chalkboards filled the air. The prince felt red liquid rush out the sides of his face in his attempt to cover his ears. The beast stumbled back a couple of feet and fell on her human knee. Marth rushed at her to finish the job, but an orb in her hand a rich red color was formed in her hand and held up high. It sent a wave of pain surging through Marth starting from his chest and radiating throughout his whole body.

Already tired from his last ordeal, Marth fell to his knees and looked around. From the vehicles, the other smashers doubled over one by one. It was the last sight he saw before succumbing to blackness.

In the present, on the beach, Marth felt emptiness on his head and realized his symbol of royalty was missing also that the letter from his fiancé was gone from his bag. He picked up his sack and the items that had occupied it and raced back to the spot he had landed, the effects of the oppressing humidity seemed to be everywhere but still a little bit bearable.

The letter was soggy, but still salvageable and his crown was half buried in sand. The letter was returned to his bag. Scurrying away from an incoming wave, Marth brushed off the sand with his gloved hand and applied the crown to his head. As he looked around him, he realized the act was somewhat futile. He was a prince -a king to be actually-and that title mattered before anything else. But, there was no one to recognize that fact. He was utterly alone.