When people start turning up dead, all the evidence points to Link. Did he do it? |
It was horrible. Zelda had been hung by her hands from her fan, and apparently cut up rather nastily with a sword. It took great force to restrain Link. They eventually strapped him to a table, incapacitating him, for the most part. He still swore at great lengths. The Master Hand had shown up for this. âThe third murder in two days.â He looked to Samus and Marth. âWho the Hell is killing my money?â Marth was the first to answer. âItâs Link. It had to be. No one else was there. You heard it yourself; he was the only one with her. I fear Link is suffering from multiple personality disorder. On one hand, heâs nice, loveable Link, however, in a flash he can become a horrible murderer, capable of just about anything.â The Master Hand thought about this information, while watching Link struggle against his bonds. âSamus,â He finally said. âWhat is your belief, your opinion about this? You think Link did it?â âI happen to agree with Marth. That explanation would seem to make the most sense, so, itâs the one Iâm currently going with.â The Master Hand nodded. âGood then. Alright, Dr. Mario!â Dr. Mario quickly ran up. âYes?â âTake Lin- take that table up to the hospital. Keep it under lock and key if you must, understood? All clues currently point to Link, so, for the moment, treat him as though you would a psychopathic murderer, got it?â Dr. Mario nodded. âYes, sir, right away.â Donkey Kong came over to help Dr. Mario haul the table, with Link attached, kicking and screaming, away. The Master Hand turned back to Samus and Marth. âAlright, I suppose I should reward you two for getting rid of Link for me. Thanks to you, weâll still be bringing in enough money, though Zelda was a nice source of income. What would you two like?â The two thought about it. âTell you what,â The Master Hand finally said. âyou come to me anytime, with anything, and Iâll make it happen, alright?â The two nodded their consent. The Master Hand smiled. âExcellent. Now then, since thereâs been so much drama, we will postpone any further matches until tomorrow. So, go about your business, and whatnot.â He walked out, going the way Link had been hauled out. Samus turned to Marth. âI â I canât believe itâŚâ She said in a low voice, so the others couldnât hear. âI canât believe sheâs actually dead. Why would he murder Zelda in cold blood?â Marth just shook his head, putting an arm around her, to comfort her. âI donât know, Samus. Heâs a killer. Thatâs his reason.â Samus tried to be comforted, but she couldnât take it. She rushed off to her quarters. Marth let her go, watching her run. He knew how bad she felt, and understood she needed some time alone. Just then, Roy walked up next to Marth. âHey man. Samus is taking Zeldaâs death pretty hard, isnât she?â Marth just nodded. âI feel sorry for her. But itâs a good thing that Link was locked up. Now the drama can stop. Now we can return to leading ordinary lives. Right?â Marth shrugged. âI sure hope so.â He looked back at the scene. Zeldaâs body now rested on her bed, and several people were mourning next to it. Zelda had been a good friend to many people, and her death had a huge impact. It was a good thing the Marth versus Link fight had brought in so much, because Marth didnât think, whether the Master Hand would like it or not, many would be fighting for a while. ------------------------------------------------------ Falcon walked up to Dr. Mario. âOh, hey Captain. How may I be of service?â âI would like to speak with Link.â Dr. Mario was a bit taken aback by this. âAre you sure? He is suspected as the murderer, so, you know, he could be dangerous.â Falcon nodded. âIâm sure I can handle him, if he gets out of hand.â Dr. Mario just shrugged, resigning the argument. âAlright.â He took Falcon over to a large metal door, inserted a key, and opened it. Apparently, Link had yet to be removed from the table. He instantly began yelling. Dr. Mario just walked off, as if he were used to it. âLet me out of this prison!! It was Marth!â Falcon closed the door and walked up to him. âHey, calm down. Iâm here to see what I can do about getting you out.â Link finally stopped yelling. âYeah? What are you going to do about it?â âWell, Iâm not going to do something illegal and just let you out, but I am going to ask you for your side of the story. What happened? And give me details. The whole headquarters knows that âMarth did itâ. I want to know how, when, and where.â Link took a couple deep breaths, calming down. He knew that the Captain was trying to help him, so yelling would probably lessen the chances of his getting out. âAlright. Zelda had just come up to my room to talk to me. We talked about the Ice Climbers incident, and she sort of helped me through it. Around eleven thirty, she said she was going to go get changed, since we were going to go out. So, I walked her to her room, which, as you know, is just a couple away from mine, then went back to mine, to freshen up. When I went back, I see a guy â I see Marth, in a red cape, running out of the room. I didnât say anything to him, I just went inside Zeldaâs room. I first thought she was trying to have an affair or something, but then I saw her, just like you did. I didnât touch a thing.â Falcon sat in a chair next to him, thinking about this story. If what he said were true, it would be hard to prove. Marth had a stone-cold alibi. He was with Samus the entire time, celebrating his victory, in his white armor. Plus, why would he want to murder Zelda? That would just make Samus upset. He finally spoke. âThanks, Link. Iâll see what I can do with that information. Iâll get back to you.â Falcon rose, walking out of the room as Dr. Mario locked it behind him. ------------------------------------------------------ âThat son of a bitch!â Samus cried. Marth sat next to her, trying his best to console her. âItâs alright, Samus. Theyâve locked him up; he wonât be doing any harm to anyone anymore, alright?â âNo, itâs not alright!â She exploded. Marth knew Link was in danger, and was trying to stall Samusâ rage until it cooled down, because otherwise, she wouldnât kill him, she would destroy him. âHe murdered my best friend, in cold blood! Itâs not alright! He deserves the exact same thing Zelda got!â She headed for the door, but Marth stepped in her way, blocking her. âMarth, get out of my way. He is going to die at my hands.â But Marth remained firm. âNo, Samus. If you kill him, you become exactly what he has. The insane murderer, tied up to a table in the psycho ward. You become the one of ridicule. Think about it. Heâs ruined. Even if it turns out not to be him, heâll never be looked at quite the same way again. Heâll always be the guy who lost it. Donât become that, Samus. Heâs dead, to the world. Donât become that.â Samusâ rage still boiled inside of her as she thought about this. Finally, she nodded. She turned around, and punched the wall, putting her fist through it. After a moment, she let out one of the longest, most tortured screams Marth had ever heard, though it wasnât because her hand hurt. She turned back to Marth again. âMarthâŚâ She said, looking at the floor. âIâm sorry, but⌠could I be alone tonight?â Marth studied her. âAre you alright?â She nodded, still keeping her gaze transfixed to the floor. âYeah, I just⌠I want to be alone.â âYou promise you wonât go kill Link?â âI â I promise.â âYou sure?â âYeah.â After a moment of silence, Marth nodded slightly. âOk. Iâll check up on you tomorrow morning, alright?â Samus nodded again, this time remaining silent. âOk.â Marth turned, showing himself out. He looked around for a moment, and then decided to go to the lounge. ------------------------------------------------------ âAll Iâm saying is,â Young Link started. âI deserve to be locked up, since itâs inevitable that I become that, seven years from now.â âBut you donât, you see?â Marth argued. âHe didnât have the same background you did. He didnât grow up here, where as you did, so youâre going to have an entire lifestyle change from him. You could be entirely different from him, in fact. You might decide that blue should be your hair color, or that youâd much rather be a woman. You arenât him.â âWell that may be true, but the basic primal instinct to kill is still there. I read that once. It was this story about these twins, who grew up in entirely different settings, one was rich, the other poor, one was smarter than the other, and they never ever knew each other, and yet they both ended up becoming psycho mass murderers. In separate interviews with them, they both said the instinct to kill was in them from the time that they were 11. Iâm 13!â âIs that so? And have you ever thought of killing someone? And I donât mean, âOh, damn, Fox beat me, Iâm going to kill himâ, I mean ever thought about how you would kill someone, what they would do, and how you would get away with it? Have you ever seriously considered it, is what Iâm saying.â âWell, no, I havenât⌠so what does that mean?â Marth shrugged, his face expressionless. âWell, perhaps I made a fallacy. I can be wrong, you know. It is possible.â He rose. âSo⌠what, are you going to go do something about it?â âOh, no, I canât. Theyâd be too suspicious.â âOhâŚâ âBut you know,â Marth said as he began to leave. âItâs surprising what kids can get away with these days. I mean, theyâve got the size thing going for them, and then, even if they are caught, they can just get away with being⌠13, say.â He flashed a quick smile to Young Link before exiting the lounge, leaving Young Link with his thoughts. ------------------------------------------------------ Dr. Mario was looking over some prescriptions before retiring for the night. It was probably for the best that he was the doctor of the headquarters. If just about any of the other smashers knew what the others were taking, he didnât think the end of it would ever be heard. He smiled to himself as he finished. He closed the cabinet, putting the key in to lock it, when he heard a scream, followed by a crunch. He ran over to the sound. Jigglypuff lay on the floor across the corner, clutching her leg, which was bent at an odd angle. Dr. Mario pulled out some equipment, and got to work straightening it. His pockets were deceptively large. Young Link took the chance. He ran behind the desk, and spotted the keys right away, halfway into a cabinet keyhole. He took the entire ring of keys, figuring he would cross that bridge when he came to it. He leapt over the desk, and made a bee-line for Linkâs room. Finally, he found it. He jumped up, looking through the bars at the top. At about the fifth jump, he was pretty much sure that it was Link, even though it was dark, so he fumbled with the keys, and noticed that one had H8 on it. He looked up, to a sign hanging from the veiling. Wing H. He looked at the number on the door. 8. He shrugged, and tried it, successfully. He snuck in. Link was asleep, so Young Link darted out of the room, adrenaline aiding his speed. He ran by the desk. Dr. Mario still wasnât there. He tossed the keys over, then ran faster than lightning down the hall, towards his quarters. He leapt on his bed, pulled the blankets over him, and waited. ------------------------------------------------------ Link awoke. Something had been near him not too long ago. He reached up and scratched the back of his head, trying to â wait. He scratched his head again. There was something definitely wrong with that action, he just wasnât entirely sure what it was. He did it again. Then he pulled his leg up, because it itched, too. Then he realized: he was free! The bonds were cut away. And a crack of light shone through the edge of the door. It was open! He hopped out of bed, grabbing his weapons, and putting them on. He said a silent prayer to Captain Falcon, then rushed out of the room, knowing exactly where he was going. ------------------------------------------------------ Dr. Mario patted Jigglypuff on the head. âDonât worry. In a couple days, thatâll be fine. You can walk on it, but donât duel, and no landing on it after doing long jumps, alright?â Jigglypuff nodded. âJiggly!â It said happily, hobbling off down the hall. Dr. Mario chuckled to himself, as he put everything back in his pockets. He didnât understand the new generation. Heâd never been that reckless at that age. Ah, well, maybe it was their thing. Personally, Tom Petty was his thing. He walked back to the desk, remembering heâd checked the prescriptions, and reached for the keys. He did it again. After the third time, he realized he wasnât actually missing, they just werenât there. But they werenât too far away. They were just a small way away, on the floor. Dr. Mario frowned. Hadnât he left those in the lock? And one was singled out. H8. His face went white. As fast as his legs could take him, he raced down the hall, images appearing in his head. He arrived at his destination. The door was closed. Good. He opened the door, and looked in. That was not good. Everything was gone. The blankets were thrown off the table, and all of Linkâs things, including Link himself, were missing. He immediately ran back to the desk, picked up the phone, and called the Master Hand. ------------------------------------------------------ Falcon sat in his armchair, thinking. For the moment, he was not favoring any one theory, though he was thinking in the mind frame that Link hadnât told a single lie. How could Marth possibly have gotten there and back in the⌠what, ten, fifteen seconds where no one knew where he was? He sighed, looking at the sheet in front of him. Practice times for yesterday. Pichu and Pikachu: 4:17; Yoshi and Mario: 5:17; Fox and Falco: 6:30; Samus and Zelda: 9:10; Marth and Roy: 9:23; and finally, Bowser and Ganondorf, creatures of night, at 3:57. He looked at it again. Just then, he realized what had happened. Link hadnât been lying, except about one thing. It all made sense now. But who should he tell first? ------------------------------------------------------ Roy had just learned Link was loose. He had to find Marth. After checking the lounge, the pub, and the gym, he walked to Marthâs quarters. He knocked on the door. Rap rap rap! Nothing. Again. Rap rap rap! Still nothing. âMarth? Marth, are you in there?â Silence. He tried the door. Unlocked. Roy slowly opened the door. The bed was nice and made. The mirror was polished, and neatly hanging above the bed. The dresser was clear. Roy walked in a bit more. Maybe heâd just make himself comfortable until Marth showed up. Just then, an arm went around his neck, and a sword went to his back. âHowâs it going?â A voice said from behind him. âWait, wait, no, donât kill me!â âWhy shouldnât I? You killed her, now you need to die.â âWait, no, I donât! I could⌠umm, do community service⌠and besides, y-â âBesides nothing!â The voice hissed. âYou need to be murdered. You should have known this would come. Did you really think youâd get away with it forever? Did you really think that you wouldnât have to be killed?â âWell, you know, I was kind of hopingâŚâ âAww, too bad. This is one dream where your hopes donât come true. This is one dream where, in about five seconds, I plunge this sword through your heart.â âNo, no, I can do something, anything, to-â âFive.â âAh, damn. No, please, I have things to live for.â âThatâs right: Four.â âNo, no, no, no, no, no, noâŚâ âThree.â Roy just stood, silent. He realized there would be no talking this man out of what he was going to do. Maybe if he could get his sword⌠âTwo.â But he was nervous! What if he missed, then the swordsman missed, and he was stabbed through⌠the leg, or something? Then heâd been in deep crap, because his death would be slower! âOne.â Now or never! Now or never! Now or never! He reached up as fast as possible, but the swordsman was faster. In a second, Royâs arm was off, and in the next, a sword was through his heart. The last thing Roy saw were the swordsmanâs lips, mouthing the words âI win'. |