A Link to Murder

Chapter 3

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. “The third murder in two days.” He looked to Samus and Marth. “Who the Hell is killing my money?”

Marth was the first to answer. “It’s 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, he’s nice, loveable Link, however, in a flash he can become a horrible murderer, capable of just about anything.”

The Master Hand thought about this information, while watching Link struggle against his bonds. “Samus,” He finally said. “What is your belief, your opinion about this? You think Link did it?”

“I happen to agree with Marth. That explanation would seem to make the most sense, so, it’s the one I’m currently going with.”

The Master Hand nodded. “Good then. Alright, Dr. Mario!” Dr. Mario quickly ran up.

“Yes?”

“Take 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?”

Dr. Mario nodded. “Yes, sir, right away.” 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. “Alright, I suppose I should reward you two for getting rid of Link for me. Thanks to you, we’ll still be bringing in enough money, though Zelda was a nice source of income. What would you two like?”

The two thought about it. “Tell you what,” The Master Hand finally said. “you come to me anytime, with anything, and I’ll make it happen, alright?” The two nodded their consent. The Master Hand smiled.

“Excellent. Now then, since there’s been so much drama, we will postpone any further matches until tomorrow. So, go about your business, and whatnot.” He walked out, going the way Link had been hauled out. Samus turned to Marth.

“I – I can’t believe it…” She said in a low voice, so the others couldn’t hear. “I can’t believe she’s actually dead. Why would he murder Zelda in cold blood?” Marth just shook his head, putting an arm around her, to comfort her.

“I don’t know, Samus. He’s a killer. That’s his reason.” Samus tried to be comforted, but she couldn’t 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. “Hey man. Samus is taking Zelda’s death pretty hard, isn’t she?” Marth just nodded.

“I feel sorry for her. But it’s a good thing that Link was locked up. Now the drama can stop. Now we can return to leading ordinary lives. Right?”

Marth shrugged. “I sure hope so.” He looked back at the scene. Zelda’s 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 didn’t think, whether the Master Hand would like it or not, many would be fighting for a while.

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Falcon walked up to Dr. Mario.

“Oh, hey Captain. How may I be of service?”

“I would like to speak with Link.” Dr. Mario was a bit taken aback by this.

“Are you sure? He is suspected as the murderer, so, you know, he could be dangerous.”

Falcon nodded. “I’m sure I can handle him, if he gets out of hand.”

Dr. Mario just shrugged, resigning the argument. “Alright.” 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.

“Let me out of this prison!! It was Marth!” Falcon closed the door and walked up to him.

“Hey, calm down. I’m here to see what I can do about getting you out.”

Link finally stopped yelling. “Yeah? What are you going to do about it?”

“Well, I’m 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 ‘Marth did it’. I want to know how, when, and where.”

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.

“Alright. 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 – I see Marth, in a red cape, running out of the room. I didn’t say anything to him, I just went inside Zelda’s room. I first thought she was trying to have an affair or something, but then I saw her, just like you did. I didn’t touch a thing.”

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.

“Thanks, Link. I’ll see what I can do with that information. I’ll get back to you.” Falcon rose, walking out of the room as Dr. Mario locked it behind him.

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“That son of a bitch!” Samus cried. Marth sat next to her, trying his best to console her.

“It’s alright, Samus. They’ve locked him up; he won’t be doing any harm to anyone anymore, alright?”

“No, it’s not alright!” She exploded. Marth knew Link was in danger, and was trying to stall Samus’ rage until it cooled down, because otherwise, she wouldn’t kill him, she would destroy him. “He murdered my best friend, in cold blood! It’s not alright! He deserves the exact same thing Zelda got!” She headed for the door, but Marth stepped in her way, blocking her.

“Marth, get out of my way. He is going to die at my hands.” But Marth remained firm.

“No, 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. He’s ruined. Even if it turns out not to be him, he’ll never be looked at quite the same way again. He’ll always be the guy who lost it. Don’t become that, Samus. He’s dead, to the world. Don’t become that.”

Samus’ 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 wasn’t because her hand hurt. She turned back to Marth again.

“Marth…” She said, looking at the floor. “I’m sorry, but… could I be alone tonight?”

Marth studied her. “Are you alright?”

She nodded, still keeping her gaze transfixed to the floor. “Yeah, I just… I want to be alone.”

“You promise you won’t go kill Link?”

“I – I promise.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

After a moment of silence, Marth nodded slightly. “Ok. I’ll check up on you tomorrow morning, alright?”

Samus nodded again, this time remaining silent.

“Ok.” Marth turned, showing himself out. He looked around for a moment, and then decided to go to the lounge.

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“All I’m saying is,” Young Link started. “I deserve to be locked up, since it’s inevitable that I become that, seven years from now.”

“But you don’t, you see?” Marth argued. “He didn’t have the same background you did. He didn’t grow up here, where as you did, so you’re 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 you’d much rather be a woman. You aren’t him.”

“Well 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. I’m 13!”

“Is that so? And have you ever thought of killing someone? And I don’t mean, ‘Oh, damn, Fox beat me, I’m going to kill him’, 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 I’m saying.”

“Well, no, I haven’t… so what does that mean?”

Marth shrugged, his face expressionless. “Well, perhaps I made a fallacy. I can be wrong, you know. It is possible.” He rose.

“So… what, are you going to go do something about it?”

“Oh, no, I can’t. They’d be too suspicious.”

“Oh…”

“But you know,” Marth said as he began to leave. “It’s surprising what kids can get away with these days. I mean, they’ve got the size thing going for them, and then, even if they are caught, they can just get away with being… 13, say.” He flashed a quick smile to Young Link before exiting the lounge, leaving Young Link with his thoughts.

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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 didn’t 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 Link’s 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 wasn’t 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.

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Link awoke. Something had been near him not too long ago. He reached up and scratched the back of his head, trying to – wait. He scratched his head again. There was something definitely wrong with that action, he just wasn’t 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.

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Dr. Mario patted Jigglypuff on the head. “Don’t worry. In a couple days, that’ll be fine. You can walk on it, but don’t duel, and no landing on it after doing long jumps, alright?” Jigglypuff nodded.

“Jiggly!” It said happily, hobbling off down the hall. Dr. Mario chuckled to himself, as he put everything back in his pockets. He didn’t understand the new generation. He’d 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 he’d checked the prescriptions, and reached for the keys. He did it again. After the third time, he realized he wasn’t actually missing, they just weren’t there. But they weren’t too far away. They were just a small way away, on the floor. Dr. Mario frowned. Hadn’t 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 Link’s things, including Link himself, were missing. He immediately ran back to the desk, picked up the phone, and called the Master Hand.

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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 hadn’t 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 hadn’t been lying, except about one thing. It all made sense now. But who should he tell first?

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Roy had just learned Link was loose. He had to find Marth.

After checking the lounge, the pub, and the gym, he walked to Marth’s quarters. He knocked on the door.

Rap rap rap! Nothing.

Again. Rap rap rap! Still nothing.

“Marth? Marth, are you in there?” 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 he’d just make himself comfortable until Marth showed up.

Just then, an arm went around his neck, and a sword went to his back. “How’s it going?” A voice said from behind him.

“Wait, wait, no, don’t kill me!”

“Why shouldn’t I? You killed her, now you need to die.”

“Wait, no, I don’t! I could… umm, do community service… and besides, y-“

“Besides nothing!” The voice hissed. “You need to be murdered. You should have known this would come. Did you really think you’d get away with it forever? Did you really think that you wouldn’t have to be killed?”

“Well, you know, I was kind of hoping…”

“Aww, too bad. This is one dream where your hopes don’t come true. This is one dream where, in about five seconds, I plunge this sword through your heart.”

“No, no, I can do something, anything, to-“

“Five.”

“Ah, damn. No, please, I have things to live for.”

“That’s right: Four.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no…”

“Three.”

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…

“Two.”

But he was nervous! What if he missed, then the swordsman missed, and he was stabbed through… the leg, or something? Then he’d been in deep crap, because his death would be slower!

“One.”

Now or never! Now or never! Now or never!

He reached up as fast as possible, but the swordsman was faster. In a second, Roy’s arm was off, and in the next, a sword was through his heart. The last thing Roy saw were the swordsman’s lips, mouthing the words ‘I win'.