Illusions and Lies (A Super Smash Brothers fan fiction)

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX: ALL WE'VE WORKED FOR.

"Good afternoon. Welcome to the induction ceremony for our latest members of the Rebellion." Chrom's voice rang out across the field just outside the city limits where the ceremony was being held. Though Zelda couldn't actually see him, considering that she was standing behind a curtain. "Today, as you are no doubt aware, we are inducting nine of the Lost Children into our ranks. While they may no longer be children or lost to us, the mere fact that we have found them is a testament to our strength. Recent events may have shaken the resolve you all possess, but with these new leaders and solders, I believe that we will see success once more." 

Beside her, Sheik grumbled something that she didn't entirely catch. Judging by their earlier comments, it was something about how much they hated the collar of their dress uniform. Zelda elbowed them without looking and whispered "Stop thinking about it and it won't bother you so much."

"It's fucking itchy." Sheik hissed back. 

Zelda glanced over at them and sighed. "You're being ridiculous. It's not that bad."

While the two of them argued, Chrom was still speaking. He was saying a lot of things that sounded important but probably weren't, so Zelda thought it was safe enough to mostly tune out what the leader of the Rebellion was saying. All she was really waiting for was this stupid ceremony to be done with so she could tease her sibling about their distaste for the dress uniform mercilessly. 

Then someone poked her- not Sheik, they were standing to her right and the poke had come from her left. So who was it? Zelda looked over to her left and tried to resist the urge to snap at who she saw standing there. 

It was none other than Marth, who she'd really grown to despise over the last three weeks. It was unfortunate, considering that he was the brother of her best friend, but at this point it really couldn't be helped. He hadn't been doing anything but provoking fights and generally being unpleasant. 

"It's almost time. You both ready?" Marth asked. 

 "We both are." Zelda smiled innocently and jabbed Sheik with her elbow again as they started to mess with their collar again. 

"Alright." Marth cast a puzzled glance at her, but he didn't comment on it any further. "Remember the order?"

"Yes." Zelda responded. It was actually kind of funny that Marth was only acting like a real leader for something as trivial as this. He only bothered to step up when there was little to no risk involved. 

Truly an inspiration and an upstanding man, wasn't he?

"Great. Try not to die between now and when your name is called, okay?" Marth said as he began moving down the line again. 

In order to avoid an argument, Zelda waited until Marth was completely out of earshot before muttering "It would be a lot nicer if you would drop dead."

"Zelda, chill out." Sheik muttered. "He might be annoying, but that doesn't mean you should wish he was dead." 

"Be quiet."

They muttered something else, which was likely about how ridiculous she was being, but otherwise they surprisingly stayed quiet. Sheik didn't do that often. More teasing material, since they were probably just distracted by something or another. 

"First, I would like to have Marth Lowell take the stage." Chrom announced. 

Marth ran past Zelda, clearly having forgotten the order himself. He slowed his pace just before he reached the curtain, and he walked through it at a much more relaxed speed. 

There was a longer pause before Chrom started speaking again, going through a short speech about Marth's achievements (Zelda completely zoned out during this said speech, otherwise she would have been tempted to punch something) and then Marth was granted leadership of a squad. Not surprising, since he'd been getting groomed for a leadership position for the last few months. That didn't mean it wasn't frustrating, though- he'd already proved that he was actually a shitty leader when it really came down to it. But no, apparently he was some sort of military genius.