Chapter 1:

Through the Glass

Mærrsjǫt, Safnaeldr, Fyrigmark

The doors of a large chateau slammed open with a deafening bang that echoed throughout the empty corridors. The noise was accompanied by gleeful, cacophonous laughter from two teenage girls, laden with their boarding school items and to-go boxes of various pierogi. The twins looked at each other with mirth as they lugged their trunks behind them and to the living area and set them there to put away later. They ran up the stairs in an excited tumble as they screeched out what they would be doing for the remainder of their birthday.

"So, Thalia, what should we do now?" asked the brunette to her twin.

"Hmm, I'm not sure, Clio," the black haired twin humored her sister. It was already around 11 or so at night, and so there wasn't really much they could do. But this was a tradition, and if there was anything the Fyrish respected, it was tradition. "There are always parties… we could ask Servius or Siarhei to come over… We could go shopping…"

"Or we could play Super Smash like we do every time we come back home," Clio responded. Her twin grinned.

"Super Smash, here we come!"

The girl's dashed to their game room and plopped themselves down onto the couch, assuming a dysfunctional heap as they got the game ready. They each took a pierogi from one of the to-go containers as they listened to the medley of glorious gaming title songs.

"Want to play through the Subspace again, or should we brawl?" Thalia asked Clio cheerfully.

"Subspace sounds good to me! Shalt we play it on intense?" Clio asked humorously with a smirk. After years of playing the game since it was first released, the two were old pros.

Thalia snorted. "Oh, I don't know, Clio. That sounds a bit hard. I mean, it's not like we've been gaming since we could toddle."

Clio rolled her eyes at Thalia's usual sarcasm and took it in stride, shooting back a witty remark as she selected a new file for them to play for the Subspace. They watched the first cut scene with smiles on their faces before quickly defeating the first boss. The two settled into the casual routine of mashing buttons and screaming with loud battle cries as they sped through the Subspace.

"Woo!" The fraternal twins high-fived, grinning happily as they reached the seventy-five percent mark.

"And we made it to the ultimate duo!" Clio cheerfully exclaimed.

"Alright! We should save it here," Thalia happily stated. She didn't want to lose their project. They'd just spent the remaining hours of their 18th birthday playing. She'd be damned if they lost all that data.

Clio nodded and did so before she turned to Thalia. "I want ice cream," she informed bluntly, her face straight.

Thalia nodded in agreement, looking mournfully at the empty boxes of pierogi. "Me too."

Clio looked at her watch. "And it's only one or so in the morning.

Thalia grinned mischievously with an evil chuckle. Plus," she wiggled her eyebrows, "Gerard isn't here. Think of all things we can do now…"

Clio laughed. "Right you are, sister. We can sneak out and go out on the town and no one can stop us!"

"Yeeeeees," Thalia said, tapping her fingers together. The two got up and began to walk towards the closed door of their game room. They had a few hours until Gerard was scheduled to get back to the chateau.

They walked outside and clamored inside of Thalia's Maserati. Clio pointed to the sky as the car's rev roared and shouted, "Onward!" before Thalia punched the gas pedal and the two sped off.

After returning from their escapade, the girls skipped their way into their chateau, singing a traditional Fyrish folk song that had something to do with alcohol, boats, and Romans with much gusto. They carried two sacks filled with snacks of the Fyrish, Polish, and American variety. While they had originally only planned on buying a little bit of food, once they saw the glorious menus and realized that they'd probably end up pulling an all-nighter, the Solberg twins decided that it was either go big or go home and promptly bought as much food as they could possibly stomach and then some.

"The dancing was swift and bouncing, and the ale fell off of the boat," Thalia sang as they made their way back up the staircase.

"When the Northman stopped their clamoring, the Roman who knocked it out knew at once that he was doomed," Clio chimed in with her twin to the tune of the musical break.

"So the Northmen threw him off of the boat and they resumed their dancing tune," Thalia finished.

The two burst into the game room, bouncing as they danced to the well-known song before they sat themselves back onto the comfy couch and divvied out their food items. Thalia took a long drink from her milkshake before placing the cup down on the table at her side. Clio ate one of their mozzarella cheese sticks and passed a GameCube controller to Thalia as she took a Wii Remote and Nunchuck for herself.

"We have the full dream team!" Clio exclaimed as the two twins re-watched the cut scene in excitement.

"Never gets old, even after we've seen it over a million times," Thalia remarked nostalgically. They entered the Great Maze and selected a few characters that had been unavailable to them before.

"How many times have they played this game?" came a voice that didn't fully register to them. Thalia turned to Clio in question.

"Clio, I just sort of said. It feels like it's been over a million times," Clio gave Thalia a confused look.

"I thought that you asked that, Thalia."

"Why would I ask something in the third person about what I just said in the first place?" Thalia asked with a roll of her eyes. Clio held up her hands.

"I don't know… Throw back to our ninth year at the Academy?"

"I wonder what they're talking about," a second, more familiar voice asked curiously.

"Yeah, it's like their responding to me," the first voice said. There was silence throughout the room as the information sunk in.

"You can hear us?" the question came from both sides of the screen. There was an awkward silence as Clio and Thalia grabbed at each other's hands anxiously. They were speaking. The video game characters were speaking. Why were video game characters speaking? Were they hallucinating? Was this a fanfiction?

Thalia looked at the screen; the characters were bouncing, seeming to await commands from the two girls.

"Hi," Thalia started awkwardly. There was an awkward pause as finally the second voice, which they now identified as the angel Pit, spoke up in response.

"Hi…?"

"Hello…? Marth stated with confusion.

"Oh my God," Clio began. "Did we just break the laws of physics and the universe?"

Thalia nodded. "I think we did," back to the characters, she began again. "So, what's… up in your world?"

"Well," Pit began unsurely, "We're kind of in the middle of a stage."

"I'm honestly surprised primids haven't attacked us by now," Marth interjected. "We are in the Great Maze after all."

"Hi," Clio greeted, coming out of reverie.

"Hello," Marth's voice was polite, though slightly amused at the delayed reaction.

"Am I really talking to the Marth from Fire Emblem?" Clio questioned rhetorically.

"Yes," Marth answered, not understand the point of a rhetoric question. "I'm not sure how, but for some reason, we are now able to communicate."

Clio nodded. "It seems that way."

There was another awkward pause. "So..." Pit intoned.

"How has your day been?" Marth asked calmly.

Thalia grinned. "It was a pretty good day, actually. This is kind of the icing on the birthday cake."

Clio added, "How's your… day been? Do they have days in the Nintendo World?"

The twins had a feeling Marth would've shrugged if he could. "My day has not been terrible. You haven't killed us that many times."

There was yet another awkward pause.

"Huh. Does dying in the Subspace… hurt?" Clio asked cautiously.

Pit laughed a bit. "Going off of your overly dramatic screams, I think it hurts you more than it hurts us."

The twins stared at each other with wide eyes before they looked back to the screen.

"We're really sorry for whenever we get you killed or, you know… die on purpose," Thalia apologized sheepishly, biting her lip.

Pit and Marth both laughed slightly. "It's really not that big of a deal. We're used to dying," Pit exclaimed.

Clio's and Thalia's mouths dropped open. "That's awful!"

"It's not that bad. Losing hurts a little bit, but winning is super awesome!" Pit stated cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.

The twins didn't know what to say to that, instead choosing to gape at the screen.

"I just thought of something." Clio mumbled.

Thalia nodded. "What?"

Clio shook her head in wonder. "They follow the controls because they have to, but they think on their own."

Thalia gazed at the screen. "This feels like some kind of Human Code of Ethics infraction."

Clio nodded in assent to her sister's statement. "The Tumblr social justice bloggers would have a field day if they knew about this."

Marth whispered to Pit, "What should we do?"

Pit shrugged, not that the twins could see it, and replied. "I have no idea. Talk to them? Convince them they're hallucinating? Do we want them to know that we're alive?"

Right when he said that, Thalia burst out laughing. "This has got to be a hallucination. There is no way that video game characters are self-aware!"

Clio joined in. "Oh my God, I know, right? It must have been all that American fast food and the lack of sleep. Those greasy fries must have clogged up the arteries going to our brain. This can't be happening."

Marth and Pit could only join in laughing, amused by their explanation and slightly confused in regards to whatever this fast-food thing was.

"Now that we're sure that we've lost touch with reality, shall we chat and continue?" Thalia asked each party politely.

"Sounds good to me."

"If it pleases you."

"Alright!"

The twins played on, making occasional small talk with the two characters and laughing as they did so. There was a sense of familiarity among the group, the guys easily keeping up with the girls odd humor and rapid fire commentary as if they had been for years. However, now that they knew the characters were alive, though they thought they were hallucinating, the girls were extremely careful, trying not to kill neither Marth nor Pit.

"Do you think if either Link or Ike had to come out, that we could talk to them too?" Thalia asked offhandedly as she deflected a primid's boomerang before effectively knocking him off screen with Pit's side smash attack.

Clio paused, before slashing at another foe with Marth. "I don't know."

"I'm curious."

"Me too."

"But I really don't want to kill Marth and Pit."

"Same here," Clio responded before getting knocked off of the platform during a moment of distraction when her phone had given a sharp ring. "Shit!" she cursed as Marth blasted off screen. "I'm so sorry Marth!"

Thalia dramatically inhaled as she watched Marth fly off. "No!" she called out. "Marth!"

Pit let out a grunt as he was hit with a boomerang. Thalia started to chant to herself "fly, fly, fly, fly" over and over again as she used Pit's Wings of Icarus to get him back on the platform he had been blasted off of.

"Link is now onboard," Clio narrated as the Hylian came on screen with a courageous: "Hya!"

"He always makes that sound, right?" Thalia questioned, still worried about Pit's rising damage gauge. She couldn't kill him! It would be like killing a puppy or a kitten or some other cute and cuddly thing that would break your heart to kill!

"I'm not really sure," Clio answered as she used Link's boomerang to knock a few Primids down.

"Hya!" he yelled again, throwing a bomb at an enemy with a scarily savage laugh.

"Okay, he definitely doesn't do that," Thalia told her twin who made a gesture agreement. Smiles bloomed on their faces and the two looked at each other excitedly. If they were right, which they knew they were, Link was just like Pit and Marth; and if Link was like Pit and Marth, then so was Ike. They both frowned as they thought about what had just happened to Marth.

"Hey Pit!" Clio called out over the mashing of buttons. "Will Marth be okay?" She slashed a Greap and Link cheered triumphantly.

Pit replied, "Yeah, he'll be okay. He was just trophified temporarily. He'll be back to normal when he gets back home."

"Can Link not talk even when he's in the Nintendo World?" Thalia inquired while also fending of some other enemies. She began to breathe quicker and she leaned forward, her hands gripping the controller anxiously as she tried to save Pit from too much damage. Thalia and Clio gritted their teeth nervously. Maybe it was paranoia now that they knew the characters could feel pain, but all of the enemies seemed to be smarter and were definitely quicker. It was a tough battle.

Pit replied quickly, "Not in Subspace or in any of his games. He can while in the Waiting Room."

"The Waiting Room?" both girls repeated in befuddlement.

Pit absentmindedly replied to Link's unasked question, "Yeah, they can apparently talk to us now. No, I have no idea when this happened."

"Huh?"

"Sorry, Link was confused," Pit called out to clear any more confusion.

The girls shrugged before remembering that the characters couldn't see them. "Okie dokie," Clio answered, deftly clicking pressing the buttons on her Wii Remote as she twirled the stick on her Nunchuck.

Thalia pressed on, almost getting blown off screen, before using one of her favorite recovery moves, Pit's Wings of Icarus. "Could you explain what the Waiting Room is?"

Pit grinned. "Sure. It's technically called the After Game Building, but we refer to the whole complex as the Waiting Room. It's sort of a holding place for all of the created Nintendo characters. The Waiting Room is where every Nintendo character goes after their games are released and is where people try to get a new game or get put into a new game. That brings us to the Smash Quarter.

"In the building, we have the rooms for all of the characters and for us, the Smash Quarter. The Smash Quarter is for current smashers to hang out and prepare themselves. We each get our own rooms there and better amenities. The ones who are in the current Super Smash Bros get to stay in Smash Quarter instead of going back to the Waiting Room," Pit was cut off as he groaned from a Greap's downward slash.

Thalia winced sympathetically and said apologetically, "Sorry, Pit."

"Don't worry about me," Pit responded kindly, although his voice sounded slightly pained. His damage was around two hundred. Thalia really needed to get a heart container.

"I think that you're going to die soon, Pit," Clio said with worry in her voice.

Thalia bit her lip, trying to save Pit from any more damage. While Ike would come in next and even though he was her favorite character to play as, Thalia didn't want Pit to get hurt. She had grown attached during their interaction. Pit had always been a major dork in his games, but she had never realized how earnest and adorkable he could be.

"I won't die," Pit tried to ease their hearts. "I'll just get turned into a trophy and get all healed up while the others fight."

"Yeah, but I can't play you then," Thalia frowned.

"But you can play Ike," Pit said reassuringly before hissing in pain as he was thrown upwards by the Greap's attack. He flew up and then hit the screen, sliding off.

"No!" It was exclaimed by both Thalia and Clio. Clio continued to attack the Greap with Link, defeating it soundly. Just as Clio began to move on, Ike appeared on the screen.

"Do you think that Ike can talk to us too?" Clio whispered to her twin.

Thalia shrugged and whispered back: "I don't know. I'll ask." To the screen, the black-haired twin questioned: "Hey, Ike, can you hear us too?"

Thalia and Clio had stopped moving the characters, instead waiting for a response

On the other side of the screen, Ike stared at Link with an expression that screamed: Why are they talking to me?

Link shrugged, before acting out a series of motions that translated to: Don't know why but they can hear us and we can talk to them, Marth and Pit were talking to them, and it's actually been pretty awesome!

Ike nodded before tentatively calling out, "Uh... I can. Well... We always can. Can you hear me now?"

The girls grinned at each other. "We can! Awesome!"

Ike was very lost. "I think I missed something. What's going on?"

Thalia laughed. "We think that Clio and I are hallucinating because of all the American food we ate. Oh yeah, I'm Thalia, and this is my twin sister, Clio."

Clio started to wave before catching herself and instead cheerfully saying, "Nice to meet you."

Ike facepalmed before mouthing at Link: They're in denial and think they're hallucinating?

Link grinned a bit and nodded. Ike shook his head in response.

Clio froze. Thalia turned to look at her. "What's wrong?" She quickly added her sister's name to the end of that statement to show the characters who was talking.

Clio turned to look at her twin in shock. "Wait, they could always hear us?"

Thalia froze as well, her face paling in realization. "That's why they always knew what we were talking about. I thought it was part of the hallucination."

Link snickered as he mouthed something to Ike.

The mercenary chortled a bit before whispering, "No, I'm not going to mess with them. I'll just feign ignorance."

Unfortunately for him, the girls heard.

"Mess with us about what?" Clio asked cautiously.

Thalia grabbed Clio's arm. "They heard what we talked about while playing their characters."

Ike laughed out loud this time. "Yeah, we did. It's really not a big deal."

Thalia face turned slightly green and she felt her heart stop. Noticing her sister's panic, Clio soothingly rubbed Thalia's arm. "It is too!"

Link was practically giggling like a school girl. So much for savage war cries.

Clio timidly whispered, "Do you remember what we talk about?"

To his credit, Ike tried to diffuse the situation. Sadly, he failed. "Well... Some. But we don't judge! It was fun to listen to you guys! It made us laugh!"

Now Link facepalmed.

Clio and Thalia gaped at each other. "You hear us talk about... All the private stuff you're not supposed to hear!? And LAUGH ABOUT IT?!" Thalia stammered.

Ike felt very awkward. "Um..."

Clio almost shouted, "The characters don't talk about it, do they? You don't share what you heard, right?"

Ike was silent.

Thalia mumbled, "I'll take that as a yes.

Clio shook her head. "We talk about some really embarrassing stuff... Whoops."

Thalia suddenly let out a desperate laugh. "At least it's all a hallucination!"

Ike and Link shared a look. The desperation and denial was so thick, it permeated through the television screen all the way into the Nintendo World.

The girl continued. "That milkshake went straight to my head. What is it? Three in the morning?"

"You know, there is no logical way any of this can be real," Clio continued.

"But if it is real, and they could always hear us…" a cold feeling settled in Thalia's head as she gulped, and, casting a side glance at the screen, switched into Norse, a tongue that was passed down through the Solberg family since Fyrigmark became a unified nation and the national language, Fyrish, was created. "What about the time we were talking about which ones we would fuck?"

"You mean the time that you were talking about which one you would use to do the do," Clio answered in their family's tongue.

"I was young, naïve and fourteen at the time," Thalia brushed it off, but reiterated. "Ike could have heard that! Do you know how embarrassing that is? For both of us. Me, because I said I'd would fuck him if I had to, and him because he heard a fourteen year old girl say that she wanted to frick frack with him!"

Clio decided not to bring up the fact they had discussed which ones they'd fuck a few days ago. "Maybe he forgot…? It was four years ago. Besides, we were tired! It was four o'clock in the morning. Shit like that always happens at four o'clock in the morning," Clio tried to comfort her panicking younger twin.

"What are you two talking about?" Ike was curious. For some reason, Link seemed to understand their conversation and was laughing at the two girls, occasionally sending pointed glances at Ike before bursting back into gut-crunching chortling.

"Nothing you need to know about," Thalia replied coolly. Clio sent her a look that asked: Why are you so cold now? Thalia shrugged in response. Clio groaned as she recognized the panic in her sister's eyes. So Thalia was going on the defensive. Great. Clio shook her head, and tried to start a conversation with the gaming character.

"So, Ike, how's life been for you lately? What were you doing before joining us?"

"Alright, I suppose. I was chatting with Samus earlier…" he was still baffled by being able to talk to the two gamers. This had never happened to any of the video game characters before. While they had always heard the gamers when they were playing, never before had the gamers themselves heard the characters. Talking between the worlds? That just didn't happen.

"That's nice! What's she like?"

"She's cool, I guess. Then again, that's not really the right word for it-"

"Wow. So descriptive. I can just feel the intelligence overflowing," Thalia said derisively before making Ike run forward a bit, showing that she just wanted to get on with the game.

"Seriously? Is this going to solve anything?" Clio asked Thalia in in exasperated Norse. Thalia just frowned.

"What? You know that derision is my only defense."

"But this is Ike we're talking about! And he already said that it's okay…"

"I'm just really embarrassed, okay?" Thalia snapped, flustered. Clio patted her shoulder sympathetically before knocking a primid off of the screen in a swift blow.

"Because he knows that you adore him?"

"Yeah, and because I admire him so much. And I just really don't even know how to talk to him. He's so cool and all… I just feel so awkward. And I know sarcasm."

Clio nodded sympathetically. "I understand how you feel. I dote on them a bunch. But you should try to be a little nicer to him… It's not every day we get to talk to them!"

The girls then heard chorus of Ha!s and Hya!s which obviously came from Link. He heard Ike grunt before saying, "Link says that you shouldn't feel so nervous and that you should just be yourself. Since you play so many of his games, he knows you pretty well, and he says that you shouldn't worry. Thalia."

"Link can understand us when we speak in Norse?"

"Is that what that was?"

"Yup. It's a language on our world." Clio cheerfully answered.

"Apparently."

"Can you, Ike?"

"I can't," Ike told them.

"T-That's a little reassuring," Thalia said with a slight stutter that she tried to cover with a coughing chuckle. "Wow. So much dust in this room. My… allergies."

Clio shook her head with a slight quirk in her lips.

"So you two were definitely talking about me. Care to share?" Ike asked curious and slightly offended.

"Because when two people speak in a private language, that information is obviously up for grabs, am I right?" Thalia responded, rolling her eyes to match her sarcastic tone. Sarcasm was a little over fifty percent of her personality. Back when they were kids who attended etiquette and dance lessons with their teacher, Alenka Burkowski, Thalia would emulate her oldest sister Ari's biting manner of speech while Clio and their older brother, Eric, tried to play mediator. Her sarcasm never really went away…

"I bet they can't even tell our voices apart! They probably think it was me! I do talk a lot about weird stuff!" Clio desperately tried to stop her sister's coming anxiety attack. Thalia's breath had already started to come slightly quicker. "Ask Link! I'll do it even!"

Thalia paused, before smoothly cutting Clio off. "That reminds me. Can they see us?"

"Huh. We never asked that, did we?"

"Hey, Link," Thalia called out before switching into Norse. "Can you see us?"

Ike grumbled irritably. "He says no. You do know that you could have just asked me, right?"

"Thanks," Thalia muttered absentmindedly. Directing her question at Ike this time, in response to his last statement, and asked: "Are you able to tell our voices apart? Mine and Clio's?"

"When we're really trying to and keeping up with the conversation, we can grasp who's saying what," Ike said thoughtfully. "But we can't remember specific quotes most of the time. Oh yeah. You guys are twins right? I just want to make sure."

Thalia inwardly fist-pumped in victory. He probably doesn't know who said that embarrassing thing! "Yes, we're fraternal."

Clio chimed in, "I'm the older one!"

Thalia stuck her tongue out at Clio before adding, "Only by 9 minutes! That's hardly something to brag about."

Clio shrugged and smiled broadly, "True, but that doesn't change the fact that you're the baby of the family, Thalia." Getting back to business, Clio continued on the earlier train of thought.

"So, you don't remember everything that we say?"

"Not really everything. But most things. It's like how you remember things about friends. You may not remember everything word-for-word, but you do remember the gist of conversations. Although," Ike continued, "I think I remember that one of you mentioned something about wanting to have sex with me a little while back. Quotes like that stick out in one's memory."

Link's laughter, which had died down, once again turned into heavy guffaws. Clio scratched her head and chuckled awkwardly, caught between laughing or sighing, now watching her sister take on a mask of horror. Thalia took in a breath and gulped, deciding that there was no way that Ike would remember that it was her who made the comment and besides, this entire situation was just some weird hallucination.

"Wow," Clio sounded sheepish. "That comment must have made an impact."

"Eh, it's okay," Ike stated. "I laughed. I've heard worse, before back in my mercenary group. I don't really know why anyone would think that about me, though."

"Excuse me?" Thalia said. "I don't think I heard you right. If you don't mind me saying this, I've never really understood why you always put yourself down when it comes to how you look because, to be frankly honest, you're very attractive for a two-dimensional character."

"Thank you for that," Ike said gratefully, but he sounded slightly embarrassed. "It's just not in my nature to think of things like that, so when people say those kinds of things, it's more of a shock than anything else. But, again, thank you for that… Thalia?"

"Mmhmm," Thalia said with a slight smile and a blush. Clio's mouth twitched with the urge not to meddle. She literally had to bite her tongue. Ouch. There was a pause.

"Sorry to ask, but if that's how you feel, why do you seem to have a problem with me- Well, how do you know she doesn't have any problems with me, Link?"

Clio barely stopped herself from laughing at the mercenary arguing with a mute while Thalia blushed. It seemed Ike was really dense after all.

Thalia chuckled with embarrassment, happy that she had said what she had earlier since it had made her feel so much more comfortable. From then on out, the conversation was far more pleasant. The girls gained particular amusement from Link's comments that he would pantomime for an embarrassed Ike to say. The group continued playing, finally ending up at the door before they would have to get Ness and Dedede and the rest of the characters that no one really wants to play.

"Will we be able to talk to you next time we see you?" Thalia asked quietly. Clio's body took on a stiff posture. Neither of the girls wanted to lose the interaction between them and the characters. Even though they continued to talk themselves into believing this entire night wasn't real, there was just that small part of them that told them it was real. And these characters were talking to them. They didn't want to let go of that hope.

"I honestly have no idea. We shouldn't be able to talk to you now. I think it's definitely a possibility," Ike said. He and Link had both enjoyed their time getting to know the gamers a little better. It was almost relaxing to have someone to talk to, and while their obvious admiration was a little uncomfortable at first (neither of the two were great with admiration or what they perceived as flattery), the video game characters were sort of endeared by it.

The girls hesitated for a second longer in front of the final door that would lead to the end of their communication with the characters. "Okay then. Goodbye I guess, we hope to talk to you again," Clio and Thalia said together before guiding Ike and Link through the last door to clear the stage they had been on.

About thirty minutes or so later, the twins had finally reached the last bit of the game where they were challenging Tabuu, one of the most trolling bosses in the history of the world –what was up with that Golden Bracket move, anyway? –and they steeled themselves for the upcoming battle. The girls finally beat the Great Maze with the characters who could actually talk and now, it finally came to where they were going to choose their characters for the last brawl in the game. They could hear slight utterances from the character selection screen, but couldn't make out any specific words. That's how it had been with the other characters they had been forced to play as. For some reason, only Ike, Pit, Marth, and Link were able to speak directly to them. They chose those four to be their warriors.

The battle started and the two girls were suddenly very still, straightening up from their more relaxed positions as they breathed deeply to prepare themselves.

Then, Tabuu appeared and all hell broke loose.

They began to battle furiously, buttons mashing and joysticks twirling as they fought to survive against the final boss.

"No. No. No. No. No. No. No…"

"Right! I said go right! Dumbass!"

"Who're you calling a dumbass?"

"No-EEK!"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT MOVE! CHEAP SHOT! CHEAP SHOT!"

"Just keep using Ike's Aether, Thalia! It'll be fine! We still have Marth and Pit as backup!"

"What do you think I'm doing? Go, Ike! Go! Damn, I wish that we had a smash-ball. This thing would be dead in a heartbeat!"

"Ugh!"

"Oi, that's got to have hurt…"

"Poor –NO! IKE! WHY DID YOU DIE? FUCKING GOLDEN BRACKET! KEEP GOING, CLIO! KEEP ATTACKING!"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?"

"Yeah! Let's go, Pit!"

"LINK…! NO! WHY?!"

"You just had to get hit off screen."

"You were hit off first!"

"Go Pit! Let's slaughter this motherfucker."

"Alright Marth, come on!" The girls vaguely realized the characters responded with their signature battle cries. The sound of mashing buttons continued to fill the game room as the two girls made both Marth and Pit run around the screen, slashing and firing arrows at the opponent. They had been playing this game for more than a few hours by now, and they were not about to let Tabuu finish them off. Even with Pit and Marth not being the twins' best characters to play as, the two girls were doing some pretty heavy damage to the final boss.

"I think we might win," Clio said hopefully, blue eyes glued to the screen as she sent Marth into a forward slash.

"Don't jinx it…" Thalia used Pit's light arrows in a rapid succession, the two attacks spamming against the boss, knocking away his HP.

"I'm serious though," Clio reiterated. "We might just have a chance to win against him on the first try!"

Just as the words left the brunette's mouth, Tabuu fired off his Golden Bracket move again, effectively knocking both Marth and Pit off screen, stopping the battle.

"I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU AND YOUR FAMILY AND YOU EAT DEAD BABIES YOU SADISTIC SON OF A BITCH!" Thalia shrieked, throwing the Wii remote to the ground in a fit of fury. Turning to her twin, she said with venom: "You just had to jinx us. We'll win she says We have a chance she says It'll be fun she says!"

"Oh yeah? And who got killed first, huh?"

"He hit me with an OHKO move!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Next you're going to tell me that was my fault."

"You were useless as Link!"

"Oh yeah, sorry about that. But you were spamming Pit's weakest attack!"

"That is true. Hm. Let's try it again. We always win on the second try."

The twins finished their argument as quickly as they started it, neither able to be angry at the other for more than a few minutes. Turning back to the screen to try the final battle again, Thalia prepared to click continue only to see…

Absolutely nothing.

The trophies were gone and a blinding flash of light came from the screen. The twins closed their eyes and, when the light had died down the cautiously looked around. It took a second for the reality to settle in. For some reason, they were now back at the title screen, as if nothing had ever taken place.

"Where are the trophies…?" Thalia asked, clutching her controller hard in her hands so hard her knuckles turned white.

"They're not there," Clio said softly. Her voice rose into a fearful pitch. "Why are they not there?"

"I don't know…" Suddenly, the fact that they were no longer looking at the Subspace screen filtered into Thalia's mind and a terrified thought raced through her head. "Our data…"

"What?"

"What about our data…?"

"No…" Clio's hands trembled as she tried to use the controls on the remote. "No… Not the data… Not the data!"

"I knew that we should have saved when we hallucinated! Now we have to do it all over again!"

"No! This can't be happening!"

"I don't want to do it again. I don't want to do it again. I don't want to do it again."

"I don't either. And right when they started talking too… It's just sad!"

The two girls clutched at each other as they stared, horror-stricken, at the screen in front of them. Whimpers escaped their mouths and they could hardly hold back their tears. Why? It was so unfair! They pulled each other into an embrace as they tried to keep from crying. It was like your game glitching right after beating the final boss or finally getting past the map that had you stumped for days. But somehow even worse!

"Um, excuse me. I believe that you are Miss Clio and Miss Thalia…? I am very sorry to intrude."

The two girls froze, their sadness overcoming rationality as a voice spoke from behind them.