kbxshadow says: So I've chosen a few people to give Christmas gifts to throughout the week. This is the first one, for SuperSmasher025. It's a oneshot, obviously, this fic's a collaboration of oneshots that I've made for specific people, mostly people who have touched my writing career. Don't worry though, dear audience, because the last gift I have in stow is dedicated to everyone! So without further ado, SS, here's the first half of your gift! Merry Christmas!

A new day, a new beginning. Every day at the Smash Mansion was just that: a new beginning. This Christmas, being the last Christmas some of the veterans would ever get to experience at the mansion, was to be an especially big one. Veterans and newcomers alike were taking their chances now to establish relationships with those they had their eyes on.

If they could just get those passions out, that is.

Ike was one of those cases who had a problem with getting his thoughts out. Especially because the wire frame hostesses were now real humans with a heart, his uneasiness toward the situation only skyrocketed.

Dawn was not only a beautiful girl, but also a kind and sincere spirit. She never hesitated to extend a hand to those in need of her assistance, and she even took it upon herself to befriend each and every Smasher she could. A complete opposite of her friend Kevyn, Dawn’s calmness in most situations had really piqued Ike’s interest ever since she had met him at the entrance gates of the mansion.

And now that she was a complete human, Ike had settled on at least trying to reach out for her, but even his impulsive and daring behavior faltered in Dawn’s presence. His brash attitude toward his friends would immediately tone down when she was there. Why he could not get himself to be himself when Dawn was around was beyond him.

What he did know, however, was that Christmas morning had woken him up to a startled panic, which slowly died away as he sat in bed, thinking to himself that it had been a good few months since his feelings for Dawn had stirred. He thought of what Link had told him before about this dilemma: Be yourself and just take the plunge.

Pondering this a moment in relation to his situation, Ike’s stomach lurched. No way he’d even dare try. Oh, but the want to ask and tell Dawn everything he had ever thought of her…Maybe not. As much as he would want to, a dizzy headache and a vomiting feeling caused Ike to fall back to his pillows.

And now a series of soft knocks at his door. Assuming it was Link, Ike grabbed the nearest solid item, Ragnell’s scabbard – which he hardly ever used now from being deemed a Smash Brother – and hurled it at the door. The satisfying thunk of the scabbard meeting the door made Ike slap a pillow over his head, just in case Link was getting ready to holler at him through the door.

He had been expecting it to be Link so much that he nearly screamed and leaped off of bed when he heard Dawn’s voice at the door. “Are you…feeling okay?” she softly asked. “Is there something you need?”

His heart melted at the thought that she was so concerned for him. It took a little effort to call back, “N-No…I’m fine. I’m fine, Dawn.”

“That’s good.” She sounded content. “Master Hand wants everyone in the dining hall, so make haste. He’ll be describing today’s festivities at the breakfast table.”

Ike waited until he heard Dawn’s steps grow fainter to breathe deeply and force himself out of bed. The room, created in the likeness of the mercenary fort in Tellius, was a bit chilled, but reminded him of home easily enough. He wished he could share that with Dawn, but who knows how busy her life was? Who knew if she even already had a relationship? Ike could only sigh at that thought.

All depressing thoughts aside, however, it only took a few minutes for him to dress himself – the usual outfit, of course – and head down the stairs. To his slight dismay, however, he found that upon stepping in to the dining hall, his garments took on a more festive look: his cape, instead of tatters, was lined with white fluff – cotton. His headband, usually green, changed to red with tapered ends decorated with bells. His tunic, usually blue with gold linings, turned dark green with silver trims. Luckily, though, his pants, boots, and gloves remained the same.

This Christmas-y theme just did not feel right, though. And it did not seem to fit any other male Smasher in the mansion. Well, at least it did not seem like it. But here was Link, all decked out in his traditional green tunic, but with some changes: his hat, lined with cotton at the brim, was decorated with a small bell at the end. The tunic, too, was lined with cotton, and both tunic and hat were of velveteen material. And then there was Mario, his red hat decorated with a white pompom in the middle, and an alternating red and green scarf. And then Marth, sans armor and with his cape, too, lined with white cotton, pinned up with a clasp in the shape of a Christmas tree. He still kept the blue, though, and his scarf was an alternating blue on white. His sleeves had been extended, but other than that, not much different.

Ike’s eyes now traveled to the little group of hostesses: Kevyn, Jessie, Vivian, and Dawn. He could care less about the first three, but to him, Dawn was a sight. Her outfit consisted of a red velveteen jacket with white cotton linings and large white pompoms for buttons. She also had a short red skirt of the same material with cotton lining the hem. Her shoes were brown, and black socks went up to just below her knees. The ribbon holding her hair up was green, and her gloves were white and fingered. White specks glowed in her black hair – powdery snow from the outside weather.

He felt a pat on his shoulder. “When do you plan on confessing to her?” Link asked. “She’s single, available, and no one else is after her!”

Ike only eyed Link suspiciously. “You say it like as if you have competition.”

Link paused. “I actually do!” he exclaimed. “You’d never think so, but I do!”

“Really now? Who?”

“Can’t tell you that. That’s my personal business, alright? Besides, it’s Christmas! A time for bonding, and a time for love to flourish and burn passionately!”

“You’re not convincing me at all.”

“I know I’m not, but I’m pretty sure that Master Hand will.”

“That’s right…I missed Master Hand’s presentation, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, thanks to you zoning off about Dawn. But it wasn’t much,” Link reassured, “so don’t worry. He was just assigning who decorates what with whom and I swear, he must be targeting possible couples…!”

Ike felt his heart skip a beat. “…Why…?”

“Okay, so he put you and Dawn on the rooftop for the lights. Roy and Jun are handling things concerning the fires of the mansion. Marth and Cecilia are bringing out the boxes with all the lights and tinsel from storage. Pit and Simi are decorating the main Christmas tree we have in the mansion foyer. And listen to this: Vivian’s with Kevyn! I even asked Master Hand to pair me with Kevyn, but no, I’m put with Jessie the younger sister! And he knows that I really, really, really want to work things out with Kev – you’re not even listening, are you?”

“No, not really,” Ike dazedly replied. “But can you blame me?”

“Yes, indeed, I can.”

“Wha--? Why?”

“It’s your fault you can’t get yourself to confess, dumbass. What’s the worst she’d do, seeing how she’s not nearly as clueless as Kevyn?”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to look like a complete idiot in front of her…”

“Oh, suck it up,” Link sighed. “You already have your not-so-bright moments. What more can you do?”

“Oh, hey, look, he’s looking at you again, Dawn!” Kevyn excitedly murmured. “I know it; I just know he’s got something for you!”

Dawn merely shook her head. “Honestly, Kevyn, why would anyone want to go after someone like me? Especially after being faced with the fact that we were all wire frames at one point? Ike would never look at me from that kind of perspective.”

“That almost sounds like saying Link has a crush on my sister,” Jessie snorted. “Ike may not be as, you know, obvious as Link, ‘cause Link doesn’t care who finds out and who doesn’t, but anyone can tell Ike has some interest in you, Dawn.”

“Are you two just trying to make me feel better?” Dawn skeptically asked. “Ike’s more sophisticated than to have an eye for me.”

“Excuse me?” Kevyn questioned, incredulous. “I’m sorry, but it’s enough that he already has had his not-so-smart moments. What makes you think he’s sophisticated?”

“Well…” Vivian, the quiet one of the group, started, “it has been rumored that he had a heart for Queen Elincia during the Mad King Wars…”

Dawn nodded in agreement.

“That doesn’t mean he ever did or his perspective’s changed,” Jessie firmly stated. “Besides, do you guys ever notice the change that happens in him when Dawn’s around? It’s like he’s a completely different person around her!”

“I know, right?” Kevyn agreed. She set a hand on Dawn’s shoulder. “And you can’t deny that one, my friend. He has the hots for you, even though you might not agree.”

“I suppose it’s true…” Dawn sighed, “that he does seem to change when I’m there.” She blushed. “And…it’s true that I…I think that change is…”

“Rather cute?”

“Y-Yes…I mean, I really do love his personality more than he might think I do, and I…I do have dreams where he and I are…together…”

Kevyn and Jessie decided to keep their mouths shut for this one.

Vivian had a comment, however. “It’s what love can do to you,” she simply stated, smiling. “I have had those kinds of dreams before, and I still do right now. As long as I’m not there with that person I love, then…I kind of start to wonder if I can go on without telling that person…”

It was the most she had ever said at once, so both sisters – Kevyn and Jessie – were dumbstruck by this simple truth Vivian had stated.

Dawn was the only one who did not seem to mind. “I understand what you say, Vivian,” she murmured, “but…I don’t know…I can’t seem to get my mouth to open when he’s within earshot of me…I wish I could tell him…but…”

“Is it like that feeling you get when, you know, you’re next to him, and you suddenly get this fluttery feeling from the bottom of your stomach?” Jessie asked. “As if you think you can start flying from that exact point, just because he’s there right next to you? I have those, too, you know, when Link’s around me!”

The addressee nodded. “It’s not just the butterflies, either. I feel my heart just completely melting down, and I just suddenly feel so cold…” She sighed. “And then I’m tormented by visions of him holding me, and I somehow think that he would always be there to help me when I need it, or when I want him there…But I know that as long as I don’t say anything to him, he won’t ever know how I feel about him. If I could have a Christmas wish granted right now, then it would be for something to happen while he and I are working on those lights…”

Kevyn and Jessie cooed in unison.

“Well,” Vivian started, smiling again, “the sooner we get started on our jobs for decorating this mansion, then the sooner you’ll find out if your Christmas wish will be granted, right?”

Kevyn threw an arm around Vivian’s shoulders, grinning. “Vivian’s got the right idea. Let’s go get started. Master Hand’s gotten us into some pretty nifty groups! Dawn’s with Ike, Jessie’s with Link, and Vivian and I are in a pair together! We’ll be done before everyone else!”

“Oh yeah?” Jessie snorted in a challenging tone. “Even if Link does have something toward you, Sis, I swear we’ll beat you down! Spray painting the windows even though it’s snowing? Psh, we’ll get done with our table decorating before you guys!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t get so confident on that,” Dawn objected. “Even though I’m not sure about my relationship with Ike, I know I’m acquainted with him enough that we can be a better team than any of you could ever be.”

“We’ll see,” Vivian declared. “As long as I’m working with Kevyn, I have confidence.”

“Let’s go, then!” Kevyn exclaimed. “We’ll see who gets it done first!”

It was an effort on Ike’s part to not clobber Link on the spot. Salvation came, however, when the four hostesses ventured to the two, for Link immediately dashed for Kevyn, taking her hand in his, lightly kissing it for some shred of hope. She apparently denied him, though, because all she did was give him a friendly pat before dashing away with Vivian.

Ike did not get a chance to laugh, though: Dawn had taken him by his hand, leading him away to the rooftop. “We have to get going,” she stated with a playful tone. “Kevyn and Jessie challenged us to a race.”

“A race? For what?”

“You should know, considering how those two are.”

Ike paused a moment. “…They’re doing this just for fun?”

Dawn nodded. “Just for the hey of it.” She smiled. “Kevyn and Vivian are part of the crew going around to the windows to spray paint them in white. You know, for the snowy effect. And Jessie and Link are decorating the dining hall area.”

“That’s going to take either group a while, isn’t it?”

“Not if Kevyn’s on the job. She gets excited when it comes to mediums. And Jessie’s confidence with Link there with her will prove to be a great force. After all, she is Kevyn’s younger sister. I’m sure Link will find something in her uncannily irresistible. But enough chat. We have lights to hang!”

It had stopped snowing for a little: not long enough for the snow to melt down, but not short enough for the mansion to pile on the snow. It was definitely chilly enough for frost to form on the rooftop, though. Ike and Dawn were not the only ones up there: most of the Smashers who could fly would sometimes soar up to the rooftop area to spread the aurora borealis Master Hand had specifically created for the purposes of this night.

The light-hanging thing was going over well for the two, so much that both were surprised at how their cooperation worked out so well. Dawn found it surprisingly easy to speak with Ike on a friendship level, and the latter got over his shyness toward her long enough to keep a conversation going with her:

“How long have you been a hostess here?”

“I’m actually not too sure…But I do know that I wasn’t here when the first Super Smash Bros. Tournament was held.”

“So since the Melee tournaments?”

“Toward the end. I guess Master Hand decided he couldn’t keep an eye on close to thirty skilled fighters all at once.”

“So he created you four?”

“That’s right. We were at first wire frames, as you know, but once we got requests for practice fights with various Smashers, we decided to have Master Hand change us into real humans, to match their skills, especially because we had that capability.”

“Why change from something nearly indestructible to a fragile human, though?”

“We wanted to be on the same level as you guys. And I guess to establish deeper connections with all of you.”

“Like Kevyn and Link. It seems like ever since Kevyn changed into a real human, Link’s been overly satisfied with life.”

Dawn laughed. “He has, but it is funny how he still hasn’t gotten all that personal with her yet. They haven’t even hugged yet.”

“Yet? And he tells me how hopeless I am…”

“You? There’s someone you like?”

And if such an awkward moment occurred, both took extra care to only give basic hints. When guessing came to be too much, they laughed on it and went on with their business. However, they did try to associate the various hints given with aspects of theirselves, hoping that the other was really trying to mention them.

They looked out for each other, helping the other when the situation called for it. Luckily neither slipped on the various frosty patches dotting the rooftop floor…yet.

And then they sometimes got mischievous: the corners of the rooftop floor were piling on with snow, so one would occasionally gather a handful of snow, rolling it into a ball before pelting their partner with a wad of cold. The perpetrator would laugh about it before they, too, were hit by a sphere of snow, at which the first prankster would continue the snowball fight. In Dawn’s case, as she got quickly tired of building balls of snow, she made a run for Ike as if meaning to tackle him, but skillfully made a backward flip over him, causing the Crimean commander to fall back into a pile of snow. That was the one time Dawn was ever able to pull that one off: Ike was able to catch her as she was coming down the other times.

Which really meant that he essentially held her when he could.

Neither would ever forget those fleeting moments when they held each other, both hoping that this sense they were getting from the other was a mutual loving respect.

Both could sense a blossoming feeling from deep within their hearts.

Even more so starting when Dawn was sitting on a perilous edge of the rooftop, hanging the lights at regular intervals. She had finished up that part of her task, and had actually been relaxing on that dangerous edge, enjoying the frigid air around her as she waited for Ike to catch up. She dwelled upon the excitement of the day so far, remembering the cooperation, remembering the mischief, remembering the mutual feelings she thought she had felt from him at those moments he held her.

A short conversation with him told her that the next set of lights was ready to be put up.

And so she stood up from her seat on that perilous edge, turning to run back to the box with Christmas lights to hang up the icicle lights. That pivot nearly sealed her fate, though, as the floor she pivoted on was frosted over with ice…and there was no railing behind her.

A fleeting empty sensation filled Dawn then, chilling her to the very core at a faster rate than at which she felt herself falling back. The mere shock froze her heart, so much that she could not get herself to breathe or let up a cry, even though she wanted to scream. Her voice was stuck in her throat, and urging it out seemed to make her choke. Her tears of fright mixed with her strangled cry, causing an unpleasant knot deep within.

She really did think this was it, seeing how she and her friends were no longer wire frames, but real human beings of flesh, blood, and bone. This is it…Oh god, this is it…

But then the falling sensation and empty cold feeling left her: they just stopped, and when she dared to open her eyes, she saw that she was at quite an angle over the edge, but definitely not falling. Her cold hand felt warmth, and when she came to full realization, she found herself enveloped in said warmth. She felt her frozen heart come back to reality, and as blood circulated her system again, she let silent tears fall. A voice still would not rise from her throat.

Ike seemed to sense that frigidness Dawn’s being emanated, and quickly pulled her away from the roof’s edge, still holding her close. “Glad I wasn’t late,” he breathed. “I wouldn’t want to fathom the thought that I had lost you just because I couldn’t react quickly enough.”

Dawn had nothing to say in reply, or really, the knot in her throat prevented her from saying anything. She was more or less grateful about this: if she had let up a voice, she probably would have choked again. So, for now, her tears remained silent. And for now, she cherished his warmth, refusing to let go until her voice and the warmth of life came back to her.

She loved him, she loved him for his warmth, she held him in love, wishing to never let go, wishing to be always surrounded by his love and concern, hoping and pleading that he would never let go of her. She thanked him, thanked him for loving her enough to save her life, thanked love for compelling him to reach out for her, praying she would always be able to accept and return his love. How could such a simple feeling be so deep? She did not ponder it.

Ike, meanwhile, mistook this moment as a temporary heaven, promising to not let go of her until she so wished it, promising to love her until she refused it. Just a temporary heaven, and hopefully an everlasting one until she wanted him no more. Just a temporary feeling, just a simple fleeting feeling, yet so much more. A wish come true, a simple wish come true, yet with much more meaning than it could possibly ever have. Just a temporary heaven.