Hiding in my Skin, Broken from Within

Chapter 4: Face My Fears

Title for this chapter based on "Face My Fears" by Utada Hikaru (from the Kingdom Hearts 3 OST)

Hiding in my Skin, Broken from Within

Chapter 4 - Face My Fears

"Lucina's gone missing!"

"What?!" Those words were the last words Captain Falcon expected to hear after Lucina seemingly made a smooth recovery at the hospital, especially considering what happened when he visited her the other day. He thought that for sure, life would have gone back to normal in Smash City and she would be fine...that he had successfully patched things up with her.

After regaining some of his composure, he reluctantly asked, "D...do you know where she is?"

"We don't know," Shulk replied on the other side of the line. "We've formed a search party that is looking around right now. I suggest you meet up with everyone in the lobby."

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can." The Captain hung up the call. After getting ready, he picked up his smartphone one more time and opened up the texting app. Opening the pre-existing page of texts he exchanged with Snake, he began to type a message.

"Hello Snake,

Listen. Something has happened involving that girl I told you about. I have a feeling that a lot may change in the next few days, and I may not be around to reply for a while. I just hope that it's nothing serious and all will end well. When the time comes, I will let you know how it went. So, until then...take care.

- Captain Falcon

P.S. Samus misses you dearly, and she's awaiting your return someday. For my sake, I hope you return too. I miss sparring with you, and just talking about things too."

Pressing the Send button, he then put the phone down and headed down to the lobby.

...

A tense air hung in the lobby as the Smashers sat on couches and chairs all around, worried expressions on their faces. Spotting Shulk from afar, the Captain walked over to him. "Have you...heard anything yet?" He asked Shulk.

"Not yet," Shulk answered him, shaking his head sadly. "The search party, consisting of Samus, Link, Ryu, and the Duck Hunt duo went out half an hour ago looking for her. Hopefully the dog will be able to trace her scent..." He bowed his head, a solemn look in his eyes. "I just hope she's okay..."

"Yeah..." Falcon agreed.

"...You know," Zelda began, walking toward them, "I always thought that ever since a few days ago, Lucy had been acting strange...she'd become very distant."

"Zelda?" Captain Falcon was caught off guard at first. "Oh, right, you're Lucina's roommate..."

Zelda nodded. "I know that she'd been having a lot of nightmares before the incident..."

"Yeah, she told me too," Robin said, joining in on the conversation.

"Robin..." Falcon murmured.

"I'll still never forget how she pushed me out of harms' way that day," Robin said. "She's a good friend of ours...I just wonder what made her act like this."

"I wonder, too..." Falcon said quietly. I guess I'd better not mention about how I overheard from her about her nightmare that day...

Shulk heard a small noise coming from his pocket. He pulled out his smartphone. On the screen was a text from Samus, which said: