Shadows
They say that Shadows are inherently wicked and destructive. Pit disagrees. AU
Kid Icarus does not belong to me. This idea was not inspired by anything outside of the game itself other than my own imagination. I apologize in advance if this resembles any previously posted work from another source, and any such similarities are purely accidental or coincidental.
...
Shadows are dangerous things, he'd been taught. A Shadow is inherently wicked and destructive. With soulless eyes of bloody scarlet and wings of death-shadows, they will not stop until their task is done: eliminate the original.
In the war between gods and goddesses, the Goddess of Calamity had created the ultimate weapon: a mirror that could bring life to the darkness inside every living being. To be reflected in the mirror meant certain death, for once a Shadow was created it would mercilessly hunt down and destroy the very being that had given it life. A Shadow cannot exist without something to cast it, and once the original was destroyed, the Shadow would be gone.
The Goddess of Calamity was a tricky fiend, she was. Her deadly mirrors were hidden expertly, and sometimes one never even realized that their Shadow was forming until they saw the mirror, and saw their reflection staring back at them with bloody scarlet eyes and a murderous grin, just before its form was enveloped in darkness and it leapt from the mirror. If one managed to make it to safety, the Shadow followed, slipping between patches of darkness as a black wisp of smoke, waiting for the right moment to strike. If you could stay in the light, you would be safe, if only for a while. Shadows did not like light, but it would not stop one if you tested its patience.
For one as young as Pit to have a Shadow was considered a tragedy. For one so young to face Death so soon... It was unthinkable.
Though, Pit had never faced Death.
The little boy knew that there was something different about his Shadow. He had seen the mirror out in the woods, seen his reflection's eyes light with blood-flames and white wings turn black. His mind in a panic, he had done what seemed to be an appropriate decision; he threw himself at the mirror and shattered it before his reflection could be consumed by darkness. One little angel had leapt, but two hit the forest floor as the cursed shards of glass turned to dust and blew away.
Pit had been sharing his room for the past week, without his beloved goddess' knowledge or consent. To reveal the other's presence would mean certain death for the hidden visitor. Honestly, he couldn't bear that thought.
They looked exactly alike and totally different at the same time. One wore white and one wore black. One had downy wings of cloud-silk and sunlight and the other had downy wings of midnight skies and moonlight. One had eyes of sapphire raindrops and the other had eyes of dragon flames. One was the Goddess of Light's little angel, and the other was his Shadow.
Pit sat on the floor surrounded by papers and markers and colored pencils, drawing childish pictures of flowers and smiling suns and bluebirds. His Shadow sat opposite him, a fuzzy blanket wrapped around him as he watched his original draw, curious sunset-vermilion eyes tracing the pencil's movements. A bowl of crackers sat between them, and periodically one of the two would grab one to eat. Pit was sure to let his Shadow have more crackers.
He had no idea that Shadows had to eat- this one did, at least, so it was problematic that he couldn't invite his secret roommate down to have breakfast or lunch or dinner. Pit often found himself sneaking food up to his room so his Shadow wouldn't starve. He could easily hide a wedge of cheese and a few crackers in the fabric of his chiton. His goddess wouldn't think anything of it if he brought an apple upstairs sometime in the afternoon. Sometimes he would bring up a whole ham sandwich from lunchtime and they'd each have half. Surely his goddess wouldn't notice a little extra food being taken?
As Pit drew a squirrel in the tree, his Shadow watched while munching on a cracker. With the half-eaten cracker poking out of his mouth, he looked around at the papers and pencils scattered on the floor, examining with gentle crimson scrutiny.
Pit sat back and wondered what to add to his picture. Maybe he should make a new one? Images danced in his little head as he thought of all the things he could draw. He could draw birds in the sky, he could draw animals in the forest or fish in the sea! Maybe he could draw a dragon or a unicorn? Or another planet with a bunch of aliens! Pit smiled and grabbed the purple colored pencil to begin drawing all the aliens.
When the picture was almost done, Pit needed the red pencil to draw the trees (because alien trees are red), but when he looked for it he realized that his Shadow had it. The Shadow realized that Pit was looking at him, and moved so the little angel could see his picture.
"It's us," the Shadow explained, pointing to the two little boys in the picture. The colored pencil angels stood next to each other and smiled.
Pit absolutely loved the drawing. He wanted to hang it up in his room somewhere, but Lady Palutena would see it and know about his Shadow. Pit had to tell a little lie to his Shadow; he said that he couldn't hang it up because he wanted to keep it in a safe spot, where nothing bad would happen to it. He hid it in a box underneath his bed.
They heard footsteps in the hallway, and suddenly there was only one little angel standing in the room. The other had vanished, but he was still there; the shadow under the bed had become darker than normal. If one looked closely, they could see a pair of fire-red eyes peeking out from behind the box with the picture.
Lady Palutena entered the room and greeted her little angel with a smile, and he happily showed her his picture of the aliens. She loved it, and promised to hang it up in the kitchen. He got into his pajamas and climbed into bed, she tucked him in and told him a bedtime story, and then kissed him goodnight and turned off the lights before leaving and softly closing the bedroom door. Pit snuggled in under the covers.
A cool and dark presence cautiously peeked out from under the bed before snaking under the covers, and there were two angels in the room once more.