Future in My Hands

Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Brothers. That goes to Nintendo. The only characters I own are those from the Golden Land, angels from Skyworld including the royal bodyguards, Angel Assembly and archangels along with all the other angels and of course the witch hunters. I also do not own Disgaea or Phantom Brave. Those franchises belong to Nippon Ichi. Finally I don't own Hyrule Warriors that is also by Nintendo.

Summary: It was supposed to be a simple mission of getting rid of the demons that terrorized the Red Kingdom of one of the many human worlds, yet it cost Lucina her life when the people turned against Dark Pit's group. To save her life, Cia used her magic to turn Lucina into a Wight, but now her soul is missing. Lucina doesn't have much time left before she's officially dead and stuck as a being of the undead. Her only hope is finding the Necromancer Marona who was around during that attack and grabbed her soul in the chaos. Fortunately Ash is there to help her, but the bigger problem might not be Lucina's time limit but more of Cia's ability to trust her comrade.

Pairing: Reyn/Pittoo/Lucina, Ash/Cia, Pit/Laharl, Rob/Shulk, Gerome/Inigo, Almaz/Sapphire, Mao/Raspberyl, implied Mao/Almaz, Sapphire/Raspberyl, Ash/Lucina, and one-sided Pittoo/Lana

Rated: M (for mature) but E (for explicit on Archive or Our Own)

Genre: Drama, Angst, Romance, Suspense and Hurt/Comfort

Warning: Swearing, character death, sexual violence, extreme violence (gore), extreme sexual situations, dark themes and unintentional OOC

More ideas come up when you're bored and have nothing else to do. Now it's time to do an Ash/Lucina friendship story and thus will allow Cia to finally get over any jealousy issues she would normally have. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Till Death Does us Part


There were many Netherworlds in the universe. Only a few of them had powerful human worlds that could protect themselves against the demons. Most human worlds were just cannon fodder as a result, so when a demon was able to infiltrate one of the most powerful kingdoms in that particular Netherworld, that spelt trouble.

This human world was near the demon world with the Netherworld Academy. This was a weird Netherworld because it was one of the few that valued the school system that demons did not care about. Instead of going to school to learn, you were forced to attend and the dean expected you to pay for school tuition forever. Skipping school was good and attending classes without teachers was bad. Making your own homework assignments to turn in was even worse and those who graduated would forever be looked down on as goody-two shoes.

The Netherworld Academy's current dean was Mao, a young ice demon who had just defeated and tormented the Superhero Aurum for making his life miserable for more than 200 years. He wasn't the nicest demon around seeing as how he did everything listed above only he refused to attend class, attacked people in the hallway and picked fights with the upperclassmen. He also kidnapped a human named Almaz, turned him into his guinea pig after stealing his title from him and almost blew up the human world. That was all in the past and Mao was willing to move on seeing as how his friend Sapphire was now the queen of her kingdom with Almaz being her king.

That was where the problem started. Sapphire attempted diplomatic relationships between the demons and humans after befriending them. As the queen of the Blue Kingdom known for its military might and blue shine that radiated from the blue gem that was kept in the core of the castle, her kingdom was considered the strongest of the seven kingdoms of her human world despite being the middle cousin due to focusing on military might. Demons loved Sapphire and came to the Blue Kingdom often, but this caused problems if they tried to leave seeing as how the other six kingdoms did not share the same sentiment. Sapphire knew she would just need to talk to her cousins and explain that they need to throw the stereotype of demons out the window and attempt to work with them.

Sapphire felt like she was successful in getting through the Purple and White Kingdom even if they still wouldn't let demons in. They just needed more time to talk amongst the counsel. The Black and Yellow Kingdom refused to listen to Sapphire and continued to throw insults at her. This left the Red and Green Kingdom. Both didn't want anything to do with demons, but at the same time…they needed all the help they could get with helping around. The Green Kingdom grew the food all of the human world and if demons were willing to work for less just for the finest food then the prince of the Green Kingdom would be fine with it.

There was no response from the Red Kingdom though until a few days ago where a report came in stating that demons were terrorizing the Red Kingdom from within. The prince of the Red Kingdom refused to comment worrying the cousins. The queen of the Blue Kingdom was concerned the most not only because she cherished her cousin Ruby, but because if this rumor turned out to be true, then she would lose all credibility and the push for a war against the Netherworld would happen.

Sapphire had told this to Mao thinking he wasn't going to do much. The white haired demon was bad at listening when it didn't concern things to do with him. Mao wouldn't mind fighting a war. That's how all demons were. However, Almaz had begged Mao to think of something. The ice demon had no choice but to go to go through the list of Netherworld Overlords he had met and sees which one would be the most useful.

This was how Laharl got dragged into the conflict if only because he was the only one who had connections to Celestia and heaven. Mao had explained that the angels would do the work for the demons in defending the humans against those assholes that were messing everything up. The demons would still take the credit in the end and all is good. As usual, Mao was only thinking of himself and his reputation more than Sapphire's kingdom, but it was an improvement. Laharl simply didn't want to listen to Mao seeing as how Mao could probably do this himself. It meant that the Netherworld Prince would have to find a way to talk to the angel captain of Skyworld and inform him of the incident, which did not go unnoticed by heaven anyway. In other words, Laharl wasted his time and he demanded pudding from Pit.

Laharl bothering Pit meant that the light angel couldn't handle the situation right away. Instead, he would have Dark Pit, who was in charge of the Demon Division handle the demons in the Red Kingdom and if they found the rebel leader to bring back his head. Dark Pit had wanted to prove himself to Pit and the angels for a while what he was capable of doing. This was one of the first major missions Pit had entrusted him with and a huge grin appeared on his face. He was ready to start getting the respect he rightfully deserved.

Originally, it was just going to be Arachne and Kaguya who would accompany him on his journey. However, Dark Pit had to explain to Master Hand where he would be for the next few weeks. He promised he'll try to get it done in a couple of days, but Arachne warned him that these sort of missions don't get done quickly meaning that Dark Pit would be away from his other friends for a while.

It was when Dark Pit thought of an idea that he would soon regret down the line. He asked Master Hand if Lucina and Lucas could come with him to the Red Kingdom where he was going to do the mission. They had no scheduled matches, so he was hoping Master Hand would be an understanding man and let them go. Lucas wasn't really looking forward to handling demons, but he wanted to help his friend so he reluctantly agreed. Lucina smiled seeing Dark Pit ask her to come along. The dark angel blushed noticing the bluenette was giving her that look and then quickly changed the subject on asking where Reyn was. The Homs wasn't going to be left out of anything that concerned fighting. Lucina rolled her eyes seeing the tall Homs insist on going with them. Five people were already a lot, but six was just pushing it. Master Hand actually felt more at ease because the more non-Smashers not watching his Smashers, the better.


Pit had already set things up for Dark Pit's group to be teleported straight to Skyworld. Something about an angel Gate Keeper came up and the group would need to go to the Celestia portion of heaven to go to the Blue Kingdom that would take them to the Red Kingdom. The dark angel thought that was just a trip full of unnecessary walking when Palutena could probably just open a door to where the group needed and make sure they all arrived safely.

After that whole fiasco of going to one place to another just to get to their destination (earning complaints from Kaguya the whole time about how her feet were killing her), they arrived at the Red Kingdom. Her chirping stopped immediately when they stepped into the Red Kingdom. The sights amazed all of them.

The Red Kingdom as the name suggested glimmered a bright red light that made the place look like a fairytale kingdom. In a sense, all seven kingdoms were like this, but red gave off the impression of an autumn country. Compared to the Blue Kingdom where everywhere you looked had soldiers training and marching, the Red Kingdom was rather messy with piles of dirt next to shovels, mine carts filled with gems and weapons being sold and crafted at the stands. The last thing was to protect the citizens from demons especially as of late. Dark Pit's group headed toward the castle where one would think the prince would be there, but he was actually working with the townspeople. Lucina was surprised at how ordinary the prince of the kingdom was being.

"Okay, move these gems into this crate. That is going to be shipped to my favorite cuz." The prince ordered before turning around and realizing that he was supposed to meet the people who were sent to take care of the demon problem. He was expecting a group of angels in all honesty. Not one angel that looked like he fell, a spider demon and a group of humans (he didn't realize that Reyn was a Homs). "Oh, are you the people that will help deal with the demon problem?"

"That's us." Dark Pit responded with a smirk. "If the demons don't leave, we will simply "persuade" them to leave."

"That means we'll beat them with an inch of their life." Arachne added.

"But…you're a demon too…" Lucas muttered causing Arachne to handwave Lucas' comment.

Before Lucina had a chance to introduce herself and letting Dark Pit take things from there, Kaguya had pushed past her. Her eyes sparkled examining the young man. The prince was a youthful looking brunette with star red eyes. He wore a rather torn up red cape not fit for a prince of his status. This made him appear to be a commoner than the prince of the Red Kingdom. Instead of a sword, he carried a mallet that was used for mining ores. Back to his face though, he had dark rings under his eyes as if he hadn't slept for weeks, but he forced a smile on his face when greeting his guests.

"Hello cutey!" Kaguya hummed. "You have nice gems over there. Can Kaguya have some for our marriage?"

"Huh?! Uh…"

Reyn had to be the one to lift Kaguya up by her robotic rabbit ears sighing.

"Kaguya…now is not the time to think about money."

"But Kaguya wants those jewels for herself! All the beautiful jewels should belong to Kaguya!"

Lucina let Reyn handle Kaguya as she introduced herself to him.

"I apologize for my friend. Queen Sapphire has sent Dark Pit here due to the queen asking for assistance from the heaven's above. I am one of Dark Pit's bodyguards. I am Princess Lucina of Ylisse. It is an honor to meet a noble prince like you."

Ruby blushed at the compliment and chuckled nervously as a response. "I ain't that noble. I'm just a miner like everyone else here, so I'm too poor to be considered princely to anyone."

The dark angel groaned when the two shook hands.

"I'm the leader here…" Dark Pit growled.

"Stop taking the men Kaguya likes!" Kaguya snapped.

The bluenette rolled her eyes as the star in Ruby's eyes sparkled as he spoke to her. Soon, the others would be introduced before Ruby got straight to the point. He wanted to walk around the kingdom for the group to get a good idea how is kingdom worked.

"So, if my cuz hasn't told you…there are seven kingdoms in this human world. There is the Black Kingdom, Purple Kingdom, Red Kingdom, Blue Kingdom, Green Kingdom, Yellow Kingdom and the White Kingdom. Each kingdom has a different cuz in charge and we all bring different things to the table. Our kingdoms have a sacred jewel that gives the kingdom the color hence the color themed kingdom. Should we lose the jewel, that kingdom is doomed and we must protect it at all costs." He frowned when he said this because that's kind of where the problem started. "So these demons showed up and started rampaging through my kingdom because they thought I would be easy picking. Cuz is a military kingdom, so no one would dare attack her and they just assume because I'm the kingdom in the mountain region that I would be easy picking due to other problems that my kingdom has like rockslides." He sighed as he felt a headache coming on. "I would have done it myself a long time ago, but I'm just one man and I don't like involving my people to do the fighting for me, and I have already lost good men to these demons. This is why I need someone who can get rid of the demons."

The group listened to his problems and knew what they needed to do. From the sound of things, this wouldn't be too difficult. Ruby was sincere with his worries, so Dark Pit had no problem verifying his agreement.

"Don't worry. We're experts at this. Give us two weeks at most and we'll get rid of them. Actually…make that a week. This won't take long. Just tell us where we need to go and who the leader is so we can lure him out with our presence."

Ruby smiled thinking that his troubles were going to be gone because of this plan. He immediately explained to them what they needed to do.

For the next couple of days, Dark Pit's group had proven themselves to the prince with how they handled the demons. Most of them were in the mines or outside of the Red Kingdom, so when the group split up to get rid of them bit by bit, the kingdom slowly returned to normal according to Ruby. People didn't want to go into the mine unless they had to because the demons were there to gobble them up. They couldn't leave the kingdom thinking that the demons would ambush them and steal their goods before killing them. Overall, the Red Kingdom had been trapped with only a few brave souls being able to leave to go to the Blue Kingdom to get Sapphire's assistance.

Ruby should have been happy that Dark Pit was dealing with the problem marvelously. He couldn't do that however when the leader of the violent demons was in front of him in the throne room after everyone had gone to bed after another hard day's work. The only weapon Ruby had to defend himself was a mallet, but this demon had proven to be too powerful for the metals used to create this masterpiece.

"Prince, you won't have to worry about me calling in reinforcements if you get rid of the angel's bodyguards."

"…Just the bodyguards? Why would I do that? The princess has been noble and they have all been kind."

"You are not in the position to ask me why they need to be killed. I give you and your people the mission of getting rid of them and capturing the angel. I need him for my own plans." The demon smirked as he licked his lips. "Once I have the angel, I will leave your kingdom alone. You have my word."

Ruby knew this demon was a liar, but there wasn't much he could do. He slammed his fist against the throne causing the demon to laugh at how powerless the prince was.

"Now that you know your place, start planning immediately before I lose all of my demon companions."


After another major victory, the plan to betray Dark Pit's group had began. Kaguya was the first victim that was attacked seeing as how she was infatuated with the prince. Ruby had been kind to her and she deluded herself into thinking she had a chance with the young prince who was still single and wasn't interested in a romantic partner at the moment. Kaguya had always believed that the best way to get someone was through gifts. That was why she fell for Dark Pit in the first place (even if Pit was the one that sent her the gifts). She made an effort to get over her crush only because she saw the dark angel only eyes for either Lucina or Reyn. Either one of them could win his heart, but Kaguya simply was not on his list of candidates. If she wanted to grow up, she might as well go for someone else who had the most beautiful gems she had ever seen.

This is how Ruby was able to take advantage of her. She wanted to be alone with him and was happy that he took her to the inn to have alone time. Like what she did with Li, she had every intention of seducing him. The self-proclaimed moon rabbit had loosened her kimono so her boobs would come sliding out and she would cross her legs in such a way that she would show more skin than intended. Ruby paid no heed due to pouring a wine glass with a drug that was meant to knock her out. He honestly couldn't bring himself to poison her despite the demands to get rid of Dark Pit's group.

"Hee-hee. Kaguya thinks that she will give you the power of the moon when you marry her." Kaguya stated as she attempted to drink the wine out of wine glass like an adult. Instead, she felt her body become weak easily, but she just assumed she couldn't handle the liquor…not that there was some drunk that was meant to knock her out. Ruby was impressed it was going to take more than a sip.

"I am sorry. I cannot afford to go anywhere when my people need me." Ruby told the raven haired girl simply as he poured wine into his own glass. "That is the job of a prince in a kingdom that finds so many riches but gets it taken away by others." His expression darkened at the thought of his other cousins stealing the wealth he had to increase their own relevance in their kingdom. "That is why I have to do this mission and save my people."

Kaguya's wine glass immediately tipped over after he said those words. Her eyes widened as the drug took effect.

"Guhh…what is…"

"I apologize, but I can't have you interfering." Ruby murmured as he prepared to exit the inn. Unfortunately, there were random male civilians waiting for the prince to leave before they took advantage of the fact that Kaguya was drugged. She gasped realizing the horrible situation she got put in by the prince.


The next targets were Lucas and Arachne. These two were not at the castle and instead were wandering around the Red Kingdom at night. Lucas just wanted to go to sleep, but Arachne wanted to give the blond some adventure at night. Lucas was too much of a goody two-shoe for his own good and he needed to have fun.

"I just want to sleep and recharge."

"Oh come on Lucas! You have so much confidence in Smash now, but when it's outside of Smash...you go back to your shy ways! We're going to go bug hunting!"

"Umm…"

Lucas wanted to find some excuse to not search for bugs for Arachne to catch and eat. He got his wish but it wasn't what he wanted. Ruby decided that it was better to have his guards go after them thinking of them as defenseless. He had witnessed them in battle and Arachne had a habit of being Dark Pit's shield while Lucas was a healer. He had taken one of the weapons from one of the blacksmith's and went to higher ground to aim the crossbow at Lucas. If he did a good job, he would have been able to kill him. Instead, he hesitated again and shot the blond in the arm causing him to scream and instantly alert Arachne that someone was attacking them.

"LUCAS!" She cried out before she looked up toward the moon to see a figure jump away. "GET BACK HERE!"

She couldn't abandon Lucas though and it wouldn't be long until the guards from the castle would show up. At first, the blond spider demon was happy that they could help Lucas, but seeing the swords and spears pointed toward the two made her happiness die immediately. Her other six eyes glared a bright gold color.

"You traitorous humans…" She hissed. "You think you can turn your puny weapons on me after we have fought for your stupid kingdom?!"

Arachne couldn't fight though. She had to take care of Lucas. The arrow in his arm wasn't exactly life threatening, but if it weren't taken out soon, whatever was on the arrow would completely affect the PK boy. Lucas could heal himself, but she needed to find Reyn and the others and get the arrow out quickly.

"Lucas, hang on."

Arachne surprised the humans by transforming into her monster spider form. Six more legs sprouted from her body (two of them were mechanical) causing the humans to scream at her hideous appearance. Arachne quickly took Lucas in her arms and rushed toward the buildings where she could easily scale the walls with her legs and search for Reyn. She only needed a small wiff to know where the redhead was. She headed toward the border where Lucina and Reyn were being attacked by the soldiers they were with leading them away from everyone in an attempt to kill them in secret. Oh was Arachne going to have fun murdering these traitors.


Dark Pit had been resting in his room unlike his other friends who were getting attacked. The dark angel could hear the ruckus going outside, but chose to ignore it. If it was another demon attack then Reyn and Arachne pretty much have it covered. He was exhausted from all of this fighting and was secretly hoping he could find a way to negotiate with the demon that is constantly attacking the Red Kingdom soon. Yes, Dark Pit was told to wait for the Netherworld Dean seeing as how he was busy dealing with the same issue in the Blue Kingdom.

A small knock on the door happened followed by the slow creak of said door.

"Master Lived, our prince would like to speak to you." The maid behind the door spoke before she closed the door again. Dark Pit didn't think of taking a weapon if he was just going to talk to the prince and return to go back to sleep.

Dark Pit had walked out of his room and immediately noticed that most of the guards were missing. He assumed they all went outside to deal with the mess. As the black angel walked down the dim corridor with only the candles lit, the red eyed angel stopped walking when he thought he heard footsteps following him. Dark Pit didn't pay too much attention to the noise seeing as how everything was from coming outside. Since he was staying so close to the prince's chamber, he was able to get to his destination quickly and open the door. He didn't understand why Ruby wasn't where he said he should be.

"Where did he go?" Dark Pit asked as he let himself walk farther into the chamber. Besides walking out of his room without a weapon, this was Dark Pit's second greatest mistake. The chamber shut on him rather quickly catching him completely off guard. "What?!"

From there, everything was a blur. There was an ambush in the chamber. Dark Pit considered them demon assassins, but he didn't get a good look in the dimly lit room especially when they forced a blindfold on him almost immediately. Before he could curse them out when they had seized his movement, they had forced a gag in his mouth before lifting him like a bag of materials and carrying him off. No matter how much Dark Pit struggled, he couldn't break free from his bounds.

The pandemonia outside the kingdom prevented Dark Pit from getting any assistance. The kidnappers were quick too and would reach their destination before Dark Pit could formulate a plan to get away.

He was taken to the deepest part of the gemstone mine where he would be flung to the ground immediately in this defenseless state.

"Took you humans long enough. I would have taken him away faster."

Dark Pit gasped hearing a low gruff voice in front of him. It didn't sound human at all and the black angel thought that it was a demon. He was right on the mark when he felt a big hand yank the gag out of his mouth causing him to groan. The blindfold was then removed from his eyes and he could see what demon it was. It was a tall brown Minotaur with a shiny breastplate and a battle axe attached to the back of his armor. The Minotaur appeared to not be wearing anything to cover up, but there was light armor of a darker shade of orange there thankfully.

"Who are you?" Dark Pit snapped trying to regain control of the situation despite his hands still being tied. "Untie me!"

"In due time." The Minotaur spoke as he bent down in an attempt to match eye length with his captive. "The Netherworld rumor is true. There is an angel that looks exactly like Pit and claims to be his twin brother."

"Isn't it obvious, stupid?"

"But your tongue is worse than his despite your "graceful" demonstration to the prince." He resisted the urge to laugh seeing Dark Pit's eyes widen when he lifted the angel's chin up forcing Dark Pit to make contact. "The Netherworld rumor also said that Pit would do anything for you since you're so important. Funny how he never had a twin until recently."

The dark angel flinched at those words. If anyone found out he was a clone, he wouldn't get the respect he rightfully deserved. Thinking that Dark Pit was submitting to him, the Minotaur released his grip.

"Know my name little angel. I am the Minotaur who had defeated Pit in combat in the past. I am Steel."

"Steel…" Dark Pit muttered recalling that Pit did utter that name a few times to himself when talking to the other royal bodyguards about potential dangerous demons on the mission.

"Because you are important, I need you alive." Steel smiled as he looked past him where the prince was. Dark Pit turned his head toward where the Minotaur was looking and froze.

"N-No way…Ruby…why the hell would you…"

"This is for my kingdom, Dark Pit. No hard feelings." Ruby told him. "I'm not like my other cousins. I will do whatever it takes to keep my people safe. If it means having to betray you guys for attempting to help me…so be it. Call me ungrateful, but I value the lives of many over a few."

"Traitor…"

Ruby closed his eyes not wanting to see the look of hatred the dark angel gave him. Steel chuckled as he continued where Ruby left off.

"That means the rest of your little friends are going to be killed. Meanwhile, I'm going to make off with you. Pit will only talk to me if I have you as a bargaining chip."

"…Pit won't lose to you if that is what you think!"

"I don't care about fighting him. Oh…I want something more." Steel said as he licked his lips thinking about the white angel. "Prince, you should find either the princess or that orangutan. Those two are the closest to the little angel." He chuckled seeing the scared look that Dark Pit that he gave him. "Since we got to kill all of the little angel's bodyguards, I…we might as well torture them."

"Why would you do that? He's an angel!"

Ruby didn't want an answer after seeing the sinister expression on the Minotaur. This demon was not to be messed with. He already knew that when he fell under the control of the bull, but Dark Pit had been nothing but kind to the prince and the people of the Red Kingdom. What did he do to deserve watching his closest allies tortured in front of him?

"I am taking my leave now."

Ruby quickly fled the mine to search for either the princess of the Homs leaving Steal with the dark angel who finally noticed that the miners were staring at him oddly.

"Heh…now that the only sane human is out of the room…there is nothing that is going to stop me from doing what I want with you."

Dark Pit wanted to scream at that moment. He only quivered as the ominous figure loomed in front of him with the human miners behind him.

Luci…Reyn…


At times like these, Reyn wished that Lucina could keep a cool head. He was usually the one rushing into things without thinking. Dark Pit being in danger should have been one of those moments where he should have been the one to search for Dark Pit. In general, the redhead had noticed that Lucina had been acting strangely as of late when it came to Dark Pit. Yes, they were both in the same boat and had fallen for the young angel but Lucina usually kept her feelings to herself. It's like their roles reversed just for today.

"Luci, wait!"

"Reyn, take care of Kaguya! I will find Dark Pit!"

"Wait, I said!"

Kaguya was actually trembling at being betrayed and treated like a common whore. It did not get to that point because Kaguya was capable of fending off for herself and had tricks up her sleeves with her hidden weapons, but the fear of the common man returned. It sent Arachne into a frenzy seeing the Cloth Wielding Princess in this terrified state.

"I'll kill every human here!"

Reyn didn't like when Arachne used that tone. Arachne was usually so easy going but the minute Kaguya or any of her friends were hurt, all bets of her wanting to protect humanity like an angel was off. She was a demon after all.

As the blue haired princess ran through the Red Kingdom cutting down anyone who held a weapon against her, she stopped herself at the prince who was running around when he should be back in his castle. His gloomy expression caught her attention as she stopped when their eyes met.

"Prince Ruby, do you know where Dark Pit is?" Lucina asked without asking if he was okay. Then again, Ruby was the prince who cared for his people more than himself.

"Y-Yes! The demons…they took him into the mines!" Ruby exclaimed. "I think the demons possessed my people! I have to figure out what's wrong!"

"I don't think they're possessed. They seem to be acting on their own free will."

"That can't be! I would never let my people harm you guys! You are helping us vanquish the demons! It has to be them!"

If only Lucina was thinking straight, she would have noticed the sinister glint in his eyes.

"Which direction is the mine?"

"Behind me and take a left. The largest one is near the outskirts of the kingdom. I saw a Minotaur take him away…and I ran away like the coward I am…" Ruby muttered darkly to himself.

Lucina gasped at what type of demon it is. She had heard Pit complain about how the Minotaur was the most dangerous demon to an angel due to how they were equipped to hunt them down. If a Minotaur grabbed Dark Pit in the midst of the chaos then she needed to save him now.

"What's worse is that he has some of the miners in there too! What's a prince who can't save his own men?!"

"You have my word, I will save everyone in the mine." Lucina told him sternly. On the inside, she was panicking that she would be too late to save Dark Pit.

"Thank you Princess Lucina!" Ruby thanked as the bluenette rushed off in the direction she was told. "You are so great…it's just a shame that you're going to have to disappear for the sake of my people…"


By the time Lucina had reached Dark Pit, the dark angel had his tunic ripped off of him with even his sandals being thrown off his feet. (At the very least, they were kind to remove the rope tying his hands, but it wasn't any better if they were holding him down). He had tried desperately to get away but these humans have given into the demonic desires of the place. They had forced him onto his stomach and had the nerve to flatten out his wings like an injured bird. These men have pulled their pants down in front of the black angel. Dark Pit would have none of that and shut his eyes so he didn't have to see anything much less open his mouth to curse at them at this point. He forced himself to endure the unwanted touches to his body starting from his back where his wings were and then trailing down to his butt. He flinched feeling one hand reach in between his legs.

"Not so tough now little angel." Steel mocked seeing how Dark Pit wouldn't even lift his head up to look at his captors. They were holding onto his wrists tightly so he wouldn't dream to attack them. "The only reason I haven't had them take you right now is because I want one of your precious companions to witness the event they failed to protect you."

Don't be stupid. Dark Pit thought darkly to himself as he only opened his eyes to glare at the Minotaur before shutting them tightly to avoid seeing anything else. You should be the one concerned when they arrive!

"You can continue acting tough, but you chose this path."

"Bastard, you won't even talk!" Dark Pit snapped resulting in one of the miner's yanking at his hair forcing his head up. "Oww! Oww! Oww!"

"I am only in the kingdom expecting your older twin brother to show up and fix the damage I am doing." Steel explained as he licked his lips examining the younger twin. "But since he sent you instead of leaving his safe space, I am forced to take you as a hostage and not listen to what you have to offer."

"D-Dammit…I'm the one that is supposed to be doing the negotiating…"

Li attempted to look away as the humans were starting to gather in front of his face. He snarled taking a wiff of these workers. They smelt like they haven't showered for days on end and the stench was getting to his head.

"I will be the one interrogating you." The large Minotaur announced as he proceeded to walk over to the dark angel.

"Like I'll say anything to you…"

"You won't have a choice."

There wouldn't be a chance for Steel to work the powerful Minotaur hypnosis spell that enchanted angels to submit to the Minotaur's will. Some humans that were guarding the door had been slain. Blood oozed into the dirt as bodies went down with a huge thud. Lucina stepped through the tunnel entrance glaring daggers at the miners for associating the demon that Dark Pit was after. Steel's expression was difficult to read seeing as how he did want either Lucina or Reyn to be the one to witness their failure as his best bodyguards. However, rage shined in the Ylissean princess' eyes as she prepared herself to cut down everyone who dared to harm the black angel.

"Luci!" Dark Pit exclaimed happily relieved that she was here.

"Get away from him. I will not hesitate to cut you down just because we were tasked to save you!" Lucina snapped at the humans who had yet to let go of Lived. They immediately cowered in her presence as they all pulled their pants up and released the dark angel immediately. Steel snarled at their disobedience as he prepared to fight with the princess. "Come at me! Bulls like you don't scare me!"

"You act tough for a little girl that relies on a puny sword." Steel mocked. On his back was a battle axe that he used for combat. There was rarely any need to draw his weapon when his enemies cowered in fear and his angel prey was easily subdued by his masculine features in his lower region. "You will soon learn why picking a fight with me was a mistake."

Lucina showed no fear to the Minotaur. She had the weapon advantage, so she would not have to worry about the huge weapon. The Minotaur had charged her and swung his axe attempting to decapitate her. Lucina dodged at the last second and stabbed Steel in the arm. He didn't even flinch when he attempted to bring the battle axe down on her. Again, she moved and went for impaling him in the chest. She frowned knowing it would take a while to bring a huge opponent down. Steel had attempted to lower his head the next time she attempted to slash at him and charge. The female lord hopped out of the way so Steel would run past her and slam his head into the nearby wall causing debris to fall down and for the place to tremble.

In the process of the battle, Dark Pit had scrambled to find anything to cover himself. He got his sandals that were thrown a little ways away from him. Lived adjusted his laurel and had taken small pieces of his tunic to at least cover his private area. At the very least, the scarf portion of his tunic wasn't ruined too much.

Dark Pit had glared at the humans who were thinking of running off while Steel was distracted. Oh did he want to attack them for betraying him, but Steel was the bigger threat.

Steel became more agitated the more he missed. Not a single attack has hit the female lord. She was too fast for her own good and knew where he was going to swing.

Another swing and she dodged only to jump and attempt to thrust Falchion into the skull of her opponent. Steel had parried at the last minute and then caught her off guard by grabbing her by the leg and then swinging around before throwing her into the wall.

"Luci!" Dark Pit shouted as he searched for a weapon. He was willing to go to the miners who were dumb enough to stick around. "Hey, you stupid bonehead, give me your hammer! It's not like you're using it to fight demons anyway!"

Lucina was dazed but she was still quick to react when the Minotaur attempted to charge into her and impale the bluenette with his horns. She rolled out of the way as a response. This forced her back to where the entrance was as she forced herself to stand.

Maybe the next time he charges, I'll use the opportunity to get on his back and finish him off. Lucina strategized to herself as she got the Falchion ready for her plan.

Dark Pit was expecting Lucina to finish up soon even if he felt like Steel should live to allow some questions to be answered. However, because he didn't have a good weapon that could hit from a distance (the hammer the human gave him would only be good to knock some teeth out, but wasn't strong enough to kill a demon), he wouldn't be able to protect Lucina from an unexpected attack from behind.

"LUCI!"

Puzzled by Dark Pit suddenly calling her name, she looked in his direction wondering why he appeared terrified. She only noticed too late a huge shadow of a weapon was behind her. There were two reasons why Lucina did not die. The first was the person who brought the mallet down to smash her skull hesitated to kill someone who he thought he could relate to. The second was that being in Smash Brothers Mansion and being hit by mallets was enough to gain some resistance to attacks that could very much kill her otherwise.

This was why there wasn't a sound of a cracking skull. Only Lucina let out a weak groan as she was knocked to the ground. Blood started oozing out of the wound like a red river as the Ylissean Princess staggered to her feet. She clutched the Falchion tightly in her hand as she struggled to stand. That blow to the head did a number on her, but she refuses to give up. Slowly she turns, using her sword as leverage, to face Steel again. Carefully she lifts it back up to her usual pose before she attempts to lunge at the Minotaur once again.

The lost of coordination was going to be detrimental to Lucina as she obviously missed her attack. Her hair is slowly turning dark red as the blood soaks into it compared to her usual vibrant blue. While she missed the mark by more than what anyone expected, it was unexpected that Steel grabbed the blade of the Falchion and snapped it in half. Lucina's eyes widened in horror at her unbreakable blade being broken. For a moment, she stumbled feeling something inside of her snap. Seeing the look on Steel's face seeing her horrified expression only caused her blood to boil more than it should. This is what Reyn meant by she needed to keep a cool head because it was costing her. After that was said and done Lucina tried once again to lunge at Steel, but he simply grabbed at her arm and used a good amount of strength to snap the bone in half.

The Falchion clattered to the ground as Lucina is tossed down to the ground. Blood loss and the traumatic injury are finally starting to get to the princess as her vision gets uncoordinated. Thankfully, or maybe not so much, she isn't so out of it from having her skull nearly completely bashed in when Steel stabs the broken Falchion through her arm, effectively severing it from the rest of her. Her blood curdling scream resounded through the mine as Lived was forced to just watch, frozen in fear of the brutality of the Minotaur.

Steel doesn't waste a second after chopping off Lucina's arm before picking her up from what's left of it, causing her to let out more pained cries, before slamming her into a nearby wall. Dark Pit could be heard screaming as the Minotaur proceeds to then ram his horns right through her abdomen. The blood gushes out onto his horns as he slowly pulls them out and let's Lucina fall onto the ground, somehow still alive, but very limp and weak.

"LUCINA!"

Dark Pit had been paralyzed with fear. He thought he was exposed to enough violence, but he didn't understand why he couldn't move when in the presence of the Minotaur. Was the whole "angel is prey to the Minotaur" thing true after all? Or was he just a chicken and let Lucina be put in this terrible state? He gave the most menacing glare to Ruby who attempted to remain aloof to the mutilation of a human in front of him, but failed seeing the look in Dark Pit's eyes. The Power of Flight activated on its own thanks to the voice that resided in Dark Pit's body. He let out a battle cry as he ended up swooping in like a crow and grabbing the mallet that Ruby was holding and pushed him against the wall before making a U-turn in an attempt to slam the mallet in Steel's face. He smiled seeing this as Dark Pit flew into his arms. The black angel dropped the smaller hammer on him before coming down with the big mallet and slamming it into the Minotaur's bloody horns. For someone who took pride in being one step ahead, he sure wasn't expecting the mallet to break his horns off his head. He let out a roar as he immediately tried to swing at Dark Pit who just dropped the hammer down on Steel so he would fall to the ground and get dizzy. Dark Pit didn't have time to murder the bastard on the spot. He had to save Lucina!

"Luci! Hang on! Luci!"

The black angel flew over to her. She was barely breathing at this point even if she was still alive. Her eyes had become as pale as a ghost. When Pittoo reached out to her cheek, he flinched at how cold she was. Dark Pit started to tremble thinking it was too late.

"N-No…Luci…don't leave…"

Ruby frowned seeing how things were going to hell really fast. He slowly took out a switch from his pocket and pressed it.

"…You better get out of here. I'm blowing this place up." Ruby said harshly as he looked at the miners that assisted him. "I'm telling you all to run now! Leave them!"

Ruby had every intention of leaving Dark Pit, Lucina and Steel in the soon to be caved-in mine. This would hide his sins to an extent, but at the very least he could make it look like an accident. The men were very quick to rush out past the two Smashers not caring that there was a dying girl in front of them. Dark Pit attempted to tap into his powers, but he realized that it was no good.

Eve, please! Let me heal Luci! She's going to die! Eve, why won't you listen to me?! Is it because I…

Already explosions sounded off near the dark angel. He yelped at the sudden sound but he refused to leave Lucina's side. She could still feel his warm body touching hers. The princess could only frown seeing Li in this horrible situation. It was her fault she let her guard down. She didn't expect the prince to turn on them because he had demonstrated how kind and compassionate he was to them and his people. For him to be the reason she was like this now…

The floor suddenly started to crack from the constant trembling. One had to wonder how big the bomb was and where Ruby had placed the bomb in the mine. Lucina's vision was just about to give up on her, but she saw before then that a huge crack appeared below the dark angel. She wanted to voice to Pittoo to move away from her. She was a goner, but Dark Pit refused to believe that.

"Luci, stay with me! Don't leave me!"

Lucina could not keep her promise. The last thing she could do was at least push Li out of the way and pray that either Reyn or Arachne would come for him. Even with an in-tact arm, she was able to use the remainder of her strength to push Dark Pit out of the way before the ground gave up on him. His eyes widened as the last thing he recalled on Lucina's face was her hair covering her bloody face with a weak smile as the only thing he could see. As the Ylissean princess fell through the crack, the broken down Falchion had also fell through with her. In fact, the only thing that did not fall down with Lucina was the chopped off arm that was in the direction where Dark Pit was pushed toward.

"LUCINA!"


Me: TBC with 8973 words. I think I broke Li enough for him to not respond, but this isn't the end obviously. Notes!

1. When I wrote Higanbana in the Red Moon, I wanted the Disgaea 3 human world to be unique. Sapphire is already established to be the strongest human in the human world and went down to the Netherworld to take care of the issue herself, so I decided her kingdom would be the Blue Kingdom and would be based around the military. Everyone else is based on something else. In this order its Black (Athenian knowledge), Purple (Church), Red (Mining), Green (Agriculture), Yellow (Trade) and White (Magic). The kingdoms themselves are influenced by the Wizard of Oz in how all the regions were color coded based on the ruler of that area.

2. Ruby is supposed to be the evil counterpart to Lucina. Both desire to protect those they care about. The only problem is if you haven't noticed, Ruby's people are willing to throw him and others under the bus rather easily and have been subjected to the dark part of human desires seeing as they have no problem trying to assault Dark Pit and Kaguya when they're out of the prince's line of sight. Ruby does keep them together, but not being able to do anything for them has them driven to become monsters no different from demons. This will be apparent as time goes on with the Red Kingdom. Ruby really has bad luck that the demon that blackmailed him is Steel. You will see that Lucina is not so different from Ruby seeing what she does later, but the difference is obviously Ruby does it for the entire kingdom and Lucina does it for one person.

3. The Falchion breaking is going to be explained later. This sword is unbreakable in game, but the Kid Icarus and Disgaea tends to shit on logic like that seeing as how Hades can break the Great Sacred Treasure and while weapons can't break in Disgaea, it should be noted how at least in Phantom Brave, you can treat the weapons poorly to the point that you wonder why they don't break. The Falchion can be a symbolism of something breaking inside Lucina seeing as how the only memento of her father was shattered in front of her and then that portion of the sword was used to cut off her arm.

4. Steel is incredibly powerful. He gives Pit a hard time in Pride Before the Punishment and he did one-shot Shulk in Shopping Strip even if Shulk was drugged and handicapped. When I get around to writing The Divine Argument, you will see how powerful he is that it really is a miracle how Pit and Dark Pit killed him in that one story rather easily. Then again, Steel is an Overlord and that alone merits a lot of strength as Disgaea 5 finally establishes that the Overlord title really implies you are the strongest in that realm of the Netherworld you come from. (Makai Kingdom shows that too but that is besides the point).

That's it. Reviews are appreciated. Ja ne!