Chapter 4: Froid et sang-froid (Cold and Cold-hearted)
The star on the Christmas tree continued to shine brightly, giving precious warmth to all that basked under its glory during this eve before Christmas.
Well, excluding Dark Pit. He really didn't give an absolute damn about the so-called warmth the tree radiated, because it sure as hell wasn't helping him get over his cold. He had every symptom: sore throat; cough; runny nose, and the bothersome headaches. The angel's case was so severe that Father Christmas wouldn't dare approach him. Oh, master prankster and soon-to-be murder victim Pit just had to lock him out the mansion for a little over an hour. An hour's worth of cold air and flurries smacking around Dark Pit. Who in their sick mind does such a thing? And why in the seven hells did no one respond to his pleas for help? He felt like Falco during that 60 minutes of torture, shivering his little black feathers off. There was only one person who saved him from a near icy death, and it was none other than the Ylissean princess, Lucina.
And guess who took it upon herself to nurse the dark angel back to health?
Yes, you guessed correctly.
It's not that he didn't appreciate Lucina saving him; to him, the words "Christmas miracle" finally meant something when he saw the blue-haired beauty running towards him. It's the fact that Lucina had suddenly decided to become Mama Lucy and force poor little Dark Pit to remain in bed. She had already made him go through four cans of chicken noodle soup and shoved so much cough syrup down his throat that he wished to just fall asleep and never wake up again to annoying idiots like Pit and overbearing, overprotective people like Lucina.
"Dark Pit!" called Lucina, walking into the annoyed angel's room. Lucina wore a mask and some rubber gloves that fashionably matched the blue she constantly wore, something that Dark Pit considered overkill. It was a cold, not some disease that can kill you in a day or whatever. He would voice how insulted he felt, only if it didn't hurt for him to talk. "Here's some more cough medicine. I've actually gotten three that are black cherry-flavored, grape-flavored, and chocolate-flavored!"
Dark Pit quickly sat up, conveniently ignoring all the aches and pains his muscles and joints went through while completing that five-second action. He was pretty sure he didn't hear that last flavor correctly, and that his delirium was yet again messing with him. "Did…did you really just say chocolate-flavored?"
Lucina nodded cheerily, not understanding the peculiarity of such a flavor. "I found the black cherry and grape one in Dr. Mario's medicine cabinet – oh, you should actually see his cabinet! He has a wreath on it. Anyway, Pit was the one that actually had gotten the choco-"
"Don't finish that sentence." The dark angel made a mental note to torture the goody-two-shoes brat as soon as he got better.
"But he said he just wanted to see you get –"
"Lucina, I will destroy Pit when I see him again. That idiot, putting such an innocent façade on for everyone. I'm pretty sure he was thinking impure thoughts when he lifted you up two weeks ago, that little crafty perv."
Lucina blushed slightly, not quite knowing how to respond to that. She can hear Chrom's ranting echoing in her mind. Who knew that Chrom could complain about the topic of boys for hours on end? "I doubt that, Dark Pit. Now, which one do you want?"
Dark Pit laid back down, shrugging as he asked for the medicine with the black cherry flavor. "I like black cherries," he explained as Lucina poured the medicine in the small cup. He knew the medicine would taste like 99.9 percent sleep medicine and 0.01 percent black cherries devoid of all flavor. He accepted the cup, held his nose, and quickly chugged it all down. Grimacing, he handed the cup back to Lucina and politely asked her to get out of his room.
"Oh, alright, I'll let you receive some rest. You need every little bit of it. Are you sure you don't want me to thank Pit – "
"Lucina."
"Oh alright, alright. I understand. Feel better, Dark Pit."
"Yeah, yeah. Bye."
Lucina nodded, leaving the angel's room and softly closing the door. The angel sighed heavily; he did have to admit that maybe, just maybe, Lucina wasn't that bad of a caretaker. There were pretty worse caretakers (Pit, Samus, Snake, nearly everyone in the Smash Mansion, etc.), but at least Lucina was making an effort to nurse him back to health. An overbearing effort, but still an effort.
Dark Pit rolled over, body acing and shivering, mouth dry and eyes heavy, and declared two things:
"Thanks, Lucina," and "Burn in hell, Pit."
Then he fell gently asleep. Well, allow me to rephrase: then he fell gently asleep as one with a horrible cold can. Which isn't gently at all.
Lucina threw herself onto the couch, Fido and Ducky joining her, though she didn't invite them. The poor princess has ran herself ragged taking care of Dark Pit, trying to mollify his aching and sickness. Nothing more than complaints came from Dark Pit's mouth. Not a single tiny bit of appreciation from the angel! Lucina allowed Fido and Ducky cuddle against her as the princess resolved to never take care of Dark Pit. She was feeling quite glad that she'd teased him about his sweater.
"I really do hope that Santa puts coal in that ungrateful angel's stocking," she muttered, adjusting herself to a more comfortable position, much to the dog and duck's dismay. The way the animals were positioned was quite bothersome to the princess, but she didn't have the heart to push them off the couch. It was times like these in which Lucina wished she had a bit more of Snake's personality, in which the she had audacity to throw the dog and duck off the couch and banned them from the couch.
"We do not wish harm upon the already sick, Lucina. You, as a princess, should know such things."
Lucina acknowledged Peach's presence with a simple grunt, hinting at how tired she is. Peach smiled, resolving not to bother her that much. It may be Christmas Eve, but everyone deserves the precious act of resting.
"Well, how is your health, Lucina? Both physically and mentally?" Peach sat on the arm of the couch, leaning slightly over. Fido and Ducky looked at her, wary of the fact that she could fall at any moment. The thought of some human ruining their sleep by toppling onto them was not a very pleasant one.
"Do you wish to have my answer?" Lucina asked, closing her eyes and placing her arms behind her head. She had the demeanor and body expressions of Dark Pit right now. Oh Gods, that is actually a bad thing.
"You still have tomorrow to respond, Lucina."
Lucina smirked. "Oh, you're right. That means that the reason you're looming like Death himself isn't for that reason?"
Peach laughed at the comparison. "I have something to ask of you."
Lucina slowly opened an eye, the Brand of the Exalt meeting Peach's large, innocent-like eyes. The quick thought of denying whatever she wanted passed, but Lucina couldn't help herself but inquire as to what Peach could possibly require. The Ylissean made a mental note to herself to blame Chrom for that trait.
"Whatever could you need, Peach? You'll be receiving your present tomorrow."
"No, dearie, that's not it. It's something more…personal, for lack of better words." Lucina sat up, much to the annoyance of Fido and Ducky. The animals jumped off the couch and left; humans really don't know how to stop moving and shut the hell up. The usual-cheery princess sounded distance, something that became a quick concern to the blue-haired royal. A Peach that emanated a sign of worry was to be taken quite seriously.
"Lucina," continued Peach, "you don't have to tell me what you want for Christmas now, but there's one person who needs to know your answer now."
"What is the point?"
The red-haired boy held the stocking loosely in his hand, running his thumb across the velvet, bright-red fabric. The soft, fluffy white part had the name "Roy Pherae" engraved in cursive with gold stitching. Surrounding the name was various designs of swirls in hues of gold, red, and green. It was obvious that someone has taken precious time to construct such a stocking, and put forth considerable effort.
"To hell with it," the prince said, throwing it to the wall in pure disgust.
And it was obvious that Roy didn't care.
"Why do they bother me with such unimportant 'gifts'? What's the point? What's the meaning of this Gods damned Christmas?!"
Well, my five-day challenge failed due to unforeseen problems. This chapter was brought to you by: "Hey, I recovered from this cold!" and "I've introduced our favorite boy that's totally OOC so far and my apologies for that."
There's actually chocolate-flavored cough medicine. Not sure how to come up with a witty remark for that.
