Hello once again everyone! I hope you're all doing very well! I won't bother you with my usual, rather long author's notes, but instead I'll let you dive into it!

Read and review, it's always a pleasure to read your comments!

Yours truly, Circle of J.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from the Kid Icarus series. The deities mentioned are taken from Greek Mythology, remastered the way I imagine them. What I own, on the other hand, is the plot.

Kid Icarus: Heirs of the Light

Chapter 9: My memories of you

"Hiya Pittoo!"

Dark Pit winced when he heard those words again, echoing through his mind and sending him to the brink of madness. He didn't want to hear them anymore, he was growing sick of them… Just as he thought so, they started again, repeating themselves in his troubled mind. The torture, the torment he felt just listening to Pit's voice over and over… He could also see him, standing right before him, looking into his eyes with that sweet, soft glimmer of delight in his sapphire orbs. They shone as much, if not even more than the actual stones…

Dark Pit sniffed and hid even more in the corner of his own bedroom. The events came back to his mind. There had been an incident, an attack, a few days earlier at the Sanctum. He could picture it all over again, as it happened in front of his very eyes. The Sanctum had been attacked, so much so that the Forces of Nature, led by Dark Pit himself, were forced to call out for help. Palutena's army had answered positively to their request and the dark angel had done all he could to hold the menace. While he had survived, his army… They were not as lucky as he'd been. They had been decimated.

Medusa had stood proudly in front of him as she washed his army with a single wave of dark magic. Viridi had screamed in his ear, told him to move away, but his feet were glued to the ground. There, under the rays of the sun, under the weeping willow, he had watched in horror as Medusa had prepared a deadly attack for him. Once she had launched her attack, Viridi had to step in, and jumped in front of him. She did her best to contain the outrageous amount of energy that the attack had gathered, and was soon joined by Pit, who deflected the attack with one of Palutena's powers. The reflect was a success, Dark Pit had been amazed by the efficiency of the counter. Viridi had turned to Dark Pit when Medusa was ready to hit him again and, as a last resort, she had told him to take care of himself.

"I don't understand, Viridi!" he said, staring at his Goddess while she was tearing up, looking right into his ruby eyes.

The Goddess wiped her tears, made sure that Pit was handling well with Medusa, then she turned back towards Dark Pit and a light sob pushed past her lips. She shook her head, grasped his hands, and said: "There's no time to explain… You'll live."

"Viridi—"

"With Pit, one day, I promise you…"

"Wait up—!"

Before he could've finished his sentence, Dark Pit had felt his wings burning and growing. Pit had glanced at him and smiled, nodding. Why had he nodded? Dark Pit wondered when he thought back about the events. Did he know he was going to die and just accepted it—Did he embrace his fate despite knowing it was the end for him? The dark angel's heart sank at the questions he asked himself all the time, but that remained unanswered. Pushing those crippling thoughts aside, he plunged right back in his memories of the event—he was often forced to, his mind could only repeat the scenes all day long. Next thing he had known after his wings started glowing, Viridi had taken control of his flight and sent him to the Overworld, in the same city she always seemed to target.

Dark Pit had done his best to protest, had told her that it wasn't necessary, that he could also help them in the fight, but this time there was no answer from the Goddess of Nature. The dark angel had screamed, begged her to reply when, all of a sudden, the Power of Flight disintegrated, leaving him to brace himself for a big fall he had no way to slow down. Fortunately enough—or maybe Viridi had planned it?—Dark Pit had fallen in the lake, which was deep enough not to kill him when he landed in it. He had swam back to the shore and stood up as quickly as he could, screaming Viridi's name.

"Viridi!" he cried out yet again, but he was only met with silence on the other end. Frustrated, he cursed at all the Gods and looked up at the sky. With his wings soaked, it was pointless to even think about flying again before a good while. "Viridi, I swear this isn't funny!"

All that to no avail. Tears had streaked down his cheeks, his body had started to shake, and the first thing he had thought to do was find Magnus in the city.

Dark Pit sniffed and cried harder at those memories. She's dead, I'm sure of it, he thought, which only increased the intensity of his sobs. And Pit is dead too. Fucking idiot, he knew he would die… Why did he let me go? And why did he nod? he asked himself once more, puzzled. Maybe he wanted me to make it out alive. Maybe this wasn't my fight and he knew it. Maybe… Maybe he really loved me. Dark Pit shook his head, wanting to evade the subject, then he focused on something else. No thinking about Pit, not anymore—one doesn't stay stuck in the past, it's not good for their mental condition.

At least, Dark Pit knew for a fact that Palutena was still alive, so maybe there was hope for Pit. After all, she had said several times that she could revive her Centurions and the two angels as many times as she so desired, and Dark Pit just knew she wouldn't let Pit die. He had seen the Goddess of Light one time after the incident, she had been there to reassure him, to swear that, in times like these, she would be there standing next to him no matter what happened. She had told him to call her name, and assured that she'd be there anytime of the day.

"Hiya Pittoo!"

"Shut up Pit… Get out of my head…" Dark Pit moaned in pain, before he sprung to his feet to walk up to the door. He knew that Magnus would come in the afternoon, and he was almost certain that he had to be close. His gut never lied to him—he inherited that from Pit, even though he'd never admit it. Just as he expected, the human started walking down the street and came up to him, taking his angel's friend in a warm embrace. Dark Pit returned the hug, let out a few more sobs that he wished never sounded so weak, and allowed Magnus to walk in with a hand gesture. Magnus didn't ask for more and walked in, putting down a bag of unknown treats on the table. He often brought gifts to warm his dark angel's heart, even more now that he was traumatized by the events he witnessed.

Dark Pit sat down on the couch, looked at Magnus, and sighed once more. "Hiya Pittoo!" he heard again, and shivers went all the way down his spine, freezing him in place. The shrill, little voice that echoed in his mind, it was one that he wished to hear one more time, it was one that he… hoped he could hear very soon, at least once in his life. It was one that filled his heart with regrets for words he had never said, things he had never shared, and memories he had almost forgotten. He snorted at the thought: crazy how he remembered every little detail when the other was gone…

Magnus sat next to him and put a hand over his shoulder. He was ready to listen to the angel ranting, since he needed to lately. Getting his feelings, his rage but also his immense sorrow out of his poor, overwhelmed heart would save him tears late in the night. The human considered himself the angel's friend, so it was his role to be there for him. He was the shoulder Dark Pit decided to cry on, despite always looking so confident, so unbreakable. He proudly accepted to listen to him, as he, of all people, had personal experience with losing a loved one. He could understand his pain better than anyone else ever could. "Talk to me, dark angel face, I know you need it."

Dark Pit sniffed and ruffled his hair. He had taken off his laurel crown since the incident, and refused to wear it at any time. In his view, it was way too close to Pit's, too similar, too… perfect. He wanted nothing to do with it. "I've never been entirely honest with Pit," he began, his heart aching already at the mention alone of the light angel. However, Dark Pit did not let his feelings deter him from talking. "He never knew anything about me. He never… learnt about my true origins, nor did Viridi…" He stopped briefly after he mentioned her. "Viridi, she…" he continued, still refusing to look into Magnus' worried eyes. "She believed I was created from the Mirror of Truth as well… They didn't know it was a portal, they didn't know… They didn't know the necklace was a bridge between two dimensions—our respective dimensions, they… knew nothing of me. And yet, they… were those who understood me the best. Can you believe that? It's ridiculous, isn't it? To be friends with people you barely know… They were the best friends I've ever had in my entire existence—that includes my own dimension…"

Magnus nodded. "You mean, that dimension where you had no friends at all?"

"You got it." Dark Pit shook his head and a smirk spread across his lips. It was a smirk filled with irony, nervousness, frustration and, mainly, self-hatred. Those feelings that Magnus could clearly identify were reinforced by the look in Dark Pit's eyes: his ruby eyes glowed with anger as he stared into nothing, hands clenched into fists. "And Medusa has taken them away from me…"

"It's not over for Pit," Magnus said, doing his best to be reassuring in his words.

Dark Pit darted a look at him. "Oh yeah?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Unable to contain his fury any longer, he let his sharp tongue get the best of him and snapped. He hated when it did that… "And how would you know that, mere human that you are?"

Magnus shrugged one shoulder. "Since you're still standing, I assume he's alive somehow."

"For how long, that's the real question, Magnus," Dark Pit wondered, more to himself than for Magnus to answer, and then he looked off and stood up, walking towards the window. He had imagined thousands of ways for his journey with Pit to end. But he had… never thought that Medusa would be involved in it. He had thought, like any other person would have, that once killed, an enemy couldn't just come back to life out of nowhere and kill hundreds of people. Because that would be called a plot convenience, or it could also be what Dark Pit named a 'big-middle-finger-from-Daddy-Zeus'. However, Dark Pit needed to change that mindset; Thanatos was a primary example of an enemy that couldn't stop coming back, despite dying three times per day. It was safe to assume that Hades, who had been the Lord of the Underworld, must have had the same ability himself, so why not Medusa?

The dark angel gritted his teeth as he stared at a few pedestrians walking down the street, caught up in their daily routines. Somehow, the city felt less alive now than it had been before the incident. Pit used to tell him that his mindset could shift his view of the entire world around him, but Dark Pit admitted that… he had never believed him until then. His lighter half often said: 'You'll see when you experience it!' and now that he did, the dark angel fully trusted his words. At the thought of Pit, Dark Pit trailed his hand up and touched, caressed the window. "Hiya Pittoo!" he heard him again, and his eyes closed, focusing on the angel's voice in his mind.

"Yes, talk to me Pit… Keep talking to me…"

"Hey—Come on, wait up!" the light angel cried towards Dark Pit, who had started walking off. "Why have you been avoiding me?" Pit asked. When he saw Dark Pit's menacing eyes turn to him, he looked off and bit his lower lip. His wings fluttered down as he stared right at his feet. "I-I think I get it! Pittoo, I'm sorry for what I did. It wasn't right to leave like that."

"No, it wasn't," Dark Pit agreed, then he put a hand on his hip, glaring at the angel of light. "So? What do you have to say, Pit?"

Pit looked up, hopeful that his twin wasn't pissed at him too much, and the dark angel just rolled eyes. What could he do when facing these puppy eyes? Pit knew exactly what he was doing: he knew that Dark Pit couldn't resist them, even when he was furious towards him. Pit walked up to his twin and glanced down at Dark Pit's hands and slowly trailed his own up to them. As his fingers wrapped around his dark counterpart's, his cheeks turned red. Dark Pit was about to withdraw when he heard Pit whisper, under his breath: "You can call me all the names you want, I just want to fix this. I want to fix us."

"And what is us, Pit?"

Pit had marked a pause, surprised that Dark Pit had even heard him, but then raised his head with determination. He wouldn't spoil his chance this time around. Plunging his sapphire eyes right in Dark Pit's ruby orbs, he beamed as his blush deepened: "Well, us!"

Dark Pit shook his head to come back to reality, hearing Magnus stepping up to him. The guy couldn't be very discreet, considering each and every one of his steps felt like the ground was shaking underneath his feet. His head raised and Dark Pit met Magnus' eyes before his own darted to the ground. His fingers still caressed the glass, hoping it'd be Pit's skin instead of a window. Magnus ran a hand through the angel's hair, then pulled him closer to him in order to warm his cold body. Ever since he had been back from the Sanctum, he had stopped caring for himself—bad habit that Magnus tried to steer him away from, one step at a time. He often told him that Pit wouldn't want to see him like this, wouldn't like to witness Dark Pit turning into a real mess, but the dark angel was a stubborn one.

Sometimes, too much for his own good.

.oOo.

Dark Pit closed his eyes, but this time, he knew he wouldn't sleep. He heard Pit's voice every time he tried to relax, he could see his face, his eyes, his hair whenever he shut his eyes to drift off to sleep. He heard his laughter in the middle of the silence surrounding him. He grabbed onto his pillow tighter and eventually, after another word from Pit's mouth, he threw it across the room. "Can't you shut up?!"

"Admit it Pittoo, you like it when I talk!" Pit said, challenging his darker twin with a look. He seemed so confident about this. Dark Pit rolled his eyes and lightly pushed his counterpart away from him, so that he could open the doors of Palutena's palace and walk out. Pit held onto his tunic and pulled him back in, his blue eyes twinkling with happiness. "Come on, we could take a day off! You'd see, you love my conversations!"

"Huh-uh, not true," Dark Pit replied, though himself was not convinced. "Now scram, I've got Viridi on the phone."

"Uhm… Phawn…? Pit asked, dumbfounded, before he rushed after his twin, ashamed. He held out a hand, begging for Dark Pit's attention, when he thought of nothing better than to repeat his question: "H-Hey Pittoo, wait! What's a… phawn?"

Dark Pit groaned and buried his face in his mattress. He was that close to raging at the moment. All these conversations, these pointless details in his life, they kept coming back. Whenever he said something or heard someone talking about something, he'd hear Pit answer for him or to him, then the whole scene would play in the back of his mind. Dark Pit sat up in his bed, standing up to retrieve his pillow, then laid back down, hoping to find peace. He let out a sigh as more voices echoed in his head, and soon he opened an eye only to realize that a shadow was sitting next to him. It was not Pit, one reassuring thing—he wasn't going nuts yet.

Instead, it looked like a woman he knew pretty well; a woman he used to consider his mother in his dimension. "Aphrodite, what a surprise!" he cried out, looking straight at the Goddess of Love, who wore a long sleeved dress which fell along her body, highlighting her breasts and hips. She hadn't changed one bit in this dimension. "What brings you along?"

"I came to check on you," Aphrodite said, then her glowing pink eyes met his own despite the darkness around them. She ran her hand over his torso, flirting as always, and a huge smile spread across her painted lips. "You are the reincarnation of Eros, aren't you?"

"Used to be, at least," Dark Pit answered, before he had enough of her touchy attitude and pushed her hand off of him. He then sat back up on the edge of his bed, right next to the Goddess, and dared to look at her in the eyes. She was attractive to almost any being alive, a little like Pit when he thought about it. Well, to almost any being alive, except for him of course; in spite of the fact that he was not in his own dimension anymore, he still considered her to be his mother. A different incarnation of his mother, but her spirit nonetheless. It didn't help that she had the exact same careless attitude, the exact same hair color and eye color. Her voice felt… a little lighter, but he somehow expected it. Seemed like this dimension was a lighter version of his own anyways, since it hadn't yet plunged in the Days of Darkness—and he would make sure it never would.

Aphrodite ran her fingers along his thigh, probably thinking she would charm him. However, the gesture only got on his nerves, causing him to click his tongue and slap her hand off of him, a bit stronger this time than the previous one. If she was going to be insistent, he was going to be violent. He'd never allow to be touched this way by his own mother, different incarnation or not. The Goddess furrowed her brows but only chuckled, running her thin, elegant fingers through her blond hair. "Why 'used to be'? What changed it?"

"I appeared in a new dimension, I think that holds its weight," Dark Pit said, not looking away from her eyes. His own were lightly gleaming, since he was happy to see a familiar face in this world where he knew nothing. Even though she wasn't exactly who she used to be, her pink eyes couldn't lie to him; she still liked him. He refused, however, to see any other kind of affection than a mother-to-son relationship. "But if you need, I know who your incarnation of Eros is. He's Pit."

The Goddess of Love rose off of her seat and smiled widely. She had known it all along, now she only needed to find the young angel in Skyworld and explain the situation. She had missed her sidekick for such a long time… Her heart was beating really fast at the perspective of seeing Eros again. They had always been friends… But would he remember her? If he was a new incarnation, maybe he wouldn't… What a shame that would be, but maybe she'd be able to remind him? With that in mind, Aphrodite nodded to thank Dark Pit for his help and intended to leave right away, however she felt a hand holding her back, wrapped around her wrist. Aphrodite turned around and looked into Dark Pit's ruby eyes before he spoke out his worries: "The necklace, Moth—Aphrodite. Was it a gift from you?" Aphrodite's eyes gleamed when he said that, so he decided to continue: "It was, wasn't it? What was the goal behind it?"

"I figured it was time for you to accomplish your destiny," she said, then she broke free from Dark Pit's grip. "But remember, you can only use it once. After that, it will break. So no mistake allowed; it's a one-time gate."

The dark angel shrugged his shoulder. "I don't have it anymore anyways, so talk about Destiny."

The Goddess' smile faded when she heard those words, taken aback. What did he mean, did he lose it? Did he know how important—and mostly, how catastrophic it would be if a human or—worse, one of Medusa's commanders got their hands on it? Her necklace was one of a kind… It had been created by Kronos, along with the dark angel's father Chaos, before the beginning of Time and given to her. She had been its keeper for her entire existence, part of her soul was contained in it… Aphrodite blinked in horror when she realized the stakes of this loss; if a human got a hand on the necklace, what would become of them? Even though she had been clever enough to link the stone to the Mirror of Truth, she feared that any kind of mirror could do the trick and open up Dark Pit's dimension.

Dark Pit glanced at her, thinking about why the necklace had even been crafted in the first place. Was it always meant to unite their dimensions? If so, what was the point if it had never been used before? And why their two dimensions specifically? There had to be thousands, if not even millions of others! Why their dimensions? It seemed all too random in his opinion. He shook his head: no, he was sure that him coming out of the Mirror at the same time Pit hit it was coincidental. He refused to believe that he'd been the puppet of the Gods of his dimension, in addition to these who planned it all along. He had his free will! It couldn't be otherwi—

"The necklace was created by Kronos and Chaos to unite the two strongest angels, chosen from the start, that the Universe had ever held," Aphrodite said, starting off her explanation on a very bad note—in Dark Pit's humble opinion at least. Where the fuck was freedom of speech and actions in all of this?

Before he had time to complain, the Goddess pursued her story: "He who saw everything, along with his beloved brother, knew that he would need an alliance between Light and Darkness to defeat a threat that doomed the entire Universe. For that, he needed a fearless hero from another dimension, already fallen in the hands of Evil, to help and guide an innocent but fierce warrior from this dimension."

"So I and Pit, I assume."

Aphrodite nodded and eyed at the dark angel, whose eyes shot daggers at her. Of course he wasn't going to be pleased with the news… But somehow, she felt like it was time to tell him all about his mission. He should be aware that he had been brought there for a reason, right? Or did he just believe it had been an incident? An 'incident', in a realm filled with all-knowing Gods? That was ridiculous, he couldn't have believed that. Well… there had been an incident, once, but she would refrain from mentioning it. The memory of it was painful to everyone…

The Goddess of Love turned in order to fully face Dark Pit, a light glimmer in her pink eyes; she could feel the motherly love of her other incarnation rushing in her own veins, and the feeling was incredible. She had always wanted to have a son… "Dark Eros, I know this comes in as a blow, but you must understand that the fate that your dimension knew could also extend to this one… If Medusa manages to—"

"Kill Palutena, then it's the end of us, got it. Though please, I like my name as Dark Pit, if you will," the dark angel replied, gritting his teeth. "So let me get this straight: all of this was planned all along? No matter what, we'd have ended up like this? I'd have been ripped away from my dimension, from my family, my sister, no matter my fucking 'choices' in my life?"

"Dark Pit—"

"Where's this stupid necklace? Tell me. I'll go get it."

Aphrodite pulled out a map in front of his eyes, and soon it turned into a paper version that the dark angel could hold in his hands. Without adding a word, the Goddess of Love turned away and bit her lower lip anxiously. Since her worry had taken over her, she still felt the need to say certain things. "Don't reject Pit because of what I told you. I should've kept it all a secret, you should feel grateful that I didn't."

Dark Pit scoffed and put his hands on his hips. "Oh yeah, right! Thanks for manipulating me."

"Please—"

"I'll let Dad know what I think about it next time I see him, believe me," Dark Pit added, then he pulled up the map he just acquired to look at the position of the necklace, marked with a pink cross near the river, in the forest. Exactly where Pit had left it. If he had known what was up with it, he'd have made sure to take it back. But it wasn't too late to catch up; he was going to the river right there and then. And he was going to destroy this curse once and for all.

"Hey! Slow down, Pittoo! I can't run, remember?" Pit exclaimed when Dark Pit pulled him by the wrist, leading him to the stable where Phos and Lux spent their days eating. Even though he was not used to this kind of attitude, the light angel gladly followed his twin and they both hid in a stall, where they were sure that no Centurion would find them. Who would expect them to be there?

The light angel then looked up at Dark Pit and breathed heavily through the mouth. "Lady Pa…lutena told me… to rest, Pittoo…"

"Then how about you shut your mouth and take deep breaths?"

Pit pouted at the snap but agreed, keeping quiet and concentrating on his breathing. He had closed his eyes to focus entirely, and his dark counterpart would have been stupid not to take advantage of that. So, Dark Pit leaned towards Pit and stole him a kiss, which made him blush wildly as his eyes sparked open. The dark angel smirked; he liked to embarrass his lighter twin, he looked so ridiculous with those red cheeks of his'. Obviously enough, he'd never admit to liking the kisses—they were just for fun, he didn't mean any of it—did he? Nah, just cutesy, childish games that Pit seemed to enjoy so much. Speaking of a stupid game, Pit held Dark Pit's hand and aligned their fingers. He watched in awe, since of course they fitted perfectly.

The dark angel was about to turn back and open the stall so that they could go spar in the fields or something, when Pit looked at him with curious eyes. "Do you think fate is written?" he asked, tilting his head to the side, and Dark Pit sat back down, surprised by the suddenness—and seriousness—of the question. Pit glanced back at Dark Pit's hands and grabbed them once again, aligning their fingers once more. His darker counterpart frowned, confused, but the light angel continued, his eyes unable to get off of their fingers. "Do you think that, sometimes, things are planned in a way so that they align perfectly—like our fingers?"

"That'd be assuming that Gods can predict the future, or that we have no freedom," Dark Pit answered, then he raised an eyebrow. A smirk grew on his lips. "Though that wouldn't make a big difference for you, Pit-stain."

"Hey!" Pit reacted, before he pouted and looked off. "Just a random thought."

"Now you have your answer, Pit," Dark Pit murmured, echoing to the scene he had just witnessed once again. Aphrodite furrowed her brows, uncertain of what had happened, and the dark angel's only response was rushing out of the room and picking up his favorite Silver Bow from the table. He briefly eyed at the bag Magnus had brought, and walked up to it in order to open it.

The gift was nothing more than Pit's medallion, with its shining red jewel.

To be continued…

Updated: 02/11/2019