Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of Kid Icarus!

Chapter 14: Medusa's Surprising Defeat

When the two angels managed to arrive at Medusa's castle they knew that getting in wasn't going to be easy. They flew towards the gate, but before they could get in the Underworld Gatekeeper appeared and began shooting at them with its lasers. This took Pit off guard and got hit by a few of its attacks. The injuries on him were minor, but the two angel's kept on attacking the Gatekeeper while doing their best to dodge the enemy's attacks. Of course, Pit did most of the work of weakening the boss, but this took a very long time and a lot of effort of dodging the foes assaults and shooting at the monster's weak spots.

Just when Pit was going to go in for the final attack the dark angel came in and kicked it right in its face! After Dark Pit did this the Underworld Gatekeeper was defeated and the monster collapsed to the ground, its lifeless body in shambles. Pit knew that his doppelganger made him do all of the work of weakening the enemy on purpose, just so that he could get the final blow.

"Hey!" Pit exclaimed. "I was supposed to destroy it! I did all of the grunt work after all!"

"Yeah, but you were too slow," Dark Pit shot back. "Besides, we don't have much time left. That monster slowed us down, so let's get inside already!" Dark Pit was the first to charge into Medusa's castle, continually slaying more of her monsters along the way. Pit followed along behind getting prepared by making sure he had the three sacred treasures on him so that they could defeat Medusa.

Selena was still frozen in place when she laid eyes on Medusa. She didn't know that she was this huge! The room that was inside looked like it reached up all the way into the sky and there were four pillars on each side of the room to hold it in place. The room was very wide and long and in the middle of it was a red velvet carpet that led all the way to her throne. Medusa sat on her huge throne and beckoned her inside with her index finger.

"Come on in Selena, I've been expecting you. I don't like to keep a special guest as yourself waiting too long." She sinisterly chuckled and Selena could not believe it. She never expected Medusa to be a giant. She only assumed that she would be the size of a mortal, but being the Queen of the Underworld she should've known better. Selena knew that before that she wasn't going to succeed in killing her and trying to attempt to do so was the same thing as suicide. She was always a little suicidal, but this time maybe she really will die, even so, she wasn't going to go down easily. Selena cautiously walked into the room, making sure that there were no traps or surprises when she went in and there wasn't.

The minute that she waltzed right in the one and only door that she came through immediately slammed shut, locking her in. Selena gulped, but continued to stay strong and to not let her guard down or to let fear take over her. A solemn expression stayed on her face and began walking down the red carpet to where Medusa was sitting on her throne. She eyed the mortal as she paced through the room, with her sword in her hand.

"My, my," Medusa began. "You are quite the beauty now aren't you? Beautiful, but yet so stupid and ignorant. I expect no less from a mortal." Selena struggled not to let this wicked queen's words get to her. She pointed her sword towards her.

"I'm not here for talk!" she said sternly. "I've come here to bring back your head on a silver platter!" Medusa laughed so hard, thinking that her words were hilarious in her own cold way.

"Not here for talk now aren't you? How about let's go to more of an interesting subject. You're so weak I could kill you in a snap, so I have all the time in the world to destroy you. Let's just patiently wait here while my other guests arrive. In the meantime we can get acquainted first before the real party begins."

"I told you before!" Selena snapped. "I've come for your head!" She went in with her sword ready to strike and was going to cut her with her blade, but Medusa rose her snake staff and a powerful force pushed her back. Selena fell backwards on the ground and felt pain pulsing through her entire body. She had a difficult time moving her body and felt paralyzed in place.

"Aren't you a feisty one? I have no interest in fighting mortals. It's hardly worth the effort. No matter. Would you be interested in talking if I told you that I secretly went down to the mortal realm and killed all three of your precious siblings while you were captured by the space pirates?" Selena's eyes widened and terror filled every part of her body. She couldn't believe what Medusa was saying. Could it be true? Or was she just bluffing?

"No," she muttered. "No…" The Underworld Queen cackled with delight.

"Yes, your brothers are long gone. That pathetic goddess of light and her little servant were too busy worrying about you to notice that I went to the mortal realm to kill your family." Selena sniffled, doing her best to fight back her tears.

"But…why?"

"Because, watching you mortals suffer is a pleasure to me. I only had the space pirates capture you for a diversion, hopefully killing you in the process, but as expected those angel's spared you for yet a bit longer." Medusa got up from her throne, walked over towards the girl and picked her up by the throat, slowly choking her. "It was so easy. You not only came to me, but you also had the angel's come as well. It will be like hitting three birds with one stone! Did you not realize that you senseless mortal were falling right into the grip of death himself?"

Soon after she said that they heard banging and knocking on the door. It sounded like someone was trying to get in. Selena wondered if it was the two angel's. Even if it was, they weren't going to make it in time to save her. She knew that she was going to die here, by the hands of Medusa in this wicked place, but even if she did that was alright to Selena. If Medusa was speaking the truth, then she would gladly join her brothers in the afterlife. They were the only people she had down on Earth that really meant anything to her. To her it was fine if everything ended for her here. Medusa only grinned when she knew that it was them.

"Looks like our two other remaining guests have arrived."

Suddenly the door was kicked down and Selena struggled to see who it was, but was happy to see that it was the two angels. They were horrified to see that she was being choked to death by Medusa. The girl strained to try and get in some air, but it was no use. Medusa was much too strong for her and she felt her consciousness fading fast. Dark Pit's hands gripped his weapon so tightly. He was shaking with so much rage that he couldn't contain himself. Pit was angry at this too, but the dark angel looked as if he was about to murder somebody. And that somebody was Medusa.

"MEDUSA?!" Dark Pit screamed. "Get your f**king hands off of her!" He readied his weapons and was about to charge in after her with all of his strength, but the witch just gripped Selena's throat tighter. She waved her finger at him.

"Come one step closer and the mortal's dead." She was in excruciating pain from how tight Medusa was clenching her throat. She felt terribly light headed and her vision grew fuzzy. Selena felt hot tears stream down her face because she couldn't take the pain any longer. She really did feel all of her life slowly squeezing out of her. Both Pit and Dark Pit felt helpless because they wanted to do something but with Selena's life in Medusa's hands they couldn't take the chance.

"Selena!" Pit cried out. "Please! Hang in there!" Dark Pit felt himself clenching his teeth. He hated feeling this useless. He wondered if this is what Selena felt all the time whenever they had to save her in the past. If so it was an awful feeling. The two angel's just stood there while Medusa laughed in their faces. They knew that this was going to be the end for the young girl.

Without warning something tremendous happened. Selena didn't know what came over her, but felt something in her head snap. It was that same feeling that happened to her all that time ago when she was facing those bullies at school. She regained her consciousness and did a forceful kick to Medusa's stomach. She certainly felt that one because she heaved over and let go of Selena. She landed on the ground onto her feet and grabbed her samurai sword that she dropped. She then confidently ordered the two angel's to go and attack her now while her guard was down. The two of them wondered when Selena began giving orders to them, but they just shrugged and began flying around Medusa and shooting at her arrows and consistently putting pressure on her. She writhed in pain at how powerful Pit's arrows of light were and fought back against them as well. She cursed at the three of them, especially Selena and shot out lasers and beams from her snake staff. The two angel's did their best to dodge her attacks and did so successfully, until something bad happened.

One of the beams that Medusa shot out hit one of Pit's wings and he went crashing to the ground. Dark Pit and Selena were horrified to see this because Pit was the only one who had the three sacred treasures on him in order to defeat Medusa. The dark angel and Selena went over to where Pit was lying on the ground and had a lot of scratches and some blood on him. Dark Pit checked his twin's wings and saw that his left wing was horribly scorched and he couldn't move.

"Pit! Are you alright?" Selena asked desperately.

"Y-Yeah," he choked. "I'm alright. It's just a little nick on the wings is all." He tried to get up and fly, but it was no use. Even with his power of flight granted to him from Palutena there was no way that he could fly with just one wing.

"No, you're not alright," said Dark Pit. "Your wing has a third degree burn. There's no way that you can fly in that state."

"But how can we defeat Medusa if we don't use the arrows of light against her? Pit is the only one who can use it after all. Dark Pit can't use it because well…he can't use weapons of light." The dark angel took the First Blade and Mirror Shield from his twin and handed them to Selena.

"You're doing it," he said bluntly. The girl refused to take the ancient weapon and shield and shook her head.

"B-But I can't wield weapons like that. How would I get all the way up to Medusa's head to even hit her?"

"I can fly you up there," Dark Pit replied. "You're here so mind as well be of some use to us." He smirked and folded his arms. "You did come here to vanquish Medusa yourself, right?" Selena stared at the injured angel at her feet and then gawked back at Dark Pit. She smiled and nodded her head sternly, grabbing the Mirror Shield and the First Blade into her hands.

"Let's go!"

Dark Pit gave the girl a ride to once again attack the goddess of darkness. Medusa continued to shoot her lasers at them and assaulting them with everything that they got. What the two of them needed to do was to get up close and personal with her. That was almost impossible with the way that Medusa was attacking them. Dark Pit was having a difficult time trying to get close enough so that Selena could do the final blow to the witch. She was already quite weak from all of the arrows and projectiles that he and Pit threw at her before. All that they needed now was to stick that First Blade into her head and she'll be finished. Medusa laughed at them when she saw that Selena was carrying two of the three sacred treasures.

"This is just too absurd. First a puny little angel and now a mortal? Ha! You'll never succeed!" Selena ignored her nasty comments and was busy focusing on the perfect moment to strike. Dark Pit dodged the projectiles that were coming at them and when they got close enough to Medusa, Selena jumped off of Dark Pit's shoulders and on top of Medusa's shoulders. She deeply stabbed the First Blade into her back and slashed her as hard as she could, while maneuvering away from the snakes on her head that were trying to attack her. She also put up the Mirror Shield, which she found quite helpful in this situation. Selena once again stabbed her, but this time right through her neck. Blood came spilling out of her jugular and the other terrible wounds that she did to her. Medusa stopped resisting and fell onto her knees, feeling the life pouring out from her. Selena smirked when she saw how much agonizing pain the queen of the Underworld was enduring, spitting up globs of blood from her mouth. She deserved it. The witch collapsed onto the ground fully and Selena got off of her and faced her directly. She arose her sword.

"It ends here Medusa!" She stuck the First Blade in between her eyes and she laid there, frozen in place. Medusa gradually began turning into stone and she was in such a fragile state that the littlest amount of wind and force blew her away into dust. Selena caught her breath from all of the action that took place and when her adrenaline began slowing down she noticed how sore and how much ache she felt, especially on her neck. She dropped the sword and shield and fell onto her knees. Dark Pit helped up his twin and they both stumbled towards her. The two angels smiled at her and put up their thumbs.

"You did it Selena!" Pit exclaimed. He coughed afterwards.

"Yeah," Dark Pit agreed. "I didn't even know you had it in you to do something that extraordinary." Selena blushed and scratched the back of her head nervously.

"Oh, it's nothing, really. I kinda surprised myself, actually." They all looked around at one another and saw how sweaty and dirty everybody was. They even had some spots of blood on their clothing. It was really obvious on Pit's since they were white, but at times like these it was good to have dark clothing so that the blood wouldn't stain.

"Come," Dark Pit beckoned. "Let's go back home now."

"It's time to feel the fruits of our labor come into place!" Pit added enthusiastically despite his condition.

"All I feel is my aching limbs." Selena nodded her head and was going to get up, but couldn't because her body felt numb. She felt light headed and the world appeared as if it was spinning. She began seeing multiples of the same Pittoo. The two angels stopped and looked at her and asked to see if she was alright, but after all of what she's been through, she's probably not.

"Yeah, I'm alright…just…tired." Selena laid down on the floor and in no time fell unconscious.

Another day or two later she began stirring awake. She was hardly conscious though, her head, neck and shoulders ached and felt foggy in the head. All that she knew was that she felt like she was lying on a soft white bed in Palutena's Temple. Selena's vision was blurred when she first opened her eyes, but when her eyes adjusted she noticed that the dark angel was sitting in a chair right at her side. When it all came back to her what happened she hastily sat up from her bed and turned towards Dark Pit. He appeared relieved to know that she was doing alright. She also realized that her minor wounds were covered with white bandages and still felt like every muscle in her body throbbed with pain. She felt stiff and decided to lay back down again.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Alright, but I hurt everywhere. Where's Pit?"

"He's in the next room still sleeping." His tone became firm and he crossed his arms. "Why did you go off like that on your own Selena? You could've seriously died you know?! You made me and the others so worried that I thought that I was going to die! If you died knowing that it was my fault that I brought you here I…I...wouldn't know what to do."

"Dark Pit," she said calmly. "It wasn't a mistake that you took me here to Skyworld. I'm so glad that I got to meet you, Pit and Palutena. I really enjoyed the time that I spent here." She sniffled and began crying a little. "I'm so happy that I met you." Dark Pit smiled and he put her hand on top of hers. Selena brushed away the tears and they looked into one another's eyes.

"But why did you do it? Why did you go off on your own like that to face Medusa?"

"Because I thought that I was being a burden to you guys, always having to help me and getting myself into dangerous situations all the time, but not on purpose. At least not most of the time. I thought that even if…it killed me I wanted to prove to not only myself but to you guys that I can take care of myself." Dark Pit wasn't pleased with her reply. He couldn't believe that she would actually think and do something like that, especially because she knew that she most likely wouldn't survive, but did. At the same time thinking about it, he couldn't blame her for feeling like that. He always had to save and protect Selena in the past and he felt like she was determined to do her best to become strong just like him and Pit. He only smiled sadly.

"Well…I would say you're welcome to train with me and Pit, but…"

"I know, I have to go back to Earth," she finished quickly. The dark angel gave her a sorrowful look. She could see it in his eyes. "Please don't be sad Dark Pit. When I leave I want to remember your guy's smiling faces or in your case a smirk."

"True," he said, trying to hide his sly smile.

They both knew that this time she was going to go back to the mortal realm for good after her wounds heal. This time there would be no Medusa getting in the way or any space pirates capturing her. This was the moment where once she goes back they'll be separated for good. The only thing that worried Selena was what Medusa said to her before she was slain.

I secretly went down to the mortal realm and killed all three of your precious siblings while you were captured by the space pirates

She was actually really frightened to know what has become of her family before Dark Pit took her to Skyworld. Even so, if she was brave enough to face Medusa by herself then there was no reason to go down to Earth and face reality herself. Selena highly doubted that the goddess and the two angels know that her life might never be the same again.