21. Struggle

"Pit?" Falco looked around quietly. "Pit?" he called out again. The poor avian Smasher had been searching all the hallways and he hadn't seen any sign of the angel. He even checked the women's washroom in case Pit might have been hiding in there (who knows, maybe the Arcane wouldn't think of Pit hiding in a washroom meant for girls only). "Pit-"

Falco stopped, hearing a quiet scuffle. He grew still, taking out his blaster and listening for where the noise was coming from.

"Shh, I hear someone!"

"Who is it?"

"Shush already!"

Falco slowly approached the nearby door, before kicking it open and pointing his blaster at whoever it could be.

The Magician and the Hierophant stared back in horror. In the background, the avian Smasher could see Lucario, both his paws bandaged, but with some blood still seeping through.

Falco dropped his gun, shocked. "How..." he trailed off.

The Hierophant took a deep breath before his voice let out in a whisper. "It's a long story."

The Cagemaster charged at the blue-haired swordsman sword raised. The blades clashed, the clanging sounds resounding in the hall. Illustria jumped back as Marth took a swing at her abdomen, before he thrusted his sword forwards at her again.

He missed by a millimeter.

The Cagemaster let out a snarl, pausing for a moment.

"Your speed and agility are impressive as well as your physical strength." Illustria spoke, brushing back a lock of ravened black hair before she continued. "However...can you figure this out?"

The sword in her hand became a scythe, the long handle as black as her hair. She spun a few times, multiple copies of her appearing. Marth mentally cursed himself. He hadn't expected this!

"Guess which one of us is which!"

The clones began to rush about the room, and Marth took out both his sword and shield in case any of them tried to lunge at him. Seemingly unnoticed by the swordsman, one of the clones rushed at him, scythe raised...

Only for the blade to get blocked by the swordsman's shield.

The rest of the clones vanished as Illustria jumped back. "Most impressive. Perhaps I should have put you at A Rank from the beginning, Marth Lowell. But then again..." the look on the Cagemaster's face was stern. "You had the nerve to assault me, when all you could have done was tell me where the histories are."

"I have no clue of where those books can be, for bloody goodness sakes!" Marth shouted back. "I swear I don't have any of them!"

"Let me try to get this straight. You two were stuck in your own minds for the past couple days?"

"Technically, yes." the Magician answered. "Illustria didn't want us to become psychotic like the tournament itself. She never wanted that. That's why she stuck us in the purest parts of our minds. We didn't think we would wake up that quickly, though."

"Where do you think the Cagemaster is now?" Lucario asked.

"Probably searching for the histories, still." the Hierophant replied. "You said that Pit had one of them, right?" he asked Falco.

"Yeah. The reason I was out there was because I was searching for him. All the rest of the Smashers are getting hunted down by the Arcane and getting killed. Illustria isn't happy because of all the histories being missing. But I only got one. Who got the rest?" Falco asked.

The Magician coughed a bit. Everyone turned to him. The Magician sighed quietly, took out his bag, and dumped the contents of it onto the ground.

"'History: Hierophant,' 'History: Magician,' 'History: Sun,' 'History: Strength...' There's even a history for the Smashers!" Falco trailed off. "You grabbed all the rest?"

The Magician nodded quietly. "I thought if I looked through them all, maybe I could figure out why the Cagemaster specifically chose us to be in the tournament as the Arcane. That was something I didn't understand..."

The Hierophant gently grasped one of the Magician's hands in his own. "It's understandable. I've been thinking about that, too." he glanced at the histories. "Since we're decently well hidden, suppose we should look at all of these?"

"Yes."

"I bloody killed someone." Strength muttered, sitting down on the nearest armchair. Samus stood near him silently. "Why did I forget the promise I made that I do not kill anyone unless I'm forced to?"

Samus paused before she spoke. "You made that pledge when the Cagemaster brought you into the tournament, right?"

"Yeah." Strength paused before continuing. "Like I told you, I never liked killing. But I've killed things since birth. I killed my own mother just because I was born into this world and-"

"Strength. Look at me." Samus spoke, gritting her teeth slightly. "It's not your fault that your own mother died when you were born! You know that your mother could have let you die in order for her to live, but she didn't. She wanted you to have the chance to live. She wanted that so badly for you, no matter what. Even if it cost her own life."

Strength put his head in both hands. "I just...I just don't know what to do anymore with all of this. I just don't know."

Author note: Again, short chapter. (Ugh, I haven't written any chapters that are over 1000 words in a while! Aargh...) Anyway, Strength's History is next chapter! Hopefully I can get it up as soon as I can. In the meanwhile, can you guys answer 2 questions, maybe? I'll answer them, too (my answers are in italic and bold).

From chapter 17, question no. 2, I realized I forgot to mention the Magician. I feel like I can also relate to him because I have to keep a calm facade like him during tough times and I do like reading.

1. Favourite character in the whole fic? (including OCs)

...Too hard to choose. I seriously, honestly cannot choose, so I'm going to have to say all of them for that reason.

2. Favourite history so far?

Personally, I'm going to have to go with the Magician for this one. This was also one of my favourite chapters to write, as I felt like it certainly explained the Magician's behaviour and his current relationship with the Hierophant.

I guess that's enough from me. Hope you guys review! Thanks!