"I'm not an intern. I'm a messenger of the gods!" – Pit (Chapter 24)

A/N: Instead of studying for my finals, I decided to do this. Ah, the things I do for my readers . . . sorry about the long wait, by the way. I was running into some difficulty with certain parts of this chapter. I've been trying to post this story since OCTOBER! Ugh. I won't go into detail much, but there was a lot that I added unintentionally that didn't particularly have to do with the plot but sort of made its way into the story anyway. I'm lucky I had my sister to talk it out with me. It sort of helped me get my thoughts together.

Hope you enjoy!

"Stop! Stop!"

Cupid woke up, his stomach cold with dread. He leaped out of bed, robe in hand, hoping to catch his goddess in time before she said something loud enough for the others to hear.

"I take it back—please--!"

The God of Love forgot himself. Knowing the way to Palutena's room by heart, he didn't need the light to figure out where she was. Of course, it was wayyyyyy too early for this shit and in his hurry he slammed head first into the door to her room.

"Pollux . . . don't hurt him. . ."

He reeled back in a daze, his nose and head throbbing in pain. He put a cautious hand to his sensitive nose. Thankfully, he didn't pull his hand away with blood on it, though it still hurt like hell. He tried again.

"I take it back . . . I take it back . . ."

It was dark in the room, the curtains closed to the outside room. Cupid knew that if he opened them, the light would shine directly though, so he crossed the room to let in the natural light. Palutena writhed in bed, tossing and turning violently.

"Pit . . . no, my Pit. You don't understand . . . "

Cupid flung the curtains open. A full moon graced him; now he could properly see.

"Pollux, please-you can't kill him-he's-"

He went to her side to shake her awake; like always, her eyes flung open and found his, first in shock, then in confusion.

Every time she looked at him like that, his heart started to sink a little. He knew he wasn't perfect—he knew that she preferred the other one. The golden boy. But what he couldn't understand was why him coming to save her was always such cause for alarm.

"C-Cupid?" Palutena said. Her eyes were still cloudy, seeing something beyond him entirely. "What are you—?"

"It was a dream," he muttered, taking her hand in his. "Just a dream."

"But Pit," she said, looking like she was about to jump out of bed right then and there. "He's in trouble—Pollux has him—"

"It was a dream," Cupid said again. "You haven't seen Pollux in years."

Palutena seemed to take some comfort in his words, at least. She laid her head back, but her eyes kept on darting up and around him, looking for invisible figures to come and haunt her again.

"He was planning on killing him," she said nervously. "He—he was right there in front of me, a knife to his throat. Pollux s-said he was going to kill him, so that I might know how i-it felt-"

Her eyes kept on moving from his face. At that point, Cupid had decided he'd had enough. He placed a steady hand to her chin, forcing her head to stop moving and look him in the eye.

"You're safe here," he said. He swallowed. "So is Pit. You're safe."

Her breath was settling, something that Cupid took as a personal victory.

"I wish I could take it back," muttered Palutena, looking him dead in the eye. Her naked fear stirred something unsettling deep within him as well, and he shivered. "All of it. I would if I could. Can't he see that?"

Cupid moved away from her, placing his hands on the tangled up sheets before him. Before, he had accepted the fact that some outside force was causing these nightmares; had guessed that, due to some personal vendetta, that the nightmares were getting worse. But he had never asked about what enemies Palutena might have that were still alive and powerful enough to transmit dreams. He couldn't think of anyone who could hate someone so much, especially someone like Lady Palutena.

"Palutena," he asked cautiously, not looking her. "Do the nightmares seem to be getting worse, to you?"

"He . . . held him right in front of me." Her voice was small and tremulous, like a child's. "It was as if- It was as if I could touch him, Cupid, if I reached out far enough." Her eyes wandered to the right of him, where she had been looking earlier.

Cupid sighed. "You need to..." He brushed back some of the thin tendrils of red hair that had fallen into his face. "Tena, you need to calm down. You're safe here, at my Palace. Alright?"

"What did I say about you calling me that," Palutena growled, surly. Cupid warmed in embarrassment at the reproach; for some reason, being here next to her, so late in the night, his defenses were down, and he had no words to match her bitterness. He pursed his lips and looked away, trying not to think about how poor for the job he was, taking care of her.

Palutena wasn't done yet, however. "I'm not safe here, anyway," the goddess mumbled. "You, holding me as my prisoner, counting the days and watching me waste away..."

"I'm not," Cupid pleaded, and he couldn't believe that this Palutena and the one he'd grown up with were both the same person. "I wouldn't do that, Palutena; I'm trying to help-"

"I don't believe you," Palutena said. "Because if you were helping, then maybe I wouldn't be awake right now, now would I?" She glared at the covers before her. "Being here hasn't made me better. Being here with you certainly hasn't helped. Is this all going to your plan, I wonder? Wearing me down until I-"

"I'm not pulling any strings now," said Cupid, his voice barely above a whisper. He wished she would look at him. Maybe then he would feel as bad as he did. "You're not just here because I'm - I'm selfish. You're here here because i'm trying to help you."

"Really? That's not what you said when I first came here."

Cupid lowered his head. "I know. Think of these past fews days as me - trying to figure out how to ask for forgiveness, I suppose."

"Do you expect me to believe that?" Palutena's voice was more flat than he'd ever heard it. "Do you expect me to believe that you're actually seeking redemption, after all these years?"

Cupid was silent.

"And, really-" Palutena continued, her eyes to the ceiling, "what good would it do you? Apologizing to me. Maybe I deserve this . . . "

"You do not," Cupid hissed, "deserve any of this."

Palutena looked at him, studying the raw emotion that pinched his features. "And-no god should ever wish this upon another, okay?" Cupid continued. "Not a disease this horrible. Your weakness-it's made you vulnerable, physically, psychologically, and-and this 'Pollux' character has been taking advantage that. But you don't deserve any of this-not even after whatever you might have done in the past. You've told him, Palutena-you've told Pit what you know about the Prophecy. You're free."

The two were silent. Cupid felt as though he would choke on the stillness of the room. He thought about leaving before he began to run his mouth again and say something that he might regret. Then the Light Goddess began to laugh.

Slow, bitter and deep seated, her laughter didn't make him want to smile in on the joke. It was almost manic, actually, the way she hid her face from him, covering her mouth so that she could laugh a sound that almost seemed too broken to be real.

"I killed him," she said."I killed him, Cupid, don't you see?" said Palutena, and by then she was trembling, the smile leftover on her face wane and confused. "It's all my fault-Castor's death. I saw the twins as co-conspirators of Medusa's reign, laughing beside her as she released havoc on the humans with her monsters. I made them share the blame, when really, I had no idea how much of a part they'd played. They were so young, Cupid-barely a year younger than you were at the time; ten, eleven maybe, appearence-wise. They were vulnerable, and susceptible-"

"Zeus held me just as responsible for my actions when I was their age," Cupid said, his voice hard.

"This is different," said Palutena. She looked at him in earnest, her eyes searching. "They were on the wrong side of the war, that's all. They grew up thinking that Medusa was in the right-yet I punished them as if they had any other choice."

Cupid broke contact. "When you say that you killed him-"

"Castor," said Palutena. "His brother, he came to me in a dream, a projection of sorts. He told me that…. When I had left them in the Underworld to fend for themselves, that the Underworlders turned on them. They didn't recognize them as their leaders-they only answered to Medusa. They attacked and they-they took Castor." She shook her head fervently. "It's my fault that he wants revenge. I mean, it was his brother. I should have realized-"

"But you didn't," Cupid said, "and what's done is done."

Palutena didn't reply.

"There's no point in dwelling in the past, in my opinion," Cupid said. His eyes wandered to the window, at the waning moon that hung sentient above. "Whether it was your fault or not- there's no point in beating yourself up about it now. First chance I get, though, I'm going to find Pollux and give him a piece of my mind. Because this is just ridiculous."

Cupid thought about leaving then. The silence that Palutena had left behind was enough to suffocate on, and he wasn't sure what else he could say. He hadn't known the Gemini much when he was younger...

"Can you do me a favor?"

Cupid's gaze shot back to hers. He didn't like the way goddess was looking at him. "Yeah."

"Can you take care of him? If I die-"

"No," Cupid said, eyes widening. "Don't say that-"

"If I die," Palutena plowed on, "make sure you tell Pit that he doesn't need to correct all my mistakes for me. He doesn't need to prove that I'm better than I actually am-because I'm not. Once I die-if I do-please, just make sure he pulls through. He needs someone to look after him."

Cupid had never considered the possibility of having a sibling in his life. He didn't think he'd be a good one, really. If she died, he'd figured Pit would go and stay with his actual brother, with someone who really cared for him in ways he couldn't. But he nodded anyway.

Cupid didn't want to see Palutena die. Not really. He put up a front of indifference most of the time, but in reality, Palutena was as much family to him as Marsh was to Pit. And besides . . . they were gods. Any death between them would have massive rebounds, whether the people who knew about it cared or not.

The look she gave him shocked him. This early in the morning, Cupid found he had left his defenses up in the next room, and was unprepared for the amount of trust she was showing towards him then. Suddenly he felt a regular angel again—an adolescent still wandering the halls of Palutena's Temple, trying to find his place in this existence.

"Thank you, Cupid," Palutena said, her cerulean blues shining. "Really."

Cupid nodded quietly, already retracting away from her. He drew his hand back, and stood up from the bed. "Get some rest, Palutena. You're going to need it for tomorrow."

Palutena didn't reply, and Cupid didn't really think she needed to. She was probably already sinking back to sleep, and he truly hoped that her dreams would be more peaceful than they were before. Before he could exit the room, however, he paused, and came to face her in full. "I never meant to scare you," he said quietly, "the way I did, in the beginning of your stay. You're safe here, you know…..really. And I'm sorry for the way I am sometimes."

Palutena was silent, and Cupid thought it was just as well. He suddenly wanted to get out of that room as soon as possible.

"No. It's a bad idea, Pit."

Pit's infamous puppy-dog eyes came into play. It usually worked on whoever he did it to-even on Marsh!-but this time, Marsh was having none of it. In fact, the fact that he tried only made his brother angry.

"Stop messing around! This is serious!"

"I know it's serious," Pit said. He sighed. "You should've seen him, Marsh. He -he had this look, like he was going to go back on everything he ever promised me if I didn't do what he wanted me to do."

"Still, this is-this is-" Marsh brushed past him, thinking. He could feel Pit's pleading eyes on his back, but he had to get himself to feel comfortable about this one.

Pit was going on a mission to the Underworld-and he was insisting that he do it alone. Some weird god that Pit had met while passed out on the floor of Palutena's Temple the other day was demanding that he fly to the City of Lost Souls to retrieve someone for him. It could be Pit's only chance to get the Spirits of Peace from him in a non-violent way.

"I don't want to kill him, Marsh," Pit had said. "I just want to make things right. And Palutena says that those Spirits are supposed to be mine. If doing this on my own ensures that, then why shouldn't I?"

But Marsh. Could not. Let Pit go alone. He knew that if he went off on another mission that Viridi hadn't originally intended for him, she'd be royally pissed off. And he KNEW that the Overworld was suffering-that disaster was plaguing its people and that Viridi couldn't do anything alone-but he also knew that he'd go crazy if Pit got hurt while trying to retrieve the goddess for Medusa's old apprentice.

Lips pressed into a hard line, Marsh turned back to his brother. "Listen. I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but . . . maybe you should wait. Palutena's sick, she can't ensure your safety like Cupid would. You'd be flying into the Underworld with someone I don't even completely trust, and if anything happens to you, I'd go crazy."

Pit shook his head, going past him. Marsh went livid, jogging to catch up to him to make him understand.

"Where are you going?" he blurted.

"To find Cupid," Pit said, not looking at him though they were walking side-by-side by now.

"Gods, you are stubborn," Marsh said. "Why can't you wait? We can go in a week or so-after we take care of Pyrrhon down on the Overworld, and figure out why there's so much dark magic polluting the earth, and-"

"And what? Marsh, there's so much going on down there! If we go down there, for another week-or two-we might not even fix the problem! And Palutena-" Pit paused, trying to get himself under control. The two stopped, and he watched as the lighter angel struggled to find the right words.

Pit blinked rapidly, unable to look at his brother. "Come on, Marsh-you know this is important to me. The Spirits might be what she needs to . . . you know . . . "

Pit didn't speak after that. Marsh hated how much was hanging on this one mission of his, and he hated how much the growing disease of his matron goddess was tearing him up.

Marsh pursed his lips together and looked up to the ceiling. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Pit-how exactly do you know if-once you finally get the Spirits, how do you know that you can save Palutena?"

Pit didn't answer for a while. Marsh wasn't sure if he had crossed a line by doubting him-but he knew that he'd have to broach the question eventually. Just to ensure that Pit knew what he was doing-just to make sure that Pit realized what the consequences would be if he didn't get to his goddess in time.

"It only makes sense," the angel replied softly. "The Prophecy referred to someone called the Winged One being the one who will be able to fully restore the Overworld and Skyworld. We all assumed that that was me, but . . . what about the other part of the Prophecy? The part that said that that no light will be able to drive off the Chaos, that only the Spirits would be able to drive it off for good."

Marsh didn't know what to say. He hadn't heard this part of the Prophecy before, and really, it sort of made sense.

"So, just help me out here, okay?" Pit looked up, his blue-eyed expression sheepish and pleading. "I need to get this done."

Marsh swallowed. "Okay, then-what if I still need help controlling this dragon down on the Overworld? We almost died the last time, remember?"

"Just-"

Pit stopped. The two angels turned around to glance at the opposite end of the hallway, where they knew that Cupid's Alchemy Room was located.

Someone was yelling-and that someone was Cupid.

Marsh and Pit dashed to the other end of the hallway. The door was open, so they peeked their heads in to see who, precisely, could be the receiver of such rage.

Upon seeing who it was, however, they just as suddenly wished that they hadn't.

Cupid's Palace, for all of its unconventionality, still had a sort of calming, slightly complacent aura about it that was rarely disrupted by the people who resided there. Marsh figured that the Palace's location had something to do with it-hovering above the clouds and nestled within a beach-like environment that radiated serenity, it was far apart from the chaos of the Overworld or any other Temples occupied by the gods. Its occupants rarely fought there, and if they did, they definitely didn't raise their voices-or yell- or throw things-

"You imbecile," Cupid growled, his face twisted and his eyes bright. Something flew past Marsh's vision, something dark and breakable, shattering into a million pieces on the corner wall across from him. "You worthless excuse for a god!"

"Cupid!" Pit said, surging forward. "Cupid, what-?"

Marsh pulled him back to the doorway as another bottle of liquid flew from Cupid's grasp. Pit winced visibly, and Marsh couldn't believe Cupid was angry enough to nearly cause the other angel harm.

"Get out." Cupid looked as if he were on the brink of insanity, his eyes wild. Marsh had thought he'd seen madness-but nothing like this. "Get out!"

"Why are you shouting?" Marsh demanded. His eyes locked on the figure on the other side of the room. "What happened?"

"He-he-!" Cupid pointed accusatively, his arm shaking. "He betrayed me! Me! The one who gave him immortality! The one who gave him a home-!"

"It's my fault, I know it's all my fault," a faint voice said. Marsh looked back to the corner where Cupid was throwing throwing things at. Underneath the table stooped the God of Wine, holding his arms over his head.

Dio caught Marsh's gaze. "I'm sorry to bring you into this, but maybe it would be a good idea to leave, yes?"

"No!"

"You don't understand," Cupid said. "None of you-you don't get it."

"Then help us to understand!" said Marsh.

"And stop throwing things at Dio's head!" Pit said, pointing to the god in the corner. "You're not doing anything to diffuse the situation, Cupid!"

Cupid let out a terse sigh. "That's not the point!"

"Then you need to tell us what happened!" Marsh demanded.

"He betrayed me!" He made an attempt to stomp over to Dio in the corner again, but Pit blocked his way. Marsh stayed on his guard. At this point, Marsh thought, Cupid looked hell bent enough to knock Pit to the ground in order to get to where Dio was.

Cupid looked at Pit straight in the eye, his cheeks and forehead a blotchy red. "He was going to leave and he wasn't even going to tell me." He was shaking.

"I didn't want to hurt you, Cupid," Dio said, his voice low. He was on his knees now, but he didn't get up completely. "I just-"

"You just-what?" Cupid said, his gaze on him. "You didn't think? Well, that much is obvious. You were just going to leave, like you don't owe me- you were just going to pretend that I -that I didn't turn you into a god, Dio-"

"Hold on!" Pit tried, throwing two hands out. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, 'what do I mean'?" Cupid groused. "I created him. I gave him a place to live. And now- and now he wants to move out? That's not how being a god works. You can't just decide that all of a sudden."

"Dio can do whatever the hell he pleases," Marsh stated. "You don't own him, Cupid."

"Y-yeah, don't be ridiculous," said Pit. "If Dio wants to leave, then he can leave." He glanced at Dio. "Right?"

Dio swallowed, not looking at either of them. He was standing now, wringing his hands together. "You don't understand. I'm not just living on my own. I don't have enough power for that. I'm . . . I'm living with Viridi, with Marsh and Arlon and Phosphora." He gave Marsh a sheepish grin. "Surprise . . ."

"Shut up," Cupid snapped, his eyes finding Dio once more. "You silly fool. Shut up!"

Marsh, his focus on Dio, didn't have time to react by the time everything plunged into motion. Cupid grabbed a stand of test tubes and flung, its momentum large enough to do considerable damage if the stand had hit its mark. Pit anticipated Cupid's target, however, and what happened next probably wouldn't have occurred if Pit wasn't so ridiculously self-sacrificing.

The next thing Marsh knew, Pit was on the ground, clutching at his head and wincing. He rushed over to him at once, and saw blood.

After that, Marsh couldn't really remember what happened. It wasn't until afterwards that he realized his actions could possibly would have consequences for him in the future. It was probably one of those unwritten rules regarding the divine world that everyone automatically abided by- like with Dio choosing to live anywhere else but Charmed Islands.

Suffice to say, one did not simply hit a god.

Except that's exactly what Marsh did.

He was aware of Pit yelling at him during the first few throws, but his voice was muted. In fact, everything around him was sort of tuned out; insignificant compared to the red that cloaked everything around him. All he could think about was how no one, no one threw things at his brother and not pay the consequences.

"Marsh! Marsh, you have to stop-"

No, Marsh wanted to growl back. He had needed an excuse to punch this god in the face, anyway-

"Marsh, let off! Marsh!"

"What's going on in-Pit?"

Marsh felt himself being tugged back by two different people. Four hands and lots of yelling later, the angel finally tumbled backwards, landing in the lap of one Lightning Goddess who looked more bewildered than anything else.

Marsh's heart was thumping, and he struggled to regain his breath. A faint sort of pain prickled his knuckles. Dully, he looked down to see why they throbbed so much. There was blood around the broken skin of his fingers, though he didn't think all of it was his.

A shadow loomed over the three of them sprawled out on the floor. And when Marsh looked up, all he could see was the blood all over Cupid's narrow face.

"Leave," he said shortly, his fists clenched. His face was stark with rage, and his nose misshapen and looking utterly grotesque.

His heart still pumping, and his brain a little sluggish from the adrenaline draining out of his system so quickly, he did as he was told. Vaguely he felt Pit's hand on his shoulder, propelling him out the Palace's Alchemy Room. Phosphora wasn't far behind, asking Dio what in the world had happened between them. There wasn't much time to go into detail, though. Pit was dedicated to getting them out of that room as soon as he possibly could, and for once, Marsh followed quietly close behind. It was time to get out of Cupid's Palace before any permanent damage was done to either party in the aftermath. It wasn't long before he, Pit, Phosphora and Dio had made it to Hanging Gardens again, Pit's plan to get out to the City of Lost Souls as soon as possible in shambles.

"What in the Overworld…..?" said Viridi, surrounded by her Forces of Nature. She seemed to be busy, comparing charts and assessing damages throughout the Overworld with a Cobbler, but as soon as Pit, Marsh, Phosphora and Dio landed in her Entrance hall, her attention was quickly diverted.

"What's wrong?" she asked, looking towards Phosphora for an explanation. "You didn't even call ahead."

"There was a fight," Phosphora said, glancing at Pit and Marsh. "We had to make it out of there as soon as we could."

Viridi crossed her arms as Pit found him surrounded by Viridi's army. "What do you mean, you had to make it out of there? Did Cupid throw you out?"

"You could say that," said Dio, looking defeated.

Viridi caught on a half second after the Clobbler who was examining Pit's head injury decided to touch the spot where the cut began. Pit winced, swatting the minion away, and Viridi's eyes widened.

"I'm going to kill him," she said.

"it wasn't his fault," Pit said quickly.

"Like hell it is," said Viridi, her eyes making quick assessment of Pit before sliding over to the other angel in the room. "Holy Zeus-Marsh, is that blood on your hands?"

Phosphora and Pit both winced at Marsh's fingers as if noticing for the first time just how much damage the angel had caused. "It's not his."

Viridi pursed her lips at the four in the room. Marsh hadn't even opened his mouth to speak yet, and she had a sneaking feeling that part of this situation was Dio's fault. A Nutski came from the intersecting hallway to assess the damages, and Viridi blocked its descent. "Shoo, shoo."

The Nutski tittered back at her plaintively.

"No, it's fine," she reassured the creature. "I'll take care of this."

"Viridi, we're fine," said Pit. Viridi began to shove he and Marsh into the other room. Pit had been at Viridi's Gardens enough times to know that she was pushing them into the Medical Wing. "It's not even that bad-I'm sure a Jitterthug or a Cobbler or two will be able to take care of us-"

"Says you. You were bleeding all over my floor," Viridi muttered, still steering them from behind. "Don't you know how long that's going to take to get out?"

"Oh, please. It'll take, like, five minutes for a Jitterthug to get out," called out Phosphora from behind them."

"Whatever," Viridi snapped. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Not at the moment. I was at Cupid's Palace to see if he had any extra healing potions, or at least the materials to make them, but . . ."

"But Marsh punched him before you could," Viridi finished. She turned to catch Phosphora's eye. "Isn't that right?"

The duo behind Marsh, Viridi and him were silent. But Viridi wasn't done just yet. She faced forward again, pushing Marsh and Pit again. "Just go, Phosphora. Take Dio. Try not to mess anything up while you're gone."

Pit looked back. Phosphora and Dio paused where they had been in the hallway, cut off from following the two in their trek to the Medical Wing. Phosphora looked shocked, and Dio looked pretty dejected.

He really wished Viridi hadn't been so snappy sometimes.

They finally reached the room. Viridi waved them over to the medical cots, while she opened various cabinets to find what she was looking for.

"That damn Cupid," Viridi murmured, coming to Pit first. She held a jar of some green-yellow ointment in one hand, and a towel in the other. "What did he throw at you?"

"Something made of glass," said Pit, wincing a little as Viridi tried to wash away the blood.

"I'm going to kill him," she said again.

"It wasn't his fault," said Marsh at last. "Not really."

Marsh sounded just about as depressed as Dio had earlier. "Then whose was it?" Viridi prodded, giving him a scrutinizing look. "And why did you feel the need to punch him in the face?"

"Because he attacked Pit!" Marsh exclaimed.

"It was an accident!" Pit said. "You know he was aiming for Dio-!"

"Time out. Pit, you need to calm down. I need you to sit still so that I can wrap your head." Viridi looked at the two angels. "Marsh, wrap your hand in this," said Viridi, giving him one of the towels she had brought with her when administering to Pit. Marsh took it and pressed in onto his hands. "Now. Explain to me what happened."

Marsh looked away. "Pit and I were talking when we heard yelling in the hallway. It was Cupid. He was mad about Dio moving away . . . or something. He kept on repeating that Dio owes him, and that he wasn't allowed to live on his own. Then he threw something at Dio, but Pit got in the way. That's when I - you know."

Viridi didn't say anything for a time. "So the blood on your hands, it's his?"

"Yeah."

Viridi, now done with wrapping up Pit's head, busied herself with cleaning up. She wasn't often the type of person to avoid uncomfortable topics, so Pit knew something was up.

Marsh wasn't one to be left in the dark, however. "Why is Dio leaving such a big deal?" he asked, almost annoyed. "Once you're a god, can't you basically do whatever you want?"

"It's not all that simple," said Viridi, hesitant. "Becoming a god . . . it's sort of a big deal. From what I know, there are two ways a god comes into existence- they are made by other gods, or they are spawned from the earth." Viridi took on a more smug tone. "I was grown."

"What the Underworld do you mean by that?" blurted Marsh.

Suddenly Viridi was very red. "You know-it's very hard to explain, alright?" she defended. "In any case, most gods don't have origins like mine. They're created by other gods-and the only way gods can create other gods is if they use humans as their template first."

She moved over to Marsh at last, some more cloth in her hand, and started to wipe away some more of the blood there that covered his fingers. "From what I know, that's how Dio was created. Cupid specifically sought him out, and turned him into a god."

"That doesn't mean that Dio has to work there his entire life, though," said Pit, swinging his feet around on the cot that he sat in. He looked up to Viridi and Marsh in turn. "Right?"

"It's considered very offensive," Viridi said, frowning a bit. "that Dio would consider leaving Cupid's house without his permission."

"But it's more than that," said Marsh, stopping her before she could say anything more. "It's because Dio doesn't love Cupid anymore, and he's choosing Phosphora over him."

Viridi paused. Pit wasn't sure, but he felt like Viridi often got uncomfortable when it came to talking about people in relationships.

"Yeah," Viridi said. She moved away from them and returned with some alcohol, padding some on a napkin without any sort of warning to Marsh. He hissed when it touched his skin, and he shot Viridi a look.

Viridi stuck out her tongue. "What do you expect? Consider this only the beginning of what's to come."

"What do you mean by that?" Marsh said, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice, though Viridi was rubbing the alcohol into his hand really hard.

"I mean, by striking Cupid, you basically committed an act of war." Viridi turned away to get some more cloth for his hand, and Pit saw Marsh's face relax visibly. "There's no . . . old council anymore, and the gods are a lot more scattered and a lot more defenseless than they used to be, but . . . every god knows what an act of war looks like. From what it sounds like, Cupid is no longer on our side. He has every right to attack us."

"But-what about Lady Palutena?" Pit exclaimed.

Viridi pursed her lips. She was finally done with wrapping Marsh's wounds, but didn't the bandage look a whole lot tighter than it was supposed to be? "I don't know," Viridi said. "I guess we'll just wait and see."

"But we can't do that," Pit insisted. "What if he does something to Palutena? If we're not over there to check in on her, we'd never know if he's hurting her or not. What if she lets her die-"

"Cupid wouldn't do that," Marsh said, interrupting Pit's nervous tirade. "He may act like he doesn't care about her, but he does. He wouldn't do something against you, Pit." Marsh looked down. "He'll come after me."

"Ugh, don't try to make this all about you." Viridi waved him off. "All I know is that Cupid is an unpredictable, manipulative bastard, and he might do anything to let off steam. And you," Viridi said, pointing an accusatory finger at her Captain, "Don't think you're getting off scotch free."

"What did I do?"

"You probably started a war, dipshit! You need to learn some control!"

"This has nothing to do with me!"

"Oh, that's not what you were saying earlier-!"

Pit tuned the two of them out. It was beginning to look like he was going to be staying at Viridi's place for an extended period time now. Palutena's Temple was still unsafe, and Cupid's Palace was out of bounds. How in the world was he going to get to the City of Lost Souls now? Viridi will be trying to lessen all of the chaos going on down on the Overworld, sending off Marsh and Phosphora to do her work. She'd never help him out.

But maybe Phosphora could . . . ?

Pit leapt out of his cot and darted from the room.

"Pit?" Viridi said, interrupting Marsh in whatever he was about to say.

"Sorry, Viridi!" Pit called over his shoulder. He had no choice but to explain later. He needed to catch Phosphora before Viridi sent her to the Overworld. He dashed down hallway after hallway, trying to focus. Phosphora! he yelled internally. If you're in my head, tell me if you're still in Hanging Gardens!

A few moments later, there was no reply. Pit had made it to the Entrance Hall by then, and had no clue where to even begin. Viridi's place was so large, and he had only stayed there briefly. Does Phosphora even live here?

Phosphora's room is upstairs, in the back!

Pit's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. Now that wasn't a voice he was used to hearing inside his head.

Dio? Is that you?

Yes!

Alright! Pit rallied inside his head. Now he could get where he wanted to faster! But . . . um, what are you doing inside of my head?

I got bored, Dio admitted. And Phosphora was taking too long inside the shower. She said I could join her, but I passed . . .

Nooooooo. Wayyyy too much information.

Perdonáme, señor angel. In any case, I wanted to see what you, señor Marsh and Doña Viridi were all talking about. He sighed internally. This whole thing-it's my fault, isn't it?

Pit didn't really know how to respond to that question. Both Dio and Phosphora were to blame for falling for each other and stirring things up. They both had to share the blame. But was that really what was bad about the entire situation? Maybe it was Cupid's fault, for reacting so badly. Or maybe it was all of the rules that the gods followed and adhered to that was the real issue here. In any case, with so many potential aggressors, it didn't really seem fair to pin the blame on any one person.

It's no one's fault, Pit told him. It's a difficult situation, but- everything will turn out alright. You'll see.

I hope you're right, Dio said. It's just-knowing Cupid, I have no doubt that he will unleash a lot of damage on the Overworld. He's-he's in a lot of pain, you see. He wants to hurt- but respects the pantheon of gods too much to launch an attack on us directly. He will want to retaliate in some other way. I fear- I fear he will use the humans as a way to get to us.

That statement sent a shiver down Pit's spine. He wished Dio hadn't said all that-really, really wished he hadn't.

I have to ask you something, Pit said, wondering if he'll live to regret ignoring the potential threat that Cupid posed for the moment. I know this thing is important to you, but I have to get to the City of Lost Souls, and soon. Can you and Phosphora help me out?

Ehm, Dio said awkwardly. You want us to fly you there?

Can you? Pit asked hopefully.

I'm not very sure. I've never helped an angel fly before. Cupid . . . Dio trailed off. I'm sorry. I should probably call him Don Cupid, yes? He was born with full capabilities of his wings. There was no need.

Pit found the room that Dio had pointed out to him at last. He was sitting on the bed, cross-legged, looking pensive.

Phosphora's room, as expected, was a mess. Blue and periwinkle covers littered the floor, among other things, like what Pit thought looked like Phosphora's clothes. Pit looked at the pile in worry. The shower was still running in the next room, and the Lightning Goddess could make it out at any moment. Dio sat in the middle of the bed, legs crossed underneath his long purple toga. He looked up when Pit entered the room, his violet eyes thoughtful.

Dio leapt off the bed. "To be honest, I don't know if I should help you fly on your own," he said. "I don't know how, and I'm not as powerful as Doña Palutena is. I fear . . . I may not be able to keep you in the sky on my own."

"On your own?" Pit said, not willing to give up now. "Do you - do you think that you could help me fly if you and Phosphora did it together?"

Dio had a nervous look on his face. He opened his mouth to reply when suddenly the shower behind the door shut off. Dio turned to the closed bathroom door in alarm.

"Phosphora?" Dio called.

"Yes?"

"Don't come out unless you are . . ." He looked to Pit. "Decent."

Phosphora sounded annoyed. "Don't be stupid, Dio. You know I left my clothes out there."

Dio looked extremely uncomfortable, even more than Pit did. "Yes, but Señor Pit is here, and he wants to talk to us without being-ehm, scarred for life."

"What? Tell him to go away!"

"It's important!" Pit said. "I need you to help me go to the City of Lost Souls!"

"You need to -what?" Phosphora sighed. "Nevermind. I'm wearing a towel. It's going to have to be enough."

The door opened. Phosphora appeared, her newly-short hair still dripping little droplets into her face. The towel she wore wasn't the most modest thing in the world, as it still showed a large portion of her legs. Pit blushed and looked down, trying not to stare.

Phosphora just went on as if her dressed only in a towel didn't make things extremely awkward for the boy with the mind of a fourteen year old now in her bedroom. "You said you want to go somewhere?"

"Uh, yeah," Pit forced out. "To the City of Lost Souls."

"Why?"

"Lady Palutena's in trouble, and I have to go there to get help. It might depend on her, this person I have to find there, to get me the help I need, and I -" Pit was beyond flustered. Phosphora's lack of clothing wasn't helping. "Look-could you put a robe on, or something?"

Phosphora smirked then. Pit couldn't see this, but he could hear it by her tone that she was toying with him. "Oh, am I distracting you?"

"Yes!" Pit said, his eyes still fixed to the ground.

Pit heard her walk over to him on the bed. Dio made a weak sound of protest. Before long, Phosphora's small, white feet had made it to his field of vision. It took everything he had not to look up at her.

Pit gulped. He would not have whatever innocence he had left be tainted by her. "Phosphora . . ."

"Look, hun. You're just gonna have to look at me. Then we can continue our conversation."

Pit surrendered faster than any physical fight he'd been in his entire life. He was red as a tomato when he finally looked up.

Phosphora, still dripping and wet, smiled at him teasingly with those light blue eyes of hers.

Pit told himself to look into her eyes and nothing but her eyes. If I can lie to Pollux and have him believe me, then I can certainly do this! "I was wondering if you and Dio could try to . . . help me fly. To the City of Lost Souls. There's someone there that I need to get."

"And why do you need this 'someone'?"

Pit hesitated. He'd only told Marsh about what had happened at while he'd been passed out during the fight at Palutena's Temple, and he didn't think he should risk another reaction like his a second time.

So he lied.

Again.

"She's going to help me make Lady Palutena better," said Pit, temerity making his voice waver a bit. "Please. I know you haven't made an angel fly before, but . . . I need you and Dio to try. This could be my only chance. And Lady Palutena's running out of time . . ."

Phosphora looked at him, her gaze quiet and measuring. Looking to Dio for a spell, she could see that he was already on board.

"Are you sure?" Phosphora said, her voice a lot gentler than what it had been before.

Pit nodded his head.

Phosphora pursed her lips, considering. "Well, alright. We'll try to help you-the both of us. Because-well, like you said, I'm not even sure we can have you fly on your own. But-"

"You have to try," Pit pleaded. "Please."

Phosphora threw her hands up in defeat. "Alright, I give in. Sheesh. Now can you two please leave the room while I go change?"

"Me too?" said Dio, looking slightly disappointed. "You don't need any help?"

Phosphora tilted her head in thought. "Well . . ."

"NO. STOP." Pit said, darting for the door, hands over his ears. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THIS!"

"Your innocence is an illusion! Just accept it!" Phosphora called out to him, but he was already gone.

Dio looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

Phosphora gave a huff of a sigh, throwing her hands up. "What? The kid had it coming to him."

"I don't think you should be trying to seduce young boys."

"Seduce young boys? Dio, don't be ridiculous." Phosphora laid a hand on his chest, tugging gently on his robes. "I was only trying to make him uncomfortable. He's so easy to unsettle, y'know?"

"I guess," Dio said, pushing some of the Lightning Goddess' hair back. She had a bit of a flyaway on the back of her head, but it was sort of cute. "Just . . . maybe take it easy, yes? He has been kind of low, lately."

Phosphora frowned at him, but relented nonetheless. "Alright, alright. I get your point. Honestly I'm a little scared about Palutena myself, with everything that's going on." She looked away. "Sheesh, I hope Mistress Viridi doesn't completely flip her shit when she hears that we're helping out Pit instead of being down at the Overworld . . ."

"I'm sure she'll understand," Dio said, beginning to trace a line with his thumb from the back of her neck to the center of her back. "She cares about Doña Palutena too, no?"

"Yeah, but-Dio! Hands off!" She said, jumping back when his hand had found her lower, lower back.

Dio blinked at her in surprise. "But didn't you say I could help-?"

"No! I said you could leave," Phosphora said forcefully. "We have a mission to do now! We can't get distracted!"

Dio pouted.

"You know your puppy eyes don't work on me!"

Dio pouted harder.

"Out."

Phosphora pointed to the door dictatorially, acting a little like Viridi in that moment. Dio slumped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

The looks of barely suppressed terror on Dio and Phosphora's faces was unsettling Pit a little.

"Um, you guys?" Pit said cautiously. "You-you're alright with this, right?"

Dio and Phosphora looked at each other in turn. "Uh, yeah," Dio said.

"Because, you know, it's not like your death would be on our hands or anything like that," Phosphora said.

Pit looked at them dully. "Gee, thanks. I feel so confident now."

"You should be fine!" Dio said, his voice falsely bright as he shuffled the angel to the edge of the Flying Platform. "The two of us together should be enough to help you fly-right, Phosphora?"

"Uh… yup!" Phosphora said, nodding frantically.

Pit looked out into the open door, trying not to let their obvious fear get to him. I think there's a reason they aren't the main gods of this story. These two are wusses! Dio stopped shoving him, and paused to look at him in concern. Why does it look like they're staring at me like this is the last time they'll see me?

Phosphora wrung her hands together. "You equipped your powers already?" she asked.

"Yup," Pit answered.

"And you have the weapon that you want?"

"Uh-huh," Pit replied.

Phosphora nodded, but she didn't look very reassured. She looked to the ceiling. "Dear Zeus, don't let him die. I need this job."

"What? That's what you're worried about?! Viridi firing you?"

"Shh!" Phosphora said, ignoring him. She gestured frantically towards the open door. "Mistress Viridi could be here any moment now! You have to leave now!"

Pit could see her logic. They really had no time to lose. He stared out into the blue, cloud-spotted sky, trying to suppress the common sense that was telling him not to jump -

And jumped.

A/N: Dio has an accent that's a mixture between Argentinian and Columbian accent (both which are countries in South America). Which is oddly specific, but . . . there's a reason. I'm making this distinction because I made the very specific assumption earlier in the story that Dio had an accent that was "a mix between Italian and Spanish" (Chapter 17, 'Greater the Gods'), and since Argentinian has a lot of Italian influence in it, I wanted some of his speech in my head to sound like that of an Argentinian. But . . . Argentinian accents sounds like a more . . . strained version of a Portuguese-Brazilian accent. Also, they say "vos" I think, and do things with their words that many other Latin-American/South American countries don't do with their language. Hence, the Columbian distinction-which I found was slower and more easy going, like the way I thought Dio sounded in my head.

If you don't know what any of these distinctions mean, don't worry about it. I really just watched a whole bunch of Youtube videos to help me out.

So, to reiterate, the thing that came without my planning was the fight between Cupid, Dio, Pit and Marsh. That's why I didn't get to any more action with this chapter . . . that would've made it too long!

I realize that I'm putting a lot more provocative humor in these chapters . . .

My next chapter shouldn't take too long to update, though I've recently come to grips with the fact that I am a very, very slow writer. In any case, thanks for sticking with me all this time. I really do enjoy writing this story.

Oh yeah, and I started another story based on more of the history of the gods in the Kid Icarus universe. The main characters are Medusa and Palutena, and the title is "Gods-In-Training". I hope to update the second chapter soon.

I hope you all enjoyed this!