Ehhh... I get off-topic a bit here. Just try to stay with me! And also I had this chapter all ready, but then I had no Internet for a while. Enjoy!

"So Ike and Lyn are just gonna be friends now?" Pit asked Marth. The two of them were by themselves outside Sweet Cream's Ice Cream Parlor enjoying milkshakes.

Marth stirred his milkshake with his straw. "Yeah. For the time being."

"Must be the weirdest for you, right?" Pit asked. "I mean, you've seen them together for so long..."

Marth nodded. "It's pretty weird. But, you know? In a way, I kind of feel glad. Now neither of us are together."

"Ah. Like, 'Now you see how it feels?'"

"Uh-huh."

"Must be great, having a friend like that," Pit said. "You got someone to be with from your own game, who you actually like."

"Yeah, it's pretty great. But... I don't know. It's sort of like a crutch. Like, if I hadn't made friends with anyone else, I've got Ike as a fallback. I don't really like that. I like going out and facing my fears with no help. But I do like being part of a team." Marth sipped his milkshake.

"Yeah, I don't like crutches like that either... friend-wise. Adventure-wise... they're pretty cool."

Marth rolled his eyes. "So, is Pia your best friend? You got the best deal—you got a friend, but not at the beginning."

"You're right about the good deal part, but Pia isn't my best friend."

"Really? Who is?"

"A guy back home. His name's Sasha."

Marth gave a little smile. "A guy named Sasha?"

"Yeah. All the guys hate him and all the girls love him."

Marth thought for a second. "How does that work?"

"The guys hate him because the girls all love him, and the girls love him 'cause he's handsome."

"What's he look like?"

"Ummm..." Pit thought. "For the record, we got really off-topic. Can we talk about Ike and Lyn again?"

"Of course. Yeah... so Lyn's still a little rattled, but they act civil around each other now."

"So do you think they're gonna get back together?"

Marth ran his hand along his glove in thought. "Definitely. Not right now, obviously, but eventually. They're too perfect for each other. I just really hope that Ike doesn't take the fact that they're meant for each other as a go-ahead to slack off and cheat again."

Pit shook his head. "He won't. He learned his lesson. He doesn't want to hurt Lyn again."

Marth sighed. "I wish I could read minds."

"I can't do it like everyone else can. I have to use my essence-draining power. But almost everyone else I know can just, like, do it."

"That didn't sound right."

"Yeah, I realized that about halfway through."

Marth decided to change the subject. "So... you're fifteen, right?"

Pit finished his milkshake. "Yeah."

"You seem so much younger than me. Maybe it's because you're short and I'm tall."

Pit looked at Marth disdainfully. "Thanks. Real nice."

"I didn't mean it like an insult."

"It sounded like one."

"Well, I'm sorry."

They sat in an awkward silence for a while.

"Which of your friends were prejudiced?" Marth asked, completely out of the blue.

Pit was quiet for a moment. "You remember that guy Jonathan who was mean to Agamemnon? Him. A lot. Especially once he got older."

"So what would he do if he saw me?"

"Act all superior. Which we are, by the way." Pit smirked and Marth rolled his eyes.

"Go on," Marth said.

"Yeah, and he'd probably frequently call you 'human,' like, with an air of superiority. And frequently look at you with disdain. And make degrading remarks about how inferior humans are. Stuff like that."

"And were you friends with him?"

"Not really. All the girls loved him, and everyone always wanted him on his team for sports and stuff because he was so fast. That was his Ability... superspeed."

Marth snorted. "So were a lot of people prejudiced?"

"Well, Jonathan was prejudiced against pretty much everyone. Blacks, Jews, gays... lots of people hate him now. When I was little... only a few people were prejudiced against humans like that. But once I got older... right before I left to go here, lots of people were getting prejudiced. Like, my friend Julián Castrejana... he was a great guy, you know? All happy, and really good-looking. The kind of guy that everyone likes. Well... he's prejudiced now."

"That's really sad," Marth said sincerely. "So... Julián was Mexican? Or Spanish? How do you have angels like that?"

"It's sort of random," Pit explained. "See, Angel Land is a lot like Earth, just bigger. The Overworld and Skyworld are each split into three parts—pagan, like Greek and Roman; Jewish and Christian; and Islam with something else. In Skyworld, they're very strictly split. Not unfriendly, but, see, I had a Jewish friend named Isaiah, and we had to get special permission to meet each other right on the border."

"What about the Overworld?"

"Loosely split. And the humans who live there aren't really aware of it. So they have, like, three of everything. So three Spains, three Frances, three Israels..."

"Don't they find that strange at all?" Marth asked incredulously.

Pit shrugged. "That's just how it's always been. They don't know anything different."

"So... where did Julián live?"

"Ummm... he was a messenger, like Jonathan and Isaiah, so he traveled a lot... oh yeah, he was pagan. Roman, I think. He just happened to be of Mexican descent."

Marth nodded. "And you and Pia are pagan Greek, right?"

"Yeah. Pia converted from Judaism a while ago."

"Heh... so when you and Isaiah are talking to each other, one says, 'Oh my God,' and the other says 'Oh my gods'? That's kinda screwy."

Pit shrugged again. "That's just how it is. You're pagan, but you say 'Oh my God.'"

It was Marth's turn to shrug. "Yeah. I think it's especially funny in Genealogy of the Holy War, 'cause basically the whole plot is the followers of the god Naga and the followers of the evil god Loputousu fighting against each other. And when the girl gets captured, the Lord, Celice, says, 'Oh my God! Yuria! You're all right!' or something like that."

Pit laughed. "Oh my God! The evil god Loputousu is causing trouble again!"

Marth laughed. "Yeah... and for the whole part of Ike's first game, they were all accidentally praying to an evil goddess. And we don't pray to anyone in my game."

"Yeah. Marth the atheist."

"No, an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in God. We just didn't have any gods."

"That's weird."

"Says you." Marth swung his legs. "You had a lot of friends, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Did you and Ike?"

Marth nodded. "Yeah. Ike had a lot of friends. He always said he liked girls with green hair. Like Princess Elincia, who he totally had a crush on for a while, and if he says anything else, he's lying."

"No I'm not." Ike walked by and sat next to Pit.

"Oh, hey Tiger—er, I mean Ike." Pit snickered.

Ike looked at Pit. "So not helping."

Marth reached over and shoved Ike on the shoulder. "Lighten up, man. Wow, I never thought I'd actually have to say anything like that to you."

Ike rested his chin in his hand, balancing on the side of the bench. "Mmmm. You wanna be awesome and go in and get a milkshake for me?"

Marth got up and sighed. "Oh, cruel fate! Why must it beest I that shalt enter thine sacred chamber of iced cream yonder? Why? Ah, why, great deities of thine world of Fire Emblem? Why?"

He was still dramatically lamenting when he got inside. Ike and Pit were still hysterically laughing when he got inside.

"Marth sure can be funny when he wants to be," Ike smiled.

"He didn't even use the words right!" Pit laughed. "'Thine' means yours!"

"I don't care. That was hilarious."

"So... Marth was asking me about my friends' prejudice. Were you two talking about that at all?"

Ike shook his head. "No. But I'm totally used to that kind of thing. You know the Laguz?"

"Um... I think so. The people who turn into animals, right?"

Ike nodded. "Yeah. A bunch of them were prejudiced. My friend Lethe... not a lot are now, though."

Pit squinted into the bright sunlight. "Ike... would you ever want to go to the real Skyworld? Like, see all my friends?"

Ike blinked. "Why would I?"

Pit shrugged. "I dunno. Just so you know that there's more to me than this."

Pit's phone rang. "Hold on a sec," he said.

"Hello?"

Hi, Pit, it's Pia.

"Oh, hi, Pia! What's up?"

Um... where are you? I'm kind of getting bored at home...

"I'm with Ike and Marth outside Sweet Cream's."

Oh, good! Can I come, too?

"Sure!"

Okay, bye!

Pit snapped his phone shut. "You don't mind, do you?"

"'Course not. By the way... you don't have a crush on Pia, do you?" Ike gazed up at the sky nonchalantly. If he was out of his relationship, he at least wanted Pit and Pia to be in one.

"On Pia?" Pit stammered. "Wh-why do you ask?"

"Oh... I don't know. I guess it's just that whenever you see a guy and a girl who've been friends for a long time, it seems that once they get older they start loving each other, break up and ruin the relationship."

Pit shook his head vigorously. "N-no. Of course I don't have a crush on her. It's funny," he added, smiling, "I just asked Pia the other day if she liked Marth."

"Who likes Marth?" Marth asked, handing Ike his milkshake.

"I thought Pia did," Pit explained. "But she said she didn't."

Marth coughed. "Dude. I don't think she has a crush on me. At all. Seriously."

"Yeah, she was really forceful saying no."

"Yes I was," Pia said, stopping next to their bench. "I don't love you, Marth."

"Well, that hurt," Marth said, patting his chest. "That hurt right here."

"One can't win in this crazy world." Pia sat down next to Marth.

"You want a milkshake? I'll get you one," Marth offered.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks. Chocolate, please."

As Marth went in again, Pia slid over. "So," she said to Ike sternly, "how's Lyn handling this?"

Ike winced. "Okay."

"Mmmm."

"Do we know anyone who's broken up like that?" Pit asked Pia.

"Hmmm... Jeremiah Judian and Shoshanna Benedict?" Pia said. "She's dating his twin brother now, but they're still friends."

"Ouch," Ike said. "That'd be like Marth dating Lyn."

"What do you guys want to do today?" Pit asked. "It's beautiful out and the day is young."

"We could go to the Lake," Ike offered. "But we'd have to beat out Rayquaza first."

"And the mermaids," Pit said disgustedly.

Pia wrinkled her nose. "There're mermaids there?"

"What's wrong with mermaids?" Ike asked.

"They're natural enemies of angels," Pit explained.

"I thought those were demons."

"Yeah. Those too."

"Who cares? They don't bother you."

"Who doesn't bother you?" Marth said, handing a milkshake to Pia.

"Mermaids," she said, taking a sip.

"Natural enemies of angels," Ike explained.

"Ahhh. Right." Marth nodded.

"So... Marth and I go home and change while you beat Rayquaza?"

"How about we go invite Link and meet you at the Lake to beat out Rayquaza together?" Pit suggested with an eye roll.

"Yeah, sure," Ike said gloomily as Marth pulled him up.

Mermaids are eeeevil. Please R&R! P.S. Sasha and Juliàn may be mentioned again... fun names are fun!