Hey everyone, Paradigm of Writing here with a brand new chapter of Icarus Chronicle, #26: Ironfrost. Oh my god guys, look at this... look at it! Twenty six chapters of this story, man I never thought I'd see the day. This is my third longest story in the Smash fandom and my longest piece not dealing with Lucas x Ness as the focus. Actually, there's a huge announcement I have to make soon that'll surpass this story and others that I have previously written but whole other separate point. In other great news, I am now officially an actor in our high school's drama, The Elephant Man, a very, very contentious and daring drama on the real life 'documentation' of person called the same name (I highly recommend you all go check the show out, it's beautiful). Besides that, midterms start on Friday for me (... why?), and then Winter Break for me begins on the 21st, meaning I can write and write and write and write and well you get the picture. Last chapter had a larger review turn out than I expected, so I quickly want to say thank you to TriforceOfWisdomX, Mr. Squirtle 6, YoshiDB, and eclipse's end. To the latter two, your questions will be answered soon enough. All readers, hope you enjoy Chapter #26: Ironfrost. Any cookies go to the person who guesses what famous Disney animated movie pairing this is. Yaoi... of course.
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ~ Romans 12:9
Peach wrung her hands back and forth as her and Robin sat in the former's room, later that evening after the funeral. Robin was pacing back and forth, dressed lightly in a clear gown that clung to her neck and ankles. Raucous whispers and rants were tossed around the room like dollar bills, the pallid haired warrior dropping criticism after criticism on Roy Kang... his words hurt her a little too close for comfort.
The blonde diplomat winced, shuffling backwards on the bed. "Robin... please." she said weakly.
"What?" the other woman retorted defensively, throwing her hands up in confusion. "I'm ranting here. Please, don't-"
"You sound no better than Roy by doing that," Peach admonished her best friend, standing up on the carpet. She held Robin's hands in her own, gentle and warm like one's mother. "What you're saying makes you just as bad as him right now. Roy's hurt and he probably didn't mean what he said. I-"
Robin laughed deep in her throat, one of those chuckles that'd break out of disbelief, the woman's face contorting into a strange half-dazed smile. "You're kidding me, right? You can't possibly agree with anything that Roy said. His ego is bruised because he lost twice to Pit, and especially to Kuro! Doesn't give him any excuse to talk to me or you like that."
"Or is it because you're afraid?" Peach asked back, raising a blonde eyebrow. She turned from the warrior to make her way to the window, letting her words sink into Robin's head like a sponge absorbing up water. This caught the Skyworld soldier off guard, her rebuttal dying down, eyebrows furrowing together.
She grabbed Peach's elbow roughly, letting up on the pressure seeing how it affected her friend, the latter flinching away out of instinctual fright. "And what are you insinuating by that? Something you have on your mind?" Robin had no idea where this sudden aggressiveness was coming from, but all she could suppose was that if someone ticked her off just the right way, it may have triggered a series of events in the inner mechanisms of her mind. The night and day contrast was quite freaky.
Peach's lips pressed themselves into a grim line, devoid of emotion in her eyes. She turned back to the window. "You know why, R. You know what Roy said to you. About me back on the terrace. That's why you're acting angry. Because he called your bluff."
Robin made a tisk in the back of her throat. "That's not- of course not- Peach, you can't be serious right? You think that's why I'm-"
"Yeah! I do Robin," Peach swiveled on her heel, then realizing that shouting wasn't the best option, lowered her voice. "Yes... that's why I'm getting at. Ever since Shulk ripped that piece of information out of me, you've been acting weird around me. Apprehensive. Scared. Afraid to say certain things around me that may even remotely hint at love. And- and it hurts, Robin. You're my best friend and best friends should not be making theirs feel that way."
"Well- well what do you want me to say?" the warrior got quite close to the diplomat, Peach noticing just how little room there was between them. The energy between them crackled into a carnal power. Peach bit her lip, drawing blood on the dainty pallid surface, looking down at her bare feet.
"Do you love me Robin? A simple yes or no. It'll get all of this off my chest, it'll make all of this so much easier on me," she began to shout. "I can't continue going day by day thinking that you may or may not care for me. And I cannot keep having these harbored feelings for you if there's no one else to give them too except you! I'm not going to fall in love with Roy, or Pit, or Ness... or any guy for that matter. So sitting there and having the attitude that I need to move on doesn't help either. I can't continue living like this..." Peach took a deep breath, having gotten all of that out in one sitting, hands moving around in a flurry of excited gestures. As she ranted and paced, roots began to break through the carpeted floor, her stilled anger rupturing some of nature's madness within her outwards.
The entire message left Robin speechless, the pallid haired warrior's face paling to that of incomparable heights, all color leeching from her skin. "It's- it's hard to explain, Peach..." she trailed off, unsure of how to go about this. Robin Pherone was telling the truth. Trying to get her mess of feelings out and to have them make sense in Peach's head sounded harder than what really let on. Robin was unsure exactly how she felt about the blonde. She loved her, she truly did, but then again, they were best friends and if she decided to cross that line with Peach and then things ended horribly, where else would she go? Who else could she turn to with the same feelings if such a thing were to occur? Not having an answer scared the warrior, and not many things in the world scared her. Her unsure love for Peach was one of those things.
Robin went to rub her face on the other side of the room, leaving Peach extremely dissatisfied. The blonde had her hands curled into fists, a violent red blush appearing at her cheeks. She stomped over to her best friend, the roots following her every step. "Then try and make sense with it, Robin. I'm not accepting any excuses at this point! I'm sick of it."
"I don't know!" Robin screamed back at her. "I can't truly tell how I feel about you, Peach, okay? I haven't had the time to sit there and froth over my decisions..." the warrior unleashed an anger within her that she didn't no existed, a gust of air blowing from the open window, causing chaos around the bedroom. The sheets, pillowcases, strands of hair, a handheld mirror and other items went flying around in the crazy wind storm. "You can't just come all gung ho at me and expect me to have an answer, lest one that you want to hear! It doesn't work that way. I'm sorry that I love you but don't know how to show it and I-"
That's all Peach needed to hear. Those three simple words of, 'I love you'. Taking a step of courage, a courage rooted deep after years of being afraid of the unknown and any some such things that scared her, the diplomat was tired of being second best, playing second fiddle, and pissing her pants with every dramatic decision out there. Crossing the room in a lunge, Peach grabbed the sides of Robin's face and pulled her friend's face in for a kiss.
The mini hurricane in the bedroom came to a stop, Robin's raised hands lowering themselves to Peach's shoulders, content in the peaceful, perfect moment. Peach pressed one hand against the small of her back, the tingle being enough to leech loose a gasp from the pallid haired warrior. The blonde smiled to herself, deepening the kiss further, accidentally pushing the two of them into a snitch in the carpet, the ladies collapsing in a heap of legs and hair and lip lock against the floor.
Robin broke apart first, her glassy eyes unsure of what emotion to reflect. Happiness? Love? Lust? Desire? What was necessary in this moment of time? "Did you just..." she didn't want to ask.
"Yes. I- I did," Peach giggled, a lighter hint of blush. "I hope that was alright. You said the words I needed to hear. That's when I knew that kissing you wouldn't be the end of the world..."
The warrior let out a hearty laugh, throwing her arms around Peach in a crushing hug. All of the life in the diplomat's lungs exhaled into a similar laugh back. "You're the greatest, Peach," Robin murmured into the other woman's neck. "Thank you."
They broke apart from that shortly after, Peach brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something back when a loud, disrupting knock came rattling against the door. She jumped out of fright, immediately going back to clench the post of the bed. Then, when that dousing of terror passed, she scoffed to herself. Peach Seraph commanded the element of nature, one of the foundations in all of Smash. There was nothing on Smash besides the other element commanders that she should be afraid of. Though, again, she held onto the same element that Palutena died with years ago, didn't exactly 'protect' her. Peach's face paled at that thought.
Robin rolled her eyes at Peach's antics. "Only you, Peach. Only you." She went for the door, unlatching it, letting a harried and red-in-the-face Ness Hyacinth into the room.
"Shit... dammit, he's crazy..." Ness was murmuring to himself.
Peach, being the diplomat and easy with words woman that she was, grimaced. "Ness... please. Language."
That seemed to break the raven haired boy out of his stupor, and he looked up, half cheerful and half disappointed. "Oh, hello Peach, Robin! I knew I came to the right room."
"What do you need?" Robin asked. "We were in the middle of a very important conversation and..." the warrior trailed off, the emphasis on important conversation causing a blush to creep back onto Peach's cheeks. They could've taken it further had they really, really wanted to.
The mention of Robin's question brought a scowl to Ness's face. "Roy..." he said darkly.
"Oh, trust me, we get it," Peach said, rubbing the kid's shoulder. "He's driving us crazy too."
"No..." Ness shook his head back and forth in dissent. "You don't seem to understand."
Robin noticed the perturbation first, innocuously rubbing her shoulder. The way Ness's entire aura seemed to darken was a highlighted key in itself. "What's up?" she asked.
"Roy... is out of his damn mind," Ness said cryptically. At the motion of Peach's hands meaning that he needed to elaborate, the commander of Earth sighed deep down to his toes. "Alright... the general of the Lycian and Ylissen armies is gone."
"What do you mean by gone?" Peach frowned.
"Gone, as he's no longer in the kingdom. Took the forces hanging on the border of Lycia and Ylisse into Eagleland and now is marching as we speak to Skyworld. He's going to try and put Kuro's head on a platter for the dark angel murdering Lucina. Roy is damn suicidal and now we have to go save him."
Robin and Peach groaned down to the soles of their feet.
Of course.
Of course the impatient Roy Kang had to go and do this.
Kuro hated whenever Pit would get in one of his... moods. The dark angel had no other way to really describe it, and there perhaps wasn't a word in the Skyworldian dictionary to do so. Should his brother become distressed, his wings would droop, his eyes would be wide and bright and alert, fraught with fright and other emotions that a king should not be reflecting in their gaze. Pit would also pace, and each step he took would cause frigid veins of ice to break and poke through on the concrete, looking like the floor turned into a gelid wonderland of slipping and sliding.
The dark angel pressed a hand to his brow, nearly about to have a coronary. Where did his brother's bravado and blissful rage evaporate to? After Pit saw Lucina's dead and scorched body, he cried in his bedroom for three days. He froze a servant who came to rouse him for breakfast as the unlucky worker decided to wake their king up in a stasis of nightmares. Those were also back. His vision given to him by Shulk came true, at least the part where there was a navy haired woman in a field screaming and covered in blood, dead as an icicle spear crashed into her back, appearing out the chest, the tip a gleaming and furious crimson.
Pit was currently huddled against the far wall of Kuro's bedroom, the Icarus cube sitting on the same stool in the same spot it was sitting in the day he had been resurrected. Not much changed in the Icarus palace since he came back to terrorize Smash. The king of Skyworld's eyes were wide and alert, darting to all the corners of the room. He felt trapped, hurt, and above all, upset that he betrayed one of his best friends.
Out of the corner of his eye he could spot an angry ruby red glare coming from his brother, Kuro leaning against the wooden bedroom door.
"You going to stop sulking and come join me for the victory speech? Or are you going to stay here and have the shadows act as your friend to help replace Lucina?" Kuro's tone was cold and abrasive. At the mention of navy haired queen, Pit began to claw at his skin, breaking blisters and causing streams of cardinal to slide down his arms. The dark angel let out a long drawn sigh, rubbing his forehead, then going over to his brother. He grabbed Pit's arms, coursing electricity through his veins. The king of Skyworld screamed in pain.
"Will you snap out of it, Pit?" Kuro yelled in his face. "What in the hell has gotten into you? You're sitting here like a complete and total baby, having a breakdown any time someone mentions that navy whore's name!"
Pit snapped his gaze at his brother. "Were you the one who killed her, Kuro? Were you the one who gave the final, dealing blow?"
"We went over this. You and I both had an arcane bolt of our power strike her. I imagined it would've been my power that killed her..." Kuro said after a moment of hesitation. "So yes, it was me."
"Then why aren't you sad about it? You murdered her!"
"Because it's war!" his brother snapped angrily. "You shouldn't get depressed over that. Makes you look horrendously weak. You don't want the enemy thinking you're weak, when you're the strongest one out of all of them!" Kuro knew he was lying in part, trying to boost Pit's confidence, to at least stop the crystalline tears from flowing type his cheeks. Kuro wiped one away for him, his smile half sweet, half bitter. "Pit, I wouldn't say that if I didn't believe it." Again, another lie.
Pit let out a hiccup. "Lucina was my friend. I-"
"Roy was supposed to be your friend too," the commander of electricity retorted, getting up, sick and tired of dealing with his little baby brother. "The king of Lycia was supposed to care for you. Robin Pherone and Peach Seraph were supposed to be your two most trustworthy advisors in this entire court, but then they jump ship and go to support the enemy? Lucina could be placed in the same boat, Pit."
"But- but she never did anything wrong-"
"She never had any faith in you!" Kuro yelled. "Do I have to write it down for you? No one in Lycia or Ylisse who is at the very least somewhat important cared for you. I have a rebuttal for everything in the book."
The lord of ice fell silent at this. Why was he having a war in his mind on who he cared for and who he didn't care for? It drove him crazy! Pit stood up to evenly match his brother's gaze in the eye. "I just want to get rid of all of this pain. Help me loose this pain."
"Are you asking me to do what I think you're asking me to do?" Kuro rose an eyebrow at him, nose furled up in disgust. He was not going to sleep with his brother simply because he asked. Hell, he would never do such an inhumane thing like that to begin with. He had no problem with people loving whom they wanted to love, but Pit was off limits.
He must've been thinking the same thing, Pit's face turning into one of horror. "Oh, gods no Kuro! You think I'd ever want to cross down that path after what Shulk used to force me to do in tearing me down? Sicko!" Pit shouted, running a hand through his mahogany hair. The brunette placed his head agains the freezing cold stone wall. "No, Kuro... I need you to help me get rid of this emotional warfare in my heart. I don't know what went riddling through me before we went to go battle. A rage in me that I never knew existed... but I didn't like that part of me. I don't like this part of me either. How am I supposed to find this balance if there's no balance to begin with?"
Kuro loved where this conversation turned to. He had one answer, one he'd never spill. He got closer to Pit, holding him by the shoulders. "There's one thing I can think of. It's completely painless, it won't hurt, and it's irreversible if you want me to get rid of it for you." Again, one of those sections were a lie, but truth be told, even Kuro himself had no idea what part of it was at this point.
Pit didn't even hesitate. "I'm sick of this pain. Anything."
That was all Kuro needed. He reached one hand closer to Pit's face, placing his curled fingers against his brother's nose, cheeks, and underside of the jaw. The king froze, getting flashbacks of night doused in a green light while Shulk lashed the whip out again and again, and the skin ripped, and his cries echoed unanswered against the stone palace walls. Kuro whispered an appeasement, a strange sense of calming passing over Pit.
Kuro closed his eyes and pressed down further against Pit's head. The commander of ice cried out due to the pain, something leeching itself out of his skin near his cranial region. A slick, halcyon liquid reflecting the colors of the rainbow if light was to glint off of it. It began to collect in Kuro's palm before submerging itself beneath the dark angel's palm. The process took only a minute or so, the light angel feeling completely at ease.
His stomach was curling and wanting to upheave at seeing the yellow fluid. But, deep down inside, Pit couldn't emote the feeling of disgust. He could only sense sadness, and true blistering rage. Confusion tried speckling itself across his face, however it stopped midway, his voice monotone. "What did you do to me, Kuro?" he asked, no sense of apprehension or worry mirrored in his voice.
Hearing the way Pit spoke caused Kuro's grin to widen. A huge success. It would make killing the Lycian and Ylissen armies an easier task to do. "You want to know what I did to you, Pit? I got rid of your emotion. The power of darkness within me has completely taken away the feelings of happiness, confusion, pain, sadness towards the actions of others, and truly any other emotion than rage out of your system. How do you feel?"
Pit grinned back just as evilly. "Amazing, brother. Better than I've ever, ever felt."
Kuro leaned back to admire his work.
It looks like the rest of Smash was in for a huge surprise when they'd see the usually benevolent king Pit Icarus of Skyworld mow down enemy after enemy, every man, woman or child without remorse, without tears, without any feeling other than blistering rage and anger towards those who have wronged him for years before.
Alright... there we are guys! That was Chapter #26: Ironfrost. And man oh man didn't we have a lot happen this chapter? Peach and Robin have admitted their feelings for each other, were cock blocked (what is the term for two ladies who can't get their loving on by an interruption, rather than two dudes... I wonder?), and Kuro has now pulled his real master card trick. With the power of darkness, the same element that Ganondorf wields in his everlasting duel with Zelda, has ripped most of the tangible emotions from Pit's soul, which I had a hard time conceptualizing, so I used this yellow fluid that could be similar to interstitial fluid in the ears to maybe perhaps being on the brain. Hopefully we have accumulated enough suspense and tension to get this part of the story heightened up. We have one last chapter before the big blow out my friends. Please review and let me know what you thought! Will Roy go riding into battle and get destroyed before he can even summon a phoenix? Will Robin and Peach get a happy ending unlike Lucina and Roy? Will Ness actually have true character significance? All of this and more when I decide to post Chapter #27: Death To Hold, probably around Friday. And lastly, my announcement!
Sometime, near the end of this month, I will begin writing and posting my largest project in Smash known to date, yes, even larger than what Cross Examined, The Raven and the Lion, or this could be. I welcome you to a world called Syrenet, an America that is going to be overshadowed by a cyberpunk type society, nano-technology, war and more. Our leading man is a one and only Roy Arcadia, and will be a forty chapter, yes 40 chapter, sci-fi, action, drama, friendship adventure. Coming to you someday before New Years. I've been planning this story for roughly eight months and am more than ready to unleash it upon all you readers. I hope you have an amazing day and thanks for sticking all the way to end with this. Love you all! Bye!
~ Paradigm