Hey everyone, Paradigm of Writing here with a brand new chapter of Icarus Chronicle, #29: Icarus Showdown! Man, it's been so long since I've thought of this piece, and I have to say, I'm happy to be back for this brief little update. Well, it actually isn't brief at all, this is it ladies and gentlemen. The update, the chapter where our heroes go against our antagonists and it's time to see who's the strongest, and who will live, who will die and all that fun stuff. There's no army in the way now, simple fighting. Last chapter was a monstrous 5k and you all came from the woods to read and review it. Sadly, this story is almost over, and then it's time to go to on to Syrenet, and I most definitely and am excited for that one. Thanks to eclipse's end, Mr. Squirtle6, YoshiDB, FoundingRaiderChrona, and SomeoneReading for reviewing, I really appreciate it. Hope you enjoy Chapter #29: Icarus Showdown.
Even my closest friend whom I trusted, the one who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. ~ Psalms 41:9
Ness pushed the doors of the Icarus palace open, Robin on his heels as they ran into the throne room. The silverette stopped on the carpeted floors, gazing over the stone walls. Scorch marks of lightning bolts and patches of frozen granite were splotched all over the gray backdrop, a history of kings and queens and destruction mapping out a frame of troubled life. Ness continued trudging on forward, everywhere he stepped, the ground caving in somewhat like quicksand. He stopped, noticing that his companion had paused.
"Robin?" he asked, turning back to her. "What's wrong?"
"N- nothing," she lied. "I just haven't been back here in so long. I never thought I'd see this throne room ever again. After what I did, you would've thought there was no going back." Robin frowned, rubbing her forehead.
The magician sighed heavily. "I don't think that's something you should be thinking about right now, especially with what's going on. If we see Pit, that thought right there may confuse you. I can't have you dying on me. Peach can't have you dying on her, not after all you've been through. So let's go, we have a kingdom to save."
She nodded, unsheathing her sword. "You're right. I- never mind."
The two began running off again, going down corridors and hallways that Robin never knew existed. As they ran, she looked over at Ness. Though he looked to be a teenager, she could see the weathered lines on his face and the heavy facial expressions hinting that the boy truly did live for hundreds of years and had seen some messed up stuff. Hell, what just happened in the courtyard could've been half the Lycian army's own personal hell. Robin saw all of that every day being in the Icarus service, as there were always quells and rebellions to quash on the outer rim of the kingdom due to people not wanting to accept Pit's reign as king. Truthfully, looking back over things, neither did she.
The woman almost laughed as they had to freeze and let a normal servant girl pass with a bucket of water to one of the bedrooms, perhaps cleaning the sheets. Not even a few months ago, her and Peach were worried scared that Shulk would come from the rafters and kill everyone in the kingdom with a fell swoop of his hand. How Pit quivered underneath the blonde necromancer's gaze and outstretched palm, and even the simple fact that the two ladies had trusted the slimy weasel in the first place. That broke her. It was there, in Shulk's own bedroom, that she learned that her best friend had a crush on her and from that point forward, everything changed. It all changed for the worst.
"Or the best," she mused. "Depending on how you look at it. I now care for someone in my life that I would've never admitted to doing that for... and here we are that many days later. Had this not have happened, then maybe none of this suffering would've taken place. A double edged sword."
Robin had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice Ness's upturned palm which she ran right into. She was about to curse the commander of Earth out in a rage when the words died in her throat, the two of them standing in front of a very obvious looking door. Years of wear and tear and Pit's bursts of emotion began to take its toll in the hallway, Robin noticed, as the closed door in front of them was covered in a sheet of ice, cackles of energy coming from the other side.
"They're in there," Ness growled. "Both of them. You can tell."
"And when we're inside?" Robin asked.
"We do what Roy asked. Kill the dark angel and give Pit the longest stern talking to I can conjure."
"What if Pit..." the silverette didn't want to finish that thought. Too dastard for her to even think of an outcome such as killing the diamond king in any barbaric manner. Though it was evident that Pit wouldn't be quick to listen, he seemed to be reasonable.
"Then we do what we have to do," Ness insisted, the ground underneath his feet beginning to tremble. Robin started to lose her balance, supporting herself on his shoulder as the floor began to crack. "The Icarus twins have left a desolate shadow over Smash that must be eliminated. I'm hoping Pit goes quietly, if that's the case."
Then, all at once, Ness unleashed a carnal flow of energy, an aftershock spiraling from his hands like a flow of mahogany tree bark. The door shattered into a frenzy of splinters, ice crystals, and sound waves. Robin, gripping the hilt of her sword, launched over Ness's hunched form, dashing into the hazy mess of the room, which happened to be Kuro's bedroom.
The haze settled, and the silverette saw both Icarus twins standing against the back of the room. Pit was high on alert, bow in hands, an arrow aimed straight for Robin's eyes. Kuro was chewing on an apple, eying the girl warily. He looked more smug than anything. Ness hovered into the room alongside Robin, the ground lifting him up and over the wreck.
"Are all of your friends dead yet?" Kuro asked lazily, chomping another bite of the apple.
"Last I checked, your entire army surrendered to us." Ness's glare was hard as stone, hands twitching furiously.
"Yawn. Boring," the dark angel spieled, crushing the apple in his hands. "It seems as though your little band of elemental commanders is missing a few. Where's the dashing redhead?" Kuro questioned, his gaze flickering over Robin's in disgust. "Or your bedfellow?"
"She's not my bedfellow!" Robin growled, turning a few shades of scarlet.
Pit wobbled, grimacing, but then set the arrow back to the silverette's forehead. "If you aren't having affectionate love with Peach, then what is she, Robin?" The way he said her name was like steel, his diamond eyes flashing in retribution.
"She's-" the warrior began to start.
"It doesn't matter who Peach is to Robin," Ness growled, a surge of power emanating from him, causing the other three in the room to take a step back, awestruck. "What does matter is that you two surrender. Robin and I are not going down without a fight. Your game is over Kuro, and we're putting you back into that Icarus cube where you came from."
"My game?" Kuro began to laugh, leaning his head back and letting a howl rip from his lips like a wolf braying to the moon. "This is no game, Ness! This is Skyworld's reality! I've just returned to finish what I started, to claim back what was mine and there's no way I'm letting you get in the way of that." The male's eyes flashed an equally disturbing halcyon, Robin flinching as small sparks of electricity flowed from Kuro's hands.
"Then why did you drag your brother into this? He wasn't a part of it from the beginning, why involve him now?"
"I-" Pit began to answer, but Kuro flashed him a glare.
"Shut up Pit!" Kuro snarled. "Let me do the talking here!" Then, back to Ness. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"But I do," the raven haired boy folded his arms over his chest. "Roy told me everything I needed to know. I'm the Earth, Kuro, in case you forgot. I've heard everything ever since I retreated into the soil. All of your schemes, all of your history before my awakening I've seen, I've kept track of."
Pit fired the arrow in the bow, aiming for Ness's nose, but the teen reached out and seized the arrow with fervor. It snapped like a twig, the brunette stepping back. The angel readied another arrow, trying to stay steady on his feet. "Don't dare try telling me! Roy already pulled it on me, and it didn't work. You think I'd ever believe that my brother killed our mother? That's the stupidest thing I've heard, and it's not true!" Pit gritted his teeth together. "Now. Get. Out!" he roared, throwing his hands out, a flurry of white racing from pale fingertips.
The icy blast was aimed at Ness, the magician throwing up a piece of stone from the floor to block the hit. Kuro unsheathed his sword, diving for the teen's exposed side, Robin launching herself forward to parry said attack. The dark angel growled, throwing a punch with his right hand that caught Robin in the same spot where her bruise settled. Ness and Pit collided in a frenzy of fists, magic, and swear words.
Kuro head butted the silverette in the face, Robin feeling her nose shatter. She screamed, placing a hand up to the broken appendage as scarlet seeped through the cracks of her hand. No matter. She removed the limb from her face, letting the blood splatter to the stone. Robin conjured up a wind from the open windows, directing it at Kuro. He flew against the back wall, coughing. He wiped at his mouth.
The dark angel began to move with a sudden, surprising laxness in the joints, lunging expertly for Robin. The silverette screamed, caught off guard as someone with that type of blow to the lungs and back should not be moving in that manner. She leaped out of the way. Ness and Pit in the corner started to fight with their fists, magic being obsolete. Pit aimed a kick for Ness's shin, the magician dodging and expertly landing a judo chop on Pit's clavicle. The brunette shouted in anguish, Kuro turning to his brother, snarling.
He delivered a swift kick to the chest of the commander of Earth, as if he had just slammed a rose petal into a forty foot statue of all things, his limb responding out in cruel shock. Kuro bit down on his lip in pain, and then cried out as Ness gripped his ankle and flung the dark haired angel over his shoulder, the man flying and slamming into the table holding the Icarus Cube. He could feel the metallic taste of copper blood in his mouth, and a really intense pain in the back of his head, but he couldn't stop now. Not after getting to this point. Kuro weakly got to his feet, searching for something. A fire poker stuck out at him as a main weapon, his sword and knife over by Robin's retreating form as Pit advanced on her.
Kuro dove for it, dodging another strike. Ness watched in curiosity as he grabbed the stabber that moved wood out of the way to allow flame in, when Kuro lunged for him and stabbed Ness in the arm. It practically bounced off harmlessly, then Kuro dove it back into Ness's hands, driving the poker through his blocked digits. The raven haired commander of Earth screamed, throwing Kuro off of him. He looked at his hands helplessly, a golden blood beginning to drip from a quarter size hole in the front side of his palm. "That'll take forever to heal," Ness's mind complained. "Unless I'm not dead by then."
The dark angel yelled with all of his might, thrusting the poker straight at Ness's neck. His heart began to speed up as he ducked in slow motion. A low, crackling sound brought Kuro's heart back to normal levels before he unleashed an arc of energy at Ness, who ducked and the beam of electricity went sailing out the open window.
Back in Robin and Pit's corner, the brunette held his palms against the stone, swiping at her direction. An icicle stalactite went flying towards Robin, the silverette getting hit in the chest.
She flew to the ground, coughing as the air whooshed out of her in one fell swoop. The attack came out of nowhere! The silverette stood, wary of other subtle changes. A sharp flick of pain burned from her chest, and staring down, she saw that a barbed thorn of ice had stabbed itself where her sternum sat. The barb didn't go very deep, so when she ripped out the projectile, it hardly made even a trickle of crimson blood, a sight she knew too well for it to be considered healthy.
Pit made his way to the Icarus cube, placing the magical slate prison on the ground, picking up the table. He hurled the massive object itself at the soldier, knocking her back to the ground. Robin gritted her teeth. "Dammit." she swore. Looking up, she grasped for her sword, seeing it all the way by the entrance to the room. Robin swore an unfitting phrase for a warrior, trying to cover her face as the new 'companion' chomped away at her face.
At that very moment, she heard footsteps running in down from the hall, Peach's breathless and pink tinted cheek form appearing in the doorway. Pit's eyes gleamed, and he chucked another icicle spear at the diplomat.
Robin ducked as a the projectile flew over her head. Peach yelped, hiding behind the stone wall. The blonde willed for a shield made of wooden bark and flowers to place itself in her hand. The silverette, back in Kuro's bedroom, saw that Pit was creating a wall of ice around him. Ness and Kuro were too busy sparing in the other side of the room to be of any bother. Bringing her sword to her chest, she slammed her entire weight into the wall of frozen crystal. Brandishing her sword forwards, a crack formed in the solid exterior of the wall. She ripped through it, streams of liquid sliding down her back, as the barrier collapsed. Pit gasped, before snarling and lunging for her, the two colliding in a heap of pale flesh and robes, falling to the floor.
Peach leaped into the room, Robin scrambling back on all fours as Pit stood. Ness slugged a punch to Kuro's jaw, dropping the dark angel, the knife falling out of his grasp. Pit's eyes lit up at the weapon, and he seized it. Something panged at his heart, and that was when he recognized that the knife in his hands was the same blade that Shulk had given to him as a gift since they first met. Ness returned to Peach and Robin's sides, staring at Pit.
The angel examined the shiny surface of the blade with confusion, before a vision broke through.
Two figures are combating in a bedroom, and Pit is unable to see whom the two are. A peal of iridescent hair flashes over the scene, followed by black wings. The brunette's heart catches in his throat as it the fight reveals to be Kuro fighting Palutena, the two Icarus family members dancing in a war of electric booms and thorned swords. Palutena hugs her son, and then the silver blade appears through her back. She lets loose a scream of pain, pure agony and Pit's heart quivers for his mother. Her form crumbles, Kuro's ragged face being the last thing he sees before the vision breaks.
Pit dropped the knife with a scream. Kuro, over in the corner, groaned, getting to his feet. The dark angel gingerly tapped his brow, squeezing his eyes together to get the spots of light and red out of his vision. Looking up at his brother, a squeak almost came from his throat. Pit had an arrow aimed at Kuro's face. All of the lies, all of the deceit, the stealing of his emotions, all of it was a ploy. All for Kuro to get ahead in the game, and now the lighter twin, the happier and brighter and better twin understood.
"Pit?" Kuro's voice was reflected with betrayal.
"What did I just see?" he urged, tears threatening to spill down his face. "What did I just see in that vision from the knife? It showed you killing mother!"
"Just calm down-"
"Answer me!" Pit roared.
"Answer him, Kuro!" Ness commanded, the ground beginning to shake again. Peach and Robin watched the exchange with wide eyes, the two holding hands.
The dark angel scoffed. "You're clearly just being emotional and I-"
"I thought you got rid of my emotions!" Pit growled, advancing on his brother some. "I thought you removed them from my mind so I could focus on helping our mission!"
"And it didn't do anything," Kuro argued back. "You're just as soft as you've ever been!"
"What. Did. I. See?" the brunette wasn't backing down.
Kuro's amber eyes passed over his brother, a sigh escaping his lips. He really didn't want this to happen, all he had done for it to go down in flames because his brother realized the truth. Where did he fail? Where was there any flaw in his designing of the plan? Somewhere along the way he had to mess up. Images passed as Kuro debated what to say. The two brothers laughing over dinner, Kuro teaching Pit how to fire his first bow and arrow. The brother dressing his younger brother, his twin, though Pit really was younger in his mind, for a first date with the pretty farmer's girl down by the armory. All of it shattered by this very precarious moment.
Electricity crackled from his fingertips. "Yes, Pit. You saw the truth, what really happened. I killed Mother, I killed Palutena Icarus with my own hand. I killed her so we could transform Skyworld into the kingdom of grandeur and power, what it deserved to be! I may have lost at first, due to me being so headstrong along the way and reckless, but then I willed you to save me! And save me you did! I needed you on my side or otherwise this would never, ever work. You're so pathetic, Pit. Me killing Mother was the best thing I've ever done."
Pit's eyes began to well with tears, one frozen droplet crashing to the floor. "I-" he couldn't even formulate a correct sentence. "I loved her. She loved you!"
"She was in the way from us and greatness," Kuro growled. "She dealt with what was left over, never wanting to get what she actually deserved. You wouldn't understand, Pit. You're still too young for all of this, no matter what you've been through. Now, I have no need for you. You're..." Kuro debated for the right word. "Expendable."
He arced a bolt of lighting for Pit, the brunette blocking with the Icarus cube. A scream broke from the dark angel's lips as the electricity began to run rampant within the cube. Robin stepped forward, Ness holding her back. The cube, in Pit's hands, glowed a dull, yet bright sunburst orange and pearly white before imploding in on itself, crumbling away in Pit's hands like sand on a beach dune.
Kuro watched as his power, the only thing within him that gave what he needed for conquest, destroyed. Pit locked eyes with him, and then Kuro screamed. Pit turned to grab his bow when the dark angel launched himself at his brother. Peach let out a warning cry, the brunette swiveling on his heel, eyes wide. Kuro's own amber eyes were large and filled with bloodlust rage. His irises burned a fitting black.
Pit curled in on himself, his body temperature cooling down and then he unleashed a wave of energy, icicle stalactites, stalagmites, and shards flying out in a radius around the king. Peach, Robin, and Ness brought their hands up to shield their faces.
Three spikes of ice in particular landed somewhere in Kuro's skin.
One in his stomach.
Another at his right hand.
The third embedding itself into his throat.
Kuro went flying back into the wall, the icicle spears sticking into the wall like wedges. Pit's hands relaxed themselves as he stepped over to his brother cautiously. The dark angel gasped for breath, the spear going straight through his jugular. He brought a bloodstained hand up to his brother's face, catching the pale skin in a quivering hand. Pit closed his own around the embrace and nodded.
The dark angel could feel his life fading away from him. His lips moved in a sickening movement, copper lacerating his lips and teeth, coating them a shiny bronze.
"I'm... I'm sorry. F- forgive me." he barely croaked out, before the light at the end of the tunnel shut off.
Kuro's voice died in his throat, tears beginning to spill down Pit's face. "I'm sorry too, Kuro." he admitted.
With a heave of silence, Ness walked over, clamping a hand down on his shoulder.
Finally, at last, Kuro Icarus was dead.
And there we are ladies and gentlemen! That was Chapter #29: Icarus Showdown! Now, before I get to any of the other phases and sections of this closing AN, I'll be the first to tell you that for the longest time, I was going to have Robin die in this fight, Pit's icicle explosion fatally injuring Robin between the ribs where it would pierce her heart. I, however, decided that it'd be out of place and I needed to have the happiest ending I could think of. There'll be plenty more death in Syrenet as it is, so we've got a good dosage anyways. But... yep, that's how it went down. Kuro and Pit duking it out with Robin and Ness, and in the upper hand, Kuro's own devices have failed him. I planned on also making Pit and Kuro's dialogue before the little magical trade-off last a little bit longer but felt that it'd start to drag, and so we have this cut. I hope that this chapter was exciting enough for you, and hopefully I'll get the next chapter out earlier than like seventeen days of wait. Thank you so much for reading. Please review! I'd love to hear what you thought with this conclusion of the Icarus campaign and where the last few chapters of the story will take us. I hope to see you all for Chapter #30: Divided, We Stand, sometime this week, maybe on Wednesday and definitely no later than Saturday. Love you all so much! Have an amazing day! Bye!
~ Paradigm
