Hey guys, the next chapter is taking way longer than expected. From what I heard, the chapter is about 10k words in (some of consists of summaries of the scenes that need to be typed out) and it's only 25% complete. At this rate, it's most likely going to get broken down into two parts so to pass the time, we decided to have everything we haven't addressed yet in this secret mini special instead.
Note that the mini special takes place during the beginning of chapter 36. It is pretty much addressing all the stuff we wanted to address in the earlier chapters of Arc 4 yet couldn't as that would have had the other ones be ridiculously long like the 38th. As always for the soundtrack notes, find the songs on Youtube (preferably extended versions), play them and read (that's if you're on a PC or Mac).
Trigger warning for ableist and homophobic slurs, bullying and suicidal ideation.
HTK Secret Mini Special: A Trip Down Memory Lane
- "Theme of Laura (Reprise)" from the Silent Hill 2 OST plays-
"That's strange… just where exactly would that green haired floozy even go at this time of night?"
Dark Pit tried his best to fall back asleep yet couldn't. His mind was clouded by a plethora of contemplations—just what exactly is that peculiar reoccurring dream about and second, where would Palutena go off this late at night? He reached over for his glasses case, opened it quietly before slipping off the hotel bed and swiftly scurried away towards the door. The dark-winged angel glanced back towards his brother's bed, making sure Pit was still sound asleep in his own world before slowly turning the doorknob and taking leave. Dark Pit could care less if he wandered around inside a hotel late at night in his pajamas or if anyone caught sight of him. What occupied the angel's mind is that he found it rather out of place for Palutena to be wide awake thirty minutes till one in the morning.
He trotted his way passed the corridors, stepping inside the elevator as it began taking the angel to the first floor. When it arrived at its destination, Dark Pit treaded out, making his way towards the lobby. He caught glimpse of Dry Bowser not from afar at the bar with his parental guardian. Halting in his own tracks, the dark angel quickly hid behind a pillar before slightly popping his head out to observe them. Taking a deep breath, Dark Pit began making his way towards them yet before he knew it, the two took off ahead of time before he could even approach them. Feeling quite discouraged—and slightly irritated for wasting valuable time when he could be sleeping—Dark Pit gave off a disgruntled sigh as the angel realized he forgot his room key so in retrospect, he couldn't even enter the hotel room without waking Pit. Little did he know, someone caught sight of his own presence.
"I'm surprised to see you up at this hour."
The dark angel jumped slightly and grumbled, wondering who was interrupting him from his train of thought as he turned around, just to see his boyfriend.
"I take it you couldn't sleep either?" Dark Pit casually shot back at the blond. Lucas nodded in response, walking up towards his boyfriend and observed their surroundings before glancing back at Dark Pit. He took note of his glasses which he found quite odd. Not once had his boyfriend ever worn them in public so seeing them now was foreign yet Lucas couldn't help but find him adorable in them.
"I think we should move over to vacant room before someone tries to kick us out for being minors," he suggested. With those words, the two moved themselves away from the lobby and managed to find a vacant room. As the dark angel plopped himself on the couch, Lucas tossed him a bottle of milk he got out of a vending machine not too long ago.
"It looks like you really needed a bottle of milk," Lucas simply stated, pausing for a bit. "Every time I had trouble sleeping, I would drink a glass of milk to help me fall asleep."
However, Dark Pit didn't respond. Instead, the angel stared off into space as the milk bottle sat still on his lap. He appeared to be engulfed in his own thoughts while Lucas stared at him, wondering what his boyfriend was thinking about. To confess, Dark Pit seemed to be very off ever since the entire group united once more and joined up with the others. He couldn't help but ponder about what exactly plagued the raven hair angel's mind. In short, this wasn't like the normally cocky, pragmatic arrogant, snarky angel that is his boyfriend; instead it was an angel who appeared to be rather aloof and completely disconnected from reality.
The further Lucas dwelled on it, he realized that he barely knew much about his boyfriend at all. Not once did Dark Pit mention any memories he cherished nor even about his childhood, which he found to be quite odd. He knew Dark Pit wasn't one to easily let anyone into his life let alone trust them, however the more his own thoughts meandered on the subject, he couldn't help but feel a bit hurt. Lucas poured out his heart and soul to his significant other plenty of times yet not once Dark Pit mentioned any tidbits or even vented out his feelings and frustrations. While he could construct copious amounts of theories, Lucas knew now wasn't the time to be doing so. Without further ado, he decided to check up on his dissociating boyfriend instead
"Kuro, is something up?" Lucas gently asked. Dark Pit stood quiet for a moment as his gaze was still fixated on the wall before turning his head towards the blond's direction. He paused for a moment and swallowed, almost as if he gathered up his own thoughts before answering.
"Lucas… I'm sorry."
The angel's response caught Lucas off guard as it perplexed him. He found it strange why Dark Pit was even apologizing to him when he did nothing wrong. Lucas understood some people dissociate, so just why did the dark-winged angel expressed remorse for it?
"What are you apologizing for Kuro? You did nothing wrong," he replied. Dark Pit on the other hand, simply sighed.
"Lucas, I'm sorry for harassing you all of those times during the fourth Super Smash Brothers tournament."
"Oh, so that's what's bothering you," Lucas responded, "I'm honestly over those set of incidents now since you know, that happened a long time ago. No need to live in the past after all, right?"
Despite the contrary, Dark Pit shook his head and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he heavily sighed.
"Lucas, you deserve the apology. I mean, I treated you like complete shit and you deserved absolutely none of it," the black angel professed, his heart feeling nothing but deep regret for his past actions.
"But Kuro," Lucas argued, "that was all in the past!"
"It doesn't matter. I never told you this before but the only reason why I acted like such a complete jackass during that time was due to the fact that I was…. I was… I was…"
The angel felt a lump in his throat as he swallowed, quickly glancing away from the piercing eyes of his significant other. He gathered up his thoughts, trying to figure out how he was even going to confess the reason to Lucas.
"You were?"
"I was constantly being harassed front and back with homophobic slurs by various peers since I was only nine. It even escalated to the point where I pretty much grew completely ashamed for even displaying and or having feelings for anyone of the same sex."
Lucas sat there in silence, taking a sip from his milk bottle as he allowed the information to sink in. Come to think of it, he recalled Dark Pit bolting off without ushering a single word when the dark angel encountered Cloud and his friends at the mall during the holidays. Knowing it was rather usual Dark Pit to take leave without warning, the blond wondered if it had something to do with those boys.
"Let me guess, it has something to do with those boys we saw at the mall during the holidays."
The black angel nodded in response before proceeding on.
"Correct. Believe it or not, my first encounter with them happened about four years ago."
Fall crept around the corner as the once warm air of the summer whished itself away while the cold embrace of fall season gradually transitioned and parked itself in place. The once deep summer green leaves were now replaced by red and gold, tingeing along their lofty branches as it was too soon for them to depart for their final adventure. It was roughly a year after Pit became the captain of Palutena's army. The angel twins trudged through the chilly gusts of fall which penetrated the fabric of their jackets, hasting their way towards the park.
Little did they know, three other angels caught a glimpse of their presence as the blond murmured something towards his friends antecedently as they jogged their way towards the two. Both Pit and Pittoo stopped in their tracks while the blond approached the brunet with curious eyes as they glistened in the afternoon sun.
"Hey kid, aren't you the captain of Lady Palutena's army?" he curiously inquired. The boy's friends leaned over as well, their interest in Pit growing with full blown intrusiveness.
"Yes I am!" Pit proudly beamed, even getting into stance as the trio gasped in awe. Meanwhile Pittoo looked down at the ground, shuffling his feet as he stood close to his brother. He began fiddling with his fingers as the boys chatted with Pit, even going far to introduce themselves.
"I'm Cloud," the blond piped, "and these are my friends Nicholas and Elias."
Both Elias and Nicholas waved at Pit as decided to introduce him and his brother to the boys. Pittoo quickly glanced up at the mention of his name and took notice how not once did Cloud and his friends gazed in his direction. While he was most certainly ecstatic to see other angels around the city of Smashville, for some reason Cloud, Elias, and Nicholas acted like he didn't even exist. Not once have they averted their gaze away from Pit while Cloud inched towards the white-winged angel and wrapped his arm around him.
"So Pit, what's it like working for Lady Palutena?" Elias gleefully questioned. It was no brainer that every angel admired the Goddess of Light as Pit smiled brightly.
"I love Lady Palutena," Pit gleefully gushed, "not only do I get to train the centurions but Lady Palutena is also my guardian too!"
"Wow, that's amazing?!"
"Ooh! What's it like living with Lady Palutena!?"
The boys piped up all kinds of various questions as Pit happily answered to his heart's content. They began making their way towards the local ice cream parlor to get a treat before making their way towards the park. When they arrived at the entrance, Nicholas opened the door as Cloud preceded himself inside, followed by Pit and Elias afterwards. As Pittoo made his way towards the entrance, Nicholas stepped inside as the door slammed itself shut on the raven haired angel's face. Pittoo frowned in response as it was definitely clear that none of these boys wanted him around. In fact, he easily caught on that they were trying to exclude him completely on purpose. Nevertheless, the dark angel stepped inside knowing Pit would question his whereabouts if he went missing. After all, the last thing Pittoo wanted was to blow off Pit's chance for friendship.
He decided to sit a seat away from them as he ate his vanilla sundae, observing them from a distance. Pittoo heard the four of them burst out into a fit of laughter as Pit shared one of his cheesy jokes. Not once did his brother even shoot a lance to make sure Pittoo was doing fine. The younger twin couldn't help but feel somewhat jealous of both Pit and his new friends.
After the boys ate their sundaes, they made their way towards the park, Cloud playing a game of tag with Elias, Nicholas and Pit while Pittoo stood off to the side, going unnoticed. He slowly slumped his way towards the swing set, peering in their direction once more to even see if Pit noticed yet in spite of it all, his brother was too engrossed in his game of tag with the trio. Sitting on the swing, the dark-winged angel continued to watch Pit have fun with Cloud and his posse. He figured there was no point in engaging with them. After all, it wasn't like they ever acknowledged his existence anyways.
"Wow, that's pretty fucked up if you ask me," Lucas casually commented. "I mean, it's never cool to exclude anyone on purpose. Like if you're not interested in someone, at least be direct and tell them."
Dark Pit slightly stared off into space before taking a sip from his milk bottle.
"You should hear what happened when Pit wasn't present."
Pittoo decided to take a morning stroll throughout the neighborhood as he made his way towards the candy shop. The doorbell rang as the shop owner noticed the young angel's appearance and smiled wide.
"Good morning Pittoo," the shop owner greeted, "how are you today?"
"I'm good," the young angel happily replied.
The owner smiled in response as they couldn't help but find the angel to be absolutely adorable.
"How about your brother?" they asked him.
"Pit's doing good too!" he chirped. The store owner chuckled as they gathered up some candies and placed them inside a bag while Dark Pit picked out his.
"Here, give this to your brother! It's on the house," the shop owner told him while the boy paid for his candy bag. Shortly after, Pittoo placed Pit's candy inside his messenger bag while he held onto his. Before heading out, the two exchanged their goodbyes as Pittoo left and decided to make his way back home. While walking, he noticed Pit's new friends not too far from him as he stopped in his tracks. He felt a sudden twinge of anxiety rush up at his stomach as Pittoo recalled how neither of them acknowledged him. On second thought, why should he take note of their presence if they refused to take account of his own existence.
Instead of going his usual route, Pittoo decided to take a scenic detour instead as he started walking in the opposite direction. Prior to his own knowledge, Cloud caught sight of the dark-winged angel as the green-winged angel changed direction and bolted towards Pittoo, slightly throwing off Elias and Nicholas in the process.
"Hey kid — wait up!"
Being the naïve child that he was, Pittoo stopped in his tracks, allowing for Cloud and his friends to catch up to him. Perhaps they were interested in him after all in which Pittoo couldn't help but feel a bit happy, excited even. Cloud inched towards him as he stared directly into his eyes, causing the crimson-eye angel to slightly flinch and look away, almost as if he done something wrong.
"So… Pittoo right?"
"Y-yeah," the boy meekly replied.
"Do you like boys by any chance?" Cloud innocently asked, which was followed by a couple of snickers from the other two angels. The blonde swiftly turned around and shot a glare towards both Nicholas and Elias, telling them to hush. Luckily the dark angel didn't catch onto their plan as the boy seemed slightly bewildered by his question yet decided to answer it truthfully anyways. Palutena always told the two it was never good to lie. After all, the Goddess of Light knows best.
"Um, yeah."
Cloud tried to refrain from smirking as the other two suppressed their laughter to the best of their ability.
"How much do you like boys?" Cloud inquired, trying to see how long he can keep up with his own charade.
"Um, I like them lots I guess," the shorter angel mumbled. He wasn't truly sure were Cloud was even going with this. Unless this was some sort of friend initiation, his gut feeling warned him something was extremely off.
"So, you're gay right?"
"Huh? What does gay mean?" Pittoo piped.
"It means you're in love with boys in which you just confessed to," Elias informed him.
"So that means you're a fag," Nicholas added. The trio howled into a fit of laughter as Pittoo realized they were insulting him and frowned.
"I'm not gay! I like boys as friends!" he protested, clenching his fists as the small angel puffed his cheeks.
"Sure you do," Cloud mocked, "I'm pretty sure you want to eat up my dick, just like the rest of those faggots. Well too bad retard, I only date girls!"
"That wouldn't stop him for trying to make you gay though," Elias informed Cloud, causing Pittoo to groan in frustration.
"For the last time, I'm not gay!" Pittoo informed them in a whiny tone. This only caused them to laugh once again while Cloud rolled his eyes.
"Well Pittoo awfully sounds like a name a faggot would have. Who the hell named you anyways because my god, your name's fucking retarded," Cloud teased, smirking.
"It was probably his mother or some shit. No wonder she gave him away to Lady Palutena," Nicholas added, receiving chuckles from the other two. "Wouldn't be surprised if she never loved him either. Pit's the better twin anyways."
Pittoo sniffled discretely as he turned his gaze towards the other direction however Cloud managed to catch sight of the tears that welled up in his eyes.
"Are you fucking serious? You're actually going to cry over that? My god, you truly are gay. Real men don't cry you know," Cloud sneered, laughing. Elias noticed the bag of candy Pittoo clutched onto as he got an idea.
"Hey Shittoo, we'll leave you alone if you give us your candy," he simply exclaimed. Pittoo kept his mouth shut as he gave into peer pressure, handing the bag of candy to Elias. The other angel smirked as he snatched it out of the boy's hand, telling Nicholas and Cloud to lay off the other angel.
"Thanks for the candy, faggot!" Cloud taunted before the three angels bolted off. Pittoo watched them as he sobbed into the right sleeve of his jacket.
"Okay, now I definitely want to kick their ass," Lucas exclaimed, feeling both angered and disgusted. "Have you ever told Palutena about this?"
"I did however I lied it was a group of random kids. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Pit's friends were the ones harassing me, otherwise she wouldn't allow my brother to hang around them anymore. I just didn't want to take that happiness away from him, you know?"
Lucas detected Dark Pit's tone dropping towards the last part as he immediately figured something was off. He knew if these boys despised his boyfriend, they obviously didn't value Pit otherwise they would have never excluded nor harassed the black angel in the first place.
"… Kuro, I know you're lying. If those assholes didn't see you as equal, what makes you think they're going to see Pit as one? It's clear that they're only using him for their own amusement," the blond bluntly pointed out.
"… You're right Lucas. They are just using him yet, I… I… I can't even bring myself forward to tell him."
"You're afraid you might ruin his happiness if you do, am I correct?"
The angel simply nodded in response.
"As harsh as this is going to sound, it's only going to hurt him a lot more if he finds out on his own. I can tell it's hurting you, no matter how much you'll refuse to admit it due to your own pride and ego."
Dark Pit didn't say anything. Instead, he decided to share more of his past to Lucas instead as it was the least dark story he decided to share.
During the summer after his fifth grade year, Palutena signed up the angel twins for summer camp. At this point, Pittoo was feeling ton of resentment as the others always preferred the company of Pit and saw him as just a clone. It didn't help that Cloud and the other assholes constantly reminded him of it as it put him off completely from trying to mingle with the other children at camp. While at it, Palutena paid more heed to her champion as he felt completely abandoned by both his parental guardian and brother at one point.
It didn't help during camp that he completely kept his distance from the other children especially because of his past experiences. Pit was the life of the party as the other attendees seemed to adore him. One day, Pittoo heard Linkin Park play on the radio as it's been a long time since he's listened to "Crawling." To admit, he liked the song and honestly felt connected to it. The song inspired him to try to become independent from his brother hence dubbing himself Dark Pit.
"At least no one in summer camp harassed you, that's a relief so to say," Lucas said.
"Yeah, it doesn't help that Palutena sent us back to public school for six grade before pulling both of us out again. Let's just say it was hell."
A month passed by since Dark Pit started his year in sixth grade. Palutena always had to tell him to change his clothes, seeing how she wasn't into him entirely wearing black — his tunic didn't count. The crimson-eyed angel made his way towards his locker as he overheard a couple of preteens talking about Undertale. One of them noticed the dark angel nearby as they scoffed in disgust.
"Ugh, I hope Pittoo never plays Undertale, otherwise he'll ruin the game," a boy exclaimed.
"I know right? You know he ruins anything he gets his grubby hands right?" a girl joined in, commenting.
Dark Pit rolled his eyes in response as he gazed in their direction, glaring.
"I could give two shits about Undertale to be honest," he bluntly stated. "The game isn't as good as all of you annoying fucks make it out to be, not to mention its fans are absolutely dreadful. In fact, I think Undertale's fucking stupid if you ask me."
The group gasped in awe before frowning, being offended that he insulted their favorite game — well at least they could put their worries aside seeing how he'll never play it, but still.
"You're just stupid," the girl remarked, growling under her breath.
"Rachel, he's too retarded to understand the complexity and character building the game has," another boy told her.
"Guys, he's only saying this because nobody likes him, remember?" the first boy reminded, getting a few chuckles out of the group. The group walked off, not realizing Dark Pit could care less about being hated at this point. After all, the black angel found the company of others to not only be annoying but highly exhausting as well.
The bell eventually rang, indicating class was going to start soon as Dark Pit bolted off towards his art class. They are working on a drawing assignment which utilizes the use of color as the angel started drawing a male figure. He always preferred drawing men as it was much easier for him than drawing females. A group of assholes managed to peek at his drawing and started snickering.
"Hey Pittoo, why do you mostly draw dudes?" one of them asked.
"Because he's gay dude, it's obvious!" another one answered. The group of immature boys laughed as the dark angel rolled his eyes, finding their homophobia to be absolutely foul.
Eventually lunch time came around the corner as Dark Pit isolated himself in his favorite spot. He always ate alone, seeing how Cloud and his friends always huddled around his brother. To admit, he didn't mind it seeing how it allowed him to at least have some sort of solitude away from his troublesome peers. Unexpectedly, a girl approached him and plopped down next to him. He immediately recognized her to be Victoria Taylor, one of the most popular girls in the sixth grade.
The dark angel shot a glare in her direction, giving her his signature look of annoyance.
"What the hell do you want?" he questioned. Dark Pit found it too suspicious that a popular kid would want to even associate with him.
"Heh, what does it look like to you," she remarked, "I'm interested in you Pittoo!"
"For fucks sake, don't call me that!"
"Okay Dark Pit," she corrected herself, "like I said, I'm interested in you romantically."
Her confession took the dark angel by complete surprise. While he surely had his doubts, another part of him wanted to desperately prove he was straight, so in turn, he allowed Victoria to sit with him. To admit, he actually found her kind of cute in a weird way.
"Hey, want to go out with me?" she sweetly asked.
"O-okay!"
He accepted Victoria's offer despite feeling absolutely nothing for her. Dark Pit only did it because he wanted acceptance — and for Cloud to get off his back about being gay. After the two finished their lunches, they got up as the strawberry blonde grabbed Dark Pit's hand before taking off.
Pit observed the two leave as he narrowed his gaze. The light angel knew there had to be a motive behind Victoria's sudden interest in his baby brother — he found it too suspicious why someone from the popular crowd would even bother to ask Dark Pit out in the first place.
"I didn't know you dated something prior to me," Lucas simply expressed, being surprised. He never took Dark Pit as the type to easily fall in love with other people.
"I only did it because I wanted to get those homophobic pricks off my back," Dark Pit told him, "however she was only using me to reiterate personal information about me to Cloud. Trust me, dating her was kind of exhausting, especially since she had extremely high expectations I was required to meet daily."
"So in short, she was toxic."
"Touché."
During the month he dated Victoria, Dark Pit exchanged everything with her from his Facebook account to even his tumblr blog as his URL was fallenisolation. Victoria learned his blog consisted of personal text posts, gothic fashion, dark poetry, alternative rock music, photography, art, social justice and anime he's a fan of. He made sure to tag everything as not only he wanted to keep his blog organized, he also took consideration of his mutuals and followers potential triggers.
In turn, Victoria realized her "boyfriend" was really emo as she decided to spill everything out to Cloud. After all, the popular kids planned on learning more about Dark Pit, even if it means giving him a sense of false security.
"Cloud, you should see how fucking emo this piece of shit is," Victoria blabbed, "it's so embarrassing, not to mention he's into edgy shit like Linkin Park."
"Ew, Linkin Park sucks," Elias commented. Cloud glanced at her iPhone as she showed him the things that were tagged under passive aggressive smileys. The tag ranged from informing people how using words like retard and autistic as insults is ableist, to stop calling people cancer, stop cringe culture as the people who engage in it are mainly making fun of autistic children and all kinds of other things.
"Oh my god, his blog is cancer," Cloud remarked, cringing. Victoria giggled as she decided to show him his personal text posts.
"You should see how fucking emo he is dude," she exclaimed. His text posts varied from how he's never understood, venting vaguely about Cloud and the other assholes at school, how much he loathes school and even thoughts of suicide.
"Is this faggot for real?" Cloud bragged, "My god, we all know he's not going to kill himself. Shittoo's just an attention seeking individual just like the rest of the special snowflakes on that stupid site."
"Anyways," Nicholas butted in, "what's it like actually dating him?"
Victor laughed as she grimaced.
"He's socially awkward as fucking hell. Like oh my god, sometimes I die of embarrassment every time I'm hanging out with him. It's that bad."
"Like does he ask you about your favorite men, you know, like fags?" Cloud guessed.
"No, he won't shut up about stupid shit like useless anime, dumb video games, cartoons — yes, he still watches cartoons guys, anything you can name."
"Wow, how pathetic."
The popular kids laughed as they decided to bookmark his URL to keep tabs on Dark Pit. This in turn, caused Victoria to be more demanding of him to get more stories to tell Cloud and his cronies. Pit knew something was up when Dark Pit started to avoid her, yet he never told him why.
"She really did exhaust me. Like I still feel so fucking stupid for opening up to her, you know, for actually thinking someone was genuinely interested in me. She spilled everything personal about me and at one point when I broke up with her, she decided to claim I touched her breasts during lunch break. Fake cried and everything. Of course the staff and faculty sided with her as I was completely blamed for everything."
"… Wow, that's fucked up. Did Palutena believe you were innocent at least?"
"She did thankfully. Still, my school experiences have always been nothing but shit — no, my entire life has been shit up until I met you Lucas. To meet someone as thought provoking and patient as you is extremely rare and I for one, thank you for that.
Before the blond could reply, the dark angel embraced his boyfriend in a deep kiss as he proceeded to tickle him afterwards.
- "Theme of Laura (Reprise)" from Silent Hill 2 continues playing-
While Dark Pit chatted with Lucas in the vacant room, meanwhile back in his hotel room, Pit woke up to use the bathroom. The first thing the light angel noticed was the lack of both Dark Pit and Palutena's presence. He found it to be quite odd, especially since he was expecting his brother to be fast asleep. He couldn't help but ponder about their whereabouts and why they exactly took off at this time of hour.
After doing his business, the white-winged angel went back to the bed and covered himself up. He began recalling everything which took place in the past up until now. Pit reminisced how he and his brother were first on opposite sides during the whole ordeal until learning about the truth. To admit, Pit was pretty glad his brother was able to find friends he could rely on in his ragtag bunch of misfits despite their various age differences.
Pit stepped inside the house after a long day from middle school. He noticed his goddess wasn't sitting in her usual armchair as the angel caught some murmurs coming from the dining room. Being curious, the angel couldn't help but pry into Palutena's affairs as he slowly peered his head through the dining room, close enough to hear the conversation partaking in the other room.
"Are you sure there's nothing going on at school?" Palutena interrogated, her voice being full of concern.
"I'm sure," Dark Pit nonchalantly answered.
Pit knew his brother was lying as one, he didn't want their parental guardian invading his personal business and two, the students would ridicule him about having to have his goddess save him, despite his claims about only doing things for himself. He knew about the sexual harassment incident that happened at school today and like Palutena, Pit knew Dark Pit is innocent.
Not wanting to dive too much into their affairs, the angel decided to make haste towards his bedroom instead. After all, he had some homework he needed to do. Pit turned the doorknob and stepped into his bedroom and took notice of his brother's desktop. It was highly unusual for him to leave it logged as Pit couldn't help but be nosy about Dark Pit's life online. Tossing his backpack onto his bed, the angel walked towards Dark Pit's monitor as the dark angel left his tumblr page open. Pit noticed how his brother had some anon messages in his inbox as the angel was more interested in obtaining Dark Pit's URL.
He grabbed a notepad from the dresser nearby along with a pen as he wrote down his brother's tumblr blog on it.
"Fallenisolation dot tumblr dot com," he thought out loud. Afterwards, Pit walked towards his desktop computer and plopped himself on his chair, opened up Chrome and started typing Dark Pit's URL before pressing enter. When the page finished loading, the first thing Pit caught glimpse of was a read more on his brother's blog. Without second thought, the angel clicked the read more as the page booted up quickly.
"im such a worthless piece of shit who cant do anything right. why do i even bother to continue living anyways? everyone fucking hates me so its not like they would care if i killed myself :')"
Pit gasped at the message as he felt his heart sank yet another part of him knew the familiar somber, fleeting feeling all too well. It was definitely relatable yet the brunet knew just to keep moving forward. In the long run, why give the terrible bullies what they wanted when instead one could smile it off, right? It'll definitely send a message of no matter how hard they put effort into their harassment, it won't faze the victim.
The angel decided to print out the page, knowing he had to show this to Palutena immediately in fear of his brother trying to harm himself. While most parents took their child for granted at this age when they spoke about offing themselves, Palutena believed otherwise. She felt that every dire incident should be taken seriously as the goddess didn't want to risk the predicament coming true.
Before he went downstairs to inform Palutena, Pit rushed towards his brother's computer once more and decided to check out his anon messages. While a few of them were supportive and offered heartfelt advice for him, the majority of them were completely grotesque — they consisted of messages telling Dark Pit to go ahead and kill himself, how worthless he was and so forth. Pit studied the negative messages, noticing how they exactly mirrored one another in terms of writing. The angel deleted the negative messages for the sake of his brother before heading back to his desktop to check out Dark Pit's ex-girlfriend's blog.
Immediately, Pit caught onto the perpetrator as it was none other than Victoria herself — the popular girl who framed Dark Pit with false claims of sexual harassment. The light angel felt anger boiling through his veins as he decided to send her a message of his own, one that conveyed his very feelings about the entire ordeal.
It read: "I know who you are, where you live, everything about you and the game you're playing. You're nothing more than a vile, two-faced cunt who uses people for her own, personal gain. Not once have you looked back or bothered to even know how your victims felt. You act like you're the most sympathetic person on earth but truth be told, you're just a fucking bitch. Don't you think it's quite hypocritical for someone who claims to be a kind, sweet girl to be encouraging suicide to the ex she framed? Victoria, I know you won't feel guilty about this; all bullies are the damn same after all. While your ex will remember and have this paining memory linger on for the rest of his life, you'll move on with ease, forgetting the cruel torment you placed on him. I hope guilt devours your tainted soul as you deserve only the vilest of punishments. Even so, it would never be the same as the amount of suffering your ex had to endure.
Ps. Encouraging suicide and encouraging death threats is an arrestable offense in this state. I should know — I'm very savvy with the laws, history and conduct of our country. Hope you enjoy rotting in prison bitch. :)"
Pit sent the message before rushing out of his room to inform Palutena about Dark Pit's suicidal ideation.
The angel recalled seeing Victoria extremely shaken up the next day as his message brought exactly what he wanted from her; fear. She had no clue who even sent the message as it was highly evident she blocked Dark Pit's tumblr account. He also remembered the pain in Palutena's voice when she asked his younger twin about his suicidal ideations before alerting their therapist. Ever since the incident, Pit sometimes had doubt about Cloud and his other friends yet constantly had to reassure himself otherwise, despite them disappearing on him that one time.
Pit followed Cloud as he took off, informing Palutena he would be out for a bit as they were going to watch a movie. The angel was excited yet little did he realize, Cloud and his friends decided to take a little detour. He recalled the movie theater being in the direction opposite from them as the angel felt a bit of unease, yet masked it with his cheerful demeanor.
- "(Feels So) Good to Be Alive (Jamie Ritmen Remix)" by Ibiza Knights plays-
"Um guys," Pit simply informed them, "isn't the movie theater that way?"
"We're just taking a little detour Pit," Cloud replied.
"Yeah, the movie doesn't start till nine. We got thirty-five minutes to kill," Nicholas added. Pit just bobbed his head, feeling a bit assured yet still nervous. His gut feeling kept trying to warn him about something yet he couldn't quite figure it out. As soon as he knew it, the blaring music he heard not too far grew louder as Cloud and his friends snuck inside a rave. Pit followed, failing to realize the age limit for most raves ranged from eighteen to twenty-one years old. There were some places which allowed as young as sixteen while rarely some allowed all ages. Still, that didn't stop minors from sneaking into raves as it was fairly easy to do so depending on the location.
As soon as Pit stepped inside, the brunet completely lost sight of Cloud and his other friends. The angel began to look for them, trying his best not to bump into the attendees as they danced the night away to the upbeat sounds of happy hardcore. Pit slowly grew more skittish as one, he barely knew anyone at the rave, second, he lost sight of his friends and third, everyone at the rave either seemed to be dancing, high on ecstasy and other illicit substances or both. In addition, they seemed to be dressed very peculiar, making the angel feel more out of place than usual.
Pit wandered around the rave as the flashing lights frequently changed colors as the music blared throughout the entire tent. The angel couldn't help but find himself feeling a bit nauseous from the constant change of vibrant colors and the cheers of the audience. Luckily someone took note of the boy's discomfort and approached him.
"Hey kid!" a pink Yoshi greeted.
"You look lost, is everything okay?" asked a shy guy. The group of people were decked with bracelets created with children's beads and all kinds of foreign garb.
"I'm trying to look for my friends — hey, have you seen them by any chance?" he inquired, hoping Cloud and the others didn't take off.
"We're not entirely sure but we can help you!" the pink Yoshi replied. Pit smiled as the group of kandi kids began helping the angel look for his friends.
-"Pretty Rave Girl (Original Mix)" by S3RL plays-
While searching for Cloud, Pit stopped in his tracks as he laid his eyes on what appeared to be a girl who looked around to be his age exactly. He watched her as she danced to the music, becoming mesmerized by her movements. She swayed her hips to the beat, leaping into her own world which the music granted upon her. The shy guy caught on to Pit's newfound infatuation with the girl as they nudged his arm.
"Hey kid, go for it," the shy guy encouraged.
"Uh I don't know — I'm not a really good dancer and—"
Before he could finish, the pink Yoshi pushed him a bit as a way of encouraging him. The girl took note of his presence and stopped dancing for a moment before extending her hand out and reeled Pit closer. The angel felt his face get hot as they were close to each other.
"Um, hi."
The girl giggled in response before showing him how to dance. She ushered him to follow her as the angel copied her movements, eventually getting the hang out of it. At this point, he could care less if Cloud left the premise as the angel was more fixated on the pretty girl he encountered at the rave.
After a dancing session, the two decided to relax while observing some of the other partakers either making out, grinding on one other or even engaging in sexual intercourse — thankfully Pit didn't witness that. The girl looked around, observing her peers as she felt uncomfortable, even failing to understand them. Pit mentally sighed in relief, seeing how she and he were alike in a strange, yet enticing way.
The two chatted with one another as he learned her name was Lana. She seemed to be extremely sweet and outgoing which certainly lifted his mood from earlier. He glanced down at his watch as it read 11:46pm.
"Oh shoot! I need to get home!" Pit panicked. He was never late on his bedtime and the last thing he needed was to worry his goddess.
"We can give you a ride," the shy guy offered. The angel sighed in relief as the attendees left the rave and made their way into the car. Lana gave Pit a piece of kandi as a gift as he wore it around his wrist. A few minutes after, they arrived at Pit's house as he thanked them for the lift. He texted his brother to open the door, not wanting to wake up Palutena in fear of getting lectured, despite falling for her usual gimmicks of how she can see all.
Shortly after the text, Dark Pit opened the door as he took note of Pit's newly acquired bracelet.
"So how was the movie?" he dully asked, already knowing Pit didn't actually get to watch it.
"Oh, about that," Pit chuckled nervously, "I got lost at a rave. Met some cool people and look, a cute girl gave even gave me a bracelet. It's called kandi."
"Pit-stain, I know what kandi is," Dark Pit casually informed, "what I want to know is, do you even know how old the attendees are?"
"Uh, I met a girl my age though!" the angel shot back, frowning. He could care what the age requirement for attending a rave was, he met someone his age and that was all that mattered.
"Just listen to my warning once but be careful. Most attendees are eighteen and up and you don't want some gross pervert taking advantage of you. Also, I hope you have a good story for the green haired floozy when she wakes up in the morning."
Pit watched as Pittoo took off, following him as he needed to get ready for bed as well.
-"Always on My Mind" from the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 ReMIX soundtrack plays-
Icarus plopped himself onto his bed as he stared up at the ceiling above, fixated on his own thoughts. Ever since the discussion with his secretary, he began to wonder if he was even doing the right thing. Was this the right method to teach his tormenters a lesson? Does everyone deserve to suffer because of a group of insolent, rotten beings torment those who are physically and or mentally disabled, a person of color, the odd one out, someone who's heavyset — the list could go on and on, occupying his mind until the end of time.
The angel even started questioning if Erebus was helping him the entire time, even doubting his only friend and savior. To tell the truth, Icarus feared what the monster residing within him could do, especially since he's had him harm people multiple times. The angel could never bring himself to harm someone innocent, especially when they could reasoned with however the monster preferred otherwise. The fact that Erebus was becoming more active truly scared him. While Icarus continued to dwell on his multiple fears, a voice pierced through his head, the arrow stabbing the angel through the heart.
"Why do you always act so horrible towards other people?"
He recalled the voice from before but where? Icarus grimaced as an excruciating flashback gobbled him up whole, pulling his body into the endless void of guilt's wrath.
Icarus sat in a dim lighted room as he decided to ditch his chemistry class today. He managed to avoid getting caught tardy and sent to the RAC room as he hid himself within the unoccupied computer lab. Making sure the corridors were unoccupied, the dark angel peeked through the glass window on the door before stepping outside.
The hallways were devoid of students as they sat in their classes, listening to their teachers lecture while some had a film day. The angel quickly flinched for a moment as he heard the door open and hid between the corners to the best of his ability. When he saw it was only the new girl — well, she wasn't exactly new anymore yet he continued to dub her as such. Sighing of relief, the dark-winged angel stepped out of hiding as he approached Emily.
"Hey, what's up?" he casually greeted, inching towards her. The other teen in response, glanced up at him, trying to figure out his ulterior motives yet decided to answer his question anyways.
"Going to the bathroom? Hey — shouldn't you be in class Icarus?" Emily scolded as she narrowed her gaze and placed her arms on her hips. She recalled being constantly informed by both her friends and classmates that the dark angel was nothing but trouble. Icarus was notoriously known for his infamous reputation for being the lone wolf of the school, how horribly he treated his colleagues and finally, for his constant harassment of certain students. The new girl regularly questioned if they were right or if they speculated these theories based on mere rumors. To be honest, every time Emily observed Icarus — whether he displayed lack of interest during classes or ate alone at lunch — she couldn't help but notice the loneliness he kept hidden beneath the surface. It was heavily evident in his eyes despite shooing everyone away, deep down the black angel yearned for acceptance.
"Meh," Icarus nonchalantly answered, shrugging. The brunet felt listening to Dry Bowser explain the difference between ionic and covalent bonds while having to put up with his bothersome, aggravating peers.
"You know ditching class doesn't necessarily benefit you right? Now for the love of god, may I please go to the restroom?"
Icarus stepped aside, smirking. "Whatever you say milady."
Emily cringed at his comment as she scampered off, just to suddenly stop in her tracks and turn around.
"Do yourself a favor and never say that again."
"Okey dokey new girl," the angel playfully teased.
"…Are you flirting with me?" she asked innocently.
"N-no!"
"Icarus you're such a terrible liar!"
Emily took off towards the women's restroom while Icarus watched in her direction. A small smile formed on his lips as the angel blissfully sighed, unaware of his growing attraction towards the new girl. In the spur of the moment, Cartoon Luigi was heading back to class as he noticed Icarus ditching yet again. Seeing how there was no one else around, Mama Luigi cleared his throat before directly looking in the angel's direction.
"Shouldn't you be in class?" the Italian — no — Brooklyn plumber informed him. Icarus grimaced at Cartoon Luigi's worlds as he inched up towards the younger Cartoon Mario brother, lifted him up by his shirt collar and slammed him against the lockers.
"If you even fucking dare tell any authority figure I'm ditching class, I'll end you fucking life. Got it?" the angel darkly threatened. Cartoon Luigi gulped, frantically nodding before the dark-winged angel let go of his other peer. The Brooklyn plumber swiftly bolted off as prior to Icarus's own knowledge, Emily caught sight of the entire scene. The brunette rushed her way towards the angel, frowning in disbelief.
"Why do you always act so horrible towards other people?" Emily questioned him, looking for a straightforward answer. Icarus on the other hand, refused to answer as instead, he avoided making eye contact with the brunette. Emily locked her gaze on him, figuring it was up to her to guess why the dark angel acted so cold towards his peers — especially the ones who certainly mean no harm. After contemplating several theories, she finally spoke.
"You do it as a means of protecting yourself, don't you?"
"…."
"I can see it in your eyes Icarus. You were hurt so many times in the past, it's obvious you got sick of it and in turn, that's what led you into becoming so aggressive. You're just afraid of getting hurt again, hence why you will do whatever it takes to push people away from you."
Emily inspected Icarus to explode in a fit of rage but instead, the unexpected happened. A tear drop escaped from his eye, the rest eventually following in pursuit, turning into a broken stream. Icarus extended his arms, pulling the brunette into a forceful embrace, wailing with full force of a wolf who howled at the moon illumining the ominous, starless sky. The teenage girl was completely caught off guard by his sudden response as she wrapped her arms around him, stroking his back to help soothe away broken wounds.
"There, there," she gently exclaimed, comforting him, "everything's going to be okay. If you need someone confide in, I'll be there for you."
Icarus continued to pour his heart out in the form of tempestuous sobs, his forlornness escaping the frigid, steel bars of the bird cage his raw emotions were confined to. He was lucky the hallways ceased of anymore students or faculty members — specifically those such as Dry Bowser — seeing how he was the Goddess of Light's favorite teacher — Palutena herself and Viridi, especially Viridi — as he refused to demonstrate his vulnerable side to anyone. Deep down, it was the first time he realized his "father figure's" judgment on Emily was entirely wrong.
The memory still pained him to this day especially since he knew Emily would be furious with him for all of his actions. He pondered how different things would have been if he was able to fully keep the monster away and never took off in fear. Just recalling the type of people his children were, Icarus couldn't feel anything but extreme remorse for the rest of the night yet Erebus was certainly pleased with the results.
Dark Pit parted ways with Lucas, telling his boyfriend goodnight before making his way back to his hotel room — and to wait for Palutena to open the door. As he stepped into the elevator, the boy recalled another dark angel lurking on school grounds during his six grade year. The man seemed too old for school and honestly, his gaze was only fixated on Dark Pit. At one point, the man even stalked him despite trying to look like they were going the same direction.
Sooner or later, the dark-winged angel was finally able to put a face on him as it was none other than his father which in turn, made things extremely eerie for the rest of the night.
On Lucas's end, the blond recalled Dark Pit pouring his heart out to him as he connected with a boy he once knew on tumblr. Like the angel, he was a very troubled individual as Lucas did his best and helped him out constantly when he was down. Eventually it hit the Tazmillian that the boy he helped in particular was in fact, his own boyfriend.
