This chapter just has horrible grammar to an almost comical degree. But it's people talking, so... anyway. Just read, please.

Pia walked into the small cottage that she and Pit were now sharing with Isaiah, Shoshanna, Juliana, and Aegeus and found the latter sitting at the kitchen table with his head resting on his crossed arms. There was a glass of milk on the table, and Aegeus was staring at it intently.

"Hi," Pia said.

"Hi yourself."

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Waiting for this stupid milk to sour."

"..."

"I'm incredibly bored."

"Yes, I can see that."

"Where've you been?"

"Getting a cell phone."

"Ah. Congrats."

"Yeah, thanks. But I kind of expected you not to care."

"I don't."

"Oh."

They were quiet for a while. Pia sat down across from him.

"There's a bunch of stuff to do here."

"Yeah, but the thing is... I just don't fit in here. The only person here who even is sort of like me a little bit is Snake, and he doesn't really fit in either."

"But... you act like Ike. Just your sense of humor is drier, and you're kind of... darker."

"But look at Ike, and look at me. There are differences."

"Like what?"

Aegeus opened his raven-like wings, which had previously been folded against his back.

"That hasn't stopped Pit and I from assimilating."

"Well, you guys aren't scary black-winged archangels who scare everyone who sees you. Look at Ike. People look at him and think, 'Wow! There's that great hero guy!' People look at me and either faint or grovel."

"Juliana and Roy were pretty high-strung at the time," Pia argued.

"Look, people can't help judging books by their covers. Once people get to know me, they treat me like an equal."

"Yeah. Roy and Juliana like you now. So what's the problem?"

"I don't know many of the people here. They see me and think, dangerous. People automatically shy away from me on the street. And not just here. In all places. They can't help it. That's the difference between Ike and me, Pia. People aren't instantly scared of him. They're instantly scared of me."

"I... I never thought that bothered you."

"I have feelings too." Throughout the whole conversation, Aegeus's voice had been monotonal and his gaze hadn't faltered an inch from the glass of milk. When he spoke those words, his voice shook and he blinked, maybe trying to hold back tears.

Pia laid her hand on his arm. "I'm not scared of you."

Aegeus smiled a little. "Thanks. That means a lot to me."

"Was that sarcasm, or did you really mean that?"

"A little of both."

Pit walked in, smiling. Pia and Aegeus jumped.

"Touching," Pit said with a hint of smugness.

"Go die in a hole, Pit." Aegeus growled.

"No, really. I meant it."

"Please die."

Pit sighed and opened the cupboard. "Do we have any good food?"

"No."

"Oh, darn."

Juliana poked her head in timidly. "There is chocolate ice cream in the freezer," she whispered in her Mexican accent.

"Thank you, Juliana," Pit said as he opened the freezer. "Who wants ice cream?"

"Me!" Pia and Juliana answered instantly.

"I'll pass," Aegeus said, slipping back into his monotone.

As Pit was scooping the ice cream, Isaiah threw open the door of the cottage. He was holding a can of knock-off Brawl Coca-Cola.

"Dude!" He said, looking at Pit. "This soda stuff is incredible! We're missing out in Angel Land!"

"Um, Isaiah?" Pit said unsteadily. "There's a reason why we don't have soda in Angel Land."

Isaiah's face fell. "Why?" He asked, holding the can at arm's length as if he were afraid it would explode.

"Angels can get drunk off it," Pia said, trying to hold in her giggles at Isaiah's amusing expression. "How much did you drink?"

Isaiah gingerly set the can down on a table. "About half."

"Okay, good. Depending on your tolerance for caffeine and excessively high amount of sugar, you'll either get tipsy, slightly tipsy, or nothing will happen."

"Agh. That's not good." Isaiah rubbed his temples. "I have low tolerances for things, usually."

"Isaiah, you're a Jew," Aegeus said out of the clear blue sky. He still hadn't taken his eyes off of that solitary glass of milk.

"Yes. That is correct, Aegeus."

"Where's Shoshanna?" Pia asked as she began brushing Juliana's pretty blonde hair.

"She has gone out with the Princess of Peaches and her friend," Juliana answered.

Pit and Pia burst into laughter. Juliana blushed.

"Oh, man... Pia, we should tell Juliàn that his sister's alright."

"Oh, yeah, that would be smart."

"But what I don't get is, how would Juliana going missing lead to Juliàn's prejudice toward humans?" Isaiah asked.

Pia thought for a moment. "You know, I was thinking about that too, and I came up with a possible explanation. Let's say, as a hypothesis, Juliàn wasn't getting affected by the taint because he was too strong-willed. Then Juliana disappeared, and Juliàn lost his strong will, allowing the taint to seep into his soul. The enemies might have even let slip to him that Juliana was kidnapped by humans."

"That is not what happened to me," Juliana said, her blond eyebrows wrinkling in confusion.

"We know, but the bad people might have said that to your brother to make him hate humans," Pit explained.

"I like humans," Juliana said. "Especially the pelirrojo boy. He is funny."

"Ah, yes, Roy. Anyway, come with us, Juliana. We need to use the power of technology to communicate with your brother."

...

"What is it this time, Pit?" Juliàn asked irritably through Pia's computer screen. "More siding with the humans?"

"I have someone here that I think you'll like to see," Pit said quietly. "Juliana, come here."

Juliàn's eyes widened in shock and then filled with tears as Juliana climbed onto Pit's lap and smiled at Juliàn.

"Juliana... mi hermana favorita... you are alright?"

"Yes, I am fine. The nice people here helped me." Juliana smiled wider.

"Pit..." Juliàn said in wonder. "Wh-what... how..."

"Juliàn," Pit said seriously. "Juliana is trapped here for now, but I will personally see to it that she will not be harmed."

"Pit... thank you..." Juliàn's head sagged into his arms.

"No problem, Juliàn." Pit paused, unsure of how to ask Juliàn why he was prejudiced, but Juliàn beat him to it.

"Pit... they tricked me. I saw... I saw everyone becoming hateful. I didn't like it. I would not join them. And then Juliana... she disappeared... they told me that the humans had taken her. And I believed them. Ay... I was such a fool..."

"Juliàn, the taint was created by the enemies to sway us to their side. Thank Palutena you were able to pull yourself out of it."

"Sì, mi amigo, but there are so many of us still corrupted."

"There's nothing we can do about that now," Pit said gently. "Just try not to fall into my namesake again."

Juliàn smiled his old, mischievious smile. "I will try, Pit. I will try."

Yay, Juliàn is okay! And I can write in Spanish a little... been taking it for years and THIS IS THE RESULT! Pelirrojo means redhead or red-haired, in case you didn't know... mi hermana favorita is "my favorite sister..." I hope. And Isaiah is Jewish, although many people already knew that. Pia is too, so yay! And poor Aegeus kind of just gets forgotten about... awww... r&r plz.