Why the fuck was he just standing there looking cool? It wasn't even looking cool, he was just standing there trying to look cool with his hand on his stupid black and white mask. Her own mask when she was trying to keep her identity from her father a secret was much better, if for no actual reason than it covered more of her face and actually hid her identity.

But this good for nothing show-off bastard was just standing there while she and Palutena did all the work! Seriously! Why was he acting like he was the hero that was going to show up at the very last second and save the day! Their day could have used saving any time during the last week! But no, he just had to act like he was the hero.

As soon as they were done with this she was going to shove her sword so far up his-

"Lucina," Palutena's musical voice drifted into her head like the thrumming of harpstrings from an open window, bringing with it a rainstorm of calm. Unfortunately, she was already an ocean of pissed the fuck off. "This anger isn't like you, keep your mind focused at the task at hand."

She screamed, not out of any physical pain - aside from a growing headache - but it was the best way to express just how must frustration was building up inside of her. She did not believe in letting her emotions get the better of her, she was a calm calculated fighter that relied on out thinking her opponent rather than out powering them. She had to. Still, she could see why others like Link, Cloud, and even Roy, would scream with all their might when they hit something.

It felt good. Damn good.

"It helps!" She tore her Falchion out from the fleshly chain like mass Darkron had attempted to assault her with, dodging out of the way of another just enough for it to slam into the ground beside her. Where she struck it screaming again. And no, she was not picturing Joker's smug ass face when she slammed down into it. She just happened to be looking in his general direction. "Me, Hit, Harder!"

Darkron screeched, its body writhing as she sliced clean through one of its limbs, the dark eye at the center twitching and spazzing like it was hyperventilating. This was their chance!

"Palutena!"

"On it!" The goddess of the sky land was a whole different monster during this fight. Her normally serene and benevolent expression that brought hope to their allies was now a visage of rage. She had been rather insistent upon battling Galeem her self, perhaps it had something to do with her being a goddess of light.

With, staff, magic, and shield she assaulted Galeem's wings and cores at once. Pit had once mentioned that his goddess had struggled to fight a bunch of living vegetables and that she was not much of a combatant. Now that couldn't be further from the truth. An explosion went off, knocking the central light down into to the ground, close enough to Dakron's eye, if the two beings acknowledged their proximity to each other they didn't show it.

She turned to look up at Joker. He was just standing there. Why wasn't he doing anything? This was what he wanted! She knew he was a good fighter, so she trusted him just a bit. A choice she was starting to regret. "Joker! What are you waiting for?"

A stillness settled the land, the calm before a storm, silenced the battlefield and all eyes drew skyward. The defeated spirits began to rise from the graves, floating towards the sky like a thousand stars dancing in the waves that grew in the clouds. Then it appeared, descending from the heavens like it was a natural occurrence.

"Oh my," Palutena's voice drifted through her head, there was something to that voice. Almost like she was impressed by it. "Do you think I can get his number?"

She had no idea what that meant, but the light blush that complimented Palutena's green hair explained a lot. Apparently, goddesses of lights might have a thing for gigantic leather-winged demons of darkness.

But, she had to agree, it was rather impressive. She was still mad at Joker though, at this point, it was a matter of principle.

A massive gun was pointed at the direction of the gods, the spirits swirling around it gathering in intensity and power gave her a very good idea that this was not the safest place to stand.

"Pillage them! Sataneal!"

XXXX

Technically speaking he was showing off - he really wasn't afraid to admit that - the raw amount of energy and desires flowing from the spirits around him it would be easy to fire the Sin Bullet twice and take out both gods one at a time. But he preferred the term efficient, really he was just making sure that he didn't use all the energy produced by the desires of the spirits, just in case there was like some super ultra mega fusion of the two gods that happened when they both died.

It was just the kind of arbitrary bullshit he'd expect from a video game. Or at the very least a the metacognitive what-ever representation of a world. He really probably should have actually listened to Futaba a bit more before coming here. But really nothing would have stopped him after the worlds 'It works' and 'it's safe, probably'.

Both the light and the darkness were fading now, the twisted landscape of their war slowly turning into something that could be called normal, although ruin spread out before across the horizons. Razed cities that held more danger than safety, forests filled with death and oceans of sand were all that awaited them after the battle.

But even a life of hardship was better than a life with no choice!

A smile broke out on his face, his heart pounding in his chest as he stared out at the battlefield, both Galeem and Darkron were beginning to fade, Lucina and Palutena were nearing their limit, and he only had one chance to pull this off, the last surprise for those that would be tyrants.

Maybe Makoto was right and he should consider a career in politics. But, if he did that, then he'd probably have to give up doing stuff like this and actually making a difference. Nah, that wasn't his style, he was a delinquent after all.

"Joker!" Lucina's shrill voice cut through his concentration, he could feel her judgemental glare blasting him from all the way over there. She might be scarier than Makoto on average, still a ways away from getting to Haru at her worse though - Ryuji was still terrified to go to the gym with her - she was probably on par with Sae though. "What are you waiting for?"

Her sword slammed into the main orb of Darkron, sending it towards the core of Galeem just as Palutena blasted.

The target was in his sight.

It was now or never, and his decision was already made.

He tore his mask, feeling that familiar rush of power boil up around him, it was his blood, sweat, and tears, manifesting into his true self, the enemy of tyrant gods, and the bringer of free will, the fallen angel that opposes order and welcomes chaos. Satanael.

The chains that once bound him now rattled helplessly, their shattered remains a sign of his defiant will that would not be shackled. The broken chains, a symbol for all those that looked up and saw Satanael's imposing form, to never give up, to change what you cannot accept and go even further beyond and change what you can not change to remove the limitations put in place over the heart and let free will run rampant.

The spirits of their foes and those of their fallen allies called out to him, begging to be used against these two tyrant gods that had consumed their world in a pointless war of light and dark. It was just like before when he fought against that god of chaos, the hearts of the entire world looking up at him and desiring victory.

It was only when the sinful desires of the entire world looked to him for guidance could he unleash the full power of the sinful shell. He had almost forgotten the raw exhilaration of this feeling. To be both Joker and Satanael. It was both terrifying and exhilarating.

With the gods in his sights, and the will of the world at his back he fired.

"Pillage them! Satanael!"

He forgot how loud that gun was.

The smoke cleared, revealing the shattered cores of both the dark and light, what little power the two tyrants once held crumbled, their forms vanishing like dust in the wind. But so to did their influence over the land, the areas ravaged by darkness, and those scorched by light began to collapse down upon themselves.

And the spirits that had aided him were fleeing the world in droves, creating a column of light as the world began to crumble.

Wasn't he supposed to save the world and not destroy it? Did he miss the bad guy memo? Well, Lucina wasn't yelling at him so it probably wasn't his fault that the horizon was currently eating itself. Mountains turned to valleys, deserts turned to turbulent seas, tranquil planes ignited into sweltering infernos and back again.

His path to Lucina and Palutena was a treacherous one as the floating islands they had been standing on were slowly becoming aware that they were defying physics. In a way, it reminded him of escaping Shido's Palace, just with a bit more of the danger. Debry assailed them, swarming the platform like angry bees made of stone and fire.

One grazed him, yep no, that hurt. A lot.

A Barrier that Palutena was maintaining looked to be the only safe place he could reach. And Naturally, he had to make an entrance, sliding down under the dome like barrier as it lifted just enough to let him in.

"Normally when I kill a god I stop the world from ending," He hopped back up onto his feet, giving Lucina a smile that earned him a sneer. "Not start it, what happened?"

It was Palutena that answered him, her staff spun above her in the same mesmerizing fashion that a ceiling fan did when it was to hot to breath. She'd probably look great in a bikini. But she was also a super old and listening to his thoughts right now. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, focusing on the barrier as the world fell down around them.

"This world was a causeway between realms, but it grew into a realm of its own, forcing many other realms in to contact with one another. Giving birth to conflict and strife, that in turn birthed both Galeem and Dakron. The two beings are so deeply ingrained with this world that their end means its end as well." Palutena gestured towards the sky where clumps of spirits gathered, spiraling, casting beams of light down onto the ground. "Now the realms are returning to their natural states and recalling their champions."

That sounded like a bunch of magic mumbo jumbo that could easily be summarized as 'boss dead, palace go boom.' Where was Futaba to translate this? "So, shall we make a daring escape to one of those portals while dodging fireballs, avoiding the leftover giant monsters and end up risking our lives to make certain that we all go home?"

"Why does it sound like you're excited about that?" Lucina pushed a strand of hair out of her face, glaring off to the side and keeping her arms crossed in front of her chest. For someone that had just helped him kill a god, she was a lot less excited than she should be. In many ways she was just like Makoto was.

"Well, yea," He shrugged.

"Of course," Lucina rolled her eyes, her resting bitch face game was so strong it felt like she slapped him. She turned to Palutena, "Is there any way for you to tell if my parents made it?"

Palutena nodded, "Of course, both Chrom and Robin are safe and on their way home," The ground shook, their little island in the sky crumbling to nothing. Perhaps standing still wasn't the best way to have this conversation. "Ahh, well perhaps we best make our exit, I should be able to send both of you home, so give me just a moment."

XXXX

Finally, she was going home. After what felt like a decade of fighting strangers, of becoming allies, and meeting legends, she was finally able to go home. Or at least the best version of her home. Wait, when Palutena said the realms were being restored, what did that mean? Was she going back to her world before she traveled to the past?

Worrying won't do anything, she learned that long ago. But knowing wouldn't hurt.

"What do you mean by-?" The ground beneath her feet gave way, forcing her to leap forward, into Joker. The ground continued to fall, but they did not. Whatever magic Palutena was working was keeping them afloat. She placed a single foot down feeling a solid surface that should not be there.

When she saw Joker's smug face that was so not hidden by his stupid looking mask she did the only natural thing. Push him away and huff. Competent and powerful he may be, but sufferable he was not. It didn't help that he just gave her that withering half smirk a moment later that made his face a very appealing target for her fist.

Despite what her mother - and just about every one of her father's retainers - said she did not hate men. She just hated idiots, which according to her father most men were. Joker just happened to confirm it. Besides, it was basically his name.

Palutena's chuckle reminded her that she had been glaring a joker for just a bit too long, the ground below them was shrinking, as a dull green portal grew in the clouds. "That's the last of them, all of our allies have made it through and are on their way home."

"So, just so we're clear we're done and we're not going to get surprised by some giant amalgamation of light and dark that will threaten to consume everything?" Joker spun his knife in his hand in a needless attempt to look cool, his posture was relaxed and she really wanted to punch him. Shame she wouldn't be able to have an actual match against him, but then again prolonged exposure to him could cause permanent brain damage. "Just wanting to make sure, because normally those kinds of things tend to monologue after you beat them."

"Nope, our job is done, thanks for all your help Joker," Palutena nodded, as they broke through the portal. It was green, very green and bright. But not so bright as to be uncomfortable, it was as though she was bathing in starlight.

"My pleasure, just be careful I'd hate to hear about you pushing your will on others." Despite his wink, she could almost feel the dare in his voice. He was one of those people that just enjoyed when bad stuff happened wasn't he? She couldn't wait to be rid of him.

Palutena gave a hearty laugh the back of her hand against her mouth, it went on for far to long. As the stars and spirits swirled around them. "I will keep that in mind, now then, it's time for us to say goodbye."

The barrier and whatever had been supporting them vanished. But they did not fall, simply floated in the air like swimming but without getting wet. Caught up in the currents of time being dragged down the river. To her home.

"Farewell!" Palutena's voice drifted as the light began to grow, she could hear them! See them! It was people! And some kind of a strong bitter smell that was like a strong warm tea, what was it called again, she had it once or twice before. Ahh yes, coffee.

Did dimensional travel normally smell like coffee?

It felt crowded. Like she was being shrunken down and stretched, her body becoming little more than grain that had been spared the harvest. Electricity shook through her and the very air buzzed. And everything felt really fuzzy.

A wooden room greeted her as she came tumbling forward out of an entrance way that was far too small. Her legs were still behind her and she braced before hitting the floor and crashing into the plain white shirt of who ever was in front of her, bringing both of them to the ground. Her entire body felt in numb, but not in the same way. The numbness was rolling about her body fading in her arms while growing in her legs and then reversing. It was disturbing.

She felt sick. Oh, gods, this was a lot more disorienting than time travel had been. She was going to puke.

"Woah! Akira, what the hell man! You weren't supposed to bring anybody home!" A male's voice that she did not recognize brought her attention upwards.

There were four of them in the room, a tall blond haired man that looked like a skinny version of Vaike was the source of the noise. The other three were women, one with blonde hair tied in twin tails, a brunette with a concerned look on her face, and a small orange haired girl sitting behind some kind of contraption.

She couldn't so much as speak, the numbness leaving her mind reeling, almost like the ground was moving. Wait, it was. The Akira person, right? The one she landed on? She managed to move her head just enough to see him push himself off the ground, pausing to rub his eyes for a moment before adjusting his glasses.

"Lucina?" It took her far too long to recognize the face and the voice as those of Joker. She blamed the numbness and not the fact that she was used to his mask. "What are you doing here?"

That's what she wanted to know! This wasn't home! Instead of words the only thing that came out was a heave.

"Ahh! Ryuji! She's going to puke! Get the bucket?"

Too late.

Wait, was the cat talking? Why was the cat talking?

AN: I switched one of the categories to Smash bros, largely to try and get a bit more of an audience, but also because it does apply to this. I'll probably change the category again when I update (again, it applies to a lot of stuff) Anyways! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was fun to write! I for sure enjoy how I'm writing both Lucina and Akira.