Hello and good evening everyone! I hope you're all doing well :) Here I come with the sixth chapter, the writing process is easy and very enjoyable (I honestly thought it'd be more troublesome). Hope you'll enjoy this new chapter!

Yours truly, Circle of J.

/!\ Warning: Mild gore elements /!\

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from the Kid Icarus series. The deities mentioned are taken from Greek Mythology, remastered the way I imagine them. What I own, on the other hand, is the plot.

Kid Icarus: Heirs of the Light

Chapter 6: Breaking the ice

Walking in a forest, surrounded by nature and its creatures, had a soothing aspect to itself. Following Magnus' invitation, the trio composed of Pit, Dark Pit and Magnus decided to talk out their differences during a nice trip in the forest bording the city. Dark Pit was rather reluctant at first, since he felt the rivalry that Magnus had established between them, but he did what he had to do to spend some time in Pit's company. The angel and the human really liked each other, so much so that they could barely stay three days without seeing one another. Dark Pit needed to keep an eye on these two, for his own sanity.

It had been ten days since the incident with the Centurions, and Pit had told the human every little detail about it. They were almost inseparable, much to Dark Pit's jealousy—because he struggled to get anything out of the light angel. Thus he took it upon himself to stay behind, watching the two 'friends' chatting around or laughing about anything and everything that they had experienced in the last few days—the main focus of the day was the stone incident. Every time they took a walk together, Dark Pit would never interfere, never speak up, never even smile at their jokes. Sometimes Pit would look at him, wondering if he was okay, but he'd just shrug and tell him to mind his own business.

Dark Pit thought about the attack of the Centurions on his own, behind the two friends, and sighed. Fortunately for them, they hadn't tried to sneak into their new house. The dark angel was pretty glad: he liked the little bit of privacy and tranquility that he could get when coming home after a long fight. The enemies had been toughening up lately; he wished Pandora would come back already. Sometimes, he heard Viridi's voice calling him out, commanding his actions, but he'd remain silent and focus on the battle at hand. Then his thoughts drifted towards the necklace and the words it had told him. He wondered about the mirror engraved in the stone, even though there was no real questioning behind it: he knew it was linked with the Mirror of Truth. All that was left to do was… taking a decision. Going back, or staying. He rolled eyes at the thought: that'd be a long debate he'd reserve for his sleepless nights. Until then, he needed to take his mind off of it.

Dark Pit groaned when Magnus took his angel in a friendly but warm and seemingly agreeable embrace—if Pit's shining eyes showed anything of his delight. "Quit it, you two!" he said, shaking his head. His heart hurt him enough, he didn't need any of this to happen in front of his very eyes.

"What did we do?" Pit asked, puzzled, and Dark Pit gritted his teeth.

"Just—No need to be so demonstrative."

After what he said, the dark angel caught the two 'lovebirds' glancing at him and sighed, looking away with a pained expression glued to his face. Why did he feel that way? What was going on with him lately, why was he so… protective towards Pit? He'd never acted this way before… It seemed almost uncanny; did the necklace mesmerize him? Did he really absorb something from its glow that day he was introduced to it and simply felt attracted to Pit for no reason whatsoever? Pit was a dumbass! An idiot, a stupid little baby that whined all the dang time because he left his precious Goddess. Dark Pit clicked his tongue at the thought that he could be falling for Pit and shook his head again. No way, it was impossible. It was just this mission, the fact that they had to live together that drove him insane. Magnus walked up to Dark Pit and surprised him when he put a hand on his shoulder. The angel jumped and moved back, distancing himself from the tall, tough human that he hated in spite of his constant kindness towards him. "Don't ever touch me! Got that? You have no right to touch me—nobody does!"

"Woah, calm down, angel…"

Pit wanted to intervene, to hold Magnus back, but then he thought that it'd be better to let those two have a little talk. So he sat down on the grass, fidgeting with a stick that he found on the ground next to him. His white tunic was probably going to be ruined, tainted with green, but he could not care less at the moment. He was focused on the two men that he tried not to look at too insistently. Dark Pit's eyes drifted towards his twin who sat there, silent, playing with a stupid piece of wood. Magnus attempted to smile to the dark angel, only to fail miserably because smiling wasn't… something he was used to do. "I think we should settle there for a while," the human suggested, and Pit vigorously nodded before springing up to his feet.

"I'll get some more wood for a good old camp fire!"

"We're not camping here—" Dark Pit tried to say, but he was quickly made aware that nobody had paid attention to his words. Pit ran off to the deep forest, in order to fetch some wood, while Magnus sat down, next to that stick that the light angel had left behind.

Magnus took it in his hands, examined it pretty closely until he seemed to notice a strange detail about it. Indeed, there was one of Pit's hair on the thing, stuck on it, and the human had to guess that he tried brushing the stick through his hair. Dark Pit glared at Magnus, did not say anything, but it wasn't long until he couldn't keep his mouth shut: "Ugh… For fuck's sake. He simply never listens! So, what do we do until he comes back? I do not want to talk to you."

"But I think it'd be a good idea to talk things out," Magnus said, then he looked up at the angel who seemed even more annoyed than he previously was. To illustrate his contained fury, he tapped his foot on the ground and breathed heavily through the nose. "I've noticed the way you look at him. Don't be jealous, there's nothing between Pit and I."

"Mhm, why'd I trust that? Plus, it's not like I'd care about Pit…"

Magnus tried to smile again, to break the tension between them, and wondered about a subject that would be less… touchy for the dark angel than Pit. He felt like the kid had been through a lot, maybe talking about his experiences would help him being less stuck-up, and perhaps he'd even understand why he had such reactions. Magnus felt like the little guy had no idea what took over him sometimes. If his own reactions to events could surprise him, that meant that he wasn't fully aware of what was happening inside of his own soul. If Magnus could help him with that—and he'd try his best, for Pit's sake since he seemed to like him so much—then he was willing to give it a shot. The human eyed back at the dark angel who did not sit next to him yet. "Let's talk about you then, dark angel face. Tell me more about you."

"How about no?" Dark Pit spit out, gritting his teeth. "Maybe if we just keep quiet, it's better for everyone."

Magnus sighed and was about to give up on trying to get something out of this dark, gloomy angel, when said angel looked back at him and asked, raising an eyebrow: "You know what, what about you? How did you get to know Pit—since you want to talk about him so badly, hm?"

The human found that question quite interesting and, since it didn't bother him to explain, he started. Dark Pit stared at him with dark, threatening eyes, and finally decided to sit down next to the mortal so that he could focus on what he was telling him. He wanted as much information on the subject as he could get, for… some reason that he wasn't sure of himself, to be fair. He just felt like he needed to protect Pit, and for that he needed to know every single thing that revolved around him—including his friends and possible 'crush'. Magnus didn't feel so uncomfortable speaking about the subject, as if he had nothing to hide about the way he felt for his friend. He never mentioned anything about love, about any kind of sexual or sentimental interest towards the light angel.

Instead, he assured Dark Pit that there was nothing of the sort between them, that they were not attracted to one another, despite what the dark angel had been thinking for a while. Magnus turned to him once he was done telling him everything about him and Pit, and smiled, wrapping his arms around his legs that he brought up to his chest. It had gotten colder with time, and Pit still hadn't came back from his fetching of branches. Dark Pit wondered if something had happened to him, but didn't have time to react before Magnus spoke up again: "I don't think you should be worried, dark angel face. Again, I tell you: I noticed the gleam in Pit's eyes when they fall on you. It's not just friendship he sees."

"Oh, is this a supposed to be a riddle or do you intend to be fucking clearer?!" Dark Pit snapped at him, before he simply shrugged his shoulder and exhaled deeply. "I don't see any sort of affection in the way he looks at me."

"Maybe you really need glasses."

"Oh, aren't you funny?!" Dark Pit groaned, and an awkward silence fell between them.

That was, until the curious human turned towards Dark Pit. "So? Now, what's your story, little guy? From your reactions, you must have been through a lot. Bad experiences with previous friends? A lover, perhaps?"

"Don't you psychoanalyze me," Dark Pit growled, but in the end he agreed to explain what was haunting him ever since he came out of the Mirror of Truth. He sat on his knees and glanced down at the grass that he faintly caressed with the tip of his fingers. His expression had hardened, his eyes had grown darker as well. After a brief moment of silence, he collected himself and managed to get the first painful words that he forbade himself to use around anyone for more than two months. "Before I came through the Mirror of Truth, I was part of another world; an alternate dimension, where all the Gods had went rogue after the end of the Days of Light and planned on invading human cities. Nobody challenged their authority, because Gods were commonly feared and threatened anyone who stood on their path. I was the only one deciding to take the chance, since I had nothing left to lose."

Magnus kept quiet, giving time to the dark angel so that he could feel comfortable telling him about his story. That wasn't one story that one heard every night to go to sleep; it was complicated, mostly to admit. Being part of another world and being forcefully ripped away from it must have been a catastrophic experience in this dark angel's mind and heart. Everything he knew had been twisted.

Dark Pit raised his head and looked right at Magnus, then he cleared his throat to wipe away the sorrow that was accumulating, making his voice weak and shaky. "I went up against the Gods who were using a similar mirror to create malevolent battalions. Entire armies were made in less than a snap. Somebody had to stop the massacre, so I took it upon myself to go up to Zeus' castle and destroy that cursed mirror, even though I wasn't allowed there. Now of course, that didn't go as planned… I was quickly discovered lurking around, and had to rush to the mirror before the guards caught me. So I stormed into Zeus' private quarters, taking care of the two guards that were there and waited for me, and dived foot first into that mirror. Now next thing I knew? I was standing in the middle of a strange, round-ish room with a white copy of myself, and what I thought was a Goddess who claimed I was there to serve her."

The human waited for him to continue, which Dark Pit found difficult to do—maybe too difficult to actually commit to it. Memories arose and he recalled the awful feeling of loss, of confusion and, above all, of breathtaking fear. But he also remembered the pride, the urge to show off as a strong leader—which he had always been in his dimension since he had been banished—and the attitude that, despite his pain, he managed to put on. He was somewhat proud of himself for that, really. He smirked at the thought, he could almost see it all again. "I was scared, confused, but I didn't let them see any of it. Nobody knows where I come from, everyone assumes the Mirror of Truth created me and that I'm Pit's 'darker side'. Nobody knows who I am—well, nobody but you now. Can I trust that you'll keep this a secret from Pit?"

Magnus nodded, taken aback by the strange, chaotic revelations, then decided to ask some questions. Perhaps talking this out would help Dark Pit to cope better with his feelings. Losing everything, he knew what that felt like: he had lost his entire family in less than a week. Magnus knew what it was to be overwhelmed, to be broken and, mainly, frightened at the idea of living that new life without anything familiar in it. "Did you have a family, dark angel face?"

"No, I never did," Dark Pit answered, smirking once again to hide the emotional wreck he was inside. He couldn't tell him about his mother… He missed her so much, but he really didn't want to start talking about her. She had been the only one who had stayed with him, despite his banishment, despite the fact that everyone wanted him out of their lives for good. Dark Pit shook his head, setting those thoughts aside. "What's the point of a family?"

"Friends?"

"No, not either," the black angel replied. He stared off into the profound forest in which Pit had vanished about thirty minutes prior, and his eyes drifted off to the ground. "I was alone, so it really doesn't feel different here."

Magnus looked at him with warm, caring eyes. "It should, shouldn't it? What about Pit? You like him, don't you?"

"No!" Dark Pit countered, his face turning completely red. He was tensed, his dark teal wings stretched out almost completely. "I loathe him, he's stupid!"

"Right~!"

"Shut up!"

Before Magnus could add anything else, though he'd have loved to, the two men heard Pit's voice calling out: "Pittoo! Magnus!", as well as swift steps running in their direction. Dark Pit was the first one to turn around and jump on his feet, only to get crashed into by a frightened young angel. Pit's heart was beating so fast that his twin thought something terrible had happened. Had he been attacked? Why was he crying, what happened? He didn't come back with any branch or stick, and his hands were shaking so hard that he couldn't even hold Dark Pit's hand properly. The dark angel shot him a confused glance, to which Pit answered by pointing to the forest that he just ran out of. Magnus stood up, but obviously none of them had brought any sort of weapon. They weren't exactly thinking that they'd have to fight; Pit had hoped that it'd just be a nice journey to rest with his friends. Dark Pit pulled Pit closer to him and wrapped his arms around his body in a protective manner, so that if an enemy appeared out of nowhere, he wouldn't get hurt on accident.

Magnus turned towards the two angels, rather serious, and looked over to the dark forest. "The sun's setting. If we want to catch whatever scared angel face, we'd better head in there right now."

"I think it's wiser to stay here," Dark Pit retorted, standing his ground with a trembling Pit squeezed all against him. He tried his best to warm the little angel who hugged him really tight while thinking of a way to attack the thing that had scared him so much. Whatever—or whoever—it was, it needed to be dealt with, or else it'd come back when they turned their backs and would target Pit. That was one thing that Dark Pit would never allow. "Look, Magnus, this thing is probably heading here, if it wasn't scared itself by Pit's loud and unnerving screams. Maybe it was just a forest creature that looked scary in the dark."

"That's highly possible. After all, angel face is easily afraid," Magnus agreed.

"Mostly when he's far away from his Goddess."

Pit was way too shocked to say anything, he already had trouble catching his breath. What he had seen… it walked on all fours but he was sure that it was way too big to be a regular wolf. It wasn't on fire, that was one reassuring fact… However, it still did not comfort him. The shadow cast on the tree was huge! A wolf couldn't look that big, could it? Pit was not sure anymore. The first thing he had thought was to run away and reach Dark Pit's position when he had seen the monster lurking around. He had been fetching branches for about forty minutes when he encountered that thing… He had feared his heart would explode! Suddenly, drawing the trio's attention, a loud growl came from the leaves of one of the trees. That was surely the monster coming back to eat Pit… "It's the monster!" Pit cried out. "It came back for me! It wants my soul!"

"Hey, shh, okay?" Dark Pit said, then he tightened his grip around Pit's body. "You're safe, no need to be such a wimp."

The light angel gulped and shielded himself in Dark Pit's arms. He felt somewhat safer every time his twin was there with him during a battle: together, they could obliterate any form of evil, they had shown it with the Centurions! They were unbeatable! Though this time, Pit didn't have his weapons of choice, and neither did his dark counterpart. But that did not seem to worry Dark Pit, for he took one glance around and raised his open hand in the air. Perhaps he… expected something to happen, but nothing quite did. The dark angel groaned. "Come on, what's taking you so long?!"

"You'll excuse me, but you didn't say 'please'! I'm not your personal assistant, Dark Pit!" Viridi growled.

"Please, is it really time for that?!" Dark Pit snapped at her, growling in rage while holding Pit close to him. The monster was moving towards them, despite Magnus trying to catch its attention and keep it distracted. "Viridi!"

"Okay, okay… But only this time, you've been warned!"

The monster Pit had seen in the forest jumped next to Magnus and was about to maul his face when a light green glow enveloped Dark Pit's hand. A familiar shape formed itself in his hand and, soon after, he wrapped his fingers around the Rose Blade—Viridi's favorite weapon besides her Palm. "Took you long enough," he sighed.

"Leave it to a Goddess to make a flashing entrance!" Viridi exclaimed, proud of herself and the visuals that she had put on. "Now, show no mercy!"

Dark Pit sighed again. "I wasn't going to, you know." Still holding Pit with his left arm, the dark angel glared at the big wolf that tried to devour Magnus—who was stalling, punching the wolf in the muzzle until Dark Pit had recovered his weapon. The creature turned its eyes to Dark Pit and it sprung on its legs, ready to bite his arm off. The dark angel charged his weapon, keeping a straight face in spite of how close the wolf had gotten, and eventually he pushed Pit to the side. Still charging his weapon, he slashed through the monster's furry throat, forcing it to move back. The wolf barked and tried to bite the dark angel.

However, he successfully evaded the attack by launching himself on the ground. He cursed, looking at his weapon which was only half charged, and screamed at Magnus to bring Pit to shelter. The human nodded and ran towards Pit, but the angel tried to push him off, willing to stay in order to help his dark counterpart in his fight. The wolf tried to stomp on Dark Pit with its big paws, attempting to squash his head beneath them, but the angel had sharp reflexes and always managed to pull away at the last second. Eventually, the Blade started shining, indicating that it was fully charged and ready for a finishing blow.

Dark Pit dodged the paws of the monster and sprung to his feet, right in the wolf's back. When the creature turned around, about to bite Dark Pit's head off of his neck, the angel shot an extremely powerful beam out of his Rose Blade, piercing through the wolf's mouth. It completely blew up the monster's head, spraying its brain juice all over the two angels that stood in front of it.

Magnus quickly looked up after he had been blinded by the light emanating from the ravaging attack, and checked on the dark angel who had his foot on the creature's bloody snout. "Are you okay, dark angel face?"

Dark Pit snorted at the question and folded his arms. "Did you expect me to be wounded?"

Magnus rolled his eyes, thinking that he should've expected that answer from Dark Pit, and noticed that Pit's eyes had lowered to the grass. Concerned, he called out his name, trying to catch his attention, but it didn't work out as well as he'd hoped. Instead, Pit shook from head to toe and Dark Pit briefly looked at him before checking on the creature he had killed off so easily, almost effortlessly. Pit blinked, unable to process what he had just witnessed; since when was Dark Pit so strong? Taking out an enemy in one single shot… That was something even Pit himself couldn't do, with years of training under his belt. If his weapon was a cannon, he'd have understood, but it was a simple, regular blade… That being said, maybe Viridi overcharged it so that one shot would be enough. After all, he had… demanded the weapon to the Goddess, so why not suppose that?

Dark Pit clicked his tongue, which brought him back to reality. "Are we moving or what? It's getting cold here, and we still need to get some sticks for the fire pit."

"What, you called me Pittoo?" Pit asked, raising his head, perplexed. "I wasn't listening…"

Dark Pit shot him a glance that clearly meant something like: 'I noticed, shut up' and turned towards Magnus, telling him that he was heading towards the forest to try and find the sticks Pit had stacked up. Pit looked confused and was about to protest, to remind his twin that he was the one to refuse camping in the forest, but he just kept his mouth shut. Magnus sat down next to Pit and rubbed his back to warm him up and also reassure him, while Dark Pit was off into the dark, creepy forest. Pit didn't dare to look directly into his friend's eyes, ashamed that he could not defend himself and had to rely on his twin to do the trick. If it wasn't for the dark angel, he'd probably be bleeding out on the ground, with parts of his body in the monster's grumbling stomach. He shuddered at the thought, remembering a certain episode where he had to travel down Hades' insides. Yuck.

Magnus sat in silence, waiting for the angel to express himself. He knew he was a talkative little guy, just needed to warm him up a bit and assure him that nothing threatened him anymore for him to open up. And that was precisely what he did after a few more seconds of calm. "I'm defenseless, it's hard to get used to."

"You just didn't have your weapons, angel face, otherwise I know you'd have taken care of this big dog," Magnus said, convinced of his own words. But Pit was a little less.

The angel shook his head and pulled his legs to his chest, so that he could rest his head on his knees. He wrapped his arms around them and buried his face, letting sorrow take over him. Without Palutena's powers, without her light, without her care, he was nothing; his wings hurt him, had lost a lot of their feathers, and he felt weaker than usual. His entire body felt rather… limp. That was why he knew that, even with his trusty bow in hand, he wouldn't have beaten the wolf: he could barely lift his arms for more than five seconds at a time.

In fact, he knew that he had to go back to Palutena's side, but… at the same time, the thought alone drove him mad. After what she had said about Dark Pit and the way that she hadn't seemed to care if he died, and also how she had locked him up in his room without a single care in the world… He couldn't go back and fight by her side as if he was okay with it all, because he wasn't and would never be. Pit sighed, lost in thoughts. No, he'd not go back until he was forced to, which wasn't yet the case. He could hold onto the necklace, which somehow brought him a little more energy every time he wore it around his neck. Lately, he'd been keeping it on, even during the night, to charge up his own batteries at its contact. It would last the time it would… Until then, he couldn't keep worrying about it day and night.

Pit raised his head, holding in his tears and wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand. "With how weak my body is, I would be plain useless in battle. When Lady Palutena is far, I lose my strength."

"Even your wittiness, it seems."

"Witti-what?"

"It means your humor. Angel face, what I mean by that is that you're usually much more reactive," Magnus said, now a little more concerned. "You'd listen to my every words and throw puns at my face all the time. Now you're just… strange, but I'm not sure it's a bad thing."

Pit gulped at those words but kept his confusion hidden deep inside of him. He looked up at Magnus and attempted to smile and act like his usual, overwhelmingly positive self, but something just didn't match. Pit sighed again, defeated by his own emotions. "I just realize… with time… that I'm not as invincible as I'd like to think."

"You've never been invincible," Dark Pit's voice arose, startling the two friends who were sharing a private conversation. The dark angel smirked and set all the branches that he had found on his way, before he took out two stones and handed them to Magnus. Meanwhile, Pit had looked up to him and a true, sincere smile had appeared on his lips. His twin replied to the smile with a pat on the smaller angel's head before he continued to speak: "You were never meant to be invincible. I know the events of the Uprising made you feel that way—since you decimated at least two Gods and their commanders—but you are not unbeatable. Nobody is, Pit-stain. If you get up, I'll show you how weak you truly are."

Pit chuckled and made sure not to stand up, still curled up in a ball in the middle of the grass. "Still, you must admit, Pittoo: my usual fighting is amazing, right?"

I swear I'm hearing Viridi right now, Dark Pit thought with a huge grin on his lips. He shook his head, exasperated by his twin's narcissism, and offered a hand to help him to his feet—just because he felt pity for him, no other reason. "Y'know, it's really not that great. Could easily kick your ass if I intended to."

"How about you try when I'm fully recovered, Pittoo?"

"It'd be my pleasure, Pit-stain."

"Would you two lovebirds give me a hand here? I need more wood, can you go and get me some?" Magnus interrupted the childish 'who's-the-strongest' argument, and the two angels looked at each other before deciding to head to the forest together. The human knew exactly why Pit had insisted on following his darker version into the forest: it was time for the talk that they mentioned before going. Magnus smiled to himself, and crossed his fingers for his friend. Those two were quite the pair, he'd love to see where their relationship would lead them and how they would manage. He knew that they could stand the distance. They just needed to admit having feelings for one another, that was the hardest step, and he knew that from experience.

He remembered the way he acted with Gaol when she was still alive and chuckled lightly; these angels were the same: frienemies. If he could even call them friends, since they looked so much alike. Twins would be a more fitting word to describe their relationship: they always compared themselves to the other, when really there wasn't much difference between them both. Yes, their personalities seemed opposed on the picture but they shared the same values and views on things. If Magnus could draw any conclusion from what Dark Pit had explained to him about his background, the two angels valued justice above all things, and the defeat of Evil—whoever incarnated it in their eyes. They'd move entire mountains to get to their objective.

The main difference, the striking one between the two, was the idea of loyalty, which was so engrained in Pit's mindset but so overwhelmingly absent of his twin's. While the light angel craved security and protection from a Goddess, his dark counterpart was free to go wherever he wanted, never owing anything to anyone and profoundly despising the idea of surrendering to a God, for he knew that they would abuse their power.

Magnus thought that Dark Pit must have had such an experience in his other dimension. That would explain his strong reluctance when it came to talking about the Gods. That would also explain why he seemed to loathe Palutena, his twin's 'owner' and Goddess. This idea that someone could be superior to him drove the dark angel completely insane: he needed to be in permanent control of his actions. Letting a God hold the wheel would frighten him, for he would be unable to act and speak for himself.

Although all of this was an hypothesis, that was the closest Magnus could get to the two angels' character with what he was made aware of.

.oOo.

"Come on now, get off! I'm serious!"

"Not happening!"

"Pleeeease~! Pittooooo~! I need to taaaaaalk~!"

"Nope, not right now!"

Pit laughed and did all he could to push Dark Pit off of him, even ready to grab a few leaves and throw them at his face if he didn't stand up right away. "Stop tickling meeeee~!" he begged between two laughs.

"Oh, is that begging I hear in your voice, Pit?" Dark Pit sneered.

Pit shook his head in a challenging way. "Nuh-huh, never!"

The dark angel raised an eyebrow and dropped the few branches he still held in his left hand to tickle his twin with his two hands—which made the light angel hardly able to breathe. Those sticks were the few that they had found while walking around—mostly because they had stepped on them—under the sun's golden light. It was such a warm, comfortable atmosphere, and Pit's presence was such a blessing to Dark Pit that he barely looked around for wood at all. He preferred to torture his twin with merciless tickling, to push him around, to grab his arm and pull him back, or even just to bother him with words—calling him out by saying 'Pit-stain' several times in a row had proved itself to be more efficient than he first thought. When Pit had said that he wanted to talk about something serious, Dark Pit had jumped on the occasion to tackle him and start tickling him again. He hated serious conversations with Pit; he preferred hearing him laugh his heart out.

Dark Pit scoffed and leaned in—under Pit's loud breaths. He then took a closer look at that mysterious necklace that glowed pink since he'd been touching it after it had rested on Pit's skin. He couldn't help but notice that the light was growing stronger, and wondered how it had taken that additional shine. Maybe it charged up with the light of the sun? Light and light equals more light, right? He didn't think there was any other explanation; after all, this thing was magical. It hadn't been in contact with any sort of magical element whatsoever, so it could only be the result of the sun rays reflecting on it. That stone was a very smart, well-crafted item. "So what's it telling you?" Dark Pit asked his twin, eyeing at him to see his reaction.

The light angel had a slight smile when he said that. "It doesn't speak to me, you know that. Though I feel that we're getting closer. The more we fight Underworld forces, the stronger it gets. But I wanted to—"

"Yeah, sure, why not. Still, you need to watch out, Pit-stain," Dark Pit warned his twin, interrupting him at the same time, after he started frowning. He probably thought about something, but since Pit wasn't gifted with mind reading, he had no way of knowing exactly what happened to him. Dark Pit being serious wasn't a rare occurrence, however this time felt sudden. The dark angel inhaled deeply and his fingers wrapped around Pit's necklace, moving it around to examine its every features. "If this thing leads you to Medusa, you won't be able to fight her in your… current state."

Pit shrugged. "You'd be with me!" he said with lots of enthusiasm.

Dark Pit snorted and rolled eyes, still laying down on top of his white counterpart. Why'd he stand up? He felt perfectly fine like this, he felt closer to his twin and that was all he wanted at the moment. With that strange jewel bonding them, he felt the urge to hang out with Pit stronger than he ever did in the past. "I can't always protect you, you have to deal with enemies on your own sometimes too. I'm not your precious Palutena—nor a Guardian Orbitar, mind you."

"Now that's a shame, I would've loved to see that! I can pretty much imagine you gravitating around me with lasers shooting out of your eyes!" Pit laughed. He could picture it and the idea was so exciting. The angel glanced at the other and, after a moment, he pushed Dark Pit's fingers off of his necklace. "Please, stop fidgeting with it. You're going to break it with your big fingers!"

"Tell you what: you've got the exact same fingers!" Dark Pit briefly snapped at him, then he faked pouting before speaking his thoughts once again, like he often did with Pit. They were almost the same person—'two sides of the same coin', as he once put it himself—so there was no shame in being transparent with him. "Say, about what you told me when we agreed to work together: you're still thinking of leaving after we've solved this?" he asked, slightly touching the glowing stone under Pit's curious eyes.

The light angel felt like his voice had died inside his throat, however he managed to clear it up and look right into Dark Pit's wide-opened rubies. "We've got time to figure it out, am I not right? Even though we're drawing closer to the enemy, and probably closer to saving Aphrodite from Medusa's evil, we're not quite there yet."

"Do you mean that you don't know what you'll do?" Dark Pit inquired, narrowing his eyes at his twin.

Pit hesitated but told him straight up what his heart was screaming: "It's just that… I sort of miss Lady Palutena. My body is tired to be away from her. The sooner I go back, the sooner I'll be kicking and be ready to help you defeat your enemies."

"How long would that take you, you think?"

"I don't know… If she doesn't lock me up again, around a month?" Pit suggested, and the answer he gave did not please his dark counterpart. Indeed, he looked off and stood right up, collecting the sticks lying on the cold ground and turning his back to Pit. The light angel jumped on his feet and reached out to grab Dark Pit's arm, but he was a little too late and missed him by an inch. "Hey, wait up Pittoo!"

Dark Pit stopped in his track, though he did not look back. "Don't you call me that, and forget we had this conversation," he demanded of his twin, but Pit shook his head in disbelief.

"Wait, no, I had something to—"

"And I have no will to hear about it!" Dark Pit snapped at him, glowering at his light twin, then he started walking back to Magnus' position, which was visible thanks to the small fire that he had managed to start in their absence.

The human turned towards them when the two angels walked up to the camp fire, and Dark Pit handed the dozen of sticks that they'd find on their way back. Magnus took them and set them to help the fire grow, while Pit rubbed his hands in order to warm himself up. The evenings on the Overworld were deadly cold and windy; he'd catch a cold if he stayed outside for too long in those conditions. Dark Pit eyed at his light counterpart, focused but not intending to say a word. He could still hear Pit's words echoing in his mind, he could still decipher what he really meant to say: he wouldn't come back, he'd leave and hope that his twin would forget about him entirely.

But Dark Pit wouldn't, he'd never, he… He would still cherish the memories, the times that they had spent together. Because Pit was his friend, his only, first ever friend. Yeah, your 'friend', Dark Pit, his heart mocked him, but the angel decided not to pay attention. Dark Pit had arrived in a dimension where he knew nothing, no one, where he wasn't aware of the situation. The Gods, Palutena… They weren't the ones he remembered them to be. And there was another angel, when the God he previously served, Hermes, said that there had only been one angel ever created.

Dark Pit's thoughts connected back to what the necklace had told him… If Pit wasn't coming back, maybe he should accept to be led back to his own dimension. Maybe he should accept that they were never meant to be, that Pit had no intention to stay close to him after he had dealt with the problem. The dark angel's heart suddenly ached; he had hoped for so much… Yet, he was back to the real world, to how things really were between them. There was no fantasy realm where they lived together, there was no… whatever he thought was between them. Realization hit him stronger than he had thought it would. Why did he hope for anything at all? He'd never been… romantic before. He'd never believed that he would get in such a complicated situation.

Pit was… charming, he caught everyone off guard and seduced them without even noticing it. And in the end, when he took the decision to step aside and go back to Palutena, he managed to hurt everyone else in the process… In order not to think about it too much, Dark Pit shook his head to come back to reality. He saw that Magnus and Pit were talking in a low voice, sitting right next to one another and laughing. The light angel seemed so disappointed, yet his eyes twinkled with delight when he looked right at his human friend. Dark Pit wished that glow, that shimmer was reserved to him; he wished that he'd been the only one to ever receive it.

Pit looked over to his darker counterpart and tried to smile, showing his perfect white teeth, before he turned back towards Magnus and talked to him again. Dark Pit blinked, blushed, and turned away with a groan. He clenched his fists; why did he feel so helpless when Pit stared at him? All of this made no sense to him, this urge to come closer to him, this strong desire to touch that creamy skin of his… Dark Pit gritted his teeth and tried to control the hard, fast beats of his heart. "Pittoo, come with us!" Pit encouraged him.

"No, I'm not into chit-chatting," Dark Pit answered rather roughly, crossing arms against his chest. "I let you do the talking; you love to talk anyways. I just wish I had brought a good book."

"I don't think that's a bad thing that I like to talk!" Pit reacted, frowning. He then stood on his feet, a hand on Magnus' shoulder, and decided to start their conversation again, for he wasn't finished with Dark Pit. The dark angel glared at him dangerously, menacingly, but that didn't deter his lighter twin from trying. He was going to get those feelings out of his chest right there and then, whether Dark Pit liked or not! "Pittoo, about what I wanted to tell you—"

"I thought I said I didn't want to hear about it!"

"I'm not finished!" Pit exclaimed. "I am never going to leave you, you should know that! What I feel… It's not something I can ignore!"

Dark Pit narrowed his eyes. "Be careful what you say, Pit-stain," he warned with dark, threatening eyes. He stood straight, fists closed, and his body trembled with the rage he was trying to contain. He glanced desperately at Magnus who, despite understanding the message, did not intervene.

Pit stared right into his twin's eyes, serious as ever. It'd be too easy to cut off such an important conversation because Dark Pit was scared of himself. "Listen to me for two seconds, Pittoo—"

"Don't call me that, Pit!"

"I call you whatever I see fit! Now shut your mouth and listen to me! I am not going to leave, ever! I know I said I would, I know I said I'd leave you be after we solve the mystery behind the necklace, but I won't go away! I won't because…" Pit then couldn't find the words to express the way he felt, so he stood there in silence, in desperation, in fear of scaring off his dark counterpart. If he told him how he really, deeply felt, would he run away? Yes, he knew he would. Anybody would, mostly people who were afraid of affection. Fear got the better of him, and Pit looked down, tears streaking down his face.

Dark Pit waited for him to speak up, but facing a lack of reactivity and, above all, answers, he turned away and shook his head. "See, you don't even know yourself. You don't know why you won't leave."

"I'm scared of telling you," Pit admitted, eyes locked on the grass he was watching. A slight breeze ran through the leaves of the trees, filling in the blank that had crept between the two angels. After a moment, the light angel looked at his glowing necklace—their only source of light since they turned their backs to the fire pit—and took it in his hands. He unlocked the chain and put the stone in his palm, wrapping his fingers around it. The slight blue shine was visible through the gaps between his fingers. "If I tell you, I know it'll be the end of us."

"Oh, and how so, Mr. I-can-read-the-future?" Dark Pit teased, and it was pretty obvious that he was pissed off.

"You'll push me away… You'll do everything in your power to repel me…"

"Perhaps, but isn't it better to be honest?" Dark Pit asked rhetorically, then he snarled and shut his eyes to collect his thoughts on the subject. "And I had thought I could always be honest with you… If you're not willing to act the same with me, it's really not worth it."

"Pittoo—"

"Maybe it's better if you get locked back in Palutena's palace."

Pit growled and pulled Dark Pit by his tunic, staring right into his eyes. There was such anger, such madness in his sapphire orbs that even the dark angel felt intimidated. "Take that back!" he demanded, his voice deep and insistent. "I'm staying right where I stand, I won't ever get locked up again!"

"You're leaving right now, Pit."

"Hey, you two—"

"Make me leave, Dark Pit," Pit challenged his twin, with a sharp look on his face.

Dark Pit glared back at him, and pushed Pit away from him despite the grip he had on his tunic. The light angel stepped back, surprised, and lowered his head. The stone he held in his hand slowly stopped glowing completely, and Pit gasped at the sight. What had happened to it? Why did it stop? It was just a regular stone resting in his palm. Pit opened his hand, watched in horror as the stone was completely off, and he glanced back at Dark Pit. The dark angel frowned and wanted to approach him in order to check on the stone, to see if it had been cracked on the side or something, but Pit didn't allow him to touch his precious jewel that had lost its magical properties. "Stay away… Please, don't make me hurt you…"

"Like you could," Dark Pit snorted, then he grabbed Pit by the arm and pulled him up to him.

But that was forgetting Magnus, who had stood up and stepped between them. Separating them before they ended up fighting was the best option. "Come on now, you two. I'm sure this is all a huge misunderstanding."

"No, Magnus. He took his decision," Pit said, not looking back at Dark Pit. "I'm leaving. Since this stopped working, I don't need to waste my time on the Overworld."

Dark Pit scoffed, trying not to think about the harm that those words had done to his poor heart. Instead of letting tears pour down his face, even though they strongly pushed at the back of his red eyes, he crossed his arms against his chest and snapped at Pit: "Finally, you understood something!"

"Angel face, don't be like this," Magnus tried to calm Pit down, to reason with him despite Dark Pit's attitude—because he knew it was just a shield to mask his true emotions—but the angel of light just shook head in response.

"I'm sorry, Magnus. I can't stand this." With that said, Pit dropped the tiny, empty stone to the ground and ran off to the river. Dark Pit couldn't hold him back, even though he had deeply wanted to. Seconds later, a large beam of light manifested at the river's edge, and Pit was off to Skyworld, leaving behind his twin and Magnus.

To be continued…

Updated: 02/11/2019