Hello again everyone! I hope you are doing amazingly well. I come with the new chapter of my fanfiction, which takes place after Dark Pit has found Pit and Palutena buried under stone. Hopefully you'll like it! You are in for a treat: an unexpected duo is going to form in order to try and save the two statues. But I'll tell no more, I'll let you discover it by yourselves.

Don't hesitate to leave a comment, I love reading them! It keeps me going :)

Enjoy,

Yours truly, Circle of J.

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 11: Breaking the mold

"Shh, boys! Pit needs us!"

Despite the gravity of the situation, Dark Pit approached Phos and Lux, in their respective stalls, and tried to calm them down. They had always been friendly and relaxed around the dark angel, but this time around something seemed to frighten them. He rested his hands on their muzzles, he gently rubbed them and whispered for them to soothe down. He told them that they were out of whatever danger had been invading the city of angels. "You're okay, I'm here now. Whatever caused chaos here has left," he assured them. "I'm here for Pit, he needs our help."

The two horses glanced at each other and turned back towards their dark master, trusting his every words. Soon, their anguish was left behind, for they were determined to save their imprisoned master. They had witnessed the events from afar; they had heard their master Pit screaming to the Centurions, telling them to step back, then they had also seen him step in front of Palutena and dividing his bow in two identical swords.

"I can take it, Lady Palutena!" he claimed, raising his right sword in the air to deflect an attack from the enemy. "I know I will beat her!"

"Pit!" Palutena tried to warn him, but it was too late. A flash of light after, Pit fell to his knees; he had just been struck by lightning. He held a hand to his chest as he stood back up, on trembling legs. The Goddess of Light stepped forward, willing to check on his wound to see how badly it had been impacting her captain's body, but with an arm gesture, he demanded that she stayed behind him. "Pit, let me see!"

"N-no, Lady-ngh… Paluten-ahhh!" he began screaming at the top of his lungs, and Lux's head jerked up. He started neighing at Palutena, agitated by the bloodcurdling sound of his master's shrill cry, but it was all too late: Pit collapsed to the ground once again, only to stand back up, claiming he was 'not finished'.

Unfortunately, although he had been brave and determined, their master hadn't had time to put up a fight against the invisible enemy that had attacked Skyworld; he had been struck with what seemed like lightning once more, and the next second he was crying out in agony. After that, nothing. He hadn't moved since then, still standing in front of the palace's front doors. Lux had been panicking ever since, whinnying his master's name, all in vain. Phos had tried to take down the door of the stall he was in, to no avail either. They were quite fortunate that the dark master had come to their rescue.

Many of the Centurions doubted that Dark Master Pit was on their side, but the two unicorns never hesitated to trust him. They could feel his sincere, genuine worry for their master, and that alone was enough for them to help him. The dark angel sure had an attitude, he couldn't keep his mouth shut, but Phos and Lux couldn't care any less with their master being a prisoner of his own body. All that they needed was to know their dark master was trying to reestablish justice and, thus, save the inhabitants of Skyworld. Lux neighed at Dark Pit, who cursed as he cut the restrains attached to the unicorn's muzzle. "Why do you have to be held like that? It's uncanny," he sighed.

After he had done so, their dark master looked at Lux, since he had the hardest time to calm down even with Dark Pit by his side. "Did you see what happened? Did you see it?" he inquired, not expecting an answer, however the unicorn frantically nodded and looked at Phos with wide, fearful eyes. The dark master furrowed his brows and he bit his lower lip. The two magical beings could clearly read pain and remorse in the angel's eyes.

"Was he in pain?" was all he asked them. This time, the two unicorns decided that it was better to leave the question unanswered. Seeing that he wouldn't get anything out of Pit's horses, Dark Pit unlocked the doors of the stalls and guided the two horses out and away from the stables. Even though he didn't exactly need the two magical unicorns to fly anymore, since he had been granted the Power of Flight literally twenty minutes prior at most, he wanted to take them along as he left Skyworld and headed to Viridi's deserted Sanctum.

He secretly hoped that he'd find Phosphora there, despite the fact that they didn't like each other that much… Amongst all of the commanders of the Forces of Nature, he was more fond of Cragalanche. After all, he was not much of a talker but rather a strong and experimented fighter. Exactly like Dark Pit—really, they were a match made in the Heavens. When they both met the day of the dark angel's admission, he had discovered a whole new definition of relating to someone.

Phos and Lux led the Lightning Chariot to Viridi's Sanctum, and Dark Pit had to gulp down his worry when he saw its current state; the tree looked and felt dead. What was once a gigantic weeping willow with wonderful green leaves and delightful scents was now… reduced to an empty trunk with dead, leafless branches hanging helplessly from it. As for its smell, it… terrified him: it reminded him that of a burnt forest, which he certainly didn't find reassuring. Fear filled the dark angel's red eyes, though he pushed it aside and pulled himself up in order to safely jump off the chariot. When his feet hit the ground, it started cracking, like old, dried out wood about to break.

As he had expected, it eventually crumbled, nearly sending Dark Pit to what would have been a deadly fall. Fortunately, he had seen it coming and lifted himself up with his newly operational wings. The angel moved further into the Sanctum, trying to see if there was any life in the tree at all. He didn't expect Viridi to be there, since… well, but maybe Phosphora was? He needed to try his luck.

Silently, stealthily, he climbed the stairs leading to Viridi's former office. He gently pushed the door opened, cringing when it creaked, and stepped inside. His heart sank when he realized that nothing had been moved, that everything had stayed in the same exact place. He was even surprised to find that letter to Arlon, that the Goddess had been writing prior to the attack. "That's awfully intrusive to look at what a Goddess is writing to one of her commanders!" he could hear her say, his mind starting to wander off again. He snapped out of it before he started seeing the little Goddess of Nature walking around the room… he was fed up with illusions for the next centuries to come.

"Well, you can't exactly complain anymore, so let me take a look," he said, more to himself than anyone else since Viridi was gone now. He loomed over the desk and raised an eyebrow when he noticed a few stains on the paper, as though they had been tears. That only made him more curious on the matter. His red eyes followed the lines as he read the letter, more intrigued after each word; Viridi had such a strange way of expressing herself, even when she wrote to her commanders it seemed. She was so… bossy. Which somewhat made sense, but still, Dark Pit wasn't into that shit.

"Well, seems like you were not aware of what was to come," the dark angel concluded after he'd read the entire letter—which hadn't mentioned anything about a possible threat to the Forces of Nature. "Can't help but feel sorry for ya."

Looking now through Viridi's former diary, Dark Pit found the type of treats that delighted him to hear about: rumors. Here and there, the Goddess had talked about Pit, she had ranted about how much of an idiot he was, how oblivious and… dense he acted. But that wasn't all! She also had claimed that she caught Dark Pit 'daydreaming' about Pit kissing him again. He cringed at the memory.

"So, you're still longing for Pitty's lips, Pittoo?" Phosphora laughed, and Dark Pit rolled his eyes, breathing through the nose in order to refrain from letting his anger out on her. "Seems like this 'incident' keeps on happening!" she added cheerfully.

Of course, he glared at her and told her to shut up.

Dark Pit looked up when he heard the door creaking. It opened on none other than Arlon, who was probably wondering why Pit's precious Lightning Chariot was in the main hall when there didn't seem to be a sign of him. The man stared at him, puzzled, and wanted to ask about what Dark Pit was reading, however the dark angel only threw the diary at his face. "Read for yourself, you're in for a ride!" he snapped, before standing up and aiming to leave the room. He never talked with Arlon—too fond of big words that made no sense to him, too fond of… chatting as a whole. And also, he liked playing tricks, namely illusions. Dark Pit had just sworn to himself that he had enough of them, so obviously Arlon was the last person he wanted to meet.

Viridi's former commander darted a look at him and picked up the diary, that had fallen to the ground. This angel had always been a fury; nobody could get a hold of him. Not to mention his 'feelings' issue; he had a hard time expressing them most often. Arlon found it adorable at times, except when the little bird's frustration was laid out on him. "Young Master Dark Pit."

The angel stopped in his tracks, though the tension between them, from that single interaction, cranked up. "What do you want?"

"I have been made aware of the attack in Angel Land," Arlon said, before he put the diary on the desk very carefully and turned towards Dark Pit. Even though the angel turned his back to him, he could very well decipher his anger—directed at himself, mostly. Arlon would have expected to be the origin of this rage, of this contained fierceness, however it seemed like the bird's wrath was aimed at his own person. Although he couldn't help but worry for the angel, he didn't mention it. "Do you happen to know who the enemy was?"

"I wasn't there," Dark Pit growled, then he spun around to look right into Arlon's eyes. His ruby eyes were expressive enough for the former commander to know he was about to snap at him. "Do I look like a fortune-teller?"

Arlon didn't reply, he simply challenged the young angel with a glance. Then a question came to his mind, the reason why he was there in the first place: "Do you happen to know why the Lightning Chariot, which belongs to Young Master P—"

"I know who the fuck it belongs to!" Dark Pit interrupted him, before he let out a sigh and rolled eyes. What a pest he was. Arlon really didn't like his attitude: always on edge, always threatening, always aggressive… Although he had never complained to Viridi about the matter, he didn't think any less and had even considered it a few times. Having to work alongside a… nuisance like Dark Pit was breathtaking in itself. The dark angel shook his head, pissed off, though that did not impress Arlon. "I can borrow it if I want to, for as long as I want to. I don't owe anything to anyone, got it?"

"What if Young Master Pit comes ba—"

"Statues don't run after Lightning Chariots, Arlon! Now get out of my sight!"

Arlon frowned at what he said, however he didn't reply and shrugged it off. So… Medusa had been the enemy of Skyworld, if he understood well. And she had managed to turn the Goddess of Light's little champion, Pit, into a statue… For a second, he wondered if Palutena had met the same miserable fate, but Dark Pit's groan made him look up. One day, this angel was going to get himself killed with the constant tension accumulating in his body. He could never understand Dark Pit, no matter if he tried to or not, he knew it; he rarely felt any anger towards anything, hence his title: 'The Serene'.

When met with Arlon's silence, Dark Pit clicked his tongue. "Okay, you're not going? Then I am!" After he said that, the dark angel turned his back and stormed out of Viridi's former office. He took great care of slamming the door behind him, to deter the ex-commander of the fallen Forces of Nature from following him, and rushed to the Lightning Chariot.

If Phosphora wasn't there, he had no reason to stay.

Thus, he whipped the unicorns and headed to the Overworld, where he hoped he would find Magnus in spite of how late it was. Even though the human could nothing for him, since he would be of no help in saving Pit, he could come with him and keep him company. There was enough room for two in the Lightning Chariot. Dark Pit had grown seriously sick of being alone all the time. In his dimension, he cherished his loneliness, he loved to bits the few moments of calm that he managed to find, but in this setting, things were different. With Pit buried under stone, he felt awfully strange and empty, and he believed Magnus' company would carry a bit of Pit's essence and, perhaps, make him feel alive again—at least a little more than right now. After all, the two of them were also friends, weren't they? Spending time with the human could… bring back good memories to the surface, very dear to the dark angel.

However, it could also trigger painful memories, of a time where his jealousy was killing him from within.

"I'm going to spend a day with Magnus!" Pit said, all pumped up, but the news didn't exactly please his darker counterpart. While Pit was bouncing in place, already excited at the idea of his day off on the Overworld, Dark Pit groaned under his breath and looked away from him. Why did he never spend a day with him instead, hm? Why was it always this Magnus that he shared his time with? Dark Pit sighed at the thought that Pit could have feelings for that human he kept talking about all the time.

Pit looked at his twin and embraced him out of the blue, which he didn't appreciate. Dark Pit pushed him off of him, a bit more roughly than he'd have hoped, and rolled his eyes. "Why even hug me when you chose to leave instead of spending time with me, Pit-stain?!" he snapped at Pit, without glancing at him. He'd rather keep him from seeing the hurt in his eyes; wanting him to stay and saying it aloud was degrading enough. "Your precious human, Magnus, he must be just dying to see you!"

The light angel's eyes lit up with curiosity. "Could it be that you're jealous, Pittoo?"

Dark Pit turned to him and swore that he was about to punch him. "Don't call me that. Fuck off."

The dark angel sighed. He had always felt jealous when it came to Magnus, as he had succeeded to show it when they lived together on the Overworld, fighting for Pit's attention. There was just something about the way Pit talked about the human that made him want to strangle him. That… affection, the softness in his voice, the joy in his eyes… All that combined, all there to torture the dark angel despite what he'd show. He'd just wear his usual bored look, when in reality he could imagine his hands squeezing Pit's throat until he'd stop talking. His eyes would look stern, when deep inside they would be glowing with rage. Dark Pit didn't know how he had managed to keep his feelings from showing for such a long time. No wonder he felt frustrated now! They had probably been piling up in his heart until he couldn't bear them anymore.

Dark Pit shook his head and jumped off of the Lightning Chariot, quickly patting the two unicorns on the muzzle. Lux neighed at his dark master, and stomped on the ground. "Yes, I know. I won't be gone for long," Dark Pit promised him. The two unicorns had been clever when they chose the place to land, and had hidden in the forest—close to where Pit and Magnus had settled the fire pit. The dark angel braced himself, holding onto the necklace he still had tied to his wrist to find the strength he needed to walk out there. He hoped he wouldn't have another flashback. He was sick of them, they were… painful to watch. Now that he had seen his lighter twin engraved in stone, he couldn't shake the memory out of him, and every time he witnessed one of these flashbacks, he could see Pit's frozen, gray face as he stared at him. He really, sincerely hated it.

Dark Pit took a peek at the unicorns when Phos whinnied to call him back. They were scared of being left alone in the middle of the woods… even more so when it was dark outside. The angel smiled to himself; they were so sweet. He'd never admit it, but he was quite fond of them—mostly because they belonged to Pit, and everything Pit owned and loved was beyond perfect in his ruby eyes. "Shh, boys, you're fine. Nobody will find you here, don't be scared. I'll be back soon with a guest."

He flapped his wings, eyes still glued to the two unicorns, before he looked off and flew up in the sky to watch the city from above. He then dived towards Magnus' house once he had located the street it was in. He knew exactly where it was since… once, he had followed Pit up to it. For the light angel's safety only—not because he was jealous.

Dark Pit hid behind a pillar and observed Pit as he stepped a little closer to his human friend. Magnus had shown him around the town during the afternoon, much to the dark angel's dismay since he had to watch it all, and ended up walking him to where he claimed to live. It was a calm street, with close to no human outside after sunset. Magnus had pointed towards a small house in the corner of the street and invited Pit in, with him.

Pit beamed at the idea, clasping his hands, and nodded. He was excited to visit his friend's lair, visibly, but Dark Pit didn't buy it. He just knew something was up; Magnus wouldn't bring him to his house if it wasn't for… purposes that the dark angel refused to think about. Once the two were inside, Dark Pit walked up to the closed door and stared at it with a suspicious look in his ruby eyes. He crossed his arms against his chest and decided to simply sit outside, leaning on the wall, until Pit came out. That way, maybe he'd tell him what had happened. The dark angel could also bust the door open. Oh, that'd be fun, but he knew he wouldn't hear the end of it from Pit if he did. He shook his head; he was supposed to be the dominant one, dammit! Why did he care about Pit being mad?

Who fucking cared about Pit being pissed off?

Nonetheless, he opted for waiting outside.

Dark Pit snarled and shook his head, trying to come back to reality. Those visions, they never stopped, did they? How unnerving… He clenched his fists and rushed towards Magnus' door, attempting to knock at it gently. Oh, he would've slammed his fists on it, but he didn't feel like doing much effort, to be true. After all, It was very unlikely that the human would be there, since he was often out hunting Underworld forces lurking around the edges of the city during the night—mainly in the forest—but it was worth trying. Soon enough, freeing him from the torment of his thoughts, Magnus opened the door and blinked in disbelief. "Dark angel face? How—"

"How's not the question to ask someone coming to your door so late at night, but rather why!" Dark Pit snapped at him, arms crossed, then he shook his head and breathed in slowly.

"I didn't know I told you where I lived," Magnus explained himself, rubbing his arm that was wrapped in bandages. He hadn't expected the dark angel to pay him a visit… He tried to recall when he could've talked about where he lived to the angel, but he just couldn't figure it out. Did Dark Pit follow him? Or maybe Pit had told him?

Once Dark Pit felt a little better—less angry at the very least, he looked back at the human who hadn't moved from the door, puzzled. He gritted his teeth but refrained from letting his feelings take over once again; he had enough of screaming at people's faces. When he did, they called him the 'mean guy'. The dark angel snorted; well, if they were less stupid and more reactive, perhaps he wouldn't need to push them. He looked back at Magnus and couldn't help but rage when he saw that the human was still staring at him. "Will you let me in?!"

"Uh—yeah, sorry." Magnus stepped back and allowed the darker version of his friend to walk in. Dark Pit went straight for the couch, sitting on it without looking at the human. He was busy thinking about how to word what had happened, how he could explain the situation, how he would handle telling Magnus about Pit's death, so he had no time to waste eyeing at the mortal. Magnus closed the door, which creaked because it was old and rusty, and Dark Pit hissed at the sound, nearly springing on his feet to hit something. "Heh… It needs to be replaced, don't mind it."

"I mind if I want to!" Dark Pit yelled at the human's face, before he focused on his breathing again. Effective method, he didn't know better to repress his urges for violence. "Anyways… I'm calm now. So, I suppose you must be wondering why I came here, since how absolutely doesn't matter to anyone!"

Magnus nodded quietly. He understood immediately that replying would be a very bad idea. It seemed to him that the angel wanted to talk, but not have a conversation. Fine by him. Dark Pit raised his head after a moment and glanced at the human, who was standing next to the door and waited for him to give him a heads up on the context behind his visit. The dark angel looked down at the floor, thought about it, and finally spit it out: "Pit is dead."

The human turned pale. "You're kidding?"

"Does it look like I'm in the mood for jokes?!" Dark Pit snapped, but this time he didn't care about calming down. Instead, he stood up and walked up to Magnus, eyes sweating with heavy, burning tears. "He's dead, Magnus! I saw his… statue with my own two eyes."

"Statue, you say?"

"Do you not hear me when I speak?!"

Magnus lowered his head and closed his eyes. Being yelled at early in the morning wasn't exactly something he was used to, he really had to focus in order not to lose it and punch the dark angel right on the spot. He was just in distress, which he totally understood considering he had witnessed the death of his beloved angel… Magnus still couldn't believe his ears; Pit was dead… He was such a brave little guy, so full of life, always so cheerful and nice… And he… had been turned into a statue? But how? Was it even possible? Maybe to Gods, it was… Magnus tried to think about the attack that occurred so many years ago on the Overworld. He wasn't even born when that happened, but he learnt about it at school. There had been a conflict between Palutena and her sister, who was… "Medusa," he whispered, echoing to his thoughts. She was the one who could turn people into stone, like she had done to his city at the time.

Dark Pit stared at him for a moment before it all clicked in his mind. He clenched his fists and his wings stretched to express his fury. "She's gone too far this time! Turning my—Pit into a statue?! Who does she think she's dealing with?!"

"When did it happen?" Magnus asked him.

"Earlier tonight," Dark Pit answered, two tones lower since the question had calmed him down. Then, he turned away from the human and went back to the couch, where he had left his Silver Bow unattended. How could he have thought that something would steal it, hm? They were inside a house, which belonged to a human, how could he possibly have thought that something would sneak inside and take his weapon? He couldn't have, indeed. Thus, he couldn't hold a gasp when he caught sight of a Monoeye flying away in the sky with his precious weapon over its head. "Hey! Come back, you piece of—"

"Now now, no cursing! Those words don't belong in an angel's mouth!" Magnus interrupted him with a hand placed over his mouth, while he held his friend by the arm in order to prevent him from flying after the monster. Dark Pit still cursed against his palm, wiggled around to break free from Magnus' hold, but nothing could help it: he was just way too strong for the angel. The human stared at the Monoeye as it disappeared amongst the clouds, and finally let go of the darker version of Pit. "No need to get killed over a bow."

Dark Pit laughed humorlessly. "You think this scum could've killed me?"

Magnus shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't want to find out with your corpse in my arms," he said frankly. They would have time to grab another weapon for the angel, there were a few shops dedicated to crafting weaponry in the city. For now, he wanted to know what exactly had happened in the land of angels. Magnus sat down on his couch, listening to Dark Pit complaining about his missing bow and how the creature 'didn't take your sword for some reason!', before he darted a look at him. "You still need to tell me about what happened to Pit and his Goddess Palutena."

"I don't need to do anything, I just do things out of pity," Dark Pit groaned, before he sighed and complied. "I was talking to the Goddess Aphrodite and she told me about the necklace. So naturally, I went to look for it, and that's when I started having more of those… flashbacks."

"Flashbacks?" Magnus blinked, confused. "You see the past?"

The dark angel nodded. The look in his eyes let the human know how much of a burden that was to him, but Dark Pit didn't give him more time to ask questions about this newfound ability. The lesser he mentioned it, the lesser those visions would come back, right? It was worth a try, at this point he had nothing to lose anymore. The angel turned his head to observe Magnus, standing right next to the window through which the Monoeye had escaped with his weapon. "I saw the past—hopefully," the angel laughed nervously, and it was visible that he wanted to hit something after he said that.

The human looked around, and grabbed a pillow from the couch he was sitting on. "Here, you can take that pillow," Magnus smiled. As soon as Dark Pit caught the pillow he had tossed at him, he immediately starting digging his nails into it to take out his intense frustration. Magnus nodded at the sight. "Destroy it, give it all you got."

Dark Pit sighed, relieved, and looked back at the human with a somewhat grateful smile on the lips. "Yeah… So. Anyways. I took the decision to go back to Skyworld to talk to Pit, but then his Goddess started panicking. The sky went black and boom, she was gone, she stopped talking. At first I was delighted by that, because I don't like her at all, but then I felt like something was wrong… in my chest, mainly, but then it extended to my whole body, even… my personality."

Magnus vigorously nodded. "I notice you're much more snappy, indeed."

"Anyhow, I had to call out Hermes as a last resort and sacrificed that favor he still had to grant me." Dark Pit clicked his tongue when he mentioned it. "Just imagine all the things I could've asked! Nah, actually: don't! Why, I had to use it to rescue Palutena and her little hero of course! Because that's definitely what I wanted!"

"You know it was."

"Shut up. Well—even then, I was too late!" Dark Pit started again, his eyes glistening with rage.

"Problematic," Magnus simply said.

"Mhm, indeed, they're standing still next to their palace now!" the dark angel growled. "I had things to say to that idiot, but no! He had to get himself killed!"

"And what was it you wanted to tell him?"

Dark Pit's wings jerked up, and the angel glared at him straight in the eyes. Magnus braced himself, because he could already tell he would be greeted with one of the angel's snaps again. "It starts with: 'none of your business'," Dark Pit spat, as the human had expected, then his nails dug deeper in the pillow he held close to him. "And it ends with: 'my fist in your face if you dare to ask about it again'."

"Highly threatening." Magnus stared right at the dark angel, unimpressed, and walked closer to him. Even with the pillow he was crushing, he didn't seem to calm down—the human started to understand why, but he'd refrain from saying it since he didn't wish to be torn to shreds. He wanted to tell Pit that he loves him, how cute, he thought anyways, a smile spreading on his lips—the dark angel narrowed his eyes when he saw it. The amount of hatred that Magnus could feel emanating from Dark Pit was greater than it'd ever been in the past. Perhaps, in addition to his 'feelings' issue for Pit, he didn't accept the fact that he had to call out to that other God he mentioned—was it Hermes?—and thus acted like a douche. After all, Dark Pit was a proud little thing; having to rely on someone wasn't something he enjoyed very much.

Magnus took the gloomy angel in his arms, hugging him lightly since he didn't want to accidentally break him in half. "Let's not talk about it then. I really think you should calm down, your body can't handle that much pressure."

"What in the Underworld are you talking about?! How am I supposed to—"

"Hot spring trip?" Magnus suggested and, by the look in the angel's eyes, he already knew that he had won.

Dark Pit huffed and looked off to the side. He'd never admit that he was thrilled by the idea, never! Hot springs, that was Pit's thing, not his'! He narrowed his eyes, trying to sound grumpy when he said: "I'm not Pit! I'm not that fond of hot springs!" But despite his efforts, Magnus could still perceive the light glimmer in those red eyes.

"Come on, dark angel face. You know you want it."

The dark angel shook his head vehemently, though he eventually sighed and pushed the human off of him. Dark Pit turned his back to him, so that he couldn't see the smile that spread across his lips. Yes, he really wanted to bathe in a hot spring, it would help him… relax and forget about his life for a moment. He bit his lower lip and added: "Though I wouldn't mind a good soak—but certainly not because I like them!"

Magnus smiled widely at the answer; just the one he had expected. "Right, not getting any wrong ideas then."

"You just had to add that, didn't you?"

To be continued…

Updated: 02/11/2019