Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, although I took some liberties with both Tip and Blapi. 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 31: Seeing red

Living amongst a crowd of humans was certainly harder than what both Pits had thought. The mortals were very open creatures: they spent their days roaming around their cities, going from one end to another and talking to everyone passing by as if they had been knowing them for decades. Dark Pit had the most problems integrating, because he wasn't a very social being himself; he liked his time alone, which would occasionally cause him to refuse going out with Pit and Magnus and read a book instead, within the comfort of the cave. Well, comfort was debatable, but he insisted on that. The dark angel, although he was bored out of his mind whenever he was with mortals, tried to make efforts to go towards them: he was found talking to a girl the other day, asking if she enjoyed sparring—when of course she didn't. He had yet to accommodate to the thought that humans didn't like war as much as they did, as angels.

The Olympic games were the only occasion during which teams would engage in friendly battles. Those greatly reminded Pit of the Skyworldian sports, where he was to fight Dark Pit and his team of 'dark' soldiers. He missed them more than he dared say; there was something about dueling his darker half that drove him and pushed him to be better the following time. Pit was always so thrilled at the idea of competing with him again, like they often used to, even though he'd get beaten ridiculously quickly every single time. Pit knew that he'd have to wait to try battling Dark Pit again, since their mission on the Overworld was way more important, yet he couldn't help but think about it, even sometimes dream about it.

Dark Pit, on the other hand, didn't have pretty dreams of a friendly spar. He would often wake up sweating, curled up in his blankets, and would shake from head to toe. He claimed that a dark, twisted version of Pit haunted him, and that he knew it was real and that it wasn't just in his imagination. Both Pit and Magnus didn't know what to do with the information; they had never seen a corrupted version of the real angel of light. Sure, the other angels… they had been prominent and always on the battlefield against them—mainly that red one, he creeped Pit out with his dark, smoking eyes… But there was no such thing as an 'evil Pit', or however they could call the mythical creature that Dark Pit believed he saw.

Pit shook his head, since he was digressing again, and focused on their walk: they headed towards another town, which had not yet been destroyed by Medusa's troops. The city itself seemed rather small, but it was protected by a gigantic fortress that kept enemies out of the streets themselves. Pit had seen several of these high walls in his life before, but none as threatening as that one; a few towers, inhabited by soldiers in full armor, were scattered around the town and made sure that no enemy could creep in without being spotted immediately. Additionally, wooden stakes were displayed all along the wall's structure, on a rather large perimeter. Some of them were even covered in dry, brownish blood… Intimidating much, in other words.

Magnus led the group, chatting around with a reluctant Dark Pit who occasionally told him to shut up. Pit walked behind them, glancing at the wall and at the human soldiers, who were starting to move towards the windows of their towers to look down at them. Because the two angels were hidden under hooded cloaks, they had no way of knowing if they were friends or foe. Thus, one of the soldiers called them out, and Magnus raised his head to look at him. "We're in for the feast!" Magnus claimed, which took by surprise the two angels who had not been made aware that there was a feast to begin with.

Dark Pit briefly glared at the human, who shrugged his shoulders, and soon enough the city's gates opened to them. The three partners walked in, looking from left to right to check out if there was any woman suitable for Magnus. As… weird as it seemed, they had to act this way if they wanted to get anywhere with their mission; the human had to tell them which girl he liked the most, and then they'd try to make conversation with the lady. But it appeared that Magnus was quite a picky man, who did not find interest in anyone at first sight. Dark Pit kept saying that it was because he had other views—and he always eyed at Pit whenever he said that—and that he just wasn't into women anymore. Magnus rolled his eyes every time he claimed that and said that no, he wasn't gay, although he knew within himself that he was sort of lying to himself.

The three friends walked up to a shop and Pit peeked inside, to try and find a woman that looked like Gaol. Even though Magnus had told him not to do that, because it would bring back awful memories, the light angel had no idea what else to do. Every girl that came their way would instantly be rejected by their human representative… and they couldn't afford to waste too much time with this mission, for Palutena was alone in Skyworld in the meantime. Pit glanced around the shop, noticed that the merchants were decorating the place with red and green tinsels and frowned. Was this for the feast? What were they even celebrating?

Confused, Pit stopped searching for a woman and turned away, realizing that Dark Pit and Magnus had kept on walking without him and they were completely out of sight. He had no idea which direction they took… The Angel of the Sun sighed, irritated, and pushed his way through the crowd of humans to try and find them. Unfortunately, he bumped into someone and sent them to the ground. The angel stopped and held out a hand, before he saw her gleaming orange eyes and froze on the spot. His eyes widened, his face turned pale and his cheeks burned in no time. The woman fluttered her eyelashes—fortunately she was not harmed—and looked up, and she let out a strangled gasp when she recognized him. Her heart started pounding, which caused her to touch her chest. "Eros?" she asked, incredulous.

Pit was out of breath. "Psyche?" he inquired in disbelief—who was Psyche? Why did he know her? Why was she calling him Eros? Was she also a Goddess? Why did they keep on meeting Gods, even amongst the humans? It made no sense to him…

The woman stood up, wiped her dress to clean it off, and smiled brightly at Pit. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned forward in order to kiss him, because she had 'missed' him—those were her very words. The angel's wings fluttered with delight, although he didn't why he was accepting this, and he couldn't help but close his eyes when her lips came in contact with his own. She sighed in ease, pulling him closer and deepening their kiss. Pit's heart started beating faster as panic struck him, and he realized what he was doing in the blink of an eye. He tried his best to push her away but she wouldn't let go, clinging onto him as though her life depended on it. Somewhere, deep inside of his heart, Pit was beyond ecstatic that he was sharing a passionate kiss with the woman—Psyche, he reminded himself.

The human girl smiled and let go of his lips, grasping his hand and inviting him to follow her to the park. Pit couldn't understand why, but he really wanted to be with her, so he accepted. They both held hands and started walking towards the park, at the center of the town. The flora there was absolutely outstanding: tall trees with fluffy yellow leaves, orange flowers embedded and outlining the path leading to a huge fountain. All around the park were shops, cafés, and restaurants. It was overall a very touristic area, with lots of humans wandering around and taking pictures of the fountain. At the center of the said fountain, there was a statue which represented Aphrodite clinging to a human and begging him to stay with her. The human was being pulled in another direction by two hounds, and it seemed like the man himself was dressed like a hunter.

Psyche led Pit to the edge of the fountain and they both sat there, gazing at each other with both surprise and passion. It felt like they had been away from each other for centuries… but it couldn't be, could it? Had this woman been Eros' crush? Was she even a real human to begin with? Her eyes… Pit agreed with Dark Pit now that he saw them up close; they were anything but natural… They gleamed just as much as those green of Palutena. That was the sign of great power… wasn't it? He didn't know what to think anymore; she unsettled him, but not even in a bad way. She deeply moved his feelings.

Psyche held out her hand and stroke his cheek lovingly, a smile across the lips. Pit cleared his throat, wanted to move away, because he felt like all of this was wrong towards Dark Pit, who would sooner or later find out that he had chosen to follow a girl and kissed her. But his… entire soul was fighting against him. Eros—if he was still conscious—longed for Psyche, he wanted to feel the touch of her skin under his fingers, he yearned to sense her warm breath against his lips… Pit blinked, trying to repel those thoughts, but he eventually gave in and kissed Psyche again. He wasn't strong enough to fight against the will of a God… The woman smiled and kissed him back, pulling him close to her beating heart.

The only thing that they both could hear was the chirping of birds, and that brought a sense of serenity within themselves…

… which was ruined seconds later.

They both picked up the sound of someone clearing their throat, and Pit froze in his movements; he knew it was Dark Pit, and he knew that he was in deep trouble. The light angel pushed the human girl off of him, nearly sending her in the water, and eyed at his darker half, who was glowering at him dangerously. Pit gulped and looked down at his feet, deeply ashamed of his not-so-willingly-performed actions. His hands started fidgeting and his eyes filled with heavy tears. Why had he done this? What was wrong with him? He loved Dark Pit to the bottom of his heart, his soul belonged to him and him only… Why had he given a slice of it to that human girl, Psyche? Why had he felt like kissing her was right? Why did he feel like her presence was right?

Dark Pit stared at Psyche with profound, justified disdain. Then he turned back to face his lighter version, who still didn't dare to look him in the eyes. Pissed off, the dark angel asked—or more so yelled: "Can someone tell me what that's all about?!"

Pit glanced at Magnus, who stood at Dark Pit's right and bore the same expression as the dark angel next to him. He wasn't getting away with this, he knew it fully: he had messed up. He should've been resistant, he should've silenced the voice within him that told him to spend time with Psyche. But he hadn't been strong enough, he couldn't stay away, no matter how much he had willed to. "I'm sorry, Pittoo…"

The human girl, on the other hand, didn't appear disturbed at all, quite the opposite: she was happy that she was reunited with Eros. She hesitated to take him in her arms, but felt like he wouldn't allow her to; whoever this dark angel was affected him greatly. She could see and perceive the intensity of Pit's feelings towards him, and wouldn't interfere. This angel was still his own person, even though Eros' soul inhabited his body. If… If Pit was in love with someone else, Psyche had no right to come between them. She would wait until he was ready to love her again, fully and completely, as he did in the past.

Dark Pit snorted, which drew everyone's attention, and he glared at Pit with deep, blazing rage in his red eyes. "That's all you've got to say? 'I'm sorry'? You think you're getting away with this?"

Pit looked up, about to reply that it wasn't his fault he did that in the first place, when he noticed a figure looming over Dark Pit and threatening to hit him behind the head. "BEHIND YOU!" the Angel of the Sun gasped, and he jumped to his feet to push his other half away—no second thoughts. Because he had basically taken Dark Pit's place, Pit was abruptly hit across the face and sent to the ground, moaning in pain; his temple had been cut open and his vision started to get blurry. The dark shadow, which was in fact that red corrupted angel who petrified him in fear, stood straight before him and glanced down at Pit with a scornful smirk on the lips. For being Palutena's little protégé, he wasn't very strong. He had expected to put up a fight against that one, since he was supposedly the 'Angel of the Sun' that the prophecies revolved around… Too bad for him, he'd just have to kill him that way. That did make things easier for him, but… it was way less fun.

Thus decided to act upon Pit's weakness, the corrupted angel rose his weapon in his direction and charged a shot straight for his head. Pit sighed and looked down, defeated; there was no way he could roll away from it this time.

Once Dark Pit was back on his feet, he grunted and spun around. "Pit, seriously, what in the Underworld is wrong with y—Oh. It's you," he snarled when he caught sight of the red angel. The latter looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, holding his weapon and menacing to pulverize Pit on the spot. Dark Pit rolled eyes and placed his hands on his hips. "C'mon, shoot him! If you dare. We both know you won't do it." The red angel looked at him as if to say: 'You wanna bet?' and glanced back at Pit, who was pleading him not to kill him with wide, tearful blue eyes. The possessed monster smirked and was about to pull the trigger of his cannon, but something prevented him from actually doing it—something within himself, which was forcing him to stop by paralyzing him. Dark Pit spectated the scene, satisfied. "See? Your soul is still fighting off the darkness eating you, which means that you won't kill Pit. That's one thing I've learnt about your kind: you're aggressive but you're not murderers."

The red angel gritted his teeth and lowered his weapon. He glared at Dark Pit, as if to ask how he knew that and he didn't himself, and the dark version of Pit provided him with an answer: "You see, I have reliable sources. In my nightmares at night, I see an angel who is corrupted, just like you. And he can't kill me. He gives me lots of helpful information on how to beat you guys to the bone." Medusa's commander's eyes widened in terror and he glanced at Pit, who was slowly getting up despite the blood covering half of his face and temporarily blinding his right eye. In the meantime, Dark Pit turned to Magnus and asked him to take Psyche to safety—although he profoundly despised her for kissing his angel.

"Okay, but be careful, dark angel," the human nodded, and after he had received a slight nod from Dark Pit, he forced the woman on her fee and pulled her towards a restaurant. Once he was there, he demanded that every human being stayed in one of the shops, because a violent fight was probably going to unleash and they couldn't stand in the way.

Outside, in the middle of the park, the red angel grasped his weapon, which looked very similar to an EZ-cannon except that it was black and red, and charged a shot that he aimed at Dark Pit. If he knew how to kill him, then he was the biggest threat between his two opponents. Pit wouldn't be difficult to deal with if he managed to kill the 'love of his life', since he would be too heartbroken to fight off! However, what Medusa's commander hadn't planned was that Dark Pit was quick on his feet. Thus, he narrowly avoided the attack perpetrated against him, and the blast hit the statue and beheaded its human figure. Dark Pit winced and shrugged one shoulder. "Sorry Adonis, it was you or me."

The red angel felt rage boiling inside him and shot another time, only to miss again and nearly destroy the fountain again. Dark Pit took out his staff and dived to the side when he was nearly hit by a fully charged blast of energy. He rolled on the ground, in front of Pit, and looked over his shoulder to make sure that he was alright. Pit eyed at him, tears running down his left cheek, and nodded. In spite of his blood-gushing wound and his heavy breathing, he was just fine and ready to kick that black-hearted angel back to the Underworld. Dark Pit smiled poorly and turned his attention to his enemy, right before he was shot in the chest. The dark version of Pit was sent crashing into the fountain's statue, in Aphrodite's arms. He grunted, spitted some blood, and his wings fluttered. "Thanks Mom for helping me out, love you."

Dark Pit pulled himself out of there, looking at Pit as he started to put up a fight against the monstrous angel. For the time being, he only cared about deflecting his enemy's attacks, and sometimes he would lash out at him and try to slice his arm off. Even though he wasn't succeeding in doing that, Dark Pit had to say that he was very tactical and intelligent in his positioning. He was always ready to jump to the side, always on the move, and every single time he extended his bow, it was to reflect a blast and was extremely precise for someone who only had one eye open. Dark Pit joined in and held out his staff, shooting their opponent right in the neck. The enemy fell down, laying on the ground, and Pit ran towards him to make sure that he wasn't dead. Blood was pouring out of him like the water of the fountain, and the corrupted monster had a hard time keeping his eyes open.

The Angel of the Sun offered a hand to help him up, but even with that there was no way that he could stand up. His legs were wiggly and his body shook like a leaf. Dark Pit wasn't stupid, he knew what was happening: he was dying from blood loss, and very quickly. The dark angel stretched his teal wings, happy with the outcome of the fight, but Pit turned to him, despair glistening in his open ocean orb. "Please, Pittoo… We need to save him."

"So he can start attacking us again?" Dark Pit replied ironically, then he laughed quite humorlessly before pursuing: "No way. I'll let his blood paint this pale graveled path, it looked ugly anyways."

"Pittoo!"

"Nope, still a no from me."

The red angel, lying on the ground, turned paler and paler as heat was leaving his body. His blood was staining the ground and formed a red puddle around his head. His body became slack, and soon his eyes closed for good.

Pit's own filled with tears and he fell to his knees next to the corpse of one of his corrupted copies, mourning his death. Even though he was their enemy, he didn't deserve this fate: his spirit had been fighting this whole time, all of that for nothing? All of that to be killed off in horrible circumstances, bleeding out on the ground? The angel of light's stomach heaved at the thought and grasped the dead angel's hand. He squeezed it and murmured: "Find peace in the Heavens…" before turning to Dark Pit.

His darker version was checking in on the humans, telling them that they could come out now, and soon returned by Pit's side along with Magnus and Psyche. Dark Pit rested a hand on his lighter half's shoulder and rubbed it to comfort him. His usually cold rubies were overflown with sadness when he said: "You have to let him go. Now his soul is at peace, it'll find its way back to its original dimension, free from Medusa's control."

"We should've saved him, Pittoo…" Pit whimpered, and he couldn't help but eye back at the corpse and sob louder. It felt like one of these dreams, where you saw your body lying on the ground in front of you, and you were powerless and couldn't save your own self. Since this angel looked so much like him—like them, it was… horrendously painful to overcome his death; it felt like their own, to some extent. A part of them had died along with that angel. The Universe was unbalanced now, because of it… Unless it wasn't? Dark Pit had said that his soul would find its way back to its original dimension… did that count too? As long as each and every soul was in the world that they belonged in, the Universe would be fine? Maybe… It didn't seem so strange, at least.

Magnus looked at Psyche, who showed nothing of what she truly felt. Dark Pit, on the other hand, was much more expressive and knelt down by Pit's side to take him in his arms. His own eyes were sweating with tears that he couldn't blink back any longer. The first death was always the most difficult one to go through, but they would do this together. No matter what had happened with Psyche before, it didn't matter anymore; they had to stick together to get through this. They couldn't let a human girl get between them. Pit looked at Dark Pit and sniffed, wiping off his tears with his hands and rubbing his eyes. He had almost forgotten that his face was covered in blood, and thus his entire arm was painted with it as well. That, and his clothes, which were stained with red spots.

Dark Pit glanced at him and snorted. "Well, someone needs a shower."

"Mainly new clothes…"

"Too expensive, plus I like you in those; that torn scarf gives you that rebellious vibe which I am quite fond of. So, a shower," the dark angel insisted. Pit sighed reluctantly but nodded and wiped his face again, to ensure that he could open his right eye. He pulled himself up, following Dark Pit's movement, and turned to face both Magnus and Psyche. The woman had vanished again, probably she had run off to another town, whereas Magnus was still waiting with his sword over his shoulder.

Dark Pit invited them to follow his lead and they began walking again, making their way to a pond with clear water. There, they bathed together, trying to get over what they had witnessed. They barely realized that they had left the corpse unattended, for all humans to see, for they didn't really care either way. As long as Pit and Dark Pit remained under cover, with their cloaks over their wings, they would be fine. Pit talked about the wound on his temple, that bothered him because it kept on bleeding, and Dark Pit proposed to be a vampire and suck it for him—to which Pit reacted with a horrified: 'NO!'—but aside from that, their conversation was very simple and straight-forward.

Magnus told them that they shouldn't waste too much time in the pond if they wanted to go to that feast, and that was when he met Dark Pit's curious eyes. Perplexed by the unfamiliar glimmer in the dark angel's orbs, he decided to let him ask whatever question was on his mind. And that he did: "What are they celebrating? Because I'm not into parties."

"Well, today's Christmas, so," Magnus said casually, then he realized that the two angels had no clue of what he was talking about. The human frowned, beyond bewildered, and told them that yes, it was indeed Christmas already—he even added that he knew that time was flying fast with all that they had to take care of, but still, they should've been aware. Pit chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head, admitting that he had no idea what that was, and Dark Pit only nodded to what his twin said. Magnus had to say that he hadn't expected that in the least; were they not watching the human world all the time? How could they not know about Christmas? Sure, it was a huge anachronism, since Christ wasn't even born yet nor was being conceived, but still, they should know about it! It was so widely spread around the human world, how could they not be aware?

Magnus blinked, astonished, and found himself to be quite at a loss for words. Was he meant to explain what the concept behind Christmas was? How could he word it simply? Oh, he knew! Enlightened by the author's voice resonating in his head, Magnus turned to his two angelic friends and said: "It's basically a day dedicated to the birth of a man who is not even born yet. Does that make sense?"

Pit blinked, confused, and Dark Pit raised an eyebrow to express the same thing. Magnus told them to drop the case and just follow him to the feast, which they did in spite of what he had thought. They grabbed their chitons and dressed up in a more 'classy' manner, with Dark Pit using his scarf to make a sort of sleeve to cover his right arm. He took off his cuffs, only wearing his thigh and arm rings. Indeed, he looked a lot more fancy, less ready to fight bad guys. It could look like he was heading to a party. Pit, on the other hand… didn't know what to do with his clothes. While his darker half was putting his cuffs in his backpack, the angel of light was still pondering on what to do.

Magnus suggested that he stayed like he usually was if it was that difficult, since he already looked outstanding, and earned a death glare from Dark Pit. Pit agreed that it was a better idea, since he didn't want to end up making a fool of himself.

After that, the three of them headed to the center of the town, where the party was meant to be held. The sun was setting in the distance and the two angels put on their cloaks, although they realized that they had switched and Dark Pit was raging about how 'light blue is for the weak'. Pit was pretty happy with his dark purple cloak and decided to keep it—mainly because it smelled like Dark Pit's cologne, but he wouldn't say it out loud. He voiced it to Magnus though, just not to his darker twin. They reached their destination and watched as humans gathered around a tall pine tree, decorating it with tinsels, lights and bulbs of all kinds and all colors.

The dark version of Pit looked rather unimpressed. "Wow, outstanding: a pine tree! Seriously, what am I doing here?" he mumbled.

His lighter half was gaping and gazing at the tree with wide eyes. Magnus looked at him and told him to get closer, to give the humans a hand, which he definitely decided to do. Pit ran up to the mortals and asked if he could do something.

Dark Pit observed him, biting his lower lip and blushing a little. Sure, it was getting cold, but Magnus wasn't dumb: he was leering at Pit, and quite openly at that. Standing farther from the crowd, next to a tree, Dark Pit retreated and watched the party with a bored look in his eyes. Magnus decided not to pay attention to him and joined everyone else to celebrate. The hundreds of humans that had gathered that night were, for the most part, males, but there were a handful of women who roamed around and made their way up to groups of men in order to ask for free drinks.

Pit glanced at everything and everyone, excited, though he tried to keep his wings from fluttering too much—it would be suspicious. The humans revolved around a huge stack of gift boxes, wrapped in elegant red and green paper. Intrigued, the angel walked up to it and squatted down to see that names were written on each of them. He gasped and started to look around, to see if one had his name on it—but of course it wasn't the case for those that he looked at, which he pouted about. Dark Pit watched him and smirked; what was he thinking? Humans didn't care about angels and Gods, they wouldn't make gifts for them. They were just called in times of need; they were shadows, nobody paid attention to them except when they needed favors to be granted.

Magnus walked towards a few women who talked to him, trying to get to know them better to see if he could mate with them. It was sickening him to look at these women as though they were merchandise, but… he had no choice. The fate of humanity as a whole was on his shoulders, and he couldn't mess it up. His friends counted on him; they had chosen him because they trusted him with the task. He would not disappoint them.

While his human friend was doing that, Pit was looking at the other humans surrounding him. Some of them were talking, others laughing, even singing for a small portion of them, and the light angel found himself smiling. It was so delightful to see everyone enjoying themselves with others of their kind. He sat next to the gift boxes, scanning the humans with his wide-opened blue orbs, and eventually a familiar figure struck his eye: Dark Pit. He was standing in the distance, under a tree, and glanced at everyone around with an air of detachment on his face.

Pit inhaled and pulled himself up on his feet, making his way towards him. When he noticed what he was doing, the dark angel stepped out of the shadows. His lighter half stopped when he was in front of him and reached for his hands, entwining their fingers. "Pittoo, I want to apologize for what you saw earlier. I think Eros knows her, she's called Psyche, and…"

"Shh," Dark Pit hushed him, and he leaned in to seal their lips in a chaste kiss. He pulled him in the shadows with him and they kept on kissing each other, eyes closed and breathing heavily. Dark Pit's arms wrapped around Pit's body and he held him close, never intending to let go; he was his', now and forevermore. No matter what would get in their way, no matter who would try to steal Pit from him, he would always come back to him and he'd be his' again. Dark Pit smiled at the thought and hungrily ate out those sweet lips, demanding access to his lighter version's mouth. Of course, it was granted, and the dark angel explored his lover possessively. After a moment, he let the other take his breath and smiled. "You're mine. I don't care about this Psyche human, she doesn't matter. What matters is me, what matters is you. And me without you doesn't exist. And you without me doesn't exist either. Got that?"

Pit nodded, enthralled by his darker half's words, and he kissed him again. Although he was still out of breath, he wanted to make the most of their intimate moment before it was interrupted—because of course it would be, he knew the author well enough to foresee it. As he had expected, Magnus walked up to them and cleared his throat. "You're not joining us?" he asked when the two angels turned to face him, quite startled even though they had seen it coming from miles away.

Dark Pit groaned and glared at Magnus. "You think I'm into partying with mortals? Excuse me, do we know each other?"

"Don't be like that, dark angel. Allow yourself to have fun! Santa will soon be here to hand out the gifts—perhaps there's one with your name on it!" Magnus beamed; they had rarely seen him so excited about something in the past.

Pit eyed at Dark Pit and almost begged him internally to accept to go there with him, and the dark angel rolled eyes. He glanced over to the stack of gifts and reluctantly accepted to come along. The human smiled and led them towards the crowd of humans, which was gathering around the gifts and waited for someone—the two angels supposed that it was this 'Santa' that they sought after. Pit dragged Dark Pit to the front, because he wanted to see everything up close, and his darker half told him to be careful, because he kept bumping into humans on the way. When he realized that the other wasn't listening, he cursed under his breath and kept quiet, frowning nonetheless. Soon, they were at the front, standing right next to the gifts. There were so many of them that even Dark Pit's eyes widened; that was quite the amount of people… Perhaps there was a chance that they would have something? Whoever this Santa was seemed to be a generous soul, so… why not hope?

A voice erupted from the crowd, saying: 'Oh oh oh!', and Dark Pit looked deadpanned. Pit giggled and told him to cheer up, snuggling up to him—that was efficient: the dark angel immediately smiled and hugged him close. With his back to Dark Pit's chest, the Angel of the Sun watched as a man with a big round belly made his way to the gifts in front of them. He had a long beard and thick eyebrows that almost fell in his eyes. He also wore a strange, red outfit with white furry straps on the edges. On his head, he had a hat which had a white fluffy pompom hanging from its tip.

Pit gazed at him with sparkling eyes whereas Dark Pit was, once again, very unsympathetic. The man stood next to the gifts and started calling out names, with the humans walking up and getting their gift. The look of pure bliss on their faces was enough to get Pit all pumped up about his own gift. What could it be? He hadn't asked for anything, but he still wanted to know what he would get. Dark Pit, on the other hand, was less than excited: he stared at the man with empty, unamused eyes. "Just what did I get myself into?"

"Aw, Pittoo, come on! Have a little fun! I wanna see your gift when you get it, by the way."

"No way, you'll steal it!" Dark Pit accused him, squinting his eyes.

Pit laughed and shook his head negatively. "No! I wouldn't do that!"

Dark Pit stared at him, knowing that he would, but didn't say anything. Before he could talk again, Magnus made their way up to his friends and showed them the gift that he had received. It was a box filled with chocolates and a postcard. The dark angel looked it at with a stern expression. The human told him that it was all he had ever wanted, since that gift card came from his mother, whom he hadn't seen in years and missed dearly. For him, it was proof that she was still alive and well, and that mattered more than any other gift in the world.

Dark Pit sniffed, unaffected, and turned back to look at Pit, who had made his way to that Santa guy because he had been called. He bounced in excitement and his darker version rolled eyes: he just couldn't stay still, could he? His lighter half clasped his hands when the man handed him his gift and took it, with much thanks to Santa of course. After that, he walked up to Dark Pit and showed his box to him. His twin raised an eyebrow and told him to open it, to see if it wasn't a joke and it wasn't empty. Pit's eyes shone with panic when he thought about the possibility, and he quickly got down on his knees to open the gift. It was actually very small, which brought even more fear to the angel's heart.

What he found inside was a little box. It was black, very soft under his fingers, but he couldn't help but wonder what was inside. Dark Pit saw it and took it from him, inspecting it and slightly opening it to see what was inside. After that, he put it away in his pocket and refused that Pit see it. The Angel of the Sun pouted, said that it was his gift and that he had the right to see what was inside, but his darker twin wouldn't have it. "You'll have it, only later," he assured him. Pit sighed and tried to trail his hand down to Dark Pit's pocket, but he was caught red-handed and his darker half intercepted his hand. "Be patient, Pit. Trust me, it's worth it."

"But what is it?" Pit asked, desperate.

Dark Pit rolled his eyes and said: "It starts with 'w'. I'll give it to you at some point, for now I have to keep it."

"Aw, but whyyyy~?"

"Don't sulk!" his darker twin snapped at him, his cheeks flushed beyond what Pit had ever seen from him before. Was it the content of that box that embarrassed him so much? What could it be? Now he wanted to know even more! Pit sighed, curved his lip to try and win his other half's pity, but it didn't work out as well as he'd hoped. Magnus told Pit to be patient, since he also had seen what was contained in that box, and Pit had to give in and accept to wait.

Santa called out Dark Pit and the dark angel raised an eyebrow, not moving an inch. He didn't want gifts, he didn't need them; they were stupid and always disappointed him. The necklace for example: what a great gift, now Medusa was trying to murder them to get it. Every time he was gifted something, it would be a trap, and he was growing sick of them. Santa called him again and soon realized that it was him, there, standing at the front row of the crowd. He walked up to him, smiling, and handed him his small gift box without further ado. Dark Pit glared at him but took it, not caring about thanking him. He expected a Mimicutie, to be frank. Thus, he shook the box, making sure that it wasn't a trap, and heard something bouncing in it.

Pit snatched it from his hands, telling him that he'd have to wait to open it—because he was still bitter about his own gift—and Dark Pit shrugged his shoulders. He couldn't care any less, so he'd let Pit have his fun.

Dark Pit walked off once the crowd was dispersed and went back to his tree, but he saw that two humans were making out there. Pissed off, he glanced around and found that all of the trees were used as cover for lovers in heat. He sighed and made his way to the table where Pit and Magnus were chatting, sitting with them since it was still better than being with random humans. Magnus was reading his postcard to Pit, who was still complaining about his gift that he really wanted. Dark Pit kept silent, focused on something else, when music rang in their ears. Couples stood up and walked to the center, where there was a sort of dancing floor—at least, it was an open space with nothing to bump into—along with lighting effects to set up a mood. The music itself was loud and obnoxious.

Dark Pit cringed and hesitated to retreat in a hidden corner where nobody would see him, but Pit tugged at his arm and encouraged him to come and dance with him. The dark angel glared at him and articulated well when he said: "NO."

Pit pouted and let go of his arm, going to the dancing floor on his own. Magnus eyed at Dark Pit, insistently. "Why didn't you go with him?"

"I don't dance," Dark Pit replied, pissed off, and he watched Pit having fun with a few humans. "Even with a knife to my throat, I wouldn't dance." He turned around and gasped when he realized that Magnus was holding a knife to his throat. The dark angel glowered at him, asked him if he was serious, and all that the human did was bring the blade closer to his skin.

Dark Pit grumbled 'fine' and stood up, shaking from head to toe; he had never once danced in his lifetime, how was he supposed to do it? Fortunately for him, the author was always a life savior in those conditions: with a snap of her fingers, she taught him the basic dance moves. Dark Pit cursed at all the Gods he knew the name of and walked towards Pit, who was surprised to see him there. The light angel smiled at him and joined their hands as they stood in the middle of the dance floor. Of course, even though they hadn't started dancing yet and could just be talking there to bother everyone, the spotlights focused on them. Dark Pit sighed at how heavily cliché this all was but didn't mention it: now he knew how to dance and he was going to make the most of it—since he didn't know how long that Godly-insufflated knowledge would last and he didn't want to make a fool of himself with Pit in his arms.

The light angel chuckled and then a slow started—it was one of these songs that the humans dedicated for lovers, so that they could dance together and astonish everyone with how connected they were. Pit made the first move, snuggling up to Dark Pit's chest and resting his head on his beating heart. "I'm glad you've joined in."

"You can thank the author for that, and also Magnus who literally threatened my life."

Pit laughed and nodded, saying that he would make sure to pay him a drink to thank him. After that, he made a step forward, which forced Dark Pit to step back, and thus they started dancing. It was nothing fancy, nothing sensational: they just kept on rocking back and forth, sometimes to the sides too to add some diversity, and looked at each other. They devoured each other's eyes, not even caring about where their feet would lead them. Pit felt himself transported away into a whole different world, where only himself and Dark Pit existed, and found himself enjoying it. He didn't think about Palutena, nor about the Centurions, nor about Medusa and the Days of Darkness looming over their heads. No, all that he thought about was Dark Pit; his eyes, his hair, his wings that he couldn't see but could imagine wrapped around their bodies to keep them warm. Pit sighed in ease and blushed.

His other half led the dance, since he was decently dancing with all these newly-acquired moves, and held Pit close to his heart. An arm wrapped around his waist, he pulled him in and their noses touched. They kept on dancing, under the spotlights which followed their course—just as in those romantic Disney movies—and the music grew more and more dramatic.

Pit noticed that Magnus was looking at them with a huge grin on the lips and waved at him. The human mouthed: 'Keep dancing!' and the light angel nodded, focusing his attention on his darker half. Dark Pit had closed his eyes, enjoying the moment more than he dared tell, and eventually looked at Pit with two glistening ruby orbs. There was so much affection, so much love in their shine that Pit almost drowned in it. The Angel of the Sun smiled, chuckling, and their noses touched again. The pair dived into each other's eyes, never looking away, and at the end of the song, they shared a kiss that caused the audience to applaud.

Dark Pit drew back and felt all knowledge of how to dance slip away from him. He shrugged his shoulder and looked at Pit, who was delighted that they got to dance on that slow together; it felt right, it felt good. His heart was beating fast, pounding in his eardrums, and his cheeks were redder than the bubbles on the pine tree. The dark angel pulled him off of him and went back to his seat, quite embarrassed because everyone was telling him how good he had been on the dancing floor and how romantic their performance had been. He cringed when he heard these words and was on the verge of snapping at the humans. He successfully made it to their table without losing his temper, and eyed at Magnus with a glare.

The human smirked. "Well, if that wasn't the cutest dance that this world has seen! It will be an inspiration for later generations, I am convinced of it!"

"Shut up?!" Dark Pit snapped at him—that time had been too much, and he couldn't take it anymore. The dark angel shook his head, irritated, and glanced at Pit who was back to dancing with other humans. He had found a little group which he fitted in, and they all laughed and danced together on folk music. Dark Pit smiled widely and admired his lover with gleaming eyes: he was so adorable. Sure, he could definitely hate him sometimes, but he had to admit that he was fascinating. He was his little ray of sunshine. Never would he let him go; he had made that mistake a few times and it drove him to the brink of madness. Now that he was reunited with him, nobody could stand in their way.

Magnus smiled and asked for a drink, and Dark Pit joined in, demanding a beer asap. The waitress nodded and went to the other tables after she had taken their order. She looked decently good: brown, wavy hair that stopped at her shoulders, and clear blue eyes that sparkled with joy. Her skin was fairer than his own, which highlighted her beauty even more. Maybe she was the perfect fit for Magnus—more than Psyche, that was, and even more than Charis, that girl from his nightmare whom he wasn't going to forget about. Dark Pit smirked and nodded towards the waitress, and Magnus immediately understood the message. "No, dark angel, she's like 14. Plus, you should know that I don't really like brunettes."

"Then I can't help but wonder why you like Pit. He's like 14 and he's definitely a brunet," Dark Pit said—more to himself than anything, but it still caused the human to widen his eyes in disbelief.

"What makes you say that I like him?" Magnus asked.

Dark Pit rolled eyes and snorted. He folded his arms, laying back in his chair, and explained with a stern voice: "You're not very discreet. I can see that you occasionally ogle at him, and you also flirt with him from time to time. I must say that I'm not delighted with that behavior."

"If so, I apologize," Magnus said frankly, looking down. He felt ashamed, but he couldn't help himself; for some reason, now that he was looking for a mate, he realized how much he cared for Pit and didn't want to let go. Hope filled his heart every time Pit looked at him, even if it was to yell at him afterwards. Since he knew that, once he'd be with a new mate, he wouldn't be able to share private moments with him, he wanted… to cling to them. He wanted Pit, he desired him, because he ensured security. And he was also so… solar. His whole personality was beaming all the time, and he loved that about him. Magnus cleared his throat and realized that Dark Pit was glaring at him. "I really don't want to seduce him, I somehow just came to realize now how much he really means to me. Since I'm supposed to find someone else, I understand that I never wanted to before… because I love him."

"Well hands off!" Dark Pit warned him, very serious. He eyed over his shoulder and saw that Pit was coming back. He quickly looked off to the side and pretended to be lost in thoughts when the light angel walked up to them with a loud: 'Hi!'. The dark angel glanced at him, uninterested, and went back to his fake thinking.

Magnus, on the other hand, smiled at Pit and invited him to sit down with them. They had to enjoy the rest of the night while they could, because the next day would be dedicated to searching for a mate. Pit nodded and started talking about the few women that were there. Dark Pit came back on the subject of the waitress, rather persistently, and Magnus groaned before he said that no, he was not interested in her, because he didn't feel her. The dark angel shook his head, told him that he couldn't afford to be picky, but Pit intervened and said that it was up to the human to decide. After that, Dark Pit refused to talk and folded his arms, looking off. Magnus and Pit kept on talking, scanning the different girls and chatting about them.

But what they didn't expect was to be abruptly interrupted by a cry of terror amongst the crowd.

The two angels and their human friend looked up, worried that something was happening and that the Underworld army was coming, and saw a woman standing there, next to the dancing floor. She wore a long dress, which looked like a wedding gown, torn apart below the knees. Her wavy red hair fell down to the middle of her back, and her gray eyes were flooded with tears. Her face, as well as her clothes, was covered with dust, dry tears and blood alike. "The Underworld is on its way, they killed my groom!" she claimed.

Dark Pit's eyes widened in terror when he saw her. "Charis."

To be continued…