A Walk Among Giants, Chapter 37: Thorn in my side.
Welcome! Welcome, have a seat, read a little, enjoy your stay. Why don't you?
And an extra jolly shoutout to the reviewers!
UltimateCCC: oh because a lot of extensive work went into removing any and all trace of that incident. But who knows maybe they missed something hehehehehehehe…
TheShadowStarr23: there's a lot to unpack lets-a see here…
Yeah, yeah Lucina and DP have a messy thing going on and trying to untangle it is tedious work indeed. And also yeah DP did because he was basically expecting a Lucina 1.0 type scenario, because you know he's with "2.0" apparently. And that's soon to all change trust me… *wink *wink Heh.
Oh no that wasn't shipping, more so a comprehension about the importance of companions, I was worried it would look that way so I tried to word it as best as I can to steer it in the right direction, but I guess in the end there was no way?
Ah yes lovely couples, not my strong suit but glad I nailed it lol.
Well what better way to get info than a time tested "torture" method. And yes he felt bored but then quickly regretted that, I mean you can't get the thrill you get being in smash anywhere else.
Lissa, yeah out of everyone there she is definitely the one to best get along with sadistic Dark Pit. Luce- hehehe ha! I'm using that! Thanks! Also I too craved smores after lol, these things are good!
Well that's up to fate at this point, but I will say this and I strongly hinted at it too, but there is a storm coming. And yes he did feel bad but not for the reasons you might think…
Well again I'll say this, shit is about to go down very soon. And gotcha read ya loud and clea, one order of prank with the side of funny.
She wiped the tears from her eyes that were streaming down like a waterfall. She took in big heaps of air as if that would bring her internal temperature down. "How do I always end up in these situations?" She says while passing a handkerchief over her eyes, worst yet is her nose started to get runny as well. She just groaned while slamming her hand on the table, "why wont it stop!?" She protested.
"It's not like the fires of the underworld are just going to blow out blue" Pittoo remarked as he poured some more hot sauce on his chicken leg and took another big bite of it.
"I hate you so much right now" She harshly whispered to him before she took a vase with flowers on it and threw them on the floor before pouring the water in the vase all over her face. Pit was in the back of the room face down on the floor having passed out from banging his head on the wall. Why? You may ask, well, Pittoo pulled out some hot sauce and challenged all the heroes and heroines present to a taste of courage, and they thought "how bad can it be?" well the answer was: BAD, very very bad!
Even Palutena was starting to feel its effects as indicated by her more heavy and rapid breathing. All were suffering except for one certain individual who had an ace up his sleeve. Chrom grabbed a fistfull of ice from the ice bucket and started crunching on it vigorously to try and soothe the heat. Sumia however, knowing better skipped out on the challenge and was now fanning Chrom with an empty plate while he looked like he was about to combust into flames at any moment, up till this point she didn't think it was humanly possible to be that red. Chrom however stopped crunching ice when he noticed the person across from him was so calm even after trying Pittoo's hot sauce.
"I don't mean to sound so rash or rude for that matter but, how the hell are you so calm!?" Chrom exclaimed while Marth calmly took another bite of his food.
"I cannot count how many times Roy has spiked my meals in the past with some sort of ailment," Marth said calmly with a casual shrug. "The majority of which ended up being some sort of excessive spice."
"Well I think right now you should be thanking that man!" Chrom says while chomping down another fistfull of ice cubes.
"Oh I'll be sure to send him a fruit basket later in the week as he's fond of those, '' Marth replied while Chrom buried his face in the ice bucket.
"Someone kill me! Please!" Lucina whined while now drinking water from a large vase, at this point she didn't care, water was water.
"Lucy! That's no way to speak!" Sumia says but Lucina was in too much agony to pay her any mind. And of course her attention instantly went back to Chrom who started licking the side of the cold bucket now to cool down his tongue.
"What did you do to me!" Lucina says roughly grabbing Pittoo by the shirt before she went bag to chugging water from a vase.
"I told you guys, this was not for the faint of heart," Dark Pit says, taking another bite of his chicken with a big smile on his face. "Also FYI you guys are lucky you are in this dimension at the moment, under normal circumstances this stuff would've killed you by now." He adds while his shoulders hopped a little as he tried to stifle his laughter.
"I never seen Chrom cry like this before…" Lissa says while staring blankly at her brother.
"I'm not crying, I'm leaking!" He says in protest while wiping his eyes on the table cloth.
"Gross!" She replied plainly.
"Ohhh naga I promise to be good if you just make it stop!" Raven says before screaming into a handkerchief shortly after.
"Oh come now Raven, we've been through worse" Robin says while patting her back. Although he himself looked like he was about to burst into flames. Worst yet there was steam coming from atop his head somehow.
Just then the doors slam open and Caeda comes rushing in with a tray of tiny paper cups filled with a purple gooey liquid. "Ok I got that antidote from Roy!'' she said before everyone jumped from their seats and rushed at her.
*later*
"I'd rather be Grimas puppet than go through that again!" Raven says while taking sips of water.
"Oh now you're just exaggerating" Robin states while eating a popsicle now.
"No she's right, I rather face that monster again then to go through that horror" Chrom says leaning back in his seat fanning himself with a plate.
"You're ok now, don't worry" Sumia assured him while running a cold cloth on his face.
"It's a shame really" Pittoo says, "it's really good once you get the hang of it" he says pouring some on a burger now and he even puts a few drops into his drink.
"Alright putting all this unpleasantness behind us, Dark Pit was it?" Chrom begins as he sits up in his chair.
"Yeah?" The dark angel replied while arching an eyebrow and taking a sip of his drink.
"Tell us more about yourself, Lucina hasn't really told us much about you despite being her partner." He says while Lucina awkwardly shifts in her seat.
"Well…" She says and then looks towards Dark Pit who just gave a blank look.
"I practically came from this thing" he says while motioning towards his light counterpart.
"Heeeey!" Pit says in a half whine.
"Oooh! Tell us about how you two met? I bet there was an instant bond, correct?" Sumia pipes up while Dark Pit clears his throat.
"Uhh.. well…" he begins thinking back to how the first thing they did was have a confrontation. "We kinda just bumped into each other."
"Yeah that was pretty much it" Lucina chimes up while throwing her arms up and laughing nervously. "And then surprise, surprise, who should be there the day partners are assigned? This guy!" She says while patting Dark Pit on the shoulder and still laughing nervously.
"Ahhh see, it was like fate!" Sumia says all the while Robin mutters to himself.
"Actually funny story" Palutena says setting down her drink, "I was originally-"
"Ooops!"
"PITTOO!" She exclaimed as he spilled his drink all over her.
"Uh Butterfingers…" he says while shrugging his shoulders.
"Ugh, Pittoo this is my favorite blouse!" She complained while trying to wipe herself off. "Excuse me, I have to go change before it gets stained." She adds and quickly leaves the room while the duo breathed a huge sigh of relief, the goddess could've possibly said a little too much and made everything uncomfortable.
"So what were your first encounters like?" Pittoo quickly changed the subject while motioning at Chrom and Sumia.
"Oh she punched him in the face..." Lissa quickly interjects before taking a bite of a burger.
"Lissa!" Chrom says while Pittoo shot up in his seat excitedly chuckling.
"No way she punched me in the face too!" He says while grabbing Lucina by the shoulder and shaking her. The smile on her face completely vanished as she turned to give him a wide eyed look. As if to say "you did not just say that!?" with her gaze.
"*gasp* Lucina!" Her mother said in shock.
"It was an accident!" She complained before glaring daggers at the dark angel.
"How do you accidentally punch someone in the face?" Caeda asked rather suspiciously.
"I was moving my hand… And… His face just happened to be there…" Lucina says getting quieter as she lowered herself in her seat.
"Well we all make mistakes right, Sumia?" Chrom says while looking over at his wife.
"It was a simple mistake!" she says while shrugging her shoulders, "I mean sure, normally you would slap someone to bring them to their senses. But how was I supposed to know that at the time!" She argued while Pittoo silently laughed to himself, this was turning out to be one of the best dinners he's had.
"Yeah… And how was Lucina supposed to know Dark Pit's face was going to be there?" Lissa says while motioning towards the duo.
"I mean we all make mistakes once in a while, Lissa once accidentally lost a box full of snakes she had been collecting that all ended up in Chrom's tent, I never seen him move so fast before…" Raven adds while Chrom instantly turns towards the blonde.
"That was you!?" He says in disbelief.
"Raven!" Lissa says.
"What if one of those was venomous? You could've killed me!" Chrom adds while burying a finger in his chest.
"Relax, I had whats her face? check all of them beforehand." She assured him while waving him off.
"Oh, I uh, didn't know other Lissa did that too…" Raven says.
"This just keeps getting better!" Pittoo remarks with the biggest smile on his face.
"Well it's not so bad anymore they've been in partner counseling as of late" Marth says motioning towards the duo with his fork. Lucina had forgotten about Marth, of course he'd bring things up, worse yet he's a sitting member in the Elite Six, so of course he'd know literally everything. And it's not like either of them could 'accidentally' spill their drink on him, he was across the table from them.
"Counseling for what?" Sumia asked, completely surprised.
"Their cooperation, or lack thereof" Robin says with a shrug.
"Well we all have a bit of a rough patch when it comes to partners,I mean I'm pretty sure it's no easy feat being partnered with the king of evil!" Lucina fired back, but he just shrugged.
"Surprisingly not, his ideals may be a little extreme. However, he's not unreasonable." Robin says while Lucina grips the fork in her hand tighter.
"Yes of course the man who killed countless innocents in presue of power, and constantly plots to muder one of your close friends constantly is surely totally reasonable." Lucina says while Robin just set his utensils down and leaned back in his seat.
"Oh boy…" Raven said under her breath.
"Well, I'm sure clashing personalities is a constant factor regarding pairings. I mean no two individuals will ever think the same so-" Chrom began before Robin cut him off abruptly.
"Oh as opposed to one who may question authority constantly and has no problem causing stirrings among peers." Robin states as a matter of fact.
"I'm sure it's all fine now though, we're all good chums!" Raven says quite audibly before laughing nervously and putting a tight hold on Robin's arm.
"Yeah we wouldn't want to be an anchor to anything, or anyone for that matter." Lucina says while looking Robin straight in the eyes.
"Not at all, and we surely wouldn't want to pester anyone over pointless bygones either." he says, remaining completely stoic. And Lucina's hands could be seen starting to visibly shake by now in anger, but she kept an overall normal composure regardless.
"Ugh tell me about it, Pit still brings up the time I accidentally ate his fudgesicle last summer." Pittoo says completely oblivious to the other two feuding.
"It was really hot that day, and I clearly wrote my name on it too!" Pit replied and crossed his arms.
"See what I mean?" He says looking around, "it was just a fudgesicle!" Pittoo remarked but Pit just shook his head and grumbled to himself.
"In the end though, as long as we can come to a mutual understanding like reasonable beings, it shouldn't matter what predicaments our little incidents get us in." Caeda adds.
"Yeah apparently understanding can be a very tall order for some." Lucina says while once again, eyeing Robin.
"Yes indeed some get too caught up in their own convoluted thoughts and become completely self absorbed." Robin replied casually.
"Wow, you guys met some very stubborn people before" Pit says innocently while cutting up a steak into little pieces.
"Try straight up asshole," Lucina says.
"Lucy!" Sumia says in shick, but her daughter was too busy glaring daggers at the tactician to pay her any mind, again.
"Yeah 'cause that's clearly a discernible thing coming from you" Robin replied while Raven kicked him under the table, or at least tried.
"Ow!" Chrom suddenly exclaimed while looking under the table.
"Oh I'm terribly sorry about that!" Raven quickly blurts out, completely shocked, "m-my leg was just cramping up, I didn't mean to hit you, a-are you alright?" She says while the blunette slowly rubbed his leg.
"Oh it's quite alright" he assured her while still slowly rubbing his leg and she turned from him in embarrassment.
"A clear example of the fact that we do things that don't often mean what others might come to believe, even if that concept is hard for one individual to comprehend." Robin adds while looking at Lucina. This was followed by a loud crash and everyone turned towards the blunette.
"Um, that was my glass…" Pittoo says while pointing at Lucina's balled up fist as she had tightly gripped and crushed a drinking glass in her hand.
"Lucy, are you alright?" Her mother quickly asked. Lucina let go of the glass and the pieces just clanged on the table.
"It's alright I'll just get another one" Pittoo says, calling over one of the Mii's.
"Are you alright?" Caeda asked as she looked over Lucina's hand that had crushed the glass.
"I'm fine, I'm just" she says while looking at her hand, "I was just so lost in thought I hadn't realized" she says.
"Heh and then everyone thinks i'm the clumsy one" Pittoo says while pouring himself a new drink.
"What kind of scary thoughts are you having?" Lissa says while looking at the broken glass on the table.
"It's actually a thing she does, she once tore my closet door right off its hinges being lost in her thoughts." Pittoo says before taking a bite of his food.
"Well we all make silly mistakes don't we?" Raven blurts out and laughs nervously to herself. She shrunk in her seat however when Chrom turned towards her
"A little mistake never hurts anybody," Marth says.
"Speak for yourself..." Chrom said under his breath rubbing his sore leg while the tactician across from him hid her face in embarrassment.
"And some mistakes keep hurting" Lucina sneered while looking at Robin once again.
"Well no need to get hung up on past failures either" Caeda says calmly.
"Yeah wouldn't want to stir the pot with all the ways you failed huh" Lucina says while keeping her gaze fixated on the tactician.
"Still gotta make your own choices though, living just on taking blind orders is just no way to live." Pittoo interjects.
"Yeah imagine having to live with that fact" Lucina says, directing it to a certain someone.
"Speaking of failures, isn't that the only reason you're here now Lucina?" Robin just flat out states.
"Robin!" Raven quickly exclaimed followed by the loud scraping of a chair.
"How dare you, you fucking bastard!" Lucina shouts as she jumps from her seat making it crash onto the floor as she slammed her hands on the table making the room go dead quiet.
"Lucina..." her mother breathed out slowly, completely shocked at her foul language. But the bluenette just turned and left the room by slamming the doors open.
"Forgive me everyone I was out of line I don't know what came over me…" Robin says as he stood from his seat and bowed to everyone apologetically before he too left the room, albeit in a more calmly manner.
"Robin!" Raven calls out as she stood up and walked after her twin wanting to know why he had a sudden outburst like that.
"What just happened?" Chrom said while staring forward completely stunned.
"Hey guys, what did I miss?" Palutena walks back into the room completely oblivious. "Why does everyone look so serious?"
*later that evening*
There was an after dinner gathering in the cafeteria where smashers and their guests had gathered for desserts. There was commotion everywhere as well as a large line in the back with many in lines for the different assortments of delicacies. And to no one's surprise the pudding line was the longest and more staffed. But of course not everyone was entirely present because of a certain event at dinner.
Lucina currently had her head buried in her hands while leaning forward in a large sofa chair. She was currently sitting in one of the common rooms upstairs. Next to her was her Mother who was currently stroking her daughter's hair gently. Caeda was in the back tending to the fire in the large chimney in front of the sitting area.
"Can we drop this, PLESE!" Lucina pleads, lifting her head up to face her mother.
"Lucina, this isn't something we can just drop" Caeda replies, earning a long groan from her great granddaughter.
"And why am I here?" Dark Pit says from the back in an area not illuminated by the fire.
"Well you're part of the problem, we'll get to you in a sec" Sumia says sternly with a held up finger and he just sits back down and crosses his arms.
"Fine" he says while Sumia turns back to her daughter.
"Why am I the one getting hounded while that ass gets to go about his day!?" She protests.
"Why are you so hostile towards Robin anyway? And not to worry, I told your father to have a word with him." Sumia says.
"HA! That's going to end hysterically!" Pittoo says from the back.
"What?" Sumia says while Lucina quickly stands up.
"Mother you didn't?!" She blurts out.
"What's wrong?" She says confused.
"Erm, Sumia" Caeda said while the brunette looked towards everyone confused.
"Do you even know what these two have been bickering about?" Dark Pit said with an amused look on his face.
"Yeah, from what I heard it's just a misunderstanding, no? Nothing to have a falling out over right?" Sumia replies.
"Sumia, your daughter and Robin came head to head over some affairs of the heart." Caeda explains.
"Oh… OHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sumia quickly realized what happened and then her eyes went wide. "Uhhh if you'll excuse me real quick I need to go find your father!" Sumua says and quickly rushes out the door.
"Why bother?" Pittoo began while looking at his wrist, "judging by how much time has passed I'd say your boyfriend is in the middle of getting skewered at the moment." The dark angel remarked while snickering to himself. Lucina just placed her arms on her hips and gave him a 'seriously?' look while slowly shaking her head.
"In the meantime we can chat about what you guys got going on?" Caeda says and makes hand motions in the space between them.
*meanwhile*
Robin was sitting at one of the tables enjoying a cup of green Jell-O while conversing with Raven and the otherworldly Lissa. That is until Chrom came up behind his seat suddenly. "Say Robin, I believe you feel like taking a walk out back wouldn't you agree?" Chrom said while Robin just looked in thought.
"Oh I'm actually alright thanks" Robin replied.
"Yeah no I think you want to go." Chrom said, putting his hand firmly on Robin's shoulder.
"You know what? a walk sounds lovely!" Robin says getting up from his seat.
"Oh I can go for a walk too, it's a little crowded in here after all" Raven says as she too got up from her seat.
"Actually I was hoping It'd just be Robin and I for tonight, have ourselves a little guy talk." Chrom says, patting Robin on his chest slowly as he said it.
"Oh, well in that case I guess it's fine after all!" Raven replied with a slight frown and plopped back in her seat.
"Come Robin we have much to catch up on" Chrom says and he began to walk away.
"If you ladies will excuse me, I'll be back shortly" Robin excused himself as Chrom Halted and turned.
"Starting with my daughter" Chrom added sternly and then continued walking away. Robin swallowed nervously and then quickly handed Raven a small notebook he kept in his coat.
"Here's my notes on all our research, if I don't come back don't come looking for me. I doubt there'll be much left." He says while she looks up at him with a puzzled look. However he just nervously walked after the Bluenette waiting by the door.
"What?" Raven said and then simply looked down at the notebook in her hands. Lissa just burst out laughing again spitting her drink all over the table.
"Wow Raven these 'Smash Cam' skits you guys do are Hilarious! Especially how you managed to get it all in this tiny magic brick!" She says while Raven just sighed, she had just gotten Lissa addicted to technology.
Chrom and Robin walked out back in silence for what felt like hours to Robin who was tense. A gentle breeze was blowing through the vicinity while a full moon was illuminating the vicinity with its soft glow. "Relax Robin" Chrom said while nudging the tactician "I'm not here to berate you or anything" He assured.
"What is this 'walk' in regards to exactly?" Robin says after nervously clearing his throat.
"*Sigh* Robin I couldn't help but notice you and Lucina seem to be at odds of sorts. I'd hate to see my best friend and my daughter acting like they want to tear at each other." He says eventually coming to a halt in the gardens and taking a seat on one of the benches and looking at the scenery.
"You mean you don't know?" Robin asked, surprised.
"Well if I did, I wouldn't be here asking now would I?" Chrom replied while leaning back on the bench while Robin secretly let out a gigantic breath of relief.
"Oh, you don't know!" Robin said a little too enthusiastically than he would've liked.
"Well now care to fill me in?" Chrom said, motioning Robin to take a seat.
"Oh allow me to fill in the blanks for you" Marth says, seemingly coming out of nowhere and appearing before them.
"Marth, fancy meeting you here!" Robin says.
"Yeah I got a call from Caeda, we agreed it would be an excellent Idea if I'd mitigate this whole affair." Marth says.
"Actually yeah you could help fill in some of our blanks, you are after all the one Lucina confides in the most I presume" Chrom replies.
"Blanks?" Marth asked, puzzled.
"Yeah, as to why these two are feuding?" Chrom answers while motioning towards Robin.
"I see" Marth says, "well I don't know where I should begin?" Marth adds.
"Well the beginning would be a fine start I'd say" Chrom states with a chuckle.
"Well I'd say it began the night that Lucina-" Marth began before Robin clears his throat very exaggeratedly and then begins waving his hand rapidly back and forth across his neck. "Uh, she uh" Marth said, fumbling with his words as Robin silently pleaded with him.
"She…?" Chrom says motioning the prince to continue. Marth however went quiet and looked around confusing both Chrom and the tactician. Before either of them could ask however he held up his hand while looking at them.
"You can stop hiding now" Marth says while Chrom and Robin look at each other and then shrug. They hear rustling in the flowers behind them startling the two. Right before they see Raven poke out with a sheepish smile on her face.
"Uhhh hi guys…" She says waving awkwardly.
"Raven what were you doing in there?" Chrom asked.
"Sightseeing…" She shrugs her shoulders slightly.
"Raven!" Robin groaned lamely while pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Alright, fine! I just hate being excluded ok, and I was getting bored of watching everyone slurp Jell-O in there." She says while pointing back towards the mansion. "That and to be honest this just seemed way more interesting!" She adds while motioning towards Robin and Chrom.
"Wait, hang on!" Robin says, "you wanted to get your kicks out of this?" He says motioning back and forth between him and Chrom. "You're more demented than I thought!" He exclaimed in disbelief.
"Hey now!" She says crossing her arms, "you'd do the same in my position too! I know this for a fact because I am you!" She fires back.
"What's so thrilling about this, it's just casual talk?" Chrom chimed in while scratching his head in confusion.
"Oh come on who wouldn't want to know how Lucina's fathers would take the news that his daughter was in love with his chief tactician, and rather than admit his own feelings he decides to distance himself resulting in a very sick and twisted form of love/hate relationship." Raven said in the most casual manner. And in that moment Robin's eyes went wide as saucers and he turned to face his twin.
"WHAT!?" Chrom exclaimed and Robin quickly turned to face him with the most terrified expression as humanly possible…
*Inside*
"Mother please! I don't wish to discuss this further!" Lucina says getting up to leave but her mother blocks her way.
"Well who are you going to talk to about this, your father?" Sumia remarks.
"Gawds no!" The bluenette states, "and speaking of which didn't you say you had to leave to go find him?" Lucina asked.
"Not to worry I gave Marth a call and he's on it, he's dealt with some really tense situations before so he's got it handled." Caeda assures them.
"Alright see, stop getting side tracked. Now let's go over this one more time so we can get a more clear picture of the events that transpired." Sumia adds earning yet another long groan from her daughter.
"You may think it's a load of rubbish but getting things out in the open does indeed help, it'll do you no good holding it in." Caeda says calmly from the back.
"What else is there to say! I said what I had to say and he didn't care. What more can I do after I handed him my heart and he threw it back in my face!" She says, shaking her mother by the shoulders.
"I'm sure he didn't mean to be rude or anything, you probably misunderstood him." Sumia replies, making Lucina groan in frustration again.
"Actually what Lucina said, it's true, it was the talk of the mansion for weeks!" Pittoo says from the far back, still sitting in the shadows.
"Surely there must have been a misunderstanding, I mean Robin wouldn't hurt someone like that without having a care in the world." Sumia says while Lucina puts her arms to her side.
"I don't know what to tell you, maybe we didn't know him as well as we thought we did." Lucina simply states. "And I don't see why you think there's anything more to this."
"Because Lucy if there really wasn't, you wouldn't have all this built up rage and disdain for Robin. Meaning you still have some unresolved feelings you need to work out." Sumia argued and crossed her arms.
"That's actually true, you may have fooled the others but we practically saw how you two were verbally attacking each other earlier and thinking you were being subtle." Caeda adds, "and yes you being this petty towards him means you haven't had the closure you've needed yet." She finished.
"What do I even have to say to him huh? If anything he owes me an apology for the way he's been treating me! He's practically been avoiding me like a plaque ever since he insulted me!" Lucina ranted while jabbing a finger on her chest.
"Because everytime you two meet, you attack him" Pittoo calls out from the back again and she gives him a 'wtf' look.
"Who's side are you on!?" She exclaims.
"Mine! Duh!" He says nonchalant.
"I mean it's not hard to guess that seeing you gave him that neck wound!" Sumia adds and Lucina turns to her shocked.
"You know about that?!" She blurts out quickly.
"I do now!" Sumia said smugly.
"Ah!" Lucina stomps in frustration having fallen for one of Sumia's oldest tricks.
"Ha!" She says crossing her arms, "You can't fool me Lucina!" she adds.
"Regardless, the sooner we get to the core of the issue, the sooner this can be resolved." Caeda chimes in.
"Can we please just move on from this? Please!" Lucina said lamely. "Look if it means that much to you I'll talk to Robin ok, I don't know what you're hoping for but I can't guarantee anything." Lucina says before throwing herself down in her seat.
"All I want is to clear the air, you think I like seeing you two at odds like this?" Sumia says, "I mean are you so ready to just forget all that Robin has done for us? He even sacrificed his own life for all of us!" She adds.
"I didn't forget" Lucina replied, "I just choose not to think about it" she says crossing her arms.
"I'm not taking sides or anything but did you ever think that maybe he had his reasons for doing what he did? Granted he could've gone about it in a much better manner but he never really was one to express himself." Sumia continued as she took her seat again.
"Well if he did he never bothered to tell me" Lucina states.
"And did you ever give him the chance?" Caeda asked as she joined them at the seating area.
"No but since you both are so insistent I'll be sure to ask" Lucina assured them.
"If you say so we'll drop this, for now. However I think there is another issue we need to discuss now." Caeda said, casting her stare behind Lucina at the dark angel sitting at the back of the room. Lucina and her mother both follow her gaze and they too turn to look at him. Pittoo meanwhile was too busy shining his bow to notice, until he realized how quiet it got and he looked up to see all three of them giving him blank looks.
"What?" He says holding out his hands.
"Well I have it on pretty good authority that you both like causing quite the ruckus around here." Caeda begins while Pittoo scoffs.
"Marth and his big mouth" he mumbles to himself, shaking his head slowly.
"Once again the problem derives from everyone interfering with our affairs, I already told Marth we are more than capable of handling our own issues." Lucina argues.
"Yes I heard all about that too, however is your idea of 'handling it' is making Peach get kicked out of the Six and resulting in her being locked up?" Sumia says, giving her daughter a stern look.
"Hey, that was well deserved! You should've seen what she did to us! It was torture!" Pittoo states getting up and walking behind Lucina. "She wanted a show we gave her one" he adds while patting Lucina on the head.
"And it's obvious you both feel like you can make it work since you both rejected the reassignment forms that were handed to you both." Caeda says and they both kinda just look at each other with puzzled looks.
"You did?" Pittoo asked quickly in surprise.
"Hold on, why did you?" Lucina asks.
"I had my reasons, firstly they wanted to put me with who they 'claim' was my original partner." He began.
"Rosalina…" Lucina said in a hushed voice.
"I mean I wouldn't mind if she didn't have 1000 little shits with her all the time! You I can tolerate because there's just one of you. But living in an enclosed space with all those things would've driven me absolutely insane!" He finished and started grumbling to himself.
"Why did you do it?" Sumia asked her daughter.
"Because I knew it was just more of everyone's meddling which as I said before is just annoying" Lucina replies. "It's like they all act like I can't handle myself, really he may look mean but honestly it's actually like living with an overgrown child."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Pitto shrugged. Sumia sighs and shifts in her seat.
"If you both are so accustomed to each other then why all ruckus?" She says placing her chin on her fist and giving them a look.
"Mother relationships are always going to have their troubles, it's not always going to be rainbows and sunshine! And you should know this better than anyone." Lucina quickly states.
"That may be so but I've never heard of anything so convoluted as whatever you two think this is." Sumia replied while motioning between them.
"Convoluted how?" Lucina asked.
"Oh well where do I begin?" Sumia starts while taking out a rolled up piece of paper. She removes the ribbon holding it and it unfolds all the way to the floor and then some. "We have all these incident reports concerning you two courtesy of your ancestor." Sumia says before clearing her throat getting ready to read off the list.
"Marth!" Lucina whispered harshly under her breath.
"Incident report: Lucina has physically struck the young man in the face resulting in a trip to the infirmary due to nasal cavity deformation." Sumia reads out and looks up at the two.
"That was a cheap shot, good hit, but cheap" Pittoo says and chuckled to himself while Lucina sank in her seat.
"That's not funny," Caeda says, crossing her arms.
"Sorry..." He said shortly after and lowered his head.
"Incident report: Both Lucina and Dark Pit lured Pit into a contraption resulting in heavy electrical trauma, of which resulted to be due to wanting to harm the other via 'pranking' the other." Sumia read out, Lucina however was quick to jump in on that one.
"Ok that wasn't my fault, see Toon-"
"And who was it that got Toon Link to set up the trap?" Caeda interjects. Lucina was about to reply but she couldn't find what to say so she just sank back into her seat. Pittoo however covered his face as all he could remember was Pit hilarious flailing around in a pond full of electric eels. Sumia cleared her throat again and continued.
"Incident report: Lucina was reported trying to lure her partner into the pool where she planned to throw in an electrical appliance shortly after. Incident Report: the duo started the 'coffee fight' in the break room resulting in multiple cases of smashers in the infirmary with various degrees of burns. Incident Report: Dark Pit trapped his partner in the walk-in freezer after dropping a bucket of water on her, resulting in her freezing completely and requiring extensive time to properly thaw. Incident report: Lucina locked her partner in a room full of angry bees and reportedly 'lost' the key. Incident report: both smashers supposedly snuck out of their room due to a foul smell coming from the vents, further investigation revealed it was a misplaced stink bomb they tried to set off to escape their 'time out' for 'accidentally' poisoning the pudding (see page 5). Incident report: flooded the second floor when instructed to clean the restrooms, many personal items were destroyed in the flood. Incident report: Lucina was reportedly seen burying her partner alive out back after drugging his food. Incident report: baked explosive sweets that were supposed to be for everyone. Incident report: both Lucina and partner ignored the limit of alcohol intake rule and were reported to have drank enough to kill any mortal creature. Incident report: the duo poisoned the pudding piles in an attempt to poison the other, however it only resulted with everyone else turning up I'll. Incident report: Dark Pit tempered with the plumbing resulting in many unfortunate victims taking a shower with sewer water, which included his partner. Incident report: Lucina set all of Dark Pit's clothes on fire, which also resulted in half the lawn being burnt. Incident report: Lucina and Dark Pit went to a fighting ring and drew way too much attention to themselves and almost exposed themselves as smashers. Incident Report: Lucina was found 'scarecrowed' early morning after she mysteriously disappeared the previous day. Incident report: Lucina was found hanging atop the mansion peaks in an unsavory manner. Incident Report: Dark Pit developed literal explosive diarrhea spontaneously after attending a tea party hosted by Lucina (only victim). Incident report: Dark Pit and partner were apparently seen stealing cookies from a group of girl scouts. Incident report: Dark Pit tried to smother partner in sleep, resulting in a very loud and verbal confrontation. Incident Report: Lucina burned down a section of the garage and crushed a fellow smasher under an armored vehicle while under the influence with partner.
Incident report: Lucina and partner participated in the unlawful burning of an entire forest outside smash grounds for a quote on quote 'ritual.' Incident report: Dark Pit was found unconscious in a baked goods shop after having reportedly vandalized the shop at the request of his partner (result of the drinking incident). Incident-"
"Alright! Alright! We get it!" Lucina breathed out while holding out her hand.
"I thought no one knew about half of those." Pittoo admitted.
"Trust me, the Six are always vigilant even when you don't think they are." Caeda says.
"I'm not even halfway down the list either!" Sumia said, rolling up the paper again and placing it aside.
"Look I know how things may seem however despite what any 'incident report' might say we have our own way of dealing with issues." Lucina says, "and yes sometimes someone gets in the way, but you can't exactly fault us for that can you?"
"Well I can actually when you refuse to settle your issues like civilized adults." Sumia states.
"And once again I'm asking myself why you are so invested in this?" Lucina says leaning back in her seat completely.
"Because Lucy, if you both continue with how things are right now it's going to spiral into an even bigger mess and no one wants that now do they?" Sumia replies.
"Depends on what you mean by bigger mess" Dark Pit shrugged.
"Like doing something so harsh to each other or an outside party from one of your countless falling outs, which depending on the severity could actually result in the first ever expulsion in smash history." Caeda says, "and it's not too far off guess either as you both really are developing a nasty habit of dealing with your opposers in unsavory manners."
"What do you suggest we do then? I mean if we just let everyone boss us around and get their way we're the ones who end up losing because they just make everything worse!" Pittoo states, "I mean at first and I'm sure there are some out there who agree with me we were doing just fine, sure we had our disagreements and such but for the most part everything was working out. However as soon as the others started to intervene on everything things just started getting worse, take your incident reports for example we only had like 3 at max when it was just me and her dealing with issues. However you'll notice that the spike of incidents started with the first of the interferences." Dark Pit pointed out taking a seat on the armrest of Lucina's seat with crossed arms.
"Well I see your point there, however if you both worked so well before why is it that you still can't work well even at the behest of others?" Sumia replies.
"It's just a psychological thing within all of us if you think about it. I mean think of it this way, cleaning your room is something we all do from time to time, and we feel good about it afterwards no? However it's going to feel vastly different if you're ordered to do it, especially if you're pushed into doing it. It will no longer feel like something of personal interest to you, instead it will feel more like oppressive labor, whereas if you don't do it there'll be consequences." Dark Pit explained.
"Fair Point" Caeda says, "however that doesn't excuse the fact that instead of trying to find a compromise for the problem you both instead scheme of ways to get back at the others." She adds while Dark Pit cocked his head to the side.
"Yeeaaaaah…" He says.
"Well what do you suggest we do? We tried talking to them before but it's like they have no interest in what we have to say." Lucina protests, "you should be fully aware how stubborn Marth can be at times too" she says while turning to her great grandmother.
"You leave your ancestor to me alright," Caeda begins while giving her a stern look. "I'll make sure he knows and understands you're both open to discussing the issue and coming to a compromise everyone agrees too." She states.
"That just means you both must be willing to compromise, can you at least promise you will?" Sumia asks while the duo look towards each other.
"Why not," Lucina says.
"Fine, but if no one listens you guys can't say we didn't try to be civil" Dark Pit agrees.
"As long as you try!" Sumia says getting up from her seat and clasping her hands together, "now let's go down and join everyone else for dessert" she says while Pittoo flies out of his seat.
"Hell yeah!" He says swinging open the doors and running off into the hall like a madman.
"You guys go ahead, I'm going to check up on how Marth is doing" Caeda says going off in a different direction.
"Shall we?" Sumia says motioning towards the door. Lucina nods and they both head off to join the others.
*later*
"Well that was an eventful evening wouldn't you say?" Sumia says as they enter their room to retire for the night.
"Sure was," Lucina says, immediately kicking off her shoes. "I'm beat!" she adds before yawning.
"My favorite part was when everyone started fighting over the last piece of cake and Kirby just ate it, angry group and all included." Dark Pit says while chuckling to himself.
"Mother, you can sleep on my bed. I have a spare mattress to lay on the ground for myself." Lucina says heading over towards her closet.
"Oh there's no need, Dark Pit here offered to sleep on the mattress instead" Sumia replied.
"Then where are you sleeping?" Lucina asked.
"She can have my bed of course, it's extra comfy since I made it out of my own feathers I shed from time to time too." He says while Sumia takes a seat on the bed.
"Oh my this is soft!" She says running her hand on the mattress.
"Oh trust me it's made with quality angel feathers guaranteed!" He replies with an enormous grin.
*meanwhile*
Pit was walking down the hall exhausted and looking like he just got out of an explosion, his wings were all tattered and torn and he was missing a majority of his feathers. "Stupid Pittoo" he mumbles to himself in a huff.
"Pit? What the hell happened to you?" Shulk asks startled as he comes down the hall.
"I don't wanna talk about it" He replies simply and goes into his room slamming the door behind him.
*back with the duo*
"Well we better get some rest, this whole weekend is going to be a very eventful one for sure." Lucina says shutting off her lamp and getting into her bed.
*next day*
And indeed it was, despite the rocky start the rest of the weekend went by rather smoothly surprisingly. There was a short hiking trip planned with a picnic at the end of it, and it went rather well given the track record the smashers had for disastrous picnics. Although there was a tiny incident involving a hoard of angry bees.
Next on the agenda and for many getting an exciting thrill from seeing a movie for the first time in the large indoor theater. They watched titles such as "Ring of the Lords" and "Hard Die" to name a few. Everything went rather smoothly there too, although there was a small incident involving the popcorn machine overloading, aka title wave of popcorn.
Up next the kayak race was orchestrated as well for smashers to participate with their guests. It went as well as anyone would have guessed, with many participants flipping their kayaks over and nearly drowning. And in the case of Bowser, Dedede, and Wario Completely capsizing their kayaks all together.
A smash marathon with guests was one of the big events of the day. The twist? Both participants have one of their legs attached to their partners which means having to be in sync with said partner. And in the case of poor Red however being dragged by an overly happy go lucky Charizard.
And although not planned a demolition derby also made it into the list of events for the day too. Which started as a misunderstanding at first but then everyone just started piling into vehicles and ramming each other, or in the case of Wolf and Fox crushing everything in their path as the leader of Starwolf had commandeered his vehicle. And why didn't anyone just stop it you may ask? Well would you jump into the middle of a demolition derby to try to stop it?
Lastly it all concluded with a big arena event where smashers and their guests could have a try at taking on Master Hand and Crazy Hand in the same battle. Some had more luck than others however, in the end it was a spectacle of watching smashers and their guests being flung around like rag dolls, well for those that dared enter the arena anyway.
*the last day*
This day started off interesting, first things first was an obstacle course that was set up in the hedge maze out back. Many twists and turns, rope swings, stepping stones, moving tiles and puzzles. The only reported issue with it was that someone reportedly let loose a giant chain chomp in the maze.
The next event was group sculpting. It went really well at first with some of the sculptures looking like exact replicas of what they were supposed to be. It was going great until it was revealed that they had used some magic stone by accident resulting in some of the sculptures coming to life and attacking the crowd, well those that could move around anyway, which couldn't really be said for Kirby's cake sculpture.
The next event after the unfortunate catastrophe of the last one was going gliding on gliders, and despite the implications of a massive disaster likely happening that was not the case. It went smoother than anticipated actually, even if it turned into a competition to see who would be the last one standing and knocking everyone else out of the sky.
Up next, a volleyball tournament, it was simple yet entertaining for a huge majority. And unlike previous events no one thought anything could go wrong with a volleyball game right? Well normally no, but with the participants of this game of course, firstly was Bowser and Charizard deflating the ball with their claws. Then there was the issue with participants of immense powers and strengths flooring opponents, quite literally.
The next thing was a karaoke party in the auditorium, it started off great with everyone having a blast and even causing a laughing riot with how many messed up and fumbled with their words. That is until Jigglypuff took to the stage and put everyone to sleep in an instant, despite once again putting on a huge performance.
Once the day was nearing its end everyone gathered outback for dinner outside accompanied by a fireworks show. And the only strange thing that occurred was that Robin is and has been missing the whole time, but no-one questioned it however. "Wow what kind of magic do you guy's use to make those kinds of sparks?" Lissa asked another large firework went off briefly flooding everything in an array of blues and purples."
"It's not magic per say, it's just mixing certain chemicals and metals with combustible material to create that spark that you see." Raven replies before taking a sip of her drink.
"Oh hey Raven you haven't seen Robin by any chance have you? I haven't seen him these past few days." Shulk asked while Raven half choked on her drink.
"Uh, who?" She says while looking like she was in thought.
"You know, Robin, your identical twin, your other half? Ringing any bells?" Shulk says.
"Oh right, right him!" Raven says while bobbing her head up and down, she then see's Chrom gazing their way with a weird smile on his face. "Ike is stealing your steak!" She blurts out in an instant.
"Dammit Ike I said no!" Shulk exclaimed slapping his hand away that was reaching over and pricking his steak with a giant fork to take off with it. Raven took the opportunity to disappear by simply sliding under the table.
"Now, as I was saying…" Shulk begins until he sees the spot next to Lissa now vacant. "Where she go?" He asked the princess who just looked down at the tactician crouching under the table with a finger to her lips.
"Tell him I went to sleep or something!" Raven whispered to Lissa while Shulk facepalmed clearly having heard her.
"Look I don't know what charade you got going on nor do I care at this point, can you just please return him this book I borrowed." Shulk says handing it over to the tactician under the table who slowly took it. Shulk then takes his steak and walks off rolling his eyes. Raven crawls back out from under the table and slowly takes her seat again, Chrom, looks back up and she turns to him while holding up her hand in a 'OK' while winking.
"Well it's almost time" Marth says while looking at the time on his phone.
"Oh Lucy I'm going to miss you!" Sumia says while hugging her daughter who stood there awkwardly.
"I can't believe its almost been two years since I left" Lucina says aloud to herself. Just then Sumia pulls away from her giving her a perplexed look.
"Lucina it's only been a week?" Chrom says baffled.
"That can't be I've definately been here for more than a week, I know for a fact it's been a little over a year now." She replies.
"Ah right I forgot to mention, time works differently here in the smash world. See while it may be years for us to them it will only seem like a few weeks tops. However since we're outside our normal space amd time things like aging don't effect us here, which explains things such as how Ness has stayed like ten for what would be four consecutive tournaments in a row now. Otherwise he would've been 40 this time around maybe slightly older." Marth explained.
"And just when I thought I was getting used to this place it's back to feeling weird for me." Lucina says.
"Attention all Smashers, the portals will be activated shortly, please report to your designated portals to bid your farewells." Master Hand says over the loud speakers.
"I guess that's our queue" Sumia says nudging Chrom on the shoulder.
"So it is" he says with a deep sigh. "Marth it was a tremendous honor meeting you once again" he says shaking the prince's hand.
"The pleasure was all mine" Marth replied bowing slightly.
"And it was a pleasure meeting you two" Caeda says throwing her arms around Lucina and Sumia.
"Oh likewise, I can't believe how much we had in common!" Sumia says, "you look so much like my little Lucy it's so uncanny" she adds.
"Speaking of which, Lucina don't forget the chat we had about the other day" Caeda says while placing her hand on Lucina's shoulder.
"I haven't, and I intend to keep my promise too" Lucina assured her before giving her great grandmother a final hug.
"Take care of yourself" Caeda says before separating. "Until next time I guess, whenever and wherever that may be."
"Shall we?" Marth says extending his hand to his wife who took it. "You remember where the portal is correct?" He asked Lucina who nodded her head. "Very well farewell everyone" he says before turning and walking off hand in hand with Caeda.
"Alright lets go" Lucina said walking over towards their portal while her parents followed. Once they arrived they find Dark Pit standing there surprisingly. "Wasn't expecting you here?" Lucina says puzzled while he just shrugged.
"Honestly I'm just here out of boredom I guess" he says casually while bringing up his arms to his side.
"Oh you don't have to lie, I'll miss you too!" Sumia says giving the dark angel a big hug catching him by surprise. "You like to put on a facade but we already know you're a big softy!"
"Oh mother, he's not a hugger!" Lucina says quickly prying her mother off the angel.
"You're a good kid Dark Pit, despite the rumors" Chrom says giving Pittoo a firm handshake and a nod.
"Erm, thank you sir," Pittoo replies giving the bluenette a nod of his own. Just then the portals begin to flicker and crackle with swirls of purples and blues.
"You guys watch each others backs ok, I'll be rooting for you both winning this thing!" Sumia says pointing between the two of them.
"We will mother don't worry" Lucina says as she begins to wave.
"Indedd training is going to be taken more seriously I guarantee it" Dark Pit says while he waved them off too. They step into the portal that begins to swish around enveloping them both in a bright light.
"Hang on where is Robin?" Sumia suddenly remembered.
"Oh we must have missed him..." Chrom said plainly waving her off and avoiding her gaze.
"Chrom?" Sumia says placing her hands on her hips, "I know that look, what aren't you telling me?" She states.
"He's just got his hands full trust me" he pleads. "Would I lie to you?" He says while she gave him a look and he nervously cleared his throat, "what I mean is would I lie to you about this?" He asks while she takes a moment to think.
"I don't know" she admits giving him a hard look. He just sighs and drops his shoulders looking defeated.
"Oh alright, I can't get anything past you can I. Robin is D-" Chrom began but vanished before finishing his sentence. Lucina and dark Pit are then left standing there in silence as the portal shuts off momentarily.
"What now?" She asks placing her hands in her pockets while turning to him.
"You heard the lady, we get reeady to win this thing!" He says raising his arms in the air before he began walking off back towards the mansion. Lucina just smiled to herself and shook her head slowly, she took one last look at the portal before she turned and followed after her partner…
Well this was long overdue, Like 3 months overdue. I was actually caught up in some other projects of mine as well as just your typical procrastination. Aaaaaaaanyway happy holidays to you all out there reading this, thankies for making it this far! Reviews and suggestions and everything still welcomed with open arms of course. Till next time by beloved readers I leave thee with but a Toodles! (* ^∀^)ﾉｼ
Next Chapter: Feud...