Popstar Comics


Author's Note: Thanks to SolarEnergy07, flowslikepixelz, MP36PH3S, Cowtits, RecklessBaka, MonkeyBoy, Wassupguy, and Aurawarrior13 for leaving reviews last chapter and hurray for an actual consistent update for once! Not much to say except thanks for reading and I hope you guys enjoy.


Chapter 9: Lucina


I jam my keys into the lock and open the door to my apartment, kicking off my shoes as I enter. Lucina trails behind me, although both of us are soaking wet and dripping water all over the place. After handing her a towel from a nearby closet, I make my way to the kitchen, tossing my pay and wallet on the counter before running freezing water over my arm. It still stings, but the numbness starts to kick in pretty quick as I grab a wet cloth and wrap it around my bruising skin. The phone is blinking, and so I quickly reach for it already aware of what is waiting for me on the line.

"Hey Kuro, it's Falcon. Someone broke into the store last night. Get down here as soon as you—"

Message deleted. You have no new messages. Good.

I rummage through the fridge for any source of food, considering it was almost nine and I still haven't eaten yet. As expected, there's not much there, although I do find some leftover chicken and rice. I start pulling stuff out onto the table, wherever I could find room between the magazines, newspapers, and other random junk. I barely notice Lucina staring at me from the hall, still wiping down her hair and clothes.

"Do you… need any help?" she asks.

"No, just go sit over there or something," I reply without making eye contact.

I mean for her to sit at the table but she ends up disappearing from view entirely. Somehow I manage to salvage the rest of the beans, some cheese slices, and that stew from about a week ago. It's not much, but it's enough for two people, and with the rain coming down outside I almost wish we had a real fireplace in here.

I toss the food in the microwave and wander around to look for Lucina. She's still in the hall, gazing at the shrine Pit made for his beloved goddess.

"You can take your shoes off you know," I say, and I'm being serious about it too. Pit hates it when the floor gets dirty, and he's hounded me about it numerous times in the past.

"Oh, right," she says, turning away from the framed picture of Lady Palutena. "Here?"

"Yeah." I stand there awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say. We don't normally have guests on account of our place not being very visually appealing. Pit is pretty good when it comes to tidiness, but anything else that looks out of place, from the shirts hanging over the couch to the stacks of CDs in the corner belongs to me. I'm also the reason why our apartment needs vacuuming twice a week, and why the bathroom door sometimes gets stuck whenever it closes (that was from the hot-glue incident about a year ago, where I had locked myself in the bathroom after Pit insisted on cutting my hair). Even if our apartment was clean, it wouldn't change the fact that it's freakishly small, with only enough rooms to accommodate a single resident. We have one bedroom, one kitchen, one bathroom, one living room, and a main hall to the entrance. There's also a balcony overlooking the street, but it's rarely ever used since our view only consists of the grey and nameless buildings across the street. For laundry, we have to go to the ground floor and put money in, which isn't all that bad since our clothes are almost always washed together anyway.

She glances at the shrine one more time, but I'm not about to explain any of it to her. I would prefer it for Pit to keep his whacky religion to himself.

"Are you hungry?" I finally ask, only because I feel my stomach grumble. "We got some food if you want."

"If you don't mind, that would be great," she replies. "I haven't eaten anything all day."

"Same."

"But can I use your phone first? I need to call my father."

I show her the phone and get back to monitoring the food. Whether she likes it or not, the only phone we have is in the kitchen and corded, and so I can't help but eavesdrop when her dad eventually does pick up on the other end.

"Hello? Yes, it's me. I'm alright, just at a friend's house." She looks over at me, although I can't tell if she's content or indifferent about the current situation. "We got caught in the rain so he invited me over to stay the night. Yeah, remember Kuro? That's him. Yeah, he has a brother I think." She looks to me again and I nod, yet curious as to what kind of question would make her have to answer that. "I'll be okay. No, it's not going to be like that. Oh, you'll never guess what happened to the store last night…"

She proceeds to tell him about the break-in, but she also mentions me and my heroic deeds of rescuing the stolen comics. After bringing that up, her tone starts to get a little defensive, and I love to admit that I already know the reason why.

"Everything's fine, Dad," she says, rubbing the bruise on her cheek. "I don't know if Mr. Dedede will open the store tomorrow, but if not then I'll be home first thing in the morning. Yes, I've still got the bus money. Please don't worry. No, I promise. Okay? I love you too. Bye."

She hangs up the phone and sighs.

"Forget to mention something?" I say, and she knows very well what I'm referring to.

"I don't want him to worry," she replies. "He's already telling me to quit my job after what happened last week. If he finds out about tonight…"

"That's not saying much." My mind immediately goes back to what she said to me after the brawl. "Not only are you hiding from those street thugs, but you're also shacking up with one as well."

She frowns at me, but I refuse to take back my comment.

"I still haven't forgiven you, you know," she says.

I was also expecting that answer, and so gave her the only rebuttal I that needed: "I did nothing wrong."


We sit down in the kitchen, Lucina in Pit's spot while I take my place near the hall. It's still raining outside, but I raise the blinds anyway just to give myself something to look at. The food turns out better than I would have thought, albeit a little moist from overheating. I'm too hungry to care however, and find myself scarfing it down before I realize I haven't even poured drinks yet.

"So you live here with your brother?" she asks.

I chug down some tap water and wipe my lips with the back of my arm. I'm reluctant to speak about anything after what she said to me, but she's in my home now and in the words of Pit, "You should treat people the way that you want to be treated!"

"Yeah, Pit and myself," I reply. "It looks bigger on the outside."

"Is he working late?"

"Probably. Sometimes he has to work the late shifts, or cover for other people if they're sick or something. If I had to guess, I'd say he's stuck in the rain."

It should come as no surprise that neither Pit nor I have a driver's license, let alone our own vehicle to drive. Thankfully, we never have to travel far from home, and so normally walk whenever we have somewhere we need to go. Pit's alternative is a bicycle, but he's only allowed to use it on the job since it was given to him by Paratroopa Post.

"He's not… you know," she mumbles, averting her gaze from me.

"What?" I say, but I honestly have no idea what she's talking about.

"You know… one of them."

"One of what?"

"Your friends I met tonight."

Oh. She means a Gerudo. No, not even close. Pit is the least likely person I'd pick to be a member of any street gang. He's just so perfect in every way, a real goody-toe-shoes as I've called him before. Lucina would probably love him seeing as how she's not too fond of the bad boys.

"No, he's not," I reply dismissively. "He doesn't even know I still talk to them." I suddenly glare at her from across the table. "Don't you say anything to him."

"I don't understand why you even bother with those people." She swirls her rice around with her fork, but she still refuses to look me in the eyes. "You're nothing like them at all."

What the hell is that supposed to mean?

"How would you know?" I say. "You only see me when I'm at work."

"You're different from those gang members though," she explains. "You're not mean. You stand up for what is right. I saw you when you jumped over the counter and chased that boy who stole the comics. You were trying to help everyone." She pauses. "And tonight, if you hadn't shown up when you did, I probably would have…"

Been beaten and robbed and left to rot in the rain, yeah, probably. Like I said before, this city takes on a whole new face after dark. That's why you should always be with someone, even complete strangers so long as you are within shouting distance of nearby people. Never wander off on your own. The police are good, but they're not so good that they can cover every district in the city. Between the west and the east end, we actually got it easier, which leads me to believe that Lucina is used to being home before dinnertime at the very least, when the sun is still in the sky and people are still milling about after hours.

"Believe me, I hate those MIIs just as much as you do," I say. "Anyone would have done it."

"No they wouldn't." Finally she looks at me and she's giving me the same terrified look she did when we were in the alleyway. "There must have been at least five or six of them, yet you were still willing to fight despite the odds! Weren't you scared?"

"Nah. I've been in rougher spots before. I was just trying to protect you."

"Thank you. But this only goes to show that you are different from them then. Even though you are in a gang."

Okay, I can see where this is going. She's confused that I helped her even though I have an affiliation to the Gerudos. What she needs to understand is that the people who I work for don't go around terrorizing civilians, but how much am I willing to disclose without jeopardizing my own reputation?

"I used to be in a gang," I lie, repeating myself from earlier in the evening. "I left them to start a new life for myself, which is how I ended up working at Popstar. They still want me back though, and no matter how many times I tell them, they just can't take no for an answer."

It's a cover-up, but it's all I have considering my situation. So long as I bear the markings, I will always be connected to the Gerudos in one way or another. The problem is I've been known to be one of their best members, if not the best due to my uncanny ability to die and not stay dead. One slip and I could easily wind up behind bars, charged with accounts of trespassing, breaking and entering, disturbing the peace, loitering, stealing, unarmed violence, vandalism, and the list goes on. Talking to the chief of police today was the closest I've ever been to a pair of handcuffs, and frankly, I'd like to keep it that way. So as long as Lucina thinks I'm just a regular guy working a regular job at a comic book store she and I should get along just fine.

Unfortunately, now I got Wario and Ashley believing the same thing.

Lucina's eyes fall back to her plate, and interestingly she doesn't say anything. I can tell that she is still sitting on the fence in figuring out whether or not I am who I say I am.

"Can I ask you something?" I ask all of a sudden. "Why are you worried so much about this? You saw for yourself that the guys I hang out with aren't bad people at all."

"Your friend killed that man though," she replies, as if that's the only evidence she needs to prove that all gangs are the same.

"We don't know that for sure. It was dark and raining. He at least broke his nose, but you're assuming he did that for the thrill of the hunt. You can look at it however you want, but at the end of the day, we saved your life. I doubt any other criminals would bother to do the same."

Her head is low, her eyes filled with distress. She's on the brink of fully understanding where we come from, but something inside her holds her back. It's the same look she gave when we were in the alley, when I had stopped the bat from slamming her skull to the pavement, when Wario had pulled up with his motorcycle in anticipation for a classic street brawl. I've never seen her look so scared before Wario approached her, even without the intention of laying a finger on her. She's labelled us all with the same corrupted name. Gerudo, MII, Villager, everyone is scum as far as she's concerned.

She eventually looks at me again, but her gaze remains still and empty. I was half-expecting her to get up and leave. To my surprise, she begins to tell me a story about her past, of her life before her and her father had moved to New Smashopolis.

"I was born in this city, raised by my mother for the first few years of my life," she says. "When I was around five years old, I found out she had been killed in a car accident with a drunk driver. My father took me in after that, but we left the city not even a month after my mother's passing.

"One night when we were walking home from the store, we were stopped by a group of strangers in the street. They demanded money, said they were homeless, but my father refused to give them anything. He held onto me as we tried to pass, but they refused to let us through." She shuddered. "Then one of them pulled out a gun and pointed it right at me. My father was forced to comply, and so dropped his wallet and everything we had purchased. That wasn't enough for them though. They didn't let us go home without attacking my father and beating him until he was on the ground. I tried to stop them, but I was so afraid and…I just didn't know what to do.

"We called the police later, but they never found them. They simply told us the city was a dangerous place at night and that we were lucky to make it out with our lives. But is that really fair?

"The next day I came home from school to find that our house had been broken into. Money, books, furnishings, even the necklace my mother had given me, everything was gone. The same gang had followed us home, determined when the house would be empty, and planned their attack as such. I never felt so betrayed by humanity, but my father was indifferent. He kept on smiling, and said he was grateful that I was alive. He told me not to cry, and to always believe in the goodness of others. So we left the city and moved to Ylisse, where it's mostly farmland and fields, away from all the strife and people. That's where I spent most of my life growing up until my father had received a call about a job opening in New Smashopolis, and so we returned." She closes her eyes. "All this time I was hoping that this city would finally be different from what it was when I was young. But nothing has changed."

Well, she's right about one thing, and that this town certainly does have a problem with its crime levels. I can't help but feel bad for her however, since on the outside she comes off as a normally optimistic girl without any of the sob-stories. I wasn't aware that her mother had died, but I'm also impressed she decided to come back after her dreaded experience with burglars. Suddenly her distaste towards me and my companions makes a lot more sense. Even so, she still refuses to believe that I am one of these criminals, these "homeless people" that attacked her and her dad on these very streets all those years ago.

"I… I'm sorry to hear that," I say seriously. "About your mom I mean."

"It's okay," she replies. "I was young when it happened. She still visits me in my dreams every now and then. It's all in the past." She pushes her plate away and stands up. "Thank you for dinner, Kuro. I'm sorry for imposing on you like this."

"Hey, Lucina."

I don't know why I said anything. Honestly, I should have just let her leave so we could be over with this discussion, since it was starting to make me uncomfortable. I'm sympathetic for her however, for her to lose so much in such a short time and still have the urge to go on living. She and I are more alike than I thought.

"Yes?" she says, turning to face me.

"Listen. You can judge me however you want and call me whatever you see fit. But know this: I will never ever do anything to hurt you. That I can promise for sure."

A small smile inches across her face, the first I have seen from her in the entire evening.

"Thank you," she replies. "You don't know how much it means to me hearing you say that."

She sits back down and the rest of the dinner concludes with us exchanging more stories with each other. She tells me about Ylisse, and how she had taken up many sports in order to help her become stronger at self-defence. It explains how she was able to take down a couple of those MII members despite her harmless appearance. It's also interesting to note that she is an experienced fencer, and has been practicing her skills with a sword ever since she was young.

As for me, I mention that I currently have nothing going for me in life. I have no aspirations, no imminent goal for where I want to be within the next five years. I'm still trying to figure out how to go from one day to the next without accidentally blowing my cover. She's content with the thought that I plan on staying with Popstar Comics for now, but for how long I honestly have no idea. I think she's just happy being able to talk to me without our jobs being on the line for once.


Our room is on the third floor, so normally I take the stairs to get around since I can't be bothered to wait for the elevator. Anyway, it's a great time to do laundry with it being as late as it is. Normally I'm not on the ground level unless Pit asks me to do something, but with Lucina staying the night, I'm without much of a choice but to get our clothes dried after the massive soaking they took outside. The rain hasn't let up either, and so I find myself counting the seconds between thunderbolts as I toss a ball against the mouldy wall.

She's taking a shower upstairs, and I'll be doing the same in another ten minutes or so. I wanted to wash down my arm in hopes that it would help with the healing, but apparently that's not necessary as it's feeling a lot better now. One of the perks of being an angel is having rapid healing powers compared to that of regular humans, along with the immortality, the wings, and the oh so snobby attitude. She asked me about my arm earlier, but surprise surprise, that dude didn't hit me as hard as I thought he did (or so I told her). I'm okay with telling her about work or my past, but anything related to my species is completely off limits. I don't even talk to Pit about this kind of stuff.

Lucina is an interesting one. She has a kind of innocence about her that I frankly have not seen in my other co-workers. She believes that I'm not as bad as I say I am, and that was pretty much reinforced after our conversation at dinner. Our talks are very similar to that of Pit and myself, only these ones don't end with me throwing a tantrum and slamming doors. I think I just prefer her subtleness compared to Pit's insistency, which makes her come off more as someone who wants to help rather than someone who just wants me to change. That's kind of how Pit has always treated me, like a kid who still needs to grow up. I hate it.

The clothes eventually finish and I toss them in the basket. I never noticed how small Lucina's shirt is until it's in the pile next to my own. She somehow managed to get her hands on one of the Popstar-branded t-shirts, something that I have yet to receive despite my seniority over her.

As I make my way up the stairs, I hear a shrill scream coming from the third floor. It's definitely Lucina, much like the scream I had heard from her when we encountered the Malicious Intent Institute. After hearing her story about the criminals who had followed her and her father home, is it possible that the same thing is happening again? Needless to say the very thought infuriates me, especially since this is my turf they're trespassing on. Swiftly, I bolt up the stairs, skipping every other step along the way as I call out her name.