Chapter 2

There was a knock on the door, and Alexis responded with the only thing she could think of.

"Go away," Alexis snapped, turning away from the door and looking out the only barred window in her confinement room. "If you have food, leave it by the door."

The door opened, and through the window's reflection, she saw the one person she would never have expected in a million years. Not bothering to turn around, Alexis lowered her head to hide her expression.

"Well, if it isn't the Goddess of Light, Palutena," Alexis muttered ungratefully. "I thought you didn't want to hear the mention of my name, let alone come see me in person."

Just behind Lady Palutena, Pit appeared in the doorway, and, no surprise, he was followed by Dark Pit. Knowing the two of them more than they cared to, Alexis knew that they would never leave Lady Palutena's side, especially considering what happened with the Chaos Kin.

Dark Pit was the first to speak.

"Hey," he whispered. "You okay?"

Alexis avoided his gaze, and turned her head. She nearly thought she was dreaming when she heard the voice of Pit's deepest desire.

~My wish would be to fly by myself, ~ the voice echoed cheerfully.

After a moment of thought, Alexis turned on her heel and walked over to Pit.

So you still can't fly on your own huh, Pit Stain?" Alexis chided smugly, walking around him in slow circles. She stopped behind him and leaned in close to whisper in his ear.

"I can change that."

"Really?" Pit asked enthusiastically, turning to face her.

Alexis nodded and turned to her closet that was considerably small, and reached inside. Running her hand along the back wall, she found the secret compartment where she kept her precious dagger. When Alexis took the dagger out, Palutena immediately pulled Pit back before she could react.

"You're not coming anywhere near him with that," Lady Palutena ordered angrily.

"Palutena," Alexis said calmly, looking the goddess straight in the eyes. "I swear on my life that I would never intentionally kill someone without reason."

Before Lady Palutena could refuse, Alexis went over to Pit, and motioned for Dark Pit to help her.

"Pin him against a wall, please," Alexis demanded, ensuring her blade was sharp.

"With pleasure," Dark Pit responded, slamming Pit face-first into the nearest wall without any hesitation.

Pit struggled with all his might to break free of Dark Pit's grasp. His many attempts ended in failure. With all the strength he had left, Pit loosened one of his arms and immediately elbowed Dark Pit in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

However, his freedom was short-lived, for Alexis slammed him back into the wall much harder. She held his hands behind his back, and although he'd already used most of his energy, Pit struggled to free himself once again.

His feeble attempts were instantly restrained as Alexis torturously twisted his right arm, bringing streams of tears as the agony continued.

"If you don't want your wings cut off," Alexis hissed in Pit's ear. "I suggest you keep still, and don't move a muscle, unless I say otherwise."

As Pit fought his own instincts to keep himself from moving, Alexis held him against the wall as she wrapped her good-luck necklace around the handle of her dagger.

Dark Pit and Lady Palutena watched in horror and awe as Alexis carefully dug her blade into Pit's back. Her concentration was amazing! Just then, Dark Pit noticed something in the reflection of the dagger; one of Alexis's eyes had gone completely black. How had that happened, and what did it mean? He answered his own question just moments later. It had to be some sort of x-ray power, or something.

"I've almost got it," Alexis muttered.

~Crunch! ~

When the dagger came out of Pit's back, a small, crimson red, marble-like tumour was lodged on the end of it.

"Is that it?" Palutena questioned, looking disdainfully at her precious angel.

"No, I'm afraid it's only one," Alexis replied with a long sigh. "And these things are a really good source of protein," she commented, eating the tumour right off her dagger. She chuckled slightly when she saw Pit's blue eyes staring right at her, stretched wide in terror.

"Don't worry," Alexis reassured him. "There's only one more."

Pit seemed to relax a little, but there was a worried glint that still lingered in his blue stare.

When Alexis removed the other marble-like tumour and ate it as well, Lady Palutena heaved a sigh of relief as she saw that Pit was still alive. Although there was the occasional trickle of blood down his back, he was quite energetic from the looks of it.

"Keep still you numbskull," Alexis hollered, chasing Pit in tight circles with a large roll of bandages. After a while, she gave up and stood beside Dark Pit and Lady Palutena. For a few minutes, the three of them stood there, simply watching Pit run around in circles, his heart aflame with delight, and the Alexis cleared her throat.

"Who's betting he'll bleed to death if he doesn't stop running around like an idiot?" Alexis yelled with a deliberately loud voice.

It was like watching a car trying to brake while going 100km/h through a giant puddle. Pit skidded to a halt, but had gone slightly further than he'd intended. Had Palutena not been standing where she was, he would have gotten a nosebleed after running into the wall.

"Watch it, Featherbrains," Alexis said, wrapping the bandages around the contours of Pit's wings. "Don't just take off. You need to let your wings rest so the flight nerves can have a chance to connect to your central nervous system."

As the last of the bandages were tied, taped and pinned, Pit slumped onto his knees and promptly fell forward. Before anyone could utter a sound, the unconscious angel began snoring loudly.

"I'll get him," Dark Pit sighed, picking up his twin and leaving Alexis all alone with Lady Palutena.

After a minute of standing in silence, Lady Palutena turned toward the door, but she stopped and turned back to Alexis. She was pacing back and forth, muttering darkly to herself, and every once in a while, she would slam her fist into the wall.

"I have to go," Lady Palutena told Alexis, hoping she was listening. "We need to set up for the Light vs Dark season."

"Someone needs to fill in for him," Alexis snapped.

Lady Palutena looked at her, expecting her comment to have nothing to do with Pit's participating in the Light vs Dark tournament. She was dead wrong.

"You can't be serious," Lady Palutena retorted, her voice quivering with fear and uncertainty.

"If Pit goes into a Light versus Dark match, he could run the highest risk of being permanently grounded. At this point, if he were to participate in the next match... There's no doubt that he could very likely die."

This came as news to Lady Palutena. Sure, Pit would die every once in a while, and she would revive him, but what Alexis was telling her was the reality of life.

"Diana can replace him for now," Alexis confirmed before Lady Palutena could object.

Given that Alexis and Diana were sisters, and they were both angels, they could stand in for the Light or Dark team's angel. Palutena knew that the two of them were no match for Pit and Dark Pit combined, and she wanted to refuse, but the decision was made, and all she could do now was to sit back and watch the confusion unfold like a massive explosion.