Darkness, Meet the Light!

"It is certainly a strange coincidence, is it not? Logically speaking, the odds of this must be certainly low for such a thing to happen, but luck happens to be on our side. Logically, this means if luck happened once,  luck maypersist in seeking knowledge of the place and a possible escape as well, hm?" A pause, there, at that sensible bit of musing regarding the topic of his other spells. Seeing the other had pronounced it wrong, he gently corrected him.

"Wing magic? Well, you almost said it right. Wind magic - like air, clouds, creating strong gales of wind and the like. Nobody has ever attempted to use it for flight, surprisingly enough - perhaps it might well be possible for anyone to fly with the use of such magic? One could fly over any enemies and avoid fights completely, and people who cannot walk well could get around easier - I must study this to see if it is possible! It would help a lot of people, if such a new use of elemental magic were possible…!”

Oh boy, looks like Laurent was getting all ‘enthusiastic’ about the potential of a scientific magic discovery, there. 

 Now, if only they could figure out what was going on. Usually, it was Lady Palutena who did all the thinking and told Pit what to do. Now, it looked like the smartest person here would be Laurent, especially since he seemed to go on some magic-science rant about the use of Wind magic (has he had been corrected) and flight.

   "Hey, if you ever manage to figure out a way to use Wind magic for flight, I have no problem being a guinea pig. Seriously." He fluttered his wings for emphasis and nodded. If the Wing magic could help him fly, then maybe there was a way to escape after all...

 "What!? How could you not know what a kitchen is?" He paused for a moment, scratching his chin. "No, a mess hall is a mess hall. Or, more like a dining hall, I guess. A kitchen is where all the food is kept, and made. They make some pretty amazing food in the kitchen, like... hamburgers!"

 Pit jumped up excitedly. "I'll show you what a kitchen is! C'mon, follow me!" With that, he skipped in the direction of the kitchen -- or at least where he could remember where the kitchen was. The first time he found, he had been racing some elastic-y guy down the halls and Pit wasn't paying enough attention to remember how to get there.

       And that had drastically kept the mishaps to a minimum; here and there, outbursts of violence and tension, but otherwise, they’d been largely united under the collective roof.

"There’s someone else that’s really passionate about swimming; it is  pretty relaxing. And it shows with you”. His eyes followed the gesture towards the waters, hesitant about jumping into the idea. He’d never been one for showing skin, but his regal attire wasn’t exactly one that would suffice for the activity like Pit’s.

Nails digging into skin, a pathetic attempt to get rid of the hideous mark that had been engraved on his wrist, but as the ominous voice had told him, it wouldn’t disappear. Branded like cattle, and here he had sworn himself that he’d never again sink that lowly, disgusting. Gritting his teeth furiously the soldier stomped down the hallway, countless different emotions flooding his mind. Anger, was the strongest one, and fear, even though he probably wouldn’t admit it.

      { It was like a Déjà vu, after all it wasn’t the first time         that he woke up in a strange place,                   separated from home and family, locked up like an animal }

And, there was more, heavily weighting in his stomach, strangely, as it didn’t belong there, a feeling he couldn’t explain, and it made him sick. Connected with someone else? Such bullshit, he didn’t know much about magic, but that sounded like some ridiculous prank. Whoever was responsible for this, he’d find them and personally tear out their throat.

He knew that he wasn’t alone in this nasty place, he smelled the presence of other people, heard their steps, he’d just follow them and teach them a damn lesson. Soon they’ll know what it means to mess with a Fanalis.

And it didn’t take too long to find someone. He immediately stormed towards the stranger, growling like a mad dog, and grabbed them by the collar of their shirt, roughly slamming them against the closest wall while his other hand wandered up to his prey’s throat.

             ”Listen up, shitface!”

 He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and yawned, stretching his arms and wings until several joints cracked, then stood. He opened the refrigerator to fetch a small snack, a cereal bar of some kind, then decided to explore the place a little more. He had yet to be outside... Maybe he should go there.

 Munching on the cereal bar, he made his way casually down the hall at a leisurely pace. If he really was stuck here, then there would be no point in rushing to the dead end, right? Besides, the more he felt the power of this magic that bound physical bodies, the more he felt that only Lady Palutena could break such a spell. And the more he felt he really was trapped there.

 Sighing, he broke off another piece of the cereal bar. And Lady Palutena couldn't save him if she needed him to save her. They really were in a mess, weren't they?

 Then, he was suddenly grabbed by the collar and thrown up against the wall. He whimpered as his head smacked against the wall but ignored it and focused on the man and the spitting demands in front of him. "What-icus?!" he squeaked, grabbing the man's wrists to prevent choking.

 Oh, yes, he was most definitely in a real mess.

   "H-Hold on!" he gasped, then swallowed. "I don't know! Uh, I woke up here, like you did! Uh, there's, uh--" He lifted up his wrist to demonstrate the mark. "This connects you physically and emotionally to someone else in the building somewhere? We were all kidnapped, and, uh, oh! There's a pool in the rec room!"

"I’m certain that she’ll find a way to reach you and the two of you be reunited as soon as possible; she wouldn’t allow someone important to be taken for long. Even now, she could be working to find a way to locate you".

        Another excited nod with Pit’s enthusiasm seeping into him; as he’d believed, the optimistic mindset was contagious, already infecting him so much that he’d forgotten there was anything wrong witht he circumstances to begin with. And he’d be thankful for the brunet’s presence to enable that.

"Yeah; there’s enough provided for everyone. They’re actually quite generous with what we’ve been given, so we can just relax for now and enjoy what there is while we wait for the outside to reach us. It’ll be a lot easier by taking advantage of those things and getting along. Negative feelings between people might only drag it out while people mull over their qualms.

   Shrugging, he turned back to the conversation at hand and smiled. "Yep! I find swimming to be pretty relaxing. I would prefer it if there were hot springs around here, but I work with what I got. And, speaking of swimming..." He turned towards the pool and jumped in again, creating an even greater splash of water.

"It does; this scenario is rather strange in itself, and it’s awfully intrusive of those in charge to bind us together with someone we don’t know. There could be people making enemies with their partners and it’ll harm them both. There doesn’t seem to be much we can really call our own anymore, not individually.           I guess your partner must feel strange too, if the both of you are exchanging so much without even meaning to”.

Not that Aichi could have fathomed just who Pit’s partner was, nor had he any real sense of the absent third-party’s true character. His attention was quickly focused on Pit’s assurance that the Goddess would rescue them. “‘Lady Palutena’… She sounds wonderful, if she appears, I’m hopeful you can both find one another quickly and you’ll be free to go back as you want”.

   "She really is wonderful. She's the one who created me!" And thus it was his job to protect her with his life. That was what his life was for and what he should be doing right now. "She will come save me! She just has to find me first..."

 The angel was pleased to hear that the other agreed to being friends and he patted the other on the shoulder. "Awesome! This is becoming easier already. We can all just relax and hang out until Lady Palutena comes to save us." Maybe they could even use this connection to their advantage and make some great friends.

 At least, he hoped... Hopefully, they wouldn't be at each other's throats before Lady Palutena came to save them. What would the chances be that they would all kill each other before she had the chance? Hopefully low. While they seemed to have some riley spirits in the place, there were also some calm ones as well -- which would be helpful.

"Lady…Plautena? Pit…hold a moment, I think…I know you and the Lady Plautena you speak of! Well, not directly at least  - but my leader and you may have sparred in a tournament a while back. Apparently it was a special tournament to a select few from Yilesse? Lucina is my leader’s name, and she spoke highly of your lady’s strength - goodness, how awfully rude of me to not recognize you as a fighter from that tourney. However, I never participated in it , so I suppose my knowledge is limited, but I apologize none the less."  

The mage paused to give a honest apologetic bow there. However, if Laurent expected the winged person to suddenly back away slightly, as if afraid, at the commentary of ‘dark magic’ - in some way, he wasn’t entierly surprised. Well, he could understand that - dark magic didn’t have the best of reputations. It still made him a little sad to know that ‘dark’ was seen as ‘evil’ right away by most, however, but he didn’t let onto that. Well, he tried not to.

"I honestly have no idea who this ‘Mehdusha’ is, young sir Pit. Lucina is my leader and my friend, so would that technically mean I ‘work’ for her? I see her more as my ally, my friend, though. On that note -  I understand dark magic doesn’t have the best of…reputations, but I assure you - though I use Dark Magic, I am a friend of good. I can use Wind magic, too, if that helps…" 

 Regardless, it was good to know there was most definitely an ally on his side here in this dark place. "Man, I can't believe you know Lucina. This is like some super crazy coincidence." While most people were more nonchalant about meeting mutual friends, Pit was most definitely relieved to hear a familiar name after all this craziness.

 "As long as you don't work for Medusa, I think we'll get along just fine." Scratching the back of his head, he felt like an idiot for assuming dark magic meant evil. Lady Palutena could use dark magic, but she didn't because she was the Goddess of Light. It only made sense.

   "Wing magic!? That's awesome. Maybe your Wing magic can help me fly?" Of course, he was probably being a little too hopeful and maybe even unfair to his new friend but without Lady Palutena to help him, there was no way he'd feel the sky in his feathers again. He wondered if the sudden selfishness came from the other side of the mark on his wrist.

      “Sounds right, you’ve got a good idea going there, Pit-kun. I’m happy to hear that you’re well”. Though there was a dip in that chirpy demeanour and Aichi couldn’t help but detect it; he’d apparently found something to keep his mind off things - it was natural, after all, that he’d have some issues with being yanked away from his own home.

 "I guess it only makes sense for someone to freak out when they've gotten here. It's just so strange... I don't even feel like myself anymore, like everything that is mine is being taken from me and being replaced by something else. I bet it has something to do with this." He brought up the mark on his wrist. He had already met his partner, the strange man that he was.

   Still, the emotional-physical connection was beginning to warp his mind and he was having difficulty telling from his own thoughts from another's -- which was weird provided the Goddesses way of communication with him. In the end, this was all entirely alien to him.

 "We'll get out of here eventually, Ah-chi! I know Lady Palutena will come here and save us. She always does! ... Except for when I save her, but that's beside the point. We're not freshmen anymore." With confidence, he folded his arms and decided to keep his trust in his Goddess. If he couldn't break out, then she would be able to save him.

Turning his head back to the other, he crawled backwards and returned to his full height once the soaked boy began his climb out of the waters. Glancing at the hand briefly, he brushed aside the fact his skin was dripping and grasped it without further hesitation.

   "Ah-chi Souden?" he mumbled, trying to wrap his mind around the peculiar name. He had never heard of such a strange name before... "I guess I'm okay, but I'm just trying to stay upbeat!" Grinning, he was momentarily brought back to a peaceful time. " ♪ Ya gotta stay upbeat, upbeat, upbeat! Or you'll be dead meat, dead meat, dead meat! ♪ "

 Chuckling, he sighed and recalled his loss of sense when he realized not only was he in a strange place but out of range to speak with Lady Palutena. She could be in danger, or worse, but there was nothing he could do about it if he remained too stressed out. And nothing made him feel better than hot springs -- or it's cooler cousin, the indoor pool.