(All characters © Nintendo)

Stars

The solitude never bothered him; he was very much accustomed to long periods of silence and loneliness. Being alone gave him a chance to think, to breathe easy...

It gave him a chance to try and count the stars.

Ike sighed quietly, his navy eyes never looking away from the night sky. Silence enveloped him as his concentration remained on the small flecks of light in the darkness; peace settled in his normally hectic mind as a gentle wind blew away his worries...

"Ike...?"

The mercenary turned his head-- to see Pit standing in the doorway, hesitant curiosity in his sapphire eyes.

"...Pit? I thought you were sleeping... what are you doing up?" Ike asked softly, rising slowly from his chair.

"I saw the light on in your room..." the angel began explaining, nervously stepping outside. "I was just... making sure that nothing had happened... you're okay, right? ...why aren't you sleeping?"

"I'm not very tired right now," the mercenary shrugged, averting his gaze back to the sky. "So I decided to watch the stars..."

"Oh," Pit mumbled, stopping midstep. "Then... I'll just leave you alone..."

"Hey... I never said that you had to leave, did I? If you want to stay for a while, you can."

A faint smile crept to Ike's lips as the young brunette paused, then finally decided to stand by his side. Pit nervously returned the expression with a small grin of his own before casting his eyes towards the heavens.

"...hey, you see those stars there? The ones just below the moon?" he suddenly pointed.

"Hm? What... those four or five there?" Ike asked, frowning slightly as he looked where his friend was pointing.

"No... the ones below those. The really bright one there, look-- it's the top of a castle, see? And then... those stars make the walls... there's the door to the moat, and the... places where there aren't stars... are the windows..."

Pit slowly dropped his hand as he noticed the confused expression on the mercenary's face.

"You don't see it..."

"Just give me a minute..." Ike muttered. "...ah! Are those three bright stars there part of the banner?"

"Yeah, yeah!" the young angel nodded.

"And those stars there-- the one that line up perfectly in an arc-- that's the castle door?"

"So you see it?!"

"Nope."

Pit groaned as Ike laughed lightly, a faint smile playing at his lips.

"You can be so mean sometimes," the brunette pouted, crossing his arms. "You made me feel foolish..."

"I'm sorry, Pit," Ike apologized, still grinning slightly. "Really, I am... is there a way I can make it up to you?"

"You could not lie to me next time..."

The mercenary could help but chuckle; Pit soon joined him, giggling softly...

"Do you watch the stars often?" the angel asked, the faint traces of a smile lingering on his lips.

"Not as much as I used to, but yeah," Ike nodded, glancing back up at the inky night sky. "It's easy to lose part of yourself when you're a mercenary... every day spent fighting, every night spent training, day in and day out, week after month after year... all day, every day, a mercenary never rests. So on those rare moments at night, when everyone else is sleeping and you have nothing else to do... those are the times when you look up at the sky and remember what you really are... human. Mortal. ...just trying to survive."

"Ike..."

"...what about you?" the mercenary asked, casting his eyes down to the barren earth. "Do you ever wake up late at night, then look out your window to see the stars? Do you ever need that reminder... that wake-up call that tells you you're more than any of us-- that of us all, you're the one who belongs in better places?"

The sudden, serious tone the conversation had taken caught Pit off-guard; he stammered blankly for a minute, trying to collect his thoughts...

"...I... I sometimes look to the stars, yes," he slowly admitted, running a hand through his unruly brunette locks. "But when I look at them, I think... of how I've only had one perspective of this world-- from looking down, unable to see all the little things happening. I was unable to see the fights, the laughs, the heartbreaks, the shows of love and the demonstrations of hate..."

"You were saved from the pains of our suffering."

"I was banished from the hope your world offered."

Ike paused, thinking quietly as he waited for Pit to continue.

"In my world, we all live to serve one thing-- our goddess. I would willingly give my life for her, but I've always longed for the chance to choose what I could be-- and here, on this earth, heavy with the mistakes of your past and the hatred of your ancestors, is the only place where it's possible..."

Hesitating for only the briefest of moments, Pit cautiously rested his hand in Ike's.

"...it's the only place where people like you can thrive."

Ike turned his head, looking down at the angel with surprised navy eyes.

"Ike, humans can thrive here because they can look at their pasts and not let it destroy them," Pit explained, placing his other hand in the mercenary's slightly curled palm. "It is just a part of their nature. Before I came here-- before I met you, before I met the others-- I could never have done the things I did. But the possibilities here are endless..."

The switch suddenly flicked off; Pit's sparkling sapphire eyes looked down, and his spread wings curled around his thin frame.

"...so don't say I don't belong... because I want to... I want to live freely... I want to be able to stand with you and not feel inferior, like I'm only pretending... pretending to be great, when I know I'm just a mistake."

Slowly, the mercenary's free hand drifted up to the angel's cheek; Ike tilted Pit's face back up to see tears welling up in his cerulean eyes...

"No-- Pit, don't cry..."

His thumb gently ran over the brunette's cheek as he pulled Pit ever so slightly closer...

"For eight years, I was stupid enough to believe that I would live forever," Ike began softly, nothing but earnest sincerity in his voice. "For twelve, I stood under the stars alone... when I met you, I dreamed of the day I would be worthy enough to stand at your side and share with you something I could not live without."

"You could have found someone more worthy tha--"

A soft gasp escaped Pit's lips as Ike suddenly spun him around, gently pushing the young angel back until his slender body bumped up against the wall.

"No, Pit," the sapphire-haired mercenary murmured quietly, his lips barely brushing against the angel's ear. "I couldn't. Not if I searched the world over."

The hand that had rested on Pit's cheek subtly fell to his neck; the brunette shuddered softly at the surprisingly gentle caress...

"We are damned creatures, able to change our fate but doomed to make the same mistakes," the mercenary continued slowly, his voice growing more hushed as his lips lightly touched upon the angel's cheek. "You say you have no choice... your history is peaceful-- there's been no need to change. You choose to do the same things your ancestors did... if we did that, we would destroy ourselves."

"I-Ike, what are you--"

Ike pressed a finger to Pit's lips, silencing him but not chasing away the quiet look of confusion in the angel's eyes.

"When Tabuu came, it could have been the end of us," Ike explained quietly, the hand on the angel's neck softly running through his brunette locks. "But you came and helped us..."

"P-Palutena presented me... w-with her bow," Pit stammered, a flush rising to his skin as Ike pressed his lips against the angel's temple. "I-I couldn't d-deny my g-goddess... I-Ike, wh-what are you--"

"You could have passed it on to someone else..."

"N-not in g-good consci--"

His soft stutters suddenly died away, replaced by an unexpected moan as Ike placed a hand on the brunette's cheek, turning him and stealing the angel's first kiss.

But before Pit could fully comprehend what was going on, Ike had broken it off; he stayed just out of Pit's reach, taunting him with the glimmer of desire that burned in his navy eyes...

"Wh... wha... I-Ike...?"

"You're greater than all of us fools put together," the mercenary murmured quietly, brushing stray strands of hair out of the brunette's cerulean eyes with his fingertips. "Your goddess dumped the task on you... yet you never once complained, never once scowled-- just always pressed onward, never resting until the end."

"But... wh-what does that ha-have to do... w-with what you...?" Pit breathed, shivering under the gentle caress of Ike's rough hand.

"You don't understand yet, do you?"

He pulled the young angel away from the wall, closer to him, until Ike could feel Pit's rapid heartbeat with his own chest...

"You always give, never expecting anything in return... that makes you greater than any of us. That is why... no matter what you say about yourself, I will always be the one trying to be worthy of your love," he explained, the second kiss he longed for just barely out of reach. "You don't have to prove anything. You're worth more to me than anyone here... more than my own life... more than all the stars in the sky."

"I-Ike... s-stop it, I'm not--"

"Always remember this, Pit. Always..."

He leaned in closer, barely brushing his lips against Pit's...

"Of all the people in the world... I've fallen in love with you. Doesn't that tell you something?"

Pit's heart froze mid-beat, the words falling onto his ears as Ike's lips pressed against his; it started again with a rapid flutter as a soft moan slipped out, his eyes sliding shut as he deepened the kiss...

A sudden cry escaped his lips when Ike slowly pulled away; quickly, he latched onto the mercenary, his eyes flying open to reveal the fear within...

"No-- Ike, please... don't stop," he begged, choking on the words as tears threatened to fall. "Please... not when I finally feel like I have worth... ple--"

"Sh- shh..."

Ike gently hushed the young angel, stroking his face until the brunette's erratic breaths became calm and regular once again; tears that had managed to trickle down Pits face were carefully wiped away.

"Pit, I promise... I will never stop loving you," he whispered, placing a soft kiss on Pit's forehead. "I couldn't if I tried. I promise... if you need me, I will always be here... till the end of time."

Pit smiled faintly, resting his head against Ike's shoulder as the mercenary comfortingly stroked his back...

He no longer saw the stars as a reminder of what he had lost...

Here it was, holding him close... forever.

--Fin