…Was for You to Accept Me.

"Let the Secret Santa commence!" Master Hand announced before shouting to Crazy Hand to stop slapping the Christmas tree. I sat on the couch, watching the other Smashers. Lucina's present was in my lap. I wanted to give it to her, but I couldn't muster up the courage to hand it to her directly.

"You haven't given your present yet, Pittoo?" Pit peered over my shoulder to look at the gift. I covered it with my arms.

"Why haven't you given your present yet?" I snarled. I had watched him wander around, examining the others' gifts. He had already received his own, which was a remote helicopter from ROB. Pit smiled at me.

"I'm waiting for the right moment. So who's it for?" before I could stop him, he swiped the box from me. I instinctively reached for it. A knowing smile crossed his face. I knew exactly what he was doing when he inhaled deeply.

"Pit-!"

"HEY, LUCINA!" he tossed the present in my lap before ducking behind the couch. I wanted to punch the guy so hard, but Lucina looked in my direction. I swallowed nervously at her smile. She walked over to me, followed by her relatives and Ness.

"I heard Pit calling for me."

"Uh…" my heart thumped so loudly that I thought for sure everybody in the room could hear it. I stood up and thrust the present towards Lucina, surprising her. "T-this is for you," I stuttered.

"So you're Lucina's Secret Santa," Roseclere winked at me. "You sly dog…"

"Wow…" Lucina gently took the gift, "and here I thought you hated me. I didn't see a present from you underneath the tree this morning. This explains it." I looked at her in surprise.

"I could never hate you," I blurted. Realizing what I just said, I quickly looked away. Ness pointed at me.

"Dark Pit's blushing! Dark Pit's blushing!"

"Shut up!" I glowered. The others just laughed at Ness and me. When the laughter settled down, Lucina began to open her present. My heart thumped again, this time in fear of her dislike for my gift. What if I was wrong to change the scarf? Maybe I should have just kept it as it was. Too late now. I looked away when I heard Lucina gasp.

"Oh my…" Robin muttered.

"How cute!" When did Palutena join the group? "Look at all the chibis!" I looked back to see them examining the scarf on closer quarters.

"Look! There's me! And Yoshi, Lucario, Jigglypuff…you included everybody!" Ness pointed out.

"I'm not here though," Lucina looked at me curiously. "Neither are my parents or Robin."

"We're right here," Roseclere pointed at the end of the scarf where I had sewn a chibi Roseclere and Robin, each with a tome. The opposite end had chibi Lucina and Chrom holding their Falchions. They were slightly larger than the other Smashers.

"Wow, Dark Pit. I didn't think you were so good with a needle and thread," Robin looked over the scarf again. I shrugged.

"It was nothing…"

"Aw, Dark Pit. Going through so much for Lucina," Palutena teased. I glared at her.

"Shut up. I just wanted to get her something special."

"This is definitely special," Lucina smiled brightly at me. "Thank you so much for this gift, Dark Pit."

I looked away, mumbling, "You're welcome." I was really happy that Lucina liked her gift. If she didn't, I wouldn't know what to do. My task complete, I tried to sneak away to my room to avoid anything else. However, Palutena grabbed the collar of my sweater.

"Not so fast, Dark Pit. I know for sure you haven't received your Secret Santa gift yet."

"I don't want it!"

"Too bad. Pit worked hard on it, and I'm not going to stand by and watch you refuse it."

"Crap. Pit was my Secret Santa?" It was probably going to be something stupid…

"Language!" Roseclere covered Ness's ears. "And on Christmas Day too!" she scolded me.

Pit popped up from behind the couch, "Yup! I'm your Secret Santa!" He shoved a small box into my hands. "Here! This is for you! I think you're going to like it!" he chuckled. I looked at the present uncertainly. Why? Why did they try so hard to make me feel like I belong? Couldn't they just…leave me alone like they should? I slowly unfurled the ribbon binding the box and tore the wrapping paper away. I opened the lid to reveal a silver, metal case. Confused by the object, I took it from the box. I could sense everybody's expectant stares. Examination of the object revealed it to have panels. I opened up one panel to show a picture of Palutena. I gave Pit a look.

He pouted, "You didn't even look at the rest of it!" I turned my attention back to my gift. I opened up the second panel to reveal a picture of Pit.

And a mirror.

I snapped. I hurled the three-panel mirror from me. I didn't care if I broke it or not. I just wanted it away from me. It landed on the ground with a metallic clink, snapping shut. To my fury, it didn't break the mirror in the middle. I resisted the temptation to stomp on it, fearful of my looking in it. Everybody started in surprise at my violent action.

"Dark Pit!" Robin began.

I held my head, "SCREW THIS! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WOULD GET ME A STUPID GIFT! WHY THE UNDERWORLD DID I EVEN TRY?! ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE FUN OF ME?" I glared at Pit. "SCREW YOU AND YOUR GIFT! DO YOU WANT TO CONSTANTLY REMIND ME THAT I'M A CLONE? THAT I'M JUST A DARK PITTWO?! IS THAT HOW YOU FEEL?!" I didn't care about the scene I was making nor did I care about the other Smashers watching us. Anything was better than the gift that Pit gave me. And he thought that I was going to like it! What in the Underworld went through that mind of his?! Was he really that stupid?!

"Dark Pit, calm down!" Lucina placed a hand on my arm. I slapped it away.

"JUST GET AWAY FROM ME! ALL OF YOU! YOU DON'T NEED TO REMIND ME ANYMORE! I'LL LEAVE LIKE HOW YOU ALWAYS WANTED ME TO!" I turned away from them and ran for the haven of my room. I was about to step on the first rung when I felt something grip my arm tightly. I glared at the offender, who glared back at me.

"Idiot!" Pit hissed. I struggled against his hold.

"Let go, Pit-stain!"

"Just listen to me!" Pit slapped me. Caught off-guard by his shocking action, I froze right there. I stared at my twin. Was he…crying? His shoulders trembled as he blinked rapidly to stop tears from falling. "Look. I know what you've been going through with the hate from some people. I know how you tried to hide it from the rest of us. I know about your feelings about being my clone. And...I also know about how each time you look in a mirror, you see my face instead of yours."

I flinched at his confession. Pit knew all this time? But how?! I thought I hid it well! My twin continued:

"I'm sorry I hid the fact that I knew. I…didn't think it would drive you this far. I always thought that you were strong enough to get through it, especially how you used to go on about how you were the original. I didn't realize that you were just using your cockiness to hide it and that it was so painful to go through it alone. And I'm really sorry that I wasn't able, no…that I didn't do anything to help you before.

"That's why when I was really happy that I was your Secret Santa. I mean, I would have gotten you a gift either way, but your blank paper gave me an idea of what to give you. I decided on the mirror because…well…" Pit released my arm. He walked over to where his gift fell and picked it up. He returned and placed the mirror into my hands. "You have to see for yourself."

I looked down at the silver object. Pit…knew all this time? And his gift was supposed to help me? My hand shook as I opened up the panels again. Palutena's and Pit's picture smiled at me, as if to encourage me that it was okay to take a look. I steered the mirror towards my face. I blinked in surprise. Fearful ruby orbs blinked back. Instead of short brown hair, I saw short black hair. Although the face was similar to Pit's, I could see the differences.

It was me? But how?! Every mirror I saw before showed Pit's face! Why is this one showing mine?

"How?" I whispered in shock.

Pit smiled, "You see your own face, don't you? Well, that isn't any ordinary mirror. That's actually the Mirror of Truth. I went back to Pandora's place to gather up the pieces." He shuddered, probably remembering his trip. "It wasn't fun."

"This is the Mirror of Truth? But…it's not duplicating me…"

"That's because it's just pieces of the Mirror of Truth, Dark Pit," Palutena had edged closer. She pointed at it, "It can only duplicate things when the mirror itself is whole. Despite that, it still retains some of its old properties, like showing the true face of somebody." I stared at her.

"What?"

"Yup!" Pit said cheerfully. "When I look at it, I see me! When Lady Palutena looks at it, she sees herself! And when you look at it…"

"I see myself…" I looked back at the mirror.

"Which is proof enough that you're still you, despite being my clone! You made a good enough personality and appearance to be your own person!" Pit patted my shoulder. "So don't feel like you don't belong here. You do belong. And you have the right to celebrate Christmas with your family and friends."

"Family…and friends?"

"Come on, Dark Pit," Robin said, prompting me to look at him. "You should know that. We're pretty much your family and friends ever since you came here."

"That's right!" Pac-Man agreed. Everybody began to chorus their own agreements. I looked at my fellow Smashers in surprise. A stabbing, yet heartwarming feeling pained my chest. I didn't realize I was crying until Duck Hunt began laughing.

"Pittoo's crying! Pittoo's crying!" Pit laughed as he pointed at me. Embarrassed, I quickly wiped my tears away.

"Shut up! I got something in my eyes!"

"Whatever! You're just a big softie at heart!" Shulk teased. I wanted to punch the guy, but I resisted my urge. Everybody laughed, but it didn't hurt me like I thought it would. Instead, it actually lightened my heart.

I couldn't believe I was blind to all of this, the family and friends standing right in front of me right now. It was so bluntly obvious that I was tempted to blame Pit for rubbing off on me (maybe I'm rubbing off on him. He's starting think…), but I knew that I was all to blame for my own unhappiness. I guess it was because of my selfishness of hiding my problems that prevented me from seeing how lucky I was. Even if my family was a stupid brother named Pit and a chariot mom named Palutena, I was still grateful that they did so much to show that they cared about me. My friends as well. They went through a lot to prove their friendship wasn't false. I regretted my refusal to believe any of their words when they tried to convince me that they did care about me, not because I'm Pit's clone, but because I was Dark Pit. Heh, I really was a fool...

I didn't need any convincing to return to my spot on the couch. Pit sat on my right while Lucina sat on my left. We watched the other Smashers finish opening their Secret Santa gifts.

"So…how was your Christmas, Pittoo?" Pit grinned at me. I shot him a glare before softening my expression.

"I'll admit…this was the best Christmas I ever had."

"Because of my gift?"

"Kind of. But mostly because I finally have somebody-I mean…family and friends to celebrate this holiday with." I remembered all those activities that the other Smashers convinced me to attend. I felt the warm feeling again as I recalled all the fun moments I spent snowball fighting, ice-skating, movie watching, light browsing, and Christmas shopping. I couldn't believe that I actually celebrated the Christmas season unknowingly with my fellow Smashers. I was glad that they forced me. If they didn't, I probably would be regretting how I lost the chance to spend time with them.

"I told you Christmas applies to everybody," Pit said smugly. I rolled my eyes at him. How could he remember something that was said from so long ago? I felt a warm hand creep into mine. I looked to see Lucina smiling at me.

"I'm glad that you're finally able to see it, Dark Pit." Her expression changed into one of sorrow, "I'm...sorry for forcing you to look into a mirror."

"You didn't know. It's my fault for not telling you guys sooner," I sighed. "I'm sorry for keeping too many things to myself and almost ruining Christmas for all of you."

"Well, at least now we know," she smiled again. "And you know we love you."

…Yeah…I finally found where I belong…and I found my family and friends who accept me for me…sappy, I know, but I was glad I got to celebrate a family holiday with family. Even if they were an annoying angel and his goddess…

"Hey, Dark Pit! Look above you!" Pit snickered. Both Lucina and I looked up. I felt the heat rising to my cheeks when I saw the mistletoe hanging above us, courtesy of a winged Pikmin. I glared at the snickering Smashers.

"You have to kiss Lucina!" Palutena said. "It's the rules!"

"To the Underworld with the rules!" I shouted.

"Come on, Dark Pit. Just do it!" Link chuckled. "I'll protect you from Chrom's wrath!"

"Gee, thanks for the support," I muttered. I looked at Lucina coyly. Red colored her cheeks as well.

"I...didn't think this would happen," she mumbled.

"Neither did I…"

"Just kiss the girl!" every voice in the room chorused. I knew that they wouldn't give up until I actually did it. I might as well do it to make them happy. So I leaned in and gave Lucina a quick peck on the lips before rearing backwards. A bit too quickly apparently.

"Ow! Pittoo! You hit my nose!" Pit complained. I rubbed the back of my head and glared at him.

"It's your fault for pressuring me!"

"Yay! He did it!" Villager cheered. Everybody joined in on the laughter and cheer. Roseclere patted her daughter on the back, congratulating her. Lucina covered her face with her hands to hide the embarrassment. Palutena poked my cheek in a teasing manner, causing me to swipe her hand away. Pit joined in on the teasing. I squabbled with them, and the other Smashers added their inputs. And…like any holiday, this one ended in a brawl when I threw a box at Pit (despite Master Hand's rules against any fighting). I managed to hit Pit and some of my offenders a few times with my staff. We eventually stopped when somebody knocked over the tree (that's when Master Hand slapped his hand down. He knew that nothing could really prevent us from getting into a fight), but we continued to talk about the fight while sipping hot chocolate by the fireplace.

Why did they have to force the mistletoe on Lucina and me? Ugh, it sickened me that they had the guts to do that. But...at the same time…it's what made my family special. And I wouldn't trade this family for any other. Especially when celebrating Christmas with them brought a lot of surprises, not to mention how fun it was. I was really thankful that they didn't give up on me and made me feel that I really did belong. Since I managed to experience it myself, I guess I could finally say…Merry Christmas to all.

Pittoo: I laugh at RobinxLucina and Captain FalconxLucina shippers...

Me: I'm done! Such bitter-sweetness! If you guys had half as much fun (and stress) reading this story as I had writing it...then I'm happy! Good luck to all the other competitors out there! *nudges Pittoo*

Pittoo: ...Merry Christmas...

Me: 25K words! Ha!