Chapter Text
It was a perfect day in Skyworld. Warm weather met a cool breeze that carried bright green leaves across yellow tiles. On this wonderful day, on one of the beautiful islands that Palutena ruled over, Pit sat by his lonesome, gazing at the expanse of blue sky below him and sighing.
Palutena was usually company enough for him, but on days like this, he couldn't help but feel isolated.
The Centurions were usually busy and scattered far across Skyworld, not like they had enough free will for a conversation or activities outside of training anyways. Dark Pit’s need to fly had won over his independence and brought him to the Forces of Nature, who had also commandeered the Lightning Chariot amid the chaos of the war when Pit couldn't do anything about it, and even if he were available more, half of the time he wanted to fight Pit. Magnus and Gaol were somewhere in the Overworld, and Pit hesitated to ask Palutena to bring him down there when they could be busy, or just not in the mood to deal with him.
Besides that… he almost missed encountering so many different gods and divine beings throughout the war with Hades. He only met them because he was on the way to fight something, but that was at least something. Now, most of them were either dead or wanted him dead.
Except, maybe…
Pit felt a shiver. The feathers on his wings bristled.
He kept trying not to think about it, but when his mind wandered far enough, it would eventually go back to them.
Pyrrhon, and The Aurum, and the moment the two became one.
The eyes, the voice, the twitching.
Why did he betray Pit? He still didn't fully understand. Maybe he just wanted power, but for what? Did he seriously think he could use that destructive alien hive for heroism, or was that all just a front? Was Viridi right when she said Pyrrhon preferred Pit to the others? Why!? On the rare occasions that Pit would express this frustration, Palutena didn't seem to know enough about Pyrrhon to think of an explanation.
What Pit wouldn't express, though, was how close he felt he was to making a friend in hindsight.
Someone who wasn't out to kill him at the start, at least. Someone he imagined sticking around after the Aurum were defeated, someone he didn't have to fight… someone who'd survive.
Pit's fighting had ensured peace would return to the world, his defeat of Hades partly mending him and Palutena's relationship with humanity, but it couldn't bring back the humans killed in the war, or save the Chariot Master's life, or take away what the Chaos Kin did to his only friends, but did it set Pyrrhon free of the Aurum’s control? He didn’t know. He didn't even know if Pyrrhon was alive. He hoped he was… though, maybe his fate would be worse in that case. Pit didn’t know.
He just needed someone to end up okay. Anyone at all…
“Pit?”
Palutena's voice came from behind. Startled, Pit turned his head to her. “Oh! Um, yes, Lady Palutena?”
“Are you okay?” She asked.
Pit noticed his face felt tender. He hadn't started crying, but he didn't realize how close he was to that until now. “Uh… sure, I was just… thinkin bout stuff…” Pit said, trailing off into mumbling. He started fidgeting with his hands. “Say, do you know if Dark Pit is busy at all? I haven't talked to him in a while.” Pit looked to his side and mumbled, “Or anyone, really…”
“I believe he and the Forces of Nature are busy picking off stray monsters threatening the land.” She leaned in and winked. “Between you and me, when Dark Pit is dodging you for a while, it's usually because he lost a fight and got embarrassed.”
Palutena hoped that would make Pit laugh, but he only half-smiled, said “Yeah, maybe…” and looked away again. “You're tracking those same monsters for if they threaten the humans, right?” He asked. Palutena nodded. Well, it wasn't the most exciting, but… “Do you think I could watch with you?”
“Sure, Pit,” she said, walking back towards the temple as Pit followed. She found it a bit odd: he wouldn't usually be interested in the non-flying, non-running, non-monster-bashing part of things. Maybe he just wants company, she thought. I'll need to make more time for him…
A few days passed, and Pit was leaning his face up against his bedroom window. He had woken up much earlier than usual, and it was still fairly dark out with the start of dawn. His eyes wandered among the scenery of Palutena's domain, his gaze often drifting up into the reaches of the sky he loved so much. Then, he noticed something… odd.
The stars were just barely visible in the growing sunlight, but a tiny shooting star stood out clearly among them. It was plummeting straight down towards the Earth, and left a vivid orange trail. Pit hadn't seen anything like it before, and stared in awe.
His eyes followed as the shooting star persisted past when any other would have burned up in the sky… then it disappeared under the clouds. “Woah…” Pit whispered.
BOOM. He heard a rumble far below on the surface. It woke him up enough to realize: a weird orange meteor landing on Earth couldn't be a good thing. He put his hands together and tapped into his telepathy. “Lady Palutena?”
“I heard,” she replied. “Prepare to head out!” She then yawned, telepathy still activated.
“I don't know what it is yet and if we have a fight in store, so I'm starting you on foot,” Palutena told Pit as the teleportation door opened to a forest.
“Why do I have to be in uniform while you don't?” Pit whined as he departed. At least for the war they had planned time for Pit to prepare, not like he needed it to dress anyways. In the heat of divine conflict, an angel's uniform is his pajamas, after all!
“You ought to be presentable to unidentified falling entities, right?” Palutena poured herself another cup of coffee. “I can change instantly if needed!”
“You also could have changed me instantly…” Pit traversed the forest, following floating arrows summoned by Palutena, until he caught sight of smoke rising from what must have been the impact site. Pit slowed his pace to catch his breath. “I guess you have to save your power, though, right?”
Pit scratched his head and smiled. Palutena didn't reply. “Um, Palutena? Everything alright?”
“It can't be…” She muttered, the cheery tone gone.
“Huh?” Pit looked forward and saw the clearing ahead made by the comet. He walked in, pushing a singed log out of the way and onto the dirt that had been seared clear of grass by the impact.
He made his way to the edge of the crater, then froze.
“That's-!”
In the center of the crater, curled up and motionless, laid Pyrrhon.
Pit stared in disbelief. He looked so different, draped in ashy gray locks of hair and scarred with angular lines, but the bright red skin and faintly flickering flames… it could only be him.
Pyrrhon didn't seem to be moving, except for occasional twitches as short pulses of blue light ran through his body. His markings were dark, faintly pulsing with their usual yellow glow, and his aura of flame was weak.
Pit trembled. He was scared to know, but he had to ask. “Palutena? Is… is he alive?”
“Yes, barely.”
Pit walked closer, and he started hearing the signs of life, the slow and pained gasps. Pyrrhon slowly moved his hands to push himself up, his arms trembling. “E-error… error… error…” he muttered, before he faltered and fell to the ground again.
Pit couldn’t bear to watch. So, he kneeled down and held out a hand.
Palutena was taken aback. “Pit?”
“I have to do something,” Pit whispered.
The sound stirred Pyrrhon. He turned, his eyes blank, and he saw…
A lifeform.
He jolted from laying vulnerable on the ground to kneeling with his arms shielding his face. “D-DO NOT, NO, S-STAY BACK…!” He shouted. The intruder that had fought the Aurum back into outer space stood above, holding a weapon.
“Huh? Hey, It’s just me!”
“DO NOT… HARM US…!”
“I’m not going to, I just-” Pit stopped. Pyrrhon was trembling in fear, barely understanding what Pit was saying. Pit would have to show him. He looked up to the sky. “Palutena? Take my bow back.”
“...Are you sure?” Palutena asked.
Pit nodded. He stepped back from Pyrrhon and held his bow into the air. Pyrrhon shielded his eyes as a beam of light whisked the bow away.
“See?” Said Pit, as he kneeled down to Pyrrhon’s level again. “I'm not a threat.”
Pyrrhon stared in confusion. Pit wasn't attacking him… and furthermore, he realized, he wasn't attacking Pit. The commands should have been coming in, but… silence. No connection, no signals. Pyrrhon looked around in confusion, squinting against the early morning light, his vision made vulnerable by the dim glow of the Aurum fortress he had been trapped in. “Wh… where… are we…?”
“You’re on Earth!” Pit said, with a reassuring smile.
“NO! WHERE ARE WE!?” Pyrrhon began to rise with trembling legs. Pit backed up in surprise, then caught Pyrrhon as he began to falter. Pyrrhon muttered: “...No commands. Awaiting commands. No commands. No signal. No signal. Where… where?”
Pit helped Pyrrhon sit, though he still laid over Pit's shoulder, drained of strength. “Do you mean the Aurum?” Pit asked. Pyrrhon muttered indistinctly in reply, something about needing to return, about multiplying and stopping intruders. “Hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you, Pyrrhon.”
The discarded vessel of the Aurum paused his muttering.
His eyes widened.
That name…
That was him!
Despite the weakness in his arms and back, Pyrrhon managed to sit straight enough to look at Pit. “…Citizen? Is that you?”
Pit smiled and nodded. Pyrrhon blinked, the fog in his mind starting to lift, making memories clearer. “I… I’m free…” he whispered.
He took the hand Pit had offered to him before, and nodded. They started to stand together, until Pyrrhon felt sudden hollowness in his limbs, and he collapsed again over Pit's shoulder, groaning in pain. “Huh? Hey!” Pyrrhon went quiet. Pit shook him, but he didn't stir. “Oh no, no no no!”
Light shone down on Pit, and he began to lift into the air with Pyrrhon in tow. “I can heal him, but we need to be quick,” Palutena said, looking on through the orb in her staff.
She didn't know if this was a good idea or a terrible one, but if Pit had to do this, then she knew she had to help.
Pit sat outside of the infirmary with his wings curled close, listening to the shimmer of Palutena's powers. The sound stopped, and he rose as Palutena came back out. “He'll be okay,” said Palutena. “I've got him stable, at least. He should wake up again in a few hours.”
“I'm sorry I didn't ask you before I helped him up,” Pit said, avoiding eye contact. “I know that he… I shouldn't have…” Pit sighed. He stood up straighter, resolute. “I haven't forgiven him, but I want him to survive!”
“I understand, Pit.” Palutena looked at her staff as it twirled in her hand, her conduit of power for bringing light to the Earth, and for the countless battles she guided Pit through. “It's been a while since I've used this for healing, longer than I thought. This could be a nice change of pace, assuming he doesn't try anything… less-than-smart again.” She patted Pit on the back. “I'm gonna go get lunch, okay?”
Pit nodded, and looked at the infirmary door as Palutena walked away. “I'm really relieved that you're alive,” Pit whispered. “…Please don't do anything dumb, okay?”
With that, he got up and ran off to join Palutena.