This one was a request from my friend TheSpookster, AKA Connie (Check out her Professor Layton and Pokemon stories; they're magnificent, I promise!). It was a very vague request, actually: it just had to be Piridi. I guess it's her OTP, too. I was happy to oblige, in any case, so it doesn't matter too much.

This one certainly came out differently than I'd expected it too. First, it was being too angsty when I wanted fluff. Then there was nothing but fluff and I got diabetes. I think I finally came to a happy balance, though. After about twenty rewrites, heh heh...

"Something appears to be troubling you, Mistress Viridi."

That was quite possibly the most assertive thing that Arlon had ever said to Viridi, mostly because the two spoke so little. Outside of a few brief orders here and there, Viridi mostly minded her own business and let Arlon mind his. But even the reserved Arlon couldn't help but point out that Viridi was definitely distracted today. She'd stumbled over words while reading Phosphora's fortune several times, and then she'd almost spilled coffee on the Book of Divine Prophecy. When she wasn't staring blankly at the wall, she was staring blankly out the window. Obviously, something was on her mind.

Shaking her head rapidly to clear the spots from her eyes (when was the last time she'd blinked? Maybe she should try doing that), Viridi twisted around in her throne, which was grown from a manipulated tree and further cemented her status as the most green goddess. "It's nothing, Commander," she snapped back coldly, her fingers tapping idly on her stiff leather gauntlets. She didn't have to continue, but she did anyway. "I'm not worrying about anything. I just have a lot on my mind." At this point, neither of the two could tell whether she was talking to Arlon or herself. "It's just a few small problems here and there, that's all. Nothing's the matter."

Arlon simply surveyed her for several seconds more, not willing to say anything else but very clearly seeing that something was the matter. Luckily, he was saved the decision when Phosphora bolted in through the window, making Viridi jump in her chair with a shriek. "Are you sure about that, Mistress Viridi?" she trilled mischievously.

Viridi was too busy having several organ failures to respond at first. "Why can't you just use the door like a normal person?" she groaned, rubbing her temples as a major headache prepared to manifest itself. Honestly, that girl would be the death of her some day-and considering the fact that she was immortal, that was really saying something.

Ignoring the rhetorical question, Phosphora let static crackle around her as she lifted herself into the air and began to float. "You don't seem like you're not worrying about anything, Mistress Viridi. Does it have anything to do with the news about Pit?" Phosphora's voice was so falsely innocent that Viridi momentarily contemplated finding some brain bleach to wash out the saccharine words. "Because you could always go check on him."

Viridi grit her teeth as the headache started welling up. This was all Palutena's fault, as far as she was concerned. Her day had been going along just peachy keen until Palutena showed up. She'd come to cancel the trip to the human world that they'd been planning: Pit, it seemed, was sick and couldn't come, leaving her with a day free and an irrationally worried mind. Of course Pit would be sick. Of course her Commanders would agree to postpone until another day. Of course she just had to get into this situation.

"I'm not worried about Pit, Commander Phosphora," Viridi practically snarled, her fingernails digging into her palms ever so slightly. Right now, the only thought keeping her temper in check was the fantasy of her tearing Phosphora limb by limb for daring to suggest that she-the goddess of nature and ruler of all living things-was worried about one little life out of thousands of millions.

Phosphora only grinned, drifting closer to Viridi as electricity coursed over her skin, not harming her. "Oh, really?" she chirped, stretching out flat as if she were lying on the ground but keeping her legs crossed and her chin on her palm. "You know, you aren't a very good liar." She neglected to use Viridi's usual formal title this time for added effect.

Viridi shot up and slammed her hand down onto the arm of her throne with an ear-shattering screech of "I AM A WONDERFUL LIAR!"

After the tremors caused by her screaming ceased, Viridi watched with flaming eyes as Phosphora gave her an infuriating wink of secrecy, whispered, "Don't worry; I won't tell anyone you like him," and made a tactical retreat through the window to avoid getting eviscerated. Right after her departure, huge thorned vines shot out of the window in pursuit, nearly catching her but getting outrun by her lightning speed in the end.

Turning to Arlon, who still remained, Viridi offered the most deadly glare she could muster up and Arlon wisely fled the room. The second she was alone again, Viridi took a deep breath, closing her eyes and attempting unsuccessfully to calm herself down. 'Don't kill Phosphora, don't kill Phosphora, she's vital to the Forces of Nature's success, I wonder if Pit's alright-NO! Stop thinking about that! What do you care?'

For several moments, she just glared at empty space as if it had been the one to get her in such a bad mood. "What do I care?" she muttered out loud.

About ten minutes later, Viridi stormed out of her castle with a huff, toting a large blue bag behind her. With a sidelong glance at Cragalanche, a farewell nod to Arlon, and one last vine sent hurtling towards Phosphora, she headed for the exit to her domain even though she wouldn't be walking.

"Mistress Viridi," Arlon called after her retreating form, "where are you going?"

She paused, turned just long enough to snap "Out!" and dissipated like mist, using one of the many godly powers that Palutena seemed to neglect. What did she care, indeed.

"Hmm... could use more salt."

Palutena sprinkled a bit more spice into the putrid pot before her, taking no notice when the thick purplish substance seemed to move on its own, bubbling ominously. "I hope Pit's hungry for spaghetti!" she sung, oblivious to the fact that what she was concocting was almost definitely unfit for consumption.

Without warning, the door to Skyworld's kitchen banged open as Viridi barged in. The goddess of nature stomped over, stopping in front of the kettle, and chanced a glance inside. Rolling her eyes, she wafted the kettle's contents and offered a flat "Could use more salt." Hefting her bag over her shoulder, she shifted her weight impatiently. "Where's Pit?"

For a few long seconds, the only sounds were the bubbling and... growling? of Palutena's spaghetti and the click click click of Viridi's tree bark combat boots as her foot tapped restlessly. Then a grin slowly spread across Palutena's face, eliciting a groan from Viridi, who recognized that look from Phosphora. "Looks like I was right about you having a soft spot for Pit," she cooed, prying her ladle from the pot with some difficulty and pointing it straight at Viridi's chest like a sword. "Are you worried about him because he's sick?"

Viridi exhaled harshly through her nose. "No, Palutena: I got bored, and it's his fault that we had to reschedule, so it falls upon him to keep me occupied. Where is he?" It took some serious self-restraint to live with these morons sometimes.

That grin never left her face; it would have been extremely satisfying to smack it off. "Pit's in his quarters. They're down the corridor to our right: last door on the left." She turned back to her food and, at Viridi's request, tossed in some more salt. "Tell him I'm making spaghetti, would you?"

The blonde goddess didn't answer. She only turned on her heel and speed-walked away, eager to get out of there before she lost control and murdered Palutena. Zeus would have her head on a stake for that, and even immortal gods and goddesses couldn't just pop back into existence without outside help, so she'd be stuck like that for at least 25 years.

Upon reaching Pit's door, she briefly contemplated knocking, but quickly abandoned the idea and shoved the door open with a loud slam. Pit, who had been inside, as promised, jumped at least a few feet in the air from where he sat, yelping in surprise but not seeming to realize that she had entered..

Without waiting to be invited in, Viridi plopped herself down in a chair opposite him and dropped her bag unceremoniously onto the ground beside her. Unzipping it with her eyes still on Pit, who was collecting himself now, she let her gaze scan him over. Pale and sallow skin had replaced his usual tan, and his eyes were too bright and not focused enough. His only tunic (as he constantly reminded her) was drenched in sweat. Ugh. He was so sick.

Finally, she found what she had been searching for just as Pit finally seemed to notice she was there with a dazed look on his face. Ripping it free of the bag, she shoved it into Pit's chest, forcing his arms to automatically clutch it there. It was a 3DS, bought from and adorned with a sticker depicting wings. He'd left it in her domain a few days ago, and she had planned to give it back to him after their trip to the human world. Until they had to reschedule, of course, at which point she decided to be polite and bring it back to him. And, hey, why not get some fun out of it, too? "Palutena's making spaghetti. How good are you with that thing?" she demanded in place of any explanation. He could cope.

Pit seemed to take a second to comprehend her words; then he saw the 3DS that had been thrust upon him. "Um... I'm good at Super Smash Bros. and Pokémon X?" he offered, completely unsure in himself. "That's mostly all I play..."

Viridi felt a smile threaten to creep across her face and quickly fought it down, replacing it with a smirk. "Good. That's what I have." 'He likes the same games as I do, too... No! Bad mind! Stop that!' She hastily removed her own 3DS from her bag as well, looking for something to distract herself. "You're delusional if you think you can best me, though," she challenged not-so-subtly.

Pit just stared at her blankly for a few seconds more. Then, ever so slowly, a somewhat weak grin appeared on his face. "Please. No one can hope to be better than me. Especially not in Pokémon."

The smile fell from Viridi's face and she was suddenly dead serious. "Oh, really now?" She crossed her arms and her legs. "Can you beat Viola with a level 7 Chespin?"

Pit became equally earnest just as fast, the emotion practically draining from his face. "Why yes I can," he answered, leaning forwards slightly. "Can you beat Grant with only a Braixen on your team?"

Viridi also leaned forwards in response, uncrossing her legs but keeping her arms crossed. "Of course," she hissed. "Can you beat all of the gym leaders with the same one Pokémon?"

Pit practically lurched closer. "Yes," he snarled animalistically, his eyes burning competitively. "Can you beat the Elite 4 and Champion with one level 65 Pokémon and no healing items?"

Viridi closed even more space between them. "Child's play!" she snorted. "Can you clear the entire game without using healing items or going to the nurse at the Pokémon center?"

Pit's face was regaining its color, becoming much less sickly-looking now, as he leaned in. "Please!" he scoffed with a growl. "Can you go through the entire game with one Pokémon without ever healing it in any way once?"

Viridi got closer. "You'd better damn well be able to do that," she breathed.

"Or you might as well go home!" both yelled in perfect unison, their faces now so close that their noses almost touched. They didn't seem to notice or mind that they were in such close proximity, instead staring right into each other's eyes with burning determination, neither willing to back down from the challenge.

(Unbeknownst to them, some Flages sent by Phosphora snapped a photo of them looking like they were about to kiss and made off with their spoils. But they would cross that bridge when they got to it.)

Eventually, as if by some unspoken agreement, they both jerked back into their seats at the exact same time and practically ripped the styluses from their ports. Pit flicked open his golden 3DS masterfully, Viridi opened her green system with equal skill, and each clicked the icon for Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, respectively. "OU, single, no legendaries, sleep clause," they recited in harmony, not looking up from their respective screens, right before the battle began.

Who knows how long they sat there, having battle after battle with various teams? After a while, they got tired of sitting in uncomfortable wooden chairs and perched on the edge of Pit's bed, never ceasing their war for a second. The silence would only be broken by the names of their moves and monsters as they called each attack as well as an occasional groan or whoop when a beast fainted. When they finally called it quits, Pit had won seven battles and Viridi had bested him at twelve wins.

But they weren't quite ready to stop entirely. Now they switched over to Super Smash Bros. and prepared for round 2. After setting it so that each would have a random character chosen for them each round, they began, just as hyper as they had been before. Slowly but surely, the glaze over Pit's eyes wore off and his face transitioned from sickly greenish to a healthy, glowing pink. Viridi's mood had officially skyrocketed from the lowest level ("don't talk to me; you'll die") to the highest ("don't interrupt this moment; you'll die"). She didn't notice that she was now sitting right next to Pit, their legs almost touching.

This time, it appeared that Viridi never had a chance, losing every bought they played. She blamed it wholeheartedly on never getting to play as any of the good characters, but that was honestly far from the truth. Just don't try to suggest that maybe Pit was just better than she was.

Just as they were about to start another battle, a creak interrupted them. Looking up, the saw Palutena peek in, her face splattered with small amounts of purplish liquid. "Neither of you have seen a sentient purple blob crawling around, have you?" she inquired rather calmly.

Both gamers blinked before offering a quick and simple negative. "Why?" Viridi asked suspiciously, slowly closing her 3DS with an audible click.

Palutena shrugged sheepishly. "Too much salt."

Sighing, Viridi stood, dropping her system onto the bed. "Come on, Pit. We'd better find that spaghetti." Ignoring the flightless angel's confused look, she took him by the hand and dragged him out the door so that the mystery of the purple goop could begin. Who knew what would happen if it was left alone long enough? It would probably end up eating a Centurion or something.

One goo slaughtering later, Pit and Viridi both sat on the edge of Skyworld, their feet dangling. Even though it had never been returned to its full glory after the whole Chaos Kin ordeal, the courtyard still had a magnificent view of the rest of Skyworld. They had retrieved their 3DSes after scrubbing the purple from their hands and were now knee-deep in Super Smash Bros. again, whooping and cheering whenever they did something even remotely cool. They were, if possible, even more excitable now that they had just fought in real life. Pit had even managed to do quite well against that hunk of goop, even if his shots had been a lot less accurate than they usually were and she had to remind him every once in a while to keep shooting.

Viridi didn't know when Pit started getting out-of-it; she only noticed that his moves were getting slower and more awkward. Attributing it to exhaustion, she let it slide at first, unable to see that his face was slowly paling and becoming more and more green-tinted. In fact, she only really noticed a difference when, for the first time so far, she won a smash, and with relative ease at that. "Ha! Who's laughing now, Pit?!" she'd cried, only to find that Pit wasn't responding. Upon closer examination, she saw that his eyes were focused on some point in the distance, not the screen, and his fingers were just fumbling randomly on the buttons. No wonder it had been such an effortless win on her part.

"Pit?" she called, unwilling to show her concern but knowing she couldn't just not say anything when Pit could actually be in some sort of trouble. "Is anybody in there? Did you abandon ship?" She tried a small joke to see if that would break him out of his reverie, but to no avail. Still, there was absolutely no reaction. Alright, then. Time to bring out the big guns. "Pit, it's an eggplant wizard!" Nothing. Not even a twitch came from the apparently catatonic brunette. That was when she really started to get worried. "Yeesh. He really is out of it."

Suddenly, Pit began to blink rapidly, his eyes struggling to focus but failing in the end. Before long, a wistful smile had spread across his face, making him look, to put it bluntly, high as a kite. "Give me back my leprechaun," he mumbled just before he collapsed backwards.

For a few moments, there was silence, seeing as he'd pretty much just passed out at random. Then, rolling her eyes at how insane he had sounded, Viridi slung his arm over her shoulder and stood them both up. They were just about the same height, so it worked out nicely. She then proceeded to pretty much drag him along, his legs not able to support him. She was actually surprisingly strong given her childish appearance, voice, and (quite frankly) attitude.

Pit spent the whole time halfway conked-out, but never seemed to fully fall into sleep. Instead, he stayed suspended in a sort of partially awake state even though he was clearly experiencing an augmented version of reality. Case in point? "Viridi?" he groaned at one point in their journey. "When did you learn to levitate? I demand you teach me!" Honestly, if Palutena walked in on them right now, she would probably think that he was on drugs. Or maybe that he'd eaten some of her spaghetti and it was affecting him. Both situations seemed equally likely.

Managing to get him back into Palutena's temple and out of the cold, at least, Viridi propped him up against a wall and sat down heavily. "Ugh. You weigh a lot for a soldier," she complained, leaning back against the wall. "I thought you would be fit, but you carry like you're obese. Honestly."

For about a minute, the two sat in companionable silence, Pit too mindlessly content to complain about the pause and Viridi too busy wondering how she was going to get Pit back into bed. Then, just as Viridi was about to stand up and try to chug onwards, Pit tossed slightly in his stupor. Croaking a bit when he first tried to talk with a dry mouth, he cleared his throat and tried again, this time muttering, "I was afraid of heights, you know."

Viridi stopped moving for just a moment, freezing in place. Confusion welled up. An angel? Afraid of heights? Oh, yeah. He was totally out of it, wasn't he? She'd sort of forgotten about that. "I'm sure," she replied sarcastically, remembering that he was just babbling back there. She seized his arm again, struggling to stand. "Get a hold of yourself, Pit. You weren't afraid of heights. You're an angel."

When he turned around to look at her, though, his loopy expression had hardened into something serious, as if he was finally fully there. "But I was," he persisted. "I was afraid of heights. Even when I could fly."

That's when she really froze. His arm slid from her grasp and he tumbled to the ground in a pile of body parts, his body still completely unresponsive and therefore useless. She just stood there, staring disbelievingly into the distance. No way. There was absolutely no way. She would have known, wouldn't she? That seems like something that would have come up in conversation at least once, especially given how hyper focused Pit sometimes tended to be on his inability to fly. Besides, you don't just suddenly... lose the power to fly with no reason. And it's not like they got wounded or anything; an angel couldn't live properly without his wings intact, so Palutena would have just resurrected him with his flight still there. Finally, through her rationalizations and wonderings, she managed to gather her wits and choke out, "You could fly?"

"Mm-hmm," Pit hummed quietly, not even attempting to sit up from his position sprawled out on the floor. He knew that whatever attempt he made to reign in his control over his limbs would end in failure, and had apparently decided that it was useless to try. "I was a pretty good flier, too... always had good form... but once I got up too high... I'd start panicking." He rolled over only slightly, his wings bobbing limply as if to prove the point that he definitely wasn't a good flier now. "Eventually, I panicked too much and almost fell, but my wings saved me and I finally learned that there was nothing to fear."

Viridi blinked. "So... you got over your fear because you almost died?" she wondered aloud. "That seems rather unlikely to me. Wouldn't you just realize that you were in danger when you were high and get even more afraid?" She was jealous. Mind-bogglingly jealous. Although it wasn't like she'd ever admit it, even to herself.

"Well, yes," Pit agreed, "I suppose it does seem like it'd turn out that way, but..." he paused for a long moment, then shrugged nonchalantly. "...I dunno. It didn't end up going down like that. I lost my fear of heights..." a dry chuckle came from his cracked lips." ...that is, until Medusa attacked and I got hit by a Monolith while in the air, fell, and died when I hit the ground."

Viridi's eyebrows furrowed. "So... you became afraid of heights again?" she asked in confirmation, only for Pit to shake his head in reply.

"No, no... I still wasn't afraid of heights anymore, but... when Lady Palutena revived me, she was in a hurry to revive a bunch of angels who had died before Medusa could strike again, so she made a little mistake, and..." He trailed off, swallowing thickly as if there was a glob of tacky glue stuck in his throat. "...I came back wrong." He paused for a moment. "Ironically, I lost my ability to fly on the exact day I got over my fear of heights."

A long silence met his revelation. Viridi simply sat with a blank face, completely unaware how she was supposed to feel. One part of her, the part whose existence she refused to acknowledge, wanted to sympathize with Pit; to offer its condolences and ask him if he was alright. Another, smaller part of her wanted to just pretend that she had never heard that; Pit would probably forget it, so she didn't have to bring it up again if she didn't want to, and that part of her really didn't. The last and tiniest part of her urged her to hug him, as he was clearly not in the most uplifting of moods after having revealed his secret to her. He definitely needed a hug. Part of her was willing to give it.

Then, with a slurred chuckle, Pit seemed to lose his brief lucidity, falling back into a daze like he had previously. Then he was pretty much out of the picture, only staying as dead weight for Viridi to drag since the only things he was saying were complete nonsense in one way or another.

Eventually, Viridi regained control of the warring instincts inside her brain, silently hooked his arm around her shoulder, and supported him on the way back to his quarters. She didn't say a word to him on the way, not that he would have heard her anyway. Once she reached their destination, she hauled him into his bed, making sure he got under the covers as his skin felt cold and clammy to the touch. 'You've done all you can do. Go,' her mind instructed her.

Ignoring it partly, she hefted her bag over her shoulder again, not at all annoyed that they'd never gotten to the board games she'd packed just in case. Then, seeing a golden glimmer on the ground, she paused and sighed. Leaning down to grab it, she placed his 3DS carefully on the bedside table next to him and flicked off the lamp. It wasn't dark out yet anyway, she noticed with no shortage of relief.

Turning away from the angel, she made to walk away, only to halt upon hearing a slurred yawn of "Viridi?" Pit shifted, then groaned, turning away as if he'd forgotten he'd even said anything. She waited a good few seconds, gave him time to continue, but he did not do so, so she continued to leave. It was getting late, after all, and she had to get back to her domain before Phosphora started getting ideas.

She reached for the doorknob. Stopped. Withdrew her hand. Reached for it again. Stopped. Sighed.

"Pit?"

The blue-eyed angel glanced up at Viridi, whose hand was inches from the door handle. She seemed to be reluctant about something: incredibly reluctant. Finally, breathing out a small sigh, she turned away from the door, her long blonde ponytail swaying, and stalked back over to Pit. Their eyes met, his full of sleepy curiosity and hers of hesitation. She took a deep breath and glanced down at her shoes.

"I'm afraid of the dark, you know."

With that, she leaned in, kissed his forehead, muttered a hasty "Get well soon," and fled.

Carefully opening the door with one hand occupied by a tray of store-bought, non-violent food, Palutena slid into Pit's room. "Dinner is served, Pit," she chirped happily. "I promise it won't come to life this time."

When she received no response, her eyebrows furrowed. Hastening to close the door, she turned around and saw that Pit was lying in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. His face was no longer pale, but instead his cheeks were burning a bright red, practically glowing they were so flushed.

"Oh, dear! Are you alright, Pit?" she cried, hurrying forward and placing the back of her hand against his cheek. His face was definitely bordering on boiling. "You have a fever," she fretted. He really was getting worse, just as she had suspected. "I'll go get the thermometer!" With that, she turned and ran back out of the room, completely forgetting once again that she could instantaneously teleport herself.

For several seconds after she'd left, Pit just lay there, staring unblinkingly up at the ceiling with a blush on his cheeks. Then he blinked once, twice, and slowly pressed his palm against his forehead where Viridi had kissed. Scrambling for an explanation that fit but managing to come up with none, he managed, in his incredulity, a monotone "What."

With that eloquently said, his eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out, his hand still placed on his forehead.

"Did something happen that I should know about, Mistress Viridi?" was all that Phosphora could say when the green-eyed goddess finally returned. It was nearly pitch black outside, and it had been dark for several hours. She was silently distancing herself from Viridi, ready to beat a hasty retreat if she pushed her boss too far. Behind her back, she was holding the developed picture of Viridi and Pit, whose faces she had drawn a large red heart around. She could only hope no one would find the extra copies she'd printed to destroy them, because this copy was definitely going to get torn to shreds.

To her surprise, Viridi didn't seem to care that she was so obviously joking about her getting a date with Pit. She had a somewhat dazed yet extremely triumphant look on her face, and it appeared that not even Phosphora could ruin her mood at the moment. Oh, there were so many cracks she could get from this. "You look like you were enjoying yourself with Pit, milady," she cooed.

Viridi still didn't even seem to notice her teasing. Her gaze was instead fixated on the dark void that lay behind her. There wasn't a hint of fear in her eyes even though she could see very little, and what she could see was only by Phosphora's dim glow of static electricity.

Seeing that plain old jokes weren't going to cut it this time, Phosphora allowed a smirk to cover her face as she pulled out her ace in the hole. "According to the Flages, you two were having all sorts of fun," she giggled, showing the picture to Viridi and lighting it with a ball of lighting held in her other hand. Meanwhile, she allowed her excess power to flow to her legs, ready to propel her out of there at light speed when things started getting ugly. Any second now, Viridi was going to positively explode, and Phosphora would be ready for her when she did.

Viridi turned to look at the picture as the lightning warrior braced herself for a chase, only to seem just as unperturbed as ever. If anything, she was just as amused by it as Phosphora was. Strolling towards her, she stood on her tiptoes and examined it closely, not caring when her extremely long ponytail crackled and gravitated towards the static in Phosphora's hand.

"You have copies, right?"

Unsure how to respond to minimize harm but maximize reaction, Phosphora just nodded, slipping a grin back onto her face.

Viridi looked up at her with a little breathless laugh and smiled, startling her commander so much that she almost let the lightning dissipate. "I want a copy," she demanded calmly, then she turned and walked off, leaving a dumbstruck Phosphora behind.

Regaining her senses, Phosphora opened and closed her mouth several times before shouting "What happened to you, Viridi?" It was a legitimate question, after all. Viridi had been completely transformed from her cranky self.

Viridi only chuckled again. "Oh, I got over my fear of the dark." She paused, ceasing movement momentarily. "Oh, and Phosphora?"

The shell-shocked woman was a sitting duck when vines shot up from the ground and wrapped around her, hurling her backwards and into the sky.

"That's for this morning."

And that's that.

Connie, if you're reading this, I hope you liked it. I know it's pretty long... as in, like, really freaking long, but I couldn't stand to cut it off any sooner. I might actually make a sequel to this, depending on how well I like it in a few weeks. I tend to write something, then end up hating it in the long run, so we'll see how it goes. Who knows? Maybe my muse will stop being a total jerk and actually let me continue something for once. ...No promises, though.