"The Chaos Kin's unfathomable magic allows it to survive even being burned to ash. In this state, only possessing Dark Pit could restore it to its full power. But Pit's selfless rescue banishes the evil creature into the Chaos Vortex."
-Chaos Kin (Ash) idol info.

Pit was reeling mentally as he lay on the rough, jagged stone. It was still strange, having Viridi pull him out. And he hadn't landed in either of the goddesses' temples-rather, he was still in the Chaos Vortex. What happened what happened what happened-

Pittoo.

Pit sat upright and scanned the island, panicking. "Pittoo!" He pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the wounds from his battle and the slight smoldering from the back on his tunic. It would've been worse if he hadn't been pulled out.

But he would've been able to catch up if he hadn't been pulled out.

"Where is he?!" The angel ran towards the edge of the platform, only to feel a hand grab his shoulder. He wheeled around, seeing the goddess of light standing before him. "L-Lady Palutena!"

"Pit!" Palutena pulled her angel into a hug, but Pit pushed away after only a second. He turned away, scanning the air. Maybe he's flying? That might be it, right? "Lady Palutena, where's-"

"I'm sorry!" Viridi was yelling suddenly-or, the closest thing to yelling telepathy could bring. "I had to pull you out! You were going to burn up! There wasn't any choice!"

"What?!" Viridi was lucky she wasn't there, or Pit would've... he wasn't sure, but something. "Why did you do that?! I could've handled it!"

"No, you couldn't have! Aren't angels dependent on their wings to live? You would've died!"

"Yeah, so? Pittoo didn't deserve to die either!" He faintly heard Palutena gasp, over the sounds of Viridi's excuses and the blood pounding in his own ears. Pittoo was dead. He'd let him die.

"Don't you remember what he said about why he was helping you? If he was out cold or something while you were trapped in the ring, you dying probably would've killed him anyway!"

Pit was trying to come up with a response when Palutena spoke. "Wait." She looked around, her eyebrows furrowed. "Something's not right."

"What do you mean?" Viridi asked.

"There's… something nearby. It feels like… When that thing first showed up."

"What?!" Pit checked his hand, making sure his Midnight Palm was still secured in place. "Where is it?"

The three barely had time to think before someone landed on the platform.

At first, everything looked fine. The darker angel stood at the edge, hunched over and staring at his own feet, breathing heavy with his bow gripped loosely in his hand. Tired, but unharmed. But Palutena could tell something was wrong. There was a faint black mist surrounding him, and the handful of visible cuts and gashes on his arms and legs had something stuck to them. Worst of all was… it was impossible to pin down what, exactly, but something felt wrong with him, even from a distance. A sensation that Palutena remembered as her only warning before the Chaos Kin's attack.

Pit, however, didn't notice any of that, and by the time the goddesses had realized what was happening, it was too late. "Pittoo!" he yelled, running towards his clone. "You're alright!"

Dark Pit looked up from his feet, his face blank for a moment. His eyes fell on Pit, though, and he smirked. He straightened up, saying, "Better than." He lifted the bow that had been hanging limply at his side and leveled it with the angel approaching him.

Pit barely had time to be shocked before Palutena yelled, "Pit, watch out!" and the glowing barrier lit up in front of him. He staggered backwards, while Palutena ran forwards to meet him, her staff drawn and pointed at the attacker. The purple arrow flew back at Dark Pit, who dodged to the side.

Dark Pit growled at he righted himself. "That's hardly fair," he muttered, and threw his arm out to the side. Part of the mist surrounding him broke off, streaming around the barrier and towards the goddess of light. Pit cried out in fear, but instead of attacking Palutena, it simply wrapped itself around her staff. The barrier flickered, then disappeared altogether. Palutena tried to bring it back, but nothing happened.

Pit wheeled back around on his clone. "Pittoo, what're you doing?!"

"You idiot!" Viridi screamed, finally speaking again. "The Chaos Kin must've gotten control of him!"

"But how is that possible?" Pit yelped suddenly, barely sidestepping another shot from the Silver Bow. "Hey! Chaos Kin!" He yelled, pointing his Palm at the other angel. "Leave Pittoo alone!"

"Are you kidding, Pit-stain?" Pit flinched slightly. Man, how did it know about that? "You think I want this thing gone?"

"What?" Pit shook his head. "No, you're not getting away with that twice! I know that's not really him!" The two angels stood still, weapons pointed directly at each other, but neither moving. Pit didn't want to do this. He was finally used to fighting alongside his clone; he didn't want to fight against him anymore.

"Listen to me." Dark Pit took a deep breath. "Do you have any idea how awesome this feels? To have all of its powers and strength, but to still be in control? This thing's insanely powerful, but I know I can control it." He laughed as he flexed his wings, adding, "Maybe I'll just take this for a spin." He took a few steps towards Pit, who stepped back.

"Listen, Pittoo-if that really is you," Palutena said, putting her arm out the shield Pit. "That thing is more powerful and dangerous than any of us can understand. Even if you're in control, we can't let you leave with it attached to you."

"Why not? It's not like I'm gonna bother you. And unlike you, O great goddess of light, I know how to control it. The Chaos Kin and I think alike, it seems." Dark Pit paused, seeming to relax a bit, then said, "Tell you what: I'll go my own way, you promise not to let Hades kill you, we'll all be happy." He extended a hand. "Deal?"

"This isn't right." Pit jumped as Palutena spoke through telepathy.

"No kidding?" Viridi said, joining the conversation in Pit's head. "Even if he does have control over the Chaos Kin, who says he can keep it?"

"What do I do, then?" Pit muttered, turning towards Palutena. While she and Viridi could hide their ends of the conversation, Pit wasn't that fortunate.

"Remember the battle when it had control of Palutena?" Viridi asked. "Get up close and look for its physical form."

"Right." Pit turned, only to see Dark Pit had aimed his bow again.

"So, by the sounds of it, no deal?"

I don't want to do this again. Why do I have to keep fighting people I like? "No deal." Pit fired a shot from his Palm right above Dark Pit's head, and the battle was on.

Dark Pit ducked to the side, firing his arrow as he did. Pit dodged barely, rushing in for a closer view. He darted left and right, avoiding the barrage of arrows sent flying at him. One struck him in the shoulder, and he stumbled from the pain. Another was aimed at his head, only for Palutena to reflect it with a smaller shield at the last second. Dark Pit shouted in anger, sending another stream of mist at Palutena, while Pit barreled towards him again. "Lady Palutena, you alright?" Pit asked, dodging a slicing strike from the bow itself as he got closer to his enemy.

"I'm fine," Palutena said, "but I won't be able to help any more. The Chaos Kin's powers are blocking my own."

"Guess he didn't want this battle to be too easy for the writer to get out of."

"Now's not the time for medium awareness, Viridi! Pit, can you find any way to stop him?"

Pit landed another blast. Now that he was closer, he could see the ashes coating Dark Pit's wounds from earlier, and now coagulating over his fresh injuries. Looked kinda like the mist surrounding Dark Pit… As well as what had been left of…

Pit realized something incredibly distressing. "Ew, gross! He's covered in Chaos Kin bits!"

"Those ashes! That must be how he's blocking Palutena's powers, too!" Viridi said. "Do you see some kind of physical form?"

"No," Pit said, right as he ducked a kick in the head. He launched a fully charged blast at Dark Pit's chest, then froze when he realized what he'd done. "Oh, no!"

"Be careful not to hurt him too much!" Palutena cried as Dark Pit skidded across the ground.

"I know, I know!" Pit raced towards his clone, afraid the other angel wouldn't get up.

Dark Pit pushed himself to a sitting position, and Pit realized the mist-the ash-around him was concentrated over his chest, where he'd been shot. Dazed red eyes fell on Pit, who skidded to a stop, unsure what was happening. "What… What's going on?" Dark Pit asked, before crying out in pain, and the ash around him thickened again.

"Pittoo!" Pit ran towards his clone, who climbed to his feet and swung his bow again, breaking it into twin blades.

Palutena ran to Pit's side, deflecting an attack with her staff. "It's like we thought." Pit heard her speak again. "The Chaos Kin's just pretending it doesn't have any control. It must be slipping, though."

"But how?" Viridi asked. "And why can't we find the actual Chaos Kin to defeat it?"

"Wait!" Pit yelled, countering a slash and pushing Dark Pit back. "Those ashes! That's all that's left of its body!"

"It must be controlling his body that way," Viridi said. "Wait! Hang on, I'll be right back!"

"Where are you going?!" Palutena yelled, but there was no answer. She turned towards the dark angel, speaking again. "We know you're in control, Chaos Kin."

Pit spoke up. "You can't kill me, remember? That would kill you, too!"

"I don't need you dead." Dark Pit steadied himself, and a ball of blue fire lit up around his fist. "Just out of my way for a bit." He hurled the fireball, sending Pit and Palutena scrambling backwards.

Pit yelped. "How did he-"

"Is it tapping into Pandora's powers?" When another fireball landed, Palutena summoned her own wings, fanning the flames back. The two heard a cry of pain and looked at each other in concern. Both pairs of eyes fell on Dark Pit, who had a cloud of ash surrounding his hand.

The ash around the rest of him thinned, and he looked up, what had been a grimace of pain turning into one of horror. "What- Pit! What's going-" He screamed again as the ash collected around him.

"It loses its grip whenever he gets hurt," Palutena realized. She looked to Pit, who stood still, staring in horror.

"He's scared," he whispered, clenching the fist containing his weapon. "We have to save him!"

"I know." Palutena spread her wings. "Hopefully Viridi will be back with more information soon." Her eyes fell on her staff. The layer of ash coating it was thinning… She waved the staff, this time successfully firing a blast of energy at Dark Pit. "Pit, I have an idea!"

"What is it?" Pit darted to one side, while Palutena ran to the other, surrounding Dark Pit. The possessed angel yelled, taking off into the air and making a throwing motion with one hand. Bombs appeared on the floor around his opponents, making Pit skid to a stop and run around one right before it blew up in his face. Really starting to dislike this whole 'using Pandora's powers' thing, he thought.

Palutena switched back to telepathy. "I think the Chaos Kin can only do so many things at once. Think about it: it's trying to hold off my powers, fight you, and both heal Pittoo's body and block his spirit."

"You're right," Pit muttered. He fired a shot from his Palm, barely missing stepping on a bomb at his feet as he did. He yelled across the battlefield, "What do we do?"

"If we can split his attention, maybe Pittoo can break through." Palutena darted away from Dark Pit as he dove in and slashed at her, summoning a barrier that caused him to fall back. He landed hard, flapping his wings as he stood, but apparently had used Pandora's powers too much; while he was able to get about a foot from the ground, he came back down quickly.

"Need a hand?"

"Viridi! Where were you?" Another blast fired at Dark Pit, and another arrow dodged. This was starting to get on Pit's nerves. It was starting to feel like one of those boss fights where, no matter what you did, the boss never seemed to lose health.

"Just asking the Chaos Kin's old warden what to do," Viridi said. "I think I can help hold it off, but no promises."

"Go for it!" Palutena said, ducking an arrow.

"Alright, here… goes… nothing!" Suddenly, a mass of branches sprouted from the ground, encircling the dark angel and grabbing at his legs. "Do you have any idea how hard this is to do outside of my realm? You guys own me one. Like you didn't already." Viridi grumbled.

"Good work, Viridi! Pit!" Palutena yelled, firing another shot at Dark Pit, who was now struggling to escape the brambles Viridi had summoned. "This will work with our plan!"

"What plan?!" Viridi asked.

"We're planning to spread the Chaos Kin-or what's left of it-out. If we can draw enough of it away from Dark Pit, I think we can, if not defeat it, at least distract it long enough to escape with everybody safe." Palutena gasped as another cloud of ash coated her staff. She shook it, but nothing happened. "Pit, I can't use my powers for now!"

"Well, you better do this quickly," Viridi said. "Arlon says that the Chaos Kin is probably trying to use a powerful soul to revive itself. It's too weak to manifest a physical form, but if it regains enough energy, it'll be back for real!"

"A powerful soul-like a goddess's soul? Like Pandora's?" Pit ran in, dashing up and firing at Dark Pit. They had to beat him up-not enough to kill him, but enough that the Chaos Kin would have to heal him.

"No, though I guess it could be after that, too. I mean like a fresh soul. You know how after something dies, their soul is reborn as something else? Hey, leave those alone!" Viridi interrupted her own train of thought when a cloud of ash spread to her plants, causing them to shrivel up.

"Yeah, what about that?" Pit could see his clone flinching as another shot landed. The Chaos Kin would slip again soon.

"Think about it: Where did Dark Pit's soul come from? Palutena, tell me I'm not the only one who saw something off about it."

"It did seem different from any other soul I'd seen for a long time…" Palutena mused.

"That's because at this point, every soul in the world had been reborn at least once." Another batch of plants popped up, and Viridi grunted with the strain. "I think the Mirror of Truth created souls from scratch. That's why the Chaos Kin went after Dark Pit in particular."

"Wait," Pit said, having blasted Dark Pit and now stopping to ask a question. "Viridi. When did you even get the chance to find out all this? How'd you even learn anything about him?"

"He went through and wrecked my stuff not long before you did, and then Arlon called him to help protect the Lunar Sanctum. It was… quite the experience, I hear."

"Sounds fun," Palutena said. With a fan of her wings, she deflected a bomb back at Dark Pit. At least he'd seemed to have given up on the fireballs.

The dark angel stumbled, then sent another cloud of ash in Palutena's direction. It rapidly tangled around her feet and legs, pinning her in place. He then turned, firing at Pit.

Dodging sideways, Pit ran to his goddess's aid. "Lady Palutena!" He knelt beside her, pulling at the ash that had solidified into ropes around her ankles. "C'mon…" He yelped, barely avoiding being struck in the head with an arrow. Whirling around, he fired at the other angel, who was hit in the shoulder, right as another wave of ash encircled Palutena, tightening her bonds and encasing Pit's hands and feet as it did.

Dark Pit clutched his new wound and groaned, falling to his knees. What little was left of the ash drew itself over the injury, and as he looked up, Pit could see the terror in the dark angel's eyes. "Ngh… Pit! Help!" He yelled in pain as the ash abandoned his shoulder, rushing around and settling on his back somewhere.

"Hang on!" Pit grunted as he struggled to free himself. An idea struck him, and he turned to the sky. "Viridi! We need another distraction!"

"On it!" Vines and trees sprouted from the ground around Dark Pit. rushing at him and trying to grab him. The ash surrounding Pit and Palutena thinned, clouds seemingly being recalled to fight the plants, and with one grand sweep of her wings, Palutena smashed the remaining ash, fanning it away.

Palutena pulled Pit to his feet. "Good thinking, Pit! Viridi!" She gestured to the dome the plants now formed with her staff, a small orb of energy building at the tip. "We need an entry way through those vines."

Before Viridi could speak, a blade slashed through a portion of the dome. "Will that work?" Viridi said, another wave of vines sprouting to hold back the angel trying to escape.

"This is perfect." Palutena turned to Pit. "We go in. He'll try to hold one of us back with the Chaos Kin's powers, but I don't think he can get both of us plus Viridi's plants. Whoever is left needs to go in and remove that ball of ash from his back somehow."

"Understood!" The duo turned to Dark Pit, who had finally pushed past the plant trap. "Hey, Chaos Kin! Looking for somebody?"

Palutena leveled her staff, firing off the blast of magic-now the size of her head-at her opponent. A cloud of ash came from behind him, swallowing up the light itself. "Well, that's not what I meant to do," Palutena muttered, "but it works."

"Get back!" Dark Pit guided more ash towards Palutena, then turned and fired an arrow at Pit. Pit ran towards him, the two engaging at close range, bow swinging and enchantments being shot. The clump of ash around Dark Pit's wings was thin; almost all of it had been cast about, trying to stop Palutena and Viridi. All I have to do is knock that ball loose...

Pit stumbled as something grabbed his ankle, and before he knew what was happening, he was thrown onto his back. He tried to get up, only for a sandal to hit him in the chest, knocking the air out of him and pinning him down. He could hear Palutena cry out, and Viridi was yelling, too, but both must've been pinned down, as neither did anything.

Dark Pit was shaking as he stared his opponent down, the blade at the end of his bow pointed at Pit's face. "Wait..." He muttered, seemingly to himself. He groaned, his free hand grabbing his head.

Pit stared up at the blade hovering above him. "Pittoo, listen to me! You can fight it, it's still weak! I know you can!" He flinched as the blade dropped-

-and plunged into the ground next to him.

He stared up at his clone, who was breathing heavily, his eyes burning with determination. "I… won't… let you… do that!" Pit could see the ash coating Dark Pit's back spreading, creeping over his shoulders, but with one strong flap of his wings, the mass was scattered. He collapsed, falling sideways.

From across the island the ash gathered together, forming a shape that looked vaguely like the original monster. It almost seemed to look at the two angels for a moment-before a tree dropped on top of it.

Palutena lowered her staff, which she had used as a blunt weapon to knock loose the tree that crushed the Chaos Kin. "Are you two alright?" she asked.

Pit scrambled upright, kneeling next to Dark Pit, who started to stir. He was alright. Turning to stare at the pile of ash, which had started to blow away, Pit started, "It is...?"

"I think so," Viridi said, and a beam of light appeared over the three left on the island. "I'm gonna pull you guys out before we find out, though."

Pit grinned as he landed in Viridi's temple, because he knew it would be the last time. The Chaos Kin was gone. Lady Palutena was back. And Pittoo…

Was standing up. That was good! And... walking towards the window… and…

"Pittoo, wait! Pandora was-" Aaaand too late. With a yell, Dark Pit was falling through the air.

"Alright, alright, I'll grab him." A beam of light appeared, and the dark angel landed roughly next to Pit again.

"Viridi, be gentle." Palutena had already stood up, and had met Viridi as she entered her so-called 'Landing Pad'-a small courtyard with a fountain at the center.

"Oh, blah, blah. He's lucky I caught him at all. That dive was his idea." Still, when she turned and saw Dark Pit faceplanting the tile, she winced. "Oops."

Pit reached over and patted his clone's head. "Pittoo?"

Dark Pit swatted Pit's hand, groaning. He rolled onto his back, staring blankly at the sky. "Ugh..." He (probably reluctantly) sat up, turning to face the others. He looked a bit pale, and his nose bled-probably from landing face-first on stone-but he was alive, and for Pit, that was enough. "Um..." He looked down, picking at the tile. "Did we... win?"

"Heck yeah, we did!" With a yell, Dark Pit was dragged to his feet by his twin, who pulled him into a bear hug. "Well, I mean, it was a little tricky there, but me and Lady Palutena were able to split it up, and she dropped a tree on the Chaos Kin, and Viridi was even able to throw a bunch of plants at it, and-"

"Pit, breath." Palutena approached the two. "Do you feel alright, Pittoo?"

"Don't call me that," he muttered, then sighed. "Yeah, I think... I'll be fine." He wiggled out of Pit's arms. "I'm gonna need a while, though."

"You can stay with me and Lady Palutena for no-!" Pit started.

"NO!" Dark Pit yelled. Pit jumped, and the dark angel sighed. "I just... want to be alone for a bit."

Is there ever a time you don't?" Palutena asked.

Dark Pit didn't answer. He walked towards the center of the courtyard, fluttering his wings. "C'mon," he grumbled, flapping harder, but he didn't budge.

"Hate to break it to you," Viridi said, "but I think Pandora's powers got... eaten."

"What?!" He spun around, eyes wide. "That... That means... Argh!" He kicked the base of the fountain, then yelped quietly when all that accomplished was stubbing his toe.

"What a mess..." Viridi turned to Palutena. "If he's gonna throw a hissy fit about going with you two, then I guess he can stay here for a little."

"If he really doesn't want us bothering him for now, I suppose that's our best plan. Thank you, Viridi, and thank you for helping Pit when I couldn't." Palutena reached out and put her hand on Pit's shoulder. "Pit, are you ready to go home?"

Pit, meanwhile, had been watching Dark Pit's tantrum. He turned to Palutena, saying, "Yeah, but... is Pittoo gonna be alright?"

"I think so. Let him blow off some steam." A beam of light surrounded the two, and in a second, they were home.

A/N: I never uploaded this here!

Anyway, yeah, new fandom. I wrote this 'fic back in October of last year and posted it on AO3, but not here. Shame, too, because I like how it turned out.

Now, to make up for that, I'll let you guys in on a secret that I haven't shared with either my Tumblr or AO3 followers: I'm planning a follow-up 'fic to this. It's gonna be less action and more feels, and while it's definitely gonna be a while (I have other things I'm working on rn), I do plan to share it at some point.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!