Dark Pit lazily rounded a corner in the Skyland Temple.
The war on the Underworld had ended, and Dark Pit had grown restless in the peace-time atmosphere. Though he had matured during his brief existence, Dark Pit was naturally destructive, and his refusal to assist Palutena alongside Pit ("I refuse to become your puppet!") had only made things worse.
So then why be there at all? The answer to that was simple. Where else was there to go? Sure, he was independent, but just because he wouldn't let anyone tell him what to do didn't mean that he had something to do in the first place. There was nowhere he needed to be, nothing he needed to be doing. Maybe it was because he came from Pit, or maybe because of their bond, but Skyland felt more like home to him then anywhere else did.
So he was squatting there. He refused to join in Pit's duties ("If I tagged along every time he ran on some errand for you, I'd might as well elist!"), but he was dying without something to keep him active.
Which brought him here, inside the temple, wandering aimlessly.
In the chamber ahead of him, Palutena stood in front of an orb, looking at it interestedly. Dark Pit's ears perked at the sound of his double's voice echoing though the expansive chamber.
"Ouch! I think you've gotten a bit rusty with this navigation business, Lady Palutena!"
Palutena smiled playfully at the orb, and Dark Pit noticed a staff in her hand, glowing with a pale blue light that made it clear she was up to some sort of magic.
"Oh, Pit, it hasn't been that long since you last flew! I think you just need to be more careful!"
Dark Pit heard more complaining and teasing as he stepped further into the chamber. It has become obvious to him that she was running mission control; guiding Pit as he fulfilled some sort of menial task for her. It hadn't been happening as much; in those twenty-five years before the war that brought him into existence, Pit had hardly done any work outside training the Centurions (there's a reason he said "sorry to keep you waiting"). Even now, it was the war that kept him working; wiping out stragglers from the Netherworld army and basic cleanup.
"Oh, looks like it's Pittoo."
"Pittoo?"
Dark Pit tensed at the mention of his hated nickname, though by now he had become used to it for the most part.
"I wish you two'd STOP calling me that." He allowed himself to casually take a seat next to Palutena, the powerful goddess not intimidating him in the least as she glanced good-humoredly at him.
"Will you be joining us, Pittoo?"
Dark Pit didn't comment on the fact that she had ignored his request, keeping his reply to a simple "maybe."
"Aww, now I'll have both your voices going though my head? I'll be so distracted!"
"Hey, I'll be WAY better than HER!"
It was weird, talking to an orb. Pit's figure ran almost in place on it, the land around him seeming to be the only thing in motion. It was also weird, how Pit didn't look at them even when he spoke to them, his attention focused on what he was doing. How could he look at them? He was miles away, and they were looking at him through a weird orb that apparently transferred sound.
They looked at Pit through a zoomed out, almost bird's eye view. Dark Pit couldn't really see his face, only the back of his head and body as he ran through wherever. As if sensing his thoughts, Palutena spun the orb like a globe, and their view of him changed; they saw his face from the front, a view that was almost uncomfortable as he responded to stimuli they couldn't see, and they looked at him as if from over his shoulder, his wings at times obscuring their view. Overall, the original view was the most useful for looking ahead and warning Pit of dangers in his path.
"Pit, be careful, there are a bunch of your namesakes in the area up ahead; it's dark, so you may not see them."
"Wait- what's ahead?"
"Pits, or holes, idiot. And you don't need to tell him every little thing- he'd good enough to handle himself, you know."
"Hey, I like hints. But thanks for the confidence, Pittoo!""Wha- I was NOT trying to compliment you, doofus! If you can't notice a simple thing like that, then you deserve to fall!"
Arguments like these started to happen more and more often as Dark Pit began to make it habit to watch over Pit on his missions. Palutena continued both her merciless teasing and her constant hand-holding, and Dark Pit resisted both. Usually, this just resulted in some argument that did more harm than good for Pit.
"If you have a problem with it, then just tune us out!"
"I can't; what if Lady Palutena says something important?"
"Can't you tell the difference between out voices?"
"Well, she's talking to you too-"
"Well, it shouldn't matter anyway- you should be able to get on just fine without her."
It worked out pretty well for Dark Pit; some way to kill time while still stubbornly refusing to serve the goddess directly ("I'm doing this for him, not for you"). Even if he ended up receiving some of Palutena's teasing as well, he had a stockpile of excuses for sticking around.
"Hey, pay attention! Remember, if you get a game over there, you're not the only one who's finished!"
"Oh, that may not be true; I mean, if I revive him fast enough, maybe."
"Maybe? I'd rather not put that to the test."
It was peaceful, but it wasn't boring. Dark Pit refused to admit it, but it was fun, sitting beside Palutena and watching as their hero rode through the skies and defended the people of Earth and beyond.