Around 12 at midnight, Pit and Samus still shared the bedroom that they were sleeping in for the past several days during the latter's visit to Skyworld. Pit, however, was not asleep. There was something that had been on his mind for a while. With today being August 6th, he realized it was a special day. Pit had chosen to sleep on the floor since he insisted on giving Samus the bed to help her feel comfortable. He got up from his makeshift bed on the floor and quietly exited the room, trying his best not to wake up his friend in the process.
Succeeding in leaving the room without waking her up, he quietly snuck around the temple, making his way towards the kitchen hall, trying to think of a way to start his plan to surprise Samus as soon as she woke up in the morning.
Pit called many Centurions over to the kitchen hall so he could get started with his secret plan. With at least 20 Centurions in the hall with him (about half of them were Strongarms, and only two of them were Knights). They stood in a line quietly, waiting for their captain's orders. The angel looked at his troops for a few seconds before starting his speech.
"Okay, everyone!" Pit shouted slightly. "First off, I'd like to thank you all for answering my call. The reason why I've brought everyone here is to plan a surprise party for my great friend, Samus, and I have an idea on how to do it." He paused to take a deep breath before starting his speech again. "We're gonna bake her a cake, have some balloons, some food, presents, music, and more! I'm gonna need everyone's help to get this done before she wakes up at about 8 AM. Ready to get started?"
"Yes, captain!" Each of the centurions spoke in acknowledgement as they saluted Pit, eager to get to work.
"Alright, then. We're going to get the cake started, first." Pit said in a calm, yet firm voice. "I'd like the cake to be vanilla-flavored with strawberry icing, but we're going to put a Metroid in the middle, and here's what it looks like." He pulled a picture of a Metroid from his tunic pocket and showed the Centurions so they had a good idea on how to design it on the cake. They nodded in response and got to work.
"You two!" Pit yelled, pointing at two normal Centurions. "Your job will be to bring orange and green balloons here and place them around the room. When you do, hang them up, alternating between the colors. Sounds easy, right?"
"No problem, captain!" The two Centurions saluted as they exited the kitchen hall to find the balloons in the color Pit wanted.
"We're also gonna need pizza, mac and cheese, music, and wrappings to put the presents in." Pit continued giving his troops specific orders. "As for you two..." He pointed towards the two Centurion Knights. "...I'd like you two to guard the bedroom that Samus is in and protect her from danger. If she wakes up, tell her that I'm in the kitchen hall, but don't tell her what I'm doing. Can you do that for me?"
"You got it, captain! We will fulfill your request with our lives!" The Centurion Knights nodded yes as opposed to saluting since they were holding a shield and a halberd in their hands. They then left the kitchen hall to stand guard in front of the bedroom that Samus was still sleeping in.
Pit and the Centurions worked hard together for the next several hours trying to get all the food and supplies ready. While the Centurions were working on most of the things including cooking the food, Pit himself eventually focused on getting his gifts wrapped up. The gifts consisted of a Laurel Crown, a customized EZ Cannon that sported a teal color similar to Samus' Arm Cannon, and an empty gold picture frame. Pit thought that these weren't the best gifts, but at least it was better than nothing. With the gifts wrapped up, he joined the Centurions to complete the other tasks.
The clock struck 8 AM in the morning, and Samus started to wake up from her slumber. She wiped her eyes first before getting out of bed. The first thing she noticed that Pit wasn't in the room with her for some reason. Confused, she left the room in hopes of finding her angelic friend, only to be greeted by the two Centurion Knights that were guarding the door.
"Good morning, Miss Samus." One of the knights calmly said. Samus herself returned the kind gesture, followed by a question. "Do you know where Pit went off to?"
"The captain is in the kitchen hall at this time if you wish to see him." The other knight replied to her question in a similar tone as the first knight. Samus thanked the Centurion Knights for telling her of Pit's whereabouts and decided to make her way to the kitchen hall to pay the angel a little visit.
As she slowly made her way to where the kitchen hall is, Samus started thinking about the situation in her mind. "Pit in the kitchen hall?" A slight chuckle escaped her breath. "That definitely sounds like somewhere he'd be. Knowing him, he's probably over there or enjoying a hot spring to start his day."
Meanwhile on Pit's side of things, realizing that the clock hit 8 AM, he quickly rounded up the Centurions in the room with him to form a line with the angel, waiting for his friend to arrive. No one said a word. They did their best to stand in formation, just waiting for the doors to open.
Ten minutes had passed, and footsteps were heard outside. Louder and louder did they get until the footsteps stopped, only to be followed by the doors starting to open. Pit's heart was beating rapidly, barely containing excitement of surprising his bounty hunter friend with this party; excitement that rivaled even the excitement during the two reuniting recently. The door finally opened, and both Pit and his Centurions made their move.
"Surprise!" All of them shouted while raising their hands in the air, as the person stepped through the door. This startled Samus very much, as she jumped backwards and pulled out her paralyzer gun as a reflex towards the sudden surprise. Upon scanning the area for a moment, noticing Pit first and the banner above him that said 'Happy 32nd Anniversary Samus!', she let out a gasp of air that everyone in the room could hear. Things went silent as Samus continued looking around the room in awe. There was cake, other foods and drinks, balloons that reminded her of her Power Suit colors, and some Centurions that lined up next to the angel, who was in the middle of the line. Pit himself was a bit nervous from how silent everything went, but tried to hide that emotion with a smile, which was accompanied by a few drops of sweat on his face from Samus pulling her weapon out earlier.
Finally lowering her weapon, she started to utter words quietly. "Pit... You did all of this for me? Were you here this whole time?"
"Mhm!" Pit spoke with confidence. "All of us worked together most of the night to make you this 32nd anniversary party. What do you think?"
Samus felt a lot of emotions inside of her. It's true that Pit had remembered and acknowledged her anniversaries a lot, including the occasional gift, which was enough for her, but a whole party? This was definitely one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her.
"This is..."
That was all that Samus could say before the happiness grew to mass proportions, causing a few tears to form from her eyes.
"This is so amazing! You really shouldn't have done all this for me, but you did! I can't describe how happy I am now!" More tears appeared from her eyes before she started to speak again.
"I'm sorry." Samus apologized. "It's just what you've done here… was one of the nicest things anyone has done for me, let alone you usually remembering my anniversary. And to see you go all out this time is just..." She paused for a moment before speaking again, in a more relaxed tone. "I never thought I'd get something as amazing as all this, especially on one of my franchise's anniversaries."
She stepped back a couple of steps, then wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. The two locked eyes with each other and the tall woman spoke once more in a gentle voice.
"Thank you. All of this means so much to me."
Pit and Samus smiled at each other without saying another word, before being snapped out of the trance by a Centurion Strongarm's voice.
"Forgive me for interrupting, captain, but can we start the party now?"
Before Pit could even get a word in to discuss his soldier's question, Samus spoke with plenty of happiness.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, but now we can party!"
As the Centurions cheered, Pit burst out laughing due to her stealing his famous opening quote from his own game.
With the party officially underway, Samus made her way to the cake first, described as a vanilla cake with strawberry icing on top, and a picture of a Metroid in the middle, which made her chuckle a bit. Suddenly music started to play, which caught Samus's attention more than anyone else in the room. Looking around the kitchen hall, she found Pit next to a boom box enjoying a piece of pepperoni pizza. For the music that was playing, it was one that made the woman smile a lot. She walked towards the angel with a piece of cake in her hand.
"Theme of Samus Aran, Pit?" Samus said as she snuck up on the angel. "That theme takes me back about 24 years. You really went all out to give me this party, didn't you?"
"Of course!" Pit grinned. "You deserve it for being so amazing, kind, and for being my best friend for so many years. Even if we really weren't friends, I'd still celebrate your special day." The angel took a deep breath before speaking again. "Now how bout we enjoy some food before my troops eat it all?"
Samus agreed with Pit's words and proceeded to smile back at him. The two went on to enjoy slices of cake and pepperoni pizza first while enjoying the active environment around them. As time went by, the music from the boom box changed. It was another theme that Samus remembered all too well.
"That's definitely the Brinstar Theme." She couldn't help but smile once again. "I remember hearing this in a melee before. Good times."
"It's a shame I wasn't there with you, but at least I was there in a brawl with you." Pit smirked when he mentioned a brawl, which in turn made Samus grin and ruffle the angel's hair playfully.
The party went on with Pit, Samus, and the Centurions enjoying food, drinks, and the various Metroid songs that played. Eventually, they made their way towards the presents, where Samus slowly opened them one by one. In order, she got a laurel crown similar to Pit's, a unique EZ Cannon with a teal-colored design to match her arm cannon's coloring and lastly, empty gold picture frame. She loved all the gifts, though she admitted that she was a bit confused about the picture frame, until Pit mentioned that they should take a picture now under the banner. With the help of a Centurion filling the role as cameraman, Pit and Samus stood together smiling. She started playfully ruffling his hair just as the Centurion took two pictures; one for Samus's new picture frame, and one for Pit to keep to himself. The picture showed both grinning as Samus ruffled the angel's hair.
The party went on for hours and Pit and Samus did different activities, including Samus trying out her new EZ Cannon while Pit uses his own and teaches her how to use it-including taking a photo of the pair standing side by side with their cannons, enjoying a hot spring in the temple, and then back to the kitchen hall to enjoy more food and drinks.
Things started to settle once it hit 8 PM. It was decided that all the remaining food and drinks would be put back in the fridges so they could be enjoyed again tomorrow. Pit, Samus, and the Centurions helped clean up the place, though Samus volunteered to keep the banner for herself.
With the party finally done, Samus made her way to the bedroom, carrying her gifts along the way with Pit walking close to her. They went back to the bedroom and placed all the stuff down, catching their breaths a bit after having lots of fun the whole day.
"Today was pretty awesome, wasn't it Sammy?" Pit grinned as he looked Samus right in the eye.
The bounty hunter stared at her angelic friend for a few seconds, her facial expression looking ever so calm. She had to admit—he was attractive in his own way. It wasn't just his looks, it was also the cheerful, confident way he carried himself all the time. It was almost like he carried this aura where anyone around him couldn't not have fun along with him. The seconds of silence made Pit feel worried about Samus, wondering why she wouldn't reply to him.
"Uh, Sammy? Is something wrong?" He said in an uneasy tone.
Without warning, she wrapped her arms around the angel's body and pulled him close. The two found their heads resting on the other's shoulder, feeling comfort in each other. Pit felt startled, but he was too shocked to move.
"I know I said this before Pit, but thank you again." Samus expressed in a serene voice that was beautiful enough to calm Pit down. He did nothing more than listened to her words. "The anniversary party you threw for me was really incredible. I can't remember the last time I've ever had this much fun." Samus looked upwards as if she was having a flashback, as her voice shifted to mild amounts of joy. "I had a feeling that I'd have a great time the moment I decided to hangout with you in Skyworld again. Honestly, ever since we've become friends many years ago, I've been in good spirits more often." She released Pit from her hug and placed her hands on the angel's shoulders, looking at him in the eyes with a smile on her face.
"It's all because of you, Pit. Once again, thank you for everything."
Pit took a few seconds to think about what his friend just said. Such a moving speech flattered him. It made him feel happy about what he did for her. He proceeded to return the smile back at her.
"You're welcome!" Pit's cheerful tone was easily noticeable. Then, unable to help himself, he yawned.
"Pit?" Samus took a step back and examined her friend. She hadn't noticed at first, but then now that she had her full attention to it, she could see the dark circles under his eyes, showing exhaustion. He had been awake ridiculously early, and also worked hard to prepare everything. It was typical that, despite his seemingly endless bounds of energy, sleep would still catch up to him at some point.
"That's not good," she chided gently. "You need to sleep. I'm glad you went through all this for me, but look at you." She laughed softly.
"No, it's fine," Pit insisted, then gave out another yawn, "and it was worth it." He seemed unable to keep his eyes open; they started to droop down, though he still spoke. "You're my greatest friend ever, and you deserve amazing things." Eventually his words reduced to a barely audible mumble. "I'm really glad I could make you happy..."
Before Pit could finish his sentence, his seemingly cheerful face swiftly changed. His eyes started to close and his body began to fall backwards. Samus, with her quick reflexes, caught her angelic buddy before his body could hit the floor.
Upon closer inspection, she noticed Pit's breathing seemed normal and by pressing a couple of fingers on his upper torso that his heartbeat was healthy. She realized that Pit only just passed out and fell asleep. Upon looking at his peaceful sleeping face, she gave off a warm smile, and decided to place him on the bed, belly down. Carefully placing a pillow under his head, Samus glanced at him once more.
"You deserve the bed today for your hard work, captain."
With Pit peacefully resting on the bed, Samus decided to sleep on the pillow and blanket on the floor that Pit was previously sleeping on. Filled with cheerful emotions, she gently rested her head on the pillow and stared at the ceiling, smiling. The bounty hunter uttered a few more words before she began her slumber.
"Thank you for everything, Pit. I really should return the favor for you one day."