Chapter 2: The Motherless Child

Pit awoke to find himself lying in a bed. It certainly wasn't his, because the sheets and blankets were different colors. He was unable to think straight for a few seconds, as his head was throbbing with pain from an extreme energy spark. He realized that his laurels must have been taken off, as he saw the talking Somewhat Staff lying on the nightstand nearby. Still unable to think straight from the massive amount of energy flowing through his head, he happened to notice that a girl with pale blonde hair in a pony-tail was standing over him.

"About time you woke up!" she cried. Pit clutched his head in pain. The energy smashing into his mind was giving him a headache.

"Where… are… my… laurels?" he asked as he held his head in pain. The girl frowned.

"You need them?" she asked, "I thought they were hurting your head."

"No… channel energy… head hurts…" Pit said unable to open his eyes with how much pain he was going through. The girl quickly grabbed the laurel crown off of a hook nearby and placed it on his head. The energy straightened out and Pit felt normal again.

"That's much better," he said, "Now where am I?"

"You're in my house!" said the girl as though it were obvious, "I found you lying out in the field with that weird staff next to you." She pointed at the Somewhat Staff. Pit gave the staff a funny look. He wasn't all that happy that it had dragged him off of Skyworld. A thought occurred to him.

"You can see it?" Pit asked in disbelief, "Are you human?"

"Well… as far as I know," said the girl, "The name is Vinnia by the way. What's yours?" Pit took a little bit to respond. He was still trying to think of a reason for this Vinnia to be able to see his weapon, since only a select few of the humans on the planet could see the weapons of the gods. Magnus, a mercenary Pit had battled alongside in the war against the Underworld was included in that select few. Unless Vinnia was a god herself or an angel in disguise or something weird had tipped the balance of the divine realm, she couldn't possibly see it.

"I'm Pit," he said, "Servant of the goddess Palutena." Vinnia let out a small gasp.

"Well aren't you all high and mighty," she said, "Well, you do have that distinct angelic feel about you. Not to mention you have wings."

"Yeah, I guess you would have noticed that," he said. Unlike the weapons, humans could most certainly see angels, and monsters for that matter.

"Well it's about time," the Somewhat Staff rang out as it sprung up from the nightstand and hovered over Pit. Vinnia jumped a good three feet.

"What in the world!?" she cried.

"Oh, I apologize," said the staff, "I am a Somewhat Staff with a soul. I'm still a weapon but I am very much alive." Vinnia calmed down.

"So what are you doing here anyway with this… living weapon?" asked Vinnia.

"Oh right!" Pit exclaimed, "I'm here on the surface so that I can find where the gods are being held captive by some evil force."

"Oh, no wonder the weather has been so bad lately," said Vinnia, "We humans consider it an omen."

"So where are your parents?" asked Pit.

"I don't know where my mom is," said Vinnia sadly, "My dad doesn't even know who or where she is. I think she's alive though."

"Oh, that's too bad," said Pit, "Hey, you could come with me and this staff to find the gods! Maybe then you could find your mom."

"Thanks, but my dad probably wouldn't let me," said Vinnia, "When I get really worked up… well, let's just say weird stuff happens."

"And plus, it's far too dangerous to bring a human on this quest with us," said the Somewhat Staff matter-of-factly.

"I guess you guys are right," said Pit, "Where is your dad anyway?"

"On guard duty," said Vinnia, "Ever since the weird monsters started showing up they've had to reinforce patrol."

"Weird monsters?" asked Pit. Right on cue, a slimy beast burst through the window and shattered the glass. Vinnia screamed. The creature was no more than three feet high, but it had a single eye in the center of its forehead that was colored indigo. Pit instinctively grabbed the staff out of the air and began shooting balls of light at the beast. Within no time at all, it was disintegrated into dust.

"Those monsters," said Vinnia, "We've been calling them Slimeclopses."

"That makes sense," said Pit, spinning the Somewhat Staff above his head and grabbing it by the hilt.

"Not so hard!" said the staff, "You don't want to choke me do you?"

"You have a neck?" asked Pit.

"As a matter of fact I do," said the staff, "I'd appreciate if you held me lower." Pit felt awkward listening to a staff, but he did as he was told.

"Much better!" said the staff, "Now, we must get out of here posthaste!"

"Sorry we have to leave so soon," said Pit, shaking Vinnia's hand, "Thanks for your hospitality."

"No problem at all," said Vinnia, "And good luck!" Pit rushed out the door and towards the exit. Vinnia watched as he opened up the door and slammed it behind him. She felt something tugging at her gut, like someone was calling her.

"Mother…" she said softly. She had never met her mother, or known what she might have been like. According to her father, he had found her lying at his doorstep crying. There was a note attached to her basket. She pulled it out of her pocket, where she kept it safe in hopes that someday it would lead her to her mother. It read:

"I leave you this child, our child, so that you may care after her. I wish I could do so myself, but I fear it is impossible due to the duties I must perform. Please take care of her. Signed, you know who."

She always had wondered who 'you know who' was. It had to be her mother, but who was her mother? Without giving a second thought, she rushed out the door herself, so as to follow Pit and see if she could find some answers.


Pit ran into at least four more of the Slimeclopses on his way out of town. It was hard not to attract attention from the townsfolk who seemed unfazed by the presence of the monsters, but he managed to do so. He climbed the wall at the edge of the town and ended up outside of the town boundaries. There was nothing but open field for miles around.

"Now what?" asked Pit.

"I have no idea," said the staff, looking at him, "Got any ideas?"

"I should be asking you that," said Pit, trying to decide which direction he would go. Then, as if from nowhere, Vinnia's voice called out to him.

"Hey, Pit!" she called. He looked up and saw that Vinnia was sitting on the wall above him.

"What are you doing?" asked Pit in shock.

"I'm coming with you," said Vinnia as she jumped down from the ten foot high wall. A normal person would have twisted their ankle or something as they jumped down had they not had the proper training to land on both feet, but it seemed as though Vinnia did this all the time. On top of that, it didn't seem that the grasses around her were going to let her break her ankle anyways, because from Pit's angle, he thought he saw them all move around each other so as to create a soft landing for her. She walked over to him.

"I thought you said your father wouldn't let you," said Pit.

"I did," said Vinnia, "But the idea that I could find out who my mother is just intrigues me!"

"How can you possibly think that you will come out of this alive?" asked the staff, "You are only a human!"

"Maybe I am," said Vinnia, "But humans can do stuff too."

"It's true you know," said Pit, chiming in on the conversation. The staff was unable to argue with them. Soon they were on their way, heading south, because that sounded good. However, they were only five minutes into their journey when Vinnia stopped and spoke up.

"Wait a minute," said Vinnia.

"What is it?" asked Pit.

"This is the wrong way," she said.

"How can you tell?" asked the staff before Pit could argue.

"The wind doesn't feel right," she said. Pit looked confused.

"The… wind?" asked Pit.

"Yes," she said, "I feel that the wind is telling us to turn left and go to the west."

"Great," Pit thought, "First a talking staff and now a girl who can read winds."

"Are you sure?" asked Pit.

"I wouldn't disregard the wind," said staff.

"Great, you too?" said Pit in annoyance.

"Two to one!" Vinnia exclaimed, "Let's go!" She turned to the east and they began walking again. Pit was reluctant to follow but he did.

They ended up at the edge of a cliff.

"So this was the right way huh?" said Pit in annoyance. Vinnia blinked.

"That's funny," she said, "I was sure the wind was speaking to me back there. It always does…"

"Always?" asked Pit in sudden interest.

"Yeah," said Vinnia, "Everything around me… I always hear the voices in my head telling me what to do and where to go and stuff like that."

"That is so weird," said Pit, "And you have no idea why?"

"No, I've never really considered that," said Vinnia.

"I wonder…" Pit said to himself.

"Wonder what?" asked Vinnia.

"Never mind," he said, "What do we do now that we've hit the edge of a cliff? I don't think your precious winds are going to tell us the right way."

"But they always have!" Vinnia cried. Pit folded his arms in annoyance but out of the corner of his eye spotted something in the valley.

"Wait, what is that?" Pit asked pointing down into the valley below. In the valley was a very blatant temple, so blatant that Pit wasn't even sure if they should have jumped down to check it out. When they did however, they found that it was just like any other temple that a human would have built, dedicated to a god of some sort, that god obviously not being Palutena, as it was shrouded in darkness.

"What is this place?" asked Pit.

"I don't know," said Vinnia, "I didn't even know it existed."

"Ah, then perhaps it's a sign," said the staff.

"A sign of what?" asked Pit.

"A sign telling us where we must go," said the staff.

"So the winds were right… hmm…" said Pit to himself.

"Let's go inside!" Vinnia exclaimed, already running towards the temple.

"Hey, wait!" Pit called. He clutched the staff in his hand and charged after her, already on guard for anything that could possibly attack them.

The temple looked pretty normal on the inside as well, as there were a couple of altars and an enormous statue of the god the temple was dedicated to. Pit couldn't recognize it because it was broken in many places. They were very clearly female however. They looked over the temple as Pit and Vinnia walked around inside of it.

"Whose temple do you think this is?" asked Vinnia.

"I'm not sure," said Pit, looking closely at what had been placed on the altars. There were many scorched grain offerings, not particularly by fire, but heat. Pit naturally assumed that maybe it was a goddess of heat. As a result, he wasn't surprised that the temperature was higher inside the temple than outside. Vinnia suddenly collapsed on the floor, beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

"It… it's really hot in here…" said Vinnia through gasping breaths.

"What are you talking about?" asked Pit, "It's the same temperature as when we came in…" Pit suddenly felt it too. Something was there with them and causing the temperature to rise rapidly. They both started to sweat profusely and Pit helped Vinnia up with his free hand.

"Who dares trespass in my temple?" asked an echoing voice. Pit heard it well and he was pretty sure that it was male.

"Your temple?" asked Pit in the blistering heat, "This temple is dedicated to a goddess!"

"Very clearly," said the Somewhat Staff.

"And plus, if you're here, where are all of the other gods?" asked Pit.

"No questions or I'll scorch you both to death!" the voice yelled.

"Why don't you show yourself so we know who's scorching us first?" asked Pit.

"Gladly," said the speaker, "Even if I do you'll never defeat me in battle." A scorching gust of wind blew through the temple as a figure stepped out of the shadows towards the back of the room. It was a boy in a pretty normal outfit. As a matter of fact, if the ball of wind in his hand was ignored, Pit would have mistaken him for a normal human.

"Zephynn the wind user," he said, "At your service."


A/N: Edits to this chapter: Mostly Somewhat Staff dialogue. Vinnia also had a few dialogue changes.