The beginning of this fic has some inspiration in a short fic I read a long time ago that I forget the title and author to. The plot of it was "Pit gets his fool-bum stuck on the mansion roof and Samus comes to rescue him on Charizard." While my scenario runs differently, I just wanted to get it out of the way that, yes, I had an idea sparked by someone else's work (and would like it if anyone reading this who knows the title of the fic off-hand could give it to me so I could find that fic again. I liked it).

TALES OF THE WAY-STATION

10: Phoenixes in Flight

Yep. It had happened. Pit was stuck, well and truly stuck. He paced along the edge of the corner of the tower-roof that he'd managed to alight on trying to figure out a way to get down without breaking every bone in his small body. He knew that he'd just become a trophy if he'd gotten really hurt. What he'd feared was not becoming a trophy – in which case life was bound to be very painful for a bit if he didn't give himself a 'fatal' fall. And if he could make sure to make a trophyfying leap, even a temporary suicide went against his instincts. He'd tried already, running to the edge, just about to throw himself off at the point at which he was getting really hungry. He'd found himself screeching to a halt on the shingles.

Why did the Power of Flight have to only last five minutes? And why had he been so careless? He'd set out for a morning flight and had used it all up in one go, not watching the time as he'd soared and finding himself having to make an emergency landing all the way up here! What was worse was that, upon doing a barrel-roll, his laurel crown had fallen off. It had to be down in one of the bushes somewhere. He couldn't rattle off a quick communiqué to Lady Palutena to come get him down. Pit knew that she'd notice him missing eventually – but breakfast was already happening! His stomach growled forlornly.

As the sun grew warm on his back, he moaned. "Breakfast must be over already! At this rate, I won't even get lunch!" He toed the edge of his corner of roof. "Too bad this isn't a bell-tower," he said to himself.

Where he'd had the misfortune of landing was merely an area that either served as some kind of vent or skylight or maybe was just around for decoration. He'd looked for any way down, even vines to climb. He was pretty sure he'd seen Toon Link climbing around on one of the vine-covered garden walls for fun once.

Oh, how he wished he'd had that kid's gliding-leaf or a cuccoo! The small angel was pretty sure he'd seen Big Link float down from a high place at least once using one of the weird, vicious chickens native to his world that occasionally popped up as a stage-weapon.

Pit, normally the friendliest of creatures, had felt desperate to get away from the clamor of everyone else lately. Everyone was tense since yesterday. One of their number had come down with something the senior members of the grounds were calling the "fade sickness." It was considered a good thing in the respect that it meant the person who had it was going to get to move on from this limbo. It was also; however, a sad thing as it meant a parting. Robin was well-liked here, so the fighters' smiles for her sake were somewhat forced. As a new arrival and not from her world, Pit barely knew her. His cheerfulness on her behalf had lead to awkward situations. He hadn't meant to make Lucina storm off by giving Robin genuine congratulations, nor had he meant to earn that glare he'd gotten from Link. Pit had decided that he definitely needed to get outside and stretch his wings a little just to escape the frustration.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of flapping wings. The white-winged angel stepped back from the roof as the owner of a pair of black wings alighted upon the roof-corner.

"Hey."

"Pittoo!"

Dark Pit grunted. "What business do you have running off like you did?" he demanded. "I was looking all over for you!"

"You were?" Pit asked. "You usually want to get away from me."

"I knew that something was up when you missed breakfast. Let me guess, you got stuck."

"It's not like that!" Pit protested.

"Then, what, are you hanging out here on this tower for fun?"

Pit's stomach gurgled.

"Heh," Dark Pit said with a smirk.

"Okay, so I got stuck. Did you come to rescue me?"

"Hardly," Dark said, crossing his arms. "I just came to see where you'd gotten off to. I suppose I should rescue you, though. Anything in it for me?"

"I don't think you can rescue me, Pittoo."

"And why not?"

"Didn't you use up your Power of Flight to get up here?"

Pittoo screwed up his brow in consternation, stomped a foot and let out a string of curses, most of which were in various languages learned from the fighters from many lands. He, too, lacked his laurels. He'd left him on his bedside table.

"So… we're stuck," he said, pacing along the same edge of roof that Pit had been pacing before. He appeared to be contemplating some of the same dangers that Pit had previously and, like his elder brother, was not too keen on risking becoming a broken mess by just diving down.

"What's a dastard?" Pit asked.

"You are," Dark Pit answered.

"What's it mean, Pittoo?" Pit asked, his eyes narrowing. "I know it's something bad."

"Rob taught it to me. It means 'a real jerk.' Like you – for getting his fool self stuck!"

"I didn't know that 'Pika-pi' was a curse word, either." Pit added. "Pikachu calls Red that all the time, I thought it was his name."

"It's Pokemon-speak for 'Shithead," Dark Pit explained with a smug grin. "Red has never caught on."

"Really?" Pit asked. "Where did you learn this?"

"Lucario," Dark Pit answered. "He's not so bad to talk to if he feels like it."

"Din's Knickers."

"What?" Pittoo asked.

"You said something about "Din's Knickers. Who'd you learn that from?"

"Link. Well, the Links. Din is one of their goddesses."

"And she wears knickers?"

"You're missing the point.

"And the point is?" Pit inquired, arching an eyebrow.

"The point is, what in Din's Knickers were you thinking when you flew off without warning and got us both stuck?"

Pit sat don and drew his knees up to his chest, hugging them. "I wanted to get away from all the stress," Pit said.

"I don't see why everyone's making a big deal out of it," the black winged angel said with a gruff sigh. He stood at the edge of the roof and stared down, doing some kind of math in his head and coming up with nothing. "Robin's going home, right?"

"Yeah, but Lucina's gonna miss her and Link's upset because Lucina is upset and Rob just looks like he's been gutted and everyone else is just kind of acting like mortals do at a funeral but she's not dead… and well, she is, but she's going to not be and I'm just confused!"

"Heh. Like usual."

Dark Pit pulled a candy bar from some secret pocket in his toga and snapped off a portion in his mouth.

He could feel Pit's glare upon him and he could hear another mighty gurgle from the boy's stomach.

"You've got food, Pittoo?"

"Not for you," the devious brother replied with a smirk.

"Give it! I missed breakfast and I'm starving here!"

"And whose fault is that?"

Pittoo took another causal bite of the chocolate-covered wafer and that was it. Pit tackled him. Feathers flew as the two boys tumbled over one another in a scrap that would have violated more than a few of the regulations if it was taking place upon one of the battle-stages.

The two found themselves rolling right toward the lip of the tower roof. They exclaimed at once;

"OH…FFF-UDGE!"

Robin had been busying herself making preparations for her departure. This mostly meant arranging the various things she'd been given for use by the Hands at the mansion to be gifted to Lucina and to Rob. Rob would make use of her higher-level tomes, although Lucina had been trained in some of the basic primers. Swords definitely were for Lucina, particularly the one that she'd had forged for her as a joke that she'd never been able to give her in life: Robin had plans to give Lucina a silver sword engraved with the name "Demonspanker" for her birthday, this because of some overheard conversation between her and her cousin Owain regarding Lucina temporarily renaming the Falchion to the "Pointy Demonspanker."

Oh, that exchange had been hilarious. Poor Lucina had taken it so seriously, especially when Owain had accused her of shaming her ancient and venerable sword! Thankfully, the girl had learned a little more humor since then. Robin had the silver sword custom-made, but had failed to gift it to her because the final battle with Grima had occurred shy of Lucina's birthday and it had been forgotten. Robin had wondered if her father had given it to her, but assumed that he hadn't since a "spirit-version" of the blade appeared in her chambers.

As Robin took to taking walks around the mansion ground, she'd found herself half-dreaming and having to pause to get her bearings. The ghosts of the dream she'd had after she'd collapsed on the stage were following her. She took it as a symptom of her fading away from this world. It had started when she chose to pay a visit to a little area that served as a chapel for the mansion. Since the place was meant to serve the needs of all the souls here, it was an empty stone room and all comers were expected to decorate it with the symbols that were meaningful to them if they needed any props for prayer or meditation and to take those symbols back with them when done. Mewtwo and Lucario used the place often, although Robin had no idea if they actually prayed to Legendary Pokemon or if it was just a quiet place they used to center themselves.

Pit knew of it, but had yet to use it. He didn't need to. He had his goddess close to him at all times.

Robin had wandered in, feeling a small need to issue a few prayers to Naga for her safe upcoming transfer back to the land of the living, to thank her for the event and to ask her to work with Master Hand to take care of her poor dear Lucina. She did a double-take when she saw a spectral figure lighting a candle in a darkened area of the little room.

"Libra?" she asked, but the blond monk did not make any indication that he heard or saw her. He took to his knees and clasped his hands before the candle. "Dear gods," he whispered, "I am here to ask what I ask every day. For the sake of Ylisse, please bring Lady Robin home safely to us."

He rose to his feet and looked dejected – as if he'd just been praying by-habit and had lost much of the faith that had been previously connected to the act. His figure turned and vanished as Robin stepped into the chapel. She looked to the altar-area to find no candles there, lit or spent.

The second time her dreams intruded into her reality was when she'd stepped outside to take a little walk in one of the fields to clear her head from what she'd seen in the chapel. Dark birds circled in the sky and she watched them. One of them sailed down in a dive before alighting upon the arm of a young man who stood at the edge of the forest. Robin approached him head-on, but he did not see her. He appeared ghostly, too.

"Henry."

"No sign of her eh?" the young sorcerer said to the crow that had taken a perch upon his outstretched arm. "Well, keep looking. I know you're better at finding dead bodies and we're looking for her alive, but, whatever it takes, nya, nya, nya!"

She went inside and looked a selection of candy bars in the Smash Mansion cafeteria, thinking that, perhaps, she just needed a little sugar. She twitched when she thought she saw Gaius behind the service counter.

"Come on, Bubbles," he said, "It's not like you to skip out on all the sweet rewards, right?"

Kirby blinked at her from behind the counter and she apologized to him.

She was seeing her friends in little glimpses of their bonds tightening, she supposed. Robin knew that the bonds had never slipped and it warmed her heart. It hurt her to think that she had been keeping them waiting for her for so long. She wondered if Gaius had been keeping to the straight and narrow in the last few years since her absence and concluded that he probably hadn't. She wondered how many corpses Henry had found searching for her and if he had… played with them. Her heart broke to think that Libra might be losing even a little of his faith. She wondered if Sully was still picking fights and kicking tail, if Gregor and Stahl were conspiring to make any great feasts for the Ylissean holidays and if Sumia was still tripping over her own shadow.

What was poor Tharja doing lately without her? Robin shook her head, trying desperately to free it of clutter when she thought she saw the ghost of the woman in one of the halls trying to cast a reunion-hex. The arcane symbols burnt into the floor vanished as Robin's boots scuffled them, passing through.

The tactician found herself in one of the gardens. She ran to a bench when she thought she saw a shock of blue hair. "Chrom?" she asked desperately.

She was greeted by the turned head and the gentle smile of a blond-as-always Link. "Sorry, it's just me," he said.

"I'm sorry, Link," Robin said. "I thought…"

"You look flustered. You ought to sit down."

"Thank you," she said as she sat down next to him. "Have you seen my daughter?"

"She's hanging out with her grandpappy," Link said, in reference to Marth. "Have you finished doing the task that was too painful for her to watch you do?"

"Y-yes," Robin answered. "I've arranged her inheritance, such as it is. I would like to spend time with her, if she is willing to."

"Of course she's willing to, Robin," Link said.

"The way she's been holing up lately, I've wondered."

"This is hard for her," Link answered. "On one hand, she is happy because the thing all of your friends and family in your world have been waiting for is nigh, but she is in pain because she is here is not returning as well. She is parting from you – again."

"I have the child version of her to worry about," Robin said bluntly. "I looked down at one my tomes in my arms when I was arranging my bookshelf for her and Rob when I was certain I'd seen my baby wrapped in a blanket – just for a moment. It makes no sense. Little Lucina has to be walking and talking by now…"

"Is that why you're so flustered?" Link wondered, stretching his right arm out on the backrest of the bench.

"I've been seeing things… weird things."

"Ah!" Link said. "Don't worry about it. It's common with fading that you see the people you loved. I get little previews of the reincarnations of some of them when I'm about to go – the ones that are set to return with me, I guess, not that I remember them when I wind up back in Hyrule. If you're going directly back to living, it would make sense that you get glimpses of your people."

"It means that the bonds are right. I've stopped running from them. I've stopped fearing what they'd think of me." Robin was smiling. "I'm not afraid that they'll fear me anymore."

"I sincerely hope that you have a good life, Robin," Link said. "I know that Lucina does, as well, even though another parting is difficult for her right now."

"Perhaps I'll get to come back here when I dream, like Chrom has done for me when I get the Smash Ball."

"Nope," Link said, looking at the clouds above them. "Master Hand has already definitely decided upon her Final Smash. She gets the 'Critical Hit' – felling an enemy with a single strike of Falchion. It's not one of the flashy ones, but it befits her, I think."

"Maybe I'll try to come back to visit anyway in terms of dreams, Smash Ball aside."

"Do you think you're that determined?"

"Oh, I know I am, Link."

"Well, you did spit in the face of the god you were slated to become."

"Grima just wanted me for my body. It was a pretty nice body – just ask Chrom."

Link laughed as did Robin, the darkest humor being what served the heroes in limbo here the best.

"Lucina wants to reincarnate with you into Hyrule when your time comes, correct?" Robin asked, having heard the story from them upon awakening.

"Yes."

"She did want to stay out of the affairs of her younger self and to not arouse suspicions in the halidom," Robin said ruefully. "I was already beginning to lay out a plan for her to stay with us before the final battle. It's of no matter now since she was killed and wound up here. It's just… if she does leave with you, whenever that is… this may be my last chance to be with her."

"Then seek her out," Link said, "Go shopping with her. Pick out horribly tacky clothes for each other! Have mother-daughter chats! Kick each other's tailbones on a stage or two! You know, whatever you wish to share!"

"Thank you, Link," Robin said. "You'd better take care of her, alright? In this world, the next, here, there, mine or yours!"

"You know I will, Robin. I love her."

"You're such a dork."

"And when Lucina and I see each other again on the other side," Link waxed, "I am certain that we will fall in love. I'll make you some pointy-eared grandchildren."

"You'd better."

"Heh, heh, that's the spirit. Now go find Lucina."

Robin rose from her seat. "I need you to take care of Rob, too."

"Of course, for as long as I remain here."

Much bullion spent in the town outside of the Smash-grounds upon dresses and armors of various colors and tastefulness later, Lucina stood between Link and Rob in the grand hall of the Smash Mansion, which was decked out in balloons and streamers.

"Congratulations Robin" read a prominent, lettered banner strung up between two support-pillars.

A pair of angels with bandaged wings and their arms in slings – a mirror image of one another - snorted at each other as they argued by the punchbowl, their laurels returned to their heads, Pit's was resting atop a wrap-around head-bandage. Dark Pit had a big patch of white gracing his cheek. Palutena had found the pair just as they'd tumbled off the tower-roof and had caught them with a wave of her staff to form a reflect-barrier to cushion their fall. It hadn't worked as well as she'd hoped – they'd bounced right off of it before crashing into the ground, but at least they weren't trophies for the big event and were well enough to grouse at each other over the hors d' oveurs table.

"When you see your man, you give him a big ol' kiss!" Peach exclaimed, prodding Robin in the shoulder.

"And anyone who gives you trouble," Samus said, "Just remind them you're a godslayer and a death-cheater."

"Ah, an endorsement from the lady who blows up planets! Nice!" Falco said. "Take care."

A faded, wobbly image opened up before everyone. It was super-imposed upon the setting of the Smash Mansion main hall like the projection of a film into foggy air. It was of a field bathed by sun with some tower-buildings belonging to a town in the distance just beyond a row of trees and a road.

"It is time," Master Hand said as he hovered behind the gathered Smash fighters. "Your world is ready for you to walk back into it."

Robin approached Rob first in saying her goodbyes. She laid a hand upon his shoulder. "Remember, you are no more Grima than I am," she said. "If you were, you wouldn't be here. You are the good part of you – of us." She gave him a tender smile. "Hold onto that."

"I will," he said simply.

"Lucina," she said, giving her daughter a tight hug. "You are the reason for this. Don't you forget any of it. You saved the world – and me."

"Mother!"

"I have to go now," Robin said, separating from the princess.

"I understand," Lucina said, smiling through her tears. "Give 'me' a better life than I had."

"I promise to."

Link snaked his arm around Lucina's waist and held her close as Robin turned, waved, and stepped into the image of the field.

Everyone gasped and watched as Robin shimmered away. A moment later, sparkling purple light gathered in one place in the field, forming a physical figure. There Robin lay in her cloak, fast asleep. Figures came riding up the road. Lucina gripped close to Link as they watched. Rob stood stoic.

The male tactician burst out a sudden grunting, suppressed laugh when a blond girl in the vision poked the sleeping figure of Robin on the ground with a long stick. "I can't remember if my world's Lissa did that to me when they found me," he tried to explain, "but… oh, Lissa SO would do that!"

A broad smile shown beneath Lucina's tears. "Aunt Lissa… never change. Look! There's Father!"

The blue-haired man in the vision reached down and picked up Robin by the hand. Immediately, she hugged him and sobbed into his shoulder. They held each other tight as the vision faded from the mansion, the field and all its inhabitants dissipating as so much smoke on the wind.

"Do you think she'll remember this place, Link?" Lucina asked.

"I don't know. I hope she does."

"I don't like to think that she's… going to find out about my death there… and not know what happened to me, that I'm alright."

"I think she'll remember," Link said softly, reaching up to run a comforting hand through her hair. "We both know how stubborn she is."

"Thank you, Link."

"Well, that's it, then," Rob said as he turned to leave the hall.

The party disbanded, each soul that remained at the Way-Station to deal quietly with what had happened in his or her own way.

My apologies if it feels like this story is fizzling out a bit. It kind of is. I do have a basic idea for an ending, but this was always one of those stories I figured I'd start writing and just see where it took me. I've been dawdling on it due to my frustration with making headway on original work (which I consider more important than fan fiction)… Add to that some crippling worry I have over the future (because I'm an American) and my focus goes down. In addition; communications went down for a bit and other bits of Life have happened to blame for delays. So, sorry to keep you waiting and sorry if this story is becoming lackluster. I am still trying to squeeze this story out of my brain and it's gone from fired-up inspiration mode to wresting.