Chapter 20: Clearing Things Up
Dark Pit awoke at dawn, as per his habit. He hadn't brought the weapons that he'd acquired out yet. It was pretty late when he'd busted the criminals, and he went straight to sleep as soon as he had returned from that profitable raid. But the profits were only a part of it. To be able to save those girl's lives, and, in some cases, their dignity, had felt enormously good. It had been a long time since he'd taken a job to help people.
Aria stirred from her sleeping spot. She yawned and stretched.
"Morning," she said.
"Morning," he replied.
There wasn't another word exchanged. Aria got ready to make breakfast while Dark Pit moved to examine the new weapons. He picked up the Silver Bow he'd obtained. With that, he could restore his weapon's ability to fire a long range bolt. It probably wouldn't shoot anything like a complete silver bow, but it was a good long ranged attack.
He then looked at the Palutena Bow he'd acquired. That was a very rare weapon, one of the few weapons commissioned by Palutena herself. Dark Pit had never seen one that wasn't in Pit's hand. What's more, this one wasn't some weak weapon with low ranged and low melee power. No, this one had enormous range and power. It'd make a good weapon for Aria to use. That is, if she could figure out how to use it.
Before going back for breakfast, he fused the Silver Bow into his incomplete weapon. Though the absorbed bow wasn't nearly as powerful as his was, it would have the desired effect. The knife end of his Silver Sword grew just a bit longer.
Dark Pit realized he had never tried the knife end of his blade. He separated the ends and held the knife reverse-wield style. He swung the arm that the knife was in (it was the left one, by the way). The motion felt perfectly natural. He didn't have a single problem with it. That done, he hid the Palutena bow- he didn't want to give it to Aria quite yet- and returned to eat breakfast.
As he sat savoring the meal, he looked Aria dead in the eye. He just stared, wanting to project that he had something on his mind. It took, as Aria started to give him inquisitive looks. Finally, after she had finished, she said:
"What is the deal?"
"What deal?" Dark Pit said playfully.
"I mean the stare," she responded, no humor in her voice.
"Oh, that."
"Yeah, that."
"Do remember last night?"
"Yeah. You went to fight thieves and you were really tired when you came back. You didn't even bother to show me what you'd gotten."
"That can wait. Do remember what I said to you?"
Aria paled when she realized what he was talking about.
"Now that I've had my fun making you guess, I must ask: do you always assume the worst in people?" he inquired.
"No, but you've done some things."
"Yes, but you totally misinterpreted my intent."
"Uh, you pressed yourself against me and then pulled that stunt with the pond."
"When I pressed against you, it was to restrain you, nothing else. As for the pond, I thought that that would have been funny."
"What's funny about getting a dress of my color wet?"
"That's the problem. I didn't think about the effect of water on a cream-colored dress. That bit was totally an accident."
"Well…" she didn't finish.
"Now that that's cleared up," he started, "I have something for you. Wait here."
Dark Pit left the camp. He picked up the Palutena Bow and returned, hiding the bow in his jacket.
"Since you are my partner and not my prisoner, you need to be able to fight," he told her.
"Fight? I can only fight with a bow or knives," she responded.
"Well," he said, "I have both." He removed the Palutena Bow from his cloak.
"You can't be entirely human. I'm certain of that. Which means that you might be able to use this angelic bow."
She took the bow and stared at it in awe. Then:
"What do you mean, 'not entirely human'?"
"You have an ability that doesn't manifest itself in normal humans. You're either a demigod or have been blessed by a god. That kind of power may mean that you can use this."
"I'll try," she said, not 100% confident.
She raised the bow at a tree. She moved as if she were going to draw an arrow. She drew, and nothing happened. She drew again, same result. She tried over, and over, and over. Nothing happened. Finally she slumped down to the ground, done trying to figure the bow out.
"This is hopeless," she complained.
"No, it isn't," Dark Pit responded. "I felt that bow react to whatever power you hold. Maybe if you can put yourself in touch with that power, you can fire."
"I'll try," she said, even less enthusiastic than before.
She drew, nothing happened. She tried again. Still nothing. She tried a third time with no luck. She looked like she was ready to give up. She decided to go for one last try. She closed her eyes and evened her breathing. Dark Pit watched in surprise as a white, wispy, fog-like light came off of her. When her eyes opened, they were glowing gold.
She drew the bow. A perfect blue arrow formed where she drew. She held it, channeling power from the bow to create a charged shot. She released the arrow. The charged bolt split the tree that she was aiming at in half. Her aim was scary accurate. She had cut a knot in the tree clean in half.
Dark Pit was genuinely impressed. He had never seen anyone with human blood in them wield an angelic weapon, which raised the question of why the thieves had it. Before he could put too much thought into it, Aria turned to him.
"I never knew that I had it in me," she said.
"Your own power can surprise you. How did you hold up to the release of your power?" he asked.
"I feel a little tired. I also had difficulty summoning that energy."
"Your human blood is probably rejecting the angelic power. That bow was meant to be used by an angel or other supernatural being. You'll need to be careful how much you use it. Overdo it, and it could kill you."
Aria looked at him wide eyed. "How do you know that?"
Dark Pit thought for a minute. He actually didn't know where he'd learned. He thought hard. Then that blank spot came forward. His vision was turned white and he lapsed into the flash back. It had to do with Lilia again.
"You're a demigod?!" Dark Pit asked in surprise.
"Yes," Lilia said. "My mother is the goddess of magic, Hecate. I can actually use magic."
"Show me," he said.
Lilia concentrated. "Fabric of the world," she said, almost a chant, "bend before my will. Become the power of magic!"
A blue light sphere appeared in her hand. From it flowed peace and health.
"This is what I wield: blue Healing magic. It's not the only thing I can use, but it's what I'm best at."
"Awesome!" Dark Pit said. A thought crossed his mind. "Hey, since you're half god, is it possible for you to wield angelic weapons?"
"I don't know," she said. "I've never tried."
"Here," Dark Pit said, holding out his Silver Bow. "Try using this."
"Ok," she said, taking it from Dark Pit. She held it up and drew a golden arrow. Dark Pit was impressed that she'd gotten it the first time. She released the arrow. It didn't hit anything, but it did fly like it should have.
"You want to try something more powerful?" Dark Pit asked.
"Yeah!" she responded enthusiastically.
Dark Pit walked over to her and grabbed her around the waist.
"What are you doing?" she asked, half-heartedly trying to push him away.
"The Power of Flight needs to be active for it to work. Besides, any chance to hold you is a good one," he added, smiling.
He was glad that they'd gotten that close. Their relationship had developed at a nice pace over the past ten months. He liked that she could put up with all his oddities. Her patience was a wonderful thing about her. She was also a very calming and innocent presence. It eased his soul. That ease was appreciated after some of the things he'd seen working as a mercenary. He really felt that this girl was the one. He loved her deeply. He was actually going to ask her dad for permission to marry her soon.
"Hellooooooo?" he heard. "Is anyone hoooome?"
"Sorry," he said. "I got lost in thought. Let's go."
"Wait! I need to know what to do."
"Reach into the depths of the bow's power and fire at the sky. When that power reacts with my Power of Flight, you'll see something spectacular."
They flew high into the sky. The forest was wonderfully beautiful. Dark Pit noticed that the sun was setting. It threw a beautiful glow over the forest. The view was incredible.
"Ready?" he asked Lilia, as his Flight was nearly half gone.
"Ready," she said.
She drew a dazzling arrow and let it loose at the sky. If flew up and came down as hundreds of arrows. It was raining a golden light. It was beautiful in combination with the sunset. He heard Lilia gasp in exhaustion. He returned to the ground.
"What happened?" he asked her.
"I feel like a part of me rejected the power. Maybe my human blood?"
"Odd," Dark Pit replied.
"Well, when I released it, it felt like the power had to overcome a barrier first. The more power I tried to summon, the higher the barrier got. And now I'm exhausted."
"You could be right," Dark Pit said.
The flashback ended. Dark Pit discovered that only a few seconds had gone by that time. He looked at Aria.
"Flashback?" she asked.
"Yeah," Dark Pit responded. "I remember where I learned the thing about human blood."
"Lilia?"
"Mm hm."
"Ok," she said, "we can continue this later."
Dark Pit was left to think on his own. He pondered on what else the flashback had revealed. He had suspected that he had loved Lilia for a long time, but to have that suspicion confirmed was something else entirely. What happened? What did Pit do? He still didn't have the answer. But he had a dark suspicion.