Chapter 24: Heading Home

Author's Note: HERE IT IS GUYS! THE FINAL CHAPTER! As I said before, I've had this part of the story planned out since the beginning, so it was rather easy to write. I didn't have to sit in front of the computer and think on what to write down next. Also, umm….I kinda had a little bit too much fun with this one. The whole thing seems kinda like I wrote it on crack but really that's just Tiffany being in character. XD And yet, I feel like my writing has evolved so much over these two years. Bahaha!

So with that said…

I hope you…

ENJOY!...

FOR THE LAST TIME!

Tiffany's P.O.V.

Waking up from being unconscious…for the umpteenth time since I've been here…I groggily opened my eyes and looked around the room that I was in. It just so happened to be the same hospital room that I always ended up in. I could tell because the buildings outside my window didn't appear like they'd moved from the last time I'd been in here.

Wow…

You know it's a sad day when you can say that you remember the scenery outside the hospital room that you always end up in.

Anyways…something seemed off.

"Why do I feel different?" I asked myself. "Like I feel alone?" A sudden thought came into my mind. Why wasn't Palutena answering my random questions like she usually did?

"Palutena?" I asked inwardly to see if she would reply. No such luck. Silence was all that greeted me. I waved it goodbye as I continued to question her. "Palutena? Are you there?" Silence continued to ring my doorbell as I started to panic. Where was she?! Was she okay?! Did the angels' plan work?!

Throwing the thin white hospital blanket off of me, I stood up from the bed and walked over to the window to see if anything was happening outside. What I saw shocked me. Absolutely no one was outside. Not a single angel in sight.

"Did something bad happen to Palutena?" Then I started to wonder…and my eyes widened in panic.

"Did something bad happen to me?! Am I in a parallel universe where I'm the only one that exists?!" I yelled out the window to no one in particular.

"Oh good you're awake," a quiet voice said behind me.

"Ahh!" I screamed, unable to contain the fear that sprang up from within me. I jumped and spun around to find out that the person who walked in on me during my little episode was the secretary girl from the other day. Had it already been another day? Eh, I was assuming so. Unable to say a word, I just stood there frozen, holding a hand to my chest and my eyes still as large as dinner plates.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," she said in the most ethereal voice I'd ever heard. Wait, even more so than Palutena?! Yeah, probably. Now I was even more confused. How come I'd never noticed this in her voice before? "You look confused. May I ask why?" she asked, cocking her head to the side in curiosity.

"Your voice…it sounds different."

"Oh, that's because our goddess has been returned to us meaning our land, including ourselves, have regained the magic that we had all once lost." A comfortable silence settled itself around us as I took in the information.

"Then that would mean," I began, still thinking as I was talking, "that Palutena is okay and that whole stunt we all did actually worked!" A grin spread on the secretary's face as she nodded her head 'yes'.

"It is a glorious day in Angel Land!" she stated happily, whether it was to me or to someone else, I have no idea. Her wings fluffed out at her ecstatic outburst, making her slightly hover above the ground for a second before she gracefully dropped back to the floor.

"Yeah," I started up again. "Anyways. I'm guessing that you know where she is then?"

"Why she's in her palace of course! Actually, that is where everyone is. They're all, how you humans would say, 'gettin down and jiggy with their bad selves'." I had to stifle a laugh as I turned and began heading out of the room, yelling 'thanks' to her.

When I reached the doorway, though, I paused and turned toward her. "Oh, and for the record, that's not what humans my age would say. That's what our grandparents said back in their heyday." I let out a small giggle as I turned and headed down the hallway that I had become accustomed to over my stay here in Angel Land. The secretary just stood in her place with a confused frown on her face.

Tiffany's P.O.V.

Running across town to reach the palace, I saw a couple of guards standing at attention at the entrance to the large monumental structure. One of them, seeing me from quite a distance away, waved largely as a gesture of saying 'hi'.

"Hello!" the guard waving, a girl, shouted across the plaza as I finally reached them. Slightly out of breath, I replied curtly.

"Hi." I took one large breath before continuing to speak. "Is something going on? Where is everybody?"

"They are all inside welcoming back Goddess Palutena," the other angel, a male, answered my question. "By the way, thank you for helping to bring her back."

"No problem," I replied with a smile.

"Oh! Did you want to perhaps go inside?" the girl asked as if she just remembered something.

"Yes please." The doors opened soundlessly, allowing me to slip inside without being noticed. I looked down the hallway in surprise. Guards were lined all the way down the hall, weapons in hand. I would've felt intimidated if it weren't for the fact that I just did these guys a huge favor. They're welcome. Inwardly chuckling to myself, I proceeded to walk down the corridor, not letting anything stop me from finally meeting the woman who was trapped inside of me all these years. Well, okay. The only thing that stopped me was when the first pair of soldiers that I passed straightened up even more so than they already were. I gave them both a curious look before proceeding down the hall. Each time I passed another set of soldiers, they stood up even straighter than they were before. "Why are they all doing this?!" I thought as I finally reached the door at the end of the hall. Now one more thing stopped me.

What do I do now?

Am I supposed to knock on the door or something? Shout that I'm here? Slam the door open and make a scene? Apparently the two guards closest to the door understood the turmoil going on inside my head because they proceeded to wordlessly walk past me and grab the door handles before swinging the wooden obstruction out of the way, letting me see what was inside the room.

Music, dancing, and feathers. Those were the things that stuck out the most to me when I looked into the rather large room. Angels flew from one end of the room to the next, letting feathers fall to the floor and litter it with their fluffiness. Harps, trumpets, and flutes were playing beautiful music that the angels were all joyously dancing along to. Some were dancing on the floor…while others danced around in mid-air, gliding around the room with their dance partners in, what appeared to be, sunlight that bathed the room. This light, however, was coming from the angels themselves. So it seems they truly had gotten all of their full power back.

Everything seemed harmoniously perfect in this moment.

But I felt completely out of place. Without trying to cause a scene, I stepped into the room, letting the two guards shut the door behind me. It clicked shut, but nobody paid it any mind. Walking through the feathers, while picking some out of my hair, I mindlessly made my way around the room trying desperately to find someone that I knew. I was knocked out of my mindless stupor when someone bumped into me from behind. Whipping around, I started to apologize until I saw who it was.

"Julius?" I asked with a quirked brow.

"Tiffany! You're here!" Julius yelled happily as he pulled me into a hug. I laughed as I hugged him back.

"Yeah I'm here." As we parted, I looked at him with a grin. "So where's the star of the party?"

"She's sitting on her throne, watching over everyone," Julius replied over the music, pointing over towards the head of the room. Sure enough, there she was in all of her glory, with Pit right by her side. Palutena smiled as she looked around the room, happy that her angels were joyful once again. "Oh and Tiffany," Julius continued, bringing my attention back to him. "I'm terribly sorry that I couldn't be there when you woke up. I made sure to leave someone there so that you'd know where to go, but still. I feel awful." I shook my head and waved my hands at him in a gesture that said I didn't mind.

"It's okay Julius, really. I found my way over here just fine, so don't worry about it." He brushed a hand through his blonde locks as he sighed.

"Alright, whatever you say Tiffany. Anyways, Palutena said earlier that she was excited to finally meet you face to face, so you'd better get over there and say hi." He smiled as he pushed me in her general direction. I laughed and proceeded to make my own way over to the goddess. It was funny because it was almost as if the angels dancing around knew I was there subconsciously because a clear path was suddenly made from me to Palutena. The gap in the crowd drew Palutena's eyes towards me, making me falter in my steps only to end up stopping completely.

Green eyes met hazel as we stared at each other in silence. Suddenly, a smile grew on her lips as she stood up from her chair and walked down the stairs towards the dance floor. I, being as awesome as I was, continued to stand in place; feet glued to the floor. It wasn't my fault though okay?! I had a mental freak-out! I mean, come on, the lady was glowing! My mind was having the hardest time processing that as a figment of my imagination or if she was seriously made up of some incredible power.

But then again…she is a goddess. Wow…you know, you'd think I'd figure out at some point that I should just go with the flow in this world.

"I really wish I knew what you were thinking at this moment dear."

Oh my God, that voice. My eyes widened as familiarity struck me, but at the same time…it sounded too heavenly to be her. So it couldn't be, right? Looking up, I found Palutena, barely five feet away from me, with a beautiful smile on her face as she chuckled at my expression. Feeling a hand graze against my cheek, I felt my face be pulled towards my left, causing me to look straight into the blue eyes of Pit.

"You might want to pick up your jaw from the ground there miss," he said as he helped close my mouth with his left hand. "Wouldn't want it to get stuck that way." Now that I looked at him, he did seem a little different. He had a brighter angelic glow around him, but he also had a slightly different personality. He seemed…happier…but also a little cocky. "You look shocked. Impressed with what you see?" he asked with a raised brow.

"Oh yeah," I thought, "definitely cocky."

"That depends on if I believe what I'm seeing," I counter with a smirk. As Pit pouted playfully, I let my gaze travel back to the goddess standing before me. My smirk changed into a sincere smile as I stepped toward her of my own accord. "It's nice to finally 'meet' you Palutena." Seeing Pit's body stiffen a little out of the corner of my eye, I was reminded that I was talking to a goddess. Not some long-lost friend. However, looking at the goddess' reaction, it seemed to me that she didn't care, so I jokingly said, "I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with your godly rules so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to greet you." She just laughed in response.

"I don't expect anything more from you dear…especially since you are not of this world." A thought seemed to cross her mind as she stated this. "Actually, that reminds me." I looked up at her curiously, waiting patiently for her to continue. "We need to send you back home." My straight faced expression turned into one of shock as I was reminded of my home. I'd forgotten all about it. Good thing Palutena froze time in my universe or else I would've probably been 'missing' for about a week.

"I guess so," I said with a tired sigh. Looking down to the floor, I let my mind wander to my family. I didn't realize how much I missed them until now. While I was thinking, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Pit seemed to disappear. Where to, I have no idea. "Hey, where'd Pit go?" I asked Palutena. She simply shrugged.

"I saw him run out of the room, but I have no idea why he left. Anyways, about getting you home," she continued, "we'll have to make a portal in the seeing-fountain room since I need to have a somewhat mental and physical connection to get you there."

"It sounds good to me. I just need to know when and how I'm going to get there."

"Well, I'm going to need time to create the portal, so I won't be able to send you back to your home world until tomorrow morning. As for how you get to the fountain room, I'll just have Julius show you where it's located."

"Okay, looks like we have a plan." I turned toward the crowd, ready to enjoy the party, but Palutena's voice stopped me from walking away any further.

"Yes, we do. Oh, and just so that you are aware, once I send you home, you will not remember anything that happened here."

With that said she let the party continue, with me standing stiff next to her in shock from what she'd just told me.

"I'll forget everything?" I thought to myself sadly.

3rd Person P.O.V.

As the party finished wrapping up, angels left to go home, but not before they said goodbye to the Goddess on their way out. Eventually, Tiffany was escorted back to the original bedroom she was given back on the day she was first brought to Angel Land.

Lying down on the fluffy (possibly down-filled) comforter, Tiffany released a sigh in contemplation, deciding to think over what exactly she would do once she returned home. "Well, Palutena said that she froze time in my world, so…" And then she remembered that she still had a Chemistry quiz that she needed to take.

"Crap," she thought to herself nervously. "I'm so gonna fail it. I don't even remember what we discussed in class anymore." Eyes flickering over to the large glass doors leading out to the balcony, Tiffany watched as the large stars twinkled brightly above the cloudy landscape. It was beautiful. The sight of it alone sent her into a lonely dreamscape with no one in her thoughts to keep her company.

Tiffany's P.O.V.

~~~ (10 hours later) ~~~

As I entered the main room, I found angels lined up against the walls; some were civilians of Skyworld while others were the actual army members in their uniforms. Walking down the middle isle, I looked from side to side in curiosity. Standing against the wall to my right, I saw Ophelia waving like crazy to get my attention. I gave her a smile and a small wave of the hand in response.

Continuing to walk ahead, two guards stepped out of the way to this fountain thing-a-ma-jig…I really don't remember what Palutena described it as, but I have to admit as soon as I saw it, I was a little dumbfounded.

"So the thing that's getting me home…is a giant bird bath?" I asked myself inwardly, confused on how this was even going to work.

"Hello Tiffany. Are you ready to return home?" Palutena asked from the other side of the small pool of water. Looking up into her green eyes, I could see overwhelming happiness…and yet a twinge of sadness as well. I shrugged as I answered her.

"I guess." Palutena nodded and proceeded to dip the top of her rod-thing into the water. When she took it out, she whipped it around a couple of times, said a few words that I couldn't understand, and then pointed it towards a blank marble wall. A bright blue light shone from it and landed on the wall. As I kept watching I noticed a small circle was beginning to form and grow bigger. I assumed that was the portal that I was going to be transported through.

"Wait!" a boyish voice yelled, stopping Palutena from continuing on.

"Pit? Where have you been?" Palutena questioned, standing her staff straight up with her right hand while placing the other on her hip.

"I was getting this," Pit stated as he proudly held up a small trinket that shined in the midday light. As he jogged his way over to me, I soon recognized it as a bracelet. Wait, why would Pit have a bracelet? He must've seen a questioning look in my eyes, because he then went on to explain, "Consider it a present. This way, you may just remember me."

"Um…wow, thank you Pit." Holding my hand out to take it from him, I soon found my wrist being grabbed by his larger right hand which then pulled me closer toward him. Before I could object, Pit quickly clasped the slim bracelet onto my right wrist. Looking at the object in awe, I almost forgot completely that I was about to be sent home through a swirling vortex. A small cough from Palutena brought my attention back to her. "Oh, sorry," I said sheepishly to the goddess who simply smiled back at me. Looking down at the bracelet once more, I raised my gaze up to the portal and began my small walk towards it.

Standing just a couple feet in front of it, I stopped and looked back at Pit over my shoulder to find that Julius was now right beside him. Giving me a small wave, he smiled solemnly at me. I returned the expression, waved, and then turned back around to the portal and walked the rest of the way into it. A feeling of being sucked in caused my legs to suddenly lose their footing of the ground and my arms to flail wildly as I let out an embarrassing little gasp, falling sideways into the portal. One moment I was standing in front of all of Skyworld, and the next I was looking at them as if through a small restaurant straw. My surroundings seemed to get darker and the portal to Angel Land shrunk quickly as I gained distance between it and myself. Strands of brown hair blocked my vision as I blew through time and space at over 50 miles an hour.

Flying through the vortex, I continued to feel like I was falling. Looking up ahead I saw a distant orb of light that visibly became larger as I fell even further.

"Oh geez," I wailed as I flew through the bright white portal and landed not-so-gracefully on my bed. Bouncing on impact, I was barely able to form a coherent thought. The only things I noticed before I fell asleep were that I was in my bedroom, on my bed, and my alarm clock said it was still around 2:00AM.

3rd Person P.O.V.

Sunlight poured into the room through the window and glided across Tiffany's face, causing her to wake up. Grunting in exhaustion, the girl opened her eyes only to squint them back shut due to the sun's brightness. She lifted her body up from her bed, which still had her school books lying on top of the blankets, and looked around her room curiously. Brushing a hand through her hair, Tiffany felt something tickle her wrist, causing her to bring her forearm in front of her face to see what it was.

The gold bracelet on her wrist twinkled in the sunlight as she turned it numerous times in inspection. As Tiffany looked over at her puppy poster that hung proudly on the wall, a smile slowly spread across her face.

~The End~

Author's Note: Question for you guys~! Does Tiffany remember all of what happened to her in Angel Land, or did she forget everything like how Palutena predicted? The answer is kind of obvious, no? XD

I know I ended this story with a sort of…ending-that-can-be-continued-upon sort of ending, but I most likely will not write another part to this story. HOWEVER, when the time comes that I actually play Kid Icarus: Uprising and I get a feel for the series all over again, I may possibly make a second 'book'. But for now, don't expect it to happen.

Anyways, I hope this story was to everyone's liking! If there was something I could've improved upon (which I definitely know there is), let me know! If there was something I could've added that I didn't and you wished I did, let me know! If there was nothing I could do to improve this incredibly long story that took me 1/9 of my life to write and therefore could only add onto the awesomeness, let me know! Lol I be jk-ing with you guys. XD

…I do love positive feedback though. IT MAKES MY DAY, EVERYDAY, TO KNOW THAT I GAVE SOMEONE SOME FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT THAT MADE THEM HAPPY!

Huge thank you to everyone that followed along with this story! Especially those who stuck around since the beginning (*cough* two years ago *cough*)…you were all extremely patient with me and should therefore pat yourselves on the back.

[$(1)$]'s Worth of Music: This last song I am showing you guys may not seem too impressive to you all at first. It has to kind of grow on you. It's called 'We're So Far Away' by Mae. If you're into piano-acoustic styles, then you'll love this song! :D In my mind, this is what the ending theme to this story would be. :3 On that last *BLAM!* of the guitar at the end, I can picture Tiffany looking up at the poster on her wall (like she does in the story) and the camera blacking out. Hahaha, yeah.

www. aimini (.net) /view/?fid=B2JhC1FCWzxHxD62FDxv

Next update will be of random facts regarding this story! Stay tuned if you are curious and want to know them!