Chapter 49: Passing Darkness

Pit caught his breath as he saw Pandora's remains dissipating. All that remained were a pile of blue flames and glowing energy. Pit looked over at Dark Pit and their link told him that they were thinking the same thing. He remembered all the way back to the Labyrinth of Deceit. Dark Pit had absorbed Pandora's power back then. Who was to say it wouldn't work again?

They both walked into the flames and Pit felt power surge through him. His wings suddenly felt strong, stronger than they ever had before. The flames vanished after a few seconds. Pit looked around. Dark Pit's bow was glowing with energy Pit had never seen before. From its tips sprouted wing-like curves and it was longer than the average bow. The coloring of the bow hadn't changed from the Silver Bow it had once been, but it emanated a powerful energy.

Pit looked across the spring. The rest of the fighters on the spring were hanging around tentatively, waiting for Pit and Dark Pit to take care of business. Magnus nodded towards Aria, who was still lying by the stairs. Dark Pit was already on the task. He rushed over to pick Aria up and take her over to the spring. Raven approached as well so as to assist with the water. The whole group gathered at the spring as Dark Pit laid Aria down beside it. Raven tenderly caused the water of the spring to wash inside the wound Aria had attained. She put the water back in the spring. Aria's wound closed immediately.

Pit breathed a sigh of relief. It was over now. They had won. He saw the soul that had been following them approaching the spring. He plunged himself in the spring and a pillar of light shot up from the spring. Fifteen seconds later, a boy about eleven came out of the light wearing a white nightgown. Immediately, he ran up and hugged Magnus. Pit, not bothering to question what he had just seen, watched with a smile.

"Well, I'd call this a happy ending," said Pit, "What you guys say?" Dark Pit rose to his feet.

"For once I agree with you," he said.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to go home and take a very, very long nap," said Magnus. His little family of three laughed at the remark.

"Not just yet," said Vinnia, "We still have to find the rest of the gods." Right on cue, voices came from a little ways down the stairs. Everyone turned to the stairs and saw several figures approaching. Among them were Palutena, Viridi, Dyntos, Forde, and Oscar. Another more imposing figure was with them. Pit recognized it as Poseidon. The god had has arm around Oscar. He saw Raven's eyes well up.

"Sorry we had to miss whatever just happened," said Palutena, a little dead on the inside still, "We were kind of…" She stopped as she saw Aria, wound closed and breathing evenly. She almost fell over but Pit caught her. He helped her towards her destination; that is, Aria's side. Dark Pit stepped aside a small step as Palutena reached her daughter and touched her face.

"See, what did I tell you?" Viridi stated, "I told you she would be fine. It's the Rewind Spring for crying out loud!" Vinnia stared awkwardly at her mother. She hadn't really taken in her appearance when they had first met down at the scene at the battle before last. She realized that her mother looked kind of… young to be a mother. She didn't approach Viridi with the question though. Simultaneously, Raven reached her father and Oscar. Poseidon pulled them both into a tight hug. Raven cried.

At that time, Palutena allowed Dark Pit to pick the unconscious Aria up in his arms.

"Let's go," he said firmly. The congregation began to head towards the stairs. Pit felt relieved again as the all approached the stairs. Though the quest was not quite over (a few wind gods were still unaccounted for), he was able to rest easy. Then, as Forde set a foot out over the first step, a loud explosion rocked the spring. The stairs shattered and a loud evil laugh shrieked through the air all around them. Everyone took cover. Pit readied Ladon for another fight, the relief knocked out of him. This wasn't over yet. A voice rang out around them.

"So, you've defeated my prime agent," it said, "Interesting. And here I thought that angels without flight would fall easily." A huge vortex of energy tore through the space over where the stairs had once been. From it emerged a dark figure. His form emanated evil. He wore a black cape that covered his body. A tall collar almost completely encircled his head. His hair was white and messy, a few locks hanging over his eye. The uncovered eye was red. An evil grin was spread across his face.

"My name is Panomni," he said with sincerity.

"It was you wasn't it!?" Pit yelled, "You kidnapped all of the gods!"

"What can I say? I like to think of myself as an overachiever," said Panomni pridefully.

"Why!?" Dark Pit asked.

"I brought you here to destroy you," Panomni said simply, "Shall we get started?" Without warning, Panomni fired a pulse of dark energy across the spring forcing all of the heroes to take cover. As the pulse passed over Pit, it knocked Ladon out of Pit's hand. In the pulse of darkness, he lost sight of Ladon. Then the pulse dissipated. Pit saw Ladon lying on the other side of the spring. As he turned back to Panomni, he didn't notice that the staff was glowing. Dark Pit gently set Aria in the arms of Palutena.

"That's it, this god's going down," said Dark Pit.

"God?" said Panomni, "You honestly think I'm a god? That's laughable. No, I consider myself a Titan." Pit was a bit disarmed by Dark Pit's quote.

"Uh, dude, I kinda don't have a weapon," he said to Dark Pit. Dark Pit sweatdropped and smacked himself in the forehead. Panomni laughed at Pit.

"Take your time," he said, "You face the same end regardless." Pit looked among the congregation around him. Dyntos happened to be a few feet from his feet.

"Nine weapons sonny," he whispered to Pit. Pit reached within his tunic in realization. He wasn't disarmed after all. As he drew out the nine weapon gems he carried, the Darkness Bow, the Aurum Palm, the EZ Cannon, the Fairy Orbitars, the Bomber Arm, the Brawler Claws, the Black Club, the Lancer Staff, and the First Blade, they began glowing on and off in tandem. Gradually they all formed a circle around the First Blade and then shot together in a flurry of light.

When the light cleared, Pit was met with a blade emanating with raw power. As Dark Pit's new bow had the same coloration as a Silver Bow, this blade had the coloring of a First Blade. However, now the barrel that shots came out of was elongated, longer even than a Palutena Blade's. A longer, more ornate blade emerged from the barrel. The white parts of the blade were decorated with blue angel wings.

"Even with your new toy, your demise will soon arrive," Panomni cackled. Dark Pit nodded to Pit. He drew his bow and Pit gripped his new blade. He couldn't stop gazing at the new, elongated sword emerging from the barrel. "A Master Blade…" he thought to himself. Dark Pit unleashed his Power of Flight and flew into the air. Pit tried the same. To his shock, his wings began glowing and he was lifted into the air. He was actually flying… without any assistance. He almost tumbled downwards twice. When he found himself next to Dark Pit, Panomni appeared in front of them and fired a beam of dark energy right between them. They barely got out of the way.

Pit's blade began to flash at the arcs that formed at the top of its hilt. As he pointed it at Panomni, they began to flash wildly. He and Dark Pit began to fire their bolts at Panomni from their new weapons. Dark Pit's were silver arrows. Pit's were golden barrages of light. Panomni finally teleported away. Pit looked at the arcs. They became more sporadic as he moved his blade upwards.

"Above us!" Pit yelled. Panomni charged downwards at them, leaving a pillar of dark electricity in his wake. Both angels dodged swiftly. Panomni disappeared a hundred feet below them. Pit's evil sensing arcs began panging wildly again as the blade was pointed at Dark Pit. He pulled his blade upwards and fired a charge shot. The golden laser ripped through the air over Dark Pit and homed downwards behind him. Panomni was slammed by the charge shot from the blade. Almost simultaneously, Dark Pit turned and fired his own silver arrow. It smashed into Panomni. The dark Titan disappeared again.

"Where is he?" Dark Pit asked, seeming to pick up on the fact that Pit could sense his location. They went back to back in the air. Pit frantically moved his blade around. Finally, he slowly moved it downwards. The panging of the arcs got wilder. He forced a thought through their twin sense. They both flew out of the way at an angle to avoid the wide range beam that Panomni had fired and then came back similarly, both of them readying melee strikes as they charged downwards at the dark Titan.

Their powerful blows were landed in a cross shape. Panomni screeched in pain and vanished again. Pit had no time to search for their enemy. As if from nowhere, Panomni emerged from the darkness with twin black blades and slashed both angels across the arms, leaving nasty cuts that hurt worse than any injury Pit had ever felt. The darkness in the blades clearly added to the pain.

"We can't take another hit like that," said Dark Pit. Pit nodded in agreement. He readied his blade and searched for the dark Titan. He didn't even need the blade this time. They both felt the dark Titan coming from diagonally. They both dodged out of the way as Panomni attempted to make the same blow he had previously. Just as quickly they came back and both fired their special attacks. An enormous golden energy laser flew from Pit's barrel and blasted Panomni. Dark Pit's bow unleashed a rain of silver coated arrows, which looked like comets. Panomni seemed severely injured by this attack.

The two angels geared up for a final blow. Pit readied a powerful melee strike. He saw Dark Pit doing the same. They would finish Panomni just as they had Pandora. And they did just that. They charged forward at the stunned Titan at the same time and slashed him through his back and his front. They got out of the way as Panomni screamed. Black electricity dramatically blasted all around him before he exploded into black dust.


The second Pit landed, he fell over exhausted. He was not used to using so much flight power, especially when it was on his own; he had never had such an experience before. Thankfully he seemed to be adjusting quickly. However, he was still exhausted. Vinnia and Zephynn helped him towards the spring and he washed a little bit of water of his own wound. That helped him rejuvenate his strength. As he stood up and dusted himself off, he took notice of the Somewhat Staff at the other end of the spring. His eyes moved to another thing right next to the Somewhat Staff. It was a man.

This man wore a white nightgown-like thing as a shirt, similar to the revived soul that was apparently Magnus's son. He also had white pants. He was looking down at his hands and feeling his face and his side. Pit walked over to him slowly.

"Ladon?" he questioned uncertainly. The man looked up in fright. His eyes and hair were brown. Despite his clear state of shock, he still emanated that aura of wisdom he had way back when Pit had first met him as a staff.

"Y-yes," he said in a deeper toned voice, "Th-that's me." Pit held out a hand for him and helped him up. He stood about as tall as Magnus. Pit then picked up the empty Somewhat Staff. He remembered way back when its mystery had been so obscure. Now it was a symbol of how far the journey had come; that first step into this long and revealing journey. He threw it over the edge of the Rewind Spring.

"Welcome back," said Pit.


In the meantime, Vinnia was watching other things occur. She saw Dark Pit talking to Palutena. Oscar was talking to Forde about something, while Raven stuck by her father's side, tears still streaming from her eyes. Viridi was simply sitting around doing nothing. Vinnia hesitantly approached her mother. Viridi saw her coming.

"Well, look who it is," said the nature goddess.

"Mother…" Vinnia said hesitantly.

"Gee, how'd you guess?" Viridi asked.

"You look…"

"Young? I get that a lot," said Viridi. Suddenly her form changed a little. Her stature seemed to increase. Her face matured ten to fifteen years. She suddenly looked as though she was a woman in her twenties. Vinnia just stared.

"Gods and goddesses are not measured by age," said Viridi, "I can look like an eight-year-old if I want. So I do." Her form reverted. "So how have you been for the last fourteen years?" she asked.

"And where have you been?" Vinnia asked.

"Busy," said Viridi, "I have to keep some other freakshows around here in check." She pointed a thumb at Palutena. "Human lover…" she remarked quietly.

"So…"

"So first it was being ignored for forever and a half, then it was getting into a full blown war against the Underworld, then the Aurum happened and even more messes followed subsequently," said Viridi, "I wish I did have time, but I didn't. And besides, demigods are in a lot more danger than most."

"What do you mean?" asked Vinnia.

"You were one of the lucky ones," said Viridi, "Most of you get kidnapped, brutally tortured, et cetera all for ransom. That's what happened to Palutena's last kid."

"Huh?" Vinnia questioned. Viridi slapped her daughter on the shoulder.

"But at any rate, you're here now!" she exclaimed, "And that's a good thing isn't it?" Vinnia smiled a little.

"Uh… yeah," she said. She looked across the Rewind Spring again. It was still alive with activity. Dark Pit was now talking to Ladon. Pit was talking with Zephynn. Magnus's family was having a conversation on their own (she got the feeling they were setting ground rules, but hey, she could be wrong). She smiled a little more. Panomni what's-his-face was gone, and the darkness was passing. What more could she ask for after such a long and deep journey?