Chapter 4

Palutena had never seemed more relatable to Pit than at this moment: staring in complete confusion as Medusa skimmed through a book, explaining how they were going to return the twins to their own timeline. Palutena was doing a decent job at pretending to understand whenever Medusa looked at her, with nods and an occasional question, but he could tell just how lost she was. It looked like Dark Pit was also trying– and failing– to keep up with Medusa's thought process, but Pit had tuned her out a while ago. Sorry not sorry, but I didn't go to school for goddessery.

"So by creating a complementary portal here, both portals should remain functional and restore balance," Medusa explained. Palutena lifted herself in the air to peer at the book over her shoulder, pushing her glasses slightly higher on her nose. It was the same pair she still wore at times, and he had the urge to ask her something.

"Palutena?" She glanced at him, clearly relieved to catch a break. "Why do you need glasses if you're literally the Goddess of Light?"

Medusa frowned. "You. Stop distracting–"

Palutena hastily interrupted her, adjusting her ponytail. Fiddling with her hair when she was nervous was a habit she never got rid of. "I mean, I'm currently watching over three realms at once, right? So obviously I can't fix my human form's eyesight at the same time. Maybe I should've realized that human eyes aren't meant to work with light for so long. I wouldn't need eyesight if I was in my true form, but then you wouldn't be able to see me, so–"

"Stop. You're just making them more confused." Medusa watched for any flicker of understanding when she tried explaining. "The human body she maintains has human ailments. Those can usually be corrected with our powers, but if she's expending so much energy elsewhere– which she shouldn't be doing when I'm teaching her–" Palutena winced at being called out, but Medusa continued unbothered, "then she needs to rely on tools just like any human."

"It's that simple?" Dark Pit asked, unimpressed. He turned to Palutena. "Has anyone told you you're really bad at explaining yourself?"

She drifted closer to him, clearly flustered. "I'm trying! I can't think straight with my mind scattered in so many places!"

"Maybe that's why you're so secretive," he mused. "Hasn't it occurred to you that you're doing too much? Think about yourself for once." Pittoo, this isn't helping! Pit didn't hesitate to jab him in the side. At least that got the message across.

"You guys are all the same," Palutena murmured. Twirling to face Medusa, she added, "If I don't look after the realms right now, who will? I need to do more work to make up for the time I wasted earlier!"

"What you need is a break." Pit and Medusa stared at each other in a mixture of surprise and discomfort at saying the exact same thing, even as his inviting tone clashed with her disapproval.

Palutena retreated higher into the air. "I can't afford to take breaks!"

"Then do you really think meeting us was a waste of your time?" Pit asked softly. He didn't want to accuse her, but it kind of slipped out.

Her eyes widened. "No no, I didn't mean it like that! I just…" She carefully landed back on the ground, gaze downcast. "Sometimes I worry I'm not doing enough."

Dark Pit spoke first. "That's your altruism showing. You're working harder than anyone. It's good until you start ignoring yourself."

Pit nodded and gently squeezed Palutena's hand. "He's right. You're a person too, you know? Just with divine powers. Overworking yourself won't help anyone, especially not the people you're trying to help. Ask me how I know."

She lapsed into silence, holding his hand in return. "I'm so sorry. To both of you. I don't want to be secretive, but I can't help it sometimes. It's not like I can stop working, so…"

"It's fine as long as you're taking care of yourself. Maybe start by actually being here right now?" Pit suggested cheerfully. She returned his smile as she removed her glasses.

Something about the way Medusa was watching them made him feel uncomfortable, but he couldn't place it. She placed her book on a shelf, mentioning, "Your angel is awake, Palutena. He must be hungry."

"Huh?" It took the rest of them a second to notice the faint cries from down the hallway. Yeah, definitely hungry. "Ack, I'm coming! Just give me a second!"

Medusa watched her leave and pulled the doors shut behind her with a wave of her hand. "You can afford to take a nap too, Palutena." She glanced back at the twins, eyes narrowed. "Since I finally have you two alone."

This. This is why you don't trust someone just 'cause they said something nice. Dark Pit already knew not to trust people by their words, but he didn't think he'd have to deal with that again. His twin was staying fairly calm despite the panic he must be feeling. It was probably his instinct to stand in front, wings flared protectively, so Dark Pit decided to do the talking. "If you wanted to get rid of us, you could've done it earlier. Is maintaining balance that important to you?"

Medusa eyed him doubtfully. "What does this have to do with balance?"

"Don't make me laugh. There's no other reason to send Palutena away and lock us here."

"I put her to sleep so we won't be interrupted. I just have a question." He did a double take when Medusa looked at them beseechingly. "Tell me what happened. Please."

It took him a second to regain his sarcasm. "This coming from the one who was so insistent that our past won't be your future?"

"I still believe that, but I need to know what could happen. Uncertainty worries me, remember? Perhaps I'm just afraid," she admitted. Okay, so she's not trying to kill us.

"I don't know…" Pit whispered, folding his wings. "There's a lot, and I'm not sure if you want to hear all of it."

"I'm certain I do." Medusa gazed at them earnestly. "I need to know what I did wrong. You make your hatred obvious, even though you were so comfortable around everyone as a child."

"I'm that obvious, huh?"

She smiled faintly. "I had my suspicions. Palutena sees you as a baby brother, Pit. She would never willingly put you in danger, least of all as captain of her army when she can manage it perfectly well herself. Then there's the fact that both of you mentioned her personality in your timeline but never brought up your parents. From your reaction when she asked, I can assume that neither of you even has a proper name."

"All I'm gathering is that we need to get better at lying," Dark Pit dismissed. "Get to the point. You wanna know or not?"

"Must I make myself clearer?"

"Don't say we didn't warn ya." He nodded his approval to his twin, who took a deep breath. And then he started to tell Medusa everything.

Pit watched Medusa's expression closely for the whole time. She sat across from the twins but rarely made eye contact, and while she didn't say a word, he could tell she was processing everything, even when he went back to fill in some details from time to time. There were minute changes to her features as he spoke: eyebrows furrowing slightly when he talked about war breaking out, a faint amused smile when he joked about how many times he got finished trying to rescue Palutena, a softening he could only decode as relief when he revealed that he'd used the Three Sacred Treasures to kill her.

He barely had time to be proud of himself for making it through before noticing that Medusa was still watching him expectantly. "If it isn't much trouble," she started hesitantly, "I'd like to know what happened in the aftermath."

"Why? You wanna know how the world's faring without you?" Dark Pit challenged.

"It's not just that." She wistfully tucked a curl of hair behind her ear. "I want to know how Palutena is doing. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for her at first, but I suppose she's managing without your parents or her friends."

"She still misses them," Pit clarified, "but she mostly misses you. She's always so happy to talk about the things you've done together."

"But why? You know how overbearing I am. When she was just complaining about feeling inadequate, I was going to scold her before you two intervened," Medusa admitted. "You supported her in a way I never do. There's no reason for her to miss me."

Dark Pit shrugged. "Your intentions are obvious enough. I bet she can tell, but there's no point pretending you hate her when both of you know you really don't."

"Woah, I just realized your attitude did a complete 180 since the war!" Pit marvelled.

"Pit-stain, I swear I'm going to kill you."

"I suppose you aren't much better than me," Medusa noticed, amused. "I'm distracting you with my questions. Go ahead."

She didn't speak throughout his description of the 25 peaceful years they enjoyed, but she frowned when he explained her return. "Was I not dead?"

"I mean, you were, but– spoiler alert– Hades resurrected you so he could leech off the souls we killed by fighting you."

"Hades? Lord of the Underworld or whatever the hell he calls himself?" That was pure anger in her voice. He nodded slowly. "I knew he wasn't trustworthy. You know how many times I've had to protect the other goddesses from him? Gods too, for that matter. He has zero regard for anything but himself."

"Well, I guess we know why he chose to resurrect you specifically," Dark Pit shrugged. "Twice."

"He didn't bring you back the second time," Pit added. "That was your willpower. You saved my life before he killed you."

"As if reviving me wasn't bad enough. He couldn't let me rest in peace, that absolute–" She caught herself and took a deep breath. "Those are words I can use in private. Continue."

The story was even more complicated this time around, but at least his twin could take over the explanation from time to time. Medusa rested her cheek on her hand, tracing the symbol around her eye with her finger. She remained silent for a few moments after they finished. "I… suppose an apology is meaningless after so much suffering."

"Apologies are never meaningless, but there's nothing for you to apologize for, right? The Medusa we were talking about wasn't you," Pit pointed out.

"She was. What worries me is that I know exactly what drove her to villainy. I feel that resentment sometimes." She reached over to hold her staff. "I've never hated Palutena, just what she represents: the perfect goddess who devotes her whole life to a world that couldn't care less about her wellbeing. The only true connections she's ever made are with a pair of angels she's bound to outlive. It's a depressing fate to live like that for millennia."

"And you wanted to change that?" Dark Pit asked. Knowing him, he was probably genuinely curious.

"I've always known it was futile. Perhaps I just wanted to rebel against it."

"I was the same." He was usually reluctant to talk about his past, but apparently not now. Pit inched a little closer and folded his wing around his twin's shoulder. "I spent a while trying to kill him no matter what, just 'cause I didn't want to be his dark side my whole life. My only goal was to rebel against our connection or die trying. Heck, he even gave his life for me, but I still fought him after the war. And he and Palutena were still willing to take me in. Sometimes…" He paused, searching for the right words. "You don't realize what you're missing out on until you get to be happy with someone else."

"I wish I could," she murmured. "But our lives are too long for that. There's no point loving someone who is sure to die long before or after you. You've seen firsthand how painful it is for Palutena even though we weren't close."

"You gods are worse, but all of us compare ourselves to humans and think we live forever. We don't," Dark Pit explained emphatically. This is the most emotion I've seen from him in a while. "A thousand years isn't much longer than a hundred. Our lives are short, and that's…"

He seemed at a loss for words, so Pit finished his sentence. "That's what makes them valuable. There's no point in being alive if you never make it more enjoyable for someone else, right?"

She was hesitant at first, but her gentle nod assured them that they'd gotten the message across. "I didn't want to burden Palutena with my thoughts, and I suppose I shouldn't have burdened you either, but… I didn't realize how much I needed this."

"You can't expect her to take care of herself while you keep your problems hidden. You have each other for a reason." That was nice of him, but it didn't mean he accepted Pit's attempt at a hug. "Get off me. This is not a touchy-feely moment."

"You two really are more like your parents than you realize."

"You think so?" Pit asked eagerly. His twin crossed his arms in exasperation.

"What I think is that we need to get you back." She gave them a slight wry smile as she stood up. "Palutena should be awake, so I believe she'll be here right about… now."

Almost as if on cue, the doors flung open and Palutena floated in at full speed, stopping right in front of Medusa. Pitthree seemed excited with all the movement, fluttering his wings like a hummingbird. "Sorry I'm late, I kind of fell asleep!" she apologized breathlessly. "Let me just feed him, and then we can continue our work!"

"We'll join you," Medusa offered. Her rushed speech made her apprehensiveness obvious, but Pit flashed her a thumbs-up. "Make it quick."

"You'll what?" Palutena's surprise morphed into concern. "Deuce, are you okay?"

"Hurry up before I decide to leave."

"Okay, okay!" Palutena landed back on the ground and led them to the kitchen, slowing down to whisper to the twins, "I have no idea what you did, but it's working!"

"You realize I can hear you, right?" Medusa mentioned disdainfully.

"You'd better get used to it," Dark Pit warned. "They're always like this."

"How do you like flying?" Pit asked enthusiastically, using his recently-developed ability to hover midair to hold Pitthree high enough that he could touch the ceiling. Even though he couldn't speak yet, his giggling made it obvious that he loved it just as much as he would as a teenager.

"Watch it, stupid," Dark Pit muttered, pulling him down by the leg. From the way one of the lanterns was swinging, Pit could guess he'd grazed it with his wing. Oops. He landed with an apologetic grin.

"You're making me realize he'll learn how to move around in three dimensions soon," Palutena complained. "As if he isn't already going exactly where he shouldn't be."

"It'll be fine!" Pit assured her, stroking the baby's feathers. Pitthree cooed in response and nuzzled closer. Kind of like a cute bird. "If I've survived this long, I'm sure he'll be alright."

"Survived? Try 'somehow hasn't died yet'," his twin countered. "Want me to remind you how many times you've been finished?"

"Would it kill you to support me for once?"

"As long as you don't distract me. I'm supposed to focus," Palutena reminded them, studying their work in progress. Apparently any object would work as a portal, so they were trying an empty notebook instead of an album this time. "I think this is ready. Right, Deuce?"

Medusa hardly looked at her. "It has no link to their universe. What do you expect it to do?" The twins glanced at each other knowingly. That's probably what Palutena messed up in their timeline too.

"Oh, right. Um… do you guys have anything on you that we could use? It just has to be something from your universe."

"How about this?" Dark Pit offered, holding a feather. A white feather. Which clearly didn't belong to him.

"What the heck?" Pit yelled indignantly. "Put it back and take one of your own feathers!"

"Put it back?" he scoffed. "Relax, it was loose. You didn't even feel me take it."

Palutena was unfazed by their argument. "That should do! Give us a second, we're almost done."

"That's better," Medusa confirmed. "You're aware that you will not end up in the temple, correct?"

"Yeah, it's okay." For some reason, it felt like there was something left to do. Pit had a sudden idea. "Hey, before we leave, did you guys want to take a picture?"

His twin was the first to disagree. "No way. We're not even supposed to be here."

"Not with us. Just them, like the picture that brought us here. In case we wanted to show it to…"

He didn't have to finish his sentence. Palutena looked at Medusa expectantly, and she nodded her approval. "I see no problem with it."

"You guys really did do something to Deuce," Palutena murmured, earning her a glare.

She was quick to give Pit her camera, but getting a good shot was the hard part. "Pitthree, look over here!" he called.

"Palutena, you look like you're being held at gunpoint," Dark Pit added. She apologized and made a decent effort to be more relaxed, adjusting her hold on the baby.

"And shouldn't you be standing closer together?" Pit suggested. Medusa narrowed her eyes but moved a little closer to Palutena. There we go. "Okay, smile!"

Of course, that's when Pitthree decided to point at the camera. "Kaya!"

"You mean camera? Nice try," Palutena laughed right as the picture was taken. Medusa glanced down at them, not smiling, but not scowling like last time either. Obviously not picture perfect, but it's a perfect picture.

Palutena agreed when she saw it. "That's so cute! Here, let me get one for you." She handed the baby to Dark Pit and left with her camera for a few moments. When she returned, she glanced over at Medusa, who was probably making some final adjustments to their spell, before handing the picture to Pit.

"I'm not entirely clueless, you know." He wasn't expecting that, and looked up from the picture at her wistful smile. She continued in a voice barely above a whisper. "I know something happened to you, and I know it has to do with Deuce, but I won't ask what. I'm sure I'd obsess over it. I just want you to know you're always welcome here, but don't get stuck in the past, okay?" They didn't have time to react before she pulled them into a hug, one twin on each side.

"Of course! As long as you don't lose track of your own life," Pit promised. "It'll go by faster than you think."

She pulled away and took Pitthree back with a smile. The fact that he waved back when the twins waved at him was an achievement. "You two should hurry up. If time runs at the same rate over there, your Palutena is probably worried by now."

"Here." Medusa gingerly handed them the book. "This should work the same way as last time."

"So we just have to open– Ah!" He didn't expect the light to surround them the moment he opened the cover. We could've made a much better exit. I'm going to hear about this from Pittoo, aren't I?

Pit was naive to assume that it would be easy to get back home no matter where he ended up. He realized his mistake as soon as his eyes adjusted to the light filtering into the hall through a curtain of willow leaves. Oh no. Why here of all places? He took a step towards the window, hoping that he could make it out undetected, but he yelled when he was suddenly and painfully restrained by suffocating tendrils of vines. "Ow! It's me, Viridi! Stop it!"

The vines loosened just enough for him to turn towards the door and see her face to face. "What the heck are you doing here?" Viridi shouted.

"Uh… nothing!" Nice. Literally the worst thing to say.

"So you go missing, force us to look for you, randomly appear in my palace, and have the audacity to say you're doing nothing?" She was probably still in shock, because she calmed down after a bit and recalled the vines with a wave of her staff. "Whatever. Palutena seemed worried earlier, but I guess she assumed you were off exploring or something. Now get out of my way and go back."

"Of course. Bye, Viridi!" He didn't want to risk spending another second there and waved as he dashed out.

It was surprising how long it took him to notice the smooth paper in his hand. Oh right, the picture! It was in good condition for having traversed timelines, and he carefully straightened it out as he walked. That was probably not the best idea, since it wasn't long before he bumped into someone. "Ah! I'm sorry, are you–"

Even without looking up, he'd recognize the voice from anywhere. "Watch where you're going, dumbass."

"Oh! Pittoo, you're alright!" His twin watched him with a smirk. "I was kind of worried it wouldn't work. Where did you end up?"

"The Chariot Base," Dark Pit shrugged. "Phosphora almost killed me. She thought I was some intruder or something."

"Bet she didn't yell at you like Viridi did," Pit complained. His twin laughed, and he couldn't help but feel mildly irritated. "What?"

"Today was kinda rough for you. You got thrown into the middle of nowhere, ordered around by a Centurion, rejected by Palutena, forced to talk to Medusa, made the most anticlimactic exit ever, and ended up in Viridi's temple? How pitiful."

He gave him a light slap on the arm as they took to the air. "You really think you did something with that." His annoyance was forgotten as soon as he remembered to show his twin the photo when they landed in front of the temple. "Look, this stayed intact!"

"I sort of want to see how she'll react if she doesn't kill us first," Dark Pit mused, knocking on the door to the side entrance. At least this place is not off limits for us anymore.

When it opened, they were met by Palutena's hopeful gaze, which morphed into an alleviated smile when she saw them. "Pit? Pittoo? Are you okay?"

"Oh, hi, Palu– I mean Lady Palutena!" he corrected, hugging her in both relief and embarrassment. I hope she didn't notice that.

"Alright, what do you want from me this time?" With her serious tone, he was half expecting her to shove him like before, but instead she returned the hug and ruffled his hair before pulling Dark Pit in as well. "Obviously you guys aren't confined to the temple, just let me know you're okay once in a while. I was worried when you disappeared without saying anything." No explanations were given until they all let go. "Now that you're back, may I ask where you've been?"

"No," Dark Pit responded immediately.

"I kind of walked right into that one. Then can I ask if it had anything to do with that open book on the floor I remember saying not to touch?" she inquired pointedly.

The twins didn't even need to look at each other to agree they couldn't weasel their way out of this one. "Maybe? Okay, we're sorry, but it's fine now, right?" Pit tried.

She laughed just like she did as a teenager. I never thought I'd get to say this about you, but even though you've grown up a lot, you still kept your positivity, huh? "I guess so, but I think I'd like to know what it does. In all honesty, I forgot how I enchanted it, and I haven't been able to figure it out since. Must be something interesting if I couldn't sense you anywhere this whole time."

"Actually? That's why you were being secretive about it?" Dark Pit asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah. I must have cast that spell a few weeks after I started living alone, so I've forgotten entirely."

"We'll tell you all about it," Pit promised. "But can we have dinner first? Please? I'm starving!" That part was true. His hunger was only kicking in now that they were safely back home.

"Of course you are," she teased. "I'm sure there are some leftovers somewhere. Come on, we could all use a meal."

The original plan was to show her the picture when they were explaining everything, but he knew he wouldn't be able to hide it for that long. "Lady Palutena?" She paused and turned, and he held it out to her. "We got you this."

Her face lit up as she studied it. "Oh! Was this from the same day as the other photo I showed you? It's adorable!" She paused and added, "Where did you find it? I don't remember Medusa ever being comfortable enough to take a picture like this."

"You mean Deuce?" Pit suggested playfully. His twin couldn't contain a mischievous grin either.

She seemed genuinely shocked. "Wait, how do you know about that?"

"We said we'll tell you later," Dark Pit reminded her. "For now, let's just say we got to relive some of those memories. And some universe out there is going to be better off because of it."