Chapter Text
Hyrule shone brightest in transitions—always sparkling in the twilight between dusk and dawn, always radiant in the awakening between winter and spring. Always shimmering like the stars, like the cinders of an eternal blaze. Smashworld's ever-flowing sea of energies and magic found its deepest point here, where the light of life itself burned strongest. Whatever way magic flowed, wherever the Ancients pulled the currents of change, Hyrule was pulled with it.
Now Hyrule was changing again, as the crimson and gold of leaves had already begun to freeze over into shades of muted brown, and the once-musky air had been sharpened into cold wind.
And today, unprotected from the weather and huddled under the shadow of Hyrule Castle, Pit was shivering. It had been a few months since the defeat of Subspace, and a few weeks since Pit’s unexpected Rostering into the world of Smash battling. With an array of smashers as his new friends, Pit was determined to leave his realm in the clouds at least a few times before match season.
If I can believe in true friendship, I can believe in Link, he thought, although it was just dawning on him now just how large the castle was with its sky-high spires and monolithic walls, and just how ridiculous Pit was for thinking anyone would come to the door with just a few knocks.
But, a few moments later, Pit watched the great doors of the castle open to reveal Link and Princess Zelda, who reacted to him with simultaneous shock.
"Pit?" Link exclaimed.
Instead of unwrapping his arms to wave, Pit stretched out a trembling wing. "H-hello, Link, and you, too, Princess Zelda. Thought I'd make a surprise visit."
Link took a moment to collect himself. "Sure succeeded at the surprise part."
Zelda turned to Link with raised brows. “You know him?”
“Yeah, this is Pit. He’s a friend I met during Subspace.” Link smiled coyly. “Could we let him in?”
Wordlessly, Zelda moved aside. Once Pit had darted through and was inside the entrance hall, she raised a hand, ignited it with magic, and quickly shut the doors. "There," she said. "I've sealed off most of the cold air for now."
Pit huffed a little. The daylight outside had now completely vanished, and it seemed to him that the stone pillars and banisters lining the room looked just a little tiny bit more intimidating. He lowered his arms slowly. The light from the chandeliers above cast his face in a sickly, yellowish tint. "... That feels a little better. Thanks."
"It’s no trouble. Can I get you anything warmer to wear?" Zelda questioned.
"Or anything to lower that fever?" Link added.
Pit fervently shook his head, his face flushed red and dotted with sweat. "Oh, no, no, no. I'm okay. I just need to stay inside for a bit."
Zelda's expression was stern. "A prolonged exposure to the cold can greatly cripple any trophy's health."
"What?" replied Pit, genuinely confused. "I'm not cold."
Link and Zelda shared a wide-eyed glance. "So why are you shivering like you can't even stand on your own two feet?" Link said. "Did something else give you a fever?"
Pit frowned. "I don't have a fever, either." Met by silence, he continued. "I... uh... it'll take a bit to explain."
Link glanced across to where another set of doors had opened to a brighter hallway. "Would you maybe want to talk over lunch?"
"A sound idea," Zelda agreed. "You can have anything you want." She turned and headed for the hallway, beckoning the other two to follow. "Come. The dining hall isn't far from here."
Pit grinned. "Heh, can't say no to food." He trailed after Zelda with eagerness despite his sickly appearance, Link following behind, and soon the chilly air outside became just a memory.
The corridors of the castle were tall, lit only by torches riveted high on the stone walls, the fires burning white-hot overhead. It seemed everywhere the halls turned was illuminated by a skylight graced with the sun, even though there wasn't a single window in sight.
Link came up to walk alongside Pit, who'd been fixated on the various ornamentation surrounding them. "So, uh, welcome to Hyrule," he said. "I mean, not exactly the warmest of welcomes. But I'm glad you decided to drop by."
"That's right," Zelda said, not looking back. "Your name is Pit, right? Link has told me a lot about you, especially since you two were allies in Subspace."
"Yeah!" Pit replied happily. He appeared much better than he had a few minutes ago. "Link's the first good friend I've had in a while."
"Aw, come on, you have plenty of good friends," Link said, though he was smiling proudly.
"Okay, one of the first good friends I've had in a while."
"So would you mind telling us what you're doing visiting one of your first good friends?" Zelda asked. "And why you’re supposedly not sick from the cold?"
"Oh yeah, well," Pit answered. "I actually got up early this morning to visit Mario and Luigi over in the Mushroom Kingdom, but I couldn’t hang around for long.” He paused to catch his breath. “Apparently everybody there celebrates this thing called the Star Festival. Mario seemed pretty excited to help out Princess Peach with preparations, so… I thought I just might hang here for a while.”
“The Star Festival?” Zelda exclaimed. “By the goddesses… it’s been a whole century already.”
Pit’s eyes went wide. “Whoa. You mean this thing happens once every hundred years? No wonder everyone looked so festive.”
“The Star Festival! Your goddess hasn’t told you anything about it?” Link looked as if he would burst from enthusiasm. “It’s just the greatest! But I don’t get it. Don’t celestials age slower than everyone else? You’ve got to have at least a couple centuries under your belt, and—”
“Um,” Pit interrupted, looking flustered. “I wouldn’t exactly call my life sheltered, but…”
Link winced. “Sorry, that was insensitive.”
Pit shrugged in response. “Out with the old, in with the new.” But he had since broken into a beaming grin. “But it sounds totally cool. More stuff to do, more stuff to see!”
“The Star Festival is quite the event,” Zelda said, hoping to redirect the conversation. She led the group through yet another turn. “It’s the Mushroom Kingdom’s way of celebrating good fortune for the century, celebrating good fortune for the next century, and all that bric-a-brac.”
“Don’t forget that the Ancients send a huge comet flying over all of Smashworld,” Link added jovially.
“Hm. Well, the Goomba professors use more scientific terms, but yes.” Zelda stopped her pace and turned to a set of doors. They stood out among the other countless doors with their large size and their decorated carving of the Hylian emblem—a winged Triforce. “Here we are.”
Pit rushed to her side, eyes sparkling. “Oh boy! Finally!” Suddenly the doors swung backwards before Pit even thought to push them open. He jumped back instinctively, inches away from knocking Zelda over. “Oh… boy?”
Standing in the doorway was a young male, a mixed expression of surprise and consternation on his face. He was dressed in various loose-fitting garments—what Pit immediately recognized as sleepwear, neatly completed with a silken bathrobe and velveteen scale-patterned slippers.
Zelda gently pushed Pit aside, frowning at the sight. “It seems I was wrong to assume you’d become an early riser,” she groused.
Link had since caught up and was now looking at the male in the door beside Zelda, but he was smiling. “Mar, you’re just in time for lunch!”
“Mar?” Pit repeated, still stunned. “Who—wait, you’re…” It was an echo of a distant memory, but Pit knew he’d definitely met this person. “You’re Prince Marth! From one of the Lands Beyond? You were there! When we fought Tabuu!” Then Pit gasped. “Oh gosh. I didn’t wake you up… did I? Prince—”
“Just… just ‘Marth’ is fine,” Marth said, having recomposed himself. He turned and walked back to the banquet table, which was expectedly just as grand and ornate as the room it was in. “I’ve been awake for a few hours, actually. I had a hunch there would be company at the castle today—just not this early.”
Pit, not forgetting the promise of food, bounded a few steps behind, Link and Zelda on either side of him. “Company for what?”
“Spokespeople and prospective trailblazers for the festival that’s happening soon,” Marth replied. Instead of sitting at the banquet table, he headed right. “It’s not often something like this coincides with the winter solstice.”
“Whoa, really?” Pit questioned excitedly. “I didn’t know Hyrule celebrated the Star Festival too!” He could see there was another room at the end of the hall where, to Pit’s surprise, there was real sunlight streaming through a curtained window, framed with ivory curls.
“Oh, that,” Link said. “No, no, that festival is annual. It’s something called the Carnival of Time. It’s when, uh, the Ancients align the sun and moon and channel protective magic down over Hyrule.”
“In Hylian we call it something along the lines of ‘divine syzygy.’ It’s the Ancients’ way of communicating their presence even though their corporeal existences have been long lost to the ages.” Zelda continued.
Pit pursed his lips thoughtfully. “So does that really happen? That’d be cool to see!”
“You know, no one really knows,” Link said with a chuckle. “But lots of Hylians are still pretty religious in this day and age, so maybe.”
“Lots of Hylians are also rather enterprising,” Marth said matter-of-factly. “I’m still entirely convinced you all still celebrate just for the carousing and the business profit.”
Link’s smile hadn’t wavered. “Come on, don’t be a grump. You used to love going to Carnivals when we were younger.” They had entered the windowed room. Before them was a round table similar in style to the table in the dining hall, but this one was barren and much smaller, with only a handful of chairs circling it.
“Place yourselves wherever you please,” Zelda said. “I’ll go call for the servants.”
Watching her leave the room, Marth sighed. “I apologize for startling you earlier,” he said to Pit. “I hope you’ll forgive my, ah, informal appearance.”
“My day’s just been full of surprises,” Pit said when everyone was seated comfortably. “And I’ve had worse surprises than a guy in his pajamas. I’m Pit, by the way.” He puffed his chest out proudly. ‘I’m the best servant of the best goddess, here to bring blessings to all of Hyrule.”
“He wishes. He’s just here to visit,” Link clarified with an impish smile, much to Pit’s chagrin. “Zelda had a flash of Wisdom sense that someone was outside and, when we opened the door, this little bugger was there shivering in his sandals.”
“So you’re a celestial, Pit?” Marth said, leaning forward. ”I’m surprised you’ve recovered so quickly here.”
Link looked to him with a blank expression. “What does being a celestial have to do with it?”
“Oh, yeah!” Pit said. “I forgot I was supposed to tell you guys.” He gestured widely to the open air. “I’m from the heavens, so I run on Aetherian magic. You know, the high magic of the gods and of everything abstractly tangible, weird stuff. But Hyrule is full of the ground-level Ancient magic.” Pit visibly shuddered. “Ugh. No wonder gods don't like coming down here. The energy outside was so thick I could taste it. Not to mention I could feel it sticking to all my feathers.”
“So you weren’t sick from the cold?” Link mused.
“No,” Pit said. “It’s actually more like I found myself in a heat wave…”
“Ancients,” Link uttered. “Maybe next time we should meet somewhere else instead.”
“Don’t worry about me!” Pit insisted. “I’ll just… get used to it. Which reminds me—” he turned to Marth. “Sorry if I’m being nosy, but why are you here, Marth? And how’d you figure out my, uh, magical mishaps?”
Marth turned his head to gaze out at the trees visible from the window. “I used to live in a village with an old battlefield fortress far southwest of here. It’s all ruins now, thanks to the Subspace Army.”
“That’s just horrible!” Pit exclaimed.
“Of course, the last blessing of the Isle of the Ancients made sure no life was left unanimated, and what’s been destroyed is getting rebuilt now. The committee even wants to make the fortress into a new competition stage.” He glanced to Link. “In any case, it’s been a while since I last attended the Carnival of Time, which I did enjoy when I was younger.” There was another pause. “I don’t think I can answer your other question as simply.”
Pit tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” Marth said, resting his chin on folded hands, “the place I’m really from was watched over by gods and goddesses born of the Elder Aether, like yours. My particular family line has a bit of a history with divinity as well, so when I came to Smashworld at my young age, I found it a bit frustrating to adjust… on my own.”
“Oh, I see!” Pit said brightly, though Marth’s strained expression worried him. “I’m still getting used to Smashworld, one baby angel step at a time.” He fluttered his wings, turning his gaze to them. “These have taken me places I never would have dreamed. And I’ve met people I never would have imagined—”
“Hey!” Link’s face lit up suddenly. “That reminds me, Mar! Pit told me earlier that the Mushroom Kingdom’s celebrating the Star Festival this year!”
“You…” Marth, momentarily forgetting his poise, reeled back with genuine astonishment. “You’re not serious!”
“It’s true!” Link exclaimed. “You really haven’t forgotten it after all these years?”
“Of course not. How could I forget…” Marth’s voice faltered, and his eyes became soft for a moment—almost vulnerable, Pit thought. Then the prince blinked, and shook his head. “Well, anyway, the memories are forever with me.”
Pit was more stunned at the interchange itself than the fact that it had so boldly interrupted him. Just how deep did this level of camaraderie go between the two of them? Or was it more than camaraderie? “Did, uh… did something happen? Like, at the Star Festival?”
Marth and Link shared a glance before Link slouched forward in his seat, humming.
“Ha, um,” Pit said, smiling lamely. “It sounds like it’s super top-secret.”
Link laughed, albeit more to himself. “Not really. I bet it’d be a great story to tell, but only if you really wanted to hear it. I don’t know if sappy family stories are up your lane.”
Pit blinked. “Are you kidding? I love sappy stories!” he said, hoping it hadn’t been so obvious he’d assumed the story was much more—much more intimate.
“Sappy?” For the first time in a while, Marth smiled. “We saved the world.”
Pit’s wings perked. This sounded much more like it. “Wow! From what?”
“Oh, that!” Link sat back upright, excited. “So you know how the Star Festival has a huge comet pass by? Well, last time, it came so close it crashed way out in the Lands Beyond, and, somehow, a little piece of…” Link looked to Marth. “Should I start from the beginning?”
Marth nodded.
“All right!” Link drummed his fingers on the table. “Let’s see, where to start…”
“Actually, I’d wait for Zelda to return. But I’ll tell you some background before then,” Marth proposed, nodding to Pit.
“Uh, sure,” Pit said, scratching the back of his head. He’d just piece things together eventually. “I’m all ears! Well, maybe until lunch.”
Marth straightened himself. “Suit yourself.”
And his story began.