Almost as soon as the Ylisseans had returned to their capital, Chrom had wasted no time in sending Frederick out in search of the final gemstone of the Fire Emblem. When he had returned, he came with a message from Validar that Plegia was in possession of it, and the sorcerer king wished to present it formally. Naturally, the Yliseans had been incredibly skeptical about the meeting, but Chrom had decided to agree to the meeting with the Fire Emblem in hand, his best fighters accompanying him with everyone armed to the teeth. It seemed Pit had gotten Chrom's attention in almost every way imaginable, from his combat skill to whatever his relationship with Lucina was. Whether she was from the future or not, he still considered her his daughter and played the role of overprotective father accordingly. But the supposed archer accompanied them anyway, and Chrom had tried to keep some distance between them.

The army had stopped for the night and set up camp, and Pit bade a good night to the Ylissean princess before retiring to a tent he shared with several other men in the army. It was an interesting mix of him, Henry, an axe fighter named Vaike, and a young-looking mage named Ricken. They had rolled out their blankets and were settling in until morning, when they would be finally heading for Castle Plegia.

"Hey, Pit, what's with the undershirt?" Vaike was wondering as he sat down to inspect his axe. Pit turned around to face him once he had pulled off his armor and shirt.

"Just because you never wear a shirt doesn't mean I can't," he teased, and Vaike grinned at him as he acted like he was going to throw the axe.

"The Vaike doesn't need anything hiding these ripped muscles! He's good to go," the fighter replied. "But I was referring to its cut. Doesn't it make more sense to cover your back? What's with the whole 'around the neck and between the shoulders' stuff?"

"It's more comfortable for me," Pit shrugged. It wasn't a total lie- any other design would have interfered with his wings.

"Whatever works, I guess." With that, Vaike burped loudly, and Ricken stared at him while Henry started laughing.

"Golly, Vaike, what did you eat?" the Plegian mage asked. "Something must've crawled into your stomach! Can I see it?"

"What? No way!" Vaike scoffed. "Teach doesn't need any help for a perfect belch! You youngsters just need practice, is all."
"I think I'll find other uses for my time, thanks!" Ricken sighed. "Like trying to figure out how to cook without burning things with my Fire tome."

"Yeah, that didn't go well," Henry giggled. "I didn't know it was possible to torch fish that fast!"

"It was an accident!" Ricken insisted. "I didn't realize I was using Elfire." Pit chucked and shook his head as he pulled his blanket over him and settled down on his side. It seemed he couldn't break his habit, even without his wings, and lying on his back simply felt strange to him.

"Try again in the morning," he suggested with a yawn. "Good night, all of you. And Vaike, please try to stifle the snoring."

"Hey!" Vaike argued, but someone blew out the lantern they had been using for light and he fell silent, save his grumbling. It didn't take long for Pit to fall into the realm of dreams.

And, oh, how he regretted shutting his eyes.

He found himself back in Skyworld, standing in front of the temple with his staff held in one hand, its handle resting on the ground. Though the skies around him seemed peaceful, and ill feeling crept over him.

Then, suddenly, Ephraim burst out from the clouds below with his wings spread wide, and he shot down a Falcon Knight that was following close behind. The clouds darkened as he sped back toward the temple, breathing heavily with blood trickling down his face.

"L-Lord Pit…" he gasped just as an arrow suddenly pierced the back of his shoulder. Strange darkness spread over the islets of the realm, and Pit was torn between forcing it back and taking care of his angel. He clenched his teeth as Ephraim pulled the arrow from his back and turned back to his ruler. "What's going on?!" Pit sighed in a brief relief that he was relatively okay and turned his attention back to the islets to confirm his fears: Risen.

"How did they get here?!" he demanded and took flight as he summoned his bow. A roar shook just about everything around him just as Grima's head appeared from the clouds below. Fear took control of Pit's body, but he fought against it and continued on his path as he readied his bow.

"This world is MINE…" Grima growled. "No one will stand in my way!" Before he could do anything else, darkness swallowed up everything around Pit, and he glanced around wildly in an attempt to find footing. He landed, but found nothing but shadow under his feet.

"Lord Pit…" he heard a voice and turned around to find, of all people, Remiel struggling to stay standing a short distance away from him. "Help me…" He was agonizingly pale and very thin, and his eyes were dull. Grima's roar sounded again as the Fell Dragon's six red eyes appeared in the darkness, and Pit felt his heart pound in his chest as he shot an arrow forth. Unfortunately, it did nothing.

"Remiel, run!" he demanded. "RUN!" But Remiel didn't appear to hear him, or was simply too shocked to do anything. Grima swatted him to the side and out of Pit's line of sight.

Finally, he heard wings rustling, and he turned to find Kuro landing at his side with his personal bow and armor at the ready. His crimson gaze glared at Grima without wavering, and Pit could see strong determination on his twin's face.

"We finish this now," he said quickly, and Pit nodded as he felt a slight bit of relief at the thought of fighting alongside his counterpart. The two of them were unstoppable when they fought together, or so just about everyone who knew them acknowledged. They both took flight and sped toward Grima, even as the Fell Dragon's roar again sounded.

"We'll hit him from both sides," Pit told his companion, who nodded. "Flank him. Confuse him. We'll see him fall!" They split up and headed for the two sides of Grima's head, both with arrows ready and glowing. Kuro released his first with Pit's following a heartbeat later, and both hit their target. Unfortunately, it seemed they had little to no effect on their opponent.

"Pitiful fools…" Grima spoke. "You do not challenge your new god!" Pit's brow furrowed as he prepared a strike of pure Light.

But it fizzled as shock and panic overtook him as he watched Grima rake his claws deep across Kuro's body, breaking through his armor as if it were made of paper, shredding one of his wings and ripping the other off entirely. The red-eyed angel didn't even have the capability to scream as he plummeted to the ground and landed with a hard thud. Pit blinked back the water stinging his eyes and refused to believe the pull in his chest that weakened something within him. His stomach heaved as he landed at his brother's side. Blood stained what was left of Kuro's clothing, and Pit couldn't bear to look at his torn muscles, his broken bones.

There was nothing left, no light in his dulled eyes, no sound from his mouth that remained slightly agape. In all of a second, he was gone. Pit's howl of grief echoed through the darkness around him as Grima paid him little heed, choosing instead to head off and destroy Skyworld as he saw fit. The god of Light cried out for his brother again and again, tears streaming down his face and choking him.

"Pit," he heard a voice from somewhere in the darkness, but he ignored it as he knelt down and cradled his brother's head in his lap. "Pit!" it came again, but he paid it no heed as his tears dripped down his cheeks. "PIT!"

He screamed until his lungs had been emptied and he gasped for air, his head whipping back and forth wildly as he searched for Grima or Kuro.

"Pit, come on, snap out of it!" He felt something shaking him and found Vaike's hands gripping his shoulders tightly. "Snap out of it!"

"WHAT is going on in here?!" Frederick demanded as he came storming into the tent. "The entire camp thinks we're under attack! Quiet down!" Pit blinked. Everything seemed like some far off echo to him, and he couldn't focus on anything but his dream. "Was it you?" Frederick continued as he stared at the archer. "Pit! Answer me!"

"I'm guessing he was having a nightmare," Henry replied. "I could probably whip up a curse to make him forget it."

"All right, let's not worry about that right now," Frederick frowned as he knelt down and looked into Pit's eyes. "Are you okay?" Pit strained himself to focus on the knight commander, and it took even more for him to find his voice.

"I need some air," he choked and got to his feet, not bothering to grab any of his possessions and ignoring the calls behind him as he left the tent and headed out into the field. He swallowed and sat down with his knees drawn up and his forehead against them until he realized his tears still hadn't stopped. He wiped his eyes as he tried to catch his breath and stop his body's trembling. He kept telling himself it was just a dream, but his pounding heart wouldn't listen, nor would the adrenaline in his veins.

After some time, he looked up to the sky and got to his feet, against his better judgment. It was probably a dumb idea, but he found he didn't care at that point. He took a deep breath and summoned his staff, trying to think back to what he had been doing around this time as he cast himself back into his true form. He spread his wings and took off for the skies, the night wind whipping around him as he flew as fast as he could without the Power of Flight to aid him.

He approached Skyworld some time later and kept low around the islets until he reached the quarters of the army's commander, captain, and a squad of Centurions. With a deep breath to help calm him down, he headed inside and crept down the hall and up the stairs on the right side at the end until he came to a set of double doors. He lifted his hand to knock, but then shook his head and slipped inside.

He found a form sleeping there on the chamber's bed, sprawled out on his front side with his wings twitching. Pit chewed his inner lip for a moment as he thought over his situation. Sure, this was Kuro. This was his twin, his reflection, his counterpart. But, strangely enough, this wasn't HIS Kuro. This was the red-eyed angel of the past, and he was of the future. The present Pit was probably asleep in his chamber within the Skyworld Temple as always, unaware of the magnitude of the wars raging in the human realm.

But, again, he didn't care. He tiptoed over to Kuro's bedside and nudged his twin's shoulder gently, feeling guilty for disturbing him for such a stupid reason, but he knew he wasn't going to calm down until he had spoken with his twin- past or future. Kuro grumbled groggily and blinked several times to open his eyes with a large, gaping yawn.

"Pit?" he mumbled and rubbed his eye. "What now?" Pit found himself robbed of his voice again, and Kuro must have taken notice as he sat up and seemed a bit more alert. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Pit finally replied. "I mean… nothing, right? I just wanted to make sure you're okay." This Kuro hadn't been torn to shreds by the Fell Dragon. He was healthy, unharmed, and in fine shape.

"I'm fine," he agreed as he rotated his shoulder. "Something's bothering you. It's written all over your face. And…" he frowned. "Something seems off about you." He paused. "…Are you really Pit?"

"What?" Pit blinked until he processed what exactly his twin was asking. He shared a deep connection with Kuro, but the Kuro of his time near twenty years in the future. This Kuro couldn't have felt that connection with him because he shared it with the Pit of the past. Even so, the future Pit didn't exactly want to bring it up. "Of course I am!" Kuro didn't seem convinced.

"Tell me something only Pit would know," he challenged, and Pit dug through his memory for something that, indeed, only he would know.

"Outside of losing someone close to you, your greatest fear is the Chaos Kin," he said, and Kuro stared at him for a moment. "You haven't been able to shake wondering what it would have done with you. Kind of like how I haven't gotten over my fear of fire." They were both silent for a moment.

"Okay, yeah, you're Pit," Kuro sighed. "And you're right. Though, my biggest fear is definitely losing you. I don't know where that would leave me!"

"And I don't want anything to happen to you," Pit agreed. "So… just keep yourself safe, okay?" Kuro nodded.

"And don't you do anything stupid, or you'll be answering to me!" Pit laughed at the remark, his relief finally becoming permanent and chasing away the terror of his nightmare.

"Right, then. Sorry for waking you." He stood up. "I'll let you sleep." Again, Kuro nodded, and the god of Light turned for the door.

"'Night, Pit," his twin called, and he smiled.

"Good night, Kuro." He left and headed back out of the quarter. Once he was sure no one was paying any attention to him, he dove off the side of the islet and headed back toward the Ylissean camp below. The sun was starting to rise by the time he landed in the fields nearby, and he hid away his robes and wings before returning to find Frederick on guard.

"THERE you are," he scolded, and Pit couldn't help but smile. "Where have you been?"

"I needed some time to think," he replied. "I'm sorry I worried everyone. I'll personally deliver my apologies to Prince Chrom once he's awake."

"Good," Frederick nodded. "Bad nightmare?"

"You could say that," he agreed. "But I'll be okay." Frederick watched him a moment longer.

"Lady Lucina would speak with you later as well," he informed the archer. "She's very worried about you. But I believe she fell back asleep after the ruckus you started. I'll commend that not everyone can manage to panic the entire camp on accident. But you have a loud voice, Pit."

"I know," Pit shrugged. "I can take over guard duty if you want. We'll be leaving soon, right?"

"Right," Frederick confirmed. "Very well. Call if you see any trouble. And I doubt you'll have difficulty with that." Pit nodded as the knight headed off, and he turned his attention back to the sky for a moment as he pondered his dream.

"Could Grima really invade Skyworld?" he mumbled. Everything in the nightmare had been so clear. Despite how much he wished he could dismiss the possibility, he couldn't deny that it may very well have been a prophecy. If they couldn't stop Grima, if he destroyed the humans and the surface, he would move onto Skyworld.

And Kuro would die.