"Three... two... one! Ready or not, here I come!"

Ananias carefully peered from behind his hiding place and watched as Tiki scampered off to find him. "Man, she's really getting into it, isn't she? Almost makes you forget that she's supposed to be the voice of the divine dragon." He then retreated back behind his hiding place. "Still doesn't make it any less jarring though." He closed his eyes in order to better picture the Tiki that he knew back in his own world and time. "I mean, I know everyone's been young before, but I never could've imagined the Tiki that I knew being something like this."

"Boo!"

Ananias' eyes snapped open as he jumped up, obviously startled by the young manakete's outburst. "Gah!"

Tiki couldn't help but laugh. "Found you!"

Ananias placed his hand over his heart as he took a moment to catch his breath. "Yeah, you sure did. Really snuck up on me there. How did you do that?"

"Oh, it wasn't too hard. When I found you, you were already fast asleep!"

"What? No, I wasn't. I was just... thinking about stuff."

"Oooo, really? What kinds of stuff?"

"You know... stuff stuff."

"Oh, come on!" Tiki grabbed onto one of his arms and began repeatedly tugging at it. "Can't you tell me? Please? I promise not to tell!"

"Alright, alright! I'll talk. Just... stop tugging at me like that!" After Tiki obliged, Ananias sighed, and said, "If you must know, I was thinking about you."

Tiki tilted her head in confusion. "Me? Really? Whatever for?"

"Well... look, I don't know if you and I come from the same world or not, but Lucina, Owain, and I have our own Tiki in our own time."

"Your own time? Oh, you're talking about the future, aren't you?"

"Right. And assuming that you guys come from our world, just in our past, then the Tiki that we know from our time should be you, or a version of you, just... older."

Tiki excitedly gasped. "Oh, wow! You've met an older version of me? That's so cool! What was I like?"

"Um... you were, older?"

Tiki giggled. "I know that! But what else?"

"Um, well, you were definitely more... mature."

"More mature? Like a proper lady?"

"Well, you definitely weren't playing hide-and-seek, that's for sure."

Tiki gasped. "What? Really? No more hide-and-seek?"

"I mean, if you did play hide-and-seek, then you definitely didn't invite me."

Tiki frowned. "But that doesn't sound right. If there's anyone I can count on to play hide-and-seek with, it would definitely be you! So why hasn't future me asked you to play a game with her?"

Ananias shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you just outgrew it?"

"Me? Outgrowing hide-and-seek?"

Ananias nonchalantly nodded. "Well, yeah. That's what usually happens when we grow up. We just naturally grow out of things."

"But I love playing hide-and-seek!" Tiki stubbornly insisted. "I can't ever imagine giving it up!"

Ananias was a bit taken aback by Tiki's sudden change in behavior, but continued the conversation regardless. "I'm sure you can't. But people and manaketes change. You know that, don't you?"

"Of course I do! But that doesn't change the fact that there are some things that I want to stay the same forever and ever!"

Ananias sighed. "Tiki, come on. You're better than that. You of all people should know that nothing lasts forever."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"Even...," Tiki sniffed sadly, "even my memories of Mar-Mar and the others?"

Ananias' eyes widened in surprise. "What? No, of course not!"

"B-but you just said -"

"I know what I said," Ananias gently said, kneeling down to help wipe away some of her tears. "But the Tiki I knew remembered Mar-Mar and the others just fine."

"Really?"

"Really. So much so, that she misses them very much."

"...does she miss them all the time?"

"...no, not really."

"Well, why not?"

"Is that what you want? To miss your old friends all the time?"

Tiki hung her head and shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Why?"

"Well, the more I miss them, then the more I remember them, right?"

"Fair enough," Ananias admitted. "But... isn't there more to life than just missing things that are no longer there?"

"Of course there is," Tiki said. "It's just... I don't want to grow so old that I forget Mar-Mar and the others, that's all."

"I hear ya, Tiki. Really, I do. But there's so much more in life to remember, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

Ananias sighed. "How do I put this? You know that I come from a pretty big family, right?"

"Of course. You come from a family where most everyone looks and acts alike."

"Right. When I first started meeting them, I couldn't really tell them apart, but over time, I did."

"Wow. That must be a whole lot for you to remember!"

Ananias smiled fondly. "Yeah, it was. But I loved each and every one of them, so I made it a point to remember each and every one. You can put two identical Annas right next to each other, and after one or two questions, I'd know who's who in a heartbeat."

"So you understand how I feel? About wanting to remember all of my friends forever and ever?"

"I do. But I also know how impossible that is."

"Impossible? But, I don't understand. You just said that you remember each and every one of your relatives!"

"I do. But back in my time, some things happened, and I had more pressing issues to think about. More important people to remember. I could go on for days without thinking about most of my relatives."

"But you still remember them, don't you?"

"Of course I do. But only when the time is really right. When there's something to trigger my memory of them. Otherwise, I'm just living my life, thinking or remembering what I need to at the moment."

"Really?"

Ananias nodded. "Yes, really. And I think your older self from the future understood this too. Remember when I said that she missed her friends very much? Well, the number of times I heard her mention her friends, I can count them on one, maybe two hands."

"Really? She mentioned them that little?"

"Who knows? Maybe she thought about them all the time, but from what I saw, she did more to help those in need than miss the people she'd lost."

"I think I get it now. She helped people in her present more than she missed her friends in the past."

"Exactly. But when she did remember her friends, she made it obvious how much she loved them and missed them."

"But she never let those feelings get in the way of living her life or doing what needed to be done to help people."

"You got it."

Tiki smiled. "Wow, I sound really mature in the future!"

"You were. Or, well, you're going to be. So much so that I barely recognized you when I met you here."

"Oh, but I'd recognize you anywhere, Ananias!"

"Oh, really?"

Tiki nodded. "Mmm-hmm! There's something strange about you, but in a good and friendly way!"

"Um, thanks?"

"It makes me feel better, knowing that even though I'll outlive all of the friends that I have now, I'll make new friends like you in the future!"

"That's the spirit. And if it helps any, you can find solace in the fact that, even with their differences, Annas are mostly all the same anyway. If ever you feel lonely, you can just chat up with one of them. I'm sure that they're more than willing to be friends with you, and I'm sure that my family's dynasty of Annas can outlive even a manakete's long life."

"Hey, that's right! It'll be like having a friend who lives just as long as I do! Sort of. Thanks, Ananias!"

"Don't mention it. Now, you ready for another game of hide-and-seek?"

"Oh, yes! Definitely! I want to play as many games of hide-and-seek with you as I can! After all, if my older self isn't going to do it, then I may as well play enough for the both of us!"

"That's... certainly one way of looking at it."

Dual Special #1:

Ananias: Me and my dragon.

Tiki: (giggles) ROAR!

Dual Special #2:

Ananias: Sick'em, Tiki!

Tiki: I'm not a dog, Ananias!

Dual Special #3:

Tiki: Let's play follow-the-leader!

Ananias: How am I supposed to follow a dragon?

Dual Special #4:

Tiki: A dragon and her human!

Ananias: Uh... human, I guess.

Author's Note: The next Warriors supports will be:

3. Lyn

4. Lucina

5. Celica

6. Sakura

7. Owain

8. Marth

9. Lianna

10. Chrom