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Flip of a page, a whole new topic to go over which at this point has become fairly routine for the one known as Annette Fantine Dominic. Continuing her studies at Garreg Mach Monastery has been a fairly joyful experience filled with new opportunities, and amazing people she has the pleasure to work with. Life was indeed busy, but at the same time quite fulfilling for the young mage.
Until the Gautier incident…
The mission to stop Sylvain’s brother Miklan went smoothly enough besides the horror of witnessing the power of crest first hand. No, the main problem stemmed from the help her class received from Lady Rhea, the one known as “Gilbert”. This Gilbert who at first glance seemed to be just another regular knight in service of the Knights of Serios meant a whole other story to Annette. One glance from Annette was all she needed to finally realize that her goal from 4 years ago had finally been achieved. She has found her father, and now bursting with energy she saw her goal in sight of getting her long lost father back, and reuniting the once broken family again.
If only it was that simple….
“I’m sorry you have me mistaken for someone else.” Gilbert quickly stated and left Annette’s presence as humanly possible, leaving her awestruck unmoving from said spot. Several moments passed with Annette basically acting like a statue earning some worried looks from people passing by. Finally what felt like an eternity she started to make a beeline for her dorm room trying to keep her composure as best she could. Once she locked the door behind her she plumped on her bed, and started weeping. The long awaited moment felt so unfair and cruel to Annette, she poured so many hours into studying and efforts to find him yet he repays her with this? The feeling of sadness stayed for the majority of the afternoon into the evening until sleep found her.
The morning after was a train wreck with her running late, and her forgetting to do the assignment that the professor assigned the previous day. Misfortune after misfortune seemed to have cursed her this week. Luckily her professor was forgiving, and allowed an extension for Annette which was a nice positive offsetting the negative the past two days. Seeing this act of kindness bolstered Annette’s drive and snapped out of her depressed state. “Silly Annette! Don’t give up after just one try! You can convince Father to come home as long as you’re determined!” Annette stated loudly to no one in particular, and to her luck nobody was present to hear her. With new confidence in tow Annette wasted no time in finding her father again, and giving it another attempt.
One day turned into a week which then turned into one month of failed attempts. No matter how persistent she was Gilbert always found a way to avoid her without fail. Seeing him retreat to his quarters, and slamming the door shut was enough to signal Annette to quit for the day leading her to retreat to her own quarters. Having nothing better to do she pulls out her notes from class and her textbook to try and figure out the magical equation that’s been stumping her for quite a while. Over the last hour Annette started to lose motivation at doing about anything. What’s even the point of all this? This thought plagued her mind constantly for the past couple of days which just spawned more thoughts that disturbed her. Where did I go wrong? Am I just a failure? What did we do to deserve this? Does he just not care? The plunge to despair could not be stopped and a whole new wave of tears had started to form, falling from her cheeks and landing on the fresh page of her book now stained wet from her tears. She tried to use her free hand to wipe away the tears, but they did not show any signs of letting up. She gave up after a couple moments and just sat there quietly weeping. “I-I just wanted you to be p-proud of m-me” she mumbled out her wish, but the one who she so desperately wanted to hear those words were far out of her reach, and the more time passed the more she thought her dream was an impossibility. Even as the candle she lit burned out, and the darkness took hold of her room Annette still silently wept facing reality she wished she could deny. After what felt like hours she finally found the strength to get up and head to her bed for some sleep. Sleep finally reached her, but the strong hold of despair would always be present in her days attending Garreg Mach Monastery.