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Sylvain had been the first to transfer to the Black Eagles class after one conversation with their “totally hot” new professor. Had he known his attempts to woo her were all for naught, who knows what he would have done. Ingrid had rolled her eyes so hard it seemed like they would never roll back when she heard the news.
“He can do whatever he wants,” she had scoffed to anyone who would listen, “but for such a shallow reason… I really shouldn’t be surprised.”
Felix and Annette decided separately to join the Black Eagles at the same time; they were surprised to see each other in class the following week. Felix claimed his reasons were that of being sick of Faerghus and Dimitri, and there was certainly no reason not to believe it. Annette was… more complicated. Like the other Lions, Annette outwardly cared deeply for Dimitri and for her friends in the Blue Lions. But her attempts to gain the attention of her estranged father had been all in vain and she, too, came to curse the chivalry-based and duty-obsessed culture of her homeland. She wanted to get out and experience something new instead of feel holed-up in a chivalrous echo chamber. The Black Eagles warmly welcomed the new transfers and Sylvain made it his personal job to introduce his two Lion companions to everyone, much to Felix’s chagrin. Annette laughed at the coincidence; Felix gave a neutral grunt in response but allowed his gaze to settle on her more often than intended during their first Black Eagles class.
Shortly afterward came Mercedes; she had gone a week without Annette in class and despite the warmth from the rest of the Lions, she decided it was in her best personal interest to rejoin Annette. She was hesitant as she knew the Eagles tended to be…less devout, but the new professor was really something else and the lack of devotion was absolutely made up in dedication to their studies and personal ambitions. She baked some sweets for her new classmates and set aside a few extra for Annette on her first day as an Eagle.
Ashe joined the Black Eagles after the business with Lonato. His discomfort with the Church had grown quickly afterward as he found himself questioning the very nature of Fódlan’s structure. He didn’t dare say this out loud, but perhaps it was best to branch out and explore other mindsets and ideas. He and Caspar became quick companions and the former Lions were happy to have him there. His distrust of the Church seemed to only grow over time – he never seemed to forgive the them for what happened, but it was a sensitive subject, to say the least. His classmates were more than happy to have him around regardless of the circumstances of his transfer and gladly indulged his tales of valiant knighthood in the face of adversity.
Ingrid requested to join the Black Eagles last. She felt guilty doing so, being the only one in her class remaining besides Dimitri and Dedue. Dimtri couldn’t jump ship as class leader and Dedue would never leave his side willingly. But after their professor and Dorothea had stepped in to prevent her from being held hostage by a horrendous suitor, Ingrid decided it was in her best interest to study under the professor and class who had gone to such lengths for her while she resided in another house. Besides, it was impossible to deny the incredible skill possessed by the new and mysterious professor. There was a lot to be learned in the Black Eagle house. Felix pretended not to care and Sylvain tossed her a “witty” one-liner and suddenly she felt at home again. Dorothea was overjoyed to have Ingrid finally in class with her, having been worried sick about her friend being lonely in a class of three.
“I had no idea you had planned on transferring at the same time I did,” Felix coolly remarked to Annette. She halted her gentle humming and turned, giving him a somewhat quizzical look.
“Is it so strange that I did?”
Felix shrugged. “That’s not what I said. I only said that I didn’t know. I suppose you have similar reasons to my own.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Or is that a stretch?”
Annette paused to consider her response. It was true that her father had abandoned her and her mother on the basis of chivalry and knighthood and it was true that he proceeded to raise Dimitri in those first three years more than he ever did her first thirteen. It was all some way of trying to atone for his perceived failures, she knew that, but it didn’t make it right and it didn’t make the abandonment and subsequent cold shoulder hurt any less.
To say she gave up would not be quite right; Annette had decided she had enough of begging for her father’s attention and love and that the result would never be worth the lack of independence and self-respect. She had to go, she had to separate herself from both the man and the ideology that created him, even if it meant she missed class with Dimitri and Dedue and still cared for both of them.
“You’re not far off,” Annette responded stiffly. “but…” She sighed and looked downward. “Yeah. I think you know well enough why I had to come here.” Felix grunted in response, to which Annette’s frown deepened. “What? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing in particular. Solidarity, if I had to define it, I suppose.”
“I don’t hate Dimitri like you do. Or at all.”
“But you hate that your father left you to practically raise him instead.”
Annette gritted her teeth. He was right and he was certainly in a place to understand, given the nature of his relationship with his own father. Still, it didn’t make it feel any better to hear the words out loud.
Felix cocked his head. “Do you have a song about it?”
Annette flushed and frowned at him. “Are you really going to mock my songs right now? Is that the direction you want this conversation to take?” she replied in a fervently annoyed manner.
Felix put his hands up to communicate surrender. “Hey, now, I was trying to lighten the mood a little. I can see that didn’t work. Doesn’t seem to be something I’m very good at,” He sheepishly apologized. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was mocking you. Sorry.”
Annette’s face softened. “No, it’s…it’s okay, I got heated over nothing. Silly me.” She gave him a small smile before she reached forward and gripped his hand. They both pretended there wasn’t a dash of pink on the other’s cheeks at the motion that Annette would certainly kick herself for later. “It’s nice to have the companionship of someone who gets it. Someone who really knows why I had to get out and can empathize instead of just pitying my situation and lack of relationship with my father. It’s nice.”
Felix really, genuinely smiled. “I’m glad I can be that person for you.” He glanced through a window and noticed the sun barely beginning to dip in the sky. “I’ve got to go train while there’s still daylight. I’ll be seeing you in class.” He dropped her hand and tried to casually stick it in his pocket while ignoring how his heart was beating ever so rapidly in his chest.
Annette placed her now-free hand in the grasp of the other and tightly clasped them together. “Yeah, go enjoy your training! Maybe we can catch dinner in the dining hall later?”
“Maybe. I’ll let you know. See you around, Annette.”
War had taken off. The Black Eagles all believed in Edelgard, the professor, and the cause. It only made it so much easier to fight against homeland, though. Many former Lions were heartbroken that it was Faerghus that stood to protect the structural violence enforced by the corruption of the Church; they had hoped that Dimitri and Faerghus at large would see the truth, but the king and his advisors only doubled down on their pro-Church message and on the alliance with The Immaculate One. Most of the former class shuddered just thinking about its deafening, maddening roar.
They were to march upon the Tailtean Plains at the end of the month and, if successful there, would proceed to Fhirdiad. The thought of it made Annette’s head spin and stomach turn if she dwelled on it for too long.
Annette had chosen to spend what little free time she had watching the sun set on the monastery. The past five years had been challenging; she had served as an Imperial general and upon the professor’s return had been added to Edelgard’s Black Eagle Strike Force. The honor was immeasurable and Annette had no qualms about tearing down the system at a moral level. But fighting against homeland is seldom an easy thing to do, no matter how wrong and immoral a stance it has taken. What a way to kick off the new year. The new year comes with new beginnings, after all. She and the rest of the world will march into a new era this spring, an era where the structures that tore her family apart will never do so to anyone else again.
Springtime often carried with it pleasant weather, Annette thought, and a light breeze made the outdoors a lovely place to spend time not spent being actively productive, be it Imperial work or simple cleaning. The current atmosphere was peaceful in spite of the raging storm inside her head.
She heard quiet footsteps come up behind her, but thoughts of them were quickly lost as Annette delved deeper into her own musings and into the view of the sunset. After a short period of silence, Felix spoke. “I assume you’ve heard that Gilbert will likely at Fhirdiad, if not at the Plains this month.”
“I know,” Annette quietly replied, not looking up at him. She shifted positions on the ground, stretching her legs out on the grass. “A lot has changed in the past four months. Everything starting going so fast after the professor came back.” She turned her head to face Felix, who was still standing behind her. “Will you sit with me?”
Wordlessly, Felix sat down next to her, one knee pulled up closer to his chest and the other leg stretched out next to hers. He took in the sunset with her, occasionally stealing a glance in her direction. They sat like that for a few minutes, appreciating the natural beauty that could still be found in the world. Then Annette began to speak, still gazing into the sunset.
"My father left us without hardly a word after Duscur. Left my mom and I alone. Changed his name, even. My uncle, his younger brother, came to stay with us and acted much more like a caring, attentive dad than Father ever did. He wasn’t overly bound to glory and chivalry like him, who left us for precisely those reasons. For some twisted sense of duty. What happened to his duty to his family?” Annette paused, seemingly struggling to get the words out. “I love and appreciate my mother and uncle in ways I could never hope to express. And I know that they’re proud of me, standing up to the system that tore our family apart. I cannot forgive the structures in place and Faerghus’ chivalry culture for what it did to us." Her face was twisted into an angry, dejected grimace as she gazed forward, seemingly looking past the sunset and getting lost in her own head instead.
Felix knew well that she didn’t like to talk much about her home life; whenever she did, she sang the praises of her mother and uncle (sometimes literally) but seldom mentioned her father and the hole he left behind. It was too hard, but getting away from the situation gave her the space to open up and reckon with it all. He would know, he had done the same thing. He hated seeing the frustrated scowl Gilbert and his actions could still leave on her face after all this time.
Felix took a deep breath and turned back ahead at the scenery in front of him. He decided to take a shot in the dark with his response - he wasn't exactly great with emotional stuff, but he felt like she needed someone to share some empathy rather than just give awkward sympathetic pity. "My father was more of a father to the boar than to me. Glenn was his pride and joy while I was relegated to being little more than just the other kid. When my brother died, a lot of that focus turned to me. But it felt empty. He could never understand what I wanted and needed from him. Even if he could, he would never provide because I’m his second-best replacement son, less important than Glenn who died in glory and less important than the boar." Felix looked down at the soft grass beneath him and passively pulled at a few taller strands. “Rodrigue only put Glenn on a pedestal anyway, and I swear there were times he could never shut up about the ‘honorable’ death of his eldest. Like he was bragging. Meanwhile, I had a brother to mourn. I didn’t care about the manner of his death, I just wanted him back. Rodrigue couldn’t understand how I could be anything less than proud of Glenn when I just…missed him.” Felix’s expression shifted to something even more unreadable, a forced neutrality in spite of the heavy words. “And now I’m sure he viewed his own demise the exact same way in his final moments… Incapable of change to the very end.”
When Felix turned to face Annette, she was already looking at him with understanding and the desired empathy that only she could muster in their current situation, a conversation they would be reluctant to share with anyone else at all. It was something neither of them liked to talk about in-depth but somehow felt natural coming out in conversation with the other.
"When Father was around before Duscur, it often felt the same way. Obsessed with duty before family, caring more for the royal family than his own. And I know, I know his job involved protecting them, and I don’t blame Dimitri for it at all, but where did Father’s actions leave Mother? Where did they leave me? I was left to carve a path of my own and my mother and uncle, so gracious, provided the means and support where Father never did. Sometimes I feel like I can’t even call him Father anymore, but…I don’t know where I’m going with this, I’m sorry.” Annette pulled her knees up to her chest and lowered her head as if in shame.
Felix wrapped a comforting arm around her small frame. “Hey, don’t apologize. We’re coming out of the same special brand of nonsense together. It’s okay to say these things out loud.”
A small tear leaked out of one of Annette’s eyes. “I don’t want to face him on the battlefield,” she said quietly. “I think I hate him. Maybe. Or maybe I don’t, but I should? But I know that I don’t want to see him there.”
“I know.”
“…Was it hard?”
Felix sighed. Annette had moved her head to look up at him again. “Yeah. I preferred him estranged to dead. But the world has a funny way of working sometimes. I’m sorry that you’ll likely have to face the same thing, Annette.”
She responded softly, “I’m so sorry it was you who had to face your father directly and…” She trailed off, uncertain of how direct to be.
“You can say it out loud, Annette. It’s okay, I’m not really that sensitive about it.” This was only a partial truth; while Felix was seldom the sensitive type as he grew older, the Siege of Arianrhod had been just weeks ago. He didn’t care all too much if people talked about it so long as it didn’t border too closely on gossip. But the pain was still present – dulling, surely, over time, but still lingering.
Annette shifted uncomfortably and swallowed. “…and kill him. I dread possibly having to do the same to my own father, soon.” She leaned her head on Felix’s shoulder, gazing indirectly at the setting sun. The sky was steadily getting darker but its colors more vibrant. They would likely have to return to the monastery soon. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay, because it has to be. I…can do it, if I have to.” She quirked a brow and scoffed, “He certainly did his fair share of work to make it as easy for me as he could.”
Felix snorted. “Isn’t that the truth.”
A small silence passed between them; they had shared enough intimate feelings that evening to last a lifetime. But they were comfortable nonetheless.
“Hey,” Felix said at last, “do you have any songs about sunsets?”
“Hmm? Songs about sunsets…you know, I bet we can make one.”
“We?” Felix cocked his head toward her in surprise.
Annette laughed, something Felix wished she would do more often nowadays. “That’s what I said! You say you love it when I sing, so why don’t we make a song together? I think it would be nice.”
Felix’s face went flat. “I don’t know how to do that,” he said rather stiffly.
“Nonsense,” Annette chucked, “now come on, I want to make a sunset song with you now. We can start with the colors!”
Felix looked up at the sky’s mix of vibrant, homely orange, roseate pink, and a stunning shade of cerulean. In some ways, the sky’s coloration reminded him of her. Actually, it was in a lot of ways. A light blush dusted Felix's face at the thought. At least there was plenty of inspiration to be found there. “Yeah, okay, the colors… We can start there, and then you’ll sing for me, yeah?”
“Yeah, I’ll always sing for you, Felix.”