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Felix Fraldarius was not prone to shouting at his peers, even though he wanted to shout at Dimitri for being so frustratingly dim witted quite often. Nor did he have a habit of slamming doors behind him, as that was childish and unbecoming of a noble of Faerghus. But this morning, rationality had fled from Felix faster than Cornelia had escaped from Fhirdiad, leaving behind a torrent of raw emotion that battered at the last dregs of his self control.
Reports had come in that Edelgard and the Adrestian Imperial Army were amassing in the south, with intentions to invade Faerghus. Meanwhile scouts had witnessed multiple raiding parties moving through Alliance territory in the east towards them, and within their own kingdom rumors swirled of various nobles secretly planning to attempt a coup. On their own, these problems would have been manageable, Dimitri could lead a large portion of their army into battle on the southern border, and any of them could deal with raiders or the uppity nobles with a few squads. But all of this together, along with the other operations already in motion, had stretched them very thin. Which is where frustration turned to aggression.
The plan that had been suggested was--in his estimation--terrible. In a private meeting with Sylvain Gautier, Byleth Eisner, Ingrid Galatea, and Felix Fraldarius, King Dimitri Blaiddyd had explained it to them, to confirm their agreement before presenting it to the rest of their former classmates. He, Felix, Sylvain, and Byleth were to take the bulk of their army and head south to the Adrestian border. There they would face the Empire’s first attempt at invasion since the fall of Garreg Mach. Meanwhile, Ingrid and Mercedes von Martritz would go to quell the nobles that seemed to be acting on agenda’s contrary to Dimitri’s reign with either the kind negotiations of Mercedes or the powerful attacks of Ingrid. Annette Dominc would be sent with a smaller force to defend against the raiders to the east.
It was that last point Felix had taken issue with.
“Then figure out a saint’s damned better plan!” he’d shouted before storming out of the meeting room and slamming the door behind him.
That had been a few hours ago, and Felix had still not returned. He’d taken to grumbling around the practice fields alone, silently fuming about how little control he truly had in all of this, and occasionally growling at a practice dummy.
Dedue Molinaro was… missing, as Dimitri refused to list the man among the dead. Ashe Ubert was watching their western coast in case of naval attack, and his father was going to be maintaining Dimitri’s rule in Fhirdiad as regent alongside members of the holy church. Mercedes was their best negotiator and Ingrid could provide the military strength to back her up when dealing with unruly nobles. Byleth, Dimitri, Sylvain, and Felix were all going south to ensure they had the numbers to repel an invading force, and Annette Dominic was alone in the east against an unnumbered and unknown enemy. Tactically, he was more afraid of leaving Annette alone against an unknown enemy than he was facing down the entire Adrestian army, even though she was likely safe there.
He’d asked if his force may be redirected to join with hers, in order to reinforce their weak side in case of Imperial or Alliance invasion from the east. That idea had been shot down as Dimitri needed him and his warriors in the south. He’d asked if Ashe or the Knights of Seiros could reinforce her, but Byleth had pointed out that if Edelgard attempts a naval invasion with the help of Brigid’s navy and circumvents their forces, Ashe’s troops stationed in the ports and coastal towns would be the only line of defense until the rest could muster together a counteroffensive strike, and the knights of Seiros were abroad across the empire to dispel as much unrest as they could. In an attempt to appease him, Sylvain had recommended Gustave Dominic and the knights he commanded be redirected east, but Felix knew that was a paltry force led by a father Annette had a relationship nearly as complicated as his own.
Of course he couldn’t admit the real reason he didn’t like Annette being alone to the east. Not only would Sylvain tease him mercilessly for weeks, but he was sure the others would only see it as a liability. Having feelings for a fellow general? Too risky. He was stuck within a cage partially of his own making, unable to prevent his worst nightmares from coming true and unable to explain why it bothered him so to his comrades.
In a moment of anger Felix punched a training dummy, his fist going straight through the tattered burlap and hay to pop out the other side. This did nothing to improve his mood, and he started furiously muttering about the quality of their soldier’s training.
“U-um,” said a light voice behind him that sent a tingle up his spine. “Felix?”
His ears burned bright red--the tell tale sign of embarrassment for Felix--and with concentrated effort, he yanked his arm free of the dummy.
“Oh. Annette,” he said, his anger quickly flooding out of him. “I… didn’t know you were training right now.”
“I wasn’t, Dimitri called us all in for a strategy meeting. I was headed to the war room when I saw the “Moody Swordmaster of Faerghus”…” she glanced behind him at the fist shaped hole in the training dummy and released a small smile. “Violently assault one of our poor practice dummies. What could he have possibly done to deserve that?”
If any anger had risen back in him from the use of that particular unfavorable moniker, it would have evaporated in a millisecond after seeing her smile. Yes, the big secret that had pushed him to shout at their new king and storm off like a child throwing a tantrum was that he had fallen for Annette Fantine Dominic. Helplessly fallen in fact.
It had started one evening back when they attended Garreg Mach together. At first, he’d barely paid attention to her like he did for most of their classmates, instead focusing only on training with his sword. But while returning to his dorm from another exhausting day of sword practice, he heard a strange sound emanating from the greenhouse. As he approached he realized it was music--someone was singing in the greenhouse! And the voice was so pretty he couldn’t help but take a seat in the dirt near an open window and listen. The lyrics she sang were silly, but still they soothed him, every bit of stress that clung to him like leeches melting away as he listened to her.
Thus captivated, he’d fallen for her endearing and bright personality very quickly, wishing only to bask in her light and listen to her sing.
“It…admitted to plotting my assassination?” he said, hesitantly attempting a joke to keep their conversation light.
“I’m sure it did,” nodded Annette sagely, which Felix suspected was her being facetious. “Come on, shall we go find out our new orders from Dimitri?”
“No,” said Felix flatly.
Annette stared at him in disbelief.
“No?” she echoed back to him.
Felix approached her, stopping with barely a foot between them and for the first time in his life--that didn’t involve him speaking brazenly to his father--he did something uncharacteristically impulsive.
“Want to go into town instead?”
“Right now?” she asked, her eyes widening. “But what about--?”
“To hell with the strategy meeting,” he said, voice full of a confidence he was entirely unaccustomed to when around her. “I already know what they’re going to say: we’re all being deployed within the next few days. So, I thought instead we could go into town.”
Annette blinked at him in surprise, as if weighing in her mind whether or not he’d gone crazy and if she should try to make a break for it and get help. Slowly, he exhaled, accepting that she probably wouldn’t agree to join him. It wasn’t particularly surprising when he thought about it. Of course she would decline his idea--.
“Sure. Let’s do it.”
It was Felix’s turn to blink in surprise as he stared back at Annette. He almost didn’t believe that he’d heard the words that had fallen from her lips. His pulse began to race as his heart kicked into high gear, the confidence that had begun to ebb away resurging like a tidal wave.
“Oh. um… right. Great. Let’s go.”
---------------------------
Before leaving the palace, he had detoured them to the stables to saddle his horse. Though they could have “escaped” on foot, it seemed more convenient to ride. His heart had soared when Annette said it would be easier if they just took his horse, since hers was being housed outside the palace.
“Where are we going?” asked Annette curiously, her arms holding onto him tightly as they rode towards the palace gates.
“I was thinking of going to the summer market,” he said over his shoulder.
It was something he’d always looked forward to as a boy, much like he’d looked forward to the Kingdom’s and Garreg Mach’s establishment days. Every year, his mother would make a special trip with him and his brother to explore the summer market and buy a few things. Much like a festival, there were games, all sorts of merchants, dancing, music, and of course countless food vendors. It was a special summer treat for them, something they hadn’t done as a family in years.
“Sounds like fun,” she nodded eagerly.
They passed through the gates without questions from the guards, and quickly rode to the open square often used for festivals and celebrations. Already the summer market was in full swing, with music playing loudly over the drone of the crowds assembled to enjoy it. Vendors selling everything from food to hair accessories hawked their wares at passersby, while entertainers performed on street corners and in the entrances to alleyways. The atmosphere was lively, and within moments the reason he’d been so angry and stressed this morning began to slip from his thoughts as they browsed the stalls.
“Do you think Sylvain would like this?” asked Annette, pointing at a green scarf for sale at one of them.
“It’s a bit warm for a scarf,” he said, bristling at the very notion of Sylvain receiving a gift from her. “Why do you ask? His birthday was a week ago, remember?”
“Well…” said Annette, her cheeks taking on a shade of pink that made his heart skip a beat. “I thought…maybe…If I got everyone something here they wouldn’t be so mad we skipped the strategy meeting.”
Felix stared at her in surprise for a moment before snorting out a laugh.
“Hey! What’s so funny?!” challenged Annette, her cheeks turning a shade of red that reminded Felix of strawberries.
“You’re thinking of bribing the King of Faerghus and his friends?” he asked between chuckles. “So they wont be mad at you for missing a military meeting?”
At this, Annette’s entire face joined her cheeks in flushing crimson.
“I…” she mumbled quietly. “Didn’t think about it like that…”
“If Dimitri’s truly mad about it,” Felix offered politely. “I’ll tell him it was my idea and you got swept up in it.”
“Sure, that works,” nodded Annette, her face returning to its normal color as Felix began moving towards the next booth. “Hey! Wait a minute Felix! It was your idea, and I did get swept up in it! Hey!”
He smiled as he continued walking, which earned him a further angry outburst from Annette as she rushed to catch up to him.
“Felix you villain!” she shouted, swatting his arm as she matched his pace beside him. “It was your idea!”
“Right right,” he sighed teasingly before he lowered his voice to avoid others hearing him easily. “Look, don’t worry about buying things to appease the others. Spend your money on what you want today.”
As she nodded he added. “But don’t spend too much. We’re going to be at war again soon and that gold may be needed for the effort.”
To her credit, his fellow truant had shown some restraint by not spending all her pocket money on the cute accessories she frequently found at the various stalls. It had been difficult, especially when she found a small hair clip with an orange and teal butterfly, but that restraint disappeared as soon as they’d passed by the food vendors.
Annette had had a sweet tooth as long as Felix had known her, and even the five years they’d spent apart after the fall of Garreg Mach hadn’t tempered that. Before he could stop her all four of their hands were full of pastries, candies, and fruit treats, which she eagerly began sampling as they walked. Fortunately, she didn’t notice that the number of snacks in his hands seemed to mysteriously decrease whenever she wasn’t looking at him.
After the food had all been eaten, they returned to walking and chatting. It may be exorbitantly simplistic, but one thing Felix enjoyed most was just listening to Annette talk. He wasn’t the most talented conversationalist of their friends, but he certainly liked hearing her speak breathlessly about whatever topic of her choosing. Today she was babbling about a spell she was working on that would curl a pegasus’ mane using wind magic without the need for brushes, which would be a huge help for Ingrid.
They toured the entire market before Felix stopped at an open air cafe near some live music, and when the redheaded waitress visited them, they’d ordered some tea’s be brought to their table. Nearby, couples and the occasional lone citizen were dancing on a wooden dance floor in front of the stage. Annette’s attention was quickly dragged to watching the dancers and musicians while sipping her tea. This suited Felix fine as while she was distracted, he could steal a glance or two at her lovely face and fiery orange hair without being caught. It was then, while admiring how her hair fell around her face that he was struck with an idea. Without hesitation he excused himself, promising to return shortly when she tried to ask where he was going.
It had taken him five minutes to find the exact booth he was looking for, less than that to get the attention of the vendor, a kindly looking woman calling herself “Anna” with cherry red hair streaked with silver who smiled knowingly when he pointed at what he wanted, and wrapped it in a small box with some teal colored ribbon. Then another five minutes to rush back to the table where he’d left Annette.
His heart sank when he saw that Annette’s chair was empty. The tea still remained on the table, her own cup still containing a little of the sweet fruit tea at the bottom. In a panic he shoved his purchase into a pocket and glanced wildly around in every direction, hoping she had just wandered off, the worst case scenario already starting to gnaw on the fringes of his thoughts.
‘New musicians, people are still dancing, the crowd is bigger now,’ he noted, trying to find every difference between when he’d left and when he’d return in the hopes of finding a clue somewhere. ‘No signs of her being dragged off… her tea’s not finished though…’
“There ya are!” shouted a furious voice behind him, and he turned quickly to see a very cross waitress glaring at him with her hands on her hips. “I thought the two of ya had dashed without payin’!”
“N-no, I’m sorry,” he stammered as she stomped up to him. “I went to go buy something. My friend--?”
With a hmph, the waitresses placed a bill in his hands. Felix had rarely ever been afraid in the last few years, relying on his capabilities as a swordsman to see him through any situation. But confronted by the pure, hateful fury of a snubbed waitress, he realized there were scarier things in Fodlan than mages and warriors. Quickly, he put a handful of gold--far more than the bill was asking--on the table.
“Good,” she nodded, pointing towards the crowd. “Ya friends over there, dancin’. Only reason I didn’t call the guards was cause I saw her there.”
Felix turned and followed the direction of the waitress's finger, catching a flash of orange hair through the crowd by the musicians.
“Right,” he said with a nod. “Thanks.”
He didn’t hear what the waitress grumbled at him as he left, but he was sure whatever it was, it wasn’t particularly polite.
Felix pushed his way through the crowd, his eyes never leaving Annette as she spun on the dance floor without a partner. Uncaring of the shouts, grumbles, and rude hand gestures from the crowd around him, he made his way to the front as efficiently as possible. However, once he got there, he had no idea what to do. Felix wasn’t the best dancer, and although he had secretly been practicing a little since the establishment day’s ball years ago, he hadn’t danced with a partner since then.
He looked down at the dance floor, pondering what he could do to be near enough to her to scare off anyone brave enough to ask her for a dance, without being so bold as to ask for one himself. It was as he tried to think of what to do that somebody grabbed his hand and pulled him stumbling forward.
“Ack!” he said in alarm as he caught himself from falling.
“C’mon,” said Annette, her bright smile quickly taking up his entire vision. “Dance with me!”
Had Felix had the choice, he would not have declined the invitation. However her smile had just melted his heart, rendering him unable to give any answer other than yes anyway, and he gladly took her hand in his right, and placed his left on her waist.
How long they spent dancing together, Felix couldn’t tell. It could have been hours, or days, or it could have been a few second. All he could tell was that occasionally the sun would catch her hair in a corona of fire that made her look radiant.
In a breathless moment that would remain bright in his memory until the day he died, he had spun her away from him before pulling her back with a little too much of his strength. Her chest impacted his, and she let out a soft “oof” as a little of her breath was knocked out of her. Felix’s ears and cheeks burned red as he realized that by catching her, not only that there was no space between them, but his arms were tightly wrapped around her. In fact, he didn’t even realize the musicians had finished their song until the crowd had begun clapping enthusiastically a few seconds later.
They stood there in that tight embrace, their blushing red faces only inches apart from each other, ice blue and deep brown eyes locked on each other. His heart hammered so hard he thought for sure Annette could feel it. Although thinking felt like trudging waist deep through mud, he felt an urge within his mind screaming for him to lean his head forward and close that final distance between them.
“F-Felix?” squeaked Annette.
Quickly, the spell around him broke, and he came to his senses. The other dancers were clearing the floor as the musicians began shuffling off the stage so the next performance could begin.
“R-right,” he said, quickly releasing her. “Sorry.”
“It’s alright,” she said with a weak smile, gesturing for them to rejoin the crowd. “I had fun. Have you been practicing?”
“As did I,” he agreed, following her. “And um…yes, I have.”
“I could tell,” she said, her voice taking on a teasing tone. “You didn’t step on my toes once, unlike the ball at the academy.”
“Hey!” protested Felix, his ears pinking again in embarrassment.
In Felix’s mind, he hadn’t enjoyed himself this much in a very long time. After dancing, they played games, shared more food, enjoyed entertaining performances like sword swallowing and fire breathing, listened to music, and had fun. Even the “Moody Swordmaster of Faerghus” couldn’t stop himself from cracking a smile.
Eventually however, the sun was setting, and with the last few rays of sunlight to see by they headed back. From behind him, he could feel and hear Annette humming uplifting little tunes as his horse trotted up a street. At one point, he even caught her humming the lyrics to the song they’d danced to, which made him smile a little more. Neither of them spoke much, Felix himself was far too exhausted from a day full of activities in the direct sunlight, and he suspected she was as well.
It wasn’t until they had gotten past the guards at the front gate that Annette stopped humming and finally spoke.
“Where is Dimitri sending me Felix?” asked Annette as they made their way to the palace stables.
Felix’s stomach dropped like a stone in the ocean, and his high spirits from her songs jumped in after his stomach. He’d been dreading this moment since his outburst at the inner circle meeting that morning, though the events of the day had made him forget about it until now.
“In the east,” he said, using every molecule of his being to keep his voice even. “On the border between us and the Alliance.”
“And what’s there?”
“A small fort,” he said simply. “We heard raiding parties are going to be crossing the border, and Dimitri is sending you to defend the east while he leads the bulk of our army south to face Edelgard’s invasion force.”
“Oh. That doesn’t seem too bad,” she said confidently. “I assume you’ll be with me then? Since we went to the market together?”
Felix felt her clench her arms a little tighter as he struggled to answer.
“No,” he said, unable to keep the sadness from his voice. “The Bo-- Our King wants me leading the Fraldarius forces into battle in the south. You’ll… be on your own.”
“What about Mercie? Or Ingrid?” she asked quickly, but Felix shook his head.
“They’re being sent to deal with some unruly nobles rumored to be planning a coup.”
“Sylvain? The Professor?” She said, the worry in her question cutting straight through his very soul. “Ashe?”
“Both are being deployed south, and Ashe has been tasked with defending our western coast.”
“So… It’ll be just me leading the defense?” she asked finally.
“Y-yeah,” said Felix, momentarily choking on his words. “I um… I argued that you didn’t have enough battalions to make a suitable defense but… The best I could get from them was an offer to reroute the Knights of Seiros battalions led by your father to help.”
The final minute of their journey was spent in an oppressive silence that bit on Felix’s nerves like a wolf’s teeth. Aside from when he told her he’d walked her to her quarters after they dismounted, that silence continued as they made their way through the palace. With the knowledge of what was to come, the dark hallways they quietly traversed seemed to be even darker than usual, the paintings and decorations hardly more than muted shapes in the gloom. All too quickly, they reached the rooms set aside for Baron Dominic and his family, and had to depart from each other’s company.
“Thank you, Felix,” said Annette quietly. “For taking me to the market today. It was fun.”
“Of course,” he said dryly, desperately wanting to say more.
His mind screamed at him to stop her from going inside, to selfishly take up more of her time for himself. To tell her everything, and just admit the feelings he kept hidden from everyone, especially her. Maybe even suggest he abandon Dimitri on the road south to help her. Or at the very least give her a parting gift, but his hands, feet, and mouth refused.
“Once this is over,” he added cautiously. “Perhaps we’ll have time to go again. Or if we’re abroad, perhaps we can find another market to look at.”
“I…think I’d like that,” she said, the corners of her mouth rising a little. It was hardly a smile, but it felt like a ray of sunlight melting through him..
“Good,” he said, his ears once again flushing scarlet. “Well…um….good night Annette.”
“Good night Felix,” said Annette.
He watched her turn to open her door when the voice in his mind finally did what it had wanted to do.
“Annette, wait,” he said, stopping her in her tracks.
“I…” he said, suddenly unable to think of a single intelligent thing to say to her, his face joining his ears in flushing red. “I’m…”
In a fluster, he pulled the box he’d purchased from his pocket and offered it to her awkwardly with both hands.
“Oh…my,” said Annette breathlessly, a hand shooting up to cover her mouth in surprise.
“I got this for you,” he said, the words tumbling out together in one rapid mess. “I wanted to give it to you after we got back but um… Well it didn’t feel appropriate.”
With shaking hands, she took the proffered box and tugged on the ribbon to untie it. Once more he was keenly aware of just how hard his heart was pounding as he waited for her to see what was inside.
“Felix,” she gasped quietly as she saw what lay inside.
“I saw how much you wanted it and I…” he explained. “I wanted you to have it. I thought it’d look nice and I…um…I just…”
Word had finally failed him, though it was surprising they had lasted him as long as they did.
“I--thank you,” she said, taking out the butterfly hair clip she’d been eying, and clipped it neatly in her hair. “I love it.”
“It's…something to um…remember me by,” he said weakly. “I guess…”
“Felix, you villain,” said Annette, her eyes watering. “That’s very sweet of you.”
Before Felix could react, Annette crossed the distance between them, stood up on the tips of her toes, and gently kissed his cheek. Whatever had been stopping him before vanished the moment her lips touched his cheek, and for the second time that day, he did something incredibly impulsive. As soon as her feet returned firmly to the stone floor he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her toward him, eliciting a delightfully surprised squeak from her.
Another eternity passed in the blink of an eye as he stared in her blue eyes once more, trying to memorize every fleck of dark blue and gold that were only visible upon close inspection. Once he’d done so, he slowly lowered his face towards hers. A moment later, their lips met.
Whatever expectations his mind held for what it could possibly be like to kiss Annette Fantine Dominic, they were woefully underwhelming in comparison to the real thing. It was like expecting a bucket of water with salt in it to be the same as an ocean. They weren’t just dissimilar by degrees, they were dissimilar by multiple orders of magnitude. Her lips tasted of cherry, whether from the candy they’d eaten recently or a lip gloss that had become popular in Fhirdiad, he couldn’t tell. Not that he really cared either way.
It was with abject disappointment that he finally broke the kiss in order to breathe.
“Felix…” said Annette quietly, gripping his shirt very tightly resting her head against his chest as he buried his face in her soft hair. “When do we have to leave Fhirdiad?”
For once, what Annette was really asking was clear: How long do we have together?
“I’ll be departing in two days,” he murmured. “You, not long after that.”
“Then I--um…” She said, glancing at the door to her room. “Would you…stay close to me? For a bit longer?”
“As long as you’d like.”