Note from rbwrites:

Hello! I want to thank every person who has read and commented on my story about Anise Chevalier, but I think you would agree with me that it needs some serious reworking. I wrote the story in a rushed manner which resulted in holes in the plot and flashbacks that went on for way too long. So I have decided to begin a complete rewrite of the story.

Though many things are the same, I have made many changes that I believe will make a better story. Some of the biggest changes are the ones in Anise's character. I personally like the new Anise much more and I hope that you do too. These changes and others will help keep the story in the present, and though there will be some flashbacks I promise you that they will be significantly less drawn out.

So thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the rewrite!

Prologue

. . . . . .

An argument that ended the relationship between a father and his son was on the son's 22nd birthday. It was the last day the father would see or speak to his son for the rest of his life. It was the last day the son would celebrate his birthday for the next 11 years of his life.

This was not because the son regretted the argument or how the argument ended. It was not because he felt guilty or missed his father. It was not because he associated his birth date with the argument that transpired on that date that year. It was because of what happened after.

Freedom is a convoluted thing. It is a paradox. It is hard to define, yet it is something that is both hungered for and taken advantage of. Freedom has the ability to change the mind when the mind is truly aware of it. After Jon Chevalier said his permanent goodbye to his father, he became overwhelmed with the sudden awareness of newfound freedom. The weight of being his father's son was lifted, the ties that forced him to live by strict and confining rules broken. Jon Chevalier realized that he was finally allowed to become who he truly was, and it turned out, who he truly was, was someone who just never felt like celebrating. Ever. And it was the person he grew to be that became reassured him that the decision he revealed to his father that day was the right one: The decision that he would never have a child.

A 22 year old man claiming that he has made the decision to never bear offspring was not usually a matter that ended a family relationship in 1976. It was more likely that a parent's reaction to such a statement would be an eye roll, not an altercation. But the Chevaliers were not like other families in the 1970's. They were not like other families in the 60s, 50s, or in any of the many more decades before. To be born in the Chevalier line was to be born into something more than a family. Like any family with a history of heart disease, cancer, or any other genetic illness, a person born into the Chevalier family is "at risk" of developing a certain genetic disposition, though much more rare.

Jon's father had called it 'destiny'. Jon called it a curse.

It is here where Jon and his father did not see eye to eye, for while his father desired nothing more than to continue the Chevalier bloodline in order to produce more of this genetic difference, Jon felt that it is something he could never wish upon another person. This is why he resolved to never have children. He could never intentionally force such a curse upon a child. And so Jon lived with this curse and his resolution for 11 years before this choice was taken away from him.

In April of 1986 Jon Chevalier was in Seoul, South Korea on his very first "vacation". Though he had traveled to many places all over the world, this particular visit was the first one he had ever taken for pleasure. Having lived in South Korea for over four years in his younger days, Jon had spent the four years since wishing he could return. It was both fortunate and unfortunate that his work had never brought him back there, but his desire to see the country and friends he had loved outweighed his desire to attend to his obligations. It was a trip that he felt that he both needed and deserved. It was the trip that would change his life forever, for other than meeting with old friends, Jon met Tae Mun.

Tae Mun was a 28 year old school teacher who was intelligent, sweet and kind, but also an argumentative drunk. On a beautiful night in April she went out with the other teachers from her school to have food and drinks, and as she had a difficult day with one of her classes, she felt the need to drink quite heavily. After she became quite drunk she also felt the need to release her anger on any person who deserved it. It was not long before she found the perfect target: an American man.

The subject of the argument that occurred that night would be debated over for some time, but both parties were in agreement that it was a very good one. It was an argument so good that it lead to an even better kiss. It was a kiss so great it lead to a relationship so wonderful that even a man such as Jon Chevalier extended his trip from one week to one year. It was also a relationship that lead to a child.

For a man vigorously trained and quite used to surprises, the three surprises that occurred in his life between April 1986 and April 1987 shook Jon Chevalier almost to the point of despair. The first was accepting the fact that he was bringing a child into this world. The second was how he found an enormous love within him for the daughter that was born. The third was the death of his daughter's mother in a car accident a month after the birth, just two days before the day he and Tae first met.

It is not uncommon for the life of a Grimm to be riddled with tragedy, but it is common for a Grimm to possess an almost unparalleled amount of inner strength and sense of duty. As the country of South Korea swallowed him in misery for the months it took for his daughter to be able to travel, it was this strength that kept him together and forced him to be a good father. It was duty that caused him to leave South Korea with his daughter without word to Tae's family. It was duty that lead him to a secluded home in Wisconsin, and it was duty that forced him to train his daughter for what she might one day become.