This past week, Felix often found himself fighting against muscle memory.

It started when he was assigned a different room than his old dorm for lodging upon his arrival. Although it was a decision Felix supported — displacing the student residing there for something as stupid as nostalgia or his standing in the Kingdom served no logical purpose — practicality held no sway in breaking his habit of walking towards the third-last room on the second floor.

As the monastery bells rang during the weekdays, it felt strange that they no longer held any significance outside signaling the passage of time.

The greatest struggle of all however, was coming to terms with the fact that the task he set out to do heavily relied upon the soft skills he lacked with no workaround available. Normally, his lack of filter was a non-issue —after all, social consequences held no weight when they did not matter. Given the high probability his father was planning a wedding in his mind already, Felix conceded that the consequences of saying the wrong thing had some staying power this time.

It was for this reason he lamented that delicately —or rather, least offensively — broaching the subject of soulmates in a way that did not muddy his intentions required a level of finesse he only possessed with the blade. The topic brought baggage along with it, even under the best of circumstances – so how could he possibly navigate what he wanted to say without making it worse?

Still, as he roamed around the monastery in a last-ditch effort to clear his thoughts after being chased out of the training grounds, Felix wondered if it was worth giving into muscle memory to make some sort of attempt before his return to Fraldarius.

As he passed by the first and second stretches of first-floor dormitories, he stopped dead in his tracks as he neared the last set of steps closest to the greenhouse.

Annette was staring at him from the base of those steps, eyes wide like she'd spotted a ghost. Meanwhile, Felix couldn't help but wonder if he'd spotted an omen. She was one of the few people he hadn't talked to yet, mostly because he had the uncanny knack for chancing upon her in the middle of tea parties he had no interest in disrupting.

"…Oh, hi!" The words sounded stilted, like she was being fed lines for a stage play and pinched at the same time. Maybe it had to do with the light nip in the air since her cheeks were rosy. "It's…been awhile, huh?"

"I don't think they'd hold a reunion if it hadn't been." he agreed.

"You sure could have fooled me Felix." she told him in a sarcastic yet somewhat jovial voice. "Except for your hair, you haven't changed one bit."

Great. He was in hot water already and he had no idea why – things truly hadn't changed one bit between them.

"Annette, can we skip to the part where you call me a villain?" he asked, throwing caution to the wind, "There's something I want to ask you about."

"Um Felix, that was a— You know what, never mind." She paused to clear her throat. "Felix, you are an absolute villain. In fact, you are the most evilest of evil villains to ever evilly villain. How dare you rush my thinking process. Happy now?"

This officially was the strangest thing he'd seen all week, which said something considering he'd witnessed Professor Byleth sipping tea in the same manner people approached drinking contests this morning. Though there was some spirit in the delivery, hearing the word villain from her at anything but full blast like a wind spell to the face felt wrong. The redundancy in her name-calling helped retain some of the unintentional comedic tone these exchanges usually had but something was definitely lost here.

"Yes." he tersely acknowledged as he made his way down the stairs. "I'm sure you have to get ready for tonight so I'll keep this short."

"Don't worry, that won't take me long. I have the time." she prefaced, wringing her hands a little. "…And I also have something I want to talk to you about too, actually."

He blinked hard. "…Alright. We should go somewhere else first though. You look cold."

"I'll live. If we keep moving it'll warm me up - I was itching for a morning stroll anyway."

With no complaints on his end, Felix wordlessly motioned for her to lead the way. She turned around to double back towards the direction she'd come from and they headed towards the docks at a brisk pace, bypassing the greenhouse entirely since the doors were closed. As if she was reading his mind, she commented on that as they passed by.

"I was told by Professor Byleth that the greenhouse was locked up for the day because they didn't want people drunkenly wandering in there tonight. Some of the students' projects have involved growing rare plants so they didn't want to risk them getting trampled. It's a shame though, I would have loved to see them in person."

"Do you think they'll lock up the training grounds?"

Annette shot him an incredulous look. "I can't tell if that's a joke or you're being serious."

"When do I ever joke?" he answered seriously, "I haven't been able to train for days – it's a serious question."

"That's a fair point but you can never be sure. I mean, five years could change a person. I mean, you did show up here when you used to hate parties."

Without missing a beat, he replied, "I can assure you that I still hate parties and I haven't changed. Aside from my hair, apparently."

Based on the conversations he'd had with other classmates, Felix expected her to offer a theory in response. The most popular guesses among the others involved blackmail, bets or even body swaps. If her vivid imagination hadn't dulled over the years, he assumed hers would be something downright ridiculous.

What he hadn't expected however, was a return to silence as they walked towards the fishing area.

By the time they got to the docks proper, Annette walked right in front of him to force them to a stop at the water's edge. For someone so small, her presence commanded attention; he felt strangely dwarfed despite being a full head taller.

"Is this a good place to ask your question?"

After taking a cursory glance of their surroundings and seeing no stragglers, he nodded.

"It's as good as any." he conceded. "Do you have an idea of what I'm going to ask you?"

"I may have an idea. And it may also be related to what I want to talk to you about, actually." she answered, fidgeting slightly. He had a suspicion this had less to do with the cold though the cold probably did not help. "Do you, um, by any chance…have the Crest of Dominic as your soulmark?"

"I'm unfamiliar with the design so I wouldn't know. But if you're asking me that, I assume you have the Crest of Fraldarius."

If she looked like she'd seen a ghost during their initial meeting, she looked haunted by something at this very moment - all colour drained from her face and then some.

"If I hadn't said anything, were you about to ask if I was your soulmate without knowing for sure that it was me?"

"I was."

"Felix…the idea that you would have taken a chance on that is absolutely terrifying. What would have happened if you were wrong?"

"I would have been wrong." he simply answered.

"I don't understand how you can be so blasé about that. I'd be mortified." she said. "I have to ask though, if you weren't guessing at random, what made you think it was me?"

"The mark appeared five years ago. It didn't look like a commoner's mark, nor was it a crest of someone I grew up with. By process of elimination, that left you and Mercedes." he began to explain. "A devout woman of the church would accept a soulmate match no matter how unlikely so I didn't think it was Mercedes. Considering how often you'd questioned my intentions during our Academy days, I assumed it was you because of the silence."

Colour rushed back to her face with a vengeance.

"Felix, you can't just theorize that I thought it was a mistake! That's incredibly rude that you think I'm that rude!"

Ah, there it was. The powerful gusts of unfounded indignation laying into him like a thousand parchment cuts. All was right in the world.

"I don't think you're rude and I didn't theorize that you thought this was a mistake. You're putting words in my mouth." he pointed out. "And for what it's worth, I found your silence intriguing, not offensive."

"Well, you'd better prepare for disappointment because the reason's not that interesting." she declared. "I was never formally taught about soulmates and I wanted to know more about them before I reached out to you. I asked questions. No one really answered them. So after five years of getting nowhere, I accepted that I'd have to do all of this backwards."

Felix wanted to smile but he thought better of it. That was an Annette-caliber answer if he'd ever heard one.

"You'd be surprised to learn that what you think is backwards is the commonly-accepted approach." he offered. "I'm curious why weren't you taught anything, however. That's uncommon."

"While your assumption on devout people doesn't apply to Mercie, it does hold water for my family. Growing up, I was only told to trust in the will of the Goddess when I'd find the person she selected for me. The details ended there." she admitted, her expression growing wistful as she crossed her arms. "I'm not sure where to go from here. I still don't know much about soulmates or why we're soulmates, even."

"The first step seems obvious to me. I can tell you what you want to know about how soulmates work."

Annette blinked. "You'd do that for me? But wouldn't that be…awkward since you're my soulmate?"

"It would be no more awkward than teaching someone how to use a sword." he said matter-of-factlys. "I don't believe in blindly accepting something because the Goddess decided to meddle in the affairs of men."

"While I understand your reasoning but there's one thing that doesn't make sense to me. If you dislike the idea of blindly accepting something, why did you approach me to confirm I was your soulmate in the first place in the way you did? I mean, I could understand if you had no intention to talk about this and I complicated things but…"

"Normally, I wouldn't have but I had to pick my battles - time is a luxury I no longer have." he told her. "My mark was discovered a week ago by healers after an injury I'd sustained and they informed my old man about its existence. I left for Garreg Mach before he could verify the pattern. When that happens, he'll likely arrange correspondence with House Dominic."

"I can see why you'd want to at least be able to tell me on your own terms then." she remarked. "Do you think it'll be a long discussion between the explanation and bringing me up to speed with the other details?"

"No. It wouldn't take long but we shouldn't talk about it here. It's approaching breakfast hours for people who aren't early risers. This should be discussed in private."

"That's fair. Would a quiet corner of the library be private enough? I believe it's still open."

"No, it has to be somewhere completely private since I'd like for you to confirm that my mark is the Crest of Dominic. Subjecting you to the finer details of House Fraldarius nonsense would be a pointless affair if our assumption is wrong, no matter how well-founded it may be."

"So Felix, you're…um, telling me you wouldn't recognize the crest if I drew it for you?"

Drawing. He forgot drawing existed.

"Ah. Fair point – I would likely recognize it." he sheepishly conceded. "We still shouldn't be in a place where we could be overheard though."

It was a small mercy that he hadn't dug his grave deeper by mentioning specifics. He had no ulterior motives but Felix was reminded yet again that intent meant nothing in the clutches of an overactive imagination. That much was obvious when the better part of her face turned scarlet at the mere suggestion of confirmation alone.

"Alright. Okay. Not to sound forward but, it seems like that only leaves us with our assigned rooms as options. Would…it be alright if you went to my room in that case? It's Professor Byleth's old room so no one would bat an eye if you were somewhere near the training grounds or assumed the Professor still roomed there. I can't say the same if I visited your assigned room, wherever that is."

If these back-to-back gaffes were any indication, Felix was coming to the belated realization this upcoming talk was going to be difficult for reasons he hadn't anticipated.

He had been so certain the initial talk regarding soulmates was either not going to happen at all or end poorly that he failed to consider that crossing that threshold without incident wasn't the finish line, it was the starting point.

"Annette, if you're worried about propriety, just tell me we need a better location."

"You're right, I am worried about propriety and location. But not for the reasons you think." she prefaced. "There's one thing I didn't mention earlier that I think you should be aware of. During my search for answers, people did tell me things based on where I said my mark was. I don't know if there's any basis in truth, but, if there is…"

When Annette cut off her own sentence to avert her gaze, a bold idea took hold in Felix's mind.

"Annette," As she perked up at the sound of her name, he placed an open palm against the left side of his chest in a slow and deliberate motion. "-I'm choosing to tell you this information because you're someone who finds refuge in knowledge. I don't want you blindsided by my old man's stupid antics or by my explanation either. I don't know what you were told but corresponding marks always appear in the same place. If they don't, you have the wrong person."

Her eyes grew wide. "Is your hand where your…"

"It is." he confirmed before lowering his hand. "Don't read into this too deeply if yours is in the same place. People over-simplify the meaning for these marks. And if it wasn't obvious before, I don't put much stock in these things to begin with."

If she looked shocked before, Annette looked downright scandalized now as her jaw gaped and a fierce blush blazed across her entire face beyond the scarlet flush from seconds ago.

"Felix…you did not just do that."

And from what he knew of her and the bull people told themselves about over-the-chest marks, her indignant and embarrassed reaction did not come as a surprise to him in the slightest.

"I just did." he calmly reiterated. "You were overthinking the possibilities based on having partial information. It would be pointless to explain everything if you were pre-occupied by that."

"You know, if you were anyone else or even the Felix of five years ago, I would have thought that was a nefarious guilt trip of some kind." she pointed out more calmly than he expected, though her face still considerably red. "But somehow, I feel like you're not lying about all of this. I mean, who in their right mind lays it on thick to the person they're linked to not to expect anything? You may still be a villain, but I'm coming to the realization that you're at least an honest villain."

"I'll consider that an improvement. Are you alright to meet in the Professor's room?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'll be alright. I'll go there now and leave the door unlocked so you can let yourself in when you come by a little later. Say in about fifteen minutes?"

"That works."

With that, she gave him a nod in kind and turned to leave. As he watched her walk away, Felix was keenly aware that if there had been any sort of foot traffic, he would have definitely been accused of staring by at least one person.

Truth be told, he wasn't looking at her for lecherous reasons — though he could admit the years had been kind to her so he wouldn't blame anyone for that assumption — it was because he struggled to process what had just transpired. Watching her leave calmly and not in a frantic huff served as proof that this wasn't some kind of fever dream.

Felix still didn't believe in keeping the company of others simply because it was pre-ordained or even expected, but even he had trouble reconciling how there should have been far greater friction given that neither of them had fundamentally-changed over the past five years. Moreover, he was trying to unpack why he felt glad his high-risk bet paid off.

As she disappeared around the bend, Felix deigned to accept that perhaps his earlier thought said it best.

The topic of soulmates brought baggage along with it, even under the best of circumstances.