Faerghus, 1169
The Dominic parents followed the sound of screams to the nursery. A maid was putting out the flames on the nanny's apron. Gustave burst inside to find his little daughter sitting on the bed, sniffling. "I wanted to light a candle, but I lit Nanny instead."
Gustave pulled her into a hug, "Oh Annette, you can do anything if you can dream it. But next time, gives everyone a heads up before you try fire magic, okay?"
Another child sniffled across the Kingdom in Fraldarius territory as he buried his head in his mother's lap. Once again, Glenn and Dimitri had left Felix out of their games because he was "too little." "Astrid," Rodrigue sighed. "He's never going to be able to keep up with them if he knows he can just run crying to you every time his feelings get hurt."
But Astrid just ran her hair through her son's hair and shushed her husband. "It's okay if you have one sensitive son. Now Felix, how about a song?
Five little speckled frogs
Sat on a speckled log
Eating the most delicious bugs-
"-Yum Yum!" Felix finished the verse, and his mother laughed. Rodrigue couldn't help but smile as he watched his beloved wife cheer up their youngest.
Crestwood
Felix picked at his sausage while listening to music through his earbuds. Somehow over the past few months, the town of Crestwood had become an even crappier place to live. For years, Felix, Sylvain, Ingrid, and Dimitri were inseparable. Then Glenn and Dimitri's family died, and everything went sour. Sylvain threw himself at every woman in town, Ingrid bottled everything up to follow in Glenn's footsteps, and Dimitri turned into a revenge-obsessed conspiracy nut. Now Sylvain was gone without a trace, and Ingrid refused to tell him what happened. She just kept telling him that they would all see each other again someday, whatever the hell that meant. His performing partner, Leonie, was too busy with the baby and Lorenz, of all people, right now, so his act was now a solo one. Dimitri (or as Felix called him, "the boar") now wasted all his time following around that weird new Sheriff. Claude and Edelgard followed her around, too, now. Felix hadn't seen Byleth do anything remotely interesting, and he couldn't fathom why people seemed so drawn to the woman. She certainly hadn't helped Sylvain and Ingrid.
The most satisfying part of his job was knowing that every second he spent performing on the street made his father die a little inside. His family was full of military heroes, and his older brother, Glenn, made a name for himself as the youngest person ever elected Sheriff in Crestwood. The old man obviously expected Felix to follow the family tradition, but Felix wasn't going to waste his life by dying for someone else as Glenn had. At eighteen, he began receiving a small monthly stipend from his late mother's estate, and he intended to live completely off it without ever accomplishing any goal his father had set for him. He wondered when he had last spoken to the old man. He still lived in the family estate outside of town, but any time Felix tried to remember him, the memories felt fuzzy. Why couldn't he remember details about his family's home anymore? Felix didn't like to dwell on these thoughts. Someday, he would leave this place for good.
He liked the food at Ashe's but wished Crestwood could have another place to eat so it wouldn't be so freaking crowded every morning. Stupid town all insisted on having breakfast at the same time. At least he had snagged his own booth this morning. The earbuds generally kept people away, and Hapi knew to only communicate with Felix through gestures. Everything was going fine until Alois and Gilbert loudly entered. Noticing there were no longer any tables left, they had the audacity to ask Felix if he would sit at the counter so they could have a booth. He snapped, "If I wanted to sit there, I would've sat there. If you want a seat, try dragging your sorry asses out of bed a little earlier."
Gilbert stared at him in shock while Alois laughed loudly and clapped him on the back of the shoulder, "There's that dry Fraldarius humor! It's amazing how you can say all that crazy stuff while keeping a straight face!"
Felix shoved his plate away. "You know what? Looking at Gilbert's sad face has made me lose my appetite. Booth's all yours."
He stood up to leave just as Claude entered the diner with a clipboard and called for everyone's attention. "If I could have a moment of your time! As you all know, an incredibly special occasion is coming, St. Cethleann's day -"
"Where the hell do you people find these holidays?" Byleth whispered to Edelgard. She shrugged.
"- As I was saying, Mayor Arundel has put me in charge of the annual St. Cethleann Day School Fundraiser because I'm his least favorite employee and this town believes that Church and State separation is apparently highly overrated. I just need ten volunteers to help sell these candles that were lovingly crafted by the schools' teachers and students.
The diner was silent, and no one dared move. Claude continued, "Anyone? No?"
Still nothing. He put his hand to his ear. "What's that – you all use electricity because it's 2021?" He tucked his clipboard back under his arm and started to leave, "Well, I tried."
Felix walked to Claude, and he was surprised. "Felix, are you going to be our first volunteer?"
"No, I'm going to leave. Can you move?" He crossed his arms and stared at Claude.
Claude sighed heavily and stepped aside so Felix could get out of the diner. He continued down the street and walked past a ladder where a red-haired woman was fiddling with a string of lights. She started to lose her balance and bumped her bucket of glitter. The bucket tipped over and covered Felix in gold sparkles. He was about to release a slew of curse words when he looked into the woman's large apologetic green eyes and suddenly lost the ability to speak coherently. She jumped off the ladder and began frantically brushing the glitter off of him. "Oh, I'm so sorry. You do all the amazing sword tricks with Leonie. I was so busy trying to get the lights to work that I wasn't paying attention to my glitter bucket." She continued to dust him off and offer apologies.
Felix found himself telling her that it was fine. Then he heard himself offer to look at the lights for her, which made the woman even happier. Determined to keep the smile on her face, he climbed the ladder and examined the lights. Good thing he did - as she had totally overloaded the outlet and would probably have caused a fire. He unplugged the extra strands and flipped the nearby breaker, and the lights shone. The woman clapped with joy. "You're my hero - I'm sorry, what was your name again?"
The word "hero" made him cringe internally for some reason, but he managed to answer, "Felix. Felix Fraldarius."
"Annette Dominic - pleased to meet you!" She shook his hand, and Felix's heart pounded. 'You juggle swords, fix lights - I bet there's nothing you can't do."
Once again, Felix felt words come out of his mouth. "Well, not everything just yet. I've got this old Mustang in my garage. It's a real piece of shi - junk. It's a piece of junk. I'm going to fix it up and drive straight out of this hellhole. I mean town."
Annette giggled, "It's okay, Felix. Someone once told me that you can do anything if you can dream it. So, I bet you'll get that car fixed up in no time." She looked at her watch, and her happy expression dropped, "Oh no! I'm supposed to be at school. It started fifteen minutes ago!" She turned to run but looked back at Felix to give him a wave. When she turned back around, she ran face-first into a passerby. Felix waved back and felt the corners of his mouth turn upwards. There was also a strange feeling in his chest that he couldn't identify.
At the town, Byleth examined the wreckage of Monica's car, hoping the morning sun would now help her find some clues she might have missed last night. She heard another vehicle pull up near her, and Ferdinand jumped out to take pictures. She immediately put her hand in front of his phone, and he stopped. "I'm just trying to help," he said sheepishly. "Isn't this Monica Ochs' car?"
"Yeah, Arundel says she moved last night to settle in Atlanta. I bet she wrecked the car and hitchhiked out of town. She probably didn't want to go back home to Arundel and wanted to keep moving forward. It's what I would do if I needed to get out of a place." She leaned down in the driver's seat and popped the trunk while Ferdinand walked to the back of the vehicle.
"Would you also leave behind all your suitcases in the car?" Ferdinand asked.
Byleth groaned. This just got a whole lot more complicated. "Well, now it's time to pull her phone records and see who she spoke to last."
Ferdinand offered to get the phone records from an old contact, and Byleth agreed. They both watched as Dimitri's car pulled up.
"Think he knows anything?" Ferdinand asked.
"I'm about to find out," Byleth replied.
At St. Cethleann's Day School, Mercedes, Annette, and Claude helped the overstimulated elementary-aged children decorate their school for the upcoming festival. Annette tried to get glue out of a child's hair while Claude resorted to bribing the children with candy to get them to follow directions. Mercedes' group of children, meanwhile, operated like a well-oiled machine. Felix burst into the school and blurted out, "I would like to sell candles."
Claude was unconvinced, "You were categorically not interested in candles this morning. What, pray tell, changed your mind?"
Felix stammered, "Uh, I saw the light? Wait, why do you need to know why I want to sell candles? This morning you were desperate."
"Fair enough, but there are ground rules - no stabbing, no swearing, and keep scowling to a minimum. Also, I'm in charge."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mercedes say something sharply to Annette and storm off. Annette sat down to cry. He immediately ditched Claude and ran over to her. "What's the problem, Annette?"
"I'm an idiot! That's the problem!" she cried. "Ever since our headmistress Rhea moved out of town, her estate sends up a monthly stipend. I blew the whole thing on helium because I ordered twelve dozen tanks instead of twelve. And they're nonrefundable. Another stipend won't come for three weeks, and the rent is due next week - so the only way to pay it is if I sell one thousand candles!"
"How many did you sell last year?"
"Forty-two!" Annette sobbed. "There's no way Hubert will give us an extension on the rent either.
Felix couldn't stand to see her cry and blurted out, "Well, last year, you didn't have me helping. This year, we're selling a thousand."
Annette threw her arms around Felix, "You really are a hero!" she exclaimed. Over Annette's shoulder, Felix could see Claude glaring at him.
Garreg Mach, 1180
Felix found himself drawn to the music in the greenhouse. He hadn't heard a nonsensical song since - well, it had been an awfully long time.
Today's dinner is and then a cake that's yummy yum
Now it's time to feel my tummy tum
Oh, this mountain of sweets and
Treats that I long to eats
Oh, steaks and cakes and crumbs and yums -
It was Annette Dominic, the clumsy mage. He didn't realize that the same mage who nearly blew up the training grounds had such a beautiful singing voice. He decided to approach her and ask how she learned to sing, but before he could compliment her, she became angry and demanded to know how much he had heard. He tried to say something nice about her footwork and offered to do her gardening chores for her, but that made her even angrier.
"YOU'RE A VILLAIN FELIX," she shrieked and threw the watering can at him.
Crestwood
Dimitri slowly walked around Monica's car as Byleth studied his reactions. "I don't understand," Dimitri said. "She's just gone?"
Byleth looked at him impassively, "Yes. And she was your intern, and you were trying to get close to her for information about Arundel. When was the last time that you spoke to her?"
Dimitri was taken aback, "Yesterday afternoon. She told me she was leaving that night for Atlanta. I assumed that she had left." He paused for a moment and looked at Byleth incredulously, "Am I a suspect?"
Byleth stepped close to Dimitri and looked into his eyes, studying him, "I believe you. I can usually tell when someone is lying. She's not even been gone for twenty-four hours. I promise I'll find her."
Dimitri simply shrugged, and Byleth thought he seemed oddly disinterested in finding out what happened to Monica.
Felix found that he did not have a knack for salesmanship. Their little stand was not getting any attention, so Felix tried yelling, "Hey you, yeah you! Buy a candle." This only made people scurry away. Claude tried a more polite approach, but all that accomplished was getting politely ignored.
"This isn't working, Claude," he huffed.
"You think, Felix? Whatever gave you that idea?" Claude retorted.
Felix grabbed a box of candles, "We should go door to door. Make them pay us to leave."
Garreg Mach, 1180
Felix tried to do his chores for the week, but every time someone beat him to it. He decided not to question it because fewer chores meant more training. Dimitri probably couldn't read the chore schedule correctly, stupid boar. Dedue was probably doing Dimitri's chores for him because no one ever just corrected Dimitri, and then Dedue was probably doing his own chores as well. Serves them all right, he thought.
Annette approached him and asked if he had noticed that she had done all his chores. Why would she do his tasks? He didn't want her doing his work. She was the only person in the monastery that he didn't want to do his job. Then she started demanding that he forget her greenhouse song. But it was a great song! He tried to explain that he would never forget her music, but that only made her angrier.
She cried, "Fine, be stubborn! Tell the entire world for all I care! You're just the evilest of villains, Felix! I'll hate you forever and ever!"
The one time that he tried to be nice to someone in his class somehow made that person hate him.
Crestwood
The festival was now in full swing. Townspeople enjoyed homemade goodies from Mercedes and Dedue while testing their luck at carnival games. Byleth found Ferdinand enjoying himself at the Ring Toss run by Caspar. "I thought you were helping me," Byleth said in frustration.
"I can help you and also contribute to a noble cause, Byleth," Ferdinand replied.
Byleth explained that she had managed to track down Monica's landlord in Atlanta, but Monica never showed last night. They both agreed that something was undeniably wrong. They looked over at the Basketball Challenge, where Edelgard was showing a surprising amount of skill. She waved.
"I hate to say it, but besides Dimitri, Edelgard was the closest person to Monica. And she really didn't like her." Ferdinand said.
Byleth cut him off. "Not possible. You don't need to think of suspects. Just get me the phone records."
Annette knelt on the ground to collect a basket of balls she had just dropped at the Throwing Station. They were rolling all over the place. Claude and Felix approached to inform her that they had not sold a single candle. Claude shoved Felix towards Annette and looked on with his arms crossed. When Annette saw him, she leapt up and took his hand. Felix felt heat rising in his cheeks but steadied himself. "Annette, I have bad news -"
Annette's face dropped, and she let go of his hand. Her green eyes looked so disappointed. So, instead of the truth, Felix said, "The bad news is that you, Mercedes, and the rest of the teachers are going to probably have to stay up all night making candles because we just sold them all!" He could feel Claude's eyes boring into the back of his skull, but he didn't care. Annette threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek. She ran off to tell Mercedes the excellent news.
Claude was furious. "You just promised her $5000. Do you have $5000? Because I don't have $5000, and I bet that trust fund of yours only pays you in tiny amounts. Do you intend to do $5000 worth of juggling? Or maybe you're going to ask your father for the money?"
Felix shushed him, "Just stop, okay? I have a plan."
Claude would not be shushed. "Why do you even care? You don't care about anything! Ever! Why start now?" He paused as realization dawned on him. Felix's face started to turn red, and he looked away. "Oh my God - you're in love with Annette! We've got to buy $5000 worth of candles because Felix Fraldarius fell in love."
"Shut up," Felix snapped.
Garreg Mach, 1180
Oh, how I love to clean
Clean the library room
Just take a flash of light, and it all goes BOOM!
Felix decided to give niceness another try. He cleared his throat and attempted humor, "If you blow up the library, then where would we put the books?"
Unfortunately, he startled Annette, and she fell off her ladder. He swooped in and caught her just in time. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Felix apologized profusely and put her down. He coughed awkwardly and then asked if she could finish the song. She looked at him in bewilderment, "You mean, you aren't here to make fun of me?"
He looked away from her so she wouldn't see his cheeks turn red, "I never was trying to make fun of you. I just - I just like your songs, is all."
She seemed wary of him but said, "Okay, I'll let you hear one song."
Crestwood
Hubert surveyed Felix's old Mustang with amusement. Felix told him that the car was worth $5000, and Hubert simply laughed and offered $3000. Felix insisted that the vehicle was a classic and therefore worth $5000 firm, but then he offered the car in exchange for the school's rent. This made Hubert snort.
"Absolutely not. I will be happy to rid myself of such distasteful tenants," Hubert said with disgust.
"You mean, children? You hate children that much?"
Hubert shook his head, "Organized religion. Let's just say the church and I have a long and complicated history. Call me when you have something that I actually need."
Hubert left the garage, and Felix noticed Annette approaching. He panicked and tried to cover the boxes with a tarp, but she had already spotted him. She greeted him warmly and offered him a bowl of Daphnel Soup, his favorite. He tried to take it from her quickly and get her away from the garage, but she noticed something under the tarp. She pulled it away to reveal boxes of candles. She looked at him in disbelief.
Felix looked at the ground as he spoke, "I tried to sell them all, Annette, but nobody wanted them. I wanted to tell you the truth, but I just couldn't. I'm - I'm sorry."
Annette started to cry, "You lied to me. You are a villain, Felix Fraldarius." She ran away.
Fraldarius, 1180
Felix barely arrived home in one piece. In a matter of days, he watched Edelgard reveal herself as the Flame Emperor, Rhea turn into a dragon, the Professor fall off a cliff, Dimitri's arrest for his uncle's murder, and Cornelia gain control of Faerghus. Worst of all, he hadn't even had a chance to tell Annette goodbye. Now she was back in Dominic territory, under Cornelia's reign. He held back tears as he stabbed the training dummy.
Crestwood
Byleth hung up photos of Monica's car on her bulletin board. This seemed like something a person would do investigating a crime. At least that's what they did on TV. Ferdinand entered, carrying a folder. "I've got them!" He proclaimed triumphantly.
She snatched the folder from him and began to study the phone records. Just before Monica left town, she made an eight-minute call to Dimitri. He lied to her. How could she have fallen for it?
Felix carried his Ceremonial Sword of Moralta with him as he climbed to the top of a building. It was his personal favorite to use in his shows. A transformer was located on the roof. He looked out over the festival at the many happy people with electric light and no need for a freaking handmade candle. He peered further over the edge when he felt someone grab him and yank him away. He landed on his back to see an out-of-breath Claude over him. "Don't jump, Felix! I know things seem bleak, but we'll work this out," he panted.
He groaned, "What the hell, Claude! I'm not jumping." He rose to his feet and grabbed his sword. "But I do suggest that you duck."
Before Claude could respond, Felix held his sword over his head and slammed it down on the transformer. Sparks flew in the air, and then the town of Crestwood went completely black. From the darkness, Claude yelped, "What the hell are you doing, Felix?"
"I'm selling candles!" he replied triumphantly.
Felix and Claude carefully felt their way down the ladder on the building and made their way to the candle station. The entire crowd of the festival-goers was now lined up and ready to buy. Claude distributed them while Felix collected the money. Soon the festival was enveloped in a soft glow. Everyone agreed that it was the loveliest St. Cethleann festival in Crestwood history.
He noticed Annette and Mercedes nearby with candles of their own. Felix proudly presented Mercedes $5,000. Mercedes thanked him profusely. She gave Annette a knowing smile and walked away to put the funds in the safe. Felix crossed his arms and looked to the side. Annette came closer, "You sold them all. You made it happen," she said softly.
Felix started to blush again, "Claude helped. A little."
She laughed a little and then looked at the ground, "I don't even know what to say right now."
Felix continued to avoid eye contact but managed to speak, "You know, when I get my car fixed up, I would like it if you were the first passenger. That is if you want to come."
Annette placed a candle in his hand and used her own to light it. She snaked her arm around his and kissed his cheek. "I would love to, Felix."
As he looked out at the candlelit festival, Felix felt a lightness in his chest that had never been there before.
Byleth sat at her desk, looking at Monica's phone records with a flashlight. She highlighted the name "Blaiddyd, D." Arundel walked into the station, and she slammed the folder shut and shined the light in his face. "I've already got the power company working on the blackout. I figured your kind preferred to feed in the dark, anyway."
Arundel put his hand over his eyes, "Clever as always. Of course, you would be wasting time on quips instead of finding the girl who is practically a daughter to me. Have you actually found anything, or are you just sitting here in the dark waiting for Monica to walk in?"
"I have found something. But since it's an ongoing investigation, I can't divulge anything. So, you can return to roam the night."
Arundel was unyielding, "If I find out you are covering for someone, I will have you removed." He slammed the station door behind him, and Byleth opened the phone records again.
Byleth found Dimitri standing with Edelgard and Claude, chatting happily and holding their candles. She steadied herself and walked up to them, "Dimitri - I need you to come to the station. I need you to tell me everything."
Dimitri's expression went cold, "I thought I already did."
"So did I," Byleth replied sadly. Dimitri followed her to the squad car while Claude and Edelgard watched in confusion.