Subaki uncomfortably cleared his throat. "Ananias."

Said man stopped what he was doing and looked at him. "Yeah?"

Subaki sighed. "I wish to... apologize for how I was behaving the last time we spoke."

"Huh? You mean when I told you how concerned Lady Sakura was over how much you were doing around here?"

"Yes." Subaki bowed his head. "It was unbecoming of me to treat you like that, regardless of whether I believed you or not."

"Ah, well, water under the bridge," Ananias said, waving his apology off. "Besides, we kind of figured that that was how you were going to react anyway. Can't get too offended if we half expected it, you know?"

"Er, yes, but of course. I must admit, I both appreciate and admire your ability to understand and forgive. Perhaps Lady Sakura was on to something when she advised me to seek your counsel."

"Oh, that's right, you stormed off to verify that for yourself, didn't you?"

Subaki uncomfortably cleared his throat. "Y-yes, much to my shame, I did go and verify with Lady Sakura herself."

"And how did that go?" Ananias nonchalantly asked. "I can't imagine her getting all mad about it."

"She was admittedly upset that I would doubt one of my own allies," Subaki admitted. "But other than that, she more or less reiterated what you had told me. I then begged for her forgiveness and worked doubly as hard that evening to make up for such a terrible blunder."

"Um, right. Doubt that you had to go that far, but since this is you that we're talking about, I guess that should be expected."

Subaki sighed. "Forgive me, but the more we talk, the more I begin to doubt you as a potential mentor for... apparently my inability to rest."

Ananias folded his arms. "You still don't think of it as too much of a problem, do you?"

"I question whether the problem exists at all, to be honest."

Ananias sighed and scratched his head. "Right." He didn't really want to do this, but if he was going to fulfill his promise to Sakura, he was going to have to pull out all the stops. "Well, I don't see how I can help if you doubt Lady Sakura's judgment on the matter."

"'Doubt Lady Sakura's judgment'?!" Subaki incredulously repeated. "I would never!"

"You kind of just did."

"I... I was merely... well, yes, I suppose I did, sort of."

"I mean, even if she's wrong, she's ordering you to learn, right?" Ananias pointed out. "And if you can't listen to orders or succeed in learning, then I guess you're not as perfect as you claim to be."

Subaki's eyes widened in surprise. "Dear gods... you're right! If I can't even follow an order that I personally disagree with, to the utmost perfection, then how can I be the perfect retainer for Lady Sakura?"

"Geez, that was easy," Ananias muttered. "Teaching him to relax might be a lot harder than I thought."

"Forgive me, Ananias!" Subaki got on his knees and bowed his head. "I have let my pride get in the way of perfection! Lady Sakura asked you to teach me what she believes to be a vital lesson, and in my stubbornness, I prevented both of us from completing our tasks!"

"Y-you don't have to get too crazy about this," Ananias said, raising his hands in an attempt to calm Subaki down. "It's a serious character flaw that you've got. It's not like we're going to fix it overnight."

Subaki raised his head to reveal a horrified look on his face. "A 'serious character flaw' that cannot be fixed overnight?" He shook his head. "No, I refuse to believe that to be the case!" He stood up. "I swear, by my honor, that I WILL learn your lessons by tonight!"

Ananias' eyes widened in surprise. "B-but I just said -"

"Let us begin, Ananias! The more time we waste, the more tasks that will be left undone!"

"H-hey, hold on a minute! The whole point of all this is that you do less so that you can rest more!"

"Of course! That was never in question. I'm simply saying that the quicker I learn what I need to learn from you, the sooner I can apply it to all of my tasks!"

"I... that... I don't think that's the point!"

"Then teach me, Ananias! Teach me so that I may understand and apply what you've taught to all the ways of my life!"

"Subaki, you need to calm down!"

"But I am calm! Determined and passionate, yes, but definitely calm!"

"I'm pretty sure that's the exact opposite of being calm!"

Subaki then grabbed Ananias' shoulders and began to shake him. "Why do you hesitate on teaching me your ways!?"

"Gah!" Ananias cried, breaking free from Subaki's grasp and running away. "Lady Sakura! Help! I don't know what to do!"

"Ananias, wait!" Subaki called, chasing after the usually much more stoic messenger and retainer. "Where are you going?"

"Away from you! Lady Sakura! LADY SAKURA! Help me! Subaki's freaking me out!"

"Freaking you out?! That's absurd! I simply want to compete the task that Lady Sakura gave to us! What exactly is so wrong with that?"

"LADY SAKURAAAA!"

"Oh no you don't! You're not getting away from me that easily! As you will eventually see, my running and pursuing skills are second to none!"

"Oh gods! He's right!"

Author's Note #1: Mozu's support will follow after Subaki's. Then, I'll finally be able to get to the Warriors supports.

Author's Note #2: The Fire Emblem Warriors poll is up on my profile. Vote for which five characters you want for Ananias to support with from that game the most and, in the end, ten characters will be selected for Ananias to support with, so make your voices heard. Happy voting!

Author's Note #3: I've been asked about Three Houses supports a lot, and recently I was asked about potential Heroes supports, so I might as well address future plans for the story after I've completed the Warriors supports. Basically, I plan to do ten short stories/chapters with Ananias as the focus after the Warriors supports as a way to send off the character and this particular story, since this story has been around for quite a while now. These short stories can range from actual backstory stuff to just plain fun, but I will definitely only limit myself to ten, regardless of what types of stories they end up being. As many have asked for Three Houses and Heroes, I will definitely devote one chapter/story to each, but obviously they won't be full on supports with specific characters like the rest of this story has been. That means that'll leave eight stories left for me to do with this character besides those two, which will then officially close the book on his (and this) story. I hope that that works for all of you.

Author's Note #4: I do plan on making "The Lost Children" stories/supports with Lumaria, Tan'bay, Zephyra, Tenk, and Lana (as Lana is the only child character of the OC characters). While getting through all of one character's supports took a lot of time, the saving grace would be that the other characters wouldn't have as much justification to cross over into other games (the only reason why I did it with Ananias was that he was part of the Anna family and that Inigo, Severa, and Owain crossed over and became retainers to the Nohrian royals, with Elise being the odd one out), so they would just support with characters from their game and then it'll just end there. Tan'bay, Tenk, Zephyra, and Lumaria would support with the Awakening kids, their parents, and the avatar, while Lana would support with the Nohrian kids, her parents, the avatar, and a few exceptions from Hoshido (as per how the games did it). I don't plan on making new supports for the characters and Ananias. I'll just re-edit the supports Ananias already had with them and use those.