"Ananias!" Jakob called, resulting in Ananias letting out an exasperated sigh and attempting to escape him by immediately walking in the opposite direction that Jakob was coming at him from, causing Jakob to let out an exasperated sigh of his own before shaking his head and increasing his pace in order to catch up to him. "Oh, come now! Surely you cannot be so petty and childish as to walk away from somebody you do not like immediately upon seeing them! Especially when it's so obvious that that said person has something very important to say to them!"

Ananias rolled his eyes, placed his hands onto his hips, and gave Jakob a long, hard, and incredulous look. "Unbelievable," he said. "Even after I snitched about you to Corrin, the backhanded insults just keep coming out of that mouth of yours, don't they?"

Much to Ananias' surprise, Jakob tugged at his collar a bit, cleared his throat awkwardly, averted his eyes to the side, and reluctantly admitted, "Y-Yes, I suppose that I still have a ways to go in that particular department, don't I?"

"Obviously," Ananias grumbled. He then let out an exasperated sigh, combed his hand through his hair, and asked, "But seriously though. What's your deal? I mean, look, I get it, I'm a bit hard to be around for some people, what, with my constant screw ups and my lack of any real personality or talent. I'd get it if you didn't like me, alright? But that's not it! You're a jerk to everyone who isn't Corrin! Do you honestly not have any other friends or something? Because if you don't then, just, wow, because that is like, an actual feat that takes some actual honest to goodness effort!"

Jakob's face fell instantly upon hearing this. "Yes, that… pretty much sums it up, unfortunately."

Ananias' jaw dropped a bit before he shook his head in an attempt to recompose himself and exclaimed, "What!?"

"It's exactly as you said it!" Jakob admitted irritably. He then let out an exasperated and reluctant sigh before placing his hands onto his hips, looking up at nothing in particular, and explaining, "When I was first enlisted to become a part of Master Corrin's services, I was… hopelessly inept, at even the most menial of tasks even! The other, more experienced servants, they were relentless in their derisions towards me. It got to the point where I was so very lonely."

"…."

"But then, Master Corrin truly came into my life and he was the first person to treat me any kind of kindness. And I'll admit it, I gravitated towards him because of that, probably more than I should have. I ended up letting my personal attachment and gratefulness to him consume my life, and in the process, I pushed away others who could have potentially been able to do the same."

"…."

"And worse yet, I have realized that I had given you some of the worst of my own self-destructive tendencies."

Ananias gave him a funny look. "Wait… some of the worst?"

Jakob nodded shamefully. "Sadly, yes." He then looked over Ananias and let out a dejected sigh. "You see, in a way, I was both irked by and envious of you."

Ananias was silent for a moment, before asking, "You were… annoyed and envious of me how?"

"You reminded me of what I used to be. Bumbling, incompetent, socially inept…."

Ananias rolled his eyes and groaned. "Oh gods, this again," he muttered.

Jakob immediately brought his hand up to silence him. "Please, allow me to finish." Jakob cleared his throat. "As I was saying, you reminded me of what I used to be, what I was ashamed of. And yet… you were treated with kindness in return, and not constant ridicule as I had."

Ananias let out a small gasp of surprise. "What?" he asked softly.

Jakob nodded. "Seeing you being treated with respect and kindness, despite being all of the things I used to be, all of the things I have grown to hate over the years, it irked me to no end… because in the end, I was simply jealous of you. I kept on thinking, 'Preposterous! How is everyone treating this failure of a man like a good friend when I was exactly just like him in my youth and yet no one except Master Corrin was willing to be mine?!' It all seemed so unfair." He looked at Ananias apologetically. "But now I realize that it was also unfair of me to take out all of my anger and frustration at you, when in reality, you originally meant no ill will to me in the slightest. Can you ever forgive me?"

Ananias took a moment to process everything he had just heard before giving Jakob a funny look and asking, "Did you… did you figure that all by yourself, or…?"

Jakob let out a good-natured chuckle. "I cannot take full credit for that, I'm afraid. Master Corrin had to go quite a ways to make me realize all of this."

Ananias let out a chuckle of his own. "Gave you a bit of an earful, did he?"

Jakob smiled and nodded. "In the kindest way possible, unfortunately."

"Ah, the worst kind of earful."

"Agreed."

The two of them laughed for a moment before Ananias crossed his arms and shrugged. "Well, it does seem like you've learned your lesson a bit, so what the hey? Sure," he held his hand out for Jakob to shake, "you're forgiven."

Jakob breathed a sigh of relief and accepted the scarlet retainer's offer. "You have my thanks."

"No problem. And hey, if you ever need help strengthening those people skills of yours," Ananias patted himself on the chest, "you've got your fellow socially inept friend to help you out, okay?"

Jakob frowned. "Oh dear, you seem to be mistaken."

Ananias frowned. "Huh?"

"I did not come here to make friends with you," Jakob said matter-of-factly. "I came here to apologize. And since you have accepted the apology, I see no reason as to stay and continue this conversation. Now, if you will excuse me, I have many things I have to do today and very little time to do them to the utmost perfection."

Ananias' jaw dropped a little. "O-Okay, well, we can still be acquaintances, right?"

"Of course! What a silly thing to say! We work in the same castle, don't we?" Jakob shook his head. "Honestly, can you not even grasp the most basic of concepts?"

Ananias gave him an incredulous look. "Unbelievable. You actually think that admitting to your flaws is enough, don't you? That as long as you admit them, everyone will just let you off the hook from this point on, right?"

"Oh please, if you honestly thought that I was going to completely change for the better the moment I admitted to my flaws, then you seriously have a deluded perception of reality."

"W-Well, I mean, yeah, that's true and all, but -"

"No more buts," Jakob interjected. "As I have said, I apologize for my past actions, but as of now, I must attend to my duties. Good day to you, Ananias." And with that Jakob left a dumbfounded Ananias and went back to his duties.

Ananias simply stared in disbelief at his back for a moment before letting out a relenting sigh and murmuring, "Well, the first step is always the hardest, right?"


Author's Note: I hope you liked those supports. Next supports will be Lana followed by Kaze, Nyx, Charlotte, Niles, Effie, Female Corrin, Benny, Anna, Ophelia, Camilla, Gunther, Setsuna, Kanna, Selena, Beruka, Xander, Azura, Flora, Odin, Laslow, Rinkah, Arthur, and Silas. Got someone you want to support with Ananias? Request it. Remember, all Nohr first generation characters, Soliel, Ophelia, Anna, Kanna, Rinkah, Subaki, and Setsuna are allowed to support with him as well and it is a first come, first serve system.