"Ananias?" Lucina called out as she gently and curiously poked her head through the said man's tent flap to check to see if said man was currently inside his tent.
After taking a quick and nonchalant glance in her direction, Ananias casually went back to taking care of his weapon and dully asked, "Yeah?"
Taking this as a sign that Ananias was allowing her to step into his humble abode, Lucina proceeded to enter Ananias' tent and answer, "I just wanted to thank you again for putting up with me last time and to properly apologize for taking advantage of your innate loyalty and trustworthiness. As much as I do not regret the decision, it was admittedly an unfair and immature decision towards you on my part, especially considering the fact that I'd imagine that listening to all of my ranting and raving must not have been particularly enjoyable for you."
Ananias let out an exasperated sigh before, without taking his eyes off of the task he was performing, nonchalantly shaking his head and saying, "It may have not been very fun, but that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, does it? A friend needed a favor and I did the best I could, considering the circumstances. You already thanked me for it last time, and while I don't approve of keeping all of it a secret, I understand why you'd want it that way, you asked nicely enough, and I complied, so as far as I'm concerned, you've got nothing to apologize for."
Lucina bit her lip uncomfortably. "I… I understand, but," she shook her head as she hung her head, shamefaced, "I can't help but feel a tad bit guilty over placing such a burden on your shoulders, especially since you already house so many burdens on your shoulders as is. So please," she raised her head up and gave him a look of complete determination and resolve, "if there is anything I can do to repay you, please feel free to tell me."
Ananias took a moment to stop maintaining his sword to look at Lucina, and, once he realized that Lucina was deadest on making things even between the two of them, heaved another exasperated sigh, lazily lowered his sword and the cloth he was using to clean the blade, wearily hung his head, and asked, "You're really serious about this, aren't you?"
Lucina blushed a bit, averting her eyes to the side sheepishly before saying, "I… I'm sorry. I must sound so selfish and entitled right now, but… it's just -"
Ananias raised his hand up to silently signal for Lucina to stop apologizing to him before emotionlessly saying, "Stop apologizing already, otherwise we'll be here all day."
Lucina simply blushed harder. "S-Sorry."
Ananias sighed wearily. "It's alright. To be honest, I should have expected this from you. This is a very 'you' move, if you get what I'm saying."
"Er… right."
"As for a way you could pay me back…." Ananias scratched the back of his head as he racked his brain for possible ways for Lucina to do just that. "Hmm." He folded his arms as he racked his brain harder, but to no avail. "Sorry," he said blankly. "I've got nothing."
Lucina's eyes widened in surprise. "N-Nothing?" she asked incredulously.
Ananias simply shrugged. "Nothing," he repeated. He sighed as he leaned back and used his hands for support. "I'm just not that type of guy, you know? Asking other people to do me favors and stuff. I mean, I'm usually the one doing that, you know? It personally feels weird, being in this position and all."
Lucina simply stared at Ananias incredulously for a moment before letting out a small, amused chuckle, taking a seat next to him, and saying, "I guess I should have expected no less from you." She gave him a good-natured smirk. "You even said it in a way that was very 'you'."
Ananias' eyes widened slightly in mild and dull surprise. "Really?"
Lucina smiled and nodded. "Yes."
Ananias thought about it for a moment before slowly asking, "And how exactly would you explain 'me' to me?"
Lucina thought about it for a moment before answering, "Let's just say 'unique' and leave it at that."
Ananias pondered over Lucina's answer for a bit before shrugging his shoulders in resignation and saying, "Yeah, that's probably for the best." When he heard another chuckle coming from the blue-haired princess sitting next to him, he glanced towards her and monotonously asked, "What's so funny?"
Lucina shook her head. "Nothing, it's just…," she smiled towards him, "this is nice, isn't it? Just talking about the strangest of things."
Ananias simply shrugged. "I guess," he answered. After an awkward silence between the two (or, at least, an awkward silence for Ananias), Ananias cleared his throat a bit in an effort to recompose himself from said awkwardness and asked, "So, how've you been holding up since the… you know?" He had considered calling it a rant or rave, like how Lucina had described it, but personally, it was neither that nor any other word that was popping itself into his head, offering itself for use even though he felt they weren't exactly the right word to describe the event either. The right word probably existed, but the awkwardness of the situation probably made it harder for it to come to mind this time around.
Lucina smiled and nodded reassuringly to her trickster companion. "Better actually. It achieved what it was intended to achieve, to liberate me of some of that unnecessary weight I was carrying around. Ever since then, I've felt a tad bit lighter, if that makes any sense." Just then, an idea came to Lucina, who thought it over for a bit before she decided to take the idea and roll with it. "Wait, that's it!" she said excitedly, much to Ananias' confusion. She quickly turned towards Ananias and enthusiastically explained, "As thanks for listening to my worries, I'll return the favor by listening to yours just as intently as you had listened to mine!"
Taking a moment to process exactly what Lucina had just suggested, Ananias quickly and nonchalantly shook his head, before answering, "Um, yeah, sorry, but I'm going to have to turn down that little offer of yours."
Lucina's eyes widened in surprise. "What? Why?"
Ananias simply shrugged his shoulders and answered, "Nothing major, it just that I'm not the type of guy to do that kind of thing, you know?"
"That's what I thought too until I actually did it!" Lucina argued. "Please Ananias! I can tell, just by looking at you, that you harbor the same kind of secrets that are needlessly weighing you down just as my secrets were needlessly weighing me down!" Lucina quickly grasped and gently rubbed one of Ananias' hands in an attempt to reassure him that this would benefit him just as it had benefited her and that she was there for him. After recovering from his initial shock over Lucina's actions, when Ananias still looked unconvinced, Lucina whispered, "Please, you can trust me. You know that, right?"
Ananias nodded. "I know that, it's just," he shook his head as he pulled his hand away from Lucina's, "I'm just not comfortable with sharing my feelings, you know?" He clasped his hands together as he leaned forward, resting his elbows onto his knees. "Sorry," he shamefully said.
"O-Oh," Lucina said softly as she retracted her hands back onto her lap, slightly embarrassed over how intimate she had made the previous moment, only for it to amount to nothing in the end. For a while, the two of them just sat there, either internally acknowledging just how awkward the whole conversation had gotten or wondering how they were going to get the other to open up and express their deepest and darkest feelings. When the latter finally came up with an idea, she let out a small gasp, reached for her sword, unsheathed it, held it in front of Ananias, and said, in a gruff voice meant to imitate a male's, "Hello there Ananias! Beautiful day, isn't it?"
Despite his reputation for keeping a straight face, even when faced with the most ridiculous of circumstances, Ananias couldn't help but gawk at the sword in front of him (thought, admittedly, being Ananias and all, it was an underplayed gawk), his eyes quickly darting back and forth from Falchion to Lucina repeatedly, wondering which one deserved his silent look of abject horror that questioned the target's sanity more. He gulped nervously. "Um… what?"
Lucina shook her sword a bit as she let out a few angry grunts, as if to feign flabbergasted anger. "Is that how you speak to the sword of legend, Falchion?" Falchion asked. "Hmph. If this is how all humans are going to treat me, then I'd much rather spend my time with other swords such as I!"
Realizing what Lucina was up to and letting out an exasperated sigh due to the absurdity of it and knowing that he was going to play along with it, whether he wanted to or not, he quickly recomposed himself, took a deep breath, raised his own sword, and, in a high-pitched voice in an attempt to sound feminine, asked, "Hello Falchion, how are you today?"
"Ah, Ananias' sword! I haven't seen you in ages!"
"Yes, it certainly has been a while, hasn't it? And please, call me…," Ananias took a moment to come up with a name for his sword, the sword that had been passed down from his mother, which still possessed the tiny teddy bear attached at the end of it, "Anna," he finished awkwardly, mentally reprimanding himself for coming up with such an inconvenient and embarrassing name.
"Ah, Anna, what a beautiful name!" Lucina said as she continued to pretend to be her sword. "Tell me, dear Anna, how has Ananias been doing lately? I tried talking to him, but he seemed strangely tongue-tied. Did something happen to him?"
Ananias gulped nervously. "Oh," he said as he continued to pretend to be Anna the Sword, "I'm sure that there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for that."
"Oh?" Falchion asked. "And what might that be?"
Ananias sheepishly pulled on his collar. "As his sword, I'm… I'm not sure that that is an explanation I am allowed to give."
"Forgive me for being so nosy, but I simply must know!" Falchion begged. "My master is worried about him, and I must admit that her worries have become quite contagious! Please! I promise not to tell anyone else, not even my own master! Just tell me so that my worries can be set at ease!"
A brief pause came between the two as Ananias took a moment to consider whether he would go through with it or not, with Lucina looking at him and mentally encouraging and pushing him on. Much to her disappointment however, Ananias regrettably shook his head and softly said, "I'm sorry, I just can't," in his normal voice, stood up, placed Anna back into her scabbard, and began to make his way out of his own tent.
"Ananias!" Lucina cried, causing Ananias to stop for a moment to listen to what she had to say. Lucina shifted uncomfortably where she sat for a moment before saying, "I… I just want to say that… I understand, and I just want you to know that," she gave him the best reassuring smile she could muster at the moment, "if you ever need me, I will always be there for you, just as you have always been there for me, always."
After taking a moment to process what Lucina had just said to him, Ananias gave her a small nod and muttered a small, "Yeah," before exiting his own tent to go and ponder over the entire ordeal he had just suffered through, leaving Lucina there to hang her head and ask herself what she had done wrong, how she could better get Ananias to open up to her, and whether she should pursue such a goal in the first place.
As Ananias walked out of his tent, he ended up bumping into an unexpected and confused figure just outside his humble abode. Chrom simply folded his arms, gave Ananias a very concerned look, and asked, "May I ask what exactly you and my daughter were doing in there? Because I could have sworn that I heard you two playing with your swords just now, with one of them being the legendary Falchion, I might add."
Ananias heaved an exasperated sigh as he wearily rubbed the bridge of his nose at the sudden and unfortunate turn of events. "Oh, geez…."
Author's Note: I'd just like to thank Tomovnikov for partially inspiring this chapter. These two playing with their swords would certainly be a sight to see, wouldn't it? Well, unless you're Chrom or anyone that takes the treatment of Falchion too seriously, that is. Then it'd just be either disrespectful or worrying.
