"Ananias!" Cynthia cried as she made a light-hearted dash towards the stoic red-head. "Can you wait up a moment?!"

Ananias calmly complied and patiently waited for Cynthia to catch her breath before asking, "So… what was it exactly that you wanted me to 'wait up' for?"

Cynthia giggled before giving Ananias a warm smile and answering, "Oh, I just wanted to say that we made a really good team out there today, that's all! If it weren't for you, I'd have been a goner!"

Ananias nonchalantly shrugged in response. "Well, you kind of left yourself wide open, so I just thought that I'd buy you a little bit of time, that's all."

"'That's all'?!" Cynthia repeated incredulously. "Ananias, you were running across the battlefield while screaming your head off! And at an archer too!"

"Yeah," Ananias replied. "An archer who was a pretty good shot." He let out an exasperated sigh. "I still can't believe I managed to dodge every single one of his arrows before you got to him."

"I know, right?" Cynthia said enthusiastically. She giggled. "You were a real hero today!"

Ananias lightly blushed as he averted his eyes to the side and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I… I wouldn't go that far."

"Yeah? Well, I would!" Cynthia happily insisted. "And you know what that means, right?"

Ananias raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. "Hmm?"

"You get to officially join the Justice Cabal!" Cynthia answered exuberantly.

Ananias let out an exasperated sigh. "Just for doing one heroic deed?" he asked.

Cynthia nodded. "Of course! I mean, sure, it may just be 'one heroic deed' now, but after a while, that one deed will definitely turn into a bunch! You'll be doing heroic deeds like nobody's business in no time! And besides," she playfully nudged him with her elbow, "we heroes have got to stick together!"

"But by that logic, shouldn't every Shepherd be a member of the Justice Cabal then?" Ananias calmly argued.

"Well, sure!" Cynthia answered. "But not a lot of them really want to, so there are plenty of free spots open. So what do you say?" She held out her hand, inviting Ananias to shake it. "Do you wanna join?"

Ananias let out a weary sigh. "… Will it conflict with my duties as a Shepherd?"

Cynthia shook her head. "Nope! Being a hero is a full-time job, after all! We shouldn't have to sacrifice our personal lives in order to be a hero, you know?"

Ananias simply nodded. "I guess." He let out an exasperated sigh before saying, "Fine… I'll join the Justice Cabal."

"Great!" Cynthia cried. An awkward pause came between the two of them before Cynthia quickly added, "You should feel honored, Ananias! Not just anyone can join, you know!"

Ananias raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. "Didn't you just say that you only had to perform one heroic deed in order to qualify for a spot?"

Flustered, Cynthia blushed before stammering out a, "Er… um… I mean… well… of course, but the… um… qualifications for a heroic deed are actually pretty hard to define, so…."

"You've lost me," Ananias said.

Cynthia racked her brain frantically for a passable answer. "Well… um… well… it's like… uh…."

Ananias folded his arms and gave Cynthia a mildly stern look. "Cynthia?"

Cynthia lightly blushed before looking down, awkwardly placing her hands behind her back, and anxiously shifting her feet a bit. "I… may have lied a bit on how easy it is to join the Justice Cabal."

Ananias nodded. "Yeah, I kind of figured as much." He then let out a weary sigh as he wearily rubbed the bridge of his nose. "So if joining the Justice Cabal was so hard, then why did you say that I was qualified to join it?"

Cynthia once again shifted her feet before reluctantly answering, "B-Because… I… I wanted to give you something special."

Ananias' eyes widened slightly in mild surprise. "Um… no offense, but why? What's the occasion?"

"N-Nothing really," Cynthia answered truthfully. "I just thought that… if I could give you something special, then it would make you happy enough to… smile for me again."

Ananias' eyes widened even further. "Wait… what?"

Cynthia shook her head, shamefaced, before awkwardly explaining, "I…," she took a deep breath, "when I saw you smile, I… something just came over me, and…," she then hung her head and averted her eyes to the side, "I'm sorry. I just… I just really wanted to see it again, that's all."

"Well then, why didn't you just say so?" Ananias asked, earning a surprised gasp from Cynthia. "I mean, yeah, sure, I can't promise you that it will look exactly the same as before, but I would at least give it a try, you know?"

Cynthia then gulped nervously before bravely asking, "And what would you say if I asked you to give me that smile, like, every day?"

Ananias' eyes widened in surprise once more. "Every day?"

"I…," Cynthia shook her head shamefully, "I'm sorry, I just…," she blushed, "your smile, it just makes my heart skip a beat, you know? It makes me really want to see it every day and protect it, you know?"

Ananias blushed before answering, "Y-Yeah, I think so."

Cynthia raised her head and gave Ananias a look of surprise. "Huh?"

Ananias fidgeted nervously for a moment before averting his eyes away from Cynthia's gaze and explaining, "What happened today… I wouldn't mind doing that all the time, you know?"

Cynthia let out a tiny gasp of surprise. "R-Really?! S-So wait!" She then pointed a finger at Ananias. "Doesn't that mean that you want to be my… hero?"

Ananias folded his arms and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down from the sudden heat that was spreading across his cheeks. "… A bit."

Cynthia simply stared at him in awe and shock for a moment before letting out a delighted giggle, hugging one of Ananias' arms and saying, "Well why didn't you say so in the first place?!"

Ananias looked down at her and gave her a look of surprise. "Huh?"

Cynthia smiled back at him and answered, "I want to be a hero that can get you to smile, all day, every day! And if you're just as committed to protecting me as I am to protecting you, then maybe we should get married!"

Ananias' eyes widened even further in surprise. "M-Married?!"

Cynthia curiously and innocently tilted her head to the side a bit in response. "Of course! How else are we going to keep an eye on each other all day, every day?"

"I… I know that!" Ananias argued. He then pried his arm out of Cynthia's grip and dusted it off before folding it with his other arm again and murmuring, "It's just…," he let out a exasperated breath, "this is all so sudden, is all."

Cynthia's face fell. "Does… does that mean that you don't want to get married then?" she asked, the disappointment evident in her voice.

Ananias quickly shook his head. "O-Of course not! I'm just saying that you pulled out the marriage card pretty suddenly there!" He then took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his nerves before turning to Cynthia, giving her the best and most genuine smile he could muster, and said, "Alright, fine, let's get married. Let's be the ultimate dynamic duo! Constantly protecting each other and serving justice to whatever evildoers we happen to cross paths with."

Cynthia's eyes lit up upon seeing Ananias' smile again and upon hearing his proposal. "That sounds so cool!" she gushed. She then sighed dreamily. "And that smile is just as gorgeous as the first time I saw it." Cynthia clenched her fists and brought them up with a determined look in her eyes. "It just makes me want to protect it even more!"

Ananias stopped smiling and simply shrugged. "If you say so," he said. "But in all honesty, I think it'll only be a matter of time before the smile gets old, especially if you're going to see it every day and all."

Cynthia giggled. "Don't count on it! And even if it does get old, there's plenty of other things about you that are worth protecting and marrying over! You can't get rid of me that easily!"

Ananias chuckled before patting Cynthia's head and saying, "Yeah, I guess you're right."


Ending: Ananias and Cynthia

Ananias became the official messenger between the multitudes of Annas. Due to all of the traveling, Cynthia was able to spread her heroics farther than she could have ever imagined.


Author's Note #1: Due to things happening in my life right now, you guys get this chapter early. Lucky you!

Author's Note #2: Well, that ends Cynthia's supports! It was fun, but next will be Ananias' supports with Noire, followed by Kjelle, Zephyra, Lumaria, Yarne, Laurent, and then Brady. See you next time!