Ananias heaved out a heavy sigh. "Okay, so let me get this straight," he said, wearily rubbing the side of his temples as he did, "back in the day, you basically got a big head and decided to try and cast a spell that probably shouldn't have been cast in the first place and it ended up turning you into a kid and forcing your body to stay that way forever, is that it?"

Nyx nodded solemnly. "Yes, that is certainly the gist of it," she said.

"Why would anyone even do that?" Ananias muttered to himself. "Why keep around the instructions to a spell that no one should ever perform? Let alone write it down into the tome to begin with."

"I...," Nyx averted her eyes to the side, wrapping her arms protectively around her and blushing slightly, embarrassed, "I may have been dabbling in the forbidden spells section, so..."

"Oh." Ananias was the silent for a moment, before adding, "My points still stand though."

Nyx sighed. Ananias was a good man and all, but he could definitely be a bit dense at times. "And MY point is that those tomes may have been written by mages with less than noble or honorable intentions, so sharing such spells so freely would be of no threat to their conscience."

"Ah," Ananias said, "right." He was then silent again, before quickly and nonchalantly asking, "But does that also mean that you came from a family of evil mages? And if that's true, was your immediate family also evil, or...?"

Nyx sighed. "No," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice due to the memory of said family, "my family wasn't a family of evil mages. In the end, the only truly evil one in it was... me."

Ananias let out a tiny gasp of surprise at this. "Nyx..."

Nyx took a deep breath, shook her head, and waved him and his concern off. "If you don't mind, I would rather we not talk about my family. I... I have... too many regrets."

"Y-Yeah, sure," Ananias said, awkwardly combing through his hair as he fidgeted around uncomfortably. "So, um, I guess that just leaves one last really important question to answer then."

Nyx let out an exasperated sigh and gave Ananias a small look of annoyance. "And that would be?"

"Why me?" Ananias asked, folding his arms as he eyed Nyx curiously. "Why just outright tell me and not anyone else?"

"I already told you," Nyx curtly said. "You practically figured it out by yourself and you were willing to believe me when I confirmed it to be true. There was no point in hiding from you anymore after that. And besides, despite all that you do around here, you seem quite firmly on the quiet side and you seem reliable enough to keep a secret. I had nothing to lose by telling you."

Ananias sighed and hung his head up, looking at the ceiling. "See, now you're just creating more and more questions than before." He looked back at the surprised, but still composed Nyx. "Why do you want to keep this a secret?" Realizing where the conversation was heading, Nyx immediately began to make her leave. Not about to just let her go, Ananias followed her and attempted to match her brisk pace. "With all of our friends and all of the resources we have here at the castle, we could've found a way to reverse the spell cast on you by now." When Nyx chose still to not address his point, Ananias firmly, but gently added, "You hate looking like a kid, right? Then why keep quiet about all of this? Everyone here in the castle cares about you, Nyx! We can help you!"

Nyx stopped walking and balled her fists in frustration. "Yes, perhaps with all of your help, you could," Nyx admitted. She then looked directly into Ananias' eyes and firmly said, "But I don't want it."

Ananias gaped at her incredulously. "What? Why?"

Nyx opened her mouth for a moment and looked as if she was going to tell him, but bit her lip just in time to stop herself, shake her head, avert her eyes to the ground, and muttered in a cracked voice, "This was a mistake. I should never have told you."

Ananias let out a shocked gasp. "Nyx."

"Please," Nyx said, "if you care at all about me, then do not tell anybody about this, or I swear I'll -"

"Okay, alright," Ananias said, finally realizing that he could do nothing and finally relenting. "I'll keep this under wraps."

"Promise?" Nyx demanded.

Ananias nodded. "Promise."

Nyx looked him over for a moment, before letting out a small sigh of relief and exasperation and saying, "Good. Now leave me alone."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say," Ananias said softly before giving her the space she desired.

Nyx watched him walk away for a while before burying her face into her hands sadly. "Why do I keep doing this to myself? He only wanted to help, and all I did was push him away." She then looked down at her childlike hands before clenching them and shaking her head. "No. Whether I like it or not, it's... it's better this way."


Author's Note: Next supports will be Charlotte, followed by Niles, Effie, Female Corrin, Benny, Anna, Ophelia, Camilla, Gunther, Setsuna, Kanna, Selena, Beruka, Xander, Azura, Flora, Odin, Laslow, Rinkah, Arthur, Silas, and Leo. 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.