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Annette doesn't know how she gets into these things.
"So Annie won't be able to talk forever?" Mercedes asks Manuela concernedly. Annette can't help but flinch at the inquiry, gripping her chair tightly.
"Not forever, dear. This is a normal curse, meaning it has a cure, but until we find out what that cure could be, there's nothing I can do," Manuela replies apologetically. "In a way, I suppose we must be thankful that this is all the curse did." Annette looks at her, incredulous. Thankful? Really? Manuela gives her a consoling pat on the head, as if hearing her thoughts.
“Well, thankful isn’t really the word I’d use....” Mercedes trails off. She took the words right out of Annette’s mouth.
Manuela raises a brow. “Your opponent was known to be a powerful sorceress, was she not?" She directs the question at everyone else in the room.
Dimitri nods solemnly. "We were made aware of that yes, Professor Manuela, but it seems that she had far more minions than we had anticipated." He and Mercedes had taken the lead when inquiring about Annette's condition. From behind him, she sees Ingrid and Sylvain look at each other while Ashe and Dedue listen quietly by the door. Felix stands by the window, arms crossed as he looks out of it. He turns just in time to catch her staring and raises an eyebrow at her. Annette looks away, blushing.
Manuela eyes everyone critically. “Did she say anything at all that could have attributed to the cure?”
“None of us were able to get within close proximity of her before she disappeared,” Dimitri says regretfully.
The healer nods before turning to Annette. “Nothing to you either?”
If she’s being completely honest, Annette really doesn’t know. She remembers taking the curse at full force, yes, but what happened between that and her awakening in the infirmary is completely blank to her. If the sorceress had said anything, she wouldn’t’ve known.
She sighs before shaking her head at the older woman. Manuela nods and releases a sigh of her own. “Well, we are in quite the predicament now, aren’t we?” She asks no one in particular.
“Sitting here won’t do you any good, I’ve treated you to the best of my abilities. Head back to your room and rest. We’ll try to tackle this again in the morning. I’ll inform your professor of the circumstances when she gets back from her meeting with Lady Rhea.” She massages her temples. “Do take care not to mess with any mages of that kind next time, won’t you? They always have the trickiest of schemes.”
All the Blue Lions nod and once Mercie helps her up from her seat, they trickle out of the infirmary one-by-one.
She instantly feels smothered as nearly everyone offers to walk her to her room. She takes holds of Mercedes’ arm amidst the bustle and rejects the offers with a shake of her head and an apologetic look. She points at Mercie and gives them all a thumbs up. She was more than enough.
They accept her decision and begin making their way to their own destinations. Ingrid had to make sure her pegasus was secure and Sylvain, ever the gentleman, had offered to accompany her. Ashe had insisted on going to the library after promising Annette he’d do his best to research alternative ways of curing curses. Dimitri and Dedue offered their apologies as they made their exit, his highness eager to report the events of the mission they had finished to their professor.
Soon enough, she, Mercedes, and Felix are the only ones left outside the infirmary.
Her stomach does a little flip as she shyly stares at the raven-haired boy refusing to meet her or Mercedes’ gaze. Annette doesn’t need to look at her friend to know that she’s probably staring at her and Felix mischievously.
Mercedes has known about her little crush on Felix for weeks now and she’s never failed to tease Annette whenever the opportunity presented itself. No one else had caught on yet, but Annette’s guessing it probably wouldn’t be long until someone did thanks to Mercie’s “support.”
Unexpectedly, Manuela’s voice floats over their heads once more. “Mercedes? Are you still out there? I forgot to give you something for your wounds!”
“Oh,” Mercedes exclaims. She looks at Annette in concern, but the shorter girl gives her a look that tells her to go ahead. “If you’re sure....” The older woman stares at the infirmary door hesitantly. She’s about to enter the room when Annette sees her eyes light up.
Mercedes turns to their present company, smile in place. “Felix, would it be alright if you escorted Annie to her room instead? I have a feeling this will take long and you heard Professor Manuela, she needs to rest.”
Annette stares at her, mortified, but Mercedes either doesn’t seem to notice or doesn’t seem to care. Felix probably had better things to do, she thought. Why would he waste his time walking with her? He probably just stayed back because he had nowhere else to go. That was the only explana-
“Sure,” Felix says noncommittally. Annette feels her eyes widen. “If she’s fine with it.”
Mercedes’ smile widens. “Of course she is! Right, Annie?” Annette can only nod dumbly as she feels her face flood with warmth at Felix’s gaze.
“Wonderful!” Mercedes claps her hands. “I’ll be off then!” She reenters the infirmary with a flourish, door shutting soundly.
The silence that stretches between them is awkward.
In Annette’s defense, she was quite literally speechless. And Felix wasn’t known for being talkative. After a few awkward seconds, he coughs. “Let’s go then.” She nods.
The walk is quiet, Annette physically unable to fill the silence and Felix choosing not to. The silence that surrounds them now has evolved to something more comforting and, to her surprise, she realizes that this is probably the most relaxed she’s felt around Felix since she had accepted her feelings for him.
“So,” Annette startles at the sound of his voice. “I’m guessing no steaks and cakes anytime soon?” Felix asks, tone teasing. She rolls her eyes before sticking out her tongue at him. He lets out a small chuckle and Annette hates how breathless the sound makes her. “You just had to face that sorceress alone, didn’t you?” He berates.
Annette glares at him before trying to defend herself as best as she could with no words. The boy looks on amusedly. “I recall you being assigned to the east end of the battlefield, not the west.”
She opens her mouth in protest and gestures at the nearest adult. He raises a brow. “The professor only said to move positions when things got severe enough.”
She waves her hands. Felix scoffs. “The situation was nowhere near that dangerous,” he says skeptically.
She heaves a sigh. A person could only take so much gesturing before they ran out of energy.
She settles for giving him the most unhappy pout she could muster (a small part of her wishing it looked cute too) before crossing her arms and looking away from him with a huff. Felix lets out a snort before silence falls upon them once more. Annette doesn’t know how it’s possible, but she feels even more relaxed.
She didn’t want this walk to end.
But as the dorms neared and the sun dipped low, she accepted that good things had to come to an end eventually.
She doesn't know how to thank him, so she settles for an over-the-top bow when they finally arrive at her door. Felix rolls his eyes. "Rest," he says sternly before turning away. Annette hates that she watches him until his back retreats up the stairs to the second floor of dorms.
She enters her room and heaves a sigh.
Now that Felix wasn't distracting her, the curse was the only thing she could think of.
She had no voice.
She'd lost her prime method of communication and she had no clue how to get it back. Or even if she could. Annette shuts her eyes in frustration and plops onto her bed with a soft thud.
What was she going to do?
A part of Annette had really wanted to believe that when she woke up, everything would go back to normal.
She'd suddenly have her voice back and she could talk to all her friends again, sing all her songs, yell out spells, profess her feelings for Felix Hugo Fraldarius and live happily ever after. (Okay, those last two were a reach, but a girl could dream, right? Seiros, she was so far gone.)
But morning came and when she tried to speak, nothing but silence escaped her mouth.
She goes about her morning routine sluggishly, not at all excited at the day she was about have. She meets Mercie for breakfast where the older woman acts as a sort of translator for her when people approach and ask about Annette's unusual silence.
They head off to the infirmary as well, but Manuela tells them she hasn’t made much progress in figuring out another way to break the curse. "You see, curses are really simple. You just find out what it is you have to do and it's broken just like that. The simplicity is what makes finding other methods so difficult. No one's ever needed to invent another way out."
Annette groans at the revelation. Stupid curses.
Manuela informs them that she’ll reach out once she discovers something. They thank her and exit the room unsatisfied. Upon entering their classroom, the smaller girl is bombarded with all sorts of questions regarding her wellbeing. All expertly fielded by Mercedes and Annette can't help but thank Seiros for giving her such a wonderful best friend.
Byleth is aware of her situation and seems to make it a point not to ask too many questions when she lectures in class today. She probably figured not being able to answer any of them would irk Annette who was usually so participative in discussions. (She was right on that account.)
When classes end, the Blue Lions gather around her once more. Except Felix, Annette notes disappointingly as she sees him slip out of the room in step with the professor.
"How are you feeling, Annette?" Dimitri asks, concerned. Not good is the answer, but she gives him a thumbs up anyway.
"Nothing from Professor Manuela?" Ingrid looks at her worriedly. Annette shakes her head.
Mercedes frowns and turns to Ashe. "Was there anything useful in the library, Ashe?" Annette's hope is diminished when she sees the boy shake his head apologetically.
"Nothing definite as of now," he says sadly, "but I'll find something eventually, Annette. Don't worry," he reassures her.
"So the sorceress is the only key to this then?" Sylvain leans back on a desk. "If we can't find another way, we'll just have to track her down."
"That's dangerous. Professor Manuela told us herself not to go against anyone like her again," Ingrid says disapprovingly.
“She’s the only one who knows what will break the curse though!”
Dimitri shakes his head. “She bested us once, she’s liable to do it again.”
Annette sees Sylvain deflate. He sends her an apologetic look, one Annette returns with what she’s hoping comes across as a thankful look. She appreciates his effort.
Ashe coughs to get everyone’s attention. “But while looking for other ways to break Annette’s curse, I did come across some rather odd findings.”
Dimitri tells him to go on. “I found a book that spoke of people inflicted with curses for long periods of time. Years, in some cases,” Ashe says as he turns to her. Annette grimaces. “Some were in the same situation as you, Annette. They didn’t know what to do to break it. In other cases, they were tasked to do things beyond their capabilities.”
“That’s pretty cruel,” Sylvain mutters. Annette shares the sentiment. Seiros, she hoped the sorceress had been merciful to her.
Ashe nods grimly. “I think so too, but I researched more on the former cases rather than those of the latter. Apparently what these people did was do... well... everything.”
“What?” Ingrid asks, confused.
“They took guesses and did any and everything they could think of in hopes of breaking the curse. One woman broke her curse lasting 20 years after she decided to adopt a dog. Apparently that’s all it took to cure her of her... her curse of bad breath.” Sylvain snickers and Annette can’t help but giggle. She’s glad she didn’t get that.
Dimitri hums in understanding. “So that would mean even the most mundane of tasks could break Annette’s curse.”
“Or the most extreme of tasks,” Dedue supplies. Annette blanches.
“Our best shot would be having Annette doing anything and everything we can think of then?” Sylvain asks amusedly.
Ingrid furrows her brows. “That’s too broad a scope. We need some sort of basis.”
Ashe nods. “The book outlined some of the common curse-breaking actions taken by the afflicted. They make it evident that there’s some kind of pattern.”
Annette feels her hope soar. A pattern! That meant something! She points at a nearby book then at Ashe. The boy looks at her in confusion before understanding. “Oh! The book is in my dorm room. I’ll bring it tomorrow, so we can attempt a few things. I’ll analyze the possible patterns tonight.” Annette smiles brightly and bows to him in thanks.
“Great job, Ashe!” Dimitri claps him on the back. The others shower him with similar words and Ashe is as red as a tomato by the end of it.
After further planning about how tomorrow would go, the Blue Lions finally disperse. Mercedes and Annette walk back to their rooms together, the older woman chattering about something funny Constance had told her earlier this week. The golden hour is just as pretty as it was yesterday.
Annette freezes as they run into a battered Felix.
“Felix!” Mercedes cuts herself off with a worried tone. “Are you alright? What happened?” Annette feels her heart seize when she sees him wince as they run towards him.
“I’m fine,” he says, stoic. She didn’t think so. Bruises littered his face and she could see more wounds under the rips of his top. Annette gathers healing magic at her hands. Felix sees the aura that begins to cover them and glares at her. “Don’t waste your magic, I’m heading to the infirmary.”
“But some of your wounds.... Annie and I can h-“
“Don’t.” Felix cuts Mercedes off coldly as he limps past them.
“Feli-“
“I said no.” Annette kind of wanted to punch him now.
Her friend sighs. “Do you need any help getting there at least?” Mercedes asks, concerned.
Felix shakes his head. “No,” he says before limping away from them. He doesn’t turn back. Annette feels her heart sink.
“Leave him be.” She and Mercedes startle at Byleth’s voice. They turn to see their professor in a similar state to Felix, though not as bad.
“What happened, professor?” Mercedes looks ready to whip out her own magic to heal the her.
Byleth opens her mouth then closes it after a second, as if second-guessing her next words. “Just some rough training. Think nothing of it,” she says reassuringly. She refuses their offers to heal her, stating she was heading to the infirmary anyways. She waves before wishing them a good evening and leaving. The pair stares after her, unsure of what to feel.
“I know the professor will be fine, but Felix shouldn’t be pushing himself so hard, especially since the last battle,” Mercedes says worriedly. Annette shoots her a questioning look.
“Oh!” Her friend exclaims. “I forgot to tell you. Felix was the one who went after you after the curse knocked you unconscious. He was pretty beaten up, but he still insisted on carrying you from the battlefield to the infirmary. I was so worried about you that it slipped my mind.”
Annette reddens at the revelation. Felix had carried her? Insisted to, even? He hadn’t said anything at all during their walk.
She goes to sleep that night feeling an odd mix of emotions.
She’s very hopeful about the leads Ashe had. (She’d bake a bunch of sweets for him sometime in the future.) She could have her voice back this time tomorrow if they were lucky enough. But she was worried too. What if that wasn’t the case? What if nothing they tried worked? Where would that leave her? (Voiceless, yes, but the question had layers.)
And lastly, she felt confusion.
What had happened to Felix earlier? Why did he insist on carrying her that day? Or hanging back yesterday outside of the infirmary? What did that all mean?
She bites her lip and smothers her face in her pillows.
Hopefully, tomorrow would be a better day.
“How will we know if it works?”
“If Annette talks and sound comes out, obviously.”
Annette stares at the unmoving fishing pole in her hands, tuning out Sylvain and Ingrid’s argument from behind her.
Logically, this had a shot at working.
Ashe had relayed that a most of the afflicted had broken their curses by participating in hobbies or things they hadn’t done before. And hey! Annette had never given fishing a try!
This is how she and the rest of the Blue Lions end up by the pond after classes.
Byleth had accompanied them and was making progress filling up her third bucket of fish, Dimitri marveling at her skill on the sidelines. Dedue, Mercedes, and Ashe were farther away examining different types of bait.
Felix had left the classroom as soon as the bell had rang.
She tries not to let it eat at her so much, but it does.
She sighs. The fact that she hadn’t reeled in anything yet did not help.
Ingrid and Sylvain approach her eventually, giving her some fishing tips, but nothing worked. “Maybe there just aren’t that much fish today, Annette,” the blonde says comfortingly.
Sylvain offered her a hopeful smile. “Maybe try casting your line farther? All the fish could just be relaxing in the deep end.” Annette offers him a miserable look. “Come on, don’t lose hope! This could be your ticket back to Voice Land!” Ingrid hits him in the shoulder.
Annette shrugs and reels in her line under the pair’s encouraging eyes. Once it’s completely out of the water, she pulls back and casts her line with as much power as she could muster. It lands with an audible plop.
To her surprise, she feels something tug at the line. Sylvain whoops in triumph, causing the other Lions to gather. Byleth doesn’t move from her spot, but she gives Annette a thumbs up. The girl feels her hope building up as she reels her catch in. Wow! It wasn’t struggling at all! But it was really heavy. She wonders what kind of species it-
It’s an old boot.
They call it a day after that.
The slice of cake is a menacing red color and Annette swears she sees it steaming.
There was a reason why she actively avoided ingesting anything spicy.
“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Mercedes patted her back consolingly. The dining hall staff had prepared three pitchers of water for her, so she sincerely doubted that.
“It’s probably just the icing,” Ashe says, but he doesn’t look too sure.
“Yeah, don’t think so hard, Annette. Just dig in.” Sylvain nods and uses a finger to scoop up a small amount of frosting that had splattered on the plate’s edges.
He’s sent into a coughing fit a few seconds after he consumes the frosting. “S-See, it’s all good,” he wheezes before downing a glass of water.
Ingrid stares at the cake quietly as she pats Sylvain’s shoulder. Annette thinks she’s torn between wanting to eat it herself or to douse it with water.
The ginger-haired girl offers her the plate. She really did not want to put this in her mouth.
Ingrid shakes her head. “Spicy food is more of Felix’s forte. It’s a shame he isn’t here.”
The mage stiffens. She feels Mercedes’ hand still on her back.
Annette then proceeds to scarf the cake down.
When she wakes up in the infirmary, she’s not surprised to know her voice still hasn’t returned.
Gilbert looks uncomfortable in his seat.
The chair and the table were actually quite small, so no wonder. He looked like a giant amidst the selection of treats and tea cups before them.
“They’ve informed me of your situation,” he says unsteadily. “My apologies for not checking up on you sooner. Lady Rhea had tasked me with business outside the monastery.” Annette nods understandingly.
An awkward silence settles between them.
Her father meets her eyes for the first time since their “tea party” had begun. “Forgive me for asking, but what purpose does this serve?”
Annette bows her head.
She slowly slips him a piece of paper from across the table. Gilbert takes it and Annette wants to believe that those are tears at the corner of his eyes as he reads the its contents.
“I haven’t had tea with my father since he left us.”
This attempt ends in another failure, but Annette is thankful that they tried.
Riding pegasi doesn’t work.
Neither does flying wyverns.
Or staying out past curfew, as Sylvain had so happily suggested.
The week passes by quietly.
She’s sad to note that she and Felix don’t interact at all during its entirety. If not for class, she wouldn’t even be able to catch sight of him. He arrived just before lessons started and left as soon as the last bell rung.
It kind of stung.
Knowing the person you liked didn’t care about you enough to even look at you despite being aware that you had no voice really hurt.
She wishes that the sorceress had taken her feelings away instead.
(A depressed part of her wonders if Felix had only ever tolerated her because of her singing. She feels worse after the thought crosses her mind.)
Annette wakes up one night to the sound of knocking against her door.
She gets up groggily after a few seconds of thinking it was a dream. She rubs her eyes. Who could that be at this hour?
When she opens the door to see Felix there, she is suddenly very awake. She stares at him with wide eyes.
"Let me in please, Annette," he says, tone unexpectedly soft. She finally notices the state he's in.
He's holding the wall beside her door for support. Much like the last time they had seen each other, he was covered in bruises, except some of them were still fresh- he's still bleeding, oh Seiros. His breathing was labored and the dark of the night does not hide the black eye he's sporting.
This is the worst she's ever seen him.
Annette pulls him into her room urgently and sits him down on the bed. Felix winces at the force and she instantly feels guilty as he stares him down.
"I-"
She puts a hand up and gathers healing magic at her hands.
"You don't nee-"
She glares at him severely. He shuts up.
She points at his shirt. Felix takes it off without protest and she'd be blushing if it weren't for the fact that it just exposes more of his still bleeding wounds.
She steels herself and instantly gets to work, making small wounds disappear and patching up the big ones that needed time to heal. She stops the bleeding of all his wounds eventually and works on trying to smooth out any permanent scars. It's at this point where she finally feels drained of energy.
Felix grabs her wrist. "That's enough." Annette shakes her head. The boy sighs and takes hold of her shoulders. "That's enough. You've done all you can. I'll go to the infirmary in the morning. Thank you." His tone rings of finality.
The girl looks at him, pained. The "are you sure" evident in her eyes. She'd done her best, yes, but she could still do more. Even if it could lead her to collapsing in exhaustion, she'd push herself.
Felix nods. She stares at him for a few more seconds before finally sitting down beside him on the bed. He doesn't waste any time and begins talking.
"I know how to break your curse."
Annette turns to face him. What?
If she wasn't wide awake before, she definitely was now.
The cure. Felix knew the cure. She was going to get her voice back. She felt her her hopes soar and her happiness skyrocket.
But, Felix refused to meet her gaze. "I'm not sure if you'll like the method though," he says hesitantly.
Annette vigorously shakes her head. She'd do anything to get her voice back. She looks at him determinedly, eagerly awaiting for him to continue.
Felix looks her in the eyes and blushes. Annette is puzzled. What had him so-
"You have to kiss me."
Oh.
Ohhhh.
Oh.
Her whole face goes red.
Felix turns away from her, face red as well. "I was finally able to track down that sorceress. We fought. I won and she finally gave it up. She had made it so that you'd have to kiss another person to break the curse. According to her, you looked like you 'needed to get some' and she was just trying to help," he says.
Annette is offended the sorceress had thought that.
"After I handed her off to the professor, she told me that she had apparently just updated the curse," his face turns redder, "she made it so that it could only be broken if you kissed me specifically. Because I 'looked like I needed to get some too'."
Annette no longer feels offended. She hopes the sorceress lives on in a nice prison. (Ok, maybe not, she had taken away her voice.)
Her brain finally catches up to the rest of his words and realizes something. She points at him and makes fist with her hands, punching them in the air for a bit before scrambling to point at the calendar hanging on her wall.
He takes a few seconds to understand her question. "If you're asking if I fought her all week then no. Most of the week was spent fighting her minions, so they'd tell me where she was hiding. They were surprisingly tough. That's why the professor saw it fit to accompany me once in a while."
Annette processes the information.
Felix had been looking for a cure since day one.
All this time, while she was mistakeningly assuming he didn't care, he was fighting goon after goon in pursuit of the sorceress who had cursed her in the first place.
He had cared.
"I'm sorry," he adds unsurely, her silence giving him the wrong impression, "that I wasn't there to help you the way the others did."
She shakes her head slowly. She looks at him and hopes the genuine thanks comes across her eyes.
It meant so much to know that he had gone through so much for her.
Felix breathes out in relief. "Good because I was going to use the fact that I had found the real answer as a defense if you were mad," he says, giving her a teasing smile. Annette's heart beats loudly in her ears.
They stare at each other, unsure where to go from there.
Annette bites her lip. She... was supposed to kiss him, right? She feels as if her head was steaming. She was going to kiss Felix Hugo Fraldarius.
"We don't have to do it now," he says as if reading her mind. He sounds so awkward and she's pleasantly surprised to see him so flustered. "I just figured you'd have wanted to know as soon as possible."
He was right on that account. She probably would've been furious if she had had to find out the next day. Even if it was at Felix.
She steels herself.
She was going to do this.
She points at him hesitantly before pointing at her lips and giving him a thumbs up.
Felix snorts, a welcome intrusion to the tension-filled interaction. "If you're asking for my consent, you already have it. I feel at fault anyways. You were supposed to kiss anyone you wanted, but instead you have to kiss me. Someone 'evil.' I'm supposed to be the one asking you if you're ok with this."
Seiros, if only he knew how ok she was with this.
Annette nods slowly. Felix's eyes widen before nodding in understanding. "Good to know."
Well.
Now that that was out of the way.
She gulps before bringing his hand and letting it rest on one side of her face. "Now?" he hears him whisper. She thinks she nods because his face inches closer.
She lets her eyes close as their lips press together softly.
It's nothing but a peck, but she feels her heart explode all the same. She and Felix are kissing. They're actually kissing.
It's not like the stories, where fireworks go off and people cheer. There are no angels singing or any sort of grandiose display of love.
But it's everything. And her feelings are going haywire.
And it's over.
They pull apart slowly. Annette's eyes flutter open. Felix's face is still close and his hand remains on her face.
"Did-"
"I-"
They stand abruptly, staring at each other with wide eyes.
She had spoken.
Her voice was back.
"Felix!" She yells in happiness as she tackles him in a hug. "Thank you so much!' She's so happy she could cry right now.
He groans. Oh right, wounds. She pulls back sheepishly and look up at him. "My bad," she says apologetically.
Felix gives her a half-smile. "It's alright."
She beams, but it looks like he has something more to say.
"Annette, I-"
"Annie!" Mercedes bursts through her door.
Annette quickly disentangles herself from the swordsman and both put a generous amount of distance between them.
Mercedes looks at them, eyes wide. "I heard-"
"Hi, Mercie," Annette says happily.
Mercedes' eyes widen further before she gathers Annette into a tight hug. "Your voice is back!"
"Yeah, it is." Annette giggles, hugging back. She shares an amused look with Felix.
The other woman pulls back far enough to turn to Felix. "Thank you for doing whatever it is you did, Felix!" Mercedes smiles widely.
He and Annette go red.
"It was nothing," Felix says nonchalantly, "I'll be taking my leave then. It's late." He grabbed his shirt and brought it over his head, successfully putting it back on. Mercedes had sent Annette a look at that. She reddens further.
He's about to leave the room when Annette calls out. (Because she could do that again, thank you very much.)
He turns. "Thank you again," she says gratefully before remembering something. "You were saying something earlier?"
Felix shakes his head. "That was nothing. Have a good night." He nods at her and Mercedes before exiting the room. The door shuts softly.
He had left so quickly.
Mercedes watches Annette stare at the door longingly.
She hums. "Oh dear, I have a feeling I might've interrupted something."
"Mercie!"
The Blue Lions all rejoice at the return of her voice.
They shower her with congratulations when they hear her say hello and she feels all warm inside. Even warmer when she and Felix share a smile from across the room.
"Told you not to give up," Sylvain says smugly.
"And I never did!" Annette protests.
"You were looking quite defeated yesterday, Annette." Dimitri teases her. Annette pouts, causing them all to laugh.
"I'm curious though," Ashe says interestedly, "what did the trick?"
And if she and Felix simultaneously redden at the question. No one notices. (Except Mercedes.)
Annette never does tell them what had actually happened, claiming she just went to sleep one night and woke up with her voice in the morning.
Sylvain like to think it was the curfew thing.