Author's Notes: So this is the Knight of Vesperia. It's a much shorter fic compared to Legacy, only about 26k words and 8 or so short chapters that I'll trying to be posting twice a week in order to give me a little more time to get No Such Thing as Fate and it's 100 or so chapters edited. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy this. It's got some of thoughts and theories I've been dwelling on since my first playthrough of Tales of Vesperia.

Tales of Vesperia is the property of Namco Bandai.

Chapter 1

Yuri had long since been asleep. Even with the turmoil that had rocked the world in the year since he had destroyed all the blastia to save Terca Lumireis, there was something peaceful about watching him sleep for a moment.

He had crawled in Flynn's window at some time in the early afternoon, leaving the window open behind him and he now sat, propped up by pillows on the Commandant's bed, snoring softly. His long, dark hair was a mess, moved gently by the incoming spring breeze, warm with sunlight and cool with the last bits of melting snow. It had been a long time since Flynn had seen Yuri rest like this. It was the first time in weeks they had even seen each other between Yuri's work abroad as part of the guild Brave Vesperia and Flynn's work within the Empire as the Commandant. They were an unlikely match.

They were the best of friends, even if the past five years had done much to strain and morph their relationship into something new. Flynn didn't know how to describe it. He felt so much more for Yuri, and had for a long while now, but didn't know how to verbalize it, and was unsure of how the news would be received. Knowing Yuri, there would be one of thousands of possible reactions, from disdain and avoidance, to possibly pure acceptance and maybe a little joy over the revelation. He hoped everything would be okay and Yuri would just let go and let himself be happy. Tonight would be the night. Flynn had promised himself a year ago after Yuri's disappearance at the Enduring Shrine of Zaude after his fight with former Commandant Alexei, that he would tell Yuri how he felt, and that what he wanted from their relationship was more than friendship. He had been stalling, but the secret welled up inside him every time he saw the dark haired guildsman and threatened to come out with every word.

Flynn watched Yuri sleep only a moment longer. He longed to wake the sleeping man the way one would in Estelle's fairy tales, but perhaps it really wasn't the best time for that. He settled instead for placing a hand gently on his shoulder and shaking him a little. Underneath his fingers, he could feel a lean form, never betraying the strength behind it, strength that Flynn both admired and envied.

"Yuri, wake up."

He groaned, swatting at him blindly. Flynn felt a little guilty, knowing that with Yuri's rough lifestyle and self-destructive nature, this could easily be the first sleep that the guildsman had allowed himself in days.

"Wake up."

"Is it time for dinner yet?"

"It's a while before that and you've slept through tea time."

Yuri shrugged, rolling off the pillows and arching into a cat-like stretch. He rubbed his eyes for a moment and then looked up at Flynn with his usual confident smirk. "How about a duel then? I don't want the Commandant getting rusty just because he's not in the field anymore."

"I get my practice in, but none of my sparring partners are nearly tough enough to stand up to you."

They left the city of Zaphias for the green meadows that stretched endlessly in all directions. Swords drawn and energies brimming, they fought. The fury of their blades sent sparks flying as they moved through the motions of the one component of their relationship that never seemed to fail them. They hadn't gotten to fight like this since that day at Aurnion a year before when Yuri had climbed Tarqaron and helped save the world.

In half an hour, it was all over when they collapsed into the grass, muscles aching with hot blood and adrenaline and lungs burning to breathe.

"You're still so far ahead of me."

"Well, hurry and catch up with me."

That seemed an impossible task now. Yuri had defeated Duke Pantarei and the Adephagos. His strength was beyond what Flynn could possibly attain, but that didn't stop him from trying. Once, not that long ago, the tables had been turned and it was Yuri who had been struggling to keep up. It had been that way for years, but after the incident at Zaude, and Yuri's safe return, he realized that he was no longer in the lead.

That wasn't the only thing he had realized, and for the past year he had been mulling over what it meant, for him, for Yuri, for their friendship. Tonight would be the night. He promised himself to lay bare the secret that he had been keeping for a year now no matter what sort of consequences might come. He had been waiting much longer than he intended. The rawness of it that hit when he saw Yuri alive and well at Aurnion threatened to send the secret spilling out of him in tears. After that moment passed, he cooled and calmed and somehow managed to hold it in, even after all this time.

They rose after a short time and wandered back into Zaphias. The sun had set when they reached the front doors of the palace, and rather than eat in the main dining hall, Flynn planned to have their dinner sent up to his state room, where they could enjoy it in privacy.

When they arrived, sweaty and covered in grass stains and bruises, dinner was waiting for them. Yuri needed no invitation to plop down on the sofa and help himself to the covered trays that the staff had brought up for them. Flynn asked for nothing extravagant, instead requesting a few simple dishes and a modest bottle of wine. He sat and poured the wine while Yuri looked over the food. A basic pasta dish with meat sauce, a spring salad, a light vegetable soup, and a few hunks of heavily herbed bread.

"Looks pretty good. Since when do the palace chefs make anything this 'Lower Quarter'?"

"I figured that anything too fancy would just be a hassle." He passed over a glass of wine and watched as Yuri took a sip. Flynn's fingers tapped the bowl of his own glass nervously.

"You okay?"

"Oh. Mm. I'm fine."

"I didn't wear you out too much, right?"

"I have more endurance than you give me credit for."

Yuri chuckled a little, but compared to other laughs of his that Flynn had the pleasure of hearing, it sounded a little hollow. He dropped a heaping portion of salad on his plate and began eating. At least his appetite seemed normal. "So how have things been here in Zaphias?"

"We're still working to get a stable water system in place for the Lower Quarter, as you and I both know that the creek water down there isn't terribly safe for consumption. Keeping the monsters out has still been our biggest challenge, but we're making some headway thanks to some of the researchers from Aspio. We're hoping for a viable solution before summer when the monster population increases."

"I heard this past winter was pretty harsh."

He nodded somberly. "Yes. Between monsters and disease, it's been difficult keeping the people happy and taken care of. Master Ioder was thankfully able to work out a trade agreement with Fortune's Market for the use of some of their shipping routes to make sure that there was at least enough and medicine to go around." Flynn managed to put a few spoonfuls of soup on his nervous stomach before taking a bite of his pasta.

"Kaufman's a tough one to work with. I'm pretty surprised that the little prince was able to get her to agree to anything."

"It was as simple as everyone having to work toward a common goal within both the Empire and the Union, and the protection of the people of both came first. She didn't agree to much more than the use of the routes." A year after the world had nearly fallen apart, there was still some tension lingering between the Union and the Empire, but Flynn and Ioder were doing their best to pave the way to peace, and he could only hope that the same could be said of Harry Whitehorse and Raven.

Yuri hummed a bit of a reply, moving on to the pasta while Flynn had barely touched his food at all. Nothing sat well on a nervous stomach.

"Hey, if you don't get some of this, I'm going to eat it all."

He fumbled for a moment, nearly dropping his wine glass before setting it down and fixing his own plate. A few bites steadied his hands, making it just a little easier to seem normal. He tried not to think too much about the words he was going to say. It was best to just let them come naturally, right? So he thought of other things, like how much of a relief it was just to see Yuri, and how good it was to share a meal with him again.

"The chef here's pretty good."

"He's not as good as you."

"We haven't seen each other in a few months and suddenly there's all this flattery?" Yuri sighed, leaning back into the sofa.

"It's been a long time since you've cooked for me. I miss it." /I miss you/ was what Flynn wanted to say, what he almost said, but he stopped himself just short, cursing himself as he did. If nothing else was preventing Flynn from telling Yuri his secret, it was Flynn himself.

"You used to eat it all the time. I figured you'd be sick of it."

"I could never get sick of your cooking." This conversation was going nowhere, and if it continued, they would only end up arguing. "If you're done stuffing your face, why don't we go up to the Sword Stair and do a little stargazing?"

"Sounds good to me." Yuri rolled up off the sofa, casting one of the useless cushions aside and followed Flynn out of the Commandant's quarters.

Normal citizens were not allowed access to the Sword Stair, just beyond the Emperor's throne. Even most nobles were forbidden access. During this day and age though, with the barrier blastia no longer working, it didn't matter much who went up here. In the long months since that fateful day in which all the blastia had been sacrificed in order to defeat the Adephagos, Flynn had found some little bit of joy here, because no matter how far away from Yuri he was, they were looking up at the same night sky.

The rounded dais where Yuri had once confronted Alexei, where he had fought to save Estelle, was always windy. It was so high up that it caught every little breeze, and the view allowed them to see as far as the furthest wall of the city, and beyond. But the earth was not where their eyes were focused.

Cold stone chilled his back, even through the multiple layers he wore, as they lay down on the highest platform, staring up into the night sky. It was calm and quiet up here, and for a short time, they could both forget about their troubles. The darkness of the sky was dotted with stars, spreading out into a band of shimmering specks of light. It was peaceful, but there was still a little piece of Flynn that dreaded the reaction Yuri might have to his secret.

There was no point holding back. Yuri's reaction might be unpredictable, but what good was it keeping it locked up inside to never know? But what if he reacted badly? What if those simple words drove Yuri away and Flynn got to see even less of him? What if it ruined their friendship?

But it wouldn't, right? Yuri was a mostly reasonable adult. He could handle a little pressure, and maybe it might make things awkward between them for a little while, but they had been friends for so long that Flynn stating that the way he felt about Yuri had changed wouldn't change what they already had... right?

Holding it back was only making it worse. Not knowing wasn't helping. It only allowed Flynn's mind to come up with all sorts of terrible scenarios and worst-case moments that were totally unrealistic, but he couldn't help but fear them anyway.

He just needed to hunker down and say it, come what may.

"Yuri, there's something I need to tell you."

"Oh, look. A shooting star." He pointed up to a flash of silver white streaking across the sky.

Flynn's eyes caught it as it shot through the night, just below Brave Vesperia.

"Did you make a wish?"

"Yes. You?" He had, but it couldn't tell what it was. It was a silly childhood thing he still clung to.

"Yep." Yuri sighed, his breath becoming a white cloud of steam against the dark blue sky. "I know it won't come true, though." Compared to most of the smugness and snark that came out of Yuri's mouth, that sounded unusually melancholy, almost like it wasn't his own voice saying it. It surprised Flynn so much that it forced him to sit up and look down at his long time friend.

"Yuri, are you okay?"

"What do you mean?" The smugness came back fresh and was a tiny relief for Flynn. "Of course I'm okay. What reason do I have to not be?"

"Sorry, I just-" His mouth went dry and the words disappeared. He knew the moment, and his chance, was lost. "Never mind. It's nothing."

His face felt hot. He knew that he had failed again to express the truth. He didn't know how long it would take him to get his nerve back, and likely by then, Yuri would be in Dahngrest, bogged down in all the guild work that he could manage. Who knew when they'd get to see each other again? It had been three long months between this meeting and the last, an unbearably long amount of time that wore on Flynn. The only cure had been his work, but at night, his mind wandered to dangerous places when his thoughts were all he had to keep him company. He had awoken more than one night, covered in sweat, thinking he saw Yuri sitting in his window, wearing the marvelous, irritating smirk, only to find it was his imagination, or at least once, a sizable raven roosting on his windowsill. He would be reminded of the unfathomable distance between them that Flynn felt so desperately the need to cross. If he could only get the words out, the distance wouldn't be so bad. He could live with a physical distance. An emotional one was a far stronger enemy.

It was an enemy he was going to force himself to face, sooner or later. Now. It couldn't wait any longer.

"Yuri."

There was only silence.

"Yuri?"

Still nothing.

He looked over to see his friend fast asleep, sprawled out on the paving stones. He couldn't help but smile a little as he reached over and brushed a stray lock of dark hair out of Yuri's face. "I guess it can wait until tomorrow." Flynn lay down next to him, staring into the sky.