- Forever -
Tales of Vesperia.
Rita and Estelle friendship.
D: I do not own ToV, nor am I affiliated with the companies involved in the creation of this brilliant RPG.
Rita Mordio drowned herself in research and studying ever since she could remember. Her blastia obsession was frowned upon by the other mages of Aspio. They thought she was crazy (though none of them denied that she was an incredible genius) and chose not to bother her, unless necessary (every mage prayed that nothing of that sort would ever happen). Because of her terrible obsession with knowledge and formulas, she never really had any friends.
"Well, it's not like I need any," she told herself once, while working on a few formulas few people could understand.
Maybe it was really just a bad day, maybe it was fate. But whatever it was, she found herself tagging along a group of people who were tracking down a blastia thief. And oh, what a motley crew it was. Rita shook her head in disbelief when she found out the background of each of the party's members - a young ex-knight and his seemingly bad-tempered dog, a noble (though she did look more like a princess than an ordinary noble - IF nobles were ordinary), and a cowardly boy who seems to have joined every guild imaginable.
Although they did get into a lot of messed up situations, Yuri, Estelle, Repede and Karol grew on her. She refused to admit it, but the certain affinity she felt with these people were strong and incredible. Rita never said it out loud, but it felt good to have at least a few friends. They were all so tolerant to her nature, she can't believe such people existed. Well, okay, Yuri can be sarcastic, Estelle can be a little clueless and Karol can be annoying (Rita can't say anything about Repede - he didn't talk, so it was fine by her), but they were like a family. Rita never felt closer to anyone else.
Especially Estelle.
Being the only girl, really, at the party (Judith came along much later, of course, and Rita wasn't really fond of her when she found out that Judith was this Dragon Freak), Estelle seemed the perfect candidate for a best friend. Rita never really expected to call someone (if only when she was alone) her best friend. She never really wanted to call anyone 'best friend' but it just came naturally. Estelle was kind, innocent, and definitely the opposite of Rita. And opposites attract, don't they? Rita was never at peace if Estelle wasn't back at the inn by nightfall. Kind of like an overprotective sister or something, but she was alright with that.
The wind whipped her face. Although Rita preferred the silence of the cabin on the Fiertia (she never really confessed openly that she did become seasick at times), that evening, she stayed on deck. She knew it was very late at night, as she studied the stars in the sky. Ba'ul, despite the fact that he was an obscenely large creature, being an Entelexeia and all, was silent and gentle as he flew across the sky.
No doubt better than the waves slapping the ship, Rita thought as she, in this moment of being alone and at peace with herself, lay down on the cold, wooden deck. A lot had happened. She was ashamed of hating Judith - she was only trying to help the world.
If only she actually told us her motives.
She didn't want to be caught sleeping on deck. But she was situated near where the ceres blastia used to be, so she'd say, in her defense, she was investigating the damage caused by Judith when she destroyed the blastia. A feeble reason yes, but it's good enough. She was sleepy, anyway.
Rita almost fell asleep when she heard footsteps. Her first instinct was to shoot up in a sitting position. She did so, and almost hit her head on a wooden beam stretched over her. Rita frowned. Who could have the nerve to walk on deck at this time of night? Everyone was supposed to be asleep.
"Good evening, Rita."
Oh drat. She's supposed to be asleep.
Rita was sitting up now, careful not to bump into anything that might put her to sleep. Estelle sat beside her.
"You know, it's late. You're supposed to be sleeping."
"I can't," replied Estelle. Rita stole a glance at her and saw in her eyes the longing for answers. Boy, it must be reaaally hard to be called an insipid poison.
"I think you're thinking too much, Estelle."
"Am I? I just want to find my answers. I guess Judith did give me some, but it just made me want to find out more about myself. If I never left the capital with Yuri, I would never know about being the Child of the Full Moon. The Entelexia, especially. I would like to know more about them, through Phaeroh. And why he called me an insipid poison."
Silence fell on the two, until Estelle decided to speak up again. "I'm scared, Rita. Of meeting Phaeroh. My intentions may be pure, but to him, I am nothing but death."
"You're being too hard on yourself. You've saved countless lives, and now you let yourself get affected by a flying monster?"
"Rita..."
"Your intentions are pure. Always pure. You're incredibly innocent, and you've yet to find your life's real purpose. Estelle, you might be poison to someone, but not to others. Haven't you heard what Belius said? Your compassion is something you must not lose. It's not your fault if someone dies because you wanted to save them, you know."
"Rita..."
"I guess that doesn't really answer your questions, but I hope it makes you see that you aren't a worthless person."
Estelle smiled at her. Rita kept a straight face. She was resolved not to show anything that hinted bliss, joy, happiness, or anything similar. She maintained the friendless, 'look-I'm-just-trying-to-study-blastia' attitude, but at that very moment, she was just glad.
"Thank you so much, Rita."
Without any warning, Estelle hugged the dumbstruck Rita. Never having any friends prior to this party, she didn't know how to react. Her first thought was to hug back, as it was human nature to do so. But she didn't, only sitting there, frozen at the spot.
"Estelle," Rita started. "It's late. You should get to sleep."
The pink-haired princess let go and stood up. "Aren't you going to sleep too, Rita?"
"I will. I'm just... thinking."
Estelle nodded and headed back to the cabin. Once the door closed, Rita was free to lie down on the deck again. The stars glimmered in the inky black sky. She just realized she spoke a lot about the subject, which wasn't related to blastia directly. Rita never said a lot of things unless it was about blastia or the mission at hand. But she did. She said a lot of things just to make Estelle feel better.
But she really isn't an insipid poison. It was true what I said - her intentions are pure. Will always be pure. Toxic to some, yes, but she doesn't really want that. What's toxin to one can be something healthy and treasured to others.
Rita knew this was true. Estelle isn't a poison. Estelle is her friend. She loves Estelle. Estelle is the sister she never had. She wasn't poison. If she was, would Rita be feeling like this? Protective, concerned of her? No. Maybe not. Would Rita even remotely think of Estelle as someone worth keeping forever if she was dangerous?
Rita closed her eyes.
No. She wouldn't.
A/N: Tried my hand on a ToV fic. I originally planned something Yustelle, but found it pretty hard for some reason. So out came this - a Rita and Estelle friendship fic! I don't know if I did good (I'm voting on 'bad') and I didn't capture the essence of Rita and Estelles characters (at least, that's how I feel) and to top it all off, I'm missing a few key story bits and I need to finish the game so I could know everything, but it'll do for now. Comments? Crits?