Disclaimer: Don't own (though I am so considering writing a novel based on it just so I can have a little bit of ownership. Lol)
Note: So, I'm an Edward fan, and spent the whole two-three minutes he was on screen at the end of the game going 'OMG So CUTE!!!!!!' I apologise now for the slight craziness herein. Enjoy, and please review (No flames, but constructive welcome)
1.
20 year old Edward is suffering from nightmares
17 year old Vic is suffering from an unrequited crush
30 year old Kiriya is suffering because he knows he shouldn't
Edwards past was not as straightforward as people tended to believe. His birth parents had died when he was young, and he had lived a lonely, terrible life until his uncle had agreed to take him in, but he had spent less than 5 years with his kindly uncle before he was taken from him, and Edward set himself down a path of self destruction, until Lord Sigmund had saved him from that ogre, and he pledged his life to him. There were things in his past that Edward did not speak of, and he wished to remain unspoken. There were things he had done, or that were done to him that had moulded him into who he was, and none of them, save the kindness of his uncle, and the belief of Sigmund were positive.
It was those other thoughts that kept him from his sleep, every time he closed his eyes he saw nothing my himself, becoming a vermiform, everything dark and twisted within himself. He was convinced he could feel himself turning. The fact that they had killed Veros, that Lunaglyphs were now obsolete, and Lunar rain no longer fell, was of no consequence, because Edward was turning, slowly, and excruciatingly, he was turning, and everything in him that was dark, and evil, everything that he kept hidden was going to come out, and he was going to die before the onslaught, and there would be nothing save the cruel, heartless Vermiform left.
And at the moment he was having trouble believing that anyone would really care, or bother to go through the trouble of finding a way to turn him back.
Capell was back, almost a full year now, and aside from a short visit he had made eight months ago, Edward had not seen him, or Aya, or any of the others, save for Vic and Kiriya. Though why they had remained in Burgas with him he couldn't even begin to comprehend. It was almost like everyone had forgotten his existence, if it wasn't for the letters Michelle sent every month, and the occasional message from Eugene letting him know what they were doing, and if they had seen the others, he wouldn't have known if they had died, or been injured, or something.
Kiriya was obviously after the throne.
Edward blinked at the canopy over the bed (a bed big enough to hold eight people, and was unbearably cold with just him), wondering just where that stray thought had come from. Though now it was out there, floating in the silence around him, he had to acknowledge it was true. There was no other reason fir Kiriya to still be here after so long, it explained so much, why the blond haired man was always trying to undermine him, setting him up for an inevitable failure. Vic was probably his spy.
Edward heaved a sigh and rolled onto his side, forcing those thoughts aside, and debating whether he should try to sleep. He had not gotten more than three or four hours a week in the past six months. Not that his sleeping pattern before then had been any better, unless he was completely exhausted he hadn't gotten more than two, maybe three hours sleep a night if he was lucky, just enough to go on. But now not even exhaustion could grant him the rest he desperately needed.
Maybe he should just give up? Hand over the crown to Kiriya and take himself off somewhere quiet and out of the way, a place where, when he finally made that final transformation, he wouldn't cause a commotion, couldn't insight confusion and fear.
He sat up abruptly, his heart pulsing hard in his chest. He drew his knee's up, tight to his chest in a vain attempt to slow his heart down.
Hours later as dawn crept across the floor through the crack in the curtains, Edward was still sitting, knees pressed to his chest, arms wrapped around them, staring blankly ahead of him, not moving until he heard the sounds of Vic in the corridor outside the door.
2.
Vic watched Edward carefully as he worked. He had been reading the same report for over three hours, and while not the greatest of readers, he could normally manage to get through one as short as that in one at most. Something was wrong with him, and Vic couldn't work out what, but it worried her.
In the three years since the moon had been freed, she had grown, more so in the last year, a late bloomer Kiriya often teased her, and she had found it difficult to hide the fact the she was a girl, and after Kiriya had laughed at her one to many times for trying, she gave up. Oh, she was never going to wear skirts, or dresses, but she had asked the royal tailor to make her some more feminine versions of her favoured clothing.
Not that he noticed or anything.
She hid her face beside a stack of papers she was carrying, and cursed herself for thinking like that. It wasn't like she had been obvious in her intentions, and in his current state she wasn't sure he would notice if Veros made a miraculous comeback in a pink tutu and danced right in front of him. Vic had only ever had two major crushes in her life, one had been on Capell, though remembering all that 'Buddy' stuff made her cringe now, the second was currently sitting at the desk looking more zoned out than usual.
She frowned, she would need to speak to Kiriya, he would know what to do.
"Hey, you gonna actually read that?" she asked, dropping the pile of papers she was carrying with a sound thump that startled him, he glared at her, which she was expecting, glaring was routine between them, what she didn't expect was the way he snapped.
"Leave me the hell alone! Get out! Get out and don't come back!"
He said it with such ferocity and conviction, that Vic actually took a few steps back before she caught herself, she had taken on a god, she could handle Edward, even though the way he spoke to her cut deep (she hated this stupid crush, she really, really did). "What's up with you man? You've been spaced out for weeks." she asked, trying to be as non confrontational as she could.
"There's nothing wrong with me! Get out! Go! Go report to Kiriya, tell him what a terrible job I'm doing. Go tell him if he wants it he can have it, go on."
She stared at him, wide eyed, as his hands sent carefully piled documents spiralling to the floor, his eyes a little wild. She was more concerned than ever. "Edward-" she began, but he cut her off with a wordless roar, and swept the rest of the papers from the desk, standing and glaring at her, absolute hate in his eyes, it reminded her of when he had turned into a vermiform.
She needed to get to Kiriya quickly, he would know what was going on. She turned and fled the room, fear and worry for Edward driving her to move faster than normal.
3.
Kiriya had been spending the last two months collecting data on Edward. He couldn't begin to explain why he had chosen to follow Edward instead of the many others, it might have been because he could see similarities in their personalities, He and Edward were much alike, and riling the younger man up had become something of a habit. But that wasn't the only reason, Kiriya wasn't even sure if it was really a reason to be here at all. Though he teased about it, being King was not something Kiriya truly wanted, neither was being an advisor, but it had been obvious from the start that Edward needed someone to help him out. Hell, the poor boy could barely read. He had good instincts, and had the makings of a good king, but the paperwork was something he would always be terrible at.
But over the last seven months, Edward had been showing a rapid decline in mood, until now he was practically suicidal depressed, it was obvious he wasn't sleeping, or eating, and he had neglected to attend two invitations from their comrades, one from Michelle, Balbagan and the twins, and one from Aya and Capell, to visit.
But no matter where he looked, or how hard, Kiriya could not find any correlations recently, or over the last few years, that could explain Edwards recent behaviour. Burgas would fall when Edward did, and Kiriya would rather that didn't happen, he had invested too much time and effort into this place.
Perhaps he should have called in Capell and Aya, they were Edwards closest friends, surely they would be able to help get Edward out of this slump. But Aya was pregnant, and it was a difficult one by all accounts, and Capell was still having troubles getting his two year old to accept him. It all reminded Kiriya of why he never intended to have children. So their involvement would probably be limited at best, and Eugene was having problems in Helgita, something about voting and re-elections, and he didn't think anyone else was close enough to Edward to help.
"Ah, Master Savio, what I wouldn't give for some of your wisdom right now." he muttered tiredly, rubbing the bridge of his nose before looking back over the notes he had made over the previous months. Edward was displaying signs of depression, inability to sleep, possibly because of nightmares, he was becoming more and more withdrawn. He had tried to come up with some reason for it all… nightmares alone wouldn't have this affect… all this just seemed to intense, and had gone on far too long.
"Kiriya!" Vic yelled, slamming open the door to his room. "Come quick, it's Edward!"
Kiriya was on his feet in an instant, a show of emotion he normally didn't allow himself, but in all honesty he was worried about Edward, very worried.. "What is it?" his normal bored tone held traces of concern, but he found he didn't really care.
"He's yelling crazy stuff, and his eyes are all hard and cold. He looks like he did when he-" she cut herself off, and Kiriya was annoyed at that, he glared at her hard, and she continued. "He looks like he did when he started turning into a vermiform."
"Impossible, there's no way he could be… The glyphs are gone…" Kiriya was moving then, brushing past Vic and into the hall, making his way quickly to Edwards office, the door was slightly open, and it was silent inside. He felt Vic press close beside him. He pushed the door open, ignoring the strewn paper, focusing instead on trying to see Edward. He moved inside carefully.
Edward was seated behind his desk, curled into a ball, arms wrapped hard around his legs, biting down on one of his knee's as if something was really hurting him. Kiriya wasn't quite sure what to do. They couldn't call in any guards, seeing the king like this wouldn't help matters. He turned to Vic, they needed to deal with this quickly. "Send a message to Michelle, ask her to come as quickly as she can, and then go do some information gathering."
"What am I looking for?" she asked him, sounding a little panicked.
Kiriya sighed, partly in frustration, he didn't know what he wanted to know, didn't know what he needed to know. "Anything, people acting strangely, if anyone knows of Edwards condition when they shouldn't. Anything at all." he waved her off, looking at Edward again. "And send a message to Capell as well." he added as an afterthought.
The door shut and Vic was gone. Kiriya moved to kneel beside Edward, studying him carefully, he hadn't so much as twitched since they arrived. Kiriya was at a loss of words. He finally settled on, "Edward?" reaching out to touch his shoulder lightly.
"No!" Edward cried out, a sudden flurry of motion, scrambling back and away from Kiriya.
Ok, so it's not the greatest of beginings, but I think it will do. FYI; I always figured Vic was between 12 and 14 in the game, for the purposes of this story I made her 14 during the game, and therefore 17 now. Capell and Aya concieved that night before cassandra, so now Capell has a kid who was told his dad was dead and so that could prove awkward. Um, Edwards behaviour might seem a little over the top, but it will all make sense. Kiriya's character is difficult to write, but I think I have the essence of it. And finally, yes, Vic has a crush on Edward, I mean, she followed him to Burgas and became his assistant, she so has a crush on him. lol.
Please review is all I ask.