Disclaimer: I do not own Bravely Default and never will. This is a story I just wrote for fun because I'm a fan of Bravely Default.

A/N: I honestly don't know how to feel about this story. I had the idea way back in February, but for some reason I decided to go straight into writing it without creating a plot outline or anything, like I typically do. I just rolled with it, I guess. So I hope the whole plot flows well...

And scrolling through the Bravely Default fanfic category, I noticed a lot of the stories warn of spoilers, since most take place after the ending. But this story takes place around the beginning of Chapter 2, I believe, so as long as you're passed that part in the game, this should be pretty spoiler-free. ^-^

Well, enjoy the story! :)

EDIT (10/28/15): Fixed a few stupid errors I noticed. Did I forget how to write properly when I initially wrote this?!

Come Sail Away

Heaving a sharp breath through her clenched teeth, Edea massaged her temples with her fingers as she walked the streets of Florem in the middle of the night. She winced in pain; it felt as if thousands of hammers were beating the inside of her skull.

The migraine had started thumping deep within her brain before she and her traveling companions even stepped foot in the brightly-lit, flower-adorned city, and it gradually started to get worse as complications arose after arriving. She couldn't put her finger on a single possible cause, though. Was it her annoyance at Ringabel's immense joy after he discovered all of the town's residents were women? Was it the arrogant girl that had tossed water on Agnès? Was it the stress of having to track down the Water Vestal as soon as possible—when she could possibly be hiding anywhere in Luxendarc? Or, was it a combination of all these facts and events? Edea couldn't decide, and thinking about it only made her brain throb.

With another sigh, the blonde teen plopped down on the edge of the town square's large flowerbed. She leaned forward and placed her aching head in her hands, propping her elbows on her knees. She closed her eyes and continued to rub her temples.

Curse these bright lights... she thought. They're only making my headache worse. Would it really be too much trouble to dim them down just a bit at night? I was hoping a good night's sleep would help me, but I can't even do that when this entire town is bright, obnoxious—

"Edea?"

Her blue eyes snapped open. Speaking of obnoxious...

Slowly, she lifted her head to look up at her blonde male friend and meet his puzzled, dark brown eyes. His almost-white pompadour was like a reflector for the town's neon lights; the glare from it made her wince and avert her gaze.

"Oh, Ringabel... What are you doing out so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Typically, I would expect Tiz to be out here at this hour..."

Edea groaned. "I have this awful migraine—probably because of this town's obnoxiously bright lights. I honestly don't understand how anyone can sleep around here..." Leering, she directed her blue eyes back up to him. "So, what's your reason? Is the fact that this town is inhabited solely by beautiful women keeping you up?"

Ringabel chuckled. "That's... part of the reason. A very small part, to be more precise. But..." He paused. Very slowly, he turned away and closed his eyes, using his gloved hand to massage the bridge of his nose. "Well, to put it simply, I'm just unable to sleep. This has been a recurring thing, as of late..."

Observing his facial features, which were painted with an emotion that Edea couldn't quite read—Anguish, maybe? Or anxiousness...?—she noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes. The neon lighting that illuminated Florem made them appear more prominent.

Feeling a tinge of guilt, she looked down at the cobblestone beneath her feet. I shouldn't be so quick to judge. Ringabel probably has a lot going on in that mind of his...

"On clear nights such as this when I cannot sleep," the older blonde spoke up, breaking the silence, "I sometimes take the Eschalot out for a spin. The exquisite view and the tranquility of the night are quite soothing, and helps to clear my mind..." He opened his eyes and faced her, shooting his signature seductive smile at her. "Care to join me?"

Edea hesitated. Going out in the airship in the middle of the night? The idea does seem rather nice... "Sure. Why not?"

Once aboard the Eschalot, Edea collapsed onto the commander's chair and rested her head on the steel podium. Even though she and Ringabel had left Florem only a short while ago, she could already feel her headache beginning to ease away. Maybe it was partly due to those damn lights...

"Are you comfortable, there?" Ringabel commented with a chuckle. He took his place at the wheel, and as he flipped a few switches on the control panel, he said, "Up until recently, I would take this vessel up in the air when I felt the need to unwind. But since the dark knight destroyed the skystone, it seems we're bound to sailing the sea. Fortunately, the Flor-Cheim Sea hasn't decayed due to the crystals' darkening."

"That is just fine," the younger blonde breathed. "An ocean trip is just as nice..."

He took a moment to admire her relaxed figure, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He then returned to his task, placing his hands on the handles of the wheel and carefully guiding the Eschalot away from the dock.

"And... here we go. Smooth sailing from here on out."

"What do you usually do on these little night trips of yours?"

He shrugged. "I tend to travel in a circle for a short period of time. Just admire the scenery, enjoy the peaceful silence, contemplate whatever happens to be on my mind..."

Curiosity flooded through Edea. Slowly, she sat upright, facing him. "Such as...?"

"The past, mostly..." her older companion answered after a moment of hesitation.

She raised an eyebrow. "The past? I thought you lost all your memories."

"Exactly. Whenever I pilot the Eschalot, I feel this aching sense of... familiarity." He stared ahead at the ocean with a melancholic look in his eyes, his grip tightening and loosening on the wheel's handles. "Clearly, I had to have controlled this airship at some point in my life before the incident in Caldisla. I believe being in frequent contact might spark a past memory..." With a soft chuckle, he added, "I know. Sounds ludicrous, doesn't it?"

"No, not at all! It makes perfect sense, actually." Intrigued, she stood and approached him. He acknowledged her with a surprised glance as she leaned back against the steel control panel beside him. "Well? Has it helped you recall anything...?"

Ringabel shook his head. "I've had no luck whatsoever. Just this dreadful feeling of déjà vu, and nothing more..."

"Déjà vu?"

"You know, that strange feeling that you've experienced something before, but you can't exactly recall the memory?"

"Oh... I see." Seeing the sadness in Ringabel's tired eyes, Edea turned away, looking down at her black boots instead. "Do you get that feeling a lot?"

"Yes. All the time, to be quite honest. And not only do I feel it while piloting the Eschalot, but also when I'm with Tiz, and Agnès..." He paused and met Edea's curious gaze, smiling. "But the feeling's strongest when I'm with you, Edea."

For a brief moment, her heart stopped. Then its steady beat became quick, hammering in her chest, and her pumping blood rushed to her head and made her whole face heat up. "D-don't give me that look! How could you— There's no way—" She let out a frustrated growl. "We didn't even meet until the incident at Centro Keep!"

Looking at him again, she noticed his flirtatious expression had reverted to a melancholic one. All negative feelings were drained from her system. "I-I'm sorry..."

"Don't worry about it. I understand... Confusing, isn't it?" Ringabel's eyes returned to focusing on the blue sea before them. He slowly turned the wheel, and the Eschalot gently turned on the waves as it neared the shore of the Yulyana region. "I'm aware that you, nor Tiz and Agnès, have encountered me before our initial meetings. So, I can't determine as to why I get that dreadful sensation when you three are in my presence..."

"Hmm," was all Edea could manage to say. She couldn't pinpoint a reason, either, nor could she even brainstorm at least one possibility.

"Edea," Ringabel said softly, "turn around."

Edea obliged and pivoted on her heel, and she gasped at the sight before her. Now traveling south in the small sea, they saw the Harena region before them, its flat, desert terrain stretching out for miles. The city of Ancheim loomed in the distance, its many windmills blowing in the night breeze—thanks to Agnès's awakening of the Wind Crystal. Completing the magnificent view was the dark blue sky above, millions of stars speckling the vast expanse and twinkling like diamonds.

"Wow," she breathed, her blue eyes wide. "It's beautiful..."

Ringabel nodded and smiled. "It is. Really puts you at ease, doesn't it?" After pausing for a moment, he asked, "By the way, has your headache gone away yet?"

It took her a moment to recall what he was referring to. Now that he mentioned it, she realized that the pounding in her skull had ceased. "Oh! I completely forgot about it... I guess I was so distracted that the pain just went away."

"That's good. Glad to hear it."

Silence. Staring out at the landscape before them as the vessel gradually turned east, Edea's mind began to wander.

This is so much better than I had expected... Not only do I feel more at peace, I feel a stronger connection with Ringabel. Like... I understand him better. Maybe he's not as much of a pain as I originally thought...

"While we're here, is there anything you'd like to talk about?" he asked.

She glanced at him and raised an eyebrow, caught off-guard by his sudden inquiry. "Er, not that I can think of... Why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "Well, you seemed rather distressed earlier, when I found you outside... If there's something on your mind, I'm willing to listen. You did graciously listen to my incoherent rambling, after all." He smiled warmly at her, and it was genuine this time—she couldn't detect anything flirtatious in his gesture.

"Er, well..." She gulped, thinking of something appropriate—considering he possibly contributed to her migraine in the first place, and she didn't want to ruin their connection so quickly by telling him that. "There's quite a few reasons, actually..."

"Anything you'd want to talk about? I'm all ears."

He's not going to give up, is he? she thought, feeling a little irritated. "Well..." she breathed, trying to think of where to start. "Lately, I've been thinking about how I turned traitor to my own country."

"Feeling any regrets?"

"No... not exactly. I did what I feel is right, and I don't regret my decision. But... I am afraid of how my father feels about it..."

Ringabel nodded slowly. "I see..."

"And..." Her words catching in her throat forced her to pause. She swallowed hard. Don't get emotional, Edea... "I've been kind of struggling with my beliefs lately. I always viewed everything in this world as white or black—good or bad... But when I turned traitor and joined Agnès on her journey, it was like my entire world flipped: what I believed to be white was truly pitch-black, and vice versa..." Getting caught up in her own monologue, her blue eyes flickered up to Ringabel's face. She couldn't read his expression; he just stared straight ahead, an odd appearance in his deep brown irises.

Her face flushed as she clamped her mouth shut. "I-I'm sorry..."

"For what, exactly?" His head twitched in her direction.

A laugh escaped her body in the form of a short, sharp breath from her nostrils. "My incoherent rambling..."

He chuckled, and the light-hearted sound seemed to lighten the weight on her shoulders. "Oh, it's not incoherent at all! I understand exactly what you mean."

"You do...?"

"Mmhmm," he responded with a smile and a nod. "With the events occurring around you, this black-and-white viewpoint of yours has suddenly been reversed. Makes you feel hopeless and confused, doesn't it?"

A warm sensation flowed through Edea's insides. She had bottled all this inside, believing no one could possibly understand her issues, her deeply-hidden feelings. And here Ringabel was, reading her as if she was an open book... "Y-yeah... That's exactly how I feel. How do you—?"

"How do I know?" he completed for her, and she flinched. With an amused smile, he explained, "Because, in a way, I believe we are a lot alike. I have no memory, regaining my memories feels to be a lost cause... And of course, I am confused at almost all times." He laughed at his own joke, but after listening to the emotional tale of his amnesia, a stinging sadness weighed down on Edea's heart rather than making the mood feel lighter. "Meanwhile, you feel as if everything you've known your entire life is wrong. Is that right?"

She nodded, letting his point sink into her brain, slowly grasping at the concept. "Right..."

"So you understand...?" The older male seemed nervous as he asked this, slowly directing his gaze to her.

Her gaze locked with his. "Yeah. It's like..."

"Neither of us know anything," they stated in unison.

They stared at each other as all fell silent, the only sound being the ocean waves lapping against the airship. This tranquility wasn't uncomfortable, though; in fact, they both felt at ease, now that their respective feelings had been understood.

A small smile made it's way onto Edea's face. "Why is it that we've never talked like this until now?"

"Well... we all share Agnès's burden of preventing all of Luxendarc from being conquered by darkness. By sharing our troubles with each other, we'd just add more weight to that..." Slowly—and almost reluctantly—he tore his gaze away from her face to look out ahead of him. "And personally, I— Whoa!" The mountains of the Harena region approached quickly from the front; he instinctively jerked the wheel to the right, narrowly missing the jagged rocks by a mere few inches.

With a surprised shriek, Edea stumbled forward. She closed her eyes, expecting to hit the wooden floor beneath her, but instead collided with a stable object. Puzzled, she opened her eyes to find Ringabel's face right before hers. She could feel her entire body heating up as his warm, shaky breaths wafted over her face. The steady pace of her heart sped up to match his when his left arm wrapped around her, steadying her as he regained control over the vessel.

"S-sorry about that..." he muttered. His brown eyes then met hers, and her heart stopped momentarily.

The moment became too much for her. With a grunt, Edea shoved him away. "You damned fool! Focus on what you're doing before you kill us both!"

Grasping the wheel to maintain his footing, Ringabel chuckled anxiously. "I-I apologize. It won't happen again, I promise you!"

Arms crossed, Edea leaned back against the steel lining of the airship once again, her head turned away from him. Her face felt like it was on fire. Why... am I feeling like this?

Ever since their first meeting at the ruins of Centro Keep, Edea had only seen Ringabel as nothing more than a traveling companion that she was stuck with. She didn't even see him as a friend; his womanizing ways and flirtatious personality irritated her beyond compare.

But this night she spent with him made her feel differently. After learning of their common issues, she would assume that they were now considered close friends, but the warm sensation that rushed from her heart throughout her entire body begged to differ. Did she see him a friend now? Or was she seeing him as more...?

Her feelings of uncertainty struck a chord with her, reminding her of the conversation she and Ringabel had just moments before. She let out a soft chuckle. Well, then again, I don't really know anything, do I...?

Dawn was starting to break over the horizon by the time Ringabel and Edea returned to Florem. They remained silent the whole walk back, uncertain of what to say. Every possible topic of conversation was already discussed aboard the Eschalot.

"I'm exhausted," Ringabel said with a deep yawn as they entered the neon-lit city. "Maybe we could rest for at least a few hours before Tiz and Agnès rise..."

"Hmm."

Silence overcame them once again. It wasn't broken until they were outside the inn.

"Edea..."

Her heart jumped in her chest when he spoke her name. She whipped her head around to face him. "Y-yes?"

He didn't answer right away—he wasn't even looking at her, gazing down at his black boots instead. She felt his hand slowly wrap around hers; her heart raced.

After inhaling through his nose, his warm brown eyes met her blue ones. With a sincere smile, he whispered, "Thank you, for listening... and understanding."

She glanced down, trying to politely avoid his gaze as her face began to heat up. "S-same to you, too..."

Silence.

Ringabel's grip on her hand gently tightened before letting go, and he turned to head through the inn's front door. But Edea didn't want him to go just yet.

"R-Ringabel, wait..."

The older blonde stopped, beginning to turn, but he froze when her lips connected with his cheek. It was only for a brief moment, but to Edea, it felt as if time stood still. She didn't know what her intentions were, but she tried not to question it too much. It just felt right.

Finally, she pulled away, smiling. Ringabel stood like a statue, brown eyes wide, face flushed—and she couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the flustered casanova.

"Well," she whispered, heading through the door, "good night."

"G-good night..."

Edea couldn't sleep.

Even though her migraine had completely dissipated, even though she felt at ease knowing that Ringabel could relate to her, even though she was exhausted from the short detour, her racing thoughts prevented her from falling into a peaceful slumber.

She thought the trip with Ringabel had put her mind at ease, but now that she laid in her bed in the dead silence of the night, more questions and ideas began to eat away at her.

The one thought that was most prominent, the one that made her insides ache, was Ringabel's amnesia. She was aware of the fact that Ringabel had no memory from the moment she met him, but she didn't fully comprehend the struggles one with lost memories faced until now. And now that she thought about it, she didn't understand how she could've been so blind to his sorrow and misery...

Edea sighed. I guess this is what Ringabel meant before, about how the four of us can't share our troubles. I feel as if I have the full weight of his burden on my shoulders now...

While the guilt from the realization overcame her, a small part of her was glad. She now carried a part of his burden, and he now carried a part of hers. If Tiz and Agnès had also felt the weight of Ringabel's personal sorrows, then she wouldn't have felt this way. She knew it was rather selfish, but the fact that she alone shared struggles with him made her feel like they had a special connection.

A special connection... Edea rolled onto her side, once again pondering her relationship with the older blonde. From the moment she met him, she had always seen him as nothing but a nuisance, but that night, she saw another side to him. Ringabel wasn't simply a man skilled in both combat and skirt-chasing; he was so much more complex. He had deeply-hidden emotions and struggles, just like any other human being—just like her.

Despite this, she still was uncertain of how to think of him. Was he a good friend now? Or could he be more, since she impulsively kissed him...?

She squeaked at the thought, covering her reddening face with her hands.

I can't let these thoughts consume me... I need to get some sleep.

Taking a slow breath to put herself at ease, she managed to push her worries to the back of her mind. Finally in a relaxed state, she fell into a peaceful slumber.

She didn't know how her father would react to her betrayal. She didn't know what their journey to awaken the crystals would have in store. She didn't know how Ringabel could regain his memories. She didn't know where she stood with Ringabel, or how their relationship would turn out to be in the future. She didn't know anything; there was no point in worrying about issues completely out of her own control.

Edea wasn't sure about a lot of things; only time would tell how everything was meant to be. But there was one thing she knew for sure: Ringabel had definitely earned a high-ranking spot on her "white as snow" list.

The End

A/N: I don't know how I feel about that ending... :/

And I know I messed up in one part toward the beginning. It had been a while since I finished the game when I started writing this, so I thought there was a dock near Florem. But after playing New Game+, I realized that there was only a dock in Ancheim, and the group had to travel through the Miasma Woods to get to Florem... But I realized this a bit too late, so I had to leave it.

Please, if anyone sees something that could be better with this story, please let me know in a review! And let me know your thoughts, too, while you're at it! Thank you for reading!

~Hayley

Note: Please refer to the notice at the bottom of my profile before reviewing.