Tales of Vesperia – Empire in Unrest
This story is semi-AU, it retains most features of the Vesperia universe, yet I have altered quite a few things however its nothing like inputting new things, more like re-arranging things, you'll see as you read, this story may end up being rather lengthy, it is Yuri x Estelle, yet slow build-up this story isn't meant to focus on romance, I believe romance should be a factor of a story, not the entire story.
In this story, Yuri is a knight and has just been promoted to captain, when a certain event places him in a situation where he must look after Estelle Sidos Heurassein from the dangers of the Zaphian Empire.
Empire in Unrest: Prologue
The news in the capital of the Zaphian Empire spread like wildfire, every man and woman was intrigued by the rumour and rushed to a store to purchase a newspaper to verify what they'd heard. Yuri Lowell had been promoted to captain.
Yuri was a man with a mixed reputation. He was born a peasant in the lower quarter of Zaphias, and even with the abolishment of social class structure by emperor Charles the XII, people born with the rank of nobility still saw him as inferior, even if rank meant nothing in this day in age.
Yuri being a peasant was thus seen in one of two different lights, one of which was extremely positive, the other was stoutly negative. Those who were born in the lower quarter looked up to the man who retained the image of a common folk, unlike that of the other lower quarter captain Flynn Scifo.
The lower quarter believed Yuri to be a just knight who fought for good and only had the best interests of everyone at heart, whilst the upper quarter believed him to be a man who was trying to secretly destroy all power the upper class still retained despite no evidence of such existing.
The middle-class saw him neutrally and thus had the best outlook of all, they saw him as a knight who was just doing what was right, by their standards he was a good man, but at the same time he didn't act very knightly, not that it mattered what they thought.
In general, Yuri's promotion was bound to cause an uproar, but the knights could no longer hold back on his promotion, the man clearly deserved it. So as news spread, everybody had something to say, cheers were heard as were curses.
Later on more news hit Zaphias, in celebration of Yuri's promotion, a large ceremony would take place, where there would be a large banquet followed by dancing at the castle, this ceremony would attract many guests, from highly renowned knights to the two ruling factions of the empire, the council and royalty.
This was used as a way to not only encourage nobles to attend but to increase the political and social power of those involved, by putting such bait out, nobles would flock in to raise their connections, this in turn would give them a chance to see Yuri Lowell, the man they spoke badly of yet had never actually met.
Whilst this was all being decided the most important person had no idea of anything, yes Yuri Lowell hadn't even heard of his promotion yet, having been out of the capital for quite some time dealing with monster threats on the Desier continent after a request for back-up had been made. After receiving news that Yuri's squad had successfully dealt with the remainder of the monsters, headquarters promoted the man who was currently returning to Zaphias by boat.
Three days had passed since the news had been let known to the public, and Yuri still hadn't arrived, after all it takes at least ten days to get to Zaphias from Desier. On that very boat a large yawn erupted from the man in question, who was lazing out on the deck of the military ship, enjoying a little sleep under the scorching sun, that was until he was woke up by the sound of squawking gulls.
As the man opened his eyes slowly he spotted the avian pest, taunting him from the skies, he felt like using an Azure Edge on the creature, but he hadn't the energy nor the will to do so, it would be a hassle and would probably cause undue alert amongst the less experienced knights. "Hey!" shouted the black haired knight angrily causing a few rookies to jump in fright, "go squawk somewhere else, I'm trying to sleep!" Yuri demanded to the bird which didn't react, unlike a couple of rookies who ran off, thinking their leader was shouting at them.
*SQUAWK!* the bird shouted back after a long silence, Yuri's eye twitched in response as he pulled himself into an upright position. "Oh yeah you want some?" Yuri challenged the bird, slinging his sheath across deck, the bird showed no fear at this, angering the new captain.
Meanwhile a red haired woman spotted two rookie knights run passed her in a rush, feeling something was up she called out to the two "hey you two, why aren't you at your posts?" she asked sternly causing the two to go 'eek' in chorus.
"H-Hisca" one of them stammered, later averting his gaze when she glared at him. This woman was Yuri's second in command and had served with him ever since he was a private in the Niren Corps, when he was promoted she went with him, ever since she had served as his second in command and confidant in all issues, thus she had the respect of everybody in Yuri's squad.
"Well?" she queried, there was no need to ask the question again, she didn't have to wait long until one of them caved.
"L-Lieutenant Yuri began shouting angrily, and we kind of ran away" the rookie replied meekly, looking away from the woman, who put a hand to her head, seriously rookies these days.
"Was there any reason for his outburst?" Hisca asked the two, who shook their heads instantly, causing the woman to sigh. "What was he doing before the incident?" she asked and the two looked away sheepishly.
"L-Lieutenant Yuri told us to keep quiet about it" one of them responded, that sentence worried Hisca, she was sure Yuri was doing something out of line again.
Hisca tapping her foot smiled catching the two by surprise. "Ahem, gentlemen you will tell me what the Lieutenant was doing or I can make this very painful for the two of you" Hisca told them in the most cheerful voice she could conjure, and it worked, the two spilled the beans that Yuri was sleeping and not keeping watch.
"That idiot" Hisca mumbled before looking to the two, "ok you two are dismissed" she told them and ran towards the deck, if she didn't keep the man in line he'd do something stupid, it was obvious.
As she reached the door she heard her leader who she admired so much shouting angrily at something, this put her on edge as she drew her sword preparing for the worst case scenario. After a count of three she burst through the door, where she was blinded briefly by the sun.
"That does it, AZURE EDGE" the black haired knight shouted angrily and prepared to swing his sword to cause a large shockwave, completely forgetting that the bird was too high to even be touched by the attack.
Hisca now free of blinding saw nobody except her superior who was preparing to attack something as he looked up, she followed his line of sight to see a gull, the mere sight caused her to twitch angrily and just before Yuri could fire off his attack she ran to him and blocked his sword with her own, preventing him from firing off his attack.
The man feeling this turned around angrily to punish the person who dared to oppose him, only to see his second in command glaring at him angrily, causing all anger to dissipate. Hisca smirked at the look on Yuri's face and looked up to the bird, "a little birdie told me that you were sleeping on deck this entire time" Hisca revealed, causing Yuri to sweat.
"T-the bird told you?" Yuri asked stupidly, Hisca could seriously laugh if she wasn't so angry.
"No, two rookies did in fact, but that's beside the point Lieutenant, as our leader you must set an example for these people, not spend your day sleeping on deck without a care in the world, what if we were attacked?" Hisca lectured her superior.
"If we were attacked I would have dealt with it" Yuri replied, and to be honest Hisca had no doubt that he would, but she couldn't let him off that easily, Yuri on the other hand spotted Hisca's facial expression change and smirked, he knew she believed him.
"What if it was someone like Captain Flynn, would you deal with it then?" she asked.
Grimacing slightly, Yuri looked away. "Flynn's a knight too he wouldn't attack us, don't play dirty Hisca" Yuri responded sounding annoyed, everybody knew only Flynn had ever outclassed Yuri.
Hisca let herself smile a little bit knowing she had achieved victory. "Well enough of this, just make sure you don't do it again Lieutenant, I can't cover for you if I'm not around to see what the problem is" and with that Hisca led back on the deck, if anything you'd think she was the commanding officer by how she spoke with Yuri.
"Hey, shouldn't you be on duty right now?" Yuri asked his second in command, who looked up at him ever so slightly.
"My shift is finished, but I need to keep an eye on you" Hisca replied smiling before she led back and closed her eyes, Yuri's eye twitched in frustration but he did nothing, he appreciated Hisca's help despite how annoying it could be, he knew if she hadn't covered for him he'd never be the rank he currently is, not that he was expecting to be promoted any time soon.
The rest of the journey was rather uneventful, and after a few more days the newly promoted officer arrived in Zaphias with his squad all of which except Hisca split-up with him, as the duo walked through the gates of the middle quarter he was met with many stares which caught him slightly off-guard, he wasn't used to getting to much attention.
"Hisca why are they all staring at us?" he asked his second in command as they walked through the middle quarter, everywhere they went multiple pairs of eyes tracked them, Yuri felt like he should use his sword to deal with the problem but after quick deliberation he decided against it.
"How would I know?" she asked as she put a hand to her chin, "but if I had to guess I'd say that this has something to do with you Lieutenant" Hisca concluded with a nod.
Yuri didn't respond, if anything she had probably hit the nail on the head. "We're off duty right now, no need to call me Lieutenant, I bet it annoys you to call me that, after all we both served under Captain Niren as privates, back then I was sure I'd be calling you Lieutenant not the other way around" Yuri told her as he continued walking forward, not meeting anyone's eyes.
Feeling happy at his praise she blushed slightly and looked away over towards a nearby store where she saw an article in the window, whilst she couldn't read it from her current distance she could clearly see the figure of her commanding officer on the front. Interested, Hisca walked over to the store, where the headline "Lowell makes Captain!" met her eyes, not believing what she saw, Hisca began to blink, but the headline remained, as she turned to call Yuri over she didn't see him. "Where could he have gone, that stupid Yuri" Hisca thought in frustration, however instead of chasing after the man she decided to enter the store and pick up an article, she needed to hear about this for herself.
Meanwhile Yuri had walked off, not noticing that Hisca had disappeared, mainly due to her short stature, he had to report in to Commandant Alexei himself at the castle where the Emperor and the rest of the royal family resided, as well as some high ranked knights like Flynn. "I wonder if Repede is better" Yuri mumbled, remembering his most loyal friend who was rather ill when he got the news of the incidents in Desier, because of that he left Repede with Flynn.
After some walking, he looked to his side to see nothing, he guessed Hisca walked off somewhere, not that he minded, he wasn't strict like some other leaders, namely Cumore and Felix who were both captain ranked.
After a long trek up the giant stairs leading to the royal (upper) quarter Yuri made his way to the castle, he would have saved himself the trouble and took the royal quarter entrance but the 'nobles' didn't like him and wouldn't allow him to use the gate.
Making his way to the castle Yuri spotted a blue creature running towards him happily, knowing what it was instantly Yuri knelt down and let the creature tackle right into him, *Rrrufff!* the creature barked happily.
"Hey Repede long time no see" Yuri exclaimed as he pet him, Repede didn't allow many people to pet him but Yuri was one of the select few that the battle-experienced dog allowed to do so, mainly because Yuri was his owner and best friend.
It wasn't long until Yuri spotted another figure coming towards him, however this one walked towards him slowly, it was the other person Yuri classified as a best friend, that's right, it was Flynn Scifo captain of the fourth brigade. "I see you're back in one piece Yuri, how've you been?" Flynn asked with a smile on his face as he stood in front of the crouching Yuri.
"Oh I've been just fine, I mean what's better than spending a month or so killing monsters on the Desier continent?" Yuri replied sarcastically with a grin. "Enough about me though, how is life as a captain doing for you, bet you have all kinds of duties that a lowly Lieutenant like me wouldn't dream of" Yuri asked, but there was no malice, instead it was just a playful jab at Flynn who always seemed so proud of his rank.
"Lieutenant?" Flynn queried as he looked down at Repede, who looked back with his head to the side. Noticing Yuri's confusion Flynn laughed, "I guess you don't know yet" Flynn deduced.
"Heard what?" Yuri asked in confusion, at the exact same time Hisca appeared at the top of the stairs to the Royal Quarter.
"Ah there's Hisca" Flynn ignored Yuri and waved to the woman, who sprinted over to them.
Yuri looked over to a panting Hisca and turned back to Flynn, "heard what?" he asked again.
Flynn ignoring Yuri for fun turned to Hisca. "Ah Hisca, I see your back in one piece too, I hope Yuri didn't make things too hard for you out there" he joked, annoying Yuri even further.
"Oh no, not at all" Hisca replied before saluting her superior. Then she turned to Yuri and pulled out a newspaper article. "You may want to read this Yuri" Hisca told the man with urgency and excitement in her voice, causing Flynn to smile slightly.
"Ah that article, it's been stirring up a lot of attention in Zaphias since it came out, well congratulations Yuri" Flynn mused out loud, confusing the black haired knight.
"Congratulations?" Yuri queried as he took the article from his second in command and read the headline, "Lowell makes Captain!" his eyes widened instantly. "Me a captain?" he asked incredulously to the newspaper, probably forgetting that you're supposed to read them to get the information.
"Yup" Flynn said happily, "As of around a week ago, news of your exploits in Desier hit Zaphias, and they deemed you worthy of a promotion, congratulations" he said feeling proud of his childhood friend.
"Well done Lieu- I mean Captain" Hisca chimed in, feeling the same pride that Flynn felt.
"Thanks" Yuri replied and handed the paper back to Hisca before getting into a standing position again, "Just a bit further until we can change things right Flynn?" Yuri asked the blonde haired captain, confusing his second in command.
Flynn nodded in reply, and smiled even further, there was just one more thing he wanted to tell his friend. "I hope you enjoy promotion ceremonies" Flynn taunted, and Yuri's eyes widened in fear.
Yuri hated ceremonies.
(End of Chapter)
Ok this was just the prologue, a little cheery start before I go all serious on you all, a calm before a massive storm I suppose.
Ok in this fiction there are some changes like I mentioned, so I'll get to the chase, the Knights and the Royal Guard are separate, Felix is a captain an OC and a very important one, the Knights have divisions, Yuri will be the sixth captain, the Emperor is still alive and is called Charles (seems to be a good royal name), the noble system is abolished, but titles still remain, they cling to status of their houses, the country still isn't that fair to the poor, there is a mixed rule of parliamentary and royalist, you'll see later on, finally the guilds are a group that works with the Knights, or more like Co-Exist, you'll see a lot more later, this is just so you know.
I hope you enjoyed the Prologue, btw Hisca or Hisuka is the flat-chested red haired knight from First Strike, she seemed to have a better relationship with Yuri than Chastel, she is an important character in this but don't worry it is Yuri x Estelle.
Finally I have plans for all the characters, so no need to worry, in general I'd love to hear your opinions on the fiction so far, and I'd love to talk with those who want to have discussions.
-Aquilon