Title: 001: Beginnings
Fandom: Tales of Vesperia
Characters: Yuri Lowell, Flynn Scifo, Captain Nylen, Adecor and Boccus.
Pairing: Probably, wouldn't count on it till later.
Rating: K?
Warning: Alternate Universe, Slight OOC-ness because of young Yuri?
Author: fluffyhojo

Disclaimer: Don't own anyone.

Author's Note #01: This one isn't a whole story again, but a one-shot. This will stay a one-shot, but I have other ideas in my head in the same story-line as this. I don't want to write everything from A-Z so I'll just post these as one-shots. If I find the time, there will probably be more with different time zones in this universe. I'll see.

I'm not sure if I'll post all of them here, because of problems that seem to be here on , but I'll definitely post them by Archive of your Own.

I hope you like it~

"And this is the trainingsaerea of the castle.", said a middle-aged man to the person following him not too far behind. The blond soldier nodded, eyes trailing over the giant place filled with knights of different brigades training either their swordsplay or archery, some even fought with their lances. This area was filled with shouts, sometimes laughter and steel clinging in the air. It was certainly a lively place.

The older knight turned around, watching the reaction of his younger charge and smiled.

"You have grown quite a bit since I have last seen you. I still remember you clinging to your fathers leg." He had a small melancholic smile when he said that, knowing that the father had died in battle shortly after, leaving a mother and her son all alone.

The young knight didn't think about the loss of his father right now, instead he tried to fight the embarrassed blush that was trying to spread across his face and still try to remain dignified. This had been many years ago, of course he would grow since than!

"It's nice to see you all grown up and now you even got transfered back to the castle. I have heard many good news from your brigade, Flynn."

"Thank you, Sir."

That was the only reply from the blond, nodding just slightly. The older man waved with his hand, laughing.

"So grown up already! I wish someone else would be a little more like that, but I have the feeling he never will."

This made the blond look questionally, but before he could even ask what he meaned a loud shout interrupted him.

"STOP!"

Nylen sighed, not even turning around to see what was wrong, since he already recognized Adecors and and Boccus' voices. This could just mean one thing. He rolled his eyes, sighing once more when he heard tiny footsteps running, followed by two pair of heavier ones. Flynn looked certainly confused by now, at the sudden moodchange and the ruckus that brought it.

Then there was a giggle.

The owner of the voice which belonged to that giggle, would probably tell you off because you called it one, but that didn't change the fact that it was just that.

Captain Nylen walked over to the corner, leading to one of the hallways that headed back into the castle, leaning against the wall with arms crossed over his chest. He obviously waited for something or someone to arrive and didn't need to wait long.

The first thing Flynn noticed was a small, black shadow running around the corner, before Captain Nylen reached out, took a grip on the black fabric of the collar and lifted the owner of the shirt up of the ground.

"Hey! Let go!"

A childish voice yelled, small arms flailing to get free from his grasp, the same with the legs. For a moment Flynn didn't even know if this child was a boy or a girl. The long dark hair moved with every movement it made and the angry glare that was send in Captain Nylens way looked more like a pout than anything else. Nylen wasn't in the least bit deterred by it and just looked down at the child with a silent smirk.

"What did you do this time, Yuri?"

He asked, putting the child down onto the ground, but still holding onto the back of the shirts collar.

"Nothing!"

The answer was way too fast to be true and Nylens lifted eyebrow told Flynn that he didn't believe the childs answer either. Flynn still wasn't quite sure about the childs gender. The look and name of the child were quite girly, but the behavior was way too boyish. Of course, Flynn knew some girls in the Lower Quarter that behaved more boyish too. This happened from growing up down there.

Not a moment later the owners of the two other pair of feet ran around the corner, stopping with clattering feet. They were still too fast to stop completely, so that the smaller one dashed into the taller one and both of them fell to the ground in a loud crash. Flynn didn't miss Nylens seemingly normal movement that put the child behind himself, as if to protect it from any lost armor.

The two bodies groaned, while they tried to untangle themselves and the child behind Nylens back giggled again. Yuri stopped it the moment Nylen looked behind his back, looking to the side and putting on a face of boredom, even if the lips still twitched every now and than.

Nylen rolled his eyes again, before looking back to the two soldiers still trying to untangle themselves. Both of them were wearing an orange uniform, identifing them as soldiers from the Schwann Brigade, as far as Flynn could remember.

"Adecor, Boccus... what is the meaning of this?"

As if his voice was the magic spell they needed, both of them untangled themselves in one go and stood to attention, still out of breath and out of order.

"Sir!"

Both yelled, saluting to the captain in sync.

"We were following his highness, Sir!"

"He left his history lesson again, I say!"

Captain Nylen turned around, looking at the child, that looked horribly caught.

His highness? Flynn looked down at the child himself, now finally knowing that, yes, this girly looking child was definitely a boy and seemingly a prince as well!

"What?"

The boy snapped, pouting again and crossing his arms.

"History is boring!"

Shaking his head, Nylen crossed his arms above his chest.

"What did I tell you about ditching your lessons?"

"That it isn't good for a heir to the throne to leave his lessons, if he wants to be a good emperor for his people." That sounded like a lecture he had heard way too often, if the monotone voice was saying anything. "I still don't understand why history is so important though..." There was the more childish tone again, far more fitting too.

Captain Nylen sighed again, shaking his head.

"You'll need these lessons to not do the same mistakes your ancestors did and to get an example for good choices. Anyway..."

He stopped, looking between Flynn, the boy and the two soldiers to and fro, before his gaze stopped at the dark haired boy again.

"Yuri, let me introduce your new guard to you." He pointed at Flynn, completely surprising the blond, because he himself hadn't known what to expect from being called here and carried on. "This is Flynn Scifo."

He still pointed at the blond, watching Yuris reaction at the sudden attention pose Flynn made when his name was called. The darkhaired prince reacted just like he had thought, narrowing his eyes. Nylen knwe that Yuri totally disliked 'stuck-up' soldiers and Flynn was a wonderful example for those.

"And this..." Now he pointed at the child standing right beside him. "...is one of the heirs to the thrown, prince Yuri Lowell."

"Your highness."

Flynn saluted to the child, having finally caught his inner balance again. Of course even a child could be a royal successor. Everyone was young once after all. It was more the behavior that had him caught off-guard.

How come that a prince would behave like a rowdy? He didn't even look like a prince with his plain white trowsers and normal looking black shirt. He was indeed clothed very plain.

"Your highness..." He repeated. "I'll be sure to keep your highness safe." He bowed, right hand above his heart and shoulders, back and legs completely straight - even while he bowed. Nylen could already see the prince losing his blank mask he had somehow managed to put on, turning into a scrowl that looked way too funny on such a young face. He could see these small shoulders starting to shake. It didn't take long for him to explode after this.

"I don't need a soldier on a stick! You can keep him!"

With that the young prince dashed past them, only stopping a few feet away to turn around and stuck his tongue out in Flynns direction, before continuing his dash away from them.

There was a sudden silence after that undignified behavior and then...

"Your highness!"

The two already forgotten soldiers yelled, pulling Flynn out of the trance he had fallen into at the prince's reaction, at least a little. He was seriously asking himself if he had done something wrong. Adecor and Boccus excused themselves, before running after their escaping prince, feeling a little sorry for the new guard. Their prince had managed to creep away a lot of other ones already, begging to get another job, preferable far away from the castle.

Flynn was still in a little bit of a trance, when they left, only leaving a laughing Captain Nylen behind.

Wait a moment... laughing?

The blond looked a little dazed when he saw Captain Nylen holding his stomach while seemingly laughing his head off. He clapped the blond on the shoulder when he noticed the poor boy staring at him, nearly killing Flynns balance with that gesture.

"Sorry, haha, but this was just too amusing. You should have seen your face!"

Nylen stopped laughing, only chuckling just slightly, he grinned and waved in the general direction Yuri had vanished to. "Don't worry, he always reacts like that to new guards." Well, not exactly, because the tongue had been new, even for Nylen, but otherwise it was pretty much normal.

"Like I said. He will be your charge."

He had a meaningful smile on his lips, when he saw Flynn stiffening at that, already looking like he wanted to follow after the prince himself. Such a dutiful captain Flynn was. Nylen was sure he would be able to warm up to the prince and protect him with his whole brigade. Yuri would definitely need it.

"But first I'll introduce you to the other two candidates. Follow me."

With that, Nylen turned around and walked in the direction of the library, Flynn following slowly behind.