~*Even If the Entire World*~

"Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend."

~*X*~

Trying and failing to stifle a yawn, Rita Mordio hunched her shoulders and glared heatedly at the glowing Holo-Screen in front of her. Her eyes were starting to hurt as she forced herself to take in every digit, record every periodic interval, notice any and all changes in the display before her. The formula continued to scroll by at a furious pace, and the Genius Mage of Aspio stubbornly made her tired brain accept the information she was seeing.

In front of her sat Dein Nomos, the Imperial Sword of Succession. With this, Estelle or Ioder could become Empress or Emperor, respectively. It had been used by Duke, Yuri, and countless members of the Royal Family since before anyone in the Empire could remember. And, damn it if it wasn't filled with the most fascinating formulas she had ever clapped eyes upon.

But still. She was pretty tired, both physically and mentally. She had pulled out a small red note book she always kept on her, and it was quickly filling itself up with the untidy scrawl of a mess she called her handwriting. No one had a prayer of reading her feverish notes or understanding the strange diagrams except for her.

She was so engrossed in her work, flipping between formulas and readings and graphs that were making her head spin, that she almost called up a magic circle to begin casting Fireball when Estelle hesitantly called her name.

Looking up from jotting a hypothesis of hers, Rita blinked inquisitively at the young princess across from her. "Did you say something?"

Estelle's clasped hands were folded in her lap, as they had been for the past few hours as she patiently waited for her friend to come up with a solution for her to leave the castle safely. Alexei's torture had left dark rings beneath her blue eyes…or maybe she was just sleepy, too. "You look so tired, Rita. Do you want to go to bed?"

The offer was tempting, but she shrugged it off. "No time for that…I have to come up with a way to balance your power…"

"But Rita—"

"I'm fine," interrupted the mage, shaking her head to clear the gathering fog from the corners of her mind. She didn't even want to imagine what a messed up formula could do to poor Estelle…she had never checked and double-checked and triple-checked a formula more times than now.

Estelle looked at her with clear anxiety on her face. "Tell me when you're ready to at least take a break! You must be exhausted."

"I will," Rita promised, promptly resuming her research. She was beginning to become absolutely sick of the white room they were in. One of the angel statues—the fourth one she believed—that had been necessary to unlock the door that had led to Alexei and Estelle was in here, with its carved ivory wings, glowing blastia and cryptic message. However, they were in a rather deserted wing of the castle and the blessing of privacy was worth the cost of an interesting interior design. The old man, Raven, had presumably gone to the prison cells down the hall to recover from the slap on the head Estelle had given him earlier.

She smirked at the memory.

Yuri had been by earlier to check on them, but that had been over three hours ago. Even Karol had gone off to bed, coming down to bid the pair good night. Judith was nowhere to be seen, and Repede was with Yuri most likely. He was like the vigilante's big furry shadow.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you."

Rita paused, halfway through a particularly curly glyph. "What do you mean?"

Estelle's head was lowered, and she seemed pretty sad. "When Alexei made me fight you, I'm sorry if I hurt you."

"That? It was nothing." In truth it had hurt like hell, but she could handle it. Yuri had rushed over soon enough to get the princess off of her…the sword strike had been mostly blocked anyway. The memory of Estelle's blank and glassy eyes made her endeavor to find a solution faster. "Why are you worrying about that anyway?" She glanced at her companion through the Holo-Screen she had called up.

"Because…" Estelle took a deep breath and said nothing more. Rita didn't try to pursue the topic, but when the princess lifted her gaze and theirs connected, she smiled at her before resuming her work.

"Do you…do you think everyone knows about what happened to me?" Estelle murmured following a span of several minutes' worth of silence.

Putting her pen down, Rita sighed. "It's possible," she said neutrally. "But also, exactly what happened with Alexei might still be unclear with the Imperial Knights and the Council." In her opinion, Yuri had probably gone to Flynn and told him about what had happened. Ioder had already put two and two together and had gathered that his relative was being used for her power by Alexei…but she wanted to try and reassure Estelle at least a little bit.

Ohh that bastard Alexei was going to pay…! She got so mad just thinking about that smug snake!

"So…if they figure out I'm a poison to the world…" Estelle wrung her hands. "Do you think they'll—"

"I won't let them. I'll roast them alive before anybody lays a finger on you!"

She gaped openly at the mage. "Rita…"

"We didn't go through monsters, Zagi, the Heracles and frozen hell just to let those jerks kill you." Rita growled low in her throat, but through an effort of will, she regained her composure somewhat. "It might not even come to that. Try not to sit around thinking of all the 'what ifs', okay?"

"B-But you all couldn't fight the entire world! I'd not let you! I'd—" Estelle started, but the mage cut her off.

"Even if the entire world turned against you, I'd be right here. I mean…" Rita dismissed the Holo-Screen and waited for the sparkling digital display to fade completely before going on. "You saved me back in Heliord, right? And aren't we friends?"

She giggled lightly. "Of course we are."

"That's what friends do. We stick by each other." Or at least that was what Yuri said, and he seemed like a good example to go off of. Rita pinched the bridge of her nose and shut her eyes tight, blowing a frustrated sigh. "I really didn't want it to come to this, but I can't think of anything else…"

Estelle appeared to wait a bit warily for what the mage was hinting at. "Rita…?"

"The old man, you know he has a blastia heart, don't you? It's powered by his own body's life force. I think, after studying him, I can do the same for you regarding your power as a Child of the Full Moon."

"Would that mean I could leave the castle?" She asked hopefully, blue eyes lighting up with a sort of desperate hope.

Oh, God, she'd have to break a bit of that precious hope now. "You could," Rita replied slowly, cautiously. "However…if you ever used any arte, it would use your own life force. Estelle, do you understand me?" She stared at her friend hard. "Using your healing artes would drain from your own life force. Over exerting yourself could be disastrous."

One gloved hand gradually moved up to cover her mouth. "Y-Y-You mean…"

"Yeah." She looked away. "I could try this formula, if you want. I'm reasonably certain it'll succeed, but…you wouldn't be going with us to fight Alexei."

"O-Oh…" Estelle bit her lip and thought hard about her words, brows furrowing.

Rita had never felt so utterly worthless in her life. If only she had been able to work out another way, but there was no other way. Years of research could not have prepared her for a situation like this. She knew that technically this counted as a marvelous solution, but she still felt like a moron.

But there was something inside of her, coiled and dark, that was happily purring away at the thought of Estelle safe in the castle with Flynn and his brigade, far from Alexei and his cruel smile.

"Okay, Rita."

"I can do it?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Alright, sit still for just a minute." Rita reopened her Holo-Screen and repositioned Dein Nomos for good measure. She ran through a series of different statistics in her head before rapidly typing down a complicated wall of text. Her finger paused over the button that would set the whole thing rolling. Estelle's data flashed past in glowing bolded letters. "I'm sorry. I can't think of a better way."

"Rita, you've already done so much for me." There was sincerity in every word, the same sincerity that had reached past the mage's protective barrier of thorns and had touched her heart. "Please don't apologize."

She pressed the button and held her breath as a sapphire light spun and whirled around Estellise in a complex and intricate pattern. Again and again it revolved, until at last it came to a stop and spread out and out and out before disappearing altogether with a glimmer. Rita scanned the screen and grinned triumphantly. The readings were good, better than she had hoped for, even.

"Did it work?" Estelle leaned forward, trying to understand what the mage was reading.

Collapsing the Holo-Screen in on itself, Rita leaned back on her hands. "It worked."

"Rita!" The princess happily jumped at her startled friend and held her in a tight embrace, making the genius mage blush intensely. "You did it!"

"Th-That was nothing…!" Rita normally would have pulled out of any hug and punched the culprit fiercely, but this was Estelle, and as always her natural violent tensions remained calm. Almost as if they were wild creatures being lulled into lethargy by a stream of affectionate pats.

Pulling back but still sitting close by her side, Estelle continued to smile. "I can't thank you enough, Rita."

"But you can't use your artes without—"

The princess merely shook her head, drawing the stammering mage to a halt. "But I can still live a normal life. Without you, I'd not have a life at all. You, and Yuri, and the rest of Brave Vesperia…I owe you all my life."

"Well I owed you mine before, so we're even. We don't owe each other anything," Rita scoffed, looking to the left. Estelle wasn't fooled by her friend's dismissive behavior, though. She took both of the mage's hands in her own and squeezed them gently but warmly.

"Rita, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you."

Rita could feel her face heating up, but when she spoke, her voice was relatively even. She met the princess's gaze. "You're welcome."

Estelle closed her eyes, head slightly bowed, and laughed softly, still smiling. "Rita," she said quietly. "My sister."

She felt her own eyes widen. "Estelle…!" For some reason that single word, sister, made her feel all sorts of things she had heard about but didn't feel often. But she knew the golden emotion she couldn't quite name was connected to the princess who was her dearest friend in the entire world.

Releasing her, Estelle helped to gather the things that had ended up strewn haphazardly around the room. Rita tucked her note book away and picked up Dein Nomos, which was way heavier than she had expected. Still, without too much difficulty, she managed to hold it at a balanced angle against her shoulder. "It's late, let's get some sleep. I think you could really use a good rest, Estelle."

Giggling, Estelle responded with, "I think you could too," when her companion let out an immense yawn. "There's an empty room near mine if you want, Rita."

"Sure. Thanks."

And with that, mage and princess departed down the corridor, smiling and laughing, the most unlikely of friends.

Author's Note: This was written at a ridiculously late point at night (early morning?) so sorry if it outright sucks. I've actually not beaten Vesperia yet, I'm right at the part after the gang saves Estelle and I decided to write a fic about it. It's also my first Vesperia fiction! Reviews are appreciated at any rate.