This is a collection of short stories of the Tales of Vesperia cast, their world, journey together and little moments of happiness or sadness. Small ideas that are too complicated for one picture yet too short for a "real" one-shot. Personally I love reading short fanfic collections, so I thought I'd stop abandoning these ideas and instead write them out.

If there's a pairing in the fic, I'll mention it in that chapter, otherwise there's none. Same goes for spoilers.

All characters and swords mentioned (c) Namco Bandai.

This one somewhat spoils stuff until you've landed on the Heracles.

"Here."
WHOOM THUNK

"Huh? A sword?" Raven asked, looking at the weapon now stuck in the ground in front of him that Yuri had thrown.

"Yeah. I want to practice fighting against someone with a sword", Yuri explained. He had his Second Star in hand.

"…and what's old Raven got to do with it?"

"You're my sparring partner of course", the long-haired man answered, clearly having thought it was obvious. "Estelle's already too tired after today; I don't want her to overexert herself. She's improved, but she's still way below my level anyway, though, so it wouldn't be much use to me. You're the only other who can use swords."

"Karol sometimes uses swords."

Yuri snorted. "It's not the same. His fighting style's way different from regular fencing. C'mon, pick up the sword.

Raven still didn't think it was a good idea. He hadn't exactly expected to get into a fight when leaving camp when Yuri said he had something important. "Hey. I may carry a blade…" - he took out his knife - "but this ain't a sword. " He spun the small, agile weapon and sheathed it. "I ain't a swordsman but an archer."

Yuri wasn't convinced. "Old man, I've seen you fight with a sword, and I want to try it again. Stop the denial and pick up the damn thing." He was starting to get upset. "I'm going to count from three and then I'll attack, you got the sword or not. Three…" Yuri started and took a stance.

Raven's eyes flew open. "Eeh?! What---" "Two…" "---ah, oi, wait-!" "One!" Yuri finished the count and dashed forward. He prepared a downward slash and upon reaching Raven he determinedly brought his weapon down.

CLASH

Raven blocked with the steel sword Yuri had thrown him. 'Ugh… good choice, I couldn't have blocked that with just my knife…' the older man thought, and noticed Yuri grinning mischievously. Raven moved his blade to his left just in time to block the youth's next blow.

Yuri kept on the offense, slashing and thrusting at his sparring companion. Raven blocked and evaded, and his moves started getting more subtle, flowing, natural. At times, it looked like he was dancing as he dodged a blow and prepared to block the next.

Almost instinctively, Raven then saw his chance and slashed at Yuri before he could think about it. Yuri's eyes widened in surprise, but he managed to stop the blow with his Second Star on the last second. The older man noticed how his fighter's instincts had taken over, and he drew back.

The men looked at each other for a while; neither was out of breath yet. Yuri smiled. "Why'd you stop? That was great", he asked.

"You crazy kid…" Raven sighed, and took a stance.

***

Later at their camp for the night, Karol noticed two familiar figures coming from a distance. He rose up from his seat on an old, dry, fallen tree and ran towards the men. "Yuri! Raven! Where have you… Ah! You're all battered! What happened?!" the guild leader shouted.

"Nah, nothing special. Yuri here just had to have his way again." They got close to the camp, and Raven scratched the back of his head. "Ahh I'm goin' to sleep. You kids come soon too", he said and headed to the men's tent. Karol and Yuri waved him off and went to the campfire, where Judith was keeping lookout. Yuri took Karol's tree seat and left the boy standing. "Where were you, Yuri?" Karol asked again, not satisfied with what Raven had said. "Sword practice".

Judith smiled, curious. "Sword practice with an archer?"

Yuri looked into the tents' direction. "With a swordsman at heart."