I don't own Tales of Vesperia.
Fic Inspired by the song Second Chance by Shine Down.
Glass
By Mia the Water Alchemist
Tell my Mother, Tell my Father I've done the best I can. To make them realize that it's my life, I hope they Understand.
Sometimes Goodbye is a second chance.
Estelle gently ran her fingers over the window pane, carefully observing the scene outside. Two little children from the lower quarter were playing some silly game in the palace garden, no doubt soon to be disturbed by a palace guard asking them to leave. As she watched the two children frolic she couldn't help but smile at the children's innocence. To them, they were doing nothing wrong, just playing a simple game in what they assumed to be a public place.
The window she stood by was a small piece of her lavish room. Different shades of pink adorned furniture that if sold, could feed the lower quarter for months on end. The entire room appeared to be in immaculate condition, aside from a book on Kritiyan literature left discarded on a desk. The princess had decided to take a break from her assignment in favor of watching the children (Though, truth be told, she didn't feel much like doing work at this moment anyway).
The trivial assignment far from her memory, Estellise continued to watch the children. It seemed hard to grasp that she to was once that age, frolicking about among flowers, throwing caution to the wind. Of course, she never got a chance to do such 'Useless' activities (as they had been dubbed by many of the palace staff). She had never even gotten a chance to venture down to the garden because by the time she was of such an age that those around her deemed it 'safe', she had more important matters to deal with.
Like the succession for the imperial throne.
It was her destiny, everybody had claimed. She was made to be the empress, a chance that a person got in one out of a million lifetimes. Of course, it was a chance she would lose if she ever happened to slack off. These thoughts kept her on the right track for a majority of her sixteen years of life.
Even still, occasionally a flicker of doubt or regret flashed through her mind.
After all, what was so wrong about letting go once every while? What could be lost by a simple afternoon spent among the flowers? Or, what would be the harm in exploring Zaphias one day? Just a tiny look among the lower level would suffice. What kept her from exploring the world?
Ah, of course, it was always the glass. The window separating her and the world outside. Sometimes, as she looked out on the garden, she felt as if she were watching a play. The world was placed in front of her to see, to behold, but never to be touched or felt. That right was reserved to those without such privileges, to those who had less than she. It was when these thoughts came into her mind that she began to feel selfish for wanting more when she already had so much. After all, wasn't wealth what many people worked their entire lives to get?
But she never had to work for her wealth. She was born with it.
When she thought of this, her resolve to work increased. The sight of a guard coming to take the children out of the garden sent her spinning back towards her book, back to the knowledge she hoped to seek. As she opened the weather worn pages, she was reminded of the time she herself had ventured in the garden, unaware of the consequences.
Of course, she had been severely reprimanded, being told consistently that it was dangerous. That she could get hurt.
That's what always happened to those who went through the glass: They got hurt.