Ch. III Prison Break, Again.

AN: Thank you for continuing to read my story. This is honestly the furthest I've gotten through one.

Yuri was making his way to the upper quarter with Repede, just after that thief took the core. The Blastia just flooded the lower quarter again, well again from his perspective. Making his way in after using the tried and true act of knocking out the two guards with ballistic pebbles. Keeping a third in hope of keeping the Aque Blastia core from leaving Zaphias. He was still planning to get arrested, but he had to make it seem believable. He would escape through Raven and pick up Estelle. Easy peasy.

Making his way to the house Repede had indicated held the thief, he went around to the side window, and crawled in. Making his way up the fancy stairs to the far right of the room. He waited for Dedechi to raise his ill-gotten prize, before throwing the pebble as Repede rushed him. He panicked dropping the core, and ran for it the coward. He left everything else. The gald for paying him to fix the blastia, the Aque Blastia core, and a scrap of cloth?

"Nice, Repede now we can track him when we need to," a grin upon his face as he picked up the core and put it in the bag before handing it to Repede who easily grabbed it in his mouth.

Heading outside to chase the false mage, he was met with Tweedle A and Tweedle B of the Knights Order, Adecor, and Bocco. He had honestly forgotten about them. Adecor was a skinny man a little smaller than him in just about every physical way. Boccos he was short barely reaching his waist, he used a spear, with a shield on his armored frame. Adecor used a classic board and blade though he wasn't very good at it.

"Halt, Yuri Lowell!" Tweedle A yelled. Having no patience Yuri replied.

"Can we simply get this over with I have places to be," his tone and face in complete deadpan. Yeah he had Palaces to be in.

"How dare you!?" Tweedle B roared outraged by his lack of attention to them.

"I dare say we're gonna take you down, Lowell!"

"Then bring it!" Annoyed by how slow they were being. He unsheathed his blade and prepared for battle, he had kept using the compact because he couldn't explain how he had gotten a new blade. Adecor roared and lunged at him, he spun out of the way hitting Adecor in the back sending him flying. Shunting Boccos spear to the side he kick the shorter man in the chest, grabbed and broke the spear in the same moment. Turning back to the man now charging at him, he jumped on Tweedle A's blade, and gave him a solid boot to the head taking him out. Boccos tried to hit him with an arte but he simply shot an azure edge into his small body and sent him flying unconscious in front of one Alexander Cumore.

"Cumore," Yuri growled out almost unconsciously. An effeminate man with long purple hair and outrageous purple armour the man set the standard of stuck up noble. The evil spoiled man had caused a lot of people pain before being put down.

"As expected of Schwan Brigade the common rabble, unable to even take down a common swordsman," Cumore said his tone oozing with condescension.

"Captain Cumore!" Boccos said shocked by the man's presence.

"W-We apologize for this unsightly display," Adecor said trying to appease the man. Yuri was soon surrounded by Cumore's men. As everyone was distracted he motioned for Repede to run with the bag.

"Ha ha, Abandoned by his faithful pooch how the mighty has fallen," Boccos laughed. Just for that he's getting an extra beating next time they meet in battle.

"That does it," Yuri sighed out dropping his blade, the knights rushed him to arrest him with a bit of brutality tacked on.

_ToV:NTNW_

Waking up in his comfy palace prison cell, listening to Raven's inane stories telling knight about how a thief who had managed to escape with a real treasure while the current one was a fake. The guard got tired of being taken for a fool and left.

"Hey neighbor, you can't possibly still be sleeping right," Raven called out after a moment. Getting up Yuri walked over to the bars before leaning against them.

"Nice story, you got any other fake ones to tell," Yuri baited the man.

"There not fake, there true facts I got people all over the world diggin up dirt for me," Raven replied almost sounding offended. "Come on ask me any question I'll answer it."

"How about a way to get out of here?" Yuri asked without hesitation.

"I heard that they'll let you out in ten days if you keep your trap shut," Raven supplied.

"The lower quarter will be an aquarium by then," sounding annoyed as possible.

"Oh, right I heard about," Raven said.

"Wonder how everyone is doing down there?" Yuri wondered. He knew they were fine but he needed to play this as perfectly as possible he needed that key!

"Sorry neighbor, that's one piece of dirt I don't have," he at least sounded apologetic

"Damn it that damn creep Dedechi's fault," he growled in legitimate irritation.

"Dedechi?" Raven asked puzzled, "Who's that?"

"Just some creep who was using a famous mage's name, too bad for him I knew the mage personally, and found out his real name," Yuri sighed he'll probably have to chase that two-bit thiefs ass down just to appease Rita.

"Who was he impersonating?" Raven asked quite curiously.

"Mordio the famous genius mage from Aspio," Yuri answered.

"Not to smart was he?" Raven chuckled, having heard of the mage's fiery temperament.

"No, no he wasn't," Yuri said just as amused. *groan, clang* A man with silver hair covered in red commandant armor walked through. "Alexei," he growled in his mind. The man that had nearly destroyed the world. He walked over to Raven's cell and opened it.

"Get out," Alexei commanded.

"Aw just as it was getting good," Raven complained, but obliged as they walked past his cell Raven suddenly knelt down and threw a key at him before whispering, "beneath the statue of the goddess."

"Hurry up," Alexei spoke again. Yuri nodded to Raven as he stood up.

"All right, All right."

As they walked out Yuri waited an hour before standing up and opening his cell with the key. Time to go get Estelle. He walked over to the sleeping guard to pick his pockets before getting his stuff. Walking up the stairs he knew immediately where to wait for Estelle. Heading out using years of sneaking past monsters and humans alike he snuck through the palace till he was where he needed to be.

There she was in her dress that was more suited for ballroom dances than running from the Imperial guards, and fighting. Pink hair that seem to float and kind green eyes.

"I need to warn Flynn," the young woman said. Estelle. Looks like he was just a bit late but still right on time. As the knights prepared to advance, he turned the corner and sent them flying with azure edge.

"Flynn!" Turning towards him she step back in shock, "your not Flynn."

"Oi you said you need to tell Flynn something right? You a friend of his?" She nodded a little wary. "Than I'll consider this a favor to him."

"A favor?" Estelle said completely confused. Two more knights made their way in shouting something about intruder. Turning towards her he answered.

"Later," turning towards his attackers he easily dodge between the two and taking them both down with a single strike.

Turning towards her, she froze just as she was lifting a pot to throw at him.

"You were going to throw that at me weren't you."

"Nooo?" She answered with a question.

"Sigh, I'm Yuri Lowell," giving his name.

"Oh your Flynn's friend!?" she asked excitedly before putting down the pot. Estelle from his time would of thrown it at him anyway, simply for being a stranger, then again he was and intruder in the castle..

"Yeah you could say that, though it's been awhile since I've last seen him." More like a brother really. "So, why were those guards chasing you. Did you do something you shouldn't have."

Estelle was a princess, one of the two royal candidates for the throne. Estelle was trying to leave the palace of safety. See the problem here they can't just have her gallivanting around the world for no good reason. Though we had done a good job of allowing her to do just that back when she was naive little princess. Later on after she had refuse the role of empress the council still wanted her stay around even after she had escaped again they had kept sending people after her to try and bring her back. Though she had made sure to keep in contact with Ioder, and offer her opinions and ideas, and with her connecting to our guild made sure he had been kept up to date on the world's outgoings.

"I guess you could say that, but I just have to find Flynn," Estelle was getting her determined face on that meant nothing was going to stop her, she was going to do what she said she was going to do. Options so many options: he could inform her of Flynn's departure, he could let her find out herself. Estelle would come with him either way to make sure Flynn was alright. One way led to the impossible to kill Zagi, he could go find him and then kill him now but Estelle would see, and while Zagi was a crazy psychopath, just upright killing the bastard would lead to more problems than solutions. The problem came with Zagi's fixation with him, he might be able to avoid that by informing Estelle. Well either way they would eventually kill him just a matter of deciding when.

"Sorry to inform you kiddo, but Flynn's already making his way to Halure on his pilgrimage across the land piling up good deeds," Yuri told her.

"No, I was too late," She practically wilted.

"So, what are you going to do I'm sure you can catch up with him if you hurry," Yuri said. She shook her head before.

"But, it's dangerous to go beyond the barrier," she said. Making sure she could hear him mutter.

"I could do it as favor to Flynn and I still need to find that thief and pickup Rita," he whispered.

"What?" Estelle had tilted her head and was looking at like a clueless puppy, "What do you mean?"

"I have business beyond the barrier, I could escort you as far as Flynn, that and Flynn would murder me seven way to sunday if you got hurt," hell he would let him if she did.

"Could he really?" She asked.

"What? Murder me seven ways to Sunday? Probably but he's never tried."

"Will you escort me to Flynn?"

"I offered didn't I," he snarked.

"Thank you so much!" she seemed to be vibrating in place.

"But first things first, different clothes, and more supplies. Those are not meant for the road at all," pointing at her dress.

"Really?" She seemed surprised.

"Yep."

"Then I guess we should head to my room, this way," and she was rushing off again.

"Hey, wait." Only his immense familiarity with the castle kept him from losing her, thankfully they reached their destination without trouble.

"I'll wait outside you go get dressed for the road, and gather any supplies you have," he advised. She nodded.

"Thank you for your help," he just nodded good naturally. *shut* She left the blade out again. He made to reach for it. The door opened. Estelle peaked out grabbed the sword before saying.

"Flynn told me to be careful if I ever met you." He just nodded. "Also, What clothes are good for the road?" That was new she hadn't asked that before.

"Good. Your thinking, pants, boots, and a tunic if you got one. A cloak if you have one too."

Waiting for Estelle to get done dressing up for the road. There was an explosion and smoke covered the other side of the corridor, he watched as red eyes, and Zagi of course, run and jump out a window. He heard shouting shortly after.

Creak, Estelle had come out turning to her she was a different outfit then the first time, seems she took his advice to heart. She was dressed in a simple white tunic with light golden embroidery, black pants that hugged her figure, not quite the durable type most peasants had but it will do. On her feet were white shoes, the shoes were meant for long walks but not quite travel. They would do until Deidon Hold there he could buy her better supplies.

"What's going on?" surprise was evident in her voice.

"Looks like a group of assassins, was that what you were trying to warn Flynn about?" Boredom evident in his tone and posture, "Guess we better get a move on don't want to be associated with them, or miss Flynn." Taking a moment he smiled at her, " By the way you look nice, let's go."

"Just a moment I forgot to give you my name it's Estellise Sidos Heurassein," Estelle was blushing hard, "Also, where to?"

"Nice to meet you, and beneath the statue of the goddess."

Making their way through the castle corridors, avoiding guards and servants, and knocking them out when necessary. They finally made it to the crystalyne statue holding a fake crystal Dein Nomos.

"Is there something special about this statue," Estelle asked after a moment.

"Yeah there's a secret passage under it into the sewers and out into the upper quarter," Yuri answered, before he grabbed the statue and pulled it off it's small hole. He started to climb down the hatch.

"I never knew something like this existed," Estelle expressing her surprise, before following.

"Careful it slippery, and dark," Yuri cautioned. When they reached the bottom there was enough lantern light to see the ratwiggles small little balls of fur with rat tails. Weak Monsters.

"Think you can handle them?" He asked Estelle. "Facing monsters are going to be a staple of our journey so being able to face them is a must."

"Will you help me?" She asked.

"Only if you need it, if I were to help I would go through them like a 900 degree greatsword through butter," he explained. "This is helping you a lot more than me. These are weak enemies so take time to figure them out and manipulate any new artes and spells that have been floating in your head, don't worry the monsters won't be able to really hurt you while I'm here."

She nodded but looked worried and doubtful.

"Sigh, fine," turning towards a poor defenseless monster he kicked it and sent it flying across the entire sewers at feverous speed before it smacked into a wall, Estelle winced at the sound of it bones turning to powder upon impact. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah," she nodded absent mindedly. She slowly approached a small group after taking a moment to recover. She handled it less then stellarly taking hits that were embarrassing to watch, but necessary for her to learn, guiding her through it he could honestly say she wasn't a genius but she paid attention to his critiques to real battle situations, footwork, and awareness. She was a hard worker that worked better with some theory and ideas on what was wrong with her. He had to step in once, but after that she seemed determined not to need his help for the rest of the area. The sewers had become a place to foster real growth in Estelle as a fighter, she had become more relaxed with the idea of combat and realized she needed to grow. That would do skill will come later. Now at the end of the area, he turned to her and asked.

"Do you realize what is needed." She nodded

" I-I need to grow, in skill and battle," she said some doubt in her voice but fairly sure that was what he was looking for. "Especially if what you said about monsters is true."

"Yes," he smiled at seeing that Estelle would be better prepared for both the journey and any hardship that would come there way. "Come, we got to catch up to your knight in shining armor."

"It's not like that we're just friends," she exclaimed blushing to a colour deeper than her hair. Laughing as he climbed up the ladder he ascended with a pouting Estelle behind him. To the upper quarter.

_ToV:NTNW_