Third one, now. Sorry this took so long, I kinda forgot to post it. We're on to Rita – just after the blastia screws up in Heliord. Estelle has collapsed, Yuri has yet to re-enter the room. You know the room, right? The inn thing. I'm gonna make this one longer. Mostly 'cause this time is a major character shift, in my opinion.

Clearly, I don't own this stuff.

...

Rita

Rita worked for the blastia.

Sure, at first she wanted to clear her name. Seriously, why the hell would she ever bother stealing that core? Heck, why would she have been in the Capital at all? Busy people don't waste time! Obviously we have some terribly unoccupied people with us.

Anyways, now it was for the blastia. All of it. Leaving the normal mages behind in Aspio not like they cared, no one normal wanted to be her friend, antagonizing the knights and chasing Ragou, fighting countless vicious monsters, going to a destroyed ghost-NO! Not ghost, but emptycity... that had nothing in it but the strongest monster yet... and knights to arrest them... Damn it, why had they gone there again? Oh, right. Karol's... thing.

But seriously, all of it was about her blastia! It was just convenient to travel with a group. A group that happens to have a pink-haired princess in it.

Estelle. Estelle was... problematic confusing fascinating kind pretty powerful DIFFICULT. Yes, difficult. She didn't need a blastia to use magic. She just... converted the aer into tangible power like – like it was nothing! She was like a living blas-

But no. Every time Rita started that thought, she interrupted herself. Estelle is not... a thing. Estelle was a person, not a blastia. But she wanted, Rita wanted oh so very much to be able to trust Estelle, believe in her like she could believe in a blastia.

When did I start calling her Estelle in my head? Here? Bocram? ...When she called me her friend?

She couldn't help but start up when she heard someone knock. Yuri, probably.

"Come in."

"Glad to see you're awake." He walked over. Yuri was interesting. He had actually called her out on her attitude several times as they travelled. Most people just shiver and assume that's how I always am. "...And after I told her over and over to call me before she collapses."

Maybe she wanted to trust him and the others too. Maybe. But he was kinda annoying about the princess.

"You didn't think she'd really listen to you, did you?"

They both snapped their attention to the princess as she sighed in her sleep. Rita smiled a bit.

"Heh, she looks happy."

The atmosphere was comfortable, warm, even with the rain outside. Rita voiced her thoughts, looking away from the ex-knight. Somehow, her thoughts felt...

"Hey, so... What do you think Estellise thinks of me?"

... inane? Rita didn't know why she cared what he thought, but maybe he would know more than she did. The princess was so confusing, after all... When Yuri didn't answer, she looked at him. Her smile dropped as she started to glare.

"Why are you making that face?"

She couldn't really glare well, seeing a stunned expression on the generally stoic man's face.

"I just didn't think you were the kind of person who cared what other people thought."

Damn it, stop reading me!

"F-forget it. You can go now." She looked away, frustrated and blushing at having even asked.

"Compared to those formulas of yours, she should be easy to figure out."

Easy? Surely she can't just be –

"Uuh... Huh? Rita! You're awake!"

- nice to me for -

"But be careful! It's just when you think you've recovered that you're in the most danger."

- no reason... Right?

Rita realized she had been staring. She shut her eyes as Estelle started to heal her, once again pretending to use the blastia, pretending to be normal...

No one normal wanted to be Rita's friend. Rita didn't trust normal people. But Estelle - the human so much like a blastia, so useful, so powerful, but so easily influenced - Rita could trust her. And just like she would with a blastia, Rita would definitely protect the princess.

Fine. It's not all for the blastia. I can spare some energy for her.

...

Thaaat's done. My writing style is probably changing as I write these. I should go back and make sure they're consistent, but... Well, key word is should.

I think the next one will be that one guy. The one with a purple jacket. Yeah, him. JK, Raven's like my second favorite character. I wonder if I'll end up doing characters like Flynn? Hmm. I'll think about it.