A/N: Hello again! im surprised i wrote this one so quickly! hopefully you enjoy it, you get to see how Emily and Yuri interact with one another :D Also for anyone who might be wondering about Nobis in chapter two, i dont really have much to go for his peronality and plus i needed at least one guild leader to be a jerk soooo... yeah XD enjoy the chapter!
"I look like a pin-up model for the wonder reporter magazine…." Emily looked at herself in the mirror with disappointment, being dressed up wasn't something she enjoyed in the least, especially since they were going to be so many nobles and rich aristocrats.
"You look like the beautiful young woman that you are." Her mother gently protested as she adjusted the back of her teal and turquoise dress.
"If you say so mom…." Emily looked doubtful, she preferred her white pants and two tone green outfit herself, they were styled to look like her father's cloths after all.
"There, your all ready." Estelle smiled proudly at her.
"You ready for today?" Emily frowned.
"As much as I'm going to be…" Estelle gave her a hug.
"It's going to fine Emily you'll see, I bet you'll even have fun at the celebration afterward."
"Mhm, I'll try mom."
"The coronation is in thirty minutes your highness." A maid said from the door.
"Alright, we're coming! I'll go on ahead of you, it's going to fine." Estelle gently let her go and made her way out the door.
"Yeah…. Everything's going to be just fine…"
Emily sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror again, this wasn't her, this girl that was dressed up with her hair done, looking so royal and refined wasn't her, it wasn't who she wanted to be.
After another prompt from the maid Emily made her way to throne room, there were already so many people there, it seemed that just about every noble from the royal quarter had attended, probably some from Heliord as well, she quickly ducked her head back in from the door way and went around the long way.
She found her mother waiting for her as she made it to the small room that was connected to the throne room, there were castle staff everywhere it seemed, from people finishing the planning for the food to last minute touch ups for her hair, she hated it.
"Twenty minutes." Someone called out and one of the hair dressers had her sit down so she could touch up her hair.
"Alright everyone, out of the room please!" Estelle asked and everyone quickly left the room causing Emily to sigh in relief.
"Sorry about them they get carried away." She said giggling.
"You going to be ok dear?" Estelle could see Emily looked a bit distressed, not quite as good at hiding her feeling as her father was.
"Yeah mom, just… give me a few minutes to myself please?"
Estelle stood for a minute more then finally walked toward the door. "I know your nervous, but it's going to easier than you think, I love you."
With that she closed the door behind her, somewhere in the distance from beyond the door she could hear someone say that Ioder had arrived, she slumped into her chair feeling defeated.
'ok Emily your fine…. just go out there and get it over with… it's just a coronation! Not the end of your life as you know it!'
"Who am I kidding…." She mumbled to herself.
She looked over at the half open window at the other end of the room, a thought popping into her head, she swat it down immediately but it resurfaced like an annoying fly, buzzing around her and reminding her of the possibilities.
'Oh boy…'
She walked over and opened the window, feeling the gentle, warm breeze on her face making her feel at ease, from the door she heard someone knock causing her to gasp slightly, she had over stayed her welcome.
"Your highness? Everyone is waiting for you… are you alright?"
She didn't have time to think about it, it was now or never, she heard the door knob turn and finally made her choice, slipping through the window as quietly as she could, all she heard from the window as she scaled down the wall was the maid calling for her mother, blocking It out she landed in the soft grass of the royal gardens.
"She's gone?!"
Estelle sounded as if she was on the verge of tears as the maid explained that she wasn't still in the room, they hadn't found her outside the throne room like she was supposed to be and the knights standing guard at that door hadn't seen her either, Estelle was about to panic.
"Estelle it's alright I'm sure she's fine."
Yuri did his best to calm her down, although he was tired from his trip, having gotten no sleep on his way home from Dahngrest, still he wasn't going to let Estelle freak out when there wasn't even really a good reason to, he had a good idea where their daughter was probably going.
"I shouldn't have left her alone…. she was so upset…" She hugged Yuri sadly.
"I didn't think this was going to upset her this much, she's so much like you…. I shouldn't have pushed her..."
Estelle wiped her eyes from tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.
"Hey now, it's gonna be fine…" Yuri hugged her back hoping to calm her down.
"you… think she hates me…? For supporting this…?" Yuri wiped away another tear from her face.
"Of course not, I'm pretty sure you'd have to do something a lot worse than this, she just doesn't know what she wants to do is all." He made sure Estelle had calmed down before letting her go, doing his best to smile at her.
"I'll go find her, you think you can keep the nobles from losing their regal minds for a bit?"
"Yeah… I can do that."
"Alright then, we'll be back, I promise."
"okay…" She took a moment to calm herself then put on a warm smile.
"Alright everyone, calm down please! There's been a small delay!"
Yuri left knowing the situation was in good hands, from behind him he could hear Flynn also joining in to calm the crowd, Blare was also somewhere nearby.
He made his way through the castle and out of the castle gates, he knew where he was going to go look for her, but he was going to take his time and let her clear her head, the nobles could wait awhile for their show at her expense. Taking a deep breath, he walked the streets of Zaphias.
Emily could see the city limits from here, the large stone wall that had been built around the city to help keep monsters from wandering in was easy to see from the roof tops, she could have enjoyed the view until the sun set if she really wanted to, but right now, leaving was the only thing on her mind, she jumped to another roof and kept moving, not much farther now.
"Hey! You set up that meeting up?"
Emily stopped on her tracks, for a moment she thought someone had been talking to her though she doubted that anyone had seen her on the roof.
"Y-yes I have…. They will meet you tomorrow night for the exchange."
Emily looked over the edge of the rooftop to see who was talking, she could see a woman, her tall frame and long black hair made her look quite beautiful despite her slightly weathered appearance, she was definitely a guildsmen, her cloths and strong demeanor proved it, amber eyes so bright they could be mistaken for yellow shown with seemingly murderous intent.
"Good, and for goddess sake take off that cape and hood you make us look suspicious."
The shorter man did as he was told, but stood under the canopy of the building they were near so Emily couldn't see what he looked like.
"Yes my lady, also the other members wish to speak to you when you have the time."
The woman sighed.
"Very well, I'll speak to them tonight."
"Yes my lady."
The woman walked underneath the canopy and disappeared from Emily's hearing distance.
"Well that was odd…"
Emily shook her head, she had spent too much time here already. She ran across the city buildings with even more speed trying to make up for lost time, she could see her target from here, she just had to make it.
She pondered a moment if she should say goodbye to the people in the lower quarter, she often spent her days reading stories to the children and cooking food, she loved being able to use her resources to give them what they needed, it was one of the few things she enjoyed about being royalty.
'Can't…I spent too much time as it is…'
Sadly, she passed them up over the roofs of their homes and leapt to the top of the wall that surrounded the city. Quickly she slipped past the knights on duty and scaled down the other side, she was home free.
"Ba'ul!"
Emily couldn't have been happier to reach the large, whale like creature, the entelexeia often sat outside of the city limits as he helped Yuri travel back and forth from the union and Empire, her plan was to get off Iiyccia then send him back, from there she would figure out where she would go, maybe just travel around awhile until she cleared her head.
"Think I can hitch a ride?"
Ba'ul made a groaning noise that most people wouldn't have understood, but being around Judith a lot when she was younger she knew most of the time what he was saying.
"yeah I know…. It's sudden, I just…need to leave for a little while is all... I'll come back…. eventually."
"You could do that." Emily froze, there was no way of mistaking her own father's voice.
"But it sure would upset your mom."
Yuri walked off the ramp to the Fiertia, it still hanging from Ba'ul's body, and gave her a knowing smile. Emily groaned.
"I knew I shouldn't have stopped…"
She flung her bag to the ground in defeat, her father wasn't the kind of person to give out lectures so she wasn't sure what he was planning to do.
"I probably still would have gotten here before you Em, your old man knows this city like the back of his hand, and I'm pretty sure I know more shortcuts then you."
"….Yeah…" She muttered sadly leaning against the ship's hull.
"What's the matter not happy your old man came to get ya? You rather your mom had?"
Emily huffed softly, no she wouldn't have.
"I would have rathered it was uncle Flynn…. Would have been a lot easier, he and I butt heads all the time….another argument wouldn't mean much at this point."
Yuri let out a chuckle.
"That you do, you really drive him crazy sometimes you know."
"Yeah… we didn't always used to fight though…" Emily replied thoughtfully.
"Yeah… sorry kid that comes with being a lot like your dad."
She giggled slightly, she did miss the closer relationship she had with her uncle when she was little.
"So… you were planning on stealing the ship huh?"
Emily slumped against the ship at his words, She had planned on sending him back! She watched as her father sat down on the ship's ramp then patted the spot beside him, reluctantly she did as requested and sat down next to him tucking her legs to her chest.
"So, how bout you tell me what's really bothering you?"
Emily wouldn't meet his gaze and fortunately he wasn't pushing it, she took a moment to think of what to say, she hadn't really planned on explaining herself so soon.
"I could… but it would sound pretty damn stupid…"
"Hmm, how bout you tell me anyway."
She let out a sigh.
"I just… I wish I wasn't a princess… I don't want people bowing to me or calling me by a title, I don't want to lead this country, I'm no leader like you and mom and uncle Flynn are… and I just feel like… I'm getting my choice in all this taken away…"
Her father looked away for a moment.
"Yeah, I get what you're saying, kinda felt like that when I took over Brave Vesperia, and when I married your mom."
Emily looked up surprised.
"Really? Why when you married mom?"
Yuri chuckled, his eyes looking off at the setting sun.
"Well just in case you didn't know I wasn't born a prince, and just like you I felt like people were forcing me into it, I wanted to marry Estelle not get all the nobleman stuff that came with it."
"Oh, I see…"
Emily replied, his response made sense, to this day her dad often reprimands anyone who would say 'your highness' to him, mostly uncle Flynn since he knows how much it annoys him.
"But you married mom anyways so."
Yuri looked back at her smiling.
"Of course, I wasn't going to let them stop us from being together if that's what we wanted, I just accepted that I was gonna be stuck with the title, and that any children we had were gonna be royalty, and at some point…."
He leaned over and put his arm around her gently.
"They were going to have to deal with the identity crisis of having a princess for a mom and a lower quarter peasant for a dad."
She leaned against him feeling more at ease, it wasn't too often her dad held her but she wasn't going to complain. She looked up at the sky as the final rays of light were starting to disappear past the horizon reminding her just how time had passed by.
"We need to go back… don't we?" She asked looking up to him.
"Yeah well, I'm pretty sure your mom is at the end of her rope keeping the nobles in check."
Emily chuckled.
"Yeah, I feel bad for leaving her to deal with them…"
"Just remember, your still gonna be you, no coronation is going to change that, sides there's very little chance your gonna have to rule, at the worst your mom would take over and u know your old man isn't dead yet either!"
Emily laughed.
"Old man, dad you barely look older than me."
"Eh, I'll get old one day."
He got up and she did as well, somehow her father had eased some of her fears, she felt she could do this now, she went to get her bag when Yuri stopped her.
"Just leave it, you can always get it later, plus you need to get dressed again, don't want your mom to see you like that."
She laughed nervously, she had changed her cloths in her hiding place back in the royal quarter, crossing the rooftops would have been impossible in her dress.
"yeeeeaaah…. I'll… go put my dress back on."
As they left the ship behind Ba'ul made another groaning sound, this one sounding more hopeful then his last.
"Thanks, Ba'ul, good to know you believe in me too."
He made another noise then flew off into the sky, he would place the ship in the harbor then go get some much-needed rest, meanwhile father and daughter walked the streets of Zaphias together, in no real hurry to return to the castle, the nobles would get their coronation soon enough, for now they would just enjoy walking back together, hopefully Estelle wouldn't kill them for taking so long.