A/N: Yuri's version of the events presented in chapter 2.

Disclaimer: The characters in this story are from Tales of Vesperia and do not belong to me.

That dog was hanging out around the convenience store again. Yuri had been seeing him in the area for a couple days. He never bothered anybody and Yuri didn't get the feeling that he was aggressive, so he hadn't paid much attention aside from asking a few of his coworkers if they owned the dog or knew who did.

He'd learned that the dog was a stray and, with nothing better to do, he decided to go out and share his lunch that day. For an animal that fended for itself on the streets, the dog had surprisingly good table manners. He didn't beg and he didn't try to take anything that Yuri didn't offer him. When Yuri finished eating, the dog reared up on his hind legs, planting its front paws on Yuri's chest as it licked his face. Laughing, Yuri ruffled his fur, wondering why it felt more like he'd been reunited with an old friend rather than made a new one.

He named the dog Repede. It just came to him out of the blue that day, an odd name that somehow seemed like the only fitting one to use. As he left Repede and went back to work, he wondered if he could afford to have a dog.

The rest of Yuri's shift flew by in a blur of customers. He couldn't see Repede through the front window, but the dog was there when he left that evening, watching him as he started on his way home. Yuri half expected Repede to actually follow him, and was a little disappointed when he didn't.

That night, Yuri began having strange dreams: dreams about a city built of shining white stone and magic, about a garden filled with white flowers of all kinds, about fighting to prove himself and protect those he held dear, about a girl who smiled like the sun and a boy whose eyes mirrored the sky. He dreamed about all that, and he dreamed about loss. He woke up reaching out for someone who wasn't there as tears streamed down his face.

A few days later, Flynn met Repede. He seemed to like the dog well enough, but he also thought Yuri's interest in taking him in wasn't the best idea. Repede liked Flynn, too, which was a good sign. If Yuri was going to adopt him, they were going to be seeing plenty of each other. He decided to bring Karol by to meet him, as well. It was only fair to make sure his brother was on board with the idea of having such a large dog share their apartment, not that he really thought Karol would object.

As usual, Repede watched over him as he started on his way home, but didn't actually follow him all the way to the apartment building. Flynn had caught on that the dog was shadowing them, but pretended not to notice. He let Yuri talk, though it couldn't have been all that interesting to listen to retail anecdotes. He was probably just being polite, which was sort of weird when he did that to Yuri.

Flynn was polite to most people, but Yuri wasn't most people. They'd known each other since they were kids and had been nearly inseparable until they'd graduated high school and started going their separate ways. When Flynn had moved into the building, it had helped them hold on to that closeness. Rather than seeing each other at school everyday, they ate dinner together several nights a week and had joined a judo class. Flynn stopped by on his way home from school to walk back with Yuri when their schedules allowed, and he even came over to tutor Karol in subjects Yuri had never been good with.

Still, there were stretches of days now where they didn't see each other, and Yuri actually found that he was a little grateful for that. He'd started thinking about Flynn in a different light shortly after they'd entered high school. Thinking that it might only be hormones, he'd kept quiet, not wanting to make things awkward between them over a passing crush. His interest hadn't waned, however, and he'd never quite worked out the best way to deal with it. As far as he knew, Flynn was straight. Yuri had certainly never seen him look twice at a guy. He told himself that he could be happy just staying friends and that it was stupid to expect anything more. It hurt sometimes, though, and he couldn't shake the little voice in his head that called him a coward for not speaking up.

The tiny bit of distance he'd gained from Flynn after high school had given him a chance to see if his feelings would fade as they started to drift apart a little. When they remained as strong as ever, he knew that he was eventually going to have to say something. Yuri had never run away from anything just because he was afraid, and he wasn't about to start. It was a bit different when a lifelong friendship was at stake, though, so he'd been trying to figure out what to say and when to say it for a while.

Every time he hesitated, the little voice that called him a coward got slightly louder. He could hear it that day as he walked home with Flynn, close enough that he could have reached out and wrapped his fingers around Flynn's, and he knew that soon, ready or not, he was going to reveal everything, no matter the consequences.

The weird dreams continued nightly. Sometimes, the girl in his dreams looked like Estelle and the boy looked like Flynn. Sometimes they were strangers that Yuri was certain he knew.

More people populated the dreams: an older man skilled with the bow, a young girl well versed in the magic of the city, and a woman with knowledge in her smile and a taste for action. There was a dog, too, a constant companion of unquestionable loyalty. On some nights, Yuri dreamed of fighting alongside them against something impossibly huge and hungry. It was something dark and powerful and old, something that could devour worlds and still be unsatisfied. Always in those nightmares, he knew that they would not win against that terrible appetite.

Thankfully, most of his dreams were not so unpleasant. He dreamed often of a sister who was not his sister, and a friend he loved more than a brother. He dreamed of fighting with and against them, of playing and growing stronger together. He dreamed of the warmth of her regard and of his hand and would sometimes wake, missing them terribly, though he couldn't put a name or face to either.

The dreams felt increasingly real to him as more and more details emerged, and he began to wonder if he wasn't going a little crazy. On several occasions, he reached for a sword he didn't have as he got out of bed in the morning. He started scanning crowds and studying the faces of customers, looking for the people from his dreams.

More than a week after they'd started, Yuri told Estelle about the dreams. As soon as he began describing them, her smile disappeared. She recounted details of some of the people and places he mentioned like she recognized them, even going so far as to ask if certain individuals had appeared in the dreams before he'd said anything about them. Fearing that something was very wrong, and anticipating that he just might be about to learn something incredibly important, he trailed off.

Estelle was visibly upset. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want anyone else to have to worry about all of that."

"All of what? They're just dreams."

He wasn't sure he really believed that anymore, though. Not after how real the dreams had become. Not after Estelle's reaction to hearing about them. She shook her head slowly.

"They aren't dreams. They're memories—Vesperia's memories."

The name sent a shock right through him, and brought his dreams vividly to mind. He knew that name. Suddenly, he realized that his hands had started shaking and he clenched his fists, trying to hide it.

"Who is Vesperia?"

"You were."

With that, she launched into the story. She told him about Vesperia and the Lunar Empire—she told him his dreams—taking him through the events and meetings and partings until she reached the end, the battle with that terrible, devouring monster: the Adephagos. She told him about how all the people he'd been seeing in his sleep had fought against the Adephagos, and about how they had been able to seal it away but not defeat it. It had been too late for the Empire and its citizens, however. The Adephagos had destroyed everything, swallowing up even the Empire's place in history.

When she finished, they sat quietly on her bed. It still didn't feel entirely real to Yuri, but he couldn't deny that it somehow rang true. He was the first to break the silence.

"You were Estellise."

"Yes."

"My sister."

"Yes."

She had taken him in twice, then: twice given him a home and a family after he had lost his own.

"And Flynn, he was there with us."

"Yes. He was Fionn."

Her fiancée.

"Does he…?"

"He hasn't remembered yet. No one else has that I'm aware of. I haven't wanted to tell anyone. It's so peaceful here. I didn't want to take that away."

Yuri laid a hand on her head, ruffling her hair gently as she leaned sideways against him. They didn't speak again until he got up to leave some time later. He had a lot to think about.

The knowledge that his dreams were more than just products of his imagination kept Yuri distracted for the next couple of weeks. He kept remembering details and he couldn't tell if they were from the dreams or the past. For days, he relived events that hadn't actually happened to him, but to someone he used to be, watching memories that played out like movies in his mind's eye.

He remembered growing up as an adopted member of the imperial family. He remembered Estellise and her mother had always been happy to have him, even though it had taken much longer for the rest of the nobility to honestly accept him. He'd had lessons from Estellise's tutors, though he'd skipped out on those as often as he could manage. He remembered long days spent playing in the gardens or running through the halls of the palace. He remembered being so happy and so proud to have the love and trust of Estellise and her mother, and he remembered being determined to make them proud of him in return. He'd studied hard on his own and he'd mastered the use of a sword. He'd done everything he could to support Estellise and protect the empire that she would one day rule, and through it all, Fionn had been there by his side.

He'd met Fionn one day when he had snuck out of the palace to play in the city, and the two of them had quickly become fast friends. Fionn was hard working and true and, although he had a short temper, Yuri—or rather, Vesperia—had no problems getting into the occasional fight with him, even though Fionn was the only person who could ever beat him. It was Fionn's father who had taught both of them how to use a sword, and, when the Council stepped in to keep Estellise from joining them, Vesperia had taken to teaching her, himself.

It was through Vesperia that Fionn had met Estellise. The three of them had been as close a group of friends as any, but then Vesperia had developed feelings for Fionn, and Fionn had begun courting Estellise, and a rift had begun to form between them. Vesperia had never spoken of his feelings: not out of fear, but out of respect for his friend and a wish for his sister to be happy. The two of them had been about to announce their engagement when the Adephagos came upon their world.

Now, with everything that he had learned and remembered and all the little coincidences that were starting to make it seem like history would repeat itself, Yuri wasn't sure he ought to say anything about what he felt for his best friend. If Flynn and Estelle were somehow destined to be together, speaking up would only dull their happiness. He knew Estelle well enough to know that she would feel bad for him if he were to be rejected, even if that rejection came from the man she loved.

On the other hand, they had all been given a second chance. Who was to say things wouldn't turn out differently? What if Flynn didn't turn him down? There was a chance, wasn't there? There was some hope…wasn't there?

Fed up with the uncertainty, Yuri made his decision one night as he was going out for a jog in the park. Flynn was supposed to eat dinner with him and Karol the next evening. When he left, Yuri would walk him back to his apartment and tell him how he felt straight out, no more wasting time trying to figure out how to word it, no more waiting for a chance to create itself. With that resolution came a burst of nervous energy, and he ran an extra lap through the park to burn it off. It was a good thing he did.

As he was nearing the center of the park, he heard a shout and immediately recognized the voice as Estelle's. Leaving the path, he took off into the trees where growls and strange noises were sounding from the darkness. He heard Estelle call out a thank you—to Repede, it sounded like—and he yelled her name, wondering what the hell was going on. Before he found Estelle, however, something—something that had leaves and a face—found him.

It lunged at him and he managed to punch it on its nose as he stumbled backward, falling to the ground. Another weird creature had tripped him up. This one looked like someone had turned a squirrel into a water balloon and filled it with jell-o. It regarded him for a moment, then sunk its teeth into his arm. With a shout, Yuri shook it off, sending it bouncing away into the darkness, but tearing his arm open in the process. He heard barking and suddenly Repede appeared, ramming into the first creature as it came after Yuri once more. Scrambling to his feet, he watched in disbelief as Repede dispatched the monster with a knife. The dog was using a knife to fight. Yuri clenched a hand around his injured arm, and the pain reassured him that he wasn't dreaming this time.

A creature like an armored deer came crashing through the trees, pursued by Estelle. She wasn't the Estelle Yuri knew, however. This girl wore armor and carried a sword. Her typical cheerful smile had been replaced with an expression of grim purpose, and she slashed at the beast, cutting it down. She turned to Yuri, and he was beyond relieved to find that he could still recognize his old friend in her eyes.

"Yuri! Are you all right?"

"Yeah, sure. What's—"

There was a rustle in the bushes behind Estelle, and Yuri suddenly remembered the squirrel thing that had gotten away. He was moving before he could even see it, and grabbed it as it launched itself off a tree at Estelle. It wiggled furiously, biting and clawing as it tried to get free.

"Now what?"

"Drop it!"

The thing caught a lock of his hair in its teeth and severed it with a sound like scissors. Yuri threw it away from himself and Repede was on it in a second. He let the dog take care of it, and turned once more to Estelle.

"What the hell—?"

"Monsters. I'm afraid there's not much time to explain."

As a deep growl sounded through the trees, she reached into a bag hung from her belt and pulled out a heavy cuff bracelet that shone dull gold in the faint light. It felt familiar in Yuri's hands as he accepted it and ran his fingers over its surface. The red gems set into the metal glinted with an inner light.

"If you want to fight, put it on and state your title."

"My title?"

"Quickly! If you plan on staying, you'll need Vesperia's strength."

Vesperia…. What had he called himself in the dreams? There had been a title he'd taken on while defending the Empire from evils of its own creation.

Sliding his hand through the cuff, the words he needed rang loud in Yuri's head.

"Dark Enforcer of the Lunar Empire, I am Brave Vesperia!"

"Ready for some practice?"

Vesperia leaned into Estellise's study, expecting to see her sitting at her desk, nose buried in a book. Instead, she was standing on the small balcony, gazing out across the empire she would one day rule. She spun to face him, as joyful as he had ever seen her, and raced across the room to take his hand. There was a flower tucked into her hair above her left ear, a wildflower with beautiful blue violet petals. It wasn't a flower that grew in the palace gardens, and Vesperia began to get an idea about what—or rather, who—had put his sister in such a good mood.

"Have you seen him? Did he tell you?"

"See who? Your tutor? He lectured me again this morning about not wasting your time with swordplay."

"Vesperia! All you ever think about is fighting! Have you seen Fionn?"

"Not today. What's he done that's got you so excited?"

It shouldn't have been possible, but somehow her smile got even wider. "You're the first person I'll get to tell! The official announcement will be made tomorrow evening at the banquet. Vesperia…Fionn and I are engaged!"

He went still as she threw her arms around him and squeezed. So, they were finally making it official. He'd known this was coming for some time, but the news still hit hard and made it difficult to smile for her. Luckily, she was too full of her happiness to notice that he wasn't joining in. He was glad for that. She deserved to be happy, and he'd be the lowest kind of scum to spoil that out of his own hopeless desires. He hugged her around the shoulders and kissed the top of her head. When he congratulated her, he put as much warmth into the word as he could. He twirled her as he started to leave, making her skirts flare out and keeping her from being able to get a good look at him.

Eventually he would congratulate her honestly, her and her beloved both. First, though, there was something he had to do. He ran his fingers lightly over the hilt of his sword and went looking for Fionn.

Gasping, he stumbled and squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden dizziness. That had been much different from the dreams. The memory felt alive inside his head, vivid and real, something he couldn't deny. He had been there, in that room. He had felt the breeze from the open balcony doors, had felt the warmth of Estellise's hug and the tickle of her hair against his lips. He'd felt the pain in his chest at her words, and it returned as he tried to pull himself together and remember who he really was.

Estelle was staring at him, one hand over her mouth.

"Vesperia…." she whispered.

"Es…tellise?"

She started forward to hug him, but Repede began barking furiously as the undergrowth shook and rustled violently with the approach of the monster momentarily forgotten.

Before he knew what he was doing, Vesperia had tossed the sheath of his sword aside and stood ready to face whatever was crashing towards them. He felt prepared for anything and charged with anticipation for the impending fight. Suddenly, the monsters seemed more like a game than a threat. He even recognized the rhinosus for what it was when it entered the clearing, and he knew he'd beaten them before, easily.

Estellise dashed past him, sword raised. "Stay back if you aren't ready! I can handle this!"

"What, and let me miss out on all the fun?"

He was half a step behind her as they met the beast's charge. Vesperia twisted to the side, bringing his sword around to slash the rhinosus as it thundered between him and Estellise. The blade caught at the monster's flesh, and Vesperia stumbled, surprised by how rusty he felt, how his body didn't move the way it had the last time he'd fought. He'd enraged the rhinosus more than injured it, and it knocked a small tree over in its scramble to turn and charge once more.

He met it head-on, excited by the challenge. There was power in the blastia he wore on his wrist, he could feel it. He called upon that power as he swept his sword out in front of him.

"Azure Edge!"

The enhanced attack knocked the rhinosus aside, but it also sent Vesperia reeling backwards. He hadn't been prepared for the strength of the magic that left his blade and it shocked him, left him stunned over the absurdity of the situation. What was he doing fighting monsters in the park when he had to be up early to open the store the next day?

Luckily, Estellise picked up the offensive seamlessly and kept him from falling victim to his distraction. Fighting with a dancer's grace in her movements, Vesperia barely recognized sweet, quiet Estelle in the petite warrior she'd become. She targeted the rhinosus' vital areas with startling accuracy as she tried to finish it off quickly. The compassion that shone through in the way she handled a monster that would sooner trample them than look at them was a welcome reminder that his friend was still there beneath that strange armor and deadly resolve.

"Don't push yourself," she called out to him. "I know it's strange, but everything will come back to you in time."

He adjusted his grip on his sword, ready to rejoin the fight, but Estellise was quicker. She finished the monster off with a shout, and it faded away, leaving no trace that it had ever come barreling into that quiet night in the middle of what had been a regular city. Vesperia listened to the rustle of leaves in the wind and the distant, nearly inaudible white noise of traffic. Everything felt like it was back to normal, and he pulled the blastia off his wrist.

Yuri sagged. Exhaustion crept along his limbs, clinging to him and weighing him down. He felt as if he'd run a circuit around the entire city rather than just the park, and he knew the grin he offered Estellise was tired.

"So, we fight monsters. Cool."

"Are you all right? Are you injured at all?" She looked him over anxiously.

Plucking at the torn sleeve of his black hoodie, he kept up his smile as he lied. "Not a scratch. I'll have to get a new coat, though."

"Thank goodness."

She sighed and faded a little somehow as she returned to being herself, to being Estelle. Her presence became less overpowering and more down to earth, more the presence of someone who belonged to the world they lived in.

Estelle looked so relieved, and he was glad he'd kept that worry from weighing her down. Yuri's right hand was smeared with trails of his own blood, and he hid it deep in the pocket of his hoodie. As they walked back to the apartment building, he was careful to keep his injured arm on the far side from her, even though his sleeve was probably baggy enough even with the slashes through it to hide the wound. She kept sneaking glances at him, but she didn't press him, probably realizing that he was still trying to figure out exactly what had just happened. It was one thing to have dreams, another to have someone describe those dreams back and call them past life memories. It was a completely different experience to have that past life filling up his head as he fought off monsters that had no business intruding into his reality. After the night's events, there was no longer any question that all of it was real.

Monsters roamed the city. Estelle and Repede had the power to fight them off, and apparently so did he. Well, anyone with a decent sized shotgun could probably fight them off, but he felt that calling attention to the absolutely crazy situation he'd found himself in wouldn't be a very good idea. Nothing he'd ever seen where people with special powers revealed their existence to the world at large had ever ended well.

"So," he ventured. "What now?"

"Well, I suppose since you've accepted a place in all this—"

"As if I could have left you to deal with that alone."

Repede growled.

"Would you believe I meant both of you?"

"Now that you've accepted a place in all this, I suppose I'll be counting on you when they come after me again."

She smiled up at him as if she hadn't just told him that monsters were hunting her.

"I think you'd better fill me in on what's been going on."

Her soft voice, usually so soothing, was grim as she talked. She told him about the monsters that had begun appearing a few weeks ago, and about how they had started coming after her almost on a nightly basis. Thankfully, she hadn't been fighting alone. Repede had been by her side from the start, and Yuri had a sneaking suspicion that the dog had probably handled a few battles himself. When he glanced down, Repede caught his gaze and Yuri could have sworn the dog nodded.

Yuri kept quiet and listened to everything she had to say. It seemed she'd been keeping quite a bit to herself, even after hearing about his dreams. While he could appreciate that she hadn't wanted to put him in danger, it bothered him that she hadn't turned to him for help. He knew how to fight. He was good at it. Maybe it took Vesperia's strength to defeat monsters, but he would deal with the uncomfortable sensation of being someone else if it meant Estelle wouldn't have to face those monsters alone.

Eventually, she trailed off. Eyes downcast, she walked along in silence until they reached the entrance to their building.

"I'm sorry, Yuri. It's just…I haven't had anyone except Repede to talk to about all of this."

"Hey, look on the bright side." He reached over to ruffle her hair. "At least that means no one's tried to lock you up in the loony bin."

"Yuri!"

Laughing, she took a playful swipe at him. He dodged easily and egged her on, racing her to the elevator while trying not to make it obvious how badly his arm was beginning to ache. Yeah, it all seemed crazy, but he had a host of strange dreams, a few scattered memories, and a throbbing flesh wound to prove that none of it was as nuts as it sounded. Maybe between the two of them they could figure out how to deal with it all and get their normal lives back.

It wasn't until much later that night that memories of Estellise using healing spells trickled through Yuri's mind as he lay awake, trying desperately to think of nothing so that he could get a little sleep. Wrapped tightly in bandages, his arm still hurt like hell. If he'd spoken up earlier, maybe she would have been a little worried about him, but she could have fixed him right up.

"No helping it now."

He stared up at the ceiling. That cuff she'd given him earlier, the blastia, it was sitting on the edge of his desk. He could almost feel it in the room with him, as heavy with memory and magic as the metal it was forged from. He would have to start carrying that thing with him everywhere, just in case. He remembered the otherworldliness of the creatures and the way his sword had so easily cut them down, and he knew that he would be near useless without Vesperia's strength.

There was too much to think about. It was difficult to pick one thing and focus on it. He needed time to work through it all, and then he wanted a chance to talk to Estelle. It was a pity he couldn't talk to Flynn about it.

At the thought of his best friend, Yuri's chest tightened. If it had all really happened, what did that mean for Flynn and Estelle? Did they care about each other the same way Yuri cared for Flynn? He had been prepared to risk their friendship by confessing, but seeing his dreams intruding on the waking world had complicated things beyond reason. Could he really speak up when he believed it would interfere with their happiness? And what about Yuri, then? Were his feelings for Flynn nothing more than leftovers from another life? How much of him was Vesperia and how much was really himself? What if one day, all those memories filled him up until he wasn't Yuri anymore and only Vesperia was left? What if no one even noticed?

When he finally fell asleep that night, Yuri tossed and turned, dreaming of being consumed by a monster of boundless appetite that wore his face.