Ok so I have no idea where this one came from but yah…. I OWN NOTHING! Yah that many !'s just to make sure that I mean it. It was one day later than I said as my computer did not save the draft I liked and I have to re-write it differently… oh well again sorry for any mistakes in spelling or grammar. I still don't have an editor.

Warnings: mentions of Fluri, language, bit of violence and gore (but compared to the last one not really.)

Hanging Around

Someone was going to die if he didn't get down from here soon, and Yuri concluded that it was most likely going to be one of his guild mates who were laughing themselves into a stupor below him. In all honesty he would admit that he screwed up, but with the way Karol was laughing Yuri was debating whether he should have just let the monster catch the little brat and rescue him after rather than the other way around.

Even after apologising multiple times and scolding the others for not helping her free Yuri, Estelle seemed to be unable to pull the rest of the group out of the hysterics she had started. With the blood slowly draining to his head Yuri concluded they were not being paid enough for this much suffering.

Earlier

Brave Vesperia arrived in Halure after a long flight. After night of rest and a hearty breakfast the group once again they set off together.

The group arrived at the tree around mid afternoon slightly on edge, having been in the forest before the group knew to expect a fight, however even after a good four hours for walking they had not come across a single living thing. If whatever they were looking for was as imitating as the other monsters seemed to find it, they were in for one hell of a fight.

After another fruitless hour of hunting for their "mystery" creature, the group had found no clues as to where it might be, let alone what it was. With the lack of foot prints and other "normal monster tracking clues" Karol believed that it was most likely in the air, where Judith said that in might burrow.

In a sense they were both sort of right. Leaving the others to form a plan of attack Yuri circled the tree keeping an eye out for any movement, and soon found himself with a face full of dirt. In his own defence Yuri argued that when he had kicked the root for tripping him, he really hadn't expected it to kick back.

Brave Vesperia suddenly found the lush vine decorated floor of the forest lifted up from under them, reviling decaying carcasses. According to Rita, the tree had mutated with the excess Mana and bonded with some other creature that was living in it. With both the craving for sun and flesh the tree had taken to crushing its victims and using their bodies as fertilise.

In a sudden flurry of movement it went after the closest target which as his luck would have it happened to be a tie between Yuri and Karol. After pushing the young boy out of the way Yuri found himself being slammed into one of the nearest not so lively trees. Stunned by the impact his grip on his sword lessened and then lost completely when the crushing grip of the vines dragged him up into the air.

With the safety of their friend in mind Brave Vesperia gave it their all to kill the monster. Fighting from a distance left most of the group at a disadvantage however with the joint effort between Raven, Rita and Estelle, the group managed keep the creature busy enough that Yuri was not crushed. With a lucky strike to the trunk of the tree they found that the creature was like a turtle, if you managed to break the shell the creature inside was defenceless. With that knowledge the group focused its attacks on the truck and made quick work of it. With the monster inside dead the branches and vines dropped and the tree seemed to return to normal, unfortunately for Yuri the vines had wrapped around so tightly that even when they when slack he was still suspended in the air... without a weapon... and no way down.

Thankful for not being crushed to death Yuri waited patiently while the others caught their breath, discreetly scanning over them to make sure no one was badly injured. When his eyes landed on Estelle their gases met, and Yuri felt slightly nervous about the odd look of wonder that had spread over her face. Yuri twisted slightly in the vines holding him hostage. "Um Estelle, is everything alright?" he questioned. "It was true" she breathed, a look of absolute astonishment covering her face. By now the others had also turned to her, their own confutation rising. Judith cleared her thought "Estelle, would you care to elaborate a bit more. What's true?"

Estelle turned to face the other women before bursting into her excited explanation. "I was reading a story a while back about a knight who had went on a quest to escort a princess to another kingdom, near the end of the story the knight has to fight a lager monster with the ability to control the forest. During the fight the princess was taken hostage by living vines. I thought it didn't make sense because at the end of the story, the knight had to cut the princess loose to rescue her after he killed the monster. I thought that that the vines would have dropped the princess after they died because they weren't knotted, but the monster was pretty close to the one that we fought and they are still holding Yuri up, so I guess I was wrong". Finishing her rather long ramble Estelle slowly began to take in the amused looks of the others around her and the look of absolute horror that had found its way onto Yuri's face.

"so" Raven drawled with a sleazy grin "I guess we should cut our dear "princess" loose, shouldn't leave a damsel in distress too long now should we?"

Present time

"WOULD YOU STOP LAUGHING" yelled Yuri in embarrassment, "for god's sake I am nothing like a princess!". "Quite on the contrary" mused Judith "while I do agree that you and Estelle are not the same, you happen to fit the princess of that story very well". Yuri glared hard at the woman. "And how the hell would you know that?" Judith smiled and turned towards Estelle. "You were referring to the book that you lent me while we were in the capital the last time correct? According to the description the princes had long black hair, gray eyes, was very good at sword fighting" looking thoughtful for a moment Judith smile slowly melted into a light smirk" now that I think about it her personality was pretty close to yours as well".

If looks could kill Yuri was certain Judy would be dead. " it was a story", he fumed "so she had the same hair colour as me, big deal!"

"Oh come on", Rita pointed out through her laughter "you even have your own knight; all we need now is for him to pull the daring rescue". Yuri struggled in the vines trying to get down. "he is NOT my knight!" Yuri exclaimed only to me met with more laughter. "Damn it, Flynn's not even…"

"um..?"

A hush fell as all eyes turned towards the very unsure looking knight standing at the edge of the clearing. Speak. Of. The. Devil. Flynn took a quick glance around before walking into the clearing. "Flynn" Estelle exclaimed in surprise "what are you doing here?".

Flynn gave a short bow, "the knights have been many complain about monsters on traveling routes, we came to investigate, a merchant at Halure told us that a guild was already here we came to offer some assistance" Flynn explained turning his attention turned towards his hanging friend, eyeing the vines.

"why are you in a tree?" Yuri gave him a dead panned look "oh you know, I just felt taking a climb, get some blood back to the head. " "Flynn sighed "well I think that you have enough blood there now, your face is all red." Stepping towards the tree he began to draw his sword. "I'll cut you down".

The laughter that poured out was just shy of being loud enough to cover the treats Yuri began shouting should Flynn try to cut him loose.

I feel I was a little OOC in this one…. SORRY! It did not turn out as good the second time around. *sigh* but I got it finished so that makes me a bit happy! R&R or give me a prompt if you like! PEACE! –Onlyone42