Author's Notes: Half of the time in these author's notes, I have no idea what to say. I'm sorry.
Tales of Vesperia is the property of Namco Bandai.
Even though he maintained his calm and cool exterior, Flynn could tell that beneath his pale skin, Yuri's blood was raging. He wasn't sure how he knew. Perhaps it was the way his eyes narrowed and darkened and lacked his normal sarcasm and humor. The sharp efficiency of his blade did not look much different, but Flynn could tell that he was no longer in the fight, but a million miles beyond it, the bodies of his enemies already fallen before him. There was no thrill in the fight that he usually had.
They shared anger, but the difference between their emotions was so different. While both internalized, Flynn's burned white hot with the desire to bring this man to justice. Yuri's was ice cold with the need for revenge. Or at least he assumed.
What he knew of the justice system in Dahngrest was that it was far from the fairness of the Empire. It was founded on and encouraged revenge. There was boundless vigilante justice. It was a ruthless, lawless place.
The scenes in the next few rooms were less horrifying, mostly because it seemed as though not many of the people who were held here made it very far. After a while, they reached a door with a wolf head carved into it. The key Yuri had collected opened the blood-rusted lock and allowed them entry to a room that was larger than the others, with a series of thick metal bars across the center, blocking them from the set of stairs across the room that led up. This was meant to be a dungeon of horrors. As they stepped forward a buzz sounded throughout the room.
"What was that?"
"An alarm system."
Repede's bark echoed from the rooms they had previously traveled and he bolted in, straight to Yuri's side just as the wolf head door slammed shut and locked.
"Good job." Yuri smiled down at his partner and then lifted his gaze to a more present threat.
Down the stairs came a thin man with graying hair, wearing dark, ornate robes that Flynn knew were typical of members of the Imperial Council. He approached them, his hands folded behind his back and a long, thin smile across his face.
"Well, well. What have we here?"
"You must be Ragou." Yuri's voice was sharp as he spoke.
"Frankly, I'm surprised that you made it this far. No one else has."
"The crimes that you have perpetrated here are unforgivable, Ragou!" Estellise stepped forward, pointing at the magistrate.
"What an interesting bunch of rats I've caught in my trap. A mage, some riffraff, a mongrel, the Scifo Boy, and our dear Princess Estellise. Pity you'll all have to die here."
"Why would you do this? Such horrors committed against your own people! What could you possibly accomplish by doing these things?" Flynn wanted to take the Magistrate into custody, but with circumstances as they were, he could not.
"The Empire is changing, boy. These people were useless to me. And we no longer have need for the idealistic knights like yourself and your father. We are moving forward into a new age and you are outdated." He turned his back to them. "Surrender the princess and I will allow you to live."
"Like that'll ever happen!" Yuri shouted before he could, his hand gripped tightly on the cell bars before him.
"I see. It's a pity that I don't have time to play with you myself. Looks like I'll have to leave you to play with my beloved Rhybgaro for now."
Above them, that buzzer rang again, nearly deafening this time.
A huge door opened beside where they had entered and a thunder of hoof beats followed. The room shook with a mighty tremor as a huge, golden horned beast crashed in. It paused only long enough for them to get a good glimpse of it before it charged at them, head and horn lowered for the most effective attack.
They scattered, sending the Rhybgaro straight into the prison bars. It stumbled, disoriented as its full weight hit the bars, and it tried to get back up on its ungainly long legs. As he readied for battle, Flynn could see out of the corner of his eye Ragou head back up the stairs he had come down. With the way blocked, they could not follow. As the Rhybgaro circled back to charge them again, they scattered once more, sending it into the bars again. The dent the creature left this time was sizable, bending the bars, and the smirk on Yuri's face told him that they were thinking the same thing.
"One more time should do it."
They regrouped and waited for the monster to do the same. It paced frantically, eyeing them, snorting and whinnying. It was afraid of them. Maybe it hadn't been after them at all, so much as Ragou or even attempting escape.
"Wait." Flynn lowered his sword. "I think it's scared of us."
"What?"
"I don't think it's attacking us. I think it just wants to escape." He sheathed his sword and held up both his hands in front of him to show the beast that he was unarmed. He took a step forward, stopping briefly before taking another.
It snorted at him and stared him down but didn't move. Those golden eyes shone with fear. A few more steps and he was able to get a better look at it. The monster was covered in bruises and lacerations. It was malnourished and missing patches of fur. He had noticed before that it favored one of its front legs over the other, and the markings on its horn told of earlier attempts at escape that surely failed. It stomped nervously as he made his approach further.
"Lady Estellise, would you come heal it? It's pretty badly injured." He maintained eye contact with the Rhybgaro.
"O-oh, all right." She sheathed her sword as well and followed Flynn's slow style of steps. After a long, tense moment, she got close enough to use her healing artes.
It reared and whinnied in fright. Flynn slid between her and the Rhybgaro to shield her, but it calmed soon after. It pawed the ground, turning its eyes to the gate.
"Move out of the way."
Yuri, Karol, Rita, and Repede moved quickly to the adjacent wall and just as they cleared the gate, the Rhybgaro charged.
Now healthy, it put all of its strength into it and the bars came crashing down. It looked back at them briefly before continuing its escape though a hole it tore in one of the walls.
"That was... interesting. But we need to catch up with Ragou. We can't let him escape."
They rushed up the stairs where Ragou had gone before them. The long, dark stairway took them high into the mansion and that was confirmed when the path opened out onto a balcony, overlooking a lower floor, a bridge connecting this platform to another. On the opposite side of the platform was a towering machine that nearly reached the high ceiling. Somehow it looked familiar to Flynn, but he couldn't place it. It pulsed and glowed red and hummed as its gears turned.
Rita rushed over to it, yards between them before they were able to follow and she opened the blastia control panel in a flash.
"Rita, wait!"
"It is a blastia!" Her eyes scanned the data carefully and she stroked her chin. "It's a lot like the barrier at Ehmead Hill. It's just a jumbled mess of formula that's somehow working."
"Could this be what's causing the strange weather?"
"Blastia can't control the weather... normally. If I just..." She tapped a few of the glyph symbols and the machine sputtered. The humming ceased as the gears ground to a halt.
From the one window on the left hand wall, they could see the storm clouds rapidly dissipate.
"So it was affecting the weather. But how?"
"What are you doing to my machine?! How did you escape the Rhybgaro?!" Ragou shouted from where he had been hidden near another set of stairs.
"We're shutting you down, you monster." Yuri turned, sword at the ready and his charcoal eyes ice cold.
"Guards!"
Knights of the Cumore Brigade filed in. Yuri easily turned his fury on them, his dog partner following suit. Rita kept by the machine in her examination, with Karol and Estelle acting as back up. Flynn also turned his blade against his fellow knights. Right now, he had an important job and he couldn't let his own comrades get in his way.
Wave after wave of them attacked. Why were so many knights here and why were they protecting someone who was obviously doing sinister things and breaking the law? Was Cumore in on this, too? And possibly Alexei? Why were they defending a man that Flynn felt so sure was responsible for the near genocide of this town? And he was just standing there smugly.
The battle had all of his focus until he heard a loud crash and Rita's shout as a shower of glass rained down on them. He turned just in time to see a figure wearing strange, angular white armor on the back of a dragon like creature enter through the now shattered window. The creature let out a terrifying shriek, sending Rita stumbling back from the machine. An orange glow in its mouth quickly became a ball of flame.
"What are you doing, you dragon freak?!"
More confused shouting followed, but he only caught bits and pieces while fending off attacks from the knights.
The dragon fired the ball at Rita, narrowly missing and hitting the machine instead. It burst into flames, its power source rupturing from the intensity of the heat and sending the mage skidding back further, until she was nearly back to back with Estellise. She was on her feet in a flash though, shouting and swearing and returning fire even as Estellise was checking on her and trying to keep her away from the growing blaze. The beast and its rider looked at her in disinterest as they circled the room once and then flew back out the window.
The fire blazed, consuming every useless tapestry and wooden molding in its path as it grew. When Rita managed to put it out using her water based artes, it was too late. The damage to the blastia had been done. There were bigger problems now though.
"Hurry up! Ragou's getting away!" Yuri felled the last of the knights, knocking him out with a clean blow to his helmet and turned in a full run to follow Repede. The dog was nearly on the escaping magistrate's heals.
Flynn rallied the others quickly and they followed.
The exit on the balcony past the machine brought them outside, to a long pier, where a small ship was quickly pulling away with Ragou and a few other men aboard. Yuri and Repede were in mid leap onto the boat before the others reached the end of the pier to follow. They scrambled to make the jump as well and in the end, Yuri and Repede had to pull Karol aboard when he missed the deck by a foot and was left clinging to the port side railing.
The fight from a moment earlier was not over yet as they were besieged by mercenaries instead of knights. Flynn had no hesitation in fighting this enemy, and where he expected to see Yuri falter against these who were probably of the Union, his graceful ferocity
had not ebbed in the slightest.
"What's goin' on out 'ere?" A thunderous voice from the cabin was followed by the appearance of a large, stocky man, whose most startling feature was the head of a mace affixed to his left arm in place of a hand. He was an imposing figure to say the least. He looked down over them as if they were nothing but a passing nuisance, but for a fleeting second, he stared Yuri down with the barest trace of concern on his face. In return, Yuri's anger seemed fresh once more and his grip on his sword tightened until his knuckles turned white. "So yer the worms Ragou's running from? Pitiful. Zagi!"
"What is it? Who do I get to kill now?"
The blond and magenta haired assassin slid from around the outer wall of the cabin, confident and lithe.
"Kill 'em. All of 'em."
Zagi didn't question, only brandished his blades, a wicked and wild, toothy grin spreading across his face. "Why if it isn't my favorite playmate, Flynn Scifo!"
Flynn barely had time to raise his blade before Zagi was on him, lashing out wildly. The assassin's blades moved in such a frenzy that Flynn was struggling to defend himself, much less make an attack of his own. Most of the injuries that he received from the whirl of blades were minor, but stung and as their numbers mounted, he was growing worried. He was being toyed with and at any time now, Zagi would switch to a more devastating attack. He could only hope that he gave him an opening then.
But Karol did that for him, attempting to bring his giant sword down on Zagi's head. The assassin rolled out of the way, giving Flynn time to get his footing and take the opportunity to attack. Zagi parried with one knife, but the other moved in to strike.
"It's been fun, Flynn Scifo, but now you die!"
"Guys like you never learn!" Yuri charged, dropping his shoulder and ramming into the knife wielding maniac.
Zagi was thrown back and flipped backward over the starboard side railing and
into the water.
"Thanks."
"Whatever." Yuri shrugged it off. "I was just tired of looking at his ugly mug."
"Can't you just accept a simple thank-"
"No time!"
Zagi leapt out of the water with a splash, sopping wet and his face red with anger. "You'll pay for that with your life!" He spun at them to attack once more, faster than last time, swinging and screaming. They each caught one of his knives, and he pressed down on them in the parry, hoping for them to lose their footing or slip up. "Why are you getting in my way, Yuri?!"
"Cause I feel like it!"
"You should understand, Yuri! You and I are the same!"
"I am nothing like you, Zagi!" Yuri shifted his weight onto one leg and lifted the other. He kicked the assassin square in the knee as hard as he could. There was a loud snap and Zagi crumpled slightly, cringing, the block weakening, but Yuri wasn't done yet. He pulled back his sword, risking getting sliced by the still falling blades. He moved swiftly, twisting to avoid the knife, and slamming his right hand into the center of Zagi's chest.
The force threw the assassin back and into the door of the ship's cabin. He slumped against the deck with a groan. He struggled to stand for a moment, fumbling like a wounded animal before he started laughing in a way that was unsettling.
"Ragou's escaping!" Estellise shouted from the starboard side, pointing to a skiff bobbing in the waves that carried Ragou, the towering man, and a smattering of mercenaries.
"Fuck!"
Zagi had merely been a distraction and he drew their attention once more. "I won't let you win that easily!" In place of his knife, he now held a flaming torch. Without any hesitation, he dropped it easily on the stair railing and after only a few seconds it was ablaze.
Flynn's gaze darted around frantically. There were no lifeboats and they were too far from Nor Harbor to even swim there without getting attacked by whatever could be lurking in the waters. They were trapped like rats on a flaming ship. As the flames spread, there came a loud pop, followed by the gushing of water that told him the hull had cracked from the heat and pressure and that they were now trapped on a sinking, flaming ship.
Yuri swore again, grabbing some rope from a cubbyhole nearby and tossing it to Flynn. "Get the girls tied up and yourself, too." He pushed a couple of barrels overboard and tossed a line to Karol. "Get Repede and yourself."
"But Yuri-
"I'm right behind you. Just jump in and swim to the barrels."
Flynn mutely did as he was ordered, knotting a single length of rope around both Rita and Estellise, and then himself, allowing a yard or so of slack between each of them.
Yuri dashed by, heading for the flaming cabin.
Flynn shouted after him. It was crazy, but Yuri had already disappeared amid the blaze. There was no time to waste as the flames grew hotter and larger. Karol and Repede mounted the railing on the starboard side and jumped in together. After surfacing, they drug themselves to the floating barrels. Yuri still had not returned.
"Go on. I'm going back for him." Flynn picked apart the knot around himself as fast as he could, driven by a strange feeling that he couldn't recognize that formed a hard knot in his throat. Could he really be worried for this person? Breaking loose, he allowed the girls to jump while he rushed to where Yuri had disappeared.
It was too hot for him to make it through to the cabin and he saw no sight of Yuri or the assassin Zagi.
"I told you to get out of here!"
He looked up to see Yuri at the wheel, steering the ship to the port side away from the others. He was unharmed and landed easily on the deck, grabbing Flynn by the back of his shirt.
"I wasn't leaving without you."
"Idiot!" Yuri pushed him hard to the edge of the ship.
Flynn jumped of his own accord, as the flames engulfed the last of the ship, and he heard Yuri's feet leave the deck behind him. He splashed down in the water and gasped for air a second too late. He struggled to swim, but all his limbs felt so heavy suddenly and just beyond the curtain of water, he could see the burning ship explode and above that, the hot yellow sun. Darkness crept over him as his lungs burned to breathe. When he could hold his breath no longer, a stream of bubbles erupted from him, air leaving him and cold, salty seawater replacing it in his lungs.
Just above him was a dark spot, blocking out the light of the sun. It grew closer and closer and he staved off the darkness that was choking the life out of him.
Whatever it was, it was too late.
