Brief introduction:

I'd like to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter for their continued support, despite the slow updates of the story. With my internships having started, time to write is very sparse. That doesn't mean I'm not trying though, as what you're about to receive is a double update, written in the first week of actual vacation I've had in forever. It's my 'thank you' to all my readers, and I think that now would be a good time for me to stop babbling and get onto the actual chapters.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Tales of Vesperia.

Nobility, chapter 11: Loyalty.

The moment Flynn regained consciousness, he instinctively tried to grab for his sword. For all he knew, the battle was still going on around him; his senses had dulled with the severity of the wounds he had sustained. It was soon clear that this wasn't the case though, as he felt that he wasn't wearing his armor, and if he didn't know any better, he'd even say that he was lying in an extremely comfortable bed.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, flinching slightly by the intensity of the light. Dawn had already come, it seemed…

He quickly inspected himself for any injuries, and found that he was fine. It surprised him, since he knew he he had been beaten up pretty badly yesterday. Was that gel, or potion, or whatever Sodia had given him this powerful? Upon trying to move, he got his answer, as every single muscle in his body screamed in protest.

'GAH! Strong medicine maybe, but it can't take care of muscle straining...'

Ignoring his aching body, he stood up and glanced outside the window. There were a few villagers walking about, but they did so hastily. A quick inspection revealed that the field was still down, which drew out a resigned sigh. Apparently, Rita hadn't managed to fix the barrier.

'Or she died before she got here. Was she there yesterday? I can't remember… No, let's hope she just wasn't able to do it,' he shook his head. 'Wait, if I'm still alive and I'm really at Halure, then that means… Yuri is here as well? What on Terca Lumines was he doing here? And had he really fought in the thick of an actual battle, yesterday? He had never had sufficient training other than their sparring matches… had he really stopped that huge monster? And who were those other strangers with him?'

Deciding that he really needed answers, he glanced over the room to find the rest of his attire…

…And found that he wasn't the only one in the room.

Slumped over the table, still wearing her armor and looking like a mess, was Sodia. She was obviously sleeping.

'Huh? What's she doing here? I can't imagine that she couldn't have gotten a room for herself. I guess she must have been so exhausted that she fell asleep on the spot? Maybe the battle yesterday was a lot closer than we'd have liked, in the end…"

Next to being surprised at Sodia's presence, he was also surprised to find his armor cleaned reasonably well. With all the madness that seemed to be happening now, he was glad that someone had had the foresight to clean his gear. It would mean that his mobility wouldn't be hindered if he had to fight today, and at the very least he could go around town without people being repulsed or demoralized by his outfit.

'It's still not really the best attire for meeting with a prince, but practicality comes first,' he thought, dressing up quietly as to not wake Sodia. 'There's no way I'm not wearing this when we could get attacked again at any moment.'

Just as he was about to leave, he looked over his second-in-command again. He knew that resting in armor was highly uncomfortable, but there wasn't much he could do about that. However, he could move her onto a bed, at least, and so he did, again taking care not to wake her up.

As he laid her in bed, he got a good look at her features; she really was a mess. Streaks of dried blood were visible in her normally well-done, yet now thoroughly messed-up hairdo. Guilt rose up inside him, knowing that the only reason she, and everyone else who had come for him yesterday, had only been injured because of his inability to make it back safely.

"I'm sorry," he muttered quietly, looking away. "I guess I tried a little too hard to get back here as soon as possible. You're probably going to scold me when you wake up, huh?" he added sheepishly.

In turn, Sodia didn't reply, but did snuggle a bit into the blankets. For some reason this made him feel rather uncomfortable, and he quietly backed away; first a few steps, then out of the room.

"Right, now where to find Yuri?" he asked himself, still facing the door.

"Oh, so you really are awake?"

*GAH*

'Speak of the devil…!'

*Pant*

"Hey now, don't tell me you're that surprised to see me here, sergeant Flynn. Not after last night, at least," Yuri spoke from just 3 feet to Flynn's right.

"Actually, I am, Your Highness," Flynn responded, all the while recomposing himself. "What are you doing here? And now that we're on the subject, why are you standing here right outside my room? You weren't waiting this entire time until I woke up… right? That would be pretty creepy." Though he was glad to see his friend (and despite the strange mixture of civilian clothes and leather armor his friend was wearing, there was no mistaking that grin or overall demeanor), he was still stupefied over his presence.

"Hah! As if I'd wait for you to wake from your beauty sleep. For a supposedly ever-vigilant knight, you sure take your time resting, and for the record, you're quite loud at it as well. Your snoring kept all of us up," Yuri scoffed playfully. "Actually, Repede heard you get out of bed; my room is next to yours," his friend continued in a slightly more yet not even remotely serious tone. "You've probably figured that we're at the inn, and that 'we' had to drag your unconscious shiny metal rear to here. I feel kind of bad for Sodia, to be honest; you never seem to notice-"

"Oh, sure, please go on with the high and mighty act, your highness," Flynn countered evenly. "Something tells me you didn't fare nearly as well yesterday as you'd make it seem. Maybe it's the sling holding your arm in a fixed position? So exactly how much backup were you forced to bring along to make sure your delicate noble rear got out 'relatively' unharmed? I'm guessing it's in the hundreds."

"Actually, it was just a healer from the slums," Yuri answered without missing a beat, "But I decided to do some recruiting on the way and ended up with an extra two young teenagers and an eggbear hatchling."

The two locked gazes for a while and eventually Flynn couldn't contain his laughter any longer. That was by far one of the most absurd statements Yuri had ever made, and that meant something by itself. At first, Yuri smiled at the reaction he got, but then his face faded into seriousness, or at least what Flynn figured to be seriousness. When it came to Yuri, everything always seemed to be covered in a thick layer of playfulness and/or roguishness.

"Anyway, It's good to see you, Yuri," Flynn admitted, forcing his mirth under control and shaking his friend's hand on the uninjured arm. "But all the jokes aside, what made you decide to come here with the royal guard? Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I'm pretty surprised."

"The royal guard? Weren't you listening just now? I'm here with a healer from the slums, two children and an eggbear hatchling. That wasn't a joke," said the prince, looking away.

Flynn opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again. That couldn't be true, right? Or maybe he had lost part of his sanity yesterday with his injuries? Brain damage was far more likely than meeting one of the two heirs to the throne in the middle of nowhere, without anyone guarding him, right? "B-but, why on earth would you be here without people to look after you! After all the disappearances of your relatives in the last decade, don't tell me you decided to take a stroll into dangerous territory on your own?"

"It's a bit of a complicated issue," Yuri said, somehow managing to make it sound even more vague than the actual meaning of the words. "Look, we need to talk. There are a lot of things you need to know, and there are some things I'd like to ask you as well. For now though, it's important that we talk before-"

"Yuri? Is that you talking up there?" The sudden interruption was accompanied by the sounds of hurried footsteps coming up the stairs. Flynn froze. That voice! It was the voice of the guard with Yuri last night! There was something so familiar about it…

"Too late…" he heard Yuri mutter under his breath.

From the stairway, the figure of a young woman came into view, wearing the distinctive royal guard outfit and an accompanying suit of armor. She had brown hair, a slim figure, and would be considered pretty by just about anyone's standards. Strangely, although Flynn had met quite a few royal guards in Yuri's company over the last three years, he had never seen this one. But wait- hadn't Yuri said that there were none of those with him? So what was she doing here?

"Yuri, I told you to take a rest!" the woman said in frustration, after which she let out an exasperated sigh. "After you tried that arte yesterday, your arm needs at least a full day of rest before I can work on it again! Why do you keep moving around the village? What if you're attacked? You won't even be able to defend yourself properly! But more importantly, can't you understand that I can't keep you safe if-"

Her voice stopped as green eyes met his, and the disappointed frustration the woman had held for Yuri turned into something cold: Hate. It was pure and simple. Nothing was said, but he could see it etched in her face. And then he knew. The hair was painted brown, and the attire was that of a soldier, but it had to be her. He knew those eyes, and he knew that look; it had a special place in his memory, as he was probably the first one to have ever received it from her.

"…in my room, and I came here to greet my friend. Someone had to tell him what was going on, right? It could have been you, but I wanted to make sure you didn't, like, kill him on the spot," he heard Yuri rebut in a semi-embarrassed way. Normally he'd have found it strange to catch Yuri acting like that to anyone other than the captain of the royal guard, but his friend was currently far away from his mind.

"Es… Estelle…?" he tried, and it wasn't until he spoke that he was aware of the silence that had preluded this question. Rather than responding, the woman finally broke eye contact with him, took a final glance at Yuri, and promptly left.

*Woof?*

Even without knowing what Repede said, Flynn knew the dog was confused, or clueless. Then again, so was he; first Yuri and now Estelle? What kind of insane twist of events had brought two of the most unlikely people out here to the middle of nowhere?

"You know, I got roughly the same reaction from that blastia mage when I asked her why she was with you," Yuri finally commented, breaking his line of thought. "Do you have that effect more often on women outside of the military?"

"ha ha ha," Flynn commented dryly, not even remotely appreciating the humor. "Now why are you here again, and why is she with you?"


"So let me get this straight," Flynn cut in. "You found evidence of corruption among the military, then the next day you found out that Ioder had been kidnapped, and that Estelle barely prevented an all-out riot in the lower quarter? After which there were a number of assassination attemps on the both of you in what might have been an all-out attack on the castle? You were forced to escape virtually by yourselves, and then you somehow made it past all military and assassins, ending up in Estelle's friend's home with the guards banging at the door with no real way out?"

"Yeah, that's basically it," Yuri replied, grimacing in pain. He was lying down, trying to keep his promise of resting to Estelle while at the same time informing Flynn of the happenings. His arm hurt a lot more than he liked to admit, but Estelle hadn't been able to tend to it further, or so she said.

He had some reservations about believing her claim about the arm needing more rest first, as she had been so angry at him for joining the battle with an injured arm yesterday that he wouldn't even remotely be surprised if this was her way of 'punishing him'. If he was honest with himself, he probably deserved it, and even though the arm hurt, being shouted at like that by Estelle hurt a lot more. Normally he would shrug similar things that various tutors had told him right off, but that was proving quite difficult, for some reason.

'Maybe I really shouldn't have tried to use that arte yesterday? No, If I hadn't, I'm pretty sure Flynn would have been killed. Maybe Estelle is extra upset that I used it to save him? Hmmm… While she obviously hates him, I don't think she wants him dead… right? That would be unlike her, though I've only known her for three days, so can I really say that?'

"Normally I would have called your bluff," Flynn commented, taking Yuri back to the present.

The prince only nodded; he couldn't blame him. If he hadn't been through it all himself, he would have been the first one to be skeptical. "But now?"

"Now, I'll just take another good drink," Flynn answered, pouring himself another glass of apple beer. "You're not the only one who has been through some crazy stuff lately," he finished, setting the bottle aside. "Let me tell you about what happened to me on my trip to Aspio..."

Yuri waited patiently for his friend to finish, finding himself genuinely impressed by Flynn's blackmailing effort to get Rita to fix the barrier. He also had to forcefully suppress his laughter when it came to the part about meeting a scantily dressed woman in a library, despite the pain he was in. Eventually he failed. "Bwahahaha! Oh, that's just too much. I could just picture you, surrounded by –haha- Give me a moment to –pffhahah..- recompose."

"I'm glad his royal highness is having a lot of fun over my embarrassment," Flynn responded dryly.

"You have that admit that it's at least a little funny," said Yuri, regaining control.

"No it wasn't, and I'd like to see how you would have handled the situation! I'm telling you that there's no way you'd stay your usual smug self. She was just way too beautiful and way too… um…"

"Nude?" Yuri helpfully supplied.

"Yes! I mean, No! Not like that, but-" Flynn let out a frustrated sigh.

"Haha, it sounds like you might be into her," Yuri teased, though at the same time he felt kind of bad for Sodia. Just about everyone knew of her obvious affection towards Flynn except for his friend himself, ironically. Right now though, teasing his friend was a fun distraction.

"Yeah, right. Me, having a crush on the person suspected of committing manslaughter on this whole village?" Flynn rebutted, trying to look offended but not quite managing it well enough. "Next to that, she's not even a member of the same race as us!"

"Does that really matter if you're that beautiful, in your words?" Yuri pondered aloud. "I know that a certain Commandant has a Krityan following him around at times," he added with a suggestive wink.

"Can you please drop the subject?" his friend pleaded. "I'm more concerned about what she knows. She told me that there are dangerous side effects to using blastia, and that they should be destroyed. Did you know that?"

Yuri shook his head.

"I didn't, either. Don't you see, though? Even if she didn't sabotage the blastia, she must have a good idea of why it stopped functioning. If someone else sabotaged it, I think she might know more of the actual criminal," Flynn pressed on.

"So what you're suggesting is that we should try finding her again, and pressure her into talking," Yuri surmised.

"Yes, and that reminds me, did Rita make any progress at all on the reparations?"

"… No, I don't think so, sadly," Yuri informed him. "At least, not while I was talking to her a few hours ago. She's been working here non-stop, shooing away everyone who even tries to get close to the tree. She might have blasted me if I hadn't told her that doing that to a prince might not be such a good idea. From what I gather, this blastia is special in that it's a living one, and thus far more complicated than a normal blastia, although they all have personalities."

"Hmmm… yeah, I guess that would ma- wait, 'personalities'? You mean she talks to blastia?" Flynn suddenly realized.

"There's this old saying my history tutor once told me. It was 'there's a thin line between a madman and a genius,', or something among those lines. I felt it was a load of crap, but right now, I hope there's some truth in it. Now if only she got that barrier back up..."

There was a moment of silence in which neither knew what to say. In the end, Yuri decided now was a good time to bring up the issue that had been bothering him for quite a while.

"Do you mind telling me why Estelle seems to hate you?" he asked. He had tried to ask Estelle before, but the result had been her growing sour for a good hour while he hadn't learned anything at all. "I think I know enough of Estelle to know she's not a very vindictive person. Actually, she even healed Rita back up after she thought the girl had tried to kill her."

Flynn choked on a sip of beer he had just taken back into his hand, sending him into a coughing fit. "What!"

"Strange, huh? You conveniently brought the person Estelle had been looking for back to Aspio for her. Seems like Rita stole the aqua blastia," Yuri mused. "But I don't want to get sidetracked too much, so what happened between the two of you?"

Flynn was uncharacteristically silent and pensive for a good minute. "Sorry Yuri, but that's none of your business. There are some things you don't need to know."

'Things that I don't need to know, or things that you can't tell me for whatever reason? Well, I could probably manipulate him to tell me, but I don't think forcing him to do that is a good idea in the long run. There's one thing I would like to ask, though.'

"Does that mean you two were a couple some time ago?"

"Like I said, 'Your Highness', that's really none of your business," his friend replied, this time a little harsher. "Wait… is there any specific reason why you're so interested, Yuri?" Flynn continued in a strangely neutral tone.

Yuri's first urge was to break the tension by answering that in an exaggerated, scandalous or otherwise provocative way, but he decided to take the safe option. "Maybe there is," he admitted. "It's just so strange to learn that your best friend has someone like Estelle who hates him so much. It doesn't fit either of you. Something tells me something is very wrong and I can't grasp what it is."

"…Sometimes, Yuri, things go bad, and no matter what you do, you won't be able to fix it," Flynn said softly while glancing out over the still defenseless town of Halure. By now, afternoon was approaching its end. In a couple of hours, night would come, and the monsters would become more active again. Flashing of the previous battle came unbidden and his mostly healed wounds gave off a surge of fresh pain, making him shudder.

"I don't deal in no-win scenarios. That's why I'm here right now; to try making a difference," Yuri countered, following his gaze.

For the second time since they had started talking, there was an extended silence.

"So?" Flynn suddenly asked.

Yuri blinked. "So, what?"

"How did you get out of there, Yuri? Out of the lower quarter? We got a little sidetracked and I'd like to hear the rest."

"Hah! Well, obviously I fought my way through the hordes of corrupt knights with my trusty sidekick and my protector," Yuri joked, trying to break the previous tension even further.

Flynn coughed. "Yeah, right. So what really happened?"

"Heh, if you really have to know…"


Three days ago

"Looks like we're out of time," Gwenn commented. As to accentuate this, the soldiers outside became even louder in their demands and attempts to search the houses in the street.

Yuri's mind was racing to come up with a possible escape, but for once, he couldn't figure it out. The only option seemed to be catching the guards searching their place off-guard, and then hoping for the best against all the other ones that happened to be in the neighborhood. However, one look at Estelle's fatigued form told him that that wouldn't work; he himself wasn't feeling much better, and he knew that he had far too little combat experience to be much of a help. Maybe if he were Flynn…

"We could pretend that we're assisting someone giving birth," Estelle suddenly brought up, though she sounded a bit weak. "Maybe they'll let us be if we can convince them we need to be left alone?"

"Er, what?" Yuri brought up, glancing around at what appeared to be a lot of medicinal tools and numerous vials of… substances. Not to mention that the idea was somehow very uncomfortable. "Listen, I don't know much about-"

"While the idea isn't a bad one, the problem here is that they'll recognize you instantly, if only by your unique hair color, Estelle. If your 'friend' is also actively wanted by the knights, I suppose they will recognize him easily as well. Finally, while his hair might pass for a woman's, he lacks the correct anatomical make-up to pass for one." Gwenn interjected calmly, leaving Yuri very self-conscious and slightly embarrassed.

'Was she seriously considering using ME as a woman in labor? I'm not that feminine, right?' Suddenly he had to think of a purple coated pervert from one night ago, who had mistaken him for one in his drunken state.

"Oh… right… sorry; I'm a little tired," Estelle apologized. In truth, she sounded almost hollow. She most likely was still caught in the shock of losing 'the clinic', which probably doubled as her home.

"Estelle-" he began.

*Bam* *Bam*

"Open up! We of the royal knights demand entrance to this structure!" someone shouted from the other side of the door.

"Quiet, and come with me, quickly!" The older woman cut in, hurriedly walking to the back of the shop, pulling what looked like a massive crate to the side easily.

"In case you're wondering, it contains only clothes and towels," Gwenn explained to Yuri. Estelle said nothing.

"The first thing you get in the lower quarter is a sturdy lock," Gwenn commented softly while fiddling with something on the ground. She then slid a whole section of planks to the side, revealing a space below the floor. "The second thing is a compartment to hide whatever is truly valuable to you."

*Bam* "Open this door RIGHT NOW, or we will be forced to break it down!"

"Coming, coming," Gwenn called out.

Not waiting for any further instruction, Yuri quickly urged Repede inside and then entered himself, half-pulling Estelle with him, after which Gwenn closed the floor and moved the crate again. From the fleeting candle light in the room, he had guessed this was a relatively large compartment, but the stuff already inside made it hard to really move. Repede was pressed against his back while Estelle ended up facing towards him, yet as they suddenly heard a really large crashing noise, no one made any effort to try finding a more comfortable position.

The knights had broken the door down.

"Why did you not respond when we demanded you to open the door, citizen!" Someone shouted, though his voice was muffled slightly by the planks. To Yuri's horror, he realized that Repede was growling softly, and he immediately whispered a command as silently as he could.

"You will have to excuse me for wanting to dress myself to a modest state before answering my door. Considering how late is currently is, I think you should find that perfectly normal," Gwenn replied in indignation. "I also think that you owe me compensation for destroying my door, but knowing how righteous you knights are, I suppose you did not need me to point that out, did you?"

"Shut up!" one of the men cut in, obviously angry. "You! Search that crate: it's large enough to hide people in!"

"Oh, so breaking down my door isn't enough; you also want to rifle through my possessions?"

"If I hear one more word from you, woman, I will have you arrested right now on charges of contempt of law enforcement! Hey, what are you waiting for? Inspect the crate already!"

'You were so right about the knights having fallen, Flynn. Why-oh-why didn't I look into this sooner?' Yuri thought to himself as the soldier moved closer…

And that's when Yuri noticed it. There was a slight streak of light falling through the floor on Estelle's hair, and if that was possible, Estelle was visible from the top. Apparently, Gwenn hadn't had enough time to completely cover the fake plank floor with the crate. He moves as fast as he possibly could, and threw part of his black cloak over her head and held his breath. Right next to him, a hairsbreadth away, Estelle did the same.

Footsteps drew closer, and Yuri realized that they were trapped. What would happen if they were caught now? Even if they were fit enough to fight, they wouldn't be able to get out of their hiding place without having to go through a wall of swords. In his case, there was a chance that they would let him live and take him to wherever Ioder was, if they didn't kill him. Of course, if the assassins were in league with the military, they would only keep him alive if he convinced whatever commander these guys reported to that he was a valuable bargaining chip to be used for greater personal power. In Estelle's case however, she would die regardless of what happened, if not worse. Probably worse.

' Do I sacrifice her to that fate if it comes to it…? I have enough explosive spheres to kill both us and everyone in the vicinity instantly. Is my chance of survival worth what will happen to Estelle? I should say that I'm obviously important enough… but for some reason, I don't think I could. But If I die, who will take care of finding Ioder? And prevent the looming civil war? I'd need to take any chance I've got for survival… right?'

As he thought of Estelle, he noticed that he was still holding her wrist with his left hand, from when he had pulled her inside with him. He would have instantly let it go, but he was more afraid to move than to be embarrassed.

Above them, the crate was opened by the soldier.

Yuri wasn't sure how much time passed, but it was far too long. He still didn't know what he would do. Maybe he could stab her to spare her from such a fate, instead?

"It's only useless rags and blankets sir. They're not here."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'd like you all to remove yourself from my house so I can fix the door before any thieves show up," Estelle's far older friend commented in perfect annoyance.

'She's deliberately trying to rile the soldiers up to draw attention onto herself and away from any further inspection,' Yuri realized, both with admiration for her courage and with horror for what would probably happen next.

"All right, lady. I've had it with you! Mitch, take her into custody. She will be an example to other troublemakers."

"You will come to regret this," Gwenn warned. "The more people who see you arrest me or any of my kin, the more 'troublemakers' you will have to-"

"Oh shut up!"

*Thud*

Then it was silent.

Beside him, Estelle stirred, and she grasped for her weapon. Yuri reflexively tightened his hold on her wrist, and shook his head ever so quietly. From this close, she would have to understand the gesture, even if she didn't see him. He felt her arm shaking, but she complied. It was a good thing, too, as he knew that if she really wanted to fight, he wouldn't be able to stop her, at least not without drawing very unwanted attention.

A few moments later, the knights were gone.


Flynn was quiet for a while. Yuri had given him reasonably complete overview, apart from the thoughts concerning blowing up himself and Estelle if things went really bad. After all, there were some things that others didn't need to know, in his friend's own words. Strangely, every time Estelle was mentioned, Flynn seemed to deflate a bit, and since Yuri still had no idea what was going on, he decided to try and keep the bits about Estelle overly general and vague.

"And then what happened? That still leaves the both of you in an area that is very likely to be heavily patrolled by knights until you're found."

"We knew we couldn't stay there. If we weren't found, someone slightly smarter could have heard the story, and could have decided to come after us," Yuri explained. "So with a lot of effort we forced ourselves out of there, then went by the sewers to someone who owed a favor to Estelle; some elder who's name I forgot. By the time we got there, Estelle 'felt' that the atmosphere in the area was highly tense. She seems to have a knack for sensing 'off' things in the surroundings. Anyway, so we went there –wait, hold on a sec," he finished, standing up to lessen the feeling of cramp from all the lying down.

"Did you tell the elder who you really are?" Flynn inquired.

"No. She seemed to buy Estelle's explanation that I was a friend helping her out. Repede and me were mostly ignored. Well, except on the way out, where I was told in no uncertain way that if I harmed Estelle caused her any kind of trouble, something very bad would happen to me."

"I guess you made a poor first impression?" his friend remarked, unable to let the opportunity slip by.

"Obviously," Yuri replied, playing along.

"Anyway, so you got the help of an elder who owed a favor to Estelle," Flynn mused. "The body of Elders holds a lot of power in the lower quarter, if only because they are selected by popularity rather than lineage. I guess this means you're about to tell me of some spectacular escape?"

Yuri grinned. "You could say that."

But his mind was more on the conversation before it.


"Do you think this will actually work?" Yuri asked the swordswoman next to him. From their position in the dimly-lit basement they had been hidden in, they could occasionally hear shouting from guards outside, still looking for them. There seemed to be less of them in the area now, presumably due to the knights spreading out further due to losing their trail. The problem was one of the heavily guarded exits they were currently close to. They had been told it was the same for all the exits. He was still wondering how someone had managed to get this many patrols up and looking for them so quickly…

'Well, for now, I guess this place is a lot better than a shallow hole beneath the floor, and at least we're not in any imminent danger.'

"I don't know. I can't remember this ever being done before," Estelle replied solemnly. The hour or so of sleep they had managed to get while elder Sarah had sent envoys had helped both of them to shake off their fatigue, and in her case, the gel he had more or less forced her to accept had also helped considerably. Physically they were somewhat prepared to escape and travel, and the sooner they got out of here, the better, as it would give them a bigger head start on whoever was chasing them.

"Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough. How are you feeling now?" He almost instantly regretted asking, if only due to how stupid that question was. Her home had been destroyed, her friend had been arrested for helping her, and her life itself had changed drastically, if not by the execution order then by the intervention of himself and his allies. And the reason that had happened was because she was the only one that had the strength and willpower to successfully stand up to their enemies.

'Good going with the empathy there, Yuri,' he sarcastically reprimanded himself.

*woof*

'Yeah, thanks. I don't need you to remind me, but I guess that's actually not a bad idea.'

"Shhh…" he whispered to his companion.

"What did he say?" Estelle asked quietly.

"He says to remember what the elder said: that they'd come to help you regardless of the danger," Yuri translated. "I never really got a chance to ask, but you seem to be very popular around. This isn't something that many people would do for someone else."

"I don't think I'm that popular; I just help others when they need medical help. If they can't pay it, I give it to them for free," Estelle replied after a pause. "I'm also a midwife, though in those cases I almost always work with Gwenn." She looked back at him. "What do you think will happen to her?"

'Honestly? He said he would make an example of her. That probably means execution, and if those guys trying to cause a riot make this a very public one, along with a few others of people that were angry about their homes being broken into…'

"I think she'll be fine," Yuri lied, trying to offer a bit of mental comfort, and trying to meet those emerald eyes head on. "They don't have any evidence that she helped us at all, so they'll probably let her go after a few days in jail. It's the same penalty for breaking into the noble quarter, or generally harassing knights on duty."

"I hope you're right…" Estelle muttered in a distinctly dishearted tone, after which awkward silence reigned supreme.

'Maybe if I try talking about something else to distract her, it'll get her back to normal for a while? It's not like there's anything else to do now. But what should I try?'

"How long have you been, um, healing people?" Yuri eventually decided on, looking to change the subject back to an earlier one.

"What? Oh, I… let's see… I think I started going with my father on visits people when I was five or so. It wasn't until I was seven that I actually started helping," Estelle replied.

' Since you were five?'

"So you were basically trained for it as long as you could have been," Yuri concluded.

"Yes, the same as you, probably," she answered.

"In a way, I guess, but I don't think it's really the same thing."

She nodded. "Of course I don't know what it's like to be trained to be a prince."

Yuri shook his head. "That's not what I meant. Did you… like to become a healer? Did you have a choice?"

The healer looked at him with her head tilted slightly to the side, with a degree of confusion evident in both her tone and her facial expression. "A choice? No, but I wasn't old enough to realize I really had a choice, then. And I don't think I would have chosen something else even if I did. Dad always told me about how there were so few of us to take care of everyone here, and that becoming a healer was probably my best option if I ever wanted to live somewhere else."

"Now that you mention it, I've been wondering about that for a while," Yuri replied, suddenly remembering something. "Your military report had top marks in healing skill and medical knowledge. With those kinds of skill, you could have easily made a living anywhere, like the middle quarter, or maybe even among the nobles. So why-"

"I wanted to stay away from the castle and the knights," Estelle interjected flatly. Yuri decided not to comment on it; prying into sensitive issues wasn't really something he thought wise to do so quickly.

The swordswoman across from him paused briefly, gathering her thoughts. "And I stayed here because I felt that helping others was more important than the added luxery of the middle quarter or the noble quarter. Healers and doctors are very rare here because we can't pay them well, unlike the nobles, for instance. As a result, a lot of people here die unnecessary deaths. Did you know that in some areas of the lower quarter, one in every ten women dies in childbirth? It's because there are no healers or midwives there."

"I see," Yuri brought out, not quite sure how to comment on that. 'Selfless and noble. Somehow I'm not surprised.'

"I also had a number of friends that I didn't want to lose, so after… my father died, I just took over his clinic," she continued.

"Ah. I'm sorry for your loss," said Yuri almost automatically.

"Please don't be; It's been four years since then. And It… couldn't be helped," Estelle replied solemnly, looking away.

"…Do you have any other family?"

"No, but I sometimes feel as if all the people living here are a very large family. Everyone's usually very social and supportive to others, and for me, that's a big part of what makes it worth living here," she explained. "Bad things do happen though, but we try to get by as best as we can."

'Wasn't there a proverb on hardship and forging bonds between people?' Yuri wondered.

"What about you, your Highness? Do you mean to say that you don't like to be a prince…?"

The prince in question suppressed a sigh. Hadn't he already asked her to drop it? "First off, the 'your highness' thing has really got to go. Like I said earlier, I've never really seen in the point in people treating other people with some ridiculous amount of respect based on nothing but who they were born to."

"Ah, right. Sorry, it's just that I don't usually meet people as important as you."

"Important? Yeah, I guess, but for all the wrong reasons," he sighed dejectedly.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Estelle asked, curious.

"I'll tell you some other time. To get back to your question: No. I've never asked to be a prince. I never asked for it and I wouldn't have if I had the choice."

"But… why? Isn't it nice to be able to live a life of luxury, being served by servants at your every call and to be able to do whatever you want?"

Yuri raised an eyebrow in amusement. "I thought you just said that you purposefully chose a life of poverty over one of luxury?"

"Er, well, that's because I was satisfied with the life I had and had something I wanted to achieve. If I had grown up in the castle, I think I would have liked it," Estelle replied.

"Trust me on this, you wouldn't. It may be a bit hard to believe with all the excitement going on now, but the reality is that it's extremely boring. Your entire life is basically controlled by others. Everyone is always watching you, demanding you to be a perfect as you can be," Yuri explained. "There's never a 'what I want'. I need to do or learn things, or behave in some way because everyone else expects it of a prince. If I try hard to succeed and manage it, there's never any praise: it's expected of me to excel in everything, like I'm some sort of superhuman entity."

Estelle was silent.

"Next to that, you're never given any sort of freedom and you're completely sheltered from the rest of the world. If I hadn't tried so hard to get out on my own every once in a while, I wouldn't have known anything about the outside world, like my cousin," he went on. In the back of his mind, he realized that saying all this complaining might make him seem like an idiot to someone of the poorer folk, but it was already too late to turn back. "In your case, that means that you wouldn't have had any chance to go out and help or heal others. No, you'd just have been stuck in the library, reading all the time, and-"

"Actually, that doesn't sound that bad. I really like reading and studying," the pink haired healer suddenly cut in, sounding strangely excited. "I think I could be happy with just reading everything there was to know about the world! I wish that books weren't so expensive..."

Yuri could only stare at what seemed like a sudden complete reversal of her emotions. 'Huh? Did that actually do it? She's almost sounding almost like her normal self again?'

"I… well… Let's just say I prefer to find out things by myself rather than reading about them," he replied, finding himself not really wanting to discredit reading all that much anymore for some reason. "And you still wouldn't have been able to heal others," he pointed out.

"Yes, you're right. Well, sorry for stopping you, Yo- Yuri. Please continue."

"Um, where was I again?"

*Woof!* Repede reminded him.

"Oh yeah, and then there's always the thing with everyone trying to either seduce me or plan my marriage to someone else. Don't laugh; it's seriously embarrassing and insulting. I've been cornered by very blunt noblewomen wearing very little clothing before, and then there's my head servant trying to make sure I 'reproduce' before I die, saying it's my duty to my house or something. That's also why he hires mostly highly attractive girls to do all the work," Yuri went on. "No one actually seems to care about who I am. It's only the title that matters, and what a position of power someone involved with me could get."

"I suppose I can see why you'd get a lot of attention," Estelle responded with a small grin, finding it hard not to find it amusing despite Yuri's obvious annoyance. "When you put it like that, I mean," she quickly added.

Yuri sighed. "How would you like it if just about any person of the opposite gender you met tried to hit on you? Wait- does that happen to you too? Given your obvious popularity and your looks, I wouldn't be surprised."

The words hadn't even left his mouth before Yuri realized what he'd just said aloud.

'Please tell me you were too preoccupied by something to have heard that,' he pleaded in vain. He supposed it was a good thing that the light was dim and that it would be pretty hard to see him blushing.

He was relieved to see Estelle bursting into chuckle a moment later. He offhandedly decided that he liked the sound. "No, no, I can't say I know what that's like," she said. "I try not to stand out too much, but I guess that if that happened, I'd put everyone down gently."

"You… try not to stand out to much?" He inquired.

She nodded. "To avoid unwanted attention."

Before Yuri could finish any of the questions that were on his mind, they were interrupted by the hatch to the basement suddenly opening, and both Estelle and he were on their feet with their weapons ready almost instantly. It proved to be unneeded though, as it was only one of the 'guards' that had been keeping watch for them.

"It's time," the middle-aged man said. "Get ready," he finished, upon which he left.

"Well, I guess we'd better leave then," Yuri remarked, walking to the stairs. "Thanks for listening; it's been a while since I got to talk to someone like this. Hope you didn't find it boring."

"No, not at all. That was actually very interesting," Estelle replied pleasantly.

'Looks like I really did manage to get her mind off of her own problems and losses for a while,' he mused, feeling quite pleased with himself.

"So, do you still think you'd like living as a princess?" Yuri asked, grinning.

"Haha. No thanks, I think I'll pass for now."


*Snap*

Yuri was immediately drawn from his thoughts. "Huh? What?" he asked, slightly disoriented.

"Are you feeling all right?" Flynn asked in concern, standing over on the prince as he was lying on his bed. "You were about to tell me how you eventually escaped and then you just zoned out completely. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had fallen asleep," he said.

"Really? Well, I guess I am feeling a bit tired," Yuri admitted. "The fight yesterday was pretty harsh, and between that, getting here, and trying to either get acquainted with everyone or keeping them from killing each other, I've been pretty busy. There wasn't any real time to rest."

Flynn nodded, then sat back down on a chair. "Yeah, I know what that's like. At least you seemed to have a good dream; I don't think I've ever seen you grin that stupidly before."

The somewhat ragged looking prince blinked. "I… what?"

*Pant*

"You heard us, right, Repede?" Flynn pressed humorously, enjoying another chance to put the embarrassment on Yuri for a change. On the other hand, deep down inside, he had a worrying suspicion and wasn't sure he'd like the coming answer. "So what was that about?"

'Was I really grinning? Guess I was embarrassed,' the prince thought to himself. "Well, obviously I was thinking about our heroic escape," he half-lied. To himself, it sounded convincing enough. '

In response, the unarmored soldier only stared at him, his expression completely unreadable. "Right," he finally spoke aloud, though Yuri had the distinct idea that his friend didn't buy it. "You know, Yuri, if you're tired, you should rest. We can continue this another time."

"No, it's fine. I can keep going for a while."

"Well, maybe you can give me the short version, then. You still haven't told me what you want with me or the unit, and I'd like to know that before everything else," Flynn pointed out.

"Fair enough," Yuri conceded. "Long story short, the inhabitants faked a massive fire breaking out. That got us out."

"A fire…?" Flynn repeated, surprised. "Hmmm, I guess that fires are a big problem in the lower quarter, due to everything being made of wood and with all the buildings clumped together so much. But how would that help you get out? Did you all stage some sort of mass panic to escape in the confusion?"

Inwardly, Yuri had to suppress a smile. Since he had met Flynn, the knight had become increasingly good at figuring out less chivalrous solutions to situations, most prominently in thinking of ways to escape the castle. He was convinced that his friend wouldn't have made that connection so quickly two or so years ago. "Yeah, something like that," he affirmed. "You're missing one thing, though: there were still guards stationed at the gates. Even with the streets in panic, we didn't want to risk getting too close to them or forcing our way past. Trying that could have ended pretty messy."

"Right, but you did get past somehow," Flynn mused, taking another sip of his apple beer. Absently, Yuri noted that while he had had quite a few, there were no signs of intoxication on his friend at all. If he was ever going to try drinking him under the table again, like the one disastrous time he had done that in the middle quarter, he was going to have to do a lot of catching up, resistance wise.

"We used the circumstances to our advantage," he explained further, forcing some highly embarrassing but retrospectively funny scenes from a certain tavern from his mind. "In this case, we were 'in luck'. 'To douse a fire, one would need water'," he quoted from a famous comedy writer from a century ago.

He paused.

"Obviously, but how does that-," Flynn began before being hit by realization. "Wait, the aqua blastia-!"

"Was stolen, meaning the source of water was gone, too. At least some of the knights in the area would have picked up the rumors or would have noticed it themselves. Oh, of course there were some pretty substantial reserves of water the people had stored here and there, but they didn't need to know that, did they?" Yuri finished off-handedly.

Flynn snorted out in laughter at his friend's gesture. "Pfahaha, I can see where this is going."

"Yeah, so a few groups of men were sent out with a number of barrels to get water outside of the city…" Yuri continued.

"…And you were in those barrels!" Flynn concluded. "Still, it seems a bit strange that the guards didn't check those or at least sent a few men with you just in case."

"Actually, I don't really blame them," Yuri replied, looking away. "If I hadn't seen it happen right in front of me, I'd never have figured that A. so many people would be willing to put themselves in danger just to help someone else, and B. that the people would be organized enough to pull off something as grand as that. To the guards there, it would seem like a genuine emergency. They did send a couple of guards along, but I think that was actually to protect the men from the monsters outside. The one in charge there –Estelle recognized the voice as someone named LeBlanc- was pretty decent compared to most knights I've come across recently."

"And the guards? How did you deal with them?"

Yuri shrugged. "The same way we handled the assassins. Repede and I took one of them, Estelle took care of everyone else. Strangely, there were two of them that didn't want to fight at all. Two guys from the Schwann brigade, I think. They were somehow convinced that a pink haired seductress was abducting me, but upon seeing Estelle they kind of dropped their delusion, and I talked them into helping us out. After that, we fled the scene. Two days of travelling passed, and here we are," he finished. "For now, I think that's everything you need to know."

Flynn was silent. "Yeah, you two sure have been through a lot, these last couple of days," he eventually said. "And here I was thinking I had it rough with all the monsters here and being publicly embarrassed by scarcely dressed women."

Yuri smirked. "You know, back on that last subject, I'd honestly have figured you'd be immune to female charms by now."

"Huh? What do you mean by that, Yuri?"

"Well, you know, there are a few rumors here and there…"

"About what?"

"About you and your ALL female unit of soldiers, obviously," Yuri bluntly clarified, trying hard not to give in to laughter in the face of his friend's obliviousness.

"Such as…?"

"Such as you 'sharing tents' with various companions, sometimes with multiple ones at once."

Even though Yuri prided himself with his ability to read and predict how others would respond, he was still taken off guard when Flynn just continued to stare at him. "Yeah, that does happen at times. We can lose tents due to them being damaged in fights, for instance. What's so strange about that?"

For an instant he was reminded of Estelle, who had also been genuinely confused as to why he had wanted to buy more than one tent for their journey across the land. In her eyes, more tents just added to the weight that had to be carried. After talking to her later, he understood that it was her soldier background, and that she was probably used to sharing tents with others during military campaigns. For him though, the concept of her sleeping less than two steps away from him was… embarrassing? Exciting? Both? Yuri wasn't sure what to think, just that that it had made him feel very uncomfortable. Apart from the conversations, that was. Those were really interesting.

Still, all that was no excuse for Flynn to mistake the obvious 'sharing tents' metaphor for something else. "I don't think that 'strange' is the way to put it," he continued, suddenly feeling unsure of what he was saying. Was he perverting some sacred trust soldiers had for one-another too much? Maybe Flynn would only feel deeply offended rather than annoyed or amused? "It's just that, you know, all of your squad members are women, and-"

"Not all of them. Witcher is a man."

Yuri blinked, genuinely surprised. "He is?"

"What- don't tell me you've never noticed!"

There was an awkward silence. The question Yuri didn't want to ask himself was what that said about Witcher. Or maybe he was actually the only innocent one? "Ah, right. I've never really had a real chance to talk to him. Still, apart from him, all your squad members are female. Doesn't that tell you anything?" he asked intently, remembering feeling sorry for Sodia. Maybe if he just gave Flynn a very hard push in the right direction…

"Why would they all chose to follow you, a relatively unimportant sergeant? Especially Sodia; she's obviously highly talented and could probably make a better career than staying your subordinate forever."

'Now we're even for all the times you helped me get out of the castle,' Yuri inwardly told himself.

"That's obvious: Woman generally like the idea of fighting injustice and standing for the weak more than men," Flynn instantly replied. "I do those kind of missions far more than other unit commanders. I 'm sure the same goes for Sodia, and I really appreciate her help."

"…Wow, that's actually the ONLY other reason that might have a bit of truth to it…" Yuri muttered to himself. From his current position at the window, he saw that night was starting to fall, and that the villagers that had ventured outside of the defended structures quickly finished whatever business they had, after which they sped for the buildings that had been barricaded to withstand potential monster attacks.

"You know what, forget about it," he then said to Flynn, who was still looking at him quizzically. There were a few things he had to do before the day was through. "I think it's time we got down to business."

"Right. I guess you're going to ask me to come with you, to search for your cousin, right? That's why you came here," his friend stated in a serious tone, meeting his gaze evenly.

"Yes, that's pretty much it," Yuri replied. "You're one of the very few people that I can trust unconditionally, and whom we don't need back at the castle to work against the conspirators in the council," he explained in equal tone. "So what are you going to do?"

His friend mulled things over for a good minute before he slowly began his answer. "If what you're telling me is true, if Alexei is really behind it and I chose to follow you over staying here to help the people, I'd be disobeying a direct order. It would give the corrupt officers an excuse to dishonorably discharge me, so st would basically mean the end of my career in the military, and everything I've worked so hard to achieve in the last few years."

Yuri was silent. It was hard to argue with that scenario.

"With me labeled as a deserter, the military would look badly upon the unit itself, probably disbanding it altogether," Flynn continued.

"Probably, yes," the prince agreed.

"And the way things look, it seems as though the enemy is at a very clear advantage, both power-wise and intelligence-wise. We know almost nothing about who they are, but they seem to know everything about us."

"Also true."

"You know, you're not exactly making a convincing case for yourself here, Your Highness," Flynn stated dryly.

"I think the alternative sort of speaks for itself, buddy. If I fail to rescue Ioder and something happens to me, it will basically mean the end of the empire. Countless lives will be lost," Yuri countered. "And I already told you how corrupt the military is right now. The higher ups used fake records to make sure you didn't get promoted, and since they probably see you as a threat, they'll never promote you, either. I'm sorry buddy, but that's the way things are," he finished softly.

"I know," Flynn answered, looking down. "But still, it feels like giving up," he continued, and he balled his fists. "Ever since I was little, what I wanted to do was to become a respected knight. It was all I worked for. All the near-suicidal orders, constantly fighting without any kind of rest, the less than humane actions of our army during the guild war… I did it, forced myself to deal with it, because I thought that one day, I'd be in the position to change it." By now, his voice was clearly emotional. "And I'm supposed to just give it up without-"

A gentle pad on the shoulder stopped him from talking. "We're not giving up; we're deciding to fight them head on. You'll get where you want to be, one day," Yuri gently cut in. "Up until now, I've kept myself from interfering with the military too much. I think it's time we stopped playing by the rules. When we get back with Ioder, we're going to clean house, you and me. I won't let anything stop us; no matter how powerful a person thinks he is, I'll find a way to throw them out of the castle. We start at the top, then work our way down. It's a promise."

Flynn was quiet for a moment, weighing his options. In the end, the only thing that he could think of was that Yuri was right. But as for his promise, would he really be able to hold his word?

"I know this is a tough decision," said Yuri, "So to make things easier for you, I'd like you to read this," he finished, giving Flynn the letter that the captain of the royal guard had given to him. Yuri hadn't tried to read what it said, but he figured he had a pretty good idea.

Flynn studied the contents of the letter extensively before he spoke again.

"All right then," the knight decided, and did something Yuri would never have expected: he knelt down before him ceremoniously. "I hereby resign myself from the knights, and pledge my services to the line of royalty alone. My life is secondary to those of the emperor's heritage, and with my sword shall I vanquish those who intend them harm. Thus, I ask the line permission to allow me entry into the royal guard."

Although he and his cousin had both granted this request dozens of times before, there was something highly embarrassing to Yuri about your best friend kneeling before you and requesting it. "You know you don't need to ask me so formally," he remarked. "Wait, did you actually memorize all of that in just a few minutes?"

Flynn said nothing, keeping his head bowed.

"Ok, ok, you have permission," Yuri said, slightly annoyed at the formality.

"I hereby give you my utmost gratitude, your Highness," Flynn said stoically. "Now, I solemnly ask permission to leave your room, Yuri. I need to think of how I'm going to address my unit before I leave."

Yuri laughed at the clearly exaggerated politeness. "You're such a comedian. I think you and I are going to get along a lot better than me and most of the other guys," he said, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"I hope so too, as my first order as a Lieutenant of the royal guard is to follow you 'to the end of the world and into hell itself'," Flynn answered with a grin. "So no matter what you're going to do, you're kind of stuck with me."

"A Lieutenant? Well, congratulations on your promotion," Yuri answered, slightly surprised. "Not sure how the other guards will respond to you being entered roughly two-thirds of the way to the top, but that's not really our problem, is it?"

"Yeah… although, come to think of it, Yuri, there's something I want to ask you, as a friend. I know that I can't force you to do anything, but still."

"Really? What would that be?"

"I want you to leave Estelle out of this," Flynn responded. From just a glance at his face, Yuri knew that even for him, he was unusually serious. "The moment she gets that blastia from Aspio, you let her go. If we're going to look for your cousin, that means we're going to hunt down our enemies right to their doorstep. She doesn't deserve to be in that kind of danger; she deserves better than being forced to stay here with us."

'Ok, if I ever needed some confirmation that Estelle either meant or means a lot to Flynn… ' Yuri thought absently before the accusation hit home. "Wait- I wasn't planning anything like that!" he rebutted. "What makes you think I'd-"

"Don't bother, Yuri. You're no saint. You get your hands dirty for your cousin's sake, and you're not above anything to get what it is that you want. I think that most of the time, people aren't even aware of how you're manipulating them. I respect your skill at that," the ex-knight said. "All I ask is that you let Estelle walk away from this. Regardless of how valuable she might be to your mission, you owe her that much, and you owe me that much, too."

At first, the prince had no idea how to respond. "Fine," he eventually settled on. "You don't need to believe me, but I really wasn't planning on forcing her to stay."

"Good," Flynn said simply. "Guess it's really time to prepare for the journey tomorrow, in that case. Good night, Yuri."

"Yeah, you too," Yuri responded as his friend left the room. He didn't go to sleep yet, though, as there was one other person he had to talk to first.

Author's commentary:

The big problem with a relatively large time skip in the previous chapter is that a lot of holes need to be filled. I tried to touch on some things here, whereas some others will be done in the accompanying next chapter. At the same time, I didn't want all of the chapter to be a flashback, since that wouldn't have moved the story forward at all.

*extra note: a review informed that that it's not explained why Estelle's hair in this chapter is brown. It's explained in the next chapter, but to adress the problem now, she basically disguised both herself and Yuri. There is a death warrant on her, and he is a runaway prince, so covering up something as eye-catching as bright pink hair is a really smart thing to do.

Overall, I'm happy with the Yuri-Flynn interaction in the chapter. I understand Estelle was a bit OOC for the short moment she was in the chapter, but she has a pretty good reason to be upset with both of them at this point in time. Flashback Estelle was pretty well done, I think, but I'm always looking for other people's opinions.

I have to admit that it's been a while since I played Tales of Vesperia, but for some reason I seem to remember Witcher as being female (must be the high pitched voice?), whereas the game wiki states him as male. Hmmmz. Oh well.

I'd like to ask everyone who liked or disliked this to please let me know what was good or bad about it by review. While I wasn't able to respond to all reviews last time, please know that I enjoy reading them thoroughly, even if it's just a few simple words of encouragement.

Up to the next chapter, then!

-kind regards,

Dieuwtjin