When Rita had opened the door, Estelle, the familiar pink and white of her traveling clothes matching the pale pink of her hair and soft white of her skin, stood there looking determined, but uncharacteristically subdued. Probably had something to do with Rita being a jackass the last time they talked. Behind her, Yuri and Karol stood like the world's most mismatched vanguard, and there was not a soldier in sight. Repede was sitting beside Estelle, looking like he was awake under protest and chewing at his pipe.

"Estelle, what are you doing here?" Great, Rita, great. Be more of a jackass.

But Estelle didn't seem to notice.

"I was going to go alone, but I decided that you would be angry with me if I did," the princess began without preamble. Yuri and Karol looked at each other significantly behind her back, and Rita glanced behind her. Nope, the old man was still sleeping, slumped crookedly against the bookshelf.

"What do you mean? Go where?" Rita stepped aside and indicated for the trio to come in. Estelle was all but bouncing impatiently, the way she did, and it took a gentle nudge from Yuri for her to move forward.

"We can wait the few minutes for you to explain." The swordsman's voice was soft and deferent. He apparently also saw Raven, because he nudged Karol next. "C'mon, let's go wake up the old man," he said, a bit louder now, as if relishing the chance to go heckle someone.

Rita looked back one more time and almost stopped them. Raven looked smaller without his jacket, the deep V of his neckline making him look vulnerable rather than the 'sexy cleft of manliness' that he probably thought it was. It also meant that she'd been close, she'd been able to see the short hairs at the base of his ponytail, where the humidity had turned them into little ringlets against the dark tan of his neck. How did he even have a tan on the back of his neck with the collar of that damn jacket in the way all the time? He'd given her the jacket – green, not the purple one with moth-eaten cuffs that she hadn't seen since the night when she'd peeled it off him, wet and smelling of vomit – to use as a pillow when she'd finally curled up on the rug. It was still there, indented where her head had been, not touching him, but near enough to see those ringlets just under his ear. Then Yuri and Karol were between them, intent on their mission, Repede huffed into a sit by the door, and she turned back to Estelle.

Estelle let out a deep breath and took Rita's hand, squeezing it tightly.

"The spirits told me about what happened. I'm sorry, Rita, I didn't ask them but they told me anyway. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"It's okay," Rita heard herself murmur.

"I'm going back to the place," the princess continued, "I know we can help figure out who's behind this."

"Flynn's letting you out of the castle?"

"Flynn's not in charge of what I do," Estelle said firmly, the steel in her spine snapping up in defensive assurance. "You need someone out there who can talk to the spirits, to find whatever we need to find."

"I can do it myself," Rita said, twisting her hand about so she could squeeze Estelle's fingers back. "I don't want them to get to you."

"Rita..." Estelle's voice was soft and inquisitive. Then she frowned, a serious expression rather than one of anger. "I can't understand how you feel, because they're your feelings. But I know what it's like to be used against your will to do something for someone else's power. And I am never," here Estelle clung to Rita's hand so tightly it was as if she were trying to break the bones in it, "going to let anyone ever do that to my friends again."

Rita just stared at her. She didn't know what else to do. Estelle just smiled at her, that perfect radiant smile, and let go of her hand.

"I know that Ba'ul and Judith know where to go, but I want you to show me what you need me to do, what you need me to find." She reached into the bag that was slung at her side, looking very much like one of Karol's old ones, and pulled out a set of maps. Careful, oh so careful not to knock anything off, she laid the maps down across Rita's worktable, and unrolled them. Rita just watched, unable to do anything but clutch at her elbows as Estelle pointed to places and began asking question as much to herself as to Rita.

How had she done it? Why did she deserve it? What had she ever done in her life that warranted a friend like Estelle?

Noticing that Rita wasn't paying attention, Estelle looked over her shoulder.

"Are you all right?"

Rita swiped a hand across her eyes, dispelling the blurriness.

"No, yeah, I'm fine. Show me."

A thump echoed through the room, causing both her and Estelle to turn sharply. Yuri was crouching where Raven had been sleeping, but the old man was on the floor, curled up and cupping his elbow. She couldn't quite see his face, and Karol was looking down at concern. Then there was a scramble of movement and over Yuri's shoulder, Raven's face appeared. His gaze slid past Estelle, who had taken a half step forward as if to shield her, and instead settled on Rita's face. She met it, taking in the bags under his eyes, standing out against the skin that was pale with panic under his tan. She took in the way his mouth and eyes were strained as he tried to keep himself looking casual because he saw Yuri and Karol and Estelle there. So she nodded ever so slightly at him, hoping that he would understand... something. Whatever it was that she meant.

That was apparently enough for him. The lines around his eyes softened even if his facial expression didn't change, and she felt secure enough to turn back to the map. It was too much to look right at him. Estelle took a second longer, but Rita, so fixed on looking down, felt rather than saw how her friend turned more slowly to face the map again. The princess's head was close to her own, her hair just near enough to tickle.

"Rita..." The word was a soft question that wasn't sure what it was even asking.

"What is it you're thinking?" Rita didn't mean to snap, but it was hard enough to concentrate with Raven's concerned eyes behind her and Estelle's perfume right beside her.

The princess hesitated for a moment, then plunged forward.

"So the spirits and I have been talking. Water, fire, earth, air... Now darkness and light. These are the great spirits we know, ones who are strong enough to be summoned." With that, Estelle pulled out an almost-ubiquitous book from her bag placed it on the table. She flipped it open to a silk bookmark with a precise flick of the wrist and smoothed down the aging pages with a careful hand.

"But there could be more than six elemental powers. Fujibayashi wrote in her Terca Naturalis collection of other theorized components. Ice, which is more what we would understand as cold to fire's heat rather than a form of water, and Sparks, which she describes as antithetical to water, being dangerous to both and deadly to all others when together."

"Electricity," Rita mumbled, keenly aware of every wire she had directed to be imbedded in the walls of the castle that still weren't in yet. There was something about the book that was tugging at her memory but she couldn't quite decide what it was. Something missing. She'd have to go back through her notes and see if there is anything there to remind her.

"That's what I thought too!" Estelle pointed again to lines in the book. "I mean, not all of what she says quite lines up with how we understand the elements today, but it's just too perfect and it aligns perfectly with what we know about Aska and Shadow along with the other spirits."

"So what are you suggesting?"

"Obviously, those other spirits could exist. They have to, or else the –" Estelle hesitated for a second, then finished her thought, "whoever it was wouldn't have needed you to help. We start looking where these spirits would have come from." Estelle tapped the names 'Aska' and 'Shadow.' That had to be it. Was this where she'd looked them up? The last few days were all a blur of activity with just results retained. She barely remembered what she'd said to Raven to make him stay. But the result was that she had found Aska and Shadow's names somewhere and the old man was still here.

"Then why are you going back to the crater?"

"The excavation is still going on there. I guess I'm just hoping they've brought up some new clues. And it would give us a central point to branch out from."

"What, Fujibayashi doesn't give any better directions in that book?" Rita pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut.

There was a long pause and she finally raised her head to look into Estelle's eyes. The other girl's lips were tight.

"No, Rita, she doesn't. I know this is frustrating, but please don't take it out on me." Without waiting for a response, the princess looked back down at the map and book, her shoulders set.

A cold twist yanked its way through Rita's stomach and she swallowed hard, following Estelle's gaze back to the pieces of paper that she couldn't quite see.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, dragging her fingers back down her face and gripping her arms, but she didn't know if Estelle heard it because there was abruptly a burst of noise behind them, with Yuri and Karol yelling something different at the same time.

"What the hell, you sick fuck?" Yuri's voice was the high howl when he wasn't thinking versus the low, dangerous growl when he was trying to be intimidating.

"Yuri, what are you doing?" Karol had the clear note of panic that banished any of his nervous stuttering.

"Wha- what's going on here?" Estelle was headed towards them, but it was like she was moving in slow motion. The swordsman's hand was tangled in Raven's shirt, the hem of the collar digging into the back of the old man's neck. Rita could see the ringlets pulled into lines all the way from where she stood.

o-o-o

"Yuri!" Estelle exclaimed, while Karol's confused plea of "whoa, whoa, whoa!" went unnoticed. The grip on Raven's collar lessened as Yuri's hand instead went to the hilt of his sword. Raven wasn't actually worried - it was the base instinct of people of action like Yuri, Judith, and even himself. Go for the object of comfort, of safety. But then there was the risk that the swordsman had just been bottling up things for so long that there were targets where there shouldn't be. So he found his hand over Yuri's own and heard his own voice even if no one else probably could over the panicked cacophony.

"I wouldn't do that, son." It was more for the kid's safety.

"Stop it!" Estelle screamed and a burst of air followed her hands as she swept them apart. Yuri flew backwards as if someone had yanked a rope that was attached to his belt, flying across the room to land under the far window. Repede made a noise that Raven had never heard before, a high yelp as the dog leaped to his feet, obviously not sure what he was supposed to do in this situation.

"E-Estelle," Karol's voice was soft with concern as the princess looked down at her hands then up at Rita. Rita herself was already looking at Estelle, both of their eyes wide.

"W-what..." Rita was all but whispering. Then she turned to Yuri.

"What the hell?" Now it was Rita that Raven made a grab for, catching her wrist as she passed him on her way towards the swordsman. Estelle's voice blended into hers as both women started making demands.

"Yuri, what on earth-"

"You come in here and-"

"Hello, everyone." It never failed to amaze him how Judith could command a room despite not speaking above a light conversational tone. Karol all but tripped over himself trying to get to her, obviously viewing the krityan as a safe haven while everyone else's head snapped around. She put an indulging hand on the kid's head as he tried to explain what was happening, but she clearly wasn't listening, her sharp gaze dissecting everything before her while her sweet smile never wavered.

"I had some friends tell me that it might be fun for me to stop by," she said by way of explanation for her presence as Karol ended up stammering to a halt. Clearly the spirits and Ba'ul had been just as eager to indulge her fascination with conflict, be it verbal or physical. But her appearance had halted everyone, for which Raven was grateful. It meant that he could pull Rita to the side, allowing her to take out her anger at him while putting himself in Yuri's eventual line of fire again.

"So what's going on then?" Judith finally turned her attention down to Karol for the first time, but Yuri cut him off before he could try to explain again.

"Rita, get away from him! That... fucker..."

Raven didn't mean to tighten his hand around Rita's arm, but he did. He could feel the hard lines of the tendons in her wrist as she clenched her fist.

"Yuri, stop!" Estelle swept her hair aside angrily and marched over to him. "Now explain what's going on without shouting and maybe we can listen to what you're trying to say!"

o-o-o

Yuri looked up at the princess, her furious gaze boring holes into him. For a moment, he had nothing to say, nothing that could stand in the way of her anger that would make it worth it. Then he remembered the way Raven had been grinning when he'd suggested... something... about Yuri and Estelle and he pushed himself to his feet.

"Don't worry about it, Estelle."

He realized it was exactly the wrong thing to say when she turned red, the glow of it hot against the gold and pink of her dress.

"Don't- don't worry about it?" She wasn't shouting anymore, and she stepped forward, the red still staining her cheeks. "What is it you don't want me to worry about, Yuri Lowell?"

He had the feeling that this wasn't entirely about his actions of the past few minutes. Just past Estelle's ear, he could see Judith grinning like a shark, ready to feast on the blood the princess was about to spill.

"Jus' a misunderstandin' between friends, princess," Raven piped up, still holding onto Rita's arm but drawn up into a half-crouch. The mage didn't seem to be noticing, but Yuri bristled at the contact. He understood now what it was that had been bothering him about the two of them all this time, the reason being what he had been pretty sure couldn't be the reason. Because there was no way that Rita would have let the old man anywhere near her, but Raven seemed to pretty sure about what... whatever it was between Yuri and Estelle. Whatever it was, whatever it was supposed to be that he and Estelle weren't allowed to have, Raven seemed to think that he and Rita had it. But there was no way. It was sick. Did he even fucking realize how vulnerable Rita was, how much of a predatory monster that made him? Yuri had seen enough noble girls married to men old enough to be their grandfathers to understand that age wasn't always that simple, but Rita didn't understand any of it. All of a sudden, every night the old man had been in the lab, every dirty joke the old man had told in Rita's presence, all of it, all of it was another reason to kick the old man's teeth in. How long had it taken for him to get past Rita's defenses and how much had Yuri helped the sick bastard by telling him to go back to her?

If Estelle even noticed the two's body language, she didn't seem at all bothered by it, but the archer's words threw her hackles up.

"'Misunderstanding'?" She took a moment to inhale as she turned around, clearly trying to avoid another indoor hurricane. Yuri's ribs thanked her. "Please, explain to me what you were just 'misunderstanding'."

There was a heavy moment of silence, with everyone looking at everyone else, waiting to see what someone else did.

o-o-o

"What the fuck is going on?" Rita hissed at Raven, her head tilted conspiratorially instead of with the bristling anger that Estelle had been exuding at Yuri. It was like the room was filled with disapproving mothers and she was trying to figure out what their mutual story was going to be. But she also pulled her arm out of his grasp and he let her go, the feeling of her tendons still hard under the pads of his fingers. This was exactly why Yuri was looking to kill him.

"I don't know." It was instinct to lie even though he knew it was going to make her angrier. He just couldn't think of any better answer.

"Bullshit. Why is he so pissed?"

He looked over at her. She was looking down at him, then over at Yuri and Estelle, then back to him. Behind her, he could see Karol and Judy watching everyone, one face frightened and one like a cat that had caught the canary.

"Because he's taking advantage of her, Estelle!"As if on cue, Yuri's volume made everyone look up and his expression showed that he really hadn't meant for that to happen. Raven could hear the gears clicking in Rita's head.

"Oh, for... Is that all?" The question wasn't in an undertone for confirmation, but a half-shouted exasperated sigh designed to cut through Yuri's explanation to Estelle. It succeeded in drawing everyone's attention to Rita now and Raven was pretty sure everyone in the room was going to get whiplash from the conversation's ever-changing trajectory.

Rita indicated the span of room between Raven and Yuri. "Both of you? What the fuck? What is the big deal here?"

Karol's little confused moan was the only sound after that. Raven sank down slowly against the bookcase again, preparing for the shit storm that was about to follow.

Oddly, it didn't quite come the way he expected. Most everyone didn't even move. Sure, Yuri and Estelle stared, both with different degrees of confusion, and both Judith and Repede were watching with different modes of intense interest, but it was Karol who continued his initial noise with an actual question.

"Wait, what is all this about?"

o-o-o

Yuri had thought he was angry, but as much as he wanted to answer, he found that he abruptly wasn't able to answer when he saw Rita roll her eyes.

"This jackass," she hissed, pointing at Raven with her entire body, "thinks that no one could ever love him." Her arm then swung to Yuri then and he kept himself from flinching despite the heat that he could feel being directed through the air at him. "And this jackass thinks that no one should love anyone."

"Wait, what?"

Yuri winced as his and Raven's voices overlapped. The older man didn't look at Yuri, which made Yuri angry for looking at him. Instead, the archer was looking at Rita again, the lines in his neck strained. She was ignoring him though, her eyes sliding closed and her entire hand's worth of fingers pressed between her brows.

"This is stupid," she said at last, as the princess moved to gently touch her elbow. Rita's free hand grasped Estelle's and the two looked at each other briefly through Rita's fingers before she let go to point at Yuri.

"You," Rita declared in a voice that declared in no uncertain terms how much she cared about his feelings, "are going to take care of her and keep your fucking mouth shut."

"Hey-" he started, but she obviously didn't care, because she turned her back on him and instead pointed at Judy.

"I'm still pissed at you."

The krityan didn't even look upset, not even in the serene way that she had. She just nodded slightly, like a queen acquiescing defeat.

The accusing finger moved ever so slightly to point at Karol, who flinched as if the digit had shot him.

"You're the one in charge of notes."

"Uh-"

She didn't even wait for the response. Now it was Repede, looking as incredulous as a dog could.

"I'm counting on you, dog. You're the only one with any sense here."

Raven was the last one to be the target of her attention and Yuri could see her hand trembling even from across the room, her finger curling ever so slightly.

"You and me? We're going to have a conversation."

As pissed as he still was, Yuri still felt his gut unclench ever so slightly as Raven's eyes went more panicked than they had when Yuri'd had him by the collar. If she could strike that fear into him...

No, that didn't change anything. The old man was into pain. Sick bastard.

"Now everyone get out of my fucking lab," Rita said, even as she grasped at Estelle's hand again. "I can't think with you all in here."

Yuri wanted to protest. He did. But there was that moment again, that realization.

She didn't need him.

None of them did.

o-o-o

Rita watched them all go, Estelle's fingers interlinked tightly with her own, holding the princess back when she tried to leave too. That was probably Rita's fault, the way she always phrased things too broadly, but Estelle also took things too literally all the time. It definitely had to be obvious that she wasn't included when she was the only person Rita was holding onto.

It was impressive how Judith managed to make herself the last one out the door, despite being the one closest to it initially, her face a knowing mask as she watched Raven and Yuri file out in different states of sheepishness. Rita didn't have the energy to be grateful, but she probably would be later. There would be a time for thinking about that later. Right now, she just wanted to put her face on Estelle's shoulder and cry.

But that wasn't what she did. She just tugged the princess back over to the table.

"You're right. I can't leave. We only have but so much time before it's too late to finish the work on the castle, let alone the rest of the city, and there's too much to be done here for me to go."

Estelle just nodded, her face solemn.

"I don't think you're going to find anything at the crater," Rita continued. She patted the open book absently and turned to her bookcases. "We just need-"

She'd already forgotten the gaps in the rows of books, in the drawers of files, glaring at her like so many missing teeth. She wanted to touch them, to reach out and soothe the covers again, the way that she had when Raven had first told her, but there had been no time then and there was no time now. Besides, his coat was still on the ground between her and the shelves, the neat bundle a little rumpled now where his foot had dragged at it. It made her think about the fine hairs at the base of his neck and that made her think about the hum of his heart under her ear and that made her think of the deathly silence, the complete dark...

She turned back.

"Are you all right, Rita?"

The question was soft, but it was firm. This was not Estelle questioning if there was a problem at all, this was her acknowledging a problem and trying to help.

"I don't know."

"Are you going to be okay if Raven stays, or should he come with us?"

don't leave me don't leave me don't leave me

"Are you two all right?" Estelle finished the question.

"I think so."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She knew this. She had learned this.

"Not right now. I need to think about it."

"Okay." Estelle's hand caught Rita's again, the soft leather of her traveling gloves warm against Rita's calluses.

Rita let her breath out through her teeth, then inhaled again through her nose.

"I'm sorry about Yuri," the princess said, her cheeks pink.

"Don't be. You're not his mother. He's just an idiot."

"Yeah..." Estelle's eyebrows were drawn together in thought. Then she blinked and tapped the map with her free hand.

"So, where do you think we should look?"

o-o-o

Once out the door, Raven was fully expecting Yuri to round on him again. Instead, Yuri kept walking without looking back. It wasn't storming off – Yuri was at lease mature enough for that – but a determined putting of distance between himself and everyone else.

"No, let him go," Judith chimed in to a question no one actually asked. Repede sneezed his agreement. He was sitting next to Karol, letting the boy pat him as if to calm the kid. The krityan turned to them all smartly.

"Well, that was fun!" she declared brightly, as if she'd just had her first pony ride. Karol didn't look nearly as excited.

"Raven, what's going on? What was it that you were talking about that made Yuri so angry?"

Judith's cheery smile turned ever so predatory as she waited for his answer as well.

"Uh," Raven blew all his breath out, puffing up his cheeks as he did so. He almost wished that Yuri had stuck around to lay into him. Somehow it felt like it was easier to just blurt out things than discuss them in a rational manner.

"He thinks I'm 'taking advantage' of Rita. Which I'm not, by the way," he added hastily added, a halting finger raised at his audience, mostly at Judith.

"Is Rita okay? Are you okay?" Karol still was just confused. The kid had probably been the busiest of all of them, forced under a rock by an endless cycle of meetings and negotiations as the guilds and empire tried to sort themselves out, let alone fix the world they lived in.

Well...

"I like her, okay?"

Judy's carnivorous smile was splitting into a grin, teeth bared like a cat after a fish.

"Wait, like 'like' her?"

"Yeah."

"Rita," Karol said with flat incredulity. There was a moment of silence, like they were all waiting to hear if the mage responded to her name. At least that's what Raven was doing.

"But why?"

Because, his brain declared and left it at that.

"Because I just do," his mouth elaborated.

"B-but she's Rita." Karol was really having a hard time with this. "You're in love with Rita?"

Whoa now.

"I like her."

"Does she know?"

"Yeah." As much as I wish she didn't.

"Does she like you back?"

He hesitated.

"I don't know."

"But Raven, you're – I don't know... old!"

"Ouch. That hurts my feelin's."

"Quit kidding around." Karol's nose was wrinkled, though it wasn't clear if it was in thought or disgust. "Why is that making Yuri so mad though? I don't get it."

Because I'm twice her age. Because I've been hanging around her like a creep for weeks now. Because I really want her forehead against my neck again while she sleeps. Because he feels like he encouraged me.

Because...

"Yuri's just a bit insecure about his own relationships. I mean, who wouldn't be jealous. Guy like him versus a guy like me?" This was where a hand at his chin and a sly wink could do wonders. Rita had stopped falling for them a long, long time ago, but Karol had – as previously mentioned – been trapped in a very small world for a little while.

As it was, Karol's eyes widened in some kind of realization and then rolled back into his head.

"Uuuugh," he groaned. "I have to deal with Estelle and Yuri being mad at each other now."

"Oh, I'm sure it won't be all that bad," Judy murmured in a reassuring tone that made it clear she was hoping it would indeed be 'all that bad.'

"You're never been alone with them when they're like that," Karol whined, missing that part of non-verbal as well.

And just like that, the conversation was away from him and over. It seemed like Raven and Yuri were the only ones to be making a big deal out of this.

"How long are we going to wait for Yuri to come back?" the boy asked, shifting his bag on its strap.

"We'll give him a little while," Judy declared, "then I'll go find him. Say, half hour or so?"

Karol nodded. "I'll be on the ship." Then he was gone, Repede at his heels, both of them shaking their heads at their stupid friends.

That left Raven and Judith alone.

"Tell Estelle that we're ready to go when she is," Judith said. There was a moment of silence in the empty hallway. Raven realized that she hadn't even questioned that he was going to stand here until the door opened again and that, if anything, was more damning than anything anyone else had asked or noticed.

"I'm a very good listener if ever you need to talk," the krityan said, inclining her body towards him cheekily. Then she turned on her heel and headed down the hall the opposite way, the bounce and sway of her hips definitely on purpose. Raven gave her a reason, just for a moment, then leaned back against the wall. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, then closed his eyes and sighed. It was too bad that he'd decided to be into eyes.

Not sure how long he was going to be waiting, he slid down to settle on the plush, warm carpet. Bit more comfortable than the hard wood of the lab.

He wanted to ask Rita why he thought no one could ever love him. Because he honestly didn't know.

A/N: I had several different versions of the big confrontation written. A few had this be a rational meeting of minds, a few had emotions raging but nothing too bad, then there was this and I liked this so much more. Yuri has been so good at holding in his emotions and only letting them out on the bad guys in secret (which was established even in-game as super unhealthy) that to have him actually explode at people who he trusts is long overdue, especially when they are for things that aren't really about what's at hand. I mean, we got a hint of it at Raven in the dungeon, but he isn't exactly on Yuri's list of closest compatriots. And hey, we already established that no one in Brave Vesperia knows how to talk about anything with each other(Rita, I'm glad you're learning boundaries but you can't shut folks down whenever you want to avoid something). And I like the idea of Estelle finally getting fed up with everyone's shit, up to and including Yuri.