A/N: While not exactly a fusion, this fic was HEAVILY influenced by Sailor Moon, particularly the story of the Moon Kingdom. It's a little bit different from what I normally write, and there are a lot of time skips between chapters, both backward and forward. Mostly, the chapter titles will let you know whether events are taking place in the main timeline or elsewhen.
This wouldn't have gotten finished without Bad0mens' encouragement. Thank you. =)
Disclaimer: The characters in this story are from Tales of Vesperia and do not belong to me.
Though the sun had set hours ago, the city's streetlights and neon signs had been lit longer still and they exiled night's true darkness to a few rundown, secluded areas of town, places where glass-fronted skyscrapers and architecture of proud design gave way to the crumbling brick and mortar of ancient, cheaply built motels and boarded up storefronts. Eyes scanning the deep shadows of alleyways, Yuri Lowell walked Estelle Heurassein away from one such twilight block only a few hours before dawn would arrive.
"That was incredible," Estelle said. "The way you fight with such grace is amazing."
She looked up at him and smiled. The harsh fluorescent streetlights leeched her color away, leaving it to be replaced in flashes by the garish rainbow neon of the signs they passed. She was still pretty. She always had been, and she'd always been able to smile like that: honestly and earnestly, like she was happy with the whole world. It was a nice smile to have directed at you, and Yuri returned it with one of his own.
"You weren't so bad yourself."
"I still need practice, though."
"Everybody needs practice, even at the things they're good at. It helps you stay sharp."
Speaking of which….
"Have you noticed that we're being followed?" he asked quietly.
"What?"
She looked around, making it far too obvious that they had caught on. There were still a few things she needed to learn.
"Don't scare it off. It's a couple blocks back, behind the dumpster. One of those zippy little star things."
"Why is it only following us?"
"Don't know. But I'm going to put a stop to it."
"Wait." She laid a hand on his arm. "Let me."
Yuri smirked a little at that. "I thought you didn't like fighting."
"I don't, but…those monsters are coming after me. I can't force you and the others to fight my battles for me."
He'd thought it would be something like that. Estelle had a good heart and the strong will to back it up. He stopped walking and turned to face her.
"He's all yours."
"I'll do my best."
Turning, she started back the way they'd come. Soft as it was, Yuri could still hear her voice as he stayed behind to watch.
"I am the Child of the Full Moon, Princess Estellise."
Light like gentle moonbeams blossomed around her, bringing forth the person Estelle had been a long, long time ago. When the light faded, Estellise, the last princess of a fallen empire, stood, incongruous on the modern city streets in almost the same way as the monster she focused her gaze upon. She wore red and black, an outfit cut to mimic the garb of a knight. Her armor gleamed dully, but her sword—that shone, light streaming along its length like a shooting star as she raised the blade.
Having been spotted, the creature left its hiding place and charged. Their kind was always plenty hostile, but thankfully armed more with speed than anything else. It was beyond strange that one of them had been following along so quietly when their usual instinct was to attack on sight.
Mindful that it might not be alone, Yuri kept his attention divided between the fight and the seemingly empty streets. Estellise didn't have its speed, but she had skill and magic and the intelligence to wield both judiciously against a foe that was little more than aggression given physical form.
She didn't have to worry about getting close enough to strike: the creature took care of that on its own as it rushed her. A well-timed Star Stroke stunned it, and Estellise pressed forward, getting in a glancing blow as the creature shook off that first hit. A little more wary now, the monster circled her, ridiculously fast on its stubby legs, searching for an opening.
Estellise didn't give it a chance. She'd been taught to always stay on guard against an opponent, and she had no trouble keeping an eye on the thing running circles around her. The problem was that she was going to get dizzy. Yuri frowned, wondering if he was going to have to step in, but Estellise spun suddenly in the opposite direction and brought her sword around in a flash, wounding it badly enough that its mobility was no longer a problem.
One last slash ended the fight, and the monster faded away, leaving no trace of itself in this world where it didn't belong. Estellise watched over it as it disappeared, then let the trappings of that other life fade away until she was Estelle once more, a normal girl in a simple dress and denim jacket. She rejoined Yuri quietly and they continued on their way.
After a few blocks, Yuri spoke up. "Enjoy your practice?"
"I don't understand what it was doing. It could have caught up to us at any time. Why follow us like that?"
"Maybe it wanted to find out where you live."
Solemnly, she nodded. "Yes. That's the conclusion I came to, as well. These monsters may be much smarter than we thought."
"Maybe."
Yuri glanced up at the sky. There were no stars to be seen from the city, but there was the moon. There was always the moon. Looking at it made him uneasy, these days. Before, he had thought it was pretty. Now, he wasn't sure what to call it. It still caught his eye far too easily, fascinating in the way the skeletal specimens of animals he'd seen in museums were: cold and bare, something long dead that hadn't been allowed to lay down and rest.
"And maybe it means they're taking orders from someone, after all," he said quietly.
He looked away from the moon, away from the entire unnatural night sky, in time to see Estelle shiver. He had worried her, but she had cause to be worried. Better to consider all the possibilities and do what they could to prepare than to be caught off guard later on.
"We'll have to tell the others tomorrow."
Yuri nodded and quickened his steps, hurrying them toward home. For him, that was an apartment on the eighth floor of one of the nicer buildings in the city. He lived there with his younger brother, Karol, and their dog, Repede. Estelle lived a few dozen floors up in the penthouse suite. Her parents owned the building, though their work kept them out of town as often as not. It was because of them that Yuri was able to live in the building at all.
Five years ago, when Yuri was fourteen and his brother Karol only seven, their parents had been killed in a car accident. With no relatives to take them in, they were bound for social services until Estelle's parents had come forward to foster them. Estelle and Yuri had been friends almost as long as Yuri and Flynn had, and their parents had known each other, as well. Whatever loyalty led them to the decision, it was the Heurasseins that allowed Yuri and Karol to stay together. At their insistence, Yuri had completed high school. After that, however, he had quit school and gotten a job, determined to stand on his own two feet and do whatever he could to take care of Karol. He needed a second job really, but with the unexpectedly complicated change his life had gone through a few months ago, that had become impossible. Maybe if they got to the bottom of why all those monsters had been coming after Estelle….
He accompanied her all the way up to her apartment, knowing he wouldn't be able to rest if he didn't see her safely home. He'd look in on Karol before turning in, as well. Yuri didn't like having to leave him alone so late at night, but with monsters popping up across the city with every moonrise, he had little choice. Besides, he wasn't exactly alone with Repede on watch.
Yawning, he thought again that it was a real pity monster hunting didn't pay, as it took up almost as much time as a second job, and certainly more energy. He could feel the time until dawn slipping away, taking with it the last vestiges of the exhilaration that had filled him as he fought. It was getting easier and easier to dispatch the strange creatures that hunted for Estelle every night, but the crash afterward hit hard. He tried and failed to stifle another yawn as the elevator reached the eighth floor and opened up to let him out.
Flynn was waiting outside his door.
"What on earth were you doing out so late?"
"What were you doing up so late?" He didn't really need to ask. Flynn had probably been studying and happened to spot Yuri walking Estelle home.
"I was studying, which I'm certain is not what you were up to with Estelle."
He looked suspicious as hell, but he hadn't asked yet, and Yuri wasn't about to volunteer anything. He fixed Flynn with a smirk and waited him out. Flynn gave in first, as Yuri had known he would.
"Are you and Estelle going out?"
It was a completely understandable conclusion to draw based on what he'd seen, but it was so far off base that Yuri almost laughed in his face.
"Nope."
"Then what—"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Of course, that only bothered Flynn more. He scowled and resorted to fighting dirty.
"What about Karol? Should you really be leaving him alone at night?"
"Well, since you've made yourself king of the Neighborhood Watch, I figure if anything happens you'll be on top of it."
Bringing up Karol had been low, and Flynn knew it. Yuri did everything he could to take care of his brother, and it wasn't as if they lived in a bad area. Karol would be in a lot more danger if Yuri and his friends didn't spend their nights beating the hell out of monsters. Too bad that wasn't something he could share.
"Look, Flynn, I've got work in the morning. I'll see you later."
He turned his back on his best friend, hating all the craziness that had suddenly invaded his life and driven a wedge between them. Before everything had gone nuts, he'd been able to tell Flynn almost anything. Now, he was having to keep secrets that no sane person would believe, or at least, no sane person that didn't have the sort of past life memories Yuri did. Trouble was, Flynn ought to have memories like that too, and one of these days, whether Yuri liked it or not, they were going to surface. When that happened, there was no doubt that there were going to be questions about why Yuri hadn't told him.
Repede was waiting just inside and whuffed quietly in welcome. The dog stared at Flynn, still standing in the hall, until Yuri closed the door.
Flynn stood by helplessly as Yuri shut him out. The dog his friend had adopted a few months back stared at him with its one good eye, and Flynn could have sworn it was grinning. Normally, a dog person, Flynn couldn't bring himself to like Repede. Yuri had started acting weird when he'd found that dog, and Flynn couldn't shake the paranoid thought that Repede had something to do with the change in him. Ever since then, he'd been keeping odd hours: leaving late in the evening and staying out past midnight, skipping the judo class they took together, showing up late when they made plans to hang out, or sometimes not showing up at all. On a few occasions, he'd failed to even make it home to have dinner with Karol, something Yuri had insisted on ever since their parents had died years ago.
He had a new group of friends that seemed to be part of it, as well. Flynn hadn't met them officially, but he'd seen Yuri talking with them often enough at work or outside the apartment building. There were three of them: an older man who always looked slightly scruffy no matter how well-dressed he was, a woman with purple hair and a smile that Flynn didn't trust, and a younger girl who couldn't have been much older than Karol. They were a bizarre group, to be sure. Flynn could hardly imagine what they all had in common aside from Yuri.
Unexplained comings and goings, a strange new group of friends, ignoring Karol and Flynn, and to top it all off, Yuri was dragging Estelle into all his weirdness. The next time he had a minute alone with him, Flynn was going to get an explanation. He missed his friend.