A/N: Hey everybody. I'm writing this story because I love the potential of Velvet and Rokurou. They were so different but still similar in the best ways. Tales of Berseria was my first Tales game and so far its, in my opinion, the best at creating deep and complex characters. I couldn't help wanting to add to their story. Please review! I'd love to know what you think!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or any of the game based plot. I do not have any claims to the Tales of Berseria game content.
It was on a cool Autumn day when the Van Eltia came into port. Velvet and her crew of misfits were heading to Logress, to meet with the head of the Bloodwings in the tavern in town. Velvet was glad to get off the sea and onto dry land. It's been a while before their group had rested without feeling the constant rock of the sea underneath them. Though having a pirate crew at her beck and call was amazingly convenient, Velvet had to admit she wasn't a fan of the sea. She always felt more weary after a day on the open ocean than one spent on land fighting daemons all day.
As soon as the bridge to the port had dropped, an excited Laphicet ran off the boat, beckoning the rest of the gang to follow. "C'mon, Velvet! Let's get going!" Velvet sighed and mumbled to herself "What's got him so excited?". "I imagine the boy is looking forward to getting the book I ordered for him on the black market," replied Rokurou. Velvet jumped in response, not realizing that anyone had been close enough to hear her. In fact, now that she was looking over her shoulder she realized just how very close behind her Rokurou was. Her chest tightened, nervous by the small distance between them.
It had been like this a lot lately. Velvet was constantly feeling anxious when Rokurou got too close, which seemed to happen more and more with each passing day. What is wrong with me, Velvet thought before swallowing down those nervous feelings. She focused instead on what Rokurou had just said.
While turning and stepping back to put some distance between her and the swordsman, she growled "What black market book?". Rokurou laughed his carefree laugh and held both hands up in his common I-come-in-piece gesture. "Woah, easy. The boy wanted another book in the old tongue. He says there's only so much of the language that he can learn from one book. But here's the thing, books in Avarost aren't exactly easy to come by. So I sent a Sylphjay ahead requesting one such book to be found by the Bloodwings and in exchange, I'm at their service for one favor. They were more than happy to oblige." Rokurou smiled at Velvet with an innocent grin until she sighed and he was sure she wasn't going to kill him for going behind her back.
"Fine. He can have the book , but under one condition. Grimoire has to read it first to make sure its contents aren't...unsavory. Just because he lives with daemons doesn't mean there aren't things the boy should be protected from," Velvet declared before stepping off the ship.
Rokurou stayed behind, chuckling under his breath. He suspected she might be a little miffed at him for getting Laphicet anything off the black market but he also knew that once she saw his excited little face that she'd give in. He planned on it in fact. Despite Velvet's cold, controlled exterior, Rokurou knew that Velvet was warm-hearted and kind on the inside. He could see the humanity inside her daemon shell and the more he saw, the more intrigued with her he became. He had suspected there was something different between Velvet and your average, run-of-the-mill daemon and he imagined that her humanity was key.
Eizen passed Rokurou to get off the ship and gave him a light pat on the arm. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with fire?", he asked. "Ehh, I guess I missed that lesson," Rokurou snickered while his eyes still lingered on Velvet's messy braided hair swinging as she walked.
The rest of the mismatched gang spilled off the boat and into Port Zekson. Dyle wandered off in search of more food, under a large hooded cloak of course, and Benwick was sent on a mission to find more ore for Kuragane, as everyone thought it best the headless piece of armor not go walking around town by himself. Laphicet led the main group to the doors to the Danann highway, followed closely by Velvet, Rokurou, and Elanor with Magilou and Eizen leading up the back.
As they exited the port through the door, Velvet took the lead, forcing the excited Phi to take a safer position in the middle of the group. Rokurou snickered to himself, again amused to see Velvet's motherly nature leak through her hard exterior. Soon, though, it became obvious that the Danann Highway seemed to be no place for little Phi this day. The daemons seem to pour out of every shadow, bush, or tree. No one knew why the road had become so saturated with daemons, so suddenly, but the group had little choice but to plow through the hoardes to get to Logress.
It must of been the twentieth battle in a row when Velvet realized just how wrong this scene seeemed. Lycanthropes, witches, trolls, and nagas were attacking the group at the current moment but none of these daemons should have been there. These enemies were all standard in areas far from the capital and the fact that they were now here worried Velvet.
As Velvet considered these odd changes, Rokurou saw a Naga sneak behind her. He screamed her name but she couldn't hear him. The Naga beast was preparing to poison Velvet when Rokurou came crashing down on the Naga's head. Velvet whipped around just in time to watch the swordsman perform his Form 0: Sunder attack on the beast. Velvet cursed under her breath that she didn't see that Naga earlier. As Rokurou looked over to check on Velvet, a giant club whacked down on him. The troll that Rokurou had left behind to reach the Naga before it hurt Velvet had chased after the distracted swordsman and swiped when he was at his most vulnerable. Rokurou's body dropped to the ground like a heavy stone.
Upon seeing the troll smack Rokurou, Velvet had therionized and began slashing at the ugly creature with her demonic claw. She screamed a blood curtling scream as she raked her claw against the troll over and over until it fell. Velvet ran over and fed Rokurou a gel to keep his health from falling critically low.
Rokurou returned to battle and the rest of the enemies soon fell. "C'mon, let's get to Logress before night falls", Velvet commanded. Everyone glanced quickly over at Rokurou before continuing on. Rokurou knew that they were wondering if he'd even make it to Logress being that stupid to loose track of an enemy he was fighting. As he sighed in responce, little Phi came bounding up to him. "Are you alright?" Phi asked, worried. "Yeah, thanks kiddo," Rokurou responded with a pat to the boy's head. "I saw what happened," Phi continued. "You were trying to save Velvet. I think that's nice. But I think Velvet had a plan. She looked like she was going to perform a spinning kick to get both enemies at once." "Of course she did", Rokurou grumbled under his breath. Velvet was rarely snuck up on and she certainly didn't need his help in battle. He knew that. But he couldn't help keeping her in his sights and jumping at the chance to protect her. Despite the fact that he recognized and respected that she didn't need protecting, his drive to protect her grew stronger with each day. He knew it was stupid considering she was so often the one coming to his aide.
Finally after hours of continuous battles, the motley crew arrrived in Logress. "I'm going to go enhance my armor," Eizen said. "I think I'll tag along, if that's alright", Elanor added. "My spear could use some care." Eizen nodded in response. "Well I'm going to go get Magilou's Menagerie a gig while we're in town. A little extra gald couldn't hurt." Magilou and Bienfu turned in search of a poor soul who would pay them to perform. That left Rokurou, Velvet, and Phi. "What about you?", Velvet turned and asked. "I'm good. I need to find out what favor I'm going to do for the Bloodwings anyway. The kid wants to get the book, doesn't he?" Rokurou said as he looked down at Phi's excited face. "Alright, to the tavern we go," Velvet declared.
As they arrived in Logress's tavern, Tabatha - the head of the Bloodwings - ushered Velvet's crew upstairs. Velvet noticed how busy the typically dead tavern was. People filled every corner with drinks in hand, many of them being upstanding citizens. Once in a room above the tavern, Velvet asked, "What's going on here? You're rather busy here, aren't you?". "That's why I called", Tabatha explains. "You see, there seems to be an overabundance of daemons outside of town lately, as I'm sure you've noticed yourself." Velvet gave a look at Rokurou. "The increase of daemon activity is driving more people to drink and the Abbey is not a fan. My little establishment is no longer able to keep a low profile. I need you guys to figure out what's causing the overwhelming numbers of daemons and to fix it. For the people's sake but also to ensure the Bloodwings organization can stay alive in the capital." The old woman crossed her arms. "And in return, your next favor or information comes at no charge."
Velvet put her hand up to her mouth quizzically. "We'll do it under one condition. This is a tall order. You'll owe us three free favors. To compensate us for all this work." The head of the Bloodwings knew better than to negotiate with Velvet. She was right, this was a big ask worth more than one favor. "Agreed", Tabitha said with a sigh. "You're free to rest here tonight but I must insist you maintain a low profile in front of this group of patrons," Tabatha said as she was preparing to leave. Laphicet looked crushed. Rokurou spoke up, "There's still the matter of our agreement, Tabatha." She turned. "Oh that's right, the book. Hold on a moment." She left, moments later returning with a book in one hand and a folded paper in the other. She went to hand the book to Rokurou when he shook his head. "Nah, that's the kid's now." Tabatha nodded and handed the book to Laphicet before handing the folded paper to Rokurou and saying, "My favor." He nodded and she opened the door. "One more thing", Velvet said. "Can we get some Mabo curry for the kid. We'll stay up here to keep low but the kid needs to eat." Tabatha nodded and left the trio alone in the room.
Moments later, Tabatha came up with a big bowl of Mabo curry. Laphicet set himself up in the corner of the room with the book propped up around the bowl so that he could read and eat at once. "Don't get too into that book! I want Grimoire to read it first." "Awww, but I can't even read much of it! Can I just look through it a little?", whined a big-eyed Laphicet. Velvet sighed a "fine", causing Rokurou to chuckle. Rokurou flopped down on a bed and opened the paper, reading it quickly before folding it back up and putting it inside his kimono. Velvet watched, expecting Rokurou to reveal what this mystery mission was but instead he silently walked over to Phi. He asked Laphicet how the book was and patted his head when Phi replied excitedly with an "Amazing!". Rokurou then walked past Velvet into the hallway and a curious Velvet couldn't help but follow, making sure to close the door behind her.
Wordlessly, Rokurou made his way down the hall heading to the hidden back exit in the Tavern they just recently found. Velvet grabbed his arm before he could open the floor hatch, causing Rokurou to look at her curiously. She didn't know why she grabbed him and she didn't have any idea why her hand remained on his arm. Finally, she pulled away saying, "Where are you going?". He smirked slightly as he crossed his arms and cocked his head. "Why do you care so much?", he replied. Velvet took a deep breath and answered "You're not running out on the debt you owe me, are you?". A dark aura took over the swordsman as his honor and word seemed to be in question. "You questioning my vows?", he hissed. He went on to explain that he was heading out to take care of the Bloodwings request. "Better sooner, rather than later, right?"
Velvet didn't like the thought of the swordsman taking on the request alone so she suggested he wait for Eizen or Eleanor to come back and watch Phi and that she'd go with him. "What about Magilou? She could watch the kid," Rokurou suggested with a smile. Velvet clicked her tongue and looked away, saying that the kid would be better off alone than with Magilou. Rokurou laughed and agreed to Velvet's terms. He was more than capable of doing this job alone but it was rare to have an opportunity to be alone with Velvet and he couldn't help but jump at the chance.
An hour or so later, Eizen and Eleanor came bursting into the tavern's upstairs room, laughing hysterically. Velvet responded to this with a, "Well, aren't you two having fun?". Eleanor blushed a deep red, fiddled with her skirt, and then completely changed the subject by asking Laphicet about his book. Velvet and Rokurou both lifted an eyebrow while Eizen rubbed the back of his head. No one was really offering an explanation as to why those two were so buddy buddy.
"Well, since you two are getting along so well, the kid is all yours to watch for a few hours," said Rokurou as he bent both arms resting his hands behind his head. It was such a Rokurou pose and Velvet had to hold back a laugh as she noticed that. Everyone else looked over at Rokurou, confused, to which he only responded "Bloodwing errand" and starting walking out the door. Eizen started to make a comment about how Velvet would just keep an eye on the kid before Rokurou quickly turned, grabbed Velvet's arm, yelled "Oh yeah, and I'm taking Velvet. See ya!". Rokurou ran, dragging Velvet along the corridor to the trapped door. He opened it and readjusted his grip on Velvet, grabbing her this time by the hand, interlocking his fingers with hers. "Ready for an adventure?", he asked with a smirk on his face before leading her down the tunnel under the tavern and towards the unknown.