Disclaimer – Ye olde song and dance.

Outfit – Dark Enforcer

A/N – I really love how Tales of Vesperia handled the theme of justice. Both Yuri and Flynn had equally valid points of view on what justice meant and they both had to learn that sticking rigidly to only a single concept of justice was a really bad idea. I think the PS3 version does a better job of making the point, though. Since Flynn and Yuri team up more, it makes it more obvious that it's when both their ideals are balanced together that they're at their most effective. They both have to learn to concede that the other has a point and readjust their views.

Unyielding Justice

Surrounded by the light and laughter of a warm winter day on the outer edges of spring, Yuri should have been enjoying the ambiance of the lower quarter as the people he loved and sought to protect milled about their daily lives. Instead he sat on the edge of the fountain, gazing morosely at his reflection.

"Are you alright?"

Yuri started in surprise, glancing up to see Flynn walking over. Tilting his head to the side, Yuri shrugged. "I'm fine," he answered. Patting the spot next to him, he gestured for Flynn to join him.

"You looked like you had a lot on your mind," Flynn told him, sitting down beside Yuri on the fountain barrier.

"Just... thinking about how everything has changed." Yuri quieted for a moment as they watched some of the lower quarter children run by them. "A lot is still the same, but..." he sighed, "maybe I'm just different."

"You are in a strange mood, aren't you?"

"We went to the ice floes this morning to meet one of the spirits who's been causing Undine trouble. Her name's Celsius... she'd been freezing things in places where she shouldn't. Undine was worried she'd end up pissing off Efreet."

"Did you smooth things over?"

"Yeah..." Yuri trailed off pensively and Flynn poked him in the shoulder to catch his attention. "She just wanted to meet me. She... she was one of the spirits who came from the Adephagos."

"So she wanted to meet the guy who saved her?" Flynn grinned, beaming even wider when Yuri blushed in embarrassment. "It's about time you got the praise you deserve."

"I wasn't exactly alone," Yuri muttered, looking away.

"But you're the one who got everyone together. You may not see it, but I do Yuri. You're the heart of Brave Vesperia. That group never would have come together without you."

"Heh... maybe. I still think things would have worked out, one way or another. That's not really what got me thinking about how different things are, though. I... was kind of already in this mood by that point." Holding out a hand in front of him, Yuri gave the glove on his hand a critical look. "It's too cold out on the floes for my usual outfit, so I pulled this one out this morning instead. With the jacket I keep on the Fiertia, it wasn't too bad on the ice."

"I don't think I've ever seen you wear this before," Flynn observed. "It looks good on you, though," he offered thoughtfully. "When did you get them?"

"While we were trying to figure out how to deal with the Adephagos, this guy I knew... Clay, he gave them to me. He was a lot like me," Yuri admitted. "I'm not really sure what happened to him, though."

"He... gave you clothes." The expression on Flynn's face was hard to read.

"Well, he was going to jail," Yuri said glibly, enjoying the way Flynn's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly. A speechless Flynn was always entertaining. "He didn't think he'd need them anymore.

"Anyway, I didn't really know him well. I think I just reminded him of himself. We first met in Nordipolica. I'd heard about a guild that was shaking down tourists at night and decided to take an evening stroll just to see what would happen. Clay had the same idea and he caught them mugging someone.

"He beat the shit out of the guildsmen and left them floating in the harbor. I got there when the fighting started, but he didn't seem to need help, so I hung back. Learned a new sword move while watching him. When he left, I fished those guys out of the water and they were grateful enough that they let me turn them over to Natz without too much complaining."

"So he just left them to drown?" Flynn's tone was flat and unimpressed.

"I... don't think so. He knew I was there, so he knew I might help them." Yuri shrugged. "But I don't think he cared either way. I saw him again later, when I went back to Mantaic after causing Cumore's death. He was sitting out on the beach, telling stories to the kids. There were rumors about someone kidnapping children at night, but the parents trusted Clay enough to let him basically babysit for them. So..."

"You were curious and went out late, by yourself, looking for trouble?" Flynn filled in for him. He rolled his eyes. "Can't leave anything alone, can you? Couldn't you have at least taken someone with you to watch your back?"

Yuri shrugged. Yeah, looking back he probably should have at least brought Raven or Judy with him. He'd be the first to admit that he hadn't been in the greatest head space at the time, though. It had taken meeting Pharaoh to snap him out of it and remind him of what was really important. But rather than saying all that aloud, Yuri just shrugged and continued on with his story.

"It was one of the knights, one of the few from Cumore's brigade that didn't get thrown in jail after... after that night. He was kidnapping a little orphan girl when Clay found him. They were already fighting when I got there, so I grabbed the girl and took her to a family I know there. When she was safe, I went back and the knight was already dead.

"Clay told me to be careful. He knew about Ragou and Cumore and... he didn't want me to follow the same path as him. He didn't think I was so far along that I couldn't turn back, but that he'd already damned himself." Yuri leaned against Flynn's shoulder, resting his cheek against the armor. "The next time I saw him, it was in Zaphias, in the nobles' quarter. He'd gone back to see his brother, Shel... to kill Shel for murdering the swordsman who'd taught Clay to fight. Shel had blamed that man for Clay being away so long and had thought killing him would bring Clay back, even if it meant...

"I saw them standing together and something seemed wrong. Maybe it was how they were standing or... I don't know. There was just something wrong. When we got closer, Clay stabbed Shel. Clay was like ice and Shel was dying, yet still so happy he got to see his brother one last time. Then Clay ran off and I followed after him. No plan at all; I just had to know why." Yuri shivered, remembering how dead Clay's eyes had seemed.

"Clay was planning to turn himself in to the knights. He said that... he had to kill Shel or else everything he'd come to believe in would be meaningless. I... disagreed. He gave me these clothes so that I'd remember not to stray too far down a vigilante's path. Maybe there was no going back for him, but... his own brother..."

Flynn reached up and ran his fingers soothingly through Yuri's hair. "Hit too close to home?"

"Yeah." Yuri stayed silent for a while, enjoying the feeling of Flynn stroking his hair. It was soothing and made his thoughts easier to put in order. "Back then, I'd have probably killed that knight if Clay hadn't gotten to him first. Whether he was selling the children or killing them or... worse," he ended lamely, not really wanting to fill in what he'd thought was going on back then, "I wouldn't have trusted Alexei's Knights to handle things right. But now..."

Flynn's hand stilled. "Now?" he echoed.

"Most of the corruption in the knights has been weeded out and I know you can handle the rest as you find it. I'd probably beat the crap out of someone like that and I'd still want to kill him, but... I don't think that I'd actually kill him myself now." He shrugged. "I guess it's because I have faith in you."

Letting out a little sigh of relief, Flynn's fingers went back to petting. "I worry about that sometimes. If I've made things safer... if someone like Ragou came along again, would you be able to trust me to handle things my way and not feel like killing him is the only option? I don't think people who do the things he did deserve to live either... but I can't stand what killing them did to you.

"After Cumore... you were so cold when I talked to you. I felt like I'd failed you because you couldn't trust me to bring those kinds of people to justice and because..." he trailed off, but Yuri could fill in the blanks.

"I came really close to making all the same mistakes Clay did," Yuri admitted softly, his eyes darting back to the water. In this outfit, he looked so much like Clay that the similarities between them were all too easy to see. "There's a lot of darkness in me, Flynn. Sometimes I don't know how you or Estelle or any of the others can see anything but that darkness."

"We both came pretty close to losing our way that year," Flynn replied, his hand dropping down to hold Yuri's.

"You never would have followed Alexei once he showed his true colors," Yuri objected, knowing it was honesty and not loyalty that fueled his statement. Flynn simply did not have it in him to follow a treasonous leader.

"I was already following his orders without thought, though. If you hadn't called me on it and Alexei had been more... subtle with his plans, who knows? I put so much emphasis on duty and following orders that... I almost forgot about what Captain Niren tried to teach me about a knight's calling to a higher purpose." Flynn squeezed Yuri's hand tightly. "I've put my faith in the wrong person so many times, it's a wonder you trust my judgment at all."

"Well, you put your faith in me, don't you?" Yuri teased, smiling faintly and knowing full well what Flynn was trying to do there. "Anyway... wearing this brought everything with Clay back to mind and just... reminded me of how close I came to losing sight of who I really want to be. Justice, vengeance... the line between the two is hard for me to see sometimes."

Some things had to be done, regardless of whether it was a crime or not. Yuri had believed that the night he killed Ragou and nothing had changed his certainty on the subject. Clay had believed the same thing, but had lost sight of the difference between justice and vengeance. When the law failed to see justice done, sometimes extreme measures were necessary. But taking those extreme measures in the past didn't make it hypocritical to use other methods to achieve justice in the present.

Sometimes the law did work and it was okay to step back... to yield to another form of justice.

Making different choices today didn't invalidate previous decisions; though Yuri was still having a difficult time wrapping his head around that concept himself... he felt like maybe he was getting there.

"I think Clay would be relieved that I didn't end up like him."

"If you'd like, I can find out what happened to him," Flynn offered.

"Nah..." Yuri closed his eyes. Odds were that Clay had been executed already. Even if he was alive in prison, Yuri doubted Clay would appreciate a visit. "I think... I think I just needed to talk to you about what happened."