The second part. This is where I got a bit selfish, but there's probably people who won't mind much anyway. Even if everyone really wishes I'd get to the part you've all been waiting for already. (My most humble apologies.)
And yes, I am trying to make you guess what's wrong with Chase. Final Fantasy fans have the advantage here.
Belated congrats to HappyStab for snatching up review number 100~!
Angelic:
Review 101 for you!
FTaBV has called for me to skip over the talks that Yuri and Estelle keep having! It makes me a bit sad, because they have such sweet moments between them. I'm not a shipper of the two since I always saw those times as being friendly support akin to sibling affection, but that doesn't mean I don't think the pairing couldn't happen. But WHATEVER, those scenes are nice and fluffy!
Nice try guessing, but Chase's problem isn't quite that simple~ ^ ^
x x x
FTaBV Omake: Hasty Departure - Reflecting
x x x
The formula codes weaving through the blue-green array kept blinking in and out with each surge of energy. Fractured and missing several key pieces, Rita doubted even she could completely restore them. Not that she'd ever admit that, of course not, there was nothing to admit, because if the genius put her mind to it she could probably fix it after all. But that was a moot point if it'd be too unstable to use safely.
All the components for regulating the flow of energy in and out of the core had been completely fried. Probably had already been well on their way to a meltdown after the severe stress that...that inexplicable excess of energy from before had caused.
Could it be somehow connected to the apatheia? It's happened before, so that's not an unreasonable theory... And that guy, Duke, didn't he say something before when we showed him the clear ciel crystal? That it was a core without an inscribed formula... She growled softly to herself. As much as she'd love to pursue that hypothesis and see how far she could test it, doing something to get them moving again had to come first.
Another surge arced through the glowing blue-green glyphs, some getting thrown off and manifesting itself as an electric element. She frowned, rubbing absently at where a spark had landed on her sleeve before dropping her chin into the palm of one hand. Even if I do manage to fix the codes and rig up a new system to smooth out the imbalance, there's nothing to do about the structural damage to the core and blastia. If I knew the procedure for making them in the first place...the wishful thought made her snort at herself, I'd be almost twice as famous as I already am.
But that was one prize discovery she couldn't boast yet. So there was little of worth she could accomplish with the ceres blastia. The Dragon Freak really knew what she was doing when it came to destroying blastia.
The Dragon Freak, who Rita now knew to be...
I should've known better, she fumed silently. People aren't like blastia. They're never there when you need them, and can betray you for no reason at all. On the other hand, if a blastia is properly taken care of it won't let even an idiot down.
That's not right, a reasonable argument cropped up. After all, throwing a series of tests at a hypothesis to prove it true, or false as it may turn out to be, was second nature to any scientist worth her salt. Estelle wouldn't betray anyone, not without a good reason. She'd be there for anyone, even someone like me. And the princess really would, Rita knew. Call it kindness or naive idealism, her friend would try anything she could to help.
...It was one of the few theories she actually felt a bit happy to have found disagreeing data for.
"Does it look like it'll be okay?"
"Oh..." Rita hadn't noticed that someone, Yuri, in fact, was standing a short distance behind her. But she didn't see a point in getting overly concerned by her lapse in attention. Wasn't it a given? When working with something as complex and interesting as blastia, who cared what else was going on? "Well, it's pretty bad..."
He stepped in closer to look at the control panel over her shoulder, at which point it coincidentally blacked out entirely for a fraction of a second. It seemed brighter than ever when the formulas flashed back, but that might have just been a trick of the eyes. "Geez, this isn't usable at all..." Yuri grimaced.
She sighed but couldn't argue. After all, she'd been forced to the same conclusion, however grudgingly.
"...Damn it!" she gritted through clenched teeth. "I can't believe that Judith was..." It surprised her how much the revelation...hurt. The mage hadn't exactly been best buddies with the krityan, but she was one of the few people Rita had gradually felt she could trust. Was. Now, even if Rita had wanted to forgive Judith, it wouldn't be all that easy.
"And all the time she was with us, she didn't destroy any blastia at all," the swordsman pointed out, as if realizing it for the first time. As if. Rita had his number and could tell what he was trying to pull off with that "innocent" remark.
Well, it wouldn't work. Just because the krityan had demonstrated restraint when traveling with the group didn't make her any less furious. But she did start to wonder, "Why was she with us in the first place? That dragon...Ba'ul, right?" The mage glanced over a shoulder at Yuri for confirmation, though didn't wait for his reply before plowing on. So what if she got the monster's name right or wrong. "It attacked us back in Heliord, didn't it?"
The man grinned slightly, the expression conveying more irony than amusement. "You've got a good memory."
"That's not the sort of thing I easily forget," was her own dry response. "Do you think they were going after Estelle back then?" Estelle; who was the Child of the Full Moon, had a power like the Rizomata formula, and who Judith and Letha had both tried to stop from using that power earlier. "Yes...she knew. They both knew about Estelle..." All this right under the genius' nose, and nobody suspected!
Or...nobody said anything. There was a difference.
She whirled around and glared at Yuri, who only blinked calmly. "You didn't already know about any of this, did you?" she demanded, using all the authority she'd grown accustomed to wielding as an imperial researcher. As the Rita Mordio, who even the second rate hacks back in Aspio knew to respect.
Unfortunately, the infamous Yuri Lowell was thick skinned and immune to authority. Normally this never worked on him and she wasn't expecting it to now. So it surprised her when his dark eyes dropped a bit and he admitted a quiet, "...Yeah. Some of it."
It felt like her eyes were about to pop out of her head, but she tried to hide the surprise that the Mordio Authority actually worked by angrily snapping, "How much did you know then?"
"Well, I found out the Dragon Rider was Judith during that little field trip to Ghasfarost," he shrugged, as if that wasn't too hard to figure out. Which, when she thought about it, wasn't a stretch in any run of the imagination. He'd hitched a ride on that dragon with the Freak when chasing Barbos, and he'd been with Judith when they caught up to him. Pretty obvious when she thought of it that way.
While she was making that connection the swordsman was continuing. "You know what getting anything out of Letha is like." Oh, Rita knew. Fiction, foolishness, and antics only a few levels less annoying than those from the old man. "She'll talk, but the trick is figuring out if anything she's said is actually true."
Frustrated and no longer able to bear looking at the man, Rita turned back to the damaged blastia instead. But that sorry sight didn't help any. "Damn it, I can't believe you...!" she exclaimed in exasperation as she raised a hand to cover her eyes. Not only was he infuriating for never bringing this stuff up-like he never thought that, you know, the rest of them might want to hear about it!-but it was that in not coming clean with it before he'd actively kept her in the dark! Even though he knew damned well how she'd felt about what the Dragon Freak had been doing!
And, just as much, she was just as pissed at herself for never. Noticing. ANY of it!
Sure, both Judith and Letha had been weird in their own ways. But it was expected of krityans to be eccentric, and Letha, in comparison to the rest of the group, hadn't stood out much either. Weird stories, weird tattoo, and eventually an unheard of ability...
Well, she frowned into the palm of her hand, that last one seemed to come as much as a surprise to her as to anyone else. But with everything happening between the guilds and Phaeroh attacking, it just never seemed to need that much attention. And, if the mage were honest with herself, she'd been much more concerned with Estelle's problems. And of course with the aer krene and blastia, but they were a given.
Yuri had allowed her a moment alone with her thoughts, but spoke up again. "We all have our reasons for what we've done. You and Judith both, and Letha must have hers-" the break in his words prompted Rita to look back at the swordsman again.
"...You mean..."
He shifted on his feet, not quite turning his back but not facing her full on either. "And me too, of course." While his body remained partially turned away, as if ready to leave any second, Yuri still met her eyes as he said that last part. The air was charged with an expectant tension as he waited for her to...do something, she guessed.
"You mean Ragou and Cumore?" the mage quickly deduced. She waved a hand, a flicking motion that could have been her attempt to shoo away a bothersome matter. "Hmph, I don't care much about what happened to them." Not the major issue that concerned her. And besides, it was obvious that the swordsman was totally unrepentant, and personally she believed him fairly justified. A bit extreme, but whatever.
Still, even if he wasn't looking for approval, the man relaxed when she didn't condemn him either. That only lasted a moment before Yuri was frowning to himself. "Cumore..." he muttered. But he shook his head and didn't voice whatever was on his mind. Instead he returned to their previous topic.
"Whatever Letha's motives were, I don't think she meant to hurt anyone. And Judy was a loyal member of our party. That's how it looked to me, at least..."
"Yeah, maybe you're right..." Rita said slowly. Both women had been weirdos, but they'd been...nice weirdos. Not that that made up for anything. "But, this whole time, if even just one of them shared what they knew about the Child of the Full Moon, and about the Entelexeia... Estelle's problems might already have been solved by now."
Yuri turned away, looking off in the direction where Estelle stood by the edge of the boat. Or had been standing, Rita realised then that the other girl had moved from the spot since she'd last looked that way. "It depends, doesn't it?" Yuri asked. "Phaeroh told her she was poison, after all."
Right, and that had bothered the gentle girl to no end. Didn't Letha react to that too? Making it a point to tell Estelle that it's natural for poison and medicine to go hand in hand... Well, if anything, that definitely proved she'd known more than she'd let on before. "...You know, it's possible they knew where Phaeroh was from the beginning."
There wasn't much point to arguing against that, and Yuri didn't even bother. "...Yeah, maybe so."
Argh, all this is pointless! Moping around and wondering why they did it won't help us figure out what's going on, or what they were thinking, or-or get this ship moving again! She threw up her arms, "Either way, I'll never forgive Judith for breaking those blastia!"
"Well then, if Judy comes back, you can feel free to beat her up," the swordsman promised her with a short laugh. If it came to that, he probably would let Rita give the krityan a piece of her mind, complete with a fire ball or two, or two dozen, without trying to stop her.
It didn't make her feel any better. "...She's not coming back..." Rita mumbled bitterly, eyes dropping to squint at the deck from across her folded arms. Why would she? People who left like that, left for good. And there was no telling if they'd even see Letha again either.
But Yuri just hummed thoughtfully, "I couldn't say."
She looked up sharply, about to ask if he knew something he wasn't telling them, something that made him think there was a possibility that one or both might come back. The words died on the tip of her tongue as she saw his silhouetted profile. The man was looking up, out towards the water in roughly the direction the dragon had gone. Light from the blastia behind her touched on his face, although it left most of his features in shadow. But she got the feeling that he looked almost as lost as the rest of them in that moment.
Hmph, she turned away, not to give him privacy or anything, the mage just wanted to look over the blastia one more time in case she'd over looked something. Who asked him to act all tough all the time? Idiot should try thinking about himself for once...
x x x
Children of the Earth... The phrase echoed in her mind.
Chase raised one hand, as if answering a tutor during lessons. "I'm one too."
The memory made Estelle falter. She felt guilty, because at the time her first thought was one of envy. Whatever the Children of the Earth were, they weren't alone like she was. Letha and Chase had each other.
Only recently had Estelle learned that she herself was a Child of the Full Moon, but it already felt like a lifetime had passed since then. And it had set her apart her whole life, even if she hadn't known it was responsible at the time. The princess had lived a life more sheltered than most, more sheltered even than her cousin Ioder, ever since the discovery that she could use her healing artes without the aid of a blastia.
It might have been less lonely if there had been someone else... Someone who was the same as me. But no. If that person had existed, surely they'd be in danger from Entelexeia like Phaeroh as well. She wouldn't wish that on anyone. And it wasn't so bad! Flynn was there, and Master Drake and my other tutors were all very nice and interesting people!
She realized she'd been standing in a daze with her hand on the door knob to one of the ship cabins. Embarrassed, Estelle turned the knob and swung the door open wide. And only then remembered that she hadn't knocked.
Oh dear, and I've always been telling Yuri that it's important to remember your manners, especially if it's someone you've never met before! Not that she hadn't met the young man already, but- Tok tok tok -she rapped her knuckles against the door thrice.
It was just as well that she had. At the sound of the door opening, Chase had sat up in his bunk and groped around to find his claymore, which should have been leaning against the wall within his reach dammit! But the polite, if belated, knocking cleared his head as the tension relaxed from his muscles again. Trouble usually didn't knock first. Usually.
The princess didn't fully understand the impact her abrupt entrance had had. Her wide eyes only took in the way he rubbed the back of a hand over his own bleary eyes. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I didn't mean to wake you."
"'S fine," Chase grunted. His hand dropped down onto his lap, where the blanket had twisted around his knees. Estelle took the chance to look him over as he yawned sleepily.
His long leather coat, practically a trademark of his, was draped across the foot of the bed and his boots were falling over each other on the floor next to it. The black sleeveless shirt he had on left his arms bare, exposing a collection of recent bruises and scabbed over gashes. Still, none of the injuries looked serious. It could be possible he was hiding worse, but why would he do that?
Maybe if he didn't want it to be known... So that no one would try to heal him. She'd had people refuse her help before, but that had always been because they thought she wanted money they couldn't afford to give up. Or a matter of personal pride. But now she worried...
"Can I help you?" Chase's inquiry broke into her thoughts.
"Oh, sorry," she apologized again, while scolding herself for drifting off a second time. "That's what I wanted to ask. Yuri said you were hurt earlier?"
"Did he?" Chase snorted. "Man's got the instincts of a Turk..." Estelle didn't think she was supposed to hear that last part. Not that she understood what he meant by it.
"It won't take long at all," she assured him while crossing the room to stand at his bedside. "So if you don't mind..." The princess trailed off, hoping he'd agree and fearing that he'd reject her help.
When he shook his head it felt like her heart had jumped up and was stuck in the bottom of her throat. "Like I told Lowell, all I need is some rest and-hey, are you okay?" He became concerned when he noticed the distress Estelle was in.
Turning away, she tried to get herself under control again. Really, she couldn't keep doing this every time. Phaeroh's words were shocking, but acting like this was silly and childish. "It's nothing," she said, trying to keep her voice steady, "I'm just..." To her dismay she couldn't think of a plausible excuse.
A visible jolt went through Chase and he sat up straighter. "Wait, you didn't think-hey, it's not like I think you'll make it worse or anything!" he protested.
"I-I know, I'm being foolish," she sniffed. "But if you're both Children of the Earth, what if there's something I could do wrong when healing you? Like when Letha said I would have-to Belius-" she couldn't force the words out. "Even if I tell myself it'll be okay, it always was before, I'm still afraid..."
Chase stared at her hard the whole time she confessed her insecurities. Talking with Yuri had helped earlier, but part of her still felt like she was taking a terrible risk she didn't have a right to. When her words finally came to a halting stop, the man swung his bare feet out of bed and stood up. Holding his arms out to the sides he ordered her, "Cast First Aid."
"Wh-what?" she stammered in surprise. "I thought you didn't-"
"Never mind that, just cast First Aid. Or Nurse or anything else you know. Go ahead!"
Nervous, Estelle fell back on her most familiar and therefor trusted spell. "Holy power, come to me. First Aid!"
The spell left her and settled over Chase, chiming like a bell as the visible cuts sealed and bruises faded. Just the same as it always did for her. Chase shook his head, reminding the princess of Repede for a moment, before reaching one hand to the back of his neck and cracking it. "Tingly," he commented.
"And you're alright?" Estelle asked, to be sure.
"Don't I look alright?" Chase countered. "Heck, it's like I never even filled in for Clint's punching bag earlier."
Estelle released a breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding. But if it worked... "Then how come you didn't want me to help before?"
Chase dropped back town to sit on the edge of the bunk he'd claimed. "Well, to be honest, I'm pretty used to traveling alone and with limited supplies. I usually just suck it up and deal with minor injuries unless it's an emergency. Even if I'm with other people.
"Secondly," he continued, holding up two fingers, "the actual problem that sharp eyed guy out there noticed isn't gone. Not any better than it was, but not any worse either. Pretty much what I was expecting, and I didn't want you to wear yourself out over nothing." He sounded pretty cheerful for someone who was saying she couldn't cure him.
"I'm sorry I can't be any more help," Estelle told him. She was sorry, but she was also a little relieved. Relieved that she wasn't endangering the people close to her, or that he hadn't refused her help out of fear of her. Once she was no longer worried about that, she began to feel curious. "May I ask, what is the 'problem' you have anyway?"
"Erm," the man fidgeted as his eyes darted to the side. "It's, uh, sorta like aer sickness?"
Estelle briefly wondered why that was posed like a question, but the thought was lost as she remembered something related. "Oh!" she exclaimed, "Right! Letha was always real sensitive to aer too! Sometimes she'd even get sick with no obvious cause, and she absolutely hated visiting the aer krenes. I guess it's something Children of the Earth have in common."
Chase grunted, "Amen to that. Those fu-uh-things suck." The princess noted with some confusion that his cheeks turned a bit red as he spoke.
"If that's what it is, I guess there really isn't anything I can do to help," the princess admitted. She wasn't satisfied with just that though. "But if there's anything I can do to help, you have to let me know! No 'just dealing' when I'm around!"
He grinned at her, "Roger!"
Estelle smiled, but then had to ask, "...Roger?"
"Uh, well, it's a saying that means 'yes ma'am'?" Chase rubbed his neck. "Another Earth thing..."
Which made her even more curious. "Really? Why?"
"Umm... You know, I don't really know why we say it."
x x x
He leaned back, thumb hooked on his belt and ankles crossed in a show of carefree lassitude. Not that he felt all that care free at the moment, but better that then to start bemoaning how unfair life was. He'd already figured out that that never helped anyway.
Talking with Harry hadn't really paid off much. He was a smart young man, yes, and had grown up watching his grandfather run Altosk and the Union. Obviously he'd learn something from that, but the thing was? People expected him to be like a younger version of the Don and capable of the same level of leadership. When he didn't meet their expectations they blamed him and the poor kid was labeled as a disappointment, overshadowing everything else.
No surprise that he'd overreach himself while trying to live up to Whitehorse's name. And Harry was too wrapped up in his failures to slow down and think about what he could do, leaving him to recklessly rush into another round of mistakes.
Being young is all about slipping up and learning to do better next time, he mused, recalling a sentiment he'd others even older than himself repeat as a standard "wisdom of the elders" spiel. But there were some people who didn't have quite that luxury, or didn't believe they could afford it. And maybe they were even right to think that.
For now, he'd left the young man to his own thoughts. He sat hunched over, back against a cabin wall and arms wrapped in a vice grip around his knees. Since the glum fellow was refusing to listen to any words of sympathy or well meant scolding, he'd retreated to the end of the wall in favor of the seen-but-not-heard type of support.
And it just happened that he could hear what was being said inside between the Princess and the, er, Earth boy.
Hearing the kid call the ex-Knight a "sharp eyed guy" made him snigger quietly. How right the boy is. But, after that last run in with the Earth kid, it was pretty much a given that they'd both be watching him. Since the girl, Letha, had unexpectedly bailed, the boy Chase was the only source of answers he and Lowell had left.
The "health problem" the lad supposedly had interested him. Not just because it brought up the subject of aer sickness again-and he well remembered that time when Letha, in a rare mood to confide secrets, admitted her home world had no aer to speak of. What was of interest this time, though, was that from the boy it sounded more like a cover up.
What other problems could these "Children of Earth" kids be dealing with? Did it have anything to do with why the Commandant was interested in one of them? But Alexei had never shown an interest in the wandering errand boy Chase claimed to be. So that would mean he didn't know the kid was a Child of Earth, as Belius had named them. If Alexei even knew about this "Earth" and its people.
He sighed, wishing, and not for the first time, that someone would just give him the straight answer for once. Or-better yet!-that he really was just the lazy vagabond these youths saw him as.
Or maybe just dead.
He hadn't realized he'd sighed again until a young tenor piped up beside him. "You okay, Raven?"
"Peachy!" he griped, allowing himself to vent under the cover of the never-too-serious Raven. "I think one or two of my bones might've finally turned to dust in one of those fights! I'm barely standin' over here!"
"Right," Karol pulled off a fair imitation of Yuri's 'I don't believe a word out of your mouth' expression. "So that means you're doing fine?"
"Fine, the boy says!" he despaired theatrically. "Jus' you wait, the minute this boat touches land, it's gonna be up to old Raven to clean up the mess brewin' with the guilds! I'm always doin' more than my share!"
That had the effect of worrying the boy. "Do you really think there'll be trouble?"
Well, this would be a hard lesson for the kid, but one he'd need to learn if he was serious about being the boss of his own guild. "The Duce of a major guild was killed, and both the Union an' the Knights were involved. Ain't no way to get past that without some unpleasantness." And, even if it had been under a false identity, he had gotten close enough to the Don over the years to guess just what shape that "unpleasantness" would have.
But, who knew? Maybe he'd be wrong about the old badger for once.
It was then that his eye fell on what the boy was carrying. He had naturally assumed it was the boy's own bag, but realized that it was smaller and had a broken strap knotted back together. Letha's bag.
"Watcha doin' with that?" he asked, pointing a finger to indicate the mislaid baggage.
Karol hoisted the bag up, trying to carry it comfortably along with his own on his shoulders. "I thought I'd put it away somewhere. You know, so it's safe until Letha..." he hesitated and fidgeted in place. "If she comes back."
Well, that was a nice thought. But, "An' what're ya gonna do if she doesn't come back?"
"Well..." the boy chewed on his lip before admitting, "I'm not sure yet. But, if she does-if she does then it's only right to take care of her stuff while she's gone. Letha's another member of Brave Vesperia after all."
Nice attitude, that. "Sounds good to me," he told the budding guild boss, who smiled weakly at him before lugging off the bag to one of the empty cabin rooms. One that had previously been shared by all four ladies, and now just two...
Would either of them come back again? Judith, who he'd never suspected to have a second identity hidden in the wings. And Letha, one person who didn't just see him as the "lazy vagabond" character.
"How right you are, Captain Schwann."
Maybe he ought to rethink that angle. The girl had surprised him with that, and at the time the argument she'd put together to explain how she'd caught him had seemed thin yet passable. But after the coliseum...
The ex-Knight didn't seem to remember it, but he'd been there during the incident in Shizontania. He hadn't been as active a participant as Melzome and his men, but he'd known about Garista's involvement. And that there'd been a link between the blastia researcher and Alexei through the Royal Guard.
There'd been times, early on, when Raven had been a thin mask and Schwann would turn a blind eye in the name of obediance. If he had nurtured doubts, he never brought them up with the Commandant.
He'd never brought up Shizontania with the Commandant either.
But Nylen Fedrok had found a note outside his office window detailing the rendez-vous between his strategist and one of the Royal Guard.
"What about another name, huh? Garista." How would she have even known that name? The man had been dead and gone for two years, well before she had left her own world. He hadn't even been clear on what happened to him. Until now. Just how much did these people from Earth actually know? Or was it only Letha? And why did she know?
"Isn't it obvious which would be more important? Protecting a town or attending a ceremony? Shouldn't it be obvious that orders aren't always right?" Those orders had been all that mattered to him ten years ago, after losing everything else. Now...he wasn't so sure anymore.
Maybe it was partly because the Commandant's orders...weren't the same as they would have been ten years before. Back then it had been Alexei's goal to turn the Knights into more than just glorified guard dogs and extra titles for the nobility to collect. He'd wanted to turn it into a group that saw no distinctions between the nobles and the commoners, and always strove to serve those in need. To be true knights!
Lately, he'd been getting the feeling that they were both wearing the masks of other men.
x x x
First time writing from Rita's perspective. When looking over it, I realized the way I wrote her reminded me quite a bit of Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. Huh. Well, whatever helps. Yuri Lowell still give me trouble, and it always feels like a challenge writing his actions and lines in character. But Rita suddenly feels so much easier for me to empathize with.
Haven't done as much as I would have liked with Estelle before. I wanted to give it a try here since this is where she probably felt the most insecure in her role. Before whenever she felt inadequate in either her knowledge or plans for the future, she would resolve to learn more or observe others to figure out what she wanted to do. But now she has to accept that, in her case, simply existing has forced her into a rather tragic position where she inadvertently hurts people. And it'll only get worse for her once she visits Myorzo. :(
And fun times with Raven, playing with his perspective again and referencing The First Strike and Empty Mask material~ Melzome was the head of the guild (don't think a name was ever given for it) in Shizontania and a friend of Nylen. During the movie Raven looked like he was just, you know, hanging around the edges for the time being. Until Melzome "suggested" that Raven do his own part in the effort to help the town and figure out what was going on. The first time I watched it I totally missed the significance of Nylen standing by his open window and reading a small scrap of paper. In the scene right after Raven was spying on the royal guard and a mysterious person who wasn't shown to the viewers (though it's obvious when you know the plot). *Rolls eyes at self*