Tripped up starting this a few times, then it really took off running and almost left me behind! I'm posting it up kinda quick, so there might be more errors than usual. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Chapter 16: What's In A Name

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Yuri sighed and then gave one of his one handed shrugs, that worked double time as a questioning gesture. "So what can you tell us about this guy?"

"Yeah! It was pretty weird that he knew all of our names like that." Personally, I think the only name it's strange for him to know is your's Karol. Estelle's a princess, Rita's a highly respected genius, and Yuri's an infamous wanted man.

"Did you tell him about us?"

I shook my head before Estelle had even finished asking her question. "No, we never talked about anything other than Aunt Sophia and her research." If he really is a fairy, he probably knew everyone the same way Nevi knows that I'm familiar with this world as a game. "Actually, he was the one who first approached me, saying he thought I was Sophia. Then the next time I saw him he called me by name without me ever telling him. That's why I thought he was telling the truth." ...Lie. But in a twisted way, also true.

"So basically, everything that happened was that Alastor guy's fault. Including Ragou's mansion, he tricked you into going in on your own. Is that right?"

I blinked in surprise at how easily Yuri managed to diffuse the situation. He even somehow made things less my fault. "Um, yeah, that's pretty much it." Maybe he's going to wait until he gets me alone to get some answers out of me?

"In that case, he may have been spying on us all in order to get close to Letha." We all looked at Yuri in shock. Wait, this really does make it look like none of this was my fault. I'm just the simple country girl who was raised alone in the woods, falling for a cunning bastard's trick. "Do you have any idea why?" I shook my head again.

"I don't get what he wants from me. He went through all this trouble so I'd get my aunt's notes, but didn't try to take them from me. And he probably could have gotten them on his own with even less trouble. All I can think is he wants me to see whatever she wrote, but I've got no clue why."

"Then we just have to get that case open once we get back to town. Once we do we'll figure something out." Rita spun on her heel and started walking away. "So let's hurry up and get out of here already!"

I made sure not to fall to the back of the group while we were walking. If there were any lingering trust issues (likely) then it would help the situation if I didn't look like I was getting ready to bolt again. In the future I'd stick with the group even if I felt a piece of the heirloom nearby. Better to just try and remember where it was so I could go back for it.

We followed the path we'd broken through the foliage back to where we'd been in Caer Bocram. Thinking we'd finally be able to leave the place we followed the main street back to the entrance. Once there I groaned inwardly. Crap, another really hatable person who I totally forgot we'd run into. Who was it? Cumore.

Repede outright growled at the powder blue haired man.

"Ah, the common rabble. So I've finally found you. That's far enough."

With hand on hip and head tilted carelessly, Yuri indulged in his old hobby of baiting knights and conceited nobles. "You lackeys must have had a lot of time on your hands if you crossed the ocean just to see us."

"Humph... You're in no position to talk down to the likes of me," Cumore sneered. "Now, Princess, right this way." Finally, don't have to worry about that slipping out and giving me problems. Estelle backed away as the very disturbing captain approached us.

"Huh? What does he mean, 'princess'?" Karol looked to Estelle in confusion.

"The princess standing right here in front of us," Yuri told him matter of fact.

"Y-Yuri... But how did you...?" Come to think of it, how should I act for my reaction?

"What? ...Estelle's a princess?"

"I suspected as much myself," Rita informed us.

"Rita... You, too?" She looked to me next, and I settled for giving an 'I'm not really surprised, but don't care much either way' kind of shrug. I suck at acting. I'd gotten by so far by just getting them accustomed to me being weird.

"W-wait, you've gotta be kidding..."

Estelle steeled her nerve and stepped ahead of us to address Cumore. "...And what will happen to my friends?"

"Why, they'll be drawn and quartered for abducting a member of the royal family, of course." ...How medieval.

"Please wait. I wasn't abduc-"

"Ah what a mouthy young lady you are. This way, please!"

Okay, what the hell? "Do you think you can get away with saying something like that? I'd totally smack you with my vaguely-oriental-wood-and-paper-fans if I'd brought them with me!" My roommate laughed so hard the first time she heard me call them that. From the corner of my eye I saw Yuri's mouth twitch in a smile.

Cumore was not nearly so amused. When his subordinates surrounded us with their...spears? I think that type was called a halberd, actually. But while we were being threatened with them, Cumore drew his sword and menaced me with it first. "Learn to watch your tongue, you commoner rat."

"I resent that. Anyone will tell you I'm a very uncommon rat." Rita actually laughed a bit at that one.

Whatever response he was about to say to that was cut off by a very loud voice shouting from behind him. "Arrest the culprit Yuri Lowell and his accomplices!" The fashion challenged captain turned (I breathed a sigh of relief when the sword moved away from me) and his face twisted when he saw Leblanc.

"Gah...you. The Schwann Brigade...!" Curses, foiled again? "Just a minute! This prize catch is mine! I won't let you take him away from me that easily!"

I leaned over a bit and whispered to Yuri, "You hear that? You're a 'prize catch'! Should I be asking for your autograph?"

"Whatever happened to taking my place as a celebrity?" he returned. Yay! He's making jokes with me again, so I'm forgiven?

"Working on it, I have one stalker so far and you've got the lead with, like, four at least." He snorted, and we returned our attention to the knights discussing our immediate futures.

"What is wrong with condemning criminals to their deaths?"

"Should not criminals be captured and judged in accordance with the laws?"

"...Humph... I suppose I can let you have these little worms." Cumore stalked away with "dignity" (saaarcasm) and his brigade, muttering, "If it isn't Schwann, it's Flynn. These upstart commoners are so full of themselves... Even that Commandant..."

"This way please, Your Highness. Do watch your step..." That's more like it! Leblanc is at least courteous while carting us off to throw behind bars! Though Adecor and Baccus had their hands pretty full with a very angry mage, who was furious at being called a member of the "Yuri Lowell Gang." And Karol was wailing that he hadn't done anything. I simply mumbled about how the evident lack of creativity in that name concerned me when a nameless knight took my weapons from me.

"Don't hurt them! I beg you...!"

"Estelle, don't worry."

"Yuri..!"

As the knights escorted us on our way (one apparently pulling on Yuri's arm too hard to make him walk faster. I'd bet money he was someone Yuri had thrown a rock at.) I could hear Leblanc talking to someone.

"Sir Schwann, we shall take these undesirables to Heliord." Schwaaann! I tried to crane my head around and get a look at the captain and got shoved from behind. Tch, fine. Be that way.

x x x

Estelle, the Princess

Karol: I was so surprised to find out that Estelle was a princess!

Yuri: I had a feeling. She knew Flynn, and she was obviously brought up as a noble...

Rita: Shut up. You knew, already.

Yuri: Maybe...

Karol: Oh man... I wonder if I was rude to her without realizing it?

Yuri: Your language has been unpardonable. Captain Karol, the sentence for insulting royalty is...decapitation. Been nice knowing you.

Karol: What about you? You're way more rude than I am!

Yuri: Guess it's off with both our heads, then.

Letha: I wonder if they'll stick our heads on pikes as a warning to others.

Karol: What? Th-that's...

Rita: Idiots...

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I was reminded of that scene in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie where Jack Sparrow is about to be hung from the gallows and all his crimes against the crown are being read aloud.

"Continuing on, we will review the particulars of your eighteenth crime."

"Please do."

"Is it true that you threw a knight sent to collect the taxes into the river?"

"Wow, I'd forgotten about that. Was that you, Tweedle A?"

"That's right! I was in bed with a cold for three whole days thanks to you!"

"Just from getting thrown into a river? You wimp..."

"You stay out of this, wench!" Haha, I had gotten into a name calling spat with Adecor earlier, and he still wasn't happy with me.

"Sure thing, Simon." Yeah, because he's always saying "I say," I'd given him the new nickname of Simon... Even if he didn't get the joke, it was obvious I was making fun of him.

Yuri groaned "...How many more of these are there? This is getting pretty boring."

"...I wonder what'll happen to me." Karol's head was buried in his hands, and hadn't been responding to any of us. The knights mostly left him be, because every time one tried to talk to him he'd start wailing in fear that they were about to decapitate him. That was Yuri's fault, and he had the grace to look a little sheepish about it. After he had his fill of laughing at it.

"So, I'll write you have 'no signs of remorse' in the report then..." Boccos scribbled on a clipboard. There was no space left to write on the table, it was entirely covered with stacks of paperwork pertaining to Yuri's crimes.

There were some interesting ones. Apparently he'd once stripped a knight of his clothes and left him tied up in his underwear at the gates to the royal quarter. I'm sure the knight did something to deserve it. The knights probably didn't even know about all the things Yuri had done...

"Where's that do-nothing captain of yours, anyway? What was his name? Schwann?"

"Playing hooky because he's the big shot." It was amazing that Rita was restraining herself from blasting something.

"You dare mock our captain? Sir Schwann is a legendary hero and a veteran of the Great War ten years ago." Yuri isn't the only guy around with fanboys. Leblanc leads Schwann's fanclub.

"So basically, his eminence would never stoop so low as to deal with nobodies like us."

"Quiet, I say! Quiet! Getting on to your next offense..."

There was a click as the door across the room swung open and then shut. We all looked up and saw a gray-white haired man followed by a Krytian woman with long blue hair. Leblanc saluted sharply. "Y-your Excellency Commandant Alexei! To what do we owe this pleasure?"

I still don't understand why Khroma...Kroma?...whatever. I don't get why she follows Alexei at this point. She has to know what he's planning, doesn't she try anything to stop him? That was what bothered me most about Tales of Vesperia's plot. So much could have been solved if several big shots got off their butts and tried to stop things, instead of sitting back and seeing if Yuri and company could deal. And at the least they could have explained what was going on to Brave Vesperia instead of letting the new guild run around blind. Most of the time they were like "I know the answer, but I'm gonna make you run half way across the world to ask someone else about it." And then that someone else dies and they have to go back to plan A.

Busy brooding, I didn't pay much attention. Just some jazz about us being pardoned, Yuri losing his infamous celebrity status, and turning down the offered reward for saving both royals. Oh, and that Estelle was returning to the castle. Except I knew that of course she wouldn't. The news hit everyone else pretty hard, though.

"So Estelle's going back home, huh," Karol said with downcast eyes.

"You don't have a problem with this, Yuri?" Rita eyed the swordsman. I wonder just how she's expecting him to react. Be all Robin Hood and spirit the noble lady away into a handy forest? Yuri as Robin Hood, an odd yet somewhat fitting image...

"It's not my decision to make."

"Well...I guess that's true, but..."

"You don't seem very upset about it either Letha." Crap, acting fail.

I shrugged and decided to be truthful. "I have a feeling she hasn't had her fill of the world yet. Good odds she'll manage to sweet talk Flynn into letting her go." They seemed to accept that (probably decided that I was in denial) and started talking about Heliord and where we were in relation to the other major cities of the continent.

I fought the itch to excuse myself and test the town for a tattoo reaction. Wandering off on my own had been ending badly lately, and even if I didn't get kidnapped, attacked, or meet mysterious strangers I didn't think the others would look favorably on it. So I waited patiently for them to finish talking and split to do their own things.

"Maybe I'll have a look around the town a bit. Captain Karol, could you look after our troublemaker for us?"

"Who, me?" Karol and I asked at the same time.

"Yeah! We can't even leave you alone for a minute without something happening!" Rita pointed a finger at me. "And the runt should make himself useful trying to keep you from doing anything else stupid."

"Urgh..." While we were both trying to think of what to say to defend ourselves, Yuri and Rita turned and left in separate directions. I sighed and looked down at Karol. "Wanna help me check to see if there's any shops that can open Sophia's case?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that." The little Ace and I went off to search for the business district.

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Several stops later, we still hadn't had any luck. Several shop keepers had been willing to take a crack at the case but none had any success figuring out how to open it. A few tested it to see if it could be cut, but that wood was much tougher than it had looked. I had to wonder how someone had managed to engrave Sophia's name into it in the first place.

One engineer had gotten a frightening gleam in his eye and started pulling various tools out of cubbies and shelves. When I doubtfully asked if they could open the case without damaging the notes, he'd looked at me in surprise and asked, "Oh, I thought the point was just to open it." I ran out of there, Karol on my heels.

The last shop was the most helpful by a small margin. The owner had examined every angle of the case before admitting defeat. What he told us was that there probably was a key of some sort, and that the easiest way to open the case would be to find that key.

"So much for that," I sighed. "I'm pretty sure I didn't see anything like a key in Ragou's mansion, either."

"So why did that man have you steal it in the first place? It can't be worth anything to anyone if no one can open it." I shrugged, stumped.

"He didn't mention a key. Maybe he didn't know either. So whatever Alastor's planning, turns out the joke's on him..." I said his name with extra bitterness.

When no one was paying attention to me, I had taken the chance to make sure all my stuff was still in my bag. Nearly all of my possessions from Earth were still there, but a quick inventory showed that my wallet was missing. BASTARD, is THAT what he meant? As suspicious as it will look if anyone finds this stuff, I don't want anything just floating around Terca Lumireis on it's own. And my wallet had Earth money, credit card, and even my student ID. My name was on those cards...

An uneasy thought occurred to me as Karol and I were walking back to the inn. If it was Alastor who took the wallet (and I was pretty sure he did, if it were one of the Blood Alliance thugs then everything would have been taken) then that meant the fairies now had my real name. Pretending to be Letha Vitae would have gone to waste, I might as well have introduced myself to Ludwig as...

Huh? I pulled up short for a minute and Karol stopped to look at me in confusion. I shook my head at him and started walking again. ...That's weird. I can't seem to remember my real name. With a growing sense of panic, I began desperately trying to remember. No, I can't even remember the names of anyone in my family! Even my friends! I could remember their faces (as well as I remember anyone's faces, I had a terrible recall) and lots of things we'd done together, but everyone's names were escaping me.

"The name 'forgetfulness' seems to suit you quite well, hmm?" Did that mean Alastor already knew? Could he have taken my wallet so I wouldn't see my own name? What else was I forgetting? I tried another tact, running through the events of Tales of Vesperia. Other than a few rough spots here and there (mostly near the end where larger events get muddled by the multitude of available side quests) I could remember the whole plot (as well as someone who'd only seen a playthrough could).

Dammit, what is going on? The rest of the walk I spent deep in my own mind, testing my memory by internally reciting the lyrics to all the songs I knew. I was half way through the slightly difficult german lyrics of "Mein Herz Brennt" from the band Rammstein when I tuned back in at hearing Estelle's name (or since it was Rita talking, I heard "Estellise").

"She seems to be asleep already," Yuri answered the question I had missed, while handing money for our rooms over to the desk attendant. Two rooms again: one for boys, one for girls. Like hell would they let me have a room to myself. I feel like I've been grounded, though it's probably more for the sake of saving money...gald. "We can still talk tomorrow."

So we all turned in for the night. Estelle apparently had been given a different room already by the nights, so it was just Rita and me in the girls' room. I kept tossing and turning in my bed, and my mind was occupied trying to remember songs, books I'd read, ideas I'd been working on writing or wanted to paint, or funny things I'd done with people. Eventually Rita snapped at me to go to sleep or go somewhere else so that she could.

Figuring I'd be safe from mysterious manipulators and fairy abductors in the courtyard behind the inn, I ducked out the back door. It wasn't anything very special, mostly just a place where they kept supplies where they wouldn't be underfoot. I found a corner to sit in and picked up a piece of cloth that was lying nearby. Probably torn off someone's clothes while moving things or something.

Sitting in my out of the way corner, I began singing to myself softly while picking at loose threads in the cloth. Next on my internal playlist was "Stray Child" from the .hack anime.

"If you are lost in your way

deep in an awesome story

don't be in doubt and stray

cling to your lonesome folly

Now you're too close to the pain

let all the rain go further

come back and kiss me vain

Mother oh do not bother

Hear the chorus of pain

taking you back to proper ways

it's so easy to find

if you could remind me

Now you are lost in your way

deep in an awesome story

so I will find you again

kiss you for lonesome folly."

"Singing again?" The sudden voice made me jump, and my neck snapped around to see Yuri leaning against a nearby wall.

"I told you already, I don't sing."

"You sang back in the Shaikos Ruins."

"We established that that was a ghost. Or a monster. Or you were hearing things." I was blushing furiously, and Yuri smirked. "How long have you been there?"

"Came in when you were saying something about a painful chorus."

"Ah, I still don't have that part quite right, but the rest is okay..." The threads I'd pulled from the scrap were forming a small pile on my lap. "I came out because I was keeping Rita up..."

"Karol told me you couldn't find anyone who could open your aunt's notes." It took a moment before I nodded mutely. I'd actually forgotten about that already. Ugh, forgetting things had never bothered me nearly this much before. Should I keep a diary? I suck at those...

"Something else on your mind?"

I nodded again, but didn't say anything.

After a few moments, he gave an exasperated sigh. "Letha, why do you still think you can't tell us anything? Even if you don't think we can help, you don't have to suffer alone." I looked up in surprise. "Not talking about it will just hurt you more. When we first met you I thought you might have been another of our pursuers." I was right... "Back in Nor Harbor I even asked Flynn if he recognized you from the castle, though he told me he'd never met you before." So it probably was because of Yuri that Flynn wanted to talk to me.

"Then you kept getting sick and trying to hide it from us. If we'd known, we would have tried to do something about it." Except even I didn't know what was wrong, and was afraid about explaining it if it had to do with Earth. "Then everything with that Alastor guy...and whatever you're hiding right now." After his speech listing every one of my suspicious aspects we were left with a rather painful silence.

"Yuri..." I started, then hesitated.

"Sure everyone has a few secrets, but is it so bad to ask your friends for help?"

Gosh darnit, that actually made my eyes water a bit. I rubbed my wrist across them before I could actually start crying. I'm such a sap, a fool, and an idiot. I can't listen to a speech like that-from Yuri of all people!-and not tell him something! But what was I safe to say? I opened my mouth, and it began shaping words without me thinking about them.

"Lacrimosa dies illa

Qua resurget ex favilla

Judicandus homo reus

Huic ergo parce Deus

Pie Jesu domine

Judicandus homo reus

Huic ergo parce Deus

Pie Jesu domine."

It was a song I'd picked up from the D. Grayman anime, which had been obviously based on Mozart's Requiem "Lacrimosa." When I stopped singing, there was a moment of stunned silence.

"What...what was that? I didn't recognize that language at all."

"A song written in a dead language. Something I happen to remember." I sighed and continued shredding my scrap of cloth. There was barely even a ribbon of it left. "Ludwig adopted me."

He looked at me, probably surprised that this was my big secret. Ha, this barely even scratches it. "He found me and took me in. I couldn't remember who I was, where I was from, or how I'd gotten there. So he named me Letha Vitae and called me his niece." I shrugged.

"It's not like I've forgotten everything from my life before, I remember songs and you wouldn't believe how many stories. I vaguely remember people. I had a good family... But I don't know enough to find my way home." Other than exaggerating some facts, this was all mostly true. Given time, it was possible I'd forget even more of my real life and lies would become truth...

"You were adopted...what about the mark on your hand?"

"That really happened," I lied. "Ludwig found me not long before Sophia died. Another reason I'm searching is on the off chance that it's connected to my home, or if I'll just stumble across my real family on accident." An oddly truthful conclusion. This was going to give me a migraine...

"So you've probably been out here moping about whether that Alastor guy is connected to your real home."

"Yeah...or if he's the reason I was taken away, and can't remember anymore."

"Well then that's easy." The sudden light tone made me look back up from my pile of threads. "Next time he shows up, we beat some answers out of him." Yuri reached out a hand to help pull me to my feet. I smiled and accepted the help.

"...Thanks Yuri. I owe you, even just for listening." I shuffled my feet awkwardly. "I don't suppose I have the right to ask this, but is it possible not to let the others know about this? Letha may not be my real name, and Ludwig may not be my real uncle, but I like both enough to want to stay as Letha Vitae. For now."

"Sure, as long as it isn't causing problems again, I don't think there's anything wrong with that." He gave me a stern look. "But if it seems like it's important for them to know, you better speak up before I decide to tell them."

"Thanks, I will." Then as we were walking back into the inn, "Hey, maybe someday I'll even tell you what that song means."

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Yeaaaah, lies that keep getting more elaborate yet closer to the truth! Actually, I thought that would come in later in the story, but it seemed right...

If Letha ever gets around to just telling the truth without any lies, does anyone think Yuri and the others will believe her anymore?