Fairy Tales and Brave Vesperia Chapter 21: I Won't Move, a tales of vesperia fanfic

*Sylph checks the poll* I'm surprised. Yuri had an early lead, but right now the most popular candidate to seduce the guard is Letha, with Estelle in second. Yuri is third, Karol fourth, and Judith is in last place. I'll work with the final result, whatever it is, but I'm keeping everyone updated on the poll's progress!

Rhino600: More Raven! More freak-outs coming! And in the future will be Raven related shenanigans!

Mei Fire: I'm looking forward to Judith, though I think she'll be challenging to write... But I know I'll be sad every time Raven leaves the group and breaks up the set!

x x x

Chapter 21: I Won't Move

x x x

Eventually even the plants started attacking us, with vines and pollen and spores... Most of them were burned to brittle crisps by Rita's fire. Though when the flames nearly spread from the dying monsters to the surrounding trees and plants, we begged her to be more careful before she killed us all in a forest fire.

"Idiots, like I would let that happen. Champagne!" Yes, Rita is both arsonist and firefighter. How terrifying.

I sawed with my daggers at some vines that had wrapped around my legs. "Dammit, you plants are supposed to be at the bottom of the food chain! Followed by primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers are optional, and finally small organisms that break down decaying matter!"

"What the heck is she talking about?"

"Got me, Karol." Yeah, cause you totally never paid attention in class, Yuri.

There had been one more case of a giant centipede appearing out of nowhere. It wasn't as large as the first, but still plenty larger than any bug had a right to be. I hadn't noticed it until it ran over my foot, and I shrieked and leaped behind Raven. He shot it point blank and I exclaimed, "My favorite person in the whole world!"

"I am? I mean, of course! Just stay close and I'll protect you my dear!"

"Nope, don't need it. Just keep killing the bugs with too many legs." I'd already slipped away and was dueling another mantis.

"I'm not feelin' the love."

For a while I had started to feel a building pressure in my chest again. Ugh, we must be getting close to the aer krene. Coincidentally, that was when Rita stopped us to give a related warning. "Try to be careful. These botanical abnormalities are being caused by the aer here. There's a good chance that there are pockets of excess aer all over the place."

Then Raven chimed in with the most intelligent contribution he'd made since showing up. "Yeah, too much aer can have negative effects on people and blastia. Takin' in a lotta aer causes yer metabolism ta speed up, and that'll make ya more tired than usual."

Rita looked at him in surprise, "Wow, you know more than I thought."

"Eh? That's just common sense!" I wonder if Raven forgot that it's unusual for most people to know this much. Considering his condition, he's probably known about this for years.

"I'd expect people to know about aer's effect on the human body... But I didn't think it was common knowledge that blastia can become supersaturated with aer if used improperly." Oooh, is that why she always flips out about people "having no respect for the blastia" when they're used for something weird?

"Nah, anyone who deals with bodhi blastia should know all about it!" Raven told us confidently. Yup, that's how to cover up for knowing something you shouldn't (or being somewhere you shouldn't). Act as if it's a given! It occurred to me that Raven would probably be able to tell when I was lying or hiding something. After all, he had ten years of experience doing just that, I was just an amateur in comparison.

"Actually, I'd never heard about it until Rita mentioned it." Karol, you knew next to nothing about blastia before this all started.

"Ya gotta quit slackin' and hit the books, kid!"

Yuri had a look in his eyes that I recognized. It was the look he always had when he knew I wasn't telling the truth or was holding something back. Stonewall Yuri! Nothin' get's past you! He noticed me watching him, whoops, and asked, "How are you holding up? Not too much aer for you yet?"

"Oh, we should have realized coming here would be hard on you!" Estelle exclaimed and hurried over to me. Thank goodness she didn't give me one of those full body checks she does when she's carried away and looking for injuries. "I'm sorry, Letha, we shouldn't have made you come with us!"

Rita scowled at me. "We didn't make her. It's her own fault if she does get sick, she should have known there'd be high concentrations of aer here. That was the whole reason we came." Hmm, she's mad at me for being a burden, or for putting myself in harm's way without thinking. I can never tell with Rita.

"I guessed before we came it'd be like this," I told them. "It hasn't been too bad, actually, I only recently started feeling the effects." I sighed and sat down on a handy tree root. "But I don't think I can go any further, the pressure has been increasing steadily as we got deeper in. Going any further will probably be dangerous, and I'll become a burden."

"So what, you want us to just leave you here alone?"

I blinked up at Yuri. "Yes?"

"No way. We take our eyes off you and you'll get yourself in trouble again."

"Aw, you've no faith in me," I pouted. "Haven't I been a good girl? Well, except for back at the inn..."

"Wait, that was your doin'?" Raven looked at me. "Man, folks are gonna be talkin' about that one fer years!"

Rita and Karol both gave me sour looks. "What? Yuri was in on it too!"

"In any case," said the master of timely changes of topics, Yuri Lowell, "it isn't safe to leave you alone where monsters could attack you at any time."

"Ah shut up already and get going." I crossed my arms and looked him in the eyes boldly. "The further I go in there, the worse it'll be for me and the more useless I'll be. Arguing when I've made up my mind will just waste time. I promise I won't move from this spot until you guys come back."

"But Letha-"

"It's fine Estelle," Yuri cut the princess off. He turned his back on me, "If that's what she wants, we'll leave her here." ...Ow. That...hurts for some reason. He looked over his shoulder at me for a parting comment. "You better be here when we come back."

I saluted sharply, "Aye aye, sir!" I don't get it, but I feel like there was something important just now.

Estelle hesitated before following the swordsman. "Letha...are you sure you'll be alright?"

I waved cheerily at her, "Don't worry your pretty pink head. When you come back, I'll be waiting."

She nodded reluctantly. I watched her and the others walk off, Karol occasionally looking back at me (maybe he was debating whether he should leave the bug spray with me). The tension in Rita's back suggested that she was refusing the possibility of even one glance back at me. When I couldn't see them for the trees in the way, I slumped against the tree.

"Dammit, it hurts..." I wasn't even sure if I meant the aer sickness, or having to stay behind. The moment they had left I had this anxious feeling of not being a part of the group anymore. I drew my knees up to my chest and hugged them close. "Please come back for me guys..."

After several long minutes of not moving, I fished around in the bag I'd been carrying since I'd left Ludwig's. I frowned as I reached into the pocket with my Earth belongings. Cell without any charge, keyring, the conspicuous absence of my wallet and ID (dammit Alastor), spare batteries, and I pulled my mp3 player out again the music that soothes the savage beast.

I untangled the ear buds and slipped them into my ears, hitting the power button and randomly selecting a song.

"My best friend gave me the best advice
He said each day's a gift and not a given right"

I sat up straighter. "If Today Was Your Last Day," an upbeat song by Nickelback.

"Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by
That first step you take is the longest stride

I laughed shakily, "Sometimes I swear my player has a mind of it's own, and an uncanny ability to throw the perfect song at me."

"Against the grain should be a way of life
What's worth the prize is always worth the fight
Every second counts 'cause there's no second try
So live like you'll never live it twice
Don't take the free ride in your own life

"If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you're dreamin' of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you'd finally fall in love
If today was your last day

"If today was your last day
Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart?
You know it's never too late to shoot for the stars
Regardless of who you are
So do whatever it takes
'Cause you can't rewind a moment in this life
Let nothin' stand in your way
Cause the hands of time are never on your side"

"Could you say goodbye to yesterday?" I whispered to myself. I sat and thought without really even following my own thoughts as the song finished the last chorus. My player switched to something with a violin and a man singing in another language. Swedish, perhaps, I didn't know the words but I liked the calm almost prayer like quality. To my knowledge it was supposed to be a lullaby, blessing a son and wishing him things like guidance and the ability to make his own destiny. Or something like that.

Two songs...so roughly eight minutes had passed. How long would it take to find the aer krene? Would the boss monster be there? It probably was, the unstable aer made all the monsters super aggressive so they were bound to have to fight something nasty at the source. Then Duke was supposed to show up with the sword Dein Nomos, and fix everything.

Another song, a techno remix of something from the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack. Now wouldn't that have sucked, being pulled into Final Fantasy VII? All those times I'd have to fight Jenova, and simply the idea of fighting Sephiroth would make me run to the hills screaming.

"What are you doing here? Isn't there somewhere else you should be?" I jerked the ear buds out of my ears and looked around wildly. "Up, silly child, look up." I did, and there was Alastor standing on a branch above my head. He was leaning against the trunk as casually as if he were on the ground.

"You are the last person I want to see right now," I grumbled moodily. "You're worse than a black cat, every time I see you I get into trouble somehow."

"Your conversation is as charming as always."

"Fuck you, fairy man!" I may like exchanging witty banter with friends, but I have no patience to do so with this guy!

He smirked, "Well, at least you were able to make that much progress." There was a distortion of the air behind him, and then a pair of fairy wings materialized on his back. Red wings with blue edges and vein like tracings of blue. "It's quite the relief to not hide them anymore." He removed the glasses that had been perched on his nose, and they evaporated in his hand.

"Just get to the point already, what do you want with me?"

Alastor rested his chin in one hand and gave a long suffering sigh. "Oh dear, still saying that? I've already told you, I want you to use Sophia's notes."

"Tch, if that's what you want, then why don't you tell me how to get the stupid case open..."

"What? It won't open?" There was genuine surprise in his voice. A second later he'd jumped down to the ground, wings beating gently to soften the landing. Landing in front of me, he reached out a hand. "Let me see."

I clutched my bag close, "No."

The red head scowled at me, "This isn't the time to be a petulant child. Let me see the notes!"

"You had your chance when they were in Ragou's mansion! Too bad for you, but they're mine now!" I aimed a kick at his knee, though it fell short since I refused to leave my seat. "And give back my wallet you petty pick pocket!"

We were caught in a stale mate, glaring into each other's eyes (gray vs brown!), until he gave an exasperated, "Very well then." Closing his eyes and running a hand through his messy hair to recompose himself. "Find the means of opening it on your own, then. But it would have simplified matters if you'd let me look at it." He snapped his fingers and was gone in a blink of an eye.

I stared at the empty space he'd occupied just a second before. "Are all fairies daft in the head? What is up with these showy entrances and exits?" No longer in the mood to enjoy my music, I powered down my mp3 player and put it away again. "Just what did that guy mean, 'there's somewhere else I should be'?"

...Shoot, I forgot he has pieces of the heirloom! I stamped a foot angrily and fumed to myself. He didn't have them with him this time, or else my tattoo would have reacted. So what did he do with them?

The light thump of footsteps on the ground worked into my thoughts, and I looked up half expecting to see some other fairy showing up to pester me. Reality hit me hard as I gaped at the tall albino walking down the path towards me.

Long, long white hair (longer than even mine has ever been), red eyes, and a showy red sword. Yeah, it was Duke. He was following the same path we'd taken to get this far. When he'd come even with me, he stopped to look down. "What is a human doing in a place like this?" There's the deep monotone we all know! It was even weirder to hear that voice coming from that effeminate face in person.

"I'm waiting for some people." I waved my hand at the path ahead of him. "The aer krene doesn't agree with me, so I'm hanging out back here til they're done looking around."

"You know of the aer krene?"

Umm, maybe I should have kept that to myself... "Yeah, well, I only know that I get terrible aer sickness if I get too close to them. Pretty much all I know..."

Duke was staring at me, and of course if there's no emotion in his voice then there is none in his face. What is this guy thinking? "If that is so, then you should leave now." Oh, I could have guessed that.

"No can do. I promised."

"Hmm." He turned away and continued towards the aer krene. "Then once your friends return, leave immediately."

I waved at his retreating back, "Sure thing, your excellency." If he'd heard, he didn't acknowledge me. I was left alone to wonder what the proper term of address for a duke really was, and if my joke had failed utterly.

x x x

It was maybe an hour later. For a while I'd taken the note case out, tapping at it and trying to pry at imagined cracks in the etched designs with my nails. Finally I had to admit defeat and put it away again, with no better idea of the trick needed to open it.

Having gotten bored and wanting to fight off the drowsiness from not sleeping enough the night before, I collected all the stones and small pieces of forest detritus within reach and was practicing my throwing arm. I'd chosen an especially warped looking branch across the path as my target.

Whhhhhhzz The rock flew over the branch. "Damn..." Whhhhhzz It was too low. "Come on..." Whhhz-crack! "Yay! I hit the trunk next to it!"

"You really are still here..."

"Woah!" my throw went wide and a large walnut (well, it looked kinda like one) disappeared into the branches. Duke watched passively. "Um, yeah, I promised my friends after all, and they're not back yet."

He listened wordlessly, and then walked past back the way he'd first come from. Sheesh, this place is surprisingly busy. But if Duke's leaving, then the aer krene should be stabilized and the others will come back soon... I placed a hand on my chest. I hadn't even noticed when the pressure in my chest had gone away. Was I just getting accustomed to the bouts of pain?

Yawning, I idly tossed another rock (it clattered to the ground only a few feet away) and watched the path ahead. Any minute now... My eyes slipped closed. Right? They're all okay, and they'll come back for me... I fell into a light doze leaning against the tree who's roots I'd been sitting on.

"Hey, wake up."

"Mmm, dun wanna..."

"Come on, we gotta go."

"Nnno, promised t' wait here..."

"Looks like she's pretty out of it."

"Maybe we should carry her for awhile?" Whazzat?

"Ya say that, but it's gonna be me or the kid that does the work, isn't it?"

"Thanks for volunteering, old man." Wait...did someone say...?

"What? You really know how to take advantage of a guy, don't ya." Suddenly I felt a pair of arms lifting me up. It shocked my eyes open, and I swung my legs up, and then reversed the motion to bring them back down with all the momentum I'd created. The result was me standing upright, though a bit wobbly and blinking in confusion, and Raven falling over backwards as he lost his balance.

"Umm, I'm up?" I said sheepishly. The others stared at me in surprise. "Well come on, what do you expect from someone who studied Aikido?"

Yuri gave a little snort of laughter, "Hey old man, looks like you don't have to carry anyone after all."

"Ugh, great..."

"Ahh, sorry about that Raven..." I helped pull the older man back to his feet.

"Looks like we didn't need to worry about you after all." Estelle clapped her hands and smiled happily.

"Yeah, all this time we thought you'd be dealing with aer sickness and monsters, but here you are just sleeping the whole time!"

"Hey! I was awake nearly the whole time!" I protested to Rita. "Though for some reason I didn't see even a single monster... And then the effects of the aer sickness suddenly went away." I tacked that last part on as insurance, since I wasn't supposed to know about the aer krene and what happened with Duke.

"That must have been when that guy used the sword to calm the imbalance of aer," Rita muttered to herself.

"But if the aer wasn't bothering you anymore," Karol looked up at me, "why didn't you try to catch up with us?"

I stared at him blankly, "What? I promised to stay here, didn't I? If I'd wandered off to look for you guys and got lost, what would you all think if you came back and I was gone?"

"Well, looks like our troublemaker managed to stay out of trouble just fine, so let's go." Yuri smiled at us in a big brotherly way, then his eyes seemed to focus on something behind me. "Hey Letha, don't turn around..."

"Huh?" I looked behind me, and saw another centipede crawling down the tree I'd been leaning against. "SHIT!" The others had to run to catch up with me.

x x x

Selective Phobia

Karol: Hey Letha, why do you get scared of centipedes, but are fine with all the other bugs?

Letha: Can't really explain that well. It's practically genetic.

Karol: What do you mean?

Letha: Well, my mom was afraid of centipedes, and apparently so was my grandma. So I can't even bear to be in the same room with one.

Karol: Gosh... Hey, this is the first time you talked about your parents.

Letha: Oh, uh, w-well that's 'cause I don't really remember anything about them. I started living with my aunt and uncle when I was pretty young.

Karol: Then how'd you know what your mother was afraid of?

Letha: I dunno, I guess someone told me, and then I realized I hated them to. Anyway, other bugs don't bother me as much because I don't seem to have the same instinctive fear of them.

Karol: That's pretty weird...

x x x

Since we had to walk back the entire way we'd come, and on top of all the walking and fighting I'd had deficient sleep, I was pretty wiped out. Rita had been talking nonstop under her breath about aer anomalies and distortions and other things related to her research. The most important thing was that the screwy stuff that aer did in Heliord and Keiv Moc was supposedly happening elsewhere in the world. (Duke told her that.) Listening to her, I had the feeling that when I finally got to sleep I'd be having dreams about Professor Rita's lectures.

Raven was the only who commented, being the least accustomed to the eccentric little mage. "You sure mumble to yourself a lot, don't you?"

We were nearly out of the abnormally overgrown section of the woods when the ground rumbled like a minor earthquake had hit. "Ack, what?" Karol cowered behind a fallen log (the size of a child's play house). "Another monster attack?" Rather than tease Karol, we all scrambled and jumped behind the log with him.

A swarm of bugs passed by overhead and around us, but none noticed us or stopped to attack. "Karol, keep your head down!" Yuri said sharply while pulling the boy down before he could peek over the side. I whimpered a bit. A large spider (small in comparison to the monsters though, roughly the size of a tarantula) crawled from out of nowhere over my shoulder and was gone again. I sat frozen stiff.

Apparently Estelle at least noticed. "Letha? What's wrong?"

"Flashback...traumatic childhood flashback..." Once, while camping, I'd been sitting on my bed writing in a journal. Movement out of the corner of my had made me look up to see a big old spider sitting on my pillow. I'd reacted much the same way then, sitting without moving an inch and (apparently sounding very calm about the whole matter) calling for my mom to come help. That was from the time we went to visit...who?

Dammit, I hate this! I know that person was very important to me! To the whole family! But I can't remember why! This was bad. Before it was only the names of people and places I had trouble with, but now I was struggling to even remember the people I couldn't match any name to. I'd been grasping at everything I could remember, no matter how random and unrelated to the situation at hand, to assure myself that I still knew my real life. But how much was fading away that I didn't even realize I'd lost?

"Are you okay?" Huh? Oh right, spider trauma.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It wasn't a centipede so, just give me a minute to get my spine to stop trying to run away..."

Taking a steadying breath, I crawled back out from behind our shelter. The others were up again and staring with awe (though Raven and Yuri were more like interested observation) at the group of people who'd appeared in the wake of the swarm. They looked pretty worn out, as if they'd been fighting nonstop battles all day...

"It's...it's them..." Estelle murmured.

"Don...!" Karol exclaimed as happily as a five year old meeting Santa.

The big white bear of an old man (yes, that's what he reminds me of. That or a yeti.) grunted to acknowledge that he'd seen us. "...You all do something?"

While Karol was all starry eyed over the fact that ohmygosh-the-Don-was-talking-to-us, Yuri calmly asked "Do something? What do you mean?"

The big man pushed himself out of his kneeling position to stand strong on his feet again. "Those savage monsters turned docile as pups and ran off! What did you do?"

"...Yuri, it must be because we stopped the flow of the aer..." ...How do these people come to these conclusions? Whitehorse decides that since we happened to be here we're the ones responsible. Estelle concludes that it's because the aer krene isn't spitting up excess aer. Not that they're wrong...but come on! The cynic in me was annoyed.

Following was a conversation about runaway aer, the Don's friend Belius of Nordopolica (who he said would probably know about that, which she does), and the Don lecturing Karol that heroic deeds aren't done for the sake of bragging rights. Estelle, of course, ran away half way through to heal people.

While Karol was still reeling with awe and dismay, the Don noted the member of our party who'd tried to inconspicuously work his way into the background. "...Hmm? Ain't that Raven over there? Quit hidin', you!"

"Humph," Raven tried to maintain his dignity while untangling himself from a bush that had turned out to have thorns.

Don Whitehorse looked to Yuri, the clear leader of our little posse, "Our man ain't givin' you trouble, is he?"

"Whaddaya mean, 'trouble'?" the man in question broke in. "The reason the monsters got tame was our doing, mine especially!"

Karol came back down to Earth, er, Terca Lumireis, "Huh? Raven's a member of Altosk?"

"Somehow that seems to be the case," Yuri accepted easily.

The Don suddenly socked the archer in the stomach with the hilt of his sword. Though the blow wasn't as heavy as it could have been, Raven jumping back so the hit wasn't too heavy. "Ouch, gramps, cut that out!" Huh, Raven actually referring to someone else as old... How old is the Don anyway?

"Shut up, you!" Abusive parent type much? Nah, just tough love... Yuri stepped forward to try and direct the conversation to the Blood Alliance and getting help retrieving the aque blastia core from Barbos(sa!). But that's when the universe's questionable sense of humor and timing sent one of the Don's lackeys running up to him with a message we didn't hear. Fortunately though, the swordsman did get the promise of "If ya come by the Union you'll have my ear the first chance I get."

"If I have your word, that's fine by me."

The big man studied Yuri for a moment. "Hmph, you're not nervous at all to talk to me. You all would make a good addition to our guild." Yay! Yuri actually gave an authority figure a good impression!

Whitehorse returned to his waiting men, bellowing instructions and quickly organizing them to leave. "Guild, huh," said Yuri in a speculative tone.

Karol looked up at him hopefully. "We're going to make one, right?" Yeah, he brought that up with Yuri back in...Heliord, right? Though I wasn't actually part of that conversation.

"We'll see," was the only reply the little guild ace got.

"So, what do you think? Y'all finally get a taste of how awesome I am?" Raven boasted to us.

While Raven and Karol debated this point, Yuri informed the group at large that he wanted to get back to Dahngrest for that appointment with the Don, and Estelle told Rita that they should go talk to Alexei after that was over with. I realized that I needed a new goal for myself, or at least something I could tell them if they asked what my own plans were. Things were going to get hectic in Danhgrest for awhile, and we'd finally have our epic fight with the pirate wannabe Barbos(sa) on top of a trippy tower made of gears. But then there'd be a brief lull where everyone would think the journey had ended and we'd split our separate ways.

Logically, if I was the person who I had claimed to be, I'd probably travel to the next city I could to search for my "aunt's" ruins, or concentrate on finding a way to read her notes. So what excuse could I use for sticking with them until Phaeroh showed up to get the next phase of the plot rolling? And when they did set out on the road again, would it be a given that I'd go with them?

I thought so, but a cynical voice in the back of my head nagged that nothing was ever guaranteed.

x x x

Hummm, this was fun up to a certain point, then it got kinda tedious... More random Letha, more bug related shenanigans, more game plot. Better stuff should start happening in the next chapters.

I've been meaning to ask about this, I've heard Karol has a fear of thunder? I don't recall that coming up in the playthrough, but I've seen it mentioned in various fanfics. Is that a liberty writers have been taking since Karol is still a child, or did I just miss that part of the game?