Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, places, etc. from Tales of Berseria. It all belongs to its respectful owners.

Are You Injured?

The young Malak had noticed it one day after a battle. Eleanor had come up to him after a battle, asking if he was alright. This in itself was not unusual; it was actually quite common for her to check up on him since she was his 'vessel'.

But still… if she's asking, then why does everyone else do the same thing…?

The question was one that the blonde had been wondering about for a while now as the day dragged on. Their opponents weren't really anything to be worrying over during battle, with them being relatively easy to defeat. Most members, like Velvet and Eizen seemed to be able to defeat them in a few strikes at most.

So why are they worrying about me so much? A frown appeared on his face as he glanced around, another battle just concluding. It didn't seem like the others got asked the same question as he did…

"Hey Laphicet," He turned towards the familiar voice almost instinctively; leaving out an inner sigh at he knew what was going to be asked. "You ok?"

Of course…

The boy glanced at the black-haired woman, Velvet, for a moment, debating how to answer. If he just kept answering the same way, then would this treatment continue?

As much as I appreciate it… it's kind of… The boy's thought broke off when he realized he did know what it was. Some kind of emotion kept trying to rise in him… almost if… Well… Eizen said it was good to voice my thoughts…

"Why do you all have to ask whether I'm ok?!" The question came out more harshly than he remembered phrasing it in his head, influenced by the unknown emotion. He thought back to how everyone else seemed more concerned for him than each other. "I can take care of myself!"

It took a moment for Laphicet to realize what he said, his face heating up when he realized how embarrassed he was. The surprised look that Velvet was giving him didn't help either, causing the Malak to quickly move over to sit by a rock to sort out his jumbled feelings.

"What was that about?" The therian was pulled out of her thoughts as a figure drew closer to her.

"No idea…" She tried to think about how the day's events had played out so far. They had been met with battle after battle and then after each one… "Unless…"

Oh… he's annoyed… An amused smirk made its way onto her face as she realized the simple fact. She glanced over to where the young blonde was, watching as he drew figures in the sand, seeming rather confused. He probably doesn't understand what he's feeling…

"You don't think it could be… you know…" She turned towards Eizen in confusion when he started muttering, his gaze also on the boy. "I mean… he is around that age…"

What is he-? Her thought cut off when she realized what it was that the man was implying.

"It's not puberty." She stated bluntly, watching as the man startled briefly out of his own thoughts. She saw that the man looked rather… hesitant about the whole subject.

Well… Laphicet was asking rather… unusual stuff about the birds earlier…

"Come to think of it, how old was your sister when you left? If the two of them are similar in age then that means…" She trailed off, feeling amusement once more at the conclusion that she had come to. "Is it possible that that's why you left…?"

"Of course not!" The man's sharp reply didn't change her reaction at the conversation, causing the older Malak to sigh. "Well if that's not what's wrong with him… then what is?"

Velvet glanced back towards the boy, who still hadn't seemed to move once bit.

Isn't he close enough to hear us though… so why isn't he reacting yet?

"He's merely annoyed." At Velvet's statement, Eizen glanced over in surprise at the young boy.

"Annoyed… come to think of it… Edna reacts the same way…" She saw Eizen's glance become puzzled once more. "But then why does he seem so embarrassed by it? It's quite a common feeling…"

"He most likely doesn't quite understand what he's feeling yet." Honey-colored eyes softened a bit as the nineteen year-old walked over to stand behind the rock the boy was sitting beside. The child gave no indication that he knew she was there, most likely still embarrassed about what had happened.

"It's called annoyance." She stated, watching as the boy turned towards her with a confused look on his face, green eyes staring up at her.

"Huh?" He still seemed too surprised to form a coherent answer. His small hand raised up towards his chest, accidently hitting the small bell on his oversized collar. "Annoyance…?"

She moved to sit down next to Laphicet, the warm sand adding to the heat of the day.

"It's what you feel when you're… well annoyed at something I guess is the best way I can put it." A small laugh left her as she realized just how vague her answer actually was, causing the young Malak to look towards her with his head at a tilt. "It's completely normal." She watched as the child nodded his head slowly in recognition before glancing back at her.

"So… does that mean you get… annoyed too, Velvet?" The question slightly surprised her, causing the woman to think back on the situations they had been in.

"Well… yeah I guess…"

"Like when?" It looked like the kid had already forgotten about his embarrassment and instead chose to get back in his routine of asking questions. She laughed at his antics, standing up and brushing the sand off of her.

"You'll know when you see it." His face twisted in confusion once more as she bopped him on the nose, a smile on her face. The boy looked like he was thinking for a moment before nodding and standing up as well. They began to walk towards where the others were to continue on their mission. "Just so you know, I know that you can handle yourself, ok?"

She glanced at Laphicet when his head whipped towards her in surprise. The look quickly faded into a smile and a nod at her words.

So I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty excited for Tales of Berseria to come out! It's really hard not looking anything up but I really don't want to spoil myself! I played the demo (which in my opinion was way too short! There was a whole other area we could have explored after the cutscene!) and noticed that the long I battled, the more characters asked whether Laphicet was alright. I originally thought "Aw that's cute!" but then the more it happened, I realized that I wanted the characters to actually have interactions with each other after battles like in the older Tales games. And hence this story was born! I was actually going to put it in my series of one-shots where it is Velvet's responsibility to teach Laphicet the different emotions but decided it would be better off as a one-shot. So… what did you all think? Hopefully I'll have something up on the archive again soon.

-AnimeWolfGirl16