Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or Tales of Vesperia~

Chapter 1 - Reunion

His footsteps padded the ground in a steady beat. Left, right, left, right, continuing in a soldier's march. The warrior's sword was carried easily in his hand, his lengthy black hair moving freely behind him. It was nights like these when the warrior, the criminal felt his best. He felt free.

Sensing a large presence behind him, the warrior halted. A vicious growl tore him from his thoughts. He hastily turned around to face the attacker that held so much blood lust, finding an infamous Giganto Monster salivating in front of him. The deep black fur, the savage teeth; the criminal held the monster's wolfish gaze, and saw himself staring back.

A howl shredded the moonlight, and blade met bone.

X.x.X.x.X

The former imperial candidate inhaled deeply, breathing in the sweet scent of Halure's flowers. Numerous petals drifted in from her open window. She reread over the text she had been writing.

"He laughed at her, as he always does. His long hair billowed in the wind, giving him a godly appearance. The girl brought up her head, and responded to his teasing. 'I wasn't joking' she said. 'I really do.'"

Crumpling up the paper in her hand, the noble unceremoniously dumped the paper into the overflowing wastebasket. She sighed yet again.

"I've got to stop writing scenes like these. It can't be good for my health…" or my sanity… The girl thought.

Angry with herself, the noble changed into her night clothes and retired to bed.

X.x.X.x.X

At first, the girl thought it was a dream. The deep sighs, the familiar scent of charcoal and grass blowing in with a breeze through her open window. It wouldn't have been the first time she dreamt it.

A large object clattered to the ground, bringing the noble to an almost painful reality. More crashes accompanied a string of curses sworn under the breath of whoever had the nerve to enter her home. Pretending to be asleep, the noble listened as the intruder set the fallen object upright, and quieted down. She waited, daring him to say something. The silence dragged on, until the man finally spoke.

"I'm sorry I woke you…Estelle."

Estelle gasped quietly, though not loud enough for her intruder to hear. She felt a familiar warmth spread throughout her body, rooted at the heart. Reveling in the completeness for a moment, the noble rolled over onto her back. Estelle slowly came to her senses as the warrior patiently waited for a reply. Her nose twitched, he had brought something rusty with him.

"Yuri?" Estelle asked; not attempting to hide the surprise and utter happiness in her voice. "What are you doing here?" Her eyes were still closed, yet a wide grin blossomed on her face. After a few seemingly labored breaths, Yuri replied.

His voice was strained, as if he was injured, "I'm sorry but I…I guess I'm in a pretty sticky situation right now."

Estelle stopped breathing for a second, swallowing the metallic, rusty stench. Rust. Situation. That could only mean blood. Yuri's blood.

Ripping open her eyes, Estelle prepared to scream. It had been the first time she had seen Yuri's face in months, and his entire left arm was mangled, ripped, and bleeding. He had terrible gashes running along his exposed chest, and gruesome bruises everywhere else.

"Wh-what…Yuri…it's-!" Without saying anything more, Estelle tore the sheets from her bed and pulled forward. Failing to steady herself, Estelle's hands flew to the molested flesh with a little too much force. Yuri took in a sharp breathe, and closed his eyes. Easing off of him, bright white light sprouted form Estelle's hands and she let the light lick over his wounds like fire. His face relaxed slightly, and she continued to erase the wounds on his chest and arms. This process continued for a long while, until Estelle felt Yuri's hand on her shoulder.

"Don't push yourself too hard." He said simply, with a serious look in his eye. She understood him, knowing that if she used too much of her artes, they would drain her very life. Relaxing her hands, Estelle took a better look at Yuri, whom had reclined into the chair he was on. His long, ink black hair was pulled into a messy ponytail, two thick strands framing his ever handsome face. Yuri's style of clothing had changed considerably since their adventure. His shirt was now a simple black v-neck, with a single spaulder upon his right shoulder. His right arm was adorned with thick, dark silver colored gauntlets and bracers. Estelle could only imagine that there was similar armor on his left side, before being attacked by whatever monster had hurt him so much. Estelle stood from her spot and moved to the corner of the room. Opening her desk's drawer, she withdrew several old, dusty sets of gauze and solvents. She pulled up another chair towards Yuri, and began to tend to his new raw flesh. The noble opened her mouth to ask him a question, and then closed it. She stared up at him for a moment.

"Yuri…. what did this to you?" She asked, staring at his relaxed expression. His eyes slowly opened, and he inclined his head to meet her gaze.

"There seem to be more of those Giganto Monsters about lately." Yuri said with a tired, yet urgent expression. Estelle's heart stopped. During their adventure they had faced Giganto Monsters numerous times, but it was with a full group of seven people, and even that was a difficult feat. It was unreal, that without the aid of a bhodi blastia Yuri could still take on a monster of that size and strength. It couldn't have been possible.

"You didn't…did you?" Estelle whispered, exasperated. Yuri grinned, and flexed his good arm.

"Hey, I AM the strongest man in Terca Lumireis, right?" He bragged, and winked at her. Blushing, Estelle assured him he was, telling the complete truth.

Finally letting her excitement overcome her, Estelle gave Yuri a bright smile. "What are you doing around here anyway? I thought you were in the Palestralle area!"

"I was homesick, thought I'd stop by and say hello to everyone." Yuri replied, holding more tenderness to his tone. "Course on my way to Halure, I came upon a fairly nasty monster that caused me to pay a visit to a klutzy-tomboy-princess-who-only-causes-me-trouble-and-."

"You're mean, Yuri!"

"You're surprised?" he laughed at her, not restraining any of his bright smile. Estelle eventually joined in; playfully punching the arm she had finally finished tending to. Collecting himself, Yuri placed a large hand on Estelle's shoulder, enjoying the blush that grew on her cheeks as she met his gaze. "I really am glad to be back here, Estelle."

She smiled.

X.x.X.x.X

Yuri lay awake on the warm blanket on the floor. He watched the petals of Halure drift in through the open window, his gaze gradually moving to the sleeping princess. Ex-princess, he corrected himself. After healing him, Yuri realized he couldn't exactly check into the inn during the latest hour of the night. Estelle offered him her bed, but he took the floor, casting away the unholy thoughts that came with her innocent offer. He assured her he was used to roughing it, and that even a floor was much more comfortable than the hard roots of a tree.

Ex-princess…he repeated. That had been the real reason he returned here. So he could see her. Yuri was, honestly, horrified at his actions. He knew his attachment to Estellise had grown considerably over their journey, and that it was very possible that he-

He crashed his train of thought right there. I'm simply here to get some medical attention… He assured himself. It just so happened that the nearest healer was his good friend. Friend. He enforced.

Yuri had to admit, he was extremely impressed with Estelle. Not only had she surfaced the courage to deny her political marriage, much to Yuri's relief, but she denounced her status of royalty, and left. She left it all behind. Though, Yuri knew it had left quite a disruption in the capital; the council most certainly did not like losing such an influential person so fast. Recalling how much Estelle had changed over their journey, Yuri couldn't help but take pride in the girl- woman, he corrected himself. Estelle is finally making her own choices now.

Taking one last look at the sleeping pinkette, Yuri lay on his back, and fell asleep.

(*AN*) Celebrate! My First Upload had arrived! I recently found this old file taking up space in my documents folder and thought, "Why not?". So thus, I finally posted something to my account at...2:01 AM...Crap.

Urp, first upload, so no flames pleas? Reviews are much appreciated~! Its all up to how many reviews and views are on here I guess, but should I continue this? I already have most of it planned in my head, I just need to write it out. :)

crap. crap. crap. I forgot about Repede. Urrrrrrp, anyone wanna go find him? Hahaha...okay I know...don't worry he'll turn up.

[edit] edited minor stuff. Fixed some typos at the end. Gawd Im such a editing whore.