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crestfallencrest · 1 year

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Bravus Vesperia Magica (Ch. 1)

Summary:

Between babysitting, caring for an injured stray, working a new part time job AND going to school, Yuri finds that his life is pretty busy nowadays. It doesn't help that Flynn keeps fussing at him for putting too much on his plate (which he's NOT, mind you) and taking on the world alone. Yuri knows what he's capable of, and yeah, maybe he's a bit busier than he used to be but if he didn't take on these tasks, then who would? But it's when the new girl with the pink hair suddenly transfers to his school that things start to get strange. And then Yuri finds that his destiny has taken a REALLY weird turn. And the last thing he needed was Flynn to find out so he could say "I told you so." (Basically a Magical Boy/Girl AU origin story!) Read here on Ao3 [x] (Notes at the end)

Chapter 1: Yuri Lowell

Yuri was always fond of the night sky. Whether it was on the rooftop of his school, climbing on top of the city’s towers or even sprawled out on the lawn of his apartment complex– Yuri was simply happiest when he was staring up at the night sky.

He loved how large the sky seemed. Most people would feel rather lonely at the idea of how large the sky was, but not Yuri. Never Yuri. Anytime the stress of life hit a bit too hard, or he found himself feeling lost or lonely, he would always be found staring up at the sky with a content grin on his face.

Zaphias was a big city, however, and due to the lights from the city, a lot of the stars would get overcome and would disappear from sight. The idea slightly bugged Yuri but it was fine. After all, he would sometimes take weekend camping trips hours away from the city, into the plains where he would just lay there and relax, with no one but stars for company.

But even if the stars had been missing from sight, there was always one singular star that would persevere. One that would be there, no matter how bright the lights of the city were and sometimes, when it rained and dark clouds covered the sky, Yuri could swear that this star in particular would be the first one to peek from the clouds as they cleared.

One of his neighbors (and now current landlord), an older man by the name of Hanks, would tell him and his childhood friend stories of this star and Yuri wondered if maybe that’s the reason the star stuck out to him the most. Of course, he was incredibly young when the stories were told so he couldn’t remember any of the details. (He briefly wondered if Flynn did?) But he remembered one tiny thing regarding this star.

Brave Vesperia was its name.

He loved it. He loved that star. He would likely never admit it. But that star gave him a warm feeling in his chest. A warm and almost familiar feeling. Had he known what it felt like, he almost would have suggested that it felt like Home to him.

…However, this did not stop him from feeling a bit freaked out when he woke up from sleep and found himself floating in the endless space above, surrounded by nothing but darkness and stars.

He rubbed his eyes gently, frowning to himself as he looked around. He most definitely didn’t remember signing up for any space programs at school. He wasn’t even sure he was old enough to be in space. Also, if for some reason he did sign up for a space program and just kind of went to space without realizing it, he liked to imagine he was smart enough to put on a helmet for the sole purpose of breathing.

And yet, here he was. Floating endlessly in space, no Earth in sight, and no helmet or spacesuit to be seen. But seeing as he was breathing just fine, he supposed that he could put the spacesuit situation on the backburner for now.

Now, Yuri may not have paid attention in class a lot but he was by all means, not an idiot. He found himself to be rather clever, actually. So with the cleverness that he was so skilled with, he was quickly able to deduce that he was likely dreaming, which was a rarity in its own right. He wasn’t exactly the type to have dreams, as much as they fascinated him.

So for him to have such a strange dream now…. Well, he wasn’t sure what to think.

He drifted for what seemed like forever before he finally spotted it. A star, brighter than all the rest, hovering just ahead, almost as if it was awaiting him. That warm and familiar feeling in his chest returned and he actually felt himself trying to swim through the endless space to try and get closer.

As he does so, he… swears he feels a presence. Almost as if someone was beckoning him to come closer. As he does so, he notices a red stone gently drifting towards him. It pulses as it gets closer and Yuri doesn’t even think before he’s reaching a hand out towards it.

And suddenly, he’s grabbing at the air inside of his room as he finds himself suddenly lying on his bed, staring up at his ceiling.

He lays there for a while, staring at his hand outstretched towards the ceiling, closed into a fist as if he were grabbing for something. He blinks wearily, the homely and familiar feeling quickly fading from his heart as his eyes scan his one room apartment. He can see the sun peeking through his curtains, the rays washing over his near empty room before his eyes trail over to the clock.

7:55 AM… School started at 8:30.

He stares at the clock before letting his hand drop back down onto the bed. “Well. Damn.” He mumbles under his breath.

Flynn was really going to let him have this time.

—

Flynn must have heard the saying “If looks could kill” and decided to try it out and see if maybe he could pull it off.

Because the second Yuri is trudging into the classroom, catching every single person’s attention as he shuts the door behind him, he manages to pick out the icy-blue pair of eyes first. They narrow sharply as a frown appears on his childhood friend’s face and he looked like he wanted to stand up right then and there and reprimand him for being late once again. Honestly, Yuri would have preferred that over the old, drawn out voice that spoke to him from the front of the room.

“Lowell, if you insist on being late everyday, I truly have begun to wonder why you even bother to come to class at all.”

Yuri let a lazy expression trail over to his professor, an older man who wasn’t that much taller than him. As his teacher stood there, running a hand through his graying goatee, he stood behind his podium, eyes narrowed at him in… oh, what was the expression today? Annoyance? Disgust? They all blended together after a while.

“Ah, hey, how’s it going, Ragou?” Yuri shoves his hands into his pockets and leans back on his heels, almost looking a little proud of himself. “Hey, at least I made it to the first class today, right? It could be worse.” It could be worse and it has been worse.

A light tapping catches Yuri’s attention and he finds his eyes darting over to the desk of the blonde that he knew better than anyone and he actually had to hold back a laugh as he noticed Flynn was currently bent over his desk, tapping his pen angrily against the wooden desk as he tried his hardest to stay out of the conversation. Judging from the looks of their fellow students, Yuri was not the only one who noticed Flynn’s irritation.

“Come on, Flynn, calm down, you can’t let him get to you like this everytime–”

A clear of the throat tears Yuri’s gaze away from Flynn and one of the girls in his class trying to calm him down. (Red hair, ponytail, amber colored eyes… She was a twin… which one again?) He looks back to Ragou, who is still glaring at him as if he were the scum of the Earth. Yuri merely gives him a shit-eating grin in reply.

“Lowell, I will be bringing up this intolerable behavior to the Principal. We’ll see how long the attitude stays intact.” Ragou waves his hand towards the classroom. “Sit down and I better not hear a peep from you for the rest of this class.”

Yuri whistles softly. Ragou was once again pulling out the ‘Big Cards’ as Yuri jokingly called them. He wondered how many times he had gone to see the Principal this month… This must be the fourth time, right?

He hums to himself, moving to brush his bangs out of his face. “Man, maybe I should’ve actually taken the time to eat breakfast…” He mutters to himself as he moves towards his desk, which sat by the window on the other end of the room.

He immediately halts his movement however as his eyes actually trail over to his desk for the first time since arriving in the classroom.

In his desk, an unfamiliar girl sat there, green eyes trained on her textbook and fingers absently running through short pink hair that fell just above her shoulders in a bob. Yuri eyed her curiously, raising an eyebrow.

He hadn’t heard about any new students coming to their school recently. He was pretty positive that he would have heard Flynn mention it. Especially since he was the student council president. Flynn knew everything and everyone at this school… at least, that’s what it seemed like sometimes. But even if he didn’t, Flynn would have definitely known about a new kid. After all, Flynn was also in charge of giving tours of the school. So, surely he must have known about this girl…

Why was Yuri just now hearing about it though?

The girl suddenly blinks and turns her head to look up at him. Yuri stares back. There’s a moment of tense silence between the two. Yuri could hear as Ragou proceeded with his teachings at the front of the room, which meant that Yuri couldn’t quite ask exactly who she was or what she was doing in his seat but–

The girl’s green eyes trail him up and down as she seems to be… examining him quite thoroughly. Her eyes linger on his raven colored hair, pulled up into a clip, his dark gray eyes, and his posture. Yuri got the feeling that she was looking for something but her blank expression made it hard for him to tell exactly what she was looking for.

He shifted uncomfortably, looking over his shoulder and noticing that some of his classmates were watching them curiously, past their notebooks or textbooks. Man, this was getting awkward.

“Hey–”

“Ah… Oh! I’m sorry, is this seat yours?” She pushes out a panicked whisper, eyes widening as she moves to close her book but Yuri quickly stops her by holding out a hand.

“Whoa, easy there. You don’t have to move.” He snorts out, readjusting his bag onto his back. He turns to look over his shoulder again, trying to locate another empty seat. “Technically, yes, but it’s fine.”

“Oh– No, no, please.” She moves to get up but Yuri quickly waves her off again. “Please, take back your seat.” “Hey, forget it.” Yuri quickly doubles down, trying to keep his voice down to a whisper. “It’s no big deal. We can trade back later if you want.” He spots another empty desk across the room.

He does grimace a bit, as it was near the front of the classroom and it also put him in Flynn kicking range, with Flynn sitting right behind the desk in question. At the very least, he wouldn’t have to deal with getting called an asshole for kicking the new kid out of her desk in the middle of class.

“Are you sure? I really don’t mind moving over to a new desk. I really didn’t mean–” “Lowell!”

Both Yuri and the girl both flinch back in surprise as they whip their heads towards the front of the classroom. Once again, Ragou is glaring daggers into Yuri, as he impatiently taps his fingers on his podium.

“Is getting yourself in trouble not enough for you? Must you try and distract Miss Estellise from her studies as well?” Ragou snaps, very clearly at the end of his patience. “Have a seat before I seat you outside of the classroom, do you hear me?”

The girl– Estellise (What a strange name…) – stares up at Yuri with horror and guilt on her face, but Yuri, once again, waves off Ragou’s sharp and venomous words with ease.

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” Yuri gave Estellise a quick pat on the back to signal that there were no hard feelings about the situation before he moved to take his seat in front of Flynn. “I was just wondering when you were gonna introduce me, that's all.”

Ragou didn’t seem too interested in entertaining Yuri with an answer and instead, decided to ignore the boy altogether as he once again proceeded with his teachings. As Yuri finally sat down in his seat, he could still hear the tapping of the pen behind him. He had half a mind to look over his shoulder at Flynn but instead, he found himself drawn to the girl that sat in his desk, watching as she quickly tried to compose herself and return to studying her book.

He didn’t know her. He didn’t think he did, anyway. He had a tendency of remembering people that he’s met, so long as they deserved to be remembered by him. And this girl… she seemed nice. She didn’t seem stuck up or mean in any way and her name was unique enough that if he had met her before, he definitely would have recognized the name.

Her name is Estellise. Estellise. Estellise.

He repeated the name in his head. Over and over. He didn’t know her. He absolutely did not know her.

…and yet, she seemed so familiar.

—

The school day seemed to have dragged on without event. Yuri managed to stay underneath the radar for most of the day. It was quite honestly a new record for him. Maybe that alone could convince Flynn to ease up on him when it was time for the scolding that was undoubtedly on its way.

Thankfully, when lunch time pulled around, Flynn did not have the time to waste on him and instead opted to show Estellise around the school instead of eating. Yuri couldn’t help but sigh at that. And of course, Estellise seemed to agree and under the murmur of their classmates, he could hear their conversation just barely from his seat.

“Ah… but Flynn, wait–” Estellise calls out to him as Flynn begins to take the lead.

He stops and turns, offering that small and simple smile that he always wore on his face when he spoke to people. Yuri snorted to himself. It really was no wonder how Flynn became so popular and managed to score the position of Student Council President.

“Yes, Miss Estellise? What’s wrong? Did you change your mind?”

“Oh– uh.. No, I’d like to tour the school, but you don’t have to come with me! Please, you seem so busy. You should take some time to eat your lunch!”

Yuri can hear Flynn chuckle from where he sits. It was such a small and gentle sound. One he could pick from a crowd easily. After all of the years he spent with Flynn, he could definitely pick certain Flynn characteristics out in a crowd.

…Hmm. Maybe that was a talent that he should keep to himself.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me, Miss Estellise.” There’s that damned smile again. “It’s my job as the student council president to make sure that you are comfortable and familiar with this school, after all. I will have plenty of time to eat afterwards, I promise.”

Ah, right. A reminder hits Yuri’s brain at full force and he suddenly reaches down towards his bag, having laid it by his chair when he had come in that morning. Now where was it….?

“O-Oh… Well, if you’re certain, then I very well could not say no.”

Yuri hums to himself, moving to pull his bag into his lap. He really should clean this thing out. So many ‘forgotten’ homework assignments… he was sure his teachers had given up on trying to get them from him. He should be in the clear to throw them out. But that wasn’t important. Where in the hell was it…?

“I’m glad to hear it! Then by all means, please follow me.” Flynn smiles, nodding his head towards the door before leading Estellise away.

….Aaand there it was! Yuri pulls a plastic bag from his own bag, looking to make sure that the sandwich inside hadn’t gotten squashed or anything. The bread was a bit flattened but thankfully the beef, lettuce and tomato were still hanging in there quite nicely. He grins and quickly calls over his shoulder. “Hey Flynn!”

The sound of Yuri’s voice sent a jolt through Flynn it seemed, as he halted immediately, moving to shoot a quick glare of warning to Yuri, only for his anger to slip and falter as the kebab sandwich bag was tossed in his direction. He caught it with ease and looked it over for a moment.

Yuri could see it. Just the smallest hint of a smile on his face.

“This better not have been the reason you were late, Yuri.” He calls back, moving to open the bag to pull out one half of the sandwich.

Yuri looks over to the two of them, waving a hand casually. He can see Estellise glancing between them, a curious look on her face as he answers back, “What kinda thanks is that? I feed you and you decide to scold me?” His eyes trail over to meet Estellise. “Don’t let him fool you, Miss Estellise.” He lets her name draw out of his mouth with a teasing grin. “This guy likes to nag people to death. Especially people who cook food for him so he doesn’t starve.”

Flynn has to physically stop himself from rolling his eyes as he moves to pull one of the two slices out. “Miss Estellise, that absolutely frustrating man over there is Yuri. While he seems rough around the edges, please do not let that fool you. He’s a decent guy… although he could stand to push himself a bit more and come to class on time.”

Estellise just nods silently, green eyes staring hard at Yuri.

Man, she… really liked staring, didn’t she?

Yuri shifted in his seat, eyeing Estellise suspiciously for a moment. She still seemed like she was looking for something. He took a glance down at his uniform, trying to find something wrong with it. Sure, his top few buttons were undone but the rest of them seemed to be buttoned up properly. Was it because his jacket wasn’t all buttoned up all perfect like Flynn’s was? Or maybe it was because his hair was up in its usual messy clip? He didn’t have time to shower this morning so he just kinda threw it up into something acceptable, at least so he thought.

“Um… Miss Estellise?” Flynn’s voice breaks through again and Yuri looks up from his outfit and over to him. Judging by the confused look on his face, he must have also noticed just how heavily she was staring at Yuri. “Are you alright?”

“Oh!” Estellise tears her gaze away and smiles up at Flynn. “Yes, I’m sorry. I just got lost in thought…” She turns back to Yuri and gives him a tiny, polite bow. “It’s so very nice to meet you, Yuri. My name is Estellise. Thank you for letting me sit at your desk! You are free to take it back, if you’d like.”

“Uh… yeah. No problem.” Yuri nods towards Estellise as he takes a bite out of his own food. His eyes dart back to Flynn as they both exchange a quick glance. He swallows his bite and then turns back in his chair. “Nice to meet you too, Estelle. Enjoy your tour.”

The nickname came out before he could even stop it. He frowns to himself for just a moment before deciding to just drop it for now. Estellise was just simply too hard to say was all. But he can hear Estelle let out a tiny little gasp at her new nickname and when she speaks again, her smile is evident in her voice.

“I will, thank you very much! Enjoy your lunch!”

Yuri doesn’t turn to watch them leave and just gives a tiny nod in response. As he bites into his sandwich again, he suddenly feels a body move into his personal space. He doesn’t even have to look to know who it is. “Yuri…” Flynn speaks softly, laying a hand on his desk as he leans in.

Yuri swallows his sandwich and stares up into the blue eyes. Flynn’s got his glasses on again and he can’t help but admire just how much they suit him. The glasses were a recent addition to his look. He normally only needed them for reading and writing but somehow, Flynn always forgot to take them off when he didn’t need them. Yuri couldn’t possibly fathom how. Glasses seemed like they would simply get out of the way. If Flynn didn’t look so good with them on, Yuri would have had half a mind to reach up and take them off himself.

“What’s up?” He hums, noticing the focused look on Flynn’s face. “Don’t you have a tour to do?”

There’s a quick nod. “Yes, I do. But don’t think I’m letting you get away from this.” He remarks, jabbing a finger into his chest.

“Oh, trust me. I didn’t think you were.”

“I’m not.” There’s a pause. A hesitation. “I have student council meetings after school today. Wait for me, alright? I’m going to walk you home.”

To any normal person, that would sound like a demand. And, in a way, it was. But the way Flynn’s tone carried it, Yuri knew it was more of a request rather than a demand. The way Flynn’s eyes softened a bit as well helped Yuri pin it as such.

A request that he would, unfortunately, have to deny.

“I can wait after school at the very least.. I have something to do after school anyway–”

“Is it Repede?”

Yuri immediately shoots a hand up and covers Flynn’s mouth with it. “SHHH– shut the fuck up, man.” He harshly whispers, quickly earning a surprised but apologetic look from Flynn.

Yuri glances around the classroom, making sure that no one seemed to be eavesdropping before he leans in a bit closer to Flynn.

“Yes, it’s Repede. Stop talking about him at school, dude. The teachers will ship him off to the pound in a heartbeat.” He huffs and then leans back again. He pointedly ignored the way Flynn’s cheeks darkened. “Aside from that though, no, you can’t walk me home. I’m heading to Karol’s after school. His parents went out of town today. Again.”

Flynn’s face falls a bit but it’s quickly replaced with one of understanding. “Right… Well–” “Flynn.” Yuri suddenly reaches up to flick the man on the forehead. “Instead of trying to figure this out right now, how about you go do that tour? Estelle’s looking a little lost over there.” He pauses and quickly adds. “Plus, I want to finish my food. You’re bothering me. Go away. Shoo.”

He says it with a grin and he receives a tiny smile in return.

“Bothering you is the only way I can pay you back for half of the things you do to me.” Flynn gives one final remark before standing up straight and moving back over to Estelle. “I’m sorry, Miss Estellise. Let’s get going now, shall we?”

As he hears them leave the room and make their ways down the hallway, Yuri slowly puts his sandwich down and runs a hand over his face.

Damn, why was it so hot in the room all of a sudden?

—

Yuri never really considered himself a Dog type of person. They were alright. Pretty loyal and sometimes they could be pretty smart. But even then, he never really liked trying to communicate with something that clearly didn’t understand him. He had enough responsibilities as it was.

Repede made him change his tune very quickly.

He had found the small pup just outside of the school, hidden behind the old gym that was hardly used for anything other than storage now. He had ducked behind the building one day, trying to stay on the down low after pissing Flynn off beyond belief (though, thinking about it now, he couldn’t even remember what the fight was about.).

It was then that he saw the tiny lump of fur, lying on the ground in its weakened state. The young pup was hungry, dehydrated and had a pretty nasty gash over its left eye. It was probably the most nerve wracking experience of Yuri’s life. He, for some reason, decided to take it upon himself to set the pup up with a little home behind this building.

Thus began several weeks of coming behind the building, after school, to tend to and take care of the little puppy that he had named Repede. And any day that he couldn’t, he convinced Flynn to step in.

The scar over his eye was nearly healed up by now, which left Yuri with a giddy feeling in his chest.

“You’re looking so much better nowadays, Repede.” He praised the dog, moving to give him a good petting before pulling out some of his leftover sandwich. “Here, I got a treat for you. For doing such a good job on your recovery!”

“Woof!”

The tiny bark earns a gleeful laugh from Yuri as he watches Repede jump up and nab the remaining sandwich from his hands. “Hey now, what ever happened to having patience? Though I suppose I can’t blame you. It WAS a pretty good sandwich.”

He watches as Repede runs circles around him before quickly hopping into his lap, clearly wanting to be held. Yuri can’t help but smile, a warm feeling in his chest. “Man… it’s nice feeling wanted for once.” He jokes only to very quickly eat those words as Repede starts gnawing on his hand. “Okay, nevermind. I see that I’m only a chew toy to you.”

He hears a tiny and almost playful growl in response.

Yuri wiggles his hand a bit for Repede to try and catch as he examines the dog more closely. Repede, despite clearly having dog-like attributes, did not look like most dogs. His fur was definitely unique and it seemed like he had more wolf-like qualities than dog qualities. To be honest with himself, Yuri did kind of hope that Repede was a wolf… that would be about ten times cooler than a dog.

Something else that Yuri noticed pretty quickly was that Repede was… amazingly smart. Almost scarily so. It seemed like Repede was able to respond to everything that Yuri said and Yuri felt insane enough to believe that maybe he was beginning to understand Repede as well. The strange thing, though, was that it just seemed to click one day. There was no gradual learning of the dog’s habits or behaviors… the two of them just… clicked.

Repede once again began to gnaw at Yuri’s left hand, only stopping occasionally to rub his face against the boy’s wrist. “Man, you’re lucky that you’re cute, Repede. Otherwise, I dunno what I’d do with all of this chewing and clinginess you’ve got going on. I’m not a snack, you know…” He remarks under his breath before freezing when he hears footsteps approaching.

He stays quiet and is ready to snatch Repede up and hide him away in a second’s notice, knowing that Repede wasn’t really allowed to be staying on campus. But Hanks never seemed too thrilled at the idea of having animals in the apartment, so until Yuri could ask, he couldn’t necessarily bring Repede home yet. Maybe Hanks would give him a break and a chance if he got Flynn to go along and suck up to Hanks with him.

Speaking of…

Footsteps slowly approach and Yuri stays on guard for just a moment, ready to hide Repede… when Flynn turns the corner. “Hey.” He calls out, moving to remove his glasses while sitting down next to Yuri and Repede.

“Hey.” Yuri’s simple response came out as a sigh of relief as he released Repede from his arms and watched the tiny pup quickly hop over to Flynn, eager to lick the man’s face.

Laughter bubbled from Flynn’s throat as he lifted the pup into his arms, letting the small creature lick his cheek. “Hello there, Repede!” A smile appeared on his face, causing Yuri’s heart to do a small flip in his chest. “Oh, come now, it hasn’t been that long since I’ve last visited you!”

Repede gave an excited whine in response, ceasing his licking for now and just settling for wagging his tail in excitement as he wiggled and turned in circles on Flynn’s lap. Yuri began to chuckle as well as he reached a hand over to pet the top of Repede’s head, trying to soothe the pup.

“Hey now, chill out. It’s just Flynn. Who the hell gets so excited about seeing Flynn?”

“Contrary to your beliefs, Yuri, I actually do consider myself a somewhat decent person to be around.”

Flynn’s response held no venom, but of course, neither did Yuri’s insult. Instead, they sat there, smirking a bit at each other before glancing down to Repede, who was now wiggling out of Flynn’s grasp. Once Flynn let go, Repede returned to Yuri’s side, licking gently at the man’s left-hand wrist. “Oh, here we go again…” Yuri couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“It seems like you and Repede have gotten even closer.” Flynn suddenly remarks, glancing between the two. Upon further inspection, a small and fond smile had suddenly appeared on the man’s face. “I’m so glad. So, does this mean you’ll be talking to Hanks about him soon?”

Yuri is silent as he lets Repede gnaw on his hand. “...I’m working on it.” He sighs as he leans his head back.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Yuri. Hanks would understand, I just know it–”

“I said I’m working on it, Flynn.” Yuri cuts him off, a tiny pout appearing on his lips. “Don’t worry so much.”

“Don’t worry so much, he says.” The response came out a bit sharper than probably intended and Yuri could only let out a sigh.

Here we go…

“Speaking of worrying…” Flynn suddenly turns to face Yuri, a slow glare washing over his face as he jabs a finger into Yuri’s shoulder. “Yuri, what is with you lately? You’ve been running late almost every day for the past month now! I mean, you had late streaks before but at least you had the courtesy of spreading them out across the month. But this last month, you’ve been…”

The words seemed stuck on the end of Flynn’s tongue and his eyebrows furrow, as if having trouble describing it. Yuri watches him ponder for the right word, watches his blue eyes trail down to his hands as he wrings at his wrists.

“...distracted?” Flynn glances up to Yuri and it’s clear he’s studying his expression, to try and find any indication that he would be correct in this assumption.

…Which he wouldn’t be too far off.

“Well… I was trying to keep this under wraps for a while but…” Yuri leans back, folding his arms behind his head as he glances up at the sky, still as bright and blue as ever. They still had a few hours of sunlight left, thankfully. “I picked up a part time job at a restaurant, a few blocks away from the apartments. Waiting on tables, dishwashing, cooking, that kinda thing.”

“What?” Yuri can feel Flynn lean closer, voice raising in disbelief. “What happened to babysitting? Didn’t you just say you had to go take care of Karol?”

“Yeah, I’m doing that too.”

“But aren’t his parents out of town for days at a time?”

“I got permission to have Karol come hang out at the restaurant, it’s fine.”

“Yuri…”

Yuri could hear the disapproval in Flynn’s voice. He frowns and cracks an eye open to peek at Flynn, and sure enough, it’s written plain on his face that he didn’t necessarily like what he was hearing. “I thought babysitting gave you plenty of money.”

“I only get paid at the end of the month. And it’s not enough to pay rent.” He regretted the words as soon as they came out.

“Rent?” Flynn’s voice raises as he shifts even closer, grabbing Yuri by the shoulder. “Why is Hanks making you pay rent?!”

“Whoa, Flynn, chill out for a sec!” Yuri huffs and grabs Flynn’s hand on his shoulder, pushing it off. He’s not angry, not yet, but a frown does come across his face in annoyance. “Hanks isn’t making me do anything. I chose to start paying rent.”

“Why would you do that? He was letting you stay there for free, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah, but I’m about to be an adult, Flynn. I have to take some responsibility, you know?”

“Responsibility, sure, but you’re only seventeen, Yuri!” Flynn gaped at him, still holding onto Yuri’s wrist after his hand had been shoved off his shoulder. “You’re practically raising a twelve year old and now you’re working two jobs and it’s clearly affecting your school life! If you keep coming in late like this, you could get into trouble for attendance issues… not to mention your attitude towards the teachers… and the fights you keep getting into–”

“Flynn–” Yuri groans and pulls his hand away. “It’s not a big deal. It’s only a few nights a week. Mostly weekends. Look, if it makes you feel better, I’ll just set an extra alarm.”

“But Yuri, how in the world do you even find time to do homework?” Flynn’s frown drops even more at this. “Have you even been doing the homework?”

“Hey, I’m passing the tests, you know?”

“Yuri.” Flynn’s voice falls low and Yuri actually has to force himself to look down at Repede instead of the warning glare coming from his friend. “That isn’t what I asked…”

“I know…” Yuri lets out a heavy sigh. “Look, I’ll set an earlier alarm and just binge the homework before school.”

Granted, he would only be getting about five hours of sleep but he knew better than to say that out loud. Unfortunately, Flynn was always too thoughtful for his own good that he picked up on that in an instant.

“Yuri, no. You need your sleep too. You’ll kill yourself.” Flynn’s hand is resting on his shoulder again and Yuri suddenly didn’t have the energy to shove it off this time.

They sit in silence, Flynn trying to come up with a plan on how to convince Yuri to accept Hanks’ generosity for just another year and a half until they graduate and quit his new job while Yuri tries to think of a way to get Flynn to back off of his case. Repede seemed to notice the high tension and began to wriggle between the two of them with a whine.

“Yuri, why don’t you come stay at the dorms–”

“You know how I feel about the dorms.” Yuri grumbles, stressfully running a hand through his hair. “Look, can we just drop this for now? Please?”

Flynn opens his mouth to protest but nothing comes out. After one quick final sigh of disapproval, he thankfully drops the subject and quietly reaches over to pet Repede. It’s clear that the man was going to be mulling over this for at least the rest of the week, if not longer, so Yuri decided to at least try and comfort the poor guy.

“Hey, if it makes you feel better, I’m cutting down on babysitting jobs. In fact, as soon as I graduate and can adopt Karol, I’m done with babysitting!”

Flynn’s eyes dart over and he just looks exasperated. “Yuri, stop telling Karol that you’re going to adopt him. He might start to believe you.”

“Who said I’m lying?”

“Yuri, he has parents.” A tiny snort leaves Flynn’s mouth. “I’m sure they’ll object to you adopting their son.”

“You said it yourself. I’m already practically raising him. I’ll just ask for his parents’ permission.” Yuri grins only to mock a smack on his forehead. “Oh wait, that’s right. They’re not home. Again.”

Yuri rarely ever let himself vent about something but Karol’s parents and their work habits were probably one of the few things he would allow himself to go off on. They were consistently having to leave town for work or trips for long periods of time. Karol rarely got to see his parents. Hell, the boy once admitted to him that he barely even knew his parents. When Yuri asked who in the hell watched him before he started babysitting, Karol mentioned his grandfather but apparently the guy was simply too old to take care of a child.

And when he passed away, his parents simply deemed Karol old enough to stay home alone.

He was only ten-years old at the time.

“I still think that they should be reported. Karol shouldn’t have to be your responsibility.” Flynn once again decided to offer his two cents. And he meant well. Yuri knew he did. Flynn had come over a few times while he was watching over Karol and the two got along splendidly.

“Yeah but then he’d be tossed around from foster parent to foster parent.” Yuri pointed out. “Or maybe some distant relative that he doesn’t even know. He might even have to move away, far from here. Far from his friends and his home. That’s not fair to him. At least with me watching out for him, he can live as normally as possible. Yeah, I’m not an official guardian but at the very least, I can be there for him. Plus, his parents have my name written down on his papers at school so I can technically pick him up if he gets sick and I can take him to the doctor and all. They trust me.”

He hoped they trusted him. He hated to think otherwise. If they willingly left their kid in the hands of someone they didn’t trust, then that meant… No, he shouldn’t go there. It would likely lead to him doing something he would probably regret later.

“Speeeaking of Karol, I should probably get going.” Yuri gently moves Repede off of his lap and urges him towards his little dog bed and then he turns back to look at Flynn. “You should also get going–”

He goes silent when his eyes meet Flynn’s crystal blue eyes and suddenly, he feels something in his chest spark up. Flynn’s tone earlier was full of disapproval, at least in Yuri’s eyes. He had done nothing but undermine Yuri’s choices with suggestions of his own. It was, of course, nothing that Yuri wasn’t used to. That was always how it went with Flynn. He was used to it. It was just how Flynn did things.

What he wasn’t used to was having Flynn stare up at him like this. His eyes were so full of an emotion that Yuri had a hard time deciphering. The way Flynn stared at him, there was clearly some form of admiration there, though it was quickly overshadowed by something more. Sadness? Silent pleas? Whatever it was, it left Yuri speechless for once in his life. His confident demeanor quickly vanished as he shifted uncomfortably on his feet, staring at the man in front of him.

He couldn’t stop from flinching when he felt Flynn’s fingers reach up to brush against his cheek Yuri felt himself glancing away, face twisting slightly, but Flynn’s hand gently cups his face and guides his eyes back to the soft and worried blue eyes that he was trying to avoid.

“Yuri…” Flynn’s eyes darted down, uncertain of his next few words. “… you’re a very kind person.” The whisper leaves his lips with a saddened sigh and Yuri can feel his heart beat faster and faster by the second as Flynn inched closer. “You’re so selfless, and kind, and… and…”

Yuri sucks in a sharp intake of breath. Why in the hell was Flynn suddenly acting like this? Somewhere, deep in his chest, he could feel a puddle of regret forming for upsetting Flynn. He takes a deep breath. He can’t regret. He won’t regret. It was hard work, yeah, but it was necessary.

“...Nah… I’m nothing special.” He forces the words out, tries to sound casual. Normal. Calm.

His heartbeat sounded so loud in his head. Could Flynn hear it, he wondered?

“I really don’t want to hear that from you.” Flynn’s fingers lightly touch his hair, tickling against the skin of his neck. Was he closer? When did that happen?

“Well, it’s true. Compared to the Great Scifo…” A light grin appears on Yuri’s lips but it wavers when Flynn’s hand pulls him even closer, maybe too close because he can feel the warmth from Flynn’s face, his breathing, why was he shaking, who was shaking–?

“Stop saying that.” Flynn’s eyes softly close.

“It’s true and all of the students will attest to that. Sodia definitely would, I… I…” Yuri’s thoughts trail to a stop as Flynn’s other hand moves to cup the other side of his face, fingers moving to tangle into his hair.

It feels nice, why does it feel so nice?

Flynn speaks again and Yuri can feel his breath on his face, on his lips. They’re close, noses touching but lips just barely grazing. “Please don’t fight me on this… Why do you always do this? Carrying the world on your shoulders, alone… insisting that you’re nothing special, when… when to me, you’re…”

Flynn’s eyes open again and he’s just staring up at Yuri with those soft blue eyes again, his expression pleadingful as his thumb moves to brush lightly against his bottom lip. Yuri can feel himself wavering, if for only a moment, and he can’t keep his mind from racing through nonsensical thoughts. His cheeks felt hot. Everything felt hot. Everything was spinning. As he sighs and presses his forehead against Flynn’s, his eyes close to just take a moment to breathe.

And yet, he still feels sick.

He can feel Flynn move forward to try and close the gap between their lips but it becomes just a bit too much for Yuri as he pulls away, out of Flynn’s reach. He backs up, mustering up the best grin he can under these circumstances. “... I’ll see you later, Flynn. Don’t forget to eat dinner again tonight, yeah?”

“Yuri–”

Yuri pushed past him, placing a hand on his shoulder as he moved past the man. Flynn’s face twists into something a bit pained as he watches Yuri, reaching out to try and grab his hand once again but Yuri moves a bit too fast for him. As Yuri turns the corner, ready to flee the scene, a movement of pink is seen in the corner of his eyes. He freezes and whips his head around, catching sight of a pink haired individual quickly diving into the doors of the gym.

What was Estelle doing here?

“Yuri?”

Flynn’s voice catches him off guard and Yuri can quickly feel the irritation bubbling up in his chest. Was she spying on them?

“Augh– Man, later, okay?” Yuri groans and runs a hand through his hair before gesturing towards the doors of the gym. “Instead of chasing after me, maybe you should go catch our little spy and make sure she knows not to tell anyone that Repede is back here, alright? I don’t have time to talk to her too, I’ve gotta go.”

Yuri didn’t wait for a response before he took off with a jog. Flynn was a smart guy. He knew he’d be able to find Estellise and explain the situation. She seemed like a nice girl as well so it wasn’t like she’d do anything bad to Repede. But he really just did not want the teachers to catch wind of the pup. At least, not until he was able to take Repede home.

He’d have to ask Hanks tonight.

He decided to focus on that for now instead of wondering why Estelle had been spying on them. It was only her first day at school and yet, she had pushed the creep factor all the way to a solid 50, at least.

Maybe he should confront her at school tomorrow.

—

“So she just kept staring at you?”

Yuri hums with a nod as Karol wanders over with a small selection of carrots. He takes them with a low hum, beginning to cut them into pieces onto the cutting board and quickly tosses them into the pot with ease. “Yep. Kept eyeing me up and down, like she was looking for something.” He pauses, as he stirs the carrots into the beef stew. “Mm… maybe one or two more carrots, Boss.”

“Got it!” Karol grinned and bounded back over to the fridge, grabbing two carrots and hurrying back over. “Maybe she thought you were scary!”

“Well, when people think I’m scary, they usually try to avoid eye contact.”

Karol folds his arms on the counter of his kitchen, watching as Yuri stirred the stew that was to be their dinner that night. He has a concentrated and thoughtful look on his face. “Hmm… Maybe… Maybe she likes you! Like, maybe she has a crush on you!”

Yuri lets out a bark of laughter at that. “Yeah?”

“Yeah!” A wide grin spreads across the boy’s face. “Maybe she thinks you’re cute! Or maybe she likes bad-boys! I mean, she was looking you up and down…”

“Looking me up and down is a sign of someone liking me, huh?” A devious grin spreads across Yuri’s face. “Is that how you look at Nan?”

Karol’s wide grin falls as his eyes widen and his cheeks turn a deep shade of red. “W-What?! No– No, it’s not like that at all!” He stammers, slamming his hands on the counter. “Nan and I are just friends! You know what, I take it back! She probably thinks you were… were… gross looking!!”

“Ouch, that was harsh, Captain…” Yuri lets out an overdramatic hiss, following it up with a fake grimace as well. “So you think Nan is gross looking as well?”

“NO–” The scream– no sorry, the squawk that came from Karol almost sent Yuri into a complete laughing fit as he went to pick up the nearby spoon, in order to taste test the stew.

“Relax, Karol, relax. I’m joking.” He scoops up some of the stew and sips it up a bit. He ponders for a moment as the spices hit his tongue and he nods in approval of his handiwork. He scoops up another spoonful and holds it out to Karol. “I dunno. Maybe she just fell for my charm at first sight. I feel bad that I’m gonna have to let her down, if that’s the case. But she’s just not my type.”

Karol eagerly accepts the spoonful which told Yuri that he should probably finish the stew soon before Karol decided to starve to death. The boy, thankfully, looked pleased enough with the taste and eyed the stew hungrily. “So, what is your type?”

“Men.” Yuri’s answer left his mouth before he could even think about it.

He froze up, trying to keep his face neutral but he was already mentally kicking himself for saying that so casually. He was used to talking about his sexuality with people like Flynn and some of his friends at his other job. Even Hanks knew about his preferences. But he had never really thought to say anything to Karol. Not that he figured Karol would be judgemental about it. The kid was just twelve years old after all. Even if he tried to be, Yuri wasn’t about to be bullied by a twelve year old.

No, he was more worried about Karol repeating this to his parents. What if they disapproved? What if they thought him a bad influence on Karol? What if they fired him? What would happen to Karol then?

“You like boys?” Karol’s eyes are wide as he stares up at Yuri.

Yuri clears his throat after a moment of silence. “...Yeah.”

“Huh…” Karol lets out a hum of thought. “Actually, that makes sense.”

Yuri’s panic suddenly sent him into a coughing fit as he turned away from the food to catch his breath. “Huh–?”

Karol’s eyes widen as he moves to pat Yuri on the back. “H-Hey, are you okay? I’m sorry! It’s just, with the way you talk about Flynn sometimes–”

“Okay, nope. We’re ending this conversation right here.” Yuri cuts him off immediately, wiping his mouth before whipping back around to wash his hands so he could continue cooking. He refused, refused, refused to acknowledge how hot his cheeks felt. “Look, just… Don’t tell your parents, alright? Last thing I need is to get fired over something that dumb.”

Karol just goes quiet, watching Yuri go back to his job of stirring the pot. Karol doesn’t say anything else for a while and Yuri begins to take that as a silent agreement. As he moves past Karol, he begins to reach up into the cabinet for two bowls when Karol’s voice suddenly breaks the silence.

“..When would I even be able to tell them?”

Yuri’s movements falter and he feels the tiny stabbing pain in his heart as he chances a glance over to Karol. The young boy’s eyes were downcast, staring more at his partially untied shoe rather than at Yuri. There was really no anger on the boy’s face, nor sadness. Just.. exhaustion. Honestly, though, Yuri would rather him be angry and sad instead of giving up hope like that.

Of course, Yuri would be lying if he said he had hopes that Karol’s parents would get their heads out of their asses. He felt a glare begin to form on his face and he quickly turned away from Karol to pull out two bowls for the two of them and began to set the table.

“Hey… Let’s not think about them right now, yeah?” He speaks up, moving to ruffle the boy’s hair. “It’s stew time. Let’s eat, do that homework that you hid in your binder and then afterwards we can play some games until it’s time for us to turn in, yeah?”

“...Yeah, okay.”

On the days that Yuri watched over Karol, they would usually take turns spending the night at each other’s house (with permission from Karol’s parents, of course.) so Yuri was used to crashing in the Capel’s guest room. In the two years that he had been babysitting Karol, he pretty much deemed that guest room his “Home away from home.” He even stored some extra night clothes there. Mostly old T-shirts and the like.

He pours some of the stew into the bowls and gestures for Karol to have a seat. Thankfully, he doesn’t fight Yuri and even begins eating as soon as he sits down, only stopping when he burns his tongue.

“Whoa, careful there, boss.” Yuri chuckles, moving to pet his back. “Let it cool a little bit. It just came off of the stove!”

“Ah– Right, right… Sorry.”

As they sat at the table together, ready to eat their dinner for the night, Yuri did his hardest to push the young boy’s troubles from his mind for the moment. After all, growing angry wouldn’t do anyone any good.

Instead, Yuri would put all of his energy into teasing Karol about his apparent crush on his classmate and put all focus into making the kid forget about his lonely family life until it was time for the two of them to turn in.

–

It was the sound of metal scraping against the outside of the house that woke him up.

Yuri jolted awake from a dreamless slumber and for a moment, he lays there in the darkness and listens as close as he can for the noise to appear again. The guest room that he stays in is quiet and still, as is the rest of the house. He can vaguely hear Karol snoring in the next room along with unintelligible mumbling mixed in. After a few moments of silence, he begins to chalk it up to him just hearing things but then he hears the metal scrape again, followed by the snap of a twig directly outside of his window.

The curtains thankfully cover the window, hiding him from view for the most part but Yuri can’t help but notice that a bit of moonlight manages to peek in between the curtains, proving that one could definitely peek into his room if they wanted. And it really did sound like someone or something was walking around outside of the house.

He frowns, eyes glancing over at his alarm clock. 2:34 AM.

Yeah, he was annoyed.

He groaned lightly as he climbed gently out of bed, tip-toeing over to the window. He doesn’t open the curtain. Doesn’t plan to. Instead, he peeks through the crack of the curtains to try and see what could have been making that noise but finds nothing worth noting.

Maybe it was a cat. Hopefully it was a cat.

But as Yuri begins to make his rounds around Karol’s house (and definitely making sure that Karol and his room were clear), he definitely had a weird feeling of being watched. As he checked to make sure the doors were locked for the third or fourth time, he began to chalk it up to paranoia but… something definitely felt off.

As the night progressed, no other weird sounds were heard and unfortunately, Yuri did not really get much sleep after that. On the plus side, at least he woke up early enough to get both him and Karol ready for school.

As he walked Karol out of the house this morning, he made sure to check the area around the window of his guest room.

When Karol asked what he was looking for, he decided to not tell the boy about the squished flowers and weeds that he found next to the guest room window.

—

The school day went by pretty normally. He was actually on time for once in his life (and he pointedly ignored the way that Flynn’s entire demeanor shifted from exhausted to absolutely exhilarated the second Yuri walked into the room and took his usual seat.) and he actually managed to make it through the day without getting too much shit from his teachers.

He noticed that Estelle had taken the seat in front of Flynn today and thankfully, she didn’t seem to be staring at Yuri today either, which was a welcome change. He did briefly wonder if maybe she HAD fallen for him yesterday but the more he looked at Estelle, the more he even wondered if she was into guys like that.

To be honest, Flynn seemed more like her style.

…He would ignore how much his gut twisted at that.

He didn’t get to see Flynn much during the school day, though he made it very clear that he was wanting to go over to talk with him. Unfortunately, life was cruel and had decided to make a joke out of it. Every time Flynn made the move to go and speak with Yuri, something would call his attention away, whether it be a student needing assistance or the student council’s vice president, Sodia, deciding to step in and drag his attention away.

Yuri does manage to catch Flynn’s eyes at one point and they are staring at him with what Yuri could only describe as “Lost-Puppy” eyes and he couldn’t help but snicker a bit at that. And then, oh so subtly, his eyes would trail out the window and towards the old forgotten gym that Repede was currently hiding behind.

Flynn would follow his gaze and then they were once again meeting each other’s eyes, silent understanding.

“Meet behind the Gym later.”

With the silent instruction given, Yuri turned away from Flynn and decided to turn his focus to the clouds up in the bright blue sky and he couldn't help but smile to himself.

Another beautiful day.

—

It was supposed to be a beautiful day, at least.

It was supposed to be a good day. He was on time for school, his teachers didn’t give him shit, Flynn didn’t have time to find something to nag him about… it was supposed to be a good day.

All of that went out the window though as he approached the abandoned gym after school. The weather was still nice as can be and he knew that Flynn would likely be a little late to meet up with him but he figured it would give him enough time to feed Repede and check to see if his blankets needed to be replaced.

However, his blood ran cold when he heard voices coming from behind the gym.

“Please, leave at once! You’re not supposed to–”

Estelle?

“We’re not supposed to what? Come on now, we just came back here because we saw you come back here.” A guy’s voice speaks up, laughing quietly. “Come on, why not let us play with you and your cute little puppy!”

“He’s not mine, I– No, I’m sorry, please leave!”

Yuri listened as close as he could. He could hear Estelle and maybe four other voices? Repede could also be heard growling from wherever he was. The guys… they didn’t sound familiar but a quick peek around the corner told Yuri that they were some other students from a different class entirely. One thing was for certain though: He did not like the way they were crowding around Estelle and Repede.

“Oh come on, it’s okay. I’m really good with dogs.” The guy in the front, a boy with brown hair slicked back and a cocky grin on his face, steps closer and slides a hand up Estelle’s arm and Yuri has decided that he’s seen enough… until Repede lets out a sharp bark and runs over to bite the guy’s leg.

“OW–” The guy reacts instantly, kicking the small pup across the ground and earning a shocked gasp from Estelle. “Stupid mutt–”

That’s about all it takes before Yuri starts seeing red.

He’s not sure if the leader of the goon squad manages to say anything else before Yuri is pushing past all of his friends and making sure his fist makes a solid connection to his face. He’s also fairly certain he sees a tooth fly out of the man’s mouth. Yuri waves his hand in the air for a moment, throwing spit (and blood?) from it and looks at Estelle, whose eyes are wide with shock and a bit of guilt. He then lets dark eyes trail over to the other three from the group.

“I believe she told you to leave.” Yuri offers only once. “Are you going to listen this time or am I about to become your problem?”

They, against all better judgment, chose the latter option.

They all closed in on Yuri, which is all Yuri needed to hear before diving in to finish what they had started. Yuri was, by all accounts, a good fighter. He was fast, he knew where to throw a bunch to really make it hurt and he had incredible stamina, so even if he couldn’t win a fight, he would likely be able to hold out until his opponent got tired.

In fact, the only person he would lose to was Flynn.

These guys, however, were not Flynn. In which case, they were soon thrown to the ground with ease, beaten, bloodied and bruised. Estelle stood not too far behind Yuri, hands covering her mouth in shock as Yuri moved over to the leader and gave him a sharp kick to the side.

“I think it’s time you leave now.” He growled out, dark eyes narrowing at the green ones laying on the ground.

The goon squad wasted no time in retreating, and Yuri thinks he hears one of them vaguely yelling that they were going to go and tell Flynn about what he did. He just as quickly pushed it from his mind. That would be a later problem to deal with. For now, he moved over to Repede and scooped up the poor pup. Thankfully, no injuries were seen on the puppy and instead, the poor thing just seemed to be in shock.

He breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank God. Man, I dunno what we were gonna do if we had to go through yet another recovery process with you.”

The laugh came out forced but Repede quickly let a tongue lap out against Yuri’s cheek, as if attempting to comfort the man.

The moment ended all too soon when Estelle spoke up. “Um… Ah… Thank you, Yuri…” She whispered quietly.

Yuri quickly turned to give her an annoyed look but Estelle definitely had a natural ‘kicked puppy’ look, no pun intended. The annoyance washed away just slightly but he still couldn’t just let her get away with this. “What the hell were you thinking, leading them here? What are you even doing here? Did Flynn talk to you about this at all or do I need to go yell at him too?!”

“No! No, he–he did. He told me not to tell anyone about Repede…” Estelle ducks her head in apology. “I just… I just needed to see him, is all. I didn’t know I was being followed. I politely asked them to leave but…”

“If you wanted to see Repede, why didn’t you just come up and ask me or Flynn to bring you back here?” Yuri’s eyes narrowed. “You’re allowed to ask.”

Estelle stays quiet as she finally looks back up to Yuri. Her eyes train on Repede for a moment but then she’s looking back to Yuri and she’s once again scanning him, as if looking for something. And Yuri has had enough.

“Hey, Estelle, no offense. You seem like a really nice girl. But you keep looking at me weird and it’s getting a bit too weird for comfort so I’d either like for you to tell me what the hell you’re looking for or stop with the staring. It’s getting a bit too intense for me.”

There is no venom in his voice. He really doesn’t want to be mean to Estelle but the weird staring was simply getting old. Mix that in with the small scare he just had with some strangers kicking Repede and the fact that something was hanging outside the window of Karol’s house last night, he was exhausted, quite frankly, and a bit paranoid. He also just did not have time or patience for the pleasantries.

Estelle, thankfully, had a look of understanding wash over her face. “Oh… I’m sorry… I just …” She looks back to Repede, who stares right back at her. “... I think that… maybe we’ve just met somewhere before, Yuri…”

So she felt it too. That’s definitely what Yuri’s response wanted to be but instead, he’s cut off from his sense of familiarity by a loud voice shouting in their direction. “YURI!!”

He cringed back a bit. “Here it comes…”

The goon squad must have run into Flynn on their way to the student council room. He couldn’t think of any other reason for Flynn to show up with a bloodied rag in his hands, face red with anger as he stomped over to Yuri. He does have a moment of hesitation upon seeing Estelle, who shrinks back at the sight of his anger. He gives her a quick nod of greeting before he’s shoving the bloodied rag into Yuri’s chest. “Yuri, what in the hell are you doing!?”

Yuri felt his eyes dart down to the bloodied rag. “Ew, don’t get that on me. I already think I have some of their spit and blood on my knuckles.”

“Yeah! I noticed!” Flynn threw the rag onto the ground and crossed his arms, eyeing Yuri’s bloodied and bruised hands.

Well, at least it wasn’t his blood.

“Heh, you should see the other guys.” Yuri jokes, earning a yip of agreement from Repede. “Though, I’m guessing you already saw them. You think their ‘leader’ wants his tooth back, or…?”

“Can you please be serious?” Flynn’s annoyance is quickly followed by a smack on Yuri’s shoulder. “Why was there a fight?!”

“They were just pissing me off.” Yuri shrugged.

In the corner of his eye, he can see Estelle’s frown drop even more. “Um… Actually, he–” She starts off and Flynn’s expression quickly turns to face her. The glare washes away just a bit which calms the girl down enough to continue. “I’m sorry, Flynn… I snuck over here to see Repede and… they followed me and started trying to pick on me–”

“I would not call that ‘picking on’.” Yuri interrupts under his breath.

“--And then Repede bit one of them. They kicked Repede and that’s when Yuri came in. He– He punched the guy who was touching me and kicked Repede and then the others tried to attack Yuri…”

Yuri throws another glance towards Estelle. “Hey, by the way, do you need to go wash your arm off or something? Just in case you caught some weirdo germs from that guy touching you…”

Estelle’s eyes widen slightly, as if she were about to ask what he meant, but Flynn’s tired sigh cuts in. “Yuri, shut up, please…”

Yuri looks back over to Flynn, watching him run a tired hand across his face, pushing his glasses up in the process. He takes a moment to consider his next words very carefully.

“Yuri… Thank you for coming to Miss Estellise’s defense. I’ll have to talk to them about their horrid behavior, especially after hearing Miss Estellise’s side as well. A witness would be good to have. I’m also glad to see that, despite being kicked, Repede seems to be alright…”

Repede’s tail wags happily as he wiggles in Yuri’s arms. He seemed to want down but the poor pup would simply have to get over it for right now. Yuri had no intention of putting him down right now. He could feel his heart racing just slightly. Surely those kids wouldn't have hurt Repede anymore if Yuri hadn't shown up, right?

“...However, Yuri… There is a process for stuff like this.”

Yuri’s gaze whips over to Flynn’s, shocked. “You’re kidding me. A process? What sort of process?”

“The school can’t condone violent behavior like this!” Flynn returns Yuri’s gaze, a serious look on his face.

“So– What? Next time I see a scumbag feeling up another student or I catch them kicking puppies, you want me to go and file a fucking report?!” Yuri’s expression was, as simply as he could describe it, baffled. “And then the school does what? A week of detention? And then the bastards can just go right back to doing it?”

“Yuri, the punishment for sexual harassment is severe, I promise you!” Flynn purses his lips. “I understand how you feel, I do! But you… you can’t keep getting into these fights, Yuri! The teachers are…They’re–”

“They’re what?!”

“They’re just growing… concerned about your presence in this school.” Flynn’s face drops, blue eyes trailing to stare down at the ground. “I’m worried if you keep getting into trouble, then you’re going to get kicked out…”

“Of course they are.” Yuri took a deep breath, trying to keep a neutral expression. “They’ve been literally fishing for excuses to kick me out. Let me guess, Ragou and Cumore are the biggest supporters of this?”

“Well, Yuri, you’ve been making it very easy for them! The tardiness, the back-talking, the fights…” Flynn grimaces. “...And now with your new job, it might just get worse–”

A scoff slips out of Yuri’s lips as he turns away from Flynn in disbelief. “I can’t believe this. You’re using this to fuss at me about my new job too?! Dude, if this school is pitching such a fit about me being here, maybe I should start putting my focus into shit that really matters.”

“Yuri, you better not be suggesting what I think you are–”

“And what if I am?”

“Stop it!” Estelle suddenly cries out, hands clenched in front of her as she quickly moves between the two of them. “There’s no reason to be fighting over this! Please!”

Yuri doesn’t budge but Flynn, thankfully, backs off. His glare vanishes into something more softer as he glances down towards Estelle. “Ah… I’m sorry, Miss Estellise… I shouldn’t be discussing this in front of you.”

“No– No no, it’s okay.” Estelle gives a quick bow, as if asking for forgiveness. “Please forgive Yuri for this. This whole situation happened because I snuck over here by myself. I should have asked one of you to let me see Repede. This is my fault and I’ll gladly take the punishment for all of this.”

“Oh, the hell you are–” Yuri snaps at her. “Are you forgetting that they were feeling all up on you? If anyone should get punished, it’s them.”

“And they will be.” Flynn promises, looking between Yuri and then to Estelle. “But Yuri–”

“--is probably going to get the worst punishment out of the five people involved here.” Yuri’s words lash out before he can stop them. “Because God forbid someone teaches them an actual lesson.”

“You don’t know that Yuri…” Flynn says but his facial expression says it all.

“Yeah, sure.” And with that, Yuri pushes past them. “Just tell me how many days I’m in detention for. Or let me know if they suspend me or something.” He growls out as he carries Repede away from behind the gym.

“Wait, Yuri, we’re not done here!” Flynn tries to call out, moving to follow him.

“You’re not, but I am.” Yuri huffs, not bothering to look back. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to talk to Hanks about keeping my dog because apparently he’s not safe to hang out here anymore.”

He could hear Estelle and Flynn both call after him. He didn’t care to stop, however. He wanted to be done with the conversation. He was sure that Flynn would probably be by to fuss at him some more but what he wanted most right now as to take Repede home, beg Hanks to let him stay if he had to, wrap up his knuckles and take just a few minutes to calm down before he had to go pick Karol up.

—

As he walked down the street, he couldn’t help but feel the exhaustion begin to wash over him. His apartments weren’t that far from the school, especially if he took the back roads, but even then he was starting to feel today’s events weigh him down. Not to mention the lack of sleep he got last night after hearing something moving around outside of his window. At some point, he had let Repede down and was letting the small puppy trot after him as they made their way to the apartments.

He had since calmed down from the argument with Flynn. Yeah, he was still a little bitter, though he always felt a little bitter after fighting with Flynn. The guy always knew which buttons to press, every single time. It had simply been that way since they were kids. He knew that Flynn was worried about how he was doing things but it wasn’t like Yuri was making these choices specifically to piss Flynn off.

There were simply some things that he could not ignore. There were rumors that the prices for the apartments were going to be raised soon due to the taxes for the building. Hanks was already struggling to afford keeping the apartments in decent condition while also keeping the rooms affordable for those in need of a home. So Yuri decided to get a new job and start paying rent. He needed to learn some responsibility anyway, he told himself.

Then, there was Karol. Karol’s parents were rarely home. Yuri could still remember that day he met Karol in the park, hunched over on the bench, tears threatening to fall from his face. He remembered playing an impromptu game of soccer with the boy that day and watching the biggest smile wash over his face that day.

He remembered the day, two weeks later, when Karol admitted that he was currently home alone due to his family’s work schedule, had been for a week and would likely be alone for the rest of the month. He remembered his parents barely blinking an eye when they came home and found Karol home with a random fifteen year old cooking in their kitchen. They barely seemed concerned when Yuri insisted that they hire him as a babysitter. They had said yes. Even if they hadn’t, Yuri still would have stepped in to take care of Karol while they were gone. He couldn’t ignore that, he told himself.

He remembered all of the fights he had gotten into at school. All of the arguments that he had started with the teachers. Some of the fights he had been involved with recently weren’t even his fault. Some guys at the school liked to start shit with him sometimes. You would think by now, they would learn that Yuri never left a fight unfinished. If they started something, Yuri would make sure that it was seen all the way through.

The only time he ever started a fight was when someone was involved that really shouldn’t be involved. Once, a guy grabbed a girl’s sketchbook from her hands and criticized her doodles before tearing one out, balling it up and using it to hit his friend from across the room. Yuri had gotten suspended that day after he promptly allowed that student to perform a thorough locker “inspection” in the boy’s locker room for about two hours. Stuff like this happened a lot though. Some guys at the school just couldn’t keep their damn hands to themselves and the teachers weren’t doing a thing to stop them. He couldn’t just let them get away with it, he told himself.

As Yuri makes his way down the somewhat empty street on his way to his apartment, he takes a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds, and then releases it. Dammit, Flynn was getting to his head. He wasn’t going to overwork himself. Plenty of people worked multiple jobs, raised multiple kids AND went to school and they could handle it just fine. He could handle it. And he would prove it. Even if he couldn’t necessarily do all of his homework, the teachers couldn’t do a damn thing about it so long as his grades were passing. He would continue to get decent enough grades, he would continue watching over Karol when he had to, he would continue paying rent and working this new part time job, and he was going to do it with so much ease that Flynn would have to simply eat his words and apologize for doubting him.

With newfound determination, Yuri continued his stride down the street, ready to get home and changed before he had to go pick Karol up.

That same determination quickly drained when a gloved hand shot out from a nearby alleyway, slapping over his mouth roughly and yanking him into the dark, shady gap between the buildings.

“HEY–” He could barely shout out before he was thrown to the ground with much force and before he knew it, his attacker, a flurry of dark pink and yellow, quickly climbed over him.

Yuri kicked and swung his fists wildly, one of his fists connecting with the man’s jaw and all Yuri could hear was excited laughter bubbling from the stranger’s lips. Repede’s frantic barks and growls could be heard from somewhere behind them, mixed in with Yuri’s grunts and heavy breathing as he swings another fist, throws another kick, managing to connect a foot with the man’s stomach, he thinks?

“What the FUCK are you–?!” Yuri spits out, trying to break free from his attacker’s grasp.

But then he feels steel press against his neck and he freezes, eyes widening as he sees the rather large red and gold dagger held tightly in the man’s hands. Red crazed eyes stare down at him as a toothy grin widens across his face as he turns his head just a bit, letting pink and blonde hair move out of his eyes. The bastard giggles again. He hasn’t stopped giggling since he jumped Yuri.

Repede continues to bark furiously, letting out a few howls loose in between, but the small pup went ignored. Instead, Yuri’s attacker leans in until he is nose to nose with Yuri, who instinctively tries to inch back. Instead, the dagger’s sharp edge digs into skin, threatening to cause some serious and likely irreversible damage if Yuri struggles anymore. Instead, he holds his breath back and glares at the man who seems to be observing every little detail on his face.

What in the hell was up with people invading his fucking personal space lately?!

Another giggle slips from the attacker as he stares back into Yuri’s eyes. “I’ve finally found you, Yuri Lowell.” His grin widens, excitement clear in his eyes. Yeah, that didn’t bode well. “I was expecting a bit more resistance from you! You haven’t gotten all rusty on me, have you~?”

Yuri really was not expecting his name to leave this guy’s mouth. He takes a shaky breath, trying not to shift underneath the blade. “Sorry but if we’ve met, I-I’m gonna need some kind of reminder.”

Yuri watches as a red eye twitches in amusement as the man scraps the blade up Yuri’s neck, pressing it under his chin. “Oh? You expect me to believe that you don’t remember me?” With a click of his tongue, he shakes his head in disappointment. “Oh, Yuri, we’re like soulmates. Of course you would remember your life long enemy. Your eternal rival, Zagi!”

His name leaves his lips with a hiss, as the dagger moves away from Yuri’s throat and finally Yuri lets out a heavy breath that he had been holding but quickly tenses as Zagi drags the blade along his cheek. “Does that ring any bells?”

“Nah, I think I would remember if I had a soulmate who was a little too into knifeplay.”

He tries to keep his voice calm as his eyes are scanning the area but he’s already mentally cursing himself for getting so distracted in his own head while walking home. The streets were practically empty and now that he’s already been grabbed and forced to the ground, if he were to even call for help, he’d probably be a bleeding out corpse by the time someone got to him.

Man, what a shitty way to die. ‘Here lies Yuri. Died because he thought too hard.’ Flynn would never let him live it down.

The man on top of him (Zagi, was it?) hummed lightly as he moved the dagger from cheek to cheek and even made sure to nick the skin on the left side, as if to get a reaction from the boy. “C’mon, Yuri, where’s your sword? Give me a fight, give me something! Make this WORTH IT, Yuri Lowell!”

Another laugh erupts from the man’s throat and it just further confirmed to Yuri that the guy was a fucking lunatic.

“Okay, I have a few questions. Doubt I’m gonna get an answer but here goes. Who the fuck are you, and why do you know me?” Yuri’s face twists a bit in pain as Zagi reacts by leaving another scratch on his cheek. “And what in the hell are you talking about?! This isn’t the fucking medieval times! Why the fuck would I have a sword?”

Between his laughter, Zagi actually manages to pull off a confused expression. “Wait, wait, wait…” He trails off, raising his dagger a bit. Yuri’s eyes immediately shoot towards the blade as it moves away from his face. He glances back to Zagi, watching as he looks back to Yuri, looking rather thoughtful. Yuri’s eyes trail back to the blade.

…Was he stupid enough to try it?

“Oh… I get it!” Zagi smirks, tilting his head. “You haven’t awakened yet, have you?”

…Yeah, this guy was insane. It’s a small price to pay. This shit was going to hurt though.

Taking the chance of surprise, Yuri shot a hand out and gripped onto the blade of the dagger tightly, gritting his teeth as the blade dug into his skin. Blood poured from his wounds as Zagi’s eyes widened at Yuri’s sudden movement. Using his surprise to his advantage, Yuri shoved the hand wielding the dagger away and shot up, making sure to slam his forehead against Zagi’s. The pink haired man fell back instantly with a pained yelp and Yuri wasted no time in scrambling to his feet, trying to ignore the burning pain in his left hand and the throbbing in his forehead. He tried to run by Zagi’s form that laid on the ground but unfortunately, Zagi recovered quite fast from the headbutt as his legs swung around and nearly knocked Yuri to the ground again. As Yuri swore and stumbled back, towards the back of the alley, Zagi let out a gleeful squeal as he jumped back to his feet, daggers in hand.

“Oh, we’re getting CLOSER to the Yuri I love so DEEPLY in my heart.” His grin grows even wider, if that’s possible. “Maybe if I cut you up enough, you’ll wake up, huh?! Maybe then you’ll bring out the sword and we can have a REAL BATTLE! Just like we’re DESTINED to, huh?! Wouldn’t that be so much fun?!”

Yuri spotted Repede dart over to his side, whining softly as he stared up at Yuri’s wounded hand and he couldn’t help but huff out a weak little laugh. “I-I don’t really have time to be cut into little pieces so I think I’m gonna have to pass on that one…” Yuri’s breath came out heavy as he tried to ignore just how badly his hand was stinging, throbbing, burning–

Flynn was definitely gonna get him for this one.

“Oh, unfortunately, any plans you’ve had, Yuri Lowell, have been canceled.” Zagi begins to close in on him and Yuri begins to wonder if this is what a trapped rat feels like. “I’m TIRED of being patient like they wanted me to. I want your BLOOD staining my entire body–”

“That’s weird as hell, man, and it’s one hell of a turn off. Has anyone ever told you that?” Yuri mentally and silently takes note of Zagi’s words (“Like they wanted me to.”) and filed them away for later as his head whips to the side, spotting an old discarded broom handle. It was made of metal, and slightly bent but it was all he had. All he had to do was knock Zagi to the side and make a run for it, right? If he could make it to a public area, he should be okay, right?

Unfortunately, he had to deal with the fact that this was absolutely a targeted attack and that this would likely not be the last time he would see Zagi, if he did somehow manage to escape. Not to mention, letting a complete psychopath run free was something that Yuri couldn’t really stomach.

But then, what could he do? He could put up a decent fight but a bent metal handle (that looked as if it would rust away if you breathed on it hard enough) against an actual blade being used by someone as quick and as insane as Zagi was simply a fight that he couldn’t hope to win, unless he was delusional.

Man, staying behind and listening to Flynn’s lectures was starting to sound a bit more appealing right now.

Yuri quickly snatched up the broom handle and held it in his hands defensively, earning a pointed laugh from Zagi. “You’re still not going to bring out your sword for a proper fight?” Zagi lowers himself, ready to launch his next attack.

“I really don’t know how to get across to you that I don’t have a sword. You’re just gonna have to deal with me beating the hell out of you with this broom handle instead.” He takes a deep breath as he held his position. He was not one to be on the defensive. He was always the one to go on the aggressive but… well… charging in right now could get him killed. So instead, he would try to bait Zagi into swinging first.

Thankfully, as insane as this man was, he was also incredibly predictable. With a howl of laughter, he jumped at Yuri, daggers swinging wildly at the metal broom handle. Thankfully, Yuri managed to block the incoming swipes. One, then two, then three, four, five–

He backed away a bit more with every hit and responded by swinging his leg out to try and side-swipe his attacker. Zagi stumbles just slightly when Yuri’s leg hits the side of his ankle and he nearly falls to his knee. Taking the chance, Yuri throws a hard punch directly into Zagi’s nose and suddenly there’s a fountain of blood.

Despite it all, Zagi is still grinning, red liquid running over his lips. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” He wipes a hand over his mouth, smearing the blood away. “I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me!”

From the corner of his eye, Yuri sees Repede dart between Zagi’s leg and towards the entrance of the alleyway. He can hear the frantic barking of the small pup as he stares down the street. If Yuri didn’t know anymore, he would almost assume that Repede was trying to call for help. Yuri would have smiled if he didn’t have to immediately go on the defensive again. Zagi continued his assault, swinging his weapons again with even more ferocity. The broom handle began to bend in an awkward angle and Yuri knew that it was likely not going to last much longer. His hand burned, slick with his own blood. His head was throbbing, his lungs were burning, as he dodged to the left, then the right, blocked the downward swing and delivered another swift kick to Zagi’s knees.

It’s when Zagi falls to his knees that Yuri spots another figure rounding the corner of the alleyway, causing his blood to freeze.

A smaller figure skids to a stop as bright green eyes stare back at him. Bright pink hair sticking up and face red as the young girl has to catch her breath as she takes in the scene, a look of horror washing over her face.

“YURI!” Estelle screams out and it’s all Yuri hears as Zagi suddenly takes his hesitation as a chance to jump up and swing his dagger down one more time.

Zagi’s dagger finally breaks through the metal and slashes across Yuri’s chest.

All Yuri can feel is hot pain as he’s thrown back onto his bottom, on the floor of the alley. He can feel liquid pouring from his wound as warm air is felt against his now partially bare chest. Zagi has sliced his school uniform shirt right open. Instinctively, his hand shoots to his chest and he can feel that the wound isn’t too deep but… well.

Admittedly, it was the first time he had ever been sliced with a sword so if it seemed like he was panicking a little bit, no one in their right mind could really blame him.

Still, he tried to remain calm as he tried to push himself back away from Zagi and tried to climb back onto his feet. Upon seeing just how much blood he had sliced out of Yuri, Zagi was beaming, ear to ear.

“So much for the broom handle, right Yuri?” He giggles. “So are you going to bring out your sword now?”

Yuri ignores him in favor of staring past him, towards Estelle. “Wh… What are you doing here? Get the hell out of here!” He ordered as he tried to keep his voice steady. He was beginning to feel a bit weak to the knees as exhaustion began to take him but knowing that Estelle was here, near this bloodthirsty maniac, he definitely couldn’t back down now.

As he called out to her, however, he noticed that her eyes were trained on Zagi’s back as she clutched onto something tightly in her hands, holding it to her chest. She was frightened, that much was clear. Her knees were shaking, her posture was stiff and her eyes were wide as can be. Her eyes do dart back over to Yuri for just a moment though and Yuri can see something plain in her eyes that filled Yuri with immense dread.

Estelle was planning something.

No, no, no– Run away! Get the hell out of here! Go get the fucking cops or something, it’s too dangerous to stay–“I have his sword!”

Yuri’s thoughts skid to a stop as he stares over at the girl, eyes widening. He felt a small spike of panic shoot through him as Zagi also pauses and turns to look over his shoulder at her, seemingly eyeing her up and down. “Come again?”

Estelle seemingly shrinks beneath both of their gazes as Repede continues to stand by her, trying to seem as tall as possible. She glances down at the small puppy, then to Yuri and then to Zagi.

“You… You want to fight Yuri with his sword, right? That’s.. That’s what you said.” She speaks slowly, taking the tiniest of steps forward as she lowers her hands, still gripping on the mystery object hidden within her grasp. “I-I have it here. If… you just let me give it to him, you can have the fight that you want…”

Yuri gritted his teeth. “Unless you have the world’s tiniest sword in your hands right now, I don’t know if this guy is gonna buy that, Estelle–”

Zagi, however, eyes Estelle’s hands curiously, even lowering his daggers momentarily. “His sword?” He ponders, tilting his head only for the grin to return full force. “Ah, so that’ll wake him up, right?! That blastia…!”

“I’m pretty sure I’m already awake, psycho.” Yuri growls out. “Though looking at you, I wish this was a fucking nightmare–”

“Give him his sword.” A gleeful hiss leaves Zagi’s lips again as his red eyes stare hard at Estelle. “I want it to be a fair fight for when I rip his tongue out!”

“Estelle, stay back!”

Yuri’s words go ignored as Estelle quietly walks forward, still clutching the small object in her hands. Her form is stiff, eyes darting just briefly to Zagi to make sure he didn’t actually attack her, but even still, she holds her head up high as she makes her way to Yuri. She drops to her knees in front of him and immediately, her eyes fall to his chest as she eyes the blood seeping into his shirt.

Yuri hated that she was here. He hated that she was now putting herself in danger, within reach of the bloodthirsty psychopath. He briefly wondered why the hell she was even here. Had she followed him when he stormed off from school? Surely she didn’t live in the Lower Quarter… She was nice and very sweet but every inch of her screamed “Sheltered Rich Girl” from the minute Yuri saw her.

He watches as her eyes scan over him, lingering on his chest, his cut cheeks, his bloodied hand… A look of guilt and sorrow washes over her face. “Oh Yuri… If only I hadn’t…” She trails off, biting her lip tightly as she ducks her head and lowers her voice to an almost inaudible whisper. “No, we don’t have time… Flynn is on his way here.”

Yuri feels his eye twitch but he tries his hardest to keep a calm expression as he glances to Zagi in the corner of his eye. He can see the man giggling to himself as he scrapes his daggers together, as if trying to sharpen the edges. Wonderful.

Thankfully, the man seemed a bit too distracted with planning Yuri’s untimely and possibly gruesome demise to pay much attention to Estelle’s words. “You couldn’t have brought me good news, could you? Nothing like “Cumore choked to death on a pretzel” or “Yuri, you won the lottery!” or anything like that.” Yuri can’t help but pout. “Nah, instead, it’s gotta be “Hey Yuri, Flynn’s on his way and he’s going to personally add his name to the list of casualties taking place in this alleyway today because he can’t keep his nose out of your issues for five seconds because if he does, he’ll likely suffocate and die.” right?”

Estelle purses her lips together. “That… won’t have to happen, if we act fast.” She points out, looking rather hesitant. “I think you can win, Yuri, but you need to trust me. Can you trust me?”

And then, she’s looking back up at him, her green eyes burning with a certain determination. Yuri had to admit, her energy was a bit contagious but…

“I don’t know, Estelle. Are you going to explain what your deal is if I do decide to trust you? You’re not slick, you know. I know you’re up to something.”

“I’ll explain everything. I promise.” Estelle nods, determination not slipping in the slightest before holding out her hands, revealing what she had hidden.

Yuri could’ve choked to death right then and there. Upon staring at the small object within her hands, the first thing that Yuri felt was a warm feeling of familiarity wash over him, followed second by another, stronger feeling that made it seem like his chest vibrated with every pulse of power. The small, red stone seemed to give off a small glowing light as Estelle offered it to Yuri.

It had the same glow to it as it did in his dream from the night before last. It had the same light, the same pulsing energy, the same color, the same everything.

He was almost overwhelmed by how familiar this stone seemed to him and before he could even think to stop himself, he lifted his bloodied hand to grab for the stone. He pauses when he hears the tiniest whine from next to him and he finds himself glancing over to the small puppy standing by his feet.

Repede’s eyes were fixed on the stone as well, as he stood by Yuri’s feet. His ears were perked up as he stared between Yuri and the stone with anticipation. Yuri couldn’t help but wonder if the stone seemed familiar to Repede as well. If it were any other dog, he’d wonder if he had gone insane if he thought that. But there was something special about Repede. The dog was way too smart for his own good.

Yuri was beginning to suspect that it wasn’t just a coincidence.

A strange looking dog with a mysterious wound who seemed to understand Yuri to the same extent as another human being… A new girl who transferred to his high school, who couldn’t seem to stop watching him and was now holding the very same red stone that he had seen in his dreams the night before he had even met her… and now some crazed assassin showing up, calling him by his full name and demanding that he wake up and fight him again, as if he had fought the man before…

Yuri hesitates, pulling his hand back just a bit. Was it really so crazy to think that all of this was connected somehow? He could feel the energy of the stone, still pulsating and it almost felt like it was urging him to come closer and grab it. It just felt right. But he had the strongest feeling that by grabbing his stone, it would throw open the doors to something greater that he wouldn’t be able to turn away from. Whatever that was… would he be able to handle it?

Yuri’s eyes trail down to Repede, who continues to stare at him expectantly. He focuses his gaze on the small dog’s wound across his face, that he had just spent weeks tending to…

As he turns the corner of the old, abandoned gym, Yuri notices a tiny, unmoving and bloodied heap on the ground. The tiniest of whines escapes from the limp form and Yuri could feel his heart strings pull as he steps closer to the tiny creature. He grimaced at the deep wound across the small– what was it, a dog?-- creature’s face and he quietly wondered if the poor thing would even last for much longer. As he ran a hand over the dog’s fur, he saw it. One tiny wag of a tail as the small creature tried to force itself up in order to lean up into Yuri’s hand. He couldn’t help but smile. “Hey… don’t worry. We’re gonna get you fixed up…”

Yuri’s eyes move from Repede and glances towards the sky. He could see the sky, still a bright blue, though not for much longer. What time was it? He had to go and meet up with Karol at his school soon. He would probably begin to wonder where he was at if it showed up late.

“You’re staying home alone right now?” Yuri’s eyes widen just slightly as he leans back against the bench, the ball from their game resting by his feet. “For how long? Just overnight?” “Ah… Well…” Karol’s eyes trail down to his feet, eyeing the ball on the ground instead of looking at Yuri. “...They’ve been gone since Monday…?” He grimaces slightly. Yuri feels his mouth drop open in shock. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” The words leave his lips before he can even stop them. “When are they coming back?” The silence that came from Karol was deafening and it filled Yuri’s chest with a certain, silent rage. “Two weeks…? Maybe a week and a half.” The young boy quickly begins to backtrack. “I mean, I’ve been staying at home by myself for a while! Multiple times! I’ve been told that I’m pretty mature for my age, you know? And I’m pretty good at cooking too, and cleaning and I’m pretty good about getting myself up for school and–” “Where do you live?” Karol blinks before finally making eye contact with Yuri. “Huh?” “I said, where do you live?” Yuri stares back, determination burning behind his eyes.

Yuri looks back to Estelle, uncertainty clear on his face as his eyes shoot past her and focus on Zagi, who stares at him with a wide-eyed grin, just waiting for him to make his move. What would Zagi do if he did manage to kill him? There was no way that Zagi was just going to let Estelle and Repede go.

“No, we don’t have time… Flynn is on his way here.”

Estelle’s words echo in his head as he looks towards the entryway of the alley. Flynn would be here soon, according to Estelle. Knowing Flynn, he would not be able to leave this alone. If he turned the corner and found that Yuri was hurt, or worse, dead… he couldn’t quite predict how he would react.

Yuri wasn’t stupid. He knew how Flynn felt. He knew Flynn better than anyone else and vice versa. And he knew that if something happened to Flynn, Yuri would probably fly off the handle and break every bone in that person’s body. He… cared about Flynn. He really did. Sure, those feelings were usually shoved deep deep within his chest as they danced around the topic for about two years now, but the fact was obvious. He cared. And he knew Flynn did as well.

He knew he couldn’t let Flynn get hurt or killed because of some crazy maniac’s obsession with his death.

“Yuri… You’ll be there for him, won’t you?” Yuri looks up from his phone, confusion clear on his face as he stares over at the sickly form sitting in the hospital bed. Her blue eyes stare out the window as a gentle smile washes over her face. She moves to try and pull her blonde hair out of its loose bun and Yuri is already reaching over to help her let her hair loose. Her fingers were a bit too clumsy lately. “What are you talking about?” Yuri muses, putting the hair band on the tableside. “Do you mean Flynn? It’s hard to not be there for him if we’re living in the same house.” She laughs, like genuinely laughs as she reaches over and pushes his bangs out of his face. She always did like to nag him about how he was growing it out. He knew that she secretly adored his hair though. Flynn could never grow his hair out like he could. Plus, maybe his hair reminded her of one of her dearest friends, long passed. He’s seen the pictures of the woman whom he could barely remember. He supposed he could see the resemblance. “Is that your roundabout way of promising me? You’ll make sure he’ll be alright?” “Sure… Not that it matters. You’ll be out of here in no time. So enough with the gloom, okay?”

No, he had to take care of the problem himself. He couldn’t let Estelle or Repede take the fall for his failures. He couldn’t let Flynn put his nose into his fights, even if it's a fight that Yuri didn’t want to begin with. Zagi made it quite clear that he was here for Yuri’s blood and that he wasn’t going to rest until blood was spilled.

Yuri didn’t understand why. He could probably get answers from Estelle later but right now, he had to focus on the matter at hand. He had people he needed to protect. He needed to protect them. He HAD to protect them.

Which is why he didn’t blink twice before grabbing onto the red stone that was offered to him. With a goal in his heart, he grabbed onto the stone and squeezed it in his left hand, ignoring the pain that shot through it from his wounds.

With a flash, he felt his vision go white as Repede’s howl echoed throughout the alley.

======

Notes: (From Ao3)

So Recently played Tales of Vesperia for the first time, and I might be a little late to the band wagon with this. Pretty sure I'm obsessed with this game now though and now you all have to deal with the consequences! So now, here is my magical person AU! Also a fair warning: I have a basic understanding of Tales of Vesperia lore and I'm kinda just throwing it out the window and making my own rules and changes so beware of that. (One of those being me changing some people's ages! You'll see as we go.) Ages in this chapter: Yuri: 17 Flynn: 17 Estelle: 16 Karol: 12 Also no beta-reading. We die like men. (Google Docs is my beta-reader)

I was worried about getting Zagi's characterization wrong but then I replayed the beginning of the game and he started talking about carving Yuri's name in his blood, and I was like "Actually, I think I did pretty okay." Also this chapter ended up being... way longer than I intended. It ended up being like 39 pages on google docs. The future chapters shouldn't be that long, at least for the most part? But I also cannot promise anything.

#tales of vesperia #fluri #yuri lowell #flynn scifo #tov #magical person au #Bravus Vesperia Magica #ch 1 #romantic tension between yuri and flynn #and also yuri putting the entire world and more on his shoulders bc i simply just love that shit

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