My first Tales of Vesperia fanfiction... Spoilers till clearing Heracles!

All characters, locations and eggbears mentioned (c) Namco Bandai.

The night was clear and the temperature pleasantly cool, Capua Nor was quiet after the chaos of the day had finally settled down. Sitting on one of the usually busy stall's roof, nearly invisible from the very rare passers-by due to his overall dark color scheme, was one Yuri Lowell. Legs crossed and his sword ever by his side, he seemed deep in thought. He was looking towards the moon and one could have seen it beautifully reflect from his eyes, gray with a unique tint of violet. Yuri sighed and turned his gaze down to the empty streets.

They had finally reached Estelle again, only to be violently thrown to the other end of the continent. Everything that had happened after the party had reached Myorzo had put them through a lot. Especially Rita had seemed not only physically pained but also mentally crushed after they had lost Estelle once again. Knowing how the mage reached to people talking to her about her feelings, Yuri had tried not to pay any special attention to her. But no matter how he thought about their next move, the man couldn't do anything about it at the moment. No-one was in any shape to try to reach Zaphias again so soon, he included. Yuri tried to shake the thoughts about the future and concentrated instead on his own feelings on certain recent events.

Raven. His betrayal, death, come-back. Before, Yuri had paid little mind to the fleeting, strange thought of the man that had occasionally popped up. He had barely even realized he had been taking notice of Raven's habits, memorizing his favorite foods, keeping a close eye on how he was doing in battles, noticing the slightest changes in his mood. But while in Myorzo, when they got worried about Estelle going missing, Yuri had also felt a little hurt by Raven taking up his old habit of sudden disappearances; why couldn't the old man have at least told him he was leaving? And then came the suspicion of a link between the two's disappearances, like a frozen eggbear had been stuffed inside Yuri's stomach. An eggbear that had been let loose and went on a rampage in his heart as the suspicions had been proven true. In the fierce battle against Schwann Yuri fought not only against a captain of the knights but also sub-consciously his own tears.

Everything that had happened in the shrine was still a little blurry to him, but Yuri could recall the lecture he gave Schwann, and how he let his instinct to save everyone, including himself, let control, only restraining himself from his sudden intense need of taking Schwann – Raven – with him. He knew the man had made his decision, and so Yuri focused on his part as a leader, hurrying the others to keep them from grieving. He had to, or he might have completely broken down himself. Judith, sharp-eyes as usual, had noticed, but it changed nothing. They had to move on.

When they had encountered Leblanc and his men outside the shrine, Yuri found his usual way of hiding most of his emotions was helping him cope with the situation, though it still hurt him to hear Judith's words; he's in the shrine. The deepest part. Focusing on their mission of rescuing Estelle was once again his first priority. Yuri's innermost feelings had already been a mess, but as Raven had suddenly turned up on the Heracles… Yuri had been overjoyed, seeing the man alive, but a wave of doubt had also swallowed him. In the end, Schwann had saved them at Baction, but the events leading to it had been caused by the very same person. Rita had voiced her doubts first, followed by Yuri who tried to cover his personal hurt with the terrible situation he'd caused for the whole group, especially Estelle. But while Raven's act of giving Yuri power over his life, symbolized by his knife, had shocked Rita, it had brought up the same side in Yuri that had so wanted to save Raven back in Baction. He knew he'd give the strange man one more chance, but hid his reasons with his usual badass behavior. Everyone went along with it, and Yuri thought he'd clear up this feeling inside him later.

And 'later' had arrived. Yuri knew he needed sleep, but his messed-up thoughts wouldn't grant him rest. He'd decided to try and not wake up anyone else from their battered band of guilders (and Rita), and went outside to let the cool sea breeze calm his head. Going through all that had happened a few times, he reached only a notion he'd already made, the thought that had driven him to ponder on it more: there was something special about Raven, something that attracted Yuri's gaze, tried to take over his thoughts, made him feel slightly uneasy.

Yuri looks back at the sky, to the few clouds drifting in Capura Torim's direction, illuminated by the moonlight. Why did he feel this way, and what was this feeling anyway? He worried over Raven, felt hurt when raven kept secrets from him, he desperately wanted to keep Raven close… Yuri knew he'd feel the same things if it was any friend, but there had been… something else. Something stronger, going deeper into his innermost self.

Stronger than friendship… but… Something felt like it had just clicked in his head. Yuri wasn't sure how to react. Him… me? Why… how... The young man wasn't sure what to think of his new discovery. It wasn't a bad feeling, he was just… unsure. Why Raven? The thought of the old man just being himself, smiling, jumping around for no apparent reason, making stupid comments or even slightly funny remarks made Yuri a little happier, slightly warmer inside. He thought Raven's complaining kind of cute and he absolutely loved making fun of the man. Yuri sneered in a kind fashion. Maybe having a little crush wasn't that bad, even if it was an older man. If just being near him—

"Yuri!" the young man heard from below. He was slightly startled as he hadn't expected anyone else outside that that hour, much less someone with business with him. He glanced down below the stall's sunshades and his eyes met Raven's, who was looking up at him. Yuri blushed so slightly it was not visible to the other man in plain moonlight. The old man sure knows when to make an appearance… he thought and swiped his bangs out of his face and muttered something to the effect of "huh?" to the man waiting for his reaction.

"Oh goody, found ya! Woke up when Rita sleep-casted anotha spell at me and I got a wee bit worried when ya were missin'. Whatcha doing out here?" Raven blabbered on. The youth on top of some local's workplace looked away; he didn't want the man to see his face. "Oh, just thinking… I couldn't get to sleep...", he shrugged. Looking away from the man he didn't notice Raven grinning. "Oh? Thinkin' 'bout what?" Yuri twitched. "Eh, you know… Estelle… Alexei… Zaphias' lower quarter… stuff that's been happening", he said, being careful not to list Raven in any way. A fact of which the man below took notice, yet said nothing about. "Hmm. Well, be careful not to fry your brain, would be the last thing we need right now", he commented and instantly changed his grin to a soft, friendly smile as Yuri turned to him. "Psh… You take care not to go out of order 'cause of your age just yet, old man", the swordsman shot back. Raven didn't bother playing hurt. "Sure, sure. Ya try ta get some sleep soon, okay? Later, once this whole mess's cleared up, we'll talk about you an' me." Yuri grabbed his sword as he got ready to get off the stall to try and finally sleep after making a little sense to what had been going on in his head as he suddenly froze. "Wh… what? Who an' wha…" he stuttered and almost fell on the unsteady sunshade fabric, and turned back to Raven with the speed of a lightning strike, his face turning scarlet. Raven was already heading back to the inn and just waved his hand, grinned and said "Night~!" in his usual carefree tone, and walked away. Yuri, trying to balance himself to safely get down, looked after the man with an expression a mix of surprise, embarrassment and even mild delight. Running after Raven would probably turn out pointless; the man had a way of avoiding giving answers, and Yuri wasn't sure what to say anyway.

Later.