Estellise's slim form cut easily through the usual milling nobles, leaving a wake of gossiping murmurs as she and an armored Flynn passed by. Neither of them bothered to even look at any of them as they walked, wrapping dignity around themselves among the noise. Flynn could hear them speculating about why he was in full Commandant regalia, and he ignored them, focusing solely on the woman boldly walking in front of him. She stopped in front of a door, turning to look at him. "Do you know who's been affected?" she asked, quietly.

He shook his head, frowning. "I can only hazard a guess. I saw a guard leave her room after the insanity at the execution, so I wouldn't trust any of the knights seen in her presence."

She blushed at that. "Catherine was... I don't know everyone she had..." Her hands gestured vaguely, and it occurred to Flynn that perhaps the only knowledge she had of such things would be purely academic. She might have intellectually known that her friend was rather promiscuous, but it wouldn't have occurred to her what it really meant. Then another thought occurred to him.

"Estellise. Had she...?"

The blush deepened, and she looked down at her hands. "L-let's go talk to Ioder now!" she announced, her pitch and volume slightly high. Flynn felt anger rise at that, at the unsaid fact that Catherine had twisted Estellise's mind like that too. He wanted to ask how far she had gone, if she had taken more innocence than she should have, but he reined himself in. Now was not the time. They needed to speak with Ioder, to tell him about Catherine. About what she had done, and the danger it posed. Estellise turned back to the door and knocked, waiting patiently until the door was opened. "I am Princess Estellise Sidos Heurassein, and I am here to see my cousin, Emperor Ioder Argylos Heurassein," she said in a clear voice, and only those listening hard could hear the slight waver. "Commandant Flynn Scifo accompanies me."

The guard at the door started slightly, looking past her at to Flynn's stony mien, to his Commandant armor. "What have you done, My Lady?" he whispered, looking back at Estellise with wide eyes. She drew herself up even further as if offended, and the guard cleared his throat, opening the door further. "Of course."

Where Estellise had led him to seemed to be Ioder's study. He looked up from the documents he was immersed in immediately at his cousin's name, joy suffused on his tired face, but it was tempered when Flynn's full title was announced. "Cousin," he said, standing. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Estellise turned to Flynn, nodding to him. He stepped forward, hand over his heart as he bowed. "Your Majesty," he started. "We have grave news. May we speak in private?" Ioder raised an eyebrow at that, but dismissed all but his personal guards. Flynn eyed them, but couldn't place if he had ever seen them with Catherine or not. They were supposedly loyal to the Crown alone, so he would assume they would be safe to have there, but it was still a risk. He looked at Estellise, seeing the same thoughts playing over her face, and a resolution. They'd have to take the risk. He turned back to Ioder. "Lady Catherine d'Amante attacked me earlier today, tried to kill Lady Estellise and me, and revealed herself as the one behind at least one of the attempts on my life."

That made Ioder blink, surprised. He looked between the two of them, realizing they were deadly serious. Flynn didn't blame him. Catherine had not only seemingly made Estellise so happy, been such a good friend for her, but she didn't seem like she could attack anyone. She had been so wispy, her body structure looking not at all like she had been trained to fight. He should have realized it, though, through the way she moved. Pure elegance, yes, but in his memory he could see how she held herself, poised to fight at a moments notice. Behind Ioder, his guards frowned, turning to each other and whispering. More than likely talking about how unlikely it was that an untrained noble lady would be an assassin herself and have tried to kill a hero of the realm. Flynn lifted his head slightly as he noticed one wasn't taking part, but rather had his head lowered slightly. He had just opened his mouth to say something when the guard suddenly unsheathed his sword, swinging at Ioder with a terrible blank expression. In an instant, Flynn and the other guards had their swords out and were advancing, but they would be too late-

And Estellise dove into the path of the blade, her arms outstretched to protect her cousin. Almost instantly, the sword stopped, the edge of the blade quivering mere inches near her throat. Flynn could see the terrified expression on her face as she stared at the guard, but he never moved. He never completed the swing. The other guards proceeded to disarm him, wrestling him to the ground, and Flynn knocked him out with one well aimed strike to the temple with the hilt of his sword. He sheathed his sword and turned to Estellise and Ioder, bowing again when they looked up at him. "Lady Catherine had more than an attempt on my life we needed to talk about," he said grimly.

While the assassination attempt on Ioder was new to all of them, it started to make things clearer. The guard had stopped completely when Estellise had gotten in the way. Catherine had wanted Estellise alive then, and under her control. Perhaps... alone, bereft of her cousin and her friends as well? Her ultimate goal still eluded Flynn, and he wondered if he would ever figure it out without her captured. And capturing her would be an issue, with her abilities to drain energy and get into others heads.

They had been discussing this in the study when the door slammed open, causing Estellise and Flynn to instantly go for their swords. "Estelle!" A familiar brown haired force of nature descended on them, bypassing Flynn completely to go straight for Estellise. Rita looked completely frazzled, as if she had been storming the palace looking for her friend. Any knight that either got in her way or had to tell her that Estellise wasn't in that location at that time must have had to wish blastia was still around and to be hit with one of her Tidal Waves after Rita was done. "What happened? I heard you were attacked!"

There was a fragile smile on Estellise's face as Rita looked her over, a realization coming to her. Her hands closed over the younger girl's, stilling her friend. "It's okay," she said softly. "I'll... I have a lot to tell you later." The words came choked out, and Flynn had to look away. It was a private moment between them, and he and Ioder both knew they were intruding between the two women. "Right now, we're going to need help. Do you remember anyone that's been in Catherine's presence? I... I mean, besides me?"

Rita frowned, confused, and Estellise had to explain what had happened earlier to Ioder. The teen's face turned more and more thoughtful as she talked, a hand going to her chin. She started to pace, still thinking. "That shouldn't be possible. She shouldn't have any way to do that without blastia- wait." Rita turned to Estelle, hands on her hips. "What do you mean, in Catherine's presence besides you?"

Estellise shot Flynn a panicked look. He understood; it would be hard to tell her now about what had happened with an audience. Flynn had been there, yes, but he was still an audience and her cousin was certainly not one she wanted to overhear this sort of thing. He nodded, turning to Rita. "Estellise wasn't the one who was attacked," he told her firmly. "I was. Catherine was the one that was behind at least the assassination at the execution, and she attempted to finish the job herself. Estellise was suspicious when she heard noises of a battle from my room and no guard reacting to it." He saw her giving him a skeptical look. "Catherine was much stronger than she looked, perhaps even inhumanly so. She was able to toss me around like I weighed nothing at all and and press me up against a wall. There-" His face felt like it was on fire. "-she pressed her lips against mine and inhaled. It-"

"Felt like she was drawing your life energy out?" Rita suddenly interrupted, her entire posture thoughtful again. Estellise shot him a grateful look as Rita considered that. "I know I've heard of something like that before, but I just- Estelle, what about you?"

"Me? Um... now that you mention it, it does sound familiar. But I don't remember." Estellise tried to remember, muttering to herself what Flynn had just described, but eventually gave up. "I'll have to check my books. Flynn?" She turned to him, curious. "How did you make her stop draining you?"

Rita straightened up, wanting to know the same thing, and Ioder leaned in. He was either going to have to be delicate about this, or- no. He looked at Estellise and Estellise alone, and said simply, "Yuri stabbed her in the back."

Her eyes went round as Rita and Ioder sighed at that. "Flynn," Rita started, "Yuri is dead."

"Yes, he is," Flynn said simply, looking at her. "He's ice cold, has no pulse, drinks blood, and Catherine confirmed it, saying he was wasting his death and calling him a vampire." Estellise jumped slightly at that, and everyone looked at her, Ioder reaching out to take her hand. "Do you know something about that, Estellise?"

"Yes." Her voice was subdued. "It's an old story. There was an old hunter and his daughter. They lived happily for many years. She never married, but rather took care of her father. Men from the nearby village would offer dowries, but her father would turn them down. One day, he went out to hunt for food, and never returned. Soon after, bodies of the men that offered marriage were found dead." Everyone was leaning in now, the parallels starting to match up in everyone's heads. "It's... different than what happened here. It wasn't... blood. It was..."

"Flesh." Everyone looked at Flynn when Estellise trailed off. "Judith told me what she could remember of the story."

Estellise nodded, pulling her hands away from Ioder's to settle into her lap. "She's right. It was. But otherwise it's similar. The old man was the same. He was dead, but he came back and attacked and hurt people just like- but he never hurt his daughter. He- he always protected her. People would come to try to take her away, and he would kill them, just show up and eat them. Eventually, the villagers killed him, and saying they rescued the daughter from a ghoul, but-"

"It's probably just a classification," Rita interrupted, thinking. "Ghoul for eating flesh, vampire for blood, and so on. Though I have to wonder what causes some people to come back, and what triggers their- what?" Estellise was staring at her, at Rita just stared back, uncomprehending. She just shook her head, taking the younger girl's hands.

"It's nothing," she told her with a small smile. It was with no slight amusement that Flynn noticed that Rita blushed at that, and did not pull her hands back. "So that... that's what Yuri is now?" She looked at Flynn, worry in her eyes.

"Yes," he said after a moment of hesitation. It was a loaded question, with a loaded answer. Estellise slumped slightly, and Rita turned to her, murmuring something he couldn't hear. She did perk up at that a bit, and they started talking animatedly, breaking off into their own conversation. Ioder didn't turn away, looking steadily at him. He leaned in, speaking quietly so the other two wouldn't overhear him.

"Where is he now?"

Flynn studied his face, realizing Ioder saw it a different way. While Estellise and Rita - even Flynn, if he thought about it - saw it as Yuri was still around, still protecting them in some way, Ioder saw the threat to his people. He hadn't forgotten about Yuri killing pets and monsters, and his eyes saw the mess of healing bite marks on Flynn's neck. A gauntleted hand gently brushed the bites before Flynn realized what he was doing, making him shiver and drop his hand. "He followed Catherine," he answered just as quietly. "Stabbing her through the back didn't kill her and he was very angry about both the assassination attempt and the mind control. Where that is, I couldn't say."

Ioder nodded, understanding though disappointed. "I can have a unit ready for you to be dispatched in a week," he started when Flynn shook his head.

"I'll have to decline." He looked over at Estellise. "I have other obligations." The two of them watched the women talk, watched the unease in Estellise's green eyes ease considerably as she looked over to Flynn, and he heard Ioder sigh.

"I see. Out of all the knights, you're the only one she can trust to not be affected." Ioder sat back, his voice still quiet. Flynn had to turn back to him, leaning in and straining his ears to hear. "Thank you, Commandant."

The title made Flynn blink for a moment, taken off guard. It felt almost too long since he had heard Ioder call him by his title. Then, he bowed, hand pressed against his heart. "The honor is all mine," he murmured.

The following weeks were rather quiet in comparison, especially when Brave Vesperia had to leave for another job. Certainly, they found several knights that had been controlled by Catherine, and it was almost intriguing how her control fractured. It didn't seem to all go at once; even Estellise had moments where she would stop suddenly and become completely blank. She was the fastest to start to recover, to unbind herself completely from Catherine's control, given her previous encounter with mind control and her own iron will, but when she went under the quickest way to pull her out they found was merely Rita's voice. It made Flynn smile as he noticed the younger of the two start to understand why, and not leave Estellise's side whenever possible.

It wasn't all perfect, however. The control still hovering around the knights and Estellise, for instance. It had started to become obvious Flynn was not her true target, but just one. The violence whenever a new bespelled knight entered Ioder's presence was frightening. They had started to work on breaking the mind control, trying various methods to see what worked and what people responded to. Not everyone responded to things the same way, but they all were working on it. Everyone was working on reclaiming their own minds, being sure their actions were their own and not influenced by another's.

And then there was Flynn.

It was the maid that woke him up to his actions. He, Rita, and Estellise had been in the library, searching for any clue as to what Catherine might be. There had been references to mind control, yes, but they had been all to blastia. Nothing to an internal ability that one might have. Out of a hunch, Flynn had grabbed a book on infernal realms, trying to slog through the dry text on the various denizens there. Yuri may have called her a demon, but that may have just been out of anger. Or he might have known what she was and actually been referencing it, he didn't know. He had just turned the page when something clattered by his side. In a flash, he was on his feet, sword drawn and pointed at the possible threat. On the other end was a terrified maid, her face drained of all color while Rita and Estellise stood as well. The princess took Flynn's arm, slowly lowering it while the teen took the maid aside, speaking with her. He looked over, seeing a cup of steaming tea resting innocently on the table.

"Flynn." Estellise cupped his face, forcing him to come back to himself. He turned to look down at her, swallowing. "It's okay. Rita's talking with her now. It's okay."

He looked back over to where the maid and Rita were, seeing the servant sobbing in terrified tears and Rita glancing back at Estellise in an awkward 'what do I do?' way. His gaze turned to the sword in his hand, then back to Estellise. She could have been another assassin, he wanted to say. She could have tried to kill me. She could be under Catherine's control, fracturing through it is, and attempting to kill me. But even he knew that wasn't true. Even he could see her emotions, her fear. Flynn sheathed his sword and closed his eyes, not wanting to look at Estellise due to shame. He felt her arms around him, a small measure of comfort, but he didn't return the hug.

She had been an innocent maid. He had nearly hurt an innocent maid. "What am I doing?" he whispered, feeling her tighten the hug. "What have I done?"

"It's okay," she whispered back. "We'll fix this too."

Servants outright refused to go anywhere near his room to clean it unless he was guaranteed to be away for the entire day. Flynn watched the maid scurry away after leaving his room as she caught sight of him rounding the corner, his hands catching into fists. He had thought the whispers that had been barely behind his back had hurt the worst. No one had prepared him for people being outright afraid of him, and his friends too busy supporting and healing each other for him. If Yuri had been there-

But no. There were more problems with that statement than just Yuri's disappearance. His current state of living, after all. His death count was another, perhaps larger one than his lack of pulse, even though they tied in together. Both were things he couldn't ignore, just as he couldn't ignore the ache to see the man again. And even that he hadn't told anyone how deep that had gone. How Yuri had directed him and guided him while he let himself be distracted, be relieved of his virginity at the hands of his childhood friend. How he wanted it more than anything then, and the realization that if he figured out why he wanted it, it would kill him. No, Flynn realized. He would let it kill him.

He tilted his head back, jaw flexing. He would let it kill him. That's how deep he let it get, and it was from someone he trusted with his life. Someone he had trusted for years. Perhaps the first person he had trusted. And he just let it happen. Flynn wrenched the door to his room open, his entire body trembling with repressed rage as he slammed it behind him once he was in. How could he have let it happen? Then he laughed bitterly, his hands coming up to run through his hair as he paced. Let? He let it happen as much as he let the assassination attempts happen. He let it happen as much as he let himself become paranoid at any flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye.

"You'll wear out the floor that way." Only the fact there was an unexpected voice registered first, and Flynn had his sword drawn Yuri's lounging form before he realized he recognized the voice. The maid must have left the window open, he thought belatedly, as it was too warm to leave them closed during the day. He had tried to tell the servants to close them, but they forgot some days while trying to be as comfortable as possible while cleaning. To Yuri's credit, he didn't react to Flynn pointing a sword in his face. He only smiled, still lounging on the sill. "So, the knights ranks seem even smaller than before. What's up?"

Flynn breathed slowly, deliberately, and sheathed his sword. It wasn't Yuri's fault he was on edge. "Catherine." It was enough of an explanation. He watched his friend's face darken at it. "There are some we've discovered who are still threats to His Highness."

Yuri made a disgusted noise. "So that was her plan." He tensed slightly as he heard someone outside the door, relaxing when they passed by without stopping. "I lost her trail at the Sands of Kogorh. Either she has a really good hiding spot there I couldn't find, or something ate her." Neither of them had to say they hoped that something had eaten her, for the amount of trouble she had left behind. Yuri looked at Flynn, his eyes odd. "You don't normally point a sword at me for no reason," he finally commented, standing and coming over to him.

Flynn's mouth instantly went dry, the only thing he could think of was memories of the last time they were alone. Of the pressure around his fingers and erection, the mouth at his throat, and the sounds Yuri made. "It's... been a hard couple of weeks," he said, then cursed his word selection as those eyes watching him darkened. He watched Yuri's chin tilt up, invitingly and oh. Yes. He did want to answer that unspoken question. He did want to start stripping off his now blisteringly hot armor and everything under it and pour all the stress of the last few weeks into a more carnal nature. He did want Yuri to show him more of what they could do together- just let Yuri take control and learn as his climax was wrung from however his childhood friend wished to do it.

But no. He didn't let himself get dragged in deeply, but he could stop himself from going too far. And he knew that feeling was too far. Flynn took one step away, taking a steadying breath. "You should go, Yuri. Check back on Desier to see if Catherine has resurfaced."

Disappointment flashed through Yuri's eyes, but he merely nodded and started to leave. Understanding took the place of disappointment when he looked back at Flynn, and he hesitated. "Hey," he said softly. "Judy's a pretty good person to talk to, you know." With those words, he left, leaving Flynn behind feeling slightly dumbfounded. Judith? What had he...?

Oh. Judith had left with the rest of her guild when another job had come up, having needed the money. As popular a guild as they were, their overhead costs were still rather high. But he was right, and he had already known that. He needed someone he trusted to talk to about what happened. Judith was intelligent, and her teasing was not the type that would make you feel angry or hurt. He would prefer Estellise or Yuri, but... well. Estellise was dealing with healing her own mind, and he just had first hand experience with what talking with Yuri would be like. Flynn quickly wrote a missive for her and started out to give it to a courier. He had no idea if she would go next to Dahngrest or back to Zaphias, but he figured a letter to their headquarters would not go amiss.

In the meantime... Flynn ran a hand through his hair, straightening it, and made sure his armor was a little more comfortable around his lower body. While Yuri's presence had made an impression that demanded more than requested a hand between his legs, the information he brought was more important. He would have to bring that to Ioder and Estellise's attention. Life, he reflected, kept moving on no matter what.

He knew what he was going to do.

A/N: Wow. I haven't written anything like this in a very long time.

I want to thank everyone. I don't care who you are right now, or what you've done. I don't care if you've commented, favorited, put this story on alerts, or just read it, I want to thank you. You commented/favorited/put it on your alerts/read my story. All of those separately are the highest honor you can give me. Thank you.