A/N: Welcome, everyone, to this fic! This story is a semi-crossover with Dawn of the New World since Aster is thrown in here; a novelization of sorts of Vesperia. There are spoilers for Tales of Symphonia-Dawn of the New World and eventually Vesperia. Don't expect this to be a carbon copy of the game's script, because it is not; I strive to keep it more fresh while still preserving the spirit of the original material. I plan to try to release chapters bi-weekly, and likely will be able to for the first few chapters, but past Six it might take more time.

Also, a huge shout-out to my dear friend Alexandria Moon who helped to serve as an editor. Thanks much! 3

Without further ado, the disclaimer. I hope you all enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Vesperia or it's characters or Aster or anything else I am forgetting. I only "own" the created personality and history for Aster and this rendition of this game's great story.

Chapter One: Courage

'How am I still alive?' The blonde opened his eyes slowly to meet the unexpected sunlight. A forest, quiet, but not very dense, came into view. He swallowed something and froze. Aster lifted a shaky hand and brushed a fingertip against his tongue. As he drew back his hand, he could see bits of a red gelatinous substance dripping from his index finger. His mouth was dry, and his taste buds did not seem to be working, but judging by the appearance and consistency, he identified the material as part of an apple gel.

The young man winced as he forced himself to sit up. With a groan, he began to survey his surroundings more closely. Nothing out of the ordinary was around him, at least. The forest seemed normal, but it definitely did not appear familiar… "Silence!" A flash, and a ball of sparkling energy appeared. The attack was quick, and at first he did not feel a thing… Aster slammed his eyes shut. No, he was definitely there no longer. All assumptions led to the fact that he had died, and yet his body ached too much for him to be in any sort of afterlife. That made him beg the question—what happened? He flicked the remainder of the apple gel off of his finger. Who had helped him?

"Richter?" Aster pushed himself up slowly and took an unsteady step forward. He nearly stumbled, but caught himself on a nearby tree. The lack of a response worried him. Was the half-elf simply not in the area, or… He frowned. Was it something worse? "Richter! Where are you?" The response he received was definitely not his friend.

"Hey! Some people are trying to run some experiments here, so keep it down!" Aster turned around and started toward the voice. He moved beyond some brush to see a girl roughly his age standing before a cabin, looking rather irritably back at him. She stood at least a head shorter than he, her light brown hair was cropped short and framed her face. Her eyes were green and her outfit was best summed up as strange. A multi-colored top covered her body, and two long, mismatching socks were worn on her legs. Various small instruments stuck out of the pockets on her chest, and goggles were worn on her head. She looked odd, but also pretty in her own way.

"I, uh... s-sorry!" Aster apologized, not knowing quite what else to say. His apology fell on deaf ears, however, as she continued to glare at him. "Really, I am. I understand the feeling of being interrupted while working. If I might ask, what sort of experiments are you running?" The researcher thought that maybe she was not going to answer, but she surprised him.

"Experiments with blastia, what else?" She replied as she turned around to reenter what he assumed was her home. "I'm trying to decipher some of the formulas inscribed into one that I found a few days ago." Aster stared blankly. Blastia? Formulas?

"What are you talking about? What are blastia?" The blonde bit his lip, realizing even as he said it that he must sound completely ignorant to her. Her tone had suggested that 'blastia,' whatever it was, was a common thing that he should probably know about. It could have even been a more scientific term, but because he was wearing his lab coat, she might have guessed that he would know. Regardless, she turned around quickly, her face showing obvious disbelief.

"Woah, wait, did you just ask what blastia are?!" She asked with wide eyes, her tone condescending. "How can you not know what they are? Everyone knows to at least some extent what they do!" His hypothesis proved true, then.

The young man's face flushed slightly. "I-I just don't. I'm not from around here, I don't think, sorry." It was an odd feeling to admit to not knowing something. Usually, he always had some degree of understanding of what he was talking about. Yet, had never heard the word 'blastia' until now, so how could he be expected to know? The girl sighed.

"Blastia utilize aer to provide us with various helpful things, like a basis for the elements, power for technology, and even supplement our battle prowess and spells. Usually, large ones are used as barriers to protect cities from monsters. And before you ask, aer, as in A-E-R, is a normally invisible substance that exists all across the world, powering blastia and allowing us to use magic." With such an explanation, Aster decided not to ask about elves and half-elves. Wherever he was, it was different from typical Aselia. Aer sounded somewhat like mana, though, but less essential to life. How was it possible that he had never heard of something like this? Tethe'alla never had such technology, and from what he knew, Sylvarant was still far worse off than his home.

"Oh," is all he offered in response to the girl's explanation. "Then, what do you mean by studying the formulas inscri-"

"How do you not know this? I thought you looked like some kind of guy from Aspio, but I guess you've been living under a rock your whole life. I only helped you because I thought you were from there, too. Guess I was wrong." She sniffed. Aster almost flinched when she spoke of why she had helped—though at least that answered the question of who had helped him…and why. "So, is there any other obvious thing you want to ask, or will you leave me alone?" The young man smiled weakly and shook his head. She did not seem like she was too willing to help him out with anything else, so he figured it best to let matters be.

"Well, thanks, then, uh…" He trailed off, realizing that he had not asked for her name. "Oh, that's right! I never introduced myself. I'm Aster Tharros. Who are you?"

"Rita Mordio." The reply was short, and she had crossed her arms as she looked blankly into his eyes.

"Well, thanks, Rita, for helping me. Good luck on your studies!" He offered her a smile. She did not return it, though a fleeting hint of confusion entered her eyes. It was clear that she wanted no more to do with him, though, so he would comply with her wish. The desire to find out what was going on burned within him, and Rita did not seem likely to help him any more in that regard.

"Yeah, whatever…" She mumbled, already heading inside the cabin, carrying about as if she had never met him. Aster sighed. To be irritated with him was one thing, but it was another entirely to pretend as if he did not exist. He got the vibe that she usually did not get along well, or interact much, with others. He brushed the dust off his lab coat and started back toward the area in which he had woken, hoping that that direction would lead to somewhere he could find out what was going on.

Despite walking for a few minutes, nothing in the woods seemed to imply that there was any town nearby. The forest seemed all the same. Aster was just thankful that no monsters had attacked him so far. Of course, his luck ran out as he began to see a lupine shape ahead in a clearing. The researcher froze, taking a few steps back. The wolf was hunched over, probably eating some other unfortunate monster, and it was likely the only reason it did not smell him yet. Continuing on in that direction, especially with no way to defend himself, would be suicide. After dying once—at least, he was pretty sure he had died—Aster did not fancy to die again.

Slowly, the blonde began to step away so not to alert the wolf, and then when he felt himself safe, broke into a run. If any other monster caught his scent and began to hunt him down, there would be no getting away; he did not consider himself anywhere near athletic enough to escape a monster. Where was Richter at a time like this?

"I thought I told you to stop bothering me!" Shouted the annoyed voice of Rita. Aster came to a stop, wondering what was going on. After all, he was not that close to her cabin, was he? Was it someone else…? Guilt emerging once more, he started running back toward her location. He did not want to have to bother her and seek her help, but if she lived out in these woods, alone or not, she had to have some way to protect herself. If only he knew some way to convince her to help him once more… Always 'if only'.

A conflagration and smoke welcomed Aster back to Rita's cabin. The fire was still relatively small, but it was slowly growing and enveloping the wooden cabin. "Rita!" He shouted, hoping that the girl was not inside. He foolishly (but carefully) approached the blazing building, peering through a hole in the front where he thought it safe to do so. To his dismay, he saw Rita inside rushing to collect what appeared to be spherical objects that glittered with light reflected by the fire. The next he knew, he had pushed the door open and run inside. "Rita, you have to get out of here! You'll die!"

Rita favored him with a glare. "Shut up!" "Silence!" A flash, and a ball of sparkling energy appeared... Aster flinched. "I need my research and my blastia! If I lose them, then…" Her voice wavered. Aster came out of his reverie as she continued. His gray eyes blazed as hot as the fires around them at her foolish words.

"What's the point of it if you lose your life?! You can write down your notes again, but no one can come back from the dead!" The irony of his statement was lost on him. The girl's emerald eyes hardened and she shook her head defiantly. Aster scowled and grabbed her arm.

"Wh-what are you doing?! Let go of me!" Rita snapped. The blonde refused, pulling her as he headed toward the door. "I need my notes! They're just on my desk!" She struggled to free herself. "Let. Me. Go!" She finally broke away from him and scrambled toward the said desk. Aster reached for her arm again, but she was too far away. She snatched the papers that rested atop her desk, and Aster was amazed that they had not yet begun to burn. However, as she turned around, a burning beam collapsed, cutting her off from the way out. Her eyes went wide as her limbs locked up, only able to watch the encroaching flames. He was knocked back by the blast and began tumbling backward onto the chamber's bridge. He rolled onto his stomach, pain enveloping his form…

Aster's mind snapped back to the situation at hand. His eyes widened as he became frantic. How was he supposed to sit there and watch the girl burn to death in front of him? He could run away and save himself, but how could he live with that, knowing he left her to die? Yet, how could he help her? Even if she had almost completely blown him off and had not shown herself to be friendly at all, he could not sit there and do nothing! But how could he do anything without them both dying? His lab coat was somewhat flameproof, but it wasn't big enough to wrap around them both…

A chill ran down the researcher's spine. A way to save Rita came to him, but that likely meant his own death. The pain that would come… One of his hands became balled into a fist. 'Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality.' His infamous saying reverberated within him, and he smiled despite the direness of the scene before him. He could do this. He could do this, and he had to do this. Perhaps this was why he was still alive.

He flung himself recklessly through the fire devouring the beam The smell of burning hair filled his nostrils as he grabbed Rita's arm, drew her close, wrapped her in his lab coat, and brought her with him back over the fallen support. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, he pushed himself to cross over the threshold and escape into the outside air. Once there, he collapsed and rolled slightly to the side. Searing pain assaulted him.

The blonde allowed a quick glance at himself and noted that some of his clothes had caught fire, and he assumed by the smell that his hair was burning. Rita stood above him, appearing to be mostly unharmed, and he was glad. At least this time his life was spent to help someone. At least this time, he chose how to give his life…

There was another yell, and two completely different voices meshed together to call out his name. Pain enveloped his form and heralded the coming darkness.

Leave a review if you'd like; any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. If you do leave a review, I'll try my best so send you guys a short preview of the next chapter of the story. Unfortunately, guest reviews will not be able to receive these previews. Thank you for reading, and I hope you all stick with me for the next week!