After watching him fight them, not even trying to avoid fighting, I wondered how Estelle would react. "Don't they teach these guys manners in knight school anymore ?", Yuri asked as he stared at the two who were now on the ground. I'm guessing that he didn't happen to see Estelle. Where ever she had gotten that vase, she had picked it up and tried hitting Yuri with it. "Hyah !", she shouted as she aimed for him but missed. Yuri had jumped back right before she had a chance to hit him. "Hey !", he said, looking at her, "What, are you trying to kill me ?" "Well.... you don't belong in the castle, right ?", she replied, asking him about that. Leave it to her to notice. "No, and I'll take it as a compliment that you can tell that by looking at me", he replied nonchalantly. 

"YURI LOOOWELL !!!!! WHERE ARE YOOOOU ?????"

"YOU FOUL FUGITIVE ! I SAY WE KNOW YOU'RE TRYING TO MAKE YOU'RE ESCAPE !"

I could hear Yuri sigh. Those voices had come from nearby. "Oh please, not them again", he said, "Guess there's no point in going back to the prison cell now."

"LOUDER FOOLS ! SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT !!!"

"Lieutenant Leblanc, your voice is TOO loud. My ears...."

Jeez, just what were those guys doing ? Turning back to Yuri and Estelle, I decided if it was a good idea to come out. "Yuri Lowell ?", Estelle asked, "You're one of Flynn's friends aren't you ?" "Yeah, why ?", he replied calmly. "And you used to belong to the Imperial Knights ?", she continued to ask. "Just for three short months", was Yuri's short answer, "You hear that from Flynn ?" "Yes", Estelle replied. "Huh", Yuri said in a relaxed tone, "Guess he managed to find someone at the castle he could talk to after all."

Just as it looked like he was about to leave, Estelle stood in his way. "Yuri !", she said, "I need to talk to Flynn !" He turned away from her and had his back towards her. "Hold on a second", he replied, "Who are you supposed to be anyways ? I can tell you know Flynn, but why are you being chased by the knights ?"

"OVER HERE !"

Turning to the way where the voice came from, I could tell that there were move knights getting closer. "Listen, I want to hear the whole story, but we can't really afford to stand around and chat", I heard Yuri say, "First things first, let's get to Flynn's place. Want me to lead the way ?" "Ah... yes", Estelle replied, but there was hesitation, "But....." "But what ?", Yuri asked, wondering about what she was talking about. "There's someone else", she replied faintly, "That's also being chased by the knights." I could tell that she was referring to me. Sighing, I came out of the shadows and shrugged. 

"Sh- Shinju !?", Estelle said in surprise. "Shinji !?", Yuri said in surprise on the other hand. It was somewhat funny to me, since they had both said it in unison. I watched as the both of them looked at each other and then back at me with confusion. "Why are you...?", he began to ask. Thinking about our situation, I decided to stop him. "There's no time to be fooling around", I replied, smiling at them both, "We need to get to a safer place." Yuri looked at me hesitantly and nodded his head. "Yeah...", he replied, "This.. way."

                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Proceeding to take us to Flynn's room, we wasted no time at all. When we got to a hall, it was where the Imperial Knights stayed. "Yeah, it was around here..", Estelle said as she looked around. "This is Flynn's room", Yuri replied as he looked at the door. Nodding her head, we all entered the room. 

Yuri looked around in content. "He's really keeping this place cleaned up...", he said in satisfaction, "Flynn must be off gallivanting around somewhere." "Then... That means I'm too late", Estelle sadly replied, looking down at her hands. Too late for what ? "So", Yuri said, turning around to face the both of us, "What kind of wickedness did you two do anyways ?" "Me ?", Estelle replied, "I haven't done anything wrong." "And me ?", I replied, "No idea what-so-ever." "And yet a bunch of knights were chasing you both around the castle", Yuri replied in doubt, "....Yeah, that makes sense." 

"Um,you see... Yuri !", Estelle said nervously. "Whoa, what is it ?", he asked, looking at her. She looked at me hesitantly. For some reason, I had a bad feeling. "I can't be specific", she said, "But Flynn is in terrible danger ! I got to go and warn him." "Warn him from what ?", I asked. Not once had I ever heard about this. "So go if you want to go", Yuri said, bluntly taking a seat on his bed, "What's wrong with that ?" "I wish I knew....", Estelle mumbled. 

"Listen, I've got something I've gotta take care of right away, too", Yuri said, making sure that we were aware of his situation, "As soon as things quiet down outside, I want to get back to the Lower Quarter." He turned and looked at me. "And you", he said, "Who would have thought you'd be here." Judging by the way he was staring at me, I remembered that I was in my "Shinji Clothing" from the Lower Quarters. And here I thought that he already knew that I was hiding something. "In that case", Estelle said confidently, "Would you please take us with you ? Please ? Other than Flynn, there's no one we can depend on." I thought about what she just said.

Me ? Depend on Flynn ? You must be kidding.

"Will you at least help us get out of the castle ?", she continued to ask, "Please, I'm begging you." As good as Estelle was, she even bowed to him. I grinned at him hesitantly. To tell you the truth, since I often went out to go to the Lower Quarters, I already knew a path to get out of the castle. But, I might as well just follow Yuri to see if he knew where to go. "Okay, I can see you're serious", he replied, "But why don't you tell me your name first." Just as we were about to do the long, or short, name introduction, the door suddenly went down causing Estelle to scream. 

"Aaaaah !!!"

There was a figure of a person on the other side of the door. "Quick, move back !", I shouted as Estelle did so. She stood behind me as we all waited for that person to reveal himself to us. 

"Prepare to fall victim to my blade...."

Coming out of the shadows was this man wearing some sort of uniform. He had redish-pink hair with some long gold bangs in the front. He also had sharp looking eyes. Could he be... and assassin ?