edgeofjustice | Memories 6-10

6. An insipid poison; a decision [066]
Game 51, Day 66 ☀ ring 6/7

Well a giant talking bird attacks Dahngrest but that is not actually the focus of this memory. The focus is Estelle making the decision to keep journeying with Yuri. There is so much dere for Estelle here. It’s also when Yuri announces that he’s going to start a guild—he doesn’t know exactly what that means exactly in Aather but Flynn says something it meaning he is going to do things his own way. He also gives Flynn the Aque blastia to take back to the Lower Quarter, and in general there is just a huge sense of freedom and the onus of all his hatred at the Empire being eased.

There’s also a small encounter with Duke again... That guy is weird.

7. Consequences [111]
Game 55, Day 69 ☀ a stone

The group arrives in Dahngrest to find everything gone to hell and guilds fighting each other. Raven announces grimly that it was as he suspected —the Don was planning on sacrificing his life the whole time, to make up for Belius’ death. With the guilds at a breaking point there may be another solution, but there’s not time to look for it. With the Don kneeling in the center of town, he asks for a second. The gathered crowd is silent and Yuri steps forward to do it. Afterward he finds Karol, utterly defeated and saying he’s done with Brave Vesperia. Yuri yells at him, swearing that he’ll find Judy and continue Brave Vesperia with or without him. He then runs into Yeager, who claims he is also mourning the Don, a great man.

This is a really heavy memory for Yuri because, as he says in a skit afterward “Now my hands have killed someone I never wanted to kill. … Don, that feeling stilling hasn't left my hands...” I think this scene is also the origin of the phrase that haunts Yuri, “A job that no-one else wants to do”. Yuri is starting to accept, in this memory, his role as a person who always has to do the dirty work. At a time when Yuri’s own guild is a mess and while more directed than before, he’s still aimless, it kicks him into a feelings bender, determined to have a resolve to match the Don’s.

8. But has anything changed since you quit? [036]
Game 56, Day 70 ☀ needle ⅘

The party is in Torim Harbor after some incident with Zagi; they meet Flynn at an inn and encounter some Councilor who NOBODY likes. It’s Ragou, and Rita mentions something about seeing him feed people to monsters. But Ragou is claiming amnesia. Ragou leaves and they’re introduced to Iodor, candidate for the Imperial throne. Yuri makes a comment about the Empire turning its back on its people and he and Flynn get in a yelling match where Flynn points out that he’s accomplished nothing by quitting the knights. Yuri storms out, punches a wall, and then runs into Raven who gives him the tip to head to what will be Caer Bocrum, and mentions the word “apatheia”.

9. You remind me of Whitehorse in his youth. [064]
Game 58, Day 72 ☀ cotton candy

The party fights and defeats Barbos. Afterward, he addresses Yuri directly, saying, “You remind me of Whtehorse in his youth. You’re his spitting image. Like the Don, sooner or later you will make great enemies in this world. … And then that world will consume you whole. Regret, sorrow, and despair will hound you all the way to hell, and I’ll be waiting there for you.” Yuri rushes at him, either to kill or or stop him, but Barbos throws himself off the top of Ghasafrost.

In the memory Yuri is pretty thrown by the implication that he’s going to hell—because he knows it’s true— and in Aather the comparison to the Don, considering he killed the Don with his own hands... Well, it’s not a happy memory.

10. The castle falls . [First Strike]
Game 64, Day 78 ☀ food

The end of First Strike. Yuri’s unit has infiltrated a castle infested with aer; it’s basically terrifying and always trying to kill them. Finally they find a huge blastia in the depths of the castle responsible. In the process of it being destroyed the castle begins to collapse and Yuri’s Captain, Niren, sacrifices himself to another unit member. He gives Yuri his blastia. I’m leaving out the part about Yuri and Flynn killing Gallista at the end because it’s ridiculous and contradictory; in my version Gallista gets away because the Empire is corrupt and that’s why!

This is mostly an explanatory memory for Yuri, since now he finally knows why he was compelled to quit the knights. The empire being corrupt&mdash well that’s old news to him. It’s a sad memory, but nothing ground breaking. If anything he’ll wonder why Niren gave him the blastia.