- This takes place after the events of the game. I decided to do it: a) as a preview for the trilogy I'm working on for the FFXII universe and b) because the song that goes by the same name [ done by Jason Castro ] inspired me and went too perfectly. I also wanted to introduce my OC, Siobhan, before the series. I hope you enjoy; please leave reviews! -

LET'S FALL IN LOVE AGAIN

- Siobhan finds a solution for she and her husband to be together despite their predicament.

He had beseeched the Gods to give him back the life he had claimed in Dalmasca that night on Phon Coast, both for himself and the woman who laid settled in his arms. His time in the bowels of Nalbina were spent reminiscing. In his dreams, his mornings were spent with his soldiers, jesting as they sparred outside the barracks. They would boast and roar and Vossler, Vossler would be at his side and would mutter under his breath in mock discontent. His afternoons would be spent watching his wife play with the young Lady Ashe or make necklaces out of the flowers in the courtyard, sometimes even forcing him to wear one. His evenings and nights were spent with Siobhan, where he would make love to her with his words and his touch until they were sated. Then they would lay on the large futon out on the balcony and stare up on the stars.

He desired those days back more than anything, more than he wanted his country even.

His hopes had been dashed with the promise to his brother to protect the inexperienced Emperor.

Siobhan was troubled however, not by the fact he'd be looking out for Larsa, because he was but a boy and would need security, but because his new position meant he would have to masquerade as the merciless Judge Gabranth. In the years they had been married, her husband had always been brooding, influenced by his inner turmoil. In fulfilling his oath to his brother, he would become a shade inhabiting the hollow armor of his twin relation. He would not be allowed to think for himself, to act of his opinions. He would forever be asking himself: " What would Noah do?" She was sure that, while if felt good to be needed again, it was a high price to pay. Hell, he could not even make any public acts of affections towards his own wife because Gabranth had no wife.

The entire situation reminded her too much of when they were in their bloom of youth, sneaking away from their rooms to find solace in each other's arms in the stables.

It was humbling and irritating.

The solution to their problem came in the form of an obese and boisterous lady. Siobhan was forced to play a part as well, as a lady of high society. The Lady Hestia, married to Senator Bjorn Spheris, was one of the few whose company she enjoyed. She was an older woman in her mid-fifties with opinions and a heart of gold. When they were seen together, her husband was usually seen reprimanding her. " It's just a façade," she said one time while they were having tea in her sitting room. " My husband wouldn't have married me if he hadn't liked big women with an even bigger mouth." She soon even found that the senator was quite the romantic. " Every year for our anniversary, he reenacts our first outing: the candles, the meal, the music. Then we renew our vows out under the gazebo- Oh! That man is a wonder."

If that was not inspiration, Siobhan was unsure what was.

Basch was all too willing to play her game.

Summer solstice was the day they began the affair. Larsa was with his instructors in the courtyard, Basch his constant companion and standing on the cobblestone beneath the higher level. Siobhan had been with two ladies, the daughters of senators, when they had spotted him. " Oh, I absolutely loathe Judges," Niahm murmured as she hid behind a pillar. " They're all obedience and no emotion." If only you knew, the Dalmascan thought, a smirk ghosting her lips. " I'm sure that's not the case with the right…enticement," she stated, stepping forward before her arm was caught by Elspeth. " He's a Judge, Siobhan!" she cried, shaking her head, eyes wide with fear. " Play your games, but not with one of them!"

Siobhan was over thirty summers old and she would play with whomever she damn well pleased.

Proceeding to lean against the pillar beside him, she blatantly looked him up and down, wondering if he was even aware of her presence behind the helm. " Some would say that a man who hides his face has something to hide," she stated, tilting her head against the stone support.

" A face could imperil everyone associated with it," he replied, muffled by the metal.

" And who do you have to imperil, Gabranth?" His silence was answer enough and she smiled coyly, turning her head away from him. " An abnormality, perhaps!" She turned back, smirking. " Do you have boils, Gabranth? Little moles scattered across your countenance?"

His chuckle was only for her and she bit into her bottom lip to fight the grin, imagining it was so. " I assure you, lady, my countenance is clear of such imperfections."

She quirked an eyebrow in skepticism before letting it be. Then she was pushing off the column, brazen against his side while she laid a hand on his chest plate. " Maybe one day you'll let me see for myself," she murmured. " Mayhap you'll let me see if you have any imperfections anywhere else."

The expressions on the ladies' faces after she had told them the event were entertaining.

It was hard to see what her husband was thinking behind the damn helmet he always wore, though.

In Dalmasca, their courtship had been clandestine, he a simple squire and she the young ambassador between their people, the apprentice of their scholars. Things were to be different in Archadia. Once Basch had made his intentions clear, the Lady Hestia had made it her goal that they on no occasion be left alone. There were to be no late-night rendezvous in the gardens, beneath the stars. One of her servants, a lad by the name of Lupin, was their constant companion. And while Siobhan usually found fondness develop towards youth, this boy was vexing. After years of sharing the same bed, to have some babe clear his throat every time her husband even reached for her…

Larsa was incredibly amused by the entire situation. The little time he had spent in their party, he had been able to detect the intimacy between them. And now, to see the former Dalmascan knight pretend to woo the Westersand aboriginal.

" Woo!" Siobhan cried out in exasperation. " As if I have not already done anything you have so asked me. As if there is anything left for you to ask of me that I would refuse."

His proposal this time was just as endearing as the first. It had been lunchtime and she had been with Hestia for tea. And he had come from along the path beside the man-made river, cape billowing in the wind and face hidden from her again. But it was soon uncovered as he stood at the stairs. " My lady Hestia." Then those bay eyes were on her, smoldering, leaving their mark just as they had that night. " Siobhan." The difference in the way he addressed them was obvious and she was again stricken by the baritone, the way it slid across her like honey. Their moment was broken briefly by his asking the elderly lady for a moment alone with his conquest.

" So," she murmured as he ascended the steps, helm held against his armored thigh as he looked at her, " here we are, again." She could blame the breathless quality of her words on the way he was looking at her.

" Here we are," he agreed, coming to sit beside her and putting the facial armor on his lap. " I was thinking about what to get you, since I already have your ring." She had been able to discreetly pass him the ring that had hung around her neck since accepting their positions at one of their meetings in the garden.

" Basch, you didn't-"

" It had to be something personal," he continued, causing her to purse her lips to hide the smile. " A treasure like you deserves more than material things that can be copied, bought by anyone. So, I present you with this."

Pulling something out of the small satchel attached to his hip, he opened his hand to reveal a necklace. Dalmascan gold, the telltale gleam a contrast to the usually weathered gold of the Archadians. But what received her attention was the canine hanging from the chain. It was slightly eroded, telling her of its age. Leave it to my husband to give me something off a dead animal. A reminder of the fact that she was more than a lady, perhaps, that she had at one time been the King's Huntress and had saved Ivalice as much as he?

" What is it?" she asked, rather than continue to assume.

His smile was endearing. " You remember how we met, do you not? Your persistence in seeing the Earth Tyrant had you thrown halfway across the Westersand." He looked down at the wood, shaking his head. " And then we found it in the Wyrm's Nest and you were beside yourself with triumph. I'd only seen your eyes shine that bright thrice times before: the first time we made love, the night I proposed to you and the day we married. Mayhap I should be jealous that a fiend could incite a joy that only I had been able to create in you before."

Then he was holding up the necklace, the chain wrapped around his hand. " This is from the Earth Tyrant," he stated. " Cut down to size, since it was as big as you in its originality."

The look in his eyes was engaging. " I suppose I should feel some appreciation towards it, since it sent you to me."

Siobhan could count the times she had been reduced to tears on her hand and she added that very moment to the fray as he clasped the necklace around her neck.

" I ask you, Siobhan of the Dalmascan Westersand, for your hand in marriage as I had all those years ago," he murmured, the intimacy making his voice husky. " What say you?"

Basch just caught her as she lunged at him, a bark of laughter escaping before he possessed her lips with his own, ardently wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. They only broke for air and, when Siobhan was resolute to get as close to her riohyst as possible, to laugh at the betraying thud of the Judge helmet hitting the floor before it rolled away slightly. Afterwards, they would tell of their engagement and be wed as soon as possible. And they would never have to worry about that distance between them again.

Basch fon Ronsenburg was no longer the Captain of the Dalmascan Guard or a knight.

He had no men to jest with, to spar and to fight alongside with in battle.

But he had his siha and that, that was enough.

- riohyst [ ree-hest ]: husband

- siha [ see-ha ]: wife

I'm trying to make a language for Siobhan's people based loosely off the al Bhed dialect. I did, however, get " siha" from Mass Effect 2 because I like the way it just rolls off the tongue.

Especially the way he says it.

…Mmm.

Please leave reviews!