Another drabble. One that I found in my 'unfinished' folder, I think I placed it wrong. Bah, not like anyone will read this and review anyway Hopefully, you will, but I seriously doubt that my crap would bring anything more than 'yeah, it's ok'. And FF12 doesn't seem to have a huge fangirls/boy circle like FF7 and the other games.

Anyway, hope you enjoy, please R&R your thoughts, it'd make me very happy. And I don't own the characters/places in this fic, unless I somehow managed to buy them from Square enix


"Ashe!" Vaan yelled while keeping his eyes on the Phoenix above his head. A dark substance was slowly dribbling out of its cuts, leaving oily puddles on the floor while the bird shrieked with pain. It had been weakened, had barely any strength left, but the Princess-believed-dead had charged straight across the chamber as thought she had been hit by confuse.

Basch (who had some experience concerning the 'confuse' situation) glanced to him before dealing a deadly blow with the Ragnarok, making the huge golden bird disintegrate. They both sheathed their swords and fell into a jog towards where Ashe had disappeared, all the while calling her name.

They could hear her blade chiming like an old, cracked bell through the doors on the opposite side, and Vaan -assuming she was beating herself up to get rid of the spell- hurried into the room, readying a curaja, while Basch followed a few steps behind. The older man knew that the princess's aim was better than his own, and now didn't expect anything good out of this situation.

It was the Subterra, after all, the basement of a mist filled tower. And also, they had their feet planted in the middle of the Pneumbra, mere steps away from where that altered monster had been.

He'd rather stand at a distance and decide what action was best before jumping straight into battle.

Basch didn't notice that Vaan had stopped dead by the left-turn until he heard the sound of the Deathbringer being unsheathed. Well, so much for Libra. However, he did sense that the boy was shocked, and terrified to the bone. So he peeked around the corner and found his dear princess aiming blow after blow at a... jar?

The former soldier snorted to hide his laughter, but the air got stuck in his throat when the pot actually grew a head and started throwing Flare, muttering curses under its breath when the spell had been uttered.

It looked like a moogle, though it missed the friendly appearance. Its pompom was a ball of fire, and slanting black eyes accompanied it.

"That thing looks so mean," Vaan muttered, backing away behind the corner when dark, sparkling eyes filled with rage found him. Basch, however, hooked his sword off of his back and ran up to Ashe's side -to help her, of course- but it seemed his mere presence made the thing blow a fuse.

* * *

When they finally emerged from the Pharos it had been almost half a day, and the reserve team had left the cold inside of the tower for the sun-warmed brown stone and the view of the sea outside -though none of them seemed too relaxed.

Penelo was counting their gil -something that seemed like a nervous habit- while chatting with Fran in curt words and trembling smiles.

Fran didn't seem too faced, but one glance to her twitching ears and the situation was clear.

Balthier, however, made sure they'd all see his annoyance quite clearly. He was pacing back and forth from the first step of the descending stairs to where the low wall blocked his path. So neither Basch nor Ashe were too surprised with his angry speech when they came back supporting the unconscious Vaan. They didn't flinch when he yelled their incompetence to their faces, and neither did they believe any of the curses he threw their way.

"Sooo..." Penelo broke off the raging brunet with a sweet, curious smile. "What happened?"

"We were hit by a magic pot." Ashe explained as she and Basch dumped the dead-weight on Balthier, who let Vaan slump down against his left leg.

"Magic what?"

"A Magic Pot." Basch offered further details and dusted himself off, removing cobwebs and other unmentionable substances.

They all jumped an inch when Vaan suddenly broke out into a fit of laughter, throwing his arms into the air and managing to hit the sky pirate in the crotch with his elbow from where he was lazily leaning against said mans leg.

"A Magic Pot is a moogle in a jar that demand you give it elixirs for a puny sum to prick of in your license tab." The thief let his arms fall back down and sighed while still smiling like a fool, Balthier on the other hand had a rather tense look to him, and there was a vein visible in his forehead. "It's a really mean moogle, Penelo. If you hit it first, it will give you ten times the damage you made. In burns, bruises and blood."

Basch cleared his throat, Ashe studied the patterned stone before her feet. Balthier dragged the thief off for a 'flying session' and Penelo decided that no, she wouldn't write that day's events down in her diary.