I kind of twisted time around to my tastes so I suppose this is AU and set after end game. Reviews greatly appreciated!
The Return of Ffamran Bunansa: Chapter 1
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The first thing Balthier noticed when he woke up was that it was very very painful to move and that the prickly things inserted into his wrist weren't helping. The second thing was that it was daytime; birds were singing in that annoying fashion that only the simple minded could truly appreciate.
The third was the smell of anesthetic - available in hospital room brand.
The fourth was the disgusting taste of not having brushed in a year hovering on his tongue.
And the last next thing he noticed, which was when his vision cleared, was a beautiful female gracing the foot of his bed.
"I must have died and gone to heaven. It's every man's dream for a Viera to be waiting upon him when he wakes up you know." To his dismay, his voice came out raspy, cracked from ill use; not at all cool and casual as he'd intended.
"At least you have not suffered any permanent injuries to the head," Fran replied, half amused, half relieved. She approached his bedside, laying a cool hand gently against the side of his face. "How are you feeling?"
"Weak," he mumbled as he struggled to lift his head and face her properly. By the number of bandages still itching across his body, he assumed he was still recovering from the grave injuries he'd received from escaping Bahamut. He watched the tall Viera next to him move with her usual lithe grace and frowned at her good fortune. "Why is it that you, my dear partner, look none the worse for wear?"
"Viera have faster regeneration rates than humans," she said mysteriously.
"An evolutionary response to the fact that your race is also a magnet for falling objects?" He received a light punch on his shoulder for his comment and winced.
"Now, now, I should get at least ten free snide comments," he managed through the pain. "I did save your life."
"And I have been been making sure that you breathed while you remained in your coma."
Balthier thought for a moment before conceding.
"You win."
Fran seemed a little too smug at her victory so he changed the subject.
"And how long have I been out, pray tell?"
"30 days."
"And you?"
"27 days."
"So much for a Viera's faster regeneration rate." Fran didn't laugh at the joke, as she never did. Instead, she smoothly moved away from the bed to retrieve a bundle from nearby and promptly dropped it into his lap. He blinked before realizing the tattered fabrics were the clothes he'd been wearing weeks earlier. Her own customary leather outfit that showed just the right amount of skin was untouched, of course.
"My, my. That was quite a lucky escape wasn't it," he whistled as he examined the burnt edges and dried blood stains, wondering if anything at all had stayed intact. "It's a wonder we're both alive. I'll have to thank my savior one day."
"His ego would appreciate that courtesy - even if he did try to kill us after." Balthier chuckled at that though the sound came out hollow to his ears. He now owed his life to someone other than himself, someone he detested. The thought was almost too grating to swallow.
The cold metal band he'd retrieved from his deepest, most secret inner pocket only made it worse.
Fran spotted its gleaming surface as he rolled it around in his palm and her words were soft. "The coronation ceremony was 3 days ago."
Balthier let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding. "So the princess is now a queen," he said carefully and was suddenly very glad his voice was such a wreck. "We'll have to send her a congratulatory fruit basket."
It really was too bad his partner saw through him as if he were glass. "You won't see her?"
The prospect was tempting. Much too tempting, he thought. He closed his hand and clenched the ring hard.
"It's better that I didn't." And with that, he hoped she'd let the matter drop like an understanding partner would.
"Are you certain?" She didn't.
"The only chance I had was swooping in, preventing her coronation, and carrying her off to our happily ever after - but it seems, unfortunately, I seem to have slept right through it."
But Fran was insistent on the matter.
"Even if she is queen now, that doesn't change who she is and what you meant to her - "
"Even if she is queen and even though I am a pirate, we are friends and nothing more," he interrupted brusquely and ended the conversation. There was no use talking about things he could not help.
The Viera sighed at him, settling down at his bedside again. "You're so stubborn."
"It's what makes me such a good pirate you know." He'd hoped to change the subject, but Fran asked him something she knew would hit a sore spot.
"And are you content? Being only a good pirate?"
Maybe he should've thought it through a little more and took his time answering. Life for him had been a matter of resisting everything his father wanted him to be. And now that the man was gone, now that he was really free to choose for himself, he realized there wasn't much to choose from. So he answered, as best as he knew how, with the only response he could give.
"Yes," Balthier said simply. "All I need is a good ship and the sky above blessing this dull earth."
Her red eyes bored into him as she hmphed and he knew he'd finally won their little argument. But his victory tasted sour as her gaze was particularly unsettling. So he tried to change the subject.
"Say, if I'm a good pirate for being stubborn, do you think I lose 'good pirate' points if I return some treasure?"