The Jests of Fate
Prologue
Originally, it wasn't Vaan that was supposed to meet Balthier and Fran, get to fly on the Strahl, and do the general stuff that was involved with saving the world.
It was supposed to be his brother.
Yes, Reks who was in the game for a mere fifteen minutes before he allegedly died at the hands of Captain Basch's evil twin. It was never shown that he made a miraculous recovery and joined Vaan with his life on the streets of Rabanastre having thoroughly been put off life as a soldier. Why else would Vaan seem so happy despite the fact he had lost 'everything'?
Reks was to fill the role that seemed to be lacking in this final fantasy game- the angst ridden teen whom does nothing more than angst, brood, eat, sleep, kill and complain.
His existence at the time meant that when Vaan had started scheming over horrendously stupid ways of spiting the Empire without them noticing it, that Reks was there to try to put a halt to it. He made the valid point that as much as the Empire had screwed them all over- at least Rabanastre was doing better than Archades ever would. Vaan however had been highly persistent, playing on Reks' thirst for vengeance against a certain traitor-like Captain when eventually the argument was settled.
They would go to the palace and while Vaan was robbing the Empire blind, Reks was going to steal all Basch's old stuff.
So, after seeking out Old Dalan- Dalmasca's very own wise hermit type- they acquired the sunstone (After recruiting Penelo to do all the hard work) and eventually received the crescent stone. Thus their plans were ready to put in motion and since there was a randomly convenient banquet being held that night just as a door to the sewers had been conveniently opened- they decided to go straight away.
Vayne, being the strategically masterminded man that he was, knew everything that was going to happen before it happened, so he had the sewers cleared of all dangerous monsters- including malboros- so that the Empire would easily get their hands on the Dusk Shard at a later date. All that had remained were some deaf bats and blind rats- meaning Vaan and Reks had struck the jackpot.
Or so they had thought.
Upon reaching the Palace, having been thoroughly scratched up, the two managed to get inside, insult many a guard without getting punched for it, and reach their destinations. Reks trashed Basch's room while Vaan… fidgeted with a complex mechanism rather than stealing all the gold scattered around the treasury. When Reks entered the treasury he failed to notice the two inconspicuous figures lurking at the doorway and proceeded to sulk about the lack of valuable stuff that Basch had while Vaan obtained a random shiny jewel.
Rather than waiting until the time was right and knocking the two brothers unconscious, Balthier and Fran walked out of the shadows and demanded to have the shiny jewel. Reks, being the good brotherly figure that he was, stole the gem out of his brother's hands and proceeded to run for it- saving Vaan from the thieves… but not from the Imperials.
That's when it happened.
Balthier and Fran had easily managed to corner Reks, when Balthier stole him and the jewel and dropped him off the giant wall. Fran caught Balthier, Balthier caught Reks and…
"Hey! Let go of me!"
"Keep this up and-Oh bugger…"
"Aaaaaaaghhhhhh-"
-Thud.
Wince.
…Sigh.
…It turned out that Reks was a bit too heavy for the part.