DISCLAIMER: I think it's enough to say that I don't belong to Square Enix and Square Enix doesn't belong to me...

WARNING: SPOILERS. Yes, serious spoilers for those who haven't beaten up the game.

Pairings: The main pairing of this fic is Vaan/Ashe, but in the course of the story, readers will also encounter the following: Balthier/Ashe, Balthier/Fran, Vaan/Penelo, Larsa/Penelo and slight Basch/Ashe. No, I'm not kidding.

A/N: I'm in love with Vaan/Ashe, but I have to admit that there is definitely an attraction between Balthier and Ashe in the game. I want to take it from there, hence this story. This is only my own take of what can happen after the end of the game, so don't just go ballistic at me if you differ in opinion. Anyway, enjoy the read.

Tangled in Waiting

Author: Atthla

Chapter One

It had already been three hours. Vaan scowled to his surrounding, a spacious, luxurious chamber befitting that of a queen. For one who had spent his teenage days as hardly more than a street urchin, he found luxury ostentatious and unnecessary. That didn't mean that he wouldn't enjoy luxury when it came his way. It just didn't mean all that much for him. The settee he was currently occupying was soft and comfortable, much more than his own bed, but even that had begun to feel like a bed of sharp thorns piercing through his underside after sitting and doing practically nothing for three hours.

On second thought, it was his own fault for coming unannounced. Vaan rose to his feet and began pacing around the room, glaring at whatever object he laid his eyes on. Naturally the queen had a demanding schedule, especially with the Rozarrian party which had come just this afternoon. He couldn't expect her to come rushing here only because there was an old friend – a very negligible sky pirate, no less – waiting for her.

Not that she knew he was here. In fact, it was one of his main objectives to be able to slip into the palace behind the guards' back. Like three such previous occasions, it was a total success. The only differences were that previously there had been no need for him to wait too long for the queen's appearance and during the short wait, Penelo had been there to amuse him.

Penelo. Right. The weight in his mind increased considerably at the thought of her. She was exactly the source of this problem, boredom and everything. He stopped his pacing to observe a vase of white desert moonflowers blankly, his frown deepening. All had been fair and well in his life. He had made quite a name out of himself as a sky pirate with his beloved Solff in the last two years, Penelo at his side. They had formed the finest partnership ever known to the world of piracy, perhaps second only to the captain of the legendary Strahl and his navigator.

Why she had to destroy all those was completely beyond him. They had the best friendship. Why did she have to admit that she liked him more than friend?

It wasn't as if he had never thought about the possibility. Vaan was, after all, a healthy young man of twenty. He had had his share of girlfriends and Penelo had once or twice pursued a relationship with good, respectable guys too, although they remained the most faithful to each other. Being partners in many, often dangerous adventures naturally had brought them even closer. Vaan admitted that he was attracted to her, but not so much that he would risk destroying a perfect friendship. Here, with her as a dependable partner, was what he was most comfortable with. Engaging in a serious relationship was just too much of a hassle for him.

And there was the other thing, as Penelo had kindly reminded him. There was one more reason to consider.

Vaan had never thought much of his relationship with Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca, not above his fanciful crush starting three years ago when he had briefly gone along with the princess in their little adventure. Neither had he ever thought much of the reason why she had not faded from his mind after all these years. It was a fancy – that was what he had always believed. She was beautiful, elegant, strong, and more than anything else, maybe it was the fact that she was cut out from an altogether different cloth from him and his lot that really got to him. She was different. Naturally he was fascinated.

If he were to admit, it was her rather revealing clothes which had caught his attention at first. Well, that and the fact that he had met this attractive young woman in a place as rat-infested as the waterway. After their journey and he had come to know her, the fascination had only swelled. He remembered Penelo shooting him many furtive, knowing grins back then, but he had never acted on it. Just a fancy, he had told himself again and again. And after all, Ashe had obviously fallen in love with the self-proclaimed leading man of their group.

He still remembered her face when he and Penelo had delivered the ring and the message to her. He had never seen anyone so happy and sad at the same time like her at that one moment when the fact that Balthier was alive but didn't return the ring to her in person had dawned on her. It was probably the habit of watching her closely that had made him notice these emotions. She had been careful, and at the next second, her face had been rearranged back to its former composure, but Vaan had caught the slip all the same.

There had been anger, hot and searing, flashing inside him at that moment. For some reasons he couldn't identify, he had become angry at the older sky pirate, which was ridiculous. He had no reason to. The ring had nothing to do with him and in what manner Balthier saw fit to return the ring was certainly not any business of his.

But the fact remained. He had been angry because of something Balthier had done to Ashe. Whether the real cause was the former or in fact the latter was a question which answer still eluded him.

Until yesterday at least.

Vaan heaved a deep breath. He never liked thinking about these things. He liked to keep his life straight and simple, but after what Penelo had said to him last night, he knew he had to come to terms with it. The trigger was a question, softly spoken as her warm brown eyes, for once clouded in pain, looked at him with something close to accusation.

"Is it Ashe?"

His initial response had been incredulity. He liked the queen, of course, but she was just a fancy, a figment of a dream, the northern star that would remain unattainable to him forever, no matter how high he raced his ship to the sky. She wouldn't be more than that to him. Not now. Not ever.

But Penelo had given him this melancholy look and told him to straighten things up or she could no longer be at his side. He only had to get one good look at her face to know that she was perfectly serious. It went deeper, sharper than any of the displeasure she had shown every time he returned after a night of fooling around with his girl of the month. She used to say that Balthier's bad habit had rubbed off on him, but not on this one. She hadn't been joking.

He was... confused. He thought that everything was perfectly fine. His infatuation to their young queen was still there, but he had been content to let it slip to the background untouched. He had a life he always wanted. He had a best friend who understood him without any need for word. He had his magnificent Solff, the prince of the sky and the dream of every sky pirate. So why Penelo...?

Vaan sighed and returned to his seat. That was really childish, his trying to blame others. Penelo had every right to feel anything she wanted to feel about him. And yes, he was very fond of her, but there was something else, something that held his tongue from saying 'yes' to her confession. And now he had to make sure if that something was not, in fact, someone who happened to be the Queen of Dalmasca.

The sound of approaching footsteps shook him out of his thoughts. Vaan looked up to the door just in time as it flew open and admitted the very person who had lingered in the back of his mind since many nights ago. Her eyes found him after a moment and she exclaimed in surprise.

"Vaan!"

What he didn't expect was for two men to come rushing into the chamber after this exclamation and point their swords at him. He got onto his feet at once and belatedly realized that he had left his Durandel with Penelo, thinking that to bring a sword would only get in his way. All that he had with him now was a small platinum dagger, her gift for his birthday last year. He pulled it out on instinct and crossed it defensively in front of his chest, at the same time as the queen spoke again.

"Wait, he is a friend of mine," she said quickly, drawing the attention of her guards away from him. Vaan waited, his dagger still poised before him, as they digested this information slowly.

"Are you certain, Your Majesty?" One of them finally asked. Suspicion had not left their face and their swords were still pointed at him, a fact which Vaan was painfully aware of.

"Yes, Riban," she assured him with a firm nod, "and thank you. You and Ergar may return to your post."

Reluctantly they did as were told. It was not until the door had been closed behind them that she let her eyes to search for him again. Instead of a smile, there was a frown on her face and Vaan could already feel his spirit diminishing at the sight.

"I never thought you would pay me a visit tonight," she said, her voice the mirror of calmness. That was when Vaan realized that he was still flaunting his dagger and accordingly slipped it back into its sheathe.

"I'm sorry," he said, uneasiness slipping into his voice even if he tried to keep it away. "I thought you'd come in alone."

To his relief, Ashe gave him a little smile. "It is quite all right. Please have a seat, Vaan."

He sat himself down again and watched her as she moved across the room toward a small table at one end. Her gown, in the colour of light forest green, swished behind her, following her every movement. He found his eyes involuntarily drawn to the curve of her body, liking what he was seeing, and his nose immediately picked up a strong but pleasant scent. Penelo always wore that fruit-scented perfume she usually bought at a few hundreds gils from one of the street merchants in Lowtown. But Ashe, he noticed, had about her a fragrance much like the desert moonflowers he had been sniffing earlier.

Somehow, it made him acutely conscious that he was in the company of the Queen of Dalmasca. Finding this fact suddenly a little more intimidating that it had been, Vaan blurted out, "Are you sure?"

Ashe looked up from the decanter her hand was holding and gave him a curious look. "To offer you a seat? I dare say so."

"Well," he fidgeted in his seat and scratched the back of his head, more out of habit than anything, "I'm not so sure if the queen should be seen mingling with someone like me."

It looked like for a moment that she was about to laugh. But she seemed to think better of it and settled for a smile. "If you mean a sky pirate, shouldn't I be proud instead?" she asked and put a goblet on the low table in front of him, the sweet but sharp odour of Rozarrian wine making its way to his nose. "Even a sky pirate does not disapprove my company. That must mean I am a benevolent sovereign."

He didn't bother to hide his grin. "If you say so."

She took her seat in front of him but didn't say anything in return and only raised her own goblet to her lips. Vaan stole the chance to study her closely. There was an unfamiliar pang inside him as he took in the pale face, more beautiful than he remembered but obviously more emaciated. It had been so long, maybe a year, since his last visit here. Of course he had been busy. A sky pirate as notorious as he was had a tight schedule.

But that small voice in the back of his mind was persistent. Penelo's accusation seemed to have supplied it with a new surge of power and now it boldly pointed out to him that a tight schedule didn't even come close to the real reason of his one-year absence.

Vaan resisted an urge to scowl in case his company took it the wrong way. Okay, so he wasn't particularly eager to meet her, but so what? She was the ruler of Dalmasca, so she must be busy. Being a criminal, even if a first-class one, he would only get in her way. No, he wasn't running away from her.

When the voice made a cackling laugh, Vaan was so close to hitting himself over the head. It was a good thing that Ashe chose to speak again at that moment.

"Did you come alone? Where is Penelo?"

"She has to take care of some stuffs," he mumbled, the earlier awkwardness surfacing again at the thought of his partner.

"Really?" she raised a pair of elegant eyebrows. "I thought you two were inseparable. Nothing bad has happened, I hope?"

"No, everything's okay," he shook his head to assure her and quickly made a turn on the subject of the conversation while he was at it. "What about you? You don't look too well yourself."

Again Ashe gave him a quiet smile. "'Tis nothing. I am simply tired - it was quite a busy day."

Vaan was far from convinced. He might believe it at certain levels had it not for the sickly pallor of her skin, or the exhausted look that not even her smiles could cover. He wondered if it was because she had been continuously confined here, inside her own palace, trapped by countless meetings and procedures.

"I hope everything's okay with Rozarria," he heard himself saying with concern so outlandish to Vaan the Conqueror of The Sky, which he decided to ignore for now.

Her eyes moved back to him quickly. "Most satisfying," her answer was light but careful. "Our relationship with both Rozarria and Archadia has never been better."

Maybe he often imagined things, but he was fairly sure that there was a tentative pause before her reply came. He eyed his current company who was quietly sipping her share of wine, eyes away from him. No, Vaan was certain that he had not only imagined that. Or the slight reluctance in her voice when she had answered, in that matter.

So, something was wrong with Rozarria.

"More than that, Vaan," Ashe suddenly spoke again, effectively ending his speculative thoughts, "is there anything in particular you need to talk about?"

Of course this was about the time for his wits to desert him completely and leave him clambering for another explanation. No matter what Penelo said, it didn't seem to be a good time to discuss his possible attraction toward the young Queen of Dalmasca with no other than said queen. He put on a ready grin to cover his nervousness and waved a hand carelessly.

"No, I'm just here for a visit, but if you're tired and–"

"No, no, I appreciate your company," she quickly said. "It feels good to talk to an old friend again."

It might be the tone of voice she was using, the melancholy tilt in it, that all of a sudden made him feel mightily uncomfortable. It must be lonely, being a queen – immensely powerful, but also lonely. He thought about his never coming to the palace although he often stopped at Rabanastre, content with the thought that she had no use of him anyway. Penelo never said anything either. And what about Basch? He was bound by a promise he had made at his brother's deathbed and so couldn't be there for her. Balthier and Fran simply disappeared, living up to their reputation as the best sky pirate there was.

To say that Vaan felt guilty was a serious understatement. Still, he found himself contradicting his guilt. Ashe had never called for them either, or at least expressed any desire to meet them. She could have, if she really wanted to. It should have been easy for her as a queen to locate and then invite them.

Well, maybe not. He had to admit that every sky pirate was required to be as untraceable as possible or groups of thirsty bounty hunters would be hot on their heels soon. But of course she knew that, right? She couldn't expect them to reveal their position so easily.

In the end, no matter what defense he had come forth with, his guilt refused to wither. Vaan glanced at the queen and noticed how she used the goblet to cover the lower half of her face. It was like she wanted to hide something from him. Was she happy to see him again, or did she think he was just a nuisance? Did she miss him and the others but restrain herself from saying so? Vaan would gladly split his most recent loot in exchange of knowing what the young woman was thinking right now. She used to be more honest, more open to the rest of them. Did her title change her? Or was it them?

He swallowed and then picked one from so many questions swimming inside his head, even if it was a repetition to the earlier.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

To his surprise, she broke into a laugh, the sound clear and merry above the quietude of the night. "It is I who should raise that question," she said, for once sounding like she genuinely teased him. "What is it with you, Vaan? You are so compassionate tonight."

"You mean I'm usually not?" he pouted, feigning hurt.

"Usually you are the exact reason why our ancient scholars invented the word 'insensitive'," she pointed out neatly.

Vaan gave her an injured look, secretly glad that his company's mood seemed to have gone for the better. "You just don't understand me."

"I doubt I ever shall," Ashe said, shaking her head in amusement. "And now, I believe it should be your turn to share stories. Your... business is thriving, I presume?"

He shot her one of his infamous cheeky grins. "You really need to ask?"

She rolled her eyes and released a long-suffering sigh. "Well, there is hardly any news more dreadful to a queen than that of a crime successfully committed in her country."

"That's because your army is completely powerless against me," he declared with a confident smirk.

"Indeed," she said dryly. "Why don't you share the horror of your latest pillaging with me then?"

"I'll be very happy to oblige," he answered formally, making a mock bow, and jumped into a hearty narration involving a huge ship owned by a rich man who also happened to be a total jackass. He and Penelo had always made sure that they would be stealing from those who more or less deserved it, but he didn't know why he was trying so hard to convince the queen that it really was the case. At least she didn't seem to mind. There was a slight smile playing on her lips while she listened to his story, as every sidelong look he sent to her direction generously informed him. Every now and then she would throw a comment, sometimes wry and the rest just plain disapproving, and Vaan found himself gladly readying a parry at each and every one of them.

It was the sound of a goblet crashing on the carpeted floor in the middle of his story's climax that put an end to his narration. He quickly looked at his company and noticed that her hand was now empty and her green dress was stained by the dark wine. There was a deathly paleness about her face, much more pronounced than before, and her eyes were tightly closed like she was in pain.

"Ashe?" he called her uncertainly.

Her body swayed lightly and then fell forward. Vaan caught her just in time before her head hit the table and hastily jumped to the other side to get a proper look at her. She had not fainted, but her breathing was quick and shallow and there were sweat drops pouring at the side of her face. His panic quadrupled when she suddenly coughed, her whole body shaking at this action, and then there was blood trickling from one corner of her lips.

"Ashe?" he tried again, his voice starting to quiver.

At this second attempt, her eyes finally opened slightly. She raised a shaky hand to clutch at his vest and whispered, her voice faint, "Call... someone..."

The rest of her words were overwhelmed by another wave of violent coughing. Vaan settled her down carefully on the couch before scrambling to his feet and running outside, shouting.

End Chapter One

A/N2: I find Balthier's actions in the end of the game (that means he leaving the ring for Vaan and Penelo to return it to Ashe) opening up a lot of avenues for possible interpretations. In my opinion, he realized how Ashe felt about him but decided not to answer. This fic is about that. Anyway, please make my day by telling me what you think. Thanks for reading!