Alright, here's another installment of this series, as promised. This takes place directly after First Glance, to give you a timeline. Enjoy!

I'mGoingToBeWritingAllDay

Pairing: Fran/Dragon (My OC for everything)

Universe: FFXII, same universe as First Glance and Homecoming

Warning: Language, a situation that was clearly going to be non-con, femslash, etc.

Rating: T

ThoseAreAlwaysTheBestDaysBTW

In The Dungeons

I woke up slowly, my head feeling signficantly heavier than usual. The ground underneath me was hard, but that was not exactly anything unusual. What was unusual was the heat. The heat in Rabanastre was god awful, sure, but it was more of a dry heat there and this heat was sticky and damp. The sun directly on my face startled me awake more than anything, because I would never just fall asleep somewhere where the sun would be beating down on me like this. The first thing that greeted me when I opened my eyes was Vaan's sleeping face less than two inches from mine. Not a pleasant sight, necessarily, but it was more welcoming than the rest of the environment I found around us. The ground, in addition to being hard, was quite sandy and the walls were made of some kind of stone and were far too high and smooth to even hope to climb, in addition to the wire mesh over the top that was clearly meant to prevent any escape. The sky pirate, Balthier, was sitting on a bench near us, looking extremely bored as he brushed dirt, real and imaginary, off of his seemingly immaculate clothes. His partner was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, you're awake I see." He acknowledged without looking at me as he began to haughtily inspect his fingers nails for dirt.

"Where are we?" I asked as I poked Vaan, attempting to wake him up.

"In the Nalbina dungeons, of course. Where else would they send petty enemies of the empire, such as us?" I sighed and smacked my forehead, because, really? The Nalbina Dungeons? I blame Vaan completely for this. The thought made me poke him slightly more viciously but still I recieved no reaction. "I wouldn't bother if I were you. That blow to the head he got for his struggles sounded rather severe. In fact, I'm sure the only reason you aren't currently still unconcious as well for the trouble you gave them for that is because you look so terribly fragile." I sighed in reply and sent him a glare at the fragile comment before giving up my attempted to force Vaan into conciousness and instead merely got up and moved to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" He asked before I could leave the room.

"To find an escape route I guess." I shrugged in reply.

"Fran is already working on it. If anything can find a way out of here, it'll be the the nose of a Viera."

"Yeah, well, no harm in me having a go at it." Was the only reply I gave as I felt the wall, trying to assess how much traction I could get in any given corner and how badly it would tear up my hands if I were able to actually accomplish such a thing.

"Try not to wander too far. We need to be able to find you if you plan to escape with us. Not to mention these dungeons are by no means a safe place for a pretty young hume girl, such as yourself. "

"I can take care of myself." I tossed over my shoulder as I turned to leave. I thought I heard him mumble something like "Fran is going to kill me..." but I'm sure I must have heard incorrectly.

As I explored the humid, stinking dungeons, I found nothing but sad, exhausted, hopeless prisoners. No water. No escape route. No Fran. A few minutes in, though, I did find something different, it just wasn't something that I wanted to find. Namely, trouble.

"Hmm, what do we have here." I didn't noticed the group of seeqs standing in front of me until the largest, meanest, ugliest one spoke. Which said a lot about my lack of attention to my surroundings. "A hume female. It's been a long time since I last saw a female. I mean, she's no seeq, but she ain't got something hanging between her legs. Whadaya think, boys, will she do?" The other three seeqs snorted in agreement and I began backing away quickly, not naive about their intentions in the slightest. My best bet would be to throw that single knot of rust I had at the leader and then run like hell until I lost them or they were exhausted enough to give up. I could definitely either outrun them or out at least keep ahead of them for however long it took for them to give up. At least, I hope so, because I'm definitely not getting raped by a group of seeqs, no way in hell.

I reached into my pocket and tensed, preparing to throw and run as the seeqs began to advance towards me. Just as my hand wrapped around the object, the main seeq squealed in pain as fire erupted around his body. He was dead quickly, leaving the others to stare in shock and horror as their leader seemed to spontaneously burst into flames. I started as a hand fell into my shoulder.

"I would suggest that the three of you leave before I am forced to supply you with the same fate as your leader." The viera's voice was deadly and sharp as she stared unwaveringly at the three as her hand remained locked on my shoulder, keeping me in place. The seeqs looked at eachother uneasily, snorting nervously before they hastily retreated. I smiled in relief and relaxed before I suddenly found the cold gaze directed towards me.

"And why, exactly, are you out here, wandering these dungeons alone?" She hissed coldy and I suddenly found myself unable to meet her eyes.

"I was just... Looking around to see if I could find a way out or something?" I mumbled.

"And you didn't think something like this might happen, all alone in a prison full of criminals who haven't seen a female in months if not years? Did you not even think for a moment about what any of them would do to you without a moments hesitation- what they certainly would have done to you if I hadn't been close enough to get to you in time?" I didn't reply, admitting to myself that, yeah, she was right and I am kind of helpless without my weapons. Or completely helpless...

"And could you imagine how much this would have hurt us, if that had happened? Could you imagine what it would have done to your friend Vaan if he had known something so despicable had happened to you while he was lying unconcious just out of shouting distance?" My shoulders slouched as the gravity of the situation hit me.

"And you have no idea what it would have to done to me, if that had happened to you." Her voice softened significantly, and I was surprised to hear the anger give way to a much softer emotion in a voice that had been almost completely emotionless thus far.

"But... Why would you..?" Before I could finish the question, I was unexpectedly grabbed and pulled into her chest as her arms wrapped tightly around me.

"Because you are my mate." She explained softly, one of her hand coming up to softly stroke my hair, her touch light, as if I was both fragile and very, very precious to her, "This is how vieras pick their partner. I knew when I first scented you that you were to be mine." I froze in her arms. I had no idea what to do or how to handle this situation. So, for lack of a better alternative, I simply stood there and let her hold me until she suddenly pulled away, looking back in the direction that we came from.

"Your friend..." Her voice wavered on friend before continuing, "It would appear that he has woken up. It would also appear that you both have a penchant for finding trouble. Come."

EndForNow

Well, the ending could have been less abrupt... But whatever. Dragon knows now, even if she has no clue how to respond. She'll get there.

As always, I hope you enjoyed, my lovelies, and feedback is always appreciated! See ya!