Prompts: betrayal, foreign, forced marriage, ghosts, magicite
Summary: Vaan found more than magicite in the Royal Palace of Rabanastre. He finds a helpful ghost. The mysterious ghost is either unable to leave the magicite, or unwilling to leave the thief.
Another plotline I haven't seen! It kind of popped into my head: a mix of inspiration from A Man From Nabudis and inspiration from the scenes in the game where Ashe has apparitions of Rasler.
I intend to make this a very long fic that closely follows original dialogue, which will be written. I've discovered while writing it that it's very slow moving.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy XII, I'm just borrowing ALL of the dialogue.
Much Words.
Vaan ran past an Imperial, tripped and ran into the soldier. He sent the man an impish grin and spoke in a mischievious tone, "Whoops, sorry." He ran off.
Another Imperial watched him go with a parting shot. "Watch where you're goin'! Churl."
The Imperial that had been run into was patting himself down; looking for something. "Hey, my pouch! It's gone!"
The second Imperial was quick to catch on. "The boy!" The armored men chased the teen. The Bazaar was not the best place for an Imperial to chase after a native. Almost immediately, their path was blocked by a crowd that hadn't been present before Vaan had run through. "Get outta the way!" They were forced to stop, stomping around. They finally went back to their posts letting their frustration be heard.
Vaan outright grinned at the shouts behind him. They had no hope of catching him. He knew Rabanastre better than the back of of his own gauntlet-covered hand.
He'd lost them long before he stopped halfway across the bridge between the Bazaar and the Shopping District.
"Whoo." He slowed his heavier than normal breathing and tossed the guard's heavy purse between his hands. Finally, some money. What to do with it? A new weapon, armor, food, clothes, supplies, tecknics, spells, accessories? An investment toward an airship perhaps?
Even though Vaan was an excellent thief and wise in the way of the streets, he couldn't stop Penelo from snatching the guard's purse from his hand. He was actually a little shocked at it's swift disappearance. "What?"
Penelo stood there with the purse in one hand and her hand on her hips in a classic pose of intimidation. "Hmph."
Not that it worked.
"Hey, that's mine!" The words had been an automatic action. Perhaps it wasn't the right thing to say to his old friend.
She was instantly in Vaan's face. Any other teenage boy would have been flustered with a pretty girl close enough to kiss them. Not him, not for Penelo. "What d'you mean, yours? You've been stealing again." The sentance sounded like it should have a 'haven't you?' tacked onto the end but they both knew it was unnecessary. She accused him of the truth.
Vaan started walking with his hands folded behind his head. He abruptly walked around her and headed away from the Bazaar. It was the truth but she didn't know the rest of the story. Master pickpocket he may be, but he never stole from anyone who didn't deserve it. He didn't need a lecture.
Penelo simply turned and called after him. "What happens if they catch you? We need you to be there for us, Vaan." She followed him, apparently determined to lecture him anyway. "You're no good to anyone if you're locked away in a dungeon!"
That stopped him. "Oh what, am I the leader now?" His hands dropped to his sides and he sighed. "We're orphans. The first thing you learn is you gotta watch out for yourself. Come on, Penelo, you know it as well as I do." He turned to face the girl.
She was rummaging around in the pouch.
"Hey!" He stalked toward the smaller girl. "You give that back! What do you think you're doing?"
She wasn't at all affected by his approach. "I thought this money was the people of Dalmasca's property."
Of course, use his own words against him. Typical.
"The Imperials stole it from us so it's only fair that we take it back! It's our duty as Dalmascans." She took some Gil from the guard's pouch. "Well? Wasn't that what you said?" She turned to face him expectantly.
Damn. "Yeah, but I never said anything about taking it back from me!"
Penelo held out the pouch to give it back to him.
It wasn't in him to care that he snatched the pouch rudely from her hand.
She held out a handful of Gil. "This is for that bread you took the other day. Just because I help Migelo out every now and then, it doesn't mean that you get to eat for free too y'know."
He looked away, ashamed. It wasn't his fault he didn't have a constant source of income to get food. Go ahead, Penelo, rub it in. "I know that. You think I like living like this?" An airship passed overhead, it's shadow covering them for a brief moment. Vaan looked up to watch it wistfully. "One of these days, I'll fly an airship of my own. I'll be a sky pirate, free to go where I will."
Penelo turned to look at Vaan and smiled. She started walking, going around him, then passed him, heading toward Shopping District. "Well be careful. You'll never fly anything if you're rotting in a dungeon!" She waved behind her.
"Tch. Hmph." Like he'd ever get caught.
Penelo suddenly turned around, like she'd remembered something. "Oh, Migelo had some errands that need doing. He wanted you to drop by his place. It might be a good idea to lend a hand." She turned back and continued on her way.
Migelo never had him do anything interesting. Seriously, Kytes' errands were more fun! He sighed to himself. What he did for money.