A/N: Have a general idea of where this is going, now. Sort of.Hopefully somewhere good.

Dark drow Well, I hope we'll enjoy the ride! Yeah, when I sat down to figuratively pen this, I had no idea where it was going, just that I wanted to write it so badly.

Zaz9-zaa0: Hooray! I was hoping I would see you review on this:D This should be a happy medium between Pray for Rain and Yours Truly, exceptionally dynamic between the characters, but with a healthy dose of adventure as well. Speaking of Pray for Rain, I really reallyreally need to get up the motivation to work on that.

Renamed the story to 'Sincerely', because the title just works so much better. And it's a salutation, just like Yours Truly.

Sincerely:

Part Two

Vaan knew that Balthier generally had an unorthodox way of solving problems.

But this—this was insane.

"We're going to what?"

"We're going to take care of unfinished business, Vaan. A real sky pirate finishes everything he starts." Balthier explained as they walked out of the prison, and the Dalmascan glanced downward as they stepped over a pair of unconscious guards. He silently reminded himself that he was lucky that Balthier and Fran were on their side.

"Are you sure kidnapping the Queen is the right thing to do?" Vaan asked, glancing at Ada. His last fiasco breaking into the palace (he hardly counted his visit after the banquet. That had been painfully simple.) had sent him on one hell of an adventure, and he wasn't sure he was prepared to go back to prison again.

Balthier scoffed as they walked down the Archadian streets. The civilians glanced at the two foreigners, dressed in their respective garb, and there was a wide variety of facial expressions directed towards them, everything from pure disgust to amused condescension and everything in between.

"Oh, Vaan. You poor, simple-minded child. I never said it was the right thing to do. But it's the best thing to do."

They reached the Aerodome in a matter of minutes, and without a word the desk clerk directed the four to the Strahl.

Balthier sighed happily. "Like a fine wine, she's only gotten better with age." He glanced at his partner. "And the airship's in good shape too." Fran threw him a glance like she had a bad taste in her mouth. Ada laughed. Even in his current state, Vaan could help but plaster that dumb-looking amused smile on his face. Balthier pulled a small remote control out of his pocket, and as he pressed a button, the door opened on the side and the four boarded, and Vaan was instantaneously filled with déjà vu. While his partner had no real ties to the Strahl and was unaffected by their presence in it, Vaan had a lot of memories connected to this airship. Memories of her.

"Fran, my dear? Could you show Ada the tricks and tweaks of our ship, here? I hear she's quite the pilot." As Balthier spoke, Ada blushed, slightly embarrassed even by the subtlest of flattery.

Fran nodded, and as Vaan migrated in Ada's direction, Balthier turned him by his shoulder in the other direction, and with a gentle shove in the back directed him to the table. They needed to catch up on some things.

"Sit." Balthier instructed. Vaan glanced around the airship for a moment, as Balthier gathered his thoughts.

"Congratulations on pulling off that fiasco at the wedding." The older sky pirate commented. "That takes guts, I must admit."

"Thanks." Vaan accepted the compliment, surprised that there was no backhand in it. Not one bit. There was a moment of silence, before he addressed the issue at hand. "What's the plan behind this 'kidnapping' idea of yours?"

Balthier cleared his throat, glad that Vaan was ready to talk. "Well, it's painfully obvious that you two are never going to work anything out if you keep showing up at the Palace. After all, you're on her territory, and everywhere she looks she's reminded of what she would have to give up for you. The logic, Vaan, behind the kidnapping plan, is that this will take you both out of your own territory, out of your element, and it may earn us a nice, shiny gil when this is all over with."

Leave it to Balthier to list monetary gain on the list of advantages.

"…so you think Ashe and I will work things out because she's being held hostage instead of in her palace, where she can call the guards in an instant if she pleases?"

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" Balthier prompted him, but he stayed silent. "A real sky pirate takes risks, Vaan." He coughed. "After all, if we're still talking about the Ashe we traveled with those years ago, then she may not fight too much to get back out into the rest of the world again."

"What do you mean?" Vaan asked. Did Ashe share his same desire to see the sights and experience all that Ivalice had to offer them?

"Your Queen, she is…like a bird. She's fiery, she's restless, and she's most certainly not meant to be caged. I'm sure she's lonely, even if she refuses to admit it to anyone, even to herself."

Vaan was still a bit skeptical. "How would she have lasted this long if she really is that unhappy?"

"Did I mention that she has an amazing force of willpower, as well? For Ultima's sake, Vaan, you know her better than I do. How did all of this manage to escape your notice?"

Vaan had to think on that one for a moment. How did Ashe's true condition escape his notice? He remembered vividly the last night he spoke to her, the fight, the argument, the questions never really answered. "I suppose—" he began, "I suppose I was still so angry at her that I never really thought she'd be so unhappy with the decision she made."

"You never forgave her for giving up on you?"

"We gave up on each other a long time ago, Balthier. She's married. It's over. I'm sorry, but there's no unfinished business here."

"I think you're wrong, Vaan. More than wrong. Not only are you wrong, you are just as much of a stubborn jackass as that Queen we speak of." He cleared his throat, and turned and called Fran and Ada into the room. "Perhaps you're a real sky pirate, after all. You have all of Ivalice out here for the taking, and you're still stuck wishing for the one thing you don't have."

-

The Queen looked up from her book, to discover that it was sunset.

She could hardly say that the time had flown, for she had been reading case law for the past six hours.

She almost laughed, as she thought of her childhood dreams of being Queen. She had imagined much time relaxing and enjoying herself, with servants to wait on her hand and foot and attend to her every whim. Nowhere in there had she imagined wasting six hours of her life reading case law. It was amusing, how the detailed dreams of royal romance had failed her, after all. For her dream of being Queen had always come complete with a Prince Charming.

She was in the quarters she shared with her husband of more than a year, now, but she was alone.

For a moment, she felt guilty, for it escaped her memory where he was off to. After frantically searching her mind, which had been stuck on Yynther v. Dalmasca for the past fifteen minutes, she remembered that he had been visiting the old ruins of his home, the Republic of Landis, for two or three days now.

For the last few years, she had been terribly lonely, but at least, when Basch was around, she wasn't really alone.

Rabanstre at dusk always seemed so tragic to her.

She momentarily pushed aside her mental checklist to stare out the window at the slowly setting sun. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend that she was a girl of seventeen, not of twenty-three, and that she had not yet been married once, let alone twice, that she had not somehow lost everyone she had ever cared to trust, that she didn't regret her choices so much that she would stare out at the sunset and wish that she could turn back time.

She opened her eyes again.

Carefully, cautiously, she began to wonder if she would ever get sick of being lonely. Of being strong. Of never trusting, never really believing in anyone but everyone she had lost. Did the Queen of Dalmasca have a breaking point? Would there ever come a day when, finally, she was pushed too far?

Every now and then, she entertained the idea of giving it all up.

"It's not hard for a girl to get lost in this lovely city."

She bit her tongue after speaking aloud, and silently beat herself over the head for voicing her thoughts. It had been a bad habit, lately, to speak to an empty room, as if expecting it to comfort her in return. But how could she even consider such a thing, abandoning both her throne and her country to live the life of a street urchin, of a merchant, or of a wanderer, as she had years ago. How could she even long for those times again, after she had restored her country and made peace with the surrounding areas. What more could she want?

No, she didn't need anything beyond this, her every dream and every fantasy fulfilled.

Right?

-

The sun had dipped just below the horizon when they spotted Rabanastre. Balthier and Vaan spied it from the exterior loading dock, where they gripped rails and went over the exact details one more time.

"If she sees you," Balthier began, nodding at Vaan in a sad sort of way, "she'll call the guards immediately. I think she might rather put you in prison for life than have to trust you with hers, so I'll grab her. Literally, if I have to." Vaan cringed slightly.

Fran was effortlessly gliding in the direction of the palace, effortlessly creeping up on the city, like a silent thief hiding in the shadows of the quickly approaching night. Aware that they could be overheard, now, and not wanting to draw attention to them, Balthier pointed to a light in one of the top windows. Vaan laid eyes on a familiar silhouette, and his heart started racing. Balthier nodded to the younger sky pirate, who nodded back and stepped back into the back of the dock. He could see Ashe, but she could not see him. It was almost satisfying, in that vengeful sort of way. Almost satisfying.

His heart continued to race as Fran got as close as she possibly could to the window, where Ashe was concentrated fully and completely on her book. Balthier bent over slightly, as he silently and effortlessly unlatched her glass windows, grabbing onto the inner panes and opening them like doors.

She almost screamed.

Almost.

But then she saw the gun.

"Hello, my dear Lady. It's been too long, hasn't it?"

"What do you want from me?" She tried to keep her resolve, but she was failing. Her face was completely devoid of color and she was shaking. She was obviously confused, she didn't know why her former comrade had her at gunpoint. Vaan had to admit that he would be confused, too.

"You'll be coming with me, now. I hear there is some unfinished business we need to take care of."

"You hear? Balthier, I would love to accompany you on your little treasure hunts and your other frivolous pursuits, but my country needs me." She dearly hoped that he was bluffing, and that he didn't intend to use that gun.

"For right now, a sky pirate needs you. I've noticed your knight in shining armor hasn't rushed to your side to defend you, now, has he? Where is this prince charming, now?"

She ignored his question. "Balthier, what about my country?" She wasn't about to just leave with him, even if she was secretly tempted to—just—get away from all of this.

"Your country will have you back soon enough. I'll give you my word."

She looked as though she were tempted to spit on her expensive carpet. For the time being, she just wrinkled her nose and muttered, "The word of a sky pirate means nothing." She said sinisterly, and Vaan wondered if she was thinking of him.

"Then I give you my word not as a sky pirate, but as an ex-Judge, a noble, and an Archadian."

"I hardly see how that makes you any more reliable, but if we won't be long…" She took his outstretched hand, and Fran slowly began to inch away from the palace. They needed to get out of there, before the night watchmen realized that there was an airship hovering outside of the palace. Just in time, she grabbed the wrist of his other arm, and hopped the gap between her desk and the airship. How nice the clear night air felt, she couldn't help but think.

"Careful, my Lady, it's a long way down from here. Wouldn't want you to fall." Balthier's comment was disregarded, as Ashe's head snapped around, and Vaan knew, without a doubt, that she had spotted him. Her feet still on the edge, she requested, in essence, to fall to her death and commit (a quite real) suicide.

"Balthier, be a gentleman and please let go."