MeGoNuts:

FFXII: A Chase in the Night

Chapter 2

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It had already been a while since the encounter with the red-headed thief. Two months, in fact. Unfortunately, for Balthier, she had disappeared into thin air after that night. He kept telling himself not to let it bother him but her attitude had awakened his interest. And not finding her when he tried hurt his pride as a proficient sky pirate.

Balthier and Fran had arrived in Balfonheim Port and were walking towards the Quayside Court. The man really needed a drink to ease his frustration and Fran had gotten enough of teasing him about the thief, so she accompanied him silently.

The last thing Balthier expected to find at the hazy open-air bar was the dark red-haired, arrogant bastard of a woman he had been searching for the last two months drinking leisurely by the bar counter. This time the lighting was way better than the starry and clear night sky of Rabanastre, so Balthier got a proper look at her appearance.

Her ruby-colored mass of wavy hair was clearly an eyecatcher, reaching all the way to her lower back. On top of her head was a golden hair accessory, like a string, and from it hung coin-like round objects which flickered as light hit them. She wore a short white cotton shirt with puffy sleeves. The shirt exposed a great amount of her pale stomach, ending just below her chest. She had a pair of brown pants, worn-out and well used on many adventures, by the look of it, and a pair of almost knee-high boots covered his feet. There were metal heels on them, and Balthier remembered the sound of them clackin against the ground all too well. The mere flashback almost had a vein pop on his forehead. He snarled at the woman.

"You", he said calmly, but with poison dripping from it.

Her head turned abruptly, a bit too quick actually. She was clearly on edge for some reason. Her demeanor relaxed, though, as she saw the handsome sky pirate.

"Oh look who's here! Came to bring your treasures voluntarily this time?" she said confidently. The game was on again, apparently.

Balthier just tsk'd, took the seat beside her and ordered a double whiskey. He was a gentleman, sure, but this goddamn woman just made him see red. Literally, in fact. Her hair was pretty much the reddest of hairs he had seen.

"In your dreams, brat." Gosh, she made him act like a child.

She was just about to make a witty reply, but she froze completely as she looked to the entrance. With lightning speed she left her seat and rushed to the terrace, pushing people from her way. The Empire Guards who had entered went straight after her when they saw her. Balthier had instinctly went after her. She wasn't gonna get away now.

She leaped down from the terrace, looking over her shoulder for just a second, locking eyes with Balthier and then jumped off. The brunette was about to leap after her until he saw what was underneath. Just ocean and no sign of her. The guards swarmed at the railing, shouting at each other and they left the bar as quickly as they had entered with their armors clanking and clunking.

Balthier's shoulders slumped a bit as he returned to his seat. Fran had stayed there and there was a double whiskey waiting for him.

"She escaped again, correct?" Fran asked simply. Balthier just sighed. "You know it."

'Damn her.'

"What has she done this time to deserve a proper patrol after her?" the viera said absentmindedly.

"Who knows. Something stupid, I bet."

"Something extreme at least to have Empire Guards come here, of all places."

Their next meeting would be a lot sooner than two months.


There wasn't too much to do at Quayside, so the two decided to leave pretty early. The sun was setting, tinting everything with warm yellows and reds and the merchants were packing up for the day. It wasn't safe to stay in one place for too long, so they were heading back to the Strahl. Strangely, the whole Aerodrome was swarmed with Empire Guards.

"Goddamnit, a quarantine", Balthier said silently to Fran. The two slipped among the crowds, finally getting to the ship platforms. The pair sneaked their way to the Strahl successfully and they were ready to take off. Unfortunately, some guards saw they were taking off.

"Halt! This Aerodrome is under quarantine on behalf of the Em-"

The rest of his voice was overpowered by the sound of Strahl's engines. Like a tiny quarantine would hold Balthier the Skypirate back. It turns out a quarantine wasn't the thing holding him back. He saw a flash of dark, bright red few platforms away.

'It can't be-'

"Wait! Wait waitwait!" a female voice shouted and the red-headed thief ran towards the Strahl. A bunch of guards were after her and they were closing in on her.

"Absolutely unbelieveable", Balthier groaned and sunk his face in his hands. "Well, I can't ignore a damsel in distress", he mumbled as he got up, leaving the steering to Fran. He opened the door to the ship, clothes and hair and everything else storming around in the whirlwind of the engines.

"Hurry up brat!" Balthier shouted to her, holding onto the doorframe with one hand and extending the other outside.

The redhead burst out laughing mid-sprint, the guards almost catching her. She pushed away the last pair of guards and prepared to jump. It would have been impossible to simply jump to the Strahl at that point from that distance: they were already flying 20 meters away from the platform. But she cast Float at just the right time to give her jump extra thrust. She looked like she was flying, her body looked like it was being pulled and she kept on flying and flying and flying and Balthier got entranced by her floating hair and bright eyes and flashy smirk and-

THUMP!

The thief landed right on top of Balthier, making the both of them tumble on the floor and the whole airship wobble a bit. She was still laughing and lying on top of him and then Balthier's bedazzlement was broken like shattered glass.

"Get off of me, won't you?" Balthier said in an annoyed tone. "It's already enough for you to delay our departure", he said as he got up and brushed dust off of his clothes.

"You okay over there?" Fran asked from the cockpit as the Strahl was making its way to the vast skies of Ivalice.

"Yeah, we're fine", the man shouted as he finally shut the door.

Why did he even end up saving the annoying thief? Balthier had no idea. He sighed.

'This won't be the end of this, I suppose...'


Author's notes: This fic has haunted me since I wrote the first drabble, like, a year ago? Two years ago? Anywho, I believe I can keep on with this fic now that I have some kind of plot in mind :'D I don't really like OC fics and I try to write this as little Mary-Sueish as possible, and I'm sorry if this seems like one A''. I WILL NOT INSTANTLY SHIP HIM WITH BALTHIER, but maybe at some point in the story there might be some sparks... My main goal is to build an interesting relationship between the two and see where it leads :D Hope you like it! ^^

Stay tuned!