Final Fantasy XII

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Final Fantasy 12 or any other game by Squaresoft.

A Man From Nabudis

By: Mage-Alia

Chapter 1: Aftermath

Summary: Prince Rasler was said to have died, the night Nalbina Fortress fell under the Archadian attack, but it was all part of a carefully prepared design. Now months after his supposed death he meets a young street rat named Vaan and it's from there that their adventure begins.

AU, Pairings undecided, Mild Ashe Bashing, implied Basch/Rasler in the beginning (Doesn't continue though)

The death of Lord Rasler Helos Nabradia was but one of the many tragedies to befall the kingdom of Dalmasca.

The Air of Hope that had surrounded Her Royal Highness, Princess Ashe's wedding was now quite lost: Dalmasca had been set adrift, at the mercy of History's restless tides.

At this time, the great empires struggled for dominions over Ivalice: Archadia in the East, and Rozarria, the west. The invasion of the kingdom of Nabradia was Archadia's first step in it's westward march.

With Lord Rasler's beloved homeland consumed by the hell-fires of war, it seemed clear that Archadia would soon mete out a like fate to Dalmasca. The fall of the Fortress at Nalbina tolled the destruction of the greater part of Dalmasca's forces.

A counter-attack was mounted by the order of the knights of Dalmasca, ever brave and faithful, but against the martial might of the Archadian armies, they stood little chance of victory.

Indeed their defeat was to be absolute.

Soon thereafter, Arcadia came forward offering terms of Peace. Or as one might rather put it, terms of Dalmasca's surrender.

Lord Raminas, King of Dalmasca – and my dear friend – had no choice but to accept these terms. It was, thus, only with preluctance that he set out for Nalbina Fortress – now under Archadian occupation – to affix his seal to the Emperor's treaty of peace.

The King had scarce departed his Royal City of Rabanastre when the remnants of the order made their return. And not a moment too soon, for a terrible revelation awaited them.

The Treaty would be signed with steel and writ, in Royal Blood.

Memoirs of MQS Halim Ondore IV

Chapter 12: The fall of Kingdoms

The sun, ever unforgiving, beat down on his head and shoulders as he walked the road toward the City of Rabanastre. Tripping over a stone he stumbled and cursed, still unused to walking on his own two feet without having a Chocobo to bear him where he pleased. Groaning in frustration he found shade at the base of a low cliff as he peeled off his sandals and examined the array of blisters forming under the skin.

"This is not my day." He complained to himself as he shifted into a better position and stared up at the clear blue skies above.

To tell the truth he didn't know why he was even going to Rabanastre. He'd woken, nearly a month ago in a village on the bank of the Nebra, with little memory of the months before and puckered scar on his chest, just inches from his heart. The villagers, patient and careful, had nursed him back to health, helping him fill the gaps in his memory and never once asking who he was. It was a good thing… because if they where to know whom it was they'd been harboring all this time, he'd probably have got them killed.

He buried his face in his hands and sighed before he pulled on his footwear and brushed the sand off his clothes before taking his bag and continuing onward through the Dalmascan Eastersand. His appearance barely differed from any other traveler on the path, tired and worn, the signs that strife had reached Rabanastre where more than obvious as people who where lucky enough to be away from the city as the Archadian Army entered her walls stayed away, unwilling to be caught up in the chaos.

Just another reason to curse himself as he readied to plunge himself into the belly of the beast.

Still, nearly a day later the sight of the enormous gates of Rabanastre were a welcome sight as all he could think of was getting out of the sun. However as he passed into the shade he found the east gate empty.

"What…?" He looked around and found a Moogle sitting on the edge of a Chocobo coral. He approached her and bent slightly to see her thunderous face as she muttered vehemently to herself. "Excuse me..?" The pale haired traveler waved a hand limply to get her attention and the Moogle jumped in surprise, wing's fluttering as she hovered into the air.

"Oh! I'm sorry but the Chocobo stables are closed for the time being." She said quickly, looking distinctly ruffled. He gave her a confused look and then glanced at the gate.

"What is going on?" He asked, still somewhat stunned at some of the curses that had been spilling from her mouth. The Moogle finally noticed his expression and looked him over carefully. She hadn't been a Chocobo stable keeper for long but she had spent her days watching her brother and the people he interacted with, Viera, Hume, and Banga alike. This one didn't look like a hardened adventurer, or as bad off as the refugee's that occasionally approached the city in need of help. Instead he had an unconscious air of power that seemed out of place on a commoner and a vaguely familiar face.

"Didn't you know?" The Moogle asked, looking at him curiously. "The city has been placed under Martial Law! Ever since those imperials came no one has been allowed in or out of the royal city. They even confiscated my chocobo's to make sure no travelers would use them!" She cursed again and sent a tiny foot through the air, hitting an old worn paper decoration that had been leftover from the royal wedding a few months back. He recognized it, having seen enough of them around the city on the day, even if it had become only a vague memory. He paled at the thought and coughed awkwardly.

"I was hoping to get into the city…" He said, sounding somewhat mournful. He wanted to go in hopes of stopping any further bloodshed, but that goal no longer seemed so plausible. "I was away from Nabudis when it fell and…" He trailed off again, letting the Moogle come to her own conclusions as to why he was there.

He'd come up with the cover story after waking up in the Estersand Village. Given his obvious colouring it had been clear he was of Nebradian decent, so he'd decided that he would be a refugee, one who hadn't been there to witness his homelands fall. He'd almost slipped, while giving his name, so he'd quickly improvised coming up with a new one.

"Oh… my name is Gurdy." The Moogle offered, suddenly a little more understanding. Running a hand through gray hair that had been stained white by a relentless sun, Rasler stuck it out, shaking the moogle's long sleeve in return.

"Rale." He introduced himself. "My name is Rale."

"GET BACK HERE CHURL!" The angry shout cut through the air and he ran for his life. People where hurt and angry, and today there had been a lull in the chaos that had plagued the streets ever since the Imperial Army had descended on Rabanastre. The occupants of Lowtown had rioted as anyone without the gil to sustain a life in the city where forced out of their homes, away from friends and family as they where locked beneath the ground in old storage warehouses and blocked off Palace service tunnels to scavenge out a living where the invaders didn't have to see them.

Vaan had been one of the people to loose his home when his brother left him. Reks had enlisted in the Army shortly after Dalmasca's defeat at Nalbina, but the boy hadn't realized the problems he was leaving behind as he went out to fight on the front lines for his country. With no steady source of income in the bustling city Vaan had quickly been thrown out of his and Reks old rooms and tossed out onto the streets. Having lost his parents two years prior he had spent as much time as he could living off of old friends before he'd managed to outstay his welcome.

From there he'd been forced further and further away from the semi-comfortable lifestyle he'd lived up until now, and down into the depths of Lowtown where he'd managed to grow and survive. He was getting good as a pick pocket and maybe a little too daring for his own good as he dashed through the upper city streets of the merchants quarter, running away from the Imperial soldier who's purse he'd just filched.

"STOP IN THE NAME OF THE EMPIRE!" The soldier yelled and Vaan threw out his right leg, hitting the ground as he skidded between the legs of an oncoming soldier and rolled into a railing on the other side, but the collision didn't stop him as he leapt to his feat and legged it in the direction of the Muthru Bazaar. On a normal day, the bazaar was filled with merchants and salesmen trying to hawk their wears. Fruit sellers and junk merchants would line the tiered alleyways in stalls with colorful displays in their own personal war against each other to gain the most customers, but today wasn't exactly normal.

People scurried around with bowed heads and heavy hearts as they went about their business as quickly as possible in order to be off the streets. Merchants had been restricted to the housing by the edges of the bazaar while the city went under martial law. They couldn't get in any new stock, or even leave to move on to more profitable places as the lockdown kept them firmly in one place.

His boots skidded against the stones of the street as he came up against a dead end. Buildings rose high either side of him, and behind him a railing was all that separated him from a eight story drop right down into the heart of Lowtown. However much Vaan loathed returning to the darker reaches of the city, the undercity was still far better than the punishment he'd receive if he was caught. Friends had dared to do the same in the last week of Archadian occupation and not one of them had returned.

Soldiers clattered into view, their amour rattling with every step as they lowered their spears to point toward his chest, advancing slowly.

"Hand over the things you stole, thief!" The man talking stressed the word 'thief', and scowled as if it had left a bad taste in his mouth. Vaan took a few more steps back until he felt the railing at his back, clutching the straps of the bag that held his loot tighter.

"Yeah right! As if!" He retorted, his voice sounding far to confident for a kid who was about to either be carted off to some dungeon or killed. The soldier growled and advanced that little bit faster before Vaan flashed them a mocking grin and leaned back, toppling over the edge of the railing with a laugh. Helmet covered heads appeared above watching in stunned disbelief as he plummeted down toward his supposed doom, but Vaan had more than one trick up his sleeves so to speak as he lashed out, grabbing a thick vine growing against the flawless stone wall and jerked to a stop. His arms complained fiercely as being used to stop his momentum and he swung there for a moment before he had the mind to find a foothold on the vine…

But if one looked close enough they'd see it wasn't really a vine at all.

The rope was well concealed among the real foliage growing there, dyed green and carefully maintained, it had been a shortcut from Lowtown to the city above for many years. Shimmying to the bottom he dropped the last few meters down into the small dimly lit courtyard people commonly tried to avoid. Wary eyes stared at him from the shadows as he slipped through the winding tunnels and storehouses toward a dead end on the east side of the city, by the old supply gate.

The alcove had been blockaded by piles of old crates and sitting on one close to the top, kept company by a small glowing magicite lantern, was a young boy, no older than eleven, or maybe twelve. His brown eyes lit up as he saw the older blonde approach and he scurried down the box pile.

"Vaan!" He cried softly, throwing his arms around the teen and hugging him around the waist. At the sound more dirty pale faces appeared, looking through gaps in the wall with smiles as Vaan stared down at the kid attached to his midsection.

"Kytes!" He rolled his eyes and pried to boy off. "At least let me get inside first." Turning him around he pushed the boy through a gap to one side of the stack and into the home of a good lot of the homeless kids of Rabanastre. It wasn't a great hiding place by any stretch of imagination, but gathered together where they had someone else to fall back on they where much better off than if they had been on their own. Each large crate had been converted to living space, their scarce belongings scattered around without fear that they might be stolen because in truth, they didn't have anything really worth taking.

"So Vaan, what did you get today?" Kytes chirped as he dragged over a girl about his age called Filo. As far as he knew, Vaan was the oldest of this group, followed by a girl who was a year younger and had only recently begun to run errands for the merchants in the same part of the city Vaan had been wondering today. Still the blonde teen sighed as he let his loot bag drop to the floor and followed after it.

With the city the way it was the pickings where slim and Vaan had gone out on a limb to take what he could directly from the monsters mouth, namely the Imperial's food supplies.

"Hey! Fidget! Quit picking your nose and come help!" Kytes yelled out across the hideout, making a few of the younger kids giggle as a girl slouched out of a crate, her face bright red as Vaan pulled a loaf of half stale bread out of the bag.

"Pass that around willya?" He handed it over after she'd whipped her hands clean on her shorts and begun breaking off chunks in which to hand out to the rest. The rest of what Vaan had scavenged was quickly hoarded off for later and he fiddled with the stings on the purse he'd stolen as he weighed how much was inside. It'd be enough for a few days, maybe… if there was in fact anything left to buy after the city ate through their current food supply.

Figuring he was safe for now, Vaan leaned against a cool stonewall and began to relax, his arm still aching from the earlier incident. Seeing he was tired, Kytes and Filo ushered the others away and he let his thoughts wonder.

Dalmasca had lost the war.

The wounds where still fresh in Vaan's mind as he thought of the news he'd received shortly before the Imperials had taken over the city. Vaan could barely remember a time when there wasn't any fighting or any war. When he was younger, it had seemed so far away, it hadn't really been an issue, but one day it had walked right into their home, as all able bodied men and women where called to defend their country. Vaan's parents had been among the first to go, his father a foot soldier, and his mother among the military's field healers. Aged thirteen and fifteen, he and Reks had received letters regularly from both until one day they stopped coming.

Weeks later, it had been revealed they'd both died when their outpost had been attacked and decimated by Archadian Soldiers.

Left on their own Reks had sold their family home in the city, unable to maintain its upkeep and begun to rent a single room in a lodging house. He and Vaan had taken on jobs as messengers and runners for merchants and the like. Managing to earn a living at the same time as making all the friends they could to help them. Then Reks hearing that Soldiers where needed for the war once again, had decided to join the army. Vaan had cried, screamed and swore himself blue in the face, not wanting his brother to meet the same fate as their parents, but Reks couldn't be moved on his decision to protect him and the city at all costs.

It was from there that everything in Vaan's life had gone to hell.

"Huh?" Vaan looked up at Kytes who was standing in front of him, mouth open and his head tipped to the side as he listened to something in the distance. Wondering what had his attention Vaan listened too and a chill shot down his spine as he heard the heavy grinding sound of something very large and made of stone rolling across the ground.

"The east gate…" He muttered, staring at Kytes in his shock. The younger boy stared back, eyes wide.

"The east gate is moving!"

Rasler stared patiently at the large circular hatch to one side of the gate as it began to grind open. Beside him Gurdy was grinning in a way only a Moogle could as she operated the control to open the gate manually.

"These gates used to be placed at all the major entrances to the cities supply tunnels. But over the years most of them fell into disrepair after Airships became a major form transport." The pink and white Moogle explained patiently. "The northern and western supply gates where disabled, making sure no one could open them, and the South gate, the one close to the Gate Crystal, is now locked and under 24 hour guard since the Imperials began their occupation, but this gate wasn't completely rusted. I've been working, along with some of my siblings, to keep this gate in a state of repair so it could be used in time's like these." With a heavy final sounding thud the hatch finally stood open and the Moogle floated back.

"Once you're in, there's no way to let you back out." Gurdy squeaked as he peered into the darkness.

"That is acceptable." He breathed out. "Even being stuck in there is better than this heat." Gurdy stared at him like he was insane but chattered to herself softly and flew behind him. Little hands pushed the small of his back and guided him in.

"If you survive down there, and when all this is over, maybe you can ride a Chocobo… the heat won't seem so bad then, but you have to go down now before someone comes and see's you."

"You have my thanks." Rasler said over his shoulder as he picked his way around the frame and into the dark.

"Good Luck." Came the faint chirp over the noise of the gate as it rolled back into position with a bang. Letting out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding he brought his hands up to rub his arms. Now that there was no hot air blowing from the outside the Underground complex had become cold. From his lessons as a child, he remembered that Rabanastre had been built over part of the Nebra river, just like Nabudis had. Its waters were directed into the Gramscythe Waterway where it supplied all of Rabanastre's needs. It had been the only way for the city to flourish so far out in the center of the desert.

Suddenly there was a rustle in the darkness before him and he immediately froze. His ears working harder in the absence of his sight caught soft footsteps and whispers slowly beginning to surround him. Rasler didn't dare move as bit by bit his eyes adjusted to the darkness, revealing crates piled to the ceiling in loose formation that told him that something had taken the time to arrange them so they blocked off the view of the gate.

"…Why would someone want to come down here?" Someone suddenly spoke out in the dark. Rasler's head turned toward the sound and searched out the one to talk, but whoever it was thoroughly hidden by the shadows.

"…What I want to know is why they let him in the first place, isn't that gate meant to be broken too?" It took him a moment to realize what seemed so off about the voices in the room, but then he realized with a start what threw him off.

They where all children.

Then another figure, slightly shorter than him stepped out from around a pile of crates and walked into view.

"So what are you doing down here?" A blonde teen looked up at him and Rasler froze again. But their silent standoff didn't last long as another boy suddenly clattered onto the scene, breaking the tense mood and he waved frantically in the direction he had come.

"Soldiers!" He half yelled, gesturing wildly. "We gotta move now!" He said, a tinge of desperation in his voice. The teen that had confronted him didn't even give him another glance and he span around. The shadows exploded with motion as a large gathering of children who looked to range anywhere between the ages of five and twelve scattered into holes and down corridors Rasler hadn't seen until now. The teen was barking out at the older kids to take the younger ones and hide as he turned back and met his eyes.

"Well, what are you waiting for! Run! The soldiers beat up whoever they feel like down here and if you get in their way you're gonna get it." Rasler could only stare at him as the last child finally disappeared and the blonde rolled his eyes and grabbed his arm.

"Come on, if you stay here like that they're gonna beat you to death." The misplaced royal didn't even get a chance to protest as he was dragged through box tunnels and out into a lit corridor of the underground labyrinth. The clanking grew louder and his newest guide ran right for the corridor they'd emerge from.

"Wha…?" He tried to talk but the words where cut off by a louder shout from the teenager as he waved his free hand above his head wildly.

"HEY! BUCKET HEAD!" The Archadian soldiers turned as one and a small part of Rasler's mind dared to voice what it was thinking as the rest fell into panic.

'Oh Fuck.'

"RUN! AHAHAHAHAHA!" The teenager let out a laugh as he tore off in a seemingly random direction and it was all Rasler could do to stay upright and run, praying that the soldiers wouldn't get him.

"Are you mad!?" He yelled at the boy as he ran, always staying just in sight of the group of Imperials. The teen let out another bark of laughter as he suddenly jerked him into a dark corridor. They ran to the end where it opened up into a street of sorts and the boy ducked into another of the empty crates that seemed to be scattered all across Lowtown. Rasler was breathing hard as he was shoved into the confined space first, the boy nearly sitting on top of him in his haste to follow.

"Shhhh…." He hissed through his teeth and peeked through a gap in the slats that constructed the crate.

"He can't have gotten far! Spread out!" One by one, the soldiers clanked out of the alley they'd come through only moments before and their loud footsteps betrayed their movements as they spread out to search the area. There where crashes as tables where overturned and doors kicked in. People stared out in horror at the soldiers until they decided they'd been scared sufficiently witless and moved on to the next door.

"Where are they?!" One soldier yelled in frustration and Rasler nearly jumped as a metal clad fist slammed down on the top of the crate they where in. He froze up completely as the sound of barking and more metal came from the distance, fast closing in.

"What's going on down here?" A loud authoritive voice called out and they came to a stop.

"We're tracing those thieves! The ones who dare steal from us!" The leader called out and the newcomer growled.

"Let them go for now, there's been another uprising at the palace gates, let these churl's rot!" For a moment there was no movement and then, the soldiers slowly filed down the street, falling into neat rows as they marched to the nearest exit to the underground labyrinth. Rasler didn't relax until the sound of their footsteps had faded off into the distance and was suddenly reminded of his situation when the teen he shared the hiding place with let out a loud laugh. He spilled out of the crate and onto the flagstones grinning like a fool as he made a face at the corridor the soldiers had left by.

"Serves em' right!" He crowed as Rasler crawled out in a more careful manner. He was thinking hard, ignoring the cat calling boy as he thought on the situation. An uprising near the palace, what was going on? Where was the king in all this, hell, even the order would have handled this better. The misplaced royal knew that he needed to get into a palace to find out what was going on, he needed to let the king know he was alive, to stop this nonsense.

…Well, maybe he wouldn't let everyone know he was alive just yet…

But his dilemma in this was simple. He was no closer to getting into the Palace, even though he'd managed to get into the city…

"We're tracing those thieves! The ones who dare steal from us!"

Rasler turned toward the boy who was now nosing around the area, rooting through a basket with seemingly no regard for whomever might have owned it. The wheels in Rasler's mind turned and he came to a conclusion that made him grin.

"Hey kid!" He called out as he straightened up and tried to brush off the desert dust that had long since ingrained itself into his clothes. The boy looked up, his head cocked to the side as he pulled a few gil out of the basket and quickly shoved it into the pocket of his tunic. "What do you think about breaking into the palace and really giving those imperials a hard time?" The blonde stared at him blankly for a long moment before his face split in a wicked grin and Rasler knew he'd found a very good ally in the teen.

Even if he didn't think of Rabanastre as his true home, after Nebradia's fall, he'd be damned if he didn't make life difficult for the Imperials. He knew they where responsible in some way for the death of his father and his people even if there where still no witnesses to make it truth, but first…

He had a palace to infiltrate.

A/N: Ohhhh boy.

You guys are really warming up to the idea of the Vaan/Rasler pairing aren't you! Just about every review this story got…. While there weren't many, are all for the idea. So I guess, since there seems to be a market for it, I might be taking it that way after all.

But then again who am I kiddin, that's the response I was looking for when I suggested it.

(Mage Grins)

So the results are in, due to an errant berserk spell cast on a hyperactive fragment of my imagination the second round of the rock, paper, scissors tournament turned into a bloodbath of massive proportions and only one Inner Fangirl was alive at the end. Disturbingly enough, it's taking a few days for the others to respawn so the winner is…

Drumroll…..

The Vaan/Rasler fangirl! (Honestly, we all knew that was coming.)

So this story will officially become a Vaan/Rasler pairing, but I'm gonna keep it mild where I can, and nothing too graphic. I have a friend who likes my stories but won't read them if they're all smut. - So I'm taking the diplomatic route for now, but I'm sure anyone can fill the gaps with their imagination, lol. So warnings will be put up starting with the next chapter and to those reading who don't like slash, don't get shirty and say I didn't warn you.

Don't forget to Review!

Cya