Final Fantasy XII OC Story

Chapter 2

Running... Explosions.. And then Darkness.
These were the first things that came to mind as I awoke in the Garamsythe Waterway once again.

As I looked around I saw Fran sitting at the crashed hover bike, Vaan sitting on a large stone slab and the man was standing near the staircase to the left of me. It was a very dark and damp area, the air was moist and I had trouble breathing at first.

Vaan helped me stand up and looked at me as if to ask: Are you okay? I nodded ad him before walking over to Fran, having some questions of my own.

"What happened?" I asked as Fran examined the hover bike. "Our hover didn't just stop, it disappeared."

"Ah forget it. Even if we could fly the Ifrit's playing with fire and I'd rather not get burned. Well go the old fashioned way." The man looked over to Vaan, who was staring at Fran.

"Not many Viera where you come from, thief?" Vaan stopped staring and look over at the man angrily before apologizing to Fran. "Its Vaan! Sorry."

"Well Fran is special that shed deign to partner with a Hume." That made me chuckle. Fran looked over to me confused, before looking back at the man.

"Oh, like a sky pirate that chooses to steal trough the sewers?"

"Pirates? You're sky pirates?" Vaan looked confused and excited at the same time, I was just plain confused. "It's Balthier."

Aha! So that was his name? Balthier looked at me curiously, then spoke to Vaan.

"Listen thief- Vaan, if u ever want to see your home again you'll do exactly as I say. You, me, Stella and Fran will be working together as of now."

"How did you know her name?" Vaan looked at Balthier curiously before looking back to me, expecting an answer.

"We met earlier today when I was at this bar called the ehh.."

"The Sandsea." Fran added.

"Well, just because you're friends with her doesn't mean for a second you'll be getting this!" Vaan shoved the orange shard into my belt pouch, ordering me to keep it safe. I looked over at Balthier, giving him an apologetic smile.

"The thought never crossed my mind. Now let's move."

While we were walking passed a corner, I stopped moving. I looked into the corner and saw the bodies of what looked to be Imperial soldiers.

"Insurgents, most likely they thought to take advantage of the lax watch while the fete's on, to feed the "good" consul a length of steel before supper. I should think Vayne's used to such hospitality. Clever. He used himself as the bait to draw them near, then send in the air brigade."

I looked at Balthier for a moment before standing up with a sigh.
As we continued our way out of there we had to fight a few Gigantoads, some Rats, and a few bat like creatures called Steelings. We disposed of them quickly and started walking through the waterway once more to find our way out of this mess.

We walked down a pair of stairs until we saw some Imperial soldiers chasing a girl to the edge of a platform. The girl looked quite tough as she pushed one of the soldiers into the water with her sword. "Who would be next?"

She looked to be outnumbered until Vaan yelled over to her. "Jump down!"

She looked back and forth between the guards and Vaan before jumping down into his arms. The guards started yelling to each other "She's not alone!" before finding a way down.

"Our ranks grow by the hour." Fran looked ad Balthier before walking over to us. "And our troubles with them."

When the Imperial soldiers found their way down to us, we engaged in a fight. They weren't very experienced fighters, even I could tell that much as we easily knocked them down.
Vaan started walking over to the girl we just rescued. "Are you all right?"

She looked over to us before answering. "Thank you."

Vaan started introducing us as I walked up to a stone slab and took a seat. She told him her name was Amalia. "There were others with me.."

"I'm sorry." As Amalia started speaking again the Shard in my pocket started glowing immensely.

"Now isn't that impressive?" Balthier looked over to me before Amalia started speaking once more. "You stole that?" The glow suddenly stopped.

"Yeah!" Vaan answered her proudly.

"Have you finished? If the guards don't report in they'll come looking for us."

Fran looked over to us worried but she was right, we had to keep moving.

"You should come with us, it's better than being out on your own." Amalia looked a little insulted by Vaan's comment before walking away. "Very well then."

I sighed and followed after Amalia, leaving the others arguing about Vaan's manners. Amalia looked to be a young woman, perhaps 20 years of age like myself. She had shoulder length sandy brown hair, wore a white vest with lose sleeves and gold armbands. She also wore a short pink skirt and a blue belt with golden boots.

Amalia turned around as the others catched up to us and started talking. "I shall accompany you until we find my companions, no longer."

"We shall think of her as a guest then, let's get moving." Balthier spoke before we started moving once more.

As we walked through a rusty copper door, we got to a large square platform with lots of water on it. It didn't feel right somehow, our escape felt too easy. As I took a step forward 4 Flans fell down from the ceiling and surrounded us, confirming my feelings.

They looked like yellow blobs of slime with an evil smile plastered to their "face".

It was a tough fight as they seemed to be immune to our psychical attacks. Once I tried out my Fire spell, it seemed to hurt the Flans immensely. And once one died, it started flowing away with the water.

I smirked to myself and casted fire 3 more times until all the flan's were dead.

Vaan sighed out a breath of relief. Balthier put a hand on my shoulder and told me "Well done." before we moved on.

We continued our way through the maze, after the battle with the flan's. It was a long road ahead, and it didn't look like we would find an exit any time soon. As we were fighting of some rats I started wondering where I learned how to fight. I was a very competent fighter and the more I fought, the more moves came to mind.
When we entered a large round area, we decided to take a small break. I began to lay down upon a copper bench in the left corner of the room, staring at the ceiling as the others took their seats.
"How much longer until we get out of here?" Vaan looked over to Balthier hoping he would give him an answer.

"At the rate we are going right now, I'd say about an hour. " I sighed as I stood up.
"Better not to waste any more time then, let's go!" Everyone looked at me as if I had just gone crazy, except for Amalia. She seemed to agree with my plan. "She's right. The faster we find my companions, the better."
Balthier stood up and started leading the way once more until we reached a large area with 2 pairs of stairs and a lot of water on the floor. On the other side of the room there was a huge copper gate with a door on the left of it. That must be the exit! As we walked down the stairs, the door behind us suddenly slammed down with a large bang. All of the sudden, the water became steam! I looked around the room and wondered what we got ourselves into this time.

And there it was, a huge horse like creature with manes of fire appeared in the middle of the room. We took our battle stances and prepared to fight

.
This was one of the worst creatures I came upon so far, it disappeared every time someone attacked it with their weapon more than two times. As the fight went on it suddenly hit me, he was a fire creature so he had to be weak to.. Ice! Of course!
I started casting my Blizzard spell as the creature came towards me.
It worked! The creature let out a roar of pain as the spell hit it.
"You guys! If you are able to, cast blizzard!" Amalia and Fran nodded and started casting with me. Once they did, the fight was over soon.

"Stand where you are!" A stern voice shouted at us. We turned around into the direction of the voice and saw at least 20 Imperial soldiers aiming their weapons at us. Walking up to us was a man with shoulder length black wavy hair, and clothes fit for a noble.
When Amalia saw him she took a step forward in anger, but Balthier stopped her.
"Now is not the time." Amalia looked back and forth between Balthier and the man and decided against her previous plan.
The man's eyes scanned the room and stopped at me for a moment, I could see his eyes widen for only a second before turning away from mine again and back to my companions.
"Put your hands up!" the soldier yelled at us once more. They put handcuffs on our wrists and escorted us back to lowtown. At least we were out of the sewers.

There were lots of people looking at us while we walked through the streets. "They think me to be some common thief!" Amalia commented angrily. "Better than a common assassin." Balthier said with a smirk. Amalia spoke to the Imperial soldiers, demanding them to release us. "These people have done nothing wrong, release them!" "What are you doing?" Vaan asked her confused. "Don't interrupt me, I'm thinking." Amalia looked lost in thoughts as the Imperials led her away.
"Wait! He didn't know what he was doing, you have to let him go! You have to!" I saw Penelo standing in the crowd trying to make her way over to us.
"Penelo! Sorry, dinner will have to wait." Vaan waved his hands up to Penelo showing her his handcuffs. Penelo started to cry until Balthier approached her. "Here, keep this safe for me and I will return Vaan to you."
She clutched onto the handkerchief Balthier gave her and watched as the guards led us away.

As we were being led out of the city, one of the guards knocked out Vaan saying he was too much trouble, struggling like that. I looked over to Vaan worried, it looked like he was alright as an Imperial started picking him up.

Once we arrived at our destination, we were send into some kind of dungeon, and our handcuffs were removed. I turned around and looked over the place we were supposed to spend the rest of our lives in. It was a huge disgusting underground level, there were corpses everywhere and I don't even want to talk about that smell!
"Let's examine this place Stella, my senses tell me there should be a way out." I looked over to Fran and nodded as we made our way into the dungeon.

Vaan's P.O.V.:
Ouch! My head.. That Imperial gave me a good smack to the head.. Waking up I tried looking over the small room I was thrown into, seeing Balthier sitting on a stone edge in the corner of the room. "Where are we?"
"Prison, where else? More like a dungeon but it's really all the same."
As I stood up I held my head in confusion for a moment before looking at the open wall behind me, until I heard someone scream out in pain. I was startled and started walking back until I almost tripped over a corpse.
"Relax, it's just a corpse. Jump at every little thing down here and you'll wear yourself out." I at Balthier and nodded before asking him some questions. "Where are Stella and Fran?"
"They're off trying to find us a way out. It's not even a proper dungeon, they just sealed off the bottom level of the fortress. Take a look around, were not the first they've thrown down here." I nodded before making my way deeper into the dungeon.

I started exploring the dungeon for a while, until I found myself in a huge coliseum like room. As I entered the room I saw all kinds of people sitting around a circle in the middle of the room.

BAM!

All of the sudden a red Bangaa was thrown down in front of me followed by three Seeq's that were beating him up. The Bangaa begged for my help as they were about the deliver the final blow. "No, Don't!" But it was already too late, they had killed him and started looking at me angrily before punching me in the face and throwing me down into the arena. The biggest Seeq started dragging me into the middle of the room before ushering me to fight the three of them. Before I could even think of standing up, I heard a familiar voice to the left of me. "Something stinks in here, all right! I changed my mind. This is no dungeon, it's a sty."
The bigger Seeq started rambling something inaudible at Balthier, who balled his fists and spoke once more. "I said you're the one that stinks ham shanks! Hear me now?"
Balthier jumped into the arena and looked over me. "You all right, Vaan?"
I nodded before facing the Seeq's once more, preparing for battle.

Stella's P.O.V.:

"I wonder where this path leads to." I said to Fran before facing a huge rusty door.
"It would seem that the lock broke at its old age, perhaps this is the way out?" Fran looked behind her before facing me once more. "My senses tell me that you might be right, the mist flows here. Let's return and tell the others about our findings."

As we walked our way back into the dungeon, we heard some people yelling at something happening inside the arena. When I looked down I saw Vaan and Balthier fighting with a Seeq as two other Seeq's were already knocked out.
Fran and I walked over to one of the gate's before we heard a large gate on the other side of the room open.
We quickly opened the gate for Balthier and Vaan to slide trough as we hid behind a wall ourselves, careful not to be seen by the Imperial soldiers entering the room.
"Through the oubliette there seems to be a way out, only.."
"Only you sense the mist." Fran nodded at Balthier's comment as they to hid behind the wall as well. The Imperial soldiers were yelling at a few Bangaa's, and it seemed like they were arguing about a bounty on Balthier's head. I looked at Balthier, who shrugged it off before looking at the soldiers once more as one fancy looking one joined the argument.

"That's enough, Bagam'man." The fancy soldier joined the others as Balthier started talking to us once more. "A Judge, the self-proclaimed protectors of justice and personal guards of house Solidor, which affectionately makes them the commanders of the Imperial army. If you ask me they're more executioners then judge's, what are they doing down here?"
"The emperor is willing to overlook race for his more talented servants however, those that do not show respect will receive none in kind. You walk freely into these lands because the emperor wills it, is that correct?"
The Bangaa sighed at the Judge and started walking away as the Judge started talking to one of the other soldiers. "Where is the captain?"
"We have him in solitary, your honor. We're ready to begin our interrogation." I began to feel sorry for this "Captain", whoever he was surely didn't deserve the beating he was about to receive.

"Time for the hare to follow the fox." Balthier looked at us as Fran made a comment about the way out. "The magic's binding the oubliette are strong. Too strong, even for my talents."
"That's why well get them to open it for us." Balthier commented. I nodded as we started walking in the direction the judge just went.

Through the rusty old door we found a hallway with a room to the right. It was a weaponry, and it seemed to store all of our weapons. "My katana!" I rushed over to my beloved weapon before helping the others find their own. Once we were done we could hear the wall at the other side of the hallway move down, we quickly ran underneath it before it closed with a large thud.

Before us was another maze of rooms filled with Imperials that we had to either avoid or dispose of as soon as we could while following our Judge.
Once we reached the third room we heard the Judge talking to some Magisters who were mumbling a spell to open the way through the oubliette.
Once that was done we quickly followed after them as they walked into what seemed to be another even bigger coliseum with a huge hole in the middle and a few cages hanging above it. It looked like the "Captain" the judge was looking for, was chained into one of these.

As the Judge removed his helmet, he started speaking to the captain. I couldn't see the Judge's face as his back was turned to us.
"You have grown very thin Basch. Less than a shadow, less than a man. Sentenced to death and yet you live, why?" Basch looked up at the Judge before speaking. "To silence Ondore, how many times must I say it?"
"Is that all?"
"Why not ask Vayne yourself, isn't he one of your masters?"
The Judge sighed at the Captain before continuing his story. "We caught the leader of the Insurgence, she's being brought from Rabanastre as we speak. The woman Amalia. Who could that be?" Basch quickly looked up at the Judge, who continued speaking.
"Such a faithful hound to cling so to a fallen kingdom.."
"Better the throwing it away!" Basch retorted as the Judge placed his helmet on his head once more before speaking a last sentence and walking away. "Throwing it away, like you did to our homeland?"

As the Judge left we walked over to Captain Basch's cage and engaged in a conversation. "Who's there?" The man spoke as Balthier and Fran discussed our way out.
"This the place?" Balthier looked into the pit as Fran nodded and spoke. "The mist is flowing through this room, it must be going somewhere."
I started walking over to Captain Basch's cage. The Captain was still facing Balthier before turning to me. "You! You are no Imperials, Please you must get me out of here!"
"It's against my policy to speak with the death, especially if they happen to be king slayers." I turned to Balthier, confused, before looking back at Captain Basch. "I did not kill him!"
"Is that so? Glad to hear it." Captain Basch sighed and turned to me once more before speaking again. "Please, you must get me out. For the sake of Dalmasca!" All of the sudden Vaan rushed by me and jumped onto the Captain's cage.
"Dalmasca? What do you care about Dalmasca! Everything that's happened is because of you! Every single person that died, it's all your fault! Even my brother.." I stared at Vaan sadly, trying to calm him down. I couldn't imagine this man to be so evil. Something about this whole ordeal just didn't feel right to me. "Ssshh! Vaan, calm down! If you keep this up the guards will hear us." I kept trying to silence Vaan as he went on yelling. Once we heard some footsteps approach, Fran quickly thought of an escape plan. "I'm dropping it!" She kicked the switch down before jumping on the cage herself, Balthier picked me up as he quickly jumped on the cage himself as it fell down into the pit.