Cities, Warp Holes and other pointless things…
Chapter 2
AN;IT'S BACK!
Apologies for the punctuation errors in the previous chapter, I will sort it out sooner or later.
I do not own anything from Final Fantasy 12 (unfortunately).
Balthier
His eyes were heavy, his whole body felt incredibly sore, his head was reeling and he felt like throwing up. Was he having a hangover? Was that all a dream? He sure hoped so. Purple images flashed through his jumbled mind as he blinked slowly.
He practically had to heave his eyes open. Hold on. He looked around himself. He was lying in a white bed with cream sheets, the floor was a polished almond colour and the walls were painted a dingy creamy brown. He froze slightly. This was definitely not the Feywood. Suddenly a voice came from outside the room,
"Balthier?" the muffled voice said. He shot up,
"Fran?" he asked warily, "Fran is that you?" he sat up in the bed and stayed there. If this was all a joke, he was definitely blaming Vaan,
"Balthier, have you seen my car keys?" the strong Arcadian accent squawked. That was definitely not Fran,
"Balthier?" he heard the footsteps come closer and the door swung open. He jumped out of the bed,
"Balthier!?" the lady shouted,
"What the hell are you doing!?" he raised a brow at the sight. It was a woman with short, corkscrew curly, blonde hair, wearing a tight blue suit. But what really got Balthiers attention was not only her face was scarlet or the fact that her forehead was as wrinkly as a flan but the fact that a vein on her forehead was throbbing constantly as if it was an alien life-form growing on her head. Balthier's eyes widened slightly at the creepy sight. The ladies eyes widened at him ragingly,
"Don't look at me like that!" the strange lady shouted. He frowned. God, he was this close to giving up on women altogether,
"Mummy where's Daddy?" he could hear young voices who definitely didn't sound Penelo or Vaan,
"In here" the lady snapped as two kids bounded in with blue striped pyjamas on. The taller one frowned slightly,
"Daddy?" he asked loudly,
"Why are you wearing…that?" he looked down. He was wearing what he usually wore, his black trousers, the damned sandals, embroidered vest (which cost him an arm and a leg) and his (somehow) immaculate white shirt. Wait, did the boy just call him Daddy? He sighed heavily and mumbled,
"Stupid bloody warp hole." he suddenly heard small gasps come from the 2 little children,
"Balthier!" his heart flipped violently at the sharp scream as he stared at the anger-problem lady,
"How dare you swear in front of the children, it is a sin and you know that! Just because we had an argument last night, does not mean you can swear and lie in bed all day!" he frowned and peered round her. The two kids were huddled together as if they had just seen a ghost,
"Who are you?" he asked. He gulped as the vein throbbed faster and faster. He guessed he shouldn't have said that. God she really did need help,
"Right, that's it! Get changed and get out!" the lady stormed out the room as the kids shuffled out. The door slammed loudly, leaving a confused and annoyed Balthier behind. He stood there unsure of what to do or even what to say. He looked out the white washed window. His eyes widened immensely at the sight. There was airship like machines running around on wheels. He had seen things similar in Rozzaria, they called them caravans. There were huge grey buildings, as big as the crashed Bahamut in Rabanastre…..and that was big. When he thought about it, this place reminded himself of Rozzaria, when he and Fran visited it.
Fran.
He wondered where she was. Maybe she was in some rich hotel being showered with gifts or maybe she was lying in some ditch. He froze. Good god, now he didn't want that happening! He turned round and paced to the door. He swung the oak door open but stopped short as he was guarded by one of the pyjama children,
"Mummy told me to tell you that she left your work clothes in the wardrobe." He said quietly as he then narrowed his small dark eyes,
"You weren't leaving were you?" Balthier frowned. What? Was that crazy woman keeping him as a hostage! He needed to get out of her, now,
"Are you okay Daddy? You look kind of ill…" the boy continued looking at him suspiciously. Balthier tried to get past but the boy stood into the space,
"Where are you going?" the boy asked. Balthier sighed heavily,
"Out of this mad house" he murmured. The boy continued stepping in front of him. Balthier tried to stay calm and collected although it was getting harder. He decided he would use a useful method he used on the Rabanastran kids,
"Look, if you let me out of here. Then I will consider giving you money." The boy's eyes widened at the word money,
"Daddy, that's bad." He began. Balthier sighed heavily as he let the boy drone on,
"That's a sin. Like Mummy said." Balthier frowned,
"Mummy?" he said slowly. The boy frowned also. Oh please,
"Yes Mummy. Remember? You had a fight and Mummy got really….scaring" the boy looked incredibly pale as he said this. He raised a brow at him,
"Please, just do your old….Daddy," he said the word with disgust. Well sometimes you have to do the worst, he might as well play along with it…if this is going to get him out of here…., "a favour. Let me out of here." The boy shook his head as he directed the man back inside the dingy cream room. As Balthier stood there, the boy went towards the wardrobe and reached up onto the handles, which were so high he had go on his toes, and took a brown suit and shiny black shoes. He then searched through a drawer and brought out a green tie with bunny rabbits on it. Please say that those weren't his "work" clothes,
"Mummy, David and I will be downstairs" the small boy walked out the door. Balthier darted for the door but then heard a loud click from outside,
"Damn" Balthier thought. He sighed as he paced round the room for an escape exit. He glanced at the window then suddenly an idea came up. He opened the window and looked down,
"Bloody hell." He mumbled as he stumbled slightly backwards. He was a long way up. Well that was that theory failed. He looked back at the suit and shivered slightly, one thing was for sure. He was not wearing that…..
Basch
He groaned slightly as he struggled to open his eyes. Swarms of purple colour circled in his head,
"Lady Ashe?" he mumbled as he eventually opened his eyes. As his sight fixed he froze. He was no longer in the Feywood, there was no mist. He looked around. He was in some sort of closed up vehicle. He was sitting in a leather chair while a wheel was placed in front of him with several controls next to it. There were glass window-like things on the strange vehicle. He tried to push any suspicious looking objects to get out but no success. He saw a door like shape and bashed his shoulder against it to get it open but it didn't budge. He could feel some thing in his left hand. He looked down and saw a ringed object with a hole in it. It had pink slathered all over the top of it. He inspected it closely; he even went to lengths of smelling it. (Well trying since he had his helmet on). It smelt….tasty? He put it down in case it was poisonous since he had no antidotes. Mind you, he was hungry…..maybe just a little nibble. He reached up to his helmet to ram the object in to his mouth but was interrupted by a loud banging noise,
"Oi!" Basch looked up and saw an angry looking hume. He was dressed in some sort of uniform consisting of a white t-shirt tucked into a navy pair of trousers. He also wore a strange cap, square with an emblem on it,
"What the hell do think your doin', man! You just let two burglars escape, you dumbass!" the hume ranted. Basch stayed frozen with the tasty object hovering to enter his hungry….helm,
"You just wanna eat donuts all day don' cha!" the angry hume spat coldly, "Well not gonna happen pal!" he swung the door miraculously open and ordered Basch out. Basch slowly got out of the vehicle (tasty object still in his hand) and looked around curiously. There were more humes around him, dressed the same as the man and all angry. Suddenly their faces went straight, and soon, all burst out with laughter. Basch frowned as one of the laughing humes roared,
"Haha! God, what the hell are you wearin'!" Basch looked down and saw that he was wearing his usual armour, a little rustier but still, nothing to laugh about. Was there? He remembered that he must have left his sword back at the Feywood,
"He looks like that guy of whatsit…oh yeah, StarWars." the big hume sniggered as the rest of them laughed along with him,
"Hah! Yeah, Darth Vader" the group of humes continued roaring with laughter as some of them began making strange breathing noises and saying "Luke, I am your father". Basch frowned as the strange humes laughed and breathed strangely around some other enclosed vehicles,
"Stupid idiots," the angry hume from before mumbled "Dunno why I hired them." Basch began to walk away at his chance but was interrupted,
"Hey, your stayin' here, you're coming to the station!" the angry hume* called after him. Basch decided to stay as the tone in his voice reminded him of someone. But he couldn't put his finger on it…..,
"And shut up the rest of you!" the angry hume roared as the crowd immediately quietened,
"Yes sir!" they all cried out together, except one,
"Y-yes s-sir!" the young boy eventually mumbled nervously. The tempered man shook his head and then opened the vehicle door,
"You're drivin' Basch." The hume went round to the other side of the vehicle and then shouted across to the group of silenced humes,
"And you lot can get your ass down to the station too. I'm not happy with you guys!" The other humes entered into the vehicles and drove off. Was this man asking him to do that? He'd only piloted an airship a few times and it was only a small shuttle. Basch gingerly entered the vehicle as the man got in too and switched on various buttons till a sudden boom of music launched from the speakers. It then turned to voices talking and then switched to some sort of soft music,
"Ah Beethoven." The hume sighed as he strapped a belt round his chest from the leather chair, "Beautiful music, eh?" Basch swallowed hard. What should he say? What on earth was Beethoven anyway? He put the tasty smelling object down on a flat surface and faced the wheel blankly,
"Well come on! I ain't got all day y'know?" the hume snapped as he hummed away to the strange tune. Basch wandered his eyes over the controls. He glanced at the demanding hume who had his eyes closed as his head was resting back, still humming away. Basch gulped and pressed a button which said "siren". This could start it. Suddenly a loud screeching sound filled the car, drowning out the "Beethoven" music,
"What the hell are you doin'!" the hume roared as Basch frantically pushed buttons activating black lines to scratch on the screen and loud horn noises. The hume fiercely pushed a big red button and all noise stopped, except the music… … unfortunately. Then the hume stretched over and turned a key that was inserted into the wheel,
"What!?" he suddenly roared, "You left the keys in here. God!" the vehicle suddenly spluttered with a roar and eventually started up. The hume mumbled furiously as he went back to his resting position. Basch took a deep breath and placed his gloved hands on the wheel and turned it. He heard grinding of stones underneath him. He stayed in the twisted position, waiting for the man to tell him what to do next,
"If you wanna second drivin' test, then now is not the time!" the hume snapped his tanned face was going pink before his very own eyes and his dark blond hair stood on end slightly. Suddenly Basch thought the hume looked familiar….Basch looked down under the wheel for anymore clues or key twisting devices. He noticed three pedals below. He glanced at the familiar hume who was still humming away with his eyes closed. He raised his heavily booted feet and pressed straight down on the nearest pedal (which was the far left one). Suddenly the vehicle spluttered and shot backwards as gravity slammed Basch into the back of his seat. The car sped on backwards as the man shouted constantly and Basch frantically pushed buttons, starting the strange siren noise again,
"USE THE BRAAAAAKES" the hume yelled as they crashed through tall lights, seats, bins but luckily not any humes. Basch looked around for a button that displayed "brakes" on them, but found none. The judge suddenly felt he had left his stomach behind….,
"I SAID, USE THE BRAKES!" the hume roared again as they sped along the grey roads. Basch grabbed onto the wheel and spun around but only made the situation worse as they sped round and round in a circle. Basch decided to let go if the wheel which almost sent the vehicle flying towards a tall building but luckily skimmed it. The raging hume grabbed the wheel and spun it around but all of a sudden it snapped off. The hume's eyes widened,
"AAAAARRRGGHHH" the hume screamed immensely loud. The city of grey buildings moved away further and further. Basch looked behind himself and froze as they sped towards a ledge. The hume growled loudly as he quickly brought his leg over the large object sticking out the vehicle and stamped his foot down on the middle pedal. The vehicle immediately stopped, sending Basch flying towards the wheel. The side of his face whacked against the wheel. He brought his head up and rubbed his cheek, he definitely broke a tooth. He looked across at the hume who was breathing loudly, nostrils flaring. He didn't seem to have hurt himself. The hume opened his mouth as if to shout something but suddenly large bags shot out of nowhere squashing the hume and Basch back against the seat. Suddenly a loud groan filled the air. Basch and the hume slowly turned their heads round. The sea was in full view and the vehicle was rocking back and forth,
"Oh crap" the hume mumbled as he spun round and moved his foot onto another pedal. The vehicle screeched loudly as grey mist filled the air around the rear end of the vehicle. Basch saw the man gritting his teeth and stamping his foot harder. Basch leaned forward to put weight on the end but it didn't seem to make a difference. The vehicle began moving lower and lower, going faster and faster,
"Get out!" Basch shouted as he kicked the door open and jumped out. The hume shortly followed.
Splash!
The two humes walked towards the edge of the ledge and looked down. The top of the vehicle sunk slowly down as the siren whirred loudly and eventually died down as the vehicle disappeared under the murky blue blanket of sea. The hume opened his mouth then closed it like a goldfish, probably in shock. Basch cleared his throat,
"Are you alright, sir" the man stopped being a goldfish and glared at Basch,
"Am I alright!?" he laughed coldly "Don't even go there. What the hell made you do that!? I mean is it Rasler? Takin' your anger out doin' that won't help." the confused hume shook his head. Basch stood unsure what to do. He did not mean to hurt the man. He saved his life anyway, didn't he? The grumbling hume shoved his hand in his pocket and brought out a square object, similar to the one Penelo had in the Feywood. He pressed a few buttons and held it up to his ear. Basch frowned as he began speaking,
"Officer Ratsbane, I have Sergeant Basch Fon Ronsenburg here but I'm afraid we've lost another car." the man paused for a moment, still glaring at Basch,
"No not in a raid….he drowned it," the man twitched his face slightly "Look just get another car here…NOW!" the man flipped the phone down violently and shoved it back into his pocket. The man growled and mumbled as he paced back and forth along the ledge. Basch looked across to the city. It was huge. He was surprised that he had travelled that fast, through such a big city. This place was strange, very strange but so familiar. He didn't know where he was or where to go but he knew he should keep his duty and find the Queen….somehow.
Vaan
Vaan opened his eyes and opened his mouth. He felt dry saliva on his cheek. Had he been drooling? He wiped his cheek but stopped short as his elbow banged against something hard. He fixed his sight ahead and saw small, white lines shining through. He pushed his hands around himself but only felt a smooth surface,
"Penelo?" he called nervously. Where was he? Questions ran through his confused mind as he pushed himself around the enclosed space,
"Hello?" a voice suddenly called through, "Anyone home?" the voice was then accompanied with sniggers. Vaan frowned and banged,
"Hey, lemme out!" he shouted through the tiny slits. He could make out shapes and plenty of light but not much else. The sniggers were exchanged for howls of laughter now. Vaan groaned slightly. He banged harder and harder on the surface,
"Hey! Geez, calm down okay?" the voice shouted through. There were several clicking noises until the door finally swung open, revealing about 30 humes standing looking at Vaan trying not to laugh. Maybe he should've just stayed in the cupboard….thing,
"Who're you?" Vaan frowned at the large hume who looked about Vaan's age (probably older) and had short, brown hair. The hume boy's nostrils flared a little,
"Who am I?" the boy spat, "Everyone knows me, dumbass!" Vaan felt anger boil at the hume but one of the humes in the background started chuckling,
"Hey Tom, look at what he's wearin'" the hume called Tom looked down at Vaan and raised a light brown eyebrow and burst out with laughter,
"W-what the hell?!" Tom snorted as the crowd of humes roared with laughter,
"Is that a bikini he's wearin'?" he heard from the crowd. His teeth clenched at this when suddenly a voice cried,
"Stop it!" could it be..?
A hume girl ran through the crowd of humes. She had short, wavy dark brown hair, brown eyes and a small round face with small pink lips. Vaan felt drool coming up,
"Leave him alone, Tom!" she snapped at the brunette who raised a brow at the girl,
"Pfft whatever!" Tom raised his hand to push the girl away but Vaan shoved Tom backwards,
"Don't touch her!" he snapped. The crowd fell silent. Tom's face frowned,
"Since when did you date her!?" he shouted almost protesting. Vaan's face became hot as he eyed all the hume's pale faces,
"Erm…" Vaan stuttered more until Tom left,
"C'mon guys. Let's go," Tom gave one last glare at Vaan then left with a large group of humes, walked down the yellow hallway with shiny flooring, pushing people as he went. Vaan swallowed hard as he turned around to the girl. The brunette beauty (who looked oddly familiar) was blushing as were a group of girls not far behind her,
"Th-thanks a lot" she said quietly. Vaan felt a wave of pride wash over him,
"No prob'." he said chuffed as he placed his hands round his head in a proud manner. The girls giggled as they eyed his stomach. The girl blushed, not sure if it was due to embarrassment or shyness. Vaan dropped his hands to his side and cleared his throat,
"Eh….who was that 'Tom' guy anyway?" Vaan asked. The girl blinked,
"Huh?" she said dubiously, "Who Tom? Oh, never mind him. He just picks on random people for the sake of it." she said smiling slightly. Her voice began to hover a little,
"So" she began with a sly smirk, "What's your name?" she said sweetly fluttering her long, feathery eyelashes,
"Uh….Vaan" he said grinning. The girl smiled back,
"Filo," she spoke up, "But you can call me Fee if you wanna…." she said while twisting a strand of smooth brown hair round her finger. Vaan swallowed hard. That was not Filo….If Penelo found out about this then she'd kill him, literally,
"So….I'll see ya later, Kay?" 'Fee' said, snapping Vaan from his feared thoughts,
"S-sure" he mumbled nervously. She gave a smile and walked off to the rest of the girls behind her,
"Fee?" he mumbled to himself. She looked so different, too different. Filo never wore skirts…and never wore makeup either. Suddenly he was interrupted from his thoughts as one of the girls from Filo's group came up to Vaan,
"By the way, Fee only lets boys call her that if she likes them." The girl said the word 'likes' with such certainty, it almost made Vaan tremble. She gave him a quick smile and walked off to join the rest of the group. Vaan stood there, taken aback of what happened,
"She wants to meet up with…me?" he mumbled to himself, feeling his stomach lurch. Filo was younger than him, barely older that Kytes …and she wanted to meet up with him.
Isn't there a law against that!?
Vaan shivered off the thoughts and looked around the bright hallway. It had several brown doors with glass windows, dotted around the walls. The floor was a shiny, grey surface and was very slippy. The walls were a bright yellow and there were rows of the blue cupboard things on the walls. This didn't look Rabanastre at all,
"Yo, Vaan!" a hume voice called over. Vaan spun round and saw a boy with messy brown hair wearing a green blazer, tie and black trousers added with shiny black shoes,
"Uh….Yo?" the boy frowned at Vaan,
"What's up with you? Cat caught your tongue?" the boy sniggered. Vaan frowned deeper. He needed to get out of here....now,
"Hey, uh….what is this place?" the boy looked at Vaan blankly and then raised a brow,
"Uh, school?" the boy said, waving a hand in front of Vaan's face, "You lost your memory too?" the boy added as Vaan blinked several times, checking if he actually did. But wait, he could still remember what happened. They were in the Feywood, found a warp hole and then,
"Penelo!" he shouted, snapping from his thoughts. The sea of young humes stopped and stared at Vaan,
"Uh Vaan, are you feelin' okay?" Vaan hovered slightly, not sure if he was ok. The young hume sighed and took a piece of yellow paper with scribbles all over it out of his pocket,
"Here. Your time table" he said, shoving the piece of paper in Vaan's hands. Vaan looked at the piece of paper and read the scribbles on it….or tried to,
"Remember, you dropped it in Mr Solidor's classroom….?" The boy spoke, raising a brow. He noticed Vaan squinting at the paper,
"What's wrong?" Vaan looked up then looked back at the paper,
"Who are you?" he said, almost shouting making the boy flinch. The boy frowned at Vaan and rolled his eyes,
"Kytes…." he spoke slowly, folding his arms in a bored fashion. Vaan's face dropped,
"Kytes!" Vaan shouted abruptly, making even more humes stop and stare, "What the hell are you doin' here!?" Kytes blinked his small brown eyes at Vaan,
"Goin' to school?" he said a confused look on his young face. He sighed and began walking off,
"Just 'cause I'm younger than you, doesn't mean you can treat me like I'm a jackass!" he shouted back. Vaan ran after him,
"Hey, wait!" Kytes carried on walking and opened one of the doors with a small figure on it,
"Where are you goin'?" Vaan called but Kytes spun around,
"Just quit it, will you!?" Kytes face blazed red as Vaan's eyes widened slightly, "I'm goin' to the freakin' toilet…..okay!?" and with that Kytes slammed the door shut.
Vaan stood there, feeling awkward about the whole situation. What is Kytes doing here? How did he get here? And what the Ultima was Kytes wearing? Vaan sighed heavily and walked down the yellow corridor. If he was alive, then Penelo must be too…..right? Vaan strolled down another passage way and stopped. A man with black, medium-length hair was standing in front of him, eyes blazing,
"Aha, now what do we have here?" he announced as other humes stared at Vaan and the tall hume,
"Vaan Rastbane. What are you doing here; you should be in class." Vaan frowned at the hume. 'Class', what the hell was that? Vaan suddenly blinked.
Mr Solidor….
An evil look suddenly appeared on Vaans face as he looked at the tall, dark man. Vaan gritted his teeth.
Solidor.
Vayne Solidor,
"Vayne…" Vaan whispered harshly. The dark man's face fell in to a frown, "You…You…You" Vaan continued stuttering in anger until he finally blurted out,
"Chocobo turd!!!!" he screamed. The whole hallway fell silent as he heard small gasps from the crowd. Vaan's eyes blazed and his knuckled clenched white. The man (or, 'Vayne') glared at the young boy, a dark eyebrow rising immensely,
"What did you call me?" he hissed, coldly. Vaan's eyes narrowed, narrowed some much that they almost disappeared back into his sockets and into his brain,
"I said," he took a deep breath, "CHOCOBO TURD!!" his voice suddenly clenched when he said it so he ended up sounding like a teen going through puberty…
Vayne's eyes narrowed. The hallway hadn't emptied. Instead, crowds were still staring at the strangely, brave, Vaan, dumbstruck,
"I think you ought to come to my office with me…," Vayne sadi darkly. He turned around to the crowd, "And you better leave for class unless you want to join him!"
The class burst into action as they ran around like headless chickens trying to find a door to go in….even if it's a cupboard.
Vaan let himself gulp. Vayne's eyes landed on him like an eagle to his prey. And Vaan was the mouse,
"Come with me, boy…." He murmured as he turned and walked. Vaan found himself following, twiddling his fingers as he did.
One thought swam in his head constantly,
I'll find you, Penelo…
Yes! I return!
I apologise deeply for not updating…in well….aaaaaaages *sweatdrops*
So anyhow, I just thought I'd tie up lose ends of this chapter and post it….its been sitting around gathering dust on my laptop so…. why not?
Erm…you may have noticed some supporting characters are basically the ones in the game…and yes…Filo likes Vaan *sweatdrops again!!*
(Do not freak out too much though!! She's older in this, I don't support relationships like that :P)
OCs will be involved but I swear, they're being made off the top of my head so they're not that important to me
Please review…I have come back from the dead just for you guys! *grins like a zombie…if that's possible Oo*
-Ellie
