Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy Ivalice Alliance (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2), plus Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and all of its characters and settings solely belong to Square Enix.
The following characters: Kyle, Valeria, and Dirk Lionheart appear in the fanfic "Final Fantasy Versus XII" and solely belongs to author Mace the Manakete
The Christmas characters belong to Christmas
And finally the character Lombard belongs to me.
FINAL FANTASY CHRISTMAS – Ivalice Alliance
Chapter 2 – To Bhujerba, the skycity
The queen, for a long time now, has craved for complete control over Ivalice. To be able to seat in the High Throne has always been her dream. But then that dream couldn't be achieve because only a blood-related member of House Lionheart was eligible to rule the high seat. And she was not a Lionheart by blood.
She knew that the earthquake triggered by the sky pirates was a sign. And a sign it was indeed. Just as the lost legend of Christmas foretold, "an earthquake followed by a stone, in the midst of a royal soil it will land, and whoever possesses it will gain total dominance over the land."
The legend sound skeptical, and hard to decode, but the queen, after many years of hardcore studying at the academy, knew exactly what it was about. But what she didn't know was that among her judges, two of them were spies.
The two judges watched her heading down her bedchamber and as soon as she disappeared before their very eyes, they removed their masks: Ramza and Delita!
"Well, that is an unfortunate turn of events, wouldn't you say Delita?" Ramza asked Delita, but he didn't seem to respond. He looked like he was lost in his own world.
"Delita?" Ramza called again.
Delita snapped back to reality, "Uh…wh-what? Oh, Ramza."
"Delita. You look odd. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine." Delita quickly responded, "Nothing new whatsoever."
"Nothing new?" Ramza scratched his head, "Didn't you not hear the Queen? If she wants that star so badly, she wants power."
"And if power is what she wants, Ivalice is what she desires." Delita replied.
"And if she wants Ivalice, we won't give it to her." A voice spooked the two friends. They turned around to see a young man in his twenties. He had jet black hair and a killer smile. He wore a white hooded sportswear, with a black T-shirt underneath it, baggy pants to match the color of the sportswear and black Velcro shoes. The man was escorted by Master Darlavon (Final Fantasy Tactics PSP), a much older guy with a white beard and with a serene expression. He wore a scarf around his neck and sported a heavy blue velvet robe with white faux-fur.
At the sight of the first man, Ramza and Delita bowed, "Your Highness," they greeted.
The man shook his head, "Dudes. How many times have I told you about this posture? It makes me so uncomfortable."
"Does your Royal family not awaiting you on the Christmas ventures, Sir Prince?" Delita asked, "Seems you possess no trust in us."
The prince shook his head, "I possess no patience in this matter, as are you, Delita."
"Wrong are you, Prince Dirk. I am within the moment. Patience is my virtue." Delita countered.
Ramza chuckled under his breath. Delita shot a glare at Ramza, "What? You find this amusing?!"
"Uh-Huh!" Ramza nodded, " 'Patience is my virtue' my a—"
"So what is your plan of assault, prince?" Delita interrupted.
"None," Dirk said, "Just go on with her orders, except for the killing part. Protect the girl instead, until this whole thing gets settled."
"Right." Both Ramza and Delita responded and then left.
"Prince Dirk," Master Darlavon began, "I understand your concern about the queen's plot, but shouldn't you be heading on home and go on with your holiday shopping? You're way behind on your list."
Dirk faced Darlavon, "Shouldn't you be somewhere else too, Master? Stop worrying yourself. The Lionhearts are going nowhere."
Dirk took off. Darlavon simply sighed, "You're right. I do have to be somewhere else, sir."
Dirk stopped, faced Darlavon and chuckled, "You're kidding? Where exactly? The North Pole?"
Darlavon replied with only an innocent smile.
News of the earthquake triggered by the Galactical Auracite quickly infested Ivalice like the plague. Everyone feared the end of the world was drawing near, but no one knew when and how it will happen.
To Kyle, that news was none of his concerns. He wouldn't let something as troubling as the beginning of the end ruin his Christmas season. His Grandmom the sage Mikoto was inviting her tribal family over for the holiday, and he got extra shifts at the local tavern to earn some compensation and valuable prizes on extra missions.
The moment he entered the tavern, it was crowded with people of all races: mostly Humes, Bangaas, and Vieras. He looked around and caught a glimpse of Tomaj (Final Fantasy XII and FFXII –Revenant Wings). But Tomaj was not in his usual cheery mood.
"Hey Tomaj. What's up?" he asked when approached him.
Tomaj shook his head, "Hey Kyle. You're not going to believe this latest mission."
"A game mission?"
"No, a real mission. It's posted all over the tavern. Take a look." Tomaj then pulled out one of the posted papers off the wall and handed it over for Kyle to read.
Kyle scrolled through the parched piece of paper, "Whoa, a Christmas Star…" as he kept reading his face went blank, "wait a minute…" his eyes scrolled back to the beginning of the posted mission request and desperately checked for errors. Not grammatical errors.
He looked up to Tomaj, "Is this a trick?"
"You call what is happening, a trick?" a squawking voice alerted. It was Perry the Parrot. It flew right over Kyle and Tomaj and sat its scaly feet on a table.
"What are you doing here Perry?" Kyle sighed.
"Your grandmother is worried about you! Ever since the earthquake she hasn't heard from you. How can you do that to her poor heart?"
"The earthquake was yesterday." Kyle said, "And Grandmom saw me then. You're just lying."
"I'm not lying!"
Kyle faced Tomaj, ignoring the parrot, "So what are you saying? Who posted this?"
"Some wizard named Atnas." Tomaj said before looking around, "He doesn't seem to be here at the tavern but—"
"—he may have more information." Kyle then shook his head, "but I just can't believe it. There's no such thing."
"But the proof is all in the eye of the beholder." Perry then snatched the paper from Kyle and read it.
"Hey!" Kyle said.
"It says so right there: 'Please locate the Christmas Star. This legendary artifact has recently crashed into Ivalice right in the midst of the Bevernia Palace the day after the worldly earthquake. This star must be returned to the North-Pole of the Northern Skies by midnight Christmas Eve or else Christmas will die."
Perry's eyes goggled up in shock, "Christmas will die?!"
"I thought you were aware of the situation." Kyle said.
"I am aware of an earthquake and the end of the world…"
Kyle couldn't help but roll his eyes when Perry said that. The parrot went on, "…but for the love of all that is precious in the world, why does Christmas has to share that same fate?!"
Kyle faced Tomaj, "Look, I gotta find that Atnas person." He said, "There's no way he would have written this. And besides, that star didn't look that Christmassy."
"Didn't?" Tomaj muttered, "Wait, you saw the star?"
Kyle froze. Tomaj and Perry didn't know he gave the star to Valeria as her Christmas/farewell gift and he couldn't think fast on how to explain this, "Well," he gulped.
Tomaj and Perry stared suspiciously at Kyle. Kyle sighed, "I found the star, the Christmas Star, or whatever that is…but there's no such thing—"
"So what are you saying? It's gone?" Perry balked.
"Not really gone. It's with Valeria. I gave it to her as a farewell/Christmas gift."
"Kyle, this star could be unleashing pure evil if it falls into the wrong hands." Tomaj explained.
"But Valeria is no evil." Kyle said.
"You gotta get it back from her." Tomaj said, "She's leaving for Bhujerba, right?"
"She already left."
Perry jumped on Kyle and squawked endlessly, "Christmas will die because of you!"
"Relax Perry." Kyle said, "I'll get the star back. But first, we must locate the proof."
"What proof? It's all on the manuscript!" Perry shouted.
"Not that proof. The proof is in the source."
"You mean…"
"That's right. I'm finding Atnas."
Just as Kyle was about to take off, Tomaj stopped him, "Wait Kyle. Before you go, I must tell you. Where are you going to find Atnas exactly?"
Kyle froze. He had no idea where and how he will locate the old man.
"You can't just go on a perilous quest without knowing where you're going first!" Perry balked.
"You're not the boss of me!" Kyle snapped at the parrot.
"Lucky for you," Tomaj interrupted the duo before it got ugly, "I know Atnas's exact location: the sky city of Bhujerba itself…"
"Why didn't you tell us that before?" Perry screamed.
Tomaj grinned, ignoring the parrot, "…hey, that means you can find both Atnas and Valeria at the same time!"
"This journey's going to be a piece of cake. Thanks, Tomaj!" Kyle took off.
"Wait, Kyle!" Tomaj shouted for him but he was gone. Tomaj scratched his head, "…how are you going to pay for travel?"
"Welcome to the Ivalice Aerodrome. How may I serve you?" the receptionist smiled at Kyle.
"Two tickets to Bhujerba. One for me and one for Beaky over here." Kyle said.
"HEY!" Perry squawked.
"Sure, May I see your passport?"
Kyle froze. He didn't bring any passport with him. In fact, he doesn't even have one. Usually when he traveled, it was either by foot or by a chocobo he would usually steal.
"Do you have your reservation seats tickets?" the receptionist asked next.
Kyle slowly, ashamedly, shook his head. The receptionist's smile slowly faded.
"Do you have money?"
"OKAY! I'M BROKE! I'M SORRY! BUT it's the holidays!! Can you at least help a brother out?"
The receptionist was no longer smiling, "Sorry. You must have your passport, your reservation seats tickets, your destination tickets, your travel brochure, your luggage, and money to use our service. And FYI, you're not my brother. Buh-bye!" she waved.
Kyle slowly dragged himself away from the receptionist's desk, head down.
"How imbecile are you?!" Perry screamed, "How can you not know you needed all of this to travel to Bhujerba?!"
"I thought it wasn't required. Cut me some slack will ya?"
While Perry was giving Kyle a scolding, three of the Queen's Judges were watching the duo from behind: Bergan (Final Fantasy XII), Folmarv (Final Fantasy Tactics PSP), and Illua (Final Fantasy Tactics A2), all clad in judge costumes. They approached Kyle, with that look in their eyes like they were about to strike at any second, especially Folmarv.
"Wait, Folmarv." Illua stopped him, "Not yet."
"What do you mean, not yet?"
"Now is not a good time. Let's wait till he's all alone first." Illua said.
"Then we'll strike him?" Bergan asked.
Illua shook her head, "No. then we wait till he falls asleep."
"Then we strike him?"
"No."
"Sheesh! Enough of the negativity." Folmarv balked.
"Okay, got any better ideas?" Illua hissed.
"I say we strike him here and now." Bergan mumbled.
"How about we do this." Illua pulled out her Grimoire. She nodded to the two judges as a signal. The judges immediately knew what she was up to. Bergan pulled out his manufacted nethicite and Folmarv pulled out his Zodiac Stone Leo. The two stones hovered above the Grimoire and a black ball started growing and the earth started to shake.
Everyone in the Aerodrome took notice of the quake but not of the three sinister judges who were behind this.
"Another earthquake?" Perry panicked.
Kyle tried to hold on to his seat while everyone were tumbling and screaming for their lives. The quake was so strong, he knew he would lose his balance if he was not careful, "Just stay put!" he told the parrot.
What Kyle didn't know was that the black ball the trio of pure evil created was targeting him from behind. Perry saw this and got alerted, "Watch out!"
A shield suddenly enveloped Kyle and the black ball connected with it, causing Kyle to shake violently and lose his balance. Fortunately he didn't get any bruises.
The earthquake seized and everyone muttered worryingly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you could please make a single file and try not to panic, officials will be arriving shortly to check up on injuries and complains." The PA system announced.
"Kyle, are you okay?" Perry asked.
"Did you feel that earthquake?" Kyle asked the parrot.
"Everybody felt it."
"But the last one really knocked off my balance! It was like something just hit me hard by surprise."
Perry frowned. There was something that hit Kyle hard, and it came from a trio of judges. "Do you really wanna know?" Perry pointed its wing toward the judges behind Kyle. Kyle turned around, but he didn't pay attention to what Perry was pointing at. Instead, he caught sight of an overweight Seeq having an argument with Master Darlavon. The seeq was a Viking, sporting a green Viking jacket, brown rugged pants, an orange scarf attached at the waist, holding two pouches on both sides and green boots. His horn was blue, and he carried an axe.
"How can I stay calm at a time like this?" the seeq bellowed, "How am I supposed to sail the skies if I can't find my lucky compass? Damn that earthquake."
"Now, now sir. You won't find that compass if you keep on ranting. You just have to relax. Let the mellow flow within you." Master Darlavon said.
"Oh, my mellow is flowing all right. Right up your nostrils!!!"
Master Darlavon sighed, "Now, you're being hostile."
Kyle faced Perry, "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah, mellow up my nostrils? Nasty." Perry shuddered.
Kyle shook his head, "No, no, no. That seeq. He's our ticket to Bhujerba. He's a sky pirate."
"You mean a sky Viking." Perry corrected, "Kyle, we don't know if we can trust this seeq."
"I can." Kyle approached the seeq and Master Darlavon while dragging Perry with him, "Hey, you're a sky pirate right?"
The seeq shot a glare at Kyle, "What the hell is a sky pirate? And who the hell are you?!"
"Well…"
"Bah, who cares?" the seeq blurted out, "What I care about is my lucky compass!"
"Isn't that thing right there in your left pocket?" Kyle pointed at something shiny in the seeq's left pocket. The seeq went through his pocket and pulled out a rubbed silver compass, "Oh."
"Well, what do you know? You found it." Master Darlavon smiled.
"I did, didn't I?" The seeq scratched his head embarrassingly. He turned his attention to Master Darlavon, "So I'm supposed to take you to Bhujerba, no?"
"We wanna go to Bhujerba too!" Kyle waved his hand. Perry squawked in reply. The seeq faced the teen, "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"
Kyle got a bit annoyed, "Hey, let's not forget who helped you find your lucky compass?"
"Look, pipsqueak! My airship only has room for one and you're an addition. Besides, nothing in this vast damned world is going to change my mind!"
"I have 5,000 Gil." Kyle waved a pouch full of coins.
"Welcome aboard." The seeq snatched the money from Kyle's hands, "the name's Lombard. And this fella here is Master Darlavon."
"Nice meeting you sir. I'm—"
"—Kyle Nasher, adopted son of great sage Mikoto of Vales, Royal Capital Ivalice." Darlavon finished.
"Wow. So you do know me? But how?"
"I'm simply an official of the Royal High Seat." Master Darlavon replied, "Nothing more."
"Hellooo. Are we going to sit here to chat or are we going to vamoose to Bhujerba?!" Lombard barked.
Balthier's airship—the Strahl—rode the skies of Ivalice, while Vaan and Penelo's airship—the Galbana—simply followed.
Inside the Galbana inhabited Vaan, Penelo, plus Kytes (Final Fantasy XII and FF XII – Revenant Wings), Filo (FF XII – Revenant Wings) and Montblanc (all except Final Fantasy Tactics PSP). Inside the Strahl were Balthier, Fran, plus Nono (all except Final Fantasy Tactics PSP). Vaan and Penelo were communicating with Balthier and Fran through an airship communicator.
"So let me get this straight." Vaan began, "The celestial Auracite only summoned a star?"
"A Christmas Star." Fran corrected, "According to legend, this star holds phenomenal powers that can even control the galaxies during the holiday season."
"Wasn't that the same thing we figured out with the celestial Auracite before Vaan broke it?" Penelo asked.
"I told you it was an accident!" Vaan whined.
"Have you told him yet Vaan?" Kytes asked.
"Oh right. Listen, Balthier. Kytes and Filo just came back from the Royal Capital. Apparently, there's been a request posted all over town asking for anyone to bring the Christmas Star up to the North Pole of Northern Skies before Christmas Eve night."
"Wow." Montblanc sulked, "Christmas Eve, kupo. Just the perfect time to do my last-minute holiday shopping and hereI am riding on an airship on some adventures I don't wanna go to."
The sky pirates ignore Montblanc. Filo continued, "And the petitioner is an old man named Atnas. He lives in Bhujerba."
Vaan and Penelo faced Filo, "ATNAS?" they said his name in shock, so did Balthier and Fran through the communicator.
"You know him?" Filo blinked.
"Well duh." Montblanc moped, "Everyone knows that Atnas is the so-called old man who saved Christmas last year, kupo. He is also known as Santa Claus."
"SANTA CLAUS?!" Both Kytes and Filo screamed.
"He exists?!" Kytes shouted, "Oh dear merciful skies of Ivalice! Santa Claus exists!!"
"Wait. Didn't you believe in Santa Claus before?" Filo eyeballed Kytes.
Kytes eyeballed Filo back, "I didn't believe in Santa Claus because somebody told me that there's no such thing as an old man riding on a flying sleigh pulled out by twelve reindeers whilst traveling around the world on one night, delivering gifts to children."
"What dummy ever told you such lies?"
"You did."
"Can we go back to the situation here?" Penelo interrupted, "Where exactly did you say Atnas is living now?"
"The sky city of Bhujerba." Filo replied, "Which reminds me, about the North Pole of Northern Skies's location. I've heard stories that it is found about 500 feet up high above Bhujerba, crossing the violent impregnable sky seas and…"
"What do you say we head for Bhujerba?" Vaan proposed.
"Sounds like a swell idea to me." Fran said.
"Last one there is a rotten chocobo egg!" Balthier mocked.
Suddenly the Strahl zoomed past the Galbana and went in front of the ship, still speeding. Vaan suddenly got mad, "HEY!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, SPEEDING LIKE YOU'RE NOT CARING?!"
Coming Up: Chapter 3