A/N: I am such a lazy ass.

Narusaku69: Thanks! I really love VaanxAshe more than any other Vaan or Ashe couples, but there are a few I can stand more than others.

Zaz9-zaa0:Oh, yes, Vaan may not doubt Balthier's intentions, but the Leading Man never does anything that won't benefit the Leading Man in some way, shape or form. Hur hur hur, we know that would be too easy. And Ashe and Vaan have never been the kind to take the easy way out.

Sincerely:

Part Three

"My, my, my, darling, don't you think that's a bit—drastic, for your taste?"

Ashe, obviously second-guessing herself, threw an unsuspecting Balthier against the wall of the loading dock as she pushed past him to face Vaan. Even in that pretty red and gold dress, she looked terrifying. In the early evening light, her eyes seemed to blaze with contained anger. Even in this state of confusion and utter terror, Vaan couldn't help but find it undeniably sexy.

That thought was abandoned the moment she opened her mouth.

They were about to get into it again.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ashe spat, narrowing her eyes angrily.

"Why do you automatically assume that I'm out to get you?"

"Why else would you be here, hiding in the shadows?"

"What if I told you this was all Balthier's idea?"

"What if I decided that that's not true?"

"Then you're nothing but a liar."

"That means nothing coming to me coming from the mouth of a hypocrite."

"Aren't you putting yourself in a high place, there, assuming that I would do this all for you? Think through the monetary gain that we're going to get from this, Ashe."

"Don't you dare lie to me, Ratsbane." Her tone was fierce and dangerous. "And that's Queen to you." After a moment of awkward silence, she lowered her tone and asked, "So what are you really after, here? Taking me away from my country, my home? What could possibly be worth this? I know Balthier and he would do this just for money, but you, Vaan, like to play the part of Dalmasca's Robin Hood. You would never do this just for money. So what is it, what is it, Vaan?"

He knew. Both in his mind and his heart, he knew. There never was, nor had there been a single doubt in his mind as to the answer to that question, but the doubts were in whether or not he should tell her. In his mind, he had imagined on the flight to the palace exactly how this conversation would play out. Needless to say, it had not played out like this. He should have known better, he should have known better, he knew she wouldn't come rushing into his arms, weeping, with a million confessions of her loneliness and regret and love.

Fed up with his prolonged silence, his girl turned around and walked away, up into the elevator. And he stared at her, slightly, with the same sad look on her face as she walked away. Balthier closed the dock, walked over to Vaan, and clapped a reassuring hand against the back of his shoulder. "It's alright, Vaan. She just needs some time to warm up to you. After all, it's been a while, hasn't it? And if she doesn't, the palace will pay a shiny gil to get their Queen back, eh? We'll hit Balfonhiem and have ourselves a good time. After all, it is Ashe we're talking about. What did you expect?"

"I know, I know." Vaan turned around, "I should have known better."

-

By the time Balthier and Vaan waited for the elevator to take Ashe up to the Bridge, waited for it to come back down, and rode it up to the Bridge, she had basically made herself at home. She and her slightly poofy red dress were seated at the table, across from Ada, deep in conversation. Fran was standing next to the two, and had apparently put the airship on Autopilot.

"Oh, Fran!" Balthier whined. "What in the name of Ivalice is so important that you have to put our girl on Autopilot?"

"If you're going to be picky, fly it yourself." She said, her Viera accent thick. Balthier grumbled something inaudible and indeed ambled over to the cockpit, not about to let some useless computer fly his ship. Vaan suddenly felt slightly out of place, and glanced at Ada for help. However, it soon became apparent that his partner was not about to help him out of the jam he was in currently, for she only narrowed her eyes at him and jerked her head in the direction of the cockpit. After she made it quite apparent that he was not welcome in this conversation, he indeed left for the cockpit and sighed slightly to himself.

-

It helped to be with Fran, in a strange sort of way.

If she squinted and turned her head to the right, Ada sorta looked like Penelo and she could almost pretend that they were on the Strahl three or four years ago, flying to wherever they pleased, their only agenda being to start a revolution and save the world. They had been so burdened, yet it was freeing, in a way. Even with the burden of the obligation to her country, she could travel the world as she saw fit, she could shed her royal guard and fight to defend herself. Because she was not about to see another single life sacrificed for her sake. Not anymore. But even then, there were those that lost their lives to protect her and what she stood for. Rasler, her own father, Vossler, Gabranth, all those that sacrificed themselves for her cause. And her cause was freedom.

So she got what she wanted, didn't she? Her country was free. Wasn't that what she had wanted, after all? All she had ever really wanted was to see her country liberated from the Empire's iron grip. Now that it was, shouldn't she be perfectly happy?

"I don't understand this—plan of theirs." Fran said slowly, making sure she wasn't slurring her words and that Ada and Ashe could understand her through the accent.

"Plan?" Ada asked.

"There's something behind this, I know it." Fran said.

"You're certainly no kind to play the uninformed copilot." Ashe pointed out, but Fran countered,

"You're no kind to play the damsel in distress. But there are times when we must all—step outside ourselves. After all, there are things beyond this, things greater than our own purposes."

Ada was obviously at a loss for words. She was nineteen. By no means was she as philosophical or sentimental or thoughtful or even mature as these two, and she was having trouble following the conversation. Ashe glanced in her direction, unsure of how to handle her, because they both knew that Ada knew something that Ashe didn't, and she wasn't about to share it.

Also looking directly at Ada, Fran spoke, "There are still a few timeless truths in this world of ours. Truths that are sacred. The first is freedom." All three of them knew that one well. Ada imagined flying through the skies at a million miles an hour, Fran imagined the deepest depths of places yet undiscovered, and Ashe imagined her bustling city, free from the Empire's control. "The second is life." This one was more sensitive, touchier. Ashe could see from the look on Ada's face that there were certainly not good memories associated with that word, but the Queen herself could control herself better than the sky pirate. She showed no sign of any kind of emotion, and Fran was more stoic than the other two combined. But Fran's eyes moved to Ashe as she finished, "But the third, my Lady, the third is love."

-

Ada took note, in retrospect, that the next few events happened in such quick succession that for many minutes after, she had no idea what was going on. She and Balthier combined managed to piece together the following events, for before they knew exactly what was going on, another fight had broken out.

Ashe looked up from the table, and in that instant she saw only Vaan and his angry brown eyes staring back at her, and she stood up so fast that her chair was pushed over, all eyes turned to Vaan and Ashe as he stood up just as fast from the copilot's seat, and as Balthier turned around to locate the source of the commotion, he let go of the wheel and the Strahl dipped, hitting a small transport skiff and taking a nice chunk out of their landing gear.

Although that fact made an enormous impact on the events to follow, no one besides Fran seemed to care about it right off the bat. She rushed into the cockpit as Balthier rushed out, to nowhere in particular, really. He knew his place, as he let her take control of the Strahl.

"Love?!" came a shriek, Ada looked a few feet away and saw Vaan and Ashe, closer than she had ever seen them before, faces red and eyes narrowed. "How dare you! To try and tempt me away from my destiny and my country with fantasies of love!"

"I was right!" Vaan cried back, not afraid to raise his voice at her. "None of us meant anything to you! We were just pawns in the princess' master plan, ready to sacrifice if it meant getting what you wanted! You were perfectly prepared to cast us aside the instant we got between you and your destiny and your country! So what are you going to do now, my Queen? We're keeping you away from your country and your people. What are you going to do now, Ashe? Throw us away like you did back then? That's not an option anymore."

As Vaan turned and began to walk away, Ashe cried, "Don't you dare walk away." He turned back around slightly, though his right foot was still planted in the other direction and he obviously had no intention of walking back to her. "You are such a despicable coward. Even among sky pirates. When things get hard, you run. I've seen it with my own two eyes. Now that you're not getting the love you have long sought after, are you going to run away again? Just like you always do? Is that just easier?"

Vaan narrowed his eyes in response. "I may have run, but never once did I turn my back on people who needed me."

"What about Penelo?" Ashe countered. "She fell ill and you left, to find Balthier."

Vaan was taken aback by the mention of something from so long ago, but had an answer for that. "Darling," He began, not in an affectionate but in a condescending sort of way, "Penelo did not need me. She doesn't need me. She never will. She's stronger than I am, not in brute strength, but she has willpower like you would not believe." He paused, as something dawned on him, "She fell ill, but she didn't come running to you, either. After all, she waited in the Sandsea, and it wasn't long before her dear Larsa came to rescue her."

Ashe cackled, and it was a horrible sound that resonated through the airship. "Are you jealous of Larsa, sweeping your best friend off her feet and carrying her off to Archadia?"

"I will never, ever be jealous of Larsa. I will always be jealous of what they have." Vaan stepped back in her direction. "They proved to me that some people choose love over politics. Larsa didn't marry the girl that was best for Archadia, he married the girl that was best for Larsa." He took another step in her direction. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see Archadia falling to her knees."

"There you go again," Ashe began viciously, "with your fantasies about love."

Vaan cut in. "I may be a coward, but I am not the only coward here. I may run, but you do too, Ashe. When you became Queen, you ran from your past and anything that had to do with it. You ran from us. When you knew you had to marry, you ran from anyone your country might have disapproved of. You ran from what you wanted. You run from any kind of controversy, from any kind of conflict, from anything that would demean you even the slightest bit in the eyes of your country." He could tell from the look in her eyes that he was slowly breaking down her defense, but he was done with this.

"You, my Queen, you run from anything that might make you happy."

A/N: I don't normally do two author's notes, but just for a fun fact, but Vaan's whole post-game development and characterization is based a lot on myself. When he referred to Ashe as 'darling,' a couple paragraphs up, that was taken directly from myself. I call people 'darling' when I'm really pissed at them. I give Vaan's character little bits and pieces of myself, because I identify a lot with him, even in the context of the game.