Author's Notes –
Not much to say yet. Obviously I do not own the rights to either Familiar of Zero or Final Fantasy Tactics. Hell, if I did do you think I'd be doing this for free? Oh, and of course this is a work of fanfiction meant solely for the intent to entertain (mostly me as the author, but also for those who feel the need to read it) and not for profit. I gain nothing but entertainment, experience, and some gratification of my ego for writing and posting this work.
Checking out Noir on Netflix and I realized that they're using the same soundtrack as .Hack, just slightly more upbeat.
Enjoy if you will, tolerate if you must.
Most who knew Ramza Beoulve in Ivalice would have said that the young squire let few things slip by him. His instructors in the academy worked him hard, some to test his limits; others in hopes of seeing him fail. It was because of them that Ramza had learned to read the moods as well as he did.
The mood of the kitchens was easy to read.
"Ramza!" Siesta greeted excitedly as he entered the kitchen.
Offering her a curt bow he returned her greeting, "Good morning Siesta."
The slight blush on the maid's fair face almost caught him off guard. Though the squire had spent much of the past two years on the battlefield he had seen his fair share of tavern wenches that had taken a fancy to him. It wasn't just his family's name (though that was appealing for some), though his brothers and father were said to be handsome men as well.
"What brings you here?" the maid asked as she set her tray of half empty bowls and plates down.
"Breakfast – I was hoping to get something to eat."
"Oh, of course, but why aren't you eating in the commons?"
"I did not wish to disturb the students' breakfast," he replied. Though he did not understand the significance of defeating Kirk at the time, Guiche had helped to enlighten him.
"That's Our Fist," a large man said jovially as he prepared a tray.
"'Our Fist'?"
"The nobles have their names; why not give our champion one as well?" Siesta stated as she took his left hand into hers. A gentle smile graced her lips as she led him over to the tray of food the cook had set aside. "You are now 'Our Fist', the commoner defending his fellow commoners from the Nobles who oppress and take advantage of us."
"Well," he muttered as he sat down, "I would have done that for anyone in your situation. Noble or commoner, if they are in need I will do what I can to help them, even if it means that I have to fight on their behalf."
"But you have so much courage!" beamed Siesta. "To be able to stand up to nobles without having to flatter or bow down to them – I respect that!
"Most mages are nobles. Between their magical powers and the power of their station in life if a commoner were to offend them there is usually nothing that a commoner could to stop them. Our usual choices are either to apologize or find a more powerful mage to protect us."
Listening patiently to her as he ate, Ramza was provided with more insight on the world he now inhabited. Tristan was not so different from Ivalice in that nobles were primarily the ones to enter their respective academies, though it was far more segregated.
In Ivalice it took considerable money to attend the academies, though only the richer families were able to send their daughters to the convent or magic academy. Noble families such as his were easily able to afford such costs, though some successful merchant families were able to send their children there after negotiating exclusive deals with said academy, convent, or a noble family.
For the residents of Tristan though entrance into the Academies were limited to nobles. The rare person with magical ability who was not a noble was only allowed into one of the lesser academies, though only if they could afford the cost of tuition. For the rare noble born without the ability to cast magic there was only the military academy where they were taught to use muskets. To supplement their numbers some commoners who came from families loyal to either a noble house or the king/queen were allowed to enter the military academy. Again cost was a factor, though pride was a larger one as most noble families tended to send only bastard children to the military academy.
Craftsmen often signed with nobles, exchanging a good share of their profits for protection as only nobles were able to provide the necessary protection for merchant caravans that carried both the supplies and the finished products. His own firsthand experience had proven that true as the caravan he'd encountered had appeared to be well off yet had been decimated by half their number of attacking wizards (and their familiars).
In either world, nobles appeared to be nobles. It was because of his intimate knowledge of nobles that Ramza stayed close to Siesta that day, shying away from his duties as a familiar in favor of getting to know the maid's schedule. Everywhere they went he had the distinct sensation that someone was spying on them.
While Kirk himself might leave Siesta and Ramza alone, the squire could not say the same of the others in the noble's entourage.
Only the compulsion of the runes kept him from staying close to Siesta throughout the day as he was forced to help tend to his master's needs between classes. He was at least grateful that he did not have to sit through her classes with the exception of the afternoon's session where the second years were to bond with their familiars. Most of the other students had simple familiars – rats, owls, hawks, snakes, and other seemingly non-magical creatures. The magical creatures varied from bugbears (or giant eyes as he knew them), morbol, a wingless dragon known as a salamander, a giant mole, and a blue dragon.
He and Louise simply watched as the others interacted with their familiars while the two of them did naught but sit together awkwardly.
"What can you do?" Louise finally asked.
He blinked, not sure how to answer the loaded question.
"I mean, Kirche's familiar Flame spits, well, fire. Tabitha's familiar can fly and someday she'll be able to ride it and it'll breathe lightning."
"And I will do what I need to do while you cast your spells," Ramza replied. "That is the primary function of a familiar, is it not?" For a moment the two locked eyes in a contest of wills. "Rest assured Louise, I will protect you."
"But for now you will protect the maid?" Louise muttered bitterly.
"I will protect anyone from injustice," he replied. "Commoner or Noble - it matters not to me."
"Do what you will," she said as she turned away. "I… I do not need your protection."
"Oh my, isn't that The Marsh's familiar?"
"He's so much larger than Tabatha's dragon."
Cautiously Ranmza turned to face the large green scaled dragon. In his time he'd fought more than his fair share of dragons, and though this one was significantly smaller than any that he'd dispatched. Still, dragons were deadly for a reason.
Opening its mouth, the green dragon casually walked over to the squire.
"It appears that he has a message for you from his master," Guiche explained as he strode over to the squire.
Indeed the beast had a message for him in its jaws. Retrieving the scroll Ramza quickly unfurled it.
"Well," Louise asked as she took a step towards him. "What does it say?"
"I'm not sure," Ramza replied. "I don't read Romalian."
Guiche and Louise fell over, stunned by his admission.
"I guess it's too much to expect from a commoner," Louise grumbled. "An illiterate commoner…"
"I am not illiterate," Ramza huffed, his pride bruised by the accusation. "I simply do not read this language."
Snatching the parchment out of his hands Kirche smiled seductively at him, "It says 'Meet me at the eastern ramparts at sunset – Kirk.'"
"Sounds like another challenge," Guiche stated.
'Sounds like an ambush,' Ramza thought as he turned to face the eastern ramparts. 'Definitely an ambush.'
Ramza Beoulve was no stranger to ambushes. As a heretic he'd spent much of the past year being chased by the authorities, and sometimes that meant that he'd been led into ambushes.
With the sun hidden behind the western ramparts and the castle this section of the castle was hidden in growing shadows. With minimal light Ramza cautiously tread into the open. On the opposite side he could make out a lone, cloaked figure. "Kirk."
"Ramza," the other boy replied. "It was foolish of you to come here."
"It was foolish of you to challenge me again," Ramza countered. "Even with your friends helping you."
"So you knew it was an ambush and you came anyways?" scoffed Kirk. "What a foolish commoner."
"Not as foolish as you," the squire stated. "Do you think that the outcome is going to be any different this time around just because your friends are helping you?"
Without any warning the wind suddenly picked up around him. It was not enough to knock him off the wall, but it was enough to distract him. Three blasts similar to the ones that Kirk had employed hit him from the side and would have knocked him over had it not been for his equipment.
'Ah, the wind was merely an excuse for me falling to my death,' Ramza observed.
"What where you're aiming," someone shouted.
The squire grinned. 'So this trinket does work here.'
Judging by their reaction, it was clear that his attackers had encircled him. More than likely they were hovering in the air hidden by an invisibility spell that kept them concealed to any onlookers. The tingling sensation returned, signaling that someone was targeting him again.
He could hear their spell casting, yet Ramza Beoulve stood his ground. Several more invisible blasts hit him, only to again be deflected so that they hit the remainder of Kirk's associated, this time knocking them from the air and breaking the invisibility spells on them. Fortunately for the young wizards they weren't flying too high off of the ground and their dark cloaks probably kept anyone inside the castle from spotting them.
Confident that the wizards were no longer a threat to him, Ramza charged at the startled Kirk. "This is how cowards fight," he declared. "You know you can't beat me fair and square, so you hide your friends to ambush me! Where is the honor in that?"
A powerful blast of hair hit him, only to be deflected again. Before Kirk could say anything else Ramza silenced the noble, jamming his fist into the wizard's jaw, forcing his mouth closed.
Dazed, but clearly out of the fight, Kirk could only stare up at the squire.
"It's over Kirk."
"I yield!" the wizard proclaimed. "I promise, I'll never attack you again!"
Glaring down at the defeated boy, Ramza stood his ground until he was confident that it would be the last time.
"We finally caught up with you," the proud Griffin Knight declared as he pointed his wand at the rogue wizard.
"So you have," the blue robed wizard grinned.
"You shouldn't have killed your familiar," the knight reprimanded. "It was your only chance to escape us. After all, you did abandon your comrades and the muskets. So what could have been so important that you went ahead without them?"
The robed wizard remained silent.
"From your silence am I to understand that you are surrendering yourself to us then?"
The rogue sneered, "I doubt that."
Before either he or any of his knights could react the rogue wizard lashed out. Even with his hands held in place and without chanting any incantations, the wizard had managed to blast each of the half dozen knights with a barrage of icicles.
Six more knights moved into place, each striking the rogue with a different spell. Each spell hit, yet the robed wizard simply shrugged.
"I'll show you some real power!" his eyes aglow. Swinging his staff around, the wizard prepared a powerful attack.
More spells hit him as he prepared his spell, though none managed to do significant damage. With his spell complete, the rogue mage grinned, waving his staff around and trapping half of the knights in prison of ice.
"Sir!" one of the knights ran up to aid the ranking knight.
"None of you will survive this encounter!" the rogue declared as he conjured a lance of ice. With a mighty heave he pinned another knight to a tree, immediately freezing the knight and the tree.
"Fire and earth spells!" the second in command ordered focused on the rogue wizard. "Free the first lieutenant!"
With half of their forces captured and another quarter dedicated to freeing them, only three wizards and their familiars focused on the rogue.
"Ha! Do you think you can seriously defeat me?!" he scoffed. Conjuring a sphere of water, he commanded it to latch onto the closest of the remaining Griffin Knight's, surrounding his head so that the wizard could not breath.
"Damn you!" the second lieutenant cursed as he sent several air blades to cut the sphere. Seeing that his spells failed to dispel the sphere he watched as the captured knight's mount snatched him up, carrying him away from the battlefield.
Suddenly the captured knights' mounts swarmed the wizard, assailing him with their lethal claws and beaks. Occupied by the familiars the knights focused on their spells. Just as the rebel wizard repelled the griffins a volley of lethal spells hit him. Yet for all the power that the square and triangle mages could muster their spells rolled off of their target like rain off of a frog.
"Retreat!" the second in command ordered. "Retreat!"
"Sir?" another knight called out, perplexed at the command.
"We need someone with stronger fire spells," the knight stated. "Retreat!"
With expert precision the remaining knights did so regardless of how reluctant they were to leave their own behind. For the second time in roughly a week the elite Griffin Knights were leaving men behind again.
Word of Kirk Vonnegut's second defeat at the hands of Ramza Beoulve quickly spread through the academy. By dawn of the next morning the rumor mill had confirmed that Kirk and his friends had been called up to the headmaster's office and officially reprimanded for their respective roles in the affair.
For his part Ramza remained tight lipped about his own involvement. It helped that all of the spells that were tossed about had been lower level wind spells, all invisible to the eye, and that the time of day and the location did not allow for good lighting, making it possible that the young, inexperienced wizards had been within range of each other's attacks.
For the green haired secretary the atmosphere at academy couldn't be better. With everyone busy focusing on disciplining the students and on the chaos caused by their failed attempt to ambush the commoner turned familiar Ms. Longville found herself lost in the shuffle. Because everything was being left off of the students' records there was no need for any paperwork to be added to their files.
Tapping the wall of the academy's treasury she focused on the various enchantments that protected the entire tower. Though she was not on Chevreuse's level, the green haired woman was still a triangle mage of the earth element. Transfiguration was an earth mage's strength, yet she knew that she would not be able to break into the vault.
"Ah, Miss Longville."
Spinning around, she turned to face the Flame Snake. "Mr. Colbert."
"What brings you down here?" the bald mage asked.
"Oh, you know," she stalled, trying to think of something plausible, "the headmaster wanted me to check the inventory."
"Did he now?" he muttered. "I guess he has been busy since the new batch of familiars arrived."
"This last incident doesn't help matters much," she seconded. "But with all the additional work he's started to shuffle other tasks to me."
"Oh," he muttered again. "Well, I understand that we're all busy… but would you like to have lunch with me?"
"Oh, lunch," now it was her turn to mutter, "sure, why not?"
He blinked. "Really?"
She could see him blushing. 'Men really are easy to manipulate.'
"So," he babbled, "I'm sure you'd find many fascinating items in the vault."
"Really?" she asked, allowing him to try and impress her with his knowledge. "Like what?"
"Well," he grinned. "Osmond discovered the Staff of Destruction a while back. It's an oddly made staff, but incredibly powerful. That's why he sealed it in the academy's vault."
Grabbing his arm, she pulled herself close to him, "Tell me more."
Ramza Beoulve was a man of secrets. Branded a heretic, he had kept the secret of the Zodiac Braves and the Holy Stones. Of course he had kept his secrets even though most of them would have no bearing on those around him in this world. Though his understanding of magic was vastly different from how magic worked in this world some recent revelations had turned things around. Honestly he had not expected the Reflect Ring to work as it had. Well, in truth, it had worked just as it had when he'd been in Ivalice. And that was not what he'd expected. It worked, which meant that while the elements of magic in this world were different than those he'd known the principals were the same. It also meant that he might be able to use magic.
That knowledge could turn around how people here saw him. Combine that with the fact that he was the bastard son of a noble in Ivalice and opinions would definitely change. But did he want them to? Here, though he might be considered just a commoner, he had no other expectations and in his travels he'd realized just how much of an advantage it could be to have others underestimate him. But if Louise were to discover his background she might expect more of him as a familiar, though she might also see him as a peer.
With too many uncertainties it was hard to say how things might turn out. Yes, it was best to keep things under wraps; at least for now.
Despite her multiple, spectacular failures at casting elemental magic, Louise knew that she was not stupid. Though she had not been in the fight, she'd seen enough of it to know that things really didn't add up. While no one doubted Ranmza' prowess in a fight, it was still unbelievable that he had managed to best nearly a dozen third year students by just dodging their invisible spells.
While she might lack magical skill, she knew when things didn't add up. Ramza Beoulve was keeping a secret, or multiple secrets, and it bothered her. He was her familiar - he shouldn't be keeping secrets from her!
"Good morning Miss Valliere," the always cheerful Siesta greeted.
"Morning," she returned sourly, putting the maid on defensive.
"Is something the matter Miss Valliere? Is Ramza alright?"
A slight trembling of her hands was all the indication that the maid's question had upset her even more. "No, he's alright," she managed to say. "After all, what could hurt him? He did defeat a half dozen triangle mages and four more line mages. What could hurt him?"
"Right," Siesta replied, unsure what else to say. "What would you like for breakfast?"
"An apple turnover," the pinkette replied automatically.
"I'll see what I can do," the maid said before retreating.
"Is something a matter?" a familiar voice asked.
She'd thought that her mood couldn't get any worse. Yet here she was, proven wrong once again. "Kirche."
"Is Ramza alright?" the buxom girl asked. "He wasn't actually hurt by Kirk and his crew, was he? Or is he just taking a bath again?"
"Why does it matter to you what my familiar is up to?" snapped Louise. "Mind your own business."
"I'm only trying to be polite," the redhead replied.
"You will not add Ramza to the list of boys you've conquered," the smaller girl replied with a glare.
For a moment the two rivals stood face to face.
"Look, a flight of griffins!"
Every noble save two turned towards the vast window of the commons.
"It's the Griffin Knights!"
Their quarrel forgotten, even the two hot tempered girls turned towards the window. It was one thing to see a messenger arrive by either a dragon or griffin, but to see the vaunted Griffin Knights, that was another thing altogether.
Breakfast long forgotten, the nobles rushed from their tables and into the courtyard.
"Where is the headmaster?" the ranking knight demanded even before his mount touched ground.
"Headmaster Osmond is still in his office." The fact that the still early morning light reflected off of the man's head told all the students that it was Colbert the Flame Snake that had answered.
"Master Colbert," the knight offered a polite but rushed nod, "you may not remember me"
"You are Kurt Vonnegut," Colbert finished. "I heard that you made Second Lieutenant – congratulations."
"Thank you."
The closer she got to the knights the more evident it was that the knights were fairly ragged.
"Headmaster," the second lieutenant called out as he spotted the distinctive figure of the headmaster.
The students immediately parted, making way for the venerable mage and the Griffin Knight.
"Ah, Kurt, good to see you again," the headmaster greeted the knight.
"I wonder if he's here because of his brother?" someone muttered far too loudly.
"Would the Griffin Knights come here for something like that?"
"They might if they realized just how much of a threat the commoner is."
"What brings you here?" the headmaster asked loudly, drowning out the students and reminding them of their manners.
"There is an emergency," Kurt stated. "I've been ordered to come here and ask for the Staff of Destruction. We have encountered an enemy with incredible power."
"It sounds like your mission is dangerous!"
"It is of the utmost importance." Turning towards the students, he stood tall. "We area also to ask for any volunteers to assist us in fighting this rogue. I assure you that all volunteers will be tasked with only assisting us, not in actually combatting our enemy. A messenger has been sent to procure reinforcements, but the gathered knights and any volunteers are to intercept the enemy and delay them until reinforcements arrive."
Silence filled the courtyard.
'What matter would be of such importance that they Griffin Knights came to recruit volunteers, much less students?' Louise pondered.
"I volunteer!"
All eyes turned to face the lone speaker.
"Isn't that the commoner?!"
"Ramza!?" squawked a startled Louise.
"Ramza Beoulve!" the elder Vonnegut cried out in surprise.
"I volunteer," Ramza repeated as the crowd parted, allowing him to make his way towards the Griffin Knights. "I may not be much for support magic though."
The raven haired knight smiled warmly, extending his hand to the squire. "Your presence would be more valuable than any number of support wizards," Kurt proclaimed as Ramza took his offered hand. "I had thought I would never see you again. What brings you here?"
"I do," Louise said in the loudest, most regal voice she could manage. As with Ramza and the headmaster, the students parted for her, opening a path to the Griffin Knights. "Ramza Beoulve is my familiar."
This caught the gathered knights off guard.
"Then you have a fine familiar," Kurt finally said. "This man bested me and five of my men and our familiars. With his aid alone we might be able to defeat the enemy before any reinforcements arrive. Please, accompany us on our mission. I am sure that with Ramza fighting beside us we could achieve victory."
"I volunteer," another voice called out.
"Brother," Kurt grinned as he spotted his younger sibling. "I would be glad to have you with us."
"I, Guiche de Grammont, volunteer as well."
"Ah, General Grammont's son," the Second Lieutenant nodded at the second year.
"I volunteer," Louise stated.
"Thank you Lady Valliere."
A/N
I think I'll leave things here for now.
Dreamingfox