Rebirth of a Holy Dragoon

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy. OCs belong to various friends. I think you know the drill by now.

Notes: *are neatly stacked, ready to be read by anyone who passes by*

Warnings: You don't remember the list of warnings I gave before? Fine. Here. Cursing, potential OOC, OC x Canon, stupid fluffy romance, sex, angst, self-insert author avatar, shitty storytelling.

FIC START!

Chapter Fifty-three

Canti ran as fast as she could through the hallways barely lit with torchlight. There weren't many places that she knew that weren't lit using electrical lights. The braziers were oddly placed, but there was enough light for her to make out the stairs. The what felt like more than a billion stairs. Her legs ached, and she hadn't recovered at all since coming to this… wherever this was. She didn't see anyone either coming or going her way. This was such a long pathway. She could feel that she was going up, though. As tired as she was, Kain had pleaded with her to find the Warriors of the Water. To seek out her Uncle Richard and Papa Cid. She wanted to collapse, throw up, and scream in agony all at the same time.

Eventually, she came to the top of the stairs, where she could hear other people nearby. She looked behind her, unable to see Mateus trailing her, and she stuck her head out of the door as she did her best to discern where those people in this building were. She noticed there were no torches, but there were still no electrical lights. Instead, she noticed there was a lot of light coming from above, like there was some huge hole in the roof.

She heard footsteps coming, and for a second, she froze. Canti heard Kain's words from as she was racing out of the cell below.

You're a dragoon, like the rest of us…

Canti nodded, doing her best to jump up to the ceiling to avoid being found by anyone who might have been protecting the place.

"All clear," one voice said from the shadows.

"All clear," another said, and the two must have turned around just to continue their rounds.

She looked around from up there, noticing there was a huge part of the center of the main room lit up by the light that was coming from outside. On the other side of that was a wide open door! But, with how destroyed the building was, she wasn't going to be able to crawl along the ceiling. There wasn't a clear path to that door. She decided that the quickest way outside, then, was to head for the place where the light was coming in and make a jump. She didn't know if she could make that sort of jump, but she had to make the attempt. Canti would rather die trying to escape Mateus than submitting to him!

She let go of the ceiling and let herself land on the floor. She turned to head for the center of the room, taking a few steps. When she heard angry footsteps coming from the place she came from, she ran to hide behind a nearby statue.

Mateus emerged, doing his best to keep his composure. "We have a problem," he announced loudly enough for everyone within the building to hear him. "My fiancee's run away. Poor dear is unstable. If you find her, bring her to me."

Canti couldn't believe he had the gall to call her that! But she wasn't going to let that get in her way of escaping. She waited for him to walk off somewhere. He kept his cool, somehow, but earlier he was showing exactly how pissed off he was. She started to head again back to the center of the room, and any time she thought she was being stared at, she jumped up into the shadows of the ceiling. She lost count of how many times she did it. Sometimes she heard people carrying the message that she'd gotten out, and how distraught the young master Mateus happened to be over his dearly beloved having run away from him. Oh, like it was so simple! She was getting closer, slowly. Bit by bit. Until she saw something very strange in the very center of the room, right in the middle of the place of the overhead light.

There was a figure. Wearing armor. And a helmet. The helmet reminded her of one that she saw back at the Highwind Manor. She blinked a few times. She had seen that armor before! That was most certainly a Warriors of the Water suit of armor! But for some reason, it was standing straight and still. Wasn't even holding a spear or a sword. She couldn't even tell if the person was breathing. But that was her best bet… Someone had found them, somehow!

Canti ran towards the figure that wore the familiar armor as fast as she could. The moment she stood in the light, she whispered, "I need your help. Please."

The figure didn't move at all. She stared at it. Was that a real person? Her steps became smaller and much less confident the closer she got to it. When she stood in the very center of the light, she looked up to see that it wasn't a person. She gasped, suddenly covering her mouth with a hand, as she realized it was nothing more than a bloody suit of armor displayed on a spear. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. Emblazoned on the chest was a medal with the dragon that looked exactly like the statue in the manor's backyard. Only one person in all of the Warriors of the Water wore that medal. Tears streamed down her face as she fell backwards, landing on her tush. But she couldn't stop staring at the armor. It was still dripping with blood, with a little puddle having gathered underneath it.

"U-uncle R-Richard..." she whispered.

Suddenly she felt someone standing behind her. Their legs were against her shoulders. She didn't want to look back and see Mateus after seeing that one of her closest relatives, her uncle that was almost like a second father to her, was nothing more than a bloody suit of armor. She felt their hands help her stand, and she didn't bother fighting back. If she was going back to that cell below, then that was where she was going.

"...I don't know how you managed to escape," the voice of someone who was leading her along briskly said, "…but now that you're out, you can't concentrate on things like that." The voice was familiar. Canti had heard it before several times in the past. She blinked a few times, trying to refocus her eyes, but it was far darker here than it was back under that huge billowing light. "It's grotesque, but no one tells Mateus anything. Everyone just accepts what he does. I thought you Highwinds were haughty until this all happened."

"B… Balthier?" Canti asked. "Why are you here?"

"My father has an alliance with Senator Palamecia, as they want to have greater influence over the Senate and the administration as a whole. I am here for no reason other than to help secure the bond between the two families. Bunsansa or not, I don't agree with what they've done to you or the rest of your family." He heard someone coming, so he shoved her quickly into a door and whispered, "Do not make a sound."

"Ffamran, my dearly beloved has vanished from this ugly place. Help search for her, if you would."

"I heard, so that's what I was doing."

"Poor dear is so distraught."

"I can imagine. Pulling her from the Highwind Manor lifestyle to live underground in servitude to you can't exactly be an easy transition."

"Your words are as clever as your father's."

"Your actions are as cruel as yours."

The moment Mateus stomped away, Balthier helped slip her out and guided her to his own personal room within the building. He rummaged through all kinds of clothing to have her put on to hide her blue hair and fair features. He didn't speak to her, but it was clear to Canti that Balthier felt some sort of guilt for all he'd done to participate in his family's activity. "Before we leave this room," he said after she had finished putting all these clothes on. "A few things. Do not speak. I will cover for you. You are a mute from this area that wandered into this destroyed mansion, so you mustn't speak… Outside, there are many who wander aimlessly. They are… sick, is the best way I can explain it. You've never seen them because you've never come out to FH, but your Aunt Erina used to be a champion for those sick people."

"…she's… gone, too?" She whispered.

"I'm afraid so. The only living Highwinds as of now are Kain, your father, and you. Every other descendant, relative, or otherwise has been slaughtered at the orders of Senator Palamecia," Balthier replied just as quietly. "I do not wish to leave you with the sick, but I may not have a choice. There is a place where the sick are able to leave the city. If I am separated from you, head towards the beach and seek out an MP. Leviathan has returned, so they know to look for you and take you to him directly. Anyone wearing the Warriors of the Water armor that has approached FH has been killed on the spot by mercenaries, so I don't believe Cid can come here."

"What about Kain?"

"...Mateus won't kill him. He needs him for you. As long as you're alive, he'll remain alive. If you want to rescue him, you'll need to reach Leviathan and have him bring a force here somehow," Balthier explained. He handed her a wallet. "You may need money to buy food or a weapon."

"This is too risky. What about a Sphere? I can just call-"

"There are no Sphere terminals here in Fisherman's Horizon, I'm afraid, and there's quite a distance from here back to Dagurreo," he shook his head.

"...I remember getting a letter by Moogle a few times. Do you know how to use Mognet?" she asked.

"You need a moogle's flute for that."

"Do you know where one is?"

"Actually…" Balthier nodded. "…hide and stay silent. Do not let the walls hear you breathe. I'll see what I can do about it."

"Okay… thank you, Balthier."

"Of course, princess."

As he turned to leave, she hid under his bed. She was getting used to hiding under mattresses lately.