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:

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-five

Balthier came back to wrap Canti in very crude, ugly, badly smelling rags. He was quiet and urged her not to say a single word, at least, not until they were outside and a certain distance from the building they were currently in. Her voice would be recognizable to those inside, and there were so many looking for her right now. He stopped for a moment to whisper in her ear to warn her. She had blue hair, such an amazing rarity within their country, and all of the mercenaries would know to look for her lovely curly locks. She could not remove these putrid rags until she knew she was safe. Until she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was on her way to either Leviathan or Cid. Canti understood. The last thing she wanted was to be subjected to Mateus' idea of brainwashing, and if she was ever going to save the one she cared about the most, she was going to have to press on as hard as she could.

He put his finger over his mouth before moving to unlock his room door. He stuck his head out and motioned for her to follow. While she wanted to move as quickly as possible, he had told her to move like she had no idea where she was going. That she would understand when they made it outside. Balthier led her through a hall and around a few corners, but with the hood he put over her head, she couldn't see very far ahead of her. There was so little light in that building. She kept her head down, staring only at his weird shoes that tied in the back. Canti had never seen shoes like that before. But she heard things around her. People moving. Furniture being thrown around to see if that escaped little fiancee to Young Master Mateus was hiding underneath it. She could sense the danger. The eyes from the shadows were all staring at her and she didn't know how to hide the fact that she could feel their gaze against her, even underneath all that rotten fabric.

It seemed like there was more light around after following him a bit more. Though there was much more activity now than there was back when she was hiding in Balthier's room.

"Let this one through," Balthier's voice said, presumably speaking to guards near the exit. "She'd wandered in here by mistake, poor thing."

"Is that so?" a strange voice asked. "What was she doing all the way back in there?"

"I took her to my room."

"Why?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" he retorted. "What else do you do with a lady in your bedroom? Intelligent hired help isn't exactly bright these days, now is it?" Canti blushed from under that hood. How could he say something like that?! There's no way she could ever imagine being that close to one Ffamran Bunansa, one of the enemies of her family. Even if he was handsome and his voice was enchanting, there was no way she could ever, ever, in the possibility of all known-

"If you took her back, that means she must be a looker," another strange voice said, coming from Canti's other side. "Let me see her."

Suddenly Canti's inner rant stopped and all she could feel was fear. How she wanted to just rip off the disguise and make a break for it, but Balthier advised her against it. That would expose her immediately, and if there was any chance of escape, she was going to have to just… be silent.

"If she's one of those, she won't fight back then, will she?" the first voice said.

She froze there. This was all over, wasn't it?!

"You don't want to see her face. She has a horrible injury, and you two obviously don't have any respect for ladies if that's your first reaction to hearing that there's a damaged girl close by," Balthier said smoothly. "Allow her to pass and be with her kind, will you?"

"You must not, either, if you made love to one of those things." That voice was unmistakable. Canti was going to hear that one in her nightmares probably for the rest of her life. Mateus stood right behind her. "She might not have understood what you did to her."

"Now I know you don't have any respect for ladies," Balthier said to him.

"That's not true, Ffamran. I don't have any respect for anyone, aside from myself," Mateus replied. Canti could hear his pointed boots clicking on the ground underneath as he circled around her. "I do care deeply for my lovely fiancee, however. Still haven't seen her?"

"If I had, do you think I would have wasted my time with one of the sick from outside? Your dearly beloved is one of the most beautiful girls that's ever graced our country."

"Her beauty is not what captivates me, Ffamran."

"It isn't? Here I thought that's why you, Kain, and Minwu were all looking at her while at Garden."

"Those two may have been watching her for her beauty, and see the vision she will grow into, but she has something much more delicious than a lovely appearance," Mateus said. "She has… power."

"Isn't that something. A little girl like that contains enough power to make you lust for her," Balthier laughed. "We can speak of it some other time. I'd rather send this one out to be with her own kind now. She has to be terribly confused as to what she's doing in here, with so much intelligent conversation going on."

"Send the sick one out, then, and get back on the search for my missing love."

"As you wish," Balthier replied. "Though I would like to search outside."

"There's no chance of her having escaped to the outside," Mateus said. "There is no way outside except for this very door."

"The building is half-rubble, half gigantic outhouse. Now you know she's clever. She could have found a way outside easily."

Mateus hummed. "Now that you mention it… we should expand the search to the outside. Just to make sure. She must be terribly frightened if she's outside with those creatures."

"I'm under the impression that she doesn't scare easily." Balthier's hand was on her back, pushing her forward. He kept pushing her until she took a few steps. "Atta girl," he said. "Let's get you back outside where you belong." He pushed her until she saw much more light from underneath her hood.

There were weird noises outside. She never heard these inside, especially while back in her cell. It was eerie. She couldn't tell if they were monsters or if they were people. She heard the dull moaning of what sounded like a lot of people. There were voices, but they weren't saying anything. Maybe they were trying? She couldn't see them, so it was hard to make it out, but it sent chills down her spine.

"Ffamran," Mateus voice said. Canti cursed her luck. It seemed like they were being followed. But Balthier did not remove his hand from her. He was still with her. It was odd to take comfort in someone that was an enemy. Someone that during your very own ceremony to officially make you a real member of the family was threatening you. "She is outside. Let her go and come back to search for Canti. I know she knows you, perhaps she would be less frightened if you were to find her, as opposed to these brutish men my father hired."

"I'm going to search out here," Balthier said. "Might as well keep this one with me in case I feel up for having a round two."

"I can't believe you would do that to one of… these," Mateus said, annoyed. "Honestly. You have an eye for lovely ladies, and you use one of the living corpses from the administration's failures. I hope you do enjoy her. Once the Senate takes full control, I'll put in for all of these things to be put to death."

"That would be an act of mercy, Mateus. And we know how you feel about mercy."

"I despise it."

"Exactly."

"But they wouldn't just be executed. All of these creatures are the results of a failed government. Melting their minds to clear memories isn't going to strike fear into the hearts of the people that want to know the secrets of the administration, Ffamran," Mateus explained. "They went too far. They deserve to die, and to know that they've brought it on themselves." He sounded as if he knew what he was saying was absolutely true, though Canti couldn't help but think that was nothing but heartless. Perhaps Leviathan did not know what removing memories entailed, and that was why he approved it? Melting the minds of people who knew too much wasn't something the Headmaster would have done. "I say public executions would scare everyone away from trying to unravel secrets that aught not be unraveled. Feed them to the monsters on the farm, and broadcast it."

"...Mateus, it was your idea to broadcast the murder of Richard Highwind on the Sphere, wasn't it?" Balthier asked, causing Canti's blood to boil.

"That scared all of them from opposing us. One of the most powerful, influential families has turned to just two young ones and one man leading a rebellion against our coup. One of which is my future bride, one of which is her personal guardian and soon to be a head on a spike to accompany his father, and the final is a corpse waiting to happen the moment I find his daughter and use her to lure him to a trap," Mateus said proudly. "Fear is the best motivator for the masses..."

Her eyes burned and tears fell from her cheeks. Canti wanted to fall to her knees and sob, but she couldn't make a sound. After coming outside, there was no way she could let herself be caught now.

"You want to rule, but you are a cruel bastard," Balthier replied. His hand was still on Canti's back, pushing her in the direction he wanted her to go. "Get back to your search. I'm tired of hearing your fantasies."

"Your family will be treated well for your assistance, Ffamran. You have no reason to act like this-"

"What you've done alone to the one you're going to marry is cruel enough, it's no wonder she's run from you to seek freedom," Balthier snapped. "I don't care how much you hate her family, do you think for a moment that she will accept serving you after you've slaughtered the people she loves the most? You all ready got her uncle, you have her cousin in a cell where you can constantly torture him to manipulate her, you speak of murdering her father, and you still believe she will be your bride willingly."

"Your point?"

"My point is that you deserve to have her escape you." He took a deep breath. "Get back to your search. I wish to have time to myself. I'll look for your fiancee alone, thank you."

Mateus glared at him. "Your words are treasonous. Be thankful I regard you highly, or I would treat you the same way I treat all who dare speak against me."

"Publicly execute me if it pleases you," Balthier grunted. "Your Imperial Majesty."

Mateus walked off behind them. Canti had no idea what his impression was of that last line, but she was thankful that Balthier had the sense not to agree with the aspiring Emperor to be. She still had tears falling from her eyes, unable to believe that her family had been decimated like that.

"...come along, then," he whispered to her, leading her around a few somethings. She couldn't see what they were, but she could tell that there were lots of people around. That constant moaning noise, like there was unintelligible speech going around her, never went away. Was Mateus right when he said they were all mistakes due to experiments of the government led by Leviathan? This incredible claim didn't make any sense to her, but she didn't know what to make of that noise. They kept talking about "those" before. The sick people. Balthier even made her dress up and act like one of them to help her escape.

It took a while before they both finally came to a stop. Canti had no idea how long they'd been walking. It felt like forever.

"We're far from the base of operations," Balthier said. When he reached to remove the heavy hood, the brightness of the outside was overwhelming at first. "Have a rest."

"How far is it to where you told me to go?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. It took her eyes a few moments to adjust. "The beach, right?"

"Yes… it's still further away."

Canti took a moment to look around. There were hundreds of thousands of people wandering the streets in brown rags. None of them seemed to have any sense of balance. They fell over a lot, or bumped into each other a lot. She couldn't make out what they were saying. She wondered how long it had been since some of them had eaten as many were gaunt or nothing more than skin over bones. "…what… is this place?" she asked.

"This is Fisherman's Horizon," Balthier answered. "The place where all of the government's failings end up until they just rot. Dagurreo is a pristine community where nothing can go wrong, at the price of this vacation spot."

"But some of these buildings look like they were once lovely, well taken care of."

"At one time, people did live here. There were two city-states with their own governments, both answering to a collected Senate and Leviathan. Something happened, though it's been erased from all current memory, and this place became what it is now," he continued. "As time went on, the people here ceased to be people and became this, and the refuse of the perfect pearl that is Dagurreo are added to it."

"Refuse…"

"Anyone looking for answers they aught not be looking for. Be it history of our country, or about the barrier, or about forbidden technology, or about the outside world. Whatever it is that Leviathan and the Senators have hidden away from the people, all of these folks wanted to know about it."

"It's… so sad."

"Leviathan is just as cruel as Mateus. Perhaps even crueler, for keeping these alive after their minds have been turned into nothing but garbage."

"What about white magic? Can white magic not heal them?!"

"I'm afraid not, princess. These are beyond saving."

She turned to look at him, even more tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, Canti grasped around him, squeezing him as she cried into his chest. He only put an arm around her and nestled the other in her blue curls.

"You must remain calm… if you become too emotional, you may not be able to think critically enough to get yourself out of here," Balthier whispered. "It is here that I must leave you."

"What?!"

"If I do not report back to Mateus, it could be bad news for my own situation. I've all ready made it clear I do not agree with his policies, and my father is his father's closest ally. He'll start to believe I've snuck off with you," he said, pressing her to him. "You must make it through here to the beach, to an outpost marked with Leviathan's dragon. That is operated by his men."

"Balthier, I-"

He let her go. "Please. Be safe." He wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I beg you. I may not be in a position to help you further, but I do wish you all the luck in the world."

"If you get the chance, help my cousin the way you helped me."

"...help my rival in love? How smart would that be?" he asked, winking at her. Then Balthier let out a chuckle and turned away. "Save our world, princess. You may be the only one that can."

Canti watched him go, and then she darted to hide behind a building, putting the heavy cloth over her head only to hide her hair. It was high enough to where she could at least see what was going on around her.

"Kain. Wait for me. I'll save you."