Author's Note: This story will focus more on the interactions between the characters in Ramza's party, while still following along with the plot of Tactics. This is adventure and romance themed. DISCLAIMERS: I do not own Final Fantasy Tactics. I do not claim to condone or approve of any of the words or actions of any of the characters in this story. This is Rated M for Mature, contains explicit scenes involving sex and violence.
Chapter One
Ramza Beoulve enjoyed a good quest. But lately life was a little too action-packed, even for his taste.
Ramza, Mustadio, and the rest of his squad had just escaped the Baert Trading Company's minions by the skin of their teeth, while also managing to keep the Taurus zodiac stone out of their clutches. Ramza was incredibly impressed with Mustadio's genius in creating a fake stone as a decoy. Despite all the extra trouble Mustadio had dragged him into as of late, Ramza did not at all regret aiding the young machinist in rescuing his father, Besrodio. In fact, along the way, he and Mustadio were becoming fast friends.
Ramza had a quick and curious mind, and Mustadio was full of new ideas to share with him every day. Some of the artifacts Mustadio had discovered under the ground in Goug were very fascinating. Ramza enjoyed learning new things, and he had rather felt as though his brain were atrophying, ever since his school days had ended. Talking with Mustadio, and learning of the many wonders Mustadio had seen, made him feel like he was taking history lessons again.
On their way back to Lionel castle, feeling exhausted one evening, the team stopped at a tavern for a drink. The barkeep asked what they would like.
Mustadio requested ale, and Ramza asked for milk. He bit back his cheeky grin at the barkeep's bewildered expression, and his stumbling explanation that they did not stock milk at the bar.
Mustadio did not even try to hold back his laughter upon hearing Ramza's ridiculous request. When the barkeep walked away, Mustadio said, "It would seem you never fully weaned, Ramza."
Ramza chuckled. "I order milk every time I come to a tavern. The barkeep's reaction is always amusing."
Mustadio gave him a friendly slap on the back. "You may be the first person I have ever met who is even stranger than I am."
Ramza went ahead and ordered ale for himself, as well, once the server returned. He and Mustadio lingered at the bar for a while, mainly because it felt good to sit still after walking all day. Eventually, a pair of young women approached them. They wore red rouge on their lips, and their gowns had dramatically low necklines. Though truthfully, neither one of these women had much bosom to show off. They were both painfully skinny. It made Ramza cringe. He knew they were prostitutes, before they even said anything.
Times were hard in Ivalice. The 50 Years War had depleted everyone, but it had hit the commoners in the worst way. Food was scarce for the poorest members of Ivalice. He recalled how Miluda had once ranted at Algus that her people had needed to sup for months on naught but broth of bean. Unfortunately, her words had been very true. The two women who were now attempting to flirt with him had clearly not had a full meal in a long time. He reflected sadly that they had probably once had pious families and secure homes, before the war uprooted them and drove them into this line of work.
Mustadio had allowed one of the women to take a seat on his lap, and after a few amorous words between them, he eventually agreed to pay the coin to take her into the back room of the tavern.
Ramza knew that the other woman was hoping he would do the same with her. For the money, of course; not because she actually wanted to bed down with him. Instead, Ramza told her to sit on the seat Mustadio had just vacated, and he bought her a cup of ale as a consolation prize.
Ramza had never been able to bring himself to have sex with women like her. It felt wrong to him. Ramza had had the finest of educations while growing up, including lessons on all of the ancient tales. He had been raised on stories of courtly love, and he believed that sex was sort of sacred, in a way.
In Ramza's youth, his father, the great lord Balbanes Beoulve, had been careful to keep bad influences away from him. Balbanes' eldest son, Dycedarg, had grown up to be a terrible womanizer, with a different whore in his bed nearly every night, in addition to the wife and the mistress he housed in the castle. Balbanes had been determined to raise his youngest son to be better than that. It was not as if Balbanes tried to hide the idea of sex from Ramza. He simply taught Ramza that it should be special, and only done with a person who mattered to him. The way Ramza's mother had been special to Balbanes.
Ramza had taken his father's words to heart.
Even without this guidance, the truth was that Ramza had a very high opinion of himself. He knew that he was good-looking (as he had been told many times by various ladies back at Igros castle), and intelligent, and brave, and honorable. And he felt that any woman who was deserving of him should also have all of these qualities.
Though he never admitted it aloud, Ramza often thought himself rather like the majestic King Arthur from the ancient tales, searching for his own Guinevere (he ignored the scripts that claimed Guinevere had eventually cheated on Arthur, choosing rather to believe that Guinevere had been the perfect, golden, pillar of feminine virtue.)
Still, perhaps he ought to be a bit less particular. Because the truth was, that at age nineteen-almost-twenty, Ramza was still a virgin.
It was not that he had no sexual appetite, as Delita had sometimes accused him in earlier years. He definitely did have desires. He had gotten accustomed to using his own hand to pleasure himself once or twice per day, in fact. And he lusted after women, even if he never let his hands roam where his mind did.
It was just that he had not yet met the girl who fit all of his ideals. He had kissed a few girls, but that was about it. Over the years, he had gently refused advances from many women who simply did not seem right for him. For the most part, his friends did not understand this. They were of the opinion that a man should take every opportunity to bed any willing woman.
But Ramza had never been one to care what others thought of him.
He idly made conversation with the woman now seated next to him. Her brown eyes were large, and sweet. He actually did think the red rouge painted on her lips was rather sexy. But he would not be taking her to the back room, when Mustadio was finished in there. He simply was not that kind of man.
Being with a woman was the least of his worries right now, anyway. Now that his adventures in Goug were complete, he needed to get back to Princess Ovelia and her guard, Agrias, at Lionel Castle.
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Ramza and his companions had been lucky enough to cross paths with Agrias again on their way to the Cardinal's castle. Still, all was not exactly well. Agrias was being hunted by the Gryphon knights of Lionel, and they had found themselves in an unexpected fight to the death with her assailants.
Worse, when the fight was over, Agrias told Ramza that she knew for certain that Princess Ovelia was scheduled to be executed. She was utterly distraught that Ovelia, whom she cared for like a little sister at this point, had been imprisoned by Cardinal Draclau.
They spent the rest of the day traveling as quickly as they could. They were all feeling Agrias's fear over the princess's safety. When it was fully dark outside, and they had to set up camp for the night, the Holy Knight was nearly pulling her own hair out from worry.
Agrias climbed into Ramza's tent a few minutes later, without even asking his permission. She pressed herself close to his side as they conversed in worried tones, and he wrapped a reassuring arm around her shoulders.
When Agrias reached up to touch his face and steal a kiss from him, Ramza was not surprised. Her cuddling against him for comfort had seemed to be leading things in that direction. It did, however, surprise him that it was not long afterward that she had helped him to strip naked, and shed her own clothing as well. Ramza felt no desire to tell her no, as he had refused so many flirtatious women in the past. He felt a deep respect for this beautiful lady Knight, and he was flattered that she was showing an interest in him.
Ramza wondered if he had finally found the radiant woman he had been looking for. Agrias was certainly brave and intelligent, and she did have something 'special' about her.
She was gorgeous even while wearing armor, with her blonde hair braided back. But without her clothing, Agrias was truly a vision. It was strange to see her as simply a woman, beneath her knight's uniform. She was muscular and sleek, but her hips were still sweetly soft in his hands. Her small breasts looked shockingly feminine, after he had grown used to seeing her constantly covered with armor.
Ramza was overwhelmed by her loveliness. He wanted to show her how amazed he was. He wanted to kiss every inch of her, before he claimed her as his own. As the Guinevere to his King Arthur, he thought.
The rest of the night had not, exactly, gone the way he had figured it would.
For one thing, he had never imagined Guinevere, the first time she went to bed with Arthur, leaning down to sheathe her mouth nearly all the way down Arthur's manhood.
Ramza did not mean to sound ungrateful. The feeling of Agrias's mouth on him had been so good that it practically made his eyes roll back into his head. And when they had sex, it had felt just as incredible.
Why had he waited so long to do this? He bedded Agrias as often as he could, sometimes two or three times in a night. She seemed to want him just as much as he wanted her. On their daily marches, even a glance between them burned hotly. They were both simply waiting for the next chance to be alone together.
Over the next couple of months, there was only one tiny issue, which Ramza could not seem to stop focusing on. He knew it was stupid, but… he rather felt like Agrias treated making love with him in the same way she treated sword fighting. She seemed to always be showing off her skills; trying to prove that she was the 'best' at the task. And he had no one else to compare her to, but Ramza was willing to bet anyway that she truly was the best. Underneath Agrias's stoic demeanor, there lurked a slinking succubus.
When he was inside her, Ramza felt as if he were being eaten alive. In the best way possible. Agrias writhed, gyrated her hips, decided their pace, even when he managed to win the top position. It was always a dizzying ride, and he spent much of it desperately fighting not to come too soon. He had his pride. He should rather die, than expire before she was done with him.
Ramza did believe that he was pretty good at sex, as he was naturally pretty good at… well, nearly everything he tried. Agrias was aware that she had taken his virginity. She had assured him, after their first time together, that he was a natural. He thought she was telling the truth, as she did appear to enjoy herself quite a lot each time.
Still, Ramza did not know how to tell Agrias that all the impressive moves, all the new positions she introduced him to… they truly did not matter that much to him. In all his fantasies, he had imagined something simpler. Sweeter, perhaps.
Maybe he was just overthinking it.
Sometimes, though, Ramza wished Agrias would bring her energy level down a little, and maybe, sort of, let him have the leading role for once. More than anything else, he just enjoyed working himself between her legs, feeling her respond to his movements, hearing her muffled sounds of pleasure.
Well… maybe not always so muffled. The rest of the team had started setting up their tents further and further away from Ramza's each night.
No one dared to complain, though. Ramza might be able to handle some teasing with grace, but Agrias's temper was not worth messing with.
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Ramza could not have predicted how much he would need Agrias's affection over the next couple months. The world seemed to be crumbling beneath him, and she was keeping him from falling into the endless pit below.
Killing Gaffgarion had left Ramza feeling down. The man had been despicable, of course, but Ramza had served under him for a while, before he ever saw Gaffgarion's true colors. He had sort of looked up to Gaff as a substitute father figure. Even knowing that Gaff was a traitor, it hurt Ramza to run his blade through his former friend.
There had also been the horror of watching Cardinal Draclau transform before his eyes into a hideous demon. He still often thought about the Lucavi creature called Cuchulainn, with his gray leathery skin bursting open at the belly, regularly releasing all manner of foul evils and dripping guts.
Agrias had been just as horrified by the sight, and by their fight against actual goddamn demons. After that, they clung to each other at night, as if squeezing tight enough could make the memories disappear. Ramza could not shake the feeling that one of those darkness-loving demons could simply materialize inside their tent at any moment.
Ramza really felt like he had hit rock-bottom when he tried to explain the truth of everything to his lord brother Zalbag, and Zalbag had replied by insulting his mother and telling him he was not a true Beoulve.
And as if this were not enough to deal with, as Ramza was leaving Lesalia, he received from Confessor Zalmour the life-destroying news that he had been named a heretic by the Church, for killing Cardinal Draclau.
Words could not express the full impact of this. As an enemy of the Church, he would never be safe anywhere in Ivalice. No matter where he went, he would be constantly looking over his shoulder. Any person he crossed paths with might wish to turn him in to the Church to collect the reward on his head. If they had not simply taken the head from his shoulders, first.
Alma had put herself in danger, as well, by assisting him in his fight with Zalmour. He felt as if he could weep, knowing that his sweet little sister was no longer safe from harm, because of him.
And he nearly did weep that night, in gratitude, when Agrias, Mustadio, and the other members of his team sat down with him and told him they were not planning to abandon him, despite him being a heretic. They knew they were sacrificing their own safety, and putting themselves at risk of being named heretics as well, by staying with him. But every last one of them planned to do the honorable thing, and help him fight the demons that threatened Ivalice.
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A/N: Hope you're enjoying so far! Please leave me a review to let me know what you think!
