Disclaimer: I don't own FFXII
Vaan awoke on a hard, dusty floor of packed dirt. He slowly pushed himself up with his arms. The ghost was sat on the ground next to him, watching him.
"You're awake."
Vaan looked over to see Balthier sitting on the remains of a fallen column. The pirate looked composed, casual even. His clothes were hardly even dusty. As if this was an everyday occurrence. As if it wasn't unusual to be dragged off to... "Where are we?"
"Prison, where else?" He waved his hand at their accommodations. "More a dungeon, but it's really all the same." He sounded rather bored.
Vaan slowly got up, holding a hand to his pounding head. Damn Imperials, their hits never hurt any less. He turned and saw a doorway. Apparently, Balthier and himself were in a room of sorts apart from the dungeon. He briefly wondered on the whereabouts of Fran and Amalia.
A piercing scream from a resident of the dungeon made him jump. He staggered back and tripped over something under his feet.
It was a body. A bangaa's dead body.
Balthier's voice was surprisingly calming. "Relax, it's just a corpse. Jump at every little thing down here and you'll wear yourself out." He yawned. Balthier seemed a little worn out himself. "It's not even a proper dungeon. They just sealed off the bottom level of the fortress."
Vaan perked up a little. Fortress? Who knows what he could find down here? His fingers began to tingle.
Balthier picked up on his desire to explore. "Take a look around. We're not the first they've thrown down here." He stretched.
Vaan finally decided to ask. He'd never seen the two apart before now. "Where's Fran?"
"She's off trying to find us a way out."
Vaan looked toward the doorway. Another loud scream unnerved him. He turned when he heard the sky pirate get to his feet.
"Remember what curiosity killed. Just a friendly word of advice." He pulled a wineskin from his belt. "This is all the water we've got. I'd save your strength if I were you."
Vaan walked carefully toward the rest of the dungeons, aware that Balthier was watching him.
Outside the room, Vaan turned to his ghostly friend who was quietly chuckling. He raised an eyebrow in question.
"Curiosity killed the cat. I was just thinking that you're very lucky satisfaction brought it back." There was mirth in the ghost's eyes and humour in his voice.
Vaan grinned. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." He looked around at the dirty stone walls. "Do you know where we are? Something more specific than 'prison'?"
The ghost laughed at the reference to Balthier. "We are currently in Nalbina Dungeons. The room we were in is called the stockade. I presume the Imperials throw all the new prisoners there."
Vaan nodded. Now that he knew where he was, time to gather info.
Prisoner 691 told him nothing he didn't already know. 502 told him there were monsters in the lower levels. The monsters were active at night. 643 described the demonic weeping cries of the monsters. 502 commented that the sound was worse than something from the pits of hell.
Prisoner 124 spoke about the fight at Nalbina to save the King of Dalmasca. Apparently he'd fought in the ill-fated battle.
Vaan's heart clenched as he thought sadly of Reks. His brother, sitting unresponsive in a hospital room for weeks. Until one day, he wasn't.
Beside him, the ghost sucked an angry breath through his teeth. Vaan didn't think the ghost actually needed to breathe. It was more likely that the ghost was merely breathing reflexively.
In his explorations, he'd found a crystal. He gladly touched it to heal his pains. The headache had disappeared. Near the crystal was a doorway that led to a separate part of the dungeon.
He looked at the ghost. The ghost looked at him. The both grinned and spoke in unison. "Satisfaction brought it back!"
They ran through the door.
He hadn't expected the gorgeous colosseum-esque room he found. He hadn't expected a dead bangaa to fall from the ceiling. He hadn't expected an injured bangaa to fall from the ceiling and scuttle away. He hadn't expected two angry seeqs to fall from the ceiling and beat the bangaa.
One was about to land the killing blow!
"No, don't!" The club came down on the bangaa's head.
As Vaan jerked in dismay, the ghost's hand attempted to grab his bicep. "Vaan!"
The violent seeqs had turned to look at him. They slowly approached him.
The ghost was furious. "Why did you speak? They didn't know you were here! You could have gotten away unscathed! You can't keep sticking out your neck for random strangers. People die in dungeons, it's a reality of life." His voice held anger, fear and even compassion.
Vaan began to inch backwards. "He was defenceless..."
The seeq was dragging it's club along the ground. It growled something at him. Unintelligable, but certainly unpleasant.
He was slowly but surely backing away from them, guided by the chill of the ghost's intangible touch on his elbow.
The only warning he got was a growl and a scream of his name.
Pain. Darkness.
He awoke to yelling.
"Vaan, Vaan! So help me God, if you don't wake up this instant..."
"Huh?" He groggily looked around. The sand was flying past him, rubbing along his back as it went. He'd been hit in the face by the feel of it.
Wait, no. The sand wasn't flying, he was being dragged by the ankle! One glance around told him that he was in the fenced arena in the centre of the room. The seeq dragging him dropped his ankle. In less time than it took to blink, Vaan had stumbled to his feet and tried to escape through one of the the four portcullises.
It slammed shut.
As he looked in the direction of the other portcullises, they slammed shut too.
Three violent seeqs were advancing on him; cornering him.
The ghost was floating in the air, behind one of the seeqs. "Just keep calm, Vaan. Balthier is on his way here. He'll even the odds a little."
"Something stinks in here all right. I've changed my mind. This is no dungeon, it's a sty."
Vaan looked up to see Balthier, just like the ghost said. The seeqs growled unintelligibly at him. Balthier spat in utter disgust.
"I said you're the one that stinks, ham-shanks. Hear me now?" He cracked his knuckles.
The ghost grinned. "I think I like him. He's got style."
Balthier vaulted over the railing and landed in a crouch in front of Vaan. He slowly stood to his full height.
Vaan had to admit that the sky pirate looked pretty badass.
"You all right, Vaan?"
Vaan nodded.
The seeqs growled and swung their clubs.
Balthier merely smirked and beckoned them forward. Vaan grinned as he was reminded of his days on the streets of Rabanastre. A fist fight. Back home, he'd been able to beat anyone he faced. He danced around them. He was quick. He was sneaky. He was strong. He took cheap shots. He was a ball of energy. He only hoped that Balthier was able to keep up.
The ghost watched from afar, unable to intervene. He didn't seem to know too much about brawling. Though, he did offer useful bits of advice: that seeq was weak on his left side, that one was limping, the blue ones heavily relied on...
All in all, they didn't take too long to beat.
When all three of the seeqs lay unconscious at their feet, the other prisoners began to gather around the rail. Vaan remembered that the prisoners had been sitting on some stairs. Apparently the seeq trio had been a force to be reckoned with, if everyone came over to confirm their defeat.
The ghost gave him a warning. "Vaan!"
Vaan turned. "Huh?"
On a higher level, gates opened. Heavily armoured people marched through them. The prisoners scattered.
The ghost muttered. "Archadians!" It was practically growled. "They're behaving like an advance guard. They're protecting something."
Vaan and Balthier watched as a bangaa descended the stairs.
Balthier spoke quietly, Vaan probably wasn't meant to hear him. "Great. They just don't give up, do they?"
"The ghost chuckled. "Not with the bounty on your head."
Vaan was startled. He'd never considered that Balthier might be a wanted man. Now that he thought about it, weren't all sky pirates wanted?
Balthier watched the bangaa grow impatient. Obviously, they'd met in the past. "Now is looking like a good time for us to leave."