Author's Note: A lot of people dislike Vaan, which I don't understand. I think he was pretty useless to the story in the game, but he was still a nice guy (even tho some parts WERE annoying, such as "My brother was no liar!!!!") :)

For Vaan x Ashe fans. There will be more chapters (and more romance!) on them later.

P.S. This will be one of the few chapters that contains a game scene. 90 percent of the chapters will be completely new scenes.

( M A S Q U E R A D E )

Chapter Four: The Rescue

The Garamsythe Waterway

Six Months Before Vayne's Defeat

He knew she was going to be furious with him. She had asked him to stay out of trouble, and he had purposely found himself danger. He wondered what she would say when she found out that he was fleeing from Imperial soldiers in the sewers. That is, if she found out. Vaan was beginning to seriously doubt that he would find his way out alive. He could envision the scene flawlessly: Penelo, wrought with dread and desperately searching all of Rabanastre for him, unaware that he was rotting in the bellies of all the dire rats that had devoured his corpse. He grimaced at the thought, but even more so at the fact that should he live, she would surely give him a rigid ass kicking.

Sighing, he cut his sword through another rat, satisfied in knowing that this was one beast who couldn't enjoy his flesh. The creature took one last chimp at him before it died, and Vaan barely escaped its fangs. With severe annoyance he spun around, eyeing his new allies with skeptism. They stood ten yards behind him, side by side with haughty looks on their otherwise unreadable faces.

"It would be nice to have at least one of you taking blows as well," he rightly complained as he slid his sword into its protective sheath. "It's a little annoying to be taking hits while you two stand back unharmed."

As the Viera silently ignored him and fastened her bow to her back, her male counterpart walked by Vaan and pointed smugly at his sword.

"Don't blame us for the weapon you chose to wield," he retorted callously. "Play your role in the battle party and please refrain from complaining."

He felt his heart pound with anger and he clenched his fists tightly. He didn't do well with being scolded, especially by someone not much older than himself. Yet he knew that arguing wouldn't solve anything, and that if they had to travel together, it would be better to remain at peace.

A low, enraged cry sounded from their left. The three turned when they heard the sound, only to see a young woman fighting ferociously on a sewer line above their heads. The girl stabbed at an Imperial, blocking his blade with her shield as she pierced his flimsy armor. As the man collapsed unnoticed to the ground, she faced her enemies and shouted out at them. The woman was brave, but Vaan knew her fight was hopeless; she was cornered, outnumbered, and obviously weakened from battle. He stole a glance towards Balthier and Fran and was shocked to see that they watched the scene before them with such boredom that Vaan questioned their ability to feel compassion towards others at all. But someone had to help the mystery girl, and he figured that the expression was true: An enemy of his enemy was his friend.

He dashed over as hurried as he could, staring up above him at the now frightened girl.

"Jump down," he shouted up at her, watching as she gasped and turned her head to look down to see who had called her. "Hurry!"

The woman's decision was quick; she leapt far from the dead-end and down towards Vaan. He speedily placed his body underneath hers, and she landed hard into his arms. Bracing her left arm against his shoulder, she lifted her head to look at her rescuer. He met her eyes and the two sets of azure pools reflected each other. In the brief second that they stared into each other's eyes, he could clearly see that her desire for revenge matched his own. Already sensing the commonality between them, he had a feeling that this girl would be a friend for life.

The guards were yelling at them, and so she pushed herself from his arms and stood proudly on her pink and gold-booted feet. She pulled down on the bottom of her short pink skirt, for it had hiked itself up a bit when she had jumped.

The guards made their way down to their level, and both him and the woman raised their blades high in unison. The girl headed the attack with Vaan right behind her. Fran began to fire her bow and Balthier his gun. Vaan found himself quite impressed by the girl's speed and ability to use the sword. The Imperials soon fell against the four of them, and once the battle was done the girl asked for a moment's breather. Vaan was all too happy to oblige, excited to ask the strong-willed girl some questions. She was obviously an activist against the Empire, but who was she and why had he never seen her before?

He turned to look at her as she cleaned blood off of her blade and already could feel an extreme attraction towards her. She was breathtakingly beautiful with blonde hair that danced just above her shoulders and had a thin yet voluptuous body. As he visually scanned his eyes over her, he found that his gaze lingered on her lower half. The slits on the sides of her skirt begged him to touch the soft skin that lay beneath. Her bare thighs were on the larger side, but were toned and obviously solid muscle. He shook himself mentally, raising his eyes to her face and calling out to her. She lifted her head up to look at him.

She gave him a nearly missable smile when he approached her. "You all right?"

She tilted her said slightly to the right, keeping her intensely vibrant eyes locked on his. "Thank you."

"I'm Vaan," he introduced himself, taking a small step towards her. "And this is Balthier and-- Hey!"

As he introduced Balthier, he noticed that the rather rude sky pirate had already tried to walk away, with his partner close behind. Vaan scoffed, finding that the original fascination he had felt towards Balthier was beginning to die off. Why would he just try and walk away like that, Vaan wondered, and just leave the girl in distress behind? She obviously needs us.

He turned his attention back to her. "What's your name?"

She thought for a moment, which confused him. Her voice came out soft and timid. "...Amalia."

Why did she have to think about that? "Amalia, huh? Nice to meet you."

She turned away from him, and he felt hurt by her blatant avoidance to return his greeting. "There were other's with me..."

Fran folded her long arms over her chest. "I'm sorry."

Amalia understood the tone in Fran's voice, and her shoulder's slumped forward. The word came out as a gloomy sigh: "No..."

His new friend looked lost and alone, and Vaan decided to take her with them no matter what Balthier said. As he watched Amalia take a moment to grieve for her lost companions, he briefly wondered how old she was. She looked to be a little older than him; perhaps she was Balthier's age.

At that moment, Penelo being worried about him- and for that matter, Penelo herself- was the furthest thing from his mind. He was already completely fascinated with Amalia.

Without warning, Vaan suddenly felt the pocket on his pants begin to feel warm. Confused by the sensation, he fished his hand into his pocket and fumbled around until he found the heat's culprit: the stone he had stolen from the royal palace. He lugged it out, holding it tightly in his hands as he raised it to his face in order to inspect it. It pulsed and shimmered a golden red hue, and Amalia released a sharp gasp when she saw the stone.

"Oh, now isn't that impressive," came Balthier's cocky but awed voice. The older man took a few strides towards him, causing Vaan to clutch his stolen treasure close to his heart.

"Don't get any ideas. I said it's mine," Vaan snapped, eyeing the sky pirates carefully as they hungrily watched the stone quiver and throb in his palm.

He could feel Amalia's gaze upon him, and he snapped his head in her direction. Her brow was furrowed and her mouth hung agape.

"You stole that," she questioned, the astonishment strong in her tone.

He felt his heart swell with pride because she seemed quite impressed. Seeing the awed look on her pretty face made him realize that he was indeed one step closer to achieving his dream of becoming a true sky pirate.

"Yeah," he chirped boastfully, the grin on his face widening.

Amalia released an irritated sigh, turning her head away from him and choosing to stare disdainfully at the sewer floor. Vaan instantly lost his smile. Did I say something wrong?

Fran politely asked if they could continue on with their journey and Balthier nodded in agreement. The Viera headed off down the sewer channel, but Vaan kept his eyes on their new ally.

"You should come with us. Better than being by yourself."

She looked back over at him, blinding hard, as if she was surprised and appalled by his offer. She lowered her slender arms to her side, pursing her lips together in a tight line.

She sounded put off and reluctant. "Very well."

With a small roll of her eyes, she pushed past him and followed Fran down the tunnel. Their was an arrogance about her walk, like she thought of herself as 'too good' to be walking through sewers. Vaan couldn't help but frown as he slowly began to follow her. I guess she wasn't that impressed by my pirating after all.

He paused when he reached Balthier. He looked up at him expectantly, assuming that the sky pirate would make a smart ass remark about him inviting the girl. But Balthier kept his mouth shut, and it annoyed Vaan.

"What's wrong with her," he inquired, referring to Amalia's sudden negative attitude adjustment.

Balthier groaned, tossing his arms out to his sides. He, too, rolled his eyes at Vaan. "You have a lot to learn- before we even get started on your thievery."

"What's that mean?"

Balthier didn't bother to answer, and the two set off in following the women. Fran was nowhere to be seen, and Amalia was far enough ahead of them to be removed from the male's conversation, and so Vaan wondered if it was a good time to make good on Balthier's terms. He glanced up towards the scrawny blonde man, and was surprised to see that Balthier's eyes were fixated heavily on Amalia's behind. A smirk was played out on Balthier's lips, and Vaan could plainly see the lust in his eyes.

"The way you're looking at Amalia," Vaan stated quietly, almost nervous to ask his question. He glanced around the sewers, still not seeing Fran. To Balthier he pried, "What about Fran? Aren't you and her--"

He was interrupted by Balthier dodging in front of his path, causing Vaan to make a sudden stop. He looked up at Balthier curiously, only to be greeted with a cold, ill-tempered expression. With a raise of his right hand, Balthier leaned out and poked Vaan hard in the chest.

"Ow, hey! What's the big idea?"

"Listen, thief," Balthier spoke with malevolent hostility. The words tumbled out from his throat quickly: "There are two things you may never ask me about, so listen to them now and listen well. One, you may never inquire as to what my relationship with Fran is. Two, you may never interrogate me on my personal history. If you dare speak of either of these two things again, I will be forced to harm you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear," Vaan mumbled, eyes wide with disbelief on Balthier's sudden anger. Gods, this sucks, he thought. I seem to be pissing everyone off today: Penelo, Balthier, Amalia...

"Then it's settled," Balthier nodded, removing his finger from Vaan's now bruised chest.

The sky pirate appeared to lose his rigid posture and relax. He folded his arms across his chest and turned to watch Amalia further the distance between them. He cocked his head to the side, raising a golden eyebrow.

"You're interested, aren't you," Balthier said, more as a statement than a question.

Looks like he's back to normal.

Vaan knew he was referring to Amalia. He shrugged gently. "I don't know. Yeah, maybe. She seems a little odd, like it'll take a while to figure her out."

A wide grin erupted onto Balthier's handsome face. He began to walk again, motioning for Vaan to follow. "A challenge, eh? I like that in a woman."

Once more, Vaan frowned.

Author's Note: Yes, I realize Balthier seemed mean at the end. But hey, he was kinda mean during the first part of the game, and you know it!

The part where Vaan and Ashe met was very striking to me. At first, Vaan seems very excited towards her- like he is attracted. Of course, she realizes they are thieves and becomes very cold, and his giddiness towards her turns to dislike. Fascinating. :)