A/N: My filthy mind has given me the desire to bump this to a T rating. You can blame Balthier.
"Darling, this isn't a chocobo race!" he called after her. Since his little touchy feely moment in the hallway upstairs, his spouse had been rushing to the ball room like she was on fire. He finally caught up to her and gently pulled her aside in a passageway beside the kitchens.
She allowed him to hold onto her arm momentarily as she caught her breath. It appeared that running about in her current get-up took more effort than one would think. "Can we just get this over with? How far is the hangar?" Ashe inquired, holding her side and wheezing in the most adorable way.
Several servants walked past bearing trays of delightful smelling hors d'oeuvres, and it was then that he realized that they had not eaten that day other than a small snack on their flight that afternoon. Glancing towards a window, he could already see that night had fallen. He was famished. The sky pirate whistled for one of the fellows to bring the tray over, and he helped himself to several little morsels. He shoved a few in Ashe's direction, and she took them gratefully.
The Princess began wolfing the food down, apparently hungrier than he was. "We hope she'll be eating for two soon," he remarked to the man, and Balthier waved the servant off. Ashe had a mouthful of some delicacy and could not curse him out in front of Sir Merritt's staff.
Ashe's eyes, however, conveyed the fury that had been characteristic of all her mood swings that day. He nibbled on the treat and went on with their conversation as if he had not just implied that he was intent on making babies with the future Queen of Dalmasca. "Well, when I was down here earlier, I saw a passageway that surely leads to the hangar. You could smell the engine oil from several paces away."
She finally finished stuffing her face and crossed her arms. "So how is this going to work? Do we go to the ball and then sneak off during a particularly awful dance?"
He shook his head. "No, I'd like to go to the hangar now. Security may be tighter once the ball starts, and there may still be people arriving." He held out his arm, and seeing a few other guests wandering the halls, she accepted it and let him lead her towards the hangar area.
The passage was marked by a large archway. "Yanoule Aerodrome" was carved into the heavy stone. Balthier withheld a chuckle at Sir Merritt's extravagance, and he looked down the darkened passageway to see that no one was there.
He began to walk down the passage when Ashe grabbed his arm. "Wait." She gestured to a small sign that adorned the wall: No unauthorized entry. "We're not allowed to go in there!" she argued.
Balthier was not one for clichés, but if there was such a thing as a double take, then he was currently double taking. "Are you serious?" he asked her. After all the sneaking and lying they had done that day, Ashe was going to let a sign keep them from reclaiming his airship?
She crossed her arms. "You said so yourself. You don't even think the Strahl is in there. Why risk getting caught?"
"Because…" He struggled with a suitable answer. Why was he so hell-bent on sneaking around in the hangar? Was it because he wanted to see if there were other airships worth stealing in the future? Was it the simple thrill of being somewhere one wasn't supposed to be? Was it because he secretly wanted to fumble about in the dark with her?
He marched off grumpily down the passageway. "You can stay here if you want. But the whole point is that we're partners here. Fran and me, we stick together on excursions like this. Good or bad, she always follows my lead."
That was a lie. A complete, utter, hysterically awful lie. Why, if Fran had been there, he would have been slapped upside his pirate head. But it miraculously worked. He heard her groan, and she followed after him.
The hangar was nearly the size of a real aerodrome, and a chilly breeze swept through the enormous room to vent out the exhaust from the airships. He probably should have told Ashe to bring a shawl, but when they had been in the Paramina Rift he had noticed how cute she looked when she had goosebumps and…
Balthier stopped suddenly, and she collided with him. "Why did you stop?" she whispered. The hangar was full of beautiful airships and not one employee of Sir Merritt Yanoule. He was like a child in a sweets shop, and he struggled to focus. They stretched on as far as the eye could see. It was like it was his birthday, and someone had deigned to give him a fleet of ships.
The sky pirate nearly found himself skipping along in the dark, the small emergency lights that adorned the walls his only guide. He stared up at a beautiful silver vessel, the lights shining on it like it was some glorious treasure. "An MX-497! They don't make these anymore!" he uttered ecstatically, and he checked out the condition of one of the wings.
Ashe walked up behind him and tolerated his inspection. He turned his head to see the next airship in the line, and he felt like he would die happy for seeing it. His legs carried him swiftly over, and he wanted to get down on his knees and supplicate himself before the engineer who had envisioned it.
"What's so great about it? It's an airship. And it's not the Strahl, by the way," she grumbled.
He whirled around to face her, withholding the urge to shake her for being so nonchalant in front of the vessel. "It's an airship!? It's not just an airship, you…you…you Ashe person!" He found himself sputtering and unable to form coherent sentences as he walked around the ship.
"This is a Rozarrian Desert Racer! A relic! Fran was an infant when these were in the air! They only made five of these, three of which are no longer in commission! She can glide through the air like a bird, but she holds enough fire bombs to hold her own in a fight against an Archadian dreadnought." He let his hand caress the tail pipe lovingly, and Ashe looked at him like he was getting intoxicated from the fumes. "The original paint job has been restored! Ashe, go fetch a ladder. I want to see if the cockpit still has the…"
She tugged on his arm. "Some other time, Balthier. We're here for a reason." He let her pull him along, but he could barely tear his eyes away from the Racer. If he gave Vaan the Strahl, he could take the Racer. It could work, but the bounty on his head would be ratcheted into the stratosphere. It would be the greatest achievement of his career. Just to fly her one time would be enough to earn him accolades in the pirate community.
They continued walking. "So the Strahl was in berth D-7 according to the list I obtained," she remarked as they continued walking. They were only in the A berths and would have a long way to go.
She had to tug him away several times, but they finally reached the D berths. Numbers one through six contained ships, but seven…
"As I thought," he muttered. He and the Princess sighed in unison at the completely empty holding stall, only oil stains on the metal grate floor indicating that a ship had been housed there at some point in the past.
Ashe walked ahead to stand in the middle of the empty area. "Maybe he hasn't arrived yet? He's going to be fashionably late?" she wondered, but he shook his head.
"No. Just another deception," he replied with a dissatisfied look. They had wandered so far into this blasted hangar, and they had to walk all the way back. And then the real performance would begin. "Come on, let's get back now," the sky pirate said and turned to head in the direction of the mansion.
However, their retreat was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a person whistling. It was coming from further down in the hangar, and it was heading towards them. Fast. "We have to get out of here!" Ashe hissed, and Balthier struggled to squint in the low light to find a place to hide.
He spied a few metal cargo drums to one side of the empty berth, and he yanked Ashe's hand and began pulling her to hide behind them. Footsteps began materializing in their earshot, and the whistling got louder. Would they be able to duck behind the drums in time?
The whistling was only an airship away when Balthier decided to abandon his plan at the last second in favor of one that he thought might have a better outcome. Ashe still held his hand as they stopped, and she whispered furiously at him. "Balthier! What are you…?"
But the Princess was cut off as he pulled her against him quickly, wrapping his arms around her. He saw her eyes widen in protest as he pushed his lips against hers roughly. Her fingers reached up to latch onto his biceps, squeezing them in a manner that would definitely leave bruises on him. If this was her means of complaint, then he would welcome further objections in the future.
He tried to pay attention to the whistling figure as he or she continued walking in their direction, but it was proving difficult. Her lips were invitingly soft, and he could not believe he was actually kissing her. He was also rather surprised that she hadn't punched him in the jaw yet. Instead, she seemed to respond, her fingers loosening around his arms and drifting up to wrap around his neck like the way she had teased him before.
Balthier found himself getting a bit too into the act as he found his hands drifting down her back over the firmly tied ribbons he had assisted with earlier. The Princess released a very pleasing moan, and he wanted nothing more than to ravish her on the metal floor. But as he predicted, there was a bright light shone on them, and he released her as quickly as he had grabbed her moments earlier.
There was a very noisy smacking sound as their lips pulled apart, and a throat was cleared. The sky pirate turned around to squint at the figure behind the bright light. He held a hand up to block out the light. "What is the meaning of this?" Balthier inquired furiously, hopping back into his character like nothing.
Ashe's heavy breathing behind him told him that she was having a bit more trouble returning to Lady Radovan. The light was finally lowered slightly, and the face of the head butler was visible to them. The man looked very embarrassed for interrupting him, as Balthier had expected. Getting caught hiding in the hangar would have probably meant expulsion, but if Lord and Lady Radovan were caught in near flagrante delicto, it would only mean a slap on the wrist from the uncomfortable staff.
"I'm sorry, my lord…your ladyship," the butler said quietly, refusing to meet their eyes. His plan was working perfectly, he thought. "No one is allowed in the hangar during events, even guests. I apologize for my intrusion."
Balthier feigned ignorance and raised a hand to his mouth in shame. "I'm terribly sorry, my good man. We were just…well…"
The butler continued to look embarrassed at his blunder that was in fact no blunder, and the sky pirate turned to look at Ashe jovially. It took all of his self-control to not laugh at the current disheveled state of Her Majesty.
She was redder than a Rogue Tomato, her hands wringing themselves in front of her. Her eyes were slightly glazed over, and Balthier wondered if he should have given her some sort of heads-up about the whole "make them think we were about to fornicate in their hangar" trick. On second thought, he thinks her surprise is working in their favor.
He grabbed her hand, and it almost slid out of his grasp. It appeared that Lady Radovan was sweating! Did she enjoy the little act as much as he had? He had no time to ponder that as the butler was patiently waiting for them to vacate the hangar.
"It was the wife's idea to come look at the ships," he explained casually and pulled Ashe along. The butler was kind enough to escort them back to the passageway.
"They are serving appetizers now, my lord," the butler muttered uneasily, "Whenever you and Lady Radovan are ready to make your appearance, Meson will be happy to announce you. Just through the double doors to the left." The older man beat a hasty retreat, and Balthier and Ashe were left alone in the passageway.
Ashe now stood directly beneath the No unauthorized entry sign, and Balthier's mind abandoned him in favor of the gutter. He shook his head of his filthy thoughts and walked up to her. She held up her hands in front of her. "Don't. Not another step," she said coldly, her flesh finally starting to return to its usual pale state.
He stopped and waited for her to berate him, to curse him, to take her bloody shoe off and beat him to within an inch of his life. But instead she smirked. "Basch is going to kill you."
Balthier laughed heartily. "I can think of no better crime to be executed for!"
She tilted her head to regard him critically. "You should have said something. I could have…I don't know, thrown my leg around you."
He stared at her, utterly stunned into silence by the…by his daring Princess.
"For the act, I mean," she clarified quickly. "To trick the butler. What I mean to say is, er…that if you had just said you were going to kiss me to trick the poor man, I could have made it more convincing. Like I said…the leg idea. Or I could have been saying 'Cullen, oh Cullen' or something like that. I mean, really, you should have said something. I thought we were partners in this. Really, Balthier, that was quite selfish of you."
He felt his mouth drop open, and though Balthier loathed hyperbole as much as he loathed clichés, he thought his jaw had hit the proverbial floor.
She approached him and linked her arm through his. "Are we going or not?"
The sky pirate nodded quickly and led her to the ball room.