A/N: I should probably make it very clear that my two least favorite characters are Ashe and Vaan, but I seem to dislike Ashe a little more than Vaan. I just thought I'd put that out there in case I accidently do a little bashing of either and/or both.

Chapter Two

Minute's POV

This was ridiculous! Not even in the woods back home were there this many fiends. They seemed to be around every corner we turned

Fran and Balthier remained further away, healing Vaan and myself if we were injured, and I had to admit, they were helpful aids in battle. Vaan was a little sloppy, but he was still young and inexperienced in difficult battles such as the ones in the sewers.

"Hey, you're not half bad!" Vaan laughed as we paused to rest at a healing crystal.

"Thank you?" I said, not sure if it was truly a compliment. "We begin training at a young age and by the time we come of age, we're assigned our class." I elaborated and the blond looked confused for a moment.

"It must suck not being able to choose your own job. I mean, someone else shouldn't get to pick for you." He said and I chuckled.

"Our class is chosen based on our gender and our fighting ability. Each class has different stress levels and fighting styles. Some are better at one class than another. We do, however get to choose our jobs. At least some of do. I, for example, am a temple hand." I explained.

"A what?" Vaan asked and before I could answer Fran answered for me.

"They assist the head priest with anything he needs help with. It's a job usually reserved for his children." The Viera explained and I was a bit surprised by how much she knew of the Aegyl. She looked to me as if to question her correctness.

"Exactly. My brother and I would often help our father prepare for daily prayer and ceremonies." It's a fairly simple job and it prepares us for when one of us is chosen to take over for the head priest when he passes." I elaborated and the young boy seemed to be enthralled in what I was saying. It was rather…nice to teach someone about the ways of our people. Even if it was a Hume.

"Well, didn't you ever want to do something else? I mean, you guys must have so many cool jobs! You can't have wanted to work in a temple for the rest of your life." Vaan said as we started out again and I had to pause and think.

"I'd never really thought about it. I've worked in the temple since I was a child. I just assumed it was something that was meant for me. It's not as if I don't enjoy my work. It can be tedious at times, but what job isn't?" I asked, but it was more to myself and didn't really expect someone to answer me.

"You should do something that you enjoy doing. That way you never regret the choices you've made." Balthier said from the front of the group and I had to agree with him.

Before anyone else could say anything, there came shouting ahead of us. As we quickly made our way down the stairs, we witnessed a group of what looked to be imperials surrounding a blonde haired Hume woman in a pink miniskirt and wielding a sword. She than slashes at one of the soldiers and he fell from the ledge they were perched upon.

"Who would be next?" she called to the group in front of her and took a defensive stance.

"Close ranks! Bring her down!" one of them yelled and they began to advance on her as she began backing up until she was at the edge and had nowhere else to go, except down.

"Jump down!" Vaan yelled and rushed over to the bottom of the ledge. The woman gaped down at him, her face clearly showing that she thought he was insane. "Hurry!" he insisted as the soldiers continued to advance. She quickly weighed her options and then jumped suddenly, Vaan catching her and stumbling slightly.

"She's not alone!" one of the soldiers yelled as Vaan put the woman back on her feet.

"This just isn't my day." I grumbled to myself, pulling my Geminus from its holster as the small group of soldiers began to come after our small group.

"You and me both, dear." Baltheir interjected, giving me a small wink before backing away so he could get a better shot.

"Our ranks grow by the hour." Fran announced and Balthier sighed.

"And our troubles with them." He said, referring to the soldiers that were charging towards us.

They were easily taken care of, but I had to agree with Balthier. It would have been much simpler if we didn't keep running into trouble. Once the last of the imperials was taken down, I couldn't help but groan. Ignoring the others, I gripped my shoulder and focused on easing the pain of my shoulder and wing. All this fighting wasn't doing it any good. The healing crystal had helped tremendously, but it couldn't seem to heal it completely.

"Do you need time to rest?" someone asked and I opened my eyes to find Baltheir looking at me with a look of concern.

"No." I lied and straightened myself out. "I'll be fine." I said and went to join the other three, the brunette not far behind me.

"I'm Vaan. And this is Balthier and-" Vaan was saying as we approached the other three, but Balthier kept walking as if the blonde woman wasn't even there. "Hey!" Vaan exclaimed, trying to get the brunette's attention and it worked. Balthier sighed and stopped while Vaan turned back to the woman, but she wasn't paying attention to the blond boy.

Feeling surprised and curious eyes on me, I huffed and walked past the small group of three and then past Balthier. This is exactly what I didn't want. As the others conversed, I tried thinking of ways to hide my wings. Once we got out of here, there would be much more people I'd have to hide from while I waited for my wing to heal.

"Don't get any ideas. I said it's mine." I heard Vaan raise his voice, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"I'm afraid the jury's still out on that one." Baltheir shot back and as I looked back to the group, the glow Vaan's stone had was beginning to fade.

"You stole that?" the newest addition to our group asked, sounding appalled and Vaan nodded vigorously.

"Have you finished? When the guards don't report in, they'll come looking for us." Fran spoke up and began walking towards where I was practically hiding in the shadows of the walkway.

"If they aren't already." Balthier interjected, sounding equally annoyed as he looked.

"Very well." The blonde woman nodded, but hesitated before walking away stridently.

"What's with her?" Vaan mumbled and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. He couldn't be serious. Either he was joking around or he was extremely dense.

"You have a lot to learn before we even get started on your thievery." Baltheir sighed and followed suit as the others.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Vaan called, but when no one answered, he quickly followed after the group.

After being attacked by four Flans, we decided to stop for a moment to regain our strength. There was a light tap on my shoulder and I spun around to look into the eyes of the blonde woman. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to discomfort you earlier. It's just that, well, the Aegyl were always nothing but legends. Stories that were told to children. I just never expected to see one with my own eyes." She explained and I raised an eyebrow.

"There seems to be a lot of that going around. But I accept your apology." I told her, a bit coldly, but I was at least putting the effort forward.

"We should continue forward. We should be close to the end of these retched sewers." Baltheir announced and pushed off from the wall he was leaning against.

And true to his word, half an hour later, we arrived at a pair of large double iron gates. "This leads back to Lowtown!" Vaan exclaimed and rushed to the front of the group and began pulling on the handle. With Baltheir's help, they were both able to get it open so that we could slip through.

As we began making our way through the flooded courtyard, it began filling a thick fog, reminding me of a story that was told to me when I was still a child. Thinking back to the story, I spoke up. "These wouldn't happen to be the Garamsythe Waterway, would it?" I asked and I prayed to Feolthanos that the answer was no.

"Yup! Best place to hunt rats if you're ever interested!" Vaan answered cheerful, hands behind his head like the journey was over, but I had a really bad feeling it wasn't even close to being over.

"Something troubles you." Fran said, coming up to stand next me, cocking her head slightly in concern.

'When, every once in a rare while, the Garamsythe Waterway fills with a thick fog, it is said that the Firemane is galloping its ways and channels, its fiery rage boiling the waters into steam.' I recited, the legend coming back to me as if I were a child being tucked into bed once more.

"You don't actually believe that, do you?" Vaan asked and I turned to him, getting ready to answer him, but was cut off by a large ball of flames burst into the clearing and began to take shape.

I had my qualms about attacking a spirit, but if we didn't, it probably would've killed us.

After what felt like hours of working at the spirit, we finally managed to take it down. We had little time to celebrate though because moments later the room was being surrounded by soldiers. "Stand where you are!" came a voice from the shadows and, despite our better judgment, we did as we were told, too tired and exhausted to do anything else.

The voice then came into view to reveal a taller man with long, dark hair and look of royalty to him. The blonde woman, Amalia, took a step forward, a clearly pissed look on her face, but Balthier grabber her arm. "Now is not the time." He warned and I had to admit, it piqued my curiosity.

"Wait!" the man called, but paused a moment to think, halting the soldiers that were starting down the stairs towards us. "Throw something over that one's shoulders. We wouldn't want to make too much of a scene." He ordered and the soldiers continued forward again.

Hissing in pain when one of them roughly tossed a blanket over my shoulders, the other took my weapon and cuffed me while the others were cuffed as well. Once they were sure our cuffs were secure, they dragged us up a flight of stairs and into what looked to be an extremely dirty hallway where hundreds of people were gathered around, murmuring amongst themselves.

"They're the thieves who stole into the palace."

"Is that what the commotion last night was about?"

Amalia seemed to then speak my exact thoughts. "They think me some common thief!" she exclaimed, sounding beyond pissed.

"Better than a common assassin." Balthier said, trying to calm the blonde down somewhat. Or at least as much as one could be calmed in a situation such as this. A soldier then stepped forward and shoved Amalia forward.

"These people have done nothing. Release them!" Amalia demanded as she was being taken towards the long haired man.

"What are you doing?" Vaan questioned and Amalia turned on him quickly.

"Don't interrupt me, I'm thinking." She snapped and was continued to be pushed forward.

Not really paying attention to the group of people around us, I missed the petite, blonde girl rushing towards us. "Wait!" she yelled, catching everyone's attention as she tried to get to us, but was held back by some soldiers. "He didn't know what he was doing! You have to let him go! You have to!" she practically sobbed and Vaan stepped forward slightly.

"Penelo! Sorry. That dinner'll have to wait." He apologized and she shook her head.

"I told you!" she cried and I felt bad for the girl. Vaan clearly meant something to her and this must've been terrible for her.

"That's enough!" one of the soldiers behind us yelled and hit Vaan in the back of the head, causing the boy to fall forward. This obviously didn't sit well with the girl because she broke through the guards restraining her and rushed forward.

"Leave him alone!" she yelled, but before she could reach him, Balthier stepped in front of her and handed her something I couldn't quit see from where I was standing.

"Hold onto this for me, would you? Just until I bring Vaan back." He told her and that seemed to appease her while they pulled Balthier back to the group.

"What about this one, my lord?" one of the soldiers asked, stopping the group in front of the man with long hair and dragged me forward. He looked down at me with a contemplative look and then looked back at the guard.

"Take her to Nalbina with the others until the good doctor is ready for her." He told them and without further questions, I was dragged off with the others.

A/N: I honestly didn't expect this chapter to be so long. Not that I'm complaining, but it was a bit of a hassle. I hope you enjoyed it. Not exactly sure when the next chapter will be out, but I hope it won't be too long.