Disclaimer: This might come as a shock to you all, but I don't own FFXII or it's colorful characters. Words are mine, world is theirs. Fun times.
Author's note: This is meant to be a stand alone fic, taking place after FFXII and heeding to it's own timeline/storyline there on out.
I'd like to give special thanks to thermopylae and Keyblade Mistress Hikari, (say that 10x fast). Without the help, thoughtful suggestion and time they gave to this old writer, I never would have made it through.
Thanks again.
If you enjoy the story, leave a comment. If you didn't enjoy the story, still leave a comment but know that I cry myself to sleep at night. Not really. 3
~...~
Night time.
From above, the city looked like a compass of lights. On the night wind, he could occasionally catch the scents from the Eastern merchant district. It was the smell of something spicy and comforting but nameless. The smell of a desert home.
Thoughtfully, Vaan turned a curious look at the crystal lying in his palm. Small, much smaller than any of the other Esper crystal's he had seen, it fit snuggly in his hand with room to spare.
The last time he had seen an Esper crystal, it had been the one the young sky pirate had handed over to the royal magus.
Two years ago, shortly after becoming Queen, Ashe or rather - her majesty Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca - had politely asked her former traveling companions to turn over their summoning licenses.
Her request had taken a deal of time to carry out. If gaining control of a license was hard, replacing one in to a crystal was down right tedious. Once a summoner had total control over an Esper, it was a matter of concentration, will, a moogle's gift for crafting magicite and a great deal of luck. Like forcing the night sky entire in to the lens of a telescope. It had taken Vaan hours, dripping with sweat and blood to force his own Esper in to the cryst.
Even after it had finally been severed from him and had been sealed away there was the feeling that he could only describe as what it must feel like to lose a limb. Time had done a lot to fill that void but still...
I'd rather fight fifty Esper's than go through sealing one up again.
In the end, no one had objected to Ashe's request. They had all gotten along fine before hand without the powerful Espers and with the war over, not even stubborn Balthier could find fault with her reasoning.
"Hmph." Balthier shrugged, handing over his black edged crystal with an indifferent smile. "If it stops that pretty head from worrying, I'll gladly entrust Chaos to the tender care of her Highness."
The hooded figure, a Dalmascan lore keeper, eagerly took the crystal in hand. He made no effort to hide the unrestrained curiosity that raced across his weathered face. "The Kingdom grant you favor!' His voice dropped, speaking to the archiver standing beside him. "Chaos, at long last, the Wheel Walker-"
Balthier interrupted, "Of course, it was rather a pain acquiring that particular summons." His cheerful and easy going tone was betrayed by the weighted stare he fixed on the lore keeper. The old man's smile quickly faded.
"Even hard won things can be so readily...taken. Ah well, all in the line of duty, eh?" He finished as he turned his back on the royal messengers. The famed sky pirate casting Vaan a wink before heading back to the docked Strahl, Fran following close behind him.
The way he had said it made Vaan question if Balthier didn't have plans to take back the Esper someday, should he find himself bored and unable to find a more exciting way to get in to trouble. Vaan smiled ruefully.
Had it really been two years?
The young man could still feel the spot where the magic of Belias's license had been burned in to the folds of his mind.
Learning a license for ordinary spells usually wasn't very hard if one was skilled in magic. Reading the complex runes etched in to its surface would cause a license to glow to life and imprint that particular spell in to the learner's memory. Depending on the natural talent of the learner to call on the Mist, the stronger the spell when cast.
With the Esper's, it had been totally different.
Like a King, the creature stood at the ready in the space between the towering arches. Three times the height of a normal man, the muscled guardian towered above the group. The entrance to the throne room to its mighty back, Vaan and his friend's approached its front, weapons drawn. It was clear they'd get no further in to the Dynast King's tomb unless it was through the bestial man that now blocked their path.
A circle of arcane fire lit around the beast's massive hoofs as it took a trembling step towards the party. Twin arms rose before it, staff clenched in the smaller left arm while the other's reached out, inviting the adventure's to their deaths.
In the end, it had been the creature that had fallen. Weakened and wounded it's physical form faded away, leaving behind a license unlike any the party had seen before. Moving like one in a dream, Vaan reached down and picked up the crystal, cool for all it's amazing and vividly red colors. The second his slender fingers stroked the outside, a voice echoed sadly in his mind.
-I am Belias, the Gigas. A mistake of the gods, I was deemed useless. Alone did the Dynast King view me as useful and yet, I could not protect my master in life, as I now cannot protect his tomb in death. You have shown yourself my equal. I bend to your will.-
And with that, the license cracked, it's bright shards embedding in to his flesh and vanishing. Startled, Vaan found that he could -feel- the creature, it's weight like a silent and powerful flame of failure that licked inside of him.
Behind him Fran's melodious voice broke the silence, speaking as if in verse. "In vain glory they arose, shouting their challenges to the gods. But prevail they did not. Their doom it was to walk the Mist until Time's end."
"I know of these..." Commented the young queen as she moved to where Vaan was kneeling.
That's how it had all started.
As their travels led the group in to the forgotten ruins of their world, time and again they were confronted by the Esper's and without fail, each one had seemed, somehow wrong, despite their willingness to help the group once defeated.
Vaan couldn't help but question the minds of the gods who could create such beings. The Espers were filled with overpowering sadness, or corruption or warped with all consuming needs to create or destroy elements of the world, everything they were bent on that single goal.
Yes, no one had objected when they turned over their Espers. Vaan wondered if the emotions that lingered in the aftermath of each of their Espers haunted their dreams, as they did his own.
On some sleepless nights, when his active mind refused sleep, his thoughts would return to the events of two years ago. Part of him often wondered, in hindsight, if it wasn't the overwhelming sense of failure Belias always pulsed in to him that had made Vaan struggle so hard to show the other's that he was valuable...
Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder if that's how Balthier survived the explosion in the end. Wasn't Chaos the Esper forced to return over and over again?
"Ugh, too much thinking." The youth made a look of disgust, noting how far the stars had risen in the sky. "Since when am I the reflective type? Man, Penelo would never let me live it down if she knew I was thinking so much about this old rock." He smiled brightly, grasping the crystal tightly in his hands.
"It would be a waste, though." With purpose he rose the crystal to eye level, carefully tracing each etched rune with an outstretched finger. Curiosity filled his mind with a single sort of desire. "First thing Penelo is going to do when we land is tell Ashe we found you and make me turn you over. Seems kinda unfair-"
Soft soul shoes rushed up to him, a flash of a delicate hand filled his vision, smacking the crystal free from his grasp and sending it skittering to the side of the ship.
"Vaan! What are you thinking?" Deep blue grey eyes locked with his, searching his face with concern. "You can't possibly be trying to wake it up! You don't even know what's in there! It could destroy the ship and us along with it! We've already lost so much, why..." The first hints of anger threaded in to her otherwise soft voice. "Why don't you ever think!"
When the young man couldn't meet her demanding glance, Penelo's anger gave way to guilt.
It's always this way. She thought. He makes me feel so helpless. "I'm sorry Vaan. But really! You need to think about things before you just do them! Things aren't always going to work out just because you want them to! You're not Bal-" Quickly she caught herself. "You're the captain and without you, what good is your first mate?" She ended lightly with a smile.
"I know, you're right." An aspirated sigh escaped Vaan's lips. "You did say it was a weak one though." He pointed out in a half hearted defense.
"Yeah and even a weak one could probably make scrap metal out of our ship." There was an uncomfortable silence as Penelo struggled to bring her emotions under control.
"Come on," She said finally. "We need to pull the port round if we're going to dock it." She didn't miss the wistful look he cast at the crystal, lying to its side and half hidden in a shadow. Despite her previous anger, she laughed. "I swear, you're the kid brother I never had! Half the time, I don't know if I should smack you or hug you."
Vaan rolled his eyes, "I'll be inside." He paused, looking back at her. "You'll give it to Ashe, right?"
Without hesitation, the young girl flashed him her best, bratty smile, crossing her arms behind her back. "You bet! The second we touch down."
"I knew it." He muttered under his breath.
Penelo watched to make sure he had completely vanished inside before shaking her head. "That boy is going to be the death of me yet." With absent minded fingers, she traced the intricate patterns of the tattoo on her left arm before returning her attention to the crystal. "Well. The sooner this thing is out of his reach, the better. Vaan's not known for his will power."
Not knowing that Esper's wake up, not from force as Vaan thought, but rather as a reaction to the correct person, Penelo grasped the crystal.
Hairline fractures erupted across the crystal face where her fingertips caressed it. Too late did the young woman noticed the light pulsing from within.
...
Well, death is dark, I'll say that much for it. Quite the let down, really.
After having walked the expansion-less void for an untold amount of time, the man folded his arms and took in a deep breath of the stale air. His body felt like it did in the thralls of a Quickening. Everything too tight and fluid all at the same time. Muscles coiled with expectation, ready for...for what?
Hmph. This is aggravating and troublesome and entirely unacceptable. I can only assume this is my father's doing. Probably locked away in some dark corner of the abyss.
"For starters," Balthier pointed out aloud to no one, "dead men don't breathe. And I am certainly doing enough of that. This place reeks of Mist." Sighing, he closed his eyes in wistful thought. Fran, where are you when I need you? I swear, if that old bastard has laid a single, twisted hand on you, I'll-
His thoughts ended abruptly his footing gave out. The ground rose up to meet him with a sudden lunge of earth, as if it had turned in to rolling liquid. Before he could think or react, it crested over him, covering his form with its blackness.