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Chapter 58: Optimistic

Basch fon Ronseburg was not an optimistic man. After years of countless battles and dashed hopes, Basch fon Ronsenburg learned not to hope for too much at one time, knowing that the Fates loved to vex and make his life a pure and miserable hell.

That was why when Scipio had attacked him aiming a deft kick to his forehead, the last thought that passed through Basch fon Ronsenburg's face was: I am not going to wake up after this.

So when Basch fon Ronsenburg regained consciousness, his first thought was that he was dead. What else could prompt him waking up in a state of complete wakefulness unless that he had passed the realm of the living and unto the dead?

When he was greeted by the faces of the members of the Order of the Tournesol, Basch banished any thoughts of being dead. It was there that perhaps the Fates had granted him another life for his work was not yet done. Basch allowed himself to hope like he had never hoped before.

It was to his great surprise to realize, that when he woke up, he was in the Ambervale of the House of Margrace in Rozzarria. He had visited Rozzarria on his travels with the young Emperor, and he was familiar with the mural paintings, and the rather fresh breeze that came wafting through the rooms. He had sat up in bewilderment for a full moment, not disregarding the fact that he was dead and he was in an afterlife with the Rozzarrian Empire acting as the heaven of some sort.

Foolish. Basch thought to himself after realizing that he was still alive after that disastrous attack on their party. He had never believed in a heaven.

According to Corporal Olen who was assigned to watch over the Judge Majister, he and the Captain of the Order of the Tournesol arrived along with the Lord Al-Cid Margrace, just minutes after Scipio had made his escape. The Rozzarrian Empire had kept a close eye on Mt. Bur-Omisace after being attacked three years ago and the moment Scipio attacked the Holy Mountain, Rozzarria sent reinforcements. That act signaled an unconscious declaration of war and Basch had no desire to think about matters of the state at the moment.

Basch had quickly asked to the state of his companions, worried when Olen did not answer his question directly. It seemed one of his companions were in a state that even Lerusse and her healing abilities could not heal it, and required the much advanced Rozzarrian medicine to heal the injuries. Al-Cid Margrace had been gracious enough to offer the gravely injured party sanctuary and replete and they had arrived in Rozzaria naught two days past.

Basch it seemed had not sustained the same grave injuries such as the rest and it only took him two days under Rozzarrian medicine before he had somewhat fully recovered and able to move up and about. The first thing he did was check up on his companions.

It did not ease his heart when he learned of the others' injuries. Ardian, it seemed had opted to stay in Mt. Bur-Omisace, declaring that he would be fine under Lerusse and he would not leave her side, therefore he was not among those who were with them in Rozzarria.

Emperor Larsa had had a large gash across the length of his torso which he suffered after the pillars crumbled, and after the bleeding out had ceased, he was able to move about, though it was strictly advised that he minimized his moving about. That did not stop the young Emperor to meet with the Council of Rozzarria when he was able, trying to convince the council of his plight.

The others were not so fortunate. Penelo had a broken arm and still could not regain the feeling in her legs where they had been shot by Scipio, and though she always greeted Larsa and Basch with warmth whenever they visited her, (Larsa visited everyday), Basch could tell her disability vexed Penelo more than she showed it.

Yvelle on the other hand had not regained consciousness yet, despite the Rozzarrian doctors unable to find anything wrong with her despite the concussion and the rather bruised ribs she had sustained when she had been flung towards the pillar. Basch made sure he visited the healer everyday, willing to watch to earn a reaction that would trigger Yvelle's return to consciousness.

But that was not the gravest of the injuries. Basch had no recollection of what happened after Scipio had kicked him in the head and therefore could not remember what had happened to Vaan and Ashe.

Out of all those injured among them, even Yvelle, it was the Lady Ashe's injuries that had prompted Captain Sephyr and Al-Cid Margrace to ship her and the rest to Rozzarria for healing.

For it seemed the bayonet that had impaled her had some sort of poison that would not allow the wound to close and Queen Ashe would have bled to death unless the poison could have been removed.

Basch was there when they brought the Lady Ashe out of surgery, successfully drawing out the poison in her body. But her wound dictated that magick healing could not be used to hasten the closing of the wound. She had to heal naturally.

Because she had been hovering so close to death or because of the intensity of the attacks, the Lady Ashe took longer to heal than that was necessary, her health balanced erratically from stable to unstable in a matter of hours. It had caused great distress among the rest, not counting Vaan's reaction to the whole thing.

Vaan had been the only one who witnessed Ashe's injury firsthand, and up to now, he refused to talk about it and had withdrawn into the brooding man they knew since Balthier's betrayal on the group. He never left Ashe's side, ever since they were injured in Mt. Bur-Omisace, not bothering to eat and getting little sleep. That did not help his healing as well.

He had been impaled by the same bayonet for the wound on his arm did not close as quickly as a wound of its nature. It continued to bleed out and Basch had heard they had to sedate Vaan just to be able to tend to him. After they had reached Rozzarria and Vaan had been forced to take Rozzarrian healing, he had barricaded himself in Ashe's room and had not been outside since they had arrived and Ashe's surgery.

"Basch?" Penelo's voice brought Basch back from his musings and the older man gazed upon the young hunter with his green eyes. He and Larsa decided to visit Penelo today and the girl had been greatly cheered by the fact that she could return some movement on her toes now.

"I am all right, Penelo," Basch was quick to assure. Penelo continued to look at him with concerned eyes before looking over at Larsa.

The relationship of the two had greatly improved since the attack on Mt. Bur-Omisace, ironically enough. Basch watched the two with some amusement. It was rather obvious that the young Emperor harbored some feelings for the young hunter, whatever they may be and it was rather amusing to watch the innocence of the relationship. Even if nothing about the relationship was said between the two of them, it was rather refreshing that some things could remain innocent despite the evil of the world and Basch wished them well.

Soon Basch pleaded his excuse to leave the two alone for a while, using his own visit to Yvelle as a reason and had left with his goodbyes.

Penelo watched Basch go, rather surprised that Basch did not insist in "chaperoning" the two of them so to speak, and at the same time marveled at the change. Basch had looked like he had aged ten more years, with his sunken cheeks and the shadows under his eyes. Perhaps the continued unresponsiveness of both Ashe and Yvelle was getting to him.

Penelo had to admit she was worried to, and if she could walk she would have made sure Vaan had something to eat even if he was intent in not leaving Ashe's side. Penenlo would also have made sure Yvelle was comfortable. She missed going about and had never regretted the loss of her ability to walk the most.

If she could still walk she would be outside, enjoying the fresh breezes of Rozzarria which it was famous for, and would have healed quicker she knew is she could get the exercise. Penelo never liked sitting still and hated the fact that she couldn't even go to the bathroom unless she had some assistance.

She had cried greatly when she had awoken and realized she could not feel her legs. Her legs were a great part of her, she did a lot of running and jumping in Dalmasca. What more that how was she supposed to dance now?

The healers had assured her that her legs will return to normal after a few weeks. It seemed that the bullets that Scipio had in his guns were infused with the same poison in his bayonet and it would not be healed just like that, which was the reason why she could not feel her legs. But it didn't help her feeling more than a little put out at the fact that she could not even vacate her bed. But she was very grateful that she had visits.

"What's wrong Larsa?" Penelo now asked the young Emperor seated in one of the most comfortable chairs in her room. The young Emperor had been commonly silent and though he did take a great deal in visiting her everyday, most of the times she had to coax him to speak. But they had been joking around a bit before Basch left and everything had been all right then. Penelo now had to wonder why Larsa suddenly drew back into his shell.

Larsa looked up when Penelo spoke and he gave her a half-hearted smile. "Forgive me," he said so suddenly and so seriously that Penelo started.

"I'm not sure I understand Larsa," Penelo said gently and she tried to reach for his hand but he gently pulled back much to her hurt.

"Larsa?" Penelo whispered his name. She was terribly confused. She thought that they had somewhat fallen back to their easy friendship that had emerged from the moment they had met. Now she did not know where they were. In this present journey they had fought for the first time and had reached an awkwardness that Penelo was not familiar with. She wanted so much to help him, to ease the burden and show him that he can still have some fun despite everything that's happening and to keep his hopes up, but she wasn't sure if he wanted her helping him, especially if she was injured all the time.

"I'm the one who did this to you," Larsa interjected through her thoughts now, his face filled with self-hate and anger, blue eyes blazing like ice. Penelo's eyes widened and she tried to reach for him to comfort him and he pulled away.

"Stay away from me Penelo," Larsa muttered his voice a hiss. "Don't come near me when I can easily put you into danger like this." His voice was filled with disgust and he even stood up from his seat to walk towards her window, his back towards her. Penelo almost growled in frustration. If she only could walk without bleeding out her legs she would have gone over there and slapped him again.

"How long have you been thinking this?" Penelo said and she couldn't help the anger in her tone. She was so sick and tired of the self-hate everybody had. First it had been Basch three years ago when he could not get over the fact that he had been betrayed by his own brother just because they shared a face, then recently Vaan because of trusting Balthier and then getting betrayed in the process, and now Larsa?

Larsa looked back towards her, a bit surprised to hear the anger in her tone. Then he looked away just as quickly. Yes, Penelo had every right to be angry with him, after all the trouble and torment she had gone through with him, he would be quite angry too.

"…and you didn't even ask me how I felt about the whole thing…" Penelo's voice floated into his thoughts and Larsa realized she had been speaking and she had not been paying attention. He drew his thoughts away to listen to Penelo now.

"Larsa, I cannot believe you would think I'd blame you for what happened to me. I thought you knew me at least to never think that!" there was hurt and anger in Penelo's voice that Larsa knew he had caused with his words.

"No Penelo," he said quickly now, trying to assure her as she looked back at him with unshed tears of anger. "I would never blame you. I'm blaming myself." He added as after thought.

"What?" Penelo cried and it was obvious she did not believe him. She threw her hands in the air in pure frustration before glaring at him. "You're worse than Vaan with your self-hate! I demand you stop that at once!" she declared passionately, her voice rising in volumes, not caring who would hear otherwise. Larsa knew he shouldn't find the sight amusing, but she really did look rather ridiculous with that red face.

"I'm sorry," Larsa ducked his head now in an attempt to hide his smile and it only realize that that angered Penelo more because she started pounding her fists in her bed sheets, shaking her hair in pure anger that Larsa looked up, totally surprised at her behavior.

"Stop apologizing damn it!" she shouted at him and Larsa took a few steps back. His surprise must have registered because Penelo took several calming breaths tugging on her braids.

"Just stop apologizing Larsa," Penelo now spoke, voice soft. "It was not your fault at all."
she declared firmly looking at him with determined eyes. "I came along to this thing because I wanted to help you, I know how dangerous it is, and I know that it's going to get a lot more dangerous. I suggest you stop with your moping right and now and your worry for me, because I'm going to be fine." She ended her speech with that last word and a glare towards him.

Larsa just stared. He had never heard Penelo so forceful before and he had to admit, it more than surprised him. She had always been just a presence in their group, always a comfort and a bright light, but she had never gone outward to be angry at any one of them, including Vaan. This behavior he was witnessing was something new altogether and Larsa wondered if it was because of staying trapped in her room for so long.

"Penelo…" Larsa moved back to his chair and opened his mouth to speak but Penelo cut him off.

"Don't Larsa." She said a palm raised. "If you're going to apologize again, I'm not going to hear it. You can just leave if you're going to do that again…and…"

Larsa this time decided to do something he thought was something completely stupid and impulsive but had wanted to do that moment he had seen her in the fete, which was to grab her hand and pull her towards him, meeting her lips with his own.

Penelo's eyes were wide as she felt Larsa pull her towards him, kissing her urgently on the lips, his eyes closed. Her first reaction was to pull away sputtering, this was not supposed to happen between the two of them! She was far too old for him and he was far too high in position for her to even consider…

But wait, this was Larsa they were talking about. Larsa would never undertake any task which he wasn't sure of what the consequences were. This was Larsa, they were supposed to be friends…

"Penelo?" Larsa's accented voice alerted Penelo that they were no longer kissing. She blinked and focused her eyes now on him and was startled to see that there was a faint flash of hurt on his blue eyes though he hid it well with the concern. His hand still rested lightly on the back of her head as if another movement from either of them they could capture each others' lips again.

Larsa pulled back after an agonizing moment, his eyes downcast and his hand fell from her head and Penelo felt an odd sense of emptiness at the gesture.

"I'm sorry." Larsa whispered haltingly. "That may not have been the most.." Larsa paused before swallowing and continuing. "That may have not been the most pleasurable occurrence you might have experienced. I apologize profusely." He stammered out and a blush of embarrassment spread across his face.

Penelo opened her mouth to say something, anything, she was actually did not know what to say to what happened, she was still too shell shocked to say anything, but she was trying to unblock her throat, anything just to make Larsa aware that she didn't find anything unpleasurable about what happened. Everything was just too new; too shocking and Penelo couldn't register it.

A rough sigh echoed breaking the awkward silence Penelo was not aware was there. She blinked and watched with wide eyes as Larsa stood the most despondent look on his face.

"Larsa…" Penelo started to speak but a sudden bang and an interruption in the form of Vaan arrived.

"Vaan?" Both Larsa and Penelo said at the same time looking incredulously at the disheveled Vaan.

"Are you not supposed to be watching the Lady Ashe?" Larsa's voice was uncharacteristically rude and Penelo's eyes snapped over to him. Vaan meanwhile didn't seem to notice and there was a look of pure joy and relief on his face.

"I'm glad you're both here." Vaan started walking over towards them and his demeanor was so unlike his previous one these past few days Penelo was starting to think he had gone crazy. Vaan grabbed Larsa's shoulders and began shaking them, completely oblivious to Larsa's hard expression.

"Ashe's awake!" Vaan cried as if he could no longer keep the words in and a laugh followed it before he was bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"What?" Penelo asked rather breathlessly and Larsa's expression cooled into something more appropriate.

Vaan turned to look at Penelo still with that joyous expression on his face. "I know!" he cried triumphantly, his eyes practically shining with excitement. "The doctors were saying that she shouldn't be waking too soon after the surgery and guess what? She has. It's only been two weeks, whereas they predicted three. Ashe's awake!"

"Wait," Penelo tried to calm the bouncing Vaan enough just to get information out of him. "You talked to her?"

Vaan did a kind of grimace before running his hand through his hair. "Well not talk exactly." He said sheepishly. "But she did open her eyes, and I think she recognized me. Anyway, that's not the point!" Vaan interjected waving his palms at her. "The doctors say she's showing excellent progress despite the injuries she sustained so she should be waking sooner than expected. Isn't that great?"

Penelo tried to look her usual happy self for Vaan but the best she could do was a weak: "That's great."

Vaan, for once, didn't seem to notice for he beamed excitedly. "I'm going to tell Basch!" he declared and made to run from the room, only to come running back afterwards, declaring that he had no idea where the Judge Majister was. Larsa quietly pointed him to the right room and Vaan quickly left after a shout of thanks.

Penelo watched Vaan now, letting a small smile cross her face. She was glad that he was happy. He'd been feeling and acting so strange lately it was a relief to se him act so normally. She was startled then to see Larsa frowning at her direction when she looked back from her gaze at looking at Vaan.

"Larsa?' Penelo asked and Larsa's response was a shake of his head.

"I shall leave you to rest," he said formally even as Penelo opened her mouth to talk to him. "I also have business to take care off." He bowed at Penelo.

"Larsa wait…'" Penelo began to say but the door was already closed and Penelo was once more left to her thoughts.

She brought her fingers to rest upon her lips. The kiss, had felt strange, that much was true. But it also felt right.

XOXOXXO

Scipio sat behind his desk as he usually did after every fiasco he orchestrated. The wounds on his wrists which he suffered when he ran into Hilaneya in Giruvegan were beginning to close. The wounds were still reddish, and they still stung. His position did not warrant the showing of any emotion. His character insofar as he was concerned had been numbed and could no longer feel, but what about Hilaneya?

'What about me?' Hilaneya asked curiously, voice still sultry and her head cocked to the side.

Scipio was spacing out and the sudden question shattered his thoughts.

'Don't interrupt!" Scipio growled angrily. "That's not a very respectful thing!' he blurted, aggravated that he was startled.

Hilaneya chuckled, her laughter sounding like bells peal. "As if you have never tried reading people's thoughts." A mischievous smile was across her lips and she winked at him which Scipio replied to with just a glare.

"I'd hate to interrupt," A third voice, this time male, resounded in the office alerting the two that they were no longer alone in their scheming. "But lord," the voice continued. "You did not summon us both here for any reason." Frethelion interjected calmly, his detached voice breaking the uncomfortable silence which hung on the room.

Scipio did not avert his gaze from Hilaneya. "Right, about the attack," Scipio started to speak and scowled when Hilaneya's grin widened annoyingly.

"Why are you here again?" Scipio demanded irritably, his fingers interlaced as he regarded Hilaneya with narrowed red eyes. Hilaneya didn't seem fettered for she just gave a toss of her hair and blew a kiss towards Scipio.

"You summoned me." Hilaneya replied sweetly making Scipio utter a noise that sounded somewhere between a choke and a snort.

"Did I?" Scipio said doubtfully looking over to Frethelion for reassurance.

"Yes lord." Frethelion merely nodded, with a bored tone in his voice. Scipio rolled his eyes this time but otherwise he didn't say anything and looked towards the two of them now, determined to get everything underway.

"Fine." Scipio sighed resignedly which Hilaneya merited with a smile. "Now, about the attack on the mountain. Ortal has nothing to do with it."

'Really?' Hilaneya interrupted primly a sarcastic tone in her voice.

Scipio ignored her remark and continued stiffly. "Our next move will be against the Viera." Scipio ignored the slightly startled expression from Fethelion as well as Hilaneya's doubtful look. Scipio disregarded all this and plunged on. " Frethelion, I want the Le Pummel ready to move out within a few days."

Again Scipio's words caused a reaction but Frethelion merely nodded, understanding his orders.

"Dismissed." Scipio drawled with a wave of his hand. Frethelion stood and left but Hilaneya remained seated in front of Scipio.

'What?' Scipio asked impatiently and more than exasperatedly. He did not have the time to play games with the whip-wielder. Hilaneya smirked when that particular thought passed through Scipio's mind of which Scipio returned with a grimace.

'Why, Scipio?" She asked now, standing and moving towards him. Scipio resisted the urge to bring out his Castellanos launcher to defend himself. Hilaneya was smiling and that never meant any good. "Why the attack on the mountain?'

Scipio resisted pinching the bridge of his nose through his mask and resigned himself to answer her questions. It was less tedious that way.

"If we did kill that royal brat and that heathen bitch, it would cause some turmoil, 'Scipio began, his tone was brisk, clinical and to the point. Hilaneya continued to smirk. "Firstly, Dalmasca's between Archadia and Rozzaria, anyone who controls that sorry piece of land can choke any advancing army." Again Scipio had to wonder why he was explaining this to her.

"Secondly, Bur-Omiscase can be made into an impregnable fortress with the Jagd Ramooda and the terrain. Had we succeeded, it would force the hand of Margrace and the hand of Ortal; neither would leave either land idle.' Scipio finished, his tone remorseless, 'Of course you knew that." He eyes Hilaneya suspiciously of which Hilaneya laughed at.

"I read your thoughts, dear boy. That doesn't mean I don't want to hear you say them." She cooed.

Scipio grunted dismissively. 'We have to take care of another insurgence. This time, the vipers to quell are much closer than you think.'

Hilaneya's eyebrows quirked interestedly. 'Oh, then after that, take me to your little hideout in Giruvegan.'

'Are you ordering me?' Scipio said sternly, angry at her sudden demand. Hilaneya met his anger with a mere smile.

"Yes. I am." She said rather joyously. "Besides, what do you have to hide?' she said teasingly.

Scipio glared heatedly now, closing the gap between the, "Don't even think about reading my thoughts."

"It never crossed my mind.' Hilaneya reclined back in her seat. "That's why you should show me what you have there." She added thoughtfully.

Another noise of derision came from the Judge Majister. "Fine." Scipio scowled.

Hilaneya gave another chuckle as she made her way forward towards him again. "Scipio: so cold and remorseless." She whispered in his ear, Scipio growled and aimed a swipe at her, but she just dodged with another short laugh. She gave a quick kiss on his cheek. "But when I am around he easily gets flustered.' Hilaneya said to no one on particular. Scipio's closed his eyes in exasperation as his thoughts were drowned by Hilaneya's chuckles.

XOXOXOX

Basch fon Ronsenburg was not an optimistic man. In the countless years of battles he had endured, there was no hope to be optimistic nor hopeful when circumstances were dire. But here, in the cloistered room in foreign Rozzarria, Basch fon Ronsenburg was battling within himself to be optimistic or would he resign himself to the thinking he had had for the past decade. Which is that you should no longer prolong the inevitable.

Basch's face was grim, even when Vaan staggered into the room, looking for all intents and purposes like a kid who had first ridden an airship. Actually, Vaan did look like how he did the first time he rode an airship. He was practically bouncing up and down like Penelo and Basch did not have the heart to chastise him of his behavior.

Vaan quickly gave him the news and Basch felt the hope surging in his chest again. Foolish. Basch thought but there it was, surging through his chest. Vaan seemed completely oblivious to Basch's lack of response and instead stayed for more than a few minutes, talking about the exact movements Ashe made that alerted Vaan that she was awake.

But after a few minutes of constant talking, Vaan noticed Basch's lack of response, even more than usual and he looked at the Judge Majister with more than a little bit of concern. His blue eyes traveled from Basch towards the still unconscious girl resting underneath the covers.

"Have the doctors said anything?" Vaan asked quietly sitting on the chair next to Yvelle's bed. Basch's silence was the answer and Vaan gave a sigh. "Do you ever get the feeling that we shouldn't be doing this Basch?"

That caught his attention. "What are you talking about?"

Vaan shrugged ruefully, his eyes trained on the young healer on the bed. "Sometimes I feel that I'm moving about too much. That maybe it's time I dock the Galbana one last time and take it easy." He gave a short chuckle. "Then I realize I would get bored within the day." He shook his head. "But being here, in the thick of things, with all these enemies and trouble we are getting ourselves into, the others getting injured. Maybe the dangerous life isn't for us. Saving the world once should have been enough right?" He asked the older man.

Basch was silent, his arms folded, as he pondered Vaan's words. "You worry that we might sustain more critical damage the next time we head out." He interpreted in his rough voice of which Vaan replied with a sigh.

"Yes, not only for Ashe, she's a fighter. But I worry for Penelo, and even Yvelle. They're not used to this sort of thing. And everything is just getting more difficult and more dangerous. The lot of us almost didn't survive that Scipio's attack. How are we so sure we can make it out alive this time? "

"We survived the last time, Vaan." Basch surprised himself by being the optimistic one. He had never spoken so optimistically about anything or anyone before if he could help it.

"Yeah, that was last time." Vaan interjected. "How are we sure about this time? You have Larsa to protect, and if weren't such a large party, I'm sure that Scipio would've killed us just like that. He's not human, Basch. And we don't know if there isn't anybody behind him. This thing is getting bigger and bigger and I'm not sure Larsa could stand up to it."

"That's why we're here Vaan," Basch uttered roughly now. "We have no choice but to look for stronger ones for aid. Rozzarria is giving us that chance."

"Only because it wants to replace Archadia as an Empire Basch!" Vaan roughly cut in, his voice rising higher in volume. "You are so quick to trust Rozzarria but what if they are planning to use Larsa a pretext to call war? You know they're going to do this. Will you just let it slide then Basch? We can't stay here forever, and we certainly can't follow Rozzaria blindily." Vaan paused and Basch had to wonder when they moved on from talking about Ashe to discuss world affairs.

"Al-Cid may be on our side at the moment, but he's a Rozzarrian, and the heir to the throne. Of course he's going to follow Rozzarrian traditions and duties first before granting us any favor."

"Larsa knows what he is doing." Basch replied softly, as if that solved everything.

"Larsa's too busy worrying about Penelo to do anything but show up at meetings!" Vaan shouted.

"What is this about Vaan?" Basch asked silently, watching Vaan try to calm himself as he sat back on his chair after he had overturned it when he had shouted at the older man.

Vaan sighed roughly and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't want Ashe getting hurt again."

Ahh, there it was, the eye of the problem. Vaan had come here to rant. After being cooped ip in that room with the unconscious and half-dead Ashe, it was bound to come crashing to him sooner or later. Then perhaps Vaan was not as opposed to the journey as Basch had initially thought.

"We can never guarantee that she won't, Vaan." Basch tried to be reassuring. Vaan scowled. "What about Penelo and Yvelle? I'm responsible for the two of them as well. I can't have them getting hurt like this."

"When you agreed to help us, it also meant that they would be endangered Vaan." Basch cut in. "It may be heartless, but you should have considered the consequences of your actions."

Vaan sat up straight now, not believing what he heard from Basch. "What?" he spluttered disbelievingly. Basch offered a small smile in return.

"That distracted you long enough." He uttered and then his eyes trained back to Yvelle.

"Vaan, we are here because the Fates seemed determined for us to be involved in this."

Vaan frowned. "Tell these Fates yours to leave me out." He quoted absentmindedly then frowned when he realized whom he'd just quoted.

"Sooner or later Vaan you have to come to grip the fact of what had happened. Bottling your emotions and your reactions like that will get you nowhere."

Vaan raised his eyebrows at the older man. "Man, I came here to give you good news and you shot me down." He sighed. "That's just like you, Basch." He declared. Vaan stretched up now and stood up. "I'm going to go back to Ashe in a few minutes. After I get something to eat, damn, I'm starving." He winked and clapped Basch on the shoulder. "Tell me when Yvelle wakes up, okay?"

Basch merely nodded, his eyes once more on the female healer before Vaan began to leave. Vaan barely even got to reach for the doorknob, before it was pulled open and a very harassed Larsa came bustling in.

"Hey weren't you just with Penelo---?" Vaan began to ask but Larsa ignored him, looking for Basch. Basch, realizing that it was the young Emperor, stood up to greet his liegelord.

"Captain Sephyr has just told me. He has had reports from home." Larsa said rather breathlessly, and his face was ashen.

"What has happened your Excellency?" Basch demanded in a quiet voice, his expression strained at the look of Larsa's pale face.

With trembling hands, Larsa clenched them into fists before declaring in a voice that was deadly soft: "Zargabath has been captured and charged with treason. Ortal has declared martial law."


A/N: Another chapter down loves...Hmm...Let's say we're nearing our 60th mark and the end...*dun*dun**dun*...Please live a review! Much Appreciated!

-Comet-