Yeah I understand its been a long time since any real activity from me, almost half a year between chapter ten and chapter 11 here, but that's partially because life sucks and partially because I had to rewrite this a bit, having lost a completed version of this chapter. However, the steady feed of friends offline and the reviews of a couple certain people (looking at you miss FranViera82) have kept me inspired to keep at it. I cant promise very fast posts, but I can promise there will be posts until this sucker is finished! Anyhow I will get to the disclaimer and story since neither have happened in a long time! I only own my own party and a couple OCs, the rest is Square Enix.

Chapter 11: The Errand

[Music theme: Secret Practice, Hitoshi Sakimoto FF12]

I walked into Rabanastre with Kiara by my side. As we had traveled the short way to the royal city, she had remained relatively closed towards me, though she would look at me oddly when she thought I wasn't looking, almost warmly and yet also as if I looked familiar to her, which confused her majorly. My emotional senses from Earth were not reduced by my travels, apparently, so I could tell just by looking that things were going to be complicated with her until she opened up, and even then I would have some difficulties regarding to her and our relationship.

She looked around at the busy populace of Rabanastre with a mild sense of surprise, as if she had never seen so much action go on at once. I actually had to touch her arm to get her attention and lead her through the gates to head for the Sandsea.

"There are so many people here, and they all seem so happy…" she seemed in awe of the idea of a city where oppression was not obvious. I smiled, then sobered up and looked at her meaningfully.

"They are happy only on the outside, because they must keep up appearances and many pretend nothing is wrong. To wipe the smile off of any one of their faces, one need only mention the Empire." I don't know where such a dark thought came from, but it was exactly what snapped Kiara out of her sense of wonderment; her face immediately became a mask of veiled anger.

"So they are oppressed, yet they act as though nothing is wrong. I suppose that is one way to cope, but nothing gets fixed that way, only gets worse. It would be a thorn in my side to watch this any longer… let us go to your friends now." I obliged and led her to the Sandsea bar.

Walking in, I was greeted by one thing I expected and two things I didn't. Migelo was there, shouting at Balthier; that was expected. Looking at my comrades held the two unexpected things. Tim was clad in new clothing, and Silver had what appeared to be a Wolf pup by his side. The Wolf pup was about the size of a terrier, and all the colors of the rainbow, but I decided I could ask him later about that. Tim's new clothing, some local garb, caught my eye more though.

He wore a leather vest with a multicolored patch on its right shoulder, much like Basch wore in the original game, and a white t-shirt underneath. His pants appeared to be made of leather as well, perhaps Wolfskin, with Cactite pads on the knees and a Cockatrice feather charm hanging from his waist. He still wore his watch, where his Koga Blade sword was magickally kept in a pocket dimension, but now he seemed to have found a pair of push knives to hold on his belt. His shoes were still the Nikes he wore when he first got here, but now they seemed to be modified to fit his feet better and had Cockatrice claws on the front for better forward momentum and quite possibly improved climbing capabilities. Finally, he wore on his left wrist a Bangle accessory, meaning he meant to hold the role as tactician with the automatic Libra ability it held.

Turning my attention back to Balthier, Migelo seemed to be finally losing his temper with the man's suave attempts to turn him away.

"B-but it's your fault they're in this mess in the first place!" They? Wait, I thought it was supposed to only be Penelo who got kidnapped…

"Wait, who is in what mess?" I barged in to figure out this latest new problem.

"Kites and Penelo! These bangaa thugs and a really tall person in a suit of armor came and took them away! And Penelo had just gotten back from Giza all recovered up, too… A-anyway, they said that if I was to ever see them again I would turn this man in to them! They said they would be waiting in the Lhusu mines of Bhujerba." So Penelo had recovered and returned, only to be kidnapped along with Kites this time… not good.

"And they are of my concern why…? It's obviously a trap for me, and I'm no fool to rush in just for a couple of children. You forget I am not a hero, just a sky pirate looking for his next payoff." Balthier was not going to go with this so easily, but I knew what got him going the first time.

"They may not be important to you, but they are to me and Migelo here. I am willing to offer up this stone as compensation if you wish to have payment." I held out the Dusk Shard to him. He looked at me with mild surprise.

"When you were so adamant about not handing it over before? I think I smell a trick from you, but if this is my payment, I will consider the job." He remained silent as he finished his drink. I hoped that he would accept, even casting out a prayer that he would find the payment pleasing. He downed the last bit of his drink. "Very well, I guess I have nothing better to do right now… I will prepare my airship for the trip. Meet me at the aerodrome in ten minutes' time." With that he walked off without a single word further. I turned to Migelo.

"You may not know me, but I will make sure that the two of them come home safe. You can count on it!" And I walked off as well. Ace and Silver followed closely behind.

As we walked to the Aerodrome, Kiara introduced herself to Ace and Silver. With all that had just happened, I had forgotten that she was even there! Ace took her appearance with mild surprise, while Silver graciously accepted the new teammate.

Ace pulled me aside for a second. "Is that THE Kiara Alchesy you supposedly created? I thought she would look… I don't know… different."

I nodded solemnly. "Apparently. She is different from how I imagined her as well, but then again so is Silver. I think that in order to fit our crew in, the scions had to alter things a little so that they had some backstory here rather than just become some unknown force that would cause a panic."
"So do you think all of our characters will have some changes?"

"Indeed, I do." I looked at Ace. "However, none of them are even remotely aware of that. They believe they existed normally on this world. I would prefer to keep it that way until they would be comfortable with the knowledge that we created them, okay? Some, like Kiara for example, would outright try to kill us if we told them that sort of thing."

Ace nodded solemnly. "Something tells me the same thing. It is agreed, then."

"What is agreed?" Crap, I forgot that they had super hearing, being foxes. I turned to them, already formulating a cover.

"Oh, just that we made bets as to who will get the bangaa leader Ba'Gamnan to run first. I bet him fifty Gil I would get him first."

Kiara frowned. "How would you know that you can turn such a notorious bounty hunter away?"

I grinned back at her. "Because I know just how strong I am, and it is stronger than him."

Kiara looked at me oddly, as if I had said something off kilter. "I have my doubts about that. I believe that even I would have difficulties dealing with his gang of overgrown lizards. I want in. If I take him down, you must give me the money and never make such bets again. If we all lose to him yet somehow survive, then I will leave your group for good. Agreed?"

I thought about it for a bit. She very well might be the winner, but I did have the money available to allow her in. My only concern was that she was so concerned about taking down this gang of thugs. I guess I was backed into a corner, though, so I decided to let her in. "Deal. If we win, however, you will stay with us, okay?"

She nodded. "I thought that would be implied. It is agreed." By then we had passed through the west gate to the entrance of the Aerodrome.

The Aerodrome was much like an Earthly airport. People went to and fro with their luggage in hand. Some sat and enjoyed a meal while waiting for their ship to come in. The whole place was abuzz with activity, and it was especially noisy to my sensitive ears. Balthier stood waiting at the entrance, arms crossed.

"Well, Mr. Steele, have I lost my partner-in-crime? You have practically clung to this young upstart since he appeared." I didn't expect him to start this at this time, but then again it made sense. I had practically stole Silver from this sky pirate, and it would appear to him as an insult. Not for the first time, I wondered what happened to Fran, but I decided not to ask now since I wouldn't be able to ask without angering him or making him suspicious about how I knew about her. Instead, I lowered my eyes and kept silent.

Steele replied for himself. "Negative, sir. Merely, I believe his quest to be of more importance than we know right now. Therefore, I will aid him for a time before returning to you." Cold and logical as always, you could count on Steele to say how it was; however I couldn't help but feel disappointed that he did not actually wish to stay with me. I loved Silver and Steele as a personal character, and it disheartened me to hear such a thing. However, Balthier seemed to be satisfied with this answer.

"Very well. Come along then. Let's get this over with so I may get paid and return to my drink." We followed him in to the hangar where his airship, the Strahl, was undergoing a tune-up courtesy of the Moogle mechanics.

As we approached it, I was struck by how well cared for it was, with hardly a scratch on its paint job. The Moogles walked out, oil stains on their shirts and exhausted, yet satisfied, looks on their faces.

"Did you give it the usual?" Balthier's inquiry was answered by a chorus of affirmative 'kupo's and one 'Yes, Sir!' from Nono the head mechanic.

The sky pirate turned to the rest of us. "Well? Let's take off, then. Climb aboard, and take a seat. You're about to experience top performance at its finest." He certainly knew how to put on a show for guests, but neither did he lie about this ship being the best. We all got in, Steele taking the copilot's seat and the rest of us settling in back and strapping in.

[Music theme: Opening theme, Hitoshi Sakimoto FF12]

The airship was surprisingly smooth in its takeoff. We lifted into the air, the wings shifted almost silently into travel positions, and the thrusters activated to set us flying rapidly towards our destination. The trip would take about three hours, so Balthier allowed us to get up and walk around once we were up to speed, though we were to not leave the cabin. During this time, Ace and I decided to get to know Kiara a bit better. She apparently had traveled by airship before, since she actually looked bored. We both walked up to her, and she looked at us unblinkingly. "What is it you want?"

Her tone was not encouraging, but I decided to press on anyhow. "Well, we hardly know you too well. Perhaps we could get ourselves acquainted?"

She blinked once, impossibly slowly, and sat up straighter. "Well, I believe that you ought to tell me some about yourself and your 'friends' before I open up to you with anything about me." She placed extra emphasis on friends as if she still doubted they were really my friends. I shrugged and looked at Ace for him to say something.

He stepped forward. "Um, well, we actually have known each other for a while. I am Ace and this is Griff- I mean Grypinh. Eh, never mind, call him Griff if you want, he won't mind. We travel the world at whatever pace suits us and help those who may need help, like this country and these hostages we are saving now." He stepped back, looking at me somewhat like he didn't like having to speak up like that. I looked back and hoped my expression looked like it couldn't be helped.

"Now it's your turn." I looked back at Kiara as I spoke. "What do you do for your people?"

"I am a voice of justice who speaks in actions. I take from the unjust to return to the ones who remain true. Justice is my creed and my heart. I will not stop until the Arcadians have felt the burning flare of justice from the barrel of my blade." She spoke without hesitation, as if she repeated this every day to convince herself of it being the truth.

I raised my eyebrows at this. "Okay, that sounds beautiful. Do you realize that it also means that you are acting as a vigilante in their eyes, and working with us, wanted fugitives, would make you a criminal as well-" my ability to speak was cut off sharply by her hand around my throat. Now she was in my face again, her bright blue eyes burning into my own.

"You DARE to call me a vigilante?!" she practically hissed in fury. "I work to bring freedom to those who are wrongly held! I AM the Judge of the Judges! And to even begin to compare- I am NOTHING like you and I will not hesitate to remind you should you forget. Understood?" I nodded. The message was very clearly received. She closed her eyes and let me go. Now that I thought about it, I realized she had an accent to her voce I hadn't noticed earlier. It was almost similar to some European accent, though I couldn't name which country. It was slightly British, but not quite as thick and held more elements of American speech patterns, but also a bit of central European as well. Rather elegant yet readily harsh was the way I would best describe its edges, and I just pushed it to its extremes.

In an attempt to calm the waters and finish my point, I cleared my raw feeling throat and tried to rephrase. "What I am meaning though, is that if you are seen with us you will be acquainted with us by others, and then you will be considered a fugitive as well. Are you sure you want that?" she had to think about that for a few seconds before responding.

"I suppose that would be true… but I guess I no longer care. There seems to be something you wish to do for this world, and I want to see what it is and why I want to be beside you when it happens. Now, please, I wish to be alone in my thoughts now. If you don't mind…" she turned away from me and Ace and leaned back, closing her eyes. I certainly had given her a lot to think about; it would be best to let her solve things for herself some first before trying to open her any further. I turned to Ace.

"Come on, I have some things to plan with you anyhow, O Team Tactician."

As we headed back to our seats, I tapped Ace's forehead. On it appeared an ethereal kanji for Spirit. Tapping my own forehead the same appeared on me. As I had hoped I could now hear his thoughts, just as he could mine.

Ah, here we go… testing, testing; ya hear me Ace? I'm only just trying this out, can you respond?

His eyes went wide. Whoa, that is really weird! Yeah I can hear ya! You're talking to me but your mouth isn't moving! How is that- wait, is this telepathy? A series of thoughts began running rapidly as his mind tried wrapping around the possibility of this. I decided to cut him off though to save time.

I guess it is close enough, though it's more like a mind meld. My thoughts are your thoughts and vice-versa, now please stop gibbering to yourself before I get a headache and sit down. I can easily strategize with you and maintain focus better if we are moving as little as possible. The energy required to keep this running keeps fluctuating with movement. Fortunately Ace didn't feel like arguing, so he quieted down and sat in his seat. I moved to mine behind him and sat down as well. Closing my eyes, I gave a mental sigh and quietly organized my thoughts.

Ohh-kayy… first order of the day. the gang of bounty hunters we are heading to face. Ba'Gamnan and his gang are lean, mean, and nasty beyond a simple lack of manners. The leader wields a chainsaw on a stick he likes to call a Ba'Gangsaw. It will lay into you way too easily so don't let him close. Then, his cronies, Rinok, Bwagi, and Gijuk, are a motley crew of two brothers and a sister. Gijuk and Bwagi, brother and sister respectively, like a personal attack, so they also go for melee. Rinok decided he likes guns, so he's their ranged member. Altogether, they might pose a threat, but I have a simple solution to this problem. On your liscense board, did you find a strange tile named quickening?

Yeah. Mine says First Blood. I got it, but I didn't have an occasion to use it. What's up with it?

Well, it's an ultra-powerful attack that works best when working with another person. I have one named Trinity Seal. When we use them, we will know what to do, but what's really important is that if we use it right it will take all of them out in one shot. Kiara probably has one, and maybe Silver or Balthier. Gather enough quickenings together and an explosion takes place destroying a very wide area of enemies. This takes out the entire gang easily. As soon as they attack, I'll fire off mine, and we'll take it from there.

Ace nodded. Sounds about right. However, isn't there a problem? A new member or something?

A frown formed on my face. Of course he would have heard my thoughts whisper that. Yeah. That metal coated brute. He looks like he could be a Judge, but he clearly isn't human. Whatever he is, I just hope we can deal with him. There are a few ideas I have for who it might be, but I'm not bringing my hopes up just yet. Whoever he is, he looks to be the toughest, though, so let's just keep an eye out for him.

Agreed. What else is there then to talk about?

Well, I guess nothing; unless there is anything you have to say on being here, and perhaps a story on how you got your new getup…?

Well, on that first question, I think that it is kinda cool to be dragged along on some relatively random save-the-world quest. And second, on the clothes…As Ace explained to me his story, we finally began to pull into sight of the floating isle of Bhujerba. It was just a giant island floating in the sky over the sea. However, what made it really stand out were the spires of Magicite and crystals that reached for the skies. It was admittedly very beautiful, but I couldn't bring myself to enjoy the vista very much; I had just realized exactly how much I was going to hate it here.

[Music theme: Sky City of Bhujerba, Hitoshi Sakimoto, FFXII]

We landed without incident. Getting off though, I got my first glimpse of what this place was going to be like for me. I HATE heights; standing on edges where I know exactly how high I am, especially on edges and thin walkways. Well, that bridge outside of the aerodrome was a walkway with a grate so one could see straight to the sea below. Immediately I dropped to a knee and sat there for a second waiting for the vertigo to pass. Ace turned around, a teasing grin on his face.

"Oh come on now, Griff. We can't let your fear of heights get in the way of getting into the city, right?" I glared up at him, then stood and looked dramatically overdignified.

"I'm not afraid of heights… I just hate them with a passion! Get it right, Wolf Boy!" I started walking across at a somewhat brisk pace. Looking to my right, I saw a familiar figure sitting on the edge of the bridge looking out at the horizon: Larsa. I loved Larsa in the game, his large stock of High potions always helped where it was needed most. Plus he was not a half bad fighter, either. I walked up to him. "What a worthy vista, eh? Worthy, even, of a prince's eyes!"

Unfortunately my intentionally bad choice of words startled him so bad as to nearly send him tumbling to his doom. He jumped and lost his balance, and I had to lunge and grab him by the shoulder to haul him up and save him from the highest dive on record anywhere. I could see fear clear in his eyes as he looked at the fate that nearly befell him, but it seemed to almost double when he looked to who his savior was. It wasn't really until then that I realized exactly how frightening a kitsune looked to someone up close. However, his shock quickly melted when he realized I was the one to save his life. "And who might you be? You look unlike any race I've seen in all Ivalice." His gaze had turned to studious, and I felt uncomfortable under it, despite the fact he had to look up a bit to study my face. It seemed he was very scientific, just like in the game, but I only now realized how awkward it felt to be analyzed by one such as him.

"I, uh… y-you almost had a nasty fall, and you only want to know what I am? Wow…" I put a hand to my head and scratched myself behind the ears. Just then, the rest of the gang caught up to me. Now he was surrounded by three kitsune and a wolf person. Balthier had decided to hang back, obviously still not a believer in my cause.

"Hey, Griff? Do you know this person?" Ace was looking at Larsa much the same way Larsa seemed to be studying us. When they locked eyes, I swear I saw a few sparks fly out.

"It would feel like it, according to the tone in his voice." Larsa gave me a pointed look. I decided to go for an innocent approach.

I shrugged. "Nope. I just saw him enjoying the view and looking like he knew his way around, so I decided to act friendly and he nearly took a very high and very unwilling dive." It didn't look like Larsa was going to believe me at first, but then his scrutiny decreased in intensity and he nodded.

"Well, you sure have an eye for guides. I know nearly every nook and cranny of this town. Where might you be headed?"

"We were all looking for Bhujerba's famous Lhusu Mines. We were supposed to meet a friend there, could you take us?" His eyes brightened up considerably, and I knew why. He was headed there himself eventually.

"Ah, excellent! I was wanting to explore those for as bit, but I heard that it was rather dangerous so I wanted a few extra companions. Why don't we all go there together?" I bet my eyes lit up at that, because that was exactly the response I wanted to hear.

"An excellent proposal! Let us get ready and then yes, why don't we all!" so it was agreed that we would grab what we needed and meet up there at the entrance.