Hello all! Well, it seems that we're having a little… technical difficulties in regards to writing. In the last two weeks, I've had two big sprees of writing and not much else. Honestly, it's been really slow the past month or so, and just getting worse. After I broke down in tears this morning after staring at a blank screen for an hour, my wonderfully kind mother took notice and suggested I take a little time off. I can't really argue. I did just take some time off to work on that essay for school, but taking some serious time off and just doing something different for a while, to get some perspective, does sound like a good idea. Maybe even write a little of another story.

So I'm taking time off. I'm not sure exactly how long, but it won't be forever! I have a family who can't abide quitters, including me. "Failing doesn't make you a failure; quitting makes you a failure." "The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting…"

A Tale of Hidden Powers will not join the many halls of unfinished fanfictions, never fear! For the one or two souls who actually do read every chapter as it's released, thanks a million for your support. It really means something. I have no idea how you've put up with my erratic releases so far, and I know this is even worse. I'm sorry, but I will be back! A month, maybe, I'll take off? If I haven't released the next chapter in two months, PM me and tell me to get moving. Seriously! Though I can't imagine myself or the people I know will let it go that long.

So the gist is, we're breaking, but we'll be back! "Though the 'morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return…"

(Since you're not allowed to post "chapters" that are purely author notes, I've deleted the most recent chapter and reposted it, so people with email update stuff will get notified and all that good stuff. See you soon!)

Chapter Seventeen

YPA Labs, in Archades
Year 707 of the Old Valendian Calendar

Pain stopped instantly, like a light switch flipped off. Like a newborn, Balthier relished the ability to breathe as his senses blurred into focus. He was kneeling, in a gloomy storage room, both hands vice-gripped onto his head, that had a second before split with pain. What on Ivalice had just happened? Balthier hadn't felt anything so acutely painful since his grapple with Venat. Yet attacks by rogue Occuria were generally accompanied by spine-chilling whispers and requests to surrender… No, he'd been talking to Strahl. What had she said? What happened?

Then a fuzzy voice registered in Balthier's ears. He forced his eyes open.

"I'm alright. I'm fine." Balthier cut the voice off before he could even identify whose it was. He felt a grip on his arm and jerked it out of Ziafer's hand, who was trying to yank him back to his feet. That was something Balthier could do quite fine on his own.

Getting unsteadily upright, Balthier shook his head, fighting a lingering light-headedness. The faces of Vaan and Ziafer stared back at him; his third companion was struggling to drag a rack of shelving in front of the door by herself.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Vaan said.

"I… I'm not sure. I'm just fine," Balthier replied. "Vaan, help Cara. Then we need to get a move on."

"Um… Yeah." Vaan turned away uneasily, then gave Cara a hand to get the obstruction in place. Ziafer was giving Balthier the 'you're crazy and going to get us all killed look,' but the pirate pointedly ignored him. Instead, Balthier moved over to the opposite door and listened, trying to tell if anyone was on the other side.

His gut twisted with worry, or maybe that was an after effect of the pain. He hoped Strahl was alright. He knew something terrible was liable to happen; that was why he'd been against this in the first place. He'd just have to hurry up and find her quick. And not just her. After all, there was still a princess in distress for this pirate to rescue.

…

Ashe froze, eyes locked on the silhouette on the floor. There, on her hands and knees, heaving in breath after shaking breath, slumped what looked like a teenaged girl. She didn't have any clothes, but was all covered in thick, golden fur. Triangular ears stuck out of her short brown hair, and a long tail curled on the floor behind her. She just sat there, eyes squeezed shut, panting and trembling.

Ashe stood, slowly, but the creature seemed to sense her movement. Its eyes popped open, a vibrant blue. They widened, and it shrunk back, squeezing them shut again.

After several undecided moments, Ashe bent slowly and picked up the tarp, which lay in a mess where she'd dropped it. Then she knelt by to her new cellmate, trying all the while to be slow and to not scare the thing. Because Ashe had decided, firmly, that she pitied this creature more than feared it.

Sensing Ashe's proximity, those too-vivid azure eyes flashed open again. The girl shrunk back; eyes flickered back and forth as they studied Ashe. The princess fought to control her breathing, telling herself again not to be afraid.

Carefully, slowly, Ashe reached out and draped the tarp over the girl's shoulders even as she flinched. They both sat there for a few moments, the only sound each of their frightened breathing. But the girl didn't back away.

"I-I'm Ashe," Ashe said at last. "What's your name?"

The girl blinked up at her. Could it – she – talk? But Ashe had heard her scream, and shout 'go away!' at those scientists.

"I-I…" The girl's breathing got quick again, and she squeezed her eyes shut. She grabbed her head and whimpered.

"Oh! Shh, it's okay," Ashe said, reaching out to straighten the tarp. This time, the girl didn't pull away.

"Name…? What was…?" she started, her whole body trembling. "I should… know… I know you… It hurts… to think about."

"D-Don't worry." Ashe had no idea what this creature was talking about; maybe she was just scared out of her wits. "My friends are coming for me; they'll get us both out, alright?" At least she hoped. Surely Balthier and the others had noticed she was gone by now. They had to be on their way.

"Coming?" The girl's lifted her eyes to Ashe again. Her brow furrowed in pain, but her lips nearly smiled. "Oh, yeah! Someone's… coming!"

Ashe nodded uncomfortably, then glanced up at the door, trying to see more than light and shadows through the window. But her angle was bad, and she couldn't even tell if there were guards.

"They'll have to come back for one of us," Ashe said. "If we're going to get out, we have to be ready then. Can you stand?"

"Stand?" The furry girl blinked her round eyes at Ashe.

"I'll help you, alright?" Ashe said. "We have to hurry."

The girl's head rose and fell in a nod, her lips testing an uncertain smile. "O-Okay!"

"You're good. Keep it up!"

Ashe held her young companion by the elbows, and the girl gripped her Ashe's arms with strength fueled by terror as she watched the floor, eyes wide and round. Ashe took nearly her full weight as the girl tried to stand on trembling legs.

"You can do it." Ashe said. The girl leaned back a little, still steadying herself on Ashe's grip but taking her own weight.

"Ha-ha!" she let out a nervous laugh. "Hey! It… works!" She looked stunned.

"Now let go," Ashe said. They had to hurry things along.

"How are we going to get out?" the girl asked. "Aren't we stuck?"

"When they try to pull us out of here, we have to run past the guards," Ashe said. "And who knows when they'll come back. Just-"

A creaking noise stopped Ashe short. She snapped her head towards the door, gasping as she saw the head of a guard through the porthole; he was turning the door's seal.

"Alright! Come on." Ashe dragged her furry friend towards the door, but the girl stumbled and fell. Ashe gasped, but kept her grip on her arm and heaved her back up. "Come on!"

"I'm coming!" the girl replied, struggling to get her feet under her. Ashe tugged her along, and they reached the door just as it creaked open.

The grim-faced guard barely had time to reach in before Ashe dived under his arm. She landed in a clumsy shoulder roll – not a move she practiced very often. The room spun around her, and by some miracle, she managed to stumble back to her feet. Ashe heard the guard behind her growl, and shouts rise from the scientists all through the room.

Ashe spun around. That girl – where did she go? Ashe couldn't leave without her.

"Ah!" That scream was her voice. The guard had his arm hooked around the girl's neck. Ashe grabbed a bar from a nearby table and swung it as hard as she could into the guard's head. She wasn't strong enough to do much, but it distracted him long enough for the girl to dig her teeth into his arm.

"Gah!" He let out a howl, and, clutching the tarp around her, the girl stumbled away as quick as she could go. Ashe could hear Razner's voice shouting orders; every scientist and Red Fang in the room was charging for her. Ashe darted for the nearest doorway, shouting to the girl in the tarp.

"Run!"

…

"Hey, maybe I'd agree with you, but I've seen him take on an Occuria, so I don't have much reason to doubt."

Balthier had considered Vaan and Ziafer's whispered conversation merely an annoyance until catching that line from Vaan. Back pressed against the wall, he glanced back at the row squeezed in like manner behind him: Vaan, Ziafer, then Cara.

"Occuria?" Ziafer narrowed his eyes. "What the hay are you talking about?"

"Yeah, when we busted Vayne on board Bahamut," Vaan replied.

"Are you two going to sit here and chat all day?" Balthier said. He glanced back out into the corridor, surprised again that no one had come by yet, like they'd all been suddenly recalled. "It seems our friendly neighborhood guards have decided to make things easy for us."

"Uh, right," Vaan said. Balthier slipped out into the hallway, then set off quickly but quietly; the dimly lit corridor really was void of any other inhabitants. And good thing, too.

"So what, you were on board Bahamut with Princess Ashelia?" Ziafer said. "You're making that up, Ratsbane."

"I'm not!" Vaan bristled. "Aske Ashe! Or ask Balthier! He was there. Right?" Vaan sent Balthier a look that was a silent plea for assistance.

"That is true," Balthier said. "We all spent the last while with the pleasure of unraveling empires together. And Vaan was there."

"Ah-ha." Ziafer nodded. "Is that why a pirate like you is helping out the princess without even being paid?"

"I'm getting paid," Balthier replied quickly. "We just haven't worked out a price yet."

Ziafer snorted.

"You know, you didn't ask Ashe to pay you last time," Vaan said.

"Last time, she was a desperate refugee. She's practically queen now," Balthier replied. "Besides, I had my own reasons to pursue that course." He been so deeply involved in all that. And yet it seemed he might be involved in this, too. Balthier wanted a piece of Razner's mind, and to give the man a taste of his. Tell him that Venat and Occuria and scourge, whatever that was, wasn't something to get tangled up in.

"Up ahead. I hear a commotion." Cara spoke up; she'd listened distantly to the whole exchange.

"Commotion. Just where we'll find Ashe." Balthier pointed ahead, channeling his inner bravado. "Let's procure our pilfered princess and go home."

Ziafer lifted his remaining eyebrow. Vaan sighed and elbowed him.

"Get used to it."

Bright lights flew on around the corner, throwing out the shadows of people in frenzied movement. The cries of "Over there!" and "Move! Move!" reached even Balthier's ears.

"Whoa boy, we got incoming," Ziafer said, and swords flew out all around.

"Someone's coming this way," Cara said, clutching her short weapon close.

"In here." Balthier pressed into a sunken doorway, and sardine-packing the others behind him. It'd be a miracle if they weren't seen.

But as the figure flew past, recognition sparked in Balthier's mind. He shot out and grabbed her arm, swinging her to a halt. "Ashe!"

"Hah!" Ashe spun, raising a length of pipe in her right hand to strike, but she cut short, eyes widening. "Balthier?"

He couldn't help but smile. "Of course. Now let's move!"

But Ashe didn't. She turned, and her eyes widened. "Where-? Balthier, wait!"

"Ashe, no time!" Balthier said. "We've something else to find, but for now, we've got to get scarce-"

"No, I have a friend!" Ashe said. "I promised her we'd get out! She was behind me, but-"

"Ashe, we can't help everyone!" Balthier said, grabbing the princess's arm and preparing to drag her after him. "Come on!"

"I'm not leaving!" Ashe shouted, ripping her arm away.

"Ashe-" Balthier heaved a sigh, shaking his head. "Fine! Stay there!"

So he ran into danger, back around the corner, the way the princess had come. Shouts echoed, footsteps pounding as men charged down the long corridor behind.

"ASHE!" Out of the mayhem, a voice reached Balthier's ears, a voice that set off bells of recognition. A young girl's voice…

Then he spotted the shape on the floor, draped in a grey tarp. A human figure, her visible face and arms covered in soft yellow fur, head topped with pointy ears. She pushed up on her hands. Her face screwed in effort as she tried to right herself, but she slipped back to the floor. "Ah!"

The girl shoved up again and looked over her shoulder at the advancing figures, due to reach her before Balthier did unless he poured on the speed. "St-Stay away!" she shouted back. "Or you don't wanna know what I'll do!"

The voice was so familiar. Balthier felt like he knew he recognized her, though he knew he'd never seen anything like her in his life. When he reached her, she looked up, one too-vivid blue eye squinted. When he reached her, he stood over her frozen,

"I… know you…! Right? It… hurts."

Balthier knew that voice. He'd just never heard it with his ears.

"…Strahl?"

Both her eyes went wide. "Strahl?" Her head listed to one side. "Oh, yeah… That was- Ashe, that was it! I remember…! Ah!" She winced, then grabbed her head. Balthier suddenly became aware of the advancing platoon nearly upon them. He stooped down to Strahl – whoever she was – and heaved her to her feet.

"Ow… Are we done running?" Her eyes were still screwed shut, and she swung drunkenly.

"Not yet! Come on!"

But she staggered, and with a moan, slumped limply. Balthier caught her, hoisted her in his arms – she weighed hardly anything – and ran for his life.

"Run! Just run!" Balthier shouted as he barreled around the corner, pursuers so close he could feel their footsteps vibrate through the floor. Ashe, Vaan, Ziafer, and Cara, standing warily in the corridor, sprang to action as Balthier raced past, clutching the tarped figure.

"What's that?" Vaan said as they ran, as if the question couldn't wait.

"I… don't know!" Balthier replied, directing his energies towards running. He didn't know. Whatever feeling told him this person was the rock he'd handed over to YPA was too instinctual, too primordial, too much like some gut seventh sense to be trusted. But the way she'd reacted to her name- to that name, it seemed like her. Her voice was the same. But that was simply impossible. Wasn't it?

But Balthier couldn't think on that for too long. Raspy voices shouted angrily behind him, and he did a peripheral vision check to make sure everyone was with him, and to check for an escape route. There: a doorway, with a depression in the side showing the sliding door safely tucked away. An electronic door like that should be strong enough to keep out an angry mob, Balthier figured.

"In here!" Balthier veered through the doorway. As soon as everyone had filed through, he jabbed the large button on the wall with his elbow; the door let out a click and snapped closed.

Balthier scowled at the keypad below the close button and took a step back. He jerked towards it with his chin.

"Vaan, lock that for us, would you?"

"Lock?" Vaan blinked. "I don't know the code!"

"Sticking it with a sword might work."

"Oh."

Vaan plunged his blade into the mechanism; sparks flew. Voices murmured outside as the footsteps of a dozen Red Fangs came to a halt. The banging started, then an angry hubbub. Balthier allowed himself a sigh of relief.

"Well, that should hold them for a bit."

He surveyed the room ahead of them. The short, bare grey hallway opened into another main corridor, like a capillary connecting the two zones. The opposite side had no door; Balthier imagined the one behind them was just in case YPA needed to contain something in the labs.

Squirming in his arms attracted Balthier's attention. He peered down at the face of the figure he held. She whimpered slightly, brow creasing.

"Ashe, this your friend?" Balthier said, turning his eyes to the princess.

"That's her," Ashe replied. She didn't meet Balthier's gaze. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Balthier said with a scoff. He studied the girl's face again. "She didn't say anything… strange, did she?"

"Strange?" Ashe frowned. "Well, everything she said was strange. But-"

"Hey, uh, we have to find the Strahl now, right?" Vaan said. The armful of tarp and fur shifted in Balthier's grip. He pressed his lips together.

"Maybe." Balthier said, eyeing his burden. I know you!... Strahl…? That was it…! Balthier closed his eyes and tried quickly to reach Strahl's mind. He hit a barricade. Balthier shook his head. "Look, hanging around here won't help. Come on!"

Balthier marched to the exit. He tried to get his arms better positioned around his unwieldly load, then peeked out into the corridor. Not a soul in sight, only dim lights, stretching from one end to the other.

"Come on, is it clear?" Ziafer hissed from behind. Balthier's four companions crowded all a bit too close behind him. He sighed.

"It looks like it. But that's no excuse to let your guard down."

"How did they get so many Red Fangs up here, anyway?" Vaan asked. "You'd think someone would've noticed them all crawling into a big city like this."

"In a city as big as Archades, there are lots of nooks and crannies," Balthier said. "I suspect YPA is rather used to helping their associates crawl into the city." Balthier expected Cara to say something confirming those suspicions, but the only sound was the distant pounding and arguing of their pursuers.

Balthier stepped into the hallway, doing another glance for wandering Red Fangs. The others followed, keeping close. Their footsteps sounded conspicuously loud.

Then a whining alarm blared. Everyone gasped, and Ziafer drew his sword. Deep red lights came on, bathing everything crimson. The alert glow almost made the place brighter than before, and brought color to even Cara's face; her hood had flown off in the pursuit, and she hadn't put it back up yet. But no Red Fangs showed. Only the lights, so far.

"Oh, they shouldn't have." Balthier said with a sigh. Strahl – the girl – stirred like a newborn disturbed in her nap. Balthier wondered if there was an easier way to carry the thing.

"Vaan, help me get her on my back," Balthier said.

"Roger." Nodding, Vaan put his sword away, then a little uncertainly took the bundled shape Balthier handed to him. Balthier squatted down, and Vaan heaved the unconscious girl onto his back. With her arms draped limply over his shoulders, Balthier stood, looping his arms around her legs.

Ziafer, both swords out and glancing this way and that down the corridor, stood with his back to the princess like he was protecting her from some army. He looked over his shoulder. "Now we get out of here before guards or who knows what show up?"

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Balthier said. "Stealth seems to be a back seat now. Come on!"

So they ran. The hallway was uncluttered, but things like loudspeakers and lights appeared at monotonous, regular intervals along the walls. Balthier kept his eyes open for any identifiable landmarks. The constant alarm deafened him. But he could still feel when the floor started to shake.

"What's that?" Ashe called to his left. Balthier scanned the hall ahead; his heart rate doubled when he spotted the dark line in the roof fifteen feet ahead. From it, a thick, metal bulkhead eased out of its resting position.

"Blast! Pour it on!" Balthier shouted. He willed his legs to move faster. His lungs burned in the stale, chemically scented air. The bulkhead dropped with all the force of gravity, its moorings let loose. Balthier pushed his legs to their most, but in a second, the door struck the ground with a rattling boom. Balthier skidded to a halt, inertia shoving the unconscious girl into his back. He gritted his teeth.

Ziafer ripped a sword from its scabbard and laid it into the door. "Blast it! Blast those Red Fangs!"

"That's not helping," Balthier said, giving him a glare.

"Do we go back?" Ashe asked.

"That would be convenient of you," came a chilly voice from behind. Balthier spun around, trailing ends of tarp whisking in his side vision. Behind them in the hallway, stood a platoon of a dozen Red Fangs, a man in black and white at their head. Razner held out a metal plated hand, claw-like fingertips gleaming as if blood-soaked in the emergency lighting.

"Princess. You're leaving ever-so quickly. Was our hospitality not to your liking?"

"Not at all," Ashe replied, holding her sword up like a shield. "What is it you want, anyway?"

"I doubt it's something you would understand, your highness," Razner replied. He stood perfectly calm, sword safely in its sheath. "Now, please. Come with me. I promise you won't be harmed."

"Oh, sure. I believe you," Ziafer spat.

"Save your breath, Peace Keeper," said a Red Fang to Razner's right: an older man, twice Cara's height. He earned a foul look from Ziafer but returned it. "We know what your kind is capable of."

"Zanthe? Is that you?" Cara spoke up, just loud enough to capture the man's attention.

The man turned his head, and his eyes went narrow. "Cara. I should've known you weren't dead. You've gone traitor then."

"Razner isn't our leader. You're the traitor!" Cara shouted. Razner's eyes darted between his subordinate and the little pale girl. His steel-colored gaze rested on her at last.

"Ah, Cara. You never did understand, did you," Razner said. "You'd have saved us much trouble if you'd simply offered your help rather than running. You were ever so eager, once."

Cara raised her sword across her body, baring her teeth. "You're a monster!"

"Girl, I wouldn't use your full power on me," Razner said. "That could become dangerous more quickly than you could imagine."

Cara's face slacked. "What do you mean?"

"Hey, uh, I don't know who you are," Vaan called, drawing his hefty sword. "But if you mess with the princess, it means trouble, okay?"

"Yes, as the princess hinted," Balthier said, "we were just leaving. It's even worse hospitality to refuse your guests departure. Redeem your dignity in the end, at least."

Razner shook his head slowly, side to side. "Princess, are these your bodyguards? I expected grown men, hardened warriors like that Viera. I hadn't prepared myself to have to hurt children. But if you leave me no choice, then…"

With a sigh, Razner lifted his left hand a few inches from his closed eyes; a posture Balthier had seen Fran take many times. Balthier tore his gaze from the light gathering around Razner's hand and scanned the roof and walls. A dark depression in the ceiling- a keypad to Razner's left-

Balthier wrenched his rifle from under his burden's limp form, squinted an eye, and fired. The shot found the keypad, and a second bulkhead overhead let loose with an ever-so satisfying groan of metal. The obstruction slammed into the floor just as Razner pointed his hand forward. The blast door rattled under impact.

"Whew! Nice one," Vaan said, letting his sword drop. "How'd you know that was there?"

"And how did you not think that would trap us in here?" Ziafer said.

Balthier sighed and tipped his head back. "Those doors usually come in sets of twos, for corralling rampaging specimens. And we'll get out, nay-sayer."

Hoisting his sagging bundle, Balthier marched to the exit door and examined the keypad, twin to the one he'd shot. As luck would have it, they already knew a code, and Balthier knew men like Holdre had more important things to do with brain space than remember dozens of codes.

The red bulb turned to a chipper green, and the bulkhead raised, revealing more dismal corridors. Balthier smiled.

"There. What did I tell you?"

"Let's get out of here." Ashe walked straight out of the door, not glancing back once. Vaan followed her, and Ziafer took one look at his sister, frowned, and also trotted after the princess. Balthier glanced back at Cara, who stared at the sealed passage like a sentinel statue outside some ancient mansion.

"Are you coming? Or turning yourself in?" Balthier asked.

Cara turned slowly, making a painstakingly deliberate effort not to face him. "I'm coming."