DISCLAIMER and WARNING are in the first chapter.

A/N: I’m sorry for the long time it took me to update, but I’m working on many other stories too, so please be patient with me. Thank you, reviewers, for your kind words and encouragement. Here is the third chapter and I hope you’ll enjoy!

Author: Atthla

Chapter Three

Vaan tightened his brown cloak around him as people blurred past without paying him any interest. Which was fine because for the first time in his life – barring that one time when he had been captured as a suspect for the poisoning – Vaan didn’t want to be recognized. Unfortunately, being a boy of Lowtown who had managed to sprout wings and come out as a famous sky pirate, he was thoroughly well-known in the area.

The problem was, he didn’t want to be recognized. Hence the brown cloak and hiding underneath its cocoon while trying to slink past people who would certainly recognize his face at the first glance.

Luckily for him, there were many travelers around wearing the same unremarkable cloak. Lowtown was practically the center of everything unlawful and quite possibly illicit. It was why, he reflected wryly, children who grew up here were much too tough to break. Vaan was not a vain person, but he knew that he could take a lot of things head on and get away from them fairly unharmed in the end.

Heat, unfortunately, tumbled straight into the middle of the opposite group. Used to open air and cool breeze unashamedly kissing his skin, Vaan could already feel himself slowly but surely submitting to this torturous heat. Rabanastre, although posing a threat in regard to his notoriety, was fine for his current choice of attire. Lowtown however, was buried deep under the royal city where virtually no wind could waft in and therefore left the area stiflingly hot. Sweat drops were drenching his hair and his head felt a little too light like he hadn’t met fresh air for hours. Which was exactly the case right now. The dense crowd milling around him or simply lazing on the floor with nothing to do and generally making his situation more unbearable than ever was of course, of no help.

Vaan couldn’t help a relieved sigh when he spotted the last stop of his trip to Lowtown. Extracting himself from a noisy group of Bangaas who were haggling with a pottery vendor, he stepped onto a dim platform leading to a rickety wooden door. Its rusty hinges creaked loudly when he pushed it open, drawing the attention of a boy who was sitting on an overturned barrel nearby. Vaan did his best to appear unsuspicious and casually slipped into the chamber behind.

Maybe it was his supreme luck or something, because the place appeared to be completely deserted when he came in, except for a white-bearded old man sitting cross-legged on a shabby rug at the far end of the room. He raised a pair of vaguely interested eyes at his entrance and a toothless smile broke on his face.

“Well, well. The Ratsbane, isn’t it?”

Vaan threw down his hood and grinned from the door, one hand on his hips. “You know, after all those impressive deeds I’ve done in the past two years, you could have come up with a better nickname by now,” he pointed out.

“I’m a simple old man with a simple old brain, Ratsbane. I remember what there was, not what there is.”

Laughing, Vaan crossed the room with wide, sure steps, memories of old days running to and fro in this murky corridor leaving him smiling. “Long time no see, Old Dalan.”

“Long time indeed,” the old man declared, his voice carrying a trace of reproach but his hand waving for him to sit down. “You haven’t visited for almost a year, boy.”

“Bounty hunter problems.”

A strange twinkle appeared in his eyes, but Vaan didn’t even want to guess where that came from. “And yet, today they hardly matter at all, eh?” the old sage chuckled. “I had a hunch that you’d appear.”

Vaan sighed and leant forward slightly, mustering as much somberness as he could into his voice when he spoke, “Dalan, I need your help.”

The older man barely looked surprised; as a matter of fact, he looked more amused than anything. “I had a hunch,” he hummed, his tone entirely noncommittal.

“Yeah, whatever. I need you to check this for me,” Vaan took out a small vial containing maroon-coloured liquid from the pocket of his slacks. Larsa had been able to get a sample of the problematical Rozarrian wine and shared some with him to pursue his own investigation. There was no guarantee that the superior scientists of Archadia could find anything useful, so they had decided to try every possible approach.

Out of precaution, the sky pirate had kept a few drops stored in another vial, now safely kept in the side pocket of his leather scabbard. The rest he extended to the old man who was peering at him with curious eyes.

“No one at the palace can figure it out?” Dalan asked him, the amused hint in his voice more apparent than before.

“All they discovered was that it contained many natural substances they didn’t recognize,” Vaan explained, dangling the vial between his fingers. “So much for being royal physicians or whatever their title is.”

The old man laughed. “You know what everyone says. The real smart ones are too smart to work in the palace. They want to unravel the secrets of the world, not make money.”

Vaan seized the chance immediately. “Exactly, that’s why I want your help. Remember the story you told me about this great alchemist who travelled around the world? You said you met him a couple of times and he’s really, really good at what he’s doing. Do you think I can get him to help me on this?”

There was a moment of silence while Dalan looked at him appraisingly. Vaan had always found this particular gaze intimidating, mainly because he knew that some of the rumours circulating out there about the old man were actually true, but three years of living as a sky pirate taught him a lot on the art of bluffing. This, he reflected as he stared back indifferently, wasn’t too different.

The older man finally opened his mouth again. “When I said he travelled around, it means he does travel around. Do you expect me to keep track of an alchemist I’ve just met a few times?”

Vaan refused to back down. “Maybe he’s settled down somewhere quietly now,” he suggested.

“Even if it’s the case, I have no ways to contact him, so I doubt I can help you.”

Putting down the vial on the floor between them, he looked squarely at the white-bearded man, a smirk on his lips. “Dalan, you don’t really think I’m that stupid, do you?”

Another round of silence filled the room. Vaan could hear the low buzz of conversations going on outside, seasoned with the clamouring of hawkers and boots beating the stone floor, but his whole attention was focused on Dalan. The old man seemed taken aback by his words, but with that much beard on his face, Vaan honestly couldn’t say.

The lines around steely-grey eyes became more pronounced when he suddenly chortled. “Figured it out, didn’t you, boy?”

Knowing that he had won the bet, Vaan inwardly sighed in relief. Outwardly, he exhibited a complacent smile and said, “I saw you many times fiddling with those small bottles in the back room. I think anyone can easily figure it out when they’ve seen as much as I have. Besides, you know way too much about that man’s life.”

“It should be a crime to peep at an old man.”

“I’m already a widely-hunted sky pirate, one or two more crimes are just stretching the list,” he replied with a nonchalant grin. “So, will you help me?”

Fingers long since wrinkled from old age reached for the vial, turning it around as if trying to put a number to its weight. “It’s certainly interesting,” he admitted with a hint of reluctance.

“Then it’s yours,” Vaan said swiftly. “Do what you want with it as long as you can give me some results.”

The old man gave him another appraising look from cunning grey eyes before proceeding to put the vial on a decrepit low table nearby. “Deal,” he murmured heavily. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot, Dalan,”

“Say your thanks after I actually find something.”

“I have the utmost respect to your ability, old man,” Vaan told him, smiling confidently, and rose to his feet. “All right, I have to go now.”

The curious light was back in the older man’s eyes. “You’re staying at the palace?”

“Not for long,” he answered, his mind taking a trip back to the lady of the palace and the sky pirate suddenly had an urge to sigh deeply, which he quickly suppressed, crushed, and buried six feet under without a single glance. Returning his hood to its original position, he nodded at Dalan. “I’ll come by again in a few days.”

“Sure, kid. Watch your back, will you?”

Vaan only grinned and made a small salute before rejoining the crowd outside. He decided that making a return journey through the waterway once more would be unnecessary and made his way to the nearest staircase leading up to Rabanastre. It would save him a lot of time since he wouldn’t have to encounter any monster on the way.

The afternoon quest was exhausting and Vaan was relieved that it had ended. His search of Jay, his usual informant, took up almost three hours, definitely longer than he had anticipated. He hastened his steps when he remembered that Larsa would return to Archadia this evening. Any issue of civility notwithstanding, he needed to see the young emperor before the departure. And who knew what Penelo might come up with to scold him if he wasn’t there to see Larsa off.

Which reminded him that he hadn’t talked properly with his partner since she had made the confession. Vaan was glad to climb the stairs back to blue sky and fresh air because thinking about that made his head spin. After spending a few days with the Queen of Dalmasca, he was fairly sure that he knew where his heart lay. Despite the sheer impossibility of such situation to come true, he could tell that he didn’t want any other woman. Call him naïve, or romantic, or even unrealistic. He loved Ashelia B’nargin Dalmasca.

Yes.

Well...

Vaan breathed in deeply and tried not to blush in the middle of the road in the middle of the day. Or at the end of the day. Whatever. The point was he couldn’t love Penelo more than a brother would his sister. This had every possibility to be painful for both of them, but he knew that he had to speak with her as soon as possible.

All of a sudden, he felt a light tap on his shoulder and his hand automatically launched a counterattack. His fingers caught a slender wrist in an ironclad grip as he turned around to see his possible attacker. His eyes widened when he recognized Larsa’s female bodyguard who returned the gaze emotionlessly.

“I ask you to follow me, Sir,” she told him before he could open his mouth. “The Emperor is waiting.”

Lucretia pulled her hand out of his grip with just enough power and whirled around, walking toward a narrow alley next to the armor shop. Still filled with trepidation, Vaan had to force his feet to follow her and ignore the voices of warning echoing loudly in his head. The Emperor of Archadia would not pick a place like this as a meeting spot, the voice pointed out furiously as they passed several boarded-up doors and windows, unless...

Unless of course...

Vaan didn’t realize when he had quickened his pace or when Lucretia had retuned her speed to match his. All he knew was that their destination appeared to be a seedy-looking shop with a wooden plank read ‘Seasand’ hung just a little above the entrance. Inside, there was only a middle-aged man with greasy dark hair sitting behind the counter, reading a tabloid with the picture of a giant-sized Cactuar on the front cover. The man spared them the briefest glance before returning to his reading material, seemingly uninterested.

Vaan followed Lucretia to the back at the store with increasing uneasiness until they stopped in front of a door. She put a train of light knocks on the wooden door and it was opened slowly from the inside, revealing her tall, pokerfaced partner. Vaan remained alert as he was ushered in and only lowered his guard when he saw Larsa. The young emperor stood when he arrived, his strained expression clearing up a little.

“Thank you, Lucretia,” Larsa nodded at his female bodyguard before settling a pair of troubled eyes on him. “I’m glad you are safe, Vaan.”

“What do you mean ‘safe’?” the sky pirate demanded, sensing a familiar touch of panic creeping up on him. “What happened?”

“The Queen has fallen ill again.”

A blurred image of Ashe, her face pale and blood trickling from her mouth, flashed behind his eyes and for a moment, he could only stare at Larsa. When he finally located his voice, it came out weak and strangled. “What– how can...?”

“The royal physicians assumed that she had accidentally taken more poison,” the younger boy explained carefully.

“I thought now she had someone to taste her food first!” Vaan heard his voice rising but couldn’t find it in him to care at the moment.

“She does,” Larsa replied, patience and impatience both shading his voice, “but the poison was not put in her food. There is this particular medicine which she has to take to cleanse the remaining poison in her body. The composition, however, is too dangerous if consumed by a healthy person and despite Minister Pavarell’s urging, the Queen did not approve for the medicine to be tested.”

“In the medicine? But that means...”

“Yes,” his friend nodded. “The culprit is someone who works inside the palace, quite possibly closely with the queen. Since you were involved in the previous incident and have been seen inside the royal chamber a number of times, suspicion is pretty much unavoidable. The obvious choice is for you to stay away from the palace for the time being.”

Vaan closed his eyes for a moment, trying to collect his shattered composure. He shouldn’t think of the worst – it had not come yet. Ashe was strong, too strong to be defeated by a trick as cowardly as poisoning.

“What about Penelo?” he finally asked again, relieved to hear his voice sounding almost normal.

“She is safe for now, disguised as one of my servants, but I’m afraid I cannot bring her to meet you just yet. Under the orders of Minister Pavarell, the Royal Guards are searching everywhere for you and with the Queen ill, my connection here is rather limited–“

“I understand,” he interrupted, smiling weakly at the younger boy. “And Ashe? Is she going to be all right?”

“We know nothing of certain at this point,” Larsa answered and it was obvious that he didn’t like his own answer. “The royal physicians are doing their best and I will delay my return for two days, but it is as far as I can do.”

“Of course, you’re the Emperor of Archadia,” Vaan murmured almost automatically. He didn’t miss the slight wince passing across Larsa’s face and quickly added, “I didn’t mean anything by that.”

The younger boy didn’t acknowledge this and moved to a different subject instead. “You can stay here for a while if you want,” he said, his voice carefully devoid of any emotion. “I knew the owner from my adventure three years ago and he has expressed his willingness to help.”

Vaan shot him a grateful smile. “Thanks, but it’ll be too dangerous for him to keep me here. I’m sure I can find a place somewhere.”

Larsa nodded briskly. “Just be careful. I need to return immediately or my absence in the palace will be noticed.”

“Sure,” he stepped aside, making way for the young emperor. “Oh, and take care of Penelo, okay? Tell her not to worry about me.”

There was a sharp light in Larsa's eyes, but it was fleeting and a second later it had disappeared. “I shall,” he said before turning on his heels toward the door. Without a glance back, he left the room, followed by the faithful shadow of his two bodyguards. Vaan listened to the sound of distancing footsteps and wished that he wasn't so helpless.

End Chapter Three

A/N2: We'll see from the girls's POV next. For the time being, please review!