Synopsis: After being injured at the Stillshrine of Miriam, Vaan is reluctantly left behind to heal. Separated from the others, Vaan is swept into a tense journey back north with allies Vaan isn't sure he can bear to be around. (eventual Vaan/Gabranth)

Warnings: Slash, violence, and a considerable age difference between Vaan and Gabranth.

Disclaimer: The world of Ivalice and the characters that appear within it are property of Square Enix. This is a work of fan fiction.

Notes: This may be a slow updating fic, as I am writing it to offset writers block for some other stories. Thank you to anyone who reads and finds the concept entertaining enough to stick with it.

Chapter 1: New Alliances

Vaan can tell as soon as the adrenaline from battle fades that the wound on his leg is a lot worse than he'd thought. Close to the end of the battle - when all the others had run dry of magick - he'd been so wrapped up in frantically casting Hastes and Curas to keep his allies fighting that he'd let the esper Mateus too close.

The resulting wound had been easy to ignore while the adrenaline of battle coursed through him. But as he watches Basch absorb the power of the Esper into himself, the haze of battle clears and the pain becomes quickly unbearable. Princess Ashe and Basch waste no time proceeding to next room as soon as Basch is finished. Instead of following, Vaan slumps to the dirty ground, groaning and fumbling for a potion. He chugs the liquid at the same time he uses the last of his magick to cast one more weak Cure.

"Vaan!" Penelo cries as she ran to his side. Fran is close behind, and upon seeing his leg manages to find enough of her own magick left to cast another healing spell.

"It's alright, Penelo. Just got a bit careless," Vaan says as lightly as he could manage. The last thing he needs right now was his friend going into full-on mother hen mode.

"The leg will heal, but even were our magic at full strength it alone would not repair the damage instantly," Fran concludes after peering closely at the wound. "You will limp a few days. I imagine the hike back to Bur-Omisace will not be easy on you."

"Great," Vaan groans in reply as the two women helped him to his feet. Together, the three of them follow after the others into the final depths of the Stilshrine of Miriam.

…

Seeing the smoke from the direction of Bur-Omisace, the first thing Vaan feels is shock and panic. The others have noticed the ominous cloud as well, and instantly begin speculating about what must have happened - though everyone was aware enough to assume whatever it was it had to do with the Archadian Empire.

Vaan is just as eager as the others to race back to the refugee filled city and discover what evil had happened. Lost in thought, the thief takes a quick step forward, only to be reminded of his injury as a sharp jolt arcs through his leg. Walking on even, solid ground is hard enough at the moment - Vaan's heart sinks as he realizes that he won't be able to keep up with the others as they race back through the icy and mountainous Paramina Rift.

And Vaan knows in his gut that there was no time to waste.

"You guys need to leave me here," Vaan says before he can chicken out.

Penelo, Balthier and Basch are not happy with the suggestion, all speaking over each other with objections. But there is no time for them to really convince themselves that Vaan's suggestion is anything other than their only option at the moment. It takes less than two minutes for the protests to wear down.

"Vaan, please," Penelo says softly, trying once last time to convince her friend not to stay behind.

"With my leg I can't hike up the mountain right now. Not as fast as you guys need to go," Vaan reminds them, pinning Penelo with a beseeching look. "I'll be fine here."

With that decided, Ashe herds the others off.

"We'll be back soon, don't you worry," Balthier says as he gently leads Penelo away. Then he calls back over his shoulder towards the wounded boy. "Oh, and do try to stay out of trouble Vaan."

Vaan grins as he sees Penelo elbow the sky pirate sharply in the side.

…

Vaan's good humor fades quickly as he is left on his own. The boy never had done well in solitude. Back home in the Dalmascan capital, Rabanastre, he had always been in motion - stealing from the Archadian Imperials, hunting rats in the sewers, practicing his Time Magicks on the Cactoids in the Estersands. Anything to keep his mind busy and moving forwards. When you're a war orphan, living in a town occupied by the enemy, thinking of happier days in the past brought nothing but pain.

But now Vaan finds himself too injured to wander, too exhausted to cast spells, and too worried to focus on anything other than the billowing, dark smoke in the distance.

Is it thicker than it was earlier?

Was it an accident or an attack?

Are the others okay?

"Vaan!" The familiar sound of Larsa's voice startles Vaan out of his vigil. He tears his gaze away from the smoke in the sky and stares at the unexpected form of the Archadian Prince in front of him. They had travelled here together, yet after learning the news of the Archadian Emperor's death, Larsa had left the group. Vaan had assumed the young boy had left to return home already.

"Larsa? What are you...," Vaan changes his mind about what he was about to ask, realizing that if Larsa was arriving then he may have come across Penelo on the way. "Did you see the others?"

"The others? They are not here?" Larsa's reply answers Vaan's question. The thief deflates instantly and looks back up at the sky.

"They went back to Bur-Omisace. My leg's messed up so I stayed here," Vaan admits, flushing with shame at his weakness.

"Our paths must have just missed each other then, I'm afraid."

A jangling of metal is all the warning Vaan has before another voice fills the quiet, serene silence of the shrine's entrance. "No one pursues us, my lord. It looks like our ruse has worked."

Vaan is startled at hearing Basch's voice - as strangely muffled as is it. But when he looks over to the speaker, Vaan realises his mistake instantly. Of course it isn't Basch - Larsa had just said he hadn't run into the others. No, Vaan is staring right at the other one. The twin who years ago had masqueraded as Basch, killed the king and left Vaan's brother dying and labelled as a traitor.

"You," Vaan hisses, glaring at the man while his fingers inch towards his blade.

The armored helm turns to the glaring boy, then back towards Larsa - Vaan is dismissed in moments. "My lord?"

"Gabranth, this is Vaan. I told you of him, he has assisted me a few times now," Larsa introduces the boy calmly. "He is most trustworthy, I assure you."

The armored helm turns towards Vaan once more, this time lingering much longer on the boy. Vaan shifts on his feet, hand on his blade hilt. "If you insist, my lord."

Before Vaan can retort - or try to attack the man, he isn't sure which - Larsa speaks up. "An Archadian fleet was sent here to bring me back to Archadia. It seems my brother wishes to have me firmly under his control. Gabranth arrived shortly before the fleet. He got me out before they landed, told the Kilitas we would head north and return to Archadia immediately." Larsa looks sadly at the smoke in the distance. "Then, we headed south, to hide here until the search moves elsewhere."

"Smart move," Vaan says, knowing the tactic well from his days of hiding in the sewers as angry Imperial guards pass overhead, searching for the urchin who stole their money.

"I fear what the lie may bring to other villages and towns, however. I fear what they have done to this peaceful place," Larsa looks his age at the admission - a lost boy out of his depth. But as soon as Vaan notices it, the expression smooths over to it's normal elegance.

"You are the Empire's hope, my lord," Gabranth states calmly. "You are our only hope for peace over war."

Vaan takes one last look at the smoke before turning towards the entrance to the shrine. "We should get inside, so no airships will spot us."

"That would be wise, but I am reluctant to lead the prince into such a dangerous location. Rumors of the strong monsters inside are known even in Archadia."

"It'll be fine. There's a crystal I can get us too, and the monsters probably are still scattered from when I went through earlier." Vaan says, cursing every moment for agreeing with anything the monster beside him says. He stops talking and glares at the armored figure.

Larsa cuts through the tension with an agreement, "Let us go inside then. I do not wish to reunite with my brother under such circumstances as these."

Vaan keeps his hand on the hilt of his blade and Larsa between himself and Gabranth, but together they all head inside the Stilshrine. He does his best to hide his limp, but judging by the potions Larsa keeps handing him and the burning gaze he keeps feeling wash over him, his weakness from the injury is obvious.

"We really are luckily we just cleaned this place out," Vaan murmurs as they dispatch a Seeker bat. He's hobbling a bit, off center and not as fast as usual, but able to make due. "There were tons of monsters here earlier. We could barely move two steps without some skeleton popping out at us."

"This is quite fortunate, then," Larsa agrees politely.

The rest of the journey to the depth of the Stillshrine passes in awkward silence. Vaan's itching to confront the man to his side, but uses all his self control to hold his tongue for Larsa's sake. Vaan heaves a sigh of relief as they reach the crystal in the shrine's depths - finally a safe place for them to rest. And after moving so much on his bad leg as well as the stress from being near the Archadian Judge, he was exhausted.

Gabranth is the first to sit, leaning against the wall and removing his helmet. For the first time, Vaan sees the face of the Judge - a colder and more clean-cut version of Basch's face. The differences between this face and Basch's are more disturbing than the similarities. Unsettled, Vaan almost wishes they were still moving. At least then there would be more to look at and think about than the face of his brother's murderer.

"This sucks," the boy can't help but say, as he plops down on the ground.

Larsa sits down primly beside him. "It has been a trying day, I admit," The boy agrees. "But I thank you for your assistance once more."

There is a sadness that Vaan had never heard in the younger boy's voice before. Larsa was so proper, so smart and sharp, it was easy to forget how young he was. And that he just this morning discovered his father is dead. Losing a parent is a pain that Vaan knew very well.

"I'm not sorry the emperor is dead," Vaan says softly. "But I am sorry you lost your dad."

Larsa looks towards the ground, jaw clenched. "Thank you," he says.

…

Larsa falls into an exhausted sleep not long after.

As tired as Vaan is and as much as he wishes he could do the same, he can't bring himself to close his eyes. Not with Penelo and the others still gone. Not with Gabranth sitting on the other side of the crystal, a quiet, fearsome presence.

"I must thank you, Vaan. For protecting Larsa when I cannot."

The voice echos in the chamber.

"Shut up," Vaan says coldly. "Don't talk to me."

Silence falls.

Vaan's restlessness emerges again. Even now, he finds sitting still difficult. He wants to move, wants to hit something. Wants to fight.

"Gah," He groans, slamming his head back on the wall. But he's too tired to move any further than that, especially with his leg still aching. But his frustration is building, and it needs an outlet. He glances over at Basch's brother, and all the rage he feels bubbles to the surface.

"Reks was my brother." The man looks up over to Vaan, face unreadable. "Do you even remember him? He died with everyone thinking he was a traitor. Because of you."

Gabranth says nothing for a long moment. Shadows of the past flicker across his face. Then he looks straight at Vaan, eyes meeting and smoldering with the pain of the past. "I remember the boy. He was a good soldier. A loyal soldier. And a perfect tool."

Vaan's fist aches from how hard he slams it on the ground. "Reks was a person. Not a tool."

"Your brother was a soldier. All soldiers are tools of their countries." Gabranth counters.

"He didn't deserve what you did to him."

Gabranth hums softly, but doesn't shy away from Vaan's accusing glare as he replies. "Probably not. But his fate helped stop the war. Dalmasca lost, but at least the war never reached further south than Nalbina. The soldiers that died by my hand that day probably saved you and your friends from dying in the weeks that followed."

"That's not why you did it though, is it?"

"It was not the reason. As I said, soldiers are tools, used at the command of their masters." the admission is weary. "But it made what I did bearable. It let me sleep that night, as well as I ever can."

"Shut up," Vaan's voice cracks when he demands silence once more. But the older man obeys and says not another word. Both sit in the darkness, lost in their own emotions and memories of the past.

….

A howling echoes through the chamber.

Vaan hobbles to his feet, looking at Gabranth then towards the small corridor leading away from the chamber where the sound had come from. "We didn't go that way earlier," the boy whispers, slipping into 'dangerous mysterious enemy ahead' mode.

The howl rips through the air once more and Vaan grimaces. "How likely do you think it is that whatever that is is powerful enough to get near the crystal?"

Gabranth stands and puts on his helmet. His voice is muffled when it replies, "I won't risk find out with Lord Larsa here."

"Let's go check it out, then," Vaan agrees, casting another Cure at his leg to temporarily ease the pain that still fills it.

The pair creeps through the darkness and into a great hall nearby. In the center, is a dark figure. One of its arms ends in a giant claw that glows a deep and threatening orange. The hulking form turns towards Vaan and Gabranth. The boy curses as he recognises the feel of the power that radiates from the figure, "Another esper?"

Gabranth doesn't look away from the threat, but does ask, "You've seen more than one?"

"Zeromus sees you," The voice crawls through the air underneath another high howl. Vaan steps backwards, suddenly frightened - neither Belias nor Mateus had actually spoken. It was more unsettling than he'd expected. Gabranth meanwhile has moved away from the entrance, attempting to circle around the esper. "There is blood upon you hands. I condemn you to death, for you crimes. Relish the end, pitiful hume."

Then the creature turns, zeroing in on Gabranth and swiping at the man with a giant, glowing claw. As soon as it moves, the familiar tang of a time magick casting fills the air. Vaan sees the spell hit the Judge, and the man instantly slow to a crawl. With the esper fully focused in on Gabranth, Vaan has a perfect opening to retreat back to the crystal. He turns to do just that before hesitating.

"Keep moving, Vaan," the boy tells himself. Behind him, he hears the older warrior grunt out in pain and the esper screams in fury. "Keep moving forwards, right Penelo?" He asks his absent friend before turning around.

Decision made, Vaan reaches into his partially restored magic reserves. He casts out a flurry of Haste, Protect, Shell on both himself and Gabranth. Feeling the magic speed his thinking and muscles, Vaan lets the adrenaline hide the lingering pain in his leg as he dives into battle.

Gabranth adjusts with ease to the additional participant in the battle. He keeps the esper distracted with heavy blows from two strange, massive swords. The fighter uses no magicks, but Vaan is able to supplement the strong attacks with his own physical and magical ones.

A thrust of the Gabranth's sword, pinning the creature in place as a blast of Fire washes over it. The judge blocks a retaliating blow as Vaan darts behind the beast - slower than normal, but fast enough - to deliver a series of slashes to its back. Then another slash and magical blast. Over and over the two attack and move around, throwing everything they have into surviving the battle.

It's obvious when the esper is weakening, as it's screams of rage grow louder and its attacks begin coming faster. Vaan's leg finally gives out and he fails to dodge a great sweeping of the esper's claw. The blow knocks Vaan halfway across the room and into the metal covered body of Gabranth. Both humes fall to the ground in a heap, but Gabranth is getting up again an instant later, pulling the boy behind him. "We must stop it quickly," He says, looking around for something - anything - that can turn the battle around.

Vaan nods and closes his eyes, not bothering to move away from the man. As he focuses, the air shifts, then becomes heavy. It takes longer than it should for Gabranth to recognize a Quickening, mostly because the Judge would not have imagined such a boy able to channel the Mist in such a difficult way.

Red and blue light wraps around the esper, and Gabranth quickly reaches into himself to call out his own Quickening magick. While Vaan charges up for another attack, Gabranth releases his own - chains of bright white light exploding out of the ground and pulling the esper into the ground. Then the red and blue wraps around the creature once more.

In the end, they manage to keep the chain going long enough for the esper to fall. As soon as the crystal holding the glyph clatters to the ground, Vaan and Gabranth both slide to the ground in an exhausted heap. Vaan doesn't have enough energy to move from where he landed on top of the armor clad man, and just lies still - panting and gasping from exhaustion and pain.

A gauntlet covered hand rests on Vaan's back. "You should have run," the owner is gasping for breath as well.

"Yeah, probably," Vaan admits, not even able to process how weird this situation is thanks to his utter and total exhaustion. Instead he stays right where he is, as the two try to rest and recover now that the threat had passed.

…...

Vaan startles away as the cool tingle of a Cure spell washes over him. Groaning, he picks his head up from his metal pillow. Then, realizing just what - or who - his pillow was, he quickly stands. His leg complains even louder than before, now that he'd pushed it again in battle, but he ignores it in favor of looking for the caster of the healing spell. "Larsa?"

The boy is standing in the entrance to the hall, a strange look on his face as Vaan and Gabranth both wake and reorient themselves. "I woke to find you both gone. Was there trouble?"

Realizing how odd finding them in the middle of a monster-infested dungeon asleep on top of each other must have been - especially considering the issues between himself and Gabranth, Vaan rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, you could say that."

Gabranth has moved over and picked up the glyph, forgotten on the ground. "An esper was here, my lord." He says. Vaan notices the twinge of awe in his voice. He isn't immune to awe himself either - this one had been on an entire other level from Mateus and Belias. "Zeromus, the Condemner," The man reads from the glyph.

"I see," Larsa says reluctantly, sounding disturbed and unsure. He casts another round of Cure spells then looks around the chamber. "I'm going to take a look around." The boys walks off, avoiding a few glowing trap ruins as he explores the empty room.

Gabranth watches the young prince for a long moment, assuring himself of the boy's safety. Then the Judge turns and moves to stand before Vaan. "This is yours, Vaan," he says, placing the crystal in Vaan's hands.

Vaan may be naive and a bit dense at times, but given their talk earlier and just who this esper is, Vaan can tell the enormity of the action. It is like a prisoner handing the executioner his blade. Taking the crystal, Vaan opens himself to the esper - the crystal glows and melts into his skin. A shimmering light carrying the glyph moves over Vaan's skin, coming to rest just behind the boy's neck. Then the light fades and Vaan gasps as the glyph becomes a part of his skin.

It burns, and a voice hisses into his mind - demanding justice, demanding an execution, demanding vengeance for past wrongs.

Eyes clenched shut, Vaan breaths deeply, adjusting to the faint presence in his mind. Zeromus has an alluring call, but even as the esper suggests Vaan destroy Gabranth, but the single minded fury and drive in the esper's cry frightens Vaan. The esper holds a darkness within its mind that Vaan shies away from - he's lost within the past, something that Vaan has learned to avoid. In the early days, after the war decimated Rabanastre and misery was everywhere, Vaan had seen memories and rage cause people to wither away and die. Better to look forward and survive. Better to dream of and work for a better future instead of letting the past win.

"I hate you for what you did. No matter what your reasons were, I don't think I'll ever forgive your past," Vaan says as he opens his eyes. "But I won't be like Zeromus. I can't live in the past, longing to right all the wrongs done back then. Just… know that I won't hesitate to kill you if you do anything in the present to deserve it."

Gabranth's eyes widen slightly at Vaan's words, and the boy takes a small bit of pleasure in surprising the stoic, older man.

"Likewise, Vaan," The man replies.

The click of Larsa's boots grows louder as he returns towards where the others stand. Reaching Vaan, he casts yet another healing spell at both men, then speaks, "It looks like there's an opening into some tunnels at the other end of this hall. If I recall my geography lessons correctly, the Kinmuth Caverns are in this area. We may be able to make our way to them from here. The Kinmuth Caves stretch north, so could be the best way travel. It probably is safer than travelling overland, as we wish to avoid notice of the Archadia."

Vaan looks over into the darkness towards where Larsa is gesturing. When he entered the shrine with Larsa and Gabranth, he'd only intended to wait out the heat of the Arcadian invasion with the pair until his friends returned. But what Gabranth had said hours earlier - about the prince being their best chance at getting peace - well, Vaan realized he agreed with the words.

When he first met Princess Ashe and the others, he's wholeheartedly agreed that helping her regain her throne would guarantee independence for Dalmasca and guarantee Arcadia left them in peace. But nothing was that simple. Arcadia was strong and had a long reach. Even is Ashe stood on the throne, as long as people like Larsa's brother Vayne were in power, Vaan knew his homeland would never be free.

So Larsa was their best chance - if he could get the prince back to Arcadia, Larsa would be able to use his influence to quietly remove his brother from power. Larsa wanted peace, and would work for it. Hell, he was crawling around in dungeons with only one judge and a thief to protect him because he was so determined on doing all he could to ensure peace.

Larsa had approached Vaan while the thief stood lost in thought. His words bring the thief back into the moment. "Vaan, I understand that you are simply here awaiting the return of the others. Please don't-"

"The others can make it back to Rabanastre on their own. And you'll need me if you want to sneak around Dalmasca under the radar - I've been doing it for years." Vaan says with a casual acceptance he doesn't quite feel. "We can work on convincing the others to help us once we're all rested and back in familiar territory."

Larsa's pleased grin is bright, even under the grime of the dirt covering it. "Thank you, Vaan. I shouldn't be surprised at this point by your willingness to help."

Vaan sighs, and finds his eyes drawn over to where Gabranth looms in the shadows. Was he really ready to leave the others and travel for weeks, fight countless monsters standing beside the man who helped orchestrate the death of his brother?

"Don't mention it. Seriously."

"We should be off, then," The armored judge finally speaks up, now that all the decisions were made. "We are tired, but best quit this place before more monsters return."

Together, the three of them return to the crystal to fetch the rest of their supplies. Vaan pauses a moment to leave a message for Penelo, then hurries to join the others by the opening that had broken open in the fight. As soon as all three are through and a safe distance away, Vaan stops for a moment, using the little magick power he'd regained in the too-short rest to cast a small Quake spell. The ground by the opening shudders, and rocks collapse - cutting the path off from from the shrine.

"Gotta cover our tracks," He shrugs in explanation as the cold metal visage on Gabranth's helm turns to look towards him. "Always move forwards."

…

It is almost four full days before Princess Ashe's party is able escape the chaos that had erupted in Bur-Omisace and return to the Stillshrine of Miriam to find Vaan. By now, everyone - even the princess herself - is anxious about reuniting with their missing member. Penelo all but throws a fit when they arrive at the front of the shrine and find no Vaan waiting there.

"Perhaps he sought shelter from the cold inside. Let us make haste to the crystal we found in the depths," Balthier says, wasting no time in quickly walking towards the entrance, Penelo a mere half step behind him.

"The princess and I will wait out here, in case he wandered somewhere outside and simply hasn't returned yet," Basch says. Fran nods in acknowledgement and follows her partner and Penelo inside.

Many monsters have returned, so it takes an agonizingly long time for the small party to reach the crystal. When they arrive, Penelo's attention is instantly caught by a drawing crudely scratched on the wall. Shining in the blue glow of the crystal is a cactoid in a vest, a lily and a blob that Penelo thinks is supposed to be a sunstone.

"Vaan, you have so much explaining to do when I get my hands on you," the girl growls at the wall.

"That is a message from him, then?" Balthier asks, looking at the drawing as well.

"Yeah," Penelo nods before kneeling down and scratching out the drawings until they are unrecognizable. "We'll meet him back in Rabanastre."

"Then you are right. He will have quite a bit of explaining to do," Fran says, resting her warhammer in her hands and shaking her head at the wall. "Let us be off. We have a reunion to attend."

…