Author's Note:

This is a rewrite of the original first chapter of this fanfic. The first draft was done in January 2011, and it was a very poor representation of the writing of this still (as of February 2018) updating fanfic. It's fundamentally the same, just polished. If you're new to the fanfic, welcome. This note probably doesn't matter to you (except that the writing might dip a bit for the next few early chapters). If you're an old reader, feel free to retry or not this first chapter. You won't miss anything if you don't, but it's not painful to read anymore.

The Royal Palace of Rabanastre was a maze. A beautifully decorated, Imperial soldier-infested maze. I slipped around a corner, dodging the sight-lines of one of the soldiers, and took a deep breath. So far, the plan was going well. I'd slipped in to the palace without a hitch; people who passed me by assumed by my outfit that I was an Archadian well-to-do visiting the city for Vayne's party. I'd slipped away from the festivities fairly easily, too; a quick mention of the bathroom and I was off without another thought. Now I was up in the upper levels of the palace, searching for the Treasury that I knew was around here somewhere. I had no scruples about stealing from the Rabanastran Treasury. Its rightful owners were dead, and its new one was, from all accounts, an ego-maniac.

I slipped around another corner and nearly yelped when I came face-to-face with another person. Blonde, tan, a bit dirty, wearing patchwork armor and clothing, he stared at me with wide, blue-grey eyes. He wasn't an Imperial. Not only did he lack a set of the uniform, easily identifiable armor, there was also in his eyes something Rabanastran. He had snuck into the palace as I had, hoping to find riches, and, behind his surprise, there burned a loathing for the people who had taken his home from him and a hunger for something more.

It tugged at me. I didn't fully understand why, but I saw something familiar in the boy in front of me, something about the poor Rabanastran with dreams of something greater.

So I put my finger to my lips and winked at him. And I pushed him across the hallway that bisected the one we hid in, compelling him into safety again. And I stepped out behind him into the open area as the guards turned to look at the sound.

"What are you doing here?" one of them asked, taking a step toward me and grabbing onto his sword.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, doing my best to look like a harmless, lost, noble lady and donning my Archadian accent. "I seem to have lost my way." I took a few steps toward them, away from the other thief. "Gentlemen, could you help me?" I hope he's taking this chance to run, I thought, not daring to look over my shoulder.

"You're far off from where you ought to be, miss. Where'd you head off to?" one of the guards asked, relaxing and taking his hand off of his sword.

I pouted, twirling a strand of my hair. "Oh, I was just heading off to the little girls' room to freshen up. I suppose I took a wrong turn." I did a big, dramatic sigh. "This palace is just so big." I gave the guards a coy smile. "It must be hard to guard a palace so big."

I heard one of them clear his throat as he stepped forward, puffing his chest out. "I'd be happy to show you the way, miss."

I rushed forward and clung to his arm, though the urge to roll my eyes at how easily they had been manipulated was strong. "Thank you so much."

He led me back down hallways that I'd already carefully snuck through. I started forming a plan, and I said, "It's very kind of you to escort me like this."

"Oh, uh, of course," he stuttered, aware that I was clinging more tightly to him. "I'm happy to do it."

We were coming up on a small nook that I remembered ducking into, and I clicked my tongue. "Do you have to wear that all the time?" I asked, and I tapped the forehead lightly with my nail. "Seems rather stuffy." I let my finger slide softly down the cheek of the helmet. "I can't imagine having to hid myself away all day like that. Especially at a party! It should be a crime." I was laying it on thick, but it was my experience that guards and soldiers would take any opportunity to take their armor off in the company of a beautiful woman.

He hesitated for a moment, and to really sell it I gave my lower lip a small bite and smiled. "You know, you're right," he said, and he reached up to take the helmet off. It was a shame, too, because he was fairly handsome.

I grinned at him and tugged him gently toward the nook that we'd come up beside. He resisted a little, worried about his duties probably, but my hand on the back of his neck was enough encouragement. I did kiss him, to sell it and because he was cute and it'd been a while since I'd been kissed, and then I slammed his head into the wall behind him. The betrayal didn't even register before he slumped to the ground, unconscious. I waited a moment to be sure that no one had heard the slump of armor, then used a nearby curtain tie back to restrain his arms behind him. I stood, straightened, and made sure that the scuffle hadn't messed up my outfit or hair.

I began to retrace my steps, heading back for the treasury and that kid that I'd let get away. I froze when I heard voices coming from around a corner. I waited, listening.

"I heard they called in them special forces for t'night," a husky voice said.

"No way. Why?" another voice, lighter but equally as dumb, responded.

"Sounds like the Lord Consul thinks someone's gon' go an' kill 'im!"

The second voice gasped at the same time that I did. Was the Resistance moving on Rabanastre? Time to go and leave that bullshit to the people who care, I thought, but they'd heard my gasp.

"What was that?" the first one asked, and their footsteps approached.

I dropped to my knees and began running my hands over the carpet beneath me, muttering under my breath, "Where is it? Where is it?"

Both were surprised to see me, to see a rich-looking Archadian viera on the floor below them. One, who I assumed was the first, was fat and old while the other was middle-aged and lanky. Neither had attractive teeth or faces. "Ma'am," the lanky one said, "what are you doin' on the floor?"

"Oh, gentlemen!" I said dramatically, internally cringing at the disrespect I had just done the word "gentlemen." "I seem to have lost my ring! It's brand new and worth nearly five thousand gil!" I put a hand over my heart to emphasize what a grievous loss this was to me. "Such honorable and kind gentlemen like yourselves could spare a few moments of your busy day to help a poor woman like me find her missing ring, wouldn't you?" I moved my hand to my bottom lip, which jutted out ever so slightly. It was another old staple, another reliable way to get out a jam.

They both stared down my dress at my breasts, which while they were not particularly big were on display tonight. I let them, subtly pulling my arms in and pushing them together, and the men got on the ground to help me. Luckily for me, neither of these men seemed to take their jobs as seriously as the last guard because neither wore their helmet.

I moved toward the lanky one first, thinking that he'd be easier to take out. I continued to mime looking for a nonexistent ring while sidling up close. I leaned forward, making my blue eyes big and helpless, and asked, "Have you found it yet?" His eyes again got caught on my breasts as he moved to look at me, so I took his chin in my hand and said, "I'll be so grateful when you find it."

He gulped audibly. "S-s-sure thing, ma'am." He chuckled nervously.

I checked very quickly to make sure that the other guard's eyes were on the floor, and I backhanded the lanky one, hitting him hard in the head with my metal hand jewelry. He went down with a rather hollow clunk, and I spun around to the second guard, who had sprung up at the noise and stared at me with wide eyes. I grinned at him and, dropping the accent, said, "You didn't see a thing. Isn't that right?" He nodded, but with a flick of my wrist I cast Stop on him. He stood, frozen in place, and without any trouble at all I backhanded him as well, watching as the spell faded as unconsciousness took him and he fell to the ground.

Though all parts of my new, improvised plan seemed inelegant, I cast Vanish on myself and ran quickly and directly to the secret entrance to the Garamsythe. I will not get caught here with the Resistance.

I found a small, dry corner of the sewer and slipped out of my impractical, Archadian outfit and back into my adventuring clothes, took out my lance, and grabbed my map. I was gritting my teeth through the vile much coating nearly every surface in the sewers, trying to avoid rats and bats and giant toads.

"Didn't even swipe anything," I muttered bitterly to myself as I went. Then I remembered that kid. "If he got anything, I have the right to take it. He wouldn't have even gotten it without me." The thought crossed my mind that the mess with the Resistance might have ruined things for him, and I wondered if he made it out alright. It was a distant concern, seeing as I wouldn't be spending much time with him anyway, but I did wonder. And a small part of me hoped that he made it out alright.

Then I heard a commotion nearby and saw him! He had escaped the palace into the sewers as I had, but he was not alone. He was with a viera dressed in black and wielding a bow, a hume woman in white and gold with a haughty air about her, and a very handsome man with an intricate, expensive-looking vest on who was holding a gun. They were also surrounded by five flan.

I ran over, jumping from my platform over rushing sewage to theirs, slashing at a flan as I passed. The boy looked at me in shock, so I winked at him. "Didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, did you?" I said, grinning and flicking slime off of my lance.

"How did you...?" he asked, his voice trailing off.

"This is the viera friend you were talking about, Vaan?" the handsome man said, looking me over as he took a shot at the largest flan.

"Karre," I said, no reservations about introducing myself to him. I kept hitting the flan beside me, though my blade wasn't very effective against their gelatinous forms.

"That's Balthier," Vaan said, moving up beside me and hitting at the flan on his way. "And that's Fran," he motioned to the viera, "and Amalia," and the hume woman.

I nodded a quick greeting to them, then turned back to the flan. It should have been an even fight, but one of the flan was giant and much stronger than the others. While I was hacking away at one of them, I asked over my shoulder, "You get anything from that Treasury?"

"Yeah, I did," he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. "Thanks."

"It's mine."

"What?" He jumped out of the way of a flan tentacle and stared at me in confusion.

"Without me, you wouldn't have it, so it should belong to me." I shrugged at the obvious answer and finally managed to slice a flan in half.

There was something like an amused scoff from Balthier, and Vaan shook his head. "It's mine."

"Then I'll need to be compensated for my assistance," I continued, refusing to budge. "I had to humor some very disgusting guards after letting myself get caught. I don't do that for free."

"I don't have anything, though." It was a sad admission as, together, we split another flan apart. Ashe, Fran, and Balthier took out the other two small ones.

"If you don't have gil, I guess I'll just sell you into slavery," I said, my voice matter of fact, though I gave the boy an elbow and a grin. "Not that I think that'd be a lucrative deal."

He wasn't sure how to react, wasn't sure how much was truth and how much was teasing. We turned to the largest flan and, all together, were able to kill it. We watched as it slid into the waterway, and I shuddered as I wiped a smear of flan goo off of my arm.

Amalia spoke up. "We should not linger here."

I rolled my eyes at the obvious statement and started off toward the Lowtown entrance to the sewers. I looked Vaan up and down, something else familiar about him tugging at my mind. "You look familiar," I finally said. "Have we met before tonight?"

"Uhh, I don't think so," he replied, clearly still unsure how he felt about this viera who had come into his life.

I squinted at him, trying to determine if he looked like someone I'd met or if he just looked Dalmascan. Then I remembered the face he reminded me of. "Are you sure? I was in Rabanastre a little while ago." I pursed my lips, trying to do the math as every year ran together. "Maybe seven years ago. I was hunting a mark and a little boy helped me out. Looked a lot like you, if I remember right."

"What?"

"Told me his friend Gwen saw the mark around here in the Garamsythe. It was some wimpy zombie thing, but nasty looking as anything. You sure that wasn't you?"

"He said Gwen?" His eyes were getting wider as I spoke.

I nodded. "Yeah, Gwen. I didn't meet her, though. Just went through him. Hmm, if it wasn't you, who was it?"

"Reks? Was it Reks?" Vaan grabbed my arm he was so excited about the answer.

I looked down at him in surprise, the name sounding familiar in my ears. "Yeah, that was it. Do you know him?"

The excitement turned quickly to sadness, and he looked away from me, dropping my arm. "He was my brother. He died. In the war."

I didn't know what to say, what to do to make it right, why I even cared about making it right when I didn't know this boy, but I didn't have time to think on it because, as the metal gate closed behind us, a giant ball of fire appeared in a dense fog around us. "Shit," I said, watching as the ball of fire transformed into a flaming horse in front of us.

We didn't speak. Fran and Balthier took up positions on the edges of the room while Amalia, Vaan, and I stood in melee with the creature. We could only leave when it was dead, and we were so close to being out in the clear.

Or so we thought. As the beast fizzled out of existence, a plethora of boots stomping surrounded us. Within moments, soldiers lined the room, pointing crossbows at us. "Stay where you are!" one yelled to us. And then, to top it all off, Vayne Solidor himself stepped out of the crowd and looked down at us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amalia step forward, but Balthier put a hand on her arm and whispered, "Now is not the time."

The soldiers swarmed us.

"They're the thieves who stole from the palace," someone in the crowd said. We were in Lowtown, handcuffed, guarded, and being prepared to be shipped off to Nalbina. It was degrading, being seet out on display for the rabble to gawk at.

"Is that what the commotion last night was about?" someone else said. I sighed and shook my head. I'd get out of this, but I was angry with myself for getting caught in the first place.

"They think me some common thief," Amalia said distastefully. I was liking her less and less every time she opened her mouth.

"Better than a common assassin," Balthier said, and, looking on the bright side, reveled in the soft caress of his deep voice.

One of the guards pushed Amalia away from us. "These people have done nothing. Release them," she commanded with authority that she didn't really have.

"What are you doing?" Vaan asked.

"Don't interrupt me. I'm thinking," she said curtly.

She was led away, and I snorted. "Good riddance."

"Wait!" someone from the crowd yelled, coming forward. She was young, with blond hair in two braids, and she was running for us. A guard stopped her, and she struggled against him. "He didn't know what he was doing! You have to let him go! You have to."

"Penelo," Vaan called, taking a single step forward and holding up his shackled hands. "Sorry. That dinner'll have to wait."

"I told you," she said sadly, slumping against the guard holding her back.

But she was pushing past him when another guard came forward and smacked Vaan upside the head, saying, "That's enough!"

"Leave him alone!" Penelo yelled, running for her friend.

Balthier stepped in front of her, a handkerchief in his hand. "Hold onto this for me, would you? Just until I bring Vaan back."

She took it and stood, silent.

"On your feet!" one of the guards commanded. I was greatly amused to find that it was my lanky friend. He got flustered when we made eye contact, so I winked at him. "Uhh, you! Over here!" And then we were carted away.