![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
FFXII: Something More Valuable
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Pairing: Balthier/Ashe
Warnings: Sap
Rating: G
Summary: Balthier returns for a treasure he left behind. For![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katmillia, in hopes of cheering her up.
"I fear you are getting too serious in my absence," Balthier says, startling Ashe right out of her thoughts and making her whip around to look at him. He smiles at her; it's an easy smile, as if he's assured of his welcome, and as if to deter any questions about how exactly he got there, he fills the space where she might ask such a question. There's a note of something else, too, in his voice now, some bitterness or sarcasm, some mocking edge. Ashe does not know if he mocks himself or her. "Is it that I disappeared, and that you miss me, or is it more that you're a queen now, and must be set apart?"
She wants to say that it's a little of both. Instead, she turns again to face the window, looking down on the city. "I did not expect you to come back here, after you found your 'something more valuable'."
"Nor did I. I am a sky pirate after all," he says. "But perhaps I thought there was something more valuable here."
Ashe doesn't dare to let herself hope. Instead, she lets the frost of winter take over her voice: that, of late, has become all too easy. "Haven't you pillaged enough tombs so far in your life?"
"I wasn't aware that you were dead, Princess," Balthier says, softly. Ashe doesn't know whether he means it -- can't bear to turn and meet his eyes so that he can see the hope in her eyes, because it might, after all, be a false hope. There's laughter in his voice now: "And if you are, you still look very beautiful despite it. Death becomes you, one might say."
"I am not dead," she concedes, and yet still she doesn't turn to face him.
"A fortunate thing. I am not so depraved as to wish to bed a corpse. Although I fear your heart may be dead, though your body be living and breathing. Or do you have other reasons for not looking at me?"
Ashe does turn now -- stung, a little, because she does feel, and she is tired of the mocking note in his voice. "My heart still beats."
"Does it also feel?"
For a long, long moment -- an era, to her, a time in which kingdoms could rise and fall -- she looks at him: unchanged in appearance, as vain as ever, and the look on his face cocksure; he does not think she will reject his advances -- if advances they are. "It does," she says, finally.
"Ah," Balthier says, and for a moment Ashe is sure she's misjudged him. It wouldn't be for the first time. But then he takes a step toward her. "Does it now feel for a ghost or a man of flesh and blood?"
"I have exorcised my ghosts," she says, and she waits. She doesn't know what she expects him to do: laugh in her face, or take her hand, or kiss her. He does laugh -- but it is more of a relieved laugh than anything else. And then he kisses her -- a moment too strange and sweet to her, after so long, for her to put it into words even inside her own head. "You will not stay," she says, when he pulls back. It is not an accusation, but a statement of fact. Balthier is a pirate, a sky pirate, not a butterfly to be pinned down.
"But I always return when I leave something important behind, as we have seen," he tells her, and she knows it is truth -- she cannot ask for more.
Pairing: Balthier/Ashe
Warnings: Sap
Rating: G
Summary: Balthier returns for a treasure he left behind. For
katmillia, in hopes of cheering her up."I fear you are getting too serious in my absence," Balthier says, startling Ashe right out of her thoughts and making her whip around to look at him. He smiles at her; it's an easy smile, as if he's assured of his welcome, and as if to deter any questions about how exactly he got there, he fills the space where she might ask such a question. There's a note of something else, too, in his voice now, some bitterness or sarcasm, some mocking edge. Ashe does not know if he mocks himself or her. "Is it that I disappeared, and that you miss me, or is it more that you're a queen now, and must be set apart?"
She wants to say that it's a little of both. Instead, she turns again to face the window, looking down on the city. "I did not expect you to come back here, after you found your 'something more valuable'."
"Nor did I. I am a sky pirate after all," he says. "But perhaps I thought there was something more valuable here."
Ashe doesn't dare to let herself hope. Instead, she lets the frost of winter take over her voice: that, of late, has become all too easy. "Haven't you pillaged enough tombs so far in your life?"
"I wasn't aware that you were dead, Princess," Balthier says, softly. Ashe doesn't know whether he means it -- can't bear to turn and meet his eyes so that he can see the hope in her eyes, because it might, after all, be a false hope. There's laughter in his voice now: "And if you are, you still look very beautiful despite it. Death becomes you, one might say."
"I am not dead," she concedes, and yet still she doesn't turn to face him.
"A fortunate thing. I am not so depraved as to wish to bed a corpse. Although I fear your heart may be dead, though your body be living and breathing. Or do you have other reasons for not looking at me?"
Ashe does turn now -- stung, a little, because she does feel, and she is tired of the mocking note in his voice. "My heart still beats."
"Does it also feel?"
For a long, long moment -- an era, to her, a time in which kingdoms could rise and fall -- she looks at him: unchanged in appearance, as vain as ever, and the look on his face cocksure; he does not think she will reject his advances -- if advances they are. "It does," she says, finally.
"Ah," Balthier says, and for a moment Ashe is sure she's misjudged him. It wouldn't be for the first time. But then he takes a step toward her. "Does it now feel for a ghost or a man of flesh and blood?"
"I have exorcised my ghosts," she says, and she waits. She doesn't know what she expects him to do: laugh in her face, or take her hand, or kiss her. He does laugh -- but it is more of a relieved laugh than anything else. And then he kisses her -- a moment too strange and sweet to her, after so long, for her to put it into words even inside her own head. "You will not stay," she says, when he pulls back. It is not an accusation, but a statement of fact. Balthier is a pirate, a sky pirate, not a butterfly to be pinned down.
"But I always return when I leave something important behind, as we have seen," he tells her, and she knows it is truth -- she cannot ask for more.
no subject
At least I'm getting paid for it.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
So sweet, so perfectly Balthier and Ashe. You've really got a knack for writing our beloved sky pirate's voice.
no subject
And definitely thank you for that. I agonise over Balthier at times.
no subject
no subject
I really liked Ashe's reluctance in this story and how you portrayed her. ♥
no subject
Thank you. ♥
no subject
no subject
*working on Balthier/Fran bondage right now k*
no subject
no subject
I'm also working on Balthier/Basch and Basch/Vossler, simultaneously. Too much smut, brain coming out of ears, k.
no subject
no subject