Ever At Your Service [Part XIV]
Title: Ever At Your Service [Part XIV]
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Characters: Basch/Ashe, Gabranth, Larsa
Rating: PG
Summary: Ashe and Basch face final battle; Basch assumes Gabranth’s role as judge and forfeits his life in Rabanastre.
There is never enough time.
Ashe walks behind the others, her heart pounding in her chest. She is close - so close - to stopping Vayne and ending the war that rages over her city, her home. He is somewhere above them, in the Sky Fortress Bahamut, closer than he has ever been.
Stop Vayne and Larsa assumes command.
Larsa assumes command, and Dalmasca is restored.
She is two steps from the end. Two complicated, difficult steps to regaining her crown, and it feels so close that she can touch it, taste it, feel it, but it is still so far away.
If only we could have rested, she thinks. They gained barely a nap after destroying the Sun-cryst and talking to Al-Cid. If only we’d had time to prepare and not simply restock…
The fortress’ command tower looms ahead as they descend the stairs. It is massive, illuminated by thousands of small lights, and Ashe wonders how they will ever find Vayne in this floating castle.
He’ll be at the top, she assures herself. Balthier knows what he is doing.
He was a judge, after all.
The fortress gives a nasty jolt as the battle rages on outside. Ashe grips the railing and Basch braces himself nearby. “It’s getting bad out there,” Vaan says ahead of them. He grips Penelo tightly, offering balance.
After a moment, the Bahamut steadies and the sextet straighten themselves. Ashe looks to Basch and she sees confidence in his eyes. It heartens her and she nods to him, gripping her sword.
“The resistance fights their battle well,” Fran observes. “We dare not fail them. We dare not falter.”
They will not survive if we fail, Ashe realizes. It is more than just her friends’ lives at stake here - thousands of resistance soldiers outside will die should Vayne be allowed to persist.
“Stop worrying,” Vaan says confidently. “We just have to clean up here and Ashe’ll be the queen.”
Penelo steps up beside him. “It’s kind of hard to believe. I can’t imagine trying to run a whole kingdom.”
Ashe hears Basch chuckle a bit as he steps down to join them. “A queen might always run away with the help of a sky pirate looking to raise his bounty a peg.”
Balthier scoffs. “I doubt our queen would need the help of any sky pirates.”
Ashe smiles. Their confidence in her mission and in her ability to rule means more to her than she can say. She steps down beside Balthier. “Do you really think me as strong as all that?”
“Who said anything about strong?” Ashe looks down to Vaan. “You’ll make it. You got good friends.”
Yes, Ashe thinks as they proceed toward the elevator, I do.
Vaan fumbles with the controls, and Basch takes the moment to breathe. The battle ahead will not be easy, but Vayne is only one man.
A man with nethicite, he thinks. An advantage we do not have.
He looks to Ashe and finds her pensive, lost in her own thoughts. He would disturb her, tell her that everything will be alright - after their discussion on the Strahl he has more hope, not only for the restoration of Dalmasca, but for them, for their happiness. As long as he can remain with her, he knows he will be happy, and her want to keep him near makes all of his suffering seem worthwhile.
He would tell her his, stumble over the words while they head upwards on the command tower, but he hears the familiar sound of a man limping in armor from behind. He has hope and dread as he turns and sees Gabranth before them, sword in hand.
“So you have lived,” he says. He would be happy for his brother’s appearance - happy that Noah survived, if their mission at hand were not so dire.
“I am Judge Magister.” Gabranth steps forward and falters. “Even in disgrace.”
Pharos was mere hours ago, not even a day. Basch saw the way he hit the stone and fell to the ground and cringes at the thought of wearing heavy armor with those injuries.
“My just reward for aiding the empire that destroyed my homeland.”
“Gabranth, do not blame yourself anymore.” Basch steps forward. His newfound hope urges him to release his guilt for Landis, and he would have his brother do the same.
“You confound me, brother!” Gabranth cries out. “You failed Landis. You failed Dalmasca… all you were to protect. Yet you still hold onto your honor. How?”
“I had someone more important to defend,” Basch tells him. He feels Ashe’s eyes on his back. “And defend her I have. How is it that you have survived? Is it not because you defend Lord Larsa?”
“Silence! All was stripped from me!”
So Gabranth is not here under orders, Basch realizes. He is truly in disgrace. He must be here solely for Larsa.
“Only hatred for the brother who fled our homeland remains mine.” He separates the blades in his hands, and Basch recalls Noah’s skill with multiple weapons. For a stranger, it would be intimidating. For Basch it is a familiarity that will serve him.
“Tell me,” Gabranth implores, “why do you forsake that which you must hold most precious?”
“I do as I must, brother. Or is that not answer enough?”
Basch takes up his sword and battles Gabranth, grateful that the others have the sense to stay back. As they parry each other and move, Basch sees Penelo hiding her face in Basch’s shoulder, Fran with an arrow ready at her bow, Balthier with his gun in hand - his finger on the trigger. Ashe stands separate from them, her sword gripped in both hands, and Basch feels better, knowing that if he were to fall they would take Gabranth before he could harm them.
The fight is exhausting and long, for each brother can predict the other’s movements before he makes them. Basch pants, exhausted as he blocks another blow from Gabranth, and then he finds his opening. His sword meets the steel guarding Gabranth’s side and the force behind it brings Gabranth to his knees. He struggles up to his feet, but his air is gone and he cannot breathe. One of the blades falls from his grasp, and he raises the other to their eye level.
“Have you your fill of this?”
Basch knows what he asks. ‘Will you kill me?’
“I would ask you the same,” he says in return. “Let this end, Noah.”
Gabranth falls to his knees and bows his head, and Basch knows that his brother has seen reason - that this fight is useless. They are brothers, and whether they be on opposite sides of any battle line, the war should never be between them.
Treachery or not, this is his twin - now broken, now sensible.
“I’ve no right to be called by that name.”
“Then live and reclaim it.”
There is silence between them, and Basch knows he must leave Noah to finish his errand with Vayne. He looks to Vaan and nods for him to throw the switch and move them upwards.
“I will come back for you,” he tells Noah, kneeling as the lift comes to life and begins to move. “And we will leave together. You needn’t go back to Archades.”
He reaches for Noah’s helmet to remove it - he must be in pain - but Noah stops him, seizing his hand. “No. I must complete my duty to Lord Larsa.”
Basch nods slowly. “I understand.”
Noah looks up at him, and for just a moment the light agrees to illuminate his face through the slit he sees through. He sees Noah’s eyes for only a second, but it is enough. Noah’s voice is tired and worn: “I know you do, brother.”
Vayne has changed, Ashe realizes, and she stares in horror as he commands his illuminated swords to aim themselves at her and her party. His face appears rotten, decaying and grotesque, and his body is warped. His muscles bulge in ways that will haunt her dreams for years to come…
If she survives to dream in the years to come.
She does not notice Gabranth until Vayne addresses him, but a part of her is relieved the Judge has lived, though she hates him still for his deception and crimes against her family.
But he is Basch’s brother, and so she cares.
“Gabranth, you will defend my brother,” Vayne orders. Only his voice has remained untouched. Ashe looks over to the Judge Magister. She hates him, and yet she has never seen his face. “He will have much need in the hell to follow.”
She watches, awestruck, as Gabranth raises his blade and points it at Vayne. Basch, only a few feet from her, gasps quietly, and she sees the same awe that she feels written on his face.
Perhaps this is the Noah he knew, she thinks. Perhaps this is the Noah he always wanted to be his brother.
It may be too late.
“Yes, I will defend Lord Larsa!”
Vayne’s eyes leave Ashe for the first time. Balthier shifts at Ashe’s left and she chances a glance at him. The pirate has not taken his eyes from Vayne. His hand is tight around his Formalhaut, his finger twitching as it always does over the trigger. It would seem that Balthier, who had only joined them in hope of payment, now takes Ashe’s charge personally.
Perhaps it was personal from the moment his father was mentioned.
Vayne’s voice booms over them. “The hound strays. Treason bears a price.”
“One I gladly pay.”
Basch’s chest swells in something Ashe imagines is akin to pride. She looks back to Vayne and raises her own sword, rushing in to attack Vayne’s Occurian blades.
Basch looks on as Larsa falls to his knees. Capturing Vayne’s swords could not have been simple for such a young boy, but he has managed it. Basch stares at him in astonishment. Larsa risked his life to protect his guard. Perhaps he and Ashe are more alike than they are different.
There is hope for Archadia.
Ashe has rushed on to follow Vayne. Penelo comforts Larsa, and Basch looks to the boy from his brother’s side. Basch knows how the young Solidor must feel - betrayed, broken and cold by his brother’s departure. Surely Vayne will die now, and Larsa must know. Unless Vanat finds some way to preserve his life, it is likely the injuries the now-Emperor has sustained will keep him from ever making an escape.
Basch supports Noah’s head as he watches Penelo comfort Larsa, who remains quite still. His display of courage in attacking Vayne has made Basch believe in many things - that Noah has returned, that his sense of honor has been restored, and that there would be a chance for redemption if his wounds were not mortal.
There is not time enough to ask what happened - what made Noah understand - but Basch thinks he knows.
It was Larsa. It was knowing he was protecting something precious, something that would change the world for the better. It was being responsible for keeping him safe until he could defend himself. It was defending Larsa’s life, honor and station, and caring for the boy himself, without the title and circumstance, for simply being Larsa.
Yes, Basch understands, and if his brother is anything like him, he knows Noah understands now too.
Honor is not given. It is felt.
Identical hearts beat in identical chests, and now they have identical definitions of honor and knighthood.
“Basch, tell me. He is a good master?”
Basch nods. “Aye.” He looks down to Noah, whose consciousness is fading. He wishes to stay by his brother’s side - to try and save him, but there is never time enough.
He lays Noah down and leaves with Penelo to follow the others after Vayne.
Vayne falls and disintegrates in a fiery display. When the smoke clears there is a blue sky - one they had not seen for nearly an hour of being encased by Vayne and Venat’s magicks. Ashe looks out from the platform to Rabanastre below. By tonight, the city will be free. By tonight, she will be queen.
By tonight, she will be herself again.
Basch catches the moment in the air. He can feel Rabanastre beneath them - home is so close, and though he has no bed, no place to call his own, he will be relieved beyond measure to walk through the Westgate and see his city again. The city he’s fought so fiercely to protect, both for himself and for Vossler.
He does not look out to the city, though. He looks to Ashe - her blonde hair moving in the breeze, her blood running down her arms toward her sword, the deep gash on her leg. They have nothing left with which to heal themselves, no ether’s to raise their limits for working magick, but it does not bother him. The exhaustion does not bother him because they are home and Ashe is safe.
Dalmasca is safe, and they shall see what happens next.
And next is very soon.
Upon realizing the war still raged in the skies overhead, Basch, Ashe, Penelo, and Vaan followed Fran and Balthier back inside Bahamut. They found Larsa kneeling over Gabranth, speaking to him quietly. Ashe approaches him and kneels at his side.
“Larsa, you must come with us.”
“My brother is dead, isn’t he?”
She nods solemnly and reaches out to place her hand on the young Emperor’s shoulder. “I am sorry.”
“Do not be,” Larsa says. His voice is solid, despite the grief Ashe knows he must feel. “The man you saw today was not the brother I had known.”
Ashe looks up to Basch, knowing he amongst them would understand Larsa best, but there is no time do discuss these matters now. The Bahamut gives a mighty quake and Ashe stands.
“We must leave.”
Basch nods and Balthier and the pair kneel, taking Noah by the arms and pulling him up. He groans, and Basch is grateful his brother lives, but he hasn’t the time to tell him so.
“Vaan. A little help here?”
“Right.” Vaan steps forward and helps them carry Noah back to the lift. They lean him against the railing and support him until they reach the lower level, and carry him with great effort towards the Strahl.
“Leave me, brother,” Noah says. Basch scoffs.
“No. I would not leave you to die here.”
“I will die regardless.”
“Quiet, Noah.”
They lay the judge on the bench behind the cockpit, and Larsa immediately kneels at his side. Ashe watches the boy, considering all that he has lost in the weeks past - his father, his brother, and now his protector? Oh, Larsa, she thinks. I am so sorry it has to be like this. You of all people do not deserve this pain.
I know what it means to lose those you love.
Ashe looks to Basch as he kneels at his brother’s side. She can do nothing for him now, so as she passes, she simply runs her fingers through his hair to let him know she is there - to remind him they are both alive.
Balthier slides with ease into his pilot’s seat. He looks to Fran who quickly surveys the power levels.
“No fuel goes to the glossair engines.”
“Damn!” he exclaims and stands from his seat. “Vaan, you’re in charge. I’m checking the engine room. Fran, with me!”
The viera and sky pirate make only a few strides toward the back of the airship before an explosion nearby rocks the craft. Ashe looks up through the windshield and stares in horror.
“Look! Bahamut’s glossair rings are stopping!”
They come to a standstill, and she realizes this can spell certain disaster for the city below.
“Vaan!” Balthier points at the boy. “As soon as the Strahl’s rings move, you take off. Understood.”
Vaan readily jumps into Balthier’s coveted captain’s chair, but when he does, he looks uncertain. “You can fly her Vaan. Just do it like I told you.”
“Don’t worry.”
Fran moves Penelo into the copilot’s seat, and the girl looks uncertain as well. “Penelo, watch for interference from the Bahamut’s skystone. The Strahl’s a fickle girl. You keep her working for us.”
Penelo’s optimism shines through. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Balthier and Fran leave the cockpit, passing by Basch and Larsa, who are both kneeling beside Noah. There is an understanding between them, as Noah speaks, and Basch feels his future slipping from his calloused fingers. It is a feeling he is familiar with, but it has never devastated him in this way.
He will wear his brother’s face as Noah once wore his.
“Basch. Look after Larsa, will you?” Noah asks. His eyes are pleading, an expression Basch has felt on his own face but never seen. “If House Solidor should crumble, the Empire would fail and civil war would take us all.”
What would Basch care of the Empire? He thinks of the kind Archadian citizens they encountered while on their way to Draklor. They would be killed in a bloody war between countrymen.
If I could save but one person from war’s horror, then I would bear any shame.
I would bear it proudly.
“I understand,” Basch agrees. Though he is glad he can offer is brother some dying comfort, he knows what this sacrifice will mean. He forfeits his and Ashe’s future, his right to reclaim his name, and his service to Dalmasca.
“Lord Larsa is our last hope,” he says. His voice is faltering, and Larsa stands and turns away, taken by his grief. The Strahl begins to move - he hears Vaan and Penelo’s excited voices, and he tries to remain steady as this ship roars to life, and Vaan accelerates. They are carried away from the falling fortress quickly, but Basch has no time, nor the will to celebrate. “Protect him. I would entrust him to no other’s care.”
“I will keep him from harm,” Basch assures Noah, holding his hand tightly in his own. Larsa will restore Dalmasca with Ashe. The boy’s mind is unclouded by dreams of unending power - he will be a fine ruler. “I promise you. For the Empire, and for Dalmasca.”
“Your words put me at ease, brother.” Basch rests his head against their folded hands and closes his eyes. “Sorry to leave you.”
Noah breathes his last, and Basch is left alone. He will soon be trapped in his brother’s skin, taken from all he knows and holds dear. He breathes deeply, pushing back his anger and fear - pushing back the memory of the hope he felt as Vayne fell and the sky cleared. He will do it. He will assume his brother’s position.
For the Empire, and for Dalmasca.