Final Fantasy XII 1. The Theory

**A/N:** This is a short something, I wrote for my birthday. Actually I wanted to just write something for my birthday and this plot bunny was doing a jig in my mind for the longest time.

**FFXII Theory:** I was thinking about how Vaan always appeared to be on the same level Ashe was for a while until something changed. It made me think maybe Vaan is also a part of the Dynast King's legacy? I mean, he would be something like Ashe's very distant cousin.

Here's my logic, Kings were known to have mistresses and there were sometimes illegitimate heirs produced. (I can't remember where in the game but I talked to someone and the mentioned Ashe was the first female child of the line) Anyway the illegitimate child goes on and has a family and it eventually leads to Reks and Vaan (depending on when the illegitimate heir was produced). I would suppose that maybe Vaan's bloodline is far more diluted than Ashe's (or maybe it isn't?) and that's why when Rassler was seen in the beginning both saw him because the image (could have been?) tailored to the bloodline of the Dynast King. It was only when they realized that Vaan could see him that they narrowed to the intended target. /end theory.

So I was thinking of making a short little story in honor of my eighteenth birthday (February 13th)

**X**

Penelo was out shopping for supplies, when a strange thought occurred to her. It hadn't been more than a year or two since the stint she and Vaan took in saving the world, but she didn't know why the logic hadn't rammed its way into her brain before now. It was practically obvious that Vaan was different than a normal peasant boy, other than the fact that half the time he didn't seem like the most colorful chocobo in the pack.

It only took one night of camping before Vaan was chatting her ear off about how both he and Ashe had seen Prince Rassler, which seemed odd because only those two had seen him, but Penelo had shrugged it off as nothing more than Vaan being special. They had had to have been dragged into the fray for some reason.

Still it wasn't until she was between buying fruit and a new necklace did she wonder if maybe, just maybe Ashe and Vaan were very distantly related? It would make some sense as to Vaan's special-ness. (Penelo frowned because for once she was the one making up words instead of Vaan or their orphans). Vaan was also the one who easily held both the King's Blade and the Treaty Blade along with Ash. So, it was strange that just right then after all this time she had finally come to the conclusion that Vaan could be of the Dynast line.

A smile over came Penelo's face as she thought of telling Vaan her theory. He'd probably laugh it off first, but she was sure that all she needed to plant some thought in his head was to merely mention it, and how cool would it be if they could figure out if he was or if he wasn't. It would be like an adventure, except maybe one that would allow them some breathing room. She could go record diving and Vaan could talk to the few survivors whom remembered his parents and grandparents, since he hated going over papers. (That was probably why she was always the one who filled out their licenses). It would be fun and probably safe, or safer. Because with Vaan around the trouble was always just hanging around the corner waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting members of his group.

Penelo was too enthralled in her theory that she didn't noticed Vaan's approached until he grabbed her from around the middle and swung her around. If she could have jumped she would have, but seeing as jumping usually meant one was touching the ground somewhat it was impossible for her at the moment.

"Vaan!" she shrieked (though it was also mixed with a giggle). The blonde in question just grinned. "Put me down!" She squirmed as best she could. Vaan relented in his spinning of her and set her down back on her feet.

"Aw, Penelo you're no fun," he gave a pout before looking behind her seemingly trying to see what exactly was behind her. "So, what were you looking at that was so intriguing?"

"Oh! I wasn't looking at anything. I was thinking."

"Doesn't that hurt when you do that?" Vaan teasingly said as he tapped his temple. Penelo gaped at him for a moment before giving him a good shove.

"I could've ask you the same thing!" she laughed. "How long were you waiting to use that one?"

"All year," Vaan grinned.

"Though so," Penelo scrunched her nose at him as she linked her arm with his. They were quiet for a while neither speaking (and for once not because they both had silence casted upon while having virtually no echo herbs or remedies). The two orphans were just enjoying each other's presence. Of course it didn't last long as both of them had been known as chatterboxes (it had been very much an annoyance to the adults of their group).

"So," Vaan dragged the word out as all as he could before Penelo gave him a look, "what were you thinking about?"

"Your heritage."

"What?"

"You know your bloodline, who you came from," Penelo explained.

"I know what heritage means! What I meant was why are you wondering about it?" Vaan stammered.

"Oh, well I have this theory and you better not laugh about it!" Penelo warned shaking her finger in his face. Vaan promised not to laugh and she told him of her theory. During the telling, Vaan's face morphed from confused to about to laugh and back to confused again.

"I don't think it's possible," Vaan shook his head.

"Who knows it could be," Penelo shrugged. She didn't bring it up again, but she could see the wheels turning in his head. Pretty soon he might want to see if it was true, Penelo was sure of it, and she knew Vaan almost better than she knew herself.

**The End! (Or is it?)**

I could honestly see this turning into a chapter story, but it can also stand-alone. I'm on a fence about continuing it or not.

So tell me what you think. Did you hate it did you love it? Are you iffy about it? Drop a line.


	2. The Library

**A/N: **This will be chapter two, if I decide to continue this story (Of course if you are reading this then it means I am continuing) So, for this story I am doing a summary, as of so far type deal in the beginning of the chapters.

**Disclaimer:** Ownership does NOT belong to me

Okay, now that we're done with that, we'll head on to the rest of my author's note. Yay! Field trip! As you all know my theory sprung from my utter confusion as to why Vaan could see Rasler, while the rest of the group couldn't (except Ashe) I came up with the whole "Maybe their related in some way. Distantly of course." And I wrote chapter one. It was very much demanded of me by one reviewer that I continue and another encouraged me to continue it because my theory was logical.

So, I decided sure, what the hey, I'll do it. I could be a comedic masterpiece (yeah right) with a good bit of adventure and a tinge of romance in here.

**Summary as so far: **Months ago Penelo had brought up Vaan's questionable heritage and while the theory didn't first take, it never takes long for Vaan to decided to do the next crazy thing.

**X**

Vaan paced back and forth in the tiny house he shared with not only Penelo but the orphans they had (apparently) adopted. At night the floor would be covered in sleeping mats and he and Penelo would be forced to sleep jammed next to each other (practically on top of one another) just to make room. He didn't mind it too much (Penelo wasn't smelly or anything, but now he had to make sure he bathed regularly so as not to catch her wrath of having to sleep so close to a smelly boy). But at some points it became a little awkward to have Penelo's breasts pressed against his chest or side (especially when he had _certain_ dreams). But that was neither here nor there because at that moment Vaan was trying to think about how he wanted to tell Penelo about his idea.

Most of the time she'd give him a funny look on that bounced between "you have an idea?" and "are we going to regret this?", and since more than half the times his ideas ended them in trouble he tried not to act so hurt by her expression. But, that was mostly because she could list ten times he said "it'll be okay" and it turned out not so okay. Okay so it usually ended with screaming, cursing, wounds and wondering why they didn't buy enough remedies at the last merchant they saw. Except for this time, the plan was something she had come up with first. Well, not the plan, but the idea that spawned the plan.

And so when Penelo pushed open their thin, seriously-needing-to-be-repaired, door she saw Vaan standing in the middle of their living room/kitchen/dining room/some of the orphan's bedroom. The second she saw that particular grin she felt her stomach plummeted. That face was the one she always feared, the "I have the greatest idea" face always led to some mishap. Part of her wanted to walk slowly out of the front door and return in a few hours (or maybe a day or two) then maybe the idea would be gone from his head replaced with a destination and a job to do. Vaan split his time between being a pirate (he was usually one only when she had time off at Migelo's) and the other half he usually flew precious cargo from place to place (of course when she couldn't be around).

"Vaan?" she decided to brave it and draw his attention back to her. Vaan quickly reacted to her voice by bounding over towards her the grin still plastered over his face. He grabbed her by her shoulders and still kept his unwavering grin.

"Penelo! I," he paused, "I want to find out if I am part of the Dynast King's bloodline!" To say his idea shocked her would be a slight understatement seeming as Penelo was sure he was about to tell her he wanted to go diving into some caverns here or there. She hadn't expected him to actually follow her idea after this long. Vaan wasn't stupid (but he wasn't the smartest guy around either) it was just that he usually made up his mind quickly, and so when he didn't approach her even a week after the incident she decided that he didn't want to even think about the idea.

"Oh, well then I suppose we'll have to go looking through some records, map out your family tree, and talk to people," Penelo tapped her chin as she spoke.

"What?" Vaan's face fell, "No adventuring? I thought we'd be traveling abroad in Ivalice! Not going through libraries and looking at records!" Penelo's face fell soon after he began to complain, but instead of ranting right back at him she took a deep breath plastered another cheerful smile and tapped him in the middle of his forehead.

"Don't worry! I am sure with your family we'll be traveling all over!" Because truthfully Vaan couldn't be the only one who was itching to fly. He probably came from some really interesting people. "But first we're going to have to visit the palace since that is where the only library in Rabanastre, and maybe we'll see Ashe," Penelo added. Vaan's grin returned at the mention of their ex-companion. They both had missed her.

Unfortunately for them, they missed Ashe even with all the ruckus they caused by trying to enter the palace. It all began with the guard refusing them entrance because they were mere commoners, add Vaan talking a (seemingly) menacing step towards the jittery guard caused the said jittery guard to hit Vaan with the blunt of his weapon. Of course Penelo only watched with something akin to horror are Van drew back his arm and plowed his fist right into the guard's face. Then four more guards rushed up to the duo and tackled Vaan. (Penelo didn't blame them, since Vaan had just knocked out one of their buddies). It soon became a rolling mass of legs and arms (with Vaan causing massive amounts of damage).

It wasn't until Penelo was forced to cast stop did the brawl cease. Of course none of the six men were particularly happy with the positions that had been forced to stop in. Vaan had a foot in his gust along with a elbow to his face. The other five were too much better seeing as when they didn't connect with Vaan they were punching their allies. (Ashe must have run out of decent guards)

"Excuse me. All my friend and I wished to do was visit the library. It is still open to the public is it not?" Penelo asked her eyes glinting dangerously. The men didn't speak for a moment but after figuring out that with the spell casted they couldn't even nod one gave the affirmative. "Good! Now I am going to release you all and we'll gladly allow you to escort us to the library."

"Yes, ma'am," the first guard scrambled to his feet. He couldn't have been any older than she or Vaan (even below his newly forming bruise Penelo could see that he was blushing beat red) "I am sorry for the," he began to stammer.

"Oh, it's no problem. Vaan and I can handle ourselves. Now to the library?" she nudged her head in the direct.

"Oh yes!" he gulped and then led them to the extremely large room that was Rabanstre's one and only library.

Four hours later Vaan was balancing dangerously on a chair with a book over his face. He had given up pouring over books two hours in and the other two he had tried to nap while Penelo had eagerly gone through book after book. He was fairly close to being unconscious when Penelo (very loudly by the way) called for him. This caused two things Vaan to loose his balance and a few dozen books to plummet to the floor as well as Vaan and his chair.

"Vaan!" Penelo skidded to a stop when she found him laying on the floor. "What are you doing? Oh never mind! Look at this!" she held up a book that had names and symbols beside the names. "I found your grandparents!" And in her other hand she held up her own self made family tree. "I think we'll need to go at least one more generation because non of your grandparents had any extra martial children."

"What?" Vaan blinked.

"Oh, my! You are right," Penelo smacked her forehead (almost smacking herself with the paper in the process), "What if they claimed the kid as their own! But first we have to do some process of elimination which means we need to find more of your relatives." And with that Penelo turned her heel and rushed back to what ever section she had been in before. Vaan however just blinked and uttered one word.

"What?"

**A/N:** You might notice I like to mention remedies, a lot. It is only because during my game play I always managed to somehow end up with only two remedies when I was in the thick of things. It was really not cool.

Where was Ashe? You might asked, well I imagined that she might be out visiting come delegates or other rulers. I am pretty sure while Penelo and Vaan are out trying to figure the whole thing out Ashe is being pressured into finding a consort.

Vaan's really strong. Yeah, that is because when I played the game I liked having the orphans out (I like it a lot) and in return they became the strongest people in my party (Balthier and Ashe following them) So, I imagine that they can handle themselves.

Anyway enough blabbering! I hope you enjoyed the update and please leave a review you don't know how much that brightens my day.


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Final Fantasy XII