A/N: Thanks so much to Drink. Juice and TheAngel'sLover for reviewing yesterday's chapter. :)

This chapter I had planned from the beginning as how I wanted to end it, so I was able to write it very quickly. It's deliberately left open-ended; I had only intended this story to be something for me to sort of set up the history between Basch and Ashe up to the point where the game ended, because I do have a full-length story in mind, as long as I can actually get around to writing it. I wouldn't exactly call it a sequel to this, but in a way I suppose it would be, because this story gives me the history between them to work off of.

So here we are with the last chapter. I set the year as 707 because I figured it could have just turned 707; I figured they could have defeated Vayne at the end of 706, right? ;)

Year 707

It had been a very, very long time since Ashe had set foot in her mother's garden. Sunlight shone on the once-gleaming high walls, now covered in an uncontrolled mess of vines and ivy. The fountain had run dry, moss spreading across its surface. Where beautiful flowers had once bloomed in deliberate, flowing patterns, weeds had taken root and choked the garden. Her eyes were drawn to the corner of the courtyard, where the lone bench sat, barely noticeable now under the tangled foliage that ran amok on the walls. The flash of a laughing face danced through her memory, so clear for just that instant that she could almost hear the laughter echoing through the garden. The memory disappeared as quickly as it had come, and she lost the image until, as usual, she could hardly remember her mother's face.

Ashe sat in a patch of dirt positively springing with weeds and smiled a little. It held so many memories, this garden, and it was still a place where she could be alone, even after her years away from the palace. In the midst of everything else going on around her now, she had needed a few minutes to think. Her life was no longer one of a rebel princess on the run. She was once again surrounded by servants, soldiers, guards, councilors, people wanting answers and signatures and demanding something of her, and she had not yet even had her coronation. There was much to be sorted out before that moment. She was hard-pressed to put the palace back in order, and her attention was demanded every second of the day. In desperate need of some space to just breathe, she had slipped away from them all. She wondered how long it would be before someone finally found her.

She had no idea if she had inherited any of her mother's gardening skills. What little she recalled was from back when her mother was alive, when Ashe had sat in this place with her and helped pull weeds, plant bulbs, and water plants. Her white dress was covered in dirt smudges, but she did not care. She had certainly been much filthier in recent days, trudging through tombs and caves and slaying fiends. A little dirt was nothing. As she sat there pulling up weeds, she confused some of the flowers for weeds and accidentally tugged up some bulbs by mistake. These she set aside to replant once she had finished weeding.

Once she had finished weeding that section of garden, she realized she had been gone for longer than she really should have, and she would soon have to go back and face the questions, prodding, concerns, lectures, and endless decisions. Sighing, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and decided she would go after she replanted the bulbs.

She was halfway through this task when a footstep sounded from the doorway. She straightened and looked over her shoulder, resigned that she had been discovered.

She froze and blinked several times at the man standing in the garden entrance, turning on her knees so she could face him fully. "Basch?" He had cut his hair and neatly trimmed his beard, and he was dressed sharply in a guard's outfit.

"Majesty." A faint hint of a smile brushed across his face when he took in her dirt-covered clothes and hands. "I apologize for interrupting your work."

Ashe wiped her hands on her skirt and stood. "Does anyone else know I'm here?"

"Nay, my lady. You have caused quite a stir. Your guard was about to prepare a search for you."

Ashe sighed. "As I expected."

"I wondered if I might have a moment to speak with you, if you have time to spare."

"I will always have a moment for you, Basch," Ashe said firmly, but she rather suspected she might know what he had to say, and it made her heart drop and something within her crumbled a little. Still, she folded her hands in front of her expectantly.

Basch just looked at her inscrutably, as though trying to figure out exactly how to phrase what he had to say. Ashe's heart dropped a little further and her hands tightened. "I would ask for your leave to go to Archades with Lord Larsa," Basch finally said.

As she had suspected. She had heard something of Basch's final conversation with his brother and had wondered if it would come to this. "I see." Her words sounded blank even to her, but she was afraid that if she said anything else, she might lose her calm.

She knew she could--and would--carry on without the friends she had come to depend on so much the past months, but she was already torn by their absence. Balthier and Fran had still not been found among the wreckage of the Bahamut, and while she believed in her heart they were alive, she'd not received word to confirm that and it hurt. Vaan and Penelo had gone back to Lowtown to try to pull together their life in the city, and though they had promised to visit, Ashe knew things would never quite be the same again.

She had hoped--futilely, perhaps--that she would at least still have Basch. But even in that, she was not sure she could have ever been content. If he had chosen to remain as her protector, she would have to face him every day knowing how desperately she had come to love him. It was so strong that it had become impossible to deny to herself. And what of Basch? She had caught him, sometimes, looking at her in a way that made her heart race and her palms sweaty, and suspected he might reciprocate these feelings, but she knew Basch better than she knew anyone. He would keep his emotions in check, thinking it would be for her sake, for her protection. Their duties and situations seemed to make this love impossible.

Besides, Basch was still considered a traitor by most, and even if she could prove his name innocent--

She shook her head slightly to clear these miserable, heart-wrenching thoughts as something else occurred to her. "You are a known traitor in Archades."

"Perhaps I am," Basch said, "but Judge Gabranth is not."

Ashe stared at him with sudden, horrified understanding. "You are assuming Judge Gabranth's place?"

"By your leave, then yes, I am."

Ashe's breath caught in her throat and she closed her eyes tightly.

"He wore my face to cause death and destruction," Basch said heavily. "Now I will wear his face to cause peace and restoration. If I can protect Lord Larsa, I can protect Dalmasca and its queen." There were more words there, more that he did not say. When Ashe still did not open her eyes, Basch said, "I understand if you cannot bear to see me this way. I will--"

He stopped talking abruptly when Ashe opened her eyes and threw her arms around him. She was hardly aware that she was doing it until her hands were pressed against his back and his entire body stiffened. "Majesty--"

Her arms tightened around him, memorizing the feel and scent and very presence of the one person who had given up everything of himself and asked for nothing in return. He stood stiffly, as she had expected he would, but then he surprised her by suddenly embracing her in return, fiercely and almost desperately. He breathed deeply once before releasing her. She withdrew her own arms, wiping her hands across her face and struggling for calm.

Ashe took a deep breath of her own and met Basch's eyes squarely. "I will never find it unbearable to look at you." How could she explain to him that this sacrifice he was making for Noah, a brother who had betrayed and hurt him unimaginably, only made her love him all the more? She could not. So she explained what she could. "I thought when I faced my father's murderer I would feel hatred for him. I suppose in some ways I did, but you have shown me what it truly means to forgive. No matter what armor you are wearing, I will always see your face, not his." She closed her eyes briefly and nodded once. "I give you leave, Basch fon Ronsenburg, for as long as you need."

"Thank you, Majesty." Basch looked as though he might bow, and Ashe narrowed her eyes, ready to stop him if he tried, but he simply settled with holding his arm out toward her. "Might I escort you back to your frantic guards?"

Ashe paused to scoop up the rest of her flower bulbs, tucking them into a pocket. She would come back later. There was still hours and hours of work to do to make this garden beautiful again. "You may." She took his arm and walked with him out of the courtyard.

She did not regret being Dalmasca's queen, or wish away the responsibility that came with it. She may not have chosen to be born to this task, but she had chosen to fight for it, and she would do everything she could to continue to restore her kingdom.

It was not the first time she had wished that her duties did not take away her freedom of who she gave her heart to, but it was the first time it had hurt so very terribly. And she realized, as she glanced over at Basch, that it did not matter anyway. Her heart was not her own anymore. It had been Basch's for some time, and she did not see how she would ever truly get it back again.