Soft laughter floated down the narrow sewer pathways, the Dire Rat's lair was being destroyed by two 15 year old boys, one silver haired with a soft smile on his face as he slaughtered the little creatures and the other a boy with a half smile on his face, his eyes a deep piercing green that was full of happiness, his hair was black and fell just below his shoulders, it constantly got in his way so he used a bit of string to bind it out of his face, however his fringe still irritated him, the long black bangs covering his eyes. Akira constantly blew the strands away from his face, it was how people recognized him. Akira twirled the katana gracefully, having stolen it from a merchant after he got a new shipment in, often if the shop got too full, the merchant's would throw away stuff and the simple katana was exactly his style, thin and graceful. Reks grinned at his friend, Reks himself having gained a Mythril sword from the same place, and killed off the last rat.

"That was fun!" Reks said with a grin, not noticing the small blonde 13 year old who was looking at the two with awe. Behind him many of the street orphan's had gathered, after the plague many of the families which had died left children behind and those children rallied behind Reks, the silver haired teen and his best friend, Akira. The two were best friends and put themselves through hell to feed everyone, something which King Raminas himself had noticed. The king had sent the blonde haired captain, Basch, to check up on the young orphan's every so often and to leave them food and other such stuffs, Basch whistled, impressed as he watched. Reks and his friend Akira were good with swords for such young boys, when they grew older he would try and recruit them.

Akira turned, hearing the soft whistle and noticed Vaan standing in the entrance with big eyes, his body tensing as he prepared to run but five words stopped him, Reks standing there with angry blue eyes. "Don't move a muscle, Vaan." Reks said, his voice set in a stern, angry tone. Vaan froze, a shy smile on his face.

"F-fancy meeting you here, Reks." Vaan murmured shyly, looking at his feet.

"Vaan, we told you not to come here." Akira murmured, quickly cutting off Reks' rant before it could begin, his green eyes staring at Vaan as the young blonde moved closer. Akira gently ruffled the boys hair and winked. "The sewers are dangerous, little man." Akira said softly.

"Come on Vaan, Akira. Lets go get some food. You as well kids." Reks said suddenly, turning to look at the orphan's in the doorway.

The memory shifted and warped until a new memory appeared

"But Reks!" Akira shouted, his face contorted with rage even as tears fell down his face. Now 17, Akira had grown up considerably, his hair growing out until it fell in a long braid down to his mid back but his fringe stayed the same length. Reks was taller and now wore the armour of the Knights of Dalmasca, his old Mythril Sword replaced by a better sword and his eyes gleamed with, instead of that normal happy sparkle, aspirations of becoming great. Akira found himself crying for his friend who had been wrapped in fantasies of glory, told by this Basch man who Reks had taken a fancy for.

"Enough Akira! I'm going, Basch has asked me to protect his highness and that is what I'll do!" Reks said stonily, his blue eyes alight with fury. Akira clenched his fists and shouted right back, half of him guilty as he noticed the fearful gazes of the small orphan's they took care of.

"Are you blind, Reks?! What about us? We're your family, I can't do this on my own, these orphan's depend on us and look at you! Abandoning us for glory and honour? What honour is there in running away?!" Akira screamed, shaking in rage.

Reks looked hurt but, glancing around once as he turned away, murmured softly. "Goodbye, Vaan, Akira.. Everyone." That was the last time anyone saw Reks, news of his death came a couple of weeks later and all of the orphan's of the city cried for him. The sewers echoed with the tearful wails of street rats and nobody understood why.

The memory fuzzed and Akira woke

Akira's green eyes opened, his arms cramping slightly as he moved. He was chained against the wall, his wrists and ankles held firmly against the wall and around his throat a thin collar kept his neck close to the wall. He sighed, turning his head towards here he saw a familiar person come through the doorway, standing in front of a cage. Akira froze, his green eyes zeroing into the blonde face of one of his old friends.

"Vaan.." Akira whispered, gaining the attention of the Viera, her face turning to look straight at him. The brown haired one of the group noticed but Vaan did not, he was scowling at someone in the cage in front of him. The Viera walked towards him with the typical slowness of her race, her white hair bouncing slightly.

"How is it you know Vaan's name, hume?" Fran said softly, her fiery brown eyes staring at him.

"He's an old friend." Akira said softy, shifting in his chains, looking away from her and to Vaan with despair. "Why is he here? Reks and I, we did all we could to keep him from here so why..?"

"Ah, that would be my fault." The brown haired man said as he stepped up in front of him. "We've got him caught up in our strange little tale but who is this Reks? Another prisoner?"

"Reks is my brother, where'd you hear that name, Balthier?" Vaan said, not noticing the prisoner as he walked over.

"Brother?" Balthier said lowly, exchanging glances with Fran. Vaan froze, his eyes meeting smiling green ones and for a second, the entire world held its breath.

"A-Akira?" Vaan stuttered, stepping forward with his hand reaching out as it was a mirage. "How are you here? You disappeared just after Reks died."

"The empire decided that they didn't like wandering around, something about the orphan's rallying behind us." Akira growled, looking furious. "We only took care of everyone, Reks and Me, even you Vaan, we all chipped in to help." He smiled fondly. "I remember some of our misadventures, nearly got arrested once trying to get some food from the merchant in the Estersand, still got the food though." Akira chuckled. Akira was unawares that his party members were listening closely, glad to finally hear a bit of history about Vaan, he didn't exactly tell everyone about it, then again they haven't told him anything yet either.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we should probably leave." Balthier murmured softly, hand going to his weapon as he tensed. Vaan nodded, pulling a sword from his waist and slammed the blade against the chair, the weak, 2 year old links breaking with ease. Akira's arm fell to his chest, blood rushing back to the limb which was rarely let down and soon all of his limbs were his own again, with the exception of the heavy metal cuffs around his wrists, ankles and throat. He fell in a neat crouch, using his hand to lightly muss up Vaan's hair, one arm wrapped loosely around his neck.

"I missed ya kid." Akira said lightly, winking before his face went serious and he headed towards the entrance. They were stopped by one of the prisoners, a blonde man.

"Please, you must release me!" Basch pleaded and Vaan, who had already been shaking with rage, snapped. He leapt at the cage, sending it shaking wildly as he shouted

"Dalmasca? What do you care about Dalmasca? Everything that's happened, everyone's that died its because of you. Even my brother.. You killed my brother!!" Vaan roared.

"Shh, you'll draw the attention of the guards." Balthier said, his warning coming too late as they heart footsteps drawing nearer. Fran thought quickly, her face scrunched up in thought.

"I am dropping it." She decided, foot slamming into the cage and sending it down to the floor, everyone grabbing on at the last minute just as the judge and his soldiers came back.

**

A trail story I thought I'd have fun with =P I've been wanting to do a FF crossover and while I was replaying XII, this popped in to my head so.. enjoy, review and check out my other stories! =]