Hello again! Thank you to those who reviewed! I greatly appreciate that you have read and the constructive ideas you have offered! They make the writing process much easier.
Updates will probably be kind of slow, thank you to the university and the large amount of papers they have assigned.
Oh, and as I forgot it the last time, I own nothing. It's all property of SquareEnix and whoever they choose to share it with. Unfortunately.
It was almost ridiculously easy to break into the palace treasury, an ease that, in retrospect, should have bothered Balthier more than it did. But for the time being he was perfectly happy to have made it in without near death experiences or soiled cuffs. Cuffs made the man, and he could not have his image tarnished. Image was almost as important to a sky pirate and the pirating itself.
Fran had already found their way into the treasure trove of the Dalmascan royal family, and they were carefully picking through the not so impressive spoils when she stopped, sensitive nose twitching as though something rather unpleasant had been placed under it. Balthier paused in his pillaging, listening carefully and watching the slight swivel of Fran's ears.
"The guard?"
"I do not believe so, it would appear to be only one. And one not cloaked in armor."
"Just to be safe…"
He gently pulled his partner into a small alcove near the entrance to the treasury, affording a better view of whoever had come to spoil their fun (and a not so better view of the duo.) They waited, Balthier silently cursing himself for not having found the magicite before now; he may not have another chance. He did not have long to berate himself, however, as the young boy who breathlessly appeared before them not a moment later posed about as much threat to Balthier as did a Moogle with a broken pom. The boy passed right by the pair with no inclination that he was not alone in the room. Balthier watched with growing impatience as the boy blundered about the room, thinking that it would be easier just to give him a hard knock to the head and be done with it. He looked up at Fran for confirmation, and she cocked her head slightly, eyes amused but wary, 'No'.
The sharp intake of the boy's breath made him look back, and hot anger coursed through his veins, more at himself than the young blundering thief. The boy had managed to open a rather ugly statue that Balthier had all but ignored, and was pulling from it the pulsing, brilliant piece of magicite that had been the pirate's main objective. Well, now was as good a time as any to grab it and take leave. He and Fran were a pretty imposing pair, after all.
"Act One," he muttered, mentally admiring Fran's skill at knowing what to do without him having to say a word. Balthier threw his shoulders back, put on his best swagger, and sauntered out to meet the boy.
"That's quite a performance."
The boy spun on the spot, eyes wide with a terror that was even more evident in his voice. "Who are you?"
"I play the leading man, who else?" He allowed himself a smug smile, the kind that he reserved for special moments, and getting to say his favorite line definitely qualified as special. "Fran, the magicite."
His lithe partner appeared out of nowhere, one hand on her hip and the other extended to the boy. It amused Balthier that her sweet clipped tones could never sound particularly frightening, for all of her great efforts. He never told her this; she believed herself to be 'scary', and he would do nothing to spoil it for her. "Now then, I'll take that."
The boy did not appear to be in quite so giving a mood, for he pulled away, hiding the magicite from view, and there was an almost growl in his not quite over puberty voice. "No you won't, I found it, it's mine."
"And then when I take it from you, it'll be mine." Balthier was quite pleased with the hard edge to his voice, this was one of his better performances.
The duo stood waiting, side by side, combined forces against this young and terrified boy. Balthier tried not to be reminded of himself in the early days of his sky pirating, not to allow any nostalgia to creep into his eyes but to maintain their cool suave hardness as the boy made his choice to give up the treasury quietly or with a fight. Before anything could be decided either way the sound of heavily clanking armor filled the cramped treasury. The boy looked around in terror and began to run. Balthier only sighed.
"Exit stage right."
He and Fran made their escape, she to retrieve their hover and means of escape, he to track down the boy and claim his magicite. He would not risk life and limb crawling about in a palace to have his prize stolen from him by some scrappy little no-name thief. Emerging onto the walls surrounding the palace courtyard he was just in time to be almost thrown off balance by an immense explosion below him. Below him a fantastic fight had just broken out, while above a small fleet was bearing down on the palace.
"The Ifrit, eh? That's quite an entrance." He looked down at the stunned boy, lying sprawled at his feet. "Impeccable timing. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were waiting all along."
The commotion had not been for them at all. Balthier stared at the massive underbelly of the airship, thinking. Just like the empire, to create such a clever and splashy ruse. A small part of him regretted not having spent a little more time in the treasury, as all the guard was otherwise occupied. But no matter; the magicite was the most important thing. And it was currently halfway between him and the explosions. Another wave and the wall was swaying dangerously. In trying to keep his balance Balthier had lost his edge on the boy-he had made it quite a ways across the parapet. This was becoming annoying. Fast.
"Stop running!" Right, as if that was going to work. He mentally kicked himself and kept up his sprint.
Fran landed the hover just in front of the boy, effectively heading him off, and Balthier felt a little thrill of triumph.
"End of the line."
The boy stopped, caught between the two pirates, looking around for escape but beginning to accept he was caught. Balthier gestured for the magicite. "You have something that belongs to me."
It was within his grasp, the boy was going to surrender, Balthier had won …
…and then the search lights shone from above, and the guards were running toward them, and in those bare seconds all had gone to hell.
"Fran, let's move!"
Without a word she zoomed off on the hover bike, and Balthier had just time to grab the boy and throw him off the balcony before the clanking footsteps halted on the spot at which they had just stood. Balthier barely had time to register fear as he landed deftly on the motor bike, reaching out to grab the boy as they passed. Fran navigated the fiery debris around them, trying to find an escape, while Balthier held on as best he could to the squirming boy's wrist.
"Let go of me!" the thief-boy shouted, trying vainly to wrest himself of Balthier's grip.
"Keep this up and I will," he spat through gritted teeth. In the back of his mind he couldn't help but think how cool this would look had there been anyone around to see it. Alas, there was not. He had just enough time to feel disappointed before a frustrated moan escaped his partner, and he looked over in exasperation to see her now struggling to keep the bike in the air.
"What's going on, Fran?"
"I don't know, it's not heeding me."
"Ugh, I don't have time for this."
The confusion of fighting and smoke and explosions in the courtyard were overwhelming the trio on the bike and they fell further and further towards it, Fran desperately trying to steer the bike and keep them aloft, Balthier trying to stay on the blasted thing and hold onto the boy, and the boy … well he wasn't entirely sure what the boy was trying to accomplish at this point. Another explosion just to their left; they went down, crashing through a haze of smoke, fire, and oddly displaced brick to land in the stinking darkness of somewhere below that Balthier did not even want to think about; he hadn't yet managed to decide if he had survived the fall.
