So after doing a bit of research on the voice actors for this game, I noticed that Ashe's voice actress (Kari Wahlgren) did the voice of Darth Phobos in the PS2 version. I did that part in the game today to see if I could recognize her voice, and HOLY CRAP. She's like a psycho Ashe. And so, I'm playing off of that for a little bit in this chapter. Torturing Balthier is fun. And, yes, some of you may have realized Balthier's getting the 'dark side' view of things, and not the 'light side' views. What significance will that play, I wonder...
You're always so supportive, The Giant Daifuku, even when you're dead from oral surgery. Thank youuuu.
As expected, Starkiller had killed most of the storm troopers on his way through the Temple, so Balthier didn't have much to worry about. There were a few stragglers, of course, but they were too distracted by the news of a madman on the loose to even notice the sky pirate. Though, it wasn't particularly hard to see that the storm troopers were not the brightest men he'd come across.
Balthier lifted himself over the fallen pillar and reached for the ledge above his head. All the statues of Jedi, he assumed, had been destroyed either earlier or more recently by the apprentice. Some were beheaded, while others were completely crushed and thrown aside. They proved to be useful, nonetheless. He climbed up the massive stone face and stood up straight, looking down at the storm troopers mindlessly pacing around the arena-like room.
He almost considered waiting for Starkiller and watching him kill all the soldiers, just to see a Sith in action. Frowning, Balthier crossed his arms and turned in the other direction.
PROXY had mentioned something about an Archive room. Starkiller was probably in there, no doubt. Balthier narrowed his eyes as he peered around the open area, searching for any signs of the Archive section of the Temple. He could make out the palest of blue lights coming from the lower area, just down the hall, and with a quiet sigh he carefully made his way down the set of ledges.
The Archives looked to be nothing more than a simple collection of lights, all a similar blue color. Some were lighter than others, but most matched one another. The set up reminded him of Draklor Laboratory—countless shelves of data filled the room, and there were multiple busts of old Jedi at the end of each section. Balthier faced one that looked like a lizard, grimacing at the deformity.
"What sort of world is this?" he mused, walking past the creature and toward the end of the library.
He managed to uncover some old recordings of Jedi meetings, the tapes that the Empire had failed to confiscate. He slid one into the hologram system across the room, and he leaned against the wall as he watched the figures of robed Jedi stand before him.
They spoke of a force called the dark side, how their trainees would be wise to avoid any temptations that might lead them to the dark side. Love, lust, greed...It seemed that anything considered 'sinful' would lead them to corruption. Balthier nearly got sick listening to their preachings, and shot the system before it could continue. The figures fizzled out, and Balthier rubbed his temple, muttering under his breath as he walked on.
When he paused before a set of collapsed shelves, Balthier heard a quiet laughter coming from underneath the curved stairs. He slowly sauntered over to the source of the noise, bending over and looking at the woman huddled up in the corner. She had wild turquoise hair and green skin, and wore a tight crimson sari. As she turned around, facing the sky pirate, her appearance suddenly assumed a more familiar form.
"Princess?" Balthier stared as Ashe approached him, smiling gently. She leaned close to his face, running a finger down his vest and looking him in the eyes. "I am dreaming, aren't I? Of course I am. That insane boy must have hit my head again..."
He could feel Ashe's warm breath upon his cheek, and as she leaned closer, it felt as if she was calling him to her. "I can see inside your heart, Balthier," she breathed. "And I know that it is mine. Why deny it? You have nothing to fear now—not here, not with me."
"I hate to disappoint you, Princess, but my only love is the sky." Balthier stepped back from her, but kept a hand wrapped around her wrist.
Her gray eyes turned cold, and she nearly ripped herself away from him. "Is that so? You are a coward, Balthier. A coward and a damned hume. Do not think I haven't seen what you truly desire. Greed for treasure, lust for street wenches—you're well on your way down the path to corruption. You are no better than the rest of us." As she held out her arms, her form shifted back into the green-skinned woman with wild hair and spikes protruding from the sides of her face. She sneered at his appalled expression.
"The rest of you?" Balthier took another step back, fingers inching closer to the blaster pistols in his belt. "I see no one else here, my dear."
"I am never alone, not when I have the dark side in my grasp." She activated the red glowing blade in her hand—a double bladed lightsaber. "I am Darth Phobos, and you will bow to me."
Were all Sith egotistical maniacs? Balthier shifted his gaze to his left, then to his right, and sighed weakly when he realized that he was alone in this fight. Phobos was nothing more than a hologram, as PROXY had explained. She wouldn't be hard to fight. Or so he thought.
Phobos had him cornered before he even had the chance to draw his pistols. Her lightsaber was getting too close to his neck for his liking. "I will find the truth," she hissed. "I will find what you fear most."
Please, Balthier! You mustn't die!
She seized him by the forehead and held him in place. Balthier could feel her slinking into his mind, striving to uncover his heart itself, or at least what was left of it. He pushed against her, grasping at her neck, but she continued to see through his thoughts. "Get out of my head," he coughed, trying to open his eyes. "Get out of my head, witch!"
Someone ignited their lightsaber behind Phobos, and soon Balthier was lying on the floor, disorientated and barely awake. He stared through cloudy eyes at Starkiller standing over him, blade raised against the Sith woman. He then witnessed Phobos shifting into Juno's appearance, attempting to break through his cruel facade. Balthier pushed himself up, grabbing one of his blaster pistols, and stood beside the apprentice.
"I was wondering when you would show up," he murmured, smirking. "Can't resist the chance to kill, can you?"
Starkiller said nothing, too intent in staring at the woman before them. Unless his sight was failing him, Balthier could see a hint of hesitation in the young man's stance, as if seeing Juno there was holding him back from striking Phobos down.
"Boy," Balthier called, waving a hand in front of the apprentice's eyes. "It's not her. It isn't Juno standing there."
"You should learn how to not talk so much," Starkiller answered quietly, almost completely ignoring the sky pirate's remark. He lunged for the female Sith, engaging her in combat that Balthier was much too confused to comprehend. Phobos reverted back into her original form, though he could have sworn that there were more than one of her fighting against Starkiller.
Then again, perhaps he did hit his head earlier. He didn't bother helping the apprentice in his battle, despite the clear tension. No doubt that would lead him down a path of pain, or worse, as Juno said.
Phobos turned away from Starkiller the instant Balthier moved closer to them, and warped into Ashe's appearance once more. "Balthier," she begged, bringing her hands together. "Don't leave me, not now! Stay, and you will be so much more than you are now! Nothing will stop us!"
The sky pirate froze, and as he closed his eyes, Starkiller's lightsaber pierced through Ashe's back. She disappeared in a spark and the two men were left with nothing but an echo of her cries. The apprentice deactivated his saber and looked in Balthier's direction, frowning. The sky pirate, on the other hand, seemed to be distracted by both his thoughts and what Ashe—no, Phobos had said. As if on cue, the communicator on Starkiller's wrist lit up.
"Please tell me you managed to find Balthier, Starkiller. I think he's gone mad."
That managed to make Starkiller roll his eyes, at least.
Juno wasn't too pleased with either of them when they returned to the Rogue Shadow, and her good mood only improved when Starkiller was given orders from Vader, via PROXY, to go to the planet Raxus Prime to kill another Jedi. Balthier was taken aback when he saw Starkiller's master for the first time: a helmeted tall man wearing dark armor. He had a deep voice, almost robotic, and it appeared that he was more machine than man.
The moment the hologram appeared, Starkiller was on his knees, bowing to his master. Balthier shuddered at the sight of Vader, even though he knew it wasn't real. Then again, Phobos wasn't real, either.
"My spies have located another Jedi," the Vader hologram spoke. "Kazdan Paratus is far more powerful than you. I do not expect you to survive. But if you destroy him, you will be one step closer to your destiny."
Starkiller took in a deep breath. "The Emperor."
"Yes. Only together can we defeat him."
"I will not fail you, my master."
The hologram faded, and PROXY resumed his normal appearance. Starkiller retreated to the back room to train, and his droid obediently followed.
"More rogue Jedi," Balthier said with a sigh when he joined Juno in the bridge section of the ship. She glared at him when he sat down beside her, purposely taking Starkiller's seat again. "How long do you think this will continue? I can't be forced to follow the two of you around like a lost chocobo for much longer, you know."
One of her eyebrows arched. "A lost what?"
"Never mind—just a figure of speech." He propped his feet on the ship's dashboard, leaning back in the seat. "By the way, my dear, it appears that Starkiller is beginning to warm up to you. The hologram he faced in the Temple changed into you, and he was surprisingly hesitant to strike it down."
Juno scoffed, but still smiled. "You're a terrible liar, Balthier."
"Am I? You'll see the truth soon enough."
"So, what about you?" She crossed her arms once the Rogue Shadow jumped to lightspeed. "If Starkiller had to save you back there, that must've meant you saw something in that hologram."
"And that is something I'd prefer not to share."
Her shoulders shifted as she turned her eyes away. "Understandable." A sigh escaped her pink lips. "Look, Balthier. I had some time to think about what you said, about risking my life to protect yours. You are right—I shouldn't be putting myself in danger. But after remembering all the things the Empire has made me do in the past, letting you die wouldn't be the worst."
Balthier lay his arms behind his head, still watching her. "And?"
"Maybe its time I reformed my views. Joining the Empire was the best thing to do at the time, but things are changing. I can feel it."
"You sound like those Jedi fools."
Juno glanced toward him. "Pardon?"
"Back in the Temple, I found some old recordings of the Jedi. They sounded like fools to me." A smirk made his mouth twitch. "All those rules they made about not giving into temptation and desire...It's no wonder Starkiller chose to join the Sith. Imagine the life he had before finding his new path."
She narrowed her eyes as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Balthier, what are—" She stopped, knowing that her opinion wouldn't mean a thing. "Why don't you go sleep out back? You must be tired."
Obviously she didn't want him to be around her anymore. Balthier sighed, getting up from the seat and beginning his pace to where he would be staying until he found a way back to Ivalice—the med-ward. There weren't any extra rooms in the ship, unless he wanted to sleep in the cargo hold. Juno had claimed the bridge, and Balthier didn't want to think about where Starkiller slept during the night, or if he could even sleep.
Before he had the chance to lay down, Starkiller stood in the door way and, as always, glared at the sky pirate. He wasn't wearing a shirt, although he had loose gray pants covering his legs. The amount of scars on the boy's torso and arms would have made Basch, during his stint in Nalbina, look like an Archadian noble. No wonder Starkiller had a temper.
"Do you have a problem, boy?" Balthier asked, resting a hand on the door frame when he faced the apprentice. "It's not like you to barge in here, hoping to bother me to death."
"PROXY's curious about how you fight," Starkiller grumbled. "Said he's looking for a new combat module to test me with."
"And I'm the new module?"
The young man shrugged. "Sounds like it."
With a low groan, Balthier followed Starkiller into the training room, not truly interested in becoming the next test subject for the droid. But if it meant being able to witness and eventually understand the dark side Starkiller followed so diligently, then it wouldn't be too bad.
Woot.