Good morning, all! I finally got around to updating this; I actually finished this at midnight last night but I hated how it looked so it underwent major editing. It's a little better now...

I agree with emeraldonyxdragon that Ffamran and Balthier (the pirate, not the snake) are almost like two different people; however in this story, the line is a little more blurred because this is more like the transition from the Judge to the pirate. As we know from Chapter 2, Ffamran/Balthier (he's having a bit of an identity crisis) is already working for a pirate captain while acting as a spy in the Magistery. We'll still be seeing some of Ffamran's cheery personality, but we'll also see some of Balthier's cruelty start to show up, too.

Tango-chan: Death is a rather fun character to write; he's also rather twisted himself. I think he does care for Ffamran in a wierd, big-brotherly sort of way, though. We'll see more of their interesting relationship later... I like Death, too.

She had the vague feeling that she was floating through the air, until she felt the thin, but strong arms supporting her legs and shoulders, heard the harried breath rattling in a narrow chest, and the slight bumping rhythm of someone walking awkwardly. Ffamran eased her into the bed, and she felt the brush of Balthier against her face and heard Ffamran's quiet muttering to the snake about touching sleeping people.

"'M not… 'sleep…" Penelo struggled to say, and he laughed, stroking a few stray hairs away from her face with warm fingers.

"Gabranth left, and you were so tired you did not even notice," he said quietly. "It is alright—sleep now, there is someone rather important I would like you to meet tomorrow." Penelo tried to protest, but her limbs were like lead. She did not even hear Ffamran leave the room.

The next morning, she walked into the room to find Ffamran crashed on the couch, curled under a thin blanket. Deimos perched on his head disdainfully, lifting first one foot and then the other. Penelo shooed the bird away, touching the boy's shoulder, but he only muttered sleepily about airships and Moogles before turning over. Deimos gave him a savage peck on the temple, and Ffamran flung the covers off, clutching his head.

"Good gods, I'm up, damn bird!" he roared, snatching at the raven, but it flew out of reach. "Good morning, Miss Penelo," he said in a much more reasonable tone.

"Who are we going to meet today?" Penelo asked, stepping back to allow him room to stand and stretch.

"A very, very special lady," Ffamran replied, wandering semi-blind toward the kitchen and poking around for something remotely edible. Balthier hissed at him from his place under the tree, and the boy groped about the pantry until he found his box of frogs and mice. Penelo averted her eyes as the black snake devoured a frog whole, his body bulging around the amphibian's girth. "She's a Viera. We picked her up a few days ago when she was wandering around Nilbasse without her proper papers."

Penelo pieced together the information, surmising it was likely Ffamran was talking about Fran. Was this how they met, all those years ago? The young Judge ran his hands through his hair, which was far from its usual neat, orderly rows. Penelo stifled a giggle; he looked as if he had put his head into a desert cyclone.

"What?" he asked peevishly, glaring at her with groggy eyes. "Gabranth left late last night, and you know how Landisians are when they drink." It was true, of course. The one time she had seen Basch drunk at a party after Dalmasca's liberation, he had done a very memorable performance of the Dalmascan National Anthem, involving an equally drunk Moogle.

"When will we go?" Penelo asked, sliding into the chair across from him.

"After muster and training," Ffamran replied.

"Could I come?"

"…It's not very pretty."

Penelo winced from where she sat on a bench as Judge Magister Bergan scattered the other lesser Judges across the training yard like ten-pins. She could not really tell which was Ffamran, but she quickly caught sight of the red filigree on his naked blade and locked her eyes onto him. He struggled to his feet after being knocked down, catching a brutal stroke on his shield, then his sword flickered forward, fast as a serpent's tongue. Bergan disarmed him with careless ease, then his sword sang toward Ffamran's head. Penelo covered her mouth as Ffamran's helm rolled away in the dust of the training yard and the boy sprawled in the dirt, vomiting and clutching his bleeding temple. An ugly bruise was spreading over his brow bone and cheek. Bergan chuckled cruelly, brushing off the butt of his blade.

"Dismissed!" he barked, tucking his sword under one arm and marched away. Several of the other Judges made to kneel next to their fallen comrade, calling his name, but Bergan whipped back to face them like an enraged Reever. "Leave the stupid sod be, fools. A man who can't lick his own wounds does not belong in this army." Shuffling their feet, the other Judges left the courtyard, leaving Ffamran to bleed in the dust.

"Balthier—oh!" The name slipped out before Penelo could stop herself, but Ffamran only shook his head slightly, holding down another retch. She helped him sit up slowly, brushing away the worst of his bruise with a Curaga spell.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he muttered, wiping some blood from the corner of his lip and spitting a glob of blood-flecked saliva to the ground. Penelo was unsure whether he was talking about the sudden glimpse into the darkest reaches of his heart, or about the trouble he was causing her by having to be healed. "Everyone hates it when Bergan is on shift for training."

"It's okay, I guess," Penelo helped him to his feet, catching him when he staggered slightly, and placing his helm into his shaking hands. "Can I ask you something?"

Ffamran blinked through the sticky coat of blood drying on his head, wincing as it cracked. "You just did, but ask away." He produced a handkerchief and commenced scrubbing it away.

"Why are you going through all this trouble with the poison? Why can't you just run? Are you trying to poison Cid?" Penelo asked.

"That is a subject best broached in private confines, not in the heart of the Imperial Enforcement Grounds," he said easily, evading her question as he led her toward the small jail block. "I will tell you this, though," he whirled, pinning her against the wall and leaning toward her as if about to plant her with a kiss. Instead, he whispered in her ear: "I already escaped one cage… I just found another that looks free. Cid can go rot."

"You're here on Fulton's orders," Penelo realized, closing her eyes and leaning her chin on his metal plated shoulder when a harried looking cadet scrambled past them in the hallway. The boy hastily averted his eyes when he came upon the "enraptured" couple in the corridor.

"Yes. I cover his tracks and spy on the movement of the Imperials; didn't I tell you all this already?"

"It wasn't as clear."

Chuckling darkly, Ffamran turned away from her to continue down the hall, until he finally stopped in front of a brightly lit cell. Stammering something in a stilted, awkward tongue, he bowed. Penelo peered over his shoulder.

Fran sat in the cell, her feet crossed neatly at the ankles, her hands folded in her lap. Her purple white hair spilled halfway down her back like a waterfall, rippling as she shook her head slightly and corrected Ffamran's Vieran.

"Did you bring him?" Fran asked when Ffamran showed no improvement, his Archadian accent thick even when attempting foreign language.

"Yes," Ffamran gave up his botched attempt at Vieran and removed his gauntlet, allowing Balthier the serpent to poke his head out. "I took a beating from Bergan because I could not move my shield arm without the possibility of hurting him."

"Who is the girl?"

"She is trustworthy, that is all either of us need to know. Everything is in place; tonight we make our move." Ffamran murmured. Fran held her hand out to the snake, calling to him in Vieran, and Balthier wound himself around her wrist, opening his hood and hissing at her.

"Brash hume-child; do not tell me what to do," Fran said without heat. The boy-judge colored at her teasing, watching her long fingers caress Balthier's black scales and creamy white underbelly. "We should make for Balfonheim; with the amount of crime and piracy in the city, we will not be caught. I also understand that is where your captain and his ship is?"

"If all goes as planned, Fulton will be my captain no longer, and his ship will be mine once more." Ffamran said fiercely. Fran nodded, pursing her lips as she stowed Balthier away under her straw pallet. Turning back to him, she said something in slow Vieran that made the boy scrunch his brow in concentration. "Er… don't be hasty?"

"Yes."

Penelo erased the last of Ffamran's bruises with careful ministrations. He still had not told her how to save his future self; the first thing he did was polish his sword and shield, then eat a hasty meal and go to bed. When he woke up from his nap, he immediately put his armor back on and rode his Chocobo back to the prison, Penelo in tow. It was midnight.

Deimos soared behind them like a smoky shadow, darting in and out of the cold moonlight. Penelo looked back at him, and he cawed at her menacingly.

"I was going to tell you something, but it slipped my mind," Ffamran eventually broke the silence.

"Does it have to do with pois—"

"Listen. With sword in hand, to my enemies I grant eternal sleep; with shield in hand, I safeguard my life. Zalera's hand is yet to extinguish my flaming vitality. The lay of Balthier, outlaw hero of the ancient days. It's very important, please do not forget it."

"Ffamran, I am trying to help you. You do realize your future self is dying, right?" Penelo tightened her grip about his middle, and he sighed.

"The walls have ears, my lady." Penelo looked around at the walls, as if expecting to see ears blooming out of them, but there was no sound but for the Chocobo's feet on the cobblestone road. "Besides, I just helped you."

"Bal—Ffamran," she corrected herself. "I've never been good at riddles. The future you even calls me dense at times, though he says I'm not as dense as Vaan."

"You'll figure it out, don't worry. When you get back to the future, find Fran; she'll probably be able to solve the riddle. I'll try to make things as easy for you to figure out as possible."

You could just tell me how to make the antidote, Penelo thought glumly, glaring at the back of Ffamran's helm. She was not sure that he should be gallivanting about carrying out his dastardly plans, what with his concussion and all, but when she brought this up, he insisted he was fine. Tomorrow, Ashe would arrive in Archades and he would lose this perfect chance to escape forever.

He quickly led the way down the hall toward Fran's cell, but pulled up short. There was a dull clunk as Penelo walked into his metal-clad back.

"Good evening, Your Honor." Argus stood up from where he sat in front of Fran's cell. "What are you doing here? Out for a stroll? Rather bleak place to be wandering about with your sweetheart, isn't it?"

"I forgot something here, that's all. I'll just collect it and be on my way. Why do I need to answer to you, anyway?"

"Are you looking for your snake? How did it get here, I wonder?" Argus held up his hand, and Penelo saw the shining, scintillating black band wrapped around his gauntleted fist. Ffamran gasped, taking a step forward, then stopped.

"I wonder, too. He probably slipped into my bag when I wasn't looking… he likes Viera, you see? Now, if I could just have him back…"

"What makes you think I'll give him back, Ffamran Mid Bunansa Archades? Or do you call yourself Balthier now, the black snake of Captain Fulton the Sky Pirate?" Argus's voice was laced with scorn as he studied the serpent in his hands. "How far the nobility have fallen. I won't give you this snake back, Balthier. It is evidence for your crimes against the empire; I know you were responsible for the death of Judge Magister Felmarz. I knew it the moment I saw your cold face. You're still young, boy; you let your eyes betray your heart."

Ffamran cursed and drew his sword, holding his shield at a defensive angle, before charging at Argus. "Penelo! Get Fran out… the keys are on the wall by the door!" Penelo rushed to do as he told her, but to her horror, found that she did not know which key opened Fran's cell.

"Give them here, girl," Fran's exotic tones interrupted her frenzied search for the right key. Penelo was almost ashamed to see how easily the Viera picked the correct key from the thick key ring, and took it back from her, blushing. "The lock is complex; are you sure you can open it?"

"I… I think I can manage," Penelo mumbled, until she saw the horrific amount of pins sticking out of the lock.

"Depress the correct pins and insert the key, then the door will open." Fran explained patiently, calm despite the battle between Ffamran and Argus in the background. Penelo bit back a squeak as Argus smacked into the wall next to her after being bashed by Ffamran's shield. He made to rise again, but stopped, instead drawing a pencil thin dagger and holding it over Balthier's head. The snake hissed at the glimmering shaft.

"Don't move, any of you, or the snake dies!" Argus bellowed. They froze. He laughed darkly, panting. "I know how important this snake is to you, boy. It has a fragment of your soul inside. If the snake dies, you'll lose another part of yourself and be barely more than a husk of who you once were." The needle-like dagger prodded the snake's skin, and Ffamran tightened his grip on his sword. Penelo closed her eyes, begging him not to do anything foolish. To her surprise, he began to chant a spell.

Oh Heth, Lord of the Dark

Rise from the Deepness

And Conquer this Living Ivalice;

Turn the Traitor to Your will to dust

And drag him with you back to the depths.

The spell seized Argus in the guts, doubling him over as he gasped for fleeting breath. Out of the soldier's own shadow, Death rose, bony hands reaching for him and wrapping about his face and torso. Argus's mouth stretched in a silent scream as a white veil swirled over his eyes, a faint white and gold mist rising from his mouth. Death laughed, opening his own skeletal jaws, and swallowed the cloud of mist, pulling the corpse within his own insubstantial body and devouring it in shadow. Balthier the snake fell to the floor, slithering toward Fran.

"I was wondering if you'd ever use the spell I gave you," Death said, a tiny wisp of gold mist drifting out of his jaws. He quickly sucked it back in.

"Yes, well, it was an emergency," Ffamran replied curtly, opening Fran's cell. Penelo was embarrassed when all he did was grab all the pins in one hand, depressing them all at once, and unlock the door. "We are taking the next airship into Balfonheim; Fulton thinks I'm coming to give him more information and has arranged private cabins on the two o'clock flight. It will be making a little side trip to Rabanastre, so we'll have time to… take care of business."

He led them at a quick pace to the aerodrome, Death perching on his shoulder as a night black raven. Penelo scowled; after eating Argus's soul, the raven seemed a little bigger, a little glossier, and ten times more smug then he had before. Ffamran hissed through his teeth as Deimos nipped at his earrings with his sharp beak.

No one questioned a Judge's sudden need to go to Balfonheim at two o'clock in the morning, and they allowed him to bypass all the security checkpoints easily, not even giving Fran a second look. Balthier poked his head out of a hip pack Fran carried, his tongue flicking out and tasting the air of the new environment. As soon as they were on the airship, Ffamran stripped all his armor off.

"What are you doing?" Penelo asked as she caught his helm. Fran took it from her and stuffed the bag with Balthier in it inside, closing the visor and stretching a cloth over the opening for the head. Ffamran stretched, now wearing only the black leather that Judges wore under their armor.

"Getting rid of this ridiculous get up," he said, walking to the window and prying it open. Wind screamed through the room, responding to the pressure change, and Fran helped Ffamran throw all his armor out the window, down toward the Salikawood below. Even the helm, Balthier inside, went plummeting.

"Ffamran, what are you doing?" Penelo grabbed his arm. Ffamran smirked devilishly.

"Not Ffamran, not anymore. I'm Balthier now."