I love writing this story. I'm pretty sure I've said that for the last two chapters, but I'll say it again. I love writing this story.
And as always, thanks to ElTangoDeRoxanne, who is so nice to me and leaves me nice reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean or Final Fantasy XII.
"This is the best crew in Tortuga?" Will groaned, raising his eyebrows at the ragtag assortment of men before them.
"Aye, and all of 'em crazy to boot." Gibbs replied. They were definitely interesting. Balthier found he was amused by a tiny (but tough) looking man with a bald head and a determined air, and another man with a blue bandana and a colorful avion on his shoulder.
"What is that avion?" Balthier asked Will, who was watching Jack pace the dock with a green banana in his hand.
"Avion?" Will was confused.
"Sorry, bird. The one on that man's shoulder."
"It's called a parrot. Sometimes they can talk." Will answered. He was proved right when Jack reeled off a tongue twister about loyalty and courage, and the bird squawked,
"Wind in the sails, wind in the sails!" Jack looked exasperatedly at Gibbs.
"We figure that means 'yes'." Gibbs interpreted for him.
A woman's voice cracked over their heads. "What's the benefit for us?"
Jack crept toward the voice, trailed by Balthier and Will. Gibbs had frozen. When he reached the speaker (a dark skinned girl with a floppy brimmed hat), Jack reached a tentative hand forth, and with a grimace on his face, lifted the hat away. Long, lanky black hair blew in the breeze, and the girl's angry face glared at them.
"Anamaria…" Jack murmured, and was given, for the third time, a violent slap across the face. Balthier wondered if the man had lost all feeling there from being slapped so much.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one, either?" Will needled Jack.
"No, that one I deserved." Jack said, and Anamaria nodded with a satisfied look on her face.
"You stole my boat!" she grit. Jack opened his mouth to deliver some retort, but was silenced by another slap. Balthier winced sympathetically. Jack's manhood was taking a beating.
"Actually, it was borrowed! Without permission, true, but I had every intention to bring it back!" Jack cried.
"But you didn't!" Anamaria shrieked. Balthier suddenly thought of the mast he'd seen in Port Royal. He didn't think Anamaria was ever going to get her boat back; by now, it was probably sitting at the bottom of the bay.
"You'll get another one!" Jack cried, flouncing the banana as if he could use it to ward off the woman's anger.
"A better one." Balthier murmured in his ear. He knew how you had to placate women; he did it all the time.
"A better one!" Jack shouted.
"That one." Will whispered in Jack's other ear, pointing to the Interceptor. Jack opened his mouth, but stopped, frowning, and whipped around to face them. Will and Balthier leaned back to avoid getting hit by Jack's swinging hair ornaments.
"What one?" he asked, puzzled. Will nodded toward the chosen ship. Eerily, all of the crewmember's heads turned toward the ship at the same time. "That one?" Jack barked. The crewmembers turned to look back at him again. Anamaria raised an ebony eyebrow.
"Aye! That one!" Jack said, defeat in his voice.
"You did well to let that ship go," Balthier muttered. "You've garnered support from your crew, and you'll get the Black Pearl back, anyway."
"I hope." Jack returned, stomping away. Gibbs caught up to him.
"It's bad luck to bring a woman onboard, Jack!" he said.
"Come now, my first mate is a lady!" Balthier said, catching up to them.
"Is it now?" Gibbs looked surprised. "I thought you a sensible lad."
"She's the best first mate I've ever had," Balthier retorted, while thinking, she's the only first mate I've ever had. "I've gotten out of many a bind, thanks to her."
Jack turned back to them, looking into the sky. "Where we are going, I would rather have Anamaria than not."
Thunder crashed and boomed, and lighting ripped the sky asunder. Water washed over the deck, and sailors dashed, slipping and sliding about, trying to tie all the important objects down. As the Interceptor took another plunge through the waves, Balthier clung like a barnacle to some ropes lashed around the deck, squeezing his eyes shut against the onslaught of salt water before rushing to help Gibbs and Will haul ropes. He was almost swept overboard when a gust of wind pushed another wave over the gunwales. The three fell together in a heap, before leaping up again and grabbing for the slippery rope.
"How are we going to find an uncharted island with a compass that doesn't point north?" Will shouted over the howl of the squall.
"We're not trying to find north now, are we?" Gibbs returned smartly. "What's gotten into you that has you in such a fine mood now, Jack?" he called to their makeshift leader. Jack looked up, his eyes illuminated by some kind of brilliance or madness.
"We are catching up to them!" Jack shouted back, a wolfish smirk on his face. Balthier stumbled toward the helm, clutching the podium in front of the wheel to avoid getting washed away. His hair, normally standing in neat, orderly rows, was plastered to his head, and his sleeves were stuck to his skin.
"It's too dangerous, Jack! I'm not usually one to complain, but this ship is going to come apart!" Balthier cried over the storm's roar and the boat's desperate groans.
"She can hold a while more!" Jack shouted.
Balthier's arms screamed in protest as he helped the crew brace a wild yardarm that threatened to swing free. Orange light fell on his face again. The sun was rising. He dug his feet into the ground, muttering a prayer to the gods he didn't believe in. Was it insanity? The rains were slacking off. Gibbs skillfully tied the rope to an anchor point on the rail as the last few drops of rain fell, and Balthier sank to the deck.
"Come on, lad, there's still much to do!" Gibbs cried. "We're not through this yet!"
"Are you feeling alright?" Will asked him with consternation. The sky pirate was pale, his breathing labored.
"Ah…" Balthier groaned. "I'm a sky pirate, not a bloody sea pirate!" he lurched to his feet. "I'm cut out to be piloting ships through the air, not sodding manual labor."
He took a potion bottle from his one of his side pouches. Thankfully, it had remained intact, though much of what he had inside the pouch was crushed and jumbled together. Balthier downed it in a single gulp, grimacing at the horrible medicinal taste, but felt relieved when his churning stomach and pounding head calmed.
A thick fog rolled in. Through the haze, he could see the ghostly wreck of ships, like huge skeletons. There was a shuttering groan and a splash in the mist as a ship broke down further. Sharks poured from the gaping holes.
Gibbs stood next to Balthier. "So many sailors were claimed by that passage." he said, shaking his head. "We were lucky."
Balthier looked toward Jack, who was still as stone by the helm, glaring at his compass. "We are going to need still more, I think." he said quietly. Gibbs blinked, then nodded solemnly.
"Aye."
"Jack's keeping things from us. Does he not trust his own crew?" Balthier asked.
"He's learned a lesson from when he his crew rebelled. When he gave Barbossa the bearings for Isla de Muerta, they marooned him on the island shortly after that." Gibbs explained. "I wouldn't blame him from keeping his intentions to himself." The steady thump of shoes on the deck alerted them to the approach of Will.
"How did he get off the island?" Will asked. Balthier rolled his eyes.
"He didn't tell me that when we were in prison, and I'm sure whatever tale you are about to tell us false." he interrupted when Gibbs opened his mouth. Jack strolled by.
"Gentlemen we have arrived at our destination. Let's lower a boat; I'll go inside with Balthy and Will." he beckoned them toward a dingy. Balthier was running out of innovative ways to remind Jack not to call him "Balthy." He decided this time to flick a stray woodchip at the back of the pirate's head. It bounced off his hat, but knocked it forward over Jack's eyes. A conveniently placed rope made him trip and fall face first into the selected dingy.
"Sorry! Bal or Balthier! Enough already!" This time, Balthier had the victorious smirk.
Jack stood up, righting his hat.
"Gibbs!" he called, and said man turned to face him.
"Should I not return, keep to the Code."
In the caverns of the Isla de Muerta, there was no light, save that of the lantern in Will's hands.
"These pirates are the undead, right?" Will asked fretfully, glancing back at Jack and Balthier, who were rowing. "Does that mean that my sword can't kill them?"
"We only need a distraction to get back your bonny lass." Jack said. "And Bal can manage that, right?"
"Perhaps, and perhaps not." the sky pirate said softly. "There is a spell in Ivalice called 'Holy' that is particularly useful against undead creatures. I've often chided myself for not taking the time to learn it from Fran."
"Maybe you should learn it when you get back. You never know when you'll meet undead." Jack said. "Pull harder, Balthier. I can't row this boat by me onesy." Balthier picked up the slack, and the boat glided forward again.
"The code you mentioned earlier," Will spoke suddenly. "What's that?" Even Balthier knew the pirate's code, though he rarely followed it.
"Whoever falls behind stays behind." the pirates said at the same time, and Will shuddered as the lantern light fell on the bones of a pirate skeleton surrounded by crabs. They raised their claws in the air threateningly until they were masked in the darkness again.
"There's no heroes amongst thieves, is there?" Will said bleakly.
"I saved Ivalice. That's got to count for some heroism." Balthier said with a slight smirk. Will twisted to look at him.
"You did it for your own benefit. You thought you were going to get something out of it, didn't you?" he asked pointedly.
"Yes. At first I did. But later I did it for penance. My father was going to be the cause of my world's fall. Stupid blighter died before he could set things aright, and let it fall to me. The unwanted son and heir." Balthier said bitterly. Jack could sense his anger, emanating like a dark cloud. He changed the subject hurriedly.
"You're well on your way to becoming a pirate yourself, Will. Indulging in acts of piracy, and being obsessed with treasure, all very good. You can join my crew when we're done." he said.
The boat knocked against the ground, and Will jumped from the dingy, snarling,
"It's not true. I've never seen so much of it in one place, that's all. I'm not obsessed with treasure."
"Not all treasure has value we can measure, mate." Jack said, looking out over a sea of pirates in the next chamber from a gap in the cave wall. Balthier winced as he climbed up next to them, thinking of his earlier comment to Ashe in the tomb of Raithwall. Call me old fashioned, but I was hoping for something whose worth we could measure.
"Elizabeth…" Will whispered, seeing her standing next to a bearded man with an extravagant hat who was giving a long winded speech. The speaker could be no other Hector Barbossa, former first mate of the Black Pearl, and now the ship's Captain.
"We've been tested and tried for ten years, each man proving his mettle time and time again!" he was shouting, lashing his crew into a screaming crowd. Elizabeth's lips were quivering. She was clearly frightened.
"Our punishment was disproportionate to our crime! How else were we to know it were curse gold?" Barbossa continued. "Behold! The cursed treasure that is the source of our suffering!" he kicked the lid from the stone chest, picking gold coins out and letting them clatter back.
"Who here has given the blood price on the gold?" Barbossa shouted. Balthier snorted. He was certainly a charismatic speaker. The pirates all screamed.
"Us!"
"Whose blood is yet to be paid?"
"Hers!"
"Jack! Come on!" Will shouted, climbing over the lip of the cave. Coins clanged to the ground.
"Will! Stop!" Jack tried to grab Will and pull him back. Balthier covered his face with his hands.
In one movement, the pirate's heads turned toward them. Barbossa's mouth gapped openly.
"You! How did you…?" he gasped.
"Get off the island? Sea turtles, mate. You forgot. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." Jack said, trying to buy time.
"I won't be forgetting that again. I'll take care of you right now! Boys! Get 'em!" Barbossa shouted. "Don't let them get away!"
The mass of pirates surged toward them. In the confusion, Will glimpsed Elizabeth sliding down the mound of treasure, slipping away. Balthier did not miss it either. He took a breath.
"I have a plan. You may or may not like it, but it's the only way. Will, in the confusion, you can get Elizabeth, and escape with Jack. Just… don't let me see you. I don't think I could stop myself…"
"What are you going to do?" Will asked, edging toward Elizabeth.
"I'm going to cast Berserk on myself. It will give me increased strength and speed, but it will also make me nigh uncontrollable. I won't care who I hurt. I won't even tell it's you until I come back to my senses a while later." Balthier replied with a sad smile. "Hurry, go get her."
He held his hand out, channeling the Mist into the right spell. When he pulled his hand back, he felt the spell take hold.
To everyone else in the room, red light seemed to wash out of the ground, enveloping the sky pirate in a crimson embrace. When it faded, Balthier looked very much the same, but had tensed into a half crouch, his head in his hands.
"Balthier?" Will asked, concern in his voice. Did the spell not take? Was he suffering some horrible side effect?
"Gh…" the sky pirate groaned thickly, clenching his hands in his hair. It was clear he was trying to speak. Go.
Jack had known enough men who fell in the lines of Berserkers as a warrior class to know that Balthier was beginning to work himself into a frenzy.
"Will, we have to get out of here. Get your girl, quickly!" Jack pushed Will toward Elizabeth. A few pirates meant to bar their path, drawing swords. At the sound of rasping metal, Balthier twitched.
"Ah…" he was gasping, his tenuous control on his mind was slipping away. Just a little more, he had to let them get farther. If he let go now, he might kill them.
"Out of my way!" Will shouted, drawing his own sword. The sound! The sound! Balthier peered through his fingers, his civilized self almost gone. There was a pirate with a torch in front of him. That one would go down first.
Will and the pirates engaged, their swords clashing. Balthier snapped.
His tongue could no longer formulate human words, wrap around delicate sounds and exquisite language. So he did the only thing he could.
He screamed. He couldn't help himself as he reared back, froth flying from teeth that were no longer his, but some beast's raging for blood. In a flash, his hands dropped to Lohengrin and Danjuro, drawing them both at once. With an unbridled cry, he flung himself upon his first victim.
Balthier blocked a swing of the torch with the long sword, slicing clean through the wood, and plunged Danjuro into the pirate's throat. Warm blood sprayed his face; there was an awful lot of it for a man who was supposed to be undead. With his tongue, he licked some of it away from his lips. A fiend of desire had awoken in him: he wanted more! The monster that wore his face wanted to drink its fill, satiate its thirst with these men's blood.
To the pirates, it was as if a demon had come among them. Balthier was a nightmare, his normally impeccable clothing dyed red as he tore through their ranks, weapons whirling. It was as if the very fires of hell shone from his eyes. Elizabeth was frozen in her hiding spot, watching terrified, until Will came up behind her, grabbing her with a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. The medallion was clutched in her hand. Jack held the other pirates at bay, occasionally shouting insults. Barbossa had vanished into the crowd, trying to help them subdue the berserk sky pirate.
"Come on," Will whispered, helping her to her feet and escorting her from the cave. A few pirates tried to give chase, but their motion attracted Balthier's attention.
Normally, he would have thought twice before throwing Danjuro, but he wasn't himself. He threw the dagger with wild abandon, imbedding it in the back of the pirate's head. The pirate fell, and Will, Jack, and Elizabeth made their escape into the boat. Elizabeth clutched Will's sleeve.
"What about him?" she cried, looking back toward the raging Balthier.
"Pirate's code! We're leaving him behind! Look at him! We can't take him with us! He sacrificed himself so that we could get you." Will said. Jack began to row. The sounds of the battle were fading.
"Who said there were no heroes amongst thieves?" Jack asked. Will sighed.
"I won't forget his sacrifice."
Everything was red. Red treasure, red stone, red humes who tried to bring him down. Balthier didn't flinch as a sword cut through his embroidered vest, grazing under his ribs as it cut through flesh. A bullet zipped through his arm, but the pain only spurred him into greater rage. Finally, a lucky shot with a pistol shattered the bones in his free hand. It all began to go downhill from there.
The spell began to wear off. A wall of pain slammed down upon him, threatening to overwhelm him, but he fought it off, darkness eating at the edge of his vision. A sword bit into his leg. This time, he cried out, falling to his knees. Balthier tried to formulate a cure spell, but the pain was too much, it was mussing with his brain. He could only lay there, gasping. Lohengrin slid out of his hands with a clatter. It was okay, Will, Elizabeth, and Jack had gotten away. His only regret was that Fran wasn't there. He would have liked to see her before he died.
Barbossa's breath tickled his cheek, foul air washing over his face.
"Don't think I'll let you get away with that little stunt, ye runt!" the pirate snarled, dragging him by the collar of his vest toward the chest of Cortes. Balthier did not fight, only choked for breath as he was strangled by his own clothing. "This chest was made as a punishment for the conquistador whose greed destroyed an entire civilization. Now, I'll use it to punish you!" Barbossa shouted, grabbing Balthier's hand and plunging it into the chest. He closed the sky pirate's finger around a coin, then lifted it out. As soon as the coin left the chest, Balthier felt… something… change. The pains in his body went away, and his mind cleared. This wasn't so bad…
"Where's his dagger? Bring it to me!" Barbossa snapped. The pirate who'd been "killed" with Danjuro came forth, presenting the dagger to his Captain. Two pirates flanked Balthier, dragging him to his feet and ripping his vest from his body. Without a word, Barbossa shoved Danjuro between Balthier's ribs, straight into his heart.
It was uncomfortable, to say in the least. Balthier gasped, staring in horror at the jeweled dagger hilt protruding from his chest. It didn't hurt, but there was something disconcerting about realizing you had been stabbed in a fatal area but weren't dead. With a sinking feeling in his not-beating heart, Balthier realized what had happened.
He was cursed, same as them.
"Give him a boat. You're going to go back to Jack for me, and give him this message. I want the girl. And until I get her, you're going to suffer, same as us." Barbossa ordered. Balthier nodded weakly, bringing a hand up to yank the dagger from his chest.
"Leave it!" Barbossa shouted. "It's proof that you're like us, now!"
Miserably, Balthier took his doublet back from the pirate who'd taken it from him, and picked up Lohengrin from the ground. It wouldn't do to fight anymore. They were in a stalemate. He couldn't kill them, and they couldn't kill him. It seemed to be his lot in life to have the worst things always happening to him.
The sun was beginning to set as the Interceptor somewhat mournfully prepared to depart Isla de Muerta. Elizabeth, once deposited on deck, had groaned.
"Not more pirates?" she whispered. Gibbs stepped down to meet her.
"Welcome aboard, Miss Elizabeth. Welcome back, Jack, Will. Where's Balthier?" he asked. Will took a deep breath.
"He was left behind." he gave the news with a subdued air. Gibbs lowered his eyes. "Didn't know him long, but he was a good man. Keep to the code!" he shouted. The anchor was raised. They had just began to open the sails when the parrot belonging to Cotton squawked.
"Boat, ho!" The crew onboard the Interceptor rushed to the rail.
A lone dingy was rowing toward them. The figure rowing was dressed in a fancy white shirt with billowing sleeves and had extremely short bronze hair.
"Balthy!" Jack shouted, waving his arms.
"It's Balthier!" came the reply across the water. The small boat pulled alongside the Interceptor, and Balthier himself climbed aboard. He paused when his head was level with the gunwale, cradling his hand near his chest. "I have some… rather bad news." the sky pirate pulled himself over the rail, then dropped his hand.
The dagger, still stuck in his chest, glinted in the dying sun. In his other hand, Balthier showed the crew the cursed coin.
"After you left, I came to, and they forced me to take it." he said bitterly, wrenching Danjuro from his ribs and probing around the hole with his fingers. It was already closing. His skin was cold, his heart no longer beat. It didn't even seem he needed to breathe anymore.
"Gentlemen," Balthier announced, finishing his examination. "For all intensive purposes, it would appear I am officially dead."
I loved writing berserk Balthier. I've had experience working in a haunted house on how to act insane, so I took a little bit from there. Anyway, please review.
