Author's Note: Almost done with this story...We're heading into the final part...And, look! It's the preview from the end of Bad Bromance! I'm so happy to finally use it in the actual story.
Oh, you two. You guys are too good to me! I love you, Joshua Chung and The Giant Daifuku!
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Chapter Ten
Fighting Fate
There are times when I never doubted myself; not for even one second. But because of you, I kept finding myself unable to figure out why I was doing everything I could to see you dead.
"Remind me again why you had to hide the auracite on the ship, Fran. This just makes things much more harder than I had planned, to be honest. Do you live to make me suffer, my dear?"
Fran peered out from the bushes, looking to where Snow stood behind a tall tree. "Would you rather I gave it to those soldiers?" she asked, smirking at her partner. "You usually enjoy a challenge. This is just another time for the leading man to shine, is it not?"
"Stealing my own ship doesn't sound very exciting to me. At least this will be harder than it was the time we stole it in Rabanastre," Balthier answered, wiping the dirt off of the fomalhaut. "I'll have to tell Vaan and Penelo to get a better security system the next time we're in that city."
"Another task added to our list."
Snow went on ahead to take care of any of the soldiers guarding the air ship, while Balthier and Fran hung back. It seemed far too easy to get the Strahl back in their possession, especially since it was considered as a 'tool from the other world', therefore marking it as a dangerous weapon. To think, in just an hour or two, they would be on their way back to Ivalice. Though it didn't feel right to leave so suddenly, they had no other choice. If the Sanctum was after Ragnarok, then there was nothing they could do escape get the damned god away from Pulse as quickly as possible.
As for leaving Lightning behind, Balthier wished there was some way he could convince her to go with them. But she hated Ragnarok more than anything, which meant she wanted him dead just as much as the beast. They were the same being, after all.
He tightened his grip on the fomalhaut when he squinted his eyes, staring at the spot where Snow once stood. Fran sniffed the air, and Balthier almost asked if anything was wrong. He didn't have to, of course, because there was a sudden yell in the distance, followed by a gun shot.
Neither of them wasted any time chasing after the sound, and if it wasn't for Fran's presence and the possibility of Lightning being among those guarding the air ship, Balthier would have let Ragnarok have a chance at killing any soldiers in their way. Something was urging him onward, ordering him to allow the beast to take over and condemn those who deserved it.
Balthier stopped in mid step when he saw Snow standing over the unconscious forms of the guards, grinning at the two as if nothing was wrong. It was nothing more than a false alarm, it seemed.
"Ice, must you always cause destruction wherever you go?" Balthier asked, shaking his head when he looked down at the guards. "You almost had Fran worried about you again."
Fran sent him a glare, her lip curling in slight amusement, nonetheless. Snow shrugged his shoulders. "It was either that, or have you bore them to death with one of your 'leading man' rants," he answered. "They always put me to sleep."
"If I remember correctly, my most recent 'rant' was when the Bahamut was about to crash into Rabanastre. You remember that, don't you, Fran? How Ice here demanded that I return to him as soon as possible? Definitely not 'bored to death', wouldn't you think?"
"He denies more than he wants," she agreed, turning his eyes in the blond's direction. "We should leave while we still can. No doubt more soldiers will arrive when they realize their guards have fallen."
"First, we find the auracite. Without it, we can't go anywhere."
The two men stood in the cock pit of the Strahl while Fran searched for the place where she hid the second half of the Cache of Glabados, yet they didn't say a word to each other. Snow was staring intently out the front window, most likely trying to understand why he was so prepared to leave his real home behind once again, and Balthier leaned against the wall, keeping himself calm until the time was right.
When she returned, Fran held three crystals in her hands: the rose and the tear drop crystal in one, and the green auracite in the other. She had a concerned look in her eyes that only Balthier could see.
"Something wrong, Fran?" he asked, stepping forward to speak with her.
"I don't understand why I didn't see the truth before," she stated. "These crystals Penelo had given you, they are more than mere stones. Auracite. Much like the Cache."
Snow's eyes widened. "Are you serious?" he exclaimed, stunned. "How can you tell?"
"They resemble the crystals used to summon Eidolons," Balthier replied. "That may be the purpose they hold in this world, but in Ivalice they hold a power much greater. Like deifacted nethicite, almost. I should have known - those crystals are more devious than they appear to be. But all auracite has a distinct purpose...What could power could these hold, I wonder..."
"Hold on." Snow took the tear drop crystal from Fran and looked at it more closely. "I think I'm...remembering something about this. Something I read in a book Ashe gave to me. 'Magicite, though formed by the gods Undying, holds the true existence of beings greater than Man. With the Stones, the gods can be separated from their Chosen, hereby giving them a life of their own'!" His eyes lit up, and he eagerly grabbed Balthier by the arm. "Don't you get it, Balthier? Auracite can separate Ragnarok from-"
There was a loud banging on the door, and Fran immediately hid the other two stones in the pouch on her belt while Snow hid the tear drop crystal behind his back. From behind the door, Balthier could hear the foot steps rushing toward them.
"Open this door! We've got you surrounded, Ragnarok!"
"I must say, you've led us on quite the chase, Ffamran."
Balthier couldn't believe what he was seeing. The man standing in front of he, Fran and Snow wasn't meant to be there. He should have died with the rest of the Pulse citizens five-hundred years before, when Ragnarok had attempted to destroy Cocoon and failed.
How was it that Oerba Dia Cid was standing there as if nothing had changed? How was he still alive?
The Sanctum soldiers kept a tight grip on Balthier, knowing that he wouldn't hesitate to kill them if he had the chance. Fran and Snow were apprehended as well, though they were kept a short distance away from the sky pirate. Cid was looking down at him, smirking out of amusement.
"You were supposed to have died the moment Ragnarok took flight," Balthier snarled. "How is it that you still live, when so many others died that day?"
"Those two girls weren't the only ones who were branded as l'Cie that day," the man answered, and he revealed the Pulse l'Cie brand on his neck. "Anima chose another to bear a different burden, the task of destroying Ragnarok if he chose to betray her."
"I'm afraid the title of Ragnarok's destroyer is already claimed. You're nothing more than a pawn of the Sanctum now."
Cid arched an eyebrow. "And who are you to talk of pawns of the gods? Look around. Are these people you call your allies nothing more than your pawns, Ffamran? You brought them to this world, condemning them to a death brought by your hand. Just as you had with those innocent people in Ivalice. The ones Ragnarok killed just so the two of you could survive."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Snow yelled, continuously trying to pull away from his captors. Balthier was far too deep in thought to speak any longer. "How do you know about Ragnarok?"
"I once lived in Oerba, before the time of the fal'Cie and their pets," Cid explained. "The fal'Cie Anima granted me the power to live until Ragnarok's demise, and therefore here I stand. I waited years to hear of the god's rebirth, and much to my surprise, I found him in the dream realm of Gran Pulse over five-hundred years before. You ran with those two girls, escaping my grasp and your death. Yet now, Ragnarok, I can set you free. Free from this world and the after. This is the wish of Lindzei."
Snow's eyes uneasily met Balthier's, though the sky pirate looked away the moment Fran turned her attention toward him.
"General Morgana has a proposition for you: surrender yourself to the Sanctum, and your comrades will be free to return to their world. Refuse, and they will not be the only ones to suffer."
"Where is she?" Balthier asked. "Where's Lightning?"
"Ah, yes. Captain Farron. The only one able to tame the beast." Cid folded his arms across his chest. "She is with another squadron, searching for you as we speak. Won't she be troubled when she hears of your untimely death...I would expect her to want to follow you into the after life."
Snow scowled even more, but Fran remained silent. Without another word, Balthier gave the man one nod, and the soldiers holding him back let him go. He closed his eyes to avoid both Snow and Fran when they were led back to the Strahl, but he could still hear the blond yelling; demanding that he stop being a martyr. Cid smirked, and the soldiers pulled the sky pirate to his feet.
"The General has given you the chance to live your last day as you see fit, but hear this: the moment you choose to betray this pact, we won't hesitate to cut you down."
Cid walked past him, and Balthier opened his eyes once he could no longer feel the presence of a hume with him. And in the midst of his soul, Ragnarok smiled.
"No good," Lightning said as she led the small group of soldiers out of the village. "He's not here, either. Why do I get the feeling Snow is trying to lead us away from Ragnarok instead of leading us to it?"
None of her soldiers answered her; not that she expected an answer, anyway. Resting her gunblade on her shoulder and looking toward Cocoon, she wondered what would happen if she just decided to go home for the night. She wasn't in the mood to chase Balthier around Pulse, and even though it had been ordered of her to find and capture Ragnarok, she wasn't sure if that was what she really wanted to do. Serah had believed in him, so why couldn't she do the same?
"We should call it a day," she stated when she faced the soldiers, after sheathing her blade. "A storm's coming, by the looks of the sky right now. Even if Ragnarok was out here, it's probably hiding out somewhere for the night."
They saluted her and left for the head quarters, and for once Lightning was glad to be alone. After Serah's death, her fellow Guardian Corps female soldiers had constantly asked her if she was "doing all right", or if she needed a place to stay for the night. They were only trying to help, she understood that much, but it wasn't their help that she wanted.
Maybe all I wanted was to see him again, to ask him why he had chosen to hide so much from me. Yeah, I didn't remember a thing about him, but being with Balthier two years ago had changed me. I just wished I knew how much.
"Captain Farron."
Lightning turned around at the sound of her commanding officer's voice, surprised to see Morgana standing there with a content look on her pale face. Neither of them bothered to salute each other.
"You sent your soldiers back to base," the woman said. "Why?"
"Ragnarok's not here," Lightning answered, frowning. "Snow gave me a heading on where the beast is, but when we looked there, we found nothing. This is just a wild-goose chase, if you ask me."
"Well, of course Ragnarok is no longer there. We found it already, and the sky pirate has agreed to our proposition."
The captain narrowed her eyes. "Proposition?"
Morgana nodded, tilting her head to the side. "Have you not been told? Both Ragnarok and its host will be dead by this eventide, and the viera and Snow Villiers will be returned to the other world at the event of the beast's death."
"What? How could Balthier agree to that? He always said that the leading man never-"
"Do you really believe in all those stories, Captain Farron?" Morgana smirked. "There are times when even the hero must sacrifice himself for the greater good, even if the damsel in distress begs him not to leave her behind. Tell me, Farron, are you the damsel in distress? Will you allow your hero to leave you behind?"
Lightning scowled, almost reaching for her gunblade behind her back. But she stopped in mid-motion, knowing that if she raised her blade against a higher up, she would be just as damned as Snow and the others. Instead, she turned away from Morgana and ran off down the road. She needed to find Balthier, and for some reason she knew exactly where he was.
One day.
The rain-clouds darkened the sky as the villagers rushed to find shelter in the out skirts of the Oerba village. A storm was coming, that was certain.
The waves at his feet were going back and forth with every passing moment, reminding Balthier of what he was hiding from. But he knew he wouldn't be able to run much longer; not from something so great, so terrible. Was death truly that frightening, even though he had faced it so many times before? He looked down at the sand and the water seeping through his leather boots. It wouldn't be long now, he reminded himself.
Snow and Fran would be returning to Ivalice soon, and he wasn't troubled by the thought that they would be leaving without him. For some reason, he had known all along that he wouldn't return to his home world. He had just refused to admit it until then.
Just as he looked toward the endless sea before him, he heard the clicking of a gun from behind and the quiet, graceful foot steps that followed, as expected.
"You're late."
Balthier turned around, staring at Lightning with vacant, near-dead eyes. She held her gunblade toward him, the barrel of it aimed directly at his expressionless stare. Her lips quirked in the smallest of scowls, and her aqua eyes stared into whatever was left of his soul.
"You're going to give up and die," she spat in but a whisper. "Is that it?"
He turned away from her, facing the waves once more as she closed her eyes. He took in a faint breath, gazing at the darkening clouds. "It's time to end this," he told her; hopeless. Surrendering. Giving up, as she had said. He had stood in this spot in his dream, and it was where he would meet his end. The leading man turned villain, killed at the hands of his leading lady. How ironic.
Lightning opened her eyes, taking one step forward. "So it is."
He didn't flinch when he heard the gun shot ring out around them. There was no pain, unless he had somehow willed it away with a single thought. There was nothing but the echo of the shot and the flutter of wings as creatures flew out from the trees. Lightning gasped, and he could feel her fear when she suddenly spun around and aimed her gunblade toward the one who had actually fired the shot.
"How generously you've led us to our renegade god, Farron," Morgana stated, resting her rifle on her shoulder. "You hear one murmur of his surrender, and you go back to him as if nothing has changed. And you dare turn your sword against me? Captain Farron, I am most displeased with your betrayal."
"You didn't need me to lead you to him," Lightning retorted. "So why are you here now?"
"You wish to see him live, don't you? Two years ago, you almost let yourself fall for this man. And now, you still feel the same."
Balthier narrowed his eyes. Who was this Morgana, really? How could she know so much about their past? Unless...
'She is not who she claims,' Ragnarok hissed to him. 'That woman - she is the host of the trickster god Lindzei. They seek us dead.'
"Lindzei?" the sky pirate breathed, and Lightning immediately looked back at him, eyes wide in confusion.
Morgana kept her composure. "Ragnarok is the one who truly killed your sister, Farron. Do you dare let him live when other lives have been lost in his name? If he had never returned, your Serah would still be alive."
Lightning met his gaze, and he was reminded of the look she had given him the first time he had been called Ragnarok; when the l'Cie had wondered about the truth of his presence in their world. He knew the truth now, and that was all that matter. She understood that, too. And so she raised her arm and slammed the hilt of her blade against his neck, and the last thing Balthier saw was her silhouette leaving him behind.
Because of you, I doubted myself. I doubted Serah, Snow, and I even doubted you.
Hm. Since when can Ragnarok talk to Balthier? o.O