Thanks to DeAmonQuEen for suggesting this! I had completely forgotten about Ba'Gamnan, the bounty hunter who is hunting "the infamous sky pirate Balthier". I'm not really happy with this one, but posted it anyways, after all Ba'Gamnan is probably the character in the game who is most obsessed with Balthier, so he fits right in! Sorry for the poorly hidden Lord of the Rings and Gollum reference xD I couldn't help myself! Not to mention the last part, which is Ba'Gamnan's thoughts (or something). Guess which superhero/supervillain pair I'm referring to here :p

Any other characters you can think of to add for future chapter? Let me know! (if I get no suggestions in about a week or two, the next chapter will contain Ashe, and will probably be the last one, as I want hers to be the final chapter.) :)

Disclaimer: SquareEnix owns it all!

Part 10: Ba'Gamnan

The rage burned in him like a flame. The pure, uncontrollable fury which would turn him into a tool with only one purpose; finishing the job. Although now it was also so much more. It was about vengeance. It was about regaining his honor and reputation. His continued failure was tainting everything he did, and he had turned into a laughingstock in the entire bounty hunter community.

He hated it.

Ba'Gamnan was obsessed. Everyone could see it, except himself. His siblings were tired and grumpy, wishing desperately to let the bounty go. After all, they had had no luck so far in capturing the target anyway. Since this was all Ba'Gamnan focused on, there was no time for anything else, meaning that they were getting shorter on gil for each passing day.

Right now they were resting in Rabanastre, after chasing every single clue they could come across, twice, and running zig-zag around the desert for what felt like months.

Bwagi and Gijuk sat playing a game of Triple Triad, gambling with the last few gils they still held to their names. Rinok, only female of the four sibling, leaned against the fireplace, filing her talons sharper, a thing she hated but found most useful when ripping apart some poor soul for the hell of it.

"What is he doing in there?"

Bwagi shrugged. "Choking on his own hate?" A slight grin crossed his face. "Honestly, I don't care."

"Maybe we should check on him?" Rinok wasn't exactly worried, more bored than anything.

"Do what you want to, I'm not getting ripped in two for disturbing him." Gijuk yawned as he picked his nose with a clawed finger.

Completely ignoring what her brothers had just said, Rinok marched up to the door Ba'Gamnan had barricaded himself behind, and as gently as she could, opened the doors. Bwagi and Gijuk shared quick glances of worry, before following.

Ba'Gamnan sat with his back turned and hunched over, his arms in front of him as if he was holding something precious, protecting it. There was also a slight rocking movement, back and forth, and he kept mumbling to himself, grumbling and whispering, spitting out the occasional curse. He was completely oblivious to the newcomers, who now stood in shock watching him.

Taking a silent step inside, Rinok saw what her eldest brother was holding, and it sort of made sense, but it was also utterly disturbing.

In his hands, Ba'Gamnan was holding a wanted poster depicting none other that the infamous sky pirate Balthier, the very same they had been hunting for months now! His muttering was also within hearing range for her now, and it crept her out more than anything. "I will get you, I will find you! My precious, precioussssss...!"

The three siblings, by now considered normal, slowly backed out of the room and shut the door behind them. Not sharing another word, they simple got back into doing what they had been doing just seconds earlier, not addressing the elephant in the room; that their leader and eldest brother had, without a doubt, gone utterly and completely batshit-crazy.

Of course, they realized a little while later that they for sure should have said something, or maybe even run away from the psycho with their tales between their legs, though by that time it was to late.

Ba'Gamnan had, in his obsession, not given up on the chase of his prized bounty, and had eventually managed to trap him. It had been a happy moment for everyone, until they realized that the sky pirate still had friends with him, which surely hadn't been a problem if they all apparently had fought their way all across Ivalice a time too many and clocked ungodly many hours learning to kill things, and people, efficiently.

This group of friends, or small army if you will, included his Viear partner, some old guy who truly could handle his weapons, a tiny blonde thing which healed annoyingly well, a stupid blond thing who did pretty good, but still managed to drop his sword a time or two, even though no one was fighting him at the time, and a girl dressed more for a time at the whore-house than for battle. Then again, so were most of them.

As Rinok thought about the whole ordeal later, she would come to realize that the only one who wore anything even resembling normal clothing was the sky pirate.

No matter their clothing, they group of six beat the siblings to the ground and Ba'Gamnan had fell head first down from the rigs, only to be swallowed up by the sand-sea underneath. The only thing left to do for the three others, were to run away, as they should have done in the first place, back at the inn in Rabanastre.

It should be mentioned though, that this was not the last Balthier or Fran would see of Ba'Gamnan, as his hate and rage apparently was stronger than even the sand people and the desert heat.

...

As he had fallen he had sworn that he would be back. He had repeated this mantra as he swam and walked his back into civilization, as he thirsted and starved. He cursed the sky pirate's name as he fell asleep at night. He would be back, and for as long as he lived he would hunt down Balthier, again and again until the day it killed one or both of them! After all, there would be no Ba'Gamnan without Balthier, and no Balthier without Ba'Gamnan!