Title: Alternate Ending #1; or rather, A new dawn
Story: So Starstruck
Author's Note: This is an ending where there wouldn't have been a sequel, and where Ragnarok wouldn't have been a part of Balthier. A very happy ending, actually. Too happy for me, so I cut it from the plot. But here's what would have happened had Balthier not gone back to Ivalice.
The sky was falling.
Or at least that was what it felt like. Orphan's death appeared to have caused quite the mess for Cocoon, for the stars had dimmed and the land was crumbling into crystal flakes. Eden's light from above had faded into darkness, marking the death of yet another fal'Cie. Not that that was something to be entirely proud of; it looked like Cocoon's time was at and end.
Balthier looked down at the city while he and the l'Cie continued to float in the sky, rising higher and higher as each slow moment passed. He could barely make out the figures of the Pulsian fiends stumbling below, terrorizing the few people still running around in the streets. He swallowed hard, wondering what would happen to them all now that their only source of life was killed. Had they truly saved Cocoon, or just damned it into oblivion?
"Stay together!" Lightning's voice snapped him back into reality. She grabbed his hand without warning, pulling him toward the rest of the group. Snow was quick to grab Balthier's other hand, giving the sky pirate a reassuring smile. Normally he would have told the self acclaimed hero to stop giving him one of those looks of longing, but Balthier didn't have the will power right now.
His eyes danced around, studying each of their expressions with the slightest amount of confusion mixed with worry. Balthier's heart dropped when he discovered that Fang and Vanille weren't with them.
"Fang, Vanille!" Snow yelled, reaching for the two women below. Fang and Vanille held hands, smiling at the other five as if nothing was wrong. Vanille looked somewhat frightened, though one nod from Fang had her grinning confidently once again.
Lightning's grip was firm, though Balthier's attention was far from her. Fang and Vanille disappeared in a burst of light, and with a loud roar Ragnarok plunged into Cocoon's depths. The creatures of Gran Pulse split disintegrated the moment the bright light reached their bodies, breaking apart into thousands of particles of crystals. Balthier's breath caught in his throat, and trying to keep calm as much as he could, he turned toward Lightning. But he couldn't say anything: nothing to comfort her, himself nor anyone still left in Cocoon.
The whole world was ending, wasn't it?
Time passed slower than it should have, but the end was drawing near; Balthier could feel it in his veins. The air was suddenly cold like ice, which for once wasn't Snow's fault, and the darkness seemed to be overtaking their bodies. He held his breath when Cocoon began glowing, transforming into a translucent crystal. He could feel himself slipping from Lightning and Snow's grips, but his skin was slowly becoming hard and smooth.
No—it wasn't possible! He tried moving away from the crystal, but he nearly yelled out when he realized he was the crystal. With one last breath, Balthier felt himself falling into an empty, but warm abyss.
Wake up.
A light was shining on him, brighter than any sky Balthier had ever seen. The crystal encased his skin was dissolving, and soon he could finally twitch his fingertips and toes. He thought of laughing for no real reason, but suddenly he was falling from a few feet above the ground, air whipping past him like an airship. Strong arms grabbed him before he could hit the grass, wrapping around him like a warm but very annoying blanket.
"Hey, good morning!" Snow exclaimed with a big grin. Balthier slithered from his grasp and brushed off the front of his vest, muttering words of frustration under his breath. Hope and Sazh walked over, looking confused and completely lost, while Lightning was staring up at the now crystallized Cocoon.
"They did it," she whispered. "They saved the world."
Balthier went over to her and whistled. Cocoon was covered with light colored spikes and swirls, glittering in the bright light of the sky. Squinting, he could see to large, vaguely hume shaped crystals embedded outside the world's shell.
"No," Snow said as he touched Lightning's shoulder. "They gave us a new one."
"That's one gift I'll forgive 'em for not wrapping," Sazh agreed with a wide grin.
Gift—from Fang and Vanille. Balthier took a few steps forward, eyes wide as saucers, and almost thought to call out for the two Oerbans. But it would have been pointless; they couldn't hear him anymore. Instead he turned around and looked at the other four, crossing his arms.
"I take it this means your Focus is gone," he said wearily. "Cocoon's been destroyed, in all technicality, though I must say that it's been saved as well."
"It really is a miracle," Lightning murmured, standing beside Balthier. Her eyes drifted toward him, and although she took a few steps forward, she made no movements of sharing the same greeting Snow had with him.
Just below the massive crystal, two familiar figures were happily walking toward the group. A big, enthusiastic grin grew on Snow's lips, and he sprinted forward quicker than Balthier had ever seen before. Sazh, too, was running. He embraced his son, laughing and almost crying at the same time, while Snow swung Serah around in circles, repeatedly yelling her name. Hope couldn't resist smiling, though Lightning appeared as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. When Serah approached her elder sister, tears filling her bright eyes, she threw her arms around Lightning's shoulders.
"I missed you," she whimpered, burying her nose in the soldier's neck.
"Serah," Lightning said in the girl's ear, "I'm sorry. For everything."
"It's okay, it's all right now."
Snow wrapped an arm around Serah's shoulder when she moved away from her sister, and Sazh walked over with Dajh cheerfully sitting on his shoulders. The chocobo chick fluttered over to Balthier, promptly perching on his head.
"Hey, the apologies can wait," Snow said with a confident snicker. "We've got a wedding to plan, remember?" He paused, frowning for a moment when Lightning's eyebrow arched in his direction. "You...are going to allow it, right?"
Hope rolled his eyes. "You don't waste time, do you?"
"No, I don't!"
"That's right. Just charge in, guns blazing," Sazh added, smirking at Balthier. The sky pirate shrugged, though he glared at Snow the instant the blond nearly choked him with a one arm hug.
"C'mon, Light, you've gotten let me and Serah get married, 'cuz Balthier's gonna be my best man!" he exclaimed. "Since you'll be Serah's maid of honor, you and Balthier gotta spend more time together, too!"
"There are times when you're too forward, Ice," Balthier murmured, inching away from the taller man's grip and purposely beside Lightning. "Though I agree—somewhat."
She stared at him, eyebrows raised, and tilted her head partially to the right. "I think all any man who calls himself a hero is too forward," she muttered, smiling gently. Lightly and sneakily taking Balthier's hand in her own, she turned toward Snow and Serah. "But I believe you. Congrats."
While they continued with their reunion, Balthier looked up at Cocoon one final time. Somewhere, deep within, he knew Fang and Vanille were watching over them all; he could just hear Fang laughing and making a snarky comment, while Vanille heartily promised him everything would be all right. Ivalice may have been out of reach now, but there was something more important waiting for him. He could feel it.
Now we live on...to greet a new dawn.