Disclaimer: I don't own FFX nor FFXII

Author's Notes: Thank you for the wonderful reviews! Chapter 10 Edited

Wakamoley: Rikken was trying to shove Balthier onto the lift.

Chapter 11: Treasure in the Temple

Balthier stepped off the lift and looked around. He was in a large room, though most of it was open space, the only floor of the room was a bridge that lead to the other side. It had torches burning on either side of the bridge. He walked across the bridge, his steps echoing across the large chamber. He stopped in front of a large stone door; it had a design carved into it. 'Stay out of trouble.' He heard, once again, he sighed. Had he suddenly developed a conscious, regarding taking treasure? He stood at the door, thinking, then shook his head. I may not have my airship, but I'm still a sky pirate. He pushed on the doors and they swung open, he stepped through them.

Cloister of Trials, Kilika Temple.

The room beyond was smaller than the one he had left, and it was dimly lit by torches around the room. There were some steps in front of him, which he walked up. He saw there was a stone pedestal, with fire on top, it had a sphere in one of the recesses, it glowed the same colour as the fire on the pedestal. He walked towards it and examined it. Are all the temples in Spira this complicated? He decided to look around the rest of the room first. He went over to an area that looked like it could be a door, but he couldn't find one. He examined it more closely and found a small, sphere shaped recess on the right side of it. He looked back to the pedestal. Hmm… Probably works in a similar fashion to that in Besaid. He walked over to the pedestal and took the sphere, the fire on the pedestal disappeared. Balthier walked back over to the door and placed it in the recess. Light went from the sphere and followed a small crack that went down the wall to the floor, and then to the door. The entire area lit up in flames, it was now a net that was set ablaze. Balthier looked at the net, then back to the sphere, he took the sphere out, and the fire, as well as the net disappeared, clearing the way.

He walked through and into the next room, and sighed. There was another pedestal, this one had a green coloured sphere in it, and three recesses on three different walls. What do I do in here? He looked at the sphere in his hand, and decided to try placing it in the wall directly in front of him. He walked over to it and placed it inside. A glyph appeared on the wall, fire had also appeared, so he decided to take the sphere out. The glyph stayed and the fire disappeared. He put his hand on the glyph and the section of wall lifted upwards revealing a large room beyond. In the middle was a wall of flame that stretched from one side of the room to the other.

He walked into the large room and saw that on the right wall there were two spheres in recesses, to high for him to reach, and one below that which was easily accessible. He walked over to the wall, and noticed something blinking; he walked over to it and knelt down, examining it closer. It was getting hotter, since he was closer to the flame wall. He stood up and decided to try stepping on it. The pedestal from the other room appeared in the middle of this half of the room; the green sphere was still in the recess. Balthier walked over to it and picked up the sphere. He looked over at the wall, he walked over to it and took out the sphere in there and placed the green one in there. The wall lifted upwards, revealing a small chamber with a purple sphere on the inside. The large firewall disappeared. Balthier walked into the room and picked up that sphere. Where do you go? He walked back out of the room and looked around. He had a hunch that it went somewhere in here, but where? The little blinking light caught his attention and he looked at it, he then looked at the spheres in his hands, then back to the pedestal. He looked back to the tile, it looked about the same size as the base of the pedestal, and there was something similar in the Besaid Cloister of trials. He walked over to the pedestal and looked at the recess. He decided to place the purple one in and he placed the other in one of his pouches, since he'd need both hands to push the pedestal. He placed his hands on the pedestal and started to push it towards the tile. He pushed it onto the tile… Nothing happened. Maybe if I use the other sphere? He took out the purple one and placed the orange one in the recess. Immediately the pedestal sunk into the floor, and a small portion of the floor descended into the floor below, where the firewall used to be, revealing another sphere in the wall. Balthier jumped down and took out that sphere and placed the purple sphere in its place. The section of wall lit up and disappeared, revealing a treasure chest inside. Balthier smiled and walked towards it. He knelt in front of it and tested it to see if it was locked, to his surprise, it wasn't and he lifted the top of the chest. Inside was a red armlet. He sighed, he was hoping for something… more, he wasn't sure what exactly, but just more than that. He reached inside and picked it up. I suppose it could have its uses.

He stood up and walked out of the small room. He looked back to the way he came, then to the door on the other side of the room. Well, I have come this far. He thought as he walked forward and up the steps. He saw a similar looking recess and placed the sphere inside, the door turned into a flaming net, just like the one further down the temple. He took out the sphere and the net disappeared, clearing the way to some stairs that lead up. He walked towards them and stopped, looking up. She definitely won't be happy. Oh well. He ascended the stairs.

At the top of the stairs was a small circular room with torches lining the walls. Fran, Basch and Fran noticed he was there, and definitely weren't happy to see him. Fran and Vaan walked over to him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Fran asked him angrily.

"Do you want to get Ashe into trouble?" Vaan asked, sounding worried.

"She could get into trouble, for me coming down here?"

"Yes." Fran and Vaan said at the same time.

"Oh."

They both sighed and went back to where they were standing before; Basch was still beside the door, his arms folded. Balthier went over to stand beside Vaan.

"What's in there?" He said pointing to the door Basch was standing beside.

"The Fayth." Vaan said.

"And, that is?"

"The Fayth," Fran began, "Are people who gave their lives to battle Sin. Yevon took their souls from their still living bodies and placed them within stone statues. There they await the call of a summoner. Then, they emerge from their statues and appear as the Aeons."

"Quite interesting. What does Ashe do while she's inside?" Balthier asked.

"She prays for a way to defeat Sin."

They said nothing more, and were now simply waiting for Ashe to emerge from the chamber. Soon enough, the door at the back started to slide upwards. Balthier, Fran and Vaan walked to in front of the door, leaving enough space for Ashe to come out.

A very tired looking Ashe walked slowly out of the chamber. Her knees gave out, and she started to fall over. Balthier ran up and caught her. She smiled tiredly at him, Balthier smiled back.

Author's Notes: I know, this chapter's kind of boring. But Balthier is a Sky Pirate after all; I had to give him a good reason to enter the temple.