Author's Note: So, just to be funny...In my FF12 game, I finally got the Ragnarok sword and the moment I got it, I made Balthier use it. And the whole time I was watching him hit things with it, I was thinking, "Oh my god, the ironyyyyy! lol!". I am insane, yes.
And, my loves, they finally released concept art for Fang's version of Ragnarok, and the complete version summoned at the end of FF13. I pretty much jumped for joy - I've been waiting so long to finally have a real reference to look at when doodling random things. Yes, I do draw. :D I draw fairly well, too.
Cookies to The Giant Daifuku. :P Either chocolate chip, or snicker doodle. I haven't decided which.
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Chapter Eleven
Caged
Maybe everything I had done wasn't for the best. Maybe all I was doing was changing the way things should have gone.
The first thing Snow did the moment he and Fran were pushed back into the Strahl was look in the small collection of books Balthier had under the bed he shared with his partner. It wasn't too late to save the sky pirate, not after he had finally discovered a way to save him. The viera patiently stood behind him, holding any books he happened to toss aside.
"Balthier had to have kept something about Ragnarok, right?" he asked, flipping through the pages of a thick book. "He always seemed to know more than any of us."
"We found these in Draklor," Fran explained, "during one of our heists while we were away. It was there that we discovered how to use the auracite."
"Then there's gotta be something about how we can use it to separate Ragnarok from Balthier. I'm not letting this one chance slip from my fingers - not when we've gone this far." He tossed another book aside, and Fran caught it with ease.
She arched an eyebrow. "And you intend to rescue him?" she asked.
"Balthier came back for us when those guys had us, and it's my job to return the favor, right?" Snow squinted his eyes as he read over the page. "Hey, this is his hand-writing, isn't it? When did Balthier write all this down?"
Fran looked over his shoulder, taking the book from him. "'And lo, the viper Lindzei bore fangs into the pristine soil of our Gran Pulse; despoiled the land and from it crafted a cocoon both ghastly and unclean. Lies spilled forth from the serpent's tongue: 'Within this shell lies paradise.' Men heard these lies and were seduced and led away. O cursed are the fools who trust a snake and turn their backs on the bounty of Pulse's hallowed land! For those who dwell in that cocoon are not Men, but slaves of the demon Lindzei. Ye who honor Pulse: rise unto the heavens, and cast down the viper's nest! Author, unknown'."
"Why do I get the feeling Balthier's been hiding something from us? Or, maybe he's not even the one who wrote this. Ragnarok's been at it again, huh?" Snow frowned. "Lindzei's the god that supposedly created Cocoon and killed all the people who lived on Pulse five hundred years ago. What's he gotta do with all this?"
"The gods, they have hume forms, do they not? Fell Lindzei is on this world, and he has returned to finish the deed done years before."
"How do you know that?"
She pointed a clawed finger to a note on the corner of the page Balthier had written. Snow rolled his eyes, closing the book.
"I'll never understand why you sky pirates seem to enjoy making me look bad," he told her, getting to his feet. "Can't give me a break, can you?"
While Fran left to check the engines, Snow went to the cockpit and stared out the front window. He fiddled with the tear drop crystal - or was it auracite? He had been given it for a reason; to destroy Ragnarok. He would use the crystal to separate the beast from Balthier, and then he would strike it down and end everything. It sounded easy, but he knew that there would be one person standing in his way.
Lightning had changed. Without her memories of Balthier and of what really happened when they saved Cocoon, she was just as she was before it all happened; a soldier protecting what she was told. Serah wasn't there to snap her out of whatever daze she was in, and it seemed that Balthier had given up on life completely. Without those two, Lightning wouldn't do anything else but try to follow her orders from that woman, Morgana.
But he couldn't shake the feeling that if he moved to destroy Ragnarok, Lightning would get between them. That vision he had so long ago of the two made him wonder if the feelings Lightning had for Balthier were really for the monster. Even Balthier had expressed his suspicions over the matter.
"What do you think, Serah?" Snow asked, sighing. "What should I do?"
Fran sauntered past him, sitting down in the co-pilot's seat. "It seems Ragnarok has left us another message," she stated. "Directions to the main air ship of the Guardian Corps. It knew we would be saving Balthier."
"Uh, Fran? Why are you sitting there? Shouldn't you be taking control of the ship?"
She looked back at him, confused. "Do you not trust yourself? You're the one that will fly us there. You wanted to be a sky pirate, didn't you?"
He sat down in the pilot's seat, anxiously glancing at all the controls. "You know, I was joking when I said that. I'm just a rebel turned knight, remember? I can't be a sky pirate."
"All sky pirates start differently. How do you think my partner and I became this way?" Fran gave him a rare smile, turning her eyes toward the sky. "We all have different paths, different destinies. It is our focus as to what path we choose."
Snow turned toward her and grinned. "Time for the heroes to save the day once again."
Why did all empires felt the need to create maddening air ships?
Balthier had spent the entire night counting the number of times the guard gave him odd looks, since there was not much else he could do in his prison cell. It was even smaller than the one Fran and Snow had been kept in, but at least he was able to see through the window and door.
When he had woken up from unconsciousness, it wasn't hard to realize where he was. The Guardian Corps - or rather, the Sanctum had rebuilt their precious Palamecia and used it as their headquarters whenever they were on the move. Being there reminded him of the time he, Sazh and Vanille escaped their prison cell before finding the others. Of course, that event only made him remember the first time he had been called Ragnarok by Dysley. That was when everything had made a turn for the worse.
The door opened, and Lightning stepped into the cell. The guard eyed her for a moment, and Balthier resisted the urge to slap the man upside the head for looking at her in such a way.
"Come on," she stated. "Time to move."
He stared at her, almost smirking. "Not trying to help me escape, are you?" he asked.
Lightning scowled. "I've got orders to bring you to the general's quarters. Apparently we've got visitors."
"Visitors?" The moment he said that, the Strahl shakily soared past the larger air ship with a small group of fighter ships following it. Balthier sighed heavily and cursed under his breath. "That oaf is going to destroy my ship one of these days..."
"Don't these guys ever quit?" Snow snarled, steering the Strahl below the Palamecia. "All we wanna do is rescue Balthier and get the hell outta here! But, no, let's just chase the intruders around until our engines die!"
Fran pointed toward the docking area on the outside of the Sanctum's ship. "There," she said. "Keep her steady when you dock. The fighters won't be able to catch us in there."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it!"
The Strahl jerked to the right, and one of the fighter air ships crashed into the Palamecia. Snow grinned like a mad man when he watched the other air ships retreat, and Fran merely shook her head when he started to laugh. As soon as the ship was in the docking bay, the two of them grabbed their weapons and walked out. As expected, they were greeted by Guardian Corps soldiers the moment they stepped out of the Strahl.
"You know, I kinda wish we had Ragnarok here right now," Snow murmured to the viera. "At least then we wouldn't have to fight these guys on our own."
Fran took one the first soldier with one shot, using the fomalhaut instead of her usual bow and arrows. Her upper lip curled in disgust when he fell, and she spun around in time to kick another to the floor. One tried to shoot her from a distance, but Snow managed to cast a blizzard spell to freeze them in place before they could. He grabbed the soldier's large rifle and flung it toward three men behind him, and he nearly laughed when they fell off the edge of the dock.
"L'Cie!" a female soldier yelled, seeing that Snow had cast magick. "Take 'em down!"
"Dammit, for the last time I'm not a l'Cie anymore!" he muttered, taking a step back so he stood at Fran's side. She held the fomalhaut at the ready, aimed directly at the soldiers inching toward them.
"This fight cannot be won," she quietly stated. "They will take us to Balthier, I am sure. Here, we surrender."
Snow's lips formed into a tight frown, and he reluctantly held up his arms when a gun was pointed right at his face.
When in doubt, surrender.
He and Fran were led to a large chamber near to bridge of the Palamecia. The room was dark at first, and Snow had to squint his eyes to focus on the silhouettes standing at the other side. He could see a large glass cage that was set up in front of them, and there were tubes, connected to a machine on the wall, coming out from all four walls. Almost immediately Fran tensed up; she took in a sharp breath, her nose twitching at the smell.
"Mist," she breathed.
The lights flickered from above, and the room was dimly lit up as soon as they stopped walking. Snow took a sudden step forward when he saw Balthier calmly sitting in the glass cage, staring directly at them with a saddened smirk on his face. Morgana had entered the room as well, and following close behind her were the man called Cid and Lightning. The female captain refused to meet Snow's glare, and she didn't dare look at Balthier's pitiful expression when she walked past.
"You're here earlier than we expected, Snow Villiers," Morgana greeted. "But at least you are here in time to witness the arrival of our belated Day of Wrath."
"I'm getting tired of hearing 'bout this so-called 'Day of Wrath'," Snow retorted. "Been hearing 'bout it for years, and I haven't seen it yet."
Cid scoffed. "All in due time," he murmured. "The true god of this realm will reawaken and grant us eternity."
"Eternity is an illusion," Fran told them, her dark eyes glancing around the room. "All we have is one chance at life, given to us so that we might find true meaning. This, what you search for, is not."
"Mindless words of fallen viera," Morgana replied, and then she looked toward Balthier. "I wonder if you have realized what is to be done on this day."
"If you seek death, then it will be given to you freely, Lindzei."
The corner of Morgana's mouth twitched. "So you do understand. Then we may carry on without any further delays."
A soldier walked over and handed her a green stone, which Snow recognized as the auracite they had used to leave Ivalice in the first place. He had thought that it had been destroyed in the crash, and yet there it was. He looked to Balthier once again, wondering if he, or Ragnarok, knew that all along.
"Auracite," the female general stated. "Gifts from the Occuria granting power to weak-minded humes. Yet in this realm we chose a different tactic. The fal'Cie took Men and gave them the strength to do what we could not. However, they chose a hume born not of this world to become our savior, Ragnarok." She closed her eyes. "'Come Day of Wrath, O Pulse l'Cie. Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn. Cast thy light upon the souls of the departed, that fallen souls might bear our plea...to hasten the Divine's return. Descend, merciless lord. Embrace thy fate, thine home to shatter. O Piteous Wanderer, Ragnarok'. It is now that we find this Day."
"Yeah? And how are you gonna get it?" Snow asked, uneasily smirking.
"Cocoon will be destroyed, as it was meant to be. Ragnarok will come forth and shatter that world," Cid explained. "And with the sacrifice of the chosen l'Cie bound to it, we shall find our Maker. Lindzei has willed this, and Etro will fall."
"With the auracite, we will gather the Mist and kill Ragnarok's vessel. The beast shall awaken, and our task will be complete," Morgana continued, setting the green stone inside the machine on the wall. "No one will interfere this time. Not even a fallen l'Cie unable to complete the Focus given to him."
"You can't just let him die!" Snow yelled, pulling away from the soldiers. "This is murder! Killing Balthier won't solve a damn thing!"
"Oh, but it will," Morgana answered, glancing in the direction of the cage. "At the event of his death, Ragnarok grows stronger. Soon the Divine will be whole, and Cocoon will be shattered." She reached for the lever, eying Lightning's tense form carefully. "This is how hist'ry was meant to be. The goddess Etro shan't interfere this time, nor shall her pitiful l'Cie..."
Snow eyes were only focused on Balthier, and he continued to try and break free of his restraints. Fran closed her eyes, turning her head away from them all.
"Isn't there something left that's worth living for, Balthier?" Snow asked. "Just one thing."
Balthier moved his gaze toward Lightning, and she hung her head low. "It's...not always about where your heart lies," he answered. "It's about what you're willing to do to change what you've done, and prevent what you're going to do."
"Balthier-"
Morgana rested her hand on the lever, her eyes unmoving as she gazed at the two held back by her soldiers. "Our Day of Wrath is come," she stated, and just as Snow broke free of his restraints, she pulled the lever.
Mist shot out from the tubes, clouding the glass cage, and hid Balthier from sight. Fran fell to her knees, weakened by the Mist and losing control over herself, and Snow rushed to her aid. He held her close, shielding her from the magick as Cid laughed. And Lightning, staring at the cage, stood still.
"You poor thing."
Ragnarok opened his eyes the moment he heard the angelic voice around him. Where was he? He remembered seeing the Oerban woman summon him, watching as her young companion cried, and then Cocoon's shell being cracked in the sky. But now, he was nowhere. Lost. Alone.
"Who are you?" he demanded, clenching his fists. "How dare you tear me from my task! What is it you want with me?"
"I am sorry. You must understand, Ragnarok. Is destroying the other world what you truly wanted? Did you not ask for a fate that did not condemn you?"
He lowered his gaze. "I asked to be redeemed before I had the chance to damn myself. And now, you have taken that chance from me!"
"No, I have given you your redemption. You must wait."
"Wait? For what? For another god to claim my power and attempt to use me as a mere puppet?" Ragnarok let out a weak laugh. "The fools called the fal'Cie will learn their place. I, the Divine, shan't be caged any longer. They will find their Day of Wrath, and when they do...I will destroy them myself."
He felt her lips press against his cheek, and for a moment he caught a glimpse of her pale face before him. "If that is what you wish, then I shall grant you life. I will be your guide, Ragnarok, and I will not let them cage you."
The Mist began to clear, and although it still lingered around the chamber, Snow saw Balthier leaning against the inside corner of the cage. His half-lidded eyes stared ahead of him, and he was barely breathing. Snow helped Fran stand up, and Morgana smiled darkly when she met their shocked, speechless expressions.
And then, Lightning pushed past her commanding officers, pressing her hand up against the glass when she knelt down beside Balthier. She bit her lower lip as she stared at him in desperation, tears leaking from the corner of her eyes as she tried to reach him. Balthier dazedly turned his head toward her, and in a moment of weakness he moved his hand against the glass wall, touching where she held her hand. For a moment, though it seemed eternal, the two gazed unphased at each other, as if nothing was between them. Balthier's hand slid limply down the glass, and his eyes closed themselves when his head fell against his shoulder. Hanging her head low, Lightning choked out a sob and clenched her fist.
"And so he has fallen," Morgana said, looking to her soldiers. "Make haste. Soon the beast will arise."
Lightning looked up, and just as the soldiers moved toward her and Balthier, she unsheathed her gunblade and slammed it against the cage. Shattered glass flew in all directions, and Balthier's languid body tumbled out and fell at her feet. She tossed her weapon aside and held him in an upright sitting position, resting her forehead against his neck.
"He is gone," Cid said. "All that remains is Ragnarok."
"Ragnarok wasn't the monster you all thought," Lightning snapped, though her voice was quiet. "All it ever wanted...was a chance to feel human."
When she moved Balthier so that he was laying down on the floor, he suddenly coughed. He rolled over onto his side, groaning when he pressed a hand to his forehead. Lightning's eyes widened, but she remained silent.
"Damn Mist," the sky pirate choked out, shakily sitting up. "Always ruins my day, doesn't it?"
"What?" Morgana shouted, "Impossible! That Mist...It was meant to bring the beast forth!"
Balthier ignored her and took Lightning's hands in his own, his gaze not leaving her appalled expression. Snow, for once, was speechless, and Fran was on edge as she glanced between them all. Lightning touched a hand to Balthier's cheek, attempting to find the right words to say.
"Are you real?" she asked in a whisper. "You were...gone."
He nodded. "The leading man never dies, remember? Wouldn't be a happy ending if he didn't survive," he answered.
She faintly smiled, and just when she moved closer to him, she winced at the sound of a loud bang. Blood splattered the front of Balthier's blouse, and he felt the bullet go through his shoulder, but the pain no longer had an effect on him. Lightning's lips weakly quivered when she looked up at him, and she whispered a quick "sorry" before she fell into his arms. That was when he saw Morgana aiming her still smoking rifle at the two of them.
"Light," Balthier said hastily, touching her face as he looked down at her. "Stay with me, Lightning. You can't...You can't let yourself fall..." She closed her eyes, and her head fell back against his arm. "No! Lightning! Stay here, with me!" he yelled, "Light! Claire!"
Snow felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end when he heard the sudden change in Balthier's voice. Morgana raised her hands to stop her soldiers from moving forward, and she narrowed her eyes when she saw the sky pirate slowly look upon them. She smiled the moment his eyes had turned red, and he clutched Lightning's feeble body close to his chest. Snow took a step back, a hand reaching for his pocket. His voice was nearly silent when he finally spoke the name.
"Ragnarok!"
:(