A/N: OMG I am so sorry for this taking SO damn long. I was working a ton on A World of Darkness and I just realized that I could easily write two stories at once. I don't know why I haven't already been doing so. Once again, I'm really sorry this took so long.

Chapter 2: The Hunt Begins

Baralai stalked away from the village in anger and got back on the boat to Luca. He walked over to the railing and thought back to what happened in Kilika.

Flashback-

The boat had stopped in Kilika on its way to Luca and he had decided to search the town in hopes that the thief might not have gone far. He didn't notice any shady characters that stood out, all he could see were happy villagers relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. He was impressed with how well they had managed to fix the damage caused by Sin two-and-a-half years ago. The town was now even bigger then before and he thought it looked much better then it used to.

The only person in the town Baralai knew was Dona, the ex-summoner, so he went to her house after visiting the temple and paying his respects. He walked in without announcing himself and found Dona yelling at her old Guardian, Barthello. By the sound of it she was just starting to castigate him.

"How many times have I told you that I'm not your summoner anymore!" she shrieked, causing Baralai to wince.

"Dona…" Barthello replied nervously, catching sight of Baralai.

"Don't you dare 'Dona' me when I'm in the middle of a rant! I haven't even started yet so stop trying to distract me!"

"But…"

"Didn't you hear what I just said!" she shouted, her voice raising an entire octave.

"We have a guest!" Barthello said quickly before she could interrupt him again.

"What? A guest?" she said in confusion as she turned around. When she saw Baralai her face went as red as a beet. "Oh… Baralai… What are you doing here?"

Baralai raised one eyebrow in amusement before responding to Dona's question. "Besides saving Barthello? I was wondering if you heard any rumors about a collection of spheres for sale or anything about spheres in general for that matter."

"Spheres? Can't say I have, why?"

"I found rumors of a great evil threatening Spira but I need a special sphere to verify the words I found in an old musty tome deep under Bevelle. The sphere was supposed to be at Yuna's house but someone stole it along with several others and I'm desperately trying to find it before it's too late."

Dona thought carefully before responding, "If someone was trying to sell these spheres I'm sure I would have heard of it. Kilika is still a small town and someone selling spheres would get a lot of attention. Besides, do you really think this is a coincidence? The thief most likely knows the importance of the sphere."

"That's not possible," Baralai said quickly. "I had the sphere in my possession at one point and I didn't know the secret to open it. I only found the instructions with the prophecy and I know there's no way anyone but I have read it."

"I'm sorry I couldn't have been of more help, I hope you find this sphere before it's 'too late'" Dona replied, turning her back on Baralai to face Barthello again in what was obviously a dismissal.

End Flashback-

"Sir, I've already asked you once, now will you please get beneath the deck. There's a nasty storm brewing and I don't want anyone lost at sea."

Baralai realized the captain of the ship was talking to him and by the anger in his voice he was clearly upset. "I'm sorry sir, I've had a troubling day and wasn't paying attention. Of course I'll go down. This storm isn't going to delay us much is it?"

"It shouldn't, I just want everyone safely in the hold before it hits."

Baralai joined the rest of the passengers and waited for the ship to arrive at Luca.

The ship docked a day late. The storm had been much worse then the captain expected and at one point it had almost seemed as if the ship was going to sink.

"That was a really strong storm to appear all of a sudden like that," Baralai thought as he disembarked. His eyes widened as he suddenly remembered part of the prophecy "When the time nears his approach will be heralded by storms across Spira, the likes of which have not been seen since the start of the Eternal Calm."

"Dear Yevon…" Baralai whispered in horror as he rushed to the bar where he told LeBlanc to wait for him.

He was surprised to find that she was actually waiting for him, although by the amount of bottles in front of her it seemed like she had been drinking rather heavily. She staggered to her feet when he entered, and tried to walk over to him but ended up tripping over her own feet. Baralai barely managed to lunge forward and catch her before she hit the ground.

"My, my, we are wasted aren't we?" he commented in annoyance. "Come outside with me for a moment, there's something I want to show you."

"Ur late," LeBlanc slurred.

"I know, there was a storm on the way," he said as he led her outside.

He dragged her to a nearby bucket that was filled with cold rainwater and knelt with her next to it.

"I saw this when I walked in," Baralai lied, "There's a moogle at the bottom of this bucket, look closely and you can see it!"

LeBlanc's eyes widened in surprise and she leaned forward to peer into the water. As soon as her head was hovering over the opening Baralai shoved it into the freezing water. LeBlanc's entire body stiffened and Baralai felt her head frantically start pressing against his hand. After slowly counting to three he took his hand away and let her pull her head out. LeBlanc leapt to her feet and whirled to face Baralai.

"What was that for? That's no way to treat a lady, wait till my Noojie-Woojie hears of this!" she exclaimed angrily, and attempted to give Baralai "the heel." He easily caught her foot and set it back on the ground.

"I'm sure Nooj will thank me for saving your neck. I don't have time to deal with you drunk, things have gotten much worse since I last talked with you."

"Oooo, my head is pounding. Can we sit down while you fill me in with what's going on, love?" LeBlanc asked.

They walked back into the bar and sat down at a table in the corner. They each ordered a cold glass of water and Baralai told Leblanc the basics of why he needed her help.

"So your saying without this sphere Spira is doomed?"

"Yes."

"… If it's so important why wasn't it better protected?"

"Because I didn't know how important it was before reading this prophecy. I saw no need to place guards around the sphere. Besides it was already protected well enough by the person who had it in the first place."

"So where do we start searching? Spira's a pretty big place incase you hadn't realized that love, and it seems like we need to find this sphere quickly."

"We start searching here in Luca. It's a huge city and if the thief tried to sell the spheres I'm sure we can learn of it. Did you bring Ormi and Logos? They would make this a lot easier."

"Those two buffoons? They left a while ago figuring that you were just playing a game with us. I'll go find them and the three of us will search the docks for rumors of this sphere."

"Good idea, I'll search through the city. We can meet here in five hours, okay?"

"Sounds fine, good luck love!"

With that Baralai got to his feet and turned away to leave the bar. He jumped in shock when he felt ice-cold water dripping down his back and he whirled around in surprise to see LeBlanc holding an empty glass and smirking at him.

"Revenge, love," she said in amusement.

Baralai stalked out of the door with cold water soaking his robes and LeBlanc's laughter following him out.

He spent the next four hours searching around town for any news about spheres that were recently found but heard nothing. Then, as he walked into the main store for spheres in Luca, Sam's Sphere Shop, he heard something that made tingles run down his spine.

"Dude trust me this deal is hot! I hit it big robbing this one house and made it away undetected with fifteen spheres! I'll sell em all to you for just 10,000 gil!"

Baralai whirled around the corner of the shelf and knocked the speaker clear over the counter with one blow of his staff. "You must be Sam," he growled at the pudgy man behind the counter. "I would advise you to turn this criminal in and not buy stolen property."

"No, no… I'm not Sam," the man whispered in a shaken voice, eying Baralai's staff with fear. "The store is just named that so all the letters start with an "s." My name's Tom."

"Well Tom, why don't you let me take this thief and I'll deal with him, okay?"

"Um.. yah sure! I promise I wasn't gonna buy any of his stuff! I'm an honest man!"

"An honest man who lies about his name?" Baralai asked sarcastically as he grabbed the thief by his neck and dragged him back over the counter and left the store.

He dragged him into a nearby ally so they wouldn't be interrupted while he interrogated him. He propped the man up against a dumpster and gently tapped him on the side of his head to wake him up. After a few moments the man groggily shook his head and glanced up at Baralai before shrinking back in fear.

"Don't hit me again mister! Please, I promise to give the spheres back!"

"I'm gonna take a peek at these spheres you stole and then depending on how important they are I'll determine your punishment."

"They aren't important at all! I just stole em from some new couple who were busy when I snuck in the house. I was just trying to rip stupid Sam off"

"I'll be the one to determine that," Baralai said angrily. The description the thief had just provided convinced Baralai that this was indeed the thief he was looking for.

He reached into the bag the man was carrying, pulled out a sphere, and flicked it on. It was a movie of a young woman in a garden. He set it down in surprise and picked up another one. It too was useless. Baralai went through all fifteen of the spheres and they were all complete junk.

"Where was this house?" Baralai growled.

"Here, in Luca, about 10 blocks north," the man gulped.

"Damn! I was so sure I had found it…" Baralai muttered.

"Can I um… go now?"

"Yes you can go. With me. To jail." Baralai stated flatly.

After handing the man over to the authorities he found the house and returned the spheres before heading back to the bar in disappointment. He hoped that LeBlanc would arrive shortly with better news. He jumped to his feet when he saw her enter but slumped back into his chair when he saw her shake her head before walking over to his table and sitting down.

"Nothing?" he asked sadly.

"Sorry love, there's no word of any important spheres being found. There really isn't much word of anything in fact. Just a lot about some boring storms that are sweeping over the oceans."

"Storms?"

"Yah… Apparently there are huge storms all over. They're supposed to bigger then anything anyone's ever seen before."

"Great… just great… We're running out of time LeBlanc, we need to find the sphere!" Baralai said desperately.

"Where should we search next? The Calm Lands? Zanarkand?"

He will make his first appearance in the ancient city

"Zanarkand, we're going to Zanarkand next."

"You certainly made up your mind fast," LeBlanc commented in surprise.

"I remembered more of the prophecy. Hurry, we need to get there as fast as possible."

A/N: Time is running out! I had a ton of fun getting back into this fic, I hope your enjoying reading it. Hope to have the next chapter up soon.