In case you missed it, I released two chapters today, so go back and read the other one first. Enjoy!

Chapter Fifteen

The Barheim Passageway
Year 706 of the Old Valendian Calendar

That was the third time Balthier had fallen from a great height in the last twenty-four hours, and this time he made it through with getting knocked out. The fall wasn't that far, and with both the dirt floor and Basch's cage to cushion their landing, all four of them made it through conscious.
Basch's cage and chains had shattered in the crash, and he was now free. The captain stood rubbing his wrists while the others extracted themselves from the rubble.
"Is everyone alright?" Fran asked. Her question was met with an affirmative murmur. Balthier's head was pounding again, but it was probably just the same injury from his fall into Nalbina. Balthier loved heights as much as the next guy, but he'd had quiet enough of falling from them. Vaan was keeping remarkably silent, though his fiery gaze never left Basch.
Balthier turned to the captain. "If you can walk, let's move."
"What?" Vaan turned a horrified look to Balthier. "You're taking him with us?"
"This place doesn't look too friendly," Balthier said. "Safety in numbers and all that. We could use another sword arm."
"And you have it," Basch replied simply.
"But we can't!" Vaan shouted. "You think we can trust him? He's a traitor! He killed the king!"
"Traitor or no, we'll all be safer in a larger group," Balthier replied, working hard not to lose his patience with Vaan. Yes, he understood the kid's anger, but it needed to wait until they were safely back to civilization.
"But… But…" Vaan floundered for another excuse, only to come up with nothing. He remained silent, finally picking up his sword and starting sullenly down the tunnel.
"I suppose we're off, then," Balthier said. "Come on. Let's go."

Balthier, Fran, and Basch quickly caught up with Vaan. Basch had picked up a steel bar from his old cage to use as a weapon. The Barheim Passageway was a dark, dank place, lit only with a few electronic lights hanging from the roof. The place looked, as the old man had said, like one of the many advanced ancient ruins that littered the face of Ivalice. The place had been long since abandoned, the broken remains of a path underfoot rotted away to reveal loose earth. The passage had been blocked in one direction by the wreckage of Basch's cage, so the party started off down the only available route. It was so dark you could barely see ten feet in front of you. Balthier didn't like not knowing what was going on around him.
"Wait, I heard something!" Vaan said suddenly, stopping the group. Balthier couldn't hear a thing.
"Vaan, don't get jumpy," he said.
"But there was something!" Vaan said. "I heard it! Like… fluttering."
Balthier let out a sigh. "Fran, you hear anything?"
Fran listened for a moment, her tall white ears twitching. "No. Wait, I-"
Before Fran could finish, some large shape descended from the roof with startling speed, and a shrieking noise echoed around. Vaan let out a gasp, and Fran actually toppled over. Balthier jumped back, managing to siffle his own gasp of surprise. The large shape swung with great speed towards the wall, where Basch's steel bar smashed into it like a deadly flyswatter. The world suddenly became still again as a massive insectoid, bat-like creature drifted to the ground like a dead leaf in autumn. Basch said nothing at all, staring at his kill with stony indifference. After a few moments, he turned to the others.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked, his voice gruff.
"Oh, we're all fine," Balthier replied, a little annoyed at himself for being so startled. He turned towards Fran, who was still sitting on the ground. "Fran, you alright?" he asked. She nodded.
"I am... fine," she replied, not waiting a moment to heave herself off the floor. Shaken, nervous, dazed- that was how Balthier would have described her, though her face showed none of it. But she was fine.
"That thing's huge!" Vaan said, peering at the bat-creature's corpse. "I've never seen anything like it."
"The myst drains into deep places like these," Fran said, clearing shaking off her shock. "Without the high races to disturb it, it pools and grows thicker, like a jagd. Such dense, stagnant myst… affects the creature that live here."
"So, there'll be more things like that down here?" Vaan asked, his eyes growing wider.
Fran nodded. "And worse. But if we're careful, they will not disturb us."
While Vaan and Fran talked about what horrors lay in the Barheim Passageway, Balthier mused over Fran's explanation. It was intriguing, and quite plausible. Balthier had grown up in a laboratory, and he remembered several experiments injecting test rats with high quantities of myst, which had produced somewhat similar effects. But the outcome of such exposure long-term, over several generations would be something else entirely. Balthier would've loved nothing more than to dissect the creature, but there wasn't the time nor equipment available at the moment. Besides, Basch's rather crude extermination method had left the specimen in a ghastly condition…
Balthier shook his head, banishing the instincts bred into him from his childhood in the labs. He hadn't worked at Draklor for three, almost four years now. He wasn't a scientist anymore, he was a sky pirate, and he'd soon be the rotting corpse of one if they didn't all hurry up and get out of the Barheim Passageway.
"Enough talk," Balthier said, cutting off Vaan from whatever he'd been saying. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd like to get out of here before we become food for some mutant creature."
The others murmured their agreement, except for Basch, who was as stonily silent as ever.

The four of them carried on down the Barheim Passageway. As Fran had predicted, the Passage was full of massive, warped versions of rats, bats, spiders, lizards, and other average cave dwellers. The creatures generally ignored the travelers as long as they kept their distance. As much as Balthier wanted to say there were no more startling appearances, that would have been a lie. For such large animals, the creatures of the Barheim Passageway seemed to be able to hide in the smallest of shadows, and leapt out at the most inopportune moments. The lights became more numerous and the passage wider the farther in they got. Vaan still kept his look of suppressed hatred on Basch but didn't say anything.
The newest member of their party kept to himself, saying nothing. Captain Basch was stalwart, stony, and very inexpressive. His emotionless air reminded Balthier very much of Fran, only Basch didn't have twitching white ears that betrayed his inner state. The captain managed to make Fran look emotional, and that was a feat indeed. Really, Basch acted more or less like a machine, fighting well and saying nothing. Balthier decided never to take even an ounce of sociability for granted again. But really, what would the branded traitor have to say to a pair of sky pirates and a Rabanastran orphan who hated his guts?
After what felt like a few hours of walking, they stopped and took a water break. The only water they had with them was a small flask Fran had had with her when they were thrown into the Nalbina Dungeons. It wasn't much, and they rationed it. After that, they carried on for a few more hours, until they came to a wide section of the passage. Then, Basch finally said something.
"Wait," the captain said, raising a hand to stop them. "Over there." Basch pointed to the wall where a corpse lay, a relatively fresh one by the looks of it. The man had a long sword with him and was wearing a now-patchy suit of leather armor.
"Good eye," Balthier said. "I think you'd better help yourself. That sword looks a mite better than that bar of yours, and I don't think he'll be needing it anymore."
"Mm." Basch nodded gruffly, then knelt to begin stripping the corpse of anything useful. In the end, he only kept the sword and the armor. Basch buckled on the old leather breastplate and gave the sword a few test swings with perfect form and balance. His skills as a member of the Dalmascan Order of Knights hadn't rusted a bit during his years in prison.
"Nice moves there, Captain," Balthier commented. Maybe he could actually get Basch to say something and get a hair closer to his answers.
"You mean 'traitor,'" Vaan cut in, his burning gaze fixed firmly on Basch. Though Vaan had never met Basch himself, the king's assassination had torn his life apart. He'd lost both his freedom and his brother, those he cared about and life as he knew it… Balthier could understand that kind of pain, and the resentment that went along with it. He almost considered Vaan lucky to have someone to vent it at. Balthier had no one to blame but himself. But something about Basch's desperate words up above in Nalbina made Balthier believe perhaps the captain wasn't the one responsible for King Raminas's death.
"So they say," Balthier said to Vaan, picking his words carefully. "But what makes you so sure? Just the official reports? Those political types are prone to lying through their teeth, you know."
"My brother saw it!" Vaan fired back.
Basch let out a gasp, looking up from his new blade at Vaan.
"Your brother?" he said. Basch studied Vaan a few moments, and a look of both recognition and remorse crossed his face. "Reks," Basch said. "He said he had a brother two years younger. That was you?"
"Yeah," Vaan replied, all but snarling at Basch.
"I see." Basch let his gaze drop to the ground for a few moments before meeting Vaan's again. "Your brother, what became of him?"
"He's… dead," Vaan replied, quietly, like he had trouble forming the words. Basch let out a deep sigh.
"I see," he said. "I am… sorry."
"Sorry?!" Vaan's eyes lit again with that angry fire. "It was all your fault! You killed the king!"
Basch shook his head. "I give you my word, that was not the way of it."
"Then what did happen?" Vaan asked, sounding as if he didn't expect an answer. "Who did kill the king?"
Basch let out a sigh. His eyes bore the look of someone far away, lost in bitter memories. Then he began his tale.
"Twenty years ago, the Archadian Empire annexed a small nation far to the north called the Republic of Landis," Basch said. "This was my homeland. I fled from the clutches of our conquerors and found Dalmasca, a place still free from the fear of Archadia. However, my twin brother stayed in our homeland. For a short time, he worked with a resistance to free Landis, but it came to naught. In the end, he joined the Empire's Judges in the name of representing the conquered people of Landis, and took for himself a new name: Gabranth. He was that same Judge you saw above. It was he who killed King Raminas."
Well, that was a shock. Gabranth? It was none other than General Gabranth who killed Dalmasca's king? But was Basch telling the truth? Gabranth had shown a startling resemblance to Captain Basch, that was true. It was very possible that they were brothers. So, perhaps, there was a chance…
"Gabranth impersonate me, both removing King Raminas and providing a scapegoat for the Empire," Basch continued. "It was Vayne who organized this scheme. Not even the emperor himself knows the truth, only Vayne, Gabranth, and the Marquis Ondore. Vayne uses the threat of revealing the truth to keep Bhujerba and their magicite mines in his sole possession."
"That's quite the story," Balthier said. "The pieces certainly fit, I'll give you that much. Vaan? What do you say?
Vaan stared at the ground, his face torn between anger and sorrow.
"I don't believe you," he said at last.
"Of course not," Basch said. "Not me then. Believe in your brother. He was fine solder, and fought to the last. He gave everything to protect his homeland from the Empire's wave of destruction. No, surely he fought to protect his family. To protect his brother."
The Empire's wave of destruction… It started at Nabudis, when the nethicite fell from the sky. Everything had started with that one blasted stone, and it had spread out so far. The massacre at Lemahl, the dreadful Battle of Nalbina, and finally the king's death and Dalmasca's defeat. So much death, and it all started with the nethicite. All because of that, so many had died, in Dalmasca… and in Archadia. Because Ffamran couldn't stop it, couldn't stop the stone, couldn't stop his father, so much death had followed. King Raminas, Vaan's brother… Reina….
"You don't know anything!" Vaan shouted at Basch, the pain clear in his eyes as he struggled to accept Basch's story and let go of his hatred. Pain caused by the Empire, rooted in Ffamran's failure… If only he'd done something… if only there was something he could do…
"Believe what you want to. Whatever it takes to make you happy," Balthier suddenly snapped, cutting off Vaan's next words. "You can't change the past." He turned and started off down the tunnel. The next words he said to himself as much as to Vaan.
"What's done is done."

…

The party continued on through the Barheim Passage. Eventually, Vaan got tired and asked to stop, and Balthier decided they would rest there for the night. There was no way to tell the time so far underground, but he figured it must have been night by then. And besides, though none of them would admit it, Vaan wasn't the only one worn out from that long day. They drank almost all the remaining water, then settled down against the walls to sleep. They set a guard in case any of the Passage's creatures thought they looked like an easy meal, and Fran took first watch.
Aside from brief bouts of unconsciousness caused from falling, Balthier hadn't slept since before he and Fran's break-in to the palace. It had taken all night to get out of the waterway, and then they were caught and thrown into Nalbina, where they had escaped and journey all day since. Balthier didn't realize how weary he was until he leaned against that wall. The instant he allowed himself a moment to rest, sleep claimed him.

That night, Balthier had the same dream as always. A grand storm, blowing over the streets on Archades, a sudden intruder, an uncontrollable surge of terrible power…
The morning dawned, as it always did. In those first bright rays after the terrible night, Ffamran made a promise. He was to protect that silly little wrench, the symbol of his family, his heritage, his name. He promised to never forget who he was, never forget what his name meant, never, never forget what Ffamran meant. Balthier had tried to break that promise, but he couldn't. He couldn't forget, not ever. But even if he hadn't forgotten, he'd left all that he promised to carry on. Had he broken that promise…?
But what was it really that he'd promised to remember? What was the legacy of Ffamran Bunansa, those strange powers apparently passed down through the generations? That one question that rang always in his ears…
Why? Why was he so different? What was that terrible power locked up inside him, just itching to burst out? Where did it come from? What did it mean? And would he ever know…?

"Balthier, wake up." Fran's voice pulled Balthier out of that awful dream. The suffocating darkness of the Barheim Passageway seemed almost welcoming when compared to that black, stormy night long ago.
"What is it?" Balthier asked, sitting up straight. Vaan and Basch were still asleep, Vaan snoring faintly.
"It's your guard shift," Fran replied. She was standing nearby the three sleepers. Balthier nodded and pulled himself up to stand.
"Right," he said. He couldn't help but notice Fran was still staring off down the long, shadowy tunnel. Something didn't look quite right about her. "Are you alright?" Balthier asked after a moment. "This thick myst isn't... affecting you, is it?"
"No." Fran shook her head. "The myst… I am fine. It just feels like… home." Fran's voice fell so low at that last word that Balthier almost couldn't hear it. Home? Fran never talked about her home and where she came from. But wait…
"This place feels like your home?" Balthier didn't mean to be rude, but he found it hard to believe Fran came from some dark, foreboding, underground dungeon.
"No, not the place," Fran said, shaking her head. "The myst. Thick, and still, and… quiet. It… No, it isn't important." Fran turned from the tunnel to face Balthier. "And you? Are you alright?"
"Me?" Balthier asked. "Of course. What makes you think otherwise?"
"You were calling out in your sleep," Fran said simply.
Balthier wasn't entirely sure how to answer at first. He hated that dream, but surely it wasn't that bad.
"Don't worry about me," Balthier said at last. "I'm fine. Really."
Fran's gaze didn't leave him. It was her intense, searching gaze that made Balthier feel like her eyes were boring into him, like she could suddenly see everything about him, know every one of his secrets. He really hated it when she did that.
"Balthier…" Fran said at last, her voice holding a tone all-too serious. The fact that any emotion at all seeped into her voice was worrying. Her eyes, too, held a somber look. "Balthier," she repeated, then shook her head. "No, not yet," Fran said, almost too low for Balthier to hear.
"Not yet?" Balthier echoed. "Fran, what are you talking about?"
"It's nothing," Fran said, her usual taciturn nature taking over as she sat and leaned against the wall. "Good luck," she said, before closing her eyes and putting their confusing conversation to an abrupt end.
Balthier stared at Fran for a few moments before taking her position as watch. What not yet? What was Fran talking about? It was obviously something important, but why wouldn't she say it? Oh, well…
Just one more thing for Balthier to add to his list of unanswered questions.