Yay! Updated! I am sooooooooo happy because I got 100% on the reading and writing state test! Heh heh… thank you, fanfiction writing, and thank you, awesome authors.
Thanks to ElTangodeRoxanne! She's always so awesome! You should read her stories! Sniff… where's emeraldonyxdragon?
"You have your own army?" Munin gaped. "That is a clear breach of Archadian law!"
"Oh, hush. Balfonheim is a part of the Archadian Empire, but what kind of people do you take us for? Law abiding citizens?" Balthier scoffed. "You just named off three of my crimes earlier!"
"And he does not count all our exploits before the Nethicite War. The entire reason we have people willing to die for us is because of our reputation." Fran explained, her fingers busy combing through her long hair.
"Of course, you have plenty willing to kill you, too." Munin pointed out. "It is the common mind of the people in Archades that there is something wrong with you. You can't have ruled Balfonheim for fifty years without being a little… you know… different. And you know that the people of Archades hate anything not Hume. They still don't let Bangaa or Seeq enlist in the army, despite my father's pleas."
"Yes, I am getting a little worried. The last assassin went after Fran…" Balthier sighed. "That was mildly frightening."
"Well, now that we know you have an army, how are you going to bring that power against the Terminators on Bahamut?" John asked. "From the look of these schematics you've got, Bahamut is kind of like a Skynet plant, heavy anti-air defense and the whole nine yards."
"Bahamut's best weapon is a Mist fuelled Nethicite Cannon. The shot is fast and very destructive." Fran said, getting up to stand by the military grade strategy table. She pulled up a small, three-dimensional image of Bahamut, and ran a simulation of what happened during the Nethicite War. Blair whistled at the sight of the Bhujerban ships exploding in a twinkle of Mist and fire.
"That's some fire power they got there."
"Yes, however, sky pirate ships are smaller and more agile than Bhujerban Destroyers and light cruisers. They are vehicles for escape and speed, not for engaging the enemy head on." Balthier said, then paused. "I am pretty sure that most of them are at least armed with enough weapons for an extended dogfight. The Strahl is— was." His face darkened.
"I am sorry about what Freyk has done to your ship." Munin said. "He will be duly admonished for his actions against an innocent, and a hero nonetheless."
"Heroes be damned." Balthier replied. "He took my home from me."
John watched a model of the Strahl fly over the battlefield, docking on the huge image of Bahamut like a moth descending on a flower.
"Balthier?" he asked.
"What?" the sky pirate snapped irritably.
"How did you get on Bahamut last time?"
"I flew, how else?"
"Well, you don't have a ship now, so… how are you going to get on?"
Balthier snarled several things uncouth in several different tongues. Fran grinned as guttural Landisian, musical Vieran, lisping Rozarrian, and thunderous Bhujerban rattled by in quick succession, a few choice words in ear curling Balfonheim street cant thrown in the mix. He stalked from one end of the table to another like a Couerl on the Cerobi Steppes, muttering under his breath.
"A ship, a ship! My kingdom for a ship!" he at last yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. "It's high time to step down from this little Pirate King lark, set up my successor, Solanum, in my place, and become a minor Pirate Lord instead."
"Balthier, Solanum is far from ready. He can barely write his own name and read the simplest text, never mind write decrees or read complaints." Fran reminded him.
Balthier growled, glaring at a map of Ivalice on the wall with enough heat that it seemed as if it would imminently combust. "The army will be a distraction, then. We'll use it to draw Bahamut's fire away from Rabanastre and approach from the ground. Then we can work our way up from the inside."
Barnes nodded, examining the schematic. "I'm gonna guess that the control center is way up at the top?"
"Yes," Fran replied. "It will be hard to get to the top if all the Rooks have been reactivated, but we can make it."
At that moment, Marcus yawned a huge, jaw-cracking yawn, and that was when they noticed Kyle snoring with his head back on the couch, and even Blair seemed to be nodding off. John sighed.
"Not that this talk of doom and gloom isn't interesting and all, but I think it's time for us to get some rest. We've been through a lot…" he said. Balthier rose to his feet.
"Very well. Let's find you some rooms. There has to be some place in this mansion not being used."
Blair rolled over in the bed. She'd never seen such luxury, and never even hoped to see it after Judgment Day. The bed was huge, a four-poster with red and gold velvet curtains and an ocean of white silk sheets. There was a bathroom attached to the main bedroom, and when she'd seen the tub (it resembled a swimming pool, it was so large) she'd stayed in the bath, soaking in the hot, fragrant water until her fingers were like prunes. After that, she'd collapsed into bed, her stomach full and her skin warm, and slept like a log until noon. She felt Marcus stir next to her. The bed was so large it felt as if he were miles away, not just on the other side of the bed.
A quiet knock on the door. Blair sighed, sinking deeper into the mattress. She hoped whoever was at the door would just go away. The knock came again.
"Persistent little snot, aren't ya?" she muttered, throwing her legs over the side of the bed and standing up. "Who is it?" she asked, her hand on the doorknob.
"It's Kyle." The voice answered. She opened the door immediately. Kyle stood there, a pillow clutched in his hands, and she was briefly reminded that he had just cleared being a teen, not truly a man yet.
"What's the matter?"
"Well… we were just talkin' about killin' those Terminators and saving the world from Sky Fortresses and whatnot, and as I was thinking… what about us? Where will we go? Will we ever go home?" Kyle's eyes were bright. "I wanna go home. I miss Star, and I miss Kate, and I just… I just… I just miss Earth, even if it is nothing but a nuclear wasteland."
Blair's own heart almost jumped into her mouth, and she felt as if she'd just been punched in the gut. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten about Earth, even just for a few days. Kate was probably going crazy, thinking John had died. "We'll figure something out. I mean, Balthier said he'd been to Earth before, but apparently he got back. He's done it multiple times, I hear. We'll ask him. He'll know."
The sky pirate in question was in the hangar, where he was working on another airship, wearing some loose pants and a horrendously stained shirt. Munin was with him, hovering about with curiosity dancing in his eyes.
"Really, Balthier. I am interested rather interested in how the old Strahl worked. That has become Lost Technology you know."
"Only about seventy years and it's 'Lost Technology.' I'm hurt." Balthier sneered. Blair, upon seeing the ship, completely forgot about her questions. The airship looked like a dragonfly, and they could see a mount for two glossair rings underneath the "head" and "tail" and a mist engine inside. It was another folding wing design— one Balthier apparently favored, and he was currently working on the mechanism to pull the wings, shimmering gold, white, and faint blue apparatuses, in and out. An old Moogle with a faded red pom-pom was sleeping on a crate nearby, wrench nearly falling from its paws. When it snored, almost inhaling its furry beard, Balthier glanced over at it.
"Nono," he came over to the Moogle, wiping grease from his fingers with a towel. "Perhaps you should retire to your chambers. You've done enough for me today." Nono woke up with a snort.
"I'm fine, Master Balthier! Just resting my eyes." He squeaked.
"No, you weren't. You were sleeping." Balthier said flatly.
"You're almost done with the Strahl! You just need to put in the guns, glossair rings, and cover her, then paint her, and you're done! The least you could do is let me help you!" Nono cried, before dissolving into a coughing fit. Dust seemed to be rising out of his fur, and Balthier grabbed him before he toppled off the crate, pressing a hand glowing with White Magick to the Moogle's chest. Nono wheezed a few times, before with one final cough, he cleared whatever blockage was in his throat. Stroking a hand still trailing magick up and down Nono's back, Balthier picked him up, cradling him gently in the crook of his arm.
"Well? Shall we finish the ship? Solanum managed to get the wreck of the old Strahl back from the Imperials, though he paid a very pretty sum of gil to get it back from under the lesser judge's nose. We can reuse some of the guns and other pieces in the new Strahl," he said.
Nono chuckled. "Solanum's a pirate after your own heart, if you don't mind me saying so, Master Balthier. Now, shall we get working on my final masterpiece? If you've got to go, I'll finish it with the rest of my crew." The Moogle squinted at some schematics on a stool.
"I like your new ship." John commented as he entered the room. "Too bad we can't fly it to Bahamut."
"Yes, it is a pity." Balthier sighed. Munin ran his hand over a metal beam.
"When I get my throne back, I can send you some scraps from Draklor if you'd like," He said.
"That would be much appreciated." The sky pirate responded with a graceful bow. "Now, Fran has gone to Sea-breeze Lane to arrange for Chocobos to take us to Rabanastre. We could do Gate Crystal, but it seems like the Mist coming out of Bahamut is interfering with the Gate Crystals. I don't want to end up getting warped somewhere else again. The journey will be about a week or two, but we can do it. When we are within a day's march of Bahamut, we will call the rest of the army." Balthier said. "I am afraid to know how much it will cost…"
"What do you mean?"
The sky pirate pulled a face. "Gurdy likes to price her Chocobos at obscene amounts."
Fran handed Balthier a tab as she held the reigns of four Chocobos, and Gurdy, another four. He blanched when he read the numbers, his face going from tan to white. "Six thousand gil for seven birds?" he almost shouted, but would not let anyone catch him doing anything so uncouth as that in public.
"I think it is fair. After all, I don't know when I'll be getting them back." Gurdy said. Balthier sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose, before signing the paper with a flourish. Marcus snorted with amusement—for a man who fancied himself pure class, the pirate had monstrously bad handwriting.
"Fine. Show that to my successor if you want the money. He'll handle it." Balthier easily swung up on the Chocobo. It squarked, turning around to regard him with one button black eye. "Oh gods, are you related to that one in the Paramina rift that hated me when I looked young?" he muttered, and the bird kweh'd as if it understood him and was saying, 'Yes, yes I am.' "Brilliant."
"So, uh, how do you ride these?" Kyle asked. "Ow!" the Chocobo knocked him on the head with the underside of its beak affectionately.
"Like a… I believe you call it a horse?" Fran asked, glancing toward her partner, who nodded. John, with a little scramble, managed to mount his Chocobo, though it almost began running as soon as he was on. Balthier quickly caught up to him, easily reaching over and grabbing the reins.
"Easy does it, John. Just don't pull out any feathers, and you'll be fine." The commander nodded. Marcus had somewhat of a harder time, but he'd been given the strongest Chocobo available, and after much struggle, they were finally underway.
Kyle sighed as they rode across the Tchita Uplands, wincing as he shifted in the Chocobo saddle. The experience had seemed new and exciting at first, but it had quickly turned into a pain.
"How much farther?" he complained, careful not to inhale too deeply and get a whiff of the horrible scent of Chocobo feathers. Munin spurred his mount a little closer.
"In order to make good time, we would have to make the Hunter's Camp on the Phon Coast by nightfall. We'll switch birds there in the morning, I think," the fallen Emperor said. Kyle stretched his knees in the saddle, listening to them creak and pop.
"You mean we have another day of this to go?"
"Another seven days, actually."
"F—" Kyle's stretching foot jabbed into the Chocobo's side, and it screeched, leaping forward and galloping by Fran and Balthier at the front of the line. Balthier instantly urged his bird forward, snatching for the reins and almost taking a tumble into the mud as he briefly overbalanced, but was caught by Fran, who grabbed him from the other side. Munin merely shook his head, chuckling.
By the time that they reached the River Nebra, they were all bow-legged and sore, and most of them were very grouchy to boot. When the first sky pirate ship, a rather ragtag thing that looked almost ready to fall apart, appeared on the horizon, Balthier looked more ready to chew the head off the pilot than to give orders. Fran, with her unending well of patience, ended up directing the army instead. She lifted her head to view the swarm of different ships hovering over their heads.
"Do not let up your attack until Bahamut goes up in flames. We make for the fortress in three minutes. Go ahead and cover us. Your bravery will be well rewarded!" she said calmly into a commlink. An assortment of cheers sounded back from the speaker.
The pirate ships departed, cavorting toward the spire of the Sky Fortress in the distance. Balthier could make out the light of revolving glossair rings as Bahamut glided across the desert sands. "I don't want to know how much I'll have to do before I get enough gil to pay all those pirates for fighting here." He muttered. "Perhaps I'll go take a job from one of those Rozarrian spice smugglers. They pay pretty well."
Fran remounted her Chocobo, as did Barnes, Marcus, Blair, and John. Kyle followed suit, somewhat reluctantly.
"If you remember, the last job you botched in Rozarria ended up with you almost getting drawn and quartered." Fran reminded him. Balthier wrinkled his nose.
"That was fifty years ago. They'll be old and senile now," he answered. Fran sniffed, though her eyes danced with amusement.
"Balthier, what if I died in this assault on Bahamut? What if we died?" she asked.
"Well then, I suppose we won't have to foot the bill for the war," he answered, smirking. "Now that's a good thought."
They were interrupted by a loud explosion. A huge cloud of sand was flung up out of the desert, and Mist roiled high above, twinkling.
"So they've began using that cannon, haven't they?" Marcus muttered, watching the agile pirate ships dart around the larger fortress. As he watched, a few came hurtling out of the sky, like flaming comets, slamming into the ground. He wondered how many of them survived to claim the reward for fighting in the battle against the Sky Fortress. Balthier spurred his Chocobo forth.
"Well, enough of our fellows are dying… let's get on with the show, shall we?"
Next up: BAHAMUT!