Author's Note: This chapter is my favorite so far. :D Yaaay.

Joshua Chung, you never cease to make me laugh. :] I'm always looking forward to your reviews! Thank you bunches.

S o S t a r s t r u c k

Chapter Seven

Nothing But The Outsider

I only allowed myself to be taken away only so the other two could go and rescue Lightning and Hope without being found by PSICOM. I was, once again, the distraction...

Wincing as he was pushed onto some sort of platform-ship by the two soldiers, Balthier narrowed his eyes when he caught sight of a man standing before him. Right away he knew it was Yaag Rosch, the man who had ordered his apparent arrest. He had sleak blue hair tied back into a ponytail, and he wore armor different than what Raines war. Around them, air ships flew past toward the city - to where the l'Cie were, or so he had heard.

"The man from Ivalice," Rosch said to Balthier once the sky pirate was pulled to his feet. "We've been looking for you for quite some time now."

Balthier scowled, but then put on his normal facade: a cocky smirk. "Tell me how your orders out rank that of Raines," he answered, "Is it because you're under the command of the fal'Cie?" One of the soldiers whacked him on the back of the neck, telling him to watch his mouth around the commander. He didn't even flinch from the pain, amazingly.

The colonel turned around, away from Balthier and the soldiers. "So you know the truth. Then you should understand why I do what I must to protect Cocoon. If the l'Cie run through the land and avoid the Sanctum, the fal'Cie will end the lives of our people. We must capture the l'Cie and end their reign of terror in order to gain back our freedom."

"The l'Cie are not trying to destroy your world," he retorted, staring down at his bound hands. "They're just like you and I: humes caught in the tempest of the gods."

"So you say."

The soldiers dragged Balthier further out onto the platform-ship, ignoring his protests. A loud voice sounded around them, and images appeared on a large screen on one of the buildings above the courtyard. "In a recently convened emergency conference, the Sanctum announced that the fugitive l'Cie have been located. The military plans to apprehend the l'Cie and carry out a public execution. These images coming to you live in Palumpolum."

As the ship moved downward, Balthier saw the images of both Lightning and Hope on the large screen. They were still alive! He quickly looked down below the ship, pushing away from the soldiers who had their hands on him, and glanced around for any familiar faces. And then, he saw her. Lightning.

She stood close by Hope, a hand placed on his shoulder in case she needed to defend him. As soon as she looked up toward the ships and the soldiers rushing toward them, she saw Balthier. Their eyes met, and she immediately pulled out her gunblade once she saw that he was the Sanctum's prisoner. He wanted to tell her to not even bother trying to save him, but it was too late.

"These are l'Cie," Rosch announced to his soldiers and their air ships as he stepped forward. "Show no mercy. They aren't people - they're targets!"

Balthier scowled, forcing himself to look away from Lightning and Hope, and stormed up to the other man. "You cannot just kill them!" he yelled, ignoring the guns pointed at his back. "At least let them stand trial! What are they even guilty of?"

"They are nothing but slaves to the fal'Cie. And you," Rosch turned around, pressing his sword against Balthier's neck. "You are nothing but the outsider, chosen by your own gods to destroy Cocoon!"

Flinching, Balthier felt himself go weak. He fell to his knees in front of the man, hanging his head low as he found himself lost in a daze. He could hear gun shots around him, whether they were from Lightning or the soldiers, and he knew that something about all that was happening around him wasn't right. He shut his eyes, blocking out all the yelling and the noises above and below him. Then, breaking him from his daze, there was a loud explosion from above. Balthier looked up immediately when he felt a cold wind brush past him, and his eyes widened as he watched ice erupt from the middle of the court yard, freezing men and air ships alike.

He ducked down before some of the ice could hit him, falling from the sky, but the soldiers pulled him to his feet and pushed him closer to the edge of the ship. Balthier wondered if they were planning on pushing him off if he continued to go against what they ordered of him. Just as he thought about jumping off himself, bullets whizzed past his ear and hit the soldiers standing around he and Rosch. Over the gun shots he heard the engine of a motorcycle, and right when he looked toward the sound a bullet went into his shoulder.

He winced from the pain for only a moment, but he quickly turned his attention back to the battle below them. Lightning was taking down the last of the soldiers in the court yard, so obviously she was handling the situation well enough on her own. Balthier nearly smirked at that thought, but Rosch's voice interrupted him.

"Move!" the man yelled to the last soldier standing. "Take us up!"

The platform-ship began to rise back into the air, above the buildings, and Balthier could only watch as Lightning tried to run after them. Not once did he look away from her, not until she a motorcycle blocked her path and distracted them both. Then, he was too far up in the sky to see anything else.

As soon as they were away from the chaos, Balthier was yet again pushed onto an air ship, this time he found himself dragged to the cock pit of a much smaller one. He nearly collapsed to the floor, wincing from the wound in his shoulder, but he managed to keep his composure. He wouldn't act weak in front of someone who had the power to kill him in a matter of seconds.

Rosch was pacing back and forth as the soldier, the only one to survive the attack, took control of the ship and flew it into the air. "Those l'Cie..." he muttered to himself, scowling.

"Tougher than you thought, hm?" Balthier asked, smirking widely despite the pain he was feeling.

The colonel narrowed his eyes when he turned to face the sky pirate, holding his sword to his neck again. "If he didn't need you, I would have killed you with those l'Cie! You're just as damned as they." He stormed off, walking down the stairs as two Sanctum soldiers grabbed Balthier and led him away. It was then that he blacked out, drifting off into his weakness-induced sleep.

Everything - that world, the madness of its people...It was far too much for me to take in. Even someone such as myself couldn't handle the truth.

Eventually he came to, but he was no longer in the air ship from before. Trapped in yet another cell, Balthier attempted to look at his surroundings through blurred vision. He touched a hand to his bleeding shoulder, his upper lip curling in disgust when he felt the warmth on his fingers. Leaning his head back against the wall, he wondered if he was going to spend the rest of his days in that cell, doomed to die on a world not his own. He thought about Fran, and what she would think of him dying in such a pitiful way. Death, by stray bullet? That was a foolish way to go...

"I should find a way out on my own," he muttered to himself, "Then again, my magick's nearly gone after all that fighting. I can't even heal myself..."

He laid down on the cold floor, curling up and pressing a hand against his bullet wound. Another moment of rest sounded pleasant to him at that time, and he figured that was all he could do then. He would wait until the time was right to make his escape. If he was lucky, perhaps he'd catch up to Lightning and Hope, maybe even find that cheery girl Vanille again...

Someone was yelling outside the prison cell, and soon after he heard a body hit the floor. But, he shrugged it off and and turned over onto his side, closing his eyes. A few moments later, he heard a voice; a voice he surprisingly was glad to hear.

"They're like a bunch of flies! Don't stop comin' till you're down."

Balthier opened his eyes, wondering if he was hearing voices due to his current weakness. He could have sworn that he had heard Fang complaining...

"We need to find him. He could be dead by now," replied another voice; this time it was Lightning.

Well, that was odd. He must have been dreaming - Lightning wouldn't come rescue him. Wasn't she chasing after the Sanctum officials, or some such?

"Fine, fine. Let's hurry it up then!"

He could hear them more clearly, and as each moment passed their foot steps came closer and closer, until he saw the shadows of Lightning and Fang upon the wall in front of him. How did they find him so quickly? Unless, he'd been sleeping for longer than it seemed. "It's about time someone showed up," Balthier stated, his voice hoarse as he turned around to face them. "Where have you two been...?"

Fang approached him first, putting her hands on her hips as she looked down on him. "What happened to you?" she asked, "I leave you alone for a few hours, and look what happens!"

"Got shot. By you," he told her, watching as Lightning stood still in the doorway. Not once did her eyes leave him.

"Ah," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Well, I've never been the best aim. Hey, Lightning. Can you heal his wound so we can get out of here?"

Lightning silently walked over to them, kneeling down in front of Balthier and helping him carefully sit up. She placed one hand on his wounded shoulder, the other gently touching his cheek. When he felt the curative magick rush through his veins, he sighed out of relief. He felt much better than he had in a while - l'Cie magick must have been stronger than his own. As soon as she was about to pull her hand away from him, Balthier grabbed her wrist and stared her in the eyes.

"Hey-" she started to protest, but he cut her off.

"I did not expect to see you here," he quietly stated, "Thought you had gone off to chase the fal'Cie."

She helped him stand up, but the look he gave her assured her that he was fine on his own. "I could say the same to you," she answered, looking him directly in the eyes. Fang scoffed from where she stood a few feet away from them, drawing their attention to her.

"C'mon, we need to meet up with the others. Your reunion moment can wait."

Fang showed them the way to a weaponry room, to which Balthier was more than glad to see. Finally, he wouldn't have to deal with wasting his magick during battle! While the two women gathered up any supplies they would need on the journey to wherever they were headed, he searched through all the weapons until he found something he could use. The guns were nothing like the ones back in Ivalice, something he wouldn't be able to get used to, so he decided to go against his usual choice and found two short blades. They were light enough for him to carry, and they seemed to be swift enough to use in battle. He tucked them both into the scarf around his waist and turned toward Lightning and Fang.

"Are you finished?" Lightning asked, watching him with a raised eyebrow. "When the guards we just killed don't report in, they'll come looking for us."

"Well, then let's be off," he answered, walking past her and following Fang out the door. "Though, it would be rather helpful if you told me where we're headed."

She quickened her pace to walk next to him. "We're meeting Snow and Hope in Felix Heights, where Hope's place is."

"And why did you leave them off on their own, hm? I had thought that you wouldn't let the chance of beating the life out of Snow pass you by as soon as you found him again."

"Change of plans," Fang added in from where she stood at the end of the long hall, peering around the corner. "Lightning here wanted to come rescue you before we went after the others. Said she wouldn't go anywhere until she knew that you were safe."

Lightning avoided Balthier's gaze after that, but remained by his side as they escaped out into the city. Fang led the way, of course, since she seemed to be the only one who knew what to do. Balthier let her have the chance to lead, but only because he had too much on his mind.

Once they entered the main part of Palumpolum, the streets were bare and empty. Balthier tossed one of his new swords into the air, catching it with ease as Fang scouted out the area with Lightning. He stood in one of the many alley ways, waiting for them to return. When they came back, Lightning told him that the entire city must have been evacuated after hearing that there were l'Cie nearby. He couldn't help but smirk at that. So the people were afraid of what they didn't know - how foolish.

"It's nearly night," Fang stated as they walked down the street, careful to avoid any soldiers they might come across. "We should find somewhere to rest until it's day light again. Don't you think so?"

Lightning scoffed. "I'm not tired," she muttered under her breath, "We need to find the others before PSICOM does."

"You and I might not be tired, but our little pirate here might be." Fang smirked, looking over to Balthier. "Aren't you, pirate?"

He didn't want to admit it to them, but yes: he was terribly tired. And hungry. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd had something to eat, let alone had a good night's rest. He had been on the run since arriving on Cocoon, and hearing that he would finally be able to get what he needed was relieving. And so he nodded once, purposely smirking in Lightning's direction.

"Right," Fang said as she started to walk in another direction. "You two stay here while I go steal us some supplies. Try not to kill the poor man, Lightning. It's our fault he's been drug into this mess." She winked at the two of them, and then ran off.

Sighing out of either annoyance or frustration, Lightning walked down to a covered area beneath a bridge. Balthier followed her, only because he didn't want to make her angry - like Snow had back at that lake place. No doubt she could hit harder than those damn soldiers from before...

She leaned up against the railing, looking down at the seemingly endless area below the bridge. Slowly, Balthier stood at her side and studied her expression as she thought to herself. She seemed...different from before. Less tense, almost. He had a feeling that traveling alone with Hope had changed her out look on their situation, that she needed to become less like a closed book in order to get things done; meaning, her Focus.

If it was as he expected, then Lightning had the same Focus as Snow and the others. All of them had been turned to l'Cie at the same time by the same fal'Cie, so no doubt they were all told to do the same thing. 'Save Cocoon', as Serah said. But, something bothered him. If he remembered correctly, hadn't Lightning mentioned to Snow that their Focus was to destroy Cocoon?

Lightning noticed that he was staring at her and narrowed her eyes. "What?" she snapped, scowling. "Don't think I haven't noticed that you've been staring at me since we rescued you."

"Well, I've got to stare at something, haven't I?" he replied, leaning his back against the railing and smirking. "You're an interesting woman, Lightning."

Her expression softened as she looked toward the buildings across the way from them. She took a deep breath after a moment, then quietly told him, "Call me Light."

If I wasn't mistaken, it would seem that she was finally beginning to warm up to me. And, judging by how she had treated the others before we were separated, I was lucky to have her be willing to understand me. She was probably the only one who even tried at that time.

He glanced over to her, his smirk changing into a small smile. "Very well...Light," he said, "Though, I doubt that's your real name. At least, that was what that oaf told me before."

"It's my name now. Lightning. It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect...It only destroys."

"At least when I changed my name, I chose something far more pleasant."

She turned her head, staring at him in disbelief. "You, too, huh?"

"I ran from a life that I didn't want to lead. So I chose a new name and became something that was everything I ever wanted: freedom." He sighed, casting his eyes downward. "Then again, I find myself falling into my old ways, before I became a sky pirate. All this running about, trying to avoid the truth...That isn't freedom."

She didn't answer him, so he took it that their conversation was over. They simply stood there in silence, some-what appreciating each others presence until Fang arrived with blankets and food in hand. Apparently she had stolen them from one of the local shops that had been abandoned in the evacuation. Balthier listened to her talk as he quickly ate most of the food she'd brought, watching as Lightning continued to stare out into the distance.

"Slow down, pirate," Fang warned him when she looked in his direction. "You're gonna end up making yourself sick if you eat too quickly. Sheesh..."

He didn't bother to listen to what she had said. Then, of course, he regretted not heeding her words soon afterward. He was hunched over a trash bin, coughing up what he'd just eaten and what he hoped wasn't his own insides. Fang laughed loudly when he excused himself and ran off to go vomit, while Lightning sighed heavily. She ended up following him to make sure he didn't accidentally die, or something (her words exactly). Barely touching a hand to his shoulder, her upper lip curled in disgust when he coughed loudly again.

"That's what starving yourself for a few days and eating too fast does to you," she murmured to him once he had wiped off his mouth and leaned his head against the edge of the bin. "I thought someone like you would be used to not eating for a few days..." He only groaned in reply. "I'll take that as a 'no', then."

"I was used to it..." he mumbled, "Then, I ended up in this world and it messed with my system..."

She weakly smiled, helping him stand up straight. "Think you're going to get sick again?" she asked, when she watched his skin turn pale again.

Balthier shook his head. "No...I just need to, ah...lie down for a while..."

He ended up falling asleep not too long after he and Lightning returned to where they were staying for the night. Fang was still chuckling when Lightning helped him sit down, earning a glare from the pink-haired soldier. It was already dark out when they returned, and the city itself was as dark as the night sky. As he listened to the two women talk amongst themselves, he leaned against the wall behind them, dozing off once he closed his eyes.

While he slept, Lightning pulled some of the blankets out of the pack Fang had stolen and covered him up, watching him sleep soundly for a moment. She turned away from him and went back to partially listening to Fang speak. Then, much to her surprise and the other l'Cie's amusement, Balthier leaned against her shoulder in his sleep, resting his head beside hers. He huddled up close to her, most likely only because she was warmer than he was at the time.

"Ain't that cute," Fang said with a cat-like smirk.

Lightning shot another glare in her direction.

"What? Obviously he likes you well enough to let you be his pillow." She raised an eyebrow, resting her head in the palm of her hand. "You know, most people run for the hills whenever they hear the word 'l'Cie'...But Balthier here seems to be more than happy to be with us right now. That completely goes against what the Sanctum tells us all."

"He's not from here. He doesn't care what others think..." Lightning glanced at his sleeping form again, sighing. "Because he only does what he wants to do, not what others say."

Fang's smirk widened. "I take it the two of you bonded while I was away, didn't ya?"

That time, Lightning threw a small rock at her.

Balthier sleeping on Lightning is probably the cutest thing ever. :D Aww.