Author's Note: YES. I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long! Snow gets to be epic in this chapter! Too bad Balthier decides to take the spot light from him...Hee hee!

My thanks goes to Joshua Chung, as always, for being just down right amazing and leaving me a review for every chapter so far!

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

Chapter Ten

An Angel Amongst The Chaos

I knew that eventually PSICOM would catch up to us...I just only wished that it hadn't been that soon.

Clenching his fists, Balthier remained as still as stone until the sirens ceased to ring. Everything was silent, apart from the humming of an air ship over the house, and no one dared to move. They had been found by PSICOM, despite all their efforts to remain hidden. And now, they'd caused an innocent man to be drug down with them. Balthier knew it was a bad idea to let Hope's father help them all.

Everything was still dark, and he could barely make out the shadows of the others in the room with him. He could hear Snow's heavy breathing beside him, and he realized that if there was a fight, the taller man wouldn't be able to handle it. He was still injured from defending Hope earlier that day. Smirking weakly, Balthier knew that it was his time to take the lead.

All of the sudden, Lightning looked up at the ceiling and exclaimed, "Heads up!"

Balthier barely had time to look up at what she'd seen before gas bombs were dropped down upon them, releasing the toxic gas and forcing them all to their knees. He clenched his eyes shut, tears burning his eyes as he harshly coughed. Sanctum soldiers came crashing through the windows, running toward the currently weakened group with their guns and swords at the ready.

Beside him, Snow grabbed Balthier by the arm and pulled him behind him. "Balthier, stay back!" he yelled, "I'll take care of them!" But before he could even get ready to fight, he collapsed to his knees and continued to cough, clutching his injury. Balthier, though he may have not wanted to, grabbed Snow's hand and pulled him to his feet.

"You aren't ready for this!" he sternly told him, narrowing his eyes. "I'll stay here! Snow, help the boy's father!"

Snow reluctantly nodded, and the two of them clasped hands for a moment as if they were saying 'good luck' to each other. He then ran to the back of the room with Bartholomew, hiding out somewhere Balthier didn't bother to look. While he was distracted, a soldier aimed his gun at Balthier and prepared to shoot him, but out of nowhere Lightning kicked the man to the floor. She pulled out her gunblade as Balthier unsheathed his two swords, the two of them soon joined by Hope.

"Ready?" she asked the two of them as more soldiers ran through the broken windows.

"The leading man is always ready for a fight!" Balthier answered confidently, smirking widely.

He ran at a small grouping of soldiers and nearly tackled them, stabbing one of them right in the chest once he was close enough. All of his enemies held guns, and he realized how foolish it would have been if he had gone into a battle like that with his fomalhaut. Shaking his head, he dodged the bullets fired at him and kicked one of the men to the floor, stabbing him in the neck. He flinched when blood squirted out onto his face, and as he cursed quietly, Balthier saw Lightning take down a whole group of soldiers in one hit.

"Show off," he muttered, rolling his eyes. Realizing that he was distracting himself by watching Lightning, Balthier turned around just as a bullet grazed his hand. He dropped both of his swords in recoil, clutching his bleeding hand. "Damn!"

Lightning ran past him, taking care of the rest of the soldiers while he healed his hand. But, for whatever reason, he couldn't cast magick at all. Balthier scowled, picking up his swords from the floor and tucked them into the scarf around his waist. He watched as Lightning killed the last of the Sanctum soldiers, and frowned when he put her gunblade away.

"If you would be a dear and help me, I'd very much appreciate it," he said to her, and she carefully took his injured hand in her own. Usually he would have made some charming comment to her about how she had willingly taken his hand, but he just wasn't in the mood. He'd have to say something later to her about it, nonetheless.

She healed it in a matter of seconds with her l'Cie magick, and then he followed her toward the shattered windows. She crouched down near the floor on her knees, her eyes narrowed, and saw Hope standing at the other side of the room, still safe.

Balthier peered out from behind her toward the soldiers waiting outside and asked sarcastically, "Who ordered the battalion?"

"They'll take out the whole building next," Lightning hissed, before turning toward Snow and Hope's father. She motioned for them to move, and they rushed over to them. Bartholomew stood over on the other side of the room with his son, while Snow ran to Balthier and Lightning.

The blond nearly collapsed at Balthier's feet, and attempted to smile when the sky pirate touched his shoulder. "Easy now," Balthier murmured under his breath. Snow nodded, and turned around to look out the window. He narrowed his eyes, scowling when he caught sight of all the soldiers just waiting for them to come out.

"My turn," he stated, slowly standing up. He began to take off his coat and his shirt, but Balthier ended up helping him. Then he stood against the wall in front of Lightning and held out his coat so the soldiers would be able to see it. Immediately they opened fire, thinking it was an actual person - or l'Cie, for that matter.

Lightning flinched, stepping toward him. "Snow-"

He held out an arm, stopping her from coming any closer to him. "Don't shoot!" he yelled out to the soldiers, "I'll show you what a l'Cie looks like!"

As soon as the shooting ceased, Snow stepped out into the open area, holding out his arms. Balthier stood closer to Lightning, holding onto her arm as if he expected her to try and run after the other l'Cie. That, and he didn't want her to do anything foolish or get herself killed.

"Me! I'm a l'Cie!" Snow exclaimed, his eyes focused ahead of him as he continued to walk forward. "Expected some kind of monster? I'm flesh and blood, like you! An ordinary citizen of Cocoon! Don't you get it?" He lowered his arms, clenching his fists. "This has been our home our whole lives! How could we even think about destroying it? We want to protect this place just as much as you!"

While the soldiers questioned the l'Cie's intentions amongst themselves, a man stepped out from the crowd. Balthier scowled and narrowed his eyes once he saw Rosch approach Snow, remembering what he'd done a few days earlier. "You must be Snow Villiers," Rosch said, stopping a few feet away from the blond l'Cie. "Yaag Rosch, PSICOM Division. I understand your plight...However, the PULSE is not so easily dismissed. The very existence of you l'Cie and outsiders from worlds unknown puts every last one of us in danger." When he said that last part, Balthier clenched his fists, taking a few steps forward. "Tell me, do you really think your life is worth more than the lives of millions of Cocoon citizens? I do not. And so, it falls to me to order your execution."

At that point, Balthier had walked out into the open area just like Snow had, despite the frightened look Lightning had given him when he'd walked away from her.

"It's that simple," Rosch continued, pulling out a gun. "It is my responsibility to see you put down!" As he turned away, he glanced back and muttered, "Your lives are forfeit."

Balthier brushed past Snow, ignoring the confused look he received, and walked right up to the colonel. "That's a lie!" he yelled, and Rosch turned around completely to face him. "If you want l'Cie, then kill l'Cie! Why do others have to die! This madness must stop now!"

Rosch pointed the gun directly at the sky pirate, but Balthier didn't even flinch. "Do you think we want to Purge our own people? If any trace of Pulse remains, or any other world, the populace will erupt into chaos. Without sacrifice, without the Purge, Cocoon will die! There is nothing an outsider like you can do to stop us!"

And then, he fired his gun without warning. Balthier winced, taking a step back as he touched his stomach with shaky hands, eyes widening when he saw that they were covered with blood. Barely hearing Snow yelling out to him, he fell to his knees in front of Rosch, clutching his wounded stomach. He looked up once more at the man who'd shot him, and then he collapsed to the cement, lying still as he stared ahead of him with dazed eyes.

Snow stepped forward, his eyes filled with fury. "You son of a-"

"Your fate will be the same as his, l'Cie!" Rosch yelled, carelessly stepping over Balthier's still form. "All of you will soon be joining the outsider in the after life! Mark my words, you will all die."

Then, out of nowhere, gas bombs flew out from the crowd of soldiers and exploded into clouds of dust. As Snow coughed, trying to stay standing, Rosch turned around and faced his soldiers, scowling in anger.

"Who fired? I gave no order!"

Soldiers suddenly opened fire at their own in the confusion, bodies falling to the ground like flies. As he turned around again, Rosch saw one soldier aim their gun right at him, and not a second later he was shot down, his body falling down with the rest of his soldiers.

Balthier opened his eyes, his vision blurring as he looked upon a bright colored area. As he turned his head up from the ground to look up, he looked right into the face of princess Ashe, watching him with a kind smile on her beautiful face. Behind her a short distance away stood his other comrades, and he nearly smiled when he saw Fran watching him, too.

"...Princess?" he whispered, attempting to sit up, but his arms were far too weak for him to even move.

"So the leading man gave up that easily?" she asked, shaking her head. "I thought you above this." She then held out a hand to him, smiling again. "Come on. Their world needs you, Balthier."

He could only stare as Ashe began to fade away, leaving the young girl Serah standing in her place. She held out her hand, like the princess had, and continued to smile at him. Balthier then grabbed her hand, and everything became dark.

"Dammit! Balthier!" Snow yelled between coughs, watching as the rest of the soldiers fell. He couldn't see a thing in the clouds of dust and toxic gas, but he kept looking around for his fallen comrade. "Balthier!" He looked up as a small air ship came down from the sky toward him, staring up in shock and fear. The air ship's turrets were turned toward him, and just as he was about to give up, he looked ahead of him and saw Balthier slowly sitting up.

The sky pirate rubbed the back of his neck as he stood, muttering something to himself once he was standing up completely. He turned around, facing Snow, and simply smirked. "Well, that was an interesting dream," he stated, shrugging his shoulders. "That's the last time I fall asleep on the job..."

Snow gaped at him, too shocked to notice both Lightning and Hope running past him. He watched the two of them run toward the air ship, and couldn't help but grin out of relief.

"Our turn, hero!" Lightning said, pulling out her gunblade and standing in front of him. Balthier contently walked up beside her, his swords already drawn, but she didn't seem to notice that he was even there.

"What? I can handle a little gas," Snow stated, but soon after he spoke he broke out into another coughing fit, nearly falling to his knees.

Hope turned around to look at him once, then faced the air ship again. "Catch your breath! I'll make sure to get in a few hits for you!"

Lightning didn't waste any time when she unleashed a flurry of attacks against the air ship, combining magick with each attack as she shot at it with the gun part of her gunblade. When she jumped into the air and landed on top of the air ship, she turned around and stabbed her blade into one of its mechanical arms, electricity shooting out all around her. She then looked up, and her eyes locked onto Balthier, who was fending off the bullets flying toward him. As she stared at him in shock, the air ship's pilot raised one of the machine's mechanical arms and flung her toward the cement.

Nearly dropping his swords, Balthier rushed forward as soon as he saw her fall. He caught her before she could hit the ground, and she stared at him with a blank, confused expression.

"You," she whispered, reaching up and touching a hand to his cheek. "You were shot...How can you still be alive?"

"The leading man never dies," Balthier answered, smirking. "Haven't you learned that by now?"

Lightning almost smiled, but hearing Hope yell out to him snapped her out of her daze. "I could use a little help here, you two!" the boy yelled, dodging the mechanical arm swinging around him.

After he helped Lightning stand up, Balthier turned toward her and muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "Now would be the best time to use your l'Cie magick again."

She took the hint and pulled out her rose crystal out from her pocket, tossing it into the air. She shot at it with her gunblade, and in a pink explosion Odin stood before them. Hope and Balthier stood back while Lightning and her Eidolon took over the battle, both understanding that they would only get in the way if they tried to help - not that she even needed their help. The armored Eidolon transformed into the horse, like before, and Lightning looked back at them before letting the battle take over her mind. It wasn't long before the air ship fell, exploding into the distance as Odin was dismissed.

But just as the first air ship fell, another one took its place. Lightning stepped back, standing beside Balthier as he asked with exhaustion, "Do they ever end?"

"Doesn't seem like it," she answered, getting into her battle stance again and preparing to fight off their enemy. Before any of them could even strike, something fired on the air ship from above, sending it to the ground below. Balthier stared with raised eyebrows as Fang jumped down from the new air ship, landing gracefully on her feet in front of the three. Calvary soldiers ran past her, taking down any of their enemies that were left behind in the chaos.

"Need a hand?" she asked with a wide grin.

Lightning rolled her eyes, sheathing her gunblade in its holder. "Don't get cute," she hissed through gritted teeth, though even she had to admit that she was glad to see the other woman.

Hope ran back into the house to talk with his father, and Balthier turned around as he heard Snow coughing. The blond grinned at him, giving him a thumbs up as he walked over to the sky pirate. "That was some risky move you pulled there," he said, clasping a hand on Balthier's shoulder. "We thought...I thought you were a goner! How can you still be alive after getting shot?"

"You can thank Serah for that," Balthier quietly answered. He knew that Serah had been the one to save him from death, but Ashe, and the others, had been there as well. "She was the one who stopped me from giving up. You're a lucky man, Ice. Your girl is one of a kind."

Snow only laughed, and the two of them headed over to Fang and Lightning. The pink-haired l'Cie watched Balthier as he turned around once more, looking back as Hope said good-bye to his father. The sky pirate shook his head in regret, touching her shoulder for a moment as he walked past and onto the Guardian Corps air ship.

When it comes to home and family, we never keep either as close as we should. Seeing the boy with his father only made me wonder: if I hadn't left the others behind, would anything have changed?

Yay, the FFXII main party finally got to make a very short appearance! And Serah, too!

Balthier, you're starting to see things. O.o Should we be worried?