Author's Note: I miss Vanille and Sazh. :( Thank goodness they'll be showing up in the next chapter or so! By the way, this story has gotten over 120 views! :D So, you know, to be nice...Everyone who reads this should leave a review? LOL

I love you, too, Joshua Chung. :3

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

Chapter Eleven

Looking Toward The Future

Despite the all the troubles we had faced, it seemed that things were starting to look up for the time being. I couldn't help but feel as if things would take a turn for the worst, and there wouldn't be anything I could do to stop it.

Fang led the four of them aboard the Lindblum, mentioning that they would talk with Raines early in the morning. Balthier knew that meant they would all be able to get a good night's rest, and he was glad for that. He wanted nothing more than to have a good meal, perhaps a bath, and then sleep until it was time for them to move again. They were far away from the PSICOM's grasp, at least for the night.

She showed them where they'd be sleeping for the night, and the room's arrangements reminded him too much of the Strahl. There were five beds in the room, four in sets of bunk-beds and one set apart from the rest. Snow, like an immature teenager, claimed the top bed of the bunk he and Balthier would be sharing, while Lightning contently took the bottom bed of the bunk she and Hope were to share. Fang, a little possessively, claimed the single bed.

After taking a warm shower and having a slightly-tasteless meal (Balthier managed to not get too sick, though he still felt nauseous after he ate), the five-some sat around in the small room, not minding the closeness of all their beds. Lightning sat on her bed with Hope sitting at her side, while Balthier leaned against her legs while he sat on the floor. She didn't seem to mind that, surprisingly. Snow was sitting on his top bunk with his legs swung over the edge, and Fang sat across from the other three.

"They've got Vanille and your other friend," she told them once they were all comfortable. "Found 'em in Nautilus, it seems."

"Vanille and Sazh? How'd they end up all the way over there?" Snow asked, looking toward Lightning and Hope. "I thought all of you were planning on staying together."

The pink-haired woman frowned, shaking her head. "They got left behind," she said, "They would have been safer with us, but instead they chose to walk right into the Sanctum's eager hands."

"We've got to rescue them," Hope added in, "They'll be executed if we don't do anything to help!"

"That's the plan," Fang answered, stretching out her arms. "It'd be smart for all you did get some rest tonight. We're gonna be facing against a hell of a lot of PSICOM fools tomorrow." She tilted her head, glancing at all of them. "We're gonna need a damn good plan in order to save Vanille and Sazh."

Snow scoffed, folding his arms across his chest. "I told you. Heroes don't need plans."

"You're not the only hero 'round here, blondie. Remember that." She smirked, looking over to Balthier, who looked as if he'd fallen asleep against Lightning's legs. "Now ain't that cute. Seems like you're quite taken to our pirate here, Lightning, if you're letting him get so close to you."

The other woman shot her a glare. "Leave him alone. He's the only one here who really needs to get some rest," Lightning told her, "He's not a l'Cie, like the rest of us. He's-"

"Just an innocent bystander caught up in this whole l'Cie mess...Yeah, yeah. I get it already, pinky." She rolled her eyes, still smirking. "No need to get all defensive of the pirate."

As if on cue, Balthier opened his eyes and glared at the black-haired woman. "You know, I am awake," he muttered, raising an eyebrow in annoyance. "I can hear every word the lot of you are saying."

Everyone went silent, apart from Snow's snickering above them. Balthier usually would have told him to be silent, but he wasn't in the mood to say anything else. He was still thinking about what had happened back in Palumpolum, how he'd seen his old comrades when he had 'died'. Then there was still the fact that he seemed to be forgetting things that had happened on his journey with them.

"Well, time to get some sleep, you lot," Fang stated, walking over to her bed and turning off the lights. "We've got a tough day tomorrow, so rest up."

Lightning pulled Balthier up from the floor by holding onto his arm, but he ignored her when he crawled into his own bed, huddling up under the covers. It wasn't the most comfortable bed in the world, but it was better than the thin mats he had been forced to sleep on back in Ivalice. He would just have to put up with it until he returned to where he rightfully belonged...wherever that was, now.

Sometime in the middle of the night (or was it early morning?), Balthier woke up to the sound of Snow's loud snoring above him and the whirring of the Lindblum's engines. He was tempted to kick the other man's mattress, but he didn't want to put up with whatever he would complain about as soon as he'd wake up. Sighing weakly, Balthier sat up from his bed and looked around toward the others. Fang was tangled up in her blankets, a hand placed upon her lance that was convieniently beside her bed. Hope was facing the wall, so his back was turned to everyone else. Lightning, much like Fang, was holding her gunblade close to her as she slept soundly.

Letting out another sigh, he laid back down on his bed and closed his eyes, attempting to block out all the noise around him. But, as always, it was hard to fall back asleep once he was wide awake. And since he was completely awake, he found himself thinking about the events that had taken place before, and what would happen in the days to come.

He ran a hand through his hair as he sat up again, staring down at his bare feet. The same thoughts as before ran through his mind, and he continuously wondered if he wasn't making a mistake by helping the 'fugitive l'Cie'. Snow had been right - he was putting himself in danger by aiding them. Considering that he'd already 'died' once, and he'd suffered through multiple injuries in the course of a few days, he had already experiencing the 'danger of helping l'Cie'. It wouldn't be long until he finally did bite the dust.

And just the thought of dying made him feel sick to his stomach.

"I just need some fresh air," he told himself, standing up from his bed. He pulled on his white blouse, not bothering to button it up, and walked out the cabin door. There were still Calvary soldiers running about the place, but they paid no attention to him as he walked up the stairs to the main deck. He wondered if any of them would get any sleep that night.

When he made it out onto the viewing deck of the ship, he leaned against the railing and watching the stars pass him by above the ship. There were only a few clouds out in the sky that night, surprisingly, and nearly hundreds of feet above the Lindblum was a glowing station of some sort, lighting up everything as if it were the moon. He hadn't noticed it before, but then again, he barely had the time to do anything other than running over the past few days.

"That's Eden, the fal'Cie of the Sanctum," said a calm voice behind him. Balthier turned around, not so surprised to see that Lightning had followed him. She wore just her reddish-brown halter shirt and dark brown skirt, and, of course, she had her gunblade conveniently in its case behind her legs. He took notice that she didn't look quite as threatening without all of her armor on - in fact, she looked almost...

Balthier shook his head, turning back toward the night sky. "Fal'Cie, you say?" he asked, frowning weakly. "Would I be mad if I asked it to make me a l'Cie, right at this moment?"

Lightning walked over to him, resting her hands on the railing as she, too, looked up at the floating fal'Cie. "You'd be as mad as the rest of us, then. Though, why would you even want to be a l'Cie? There's no guarantee that it would give you the same Focus as the rest of us."

"My job here is to help you with your task. That's nearly the same as having it as my own, don't you think?"

"Fang told me that...Serah was the one who asked you to save Cocoon."

Balthier nodded. "And she was the one to pull me out of the mess I was in after Rosch shot me. Although," he sighed, "I could have sworn that I saw my comrades from Ivalice in that dream, as well. I could barely make out their faces, much like now, when I try to remember them."

She looked toward him, watching him in concern.

"I can't even remember how I came here, let alone how to go back. Perhaps that means I'm not meant to return to Ivalice, despite what that oaf tells me." He cast his eyes downward, looking at his hands. "I might be trapped here, in this world, never to return to where I belong. And once the lot of you complete your task, what do I do when all of you turn to crystal? Wait until the day you awaken from that slumber? It could be years until you awaken, much like Fang and Vanille."

"Is this...what was bothering you earlier?" Lightning asked, studying his expression carefully, as if she wanted to understand. "You think that after all of this is done, you're going to be alone?"

"I won't be turning to crystal any time soon, that is for certain. I suppose I should be jealous of yourself and the others. You'll gain eternal life, free to live again as soon as you wake up. I've always wondered what it's like to be immortal."

She weakly smirked. "That goes against what you told me today, Balthier. I thought the leading man was immortal, that he couldn't die."

He faced her, returning her gaze. With a sad smile, he said, "No one lives forever, not even the heroes."

Perhaps I had said too much to her, or perhaps I had said too little. Lightning wanted to understand the method to my madness at the time, but to tell the truth...Even I didn't know.

The two of them decided that it would be best to return to the others, in case someone found them both missing and caused a panic (Lightning said Snow would be the one to do that). But Fang proved them wrong when she stood in the door way, blocking their way back to their beds.

"And where did you two go off to?" she asked, cat-like smirk on her face as always. "Alone, too, I should mention. There isn't anything going between you two on that the rest of us don't know about, hm?"

Lightning scowled, folding her arms across her chest. "Balthier went off on his own and I decided to follow him, to make sure that he didn't jump off the ship and kill himself," she explained, and Balthier wondered if she was telling the truth. "That reasoning enough for you?"

"Hm, maybe. Don't think I didn't notice you watching our pirate when we walked through Palumpolum, pinky."

If he could have seen her face at that time, Balthier wouldn't have been surprised if she looked embarrassed. But, judging the tone of her voice when she told Fang to let her go back to bed, Lightning was only frustrated with her - or him, too. He wasn't certain which.

"Fine, fine. We'll be getting up in a few more hours, so get some sleep," Fang muttered with a sigh. "And I for one don't want to deal with Balthier moping about because he's tired, again."

The three of them returned to their own beds without another word, though Balthier could have sworn that he heard Snow mumble to them to 'get the hell to sleep and shut up' or some such. In a slightly better mood, he kicked the mattress above his head, earning a loud, but tired yelp of pain from the blond. Grinning to himself, Balthier closed his eyes and finally fell asleep. He didn't dream at all that night, though he thought he could hear a voice whispering to him as he slept.

He awoke to the sound of Fang yelling at them all, or at least to Balthier and Snow. They were the only two who were still in bed, and it took them nearly ten minutes to even move. The sky pirate tiredly put his vest on over his blouse, then tied his leather boots over his feet, but it took him a few minutes just to put his goggles on his forehead correctly. Snow was having just as much trouble as him, nearly tripping over his trench coat when he tried to put it on. Hope, being just a teenager, was naive enough to mention how alike the two of them were. Fang and Snow laughed loudly while Balthier quietly told the boy to 'mind his mouth and not say such nonsense', and even Lightning couldn't help but show a small smile.

Eventually they met up with Raines' second-in-command, Rygdea, who brought them to the air ship hanger, where Raines was awaiting their arrival. Once they all stood around him, he turned on the screen before them, and some sort of news program appeared on it. The camera panned over an air ship larger than the Lindblum while the news anchor spoke, "There she is. The Palamecia, pride of the Sanctum Sky Fleet. This mighty flagship currently serves as a prison for the l'Cie apprehended in Nautilus."

Balthier raised an eyebrow. So Sazh and Vanille really had been taken captive by PSICOM...

"The l'Cie will face official sentencing upon the convoy's arrival in the capital."

"So what's with the freak show?" Snow asked, folding his arms across his chest.

Raines glanced toward them all, answering, "So the Primarch can stand in judgment of the villainous l'Cie with their execution as the climax. The people will cheer their demise, and the fal'Cie dominion will be undisputed."

Primarch? Balthier had a feeling that was the man in charge of the Sanctum, much like how the emperor of Archadia was in charge of the Empire. "All part of the plan?" he asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes, but it also presents an opportunity."

The news anchor continued their speech, "In a display of unwavering dedication to duty the Primarch himself has boarded the Palamecia and focused his personal attention on resolving the Pulse crisis."

Fang scowled, narrowing her eyes. "They're baiting us," she said, "Trying to draw us out."

"Bait, huh?" Snow asked with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah, that's right," Lightning commented from where she stood between Balthier and Hope. "Here are you friends. Come and get 'em."

"Well, if they're daring us to perform a rescue," Balthier added in, smirking. "it's up to the leading man to answer their call."

Raines turned off the screen, turning his attention to Rygdea as he approached them. "All righty, bets are on the table," the second-in-command stated, grinning. "We leave when you're ready. I'll be standing by."

They all went in separate directions, but Balthier stood back with Fang when she showed no signs of going anywhere. He noticed how tense she looked, so he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and smirked at her. "Something bothering you?" he asked, "You're not usually so quiet, you know."

Fang rolled her eyes, returning his smirk with her own. "Careful, pirate. Don't wanna get too close to me. Lightning'll have my head if I dare to even touch you," she warned him, slowly pulling his arm off of her shoulders.

"What do you mean-"

She turned away from him, ignoring his almost-question. "So, you said you know how to fly air ships? Think you can handle being our pilot for this trip?"

Balthier scoffed. "I'm a sky pirate, remember? I can commandeer any ship when I need to make a quick escape. So don't doubt my abilities for one moment, woman."

"Still feisty, huh?" She looked back at him, grinning wildly. "C'mon, let's get this show on the road."

He followed her and the others to where Rygdea was waiting for them. Lightning, it seemed, purposely walked beside him just to separate him and Fang. He let out a weak sigh, shaking his head. He'd have to listen to Fang's warnings more often.

Rygdea stopped them in front a small transport air ship, resting his hands at his sides. "This baby back here's a PSICOM vessel. It'll deliver you to the Palamecia."

"Oh, we're cargo now?" Snow teasingly asked, half-grinning.

"A parting gift to our rotting government. Take those PSICOM guys apart."

Lightning raised an eyebrow in surprise. "And we're supposed to take on all of them?" she asked, "I think the whole division's on board."

"I don't care how many lackeys they've got," Fang stated, her determined expression returning to her face. "Bring 'em on! Vanille's in there."

Hope looked up at the sound of their other companion's name. "I'm sure she's fine," he said, and then he frowned slightly. "Vanille's tougher than I could ever be..."

The pink-haired woman faced him, concerned. "Hope, are you scared?"

"Yeah, I'm terrified. But, I'll be okay. Because I have you, Fang, Balthier and this guy," he said as he acknowledged them all. "We're all in this mess. We've got to stick together."

Rygdea chuckled, shaking his head. "Right, enough with the bonding. It's go time," he said, and then he turned toward Balthier. "Fang here said you're gonna pilot the lot of you to the Palamecia. You remember how to pilot an air ship?"

Balthier nodded. It had been a while since he'd piloted any air ship, even his precious Strahl. "I've been doing this for years. No need to fret," he answered, smirking. Beside him, Lightning sighed weakly and took his arm, leading him toward the transport-ship before he could gloat any longer.

Sitting at the controls of an air ship reminded me how much I had wanted to return to Ivalice. It was similar to the ones back there, but it was missing one thing: Fran, always there, sitting at my side.

As soon as they were all in the ship, Balthier sat down in the pilot's seat and placed his hands on the controls. Now that he was finally somewhere that was familiar to him, he was beginning to fear that he had forgotten how to fly. It seemed like it had been so long since he'd last piloted the Strahl, despite the fact that he'd only been in Cocoon for nearly a week. Fang clapped a hand on his shoulder, bringing him back to reality.

"Just thought I'd mention something to ya," she said, watching as the large doors opened before them and revealed the sky. "PSICOM's lackeys don't have a sophisticated and proper sounding voice like you, so you might want to change that for the time being."

"What if it's a girl asking for the verification code?" Snow asked with a grin from beside her. "Balthier could just persuade her with his suave voice and we'd be good to go!" All of the sudden, he yelped out in pain. Lightning had punched him in the shoulder for making an immature comment, no doubt.

Balthier cracked a smirk and turned on the engine of the ship. Not too long later, they were in the sky and flying toward the Palamecia. Behind him, Fang narrowed her eyes as they watched a few PSICOM ships block their way to the main ship. She touched his shoulder again, leaning close to his ear and whispering, "Show time."

With a nod, he pressed the comm-link button on the controls. "What's the problem?" he asked, using an accent much like Fang's unique one. He kept his eyes ahead on the ships in front of them, growing tense as they approached them.

"Stand by. Verifying identification code."

"You let me land this ship, or I'll crash her into your arse!" the sky pirate snapped, and behind him Snow struggled to not burst into a fit of laughter. Balthier turned around and faced the rest of them, smirking. "That sound Sanctum enough for you?"

"Sounded just like the idiotic fools they are!" Fang replied, leaning against his chair.

"Always here to entertain, darling."

The soldier's voice returned, sounding slightly frightened. "Code verified. You're free to dock. All clear, welcome aboard!"

Balthier grinned darkly, steering their transport ship toward the Palamecia. "About damn time," he breathed.

Balthier, you're still worrying me. First you see things, and now you're hearing things? That can't be good, hun...