Author's Note: This chapter is where things start to make sense. Which, in turn, means more angst for our dear leading man.

I'm so glad you're still reading this story and giving me feedback, Joshua Chung! You're the only reason I keep writing these chapters so quickly! :)

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

Chapter Thirteen

Puppet of the Gods

Although Fang seemed to have tamed the dragon, Balthier wondered if it had purposely taken them to the middle of the Sanctum's Sky Fleet, therefore gaining unwanted attention. As soon as they were in the air, the enemy ships opened fire on them, and almost immediately Fang started laughing. She had to have been insane, or at least some-what mad.

"Believe in Lady Luck now?" she asked, turning her head toward the others, mainly Sazh, who at that time was clinging onto the dragon's tail as if his life depended on it.

"Yeah - Lady Bad Luck!"

Balthier wasn't enjoying the ride, either. He sat between Vanille and Hope, tightly holding onto the girl's arm as if he felt he was going to fall off and, well, die. She grinned at him, almost laughing when she saw his eyes widen at the sight of the endless sky beneath them.

Snow, on the other hand, was as optimistic as ever. "Time to Purge a Primarch!" he called out to them all, as if he was reminding them of what their newest task was.

"You got it!" Fang answered, and she steered the dragon down into the middle of the air ship gathering, avoiding all the bullets flying toward them. Balthier clung to Vanille's arm even more as they flew downward, tempted to yell at the insane woman for trying to kill them all. But, he couldn't seem to find his voice. Or, he was afraid that if he opened his mouth he'd end up getting sick, again.

Lightning perked up when she saw the Primarch's ship below them. "Let's go!" she told them, "Jump!"

Scratch that thought - both of them were insane. Balthier tightly shut his eyes before letting go of Vanille, gaining barely enough courage to jump off the dragon with the others. He only hoped that he wouldn't break anything in the fall, or when he landed.

I had my doubts when the journey had first begun. Yet I had a feeling that if I stayed with them, I would have the chance to change their world and my own. For the better.

Lightning was the first to get back to her feet once they were inside the air ship, her eyes glancing upon everyone else as they stood up, too. Fang helped Vanille stand up, keeping her hand on her even after they were both standing. "Everyone still alive?" the pink-haired l'Cie asked, folding her arms across her chest. Everyone nodded, from what she could see. "All right, then let's get a move on."

Looking around, Snow asked, "Where's Balthier?"

Everyone turned to see Balthier on his hands and knees, covering his mouth. "Give me a moment," he groaned, shaking his head. "I'll be fine...once I stop feeling the urge to vomit..."

Fang stifled a laugh. "And here I thought you could handle anything, leading man," she said to him, grinning.

He glared at her, but moving his head up made the nausea become worse. "I can! I just...have a very weak stomach."

Eventually he felt better with the help of Vanille's curative magicks, and ignoring the amused look Fang was giving him he stood beside Lightning as she looked down the hall of stairs. She kept her eyes forward as the others joined them, and stated with a stern voice, "Dysley's through there."

"Determined, aren't you?" Balthier asked, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "Good to hear. But don't act too quickly without thinking. You might regret it later on."

She rolled her eyes, but there was a weak smile on her face when she looked toward him. "Like I need you to tell me."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, not saying a single word to each other. Snow uneasily glanced back and forth between the two of them, narrowing his eyes. But he, too, didn't say anything. Vanille, however, couldn't keep her mouth shut and said something on the lines of Lightning and Balthier 'wasting time staring lovingly at each other'. The sky pirate glared at her before walking forward, muttering under his breath. With that, it was time to get the show on the road.

On the way to Dysley's chamber, nothing seemed to stand in Lightning's way. She was as dedicated as ever, if not more, to the battle and the task that was on her mind. She took down any enemies that were in her way, and at one point she even defended Vanille when a soldier went to attack her. Perhaps she was finally beginning to think of all of them as more than just people who would get in her way.

Sazh led the group through a large door way, and once they were inside Balthier saw a old man dressed in robes that reminded him far too much of the emperor of Archadia. Beside him stood a cruel looking woman with long, curly light brown hair.

"Been looking for you, Nabaat!" Sazh yelled as the group stood in the center of the chamber. Fang stood close to Vanille, while Snow protectively stood in front of Hope. Balthier and Lightning stood close by each other, as well, but it seemed as if Lightning was watching over him more than he was of her.

Jihl jumped down and gracefully landed in front of them, holding out her spear toward them as Sazh aimed one of his guns at her face. "Your Eminence, please escape," she told the old man; Dysley. "I'll cover your retreat."

Dysley watched her carefully, smirking, almost. "Why don't you leave, Jihl. Or rather, take your leave." His gaze then fell upon Balthier, his blue eyes narrowing. "Humans have no place here."

The female colonel turned around, eyes wide. "What? Your Eminence!"

Electric energy shot out from the floor beneath her feet, shocking her entire body, and she fell not a moment later. Balthier flinched as he watched her die, getting a bad feeling about what was going on at that time.

"What?" Sazh exclaimed, "Magick?"

Chuckling, Dysley rose up from his throne and released dark magick from his hands toward all the soldiers, all the humes, around the room. They were all killed as soon as the magick hit them, falling to the floor when they died. Then, without warning, the dark magick came toward Balthier, and he fell to his knees, yelling out in pain as he tried to escape from the electric energy. Vanille rushed to him, but something forced her to stay away from him.

"Balthier!" she cried, covering her mouth with both hands.

Snow clenched his fists, forcing himself to look away from the suffering sky pirate and towards the Primarch. "Monster!" he yelled, angered. "People are not yours to use!"

Dysley kept chuckling, floating down and standing before them. "What else does one do with tools?" he asked, smiling darkly.

Running forward, the blond l'Cie yelled out when he tried to attack the old man, only to be sent flying backwards by an unknown force. He landed by the others, wincing from the fall.

"Cocoon is a factory built by the fal'Cie," Dysley continued, acting as if nothing had happened. "A factory for the mass production of human thralls."

Snow stood up, regaining his strength. "Not anymore, it's not!"

"What can mere men do?" Dysley raised a hand again, and more dark magick shocked Balthier, forcing him to cry out even louder in agony as he curled up into a fetal position. "Without our help, death is all of which you're capable. You saw the fools. A mindless mob drunk on fear of a few l'Cie."

Clutching her gunblade in her hand, Lightning looked down at Balthier, narrowing her eyes as he continued to unsuccessfully escape the pain. She scowled, turning her head toward Dysley. "If only they knew a l'Cie was the one filling their glasses!" she yelled, holding her gunblade in front of herself defensively.

"L'Cie?" The Primarch laughed, "You mean me? Oh, child, perish the thought!" As he rose up into the air, he held out his arms, laughing. "I am more than that!"

A bright enveloped them all, blinding them for a moment, and once it faded away a fal'Cie appeared before the group. Balthier laid unconscious in front of them, simply lying there as if he were asleep.

"I am fal'Cie. My name is Barthandelus," said the monster that was once Dysley. "Voice of the Sanctum, and Lord-Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'Cie. Your kind feared the darkness, so we gave you light. You begged us for the Purge, and did it not come to pass? Now you spurn our counsel?" It laughed, "You must learn your place!"

Snow turned toward Vanille and Hope, knowing that they couldn't handle the battle that was upon them. "You two, make sure Balthier's okay!" he told them, and they nodded in understanding. While they drug Balthier away from the fal'Cie, Snow stepped forward with the other four, glaring at Barthandelus. "You're going down, monster! Your reign over Cocoon is over!"

He launched himself at the fal'Cie, summoning strong magick on his hands and sending it toward their enemy. Beside him, Lightning jumped into the air and stabbed her gunblade into one of Barthandelus' faces, gritting her teeth together when the attack rebounded and hit her instead. She landed back on the floor, allowing Fang to help her get back to her feet. Sazh raised his guns and shot multiple times at the fal'Cie, but the bullets seemed to have little effect on him. He stepped back with the others, uneasily staring as Barthandelus began to summon dark magick.

"This ain't good!" he stated, aiming his guns again. "We may have killed one fal'Cie before this, but I don't think we're gonna be so lucky this time!"

Fang twirled her lance above her head, narrowing her eyes when she took a step forward. "Yeah? Then how 'bout you three summon your little helpers to give us some damn luck!"

Lightning took the hint and pulled out her rose-shaped crystal, pausing for a moment before she threw it into the air. While she summoned Odin, Snow and Sazh called for their Eidolons, the Shiva Sisters and Brynhildr. While the l'Cie and their Eidolons held off the fal'Cie, Fang rushed over to where Vanille and Hope were watching over Balthier behind one of the walls. She knelt down in front of the sky pirate, and Vanille spoke first after healing his wounds.

"I'm not sure how much the magick hurt him, but," she said, biting her lower lip, "I think he's waking up."

Fang grabbed his chin, tilting his head to the side as he barely opened his eyes. She snapped her fingers in front of his face, trying to help him wake up. "C'mon, you pirate," she muttered under her breath. "Don't you dare give up this early on!"

Balthier squinted his eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching weakly. "Fran?" he murmured in a slurred voice. "That you?"

"Don't know anyone by that name, sorry, mate." Fang raised an eyebrow, then turned toward the other two. "He's a little off, but he'll live." She lightly slapped his cheek, then draped one of his arms over her shoulders as she helped him stand. "Can you walk?"

Tiredly, he nodded. "What'd I miss?" he asked, rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

"Well, turns out Dysley's really a fal'Cie, which explains why he declared his undying hatred for humans and nearly killed you. The others are holding him off, for now, with their Eidolons."

Both Vanille and Hope ran forward to help the others in anyway they could, while Fang stayed back with the half-conscious Balthier. As soon as they were alone, the sky pirate told her in a quiet voice, "I saw something...strange when I was out cold. A vision, it seemed." He narrowed his eyes as he tried to remember. "It doesn't make sense, though. I think...I think I destroyed Cocoon."

She raised both eyebrows at him. "I think you've gone mad, pirate," she remarked, not believing him. "All this time you've been talking 'bout saving Cocoon 'cause that girl told you to, and now you claim you're going to destroy it? What the hell 'bout that vision makes you think that?"

"...Then perhaps I have gone mad."

There was a loud yell from Barthandelus, and it faded away from sight as the others dismissed their Eidolons. Lightning turned around as soon as she knew they were safe and rushed to Fang and Balthier. She seemed relieved to see that he was all right, letting Fang go to Vanille and helping him walk over to the others.

Snow walked forward, staring at where the fal'Cie had just been. "A fal'Cie running the Sanctum," he murmured, most likely talking to himself.

"Then, I guess it wasn't Eden controlling things after all," Hope stated, looking toward everyone.

"As I said..." Everyone looked up at the sound of Dysley's voice, and he appeared before them, looking completely unharmed. Balthier scowled from where he stood leaning against Lightning. "I am Lord-Sovereign."

Sazh scoffed, "Guess fal'Cie don't go down as easy as the rest of us..."

"Ease is not the issue. You have not fought to win. You should know quite well already the sure way of dispatching our kind," His eyes gazed upon them, mainly Balthier and Fang. "Ragnarok."

"What's Ragnarok?" the sky pirate asked, looking toward the others as he stepped away from Lightning. They looked as if they didn't know either, but Vanille seemed a tad bit more on edge.

All of the sudden, Fang cried out in pain, clutching her brand. Vanille rushed to her partner's side, worriedly checking to see what was wrong, and touched her hand to calm her down. Fang relaxed a bit, though she still looked uneasy.

"Pitiful l'Cie, you've forgotten your Focus," Dysley said, and then he pointed to them all; one by one. "Ragnarok is the beast one of you must become in order to lay waste on Cocoon. You had the dream. One among you will become that monstrosity, defeat Orphan, and destroy Cocoon."

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Orphan?"

"The font of Eden's power. Orphan fuels Eden with strength, and Eden in turn sustains you and the rest of our kind. Destroy Orphan, and you'll release a force such as this world has never seen. Cocoon will be torn asunder!"

Balthier scowled. "And, Ivalice?" he asked, growing impatient.

The Primarch laughed quietly. "Ah, yes. The world controlled by the Occuria. There is naught left for you there, human." He gazed upon the sky pirate with his piercing blue eyes. "You are their tool - their mindless puppet to bring destruction to both worlds."

He clenched his fists, and Snow held him back from stepping any closer to Dysley. "You're lying!" he yelled.

"Am I? You will see the truth, human. Soon enough."

Fang cast her eyes downward, thinking out loud. "...So if I did that, destroyed Orphan..."

The old man suddenly appeared right in front of her. "Your Focus will be fulfilled."

Lightning pulled her gunblade and slashed at him, but he disappeared before she could even hit him. "So what?" she snapped, "Who says it has to be?"

"Serah asked us to save Cocoon before she turned to crystal," Snow said, stepping forward. "Save it. And that's what we're gonna do! Serah was trying to tell us how to complete our Focus, and we have-"

Dysley's cruel laughing interrupted him. "Allow me to help you see the truth of things. The moment you arrived, your friend wept crystal tears. This was because her Focus required that you be brought together, that you lead the puppet to his destiny. That girl did nothing but assemble the tools for Cocoon's destruction." Snow cast his eyes downward, while Balthier remained tense. "Did it never occur to you? Or did you simply refuse to countenance the thought?"

The air ship suddenly began to shake, and everyone but Dysley struggled to remain standing. Above them, the owl-familiar glided toward its master.

"If you will not face the truth, then face the peril of your plight!" As the Primarch began to disappear, the owl transformed into a small air ship. "Run, l'Cie! See how stark reality is!"

When he faded away completely, the Palamecia continued to shake. Lightning ran forward, and then turned toward the rest of them. "Come on!" she yelled, urging them forward. They followed her onto the air ship, not knowing what would happen next.

In the sky, the Palamecia began to crumble and fall to pieces, and Balthier, having regained his complete consciousness piloted the small air ship away from the destruction. However, as soon as they were away from the larger ship, their own ship stopped in mid air.

"This isn't good!" he yelled, trying to regain control of the ship. "The controls - they're jammed!"

"What?" Lightning exclaimed.

Snow sighed in frustration, "I knew it was a trap!"

Hope leaned over Balthier's chair, pointing to another small air ship ahead of them. "Something's coming!"

The sky pirate squinted his eyes, only to frantically try to steer the ship away a second later. He managed to turn the ship around before the missiles could hit them. "Hang on! This might get a little dicey!" He steered the ship down below the crumbling Palamecia, trying to shake the other off the trail, but it only kept following them. More missiles were shot toward them, but that time their air ship moved away on its own and fired back.

"What the hell kind of a ship is this?" Sazh asked, "Fighting on its own?"

"Can't we do something?" Hope turned toward Balthier, who was still trying to figure out what was going on. "We can't just let that guy keep chasing us!"

Balthier scowled. "I'm not in the best of moods right now, boy! Do you think I can do a damn thing?"

They flew toward the city below them, and as they passed by its wall a shield appeared behind them, blocking the other air ship's path. Thinking that they were safe, everyone began to relax, and Balthier turned his head toward them, grinning weakly. But, Vanille's eyes widened and she pointed to something behind him.

"Balthier, look out!"

He turned around, only to see that they were headed right toward a building. He tried to steer the ship away, but they flew right into it, disappearing from sight.

The group stood outside of the air ship, looking around the odd chamber they found themselves trapped in. It was dark, for the most part, and smelled the slightest bit rotten. Lightning wandered around while the others hung back, and she asked in a quiet, confused voice, "Where are we?"

Vanille was the first to answer, looking around as well. "Looks like a piece...of Pulse," she replied, staring in wonder.

"Pulse?" Sazh stated, "What, you mean like the Bodhum Vestige? Something like that, this close to Eden..."

Fang shook her head, walking toward her partner. "Yeah, well, what I don't understand is, after the Purge, and all that l'Cie paranoia..." She scowled, "Why keep a chunk of Pulse under the floor boards?"

Balthier shrugged his shoulders, leaning against the wall of the air ship. "Perhaps," he said, "this is what that bastard of a fal'Cie wanted us to see..."

"A place for l'Cie to accept their fate," Lightning added in, walking toward him.

"Do you really think our Focus is what Dysley said it is?" Hope asked, looking up from his hands. "Become Ragnarok?"

Sazh sighed, "Destroy the fal'Cie Eden, shatter both Cocoon and Balthier's world. That's what the vision's telling us, more or less." He shook his head. "So, we're back to square one. Our of luck."

The sky pirate frowned, casting his eyes downward. He remembered the vision he had after he'd been tortured by Dysley - the vision of Cocoon's, or Ivalice's, destruction. "Think again," he stated, looking up at them all. "Dysley said that one of us is to become the beastie. You need to figure out who, and start from there."

The young boy blinked slowly. "But...who?"

Everyone was silent, all thinking of what Dysley may have given them a hint toward. After a few seconds of silence, Lightning stood up straight and sighed. "...Balthier," she whispered, and when she looked toward him their eyes met.

The black man gaped in shock. "Him? He's our Ragnarok?"

"It...makes sense," Vanille agreed, pursing her lips. "Why else would Balthier be taken from his world and sent here? And, Dysley said that...he was the puppet sent by his own gods to destroy Cocoon and his home."

"Ah. Guess that makes some sense..."

Fang narrowed her eyes, stepping toward Lightning and Balthier. "So," she said, reaching for her lance, "maybe we gotta get rid of him to solve our problem!"

The pink-haired woman stood between them, her aqua eyes intensely glaring at the other woman. "No, Balthier's one of us. We aren't turning against each other - not now!"

"But if he's the one who's gonna destroy our home..." Sazh's voice trailed off, unable to finish with what he wanted to say. Everyone was silent, again, until Vanille turned toward Snow. Balthier looked toward them, only realized that the blond hadn't even said a thing since they'd escaped from the Palamecia.

"Mr. Hero! Cocoon calling Snow!" she said, waving a hand in front of his face. But, he didn't even look and her and simply stood there in silence.

Hope looked between them all, sighing. "It's almost like Dysley wants it to come true."

"Seems that way," Sazh agreed, "He sure didn't mind explaining it. 'Here's your Focus on a silver platter'."

"But that doesn't make sense!" Vanille stated, pouting and folding her arms across her chest. "I don't get it. Why would a Cocoon fal'Cie want to destroy Cocoon?"

Balthier tilted his head slightly, smirking weakly. "Maybe your gods are merely insane. They must have some grand design that we humes can't understand, or aren't allowed to know."

Fang shrugged her shoulders, and turned toward Snow. "Hey, Snow! Nothing from you?" she asked, but again, like Vanille, she didn't get a reply.

The group gave up on trying to figure out things for the time being, and started to head off down the long hall. Balthier walked in front of Snow, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. Their eyes met for a moment, but the blond shook his head and followed the others. Balthier sighed heavily, and reluctantly followed him to wherever the rest of the l'Cie were going.

I was beginning to doubt my role in this little story. The leading man was meant to be the hero, not the villain. But if what they were saying was true, and if I really was naught but an Occurian puppet...Then I was no longer who I had thought I was.

Oh dear, what could be going on? A vision of destroying some world, everyone doubting Balthier's existance in Cocoon, and even Snow refusing to look at him? That can't be good.