Author's Note: Holy cow. One more chapter after this. Eeeeeep! And, there's a reason for this chapter being so...short-ish. There's always a method to my madness! :3

I don't know what I'd do without you, Joshua Chung. If you weren't reviewing for this story, I'd be sad and would have most likely given up on it! Thank you.

My thanks also go to The Giant Daifuku, who still continues to inspire me! *hug*

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

Chapter Nineteen

Freedom

Now, or never. Those were my thoughts during that final battle. It was either the end of the fal'Cie, or the end of both of our worlds.

Orphan let out a ear-shattering cry, and once its eyes laid upon the group it smiled darkly and laughed. Balthier raised his fomalhaut and fired the first shot right in-between the fal'Cie eyes, and the fight began. Lightning ran forward and leapt into the air, summoning thunder magick and sending it toward their enemy when she slashed her gunblade at its face. The others joined in, all using their different ways to distract Orphan from their leading fighters.

The seven of them ended up splitting into three groups: Fang with Vanille, Hope with Sazh, and Lightning, Balthier, and Snow with each other. As Balthier and Snow followed Lightning's lead, the fal'Cie cast a Doom magick spell upon the sky pirate, mirroring what everyone's Eidolons and Ultima had done in battles beforehand. Balthier didn't seem to notice that his strength was slowing leaving him, but when he did it only fueled his desire to end everything sooner. As long as the job was done, that was all that mattered to him.

Lives were depending on them all, both from Cocoon and Ivalice. Their worlds, their homes, were on the line. If they failed...that was it. There were no chances to try again, no way of resetting time. "Now or never," Balthier muttered as he fired another shot at the fal'Cie, weakly narrowing his eyes.

Though he may have forgotten them, he wouldn't let his comrades in Ivalice down. Fran was still there, and he couldn't bear the thought of losing her when he wasn't there to save her. They were partners; dedicated, looking out for one another even when apart.

Balthier glanced toward Lightning, who was too busy fighting to notice that he was watching her. He may have been whole-heartedly dedicated to Fran back in Ivalice, he wouldn't deny that he held feelings for the female soldier. He hadn't had the time to really think about what he felt for her, and he wished that he still had the chance to understand. Once the final battle was over and they saved Cocoon and Ivalice, the life he held onto would be gone. And his chance to stay with Lightning? That would become nothing more than an unobtainable dream.

But that didn't stop him. If he had to give his life to save others, he would go down with a smile.

Orphan's eyes began to glow, and Lightning was sent back flying when it unleashed a strong force of magick against her. Balthier ran forward and caught her in his arms, only wincing once when he felt his shoulders grow tense from the force of her fall. She confidently smiled when he set her back down on the ground, and went back to the battle as if nothing had changed. Balthier aimed his fomalhaut again, squinting his eyes to focus on his target.

Nothing would change between the two of them. They had only known each other for a short time, and in that time Lightning had learned to cast her past aside and look to the future, understanding that she needed to move on if she was to succeed.

And what had he learned on his journey? His eyes darted toward Snow, watching the man let out an optimistic yell as he struck another blow against Orphan.

Though I had denied it before, a story can have more than one leading man. Cocoon had Snow, and Ivalice had myself. But now that I look back on that journey, we weren't the only heroes there.

It had always been a silent rivalry between Balthier and Snow, even if the latter had known nothing of it. From the moment they'd met Balthier had a feeling that the blond was more than talk, despite what the others believed. Snow was dedicated to doing as he'd promised Serah, willingly going into danger to protect what she had believed in. He was one of the few who remained at the sky pirate's side, even when their future seemed bleak. And, despite all the odds, he'd been able to keep at least one promise.

His promise to get Balthier back to Ivalice, however, seemed be nothing more than a memory.

"Hey, pirate!" Fang called out to him, snapping him out of his daze. She stood on the other side of the chamber, turning around to face the sky pirate. "Why don't you lend us a hand 'stead of day-dreaming? Now ain't the time to be doing that!"

He only smirked in reply, nodding as he turned his attention back to the battle. When he turned his head, Orphan transformed into a winged creature, rising into the air and beyond their reach. Balthier saw Lightning running toward him, and immediately he took her outstretched hand and turned around, letting go of her once she jumped toward the fal'Cie. He nearly stumbled to the ground when he let her go, breathing heavily when he realized the god's timed-spell on him was taking its toll. With one magick-infused move, she stabbed her gunblade into Orphan's face, mimicking what Balthier had done when he'd fought Barthandelus on his own.

When she landed back on her feet beside him, Orphan let out a mangled wail as it began to sink into the pool below. Light erupted from its form, nearly blinding the group as they stepped back. Lightning, however, remained where she stood and held out her gunblade.

"We're here to stop him," she stated, stepping forward. "We've come to save Cocoon and Ivalice, right?"

Everyone remained at guard after she spoke, and Balthier walked forward and stood by her side, smirking when their eyes met. Orphan screamed and sunk further into the pool, and before they knew it they were enveloped by a bright, some-what comforting light when the fal'Cie screamed no longer.

After all that we had done, after all that we endured...It was over. We had saved their world, and Ivalice. However...At what cost?

The next thing they knew, they were floating in mid air away from Orphan's Cradle and toward the fal'Cie Eden in the sky. Cocoon continued to break apart into crystal particles around them, and in a sudden burst of energy Eden ceased to light up the city below. Creatures from Gran Pulse still walked the streets of the capital, unknowingly destroying everything in their path. Lightning turned toward the group and extended her hand toward Balthier as he stared upon their surroundings.

"Stay together!" she yelled, and the rest of them quickly grabbed onto each other without hesitation. Balthier took Lightning's hand in his own, and as they stared at each other's worried faces, knowing what would soon happen, Snow's voice snapped them out of their daze.

"Fang! Vanille!"

Fang and Vanille remained below, holding hands as they watched the rest of their comrades slowly float away. Vanille smiled at them one last time, and then faced her companion with a determined nod. Without warning, the two l'Cie disappeared in a burst of light and summoned the complete form of Ragnarok, all the creatures from Gran Pulse disintegrating when the light reached them. Ragnarok dove beneath the surface of Cocoon and disappeared from sight.

Balthier wished that he hadn't let Lightning's hand slip from his own at that point.

When the white light of the summoning had reached him, he could only watch as he began to slowly fade away with the crystal particles from Cocoon. They had been told before that saving Cocoon would come at a terrible price, but Balthier had chosen not to believe it. When he saw the others staring at him in fear, it seemed that they hadn't believed it either.

Lightning frantically reached for him, her bright eyes widening when he shook his head. He looked to them all, then turned his head back to her and weakly smiled. She pulled away from Snow's grasp, reaching her hand out to Balthier as he continued to fade away.

"No! You can't leave!" she cried, struggling to reach his hand. "Balthier!"

Snow held her back, wrapping his strong arm around her waist and tightly shutting his eyes. Lightning tried to get away from him, but when her eyes met with Balthier's one last time, she stopped struggling and remained still. She didn't want to admit it, but she had known all along what was going to happen. Balthier reached forward and held out his translucent hand to her, and she took it without saying another word. He nodded once, his eyes never leaving hers, and then let go.

Freedom isn't obtained by just waiting for it to appear. It's what we create for ourselves when we take that one chance to leave the past behind. We give it to others when we regret it most, knowing that things would never change. Luckily, I had given them the freedom they deserved.

Balthier waved a weak hand to them all, and then faded from sight as he regretfully watched Lightning, Snow, Sazh and Hope turn to crystal.

Next chapter will be...short-ish, too. I couldn't put the two together and have it work out the way I wanted to. So...onto the epilogue!