Welcome to chapter 3, titled You Can't Hide. Hope you enjoy, please review.

Enlighten Me

Chapter 3

You Can't Hide

"It's not that bad," argued Balthier as Fran attempted to remove his blood soaked vest and shirt, "Really, I doubt it even warrants looking at." Fran raised an eyebrow at the pirate's words and continued her task. "Um, Balthier," muttered Basch from where he stood, now eyeing the long, jagged cut on the pirate's side, "I think that counts as bad." The brunette sighed and risked a glance down at his side. The other man was right, the cut was quite deep, and between the rain that kept pelting down on them and the blood that was flowing freely from the wound Fran was having a hard time bandaging it. "Fine," grunted Balthier finally, "it's bad. Now heal me so we can continue on our way." His two companions looked at him as if he were absolutely insane. "Shall I carry him back to camp then?" Basch asked, turning to Fran and ignoring the pirate's comment entirely. "Yes, I think that would be best," said Fran, and without a word to the pirate she began gathering up their things. "Hey! Wait just a minute!," he stammered as tall blonde hoisted him up into his arms. "Put me down, Basch," growled Balthier, "No one carries the leading man." "Suit yourself," said Basch as he sat the pirate down roughly on his feet, which made the brunette immediately regret opening his mouth. In the end he had to lean most of his weight on the older man, and he thought at one point he might lose consciousness, but the thought of him being carried back into camp like a child kept him alert.

Luckily they had been close enough to their makeshift camp when the little incident had happened that the pirate managed to keep his dignity and walk there himself, but the elementals that were dotting the plains at the moment made it impossible for the others to heal him. Being warm and dry by the fire felt better than he had imagined anything could feel, but he was not thrilled with the aspect of lying there until either the elementals left and someone healed him or his side healed of its own accord, which was going to take days…if not a week. "Be a good girl Fran and toss me a potion," grumbled the pirate as Basch inspected his wound. Fran dug through her pack, and Balthier knew from the scowl on her face exactly what she was going to say, "It seems as if we are out of potions." "We'll have to sew it up you know," said Basch, crossing his arms and sitting back against the wall, "It's too deep and we have no way of healing you." The young brunette grimaced, no, he was not afraid of being haphazardly stitched up with no relief from the pain, but still he was not going to enjoy this. "And which of you may I ask is qualified to perform this little procedure? I'd appreciate not having a huge scar." Basch raised his eyebrow, noting that the pirate's arms, chest, stomach, and back already had too many scars to count, "Yes we'd hate to ruin your perfect skin," he muttered under his breath. Fran had more experience with such things, and she was really the only one of their gang that Balthier trusted completely, so it became her job to stitch up her unlucky partner. "Are you ready then?" she asked, poised above him. He nodded and closed his eyes, "Fuck!" he exclaimed through clenched teeth as the needle dug into his side. He was good with pain, it was an old companion of his, but when he started to lost consciousness he let the darkness take him…and he was grateful for it.

Cidolfus Bunansa drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. He sipped his drink calmly, although his insides were raging with anger. Damn that boy! Couldn't he ever do what he was told? He heard the front door open and close in the distance, and for a moment he almost let his son go on up to his room unpunished for his lateness. "Ffamran! Come in here a moment!" He rose and poured himself another drink, and heard the boy enter the room behind him. He turned around and stared at his teenage son with cold gray eyes. The boy knew he was in trouble, and he looked so much like his mother standing there. She'd known when she'd been in trouble too. His grip tightened on the glass in his hands and he waited for the boy to speak. Ffamran said nothing for a few moments, he knew he was in trouble, he'd known exactly what he'd risked by sneaking out earlier with his friends and now he almost regretted going at all. "I'm sorry father, I won't do it aga…" his sentence was cut short by his father's fist making contact with the side of his face. He could taste blood in his mouth, and he wasn't sure if it was coming from his lip or his tongue. He looked up at his father, not bothering to try and say anything, not bothering to try and run away from him. It'd just be worse next time if he did. Cidolfus felt the tiniest hint of sympathy for the boy suddenly, but it vanished when Ffamran stared at him with those big chocolate eyes…eyes just like hers. His vision turned red, and he felt as if he'd been put on autopilot. He didn't even realize the extent of the damage he'd done until Ffamran stopped moving. He stood there looking down at his son, curled up into a ball on the floor. Little rivers of crimson were running from various wounds, his skin was swollen and purple bruises were already rising to the surface. He cursed under his breath and rolled the boy over onto his back, thanking the gods silently that he wasn't dead. "I'm sorry, Ffamran," he whispered, but the boy couldn't hear him…

"Is he alright?" Basch eyed the sleeping pirate cautiously as he asked, listening to him mutter in his sleep. "His nightmares have grown worse of late," Fran said dryly as she poked the fire, "The battle with his father affects him more than he would have us know." The blonde nodded and took a sip of the bottle madhu that he and the viera were sharing, "What happened to him?" The tall viera settled back down against the wall, accepting the offered bottle from the blonde, "You are referring to the scars?" Basch nodded, unable to hide his curiosity. Fran sighed and took a sip of the madhu, "Each one has a different story, some of which I do not even know. The long ones on his back came from being tortured in prison a few years ago, or so he says." "You do not believe him?" asked Basch, fidgeting as to get more comfortable. The viera shrugged, "Balthier would have those around him think he is stronger than he is. A sky pirate being tortured in prison makes for a better story than a teen abused by his drunken father." Basch eyed her for a moment, "How do you know this?" "As you can see he talks in his sleep." "So you think he made the whole thing up?" he asked. "No, he was in prison, that much I know is true because that is where I first met him." she said causally, once again taking a sip from the bottle. "But no torture though?" Basch asked. The viera thought a moment, as if she were deciding how much of the truth to tell him, "Things happened to him there that he will never speak of, terrible things," she sighed and poked the fire again with a stick, "but those scars are in his mind. Not on his skin." Basch was a bit taken aback, "Are you referring to what I think you are referring to?" he asked, hoping for Balthier's sake that she wasn't. "It happens all the time in prisons," she said looking at him directly, "Why do you seem so shocked?" "Because it's Balthier!" he stammered, feeling a bit awkward talking about something so personal that had happened to the younger man, "And you know this is true?" "Like I said Basch, he talks in his sleep."

Balthier was awakened by a dull throbbing pain in his side. He tested his movements, not daring to move to suddenly for fear of ripping Fran's delicate work. He finally sat up, wincing as he did, and looked around. "Where is everyone?" he asked aloud, attempting to push himself to his feet. "You shouldn't stand, you're too weak," Basch scolded, coming from out of nowhere to help the pirate ease back down to the ground, "The others moved on. I offered to wait here and make sure you got well. We'll meet up with the others when you are able." Balthier scowled, "Why you? Why not Fran?" Basch sighed as he starting to unwrap the bandage around the pirate's waist, "Because I'm stronger in a fight and if we get attacked you're not going to be much help." The brunette was obviously not thrilled with the situation, which was made worse by the fact that the captain was playing nursemaid to him. "I can do that myself," he argued, earning an annoyed glance from the older man. Basch didn't say anything, but continued to remove the bandage. The sat in silence for a long while, and it wasn't until Basch had almost finished redressing his wound that Balthier spoke up, "Why are you being so…nice to me" he asked, giving the older man a wary look. "Am I usually not nice?" Basch replied, not daring to meet the other man's gaze. "No, but you seem…different today. I've been hurt much worse than this on this damned quest so far and never have I seen you look at me like I was an injured kitten." Basch let his confusion show on his face, "An injured kitten?" The pirate shrugged, "You know, like I'm pitiful or something." Damn it, thought Basch to himself, if only Fran hadn't told me all of those things. He'd never be able to look at the pirate the same way again after last night. He thought a moment, trying to decide how to respond when Balthier let an aggravated sigh cross his lips, "You've been talking to Fran haven't you?" Basch met the younger man's eyes, not surprised to see the anger that clouded them. "Balthier, I…" "No! Just shut up!," interrupted the brunette as he struggled to his feet, letting out a small whimper of pain as he did so, "Just don't say anything. I'm going to kill her; I'm really going to fucking kill her!" He was pacing now, and Basch made no effort to stop him. Finally, after a moment of silence on both of their parts the young pirate spoke again, "How much do you know?" The older man let his back rest against the wall, "Not a lot," he said, "She told me about prison, when you two met." The younger man sighed and dejectedly slide back down to the floor, "Mention it to anyone and I'll kill you," he said coolly, and Basch thought it sounded like he meant it. "I wasn't planning on it," he said, looking the younger man in the eyes to emphasize his point. Balthier didn't say anything for a moment, judging if he trusted Basch enough with his secret or not. "It's not something you want people to know," he whispered finally, "I'm sure you can understand that." The older man nodded, "Get some sleep Balthier. We'll speak no more of it if that is what you'd prefer." "That's exactly what I'd prefer," said the pirate as he closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep.

To be continued…

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