“Balthier!” This time came the princess’s voice through the radio. “Do you understand exactly what it is you’re doing?” He noticed, though Ashe’s voice still sounded as firm as usual, there was fear in it.

However, being the sky pirate that he was, he responded with his usual, placid voice, “Princess! No need to worry. I hope you haven’t forgotten my role in this little story. I’m the leading man. You know what they say about the leading man? He never dies.” He emphasized the last words, as he reassured the princess that everything would be okay. That he wouldn’t die that easy. Or so he hoped.

The gunman slotted in a power battery to power up the Bahamut. He rolled his brown eyes to scrutinize the things outside, and found the fortress flying away from Rabanastre. He couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved. “Let’s fly! Fran! Power the glossair rings!” But when no reply voiced, the brown haired guy looked over his shoulder and saw his teammate pinned down under some metal structures. A sigh escaped his lips. “Do I have to do everything around here?”

Balthier walked over to the Viera and it’s when the princess’ voice echoed in his ears again. “Listen to me, Balthier! Get out of Bahamut immediately! Please, Balthier! You mustn’t die! Please, Balthier.” Her voice grew weaker as worry began to stir inside her, and she felt something bubbling in her stomach. “Come back.” She begged desperately, hoping her friend would follow her words. But Ashe knew the result of this already. After some time traveling with the gunman… She knew him. She knew he would not follow her words.

He stretched out his arms and carried the delicate body of his friend gently. Fran, with the last strength she had, managed to smile faintly – so faint that it was almost unseen. “I’d say you’re in more of a supporting role.” With that her red eyes closed, hidden under her eyelids.

“Fran, please.” The huge sky fortress was flying away from the royal city of Rabanastre, flying away from its worried people, flying away from its chaos and in the end, giving that kingdom some serenity. Shadows fell upon the land as the Bahamut flew lower, lower, and lower… “Vaan, the Strahl’s in your hands! You’d better take care of her, you hear? If there’s one scratch on her when I get back–”

Vaan replied almost immediately, in a determined tone, “roger that. We’ll be waiting for you.”

Meanwhile, Lady Ashe was staring at the falling Bahamut in worry. Didn’t that gunman understand what he was actually doing? Didn’t he know that he was putting himself in danger? Didn’t he know that he might die? “Balthier…” she murmured in a low voice. For now, she could only hope. Hope. Something within her grasp, but beyond her sight. Something so near, yet so far away.

Balthier gazed outside blankly, as the fortress slowly but surely reached the land beneath. Still with Fran in his arms, he averted his stare back inside the room. “Now it’s time for the hero thingy.” He glanced around before running out the room; his hurried footsteps echoed for seconds until no other sound than the crashing structures took over the whole fortress. Now, now. He really needed to be careful, didn’t he? Well, unless he wanted to die young.

He was lucky when a big pillar fell, crushing the things below it to bits and he survived. Aint he being a lucky leading man today? He was still lucky when he saw a small flying vehicle not so far from where he stood. He ran towards it as fast as he could due to the death he was facing. A breath of relief slipped out from his mouth while he laid Fran first, on the seat next to his. A second later he seated himself and began to move the escape vehicle. Or escape ship. Or whatever.

The whole fortress was shaking so violently now, and Balthier knew he had to be going. So he did. Much to his surprise, the thing he was in flew – not that he didn’t like it, though. It was just too surprising at this moment, when everything seemed to face only one thing called death… He was still lucky until the Bahamut crashed against the ground as it exploded, gushing out fire everywhere.

Now. He didn’t think he was still lucky at all. Vicious fire danced exquisitely with its own way, teasing their weakness as it glued on the escape ship; it was on fire now and the gunman knew this flying thing wouldn’t make it out. They were in the fire reach, trapped in the vermilion cage thus from this view, no one would be able to see them. And he cursed more. If only the escape was a little easier than this…

He looked up and between the dancing fire, he could see something blue beyond… blue… blue carpet with white puffs everywhere. The sky. “C’mon dear… You can make it…” He gritted his teeth.

Balthier was focusing on the way when suddenly a blinding light went into his eyes. He turned his head right before a faint green glow radiated from the Viera’s body dissipating into nothingness. A frown etched to his face. What was that glow?

The sky pirate winced when the pain caused by his wounds seared his body. He bit his bottom lip in hopes he wouldn’t shriek or something, and it worked. Seconds later, as he recollected his memories and went through them, he blinked. He fixed his look on the now broken ship as he came to realization. “Oh damn… too much for a hero, don’t you think?” He climbed to his feet slowly, trying move as carefully as he could, not wanting to hurt his body more than this; it was so painful already.

He suddenly caught the sight of a gun lying on the ground not far from him, and he approached it, looking at it for awhile, before eventually keeping it for himself. When he couldn’t find any sign of his partner’s bow, Balthier walked towards what appeared to be the ‘door’ of the ship. Well, it was only a big crevice, actually. He couldn’t make out where the real door was, now, could he? As expected, the Viera was still there, lying hopelessly. He stretched out his arms and again, carried her frail body with ease. “You can be much of trouble sometimes, Fran.” He said, exiting the ship.

Much to the gunman’s surprise, the Viera’s eyelids fluttered open slowly, revealing impeccable red orbs that shot him a look. “I didn’t ask you to save me, did I?” Her voice, although seemed hoarse and weak, still sounded intimidating in his ears.

A sappy smirk ran across Balthier’s face. “Now now, since when did the princess wake up?” He asked while walking over to a tree and then laid his companion down on the grass. Fran lifted her face.

“You are mistaken, I fear. I am not a princess. Ashe is.” She leaned against a tree, inhaling to fill her lungs with some fresh air before she stared at Balthier again. But only a second after that she turned her head to the ship. He followed her gaze. “We’ve survived, haven’t we? Quite a surprise. I can’t remember much of what has happened.”

He chuckled. “That’s because you’ve been sleeping for the whole trip, Fran.”

She cocked her head to the side, staring at him intently. “And I didn’t ask for that.”

“Right, right.” He chuckled again, amused by his teammate’s stubbornness. He seated himself right beside her and cast his gaze upwards. Rays of light seeped through the green leaves, shining upon everything as the two remained wordless for awhile, cherishing the silence that lingered in the air. But a moment later he broke the stillness with his usual tone, “And are you alright?”

“Yes.” The Viera looked at herself and spoke airily, “some bruises, that is all. No big deal.”

“But I think…” Balthier lowered his voice when he looked over his companion’s shoulder with an unpleasant look on his face. “There’s a big deal here, y’know.” Fran turned her head, her white long lock swinging gracefully behind her as she did so. Her red eyes went wide in an instant. “I think… we’ve got a problem. This isn’t good at all, don’t you think?”

Fran could only nod slightly, silenced. Their eyes fixed on the broken ship. But the bad thing is, the ship was now making a sound that absolutely was far from congenial to hear. And this didn’t look like a good portent at all. The Viera looked at her partner. “Do you know what will happen next?”

“I think,” responded Balthier. But when the sound grew louder, louder, and louder from time to time, he knew he had to do something. Something realistic. Something that made sense. So he climbed to his feet in haste as the ship made more noise, shaking a bit when its body started to spew little fire. “I think the ship is a bit angry, Fran.”

“I guess. And what do ships usually do whenever they get enraged?”

“Explode.” With that, Balthier quickly carried her again in his arms, ignoring the muffled shriek coming from her mouth as he spun around and ran away from the ship, as fast as he could. He made it on time. Right when he rolled on the grassy ground, far enough from the ship, it exploded, spouting fire into the air. And he tightened his hold on her, embracing her protectively.

“Wheeww.” Balthier let out a breath of relief on top of her. “Looks like we’ve managed to survive again.”

Fran moved some strands of her white hair back and her lips twitched a bit, smiling. “The leading man plays his role really well, does he not?” He grinned, moving away from her and sat on the ground. Fran sat up and glanced towards the direction of the ship, before fixing her look on him again. “Now that Vayne has gone and the Bahamut is nothing more than a memorable monument, I am sure Rabanastre will be back to the way it was. And Ashe, she’ll be a queen soon.”

“Yeah.” He gazed blankly at the clouds adorned firmament. No matter how many times he looked up at the sky, it never ceased to amaze him. Various white wisps of clouds were always there, figuratively jewelries to such stainless beauty. He leaned back, stretching out his arms behind to support him, and inhaled. “And what will we be?”

Fran had also shifted her look upwards. “We? Sky pirates, still.”

“Right. The sky is where we belong, after all.” Balthier sighed and rubbed at his temples. “Well, shouldn’t we be going now or something? You are not planning to stay here till you starve to death, are you?”

Fran cocked her head to the side, as she reached his hands he’d offered to her. “I am not.” She stood on her feet and ran a hand through her white smooth hair, placing a hand on her hip. “But where to?”

“And you need to be healed first, that’s for sure.” He observed her with his hazel eyes before he concluded, “pinned down by metal structures is not fun at all, is it?” Fran only shook her head, wincing a bit. She still didn’t feel well, though. Her body ached a lot. But being a tough Viera that she was, she still acted strongly, keeping everything inside. “Then what about going to Nalbina first? We don’t have many choices now. Beside, it’s the closest city we can get from here.” Her partner said.

She shrugged. “That sounds okay. But,” she looked over her shoulder, trying to see through the thick grey smoke but failed in her effort to. “Don’t you think we need our weapons? Sad. I’ve lost my bow, that is to be exact.” She looked at him, in mind wondering whether he’d gotten his gun back or not.

“Well,” He reached behind his back and revealed a dust covered gun. “It does look unconvincing, but it still works. It is enough to keep you safe, at least.”

Fran gave him a smile. “That sounds good. You’re the leading man, after all.”