Balthier frowned, not sure how to take this bad feeling of Basch's. Both of them had good instincts, so if Basch felt unease, he felt it too. Enough bad things happened though, more than enough. He just hummed in response, not yet willing to look up from the paper and show his un-thrilled face. A second passed and Balthier thought the other man left, but instead, he felt fingers on his chin.

"Bas-?" He felt himself relax at the feel of the kiss, brief as it was. Pulling back, he grinned at the other man. "I never knew you were so selfish," he teased, voice low. Reaching up, he gripped Basch's hand, tangling their fingers together before he pulled the man's hand away. "But don't worry, I'm still only yours. Probably. I came to you didn't I?" He hesitated, knowing he said more than he needed to and after a second, pushed Basch away. "You were going though weren't you?"

Basch stares down at him and smirks lightly. "Well I tend to get selfish sometimes." He runs his finger across one of Balthier's fingers when their hands was locked together. After a while, he was pushed away. He was right he needed to head out. "Yea sorry, just got side tracked for a moment there." He chuckles lightly but he didn't mind a slight little break. He takes a step back and made sure he was ready. "Alright...I'll be back in a few." He turns around waves while he exit the ship.

It was quiet since it was still night time. Only a few of the citiezens remain out. He heads to the mansion where the marquis lives. The guards stopped him and Basch says, "I'm here to speak with the marquis....it's important I see him." The guard looks at Basch, and says, "The marquis is resting..and doesn't need to be bothered after what happen..." before the guard shoos him away. One of the marquis men come behind the guard, "It's ok...the marquis was hoping the captain would come. Please come this way." the servant says. Basch walks past the guard and follows the other inside.

Time passed with Balthier ticking away every second with a tap of his finger. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore and surged from his seat. "Bah! Why should I stay here and just guard the ship?" he complained. He couldn't make heads or tails of his father's notes, leaving him more than anything, bored. As expected, he wouldn't learn anything without doing an experiment. He doubted Basch would show up again any time soon either.

Rolling his eyes Balthier reclaimed the bottle full of strange liquid and paused only a moment. "Well, here's to nothing." A paper and pen ready in front of him, he downed the bottle's contents. Despite how things turned out, he exercised the same love and respect for science that his father did. That one things from happier days in his youth he kept even now as an adult. He would do this experiment proper with notes secrecy. Wasn't that how science really worked? His lips quirked up in a wry smile.

For five minutes, Balthier stared up at the ceiling waiting for something to happen. Wasn't this kinda boring? He wrote the time intervals on his paper as five minutes turned into ten. By fifteen, he decided his father made a crap product and only a dumb thief would try to steal this. He let out a huff and ended the experiment like that, heading to the back room and flopping on the bed to wait for Basch's return. What a waste of time.

Basch runs back to the hanger after receiving a message from the young emperor. He dodges people along the way before he made it back to the airship. Soon up the steps and to the cockpit. He didn't notice Balthier wasn't there as he was to busy starting the engines. He figure he was in the back resting. Now that he knew where Larsa is, he wasn't going to waste time. He figure Larsa had escape and found somewhere to contact with.

The engines roars to life as he guides the airship out, sealing the door along the way. He heads the ship to the northwest of floating city before locking in the location into the computer. Soon once that had been done he place the auto pilot back on. That's when he could catch his breath but neither of them would know what would happen next. As it was apart of Cid's plans on delaying them even more.

Balthier never quite fell asleep again and he jolted to feel the airship suddenly jump to life. "What in the world?" he muttered under his breath as he rolled to his feet, finding his ship legs quickly. "Basch!" he yelled as he headed to the cockpit, trying to get a clue as to this situation. Why didn't the other man say anything to him? A hint of panic squeezed him for a second though he forced the feeling down.

Coming to the cockpit, he dropping into his chair and immediately started checking the instruments, all without turning his attention away from Basch. "Something happened didn't it? I just need to know one thing. Are we running away or towards something?" He quirked his eyebrow slightly, though it was a matter of fact question just to get on the same page. It always paid to know if something chased you though. Or if perhaps you were doing the chasing.

Basch looks over at Balthier before he pulled out a recorder from his pocket. He had gotten the message when he was talking. "Larsa got in contact from where he was. He is on a small hold north west but something didn't sounded right." He walks over and sits down before he plugs up it into the incom speakers. He place play before the message comes over it.

"Judge Gabranth, please come to theses numbers. NW 657....I have escape and found a way to contact you. Please hurry before they found that I have escape from my cell." Larsa goes on and on as there was a lot of background noise. There was a few other voices but one seem to pop out more than the rest.

Basch looks over at Balthier, "Don't just focus on Larsa's voice. It seem to be odd as enough but another voice caught my attention. I don't think I was dreaming it but it seems to be Cid's voice." He says looking back over to the recorder. Not sure if it was true and it had been a while since he heard Cid's voice but he couldn't deny it.

"Larsa?!" Balthier exclaimed. "So he's okay?" That let him heave a great sigh of relief. Despite the fact that Larsa was a naive child, he won Balthier over in his own way. After all, the damn kid turned out alright.

As they listened to the recording, he calmed himself to inspect it. Larsa sounded like he would expect--a little afraid, but composed. Always so damn composed. Basch was right though. Something did sound off. "Wait, play it again?" he asked and when Basch did, Balthier tuned out Larsa's voice to focus on all the other noise. A single voice from all the ruckus rose out. No, It couldn't be him. Even though Balthier thought he heard it too. The second time around though, he had no doubt.

"It is...how?" Balthier whispered. Sitting back in his chair, he just stared forward with a look of shock. Even through that though, he felt a cold already starting to seep into him. Cid, his father, was still alive. "I killed him."

Basch remains silent after he replayed the message back. He knew Balthier would catch on to the voice in the back ground. It almost sound like Cid was making Larsa say the things he did. That's why he wanted to get there quickly as he could to help the young emperor. "I know....I thought he was dead too...he supposed to be." Hell, he had disappeared with in the mist. Turning off the recorder and looks back over at Balthier.

Balthier took more shock than he is. Of course he couldn't blame him after all Cid was Balthier's father. And Cid was the last person they would expect would be behind this. So it's was another question, how? how could he be alive? How could he possible made it back? Basch rubs his head a little, "Ok....so that's why we need to be as quick as we can be. If Cid is truly alive, nothing will be good from this. He hope he doesn't do anything to Larsa." He stares out of the window.

Like he so often did, Balthier ran away. He didn't deal with the emotions knowing his father lived brought him. He just steeled his face into it's usual smug mask and nodded his head. "Nothing we can do about it now. We just have to get there and see this through, eh?" he asked with an attempt at a smile. His mask broke for a second, the smile faltering before he got it pasted on again.

Suddenly, he couldn't stand sitting here even though moving wouldn't get them there any quicker. Maybe he just didn't want Basch inspecting him. "Let me know when we get close," he muttered before slipping out of his seat again. Balthier walked to the far side of the room and leaned against the edge of wall next to the window and just stared out. He couldn't think about this. He couldn't let Cid get under his skin all of again. This time though, he would make sure his father died.

This was going to be interesting much less unnerving to say the less. Cid wasn't someone to be taking lightly of. Basch lets out an sigh and closes his eyes while he was thinking a lot of things. He didn't notice Balthier moving away, he was in his own thoughs. It was going to be something if not anything. There was no plan in how they could get Larsa or if it was a trap. Even thought they was indeed falling into Cid's hands.

About one or two hours in to the trip. The bomb that laid undetected within the engine room from the two. It finally hit the time that was set to go off. The necitate starts draining the engines power. The alarms start going off in the control room. Basch looks up after the alarms woke him out of his day dream. "What the....?" He could feel the ship shake. He looks over at Balthier, "We are losing power...stay here...I'm going to see what is up in the engine room." Basch stands up but gets knock back as the ship jerks down. The autopilot was locked so no one could disengaged it.

Balthier hadn't moved from his spot by the window in hours. Although he appeared lost in thought, he didn't think anything at all. No, he used all his mental strength not to think as he watched his reflection in the window. At the sound of the alarm, he startled, taking a second to understand. When he did, Balthier jumped straight into action. "The hell I'm staying here! Who here do you think can fix this thing?!" He lost his footing and grabbed hold of a pillar to stay standing. "Damn it." Grinding his teeth together, he just pushed forward again. This much was nothing, certainly not compared to when the Bahumut went down.

As Balthier reached the doors leading down into the engine room, he yelled back over his shoulder. "How about you stay here and try to get the damn autopilot turned off. I'll try to slow us before we go down!" He didn't know what was happening, but he knew for sure the ship would crash if they didn't do anything. Probably even if they did. And this time, Balthier wouldn't stand off on the side lines and let Basch do the dangerous work. Before anyone could stop him, he took off for the engine room at a run.

Basch knew that Balthier was right...he hardly knew how to fix engines. So he got up and walks over to the panel as he rips it off. He looks thru the codes on the side to see which one overrides it. He found it and press the code into the computer. It came back as denied. "Damn it...that didn't work...looks like I got to cut the wires." The ship was out of control and it was coming fast toward the ground. Not sure how long it would be for impact. Basch slides under the control and looks at the wires. There was to many color wires and he tried to remember which one it was. His head was still hurting from falling back against one of the chairs.

The bomb continues drawing the power from the engines until it was nothing left. So it was praticely out of power no longer was working. So who knows what Balthier would be able to do with the engine. The other powers was still working but it had locked different systems so maybe there would be a chance. Back up from Basch found the wire and cuts it and felt the ship jerk as the autopilot was turn off. He slides out from under it and grabs the control trying to get it leveled, it was hard though. Maybe he could find a place where they could crash safely.

Balthier skidded into a halt into the engine room. He grabbed controls, trying to find an explanation, but found them dead. Cursing again, he dived back to the engines and made quick work of turning valves and venting steam so that they could actually do their job. It was then he found the small bomb hidden on the underside of one of the engines. "What the he-?!" He resisted the urge to pummel himself with the wrench he held. A bomb? How could they not know there was a bomb on their ship? They got way too lax if this could happen.

He did his best to remove the device, but it mostly finished its job already. The best he could do was rip out the wires and hope for the best. Even without looking out the window, he could tell neared the ground. Something about how the air sounded and felt this low in the atmosphere. Balthier hit one last button, restoring auxiliary power, then booked it out of the room.

"Better prepare to crash!" he yelled as he reached the cockpit again, falling into his seat and fixing the seat fasteners. No matter if they had power or not now, it would be a bumpy landing.

Basch turns toward Balthier when he ran back up. He knew it had to be bad as he struggles to strap himself in his chair. He had aim the ship to the closes area away from the cliffs and rocks. Hopefully it wouldn't be so bad but as long they remain strapped to their chairs. Their injuries would be minor...maybe. "This is going to be rough....hold on..." says. As the ship doesn't slow down at all as the gravity pulls them down.

The airship crashes into the desert sands, the impact was rough and hard. It shakes the insides of the ship, as sparks and fire starts popping up, small pieces glass flying everywhere. It rocks both men in their chairs as the chairs was made strong so it wouldn't break from the floor. As the ship slides along the ground until it finally stops against small borders of rock.

(Sorry for taking so long....we just got wireless at our new place.)

Balthier helped try to control their landing until the very end, but the desert sand rushed up to meet them all too soon. He braced himself against the controls as the ship jerked, then began to explode around them. Glass and metal flew everywhere, and he just squeezed his eyes shut until it passed. His ears throbbed with the noise of the impact and smoke reached his nose as all the inner parts of the ship toasted, creating small fires.

With the noise still roaring in his ears, he found it hard to tell when it stopped. He cracked his eyes open, realizing them slid to a stop already, sand settling back to the desert floor after them. "Shit," he ground out. At least the force didn't throw him out of his seat. He'd have to praise the designer of these new seat fasteners later and make sure they got a bonus. "Basch. You okay over there, old man?" Glancing around, he tried to see past the debris now littering the ship. He needed to hear the other man's voice so he could know they both made it through this.

It was total chaos during the crash landing, parts of the ship inside breaks apart. Once it was over, Basch felt a pain on his left leg and opens his eyes. A metal frame was pinning against his leg. It was painful, as he tried to move it but couldn't not without help anyway. He heard Balthier moving over across from him so he was glad to hear him. One thing that it did annoyed him when he called him 'old man' Basch didn't think much of it just wanted to get out of the ship. "Yea I'm fine but I'm pin down over here." He says, coughing from the smoke.

Basch releases the belts off of him and tries to move his leg from out of under the frame. It didn't want to move. "We need to get out of here before we choke from the smoke in here. First I need to get this frame from off my leg. Can you move?" he says as he checks himself for any more problems beside the frame on his leg.

Balthier cursed in his head despite the relief that made him dizzy. They both got through this alive and just hearing Basch's voice eased some of his tension because no matter how casual he made himself sound, he worried he might not hear it again. "I'm fine. I'm coming to you, okay?" He managed to climb through all the debris until he reached Basch's chair. Like the man said, he leg appeared pinned, but a quick glance around told him it wasn't serious. The debris could be moved.

"Alright, this doesn't look so bad," he started, offering Basch a wavering smile despite the smoke smudging his face and the ringing that still went on in his ears. He coughed once before continuing. "I'm going to pull from this side and you push. On the count of three..." He counted down, then braced his foot against the seat before pulling on the debris with all his strength.