Adult-FanFiction.org : Final Fantasy

The Crystal Rule	By : QueenDraggyofSwords Category: Final Fantasy Games > Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Views: 976 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy: chrystal Chronicles, any of its characters nor am I making any profit off of them.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
Chapter Eighteen

Layle wondered how much force it took to shatter a spine. Namely his own. As he was slammed into the wall about three feet off the ground by an Aerora spell. The shock was tremendous and he fell forward dazed and in too much pain to catch himself. His face connecting with the floor was just as painful.
"No, no, Layle…You are still focusing on resistance! You must focus on acceptance!" Professor Piper's voice filled his dazed head as he slowly picked himself up. The Clavat swore to the ground. Today the pepper haired Lilty was accompanying Oides in 'training' him, also known as 'see how hard you can beat the shit out of the Bearer' hour. He stood up; his legs shaking and his whole body telling him to stay down.
But Layle refused to ever let anyone know he was suffering. He took a few steps forward and cracked his neck. "Acceptance…I accept that I am purposely…getting my ass beat…for you Keiss."
"Now, Layle!" This time Oides spoke up, "We have a theory that with your magic you can amplify other spells. Raise them to the next level if you will. The machines can only reach level two magic…" The Clavat watched as all the weapons save for the fire hands retreated into the walls, "But we believe you can raise them to the third level."
"We will just focus on using Fire for the rest of the lesson…please…we would like for you to attempt to generate a Firaga spell."
Layle's eye twitched at Piper's last sentence, "Keiss…If you don't find anything in that lab…I will find a way to cast fire on you…"

While Layle danced with death and flames in the basement, his partner had taken to sneaking into Oides' office for a few clues. It wasn't hard to do so, as everyone by now knew who he was, and that him coming to see the Doctor was not all that strange. However he was not going to head to the basement as they thought. Instead he was up on the eleventh floor, looking into drawers and picking locks trying to find anything he could on the Crystal Research and the Doctor's involvement with the weapons development.
"Somewhere…Somewhere…" Keiss picked through the file cabinets in Oides' office. It was set apart from his lab and looked like it was hardly ever used. The doctor probably spent most of his time out doing research and very little sitting. But at least all the files were in order. "Somewhere in here, is what I want…" He pulled out folders and notes and snapped pictures of pages. He knew it was too risky to take the files, so he had brought a camera to get copies for later.
He put the last files back into their place and moved over to the desk. There were a few reports out that he opened up and started to flip through when he heard the door down the hall open and the sound of voices drew near. "Well damn…" The Selkie ducked under the desk and pulled his feet up. He pressed his back to the over side and wedged himself into the leg space as not to be seen. In seconds two of the research assistance to Piper entered the room conversing and gossiping on the project and the people involved.
"Where does he want these?"
"On the desk there. Put the field test results next to the synthesis reports. Now like I was saying, so Sir Regal is going to be out another two weeks."
"Won't that put us behind? Spinosa is already on our throats about the projects not living up to expectations. He wants everything perfect for his report to the High Commander."
Keiss watched as one of the aide's legs came into view. "Yes, well it can't be helped. Plus they Selkie and the Crystal Bearer are working on the project as well…"
"Why is Sir Regal taking a longer vacation?"
He heard the worker put the files down and watched as their legs walked away. "Gosh, don't you know anything! His fiancé was attacked in the city. Mugged. She's in the hospital."
"Oh my, that serious! It was probably Selkies." Keiss heard the door open as the aides left.
"Serious is right! Her arm is apparently messed up. I heard her attacker s-" the door slammed shut. Keiss crawled out from under the desk frowning.
"It's always Selkies, isn't it? She could have been mugged by Clavats!" He started to take pictures of the new files, grumbling about Lilties and their assumptions. After a few quick shots and taking note of the report's findings, he closed the folder and exited the lab. It was just a quick sprint to the elevator and then he would wait in the lobby as if he had been waiting for Layle the whole time.
Just as the Selkie took his seat in the front lobby, the elevator door opened and Layle stepped out followed by the doctors. His partner looked miserable, but the older Lilties were quiet happy. They were jabbering away about how amazing it had been and that this was good news, and how impressive Layle was. Keiss walked over with a smile on his lips, one that Layle wanted to knock off his face.
"Layle, Professor, Doctor, I take it things went well?"
"Things went marvelously! Why, with Layle's powers we are certain he can achieve anything in combination with another Bearer!" Oides nodded.
"Yes! Yes! You should have seen the spell, Keiss! It lit up the entire basement. Oh my…we lost three arms, but it was worth it! What amazing feat…we will have to hold a more intensive study!"
"Spell? Light?" Keiss turned to Layle, who's expression was definitely bitter. Not even slightly mixed with nonchalant, just bitter.
"Firaga." Was all the Clavat said.
"Firaga? You cast Firaga?"
"To be exact, he combined gravity with Fira and accelerated the spells level to a magnitude at which it broke its potential threshold and grew into a level three spell. Thus Firaga." Oides nodded firmly.
"Is uh-" Keiss reached up and dusted away burnt hair ends from Layle's shoulder, "Why you smell like smoke."
"You are slowly climbing my people to maim list, Keiss."
The Selkie chuckled and turned to the Lilties, "Well, we are just happy to help you all in our down time. And I am sure Layle is looking forward to his next training session."
The two researches nodded and thanked them as they left.
Once outside Keiss pat Layle on the back, "Sounds like you're improving."
"Ow…Please…Don't touch my back…"
"…Are-Are you limping?"
"Maybe you don't understand what all playing 'decoy' entails for me."
"Awww," Keiss put his hands on his head and smiled, "You mean that's from training? I was just hoping that was my handy work."
"…You are not that good, you self-centered jerk."
"I didn't believe you the last four times and I don't believe you now." The redhead winked at him. "Come on, I'll buy lunch today. It's the least I can do."

The boys had their usual lunch at the same little Café on Fountain Avenue as they always did. It was good, and cheap, and close to home. Not to mention the chairs were padded. And today Layle appreciated that.
"Hmmn…I am gonna crash, for a week once we're home."
"Oh come on, we have the day off…don't you wann-"
"No. I do not. Every inch of me is in pain. I want to rest. You get slammed into the wall eight times in a row and then see if you want to do anything else for the day."
"Okay, okay, okay," Keiss leaned on his elbows and smiled, "Let's just talk then."
"About what?" Layle finished off the last of his meal.
"Hmn…how about…the fact you and I have known each other for a little over four months now. That's a third of a year…And honestly, I was not expecting us to make it through our first mission."
"I admit…We've lasted longer than I figured as well…" Layle nodded, "This has been a pretty good partnership. Despite its ups and downs."
Keiss leaned back in his seat and ordered them some dessert. "Ups and downs? Well, it would go a lot smoother if you weren't so standoffish all the time."
The Clavat finished his drink and slammed the glass down, "I think it would be smoother if you weren't such a control freak."
Keiss tapped his lips and smirked, "For what it's worth…With my control and your devil may care attitude, we've been pretty much unstoppable. …There is nothing to stop us from going to the top."
Layle leaned back and put his hands behind his head smirking, "I enjoy that 'the top' consists of your insane dream."
"Hey! As High Commander, you would be my number one contractor- I could even make you an officer."
The Crystal Bearer shook his head, "Thanks, but no thanks. Being an officer means following the rules and being restricted. I can't live like that."
"Yeah, you would fuck it up, wouldn't you?" Keiss started to laugh as he felt Layle kick him under the table. Their waitress came back with two desserts. Some whipped up fruit concoction covered in whipped cream. As they started to eat Keiss tapped his spoon to his head, "-Anyway, we should celebrate making it this far."
"Oh no-" Layle sucked on the end of his spoon with the face turned down on his tongue. "Last time I heard the words 'Celebrate' from you, we went to Chimes and your ordered some weird green drink- that was on fire- and I'm pretty sure had glitter in it, and I woke up on the couch soaking wet and half naked with no clue on what happened. No."
"Come on, Crystal Bearer, I keep telling you, you had fun. I think it was the most I had seen you laugh in a while."
"No."
Keiss chuckled and continued to eat. "Okay, so no drinking…And other recreations are out…Hmn, maybe we should go-" The red head stopped talking. A Mail Moggle stopped just next to their table and tipped its hat with a little 'Kupo!'. It handed a blue envelope to Keiss and a plain one to Layle. The Selkie tipped the little working monster and tore open his letter.
Inside a new contract from Spinosa, requesting the boys oversee a transport of mechanical parts and Miasma Crystals out to the lower Western LowFields. Apparently there was a researchs station out there badly damaged from monster attacks and they needed the materials to get back on their feet. They were to leave by evening. The Selkie sighed and shook his head, "Well it looks like we'll have to put off any sort of party ideas. The Lieutenant wants us to-"
Keiss stopped talking when he looked up. Layle was still reading his letter. Or at least he was staring at it intently. His eyes weren't moving. But he was looking at it, and the expression his face was anything other than his usual distant uncaring façade.
"Layle," Keiss leaned forward, "Layle…Hey…." He reached forward and touched his fingers to the top of the paper. Instantly the paper snapped back from him as Lalye drew it back and stared at him. "You weren't talking…Calm down, killer, I'm not gonna take it." The Selkie mercenary leaned back and watched his partner fold up the paper and tuck it inside his coat. "…You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just fine." Keiss did his best not to roll his eyes at such a blatant lie.
"Anyway…Come on. We need to get packed. We've got a job." The Selkie stood up and put his money down on the table. Layle did the same and then tucked his hands into his jacket pockets. The entire walk back to the apartment Keiss attempted to speak to him, but the Clavat's mind was elsewhere. Where, his partner could only guess, and he knew he wasn't going to get a chance to read that letter any time soon.

For six days, Layle was out of sorts. The boys had been charged with protecting the weapons and research facility out in the LowFields. A great opportunity for Keiss to gather information and do some snooping. But for the most part it was put on hold as his partner was just not fully with him.
When he needed Layle to fight, he was ready. When he needed Layle to close off Miasma Streams so the Lilties could work, he was ready. When he needed Layle to be active in any sort of way, the Clavat was more than ready. He jumped into it. He was happy to do it. He was avoiding thinking…
Which meant when nothing was going on, Keiss usually found him, sitting and thinking and rereading his letter. Keiss had given up on trying to sneak around. He knew without Layle serving as a decent distraction, he would just get caught. So on their sixth and final day out at the research facility, he was bit grouchy. The mission itself had gone well, they hadn't even seen Clockwork. But other than that the entire thing was a bust.
"I should just take it from him while he's sleeping…Ugh, no, every time I even come close to getting a hand in that coat he catches me…He's way too aware."
The red head paced around next to the Acote in the airship dock. He was waiting for clearance to leave. He would get that as soon as the latest Miasma Stream rolled out. The clouds around here brought in flying type monsters, so no one ever took off during them. Normally he'd have to wait a good hour to leave, but he had sent Layle out to speed things up a bit. Mostly so he wouldn't have to watch him mope around the airship dock.
"You may as well just wait, Selkie." A Lilty worker spoke to him as he walked by. "Those storms take an hour or more to clear."
Keiss smirked at him, "I've got it on good authority that it will be gone any minute now." The Lilty scoffed at him. He could see the man was dying to correct him, however, on cue, the skies started to clear as the storm suddenly shifted. Keiss smiled and the Lilty gawked. "Well, time to get going. We'll be sure to report to Spinosa that everything is up and running again."
The Selkie climbed into the cockpit and started up the machine while he waited for Layle to return.

The Crystal Bearer headed back to the airship dock, kicking little stones along the way. He knew he was taking forever, but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to rush.
'The monsters have been getting a bit bothersome as of late. A bit bigger too. It's nothing I can't handle though. Look at it this way, when you finally come to visit, there will be a few new things from the rebuilding.'
"It's nothing to worry about…" He kicked a rock and it sailed ahead of him, "But what could be so big you have to rebuild?" He caught up to the stone and kicked it again. "We're not that far from there…I could just…go. I could just tell Keiss I need to take off and just go."
He kicked the stone again. But leaving abruptly will result in a line of questioning. He could answer the questions. It really wasn't that big a deal. But at the same time, he knew nothing about Keiss past, and he wasn't willing to give it up, so why should Layle just forfeit information?
"Maybe I can just trick him into flying overhead?" Layle stopped at the steps to the airship dock. "A little bit of sightseeing? No, trouble with the streams." He proceeded up the stairs, "And if things look really bad from the air, I will just catch the trains back and head out to see her. Yeah."
The Clavat approached the airship and leaned into the cockpit door, "Hey."
"Good, your back, get in and lets head out."
"Yeah about that…" He leaned his shoulder on the door, "You're gonna have to go around to the west before we fly north."
"What?" Keiss looked up starteld, "Why?"
"There was a lot of wind, so the storm didn't completely blow out of range. If you go straight north, we're going to have monster trouble."
Keiss grumbled, "Fine…What a waste of time."
Layle shut the cockpit door and climbed up the ladder with the smile. "Alright, Lyra, let's see what your trouble is."

The boys had to fly and hour of their way due to Layle's make believe storm trouble. Keiss half believed him, and was half certain the Clavat was putting one over on him. Especially since he could see no clouds in the sky, and nothing came up on radar. Whatever it was Layle was doing, he just hopped this would finally get the Clavat out of his head and back into his work.
Not to mention the scenery was boring. An hour of flying over fields. More fields, crops, barns, fields, cows, pigs, crops, fields, scarecrows, wagons, tiny buildings, oh and of course, fields.
"Crystal's light…the Clavat lands are boring as hell…." He rubbed the side of his forehead and leaned over to shout up the communication tube. "Layle! I'm turning north now! We're way past that streams pattern of movement, and there are streams coming up ahead on the radar!"
Layle was leaning over the edge of the crow's nest looking below. Just a head he could see what he wanted. A little cluster of buildings surrounded by hills at the end of a long road. Indeed there were purple clouds rolling in. But it wasn't anything they should worry about. "Keep going, Keiss, you can turn north soon…"
"Did you not hear me about the Miasma Storm!"
"Keiss, don't worry, this far out west, everything is on the ground. Trust me!"
The Selkie closed up the tube grumbling. "How do you know what's out here…Five more minutes…I'm wasting energy doing all this shit…"
Layle continued to lean over the side of his seat. Underneath the little town was just passing under the Acote. Couldn't have been more than ten or twelve scattered buildings. Honestly, he forgot how few there actually were. As the ship flew overhead, the purple clouds engulfed it and his view of village below.
Layle put his goggles on and leaned back, "Nothing looked so bad in town…didn't get to see up on the hill though…" He felt the ship starting to turn north and he leaned back. "I guess it really is nothing to worry about." As he said that the thought he saw something flash across the sky. A lightning bolt? The Clavat sat up when he saw it a second time. Lightning wasn't red.
"Layle! Hey, Layle!" The Clavat could hear his partner calling to him up the tube, "Hang on Layle we're pulling up! The radar says were flying right into something!"
"What? How?" He leaned forward in the crow's nest. "There's nothing up here!" Just as he said it, Layle saw the red flash again, this time it was just in front of the ship. He felt the Acote pull up at a sharp incline, but it was too late. As Keiss pulled them up the red flash came down on them. That red flash was a club. A bright flaming club. It scraped the underside of the ship and turned it on its side. Layle grabbed onto the railing in the nest for dear life.
"Shit!" Keiss struggled to turn them upright and bring the ship around. The alarms were going off around him. A second impact was coming from behind. "Layle! Whatever that thing is shoot it! Shoot it!"
The Clavat had turned in his seat. He too wanted to know what was out so high up in the lower plains. And what he saw made his heart skip a beat. Most likely out of excitement if anything else. Horns, red eyes, gnarled purple skin and a club. A Behemoth. A King Behemoth- mostly. From the chest down it was deteriorating. The stream couldn't fully hold him together, and the climate just wasn't right for him to exist here. But there was still enough of him to swing at the air ship rushing around his head.
Before Layle could even put his hands on the turret, the club came down again and smashed the back half of the ship. The Clavat grabbed hold of the club as it pulled away and yanked it. The monster fought back and pulled on Layle's power's, the tethered line between them pulling him from the nest. He used his other hand to hang onto the ship, but that only made the Acote turn. Keiss was trying to fight the sudden jerk with the controls, but with the back half of the engine smashed it quickly became apparent the only place they were going was down.
"Layle! Layle!" He starred to scream as the ship jerked, "Hang onto something!"
The Crystal Bearer let go of the club and focused his energy on the ship. They were going to crash but at lease he could try to keep it from killing them. As the ship went down Layle could see the King Behemouth fading away. It really couldn't survive out here. The ship rocked and jerked as it went down. Every alarm was going off in Keiss ear as he tried to control the plummet. He could barely hear Layle shouting down the tube to aim for the trees. He jerked the controls, getting what would respond to him to turn the ship. Ahead of him he could see the treetops approaching fast and a blue light encasing the ship.
In seconds there was a loud crack and another. He felt his body lift form the cockpit's seat and hit the back ball. What few times his eyes did open, Keiss could see tree limbs and branches collide with the windshield. His ears and head filled with the sounds of breaking branches, scraping metal and cracking glass. Even though it only lasted twenty seconds it felt like forever before the ship finally came to a grounding stop on the floor of the little woods.
It took Keiss a few minutes to fully recover. His brain was still bouncing around in his skull after the crash. Once he looked around and made sure he wasn't dead or too badly beat up he tried to open the cockpit door. It was jammed. He grumbled and kicked it viciously a few times. But it didn't budge. The Selkie leaned forward and banged on the door a few times screaming for Layle.
Within a matter of moments he heard the door being jerked from the other side. And suddenly it was ripped off its hinges and landed a few feet on the ground away from the ship.
"You okay!" The Clavat leaned into the door, looking genuinely concerned. Keiss smiled and gave a nod.
"If you hadn't been bracing the ships fall, we'd both probably be dead." The Selkie leaned forward and grabbed his partner's jacket to pull him down into a quick, thankful kiss. "You alright?"
"I'm good…" Layle took the Selkie's hand and helped him out of the wrecked Acote. "The ship? Not so much." Keiss looked over his ship and groaned. He crossed his arms and looked at Layle, the Clavat just shrugged. "Come on, because I can predict a King Behemoth appearance…"
"Whatever." Keiss looked up; the skies were already starting to clear, "At least the monsters are moving out fast... Let's head for the road. I saw a town. Maybe we can get help." He started to walk forward and then stopped. Layle wasn't following. "Crystal Bearer, what is it?"
"Huh!" The Clavat snapped his head to him and shrugged. He was thinking again, "Nothing. Let's get to town."
Keiss stood still as Layle walked past him with a fake smile. Ship crashing aside, his partner was still acting funny. And he was dying to know why.
- 17
- 18
- 19
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Crystal Rule