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The Crystal Rule	By : QueenDraggyofSwords Category: Final Fantasy Games > Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Views: 956 -:- 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
- 27
- 28
- 29
Chapter Twenty Eight

Get up every morning before dawn. Get dressed; make the bed; open up the windows, start the stove. Unlock the front door, so Constance can get in, start breakfast.
Every morning was the same thing. After breakfast and cleaning, came chores. There were birds to feed, vegetables to pick, things to mend. It was a very dull and simple life.
"It's no wonder you're out roaming the world without a care…" Lyra looked up from the end of her bed and the jacket she was slowly mending. Next to her was an old dress with chainmail lining the insides- she was slowly dismantling it and adding the pieces to the lining of her son's coat. "It's hardly a suitable life…Being a mercenary." The woman twisted a pair of pliers in her hands and held the metal links in the other. She knew how to mend chainmail. She used to do it herself all the time in the bitter snow. "…A reckless…dangerous…stupid lifestyle. You should settle down…marry a nice g- Well at least settle down," she held up the coat and smiled, "And stop trying to die so soon."
The Clavat woman stood up and folded the coat over her arms before scooping up the other clothing she had stitched up and reinforced. Kids today had no sense of taking care of themselves. When she left home with her father's sword she at least had the sense to cover every part of her body with protection. But not Layle and Keiss, a few bits of armor and they were set. They'd lose their heads someday.
She stopped on her way out of her room and smiled at the picture she had taken from the mantel downstairs. Slowing down and getting married hadn't been her plan either. But if she hadn't taken the job in the mountain's she wouldn't be where she was today, she figured. Though James was right, it had never been smart to tell Layle bed time stories about fighting monsters and riding Chocobos through avalanches, and slaying Lich Kings in snow storms. If her husband had been alive he probably would have stopped her. But she also suspected Layle would have just left under different circumstance.
"…Kids want to go their own way, right? Layle would never settle for such a boring life…"
Lyra took the clothing down the hall and stopped at the guest room door. She eyed it for a moment, wondering if this time, the Selkie would be inside. She knocked a few times, before pushing it open. All she could do was sigh. Still not sleeping on his own. She put the clothes on the bed and then went down the hall to Layle's room, only to stop and sigh again. The door was wide open the room was empty. Now her son was gone too? Just where were they?
She hung the clothes on the door and shook her head. Does she ask at breakfast or not? She should just wait for Layle to tell her…He will eventually tell her. Won't he? He had better.
She continued on her way down stairs to unlock the door and get to work on breakfast. Constance came over every morning to eat with her, so it was just easier to unlock the door for the girl and get to work in the kitchen. Today was the last day she would have to make a large morning meal, since supposedly the boys were leaving right after they ate. She saw no reason they couldn't stay for the festival, though she suspected they weren't because Layle hated it.
By the time she had the water boiling and was dropping in a few hen eggs she heard the front door open and the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. It was awfully early, even for Constance, but the steps where heavy. Likely a young man's. Lyra shook her head; at least one of the boys was back. She continued to work; now cutting up vegetables as the footsteps came down the hall and stopped in the kitchen door.
"So where have you been all night?" She picked up a couple of tomatoes and started slicing them up. There was no answer from behind her, "What? Now you're not going to talk to me?" She looked up from her work and sighed. "Honestly, Layle," Layra started to turn around as she spoke, "Sometimes I think you are this aggravating just to see if you can grey out my hair fas-"
She didn't finish.

"LYRA!" Layle twitched in his sleep. "LY~ra! LAYLE!" He could hear someone calling his name. "LA-YLE! WHERE ARE YOU!" Someone annoying…
The Crystal Bearer opened his eyes and sighed. The Acote made for a terrible place to sleep. He picked his head up from Keiss' shoulder and groaned. His whole body felt stiff. And when he tried to stretch he found his body was against that idea. Layle slowly leaned back and looked around. Keiss was sitting in the pilot's seat, still asleep and his arms wrapped around the Clavat's waist. Layle was sitting facing him and on top of Keiss' legs. He lifted his arm and inspected it- covered in red marks.
"Great…how am I supposed to explain rope burn, Keiss- " he was cut off by the sound of someone shouting his and Lyra's name again. Layle looked over his shoulder toward the open ship door. That sounded like Constance. He unwound Keiss' limbs from around him and grabbed his clothes. Why was she shouting?
By the time Layle was exiting the ship Keiss was waking up, grumbling about his blanket leaving.
"Stance!" Layle shouted at the shop girl as he approached the house. She was circling around from the garden still shouting his name. "Why are you screaming like that!"
"Layle!" The girl ran up to him a smile on her face, "There you are!" She looked around him and frowned when she only saw Keiss was coming too, "Where's Lyra?"
"What do you mean?" He rubbed the back of his neck, "Its morning. She's inside cooking."
The girl crossed her arms, "No, she's not. No one is inside…I thought she was with you."
"No one's inside…" Layle looked over at the house and started to walk toward the front door."
"Maybe she's just in the barn," Keiss shrugged.
"I went to the barn…And she left the door open…and the stove on…I thought you all went somewhere…I mean, the place could have caught fire-"
Layle looked over his shoulder at Constance as she was describing what she had found to Keiss. He stood in the door and despite knowing that Stance had just been shouting Lyra's name he did the same. As if expecting different results other than silence. He walked inside and looked through the rooms repeating the action. Every time he was met with silence he felt a bit of dread wash over him. Finally he circled back around to the kitchen and stood in the middle looking it over.
The stove was off, but you could smell burnt up eggs in the room. There were vegetables out on the counter, wilting away. The knife used to cut them still stuck in the board, and a number of ingredients just lying out on the table. It wasn't right.
"How long is it going to take you to figure it out?" Layle jumped when he heard a female voice from behind. Under normal circumstances he would have responded to the person by shouting at them. But in this case his raised his hand and in anger grabbed the first thing his power would, in this case a pot full of burnt and cracked eggs, and spun around hurling it at the source.
To his dismay, there was a flash of gold light and the source moved to the side and out of the door way before she was even hit. "I thought we were past this, Clavat."
"Clockwork!" Layle raised his hand again, "Where's Lyra!"
The Lilty girl leaned on the table, "That's what I came to talk to you about…But honestly if you can't guess, should I even help you? You did destroy the crystals I was going to take after all…"
Layle kept his hand up for a moment frowning before slowly lowering his arm, "Where are the Mercenaries now, Clockwork?"
"Heading up the road to Nuve- Hey wait!" Layle was already heading out of the room as soon as he heard the location. "Clavat! Wait!"
Layle came out of the house shouting for Keiss. The Selkie and Constance turned, and his partner smacked himself when he saw the Lilty Bearer was back. "Why is she always here?"
"Shut up, Selkie!" The Lilty girl grabbed Layle's arm and yanked him back, "You need a plan!"
"I have a plan! Catch them. Break their necks."
"Plan?" Keiss looked at them confused. "Plan for what? Who's necks are we breaking?"
His question went completely ignored, "You need a better plan! They have a tank for starters. And you have no means of catching up to them! You have one, count them, one crystal bike. And it's practically garbage. How do you plan to catch them? How do you even plan to take out that tank?" Layle pulled back from her but didn't answer. "Well?"
"Tank? The Mercenaries?" Keiss looked at Clockwork, "That's where Lyra is?" Layle turned on his heels and started for the barn, "Well we have to go catch them!"
"You need a plan." Clockwork pointed at him, "They have enough fuel to get to Nuvel. Then they will have to recharge…If we can get there quickly we can get into their tank and get Lyra-"
"-I can send Spinosa a letter to meet us there instead of in Denthe. He can round them up…We'll just have to damage their tank to keep them there."
"I would say the best way to damage the tank is to take out is Crystal eng- Where is the Clavat?"
"He's in the barn…" Constance pointed over to where the doors of the barn suddenly burst open and Layle came out on an unruly black Chocobo. A few other birds came out of the barn as well and ran around in a panic.
"I got your plan!" Layle pulled the bird reigns. "Get on a bird! And RIDE IT!" Without another word Layle turned his mount and took off down the road.
"We had better follow him," Keissshook his head and grabbed hold of a yellow bird as it ran by him. He pulled himself up onto its back and struggled to get it to hold steady, "Stance! Watch the place okay!"

Keiss and the time controlling Lilty followed Layle off the property and down the road. The girl was shouting angrily at him. "These birds will never catch up to that tank!"
"Sure they will!" The Clavat pointed at her, "Cast a haste spell!"
"…I can't keep it going for that long!"
Layle raised his hand, "Just do it!" Scowling the Lilty encased the birds in a haste spell and Layle raised his hand to cast one of his own. He could hear Keiss behind him telling him to stop. He knew the Selkie thought whatever he was doing was a bad idea. But Layle was not intending to try and control his powers this time. He only wanted one thing, and that was a big enough force going down to push them up. The Clavat swung his hand down and let his energy surge out of his hand and toward the ground. As he had hopped there was a huge gust of wind from the result. The gravity spell acted like a bubble and pushed the Chocobos upward.
Instinctively the birds spread their wings to glide on the air. And Layle swung his hand down a second time, and a third until the Chocobos were gliding over the tree tops.
Keiss held onto his bird's neck shouting. "Whoa! L-layle! H-how did you know you could do that!"
The Clavat shrugged, "I didn't!"
"Typical…" Clockwork shook her head and let the haste spell die out, "I do admit though, this will get us there faster. Nice combination use, Clavat…Someone's been teaching you, I take it."
"Hey," Keiss pointed at her, "Mind your own business."

Between a combination of Clockwork giving the birds a boost with her haste spells and Layle keeping them floating upward with a burst of gravity every now and again, the trio caught up to the Mercenaries tank within twenty minutes. "Alright!" Keiss nodded, "Now where are we going to land?"
"Right on top!" Layle turned to Clockwork, "Slow us down!" The Lilty encased the birds in a silver light and Layle reached out for the top of the tank with his powers. He hoped this would work. He didn't need much control, he just need to get down. Layle felt his powers hook onto the top of the tank and he pulled forward, hoping to gradually pull the group down.
Instead, he felt himself stating to lose altitude fast.
"What are you doing, Clavat! We're going to crash!"
Keiss grabbed hold of his reigns and cursed, "Layle! Let go of the tank! It's dragging us with it!"
The Calvat cursed and let go, but the damage was done. The birds fell toward the dirt road. Each Chocobo was flapping its wings and trying to soften its descent. When they did land, the birds shakily kept moving forward, squawking and complaining as the three trailed the bunker of the tank.
"See!" Layle smirked, "That wasn't so bad?"
"Idiot!" Clockwork shook her head, "It's like you weren't even trying to control your powers! So much for learning…"
Layle rolled his eyes. At least she hadn't discerned the truth. "Do you think they've seen us?" He looked up a head, and as if in response to his question a panel opened on the side of the bunker and a gun came out firing in their direction. Each of the riders swerved and fell back to avoid the gunfire.
"I think they see us!" Keiss looked over at the Crystal Bearers. "Alright, it's my turn…If you two can keep their fire drawn on you, I can get into the bunker and turn off the weapons." Keiss pointed to either side of the metal vehicle. "I'll ride down the center. You guys take the sides!"
Layle and the Lilty nodded. The girl took the left and Layle took the right. The Clavat made a shield with his powers to protect him and his Chocobo from the oncoming fire. While Clockwork used her own powers to help her Chocobo dodge rounds and slow down what was being fired her way. Keiss came up the middle of the road, with the Bearers distracting the men arming the weapons he pushed forward until he reached the bunker's back door.
Keiss reached over the Birds neck and grabbed the handle. In one swift movement he jumped from the bird to the narrow ledge just before the door. The without its rider the Chocobo slowed down and was left behind on the road. Keiss tried opening the door and curse when he realized it was locked. He dug into his pockets and pulled out one of his knives and started to toy with the locking mechanism. To the sides he could hear Layle and Clockwork shouting something at him. But he didn't look up from his work. Just as he heard the door click open, the bunker started to shake.
The Selkie clung to the handle as he was jolted about. He heard the sound of branches breaking and rocks being hit. And around him he saw the landscape swing back and forth. Up ahead the tank was swerving into the trees on either side of the road. Were they trying to shake him off? He pushed open the door on the last jolt and tumbled inside. The moment he hit the ground he heard the mercenaries in back shout at him. Keiss looked up to see two men standing over him ready to shoot him with their hand guns.
The Selkie used the knife he had in his hands to stab one man in the foot and roll to the side to avoid his friend's attacks. He knocked over the wounded attacker and grabbed them to use them as a shield. The man firing stopped as Keiss stood up holding the second mercury by the neck. There was still a third man operating the weapons. With a quick look around Keiss shoved his shield forward and into the other mercenary. While the two recovered he circled around them and rammed them with his elbow, right out the back of the open bunker.
The final man stood up from his seat and charged at Keiss. The red head held up his hands to catch and block the man's fist. He didn't let up though pushing the Selkie back until he was standing on the threshold of the door. Again the Mercenary swung and Keiss felt himself fall backward. Well it was more like a yank, and the man attacking him came with him. He was pulled back and caught around the waist by Layle who let the Mercenary fall and tumble along the road.
"Nice catch!"
"You didn't take out the weapons!"
"I got the guy who was controlling them…same thing!" Keiss grabbed onto Layle's arm and pulled himself onto the back of the bird. "I'll drive! You get Lyra out!" Layle nodded to him and Keiss steered the bird up to the open door. The Crystal Bearer grabbed the door frame and pulled himself in. He stopped at the control panel and picked up one of the dropped guns. He couldn't help but shoot it a few times before moving forward.
Layle opened the door between the tank ready to kick the ass of whoever he laid eyes on first. But instead he found that inside the tank the three men present were already knocked out. Up ahead at the machines controls was Lyra fighting with a lever while the steering mechanism was left unattended to, causing the rolling hunk of metal to swerve back and forth across the road.
"Lyra!" Layle ran forward and grabbed the wheel. "What are you doing!"
"Layle!" The woman was just as shocked, "What am I doing? What are you doing! It's dangerous in here! Get out!"
Layle fought with the wheel to try and steady the tank, "For crying out- Lyra! We're here to rescue you!"
"I don't need to be rescued. Thank you. I just need…to stop this tank! But that-that idiot," She motioned to the head Mercenary knocked out on the ground, "Fell on the break lever! It's jammed!"
Layle let go of the wheel and came over to help her. They pulled at it together, but it wouldn't budge. "This is no good…" The Crystal Bearer looked up at the screens in the tank and saw they were reading out for a collision warning. He took a step back and looked around. "Lyra…I think we need to go…"
"Then you go! I have to stop this thing before it crashes into someone's home!"
"Damn it..Lyra…" Layle looked over his shoulder and grabbed two of the mercenaries, he dragged them to the back of the bunker and tossed them out. Then the boss before coming back and grabbing his mother's hand. "Come on! You're leaving too!"
"Layle! Let go of me we can't let this thing drive bli-" her words were cut off by a sudden jolt. The Tank had gone fully off the road and was crashing through a field. The sudden change and crash caused the hitch to the bunker to break off and the control room wheeled off in the opposite direction. "Wonderful!" The woman hung onto Layle's arm.
The two looked out the back, they could still see Keiss and Clockwork following them and shouting for them to jump out. "We have to jump."
"Where! We'll just hit the ground!"
"It's better than hitting whatever this thing is on a crash course with! I can keep us from getting hurt with my powers!"
"You mean the one's that aren't working! We'd do better to just try and stop this thing!"
"Will you listen to me! I know what I am doing!" Layle grabbed Lyra around the waist and she started to protest. "So stop nagging and just leave it to me!"
"Layle! Let go! Don't you dare jump! It's not safe! LAYLE!" The Crystal Bearer jumped forward with his hand stretched out. He used his powers to encase himself and Lyra in a gravity field that was shaky at best. He could hear his mother screaming bloody murder in his ears as they jumped out. Just before they hit the ground a silver light wrapped itself around his own spell and their fall was reduced. It still hurt when they hit the ground and rolled and tumbled along the damaged field, but no bones were broken.
As they came to a stop and sat up, the tank collided with a windmill bringing the entire thing down around it and stopping its wayward rolling. Keiss and Clockwork road up and stopped next to them. Layle and Lyra sat up and the woman huffed.
"That was absolutely reckless…you could have broken our necks." The Crystal Bearer opened his mouth to protest but stopped when the woman hugged him. "Thank you for coming to rescue me, Layle."
He hugged her back and smiled, "You're welcome, Mom… Now if you would just let me help you with everything else…"
"Absolutely not!" She pulled back. "I took care of you all your life, and I can take care of myself just fine, thank you."
Keiss rolled his eyes, "Yes, this is definitely where your stubbornness originates from."
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The Crystal Rule