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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
- 38
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Chapter Thirty-Nine

Layle felt like he was floating. He wasn't really sure where or how, but he felt like he was floating. His body was being carried atop something soft and warm, and he hadn't an ounce of strength in him.
"How many times have you almost died this year?" He could feel a hand on top of his forehead. It felt so much cooler than his skin. "I mean honestly, not counting how many times when you were trying to get yourself killed in my presence."
He wanted to respond with the answer, which was twenty-eight, but all he managed to do was cough.
"You know you wouldn't end up almost dead like this if you'd stayed in Alfitaria."
Again Layle groaned and shook his head, "S-shu- -p –eiss…"
"Who?"
"No way," The hand on his head moved down to his neck. Still very cold against his skin. "I always tell you to be careful. And look at you now," The Clavat managed to open his eyes. He could vaguely make out the blurry image of a ceiling and a light, and a shadow standing off to his left. The only real thing in focus was his partner sitting next to him on his right. His back was facing him, but he'd turned his head to look down at him. "You could have stayed in Alfitaria you know."
"Keiss…" Layle raised his hand, his intent was to shove the red head off of whatever he was laying on, but his fingers just fumbled through him as he tried to grab at the armor on the Selkie's arm."
"Keiss? I don't understand?"
"You really are crazy you know. More so than other bearers. Who goes out looking to die? Like your life isn't enough of a mess as it is?"
"…How…ho-" Layle couldn't stand to talk. He gasped for air, unable to finish his sentence.
"And now you're not going to come back to Alfitaria," The red head leaned down until he was just over the Clavat's face. "We're never going to see each other again, when you die. So I guess this is it."
"-ot- I'm not…dead-"
"Please…I don't understand what you're saying…"
"Yeah you are," Layle opened his mouth to try and speak again. But his words were cut off by his partners kiss. He reached up again to push him back and demand and explanation of how he got there. But his hands could never seem to find the Selkie that was right over him. Something that was problematic as Keiss wasn't pulling back. And it was getting harder to breathe. He felt like he was going to suffocate. Layle tried to scream but really his voice just caught in his throat and chocked him. The Crystal Bearer squeezed his eyes shut and thrashed trying to knock the Selkie away before he suffocated the life out of him with his lips.
Finally Layle felt like his mouth and throat were clear and he was able to scream. He screamed and he sat up right gasping for air.
Phedra let out a shout of her own as she tumbled off the left side of the bed where she had been sitting. Layle looked around frantically, trying to stop Keiss and chew him out for his cruel joke. But the Selkie was nowhere to be seen.
What he did see was that he was someplace new. A house, more than likely. A very small house; from the bed he was sitting on he could see the sitting area, a dinner able, a set of stairs leading up to a raised kitchen, and more stairs leading up and out of sight. He coughed a few times as his eyes scanned the large room. His jacket was draped over the back of the couch not a few feet away from him. "…Keiss?"
"W-who is Keiss?" Phedra slowly picked herself up off the floor and straightened out her jumper. "You've been saying that name for hours…"
Layle stared at the girl, confused for a moment as to what was going on. And then it clicked in his mind. It was a dream. Another one. He was still in Marr's Pass with the girl. He groaned and rubbed the side of his head where Lyra's barn had dropped on him. "It must be some sort of Selkie curse… That every time it's about him."
"Um…" The black haired girl rubbed the side of her arm confused, "Curse? Him? I'm not sure I follow…"
"Ah," Layle swung his legs around to the side of the bed. "It's nothing. I was just… dreaming…"
"More like hallucinating." The Clavat girl took a seat next to him. "I'm so glad you got better... Your fever was so high, and I- I was terrified you were going to die…" Layle watched her as she looked down at her feet, the toes of her boots turned inward towards each other. "It must have been your crystal that did it… Usually, no one gets better…"
"What was that, Phedra?"
"…" The girl continued to look down and spoke softly, her voice almost covered up by the sound of a clock ticking somewhere in the room. "…It's my curse…" She pulled up the left side of her dress until Layle could see the side of her tight. Shining through her stockings was black crystal in the shape of a spiral. "M-my Lady says it's a magic of biological erosion. In the old days they called it a- a poison spell."
"Poison?" Layle looked ahead, out at the little one roomed home they were sitting in. No wonder he'd felt so ill, been so delirious. He hadn't seen Keiss at all. It had been a hallucination brought on from her crystal's magic.
Phedra lowered her dress and looked to Layle, "What- what is your curse?"
The Clavat blinked a few times and turned to her shaking his head, "I'm not cursed."
"But, the crystal in your chee-"
"Yeah, what of it?" He couldn't help but be a little short with her. "I'm not cursed, just because I have a crystal. And neither are you."
Phedra studied Layle and pressed her lips together, "You sound just like My Lady…"
"My Lady?" The girl stood up and made her way towards her kitchen.
"Yes, My Lady… Are you hungry? I imagine the fever must have eaten up much your strength."
He stood up and followed her taking a seat at the little counter across from her kitchen. "A little bit, but whom- who is your 'Lady'?"
"Oh! My Lady is my friend… And my former employer. You see I'm a maid- or at least was. I can't- I can't stay at her house any more. Not with the guards trying to round up Crystal Bearers they think are dangerous. She put me up in this little apartment." Phedra looked up towards the ceiling, "There's an abandoned house above. This is the basement."
"Wow," Layle watched her set to work making them something to eat, "That's awfully kind of her for a noblewoman. She a Clavat too?"
"No, she's a Lilty." Layle whistled in response to her comment, and Phedra laughed. "She's cursed too though, she can just hide it. Unlike I can."
Layle's lips twisted a bit her using the word 'cursed' again, but continued to talk to Phedra, "You can hide it too, Phedra. Your crystal is covered up by your clothes. You just have to not cast any magic."
The girl stopped cutting up the carrots she was slicing to make them a salad. She shook her head at Layle, "I've tried. I've tried not to… But I can't. I never could. Not since the day my skin started to crystallize. It just- it just happens. And it's gotten worse as I get older…" Phedra lowered her head and resumed preparing their meal.
'She has no control…' He watched her, studying the discouraged look on her face. "How long?"
"…It developed when I was twelve…" She kept working on the salad, now adding radishes to it. "It wasn't always so bad. People were just mildly sick. But as I got older, I started putting people in the hospital. And I never knew when I would do it, you know? I could feel perfectly fine, and then- and then I'd feel it. Rising up in me, I was so terrified, I stopped going outside. I stopped playing with other kids. I was always afraid…"
Layle leaned on the counter listening to her. 'She was afraid of the guards too… And on the roof.'
"You're fine now though."
"I feel safe inside," Phedra beamed. "Because there is no one here to hurt. Inside it's always been just me, my Lady, and my sister."
"Sister?"
"Yes. We all grew up together. My sister is out getting groceries. I-I was supposed to stay inside, but I tried to go see My Lady and collect my-" Phedra stopped talking. "Oh no! I left my things out by the back gate! She'll know I went outside!" The black haired girl ran around the counter toward the stairs leading up and out of the basement apartment. "Don't go anywhere! I'll be right back!"
Layle watched her go. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. "She doesn't realize it's her fear that sets it off…" He looked up at the ceiling pondering what to do. He still had to make it to the University, but now there was this girl. He wasn't obligated to do anything for her, not technically. But then again she had to live in hiding because of the work he and Keiss did. "But she already admitted she lived in hiding before that…"
He could teach her, not to be afraid. That her emotions ruled the crystal in her leg just like they ruled the one in his face. But how could he teach anyone anything when his own powers were on the fritz. As he tried to think of what to do next, Layle heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He leaned forward in his seat again, and turned to greet Phedra as she came back into the apartment.
The black haired girl entered. Her long black hair was out of its pony tail, and falling loosely around her shoulders. She'd traded out her yellow apron for a red one and her green dress for a blue one. She stopped at the foot of the stairs and stared at Layle.
"…You changed your clothes." He looked her over. "I thought you went to go get your stuff…"
The black haired girl said nothing at first; she kept eying Layle as she circled around to his side of the counter, "Why are you in here?"
"What?"
"I asked you, why are you in here?"
"…I woke up… Here. You bright me here, Phedra."
"Phedra?" The black haired girl was taken aback. She blinked a few times before her expression turned to anger, "Phedra brought you in here!"
Layle slowly slid off his seat, "I'm getting the feeling you're not-"
"Phelia!" The gravity bearer turned his head to see Phedra coming back down the stairs. "W-when did you get here?"
The girl in blue pointed at Layle, "You went outside? Phedra, how many times must I tell you that is dangerous!"
The other girl bit her bottom lip and wrung her hands together nervously, "But- But I had to get to the house, sister! The locket-"
"I can't believe you are still trying to get across town for that thing! You can't go to the noble's houses. You can't go anywhere!" She turned to Layle a glare in her eyes, "And this! This boy is the reason the guards are having such a fit, or is you?"
"Boy…?"
"Phelia, please, just let me explain… He was just trying to help me. And we got away, but I-I accidentally-" Layle watched Phedra's expression. She was shifting on her feet, and he could see the black light wrapping around her hands.
"It's my fault," Layle raised his hand and waved to the other girl. Phelia turned to face him, and he smirked. "Hi, it's my fault. I was having a bit of fun with the guards. Your sister's poison spell made me a little sick, but I started the fight." The sisters stared at him, each dumb struck for different reasons with what he had just said. "So, uh, Phelia, is it? Phedra didn't tell me you were twin sisters… Would have helped five minutes ago."
Phelia shook her head and scoffed, "Great. You're one of those types. You can leave. Phedra doesn't need any arrogant, show off, superiority complex toting fools in her life. So kindly get out, and next time you feel like harassing the guards, leave her out of it."
"Sister!" Phedra came to stand next to her twin, "You can't toss him out; he has to eat… He was hallucinating, and had a fever, and he did save me. You can't just toss him out."
"No its fine," Layle stepped away from the counter. "I'll go…Take care of yourself, Phedra. …Try not to be afraid all of the time, alright?"
"B-but, Layle…"
"Let him go, Phedra." The twin in blue shook her head. "Maybe we'll get lucky and the guards will catch him. The distraction would be a good way for us to get out of the city."
The gravity bearer flinched slightly at what Phelia had said. She was rather cold, but he supposed it wasn't anything worse that what he had heard before. He picked up his jacket off the back of the couch, "If you need to get out of the city, I'd gladly help you with a cover." The girls turned to him as slid his arms into the white chainmail lined coat, "It's the least I could do. Your sister did watch over me while I was sick."
"But what if you get caught?" Phelia pressed her lips together fretfully. Layle could see there were still bits of black light sparking around her hands.
"You don't have to worry about me, Poison Pin. I'm a mercenary. I take unnecessary risk all the time." Phelia put her hands on her hips and mouthed the words 'Poison Pin' back at Layle, but her sister laughed. The sudden change from frightened to joyful instantly smothered out awakening spell. Layle nodded to her. "You've already paid me by taking care of me. So helping you get out is calling it even, right?"
"A mercenary's skills would come in handy, sister!" Phedra beamed. "Please can't he stay? We can make a plan, a real one. And get out of the city."
Her twin sister crossed her arms and stood in silence for a moment. She eyed Layle studying him and then looked back at her sister. "I would love to say no… However I really don't think we can hide here for much longer. So fine, tonight we plan to leave. We'll go in two days." Phedra clapped her hands together and Layle nodded to the sister in blue. She didn't return the gesture.

Layle ate with the sisters as they laid out a plan to escape the city. Phedra and Phelia had family in Fum and it was their intention to escape Marr's Pass by train and catch a ferry over the Jegon strait. They were certain their relatives would help hide them. All in all Layle felt the plan was doable, but he worried about Phedra. Family or not, if she couldn't learn to keep her spell under control she'd be found eventually.
But he supposed the best way to help with that was for him to find a way to stop the Military.
That night the girls slept together in the same bed while he slept on the couch. That is to say he laid on the couch wide awake thinking. His thoughts went back and forth between how he was going to help the twins, get to the University, fix his powers, stop the Military, and of course, if he was going to go back to Keiss or not. The Clavat could honestly say this was probably the most he had to think about at once in a long long time. All of it was just keeping him awake.
He slowly sat up and looked over the couch to glance at the girls. They were sound asleep. He got up from the couch and slowly made his way over to the stairs doing his best not to make a sound. Layle climbed the steps up from the basement and into the abandoned house above. The door to the first floor squeaked slightly as he pushed it open.
Up above the house was full of old furniture and covered in dust. The window panels were shut tight, keeping any street light or moon light out. And keeping anyone from looking in. He figured if he couldn't sleep he'd at least practice with his own magic for now. He walked around the house trying to find a suitable target and settled on an old lamp. Layle started to use his powers to lift it and carry it from room to room. Seeing how long he could hold it before his head started to hurt. How well he could pick it up and put it down. How far he could toss it and how well he could catch it.
He was so involved in moving the lamp around he didn't hear the basement door creak open, and barely noticed when Phelia came into the room. The girl watched him quietly turning the lamp over and over in the air. The more she watched it spin the angry she became.
"It's you."
Startled Layle turned his head and the lamp shot forward smashing into a wall. "Phelia… You're awake."
The stern twin shook her head, "Your power… It's gravity."
"Hey, that's the first time I've had someone peg it correctly," he shrugged his shoulders at her, but she kept glaring at him.
"Why did you come to Marr's Pass?"
"Why?"
"Yes, why? Can you never just answer a question?"
Layle wasn't sure what to say. He'd come to find out more about the cure. But did he really want to tell her that? To admit to her that he was the reason her sister was hunted. "I'm just, trying to avoid being caught like the rest of the Bearers."
"That's impossible for you though, your crystal is visible. You can't hide it like Phedra and I."
"It might be visible, but most people don't-" he stopped half way through his sentence, "Phedra and you? You too?"
"…" Phelia held out her right arm and rolled up her long sleeves. On her arm was white spiral crystal, the same size as her sisters, but twisting in the opposite direct. "Yes. Me too. But unlike Phedra and you, I don't use it. And I never will."
"You think that you're cursed too?"
"No," she shook her head. "It's not a curse." Layle nodded a bit relieved to hear her say that. "But it is useless… When Phedra's crystal developed, and her powers started to make others sick, I did everything I could to help her. I worried night and day over her power. Over my powerlessness to make her anguish stop over the pain she was causing. Then one day it happened. A crystal on my arm by the time I was fourteen. I thought maybe, maybe the crystal had granted me away to help Phedra… But my power is useless in the wake of hers."
"…What is it? What is it that your crystal can do?"
"…" Phelia didn't answer him right away; she studied Layle and rubbed the side of her arm. "Why are you up here, playing around with your spell? Are you trying to get us caught again?"
The blond Clavat rolled his eyes. She had just chastised him for not answering questions, had she not? "You have to practice. You have to use your power to learn how to control it. Your sister needs to practice too. Even if you make it to Fum, she has no control. She hasn't learned how to restrain herself. You'll get caught."
"Train? You want her to train? She could kill someone."
"Practice on nonliving things." Layle lifted his hand and picked up the shade from the broken lamp, he turned it over in the air. "Your sister is afraid of what she can't control. And being afraid makes her powers stronger. She needs practice."
"No… She needs to not use it." Phelia watched him play with the lamp shade. "When the cure first came about, I was excited. I thought that finally the Crystal had provided away for her to regain a normal life. Even though My Lady warned against it, I wanted to send her to a doctor. I wanted her to get better…"
"So why didn't you?"
"…My Lady asked me to wait. To watch. She's always been good to us. She's like another sister. So I listened. Many Bearers from Marr went to the University to be treated. Some returned home the same day, and resumed living normal magic free lives. But others… Others they took away. One's they said were dangerous, or whose powers were odd. They wrote home at first, but the letters stopped. No one heard from them. No one knew what happened to them. And when Bearers stopped going in voluntarily..."
"They forced you to go." Layle let the lamp shade drop and rubbed the side of his head. "You realized it wasn't all it seemed to be."
"…My sister feels we are cursed. That the Crystal has chosen us to suffer. Some nights she gets so, upset that she says she's just going to turn herself in…" Phelia walked over and picked up the lamp shade glaring at it. "My Lady and I are the only reason she doesn't. I started to wonder why this happened. Why it got worse… And then I heard about why." She tossed the lamp shade back at Layle; he caught it in his hand and glanced at her. "Because a gravity bearer helped the Military make the Crystal Cure."
"…" Layle didn't say anything. He lowered his hand and took a deep breath.
"You did this to us. It was you wasn't it? I've never met or heard of another like you. So it has to be you. To think, the Crystal gave you such a power… Just so you could use it to hurt everyone like you-"
"Hey!" Layle pointed at her still holding the lamp shade, "I never wanted to hurt anyone."
"Well you have! And you still are!" Phelia crossed her arms, "You may not have wanted to, but that's what you did. That's what your powers did. We'd have been better off if you just cured yourself! Being a Bearer may not be a curse, but you certainly are a curse upon other Bearers!"
"I'm trying to put a stop to this-"
"How? Btu playing the guards and getting them angrier? But making them start tighter patrols? By nearly getting Phedra captured?"
"I came here to go to the University. To study Oides work and try to find a way to stop this. It affects me just as much as it affects you."
"How? How does it affect you?"
Layle hesitated for a moment before lifting his hand and casting a spell over the lamp shade. He held it aloft not saying a word. Phelia shook her head still questioning what he was doing. He ignored her though, as the pain in his head grew until finally the lamp shade started to tremble. She stopped talking when it shot out of the gravity field and flew around the room wildly, smashing into a wall.
"…There…" Layle rubbed the side of his head, "I'm just as much a candidate for the cure as your sister is."
Phelia walked over to shade and picked it up, "You've lost control…And just how do you plan to help us if you can't control your own power?"
"I don't need control to be a distraction." Layle stuck his hands in his pockets. "I just need to buy you time to get away."
"…And what if you fail? I need to know that you won't fail. My sister, my sister is the most important thing to me…" Phelia looked down at the shade and ran her fingers over it. "This plan is going to fail."
"It won't. I've never failed."
She glanced up at him, "I need to know that I can trust you… Trust your, your busted powers…" She walked over to him. "Phedra doesn't want to leave without an old locket of hers. It's a family heirloom. My Lady has it at her estate for safe keeping. If you can get that and get back here… Then I know that your powers can help us escape. Do you think you can pull that off?"
Layle smiled at her and gave a nod, "Just leave it to me."
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The Crystal Rule