Author's Note: Hello, all. Before I let you get going This has NOTHING to do with my other fic. In fact the pairing here is Layle/Althea. I originally wasn't going to start posting this until my other one was done. But after finally seeing and reading someone elses take on the pair I figured I could try to boost the paring's popularity and add this slowly . Very slowly!I won't let it slow down Crystal Rule and it isn't going to be nearly as long. Anyway, here goes.

Image: The cover picture was made by a friend of mine well over a year ago. Since stories can have pictures now, I opted to add it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicle: The Crystal Bearers more do I make any profit off of them.


Summary: Haunting visions of the dead and dying power plague the world's last Crystal Bearer. Can four tribes really live in peace or will radicals known as the 'Lilty Nation' bring about a new war? This is the story of the Queen of Alfitaria and her struggle to unite the world, with a little help from her friends and a the pull of love.


One Crystal One Tribe


She was daydreaming.

Dreaming, dreaming, dreaming of the day hope would arrive. Of the day things would settle. Of the day everything would finally be 'changed'. Nearly one year ago today, people believed that change had arrived. Like a burst of lighting setting a building a blaze. The world grew dark, and the sky burned with the Crystals' light. Red for Destruction. Blue for Conquest. Green for Magic. And White for Hope.

Dreaming about that night that one Lilty tried to bring destruction to everyone. Dreaming about that night the Yuke Tribal Crystal returned. Dreaming about struggling to shield the Lilty nation from their own downfall. Dreaming, dreaming, dreaming... about hope.

About Layle.

About that white light fading as it dropped out of the sky.

Dreaming about a nightmare. A terrible change. Four tribes. Four crystals. No crystal bearers.

No Layle.

It had been, a momentous year for the fifty-first ruler of Alfitaria. She was the country's third Queen in history, and was the first to rule during a time when all tribes were 'united'. A Yuke served on her council and headed the country's magical development. A Selkie served as personal consultant. A Lilty served as High Commander. And a Clavat served as Ambassador to the people. For a year the country had flourished. The people were happy. And there was peace with their neighboring nation- New Shella.

But peace was only skin deep. Everyone knew a change this big would not go without protest. One thousand years of Lilty dominance could not easily just fade away. And there were those who made it known they felt that it should not. Radicals, vigilantes, terrorist: are what the papers called them. But they called themselves the 'Lilty Nation'. A simple and bold name. As if claiming they represented what the majority of the nation wanted.

And they claimed they wanted the Queen out.

That was what today's headline of the Alfitarian Press read 'Lilty Nation Issues Warning to Queen Althea'.

"You should stop reading that garbage," The High Commander spoke, standing and watching faithfully over her Queen. Her dark slate armor was spotless and gleamed in the room's morning light. Wearing light armor that emulated the Lilty Knights of old, it covered her legs and arms. Over the top she wore a one piece simple, red dress that stopped above her knees. A blue belt sash tied around her waist carried a long thin sword at her side, hooked in place with a demon pendant, and a twin of said pendant hung on her shoulder keeping a short white cape with black trim in place. Her shoulder length strawberry blond hair came to rest on the tips of her shoulders, falling around her in perfect place. The ends of her front locks curved inward to frame her cheeks, and the longest locks drawn back into a braid that cascaded down the center of her hair and ended in a few dangling cherry blossoms.

She stood at the far end of the Queen's Study watching her read over the paper. Or at least stare at it mindlessly while her mind combed through its thoughts. It was like this every morning there was a distressing headline. And the headlines of late where worse and worse. As the 'Nation' became more active in their attacks. It reminded her of when she first took the job as High Commander.

The then Colonel Sherry had served for three years under High Commander Jegran. She was faithful to the kingdom and it's Queen. And she was somewhat grateful the Selkie Guild Master had turned down the job. When she was first approached to serve as High Commander she jumped at the chance. Overjoyed to work for the Queen. But she quickly found that on top of acting as the head of the Lilty Army, she had to serve as a good friend behind closed doors. She would have never of known otherwise. That the bright, confident and always well-spoken Queen of Alfitaria was struggling.

"Queen Althea…If you do not respond soon I will take the paper away from you."

"I'm here, Sherry. I am here." She watched as the younger woman put the paper down and turned to her with a smile. "I am just thinking…"

"About the Crystal Bearer again?"

"No, Sherry, I do think about other things on my own…" Althea pushed the paper away and picked up her tea. "I wish you would sit."

"If I sit I will grow comfortable and we will be late. Bertalian will be quite upset if I let you be late for another practice."

"…Yes, of course." Althea sipped her tea and closed her eyes. Sherry had come to read her too well. Over the past year Althea had gathered a handful of friends to help her with the task of being Queen. Sherry was one of them. A nobleman's daughter, and a regular face around the castle, she had actually not known much about her until the past year. In addition to her there was Belle. The girl had become…A sort of unofficial informant to her. The female Selkie's often forward and spotlight stealing attitude angered most, but Althea found that Belle was always the right girl to go to for spotlight grabbing information. She also took comfort in the fact that between her and Belle, Althea was just an ordinary girl. She was the closest to her in age of her circle of friends and confidants, and she wasn't chatting about work, or leads, she was just chatting. The Selkie pointedly told her it was 'girl talk'. The casual conversations were not something she experienced with Sherry. Perhaps because the High Commander was always so serious.

Along with her, there was Bertalian. The Yuke that served on her council she had asked to start training her in ways of magic. Maybe a way to hang onto the old things she used to be able to do. She was learning white magic specifically. She wanted to regain her ability to shield…And to learn to heal others. The Yuke had come forth soon after the tribe was settled into the world and was introduced as a sibling of Amidatelion, and that was all she needed to hear to appoint Bertalian to the position.

After the Yuke was Clause. A Clavat that was her voice to the people far and wide. She would not make the mistake of keeping herself separated from the common folk. She wanted to hear what they thought long before it was printed in the tabloids. During her father's final months and his absence, she quickly learned it did no good to separate yourself from the people. No matter what the reason, grief, anger, nervousness. Not reaching out to them only made the papers print worse things about you, and painted one in a terrible light as a leader.

Her last friend, was the Selkie Guild Master, Keiss. The young man was indispensable to her. Lilties and Selkie had been at end with each other since the end of the Great War. With the Guild Master as her closest confidant, and to say the least best friend, relations overall had smoothed out. There was still some tension, but most people found their kinship, a strong sign things were changing for the better. The Queen had even framed the newspaper clipping of her shaking Keiss' hand the day he turned down being High Commander. She loved having Keiss around, when he could be there. Maybe that was because like her, he was a suddenly tossed into a position of power and they could relate on the problems of trying to unite the tribes. They could converse about politics, their people, their beliefs, and running their 'nations' and keeping tensions low. Even the Guild received threats for supporting Althea, something she regretted, but the young man told her it was nothing to fear.

Or maybe she just liked Keiss because he always had a story to share about Layle.

"It always comes to that doesn't it…" She muttered to herself.

"Your Highness?" Sherry took a step forward, "Are you alright…You're talking to yourself again."

"Ah! Yes!" Althea turned to her and smiled. "I cannot help it…It's a habit I picked up."

"You know…I never met this 'Layle' but it would seem he left you with several of his 'bad habits'."

"Oh, Sherry," The Queen stood and smoothed out the lace on her dress with a smile, "You need not worry about me. I will be just fine."

"Hmn…And I suppose, this is the part where I ask 'Why' and you will answer-"

Althea pointed to her with a smile and a wink, "-I used to be a Crystal Bearer."


Dreams are powerful things. So powerful that sometimes it's hard to tell what's real and what's fake. What's hurting and what's soothing. What's a vision or just one's own insanity.

And right now he was sure he was looking at insanity. Standing out in the snow up to his knees. Somewhere out there he could hear a Lich moving about in the storm. And not ten feet away the fire of a Behemoth as it rolled about.

Insanity. A year's worth of insanity and dreams.

Maybe this was actually a dream right now. Maybe he was back sleeping in that lodge set up for Pilgrims as they made their way up the mountain. Maybe even that was a dream. Perhaps he was further back than that. At the night of the ball. No, the day he fought Bahamut. No! The Acote! That's where he was. Sitting in the crow's nest…Telling Keiss he was bored…

That's a good place to be. It's sunny there. Warm there. He wasn't chasing the dead there.

"The dead…" The wind blew as if on cue, cutting through his thick coat. It did no good this far up the mountain. Past the church grounds and the Chocobo had long since bucked him and left. "The dead! Amidatelion!" He screamed out into the raging snow.

This is where his dream had taken him. The Yuke was standing there in his dream. Standing in the snow telling him to come here. Come here! Come there! See this! Help them! Goldenrod had been telling him to go all over for the past year. He went wherever his dreams told him to go. Not where his heart told him too. He constantly thought of home. Of his friends. Of his old life. Hell! He even thought of Belle at some point.

"Oh god…I'm thinking about her again…The cold is killing my brain…" He took a step forward. And then another. And another. And again until he heard his feet crunch something. He stopped and started to dig. If anyone out there could see him they would think he was mad. Some lone blond Clavat, digging in the snow like crazy, in a storm no less. But he heard it. Something crunched.

The snow fought him and aggravated he started hurling it, not with his hands but with his magic. Snow incased in blue light flew up into the air. Lifted by gravity it tore away from the earth, until finally he found what he had stepped on. A hand. A clockwork hand. He reached into the snow and pulled it out.

'Come here. And take my hand, like we did on that first day.'

"Goldenrod…" He still used the name, even if the Yuke wasn't there to hear it, "Your hand? You're old hand…" He toyed with the fingers. "What am I doing? Rebuilding you? Fighting for you? What?" He fell back into the snow.

For one year he followed his dreams. Taking him to odd places, seeing strange things. Finding remaining Crystal Bearers just as the last of their magic died out. Even encountering the infamous 'Lilty Nation' and foiling a few of their plans. It was everything he had been asked to do. Or so he thought. Can dreams really ask you to do something? Especially dreams about the dead?

Or were these visions. Every dream he had came true. So they couldn't be just dreams.

"Come here! And take my hand!" He tossed it up in the air, unconcerned his body was freezing in the snow. The hand spun upward and disappeared into the sky. He laughed at first but then realized it wasn't coming down. Where was it?

He stood up and stretched out his own hand, extending a weak gravity field to catch it. And instead he felt a pull; it jerked him upwards and forward. And he found himself racing toward a familiar looking structure just hanging in the sky. A warp point. One was still around. It yanked him upward, and he realized Amidatelion's old hand had activated it.

"Take your hand, huh! Okay!" As it sucked him in he didn't even wonder where it was taking him, or what was going to happen to him next. He had been following his dreams for a year. And ignoring his heart's desire to go home. Following the wishes of a dead friend. A vision. Trying to leave behind the old things and understand this new world.

But they were quickly coming together.

"Come here, Layle, and take my hand." The Crystal Bearer Yuke called out to him. "The world is poised to receive a new principle. One Crystal. One Tribe. Follow me. And I will show you where."

The warp point dumped him out into another familiar setting. He stood on a cobble-stoned platform who's center was a giant pool of water with images of the world laid out before him.

"The Edge of Oblivion…Where are you taking me, Goldenrod?" He looked down at the hand as if it could answer him. The images in the popl where shifting over and over again, setting nowhere. Jumping in could mean he would wind up anywhere. Layle stood with one hand in his pocket and one hand gripping the mechanical one. After a few seconds he looked down at it and spoke up, "Goldenrod! Where to next!" He tossed it into the pool.

It rippled and a bright light came off of it, as if to answer his question. As the light died down Alfitaria came into view, the Lilty's double crystal. The bustling city. The shuttle rushing by. All very familiar things.

But the pool kept shifting. It stopped showing places and started showing people. A strange Yuke. A female Lilty he had never seen before. Keiss. Belle. A Clavat he didn't know. And Queen Althea. And then it stopped.

It stopped on Althea.

"Follow you, huh…" Lalye stood still for a moment wondering why this is where he was being lead now, after a year of being dragged around the world. Now he was being told to go home. He stared down at the image of the Queen of Alfitaria a little bit longer contemplating how badly received he was going to be.

"I guess I won't know, until I go." He took a step back and jumped in head first. A year's worth of visions and dreams and insanity spinning through his head as he feel through time and space. Wondering if he was going mad and actually chasing the whims of the dead.

Or just chasing wild dreams.