A/N: This is my first proper non Legend of Zelda fan fiction, a FFCC fic that consists of aspects from the entire series, My Life as a Dark Lord being the only exception. The fact that I may involve King Leo and Chime brings MLaaK into the story. This is a Crystal Bearers fic that takes place directly after the Aerial Prison, and follows the story of Keiss and Belle after Layle sends them on an errand. It's written in Keiss' point of view and may contain some Keiss/Belle later on =3.

I hope you enjoy.

Governing the Stars

An errand

Let's go back several thousand years to begin with. To a time when Tribal Unity wasn't a party the Palace holds every year without fail, but actually meant something. When the cloth of our world was tightly knit and seldom a loose thread could be found, no matter how many times it was stepped on and held. That is when my story began, all those many millennia ago. However, I'm to begin years into the future, when that cloth had be shredded to bits and was lying in ruin on an unstable surface, ready to vanish into nothing with one slight nudge. The events I'd just witnessed only proved my theory more.

The Selkie tribe were running off into the distance, towards safety and hospitality. That would be the case if they didn't stop trying to rob people in the Prison. I would have thought the few that weren't buried under the sands in the far desert wasteland, turned into a crystalline form created in such a way that it detained the Lilty tribe for ever in Selkie eyes, especially in mine, would have the dignity to respect the dead and give up their reckless ways. What the Lilties had done for me surpassed general annoyance and was bordering on making me feel like ripping them to shreds. Aside from Althea of course. I watched the last of the broken tribe leave the desert, scowling at the Lilty guards and trying to help a few prisoners of their own tribe escape too, though frankly they seemed to be getting no where. At least they were happy, despite the events prior. I guessed they hadn't actually seen what happened after Goldenrod saved them from impending doom, so they had nothing to be upset or traumatised about, lest they'd lost someone important to them.

They had though.

As three pairs of eyes fell upon the cloud of sand and dust that was plummeting into the air and slowly falling, just like the tears I couldn't hold back, I allowed reality to swallow me whole and the truth I'd been trying to deny take custody of my emotions.

"Vaigali…"

Buried under the sand so far away, was the remains of a true hero in Selkie legend. A man who had done so much for the tribe of ruffians that were his kin, a man who had done so much for the world. Without him, I'd surely have been killed out there, and it'd be my body buried in the sand. I probably would have been killed by that falling piece of metal though, if he hadn't knocked me out of the way and wound up taking the fatal blow for me. I thought he'd hated me for joining Lilty forces.

"Jegran's going to pay," I mumbled, balling my hand into a fist and scowling.

"We can't do anything about it Keiss," Layle's monotone voice seemed comforting when I felt all alone. I'd hurt him too, by working for the dastardly High Commander, yet he still paid me respect and spoke to me as a friend, "all our evidence is buried under a mound of sand in the middle of nothing. I highly doubt even if investigations are carried out over the fall of the Aerial Prison that they'll find anything. All the Selkies will have been reduced to Crystal dust ."

Something about that made my blood boil and I turned to face him so abruptly that I kicked a splay of sand into the air and made myself cough.

"Althea," I rasped, my eyes streaming from the sudden grains of hot sand that had penetrated them, "she'll believe us, right? She has to!" my voice was raised though I doubted many could hear me over the howl of the desert wind. Layle scratched his crystalline cheek and shrugged, shaking the sand from his white-blonde hair impatiently.

"Althea cannot act without evidence. She has no rights, even as Princess. I'm sure the king could, but he's… Well, you of all people should know that Keiss, being in the upper circle yourself. Colonel." He added that last bit to disgruntle me, I could tell by the jokey tone his voice had diverted to.

"Actually, I got evidence right here," another voice affirmed. I'd forgotten that the Selkie girl Layle had called 'Belle' was accompanying us, but her voice had been an announcement of her presence. I recognised her as a girl who spent most of her time at the beach discussing 'work' with her friends. A brunette girl of about twenty, whose eyes portrayed nought but mischief and a sense of… passion. Belle reached into her shirt (Layle and I had decided that Selkie women could probably fit a whole lunch down there when we were younger) and brought out what seemed to be a red mini scroll of some sort. I realised it was a photograph, and recalled her taking pictures on the Alexis the day it crashed.

"I took this on the Alexis," she announced, "Jegran's right arm, clear as day."

All bearers had a part of their body crystallised. Layle had his right cheek. Jegran had his right arm. As bearers were considered freaks against nature, an experiment gone wrong, Jegran obviously didn't want to lose his position as High Commander by admitting it. The picture Belle had taken was crucial to the situation at hand, and was probably the reason why the Lilty army was pursuing her. The new information had piqued Layle's interest as well as my own, and we both crowded round to see it.

"I guess that's the business you had with Jegran on the day the Alexis crashed, huh?" Layle questioned. She smiled a quirky smile and hid the evidence back in her shirt, where no-one without powers like Layle's or common courtesy would try to take it.

"I think I'll take that to Althea," I announced, knowing Belle and Layle were both in danger near Alfitaria, "kindly hand it over." I held out my hand for the photo and Belle simply jerked herself away from me, covering up her chest. I realised then that what I was doing tended to offend women and retracted my hand, trying to send an apologetic look in her direction, but she didn't seem to care. Layle seemed to find my idiocy amusing, though I had never been good around women, he knew that and frankly, he was quite the charmer compared to me.

"Belle, you ought to go with Keiss," he was grinning a crooked grin and looking in my direction. I found myself fiddling with my colonel badge and looking about, my eyes falling on a vulture that circled us from above, hoping we'd drop dead any second. Layle began to chuckle again, though I soon discovered it wasn't at me. Belle seemed in a state of shock, and was looking at him wide eyed.

"What!" she retorted, an air of surprise in her tone, "I'm going to see the Princess?" she looked at me, and I realised Layle had just dumped a companion into my hands, yet another burden to bear. However, given the circumstances, I decided to accept that I'd be in the company of a Selkie who didn't hate me for my choices and I'd have somebody to talk to on what would probably be a long journey fraught with peril. With monsters spreading like wildfire, only a Crystal Bearer was truly safe alone.

"What'll you be doing Layle?" I asked out of pure interest, knowing he wasn't going to accompany us to see Althea.

"I'll be going to the ruins again where we got the Crystal Idol. Goldenrod will be waiting," he affirmed, scratching his right cheek which was a bad habit of his he'd been doing since we met. Layle nodded at the two of us and turned to leave, Belle and I doing the same.

"Layle," I called, remembering something I needed to tell him first, for in the situation we were in anything could happen and the prison sands could easily be the last place we met ever, "leave the Yuke business for now. Jegran's the real enemy."

When I'd agreed to go and inform Althea of the crisis at hand, I didn't plan wandering aimlessly around endless sands, painful little grains of hot stone piercing at my bare skin like tiny daggers. I felt sorrier for Belle, who was doing my head in with her consistent chatting, for I noticed a few tiny beads of blood coming out on her arm where the sand had beat her so much it had split the skin. She was talking a lot, but there was a hint of bother in her tone, like she too felt a pang of guilt in her heart for Vaigali's loss like I did. Technically, it WAS our fault he died and it should really have been us buried under the sand in shattered red Crystal shards, though I decided not to point that out to her. I decided not to think about the events prior at all and focus on getting out of the desert alive and with all my appendages fully compatible.

"We're lost, right?" Belle asked after what seemed like an eternity. I could barely see her face in the sandy air we breathed, but I could tell she was getting a little scared. In truth, I was too, though it was best if I acted fearless as so to not worry either of us even more than we already were.

"Nah," I assured her, though my voice felt thick with the lie and the fear, "Selkies don't get lost. We'll get out." I was beginning to think that was impossible by then, like the desert we walked on had defeated us no matter how hard we attempted to rebel against it's harsh climate.

"Keiss," Belle's tone had changed from frightened to concerned, "you've no clue where we are, have you? We've wandered astray from our destination and unless this storm lets up, we're dead. We are so dead."

"No Belle, I…" I'd leapt into arguing against her point without thinking it through, and was stumped on what to say. She was right, I had lead us astray and I'd probably killed us both and doomed anyone who oppressed Jegran's powers. As the sand faded slightly, I could see her face, forlorn and afraid. The both of us stopped walking and turned to face each other, as if the other's expression would give us a minimal hint on what to do to unravel the tangle we'd plunged into. Alas, all it did was make me remember Vaigali's last words, which were swimming around in my head and causing my heart to sink with my hopes when I failed to find meaning.

"Vailgali believed in you, you know," Belle affirmed, "he tried to deny it but I know he did. Deep down, you can't really hate anyone. You just need to find it in yourself to come to accept that everyone is different, but nobody is wrong. You're a good person, and you haven't just killed us. Me however…" an ominous crack cut her off and the crumbling sound of rock pursued the smoggy air. Within seconds, Belle was gone with a scream. She'd vanished so quickly that by the time I'd come to my senses and realised the ground she'd been standing on had given way, it seemed too late to do anything about it. Frantic, I dropped to the ground and peered down the hole she'd descended. The air was clear down there and the ground seemed harder and more stable than the sand I stood on myself. I could just make out a figure of a body lying motionless on the ground below; luckily it was a fairly small drop so I could hop down myself without too much hassle. I prayed Belle was still alive and lowered myself down into the hole, brushing myself down when I reached the bottom. To my relief, faint breathing was noticeable on Belle's otherwise limp body, and her muddy brown eyes were rested upon me, swimming with tears.

"Belle…" my voice echoed in the stagnant air no matter how quiet I was, "are you alright?" fifty Keisses asked her. Belle managed to breathe an answer:

"I think so…" she attempted to hoist herself up, though the moment she put pressure on her right leg, she collapsed again, a look of twisted agony plastered on her face.

"Oh…" I sighed, not trained in anything medical, and approached her, my hand outstretched for her leg.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!" she screamed, her voice so loud it remained in my head after the echoes had faded. My fingers had only brushed her clearly broken ankle and she seemed in a world of pain I could relate to, having broken bones before. The splintering agony that coursed through the entire appendage was unbearable, and I was surprised she wasn't bawling. It came to my mind then that Belle was an incredibly strong woman, which would make her a lot easier to deal with. "Please…" she rasped, her watery eyes fixed upon my only, glazed over with the pain she was enduring. I obliged and instead tried to lift her up. Even though she was too injured to move and I was ensuring she wouldn't die with a paralysed leg preventing her from escaping, she still seemed irritated by me holding her.

"This is for the best Belle, be grateful I'm helping you. I'll carry you to safety, just hold on tight."

"I'm a Selkie. I can do it sol- ooow…" her nails pierced my shoulder and I winced, though I tried not to make too much of a fuss when Belle was in traumatising pain.

"Now Belle, not even a Selkie can get out of this one solo," I explained to her, beginning to walk through the cave we'd seemed to have landed in. Over the time, the rocky ground I trekked across became pale grey slabs and we entered what seemed like a tunnel consisting of stone and metal. Blue and green light, tinted by stained glass, filtered in through a few large, heavily decorated windows once we arrived in a large, airy room. A mosaic pattern rested in the middle of the floor and only one part of the room, the far side, was still plunged in darkness. Within these shadows, a voice emitted, raspy and most certainly masculine. Belle and I both allowed a gasp to escape our lips when the voice got us by surprise

"Oh hello… What brings you here? You don't look like brigands or grave robbers to me… your presence feels odd, I haven't had any real visitors in over a thousand years…" the cluttering of armour bounced around the room as a tall figure began to emerge from the shadows, freezing me to the spot in shock-horror…