Chapter Six

Claire paced back and forth for a moment in thought before turning to Basch and Larsa. "How does the stone work? She would have fashioned it with the intention that you would be able to use it without having to activate it with any magical or pseudo-magical abilities."

Basch blinked for a moment and Larsa looked at the stone in his guardian's hand. "I look at the stone and think about what I want to see and the stone shows it to me, in all accuracy, both the good and the bad, the virtue and the vice. In the dream . . . when she gave me the stone, she warned me that it would be so."

Claire thought about matters for a moment. "Have you asked the stone to show you what happened to her?"

Larsa looked away for a moment before nodding very slowly. "I . . . I tried to watch, but I could not. It was . . . it was too much for me to observe, too frightening."

Daniel quietly inserted himself into the conversation. "So the stone holds memories? Kind of like Memoria from Nine?"

Claire shook herself. "That makes entirely too much sense. Do you know what abilities her child had?" Basch and Larsa shook their heads. Claire sighed. "I need to see that day. I need to see it in order to see what was done so that we might undo it, else we could bring her back to a world that cannot remember her."

Very slowly Larsa nodded. "Very well. I shall show you."

---

Larsa concentrated on the otherwise undistinguished stone in Basch's hand and in a moment it began to glow slightly and then levitated until Basch could let his hand drop. The scene unfolded from the stone to envelop them within it. Daniel whistled low. "This is better than Shinra's spheres."

Claire sighed. "Enough, fanboy. I need to pay attention."

The image cleared to show a hallway in the Palace of Dalmasca. Three figures were running – Basch, Larsa, and the woman Ivalice Goldeneyes Solidor.

"Can you teleport?" Basch asked the question in the clipped, commanding style of a soldier on a battlefield.

She shook her head. "He's blocking me somehow. I can't get us away."

"Go through the sewers and get to the crystal at Southgate. It can get you far enough away to teleport someplace safe."

"What about you?"

"I'll buy you some time to get away."

She stopped them in the hallway. "And go precisely where?" There were tears in her eyes and her voice. "I can't leave Larsa unprotected and he must be Emperor or the Empire will fall. No matter where we go we will have to come back. All he has to do is wait."

"So what choice do we have?" He asked the question angrily and then stopped suddenly as he understood. "No . . ." There was agony in his voice. "No, Ivalice. I cannot . . . Please . . ."

She raised a hand to his lips. "You must. Take Larsa. Survive. He won't kill me, though I'll probably wish he had. All I know for certain is that I will be made to forget." She untied the stone from around her forehead and laid it, ribbon and all, in his hand, closing his fingers around it. "This must not fall into his hands. It links back to Mirari. The stone I gave to Larsa is tied to him – no one can take it from his unwilling hands. When this is over, contact Ree. She can get Lys to call out the Hunt to help you or she can call her mother and the others. No matter what he does, you will be able to find a way to get me back, even if I can no longer remember the love we share." Tears coursed down her face. "I might get to learn to love you all over again." Loud sounds started reverberating down the corridor and Ivalice's voice quickened. "I need you to do something first, before you find me again. I need you to aid me in the past. I was called Maracae; it means 'Bittersweet'. I was in a fight, and losing it, and you came to my rescue like a knight in a fairy story. You gave me hope again, and taught me how to link powers and promised to always be my friend. I know it was you, though I almost completely forgot while I was trapped in the cavern." She ran her fingers through his hair for a moment with a slight smile. "I'll miss this. I never did like your brother's haircut."

The noises became louder and Larsa reached out to touch Ivalice's arm. "You cannot mean to sacrifice yourself . . ."

She nodded to him before hugging him close for a moment. "Yes, Nii-chan, I can. I promised Father that I would protect you even if it meant dying. I'm not going to die, but this is little different from the Lhusu mines." She took a trembling breath and looked at Basch. "Go now, beloved, before he catches up with us. Before he sees you and follows once he is done with me."

Basch paused only a moment longer before catching Ivalice in a crushing kiss. "I will remember. I will find you again. I swear it." There was a flare of power and he forced himself to turn and flee with Larsa as Ivalice slowly turned back to face the arrival of the one who hunted her.

She didn't have to wait long.

Claire gasped in surprise as she got a good look at the shadowy figure that walked towards Ivalice. He wore a thigh-length coat and a tall hat with dark, round lensed spectacles. "Oh, this keeps getting worse and worse. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that one came for her personally."

Balthier glanced over at Basch and Larsa. "Claire, have you seen what you need to see? Is it truly necessary to watch any more?"

Claire put a finger on the floating stone and paused the scene and then looked over at the two. "Do you need me to end this now?" Her voice betrayed genuine concern for the pale cast to Larsa's face and the stoic agony on Basch's.

Basch clenched his hands as he looked from the frozen image of Ivalice to that of Wolf Eyes Dreamsail, the one who had hurt her so badly before and who sought her life and that of the child who could very well have died before ever seeing light. "How did he enspell us all and how do I recover Ivalice and our child?"

Claire sighed. "We don't know that your daughter survived, but I saw a flash of her power."

Basch blinked his eyes in surprise. "The child . . . ? It is a girl?"

Claire nodded slowly. "Yes. There is a feminine tint to the power, though at that level of development all those not yet born are female. She is very powerful and it is a dangerous power. She gifted you with memory when you swore to remember. The blessing may have served to protect you from what was to come. To have enspelled an entire world to forget that she ever was, especially those who cared most for her, that level of power is held only by the eldest and the youngest, and Wolf Eyes, though powerful, is not a Shard or one of the Anidaweihe." She looked back at the still form of Ivalice Goldeneyes and sighed. "Wolf Eyes is a master at corruption and manipulation. His methods . . . to access the power of your lady's unborn daughter he would have been brutal."

Larsa trembled as he looked at the sister he could only remember in dreams. "I haven't watched further than this. I was too afraid of what I would see."

Basch turned to bow to the boy-Emperor. "I need to see, my Emperor. I need to see what she suffered so that I might find a way to avenge her and our child, my daughter, your niece." He closed his eyes. "I need to be able to remember her as more than just a dream that will not fade."

Penelo stepped forward to put a hand on Larsa's arm in sympathy. "We're here for you."

Larsa took her hand gratefully. "I will watch."

Claire nodded to him and then the scene began to move again. Wolf Eyes walked forward. "You have led me on a merry chase, little sister."

She glared back at him. "I am through with running from you."

He reached out quickly and caught her by the throat in a clawed grip as he began to transform into a strange wolfish creature. "I will make you beg for death."

She reached up and took hold of his bare wrist. "You first, you son of a bitch." Her hand glowed and he suddenly screamed in pain.

Daniel blinked in surprise. "What did she just do?"

Claire chuckled. "Lady Goldeneyes is a healer. One of the strongest, if I remember correctly. Easing pain and causing it are two sides of the same coin."

Basch rubbed absently at his chest. "And to think I wondered at her ability to use the gift at need."

Balthier quirked a curious eyebrow up. "And when would she have given you a taste of such an ability?"

Basch frowned and his unrepentant expression. "I would never break her confidence."

Vaan shook his head slightly. "I remember . . . She could fly." Everyone turned to look at him. "At the temple at Bur-Omisace. A seal broke and she could fly." He looked over at Larsa. "Larsa had promised to see them married when we returned with the Dynast-King's sword."

Claire quickly froze the scene of Ivalice and Wolf Eyes fighting and turned to look at Vaan. "You can remember her now?"

He slowly nodded his head. "It's . . . it's very fuzzy, but yes."

Claire looked at the stone. "The spell is breaking. The very act of replaying these memories is breaking the spell. . ." She looked at Larsa. "I'm sorry, Emperor Larsa, but I have to let this play out." She frowned. "Was Lady Goldeneyes already expecting when she created the stone?"

Larsa blinked several times and then nodded. "She had just told me that she was carrying a child when she told me where to find the stone."

After a moment Claire tilted her head back and sighed loudly. "The soulstone doesn't just link back to her. It also carries a link to the soul of her unborn daughter. The stone's the key to undoing the forgetfulness that binds your world and all of you." She reached out and started the scene again.

They watched as Wolf Eyes threw Ivalice into a wall. She crumpled to the ground clutching at her side. There was blood on her gown.

Wolf Eyes chuckled at her. "Even a wolf knows better than to fight wounded, Goldeneyes. However did you get yourself hurt that badly?"

She glared at him, breathing heavily. "I tried to stop a man from doing something stupid."

"Tell me you killed him for the affront."

"Actually, I tried to save his life. Not that you would remember the devotion family deserves from each other."

With a growl Wolf Eyes grabbed hold of Ivalice and flung her into the opposite wall. She landed badly against it and several people winced watching her. Balthier shook his head. "I wondered at the amount of blood we found at Ridorana. That must have been when she was wounded. I remember . . . she had promised to save my father's life if she could."

Doctor Cid nodded. "I remember now. She healed me."

Reddas shook his head in concentration. "She said . . . 'Fly, you fools!' before she threw the sword at the crystal."

Daniel blinked several times and then laughed out loud. "She actually quoted Gandalf? This is cool!"

"Enough, fanboy!" Claire growled at her brother, who just grinned at her ire.

"Nope, you can't use that against me anymore. Goldeneyes Dreamsail, the great Motherborn Shard, is a fangirl."

"Later, then. Something's happening." Claire turned her attention as Wolf Eyes pulled Ivalice up by a clawed grip on the front of her gown.

"I will flay you alive for a hundred years." He growled the threats through an increasingly lupine throat. "I will tear the child from your womb and make you watch me devour it for a snack. I will drive you so mad with suffering that you will beg to kill at my command, beg to serve me."

Ivalice twitched as she tried to curl protectively around her midsection when there was the sound of a shout and a child's voice wailing in fear. It was followed by an immense light. When it faded the hallway was empty.

Balthier whistled low. "Did anyone expect that?"

Claire looked at Basch. "Your daughter is powerful."

He met her gaze. "What just happened?"

"My guess is that Wolf Eyes was flung to the furthest corner of the multiverses and woke up with no knowledge of where he was or what he was doing. If we're lucky he can't even remember who he is. I have no idea where Goldeneyes would have ended up but it would have been someplace safe, relatively speaking, and your daughter is probably actively hiding them both." She sighed. "Apparently your daughter took it upon herself to save her mother."

The images folded back into the stone, which slowly drifted down to land in Larsa's hand. Larsa turned it over twice in his palm before reaching out and putting it into Basch's. "They live."

Basch nodded slowly, and then sighed. "If the damage done already did not kill our child even as she saved her mother."

Daniel, meanwhile, was doing something of a victory dance. "She's a fangirl. She's a fangirl. Do-do-do-do-do-do."

Claire twirled to face her brother with tears flowing down her face. "Will you shut up about that?!" Daniel fell still in surprise. "Can you not be serious about anything? A life hangs in limbo. I didn't see their daughter die, but do you have any idea what that kind of damage can do to someone who is at that delicate level of development? She could have miscarried within minutes of finding safety, especially if the unsubtle touch of a child erased her mother's knowledge that she was pregnant at all?"

Daniel actually looked away from her. "You're talking about Jink, aren't you? Jink's mindwipe ability. You're the one who said that Dreamsails are related to the Abodean elves."

"Yes, but it's more than that. If their daughter was like Jink, and a healer too, then she could have caused her barely formed body to be reabsorbed into her mother, but left her spirit floating around her waiting for the chance to be conceived again."

Larsa looked up at the pain that Basch was hiding behind his eyes and stepped forward, between the siblings. "Enough speculation. We need to find my sister so that she can be reunited with the ones she loves. Whatever the circumstances surrounding my niece, whatever must be done, we can face that once we have Ivalice back." With everyone now looking at him, Larsa straightened and seemed to look like the ruler he was. "Our first goal should be finding this battle that Captain Basch is needed to aid in, and seeing that he is able to do so. Then we can turn our attentions to finding whatever place of safety to which my sister was spirited away."

Claire slowly nodded. "As you wish, Emperor." She looked up at Basch. "Do you happen to remember where you stashed that stone she gave you?"

I'm sorry this took so long to update, but the story has been stuck quite firmly for a while. Guess what had me stuck. *grin* Anyway, progress is again being made and here's to hoping it continues. Lemme know what you think about the story, I could use some feedback.

Mrs. Grizzley