Disclaimer: Anything you recognize doesn't belong to me...everything else is MINE!!! =]

Chapter 11

OoOoO

Larsa stood by his window sill and quickly scrawled a few sensible enough words to make Kira understand the situation before he tied the letter around Kairos' leg and handed the bird a lock of flaming red hair that belonged to none other than Kira herself. Larsa smiled briefly as he recalled the day they'd discovered this simple and effective method of tracking per say. "I pray this reaches you in good time..." Larsa mumbled his prayer to the wind as he watched Kairos dive into the open air and take off spectacularly in search of Kira.

Larsa had a right mind to go back to Low Town to investigate further and try to find just what it was that the Senate was looking for. He knew however that they would never allow it. They'd piled him high with paper work, even thought it was hardly a day ago that they were practically demanding that he not work on anything and focus on his up coming wedding.
"They're keeping me busy because they know I'm on to something." Larsa said to himself as he walked over to his desk and sat down, staring blanking at the stack of papers set out for him, pondering his next move. Larsa nodded to himself slightly and said, "I'll finish everything I've been given to do today and leave first thing in the morning tomorrow. I'll have to inform Basch and Catherine that I will be going alone this time." Larsa sighed as he thought of how he would convince Catherine that he was not going to see Kira which he knew she would accuse him of if he asked her to stay behind. But something just told him she wouldn't want to be there tomorrow.

Basch was the hardest to convince to Larsa's surprise as all Catherine demanded was that he spend the rest of the days with her before the wedding while Basch absolutely refused to allow him to go alone, instead he would come along and go to speak with Lady Ashe while he spent time in Low Town.

Larsa knew there was no arguing with his close friend and personal guard that morning and simply nodded when Basch asked if he understand the plan.

"Larsa, you have to be back as soon as possible ok? We're doing the taste testing for the wedding later this evening, you have to be there!" Catherine said as she hugged him tightly before he boarded the airship.

Larsa smiled at her and said, "I promice I'll be back before dinner." He kissed her gently on the cheek and completely failed to notice the sudden reddening of her skin as he climbed into the airship and ordered the pilot to take off.

Larsa decided to take a quick nap before reaching Rabanastre considering that he'd stayed up late finishing all the paper work the Senate set out for him and it was currently just after day break, so he was feeling rather drowsy.

When the airship landed, Basch woke Larsa gently and said, "I will meet with you in Low Town after I have spoken with the Lady Ashe, assuming that Low Town is the only thing on your agenda."

Larsa, somewhat groggy, glanced up at Basch before shaking his head slightly and saying, "Yes, I need to find out just what it is the Senate wants with Dalmasca and how this ties in with me and a possible coup d'etat."

Basch nodded his agreement before he bowed to Larsa and headed out of the airship, leaving Larsa to be his own escort to his relief. Larsa sat up and stretched his aching muscles while yawning widely. He stood up and smoothed out wrinkles in his clothes before he made his way out of the small airship, thanking the pilot in kind.

Larsa wasted no time as he teleported to the south gate via the moogling system and heading straight down into the south sprawl.

Larsa stood for a moment, shocked, as he stared around Low Town. The walls where scarred and scorched; the little paint that was left stripping off, the ground was stained in blood which was in the process of being washed off while the ceiling also had scorch marks. It looked as if a war had raged there. Larsa looked around, horrified, as he saw people scattered about covered in dirty bandages, ghastly wounds gone unattended to, covered in dried and fresh blood as they sat there, helpless. Larsa watched as the few that weren't injured ran around trying in vain to help the others, cleaning their wounds, trying to bandage wounds although they had no clean bandages, giving medicine, food and water in obvious short supply.
Larsa shook himself out of his reverie and made to find someone that could tell him just what was going on or better yet, what happened. As he descended the stairs people began to notice his presence and instantly Kytes came running out of the shadows and grabbed Larsa's hand saying, "Vaan and Penelo are over here." Larsa hand no time to say anything and did not struggle as Kytes half dragged him down the hall.

"VAAN!! PENELO!! It's Lamont!!" Kytes shouted as the two came into sight. They were currently speaking with a man in a long white coat with a regal posture and a clipboard and pen in hand.

Vaan and Penelo turned and the look of relief and gladness in their tired eyes at the sight of Larsa shocked him slightly. Vaan turned to Penelo and said something they couldn't catch before jogging over to them. "Thanks Kytes, go see if you can help Migelo bring down the stuff he was preparing for us."

Kytes nodded and ran off before Vaan turned to Larsa and began without being asked, "Yesterday. Yesterday more Archadian soldiers came and rampaged. They were way more aggressive this time and a lot of people were hurt. They were looking for Kira. We don't know why but when she came they all just sort of turned on her,"

"Kira?!" Larsa suddenly cut in, the shock displayed on his face obvious as his mind raced to try and understand just what was going on.

"Yes, but she got the best of them, nearly killed them before she teleported them away. She was really vexed, I think she nearly lost it. In truth I though she would, but she managed somehow."

"Is she here now?" Larsa asked as his mind slowly wrapped around the possibilities of why they might want Kira.

"No she left." Vaan said shortly. Larsa looked up at him with a quirked brow.

Larsa frowned. He could imagine why she would leave, if they were after her then it would be best that she was alone so that no one else would get hurt, but the next question would be, why were they after Kira in the first place. Was it because of Larsa? Rossi said they wouldn't bother her unless she'd actually come to the castle, they wouldn't actively seek her out then. Then again, he'd lied before. So what was they're purpose. Were they planing to capture her and black mail him out of his kingship? No that's far too simple, they know that wouldn't work, not to mention that wouldn't win them the favour of the crowd either. Knowing the senate it would have to be something much more sinister...

Larsa shook his head and groaned. Either way, this was all his fault. Kira..., Tihana too, no... all of Low Town was put in danger because of him. All these people were injured and their home nearly destroyed because his country's leaders were hungry for power and he could do nothing about it. Larsa looked around at all the sorrowful faces and felt the burning of tears behind his eyes as he hung his head in shame, the guilt weighing him down. He could feel the guilt building up but he was slightly surprised to find that the anger he felt towards the Senate and Rossi was growing much faster than his guilt, coursing through him like wild fire, powerful and destructive.

Larsa took a deep breathe to try and calm himself before he looked up at Vaan again. "what is being done to help the people?"

Vaan seemed taken aback slightly, snapped out of his own reverie before he answered, "Ashe is organizing a party of Dalmasca's best doctors and physicians to come to us as most of those who are wounded cannot be moved safely. The only reason they have yet to reach is because it is taking a while to gather all the supplies and medicines they will need to treat the patients, they should be arriving later this morning. As for food and water and etcetera, Migelo is providing those for us, sending what he has now with a few of his workers while he waits for a caravan of fresh goods to arrive hopefully later today."

Larsa nodded, that was good news, at least he knew that the people would be properly taken care of. Larsa sighed and stayed silently for a moment, afraid to ask his next question. "Were there any...any casualties?"

Instantly Vaan looked away from Larsa and Larsa frowned. "Vaan...?"

Vaan looked back at him and then away again. "Vaan, tell me..." Larsa was beginning to panic now. Both he and Vaan knew that he wasn't really asking about casualties, he was asking about Tihana. The fact that he had yet to see his daughter had scared him.

Vaan sniffed slightly and Larsa felt the lump in his throat grow twice its size. "Larsa...I'm sorry..."

"Vaan? Vaan where is Tihana?!" Larsa said forcefully as he felt his heart begin to pound.

Vaan flinched and stuttered, "S-she's...there was nothing we could do..."

Larsa's eyes widened and he ran, he knew where she would be if she was no where else. His daughter was fine. She was safe and warm, probably just sleeping in Old Dalan's Place. There was no way anything could've possibly happened to her while Kira was around.

Larsa ran, desperately trying to delude himself as he reached Old Dalan's place and wrenched the door open. The few Orphans that were in there turned suddenly to look at him, surprised by the sudden intrusion as they all gathered around a table covered in a dark blue cloth under which lie something, something that chilled Larsa to the very core of his bones.
Larsa could feel his heart racing, pounding in his throat as he strode into the room, the small orphans making a path for him. They all knew, and they all waited, unsure of what to do as they watched him. Larsa stopped in front of the table and stared for a moment at the dark blue cloth. Larsa's breathing was shallow and almost painful as he stood there, watching the cloth as if expecting Tihana to just jump out from under it and shout, "Haha!! Tricked you Daddy!!".

After a long moment of silence, however, Larsa finally took notice of the dead pale arm that hung loosing off the edge of the table into sight and he wrenched the heavy blue material off the table. What met his eyes made his stomach churn. He instinctively covered his mouth with one hand while he leaned forward, resting the other on the edge of the table. Her body was obviously cold, her skin a dead bluish colour, her eyes closed, her chest bare, the gaping hole seemingly cleaned and dried as no blood stained her dead pale skin, scraps of her shirt hung around her shoulders and stomach, the blast having torn most of it to shreds. Her golden locks however, were still speckled with blood, droplets of red death sprinkled through her hair, the once soft and bouncy curls now hung around her face dull and lifeless, hardly a curl in sight. Her limbs were skinnier than ever, her right arm hung limply over the edge of the table.
Larsa felt his stomach turn and swallowed hard to keep down his breakfast before his chest took up the job of agonizing him. He gasped as his chest tightened and his heart wrenched, as if it were ready to explode. He felt his knees give out as he crumbled to the grounded, his face now mere inches from his daughter's body. Larsa felt the tears burn through his wide eyes and shut them tightly as they began to fall steadily from him. He heard himself sob a shaky bitter sob that made his tears flow even heavier.

How could this have happened? How was this be possible? This just wasn't right. Why? Why did it have to be her? Why Tihana? She was only four years old! She nothing but a child? For what reason...? Larsa's mind raced as he tried and failed to imagine just how it could be that a feud between himself and the members of the senate could've possibly resulted in the death of his beloved surrogate daughter. Larsa tried in vain to think of who could've possibly had the heart, or lack there of, to kill such a small child. This child could've grown up to be an amazing physician who would find the cure for the incurable diseases, or a spectacular engineer who would invent a whole new way of travel, she could've grown up to be the light of the world. How could anyone even imagine killing something so precious?

Larsa felt his entire being simply crumble, his entire psyche was on the breaking point as he broke down, his tears flowing hot like fire down his face and for the second time, the people of Low Town were forced to listen to one of their strongest broken and crying.

It wasn't long before Basch appeared behind Vaan and Penelo as they stood by the door to Old Dalan's Place, crying silently along with the young former father. Vaan explained everything to Basch while Penelo cried on his shoulder. Basch too felt the pain and sorrow of the little girls death and fully understood Larsa's pain. He knew how important the little girl had been to him. Apart from Kira, she was his escape from the world, from the Senate, from the pressure of being Prince and the future king. That little girl and Kira had become his family after he'd been stripped of his own. Basch had always thought that they were too young to raise a child, but they had proved him wrong, as they always did and he watched Tihana grow to understand and love the world. She being yet young could not exactly understand the finer works of their time, but she understood when it was time to play, and when it was time to pray. He had high hopes for the child and was extremely proud of Larsa and simply amazed by the love and care with which he treated her. Tihana pretty much defined the term 'apple of my eye' for Larsa and now that she was dead, Basch was unsure what Larsa would do.

Basch, unable to watch his charge in such torment, moved forward and touched Larsa lightly on his shoulder. Larsa turned to look up at him suddenly, his eyes red and puffy, and streaming with tears still. "Larsa..."

Larsa turned away from Basch's concerned gaze and hiccuped slightly as his entire body tensed. He squeezed his eye shut and stood up suddenly. When Larsa turned to face Basch once more, eyes open, back straight and his chin up, Larsa resembled a prowling beast. Basch nearly flinched away form his hard gaze as he said, "We are returning to Archadia. Now."
Basch nodded and followed him as he strode briskly out of Old Dalan's room, his aura red with rage as his mind set solely on punishing the Senate. Basch followed behind him, keeping pace easily while he tried to figure a way to calm down the young Prince. As they boarded the airship however, Larsa situated himself by the window and sat cross-legged staring out, his gaze hard and piercing as though he were trying to burn a whole through the glass. Basch was surprised it didn't. In his current state, Basch had a hard time even trying to figure how to approach him much less to try and calm him down. Basch had never experienced Larsa this angry, this engulfed in hatred. It scared him.

As they reached the platform, Larsa made his way out of the airship and straight into the palace. Basch trailed behind with growing difficulty as Larsa stormed through the halls, servants and bureaucrats alike clearing a path for him, afraid to get too close to his enraged being.

Larsa had reached the Senate room long before Basch and Basch silently prayed that Larsa would not do anything stupid.

"That boy Prince is on too loose a leash. If he continues to run a mock like this our plans could be foiled!!"

"Be calm friend. Our young Prince is not capable of such things. What we need is already within reach, all that's left is to find her and..." The sudden booming of the heavy wooden doors to the senate room being thrust open viciously rudely interrupted him. Rossi looked up and sighed slightly before he smiled.

Larsa did not, however, give Rossi the chance to open his mouth. "You've gone too far Rossi! What right do you have to send my soldiers into Rabanastre to reek havoc a second time?!"
"It was merely a search. I'm sure no one was harmed and we found what we were looking for, all that's left is to retrieve it." Rossi said calmly. "We even sent a notice and an apology for the intrusion to Lady Ashe just now."

Larsa felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he bristled. "Just now?! Why not simply ask Lady Ashe herself to assist you in your search rather than send in our own men? For what purpose did you have to go to such lengths?"

"Oh come now my Prince, it's not like we destroyed the entire town, it was merely a more...thorough search party this time." Rossi smiled maliciously as he sat back in his high chair.
Larsa's fist curled into a ball as he stared at Rossi, his disgust for the man growing every second. "You might as well have set all of Low Town on fire to equal the amount of damage you caused!"

"Oh they'll recover in due time, it's just a scratch." Rossi said waving it off like it was nothing to loose a few limps here and there.

"Recover!?" Larsa nearly exploded, "A child was murdered. A child of only four years old was brutally murdered! There is no recovery from Death Caligula! For what reason?! How could you possibly justify this death?!" Larsa shouted, his arms waving and shaking to accentuate his points.

Rossi looked taken aback slightly, as did the rest of the senate members. It would seem that this little bit of information hadn't reached them. Rossi frowned slightly and huffed before he stood his nose in the air and said coldly, "There is no gain without sacrifice."

Larsa was obviously seething at this point as he hung his head low, his nails biting into his skin, threatening to break it. "Why Low Town? Why Kira?" Larsa decided that he'd better get some answers before he fully lost control of his anger.

"When we find her we won't harm her, we just need answers is all." Rossi said stoned faced.

Larsa quirked a brow and said, "Well you won't find her. She is out of Low Town now and you've no right to invade further. But what is it that you could possibly want with Kira? The years that we spent together have absolutely nothing to with you."

"Oh dear Larsa, you seem to misunderstand." Rossi said with a sly smirk as he leaned forward in his chair, his folded hands under his chin. "We've been searching for your dear street rat girlfriend long before you even met her."

Larsa was so confused by his statement that he temporarily forgotten to be angry. "...w-what?"

"In fact, you'd lead us straight to her. We should be grateful." Rossi smirked evilly as he watched Larsa try in vain to wrap his mind around what he had just learned.

Larsa just couldn't understand anything any more. Why would they be looking for Kira before she even had anything to do with Archadia? What ties did she have to our country? Were they good or bad if any? What answers where the Senate looking for? Was Larsa himself involved any at all? Did any of this have to do with him any more? Larsa simply couldn't wrap his mind around anything. There were too many questions and almost no answers what so ever. The only thing that remained clear and true was the fact that Kira was in danger because of him. "What is it that you want with Kira? What are you planning Rossi?!" Larsa demanded.

"You will know in time young Prince, in time. We are only working towards a better tomorrow." Rossi said with a disgusting smile on his face.

"A better tomorrow for whom!? Yourselves?!" Larsa almost shouted. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. How did all of this add up? The Senate, Kira, a possible coup d'etat, making the world a better place; how did all of these thing add up?!

"For Archadia and all of Ivalice, of course." Rossi said almost nonchalantly.

Larsa bristled slightly, suddenly reminded of his anger and rage as he thought of all those close to him, his family, Tihana. "If it is for all of Ivalice then how can you cast aside the life of a child, an innocent child hardly adapt to the world and its ways!"

"One soul lost for the salvation of many." Rossi had yet to express any form of remorse and Larsa could feel the pit of his stomach broiling just thinking about it.

Larsa glared at Rossi for a long moment, took a deep, shuddering breath and decided to finish this before he did something stupid, "I want you to write another letter to Lady Ashe. One with your most sincere apology for the disturbance and a promice to donate a hundred million gil to start project on renovating Low Town. These past events could have very well severed our ties with Dalmasca. I refuse to allow that to happen. I want this letter on my desk by this afternoon, no later. I will sign it and send it by my own means. This is not a request." Larsa's voice was hard and cold, clearly telling Rossi that he had no choice in the matter, no matter how much lower down on the social ladder Larsa was currently to him.

Rossi smiled a hard, reluctant smile before he sighed and said, "Fine then, whatever pleases the young prince, but in return, my Prince, we asked that you please stay within the castle walls until the day of your coronation. There are many things that need doing and cannot be done without you considering that you are at the heart of this historical event."

Larsa glared hard at Rossi for a long moment before he simply walked out the door not bothering to acknowledge any of the Senate members and ignoring Rossi as he asked him rather rudely to close the door on his way out, a door which he'd left wide open.

Kira stood silently, her eyes closed and her stance rigid. It wasn't long before she collapsed, however, and became a weeping mess as she mourned the death of her daughter. Unlike when her father died, Kira could not muster the strength to keep her self off the ground as she lay there, tired, hungry and stripped of everything dear to her. She could not think either, all she could do was cry, her body too tired to attempt anything else and her mind, shattered into a thousand pieces, was unable to put itself together again.

Kira lay there for a long time in the shadow of the Pharos before she finally managed to calm down as she stared up at the pale blue sky staring straight into the heavens as she wondered if their really was a god up there. She shook the thoughts from her mind as they began to drift back to Tihana and decided that she should try and find out what it is that the Archadian Senate wants with her.

Kira sighed heavily before sitting up and staring up at the Pharos as she tried to discern for what reason the Archadian Senate would be hunting her down. Her first thought was that it had to do with Larsa's monthly disappearances, but she was sure that Larsa would've cleared that up with them once word of his engagement to Catherine reached them.

Kira shook her head and decided that that was most likely not the case. Perhaps I'd stolen something a bit too precious last time I visited...? I hardly even remember what I stole though, and it didn't fetch the prettiest penny either. Kira frowned as she thought about it.

She then put her hands on her hip and felt the moulds of the old brass key Old Dalan gave her inside her pocket and took it out. Kira held the key up to her face and took a close look it as she thought things over. Old Dalan always used to talk about how Larsa should be careful of the Archadian Senate and how they were up to no good. He was constantly going on about it, did that mean that he knew something? Kira thought of what the key had lead her to so far and wondered if she should continue following it.

She then glanced up at the tress around her, noting that she'd teleported to the exact same spot she had before where the tree form which she'd extracted the box stood a little ways to her left. Kira smirked slightly as she observed the few pieces of fruits now dangling form its branches among the dazzling array of flowers on the floor and the branches.

Kira made her way towards the tree and picked one of the fruits. She couldn't remember if the fruit was poisonous or not and decided not to take her chances, despite the fact that her stomach felt like it was ready to eat itself. She took her dagger and cut the purple fruit in half, pulling out the one lone seed from its confines. The seed was oddly shiny and had visible veins of a bluish green crystalline substance moving through it that she knew must be the naturally occurring Magicite.

Kira smiled and remember what the note had said, wishing she could also remember what she had done with it too. She turned the seed over in her hand once before letting it fall out of her hand onto the ground. It hit the ground with a dull thud and bounced slightly before it came to a stop. Kira watched it sit there, still, not moving at all and frowned. She stood akimbo over the seed and sighed heavily. This just wasn't fair now was it.

Just as Kira made to pick up the seed again, it suddenly shot off in some seemingly random direction. Kira gasped and nearly fell flat on her face as she kicked off into a sprint to try and keep up with the ridiculously fast seed. Kira struggled to follow the seed as it whipped around corners and through tunnels and seemingly all around the Ridorana Cataract before it suddenly fell into a hole in the floor at a dead end in one of the corridor around the Colosseum. Kira stood there, above the gaping hole and groaned. "You've got to be kidding me. What the hell is up with this place and holes in the ground."

Kira glanced down into the pitch blackness and wondered if she should take her chances and go down there. She fidgeted, reminding herself that if she didn't hurry, she would lose the seed, no doubt it was continuing it's relentless journey below. Kira groaned loudly again and bent low over the hole, trying in vain to at least get an estimate of how deep it was, although she already figured it was pretty damn deep considering she had yet to hear the seed hit anything.

It was then that she felt it, as she leaned over the edge of the hole. The distinct warmth of myst. It was strong and a long ways in but she could still detect its presence. Kira stood up straight and remembered the last time she fell through a hole in the floor around her. That time the myst was so dense it had actually slowed her fall. It was likely that it could happen again, not to mention the myst felt even stronger here than it did that time.

Kira sighed and took a deep breath and said a quick prayer before she sat down on the edge of the hole, her legs hanging down into the abyss and slid off. The experience was not pleasant, that much she could tell you. Kira could hardly hold back a scream as she felt her stomach fly up into her throat and her heart practically stop as her speed increased. Kira lost track of time and could've sworn she was falling for hours before she finally began to slow down. She opened her eyes suddenly as she felt as if she'd splashed into extremely thick steam and took in a deep breath of awe as she fell through swirls of myst like none she'd ever seen before. Kira had never seen so much myst in one place before and was taken aback by the warmth of the myst, its gentleness as it brushed against her skin, holding her up in mid air as it let her down to the ground ever so slowly.

Kira barely even noticed that her feet touched the ground as the she was delicately deposited onto the ground. She was in such awe of the share quantity and quality of the myst surrounding her that she failed to notice the other presence in the long hall.

"Well, what a day this is turning out to be. It's been a while, Kira."

OoOoO

To be Continued... After I thank my first reviewer, Marta.
Thanks a bunch love, yes I know it's very sad but I wouldn't have categorized it as Tragedy other wise now would I? Any ways thanks for reading and I'd really appreciate it if you'd review again, of course that's all up to you. =]