Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it, you don't then... it's MINE!!!!!!!!=P

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Chapter 12

"Larsa. Larsa! Larsa won't you please calm down for a moment and talk to me?!" Catherine pleaded as she stood by the door to Larsa's study where she watched him pace in front of his desk, his arms folded and his eyes ablaze with anger.

"Calming down is not something I am capable of right now Catherine. You give me too much credit." Larsa said through gritted teeth. He had only just sent the letter off to Lady Ashe and was still fuming over his meeting with the Senate. How could they be so heartless? For what reason did they have to resort to such violent methods? What is it that they wanted with Kira anyway? Did any of this have to do with him any more? Did Old Dalan have anything to do with all this?

The last question had come into Larsa's mind not too long ago as he recalled how Old Dalan used to constantly warn him of the Senate's movements. Did that mean that Old Dalan knew more than he was letting on? It wouldn't have surprised Larsa if he did. Old Dalan always seemed to know everything.

"Larsa just please, tell me what happened? You come storming in here all upset, mumbling and grumbling to yourself! I don't understand anything! I don't understand you any more Larsa! Won't you please tell me what's happened? I'm completely in the dark." Catherine said forcefully, her patience wearing thin.

Larsa had the sudden urge to tell her that she never really understood him to begin with but held his tongue and took a deep breath before he stopped in front of his desk and sighed. He rested his hands on the desk and hung his head. He wasn't sure if he should tell Catherine any of what was going on. It all seemed too big for her, for even him too. But considering that she was to be his wife in a few days, she was already caught in the middle of all this and had a right to know.

Larsa looked over at Catherine and decided. Larsa told her everything that he knew, from the possible coup d'etat to the murder of Tihana to Kira's strange involvement in the whole thing. Through out the entire explaination, Catherine's face continued to morph, going from angry, to absolutely horrified as she shed tears for the death of the little girl she'd just barely known, to shocked and then confused. "Kira? What would the senate want with her? You see Larsa, I knew it, that girl was bad news from the start. Just what could she have done now to warrant this response from the Senate?!" Catherine seemed upset and vaguely reluctant as she knew Larsa would immediately disagree.

"What makes you believe that Kira is the one at fault here?" Larsa's suddenly cold tone momentarily stunned Catherine. "The Senate, they are the ones to blame, they're plotting something and I need to figure it out, and as for Kira being bad news for me, it's likely the other way around. It would seem that the Senate has been searching for her long before I even met her. I'd led them straight to her..." Larsa's voice trailed off at the end, guilt weighing down his last words.

Catherine fidgetted slightly, unsure of what to do or how to cheer him up while she still felt that he would've been better off if he had had nothing to do with Kira. Catherine was still struggling to comprehend all of what Larsa told her when she'd decided that cheering up her fiancée came first and had finally pieced together something meaningful to say when Larsa's office door suddenly opened and Judge Basch stood by the door, awaiting permission to enter.

Larsa looked up sharply at him, seeming to have been knocked out of a reverie by the opening of the door and said, "Come, Basch."

Basch entire the room and gave Catherine a slight bow of his head before saying, "Excuse the intrusion, but if you are free my lord I would like to enlighten you on my meeting with Lady Ashe."

Larsa seemed to become alert all of a sudden and said, "No please, I'm all ears."

Basch nodded. "Lady Ashe has decided to abstain from resistant action towards Rossi's 'search parties'. She said that as long as you can keep things under control on your side, then she will hold her tongue and aid in whatever way she can."

Larsa snorted his amusement and asked, "I take it that was a quote?"

Basch also smiled "Yes it was."

"Well, I'm not sure if I can really do anything to keep the peace on this side..." Larsa said with a heavy sigh as he leaned back on his office desk. "I've not much power against Rossi at the moment with every member of the Senate backing him."

Basch shook his head slightly and smiled at Larsa, "The Lady Ashe has great faith in you, as do we all." Larsa smiled a genuine smile of gratitude and reminded himself that he should really be grateful to have Basch, especially after his brother Gabranth, or rather, Noah, died.

"Yes, we know you'll be a great king someday." Catherine said with an encouraging smile as she stepped forward and took hold of Larsa's hand. Larsa smiled warmly at her and sighed slightly, hoping and praying that he could meet all of these expectations.

There was a brief moment of silence before Larsa looked up at Basch curiously and asked, "Have you heard from Fran and Balthier lately?"

Basch looked up at Larsa with quirked brow, curious as to why Larsa would suddenly ask about those notorious Sky Pirates. Basch thought on it for moment and smiled slightly before he said, "No, but I have heard of them. It would seem they have taken up residence in Balfonheim where Balthier has taken up Reddas' position as a leader of sorts. Although I have also heard that it is near impossible to catch those two in person. Most must turn to Vaan and Penelo if they need to find them apparently, which would also explain Vaan and Penelo's frequent absence from Rabanastre."

Larsa chuckled slightly. He could just imagine that, Balthier and Fran going off to be Sky Pirates and leaving all the hard work to Vaan and Penelo. Fran would probably scold Balthier about it but go along with it anyway.

"Why do you ask?" Basch said as he folded his arms and relaxed his stance.

Larsa looked up at him then at Catherine. He frowned slightly and said, "If they are in charge of Balfonheim now then I'd imagine they know Kira somewhat."

Basch furrowed his eyebrows and gave Larsa questioning look before he said, "And how do you figure that?"

Larsa smirked slightly and chuckled before saying, "House Solidor palace wasn't the only place she visited every month Basch, I thought you knew that."

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

Kira spun around to find the owner of the voice and smiled brightly before she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and said, "Aww geez Balthier don't scare me like that."

"We didn't mean to startle you. How is it that you are here Kira?" Fran asked from where she stood in front of a huge door covered in ornate carvings and pearly white in colour, a starch contrast to the dark grey walls of the cave around it.

Kira took a moment to observe and marvel at the beauty of the simple door before she answered, "I was lead here." She didn't bother to put in the part about the Magicite seed and the drawer in the tree figuring that they'd think her crazy.

"By whom? How did you slow your fall like that?" Balthier asked immediately.

"The myst. The myst is very thick down here, it slowed my fall, I didn't have to do anything." Kira said. As she said this however she realized something and turned to her Viera friend. "Fran, are you alright? Since the myst is very strong here..."

"I am fine. The myst here is warm and gentle, almost as if it were calling for something, that is what lead me here, but I cannot read the inscriptions on this door. These writings are far older than the first civilisation build by my people." Fran said thoughtfully as she turned to face the door against and rested her hand on the face of the pearly white carved face of the door.

Kira walked up to the door and asked, "So how did you guys get in here?"

"There is a way in through the Subterra of the Pharos, although, we nearly died trying to make it in here. So I'll be damned if we don't find anything." Balthier said as he sat down on a rock not too far from the door where Kira and Fran stood with their backs to him as they examined the door. "We've been urging this door to open for maybe an hour now and to no avail."

Kira looked over the door and then on the ground where she saw her seed there spinning against the door as if it was trying to roll through the door. Clearly she needed to get through this door. Kira looked over the door and noticed its similarity to the one she'd found the day they fell through the floor running from that mark. "I've seen this design before." Kira said absent mindedly.

Fran quirked a delicate brow at her words and said, "If so then where? Never in all my years have I seen or heard of any such design or architecture."

"I'd fallen through the floor while running from a mark I was deceived into thinking was merely a rank III on the Ridorana Cataract and found myself in hall where the walls had this same sort of design on them. I'd found a door there and I opened it by..." Kira trailed off slightly as she inspected the door searching for the imprint of a hand somewhere on the door. "A-hah!!" Kira exclaimed with a grin as she found it in roughly the same place she'd found the one on the other door.

"Oh we've tried that already, nothing you do to they strange symbol will do anything." Balthier said nonchalantly as he waved off her idea. Kira turned to him and smirked slightly.

"Somehow I think you're wrong. This is exactly how we're going to open this door." Kira said confidently as she placed her hand over the light imprint and waited.

Fran was about to say something it seemed but then a bright light flashed from under Kira's hand and there was the sound of mechanics moving and shifting within the door before the door shuddered and slowly began to open inwards, slowly revealing a long, wide hall way whose walls were of the same pearly white colour with the same sort of design pattern running along it.

Kira stood akimbo facing the open door before she smirked smugly and looked over her shoulder at Balthier who stood up slowly and whistled before saying, "Well...I'm glad I didn't bet on that one. You never cease to amaze me Kira."

Kira huffed slightly and shook her head at him before she lead the way through the door down the hall. As they walked down the hall, they began to see changes in the architecture, nothing much just that there where suddenly many doors on either side of them and the ceiling got higher at some point and wall lanterns with ever glowing crystals became their light. As they walked down the hall, the echo of their foot steps slowly became duller and duller, as being muffled until it were as if they were walking on cotton as no sound was being made at all by their feet. Kira figured that it was due to the steady increase of myst in the hall. The myst was so thick that she was forced to slow her pace and be extra careful as she could hardly see more than three feet ahead of her. The myst was so thick that Kira felt as if she was walking through a dry fog if that made sense. She could feel the myst on her skin and she walked, a warm tingly feeling she was growing to love. She wondered however if it was safe for Fran to be in this much myst even if it was as gentle as this. Kira stopped walking then and turned around to face Fran and Balthier and was about to ask if Fran was alright when she realized there was no one there.

Kira blinked slightly and called, "Fran, Balthier?" there was no answer. She squinted through the myst and saw nothing but swirling multicoloured myst around her. She sighed and turned around to face front again before she lost her sense of direction in this place, assuming that Fran and Balthier must've gone in some random direction and lost her, although, she couldn't remember seeing any turn-offs.

"Fran, is it just me or is that not the door we just walked through?" Balthier asked as they came open a door wide open and leading into a dark cave they recognized as the way they had come in.

"I believe that we are not welcome here. Who it was that Kira here only has business with her and does not wish to be interrupted." Fran said, her voice underlined with worry.

"Oh Kira's a big girl, I'm sure she'll be fine and with all this myst she'll no doubt be at her best." Balthier said before looking around the cave and sighing. "The ones we should be worried about are ourselves. Getting in here was hard enough with the hope of finding something valuable, but now I'm just feeling rather depressed."

Kira kept walking down the hall, having completely forgotten her Magicite seed, not seeing the point in trying to follow it now that she could hardly even see her own boots wit all the myst around her. She walked until she found another door. She nearly smacked right into it and stopped just before her nose made contact with it, the myst being too thick to see through to more than a few inches by now.

Kira jumped and grinned widely at the sight of the door, having been worried that she had gotten lost and would never find her way back out. It didn't take long to find the hand print on the door this time and as she place her hand over the print, a light flashed under it and the door made those same mechanical noises and shuddered violently. As soon as the door opened a crack, there was a sudden rush of wind and all the myst and air around her rushed into the room beyond the door. Suddenly everything was clear and Kira could see that the door led into a labyrinth of stair ways leading straight down. Kira walked out into the hall way that lead to a set of stairs and looked over the railing into the abyss and gasped as she saw myst swirly up and down throughout the labyrinth, its depths invisible to her due to the myst despite how well lit the entire structure was with chandeliers and wall lanterns full of bright ever glowing crystals.

Kira was in complete awe. The labyrinth was so beautiful, with the warm light of the crystals and the warmth of the myst all around her, the beautiful architecture and design of the place so similar to that of the Pharos and yet different somehow. As if the two places where made by the same people but for different purposes. Kira felt compelled to explore, she no longer felt hunger, or fatigue or even sorrow. She felt completely free, welcomed and warm as she ran through the Labyrinth, excited and eager to find the source, to find just what it was that was making her feel this way.

By the time she reached the bottom of the Labyrinth, she was out of breath and completely exhausted but she went on still. The last of the stairs she'd descended lead into a huge hall that was strangely clear of myst as every inch of the vast empty hall was visible from where she stood at one end of it. Kira furrowed her brow slightly and looked up, remembering having to have to almost fight her way through myst to get here and she nearly fell over as she found an almost solid looking ceiling of myst several feet above her head. Kira looked around the hall for any signs of where next to go and soon found a door. A huge door much like the few she'd seen before on the adjacent wall of the hall not very far from her. Kira smiled and hopped into a dash to the door.

She skidded to a halt in front of the door and found the hand print almost instantly, placing her hand atop it without hesitation. She waited with baited breath as a light flashed under her hand and the usually mechanical noises could be heard from the door. Kira stood as still as she possibly could with her heart pounding in her throat and her skin tight with goose bumps as her excitement bubbled over inside her.

As the door opened slowly, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure. She'd never forgotten him. The day she first saw him he'd captivated her and she'd been dieing to go looking for him just to know more about him, but so much had happened between now and the time she'd first seen him. As the door opened wider, Kira could now properly see the man with the silver hair and the strange clothing, his ice-blue eyes lined in black stunningly beautiful, his entire form glowing against the myst around him, his white appearance giving the illusion that he was an angel.

Kira stood still, unsure of what to do and how to react to this mysterious man that she some how felt would help solve all her problems. She was saved the trouble however as the man smiled warmly at her and said in a deep smooth voice, "It is good to see you Kira. We have been waiting for a long time for your arrival."

Kira blinked slightly. She was taken aback that the man knew her name but was more concerned with the fact that he said 'we'. "What do you mean we?"

The man smiled at Kira and said, "Follow me."

Kira followed the man without a thought as he lead her further into a large chamber where the myst was very thick and seemed to be surrounding and coiling around something huge in the middle of the bare room. As they got closer, Kira realized with a jolt that they were approaching the source of the myst and felt her heart jump into her throat once more.

Once they were close enough to felt the hot myst swirling around the large thing, completely conceal by myst, the man stopped her and bowed to the thing. Kira watched him curiously and gasped as she saw the myst slowly melt away from the thing and pool on the ground around it, so dense, so condensed that it was almost a liquid on the floor around it. Kira looked up at the thing and gasped as she felt her knees buckle.

Kira gazed up at the huge crystal, its height at least twice that of her own, and five times her width. She could tell that it was dense and completely solid as she could see almost straight through were it not for the many angles and cuts on it's ragged surface. Kira could feel the raw energy swirling off the crystal, the sheer magnitude of its power taking her breath away.

Kira had never before seen a crystal of such proportions, one so powerful and mysterious. There was only one that could possibly fit this description that she knew of, and there was no way a crystal of this size and power could just go unnoticed so it had to be the same one. "...but the Cryst was destroyed...." Kira mumbled slightly to herself, completely confused. She stood slowly again and gazed up at the magnificent crystal and said slowly to herself, as if trying to make sense of it, "It couldn't be....You...this is the Sun Cryst...?"

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To be Continued...

P.S.- I am so sorry this one took so long, school work has really been killing me, but thanks a lot Marta for the reviews, hope you enjoyed this chapter and honestly I can't guarantee a quick update but I can tell you that once summer comes around the chapters will be flying left right and centre!! =D So plz don't loose faith and R&R ^^ thanks a bunch love