Discliamer: If you recognize it then i don't own it, if you do...It's MINE!!! =P

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Chapter 13

"So they're holding that meeting today are they?" Larsa asked Basch as he leaned back in his office chair, staring out of the window into an ironically bright blue sky.

"Yes, I believe it will be over soon." Basch said shortly. "Everyone is here even the Garif Chief and the leader of the Viera tribe, the only one missing is of course Balthier, but no one really sees him as a leader." Basch said with a slight smirk. Balthier was never really one to take on much responsibility.

"I take it there is someone to represent Balfonheim though?" Larsa asked with a quirked brow. He wanted representatives from every nation around Ivalice to be there in that meeting. He wanted the Senate to have as little an impact on the decision as possible. He wanted the election to be fair and he wanted everyone to be happy with the decision. He didn't want to rule through anarchy.

"Yes there is." Basch answered him as he sat with his arms folded in the chair opposite to Larsa's.

"Where is Catherine?" Larsa asked suddenly, wondering why he had yet to see her. She'd been quite the bundle of joy since their last argument, trying in vain to cheer him up he realized. He greatly appreciated how much she cared for him, but he just couldn't muster enough energy to pretend everything was alright with all that's been going on. He still had no idea what the Senate had to do with Kira and the notion that Old Dalan had something to do with it all kept nagging at him.

"She said something about touring Archadia with her father. She seemed rather excited." Basch smirked slightly and Larsa smiled.

"Yes that does sound like her. No doubt her father's pocket will be considerably lighter come evening time today." Larsa said with a small smile. It was then that they heard a sharp wrapping on the door and Larsa turned a quirked brow to Basch while he simply shrugged his shoulders. "Come."

"Good morning young king, although you aren't king yet I might as well start practising." Larsa and Basch smiled as Lady Ashe waltz into the room, seemingly cheerful and happy.

Larsa gave a sheepish chuckle and said, "good morning to you as well Ashe." Larsa watched as Basch stood to offer Ashe the chair he was sitting on while she scoffed at him and waltz to the end of the room and got an extra chair for herself and set it down right beside Basch as he stood over his seat, still somewhat surprised that she'd so blatantly refused his offer.

Larsa chuckled slightly as Basch sighed and sat back down in his seat before Ashe turned to Larsa and began. "Well, everyone is quite happy with the idea of reinstating the Galtean Alliance and there has yet to be any rejection to the idea of your rule. There are only two other candidates and well...let's just say that they are neither well known or up to standards from what we've heard. So there is no doubt in my mind that you will be the one to rule over the Galtean Alliance like the great Dynast King before you."

"But Lady Ashe...i do not understand." Larsa said as he tapped his chin thoughtfully, leaning forward slightly in his chair and then resting his elbows on his desk. "Why have you not been nominated, or rather, why have you not nominated yourself? Being the descendant of King Raithwall himself one would think..."

"I am needed in Rabanastre." Ashe cut in, "My country needs me more than ever right now, and if I were to take on all of Ivalice as my charge, then I fear I would never have the time of day for my own people." Larsa nodded slightly. He understood, he could see the logic. "Not to mention many people all over Ivalice, despite the changing tides of time, would still resent a Queen as ruler of all of Ivalice." Larsa huffed slightly and nodded grimly; that was also true.

"So the ballots are being counted?" Basch asked as he sat in his chair, his arms folded just as before.

"Yes, but as I've said, I am positive that Larsa will be chosen as our next Dynast King. I am very glad and I have high hopes and expectations for you as does everyone else, but I am worried about one thing. The Senate members, especially Rossi, seemed a little bit too eager to put you in the big chair Larsa. I think you should be weary of their movements." Ashe said seriously as she folded her hands under her chin and crossed her legs.

Larsa nodded slowly in agreement and said, "As I said to you in our last meeting, Basch and I believe that the Senate may be plotting a coup, but now I am unsure. I recently learned that their reason for raiding Low Town was to find Kira."

Ashe looked taken aback and mouthed the girl's name as her brow furrowed together in confusion before she motioned for Larsa to continue. "Yes, Kira. We still have no idea what they could want with Kira, especially considering the fact that they've been searching for her since before she and I even met..." Larsa paused slightly, a pang of guilt shooting through his system. He sighed and swallowed it down before continuing. "So I am back to square one. I've no idea what the Senate is up to and no way to stop them. My only hope is that my corronation goes smoothly and then I'll have the power to disband their little gathering and strip them of all their political power."

"Yes, but I can't help feeling that your corronation is going to go anyway but smooth." Ashe said grimly. "Is there anyway in which I can help?"

"I don't know." Larsa looked out of his office window for a second and thought about it. That window was the very same window Kira disappeared through on their first meeting and it was frequently used there after. Larsa sighed as he silently wished he could see Kira appear there just once more. "There is one thing that has been on my mind lately. I've been wondering if Old Dalan knew anything about all this. About the Senate and their planning..."

"Old Dalan?" Ashe asked with a quirked brow. Basch too had glanced over at Larsa with a questioning look.

"Yes. While I was as Lamont and in Low Town, Old Dalan would always warn me about the Senate. I'd long since known that they had become a good for nothing bag of old coots in my palace, but Old Dalan's warnings had never amounted to something this big in my mind. So now I am wondering if he knew more than he let on, and if so, then I'll need a way to get to his stuff." Larsa said seriously, suddenly leaning forward and speaking in a softer tone of voice. "I however, have been placed in 'quarantine' so to speak. The Senate has been keeping a strict watch on me, considering that my wondering about has resulted in my learning more about their plans they would've liked. It won't be easy getting out, that is if..." Larsa trailed off slightly as he gazed up at Basch and Ashe with a pleading look.

Basch blinked slightly and smirked before he said, "You know Larsa, I think it's about time we vanquished that Hell Wyrm, wouldn't you agree?"

"Hmm, and you know, my airship has been in need of repair lately, we might have to stop in the Tchita Uplands to...tune up a bit before heading out to Rabanastre." Ashe said as she tapped her chin with her index finger pretending to be thoughtful.

Larsa grinned and chuckled slightly before he said, "Well then I'd better let the Senate know that we'll be cleaning out the Sochen Cave Palace before my corronation and that the Lady Ashe will be leaving early."

"So it's settled then?" Ashe said as she stood up and stood akimbo in front of the two.

"What's settled?" The three of them turned around to face Catherine as she stood at the door, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Yes Lady Ashe what is settled?" Basch asked politely as he reached for a pen and paper on Larsa's desk and began scribbling a short letter.

"Indeed Lady Ashe what are you talking about?" Larsa asked her calmly, looking almost genuinely confused but the huge grin on his face gave him away.

"What am I talking about?! What are you talking about?! I've said nothing of importance." Ashe said as she turned away from them swiftly and made for the door where she patted Catherine gently on the head and waved goodbye to the boys.

Catherine furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, and turned to Larsa to see him standing up slowly, his shoulders shaking with quiet laughter. "Larsa...?" Catherine said in a questioning tone, glad that he was smiling but confused as to what could've cheered him up in such a short space of time after she'd tried for hours on end.

"Oh, Catherine. Basch and I will be going down to the Sochen cave Palace to extinguish a foul demon that has plagued its halls for too long now, so I'll be gone for most of the day." Larsa's tone sounded way to cheery for him to be talking about extinguishing a foul demon.

Catherine looked shocked at first and then said, "What?! But...when was this decided? Larsa we're getting married in three days! Where are you off to again at a time like this?!"

"Ah but that's just it Catherine!" Larsa said as he gently grasped her shoulders, "I want the Sochen Cave Palace to be clear of those vile fiends by the time I am to take up my throne, so I must do this now. I won't have time after I've become King, and after you're my Queen." He'd tacked on the last piece, knowing full well that she wouldn't be able to resist him after he'd said that.

Catherine's mouth opened to protest again, but then his words registered in her head and she immediately shut her mouth and blushed darkly before she hung her head and began to twirl a lock of her hair nervously as she babble some nonsensical gibberish.

Larsa smiled and patted her head before he quickly said his goodbye and headed out the door to tell the Senate that he and Basch would be out vanquishing the Hell Wyrm. It took a moment for Catherine to snap out of her stupor and realize that Larsa had left and by the time she did, Basch was sending Kairos out with the letter he'd just finished writing. "Godspeed my friend." Basch said to the hawk as it shrieked happily and nipped painfully at Basch's fingers as he tied the letter around the birds foot.

Basch then turned to face Catherine and smiled slightly before he patted her on the head and walked out of Larsa's office, leaving a rather miffed Catherine behind.

"Mi lord...Mi lord do you really think it's in there?" A soldier about one and half of Larsa's height said as he clutched his war hammer close to his chest. Currently, Larsa, Basch and a soldier named Michael where walking through the Sochen Cave Palace around Destiny's March in order to unlock the door to the Hall of the Wroth God where the Hell Wyrm lay in wait.

Larsa had been the one of decipher the riddles on the wall in the Foot Falls of Time and in Destiny's March and he was positive that they would find it. "I'm positive. But you know...you don't have to stick around if you're scared." Larsa said with a small smirk as he turned to face the soldier briefly whom he noted looked pale.

"N-no sire! I was ordered to stay by your side and never to let you out of my sight not matter what!" The solider suddenly stood up straighter and walked more briskly in attempt to look brave but Larsa just sighed and wondered how Archadian soldiers could be such wimps.

"Well, then I suppose you're ready them, because we're here." Larsa said as he and Basch stopped in front of the door as they heard a distinct mechanical 'click' from it, signalling that they'd succeeded in opening it.

The soldier let out a little squeak and muttered, "Already?...that's was rather quick...don't you think we should go around again just to...make sure..." The soldier was stuttering and making strange noises as the three walked down the old musty corridor. By the time they reached the door to the Hall of the Wroth God, the solider was quite literally shaking in his boots.

Basch looked back at Larsa and nodded while Larsa grinned and turned to the soldier. "I hope you're ready for this. I hear that all who have faced this foul demon have not returned. However, as future king I must extinguish this menace once and for all." Larsa's act was perfect, it gave the exact image of a crazy Prince about to plunge one of his Soldier into the heart of a deadly battle.

The solider stood still, either too afraid to move or still deciding on whether or not his loyalty and pride were more important than his life. However, once the door was opened, and the foul Hell Wyrm roared like a demon spat from the very bowels of Hell, that soldier named Michael was long gone.

Basch and Larsa spent a few seconds chortling at the poor Soldier before they got to the matter at hand. "Basch, I assume you called for reinforcements. You are a skilled swords man but no hume could take on this demon by himself." Larsa said seriously as he looked up at Basch, keeping one eye on the Hell Wyrm as it waited for them to get within reach of its attack.

"Did someone call for back up!?" Larsa turned around to see Vaan and Penelo standing just a ways behind them in the corridor.

Larsa grinned and turned to Basch, "Thank you Basch, and Godspeed." Basch nodded to him and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. Larsa briefly hugged Basch to his surprised and raced out of the corridor and straight through the Sochen Cave Palace without so much as a hitch in order to catch Ashe's ship in the Tchita uplands.

"Lady Ashe! You shouldn't be in here, it's dangerous with all the machinery running!!" Ashe looked up to find one of the ships mechanics looking down at her from a catwalk several feet above her head.

Ashe grinned and shouted back over the loud hum and babble of ships mechanisms, "I just felt taking a walk and wondered in! I'll find my way out soon! Thank you!!" Ashe grinned up at the man and watched him blush slightly and walk away with a curt nod, his clothes stained with oil and his hands covered in thick leather gloves like all the other workers.

Ashe waited until he was completely out of sight before she turned on her heel and began heading out the engine room. As she walked along a cat walk, she saw a wrench on the floor and she smiled as she looked around for signs of any on lookers before she discretely kicked the wrench off the cat walk and into a mess of turning gears and chains. She watched as the wrench got caught in the gears and tangled up the chains until the entire network of gears and chains came to a screeching halt. Ashe smirked and said, "Oops..." before she walked on off the cat walk and out of the engine room.

Larsa huffed slightly and stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He could just see Lady Ashe's ship sitting on a hill a little ways off in The Highlands. He grinned as he relished in the feeling of the warm afternoon sun on his face as the breeze blew gently over him, ruffling his hair and clothes. He remembered the last time he'd been to the Tchita uplands. He was with Kira at the time. He remembered how they had raced through the Sochen Cave Palace and how she'd tackled him to the floor when she realized he was winning. Larsa chuckled slightly as he thought of how she could be a sore loser sometimes.

He smiled as he imagined her, standing there beside him, her flaming red hair blowing in the wind her flawless beauty enhanced by the glow of the afternoon sun. Larsa sighed and shook his head to clear his thoughts and to remind himself why he was even there to begin with.

As Ashe walked down the corridors of her ship towards the command room where she ordered the boy soldier watching the cameras to step aside and let her do it. She gave him no room for questioning or arguing as she nearly shoved him out of the chair and sat down, beaming all the while. Ashe grinned at him and told him that she'd be fine on her own and just as he'd finally given up and headed out of the control room to find something to do, Ashe caught sight of a stowaway in the cargo bay and smiled. Kira taught him well.

It was an unpleasant ride for Larsa in the cargo bay of Ashe's ship as all manner of things got tossed around, including luggage, tools, mechanical parts and an assortment of other seemingly ordinary items that had all tried to kill him as they tossed and turned in the moving ship. Most of the bigger, bulkier things were tied down but that didn't mean they were of any help either. By the time they reached Rabanastre, Larsa was a little more than bruised and had a splitting headache.

He didn't let any of the consequences bother him, however. He slipped out of the cargo bay as soon as he felt the ship land and swiftly made his way to Low Town. Larsa slowed his pace slightly as he reached the South gate door to Low Town and sighed. He was rather hoping that he wouldn't have to visit Low Town again any time soon, but he needed to find something, anything that could help him connect Kira to the Senate in some way or another, something that could help him make sense of things.

Larsa pushed forward and headed down into Low Town. The first person he saw was I small orphan girl whose name was Danielle and he smiled at her. Danielle's eyes widened suddenly and she ran over to him and hugged him tightly. "Lamont!!! What are you doing here?! And where's Kira?!"

Larsa smiled down at her sadly and said, "I don't know where Kira is I'm sorry, and I'm only here on business."

The little girl pouted and said with a sad voice, "Something bad is happening again isn't it?" Larsa's smile faded slightly. It was amazing how insightful the children in Low Town could be. He sighed and looked down at her, realizing sadly that she reminded him very much of Tihana. Danielle was Tihana's elder by two years and had similar blue eyes with a more greenish twinge to them and light brown curly hair usually pulled back into a short pony tail. He hadn't noticed the resemblance before, but now that he had it was almost painful to look at her much less talk to her.

Larsa sighed and attempted a calming smile before he said to her, "You've nothing to worry about, Kira and I will take care of everything alright." It was likely that Larsa himself was putting more hope and faith into his words than Danielle was. Danielle nodded slowly before she let go of him and ran off in some random direction to go about her jolly ways.

Larsa watched her run off and sighed slowly before he nodded slightly to himself and made his way to Old Dalan's place. Larsa made sure to avoid prying eyes and people that he knew would stop him to talk like Kytes or any of the older orphans as he entered Old Dalan's place.

Larsa closed the door quietly behind him and looked around. The place was bare, they'd taken down the tapestry of matted carpets and torn towels and removed the many futons that used to lie on the floor in the back of the house. They'd only left the furniture including the table that sat opposite the door, his dresser and the chair that he always sat on which now supported a small shrine lit with multiple candles and dripping with wax. The place had been scrubbed clean, everything from the walls to the chair itself, the only thing that was left untouched was the small shrine.

Larsa sighed and guessed that it was the orphans that put it together and he smiled when he read the small engraved caption on the wooden shrine.

For Old Dalan & Tihana

We love you and never we forget you!

Larsa's smile widened as he read the hand carved message and the bad language skills of the orphans in Low Town. He chuckled slightly and shook his head thinking of how they weren't paying enough attention in their classes.

He turned away from the small shrine and looked around the room. I'll check his desk first to see if there's some sort of clue, documents, anything that could possibly tie him to the Archadian Senate. Larsa thought as he moved over to the desk and began rifling through the drawers in search of any important papers or documents, anything that could help him understand what Kira and Old Dalan have to do with the Archadian Senate.

After a minute or so of riffling through scrap paper covered in haphazard drawings of crystals and magicks drawn by the orphans, Larsa gave up on the desk and headed to Old Dalan's dresser instead. Larsa hastily riffled through the first drawer, and found nothing; he sifted through the second drawer and found nothing, unless you want to count a pair of stained trousers that he was rather afraid to touch; he waded through the third drawer which was full of his old clothes and found nothing but fabric.

Larsa sighed and wondered if he should even bother looking through the last drawer which was reserved for just his medication. There wasn't much chance of him finding any sort of documents in there, but, better safe than sorry they say. Larsa opened the last drawer, stooping down in order to be on level with it and began to look through the different vials and bottles, most of which were either empty or half full.

Larsa was about to flop down on his back and groan in frustration when something extra shiny caught his eye. Most of old Dalan's medication was bought in Rabanastre or Bhujerba and sometimes in Archadia, but because of sky rocketing prices in Archadia especially for medicine, they hadn't bought any recently, so there shouldn't be any medicine from Archadia in Old Dalan's stash. And yet here is a vial of Archadian medicine sitting pretty among Old Dalan's medication... Larsa pondered this development as he lifted the bottle out of the drawer and began to examine it more closely. Larsa stood slowly as he read the label on the bottle and he felt the gears in his brain stop for a moment, the very notion of the fact over loading his cerebrum.

Larsa could hardly believe what he was seeing. He turned the vial over in his hands and took note of the fact that it was empty. Larsa bit his lip hard enough to draw blood as he realized that this vial was in fact a vial of Archadian poison and that Old Dalan did not simply die of old age or of sickness; he was murdered, murdered by the Senate of Archadia. Larsa swallowed hard; it was all his fault. He was the one that insisted the Senate procure a good doctor for Old Dalan, he was the one that laid the path to Old Dalan for the Senate. He killed him.

Larsa felt the poison vial slip from his hands and clatter to the floor, as he hung his head, his eyes burning with tears of regret and anger. Larsa mentally slapped himself, trying in vane to convince himself that it was not his fault but the Senate's. The Senate, no Rossi was the one that killed Old Dalan, they are responsible for his death and Kira's suffering. But for what reason would they need to kill Old Dalan? What sort of trouble did he have with them, how are they tied? What does this all have to do with Kira? If the senate wanted something from Old Dalan, then why would they kill him? ...No...they want something from Kira, not Old Dalan...most likely Old Dalan was in their way, with Old Dalan gone and Kira weakened by the loss of her father and my absence, she'd be easy prey. They killed Old Dalan to get to Kira!

Larsa could feel his hatred boiling his anger growing to dangerous levels as his fists clenched tightly, his nails digging into his skin, the pain hardly noticed by the enraged prince as he stormed out of Old Dalan's place. He had designs to head back to Archadia and have a heated conversation with the Senate but those plans could not be executed as he felt a sudden searing pain on the back of his head; Larsa had no time to respond to the attack as his senses were clouded by rage and everything around him fell into darkness.

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To be Continued...

Hey, sry i took so so so long to update and then it's just this little piece but school has been really working me so just look forward to summer =D it'll be raining chapters by then. ^^

Thanks for reading, reviews are always welcome, although i can't promice that they'll act as catalysts right now but you know...^_^