A/N: These next two are a little short... But I guess that's cause the two after these are long... Hahaha. Thanks again as always to Silver Ecstasy and NekoChronicles! And a happy hello to my new favorites and follows!
Chapter Sixty-One
Layle and Keiss road the top of the tram until it reached the next station. During the entire ride, not much was said between either of them. Keiss was focused ahead, on getting home, and getting the vials they'd taken to safety. Layle was focused on what his partner had said to him last.
That he trusted him to get the information out of Villosie.
He trusted him to betray her. Just like she trusted him to betray Keiss…
When their ride came to a halt, Keiss stood up and jumped off. Luckily there was no one around at this time of night, the trams were running on their automatic controls, so there was no one to seem surprised that a Selkie and a Crystal Bearer jumped off the top of the machine. Layle landed next to the red head and glanced at him. Still saying nothing, Keiss turned and started for their home.
"Keiss, wait!" Layle called after him as he started walking.
"Wait for what, Layle?" He continued to walk, perhaps a bit faster now that the Clavat was asking him to stall their journey. "We have to get off the streets. For all we know there's already a report bulletin going around asking for our heads."
"I know that, I know that! But jus- about what you said-"
"About what I said?" Keiss looked over his shoulder as Layle caught up and fell in step with him. "What did I say?"
The Clavat glared at him, "About me getting the information out of Clockwork!" He pointed at the Selkie, "I'm not going to."
"What!?" The redhead nearly faltered in his stride, "What do you mean you're not?"
"Keiss, we need to work together. Since the start the three of us have been fighting- she knows more than us. If we had been working together none of this would have happened. The doctor would still be aliv-"
"Oh no!" The Selkie shook his head. He finally stopped walking and pointed at Layle's chest slightly shoving him with each jab, "It's because you and her have been working together behind my back that this happened! It's because Dr. Oides was just murdered that we're not going to work with her! She set us up time and time again- and now for a murder! And you want me to listen to her!"
"She wouldn't murder her own Grandfather, Keiss! That's like saying you would kill Vaigali!"
"I-I would never-!"
"Well that's what you are saying!" Layle grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Just listen to me! We can trust her about this- I trust her. And don't you trust me?"
"…" The Selkie didn't respond. Keiss' lips pressed together and his brow knit into a pensive expression. Layle shook him, as if trying to get an answer to come out of his lips by force, but the red head said nothing.
"…You trust me to spy for you…" The Clavat muttered.
"Yeah… well… You were already doing such a good job at it, I figured what's one more time at it?"
Layle's hands slid off Keiss' shoulders and he frowned. He held out his hand, "Give me those vials."
"They are going to Cid." Keiss turned on his heels and started to walk away. He made it a few feet before stopping and looking back at Layle. The Clavat had a twisted frown on his face. He wasn't moving. "Are you coming?"
Layle raised his hand and touched the side of his jacket pocket. The recorder was still there.
"…I'll catch up…"
Keiss clenched his jaw and shook his head. He took a few more steps before he started sprinting away. Putting as much distance between himself and Layle as fast as he could.
As soon as he was out of sight, Layle pulled the recorder out of his pocket and turned it over in his fingers. He knew Villosie wouldn't kill her own grandfather. And she wouldn't set them up to take the blame. Keiss wouldn't set him up either.
"There has to be away to get them to work together, without telling them they are…"
When the news reached the Villosie that there had been an accident at her grandfather's apartment she was still at the offices ball with her fiancé Royce Regal. A soldier had come in just the end of the High Commander's speech and sought her out to give her the news. At first she did not quite understand the severity of the situation; they explained to her it appeared a Crystal Bearer had broken into her grandfather's apartment, she hadn't worried. After all she has sent Keiss and Layle go see him, and figured the two had just made a fuss on the way to the apartment building.
But it wasn't until the soldier start explain to her that medical officers on the scene and she needed to be there right away that she were worried.
Villosie left the ball in a hurry, her fiancé in tow. Certainly Regal had just as many questions about what was going on that she did. She knew there shouldn't have been a need for any medics to be on the scene. Maybe a few angry soldiers, maybe a long explanation from her grandfather that there was never any danger. But not medics.
And certainly when she arrived she was not expecting to see the number of soldiers that she did. All around the front entrance to the building the guards swarmed the scene. They had evacuated several of the residents from the surrounding floors, and the surrounding buildings. And were spreading out to search all the nearby tram stations, they claimed the intruders had escaped by means of one of the nightly trolleys on its route; jumping from the window of the apartment and riding it off through the city. Several citizens stood outside on the sidewalks in their night attire grumbling complaining of being woken up and forced out of their homes. Villosie and Regal were allowed up to the twelfth floor and in her grandfather's apartment. The first thing that struck her attention were the remnants of fire; specifically the contained and targeted areas, which were prominently displayed on the walls. She ran her fingertips over the scorch marks, only to be scolded by the men that were collecting evidence. They asked her not to tamper with anything, to come in and have a look and identify the body.
There certainly was no need for a body. Nor should there be a need for her to identify it. Villosie's heart started to race as they moved through the apartment. Her eyes flicked over the walls and the smell of smoke filled her nostrils. This was not Layle's work. She reached out to her side and grabbed Regal's hand squeezing it. Her fiancé returned the gesture, pulling her closer as they walked through the hall to the master bedroom.
A body shouldn't even be part of the conversation, and sickeningly she found herself hoping, as she walked through the halls of the apartment, that the body belonged to Keiss or Layle… to anyone. A complete and total stranger, even. But not the body that she had a feeling was waiting for her at the end of the hall. When they stopped at the entrance to the main bedroom a soldier stood and warned her about entering.
"You're not going to see the body, this. But rather you can describe him to us and we can then determine if the body in question is his. The sight might be a little bit much for lady such as yourself."
"No." The she shook her head, "No I have to go in, and I have to see it. I have to see him." She turned to her fiancé. His expression was grim his lips pressed tight. He nodded to her and put his hand over hers enclosing it completely between his own; Villosie squeezed tightly as the guards moved aside and let her into the room.
Inside the smell of the burnt furniture and walls sent a second shock through her. Her heart had been racing twice as fast, and yet she couldn't feel it beating in her chest. The burn marks made her want throw up, as did the smoky smell that still lingered in the room. She thought her fiancé squeezed her hand a little bit tighter and Villosie turned to glance at him. Regal's eyes were cast down across the room at something on the floor. Slowly she turned her head to follow what he was staring at another eyes fell on the body on the floor she let out a loud scream.
She had not meant to scream.
It just sort of happened. There were no words to it, it was just a sound, a loud shrill sound that escaped her mouth and she took a step back. She took more than a step; it was really several, as her body seemed to lurch itself backwards. It felt as if she was trying to get out of the room and leave her physical form there while her soul escaped to a different time and place. But they were tangled together, her body and her thoughts. As much as she felt like her mind and heart were tearing out of her, she could not get out of the room. She turned, dragging herself backward, nearly yanking Regal's arm right out of its socket. The former military officer held on to her hand and turned quickly to grab her shoulder.
"Villosie, Villosie!" The man leaned forward and hugged her squeezing her tight and trying to turn her around so that her back was to the body. However she completely resisted, feet now firmly planted on the carpet and staring over his shoulder at the burnt body of her grandfather on the ground. She had stopped screaming. Her arms wrapped around Royce, her hands clung onto the back of his jacket as her eyes fixed on the old man the floor.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Keiss and Layle were supposed to come talk to him. He was supposed to mention that she had already been urging him to leave town return home to Marr's pass. And simply put this all behind him; that she had spent the past week asking him to retire completely from working for the kingdom. Layle would be his usual smiling self and Keiss would begrudgingly agree that would be a good idea, but not before prodding for information about his status, what he could do with it, how you made it, all the ins and outs. The Selkie did always dig for information, even for things he did not need to know. The doctor would scoff at first thing that they been talking to his granddaughter, he probably slip and apologize about hiding her identity but would point out he didn't want to send his only living family to jail. They would argue some, disagree on how to handle it, but in the end the doctor would agree to depart the city.
That's how it was supposed to end.
With her grandfather leaving the city to take up a quiet life back there. That is how it should've ended.
Thinking about what should have been, as opposed to what was, made her shake in her fiancé's arms. She shook with anger and grief. Regal reached up and ran the palm of his hand on her head, quietly trying to calm her and telling her it would be alright, and to just let it all out.
Why he kept silently encouraging her, telling her it would be all right, was lost on her. It seemed completely out of place with the anger she was feeling to encourage her to follow through on this rampage that she felt building up inside her. That is until she felt that the shoulder of his coat was growing wetter by the second. She had her face pressed against his shoulder as she looked over at her grandfather lost in thought of what to do next, lost in thought on what should have been versus what was, she hadn't even noticed she started crying. That she was crying so much that the shoulder of Regal's tuxedo was now soaked. She pulled back from her fiancé and ran her fingers underneath her eyes. Villosie shook her head at him and frowned as she did so.
"This was not how it was supposed to be… It should not have ended this way. His life should not have ended this way."
"I know, dear, I know… Do not worry, Villosie, we will find out who did this and I'll make sure their punishment is swift and just. I promise you this." Regal reached forward and clasped her hand in his own. He stroked the top of her palm reassuringly and did his best to smile. "I'll make it my top priority to ensure that we find your grandfather's murderer and bring them to justice."
Villosie sniffled as he stroked her hand. And she pressed her lips together. From the fire around the room she already had a feeling of who it was; if that was the case, then they would never allow Regal to bring them to justice. It would have to be something she'd settle herself.
"I know you will, Royce, dear," she leaned forward again hugged him, looking down at the body of her grandfather, a forest fire-like rage smouldering inside her, even if she would probably not be able to get a hold of the Crystal Bearer that did this. By now she was sure he was moved far outside the city, far from anyone would look for him. After all, the military covered up their internal crimes well. But she would get the man that employed him. She'd make sure she'd get Spinosa along with his precious so-called cure.
Layle wasn't really sure where his feet were carrying him. He had let Keiss walk off without him. He knew it was more than likely a bad idea for him to be roaming the streets right now, but he didn't want to go back to the apartment.
The Clavat squeezed the recorder in his hand.
The doctor was dead. He was their best hope of understanding what Spinosa was doing with the Crystal Bearers, aside from his granddaughter. But even Villosie had gaps in her information. Layle knew Keiss could find out anything and everything they needed. But it was the time controlling Crystal Bearer that would have the means to use it and put an end to the cure.
But they hated each other.
He supposed it was warranted.
She had started out trying to kill them both… And eventually narrowed her focus to just trying to kill Keiss.
"But, she did save us back in the Mushroom forest…" He unclenched the recorder in his hand. "She did help me save Lyra… And the twins… But Keiss has always been there for me. We're partners. It has never been a problem for me to worry about his endgame…"
He turned the recorder over in his fingers and hit play. Layle raised the little black device up to his ear and kept walking. The sound quality was a bit low, and some of the sentences were broken. But he could make out Clockwork and Keiss speaking.
"So, you're off without your Crystal Bearer," he heard Clockwork mutter. Keiss spoke next, though it seemed more disjointed than the Lilty's words.
"-I should turn you in. …I should turn –in, -Layle."
"I'm trying to do the right thing here, it's you who's working for the bad guys!"
"The right thing? You've tried to kill- every time we meet…"
"This is Spinosa's work! The man you work for. The man you make the Gravity Bearer work for. You have to stop."
"I got what I wanted-"
"You're a fool, you're going to get that Crystal Bearer killed. And for what? Your own selfish ambitions?"
"-he does willingly to help me-"
"If they try to cure the Clavat?"
"-I would- let anyone 'cure' Layle. -if it meant -getting what I want. He's- not –important..."
Layle stopped walking and turned off the recorder. He looked down at the device. His mind was blank. Not even a witty or snide response came to mind. He stared at it, sitting in his palm, waiting for it to do something. As if it were a Basilisk poised to turn him to stone. As soon as he could think again he curled his fingers around the recorder and raised his hand to toss it. A gravity field wrapped around his fist and he turned his eyes upward, ready to chuck it far beyond where no one would hear it.
The Clavat held that pose, one arm up, ready to toss.
He held it, taking a few deep breaths through his mouth.
Out the corner of his eye something stung. Maybe a bit of dampness, or maybe it was the flash of gold light he caught on the side of the street.
Whatever it was, it made him lower his arm with a sigh. He turned to the side, looking across the way at the other Crystal Bearer. Villosie stood, still wearing her ball gown, a grim and angry frown across her face. Her makeup was smudged a bit, and there were still trails from dried tears down her cheeks.
Layle lifted his head as he looked at her. And a smirk finally returned to his face.
"So… Where are we going?"
"Kilanda. That's where the end waits for us. For all of us."
"Us?" He tilted his head in question.
"Crystal Bearers." Clockwork clenched her fist. "That is where they take us. To wipe us from the face of the planet."
"…When do we leave?"
Regal had taken his fiancé back home. The entire way back to her apartment, Villosie wavered between tears and anger. He knew there wasn't much he could do for her at the moment. All he could do was be there for her. The doctor was her last remaining relative. Even the maids she'd kept at her home in Marr's Pass, girls she often told him were like her own family, were gone. Though he knew where one had gone, his fiancé never told him what happened to the other sister. Simply that she left, ran away from it all.
In truth, he did not care so much for the Clavat twins, as much as he cared for the impact their loss had on his beloved.
Villosie's wellbeing meant the world to him.
They had been introduced in primary school. The prim and proper young girl and her overjoyed grandfather. The Oides to him at the time seemed like a strange family. Villosie never strayed far from home, and the old man seemed a bit obsessed with telling her to be careful about everything. He wondered if he was over protective because her parents were gone? Or perhaps she was very sick. It had seemed to him, that when they were children nothing was wrong with her.
She was zealous, inquisitive, smart, and pretty. When her grandfather wasn't looking she was after him like she was one of the boys. Insisting that he'd leave her alone. Or chasing him with her garden can. Refusing the idea that the Oides and the Regals would one day be one family by their marriage.
Which he couldn't have agreed more with. By the time he went away to military school, the thought of marrying Villosie was far from his mind.
When he returned from school, and found her engaged in her own studies, just as obsessed with Crystal research as her grandfather, it was still far from his mind. She was just as lovely as before, maybe more so. The purple in her hair had grown, and the flower atop her head had turned a deeper colour. But she still looked at him with some sort of vengeance. She'd laugh and be witty with the maid's twin girls in her garden, and would frown and scowl when the Regals came to visit. Nothing was pleasant about it, their arranged marriage.
It was on the third time that he came home that it changed.
He was not met with the usual scowl or disinterest. No fake pleasantries or presented manors. Instead there was a lonely girl waiting for him in silence. Her expression conflicted, trying to display confusion and grief at the same time. Her friends the twins were absent from the scene. And she made no fuss about when he approached her. In fact she latched onto him, begging him to sit. He thought he'd get an explanation, but all she did was cry. He thought they sat forever in the Oides' back garden, listening to her cry. The only explanation offered was a question:
"Is this what Crystal Bearers do?"
It wasn't until later that he learned one of the twins had accidently poisoned their mother. The girl had a crystal. He'd heard it caused a few minor problems, but it never killed anyone before. She locked herself up in her room, while the other twin did her best to carry on. Villosie sat in their garden crying for days. And everyday Regal went and sat with her.
Everyday she asked him if because of Crystal Bearers only mean things like this would happen. When he finally answered her, he told her yes. It was what he knew to be true; even if the Bearer tried to be good, eventually, they would bring destruction. He knew that was the truth. He thought it was what she needed to hear.
But no sooner had he said, did the old Villosie return. The girl snapped at him. Yelling and calling him names. Proclaiming he was wrong. He wasn't sure what set her off, but the fact that she was back to her usual assertive self was a relief to him. It seemed to be one to her as well. It was, from that moment on, that Regal found he enjoyed coming back to visit Villosie. And each time he did return, they would sit in her garden and speak and debate.
On matters of family, school, the state and crystals.
From that time on, he always wanted her to be this way. Full of ideas and conviction. Her determination, her mocking laughter, the sly way she would pick and choose her own outcome behind his back. Sometimes it was taxing, but it was what he enjoyed about her. Seeing her cry, or falter, seeing her spirit break, was the worst thing to him.
So when Spinosa informed him her grandfather wanted to cure the world of Crystal Bearers, he was on board for the idea. Remembering how much it hurt her, he thought she would be too. She was opposed however. Offering to argue up for the rights of the citizens they were infringing upon. She always came at him with valid points, but there was no stopping this. She had to begrudgingly let it go. Though he wonder if she still could now, after the twins and after tonight.
Surely, Villosie understood that the plan had to go forward, even if it had changed so much
The former Lilty officer arrived at Lieutenant Spinosa's office an hour after dropping off his fiancé. He had sent a soldier from the crime scene back to the ball to ask the man to meet him here. He knew the Lieutenant would arrive first, since he was coming straight from the ball to the offices. Regal didn't want to have this conversation around the others. There would be enough alarm tomorrow reading about the doctor's death in the headlines. It wasn't needed to disclose the events where others could hear them.
He walked into the Lieutenant's office and shut the door. The man was already sitting and waiting for him as expected.
"Sir… Dr. Oides has been murdered."
"I know." The Lieutenant didn't look at him. On his desk was the package from Piper. The box was closed, but the seal was torn. He had his hands folded and was looking down at them, not at the man across form his desk.
"… Though… Though the soldiers' reports and eyewitnesses' testimony, give a description of the Selkie and the Gravity Bearer, the doctor's wounds do not match, Sir. I think we should bring Blaze in for questioning. He is one of the last known Fire Bearers operating within the city."
"Blaze is not available for questioning, Regal. But have the men round up the Gravity Bearer. And have him delivered straight away to Kilanda."
"…Sir," Regal took a step forward. "The doctor was murdered, by a fire controlling Crystal Bearer. We should at least take into account where Blaze wa-"
"-I know where he was, Regal." The man stood up, keeping his palms planted firmly on the desk. "And I am telling you, I want Layle. Blaze's power is insignificant to what I have planned. What we have planned. I spoke to the High Commander tonight. And the plans have been moved up."
"…Up, sir?" Regal took a step back.
"Yes, so we need to be up and running by tomorrow night." He walked around the desk nodding to Regal. "So every guard in this city is now on alert for that Crystal Bearer. The murder of Dr. Oides."
Regal shook his head, his eyes narrowing a bit, "But I just told you-"
"Regal!" The Lieutenant cut him off, "When you joined this project with me, you said you agreed with my vision, to rid this Kingdom of its blight. You said so yourself, we would be better off without Bearers and the pain they caused those around them."
"…I did…"
The Lieutenant put a hand on Regal's shoulder. "Then see to it, that that last one is brought in. And you and your fiancé will have justice for the doctor's death." He squeezed his shoulder, "If you side with them on this, then you too will not make it to the end of my vision. Is that clear?"
Regal looked up into the Lieutenant's eyes. He stopped breathing and looked the man over. He felt the grip on his shoulder tighten, and he finally nodded.
"Good," Spinosa let go of Royce's shoulder and he backed up. The brown haired Lilty bowed to him and turned to leave the room. "Oh, and Regal." The other Lilty stopped, "Send a letter to Keiss as well. Tell him, if the Clavat should be turned in by him, I will personally see to it, that he's given a position in the military."
"…Sir?" Regal turned around, "You can't be serious."
The man scoffed, "Of course I'm not. But I want to have all my bases covered. He won't hide the Clavat if what he wants is on the line. He's a Selkie after all."
Lieutenant Spinosa watched Regal leave. He turned and walked back around to his seat. He'd already sent Blaze off. He had had half a mind to turn the Crystal Bearer in himself. He wasn't supposed to be caught, and he was supposed to search the doctor for his final experiment. Instead he returned empty handed. He was sure Layle or Keiss had it by now. But all he needed was the Crystal Bearer. If Keiss had the vials, he would turn him in for the murder.
The man sat down and opened up the box, once again taking out the cylinder Piper had given him.
"That just leaves the time wielder." He turned the tube over in his hand before twisting off one end to reveal a long needle. "The Selkie will go down for murder, and the Oides will go down for treason… And the Crystal Bearers will finally be put to good use in this Kingdom."