This chapter was pretty hard to edit, I didn't know exactly what I wanted when I first wrote it, but it has improved quite a lot and adjusted pretty well. Its still an original chapter so I only don't own the scenary where this chapter's take place and other mentioned locations aside from Kristelia.

Chapter 1: Blue Comet

Flynn remained with the little princesses until Vanille woke up. Her memories seemed unaffected, but she was under a strange lack of energy and the magick did seem to go haywire around her. Aily promised she could help, but it would take time.

Meanwhile, he found out the younger Viera was a Sky Pirate once a gifted kristelian girl, the name she made herself was nowhere near to tell the whole story, and although she wasn't going to tell him the rest, the blue mage knew kristelians enough to know, if she gave him her word, she was bound to it. Aily was there because she'd faced a rare beast in the desert and barely escaped. Apparently the usual potions and spells weren't working to heal the wounds and Rajn was growing worried about her condition.

She led Flynn to meet the group from which she offered help. They actually lived in that camp in the desert, instead of the city. For protection, some would say, others would point out it was just their way of being different, not being directly under the system. The twelve woman, known as Zodiac Roses, were a group of dancers that traveled around Dalmasca, their real names unknown, except for the ones who could remember of their youth, and they often used colorful hooded capes and well crafted masks, but they had settled down recently and looked after a few young girls, be their younger initiates or others who looked up to them to learn something new.

They were like a rare tribe, following traditions and beliefs different from the other humes, part of their legends and magick traditionally kristelian, kept for generations after the original group was formed. It made trusting them difficult to mostly people, old legends of thievery and treason not helping a little, but like Aily, they were bound to their words if someone truly knew how to deal with them.

He promised to the four years old princess he would come back and trusted her's and her sister's guard to the leader of the Roses, known as Faith. As far as he knew them in the last few days, they were in good hands.

But he had not gone back, and it was eight years ago.

Within these eight years the Kristelian refugees settled down in an alliance with Nabradia and plans were made for their return to the refuge city built within the Black Swamp before the archadian forces finally found it out but, before action could be taken, the same strange Mist which destroyed Kristelia's capital long before the war, swallowed the hidden fortress, all their hopes with it.

The four princesses being the only thing left of Kristelia's original power and the only hope to its rebuilt couldn't be hidden under their mother's Rozarrian blood, thus Vanille and Lily were left in Dalmasca and Vallery and Larxillyan raised under Flynn's family name, but taught and trained by kristelian traditions, prepared for the war everyone was afraid of.

But beside being twins, both born within Kristelia and under its Mist's influence, Vallery had the kristelian touch her sister did not. The calm and patience typical of Kristelia's people, an empathetic link to people around her, characteristics considered important for the complete recovery of the real Kristelia. And over the years, she acquired what the refugees called Kristal Balance, becoming a skilled Red Mage, ready for her trial of graduation at fifteen, although they usually happen when the student completed seventeen.

Larxly, in turn, began to receive separate training at fourteen. She was proud, stubborn, reckless and impatient. The younger twin enjoyed fighting and thought her strength as the best way to solve her problems. The girl's curiosity and adventurer spirit often led to problems and dangers that threaten not only herself.
But what Larxly missed in all the attributes her sister had, she certainly had in strength, in her ability of discovery and survival, courage and leadership essential skills in a war. It wasn't the perfect set, but it was exactly why they were two, one completed the other and although Larxly did not have her own Kristelian magick, people believed the combination of the two was able to generate a positive energy which could contain the destruction of the ancient kingdom, if only they had a chance to use it.

Despite all the differences, which often caused quarrels between the two, the twins remained strongly united, disagreements and separations never lasted long. Secretly, Vallery admired her sister's courage, self confidence and her ability to cope with situations that demanded the most of her own abilities. On the other hand, Larxly envied the confidence people had in her sister, her apparent success and especially the legacy of House Kristal she apparently hadn't, but did not let it overwhelm or interfere in their sisterhood, while also admiring her internal strength and the calm with which Vallery dealt with people and situations where her explosive behavior would only put her in danger.

Larxly believed that, in those circumstances, they would be better in Rozarria where she imagined her mother's noble blood would give her protection and status, but Tally Windbreaker was responsible for the fate of the princesses until they were eighteen, so she had to settle with the Captain's decisions for now, agreeing with them or not.

Vallery cut her dark hair shorter, just below her shoulders and her skin was more tanned, she was thinner and had more angular features, looking nothing like the little kristelian princess she once had been. In fact, different from her twin, she adapted quickly to her new life, to the point of near forgetting anything of her old life, except for her family.

Larxly hadn't changed much, despite having grown up. She trained constantly and mostly people considered her a great warrior, but to her it wasn't enough. Vallery did believe her sister was moved by a certain fear she tried to hide and was afraid of where it all would lead.
Everyone thought Larxly, different from her sister, wasn't ready for her trial just yet. Still, she'd created a fuss over it; the girl would never admit her twin sister was better than her in anything. After long arguments, she was allowed to accompany Vallery. They always did everything together and maybe they would form a good team.

By tradition, the two would share whatever status they did get, unless one of them was married before, what did seem a long way off at the moment, what Larxly considered her luck as Vallery was a few seconds older and always had more charisma among the other refugees.

"Are you ready?" The younger twin asked.

Different from the Kristelian traditions, the trials were made to prove each person against their major weakness, to see t which point they could surpass the difficulties and limitations, in Vallery's case facing a real battle by herself for the first time. Yet, Larxly was sent along because they would not risk the princess' life in the chance she did fail.

"If we wait for me to be ready, I guess we'll be here forever." Fighting wasn't a real issue for her, but when it came to the need of killing anything... She wasn't sure if it was a good idea, after all, there was no more than a slim chance she could do that without her sister's help.
"You can't be this weak when a war might be upon us at any moment." Her twin protested. "Come on, today is a new day and I've got a good feeling!"

Their hunt, a rare giant wolf that sometimes appeared in those mountains, causing problems for travelers had not yet been found. They were in that for a day and a half but not even Larxly's tracking skills had shown concrete tracks.

"These things must come from the desert." Larxly pointed out. "I've heard they are not like the Worgen here. We are less than a day from border, there is no much more where to hide."

"The captain said we should not go beyond the border." Vallery thought it better to warn. "Our issues should be resolved in our territory, or within the limits set to us."

"Well, I intend to find that thing. It's not like someone would find out, or like we were doing something wrong. They cannot just hold me to these meaningless rules."

"What makes you so interested in a creature that I should be hunting? You were sent here only as a sort of reinforcement."

"I'm your partner, half the reward is mine and you will not ruin my plans. Why do you always have to follow everything everyone says?"

"Maybe for the same reason you never listen to anything or anyone." Vallery suggested, worried. There was a hint of greed in those intentions, or was it just Vallery's own concerns stirring with her nerves?

She had had a difficult sleep the night before and although did not even remember having dreamed, the princess awoke with a terrifying feeling that something was about to happen, something big, unusual, and that would change their destiny in some way. From the beginning she was afraid that dark feeling was referring to her sister, and those attitudes did not help her think otherwise.

"Well, I was not born to follow just any rule people push my way. What kind of princess does that?" Larxly replied, with a hint of pride in her voice.

Vallery sighed, annoyed. Her sister seemed to be the only one who still did not understand, there was no hope for them. Not only because they had so few people and had failed to defend themselves from the same Arcadian armies with more of them, but the Mist which destroyed their first home advanced, slowly yet so fierce and dangerous as any creature from the shadows. In a few years there would be nothing left of Kristelia, no matter if it was for them or their enemies. But hope or not, they were a family and had to stand it as such.

"I usually follow the rules, you don't... That's why Kristelia traditionally always had two people on the throne. No one sees the world completely, so two heads work better. That's why you're here, we can reach a compromise that pleases us both." She tried to appeal to her sister's good side, but it was getting increasingly difficult.

Larxly also sighed, stopped walking and turned to face her twin.

"Okay. What about we go to Nalbina? It's a little beyond the climate change limits, but technically is the official border between the kingdoms. I think I can get teleportation stones for us if we find something, and if we don't have luck, we refill our provisions and try again on our way back."

Vallery smiled. It was always like this, arguments began suddenly, for the most absurd reasons, but they always managed to reach a mutual agreement. And Larxly did say she had not a bit of traditional Kristelian magick, what sister did not understand was that what had kept their kingdom save and prosperous all those years was not magick, but little things like the very peaceful nature of its inhabitants and skills like that one, to always find a favorable agreement between all parties involved... it was the little attitudes and less magickal skills that constituted their true power, until they were caught somewhere in between a war which didn't belong to them.

"Sounds like a plan."

Larxly smiled back. It was hard to be angry with her sister for a long time, and considering they always got to a common understanding, she did not even know why to begin. It was like their nature to get into a conflict, only to strengthen that link they already knew pretty well, as a way to assured that nothing changed between them.

The two resumed their hunt with renewed spirits, laughing and talking as if that brief argument never happened. Vallery had almost reached the point of forgetting her earlier concerns when the two saw the end of their hunt.

The wolf was taller than them and had an atypical color for a creature of the mountains, bright red eyes showed no mercy, sharp fangs and claws threatened to cut through her flesh with easy, even from afar. Vallery froze. It was crazy if anyone expected her to kill that thing! First the young princess did not believe in violence as a solution, but had to learn to defend herself and so accepted that job without hesitation, but imagined it was just a wolf, no more than unusual intelligent or aggressive. But before such a creature she felt intimidated.

"I ... I think I can't do it." Vallery muttered. She wasn't prepared, had told herself the last few days she could do it, but the truth was that she could not muster enough courage.

"It's all right." Larxly held her sister's hand in a comforting gesture. "We can."

She hadn't gone all the way down there to see her sister run back like a frightened hare. Sometimes the young princess believed they were two for a reason and it made no sense to try to separate them, one completed the other and that was the very principle of fraternity upon which Kristelia was built. Obviously then the twins came into a conflict of interests or ideas and Larxly wondered if she was right about that, but right now she was perfectly sure.

Vallery smiled and held her sister's hand harder, thinking how she'd been right all the time about their interaction. Whatever one couldn't do by herself, the two together could overcome, and there was no rule prohibiting teamwork, otherwise they would never have allowed them to get there together.

But Larxly quickly separated from her sister, a look of shock and surprise on her face, eyes focused on the sky. The wolves howled in unison and the sky began dyeing of a darker and bright blue.
Vallery followed her sister's gaze, to see a comet of bright blue tail streaked across the sky above their heads. With the strange coloring left by the comet's trail, the sky was filled with stars in broad daylight and the Mist started to become dense, bluish and clearly visible in the air.

"It's wonderful!" Larxly whispered.

"This comet should not be here." His sister replied as the big star moved away.

"Why not?"

"Did you never pay attention to the astronomy classes? A blue comet is only seen in Ivalice every hundred years, except that, with this one, at least three have been spotted during the last seven years. Its path has been increasingly irregular and some people they believe this a sign something bad is close to happening. "

"Nonsense." Larxly laughed. "It's a rare opportunity to see one of these! I admit it is loaded with Mist, but Ito think of it as a presage..." The Mist began to fade and the sky returned to its normal color, the girl looked around, but the wolves had fled. In fact, there was no sound or movement in that part of the mountains beside the twins. "Come on, let's see if we still can catch up with that wolf!"

The two sisters continued their way down the mountain for a few meters more but did not need to go far. A howl cut the surprising silence, but it did not sound as a wolf, even so, the sisters decided to go and check. As they approached one of the old shrines of the valley, an ancient fountain built no one knew when, by whom or why, currently out of operation, they saw an ice trail in the vegetation and then the three Humbabas who seemed angry at something the two could not identify. Then the first one fell, followed by a second and it gave the princess a good view of the enemy.

He couldn't be much older than the twins, maybe six or seventeen, blond hair, tanned skin and showed the strength of a trained warrior. But there was something wrong with him, fighting as if under the influence of a Berserk spell and there was ice all over his body. His left arm was almost completely frozen, as well as the opposite ankle and he had a great streak of ice on the right side of his face, besides various small ice spots everywhere else.

When the last Humbaba fell the young man stopped, the apparent anger gave way to confusion and his energy seemed to drain away quickly. He staggered and sought support in the shrine.
Seeing this abnormal behavior, Vallery ran down to the shrine as well, worried, ignoring her sister's protests, who saw no alternative but to follow her.

"Hello!" The princess called uncertainly, but the young man did not answer, he did seem weak. This made her get closer. "Are you alright?"

This time he turned in her direction and their eyes met, the dalmacan's eyes were blue and bright, but perhaps it was the effect of whatever had frozen him like that. He stumbled toward her, lost his balance but she held in.

"Angela?" He did seem to ask in a whisper before losing consciousness.

"He needs a healer." Vallery turned to her sister. "He's cold!"

Larxly rolled her eyes. She could guess that last part from afar.

"We don't know who he is or where he came from..." Larxly started to protest, she did not trust that guy, the unusual strength and all the ice made her uneasy. Not to mention there was no healer around, the valley used as traveler's camping was hours from there and the princess doubted they had any healer there.

"We can not let him die!" The older twin insisted.

Both thought of a way to convince the other when a new voice distracted both:

"Well, look at what I have caught..." The newcomer commented, casually. "The two fugitive princesses and a stray Scion. "The comet really attracts the most curious creatures, enough to make the wait worth it."

It was a woman, with long snow-white hair, in contrast with her dark misty dress and violet eyes. She walked as if floating and her voice had a dark tone, her silver belt was adorned by curious runes, as well as the cover of the book she carried.

None of the sisters liked the look of the newcomer and even less her words. They did not understand why she called the boy a Scion or how she knew who they were, but it all sounded like a menace.

Vallery tried to remember any spell strong enough to protect the three in the event of an attack and Larxly drew her sword, placing herself in front of her sister in a protective gesture.

"Who are you?" The older princess bravely demanded to know. First the comet, then the boy, now this woman... All these anomalies were beginning to seem like a threat to her and she would not tolerate it. "Stop right there and identify yourself!"

"Such bravery and foolishness in so young hume... It's ridiculous." The woman commented while, in a casual gesture, made Larxly's sword disappear in a cloud of smoke. "Now listen to my warning, give me the Scion and'll let you both live for a while longer. Try to resist and you will have the same destiny as him."

For Larxly it was all right, she herself considered the mysterious boy a threat. Anyone able to knock down three Humbabas unarmed had some kind of supernatural power that should not exist and if she had to choose between her own life and someone so dangerous... But she knew her sister would not agree with this idea. Vallery couldn't kill anything and wasn't that good with fighting in general, but with a life in danger she would risk her own to fight, and Larxly would have to fight to protect her sister anyway, so there was no real choice and she hated feeling trapped that way.

"Come and get him if you want." Vallery challenged, standing up and pulling her own sword. She might not have been ready for the hunt, but wouldn't let anyone die because of her own fear.

The woman only laughed and opened her book, Vallery hesitated and Larxly snatched the sword from her sister's hand, it was clear she would be of no help to the fight even with one of those. And as the woman began to recite what she took as a sort of incantation, the girl knew doing spells by the book took time and advanced, decided to take that brief moment of weakness to attack. The woman made no movement to avoid the attack and did not seem worried. A few meters from hitting her mark Larxly stopped, finding it impossible to make a single movement more, her sister's sword began heaving i her hands then felt the force seizing tight around her throat.

Vallery could actually see the spell forming from the shadows, forming the shape of a giant hand, she tried to call her sister back but found herself unable to voice any sound. Frustrated, the princess didn't give it a second thought as she saw her sister drop her sword, she had never seen such magick, but doubted it could hold both of them back or the woman would already have done so, instead of trying to keep Vallery's own magick at bay with a simple Silence spell.

In a moment of boldness the princess picked the sword up, closed her eyes but, in the last moment changed her mind and turned her attack towards the spell cloud instead of its caster, but an invisible force threw her back.

Her head feeling dizzy and her muscles sore, Vallery still tried to get up, if she could get to her backpack perhaps she could still save her sister, but perhaps realizing her effort, the woman summoned a new shadow, which took the form of a wolf and invested against the fallen girl. The shadow jumped, the princess closed her eyes waiting for the impact, but none came, only the muffled sound of a shot and a body hitting the floor.

A second shot followed, soon joined by the strange sound of an explosion, before Vallery finally summon the courage to open her eyes. Larxly was on the floor, and the mysterious woman they were facing had turned angrily to something behind the princess.

"Do not interfere, young Astral, this fight is not with the ones of your ilk yet." The woman warned, casting new spell against her new enemy, which was countered with new shoot.

Vallery turned to see the newcomer, slight older than herself, no doubt kristelian, although it wasn't hard to pass him as archadian as well. Light brown hair, bright blue eyes with that traditional glint of Kristelian magic, a dashing figure for sure, if the princess was to guess she would say he was a Hunter or Sky Pirate, but she had never seen him before and it wasn't supposed to be other Kristelians around the rest of Ivalice aside from their little refugees group. He did not show any sign of disturbance by the fight and steadily held his gun aimed at the woman.

"It may well be," he replied calmly "but I'm not one of tolerate shadows, let alone when they happen to be hurting young girls. Think of it as you want, this fight is mine as much as it is theirs." His reply was followed by new shoot and proceeded to attack, not giving his enemy much room to anything other than defend herself, but every little moment he took to reload, she was quick to cast a storm of spells his way. He was quick in getting out of the way and shots and spells flew everywhere. The faster the battle ended, the better for any of them.

Vallery saw this distraction as an advantage and ran for her things, hoping she could be of any help, finding the leftover of Echo Herbs she still had, the taste was bitter, but she felt the spell's effect wearing off almost immediately.

Determined, the girl began to invoke the only great spell she knew. The Mist's energy flowed easy to her, with an unusual tingling sensation running through her body like electricity, she had never felt so alive, never felt so much power... The air began to be filled by a strong white light, which began to envelope the mysterious woman, who still tried to cast new spell towards the princess, but a water barrier protected the girl. She let out a loud cry when the light began to dissipate and no trace of her existence was left behind when the spell was gone.

Taking a deep breath, Vallery dropped to her knees as the sudden energy abandoned her. She looked up as the sound of footsteps approached and saw the young kristelian hunter looking down at her as he let out a low whistle.

"That was impressive!" He extended a hand to help the girl to her feet. "Are you all right?"

"Still hurts a little." She replied, accepting the unknown's man help. "Thank you, for saving me."

"Didn't do more than my duty. But it seems your friends do need help. Can you walk?" Vallery only nodded. "Do you think you can carry her?" He asked, picking up the young dalmascan.

The princess wasn't sure but, for her sister, she would try anything. She walked to Larxly and tried to lift her, surprisingly it was easier than the girl even expected. Or her sister was a little under her usual weight, or the Mist was still helping her.

Confuse, a little nervous and full of questions, Vallery followed the mysterious guy through a trail different from the one the two sisters came through. The only thing clear in her mind, was the fact the comet was really beginning to change everything, in a way or another.