Hey all! This is my first fanfic up here, so pleas be gentle. Haters will hate of course, but all flames will be used to make s'mores. Please R&R and thanks for reading!
Disclosure: Skies of Arcadia and its characters belong to their rightful owners, not me. No matter how much I wish it was...
Prisoner
Vyse, Aika, Gilder and Fina sat in silence in the meeting room. The tension and frustration was so thick in the room that you could almost choke on it.
"I don't get it." Aika said suddenly. "It's been a week since they raised Soltis. What are they waiting for?"
"I don't know." Vyse answered. "The place is too heavily guarded, as we well know, to make any kind of move."
Silence fell back upon them as they remembered all too well what happened the last time they out meet Galcian, the Armada and Ramirez. The whole thing was a mass failure-the Armada was too many and they were too few. Fortunately they only lost a few ships, however, all those who were able to fight were already among them; there was no one else.
"So what do we do?" Fina asked. But before her question was answered, Marco came into the room.
"Captain! The Armada is here!"
"What?" The four of them asked in unison, all standing at the same time.
"There's only one ship though."
They all ran onto the balcony, looking to the Southwest, spotting the ship.
"That's a 6th Fleet ship." Gilder stated. "But…why are they flying a white flag?"
"I don't know." Vyse replied softly, spotting the white flag at the top of the mast, confusion evident in his voice and on his face. "We'll never know if we shoot them down though, let them come onto the island."
The lifeboat from the Valuan ship docked by the flagpole and two figures made their way towards the fountain, where Vyse, Aika, Gilder and Fina were already standing. By this time, the rest of Vyse's crew, as well as the other ship's crews, had gathered and watched in silent woe as the two shadowy men approached Vyse and his party. They were elite assassins, body guards of Ramirez, not that he needed it. "Just what in the hell do they want?" Vyse wondered.
"Captain Vyse?" One of them asked once they were close enough.
"Yes?"
The two assassins knelt before them, bringing their right fists to the left side of their chests, bowing their heads.
"We have come for Admiral Ramirez's sake. I know we have no right to ask this of you," the one speaking raised his head, looking at Vyse "but we need your help."
"What happened?"
The two men stood up and paused briefly before answering, as if to wonder where they should begin.
"He has been taken to the Grand Fortress, as well as most of the 6th Fleet. They are to be executed as traitors at first light tomorrow."
The whole island was silent from shock for several moments before Fina asked the question that was on everyone else's mind. "Why?"
"Once he and Galcian returned from the Silver Shrine and raised Soltis, Galcian no longer needed him. He convinced the rest of the Armada that he was planning on stealing the Crystals and bringing them to you. The 6th Fleet, who knew Admiral Ramirez better than that, stuck by his side and came to his defense. They were all taken to the Grand Fortress one by one. The two of us are the only ones who have been able to avoid arrest." He approached Vyse, knelt before him again and took his hands in his own. "Please, you are the only one who could help. If you do so, the 6th Fleet will join you in your fight against Galcian."
"If what you said is true, then why would they wait so long to execute him?" Gilder asked.
"The Valuans enjoy torturing traitors, especially ones who are so high up in the Armada. Many of the other soldiers have already been executed I'm sure, but the Captains, maybe the Vice Captains, and the Admiral are receiving the most torture. More often than not in situations like this, the prisoners don't even make it to the chopping block; they end up bleeding to death before."
"So what should we do Vyse?" Aika asked.
It took about an hour for them to decide their course of action: they would break Ramirez out. None of them were surprised that Galcian would pull some cheap stunt like that. That's what he does best-chews people up then spits them back out. What surprised them was the length that he went to.
They stayed below the clouds, getting to the other side of the gate. The two assassins came with, as they knew the Fortress inside and out. Once on the inside of the Fortress, the Delaphinus sat just below just below the clouds.
"They'll be keeping them in that cell block," the first assassin said, pointing to one of the blocks. "Blast a hole just above it, we can get in and get them out before the guards get a chance to organize and counter."
"Sounds good to us, keep their attention on the ship while we sneak in and out. Hopefully they'll be too concerned with the Delaphinus that they won't notice us, or at least the cells won't be so heavily guarded." Vyse instructed, and Lawrence nodded that he understood.
With one blast of the Moonstone Cannon, they blew a hole into the Fortress and were able to slip into the cell block. Once all the Captains and Vice Captains were out, Vyse and the rest of the rescue committee quickly realized that Ramirez wasn't among them.
"Where's the Admiral?" The assassin asked one of the Captains.
"They took him to Solitary 6 days ago; he's been there the whole time."
A sense of dread washed over them all. In solitary, the guards can do anything they want to him, which in this case meant only one thing-the most brutal torture imaginable. The two assassins were about to run towards solitary when Vyse caught the first one's arm.
"Get them back to the Delaphinus. The four of us will go get Ramirez."
"…alright." He agreed reluctantly. "Solitary is one floor down, to the right. Go through the air shafts once you're down there, they'll most likely have the door heavily guarded."
Once they reached the lower floor, they crawled up into the ventilation shafts like the assassin told them to. The air shafts were small and narrow, making them have to crawl on their hands and knees, one behind the other with Vyse in front, then Gilder, Fina and Aika at the back. As they reached the end of the hallway, Vyse raised a hand signaling them to stop and holding a finger to his lips before pointing down. From their position, they could hear the guards talking.
"What in the hell is going on up there?"
"Sir, a ship matching the Delaphinus was spotted on the interior side of the Grand Fortress and blasted a hole just above the cell blocks."
The warden walked towards the confinement cell, hands folded behind his back. "I see."
"We should secure the other prisoners." The second guard suggested.
"No." The warden replied, unhooking the keys from his belt. "They'll come for him last," he tossed the keys to one of the guards "get him up."
Once the guards had him out of the cell, the warden grabbed Ramirez's already bound hands and chained them to the bar above the cell door, hanging him a few inches off the floor. No sooner did he have him up, two more guards came in.
"Sir?" One of them questioned.
"If anyone comes through that door, kill him first." He ordered, pointing to Ramirez.
"Yes Sir!" The four guards replied in unison.
After the warden left, one of the guards began to approach Ramirez. "You better hope for your sake that your Air Pirate friends don't come for you." The only respond he got was a strained groan from the still swinging Silvite. "Aw, what's wrong Admiral? Uncomfortable?" The guard asked mockingly, chuckling and standing a few feet in front of him.
However, his laughs were cut short when Ramirez suddenly swung his legs up, trapping the guard's neck between them and jerked them to one side, snapping his neck. As he started to release his hold him, a massive jolt of electricity ran through his body and he went limp.
"Defiant until the end." One of the guards stated. "Don't forget, we have four guns charged with Electrulean, that's over 50,000 volts trained on you." He briefly zapped him again for emphasis. "And just what do you have? All that magic ability and that sword of yours locked up inside of you. You heard the warden-once they come through that door, you're dead!"
Before he could electrocute him again, a shot rang put, breaking the shackles binding Ramirez and he fell to the floor. Another moment later, the three guards were on the floor as well.
"Just what makes you so sure that we're coming through the door?" Vyse asked, his boot on the guard's throat. He was about to drive his cutlass into his chest when the warden's voice interrupted.
"Stop right there, Air Pirate." The warden was holding Ramirez by one of his arms, lifting his torso just enough to hold a blade to his throat. Vyse took a step closer, but was stopped again. "I wouldn't do that. Any closer and he dies. If you leave now, you won't have to die either, not yet anyway."
"That's not going to happen. You'll be dead before you even scratch him with that blade."
The warden smirked cockily. "Would you like to bet on that?"
Vyse returned his smirk, seeing the silver circles already forming under his feet. "Actually, yes, I would."
Before he could react, the razored Eternum needles rained down on him, killing him instantly. Due to the loss of support, Ramirez fell onto the cold hard floor. The four of them ran to him, Fina kneeling beside him, cradling his head in her arms.
"Ramirez? Ramirez?" she called, shaking him slightly, concern and panic growing by the second.
"He's still alive," Aika said. "But not by much. We need to hurry."
Using their last Sacres crystal, they were able to heal him enough for him to regain consciousness and be able to move. Deciding it would be easier to just run through the hallways, they ran back to the hole that they blasted, Vyse helping Ramirez run. Once there, Gilder shot a round charged with Pyri, signaling the Delaphinus. However, the Armada ships saw it as well and began firing at them, so they had to use the ship as a shield, therefore they could only get so close; that way the ship could still return fire.
"Looks like we'll have to do this the old fashioned way." Vyse said, unwrapping Ramirez's arm from across his shoulders and handing him to Gilder before jumping. "Fina!" he called, stretching his arms out. Catching her as she fell, he then called to Aika. Once she made it safely, he repeated the gesture.
"Alright, you're next Ramirez," Gilder said. Hesitating briefly, Ramirez jumped from the ledge. But his weakened body protested and his legs buckled once he made contact with the deck.
"You ok?" Aika asked, helping him up.
"Yeah," he replied weakly, dragging his feet as she helped him inside.
Once all five of them were inside, the ship descended far below the clouds, out of the Armada Gunships' cannon range, and they headed back home.
By the time they got back to Cresent Isle, Ramirez had lost consciousness again and a lot of his wounds had reopened, mainly due to the jump. Vyse and Gilder carried him to Ilchymis' lab and laid him on a cot that was there.
"What in the name of the six moons happened to him?" The chemist questioned, clearly concerned about his poor condition. And who could blame him? Now that they were back, and it was light enough, they could see the severity of his condition. His uniform, or what was left of it, was torn to the point where the white undershirt was practically in rags and stained from the dirt, blood and sweat. It was clear that the guard's favorite instrument of torture was the dreaded "cat-o-nine" because there were chunks of flesh missing from his back and on one of his sides, his wrists were cut up due to being shackled up on the bar, he had burn marks from the electrulean guns and from red hot pokers all over his body, a few of his ribs were broken and he had several long gashes all over his body. It was also obvious that they deprived him of sleep because of the dark circles under his eyes, as well as food as he had clearly lost weight. Ilchymis was able to reset his bones, put ointment on the cuts and bandage his burns and minor cuts and was in the process of stitching up the more serious cuts.
"Couldn't we just heal him with Sacreulean?" Aika asked.
"No. His body is too weak and frail to handle the shock; if we tried his heart could fail. It'd be better to heal him little by little, but not just yet." Ilchymis responded, pushing his glasses further onto his nose. "I'm going to do the best I can, but I have to be honest-I'm not sure he'll make it."
The assassins approached Vyse, startling him slightly. They were so focused on Ramirez, that he didn't even see or hear them come in.
"Our promise still stands Captain Vyse. You helped us rescue Admiral Ramirez, so the 6th fleet is now awaiting your orders."
"Tell your men to rest tonight, and I'll tell the Air Pirates the same thing. We leave in the morning." Everyone nodded in agreement and started to leave, but Ilchymis caught Vyse's arm. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I'm afraid we have an issue."
"What is it?" Gilder asked.
Ilchymis turned back to Ramirez, who had started to wake again, and rolled up his left shirt sleeve, at least what was left of it. Once it was raised, they all saw the cause if his concern. A long gash that ran from his elbow down to his mid forearm had gotten infected.
"Gangrene?" Aika asked in shock.
"I'm afraid so." He replied. He looked down at the Admiral and they shared the same grim expression before he placed a hand on his shoulder. "But not to worry, we'll get you taken care of."
Ramirez closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, attempting to calm his nerves as Ilchymis began digging a long box out from under some other supplies. Once he had it out, he turned to Aika.
"Get her out of here." He said gently, nodding towards Fina, who seemed to understand what was about to happen. "Vyse, Gilder, I need you two to hold him." He added, gently setting the box on the table beside the cot.
"…hold him for what?" Vyse asked.
The chemist looked at him sadly before turning back to the now open box. He pulled the beige cloth back revealing a hack saw.
"Oh no," Aika whispered.
"We need to hurry before the infection spreads." Ilchymis stated, pulling out a marker and examined his arm again, before marking it about 3 inches above elbow. "I'm going to cut where I've marked," he said looking at Ramirez "it should be high enough to cut away the infection." He turned back to the table and pulled out a small glass bottle of ether. "It isn't much, better you better take it." He said holding the bottle to his lips. After Ramirez drank it down, Ilchymis placed a cloth under his arm a few inches above where he marked and tied it around a short metal rod, then started to twist it tightly.
Vyse sat beside Ramirez, opposite of Ilchymis and placed his arms across the Silvite's chest, holding him in place. Gilder tapped Ramirez's shoulder and held a twisted piece of cloth up in front of him.
"Here, bite down on this." He said, placing it in his mouth.
"I'll be as quick as I can." Illchymis said softly, not much above a whisper.
Ramirez nodded to the chemist and closed his eyes.
The island came to a complete stand still once the first scream echoed out of the cavern.
"What in the hell is going on in there?" Don asked.
"Gangrene set into a wound on his arm." Aika stated.
Another scream echoed from the cavern and everyone on the island quickly realized what was happening.
Fina stood beside the flagpole, it being the furthest place from the cavern. As she watched the sun set, what she was trying to deny started to sink in; the thing she was trying to convince herself wasn't possible slowly started to reveal itself as the truth-the fact that he could die. As that realization sank in, tears began streaming down her face. Her silent sobs paused briefly when his echoing scream reached her ears, then she fell to her knees sobbing uncontrollably, burying her face in her hands.
About three hours later, Ilchymis emerged, drying his hands. He was slightly surprised to see everyone looking at him, a silent question etched on all their faces.
"He's stable." He stated, placing the towel in his pocket and pushing his glasses further onto his nose. "He lost consciousness shortly after we started, but he seems to be doing ok now. We just have to keep an eye on him." He looked around briefly. "Where's Fina?"
"She's been by the flagpole the whole time," Marco answered.
"Well, I have to finish cleaning up, but she can go in now if she wants to."
Aika slowly approached her friend. Her knees were pulled to chest, arms folded on them, and her forehead resting on her arms.
"Fina?" she asked softly. The young Silvite raised her head, but didn't look back at her. "Ilchymis is done. He said Ramirez is asleep now and stable. You can go in and sit with him whenever you're ready."
Fina nodded before putting her head back down. Aika watched her for a moment before turning and walking away.
"Aika?" The meek question stopped the ginger in her tracks. When she looked back, Fina was standing, looking at her with a tear streaked face. "Tell me he'll be alright,"
She hesitated for a few moments, unsure of how to answer. "With you watching over him, he'll be just fine." She responded smiling. That appeared to be the right thing to say because Fina returned her smile before turning back to the horizon, a slight blush on her face.
Ramirez woke slowly and tried to sit up, but a hand on his chest gently urged him back down. He looked up to see a familiar face and was strangely relieved.
"Fina?" he asked softly, wondering why she was there. Then it all came back to him-being taken to the Grand Fortress as a "traitor", the torture, them rescuing him, and then losing his arm. "How long…" he started, but his already scratchy voice gave out.
"A week."
"Wha?" he asked, trying to sit up again, but she held him place.
She laughed lightly as his response. "You've been asleep for a week straight. Ilchymis didn't think you'd make it."
He smiled softly at her. "Fina, you were here the whole time, weren't you?" He asked, finally sitting up.
Blushing, she turned away from him slightly. "Well I-I just…wanted to make sure you were ok, I just wouldn't-couldn't leave your side."
Placing his fingertips on her jaw line, he turned her head so that she was facing him again. "You haven't changed." His expression suddenly changed and he let his hand slip off of her face. "How could you still care, still worry about me after everything I've done? How could you possibly forgive me?"
"Because you're my best friend. Besides, the Elders wanted to use the Crystals to destroy the world. Galcian wanted to use them to rule the world. I guess a world ruled under an iron fist would be better than there being no world at all."
"But-"
She placed her fingertips on his lips, silencing him. "It's ok. None of us hold it against you. All that matters is that I have you back. That's all I really wanted, all I cared about was having you back by my side." She slowly lowered her hand and replaced her fingers with her lips, gently and almost hesitantly, kissing him. To her relief he kissed her back, placing his hand on the back of her head and pulled her closer to him.
The kiss itself was brief, but in those fleeting moments, everything they ever wanted to say to each other came out with that one action. There was no need for words, because they already knew, they've always known. And they couldn't help but wonder where that would take them as soon as he got his full strength back. But again, something told them that they already knew. He leaned in to kiss her again, but Brahman had come in.
"Am I interrupting?"
Fina turned towards him, then looked away blushing. "Um, well I was-we were…"
Laughing lightly, he approached holding something wrapped up in his arms. "Well, I'll make this quickly, just in case." He said with a wink. Setting his bundle down on the table beside cot, he started to unwrap it, revealing an artificial arm. "Now, I'm gonna need you to lie down for me Admiral."
He looked at the old mechanic questioningly. "Where did you get that?" he asked, lying back down.
"I had him make it using material from my ship."
"Your ship? But then-"
Fina shook her head before looking at him.
"What is it? What happened?"
"Galcian, seeing that he had lost, was about to the Rains again. But he had activated the Dome of Light, so we couldn't stop him. That was when the…" her voice trailed off, cracking slightly. Clearing her throat, she continued, "the Elders brought the Shrine down, crashing into the Dome, destroying them both."
He lied there, the news slowly sinking in. Trying unsuccessfully to get a full sentence out, Fina took his hand as Brahman made final preparements, knowing that he couldn't start without Ilchymis.
"Wait a minute," he said, sitting back up. "What do you mean by 'again'?"
"He used the Rains on Valua the morning after we rescued you."
"But…why would…I mean I know why, I just don't understand why he waited…"
Fina shrugged and was about to speculate it out loud, but Ilchymis came in and stood behind Brahman.
"Are we ready?"
"Yeah, I was just making last minute adjustments."
"So, how does it work again?" Fina asked, placing a hand on Ramirez's chest, gently urging him back down.
"Well first we have to attach the docking mechanism onto his flesh. Once it's secure, the arm will slide into place. However, before we can do so, we have to attach the wires to his nerves, that way it'll function just like his other arm. The wires and sensors will also regulate the temperature of the metal, that way there will only be a slight difference between it and his body temperature. The process can be very painful, so we'll use Slippara to keep you asleep."
"At least this time we can do so," Ilchymis added. "We couldn't risk it last time, your blood pressure was dangerously low, and if I had lowered it any more, you more than likely would have died."
"Which is why we waited 'til you recovered a considerable amount." Brahman said. "We had to make sure you'd be able to take it. With this one watching over you," he gestured towards Fina, "you've recovered in a third of the time, at least to the point where we could attach it. After this, we'll be able use Sacrulean to heal you up the rest of the way. So just sit, back, relax, and when you wake up, you'll have yourself a nice shiny new arm."
Fina placed her hands on either side of his head and gave him a reassuring smile before casting Slippara. Once he fell asleep, Brahman and Ilchymis were able to proceed.
The whole process took about an hour and a half. Fina had to recast the spell throughout the procedure just to make sure he stayed asleep. But once they finished, the stopped allowing him to wake up on his own.
Nearly half an hour later, he began to wake again.
"How did it go?" he asked groggily.
"See for yourself," she said smiling, lightly touching the metallic arm.
To his amazement, he was actually able to feel her touch. Sitting up, he looked at her hand on his arm. "But…how?"
"I put extra sensors in the metal," Brahman replied. "It was experimental, but it looks like it worked."
"That's incredible!" he said in amazement, moving it around, testing the mobility and the function.
Brahman ran a few more tests on it before packing up his equipment and leaving. Ilchymis also left, leaving the two Silvites alone.
"Well, now that you're feeling better, lets get you into an actual room. Vyse said you could use the room next to his now that Enrique has gone back to Valua." She helped him up and they started to head to the housing quarters. On the way, some of the crew, as well as the two assassins, wanted to see how he was feeling, as well as check out the new arm. They started to doubt that they'd ever make it to the room. They weren't in there for too long when his stomach protested his getting comfortable. So instead, they went into the Tavern where, while he was trying to eat, the rest of the crew including Vyse and Aika wanted to check out the arm. It got to the point that he would just hold it out to the side and continue eating while they poked and prod at it, either nodding or shaking his head at their questions. Finally, once they were done poking at it, he was able to put it back down, much to his relief. Unsurprisingly, the thing got heavy!
Yearning to get off the topic of his arm and how he was feeling, he asked them what happened while he was unconscious. They had to think back to when they rescued him and try to remember what happened afterwards, so much had happened in that week.
"Fina already told me what happened to Valua," he said, giving them a point to start.
"Oh, well after that, we went back to Soltis," Vyse started. "But, Galcian had the Armada blocking our way to him, so we had to take them out first. This time we were more prepared: the remants of the 6th fleet came with us."
"I was wondering what those two were doing here." Ramirez said, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder at the two assassins, who stayed in the tavern just long enough to grab some food before disappearing again.
"Yeah, they came here asking for our help getting you out of the Fortress. They said that if we helped, the fleet would help us take out Galcian. Anyway, not too long after we got out there and the battle started, the Armada fell, but there was still one problem. Galcian still had the Dome activated."
"The Elders brought the Shrine down just as he was about to the Rains again." Ramirez said before putting another forkful of food in his mouth.
"Yeah, how did you-" Aika started. Ramirez lifted his left arm slightly, then pointed at Fina. "Ah,"
"Once the Dome fell, we landed on Shrine Island and were able to get into Soltis from there. Once we got into the tower, we were able to defeat Galcian. In a last ditch effort, he tried to awaken Zelos, but what he didn't realize was that only Silvites can control it."
"Yeah, I neglected to tell him that part," Ramirez said. "Which is why I couldn't but laugh when he had me arrested, he pretty much defeated himself."
"So you knew that he wouldn't be able to use Zelos?" Aika asked.
"Yeah. I figured that was why he brought me along with him from the start. He kept me by his side from the moment I arrived in Valua. We seemed to share the same outlook on the rest of Arcadia, for the most part anyway. He even went so far as to refer me as 'the son he never had'." He scoffed.
There was a moment's silence at their table. "That monster will never cease to amaze me." Aika said bitterly. "I mean I know he was a pro at using people, but that's…that's low for even him."
"There was one thing I wanted to ask you," Vyse started. "Why did you team up with him?"
Ramirez put his fork down and crossed his arms on the table, leaning on them slightly. "As you know, the Elders were going to use the Crystals to destroy the world. See, Fina, you were right. A world ruled under one man's iron fist would have been better than the world being destroyed. I thought that if anyone could save this world from such a fate, it was him. But after he had me sent to the Fortress…I realized…he was just as bad as the Elders, and the former Empress of Valua." Silence fell over them again, and hung in the air for a while. "So how was he killed?"
"Once he realized he couldn't use Zelos, he tried to escape using the top of the tower." Vyse answered. "We watched as his escape pod started heading away, too surprised at first to move. But just as we were about to run back to the Delaphinus in order to chase after him, we saw Belleza's ship approaching the pod rapidly and she…" he trailed off, sadness clear on all their expressions.
"I see." Ramirez said, understanding where he was going.
There was a slight pause before Vyse continued. "Once we got back, we found Enrique waiting for us by the flagpole. Apparently Belleza was able to get him out of Valua as the Rains started to fall. He said that he watched over you while we gone, giving Ilchymis a bit of a break. But once he heard us coming, he went out to meet us. A couple days later he went back to Valua in order to organize the survivors."
"Not before marrying Moegi first," Aika added.
"Yeah, I didn't think is possible for someone's face to turn so many different shades of red before that." Vyse said laughing.
"Somehow I'm not surprised," Ramirez said before he started laughing too.
Once the laughter died down, Vyse cleared his throat before chuckling a little more. "Oh, what else?" he asked, stabbing a bit of meat still on his plate. "Oh, the rest of the 6th fleet went back to Valua, except for the two assassins, they wanted to stay behind until they knew you were ok. I imagine they've already left since you said you talked to them already."
"Yeah, more than likely. They have a tendency to just vanish."
"Um, I think that's it." Vyse thought for a few moments. "Yeah, unless I'm forgetting something."
"I don't think so," Aika said. "I did want to ask you though," she started, looking at Ramirez "why didn't you use magic or your sword to break out, or to at least fight back."
"The shackles they put me in were made by Valuan scientists in order to block the prisoner's magic ability. And since I have to use magic in order to draw out my sword, there wasn't anything that I could do, which is why they kept me in those dammed things the whole time."
"Because they knew the second they took them off, they'd be dead." Vyse said.
"Unfortunatly."
"How did you end up in there though?" Aika asked. "The assassigns didn't really go into too much detail."
"Well," he paused, looking down at the table sadly. "Once we came back from the Silver Shrine we went back to Valua. While I was making final preparations for Soltis, he was convincing the Empress I was a traitor. Needless to say, it didn't take much and the next thing I knew I was knocked on the back of the head and hit the ground. When I came back to I was in a prison cell with my Vice Captain and about 85% of the 6th fleet. All of the lower ranking soldiers were killed immediately, but the Vice Captains, Captains and myself got to wait a week for our turns on the chopping block. Naturally I didn't make it easy for them and I was taken to solitary after the first day."
"Do I dare ask what you did?" Fina asked, teasingly.
Ramirez shrugged slightly. "They couldn't get me to stay quiet, I kicked one of the guards in the teeth, killed another one of them, shoved my "food" off the table and onto the floor, indirectly caused a hunger strike and subsequent riot...I think that's it."
The three of them just gaped at him. It was several seconds before anyone could respond.
"All of that…in just a week?" Aika asked.
"Week? No, that was just the first day. After that they locked me in Solitary." He looked up and saw his companions staring at him, eyes wide and jaws practically on the table. "…what?"
They just stared at him for a few more moments before Vyse was finally able to react…by applauding him.
"Take. A. Bow." Vyse said slowly. Ramirez just blinked for a second before laughing hysterically, resting his head on his metallic arm. "No, I'm serious." Vyse added, laughing as well. "I mean, I'm good, but YOU…you are insane!" he finished, pointing at the young Admiral for emphasis. The four of them laughed even harder, earning several confused looks from the rest of the crew.
Several hours passed, and before they knew it, Polly had the rest of the tavern cleaned and was literally shooing them out with her push broom. They stumbled their way, mainly due to fatigue and laquoa, back to the living quarters
"So, what's next for you Ramirez?" Vyse asked. "Now that Lawrence disappeared, we're in dire need of a Helmsman."
"It's tempting, really, thank you Vyse. But I think Enrique is in need of me more than you. I am still a Valuan Admiral after all."
"That's true, he has a whole country to rebuild. We have, uh…shit what are we doing next?"
"Have another, Vyse." Aika said laughing.
"I would if Polly hadn't kicked us out." He replied, stumbling back a little, suddenly grateful he choose to stand so close to the wall.
Aika just rolled her eyes. "You two try to get some sleep. I gotta get the Cap'n into bed…try to anyway."
Fina and Ramirez laughed at the struggling ginger, who muttered something about "if they are sober enough to laugh, then they're sober enough to help". Of course, they were too busy laughing.
After a few moments, and after Aika disappeared from sight, the laughter died down and they started walking up the ramp as well.
"So you're really going to go back to Valua?" Fina asked sadly.
"Yeah." He replied with a sigh. "Enrique is going to need all the help he can get. Besides, I know he said I could stick around, but how would the rest of the crew feel about it? It wouldn't be too long before people started to leave." He finished as they reached her door.
"I think that after what happened-"
Ramirez just shook his head. "I think just the three of you would be comfortable with me staying."
"Just the three of us?"
"You know I can't stay here." He replied. "As much as I hate to leave you behind again, I have to."
"Then I'll come with you."
"Fina…"
"No! I finally have you back and I'll be damned if I let you just walk away again!"
Being too surprised at her outcry, he agreed…not that she was going to give him much of a choice. The rest of the crew was sad to see her go, but like she told them, they were practically next door to them, so it wasn't like they were never going to see each other ever again. Besides, they knew that she was happy, and that made it easier for them to let her go.
It took 5 years to rebuild Valua, but when it was finally done, it was far better than the "old" Valua. Instead of the horseshoe shape of the former city, with the castle in the middle, the castle was elevated on the rock face with the city below, against the cliff. Wealth was distributed evenly-every home had a trade, and since they had an entire city to rebuild, every working adult had a job.
Unfortunately for Vyse though, Enrique came back for the Delaphinus. At first it was hard, but Vyse finally gave the war ship back to the Emperor, who helped the Captain find another, more "pirate fitting" ship. Not too much after that, Enrique entrusted his flagship to his new Lord Admiral, Ramirez. Fina was also made a member of the royal court as Moegi's head Nurse Maid, and the two Silvites were made Godparents to the royal family's children.
Fina was seated beside the Empress, bouncing her own daughter on her lap when the Admirals came into the Throne room.
"Ah, Admiral, how did things go in Nasrad?" Enrique asked as the Admirals bowed before him.
"Quiet well," Ramirez replied, looking up at the three seated before him. "Thankfully the new Nasultan doesn't like to bare grudges. He has agreed to, more or less, bury the hatchet."
"What are his conditions?" Moegi asked wearily. The last thing Valua needed was for Nasr to become their enemy.
"Valuan warships are to stay out of his airspace, only our merchant ships may gain entry."
"That seems fair." Fina stated.
"Absolutely." Enrique added. "Was there anything else?"
"No, those were his only concerns."
Everyone in the room released a sigh of relief. Enrique was of course worried about sending Ramirez, of all people, on a peace convoy to Nasrad, but he was also confident in the Admiral's newly high tuned negotiating skills. He dismissed the Admirals to go about their daily duties, most of which promptly left the hall. Ramirez walked up the stairs towards Fina, who stood once he reached the top and smiled warmly as she held their daughter out for him. Taking her gently in his arms, he situated her in one arm and then wrapped the other around Fina's waist, holding both of them close.
"Welcome home." Fina whispered.
"It's good to be back." He replied, kissing her gently.
"I'm glad everything worked out ok. I have to admit I was worried."
"Yeah, me too." Ramirez said laughing. "But thankfully it was over nothing."
They stayed like that for several minutes before he reluctantly let Fina go. He slowly and gently handed their still sleeping daughter, who protested the loss of her Father's touch. "Daddy's girl." Fina teased, taking her into her arms.
"I know, I don't get it either." He said, gently placing his hand on the top of her head, calming her.
"See you tonight?"
"Of course." He whispered before leaning in and kissing her on the lips. The kiss was brief, but filled with more passion than she ever thought possible-which was shocking to her because he always managed to surprise her like that. After they broke apart he kissed the top of their daughter's head before heading back down the stairs. Fina pushed her own tears back when she heard the soft cries coming from the infant in her arms. It didn't matter how many times she watched him leave, she always got teary eyed, even though she knew he'd always come back home.
"Shh, it's ok Selene, Daddy will be back tonight." She said in a soft and soothing tone. Although, she wasn't sure who she was trying to comfort-Selene or herself. As he closed the door, she saw the shine from the artificial light reflect off the metal that was exposed between the top of his glove and the bottom of his sleeve. "It's ok." She repeated. She sat back down beside the Empress and smiled warmly down at Selene. "Everything will be ok." She assured again, this time believing her own words. After all, if they made it through everything that they had, she could survive a few hours without him.