I started reading the TOS manga again - for what seems like the fourth time - the other day. When I got to the ranch when Lloyd met Marble I really had to wonder about the woman. We know next to nothing about her and yet, if it weren't for her, Lloyd and Genis wouldn't have gone on the journey for the most part. (I know the anime doesn't even introduce her and they still go, but the anime doesn't introduce a LOT of people, so we'll never mind the anime, okay?) It makes me wonder why there are hardly any Marble stories.

"Where are you going, Genis?"

He hates it when she asks him this. It sets him on edge, even more so than he already is. It makes him think she knows. She can't know though, not yet, it'll make her terribly worried. He doesn't want her to worry, even if that's all she ever does. Though she won't admit it, he knows how much she worries over him every minute she isn't with him. He loves her for that, he really does, but he wants to be treated more maturely. That's why he's doing this. What he's doing might not be safe for the village, but he knows it's the right thing to do. He keeps this one secret from her, to make her worry, if only a little, less.

It hurts him inside that he keeps something from her because they tell each other everything. That was the promise they made long ago, to tell each other everything from then on - though, he feels like she's still keeping something from him, something he really should know - that was the only way they could stay here. He does want to tell her, he so painfully wants to tell her. It's a nagging feeling in the back of his mind when he goes to sleep at night. He doesn't break his promises; he doesn't even want to think of breaking one. He'll tell her one day. The promise was to tell each other everything, but there had never been a time limit. That way, he won't be breaking his promise to her. He won't have to hurt her this way.

A horribly annoying voice keeps telling him that he really is lying to Raine, that he knows he's breaking his promise to her - it really tears at his heart, she only wants him to be safe - that he's not being the best little brother he should be to her after everything she's gone through just for him. She's given up her whole childhood for him; she's given up some of the best years of her life and forced herself to go through things not even parents are supposed to go through. He feels like he's being unappreciative for it all. Like he's throwing it all back in her face. He really should just tell her, just to keep her happy, but then he wouldn't be able to see his friend. He knows all that, but he likes to visit his friend, another human he's met that's kind.

Genis really wants to tell her that.

"Uh...no where much, Sis," he lies, casually. It's been getting easier to tell her this, he's sure he's mastered it by now. "Just to Lloyd's. We were going to find some...more flowers for Colette!" He knows she's not that fond of flowers anymore - or ever really. She was forced by the church to plant them around her home with her father, watching him keep his tears at bay while he thought of how much her passed mother loved flowers. Colette doesn't like seeing her father cry and she dislikes the things that make him even more. Genis knows he shouldn't have told Raine that - he'll actually have to give Colette flowers now - but it was the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh...I see." Raine mutters, trying not to bite her lip. She knows Genis will see that action, he always does. He doesn't need to see her concern for him now because she knows it'll only annoy him. He's a growing boy. Boys don't like to be coddled. "Well, remind Lloyd that I still want that essay in on Monday. I don't care if he's been sick all this week, he's had more of an extension on this assignment and I won't tolerate anymore of his laziness," Raine reminds him, giving him that frown he's grown to know is specifically for his best friend. It's really just an excuse to keep him in the house longer. To keep him away from whatever it is he's be doing lately without her. It bothers her that he won't let her in yet, but she knows boys have their secrets. She wants to know, but the boy is twelve - the brightest twelve year old in all of Sylvarant, in her eyes - he needs his independence from her. He wants it. She knows, but she's scared... An older sister can be worried, can't she?

Genis swings his pack on, hoping she doesn't notice how heavy it looks, grabbing for his worn and torn kendama on the counter. "Will do, Sis!" he calls to her as he bolts for the door. Time's running out for him. His friend will have to go inside soon and he promised to see her today. He doesn't like breaking his promises. And he doesn't know how much longer his friend will have...she's been getting so frail lately. He promised to see her today, he promised.

That annoying, nagging voice jabs at his heart when he hears his sister call out from the door step; her worried frown that is specifically for him is barely masked by her soft motherly smile.

"Please be safe, Genis!"

He always promised that he would be.

His hands shake a little less every time he sees her. It's not that he gets braver every time, Genis's always terrified of what could happen. He just knows that she needs the company, the smile, the kind interaction with someone. He doesn't have time to be scared. It's not fair if he's scared while he's free to roam the country side with his best friends while she's locked away, slaving her life away for meaningless work.

Every step he gets closer to the haunting place he looses a bit of his breath. The air around it - no, it must be the mana; air couldn't be this fowl - smells suffocating. There's always death soaked into the blood and sweat drenched place. How anyone - human, elf, or half-elf - can actually live in this makes his head spin.

With quiet steps, unheard to even his sensitive ears, he tip-toes his way around branches, trees, and bushes. The cliff near the edge is always a heart-pounding sight for him - Genis knows he'd fall if he isn't extra careful, and he knows he'll die. He doesn't even need to calculate the velocity he'd fall at or his weight or have in the added 9.8 gravity constant. It's just common sense that the trees and rocks and the sheer height would crush his smaller frame - never has he ever tried to understand why they would build anything so close to such a dizzying drop.

Leaves and twigs and dirt cling to his normally shiny silver hair - he doesn't like how it shines so much, it makes it seem like he's vain but he really isn't - making it mat to his face a bit as the dirt clings to the individual hairs. His blue shorts and shirt are a mess now too, but even with Lloyd the two boys got messy. Even if Genis was forcing Lloyd to study, the older boy would some how make Genis go outside and ruin his clean clothes he had just washed. It's not an issue if he has to wash his clothes when he goes back home.

There she is, tired and sore, still leaning against the same post she always does. Genis never knew why she always stood by that post at her break, but he was happy she chose it. They wouldn't have met if she hadn't. He remembers the night he had to get some herbs for Raine - adorable little Grace had a horrible illness at the time that Raine need the herb to make the ailment to cure the little girl - like it was only a few hours ago, the fear creeping back up his spine as he wandered through the darkening forest. Raine never would have sent for him normally - she was always so worried he'd get hurt, even though he always promised he never would - but he was the only one other than her who knew where the herb was and exactly how much she needed for the remedy.

He was so terrified walking through the monster infested forest. Whispers of the monsters calls kept crawling around him, scaring him of his own shadow and foot steps. The night was pressing down on him, he could barely see where he was going, his hand hurt from clenching his fist tight around his weapon then loosening it, and he hadn't gotten the herb for his sister. It grew in two places near Iselia, one spot was so far into the forest, it almost to Lloyd's house, and the other was by the ranch, close to the edge of the cliff... At the time, Genis didn't think he could go any further than the ranch.

Genis laughs quietly as he remembers seeing his friend's surprised and hopeful face for the first time. He didn't mean to make her hopeful - he could never get her out of the ranch, not without endangering the village or breaking his promise to Raine about keeping safe - but he knew that, on some level she understood. She wouldn't ask such a young boy to go through so much danger just for her.

"Marble...! Over here!" Genis calls quietly, hoping the woman can hear his whispered call over the crying, screaming, laughing and shouts around them. He tries to block out all the other voices, he really tries, but at times, they're so hard to handle. To think that people of his race are doing such disgusting things... He knows he's not like them. He knows that he's different... Isn't he?

"Oh! Genis! There you are!" Marble smiles her grandmotherly smile for him, shuffling her way to him. She's looking even more bone ragged than usual, Genis notices. Her dress hangs from her even more so than usual, he can see the shake to her hands even though she tries to still them as much as possible, and her face has sunken in, if possible, even more. The hair she has pulled back into a sloppy tail has finally lost the last of its sheen; all the grease in it covers what should be framing a healthy old woman's pretty face.

Taking his pack off and putting it in front of him, Genis opens it up, taking out bread and meat. Raine was marking tests until late, so Genis was able to hide his dinner helping for Marble again. It's not much, he knows it, but it's at least a start. A start to freeing these people trapped in this death strangling place. "Here! I hope you like the spices I used tonight. Usually I don't add basil but I thought I'd try it tonight..."

They go through their normal friendly bickering at this point. Genis doesn't understand why Marble insists on sharing the food between them - he can always get more helpings from home, the few helpings that Raine has yet to experiment with - but in the end he always gives in and eat a bit of the bread. Marble always then goes on about how he doesn't need to bring her food that a growing boy should be eating, not an old woman like her.

Genis shrugs, feeling more and more comfortable as their normal routine starts its course. "But...I promised I'd bring you food whenever I could."

Marble just laughs whenever he says that. 'Whenever I could,' translated to 'every time I come to see you'. She knows that he'll always being her food to eat. Genis has never broken his promises to her. He always makes it home safely; he always tells her of his day, he always talks about how he's trying - trying so hard - to make his sister a better cook. Marble loves seeing his face light up so much at how she gives her undivided attention to him. Genis is so young and she wants him to stay that way; young and innocent forever.

As always, after they filled themselves with Genis' dinner, Marble goes on, telling Genis of whatever part of her life he asks about. He's always so curious about her life; she was from Palmacosta after all. He wants to know what it's like there; he doesn't remember anything other than Iselia. He was too young to remember traveling with Raine before home.

Marble in turn loves talking about home, about family. It makes her remember when the only thing she had to worry over was whither or not Chocolat would knock over any items, costing them how ever much in damages. Marble wishes she could only worry about that. Now she has a bit more stacked on to her overflowing plate of concerns. Concerns about if her family is safe, if her son-in-law had been pulled into the cities militia, leaving Cocoa and Chocolat alone in the store all the time - they were such messy girls, always cluttering things and making a disaster of any room the went into. And now, meeting Genis she was always worried over him. If he would get home okay, if he would get caught by the guards one day, and was he eating enough?

Marble's smile always fades a fraction as she talks of her family. Sometimes, Genis tries to switch subjects - he doesn't want his friend to be sad when he's supposed to be cheering her up - but he really does love hearing of her family, these unknown people that Marble loves so deeply. "My granddaughter...she is so very rambunctious. You'd never think that she and her mother were related if it weren't for their looks! They're polar opposites those two..." Marble laughs her old laugh, an old bell that desperately needs polishing, but still sounds beautiful nonetheless, as she kids about her relatives, speaking as if they were right beside her and Genis. "Oh, but I do love them both, very dearly..."

Genis wonders about Marble's far away family often. He thinks it'd be great to meet them one day - especially Marble's granddaughter, he thinks' she'd be perfect for Lloyd. Two pig-headed people should calm each other right? He'd love to tell them that Marble is okay, alive and surviving in the ranch. Knowing that they'd be at ease if only a little with the fact that Marble was being cared for so far from home made him happier. He really does care for her. She's like a grandmother to him, always so kind and attentive to what he talks about. At first he thought Marble was like another mother to him, but it was strange thinking of her like that - the mother role is already filled by Raine.

It's getting late, later than either of them realized. Genis still has to go to Lloyd's and get Colette some flowers - he might try to get something else for her, and just tell Raine that they couldn't find any that Colette would like - not to mention actually spend some time with the 'sick' teenager. As he lifts his pack, watching carefully for any guards that might be looking for Marble - this is not the first time she's neglected her time limit on her break to spend time with her half-elven friend - Genis shares one last bit of information of the 'outside world' - they joke about the title a lot, just to make Marble smile - with her.

"Y'know..." Genis smiles up - he always has to sit on the ground, just under the bars around the ranch to avoid being seen - at the woman. "Colette's going to be getting the oracle soon. She'll officially be the Chosen when she receives it!"

A never before seen shine lights Marble's sunken eyes. She knows it won't be long until she finally gives under the pressure in the ranch. After she met Genis she pushed herself, just to be able to hold the young boy in her arms without the awkward obstruction of bars in the way. Genis has no idea how much light he's shown her these past few months, always bringing his contagious smile and uplifting boyish personality. She laughs at how ironic her situation is at times - she's always wanted her own little boy to look after, but it seems like he looks after her more than the other way around. Still though, Marble knows that her time is running off without her and she's not as fit as she used to be. Not physically or mentally. The things she's been through in the ranch will be going to the grave with her. Never can she forget all the screams and cries that she can't shoulder.

Maybe one last ray of hope... She wants to push herself, push herself as hard as she can to make it through these last few months. She knows she has the stubbornness and determination in her to - it was a trait she gave to her granddaughter - struggle through the nightmare a little longer. She knows that once her nightmare is over and she wakes up, she can finally hug the boys who made her nightmare a bit brighter without the restraints of her bindings.

"If... Could you maybe...tell me if the Chosen receives the oracle safely?" This is the only thing she needs. Just a little spark of pure hope to make sure she can push herself. To light her flame that can keep her fire going. "All of us have been prying so long for the Chosen to begin her journey, hearing that she has would lift my old heart..." It would do more than lift her heart up, but she knows the words she wants to say would be too 'cheesy,' even for Genis.

"Of course! I promise!"

He never has broken a promise before.