Individual stories! My responses to the 100 themes given by the FanFic100 LJ Comm, for 'Skies of Arcadia: General Series'. Legal: I don't own SoA, but if it's in my story and isn't in the game, it's mine. Reviews & concrit make me happy, and happy is good.

Title: The End of the Beginning
Fandom: Skies of Arcadia
Characters: Ramirez, Fina, Cupil
Prompt: Sunrise -- 031
Word Count: 1,000
Rating: General
Summary: Young Ramirez about to leave the Great Silver Shrine, and his only friend, behind.
Author's Notes: Inspired by the song "Airships", by VNV Nation. Listening to that song always makes me want to write hopeful, naive Ramirez still on the Shrine, waiting to leave for Arcadia.
Table/Progress: 1/100

The boy had been raised in almost complete solitude on a sterile satellite, where nothing was allowed to live that the Elders did not approve of. Rooms upon rooms stood empty and lifeless, for there was no point in having more people here than absolutely necessary. An entire civilization, reduced to only eight Silvites. The Elders... who hadn't had a single creative thought between the lot of them in centuries, a teenage boy, and a young girl.

Fina gazed at him sadly through the monitor, asking again if he really had to leave, her doll clutched protectively to her chest. He was a trained warrior, and a natural tactician whose skills had been honed accordingly... but he felt more like an undisciplined child. His enthusiasm was nearly choking him to get out, though he stood before the monitor with his hands at his sides and his fingers unclenched.

"Yes, Fina, I -do- have to go. The Elders need me to collect the Crystals..."

"It's not even light outside yet!" she protested as Cupil, the Silvite construct, zipped overhead chirping concern. It obviously knew that the girl was upset... but never had the ability to really know why.

"But it will be soon." the teenager replied after a moment, green eyes somber. Leaving the Shrine was a wonderful thing. Leaving Fina in this manner wasn't so much, but... well, what else could he really do? He couldn't stay here, that was certain. And he couldn't take her with, the Elders would never let his ship undock with more than one passenger...

"Ramirez..."

"Come outside, Fina. You can wait for my ship with me." he said abruptly, coming to a decision.

"Alright." Fina sniffled, before the monitor flickered to its usual display, dark right now, of the gigantic blue world he would be venturing into today. The Silvite took one final look around this room, his gaze settling fondly on the various models and maps and books. He picked one of the later off of the single table before he turned and left, his guts churning painfully. Ramirez couldn't seem to swallow, a mix of apprehension and excitement washing through him anew as he exited the room for the last time. Stepped out onto the path outside... for the last time.

All of these years of watching Arcadia, of staring at clouds from above and the occasional shape of the same continents on his maps... and he was finally going to be there! What would the people be like? He tried to imagine the hundreds of people he knew were down there, and his mind balked. How could you deal with so many at once? Was it even possible, or did the Arcadians only deal with others in small groups?

Where would he live? Of all of Arcadia, where would he decide to live, and what would he do? He fidgeted a bit as he walked, playing with the artificial leather cover of the book in his hands. How was this going to work?

Fina met him at the dock, still clutching the doll Elder Prime had crafted for her a few years ago. Cupil had accompanied her, as usual, and the miniature construct rushed to greet him--chirping its concern against his chest when he caught it. The first rays of light from the Arcadian sun were beginning to glow over the edge of the massive, mind-numbingly huge planet when he reached his one lifetime friend.

He paused, looking down at her for a moment as she clung suddenly to his waist, before giving Cupil one last pet with his free hand and then releasing it to spin around them both. The teen pried the upset girl carefully away from his waist and dropped to his knees, now several inches below her eye-level instead of towering above.

"Fina, I want you to have this book." he said after a moment, holding up the object in question.

"R-Ramirez," Fina looked from his face to the book and back again, tears in her eyes, "you... you're c-coming back r-right?"

"No. But listen to me. The Elders can't know I'm not going to come back, not until I'm out of their reach. And when they -do- realize it, they'll eventually have to send you on this same mission." Ramirez said, "I'll be down there waiting, Fina. We'll meet again, and then we'll never worry about the Elders. We'll both explore Arcadia, together, and see it all with our own eyes."

"You're going to have a ship of your own?" the seven-year-old asked, connecting the dots with a sniffle. She wiped at her eyes with the back of one hand.

"Of course I will. It'll be years before they send you down, and I'll learn how to sail a real airship. I'll teach you when we meet again down there, you know, and we'll be the best sailors ever." he forced a smile, "I want to see what's beyond those clouds--all of it."

"Ramirez?" Fina hesitated, and then asked, "We'll always be friends, won't we?"

"Of course we will." the teen himself believed it.

Fina chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, much less upset now, and then nodded. The girl took the proffered book from him with both hands and clutched it reflexively to her chest, her wrists crossed.

"That's the book on the Gigas', and the legends of the five other Crystals." he explained, "The Elders will teach you, too, but they won't start until they realize I'm really gone. You can get a jump start on it this way, and then they'll send you faster."

"You think so?"

"Yes." the older Silvite smiled, and the two settled down on their backs next to each other, watching the giant world above them slowly come into light. The sun gradually pulled itself around the horizon, starting another unremarkable day for the Mid-Ocean Arcadians.

It was the start of something completely new to Ramirez. And Fina, he supposed.

"It'll be alright, you'll see."