The Day the Moon Shines
By: deep.Indigo
Chapter 17: Wasurerarenai Kanashimi ha Yozora shika Shiranai
(The Unforgettable Sorrow Knows Nothing But the Night Sky)
Dangral Island had not been a pleasant experience for the temporary captain of
the Delphinus and her companions, particularly the young Prince of Valua.
Though they certainly had retrieved the plans for a ship that could dive into
Deep Sky, they had gotten caught by Galcian on the way back, and had it not
been for Gregorio's noble sacrifice, they would not be alive now. Plus, they
still knew nothing of what had happened to Vyse and Ramirez..
Although that was abruptly about to change.
With a loud sigh and a stretch, Aika began to address her companions when she
caught sight of someone walking down the strip of earth surrounding the spring
on the other side of the island—Vyse. With a gasp of joy, she took off towards
him, her delight in seeing her beloved friend safe and returned to them that
the redhead didn't so much as notice the unobtrusive white-haired man behind
him.
Flinging her arms around him, she embraced Vyse tightly, but as she lifted her
head from his shoulders, she saw a person she had not expected to see again;
certainly, had hoped to never see again.
Ramirez.
"Aika, hey—" Vyse began, glad to see the girl so delighted, but his sentence
abruptly ended in a sound very much like "WAUGH" as she shoved him aside, her
boomerang already out.
"YOU!!" she snarled, brandishing her weapon as if she stood a chance against
the former Admiral.
Ramirez stood impassive and heedless of the threat, as if he were carved stone,
while Vyse stared wide-eyed and alarmed over at his enraged friend.
"Aika, wait!" he cried.
"Wait?! For what?!" she yelled, incensed. To her, seeing the male Silvite, who
had nearly destroyed their base and taken their lives, and had kidnapped Vyse,
on Crescent Isle was unforgivable, and she couldn't even begin to imagine what
in the world could possess Vyse to lead him back here. "Why the hell is that
bastard here?!"
The brunet winced. "It's...a long story," he said lamely.
"I told you she wouldn't be happy," Ramirez muttered.
"Vyse," Enrique said, coming up along with Gilder and Fina, who respectively
looked surprised and worried, "if it's a long story, I think you should explain
it to us carefully."
The blue-clad rogue nodded and said, "Yeah, I just want to
do it in a more private place..."
"Vyse, you're not letting him back on our base, are you?" Aika cut in angrily,
jabbing a finger at the Silvite.
After a long moment of silence, he spoke. "I'll explain. Just let me explain
everything."
The redhead narrowed her brown eyes, gritting her teeth, but eventually she
settled for casting Ramirez a glare of pure loathing before withdrawing her
weapon. "There had better be a damn good reason for this!"
The five went up quickly to the meeting room, everyone but Vyse casting glances
at Ramirez, who was forced into the middle, and once in the room carved into
the small mountain, everyone took their seats.
Before he spoke, Vyse couldn't help but glance over at the male Silvite, who,
as before, seemed an emotionless statue. The young captain couldn't help but
wonder if he would feel worse if Ramirez had worn an expression of sorrow; this
emotionless mask seemed to him far more troubling...
Fina, who uncertainly glanced at her childhood friend, was the first to speak
up. "What exactly happened...?"
Vyse scratched the back of his head nervously and said, "Well, the short
version is that he let me go, but...you need to know the whole story..."
Several pairs of eyes widened, two in surprise, one in curiosity, one in
outright disbelief, and they all turned to Ramirez, who sat opposite the returned
captain of the Delphinus.
"He let you go?" Enrique queried quietly, his hands folded and his elbows
resting on the table. "Yes, I think we'll need to hear the entire story..."
Vyse glanced worriedly at Ramirez, then took a breath. Somehow, he just felt
guilty about telling his friends a thing like this, even though the Silvite had
betrayed him and nearly killed him.
"I... well, you see... This is really difficult to say." He rubbed the back of
his neck, painfully aware that now everyone's eyes but Ramirez's were on him.
"It's...it's kind of..." He glanced furtively at the former Admiral, and
finished, "...unbelievable." The brunet pirate took a deep breath, released it,
and said, "Ramirez...quit the Armada."
Not surprisingly, Aika quickly and angrily demanded, "Don't tell me you just
ate his lies like that! How do you know he's not going to betray you again?"
The brown-eyed rogue winced slightly, and he hesitated, distressed. He glanced
at Ramirez again, but the former Admiral continued to gaze steadily, emptily,
down at the table. There was no avoiding it; he had to tell the truth. That
didn't keep him from wanting to stall, and after biting his lip for a second,
he raised his voice and addressed the Silvite swordsman. "Hey, Ramirez—is it
really all right with you that I tell them?"
A slight nod was the only response.
There wasn't anything left for Vyse to do to put off the inevitable, and after
hesitating for a second, he sighed and reluctantly told his friends,
"...Ramirez let me go because...he's in love with me."
All but Vyse and Ramirez sat in stunned silence at this most unexpected
pronouncement. Fina in particular had turned a pasty hue of white, and teetered
slightly in her chair, as if she were on the verge of fainting.
"...It's...that can't be true," the veiled Silvite said weakly. "Ramirez has
done a...a lot of bad things, but...he wouldn't...he, he couldn't..."
Vyse felt as if something in his chest had frozen and lodged itself there as he
looked over at her, alarmed at her reaction. "Fina...? Is something wrong...?"
The pale-blonde Silvite didn't reply, instead choosing to stare plaintively at
the silver-haired young man sitting to her right. "It—it's not true, right?"
she pleaded. "There's some other reason, right? Vyse misunderstood, right?"
"No, he didn't," Ramirez said softly, breaking his self-imposed silence.
There was a moment of awkward quiet before the former Admiral continued, "I
made it quite obvious to Vyse that I love him. There is no way he could have
misunderstood."
Vyse flushed slightly and stared down at the table for a moment. /Moons,/
he prayed silently, /let everything turn out all right.../
"And how," Aika demanded icily, recovering from her shock, "did you make it
'quite obvious'?"
"I let him go free and then attempted suicide so that I would no longer have to
choose between him and Lord Galcian," Ramirez replied in a monotone. "As you
can see, though, Vyse kindly convinced me otherwise..."
Yet another awkward silence permeated the air, and it was all that Aika could
do to not leap to her feet, screaming in frustration and pulling at her
pigtails. To her, the journey between point A and point B were invisible, and
as such, the reasons—even possible ones—were completely incomprehensible to
her. Added to the fact that his actions had marked him for complete distrust,
and that apparently he was lusting after her best friend, it was quiet
understandable that her knuckles were so pallid.
By contrast, across the table from her, Fina felt, to put things mildly, light-headed.
Ramirez had betrayed them and declared his utter hatred of her; that alone had
been traumatic. However, this new revelation was almost more than she could
stand. It was yet another violation of the mores with which she had been
raised, and it was this one that finally convinced her of the fact that had
been before her all long:
He really had changed.
The two girls, one seething with rage, the other faint with shock, sat in that
all-encompassing quietude, neither moving nor speaking as long seconds ticked
past.
It
was Gilder who first spoke, shifting forward in his chair. "So, Vyse," he said,
his tone and face serious, "what do you think of all this?"
The addressed pirate couldn't answer at first; his mouth felt dry, and he
involuntarily swallowed. "I...." he began. "...I didn't want to see him die. I
didn't want him to kill himself."
Gilder peered at the brunet rogue thoughtfully as Enrique uttered in surprise,
"Vyse! Although I understand your feelings, are you certain it was wise to
bring him back here?"
The captain of the Delphinus grinned, but the gesture wasn't an enthusiastic
one. "A lot of people asked me that, including myself," he replied. "And my
answer is, it's the best option we have. Especially since," he added,
inspiration striking him, "and you guys aren't going to believe this, but hear
me out—we have to protect him."
"WHAT!?" Aika exclaimed, rising from her seat and slamming her hands upon the
table. "Protect HIM!? First of all, that—that—that MONSTER—I don't think we
could beat him if we all worked together!!" Shooting him a nasty look, her
memories of the Silver Eclipse far too fresh even if the wounds it had given
her were not, she continued, "Second of all, even if he did let you go,
and even if he did turn his back on the Armada, which I don't believe at
all even if he claims to love you," her disgusted emphasis
on those words making her incredulity that much more obvious, "we don't owe him
one damn thing! What the hell would we have to protect him for?!"
Vyse's shoulders sagged slightly; he had expected this kind of opposition, but
Aika always managed to put things she hated in the worst possible light...
Deciding that there was only one decisive way to prove his words to the others,
he turned to the male Silvite and asked, "Ramirez, would you mind showing
them?"
The former Admiral did not respond for a moment; then, finally, he nodded once
and lifted his hands, pulling his glove from his left hand as he did so. Aika
quietly sat back down, mystified by and suspicious of the former Admiral's
actions. Fina and the others minus Vyse also stared, but not for long, for
shimmering silver rays of light were incandescing from the now bare hand.
Ramirez outstretched his limb, his expression dead, which was a striking
contrast to the appearance of the living stone that illuminated the entire room
with its breathtaking brilliance.
"This," the pale Silvite stated unemotionally, "is the Silver Crystal."
Fina opened her mouth as if to say something, but stopped, obviously
uncomfortable with addressing her former friend directly.
In her place, Enrique queried, taken aback by this strange new turn of events,
"Wasn't the—but it—did you have it all along?"
"Yeah!" Aika declared, her indignation giving her an anchor from the second
revelation. "Why isn't it in the Silver Shrine?!"
"The Silver Moon Crystal is in the Great Silver Shrine," the pale
swordsman replied dully, his lackluster green eyes on the prettily flashing
gemstone. "In pieces. This is one of them. Fina has one, too."
"There's a piece of the Silver Moon Crystal in all Silvites," Vyse interjected,
sensing that the Silvite male's evasiveness would only crop up more questions.
"They're born with it—so Ramirez told me."
Fina could keep silent no longer. "In...in my body?" she asked no one in
particular, her face pallid. "Why...why was I never..."
As the Silvite sitting across from him withdrew his hand and covered it with a
glove as the Crystal disappeared from sight, the brunet rogue gently spoke,
"The Elders wanted to protect you, Fina—they didn't want to tell you anything
that wasn't necessary."
"So they ended up telling you nothing at all," Ramirez interrupted, passion in
the form of pure venom entering his voice for the first time since their
arrival. "And you lived out your life in utter blissful ignorance of your true
heritage. It must have been nice for you, Fina—never having to entertain more
than a whit of thought in that pretty, empty head of yours."
The female Silvite stared at Ramirez blankly for a moment while the others,
stunned, stared at the two; then, tearing up, she buried her face in her hands
and sobbed.
"Ramirez!" Vyse yelled, upset at the swordsman's words and their effect on
Fina, but he was one-upped by his childhood friend.
"Ramirez, you've gone too far!" the orange-haired girl snarled, shoving her
chair onto the floor as she stood abruptly, pulling back a fist as if to strike
him.
An artery of defiance flowing in Ramirez again, he glared at her and said
sharply, coldly, "What? It's nothing that she doesn't deserve. It's disgusting
how she knows nothing of the truth about us Silvites."
Lifting her face from her hands, her cheeks painted messily with tears, Fina
spoke tremulously, "How...how can you say such things...." Her shoulders shook
as more tears fell from her verdure eyes, and with her voice strengthened from
her self-righteousness, she continued, "...How can you say such things?! I...
You call me disgusting...but you...you look at Vyse like that!"
Ramirez tensed slightly, dropping his gaze to his knees; Vyse knew that she had
hit a sensitive nerve, and although he couldn't blame her for attacking him
back, he felt undeniably discomfited at hearing her say that. It was bad enough
that Ramirez hated himself enough to want to die; this wasn't going to help
matters at all...
"That sure shut you up, didn't it?" Aika smirked, causing the brunet to flinch.
"Can't say anything to that, can you?" She was glad for the chance to
gloat, not only because of the structural, physical and emotional damage
Ramirez had wreaked, but also because of the newly learned fact that he,
the person she currently hated most in all the world, had the balls to claim to
be in love with her best friend and private crush. If it had been any
other guy in love with any other guy, she wouldn't mind nearly as much... But
this was Ramirez hot for Vyse, and that simply made it personal.
"I'm surprised that you even can feel shame, though! After going and
selling us out to Galcian, then having the balls to throw yourself onto Vyse...
You really think he's going to accept this bull about you being in love
with him? I don't know what you did, but you've already proven you're a
liar and a backstabber. Vyse is clueless sometimes, but he's no dummy, although
sometimes he makes me wonder, keeping you around."
Ramirez's shoulders sagged as he gave into despair once again, accepting the
berating words miserably.
"Aika..." Vyse said quietly, wanting her to stop, but fearing the questions
that surely would arise if he did. After all, he had been betrayed, too, right?
It wasn't as if he needed to defend the male Silvite from words he surely
deserved. But still... For one of the few times in his life, the young rogue
felt frustrated and impotent. /It's just pity,/ he told himself. /Nothing
more./ That's all it was...
"I know, I know," the orange-haired pirate girl said loudly with an exaggerated
shrug, misunderstanding why her childhood friend had murmured her name. "He's
got a piece of the Silver Crystal, right? We can't let Galcian get his mitts on
it, now that he has the other five..." She shot the Silvite male a venomous
glare and added, "We don't have a choice but to put up with him."
Casting the depressed swordsman an unhappy glance, Vyse replied, "Er, right."
"I suggest that we keep him under house arrest," Enrique input. "If he remains
in his room, then that will eliminate any unfriendly confrontations between
Ramirez and...certain members of the crew," he finished with a polite cough,
carefully not looking at Aika.
The pirate girl rolled her eyes in response to the obvious avoidance of naming
her. "I don't have any problem with that. But he shouldn't be armed. If he does
betray us again..." she said, letting the obvious go unstated.
Wordlessly, even as the redhead spoke, Ramirez unfastened Ilazki from his sword
belt and placed the silver sword on the table. When she finished, he slid the
weapon across the table to Vyse, still without uttering a word. The Blue Rogue
caught the weapon easily and tried to catch the Silvite's eye, but he had gone
back to gazing gloomily at his lap. Aika, meanwhile, blinked at the suddenness
of Ramirez's compliance, but said nothing.
Gilder was the next person to speak up. "Vyse, now that that's been taken care
of," he said, leaning forward slightly, "You need to be told what's happened
since you were gone."
The atmosphere of the room quickly became more somber in spite of everything,
and the brown-eyed rogue was instantly attentive. "Yeah?"
The Prince of Valua glanced at the redhead sitting next to him. "If you would
begin the story, Aika?"
She nodded with a slight sigh and launched into an explanation of how they had
gone to rescue Vyse from the Monoceros in the Delphinus, and how when he had
been found missing, they had decided that doing their own thing would be best
since it would draw Valua's attention away from anything Vyse tried to do. Thus
they had gone to Dangral Isle since, according to some information from Gilder,
the Armada was building a ship that could go into Deep Sky there.
"Things went pretty smoothly when we got there, and we even got the plans all
right—we gave them to Brabham so he could fix up the Delphinus to let it go to
Deep Sky, too," Aika continued. "But..." She glanced at Enrique.
Enrique's expression became sorrowful, and he gazed down at some spot on the
table for a moment before looking up again and speaking. "Galcian was there,"
he said, his voice low but steady. "If it hadn't been for Uncle Gregorio's
sacrifice, we wouldn't have escaped..."
Ramirez's shoulders tensed at the mention of his mentor's name, and though he
showed no outward sign of it, he began to listen attentively.
Aika nodded, picking up the slack. "When we were leaving Dangral Island after a
run-in with Vigoro, our way was blocked by none other than Galcian himself.
Gregorio appeared behind us, and we thought we were really screwed, but...
Gregorio said that he thought that Valua was heading down the wrong path—and he
told us that Galcian's planning to turn against the Empire."
"Because of that," Enrique resumed, "I have to return to Valua to warn my
mother. Regrettably, I must leave you all before long..."
Aika was about to speak when Vyse interrupted, "Wait a second. Galcian's
planning to turn against Valua? Why would he do that?"
"Neither of them said," Gilder commented. "But we've got someone we can ask
right here."
Most of the sets of eyes in the room turned to Ramirez, their owners
halfheartedly hoping for an explanation. The former Admiral, however, remained
silent, his gaze cast downwards. Though he could not see the others looking at
him, he could feel their stares boring into him.
After several moments without speech, Aika sighed irritably. "Should have known
we wouldn't get anything useful from him," she grumbled.
The red-clad Air Pirate across the table shrugged. "It was worth a shot."
The pigtail-haired girl shook her head, then said, "Anyway, the whole reason we
went to Dangral in the first place, though, was because the Armada's looking
for Fina's ship. If they get that, well, they'd be able to go and take the
Silver Crystal from one of the Elders, right?"
"Yeah, you're right," Vyse frowned, though he couldn't help but watch the
former Admiral out of the corners of his eyes, wondering if that really was
what they had been after. "There's something else that Ramirez didn't mention,
by the way. Silvites aren't just born with a piece of the Silver Crystal in
their bodies, it's also the source of their life, so if it's removed, they
die."
Fina sat up straight, alarmed and taken aback. "No!" she cried. "We—we can't
let that happen!"
The brunet nodded in agreement. "It's more than just that, though..." he added
regretfully, and then relayed what Ramirez had told him about the Silvites'
connections to the Rains of Destruction, as well as what Ramirez and Fina's
true mission had been.
Fina stared at him the entire time, her eyes wide with disbelief. "No...no!"
she cried when it was over. "That...that can't be true..."
Though at first stunned by the unexpected information, Gilder recovered quickly
with a glance to the teenage Silvite, and quirking an incredulous eyebrow, he
commented, "And how do you know he wasn't lying, Vyse? It's his word against
Fina's, and doesn't it seem odd that she wouldn't have heard word one about
something as big as that?"
"It's what Ramirez told me," Vyse said unhappily. "It's true he could have been
lying... But the only way to check if he was or not is to ask the Elders
themselves, and to do that, we'll need Fina's ship, right?" He quirked a smile
at his companions, the white-robed young lady in particular, hoping to comfort
her. "We'll ask them ourselves and make sure of the truth that way. How does
that sound?"
"It's better than sitting around and doing nothing," Gilder shrugged, and the
others, aside from Ramirez, nodded and murmured assent.
"Well," Vyse said after a moment, "If that's everything..."
"It seems that way," Enrique said quietly.
"In that case, let's go through it once—after Brabham installs the Delphinus'
new engine and everything, we're going to head down to Deep Sky to get Fina's
ship, then drop Enrique off at Sailor's Isle so he can get back to Valua, then
returning to Crescent Isle and heading to the Great Silver Shrine to talk to
the Elders," the group's leader said firmly. "Everyone got that?"
"You're missing something," Aika said dryly, jerking her head toward Ramirez.
"...I'll take care of him," Vyse replied, his omission not entirely accidental.
He hadn't wanted to mention 'and lock up Ramirez' on the list of things to do.
His childhood friend gave his a glare that said 'You'd better', but she
and the others, again minus Ramirez, just stood. Vyse, with the Silvite's sword
in one hand, walked over to him as the others surrounded him, none of them too
crazy about letting the one who had wrecked Crescent Isle out of their sight.
"Hey," he addressed Ramirez quietly.
The former Admiral shut his eyes and stood as well, an air of resignation
around him as he stepped out to take his place in the procession, pushing his
chair neatly back where it had been.
Vyse, feeling he at least had to say something to Ramirez, to at least try to
encourage him despite everything, said again, his voice still quiet, "Hey...at
least you're able to stay here, right?"
"Oh, yes, there's always that," Ramirez replied morosely. "I thank you all from
the bottom of the gaping void in my soul."
The young captain flinched slightly at the reply. He could almost swear that
his former friend had gotten worse... Fina had also flinched, and Enrique had
glanced at her worriedly, but Aika and Gilder weren't nearly so sympathetic.
"You can can the theatrics," the latter said with a smirk. "Nobody's going to
feel sorry for you."
Ramirez merely glanced in his direction, then returned his gaze to the floor.
"C'mon—walk, you," Aika demanded, prodding him in the back with the tip of her
boomerang. He didn't need quite so much encouragement, though, and nearly all
as one, the group moved.
The trip to the living quarters, which had been repaired in everyone's absence,
was not a noisy one. The first stop-off was, of course, Ramirez's old room,
which had been refurnished with the assumption that Gilder would be living
there instead.
Without prompting, the male Silvite entered his former room. As Vyse began to
pull the door shut, Ramirez looked over his shoulder at him, and the young
captain halted, unable to break away from that look for a moment.
/I'm sorry,/ Vyse thought but did not say, his expression one of
repentant regret, /but.../
And then he pulled the door shut and locked it.
"Stupid drama queen," Aika grumbled as soon as they began to walk away. "He's
got a lot of nerve, trying to put us through a guilt trip."
Her childhood friend glanced away, feeling uncomfortable, but he was saved from
having to make a comment when Gilder laughed shortly and said, "Heh, tell me
about it. Considering the rumors I've heard about him, I wouldn't have thought
he'd be so melodramatic. Or was he always like that?"
"Nah, he was a quiet jackass," she said dismissively. "Except for when he was
making snide remarks, or threatening to kill Vyse."
"He took that back, you know," the brunet rogue quietly interjected.
An orange eyebrow raised, Aika reminded him, "And then went and tried to kill
you anyway."
Glancing away, Vyse said, "...He patched me up and let me go afterwards."
"Vyse, you can't tell me you're still going easy on him after all this!"
the redhead demanded, frustrated. "And don't tell me you believe that bull he
fed you, either!"
Equally frustrated, the captain of the Delphinus huffily replied, "I don't know
what to believe, okay? In any case, we can't let Galcian get his hands on him,
so we have to keep him here."
Listening to the conversation, Gilder raised his eyebrows, but didn't comment.
"In any case," Vyse continued, "he's not the biggest thing we have to worry
about right now. We should have Brabham look over those plans so we can
retrieve Fina's ship before the Valuans do..."
Still slightly irritated, Aika muttered, "Yeah, okay."
Next to her, Enrique, who had been watching the withdrawn Fina rather than
participating in the conversation, said in a low voice to the Silvite girl,
"Fina, are you going to be all right?"
She smiled weakly at him. "...Yes, I'll be fine..."
The redheaded young woman, listening to this exchange, stopped conversing with
Vyse and placed a hand upon Fina's shoulder. "Hey," she said in a quiet tone,
"if you want to rant about it... We'll all listen, all right?"
Fina shook her head. "...No, that's okay..." she said softly.
Gilder placed a hand upon Vyse's shoulder, startling the young rogue, and
leaned down to whisper in his ear, "Why don't you talk to her later, Vyse?
You're the one who heard all this from Ramirez to begin with."
"Yeah, I'll do that," Vyse whispered back. He then hesitated and added, "Later,
though... Can I talk to you, Gilder? There's something I've gotta ask you..."
The older man merely raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Yeah, sure," he replied,
straightening himself.
Smiling what he hoped was an encouraging smile, the young captain turned to his
friends and said, "Well, we'll just have to do our best, all right?" They
smiled in return, and together they headed off to the dock to Brabham about the
installation.
The inhabitants of Crescent Isle greeted their missing captain
enthusiastically, and at length, he told them all an edited version of what had
happened, along with the decision of what to do with Ramirez. The reactions to
it varied, but everyone eventually agreed to abide by their captain's choice,
although many did so reluctantly. Managing during a moment when the focus among
the crew was on discussing what they had just heard, Vyse pulled Fina aside and
asked her to meet him at the flagpole after everything had settled down. Full
of things she needed to say to her friend, Fina agreed without reserve.
That afternoon, the brown-eyed rogue headed towards the agreed-upon meeting
place, where he could see the blonde Silvite already waiting for him.
"Hey, Fina," he called as he approached, then continued when he was at her
side, "Sorry to call you out here all of a sudden."
The beautiful young woman looked away towards the horizon, her bangs masking
her face—but Vyse could guess that her expression was likely a sad one.
"...It's...okay..." she replied at length.
The young rogue shook his head. "It can't be okay." He continued, clarifying
his point, "After what Ramirez said to you... I'm sorry about it."
"...I just wish I had realized sooner..." she whispered, blinking away tears as
she held her hands to her chest. "He's been so full of anger and bitterness,
and I never saw it... He even went so far as to look that way at you..." She
glanced up at her companion anxiously. "You apologized to me on his behalf,
but...I'm the one who should be doing so, to you. If he were the same as he had
been when we were children, he'd never be that...that depraved."
Vyse, feeling extremely uncomfortable, remained silent.
"...So, please..." she continued, "forgive me for comparing him to you.
I'm...so sorry about everything..."
His voice slightly strained, the Air Pirate reassured her, "...It...it's not
your fault."
The viridian-eyed girl whispered, "...I know," and once more averted her gaze.
After a moment of silence, she continued, "...I just wish things were
different."
"Trust me, you aren't the only one..." Vyse sighed. Then, seeking to change the
subject, he added, "Is there anything else you want to talk about? I'd hate to
leave you feeling depressed, and Ramirez is obviously a sore subject..."
The lovely young lady pursed her lips, then glanced at him and said, "...I've
been thinking... about what he said. Do you think it's true?"
Vyse gazed up towards the sky, thinking for a moment before saying, "About the
Elders sending you to get the Crystals to summon the Rains of Destruction, and
you Silvites nearly destroying the world? ...I don't know. At the time, I did,
but looking back, I guess that was naïve of me..."
Fina sighed sadly. "...I would think they'd tell me, but... there's a lot I
don't know. They never told me the Crystal was in my...our...bodies..."
she murmured, her expression growing sad once more.
The brunet man nodded. "Yeah; that, at least, we know is the truth, after
Ramirez showed us his..." Noticing her growing depression and wanting to cheer
her up, he added, "Well, like I said earlier, we'll only know the truth if we
ask the Elders themselves, right?"
He was rewarded by smile, however tinged by regret it might have been.
"...You're right," she said, "I'm sure they'll explain..."
Smiling in what he hoped was an encouraging manner, the young captain
continued, "We'll take Ramirez to them, too. If he's up in the Great Silver
Shrine, he can't hurt anybody, and the Elders won't let him hurt himself,
right?"
She nodded, then blinked, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening
to come forth. "...I'm sorry. It's just been too much," she whispered.
Vyse hesitated for a moment, then put one of his arms across her shoulders,
silently holding her.
Stunned into silence, it was a moment before Fina, blushing, rested her head
against the charming rogue's shoulder and whispered, "Thank you..."
"It'll turn out all right in the end. I'm sure it will," Vyse said quietly,
almost as much to himself as to her. She only gave a silent nod in reply.
Gazing back up at the cumulus-decorated sky, he couldn't help but think of the
young man who had brought about so much turmoil...
/...Ramirez... Would you really not have fallen for me before you joined
Valua? Moons...I wonder if you used to think the same way about being gay that
Fina does... If you did, no wonder you hate yourself so much now.../
His thoughts were interrupted when Fina asked, "Vyse?"
Vyse blinked and looked down at her. "Yeah?" he asked in response.
" ...What if... we don't get there in time? What if Valua gets the Silver Crystal?
Then what will we do?" she asked, her worried eyes gazing up at him.
"We'll deal with that if it happens. For right now, we just have to focus on
working as hard as we can to get the Delphinus modified and finding your ship,"
her replied diplomatically.
The young woman smiled, though her eyes were still sad, and said, "...I'll
try." Without warning, she wrapped her arms around Vyse, then stepped back, her
face red. "...Thank you," she murmured.
The Blue Rogue was more than a little stunned, but still managed to say,
"...You're welcome."
Fina gazed into his eyes for a moment, then glanced away shyly. "...We...
have a lot to do, right? I guess we shouldn't waste time standing here..." she
said quietly, her cheeks still pink.
"Uh...y-yeah," Vyse stuttered, then forced a smile. "Let's get going, then."
With that, he quickly started back to the Delphinus, deep in fretful thought;
after Ramirez had confessed to him so unexpectedly, he couldn't help but be
jumpy about people showing him an unusual amount of affection, especially from
the impressionable Silvite girl.
Fina hesitated, wondering anxiously if she had been too forward, but quickly
followed her friend.
Work was made as quick as could be possible without sacrificing quality, and
there was a great amount of progress, though it went far into the evening. When
they finally decided to call it a night, Vyse went to talk to Gilder about his
problems, but was stopped by Aika first.
"Hey, Vyse," she said, her pretty face creased with worry. "I forgot to mention
this before, but I heard that there's three people going around pretending to
be you, me and Fina. I saw them on the wanted list at the Sailor's Guild a few
days back. They're taking people's money and ruining our reputation, so we
should find them and take care of them, all right?"
"Yeah, I've heard of them, too," Vyse nodded, thinking back to Johan's warning.
"It seems they're hanging out around Nasr, so after we've secured Fina's ship
and dropped Enrique off, let's go there and deal with it, all right? Galcian
won't be able to do anything without that ship, so we can take our time and
take care of those kinds of things."
The pigtailed girl grinned, reassured. "We'll teach those fakers to imitate
us!" she winked. "Anyway, I'll talk to you later, Vyse. Good night!"
He nodded and went on ahead, catching up with the crimson-clad Air Pirate, who
was admiring the stars at the foot of the platform leading up to the meeting
room, lazily smoking a cigar.
"Hey, Gilder!" the brunet pirate smiled, approaching him. "You mind if I talk
to you now?"
"Sure, no problem," he said easily, getting to his feet. "What'd you want to
say, kid?"
Glancing out at the rest of the island, knowing that there would be people here
and there who could listen in on something that would be painful enough to
admit to just one person, Vyse lowered his voice and queried, "Actually, is it
all right if we move up to the meeting room? It's more private there..."
Shrugging, the dirty-blonde rogue said, "Sure," and stepped onto the platform.
The young ship captain joined him, and with a pull of a lever, they were off.
As the metal clicked up the mountain, Gilder inquired shrewdly, "Is this about
Ramirez?"
"...Yeah, it is," Vyse murmured, rubbing the back of his neck and blushing slightly.
"The truth is, I left out something from when we were on the Monoceros... It's
embarrassing, and I..." Swallowing, he looked at the older pirate as the
platform locked onto its destination and clanked to a halt, and said, "You have
to swear you'll never tell anybody about this, by the way."
"Sure; Blue Rogue's honor," said the captain of the Claudia, his curiosity
further piqued. He took one last drag of his cigar before he tossed it over the
railing as he walked with his companion down the balcony into the meeting room.
"Well..." Vyse hesitantly began when they had taken their seats, "this isn't
something I think I could tell anybody... Aika and Fina would freak out, and
Enrique—well, if I just wanted someone to listen, he'd be fine, but I'm kind of
looking for some advice." He paused awkwardly, then went on, "And, um, I dunno
how much experience you might have with what I'm about to tell you, if any, but
you're the one most likely to, so..."
"Well, we'll see when you tell me," Gilder reasoned. "So what's on your mind,
kid?"
Vyse hesitated again, his face reddening. "Y'see..." he mumbled, "well...you
remember how Ramirez admitted he..uh..."
"Yeah, I remember," Gilder cutting him off, conscientiously saving him from
getting further flustered. "What about it?"
Though he appreciated what Gilder did, it didn't help Vyse much, and his face
turning a deeper crimson, he took a deep breath to calm himself, and finally
said, "He...didn't just tell me." He paused. "He showed me." Another
pause as he ducked his head.
"More than just by letting you go free," Gilder surmised.
The brunet nodded once. "He...kissed me," he admitted, bracing himself.
To his surprise, his fellow Blue Rogue wasn't shocked or disgusted or anything
like that. On the contrary, he was amused. "I thought so," he grinned after
taking another drag from his cigar. Upon seeing Vyse's dumbfounded expression,
he explained, "Well, why else would you be so embarrassed? Unless he felt you
up, which, even knowing the little I do about that guy, probably isn't
something he'd do."
"Er...yeah..." Vyse replied, ambivalent with relief and mortification. "So..."
Gilder shrugged. "I haven't been around to know him that good, kid," he
reminded the younger pirate, "so I can't tell you how to treat him. Far as I'm
concerned, though, it's a good idea to keep that sword of his far away from
him..."
"Yeah, it's in my room," Vyse replied, thinking of the wicked-looking blade set
at the foot of his bed. "But you really can't give me any advice at all?
He's... He's got a lot of issues over betraying me for Galcian and then
betraying Galcian for me, and I think it's tearing him up inside..."
"Obviously," the handsome older pirate commented with a light smirk,
"considering how melodramatic he was being."
Vyse remained silent, prompting Gilder to ask him, "You're really taking him
seriously, aren't you?"
The young captain sighed and started to pace the room. "He was seriously about
to kill himself before I stopped him. I think I might be the only thing keeping
him from ending his life once and for all..." he said, voicing some of his
musings.
"And you don't want that to happen," the older pirate surmised.
Halting his nervous pacing, the brunet rogue turned towards his friend with a
look of disbelief in his eyes. "Well, obviously!" he said, exasperated.
This only prompted Gilder to look at him curiously for a moment. "How do you
feel about him?"
"What do you mean?" Vyse asked, confused.
"I'm asking you if you're hot for Ramirez, kid," Gilder said, bluntly restating
his question.
The blue-clad rogue blushed scarlet and stammered, "W—what?! I—I am not! I'm
not gay!"
"Uh huh."
"I'm not!" insisted the young captain, now a little more indignant than
embarrassed.
"I believe you, Vyse," Gilder said without any trace of sarcasm.
"...Right," said the younger Blue Rogue, after taking a breath to calm down.
"So...I don't love him...but I do care about him. He's my friend."
"So you're not gay, then?" the dirty-blond pirate asked, this time with a
smirk.
"GILDER!" the brunet lad yelled, exasperated.
His response only amused the older man. "Just making sure. You certain?" he
asked again.
"YES!" Vyse exclaimed.
"What about bi?"
The youth opened his mouth to shout a denial, then blinked, temporarily thrown
by the unknown term. " ...What's bi?"
"Bisexual," the older rogue clarified, surprised by Vyse's naïveté. "Means you
like men and women."
The young ship captain's jaw dropped, and after a moment of trying to find his
voice, he breathed, "That's possible?"
Biting back laughter, Gilder replied with a wink, "Sure. I have a friend who's
absolutely flaming, and his boyfriend likes the ladies almost as much as he
likes the men."
Vyse only gaped at his friend, floored by this revelation. Though he'd grown up
around pirates and as pirates and as such knew a small bit about homosexuality,
he'd never before heard the concept of bisexuality. He'd been under the
impression for years that one could only be one or the other.
Gilder shrugged. "I'm asking because you seem pretty damn fond of Ramirez for
'just friends'," he said.
Momentarily tongue-tied, the brunet youth stammered, "I...uh..."
"But if you say you're not gay, I guess you're not gay," the older man said.
Vyse stood there looking very uncomfortable, but said nothing, and the playboy
Air Pirate continued, the barest trace of an amused smirk on his lips, "Because
you couldn't possibly be in denial."
"...Uh, yeah..." the captain of the Delphinus murmured.
"So, I assume you shot Ramirez down when he told you how he felt," Gilder said
bracingly, moving back to the topic at hand.
"...Well, yeah..." Vyse muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, recalling with
some guilt how he'd brashly told the ex-Admiral that he hated him.
"So now he's pining for you."
"...Well...I don't know if he's pining..." Vyse said hesitantly.
"So you want to know how to deal with that," the shades-wearing pirate
continued, glossing over his companion's statement.
"...Yeah, that works..." the brunet murmured, nervously shifting his weight.
Gilder shrugged helplessly. "Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know. I deal
with Clara by running away from her. Then again, she insists on chasing me.
From the sound of it, Ramirez insists on trying to make himself die."
He paused for a moment to let his friend say what he felt on his broad
statement. Vyse, however, was silent, so Gilder continued, "Aika still wants
him dead or at least maimed, and considering what Fina said, it doesn't sound
like she's going to want to have anything to do with him anymore. The rest of
the crew is probably going to be just as unforgiving, considering he lit
Crescent Isle up like a Nasrad flame festival. Yet you say there isn't any
better option than keeping him here?"
The younger man sighed. "Believe me, he's dead-set on committing suicide," he
said, his mind flickering back to that moment on the Monoceros, and then
quickly shoving that memory aside.
His expression serious, Gilder suggested without malice, "Might be for the
best."
"NO!" Vyse yelled out of reaction and disbelief at his companion's callousness.
He quickly calmed down when he caught himself, and amended his hasty
exclamation with, "...I mean...I don't like suicide."
"Normally, I'd agree with you, but if he's dead, it'll make his piece of the
Silver Crystal a lot easier to protect," the trenchcoat-wearing pirate reasoned
practically. "You could bury it somewhere, drop it into Deep Sky—"
A wave of anger rose inside the brunet lad as Gilder spoke. What was wrong with
everyone? Why did it seem like the only option available was for Ramirez to
die? There had to be another way! "I won't let Ramirez die!!" he yelled,
voicing his inner convictions as much as responding to his friend's suggestion.
The rugged rogue was taken aback for a moment by the younger man's sudden
passion. He didn't think he had ever seen him this upset before. "Why not?"
Gilder asked, attempting to find a reason for the outburst.
Vyse shouted, "Because! He's my friend! And I know he betrayed me. I
really don't give a damn!"
The sandy-blond Blue Rogue held up his hands in mock defeat. "Okay, okay!
Still, if you've exhausted your options..."
Sighing, the brunet captain forced himself to calm down and said, "I know, I
know... So you really can't give me any advice on what to do, or say to him? I
mean, even if you've only gone out with women..."
The older pirate coughed, somewhat nervously. "Actually, about that..." he said
apprehensively.
"...Yeah?" the Blue Rogue asked, curious.
Gilder gave him a sheepish smile. "Since you've told me something embarrassing,
I'll return the favor—easier not to spill that way, eh?"
"You got kissed by a guy, too?" Vyse guessed.
The older pirate shrugged. "Heh...if only it'd been that simple," he said.
"You're gay?" the captain of the Delphinus gawked.
That assumption made the rugged man laugh freely. "You've seen my quarters on
the Claudia, Vyse; what do you think?"
The young swordsman considered. "...Okay, maybe not."
"Anyway..." the captain of the Claudia resumed, scratching his stubble. "I was
at a party, having a great time—free loqua, so I was getting sloshed and
flirting with the lovely ladies." He paused. "Let me tell you now that I was
drunk." He paused again, then emphasized, "Really drunk."
"Uh huh," Vyse said, mentally preparing himself for what came next.
"So anyway," Gilder continued, "I hit on this one girl, and she took me up on
my offers, and we headed to one of the back rooms, got nice and comfortable,
got nice and acquainted..." The older pirate trailed off, and coughed
before he went on, "Now, I was drunk, but I wasn't so drunk that I couldn't
notice something was wrong after a few minutes..."
Guessing where this story was going, the young pirate said, "...The girl was
really a guy?"
"He looked just like a woman!" the gunslinger protested in defense of his
honor. "Girliest guy I've ever seen in my life! Of course, if I'd been sober, I
would've noticed right away..." he added.
"So you ended up making out with a man?" the young captain asked.
Gilder paused, an uneasy look on his face. "...Little further than that," he
said, not elaborating.
"...You had sex with a man?" the young rogue gasped.
The older pirate looked more than a bit put off. "Hey, now that's getting a bit
too personal! Besides, that's not the point of this story. Anyway, the morning
after, he was damn understanding. Made it a lot less embarrassing..."
"Wow... What happened afterwards?" Vyse asked.
"Well, I told you have a friend who's completely flaming, didn't I?" Gilder
said.
Blinking in surprise, the brunet man asked, "You became friends?!"
He shrugged, pushing up his yellow shades, relaxing now that he was moving away
from the part of the story that bothered him. "He was a surprisingly good
person, and amusing to have around. We just made it strictly clear that I
wasn't interested in men in spite of what I did while sauced up, and if he hit
on me, I would hit him back in the face. Which would be a shame, 'cause there
weren't a lot of women who had a face prettier than his."
"...Uh huh," Vyse uttered, stunned.
"So, Vyse," Gilder said, not seeing anything else that needed to be said, "if
that's all you wanted to talk about, we'd best hit the sack."
"...Yeah," the young captain murmured.
The two exchanged good-nights, each heading back to his respective room, and
even after he changed into his night clothes and settled into bed, Vyse
couldn't stop mulling over the more experienced rogue's words.
/I wonder if Gilder has a point... Maybe I've just been resisting the
idea... I didn't think too much of it before Ramirez revealed his plans, too;
maybe I'm just using it as an excuse to keep him at arm's length./ He
rolled onto his side, staring blankly at the wall. /...But I'm a captain,
and lots of people are counting on me. I can't set them aside just for one person./
The young ship captain sighed, furrowing his brows. /Arianne said I have to
believe in him if I want to help him.../ He smiled slightly. /It's good
advice. But Aika and the others won't be so understanding... There's too much
to do right now. Maybe when things calm down I can try to work things through./
Vyse paused in his mental processes, unwilling to consider the thought that
comes to mind. /...If he's still alive by then.../ Sitting up, unable to
shrug off the sickening feeling, he fretted, /Knowing Ramirez, he would
try to find some quiet way to die without anyone noticing...
/Well, I'll just have the people who bring him his meals report to me on his
condition, if he finishes his meals and stuff,/ he added, determined. /As
soon as we've got Fina's ship, I'll visit him./ The Blue Rogue's shoulders
sagged, and he flopped back onto the mattress, staring up at the ceiling once
again. /...It's all I can do./
A couple of days later, the crew of the Delphinus finished adjustments to the
vast vessel and began the expedition to Deep Sky. After several trials and
tribulations, they managed to retrieve Fina's ship along with two pieces of a
strange metal. Heady with their success, they turned to leave, but were
intercepted by the latest incarnation of the Chameleon.
The fight was a vicious, difficult one, but in the end, De Loco lost both the
battle and his life, his wrecked ship sinking into the spiraling pitch. The
Delphinus rose from the murky abyss into lighter air, and headed for Sailor's
Isle to drop off Enrique, as had been agreed.
Another ship battle awaited them before they reached the place, however, as
Baltor demanded a rematch in his new ship. It was an easy victory for the
Delphinus, however, even after the damage it had sustained from the tussle with
De Loco.
The group's parting with Enrique was bittersweet, but it was done bravely, with
well-wishing of good luck to the young Prince. After watching him sail off to
the north, Vyse and the ones stopped by the Sailor's Guild to sell information
on discoveries they'd made and such, and along with cash, they received a Black
Spot, the summons card of Piastol, a.k.a. the Angel of Death. Before fighting
her, though, they stopped by Doc's ship to feed Maria's bird more Moonfish, and
with all the transparent creatures they had collected, it grew to an enormous
size. Maria delightedly thanked Vyse for his efforts, which prompted emphatic
thanks in turn from Doc for the same things. Fina asked him more of what he
knew of Ramirez's past, and she and Aika listened attentively as he told them—though
Vyse, mindful of his agreement with Ramirez, refused to listen, much to his
childhood friend's annoyance; she was of the opinion that after his betrayal,
Vyse didn't need to honor any agreements with the ex-Admiral.
That was how the situation remained, however, and what Fina and Aika learned
remained a mystery to Vyse. They headed north from there to battle Piastol,
who, as she had the first time they had fought, babbled on about vengeance and
refused to explain herself. Vyse and company managed to beat her, and after
listening to her swear to kill Vyse again and leaving, they set course for Nasrad
to look for any information about their imposters. They didn't need
information, though, because it was there that they found them—a trio of
entertainers specializing in impersonation, calling themselves Vize, Anita and
Faina. They turned out murderous, so after a large scuffle aboard the Delphinus
away from the city, the imposters were made to apologize and promise to cut it
out. Satisfied with that, Vyse and company then turned a search for new
crewmembers, sailing up to the higher altitudes, where there was less resistance
and no monsters, to cut down on time.
They spent the next few days sailing speedily around the world, finding people
willing to offer their talents. Above Valua they found the alchemist Ilchymis,
who gladly joined when he learned Fina knew the spell Riselem, and north of
Yafutoma, Ryu-kan the weaponsmith was sufficiently impressed by Vyse's valor
and bravery to leave his tiny island and board the Delphinus. In Horteka, a
conversation with a girl named Meridia revealed that she had sent out a message
in a bottle that Vyse and the others had found floating around the tower at
Sailor's Isle lunar cycles back, and she, too, joined as an entertainer. Hans, in the
same village, promised to join after he finished working with his 'father',
Centime. To the south, they found the trio of savage women called the Ixa'ness
Demons, and after a surprising moment where they squealed about how handsome
Vyse and Gilder were, a rather large scuffle ensued where Vyse and company
emerged victorious over yet another of the hits on the Sailor's Guild bounty
list.
A return to Esperanza to see how the people there were doing caused Vyse and
Aika's paths to cross again with Don, who, upon learning that they had sailed
around the world, was filled again with the desire to sail, and abandoning his
life of despair—though not his loqua—he joined the growing ranks of the crew of
the Delphinus as a backup helmsman. Then, when Vyse allowed Don the pleasure of
being able to sail through the Dark Rift without a problem, they found there,
along with the floating black Moonstone from their last visit with its top
curiously shattered like an eggshell, a ragged man in one of the crashed ships
who had lost his memory—who turned out to be Polly's long-lost husband,
Robinson. After a joyful reunion, Robinson, too, stepped aboard the mighty
Valuan ship, joining Marco in work as a sailor.
Ecstatic by the addition of so many new members, the captain decided that that
was enough sailing and re-exploring for now, and to return to Crescent Isle. It
was when the base was in sight from the bridge that Aika called an impromptu
meeting with her friends.
"Hey, Vyse, everyone," she called, motioning towards the captain's chair, where
she currently stood.
Looking back behind him quizzically, Vyse called back, "Yeah, sure." Leaving
control of the wheel to Lawrence, he, Fina and Gilder joined the redheaded
pirate girl.
Crossing her arms, the brown-eyed Blue Rogue faced her friends and began, "Now,
we're about to return to Crescent Isle. The logical thing is to go straight to
the Great Silver Shrine, right?"
At her statement, the white-robed Silvite glanced away, her gaze troubled.
Aika did not miss it; she hardly could, since her friend's feelings had been
the point of the get-together. "...Well..." she continued, then hesitated.
Gilder, who also noticed Fina's distress, queried, "Do you think we should get
some down time first, Aika? The Delphinus just gained some new crew members,
and it might be best to let them get used to life as Blue Rogues before their
captain goes sailing into the great blue yonder."
Nodding gratefully, the pirate girl smiled and replied, "Besides, I think we
need a break, too. Things have been so crazy lately. Plus, we should prepare
for our trip."
"Sounds good," Vyse agreed. "We should get preparations done in the meantime
anyway. In any case, without Fina's ship, Galcian can't get to the Silver
Shrine, so we don't need to hurry." With a smile at Fina—having also noticed
her silent discomfort—he gently asked, "Does that sound good to you, Fina?"
Relieved at their understanding and sympathy, the young Silvite lady smiled
back and nodded to her friends. "...Yes. Thank you."
"All right, it's a plan!" the young ship captain cheered with a grin, and his
friends cheered along with him, their enthusiasm returning. They set foot again
on Crescent Isle a short while after and unloaded Fina's ship. When the work
was done, though, Vyse, unable to forget about Ramirez and worrying about him
after all the days that had passed, excused himself and headed for the
depressed Silvite's room.
/...How many days has it been since I talked to him last?/ he wondered
as he approached the place where the former Admiral slept. /It must be
twelve by now... I wonder how he's doing.../
Reaching the door, he unlocked and opened it, and warily stepped inside, not
knowing what to expect. The room itself was very dark, as the window drapes
were drawn shut. "Ramirez?" Vyse called; there was no reply. Beginning to
worry, he called again, "Ramirez, are you in here? Answer me!"
There was a small motion in the darkness, and from the light creeping in behind
Vyse, the young pirate could see a hand being waved unenthusiastically from
behind the foot of the bed. Relieved at the response, however nonverbal, he
stepped inside and pushed the door shut. It wasn't a particularly brilliant
move, since it suffused the entire room with darkness, but Vyse headed—and
occasionally stumbled—over to the drapes.
"Please leave them closed," Ramirez said faintly, but the Blue Rogue didn't
hear him and ended up throwing them fully open, causing the Silvite to wince
from the sudden brightness.
The Air Pirate turned to the ex-Admiral then, but hesitated; Ramirez had his
legs clutched to his chest, his hair decidedly disheveled and his clothes, the
uniform from Valua he wore almost obsessively, creased and probably dirty. That
was only seeing him curled up, too, Vyse realized, and feeling slightly ill at
ease, he kneeled down, peering at his former friend.
"...Uh, hi?" he ventured.
"...It's too bright," Ramirez murmured.
This time, the brunet could hear him, and standing up hastily, he said, "...Ah,
sorry..." He drew the drapes shut and queried, "Is that better?"
There was a slight pause as the pale man lifted his face from his knees.
"...It'll do."
"It's been a while since we last talked, huh?" Vyse began somewhat awkwardly,
walking over to and sitting on the bed.
Ramirez nodded silently, not looking at him.
"...Are you all right, staying here?"
Quietly, the Silvite replied, "...I don't have anywhere else to go."
"No, I meant..." Vyse hastily began, glancing away, feeling oddly flustered.
"Are you getting enough food? Are you comfortable? Nobody harassing you?"
His voice little more than monotone, Ramirez said, "You don't have to worry
about me."
Stung by his fellow swordsman's apathy, Vyse said, "Well...I do anyway. You
should know that by now."
Still monotone, he nodded vaguely and replied, "I know."
Falling into an awkward silence, Vyse averted his eyes, blushing slightly. /Dammit...
What am I getting flustered for now?/ he wondered, and almost immediately,
he recalled his conversation with Gilder. /...I.../ Turning his gaze
back at Ramirez, he spoke up again, "...You don't have to hold back, you know?
If you're upset, if you want to talk or even yell...I'll listen either way,
okay? It's...the least I can do."
"I don't have anything to talk about," the Silvite murmured, then paused, and
glanced up at the young pirate. "...You don't owe me anything, Vyse..."
Frustrated, Vyse stood and faced the despondent man, beginning, "Ramirez, I—"
He stopped himself abruptly and took a deep breath, trying to reign in his
tumultuous feelings, and started over. "...You stayed with me. You...you didn't
kill yourself. There must have been tons of opportunities for it... I couldn't
stay around you all the time." He shifted his gaze to the side. "So... It must
hurt you...to give up what you want to keep me happy. So...um..." He trailed
off, blushing and rubbing his neck, unsure of what else to say.
Ramirez was also slightly flushed, and he too glanced away, shoving the welling
feelings aside, believing that they would never become anything. "...Vyse. You
can't keep me alive forever. Don't say anything," he added sharply when the
brunet looked back at him; "you have to know that it would be easier for you if
I died." The silver-haired man raised his left hand slowly and regarded it as
he paused. "...I could give this to you. It would be easier to protect."
"NO!" Vyse denied vehemently, immediately dropping down to his knees and
grabbing Ramirez's hand with both of his own, prompting a startled stare. His
eyes trembling, the rogue yelled, "Who cares about a stupid crystal, anyway?!
It's you I want to...protect..." Realizing what he was saying and how it
must sound, he abruptly released the crystal-concealing appendage and stared
down at his knees.
The Silvite swordsman continued to stare at Vyse, temporarily dumbfounded;
eventually he lowered his gaze to the floor, his heart pounding.
Blushing furiously, the pirate offered, "Uh...um...sorry..."
Still not looking at Vyse and not sounding as if he meant it, Ramirez softly
replied, "...It's all right..."
The Blue Rogue's heart thudded against his ribcage as he kept his eyes fixed on
his knees. "...I...I guess if that's it...I'll get going..."
Ramirez simply nodded silently.
The captain of the Delphinus rose to his feet and stumbled back, feeling
self-conscious. "Um...I'll come see you later, okay?"
"...If you want."
"Right, then..." the brunet murmured before taking another step back,
conscientiously shutting the curtains and quickly leaving the room, looking the
door behind him. He stopped there after pulling out the key, his gaze unfocused
and his chest feeling oddly tight, for a moment before he turned to head back.
He didn't get far before his childhood friend intercepted him, looking slightly
disturbed. Taking one look at Vyse's face, she surmised, "...You talked to him,
didn't you."
The taller rogue stiffened. "...Yeah."
"You know how I can tell?" Aika asked, then continued without waiting for a
reply, "You look upset."
"...Do I?" Vyse queried vaguely.
The redhead nodded firmly, sensing his attempt at evasiveness. "And it's not
like you at all," she declared. "What did you two talk about?"
"Well, I just wanted to see how he was doing," he said noncommittally. He
hesitated, then, feeling that he owed his friend at least a small measure of
detailed truth, reluctantly added, "He... still wants to die."
"...Vyse..." Aika murmured, furrowing her brow. She hesitated; she wanted to
speak her mind, but considering how Vyse was acting over the former Admiral, it
was likely he wouldn't take it well. However, the pirate girl never could be
demure for long, and she said, "I know how you feel about that, and I don't
like it either, but... Who cares if he dies! He only causes us trouble,
anyway!"
Still upset over the Silvite's nihilism, he snapped, "Shut up, Aika! I don't
want to hear that from you!!"
"What's wrong with you?!" she nearly shouted. "You should hate him more than
anyone!!"
"That's not important!" Vyse replied hotly. "Why do you want him to die
so badly!?
Angered by her childhood friend's blatant favor of the traitorous Silvite, Aika
demanded, "How can you even ask that when he wrecked Crescent Isle and nearly
killed you?!"
Vyse glared at her, then shook his head and said, though he knew she was right,
"Just shut up!!"
The pigtailed girl blinked back welling tears of frustration and fury and
yelled, "Vyse, what is wrong with you?! Why are you trying to defend
him!?"
Taken aback both by her impending tears and his own attitude, Vyse stammered,
"I...I..." Guilt and abashment welled up inside of him, and he paused before
finishing, "...I'm sorry, Aika. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that.
I...guess I'm just upset about the things he said."
The yellow-clad pirate girl also paused, taking the time to swipe at her eyes
with the back of her hand. "...Yeah," she murmured. "I'm sorry too... It's
just, he took you away, and I was scared for a while I'd never see you
again..." Swallowing hard at the memory, she blinked rapidly to try to hold
back freshly forming tears.
Vyse shook his head, not noticing. "No, I just didn't consider how you felt.
It's my fault. I just keep thinking I can save him without even considering
about how you guys feel about."
Aika was silent for a moment, then queried, her curiosity raising its head,
"...So what did he say, anyway?"
"He...just told me that he's better off dead and that I could protect the
Crystal better than him," the brunet pirate replied, glancing to the side.
"...Vyse...why do you want to 'save' him, anyway?" the redhead inquired, trying
to sound gentle.
Praying his face wasn't turning red, the captain of the Delphinus muttered,
"I... well... he gave up a lot for me. I guess I want to help him. ...I really
don't think he's faking."
Peering at her childhood friend, Aika queried, "Do you think he's not faking
being in love with you, too?"
Vyse felt himself flush vibrantly and mentally cursed himself for it. "...No, I
don't think so..."
The crimson on his face didn't pass by the orange-haired girl's notice, and
with a frown, she inquired, "...Why not? I can hardly believe he's capable
of love."
"Well, uh... you see..." the brown-eyed rogue began, extremely unwilling to
reveal what Ramirez had done on the Monoceros. He glanced at Aika and fell
silent, but she simply waiting patiently, her arms crossed. "...Um... how do I
say this... I... ah... could we go somewhere private?"
She nodded, and they headed to her room. Once inside, Aika sat on her bed,
letting Vyse take the chair next to her desk, and looked at him expectantly,
though with a certain degree of dread.
Vyse regarded his old friend for a moment, then sighed. "Aika, I know you won't
give up until I tell you, but please don't tell anyone else." A pause. "He
kissed me."
The redheaded girl didn't know precisely what to expect, and the revelation
certain shouldn't have surprised her, but nonetheless, her jaw dropped in
outrage. "...He what?!"
Wincing at her reaction, he muttered, "...Yeah."
"That—that—" she began to rant, then jumped to her feet, paced a few sharp
steps, and stopped, looking positively murderous. "That BASTARD!! How dare he
do that?!!"
"Aika!" he protested in alarm. "It...wasn't that big a deal..."
"How can you be so calm about it?!" she demanded. "He kissed you,
Vyse!!"
Discomfited, he glanced away and muttered, "...Well, I got over it... I mean,
it's not the end of the world, right?"
She simply stared at him for a moment before shaking her head in disgust.
"Well, I can't believe him, anyway. That—ugh!!" She shook her head again, this
time more violently.
With a definite feeling of unease, Vyse assured his friend, "...It's okay."
"It's just, it's disgusting," she said, her tone matching her words. "He's
disgusting. I can barely stand to think about him."
The taller pirate shifted somewhat nervously in his seat, wondering if it was
homosexuality that his orange-haired companion found so disgusting or if it was
just Ramirez. He wasn't sure which would be worse. "Yeah, well..."
Beginning to calm down, Aika sat again and sighed. "Yeah, I know. It wouldn't
be right to kill him. Mind you, I'd be looking the other way if he were
starting to do himself in... But you feel differently, obviously."
"I just don't like suicide," the brunet said softly.
"Yeah, I know you don't," the pirate girl said with a note of resignation.
"...And normally, I don't, either. But for him, I'm willing to make an
exception."
Vyse merely shrugged, trying to hide his growing inner turmoil.
"Well..." Aika began, wondering if she had said too much, "don't let him get to
you so much in the future, okay? It's depressing to see you get discouraged..."
"Sorry," he replied with an apologetic smile, their brown eyes meeting. "I know
I shouldn't dwell on it, but..."
The redhead gazed at him, her lips slightly parted for a yet unborn reply;
ultimately, she gave up on words, and simply stood, walked over to her beloved
friend, leaned forward and hugged him.
A bit surprised by the suddenness, Vyse said, "Hey, I'll be okay, all right?
But thanks..." Awkwardly because of his sitting position, he hugged her back.
She squeezed him more tightly and murmured, "Vyse, you dummy..."
"Eh?" the brown-eyed lad uttered, confused.
She sniffed slightly and pulled away. "Nothing." Aika then sighed and smiled at
him.
"I'll be okay," Vyse insisted, staring at her. "I promise."
His childhood friend nodded; she did so want to believe him. "Okay."
Vyse returned to his room that night tired from the day's exertions and vaguely
disheartened from his encounter with Ramirez. He tossed off his beige boots and
flopped himself onto his bed with a frustrated sigh, folding his arms under his
head and pulling off his clear goggle as he stared up at the ceiling.
He had much to think about, he knew, tossing his eyepatch onto the nearby desk.
Between the talks he'd had with Gilder, Fina, Aika and Ramirez, he wasn't sure
what to think anymore—much less how he felt, about the troublesome ex-Admiral
or otherwise.
When he thought back on his conversation with the older Blue Rogue, the captain
of the Delphinus got the distinct impression that he'd simply been humoring him
when he had said he believed him when he'd said he wasn't gay, which Vyse found
somewhat irritating; then again, he couldn't blame Gilder, considering how he'd
been acting lately. Still, the gun-slinging pirate had seen the two of them
together for less than a week; it was pretty unfair of him to come to that
conclusion...
Even if it were true.
Vyse rolled onto his side, furrowing his brows anxiously; he didn't want to
think about that. He didn't want to, but it beat down the door to his cerebrum,
planted its imaginary ass in the master's chair and demanded instant attention,
declaring that, well, wasn't it true that Gilder had a lot more experience with
this kind of thing? Maybe he could tell just by watching for a short
time. Hell, wasn't that why Vyse had gone to talk to him in the first
place—because he was supposed to know these things?
/But he's into women,/ the brunet rogue told himself. /That doesn't
mean he might know anything about...gay people./
Even though he's friends with one?, the thought slyly queried.
/But that doesn't necessarily mean anything,/ Vyse replied, feeling
uncomfortable yet again. /In any case, at least he didn't seem put off by
it. That's more than I can say for Fina and Aika.../ He sighed, thinking of
his female companions. /Dammit... I know they've got reason to dislike
Ramirez, and I don't blame them for it, but I wish they wouldn't go that
far.../
Vyse didn't want to submit to the thought that had now arrived, asking him if
that wasn't because he had feelings for the Silvite swordsman—feelings that
went beyond mere friendship—because it was difficult enough at the moment
trying to deal with the fact that Aika and Fina now both deplored Ramirez for
falling for the wrong person. If the former Admiral had fallen for his
childhood friend and then betrayed them, would the girls still be this angry
and hurt? The Blue Rogue had no way of knowing, and he doubted he'd get an
unbiased answer if he were to ask. He did think, however, about what he had
told the Silvite: "It's you I want to protect."
/Heh.../ he thought with a small, ironic smile. /It's kind of funny,
me wanting to protect someone who's stronger than I am.../
Would that be love?
Vyse rolled again, grabbing his pillow and burying his face in it. How could
it be love? The timing was bad, anyway; he was probably just mistaking it for
pity laced with guilt, and he knew Ramirez would rather die than accept something
like that...
The Blue Rogue grimaced at his mental choice of words. Ramirez, he knew, would
rather die right now than do many other things.
With a noise of aggravation, the brunet set his pillow back underneath his head
and focused his efforts on falling asleep rather than pondering his private
life.
Galcian was not pleased.
His former Vice Captain had, along with the Air Pirate Vyse, gone missing
again, under circumstances even more bewildering and nonsensical than the first
occasion. Ramirez was certainly no fool; he would not give Vyse any unnecessary
advantages—that was to say, any advantages whatsoever. Furthermore, the Silvite
had been able to soundly beat the Air Pirate and his companions; there
certainly wasn't a question of skill involved. It was possible that there had
been a trick involved, like the first time, but the Grand Admiral knew his most
loyal servant too well to think that he would fall for something like that
again. And there was a slight possibility that Ramirez had let down his guard,
thinking that there was no way that Vyse could escape with the odds stacked so
highly against him, and that had caused his undoing... But if that were the
case, where had Ramirez himself gone? Even if, through some horrible turn of
chance, Vyse had bested and killed him, there should be some traces of his
remains, not to mention signs of a scuffle.
The entire situation was far too suspicious. There had been no signs of a
struggle. There was no trace of Ramirez or Vyse, and their respective weapons
and equipment were all gone. Ramirez had specifically relieved the guards
posted outside Vyse's cell before schedule, and that had been the last time
anyone had seen him. Furthermore, there was a lifeboat missing...
It was not a thought the man enjoyed entertaining, but the logical conclusion
was that Ramirez and Vyse had left the ship together.
The only problem with this "logical" conclusion was that it was completely illogical.
It was not something Ramirez would do. Ever. Except, unless Galcian had utterly
misread the signs, he had. But, the Grand Admiral decided, that wasn't the nost
important issue at hand. What was important was the continued existance of that
Blue Rogue. This made three times he had escaped from the Valuans—three times
too many.
Galcian smirked. Vyse would naturally try to return to his base; it was his
home, after all, and he was needed as its leader now that it had been partially
destroyed. He would want to contact his companions aside.
The infernal Blue Rogue wouldn't be allowed to do as he pleased any longer.
This time, Galcian would visit Crescent Isle again—with the intentions of
destroying it by his own hands. He would not be satisfied until he had
personally executed Vyse and witnessed his bloody, preferably dismembered
corpse.
If he were in pieces, after all, then there was no way the devious Air Pirate
could escape from the Reaper.
There wasn't a time in the day where Ramirez wasn't aware of the darkness that
clung like ivy to his psyche, but somehow, when he gazed at the stars as he did
now, he was reminded not only of the wrongs that Arcadians had dealt him, but
of the innocence and trust that pervaded him in his youth—and how he retained
none of it now. The constellations that twinkled in the heavens, the same constellations
he had gazed at wonderingly as a boy, never failed to bring how far he had
traveled since those days to his notice. Not so long a time ago, he had
regarded the changes in himself with a sort of bitter, self-elevating pride; he
had been hurt, he had been unfairly prosecuted, he had been witness to the
ugliness that was humanity, but still he would bring about its salvation by
working to help Lord Galcian in his efforts, no matter what. It was a brutal
salvation that would result in the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of
people, but that what something about which the Silvite swordsman didn't care;
aside from the Grand Admiral, humans were nothing but scum, after all, and they
deserved the fate that they had earned.
Lately, though, he had begun to wonder if he was truly any better than other
Arcadians; he, too, was capable of deception, manipulation, betrayal and
sadism. Was he truly in a position to be judging others? Why had Lord Galcian
chosen him to walk by his side? It had been seven years ago since they first
met, and the mighty soldier laughingly called him a fool for trusting others so
blindly. He had declared that he trusted nothing and no one but power, and that
he sought out the greatest power there was...
Sitting in his windowsill and gazing past the parted curtains at the tiny
sparkling specks of sand in the sky, Ramirez felt cold and empty. In the end,
he proved Lord Galcian right; nobody could trust anyone else... He was
no different than the humans he despised. He was just as filthy...
He couldn't find Wilwarin in the sky; the angle from this window prevented it.
It felt appropriate that now even the Butterfly, which before always could be
seen in the heavens, was invisible to him now... /Perhaps it is the same
with Vyse,/ he pondered despondently. /After all that has happened, I
can no longer see him clearly. His inexhaustible zeal, his inextinguishable
optimism... They're like stars that have journeyed too far away from me. The
only thing I can see now,/ and he shifted his jade-colored eyes to a
collection of stars near the zenith, /is Michaol, the Fallen Angel. It is
all too appropriate; I am, like him, no longer anything more than a messenger
from the heavens fallen to the earth and soiled. That being, who had been
presumptuous and thusly punished for it, was trapped in the ether far away from
the creatures whom he had, according to the Silvites, wanted to control, and
according to the Arcadians, wanted to protect...and I am trapped far away from
everyone—those I wished to control, those I wished to destroy, those I wished
to protect... I am now merely an earthbound Michaol, unable to gaze at the
Wilwarin I adore./
Ramirez moved back onto his desk, pulling shut the curtains, and quietly
slipped off, his bare feet touching the cool floor. His talk with the captain
of the Delphinus had inspired him to look to the heavens, but in the end, the
night sky was nothing more than a reminder of his downfall. With a faint sigh,
the former Admiral walked over to his bed and collapsed upon it, wrapped up in
his thoughts. Eventually, he managed to surrender his mind to oblivion and
slept a few fitful hours.
By the time morning had come and he had returned to consciousness, to his spot
at the foot of the bed, the Silvite had sunk back into a pit of suspended
emotion. He knew he was pathetic, but he was past caring by that point. Even
attempting death seemed like too much of an effort anymore; he would just
huddle in his corner or drape himself onto his bed, hiding from the light,
hiding from the outside world, barely acknowledging those who occasionally
dropped by to give him food and drink, which he half-heartedly consumed for
Vyse's sake.
Vyse. The Silvite wasn't sure if he loved him or hated him anymore. What did it
matter to him if he lived or died? Why did he have to pretend so convincingly
that he cared... The Silvite sighed and leaned his head against the wall. His
own passivity sickened him, but he didn't have the will or wish to do anything
about it.
And so he stayed there.
/It would be nice,/ he thought idly, /if Vyse would just end my
worthless life by his own hands... Or if he would at least stop tormenting me
by bringing some form of closure to all of this./ The silver-haired man
almost smiled bitterly, but the effort wasn't one he was willing to undertake.
/If I didn't know him better, I would think he enjoyed teasing me.../
It was painful to think too long about the young pirate, however. /It would
be better if he didn't come to check on me.../ he thought, though, as everything
was with him as of late, he was also somewhat cheered that Vyse hadn't
forgotten him after all...
It was a miserable, disgusting life he now led, simply waiting for nothing,
simultaneously yearning for and pushing away the charismatic rogue. Even now,
he couldn't help but wish yet again, in spite of the melancholy it unfailingly
rained down on him, to see Vyse again.
Ramirez shut his eyes and rested his head on his knees, lonely, but it wasn't
long after that he heard the familiar sound of a key undoing a lock. The former
Admiral tried to ignore it, but a surge of hope sank its thorns into his chest,
demanding that he think perhaps the handsome brunet had come to visit again—
His wishes, such as they were, were answered when Vyse's voice called from the
doorway, "Hey, are you awake?" Without waiting for a reply, the Blue Rogue
stepped inside and shut the door behind him, and continued, "I brought you some
food."
Ramirez didn't reply; his voice was stuck somewhere in his throat, and so he
merely watched the captain of the Delphinus make his way over again to the
window and opens the drapes partially. Vyse set the plate he had brought with
him down on the desk and glanced at the corner.
His brown eyes met Ramirez's green ones, and they stared at each other for
several seconds before the Silvite dropped his gaze and slowly rose to his
feet.
Vyse shifted nervously. "I, uh, just dropped by to give you some food, and tell
you we're going to have another meeting in a couple hours. We'll escort you with
us to the meeting room, because part of it is going to be about what to do with
you."
The ex-Admiral nodded listlessly.
The captain of the Delphinus shifted again. "Well...I guess I'll leave, then,"
he continued, then added quickly, "unless you want to talk."
The Silvite paused, his mind bereft of possible replies to this unexpected
offer. After a moment, he cautiously queried, "...Talk about what?"
"Anything," Vyse said a bit hastily. Then with a shake of his head, he
corrected himself, "About what's going on. About how you feel about it, and
what you want to happen. Knowing you, you'll probably end up saying nothing at
the meeting..."
Ramirez looked at him, his gaze sedate, and pulled the chair out from the desk
and sat. "Don't you have other duties to attend to?" he replied, his apathetic
tone belying his accusatory inquiries. "Other, more important things? As long
as I can be taken care of neatly without sacrificing my life, what do my
feelings have to do with anything?"
The Blue Rogue looked away, feeling guilty. "Ramirez," he began, glancing back
over at the Silvite, "I do care about how you feel. I didn't come just to bring
you food; I wanted to see how you were doing, too..."
The shorter swordsman picked up one of the sandwiches from the plate and took a
small bite, his jade eyes fixed on a distant point outside the window. "I'm
fine," he lied after swallowing.
Vyse shook his head. "No, you're not fine. No one would be 'fine' after all
this."
"You're right," Ramirez conceded. "I was lying."
"Well, is there anything I can do for you? You can say anything, even if you
want me to stop bugging you," the brunet youth asked.
There was a pause from the silver-haired man, the faint smirk of someone who
can't help but challenge an abrasively broad promise on his lips. Setting down
his sandwich, Ramirez stood, faced Vyse, and replied calmly and unabashedly,
his tone too even to convey his intended sarcasm, "Oh, yes. You can take me
into your arms, kiss me with all your strength, throw me onto the bed and make
passionate love to me. But barring that, I'll accept a simple hug."
Vyse's face was plastered for a long moment with a crimson blush. /I... I
never expected him to be that explicit.../ he thought to himself, /but I
did ask him to say anything.../
"...Well..." he said after that period of silence, "...it can't hurt..."
And he awkwardly embraced the former Admiral.
The Silvite froze, his emerald eyes wide with shock. He had said what he had
said without reserve or shame precisely because he had thought Vyse would never
agree to it. He wasn't sure if he would want an embrace even if Vyse had been
willing to give one, either... But now the captain of the Delphinus had him in
his arms, and he was at a complete loss of what to do—so he did nothing, and
simply let the taller man hold him.
Vyse lingered for a few moments, before his misgivings got the better of him,
and he let go of Ramirez. It wasn't right to tease his former friend like that,
even if that wasn't his intention.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. He had promised himself he would save his former
friend, but now...
Perhaps that chance had been forever lost, much like their fragmented
friendship, which now seemed it could never be repaired. Perhaps he'd been
sarcastic—that made more sense; how could he be so stupid as to not realize
it?, the rogue mentally cursed himself. He'd definitely overstepped his
boundaries; now that he looked closely, it was obvious from the way the Silvite
was standing there, his head bowed, his shoulders trembling almost
unnoticeably.
"I...guess I'll leave you to your dinner," the blue-clad rogue murmured,
ashamed, and turned to leave.
He walked two steps before he halted and looked back, barred from moving
further now that Ramirez was tightly gripping his right hand.
"...Ramirez?" he asked, his heart heavy with guilt.
"Vyse...actually, I—" the silver-haired man, looking up to reveal his stricken
expression, and hesitated. He tightened his hold on the Blue Rogue's hand
before dropping both it and his gaze. "...No, never mind."
The handsome ship captain gazed at him for a moment before saying, "I... I
should go now, okay?" He then turned and walked to the door, and once he
reached it, he paused, his hand resting upon the knob. /I shouldn't just
leave without saying anything else... I don't what to say, but I have to say something./
Vyse turned his head to look back at the former Admiral and added lamely, "I
hope... I hope things start to go better." He then winced, embarrassed at his
own poor choice of words, and opened the door. /Better to leave before I
make the situation even worse.../
Ramirez let him leave without saying a word, then slowly walked to his bed and
sat, shivering slightly as he wrapped his arms around himself.
/I—couldn't say it.../ he mentally murmured, his trembling green eyes
focused on the floor. /I couldn't say anything... Where has my strength
gone? Why can't I at least be strong to take what he offers when I ask for it?/
Closing his eyes, he tilted his head back and hugged his shoulders even
tighter.
Outside the room, Vyse was leaning against the door, staring at his right hand.
All his mixed feelings for the Silvite were churning up even worse inside of
him, like a South Sea whirlwind... The brunet flexed that hand as if there were
another hand in it and held it to his chest, warmth rising again to his cheeks.
"Ramirez..." he murmured, unable to erase the image of the silver-haired man
from his mind.
"So, we're gonna set off tomorrow, then?" Aika asked.
Vyse nodded to his childhood friend, his feet propped up on the table as usual.
"There's no reason to put it off any longer, and we need to be decisive from
now on, considering Galcian's our enemy," he replied. "Which brings me to the
last topic of the day..."
"What to do with Ramirez," Gilder finished, his position in his chair a mimic
of Vyse's.
The younger rouge nodded. "I was thinking," he said, knowing that Ramirez would
not agree, "that it would be best for him if he were to remain on the Silver
Shrine. That way, he'll have a place to stay and his piece of the Crystal will
be safe."
As he expected, his fellow swordsman's brows furrowed as his lips pursed, both
actions slight, but he said nothing.
"The Elders will look after him," Fina input in his place, her tone lifting
hopefully. "It would be good for him."
"Give him some time to reform, eh?" Aika commented, glancing distastefully at
the Silvite in question. "Well, it keeps him far away from me, so I'm fine with
that idea. Are you sure you want to stay that close to him, though, Fina?"
"I..." She glanced over at Ramirez, then looked back at her friends. "I'll be
all right. After all, I can still visit you. Maybe...maybe the Elders will even
let me stay down here."
Her old friend twitched slightly, but unlike last time, he said nothing to
contradict her.
"Keeping him up on the Silver Shrine is fine with me, too," Gilder added with
an easygoing half-smile. "And with Ramirez out of the picture, Galcian will
lose one of his best men. Heh, not like he hasn't already lost him, but this
keeps him completely out of his reach. No taking the Crystal in his hand crap,
either."
Vyse nodded in assent. It was pointless to ask Ramirez what he thought; he had
made that much clear already. But it wasn't as if the swordsman was giving him
any other options—well, at least any options that the Blue Rogue found
acceptable.
"If that's that, then we'd better start getting ready for tomorrow," Gilder
suggested, pulling his feet off the table onto the floor.
"Yeah," the group's leader agreed, following his senior's lead, and stood. He
then paused for a few seconds; it seemed heartless to not even give Ramirez a
chance to speak. Considering they weren't even speaking directly to him, it
seemed fairly pointless to have even brought him here to begin with...
Resolving at least to not treat the Silvite as if he weren't listening, Vyse
addressed the white-haired man, "Ramirez, I know you don't like this, but you
really haven't given us any better choice. I'm sorry."
The silver-haired man shrugged and offered a slight smile, which was not echoed
in his eyes. "It can't be helped," he murmured, gazing down at the table once
more.
"...Let's go, then," the brunet said, and the others rose with him, crowding
around Ramirez. He was as docile as he had been when they had herded him to the
meeting room in the first place, and said nothing on the trip down to the main
part of the isle. They were all quiet, and Vyse couldn't help but keep peeking
worriedly at Ramirez, who kept his eyes on the ground. Fina, on the contrary,
was gazing up at the Red Moon, which was currently located to the north.
Perhaps it was her imagination, but she could swear there were some black dots
over it...
She turned her verdure eyes away as the group walked to the upstairs living
quarters, and watched with a growing sense of unease as Vyse unlocked the door,
and Ramirez obediently walked in. The blonde Silvite glanced up again at the
Red Moon, and noted with some consternation that the dark spots had grown
bigger.
"Vyse..." the green-eyed young lady said quietly.
"Hmm?" he said, looking over at her as he pushed the door shut. "What's wrong,
Fina?"
Pointing up to the approaching things, she queried, "What's that?"
Looking up at where the white-clad girl was indicating, Vyse adjusted the magnification
on his Skyseer Goggle. The close-up view told him that he was looking at a
fleet of ships, and immediately on alert, he intensified the magnification
further.
The banner on the flapship leading the other warships was instantly
recognizable as that of one of the ship that had just recently attacked
Crescent Isle.
"Oh, sh—" Vyse began to swear before readjusting the goggle and turning
to his companions. "It's a good thing you spotted that, Fina," he said grimly.
"Moons, we need a lookout!"
"What, what is it?" Aika demanded, alarmed.
"We're gonna have to get everyone to safety as soon as possible," he said,
glancing back up at the distant ship formation. "A fleet from Valua's heading
towards here."
"Again? Hell!" Gilder frowned, peering at the ships. "I hate to say it, Vyse,
and this probably isn't the best time, but if they've come to attack twice, you
might want to ditch this base for a while and find a new place."
The aforementioned Blue Rogue grimaced. "I know, I know. But that's not important
right now! We'll talk after we're all out of here! C'mon!" and with those
words, the young man broke into a run, followed by his friends.
The Valuan warships approached the island swiftly, filling the air with the
roar of their engines...and Ramirez, behind a forgotten and unlocked door,
couldn't help but notice the sound.
Inside his room, he stood staring at the door, as he had been since he had
heard the panicked noises of Vyse and company just outside. Something was
happening out there, and it was becoming more obvious that it was not something
fortuitous by the second—the roar of those ship engines were likely of heralds
of death from Valua, and probably no small fry, either. Had Lord Galcian sent
someone else to attack Crescent Isle? Vigoro, perhaps. Gregorio was dead, and
even if he weren't, he doubted the honorable Admiral would accept a job like
this—Belleza and De Loco's cannons weren't as raucous as that, and Ramirez
winced slightly as one shot exploded and probably just missed killing him—and Alfonso
was an incompetent fool, so he wouldn't get sent on a mission to exterminate a
threat to Lord Galcian's as great as Vyse had continued to prove himself. He
doubted the primped idiot even still followed him, now that the Grand Admiral
had revealed his true intentions.
Regardless of who it was, Ramirez felt, for the first time in days, his pulse
race—as if he were about to enter into battle. Yes...there was going to
be a battle, and soon. If he were out there...
On impulse, he grabbed the doorknob and turned it, recalling that he hadn't
heard the grind of a key in a lock. Vyse's slip was revealed as it yielded and
the door opened, and Ramirez, who knew that this was his one chance to act
freely, decisively stepped outside and to check the skies for the one charging.
With a small sound of shock equivalent to a pair of exclamation points, the
Silvite's malachite green eyes widened; it wasn't any of the Admirals. It was
the Grand Admiral himself.
Lord Galcian himself was here to destroy Vyse.
The Silvite swordsman had easily defeated Vyse by himself. Lord Galcian would
surely kill the young rogue without a second thought.
Unless...
But there was no time to think over strategy. If he were to be able to do
anything here, he would have to arm himself. The problem was that he had no
idea of where Ilazki was. Glancing around him quickly, trying to think of where
it might be held, the Silvite decisively headed for Vyse's room, as it was the
closest, not to mention it was still intact. He threw open the door and marched
in, scanning the room visually—
There it was, leaning against the bed. Glad at least for the fact that he
wouldn't have to search long, Ramirez quickly grabbed his sword and turned back
for outside.
The ex-Admiral hesitated, though. It was Lord Galcian, his former mentor, whom
he would have to face... Could he really bare his blade against the man who had
been, however unspoken the sentiment was, like a father to him for the past
several years?
Ramirez headed towards the window, and gazed out and upwards at the approaching
fleet, which were still firing at the island and ripping apart the land; the
rest of this building would probably be next soon. He could just say
that he had been taken captive again. He could say that he had
underestimated the Blue Rogue. The Silvite had reason enough to do so; now that
he was sure there was nothing here for him, perhaps he could find a place near
the Grand Admiral again. Also, if he stayed here, he would return to the one
place he never wanted to see again most—provided, of course, that Vyse and the
others survived this encounter. The commander-in-chief of the Valuan Armada
would be highly displeased that he had gotten himself 'kidnapped' a second
time, but if the rogues were all eradicated, at least the sentiment would be
diminished by that much.
On the other hand...
The uncertain swordsman shook his head. He had thought his path had been chosen
long ago, yet once again, he was at a crossroad. He loved Vyse. That was a
fact. But Vyse would never love him back—he would only continue to tease him
with whiffs of something he would never be able to taste. That was also a fact.
The logical path seemed obvious in light of these facts. He would get over his
emotions in time. Yet his heart still wavered.
An explosion ripped him from his inner turmoil as cannonfire pelted the island
one last time, then ceased. There was no more time to deliberate. Outside,
soldiers were beginning to drop onto the isle, attacking and engaging the
captain and crew. From here, he could see the leader of the Blue Rogues
defending himself against the onslaught of a Valuan; even just watching Vyse
try to defend himself, Ramirez's anxiety increased—he didn't want to see the
pirate injured again. He wanted to protect him, even though the obtuse rogue
would not appreciate it.
Love or loyalty...
Curling his fingers into a fist, Ramirez's jade eyes hardened. There was only
one path he could take. If he could walk it without any regrets, that would be
wonderful, but he had no leisure for that. He could not afford to think about
regrets. Right now, he could only act.
Sprinting out the door, the Silvite swordsman raced down the stairs and onto
the battlefield, Ilazki shining in his right hand. Taking Vyse's head himself
would more than redeem himself in Lord Galcian's eyes, if the Grand Admiral had
gone to the trouble of coming here in the first place. Ramirez knew that well.
He had already made his choice. Picking up speed, he made a beeline for Vyse,
who was by now surrounded.
As Ramirez had made up his mind, the teenage pirate who was the target of his
thoughts had, in an attempt to buy time for his friends and crew, engaged the
soldiers that had come onto the island. The brunet was trying not to think
about what would happen if he were to engage Galcian in combat. However, if
such a sacrifice would allow everyone else to escape unharmed...
No, he didn't want to think about it. He hoped desperately that it wouldn't
come down to that.
In the corner of his eye, the captain of the Delphinus spotted something white;
he glanced towards it, then widened his brown eyes in shock—it was Ramirez, his
sword bared, running straight for him. He stepped back, but the former Admiral
was too swift and the other Valuans clustered too closely for him to hope for
escape.
"Rami—" he began, before the silver blade flashed and cut light, air, flesh,
and bone.
A spray of blood flung itself into the sky, as if to fly on the scream being
borne into the wind.
NOTES: We own nothing except our ideas. Don't take our ideas. All
properties of Skies of Arcadia/Eternal Arcadia
[Legends] belong to everyone it is to whom they belong.
Ramirez: "Oh, yes, there's always that. I thank you all from the bottom
of the gaping void in my soul."
Ianthe: Thank you, Arngrim, for that lovely quote. [--from Valkyrie
Profile]
Vyse: /It's kind of funny, me wanting to protect someone who's
stronger than I am.../
Ayu: Yay for Eirote and influence from Scrapped Princess!
Ayu: The lyric-title this time is taken from Yozora shika Shiranai
(Knows Nothing But the Night Sky), a song from Wild ARMs 3. Full
lyrics can be found, as always, at my lyrics site, Campus Lyrics!, the
link to which you can (indirectly) find below.
Contact deep.Indigo: deep.Indigo@negativenergy.zzn.com
Contact Ianthe of d.I: ianthefira@rangersgrove.zzn.com
(URL: Ranger's Grove (rangersgrove.tripod.com))
Contact Ayu of d.I: ensoph@goddess.zzn.com
(URL: ~ T H E : E T E R N A L : M I N D ~ (theeternalmind.sterlingsylver.net)
