A Ruin at Sea
By Jadax
Gift-fic for darkenedsakura LJ
The Martel Cathedral glittered up on the hillside near Iselia. The cloudless sky allowed the sun to illuminate the large windows in just the right way. Lush grass all around added to the beautiful scene it made.
At the bottom of the hill were two siblings having a picnic lunch, viewing the structure above them. "Look at it, Genis! Isn't it marvelous?" a young Raine Sage exclaimed, her gaze fixated on the building.
"Phaidra's not going to let you in there Sis," her younger brother pointed out. The boy was about seven, young enough for Raine to deem him impressionable and try to instill her love of ruins and ancient buildings in him as well. Genis, however, only adapted a respect and slight passive interest in Raine's passion. Even at seven, he could tell her love for these structures bordered on and often crossed into obsession. In fact, he'd already begun dubbing it "Ruin-Mode" it happened so often.
Raine brushed the restriction away, "Even so! Isn't the outside wonderful? Just look at it! For hundreds, thousands of years, this building has been in use. Inside it houses important relics of the Church of Martel, and someday, the Chosen will receive the Oracle here. Oh, it's amazing! How I wish I could just see the inside!" Her gaze intensified and gained a glimmer a longing.
Shaking his head, Genis absently poked at the food Raine had made for their picnic. Sneaking a glance over at his sister, whose full attention was now in her new sketch of the Cathedral, he smuggled a sandwich out of his pocket and began to eat it, deciding that leaving Raine to her devices for the day was best, as was the idea of not touching any of the food she had prepared.
Raine looked down at her sketch with satisfaction. It wasn't the best artwork in the world, but it recreated the building close enough. Grinning, she turned the page and began another sketch. "Let's see. Through the door and… into a grand hall. Two doors off to the sides leading to other rooms… Hmm, at the end of the hall a door into the inner chamber. And a second floor! A sweeping twin staircase to the upper level… Torches lining the wall," Raine muttered to herself as she sketched her version of the inside of the Cathedral. Obviously, she didn't have to be inside to still enjoy a ruin; though, of course, seeing the inside would make it that much better. If the building in question hadn't been religiously affiliated, Genis wouldn't have put it past Raine to find a way to sneak in.
"Finished!" Raine spun around excitedly, startling Genis who quickly shoved the last bit of his contraband sandwich in his mouth and gulped it down hard in hopes Raine wouldn't notice. She didn't. "Isn't it beautiful? I wonder how accurate I am…"
Her voice trailed, and Genis noticed his cue to give her another reminder that entrance was only for the priests. "Humph! Someday I'll see the inside, Genis! I'm going to study every ancient ruin in the world! Inside and out!" she replied indignantly.
The young boy nodded, "I know, Sis, but Phaidra isn't going to give in anytime soon."
Raine picked up one of the sandwiches she made, eating it as she silently planned out ways to visit all the ruins the world had to offer. Her collection of books could only get her so far, and undoubtedly there had to be undiscovered ruins about which no books had been written. Studying at home in Iselia wouldn't help her learn about ruins with no documentation.
"Say, Raine?" Genis asked quietly, so as to break her concentration gently. When she looked up questioningly, he continued, "You said you wanted to visit every ruin in the world right?" Raine nodded, skeptical at where this line of questioning would lead. "Well, what would you do if there was a ruin… on an island?"
What a stupid question. A ruin was still a ruin. "What do you mean? I'd see that one too!" Then slowly, she realized. An island. With water on all sides. Most likely in the middle of the sea. Raine shivered thinking about it.
Genis grinned, he'd pitted her greatest love against her biggest fear, and Raine couldn't choose which she'd give into if faced with the situation Genis posed. Raine didn't find this as amusing he did, "Let's… just hope there's no such thing as an island ruin."
An island ruin. There just had to be such a thing as an island ruin. Not just any ruin either, this ruin was home to the Water Seal on the journey of regeneration. As the Chosen's small group walked to Thoda Dock, Raine was torn between her fear of water, her love of ruins, and her duty to Colette.
As Lloyd cheerfully paid the gald to make the trip to Thoda Geyser, Raine took a deep breath and could only hope that the transportation would allow for a smooth ride across the sea.
The transport couldn't have failed to meet her expectations any more spectacularly.
Lloyd tilted his head to get a better look at it, "It's a… washtub?"
Genis nodded, "Yup, it's washtub…"
"Washtubs, hmm…," Kratos looked slightly intrigued.
The Chosen grinned. "Wow! This looks like it'll be fun!"
Fun. Yeah. Right.
Raine took a step back, "I… I'm going to wait here. Go on ahead without me." Forget duty and ruins, washtubs were definitely out of the question. Yes, there'd be monsters in the cave, but that's what gels were for. Besides, Kratos knew First Aid if they got in a pinch. They'd manage just fine without her. Just fine.
Her reaction worried Lloyd, "What's wrong, Professor Sage?"
"N… nothing. I'm not getting in that thing." She tried to put on a look that suggested she was logically condemning the blasted things for their obvious un-safety.
Colette, however, was oblivious to the danger, "It looks fun! Come on, let's get in!" Smiling she walked to the edge of the dock and turned, waiting for her teacher.
Genis decided this would be a good time to save his sister the embarrassment of her seemingly irrational fear and try some other methods of convincing her to come along. He tugged on her arm, "Yeah Raine!"
"Ahh!" Genis blinked, he certainly hadn't been expecting that. It was certainly more embarrassing than her fear too. The others seemed to share his shock, even Kratos.
"Ahh? Professor Sage… are you afraid of water or something?" Bingo.
Steeling her nerves, Raine tried to smooth the situation over, "I… I was just starting to say, 'Ahh, this should be fun!'" Defiantly, she walked past Colette and eased herself down into the washtub, her stomach lurching at the rocking motion.
Lloyd looked over Genis who just sighed and shrugged. "Um… sure." No reason to question her further if she had gotten into one the washtubs already was there.
"…Heh," Kratos allowed himself a quiet laugh at the incident as everyone boarded the washtubs and sailed off to the island ruin to break the Water Seal.