Work Text:
He expects to not wake again after the crash. He expects oblivion, nothingness, all the Elders have taught him of what to expect after death, having been torn apart by the winds of Deep Sky.
Ramirez doesn't expect to wake on a soft cot on a swaying floor, in a small room filled with the sounds of machinery. He doesn't expect warmth in a stranger’s smiling face, life among the people of Arcadia.
-
The Iron Clad is loud, bulky, not at all like the smooth, efficient Silver Shrine. It’s too loud, even, the air constantly ringing with the sound of children’s laughter, the man’s and woman’s voices often joining in. Combined with the sounds of the ship itself, for someone raised in the cold and sterile Shrine, with only Fina as company, the change is overwhelming, staggering.
He spends most of his first days on the ship torn between the desire to lock himself in the room he’s been given for the moment, away from the din and the people his mission would eventually do away with, and the desire to launch himself right in the middle of it all.
He is on a ship, an Arcadian ship. How many models of ships just like this did he build? How many hours did he spend poring over his maps, tracing the lines of the continents, the skies, the very same skies he’s sailing?
He has no means of leaving this ship just yet, in any case.
-
When they learn he is alone, they offer to allow him to stay with them.
He cannot tell them what he must do, cannot tell them why everything about their world is so unfamiliar to him. He can only insist that there is something he absolutely must do, a very good reason why he can’t stay with them.
They’re concerned, reluctant, but they promise to take him to Sailor’s Isle, if he so wishes.
-
They are caught in a storm, delaying their return trip. The Iron Clad suffers damages, further delaying them.
They are kind to him, patient with all he doesn't know. He learns the names of the children, learns the ship Captain’s name--Centime--and his wife’s name. He learns the children are not theirs by blood, but theirs nonetheless, taken in when they had nowhere else to go.
They once again extend an invitation to him. It’s harder to refuse this time.
-
He considers disloyalty to the Elders.
-
When they reach Sailor’s Island, he disembarks with them.
And returns to the ship with them.
-
It hits him one day, as they’re sailing across North Ocean, that the Elders will eventually realize he’s abandoned his mission. He has no doubt they’ll send Fina after him, either to convince him to return to his mission, or to carry out the deed herself.
For days after, he lies awake thinking of his (possible? certain) eventual meeting with the closest he has to a blood sister, thinking of every possible outcome, every possible lie or truth the Elders could tell her.
He can be certain of nothing, least of all whether he should welcome or dread this meeting.
Years pass.
The children grow and he with them. He grows taller, stronger from work around the ship, gains some color from hours spent on the deck under the harsh sun (although, more often than not, he simply finds his skin burnt).
New children, as lost and displaced as all the others, join them. Some of the others leave once they are grown, old enough to seek out their own dreams and fortunes, their parents’ and siblings’ encouraging words following them as they leave.
Ramirez remains.
-
Valua is a constant threat to Air Pirate ships, the Iron Clad no exception. They are careful to keep away from any ships they can’t defeat, Centime always mindful of his family’s safety.
One day, again in North Ocean, however, they run afoul of one of the Armada’s ships. It is a ship under Admiral Mendoza of the Valuan Armada, one they cannot hope to take on alone.
Their flight drives them south, further south than any of them has ever been, and they find, not the end of the world as Centime had been expecting, but lush, green islands, and a people much unlike their own.
Ramirez knows where they are, knows that, had he continued to follow the Elder’s orders, he would have eventually found himself here: Ixa'taka, home of the Green Moon Crystal.
-
He wants nothing to do with this place, is more than discomfited to know that he is so close to one of the Moon Crystals he’d abandoned the search for. He’s relieved to find that Valua seems more interested in moon stones than the Moon Crystal, but he can't deny it's discomfiting to have such a nation so close to it.
They’re forced to stop in a village named Horteka for the time, a miserable place, its people having been taken away by the Valuans to work on what they call Moonstone Mountain.
He wants little more than to leave.
-
One day they take Centime away as well.
-
They can’t save Centime if the Iron Clad can’t sail.
-
A small crew of Blue Rogues finds them one day.
He cannot breathe, cannot move, cannot think when he sees them approach, when he looks beyond the brunet and redhead, beyond the tall old man.
Fina.
-
They didn't tell Fina anything. It takes only moments of conversation with her--excited, jubilant, and questioning on her part; stilted, awkward, and fearful on his--to glean as much. The Elders didn’t tell her what they told him, about the true purpose of the Moon Crystals and the Gigas, about the Rains of Destruction.
Worst of all, they are here to seek out the Green Moon Crystal, already have the Red Crystal.
The lump in his throat keeps him from speaking, prevents him from doing much more than agreeing to go with them to Moonstone Mountain, to seek out his... father and free him from Valua.
-
Fina is so very glad to see him. And Ramirez? He’s truly glad to see her, really. He can’t deny he’d missed her, had often, in his more wistful moments, hoped she could join him and his new family on the Iron Clad. She is his family, in a way even the members of Centime’s family are not.
-
The Air Pirates Fina’s traveling with are kind enough. They’d found her when they crashed, had counted on her help to rescue their friends and family when a stroke of bad luck had led the Armada to their base.
They speak often of Fina’s mission though, and he finds it much more difficult to speak to them than it should be when they do. He can tell they are burning to ask him about it, to find just why she’d been sent after him.
But Fina?
She doesn't ask why he hasn't continued his mission.
-
It isn't until they return to Horteka with Centime that she finally asks.
He wants to tell her everything, to tell her she should keep that Red Crystal somewhere safe, somewhere the Elders can never reach it. He wants to tell her to give up on finding the Green Crystal and the rest of them, that nothing good can come of them.
The words take a long time to come.
-
She’s heartbroken, he can tell she is.
He’s never felt quite so terrible as he does when she breaks into tears that day, unwilling to believe the truth.
-
Days pass. Fina has a new mission.
He says his farewells, hears Hans swear he will join Vyse’s crew someday, hears his family wish them luck, success on said mission.
Ramirez embarks on the Little Jack.