Hello and thanks for clicking on this story. Kind of got inspired to make something like this. Anyways, I would like to say the first couple chapters will not have any of the shipgirls in it, yet, but we will get there soon.
Also, the character name that is bold above the story will be in his/her point of view.
(Chapter has been reworked)
Danzig, Poland. 2010
A liberator of a Union,
A diplomat for the Royals,
A leader with an Iron Fist,
And a sustainer of an Empire,
A messenger of Freedom must wake,
A Banner of Power shall shape,
A Crown of Honor will compose,
And a Bell of Peace that soothes,
One capable to protect the earth,
and become graced for a Rebirth.
Those words silenced the entire group of high ranking officers. They all had no voice at the time. No one wanted to say anything. The letters illuminated white on the big screens in the center of the room.
A prophecy? That's absurd! They lived in a modern era, none of them believed such nonsense. However, they couldn't shake the feeling that this was true.
"What the hell are they saying!" A man in a uniform yelled. His accent clearly stated he was British. "We haven't seen them in the last six decades, and they just decide to show up. I thought we wiped them out completely after the War ended." The insignia on his shoulder suggested he was a commander.
"Does this mean another war with them is imminent?" an officer from Japan asked. Hushed whispers came from that area, but no one wanted to answer. "Is this creator going to help us."
"If so, we need to prepare war preparations against the Sirens." Another officer demanded he was from Germany. "We have to get our warships ready for this."
"He's right, the Sirens do this- This all started happening when we began to use the Wisdom Cubes!" a man with a German voice shouted. "Why did we use such a thing in the first place!" There was murmuring in the crowd, and the quiet voices began to rise. Soon, disciplined officers from around the world began to shout like children.
"Be quiet, Captain, everyone agreed to use them," another man spoke. "Don't blame those for our problem." The shouting settled down, and some officers hung their heads in shame at their attitude. Small discussions began to surface, but no one discussed anything in a unified manner. They were all with officers of the same nationality.
"Then we best prepare for war."
The large group of 250 and more officers went silent. One man stole their attention, and he was Admiral of the Global Navy of Azure Lane. His gaze was cold, and his eyes, freezing. "If what they say is true, then we best prepare along the Pacific and in the North Atlantic." The group remained silent as he spoke on.
"What are your orders, Admiral?" an officer from the Royal Navy questioned. All eyes were focused on him, hungrily waiting for an answer.
"Officers of the Sakura Empire, prepare your Fifth Carrier division for a recon mission around the mainland. Also, send the First Carrier division to rendezvous with the First Fleet of the Union. If we keep the other two sections focus in the North Atlantic, then-"
The ground shook violently with the sound of an explosion. It wasn't far from where the men were. Sirens began to screech throughout the building: something had happened. There was confusion among the brass. The double doors to the conference room opened; a man with the rank of ensign stormed in. "Fleet Admiral! We're being bombarded by multiple ships harbor! It's them! The Sirens!"
Everyone froze at the sentence. The Admiral clenched his teeth, panic erupting inside of him. "Everyone evacuate into the mainland. Get out of firing range! Tell Fubuki and Duke of York to buy some time."
"He's right, run for safety!" Officers in the room began leaving, shouting orders to their men. Another explosion shook the building, and a couple chunks of concrete fell from the walls. "The docks have been destroyed! The H.M.S Duke of York has been hit! INCOMING SHELLS!" Their panic became overwhelming, a shock wave hit, followed by dust and rubble filling the room. A few men lay dead, being near where the artillery impacted.
The Admiral, who fell on the ground from the shock, struggled to get up. A man ran to the Admiral. "Sir, are you alright!" They coughed from the dust that spread through the air.
"My old age is getting to me," the Admiral grunted, shaking his head, "we're going to have another war with the sirens. Quick, write down the prophecy!" The Admiral slowly lifted himself onto his desk. Grabbing a pen and paper, he furiously wrote down the words but did so neatly. He needed an understanding of what this meant. As the last word was written down, he heard the faint boom of cannon fire. His eyes widened with fear. There's nowhere to run. The only place to go was inland quickly, and they were out of time. He put the paper into his pocket and got up to run.
It was too late.
BOOOM!
The Admiral's sight went blurry, only seeing the large concrete pieces in his faint vision. He saw a fellow officer get crushed by the debris, another incapacitated with rock falling on his leg. There were cries of fear and screams of pain. He heard the loud boom of another cannon going off, following the shock wave of it hitting the building.
"Admiral, we got to get you out of here!" His aid scrambled towards him, stumbling slightly as he went. The Admiral felt himself get picked up, his right arm being slung over someone's shoulder. "We can't let the leader of the Combines World Navy get killed! Not here!" With his left hand, the Admiral felt his face. There was a slight pain, followed by liquid seeping onto his fingers. He brought his hand to his vision. Blood. There was a lot of it, too.
"It's . . . too late for me, Captain," he said, closing his eyes slightly. He reached into the pocket, took out the paper, and held it out to the other officer. His aid fell silent, stopping for a brief moment. "You have to take it, and get out of here!" Using another surge of strength, he took out a handheld radio. "Admiral Weinharold to all ships in the Global Combined Fleet."
"Sir . . ."
The Admiral gritted his teeth, his head felt light. "My last orders are these to you. Protect my aid until in American Soil and make sure he gets the paper to the President. Also, you are not to follow the orders of anyone else,
but the next Admiral that is chosen through the prophecy."
The Captain stood there, dumbfounded. "Sir! We can still save you-" He was shoved back by the Admiral, who looked at him sincerely, but his eyes showed hatred. The Admiral stood there, his chin up high, looking through the massive holes of the artillery's impact. Dust enveloped the entire room. Coughing erupted from the men still unfortunate to be in such a place. Both the Captain and the Admiral fell victim, violently coughing their lungs out.
"Admiral Weinharold to U.S.S. Maury: have Captain Stenson escorted back to America. He carries a precious piece of cargo," He looked to the Captain, who was still reluctant to move. Around them, the ceiling of the building began to lose its strength to stay up. Small chunks fell, some officers falling victim to the pieces of infrastructure. "Now Captain, I order you: GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE."
Tears began to flow from other officer's face, but he nodded and ran through the hallway. He never looked back.
That's a good soldier. The Admiral nodded, before turning back to the hole opening. He moved his hand to his belt. On it was a pistol holder. He took out the gun, a standard issue M9, and held it firm. He looked around. He saw a man with his right arm gone, his eyes looking right at the officer. The Admiral turned his head slightly to the left: a man crushed by concrete.
"If it isn't the one and only Admiral of the Global Combined Fleet. Well, I wouldn't think Azur Lane would keep someone like you around," A deep, feminine voice declared. The dust began to settle someone, but a figure appeared through the smoke the Admiral knew all too well. His face grimaced as the woman appeared. "You lost your touch, old man."
"Purifier." He could only growl at such a name. She came into the clear of the dust, smiling wide as she observed the mess she made. Her yellow orbs shone maliciously at the sight of death and destruction. "I thought you were dead long ago." Her pure white hair waved peacefully in the air, but she was dark and twisted. She placed a finger on her cheek.
"I thought I was, too," she snickered, "until I was saved. You see, I am part of something bigger now. Too big for any of you pathetic excuses of life to understand." She waved her hand slightly, and two disks came from the opening the artillery made. The disks portrayed two barrels on them, representing cannons on a battleship. "I do apologize, my attack drones were a bit too eager to fire. However, that doesn't matter anymore." The disks suddenly stilled. A few silent seconds passed by.
BOOOM!
They fired to the Admiral's right. He himself was unharmed, but the officer standing where they fired was not. He was a bloody mess, and the Purifier laughed at that. The wall behind the officer was leveled. He clenched his teeth. "You will answer for your crimes. There will be another leader." The building began collapsing, but there was no one left alive in the building.
"Don't worry, even if the so-called chosen one does become the leader of the fleet again, he will have trouble bringing the world to help him. You see, we invented a sort of brainwashing, and will establish our own puppets to the places your officers fell from, including you. We'll make sure all the high ranks parish through us!" She spread her arms wide, looking up to the ceiling and laughing maniacally. "Your so-called warships do not stand a chance against our new navy! Your countries will fall, your people will be enslaved to the Sirens, and they will bow down to our might! We will use your warships as cloning tools! We've already got Germany and Japan to do our will!"
His vision was getting blurry. He still felt the blood falling from his face. "If that's so, then I might as well take you with me. Britain and the United States will never bow down to you!" He lifted his pistol and took aim. The Purifier did the same, a crazed grin on her face, her eyes full of adrenaline. Her cannons now pointed to him. He closed his eyes. The Admiral pulled the trigger, and the barrel was the last thing he heard.
Commander
10 years later . . .
There was a peaceful silence. The atmosphere was calm and stable, and the mood was silent. He lay there, sleeping peacefully as his dreams floated through his mind. It was as is he was meant for this ordinary mood.
Suddenly, a loud blare enveloped his hearing. He jolted awake, but made no sound; he was used to this noise. For the past 200 days, he used the blaring noise to wake him for school. He let out a yawned and reached over to his phone. Pressing the home button, the screen lit brightly, burning his eyes with the illumination. He pressed on the screen a single time, and the loud commotion stopped. He groaned but sighed in relief as he let out a small smile. There was a reason to celebrate. He was graduating high school and moving onto a new career.
The creaking of the bed made its presence as he rolled off the bed, landing on his feet. The carpet of the room rubbed his feet dryly. His hands burned, but their texture felt dry. He moved to the door and flipped the light switch next to it. The area of the room became brighter and he smiled. "Today is the final day, Titohoru," he told himself brightly. He rubbed his dark brown hair.
Titohoru moved to the next room, his personal bathroom. Moving the shower itself, he turned the handle. The shower head shot out ice cold water, and Titohoru cringed at the feel of it. He recoiled his hand to his body and rubbed his arm to warm it up. Closing the shower door, he proceeded to wait for the water to get warm.
After his shower, he moved to the sink and took out his toothbrush. Turning the knob, the faucet shot out water. Wetting the toothbrush, he applied toothpaste and began cleaning his mouth. After a minute, Titohoru spat out the paste into the sink and cleaned the faucet bowl. Looking up at the mirror, Titohoru looked at his own eyes: blue with a slight hint of green. He changed into new clothes and left his room, turning the lights off first.
He zipped down the stairs, landing with hard pound sound that emitted from the floor. "Good Morning!" His smile was wide.
"Good morning, Honey," a feminine voice greeted him. It was his mother, Isabella Wolvjetski, a Polish citizen that moved to America forty years ago as a child. "Final day of school is waiting for you." She was holding a spatula, pointing it lazily at him. "I made you and your sisters breakfast this morning, but I got work to go to soon. I'll take the little one, and you take Maya to her grade school." Tithoru looked over to the kitchen table. His young sister, Maya, was eating her pancakes happily, a grin on her face.
"Good morning, Big Brother!" she said excitedly. She jumped off from her chair and run to Titohoru. The young girl gave Titohoru a look he has seen for years. "Can you give me a piggyback ride? Please?"
"Ah, okay," Titohoru bent down a little bit, letting Maya get on his back, placing her legs over his shoulders. He was happy to make his young sister smile.
"Maya!" Isabella exclaimed, exasperated at the sight. "How many times have I told you not to do that inside. You could hit your head or something!"
Maya gave a small pout, but Titohoru spoke up in her favor. "She's fine mom, I'll make sure nothing bad happens." She was hesitant, frowning for a few seconds.
"Fine, but you should probably get going, otherwise you two will be late. Oh! That reminds me: go feed Jefferson real quick, Titohoru." He nodded, walking slowly and telling Maya to duck, avoiding contact with the lower parts of the ceiling.
"Almost forgot about him," Titohoru smirked, but felt a slight twinge of guilt. He figured his pet must be starving by now: he hasn't had any breakfast. "Give me a second Maya." He helped the young girl to the floor, where she waited impatiently for Jefferson to get fed.
Now, Jefferson was no ordinary pet, but rather a very unique one by that. "Good morning, Mr. Bald Eagle," Titohoru greeted the eagle. Jefferson cawed in response, nudging his owner's hand as it got close to the cage. "Don't worry, I'll get you out and about when I get back home today." The bird turned it's head slightly, but its eyes remained on Titohoru, as if it could understand what he was saying. He sighed: he wished he could be as carefree as his pet, not having to worry about reputation nor dignity. I guess stress is really getting to me. He threw a small chunk of raw beef into the cage. Jefferson pecked at it rapidly.
He gave a salute to the bald eagle, grabbed his backpack from the chair he left in on yesterday, grabbed two pancakes from the pile, and opened the door to leave. As soon as he went through the doorway, he was hit with a humid atmosphere. It felt icky on his skin, and he frowned at the weather. At least it's not raining. He shrugged off his negative thoughts of the weather. "Ready for school, Maya."
"Yes!"
"And Titohoru!" His mother yelled from the kitchen, "ask your friend is the motorcycle is finally done being repaired." He grunted, recalling the unfortunate accident. It cost him a fortune out of his own savings, and he didn't even cause it, too."
"Okay."
He bent down so she could get on his shoulders. Once she did so, they were off. Titohoru gave out a small laugh before shrugging his shoulders to get more comfortable with his sister's legs on his shoulders. She hugged the top of his head as he began walking towards the learning establishments, which were short distances away.
He didn't think anything of it, but he swore he's never seen a black car that nice in his neighborhood before. He frowned, not liking the circumstances of why the car was there. Looks like it belongs to some high profile character. The brand of the car sure looked expensive, but he decided to leave the vehicle alone, removing the thoughts from his head.
(* * *)
"Hey. Titohoru!"
Titohoru looked back to the direction of the voice. A figure with a light tan and blonde hair was racing towards him. "Wait for me!" He and his sister waited for the person to catch up with him. It was a matter of seconds, but he finally reached the two. The person bent down, panting like a mad man from the running.
"Tired already, Jason," Titohoru asked with a smirk. "You should try getting to the gym more, or at least run to someplace and back for stamina."
His friend, Jason, sighed give him a 'really?' look. "Come on! Cut me a break at least. Work has been tiring lately. With the hostilities beginning in Europe and in the Pacific, the government hired the company I worked for as a contractor. Apparently, Japan and Germany are amassing for something."
Titohoru frowned, looking up at Maya slightly. "We can continue this later; better get Maya to school." There was a moment of silence, but a glimpse of understanding from Jason: there was no need to worry his little sister of the times coming.
All of what Jason said was true, two of the big four superpowers were becoming hostile, and it began with the attack that occurred ten years ago. No one talks about, because the military excused it as a gas leak causing a massive explosion. However, out of the 257 high ranking officers present at the event when the catastrophe happened, there were 46 survivors.
"Welp! We're going to be late if we don't get you to school, little one!" exclaimed Jason, who was giving his friend a confident grin. His eyes, though, gave him a different message. Titohoru nodded, then quickened his pace.
The sidewalk was crowded with other students, but most of them attended middle school. The trio walked silently for a few minutes, the sun giving off it torturous heat to them. Soon, they reached the first destination, Maya's middle school. Bending down, Titohoru helped Maya off his back, and after receiving a goodbye hug, she ran to a group of kids waiting for him. Titohoru put his hands in his pockets, looking at his sister run off to the distant school building.
"Something's on your mind, Tito," Jason stated, and all Titohoru could do was a nod. "You mind telling me what's the matter?"
Titohoru shrugged, "Well, I guess I'm just lost."
"What do you mean by that?"
He looked to Jason, who wore a confused look. "Researching the 'Navy's Nightmare' event, I get farther and farther from the truth. I mean, after the disappearance of . . . you know who I mean- it feels like the government is just feeding us lies." He made a fist in his pocket; he couldn't show anger, not here. If only he had a computer to continue his search, it might calm his nerves. Then again, it could cause them to flare into a rage. "It's just building stress of me. Why can't I get any direct answers."
"Let's get going," Jason replied bluntly. "I get it, but you won't be the only angry one if you miss the bus on the last day of school. Your mom will have your ass." Titohoru sighed, agreeing. "By the way, your bike is done being repaired."
"I'm already having a stressful day, Jason."
His friend laughed while he squinted his eyes. In his peripheral vision, he noticed a similar object from when he left his home. Is that car . . . following me? He shook his head. It had to be some series of coincidences. There was no way the person in there had any interest in him. The loud engine of the public school bus interrupted his thoughts.
The ride was short, as Titohoru wore earbuds to play music, drowning out the outside world for now. They were still commotion on the bus, but nothing he cared about. He felt a pair of eyes watching him. He turned, looking down the aisle of the bus. A girl, about his age, was gazing softly at him. Her long, blonde hair draped over her shoulders. He stared back at her, and she quickly turned her head, her face becoming flushed. He showed a smile, giving a soft wave to the girl. Maybe this day will be better.
The bus stopped, and the doors opened. He reached his destination: Lexington High School. It was named after the famed battle in the Revolutionary War. Titohoru got up from his seat and waited for the people in front to get off. Soon enough, he was walking through the hallways with his not only Jason but three of his other friends.
"Can't believe we're finally leaving this place," his friend with pitch black hair murmured. His name was Yuji, being Titohoru's friend since grade school. "Can't wait to enlist into the military." They were a little bit of tension in the small group. Titohoru personally hated the military, mainly for their cover-ups that were definitely lies. As they talked once more, the speakers in the school abruptly stated one message.
"Titohoru Wolvjetski, please report to the Principle's Office."
A silence fell on them, but Titohoru stayed calm. There was no reason to get worked up over a petty announcement. He looked over to Jason, who just nodded.
"Get back here soon, bud," one of his other friends stated. "We still need to go over plans tonight." His friends walked one way, but he went the other.
Titohoru made his way through the halls, weaving through the crowds of high schoolers chatting. It was ten minutes before the first period started. He was hoping whatever they needed was quick and to the point. He went past the front office and took a left at the first door. Opening it, he went through a corridor that led to the Principal's office. He knocked.
"Come in," the principal greeted. Titohoru, opened the door, only to see a person wearing a refined Naval dress uniform. It looked similar to his father's but the insignia provided the only information he needed. The man in front of him, sitting it one of the guest chairs, was a Rear Admiral of the United States Navy. Titohoru stood still, slowly connecting his thoughts together.
"Were you . . . ." he began, thinking of the fancy, black car he saw this morning.
"Yes, I was, but let's forget about that." He stood up, taking off his hat. He held it with his hands, looking at the hat with a small smile. Then, he looked up to the teenager. "I am Rear Admiral Stenson, one of the American survivors of the 'Navy's Nightmare' catastrophe." Titohoru's eyes went wide.
"Your the person we've been waiting for nearly a decade, now," his eyes glinted in satisfaction and joy. The teen couldn't comprehend his message.
"How would you like to join the Navy?"
Hello, person reading this. Just want to declare that I'm sorry if I was jumping from subject to subject too quickly or not. Also, the prophecy has a good chance of being remade in the future. I was kind of quick to starting the fanfiction, but I promise it will be good.
I will be taking time with each chapter being published, so do not expect too much at one time.
If you happen to play in the EN, I am in the Washington server.
Hope you enjoy this first chapter.