Prolouge 1 - Chains to Strings

"A great imaginary line divides our humanity into two hemispheres. One of hope, one of despair.

Two sides of the same magnetic coin - Polar opposites that are both inhospitable at their extreme ends. Wthout the other the golden ratio for their ultimate aim would always be out of reach. Instead of fighting each other with their ideals and respective truth that inevitably backfires on itself, the mutual objective shifted into exploring the area in-between; daring each other to enter the 'absolute territory'."

...

As expected, my word are returned by looks of confusion. Fair enough, not sure what I just said either, but that's the point of those pretentious opening quotes... right?

Some don't pay any mind; they're more surprised to find out that the wooden ship they were aboard was sailing through the clouds of a mountain range with no sea in sight despite hearing the ocean coming from beneath their feet. The brown noise of wind may be similar to the sound of waves, but the real indistinguishability comes from the digital stereos placed below the floor boards and an ambient music playlist set on repeat.

The vessel with renaissance style wings protruding from the sides is in fact suspended in air; looming above is a massive blimp that's attatched by a couple of masts and lots & lots of rope. Not sure how safe that is myself, but considering the screws loose with our engineer-... Eh, nah, it's probably perfectly safe.

Or maybe it's simply my attire they're judging? People often describe me as a pretty boy; my looks consisting of a tall, slim build and light brown hair styled with jagged bangs and a wind blown look. However, it's my outfit that typically catches weird stares. Getting a bit self-conscious I straighten the collar of the dark blue uniform that I have on, then adjust the rifle strapped to my back while taking a second to glance down at my torso to check that the insignias are in proper order.

According to the modiste of the merry band of odd-jobbers I belong to, my uniform is a replica of the initial uniforms of the Imperial Japanese Army that resemble the Union Army during the American Civil War. Impressive for a dressmaker, but I have to question their 'unique' sense of fashion. What's the point of mandatory uniforms if no one matches? For example, the Captain dresses like a space pirate exhibitionist and to top it off she is too embarrassed to leave her quarters at the idea of flaunting her curves. But I'm also not one to judge someone else's fashion statements; afterall, the clockwork accessories on my uniform and steampunk monocle covering my right eye along with a quarter of my face were personal touches

I release my grip on the ship's wheel, letting it sail straight ahead on a clear path then perch myself on the railing overlooking the weather deck before speaking once more. "Okay, I admit that wasn't the best first impression."

Looking down on the crowd from an elevated deck made choosing my words a challenge in not come off as a suspicious threat. "I may not have the best presentation skills, but it should have given you the gist of things. The gist being that... there isn't any gist. If you picked up on that, then good, that perception is going to help in playing the long game."

Their eyes widen, I even cause myself to flinch at my poor choice of words in the situation. "Okay, didn't mean 'game' in the way you're thinking... wait, you don't know about... Just forget you heard that last part."

A futile command, seems that triggered a sudden parlor game of twenty million questions. An impossible challenge, so my eyes shift anywhere else settling to looking on aimlessly at the vast range of mountain peaks in the dawning horizon.

'Log for Wednesday: Still alive and attempting to live a life. We were running low on food, so everyone went fishing in the morning to restock the pantry; we caught mostly herbs. Yours truly ended up getting the catch of the day, although it took five of us to reel in said catch that was snagged by its horn. But it seems I don't have what it takes to reel in an audience. Note to self: never attempt to write a novel... fanfics should be fine though.

That said, it was the captain's orders to release them from their shackles. But is that really such a good idea?

The subculture is that the Ultimates hold the potential to shape this world and leave their marks with their talent. Well, more potential than any person without their next level talents.

Hope's Peak City and The Amateur's of Despair both want to use them for their own preservation.

Meanwhile, the captain wants them for revolution.

I on the other hand see them as cargo, but I guess their actually passengers now.

And yet nobody knows what they want. Or more maybe nobody really cares.

PS, the goat wasn't harmed. It was scared at first when we first reeled it up but it's fine now.

PPS, We named it Aries.'

Suspicion quickly turns into annoyance as the group before me turns into a mob armed with a thousand daggers being glared at every vulnerable spot on my person. But my intuition tells me that one of the sights on me was different, it gave off a heavy pressure of pure concentrated killing intent.

My hand grips onto my rifle as I pull the strap over my mess of hair, positioning a finger on the trigger as I look around for the source of uneasy malice. The group of Ultimates react as expected, some try to talk me down from doing anything drastic while others are ready to try to disarm me at any cost

They were all stopped in their tracks as shots rang out

"We are tightly wound. We are tightly bound."

My breath is ragged and words are heavy under the wind/mental pressure, but I manage to stay calm as bullets fly by. Taking aim at the sky, a single enemy spotted. It's the black and white ursine abomination known as a monokuma unit, specifically a jetpack monokuma. The crimson red glow of it's illuminating eye leaves a trail behind as it approaches.

"The one who chooses to break those chains..."

Returning fire, my finger spasms on the trigger, but the shots don't hit their mark. The next moment half my vision is filled with broken peices of clockwork and a shattering lens that sends broken shards of glass directly into my eye.

It hurts, but it's lucky at the same time that a bullet didn't enter my eye sockets and brain matter instead. Now, to return the favor... an eye for an eye.

Yet another miss, and again a miss after that. They're even farther off target than before. Attempting a different approach, I hold the rifle farther away holding it with a single arm and let it relax as I squint my left eye. Following the trail of it's eye, my finger gently presses the trigger when it catches up to the batwing bullseye.

". .. they will need the strength to hold a string."

The Monokuma's final moments were that of turbulence followed by an explosion of it's destruction.

Meanwhile my wounded eye leaves a crimson trail of blood dripping down my face; As my attention snaps back to the group of Ultimates I notice them following said trail followed by more weird looks. I was less accustomed with these particular looks, and each one this time vastly varied in expression.

"Umm... Oh, right, how rude of me. I haven't even properly introduced my self."

One of my hands cover my damaged eye to keep it from bleeding, the other is used to do a friendly salute. "Quartermaster Zedock, pleasure to make your acquaintances."

Content Warning: Reader's discretion is advidised. 17+ Sexual Assault, Graphic Violence, Mature Themes.

Author Note: Yo! This isn't very good, but if anyone is down I'm happy to write more. Just a heads up that this is going to be a really weird and messed up story.

Alot of ideas are being rehashed from a few DR rps I've made over the years. I got half this story outlined with settings, motives, and the particular direction I got my sight on for now, but that could change at any time. The next step is rough drafting, but I need to pick a cast first before starting on that.

If you're interested in submitting a character, the OC form will be on my profile bio thingy.

No deadline. OCs will be selectively selected as they come in, so not first come first serve either. May not accept a submission right away, but I'll be sure to explain why if I don't accept them right off the bat so forms can edited and resubmitted any number of times. I might also ask for some time before making a decision.

No limit on how many OCs you may submit, and I got no limit of how many I will accept from one person if I end up being fond of most of their OCs.

Reused OCs are fine, and no priority will be put over accepting fresh ones over used goods. After all portrayal of characters vary from author to author so it might even be interesting. Just make sure to fill out part of the form regarding this matter, since alot of SYOCs on the DR section here seem to prefer having console exclusive OCs.

I'm also fine with any OCs accepted here being sent to other SYOCs, as long as the other SYOCs allow it as well. If you aren't sure, then be sure to ask.

In the case that a third party wasn't okay with you sending in your character here after they accepted them in a different story and I accept them unknowingly cause of deceit, if I find out later then I will write out said character from this story as if they where never part of it. Even if I have to change major plot points and completely rewrite chapters.

I have a crippling addiction to reviews, so they're much appreciated along with any cronstructive criticism.

Lastly, bye and have a nice day.