First of all, this fic is set in the distant past of the FT canon. Don't expect any random, time-traveling Team Natsu here! I'll certainly put some references to the future here and there though.
Second of all: First Fic, etc. etc.
I'm sure you guys all know the drill! I'll just let the fic (and my likely sub-par writing skill) speak for itself!
Long ago, long before Fairy Tail, the Dark Dragon Acnologia, before Zeref was conceived, before even the ancient and disastrous Draconic Civil War that molded the world as we know it…
Dragons ruled the earth, the seas, the skies. Their leathery wings flapped all over the world, their minds and magic easily superior to almost every other creature on earth. Even the fairies, their closest equal, could not stop their rampage, especially when the fae's numbers dwindled ever lower.
Yet one species, in all of its foolish, even idiotic tenacity dared to challenge these magnificent beasts:
Humans.
There were no wars, and only a few direct skirmishes. However, they resisted nonetheless, the humans learning magic and using it to wound the great lizards. Some of the weaker ones were even defeated at human hands, and the lands that that dragon ruled over would be free, at least for a while.
But there were no permanent human kingdoms, completely free from the dragons' influence. The kingdoms that did exist were de facto under the control of the mighty drakes.
No, there were no kingdoms. But there was resistance. This resistance, organized under the banners of the Six Great Guilds, was dedicated to reducing the influence of the dragons, and to defeating them once and for all.
Unfortunately, an undercurrent of subterfuge and trickery belied the intention of this seemingly united front. After all, which guild was to rule when the dragons were finally defeated? Which guild should be in control of all the newly human-held land? Who should be the first in the new pecking order, and who should be the last?
And so it was. The dragons continued to rule over the world and its myriad riches while the humans struggled together against their common enemy. For many, it was thought that this useless dance would continue until the universe itself ended, mankind never rising to the top and throwing off their scaled oppressors.
But as we all know, that was not how fate intended history to be, and when one minor guild rose to the challenge, it seemed that the rest of the world as they knew it would soon come crashing down.
This is that guild's story. This is the story of their greatest members, and the story of their struggle.
This is the story of Ocean Force!
City of Driaym- Center Plaza
Today is an average day for the citizens of Driaym, renowned for its comparative freedom from the affairs of dragons. Its coastal position enabled it to be protected and supplied by the various seaborne guilds that often patrolled the area. Being one of the few bastions of human freedom and magical development, many of its citizens thank the gods every day for having been blessed with the privilege of having both the protection of the guilds and its own magical militia, composed of soldiers and wizards alike equipped with runically-empowered weapons and armor.
Unfortunately, as a hub for legal guild activity, it only stands to reason that the city is also a hub for illegal guild activity, some of the most notable being the smuggling of drugs, the assassination of notable figures for a chance at filling the resultant power vaccuum, minor guild skirmishes that often left a portion of the city smoldering, and of course, the despicable crime of petty theft.
And today, the city was cursed to be victim to the last of these unforgivable crimes.
"Oi! Stop right there, thief! Stop I said!" cried out one of the lieutenants of the city militia, as he and his personal retinue of militiamen chased a dark blur.
"Sorry! Can't really stop right now, gotta get back to my boat! See ya!" answered the blur, running and ducking through the various alleyways of the city.
Heh, he thinks, these guys couldn't catch me no matter how hard they try. And even if they do corner me... The man silently clutched one of the bronze keys in his pocket, his other hand grasping the handle of a knife. ...I've got insurance.
The man slowed down for a moment as he snuck into a small side-street. He peeked out toward the shopping center, where he overheard the captain of the guard angrily shouting commands to "Find the damned guildsman that stole my weeks' pay!"
The young man grinned. He pulled down his dark hood, revealing his messy, sea-green hair and his young face, still containing a bit of baby fat. His eyes, roughly the same color as his hair, excitedly peer into a tiny rucksack to check out his ill-gotten cash.
His grin suddenly changed to a disappointed frown, as he realized that the lieutenant of the guard apparently didn't make all that much.
Damn, only seven thousand jewels? I thought he made a lot more than that. Though I guess he could've gotten a couple of pay cuts since the last time I took his cash...
The man sighed, and sealed the pouch back up. He hid it in the folds of his dark robe, and placed his hood back up to conceal his face. He flicks his eyes back and forth and, sensing no immediate danger, ran off in the direction of the harbor.
Driaym- Varia Harbor
While a callow young man carefully stole his way through the city, his partner waited around for him at Varia Harbor. Her straight, brown hair, reaching down to her mid-back, was tucked under her robes and hood to keep it from blowing in the wind. Her brown eyes peered out from under her hood.
"Where on Earthland could he be?" she grumbled to herself. It's a fair question to ask; After all, their ship was supposed to leave at some point after midday, though she couldn't remember the exact time, and she'd forgotten her lachryma timepiece in her room on the ship. To top it off, she didn't even remember where their ship was supposed to be docked, exactly.
It had dropped off most of the guild members then taken a quick patrol around the coast of the city. Afterwards, it was supposed to have docked somewhere along the harbor, but for the life of her she just couldn't remember where.
...Hey, it wasn't her fault she'd been so empty-headed the entire day. She'd only gotten a few hours of sleep last night, and she was halfway asleep through the meeting that morning that discussed where and when the entire group was supposed to meet back up. Besides, her partner could usually take care of things like that for her.
Usually being the operative word. He certainly wasn't here now, and gods know where he's been. Her mind wandered over as to what he could be doing to waste so much time. Shopping? No, he didn't like shopping all that much. Seeing the sights? Unlikely. The two of them had done that the last time they'd been to Driaym City, so there wasn't much to see that they hadn't already seen. Grabbing something to eat, maybe? There's a possibility-
The horn of a large ship on the far end of the harbor broke her out of her reverie. Well, she thought, I guess it doesn't really matter what he's doing. Whatever it is the idiot's doing, he's wasting our time, and we could get left here if we're not caref-
She heard her partner yell out from one of the larger streets. "Oi! Persephone! Mind helping me out here!?" She turned toward the source of his voice.
"Eh..?" she said, momentarily stunned by what she saw.
Her partner, clad in his robes, being chased by a crowd of city militiamen, their heavy suits of armor making loud clanks on the ground as they ran in pursuit of their pray.
"What did you...?"
"No time for questions! Just help, please!" She sighed. She probably should have expected this. Her partner wasn't exactly the sort of guy to keep his hands out of people's pockets. There was a reason everyone on the ship safely kept their jewels in their robes or, even better, locked in their rooms after the very first day of their being on the ship.
She stood up in her standard casting position: back straight, knees bent, legs slightly separated. Showtime, she thought.
She clapped her palms together, her magical energy surging into the earth. She threw her arms forward, and the earth followed, large blocks of rock suddenly lifting themselves out of the ground and slamming into the militiamen. Several pounds of dirt erupted from under them, throwing their formation into disarray. Finally, smaller bricks of clay quickly clonked onto many of the miltiamens' skulls, leaving dents in their helmets. The remaining men stopped in their tracks, their morale crumbling in the face of magic. It was apparent that this particular group of soldiers was quite new. With several more wide gestures, a large rock wall rose from the ground, blocking off and surrounding the remaining men. Persephone smirked, proud of her handiwork.
Her partner, still running toward her and having easily avoided her assault, grasped her by the arm as he ran by, catching her by surprise. "Wha-? Hey, where are we going? And where were you, anyway?" She asked, shaking him off and keeping pace with him.
"What time is it?" He asked, seemingly panicked. "We have a ship to catch."
She huffed, miffed that he had completely ignored her. "I don't know what time it is. I forgot my watch on the boat. Why? Isn't there a clock on the central plaza anyway?"
He grimaced. "Ah, well, yes. I was sort of hoping the clock was off, you see…"
Persephone's eyes narrowed. "Adrian," she said dangerously, "What time did it say on the clock, and more importantly, what time were we supposed to leave?"
Adrian coughed. "Heh, well. Funny story, you see. It was one fifty-five, according to the plaza clock. I'm willing to bet it took me maybe five minutes to get here, and we were supposed to leave at uh…" He murmured the last part under his breath.
"What? When were we supposed to leave?" She demanded.
"Two o'clock." Her mouth dropped open. Then that means… She tilted her gaze back in the direction of the ship horn. Sure enough, a large metal ship was sailing out toward the sea, and on the flag?
Their guild crest. A stylized wave rising up, as if to crash on the seashore, or perhaps one's enemies, outlined in blue and placed on a white background.
Persephone swore, nice and loud for everyone to hear. She directed her gaze on Adrian, her brown eyes burning into yellow. "You can get us out of this mess, can't you? With your Key things?"
He cringed. "W-well, maybe, possibly."
"Possibly?"
"Celestial spirits can be quite touchy sometimes! Especially when you call out for their power out of nowhere!" In response, her gaze only hardened, much like the very slabs of rock she controlled. He swallowed. "Alright, alright! I'll try." The two of them stopped in front of where their ship had been docked.
Letting out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in, Adrian quickly fished out one of his bronze keys, right from the pocket where he always stowed it away. Its handle glistened, the symbol of the planet Neptune printed on it. He concentrated his magical energy, directing it into the stars above.
"O mighty spirits of the heavens, I beseech thee for strength! Open, Gate of Neptune!" he cried, slashing the air in front of him.
The bronze key glowed with his power as he completed the summoning. Thankfully, it seemed the gods had sympathized with his plight, for a bright blue aura soon wrapped itself around his body. He grinned, reveling in the strength that his celestial companion had decided to bestow on him. He felt like he could move an entire ocean…
As a matter of fact, that sounded like a pretty good idea. He faced toward the sea, taking in a long breath of fresh, salty air. He breathed out, placing his arms in front of him as he did so.
In one large motion, Adrian threw his arms back toward either side, the ocean parting in front of thim and his partner, the ships in the water being pushed along, leaving nothing but dry land and two massive walls of seawater on either side. His arms soon flopped back down to his sides, his magical energy leaving him. The aura faded from sight, and he immediately felt completely drained. Damn. Maybe that wasn't such a bright idea after all. I can't feel my arms and my legs may as well be jelly for what they're worth…
His partner whistled in appreciation. "Have to admit, that's pretty damn impressive. Eh?" She flicked her head over as he leaned on her. Her eyebrows rose in alarm. "You okay after that, Adrian? You look really pale."
"I'll- I'll be fine." He lied. He felt like he was going to throw up. "Won't be able to keep this up for long though. D'you mind carrying a little of my weight for the rest of the trip?" He asked through clenched teeth.
Persephone nodded, slinging one of his arms over her shoulder.
"Better hold on tight, though. Let's roll." said Persephone. She jumped onto the newly-dry land. It felt nice and solid underneath her boots, easily molded by her magic. She pumped up her fist, a large slab of rock rising from the ground. She jumped up to it, landing with practiced ease. With one last wave of her hand, the slab of rock sped along the sea floor at a quick pace, in pursuit of the hulking metal ship.
Ocean Force- Base Omega Flagship: Leviathan
"Don't you think it's a beautiful day today Captain?" asks a woman from inside the flagship, directing it into the small communications lachryma that she held up to her ear.
"Oh yes, Ma'am. Definitely. If we're lucky, we may not even need the magical thrusters today!" Said the voice on the other end.
"Wouldn't that be a change of pace? Actually being able to save some cash for once!" laughed the first voice.
Its owner was, of course, Vice-Admiral Ribbon Gravitas of the guild Ocean Force. She had on her stunningly-white Vice-Admiral's coat, a grey under shirt, and gray pants, all of which were part of her uniform as a jigh-ranking guild official. The silver epaulets were bright and shiny; she had forced herself to polish them recently, and it took no small amount of work to polish it back to such a nice sheen. Her raven black hair stretched past her waist, tied into a tight braid. Her signature red ribbon, tied into a bow, was tied into her hair. Her hairstyle was quite a far cry from the usual, as she usually left her hair hanging in whatever messy strands it decided to be stuck in that day.
She didn't normally wear her uniform, either. However, being that she was on a diplomatic mission to the mayor of Driaym to request greater trade rights for her guild, she had to be in her best clothes not to mention her best behavior. You don't exactly disobey direct orders from the Admiral, after all. Disobeying a direct command basically meant you were begging to get the tar beat out of you by the Admiral himself, and no one wanted to see that.
"Yeah, you can say that again. …Eh? What is it now? Sorry Ma'am, we've got something off starboard- some big, moving rock? Not entirely sure."
"Big, moving-?" She cut herself off, quickly realizing just what the captain was seeing.
Alright, I'm going to have to time this perfectly, thought Persephone. If I miss, we might as well drown. The large walls of water that surrounded them had already begun to sudder and leak, gallons of water spilling back into position. Adrian doesn't look too good either. She took a glance at her partner.
He was pale as a ghost, and she was certain he was trembling from exhaustion. His face was clammy with sweat, and he seemed like he was about to throw up. He groaned, likely due to exhaustion. She perked her head back up.
The two of them were on the right side of the floating hunk of metal that was the ship the two of them had been assigned to for the past two weeks. Persephone spared the ship one last look, in an attempt to calculate at exactly what trajectory she would have to launch the two of them so that they would end up on the ship, hopefully alive. She tensed, gathering as much magical energy into the pillar of rock below as she could.
And with one last grunt, she leaped in the direction of the Leviathan.
Leviathan- Infirmary
Ribbon swore, most of the new recruits were reckless as shit. Forgetful, too. Gods, I'll be lucky if I live to forty without my hair all gray.
Her thoughts turned to her brother. He was only thirty-seven, wasn't he? And he already had streaks of gray here and there. And he wasted most of his money drinking and gambling, too. I certainly don't want to look like that when I'm older, she thought grimly.
"Nngh…" Ah, so one of them was waking up? Good, good. She'd be able to give them their complementary scolding sooner rather than later.
She walked over to the groaning lump in one of the infirmary beds. "Oi," she said sternly, "wake up, soldier. You've got a long day ahead of you."
"With all due respect, don't remind me, Ma'am." said the decidedly-male voice from under the white sheets.
"'If you're feeling well enough to talk back, you're feeling well enough to sit up straight.' That's what my teacher always told me." She answered coolly.
"Ma'am, your teacher was the Admiral. I'm still not sure if he's human, from what I've heard around here about him. From what I've heard he's some crazy, dragon-killing sunnavabitch." At that, she promptly tore the covers off the boy. A pair of tired, green eyes stared back at her.
"Soldier, you can take your potshots at me all you like, but I would highly suggest that you not disrespect Gramps. Take it from me; he has eyes and ears everywhere." Ribbon said pointedly. The boy cringed at that, seeing the intensely serious look on her face.
"Got it, Ma'am. Will do."
She smiled, satisfied for the moment. "Good." Another groan, emanating from the next bed over, caught her attention.
"Aaauuggghh… Note to self: Never try rocketing onto a metal boat at a million miles an hour again. Ever."
"You should be adding 'Listen well at meetings,' to that, Miss Olivine. Don't think that you're getting off the hook."
"No worries about that Ma'am. I decided to make that my next ney-years' resolution." Persephone sighed in resignation.
"Quite. Now then, why don't we get down to business regarding your punishment?" Another two sighs.
Unfortunately for the two of them, they were subjected to a long reprimand regarding responsibility, which included multiple degrading statements about their upbringing and intelligence, and included a stern reminder that their actions today reflected on the entire guild, not just themselves, and that they should have been on their best behavior anyway, whether or not they knew they were on a dilpomatic mission.
In the end, Adrian was strong-armed into giving his ill-gotten cash to the guild's public account, the two of them were to have whatever monetary payment they got from jobs slashed in half until the money for whatever damages they caused were paid off, and they were subjected to latrine duty for the rest of the trip back home.
All things considered, it wasn't quite as bad as they thought it would be. After all, they had caused a ruckus during a diplomatic mission; the mayor of Driaym had full privilege to embargo the entire guild after they caused damage to part of the city's militia, and it would be entirely their fault.
"It's good to focus on the small blessings, sometimes," commented Adrian, a mop in his left hand and bucket and rags held in his right. He was wearing a dull blue janitor's uniform, same as his partner.
"I guess so, but still," she said, wrinkling her nose, "latrine duty."
"Like I said, small blessings. I mean, this is the worst it could get, right? It can only be uphill from here. I'm sure we'll be the ones assigning the new recruits to latrine duty eventually."
"That'll be the day, eh?" Persephone laughed, no small amount of bitterness in her voice.
The two of them eventually arrived at their destination: The men's room. "Welp," said Persephone, "here we are." She tilted her head over to Adrian. "You ready, partner?"
Adrian nodded in response, his face grave. "Ready as I'll ever be."
"Well then." Persephone let out a breath. "Charge!"
Next time…
"Land ho! We're back home everyone! Welcome back to Omega Base!"
"Aniki, how the hell do you deal with all the idiocy of new recruits?"
"The same way I deal with everything else: I drink."
"You set a terrible example." Ribbon waved down the bartender. "Oi, Barry! Get me a bottle of your best bourbon, stat!"
"So, Adrian, which mission are we gonna be doing today?"
"I dunno. Something high-paying, that's for sure. That, or something interesting."
"In that case, how about… this one?" Adrian looked it over, eyebrows piqued in interest.
"Now that is pretty interesting..."
First chapter done! Wooooo(blows party whistle)!
Read and Review, please! Try to go easy, but don't hesitate to criticize!
Thank You~