A/N: Yes, here we are again, I know! Notes after the chapter!
Please enjoy!
I don't own Fairy Tail!
Chapter 1: A Sailing Guild
April 1, X712
A shocking mop of neon green stood out against the pale blue sky of dawn. The bright hair belonged to a man with playful blue eyes, eyes the same blue-green of the ocean he sailed upon. The early morning sun lit the snow-white ship, its gold embellishments sparkling. In place of a normal figurehead was a large golden helm cracked down the middle with an 'S' appearing out from the crack. The man stood proud on this ship, knowing it was all his. It was the beginning of something new, something exciting, something that meant so much not only to himself, but to the small five-man crew standing behind him.
A wide smile spread across his face as he turned to face that team, the wind catching his breezy white shirt. It threw the front of it open, showing off a bright green tattoo on his sun-kissed chest, one that looked like the figurehead of his boat, and one that matched tattoos on the five people he was smiling at.
"We finally made it. This is where we begin."
"Where do we go?"
"Wherever we wish!"
"Caelum?"
"Pergrande?"
"Midi?"
"All of them and more! We can go beyond the waters of Ishgar."
"To Alvarez?"
"Yes, and farther! Let's see what the world has to offer and then take it!"
Any worry that the crew had been holding onto seemed to wash away at his words and his smile. They began smiling with him, excitement for their new adventure filling them.
"Storm's Helm will be a place for adventure, for making a name for yourself, and a home for everyone."
"You think we can make that big of a name for ourselves?"
"I, Dylan Murdock, the first guild master, deem it so!" he said, turning back to face the open water before them, "The world will know who we are!"
. : + : .
April 3, X792
A bright sun matching the one from eighty years ago took over the sky that morning, turning the blue of the sky pale and making the water of the ocean shine like glass. Seagulls cried as they soared over ten ships, all moving together. They gathered around the ships as if they knew they knew something was going to happen that morning, as if they could feel a change in the air.
The cluster of ships was known as the guild Storm's Helm, a sailing guild that traveled the world. They had traveled out of the waters of Seven and were now smoothly sailing through the northwestern area near Fiore. And while it was early spring, sailing out in open waters in the baking sun had the guild feeling like it was more like summer. Though, this had been a nice change of pace from the freezing waters of Iceberg.
Within this fleet of ships, two stood out. The first was the longest and largest ship within the fleet that was surrounded by eight other, slightly smaller boats. It was even larger than most of the ships within the Earthland Naval Forces. All nine of these ships were connect by reinforced bridges, creating a rather large rectangular ring that moved as one. At the head of this ring was the second ship that caught immediate attention. This ship was covered in all white with gold embellishments, a large golden helm cracked down the middle with an 'S' appearing out from the crack placed at the very head of that ship.
An older woman with a head full of wild, orange hair made her way across the guild, a pristine white coat folded neatly in her arms. She smiled widely as she walked across one last bridge, coming to one of the front corner ships. She nodded to a young woman who was making her way off the ship.
"Good morning, Nanami!"
"Good morning, Regina-san," the younger woman answered with a polite bow and a slight accent.
"You look as lovely as always!"
Nanami blushed as she ran a hand through her shoulder length hair, the purple to red strands like silk, "Thank you."
"Now then, is she ready?"
"Cordelia-san has been up for hours. I could hear her pacing up and down the hallway of cabins."
"Oh my, I hope she didn't wake you."
"No, I am normally an early riser. It is understandable why she would be a bit nervous today, though."
"Yes, I suppose so," Regina said, her nerves and excitement rising again as her grip on the coat tightened, "Well, I don't want to keep you, dear."
Nanami gave her another polite bow, "I am certain Cordelia-san will do wonderfully," she said before walking up the bridge.
Regina smiled at the comment before turning to make her way towards the cabins on the ship. She made her way down the staircase, the ship quiet due it being the female S-Class ship. She walked towards the end of the hallway, stopping in front of a door that was partially open.
"Okay, you big lug head! I'll be taking the guild master position today!"
Regina laughed quietly as she listened to the young woman in the room.
"What do you think about that one, Bones?"
There was a low bark as an answer to her question.
"Yeah, I'm not a fan of it either."
"Trying to think of what to say to Gordon?"
"MOM!"
The young woman jumped and turned towards the doorway. The light tan pitbull next to her jumping and barking excitedly at the appearance of a new person. Bright, neon green hair settled around her shoulders in thick waves while her cerulean eyes settled on the matching ones belonging to her mother.
Regina let out a laugh as she fully walked into the room, "You're still so cute!"
An embarrassed flush spread across her checks, "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to bring something to you," she answered, "But first…are you nervous?"
"Maybe a bit? But that's normal, right?"
"Yes, your father was nervous too when he went for the guild master position."
"I never would have thought he could be nervous."
"He hides it well."
"I just want to find the right words to say when I face him."
"You'll know it in the moment. You've never been one to be left speechless."
"Yeah, I guess so," she said, deciding to drop the subject for now, "So then! What did you bring me?"
Regina just unfolded the clothing in her arms as her answer. It revealed a long white coat with short sleeves and a flat collar. Gold buttons lined one side of it while the longer part of the coat billowed outwards. She turned it around to show off the large Storm's Helm insignia in gold on the back.
"You finished?!"
"I did!"
"It looks amazing," she said as Regina held it open for her to put on, "And it fits perfectly! I'm glad we went with the short sleeves. I can still show off my guild mark this way," she said, sticking out her right arm to show off the bright green tattoo on her forearm. She looked up when her mother hadn't said anything, seeing that the woman had tears in her eyes, "Why are you crying?!"
"Cordelia…you just look…you look wonderful."
Cordelia let a full smile cover her face, "You're the best!" She hugged her mother tightly, Regina hugging back just as tightly, "This was the motivation that I needed, thank you!" she said as she let her mother go and moved towards the door. She stopped and turned back, looking at Regina with playful, confident eyes, "Cheer for me, yeah?"
"Always."
Once Cordelia was out of the room, Regina let herself remember where her daughter got eyes like that from. She looked at the wall in front of her. It was full to bursting with photos and one managed to catch her eye. She pulled the frame off the wall and smiled down at it. A young teen Cordelia smiled brightly back at her. A large man stood next to her, his brown hair slicked back and a cigar sticking out of the side of his mouth, but he smiled just as widely as Cordelia and his green eyes held that same playful confidence.
"You're missing out on one of the biggest moments of her life," she said softly as she placed the picture back on the wall, "Come home already, Duke."
. : + : .
"Oi! Old man!"
Finn Murdock sighed heavily after hearing his son shout at him, keeping his nose stuck in the book he was currently reading, "What, Ace?"
"Today is the day!"
"I'm aware."
"Aren't you going to come watch the fight?"
Finn finally put down his book to see his son standing right in front of him. The shocking green hair of the Murdock's cut short in a crew cut and deep onyx eyes like his own, but Ace held the cheery playfulness Regina usually carried with her. Though, Ace currently frowned at him.
"Why would I go watch something that I already know the ending of?"
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"If you don't know, then you need to have more confidence in your sister."
"I do!"
"Then you can sit down here with me and wait for it to be over."
"What?! And miss out on that fight? No way!"
"Then go out there and leave me alone."
"You're seriously going to skip out on the fight?"
Finn only gave his son a flat stare as his response.
"Tch, whatever, but if Cordi yells at you later, don't say I didn't try to get you to go."
Ace walked out after that, leaving Finn in the silence of their family home. He was happy for the quiet for only a moment, reading over a single sentence before he snapped his book shut.
"Damn that boy," he said, running a hand through his faded green hair. He grabbed his black duster, a large white guild mark on the back of it. He shoved his book into one of the inside pockets and made his way outside.
. : + : .
Gordon Hawthorne paced up and down along the large middle vessel. The open deck was wide and long and was the usual hang out spot for mages when they weren't doing much of anything. All sorts of furniture and tables had been set up across it for mages to sit and eat and drink and play games at. Tarps and cloths had been set up in various spots as well in order to create shaded areas. Normally these relaxing areas were spread out across the entire deck of the ship, but Gordon had cleared away a good amount of them after getting word that he would be challenged today and by none other than Cordelia Murdock.
"That bitch!"
People moved out of his way as he said this. If his attitude and scowl weren't intimidating, his shirtless torso was. It showed off the hard muscles he had built up over years of training, the large black guild mark tattoo across his chest, and a nasty scar across his back.
He paced back up towards the front of the guild, "She knows that the guild master position is mine!"
"It won't be for much longer!"
He looked up when he heard her voice, his scowl deepening when he saw Cordelia smiling at him from across the ship, her stupid mutt with her by her feet. He saw a movement of more bright green hair, rolling his eyes when he saw Ace appear at the front of the crowd that had gathered to watch the fight, the younger man loudly cheering for his sister already.
"The position is mine, Cordelia! Back down!"
"Tradition states that anyone can battle for the guild master spot so long as they haven't previously done so within a year's time. It also states that the current guild master must accept any and all challenges made to them."
"Then maybe it's time for a new tradition."
"That's like admitting you're too scared to fight me!"
"Like hell I'm scared!"
"Then prove it!"
"You wouldn't even know what to do as a guild master."
"Family history says otherwise," she said with a smirk, crossing her arms and cocking her hip out to one side, "So are you ready to lose or what?"
"You're always so cocky! I know how you fight; I've seen you train!"
"That might be true, but you don't have what it takes to be a real guild master and that will be your downfall today. You didn't even win the position properly. Duke tripped and let you make that final hit."
Gordon let out an aggravated shout when she started laughing at him, "Stop talking about the past! I won that fight fair and square!"
"Then let's see you do it again! Twin pistols!" she shouted as blue magic symbols showed up around her hands, two large pistols soon appearing in them.
As soon as Gordon saw the magic circles appear, he wasted no time in putting up a defense, "Metal Skin!" he shouted as shiny, thick metal began covering his entire body. It finished covering his head when he heard the first gunshots go off. The sound echoed across the guild as the bullets whizzed through the air straight at him. One hit him in the shoulder and the other in the chest, but they just ricocheted off him and fell to the deck, "Have you forgotten that your lame ass bullets won't do anything to me?"
"You keep thinking that!" she said as she shot off another two bullets, this time aiming for his face. They hit their mark but bounced off his metal skin again. Though, the bullets were enough of an annoyance to make him charge towards her.
"Metal Make: Hammer!" he shouted as he came up on her. He brought the hammer down with all the strength he could muster. While Gordon had power behind him, he lacked speed, which Cordelia used to her advantage. She dodged out of the way as the hammer came down, denting the ship when it hit the deck.
Cordelia's dodge had her spinning around Gordon, allowing her to roll her back to rest against his back, "I think you need to work on your aim," she said with a quick laugh. She felt his body moving back up, which had her moving again. She jumped up on his back and then moved to his shoulders, "Here's a lesson in aiming for free!" she said as she aimed her pistols right down at his head and unloaded the rest of her bullets onto him. Loud plinking noises came from the top of his head every time a bullet hit him. The barrage of bullets and echoing gunshots made it hard for Gordon to concentrate and he just couldn't shake Cordelia off him, "I hope you know that it's only your giant, clunky head that I can do that to. You should feel proud of that," she laughed.
"Get off!" he shouted, finally managing to grab onto one of her legs and throw her off him. Though, she easily flipped through the air and skidded to a stop across from him again.
"Awww, look! You're getting so worked up and just for me too! You really know how to treat a lady, Gordy!"
"I hate that fucking name and you know it!" Gordon yelled, feeling even angrier now, "Metal Make: Spike Showers!" he shouted, creating a floating field of spikes in front of him. He then controlled them all to fly out towards her.
Cordelia quickly called back her pistols before bringing out her next weapon, "Lucky Charm!" she shouted just as she ran towards the spikes and began jumping up across them. Just as she came to one of the last metal spikes, she pointed the small and narrow gun at Gordon.
"I already told you that bullets don't work!"
Cordelia simply ignored him and pulled the trigger. Instead of receiving more bullets to the face, green paint splattered across his face. He had to quickly shut his eyes to shield them from the paint as she rained down more paint balls on him. She kept on hitting him, keeping him where she wanted him. She ran up near enough to him and slammed a hand down on the ground, "Howitzer!" she announced and in a flash of blue magic, a long barrel-like gun stationed between two large wheels appeared. It was aimed right at Gordon and after she stopped firing her paint gun, he wiped his face and turned to come face to face with it, "Can your metal handle this?" she asked with a smirk as she lit the short fuse to the gun.
"Shit!" he shouted, preparing himself for what was about to come. He didn't have time to do much else as the gun was fired right into his gut, sending him flying across the deck. He managed to stay standing though as he came skidding to a stop. His feet just hit the edge of the deck, his back facing the front of the fleet. Smoke billowed up off his stomach and a charred area was left behind from where the shot hit him, but it was still only on his metal skin, "Is that all you got?! You're gonna lose then!"
"So, my lovely little Howitzer isn't enough for you?!" she retorted loudly, "Fine! Then try this on for size! Tsar Cannon!" she shouted. The first howitzer quickly disappeared and was soon replaced with a much larger version. This cannon was made of bronze and was almost twenty feet in length and stood even taller than Gordon.
"Where the hell did you even get something like that?!" Gordon shouted.
"Wouldn't you like to know," Cordelia snickered to herself.
"You aren't really gonna shoot me with that, are you?! I mean, I can just jump out of the way."
"You could, but I know how to move it around with ease, so really, you're just wasting your time," she explained, "So why don't you just give in now?"
"No way in hell! I can take it! So, shoot it and I'll still be standing here!"
Her blue eyes glanced back at her brother, a wide smile covering her face, "What do you think, Ace? Should I shoot it?"
"Shoot it!" Ace answered quickly with excitement, "I haven't seen this one in action!"
The crowd around them began egging Cordelia on, repeating the words 'shoot it' over and over again until they were all shouting it. Cordelia then looked back towards Ace again to look for his final approval. She received a thumbs up and the re-quip mage took that as instant approval. She then turned back towards Gordon with the crowd still cheering her on.
"It was nice knowing you! Thanks for wasting three years of our time as guild master!" Cordelia shouted before firing the cannon. A huge iron ball flew out from it and right at Gordon. The ball was almost as big as Gordon so there was no way for the man to grab it and stop it. Instead, the projectile slammed into him, his metal skin echoing off it. It then flew him over the front of the fleet and out into the ocean until he disappeared. The crowd stared at where Gordon had just been standing in silent shock, not knowing that the shot would have been that powerful. Cordelia turned back towards them all with a large smirk, "And that, ladies and gentlemen," she began, leaning against her cannon, "Is how you become a new guild master!"
In the next instant, the rest of the guild was cheering for Cordelia and congratulating her on her victory and new position as guild master. In the chaos of it all, everyone missed a large man in a black duster walking up to Cordelia until he was already in their midst.
He came to stand directly in front of Cordelia, staring down at her with a straight face and bringing the crowd to an instant silence. Cordelia stared back up at him with an almost nervous face, unsure of how he was going to react. He then placed a hand on top of her head, "That's my girl," he said, finally letting a small and proud smile appear on his lips.
Cordelia smiled brightly up at him before hugging him tightly, "Thanks dad!"
"Um…Mister Finn Murdock…sir," one of the members began nervously, looking down at the deck as they spoke to the older man, "We can't just really leave Gordon…um…we can't leave him out in the ocean alone, can we?"
Finn stared down at the nervous mage before turning towards Cordelia, "Looks like your first order of business as the new master is hunting down the old one."
"What?! Why do I have to go searching for that prick?! It's his own fault that he went flying off into nowhere!"
"Cordelia," was all Finn said, but there was a warning tone behind it.
"Ugh! Fine! I'll go hunt down that dumbass!" she grumbled loudly as she recalled her cannon, "Ace! You're coming with me!"
"What?! Why?!"
"Shut up and move it!" she shouted, kicking him to get him to move forward.
Regina stepped out of the crowd and moved next to her husband, laughing as she watched her kids bicker back and forth as they moved across the deck to head towards one of the smaller boats to take to go find Gordon. She gently patted Bones's head as the pitbull had opted to stay with her and Finn before she looked up at her husband, "Looks like things are going to get more interesting, yeah?"
"Yeah," he grunted in reply, but still continued to smile to himself. Things had turned out just as he thought they would, and he couldn't be prouder of his daughter for her next step up into the world.
A/N: And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!
Credits
Regina Murdock – MyDearWatson
Nanami Shiraki – Dreadburner94
Cordelia Murdock – MyDearWatson
Finn Murdock – MyDearWatson
Ace Murdock – MyDearWatson
Gordon Hawthorne – MyDearWatson
Alright! Yes! We're back with Storm's Helm! I figured if Thunder Stone was getting a reboot, then Storm's Helm is too! I can already hear the discord family giving me a hard time about this, but here we are, lol. They'll be excited anyways, lol. (I can already feel a meme being made about this, lol!)
So! We will be seeing some similar faces this time around, but I am opening OC spots again for this story. To start off, you may send up to two characters if you would like, but you don't have to if you don't want to. I won't guarantee that both characters will be accepted, so please keep that in mind as well. There will be other spots open later on, but for now, I am filling up all the spots for Storm's Helm members first.
For the character form, it will be on the discord server I have created for Storm's Helm, but you may also PM me for the form as well and I will send it to you. Also, if you would like to join the Storm's Helm server, please let me know and I will send you an invite code for it! I highly suggest that you do since a lot of stuff happens on the server and it's where I make a lot of announcements and updates.
I already have some restrictions on the characters – No Slayers of any kind will be accepted, no Ice Magic, no demon-like take over magic, no tattoo magic, and I know this is going to sound odd, lol, but no more characters that have first names starting with the letter Z. Again, I will update restrictions on the server and in author's notes, but if you have questions about restrictions or anything else, please just message me!
Also, there are only 5 S-Class spots. That's it, that's the max amount ever on the guild. Three of those spots have been filled and I will be choosing the last two. So please don't ask me for an S-Class spot. I want to wait and see what kind of characters I get and who would best fit the last two spots. Once I decide on who the last two S-Class are, I will let you all know.
Also, it's going to take me some time to choose all the OCs. I want to give everyone enough time to make a character if they wish and then I will have to take some time in choosing them. So, if you send a character in, and I don't answer you quickly about them, please just be patient with me. It's just me making decisions and giving people time.
Also, Storm's Helm and Phantom Hearts take place in the same universe, for those of you that read Dread's story. So, if you have a character in his story, it cannot be used in this story.
I think that's it for now. Again, please come check out the server for the story, if not it's cool, but a lot of cool and fun stuff goes on there and that's where I'm the most active. Again, if you wish to join the server, please let me know and I will send you an invite code.
I'm looking forward to seeing what characters come in and how this story unfolds again! I'm super hyped about this!
Until next chapter!
MyDearWatson