The moment Valerie felt her breath run short and the sweat sting in her eyes, she knew she was exhausted. Her head buzzed with every thing she could recall from these weeks of tireless practice. Her eyes traveled upwards in a desperate attempt to keep herself from passing out. As she looked, she could see the figure of a man watching the field intently. He was pressed against the rail of the building with his hands folded. The intensity of his stare could be felt on every soldier's back, the knowledge of his presence enough to send anyone into an internal frenzy.

Supreme Commander Kane.

She recalled the whispered rumors she's heard. The woman who owned the locker beside hers said that he was the "man capable of anything". Another speculated he was the fastest, strongest, and smartest being known to man. But the story she has heard countless of times is that he served in the deadly Polarian War, and his efforts were so incredible that, upon his survival, he was promoted to Commander-in-Chief without question, and personally congratulated by King Casimir himself. His past was theorized by many. He is the Commander of the entire Armada, and is considered to be an important figure alongside the King himself.

No one even knew he was watching until a soldier pointed him out, who continued to claim that he's been observing for weeks. This kept everyone on edge even if very few have actually spotted him watching from the balcony above. Valerie felt breathless as she observed him against the railing, and breathed slowly as she directed her attention back to the situation at hand. She pulled the trigger of her weapon and successful hit the target. Her eyes naturally shot up to the spot the Commander was, only to realize that he had already left.

A twinge of disappointment churned in her chest as she stood up straight. Every soldier on the field could hear the authoritative voice of General Rooke, who planted his weapon in the sand and called for everyone to gather around him. Valerie jogged along beside her fellow fighters and took a knee once they were appropriately spaced from him. She could still feel the hammering in her chest. She was unsure if it was from her rigorous training or the Commander's presence only a minute ago. Her fingers felt numb as she rested them on the handle of her weapon, and bowed her head as the General turned to address them.

"You all put up a good fight today. Mistakes were made, but I expect them to be corrected when we perform this again. I have deemed it necessary to conduct some physical training exercises for a select few. If you find your name posted tomorrow morning, report to me immediately."

Everyone was dismissed right away, put on a resting period until the evening. Valerie followed the line out and retreated to her belongings. While she tended to them, she couldn't help but hear the daily gossip from the group crowded in the back of the room. The talking passed along until it came down to the woman beside her. She had been completely unaware until a finger tapped her shoulder. She jumped in surprise. The woman gave her a smile. She suddenly regretted not knowing her name to address her properly.

"What is it?" She asked impatiently.

"Did you hear that Kane was watching us today? I heard he was keeping an eye in your section."

"My section?" Sure, she recalled seeing him looking in her general direction, but she had only been assigned to weapon training on the field. What could have been so special about it? "-Are you sure?"

"Apparently, anyone the Commander wants to observe more closely got put on that list the General mentioned. Maybe your name is on there?"

"I won't know until tomorrow morning." She huffed, grabbing her bag and tossing it over her shoulder. "Even then, it's just extra training."

"Well, no, unless you consider..." The woman held a finger to her lips. "Kane might be there to watch? It could be your time to shine! I've seen how hard you've been working during training."

Despite the situation, Valerie felt her cheeks slightly heat. So what if she had been putting extra effort into her training? She was only doing that to further prepare herself on the battlefield. To try and achieve the goal she set for when she signed herself up for all of this. Nothing about that involved impressing the Commander - and if he was anywhere near observing her progress, it had nothing to do with her personally. She didn't even share the same interest everyone else had with him. It seemed as if all the woman in the fleet were obsessed with him. She was not one of them.

Unfortunately, she let herself fall silent, obliging the woman to continue. "-If you're really lucky, you could get a close look at him! All I know is that he wears a mask and carries around a sword. Someone I know said it's the longest one they've ever seen! I'm willing to believe that, among other things..."

Valerie decided this was the right time to end the conversation. She picked up her belongings and left, ignoring the disappointed look in the woman's eyes. She stepped out of the locker room and let out a dragged sigh, her thoughts wandering to her family and friends, and how deeply she missed them. Sometimes she regretted ever signing her life away, dedicating every moment to training so she could someday join the Armada. Her true goal seemed far from where she was now, but she was willing to make sacrifices so she could get there. So her father would be avenged in some way, and his death served a purpose.

Everyone that came in the next morning crowded around the notice displayed on the building. Valerie could hear noises of both triumph and disappointment as people inspected the papers. She waited patiently in line as she stood by a slightly-shorter man, who fidgeted with the straps of his bag. She could tell he was nervous, and quietly tsked such a thing. She was far too tired from last night's training to care. The only thing on her mind was to see if her name was there and follow orders. If not, then she'd proceed with her day as usual.

When she was finally able to see the list, she glanced over the alphabetically-arranged names. When she found hers, something in her stomach sunk, and she begrudgingly made her way over to General Rooke's station. There was already a long line of others waiting for further directions. In the middle of the commotion was the General himself, towering over everyone in his proximity. He was the largest man she'd ever seen, not entirely because of his stature, but the amount of armor he was always equipped with. It was held together by belts, with a golden gear placed just in the middle of his torso. He carried around a big shield and wielded a sharp axe wherever he went. He wore an elaborate red-and-golden bauta mask. From the very few instances she had gotten close to him, she noticed he had hazel-colored eyes.

His booming voice ceased every conversation, forcing everyone to listen. "To those who have gathered here, we will need you to report the second training room inside. In there, you will find various dummies, training equipment, and mats. What you all will be practicing is hand-to-hand combat and combating skills. You are each assigned a partner to practice with, and some separate time for training on the equipment. You will be monitored and directed by the Supreme Commander himself. I wish you all luck."

So that woman was right, Valerie thought to herself. This is organized by Kane...

With a dismissive nod of the head, everyone left and began heading where they were told. She followed the line leading to the training room and patiently waited, wondering why she was exactly chosen for this. If that woman was correct, then this whole thing was arranged for the Commander to observe these people's progress more closely...including hers. Had she been part of the group that made mistakes in training the other day? She kept careful watch on her movements and remembered everything she was taught. She believed she did well, but then again, she was very exhausted by the time the Commander came around to watch.

As everyone began to get fidgety waiting to enter, the doors suddenly flew open. They were beckoned inside, but by the time she was in the doorway, she could hear someone from afar spitting out commands. People were getting ordered to line up for role call. Quickly, she rushed in between her appropriate space between two men and stood from shoulder-to-shoulder. That was when things got very quiet in the room - the only sound being a pair of footsteps and the slight shuffling of soldiers still finding their places. At that moment, Valerie could hear nothing but her heartbeat pumping in her ears.

A/N:

Hello! This isn't my first Pirate101 fanfiction, but the first I'm going to take seriously and spend a lot of time writing. I hope the quality is alright? I'm trying to make this as tidy as possible.

Anyway, yes, if you haven't noticed, this is a human AU of the Armada from Pirate101. I always wondered how different everything would be if they're humans and not emotionless robots. I decided to start off with how Kane met Queen in my AU. This is going to be their story - explored a little in different areas, but altogether, the story of how they met and yadda yadda. Do expect this to be a little fluffy/romantic in some areas - this IS a romance story, after all. Sue me. :P

And yes, the rest of Kane's Court will make appearances as the story goes on. I expect this piece to have a lot of chapters as there's so much I want to cover. I have no idea the consistency of the update schedule, but I assure you, this is my new writing project and I'll be working on it for awhile. So expect more to come very soon!

Thank you all!