Hey, everyone! It's been a few months since I've updated, but I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this year has been crazy. I've been through a lot these past several months. The stress of this year has made writing difficult for me, and as a result, I'd been feeling very unmotivated to update on my current stories. But I refused to allow 2020 to win! To help me out of this severe writer's block, I'd decided to participate in NANOWRIMO again. It helped a lot, and even though I didn't make it to 50,000 words by the end of November, I haven't given up. Most of my focus will be on my studies and this story, and because of this, it's going to be a while before I start working on VSCS again. :'(

But I'm not leaving you loyal readers hanging! As a holiday gift, I've decided to give you loyal readers the first look at my newest Gargantia creation!

Enjoy!

Kailani

Part One: The Girl of the Sea

Prologue

Long ago, before the earth was covered by the verdurous sea, there was Land. It gave life to many creatures: plants, insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and especially human beings. Humans were the most complex creatures of all; they had complex thoughts, complex speech, complex ways of life. And unlike the other creatures, human beings were born with a special gift: the ability to change Land. Because of their special gifts, the humans thought themselves better than the rest of Earth's creatures and did with Land what they saw fit. Unfortunately, due to their variable differences, the humans couldn't agree on how they should live, so they took pieces of Land and separated them so they could live out their lives the way they wanted.

There was one Land that was smaller than the rest, so much so that it was isolated from all the other Lands. One day, a little boy from that Land went out to sea to catch fresh fish for his family. As the boat drifted further and further away from the shore, the waves grew tumultuous and the little boy fell out of the boat. The waves were so strong that they pulled the boy deeper into the sea. All seemed lost until a magnificent white creature appeared. Not knowing what it was, the boy swung his spear at it, and the blade sunk into her tentacle. Unperturbed, the creature caught him in her tentacles and took him back to shore.

The boy had never seen a creature like this, and neither had the creature seen anything like the boy.

"What are you?" asked the boy, though he did not expect a response.

"Who are you?" asked the creature, and the boy was in awe.

"I am human," he replied as if it were obvious.

"I have no name," replied the creature. "I protect all the creatures who live in these waters."

"But I don't live in the water. I live on Land."

"Land is on the water, and as long as you remain on Land, I will always protect you."

"But you don't know me."

"I know enough."

The boy thought this strange as not a moment ago he had attacked the creature that had just saved his life, and yet it was still willing to protect him. He and his people were isolated from the other Lands and were only concerned with their way of life; he never knew anything different. Perhaps there was more to life than what he was taught. He wondered if there were others like this creature, and he wanted to learn more.

Over the next few days, the boy visited the creature and started learning her ways. She taught him how to swim and survive under the sea. And as he learned, he discovered that there were other sea creatures with whom his teacher shared the waters as well as the land where he and his people lived. The boy shared what he learned with his people, and eventually the Land grew larger and more prosperous with life. Some humans stayed on Land and learned to cohabitate it with all the Earth's creatures. Others left to adopt new lifestyles with the creatures of the sea. From then on, they called themselves the Earthlings, for they were all creatures of the Earth.

Unfortunately, not all humans were excited by these new philosophies and even feared the Earthlings and their newfound abilities. They weren't as ready to accept change, and they feared that the Earthlings would destroy their way of life. In a mutual consensus, the bigger Lands came together and used all their resources to get rid of the creature that started it all and return things to the way they were.

On their way to the Earthling's Land, the humans killed anything that resembled the creature. Their bloodshed quickly grew, and soon the humans started killing anything that didn't resemble their own kind. Word quickly spread, and the boy grew heartbroken that the humans would resort to such measures just to kill his friend. To prevent any further bloodshed, the boy left to confront the violent humans and put their fears to rest.

However, before the boy had a chance to speak, the humans attacked his boat, killing him and dumping his body into the water. As he drifted lifelessly to the sea floor, the creature caught her friend and mourned. His blood mixed with the seawater as well as the blood of the humans' other victims, and an anger grew within the creature. Jumping from the sea, she flew into the sky, creating a great flood that sank the Lands. Every last human was killed, except for the Earthlings, who had quickly adapted to life in the sea.

The creature continued to cry as she disappeared into the heavens along with the boy, and their bodies dissipated into star dust. At the will of the creature, the spirits of the humans' victims formed earthbound stars that guided the Earthlings across the sea.

From then on, the Earthlings called her Kailani, the goddess of the sea and sky…

Chapter One: Life on Gargantia

"… At night, you can see the Kailani constellation clearly. If you can find the North Star, you'll find her right eye, the river of stars underneath representing the tears she shed for the boy."

A little squeak came from the crowd of eager listeners, causing a small commotion. The interruption did not deter the storyteller one bit, and he smiled knowingly as a few of the children adjusted their position on the floor.

"This story is familiar to some of you," he continued. "Maybe your parents told it to you as a bedtime story. Maybe you heard another variation that doesn't even include the boy. One way or another, we've all heard fantastical stories just like this, one of the many based on the myth and lore of the whalesquid and the light bugs. The whalesquid are truly remarkable creatures, so it's of no surprise that there are many legends based on them. Now we have information that tells us more about our cephalopodan neighbors."

Something crawled up his leg and under his shirt before settling onto his shoulder. A few of the students in the front cooed at the little creature that was trying to get his attention, but Bebel ignored him as he continued his lecture.

"As I told you in last week's lesson, the whalesquid are descendants of humans who were bioengineered to survive harsh environments. Some traveled to space while others stayed on Earth and endured the dramatic climate changes that happened in the last few centuries. Over the past decade, some of our salvagers have discovered important media that contain footage of news reels and experiments that show Earth's rapid climate change and the forced evolution of humankind that followed."

From the back of the crowded class, a thin arm raised up among the curious children sitting on the ground. Like many of the people here, they were fascinated by Earth's past, but sometimes it was hard to comprehend what was being taught.

Seeing the inquisitive hand in the air, the teacher momentarily stopped his lecture to acknowledge their question.

"But they're not human, are they?" the child asked.

"Not anymore they're not, Mika. The humans that went through the experiments evolved to a point that they do not even share the same taxonomic group as human beings. They're a completely different species."

Another student raised their hand, but they didn't wait for the teacher to call on them before talking. "But in the story, Kailani could fly, and whalesquid can't really do that in real life."

"Not everything in the story is meant to be taken literally, Ayoki, even if it is based on history. Kailani may not have been real, but the lesson she and her followers teach us in the story is based on truth. And so we continued to tell stories like these, learn from them, and hopefully make a better future for ourselves and future generations."

"What was the meaning of this story, Bebel?" asked another child.

"Well, what do you think it is?"

The younger children got quiet as they thought about their teacher's question, looking to one another for clues as to what kind of answer their teacher was looking for. The older students standing around in the back remained quiet, but Bebel knew they were only holding back their responses to give the young ones a chance to answer. However, before any of them could share their answers, the sonorous blare of a work whistle went off, signaling the end of class. There was a collective groan, which made Bebel laugh, followed by the gathering of books and papers as the class got ready to leave.

"We'll continue this discussion for next time. Enjoy the rest of your day!"

The class returned the gesture as they left, some students either heading home or going off to start their workday. Some stayed behind to ask their teacher more questions. As he talked to his students, he noticed a few of them eying his little friend. Once they were gone, Bebel laughed at the sensation of whiskers tickling his cheeks, finally acknowledging the little troublemaker who'd briefly disrupted his class.

"Hello, Widget. Do you know where Sora is?" The little rodent crawled down his shoulder, and Bebel held up his hand as Widget presented a piece of paper to him. Bebel took the slip of paper and unrolled it. "You know, Sora's supposed to be delivering these messages himself."

The long-eared critter chirped in reply, and to Bebel it almost sounded like he agreed with him. He rewarded the squirrel with a treat, which he quickly stuffed in his face, his cheeks bulging comically. With his job finished, Widget took a flying leap and glided off to deliver his next message.

Bebel watched him until he disappeared and then he read the message. His smile grew ever brighter as he read the last word. "He's finally back…"

"Okay, newbies. Pay close attention. I don't like repeating myself. Hey, you! What are you looking at?!"

From a mezzanine above the repairman's ship, a young boy watched the new recruits shiver in their boots as they faced the wrath of the repair crew's fiercest mechanic. Mayta was damn good at her job, but she had poor people skills. Having grown up around the crew, Jonah was less intimidated by her than the others. But as he watched Mayta harangue one of the new recruits for looking at her chest, he was glad that he was just watching from a distance. Just another three years, and he'd be one of them.

"Yeesh, that guy looks like he's about to piss himself." Next to him, a well-toned man with a blonde pompadour leaned over the railing as he watched his second-in-command give the same newbie the business. Pinion laughed when the sorry sap started crying. "Poor bastard…"

Jonah turned away from the scene to focus on his latest project. Pinion had given him the device to see what he could do with it, and so far he was yielding no results. "Doesn't Roan usually train the new recruits?" he asked as he unscrewed a bolt.

"Yeah, but there was an incident down by the loading dock and he was the first to respond. Plus I thought this would be a good opportunity for Mayta to improve her… interpersonal communication skills."

"Shouldn't you be helping Roan on the loading dock? You're a first-responder."

"I would, but I wanted to make sure Mayta wasn't being too harsh with the newbies."

It sounded like a reasonable excuse, but Jonah knew Pinion better than that. "You're slacking off again."

"What?" Placing a hand on his heart, Pinion gave the boy a wounded look. "Son, I am offended! Do you really think I would shirk my duties as Gargantia's lead repairman just to slack off?"

"I would expect nothing less," he replied as he eyed his work in progress. He grunted in dissatisfaction. "What is this thing even supposed to do?"

"Give it here." Pinion held out his hand, and Jonah gave it to him grudgingly. After a cursory glance, he tossed the device back. "You almost got it."

"What's even the point of this?"

"The point is to figure it out, bud." Jonah couldn't help rolling his eyes. It seemed like Pinion was always trying to test him. He almost wanted to give up just to spite him, but Jonah had inherited his father's stubbornness.

"Distracting with a puzzle won't make me forget that your promise. You said you would take me to work with you; watching Mayta haze the newbies isn't the same thing as doing your job."

"You know, you're starting to sound a lot like Bellows."

"I don't see how that's a bad thing."

"Sure, if being a nagging banshee is a good thing…"

"What was that?"

Pinion started at the unexpected company. Behind him stood a statuesque redhead in a tube top and shorts. Her deep azure eyes glared daggers at the pompous repairman.

He pulled out a comb and groomed his askew pompadour, annoyed that his perfect hairdo was ruined. "I was just saying how much of a bad influence you are on Jonahab."

Jonah winkled his nose in disgust at the use of his full name. Pinion was the only one who addressed him this way, and he hated it.

Bellows rolled her eyes at the accusation. "If anyone's a bad influence on him it's you. While your crew is on the loading dock fixing up the Yunboros, you're just standing here being useless. At least when I'm around Jonah's being productive.

"Look who's talking! What are you even doing here, Bellows? Shouldn't you be out there with your crew looking for treasure instead criticizing my parenting?"

Jonah rolled his eyes as they started to argue. Honestly, he felt like the parent whenever those two got at it.

The petulant bickering quickly became background noise as he refocused on the device. At this point, he had pulled enough pieces apart to figure out the pattern on the intricate puzzle box. Now he was just a few steps away from solving it.

"Come on…" With unbending concentration, Jonah unscrewed one last bolt, revealing the geometric design of the puzzle. To anyone else, it looked like a blocky, black-and-white mess, but to the boy it was a stroke of engineering genius. Whoever designed it had to be one of the most gifted minds to have ever lived.

Turning around, Jonah was ready to present the solved puzzle box when he spotted a brown and white speck fly in from above. "Widget!" He called over the flying squirrel, waving to get his attention as he flew circles above him and the quarreling adults.

Finally spotting the young boy, Widget immediately swooped over and landed on Jonah's hand. Unfortunately for the little squirrel, a sudden gust of wind knocked him off course and instead of landing gracefully on the boy, he ended up plummeting gracelessly right into Pinion, who was still contending with the fiery redhead.

"And another thing, where do you come off—AH!" A girlish shriek erupted from Pinion once again as Widget attached himself to the repairman's face. He cursed as he pried the rodent off, crying out once more as tiny claws left small yet stinging marks on his cheeks.

"Hey! Shut up, Pinion!" Mayta shouted from below. "Can't you see I'm trying to teach the newbies!"

"It wasn't me!" But his bright red face said otherwise, and the new recruits of the repairmen crew laughed along with their supervisor as Pinion turned away in embarrassment. He glared down at the rodent that caused all the commotion. "I should roast you on spit, you little—"

"Dad, catch."

Pinion immediately dropped Widget as Jonah's puzzle box flew right at his pompadour, allowing the squirrel to run to the safety. Pinion opened his mouth to scold him for almost ruining his obnoxious haircut, again, but he quickly clammed up when he realized what exactly he had caught.

He beamed with pride as he assessed his son's work. "You solved it! I knew you could do it, Jonahab!"

Jonah groaned as Pinion ruffled his jasper curls. "It's just Jonah, Dad."

"What exactly is it?" asked Bellows.

"What do you think? It's a puzzle!"

Bellows eyed the box skeptically. "It just looks like a big mess to me."

Pinion gawked at her. "Are you serious? I thought someone like you would appreciate a treasure when you saw it!"

Turning her head from side to side, Bellows examined the unusual item in Pinion's hand with the expert eye of a treasure hunter. After a few more seconds, her response was the same. "Not impressed."

Pinion scoffed. "I should've known you wouldn't see its value. Just goes to show who among us really has the brains, right, bud?"

Jonah ignored his dad's praise, his attention now focused on his furry friend. "Hey, you. Got a message for me?"

Widget turned his back to him, revealing a little plastic sleeve that held a few rolled up sheets of paper. He quickly perused through them until he found the one with his name on it and returned the others back into the sleeve before reading his message. His eyes widened a fraction of a second and the tiniest of smiles edged its way to the corner of his mouth.

"Isn't Sora supposed to be doing the deliveries?" Bellows leaned over to read the note, but Jonah shoved it in his pocket before she could see it.

"Guess not," he replied nonchalantly, facing forward once again to watch Mayta supervise the newbies.

Bellows didn't say anything about his sudden change in behavior. "His mom's been looking for him," she said after a few minutes of quiet, with the exception of Mayta's roaring voice. "You haven't seen him around, have you?"

"I haven't seen him since this morning," he confessed.

In fact, Jonah hadn't seen his best friend all day, nor was he able to attend Bebel's archaeology lesson, much to Jonah's dismay. This was due to Pinion insistence on taking Jonah to work with him. Nowadays, Pinion started investing his time showing him the ropes of the repairman trade. Jonah enjoyed spending time with his dad, especially when he actually allowed him to help with Yunboro repairs, but much like Bellows, he could only take so much of Pinion for so long. The note his friend gave him was an opportunity to slip away, especially now that Pinion was distracted (and it was clear at this point that his father hadn't even planned on doing any real work today).

A sharp chirrup on his shoulder reminded him that Widget was still there waiting for his reward. "Sorry, little guy. Here." He held up a tiny cracker, which Widget immediately stuffed into his cheeks. He didn't bother with a goodbye as he flew off to deliver more messages.

Jonah began gathering his things. "I got to go, Bellows."

She smirked knowingly. "Tell Sora I said hi, and that Amy's looking of him."

"I will." Waving goodbye, Jonah ran off to meet his friend.

"Hey, bud, if you liked this puzzle, how's about we make…" Pinion stopped when he realized his son was gone, and he searched about the mezzanine to see if he could spot him. His shoulders slumped in disappointment. "Where'd he go?"

"Probably to get away from his embarrassing old man." Pinion seemed to grow more melancholic with that answer, drawing pity from the woman. She nudged his gently with her elbow. "I'm kidding. He just went off to meet someone. You know how kids are."

"Yeah, I know." The uncharacteristic sadness left as quickly as it came, and Pinion placed a cocky smirk back on his face. "I should get back to work, anyway. Speaking of, you still haven't explained what you're doing here."

"For the same reason your son ran off." Bellows's eyes gleamed mirthfully. "They're back."

Today was a busy day for the mailroom. It wasn't completely unusual considering how many residents lived on Gargantia, but letters and packages were being sent to the mailroom faster than they could be shipped. The young couriers couldn't deliver them fast enough, but they had it easy compared to the ones who were stuck in the mailroom.

Melty hated this new system. It was a huge improvement compared to a decade ago, when the fleet had more citizens than they knew what to do with and getting your mail was almost impossible if your address wasn't a part of the official mailing list yet. If you didn't know all the routes, then you were pretty much doomed to get lost or worse, and with the proliferation of new citizens back then came the installation of new ships; even some of the natives of Gargantia got turned around a few times. The new system was definitely an improvement.

But Melty still hated it.

The Windrose Mailing Office was the central hub of the mailing system, run under the authority of the postmaster. It was where most of the mail was prepared by mailroom clerks for deliveries, either to their shipping address or the cardinal mail boxes where citizens could pick up their mail. It was also where the administrative staffed worked.

As one of the administrators, Melty would usually be doing paperwork at her desk, but at the moment the office was dreadfully understaffed. Several of the mail clerks were missing for various reasons, and at the moment, Melty and the four clerks that remained, including the new hire, were the only ones left to organize incoming packages and letters, and it was a nightmare. The new girl had only been on the job for about a week, so she had no idea she was doing, and the sudden influx of mail orders was not helping with her performance anxiety. Melty would have felt sorry for the girl if she wasn't the one who had to fix all of her mistakes.

"I'm back!" The door to the mailroom slammed open and shut briefly as someone came into the room, creating a small breeze that ruffled some papers that were scattered on the floor.

"W-Welcome back, Postmaster Amy!" The bespectacled girl in front of the package trolley bowed deeply to her employer.

"I told you, Valeria, you can just call me Amy."

"Of course, Post—I-I mean, Amy!" As Valeria turned back to work, she stumbled over a package on the floor but quickly righted herself before going back to work.

"Where have you been?" Melty railed as Amy returned to her post. "We've been swamped with mail all day and someone of the clerks are still missing! You said you were only going to be a few minutes!"

Amy picked up a few letters and reviewed their addresses before placing them in a slot. They quickly disappeared, indicating that they were on their way to be delivered. "I know, I'm sorry. After I dropped off Leilani, I decided to stop by Saaya's and check in on her."

Melty dropped the letters she was holding in astonishment. "Oh my gosh! Is it baby time?"

"Not yet. Emi's been with her all morning but so far nothing's happened yet. Is the radio still on?"

Melty tapped the radio clicked to her belt. "Haven't turned it off since we put in fresh batteries. Oh, I'm so excited! It's been forever since anyone from our group has had a baby!"

Amy laughed at her friend's enthusiasm. "Sounds like someone misses being a mommy."

"I certainly do not! Haru and I already talked about it and one kid is enough for us."

The conversation between the young women was suddenly interrupted by the sound of giggling. "Speaking of which…" Moving away from the wall of mail slots, Melty opened a window, revealing three young girls standing outside the mailroom. "What are you three doing? If you haven't noticed, we're a little busy today, and these packages aren't going to deliver themselves."

The girls all looked at each other before breaking out into giggles again. "Sorry," said the one in the middle. "We were… I-I mean…"

"There were a bunch of cute boys at the Dockspree!"

"Shut up, Lilia!"

Melty shook her head and sighed. "Why am I not surprised? Now go make deliveries or your pay will be cut in half!"

The girls quickly shut up and went to gather their deliveries.

As the trio prepared to fly off, Amy caught the flustered girl by the strap of her glider. "Nanami, you didn't happen to see Sora on your way back, did you?'

Nanami rolled her eyes at the mention of the name. "No, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was goofing off somewhere."

"Says the girl was who's behind on deliveries because she was busy ogling the opposite sex."

Nanami's face burned red as her friends laughed in the background. "Mom!" The other girls continued to tease her as they flew off, the sounds of garrulous teenage chatter slowly drifting away along with the sea breeze.

"Did we used to be like that?" Melty asked. "All boy-crazy and giggly for no reason?" She leaned over the windowpane as she watched her daughter drift towards an apartment building. It seemed her friends were still distracting her with their playful banter because she nearly hit the side of the roof when she tried to kick one of them. Melty snickered in spite herself. It seemed like only yesterday that was her and her friends flying about, making their deliveries, having crazy adventures, and getting into trouble on a daily basis.

Amy returned to her station as she answered the question. "Well, you definitely were. Like mother, like daughter…"

"Hey! I wasn't that bad."

"You're right; you were worse."

"You were worse than me after space boy arrived… You miss it?"

"A little."

"Me too."

Melty decided that was enough nostalgia for one day and was about to close the window when a furry pelt glided over her head. She cried out in surprise at the unexpected projectile and ducked. When she saw what it was, she huffed in exasperation. "Honestly, Amy! What is it with your family and flying squirrels!"

Widget landed in front of the postmaster, his cheeks full to bursting. But even with the surplus of treats obstructing his mouth, the little flying squirrel still managed to chirp out a greeting. "Hello to you, too, Widget," Amy greeted in return. "I'm guessing you know exactly where Sora is." He tilted his head to the side innocuously. "Honestly, of all the days for him to be missing…"

"What's on his back?" Melty asked, pointing to the tiny, black cylinder strapped to the squirrel's back.

"Sora's clever way of getting out of work, I suppose," Amy replied. She opened up the sleeve and retrieved a slip of paper that was addressed to "Mom". Melty watched her as she read the note. Once she reached the end, Amy's cerulean eyes were bright at starlight. "Oh my gosh…"

"What? What is it?"

"… Our boys are coming home."

Melty's mouth fell agape. Snatching the note out of Amy's hand, she read the message over and over again until the meaning of the words finally registered in her brain. Her eyes misted over, and her lips trembled as they formed a watery smile. Before she could give a verbal response, however, the radio on her belt buzzed harshly with static.

"Melty, it's Emi. Saaya's water just broke. I need you or Amy to—"

Melty quickly unclipped the radio. "We're on our way!"

Squealing in excitement, Melty and Amy grabbed each other's arms and hopped in glee. The mail clerks stopped working and watched the scene in amusement.

"Saaya's in labor!"

"Our boys are coming home!"

"Is this the best day ever or what!" After gathering their things, the two squealing women rushed out the door, leaving a group of confused mail clerks and couriers in their wake.

Meanwhile, the flying squirrel made his escape through the open window to deliver one last message.

Not too far from the massive flotilla, a boat drifted passively through the verdurous sea. The Milky Way they had followed for the past few weeks was headed towards Gargantia, and in a few short hours, the sea galaxies would finally meet. The members of this barge's crew were tired from a long trip and couldn't wait to return home. One man in particular was excited to share his recent exploits with his family.

As the research team celebrated their return, their leader lingered at the bow of the ship, taking in the sight of his home of almost sixteen years. More ships came into view the closer they drifted to the floating metropolis, but even among the hodgepodge of navel crafts and building structures, he could still spot his humble abode. In fact, they were so close the escort ships flanking his boat sped up; the extra security was no longer needed as they got into Gargantia territory. A couple of surf kites circled above them, signaling with flashes of light that they were officially on Gargantia's Milky Way, and his shoulders lifted in anticipation. It wouldn't be much longer now.

"It's good to be back, isn't it, Ledo?"

He turned to address his shipmate but didn't look away from the view. "I can't believe it's only been two weeks. Feels like we've been gone for years."

"I know. I can't wait to see my girls. I radioed Ridget like you asked. She said she'll meet us at the docks."

"Thanks, Haru." He felt a pat on his back before his friend walked away, leaving him alone once again.

Above the kites, a few smaller figures with wings flew by. Courier gliders, he surmised, seeing as they weren't flying as a unit like the gulls that inhabited the high canopies of the fleet vessels. One of them drifted away from the fleet, and as it flew closer to the research ship, he realized that it wasn't a glider.

"Widget." The flying squirrel landed on railing, his twitchy tail exhibiting happiness. He was an exact replica of his mother, from his long ears to the two white lines bordering the large brown stripe that ran along his back and tail. The only differences between him and Grace were his prominent white eye rings and the black tips of his ears.

Noting the plastic cylinder on the rodent's back, he opened it and removed a thin slip of paper. The flying squirrel settled on his shoulder as he read the message, munching away on the rewards he accumulated throughout the morning.

Three simple words brought a glowing smile to his face.

Welcome home, Dad.

So, what'd you guys think? It's still a work in progress, but I'm making headway! If anyone has any ideas for ONE-SHOTs, I will gladly consider them. In the meantime, VSCS as well as my other stories will be on hiatus.

R&R and Happy Holidays!