I just wanted to take the time to say thanks to those that added this fic to their favorites and follows. It's wonderful to see that people actually enjoyed what I wrote.
Theonedude-I have every intention of finishing this.
Luckenhaft- some food for thought indeed.
I'm going to be shooting for 4k words on average on these newer chapters. I would also like to point out that I have changed the original prologue by adding another 1500 words to it. I believe it has improved the flow of the story a bit.
I don't own anything regarding the Fate/ series or the Jurassic park franchise.
Shall we begin?
The sea is quite a mesmerizing thing to be greeted by in the morning. Staring at the waves beating and breaking against the bow of a ship is something I would have thought boring, yet here I am enthralled by the rhythmic sound it makes in the dawn of this fine day. I suppose the melancholy I feel is warranted since my normal travels have always had the guarantee of death hanging in the air.
The simplicity of this luxurious setting is so refreshing.
It's not every day that you get to ride on a ferry between islands. As a matter of fact, I could count the time's I've personally been on one on a singular hand. Granted, out of all of them this is the first one that I don't have a dead apostle waiting for me.
I wonder if Sakura would have liked this sort of thing as well.
I glance out towards the approaching silhouette of the grand island on the horizon. The well forested island from this distance looks to be free of any human hands. I get a bit of a giddy feeling of excitement at how out of the way this island really is. I can't help but be happy at how fortunate I am to have lucked out in getting to a place where it would be hard to be traced to.
It's quite funny when I think about the situation I find myself in. Two months ago I was a well respected mage with a list of kills that would make my dad proud, and now I'm going to be laying low on an island in the middle of the Pacific ocean. A tropical breeze against my skin and not a single magic signature to tickle my sensitive nose.
I really don't deserve such an easy way to escape the unfortunate and painful end my capture would ensure.
To be honest, I haven't been this relaxed in awhile. It reminds me of time's before the war.
I suppose I'm granted a bit of peace though. I was very diligent in covering my tracks all the way to the airport in Tokyo. The fact I made sure to land in America and then disappear from there. I called in a favor with one of my fathers acquaintances. He was just a mercenary with no affiliation to the moonlit world so I shouldn't have to worry about him revealing anything to anyone. I did pay him quite well for the service and used a custom made dagger that I had crafted while at the mage tower to make him think he transported someone entirely different. I suppose using the moniker of Outis is fitting. The Odyssey was one of the many books that Kiritsugu liked to read to me as a kid. I guess I could blame myself for asking him to read me stories of heroes.
It was quite the ironic name looking back at it. After all, like Odysseus I'm having to leave my home and all the people I care about behind. Granted Unlike Odysseus, the likelihood of me ever getting to go back home is practically zero. It makes it more crystal clear to see that heroes seldom get a happy ending.
At least I took care of everything that I needed to resolve.
Although I doubt there is any way that I have managed to escape a sealing designation with the notes I had in my workshop in London. I made sure to destroy all my notes in my old workshop at my Fuyuki Domicile. There was little in them worth taking since I have a knack for memorizing almost everything I see. It is unfortunate that I hadn't destroyed them prior in preparation for something like this happening. It's something I won't be able to live down I suppose. I should make a list at this point, forethought has never really been my strong suit.
Old man Raiga was quite surprised whenever I gave him the keys to the old Emiya estate. He was very understanding after I mentioned that I had made a mistake like my father before me and needed to hide. It was quite draining to give up my childhood home. It held many memories that brought the value of that residence to great importance to me.
Saying a final goodbye to Taiga was probably the hardest part about the endeavor. It does pain me that I was unable to tell Taiga where I was going, but it was for the best. All i can hope is that Rin protects her from The mages association if they come looking for me there.
At least vacating the house was easy. I've never been a materialistic person, so I didn't have anything too important to drag with me. The packing was quite quick and only took me about two days total to take care of. I do have to be grateful for the suitcase that I received from the Wizard Marshall. Rin was quite shocked that Zelretch just gave me a mystic code for ruining another mages lab. It does bother me to this day that he took a bit of a liking to me after that particular favor. Of the many magi at the clock tower that particular vampire is quite the person to be on the radar with. The many stories I've heard of his behavior is quite the worrying thing. I do have to say at least there are perks.
It was quite helpful in securing all of the things necessary for my forever trip away from my previous home. Granted I did bring some unnecessary things with me like taiga's cursed sword. To be truthful, It was against my will that I brought it along. She just kind of forced it into my hand as we said our goodbyes. I didn't have the heart to toss it away. She was quite the sister figure to me when I was younger, and I have received many beatings by that particular sword in our sparring matches. Getting it onto a plane was a lot harder than It probably needed to be. I should have put it in my suitcase, but it slipped my mind as Taiga was dropping me off at the airport.
As I Was admiring the land that is soon to encompass my new life I noticed a man in a well made suit out of the corner of my eye. From the looks of it he seems to be sweeping the deck as if looking for someone. He noticed me and seemed to glance down for a second checking the parchment in his hand. With a secondary look at me he starts to walk in my direction. I could tell by the way he carried himself that he was quite used to the motion that a ship provided as it seemed like he glided to me with an air of eloquence. As I turn to face him I notice the Jurassic World logo that his dress shirt sports barely visible below his sailing uniform. He has quite a worn face with a well kept white beard. A pair of observant brown eyes are staring directly at me as he looks me up and down. Sitting proudly on his head is an old looking captain's hat that though weathered, has the look of great effort put into keeping it presentable. In his hand he has a clipboard with a thin stack of papers on it.
"Shirou I presume" he says as he moves to lean against the railing to my side. He angles himself to have me in his line of sight as he fumbles with his pocket. He brings out a polished case in which he pulls out an expensive looking pair of cigars and offers one in my direction.
I tense a bit at the mention of my name. "That is correct, might I inquire as to why you know who I am." I say as I adjust my posture to skewer the man beside me at any show of hostility. Hands posed to grip swords already forming in my mind.
He sighs and sags a bit at the tension that I show him as he stows away the spare cigar. He reaches into another pocket to pull out a dinosaur themed lighter to light the cigar in his mouth. He takes a puff and lets out an exhale as he turns to look at me.
"Easy there son, I ain't gonna bite ya." He angles up his clipboard so I can see the image on it. Looking back at me is the picture I was required to take when I applied for my new job. " I usually end up transporting the new hires to the island so I have gotten used to saying hi to them." He states with a half crooked smile on his face as the cigar twirls to match the new angle he holds it at. "The normal thing is for me to find you in your seat downstairs, but I do find it rather nice to find you here on the top deck. It gives me a chance to enjoy the fresh air."
"I like the scenery to be honest with you. Mr.?" I leave the question hanging in the air as I reach out a hand to give a firm handshake.
"Ah pardon my lack of manners, I suppose an introduction is due." He extends a hand towards my outstretched hand. With a firm well practiced shake he continues. "My name is James Lee, and I've been the captain of this particular ship for six years. I've been sailing for almost forty, and out of all the jobs I've had this is probably my favorite."
"Ah, I suppose I have you to thank for the safe travel to the island." I relax and go back to leaning on the railing. I keep my left eye focused on the older gentleman as he takes another puff of his cigar.
"You could thank me if you are so inclined, but I would consider it more the sea's doing that we got here without issue." He says with his smile turning into a more serious flat line. "I don't know if you've heard anything about these islands here' but they are notoriously referred to by the locals as the five deaths. I've seen quite harsh storms here as if the islands themselves want to be rid of the boats."
"If it is as dangerous as you say, why do you sail it regularly?" I glance at the heavily forested coast that seems to carry a slight unease. Its veiled coast manages to look more sinister than I previously thought. I manage to get a whiff of an odd smell that reminds me eerily of some of the bone servants caster summoned in the grail war. As soon as I caught it, it disappeared. Perhaps It's just a bit of my paranoia showing itself.
His face seems to shed a few years as he gives a genuine grin and says" I like the excitement, and truth be told, seldom does a sailor go their life without wanting to work in danger. Why, I used to be a naval officer In the U.S. Military, and it was quite the thrill to be under the waves in those hellish storms taking shells on the side of your ship as you get thrown around by the merciless mistress that is the Ocean. The weather here is nothing to scoff at, don't get me wrong, but I've seen far worse waters that didn't have that kind of reputation. Personally I like to think the locals just like their fishing spots."
"I see." I rub the back of my head as I try to think of how to continue our conversation. Then I'm drawn back to my picture barely visible on his clipboard.
"They have anything interesting about me in that." I say motioning to the sheets that are dancing in the breeze.
He idly glances at his occupied hand for a second as if in thought. "This is probably the most interesting sheet I've ever had the luxury of possessing." James states handing over the clipboard.
"How so?" I question as I reach for the sheets with a bit too much haste. The worry that somehow the park had gained far more documents then they should have any right holding driving my curiosity.
The first page has a bit on my position and who I am. As I go to the second page, I notice it has the name and picture of another man. James just eyes me all the while as I skim through the sheet a second time to double check why he made that particular statement.
"Was that a poor attempt at comedy?" I breathe out a sigh of relief as I give him a deadpan stare. I hold up the clipboard for him to take it back.
James casually plucks the clipboard out of my extended hand. "Those sheets are usually loaded with information. Why the fact that yours is only a singular page is quite the intriguing thing to me." He motions to the second person's credentials. "See how this one is about twenty pages long. It has a list of every little thing that this guy has done in the past thirty years of his life."
"Look at this." he flips to the third page. As he gives points to a tidbit of information. "Here it says that Mr. Leon had gone to highschool in a little town in the middle of Arkansas. They have his parents' background on this too." He says as he flips a few more pages back. "Hell it even has a tally of how many tickets they have ever gotten their whole life. This isn't even for as major of a position as what you are going to be. A worker in the gentle giants is quite different from a security guard for the park if you ask me."
"Am I in trouble?" I ask with a worried side glance. The tension in my shoulders seems to return as I ponder why my sheet is blank. I do remember sending them some documents on my education. I also remember providing a lot about my upbringing. I even provided some of my middle eastern contacts that could vouch for m-
The loud laughter that James produced jarred me from my musing. "Ha ha ha I could care less about you Shirou. They pay me to bring you workers here not to screen ya. I just find you to be quite the entertaining person. I told you before that I like the danger of the sea, and I've always been a fan of a good story. Well, you yourself carry the feeling of adventure and I'm all for a bit more life in that park."
"I doubt you would say that if you truly knew me. I've always been pretty dull in everything besides work. "I begin to try and stop any questions by saying. " I regret to inform you that I won't disclose anything I have done."
He holds up an extended hand to halt me from continuing. "To be frank with you Shirou, I don't need to know anymore. The way you acted when I brought up the information for you is telling. I know a man who's running from something when I see them. You don't get to my age without seeing at least one. I just hope that whatever past you have doesn't end up on my boat looking for you. I have a vested interest in the park staying open till the day I die and I really would like to receive my benefits and retire to a small fishing boat on the great lakes up north."
"I assure you that it won't come to that." I promise the older man. I look dead serious as I come to the realization that I had been read too easily.
"You better be careful with a guarantee like that, from where I come from a man's word is sacred." He declares with a hard stare as he takes a final puff from his nearly spent cigar then he smashes the end against the railing to put out. He secures the clipboard to his side as he directly faces me to stare me in the eyes. " I enjoyed our talk Shirou, but I have to be at the helm when this ship makes it to the docks. I wish you luck at your new job and do hope you keep your word." He then turns around to face the direction he came from when he originally appeared. He begins to walk away for a few steps then stops as if remembering something.
"If I were you I'd make it to the lower deck to get clear of this ship. The tourists are always rearing to get a look at the dinosaurs." he comments over his shoulder as he resumes his trek toward the bridge of the ship.
"Thanks for the warning." I shout loud enough for the disappearing old man to hear as I make for the stairs to the lower levels. That does remind me however of something that I noticed when I was joining the many people who were boarding the ferry this morning.
There are well over a couple thousand people on this particular ferry. It's amazing to me that so many people are interested in some old bones. I suppose I shouldn't be one to judge since I have a knack for liking old weapons, but I don't believe I've gone out of my way to do such a thing. I went to a couple of museums in my spare time, but never have I gone to the lengths of going by boat to an out of the way island for a possible new addition to my soul. Then again I've done far worse to go fight things that very well could kill me at the end of the day.
Perhaps it isn't too odd after all. At least it explains how they are able to afford that outrageous pay that I will be receiving. I was worried for a second there that I was getting tied up in some unscrupulous under the table dealings. Maybe find myself working for the Jurassic collector underground or something exciting. Truthfully I'm not sure how I feel about watching bones for the foreseeable future. Then again It's better than being turned into a pin cushion on a dissection table.
I wonder if that brick of an employee handbook had anything worth actually reading. I skimmed the first few pages and all they had was the basics of what restaurants were on sight. I wonder if that particular bit of laziness will come back to bite me. Now that I think about it, I might have made a terrible misjudgment of how serious I need to be about this job. It's not like I have a better alternative to living under the radar of the Mages Association.
It was at this moment that I made it to the front offloading ramp with my bag in tow. I do believe that this has been one of the biggest ships I've been on. It has over six total decks that are accessible to the tourists that were on it. The conditions of these decks were quite nice to explore when I initially got on this well kept ship. One wouldn't consider that to be significant, but I've had the misfortune of being on a lot more ships than I would prefer to have ever been on in my life. It always irked me as to why so many dead apostles liked to use them as a home for their experiments. I just wish the vast majority were at least seaworthy. I can't tell you how horrible it is to have to fight on a ship in the middle of the ocean as it falls apart from years of neglect. I swear you would think that someone who is so invested in doing unspeakable things would at least keep the place of their craft well kept. It's no wonder why mages hate dead apostles.
Well anyway it's nice to see a well taken care of ship. It made this trip a lot more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been.
*Page Break*
Even being at the front of the line took quite a bit of time to get offloaded from the ferry. I suppose it was to be expected.
They ended up making us load onto these large bullet train looking monorails. It was apparently going to be what transported the other guests and I to the start of the park. With the amount of people that were on the ferry we were having to be placed into groups that would one at a time be loaded onto the monorail and taken to the front gate.
I, despite being one of the first people off of the ferry, was not placed into one of the first groups. Apparently as a new hire, I was placed into the last group so the paying customers could get on with their vacations in the park. Truth be told I was just chalking it down to my horrible luck taking effect again. At least it's rearing its head for some mild inconvenience as opposed to the alternative.
In true Japanese fashion I've been trying my best to mind my own business. I haven't talked to anyone since I offloaded from the boat except for the park worker who informed me that I was in the last group. I've come to realize it's saved me from a lot of awkward conversations with people I quite frankly wouldn't have any way to carry a conversation with otherwise.
I almost decided to talk to the other employee that James showed me the file for. Since he and I are new hires we ended up in the final group together. It seemed in bad taste however since I would have to mention how I knew they were also getting hired to work in the park.
With some time to spare I decided to go ahead and try and read more of the phone book I was given. After about an hour of reading and getting to that part mentioning procedures necessary for escorting guests out of hostile environments I was informed that it was our turn to board the monorail.
I was quite surprised at how far inland the monorail took us. It seemed like a good ten minutes of straight travel that we rode in this steel box. I wish there was a view to at least stare at. I ended up counting trees, but after three hundred and forty I noticed an overturned jeep in the forest that looked like something heavy had crushed it. It looked out of place in the foliage, but I seem to be the only one who noticed. I also saw some weird looking featherless chickens scurrying around in the brush. I didn't think those were native to these islands. Perhaps I'll ask about it after I get settled in.
I was alerted to the journey being over when the announcer told us we were approaching the gates of the old park. The large pieces of metal were painted brown and with texture to look like they were made of wood. They were apparently used to give a bit of old charm to the new park. Personally, I was just impressed by the sheer size of the things. A quick glance and use of structural analysis told me they were made of steel and weighed a lot more than anything reasonable. They also were over twenty years old. The park guide said they were used to keep some of the old dinosaurs in check. You would think for a joke like that they wouldn't go all out and make something actually able to stop some phantasmal beasts in their tracks. Talk about overkill. Even with maximum reinforcement I doubt even I could get them to move.
It makes sense to me that a park would go under if they spared no expenses on a steel gate that was likely used as only a decoration. I thought jokingly to myself as I stared at them impassively.
It made me kind of curious as to the actual reason why the old park had to shut down. I wonder if they had trouble getting people to come see the bones.
The monorail began to slow as we got directly in front of the large imposing obstructions to our entry into the park.
The tour guide at the front, who was way too peppy in my opinion, finished up her performance with one final remark as the gates opened.
"Welcome to Jurassic World"