You snapped your eyes open to see Wilhelm, looking worried.
So the whale got me....
"Mister Y/n? Are you alright?" Wilhelm asked. You nodded, smiling. This was... perfect.
"Yes, I'm doing great, in fact. Let's end our training early today, shall we?" You asked. Wilhelm nodded, taking care of his sword.
"Of course. What's got you in such a happy mood today?" He asked. You shrugged.
"No reason. Would you like me to heat you up some tea?" You asked, gesturing to the tray Wilhelm had, with a teapot, some cups, etc. he nodded, holding up the teapot.
"Please do." He requested. You used Fall Out Boy to do that as you sat down, thinking.
The whale... you had heard stories. It tortured humanity for generations, and was impossible to track. When you knew it was there, it was too late. But you... you had knowledge of where it would be next. You could get a force together, to kill this thing, and maybe for the information that leads to killing it, you could get help for the domain, for Ram. And even if it didn't work, you could just try again, get an even bigger army to fight it, to help you.
You were ecstatic as Wilhelm handed you some tea. You almost let a tear slip as you looked at Wilhelm.
"Wilhelm?" You spoke, smiling. Wilhelm looked at you.
"Yes, Mister Y/n?" He asked. You put down the cup.
"I...have some information that might come to use, but I wish to trade for it, so I wanted to tell you the basic deal before I talk to Crusch~Sama about it." You explained. Wilhelm hummed.
"Well, That depends. What do you want to trade?" He asked.
"I want help with a threat that will come to Emilia's domain in a few days, that will attack it soon." Your face grew dim as you recalled what you saw.
"I want help from as many people as I can get, in exchange for information." You grew serious, sipping some tea. Wilhelm tilted his head.
"What information, sir?" He asked. You flashed back. You had passed the giant tree, that your first map had told you to avoid before you ran into the whale. That was something you remembered. You also remembered when you saw the time on Subaru's phone. 3:13. Round that down, and...
"I know when and where the White Whale will appear next." You stated. Something shattered, and you looked over to see that Wilhelm had dropped his teacup.
"Pardon?" He asked, surprise evident in his eyes. You narrowed your eyes.
"Did I stutter?"
Crusch sat in front of you, as Wilhelm whispered the information you had given him into her ear. You watched in satisfaction as her face morphed into one of surprise. Subaru hadn't come back yet, and you were starting to get worried about him.
"So, you're telling me, that you have information on the White Whale's next appearance?" Crusch asked, not letting the news affect her posture or tone. You nodded.
"And I have knowledge about an incoming attack on the domain Emilia~Sama protects. That is why I'm coming to you." You told her. She rubbed her chin in thought.
"On the one hand, simply helping repel an attack-"
"I don't want you to help repel the attack." You interrupted.
"I want you to help prevent it from ever happening. I want the residents that will be attacked evacuated." You stated. Crusch hummed, starting you in the eye.
"Helping evacuate is much more than just fighting, but it can be done. However, I believe that is worth some more than what you offer me." She stated.
"You are Emilia~Sama's secondary assistant, Y/n. Surely, you can increase on that?" Crusch asked. You sighed, thinking back on something, anything. You refused to even consider the arrows. The less Stand Users here, the better.
But did Emilia have something? Or her land? She did have crystals, like the ones used to make the barrier against the Wolgarms...
"I will promise you mining rights." You offered, leaning forward. Crusch thought over it. She glanced at Felix, who shrugged.
"Y/n~Kyun's deal seems good to me." He stated. Crusch sighed.
"Very well. We will accept your offer, Y/n. Now, the whale?" She asked.
"In two days, at Flugel's Tree, 3 and a half hours before sunrise." You recited, slipping a piece of paper with the same stuff written on it to Crusch. She nodded, turning to Felix.
"Felis, if you would." She started. Felix nodded, walking towards the door.
"Felis will gather our forces for the battle. We do expect some of the other candidates to join in the battle, but we will give them the same choice you gave us: If you fight the whale, you also help Emilia, you understand?" Crusch asked. You nodded.
"Got it." You stated, turning around to leave.
"Oh, and Y/n?" Crusch asked. You didn't turn around as she continued.
"If this tip turns out to be false...." She left the threat unfinished as you walked out of the door.
As you walked out into the lawn again, you saw Subaru and Rem walking into the manor. They were late.
"Hey guys!" You yelled out, getting their attention. Subaru looked at you. He seemed serious as he walked over to you.
"Y/n...." Subaru started. You put a hand on his shoulder, smiling.
"Yes, Subaru?" You asked. He swallowed.
"I...." he paused.
"When you went to fight the whale, with Rem, I didn't die, but you.... you must've, because...." Subaru groaned.
"Its hard to explain. I just have a plan. Can I pass it by you?" He asked. You shook your head.
"I already made a trade with Crusch. She's gathering a force to fight the White Whale in a few days time." You told him. He paused, swallowing nervously.
"I see. Well, we better get ready, then." He stated. You smirked, flicking Subaru on the forehead.
"You don't have to yet. This started a few minutes ago." You said, walking away.
The next day, more and more people started to arrive. You recognized the uniforms of the people who stood by Anastasia, to your surprise, but other than that, you weren't sure who else had joined. There were countless knights, a few demihumans, some children who Subaru described as Anastasia's top knights, to your surprise.
The next day soon came, the day the force would head out. You were personally getting ready, by bringing what few personal belongings you felt to be the most important, that being the arrows. Some day, you would find a way to become worthy with the arrow, and power up, but that would be another day. Subaru had his cell phone, with an alarm set to 3 in the morning, when the whale would arrive. As of now, you and Subaru were choosing ground dragons to ride on. Subaru would ride with Rem, and you alone.
You looked along the row of ground dragons, as Subaru chose a black dragon. It looked nice, you likely would've tried choosing it, but your eyes landed on a red ground dragon. It was slender, compared to the other dragons, and its eyes held a certain intelligence that you missed in the other ones. It shook its head as you approached it. When you reached it, you held out a hand for it to sniff. The dragon slowly sniffed your hand, taking in the scent, before bowing its head. You scratched it behind the ears, petting it. It's leg started to violently hit the ground over and over when you scratched along it's spine, kicking up dust. Seems it had an involuntary reflex.
"I'll take this one, please." You spoke up, ending the scratching session.
"Ferris?" One of the butlers asked you, probably referring to the dragon.
"If that's their name." You responded, scratching the dragon again. The butler nodded, guiding the dragon away, probably for you to ride when the force moved out.
A few hours passed, and the entirety of the fighting force stood in one room. It was a respectable group of soldiers, not quite an army, but definitely really close. You watched Subaru and Rem converse with this one really tall wolf guy, before Subaru pointed him towards you. You watched as he started to walk towards you.
"So, I hear you're the guy behind this all, right?" He asked you nodded.
"That's me." You told him. He smiled, looking at you.
"Say, aren't you that Crusader guy who kicked Julius' ass the other day?" He asked. You sighed.
"I am a crusader, if that's what what you mean, and I wouldn't call it 'kicking his ass.' It was a friendly duel." You told him. He chuckled.
"Sure it was. Anyways, I just wanted to take a look at the guy who got all this started. I'm Ricardo, head of Anastasia's Mercenary Team!" He introduced, using his thumb to point to himself. You nodded, holding out a hand. When Ricardo grabbed it to shake, you summoned Fall Out Boy, strengthening your grip to give a better shake. Ricardo seemed to like that as he nodded towards you, walking off.
Looking around, Subaru was speaking with several other people, notably an armored up Crusch, with whom you overheard words of Subaru and You attracting mabeasts. Seems he was sharing the fact that you two were really high up on the creatures list of things to kill. You smirked, rolled your eyes, and was about to walk away when the doors opened. Several older men, some even balding, entered the room, approaching Crusch. When they reached her, they stopped, placing their right fist to their hearts in salute.
"We have arrived, Crusch~Sama." The lead one spoke, respect evident in his tone. He turned his head to glance at Subaru.
"Is he-" he started to ask, before Crusch shook her head, as you walked to the group. Crusch nodded towards you, bringing the men's attention to you.
"He is." She stated. The man smiled as you approached him. When you got close enough, he placed his hands on your shoulders.
"Thank you, young man." He said. You could almost feel the emotion in his voice as he continued.
"Thanks to you, our dream may just come true. We could not be happier. Thank you." He spoke, giving you another pat on the shoulder. You let out a smile, sighing.
"I have my own reasons for doing this, that will probably seem selfish, given the light of the situation. Either way, your thanks are not necessary." Fall Out Boy's hand appeared, giving the man an invisible pat on the shoulder.
"We will all be fighting for our own reasons. Lost relatives, killed friends, whatever. It doesn't matter, as long as we're fighting." You stated. You both have each other one last pat on the shoulder before letting go of each other. The man bowed to Crusch, before they all walked past.
"It seems all of them have a history with the White Whale." Crusch stated. You looked at her, thinking back to Wilhelm's reaction when you told him about your knowledge of the whale.
"Like Wilhelm?" You asked.
"Yes, many of them were knights who retired from the front line. They have joined our subjugation force at Wilhelm's invitation. Their morale and resolve is comparable to those of the capital's active knights." She stated, as you watched the group interact with the said Butler. Felix walked up to Crusch, his knight garb equipped.
"Crusch~Sama, its time." He stated, with a small bow. Crusch exhaled, closing her eyes.
"Right."
The room, previously a meeting grounds, where casual chatter filled the air, was now silent, all the knights standing in rows in front of Crusch, who held her sheathed sword.
"Four hundred years." She spoke, her voice echoing across the room.
"Since the White Whale, created by the Jealous Witch, made the world its hunting ground, trampling the weak and dominating the land as if it were its owner, four hundred years have passed." You shifted your balance from your left foot to your right as she gazed over the crowd. You noticed some of the older men start to shake, likely from memories of people killed by the Whale.
"Countless lives have been lost in that time. Given the fogs unscrupulous nature, as well, the number of graves we cannot even inscribe with names will only rise. You turned your gaze down, only to see that someone was clenching their fist so hard, their nails pierced their skin, and blood dropped from their fist.
"But those days of sitting idle end today! Today, those of us here will end it! We shall strike down the White Whale, and stop further tragedy!" You noticed some of the men shed tears, and to be honest, you felt sympathy for them. They were going to face the creature that killed so many people, along with their close ones.
"We shall give the sorrow, which fell short of true sorrow, a chance to shed overdue tears!" Crusch lifted her sword, striking the sheath against the ground.
"We move out!" She declared.
"Our destination is Flügel's Tree, on the Lifaus Highway. Tonight, we shall slay the White Whale with our own hands!" Crusch unsheathes her sword, pointing it forward, as the crowd of knights cheered, you along with them.
The thunderous sound of ruins dragons running filled the air as you rode Ferris, running in front of Subaru and Rem. People seemed really eager to chat with you two.
"I'm Mimi! It's nice to meet you!" A small girl with cat ears shouted, riding a large wolf to your right. Just behind her was another person, probably a twin brother.
"My name's Hetaro, Nice to meet you." He stated as you gave them a wave. You didn't really doubt it, but it was still a surprise that Mimi was second in command for Anastasia. You looked ahead, to the endless expanse of plains.
"That's a nice ground dragon ya got there." A familiar voice stated, as Ricardo rose up next to you, on another wolf, this one much larger. You shrugged.
"I borrowed Ferris because she seemed to like me. However, I've seen whatever you're riding." You stated, nodding towards the wolf Ricardo rode on.
"They're called rigers, But ya don't see 'me too often in these parts. They ain't as strong as ground dragons, but they're much more agile. If it comes to a brawl against the Whale, that's where they really shine, so watch close." He advised. You nodded, looking back. They had rigers pulling cargo, even if they weren't as strong, but you weren't going to question it.
Ricardo rode ahead, making similar conversation to the other soldiers. Seems he's trying to ease their nerves. You let go of Ferris with your left hand to reach into your pocket, drawing out your phone. You hadn't touched it since you arrived here, but you had set an alarm on it for 3:00, when the whale would most likely arrive.
You looked ahead, to the massive tree that was growing in the distance. There, you would soon stop.
You put your phone away, reaching into your other pocket, pulling out a bundle of cloth. Unwrapping it, you stared at the arrowhead within, gleaming gold. You wrapped it back up, placing it back in your pocket. If you didn't use it during the fight, you weren't sure when it would find you worthy, if ever.
Campfires lit up the night as the soldiers made camp. You had no need of the fires for warmth or light. Fall Out Boy gave you both.
"So, this is where the White Whale will arrive, huh?" You spoke aloud, turning on your phone. 12:19. You had 3 hours to be prepared. You closed the device, putting it away as you got off Ferris, letting her before walking towards the camps. You had to avoid using excessive energy before eating some food. Doing so would set your body to depend on the energy from your body, rather than radiation for your stand. If you are first, energy consumption would stay as 'heat for powers, food for moving.'
You looked around, quickly spotting Subaru by the trunk of the tree, speaking with Rem. Your thoughts flashed to Ram, and you felt a twinge of jealousy.
Subaru never had to try to find conversation, he could just walk up to somebody and say something stupid, almost like people were drawn towards him. You, on the other hand, were alone most of your life. Your father worked for the SWF, so he understood you, and you could always be close to him, even when you feared you couldn't control your stand. You swallowed, biting your cheek at the memories.
People never really bonded with you. No matter how hard you tried, you were mostly unnoticeable, as much as the stand you had. The fact that your father even spoke to you, let alone still loved you, was a surprise, considering the fate your mother had suffered, so long ago.
You were about 7 years old at the time, with a freshly developing stand. Fall Out Boy had aged with you, so it was about your height, with small clothes to match. That aside, your mother was cooking dinner on a grill at a friend's home for a family reunion, making barbecue ribs. You had been trying to train your stand, having it move around, bring you objects, and so on. After a while of this, you had stopped, deciding to play with some cousins, who wanted to play with water guns. For some fun, you decided to have Fall Out Boy follow your movements, aiming finger guns at the things you shot. While this was mostly innocent, you had no idea that when you tried to bring your mother into the fun, you would fire off your first Phoenix Strike, hitting the propane tank attached to the grill....
You shook your head, not letting the memory take over. Only you knew about the cause of that explosion, and you hated yourself for it. Since then, people just seemed to ignore you, acting like you didn't exist. But now, as you looked up to the sky, in this strange world you didn't even know the location of, you would make yourself known. With or without a stand, you were Y/n L/n, and you would take on the whale by yourself if needed, to let the world know you existed.
One hour, two hours, two and a half hours, and you were on Ferris, by Crusch as the soldiers took formation. You swallowed nervously, gripping the reins of the dragon. Your part in this was the same as Subaru: Distraction. The whale would naturally be attracted to you two, so you would take turns leading it around as the others attacked it. However, when Subaru would distract it, you would attack, firing Phoenix Strikes at it until it drew its attention towards you again.
The tension in the air was thick enough to spread on bread, as everyone awaited the noise, signaling the arrival of the beast.
A retro ringtone echoed out, louder than it seemed due to the silence.
"Troops! Be on guard!" Crusch shouted, as you looked at your phone, then up.
The eerie ringing seemed to reach across the plains, setting dread into your heart as people looked everywhere. You looked up, at the tree, to see a massive shadow passing over it.
Fear sank into your greater as you turned your eyes to the moon. In front of it, creating a massive black silhouette, was the very same mabeast that last killed you.
The Great White Whale
As the troops watched in awe and fright, the massive mabeast dipped, flying straight over the battalion. Crusch raised her sword.
"Troops-" Subaru interrupted her.
"Let 'em have it!" He shouted, as Rem spurred the ground dragon into action, sending icicles into the whale with a shout of al huma! You were right behind them, raising your fist.
"Phoenix Strike!" You shouted. Energy gathered in your fist, firing as a laser at the Whale. The icicles sprayed blood all over the ground, and your strike scorched a line into the hairs on the whale. With your initial damage done, you veered left, and Subaru/Rem right. Crusch smiled, watching you two go.
"Troops! Follow those fools!" She shouted with a smile on her face, as the charge began.
As Ferris sprinted, you felt the gaze of the whale fall on you.
Alright, bastard. You thought, picking up speed.
Take two. Let's do this.
~ASnazzyGuy
~3466 Words