03-30-2015, 01:55 AM
A bright sun hung overhead, birds sung toward the heavens, and wind seared into a pair of foreboding eyes. Suddenly the Prime's darkened demeanor turned on a dime and his shoulders lightened an invisible load and outstretched into the world before him. To Gildarts, at least, this was a tangible place that he could understand and face head on, not to mention the morning weather seemed favorable.
His eyes narrowed into a distinguished squint against the sunlight as vehement winds crackled and rippled against a green emblazoned flag with an azure herald on it. "North.." Gildarts took a single step toward one of the docked ships in the harbor, "Does the wind usually blow north?" In all his seasons, he had never before witnessed an ocean breeze that cast so sharply toward the sea that it actually thrashed into the crest of each rounding wave.
The Prime had directed his question at a burly old man with a wooden pipe between his lips and eyepatch over his left eye, flipped up. The seasoned captain hobbled closer to the rails and shouted from his perch on his ship's creaky wooden deck, "Oh, looky here! A newcomer!" the captain deducted from the Prime's anachronistic attire. "Bright one too," the seaman chuckled to himself before explaining, "Nay, but yer' right about the winds, we’re fixin' fer a real storm as of late. Some o’ the fishermen say it'll even a last few weeks! Poor souls." As the distracted captain's gaze fell on the pale horizon, he began to dwell on how the town’s fishermen would have neither food nor work until the storm had passed.
The Prime listened with a squared stance and watched as the shipman coiled a long rope around his forearm and explained the news of a hurricane. "Is there any way I can get to Tenrou Island before the storm?" Gildarts heard his own voice cut against the gales of warring wind.
The captain’s attention was immediately caught on an invisible fish line and the worn rope had ceased its weave in his calloused palms, "Ehh? There are plenty of islands scatter’d out there, but I don' know any by that name.. Though there are many small ones that are unnamed."
"It's urgent." Gildarts stated as his amber eyes glowed with a dragon’s ferocious intensity, "It's out there, it has to be. Do you know of anyone who would be willing to take me?"
The captain remained quiet as he pondered the matter with an active deliberation that could be felt in the gearing air around his gaze. He weighed in his mind the uneven balance between the rewarding pros and consequential cons. Then, a wide grin overtook his cheeks and revealed a toothy smile that emphasized his darkened gums. His course voice bartered, "That depends, on the price you are willing to pay."
The immortal's voice deepened with unwavering determination, "Anything.. I have a promise to keep."
...
"Let me round up me crew and we can sail off in abou' an hour. By th' way, I'm Captain Barbarossa." the seaman's words rang through the Prime's mind as he trailed the town’s roadways.
Nothing about the captain seemed too strange, other than that he too had called Gildarts a “Prime” but then again, so had that Omni guy.
The quaint settlement of Costa del Sol had painted itself along the island's shoreline. Clouds, gusts, and songbirds fluttered through the sky weaving a choirlike tune into the air. It was beautifully crafted for a town of its size and appeared to be a work of art, at every corner there were carefully sculpted buildings that framed themselves into the skyline. Even the cobblestone streets glittered in the sun as the light strumming of footsteps on the trodden road submerged his singular pace into the rhythmic chime that became music in the bustling street.
"Hello," Gildarts confidently approached an attractive woman who seemed to be tending to some flowers, "Would you mind telling me about this place?"
The woman spun around quickly in an aggressive recoil to his inclination. Then, after laying her frenzied eyes on the dark figure she settled by sizing him up. The woman took in his casual stance, lack of aggression, and the distant expression on his face. Together, both his demeanor and the sight of an unrecognized stranger seemed to quell her anger. Oh? A Prime.. And a good-looking one at that..
The woman took the time to fix a stray hair and to pat straight the folds in her dress before responding, "Welcome to the Vastly Deep," her voice conducted and filled with a graceful feminine allure as she began to explain the area. A person on a red bicycle slid to a stop, interrupting her sentence but she greeted him with a smile. The young boy chimed his bell as he waved to her.
"The usual?" the woman asked to the boy, whom had a distinguished newspaper sack in his basket.
The dark haired boy nodded and slowly his head turned to look at the cloaked stranger; the child's smile evaporated into a single look of distinct hostility. Gildarts turned his head to look down at the youth with a sparkling curiosity while he remained completely oblivious to the youth's aggression, he was even about to smile with a friendly hello, but suddenly the boy tensed and averted his eyes from Gildarts. The kid hastily grabbed the bouquet of flowers and dropped some coins in the woman's hand. "Thanks Martha!" he said with an overly excited voice as he sped off down the cobblestone hill.
Gildarts looked back at the woman who continued, "You'll have to excuse him, the visitors we do get here like to cause trouble. His mother makes sure he doesn't get into any, especially these days."
"What sort of visitors do you mean?" Gildarts asked after a pause, her response might explain her previous behavior when she had first saw him. She had almost acted like she was being hunted and this was not the effect he usually had on women.
"Well, with the Empire's strained grasp over this outpost, it isn't a surprise that if any pirates stop to port here, trouble comes. He probably thought you were a pirate but I think he could tell you weren't going to loot this town. You would have brought pistols and reinforcements."
Gildarts filtered in the knowledge with an open ear and a cocked gaze, "This.. Empire, do they have a council of sorts?"
"Hah, some might say that they are the council. But, still.. Their laws do rule most of the land." The woman paused to look off at the sea with a longing gaze, "That's why people go out there, that's where true freedom is. Where nothing but the wind can have any power over who you are or where you are going. Yes... The open sea, sure there are monsters but who wouldn't take a few of them for an endless adventure? Oh I'm sorry, was I rambling again..? Anyway people become pirates too and retaliate against the Empire. But most don't, because they understand the cost and who the real casualties are when they do that. Plus, they get sent to Impel Down. And no one escapes when they go there."
Some other customers came in to buy a few items and occupied Martha's time. Gildarts glanced around and noted the sign that hung above the door. He didn't mind idling, especially when he already was biding his time on that captain and his crewmen.
Gildarts frequently found that the locals had the best information when he was on his quests for the Fairy Tail. Not to mention Martha seemed rather worldly... Plus he wouldn’t deny that her balletic feminine physique and layers of curling hair were just as beautiful as any bouquet in her shop.
Suddenly the presence of a few white armored fellows with identical black strips on their helmets stormed the store.
Gildarts had been waiting on the sunlit patio as a butterfly landed and perched itself on his silver shoulder which the cape disguised rather inconspicuously. Still, as seconds protracted into prolonged minutes, he felt himself wallowing in the time that he wasn’t able to stand at his friends’ sides to protect them from that monster. The butterfly’s wings continued to flex up and down as he glanced through the window into the shop. The storm troopers had thrown a vase and with the stirred steps of a skirmish a table fell loudly into the floor and a splatter of flowers splashed into the immaculate glass window.
Martha pleaded with desperation, "Don't! I just need more time! My husband recently died, I've had to run the shop on my own and take meals to-"
The white faced authority silenced her, "We don't want to hear it. Your dues are up and need to be paid."
"And they can't be paid in flower petals," yet another said in a moment of unrestrained laughter as he ripped a rose to shreds.
"However.. You can choose to pay in other ways..." the last inclined as he reached for her.
Suddenly Gildarts stood between the two and the aggressive storm trooper unexpectedly felt a steel appendage instead of what he expected to be smooth skin. Gildarts couldn't help the menacing gaze he released, it had no filter and crackled with anger. His eyes fell on Martha's once very quaint flower shop and how it had now been thrashed to bits without mercy. Broken vases scattered the floor as well as flowers and stems strewn everywhere.
"These men bothering you Martha?" Gildarts said as though the soldiers had no right to speak to defend themselves. The flustered Martha was speechless and simply glared at the men who had begun to chatter and taint the air with excuses.
Martha noticed that Gildarts was vigilant, in fact he seemed to seethe with a code of chivalry and was ready to drag the Empirical soldiers outside and show them how not to treat a lady. “Don’t!” her flustered voice said to the Prime who was still a newcomer in these parts, “These are soldiers of the Empire. Retaliation against them ensures that anyone you know could be hunted and imprisoned just for their association with you. Not to mention..” her voice trailed off as she thought of the fate of her late husband.
Gildarts sighed in an abbreviated disappointment, greasing these cowards’ palms was not how he dealt with any of his foes but he was now on the other side of the “world” and couldn’t have a negative association with the guild tarnish Fairy Tail's honor. "How much does she owe?" The wizard's voice conducted the room with more power than lightning.
"Oh it's really no problem, we'll come back later," the soldier said dismissively.
"No." he declared sternly as his low voice wordlessly threatened the three men. The Prime’s eyes wouldn’t bend away from them in that moment if his irises caught fire.
The next trooper helplessly offered, "Surely it's none of your concern.."
"Will this be enough?" Gildarts dropped a heavy cloth bag, brimming full of coins onto the glass surface next to some daffodil stems.
One hesitated before nodding, "Yes, but-"
With a growl, Gildarts announced, "Take it. Go, and do not return."
Their filthy gloves picked up the heavy sack of currency. Quickly, they departed the shop and escaped out the glass door that sang with a chime and clattered to a rickety close.
"Thank you, but you didn't have to.." her voice floundered for words.
"Come now, I can't let anything happen to the Jewel of the Sea while I'm away."
Martha brought her shaking hand up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear as he revealed he had noticed something so simple as the name of her flower shop. This petty yet detailed reassurance showed her that there were still some good people in the world. Somehow it gave her enough strength and in his offered smile she was able to have a little hope.
...
[spoiler]As the storm troopers exited the flower shop, the slime untied the brown twine. Their greedy mercenary fingers dipped into the cloth bag, "I don’t think anyone will mind mind if we pocket a finder's fee," one said and examined a strange looking coin.
"Huh, what's this?"
"This can't be money?" Another interjected.
"Where's the Empire's logo?" the last affirmed, as they looked at the square hole inside of a circular coin.
"Ah who cares? It's still well worth its weight in gold.” he said. The trio were perhaps too afraid to go back inside and confront the Prime, so instead the storm troopers disappeared into the bustling traffic of Costa Del Sol.[/spoiler]
His eyes narrowed into a distinguished squint against the sunlight as vehement winds crackled and rippled against a green emblazoned flag with an azure herald on it. "North.." Gildarts took a single step toward one of the docked ships in the harbor, "Does the wind usually blow north?" In all his seasons, he had never before witnessed an ocean breeze that cast so sharply toward the sea that it actually thrashed into the crest of each rounding wave.
The Prime had directed his question at a burly old man with a wooden pipe between his lips and eyepatch over his left eye, flipped up. The seasoned captain hobbled closer to the rails and shouted from his perch on his ship's creaky wooden deck, "Oh, looky here! A newcomer!" the captain deducted from the Prime's anachronistic attire. "Bright one too," the seaman chuckled to himself before explaining, "Nay, but yer' right about the winds, we’re fixin' fer a real storm as of late. Some o’ the fishermen say it'll even a last few weeks! Poor souls." As the distracted captain's gaze fell on the pale horizon, he began to dwell on how the town’s fishermen would have neither food nor work until the storm had passed.
The Prime listened with a squared stance and watched as the shipman coiled a long rope around his forearm and explained the news of a hurricane. "Is there any way I can get to Tenrou Island before the storm?" Gildarts heard his own voice cut against the gales of warring wind.
The captain’s attention was immediately caught on an invisible fish line and the worn rope had ceased its weave in his calloused palms, "Ehh? There are plenty of islands scatter’d out there, but I don' know any by that name.. Though there are many small ones that are unnamed."
"It's urgent." Gildarts stated as his amber eyes glowed with a dragon’s ferocious intensity, "It's out there, it has to be. Do you know of anyone who would be willing to take me?"
The captain remained quiet as he pondered the matter with an active deliberation that could be felt in the gearing air around his gaze. He weighed in his mind the uneven balance between the rewarding pros and consequential cons. Then, a wide grin overtook his cheeks and revealed a toothy smile that emphasized his darkened gums. His course voice bartered, "That depends, on the price you are willing to pay."
The immortal's voice deepened with unwavering determination, "Anything.. I have a promise to keep."
...
"Let me round up me crew and we can sail off in abou' an hour. By th' way, I'm Captain Barbarossa." the seaman's words rang through the Prime's mind as he trailed the town’s roadways.
Nothing about the captain seemed too strange, other than that he too had called Gildarts a “Prime” but then again, so had that Omni guy.
The quaint settlement of Costa del Sol had painted itself along the island's shoreline. Clouds, gusts, and songbirds fluttered through the sky weaving a choirlike tune into the air. It was beautifully crafted for a town of its size and appeared to be a work of art, at every corner there were carefully sculpted buildings that framed themselves into the skyline. Even the cobblestone streets glittered in the sun as the light strumming of footsteps on the trodden road submerged his singular pace into the rhythmic chime that became music in the bustling street.
"Hello," Gildarts confidently approached an attractive woman who seemed to be tending to some flowers, "Would you mind telling me about this place?"
The woman spun around quickly in an aggressive recoil to his inclination. Then, after laying her frenzied eyes on the dark figure she settled by sizing him up. The woman took in his casual stance, lack of aggression, and the distant expression on his face. Together, both his demeanor and the sight of an unrecognized stranger seemed to quell her anger. Oh? A Prime.. And a good-looking one at that..
The woman took the time to fix a stray hair and to pat straight the folds in her dress before responding, "Welcome to the Vastly Deep," her voice conducted and filled with a graceful feminine allure as she began to explain the area. A person on a red bicycle slid to a stop, interrupting her sentence but she greeted him with a smile. The young boy chimed his bell as he waved to her.
"The usual?" the woman asked to the boy, whom had a distinguished newspaper sack in his basket.
The dark haired boy nodded and slowly his head turned to look at the cloaked stranger; the child's smile evaporated into a single look of distinct hostility. Gildarts turned his head to look down at the youth with a sparkling curiosity while he remained completely oblivious to the youth's aggression, he was even about to smile with a friendly hello, but suddenly the boy tensed and averted his eyes from Gildarts. The kid hastily grabbed the bouquet of flowers and dropped some coins in the woman's hand. "Thanks Martha!" he said with an overly excited voice as he sped off down the cobblestone hill.
Gildarts looked back at the woman who continued, "You'll have to excuse him, the visitors we do get here like to cause trouble. His mother makes sure he doesn't get into any, especially these days."
"What sort of visitors do you mean?" Gildarts asked after a pause, her response might explain her previous behavior when she had first saw him. She had almost acted like she was being hunted and this was not the effect he usually had on women.
"Well, with the Empire's strained grasp over this outpost, it isn't a surprise that if any pirates stop to port here, trouble comes. He probably thought you were a pirate but I think he could tell you weren't going to loot this town. You would have brought pistols and reinforcements."
Gildarts filtered in the knowledge with an open ear and a cocked gaze, "This.. Empire, do they have a council of sorts?"
"Hah, some might say that they are the council. But, still.. Their laws do rule most of the land." The woman paused to look off at the sea with a longing gaze, "That's why people go out there, that's where true freedom is. Where nothing but the wind can have any power over who you are or where you are going. Yes... The open sea, sure there are monsters but who wouldn't take a few of them for an endless adventure? Oh I'm sorry, was I rambling again..? Anyway people become pirates too and retaliate against the Empire. But most don't, because they understand the cost and who the real casualties are when they do that. Plus, they get sent to Impel Down. And no one escapes when they go there."
Some other customers came in to buy a few items and occupied Martha's time. Gildarts glanced around and noted the sign that hung above the door. He didn't mind idling, especially when he already was biding his time on that captain and his crewmen.
Gildarts frequently found that the locals had the best information when he was on his quests for the Fairy Tail. Not to mention Martha seemed rather worldly... Plus he wouldn’t deny that her balletic feminine physique and layers of curling hair were just as beautiful as any bouquet in her shop.
Suddenly the presence of a few white armored fellows with identical black strips on their helmets stormed the store.
Gildarts had been waiting on the sunlit patio as a butterfly landed and perched itself on his silver shoulder which the cape disguised rather inconspicuously. Still, as seconds protracted into prolonged minutes, he felt himself wallowing in the time that he wasn’t able to stand at his friends’ sides to protect them from that monster. The butterfly’s wings continued to flex up and down as he glanced through the window into the shop. The storm troopers had thrown a vase and with the stirred steps of a skirmish a table fell loudly into the floor and a splatter of flowers splashed into the immaculate glass window.
Martha pleaded with desperation, "Don't! I just need more time! My husband recently died, I've had to run the shop on my own and take meals to-"
The white faced authority silenced her, "We don't want to hear it. Your dues are up and need to be paid."
"And they can't be paid in flower petals," yet another said in a moment of unrestrained laughter as he ripped a rose to shreds.
"However.. You can choose to pay in other ways..." the last inclined as he reached for her.
Suddenly Gildarts stood between the two and the aggressive storm trooper unexpectedly felt a steel appendage instead of what he expected to be smooth skin. Gildarts couldn't help the menacing gaze he released, it had no filter and crackled with anger. His eyes fell on Martha's once very quaint flower shop and how it had now been thrashed to bits without mercy. Broken vases scattered the floor as well as flowers and stems strewn everywhere.
"These men bothering you Martha?" Gildarts said as though the soldiers had no right to speak to defend themselves. The flustered Martha was speechless and simply glared at the men who had begun to chatter and taint the air with excuses.
Martha noticed that Gildarts was vigilant, in fact he seemed to seethe with a code of chivalry and was ready to drag the Empirical soldiers outside and show them how not to treat a lady. “Don’t!” her flustered voice said to the Prime who was still a newcomer in these parts, “These are soldiers of the Empire. Retaliation against them ensures that anyone you know could be hunted and imprisoned just for their association with you. Not to mention..” her voice trailed off as she thought of the fate of her late husband.
Gildarts sighed in an abbreviated disappointment, greasing these cowards’ palms was not how he dealt with any of his foes but he was now on the other side of the “world” and couldn’t have a negative association with the guild tarnish Fairy Tail's honor. "How much does she owe?" The wizard's voice conducted the room with more power than lightning.
"Oh it's really no problem, we'll come back later," the soldier said dismissively.
"No." he declared sternly as his low voice wordlessly threatened the three men. The Prime’s eyes wouldn’t bend away from them in that moment if his irises caught fire.
The next trooper helplessly offered, "Surely it's none of your concern.."
"Will this be enough?" Gildarts dropped a heavy cloth bag, brimming full of coins onto the glass surface next to some daffodil stems.
One hesitated before nodding, "Yes, but-"
With a growl, Gildarts announced, "Take it. Go, and do not return."
Their filthy gloves picked up the heavy sack of currency. Quickly, they departed the shop and escaped out the glass door that sang with a chime and clattered to a rickety close.
"Thank you, but you didn't have to.." her voice floundered for words.
"Come now, I can't let anything happen to the Jewel of the Sea while I'm away."
Martha brought her shaking hand up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear as he revealed he had noticed something so simple as the name of her flower shop. This petty yet detailed reassurance showed her that there were still some good people in the world. Somehow it gave her enough strength and in his offered smile she was able to have a little hope.
...
[spoiler]As the storm troopers exited the flower shop, the slime untied the brown twine. Their greedy mercenary fingers dipped into the cloth bag, "I don’t think anyone will mind mind if we pocket a finder's fee," one said and examined a strange looking coin.
"Huh, what's this?"
"This can't be money?" Another interjected.
"Where's the Empire's logo?" the last affirmed, as they looked at the square hole inside of a circular coin.
"Ah who cares? It's still well worth its weight in gold.” he said. The trio were perhaps too afraid to go back inside and confront the Prime, so instead the storm troopers disappeared into the bustling traffic of Costa Del Sol.[/spoiler]
![[Image: -Gildarts-fairy-tail-35651033-300-180.gif]](http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/35600000/-Gildarts-fairy-tail-35651033-300-180.gif)
"I have never met a strong person with an easy past." -Atticus