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Parallels

Captain Lannery Storm had gotten pretty good at sneaking around.

She had shown early promise in it when she was a kid, when she first started helping on the ships. Unlike her grandmother and her cousin, she wanted to move as a child. It was on a rocking ship that she had learned to move only when things creaked or slid. It had never been truly necessary on her ship; the open ocean didn’t often care for stealth and ninjas.

Now that she was staying in Towashi and training with the Dokuchi Reckoners to deal with Sophrosyne, Storm found herself building on that initial training. She started to mimic how Tony, Zenkuro, and Kaizen all moved because her footsteps being the only noise among theirs was unsettling. Staying in the orphanage meant that she got plenty of practice in.

This was helpful today, since she was retrieving her half-brother, the Torrezone vampire known as Captain Marciano Guerra, from Imperial customs at the docks in the northern part of Towashi. With the permission of Bearclaw, the Okiba second-in-command, Storm was moving through Okiba turf rather than trying to deal with the Hyozans. This also meant that she had to stick to the twisting and narrow alleyways instead of the streets because of the Okiba hoverbikes and the Imperial enforcers chasing after them.

The Imperial enforcers were a faction in Towashi that made the hair on the back of Storm’s neck stand up. She had heard the hushed whispers among the Dokuchi Reckoners and the furious ranting of Boss Koda Hayashi about what the Imperial enforcers could do to anyone they wanted. It seemed like no matter what consequences came down on the enforcers as laws slowly (too slowly, in both Storm and Hayashi’s opinions) changed to protect people, there was still rampant abuse among the enforcers. Despite the fact that they existed to uphold the laws of Kamigawa...they didn’t. And the noble clans of Kamigawa – the ones that had been allied with the old Clan Hayashi – were corrupt enough that most enforcers never experienced consequences for it.

Storm paused by a market stall in the street and spoke to the owner running it. She had gotten pretty damn fluent in spoken Kamigawan, even though the written forms still eluded her. After handing over some kinsen – transluscent banknotes, so different from the coins she was used to – for a dango, she disappeared back into an alleyway to eat it in peace.

The enforcers reminded her of the Bluecoats. Captain Wallis Parrish’s Deadeye Fleet, the remnants of the naval forces of the Free Cities, had always been underhanded ever since it was founded. Parrish kept the other captains loyal to her through information control and (though this was a bit of an assumption on Storm’s part and she knew it) mind magic; Parrish, of course, was one of the most powerful and notable mind mages in the Coalition. In return for giving information that guided her captains to loot, she got a percentage kickback of it. And after the Brazen Coalition moved into part of Ixalan to begin mining post-Phyrexian invasion, the Deadeye Fleet became the Bluecoats (a change in name alone) and took up the mantle of being the national navy of Governor Beckett Brass. They broke tools, destroyed camps, and confiscated hauls of anyone who didn’t have a deed signed and guaranteed by the Brazen Coalition.

Storm had joined the Brazen Coalition young and became the commander of her own fleet by the time she was sixteen. She had made it clear that her fleet sailed for the joys of it and for freedom more than anything else. Governor Brass promised her that she would retain that freedom, but as she slowly watched the Coalition change and begin to play nation, Storm began to doubt it. Especially when Governor Brass made a dramatic statement about how the age of piracy was now over.

Other commanders of other fleets – namely Captain Sussana Libertaria of the Parsec Fleet, Captain Broenze Moena of the Grim Fleet, and Captain Ripley Vance of the Spitfire Fleet (who is now assumed dead thanks to the Mycotyrant), along with what remained of Governor Brass’s own Fathom Fleet for obvious reasons – were more than content to settle down into the role of stable people living normal lives in positions of authority. Similarly, the living members of Storm’s maternal family – her grandmother and her cousin – were content to live peacefully on their island and settle down.

Though there was still the Dire Fleet and Captain Brandis Thorn. Despite Thorn (often violently) opposing Governor Brass and Dire Fleet ships raiding other ships just as much as they raided coastal towns, the Dire Fleet controlled the largest number of ships and, by proxy, the most crews (after Thorn deposed the ships’ existing captains when he claimed their vessels, of course). Thorn loved piracy like Storm loved freedom. Storm fucking hated Thorn with every fiber of her being, but they did agree on one point: the best feeling in the world was that of steering a ship across the open seas.

And she was terrified that she would have to surrender it. That she would be pushed into giving up her ships and her fleet in exchange for some stuffy office or, worse, a mine that she would have to work in and oversee. Or, worse, that the “official navy” of the Bluecoats would decide that the Storm Fleet was a threat to them and their position in some way.

Storm held the dango stick between two fingers as she pondered her predicament. It wasn’t just herself that she was worried for, but also for her captains and crews. Unknown to every other fleet in the Coalition, it was the Storm Fleet that took in defectors of the Church and Legion of Dusk. Disillusioned younger vampires would leave Torrezon by boat, usually get shipwrecked, and then find themselves picked up by Storm Fleet ships. She didn’t despise Torrezon, she didn’t hate the Church and Legion, she just hated the ones that threatened her and her fleet. She knew that High Marshal Celino Guitirre probably knew that Storm kept picking up his defectors and stragglers, but he hadn’t brought it up, and she had no intention of announcing that information to anyone. Especially not to other Coalition captains and commanders.

Her fleet was her business and her family. When anyone – vampire, orc, siren, goblin, human, merfolk, or otherwise – joined it, her protection extended to them. If they wanted freedom, she would ensure they got it. And now, she didn’t care if she had to mutiny to protect it.

She quietly laughed to herself. She sounded just like Greasefang and Hayashi right now. It was strange how well their planes mirrored each other in this case – the Bluecoats and the Imperial enforcers, the Kamigawan nobility and the Torrezone ones (along with the Coalition pirates who knew that they were descended from Free City nobility and didn’t hesitate to inform others as such), the Storm and Dire Fleets and the Reckoner gangs. Even Sophrosyne harassing and hunting Storm reminded her of Greasefang’s recent fight with the former Okiba boss that had been hunting her, except that Sophrosyne was a planeswalker while Akane had not been.

Storm shook her head and continued her journey to the docks. She had a lot more thinking to do, but it could wait for a moment of downtime. She had to go rescue her half-brother from the Imperials first.

Captain Marciano Guerra would be happy if he never needed to deal with interplanar customs again. It was as though the Imperial Court had designed it to be as annoying and painful as legally and physically possible. Especially considering they had to call for someone who could actually speak the planar common language to even start the process. The Storm Fleet ship that had brought him here had already gone into a retreat through the Omenpath once more.

Even he noticed when Captain Storm arrived. Despite being without a ship and separated from her crew (and, most notably, far shorter in stature than Marciano was), she commanded attention as she walked. She wore armor that was probably Kamigawan in origin, padded leather and metal plates in dark greens, purples, and of course black. The armor seemed to be a signal; the Imperial translator and enforcers reflexively backed off a bit. Storm spoke to them in crisp, clear Kamigawan, which finally made them just glare at Marciano and then leave. Then she turned to Marciano and grinned, putting her hands on her hips. “Hey there, Marciano. Having fun?”

Marciano’s grip on his hammer loosened slightly. He hadn’t let the Imperials take it or his rapier from him. “Not at all,” he sighed. “So... What’s the deal with this Sophrosyne individual again?” He had, admittedly, forgotten most of the details due to the sheer amount of stress he was under. He was still worried about leaving his kids with his eldest sister and her new consorts.

Storm gestured for Marciano to follow her and turned to lead the way. Marciano reluctantly fell in step off to her back left. It seemed like the safest place considering she had a cutlass on each hip but always favored her right hand for fighting. She did seem exhausted and tense when Sophrosyne was mentioned, though. “The very short version is that she’s a creep who’s obsessed with me despite being old enough to be my mother. And despite her sun god being dead, she’s got his weapon and is still strengthened by her devotion to him.”

Marciano nodded. He made sure he didn’t get separated in these twisting alleyways from...well, from his younger half-sister. It was still strange for him to consider her as such, considering it was due to their shared father’s infidelity. Their shared father who kept trying to kill Storm for years. And Marciano had helped. He hadn’t known they were brother and sister. He had just thought it was to deal with the Coalition pirates. Business as usual.

And yet here they both were, walking through a city on another plane together.

“Deeply concerning.” Another mad cleric with a divine weapon? Were Aclazotz and his followers ripping off this Sophrosyne woman? Or was she ripping them off? “So how can I help?”

“Well... Figuring out how to fight someone who’s good with a really long weapon is obviously necessary, and you’re pretty damn good with a hammer. Painful as it is for me to admit it. And maybe your faith in whatever the hell’s actually in charge in Torrezon will give you a leg up that I didn’t get.”

“The Saint,” Marciano supplied without hesitation. Despite everything, his faith in the Saint hadn’t shaken. He had even doubled down with the realization that it was the waivering of this faith that inspired his father and Atenea to begin killing off members of their own family. Or, well, their recognized family.

Marciano wondered just how many of his bastard half-siblings his father had gone out of his way to hunt down and kill.

“Right. Speaking of, Kamigawa’s got all these kami running around. From what I’ve learned, if you’re visiting, you should either be respectful or just...not antagonize them. Though pretty much every Church of Dusk priest that’s stumbled here either intentionally or by accident has said that it’s fine to respect them like the Kamigawans do.”

“...Are our people regularly coming to Kamigawa?”

“More often than going to other planes.”

“...Fair enough.”

“Which also means no pulling weapons on any kami,” Storm said, a new edge of steel in her voice. “Especially because the boss of the gang that I’m training and staying with is a kami priest.”

Marciano nodded. Like many in the Legion, he had gotten a swift lesson about respecting the power of other faiths’ priests after the first run-in with a dinosaur and the priest directing it. “I have no intention of being disrespectful on purpose.”

“Great. We’ll be staying here.” They were in front of some kind of building that appeared to house multiple homes. Storm swiped some kind of metal over a machine, and it made a strange beeping noise before a lock unlatched. “I’ve been staying at an orphanage run by a criminal gang, but it’s kind of a hotspot of activity right now, so instead we’re going to stay in an assassin’s boyfriend’s apartment and train out back.”

“...Huh?”

“Just nod along and pretend it makes sense until you figure it out.” Storm led the way into the building and up more stairs. Marciano wondered if the whole point of Towashi was to make someone feel tiny. The sheer scale of the city was mind-boggling. This building alone was bigger than any church Marciano had stepped inside of.

The apartment, however, felt...cozy. It was on the fourth floor – something that Storm had mentioned had to do with death, which made it a perfectly fitting place for an assassin to live – and looked out into the alleyway behind the building. It was one room, with the kitchen sequestered near the door and various pieces of furniture acting as beds and workspaces. Besides Marciano and Storm, there were three others present – the aven Tony Fandango, who had been with Storm during their lens call, and two humans. The older human was probably in his mid-thirties, while the younger human was probably a teenager. They didn’t seem to be related, as the man was visibly Kamigawan while the teenager seemed to be...well, Marciano didn’t actually know where she was from, but the fact that her hair was an obnoxious combination of orange and red and seemed to stand up on its own made it pretty clear that she had no blood relation to the other human.

“Tony Fandango, who you’ve kinda met already, Hikari Oda, and Sasha Ignatov,” Storm introduced, gesturing to each in turn. “Hikari, Sasha, this is Marciano, my...half-brother...who’s going to be helping with the Sophrosyne bullshit.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Hikari said, nodding to Marciano. “Please, make yourself comfortable.”

Comfortable? Frankly, Marciano had been expecting to be essentially held captive (and still knowingly walked into it), but he watched as Storm flopped down on the couch across from Sasha, who was setting up some sort of board game, and was suddenly reminded of when he was far younger and visiting his Aunt Salazar. He was glad that she had survived Luneau’s collapse and been able to step back away from ruling it and into protecting it instead. It was a far more natural place for a dedicated Legionnaire like herself.

“Thank you, Mister Oda.” He cleared his throat softly. He needed to cover the important part of being a vampire, after all. “So, while there are usually exceptions made in times of desperation, there are still...rules I must follow as a Legionnaire regarding the blood I can drink...”

“Yeah, we’re familiar,” Sasha said, setting up some game pieces. “I was one of the ones who helped Alta Torrezon during that spell bomb fiasco, I got to learn a lot about how you all get blood donations and stuff.”

Marciano blinked a few times in surprise.

Storm laughed. “Yeah, the Dokuchi like you guys better than they like us,” she joked.

Tony rolled their eyes. “That’s untrue, Captain Storm.”

“I got kidnapped and they just sent you, but an entire vampire city took a magic nap and they sent an entire special operations force.”

“That is because there is a difference in scale between fae magic attacking a whole city and a single planeswalking cleric.” Tony seemed to be scowling, but it was a bit hard for Marciano to tell. “Even if said planeswalking cleric can somehow hunt down a proper assassin and shake off runic magic.” Hikari reached over and gently placed a hand on Tony’s arm. This made Tony close their eyes and take a deep breath.

Something in Marciano’s chest hurt, remembering how he often did the same when Herminia got worked up. He quickly shook his head. He missed her so much, but breaking down over it wasn’t what she would have wanted. Her focus had been keeping their twins safe and, maybe one day, making sure they had more siblings, and Marciano made sure of that. They were safe with his eldest sister.

So he sat down at the table and watched the board game. It seemed to be a city-building game involving dice rolling to earn coins and reaching certain landmarks. It valued resource management, something that Sasha and Storm both seemed to be equal in. After a round that introduced Marciano to the rules, taking about half of an hour, he was looped in for the second round. In addition to figuring out how to play, the visuals of the game – very bright and stylistic, but helpful nonetheless – assisted Marciano in figuring out what was what in Towashi.

As the rounds continued and dinner was eventually made and served, Marciano felt something that had been missing from his life for many, many years: a sense of peace. This, he decided, was what he was fighting for. This was why he wanted the Betrayer to be stopped. This was why he wanted the skirmishes and bloodshed between everyone in Torrezon and on the Stormwreck Sea to end.

And maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that the Coalition was also searching for that kind of peace.

#others' stories #planar posting #ixalan posting #kamigawa posting #reckoner stories #tony fandango #hikari oda #youngling: sasha ignatov

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