Pirates of Tellius AU
I'm back at it again with another niche Tellius AU no one but me will ever read!
this is some sort of weird IkeSoren/IkeRanulf hybrid but like. better keep it open ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
basically it’s ‘what if I stuck Tellius characters in the Pirates of the Caribbean universe, smashed both the plots together, and made it slightly gayer (but only slightly because tellius is pretty gay)?
It starts out more following the plot of PotC but I assure you that is only superficial and also gets drowned pretty quickly
also you can see where this post started as brainstorming and eventually became actual fic so. please read it
Ike is obviously Will Turner - I mean, this is textbook, right down to his dad having Secrets™️. sword boi runs into trouble.
Soren is Elizabeth - but raised by Almedha (hence a background in dangerous things when he was young, but now very sheltered by his parent).
and Ranulf is the suave but kind-of-stupid pirate because I have no self control and JUST IMAGINE RANULF IN THE HAT. THE HAT, GUYS.
it gets gayer I swear I’m pushing a Soren/Ike/Ranulf agenda y’all
Ike and Soren, childhood friends, Almedha doesn't like Ike coming over, Soren’s got some sort of arranged marriage Ike has many swords but dreams of greater things than the smithy. the rest of the Greil Mercenaries are the people from Ike's area of town - Titania's the only one I struggle to think of a job for, but she lives next to the smithy and Mist has a bedroom at Titania's as well as above the forge (Ike has a bed there too, although he rarely uses it). Oscar and his brothers are a bakery/butchery hybrid, Rhys is the apothecary, etc., Shinon and Gatrie are probably still mercenaries lbr
the only thing Ike knows about his father's death is that he was killed by the pirate captain of the Black Night (haha I regret everything), a mythical ship that appears and disappears at will - but only at night.
Lethe stole Ranulf's ship, crew, and weapons (he'd be so proud if he didn't currently lack a ship), which I don't have a name for yet, anyway so Ranulf comes in to the port, people lose their shit, he escapes, but he really needs a forge to get these handcuffs off. oh, the Greil smithy! nice. duel! jail :(
Ike is kinda sad because Soren has to do Noble Things which currently just means "sucking up to the princess" Elincia - and he thinks his mother might be planning a marriage at this rate.
One night, one of the Mad King's fleet ransacks the town. Ranulf sighs, knowing enough of these beorc pirates by reputation, but hey, he's in jail.
The pirates kill the king and go after Elincia to throw Crimea into chaos. Unfortunately, she's not alone - but fortunately, Soren can talk his way into any situation and gets them a parley. bonus points if he pretends he's the princess and Elincia is a servant.
Ike's world is upside down - his town's burning, Soren's been taken, what does he do? Titania tells him he can go - she'll help rebuild, keep the town order, and Mist can run the forge. Just - you know that sword, Ike? the one your father hid under the floorboards and told you to never touch? take it. you might need it.
so he does - but might need some help, too. who better than a pirate who knows the way of the sea?
they steal a ship and go. Ike yells about pirates, Ranulf offers to throw him into the sea, but they resolve it quickly because Ike understands there's more to the world than he knew. Ranulf's got an uncanny sense of direction and he knew Ike's father, but there's something else he feels he's missing. Greil was a pirate, Ike learns, and one of the finest - Ranulf might've left Gallia if he'd asked.
but their ship isn't meant for two - they need a crew. Ike soon learns Ranulf has a reputation five miles long, lovers in nearly every man and woman on land, and can outdrink anyone when they stop at an Outpost to pick up everyone you recruit in PoR. and then they head for Nevassa Cove.
I'm throwing the plots of both stories out the window now. also, the laguz? they're staying - in a slightly different form...
Ike and Ranulf’s crew don't make it to Nevassa quickly, though, so who knows what Elincia and Soren are doing in the meantime. bonding, probably. Elincia's no idiot - she's heard the rumors about Lady Almedha, her mysterious background, her ever-present veil - and the Captain of the Mad King goes on about what lives in the water. She starts to question the fables of her childhood, full of sirens who would sing you to the depths and creatures that could topple flagships. Soren's planning, but he's got to keep up the Princess pretense - but he's noticing, too.
Ranulf's crew comes across some of their own myths when their ship is blown into a coral reef. Ranulf and his first mate (originally had this as Kyza but I want to save her for the eventual RD-inspired sequel, and Ike's role onboard is kinda undefined) know better than to go outside here, but Ike doesn't, and so he meets his first mermaid - oh, he didn't mean to offend, he didn't know they were called laguz. Kurthnaga is kind and offers the assistance of his friends to unmoor their ship, and Ike learns their form is not limited to the kind he saw in paintings of beautiful merwomen. Ike tells Ranulf, and Ranulf admits he knows more of the sea than he let on - there are different clans of laguz, all below the water, and the sea dragons are only one (although they are where landwalkers got their idea of the kraken).
the next tribe they find as they cross the canyons of Phonecis and Kilvas, known as a ship's graveyard. there's something about Ike, Ranulf muses as Ike speaks to King Tibarn about the Mad King's destruction and their explosives which threaten to ruin even the ocean floor. Tibarn listens, even with a siren at his side (one of few, Ranulf thought them all dead), and when Tibarn not only lets them pass but offers assistance, Ike welcomes them.
"I thought I was the captain around here!" he calls, earning a smile from Ike at the helm. He can feel Reyson about to speak, to ask why he is a captain of a beorc vessel at all, so Ranulf interrupts with a call to the crew and they depart, singing out of tune but merrily.
Tibarn's laguz follow in the water, save Tibarn himself and his white siren, who stand on deck and could almost pass for humans. Ike wonders about this - Kurthnaga and the dragons didn't have quite this human a form; are Tibarn and Reyson special, or is there even more to the laguz than meets the eye?
He asks Ranulf as much, when they're sitting below deck having a drink. "Laguz have three forms," Ranulf answers. "One for the water, one for the land, and one in-between." He fingers the brim of his hat, an item Ike wishes he'd take off when they're dining like this, away from the rowdy crew.
"How do you know so much about laguz?" Ike asks instead, ever focused on the mission. He doesn't get an answer, though, because the bell is ringing and the crew is clamoring and they see Nevassa Cove in the distance.
"Good find, Ike," Tibarn congratulates him with a slap on the back.
"Ranulf found it." That's Reyson, with something in his tone Ike can't quite place.
"Good find, Ranulf," Tibarn repeats, casting an amused smile to his companion.
They board smallboats and row to the cave under cover of darkness. The plan is cast aside, however, when Ike watches the Mad King's captain unsheath a rapier and advance on Soren. Ashnard won't tolerate their game of role-play any longer, but Elincia jumps in front, waving her arms wildly and yelling to get in the water, Soren!
Ike doesn't listen to whatever Ranulf is or isn't saying; he jumps from behind a cave wall, waving Ragnell and shouting hellfire on Ashnard.
"Well, well, little pirate boy," he mocks, and Ike realizes how massive this captain is in person. "Are you worthy to set foot in Nevassa?"
Ike raises his chin and Ragnell and meets Ashnard's eyes. "My father was Captain Gawain, who sailed that ship long before you destroyed her planks with blood, Ashnard," he says. "You aren't fit for the sea!"
They fight, slipping on sand-dusted rocks and breathing in blood and sweat and the dank smell of the cove, swords ringing like broken bells. Ranulf waves his hand and the crew - Ike's crew, really, if he's being honest - swarms Ashnard's, Tibarn's laguz fighting from the water and dragging pirates to the depths. He crosses to Soren and Elincia and motions them to an underwater tunnel. "Ike's ship is waiting for you," he tells them. "Go!"
"I'm no laguz, Sir Ranulf," the princess protests, but her eyes speak defiance rather than fear.
"It's Captain Lay, Princess," he says with a smile. Then he pushes her into the water, angled so she falls back on Soren and sends them both splashing. "Hold your breath!" And Ranulf dives in, relishing the feel of his shifting form only for a second before he pulls Elincia down, down, up, up through the tunnel and they emerge on the outside, Elincia sputtering and gasping and clinging to him like a lifeline.
"Swim to the ship. Reyson will be waiting."
She lets go but doesn't move. "Soren - he's still in there - you'll go back - please, Captain, return and -"
He cuts off her growing politeness when thrusts his hat at her chest and spins around. She's right, her companion didn't follow, and Ranulf has a sneaking suspicion why, if Ike's many stories of his friend are true.
"Damn," Ranulf says. He goes back.
Ike can feel his arms straining and he regrets never using Ragnell until a month ago. Ashnard is stronger, but at least Soren and Ranulf got away, he thinks. Of course, that's when a knife embeds itself in Ashnard's forearm. Ashnard turns. Ike turns. Soren is there, half in the water and hair dripping wet, holding another knife. Ashnard opens his mouth, and Ike strikes - brings Ragnell straight down and cleaves the Mad King's skull in two with a precision Ike didn't know swords could have.
Ike stands there, staring at the body and his blade, for a full minute, breathing heavily and shaking from adrenaline. When he moves, Soren is staring at him. Ike drops Ragnell and runs to the water, and Soren - Soren moves away, backing against the cove wall.
And I don't want to write Angst™️ but you know where this is going. (Half laguz have two forms, but that's still one more than a beorc.)
Ranulf interrupts the moment, because, hey, I'm glad you're safe but there's a battle on outside and I'm pretty sure the Royal Navy's here as well so let's go!
Ike is still holding Soren, whose face is curled into his neck and hair brushing across Ike's back like a blanket of seaweed. He looks at Ranulf, eyebrows high as he takes in Ranulf finally without that hat and decides his ears are cute. "Is every person I know gonna show up with a tail now, or is it just you two?"
"Just us, I think." Ranulf grins, then sobers. "Still a battle on, Ike," he chides. Ike nods and turns to Soren, who nods in affirmation. "Hold your breath, Ike," says Ranulf, and then they're streaming through the tunnel and Ike never, ever wants to go swimming again by the time they break the surface.
The Royal Navy is there, and they're impounding Ranulf's ship. Ike's ship. Whatever. They haul Ike out of the water, which he accepts because he isn't a laguz and he's more of a chance of surviving in prison than in the water. The guards bind him for piracy - unfair, because he hasn't actually stolen anything (Ranulf stole the ship, technically). Ike tells them as much - yells it, more like, along with a string of curses and proof that he just saved the Princess and killed the Mad King Ashnard - but when Elincia's voice rings out a call for silence he's just as affected as the Navy.
"Sir Ike," she begins, ignoring the whispers of her guards and one commander who tries to tell her he's a pirate and shouldn't be addressed personally, "you have saved me and my kingdom from destruction. For that, you have our gratitude. You will remain a free man, and all charges of piracy against you shall be dropped. I offer you a place in my Navy, Sir Ike, as it would be an honor to have you beside me."
His motley crew, hands tied behind their backs in the center of their ship, stares at him; Elincia's Navy stares at her; and no one moves for a moment.
"Thank you, your Majesty," Ike says, the title an honest mistake but he doesn't take it back because it's true now. "Thank you, Elincia," he continues, "but my place is on the sea. My father sailed these waters before me, and it's time I lived up to him. Besides," he offers her a crooked smile, water dripping into his eyes from his lashes, "I think the sea has companions to offer me."
"Of course," she says, a smile playing at her lips. She removes her arms from their position across her chest (Ike had thought it a ward against the seeping chill of night air on wet clothes) and lifts something up above Ike's head. In the moonlight, he catches a glimpse of a familiar hat, its wide brim decorated with strings of beads and feathers, before Elincia places it on his head, soaking his hair even more. "We shall leave you to your ship, Captain Ike," she says with eyes alight, and turns away with all the grace and poise of a royal.
After a great deal of spluttering and critiques from the Navy quickly aborted by a mere glance from Elincia, Ike's crew is released and the Navy returns to their ships with Elincia, who hands Ike an envelope and a hug before departure. Ike stares after them, adrenaline entirely spent and confused how he just got named a pirate captain by the Queen.
"Well, well, well, congratulations!" comes a familiar voice, its figure moving across the deck. "The hat suits you, Ike," Ranulf grins, clapping him on the shoulder. "Lethe might've stole my other ship, but you've earned this one well." He pauses, just for a second, winks, and then says: "Captain."
Ike smiles, but his attention is quickly caught by the shadows behind a mast. It's Soren, as he knew it would be. Ike puts an arm around him, a gesture he finds awkward for anyone else, and runs his fingers through Soren's damp black locks. "I think I've got a position open on this ship," he offers. "If you'd like."
Soren looks up, and Ike thinks his red eyes are beautiful in the moonlight. "I would." It's almost inaudible, but Ike hears it anyway. He holds him tighter.
They return home first, and his crew laughs through the streets and fills the inns and taverns with gold and merriment, undoubtedly spreading rumors of the battle with the Mad King that will grow into something ridiculous, but Ike doesn't stop them. When he knocks at Titania's door, Mist throws herself at him and she's crying and Mist's crying and Ike might be too.
When they've told each other all that matters between their family and Mist is asleep on Titania's lap from exhaustion, Ike makes tea for him and Titania and sits across from her. "Were you my dad's first mate?" he asks, unprompted except by the companionable silence of being home.
"I was," Titania replies, nostalgia twinging across her face.
Ike nods and sips his tea. He knows the rest of the story, and if Titania would like to spin her own tales he'd gladly listen, but he'll also listen to Mist's soft breathing and relax.
"Who is yours?" Titania asks instead.
Ike starts, almost dropping his tea. "I don't - I'm not sure. There's - well, there's Soren, and Ranulf, and I don't know..." he trails off.
Titania smiles, a glint in her green eyes. "You don't have to know. One day, you'll know, though. It might sneak up on you, so watch out." She knows something, Ike thinks, something about me but more than that, she knows something about the world and the sea and the captains that follow the wind and their hearts.
"Okay," says Ike, because he's home and he doesn't have to say any more. In a few days they'll head out again on that wind. Ike doesn't know where it'll take him, but he'll be ready.
