The last adventures with Prinz Eugen. Volume 3.

No. 13 Chapter 12

Tristan woke up with a groan as the discomfort of the position he fell asleep in made any further rest an illusion. Turning on his side to relieve the pushing sensation in his back caused him to grunt and curse as he fell off the sofa edge he had been lying on. Looking up at the ceiling he cursed himself silently for falling asleep there and not at home. Yet home was over three thousand miles away. His quiet grumbling was interrupted as the small face of little Eugen popped into his view. "Good morning grumpy." She whispered with a smile. "It looks like neither you or Eugen have found your way to bed." She snickered. Seeing the little delighted face of the child made Tristan smile as well as he carefully got up. Only as his head rose above the corner of the sofa did he see the reason why he was lacking space to turn on just moments earlier. With his dress shirt as a cover Eugen was laying there asleep as well. Seemingly still in the land of dreams. "Let's go get breakfast." Whispered little Eugen. "We should let her sleep, she likes to dream and remember things." The little version of Tristan's partner explained. The old engineer nodded along to the explanations of the little one as he followed her to the door of their apartment. "I need to get myself a new shirt from my place down the hall and then we can get you some breakfast." Tristan offered a plan. "Sounds good. Although you can just go in your shirt. I don't think the others mind, they walk around in their underwear often enough." Little Eugen commented casually, making the former engineer tense up a bit in worry to not encounter such a moment. Reaching his place a bit further down the hall, Tristan let both of them in. Quickly grabbing fresh clothes he washed and shaved himself before getting dressed, while the little ship was exploring his layed out belongings. "Eugen has that same picture with her wherever she goes." He heard the little ship comment out loud. Leaving the bathroom as he closed the buttons of his shirt Tristan looked to see what the little ship was up to. Seeing her look at the pictures he had in his wallet. "Is that so?" He asked her with a smile. "That picture was taken during a festival long ago. In hindsight that celebration meant a lot to both of us." He fondly recalls despite not being able to remember the most significant moment of it. "Was that the day you two became a pair?" The small cruiser asked and made Tristan smile in embarrassment. "Not quite.But it was the day she learned I loved her as well." He explained which made the little version of Eugen smile and laugh. "You adults are so corny." She complained playfully. "Maybe we are." Tristan agreed. "But how about you give me my wallet and we can go eat now?" He offered her to finally get her breakfast.

Walking down into the communal rooms of the Iron Blood dorm allowed Tristan to see many familiar faces he had not seen for years or only in a short moment when he arrived here. He managed to talk to Admiral Scheer over a coffee and hot chocolate before diligent Gneisenau and valorous Scharnhorst joined him and the little Eugen for breakfast. While talking to the two battleships Tristan always kept an eye on the child sized version of his dear one, making sure she ate her vegetables as well and maintained a supply of orange juice and some coolant. "How is Odin?" Gneisenau asked. "Is our dear half sister's passion for calligraphy making progress?" She added. "The last time I got to talk to her, she got a refit for her Flak. Other than that I have to say the notes she is handwriting with her quill are worthy to be framed. The birthday card I got from her last year was gorgeous." Tristan told the two what Odin was up to as far as he knew. "And the others?" Asked Gneisenau, as many had before. And once again Tristans had a slight hint of sadness on his face as he had to tell the next ship that he was not sure as he was officially forbidden from seeing any of them ever since he got dismissed.

"How can you keep this up?" Little Eugen asked the man next to her after the two battleships had left to begin their training session for the day. "What do you mean?" He asked her in return. "How can you keep telling them that you don't know more and that you are sorry for disappointing them when it is not your fault for not being able to help them. Not to mention that you are sad as well each time you have to tell them that." She elaborated before eating another slice of apple with an oil based porridge. "Well, I can't lie to them, they do deserve to know how their friends, sisters and more or less family is. What hurts me is not the fact that I was let go but the fact that I disappoint them. Each time you can see how happy they all are to hear a bit from home only to be let down after being fed a couple of crumbs of information. That is what pains me. Their disappointed hope. For all of them went through much pain and misery to be there for each other and others, only to be separated from many of those they care for." He explained.
The little ship remained silent for some time, continuing to eat her breakfast seemingly lost in thought. "You know, Eugen said a similar thing about her sleep. She likes to dream because her memories are more visible that way and she gets to see those she misses." The little copy mentioned as she combined the two situations that seemed to be focused on the same emotion. This time it was Tristan that was silent for a lack of words. "Thank you." He was able to say after some moments as he promised Eugen to be there for her much more than he had been in their time of separation.

"All done." The little ship announced as she stacked together her dishes to return them to the kitchen. "Thanks for tagging along. It always feels better to be with friends." The little cruiser smiled. "But you haven't eaten anything yet right?" Eugen asked, astonished. "Indeed I did not. Because we humans can't eat food made for you living ships." He explained to her. "Hipper told me about it. That we can eat all human food but humans can't eat ours." She recalled. "That's right. You know, Hipper had to learn that once as well." He chuckled to the confusion of the little ship. "Should we find you some food as well?" She asked the human. "That would not hurt. Would you like to tag along as well? I would not mind having a friend with me as well." He smiled at the little girl. "I am normally not ready to go out yet all alone." Eugen doubted herself. "Well, you are not alone, are you?" He offered her his hand. "But we only go if you like. No one will force you." He added carefully.

After a bit of hesitation little Eugen grabbed his hand and smiled. "To get human food we go." She announced and Tristand had to struggle not to chuckle at the cute little ship.