A-kun: There will be a 1st person view in this chapter... Well, some of it at least. It will be separated rather than clumping into the 'no POV' dialogue. So no one can get confused. This took days of prep, and thank you very much for understanding. Here we go.
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3 days after the fight... A lone tree standing in its lonesome in the very wide field... It seemed like it stood there for centuries.
Then, a sound was getting closer in the distance.
A sound of a... Engine. A car engine on its way to the lonesome tree.
From the outside looking in, peering into the dark tint of the car's window, a man could be seen. Looking out the window.
A frown plastered over his lips.
Next to him is a girl, very beautiful, a maid. She has been on constant surveillance of this man's doings for a few days now... Very worried about this man's condition. Monitoring him so much that she hasn't got a break since her start.
But the car presses on. Until...
It stopped.
The man came out of the car, and the maid also coming with him. He went to the place he wanted to go to... And just stood there... With the maid just staying behind him with a good bit of distance between the two. He's become distant since the battle and everyone knew it.
=================
A cold rush of wind passed through me. "This is a really familiar feeling..." I said looking down. Taking a deep breath.
Before I could utter another word, the cold breeze of the lush, green plains went through me. I shuddered, I looked up in the clear skies. Seeing the sun in all it's fiery glory. Then 2 white birds just breezed past me as they seem they were migrating. They were flying straight to the skies... Going towards the heavens.
But the sun was getting too bright so I looked back down.
The cold winds here seemed never-ending. I look to my right, nothing but green in my sight. The wide array of flowers coloring the field like a painter on his masterpiece was really relaxing to see. The petals flowing with the wind, and the ocean blue just over the stiff cliffside where the waves of the waters would splash up to make a pillar of some sort.
It was pure beauty in nature as any landscape I've never seen.
But it was distracting me... From my real emotions.
"Victory... It is not 'victory'. There is no such word as 'victory'... It's a loose word to define nowadays." I slowly nodded. Like I was agreeing on my own statement.
"Victory isn't without losses. And I have stopped believing in a 'flawless' victory long, long time ago." I looked back down on the ground.
"Maybe I'm being hypocritical. In my long journey, I have seen and won some battles with minimal casualty or no casualties at all. But like my fellow brothers and soldiers... These are girls. Humans. Not just weapons of war. Nor they will have to be like that for the rest of their lives."
"Maybe they are actually created for that reason. But they're still human. And life, as a human, can be obtained without fighting for it. And a life they will experience is what I want."
My eyes... Were... Tearing up?
"But... I feel... I feel like," as I was suddenly sobbing. "I just... stripped that away from them."
=================
Right after the long skirmish with the Sirens had ended..."Guys... I have news... To tell you all..."
Vestal sounded hesitant and unsure. And then a simple, "Hold on." He stood back up and bolted to the hospital. With no hesitation. And not for long, he got there swiftly. "Vestal! What happened?!"
He opened the door with urgency with surprised Vestal and Akashi. With Akashi's cat-like instincts, she immediately ran to the corner and sat there trying to look helpless.
"Commander... I..." She just stood out of the way and just showed him rather than telling him.
And he was horrified.
And tears were already flowing down his cheeks.
"No... No..." He said in despair... Walking to the two girls on their beds. He held one of both hands. In absolute denial of the situation at hand(s).
Vestal, was now also crying. His emotions fed into her mind and she was feeling the same despair too. As the head nurse of the Coalition, she felt like she didn't live up to that standard.
She didn't do her job.
At this point, almost all of the girls from the Eagle Union and the Royal Navy came into the hospital. And their first sight is Vestal going right at them. As she was covering her face filled with tears. She tore through the girls and she left the hospital.
Hornet could only go to Enterprise who was on her own separate hospital bed. She's also fainted but still responsive with her still breathing. But she can't open her eyes because of severe exhaustion.
But the sounds they could only hear is Caster and Hornet's sobbing.
And Akashi, just walking out of the room also. She wasn't crying like the others, but she felt a massive burden that sat on her shoulders. And as soon she was outside the room, she was feeling teary and weary of her actions not doing enough.
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"I... I can't..." I gripped my hands. "W-why..."
I look down. I open my eyes filled with tears just waiting to be shed and flow down my face.
I look at 2 graves. As my tears drip down to the graves... The grave was decorated, with flowers all over it. It was proper as anything burial can get. With picture frames... In front of the gravestone.
USS Aulick, and USS Spence...
"Why."
I knelt down... I touched the gravestones with both of my hands. I feel weaker and weaker as seconds pass by. My hands trembling.
"I'm... I'm so sorry. Even if I didn't know you two as much as the next person, I am still solely responsible for this." I closed my eyes again. Trying my damn best to keep my tears from flowing down. But to no avail.
"Master... It is not your fault." I hear Belfast tell me. Probably came into the rescue for me. As she put her umbrella she was carrying over my head.
I stay silent. Until Belfast helped me up. And we walked and sat in the lonesome tree that was so prominent in this empty, flower-ridden green plains.
From my view, the 2 gravestones could be seen a bit to my right. But a distance from me and the graves.
And I felt a hot air breathed into my ear. Putting me back in reality. I look at my right, it was Belfast. Who was right beside me. It really seemed that she was resting from her maid duties and just decided to sit right next to me. I can't blame her, as much I wanted her to rest, she kept insisting for her to monitor me even more since the battle.
Then her right hand just suddenly was laid on my chest. And her purple orbs just looking me straight to my soul. Suffice to say, I really can't stop her from what she's doing.
"Master, you should not be always like that," Belfast said. As she took out her handkerchief and wipe my tears still present in my eyes. "I know that it is painful for you. And for us also."
I stared at her. Wanting to know more.
"But your sadness and depression have gotten the whole fleet worrying for you." She explained to me. While still keeping eye contact with me. "And they and I, can't stand that."
Her face was getting ever closer to mine. I can't respond... Hypno... Tizing...
She pulled my head to her bust and her hands were keeping me from putting my head back up. I can't breathe.
"Let your burden lighten. And please, accept my love."
...
...
"Love?"
...
...
I forcibly put my head back up. And. Her face was inches away from mine this time. I close my eyes in response.
Chu~
=================
"Huh..." Caster was touching his left cheek. "I guess its time to continue."
Caster was back in his office. For the repairs of the base, the Commander's office and the whole main building was the first one to be fixed. And it was fixed in a hurry. Due to Caster's abundance of every resource, he got lucky to put them in good use.
Fixing the base.
Anyway, with his future plans unknown, he was drawing on a large piece of paper. But it is not only him and his sadness but since the battle, some of the girls were regularly put into his office to help him to 'cheer up'.
This time, the 4 starter destroyers were put in his office.
But Caster was too absorbed on what he is doing. Thus, not giving any attention to the 4 girls in the room.
He was drawing... It was some kind of blueprint. From Nimi's perspective. She decided that distracting him might be a bad idea for now since he's so absorbed in his work.
But she couldn't shake off the feeling of sadness looming around the room. Thus, giving the atmosphere negativity. Of course, it came from Caster himself.
She looked to her right and see Laffey just laying her head on her lap. 'Why did we think that Laffey would help us?'
While Ayanami was still timid and wasn't doing much to help the mood except her being there. Sitting on the couch in her lonesome.
Caster was almost finished with the drawing of said blueprints. Then Javelin came into the office.
"Commander!" Javelin happily exclaimed. Single-handedly turning the atmosphere of the room becomes positive. "My bento is done! Sorry if I took very long to make it."
One of Caster's prevailing attributes is his mental toughness. As like any contemporary leader. He doesn't dwell on the past for too long. But he isn't monotone or robot-like. He still feels the impact. But not as bad as a... A normal person would take a morbid situation such as this one.
So in turn, he greeted Javelin and accepted Javelin's bento. It was really good. Like, way too good for a little girl to make. He was genuinely surprised.
"Ehehe~" Javelin scratched her head in embarrassment. And slightly flustered. "I'm glad that you liked it!" As she used the opportunity as she scooted over next to Caster.
As she was looking at the drawings that Caster just finished, it was looking more and more like a gun was being drawn up. She was curious just like Nimi. But due to her outgoing personality, she actually tried to talk to him in a serious matter. (For Caster.)
"Commander! What are you drawing up?" Javelin asks and the whole room went...
Silent.
An awkward pause as Caster stopped from whatever he was doing. Nimi squinted at Javelin. Probably telling her using girls telepathy to tell her: "What are you thinking!?!?!?!?"
Caster face didn't change. Which was a bad sign on Nimi's point of view. But he spoke.
"Oh." He looked up at Javelin. Only realizing that she was next to him the entire time. "I was trying some new ways to help you all in battle." He said in a tone that was really friendly.
"What did I tell you back then, Commander?" Z23 tilted her head and made a face of annoyance. "You really forgot what I told you?"
Caster just did the ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ at Z23. "Just let me explain, eh?"
Z23 nodded.
=================
The 4 starter destroyers left the room. Leaving him alone. He took out his intercom mic.
"I'm calling for Akashi. Please be here." Caster said in the intercom in his office.
After some waiting, and some reconsidering from looking on his blueprints, Akashi finally made it in the office.
Even though she didn't do well on her repair ship duties, she has been hard at work for orchestrating the repairs of the whole base. It looked like Akashi was handling the business part of being a Commander. And she liked her job for the most part. She felt that it was the only thing she can do for now. With her still feeling guilt 3 days ago.
At the time she arrived, she was kind of tired. Probably basking in too much in the sunlight. Caster comforted her as he gestured her to sit down on one of the sofas. Which was now replaced.
"What do you need of me, nya?" Akashi asked him. In which he took out two small papers and gave it to Akashi. She looked at its contents.
She was wide-eyed. It was a big list.
"Commander, nya..." Akashi silently mumbled but Caster still somehow heard it.
"Can you provide me these things? I know it's a really tall order. And you have been working hard." Caster sympathized with Akashi's situation. With him also stressed more than ever. Just like she is right now.
"I could, but these things are really rare. It will take days for me to start finding them. Nya." Akashi rubbed her head.
"I'll pay for it nicely. Our resource warehouse was practically untouched." And then the green Neko's eyes lit up.
"Say no more." Akashi nodded. Happy that she can still make a profit even though her shop is destroyed. For now. And she went out of the office.
He laid back in his chair. Thinking there's nothing else he needs to do now. Then, his communicator rang on his desk. He picked it up.
"Edrich Caster. What is it?" He said.
"Commander, you may wanna look at this. Come outside to the south-side docks." It was... King George's voice?
"Oh? Okay. I'll be there in a jiffy." He stood up from his chair. And walked out of the office.
=================
He got to the south-side docks. With Warspite and King George V meeting him there.
"Good morning, ladies." Caster greeted the 2. "What do we have here?"
"You know, the Siren Aircraft Carrier that we captured?" Warspite explained the situation at hand.
"Yeah?"
"We fully captured it. With the planes and the controls are ours now." King George continued Warspite's explanation.
But not until Akagi stepped in and hugged Caster tightly. With Caster basically not reacting at all.
"Caster-sama, what are you doing here~?" She said. While squishing him.
"Good afternoon, Akagi. How are you doing?" He looked up to see her face. Surprisingly, she wasn't in her yandere mode. She was genuinely happy to see him.
"I'm doing fine, Commander," Akagi responded.
"Glad that you weren't hurt at the battle. That wouldn't have been fun." Caster smiled at her.
"Oh, you~" Akagi buried his face in her... You know.
After some breathing problems, he finally got out of her... Grasp. And he was escorted by the 2 Royal Navy girls and Akagi to the deck of the Siren Aircraft Carrier.
"Look what we have here?" Caster looked at the grounded airplanes on the Carrier's deck.
Then the 4 went inside the Aircraft Carrier... The place felt eerie with its dark paint. Akagi and Caster himself were very surprised that the Siren carrier had something inside AT ALL. But then, again, if the carrier's insides were hollow, the girls would have easily destroyed the ships with no effort at all.
But it wasn't the most intriguing part yet. After some walking around, Caster and the girls found something... Big. Very big.
"What... Is. This." Caster was almost speechless on what he's seeing. He was slightly wide-eyed also.
What he saw were blueprints. Tons of them. He went to inspect them.
"Have you seen this?" Caster looked at the blueprints.
"No, we haven't." King George said as she looked at Caster. Who had a grin? "Commander?"
Modern blueprints. Planes, helicopters, more advanced guns. And the best thing he found yet.
"Deflector shield blueprint." Caster's grin grew wider. "Akagi,"
"Yes?" Akagi stood up.
"Take the blueprints, and give them on our tech wing. This discovery is big." Caster rolled up all the blueprints on the table. And gave it to Akagi.
Akagi nods and left the carrier.
"What else should we do with this carrier?" King George asked Caster.
"We'll keep this on our back pocket. I'll figure out a use for this." He said before walking out of the carrier's inside and back on the flight deck. With King George and Warspite following him.
"And another one, don't use any of its planes and guns for our own benefit. It's still unknown to its nature."
"Commander..." Warspite ran to Caster as he was about to go down the carrier.
"Yeah, Warspite?" He looked down to see her tugging on him. "Don't tell me..."
"No, no, no. It's nothing like that this time." Warspite helped Caster get down the carrier.
"Oh. What is it this time?"
=================
"This is not what I had in mind..." He groaned in frustration. As he looked around.
Warspite apparently invited Caster to another 'tea' party. But girls participating is way more than last time.
"Warspite invited me, doesn't even come here also." He facepalmed.
Ahem, I'll list off the girls who are in this tea party:
1.) Belfast (Head Maid)
2.) Edinburgh (Maid)
3.) Dido (Maid)
4.) Victorious
5.) King George V
6.) Prince of Wales
7.) Hood
8.) Formidable
9.) Illustrious
10.) Enterprise
He was sitting on a really large round table. He took another look with the other participants here.
His posture was really improper and quite jittery at the number of girls who are in this. And Illustrious was the first one to notice it.
"Commander, you should calm down, okay? No one's here to hurt you." Illustrious turned her head at the nervous Commander.
'Thanks, Captain Illustrious.'
The girls finally were all in their seats and the maids who are here are hastily giving everyone cups and filling them with tea.
Not for long, Caster got his cup and his fill of tea. He looked at it... Judging by the smell, he thinks that this specific tea is way more high quality than others he'd seen.
But he can't taste by just looking at it. So, he was the one who took a sip of his tea. And pairs of eyes were already on him.
'Oh, god... What the hell did I DO?!?!?' He was quick taking sip and sip of his tea in nervousness. And he already emptied the contents of the cup because of it.
"Commander, how are you feeling the past 2 days? Are we doing a good job?" Hood said while still sipping on her tea. And her eyes were darting towards Caster every now and then.
You see, in the aftermath of the attack, Caster has been stressed to the point of near-death on Day 1 after the attack.
So, in response, Hood again orchestrates a plan of different girls coming in and out of his office. It's a different girl(s) every few hours for 1 week. And a maid should be on him AT ALL TIMES. Monitoring his behavior and mood and help if necessary. And Belfast volunteered on that job as soon as she heard of it.
The obvious purpose of this plan is to cheer up Caster. Which was nice. And Caster is visibly more comfortable as the days went by. And Caster isn't pushing anyone away. He accepts the help.
"Well, you're doing a great job. But I still think of that moment." Caster looked down on the ground. Tapping his feet slowly.
As soon as he finished his response, the girl's attentions are on him.
"I'm still feeling something bad when I think of that moment. But sulking about it isn't going to make them come alive again." He continued.
"So... In short, The feeling of loss is something that I am familiar with for the longest time. It's hard-hitting, but life demands us to move on from that. So, I'll try harder this time around." He stared at his empty cup. With a solemn look on his face.
The girls were not surprised. That loss had some impact on everyone. Well, not everyone per se, but most of the kids who attended the funeral of those 2 kids cried as much as Caster did earlier in the day. Some negativity has sprouted up since the death of those 2 kids like Queen Elizabeth commenting that he was irresponsible with his actions and let the kids die like that.
But... Question: Do you blame him for the accidents? With Yorktown's worse condition and the deaths of Aulick and Spence?
And Caster was getting really frustrated with Queen Elizabeth as soon he got wind of the gossip. He wanted an ally. NOT A HATER.
But some of the girls were impressed with his mental fortitude. And admired his resolve to move on as quickly as possible.
As Caster looked up. Looking over the eerily silent girls, he looked at his right. With a big box of... Something. Definitely not from the Coalition for sure. He looked back at King George V.
'Oh, no. I think he's onto me...' King George looked away from his gaze.
With his stare, he said: "Are you girls going to stay here?"
Formidable, Victorious, King George, were now looking at each other trying to make one respond to that question. Which no one wanted to do exactly that.
And Prince of Wales responded to the question for them.
"Commander, the 3 are contemplating on whether the 3 will join you." Prince of Wales finished her tea.
"Yeah, Commander. They also seem to take a liking to you also." Hood said in which Caster didn't react to it once again. Hood's gotta step up her teasing game.
"Your Majesty will be pretty lonely if you did. You girls will sacrifice something if you do join me." Caster replied as his cup was getting refilled with tea by Edinburgh.
"Plus, I have read Queen Elizabeth's background. She's pretty good. Don't let your Queen down."
The 3 nodded knowing that he had a point. Joining Caster and Azur Lane would also mean that they're going to leave Queen Elizabeth with no knights to command. But King George thought of a compromise on the spot.
"Okay... We'll not join you officially. But the Royal Navy will keep in touch with you... Is that satisfactory?" King George V told Caster who was drinking the 3rd fill of his tea. He seems addicted to it now.
Caster nodded and all of the girls went through the tea party as normal. But an outlier since the start of the tea party, Enterprise, (who wasn't really fond of tea parties) just went missing on her chair. Just disappeared. Even with Belfast keeping an eye on her.
"Where... Did Enterprise go?" Victorious was the first one to notice her sudden disappearance.
And it wasn't long before Caster caught up with the situation.
"Damn. Lives up to the nickname "Grey Ghost", alright." He laid back. Fully knowing that he made a joke. A corny one. And the girl's reactions definitely showed that.
"I'll just excuse myself. I'll go find her." Caster stood up and excused himself from the tea party. With him running north.
Hood was quiet on this predicament.
"Belfast," Hood as she shifted her view to Belfast.
"Yes, Ms. Hood?" Belfast bowed at her.
"Follow him." Hood plainly said before Belfast excused herself also and walked leisurely to the north.
=================
Caster found her on the docks. With her walking to her carrier. Badly damaged. With critical repairs still not done yet. It will take a week before Enterprise can fully get back into action.
And after some more chasing and Belfast trailing him from behind, Enterprise went up to her carrier.
Caster got there also... He saw her sitting on the edge of her runway...
"Enterprise..."
A-kun: Thank you so much PokemonLover10102001 for giving me the idea of using the captured Siren Aircraft Carrier. It was a really bright idea and I plan to use this idea once more in the future. Again, thank you so much for being nice and giving me inspiration. Anyway, and I hope you all enjoy that long-ass chapter, and see you in the next one. Goodbye!
Word Count: 4073 Words.
5/30/20
11:09 PM