Dark clouds loomed ominously on the Australian horizon as USS Charleston, anchored offshore, watched the man on her bridge. Captain Towers.

The memories flashed through her mind. Fires raging across Los Angeles, the city in ruins when the smoke cleared. Golden Gate bridge destroyed. Nothing but bodies, horribly mutilated with burns and sores from the radiation... The submarine shook her head to clear it. Now was not the time to go down memory lane.

Her eyes flickered again to her captain. Her captain. The man whom she'd go to hell and back for to keep safe. It was her sole duty, to protect him and in that she was failing. Nothing could protect him or the rest of humanity from what was coming. The war began with little warning. Missiles fired from her own kind served as the opening shots. Nothing on land stood a chance. When the smoke cleared, there was no winner or loser. Just death. Death everywhere. Anyone caught above ground would die within a week of the radioactive cloud reaching them. Charleston's shame ran deep. Her kind was meant to protect humanity, protect their nations. All they had done was destroy both. And now here she and her captain were, the last of their kind.

She deserved it, Charleston tried to convince herself. She'd failed in her duty as a United States Submarine and as a loyal pet to her commander. The extinction of her kind was a small price to pay for her failure. If only they didn't have to take humanity down with them.

And yet, Charleston still hoped, still prayed that there were some humans out there who survived, who would survive the harsh years to come. Perhaps there were a few of her sisters left, prowling the deep seas with a full complement of people on board. Hopefully they had the sense to mix the genders in order to ensure the regrowth of the population. If there were any around though, Charleston would never know. She'd made her choice to remain with her captain and Towers had chosen to remain with his men on shore. A death sentence for sure. But one that Charleston was willing to follow. She wouldn't leave her captain, she couldn't! Not now, not ever! She'd remain loyal to the end.

Eyes flickering to the high voltage storm moving in, Charleston nodded. A simple bob upon the waves. She cut her storm anchor and set a new course, bow pointing directly for the open beach 8 miles ahead. Captain Towers clutched the bridge tightly as the impact of keel and sand vibrated the hull bow to stern. The sudden flow of blood stained the water red as it lapped against the sand gently. No words were spoken, none needed to be said. Both man and ship knew and understood one another in that moment.

Both pairs of eyes turned to the encroaching storm. The emotions hit both hard as reality struck them. Captain Towers was the first to break.

"I don't want to die." He whispered, voice breaking. "I don't want you to die." He stroke the side of his sub's bridge.

"Get inside, close the hatch. I will protect you for as long as I can." Charleston replied.

The submarine curled upon herself as the storm front struck, blasting sand and debris against her hull. But that wasn't the killer. The true killer was the invisible radiation that was carried with it. As a nuclear submarine, Charleston was immune to radiation within certain quantities. But this, this was too concentrated for even her to hold against for long. Her double hull protected the life inside for as long as it could, absorbing the radiation to the brim before it began to leak inside.

After a few days the storm had passed and Captain Towers, skin red and breaking out in blisters from the radiation, emerged from the hatch, staggering down onto the sand beside his submarine. Charleston's once sleek black hull had turned a pale gray and bright red rashes covered most of it. She gave a weak cough and her fins twitched only slightly as she acknowledged his presence.

"Charleston." He whispered. His legs gave out and he fell to his knees, hands reaching out to weakly stroke his submarine's nose.

"Captain..." Charleston rasped weakly. Her green eyes opened but they were glassy and blank save for a tiny spark that showed there was still life in her. She was blind, blind from the lethal dose of radiation she received.

"Why did you do it?" He asked, voice shaking in anguish. "Two species will die now because of you, why?"

"I did it for you." The submarine drew a shallow breath at each word. "Besides, the lost of my kind is a small price to pay for what we have caused to yours."

"Don't leave me. Don't you dare." Captain Towers growled as he fell upon her nose. "Don't leave me here alone even for a second."

"I would never even dream of doing that to you, captain." Charleston gasped. Her breaths were becoming increasingly shallow, her heartbeat erratic.

Captain Towers was finding it difficult to find his voice as his own breaths grew raspy. He wanted to whisper the words he never had the chance to speak to her. He was planning on doing it when the patrol ended.

"Charleston?" He began.

"I'm here, captain." She replied.

"B-before all this happened, the night before we left port, I'd gone to a jewelers store. I still have what they gave me. I-I wanted to present it to you when we got home." He fumbled in his pockets until he found what he was looking for. A little black box. He opened it revealing a 50 karat diamond ring. Though she couldn't see it, Charleston felt it when the cold stone touched her ear.

"Is-is it what I think it is, captain?" She asked, voice shaking as her blind eyes watered.

"What do you think it is, corisonate?" He asked gently.

"Oh captain!" She cried. Her port fin pulled him close to her in an embrace. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Each word was given with a kiss at the end of it. "Yes, I will captain. I would've married you! Oh, I was wondering if you'd ever ask."

"I wouldn't want anyone else to spend the rest of my life with, Charleston." He whispered, fingers stroking the ear that held the ring lovingly. He himself had a matching one. "I know you can't see it but the band reads something."

"Tell me." Charleston begged, voice no higher than a whisper.

"Celis de Oceania eit silene eterabound amouris." He read. (The sea beckons as we sail eternally bound in our love)

Charleston gave a dry sob. "I would've loved to, captain." She whispered.

"Ei silene, mi corison. Ne neit woe ye." He said. (We still can, my love. For I will never leave your side.)

"Ye neit woe ne, corison." She replied. (Nor will I, my love)

Charleston's body convulsed, her fins jerking as she coughed hard. They went deep and sounded painful. Blood gleamed on her lips. Captain Towers did what he could to ease her pain.

"Are you sure you won't take the anesthetic?" He asked, referring to the substance on board that could euthanize her.

"I will not leave you." She whispered back.

She coughed again and this time Captain Towers joined her, both spat blood as their internal organs failed. The man laid himself down over his submarine's nose, his left hands' fingers gripping the steel hull tight to ensure not even the sea could separate them. His right hand rested just above her eyes, fingers gently rubbing that spot to soothe her as best he could.

"I love you." He whispered, chest heaving now as he fought for breath.

"And I love you." She replied.

Another cough wracked her and she convulsed. Captain Towers' right hand was knocked off her forehead and he was too weak to move it back. It fell back limply, striking the sub's fin. On instinct, the human grabbed it and felt Charleston respond. But that was the last response he ever got from his submarine. Darkness crowded his vision as his heartbeat stopped and his chest ceased to rise. Captain Towers and his submarine, USS Charleston, died at the exact same time. Not even a millisecond apart.

They were together, until the end.

Just close your eyes.

You'll be alright.

Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound.