As she watched her rigging crumbling around her in a rain of flaming steel and magical paper, Ryuujou knew that she had made a mistake.

As she fell, in a moment of consciousness, she managed to cast her gaze towards the USS Saratoga. She was unharmed. In fact, even if she had taken the armor piercing bomb that was meant for her, she'd probably still be relatively fine with her battlecruiser constitution and American damage control.

So then, why did Ryuujou jump in?

'Well, this is an even stupider way to die than the last one', Ryuujou thought to herself as she began losing consciousness, her last vision being the sight of Saratoga running towards her, her face full of grief and panic.

XXX

Whether it was because of an anomaly during her summoning or because of simple mental trauma, Ryuujou had always had only one dream whenever she went to sleep.

It was a bright, cloudless day, thought how she knew this she was not sure, for she had no eye. But even without an eye or ear, she still knew that she was being chased. She was trying to run, as hard as she could, exhausting every resource inside of her.

She felt fear, and then pain as explosions started raining upon her. A moment of defiance flashed across her mind as her AA started singing, and then crushed as suddenly almost all of her guns were silenced.

She was sinking, defeated. Hundreds of men were drowning and burning, and she felt them all.

Every last breath escaping their desperate lungs.

Every last scream as their body burned.

So much pain, yet she couldn't even cry.

So instead, she cried after she woke up.

XXX

Saratoga was confused.

She was sitting next to the bed of the currently sleeping Ryuujou. The mechanic had said that she would be awake soon, yet Saratoga still did not know what to say when she ultimately did.

Would she berate her for her unnecessary, stupid sacrifice? Would she thank her?

The light carrier had shown nothing but contempt for Saratoga ever since she arrived, walking out of the room whenever she came in and only ever talking to her in a professional manner.

So why the sudden change of heart?

Before she could find an answer, Ryuujou suddenly snapped her eyes open, looking straight at Saratoga.

Then she screamed.

She screamed and jumped as if she had suddenly seen a monster.

"W...wait!"

Saratoga tried to stop her, but in her haste to get away from Saratoga, Ryuujou accidentally fell onto the floor on the other side of her bed. Saratoga quickly moved to lend aid, but found herself almost a victim of Ryuujou's swift kick.

Surprised, Saratoga took a step back, her mind moving and analyzing as if she were in battle. Ryuujou was on the floor, her legs moving desperately and pushing herself against the wall as if she were trying to sink into it and away from Saratoga. Her bandaged body was becoming red as her wound started reopening.

Saratoga was still confused, but no matter what, Saratoga knew that Ryuujou needed to be calmed down as soon as possible. The hospital staff surely had heard Ryuujou's scream, so Saratoga should be able to simply wait for a professional help. That'd be the logical course of action.

But apparently, Saratoga's brain was not up to any logical thinking at the moment.

Against her better judgment, Saratoga leaped forward and began pulling Ryuujou into a warm hug. Ryuujou expectedly struggled, punching and kicking like mad. For a moment, Saratoga wondered if she had made a fatal mistake, but then Ryuujou suddenly stopped screaming.

Instead, she started crying.

Her struggling legs and arms stopped punching and kicking, and she began returning Saratoga's hug. Saratoga couldn't see her face, but she knew that Ryuujou was crying by the feeling of warmth she felt on her chest from her silent tears.

"I'm sorry." Saratoga whispered. She did not know why she said it, but she felt that it was necessary anyway, somehow. "I'm sorry."

Saratoga kept on repeating her words in a rhythmic manner until Ryuujou's breathing began to stabilize and her limbs began to lose their strength.

"Miss Ryuujou?" Saratoga called, only to realize that Ryuujou had fallen into a deep, peaceful slumber.

The first she had in years.