(I honestly have no idea why I began writing this story. The random thought just came to me and I feel like I have to write it down now. I don't expect this story to be any good, but as a plot line comes to me I will add on to it. It is my first time writing a Kancolle Fanfic, so I hope it's at least somewhat enjoyable.)

Chapter 1: 797

"Wh-where am I?"

The girl blinked her eyes. She was staring at the clouds, feeling like they were looking back at her as if she were something to be swallowed up. She craned her head up for she was lying on her back sprawled out in a rather awkward position. Her two turrets were lying across her lap sleeping. She smiled as best she could. They had clearly been trying to wake her, though considering that she was unconscious for what appeared to be quite a long time going by her parched throat and grumbling stomach, that failed. The girl was not much to look at. Her serafuku was shredded and her neck guard had a large crack across the front. Her neckerchief was tattered and her hair was a tousled mess. Dried blood from infected cuts coated her skin in many places and a lump was still prominent on her forehead. Most of her remaining clothing was slightly damp.

This was destroyer girl Akizuki.

She sat up slowly trying not to cause more damage to herself. Her body was wracked with pain and she gritted her teeth. Her muscles had locked up from being still for so long and having spent an inordinate amount of time lying across her broken rigging didn't help her case. She took a look beside her. Her two turret mounts had been heavily damaged and two of her four torpedo tubes had been damaged beyond repair. Three of her spare barrels for her turrets were missing entirely from her leg holster. Her turrets then shuddered and she put a hand on both of them. They were beginning to wake. Both of them looked pretty bad, with metal dented in many places. They blinked their eyes and looked at Akizuki, chittering with delight at seeing their master awake.

"Hey you guys made it." Said Akizuki. She knew they couldn't respond in a meaningful way. In a sense they were much like dogs, but they understood her. She patted them both and looked around, taking in her surroundings. She had washed up on the shore of an island from her point of view, and yet the rather fast-moving water was a murky grey despite the sun illuminating the island from a hole in the cloud cover. Brown rocks were scattered across the dust colored beach and when she looked behind her, she found large grey cliffs rising behind her, with a heavily beaten and forbidding path leading up into the rocks. There was no flora or fauna to be seen. Even most sounds found on a beachside like the whistling of the wind or the rolling of the waves seemed almost muted to her. The whole entire area appeared to be dead.

"How did I get here?" She asked to empty space. She tried to remember how she had gotten here and failed. Her head was a whirl of pain and emotions and thinking was difficult. She struggled to stand up and fell down a few times much to her turrets dismay. But on her fourth try she managed to keep herself up. She looked to either side of her. The beach she had washed up on was not all that large. It was bordered by what appeared to be impassable rocks. Looking at herself, there was no way she was going to be able to make it out to sea and back home. Even if she didn't collapse from pain her engine unit was barely functioning. Not only that, she didn't know where she was, so it was impossible to plot a course home. She was lucky to even have washed up on this island. For a brief moment, she wondered if she was going to be trapped here.

Her stomach rumbled. Akizuki felt an new all encompassing weariness wash over her as she realized she was really hungry. Reaching back behind her funnel, she opened the emergency hatch and pulled out a bag that contained a nutrient block, a packet of water, a flint and steel, and a small piece of parchment with an attached pencil. All shipgirls had a hatch like this that was in a hard to reach area. It was put there for exactly this event of being washed up on shore and needing some essential things to survive. However the officers who made the rule probably didn't take into account being washed up in a place like this. At least most islands have some sort of flora. She nibbled the block and drank in small bursts to soothe her parched throat, being careful not to drink too much while checking over her gear.

"I lost a tank of fuel, this isn't good." She despaired. One of two tanks of fuel that she kept equipped in case her turrets needed an energy boost was missing. The other one was only half filled. She immediately assumed her turrets had taken some, which was ok. They were not stupid and they wouldn't waste resources in a situation like this. She was going to have to ration what she had left. Given her situation, things were not looking good. Very little food and water with no way to obtain more and two turrets who would need fuel soon. Akizuki resolved to explore the beach, with her turrets following behind her. As she walked, she felt some of her strength return. The beach was in fact, very small, and there was no way to really get out of it. And she didn't have the energy to swim around the island.

Her only option was to follow the path that lead into the cliffs. It seemed unusual to her that there was such a path on an island like this, but at this point a path meant there may be either animals or people. She would be grateful to accept either. Doing her best not to trip on anything that would lead to a fatal fall, destroyer girl Akizuki stumbled down the path. The scenery didn't change much at all as she moved. Just barren wasteland comprised of nothing except dirt and rocks. Steep cliffs still bordered either side of path and as she traveled down it, the path became more rugged before it began to twist violently. At one point she had to squeeze between two rocks to follow it, which added to her growing list of pain problems. The cliffs were becoming high enough to block out the majority of the sun's rays. Akizuki felt swallowed up by the cliffs, like she was descending into the depths of the Earth. But there was light up ahead. And what she found was quite interesting.

She had popped out into a small open crater. It was still just as barren as the rest of the island seemed to be, but there was a large H painted on the ground in faded yellow. Other than that, the crater was empty.

Unless you didn't discount the huge solid metal doors set into the cliffside.

They were painted the same color as the surrounding terrain and Akizuki didn't notice them at first. These were not fancy doors, and one was pushed in, providing an opening into the underground facility it led to. Cold fear pulsed through Akizuki's veins. It looked like something straight out of a horror movie. Darkness seemed to flow out from behind the doors, threatening to engulf her and drag her down. Mustering up enough courage in her little heart, she peeked into the gap. A dark staircase led down into the facility.

"You'll protect me right?" She said to her Chou-chan's, which looked at her and gave her their best nod. "Good." And with that, she stepped into the facility. It was quiet. The air was stale and it felt thick in her lungs. She turned on her one surviving searchlight, which flickered before popping on. The staircase didn't lead down far, and it was connected to a hallway. She crept forward, not eager to make any noise should there be something here although she doubted there was. She felt like the hallway stretched on forever.

Then she arrived at a door, or at least what was left of it.

More like a hatch than anything, the steel door had a hole twice the size of a grown man punched through the middle of it. She stepped through it, cutting herself on a jagged piece of metal and she silently swore. The room on the other side of the door was unlike any room she had seen before. Her light cast a dismal glare on the scene There were lab benches and broken equipment scattered across the floor. Damaged tables revealed torn and faded parchment. Lights hung broken from the ceiling. Dried blood was abundant, painted in droves across the floor, walls, and the furniture.

And there were skeletons.

Human skeletons.

They appeared to be everywhere, and not all in one piece. She found bones littered everywhere, all colored grey with the dust of age. Some of the skeletons were covered with torn cloth that was white once, but had been reduced to shredded material, tainted the color of dark blood blood.

"What is this place?" Akizuki asked her Chou-chan's. They were holding onto her legs with their fins, looking up at her with scared expressions. Nothing felt right in this place. The only things she could hear was the sound of moving water and a faint hum. Hydroelectricity? It made sense. She had already observed earlier the current surrounding the island. Whoever built this place wanted to make the most of the environment. She found a lightswitch and flicked it on. Only one light blinked on, and it flickered with the desire to extinguish itself, but it cast a better glow than her searchlight. The people that were here before her were clearly scientists and engineers. God only knew how long it had been since they died. There was no tissue left on the skeletons, so it had to have been at least 10 years or so since they died. She picked up some pieces of torn parchment with writing on them. It was written in Japanese thank heavens.

And she gasped.

Though the writing was faded and smudged, she could make out some drawings with annotations on the sides.

The drawings were of Kanmusu.

She couldn't make out much more than that. The weaponry and finer details had been lost to old age, but she could read the titles of the pages.

"Owari-type, Kazusa-type…" She hesitated before setting the pages back down. Right now was not the time for investigation, she had to find either a way off the island or at least a way to survive. She looked around. Three doors led out from the main room in the three cardinal directions, each one having a similarly sized hole to the one she just came through blown through it. Each one had a sign over it.

Living Quarters

Research, Testing Room, Powerplant

Cells

Akizuki chose living quarters first, hoping that there would be a clue as to what happened to everyone. There wasn't much to find here. Several rooms were connected by hallways, leading into a mess hall, a kitchen, and sleeping quarters for both men and women with bathroom's for each. The same scene as the entrance room was repeated in each of the other rooms, with blood staining almost every surface and long dead skeletons draped over furniture or sprawled out on the floor. Someone had obviously found this place and disliked what was going on here. The only things of value she found was more nutrient blocks and packets of sealed water. She said a silent thanks to the gods. She wasn't going to starve to death or die of dehydration soon. Now that she had this, she consumed the remainder of the nutrient block and packet of water she had opened. While pain still flared in areas of her body, her strength was coming back and she was able to think more clearly. There were first aid kits here as well and though they were old, the bandages and disinfectant was still usable. She poured some over her dried cuts and then bandaged them as best she could. She was no repair ship, so it was rather shoddy work, but it would hold.

Once she had finished tending to herself, she gathered up her newfound belongings and put them in an empty blood soaked cloth bag that was on the floor next to a dining table, giving a silent thanks to those who were here before her. She exited the living quarters and chose the second door, Research, Testing Room, Powerplant. This door led to a hallway that connected to three rooms. There were four, but the passage leading to the Testing Room had caved in. Silently, she swore again, wishing to know what was behind the rocks that now blocked her path. The other two rooms proved to be extensive laboratories, which contained significantly more lab equipment then the room she entered the facility from. There were medical chairs and beds as well as a disturbing amount of surgical tools. There was a chair that still had skeletal remains strapped into it. Akizuki felt her stomach churn as she looked at the skeleton, which looked back at her with as long of an expression as a skeleton can manage. She turned and left the room quickly, not eager to sear anymore images of dead people into her mind.

The powerplant room held an interesting surprise.

Along with all the other skills they taught in Kanmusu school, students were also taught the same information and material that regular people were taught. Supposedly this was to help integrate the shipgirls into society better after the Abyssal war was over. This of course, failed. Shipgirls were just too different from normal humans to fit in properly. And still the war marched on, so opportunities for interaction were few and far between. But they had the same basic knowhow that humans had. Akizuki also happened to be a very studious person, though this was by necessity more than by choice. Modern powerplants and how they worked were taught in her classes.

The hydroelectric powerplant was beyond sophisticated, and despite the age of the facility, it was still operating perfectly. One wall was entirely made of dense yet clear glass, revealing extremely fast flowing water behind it. The water was going through a giant metal box that despite the rushing water and the glass wall, Akizuki could hear the sound of the machinery inside it. Large cables that pulsed with energy extended out of the box and into the room through the glass wall. They were connected to several other boxes that seemed to be distributing power to the facility. There were less dead people here than there was in the rest of the base, and Akizuki took the time to investigate everything closely. One console glowed with life. Upon removing a skeleton from it's position on top of it, much to Akizuki's disgust, it displayed a power map of the facility.

"What the heck?" She asked herself. Aside from the surviving lights she had been turning on, there was an large amount of power being channeled to the cell block area. Particularly a single large cell block. But what for? She gathered up her Choujuusenchihou-chans and proceeded directly to the cell rooms.

It was here that she vomited.

There wasn't much in her stomach, but it all came out anyway, spewing across the floor in a disgusting mess. The stench of decay hung fresh in the air and Akizuki had to cover her nose and mouth to prevent herself from breathing in the vile smell, coughing with her throat searing. Even then it burned the back of her throat more and tears sprang to her eyes. Lined up against the wall were cell blocks, holding chambers protected by fields of light blue force.

Inside were dead Kanmusu.

Dying of either dehydration or starvation, or possibly both, these girls still had their rigging attached to their bodies. Battleship cannons and destroyer torpedo tubes of varying caliber still carried their payloads, useless now. Without any carrion feeders to help decompose the corpses, the task was left to the slow working microorganisms. It didn't explain why everyone else in the facility was nothing more than bones, but the flesh of these corpses were still black and green from rot. There were dozens of cells, each one containing at least one dead Kanmusu, lining the right hand wall and on the left was another dense glass window spanning the length of the hall, revealing a huge empty test chamber. A portion of it was intentionally flooded and there were facilities for launching Kanmusu. A practice chamber?

It was then that Akizuki deduced the intent of the facility. It was a Kanmusu development facility. There was nothing else it could be. The papers with Kanmusu drawn on them? The research rooms, and now this? The people who ran the facility must have been doing experiments on Kanmusu. But it was not normal testing. Who imprisoned Kanmusu like this? These girls...some had their skeletal hands clasping the bars behind the forcefields, trying desperately to escape. Akizuki felt sorry for the girls. To die like they did was…..horrible.

Despite her urge to cry, she moved forward. At the end of the hallway was a much bigger forcefield that took up the entire end wall. Even though she guessed there was someone dead inside, it still warranted a look.

This cell however, appeared empty.

Akizuki frowned. Unlike the other cells, this one was at least five times the size of a normal cell and didn't have any furnishings like the other cells such as beds or sinks. Instead there was a single T shaped stand in the middle of the room. Huge gun pointed at the T stand from mounts on the wall and hanging above it was an unusually huge piece of equipment that she couldn't make out the details of due to the darkness of the room. The room was only lit by the blue forcefield.

Then she heard soft breathing coming from inside the cell.

She squinted, and once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she let out a gasp.

There was in fact, someone inside the cell. A boy.

She shined her searchlight inside the cell. There was the boy, shackled with huge irons to the T stand. He wasn't Japanese. In fact, he looked more American than anything else, but he was terrifying. He was taller than she was, dressed in a faded white shirt that was partially covered by the midnight black leather jacket he wore. Dark jeans and dark boots completed his lower half. His eyes were hidden by the black cap he wore, and on his hands were two fingerless black leather gloves. His breathing wasn't labored, but it was faint. Blood leaked from under the shackles bound to his wrists.

Akizuki wasn't sure what to do. He was obviously trapped and probably wanted those chains off, but she hesitated. First off she didn't know how to disable the forcefield. Second, one does not just release a man who has active defense systems pointed at him. He was clearly dangerous.

"Are you going to kill me?..."

All her thought processes stopped. The boy's voice was…..neutral. It contained neither anger, nor happiness. There was no inflection at all, no accent. Just neutral. Her Choujuusenchihou-chans shuddered and began to chitter softly.

'I'm uh…..uh…..I'm not going to hurt you." Said Akizuki. She wasn't sure what to say. He was quiet, but at least he could speak her language. Yet how do you talk to a prisoner in a situation like this?

"Okay."

"What happened here, do you know?" Akizuki asked. Maybe he knew what happened here. The boy lifted his head, revealing eyes colored an ocean blue. But his face still bore no emotion.

"Black monsters came. They killed everyone here and ate the flesh from their bones. They couldn't reach the girls in the other cells. I listened to them as they slowly died. But I cannot die myself."

"I'm….I'm sorry. I just woke up here myself. I washed up on the beach outside. I don't remember much of how I got here. Do you know how you got here?"

"I know nothing of the outside world. The only thing I know are these walls that keep me locked in here. Occasionally they would bring me to their big room to shoot at black monsters, but then they would lock me up here afterwards."

"Oh I see...I really am sorry. For how long have you been here?"

"I don't know. I was the first one here. Soon others joined me. It has been a long time. I can barely even remember Sanuki's voice. She was perhaps the only friend I ever had. She would comfort me with words every time I would come back here from being tested. She suffered too much. I would comfort her too after she came back screaming and weeping, her arms bleeding and burned sometimes. She is right beside you now. I hope her passing was as painless as could be."

Akizuki turned to the cell that was right next to this one. There was a girl, wrapped in blankets on the small bed set into the wall. Even though she was now half decomposed, Akizuki could tell she was once very beautiful. Tears sprung to her eyes again, but she wiped them away.

So the Abyssals came here. They were probably the black monsters the boy was talking about. It explained why everyone else here was nothing more than a skeleton while the girls were still rotting in their cells. Yuubari had once told her about Abyssal behavior and their policy on captives. If it couldn't be turned into another Abyssal, eat it. At the same time though it seemed like the Kanmusu had an even worse time here. The experiments that were done on them seemed horrible.

"That's...terrible. I never want to end up in a position like that." Said Akizuki. "Excuse me, but my name is Akizuki. I am an anti-aircraft destroyer. Do you have a name?" Akizuki asked the boy.

"The people in white always called me 797." He paused. "But I liked Sanuki's name for me."

"What was that name?"

"Oumi. She called me that because of my blue eyes. She said they were the color of the sea."

"That is a nice name." Said Akizuki. "You are a Kanmusu too right?"

"I am not a female, but yes, I believe I am the first fleet boy."

"Really?" Said Akizuki. "She had never heard of a boy becoming part of the fleet. All ships were girls supposedly. Then again considering the tests the people who ran the facility put the Kanmusu through, It wouldn't surprise her if she found some documents on using a male instead.

"Listen Oumi. Do you know of a way I can break you out of here? Maybe together we can get off this island and back home." She still wasn't sure if she could trust him, but he didn't seem like he was going to kill her.

"Are there people in white at this home too? I don't want to go to a place where there are more of those people."

"Uhhh…" There was the admiral. He always wore a white uniform unless there was a special event or a day off.. "There is one man, but he is a really nice guy. He takes care of us all. There are a lot more Kanmusu where I come from and most of them are really friendly." Oumi's head dropped. He seemed to be thinking.

"Destroy the power plant. This facility uses hydroelectricity to power it. If you do that the forcefields should go down and the power going to these defensive turrets. You will find the powerplant in the eastern section."

"I already found it." Said Akizuki. Oumi lifted his head. This time he was smiling slightly.

"You remind me of Sanuki. You seem very nice. I trust you to get me out of here." Akizuki blushed at the statement.

"I'll...I'll be going now." Said Akizuki. She turned and with her turrets, walked off back towards the powerplant.

She wasn't sure if what she was doing was right. But she didn't see any other options other than sit here and wait for her food and water supply to run out. There were no places where she could repair or if there were she hadn't found them yet, and she was in no condition to try escaping herself. Her only option was to trust Oumi. He probably knew the place better than she did. Perhaps there was a way off the island he knew that she didn't.

One way or another. It was time for a prison break.