-Tempus Mare Puera -Arkh's Kancolle Fanfic-
Tags: AU-verse, Non-canon, OC.
Chapter 2: Fractal Stories
"So, you want to know about Erebus Hime…" Rowy said with interest
while he viewed the pinned notes and papers scattered around Asahi's room,
"The Abyssal Hime that wanders around in aimless circles, destroying everything
in her path."
A paper displaying a sketch of the hime in question then drifted
between Asahi and Rowy. The creature turned its gaze from the screen
to Asahi then commented, "You really are interesting, Battleship Asahi. I
wonder how you heard about her."
Asahi stayed silent, her patience tested by Rowy's searching gaze.
Her silence then finally prompted him to carry on.
"Erebus Hime, as you already seem to know, was created at the end of
the event you humans call the 'First Spring War'," Rowy recounted as
he stared straight into Asahi's eyes, "It was a time of hatred,
suffering and grief… Also, it was one of the periods of human history
when Abyssals were even more numerous and their attacks rampant."
"The First Spring War was rife with suicides and massacres." Asahi
replied with disgust, "It's not very hard to make a connection between
suffering and Abyssals… let alone Erebus Hime."
"Yes, Abyssals were everywhere." Rowy admitted, "Every nation ravaged
by the war and the suffering that accompanied it was also ravaged by
despair. Therefore, many girls secretly was taken to take up arms and become
Kanmusu to counter the despair."
"And you happily guided them...…"
"Why, yes of course! How could I refuse?" Rowy asked, curious as to
why Asahi was so taken aback by that fact, "They themselves pleaded
with the me to give them the strength to fight, the military was close to the point they could develop the Kanmusu system, all I gave them is a little nudge and the strength
they asked for and even granted them their wish to protect the people they love! It was more than a fair
deal for them, don't you think? Giving them strength and granting their family solace, that is."
Rowy then paused for a moment then sighed, its eerie smile ever
present on its face, "You too have had your reason to fight… right,
Asahi?"
The way Rowy asked her that made Asahi feel rather uneasy. She felt
as if he was trying to coerce information out of her, on top of actively
trying to read her mind. Sweat slowly dripped from Asahi's forehead as
she was locked in a staring contest with the red-eyed creature. She knew
Rowy looked at her with great suspicion and distrust, just as she did
towards Rowy.
Unaffected by the silence, Rowy reached for the paper floating
between them. He held onto it and the sketch of Erebus Hime was
replaced by black and white static, as if someone was rewinding a VHS
tape. Rowy let go of the screen and random video clips began flashing
from it – distorted and unclear. However, Asahi could still make out
three different girls from the alternating videos.
The screen showed a Japanese girl sitting alone in a bay, meditative
and silent. It then jumped to an American lady in her early twenties
looking out to the sea and the setting sun from the balcony of a large,
white plantation house, a half-drank Coca Cola bottle in her hand. The
third time around, the screen showed a young Filipina girl walking
happily with her mechanic father in a hangar full of USAFFE interceptor
planes. Asahi was starting to get confused.
"Three girls…" She muttered in thought before asking, "Why am I seeing
three girls?"
Her eyes sharpened.
"Are you trying to be funny?"
"No, no. I would not be able to make a joke even if I wanted to – nor
would I be able to lie." Rowy assured, "Ask me a question and I will
answer it truthfully."
"Who then are those girls?"
"They are the three girls responsible for the birth of Erebus Hime."
Rowy replied, "The tale of these three girls and the tale of Erebus Hime are, as some of your humans would say, one and the same."
The video then finally stabilized, showing a scene in the Tokyo Imperial
Castle in the past,
*Act I*
Top officials of the branches of the Japanese military had come together
for an emergency meeting to discuss the course of action they wanted to
take in the coming days. Unlike in their previous meetings which were
noted to be serious and fearful, the officials were in unusually high
spirits – they joked, smiled, smoked and laughed merrily.
Only days ago, the very thought of war with the Abyssals
would have struck fear in the Japanese central command. But that day,
grand offensive battle plans sweeping through all of the Far East were
drawn up. The maps they had spread out over the tables were marked with
the fortresses and encampments of the Abyssals forces
throughout the Far East and their proposed offensives would strike at
each and every one of them. Against their better judgment, they were
very much eager to execute it. It was a strange sight, caused by the
marks on the necks of the officials that were invisible to the untrained
eye – Abyssals Corruptions.
The officials had become bloodthirsty, pushed to the edge by the
frustration that had built up after the withdrawal of their allies
from Japan to protect their own country and the more recent sea blockade imposed
against them by the Abyssals. Rather than listen to reason, they had let their emotions
guide their decision-making. They had unwittingly led themselves into
the Abyssals's plan.
Within the nearby Tokyo Bay, a red moon shone menacingly over a seemeingly endless sea
littered with rotting corpses that never ceased twitching. Huge
grey skies changed at an unusual pace and spectral Taiko drummers beat
their drums on and on could be heard but cannot be seen. Thousands of short, black and faceless
little abyssals clad in bones resembling the body of a dolphin swam
lethargically in formation. In the
center were rows of Torii arches, set permanently ablaze in dark blue
flames, lining a path stained with blood and littered with bits of flesh
and torn limbs. At the end of the path was a
girl wearing clothes made from a bizarre mix of cast iron and papier-mâché. Japanese
fans marked with more abyssals marking swiped from the Hime's hand, rising up
and down to the beat of the Taiko drums.
That girl is the Abyssal hime that corrupted the bay.
The foreign sound of wooden slippers parting the waves then
resounded throughout the bay. It quickly caught the attention of the
hime, its iris-less eyes trained at the source of the sound. The
statue found a lone Japanese girl in a blue kimono patterned with
morning glories walking slowly towards the dolphin abyssals army. A hairpin the girl wore
bore a magnificent paulownia-shaped gem that gave off a dull turquoise
glow. She held a naginata firmly in her left hand and a Type 100
submachine gun in her right.
Not pleased with the unwelcome visitor, the hime readied the
fan she held. She lifted it up then waved it down, ordering
the dolphin-like abyssals fleet to march towards the girl in the blue kimono.
The faceless dolphin fleet sailed together, their orchestrated advances akin to
thunder. The girl walked onwards patiently, her face showing no fear.
When the vanguard of the fleet was within striking distance, she finally
attacked.
Large swipes from her naginata cleaved scores of black dolphin-like abyssals at a
time and long bursts of submachine gun fire would mow down the rest
that had come to reinforce their lines, allowing her to press forward.
The girl in the blue kimono wedged her way through the enemy and got
onto the stone path towards the stationary Hime.
Ahead of the little abyssals fleet now, the girl slashed at the flaming Torii arches
and they collapsed behind her – blocking the path of her pursuers. Thus,
the battle had become one-on-one; a duel between the girl in the blue
kimono and the Tokyo bay Hime.
Under the cover of the burning arches the girl open-fired at the witch.
Immediately, the fan that the Hime held blocked the
bullets – deflecting them as if the fan were made of sturdy metal. This
defensive maneuver however would work towards the kimono girl's
advantage. Using the Toori as a sort of springboard the girl managed to
jump onto her and then pounce at the Hime. The girl ran up the hime's back and, with a clean swipe of her naginata, she beheaded the
Hime.
The girl jumped down from the headless hime and landed on the bloodied
water where a red,glowing crystal now sat. A moment later, the grey skies of the
abyssals influence crumbled apart and later on, she swerved back to
the Imperial Palace in a hurry.
Listening in on the conversation of the officials huddled in their room,
the girl noticed that their previous euphoria had banished. Their
intention to strike at the Abyssals, however, remained
firmly intact. Orders were already being given out to begin preparations
for an attack. The influence of the hime was gone, but the abyssals had
succeeded in accelerating the beginnings of the War in the Pacific.
The girl had come from Hokkaido, travelling southward by boat then by
train to Tokyo, defeating a handful of Abyssals and many more
along the way – all of which seemed to have the same goal as the Hime
in the Tokyo Bay. She couldn't help but think that the same was
true elsewhere in the world.
She heard about the tragedies all over the world; the massive
bombardment of Great Britain by the abyssals carriers, the indiscriminate masacree of
people throughout Axis-controlled territory and the grand systematic
defeats and sacrifices by red fleet in the Soviet Union. The
list went on and on. The number of abyssals gathering in Asia greatly
troubled her, but she could not figure out what they would gain from
provoking and advancing a war, much less trying to advance the higly secret Kanmusu program. The patterns she started to see didn't make sense.
Little did she know that the war in the Pacific was the next piece of
the puzzle to set up the stage for the greatest and most tragic drama
known to man.
"Erebus Hime… was born in the Far East?" Asahi snapped in confusion,
"Didn't she come from Europe?"
"My, my." Rowy scolded with a shake of its head, "As studious as you
may be, it seems you've been studying the wrong war theater."
Shocked, Asahi turned to the books that spilled out of her bag earlier.
All of them pertained to events that had taken place in Europe and North
America. Only Tokirwa's book of armaments covered the Pacific War to an extent.
"Don't blame yourself for making that mistake." Rowy comforted, "When
people talk about the First Spring War, Germany, Russia and the United
States are the first countries that come to mind. What about British
India? What about French Indochina? What about New Zealand? The Pacific
War is generally forgotten…"
"In the same way Kanmusu are forgotten after they are gone."
"Precisely!" Rowy agreed, not showing even a hint of remorse, "And
that's all for tonight."
The paper that floated between the two of them became fuzzy static
again before reverting back to the sketch of Erebus Hime. Rowy
then hopped off the table he had been standing on then proceeded to
leave Asahi's room.
"Where do you think you're going? You haven't told me who Erebus Hime
is yet."
"You didn't ask to tell me who she was." Rowy pointed out. "You only
told me to tell you about her. That's a very broad question. I told you
something about her and her story – I even showed you her companions. I
think that will suffice."
"Wait a minute!"
"My apologies, Asahi. It's gotten late. I have somewhere else to be. An
Abyssals's job is never done." Rowy sighed, ignoring Asahi's call.
"A Century have passed, and still, my work is unfinished. Humanity is
quite a troublesome species, don't you think so?"
At the threshold of the girl's room, Rowy stopped for a moment.
"I'll be back some other time, but you ought to at least know what it is
you are actually seeking. Then, I will provide you with all the answers
you need."
Once Rowy was gone, Asahi sat at her couch alone and at a loss. Many
of the theories she had conjured up about her foe were flushed down the
drain with her first talk with Rowy. The answers he provided only
spawned more questions that wouldn't give her rest. She did not have the
patience to wait for the ferret to come in once he felt like talking
again. Seeing the book of armaments she had set aside while Rowy
talked, Asahi remembered someone she might find useful.
"...That damned Abyssal"
She decided to pay Armored Cruiser Tokiwa a visit.