Disclaimer. I do not own Azur Lane nor any affiliated works. They are owned by their respected owners.
Alpha and Omega
Chapter 4
They always asked us if we were willing to die for our country, they never asked us if we were willing to kill for it.
They stood there in silence for a while, watching the sunset.
Just as Enterprise had started to walk away, she heard Winter say, "I cannot remember the last time I have heard silence." She turned to look at him and saw that he was speaking to her directly, and for the first time allowed her to make eye contact with him. Amethyst met dull grey. Within those eyes she could see so much pain, so much hurt. "How do you deal with it? The silence?" Winter turned back towards the water, "What do you do when your entire purpose is taken away from you? When everything you've fought for, everything your comrades have fought and died for was in vain?" Enterprise stood beside him once again.
"I don't know why I am telling you this, but I feel like I can trust you, like you would be able to understand me." When he got no response he felt like a fool.
"I am honoured that you trust me." Enterprise gave him a small smile. "I have learned to enjoy the silence for what it is, but I must ask you this." She turned to face him. "Why did you fight? Was it to destroy your enemies? Or did you fight to protect others? This is a question that you must find the answer to on your own." Enterprise took one last look at the sunset. "It is getting late, you should get some rest. If you do not, Vestal will have a word or two to say to you." Enterprise led him back to the hospital. No words were needed.
As soon as they got in the door they saw Vestal waiting for him. "Let's get you to bed, you've had a very long day. You need rest." Just as Winter turned to follow Vestal he heard Enterprise say to him "Have a good night Winter." Then she walked out the door and into the night.
"Alright before you go to bed, I would like to see how your ribs are healing." She had him sit down and told him to wait. After a couple of minutes she brought in an X-ray unit, and told him to get behind it.
"Hmmm. Interesting" He heard her mutter. "Well, it looks like they are on the mend, but it is extraordinary how fast they are healing, faster than a normal human." She informed Winter.
"Just a couple of more nights here is all you will need. Alright I will take my leave now. Get some sleep. Have a good night." And with that Vestal left, shutting the door behind her.
It did not take Winter long to get to sleep, but his sleep was far from restful.
In his dreams Winter saw a woman with short blonde hair, a red jacket and red eyes. She was crying, her rigging was badly damaged, and in her arms she held the body of a young woman with brown hair.
All around her were explosions from bombs, and planes overhead, as well as wreckage from a large ship. She continued to cry over her fallen comrade, as they both sank into the dark abyss of the ocean.
The scene changed and he saw a blonde woman wearing a black officer's uniform sinking into the darkness below. On her uniform was a blue shield with a golden clover leaf on it. Wreckage was scattered everywhere, and following her down was a young woman riding a submarine, who was crying and begging her to wake up.
He saw a massive explosion, with debris flying everywhere. The sound of a woman crying out in pain filled the night sky.
A bright flash filled his vision, and another scene appeared in front of him.
Three women were sinking into the water. One had long white hair and was wearing a black jacket with a blue rose on the right side of her chest. Above her floated a white officer's hat. A ton of debris was sinking slowly beside her, on her rigging the letters YKTN could be seen. Clutching onto her arm was a girl in a maid's uniform, with white hair, cat ears, and a bright red ribbon in her hair. She was desperately trying to pull her up but couldn't. The other woman had blonde hair, a black bikini top, black shorts and a long black trench coat. On her coat a large white 8 could be seen. A black cowboy hat could be seen floating above her.
Suddenly, Winter found himself standing in nothing but darkness. Then two small flames appeared in front of him, one blue and the other red, which began to grow until they were pillars of fire. The pillars of fire lit up the darkness and then he could see a couple of figures in front of him. One was the blond girl with the red eyes and tattered red jacket, but this time she was supporting a brunette with sapphire eyes.
A flash, and two more figures appeared. One the blonde wearing the tattered officer's uniform with blue shield and golden clover on it. She was being supported by a small woman with blue hair.
Another flash, and a single figure appeared. She looked terrible, her long blonde hair was a mess, her light blue eyes were red with crying and her blue dress was in tatters.
Another flash, much brighter than the others, and three figures appeared.
One with long white hair, light blue eyes, wearing a tattered officer's uniform and a shredded black trench coat. Holding onto her arm was a small woman with white hair and cat ears wearing a tattered maid's uniform. Standing beside them was a blonde woman with forest green eyes wearing a shredded black coat.
All of them looked terrible, with their clothing in tatters, and all of them wounded. All of them were staring at him.
The pillars of fire began to change, getting brighter and moving closer. Out of the pillars of fire fox heads appeared, with eyes glowing white. In unison they said, "We await you."
"Who are you?" Winter asked. "What happened to you? What is going on?"
"We await you." They repeated.
"I don't understand! What are you waiting for?" Winter asked in a panic as the figures got closer to him. They got to a couple of feet away from him, stopped, continuing to stare at him, and said "We await you." Then their images faded.
"Why? What is going on?" Winter asked the growing darkness.
"All will be revealed in time." A voice said from the darkness.
"Who are you? Show yourself." Winter said.
"As you wish." From the darkness came a woman with light purple eyes, long grey hair, long grey fox ears, and nine grey tails, wearing a blue and grey kimono. She smiled at Winter. "Do not be afraid, I am not here to harm you. I cannot answer your questions young one. You must discover these answers on your own."
"But I-" Winter was silenced when she put a finger on his lips. "It is time for you to wake, it is not safe for you to linger here." With those final words everything faded.
Winter woke up with a start, the image of those figures in the forefront of his mind. 'What was that?' Winter wondered. Winter got up and decided to head back to the forest clearing by the sea, to clear his mind.
A few hours later, Vestal entered Winter's room to wake him for breakfast. Winter was not there and it looked like the room had not been used since the previous day. Vestal started to feel alarmed, and ran to the canteen, trying to see if Winter had gone to breakfast early. When she entered the canteen, still mostly empty as it was still early, she could see that Winter was not there. She saw Enterprise sitting eating her breakfast next to Belfast and ran over to them. "Hey," She called out to them, slightly out of breath, "Have either of you seen Winter this morning?"
Enterprise looked up at her in surprise. "Uh no, I haven't." Enterprise answered.
"When did you discover that he was missing Miss Vestal?" Belfast inquired.
"When I went to get him up for breakfast he was not in his bed, and it looked like no one had even stayed in there last night," Vestal explained with a slight panic in her voice. "I have no idea where he could be."
The Commander and George entered the canteen and saw the slight commotion on one side of the canteen. On closer inspection they saw the commotion was coming from Vestal, and that Enterprise and Belfast were trying to get her to calm down about something. "Anything wrong Vestal?" Delta asked, concerned.
"I couldn't find Winter this morning."
Delta did not look impressed. "I want him found. Get all available units to look for him." Delta ordered. The canteen had begun to get busy, but there was suddenly a scramble to follow orders.
Enterprise waited until the canteen had emptied, then walked up to the kitchen grabbed some food, and a cutlery set. Belfast watched with a smile on her face.
"You know where he is, don't you?" Belfast asked, to which Enterprise nodded. "Do not leave yet, let me grab something first." Belfast went into the kitchen, and came out with a thermos, jug of water, a couple of mugs, two plates, and an extra set of cutlery. Enterprise raised an eyebrow. "I figured he might like some coffee, and yourself as well." Belfast remarked with her trademark grin.
"What do you mean?" Enterprise questioned. "I know that he will ask you to stay with him." Belfast responded with a smile, and before Enterprise could make a retort Belfast gave her a slight wink, turned and left the kitchen, forcing Enterprise to follow her.
It only took them a few minutes to find Winter. He was at the forest clearing where they had buried the tags, sitting against one of the trees that overlooked the water. Belfast approached him saying, "Good morning Winter, I have brought some coffee if you would like some." Enterprise quietly followed up with "Good morning Winter, I hope you had a good sleep? I took the liberty of bringing you some breakfast in case you are feeling hungry".
"Winter?" Belfast questioned with a frown when they did not get an immediate response. Belfast was about to grab his shoulder when they heard him mutter "We await you."
Belfast and Enterprise were confused. "What was that, Winter?" Enterprise asked slowly. This seemed to break him out of his daze. He was startled, like he had just noticed their presence, and looked up at them hesitantly. "The whole base is looking for you, but we figured you would be here." Enterprise told him sternly.
Winter eyes narrowed. "So, are you two here to bring me in?" Belfast shook her head.
"No Winter we are not, we are here to bring you some breakfast." Belfast informed him with a kind smile.
Winter sighed. "Sorry if I caused any issues, I could not sleep last night so I came out here to clear my mind." Enterprise nodded in understanding.
"Here," she said as she passed him a lunch box and some cutlery, "Belfast also brought some coffee if you would like some." Belfast had unobtrusively placed the coffee, water, mugs and the extra set of cutlery conveniently within reach.
"Thank you", Winter said as he accepted the box, "but why are you doing this? Why are you being so nice to someone you don't know?" Winter questioned her.
"Ms. Enterprise, I have taken the liberty of informing the Commander that we have found Winter and that he can cancel the search." Belfast informed them. "I will give you two some space. I will be just down the path if you need anything," and gave a curtsy before leaving them alone.
Enterprise thought about how to answer the question, as she didn't know why she was doing this either. She decided that honesty would be the best course of action. "I am not sure either Winter. It just feels like the right thing to do. And after you trusted me last night I figured, well…" Enterprise struggled to find the right words, "I wanted to do something to say thank you for saving my friend Cleveland. She is a good friend, and I am also her leader, and it is my job to make sure that she stays safe. So, to honour that I will try to do as much as I can to help you." Enterprise gave him a small smile, "I can give you some space if you want to eat alone," Enterprise offered.
"You can stay if you want," Winter responded, "I also noticed that there are two sets of everything. Belfast's work I take it?" Enterprise nodded.
They ended up eating in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Winter kept thinking about the question that Enterprise had asked him last night. 'Why does he fight? To kill his enemies?' He didn't have anyone to live for. He was a soldier, it was his duty to fight and die. But did he want to die? He did not have an answer to that question. He had lost so many comrades that he barely felt anything anymore. He had learned to not show emotions, to kill, to fight with a heart like arctic ice. So why does he feel anything now? Why is this ship-girl breaking down his walls so easily? What was wrong with him? At this point Winter had finished eating and had put his dishes back into the box and resumed staring out over the ocean.
Belfast had come over to get the dishes, and gestured for Enterprise to follow her, Enterprise raised an eyebrow but got up and followed her a few feet away from Winter.
"So, did something happen last night, Enterprise?" Belfast asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We just talked. He opened up to me a little bit. Honestly, I can see in him what I used to be. The lost soldier with no other purpose but to fight." Enterprise said reminiscing. "But I am not the same person I was back then. I used to fight because I wanted to destroy my enemies, and yes, I did want to protect my fellow Eagles, but it was out of duty. Now I want to protect them because I care for them. They are my friends, my family. Maybe that's why I feel a connection to him?" Enterprise sounded like she was trying to reassure herself and not Belfast.
"I do not believe it is as simple as you think it is Ms. Enterprise." Belfast commented.
"What do you mean? What do you see Belfast, and be honest with me." Enterprise asked sharply.
"You are not the only one that has felt a connection to him. Cleveland has felt a tug towards him and it is not just because he saved her life. The same could be said about Bremerton, Eugen, and even George did not act normally. And did you notice how distraught Vestal was? Not her normal behaviour either."
Enterprise looked at Belfast in surprise. "What do you mean not normal behaviour? Eugen teases everyone. And Cleveland, Bremerton and Vestal are caring individuals." Enterprise faltered at the look Belfast was giving her.
"You are defending him in this regard, why? Eugen does tease a lot of people, but it used to be only the Commander. Not even Winter's two teammates, Alex and Boris, are on the receiving end of it, only Winter. And yes, Cleveland is a very caring individual, and is eager to make new friends, but was open with him like she is only around her sisters. Bremerton has somehow managed to figure out what's bothering him faster than she has for anyone else. Lady George was unusually hostile to him, but she was polite to the other three. And then there is you." Belfast looked Enterprise in the eye, "He has somehow gotten you to talk to him in only a couple of days. Something that took me weeks to do. And even now it can be hard to talk to you. The way you talk to him and treat him – it's like you care about him." Enterprise broke eye contact. Belfast put her hand on Enterprise's shoulder, and gave her a warm smile, "I am just asking you to be cautious around him. It's not a bad thing to find someone to care for. I too can feel something tugging at me, what humanity calls a 'gut feeling'. I believe it is happening with others, and they all respond differently." Belfast finished her explanation with a smile.
After a few minutes of silence. "Winter, we should probably head on back. And return whatever we took from them. Plus, it might be a good idea to say something to your team." Belfast suggested.
Winter agreed it would probably be best to head on back.
When they arrived at the canteen it was a flurry of activity, as many kansen were grabbing breakfast at the same time. Others were reporting to the Commander. The trio drew attention as they walked in.
"There you are Winter, we were wondering where you went." Sarah exclaimed while approaching them. "Look, I know I know you are hurting Winter, heck we are all suffering from the war, we have all lost friends and family. But you cannot hold everything inside. We may be soldiers but we are also human, and-" Sarah was interrupted.
"WE ARE NOT HUMAN ANYMORE SARAH! We gave up our humanity to fight the Sirens!" Winter yelled at her.
Silence reigned throughout the canteen as everyone was now staring at Winter, Sarah had a hurt look in her eyes. "You may not be human any more Winter, but I choose to be." Sarah snapped back.
"Maybe you are right, I am no longer human." Winter said, and he stormed out of the canteen.
Sarah's eyes widened, "Winter!" she called out as she tried to grab him by the arm. But Alex held her back.
"That was a very stupid thing to say Sarah." Alex reprimanded her.
"And why is it a stupid thing to say sergeant? He shouldn't have called us non-human." Boris shot back at Alex.
"You have no idea what he has been through," Alex said through gritted teeth, glaring at Boris. "Or what we have done," Alex whispered to himself.
Delta approached them. "What did Winter mean by saying that you are no longer human?" Delta asked with curiosity. Alex looked around and saw that everyone was staring at them.
"Maybe we should continue this discussion in private Commander."
Delta nodded, "Agreed. That would be a good idea. Enterprise, Eugen, Takao, and Lady George, with me to my office." They all nodded in response.
"And Belfast, could you go after Winter and persuade him to join us."
"Of course, Master I will find a way to bring him." Belfast said with a slight smile.
"Alright, now that we are in my office, do you mind explaining what just happened?" Delta asked.
"Winter was technically correct," Alex responded slowly. "What do you mean by technically correct?" George asked with some suspicion.
Alex, Sarah, and Boris had a silent conversation between them. Alex sighed.
"I guess we should tell you everything. We are called Centurions. We are no longer one hundred percent human, we have been injected with a serum to make us super human. We were designed to be faster, stronger, tougher and smarter than a normal human. Unfortunately, this led to some unforeseen side effects." Alex explained. "What kind of side effects are we talking about here?" Eugen asked curiously.
"Could it have made him mentally unstable?" Takao questioned.
"You don't know him enough to say that." Alex snapped at Takao. She looked at him kind of shocked as she was not expecting that kind of response. "Sorry about that, its just," Alex took a deep breath "Winter and I have been teammates for almost 10 years now, I know him better than anyone else at this point. And seeing him in this state is hard for me,"
Alex took a deep breath and continued. "Right, side effects. The main side effect was enhanced emotions, and increased emotional swings. It made the feeling of loss crippling. So, they decided to implant an emotional inhibitor chip to regulate the emotions, so that we could stay focused on our job."
"Ten years?" Enterprise questioned. "How old are you? You look too young to have had almost a decade of combat experience." Enterprise said.
"We were fifteen when Winter and I got recruited."
"Fifteen? To subject someone so young to this is cruel, what kind of parents would subject their kids to this?" George asked horrified. Alex stiffened at her words.
"I lost my entire family to the Sirens! So did Winter. That's why we and many others were asked if we wanted to join this program. They offered us a chance at revenge. I had no where to go and no one to turn to, so of course I said yes. Was it painful? Yes, the pain from the injections was indescribable, and the training was brutal, but do I regret it? No, I don't, because I was given a chance to fight back, to not be helpless again. And I also found a new family, my team. There were four of us, but now of the original team of four, only Winter and I are still alive." Alex sat down after he had finished.
"Well, that is different from us." Boris informed them. "I was Russian special forces before I became a Centurion. I only required a little bit of training after I was injected. Yes, I too had a chip implanted into me, and Sarah's story is much the same except I believe that she was a US Marine before. Correct?" Sarah nodded, "I am a part of the second cohort. There were about five hundred of us in the second cohort. There are probably only about three hundred of us left now. How many were in your group Alex?"
While the rest of Winters team was having a meeting with Delta and his advisors, Winter was wandering around trying to calm down, and found himself standing on top of a green hill. As he was standing there something hit his leg. Winter looked down to see what, and saw a little stuffed pink unicorn with a blue horn and purple wings. As he bent down to pick it up, the scene shifted, and he seemed to be standing on a grass hill similar to the one he was currently standing on. But this one felt different, like he had been there before. In his hand he still held the unicorn. A voice called out from behind him, and he turned to see a little girl with black hair and bright green eyes run up to him and hug him. As she cried out "Big Brother! You found Fluffy! I was getting so worried," and hugged him, Winter felt smaller, and much younger. He felt himself smile and bend down and hug her back. Winter somehow knew that she was referring to the unicorn. "Of course, anything for my lovely little sister Angel." As he said that the scene vanished, and he was once again standing on top of the hill holding a stuffed pink unicorn.
"You found Unicron!" A voice called out from behind a tree. Winter turned to look at the voice and saw a little girl, with purple hair and purple eyes, wearing a white dress. She approached very timidly, she stopped just in front of him. She couldn't have been more than 4 feet tall, not even up to his chest level. Winter handed her the unicorn. Once it was in her hands she tried to hide behind it. "Hi' She said very shyly, "My name is Unicorn, what's yours?" She looked up at him with her bright purple eyes that shone with innocence, but there was a hidden strength in them too. Winter bent down, "My name is Winter, little one" Winter said quietly. She reminded him of the girl in his vision, sweet and innocent. "Winter as in like the cold? That isn't right! You are not cold, you are nice." Unicorn said with a curious look on her face. "I know this to be true because Uni told me."
Winter did not know what to say. Unicorn lowered her stuffy and made eye contact with him. "Can I call you big brother?" She said, with a hopeful look in her eyes. It reminded him of his vision, in which he had felt happier, almost like he was complete. It reminded him of what he had lost, the reason why he was fighting. It wasn't just revenge for his family, but it was to make sure that others did not suffer the same fate.
"Of course you can call me that." Winter responded. She gave him a huge smile. "And thank you."
"What did I do?" She asked him quietly.
"For helping me remember why I fight."
Before Winter could say anything else a voice interrupted him "Unicorn! Where are you?" The voice got closer "Unicorn? If you can hear me please say something." Unicorn grabbed Winter's hand and dragged him toward the voice. Winter was shocked at the strength of the girl.
As they crested the hill they met a woman with long white hair and blue eyes, wearing a long white dress. "There you are Unicorn! I have been looking all over for you." She looked at Winter, "And who is your friend?" She asked her. "This is Winter. He agreed to be my big brother." She said happily. The woman looked at Winter, "Please forgive me for being rude, my name is Illustrious, lead ship of my class. And who are you?" Winter tried to free his hand, but he could not escape Unicorn's grip. "My name is Winter." he responded. Unicorn looked a little disappointed with his introduction. "I would like to know more about you, but unfortunately it is time for Unicorn's lessons so we must depart." Illustrious began to walk away with Unicorn in tow, then turned to look at him, and said "It's nice to see that someone can look me in the eyes when I am talking to them." And with that last comment she walked away. Unicorn turned and gave a wave to Winter before leaving.
"How long have you been standing there, Belfast?" Winter asked the trees. Belfast stepped towards him. "Long enough. Come. The Commander would like to speak with you."
As Winter was walking to the Commander's office he began to think about the events that had just taken place. Who was Angel? And why did Unicorn ask him to be her big brother? Why do his memories seem to be fragmented?
As they approached the Commander's office, Winter could hear Boris asking Alex the question of how many of the first Cohort had survived.
"Less then a dozen." Winter answered as he opened the door, Belfast following him in.
Everyone turned to look at him.
"Welcome Winter." Delta acknowledged. Alex gave him a small smile, Sarah looked at him sheepishly.
"There are less then a dozen of us left. The war took its toll on us in particular." Winter explained.
"So, what have you told the Commander, Alex?" Winter questioned. Alex spent the next few minutes informing Winter as to what he had told the Commander.
"So, with this new information, what do you plan do to with us commander?" Winter asked.
Delta has silent for a few minutes, "At this point in time nothing. You are not a part of our forces, not under anyone's command. You are an anomaly, you should not be here and yet here you are." Delta said to them. "However, I do want to know more about you, and I'm pretty sure that you would like to know more about us. Feel free to ask any questions, though, there will be things that I cannot answer." Delta finished with a smile.
"What is, and what does Azur Lane do exactly, and how does it work?" Winter asked.
"Azur Lane is a collaboration between all of the various factions and nations around the world to fight the Sirens, the four major factions are Eagle Union, Royal Navy, Sakura Empire and the Iron Blood. The minor factions are Dragon Empery, Iris Libre, Vichya Dominion, Sardegna Empire, and Northern Parliament." Delta explained. Praetor just blinked in response.
"And which countries do these factions represent?" Alex asked, confused.
"Everyone should know that!" Enterprise interjected.
"We have never encountered ship-girls before." Alex countered.
"Kansen." George replied.
"Sorry? Could you repeat that?" Alex asked.
"We prefer to be called Kansen, not ship-girls" George clarified.
"Ah!"
"Anyways to answer your question, the US navy's Kansen are Eagle Union, Royal Navy is the British Kansen, Sakura Empire are the Imperial Japanese Navy Kansen, and the Iron Blood are the Kriegsmarine Kansen. The smaller factions have their own Kansen, France's navy is divided between the Iris Libre and the Vichya Dominion, the Regia Marina's Kansen are the Sardegna Empire, the Soviet Union navy's Kansen are the Northern Parliament. And the Pan Asian navy's Kansen are the Dragon Empery." Delta answered.
"Next question, how does Azur Lane operate, is it separate from the national navies? Or is it its own entity?" Winter asked.
"That is a bit complicated, but I will do my best to answer the question. Each nation still has their own respective navies. However, since Kansen's ships are a part of them they can react and deploy almost instantly, in some cases they could deploy and engage the threat before the officers in command were even aware of the threat. The various navies decided to give the Kansen their own command structure and give them their own dedicated facilities. This is the only Kansen base in the entire Pacific, most of the world's Kansen are stationed here. There is no facility in the Atlantic, just a few places to rearm and refuel. If any nation requires help, they must request it from us." Delta finished explaining.
"How bad was the Siren invasion for you?" George asked.
"Well, I can't tell you much, just what was told to us. I was only six when the Sirens first invaded the earth. In 2003 they invaded. For the first six months it was every nation fighting alone, but humanity managed to unite under one banner. And for the next ten years humanity fought an increasingly desperate war, being slowly pushed back. We were losing and we knew it. It wasn't until a breakthrough with reverse engineered Siren tech that we managed to start pushing back. It took us ten years to push them back, ten gruelling years, and just when we thought we had won, more showed up. In less then a month we had lost more than we had in fifteen years. It wasn't until the second wave that we realized we had never stood a chance, it was like they were testing us, toying with us." Winter made eye contact with George, "Does that answer your question?"
"Yes, it does."
"So how strong are you guys then?" Takao asked curiously.
"Don't know, never really tested it" Winter answered.
"So, what are you thinking to do now?" Delta asked Winter.
"I don't know, combat is all I've known, to not be fighting seems odd" Winter answered honestly.
"When was the last time that you took time to relax?" Belfast asked with a slight frown.
"If you relax on the battlefield you die" Winter responded curtly.
AN So here is the next chapter, not much action in this chapter but a lot more background on both the OC's and what is going on in my version of the Azur lane Universe. Every nation does have their own normal naval forces and the Kansen were formerly a part of them but now have their own command.
Also there are a couple of references to other universes in this series, and there will continue to be some throughout. If you can figure it out, you can add any Kansen to Winter's retinue. Please DM me the reference.
There are two rules, the first rule is that it is the first person to send me a message of the reference wins. The second rule is it has to be a reference that I meant to put in there.
Also I do have a twitch channel, feel free to stop by.
I tend to play World of Warships, COD Modern Warfare, Total War Rome II and a lot of RTS titles.
twitchtv/ltrecon