Four months later

These visits were difficult for Cleveland.

Scratch that, they were difficult for everyone.

But she carefully hid her unease behind a stoic veneer as she got out of the car that her and her three sisters shared. Denver opened the trunk and removed four bouquets of flowers, passing one to each of them. Columbia took hers, nodding a thanks, her eyes no longer bright like normal. Montpelier...well, Montpelier didn't really wear her emotions on her sleeve, but her slouched posture made what she felt very clear. Cleveland herself accepted her flowers quietly, mind churning at what was to come.

Stay strong. If not for you, for them.

If you start crying, Columbia definitely will. Followed by Denver, and then Monty. And you don't want to make Monty cry, do you?

So chin up.

A metal gate loomed in front of them, wide like a yawning maw.

Together, huddled as if they were seeking protection from some invisible beast, the four oldest sisters of the expansive Cleveland class walked into the Los Angeles Naval Cemetery, Area K.

This special area was reserved for KAN-SEN, the valiant girls that had fought in the war against the Sakura Empire. However, there was nothing buried in each grave, save for a little box of the memorialised KAN-SEN's personal belongings and a set of items contributed by other, surviving ones that they felt represented her, topped with a simple stone.

The sisters hurried among the rows, looking for one very special grave. They weren't really looking, though, more like following their muscle memory, having walked this path countless times before.

After a while, they found it.

USS Princeton (CVL-23)

Commissioned USS Tallahassee of The Cleveland Class (CL-61)

A Brave, Strong and Valiant Soldier

Born For Battle, And Died For War

Dearly Missed By Her Sisters And Those Who Fought Beside Her.

Lost In The Battle Of Leyte Gulf While Heroically Protecting Her Allies

The four sisters placed down their flowers carefully on the white marble pedestal that served as Princeton's grave. Retreating respectfully, Cleveland clasped her hands and cleared her throat.

"Uh...Hi, Princeton. Another month has gone by since we last saw you, huh...I still can't believe it's been nine years since the war's over. If only you could see this now…"

"When you go to the beach, you can see children playing...happily, as if the Sirens never existed. I've-I've told this to you before...but I still can't help but be amazed. We...you fought, to give them this."

Cleveland sniffled.

"And-and I just want to tell you...that you deserve all of what was given to us when we returned. A hero's welcome, getting to see the product of our war...the happy children, the- civvies...it should have been you. You should have been the one getting the battle stars, the glory, all of it...if only they saw you at Leyte Gulf that day…"

The memory of it was still fresh in Cleveland's mind. She had been sailing for Subic Bay after a hard-fought battle against the Sakura in the Palaus, when she passed within several hundred kilometres of Leyte Gulf. From her point of view, it was impossible to see the battle, the sea simply a wide and featureless expanse.

Then, the pillar.

A column of fog suddenly started writhing in the air, descending down to the sea at an immense speed. From her perspective, the battleground of Leyte Gulf was too small to be seen, but the strange construct was terrifyingly, obscenely large, as it was easily seen from distances where a hundred-kilometre swathe of sea was impossible to make out. Its surface rippled like a skinned animal's muscles, yellow lightning crackling down its entire length.

She had relayed the information quickly to Subic HQ, asking what it was, whether it was dangerous, whether she needed to reroute and provide support, and got a terse order to speed up and get to port as soon as possible.

So she did that. When she reached the Subic Bay, she was quickly informed of the fact that her sister Princeton was one of the casualties in a surprise Siren lightning assault on the Eagle battle line at Leyte Gulf that had wiped out half of the Eagle forces in the Phillippine Seas in less than five minutes. She had died, the stony-faced crewman said, trying to stall the Siren Purifier from reaching the main fleet.

And she knew what the horrifying, impossibly large spear of fog was. The harbinger of death for ten thousand men, an angel of doom tha had robbed her of a sister in less than three hundred seconds.

Princeton's destroyed rigging didn't arrive at Subic until four days later. Seventy-two hours and then some—that was how long they took to retrieve all the pieces.

Cleveland would never forget the look that Reno, the cruiser who was with Princeton in her final moments, had in her eyes. A crazy, wild look, her eyes writhing in her face, darting from left to right as she stumbled down the extraction ship, her leg in a cast, before settling on Cleveland.

She never forgot how Reno pleaded her for forgiveness, her retelling of Princeton's end chilling the blonde to the marrow in her bones.

"Princeton...she jumped...in front of me. As the Purifier aimed her guns at me, she leapt in front...and took the shot meant for me. And then the Siren...she started laughing—I'll never forget that laugh…and she sailed up to Princeton and hit her...oh god, she hit her in the stomach, her hand went in and she grabbed her body and pulled, and pulled, and she was screaming, and I was screaming, and something snapped and there was so much blood…"

Cleveland would never forget the way Reno's metal hands clawed at her head as she sobbed on the asphalt, as if she was trying to tear the memory of her friend's graphic death out of her head.

"And the Siren couldn't even find it in her to finish the job...she just tossed Princeton aside like a doll. She was alive…" Reno retched, "she was alive when the battle was over and the damn Sakura left. I saw her floating in the water... there was so much blood, oh God, the blood...she was always so brave, so strong, but...she was begging me to kill her at the end. Begging me to end it. I'm sorry, Cleveland, I'm so sorry...I killed...I shot your sister. I had no choice. I'm sorry, that bullet should have been for me, I should—shoud've died, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SO SORRY—"

Cleveland was vaguely aware of someone whimpering in the background. It took her a while to realise that it was none other than her.

She felt Columbia's gentle hand on her shoulder. "Sis, if you can't, we—"

"No. I...have to do this."

Every single time they paid a visit to Princeton's grave—hell, to the graves of anyone they'd fought alongside, Cleveland would try and say something. She'd try to talk to them, tell them things, keep them on the loop, as if they were still alive. It was the way she connected with them, remembered them, the way she put to rest the ghosts of her past.

And it would always turn her into a sobbing wreck.

That was why she didn't enjoy these visits. But she felt, deep inside, that she needed to do this. Not out of a sense of duty or anything like that. She felt by not doing this, by not confronting her raw emotions, she wouldn't be paying them justice. If she wanted to grieve for them, she would damn well do it as close as possible to them.

Cleveland took a long, shuddering breath and continued.

"So...I just want you to know that we all remember you, and that we all want to see your face again, and that all of us miss everything about you. I've said it a thousand times, but I think that none of us ever get tired of being loved. Big sis wasn't able to stay with you at the end, and it must have been so painful and scary...but I'll make sure from now on you never feel alone in the dark again."