Zuikaku saw the Grey Ghost's pupils dilate, shrinking down to violet pinpoints in her ashen face. Every muscle in her neck locked up and the carrier jolted as if shocked by electricity, staring forward into the room, eyes scouring every dark corner as if that might make her friend appear in front of her. Her hands trembled at her side and her knees looked like they would give way at any moment. Zuikaku was familiar with this-when she first found out that Shoukaku was dead, her entire vision tunneled and the world rotated crazily around her, threatening to toss her off her feet and shake her like some morbid blender.

Who knew what was going through the Ghost's head as she stared at the room that once held her friends, the dark, ominous stains on the ground a living reminder of the place's previous occupant.

"Ngh…"

Enterprise choked out a sound that was somewhere between a strangled sob and a groan, her free hand clutching spasmodically at her chest as she ground her teeth together, slowly, methodically.

Then she turned and walked to the next door. As she brushed past Zuikaku, the crane caught a fleeting glimpse of her pale eyes. They sparkled with unshed tears.

She had seen this before too. Comrades who had been fighting on the battlefield for too long, and had lost too much. The ones who were drenched in so much blood that they had stopped avoiding its scent a long time ago. The ones who would imprison their emotion until the battle was over, making every move with cold machinelike ferocity. Those that would only feel when they wanted to feel-going against everything that made them human-those broken children of war.

It looked like the Grey Ghost was one of those children too.

Enterprise inclined her head towards Zuikaku and stared at her coldly. Making sure to enunciate every syllable clearly, she asked, "Are you coming?"

Normally Zuikaku would have bristled at this apparent insult, but the Enterprise's frozen glare chilled her to bone.

She walked over quietly.

Independence.

She raised her sword.

Enterprise's orange-haired friend (Cleveland, was it?) hobbled over.

She brought the sword down.

Again.

Again.

The door fell with a sonorous clang.

Independence was inside.

She lay on the floor in a gown similar to that of Nagato, the reek of blood and bodily fluids permeating the room. Cleveland rushed in, followed by three others.

Her sisters?

The four KAN-SEN crowded around Independence, each saying something at the same time. Cleveland shushed them and proceeded to try picking Independence up.

Zuikaku glanced quizzically at Enterprise. Sensing the question, the carrier answered, "They are her sisters."

Cleveland lifted one of Independence's arms, covered with sores that glistened in the dim light. Zuikaku's eyes widened as she saw one, no, two, three maggots fall from the wounds. One of the girls around Independence retched and whimpered, but none made any move to distance themselves.

She's already dead-

Except she wasn't.

Independence stirred slowly, raising her head to glance at Cleveland. The strawberry blonde said something softly to her sister, stroking her hair. Independence winced and whispered something back, her breath rattling so much Zuikaku could hear it from outside. It was a defeated sound.

Cleveland made as if to pick Independence up, cradling her sister in her hands.

Then it happened.

The stricken KAN-SEN began to cough, her stick-thin body convulsing as she hacked. Suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, blood spurted out of her mouth and nose, thick and dark, splashing all over Cleveland's face and chest, disappearing into the dark fabric of her coat. It went on her-on her sisters-on the floor-everywhere-anywhere-

So much blood-how can such a small body have so much blood-

Cleveland's sisters jumped and screamed as her sister vomited her lifeblood out of herself, twitching in Cleveland's arms. Slowly the coughs faded away, each one softer than the last, until finally Independence's head lolled back. Zuikaku's heart lurched as a drop of blood slid over her glassy eyes and she did not blink.

She had been in the last room.

Enterprise stared, her gazing piercing right through Independence's body.

She turned to Akagi. "Whatever it is they're doing here… we need to put an end to it. Kill it. Burn the place down."

Akagi nodded wordlessly.

"Is there anything we know about it?" Enterprise glanced meaningfully at Nagato.

Kaga stroked the fox's face and whispered gently to her as she stirred.

"Light… bomb… hot, hurts, hurts… Siren."

Akagi repeated Nagato's incoherent mumbles to Enterprise.

"It appears, we are not, the only ones, to have Sirens, in our ranks."

Enterprise strode off.

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Cleveland followed after the Grey Ghost, her red eyes dull and murky. She carried Independence's limp body in her arms.

"Set her down, Cleveland." Contrary to the commanding content of her message, Enterprise's tone was soft, subdued. As if she was trying to convince herself to do it.

The cruiser shook her head numbly, hugging her sister's corpse to her chest as if it was the most precious thing in the world. A rattling groan forced its way out of the body's mouth as the last bits of air in her ruined lungs escaped.

That was too much for the other sister, the one with the same hair as Cleveland. Soft, slow sobs forced their way out of her throat, so plaintive and despairing and sad that it twisted Zuikaku's throat into a knot.

Enterprise didn't push the matter. She simply turned and walked towards the staircase that had brought them into this hell, steps heavy with pain.

The others followed behind her, not saying a word, shocked into muteness by the horrifying events that had transpired in the last few minutes.

Nagato shuddered again, and opened her mouth. The blind fox's voice escaped her throat in a dry rasp.

"Eugen… careful… Eugen…"