It keeps on burning...
Ever since Tirpitz miraculously survived the surprise attack on Truk anchorage and healed her supposedly fatal wounds, her nightmare begins. Not only she is taking in all the pain alone, she's also enduring struggle within herself. Stuck in an unknown island, Tirpitz doesn't restrain her agonized screams and even bursts in blind anger.
"What's...ha...ppening...?"
A portion of her left arm loses the pigment on her skin, turning into a pale white color. Black steel-like substance solidify on each other fingers and form claws that easily dogs through concrete.
"It...it hurts...so bad..."
Her breath grows heavy and her concentration grows unsteady, slowly losing track of reality. A familiar force drags her consciousness away from the bright warm world and forcibly drags her into the darkest corners of her mind.
Big...sister...
In the deep night where even the drizzle sends a shiver to a healthy human being, Cold dripping steel is plunged to her chest, piercing right through her skin and right towards her flesh.
In the end...you're no different from the others after all...Bismarck
Tirpitz weakly grips the now stained blood and wryly laughs at the one holding the blade - her own sister, Bismarck. The latter's eyes lacks any vitality as if she's not facing a real person but a puppet being moved by someone else.
"Human emotions are easily swayed, and you are destined to be condemned as a beast"
An intelligent Abyssal, a Princess class, mocks a heavily wounded Tirpitz. The latter blinks, bewildered, at how "Bismarck" instantly vanishes from her field of vision. As dumbfounded as she is, Tirpitz has no strength to move her limbs when the presence of an ominous Abyssal is strangling her.
"So she's your older sister, huh? The wretched battleship who claimed glory by thwarting our plans several times" The Abyssal opens her fans
(What did she do? I don't understand...what I saw...)
Tirpitz couldn't utter a proper word to describe her experience a minute ago, but her eyes are vigilantly focused on the Abyssal seemingly floating on the water and adorns a grotesque traditional headpiece. Round Abyssal aircraft hover near the black steel ring on her back while the Abyssal herself is pridefully staring down at the cornered Tirpitz.
"A pathetic child. As useless as you are now, you are more fitting as a monstrosity who have lost all reason"
"A...aah..."
Even as the rain heavily pours on her, she desperately tries to release any coherent words but completely fail to do so. Tirpitz weakly raises her shaking hands and touches her throat, even more confused to why no words could come out of her mouth even if her thought is still intact.
"Can you remember it? The smell of burnt steel? The scorched concrete? And the ill-fated end of your loved?"
The rain heavily pours on her and the rain dropping both on her skin and steel rigging is almost defeating to her, but the sound of a bell ringing several times ignores all sounds Tirpitz is processing.
"...?!"
In a blink of an eye, the scene of raging sea and endless rain fades right before her eyes. The world goes silent and a familiar burning ruined town unfolds right before her eyes.
"That's me...?" Tirpitz rubs her eyes in confusion
A child with short messy hair and burnt fingers helplessly watch in horror as a woman is crushed by an Abyssal as big as a house. Tirpitz saw a younger version of herself being dragged away by a slightly older child, who bites her lip in frustration and burst tears of grief.
Back then, it could have been avoided if...
The tragedy in front of her is nothing but an illusion taken from her the deepest corners of her memories. Still, Tirpitz reaches out to the untouchable past and allows regret to creep inside her heart.
"There's no happiness left for you. You'll be always a prisoner in the frigid north you dread..."
After the memory burns right before her eyes, Tirpitz is returned to reality...only for Bismarck to point her secondaries right to her head. The older sister she admires looks down at her with disappointment and no remorse.
"You've done nothing in this word and for our nation. So why...are you even here?"
"Bis...marck...?" Tirpitz's voice trembles
Her mind is in chaos that she couldn't realize the one speaking in front of her and about to kill her is not the actual Bismarck.
"You're not needed her, and I certainly...don't need someone like you..."
"Why...big sister...?" Tirpitz bursts into tears
Bismarck doesn't even respond and pulls the trigger without hesitation, blasting right through Tirpitz's skull. As blood spills out from her head, she manages to briefly cling to life.
"Aaah~ This is the fourth failure. Oh well, we could just find another..."
A pale white girl with a devilish smile and bright yellow eyes, shakes her head and sighs in complete disappointment. Tirpitz motionlessly falls down the surface while the Abyssal closes her eyes and the other mysterious Abyssal recording the expected outcome.
"I told you this would come to this...Tirpitz"
The shipgirl's mind drowns in the poison of her past and with it - something else emerges instead. A being who's always there, observing and waiting for the perfect opportunity. When "Tirpitz" stands up, her body is being overtaken and slowly loses her human characteristics. Her skin becomes completely pale white and icy blue eyes turns to a scarlet red shade.
"Is there even truth? Reality has become distorted after all the time I've spent there... imprisoned in the north" An Abyssal squeezes her hands and massages her neck
A humanoid Abyssal with polished horns pointing upwards and shackles on her neck and both wrists steps out in the open. At first, the sunlight is blinding her at first, but her eyes slowly adjusts to the brightness. The Abyssal lifts both arms above her head and squeezes her hands, somewhat disappointed at her surroundings.
"Was there...even Tirpitz to begin with? How long have I been in that place? I've always been bound there..."
The Abyssal contemplates about her own existence and gently touches her cheeks. Rather be filled with blind fury over the supposed Bismarck's betrayal, her mind floats in the sorrow and frustration from being a prisoner her whole life.
"Hmm?"
Her peace is interrupted by a combat knife flying right straight to her and piercing right between her eyes. She senses someone's presence and the moment she turns around, a knife pierced right to her skull.
"..."
The Abyssal callously grabs the knife's handle and pull it out as blood drip out of the open sound. Using her bare hands alone, she crushes the blade and tosses what remains of it to the side. The Abyssal faintly groans as the wound on her forehead becomes undone.
"Good grief. I just left for a while and...you found the opportunity to come out"
H-39 slowly approaches her with another knife in her hand and more strapped to her side. She isn't the least surprised seeing an Abyssal out in the open without care.
"The faceless battleship. I remember you..."
"I'm glad the Lone queen remembered a forgettable face" H-39 goes into a defensive position
"What's your goal? You took Tirpitz away not out of goodwill"
"The Kriegsmarine, that's what. I can't bring an Abyssal in shipgirl territory. Besides, I promised someone to help fix whatever's happening"
"You knew from the beginning"
"I knew that Tirpitz was never there..."
To the Abyssal's mild surprise, H-39 confirms of her awareness despite barely knowing Tirpitz. A shipgirl shouldn't be aware of it when Bismarck never noticed the slightest.
"What's the point of the whole facade, Abyssal?" H-39 sternly demands to know
"It's Beast. I am the Northern Beast"
"Why preserve those memories and go as far to emulate them?"
"...That is none of your business"
"Such a shame. It seems you only answer through violence"
H-39 grabs another knife and gathering force in her legs, she leaps towards the Abyssal with complete killing intent.
"...!"
The indifferent Abyssal expresses visible shock when a mere shipgirl manages to possess inhumane speed to reach her. H-39 jabs both knives in the Abyssal's neck and even kicking said Abyssal ten meters away and roll to the ground.
"What...are you?"
The Beast wipes off the blood on her lips and removes the two knives still stuck on her neck. Seconds after removing the weapon, she displays her natural ability to repair fatal wounds in mere seconds.
(There's no way I can kill her in land, but it can't hurt to try. She just woke up, so she's not at full power...probably)
H-39 faces the Abyssal without hesitation despite being aware she may not completely eliminate the Abyssal. Shipgirl riggings prove to be effective in bypassing a Princess class' accelerated regeneration and her earlier attempts prove that even a knife to the skull is just a scratch for someone like the Northern Beast.
"Why did you have to try, Beast? There's no benefit for you in doing so?"
H-39 circles the uninterested Abyssal while wielding knives on both hands, preparing for any form of counterattack. The Abyssal should still be weak minutes after returning to the world, yet she's in complete fighting condition and conscious.
"What do you mean?" The Abyssal lazily follows her movements
"Like I said, there was never any Tirpitz to begin with. It was always you"
"..."
"All you did was emulate her memories since you two share the same existence of the actual battleship after all. That's you acted and thought as if you were the actual person" H-39 seemingly pressures her into saying it
"I am a wolf in sheep's clothing. Is that what you wish to hear?" The Abyssal raises an eyebrow
"No. What I want to know is the true reason behind it. No Abyssal would even think of preserving the memories of their shipgirl self and even live as them"
The reason is not a shallow one, so the Beast refusing to admit the truth is proving to be difficult for H-39.
"It's none of your business"
"...?!"
This time, the Beast retaliates by charging towards the cautious H-39. She moves with such force that her foot crushes the ground the moment she leaps with her claws drawn. Before H-39 can take another breath, the Abyssal grabs her by the face and violently smashes her to the ground.
"You're persistent in learning the truth. Are you a friend of Bismarck?"
"What is it to you?" H-39 dryly laughs
"I resent her more than anyone else. If it wasn't for her, I would have remained as a set of emotions"
"Bismarck didn't do anything wrong. Why would she...harm her own sister?"
"Do you think I'd forget? She was there when I was abandoned. It's because Tirpitz was deemed a liability and Bismarck responded to that obviously"
"You're as difficult as your Abyssal friends. Even if you possessed intelligence, you're no different from the humans you look down"
"Don't compare me them even if they're my brethren. I don't seem to satisfy my bloodthirsty nature and lash out on the world. Being bound in the fjords for five years numbed my primal instincts. Although, I will kill the likes of Bismarck without a doubt" The Abyssal scoffs
The Beast tightens her grip and slowly squeezes H-39's helmet and the head being concealed. For a Princess class like her, crushing a human's head is an easy task, but there's no benefit in ending the lone shipgirl who recklessly engage her in combat. Unlike other Abyssals, this one lacks interest in conflict and does as she pleases.
"As an Abyssal, I'm born from the negative emotions of the ship. As such, I respond with Tirpitz's frustration for the sister she never historically met. It was because of Bismarck being desperation for glory that Tirpitz was condemned to a fate worse than that. She never changed at all. What she sought was self-satisfaction even if she trampled others"
"Bismarck is never someone like that. She would never anything to put her loved ones in harm's way"
"Yet that older sister got rid of her own younger sister without hesitation. If she truly loved Tirpitz, she would have done something to prevent it. All she did was find excuses for her actions, and I'm not surprised about it. Humans will always justify their actions and will certainly pin the blame on someone"
As soon as the Beast removes her hand, she then steps on H-39's head and states why she resents Bismarck while H-39 insists Bismarck isn't a terrible older sister. Right now, H-39 is more worried about the Beast bearing a deep grudge on Bismarck more than rethinking her plans after all the time she spent in the Maizuru base.
"I'm born with emotions compelling me to lash out on the world. Since I am Tirpitz as well, I share the same sentiment of being sick and tired of humanity's affairs. Can you imagine of being chained in solitude only to be effortlessly executed. I was left to rust there while the so-called heroes are nothing but cowardly executioners"
"This is why you should talk things out rather than assume everything! You've seen it for yourself, right? Bismarck deeply cared for Tirpitz and even wanted to mend past guilt!"
"That's only to satisfy herself. Everything she did was to make herself feel better without considering whether it's genuine or not" The Beast rejects H-39's reason
"All you see is the fault. That's why you'll only see dirt in a garden of vibrant flowers" H-39 is already irritated at the Beast's persistence
"I am an Abyssal after all. A being that's incapable of comprehending human emotions, but I do know I hate humanity for granting me these emotions..."
"Damn it, Tirpitz. Look at what this monster is doing. Don't let her...leave you with so much regret. It won't stop until it kills your loved ones!"
"Your voice will not reach her...and you will not leave this place alive"
After H-39 gives up reasoning with the Beast, the latter lifts her foot only to stomp once on H-39's head. Strange enough, the ground beneath cracks yet the head isn't the slightest crushed. Not even flesh spills out, only blood.
"...That face behind that helmet. No, it's not even worth the effort" The Beast lightly kicks the helmet
A small amount of blood spills on the ground, the H-class battleship lies completely motionless and breathless. The Abyssal couldn't know what's H-39's dying expression is like beyond the helmet nor she is interested to know either. She sighs exhausted even if she makes little effort is taking down a lone battleship.
"Before I'll deal with Bismarck, I'll have to pay that annoying priestess a visit. She gave me trouble during my imprisonment..." The Abyssal mutters to herself
The Beast briefly observes the battleship's corpse that still remains as it is and turns away once the small pool of blood on the helmet-covered head begins to dry on the concrete. As she walks away without worrying or bothering about the corpse, H-39's fingers twitches and her body starts to breathe again.
EXTRA
The incident has yet to be solved and the Truk forward base has yet to be fully operational again. Warspite quietly scans and skims through the reports of the recent incident while Saratoga sitting across is fairly worried.
"..."
Someone knocks on the door exactly three times and politely enters shortly after. Both Saratoga and Warspite shifts their attention to the duty-minded Royal navy battleship.
"I've received update from Graf Spee" Vanguard immediately reports
"The Kriegsmarine? What happened?" Warspite frowns
"H-39 returned...barely alive with how her skull was almost crushed by...the Beast"
Vanguard briefly loses her stern tone and responds mildly anxiously and softer, taking it as terrible news rather than a positive one.
"It already woke up?" Warspite nearly crumples the paper
"It's fully conscious but still not at full power. Unfortunately, H-39 failed to reason with it due to it's blind grudge on Bismarck"
"So it's going after Bismarck..." Warspite massages her temples
"What's going on, Warspite?"
After hearing their short conversation, Saratoga joins in as well since the two appears to possess information that the Maizuru base is lacking.
"It's as you heard. An infamous Abyssal the Royal navy and the Kriegsmarine defeated a long time ago resurfaced after all these years. Bismarck finished her off, so she naturally has a grudge" Warspite shortly explains
"This is to be expected knowing the risk Lady Warspite took five years ago. I'm certain her majesty isn't going to be too pleased with this" Vanguard lowers her head
"What's that supposed to mean?" Saratoga locks her gaze on Warspite
"It means an Abyssal who sunk years ago became active again. Know how she behaves, she won't wait for her strength to full return"
"Milady over here prepared for countermeasures once a nuisance of an Abyssal resurfaced. Now it did, she's distressed" Vanguard explains
"How do you know this Abyssal will return anyway?" Saratoga is beginning to be suspicious
"If you were only present during her last stand, then you will understand. Something...or someone was keeping her from permanently dying"
Warspite is genuinely frustrated on how not even her knows the true reason to why an Abyssal refuses to die, possibly from a third party interference. Abyssals never return upon sinking and in rare cases they do, it's because of their special territory.