AN: Finally! Chapter 3 is here! This is probably my longest chapter and probably the most emotional, maybe not just for Hibiki but for the reader too. Never said this fanfic was going to be cheerful. Cracked 1k words, finally!
The admiral pulled up a chair for Hibiki to sit on, while he sat in his office chair.
"How should I start this..?" He asked, as Hibiki looked around the office.
"Is there a problem?" The admiral asked, concerned for the girl.
Hibiki shook her head.
The Admiral glanced at Hibiki once again before rummaging in his desk for a file. When he found it, he flipped through it and found the file he was looking for. He handed the file to Hibiki, which read,
"Verniy, Status: Critical Health, nearly sunk. Akatsuki Kai Ni, Status: Sunk. Inazuma Kai, Status: Sunk, Ikazuchi Kai, Status: Sunk."
Hibiki was still confused as the admiral took back the file.
"Why am I alive? Why didn't I sink?"
The admiral blinked, "You know what an Emergency Repair Personnel is, correct?
"Yes, what about it?" Hibiki asked, looking from the file to face the admiral.
"When I was bringing you to the docks, a fairy from an Emergency Repair Personnel popped out of your shirt collar. It kept you from sinking."
"I don't remember having one equipped to me…" Hibiki looked at the admiral with a confused look on her face.
"Apparently you did have one, and that's why you're standing here."
Hibiki blinked.
"Anyway, I'm not exactly sure what happened to you, but you're free to do whatever to recover-"
The admiral was cut off by a large bang and a brown-haired Kanmusu flew into the room.
"I told you to keep your eyes on me~! Admiral, desu~, just what are you doing, desu?!" The Battleship, Kongou was now tackling the admiral off his chair.
With a loud 'oof' from the admiral, he hit the floor of his office, to which Kongou jumped on him.
Hibiki's eyes widened from being startled by Kongou.
After Kongou, who was now finished snuggling the admiral, stood up and looked at Hibiki.
"Ah! New Face! I will be the one who wins over the Admiral's heart, desu!" Kongou declared, pointing her finger at Hibiki.
Hibiki frowned, "I don't want his heart," she curtly replied as Kongou hopped over the admiral's desk and approached Hibiki, her face close to the silver-haired.
"Admiral is mine, desu!" Kongou hissed at Hibiki.
"Yeah, I caught that the first time…" Hibiki muttered at Kongou in annoyance.
The silver-haired couldn't catch a break. First it was the encounter with the hyperactive Tokitsukaze and then Yukikaze whom she had confused for Inazuma, then she had thrown up on the floor because of that confusion, and now this brunette Kanmusu was confronting her and not to mention, invading her personal space.
"Wait, desu!" Kongou jumped in surprise, "you're Hibiki! Hibiki, desu!" She then grabbed Hibiki off her chair and pulled her into a bear-hug.
Something in Hibiki's mind triggered a memory and the girl's eyes widened, "You're one of my comrades! Kongou!"
Kongou gave a quizzical glance at Hibiki, "I don't know how you forgot about me, desu."
Hibiki's body shook, "But how are you here? Didn't the base explode from an attack from the Abyssals?"
"Yes! The base did explode, desu! It was a horrible sight to see, desu!" Kongou was less cheerful now.
The admiral spoke up, "if you don't mind, perhaps you can fill me and Hibiki in, Kongou?"
"Yes!" Kongou was bouncing back to her chipper self now that the admiral wanted her to do something.
So, what should I start talking about?
A lot of things have happened.
It will be a little bit long.
But if you'd listen, I'd be happy.
"We had an old naval base here. It stationed Hibiki's Destroyer Division Six, my class, and a lot of other Kanmusu. One day, the admiral, not you," Kongou turned to look at the admiral, "found out that the Abyssals were planning an attack on our main base to sink us in one go. In order to keep the fleets safe, our admiral released a sortie for all of his Kanmusu to escape the base. Most of us obeyed him, but a lot stayed to protect him from the Abyssals."
Kongou frowned, "The ones who stayed behind were my sisters, Haruna and Kirishima, Tenryuu, Takao, Atago, Maya, Abukuma, Kiso, Kitakami, Ooi, Yuudachi, Shigure, Akagi, Kaga, and Shouhou."
Hibiki's gaze lowered as she pulled the rim of her hat. A lot of her friends were now sunk along with her sisters.
"What about the girls who escaped?" Hibiki asked Kongou, who shrugged.
"I don't know, desu. They might be at other naval bases." Kongou's words lifted Hibiki's spirits with a tiny fragment.
"Everyone's gone… Why…" Hibiki looked up at Kongou with tears in her eyes, "what about our admiral?"
"He… died during the bombing...of the naval base…" Kongou spoke without her verbal tic, a sign that she was in a lot of pain.
Hibiki didn't speak. Instead, the young Destroyer stood up from her chair, and dashed from the admiral's office.
"Maybe I shouldn't have told her all that, desu…" Kongou turned to the admiral, placed his hat over his heart in regret.
Hibiki ran out of the naval base and skidded to a halt at the edge of a cliff. The ocean waves crashed against the bottom of the cliff. She let out a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs.
I strongly sing the echoes of requiem, drying my voice out.
So it reaches the skies.
Wavering emotions, disturbing voices.
Lacerated words of symphony.
One girl heard Hibiki's screams and came running to her aid.
"What's going on? Kuma wants to know what you're doing, but Kuma won't ask if it's too personal." The brunette name ship of the Kuma class approached Hibiki with concern in her eyes.
Hibiki turned to Kuma and started bawling. Kuma tried to comfort the girl by hugging the silver-haired Destroyer.
I close my eyes and curse my fate.
The cherry blossoms dried up in mania.
All I got was a sense of helplessness and
Color which I thought I got rid of.