Chapter One: A Turning

An alarm went off to announce the start of the day, which was then quickly turned off by the occupant of the bed near it. With a grunt of annoyance, the person in question tossed the covers off and got out of bed, proceeding to stretch a bit. The person was a young man who looked to be in his late teens, sixteen to seventeen by his looks. He stood a little over six feet tall and with a physique that was well built but not overly muscular. His eyes were a rich sapphire blue color and his hair a raven black. His hair hung around his head going to just above the bottom of his jaw, framing around the sides of his face. In a somewhat messy manner.

"Time to get ready father is probably already working in his lab as per usual." The teen spoke in English, though with a slight but noticeable accent. That anyone who heard it would peg for German. After taking a quick shower and dressing, he headed to the kitchen for a quick breakfast of cereal. He was dressed in a pair of urban camo cargo pants, black combat boots, and a black band t-shirt. Which had the word 'Sabaton' on it with the image of the band's Coat of Arms album.

After finishing his breakfast his made his way out of the house and off to his father's lab. Which was a large separate building on the property they lived on together. His father was something of a super scientist who worked for the Eagle Union and its allies. Due to the nature of his work he had special permission to conduct his work in his personal lab. His work being on the tech to help defeat the threat of the sirens. He clenched a fist a little on instinct thinking about those damn things and all the suffering they've caused the world. It was because them his mother and her whole side of the family were now dead. His father was also the only surviving member of his family. His father's parents, siblings, and whatnot had all perished at the hands of the sirens.

Those monsters had appeared out of nowhere a few years before he was born and threw the world into chaos. Nothing the militaries of the world did was able to do much of anything to the sirens as they laid waste to everything. That wasn't until they managed to get some hands-on siren tech and began reverse-engineering it. Which lead to the biggest and most wild creation to date in human history, the kansen or ship-girls were officially born. Ships of the past reborn as living people and the thing humanity needed to truly begin pushing back the siren threat.

His father is considered the greatest genius of his generation out of Germany. He led the research behind it, despite being barely in his twenties at the time. His mother had been a scientist out of America who was also on the team. That was how his parents met and eventually hooked up with one another. Which ultimately brought about him being born, regardless of the fact his parents never got around to marrying each other. Though one could say that was a blessing in disguise in hindsight.

The war with the siren's caused all sorts of paranoia due to the things they could do with their highly advanced tech. It caused those high up in governments and research to be highly secretive and protective about everything. His parents not being married made it a lot easier to hide his existence from everyone else. Since he was still an infant all that time ago, he was placed in a special care facility in the central U.S. While his father returned to Germany to continue his work on his end. His mother was moved to a facility on the American west coast on a separate research team. From what he was told by his father, his parents didn't truly like the arrangement. But it was deemed necessary at the time for his own safety, not that the arrangement lasted that long.

He was only ten months old when the sirens managed to launch a surprise attack on the west coast. While the Eagle Union managed to repel the attack, plenty of destruction and death had been dealt. A great deal perished during that attack his mother included. After that, his father had insisted on him being sent to him in Germany in secret. Thus he spent his childhood growing up there, his father still keeping his existence a secret from everyone. Even the leadership of the German government and the Iron Blood. The kansen faction was stationed in the country.

He was too little to really understand at the time but looking back on it now that he was older. He realized his father had been very smart doing what he did, considering the turn his homeland would take around that time. Despite the initial success against the sirens after the creation of the ship-girls. Things had started to turn against humanity in a few years afterward. Some factions began becoming very desperate in finding some way in lessening the siren threat. As well as becoming more and more indifferent towards their allies. It all hit a high point when the Iron Blood and Sakura Empire formed the Crimson Axis. Splitting away from the Eagle Union and Royal Navy, declaring war on them. Worse still, they even began working with the sirens to a degree.

His father had seen the writing on the walls before it all truly happened. While his father loved his homeland and still did. He couldn't abide by going down such a path he viewed as foolish. When he was eleven, his father while he still could managed to smuggle themselves and all his research off to the Eagle Union before it was too late. Needless to say, the fatherland was royally pissed when they figured it all out. His father was branded a traitor of the highest order and his name was cursed throughout the land. The fighting lasted for a while only ending just a few years ago. When both sides finally ended their fighting with each other and became allies once again. Though there was still plenty of tension between both sides understandably so. Plus, his father was still hated venomously back in Germany for his perceived betrayal.

Oddly enough though, despite all the hate from his homeland. His father has never hated it back in return. Sure he felt they were completely stupid for what they did but he didn't hate them. It was a decision born from the pressure and desperation of the siren threat. The teen himself when he thought about it also agreed with his father's assessment. He didn't hate the Crimson Axis as much as he thought they had been short-sighted in their judgment. He was just glad all sides were back to working together again and dealing with the true enemy.

Though the sirens had been acting strange it seemed for years now. Before the war broke out between the respective factions, they had been somewhat relentless with their assaults. Once the war started and even in the years following since its end. They followed a pattern of suddenly attacking then disappearing for long periods. It was an odd pattern and no one seemed to have any idea why they began acting in such a manner.

As he approached the entrance to his father's lab, he punched the password to gain access inside. The plus of having a personal lab on their own property was him being able to access it. Something that wouldn't have been possible if the lab was on one of the Eagle Union bases. He honestly enjoyed hanging out in his dad's lab and occasionally even helping out with his work. It gave him something worthwhile to do at the very least. His unique upbringing didn't really allow him to make any friends.

As he walked into the lab, he saw his dad working at a computer typing away, wearing his lab coat. His short blond hair was neatly combed back his own blue eyes staring intently at the screen before he caught sight of him.

"Morning son" His father greeted warmly in English, his accent being more prominent as he spoke.

"Morning dad, what are you working on?" He replied

His father simply cracked a grin, something about his work in science always seemed to bring out his inner child. That and the man enjoyed doing his work alongside his son. It made for good parent and child bonding time in his opinion. "Follow me mein Sohn and I'll show you." He said with some glee as he stood up from his chair and made his way to another part of his lab with his son in tow.

The black-haired teen followed his father into a larger section of the lab. Set up were a few more computers and some sort of powered pedestal with a hand-sized cube resting on top of it. He recognized it as a wisdom cube but this one was pure white instead of blue. There were multiple cables and tubes connected to it, some of them connecting to some sort of large battery. The battery was shaped like a large tube and glowed with black energy.

"I recognize the wisdom cube though this looks completely different from any other one I've seen." The teen spoke up. "Though I haven't clue about that cylinder and what's inside it. Care to fill me in dad?"

"First things first, what you see on the pedestal is indeed a wisdom cube. However it is a blank cube it has no pre-existing ship data in it, think of it as an empty canvas of sorts." His father replied as he then gestured towards the cylinder. "That is filled with energy that was gathered from defeated sirens."

The teen looked back and forth between the two mentioned items and began piecing things together. "You plan on introducing the siren energy to the blank wisdom cube. In hopes of perhaps creating some sort of quasi-siren that will hopefully bring better insight into our enemy. Also perhaps providing us with a powerful kansen to more efficiently take the fight to our foe's."

His father smiled widely in response to his answer. "Figured it out on the first try, you'll make a great scientist yourself one day." He spoke with joy.

The black-haired teen chuckled a little in response. "I'm sure, though I'm enjoying my teen years while I can before I buckle down for something like that."

The older blond also chuckled in response. "As you should son, you only get to be young once, enjoy your youth while you can. You'll be an old man like me before you know it."

"Dad, you're barely in your forties and still look young enough to pass for someone in their late twenties if you wanted to."

"You're too kind mein Sohn, you're too kind."

"Anyways, need my help with anything?" The teen wondered.

"Simply stand at that computer there and monitor things, if it gets too out of hand there's a kill switch. I'll be at the other computer across from you to initiate and make adjustments as things progress." The scientist simply replied.

A few minutes later both father and son were at their respective station ready to begin. The blond began putting in inputs to begin the test. "Initiating and beginning to feed power to the cube." The energy began to travel from the cylinder up the tube and into the cube. The wisdom cube began to take a darker hue once the energy connected.

"All systems currently stable and functioning within safe limits." The teen stated.

"Feeding more power into the system." The father replied and increased the power output, the cube began to glow with more intensity and in turn, the entire equipment system began to glow the same. "System's still green and stable for now." The black-haired teen spoke.

"Increasing to max output."

Upon going to max power the entire system shined intensely with the energy coursing through it. The blue-eyed teen watched his monitor intently, it was still running stable, and all looked good. Then suddenly the system began arcing bolts of energy all around. Looking at his monitor he noticed the reading beginning to climb rapidly to critical levels. "Systems rising to critical levels! It's becoming unstable!" He yelled out in alarm as the energy continued to arc off the system beginning to cause damage to the surrounding area.

"Hit the kill switch!" His father yelled in return

Not needing to be told twice he quickly brought down the kill switch. To his shock, he quickly realized it was having no effect. "Something has gone wrong, the kill switch isn't working?!" His attention was then brought to his monitor as warning signals began blaring. "The system is beginning to overload!"

"Evacuate the lab qui-" The blond scientist's words were cut off when an arc of energy hit his station causing it to explode. Throwing the scientist violently off his feet back a few feet.

"DAD!" The teen cried out in horror as he quickly tried to make a dash to his father. He didn't get far though as an arc of energy connected directly to his body. He was immediately frozen in place as the energy coursed into his body, then in a type of reaction. More arcs of the energy connected to his body and began entering him. He couldn't move, he couldn't even make a noise as it happened. All he could do was stand frozen in place as energy and pain flowed through his entire being.

The wisdom cube began to glow an additional red color and then so did all the arcing energy. The cube then seemed to digitize and enter the energy stream. Before the teen knew what was happening his body was overcome by an even more intense sensation as his entire body glowed black and red. The last thing he heard was a large boom before his entire world went black.

*Sometime Later, Location Unknown*

He wasn't sure how long he was out for only that when he finally opened his eyes he noticed that he was in what appeared to be a hospital room. His body felt tired and sore all over, he sat up groaning as he did. He simply sat there like that as he gained his bearings and tried to remember what the hell exactly happened. He failed to notice the other person who had just entered the room.

"Oh good you're awake at last, how are you feeling?" Spoke a soft and polite voice.

He turned to the source of the voice and momentarily forgot about his situation as he looked at the person in front of him in curiosity. It was a woman who was shorter than him, who was dressed in a nun-like outfit. She had long light violet hair and blue eyes.

"Ummm, a bit tired and sore in truth. By the way who are you exactly?" He replied.

"Oh right!" The woman exclaimed. "I'm the repair ship U.S.S. Vestal of the Eagle Union. I was called in to look after you when the other doctors realized they couldn't treat you properly. You've been unconscious for almost two weeks."

The blue-eyed teen raised an eyebrow in confusion at Vestal's reply. "Why exactly would a kansen repair ship need to treat me? The regular hospital doctors should have been able to treat me."

Vestal stiffened a little noticeably at his question and took a moment to prepare her response. "Well you see.." she began a bit nervously "it's because you're not human anymore."

The world seemed to stop for a moment as his brain processed what he just heard. "Could… could you please repeat that." He replied, un-ease clear in his voice.

"You're not human anymore I'm afraid," Vestal replied softly. "The accident somehow transformed you into a kansen like me. Or rather mostly like me I should say. Hence, why I was brought in to look after you as you've recovered."

His blood seemingly went cold, and he visibly paled at the implications of what he was just told. Then his memories suddenly hit him and his emotions were filled with worry.

"Mein Vater! Where is he!? Is my father okay!?" He exclaimed in concern and worry.

Vestal visibly became much sadder, she didn't wish to break the heartbreaking news to the young man but knew hiding it would do no good. "I'm sorry to inform you but your father didn't survive," Vestal spoke with sympathy lacing her tone. "When responders made it to the lab, you were found in rough shape, but your father had already passed."

"My father is dead? He's dead?" The words fell out of his mouth in a whisper, the gravity of it all falling on him. It all suddenly felt like far too much as he began to sob. Tears flowed down his face as his sadness took hold of him. He wasn't sure how long he sat there crying but before he knew it. He suddenly found himself embraced by a pair of arms gently. It took a brief moment to realize that it was Vestal that was hugging him.

"It will be ok, I know it may not seem like it now but all will be well in time." The repair ship spoke caringly trying to calm her patient. "You're a strong person, the fact that you survived what you did already proves that. As much as hurts right now, you'll recover from all this."

He didn't say anything, he couldn't say anything he wasn't able to at the moment. So he simply wrapped his arms around Vestal and continued to sob.

Vestal left the room as her patient had finally laid back down to rest. After he had cried as much as his body would permit. She made a mental note to closely monitor him. He had just been turned into something not human and lost his only family in one fell swoop. He'll be physically healed fully soon enough, emotionally though was another matter. Only time will tell just how much healing on that end he'll require. She made her way to the temporary office she was granted as looked after her patient. She sat down and immediately telephoned to her home port.

"Hello, Commander" Vestal politely greeted over the phone. "Yes he's awake at last and he's recovering remarkably quickly. Physically he should be fully healed by late tomorrow. However, his emotional state concerns me the most, understandably considering all he's been through." She paused as the person on the other end spoke to her. "Yes Commander, I do believe integrating him into Azur Lane as soon as possible would be for the best. He needs a proper emotional support system at the moment. Being around other kansen would be for the best in my opinion. While there will still no doubt be a fair amount of adjustment needed on his part and as well as some from all the girls. He will no doubt come to feel more at home amongst the others. And ultimately receive the sort of emotional support he requires." She paused once more a few moments before finally speaking again. "Understood Commander, I'll continue my monitoring and await your arrival." She spoke before hanging up the phone.

A few days had passed since he had initially woken up and had metaphorical bombs dropped on him. Vestal stayed with him frequently and continued to comfort him with kindness and concern. Some might be annoyed and outright reject such treatment, but he honestly didn't mind too much. It did make him feel a little better and she was doing her job. He could not bring himself to get on someone's case for simply doing their job. He still felt sad and depressed about his father's death and he still had some bouts of crying still. Though he was getting his feelings in control on that. His father wouldn't want him to be a crying wreck for too long over his death. He would want him to remain strong and continue to push forward with his life. Of course, that then brought up the biggest question in his mind. Just what was his life now? Hell, what did his existence even entail now?

He had been allowed to get out of bed and move around a bit under Vestal's supervision. He was honestly hoping the whole being turned into a kansen thing was a really bad joke. As he moved about, he could feel just how stronger his body felt in every aspect. He honestly was not sure how to handle the fact he wasn't human anymore or at least mostly non-human. It was such an extremely odd and alien feeling in truth. While he knew he had to accept this as a part of moving forward. It would take time before he became comfortable with it all.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed making idle chat with Vestal. When there was a sudden knock at the door and the repair ship went to answer. Upon opening the door he noticed Vestal go to attention and stand to the side as another person walked in.

The person in question was a woman dressed in an Eagle Union officer's uniform. She was maybe five and a half feet tall and had a slender figure and looked to be in her mid to late twenties. She had mid-length black hair that was tied into a ponytail and brown eyes. The rest of her features indicated she was someone of Asian descent.

"Hello, I'm Jennifer Maruyama" She began in a polite tone of voice in perfect English. "I'm a Commander of the Eagle Union and currently in charge of the Azur Lane. First of all, allow me to give my condolences about your recent loss. I can't say I knew your father that closely but due to our positions. We were in contact every now and again. From what I knew of him I can say your father Dietrich was a good man."

"Thank you" He simply replied "I'll admit I'm still grieving a bit and coming to terms with everything but I'm trying my best to keep strong. I know it's what my father would want me to do."

That reply got a small smile out of the Japanese-American woman before she spoke. "I'm glad to hear it, Vestal has kept me updated about your condition, I'm glad to see you're making such a strong recovery. The next bit of business I need to discuss with you is about your possible assignment to the Azur Lane."

"And there's the true reason for your presence here." He retorted "Can't say I'm surprised, I'm a kansen now myself so imagine I would be looked at as an asset to fight the sirens. Not that I mind the idea I have plenty of reason to despise the bastards and see them all dead. Now I just happen to possess the power to see it done myself. Plus, I imagine I'm not really in any real position to really argue about this. If I don't go with you, the feds will just toss me into some lab to be studied and that is not appealing. So yeah, in that case, I'll join you."

She took a moment to regain her bearings, she wasn't expecting him to be so willing to join or be so blunt. "Well, I'm glad to hear that though there are some things we will need to go over beforehand. The first thing is the details of your unique body makeup, Vestal if you could explain?"

He watched the repair ship step up to explain, he was genuinely interested in hearing this. He hadn't actually bothered to ask about these details over his time with Vestal.

Vestal cleared her thought quickly before she explained looking at him. "The incident did in fact turn you into a full-fledged kansen. However, it also made you part siren as well no doubt due to something that was involved in the accident. While we'll have to wait to actually see you in real action back at port for a true assessment. Initial readouts indicate you to be capable of being the strongest kansen of your class to date."

"What is his class exactly?" The commander mused.

"A battleship or more technically in his case a hybrid-battleship. The first of his class."

"I'm a battleship now huh?" He muttered, "Not gonna lie if I had to pick a class it would be the battleship class."

"Glad to hear it." Maruyama chimed "We'll wait till we make it back to Azur Lane for you to summon your rigging for the first time. Now with that out of the way, the next order of business is figuring out where to place you back at port. Generally, a kansen will be placed depending on their history. Due to the nature of your situation, you'll have the choice to pick for yourself what faction you join. The four major groups at the port are Eagle Union, Royal Navy, Sakura Empire and, Iron Blood. There are also minor groups you may join such as Dragon Empery, Sardegna Empire, Northern Parliament, Iris Libre and, Vichya Dominion. I have documents for each group for you to look over. So that you may get a general feel for each faction and make your choice from there. I'll give you some time to make your choice, it's a big decision to make after all."

"Will I have time to gather some of my possession from my home beforehand?" The human turned kansen asked.

"Of course Azur Lane will be your new home for as long as we're at war with the sirens. Which sadly seems like will be for quite a while still, feel free to bring anything that will make your new accommodations cozier." The Japanese-American explained and then pulled out a few folders and handed them to him. "These folders hold general info on all the factions, take your time to look through them. We'll leave you be for now. Vestal and I shall be in her office if you need us." With that said the two left and he began looking through the files.

A few hours had passed Commander Maruyama and Vestal were still in the repair ship's temporary office, simply chatting away.

"I have to admit he seems to be taking this much better than I had anticipated, all things considered." Mused the Commander.

"He is but he's still hurting more than he's letting on, I can tell." Replied Vestal "I'll still require him to see me on monthly basis for therapy. Until I feel he's truly healed enough emotionally to no longer need it."

Maruyama nodded her head in agreement but before she could say anything a knock was had at the office door. "Enter" Vestal quickly chimed and entered the man of the hour with a folder in hand.

"I've made my choice." He simply spoke as he handed the folder to the Eagle Union officer.

Maruyama took the folder and opened it up to see what group he chose. Her eyebrows shot up in genuine surprise at his choice. "I have to admit I wasn't expecting this one but if you feel this's the best for you then so be it. I'll make the needed phone calls and we'll leave in a few days."

*Azur Lane, Three Days Later*

The Azur Lane was at peace as it had been for some time as the sirens had been quiet for a while. It was a clear sunny day in the middle of summer and a mild temperature with a light breeze. A truly beautiful and peaceful day or rather peaceful for most of the base anyways. One particular faction dorm was in a bit of uproar. The commander had just returned from her trip that had been shrouded in the utmost secrecy.

All the girls of the Iron Blood were gathered in their dorm's common area. However, they didn't know exactly what the meeting was exactly about except for one. The leader of the Iron Blood, Bismarck stood in front of all the gathered girls of her faction. Her little sister Tirpitz stood next to her.

"What is the nature of this meaning sister?" The Lonely Queen of the North questioned.

"Kommandantin, returned from her trip earlier today and has a new member to introduce to us. Though she was tight-lipped on any details, she simply asked I gathered everyone for a proper introduction." Bismarck answered.

Tirpitz said nothing and nodded her head in understanding. Suddenly the doors of the dorm opened up and the commander strode into the building making her way directly towards Bismarck.

"Hello, Kommandantin," Greeted Bismarck "I've gathered everyone just as you asked.

"Thank you, Bismarck I promise not to take too much time with this. Though I will say you're all in for quite the surprise." Maruyama replied before facing the gathered. "Hello everyone, I'm sure you're all wondering why I asked all of you to be gathered here today. Many of you also have probably been wondering where I've been for the last week. Rest assured it was important and to cut right to the chase. You will be having a new member join your ranks today."

That caused a murmur through the crowd with the Priority research kansen Roon, Friedrich der Grosse, and Mainz to glance at one another. The three of them in the belief that it could only be a kansen like them. A quick tapping of Bismarck's flag quieted the crowd.

"I'm sure you'll all find this person interesting, and I expect you all to properly make him feel welcome here." Stated the commander, though a particular word in her statement immediately brought up a question.

"Excuse me Kommandantin but unless my ears deceive me, you said "him" I do believe?" Questioned the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen.

"You heard correct Eugen, this newest kansen is indeed a boy," Maruyama stated before yelling out. "Come on in!" The room was dead silent as all eyes went to the doorway and watched the figure walk in. Everyone was stunned by what they saw as the individual walked up to and stopped next to the commander. Before they turned to face the gathered crowd.

The figure wore black combat boots and wore combat pants and a jacket that had a hood. The pants and jacket being colored in Iron Blood colors of mainly black with red and grey mixed in. The symbol of the Iron Blood was embroidered on the entire back of the jacket. The hood was pulled up and at the center of it of the part that covered the forehead. Was the Reichsadler used by the old German Empire that existed during the first world war. Both the pants and jacket had pads built-in at the knees and elbows. Both set of pads had the image of the Iron Cross on them. He wore a pair of black fingerless gloves on his hands. Then there was his face or rather what one could see of it. With the hood up one could only see a few strands of his black hair and sapphire blue eyes. The bottom of his face from the nose down was covered by some all-black metal mask, that had the visage of a predatory beast's jaws carved into it.

"Everyone I introduce to you the first of a hybrid-battleship class and newest member of the Iron Blood, KMS König!"