Before we start, I want to thank a fellow reader of my story for bringing up the fact that Edinburgh and Belfast are sisters. I don't know why I wrote that part of the chapter in that way as I was somewhat aware that they were sisters- or I should have known from the start. I did mention in the first chapter that I would be taking creative liberties with this story as I'm fairly green to the world of Azur Lane, however, making Edinburgh and Belfast friends in this story was not one of those creative liberties that I had intended. As a heads up, I have altered chapter 6 slightly during Belfast's section with her sister. It's not a big change that warrants a forceful re-read of the chapter as I don't plan on having Edinburgh as a recurring character in the story. Whether you read chapter 6 again or don't: It will not make you miss out on any crucial story-related stuff. I do hate flipping the table on you all that have already read it, and I hope that the small alteration isn't too disrupting.
Chapter 7: Restorative Seas
The injured Eagle Union remained silent for a while when her friends had told her what had been going on. She lowered her hat from her head, making Zuikaku feel dejected. "Why didn't anyone tell me that she awoke?"
Belfast fixed her posture to address her injured friend. "We didn't want to worry you. With your surgery being tomorrow, we figured that we could have held on to that revealment until after, and maybe we could have found out more about how to cut off this bond."
Enterprise scoffed with visible anger. "Did she talk? What else did she say?"
Belfast defeatedly fixed her gaze toward the Eagle Union. "Nothing of value other than…"
"… other than basic living urges are shared, right? That's what you said earlier when you told me that this hard pressure on my forehead was because she headbutted, Zui. And it turns out that I'm not in control of my living urges as she needs to be hydrated and fed to keep myself from experiencing those. As if sharing pain wasn't enough," she said with a heaviness to her despondent words.
"Enty, please don't be mad at us. We only had good intentions," said Zuikaku.
The Eagle Union could see how destructive her attitude had undergone when she heard more dire news related to her bonding. She felt disgusted by herself due to her impulsive anger. "I know… I'm sorry for being so angry. The fact that I feel betrayed and afraid at the same time doesn't help me in the slightest."
"Don't see this as a betrayal, Enterprise. One of the reasons we didn't tell you about her waking up is that we didn't want to get you fired up for a second confrontation with her. Personally, I think that you being away from her is for the best," said Belfast sternly.
"I… I… agree with Belfast. Nothing good will come from it if you two did collide again, especially when you're still recuperating," said Zuikaku.
The Eagle Union lowered her eyes at the unavoidable truth from the two. Even now, a part of her yearned to get out of this bed and confront her counterpart with her bow raised. This aggression stemmed from many places like the topic of living urges and pain being shared. Another, and possibly stronger, was the memory that her counterpart would have killed Zuikaku and Belfast during the mirror sea incident if given the chance.
"She spoke to me," said a new voice from the entrance doorway.
All three of them looked to see Hornet, who looked deep in thought.
"Hornet…," said Enterprise.
Zuikaku and Belfast simultaneously spoke first with urgency in their voice. "W-what did she say?!"
"Well… she said that she wasn't a Siren, nor was she Enterprise. She also said that killing you would be the only way she would be free."
A sea of confusion had befallen the room.
Zuikaku was the first one to speak her mind. "What does that even mean? She's crazy if she thinks she's going to be free after killing Enty. Here's a news flash—she's going to die too If that happens!"
"Yeah, I don't get it either. The look in her eyes made me uneasy as if she truly believed it," said Hornet.
"She said that she wasn't a Siren and that she wasn't Enterprise? Did she add anything else to that?" Questioned the maid.
The blonde twin-tailed Eagle Union hesitantly looked away before speaking. "N-no… she didn't add anything else." She wanted to tell them about what the Pseudo-Eagle Union had mentioned about her, and she also wanted to tell them that she couldn't be all bad since she had saved her from the Siren destroyer. However, she felt that they wouldn't understand and would jump to other conclusions.
Zuikaku furiously crossed her arms. "She's clearly lying. I know what I saw during the mirror sea incident. Her eyes were colored in a ghostly yellow that would make any Siren proud."
"Huh? Are you sure you weren't seeing things?"
The Sakura Empire flinched with confusion and anger from the blonde's unwillingness to believe her. "Are you actually believing what she says? She might be right that she isn't Enterprise, but I'm right for knowing what I speak. Those few seconds where I saw her and believed something else will forever stay with me," she spoke those last words slowly and filled with personal pain.
"I… I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to doubt you."
"Hornet, whatever she says could be filled with lies. That statement sounds ominous and cryptic if she states that she is neither. Frankly, she's right that she isn't me," said Enterprise.
Hornet remained silent after her sister's words that left her in a confusing place in her conclusions.
She had been pulled away from her thoughts when Vestal tapped her on the shoulder shortly after arriving at Enterprise's door room. "Everyone, it's getting dark out, Enterprise should get some rest for tomorrow's surgery."
Belfast nodded with a sigh as a goodnight's rest was probably what everyone needed as most of them had grown irritable from all the drama and stress that today had brought. "Alright, Vestal. We will clear out for the night."
Regardless of the order, Belfast turned around as she was ready to chat with Enterprise for a few wonderful minutes until Vestal had to drag her out physically. She did promise Enterprise that she would be the last visitor for her tonight.
"Wait, Zui. Can you stay for a few more minutes?" The injured Eagle Union had a look that spoke that she had a matter to discuss with her.
Belfast felt the sting of those words that were painted with the tone of rejection that went against what they had planned earlier on. She didn't know what to make of the sudden change of plans, and a part of her was hurt that Enterprise had requested Zuikaku's company. Nevertheless, she vacated the room with Hornet as one look at Enterprise's face spoke that the topic was important.
Zuikaku was the only one in the room as she waited for the Eagle Union to speak.
"She is a dangerous foe, Zui. Whatever she claims or doesn't claim to be, she's out for blood in the end. About what you proposed to me earlier, I accept and allow it. I'm sure that I have nothing to worry about with you overseeing it."
Zuikaku sucked in a breath of surprise. She felt an elated joy from the response to her earlier question that they discussed privately. "Enty, you won't regret this at all. I promise you that everything will be done to break the bond. I'll get it moving tonight."
"Thank you, Zui. The part of me that feels worried about this is the old me, but if we don't trust our allies in our time of need then what's the point?"
Zuikaku felt sudden bravery to express her feelings that she had retreated from earlier. She expressed them by holding onto the left hand of the Eagle Union with tenderness. "Agreed, allow yourself to see the fruits of us being allies," she said with a big smile that made the Eagle Union smile at her with a fleeting warmness in her heart.
(The Next Day)
The door opened to reveal Belfast with a tray of food in her hands. Her face was unreadable, and her intentions remained masked. "Well, Miss Doppelganger, since you were so thirsty last night, I suppose you would fancy something to eat?" Her voice was not full of cheerfulness, and the doppelganger could sense that she had to be on her guard.
The injured Pseudo-Eagle Union had remained awake for most of the night while she stared at the one-way mirror. Her only companions were her reflection and the growing hunger that she continued to mask as that would show weakness to her captors.
Belfast continued forward after no response from her. "Please, why do you insist on this vow of silence? I brought you pancakes, fruit, milk, and some eggs. Does this not appeal to your standards?" She would be lying if she said her statement wasn't fueled by the past experiences she had with Enterprise when she refused to eat nothing but her ration meals. To drudge up those old experiences was both wonderful and stress-inducing, however, at this moment, she leaned with stress-inducing, especially after she didn't know how to emotionally deal with what Enterprise wanted to talk so urgently with the crane.
The doppelganger gazed at her then looked at the food that was intensely calling out to her. "What do you want?" She asked with venom.
Belfast rolled her eyes to express her upset mood from that question. "What I want is for you to eat. There are no strings attached to this one."
The white-haired glarer searched the maid's eyes for any lies. She gave the food another glance that resonated with her, however, she refused to take any action.
Belfast grabbed her attention with a snap of her fingers. "I can see in your eyes that you hunger for food. Why must you be difficult? I do not expect anything in return from this other than you being fed." She stabbed at the pancakes, causing the injured woman to slightly flinch at the intensity. To make things more gripping, the maid furiously sliced her way through the triple stack.
The pancake piece hanged from the fork and had been angled toward the injured woman.
"I rather feed myself. I still have the use of one arm," stated the injured woman.
Belfast frowned at those words that reminded her of Enterprise. "You haven't earned that right to have free reign to use utensils. One can find more uses from a fork than just eating after all."
A silent scoff that translated to an old-fashioned glare shot toward the maid.
Belfast inched the fork closer and was ready to use force if she had to for the sake of Enterprise. She feared that her friend would wake up soon with a hunger that she couldn't satiate. "I can see it in your eyes that dying of hunger would be unceremonious for you. Whatever you have in that mind of yours, I know that you want to live to some extent..."
The exchange of words was enough to get the injured woman to open her mouth to take the food. Upon the first bite, a ravenous desire for more had filled the injured woman. Her next bites were filled with passion and want like this was her first time eating in a long time. She didn't fail to stress every single buttery and honey-filled bite with unrivaled yearning as well as a sporadic quiet moan of content.
Belfast did not comment on this startling side of the injured woman and merely enjoyed the fact that she was eating and the fact that she didn't have to resort to force.
The tray sat empty with no signs of any food left. The injured woman let out a peaceful fleeting smile, if only briefly before she returned to her uninviting aura.
"Hmm, well… why bother staying longer for idle chit-chat?" With her goal completed, she left the room without another word, leaving a lot for the doppelganger to ponder.
(Vestal)
A few hours later, the preparations were now set as Vestal had brought in two stretchers into a circular room with various medical equipment encircled around the room.
Vestal picked up small and advanced tools from a metal tray that would help her with the surgery. She calmed her nerves when she turned around to face the two stretchers in the room.
One had a sleeping Enterprise, and the other had the wild-haired counterpart of Enterprise. They had both been provided with a heavy sleeping aid to avoid the awareness that they were both in the same room.
Vestal delicately cut open the bandages of Enterprise to see what she was working with. The prior day had allowed the lacerations on the arm to recover slightly as the threat of them reopening on themselves had lowered greatly.
She turned around to face Enterprise's counterpart with the same intention she had with the Eagle Union. She could see that her arm had healed exactly to the same level as the Eagle Union. An ephemeral theory entered her mind that perked her curiosity.
She began the restoration of Enterprise's arm with her advanced tool that sparked to life in her hands. A flame-like aura was produced from the tool, yet it wasn't any type of heat. The aura contained healing properties used for critical repairs for shipgirls. She began to set her work in motion, and the tool came into contact with Enterprise's blackened arm.
Vestal's worried face had been replaced with a smile, as she witnessed a small portion of the black skin start to shed with intact skin color returning. "Yes! The nerves are not truly all that far gone, there's hope. Enterprise… I wasn't quick enough to save your sister's legs, but I will make sure that history doesn't repeat itself," she said to the unconscious Eagle Union.
The medical ship took her time to stabilize the condition of Enterprise's arm, and she felt confident that she reached a stopping point to switch over to the other. She gasped in wonder at her earlier theory being confirmed. She inspected the arm of the Pseudo-Eagle Union to see that parts of her blackened arm had returned with color. She held a recorder to her mouth. "Bonded twin patients, Enterprise and… not Enterprise… have shown cases of shared physical trauma most noteworthy: Nearly incinerated right arms and left arm bullet grazes from fighter planes. It has also been confirmed that hunger and thirst are shared to some degree, and cannot confirm if stamina is shared, although, sleepiness is not shared as not Enterprise was put to sleep after waking. The possibility of sensations like touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight are in the foreground of exploration if they are somehow shared."
She paused with her eyes continuing to see the scary, yet amazing miracle in front of her. "Pain is shared, and recovery is also shared. I've been healing Enterprise's wounds and have found out that her look-alike has gone through the same healing process. This has just made things a whole lot easier," she said with her focus back to the healing treatment of Enterprise.
During that same time, another miracle had been going underway. In the docks, a large group of shipgirls had congregated in mass to witness the said miracle.
The popular destroyer group of Laffey, Javelin, Ayanami, Z23, along with Unicorn were watching the destroyed twin ships of the Enterprises. "Hey, Akashi, what's going on with those ships?" The one that spoke was Ayanami to the eccentric cat-shipgirl.
Akashi was scratching her head with a confused look, and she got startled when she heard Ayanami speak. "I don't know, nya! Akashi is always talking about how good she's at doing repairs, but it feels like there's two of me today."
Cleveland made her way past the voluminous group of shipgirls. "Akashi, I got your message, what's happening?"
"Well, you see, nya! Akashi's been working on Enterprise's ship for an hour- the one with the sticker of course, and about fifteen minutes ago, Akashi noticed what everyone else had been seeing," she said with a nod.
"Noticing what?"
Akashi puffed her cheeks. "That the other ship is getting fixed somehow, nya! And here Akashi thought that she was finally getting some recognition."
"The enemy's ship is getting repaired? What the heck is going on?"
"That's what I want to know, nya. Here, see for yourself," said the green-haired cat girl. She donned a random welder's helmet and bolted to a constructed support structure to the side of Enterprise's ship. She reached a high elevation when Cleveland witnessed sparks from a tool ignite.
Cleveland felt Unicorn tap her on the arm as she pointed to the Pseudo-Eagle Union's ship. The blonde's eyes widen when she witnessed parts of the same side Akashi had been working on at the other ship, had been repairing themselves like an invisible force copying what Akashi was doing. "That's insane…," uttered Cleveland.
"It appears to be some kind of mirrored force," said Z23 with the rest of the destroyers joining Cleveland.
"It sounds… pretty convenient," said Laffey.
"This spells trouble all around, isn't that right, Miss Cleveland?" Spoke Javelin.
"I don't even know what to think about this," said a dumbfounded Cleveland.
Akashi raced back to the group with great speed. "Hey, Akashi might have to charge double for this."
Only the implication of having to give more money made the Cleveland-class ship break free from what she had seen. "Huh?! Why should you get more, you're not even doing more work?"
"That's Akashi's handiwork-no doubt about it, nya! It doesn't matter if some unknown freaky force is copying me. Akashi requests more coin, nya!"
"Okay, okay, you'll get your coin, but can we please focus on this right now instead of that? I don't even know if we should continue," said Cleveland with a sigh.
"There's no way out of this, Cleveland, and you already know that," said another voice.
Everyone looked behind them to see Hornet walking toward them with an unreadable face.
"I take it that you saw what went down just now?" Said Cleveland.
"Yeah, I saw what went down. I'm not surprised by the fact that both ships are repairing themselves at once. Cleveland, my sister's ship is our flagship of hope, we can't consider the option of leaving it inoperable."
"I'm aware of that, but… it's a double-edged sword for us. If we don't fix it, then there goes our strongest ally, and if we do… what are the chances her twin unleashes the dogs of war on the base?"
"I don't think she would do that," said Hornet with a tiny fleeting piece of hope that she wasn't that black and white.
Cleveland looked at her with skepticism. "Are you not telling us something?"
Hornet searched in her heart for an answer to give her, but the words of the doppelganger, when she said that she meant nothing to her, left her with a void where her faith was supposed to be. "It's… a gut feeling."
Cleveland rubbed her forehead and snickered to herself. "Forget it, there isn't a choice here. This is for Enterprise at the end of the day. If we told her that she couldn't use her rig, then she'll dangerously go searching for a new one that might not be compatible with her. And I bet that the Sirens would be itching at the opportunity to go even more berserk now that she's put on the sidelines."
"Nya!"
Hornet and Cleveland jolted from shock when the green-haired catgirl wedged herself between them with an angry face. "Akashi is not going to be swindled out of coin! You all shouldn't be talking all gravely like this anyway!" Her anger went away, and she grinned at both blondes. "Lucky for you all, I have a solution to this problem."
"Well, spit it out," remarked both blondes.
What Akashi had laid out for them was a plan that motivated both Hornet and Cleveland to begin forming. Akashi felt prideful that she was going to get the chance to test out her new toy. She proceeded to return to her work when she glanced at the command deck window of the wild-haired woman's ship. Her curiosity was too great that she figured she might as well see what kind of damage the command deck was in, considering that she hadn't checked out either one's deck.
"Hehe, nya! It's not every day that someone from the Sakura Empire gets to check out the interior of the USS Enterprise's command deck. I hope I don't get in trouble… Nah, Akashi is supposed to be rebuilding anyway, so all of this is available! Say… was something else in here?" She felt another presence in the room that made her uneasy about the creepy and quiet room.
The hairs on her neck spiked with fright when she heard claws scraping across metal. "Nya! Who's there!?" She pulled out a wrench and held it close to her side like a baseball bat.
"Oh… maybe this was a bad idea snooping out the command deck via the mystery Enterprise girl's ship. Curiosity did kill the cat, as the saying goes."
She pinpointed the source of the metal scratching that originated from a crevice underneath levers and buttons that made up part of the controls for the room. With cat-like stealth, she inched closer to the crevice until her eyes landed on a cage that was safely stored in that opening. "Huh, a cage?"
She didn't have enough time to think about this odd place to store a decent size animal cage when the cage door burst open.
"Ah!" She lost her balance, allowing for a shadowy creature to make its escape from the shattered command window.
Akashi shook the stars in her eyes and pulled out a flashlight from her person. The light shined into the animal cage that had unknowingly become vacant. "M-maybe that was the wind—ah, that can't be it at all, nya! I better go tell someone about this!"
She hastily bolted out of the creepy room and if she had stayed for a few seconds longer, she would have seen the animal cage dematerialize from reality with its inhabitant no longer in there.
(Unknown)
She returned to her old tormented watery world that waited no second later to smother her with its hostile air and intense feeling of death. She stood motionless once again with no thoughts in her mind. Then everything unpaused, and the sky ignited with light. The roaring sounds of fighter planes brought her into focus toward her dark sea under the cover of night. A formation of her planes had emerged from the light in the air and flown past her to engage a faceless enemy in the shadows.
She observed her surroundings to find the dark sky exploding with fire that was a result of her various planes colliding with unknown objects. This event triggered her to realize that the sea was also riddled with fire, letting her know that this was a warzone.
A faceless dark outline had appeared from the darkness with their sword raised to meet the idle carrier.
The Pseudo-Eagle Union evaded the slash with her bow held up high. Her battle senses had returned; sharper than ever.
The dark outline was ruthless in its attacks that mildly forced the pseudo to give some ground. The sparks from the clashing of metal from their weapons gave them a sliver of light, it was unfortunate that the fires that riddled the sea were far away that their light couldn't reach them.
Their fight didn't last when a good deflection from her bow had caused the dark outline to lose its sword into the unforgiving sea.
Their throat was then grabbed by the wild-haired woman who lifted them from the water effortlessly.
They struggled for freedom for however long they had when they were thrown aside to be hit by a fighter plane that had been ordered by the pseudo to do a ramming tactic.
Nothing was left from them after the collision had turned them into dust.
All around the pseudo, more bodies had been produced from the corners of the shadows where the light of the fires had stopped reaching. These bodies were briefly revealed to be Sakura Empire by the way they were dressed. The cause of an extra light source was the final fighter planes exploding from both her and the Sakura Empire shipgirls that had fallen in battle. The burning scrapped metal rained from the sky that shined light near where her battle with the dark outline had concluded. Floating in the water, she saw a katana that she remembered from somewhere. Her eyes widened at the knowledge that this encounter didn't make sense to her as someone else she knew had used that same blade, and had already fallen.
Her intuition was on red alert when the blaring alien-like sound that she was familiar with in some way, had filled her world again. She turned around to see the vague outline of a massive ship that the fires of the forgotten battle couldn't do justice to.
Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the three lights from before that turned into a massive cannon that was aimed toward her.
Her instincts told her to pull out her bow instead of fleeing, but it didn't make sense as to why they would tell her that. The faint memory of challenging this thing that resulted in her…
The conclusion to that was too mind-shattering for her. During her internal reasoning, her arrow had already flown toward the challenging blast that was headed her way. The same pain as before overrode all her sensations as she fell into the harsh waves.
Darkness clouded her world again, and in the next second, her eyes were open back to the same medical room that she had been in before. Her breath had sharpened with heightened anxiety as she weakly scanned the room to find herself alone with the sounds of the machine monitor being the only indicator of the passage of time.
She shut her eyes to repress the nightmare or memory that had left her broken. She shifted her focus to her injured arm which looked different than before. While she was still numb due to the heavy pain medicine, she could still barely make out from her angle that she had some movement in her arm and fingers again from the way the newly heavily bandaged surface near her fingers shifted. Her heart elevated when her eyes followed something metal in the corner of her eye near her chest. She desperately tried to get a read on what it was, but her left arm had been restrained with straps like the rest of her body, minus the neck and head area.
Her only good view was being able to see that metal had covered her chest area like a breastplate.
The doors of her room opened with the Royal Navy maid and Sakura Empire swordswoman entering.
"How are you feeling? It's been a few hours since we last spoke," said the maid with a genuinely concerned tone of voice.
The injured woman mildly scoffed at her question and looked away for she had other worries than entertaining these two fools that she saw with her eyes.
"Not sure that she even has a good side to get on, so stop wasting your breath," said Zuikaku.
"What is this thing on me?" Her words were quick to the point that spoke volumes that she wanted to have interactions down to a minimum.
"Oh, what's this? Do you have a question?!" Zuikaku smirked playfully while she moved forward with a laidback pace. "Wouldn't you like to know… maybe we can exchange you that answer when you finally give us answers to our questions."
The white-haired woman grunted with a glare toward the Sakura Empire.
"Let see, Hornet already told us about the vague reason you want Enterprise dead, and she told us that you weren't a Siren- even though I saw those ghostly yellow eyes for myself."
Visible confusion painted the face of the injured woman with hints of fear and unease. "You what? You're lying!"
Zuikaku and Belfast were taken aback by the sudden emotions that had poured out of the proverbial death-glarer.
"Lying?! I know what I saw, you Siren! Or what? You're being so cryptic just like them with your whole, 'I'm not a Siren, and I'm not Enterprise either,' mumbo jumbo."
"I refuse to acknowledge her as a part of me, and I don't need to explain myself to you why I want her dead," angrily spoke the injured woman.
"Funny, she sees you the same way. Then how about the data being turned into you?"
"I… don't… that was Purifier who would know that. I never asked for this, only that I wish to be free from all this. Her death… is what feels right to me."
Zuikaku felt the urge to punch her across the face, but Belfast held her arm back, as she knew right away from her shaky fist.
"Keep your anger in check, she either doesn't want to tell us anything or is in denial of everything," said the maid.
"Pfft, at this point you could also say that she doesn't know anything, but I don't believe that at all," said the brown-haired woman.
The injured woman returned to her silence with a new concern that entered her mind aside from wanting to extinguish Enterprise. She wasn't a Siren, that's what she told herself.
Belfast felt a modicum of pity for the Pseudo-Eagle Union as her face was full of concern that almost appeared to match the Enterprise that she loved. However, she wasn't Enterprise, and she was the enemy. "Let us go. If she doesn't want to tell us anything, then she's smart, she'll figure out her predicament for herself."
"No, she's pissing me off every second that she refuses the truth. I can't harm her but telling her this will be the sweetest thing close to it. That device that's strapped to you, that's an experimental rig designed by a certain cat friend of mine called the limiter rig. It's a rig with no type of armaments and the bare bone structure of a rig design. What it truly does is it disrupts the signal between shipgirl and compatible ship vessels that are nearby." Zuikaku enjoyed the revealment when she witnessed the doppelganger standing rigid from her situation. "Yeah, from that widened look of yours, I can tell that you already put the pieces together. Your imitation ship is here on the base, of course, don't think that you'll be merging with it anytime soon as it's pretty beat up. We also have it bolted down to the dock, so if the autopilot comes back on, it won't go anywhere. I trust Akashi's rig project to be more than enough, but you can't be too careful."
The doppelganger oddly chuckled once she had gotten over the shocking news. "You talk too much. More than enough, you say. We shall see about that, Sakura Empire," she said with glaring eyes toward the swordswoman.
Zuikaku hated her. She found it hideously messed up that she could truly hate someone to a severe extent, and love someone else that shared the same face.
(Somewhere else)
The destroyer friends composed of Laffey, Javelin, Z23, and Ayanami were sitting near a park table with colorful paper, colors, glitter, stickers, and markers tossed on the table.
Unicorn was the one who was making use of all the materials on the table as she was in the process of making a get-well card for Enterprise.
Unicorn's friends were directing her on what things she should apply on the card.
"Make the borders more colorful," urged Z23.
"More… glitter," said Laffey.
"You can never have too many stickers," said Ayanami.
"Markers will give your lines more color and boldness," said Javelin.
Unicorn wasn't rude to any of their comments and took in all of them to create a combined masterwork that could potentially move the strongest Eagle Union.
Their friendly moment was interrupted when they heard a malicious cry from the skies. In the air, an eagle flew at a distance that was hard to make out its features.
"Isn't that… Enterprise's bird?" Remarked Javelin with her hands over her eyes to get a better view.
"Why is it crying out in that way?" Replied Z23.
"Maybe it's sad that Enterprise is wounded, and doesn't know what to do to help," said Unicorn with a frown at the bird's anguish.
Their conclusions were left undecided as the eagle removed itself from their sight.
(Enterprise)
A few more hours had gone by when the Eagle Union began to stir from her sleep. At an initial glance, she noticed that her sister was sleeping soundly in a chair near her. She broke out a smile at the fact that her sister was getting much-needed rest after spending the majority of last night awake. She weakly moved her body upward to get into a seating position, and she quickly realized that her bandaged arm didn't bleed as it did before. Filled with anxious curiosity about what happened with the surgery, she was compelled to wake up her sister when the door opened to reveal Vestal.
"E-Enterprise?! It's good to see that you're awake. I brought food for Hornet, but I'm sure she won't mind if you eat it," she said with a smile.
"Vestal… what happened when I was out?"
Vestal had set the food on a table that she brought close to Enterprise. She made sure not to disturb Hornet's slumber as she knew that she needed this rest. After that, she placed a chair near Enterprise's bed. "Eat or else I won't tell you anything," she said with a commanding voice that still invoked a friendly playfulness to it.
Enterprise released a big smile at the medical ship, and she got her utensils ready as her first target on the tray of food was the meat portion.
When Vestal had enough time to see the Eagle Union devour the food, she decided to speak. "Your arm will recover, Enterprise. It will take some time to fully heal, and the pain will be difficult. I do recommend that we keep you on a sleeping aid to help you during the night. Pain medicine will have to go as it will conflict with future treatments, I'm afraid. Physical therapy on that arm will also be needed if you wish to restore your archer's tempo and aim."
Enterprise silently nodded to all of that as she still had food in her mouth. She swallowed it down and spoke, "How bad was it?"
"It was not great. This is the most severe injury you have had. We were lucky that the nerves were still responsive, it would have been a lost cause if otherwise."
"Thank you, Vestal. I don't know how to thank you."
"You don't have to. My top priority is the well-being of both Hornet and you. You already thank me every day that you no longer recklessly throw yourself at the wolfs like you used to."
They had reached a silent state of understanding for both. Despite all the pain and hardship that had accumulated in a short amount of time, there was still hope in the form of her arm getting better that made Enterprise tackle the future to come… even if that future was one, she had to share with her mysterious doppelganger.
So, I originally wanted to have this chapter be the last one until I shifted to the next phase of this story. Sadly, I felt that I needed to break it up to allow the pacing of the story to flow better as it would feel too jarring to brute force my way with more details to follow in the same chapter. I do plan to get the next one out quickly, so be on the lookout for that one.